A long time ago, Prince Ji knew that there was another master behind Chu Zhu.
How long will it be?
Shortly after the new emperor ascended the throne, Chu Zhu asserted that the strategy of restraining water and attacking sand was inappropriate and that the Yellow River would inevitably burst its banks, implicitly inciting him to be disloyal.
Prince Ji became suspicious of this man at that time.
Jiwang Palace has been his territory for many years. If he wants to investigate someone, there is nothing he cannot find.
Soon, he discovered the channel through which Chu Zhu delivered the message, and the master behind it was vaguely pointing to Prince An.
However, Prince Ji did not take any action. He wanted to see what the host and the guest were up to.
The answer was revealed step by step.
However, Prince Ji still did not deal with Chu Zhu.
He started a rebellion because he was indeed angry at the emperor who had risen to power overnight on the throne; he used the "secret letter from the late emperor" as an excuse, as well as the perfect private seal, and marched his troops northward.
He obeyed Chu Zhu's orders because that was exactly what he needed.
Prince An's preparations were quite comprehensive, and he could just use them. How much effort did it save him?
In the following years, he and Prince An were very distant and had no interests involved, not involving the master behind them. Chu Zhu's advice was quite useful, so he kept him, either to confuse Prince An or for future use.
Unfortunately, after the alliance, before Prince Ji could discover new uses for Chu Zhu, the other party took the initiative to plot against him.
"A perfect place to deploy troops? You can attack or retreat, it has its own advantages?"
Prince Ji sneered, took out a silk handkerchief, wiped the blood stains on the snow-white dagger blade, put the dagger back into the sheath with a "swish", and threw the dirty handkerchief on Chu Zhu's corpse whose eyes were still open.
"Ziming?"
Prince Ji also heard the voice outside and shouted, "Come in quickly."
He walked forward quickly, and when the tent was lifted, Yang Shu, who was supported by the guards, looked pale. He frowned and said, "Ziming, you are injured. Why don't you take good care of yourself? If there is anything important, just send someone to look for me."
This kind of treatment was truly extremely kind. Yang Shu's eyes showed gratitude, but his face showed no sign of anxiety. "Your Highness! That Chu Zhu or..." There's something wrong!
Before Yang Shu could finish his words, he suddenly saw a person lying on the large table above the outer tent. His upper body could not be seen, but the brown and yellow clothes were exactly what Chu Zhu was wearing today.
A pool of deep red liquid was slowly flowing down along the dark feet, and there was a strong smell of blood in the nose.
Yang Shu was stunned.
"Don't be alarmed, Ziming."
Prince Ji had seen Yang Shu's gaze and expression. He silently waved away his guards and personally supported Yang Shu as he walked inside.
"This fellow Chu Zhu is a spy that Prince An placed beside me in his early years."
Prince Ji helped Yang Shu sit down, and he also sat down. Chu Zhu's body was beside him, and he glanced at it coldly.
"Prince An has set up a treacherous plot to lure me to deploy my troops on the left wing."
Although I don't know the specific plan of Prince An, I can basically conclude that he wants to sacrifice the Xuzhou army. "This person can no longer be kept."
"I killed him."
To put it simply, Prince Ji was not a person with a good temper. Killing him with his own hands could help him get rid of the frustration of tolerating this man jumping around in front of him for many years.
But after feeling relieved, there are still problems.
"We have to get rid of this person. After that, Prince An will definitely be alert."
Prince Ji hated Prince An for his viciousness, and Prince An was alert. The gap between the two, who had no brotherly love, became deeper and deeper. Prince Ji didn't care about Prince An, but he knew that this situation was very unfavorable to the current allied forces.
He was vaguely worried, even though the Allied Forces' current strength was still slightly greater than that of the King of Qi.
After a long sigh, Prince Ji frowned.
There is no way forward, and there is no way back either. Thinking too deeply makes one anxious.
Prince Ji was just about to ask Yang Shu for his opinion, but Yang Shu spoke first, "Your Highness, I was just about to tell you that there might be something wrong with Chu Zhu."
Prince Ji was surprised. This matter was very secretive and only he and his confidants who were in charge knew about it. None of the other staff members or generals were informed of it.
How did Yang Shu figure that out?
"Just now, someone sent me a letter saying that Chu Zhu was doing something wrong."
Prince Ji was really shocked, but before he could ask anxiously, Yang Shu had taken out two letters from his arms, one was opened and the other was sealed with wax intact.
"This letter was written by my aunt's cousin Shao Bo, who is the brother of Princess Qi."
Yang Shu said frankly, without hiding anything: "The letter clearly stated that Chu Zhu was not in a good position, and there was another letter inside."
He presented the two letters and said, "Shao Boyan, this letter was written by the King of Qi himself to Your Highness."
Prince Ji had a solemn expression on his face. He stared at the two letters with his eyes lowered. Without looking at the seal, he recognized Wei Jing's handwriting.
He slowly took the two letters and read the one from Shao Bo first. It was a reminiscence between cousins and involved Chu Zhu. There was also another letter that was asked to be forwarded.
Prince Ji stared at the second letter, opened it after a moment, and read ten lines at a glance.
"Your Highness?"
There were two pieces of letter paper. Prince Ji quickly read the first one and turned the page. He stared at the second page for a long time with a gloomy expression. Yang Shu couldn't help but ask softly.
"The King of Qi wants to surrender me."
After Prince Ji finished speaking, the host and the guest looked at each other and remained silent. The room was silent for a long time.
Yang Shu was exhausted and had to lean on the backrest, but his mind was racing at all. After his vague suspicion was confirmed, he quickly considered the pros and cons and Qi Wang Xuzhou, and then asked: "Your Highness, what do you think?"
It has to be said that the King of Qi's letter of surrender gave them a new idea.
But Prince Ji is also the son of the previous emperor, and has been fighting for the Central Plains until now. Perhaps he would rather die in battle than refuse to submit.
Yang Shu said softly: "If Your Highness has no such intention, just write back and reject this matter. Yang Shu is not talented, but I am willing to follow Your Highness until death!"
The voice is weak due to lack of internal energy, but the meaning of the words is firm and decisive.
Prince Ji was quite pleased and patted Yang Shu on the shoulder, "Ziming's heart is known to me."
He looked at the letter again, his eyes complicated, and asked, "Ziming, what do you think about this?"
What does Yang Shu think?
In fact, the deeper the rift between Prince Ji and Prince An, the two with the strongest military forces in the Allied Forces, the more worried they were when they saw Chu Zhu's body.
The King of Qi is too powerful.
"The allied forces can win but not lose. Xuzhou currently has less than 200,000 troops."
He only said it softly.
Prince Ji also put all his efforts into this coalition, and there were only 30,000 defenders left in Xuzhou. Unfortunately, they suffered heavy losses during the previous breakout, and now there are only 150,000 Xuzhou troops left in the camp. The total is 180,000.
Once the Allied forces were defeated, even if not a single member of the Xuzhou army was lost, how could these 180,000 soldiers alone stop the advance of the King of Qi's army?
In fact, if Prince Ji is willing to be a minister, now would be a very good time for him to surrender to Prince Qi.
Prince Ji actually understood what Yang Shu said.
After a long silence, he said, "I need to think about it."
Prince Ji ordered his personal soldiers to carry Yang Shu back.
The lights in the big tent were on all night, and the shadow of a person sitting behind a large nanmu desk was reflected on the screen, motionless.
The night seemed very long, yet also very short, and more than one person stayed awake all night.
When the sky was turning pale, Prince Ji stood up, sharpened his brush and wrote a letter himself.
He strode to Yang Shu's tent and handed the letter to the latter, who had also not slept.
Yang Shu took it: "Your Highness?"
Prince Ji heaved a long sigh and said, "Well, I started the war because I didn't want to be defeated by the villain Wei Xian."
If it were his legitimate brother, if he were honest, he would admit defeat.
Well, his loyal ministers and soldiers have been with him through thick and thin until now, and leaving them a way out can be considered as fulfilling this friendship.
Prince Ji wiped his face and said, "Just give the letter to that person."
…
Prince Ji’s reply has arrived.
He is willing to surrender.
The battle was won without bloodshed, and Zhang Yong, Fan Ya and others celebrated.
"good!"
Wei Jing also said, "Send a message to Prince Ji, asking him to lead the Xuzhou army to surrender in the near future."
…
Wei Jingfang did not mention the location for camping and the subsequent observation matters. As for the letter sent to Prince Ji, he also implicitly stated that if the timing was right, he could start with the achievement.
Prince Ji has already told his ministers about this matter. Everyone is bound to feel a little disappointed, but it is also good to resolve the Xuzhou crisis peacefully. They will naturally obey the lord's decision.
After adjusting their mindsets, Xu Zhang and others also said that if there was an opportunity, they would first make achievements as a token of their loyalty.
Prince Ji accepted it, but as he sent people to investigate carefully, he found that Prince An and Zhou Hong had quietly increased their defenses against him.
Ever since he had an argument with Zhou Hong and others, the defenses in the Allied camp began to be wary of each other. There was another adjustment recently, probably after the Dongyukou strategy.
Prince Ji sneered.
He simply stopped looking for opportunities, withdrew his calm gaze around him, casually ridiculed his companion Wang Ji, and turned away.
Unexpectedly, after walking for a while, they ran into Wei Xu, Chen Ang, Xu Cang and others.
He secretly spat, and now he felt disgusted when he saw those on Prince An's side, especially that Wei Xu, who never showed courtesy and always stood straighter than he did.
Chen Ang, Xu Cang and others saluted. In order not to alert the enemy, he shouted coldly, then left with a flick of his sleeves.
"This Prince Ji has an even bigger temper than usual."
However, this is what happens after a siege, so Chen Ang was not surprised and just muttered to Xu Cang beside him.
Wei Xu's expression remained unchanged. He withdrew his gaze indifferently, turned around and left. Chen Ang and others hurriedly followed.
"Okay, whether it's successful or not, I guess it doesn't make much difference."
Prince Ji understood clearly that once Wei Jing conquered the world, he would definitely not allow him to command hundreds of thousands of troops. Whether it is accomplished or not, it really makes no difference. Let the other party worry about it, he is too lazy to pay attention to it.
After two days of secret preparations, that night, Prince Ji ordered the Xuzhou army to quietly get ready and leave the camp quickly under the cover of darkness.
…
The Xuzhou army stationed itself in the East Camp, opened the East Gate and left. They left without any warning and naturally did not encounter any obstacles.
As soon as the 150,000-strong army left the camp, they marched quickly, heading straight for the Qi army camp at full speed and arriving before dawn.
Wei Jing went out to greet him personally.
A red sun broke through the horizon in the sky, the golden-red sunlight was dazzling, and the young general riding a horse came with a handsome and majestic appearance.
After many years, I met this younger brother again.
The hint of youth in my memory has completely faded, but the eyebrows and eyes on his handsome face are still familiar.
Prince Ji was a little dazed. In fact, Empress Fu had never done anything bad to him. His father, the Emperor, wanted to give him a good fiefdom, and his stepmother had no objection at all. Although he is not close to his legitimate brothers, he has no ill feelings towards them.
After many years of separation, we have experienced life and death.
It makes people feel mixed emotions.
When the two sides met, he was the first to dismount from his horse and knelt on one knee together with the ministers and generals behind him.
After his knees actually touched the ground, he found that it was not as difficult as he had imagined. What was in his heart was finally settled, and Prince Ji breathed a sigh of relief.
"My foolish brother greets the lord!"
Unlike Prince Ji, Wei Jing was not in as good a mood as he had imagined, all because of Prince Ji's face. This face, which looked 90% like Emperor Zhongping, suddenly appeared before his eyes, and it really made him feel chest tightness and shortness of breath.
But he was not so confused as to tell who was who, and the slight disgust he felt was quickly suppressed. Wei Jing dismounted from his horse, bent down and personally helped Prince Ji up.
"You and I are brothers, there is no need to be so polite."
Each person spoke a word, and the status was determined and the past grudges were resolved.
Wei Jing called everyone over, and Ji Huan, Zhang Yong and others also laughed and stepped forward, helping Yang Shu, Xu Zhang and other ministers of Prince Ji up.
They introduced themselves to each other, chatted with each other with laughter, and were in perfect harmony. The enthusiasm of the King of Qi made the ministers of the King of Ji feel greatly relieved.
It seems that surrender is also a good idea.
Ji Huan went straight to Yang Shu. He was very interested in this young man. They were rivals in the past, but now they were in the same camp, so they could have a good communication.
After a few pleasantries, Shao Bo, who was behind, came up.
"Cousin!"
When he saw Shao Bai, Yang Shu's cold smile that had never changed changed: "Erlang."
“It’s already this high.”
He was so excited that tears welled up in his eyes. He stroked Shao Bo's shoulder, his eyes full of relief, and asked with concern: "How is your mother? Where is your sister?"
Yang Shu noticed that the moment Shao Bai rushed forward, a sharp gaze swept over him.
It belongs to the King of Qi.
In fact, regarding the question about the Princess of Qi, the King of Qi was present, and it would be inappropriate to ask Shao Bai without asking him.
Yang Shu was afraid that the King of Qi would have something to say about Shao Bo, so he paused and stepped forward to greet him, "Yang greets His Royal Highness the King of Qi."
He asked, "I heard that the Princess of Qi gave birth to a daughter last year. How is Yuan'er? How is my niece?"
Yuaner?
Wei Jing felt uncomfortable.
Yuan'er was Shao Qing's childhood nickname. He knew it and often heard Sun call him that.
He felt that the nickname was more intimate and had wanted to call her that, but Shao Qing said that she preferred him to call her A-Qing. Yuan'er called many people A-Qing, but he was the only one who called her that.
Wei Jing then abandoned Yuan'er and continued to call him by the name that belonged only to him.
He was happy then, and he still is now.
However, none of this prevented him from feeling uncomfortable when he heard Yang Shu affectionately calling his wife by her nickname. Even Yang Shu did not want outsiders to know his cousin's nickname, so he spoke the word "Yuan'er" in a very low voice.
"She is very good, and Xu'er is also very good."
Suddenly I remembered that my wife once said that Cousin Yang was both civil and military, and was quite good at swordsmanship.
Wei Jing glanced at Yang Shu's pale handsome face very critically and snorted secretly. It was just a small breakout battle, and he got injured like this. And he still thinks he is both civil and military?
I really don't know how I deceived Ah Qing in the past.
Wei Jing became increasingly dissatisfied, but he did not show it. He spoke a few brief and concise words and then led his men back.
He immediately held a banquet to welcome Prince Ji and his entourage, and later ordered Ji Huan to personally take care of their arrangements. Returning to the central tent, after reading the raid report, he picked up a pen and wrote a letter to his wife.
Prince Ji surrendered, and Yang Shu followed him. This was both a public and a private matter, so he had to tell his wife about it specifically.
Wei Jing expressed his longing for his wife and daughter at length, and at the end he wrote two brief words about Yang Shu, not forgetting to comment that Yang Shu did not look very skilled, as he was injured in a small breakout battle and his face was as pale as paper for several days.
Having written this, he felt relieved, and then he sealed the letter with sealing wax and ordered his personal guards to send it back.
Forget it, let’s call a military doctor for Yang Shu, so that he won’t suffer any sequelae from his serious injuries, which he will have trouble explaining to his wife.
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