At the end of July, as Ma Shiying led the troops and horses of Liu Liangzuo and Huang Degong to withdraw to Nanjing, the center of the Nanjing court was once again in a dispute. In general, the ministers of Nanjing were divided into two factions, one faction was headed by Shi Kefa, the secretary of the military department, who advocated the large-scale dispatch of fine works to infiltrate the Beijing division and inquire about the news of the crown prince Zhu Cihong and the kings in many ways, while the other faction was a large number of people, including the Nanjing garrison eunuch, Ma Shiying, the governor of Lufeng, and Xu Hongji, the duke of Wei, and others advocated that the country should not be without a king for a day, and that a candidate must be immediately selected to inherit the unification and preside over the government.

The two factions quarreled over this, in comparison, Shi Kefa's faction seemed a little lonely, and finally had to compromise and submit, the most important reason for this is that the Jingshi has fallen for nearly a month, and the death of Emperor Chongzhen has been confirmed. However, the news from the Dashun army has confirmed the death of Yongwang Zhu Cizhi, who tried in vain to sneak out of Beijing, but was discovered by the Dashun army and died in the middle of a stream.

As for Zhu Cihuan's younger brother Zhu Cihuan, he is still like a stone sinking into the sea, and there is no news.

The situation has evolved into such a situation, and the crown prince and the king of Ding are also unlucky. Nanjing's court was thus surging with undercurrents, and the words "the work of making decisions" attracted every courtier.

Among them, there are two candidates, namely Zhu Yousong, the king of Fu, and Zhu Changshu, the king of Lu. At this time, Zhu Yousong and Zhu Changshu, as well as Zhu Gongfang, the king of Zhou, and Zhu Cixie, the son of King Chong, fled to Sanyi Town, Huai'an, for a while.

The Jiangnan Donglin Party, headed by Qian Qianyi, advocated the establishment of Zhu Changshu, the well-known and virtuous King of Lu, and in this way, most of the civil servants in the Nanjing Dynasty immediately became inclined to do so. Among them are Zhang Shenyan, Jiang Yueguang, Gao Hongtu and others, who were important in the Nanjing Dynasty.

In contrast, Zhu Yousong, the blessed king who was originally in the first succession line and whose bloodline was closest to Emperor Chongzhen's lineage, was temporarily at a disadvantage.

The Donglin Party had a deep influence among the people in Jiangnan and in the court, and their statements also prompted the entire center to tilt towards Zhu Changshu, the king of Lu. Even Shi Kefa and other important ministers have begun to draw up an edict and send people to Huai'an to welcome Zhu Changshu to Nanjing to take the throne.

The situation in Nanjing also calmed down, the government and the opposition breathed a sigh of relief, and the panic that began when Chongzhen was martyred gradually subsided, and everyone thought that as long as a few days later, Zhu Changshu, the king of Lu, arrived in Nanjing, the Ming Dynasty's partial security situation could be determined, and the entire Jiangnan would be preserved because of this.

However, it was under these circumstances that on the night of July 29, a detachment of men and horses galloped out from the Chaoyang Gate in Nanjing, whipped their horses and whipped them, and headed north.

Two days later, this small group of men appeared at Wujiadun in Hongze Lake. Although it was the height of summer, these people wore hoods without exception, hiding their faces deep in them. Whenever a guard came up to interrogate him, one of them only showed a bronze medal, and the soldiers stayed away from it in silence.

The group stopped at the reedy swing on the north side of the Wujiadun ferry, and several merchant ships could be seen in the distance.

The sky gradually darkened, but these people did not have the slightest intention of leaving, until the sound of horses' hooves was heard on the path not far away, and they twisted their heads and looked in the direction from which the horses' hooves came.

More than a dozen knights with athletic skills came, and in the blink of an eye they came to them.

The two sides looked at each other for a moment, and among the group of people from Nanjing, the leader turned over and dismounted, wrapped in a cloak and slowly walked in front of the more than ten knights who were slightly breathing.

Slowly removing the hood from his head, revealing the face of a white, beardless, slightly bloated middle-aged man. Gently exhaled a breath of turbidity, and said slowly: "I'm Lu Jiude?" Who is here? ”

Hearing this, more than ten knights slowly urged the horses to get out of the way, and the knight at the back stepped forward, and only then did he jump off the horse in front of Lu Jiude, uncover the face scarf on his face, and smile softly: "How is Lu Gongan?" Fengyang said goodbye, but I haven't met for several years, and the student has given you a gift! ”

With the faint starlight, Lu Jiude carefully looked at the man's face, but he couldn't help but be taken aback, "Mr. Yin!" You're here! ”

Yin Shigang smiled deeply, "The big marshal said clearly, it is rare for Lu Gongken to meddle in this troubled water, we must always show our sincerity!" ”

Lu Jiude's eyes emitted two rays of light, and he turned around on Yin Shigang's face, but his face couldn't help but be a little gloomy. "What the hell does your handsome man want to do? Being in Shandong, but thinking about Nanjing, the meaning of this, our family can't see it clearly? ”

Yin Shigang shook his head, "My handsome family has no malice, he is in troubled times, just to protect himself!" ”

"Self-preservation?" Lu Jiude was obviously not convinced by such an answer. Snorted coldly and said, "If it weren't for the deathbed instructions of the master of ceremonies, our family would not have interfered in such a thing." The situation is chaotic, one carelessness is the end of the family and extermination, our family still wants to spend the rest of the year peacefully, Zhu Dashuai's reply will inevitably make our family ......! ”

Yin Shigang suddenly turned around, walked more than ten steps forward, and stood facing the vast Hongze Lake, "Gong Lu, please take a step to speak!" ”

Lu Jiude hesitated for a moment, but finally took a step and stood on Yin Shigang's side.

Yin Shigang lowered his voice, "Duke Lu, I can't hide it, the relationship between the prince of the celebrant and the marshal of my family is quite deep, otherwise, I wouldn't have left you a letter when the city was broken." The prince once said, Duke Lu, you are definitely a friend who can be fully trusted, and it is because of this that the marshal of my family entrusts this matter to you! ”

Lu Jiude snorted from his nose. "The prince treats me with kindness, and I, Lu Jiude, naturally sacrifice my life to repay me, but now, if you still want to cover up and cover up, even if I, Lu Jiude, come to the appointment today, then I can still turn around and leave now."

Yin Shigang didn't care about Lu Jiude's angry words, and didn't even turn around, but said: "My family is the eldest son of His Royal Highness Zhu Yujian, the king of Tang, and soon after, the edict of the first emperor Chongzhen will spread all over the world, and my family will be established as the son of the Tang clan and included in the clan!" ”

Yin Shigang's words were tantamount to a thunderbolt, making Lu Jiude's body tremble, "What you said is true? ”

Yin Shigang did not answer the question. "My marshal is in charge of the military and political affairs of a province in Shandong, and now the kings are vying for the throne, saying a big disrespectful word, even if the prince ascends the throne, my marshal is in a catastrophe. What the student said just now was from the bottom of his heart, and there was nothing false about it, and what the handsome man did was just for self-preservation. ”

Cold sweat trickled down Lu Jiude's forehead, "Could it be that Zhu Dashuai also intends to be in that position?" Or maybe His Royal Highness the Tang King also wants to ......? ”

Yin Shigang smiled, "A qiē is taking advantage of the trend, but I still don't know?" ”

"Then why do you want our family to persuade His Royal Highness King Fu to ......?" Lu Jiude was a little stunned for a while.

"Shun Tian is lucky, my handsome man will never go against the sky, now the major forces in Jiangnan may not recognize the strength of my Tang Palace, it is better to take a step back and open the sky, maybe the willows and flowers will be bright?"

Looking at Yin Shigang's smiling face, Lu Jiude broke out in a cold sweat. Zhu Ping'an's ability, when he was in Fengyang, he didn't dare to underestimate it, but he never thought that Zhu Ping'an would have such an identity, let alone that he would have such a plan!

Seeing it today, Yin Shigang has already put all the hole cards in front of Lu Jiude, Lu Jiude arrived, where to go, he can no longer allow himself to choose. Wang Chengen and Zhu Ping'an are planning a big chess game, and he, Lu Jiude, is just a chess piece on this chessboard. Second, the series of things he did to help Wang Chengen before turned out to be just a foreshadowing for entering the game.

Seeing the change on Lu Jiude's face, Yin Shigang also knew that he was in a dilemma at this time, so he lightly added a weight.

"Han Zanzhou, the master of ceremonies in Beijing, just arrived in Nanjing yesterday, and less than two hours after entering the city, he flew out of the city, which was in the direction of Huai'an. What is the meaning of his trip, presumably Lu Gong must be able to guess it? Students may wish to remind Lu Gong that after he entered the city, he only saw one person, who was Ma Shiying, the current governor of Lufeng! ”

Lu Jiude gasped.

Yin Shigang smiled lightly, "Duke Lu doesn't have to worry, the Huaiyang Road Fujun has already gotten the news, and within three days, he will definitely not be able to reach this ...... by Hongze Lake!" ”

Lu Jiude was shocked.

"There is another thing, the student must inform Lu Gong that the prince has gone to sea by boat from Tianjin Wei, but the sea is very stormy these days, which has delayed the moment. You will arrive in Dengzhou in a few days! ”

Lu Jiude almost jumped up, forcibly held back the horror in his heart, and said in a low voice: "Then you still dare to do this, do you want to provoke their civil strife?" ”

"The prince, the Fu King, and the Lu King are all mediocre people, and the handsome man of my family is grateful for the kindness of the first emperor, and will definitely assist His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to become a great treasure, as for the future trend of this situation, Duke Lu may wish to wait and see. The commander made it clear that he would never rebel, but if someone wanted to be against him, he would never sit idly by. Dashuai specially pointed out that you are his talisman, and if His Royal Highness the Tang King has the opportunity to ...... in the future, the post of the master of ceremonies will definitely be vacant. The stakes of this, please Lu Gong must think carefully! ”

Lu Jiude's brain has now completely become a pot of paste, and what Zhu Ping'an has done has been completely placed in front of him. Lu Jiude also knew in his heart that with Zhu Ping'an's current strength, he had every chance to compete for the world, but now he had to hide behind the two mountains of the crown prince and the king of Fu for the time being.

Lu Jiude suddenly remembered a seemingly inconspicuous sentence in Wang Chengen's letter. When I thought about it before, I always thought he was talking about the current situation in Jiangnan, but now that I think about it, it obviously has a deep meaning.

"Build a high wall, accumulate grain, and follow the trend, there will be a turnaround!"

Yin Shigang turned his head and cast his eyes on the lonely-looking boats on the vast lake.

"King Fu and they hid in the lake, and the students also heard that Lu Gong had already dealt with Liu Liangzuo and Huang Degong. Because of this, you have to make a decision early, and we are running out of time, and students think that tonight must be a turning point! ”

As soon as he heard the word "turnaround", Lu Jiude's hands in his sleeves couldn't help but tremble. R1152