Situ Lei had more than a dozen sons, but only five of them were directly related and capable, and the third son, Situ Fei, was killed by the men and horses sent to Luoyang by the former Xiaoguo Army. In other words, there are four candidates who are now capable of taking over the throne of King Yong.

Among them, the eldest prince Situ Hao is in charge of Luoyang, responsible for the government affairs of King Yong's forces, and is also responsible for the coordination of court affairs. It can be said that Situ Hao is the best candidate to be Zaifu, Situ Hao, who is thirty-four or five years old, has formed his own unique personality charm, and behind him are civil officials and local civil officials under the influence of King Yong.

The second prince, Situ Fei, was appointed by Situ Lei to stay in Chang'an, the western capital, and now, he is in charge of the western affairs of the entire Yongwang power, which can be regarded as extremely powerful. However, it deviated from the center of Luoyang, and the situation was somewhat bad. The fourth and fifth are both leaders in the army, and they each have a large number of civil and military officials to support them, and they can be regarded as soldiers of one side. Of course, the secession here means that they also have civil and military officials, large and small, who put their own future and interests on them.

And Situ Wen supported the fourth prince Situ Tai, in fact, the eldest prince and the second prince had won him over, but Situ Wen was still determined to support Situ Tai. In addition to Situ Tai, when he Situ Wen was still a side line, he treated him well and recommended him to Situ Lei, but also because of the advantages and disadvantages between these princes.

The power of the eldest prince has been established, most of them are civil officials, and they all look down on people who do not have a certain status. In addition, under the command of this great prince, there are many talents, not many of them Situwen, and many of them are less. It can be said that under the command of the eldest prince, he cannot be reused, especially those with old qualifications, he will not be reused. In addition, Situ Wen is not very optimistic about the eldest prince, because many of the talents under his command are former imperial party or centrists, and some self-righteous people with high prestige but no real ability. For them, Situ Wen clearly felt the impatience in Situ Lei's heart.

The second prince is a good candidate, but he was transferred to Chang'an and it was difficult to contact him. People who do not have a certain status are backing him up in Luoyang, and it is difficult for him to have a greater performance when Situ Wen is abroad. Don't look at him, Situ Wen can stir up wind and rain in the land of Yanzhou, because the fourth prince spoke for him later.

After talking to Shanyang Jun, this Situ Wen immediately rushed back to Luoyang, met with Situ Tai, and told him what happened to him, waiting for Situ Tai's decision.

Regarding the information sent back by Situ Wen, Situ Tai also found it difficult to make a decision. If he wants to report this to Situ Lei, naturally he can't hand it all over to Situ Lei to deal with, and he must make certain judgments and reasons. Otherwise, where there is no credit for him. Now Situ Lei's body is gradually declining, especially after the palace incident, the world has discussed it, and the charge of killing the monarch and usurping rebellion has been pushed to Situ Lei, and now Situ Lei is a little unable to support it. Two days of hard work made the elderly Situ Lei gradually decline.

After Situ Lei's physical weakness and his inadvertent expression of his intention to choose an heir from among the several princes, the four qualified princes began to stir. This position of King Yong can be described as the emperor of King Yong's forces, and no one in a few princes wants to do such a position. Therefore, the princes painstakingly accumulated merit and expressed filial piety, hoping that the old man would hand over the throne to them.

Situ Lei is not an ordinary person, naturally he will not be moved by some trivial actions and sudden filial piety, he directly takes this crusade against the eastern princes as a test, and the one with the greatest credit is Wang Shizi. At this time, all the princes are focusing their energy on this war, and the supporters of each prince will also take this war as the most important thing. This is also the fact that although Hanoi Province retreated most of the time, and Henan Province retreated by a small half, it was almost a one-to-one loss, leaving more than 100,000 corpses of the coalition forces with more troops.

"Awen, you say, should I agree to this? How do I talk to my father? For the understanding of the Shanyang Army, none of us can compare to you, and you have the most right to speak in this matter. After a moment of silence, Situ Tai stared at Situ Wen and asked in a deep voice.

Situ Wen said in a loud voice: "Fourth Prince, we naturally can't believe the words of this Shanyang Army. This Sanyang Army is definitely only for themselves, not for us. They can treacherously attack the Yanzhou Mansion Army, which shows that they have made expanding their strength the first priority, and they don't care about the rest. ”

Situ Tai was stunned for a moment and said, "So, do you mean to say that I should not agree to contact the Shanyang Army and ignore it?" In his opinion, since Situ Wen brought up this matter, he should let himself agree, not refuse. Otherwise, what's the use of saying it?

Situ Wen shook his head and said, "Of course not, the subordinates mean to promise them." This Sanyang Army really wants to expand itself, and will not take care of anything else. However, the position that this Shanyang Army is in now poses a greater threat to Murong Cheng than to us. As long as the Shanyang Army makes any moves, then the Tang Army, the Xuzhou Army and the Wuwei Army will all move. In the end, it will only lead the Qi army to follow the corresponding changes, which is advantageous for me. ”

"Fourth Prince, no matter how strong the Shanyang Army is, it doesn't have the slightest impact on us now. However, for the coalition forces, the impact is greater. We only need to put in some money to get there, so why not? The subordinates are foolish and can reach a secret agreement with them. ”

Situ Tai thought for a while and said, "What you said makes sense, so it's worth operating." However, what if the Sanyang Army benefited and there was no change? ”

Situ Wen said in a deep voice: "Then quietly leak the actions of us and the Shanyang Army to the Tang Army and the Xuzhou Army, and let them know that the Shanyang Army is accumulating strength and is ready to attack them." ”

Situ Tai smiled: "Very good, this is a good idea. I will report this information to my father, and I will not forget your merits. Also, in the future, you can just call me the fourth brother, no need to be too polite. ”

Situ Wen thanked him repeatedly, but he didn't dare to think so in his heart. These princes, none of them are good at stubble. Besides, if this Situ Tai really wanted him to be polite and let him call the fourth brother, he wouldn't have spoken afterwards. However, Situ Wen was not angry, this was also a means for the superior, and he could still accept it normally.

…………

The army was not ready to officially attack the Tiger Prison Pass, and Murong Chengcheng, the king of Qi, held back the fire in his belly. His men were found guilty of aiding in the crusade against Situ Lei, and rumors began to spread. Of course, this is not actually a rumor. However, it also affected his overall planning.

"What's going on? Why are our secret actions known to the outside world? Have you ever found the source of the information? Murong Cheng asked coldly.

Zhong Yan said in a loud voice: "Back to the prince, the sources are complicated, there are Xuzhou Army, Tang Army, and Shanyang Army. Among the three princes' camps, there were rumors. It is rumored that the prince and the Xuzhou army joined forces to prepare to attack the Tang army and the Shanyang army after the battle, and handed over the land of the two states to the jurisdiction of the Xuzhou army. However, there are also rumors that it was the Shanyang Army that joined forces with the prince, preparing to capture Xuzhou and the Tang Army after the war, and hand over the land of the two states to the Shanyang Army. ”

"Speaking of which, most of these things are true. However, this should not have been leaked. Among them, the only one who can show clues is that Master Zhang sent an envoy to the Shanyang Army. After all, to negotiate with the Xuzhou Army, it is in the military camp, and to negotiate with the Shanyang Army, it is to send people to Yanzhou Mansion. ”

Murong Cheng frowned and said, "In this way, it should be the Shanyang Army who leaked the information?" ”

"No, not necessarily, maybe it's the Xuzhou Army. The information between us and the Shanyang Army was leaked by the Xuzhou Army, and most of it came from the Tang Army. That's fine. However, how can our agreement with the Xuzhou Army be known, this is a strange question. ”

Murong Cheng said coldly: "Do you suspect that it was spread by the Xuzhou army?" This is not impossible, we send people to contact the Shanyang army, and the Xuzhou army will definitely get the news. It is also possible that they will not be willing to be used by us after learning about the situation. ”

Zhong Yan shook his head and said: "My subordinates don't think so, but the spread of the news not only made a few princes careful, but also made the soldiers below start to pay attention to some of our methods. In short, someone deliberately did this so that we would not target the princes' coalition. ”

Murong Cheng said coldly: "According to this, the Tang Army is the most suspicious, followed by the Shanyang Army. ”

"That's right, it's true, the Tang army is now in decline, and the Shanyang army and we have not succeeded in negotiating again. Then, the only Xuzhou army that is closer to us is the person who needs to be guarded by both of them. But, even so, we can't do anything, otherwise, it will make the rumors true. ”

Murong Cheng said in a sullen voice: "You are right, the rumors are aimed at the problems between several princes, if it becomes a real existence, it will be about the soldiers of the coalition army." Then, in the end, it is we who will suffer. ”

Zhong Yan smiled bitterly: "Now, we can only suspend the small actions against the Tang Army and the Shanyang Army. Otherwise, the situation is not in our favor. However, it is really a pity. The people of the Tang Army are nothing, just ordinary young men with a little training. However, the people of the Shanyang Army, that is a reserve soldier. As long as they are equipped with armor, they are recruits. It's a pity......" he said, and couldn't help but sigh.

Murong Cheng frowned, and said: "This is why I want to win over this Shanyang army, they are extraordinary, they can train the people as soldiers, can they be underestimated?" Forget it, let's not mention this for now. ”

"What do you think of the news reported by Zhang Tuyu? This Shanyang army is treacherous and tight, and it is not easy to deal with. Unlike the Xuzhou army, what Li Chi needs is not what we really promise, what he needs is for us to help him contain the Shanyang army, and more importantly, Li Chi wants us to stop the attack on Xuzhou. In this way, Li Chi can rely on the ability of the Xuzhou Army to make a move against the Tang Army. and even attacked the Shanyang army. Therefore, he doesn't care if we really give the benefits we say, they just need us to stop the attack on Xuzhou. ”

Zhong Yan sighed and said, "This Shanyang Army is indeed very troublesome, even more troublesome than the original Yanzhou Mansion Army. Their relationship with the Xiaoguo Army is a difficult problem to deal with. If it was just this, it would be fine, but the two people in charge of them are still thoughtful. Ordinary means, for them are not useful at all. ”

"I'm worried that if I am hostile to them, I will end up in a big way. If we gather them, we will suffer in the end, and it will be the Shanyang Army that will benefit. An army in a mere place can make Xu Jie fall and replace him, which is not something that ordinary people can do. ”