In Shangyuan Palace, the atmosphere was suddenly a little solemn.

Xiao Ju supported his body and looked at Wei Ran with doubtful eyes, as if he wanted to say something, but he never spoke.

Wei Ran naturally knew what Xiao Ju meant, but now that the DPRK is unstable, Xiao Ju let Xiao Yi enter the auxiliary government of the DPRK before, just to appease the hearts of everyone.

But I don't know if he was frightened by Wei Ran, or if he really saw through the red dust, Xiao Yi has been like a marionette above the court since the last Jiankang City change, only nodding and saying yes, and can no longer serve other purposes.

Xiao Ju glanced at Xiao Ye dotingly, and then beckoned and said, "Brother Wei, you come forward." ”

Wei Ran walked straight forward and knelt down beside Xiao Ju's couch, Xiao Ju glanced at Xiao Ye, and then said with difficulty: "You let Ye'er supervise the country, I think it's inappropriate, although he is the prince, but after all, he is still a child, you let him be above the court, he can't handle government affairs, but will be attacked by people with intentions in the future, what do you think?" ”

Wei Ran was only afraid for a while at this time, Xiao Ye Jianguo was indeed just a mascot, and when Xiao Ye grew up, it would definitely become an excuse for the courtiers to attack Wei Ran.

Seeing Wei Ran nodding, Xiao Ju spoke again: "I gave you a fake festival, and you have the right to cut first and then play, I already feel that my body is not as good as before, now Yuan Muzhi is busy with government affairs, Cui He has not left Beijing yet, I want Cui He to re-assume the position of sacrificial wine, responsible for educating the prince, but what does Wei Di think about this candidate for the Yongzhou Assassin History." ”

Wei Ran naturally knew that this was a temptation by Xiao Ju for him, and it was very important to take over Cui He's position and manage not only the land of Yongzhou, but also the rebel bases Jiangling and Jiangzhou.

After Wei Ran thought about it, he spoke: "The king of Xiang now has no former courage in the court, but is afraid of his hands and feet, according to the minister's view, he can let the king of Xiang be the assassin of Yongzhou, govern Yongzhou, Jingzhou and Yingzhou, and at the same time make Xie Yan the assassin of Jiangzhou." ”

Xie Yan is Xiao Ju's hand-picked protégé, who has a poor voice, but he has outstanding talents, and serves as the head of the household department above the court, Jiangzhou is no longer an important town, and it is urgent to develop people's livelihood, so Xie Yan is the most suitable person.

Xiao Ju nodded slowly: "Then give an edict according to this." ”

The wheels are rolling, and soon it will be seven years in Chiayi.

Xiao Ju did not get better after the wind and cold, and it was not until after the New Year that he recovered.

Wei Ran has been regent for three months, and the ministers are now respecting and hating Wei Ran.

Wei Ran was decisive in killing, changed Xiao Ju's tolerant style in the past, and hated corrupt officials and corrupt officials, once it was verified, he would definitely die a tragic death.

Wei Ran knew that he had invented all kinds of torture to deal with corrupt officials, among which the punishment of skinning was extremely painful, and it was a torture specially set up by Wei Ran for the officials of the three grades, and the wind of corruption suddenly decreased.

But such a killing also caused Xiao Yanran and Yuan Shu to worry, Wei Ran is now more and more murderous, and there is no opposition in the court, but all the ministers can't see Xiao Ju, so there is nowhere to vent, and over time, the contradiction between Wei Ran and the minister finally broke out completely in the first court meeting after Xiao Ju was able to go to court.

The southern literati ministers denounced Wei Ran as a jackal, tiger and leopard above the court, practicing harsh government, abusing punishment, and scattering people's hearts.

Wei Ran angrily denounced the ministers of the court for only talking about metaphysics, talking about it for a long time, and promoting Buddhist temples, and now there are more than 200 Buddhist temples in the Southern Dynasties, and even give all kinds of privileges to the people of Buddhism, resulting in a great reduction in taxes.

The two sides fought with each other in the court, and in terms of force, the southern literati may not be as good as Wei Ran, but in terms of quarrels, the southern literati are all first-class good hands.

After Wei Ran couldn't spray alone, Cui Huan and Yuan Muzhi also joined the battlefield, Xiao Ju had a headache on the dragon chair, and it was best to have to fight with the mud, and the matter was over.

Wei Ran then said with a straight face: "Your Majesty, last year itself was the best time to capture Qingzhou, but the literati talked about misleading the country, spreading rumors everywhere in the city, Your Majesty is in poor health, and it is not easy for Weichen to come out lightly, and now Your Majesty has gradually recovered, Weichen asked for his life and sent troops to Qingzhou." ”

Taichang Qing Zhuang Xiang objected: "Since the King of Qin took power, our dynasty has been fighting every year, and the civil strife has just subsided, and now the north has not provoked, it is really inappropriate for us to take the initiative to attack other people's territories." What's more, our dynasty and Eastern Qin are allies, and if we break the alliance, won't we be ashamed of the people of the world. ”

Suddenly, there was a voice of echo in the court, and they all felt that Wei Ran was reckless and consumed the national strength of Great Qi.

Wei Ran shouted angrily: "Ridiculous, Jiankang Ling visited day and night, and he has found out that the previous rumors came from Eastern Qin, and the purpose was to divide my Great Qi monarchs and ministers, how can Eastern Qin be called an ally country if he acts like this?" ”

Seeing that everyone was about to quarrel again, Xiao Ju held his forehead and said: "Qingzhou is the old land of my Great Qi, and I inherited Hou Qian, and Hou Qian was taken advantage of by Northern Qin to seize the land of Qingzhou in the Qianming Change, Qingzhou is a large land and rich in resources, once Qingzhou is captured, it will be extremely beneficial for me to expand to the north." I supported the advice of the King of Qin and sent troops to capture Qingzhou. ”

When everyone saw Xiao Ju speak, they knew that Xiao Ju had made up his mind, so they couldn't say more, and everyone knew Xiao Ju's obsession with the north, so at this time, there was a voice of echo in the court.

Xiao Ju nodded slightly, and then asked, "Since the King of Qin is determined to attack Qingzhou on the Northern Expedition, is there a good plan?" ”

Wei Ran pondered for a moment and said: "Your Majesty, the nephew of the former Qingzhou Thorn Shi Duan, the general of Qingzhou, Duan Weiyang, has defected to our dynasty, and the richest man is also in our dynasty, our army can land on the land and water, seize the coastal land of Qingzhou as soon as possible, and at the same time order Liu Renye to send troops from Pengcheng to attack Qingzhou." Double-sided flanking attack, and at the same time transferring the troops of Yuzhou to the north to block the reinforcements in the direction of Luoyang in Western Qin. ”

Then Wei Ran said: "At the same time, Weichen feels that he can contact Western Qin, recently Western Qin Yuwen has frequently invaded the surroundings of Luoyang, Luoyang stayed behind Min Shiyuan to take care of himself, if Eastern Qin sends troops from the direction of Yecheng, the road is far away, as long as our army is fast and captures Licheng in advance, then great things can be done." ”

Wei Ran then ordered Dr. Wang Heng to be the envoy and secretly sent an envoy to Western Qin, wanting to ally with Western Qin.

After the dispersal of the dynasty, Wei Ran returned to the mansion and began to prepare for the expedition.

Yuan Shu saw Wei Ran's hurried expression after returning to the mansion, and summoned his staff to discuss matters in the mansion, knowing that Wei Ran was going to raise troops to the north again.

Therefore, when eating, he said to Wei Ran: "Does the husband want to start another war?" ”

Seeing that Wei Ran was noncommittal, Yuan Shu put down her chopsticks and said with a sad face: "In recent years, Fujun has not been fighting for a year, and when Yanran and I went shopping, I often heard that the people complained, and they all felt that Fujun was reckless, and the court was not at peace. ”

When Wei Ran heard this, he couldn't help but look heavy: "Now the people also say the same?" ”

Yuan Shu nodded, and said with emotion: "That's right, the husband has to rise up every year, although he has made many military exploits, but once he succeeds, the bones are withered, and behind the success of the husband now, how many families are broken." ”

Wei Ran was already angry at this time, slammed the table, and shouted: "Women, why talk about political affairs. ”

With Wei Ran leaving, the three women were speechless.

After a period of silence, Xiao Yanran said: "My sister shouldn't say this, my husband is determined to be in the world, isn't my sister poking at her husband's sore spot when she says this." ”

Yuan Shu also regretted it at this time, she shouldn't have said this, but she still said: "Sister doesn't know, although the husband and His Majesty have the ambition to swallow the world, but most of the ministers of the DPRK and China have been accustomed to a corner of peace, and they must not understand the good intentions of the husband and His Majesty. ”

As soon as these words came out, Xiao Yanran's expression also changed greatly. Xiao Ju's body is clear to him, if Xiao Ju makes a mistake on Wei Ran's journey, then Wei Ran's layout in the court is very likely to be wiped out, and his life will be difficult to protect.

Thinking about this link, Xiao Yanran said: "My husband loves you the most on weekdays, so you should persuade you." ”

Yuan Shu nodded slightly, and after leaving the table, she found Wei Ran in the study.

At this time, Wei Ran was drinking a pot of sake and a roast chicken, and when he saw Yuan Shu coming in, he said: "If you want to persuade me to give up the Northern Expedition, there is no need to say it again." ”

Yuan Shu just sat down opposite Wei Ran, then poured himself a glass of wine, drank it all and said: "Husband, Your Majesty was injured by Xiao Luan a few years ago, the imperial doctor said that the destiny of heaven is not long, last year it was said that it was infected with wind and cold, but you and I both know that it is the recurrence of old injuries, and the health is getting worse. ”

After Wei Ran heard this, he was silent and just drank alone.

Yuan Shu didn't bother, and looked at Wei Ran with big eyes.

Seeing that Yuan Shu insisted on asking, Wei Ran said: "In the past, I agreed with Your Majesty to step on the Central Plains together, but I didn't expect that outside the Xuanyang Gate, Your Majesty was attacked by Xiao Luan, and now a few years have passed, and the Northern Expedition has not made much progress. ”

Knowing that the reason why Wei Ran insisted on the Northern Expedition was to take Qingzhou to make Xiao Ju feel relieved, Yuan Shu didn't know how to dissuade him for a while.

Wei Ran immediately said: "In the past, Yuan Jian once said to my father that since ancient times, there have been many good ministers in Jiangnan, but now it seems that it is not the case, most of the courtiers in Jiangnan are used to being comfortable, and they only want to be in a corner of peace, and they have no heart for the Northern Expedition. Even the first emperor was only thinking of recovering the land south of the Yellow River, and he never thought of dominating the world, and the best way to end the troubled times was to create a prosperous era of great unification. ”

"But if the husband is not in Jiankang City, how can he ensure that the crown prince will ascend the throne? Besides, even if the crown prince successfully ascends the throne, if someone takes the opportunity to tamper with the edict, or take away the husband's military power, or kill the husband, has the husband forgotten the scene outside Jiankang City in the past? ”

Wei Ran was speechless at this time, but said: "But this is a great time, don't miss it." ”

"When the husband marches to fight, he always wants to personally command the whole army, so what's the use of General Liu, General Pei, General Zhang and others? They all have the talent to lead the army, but they can only give you a hand, the husband can let people lead the army, and he can sit in Jiankang by himself, wouldn't it be the best of both worlds? ”

Hearing Yuan Shu's sincere words, Wei Ran couldn't help but move, but he was not at ease with his generals, so he was very embarrassed: "Madame doesn't know, the capture of Qingzhou has to be completed in one battle, if this expedition fails, then Duan Weiyang and others in Qingzhou will be damaged, and it will be difficult to capture it again." ”

"Why does the husband think that he can finish the battle?" Yuan Shu asked puzzledly: "On the battlefield, the victory and defeat are changing rapidly, even if the husband is brave, he has also been injured by Hengxuan's secret arrow, and he returned defeated. ”

Yuan Shu's words can be described as a pearl of words, Wei Ran now thinks too highly of himself, feels that he is invincible, but he is the god of war in the dynasty, and he already has a contempt for the two northern countries, and in the long run, Wei Ran will definitely be defeated.

Thinking about this, Wei Ran couldn't help but say: "What Madam said is very true, let me think about this matter slowly, since this is the case, let Liu Renye and Duan Weiyang reorganize the army separately, and I will discuss it with Cui Huan and others." ”