Shen Ruoyu had nightmares for three days in a row, and Nangong Qiu was afraid to lie in the same bed with him later, and he didn't worry about him sleeping alone, so he had to call Dou'er to spend the night with him. After three days, his mood finally calmed down a bit, and he began to seriously consider the choice in his hands. In any case, he can't go back to Beiping; Either he was placed under house arrest from now on, waiting for King Yan's army to break through the capital to rescue him, or he accepted the appointment of the imperial court. And if it is the latter, then he must completely turn his back on King Yan and be completely loyal to the Son of Heaven. He didn't have the ability to continue to be a two-faced person, and Hou Tai and Xu Huizu had a miraculous effect: he was completely frightened by the prison. He had only been in the capital for two months, and he had already been imprisoned twice, and although no one had tortured him, the intention of forcing him to see the torture to extract a confession could not have been more obvious. If he Shen Ruoyu had a third time in prison, it was conceivable that those soldering iron sticks would definitely greet him.

Torture is not the only reason. What Wei Guogong said to him became another nightmare in his heart. Suddenly, he realizes that Grandpa is right; He and Zhu Yunwen actually have too similar experiences. King Yan raised an army, in the final analysis, in order to compete for power, and murdered his own nephew; Once he succeeds, what will he do to the Son of Heaven? There are no two days in the sky, there are no two masters in the country, will he kill his own nephew?

Turning his back on King Yan and taking refuge in the imperial court - a month ago, if he made such a choice, he would laugh off his big teeth with disdain. But now, he began to deeply feel that everything was not as simple as he imagined from the beginning; And King Yan is far from being perfect as he imagined. "Li Shimin can also kill his brother and seize the throne" - why did he naively say such a thing, and he never thought about his life experience? There is a price behind all the glory - the contemporary price is on his head, and for him, is he willing to bear for this glory beyond the clouds? Where is King Yan better than He Yu? Is it worth it?

He was extremely distressed, from sunrise to sleep for two days in a row, lying on the bed still thinking with his eyes open, until Nangong Qiu complained that he ignored him, he would temporarily relax and play with her for a while.

Fang Xiaoru came to see him every day, and Xu Huizu occasionally came. From the mouths of the two, he learned that after the Son of Heaven publicly rebuked Zhu Di, the king of Yan, he ordered the arrest of the palace bureaucrats, and the list included Zhang Yu, Qiu Fu, Zhu Neng, the three generals of Liang and some other powerful military ministers of the king of Yan. King Yan is still pretending to be sick, and is trying to give the court the illusion that he is terminally ill. The Son of Heaven has secretly granted Zhang Hao, Xie Gui, Zhang Xin and Jing Qing a secret edict, asking the four to act at the opportunity and arrest King Yan quickly.

A few days later, he heard that the officials of the two divisions of Beiping had been ordered to be ready to go, and the surrounding garrisons had also received orders to enter a state of alert. Song Zhong, Xu Kai, and Geng Zhen were ready to send troops at any time, and the Datong and Taiyuan guards in the west, and Yongping and Daning in the east also entered a state of alert. It seems that the imperial court is bound to win, and King Yan has become a turtle in an urn, and it is difficult to fly with wings.

Shen Ruoyu couldn't imagine what kind of deployment King Yan would make in the capital, but he was surprised to hear Fang Xiaoru say that King Yan didn't seem to have done anything, and was still just pretending to be sick and refusing to see anyone. A secret report from officials in Beiping said that the Yanwang Mansion had even begun to order ceremonial utensils and filial piety clothes for funerals.

Zhu Yunwen didn't know whether these news were true or false, and he was worried on both sides. If it is false, then the Fourth Emperor Uncle must have exhausted all the organs, and once the army is raised, I don't know how well prepared he has made and how much chance he has of winning; If it is true, it is even worse, his fourth emperor uncle is seriously ill and dying, and he is still sending troops to surround him and issue an edict to arrest him, wouldn't he have lost his conscience.

Shen Ruoyu knew in her heart that King Yan's illness must be fake. The prince would not fall ill at such a moment. In this way, he saw King Yan's perseverance and scheming more clearly. The contradictory choice problem in his heart has been bothering him, and the two roads have been fiercely fighting for a long time, and they can't tell the difference.

However, everything was over soon, whether it was Zhu Yunwen's confusion and worry, or Shen Ruoxiao's difficult choice, they were all solved in a day that was known for a long time but was really unexpected.

On the eighth day of the seventh month, when Shen Ruoyu woke up, the sun was already high. Last night was Qixi Festival, he and Nangong Qiu chanted poems, and they spent the night and slept late. At this moment, Qiu'er was waiting for him with breakfast. He got up lazily, and while talking to her, he was still depressed that he hadn't figured out the problem; The one-month vacation given to him by the Son of Heaven was halfway through in the blink of an eye, but he still couldn't make a decision, and he didn't even have a clue at all.

At this moment, someone desperately pounded the gate of the small courtyard, so manic and impatient, Shen Ruoliao and Nangong Qiu looked at each other, and they didn't know to open the door for a while. Then he walked to the gate of the courtyard and looked out through the crack in the door.

A soldier, judging from his attire, looked like a personal soldier in the palace, sweating profusely, with an extremely panicked expression on his face, and almost torn his facial features out of shape. Seeing that no one opened the door, he violently raised his leg and kicked the door violently, and roared angrily:

"Lord Shen!!"

Shen Ruoyu opened the door in great surprise and looked at him blankly. The soldier was startled, and immediately knelt down on one leg and stammered:

"Gift...... Your Excellency, Wan ...... Long live life...... Small...... Give...... Send it to ...... Urgent...... Urgent...... Urgent! ”

"What's the emergency?" Shen Ruoyu couldn't react for a while, he had already been appointed as the imperial guard, and the Son of Heaven would order to transmit emergency military information to him. His heart was raised high, and he thought that the emperor had changed his mind and wanted to put him back in prison.

The soldier became more and more nervous, and the more he stuttered, which made Shen Ruoliao anxious with him.

"North...... North...... North-North ...... Peiping...... Thousand...... Miles...... Senrika...... Urgent...... Urgent, Yan ...... Yan...... Yanyan Yanwang ...... Yan Wang ......"

Shen Ruoyu's heart was still hanging high just now, but it sank at the moment. His first reaction turned out to be that Yan Wang was sick, completely forgetting that his father-in-law was pretending to be sick at all. In his anxiety, he forgot his proportions, grabbed the stammering soldier and shook him twice, and shouted:

"What the hell is wrong with King Yan?! Can you speak human words?! ”

The soldier was frightened by him, and immediately stopped stammering, and replied quickly and loudly:

"King Yan has raised his army!"

In an instant, he really felt a hot current of joy, excitement and pride surging through his body, and his blood immediately boiled. He dragged the soldier into the small courtyard, grabbed him in his house, and couldn't help but drive Nangong Qiu out.

"Tell me more about it."

How could the soldier explain clearly, so he took out the urgent military report in his arms and handed it to Shen Ruoliao.

It turned out that the Son of Heaven secretly ordered Zhang Hao, Xie Gui, Zhang Xin, and Jing Qing to arrest King Yan, but Zhang Xin secretly told Zhu Di the secret, and secretly agreed with Zhu Di on the details of getting rid of Zhang Yu and Xie Gui and raising troops. On the evening of July 6, on the pretext of handing over the military attache of Yanfu who had been arrested by the edict of the Son of Heaven, King Yan tied up Zhang Yu, Qiu Fu, Zhu Neng and others, lured Zhang Yu and Xie Gui into entering the palace of King Yan through the Duanli Gate, and ambushed his soldiers in the Duanli Gate, and closed the door to ambush them after the two entered. And Zhang Xin made an appointment with Zhang Yu and Xie Gui in advance to set up an army outside the Duanli Gate to wait for him, but when he saw the gate closed, Zhang Xin turned around and disbanded his army, and called on everyone to defect to King Yan.

After Zhu Di killed Zhang Yu and Xie Gui, he also killed Changshi Gecheng, the commander Lu Zhen, the professor Yu Fengchen, who opposed the army in Yan Mansion, and Du Qi, a talented man who had just entered Yan Mansion for less than a day. Eight hundred elite soldiers under the command of King Yan swarmed out of the tunnel, under the leadership of Zhang Yu, Qiu Fu and Zhu Neng, carrying the heads of Zhang Yu and Xie Gui, attacking the two yamen, Guo Zi, the deputy commander of Beiping, Mo Lin, and the commander Lu Zhen were already people of King Yan, earlier than Zhang Xin, and immediately surrendered to King Yan at this time, shouting long live. Eight hundred elite soldiers in one go, overnight attack Beiping Nine Gate, the people of Beiping City also poured out of the city, joined the Yan army's ranks, before dawn captured the last city gate Xizhi Gate, completely occupied the entire Beiping City. Ma Xuan, the commander of the city gate, was defeated and left Jizhou, and Yu Yao, the servant, was defeated and went to Juyongguan.

On July 7, Zhu Di recruited all the troops in Beiping City, plus more than 1,000 people in his own hands, and raised an army of about 60,000 horses. Song Zhong, who was garrisoning Kaiping, had already led the army to Beiping when he received letters from Zhang Yu and Xie Gui, but he learned that Beiping had fallen halfway, so he had to temporarily retreat to Huailai. Zhu Di left 20,000 elite soldiers to garrison Beiping, and led 40,000 elite soldiers to Tongzhou, and Tongzhou, Zunhua, and Miyun were all the old departments of King Yan before.

After reading the emergency report, Shen Ruoyu felt relieved, and admired King Yan so much that he threw himself to the ground. He doesn't have to struggle with his choice anymore. From the beginning, his direction was right, and now that he saw King Yan raise an army, he couldn't hold back the ecstasy in his heart, and he himself firmly believed in this.

He handed the newspaper back to the soldier and asked:

"What is the emperor doing now? Is there a point will? When will the edict be issued? ”

The soldier looked at him blankly and shook his head. "The emperor urgently convened the ministers to discuss in the Wuying Palace, and from sunrise to now, there has been no result."

"The emperor wants you to send me a military report, did you say what you need me to do?"

The soldier said, "Long live, if Lord Shen can bear it, please ask him to come to the Wuying Hall as soon as possible." ”

Shen Ruoyu was slightly stunned. King Yan has just raised his army, and the emperor is discussing with his ministers, but at this moment he wants him to go to Wuying Palace, what does it mean? Did he really change his mind and want to send him to prison again? The imperial court has the lord of Cheng'an and the guest of honor in their hands as hostages to force King Yan to withdraw his troops? King Yan won't truce for the sake of the two of them, wouldn't he definitely die?

He didn't dare to explain to Nangong Qiu, so he had to ride his horse and follow the personal soldier who reported the news back to the palace.

The civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty all stood solemnly in the Wuying Palace, and the atmosphere was very heavy, and no one spoke. Zhu Yunwen sat on the dragon chair in high spirits, his eyes glazed and his expression was in a trance. Shen Ruoyu entered the main hall with anxiety, walked to the jade steps, and cautiously knelt down and kowtowed.

When Zhu Yunwen saw him, he was taken aback: "Cheng'an Yibin is here?" Please be flat. How are you recovering? ”

Shen Ruoyu said: "I have nothing to do, thank you Your Majesty for your concern." But I don't know what your majesty has called me, what is the matter? ”

Zhu Yunwen looked at him and asked softly:

"Cheng'an Yibin, King Yan has officially rebelled. I haven't changed my appointment to you, but I don't know what you think about it at this moment? ”

Shen Ruoyu glanced back at the ministers; Except for Fang Xiaoru, who was looking at him expectantly and a little nervously, there was only suspicion and vigilance in the eyes of the hundred officials. But he couldn't find the shadow of Wei Guogong.

He turned his head, looked at the Son of Heaven, and said respectfully: "If you are rare, you will inherit the emperor's order." From now on, I am just a servant of His Majesty, and I have nothing to do with King Yan. ”

Zhu Yunwen seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. 天子 says:

"That's fine. You stand on the left; From today onwards, that is where you are. ”

Shen Ruoyu walked to the left side of the Son of Heaven and stood still, looking at the Son of Heaven and then at the ministers uneasily.

Zhu Yunwen stopped looking at him, faced the civil and military officials, and asked worriedly:

"Everyone, Aiqing, King Yan has raised troops, what are your good plans?"

No one in the court moved or made a sound. Zhu Yunwen waited, sighed, and picked up the report in front of him.

"The rebellion of the Four Emperor Uncles is still very reasonable. Listen: 'I am the son of Emperor Taizu Gao, the concubine of Empress Xiaoci Gao, and the dear relatives of the country. Since he was sealed, he only knows to abide by the law and abide by the points. Now the young lord is the heir, trusting and traitor, and slaughtering my family. "Emperor Ming Zuxun" cloud: There is no official in the court, there is treachery in it, and the soldiers must be trained to fight against it, and the evil on the side of the emperor will be cleared. This calamity is forced to bow down, and I really want to die; As a last resort, righteousness and treachery do not share the heavens, and they will pursue heavenly retribution to reassure the community. The gods of heaven and earth are given to the heart. 'Listen, how high-sounding?' It's all nonsense! ”

He threw the report to the ground, and it was the first time for Shen Ruoliao to see Emperor Jianwen in such a big fire.

Qi Tai finally came out and said, "Your Majesty doesn't need to be too anxious. The Yan thief just had good luck and bribed Zhang Xin to betray the court, so he was able to get away with the success of raising troops. But it was impossible for him to succeed forever. There are heavy troops besieging Beiping, and the troops of the Governor Song Zhong and Geng Zhen are waiting for them. When the Yan thief army was first assembled, the people's hearts were scattered, and it was impossible to break the encirclement of Beiping. ”

A low voice of approval rose from the court. Zhu Yunwen nodded and said softly:

Qi Aiqing is reasonable. It's just that I treat Zhang Xin well, and I never thought that he would betray me and take refuge in the Fourth Emperor Uncle anyway. ”

Shen Ruoyu laughed secretly in his heart. You didn't expect it, but I watched King Yan and Zhu Neng cultivate Zhang Xin's feelings little by little, what is so strange about him becoming the person of King Yan, what is so strange about Guo Zi, Mo Lin, and Lu Zhen are all people of King Yan, all the armies of Beiping, including Tongzhou, Zunhua, and Miyun Sanwei have all surrendered, and no one in Beiping will feel strange.

Let's see how King Yan buys people's hearts. He is not as simple as you say, he only relied on a Zhang Xin to get things done. Every link in the entire army process is in the grasp of King Yan. Even if Zhang Xin played a decisive role, his chess piece was held in the palm of King Yan's hand from the beginning, and the court still had something to say.

Huang Zicheng said: "Your Majesty, since the Yan thieves have openly rebelled, the top priority is to mobilize the army and order the generals to go on the expedition." ”

Zhu Yunwen looked at him with a sad face. "I don't know. But Huang Aiqing, tell me, who should I send to hang this handsome? ”

Huang Zicheng was slightly stunned when he heard this, and he opened his mouth to stammer. He thought for a moment, shook his head, and retreated into the column.

Zhu Yunwen looked at Qi Tai. "Qi Aiqing, you are the secretary of the Ministry of War, who do you say should be in charge?"

Qi Taizheng frowned, obviously thinking hard, and didn't speak for a long time.

Zhuo Jing, who had a beautiful appearance, stood up and played unhurriedly: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that it is most appropriate for the Duke of Wei to be in charge. ”

Zhu Yunwen was slightly stunned, and then remembered Xu Huizu.

"I sent him to Peking to command this operation, how did he command it, and make it like this; Where is he now, why is there no news at all? ”

Xu Zengshou replied: "Your Majesty's secret order, Wei Guogong will set off on the same day." He said that Peiping's operation was of great importance, but the chances of victory were extremely small. After that, Wei Guogong was never heard from again. ”

Shen Ruoyu was a little worried when he saw the dark clouds on Zhu Yunwen's face.

The young Son of Heaven looked at Zhuo Jing and said, "The Fourth Emperor Uncle is the brother-in-law of Wei Guogong, it is really inappropriate to let Wei Guogong be in charge, Aiqing should raise someone else." ”

Zhuo Jing said unhurriedly: "Your Majesty, the reason why the minister elected the Duke of Wei is because the Duke of Wei has led troops all the year round and is quite experienced; second, because after Wei Guogong became the king of Zhongshan, he could take the lead in taking the lead; The third is for the family relationship between Wei Guogong and Yan Wang, Wei Guogong is as selfless as Zhongshan Wang, jealous and hateful, and when he sees each other on the battlefield, he will not give in to Yan Wang, and since Yan Wang raised troops in the name of clan affection, he can't ignore family affection, otherwise he will ruin his banner. Therefore, when King Yan encounters the Duke of Wei, he will definitely be defeated. ”

Zhu Yunwen shook his head and said, "I still don't think it's appropriate. I asked Wei Guogong to lead his troops to fight his brother-in-law, even if he could bear it, I couldn't bear it. The Fourth Emperor Uncle is already scolding me for harming the clan, and I can't let people say that I am deliberately separating family affection. ”

When the emperor said this, Zhuo Jing had no choice but to retreat.

Zhu Yunwen continued to ask, "Do you Aiqing have any other suggestions?" ”

In the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty, most people felt that if a general was elected to take command of the expedition, only Xu Huizu, the Duke of Wei, had the qualifications and strength, but the Son of Heaven rejected this suggestion, and they could only respond to the Son of Heaven's inquiry with silence.

Zhu Yunwen waited expectantly for a moment, and when he saw that the courtiers below did not react, his face was disappointed, and he sighed:

"I really don't know that there is a shortage of talents to such a point, can't the secretaries even elect a general?"

Xu Zengshou muttered softly: "If Lan Yu is still there, it will definitely not be such an embarrassing situation." ”

His voice was very quiet, but the hall was very quiet, and the Son of Heaven and the ministers still heard it clearly, and immediately the discussion buzzed. Fang Xiaoru said solemnly:

"Lord Xu, Lan Yu and other heinous thieves, I'm afraid they shouldn't be nominated in the main hall, right?"

Xu Zengshou realized that he had said the wrong thing, and immediately defended: "Lord Fang misunderstood, I didn't say that Lan Yumou should have reacted, it's just that to put it mildly, the heroes and generals who can fight well in the DPRK and China have all been killed by Emperor Taizu Gao." Who else can lead troops to war now? ”

His words were indeed very harsh to the ears of the Son of Heaven and the courtiers. However, this time, even Fang Xiaoru, who has always spared no effort to resolutely defend the dignity of the Son of Heaven, had nothing to say, so he had to sigh heavily. Xu Zengshou's words hit the nail on the head.

Zhu Yunwen also sighed involuntarily, and said worriedly:

"Actually, Liang Guogong is the maternal uncle of Empress Xiaokang, and he has always resolutely supported his father's throne and opposed the fourth emperor uncle as the crown prince, how could he rebel; As a result, it was the Four Emperor Uncles who rebelled. If only General Lan were still alive, I would be able to sit back and relax, so why rush like this. ”

Qi Tai said: "Your Majesty, don't be anxious, being anxious is not the way." Or think about it together, among the existing generals, who should command the troops. ”

Zhu Yunwen asked: "Qi Aiqing, you say first, who do you think is suitable?" ”

Qi Tai was speechless for a while, and was embarrassed: "This ...... Rong Chen went back and thought about it......"

Zhu Yunwen had a headache and reached out to support his head. "Alright, alright, you all go back and think about it, and I think about it too. Let's retreat. - Mr. Fang, you come with me. Cheng'an Yibin, you also follow me. ”