Spring and autumn

When the wheat begins to fill grain and tends to mature, Xiaomanmeng will arrive as scheduled.

This is an alliance set up by Jingong Zhao Xu in the name of the Son of Heaven. Jiang Chun, who was full of expectations to see Mihu at this alliance, rushed to the main hall early and sat on the state seat of Chu. The one who didn't look sideways was his father, Mi Hua.

Slightly nodding to his father, but his father respectfully bowed to the courtier without changing his face. Jiang Chun felt a little blocked in his heart, returned to his seat, and glanced at the strange Chu state seat over there from time to time.

Speaking of which, he hadn't communicated with his father for a long time. Since he inherited the title of Marquis Yi, perhaps earlier, since he followed the eldest son, there has been an invisible boundary between him and his father.His father is a government official, and even more powerful, he is feared by the emperor. Since he was seriously ill, he became suspicious and neurotic, and sometimes he was indifferent to right and wrong. His father deliberately kept a distance from his son so as not to drag him down.Later, Mi Hua was forced into a semi-retired state. The emperor was suspicious of him, but the son relied on him as an old prime minister for state administration. Jiang Chun didn't have time to care about his father, and he became entangled in various affairs.After all, the prince's power is limited, and the development of power is even more limited in the situation where each has his own ghosts. It is no exaggeration to say that after he left Chu, the prince did seem to have broken a hand. At the meeting, the prince didn't have time to show up, which shows that the state of Chu couldn't do without the prince himself for a while.

If it is said that the state of Chu only sent Xiangguo to deal with it, it is not giving the emperor face, then the state of Qin is even more arrogant and lawless.The person who preached the edict came back early, but the state of Qin did not give any news. On the day of Xiaoman, the emperor was promoted, Duke Jin and Duke Qi sat at the high seat, the prime minister of Chu State accompanied the seat, and the attendants of the Three Kingdoms sat neatly. In the first hall, there was not even a single envoy at the banquet of Qin State, and the emperor's face was really dull.

Thinking of this, Jiang Chun turned his head to look at the last emperor, Jin You, with a strange expression on his face.In the eyes of others, he was just angry at Qin's rudeness, and afraid of the majesty of Duke Jin who was silent beside him; expect.

Whether this expectation can come true, Jiang Chun and Jin You are both up and down.Jin Guang and Jin You have been in a coma since they conspired, and they woke up for a while last night, but they still had a high fever. When they came out in the morning, they were still burning, but they had already arranged their white clothes and waited for action.Brother Ziming couldn't stand the toss but had to toss all the time. Jiang Chun was a little distressed but had nothing to say. Whether the plan can go smoothly, it seems that all depends on whether Jin Guang can show up on time.

"It seems that the envoy of Qin will not come. Please start offering silkworm sacrifices, Your Majesty." Zhao Xuduan sat down and spoke when he heard the palace bell ringing.

Knowing that the main hall was surrounded by ambushes laid down by the Jin State in advance, Jin You swallowed this breath, and had no choice but to pick up the golden silkworm brought by the ceremony officer, put it on the desk, and lead the two princes and one prime minister to meet with all the ministers. Workers bow down respectfully.

In Xiaoman Festival custom, this day is regarded as the birth day of the silkworm god, and sacrifices are performed in order to hope that all the sericulture and farming will go well.There are no small objects in the Temple of the Son of Heaven. This little golden silkworm is also a symbol of power. It represents the emperor's jurisdiction over Nongsang, although it is only a symbolic power as a virtual king.

After the ceremony, the solemn atmosphere did not dissipate for a while, no one spoke, and even with the murderous ambush, it was like a monolith that made people breathless.Jin You stared at Zhao Xu for a long time, but the other party didn't speak, so he had no choice but to move his lips. After all, he didn't say anything. Instead, he winked at Jiang Chun. Jiang Chun lowered his head for a while, raised his head and smiled, Turning to Zhao Xu, he said, "I heard that Duke Jin is the first to organize this meeting, so it's not like we're going to make a sacrifice to the Silkworm God with great fanfare, right?"

"Qi Gong is joking, offering silkworms is a major event in farming and mulberry. The foundation of people's livelihood lies in this. How can it be a joke? Even if you call everyone here from a long distance, just to sacrifice silkworms, it is also a major event related to the community!" Zhao Xu said seriously.

When he said that, Jiang Chun couldn't reply. There are a lot of reasons to say this kind of thing that seems to be an excuse, and they are all high-sounding.In today's Four Kingdoms, Duke Chu cannot come, and Duke Jin is the most senior, and his father is only the Prime Minister, so naturally he will not argue with him, and he can't say anything even if he is blocked in such a way.

"Of course, there are things to do along the way. I won't let Qi Gongbai make such a trip, and I came to this royal city five days earlier." When Jiang Chun was in a daze, Zhao Xu spoke again, standing while talking. Get up, walk in front of Jin You, take out a rolled piece of silk from your sleeve, grab the side with the shaft and shake it, a map spread out impressively, holding the map facing Jiang Chun, Zhao Xu's expression is Seriously, "Should the Qi State return the land twenty miles west of the four towns west of Qingmu Pass to the Jin State?"

He suddenly raised this question, but Jiang Chun was caught off guard. Standing Zhao Xu brought a sense of oppression, and saw him arrogantly throwing the map in his hand, and the soft silk map fell on Jiang Chun's desk.

"Duke Qi doesn't know yet, right? During the battle of Qingmu Pass between Qi and Jin Dynasties three years ago, the two sides were at a stalemate. In order to calm things down, my grandfather reluctantly ceded the land of [-] miles west of the four towns west of Qingmu Pass, and agreed to transfer it for three years with Qi Gong. Now that the right to use the land has expired, should Duke Qi abide by the agreement and return the land to our country?" Zhao Xu said, and waved Wei Fan, who followed, to show Jiang Chun the deed at that time.

The black and white letters on the deed were signed by Xian Gongchuan, but the representative of the state of Jin was the signature of Xiangguo Zhao Xu and the seal of Jin Gongyou.Jiang Chun was completely dumbfounded. He really didn't know what appeared out of thin air. He looked up at Jin You behind Zhao Xu, and even Jin You was surprised.

As the Duke of Jin at the time, he only knew that the war ended very quickly, almost as soon as Zhao Xu went out to fight, and he didn't even know what treaty was signed.Now that he, the emperor, had the support of the Qi State, Zhao Xu took out the deed, and in front of the ministers of various countries, made the unsuspecting Jiang Chun unable to step down.Knowing that it was a conspiracy, Jiang Chun was speechless, but Jin You had to try to speak.

"The seal on this document belongs to me. I don't remember signing such a treaty at the beginning!" Jin You dared to deny Zhao Xu's rhetoric under heavy ambushes, "I ask you, what is the word on it?" It was you who signed it, if it was my order, why didn't I sign it, but you signed it on my behalf?"

"Your Majesty has a lot to do, and it's normal to forget some things. At that time, His Majesty granted the Prime Minister the power of military affairs abroad. His Majesty personally sent someone to deliver the seal. It is clear and clear. If there is a fake, you can tell it at a glance!" To Jin You who suddenly became disobedient, Zhao Xu didn't give in at all.

It was only then that Jin You remembered that two days after Zhao Xu set off on the expedition, a scout reported that the border matters had been negotiated, but only the seal of the Duke of Jin was needed to sign it. It was Jinyang's birthday at that time, and the palace was busy celebrating, so Jin You simply asked Asked if it was necessary to cede land or something like that, he thought it was acceptable and sent the seal.Now it seems that it is really not a cession of land, but a borrowing of land.Twenty miles is not too big for a principality, and it doesn't make sense for Jiang Chun to mobilize people to claim the land as soon as he took office. Zhao Xu's doing so is clearly to destroy the alliance relationship that Qi State and Wangcheng have just established. The reason must be Wei Fan that day. He was stopped by Jiang Chun outside the bedroom—no matter what Duke Qi's plan is, as long as Qi Guo knows that Wang Cheng's game of chess is not easy to play, he will retreat.

But Jin You was unwilling, so he stood up and looked at Zhao Xu at the same level, but he didn't know where he came from and pushed back: "At that time, you didn't report the specific information to me, and I didn't know how the treaty was written!"

The ministers were in an uproar, but Zhao Xu sneered and said, "Your Majesty's warrant to give ministers to do things cheaply is still there. Are you going to frame Zhongliang in a blink of an eye? Your Majesty wants to tear himself apart for the Jin Kingdom, isn't it?"

"You keep saying that you are fighting for the interests of Jin, but you do such a thing as exiling the monarch!" In a rage, Jin You scolded, "Do you think that people in the world don't know how you came to power? Send an edict , The alliance meeting is just because you want to promote your orthodoxy! Zhongyue is also a temporary successor, has he promoted his orthodoxy? The real orthodoxy never overemphasizes itself, only people with ghosts in their hearts keep doing these things !"

"The first emperor ordered your majesty to take over as the son of heaven. No one in the state of Jin can succeed the throne, so the ministers had no choice but to act out of line. People in the world speculated that the ministers had the intention of disobeying the ministers, and the ministers recognized it. Your majesty should know this obvious truth. The status of the ministers It was given by His Majesty, and it is difficult to stop Youyou's mouth, but I can only show my heart if I do things for Jin with all my heart!"

One glared at each other, the other was relentless, and it was difficult to distinguish loyalty from traitor for a while.Seeing that the sudden incident that was aimed at him turned into a quarrel between the Duke of Jin and the emperor, Jiang Chun could almost hear the sound of His Highness drawing his sword, glanced at Mi Hua, but it was nothing to do with him, and he took it leisurely. When the tea on the case came to drink, the ministers were dumbfounded.

It's been a long time since I've been able to vent like this, relying on everyone's presence, Jin You hastily poked at Zhao Xu's guilty point: "Don't pretend to be a loyal minister and good general! You said that no one in the Jin Kingdom can succeed to the throne, Yang You It's fine if my son died, don't I still have a younger brother?"

"Jin Guang? Your Majesty knew a long time ago that he had plotted against him after His Majesty took office, and was captured and killed when he fled to Fuzhou!" Zhao Xu bit this "fact" to death, but he couldn't control his whole body trembling when he said it. , "Why, is your Majesty going to violate the law of Jin, because Jin Guang is your younger brother, do you want to make an exception?"

Hearing this righteous speech, Jin You suddenly raised the corners of his mouth, sneered so that Zhao Xu's heart trembled, his low voice was like a ghost: "Do you think there is no proof of death? Even if there is no proof of death, doing such a thing is not enough There will be ghosts claiming their lives!"

Zhao Xu was stunned for a moment, amidst the discussions among the officials, Jin You shouted loudly like a winner: "Has Duke Jin ever seen a ghost!"

Zhao Xu was still stunned for a moment before he could react, only to see the door of the main hall being pushed open with a "bang", against the strong summer sun, standing a man who didn't know whether he was a man or a ghost.