After leaving the valley, Su Mingnan sold the boat to nearby fishermen, and then bought a horse and set off west with Su Jiulin. The destination of their trip was Chongqing City, which was 1,600 miles away.

At this time, thousands of miles away in the imperial palace of the capital, there is a battle for power and profit, which is going on without gunsmoke.

In front of Taihe Gate.

"Ministers, General Tian Ming, the chief soldier of the Biguan Pass, was shot by an arrow when he went out of the city to meet the enemy a few days ago, and died of his wounds yesterday. What do you think we should do next? Sejong Zhu Houcong, who was only in power at the age of seventeen, was holding a letter with a letter of resignation, frowning slightly, and asked everyone in the square.

At this time, Zhu Jiankun, who was also the secretary of the household department and the auxiliary minister of the cabinet, stood up in a leather suit.

Zhu Jiankun is Sejong's second uncle, and he and Zhu Jiansu, the king of Ning, just returned to power in Sejong two months ago. And Zhu Jiansu, the king of Ning, is the emperor's eldest uncle, serving as the secretary of the ministry and the first assistant of the cabinet. The other is Gu Changlin, the secretary of the Ministry of War.

Seeing that he bent down slightly, he straightened up and said, "Your Majesty! It is one of the important towns on the nine borders and is an important line of defense against the Tatars. The army cannot be left without a commander for a day, and the top priority is to send a new commander-in-chief! ”

King Xian turned his head to look at everyone again, and continued: "The position of the chief soldier of the Nine Sides has always been entrusted to the personnel of the Governor's Mansion, and the minister recommended Kong Dongchuan, the Governor's Mansion of the Later Army, and Zhong Shaohong, the Governor's Mansion of the Right Army. ”

"These two people have served in the local guard station for many years, and then they were promoted to the governor of Tongzhi, whether they are commanding or fighting, they are all outstanding, and they will definitely be able to take on this great responsibility!"

As soon as King Xian finished speaking, nearly half of the officials of the previous dynasty immediately began to echo.

"What the king said is very true!"

"Yes, these two can be reused!"

……

"Your Majesty." At this time, King Ning stood out of the queue, and it was also Chao Shizong who bent down slightly, and said: "After Weichen received the news last night, he had already prepared a ticket for Wei Quzhe, the deputy chief soldier of Biguan, to take over as the chief soldier, and it was approved by Liu Jin's father-in-law. ”

"I think the official document should have been sent to the side customs by now..."

Compared with King Xian, King Ning looks much older, and his hair is gray in many places. In fact, the two were born in the same year and month, and they are both eight out of fifty this year, and King Ning is only two days older than King Xian.

And Liu Jin, the eunuch of the celebrant seal mentioned by King Ning, was standing on the right side of the emperor with an expressionless face.

Sejong glanced at Liu Jin to the right, and then at Xu Zhi, who was also a celebrant and eunuch on the left.

Xu Zhi saw that Sejong was looking at him, and quickly shook his head.

Sejong already knew that the ticket was approved by Liu Jin alone.

"How come I don't know about such an important matter?!" King Xian turned around and questioned King Ning.

"When I received the news last night, I expected that King Xian should have fallen asleep, so I didn't come to disturb me." King Ning was full of smiles, "It just so happened that Gu Changlin, the secretary of the Ministry of War, was also there at the time, and after some discussion, I, as the first assistant of the cabinet, drafted a ticket to be sent to the celebrant for approval." Don't mind the king, after all, the stakes are so high that there is no room for procrastination. ”

"Humph!" As soon as King Xian flicked the sleeves of his robe, he raised his hand and pointed at King Ning, "Who doesn't know that Wei Quzhe is Gu Changlin's son-in-law, and Gu Changlin is your uncle." I propose, the three auxiliary ministers of the cabinet, simply remove me, leaving you two, how about it! ”

King Ning was not angry, turned around and faced Sejong.

"Your Majesty, the partial pass is one of the nine passes, and Weichen is just trying to stabilize the situation as soon as possible, and the Tatars will not give us so much time to select new commanders. And Wei Quzhe also has the ability to lead the army. Please also ask the emperor to understand the good intentions of Wei Chen! ”

Xianwang knew that since he had approved the vote to make Wei Quzhe the chief soldier, and it had been sent to the side pass, no matter how much he said, he couldn't change the reality, so he immediately brushed his sleeves and left on the grounds of physical discomfort.

That's the end of the matter. When no one played, Xu Zhi announced his retreat.

But when the dynasty was dispersed, Shizong stopped Liu Jin.

"Liu Jin, why don't I know about the red approval last night?"

Liu Jin bowed slightly, didn't look up, and replied: "Tell the emperor, last night the servant instructed Xiao Chunzi to take the ticket to the emperor for instructions, but who knew that he forgot about it." ”

"When the slave looked back and saw the ticket, he thought that the emperor had already signaled, so he approved the red."

"Oh? Is it? Sejong naturally heard that this was Liu Jin's excuse.

"Back to the emperor, the minions have already pulled Xiao Chunzi out to play the twenty boards last night."

Without waiting for Shizong to ask again, Liu Jin continued: "Your Majesty, the slave still has important things to do, so he will retire first." ”

After speaking, Liu Jin took care of himself and left, not looking at Shizong from beginning to end, but only glanced at Xu Zhi before leaving.

Shizong was so angry that he wanted to stop Liu Jin, but was stopped by Xu Zhi.

When the sun was sinking, Sejong, who was having dinner, suddenly remembered that Xu Zhi had pulled him in the early dynasty, so he passed him over, wanting to blame him for a meal.

Xu Zhi didn't come, but Wang Yue, who was also a celebrant and eunuch, came.

When he saw Wang Yue, Sejong already felt that something was wrong.

"Wang Yue, where is Xu Zhi?" Sejong looked at Wang Yue who was kneeling on the ground with a solemn face.

"Your Majesty! Xu Gonggong he...... The hand is broken! ”

"Bastard!" Sejong stood up and slammed his palm on the table.

The dishes and chopsticks on the table fell a lot on the floor.

"Your Majesty! Father-in-law Xu asked the servants to tell the emperor, don't be angry! ”

"Liu Jin!" Sejong gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

The night at the palace is also full of stars, no different from other places.

Just as the day was about to pass, Sejong, who was sleeping in the Qianqing Palace, lifted the quilt, and then pulled open a wooden board on his bed, and then walked down, and finally did not forget to close the wooden plank.

It is a tunnel more than seven feet wide, with a candlestick every five zhang, on the left and right sides.

Sejong took out the fire fold, lit the candle in his hand, and walked forward with a familiar car. I also lit up all the candles on the menorah along the way. When I see a candle that is about to burn out, I will replace it with a new one.

Finally, after nearly two quarters of an hour's walk, at the end, there was a wall.

There is a small hole in the middle of the wall, and there is a rope in the hole.

Sejong stepped forward and pulled the rope twice.

About a quarter of an hour passed, and there was movement on the other side, and a man came. Through the hole, you can't see your face.

Sejong walked to the hole in the wall, bowed down and shouted, "Master." ”

This path was brought to him by the emperor when he was still alive when Sejong was a child, and he made him worship this mysterious person as a teacher. But Sejong had never seen this person, and he didn't know who he was, only that the emperor believed in this person very much.

"Hmm." A slightly old voice came from the other side, "Is there anything to do with finding a teacher today?" ”

Sejong told all the things about this morning. Even Xu Zhi and Liu Jin also said about it.

After hearing this, the mysterious man seemed to think for a while, and then said: "The nine sides are heavy defense, and the battle of the side is indeed not capable of ordinary people. Unlike other guards, just send a general who knows how to dispatch troops. ”

The mysterious man first analyzed it, and then said: "The terrain of the border is complicated, and there have been constant wars recently. needs a person who is familiar with the situation and topography of the pass, and Wei Quzhe, the deputy commander-in-chief, is indeed the most suitable person. The end result is still good. ”

"But! King Ning didn't even tell me first, I have no reason to object if it is reasonable. This is in front of the civil and military officials, I didn't even know in advance! Sejong was still unconvinced.

The mysterious man seemed to think that this was all normal, and said: "The time is fleeting, and he doesn't care if you oppose it or not." There are not only the spies of King Ning but also the spies of the king of Xian, and asking you is equivalent to telling the king of Xian. Xianwang will not let Wei Quzhe sit on the position of the general soldier of the border so easily. ”

"What about Liu Jin? It's just a eunuch, and he doesn't take me seriously. Speaking of Liu Jin, Sejong was even more angry.

"Alas," the mysterious man sighed when he heard this, "When you were still young, Liu Jian, the first assistant of the previous cabinet, impeached Liu Jin and the two kings, and ended up with a body that has not been found yet." ”

"Xu Zhi, it's already a blessing to you to be able to save your life. As for Liu Jin," the mysterious man paused slightly, "If King Ning doesn't fall, you can't help him." What's more, his martial arts are strong, even the commander of the Jinyi Guard, Yuwen Eleven, is not his opponent, and you can't hold him if you want to. ”

In fact, Sejong himself understood most of this. His father, who was the crown prince at the time, died of illness when he was one year old. When the queen came, she made him the crown prince as the eldest grandson of the emperor.

The emperor himself was in good health, but he died suddenly four years later at the age of forty-four.

Since Sejong was only five years old at that time, the court affairs were presided over by King Ning and King Xian.

How do you know that King Ning, as a secretary of the ministry, is nepotistic. Offering the king as the head of the household, he made a lot of money. The two kept ganging up in the court.

It was not until King Sejong was seventeen years old that the two kings were willing to return to him. At this time, the civil and military officials in the court can be said to be all the people who are King Ning and the people who offer the king.

"Master, don't I have any way to deal with them?" Sejong was very helpless, when the first emperor was in power, he sometimes had to give three points to King Ning and King Xian. The sudden death of the emperor made the two people, who were already arrogant and domineering, more unscrupulous to compete for power and eliminate dissidents.

One of the most sensational is that twelve years ago, Liu Jian, who was also a scholar of Wuyingdian University, a scholar of the Ministry of Rites and the first assistant minister of the cabinet, was charged with a big rebellion because of the impeachment of the two kings and Liu Jin, and was finally chased and killed by Dongchang, and his body was gone.

"No way." The mystery man replied directly, "At least not yet." ”

"When will that be?"

And so on. Opportunities are waiting for them, and when they don't have them, they don't have them. Now is the time when the two kings are fighting fiercely, and you are too weak to do anything. All you can do is wait. ”

"Remember!"