Zhongzhou, Chongqing Prefecture.
Qin Liangyu's nephew Qin Yiming was having breakfast when he suddenly received news: the Jinyiwei had arrived.
He quickly put his clothes in order and went out.
The Jinyiwei came quickly and left even faster.
After leaving a letter from the emperor, he left without even reading it.
Qin Yiming was stunned after opening the imperial edict.
There are only twelve words in the edict: pretend to obey but secretly disobey, be as still as a mountain and as powerful as thunder.
Qin Yiming was very puzzled: What does this mean?
He understands the meaning of lip service.
Both "still as a mountain" and "movable as thunder" come from "The Art of War", and he also understands the principles behind them.
(Sun Tzu's Art of War: So it is swift as the wind, slow as the forest, aggressive as fire, immovable as a mountain, unpredictable as the shadow, and powerful as thunder...)
But he couldn't understand it when he put it together.
In order to understand the meaning of the decree, he got up and went to Ma Wannian's house to discuss it with him.
Before Qin Yiming could finish his words, someone came to report: The prince's secret envoy is visiting.
Qin Yiming and Ma Wannian had no choice but to stand up at the same time and go out to greet them.
After returning to the house and sitting down, the secret envoy explained his purpose.
"Serving the king?" Qin Yiming looked at Ma Wannian, shocked.
Ma Wannian was also looking at Qin Yiming with the same shocked eyes.
"Are you two willing to follow the Crown Prince in raising an army to support the king?"
"This..." Qin Yiming began to hesitate. "Under normal circumstances, we can only go to the capital to defend the king with His Majesty's order. Just like in the 17th year of our dynasty, His Majesty issued an edict to the world to defend the king, and we will go there when we see the order."
"I'm afraid there won't be an imperial edict!" The emissary said, "Since last year, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has been writing to His Majesty non-stop. But His Majesty never replied. He wrote back a letter last month, but it wasn't written in His Majesty's handwriting."
"It is precisely because of this situation that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince decided to serve the king."
Qin Yiming didn't know how to respond and could only look at Ma Wannian again.
Ma Wannian is younger than Qin Yiming and has no idea how to deal with it.
Seeing that the two were silent, the emissary's face darkened: "Do you think the prince is rebelling in the name of serving the king?"
"No, no, no," Qin Yiming quickly waved his hands to deny, "Your Highness the Crown Prince is the future emperor, how could he rebel?"
"Why don't you two talk?"
Ma Wannian took over the conversation and said, "It's not that we don't want to speak, but we don't know what to say."
"Then you two should express your opinions first."
Qin Yiming immediately said: "We support His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in his quest for the throne! If His Royal Highness the Crown Prince issues an order, we will go through fire and water without hesitation!"
Ma Wannian was stunned and thought Qin Yiming was crazy.
Sichuan is thousands of miles away from the capital.
They knew neither the situation in the capital nor Chongzhen's situation.
It is definitely not a good idea to rashly express support for the prince at this time.
If nothing happened to Chongzhen, they would be in big trouble when they were investigated later.
Looking at Ma Wannian's inquiring eyes, Qin Yiming nodded at him, indicating that he did nothing wrong.
The reason why Qin Yiming expressed his support was because he remembered Chongzhen's edict.
Why did the Jinyiwei who conveyed the imperial edict come quickly and leave even faster?
Because they knew that the prince's secret envoy was right behind them.
The Jinyiwei were in such a hurry in order to avoid them.
Here comes the question...
Why did the Jinyiwei hide from the prince's people?
Even if you don't want to meet, you can convey your order after the prince's men leave.
Why did they have to convey the order before the prince's men arrived?
Comprehensive consideration.
The content of the imperial edict was directed at the crown prince.
The emperor ordered him to pretend to obey but secretly disobey the prince, so he pretended to obey but secretly disobeyed the prince.
As for what happens next, we’ll talk about it later.
Although Ma Wannian was somewhat reluctant, he still expressed his opinion.
The secret envoy was very satisfied. After explaining some things, he stood up and said goodbye.
Before leaving, Ma Wannian asked, "When will we raise an army to defend the king?"
"The longest is three to five months, the shortest is two to three months."
"If the prince asks us to join the army to defend the king, what will we do with the food and fodder? We can't go out on an empty stomach, right?"
"Don't worry, I'll arrange it."
After the secret envoy left, Ma Wannian couldn't wait to ask Qin Yiming: "Do we really want to follow the prince to raise an army to support the king?"
Qin Yiming replied: "Of course not."
"What you just said..."
“It’s all lies.”
"You lied to the prince, aren't you afraid of retaliation afterwards?"
"Don't be afraid, we have His Majesty's order."
"You mean... the imperial edict is directed at the crown prince?"
"Of course!" Qin Yiming repeated his guess.
Ma Wannian thought for a while and said, "Although the road makes sense, there is one thing wrong."
"What's wrong?"
"The timing is wrong. The capital is thousands of miles away from Sichuan. When the news that the prince's men had set out from Nanjing reached the capital, even if the capital immediately sent people to Sichuan, it would be impossible for them to get ahead of the prince's secret envoy. And the Jinyiwei arrived just by chance, just one step ahead of the prince's secret envoy."
Qin Yiming lowered his voice and analyzed: "Do you think there is a possibility?"
"What is possible?"
"The decree has been prepared long ago, and the Jinyiwei who are to deliver the decree have already arrived here. In order to remind us, did they deliberately wait until the prince's men arrived before delivering the decree to us?"
Ma Wannian suddenly realized: "It's possible, it's very possible!"
"Wait," Ma Wannian suddenly felt something was wrong, "How did Your Majesty know in advance that the Crown Prince was going to raise an army to defend the king?"
Qin Yiming looked up at the sky and said slowly: "This is not strange! Before my aunt passed away, the Royal Guards had conveyed His Majesty's will and asked us to act according to His Majesty's will. Now it seems that this was all planned by His Majesty."
"Whether it's the Crown Prince of Nanjing, the nobles, or the Donglin Party, they have all become pawns of your Majesty!"
Ma Wannian seemed to understand: "What about us? Are we also chess pieces?"
"certainly!"
"Then..." Ma Wannian hesitated for a while and asked, "What should we do next?"
"Pretend to obey, but secretly disobey. Stand still like a mountain, move like thunder!"
“I don’t understand…”
"We say we support the prince, but when he raises his army, we stay where we are and do nothing! Then we wait for His Majesty's order, and we do whatever he tells us to do."
"I understand!" Ma Wannian nodded heavily and asked, "You tell me... why did your majesty do this?"
Qin Yiming patted Ma Wannian on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry about it. Just take care of ourselves. If nothing unexpected happens, I can confer a title after this matter is settled!"
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