Chapter 30: Change

Xu Bing's expression changed again and again: "Why do you think I will do something for you?"

"Mr. Ping has repeatedly dissuaded Prince Qing from killing." Xu Bing is different from Yang Zhao. Yang Zhao is an accomplice to the tyrant without any bottom line, while he always dissuades Prince Qing from committing murder. That is why Zhao Xiao saved him.

Song Yuzhu said, "Sir, do you know that after he entered Xuzhou, he ordered the city to be raped. How many people in Xuzhou died tragically under his iron hoofs, and how many young girls lived a fate worse than death?"

Xu Bingchui said angrily on the bed: "Before entering the city, he clearly promised me that he would not touch the civilians, but unfortunately he went back on his word..."

Song Yuzhu struck while the iron was hot: "It is precisely because of his unstable temperament that if he were to sit on the throne, wouldn't the people of the world live in dire straits! Is such a person worth your life?"

"How do I know that you and Prince Qing are not birds of a feather?"

"Sir, if you don't mind, you can live here. My words don't count. You should see it with your own eyes."

Xu Bing closed his eyes and said, "I don't have much ability, and I don't want to be a criminal who plots to usurp the throne. Mr. Song, you should seek help from someone else." He thought Song Yuzhu had left, but when he opened his eyes, he found that Song Yuzhu had stood up and walked towards him.

"What...what are you going to do?"

Song Yuzhu removed the gauze on his head, checked the wound and said, "Don't be afraid, sir. If you don't want to help us, I won't make things difficult for you. You can leave when your wound is healed." After saying that, he stood up and walked out.

Xu Bing covered his head and thought about something. He didn't even plan to kill him to silence him?

Zhao Xiao outside the door asked in a low voice: "How is it?"

Song Yuzhu shook her head: "I can't persuade him for now."

The two of them went upstairs side by side, and Zhao Xiao told him what happened yesterday. "Now that the military token has been handed over to me, when do we start?"

"In the military camp, find a way to replace those who are loyal to King Qing with people you trust, to prevent any accidents during the mutiny."

Zhao Xiao: "Don't worry, not many people are loyal to him, and most officers and soldiers are afraid of him."

Song Yuzhu said with a cold look: "Prepare to imprison Yang Yuanqing. We can't let him do whatever he wants!"

*

On the first day of October, the second prince Yang Yuanli led his troops to capture Shangjing. Yang Yuanchao, who had been the fake emperor for only thirteen days, was forced to hang himself in the Yongle Palace.

Yang Yuanli came to Beijing but did not rush to succeed to the throne. Instead, he sent a message to all the princes, asking them to return to Beijing to complete their father's funeral and then discuss the enthronement.

The mausoleum of Emperor Longwu has been completed, but he has not been buried yet. It is not good to keep the body in ice all the time, it is better to bury it as soon as possible.

Yang Yuanli used the concubines in the harem to threaten the princes who were away from home, saying that if they came back, he could take their mothers to live in the fiefdom to live with them in glory. If they did not come back, the concubines would be buried with the late emperor.

It's hard for him to come up with such a mean idea. Except for the twelfth prince and the seventh prince whose mothers died early, the mothers of the other princes are still alive. This is obviously a Hongmen Banquet.

Yang Yuanli had the confidence to make such threats. Empress Zhou was dead, and more than half of the ministers in the court supported him to take the throne. As long as he detained his brothers under the eyes of Shangjing, he would not believe that they could cause much trouble.

However, things turned out to be beyond his expectations. After the message was sent out, only the third prince Yang Yuanlu came back, and the rest of the people ignored him.

Yang Yuanlu fell ill when he was young and one of his legs was half shorter than that of an average person. He was born disabled, so he never thought of inheriting the throne.

Yang Yuanli was furious at being ignored, and ordered that all the concubines in the harem, except himself and the third prince's biological mother, be buried alive with him!

When the late emperor was alive, there were more than 1,700 concubines in the harem, the oldest of whom was nearly 50 years old, and the youngest had just reached adulthood. They included daughters of ministers from aristocratic families, palace maids and dancers, and most of them were common beauties from all over the country.

It has been nearly four hundred years since the founding of the Sheng Dynasty, and there has never been such a large-scale burial of people alive with the dead. The entire court was in an uproar!

But Yang Yuanli insisted on doing so, and the ministers had no choice. In the end, more than a thousand women, from imperial concubines to blessed ladies, were all taken to the imperial mausoleum and buried with Emperor Longwu.

Perhaps his behavior angered the gods and the people, but a week after the burial, an earthquake struck Shangjing. Ancient people called this the earth dragon turning over. Of the sixteen imperial tombs, only the tomb of Emperor Longwu collapsed...

In fact, the collapse of the Emperor Longwu's mausoleum is easy to explain in modern times. First, Emperor Longwu died too suddenly, and the second half of the mausoleum was hastily built and not solid. Second, so many people died at the same time, and a lot of gas was released after death, which caused the mausoleum to collapse.

But the common people did not understand these things. The people in the capital were talking about this and said that Yang Yuanli was too cruel and even God could not bear it.

If Yang Yuanli had been more calm, he should have appeased the people first and waited until public opinion died down before ascending the throne.

Unfortunately, he was too impatient and was unwilling to wait any longer. As long as the position remained vacant, he would not have peace. Less than seven days after Emperor Longwu was buried, he ascended the throne without stopping and changed the country's name to Yong'an, which means eternal peace.

Good fortune never comes alone, and misfortune never comes alone. Less than half a month after he took the throne, a large area of snow fell in the south. South of the Yangtze River, which had not seen snow for more than 30 years, snow piled up to 70 centimeters thick overnight! Countless houses collapsed, and countless people froze to death. For a time, rumors spread that Yang Yuanli was unworthy of his position.

Yang Yuanli did something even more stupid. Instead of thinking about how to provide disaster relief to the people, he ordered that the people were not allowed to discuss the matter, and would be exiled immediately if they were discovered.

For a time, God was angry and people were resentful, but the common people dared not speak out!

*

"It's so cold. I'm wearing two padded jackets but still feel chilly. We haven't put on winter clothes at this time of year in previous years." Song Quan sniffed and put two pieces of charcoal into the heating stove.

Song Yuzhu was not that cold. He was wearing a white cloak which Zhao Xiao had brought from the palace. No one knew what animal's fur it was made of, but it was warm and light to wear.

He used an abacus to calculate the restaurant's turnover for the day and said, "That's right, it's cold. I heard that 70,000 to 80,000 people have frozen to death in Dongzhou." He saw news of a large-scale drop in temperature in the south on the map a few days ago, but he didn't expect the snow to be so heavy.

According to historical records, the Great Prosperity had not seen such heavy snowfall for nearly a hundred years. The houses could not withstand the heavy snow, and the people in the south had no warm clothes. In the temperature of more than 20 degrees below zero, many people froze to death or suffered frostbite.

Xiangyu moved a stool to the fire to keep warm: "Oh my God, so many people died, and the government doesn't care?"

Xu Bing sneered: "Manage? How can we manage? If the imperial court doesn't allocate money, how can they be willing to pay for it themselves?"

Ever since being rescued that day, Xu Bing became disheartened and planned to return to his hometown to farm.

After living in Louwailou for a few days, I suddenly changed my mind.

I have studied military tactics and etiquette for so many years, isn't it just to assist a wise ruler and benefit the people one day? If I go back to farming, wouldn't it be a waste of all my skills?

Xu Bing stayed there without saying anything, and Song Yuzhu didn't chase him away. The two of them got along tacitly. Occasionally, Song Yuzhu would discuss the letters sent by the escort agency with him.

Xu Bing was a man of great talent, and Song Yuzhu kept him for future plans. He knew that he knew nothing about marching and fighting, and he just needed someone like Xu Bing.

After spending these days together, Xu Bing gradually got to know Louwailou and Song Yuzhu. He originally thought that they were just fighting a small battle, but he didn't expect that the power behind them had grown so big. Not only did they control the troops of Xuzhou and King Qing, but even the largest escort agency in Sheng Dynasty was working for them. It was really impressive!

Xu Bing stroked his beard and said quietly, "The end of the year is approaching, and the people are displaced. If the court doesn't take care of it, I'm afraid the south will be in chaos.

Chaos is good! Song Yuzhu needs such an opportunity.

There have been so many people who have rebelled throughout history, but only a few have truly succeeded, because individual power is too small, and he who wins the hearts of the people will win the world.

Song Yuzhu is going to use the words of the people of the world to overturn the Yang family's table!

*

In the backyard of the palace, Yang Yuanqing, with disheveled hair and wearing a dirty shirt of unidentifiable color, huddled in a small room and shivering.

The boy who delivered the meal threw the hard steamed bun over to him through the window. He rushed over to pick it up, held it to his chest and ate it with relish.

The servant spat and said contemptuously, "Pfft! So you've got this day!"

Yang Yuanqing acted as if he didn't hear anything. He finished the steamed bun in just a few bites, then picked up a clay pot next to him and gulped down the cold water.

Yang Yuanqing was placed under house arrest. The day after he handed the military command to Zhao Xiao, several guards around him were replaced.

At first Yang Yuanqing didn't understand what was going on. He asked for beauties but no one responded. He asked for fine wine and food but no one brought them either. He got so angry that he started to go crazy and started to whip the guards around him.

Unexpectedly, the guards who were usually timid and obedient suddenly changed into different people. They grabbed his whip and took it away, then surrounded Yang Yuanqing and beat him severely, almost making him faint.

Yang Yuanqing desperately shouted: "Help!"

No one cared about him, as if his identity had become a decoration overnight. Yang Zhao died, Wei Huai also died, and even a fool understood what had happened.

He personally handed over the military power to the boy named Zhao, and at the same time also handed his own life into his hands.

Only now did Yang Yuanqing remember Xu Bing, who had advised him not to hand over military power to one person in order to prevent a mutiny.

But Yang Yuanqing became arrogant after conquering Xuzhou. How could he still remember those words? If he was around, he would definitely not end up like this.

When he saw Zhao Xiao again, Yang Yuanqing gritted his teeth in hatred and rushed towards him like a madman, wanting to kill him.

But how could his body, which was full of indulgence in alcohol and sex, be a match for Zhao Xiao? Zhao Xiao didn't even use his hands, he kicked him away with one kick, and he lay on the ground gasping for breath in pain.

"Zhao Xiao...Brother Zhao, I trust you and give you the military power. Why do you treat me like this..."

Zhao Xiao walked up to him, stepped on his head and said, "Prince Qing, you should ask those innocent people who died. They respected you as their king, so how did you treat them?"

Yang Yuanqing said sternly, "I am the King of Qing! If you kill me, my brothers will not let you go!"

Zhao Xiao waved his hand expressionlessly and had him imprisoned in a woodshed in the backyard of the palace, where he was only given one steamed bun and a can of water every day.

The reason why Song Yuzhu kept him was not because she didn't want to kill him. Based on what he had done, killing him ten times would not satisfy her!

The reason was that Yang Yuanqing's princess and son were in Xizhou. If he was killed directly, they might not be able to control him. So he had to keep his life and execute him after taking Xizhou into his possession.

The north wind was howling. After Yang Yuanqing finished his steamed bun, he picked up some straw to cover himself with to keep warm. At this time, he was worse than the beggars outside.

"Knock knock knock..." Suddenly there was a knock on the wooden door. He was startled and quickly climbed up from the haystack.

"Who...who's outside?"

A low, hoarse voice came from outside the door: "Do you still remember me, Your Majesty? I'm here to rescue you..."

(End of this chapter)