Under the escort of Yang Ming, Jiang Shaobai and others, King Jiang left the Mountain of No Return safely, while the Red Horse Army continued to hunt down rebels in the mountains and clean up the battlefield. After a short night's rest at the camp at the foot of the mountain, the next day, escorted by the Red Horse Army, Jiang Wang, Yang Ming and other students returned to the national capital.

After returning to the national capital, King Jiang issued an edict to the people of the whole country to publicize Jiang Zi'an's crime of conspiracy and treason, and after learning this news, the whole country was shocked, especially the Chinese military officials of the DPRK, and the people were even more panicked, because most of them had a close relationship with Jiang Zi'an, and even many people secretly colluded with Jiang Zi'an. As for Jiang Zi'an's intention to rebel and usurp the throne, they were aware of it, and they also expressed their support.

Through Jiang Zi'an's rebellion, King Jiang saw the "sincerity" of the officials clearly, and was very angry, so the second thing he did when he returned to the national capital was to order Xiangguo to be strict and thoroughly investigate all the henchmen who colluded with Jiang Zi'an, find out all the traitors, and purge the government to calm the hearts of the people.

In this way, Jiang's domestic crisis has been resolved, and the threat from abroad has not yet been lifted. After pacifying the rebels in the Mountain of No Return, General Liu Chen did not follow King Jiang back to the national capital, but immediately set off to the border of Jiang State, personally led the army, guarded the border pass, and defended the Rong ** team.

Rongguo's 30,000-strong army is still on the border of Jiang, and according to the report of the forward outpost, Rongguo's vanguard is only thirty miles away from the border pass of Jiang, and it is possible to attack Jiang at any time.

At the border, Jiang Rong's two armies were tense, standing on the border wall, and they could vaguely see each other's military flags. Although the war is imminent, it has not been delayed.

Seven years ago, Jiang Rong and Rong launched a war, after the war, the soldiers of both countries were killed and wounded, hundreds of people were displaced, whether it was Jiang or Rongguo, they were deeply affected by the war, and the national strength was greatly damaged. Therefore, if there is no certainty of victory, neither country will dare to start a war easily.

King Jiang was very aware of the reason for Rongguo's delay in sending troops, and in order to let Rongguo know that it was difficult to withdraw his troops, King Jiang ordered Huang Zheng, the envoy of Rongguo, who was imprisoned, to write a letter to advise King Rong, and Huang Zheng had to do so in order to save his life. Huang Zhengxin wrote: Jiang Zi'an failed to rebel, King Jiang has returned to the national capital safely, and Jiang has also been fully prepared to resist the enemy, the general Liu Chen personally went to the border pass, led the Red Horse Army to strictly guard the border, the minister believes that the time is not for me to honor the country, so it is not appropriate to launch a war against Jiang Guo, if the war is rash, the two countries will inevitably repeat the mistakes of seven years ago, both defeats.

After reading Huang Zheng's letter, King Rong agreed to withdraw from the army after consulting with the hundred officials, but he put forward a condition to Jiang Guo, that is, to send back Huang Zheng, the envoy of Rongguo, and all the Rongguo students who had previously gone to Jiang Guo to participate in the merit competition.

The Rongguo students who participated in the excellent learning competition in the Mountain of No Return, including Zhu Lianying, there are still more than 20 people left, and they are also locked up in prison together with Huang Zheng. Most of those students were injured, especially Zhu Lianying, who was so badly injured that she is still unconscious.

After learning about Rongguo's conditions for retreating, King Jiang agreed to Rongguo's request for VIPs in order to avoid war, but the dignitaries can, but we can't give them in vain. Jiang Guo put forward the condition that Rong Guo would redeem those students at the price of 10,000 taels of silver per person, as well as Huang Zheng, otherwise, what will be returned to you is the corpse.

Those students in Rongguo are all from noble backgrounds, their families are illustrious, and the price of 10,000 taels of silver per person is still affordable.

As a result, Jiang Rong and the two countries reached a consensus on this, Jiang Guo allowed Rong Guo to redeem the students, and Rong Guo withdrew his troops and stopped fighting.

At this point, Jiang Guo's threat abroad was temporarily resolved.

......

Five days later, the main hall of King Jiang's palace.

King Jiang sat on the throne, his face was serious, and from the high position, he glanced at all the ministers below with a cold gaze, and there was a sense of shock and intimidation that was not angry and self-threatening.

In the main hall, the ministers bowed their heads deeply, eager to bury their heads under their clothes, all trembling and panicking. Some people can't help but be afraid, and secretly raise their eyes, but instead of looking at King Jiang on top of the high position, they secretly glanced at the three big boxes placed under King Jiang, which were full of documents and letters.

These three boxes of documents and letters were found from Jiang Zi'an's secret room when Xiangguo Yan Hao seized Jiang Zi'an's mansion, and they were the secret letters written by the ministers to Jiang Zi'an. In addition to these documents and letters, the throne and crown that Jiang Zi'an had privately built were also found in the secret room, and the intention of rebelling against the usurper was clearly revealed.

Above the main hall, everyone was silent, not daring to speak, and there was a sense of solemnity in the air, as if a guillotine was hanging above everyone's head.

After being silent for a long time, Xiangguo Yan Hao finally stepped forward and said: "Tell the king, these letters were searched by the ministers from Jiang Zi'an's secret room, and after verification, the content of the letters is enough to prove that the ministers colluded with Jiang Zi'an, formed a party for personal gain, and even more, some ministers also openly wrote in the letter that they were willing to serve Jiang Zi'an as the new king, intending to murder the king." The letters are signed by the ministers, and the ministers have recorded the names of these anti-ministers for the king to see. ”

After speaking, Yan Hao took out the notebook from his sleeve and handed it to King Jiang.

King Jiang took the notebook and checked every name recorded on it, the name of the anti-minister was written on more than ten pages, King Jiang was furious, and angrily slapped the notebook on the table, which shook the table and the sound echoed in the hall.

Seeing this, all the ministers fell to their knees, trembled, and shouted in unison: "The ministers are guilty, please spare your life." ”

King Jiang sneered and said, "There are four hundred and seventy-six palace ministers, and the names of three hundred and ninety-seven people are written on the list of anti-ministers. ”

As he spoke, King Jiang threw the notebook in front of the ministers.

"Ministers, looking at this list, the widow's heart is cold, you come to tell the widow, how do the widow deal with these rebels?"

King Jiang glared at the ministers and asked sharply, but no one dared to reply.

King Jiang was angry and very sad, looking at these names, three-quarters of the ministers of the entire palace were against him. At the same time, King Jiang was also very clear in his heart, why these ministers opposed him? The reason was that since seven years ago, King Jiang has implemented a series of new policies in Jiang State, including allowing commoners to cultivate martial arts academies, reforming the hereditary system of nobles, and the system of selecting and evaluating official positions.

One of the most objectionable to the aristocratic ministers was the reform of the hereditary system. The hereditary system, not only the Jiang State, but also the entire Great Zhou Dynasty, all the princes and the hundred kingdoms, has been pursuing a system for nearly a thousand years since the founding of the country. Hereditary, also known as Shiqing Shilu, stipulates: from the Son of Heaven, the princes and kings, down to the ministers, doctors, scholars and other nobles, their titles, fiefs, property, and official positions are inherited from father to son, father to son, son to grandson...... Passed down from generation to generation, that is, people often say, fate is determined by heaven, expensive will always be expensive, and poor will always be poor.

The king of Jiang implemented a new policy, reformed the hereditary system, and re-stipulated the hereditary system, Shilu but not Shiqing, that is, only the descendants of the nobles were allowed to inherit their father's fiefdoms, property, etc., but they were not allowed to inherit official positions. This move is to change the bad habit that under the hereditary system, the incompetent son of the general can still be the hereditary general, but the talented son of the guard cannot be a general.

The implementation of this new policy was supported by the people of Jiang Guo and some inferior nobles, but it also offended those high-ranking aristocratic ministers, who had long regarded the official position as part of their family property, and had clearly allowed their descendants to hereditary official positions, but now they were asked to give them up.

As a result, the ministers held a grudge and had the idea of supporting the new king. Jiang Zi'an saw the right time, he secretly contacted the ministers and promised them that once he ascended the throne, he would abolish all the previous new policies and still follow the system of Shiqing Shilu.

King Jiang's cold gaze looked at the kneeling ministers one by one, waiting for someone to answer his question,

"Answer yourselves, say, what shall the widow do with these rebellious rebellious ministers?"

The minister did not dare to speak, and if he conspired against the great crime, according to the law, he should be beheaded and his house should be raided.

Who would dare to reply?

There was silence for a long time, and at this time, Xiangguo Yan Hao stood up, and he said to King Jiang: "King, according to the law, the crime of rebellion should be beheaded." But as the saying goes, the law does not blame the people, and if the Manchu ministers are killed, it will inevitably delay state affairs, and I am afraid that it will lead to chaos in Jiang Guo. ”

"According to the minister's opinion, it is better to write down the sins of these anti-ministers for the time being, leave them as a substitute, and do their best for the king in the future to atone for their mistakes. Moreover, the king is magnanimous and benevolent, and forgives them the death penalty, I think they will definitely be grateful to the king, and dare not have any more dissent. ”

After listening to Xiangguo Yan Hao's words, the minister who saw it hurriedly kowtowed and shouted: "Please be gracious to the king, and surround the life of the minister, the minister will definitely do his best for the king in the future, and after death, he will never dare to have another dissent." ”

One shouted, and all the ministers immediately shouted in unison, "I am willing to do my best for the king, and after death, I will never have any more dissenting hearts." ”

Listening to the ministers shouting one after another, King Jiang's anger subsided, and then he took advantage of the situation and said: "Okay, there is a troublesome thing for the widow right now, and you need the ministers to do their best for the widow, I don't know if the ministers can do it?"

"Listen to the king. The ministers said in unison.

"Well, the widow has been trying to implement the new policy and reform the hereditary system all these years, but you have always opposed it and obstructed it everywhere, which really worries the widow. Jiang Wang held his beard and said slowly.

After listening to King Jiang's words, the ministers exchanged glances with each other, although King Jiang did not say it explicitly, but the implication of his words was very obvious, that is, "Either agree to the new policy of the widows, and you can be spared the death penalty, or you will be convicted of rebellion and beheaded according to the law." ”

In order to save their lives, the ministers had to kowtow in agreement, shouting: "The ministers are willing to obey the new policy, and dare not oppose it." ”

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