Chapter 833 Swing the sword and pierce the heart, it is under my control!
On the ninth day of October, it rained in Jianye City, bringing with it some chilling cold. Xiao Tong, the crown prince of Liang, died quietly on his bed.
Xiao Yan was extremely sad. He stopped attending court for 15 days and stayed in the Buddhist temple almost day and night. Thousands of eminent monks and Taoist masters from the entire Liang State came to Jianye to serve Crown Prince Xiao Tong.
The city of Jianye was both noisy and silent at the same time.
In order to protect the prince's witchcraft case, the bloody smell seemed to have not yet dissipated, and the prince met with misfortune. How could people not be silent?
Luo Xianzhi sat in front of the window, looking at the still beautiful scenery outside. Jianye was not the cold and bleak north. He was wrapped in a thick coat and remained silent.
There were three children, two boys and one girl, playing in the house. Xie Daoyuan snuggled up to Luo Xianzhi. The atmosphere was very warm, plain and happy. She reached out to smooth the wrinkles between Luo Xianzhi's brows, but did not say anything to comfort him. She just hugged Luo Xianzhi quietly, and bursts of refreshing fragrance wafted into Luo Xianzhi's nose.
After an unknown amount of time, Luo Xianzhi finally spoke up: "Madam, the prince is dead. What do you think your husband should do first to train another prince?"
Xie Daoyun hesitated for a moment, then said softly, "My husband, I don't know how to train a prince, but I have raised and educated our children.
No matter what he learns, Cong'er is faster than Yuan'er. This is the difference in their talents.
Cong'er can achieve greater success, but Yuan'er probably needs to learn more.
If we ignore this difference and force Yuan'er to do Cong'er's job, it may be a small matter of getting half the result with twice the effort, but it may lead to big mistakes.
I once heard my husband say that among your Majesty's several princes, only the late crown prince has some talent, while the others are all stubborn and incapable of accomplishing great things. As the sage said, a rotten tree cannot be carved.
If you force it, it will just end up like rotten wood.
Why not put aside the thought of training the prince first, and then observe carefully, since the prince also has offspring, if you can find a good talent among them, wouldn’t it be better?”
Luo Xianzhi has an obsession in his heart, which is a common feature of political strongmen. That is, if they want to accomplish something, they must accomplish it, and they will even do it by force. Luo Xianzhi is undoubtedly a political strongman.
The heir of the late prince?
There are only three of them. Is there any outstanding person among them who can be a monarch and fight against Murong Chui?
Luo Xianzhi murmured, "It seems that it is time to speed up the division of Yan State."
Counter-espionage.
This strategy, which has been enduring since ancient times, targets people's hearts and human nature. It is extremely useful against those foolish and incompetent kings, but it does not mean that it is useless against those smart monarchs. As long as a monarch has an abnormal desire for power and is not broad-minded enough, the result of the counter-espionage strategy is doomed.
Emperor of Yan.
Luo Xianzhi's evaluation of him was "average talent", not very outstanding, but not very bad either. If Murong Ke were still alive, such an emperor would be able to maintain the territory.
But without Murong Ke, he already hated Murong Chui in his heart, and he only suppressed him forcibly for the sake of the great cause that Murong Ke mentioned.
What Luo Xianzhi had to do was to arouse the Yan emperor's hatred towards Murong Chui. If this step was achieved, everything Murong Ke had done would collapse.
Murong Ke and Luo Xianzhi are similar in this respect, but the dead Murong is naturally no match for the living Xianzhi.
…
Under Luo Xianzhi's planning, Yan and Liang went to war again. Liang's Jiangzuo Army fought against Yan's court army on the eastern front, while Jingchu Army and Shuzhong Army fought against Murong Chui on the western front.
The goal of the Yan court was to seize the vast plains south of the Yellow River and north of the Huai River, while Murong Chui's goal was to seize the land of Heluo. Compared with Shuzhong, Heluo was easier to attack. After all, Guanzhong was located overlooking Heluo, and Heluo was not as dangerous as Shuzhong.
Liang State’s goal was completely different.
After the war had been going on for nearly two months, the Yan court army was deeply mired in the quagmire of Qingyan. Without the god of war Murong Ke, Xiao Yan fought like a fish in water. On the other hand, Murong Chui forced the Liang Kingdom to retreat on the western front and did not dare to show its head at all.
Luo Xianzhi believed that the time had come, so he wrote two letters to the Emperor of Yan and Murong Chui respectively in the tone of Emperor Xiao Yan.
The letter to the Emperor of Yan was very impolite. "Emperor of Yan, you have never had a high prestige, nor a character worthy of admiration. You killed your own important ministers because of your suspicion. Now you lead your army to invade Daliang. Isn't it destined to fail?
It is my misfortune that both you and I are emperors. If you still have some dignity, you should immediately take off the crown on your head, kneel respectfully in front of the people of the world, and say that you are not worthy of being an emperor.
Even if you are unwilling to give up the Murong family's foundation and dedicate it to me, then you should choose someone from the Murong family who is worthy of being my opponent. It is shameful for me to have a loser like you as my opponent."
After reading the letter, the Emperor of Yan was so angry that he almost had a heart attack. He threw the letter at his feet and roared, "Xiao Yan is too much of a bully. I must kill him."
This letter would not only be sent to the palace, but would also spread throughout the State of Yan. Being insulted and humiliated by the emperor of the enemy country, the emperor would lose all face if he could not kill Xiao Yan.
The attendants were all silent. If they could kill the Emperor of Liang, they should now call the Emperor of Yan the Prince of the Xia Dynasty.
The Emperor of Yan was furious. He also knew that he could not kill Xiao Yan for the time being, so he said, "As the saying goes, courtesy should be reciprocated. Write back to me and scold Xiao Yan as well."
The emperor did not react. The reason why Xiao Yan's letter touched him and made him furious was not because of anything else, but because the Yan court suffered a defeat at the hands of Xiao Yan. In other words, Xiao Yan despised him.
Losers have to accept these criticisms.
Even if the Emperor of Yan really sent a letter to Xiao Yan, Xiao Yan would only smile it, or even show it to other people, and then laugh at the Emperor of Yan. The only thing that was tough was his mouth.
At this time, the emperor's close minister who was bribed by Luo Xianzhi came to the rescue at the right time and said grimly: "Your Majesty, Xiao Yan also sent a letter to Murong Chui, which is said to be a letter asking for peace."
"A letter of peace? What letter of peace?"
"Your Majesty, it is a letter asking for peace."
"I know it is a peace letter. What I am asking is what kind of peace letter it is."
The minister was a little confused, but he still repeated, "It's a letter seeking peace with Murong Chui."
The Emperor of Yan said angrily: "I know, I know, what the content is, and why it is given to Murong Chui!"
The minister then hurriedly reached out and took it out from his bosom, presented it to the emperor and said, "Your Majesty, this letter was originally intended for Murong Chui, but when the messenger was delivering the letter, he accidentally brought this letter with him, and it fell to the ground. I saw it by chance."
The Emperor had opened the letter, which was totally different from the one previously given to him.
“Prince Yong is a man of extraordinary bravery and talent. There are few people as outstanding as you in the whole world. Although you are only a minister of the State of Yan, I am willing to treat you with the etiquette of a king. This is my respect for you.
If you were the emperor of Yan, I'm afraid Daliang would no longer be its opponent. This is a lucky thing.
I want to sign a peace agreement with Prince Yong, promising non-aggression. I will attack Qingzhou south of the Yellow River from Yan State, while Prince Yong will attack Hedong. I know that there has always been a feud between Prince Yong and the Emperor of Yan State.
Even if it is not for yourself, has King Yong discussed it with his ministers? I believe that those ministers do not have the Emperor of Yan in their hearts. They only obey your orders. As long as you give an order, even the emperor will be killed for you.
I am looking forward to the day when Prince Yong becomes the Emperor of Yan. It would be a disgrace to me to sit on the same throne with the current Emperor of Yan. If I could sit on the same throne with Prince Yong, I would like to hunt with you in the Central Plains, and our story will be passed down through the ages.
The Southern Dynasty has me, the Northern Dynasty has you!"
The Emperor of Yan gritted his teeth, veins on his hands bulged, his face turned red, and the fire in his heart seemed to burn everything. The handwriting of the two letters was the same, and it was obvious that they were written by Xiao Yan.
The close minister who presented the letter laughed wildly in his heart, now let’s see how you, Murong Chui, can seize power.
But some people also said: "Your Majesty, this is obviously a counter-espionage plot by Liang State, which is to alienate you and Prince Yong."
“That’s enough!”
The Emperor of Yan shouted angrily: "Is there anything wrong with this letter?
Xiao Yan looks down on me, but looks up to Murong Chui. Is this true?
Those ministers of Guanxi Xingtai don’t know what a monarch is. Is it fake?
Can Murong Chui control these people?
Didn't Murong Chui really think about things he shouldn't think about? "
Every word of these questions was like a heavy hammer hitting everyone's heart. No one dared to respond and there was silence in the hall.
Xiao Yan was trying to sow discord, and the emperor was not stupid. But this was the most terrifying thing: he knew clearly what the other party was doing, but he still fell into the trap and followed the other party's rhythm, because what Xiao Yan said was right, and not a single word was wrong.
There are many people who can say these words. If it were just this, it would naturally not reflect Luo Xianzhi's plan. Before his death, Murong Ke had already anticipated this day and these reasons.
The arrangement he made was based on the emperor, with Murong Chui as the backup assistant. The emperor was the sun and Murong Chui was the moon. There was a difference between the primary and the secondary, but neither was indispensable.
The most crucial thing is the time and situation in which Luo Xianzhi asked Xiao Yan to say these words.
In order to undermine the prestige of the Yan emperor, Liang mobilized 70% of its strength on the eastern front, which caused an imbalance between the emperor and Murong Chui.
In other words, at this stage, Murong Chui finally had some prestige equal to that of the emperor. If this trend continued, coupled with these letters from Xiao Yan, once publicized, the reversal of power might happen in an instant.
There is an old saying that today is different from the past.
In the past, Guanzhong was not as powerful as the imperial court, and Murong Chui's legitimacy was not as strong as the emperor's. Guanzhong could accept the order arranged by Murong Ke. But when Murong Chui grew to an unimaginable level, and even the imperial court could not control him, would Guanzhong still accept the current order?
A minister who was equal to the emperor and had a previous grudge against him, the Emperor of Yan felt his scalp tingling just thinking about it.
Luo Xianzhi thrust a sword out from Jianye City and stabbed it directly into the heart of the Emperor of Yan. The name of this sword was Emperor's Suspicion.
…
Murong Chui naturally also received the two letters. Wang Meng, Yang Cheng and others naturally knew that this was a counter-espionage plot, a blatant counter-espionage plot that was not even concealed.
Murong Chui was silent for a moment, then asked: "These two letters..."
Wang Meng and Yang Cheng looked at each other, and then said in unison: "Prince Yong, you should have made plans earlier."
Murong Chui asked in disbelief: "This is a counter-espionage plot. Can't you two see it? If I knew it was a plot and still fell for it, wouldn't it be ridiculous?"
Seeing that Murong Chui was still pretending, Wang Meng directly pierced through it and said, "The counter-espionage plan works on both sides. It is not enough for you, Prince Yong, to not fall into the plan. The emperor must also not fall into the plan. Will the emperor not fall into the plan?"
Yang Cheng continued, “The emperor will definitely fall into the trap.
No emperor can tolerate a minister ruling over him, especially since your prestige will be getting higher and higher, while the emperor's will be getting lower and lower, and even the clan will support you."
Murong Chui is not stupid, of course he knows, but he has more concerns, and said in a deep voice: "Is there no way to solve this problem? Just watch Liang split my Great Yan. If my Great Yan splits, do I have to give up this world?
If you want to achieve Murong Chui's success at the cost of destroying the foundation of Great Yan, then this king does not want it. A hundred years ago, how could this king have the face to see my father and brother?"
Wang Meng's eyes sparkled and he said: "Your Majesty, I think you are worrying too much. The crown prince of Liang has passed away, and Liang has not yet decided on a new crown prince. The fight for the throne is more important than anything else.
The emperor and the king are at odds over the throne. Can the State of Liang be free from worldly affairs?
There must be fierce fighting within the group as well.
Your Majesty only needs to abide by the rules and wait for the Emperor to make a mistake and alienate the people. At that time, our army will capture Hedong and even Bingzhou with lightning speed.
As long as our army is strong enough and we don't drag the civil war into the grave, how can there be any danger of destroying Dayan?"
When Murong Chui heard that he didn't need to rebel, he breathed a sigh of relief, threw down the letter in his hand and sighed. He felt that he was in a dilemma and didn't know what to do.
…
These two letters caused a huge disturbance in the State of Yan, and countless rumors spread by Luo Xianzhi filled the land of Yan.
Such as - "Great Yan rises, Yongzhu Wang!"
This kind of words appear endlessly, making people feel uneasy.
At the grand court meeting, the ministers had already begun to impeach Murong Chui and wanted to revoke his privileges.
What the Emperor of Yan was most worried about was not Murong Chui, but other princes of the Murong clan. He doubted very much whether the other princes would directly welcome Murong Chui back.
Because the State of Yan suffered two minor defeats in the war in Qingzhou, the prince, as the main force, naturally had some dissatisfaction with him.
————
Gong said: If the ruler is worried about internal affairs, he will attack the strong, and use the weak to strengthen the ministers; if the ruler is worried about external affairs, he will attack the weak, and use the strong to strengthen the ruler’s prestige. Now the Emperor of Yan is worried about Murong Chui internally and Daliang externally, so I will attack Chui with the weak, and make the ministers of Yan stronger; I will attack the Emperor of Yan with the strong, and make him weaker; if the ruler is weak and the ministers are strong, the chaos of Yan is obvious. - "Shishuo Xinyu·Strategy"
(End of this chapter)
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