King Chen's cleanup of domestic forces was proceeding with great force.
Taking advantage of the third prince's initiative to invite war, he sent the third prince out of Luo City with 30,000 troops to make him withdraw from the court battle. Then he killed the Gongsun family and cut off the eldest prince's financial path. He also named Chen Mengzhu as his queen and won over Chen Qi.
and the border troops under his command; enriched his Fencheng and Jincheng cronies within the court, and weakened the Longxi Party's control over the court.
After all of this had the desired effect, King Chen pointed the finger at the eldest prince Chen Cheng who was far away in Pingguan.
Chen Cheng is strong and brave, but not good at strategy. In the past, he had the old marshal Chen Qi to make plans on his behalf, but he could still act independently. Now that Chen Qi has been dragged into his own camp by King Chen, Chen Cheng no longer has anyone he can trust or plan.
In addition, the love in his heart was struck by King Chen's sword, and he had been secretly gathering troops in the past few days, preparing to return to Luo City to argue with King Chen.
Regarding the mutiny organized by Chen Cheng, the Pingguan generals also divided into two factions after learning that Chen Qi had returned to King Chen. One faction was Chen Cheng's old troops. Naturally, they followed Chen Cheng's wishes and supported Chen Cheng in sending troops to Luocheng to fight with Chen Cheng.
According to Wang's theory, Zhou Yongkai is the most determined among them; one group is the old border generals, they are all Chen Qi's old troops, so naturally they follow Chen Qi's wishes and are unwilling to participate in the eldest prince's 'mutiny'.
Chen Cheng's actions had already been reported to King Chen, who summoned Xiao Tianyou and Chen Qi to discuss countermeasures. Xiao Tianyou was in charge of the Forbidden Army at this time, with more than 100,000 Forbidden troops under his command. He heard that there were soldiers in Pingguan.
He wanted to mutiny, so he urged troops to destroy him and establish the power of King Chen!
Chen Qi actually believed that brothers fighting should not fight each other with swords. Moreover, Chen Qi knew a lot about the Pingguan army and had a very detailed grasp of the military situation. Most of them were Chen Qi's old generals and did not have their own military orders.
, will not participate in Chen Cheng's mutiny.
King Chen also felt that what Chen Qi said was true, so he sent an order to Generalissimo Chen Qi to go to Pingguan to mobilize the army to continue to use troops against the Northern Barbarians. At the same time, he selected trusted generals from the Fencheng and Jincheng armies to go to Pingguan to organize military affairs.
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Chen Cheng was angry and anxious about Chen Qi's departure and return. He wanted to ask Chen Qi face to face whether Chen Qi had agreed to King Chen's decree to seal the queen, and whether Chen Mengzhu was happy with it? But Chen Qi avoided seeing him.
Recruiting the old troops at the camp outside the pass, and after the assembly was completed, he led the army to the northern Xinjiang.
Regarding the generals sent by King Chen, Chen Cheng did not take them seriously at first and deliberately made things difficult for them, thinking of running them away. However, these generals were extremely forbearing and only communicated with the generals and soldiers in the army to express King Chen's intentions.
After all, Chen Jun knew that King Chen was the lord of the Chen Kingdom, and that the eldest prince was just a prince. If he followed the eldest prince in the rebellion and failed, it would be a conspiracy, which would be a serious crime.
Seeing that Chen Cheng and Zhou Yongkai were unable to stop the generals and soldiers from defecting to Jincheng, the generals in Fencheng and the remaining troops in Pingguan were gradually ordered to be loyal to King Chen.
Seeing that the situation was over, Chen Cheng became even more depressed. He was originally a stubborn person, but once everything went wrong and he felt depressed, he became depressed and became ill.
When King Chen learned that the eldest prince was ill, he sent people to Pingguan to pick up the eldest prince and return to Luo City for training. Chen Cheng had no choice but to follow the imperial envoy back to Luo City, and the military affairs in Pingguan were transferred to Chen Qi.
Chen Qi returned to Pingguan again and saw the eldest prince Chen Cheng. Seeing Chen Cheng's illness, he felt pity. Chen Cheng used to be heroic, like a dragon and a tiger, but now he is haggard and weak. Chen Qi was only relieved a few times.
In other words, Chen Cheng also knew at this time that there was no room for maneuver in everything, and it was useless to talk more. When he saw Chen Qi, he just shed a few sad tears, handed over the military affairs, and returned to Luo City.
King Chen met with the eldest prince at the palace, and then sent an imperial doctor to diagnose and treat the eldest prince. Chen Cheng was always depressed, and his heart disease could not be cured by medicine, so his condition never improved.
All civil and military officials in Luo City also knew that the eldest prince had been seized of military power by King Chen. At this time, he was already a sick prince. Except for a visit from the officials to the prince's mansion, no one came to visit him. Chen Cheng was also at this time.
Regardless of these things, the pain in his heart was just for Chen Mengzhu.
Chen Qi quickly took over all military affairs in Pingguan. Chen Qi's cronies who could change their minds and loyal to King Chen were all retained. As for the generals who served Chen Cheng even to the death, such as Zhou Yongkai and others, Chen Qi did not make things difficult for them, or even
They were given ample food and salary and sent back to their hometowns, or according to their original intention, they were removed from the position of general and still served in the army. Zhou Yongkai requested an order and was willing to go to the prince's palace to guard the palace. Chen Qi also agreed to his request and sent people
'Escort' him back to Luo City, to the mansion of the eldest prince Chen Cheng, where he served as a family general.
Regarding King Chen's frequent pressure on the eldest prince and his family, Prime Minister Xu in the court felt the same way, and even the third prince Chen Yi, who was far away in Western Xinjiang, felt chills.
It took King Chen less than two months to completely control the political situation of Chen State. He had placed cronies all over the court, killed the Gongsun family, wooed Chen Qi, and seized the military power of the eldest prince. Now Chen State
There is only a faction headed by the third prince, and the main strength of the third prince is the 30,000 forbidden troops commanded by Li Hao, and some of the new troops recruited in Western Xinjiang. Without the support of the army, Xu Boxiong's Longxi Party has also lost its minions.
The tiger was no longer as sharp as before, and was killed by King Chen at will.
King Wuyou just watched the changes during this period, and then flew a message to King Qi. In his free time, he spent every day with Xiao Tianyou or going to Fengyue Tower to drink tea and listen to Xinyi.
On this day, King Wuyou was sitting leisurely in Qi Ci Fang. Listening to the sound of cicadas, he remembered that summer had come in previous years, and it was time to take Ying'er to a cool place to escape the heat. Ying'er was most afraid of the heat, so she must prepare something for her.
She could sleep peacefully on a couch. At this time, in the Tanqing Temple on Wutai, she didn’t know who would prepare cool well water for her to cool off in the hot summer, so that she could have a couch to sleep on at night. Thinking about this, she had no worries.
Wang felt a little irritable, sighed, stood up, walked a few steps, and didn't know where to go. He turned back, but didn't want to sit down, so he walked back and forth twice.
King Wuyou was anxious when he heard a burst of voices coming from the front, and then shopkeeper Shi led a person over. King Wuyou turned around and saw that the person who came took off his straw hat, and it turned out to be Xu Boxiong. This is called Wuyou.
King Wuyou felt a little surprised. The two were polite, and King Wuyou invited Xu Boxiong to sit at the coffee table under the shade of the tree.
King Wuyou personally poured a cup of tea for Xu Boxiong and handed it to him. Then he laughed and asked: "Prime Minister Xu, did God see that I was so hot, and a breeze blowing actually brought you here?
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Xu Boxiong thanked King Wuyou for the tea, took a few sips, and laughed when King Wuyou joked, and replied: "I'm surprised too. I was thinking about the prince, and a gust of wind blew me away.
Your Majesty is here. Your Majesty, you are a bit inappropriate. After all, you and I are old acquaintances. Why did you not want to condescend to my residence when you arrived in Luo City? But you refused to tell me and let me come and meet you.
See! How can this be justified?"
King Wuyou also picked up the teapot and poured tea for himself and Xu Boxiong. Then he picked it up and said to Xu Boxiong: "Prime Minister Xu, according to what you said, it is my fault, so I will respect the tea.
I’ll apologize to you!”
Xu Boxiong also quickly picked up the tea cup and said with a smile: "I don't dare, I also miss the prince. I thought about it so much that I dared to complain a few words. Don't blame the prince!"
The two joked for a while and then slowly turned to the main topic. King Wuyou also guessed at this time that since Xu Boxiong found him, it must be because of King Chen's actions towards the eldest prince, which made the third prince and Xu Boxiong feel
The pressure.
Xu Boxiong changed the subject and asked why King Wuyou came to Luo City. Was it because of state affairs or private matters?
King Wuyou laughed and said: "I have nothing to do. I heard that the girl Xinyi from Luoshui Fengyue is here, so I came here to look for beauty and have fun!"
Xu Boxiong said with understanding on his face: "Your Majesty is young, heroes love beauties, this is a story that has been around since ancient times!"
King Wuyou saw that Xu Boxiong was still testing, so he was not in a hurry and said: "This girl Xinyi is extremely talented, elegant and refined. She is the only one Qi Si has ever seen in his life. I really respect and love him in my heart. No.
Hiding it from the Prime Minister, I regard Xinyi as my confidante! These past few days, listening to her playing the piano and singing, reciting poems and sipping the fragrant tea has really made me want to go home!" After saying this, King Wuyou said
Act like you are intoxicated.
Xu Boxiong looked at King Wuyou with some disdain in his heart, but he still had a smile on his face. After King Wuyou finished speaking, he continued: "Your Majesty is really the best person in the world who understands romance! Since Your Majesty said that
How about letting me be the host of this charming girl from Feng Yue Tower, and invite the prince to get drunk in front of the Beauty Flower at Feng Yue Tower tonight! How about that?"
When King Wuyou heard what Xu Boxiong said, he chuckled, thanked him, and agreed.
Seeing that King Wuyou had agreed to go to the appointment, Xu Boxiong stood up and left after sitting for a while, saying he was going to make preparations. King Wuyou sent him to the store and said goodbye to each other before going out.
On the way back home, Xu Boxiong thought of King Wuyou's words, and he felt a little contempt for the prince of Qi. Although he also knew that King Wuyou could conquer many battles, he had defeated the Chen army and defeated the Yue army in succession. It was the last time he defeated the Chen army.
During the post-war peace talks, King Wuyou also acted extremely domineering and spoke carefully, making it extremely difficult for Xu Boxiong to deal with. But now it seems that he is still a greedy and lustful person after all. No wonder the world calls him a dandy prince. Now he just wants to
A brothel girl actually secretly ran to Luo City and spent the whole day hanging out in the land of romance, but she ignored the fact that the battle between Qi and Shu was inextricably linked.
Xu Boxiong also learned through his spy at Fengyue Tower that Mr. Qi from Qi Ci Fang often went there to look for girls. Xu Boxiong was deeply impressed by Qi Ci Fang. His son ate Qi Ci at Feng Yue Lou.
After that, he also vaguely knew that Qi Ci Fang had some connection with King Wuyou of Qi State, so he did not go to find trouble with Qi Ci Fang. After learning the news, he asked the Qi Gongzi again
Based on his appearance, Xu Boxiong concluded that Mr. Qi was King Wuyou.
At this time, Xu Boxiong already felt that King Chen's next target must be himself and the third prince, and to attack the third prince, he must start from himself. Qi State and Chen State have already formed an alliance, and Xu Boxiong also knows it, so Xu Boxiong
He just wanted to please King Wuyou, and with the help of King Wuyou, he used the State of Qi as his backer for safety.