A month later, the news of Wu's elite soldiers attacking Fengcheng suddenly came back from the border pass.

After receiving the news, my father stayed up all night, and the next morning he summoned the ministers to discuss in the Taihe Palace...

"What do you think?" Father's gaze swept coldly over everyone.

There was silence in the Taihe Palace, and I saw that the ministers in gorgeous crowns and beautiful clothes all bowed their heads, as if they were afraid that their father would call their names in the next second.

At this time, the prince's brother stood up and waved his hand at his father, "Father, my sons think that the emperor of Wu is really hateful, not only accepted our two princesses of Zhongli, but also had to look at Shu, trying to perfidiously plunder my city, so that the people of Zhongli were separated from their wives after being poisoned by the war, and they were homeless, and the entire land of Haozhou was full of mourning..."

After saying that, the prince's elder brother suddenly knelt down, "Erchen implores my father to send troops to Fengcheng to save my Zhongli thousands of people from the dire straits. ”

"But..."The father and emperor had a moment of concern on his face, and then looked at the ministers who were still silent, and said, "The national strength of the Wu State is strong, and the strength of the two sides is like a snake swallowing an elephant in comparison, how can we be their opponents?" ”

"Father, we can't hesitate any longer, we can wait in the imperial capital at this time, but those innocent people in Fengcheng can't wait, one more second, I'm afraid there are a few more souls that die under the knife of Emperor Wu."

After the prince's brother finished speaking impassionedly, the ministers finally moved, and began to discuss in twos and threes.

In the end, Wei Situ stood up and agreed, "Your Majesty, the old minister thinks that what His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said is extremely true, and now the Wu State is bullying people too much, not only occupying my two princesses Zhongli but also wantonly burning and looting in Zhongli's land, such barbarian behavior, we take this time to send troops is not only expected by the public, but also can boost morale, it is really an excellent opportunity, even if we fight for Zhongli to the last soldier, we must not steal peace." ”

Seeing Wei Situ say this, his father's face moved slightly, and he was about to speak, but a herald broke in, and said with a panicked expression, "Your Majesty, Feng... Fengcheng was lost. ”

"What!"

The father was shocked, and he couldn't care about his own prestige, so he got up and rushed forward in three steps and two steps, grabbed the herald's collar and said, "You tell me again!" ”

The herald's already panicked face was so frightened by his father that he almost fainted to death, and only after a moment did he tremble with purple lips and said, "Gift... Your Majesty, Fengcheng... Lose... Lost. ”

Fengcheng is lost...

After learning the bad news, my father let go of the herald and walked to the table in a trance...

Suddenly, he stretched out his hand and swept all the folds on the table to the ground, and said angrily, "Waste, it's all a bunch of waste!" Fengcheng was lost, what about Zhao Tingwei, who was responsible for defending the city? ”

"General Zhao..."After the herald muttered to himself, he seemed to think of something, and considering that his father Emperor Long Yan was furious, he simply knelt on the ground and said, "General Zhao was assassinated on the night when the Wu people invaded Fengcheng. ”

"What!"

The successive blows made my father's body finally unable to support it, and he sat down on the dragon chair in a dejected manner, and said bitterly, "You are so bold, the city guard is about to die, why no one has come to report?" ”

When he said this, the herald began to hesitate, and the prince's brother sensed that something was wrong, drew his sword and put it against his neck, and scolded, "Say, why don't you report it!" ”

The herald only felt a cold neck, and his face was so frightened that he almost cried on the spot.

Taking advantage of this moment, the prince's brother deliberately put the sword in his hand a little closer, and the herald told him everything he knew, "Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the Prince, General Zhao was stabbed to death in a bizarre way, Li Duwei is afraid of taking responsibility, and no one who knows is allowed to make a noise." The little one is just a herald, and if he doesn't have the orders of the people above, he wouldn't dare to pass it out at will, so that's why..."

"Say, how did Zhao Tingwei die?" The prince's elder brother's tone was unusually calm, but the sword in his hand did not slacken.

And the herald looked at the sharp blade around his neck, swallowed with difficulty and said, "That night it was the turn of the little one to be on duty, and when I passed the military tent, an adult stopped me and asked me where General Zhao was, and the little one saw that the adult was dressed decently, and he didn't suspect much about the warrant of the court officer on his waist, so he told him, but then I heard the two of them quarreling, and the trouble didn't seem to be very pleasant, but these things are not something that such a small person can mix, so I didn't think much about it, and continued to patrol, and then it didn't take long, The news came out that General Zhao had been assassinated in his military tent, and the little one was afraid of punishment, so he didn't say anything about it, and asked the emperor to spare his life. ”

"An adult?" The prince's brother twisted his eyebrows, finally withdrew his sword, glanced at his father, and said to the herald, "Do you remember the quarrel between the two?" ”

The herald was afraid that his life would be in danger, and when he saw the prince's brother asking, he nodded like garlic in a panic, "The little one remembers some, but because the recruits shouted too loudly at that time, they didn't hear it very clearly... Probably the adult scolded General Zhao for not knowing the current affairs, and then General Zhao persuaded him not to act like this, and said something harmful to others and himself... Something like that. ”

"Oh?"

All he got was some meaningless information, and the prince's brother couldn't help but take a closer look at this unassuming herald, and began to speculate about the truth in his words.

"You say, you've seen that adult's warrant, right? Can you still draw it in its entirety? ”

Unexpectedly, the prince's brother would say this, and the herald's body stiffened, but in order to save his life, he had to nod his head stubbornly.

Subsequently, the palace maid came in with a pen, ink, paper, and inkstone.

In his really miserable painting skills, a warrant first took shape.

"This is..."The prince's brother thoughtfully picked up the copied warrant portrait and looked at his father in silence.

Seeing this, Gonggong Zhao was eye-catching, came over to take the portrait and presented it to his father.

"He's it?" Father's eyes lit up and he muttered.

I saw that the slightly yellowed paper was left with Jiang Shangshu's warrant pattern.

Is it the stuffy gourd who is known for his incorruptibility on weekdays? Jiang's father?

The father even suspected that there was something wrong with his eyes, and looked at the drawing paper several times before he doubted, "Are you sure you remember correctly?" ”

Seeing that his father didn't believe it very much, the herald kowtowed his head lifelessly, and said in a hoarse voice, "The emperor is clear, even if the little one has a hundred guts, he won't dare to lie to you!" ”

No longer talking to him, the father just glanced around at the ministers, but did not find Jiang Shangshu's figure among them.

"Where's Jiang Shangshu?"

Qunchen, you look at me, I look at you, all look dazed.

The prince's brother pondered for a while, and waved his hand at his father, "Father, at this time, in order to find out the truth, it is best to let people go to Shangshu Mansion." ”

The father held his head with one hand and was silent, which was a tacit acquiescence.

Then, when the prince's brother was about to give the order, a loud voice suddenly came from outside the Taihe Palace.

"No need, the old thief surnamed Jiang has already been caught by this king."

Then, when everyone looked over, they happened to see King Haining, dressed in a crimson robe, coming in with a calm step in high spirits, and Jiang Shangshu was in disarray behind him.

"Uncle Huang?" The prince's brother looked at the second emperor uncle who was already graying in surprise, and finally his eyes fell on Jiang Shangshu's body, "Who are you?" ”

The second emperor's uncle smiled, and did not pay attention to his nephew, but took out a secret letter from his cuff and knelt down towards his father, and said very seriously, "Your Majesty, this is what this king got from a secret envoy this morning, and it is a secret letter from the body of a Wu Guozuo that General Zhao caught before his death, which clearly records the terrain and distribution of troops in Zhongli's various military fortresses, please take a look." ”

Gonggong Zhao, who was on the side, looked at his father's solemn expression, and probably guessed the importance of this secret letter in his heart, so he immediately took the secret letter from the second emperor's uncle and presented it to his father.

After reading it, I found that the detailed explanation of the distribution of Zhongli's troops, and the seal at the place of the payment was Jiang Shangshu, who was known for his honesty on weekdays.

"Someone's coming!" Then, the second emperor uncle asked people to bring up four boxes of gold and silver treasures and a box of letterheads, all of which were searched from the Shangshu Mansion, and the amount was staggering.

And most of these letterheads were used by a person named "Li Heng" in Wu State to inquire about the military situation, and it can be known from the contents of many letters that all the dealings between Jiang Shangshu and this "Li Heng" were based on the remuneration paid by Wu State.

Now that the human and material evidence is there, Jiang Shangshu's charge of collaborating with the enemy and treason is also ironclad.

"Hehe..."The father smiled like crazy, got up and walked to Jiang Shangshu's side, threw the secret letter on his face, and his original solemn expression became more and more gloomy, "Jiang Shangshu... Jiang Jilu, I really didn't expect you to betray Zhongli and betray me? ”

Jiang Shangshu lowered his head and did not agree.

However, the prince's brother was very dissatisfied with his attitude, and put him on the ground and said angrily, "Did you kill General Zhao?" ”

At this time, Jiang Shangshu probably knew that he would not be able to escape death, so he simply did not quibble, but looked directly at his father and said, "What if I killed the person?" I asked him to submit to the state of Wu, and the guy who didn't know the current affairs not only agreed, but also exposed me, but I just obeyed the law of all things, and the weak meat should be eaten by the strong! So I killed him, and he deserved to die! ”

After that, Jiang Shangshu suddenly laughed heartbrokenly.

"You bastard!" The prince's brother was really angry, so he trampled Jiang Shangshu under his feet, and said to his father, "Father, Jiang Shangshu collaborated with the enemy and treason, causing countless deaths and injuries to the people in Fengcheng. ”

After hearing the words of destroying the Nine Clans, a trace of waves finally appeared on Jiang Shangshu's face.

It's a pity that his father didn't give him a chance to plead, and turned to Zhao Gong to be fair, "Spread my will, remember the ancestors' legacy, those who deviate from the scriptures should be punished to destroy the nine clans, the original Ministry of Rites Shangshu Jiang Jilu was a minister in vain, and now he has committed the felony of collaborating with the enemy and treason, causing me Zhongli to lose his generals, so that Fengcheng lost the death and injury of the people, and there is no remorse. ”

After that, under the jealous gaze of the Manchu Dynasty's civil and military forces, Jiang Shangshu, who was sitting on the ground, suddenly burst into green muscles, laughed wildly as if he had lost his mind, pointed his hand at his father, gritted his teeth and said, "Ying, Zhongli will die in your hands sooner or later, Zhongli will definitely die!" Hahaha..."

The father only thought he was crazy, rubbed his painful eyebrows and raised his hand and waved, Jiang Shangshu withdrew from the Taihe Palace under the escort of the Praetorian Guards, but the desolate curse lingered in everyone's hearts for a long time.

At this moment, the prince's elder brother knelt down solemnly in front of his father, bowed his head and said, "Erchen implores my father to let Erchen lead his troops to Fengcheng, recover the lost land, and avenge Zhongli's people who died tragically at the hands of Wu Guoren!" ”

"Good..."

After a long time, the father helped the prince's brother up, and said with a relieved expression on his vicissitudes of life, "The prince has such a heart, why am I Zhongli afraid to let it go?" ”

Seeing this, the ministers immediately bowed their faces and said in unison, "The emperor is wise!" The prince is brave! ”

At that time, everyone was full of confidence, but no one knew that they would send troops to Fengcheng to the prince's brother and me... brought an unforgettable change...