Xu Wenhan's attempt to take advantage of the convenience of managing the country's money and grain and turn it into a soft knife in his own hand is really well-intentioned. But it is far from enough to stop the ambitious conspirators, and at best it can only hold them back.

Since ancient times, the circulation of goods has followed the law of consciously maintaining the balance between supply and demand in a certain state. Where there is a shortage of goods, it means that where the market contains huge profits. There have been no major natural disasters in Daxia in recent years, and the wind and rain are smooth and the grains are abundant. If it weren't for the cover of the natural price increase trend a year ago, coupled with the relatively backward communication in this era, the difficulty of instant transmission of news, and the bad weather that is very easy to cause transportation inconvenience, and many other factors, driven by the coveted windfall profits, a large amount of grain will soon pour into Chang'an.

In just half a month, it was not easy for the Qin family to rely on simple commercial means to cause the price of grain in Chang'an to skyrocket. It is even more difficult to grit your teeth and hold on to creating a situation of food shortage in Chang'an. Yang Zhi said that there was still a lot to be done, and Qin Kongyun couldn't help but secretly complain: Anyway, it's not to spend your money, of course you don't feel pain!

"No one would want to do a loss-making business, I won't, and I believe that neither will Gong Qin." I saw Yang Zhi smile firmly: "Actually, silver is not the key issue, in the final analysis, it is how to make good use of the limited military power." The purpose of creating a food shortage is to send troops out, and there are many things that can be done by sending troops out, including the more convenient way to create a food shortage. ”

Qin Kongyun suddenly said: "If you can send troops to seal the road, you can stop the influx of grain from other places!" King Ning and King Kang are far away from Chang'an, they have been commanding troops for many years, and they naturally have business in all aspects. If they have the intention of raising troops to make a rebellion, they will naturally not and cannot rely on the allocation of food and salaries from the imperial court. The prince is different! The foundation of the crown prince is the powerful forces of the Shi clan in Jincheng and Guanzhong, as long as he is still outside Tongguan, he has no confidence to risk forcibly announcing the succession. Wei Su can control the palace guards and the city defense of Chang'an, but we can use the food shortage to jam the neck of the entire Chang'an! The Qin clan waited for this matter to be released to stabilize the price of grain, and there would be no profit or loss. ”

Xu Wenhan said expressionlessly: "This time, the function of the Qin clan is not just to create a food shortage. Before the third brother returned to Beijing, there was a matter that I didn't know in my heart, and now I can do it with confidence. ”

Yang Zhi nodded knowingly and said, "That's to create panic." The reason why the prince dared to take risks. The biggest advantage is that he has a position. Regardless of whether the emperor died a normal death or not, as long as he could not catch the ironclad evidence of killing his father and usurping the throne, he would be the rightful and legitimate successor. Therefore, we must use public opinion to resolve his advantage as much as possible, with the help of Qin's ubiquitous semicolon vein. Spread the news of the prince's conspiracy to kill his father and usurp the throne as soon as possible. At that time, even if we are unable to return to the sky, not only King Ning and King Kang, but also generals like Geng Jin, Zhou Ting, and Zeng Yingming who have heavy troops, as long as they have the ability and do not want the prince to sit on the throne, they will have an excuse to raise troops to fight. ”

Qin Kongyun changed color in shock and said, "This ...... Wouldn't this lead to civil strife in Great Xia? Causing Great Xia to fall apart overnight? ”

Xu Wenhan said coldly: "Second brother, do you think that if we don't do this, Great Xia will have no worries about civil strife?" Even if the crown prince is lucky, how can he hide his father's usurpation from the world? King Ning and King Kang have coveted the storage position for a long time, and they usually want to set off a three-foot wave when they have nothing to do. Don't say that the crown prince usurped and rebelled, even if King Ning and King Kang only heard such rumors, they would definitely bite it to death. Translocation, whether for us or for the prince, is a matter of death and afterlife! The sooner it spreads, the more it disrupts the prince's established plan, and the greater his concerns. The better our chances of getting around! ”

Qin Kongyun was still confused and said: "The little brother is dull, and he is still a little ignorant. Since the prince is deliberate, then what we can think of, of course he can think of. It may lead to the collapse of Great Xia, but it may not be able to sit on the throne, and it will bring disaster to the country and the people without benefiting himself, so why should he take such a big risk? Besides, if the emperor is already unfortunate at this time, and the mother and son of the king of Yue ask themselves that they have no way to compete for the throne, and they are bent on staying out of the matter, why did we come here with such painstaking planning? Didn't it add fuel to the fire and hasten the fall of Great Xia? ”

Yang Zhi sneered: "This is originally a big gamble. put the lives of countless people into it. The bet is on the family and the country! The prince's past performance was really lackluster, and he knew that he was far from the emperor's ideal successor. It is not difficult for anyone with a discerning eye to see that when the emperor returns to the court, it will only be a matter of time before he changes to the court. The crown prince, the empress and Wei Su all knew. If you don't seize this opportunity, I'm afraid you can only watch others sit on the dragon chair on the Jinluan Palace. The so-called success and defeat of the king, how many ups and downs have been changed throughout the ages is only in a thought. The opportunity is fleeting, and once you miss it, it is the difference between heaven and earth. ”

"So these lunatics think it's worth the gamble! Your Qin clan and the emperor used each other, forcing the Li clan to become a second-rate character in the Great Xia Dynasty, and I forced An Guihou to almost ruin his family. But are we wrong? No. No one is stupid these days. If the crown prince said that he would not touch half of your Qin family after he ascended the throne, would you believe it? Today, the queen even threw out a high hat with a different surname to hang my appetite, can I believe it? If we don't gamble, and now we give up our belongings and pick up our tails and leave, will you be willing? We have no choice but to serve to the end! ”

Qin Kongyun's expression was stunned, and he was speechless for a while.

Yang Zhi said in a sequian manner: "Duke Qin is indeed prescient, and we all underestimate the prince. The second brother's confusion is not difficult to explain at all, the prince must have thought that the matter of killing his father and usurping the throne would not be able to cover it in the end, but he also thought that there would be a time lag when the news spread, which was why he dared to take the risk and gamble. His wishful thinking was divided into four steps: after controlling or simply killing the emperor, he first strictly sealed the news to the outside world. When the blockade is suspicious, the news of the emperor's illness will be released in due course. The emperor's illness is naturally up to him, and it takes a process from mild to severe, so he can make a detour to Zhongzhou on the grounds that the emperor is recuperating and avoid the danger of King Ning's brazen attack. Then the emperor was held hostage and returned to Chang'an, as long as he entered Tongguan, the emperor could be declared sick and dead, and he naturally looked at things as a new monarch, and urgently summoned King Ning and King Kang to return to Beijing for funeral. ”

In this way, the crown prince can at least buy nearly a month. People all over the world will gradually know that the emperor died of illness, and the news of his death will not seem too sudden and suspicious. Wei Su and the queen used this time to calmly arrange in Chang'an, thinking that they would respond. King Ning and King Kang had no reason to refuse, so they had to be summoned. And they will never bring hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses back to Beijing to mourn, as soon as they leave the barracks, they will be dead tigers with teeth extracted. When the status of the monarch and the minister is certain, the lives of the three younger brothers who are qualified to succeed to the throne are in his hands, saying that he killed his father and usurped the throne and no one can produce evidence, with the help of the power of the Li family and Wei Su, he is still afraid that he will not be able to sit on the throne? ”

Xu Wenhan said solemnly: "What the third brother said is not bad. If the prince hadn't planned carefully, he would have thought it through. I would never take such a big risk. Of course, we underestimated the prince, and the prince also underestimated us. Although I am in the phase, I am a scholar, you have a lord and no job and are far away in Shandong, and the Qin family has a huge wealth and has nothing to do with the court. The prince may not have seen us as a threatening force beforehand. As for the emperor, I dare to assert that his life should still be alive at this moment! ”

It has been more than 20 days since the incident, and Yang Zhi believes that most of the emperor is already dead. Although he also hoped that the emperor would be safe and sound, he heard Xu Wenhan say so. I still don't think so.

Why didn't Qin Kongyun think so? Stunned, he asked, "The emperor should still be alive at this moment?" Why is Big Brother so sure? ”

Xu Wenhan didn't answer and asked: "Second brother, if you were the crown prince, what would you do?" ”

Qin Kongyun replied without thinking about it: "Then do you still need to ask?" The third brother also said that the opportunity should not be lost and will not come again. I think the first thing the crown prince should do is to take the emperor's life, at least to make his body unable to move or speak, no different from a dead man. If you have the intention to usurp and rebel, there is no advance or retreat, either you die or I die, you can only go to the dark one way, and the most taboo is to hesitate and cause long dreams at night! ”

"It's a good word, but I'm afraid it's not that simple." Xu Wenhan shook his head with a faint look in his eyes and said, "The emperor's heart has never been judged by ordinary people's hearts. The emperor and the crown prince are by no means comparable to ordinary fathers and sons. I am not making this assertion. ”

"There is a Tao at the beginning of man, and his nature is good. Although no one is destined to be vicious and resolute from the beginning of his mother's womb, a person's scheming and courage is the same as reading and learning, and it is indeed necessary to pay attention to a certain talent. In the fifteen years since the crown prince was appointed as the prince, he has always felt that his status is shaky, and he should have let go of his talents to ensure the stability of his throne. But he has no self-confidence, and he is afraid of his hands and feet. His usual cowardice, mediocrity and indecision are definitely not pretended. I thought about it. In addition to the helpless resentment of the emperor, the prince has more of a reverence that has become a habit over the years. If it weren't for the empress and Wei Su and others to instigate and help him plot, the prince might not have the courage to try to usurp rebellion. To put it simply, judging from the prince's ordinary temperament and mind. Before being absolutely sure, the emperor will not be put to death. It's not that he can't give up his heart, but he still fantasizes that if he fails, there is still a glimmer of life, and the emperor will spare his life because of his scruples and the notoriety of killing his son. ”

"Secondly, from the perspective of the emperor's temperament. The emperor has been in power for more than 20 years, and he has been invincible in the east and west, knowing people well, rewarding and punishing people, and attaching great importance to the hearts of the people. In the eyes of the Great Xia soldiers, he enjoys an unmatched prestige. The emperor is really the master of the scheming and gloomy man, and he has never slackened in the power of employing people to manage the three things of military management. The emperor has opened up the territory and plundered the land to destroy the country for many years, and how many people have formed a family feud and national hatred? Are there still few people who want his life? But when have you and I heard that someone once assassinated the emperor? So for all these years it's not that no one wants, but that no one can! Of course, it can be said that it is the trend of the times and the people's desire to calm down the war tomorrow, and it can also show that the emperor always maintains a high degree of vigilance for his own safety! Of course, there are many of the prince's carefully cultivated henchmen and dead generals among the accompanying soldiers and horses, but if it is said that the method of blatant killing is used to kill the king, it seems unlikely that there will be such an opportunity. In addition to the house arrest of heavy soldiers, the way to control the emperor is the same as dealing with Zhou Ting, and the only way to poison him is to take advantage of the gap. ”

Xu Wenhan's deliberations have always had a characteristic, either he simply doesn't say it, or he can squeeze two taels of oil out of the stone when he says it openly, lest he be unknown.

Qin Kongyun was dumbfounded when he heard this, and said with a helpless wry smile: "The eldest brother said for a while as if the prince was already in control, and then said as if the prince was not vulnerable at all. Your mouth is really provocative! ”

Yang Zhi heard another smell. Xu Wenhan said a lot of things at length, which is somewhat far-fetched, but it is not unreasonable. It is not for anything else, not only for the two of them to be fully mentally prepared for the difficulties of defeating the prince, but also for them to build up the confidence to give it a go.

Although Xu Wenhan did not name him, the prince's so-called confidant and adviser is nothing more than the East Palace attendant Pei Xianzhong who wrote all the ghost eyes on his stomach and couldn't be on the table, the so-called dead soldier general, except for the brother-in-law Shen Chong, who is missing a string in his head? If the emperor could escape this catastrophe, he might have some scruples about bearing the notoriety of killing his son, but he could spare heavily? I don't know how crazy Shen Zhong will be under the flickering of the prince? In other words, how stupid will Shen Zheng be?

Yang Zhi frowned absentmindedly and said, "Yes, the prince is indeed a person who has no rules for doing bad things. His vain attempt to usurp this time is destined to be a pot of raw rice. What we do is whether his pot of rice can be cooked, and who can eat it in his mouth, only God knows, let's see! ”

Qin Kongyun saw that he had a faint intention to end today, and hesitated: "There is one more thing, the eldest brother and the third brother must know it in their hearts. The princes and nobles of Chang'an and the important ministers of civil and military affairs are also mortals who eat grains, and they have to do daily procurement of firewood, rice, oil and salt. The industries involved in my Qin business are almost all-encompassing, and it can be said that they are pervasive. After the father reached a tacit understanding with the emperor to help and reciprocity, he took advantage of this festival to take precautions and began to arrange secretly. Nowadays, there are many people from the Qin clan lurking in various mansions, and there are people who are impatient and not afraid of trivial things to lead their affairs. My father made this arrangement only for self-protection, and in order to avoid violating the holy taboo, as long as the news from various mansions was not related to the major interests of my Qin family, he would ignore it. ”

Speaking of this, he took out a small seal and handed it to the two of them, his face showed shame, and his eyes looked a little empty: "Now that it is an extraordinary period related to the luck of the family and country, we cannot afford to make any mistakes." I didn't mean to deceive, even I only learned about it after being told by my father recently, and I hope that the eldest brother and the third brother will not blame. In the future, if someone shows the unique mark of the Qin clan and can say the incision to collude with the news, you can absolutely trust. ”

The Qin clan has stood for decades and has been honored and favored, and naturally has its own unique rules of survival. In the eyes of Yang Zhi and Xu Wenhan, the Qin family is like a bottomless ancient well, hiding too many unknown secrets. The two of them had known that the Qin clan was well-informed, but at this time, listening to Qin Kongyun say it himself, the Duke of Qin actually did not hesitate to spend decades and a lot of manpower and material resources to set up such a tightly monitored intelligence network in Chang'an, and they were still secretly frightened.

Although Yang Zhi already knew that the Qin family not only had a huge business network, but also was a secret spy agency similar to a copycat version of the CIA, at this time, he couldn't help but think of the Kuomintang Secret Bureau in the old movie in his previous life! (To be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to the www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) )