Hankyung.

The government and the opposition were in an uproar.

The flying pigeon sent a message into Beijing, and the people of the capital knew that Hangzhou was lost.

The Imperial Study.

Li Shimin slapped his palm on the imperial case, and the pen holder of the shock fell to the ground.

"What did you say?"

The acting privy envoy Qu Tutong repeated very helplessly, "Your Majesty, I just got a report that Hangzhou has been lost." ”

"How could Hangzhou be lost?"

"Who has the ability to do this?"

Li Shimin roared.

Recently, the emperor's mood has become more and more unstable, roaring at every turn.

"It's Zhang Chao, he didn't stop in Guangzhou. With an army of 80,000, he quietly set off from Guangzhou and suddenly appeared in Hangzhou Bay. The 50,000 soldiers in Hangzhou who were preparing to march south from the sea surrendered without the slightest resistance. ”

"The businessmen of the Hangzhou Chamber of Commerce directly opened the city of Hangzhou to welcome the rebels into the city."

Li Shimin was furious.

Fifty thousand troops, assembled for so long, but were served in a pot before the expedition?

"Why did Zhang Chao lead an army of 80,000 from Guangzhou and all the way north to Hangzhou, such a big movement, such a long time, why no one found out and no one reported it? Are they all blind and deaf, are they fools? Or is it that everyone has secretly collaborated with the enemy, and they have long been looking forward to Zhang Chao going north, and even looking forward to him coming to Hanjing? ”

The Zaisukes were silent.

Fang Xuanling refused to speak.

Some of what the emperor said was right, in this rebellion, the crown prince and Zhang Chao really got too many people to support. Like Qin Qiongcheng biting Jin and directly raising troops, there are also many who are secretly looking forward to their early arrival.

Zhang Chao 80,000 people went north, which must not be completely secret, but the imperial court did not receive any information.

This can only show that there are really many people who are secretly collaborating with the enemy.

There are also 50,000 troops in Hangzhou Port, which were directly blocked in the military port, and Zhang Chao's military fleet went directly to the gate of their water village, and there was no warning on the way.

This kind of relaxation, negligence, is shocking.

Think about the rebellion of Zhang Chao and the crown prince, they have not encountered a single decent resistance.

When the state was occupied, no one resisted. Entering Qinzhou and seizing Guangzhou, not only did no one resist, but they even thundered.

Dozens of states in Lingnan, and even later Fujian, were all in despair.

Now, Zhang Chao has taken Hangzhou bloodlessly.

It is foreseeable that Zhejiang Road will definitely not be able to hold it.

However, the imperial court marched south, but Li Ji's army encountered stubborn resistance at Jiuzhi Mountain.

The comparison between these two is scary.

The old house is surprised, the court is already so unpopular with the people, is everyone so eager to change the court?

"Your Majesty, someone must be sent to intercept Zhang Chao." Zhang Gong, the secretary of the military department, said solemnly.

"Zhang Chao has already taken Hangzhou, and if he goes north, he will attack the mouth of the Yangtze River. At that time, not only can it drive straight along the Yangtze River, but also attack Hanjing. And even if he doesn't attack it directly, this southeast coast, the land of Jianghuai, is the most important tax and grain production area of the imperial court. ”

Some ministers were already thinking about the Hanjing Rebellion a few years ago.

Zhang Chao swore an oath in southern Liaoning, then gathered troops in Dengzhou, waved his army south from the sea, entered the Yangtze River, captured Yangzhou, Pinghongzhou, and then fought all the way to Hanjing.

And how similar the current situation is.

Only this time, Zhang Chao raised troops from the south, and also came from the sea.

Now that Hangzhou has been captured, the next step must be Yangzhou and Jinling, and then one will come to Jianghan.

Last time, Zhang Chao was in the name of King Qin.

And this time, Zhang Chao came under the banner of protecting the new law and the side of the Qing monarch.

But whether it was last time or this time, Zhang Chao's army was so invincible, and the Tang Dynasty army, which should have been incomparable, turned out to be unwarlike in front of Zhang Chao.

In such a comparison, Li Ji is stalemate in Jiuzhi Mountain, but it is very rare. At least, Li Ji had fought hard with the Southern Army.

Li Shimin stared at the group of Zaifu, feeling that everyone was so suspicious.

"Who else can I trust?"

"Who is my henchman?"

"Who is loyal and who is traitor?"

What started as a small rebellion turned out to be the mess it is today.

He couldn't figure it out.

When the Xuanwu Gate changed, he quickly grasped the situation.

Even if it was the rebellion of Emperor Taishang's restoration later, although he took advantage of his westward expedition, he was very passive. But when he returned to the division, the rebels melted along the way.

There's no one to stop it.

The Hanjing Rebellion was pacified in a few months.

Now, why is it not right?

Why the tide is turning.

Why is it that the rebels are winning one after another, approaching step by step, and even getting more and more people's support, but his situation is becoming more and more unfavorable.

"I!"

"I want to do it in person!"

Li Shimin stood up and uttered a cold voice.

"Your Majesty?" The eldest grandson, Wuji, finally spoke.

"I want to lead a large army, personally conquer the southeast, and in Jianghuai, personally defeat the rebels, and capture Zhang Chao and the rebel son Chengqian!"

Fang Xuanling looked at the emperor in a daze.

Did the Emperor really think like this?

It shouldn't.

When did the emperor's brain become so bad?

Jade and tile to collide, what good can this be.

The situation is not good, but it has not come to this point.

Hasn't he already mobilized the vassals and nobles to crusade against Qin Qiong and other rebellious princes, and hasn't he already sent people to summon Xue Yantuo, Khitan and other northern vassals?

Now Zhang Chao is right that they have a small advantage, but so what?

The imperial court still has the strongest strength.

But no matter how Fang Xuanling, eldest grandson Wuji and others persuaded him, Li Shimin was already determined to kill Zhang Chao in person.

Guozijian.

Kong Yingda and Lu Deming looked at a booklet together.

"This kind of pamphlet is now being copied everywhere by the Guozijian, and it is completely uncontrollable." Kong Yingda sighed.

"Not only this kind of pamphlet, but also the newspapers and periodicals such as the Times and the Half Moon Talk that are now circulating in the south, are also widely circulated and copied in our national prison."

The two sighed.

"Actually, what is written in this booklet also makes sense."

"But these will not be tolerated by His Majesty, and will not be tolerated by the imperial court."

But Wen Yuan is right, the rise and fall of the world is the responsibility of the husband. This time to protect the law, neither the country nor the world, the Tang Dynasty is still the Tang Dynasty, and the Central Plains is still my Chinese Han family. ”

"Hey, how good it is for a father to be kind and filial to his son. Originally, His Majesty was wise and martial, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was smart and virtuous. The prosperous scene, there are virtuous ministers such as Fang Du's eldest grandson and Wen Yuan in the court, and there are ministers like Wei Zheng, Wang Qi, and Sun Fujia, a prosperous scene that is rare in a hundred years. ”

"Is it Zhang Chao or Your Majesty?"

There were no outsiders present, and the two old friends were not rigid in their conversations.

"It should be Your Majesty who has changed." Lu Deming said.

"Your Majesty is only forty now, but why do many of his actions have the style of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in his later years?"

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is too virtuous and too supportive. Zhang Wenyuan's credit is too great, and his prestige, power, and wealth are monstrous. The nobles were highly meritorious, feudal frontiers, and had great power. In recent years, the rise of industrial and commercial power, the influence is also constantly improving. ”

"Daxing Industry and Commerce, New Imperial Examination, Dividing and Sealing, and Opening the ······· of the Council"

"The change is so fast, so fast that His Majesty feels uneasy."

Under this great changing society, on the one hand, the emperor has reached the unprecedented cultural and martial arts of the first emperor of the ages. On the one hand, there are many undercurrents under the prosperous era, the prince who has grown up is too good, and the prime minister Zhang Chao is difficult to seal, and when Zhang Chao and the prince stand together, and get the full support of Ma Zhou and a large number of emerging classes, the emperor panicked.

The Emperor didn't want to see these things happen that were out of control, and he wanted to pull everything back into control.

"If the prince and Zhang Chao hadn't walked together, maybe there wouldn't be what they are today."

But back then, the emperor wanted to make the prince's position stable and hope to become an excellent prince, so he appointed Zhang Chao's daughter for the prince. After all, Zhang Chao was meritorious, capable, and young at that time, but Zhang Chao was not a family member and did not have a deep family background. His Majesty would not have thought that in more than ten years, the Zhang family would actually become a super wealthy family. ”

"Alas, in the final analysis, it's all about the desire for power."

Kong Yingda asked Lu Deming.

"Now that the prince is borrowing Zhang Chao's help, it seems that he is very likely to win. However, the emperor can't tolerate Zhang Chao, will the prince be able to tolerate Zhang Chao in the future? ”

Lu Deming frowned, "Or can it be said in another way, Your Majesty can't control Zhang Chao, will the prince be able to control Zhang Chao in the future?" Zhang Chao planned the change of Xuanwumen and supported His Majesty to succeed in seizing the throne. Now he is supporting the crown prince, if he succeeds again, then Zhang Chaoke will support the two emperors. At that time, the most powerful person in the world was Zhang Chao. ”

"At that time, Zhang Chao, would he simply usurp the throne?"

This is a very direct question, and it is also a question worth thinking about.

When Zhang Chao assisted the emperor to seize the world, he did not have much power at that time. It was only after the change of Xuanwumen that he jumped into the ranks of the top ministers, holding real power and entering the ranks of prime ministers.

And when Zhang Chao supported the prince again, his power was already monstrous. The Zhang family, the world's top wealthy family, its wealth is even richer than the country, its prestige is long, and its connections are all fully displayed in this army.

If the crown prince succeeds in ascending the throne.

At that time, Zhang Chao's prestige will inevitably go further, not to mention his power and wealth.

"I hope Zhang Chao will become the Duke of Zhou, not that Wang Mang."

"I'm afraid, I'm just afraid, when Zhang Chao doesn't want to be Wang Mang, there will be many people pushing him forward."

"Ugh."

"Sui ended the division of the Northern and Southern Dynasties and died. The Tang Dynasty inherited the Sui, and now it has only been 20 years, but this prosperous era has declined, and it is difficult for the country to grow? ”

Long.

Kong Yingda sighed and said, "We can't control those things, I just hope that Zhang Chao can keep his heart." Let's talk about these copied pamphlets, the more troublesome things get worse, and the Guozijian can't hold it back. I am very worried, if this causes His Majesty's wrath, then the group of young people who don't know the height of the sky will suffer a big loss. As their commanders, we must protect them. ”

"At their age, they should have calmed down and studied, and they didn't have to pay attention to the sound of wind and rain outside, but they couldn't control it."

"More than half of the 8,000 students in Guozijian support the prince, and this matter is troublesome." Lu Deming also shook his head helplessly.