Chapter 114: Certain Death (Updates added with monthly ticket)
The back door of Prince Shu’s Mansion in Jingzhou.
Four men in black robes wearing bamboo hats looked around and gently knocked on the back door of Prince Shu's Mansion a few times. The knocking movements were extremely delicate, and it was obvious that there was some kind of code hidden in it.
After a moment, a middle-aged scribe gently opened the back door. The middle-aged scribe was none other than Lu Gongwang, an aide to the Prince of Shu who had been beaten up by Li Buyi in the past.
Lu Gongwang looked around cautiously and made a few gestures. Four or five black figures leaped into the air and searched around. After a long time, Lu Gongwang saw nothing strange and staggered to let the four men in black robes go.
Entered the back door.
After the door was closed, the middle-aged scribe clasped his fists and saluted: "Lu Gongwang is here to see the four princes. His Highness has been waiting in the back hall for a long time. Please come in, four princes!"
The four of them gently took off the bamboo hats on their heads, and they were the four brothers Li Baihong, Li Yunping, Li Qing, and Li Zhi.
Li Baihong glanced at Lu Gongwang with an unkind look: "The third brother is so arrogant. When the second brother came, he didn't come to receive him in person. Instead, he sent a staff member to deal with my brothers."
Although the fifth child, Li Qing, didn't say anything, there was still a hint of dissatisfaction in his eyes.
The seventh child, Li Zhi, always looked up to Li Yunlong, but he didn't feel any dissatisfaction. Instead, he smiled and nodded to Lu Gongwang.
The eyes of the fourth child, Li Yunlong, were still full of regret, but mixed with a feeling of helplessness, and he stood aside silently without saying anything.
Lu Gongwang looked at the four brothers with a chuckle: "Princes, it's not that my highnesses don't come to receive you, but I am really worried that there are many eyes and ears in the mansion, lest the news leaks out. We must be careful before our great cause is accomplished. Please forgive me, four princes."
"Four princes, please, I will show you the way!"
Suppressing their dissatisfaction, the four of them, Li Baihong, followed Lu Gongwang towards the back hall of the Shu Palace with different thoughts.
"Second brother, fourth brother, fifth brother, seventh brother, we are far away from home. Everything is for the sake of the overall situation. I hope brothers don't take it personally. Please sit down."
"Mr. Lu, let the servants serve tea!"
"Yes, Your Highness!"
Li Baihong looked at Li Yunlong with a calm expression: "A message was suddenly sent to us, asking us to come and meet. There must have been a turn for the better. Can you tell us what the specific situation is?"
The fifth child, Li Qing, nodded in agreement: "Yes, Third Brother, please tell me what's going on. Can we start a fight?"
Li Zhi looked like he was listening to his third brother, while Li Yunping still looked like he regretted getting on the pirate ship and stayed aside in silence.
Li Yunlong glanced at Li Baihong and the other four, took out a piece of letter paper from his sleeve and photographed it on the table.
"According to the report from Yingzhou's informant, Liu Mingzhi has led his troops out of the border. The specific purpose is not yet clear, but as long as he leaves the border, it will not be that easy to come back!"
Li Baihong gently picked up the letter and read it, then handed it to the fifth child, Li Qing.
"How are the conditions of Generalissimo Yunyang on the left and Nangong Ye, Generalissimo on the right?"
"We have arrived at the jurisdiction and started to prepare for war to prepare for the attack of the Turks and the Jin Kingdom."
"As long as the national war breaks out and all the troops on the left, center and right are entangled by the enemy and unable to go to the capital to rescue them, that's when we raise our troops and march south to the capital."
"Our brothers have recruited nearly 400,000 soldiers and horses. Although most of them are government soldiers, after a short period of secret training, their combat power has been greatly improved."
"There are only 100,000 Imperial Guards in the capital. Although they are all elites, there has been no war for many years. Although their combat effectiveness is strong, they are still inferior to the border troops."
"As long as we act carefully, it won't be difficult to break through the city gate when they are caught off guard!"
"As long as we seize the throne, we will act according to our previous agreement. Who can sit on that chair depends entirely on God's will!"
"No matter who sits on the throne at that time, the overall situation has been decided. Yunyang and the others can't accept the reality. This world will always belong to our Li family. As long as there is no rebellion by foreign ministers, it doesn't matter to them if someone else takes the throne.
different!"
"When the time comes, let's give them some benefits, and everything will fall into place!"
"What about my brother-in-law? His support for his eldest brother is very firm!"
Li Yunlong raised a hint of disdain at the corner of his mouth: "He is almost on his own, and he still wants to get involved in the change of the throne?"
The four of them were startled and looked at Li Yunlong blankly: "What do you mean?"
Li Yunlong took out a piece of rice paper from his sleeve and slapped it on the table.
"In the twenty-seventh year of Xuande's reign, when he was on a mission to the Kingdom of Jin, a good minister and son-in-law in the eyes of his father, he had an affair with the female emperor of the Kingdom of Jin and gave birth to a daughter!"
"This girl is Wanyan Luoyue, the only little princess of the Kingdom of Jin!"
"No, it should be Liu Luoyue!"
"As the Duke of Dingguo, my great dragon, he was the consort of the dynasty and one of the auxiliary ministers, but he secretly had an affair with the enemy's empress. Do you think your eldest brother can spare him if he knows about this?"
"Can we rest assured that the Tiger Talisman with 300,000 soldiers and horses will continue to be in his hands?"
"If the army of 300,000 strong soldiers and horses secretly joins forces with the Jin Kingdom and turns against our dragon, you won't understand what will happen, right?"
The four brothers Li Baihong stared blankly at the rice paper beside Li Yunlong. Li Baihong grabbed the rice paper and looked at the content on it carefully. After a long time, Li Baihong put down the rice paper in his hand with a strange look on his face, and the fifth brother Li Qing took it.
After a while, the four of them looked at Li Yunlong with expressions of surprise and uncertainty. It was obvious that the contents on the rice paper had a great impact on them, and they could not calm down for a long time.
Li Bohong picked up the tea with a slightly trembling arm and took a sip, hiding his inner uneasiness.
"Is the news true? Isn't it a plan to divorce the Golden Queen?"
"Second brother is right. Third brother, are you sure that my brother-in-law and the Golden Queen secretly conceived a child and gave birth to a daughter, and she is the current little princess of the Golden Kingdom, Wanyan Luoyue?"
"You can't talk nonsense about this. Once word gets out, it will definitely cause a storm between the government and the public!"
"I agree with Fifth Brother. If the situation is not true and someone gets hold of it and spreads it out, with my brother-in-law's reputation in the court, we won't get any good results!"
Li Yunlong raised a faint smile at the corner of his mouth and glanced at the four brothers quietly: "We are all ready to start an army, how could I joke about this kind of thing? How could I show it to you without real evidence?"
After receiving Li Yunlong's eloquent affirmation, Li Bohong let out a slight breath: "Have you ever thought about what to do if your brother-in-law is too proud to hand over the Tiger Talisman?"
"The military power and command seal of the 300,000-strong army are now in the hands of my brother-in-law. As long as my brother-in-law holds the tiger talisman commander seal and refuses to hand over power, my elder brother's imperial edict will not be useful."
"Do you think the eldest brother dares to force his brother-in-law to hand over power? If he would rather die than hand over the Tiger Talisman, and if the 300,000-strong army rebels and cooperates with the Kingdom of Jin, who will be his opponent?"
Li Yunlong tapped the table gently: "Don't forget that all his family members are in the capital. With his character toward his family members, he will never refuse to surrender military power!"
"Having handed over military power, Duke Dingguo still has nothing to be afraid of?"
"It's not a big problem if he doesn't hand over to him. It will completely confirm his reputation as a traitor and traitor. When the time comes, everyone will shout for him to be beaten!"
"Especially now that he has no support before and after he leaves the customs. Either he will run out of food and supplies and the morale of the army will be shaken. Three hundred thousand soldiers will disobey orders and blow up the camp. Or he will run out of ammunition and food and be eliminated by the Turks and the Jin Kingdom!"
Li Yunping looked at Li Yunlong with a complex expression: "Doesn't this mean that my brother-in-law may die regardless of whether he hands over power or not?"
Li Yunlong smiled coldly: "Yes, we just need to wait for the right opportunity to cause trouble."