Mangxi Dynasty, the imperial capital.

East Palace Garden.

In a secret room, more than a dozen people were talking to each other in low voices.

Suddenly, the door opened, and a noble young man wearing a purple crown and a purple robe walked in with a calm face, followed by an old man, a middle-aged scribe, and a military general.

Seeing this, the people in the secret room hurriedly got up and respectfully saluted the noble young man.

Because this person is the crown prince of the Mangxi Dynasty, Chi Qian.

"Meet His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

Chi Qian nodded silently, and waited until he sat down on the main seat, then he stretched out his hands and pressed down.

"Sit down."

"His Royal Highness Prince Xie!"

As everyone sat down again, an old civil official immediately looked at Chi Qian impatiently and asked.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, what did Your Majesty say?"

"Your Majesty is still hesitating, he is very jealous of the Great Xia Dynasty, especially the battle between Great Xia and the Ancient Emperor Dynasty a few years ago, which put a lot of psychological pressure on him."

Chi Qian said coldly, his face was extremely ugly.

Hearing this, everyone frowned.

"According to the agreement, the day after tomorrow will be the day when His Royal Highness will be sent to the Great Xia Imperial Capital as a hostage, but His Majesty is still hesitating, is it true that he really wants to send His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?"

"Throughout the ages, where is there a precedent for the prince of a country to be sent as a hostage? The Great Xia Dynasty deceived people too much, we must not agree! ”

"Yes, once His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is really sent to Great Xia, even if he can return in the future, it is unlikely that the imperial court will agree to let His Royal Highness the Crown Prince ascend the throne. The biggest possibility is that after the crown prince is sent, His Majesty will secretly cultivate a hidden prince! ”

"I agree with Dr. Liu's opinion, so we can't sit still and let His Royal Highness the Crown Prince be sent!"

These people are all close confidants of the crown prince Chi Qian, and their interests are tied to Chi Qian, which can be described as both prosperity and loss, so they naturally don't want to see this kind of ending.

Therefore, after finding out Chi Qian's thoughts, they secretly united together to give advice to Chi Qian, wanting Chi Qian to persuade the emperor to change his mind.

It's a pity that the old emperor seems to be quite afraid of Great Xia and doesn't dare to tear up the agreement.

"If everything is carried out in accordance with the agreement between the two countries, it would be fine, but now, the Huanggu Imperial Dynasty took the initiative to withdraw its troops because of civil strife, and the Great Xia Dynasty did nothing, so it directly took all the benefits, how can there be such a cheap good thing in the world?"

"Yes, even if it is only from this point of view, my Mangxi Dynasty can have a good theory with Great Xia, and strive to greatly reduce the previous conditions, what is Your Majesty to hesitate?"

"You don't know, in fact, His Majesty has convened those pillars to discuss this matter for a long time. However, as far as I know, the main theme of their secret deliberations is to abolish the matter of letting Bactria take over the command of our army, and as long as this can be achieved, they will not hesitate to continue to fulfill the other two items, that is, they can allow a small number of Bactria garrisons to exist, and also allow His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to be sent as hostages. ”

"What? How could they? This is directly abandoning His Royal Highness the Crown Prince! ”

"Damn! We must not allow this! His Royal Highness the Crown Prince must not be a hostage! ”

"Not bad! In any case, even if the army is dangerous, we must ensure that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince stays! ”

For a time, the crowd was indignant, and everyone was filled with righteous indignation and hatred for the enemy, and a consensus was reached in a very short period of time.

After all, protecting Chi Qian is protecting their own interests!

"But the key question is, what exactly can we do to stop this? His Majesty is vague, and if the content of the secret discussion is true, it means that His Majesty has made up his mind to sacrifice His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. Without His Majesty's support, how can we turn the tables? ”

"Yes, Your Majesty won't work here, and it is even more undesirable to directly instigate a large army to go to war with Great Xia. Although Great Xia only sent an army of more than one million troops, our current battleable army only has more than two million left, and the chances of victory are very small. If you are not careful, you may bring the disaster of destroying the country for the dynasty! ”

"This statement is a bit sensational, the Great Xia Dynasty is not weak, but after all, it is only a 'little supreme', and the miraculous battle with the Ancient Emperor Dynasty a few years ago is unlikely to be staged again. If you really want to fight, it is not yet known who will kill the deer! Don't forget, this is the home of my Mangs' Breath Dynasty! ”

"Don't be impulsive! Our dynasty has just experienced a big fiasco, and now the morale of the whole army is at its lowest point, and we must not risk going to war with Great Xia! ”

"Then you say, what should I do?"

"In my opinion, there may be only one way to go......

As soon as these words came out, the people in the secret room all perked up, and they all looked towards the middle-aged man with a hooked nose who spoke.

"Oh? What is General Wu's plan? ”

The general surnamed Wu looked around at everyone, and then looked at Chi Qian, who was also in high spirits and looking forward to it, and took a deep breath and said: "Your Royal Highness the Prince, everyone, I think that now only by letting His Royal Highness the Crown Prince change his identity can we solve the problem!" ”

"Change of identity? What does this mean? ”

Everyone was stunned, and one of them frowned and asked.

"Not bad! It's a change of identity! ”

General Wu nodded affirmatively, his eyes glinting.

"In fact, doing so will not only solve the problem we are facing, but also allow His Royal Highness to ascend to the next step! Turn this crisis into a big opportunity! ”

After listening to General Wu's words, some people looked confused and still didn't understand what they meant.

But more people quickly guessed the answer, and their expressions immediately became extremely subtle.

"General Wu means ......"

An old man cautiously pointed in the direction of the palace, and then spit out a word: "Change? ”

Although this man said it very cautiously, everyone immediately understood what it meant.

There is no doubt that this sentence is saying, palace change!

Gong Bian, got this exact answer, many people are a spirit, only to feel a cold current rising in their backs, and their faces turned pale with shock.

But at the same time, there were also a few people whose eyes were bright and faintly excited.

Aren't they betting on the crown prince so that one day the prince can ascend the throne, so that they can reap amazing rewards?

Including their previous reluctance to send the crown prince to Great Xia as a hostage, the essence is actually around this aspect.

If Prince Chi Qian can really ascend to the throne now, it will be a huge surprise!

It's just that when it comes to such a fatal event as the palace change, although they are very excited, they are not carried away.

"Is this appropriate? Can it be done? ”

"Yes, this kind of thing, once the slightest rumor leaks out, I'm afraid that before we can launch it, our entire clan will lose their heads!"

General Wu looked at Chi Qian, whose eyes were uncertain, and then at the people whose eyes were dodging and secretly guarding, and snorted coldly.

"Ladies and gentlemen, since everyone has heard what Fang Cai said, it means that all of us are really tied to a rope, even if someone wants to go to the informant, they will definitely not be able to escape the fate of being raided and exterminated in the end!"

"We are His Royal Highness's close ministers, if we can even betray His Royal Highness the Prince, what can't we sell after that? Your Majesty and others can also think of this, even if the whistleblower will be added to the knighthood in the early stage, but it won't be long before a big hat of treason will be installed, and he will still die an extremely miserable death! ”

"So, I advise you, don't have any ghost thoughts, that will only harm others and yourself!"

"But on the contrary, as long as we keep a secret and work together to help His Royal Highness the Crown Prince succeed in ascending the throne, then His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will not be able to treat everyone badly! I think everyone knows this in their hearts, after all, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has always been extremely thin with us! ”

After listening to General Wu's words, everyone couldn't help but be silent, but they could feel that most of the suspicion, vigilance, and uneasiness that had overflowed had disappeared.

In addition, judging from the silent expression of the crown prince Chi Qian, I am afraid that the prince and General Wu have actually communicated in advance about this matter, which shows that His Royal Highness the crown prince has already made preparations in this regard......

After more than ten breaths, one person spoke in a low voice.

"We all know that. It's just that this can really be done? ”

General Wu grinned and said calmly: "As long as you can support it, this matter can definitely be done!" ”

"I control half of the elite of the garrison, and the deputy commander of the forbidden army, Xu Xu, is also the prince's person, and you are basically in important positions. As long as we plan properly and arrange carefully, we will succeed in changing the world! ”

Hearing that one of the deputy commanders of the forbidden army was also the prince's person, everyone's eyes couldn't help but brighten, and the confidence in their hearts instantly became a lot fuller.

At this time, another person spoke up.

"But over there, how are we going to explain? Will they intervene? Don't forget, Great Xia has an elite army of 200,000 people stationed outside the imperial capital. ”

General Wu shook his head and said confidently: "There is no reason for Great Xia to meddle in this matter, what they want is the command of the army of my Mangxi Dynasty, as for who our emperor is, they have no reason to care." ”

"And, as long as we're fast enough, even if they want to, it's too late!"

"As for the matter of protons, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is not without heirs. As long as His Royal Highness the Crown Prince succeeds in ascending the throne, another prince will be appointed. ”

"In this way, this great crisis can be completely solved!"

After listening to General Wu's analysis, everyone nodded thoughtfully, and the confidence in their hearts was much stronger.

Next, everyone reached an agreement one after another, and after Chi Qian pretended to refuse and excuse for a while, he "reluctantly" responded and completely finalized the matter.

After that, everyone talked secretly for a long time and determined the details of the matter.

Among them, the most critical time is set for tomorrow night.

Because if it's too early, it's too late, and it's easy to get out of the basket.

……

An hour later, an inconspicuous ordinary house in the south of the city.

The underground secret room of the house, where two people meet.

One of them was a hunchbacked old man, and the other was a middle-aged man dressed as a literati, and upon closer inspection, he found that this person was the middle-aged scribe who followed Chi Qian.

In fact, both of them are high-level members of the Blue Dragon Society.

The Blue Dragon Society has twelve halls and three hundred and sixty rudders, and among the two, the hunchbacked old man is the deputy hall master of the third hall, Zhu Suo, and the middle-aged scribe is the helmsman Cheng Qing of this side.

"What's the hurry?"

Zhu Su shouted tea, looked at Cheng Qing on the other side and asked slowly.

Cheng Qing hugged his fists and said solemnly: "Deputy hall master, Chi Qian wants to change the palace!" ”

Next, Cheng Qing told the whole thing from beginning to end.

After listening to the specific content, Zhusuo's originally calm face instantly became serious.

"Is there such a thing? Master Cheng Helm, you did a good job, now you have to make a meritorious service. ”

Zhu Su let out a light breath, then flipped his palm and took out a secret talisman disk.

"Wait a minute, I need to report this matter to the hall master and the head of the council immediately!"

Cheng Qing nodded, did not speak, and waited until Zhu Su finished delivering the news before he spoke.

"Deputy Hall Master, how do you think the above will deal with this?"

Zhu Su thought for a while, and said unconfidently: "I should be able to secretly help Chi Qian, or stand still." After all, Chi Qian's power is limited, and his ascension to the throne should aggravate the internal strife within the Mangxi Dynasty, which is more beneficial to my Great Xia. ”

Cheng Qing touched his chin, but shook his head and said, "Deputy Hall Master, I think that the imperial court should help the old emperor of Mangxi." ”

Zhu Su raised his eyebrows and said in surprise: "Oh? How so? ”

"Deputy Hall Master, the old emperor of the Mangxi Dynasty is a conservative, a little timid, and a little cautious. He has a lot of fear of my Great Xia, and continuing to let him rule Mangxi should be more beneficial to my Great Xia's interests. ”

"But that Chi Qian is different, he is a radical. Although he is also quite jealous of my Great Xia now, if he succeeds in ascending the throne and becoming the emperor, then it is possible to challenge the interests of my Great Xia from all sides, either openly or covertly, and even try to regain what has been lost. ”

"Therefore, the subordinates believe that the imperial court should be inclined to help the old emperor."

Zhu Su groaned thoughtfully for a while, and then bowed slightly.

"There is some truth to what you say. Then let's wait and see what the court plans to do. ”

After a stick of incense, the secret talisman plate in Zhusuo's hand suddenly lit up with a faint light.

Cheng Qing perked up and asked expectantly: "Deputy hall master, is it the reply from the hall master or the head of the hall?" ”

"It's the hall master."

After carefully reading the above contents, Zhu Su added: "The hall master said that this matter is too big for him to be the master, and he also made a report to the head of the council, and let us wait for the direct order of the head of the council. ”

After the words fell, Zhu Sue put the secret talisman plate on the table, looked at Cheng Qing and said: "I'm afraid that the head of the meeting will not be able to hear back for a while, you should go back, you can't arouse suspicion." I will inform you as soon as the leader's order is given. ”

"Yes!"

Cheng Qing nodded, got up and hugged his fists, and left quickly.

An hour later, the secret talisman disk lit up again, and Zhu Sue hurriedly decrypted it to see, and found that it was a reply sent by Bai Yujing, the head of the Blue Dragon Society.

The content of the letter was concise and to the point, and the main purpose was to ask them to report to Emperor Mangxi at a certain time before the mutiny, and then Tsing Yi Lou in the palace of Mangxi should find a way to hint to Emperor Mangxi and ask him to ask for help from the Great Xia garrison outside the city in a dangerous situation.

In this way, Great Xia would be able to gain some further benefits, such as fighting for a direct garrison in the Mangxi Imperial Capital......

(End of chapter)