In the city of Nanjing, the clouds are dense.

The dull thunder penetrated straight from the sky, and before the sound landed, another lightning bolt struck, and it was shining on a plaque on the Zhu Gate, with four big characters: 'Jiankang Palace'.

At this time, the rain began to fall heavily. A drenched messenger rode a black horse and braved the rain to come here, and as soon as he pulled the reins, he rolled off his horse, hurried to the palace and knocked on the door.

"Who?"

The messenger twisted his sleeves and shook his soap boots again: "You go to Lord Wan, you are the prince's man!" ”

Jiankang County Wang Wan Heshun held a rusty pole and watched it shake gently in a daze, and it was silent for a long time. It wasn't until the bead curtain in front of him moved, that he put down what he was holding and looked up.

"The villain sees the king of the county." The messenger bowed.

Wan Heshun smiled kindly: "Since you are a person next to the prince, how dare I accept such a big gift from you?" Sit down. ”

The messenger gave in a few more times, but could not resist his kindness, so he sat down on his left hand side and spoke to him across a table.

"I have never met the crown prince, but he did not hesitate to send you from the capital to come on a long journey, what is the matter with me?" Wan Heshun pushed the tea bowl towards him.

The messenger replied with a smile: "The villain does not dare to hide it from the king of the county. Although I am from the prince's mansion, I am here to listen to the orders of the servant Chen Tongpao, and he also sent me. ”

"Oh?" Wan Heshun showed a somewhat surprised expression, "You are a prince subordinate, why do you have to obey the orders of the officials?" ”

"Don't be in a hurry, the villain will talk to you slowly. This Chen Tongpao, Gao Jizhi and others are great loyal ministers in the court, and recently seeing the decline of the Liu Party, they conspired with His Royal Highness the Prince, and they are trying to get rid of the traitors and make the emperor pro-government. On the occasion of Liu Zhennian's southward journey, the Lord Chen specially found His Royal Highness and said that there must be a lot of variables in this southern tour, so please send someone as an entourage, so that he can act cheaply in the name of the prince. I followed him for a few days, and it really came in handy. ”

"Is there anything to prove?" Wan Heshun listened to him and asked in disbelief.

"Of course!" The messenger replied, and immediately took out a piece of damp brown paper from his bosom, first pulled out the letter wrapped in it, then turned the envelope upside down and shook it, and a small seal fell on the table. "This is written by the prince himself to Lord Chen, and the seal stamped is this chapter, and the king of the county can verify it."

Wan He Shun twisted up the letter, and only compared the imprint with the things at hand, and found that the size and text were the same, and the fine was exactly the same. Only then did he get convinced, nodded and said, "Anyway, what are you asking this official to do!" ”

The messenger still smiled: "My lord's words are not right, except for the emperor, who dares to order you?" Today is nothing more than a 'please' word. If the adult is worried and unwilling to help, the villain immediately goes back to his life. Anyway, there is no trace of coming and going, and this file should have never happened. ”

"Hmm......" Wan Heshun squeezed the slag in his hand tightly, and the rust slag fell off a large piece, and the whole finger was dyed black, but he didn't seem to notice it.

After thinking about it for a while, Wan Heshun suddenly glared at him, frowned, rolled up his sleeves and stood up, slapped his on the table, turned his head, looked at the messenger fixedly, and said, "Do you know? This pole was given by the emperor back then. Even though it is rusty, dusty, and inconspicuous, I have always regarded it as a holy grace, and I have to bow down to it every day. Today, the royal family is in trouble, the traitorous party is rampant, and this official should repay his kindness with death for the sake of the country's society, and it is incumbent on him! ”

When the messenger finished listening to him speak these impassioned words, he could not help but look at him with admiration: "Adults have noble hearts, but villains are unattainable!" Then I will say, Lord Chen wants to ask you to lead your troops to Wuchang and reach the Yangtze River, so as to deter the Liu Party with military might. ”

"It's not easy!" Wan Heshun straightened up, sneered, and immediately waved his hand to call his henchmen, "You, hurry up and send an order to the generals of each battalion, and limit them to order 10,000 men and horses tomorrow to follow me to Hubei; As for Lu Fangxuan's road to the south, only 5,000 people can be left to watch, and he will not make any big moves. ”

Seeing that his henchmen were ordered, Wan He turned around and asked the messenger by the way: "The envoy has worked hard all the way, and this official has chosen a place for you to live here, what is your intention?" ”

"Then it's better to be respectful than to obey."

The two of them laughed and walked out of the house, but right behind them, the tail of the skushi was hanging in the air, crumbling, but no one cared.

Far away in Kaifeng, Niu Yuan's plan is still going smoothly. With the support of Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, he seemed to be like a heavenly help, and immediately ordered the arrest of officials involved in the case of embezzlement of ink and bank, but no one advised him to stop him on the way. Just when the prime minister felt that everything was going well, he suddenly received a slightly worse news: the squire of the Ministry of Works who instructed Hu Chonglian was not in the patrol team, but stayed in the Beijing Division, replacing Shangshu to handle the affairs of the ministry.

Niu Yuan regretted that he had not anticipated the current situation, but his mood quickly calmed down, because he felt that this was just a small bump in the road before the victory, and what would happen if he waited a few more days? So he sent his henchmen back to Beijing to arrest people, and on the other hand, he went to comfort the Ministry of Works, so that he should not panic and relax his heart. After dealing with these official duties, Niu Yuan quickly forgot about his sudden irritability, went back to his lodging and slept well, and got up early in the morning.

He washed his face, put on his official robe, walked to the door of the yamen, accepted the salute of all the officials, and then stepped over the threshold contentedly, and gradually ascended to the central hall along a paved stone path.

He walked lightly across the wall, thinking of asking the ministers about today's situation, but he looked up at the hall, and suddenly he was like a sculpture, stunned in place, motionless.

It turned out that the central hall at this time was already in chaos, the officials were no longer in columns, running around, and the crowds of people coming and going revealed frightened faces, and even forgot to look at the road, so there were not a few people who collided.

Niu Yuan didn't understand what was going on here, and was about to find someone to ask, but an official suddenly came from the side, hit him on the shoulder, knocked him over, and almost fell to the ground.

"I'm sorry, ...... Bong-so-fong" He turned pale with fright, quickly dusted off his sleeves, and half-knelt down.

"What disease are you all guilty of? If there is a big matter, just discuss it, and run around for some reason! Button Yuan changed color.

"Prime Minister, how do we discuss this matter? The king of Wanjun has already led an army of 10,000 people, Chen Bing Yangtze River! ”