The lights were brightly lit in the exquisite wooden building. Dakui and Sima Yan were sitting on two bamboo chairs against the wall, sipping fragrant tea, as casually as two close friends sipping tea and chatting.
"If you have anything to say, Lord Sima, you might as well say it directly," Dakui said bluntly.
Sima Yan looked at the two soldiers beside her and said: "I'm afraid the walls have ears. The rivers and lakes are dangerous and we have to guard against them."
Dakui smiled and then ordered the two soldiers: "Just wait and check on the left and right. If you have nothing else to do, just wait downstairs." The two soldiers followed the order and walked out of the room until the soldiers' footsteps went away. Da Kuicai said: "There is no one here anymore, Lord Sima can speak frankly."
Sima Yan nodded, but she was not in a hurry to speak. She first took out a silk scarf from her arms and tied her long, scattered hair into a bun on her head, and then wrapped the bun neatly in the silk scarf.
There are rumors in the world that Sima Yan of Yanchi Tower is as cold as ice. It seems that the rumors are untrue. Although the Sima Yan in front of Dakui has delicate features, her complexion is not fair. They say that a woman's whiteness covers all her ugliness, and she is a beautiful woman. Her skin is slightly dark, but her dark skin makes Sima Yanzi look a bit mediocre.
Da Kui waited until Sima Yan had tidied up and then said: "Can I say it?"
Sima Yan then said: "Where to start?"
"Let's start from when I was in Jiangbei," Dakui took a sip of tea, as if he didn't care.
Sima Yan didn't mind, and said immediately: "Back then, you followed King Xiao Ming and made great military exploits for Jiangbei Red Scarf through life and death. In the end, you were made a powerful general and a Privy Council envoy. That's right."
Dakui nodded and said, "Yes, it's true."
Sima Yan continued: "As far as I know, there were countless leading generals in the Jiangbei Red Scarf Army who were good at fighting. There were no less than ten famous generals in the army, such as Mr. Guan, Po Tou Pan, and Da Dao Ao. , Li Xixi, Mao Gui, Li Wu, Cui De, Bai Buxin and others, each of them leads an army, ranging from more than a hundred thousand to tens of thousands, and how many troops do you lead?"
Dakui thought for a while and said: "I led the new army of 20,000 people at the beginning, and later all 50,000 new troops were led by me."
Sima Yan smiled and said: "The 50,000 new troops under your command are just the personal bodyguards of King Xiao Ming. The real new force is the main force of the Red Scarf Army led by other generals."
Dakui couldn't help laughing and said: "I, Zhang Dakui, have no talent to lead an army. I can only serve as a vanguard general under Prime Minister Liu."
Sima Yan then said: "That's the problem. Although you have the title of Privy Council Envoy and the mighty general, you don't have the actual status of a general. A general can only control the Northern Red Scarf tribe, but you can do everything." It is right and wrong to act only through the hands of Prime Minister Liu."
When Dakui heard this, he felt a little bored. At the beginning, he had no idea and knew nothing about military strategy. It would not be an exaggeration to say that he was an ordinary man in the army. If he had mastered the military power, wouldn't the hundreds of thousands of red scarf soldiers be veterans? Die early and clean.
"Master Sima, let's put aside the Jiangbei matter for now and talk about the Jiangnan matter and the current affairs. I want to know what the trap is in this," Dakui asked, looking at Sima Yan.
Sima Yan pondered for a moment before asking: "How did Prince Xiao Ming die?"
Dakui couldn't help but sigh and said: "Back then, King Wu ordered General Liao Yongzhong to greet Chuzhou, but when the boat arrived at the Guabu waters, King Xiao Ming unfortunately fell into the water." Thinking of what happened back then, Dakui still felt sad.
Sima Yan sneered and said: "If King Xiao Ming is still here, who will be named Han or Zhu tomorrow?"
Dakui blurted out: "Of course the surname is Han..." After saying this, Dakui couldn't help but feel shocked, and immediately asked urgently: "You mean King Xiao Ming is...," Dakui only asked half a sentence and then stopped. Dakui knew that it was a capital crime to speak casually about the Holy Emperor without asking any questions. Even though Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang had numerous sins, he was not someone who could be judged rashly by his ministers.
King Xiao Ming was murdered by Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang. This was something Dakui would never have dared to think about before. But now that Sima Yan mentioned it, Dakui immediately felt that it was very possible.
Zhang Shicheng was also a member of the Red Scarf Army in the uprising. Although he later lost several battles with the then King of Wu Zhu Yuanzhang and defected to Yuanting, he was kind and kind to the people. Later, the King of Wu pressed heavy troops to attack Zhang Shicheng's home base in Pingjiang (Suzhou). Zhang Shicheng was captured alive. If you compare the two, the exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes imposed by the current court on the people are simply heaven and earth compared with the lenient treatment of the people by Zhang Shicheng.
Let’s look at the fate of Fang Guozhen, who occupied Wenzhou, Taizhou, and Qingyuan. Although he was a close relative of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the things he did for the people were enough to be remembered in history. Why was he such a good official? He was jealous of Emperor Taizu and was now escorted to Nanjing to take up his post. It was called taking office but in reality he was under house arrest.
After these two incidents, Dakui dared to assert that the death of King Xiao Ming must be related to Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang.
Sima Yan wanted to speak again, but Dakui stretched out his hand to stop him and said, "Let's talk about what's going on at the moment."
Seeing the unkind look on Da Kui's face, Sima immediately said: "The rivers and lakes are dangerous, and people's hearts are unpredictable. The emperor made you the political envoy to the south of the Yangtze River, and also made you the Minister of the Ministry of Punishments. He investigated the integrity of all officials, and this time he massacred more than 30,000 people. , Although these people are corrupt officials, they have implicated a wide range of people, and many of them are innocent people. Who should bear this blood debt?"
Dakui was stunned when he heard this. He had thought about this question, but he didn't think about it deeply.
Sima Yan continued: "For those corrupt officials who have been sentenced, their family members or friends will naturally want to settle accounts with you. If you are an official who has no confidants, they will really die."
Dakui didn't say anything, just listened quietly.
Sima Yan said again: "If you die, all the grievances will be pushed to you, because you verified the case, supervised the execution of the person, and the emperor just used a Zhubu," the voice said. After a pause, Sima Yancai said: "You are going to Yunnan this time. If you succeed, the court can quell the disaster in Yunnan without spending a single soldier. If you fail, the emperor will not suffer losses, but your life is in danger. Now you are the target of public criticism. I couldn’t be in a better position to take on this role,”
Dakui couldn't help but ask: "Master Wang Xiyuan is a good official, and he is well regarded by the people and has achieved good results, so why should he be sent to take risks?"
"Because Wang Xiyuan was an official of Yuanting," Sima Yan replied without thinking.
When Dakui heard these words, he couldn't help but feel chills running down his spine. As the saying goes: Accompanying the emperor is like accompanying a tiger. There are indeed many terrible things about the current Emperor Taizu, and everything he does reveals his scheming.
In the eyes of the emperor, there is only the country and the royal power. As for good and evil, the life and death of the people are all beside the point. The old saying goes well: If you don’t love the country, you love the beauty. What it means is that if there is no country in the emperor’s eyes, then there must be a beauty. .
During the Shang Dynasty, there was a very cruel king called King Zhou. King Zhou loved his concubine Daji very much. He drank and had fun with Daji all day long. He didn't care about the country's affairs or whether the people's lives were good or not. King Zhou He doted on her very much, made a wine pond and a forest of meat for her, drank and had fun with her every day, and even set up the punishment of burning her with cannons and driving them naked. He also listened to Daji's words and killed many loyal ministers and innocent people.
King Zhou's uncle Bigan was a loyal minister. Seeing that King Zhou was deceived by Daji, he bluntly admonished King Zhou: "You, you can't indulge in wine and sex all the time, and you can't kill loyal ministers and innocent people indiscriminately. You should cheer up. Get up and do something useful for the country and the people." When Daji found out, she felt very unhappy: "This Bigan is really nosy. He dares to interfere with my affairs and the king's. I must teach him a lesson. ,"
Daji ran to King Zhou and said, "Your Majesty, if Bigan is really a loyal minister, why don't you ask him to cut open his chest and take out his heart and liver and offer it to you?"
After hearing Daji's words, King Zhou said, "Yes, I can ask Bigan to give his heart to me. Daji is really smart." King Zhou immediately ordered Bigan to have his chest opened and died.
Later, this incident was recorded in the book "Lu Shi Chun Qiu". There is a passage in it: "Zhou's heart is not clear, so he can think evil. If he knows everything, he will not kill Bigan."
As an emperor, if he can take history as a mirror and correct himself, he will naturally gain a lasting legacy and be supported by the people. Think about the fact that today's Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang only cares about the world. When he learned that the prince had violated the law, he still ordered him to be killed and had his beloved concubine beaten. Entering the cold palace shows his determination to clean up the rule of officials.
If we say that when he was in the Red Turban Army in Jiangbei, Da Kui was reduced to a tool because he did not understand the main purpose of the army and did not know how to lead troops in combat, then it can only be said that it was because Da Kui had no idea, no intellect, and when he defected to King Wu until Now, after Sima Yan explained his situation in detail, Dakui couldn't help but think that it was because he was not familiar with the world.
Dakui looked at Sima Yan for a long time before asking again: "Is there anything dangerous about going to Yunnan? I hope you can tell me clearly."
Sima Yan said with a smile: "Although Wang Fu is in a state of panic all day long, he started business in Jiangnan when there was no Red Turban Rebellion, and later defected to the emperor. Now he is probably worth tens of millions. This person defected to King Liang of Yunnan, I will offer you my wealth. King Liang loves money as much as his life, so he will be treated as a distinguished guest. The gold and silver you are bringing with you are only tens of thousands of taels. How can King Liang take such a fancy? Besides, King Liang relies on the mountains and rivers of Yunnan. The risk is comparable to that of the Ming Dynasty. If you accept the recruitment easily, you will lose your barrier. Ten thousand taels of silver will buy the king of Liang to confer your head. This is nothing more than a fool's dream."
Just when Da Kui was about to speak, Sima Yan said: "Don't think that the current emperor doesn't know about you accepting money in Linjiang. There are many people who want to deal with you. If people don't know, don't do anything except yourself. Even if you go to Yunnan He can save his life, but when he gets to the capital, he will definitely not be able to avoid Xiang Shang's sword."
Dakui was shocked when he heard this. Could it be that things in the world are really so dangerous?
"According to Miss Sima's wishes, what should I do?" Dakui was at a loss for words at this time.
Sima Yan looked at Da Kui for a long time before asking: "Do you know why I came here to wait for you?"
Dakui just shook his head.
Sima Yan smiled mysteriously and said, "Someone is offering you a lot of money to have your head on your head."
Dakui smiled bitterly and said: "This officer naturally knows that there is more than one person who wants my head."
Sima Yan asked in confusion: "You don't want to know who wants to kill you,"
Dakui still shook his head and said: "You wouldn't tell me if I asked," but Dakui then asked: "How do you plan to kill me?"
Sima Yan smiled but did not answer, but the smile had a profound meaning. Dakui was confused.