(a)

In this heated discussion about disarmament, Yang Biao became low-key except for expressing his opposition in the last concert. Since then, he has indifferently said that the emperor is the king of a country, the Han army is the country's army, the emperor is the supreme leader of the Han army, whether the Han army wants to be disarmed, how to disarm, when to disarm these things, are determined by the emperor's sacred heart, as a soldier, Yang Biao, as always, resolutely obeys the emperor's will, no matter how the sacred heart ruling, Yang Biao resolutely supports, according to the implementation, no two words.

Yang Biao's attitude surprised many people, but they didn't expect him to oppose it fiercely. Some courtiers began to feel that they might have blamed Yang Biao before, Yang Biao was domineering, it was because of his proud character, and in his heart, he should still be very loyal to Liu Shen. At the critical moment, he supported the king's decision.

However, some people also noticed that although Yang Biao himself expressed such a statement, he allowed his officers to continue to be sparse and express fierce opposition. It would have been easy for him to stop these estrangements, but he had done nothing.

Under the fierce court discussion and Yang Biao's low-key silence, the undercurrent surged. Yang Biao and his henchmen held secret meetings for dozens of days. The conspiracy is planning a major operation to solve the problem once and for all.

This action is: try to kidnap Liu Shen, force him to sign the edict of abdication, pass on the son born to him and the queen on the grounds of old age and poor health, depose his crown prince on the grounds that the crown prince is immoral and cannot obey the public, and pass on other sons, and then respect Liu Shen as the emperor, force him to leave Yunjing with a number of concubines, go to live in the hot spring palace, and never ask about the government and politics, and live there for a long time, and keep me as the queen mother in Yunjing, as a hostage, to prevent Liu Shen from making a comeback, It was also used as a bargaining chip to blackmail the new army. After the new monarch ascends the throne, Yang Biao will be appointed as the Prince of Protector, and before he reaches adulthood, the Prince of Protector will be the main auxiliary government.

Yang Biao and his men carefully selected among the princes from me and Liu Shen, and in the end, they selected the ninth prince as the prince to be supported by the Han army in the future. Because the ninth son of the emperor has a gentle and weak personality, he is young and his body is not very strong, and he seems to be the most easily controlled. The nanny of the ninth son of the emperor is the daughter of the generals of the Han army who are loyal to Yang Biao, and she is worthy of Yang Biao's trust.

After intensive planning, they repeatedly deliberated on the possibility of the action plan and the loopholes in it, and felt that it was foolproof, so Yang Biao decided to act immediately at lightning speed, and arrested and detained Liu Shen before he issued the disarmament edict, so as to prevent long nights and dreams.

However, they also analyzed the attitude of many generals in the Han army towards this matter, and felt that at least half of the generals would oppose the betrayal of Liu Shen, while among the other half of the generals, there must be many who have a wait-and-see attitude. Yang Biao felt that if they succeeded in one blow, Liu Shen signed the edict of succession, and the wood was already in the boat, those who rode the wall and watched would probably push the boat down the river, and there would be no fierce resistance, and the new monarch was still the son of Liu Shen and Empress Chen, although the other generals in the Han army were indignant for a while, but under the general trend, it should not be difficult to accept. The ninth son of the emperor has a soft personality, a pleasing appearance, and has always been popular, and has won the love of many Han army generals, if he opposes his accession to the throne, his life will also become a tragedy, so everyone is estimated to be ruthless and ruin this child's life for no reason.

After weighing and evaluating left and right, Yang Biao and others felt that the probability of victory and the probability of failure were half to half, but they were all soldiers who were born and died, and their military style was to win by surprise and take risks with surprise attacks, so they decided to give it a go without hesitation and gamble on their courage and luck.

The core generals who participated in the rebellion secretly swore an oath with Yang Biao at the meeting place, and if they did not succeed, they would become benevolent.

(b)

On this day, after Yang Biao withdrew from the court, he submitted a memorabilia and asked to meet the monarch alone to once again state in detail his views on the detailed rules of disarmament. In his compromise, he claimed that if the emperor had made up his mind and thought that disarmament should be carried out immediately, he had some detailed suggestions on disarmament, and he wanted to state to Liu Shen in person, that he could help the emperor and make disarmament more complete and smoother.

After Liu Shen saw this twist, he summoned Yang Biao to the palace for a separate interview.

Yang Biao was ordered to enter the palace at night and go to Liu Shen's study to be summoned.

Under the guidance of the lantern of the inner chamberlain, Yang Biao unloaded his sword, underwent a body search, and walked into the gate of the inner palace. Watching the vermilion palace gate wrapped in huge copper nails slowly close behind him, walking on the long bluestone corridor between the palace walls, Yang Biao was very emotional. Following the yellow light shining on the ground from the lantern in the hands of the attendant in front of him, he recalled the privilege that Liu Shen gave you back then, that you could ride a horse in the palace, that you could wear a sword in the palace, and that you could enter the palace at any time without asking for instructions, and Liu Shen never thought of giving the same privilege to Yang Biao. Although Liu Shen gave him an unprecedented honor to greet him when he triumphed, in Liu Shen's heart, there was still a big difference between the old general and the current general. Liu Shen never regarded Yang Biao as a brother and close friend in his heart, although Yang Biao followed him longer and took more credit for fighting for him, his loyalty to him never changed.

Thinking of this, Yang Biao felt a sour feeling in his heart. It is so difficult to win the friendship of kings, but it is so easy to become the target of kings' fears. He felt more and more that Liu Shen's inability to fully trust and completely rest assured of him had been a long time, and if he didn't make up his mind this time and solve Liu Shen once and for all, sooner or later, the conflict with Liu Shen would break out, and he might not be able to get a good ending.

Seeing that Liu Shen's bedroom was right in front of him, looking at the bright lights in Liu Shen's study, and looking at the cornices in the corner of his palace, Yang Biao couldn't help but think of the conversation with you when he said goodbye to you at the end. He remembered the way you threw the full cup to the ground and the look you looked at at the time, and remembered your admonition to him. He couldn't help but feel a little weak in his heart, it turned out that the general had foreseen today's situation so many years ago, and foresaw Yang Biao's thoughts and reactions. He said in his heart, "I'm sorry, General. Yang Biao knows that your conversation that day was for the sake of Yang Biao, for the sake of the country, for the sake of the king, your hard work, grateful to the sun and the moon, but Yang Biao is always different from you, Yang Biao is not from a wealthy family, and he does not have such a deep influence foundation in the aristocratic class, Yang Biao does not have a beautiful sister like a flower, married to the emperor, and became the emperor's favorite woman, Yang Biao is not the founder of the Han army, and between the Han army, there is only a common bloody friendship, no flesh-and-blood family affection. Yang Biao's strength is not enough for all the soldiers of the Han army to follow him to life and death, and it is not enough to resist the king's ascension or uprooting of Yang Biao. Yang Biao does not have the courage and self-confidence of you, unlike you, you can wait for the king to take action first, and then deal with it. It can only be against your dying will. ”

Yang Biao defended himself in his heart: "Fortunately, I don't have the heart of disobedience, and I don't want to kill the Liu family, instead, I definitely don't have the idea of claiming the emperor and usurping the throne, if the ninth son of the emperor relies on the army, is willing to be obedient and obedient, and does not touch the interests of the army, the army will firmly support him, be a capable and virtuous monarch like Liu Shen, and continue to defend the peaceful situation left by the general during his lifetime." Thinking about it, the general under Jiuquan can also understand Yang Biao's distress and forgive Yang Biao's actions today. Yang Biao is not a villain who has committed chaos, and until now, he is unpredictable and unavoidable. ”

After such a tangled inner activity, the chamberlain stopped. Yang Biao woke up from his mind and found that he had climbed the steps of Liu Shen's study, standing in front of the door of the king he was about to depose.

He forcibly suppressed all kinds of distracting thoughts surging in his heart, stabilized his mind, sorted out the court clothes on his body, adjusted the expression on his face, mustered up his courage, and reported loudly: "Minister Yang Biao, I am ordered to enter the palace to do something, and ask the emperor to receive you." ”

As he spoke, he faced the door of Liu Shen's study and bowed respectfully. (To be continued.) )