The carnival of the Yongli court, which lasted until January of the fifth year of Yongli, began to examine the situation of the whole country with a procrastination, and many bigwigs were surprised to find that the two provinces directly under the jurisdiction of the country, except for the two Guangzhou, Fujian and Zhejiang, Huguang and a department, the rest of the regions have more or less fallen into the hands of the Kuizhou system, even in Yunnan, which is far away in the border, the rebellious Tusi Shadingzhou is also eyebrow-raising with the Kuizhou department in Sichuan, and the Kuizhou commercial houses in its territory are flourishing, controlling the trade of the entire Yunnan.

Huguang's Plug Yinxi and He Tengjiao tentatively advanced to the Xiangtan and Changsha lines controlled by the Kuizhou Army, and encountered hard stones head-on, and several groups of troops were eaten by the Kuizhou Army in the name of bandits.

In March, the third twist and turn of the Duke of Liang Guo came, and he once again asked Emperor Yongli to move north, with sincere words and tear-jerking, but except for a few people such as Zhu Tianlin, none of the people in the Zhaoqing court agreed, Li Chengdong and his party were naturally afraid that Yongli would go north and leave his sphere of influence, and Wang Huan only needed to control the emperor's will to take the life of the Chu party; And other friends, of course, also have concerns, afraid that Yongli will lose its current status after moving north, and blindly obstruct it before Wang Huan makes a clear statement.

Emperor Yongli's attitude was also very ambiguous, he knew that if he went north, it would just change from the control of a group of warlords to the control of a warlord, and his situation would probably be worse than in Zhaoqing, so he insisted on moving to Nanjing, and wanted the Kuizhou army to withdraw from Nanzhili, but this was unacceptable to the Kuizhou army. During this period, he also exchanged letters with Princess Changping many times, hoping that Princess Changping could judge the situation and strive to protect the dignity of the royal family, but Princess Changping persuaded him in turn that in today's world, without Wang Huan, he will only fall into the end of collapse again, and even the Tartars outside the gate are in danger of going south again.

After Zheng Chenggong recovered Zhoushan, he returned to the town of Fujian and had several contacts with Zu Tianci of Nanzhili, and even disappeared from the town for a short time in a certain period of time, and I don't know where he went. After reappearing, he was preoccupied, frowning, and often stared at the map in a daze, sighing for a long time.

A year has passed, and Kuizhou has been operating safely on its own territory, firmly controlling the power of wealth according to Wang Huan's ideas, leviing commercial taxes, monopolizing lifeline industries, developing agriculture, expanding production, and growing geometrically regardless of population and income. The officials are all out of the princess's mansion, the edict is stamped with the seal of the princess of Changping, not the seal of Yongli, after the appointment of personnel, a record directory will be sent to the Zhaoqing Ministry of officials, regardless of whether the court agrees or not, people are installed anyway, no one can object.

Zhaoqing also sent officials to some places, but without exception did not arrive at the place, they were stopped when they passed through the border of the Kuizhou army, the first time was a polite excuse There are many thieves in front of them, bandits are rampant, please go back by yourself, if you want to sneak in the past, and are found without Kuizhou Road Guide, then you will be directly beaten as a thief without saying a word, thrown into prison, and even cut things with a knife, find a place to bury, no one knows. Even if you go through a lot of hardships to get to the place, you will find that there are already people sitting in the official office, and the Yongli Decree in your hand is regarded as a fake, torn up and thrown into the dung pit, and people can't escape the life of being imprisoned as bandits.

To a certain extent, the relationship between the Kuizhou Army and the Zhaoqing Imperial Court has already evolved from a subtle hypocrisy to a turbulent confrontation, but this confrontation has not yet torn off the last fig leaf.

So pull and pull to the end of November, coincided with the birthday of the Yongli Emperor, according to the custom, officials from all over the country to Zhaoqing to pay homage to the birthday, can not come, but also to send congratulatory gifts, just when the soldiers stopped, the whole country celebrated, this birthday banquet was held beautifully, the flow of people from all over the country to Zhaoqing almost blocked the official road, Zhaoqing City is full of lights, inns are hard to find, restaurants and restaurants are full of guests, a temporary small city with the capital, stunned to change into the appearance of a big city comparable to Beijing.

Chen Jin, the newly attached former governor of Zhejiang and Fujian in the Qing Dynasty, after surrendering to Zu Tianci, released the commander of Ningbo, Zhejiang, and accepted the appointment of Emperor Yongli, and worshiped the governor of Zhejiang, which is one of the few generals in the Yongli Dynasty who was restored to the Ming Dynasty by the Qing Dynasty, and was very valued by the small court of Zhaoqing.

The birthday banquet was held in the Shuiyue Palace, the huge palace was full of tables, the Yongli Emperor was on the main seat, facing the south and sitting on the throne, the following group of ministers shouted long live, the sound boomed inside and outside, the feeling of a great country on the dynasty came spontaneously, almost made people forget that this is not the capital.

Batches of birthday gifts in accordance with the order of official positions, by the middle officials in the banquet before the start of the roll call, send a lot of officials proud, enjoy the Yongli Emperor listening to their own name of the honor, some particularly valuable gifts, will be carried directly by people to the stage, to the Yongli Emperor on-site presentation, the palace is brightly lit, a piece of priceless treasures, shining brightly against the backdrop of the fire, the whole birthday banquet pushed to a climax.

"Chen Jin, the governor of Zhejiang in the Ming Dynasty, offers a three-foot high red coral at the bottom of the sea, rich and auspicious, and wishes the saints a long life!" The lieutenant's voice was high and sharp, with a hint of trembling.

The audience was in an uproar, and almost everyone in the audience stood up, craned their necks and looked at the stage, their eyes were full of envy and incredible colors, because this gift was really valuable, and it was hard to find.

Chen Jin sat in the forefront, stood up with a triumphant face, bowed deeply to Emperor Yongli, and then looked at the audience.

A huge red coral carried by two people, up to three feet high, exuding a jeweled light, slowly lifted up, only to see this coral inlaid on the gold base, the heavy base weighs at least a few catties, a lubricated white grease, carved lifelike jade Shouxing placed on the base, the precious red coral is radially placed behind the birthday star, looking from a distance, like a statue of a god is radiating red light.

Almost all of them held their breath, even the well-informed and wealthy people were dumbfounded, this birthday gift was unprecedented, the best in the audience, and no gift could compare with it.

Emperor Yongli stood up, his eyes straightened, and he couldn't put it down, and he stretched out his hand to touch it.

Chen Jin seized the opportunity, bowed his head and congratulated loudly: "Minister Chen Jin, a few days ago, I was boating on the sea, and I saw auspicious clouds covering the sun and purple smoke, and I knew that there must be treasures in this auspicious rui, so I ......"

Before he finished speaking, Chen Jin suddenly heard a thunderous roar sound above, and a voice shouted: "I avenge King Lu and punish this traitor!" ”

No one reacted, Chen Jin still lowered his head, saying auspicious words, the people in the audience stared at the coral, amazed, even the eunuch Wang Kun, who was closest to the Yongli Emperor, also looked at the treasure directly, and had no time to care.

A treasure hunter carrying red coral suddenly let go without warning, took out a dagger from the base that had been attached there a long time ago, and stabbed into the chest of Emperor Yongli while roaring.

The dagger pierced through his heart, and spikes emerged from the back of the Yongli Emperor, splattering the assassin with blood.

Emperor Yongli looked at the knife pierced in his heart, shook it, didn't even make a call, and fell.

The assassin drew his dagger, and the blood soared, shooting more than a foot high like a fountain. He looked contemptuously at the brocade guard who pounced, with a horizontal knife in his hand, and wiped his neck.

Chen Jin only realized that something was wrong in the exclamation at this time, raised his head in confusion, and saw a scene that made his heart and soul broken.

Wang Kun pounced, blocked the still bleeding wound on Emperor Yongli's chest with his clothes and hands, and shouted heartbreakingly: "Quickly pass on the imperial doctor!" Doctor! ”

Chickens and dogs jump, messing around.

The precious red coral fell to the ground and shattered.

Chen Jin stood in place in a daze, his mood was like that coral, broken into pieces.

At that moment, no one knew what was going through his mind.

Outside the Shuiyue Palace, Chen Xiang listened to the voice inside, inquired about the situation with a palace person who rushed out, nodded with satisfaction, and turned around.

(End of chapter)