"I didn't expect Chu Di to return to the pre-war level so quickly under the governance of Wu Shiqi, does this mean that our Great Song Dynasty has been comprehensively surpassed by the generals?" Xiao Daocheng was angry in Jianye's palace, his health has been getting worse and worse in the past two years, knowing that his time is short, and he is more and more eager to solve the hidden danger of Deng Yuanjue.

The ministers below bowed their heads and did not dare to speak, none of them expected that it would be the current situation, and they thought that the economic blockade of Chu would force Deng Yuanjue to comply. Unexpectedly, Deng Yuanjue actually rose to the challenge, not only feeding an army of 600,000, but also faintly surpassing the Great Song Dynasty.

"Da Sima, tell me your opinion." Seeing that everyone didn't speak, Xiao Daocheng had no choice but to order himself.

Yan Chixing had already thought about this: "The general can successfully tide over the difficulties, it is impossible to rely only on the existing resources of Chudi, I think there must be someone in our territory who secretly helps." ”

Yan Chixing was not born in a family, and he did not see the relationship between the family and the imperial power as thoroughly as Xiao Daocheng.

Xiao Daocheng actually suspected that the family was secretly helping behind his back, and now that he heard that Yan Chixing also had the same idea, he was even more certain. He glanced at Gao Yi and asked, "Da Si Nong, you have been in charge of my Great Song Dynasty's finances for almost two years, have you found anything wrong during this period?" ”

Li Yuanqing's secret funding of Deng Yuanjue can be hidden from Xiao Daocheng and Yan Chixing, but it can't be hidden from Gao Yi. Gao Yi himself is also from one of the two great families of the Chu State, and he has a clear understanding of the relationship between the family and the imperial power, and now he is in charge of finance with Li Yuanqing.

Hearing Xiao Daocheng's question, Gao Yi took out the small account book that had been prepared from his sleeve and handed it over: "Although my Great Song Dynasty and Qin are belligerents, the trade between the two sides has not been interrupted, and the minister found that the grain and grass sold to Qin in the past two years have not been earned, so he privately found someone to check, it turned out that after these grains were transported to Yulin City, they turned around and sent them to Shouchun." ”

Xiao Daocheng's face changed, he opened the account book and glanced at it, slapped it heavily on the table, and said angrily: "Since you have already discovered that there is a problem, why haven't you revealed it to me?" ”

Gao Yi hurriedly knelt on the ground and confessed guilt. But he knew in his heart that Xiao Daocheng would not punish himself. How complicated is the political form of the Great Song Dynasty, although Xiao Daocheng has the heart to suppress the family, but if it is not clearly revealed, how can an old Jianghu like Gao Yi easily hand over the evidence? Although he used to be a famous family in the Chu State, he was just an outsider in Jianye, and if he was not careful, he would easily get killed.

Xiao Daocheng threw the account book to Yan Chixing: "Now you lead the troops to surround Situ Mansion and bring Li Yuanqing into the palace." ”

When Taiwei Yuan Chengce heard that Xiao Daocheng was going to tear his face with Li Yuanqing now, he was a little worried: "Wouldn't this be too radical, if the general knew that this matter was caused by him, would he intervene?" ”

Xiao Daocheng snorted coldly: "If you have to consider his thoughts before doing anything, then is this Great Song Dynasty from the Xiao family or his Deng family?" ”

Everyone was so frightened that they didn't dare to make a sound anymore, and in less than half an hour, Yan Chixing arrested Li Yuanqing, and entered the palace with Prime Minister Chen Guoqing and Sikong Cui Yi, who rushed to the palace after hearing the news.

"How can you two be free to enter the palace today?" Xiao Daocheng looked at the two with displeasure on his face.

Chen Guoqing took a step forward: "I heard that Your Majesty asked Da Sima to lead troops to Li Situ's mansion to arrest him and bring him into the palace, the old minister dared to ask, what crime did Li Situ commit?" ”

Xiao Daocheng threw the account book beside Chen Guoqing: "Look at it yourself." ”

Chen Guoqing and Cui Yi also participated in the matter of privately assisting Deng Yuanjue, and the two of them took the account book and pretended to look at it a few times: "The old minister can't understand what the problem is?" ”

Xiao Daocheng sneered and looked at Gao Yi, Gao Yi knew that it was his turn to make a move at this time: "It is clearly recorded in this account book that Li Situ transported all the grain originally shipped to the Qin State for trade to Shouchun, isn't this a crime of bullying the king?" ”

Chen Guoqing pretended to be suddenly enlightened: "What should I do, so it is." Dare to ask Dasi Nong, isn't Shouchun the land of my Great Song Dynasty now? There has just been a war, the people have been displaced, and hunger is everywhere, Li Situ is in charge of the finances of my Great Song Dynasty and transports grain to the disaster relief, is it wrong? If he is imprisoned because of this, then will everyone be in danger in the future, and who else will dare to do his best for the country? ”

Chen Guoqing deserves to be the prime minister of the current dynasty, and a series of questions caught Gao Yi off guard, but Gao Yi was also the top two figures in the former Chu court, and he quickly reacted: "Prime Minister, are you too old and have a bad memory, if this matter is really as righteous Ling Ran as you said, why didn't Li Situ transport grain in a bright light?" Your Majesty has repeatedly ordered that the transportation of any strategic materials during the war must be strictly controlled, especially large-scale transportation must be jointly approved by Situ and Da Si Nong, why do I, as a Da Si Nong, not know about this matter? And why did Li Situ knowingly commit a crime? ”

Chen Guoqing was speechless for a while, so he had to say to Xiao Daocheng again: "Your Majesty, in the past, Li Situ was responsible for these things alone, but now that there is suddenly a big Si Nong, he may not be used to it for a while, and I hope that His Majesty can give him another chance to redeem his merits." ”

Sikong Cui Yi on the side also stepped forward to plead: "Shouchun is also the land of my Great Song Dynasty, in a general sense, Li Situ just made a mistake in his work, and he didn't report to Dasi Nong in time, which is not a big mistake, I beg Your Majesty to spare Li Situ this time." ”

Chen Guoqing glanced at Li Yuanqing, who was kneeling on the ground, and said, "Why don't we listen to what Li Situ himself has to defend?" ”

As soon as Li Yuanqing heard that he was about to speak, Xiao Daocheng immediately stopped him: "Okay, don't talk about it, put Li Situ in prison for the time being, and deal with it after finding out the truth." ”

Xiao Daocheng saw that the situation was about to be reversed by Chen Guoqing and Cui Yi, how could he dare to let Li Yuanqing speak again, the focus of the family's argument was that Chu was already the territory of the Great Song Dynasty, and Li Yuanqing's move was just a mistake in his work, and a little punishment would be enough.

The focus of Gao Yi's argument is that Li Yuanqing knew the law and violated the law, and he committed the crime of bullying the king, and he should be severely punished.

Now that it is obvious that the family has the upper hand, Xiao Daocheng has no choice but to stop there, put Li Yuanqing in prison first, and deal with the matter after thinking of better countermeasures.

Chen Guoqing and the others had to give up temporarily, no matter what, they temporarily saved Li Yuanqing's life.

The two returned to the Prime Minister's Mansion together, and Cui Yi first asked, "Prime Minister, looking at Your Majesty's actions today, are you planning to tear your face with our family?" ”

Chen Guoqing didn't answer, but asked, "How do you look at Your Majesty's complexion today?" ”

Cui Yi looked down and thought about it, and reacted suddenly: "Are you saying that Your Majesty's time is running out, so you are in a hurry to attack us?" ”

Chen Guoqing nodded: "Your Majesty has endured it all your life, and finally you can't bear it before you die." The general has been in Chu in the past few years, if His Majesty is not there, how can the prince still be able to control it. ”

When Cui Yi heard this, he suddenly asked, "Do you say that the general will really rebel?" ”

Chen Guoqing sighed: "I don't know, who knows besides himself?" Maybe he doesn't have an answer now. ”

Cui Yi said with a worried face: "Although our five great families usually have their own fights, in the face of the suppression of the imperial power, they should join forces to fight. If the general really succeeds in his rebellion, then he will represent the new imperial power, and will our great families still stand on his side at that time? ”

Chen Guoqing thought for a while and said: "The five of us, except for Tian Yulong's early death, I am older than Your Majesty, if Your Majesty is not there, I am afraid that my time is short." If there is such a day in the future, I am afraid I will not see it. It's that you and Li Yuanqing are the same age, and they are not a few years older than Deng Yuanjue, I want to hear your thoughts? ”

Cui Yi looked left and right, and saw that no one was around, and said in a low voice: "Don't dare to hide it, if the general rebels or stands on his own feet in Chu, then his clansmen in the Great Song Dynasty will undoubtedly be killed, is he still a family at that time?" ”

Chen Guoqing realized: "It seems that you are planning to choose to stand on Your Majesty's side, but don't forget, Your Majesty also wants to suppress the family." ”

Cui Yi expected this question, and did not answer directly, but asked: "Dare to ask the Prime Minister, if the general succeeds in his rebellion and he leads his troops back to Jianye City one day, will he leave us families?" ”

Chen Guoqing seemed to have been hit by something and sat down in his chair: "Have you only had such thoughts recently, or have you always had them?" ”

Cui Yi suddenly smiled weirdly: "Adults might as well guess?" ”

Chen Guoqing was puzzled: "Since you have already taken refuge in Your Majesty, why did you secretly fund the general with us?" He wouldn't have survived without our help. ”

Cui Yi shook his head: "You underestimate Your Majesty too much, he has already thought about it, you must first settle the inside before you go outside, and solve the family before you solve General Deng, if I don't participate in funding the general, how can an outsider like Gao Yi easily get Li Situ's evidence." Besides, you also underestimated the strength of General Deng, even without our funding, could he not survive these two years with the ability of a general? If he is really urgent, he will directly divide his troops to attack my Great Song Dynasty, even if Yan Da Sima can resist one of them, then who can stop the remaining Wu Teng, Zhou Yunjing, Xun Yuqing, Deng Wenhao, and Deng Wenjie of Yulin City? These are all on the surface, who knows how many children of the Deng family are still in our Great Song Army? ”

The more Chen Guoqing listened, the more cold he felt: "So Your Majesty deliberately let us fund the general, first, to get our evidence, second, to drag the general from rebelling, and thirdly, to buy time for Yan Dasima to get rid of the Deng children in the army." ”