On the 28th day of the second lunar calendar of the ninth year of Xiande, the city of Lanzhou, which had just undergone great changes, gradually returned to its former calm. Although the ruins of the south gate and the city wall on the left have not been cleared, and the people around the south gate are still hindered in entering and exiting, the lives of most of the residents in the city have returned to the state before the war - after all, for these small people in Shengdou, whether they are surnamed Chai or Zhang, it has nothing to do with them. They are more concerned about whether they can eat enough today and whether they can dress warmly tomorrow.

The small people don't care who sits on the Son of Heaven, but Zhao Kuangyin and his brothers, who are temporarily living in the Jiedu Mansion, can't help but pay attention to this matter. At noon that day, all the members of the Zhao clan in the conquest army gathered in the study of Zhao Kuangyin's temporary residence to discuss a major matter of importance to them. And the cause of this incident was a holy decree that had just been sent and was now on display on the table.

This is a sacred decree about the imperial court's reward and reward for quelling Zhang Yongde's rebellion, as well as ordering the conquest army to move south after a short rest to quell Li Chongjin's rebellion. It is said that judging from the current situation in the coming weeks, it was originally a very common thing for Zhao Kuangyin and others to receive such a holy decree -- to pacify Zhang Yongde, it is natural to reward and reward, and Li Chongjin's intention to rebel is also conclusive, and it is reasonable to send troops to pacify it. But after reading through the holy decree, especially after carefully pondering the seemingly ordinary and inconspicuous paragraph at the end of the holy decree, the content about ordering Zhao Kuangyin and other generals who participated in the counterinsurgency battle to enter Beijing on the way south to face the saint and accept the official reward, it made Zhao Kuangyin and his group of brothers suspicious.

The general went out to fight and won, and the class returned to the court and entered Beijing to face the saint, such an arrangement seems to be reasonable on the surface. But if you think about it carefully, you will find that it is irrational. If there are no other major battles after Zhang Yongde is pacified, then it is understandable to summon Zhao Kuangyin and other leading generals back to the DPRK -- it will be suspicious that the generals will not be allowed to enter Beijing at that time. But now the war is still ongoing, and the imperial court also ordered Zhao Kuangyin and others to move south to quell Li Chongjin's rebellion in the same holy decree. At this time, the generals who were ordered to have command responsibilities entered Beijing to face the saint, which could not help but make people feel strange. As the saying goes, "the speed of the soldiers" naturally means that the faster the troops are transferred, the better. Even if the imperial court intended to reward the three armies to show the importance of the imperial court and the favor of the officials, the most appropriate way would be to send the important officials of the imperial court out of the city to work the army, and never to let the army stop, and wait for it is by no means a matter of time and a half to complete the holy activities - especially when the army returns to the capital and then goes south to Huainan is obviously a detour. Such a contrary practice will naturally make Zhao Kuangyin and his cronies and brothers wary and go all out to guard against it -- this is also the reason why Zhao Kuangyin called everyone to discuss.

"Before the rebellion was quelled, the imperial court asked us to return to Beijing to face the saint and be sealed, and its intentions can be known without asking, and the inspector should think twice!" Zhao Kuangyin's first strategist, Zhao Pujin, admonished.

"What Judge Zhao said is very true. The elder brother has a heavy army, and he will be feared by the court. This pacification of Zhang Yongde made his brother's prestige even stronger, and the suspicion of the court will inevitably be heavier. At this time, the elder brother and the others were recalled to the capital, and the court was definitely not at ease. According to the younger brother's opinion, this capital must not be returned. Zhao Kuangyi echoed on the side.

"If it is so blunt to disobey the will of the imperial court, I am afraid that it will not be appropriate." One of Zhao Kuangyin's right-hand men, Li Chuyun, the capital of the Imperial Palace, said, "The imperial court has made it clear that the Lord and the generals will return to Beijing, and if they refuse to return to Beijing, they will be disobeying the decree. In this way, wouldn't it give the imperial court the truth of suppressing the big people who were inspected. ”

"What if you don't obey the order?" Zhao Kuangyi was unconvinced, "As the so-called 'the general is not subject to the orders of the monarch outside', my brother is leading the troops outside, and he should put the war first, how can he ignore the safety of the society because of an unreasonable will of the imperial court, and then miss the crusade plan." Besides, my brother now has a heavy army, even if the court is really dissatisfied, what can he do to my brother? What do you dare to do to your brother? ”

"Zhao Du knows that this is wrong." Li Chuyun shook his head and said, "Now that Lord Dianjian has heavy troops, the imperial court naturally does not dare to clash head-on with Lord Diancha. But the imperial court is powerless to confront the inspector, but it does not mean that he will be willing to be humiliated, and watch the inspector become a big tail; The imperial court did not dare to take the edge of the inspector, but it did not mean that it would not look for foreign aid and rely on liliang outside the imperial court to deal with the inspector. ”

"Looking for foreign help to deal with my brother?" Zhao Kuangyi said disapprovingly, "Although the heroes are divided today, the only one who really has some strength and is adjacent to the Central Plains is Li Yu, a straw bag in Jiangnan who only knows how to sing poetry and has no ability to govern the country." Talking about whether the Chai Zhou court can invite this mortal enemy, even if Li Yu is really willing to help, with his brother's current strength, how can those soft-footed soldiers in Jiangnan be the opponents of the forbidden army of our palace. ”

Hearing this, Li Chuyun shook his head again and said, "The southern soldiers are weak, so they are naturally not the opponents of the forbidden army of my palace. But this army is not the only one in the world, which can be compared with the army under the command of Lord Diancha. It must be known that although the southern soldiers are weak, there is a northern soldier that is extremely strong. ”

"A strong northern soldier?" Zhao Kuangyi was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then immediately reacted to who Li Chuyun was referring to, and immediately waved his hand and said: "Although the Beiping Army is strong, it has already reached a tacit understanding with our side and will not interfere with our party's achievement of the 'great cause'. Moreover, with the strength of the Beiping army, I am afraid that the Chai Zhou court will be more protective of it than my brother, so how can it be possible to 'lure the wolf into the house' and order its soldiers to enter the center to deal with my brother. ”

"If it were in peacetime, the Chai Zhou court would naturally not provoke the evil god of the Beiping Army. But once the imperial power is stabilized, and seeing that he is in danger of changing hands in the world, the imperial court may not use the strategy of 'driving the tiger and devouring the wolf', suppressing and threatening us with the Beiping army, forcing us to accept the arrangement of the imperial court and become fish and meat on its chopping block.

As for the promises made by the Beiping Army at the beginning, they were not worth mentioning at all. Just imagine, how can a villain like the Beiping Army, who has betrayed his allies many times and sacrificed his allies for his own selfishness, really be bound by the fact that there is no even written evidence, and only rely on a few meaningless agreements between the members of the two sides in mutual contact.

I think how obedient and awe-reweful they were when they went to Beijing to meet Sejong, and how decisive and domineering they were when they were able to seize the sixteen states of Youyun from Sejong and establish the Beiping Army; When Sejong conquered the puppet Han in the north, in order to keep this shili, which could be used to check and balance and restrain the Chai Zhou court, it can be said that they tried their best and used all their means. But once Sejong withdrew his troops and ordered him to crusade against the puppet Han, in the face of the huge benefits at their fingertips, they turned their faces faster than turning the book, and even if they did not hesitate to take advantage of the trust of the puppet Han court in them, they wiped out the other party with lightning speed. As for his alliance with the traitor Zhang Yongde and the oath of borrowing troops before he was dry, he turned around and betrayed him, and used the hands of the Chai Zhou court to tie this old enemy to death, which is even more vivid. The lessons of the past are close at hand, and you must guard against it! Li Chuyun said in a heartfelt manner, and even said in a heart-wrenching manner.

Although in his heart, Zhao Kuangyi did not fully agree with Li Chuyun's evaluation of the Beiping Army, but he had to admit that what the other party said did have some truth, and he really couldn't find a more reason to refute the other party's statement for a while. Just when Zhao Kuangyi was savoring Li Chuyun's remarks and trying to find a reason to refute himself, Zhao Pu on the side couldn't sit still for a long time. As the proposer and active implementer of the strategy of sending envoys to visit Beiping City and secretly liaising with the Beiping Army and implicitly forming alliances, Zhao Pu naturally did not want to see his strategic policy criticized or criticized by others. In addition, the envoys who went north to Beiping City twice, one was his own brother and the other was his current brother-in-law, which also made him even more intolerant of others' suspicion and distrust of his policy. Therefore, without waiting for Zhao Kuangyi to find a suitable reason to support his point of view, Zhao Pu had already retorted: "Li Zhiya's words are also bad!" Yes, in the past, the Beiping Army may have done some ugly things such as betraying allies and breaking oaths, but this does not mean that it also has bad intentions and evil intentions in the matter of secretly forming alliances with us. After all, with the strength of the Beiping Army, if it really has the heart to chase the Central Plains, I am afraid that it would have already moved south and sent troops to Kaifeng, so why wait until now. Moreover, now that the imperial decree has arrived, the desire to seize the power of the inspectors and our soldiers has also been demonstrated. At this time, if you don't make up your mind to raise troops to save yourself, do you still have to check the Lord and I to follow the order, and go back to the capital to be slaughtered. ”

Although what Zhao Pu said was too arbitrary and seemed a bit strong, his two sentences really made Li Chuyun, who was originally conclusive, unable to answer. Because, in addition to explaining that the Beiping Army had no intention of going south and had no intention of going south to the Central Plains, he couldn't find a reason to explain that the other party had enough strength but never went south to the Central Plains. At the same time, he couldn't think of a way to not disobey the holy decree and raise an army to rebel under the current situation, but also not to threaten the official positions and lives of everyone present.

Seeing that Li Chuyun was speechless by his own question, Zhao Pu couldn't help but feel secretly proud. However, on the surface, he still looked at the other party with a serious face, as if he was waiting to continue the debate with the other party, and seemed to be waiting for Zhao Kuangyin's decision.

The debate between Zhao Pu and Li Chuyun fell into a cold field for a while, but Zhao Kuangyin had already made a decision. Although from the bottom of his heart, Zhao Kuangyin also thinks that what Li Chuyun said does have some truth. In particular, it can be seen from the behavior of the "Qingyuan" brothers since their return to Middle-earth that these guys, who grew up overseas since childhood and have never been educated and nurtured by the culture of the Central Plains, have always done everything out of their own interests or the interests of the Beiping Army. The so-called "morality" and "integrity" are simply worthless in his eyes. For their own interests, they can be left and right between Liao and Zhou, and behave on both sides; For the sake of their own interests, they can bow and worship the Great Zhou court and the Chai family in the blink of an eye, and change from bowing and respecting to being cold and murderous; For their own benefit, they can make a pact with their opponent with a smile on their face, and then do not hesitate to put the other person to death. In the face of such a so-called "ally" who can be called a "real villain", it would be absolutely deceptive to say that Zhao Kuangyin does not play drums in his heart.

It's just that the drumming in my heart is drumming, and I really want Zhao Kuangyin to give up his "great cause" because of this, but I am absolutely reluctant. You must know that in order to get to this point, he Zhao Kuangyin and his henchmen and cronies have paid countless efforts. Now that it's about to be done, how can he be willing to let him give up because of a threat that is not very certain. Moreover, even if he wanted to give up, these cronies of his would not agree. Although there are cautious and thoughtful conservatives like Li Chuyun among these people, more of them are radicals who are eager to hold power, pursue glory and wealth, and value the merits of the dragon. If you give up here, it is tantamount to cutting off these people's path to prosperity and prosperity, and how can they easily accept it. It is conceivable that once they show their intention to give up, these people will either force themselves to come out, or kill themselves and promote "virtuous", but they will definitely not watch the opportunity slip away from them. What's more, judging from the current situation, as long as he and his henchmen follow the will and return to the capital alone, they will become "Zhang Yongde's second", and the Chai Zhou court will never give themselves a chance to make a comeback. When the time comes, he and his confidants will lose their military power and become "idle officials" with positions but no powers, or they will lose their positions and resign from their posts, and become ghosts under the sword.

On the one hand, although it is possible to be betrayed by the Beiping army, they will fall into the other party's trap and become a victim of the other party's pursuit of the Central Plains. But once successful, he will ascend to the sky in one step and become the lord of the ninety-five and the lord of the world; On the other hand, it will definitely be cut by the Chai Zhou court, and if it is not done, it will also lose the life of the family and even the family. In the face of these two choices, in the end, the pursuit of supreme power and the belief in taking his fate into his own hands prevailed, so that Zhao Kuangyin chose the former without hesitation.

So, after a moment of silence, Zhao Kuangyin broke the silence in the study and said in a deep voice: "Although there is some truth in what Zhengyuan said, the current situation does not allow us to be timid and hesitant. As the saying goes, 'if you don't enter the tiger's den, you can get the tiger', and you don't even dare to take a little risk, how can you do big things. ”

Speaking of this, Zhao Kuangyin paused slightly, raised his eyes and glanced at all the henchmen and cronies present, and saw that no one including Li Chuyun expressed objections or doubts about his decision, so he continued: "However, since the Chai Zhou Imperial Court has issued this holy decree, it must have predicted and guarded against our possible reaction. Therefore, we and other people who have achieved great things should move a move, but we still have to think carefully about it, so as to hit it and not make mistakes. ”

Zhao Kuangyin's voice fell, and before others could react, Zhao Pu, who was overjoyed because his views were supported by the leader, had already stepped forward and said confidently: "Inspection, there is a plan for lowly duties, which will definitely make the Chai Zhou court reap the consequences and help you achieve great things." ”