"How dead!!"

"How could you die!"

"I asked you to arrest him, not to force him to death!!"

On March 24, when the news of Zhu Bai, the king of Xiang, who had self-immolated in the palace, returned to the capital, Zhu Yunwen, who had always been calm, also lost his temper.

He smashed the utensils, so that Huang Zicheng, Qi Tai, and Fang Xiaoru in the hall lowered their heads and did not dare to respond.

They could see that Zhu Yunwen was very frightened now.

He loved his reputation and face, but his mask was finally torn off under the news of Zhu Bai's self-immolation.

The gap between cutting down the feudal clan and destroying the people and forcing his own uncle to death is too big.

"From now on, I will become the king who forced my uncle to death......"

Zhu Yunwen stood in place and walked out in spirit.

"Your Majesty, the top priority is to attack the Yan Mansion as soon as possible, and the three guards of the Yan Mansion must be transferred away, so as not to pretend to be mad at the Yan Mansion!"

Qi Tai saw that Zhu Yunwen had calmed down, and hurriedly said: "Taking advantage of the fact that spring has just begun, it is reasonable to send troops to Bohai first, cut off King Yan's arm as planned, and then start cutting down the Yan Domain." ”

"That's right!" Huang Zicheng was worried that Zhu Yunwen would blame the person he recommended for forcing the King of Xiang to death, so he hurriedly said: "The imperial history sent before is almost here, if Bohai and the King of Yan learn of the news that the imperial court has cut down the five kings of the vassal and the King of Xiang has set himself on fire, it will inevitably cause rebellion." ”

"Your Majesty can tell the world that Zhu Bai, the king of Xiangxiang, conspired to make a rebellion, failed and died by self-immolation, in addition, his nickname should also be based on evil slander!"

"In addition, the imperial court can also say that the king of Bohai colluded with the king of Hunan to make a rebellion after cutting the Bohai domain, so as to make the court stand on the righteousness."

If Qi Tai kills someone, then Huang Zicheng is a punishment.

After the admonition of the two, Zhu Yunwen slowly came back to his senses, and he said indifferently: "You can do this thing, don't make another mistake......

He was a little disappointed in the two, and the two also knew that they were at a loss, and after making the order, they withdrew from the Wuying Palace.

After they left, Fang Xiaoru comforted Zhu Yunwen: "The Son of Heaven inherits the way of heaven and controls all directions, and he is doing the way of justice and justice, everything Your Majesty does is in justice, why are you entangled with yourself?" ”

"Besides......"

Under the persuasion of Fang Xiaoru, Zhu Yunwen came back to his senses a little, and the news that Zhu Bai, the king of Xiang, had died by self-immolation, began to spread.

It's just that before the news spreads completely, the news of the four kings of Qi, Dai, Su, and Min in one breath spread by the imperial court.

In the first year after Zhu Yuanzhang's collapse, Zhu Yunwen attacked six uncles in one breath, one was forced to commit suicide, one was abolished, and the other four may not escape the end of being abolished.

For a time, the government and the opposition were in turmoil, and the wealthy squires of Jiangnan who supported Zhu Yunwen also did not agree with him forcing his uncle to death.

As Zhu Bai said before his death, Zhu Yunwen became an example of Zhu Yuanzhang's humiliation, and he, Zhu Bai, became an existence that everyone regretted.

It's just that for Zhu Yunwen, he no longer cares about Zhu Bai's death, he cares more about the dynamics of the feudal domains.

However, to his surprise, Zhu Bai's death and his move to cut the five kings in a row did not have any vassal kings, which made Zhu Yunwen's self-confidence swell.

Like Zhu Bai, the vassal did not think that they could use their guards to fight against the imperial court.

This has been the case since the beginning of Zhu Yunwen's cutting of the domain, not to mention now.

Among the vassal kings canonized by Zhu Yuanzhang during his lifetime, there are currently less than eleven remaining, and the remaining kings such as Han and Shen have not yet been vassalized.

After going to the king of Zhou, the king of Qi, the king of Xiang and other vassal kings with more than 10,000 soldiers and horses, the remaining eleven vassal kings added up to only 100,000 guards, and they were scattered all over the country.

Of course, what is more important is that Zhu Di, the head of the feudal domains, suffered from a mad disease, and the two kings of Qin and Jin are both sons and nephews, so it is impossible to coordinate the overall situation.

Therefore, in the face of Zhu Yunwen's strong cutting of the domain, the feudal clans can only hope that Zhu Yunwen will not cut it to themselves, and it is absolutely impossible to think about or dare to do it to raise troops and make trouble.

In such an environment, the feudal lords were like quails, and although the military attachés had resentments, they actually wanted the feudal kings to cause rebellion, so that the military attachés would have a chance to show themselves.

The King of Xiang and the King of Qi and other vassals were removed, and the situation was already clear, and the next to be cut down was either the King of Chu or the King of Yan.

"This rice seedling has to be carefully cared for, and it is not easy to cultivate such a rice seedling."

At the beginning of April, when the whole world was preparing for the next cut of the king of Chu or the king of Yan, the snow from Liaodong to the Bohai Sea had begun to melt.

It's just that Zhu Gaoxu didn't care about this, and he was still taking the people to transplant rice seedlings from the seedling field into the field with peace of mind.

The 5,000 acres of nursery fields have produced enough rice seedlings to transplant 200,000 mu, and for Zhu Gaoxu, each of them is very precious.

The people of Bohai did not know that this was the calm before the storm, and they were all immersed in the atmosphere of spring ploughing, happily planting rice.

The acres of Bohai fields have exceeded one million mu and have reached more than 1,064,000 mu, which is more than 60,000 mu more than Zhu Gaoxu expected, and can also produce tens of thousands of stone of grain.

It's just that he can't eat these grains after all.

After cultivating rice with the savage Jurchen, who had just returned to Shun in winter, Zhu Gaoxu also went ashore to wash the mud on his feet with the icy water of the Songhua River, and then lowered his trouser legs.

Yishiha searched for it from the cement road, still holding a book in his hand.

Seeing him, Zhu Gaoxu knew why he came.

He took Yishiha to the bank of the Songhua River, and Liu Wu and others in the distance spied secretly, but he couldn't hear what they said, and he couldn't see their lips and teeth clearly, and he couldn't read them in lip language.

"How? How many are left? ”

Walking by the river, Zhu Gaoxu asked Yi Shiha, and Yi Shiha also said heavily: "There is a lot of fishing on the Sancha River, and a lot of food has been saved with fish and meat this winter, but now it will last until the ninth day of June at most." ”

The winter was long, and many Jurchens were appeased in the cities, and the consumption of food increased, but it was difficult to maintain the food of more than 100,000 people just by fishing.

In the case of more than 40 horse boats built by Jilin City, although the Sancha River is rich in fisheries, the fishing technology of this era is far inferior to that of modern times, and even less than that of mechanized later generations.

More than 40 horse-boats went out, going back and forth for at least ten days, although they could bring three or four million catties of fish when they returned with a full load, but after they were evenly distributed to the people, they could barely reach one fish per day for each family.

Although a lot of rations were saved, the amount of new rations for the Fufu Jurchens quickly filled the gap saved.

"The ...... of the ninth month of June"

Zhu Gaoxu muttered about the days when the grain was finished, and then glanced at the people who were farming.

"Your Highness, we have to do it first."

Yisha reminded Zhu Gaoxu, but Zhu Gaochu shook his head: "We can't do it first, we have to let them do it first." ”

"If I do it first, the people of Jilin City will not be able to work together, but if they do it to me first, and let the people of the Bohai Navy follow suit, then our hundreds of thousands of people will be grasshoppers who are really tied together."

"But if we drag on like this, we will run out of food, and there will be no way to do it then." Yisha is worried about the food problem, and Zhu Gaoxu is also worried, but he understands one thing better.

"The day set by the imperial court for the allocation of grain by the Liaodong Metropolitan Division is the first day of the fourth month, but it has been delayed for six days now."

"My big brother won't delay until May, that will only alert me, and he will definitely do it before June."

Speaking of this, Zhu Gaoxu asked Yishiha: "Has Cui Jun explored the road of Dongning Mansion?" ”

"I've been probed, you can go." Yisha nodded, and Zhu Gaoxu also spoke: "The ice in the middle and lower reaches should no longer affect navigation." ”

"You sent people to Blackwater City, and ordered the reserves of Blackwater City to be the front, rear, left, and right battalions of the Shenji Battalion, with 3,000 people in each battalion."

"Pay attention to the rear battalion of the machine to garrison Heishui City, and the other three battalions will come to Jilin City by boat with craftsmen, clay molds, artillery and muskets."

"More than forty horse boats should be able to take them back to Jilin City in one go, calculate the time, and it should be the end of April by then."

Zhu Gaoxu asked Meng Zhang to bring the third battalion of the divine machine to Jilin, and the time was still the end of April, the meaning of which is self-evident.

"Do you want to tell His Royal Highness King Yan?"

Yisha asked carefully, and Zhu Gaoxu also bowed: "Although I think my father should be prepared, it is better to give a notice." ”

"You ask Gan Yue of Zhaozhou City to bring someone to inform my father, he knows the situation of the Uliangha Territory and can pass through the Uryanha Territory."

Zhu Gaoxu sent Gan Yue, a Shun man from Wuliangha, not only to inform Zhu Di, but also to resolve the contradiction between Ganyue and Zhu Di blocking Zhu Di in the Bald City of Wuliangha.

After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu also returned to Jilin City shortly after.

There are few people in the Bohai Palace, especially Guo Yan and two maidservants after the Houfu, as well as more than ten pure soldiers.

What can be hidden from the outside world is already known here.

The people in the back house all know that their Highness is planning something big, although they don't know what the big thing is, but they know that everything His Highness does is for a reason.

Zhu Gaoxu found Guo Yan, and after appeasing her, he asked Guo Yan to write a letter to Guo Ying and ask how Guo Ying was doing, so as to confuse Zhu Yunwen.

It's just that Zhu Gaoxu doesn't know that he doesn't need to confuse Zhu Yunwen at all, because Zhu Yunwen is already ready to do it.

On the fifth day of the fourth month, Wu Gao, the Marquis of Jiangyin, who served as the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, began to mobilize the army of the Liaodong Metropolitan Division.

He transferred Liu Zhen and 4,000 soldiers from the four prefectures of southern Liaoning to Jiulian City next to the Yalu River to guard against Korea, and transferred his younger brother Wu Shouan to lead 5,000 troops to garrison Shanhaiguan, leaving his son Wu Sheng to control the three guards of Guangning and guard against the rebellion of the Liao king.

On the tenth day of the fourth month, he led about 30,000 guards from the Liaodong Prefecture to arrive at 30,000 guards, and at the same time transferred Zhou Ding, who had an old relationship with Zhu Gaoxu, to Jinzhou.

Zhou Ding had the intention to send a message to Zhu Gaoxu, but he didn't dare to deliver the news because of Wu Gao.

Zhou Ding was transferred, and Wu Gao also began to transfer grain and grass to 30,000 guards in case the feudal domain failed.

On April 17, Zheng Gongzhi, the inspector sent by the capital, arrived at Sanwanwei with a holy decree.

Wu Gao met with Zheng Gongzhi, and after Zheng Gongzhi arrived at the 30,000 Wei Yamen, he shielded the left and right, and asked Wu Gao carefully: "How many soldiers and horses is the Marquis of Jiangyin going to send to Jilin City with me." ”

Wu Gao's father was Wu Liang, the Marquis of Jiangyin, the founding general of the Hongwu period, and he himself was cautious and cautious in his use of troops.

He was reluctant to use troops to cut Bohai in the imperial court.

Although he and Zhu Gaochu only had a nod of the head, he had seen the 3,000 cavalry under Zhu Gaochu during his northern tour last year, and the 3,000 cavalry were brave and good at fighting, and the horses were fat and strong, which was much stronger than the 4,000 cavalry in Liaodong.

In a head-to-head battle, he may not be able to break the enemy with cavalry, and Zhu Gaoxu still has 13,000 foot soldiers under his command, and the long defense line in Liaodong, it is very difficult to use 30,000 people to defend the attack of 16,000 people.

Now Zheng Gongzhi also wants him to send troops to help cut the domain, if the reduction fails, Zhu Gaoxu is prepared, then he will have to fold thousands of soldiers and horses in vain, he is naturally unwilling.

But after all, the will was given by the emperor, and he couldn't help it no matter how unwilling he was.

"I'm going to transfer two thousand people and Yushi to Jilin City, I wonder how many people the imperial court can help in Jilin City?"

Wu Gao has eight out of forty, and he is calm and orderly, so he naturally wants to know the confidence of the imperial court to cut the Bohai Sea.

It's just that in the face of Wu Gao's martial arts, Zheng Gongzhi obviously didn't trust him very much, and just smiled and said, "It's enough." ”

"......" Listening to Zheng Gongzhi's defense, Wu Gao frowned slightly, but still didn't say anything, just explained: "If you can't do anything, Zheng Yushi can bring the troops back first, and the king of Bohai County has the courage of ten thousand people, so he can't act rashly." ”

"Huh...... Got it. Zheng Gongzhi smiled, and sneered at Wu Gao's words in his heart.

Of course, there was a reason why he dared to think so.

In front of Wu Gao, he took out two holy decrees, and Wu Gao hurriedly made a move when he saw this.

Holding the holy decree, Zheng Gongzhi slowly spoke: "The Qi army has already thought of a way, and the first thing to do is to transfer Bohai's guards in Jilin City. ”

"Please ask the Marquis of Jiangyin to transfer 1,000 people and 2,000 people, transport 3,000 stones of grain to Jilin City, and at the same time read the holy decree, and let the king of Bohai County command Wang Yi and Jilin Weibei to patrol the land of Wuliangha."

"After the 5,000 soldiers and horses are transferred, the lower officials will lead 3,000 people to feign to load grain, take the opportunity to enter Jilin City, and ask the king of Bohai County to go south to explain the matter of opening the mutual market privately."

Qi Tai's method of dealing with Zhu Gaochu was nothing more than thinking about transferring Zhu Gaochu's headquarters, and then using Liu Wu and his soldiers to raid.

Wu Gao listened to this simple plan, and only felt that Qi Tai and the others completely regarded Zhu Gaoxu as those vassal kings in the mainland who did not know soldiers.

"I'm afraid this move won't work for the king of Bohai County, most of the soldiers and civilians under his command are naturalized Jurchens, and they don't know the royal way, once the court moves, those Jurchens are afraid that they will rebel with swords."

Wu Gao knew very well the characteristics of the Jurchens, they lived outside the Guan, and the degree of ferocity was far greater than that of the Mongols living in Mobei, and once Zhu Gaoxu was harmed, they were afraid that they would attack him en masse.

"At that time, the Marquis of Jiangyin will need to send troops." Seeing that Wu Gao could actually guess this step, Zheng Gongzhi didn't hide it anymore and explained Qi Tai's plan in full.

Qi Tai's plan was divided into three steps, the first step was to transfer Wang Yi and the main force of Bohai, and the second step was to raid the Bohai palace with the soldiers and horses led by Zheng Gongzhi and Liu Wu.

The third step is that Wu Gao led his troops to Changchun in the name of the northern tour, once Zheng Gongzhi provoked a popular uprising, then Wu Gao led 4,000 cavalry from Liaodong to raid Jilin City to suppress the rebellious Jurchen naturalized people.

If the suppression fails, then Wu Gao can cover their retreat, relying on the infantry of Changchun to retreat outside the pass, and close the city.

With the population and food of Jilin City, as long as they held on for a few months, Zhu Gaoxu had to surrender.

This plan is good, but the premise is that Zhu Gaoxu must transfer Wang Yi and them.

Therefore, Qi Tai also gave a backup method, that is, once Zhu Gaoxu did not transfer Wang Yi and Jilin City's soldiers and horses, Wu Gao would immediately seal the border and confront Zhu Gaoxu until he ran out of food.

For these two methods, Wu Gao didn't think there was any problem after hearing them, so he agreed to Zheng Gongzhi's suggestion.

The next day, Zheng Gongzhi sent a seven-pin Wen Linlang and Wu Gao's 1,000 soldiers and horses and 2,000 people to use a carriage to pull 3,000 stone of grain to Jilin City.

Because Zhu Gaoxu opened up the mountain road from Jilin to Changchun, it used to take half a month to travel, but now it only takes ten days.

During these ten days, Zheng Gongzhi and Wu Gao needed to wait quietly for Zhu Gaoxu's actions after receiving the will to decide how to deal with him.

They were waiting, and Zhu Di, who was in Beiping City, also got the news from the south through the note from the Xu family when he delivered the meal.

"Old Twelve...... Self-immolation? ”

In the messy storage hall, when Zhu Di saw the note written "King Xiang self-immolated, and the four kings of Dai, Qi, Su, and Min were cut", he immediately remembered Zhu Bai when he went south to worship his father.

How could such a person be forced to self-immolate......

He was in a trance, and he no longer had the strength to smash things.

Shi Gecheng, the head of the royal palace who was secretly observing, also felt the silence of the Cunxin Hall when he passed by the Cunxin Palace, and he tried to get closer, but was stopped by the guards.

"Ge Changshi, the princess has told that no one is allowed to approach His Royal Highness, not even the prince and the third highness."

The two teams of guards stopped Ge Cheng, and Zhu Di in the hall also heard the sound outside the hall, and immediately began to pick up the broken table leg and smash it on the door and window: "You abolished the fifth child!" You don't have to die well!! ”

The sound of smashing sounded again, and Ge Cheng was puzzled, but he didn't dare to expose it, so he could only smile and return the salute, and then left the Cunxin Palace.

Soon after, he found the chef of the palace, where he met several cooks who were in charge of Zhu Di's daily diet, and asked about Zhu Di's diet these days.

The cooks looked at each other when they heard this, and finally said: "These days, the princess has personally cooked and sent it to His Royal Highness." ”

"Didn't you get the food? For example, knocked over? Ge Cheng continued to ask.

"No, I haven't ......" The cook wanted to say something, but suddenly waved at the kitchen door: "Shizi! ”

Ge Cheng was shocked, and hurriedly turned around, and sure enough, he saw Zhu Gaochi standing at the door of the kitchen.

"What are you talking about?" Zhu Gaochi looked at Ge Cheng, who was inquiring about the news, and had some doubts in his heart.

My father is already crazy, why do I need to find out the news?

"Xia Guan just came to ask His Royal Highness King Yan how his diet is, whether it is regular, and whether there are any traces of recovery."

"Since the prince is here, then the lower official will retire first."

Ge Cheng left, but Zhu Gaochi was puzzled, looked at the steamer next to him, opened it with his sleeve, grabbed out two meat buns, and instructed the cooks: "Prepare me some food, I'm hungry." ”

"Yes......" The cooks responded, and Zhu Gaochi also walked out with two meat buns.

When he was far away, the cooks said, "Didn't you just have lunch an hour ago?" ”

"Just do it, don't talk." Another cook shook his head, and then cooked according to Zhu Gaochi's favorite taste.

In the sound of their preparations, Ge Cheng left the Yanwang Mansion and found the previous teahouse, and knocked on the door in a courtyard near the teahouse.

After a while, the door slowly opened, and he stepped inside.

Inside, the man dressed as an old peasant stood in the courtyard, and Ge Cheng also turned around and said, "I feel that there is something wrong with King Yan. ”

"What's wrong?" The old farmer frowned when he heard this, and Ge Cheng also spoke: "Since King Yan went crazy, Princess Yan has cooked for him, but how can a madman eat every meal?" There should be some broken meals. ”

"Today I asked the cooks, and they said that they had never seen the food swept out of the Cunxin Temple, and I have not seen it since I recalled."

"So you think King Yan is pretending to be crazy?" The old farmer reacted, and at the same time narrowed his eyes: "You have to tell Your Majesty first." ”

"Nope! It should have been directly told to the political envoy Zhang Yu of Beiping and the commanders of the capital Xie Gui and Zhang Xin. Ge Cheng interrupted:

"If King Yan is really pretending to be crazy, then we should do it immediately."

"But at the moment, the three guards of Yanfu are still stationed outside Beiping City, and I am afraid that rash action will cause a counterattack." The old farmer shook his head: "You and I can't be the master of this matter, we still have to tell Your Majesty." ”

"Then hurry up!" Ge Cheng shook his head when he heard this, and then left the courtyard.

A moment later, the carrier pigeon was also released from this courtyard, and this scene was seen by the head of the teahouse, and he asked the man to inform the ascetic monks of Qingshou Temple.

The ascetic relayed the news to Yao Guangxiao, and Yao Guangxiao, who heard the news, got up and walked from Qingshou Temple to Yanwang's mansion.

After rushing to the Yan Wang's Mansion, he was summoned by the Xu family not long after, but there was one more person in the former dormitory summoned this time.

"Princess, this ......"

Yao Guangxiao looked at Zhu Gaochi who appeared in the hall, and stopped talking.

Seeing this, Xu also motioned for him to sit down, and then spoke: "Gao Chi guessed it, so there is no need to hide it from him." ”

"I see......" Yao Guangxiao sat down, he was not surprised that Zhu Gaochi could guess that Zhu Di was pretending to be crazy, but he was curious about how Zhu Gaochi knew.

"Dare to ask how the prince knew that His Highness was pretending to be sick?"

Yao Guangxiao had a hunch that Zhu Gaochi could know about this, and I was afraid it had something to do with Ge Cheng.

"I went to the big cook to ask the cook to cook, and I happened to meet Changshi Ge Cheng there to ask the cooks if their father's food had been cleaned."

"After he asked, I figured out that with my father's temperament, if my mother cooked, he would definitely finish it, but a really crazy person wouldn't, so I guessed that my father was pretending to be crazy."

Zhu Gaochi explained how he knew everything, and at the same time he was very worried.

After knowing that Zhu Di was pretending to be crazy, he probably guessed that his father was probably plotting something big.

"Sure enough, ......" Yao Guangxiao sighed, and then talked to the two about Ge Cheng's rebellion.

When the two of them heard this, their hearts tightened, and Xu said nervously: "Do you want to advance?" ”

"It's pretty much the same, but the princess and the prince don't have to worry." Yao Guangxiao said indifferently: "Even if we don't do it, His Royal Highness will do it, and judging from the news that the poor monk has learned, the time for the imperial court to do something to His Second Highness is probably only in this month or two."

Yao Guangxiao's words made Xu stand up nervously, and Zhu Gaochi also lost his mind and muttered: "Is Gao Xu also involved......

"Ming Shizong Record": "In April of the first year of Jianwen, Jianwen Jun was raised, and Gongzhi conspired to remove him, but he was not detected. ”

"Ming Taizong Record": "In April, Cheng rebelled against Jianwenjun and exposed the madness"

(End of chapter)