Within the Southern Zhao, in the palace of the king of Yunnan, Li Shen got the news that the emperor was not in Da Nei, and his whereabouts were uncertain now.

And there were not many people with him, and the prince was now unpopular, so he wondered if he could replace him now.

Because he knew that Liang Xiang and other ministers no longer supported the crown prince now, he immediately sent a secret letter to the people in the capital.

wants to draw Liang Xiang's party into his camp.

However, Liang Xiang never took the initiative to participate in these affairs, and now he admonishes the abolition of the crown prince for the sake of the future of Dajing.

So for the olive branch handed out by Li Shen, he never took it.

This also made Li Shen very distressed, but he never gave up fighting for Liang Xiang.

Because he knew that if he wanted to get this big view, he had to get Liang Xiang's support, at least not against it.

Otherwise, even if he ascends to the throne, he will inherit a devastated and impossible scene.

This is not the result that Li Shen wants, so he has been showing favor to Liang Xiang all these years, but Liang Xiang is a polite dealing, and he has never had any intention of forming an alliance with Li Shen.

Zhang Yuan just grasped this point and wanted to make a big fuss.

Li Shen was gathering a group of cronies at this time to discuss matters in the hall.

"Your Highness, this is a great time! The crown prince has lost the hearts of the people, and it is not necessarily true that His Majesty is ill, but it is certain that people are not in Chang'an City, and there are not many people with him. Or let's ......."

Li Shen's confidant Zhao Peng's words were not finished before he was stopped by Li Shen, everyone knew what he wanted to say, but the assassination of the emperor was still too risky, and Li Shen would not do it unless it was absolutely necessary.

So Li Shen didn't speak, he had been planning for this for many years, and he didn't dare to act rashly.

"But if the emperor is prepared, we will be very passive, so it is better to go to the king of Shu first!"

A delicate-looking, somewhat weak, young man proposed.

This person is Li Shen's military advisor Lu Weishi, although he is young but intelligent, and he also saved Li Shen by chance, so Li Shen has taken him under his command for more than seven years.

Over the years, big and small things have been Lu Weishi helping Li Shen with his staff.

Zhao Peng asked suspiciously: "What are you looking for the King of Shu?" That place is the same as ours, there is a shortage of materials, poor and remote, and Li Ke, the king of Shu, is a shrunken turtle, and it has nothing to do with himself, do you still want him to help the prince get up? ”

Lu Weishi smiled and said nothing, but Li Shen immediately understood what he meant.

"The meaning of the division is that we will first go to explore Li Ke's tone, if the cooperation is not successful, he will be swallowed directly, Shu is much closer to Nanzhao than the capital, we are strong and strong, it is not a problem to take Shu land, and the entire southwest is under our control. Besides, we are not clear about the situation on His Majesty's side now, and it is not safe to rashly raise troops to attack Chang'an. But it will be different if we capture Shudi, as long as we succeed, this news will be able to block him in the southwest. When the time comes, no matter how the situation changes, we will be able to figure it out. Li Shen explained to Zhao Peng.

Lu Weishi smiled, and then said: "That's right, even if the situation is unfavorable to us in the end, we have the entire southwest in hand, no matter who the future emperor is, we must let the prince score three points, not to mention that the relationship between Nanban and Nanzhao has always been friendly, maybe the prince can also pocket Nanban at that time, and we can use the entire southwest as a springboard to plot the capital." ”

Zhao Peng nodded as if he didn't understand, and then said, "Then let's go to Shu now?" ”

"Don't worry, I don't know what Li Ke's situation is now, the spies sent out before have all gone and never returned, and those who came back haven't found any news, I'm just afraid that this Li Ke is not an idle person. But lately, he has recruited a team, and this is an opportunity, so let's explore it again. Li Shen said.

Lu Weishi looked at General Zhuo, who was silent, and asked, "General Zhuo, but what concerns do you have, you haven't spoken since just now?" ”

Zhuo Yu was stunned and said: "Lord Wang, military advisor, the terrain of Shu is steep, easy to defend and difficult to attack, if we really make a move, we are afraid that we will lose a lot of troops." ”

Li Shen and Lu Weishi both knew that General Zhuo's concerns were not unreasonable, but in the current situation, going to Shu was the best choice.

"General Zhuo, rest assured, we still have 100,000 troops in the secret, plus there are a total of 200,000 in my Nanzhao on the surface, although Shu is easy to defend and difficult to attack, we will first send people to infiltrate the city, and come to the inside and outside to meet the outside, and minimize casualties." Lu Weishi said.

Zhuo Yu bowed his hand and saluted and thanked: "In this way, the last general will definitely take this Yizhou City for the prince." ”

"The caravan is an opportunity! Since this Li Ke wants to do business so much, then Ben Wang will give him a big business this time. Li Shen said and arranged for people to start preparing.

At this time, the spies in the capital came to report.

"Report! Lord, Liang Xiang sent a letter to His Majesty to abolish the crown prince, but Taifu Zhang Yuan sent someone to intercept it, and wrote a secret letter in advance and sent it to His Majesty's place, as if to frame Liang Xiang for colluding with us. ”

"Where is Your Majesty?" Li Shen asked.

"The spies came and reported that it was in the southeast."

Hearing the news, Lu Weishi was very happy and said, "Okay! Good a southeast direction. Lord Wang, this is God is helping you! ”

Li Shen was puzzled, although Emperor Jing had always been jealous of himself over the years, he had never said it on the surface, if Zhang Yuan broke this layer of window paper, I am afraid that it will be even more difficult to act in the future, what is the benefit?

Lu Weishi knew Li Shen's doubts very well, and then said: "Lord Wang, you want to!" If Zhang Yuan succeeds, then Your Majesty will definitely suspect that you and Liang Xiang have colluded, and then you will push the boat down the river and pull Liang Xiang into our camp. Isn't it the fulfillment of your wish for many years? But if this Liang Xiang succeeds, it will be the prince's next position, His Majesty has no other son-in-law, the prince has been planning for many years, at this time, you only need to do more, and you don't have the final say on who the prince's position will fall into? ”

Li Shen thought about it for a while, and at this time Zhao Peng asked, "Then can we go to this Shu land?" ”

"Go! Now it's even more important to go! “

Zhao Peng was puzzled, and Li Shen explained: "If Liang Xiang succeeds and the crown prince is deposed, this Li Ke is an opponent of this king, go to Shu to solve him first, and there will be one less trouble in the future." If Zhang Yuan succeeds, there will inevitably be a rift between His Majesty and Liang Xiang, then the king will use Shu as a bargaining chip to pull Liang Xiang over, and it will be beneficial to us to take Shu no matter what. ”

"The prince is wise!" Lu Weishi said.

Saying that, Li Shen asked someone to report to Jingzhong, and he must make full evidence of his connection with Liang over the years, but not too deliberately and too obviously.