By the West Lake in the city of Hangzhou, the green mountains are everywhere, the green water is rippling, and a mansion not far from the Lion Rock is the residence of the Tang King who lives in Hangzhou.

Tang King Zhu Yujian is in his forties this year, and he is in the prime of life. However, although he is a prince, this life is extremely miserable.

When he was young, his father was the son of the Tang Dynasty but was not liked by his grandfather, who loved the youngest son born to a concubine, and secretly imprisoned Zhu Yujian and his son in the Chengfeng Division, wanting to starve them to death, when Zhu Yujian was only 12 years old.

In the cage, Zhu Yujian did not waste his time, but immersed himself in hard reading and studying Confucian classics. Zhu Yujian's father was dying, and when he was about to get out of the head, he was poisoned by his younger brother who was eager to attack the throne of the Tang Dynasty.

The old Tang King was ready to crown the son of his concubine as the son, and he also wanted to cancel Zhu Yujian's status as the son. At that time, Chen Qiyu was the governor of the five provinces, and when he mourned the prince of Tang, he warned the old king of Tang that the cause of the prince's death was unknown, and he rashly changed the hereditary candidate, maybe the court would blame him in the future. The old Tang King was afraid of being investigated in the future, so he hurriedly set up Zhu Yujian as the "grandson", and Zhu Yujian was able to inherit the throne smoothly.

Among the vassal kings at the end of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yujian can be regarded as one of the few promising people, in July of the ninth year of Chongzhen, Azig led the Eight Banners to break into the customs and rob, coercing Gyeonggi, causing martial law in Beijing. Zhu Yujian ignored the identity of the vassal king, and even wrote a letter to lead the army to King Qin, and after refusing for Chongzhen, he privately recruited thousands of troops to go north to King Qin. did not meet the Qing soldiers, but fought a few battles with the thief army, and each other won and lost.

After all, Chongzhen's ancestor Chengzu Zhu Di was the emperor who seized the throne with the vassal king's army, and later the vassal kings such as King Yi and King Ning of Han raised troops to rebel several times, making the later emperors extremely strict against the vassal kings. After learning that Zhu Yujian had brought the king of soldiers privately, Chongzhen was furious, and the lower ministry discussed it in November and abolished him as a concubine, and sent Jinyi Wei to imprison the Tang king in the Fengyang royal prison. Emperor Chongzhen renamed his younger brother Zhu Yuzhen as the king of Tang.

In Fengyang Prison, Zhu Yujian was tortured and humiliated, sick and miserable, survived for seven years, Chongzhen arrived in Nanjing to regain the throne from King Fu, and when the Qing soldiers invaded the south from the elimination of the two routes, the whole country rejoiced, and regarded it as the hope of the Ming Dynasty, so he amnesty the world, and Zhu Yujian was released from prison.

At that time, most of the feudal kings in the north withered, and Zhu Yujian's younger brother, Zhu Yujian's Tang King Zhu Yujian's family was killed by thieves, and there were very few feudal kings who could escape to the south. Chongzhen then issued an order to restore Zhu Yujian's position as the king of Tang and change his title to Guangxi. After Zhu Yujian arrived in Hangzhou from Nanjing, he stayed on the grounds of physical illness and stayed at his residence by the West Lake.

At the age of more than 40, he spent more than 20 years in prison, which made Zhu Yujian's character extremely stoic and his own extraordinary bearing, which attracted Liu Kongzhao, a sincere man who fled to the rivers and lakes, and was willing to serve Zhu Yujian as the main person to seek the world for him.

For Zhu Yujian, the second time he was imprisoned for seven years was completely due to Chongzhen, when he was dedicated to the country's society, regardless of the identity of the vassal king, leading the army to the king, the purpose was so simple, it can be described as brave and loyal, but it brought seven years of imprisonment, which made it impossible for him not to hate.

And seeing that the lives of the Ming Dynasty were devastated, lost their land and lost their teachers, and fell into the current stormy situation, Zhu Yujian, as a vassal king and a member of the royal family, felt that he had the responsibility to clean up this tattered world and restore the country that Emperor Taizu Gao had worked so hard to fight.

Chongzhen is alive, Zhu Yujian naturally doesn't think about it, but seeing that Chongzhen is seriously ill now, and the princes are scattered, once Chongzhen dies, an emperor will inevitably be produced from among the vassal kings. Zhu Yujian originally planned to support Zhu Changshu, the king of Lu, who was also in Hangzhou, but was persuaded by Liu Kongzhao that they were all descendants of Taizu and had the qualifications to be emperors. Liu Kongzhao actively campaigned for Zhu Yujian, and even persuaded Zheng Zhilong, the general soldier of Fujian, that Zheng Zhilong was willing to support Zhu Yujian to sit on the emperor's throne after Chongzhen's death.

The reason why Zheng Zhilong supports himself, Zhu Yujian is also very clear, although the Zheng family's power is in full swing, it has been seriously squeezed out by the forces of Chen Yue, the Duke of Qi who occupies Dongfan Island, and half of the overseas trade interests that he relies on for survival have been taken away by Dongfan Island, and Zheng Zhilong has to endure it temporarily due to Chen Yue's huge power.

However, Zheng Zhilong, who was born as a pirate, would let his forces be swallowed up little by little, but secretly planned a means to fight back. However, Chen Yue is now in a high position and controls the army of the Ming Dynasty, and Zheng Zhilong does not dare to move. Now Chongzhen is seriously ill, and Daming has no heir, but Zheng Zhilong sees a good opportunity to turn over.

Investing in a vassal king, if you can help this vassal king win the emperor's throne, then the power of the Zheng family will naturally rise, and Zheng Zhilong's official prestige can catch up with Chen Yue, so naturally there is no need to be afraid of the repeated pressure of Dongfan Island, and it will be easy to replace Dongfan Island and regain all overseas routes.

Therefore, Zheng Zhilongcai and Liu Kongzhao hit it off and agreed to fully support Tang King Zhu Yujian to seize the emperor's throne.

After Liu Kongzhao coerced and lured Fang Mingxia, the governor of Zhejiang, to defect to the Tang Dynasty, he returned to the Tang Palace, and reported the incident to Zhu Yujian.

"Persecution by ghostly means, the means are really a bit shady, and the widow is very uncomfortable. No matter what the matter ends up with, we can't hurt Fang Mingxia's son. Zhu Yujian sighed.

"The prince is merciful, and Weichen knows. We have no choice but to do this, after all, we are now weak, and if we don't use such means, I'm afraid no one will want to use them. Liu Kongzhao said softly.

Zhu Yujian nodded, no longer entangled in this matter, "Is this Fang Mingxia really as big as you said?" ”

"The prince must not underestimate this person because of his low official position, Fang Mingxia was just a talent a year ago, but he went deep into the enemy camp to plan, and relied on strategy to trap 20,000 Azig banner soldiers. It is said that the annihilation of 100,000 Qing soldiers is the credit of Chen Yue, the Duke of Qi, but without this Ming Xia, how could the Battle of Wuhu defeat the Azig army?

Fang Mingxia also has an identity, he is the confidant of Han Zanzhou, the eunuch of the Dongchang Admiral and the Eunuch Bingbi, as long as he masters Fang Mingxia, he can persuade Han Zanzhou to work for us. In addition, Fang Mingxia is a member of the Fushe Society, has a wide range of contacts, and can also have a relationship with many Qingliu officials in the imperial court. With this person's help, our big things are like a tiger. ”

Zhu Yujian smiled and nodded, "The widow knows, but Fang Mingxia and the Zheng family easily agreed to support this king because of the festival with the Duke of Qi, but the Duke of Qi is a fierce general of the Great Ming Pillar State, even if the widow can ascend the throne, he still thinks that he can subdue the Duke of Qi for my use."

Although Fang Mingxia is talented, and although the Zheng family is in power in the southeast, if you want to have a foreign enemy full of Tartars and a thief from the inside, you need a peerless talent like Qi Guogong.

Liu Qing's family, you are the most trusted person of the widow, this must be clear. ”

"The prince's weapons are as magnificent as the sea," Liu Kongzhao exclaimed, "The minister also knows that the Duke of Qi is a rare talent in the Ming Dynasty, so as long as the Duke of Qi does not hinder the prince from ascending the throne, the minister will not deal with the Duke of Qi." ”

"If you want to prosper in the Ming Dynasty, you need all kinds of talents to work together, few people are not talented, thesis talent, martial arts are not the capital of the Chinese people, I hope that the world's talents are used by me, people make the best use of their talents, each perform its duties, so that the Ming Dynasty has the hope of ZTE." Zhu Yujian sighed.