The emperor's heart alone

In the early morning of July [-]th, a sound of horseshoes broke the tranquility of the capital, and an urgent secret letter from Babaili from the northwest was submitted to the table of Changping Palace.Shi Junji hurried back from Xu's mansion. After reading the secret letter, he was furious. Xu Yunjin quickly read the secret letter that Shi Junji threw on the table, with a sneer at the corner of his mouth: "It seems they can't help it."

Shi Junji's face was gloomy, and he snorted coldly: "Alright, since you want to die with all your heart, let them be fulfilled."

"It's just a pity for those who are used by them."

"What's the pity?" Shi Junji said, "Since he dared to rebel, most likely he was a person who already had rebellion in his heart, otherwise he could be so easily instigated by them?"

Xu Yunjin didn't answer. A few days ago, a rebellion appeared in the northwest. The leader of the rebellion was a farmer from a village in the northwest. His name was Wang Daniu. As soon as this person stood up, there was an overwhelming response. People in the surrounding villages all embraced him as king. In just a few days, tens of thousands of people gathered, quickly occupied the nearest city to them—Gancheng, and proclaimed themselves the capital, declaring that they would rule on the same level as Daping.

Now, this is what was said in the secret letter placed in front of Shi Junji and Xu Yunjin.

Xu Yunjin turned to ask: "What are you going to do next?"

Shi Junji tapped the table with his fingertips: "The northwest garrison cannot move. The few garrisons near Gancheng are all from the Jiang family. The southwest garrison closest to the northwest is now facing foreign harassment and cannot move."

Xu Yunjin hesitated: "They want you to mobilize the troops near the capital?"

"This is the fastest." Shi Junji said lightly, "If I don't move the troops near the capital, with the secret assistance of the Jiang family, they will soon be able to take the entire Northwest into their pocket and approach the capital. The pressure on the capital will be even greater. If the troops near the capital are mobilized, they will never allow me to mobilize the main force of the imperial forest army. They will only let me send troops hundreds of miles away from the capital. I formed an Imperial Forest Army, and more than half of the Imperial Forest Army belonged to the Third Prince, I thought I would have nowhere to go at all."

Xu Yunjin took a deep look at Shi Junji: "There are still many people in the capital who support you, and not many people have the intention of treason."

Shi Junji shook his head: "However, most of those who betrayed are military generals. Even if the civil servants are loyal to me, how can it be possible to outnumber the soldiers under the generals?"

Xu Yunjin knew that what Shi Junji said was reasonable, even if there were many civil servants, it just meant a lot of talk, but what's the use of that?If the Third Prince really succeeds in rebelling, wouldn't he be able to write history as he wants?At that time, even if Shi Junji is written as a tyrant who commits all kinds of evil, how many people in later generations will know whether it is true or not?Looking at Shi Jun's frown, Xu Yunjin thought for a while and asked, "Why don't we start with the Third Prince? He is still in the capital, if..."

Shi Junji shook his head again, and was silent for a while: "Let him go out of Beijing."

Xu Yunjin frowned: "It's too risky."

Shi Junji smiled and comforted Xu Yunjin: "Don't worry, his little tricks won't stop me. I just let him go to the northwest, and he will come back in the future."

Do you want to come again?Xu Yunjin said from the bottom of his heart that his thoughts were all on the dragon chair, and it wasn't the remote village in the northwest, he would naturally come back in the future.Knowing that Shi Junji had made up his mind, Xu Yunjin didn't stop him anymore.

In the early court of this day, Shi Junji ordered Zhang Dequan to make the contents of the secret letter public, and there was an uproar in the quiet court hall, and the courtiers said their own things, filled with righteous indignation.

Shi Junji's eyes glanced at the prime minister standing in the front with very casual eyes, only to see that Prime Minister Jiang lowered his head and said nothing.Shi Junji made a gesture to calm down the ministers, and asked, "Prime Minister Jiang, how do you think this matter should be resolved?"

All eyes in the court were focused on Prime Minister Jiang, and Prime Minister Jiang came out and said: "The old minister thinks that the crime of rebellion should be punished."

As soon as Prime Minister Jiang finished speaking, half of the courtiers behind responded one after another. Shi Jun smiled, as if he was not surprised by all this, and turned to look at General Su who was standing in the first position of the general, that is, Young Master Su's Father: "General Su, what do you think?"

General Su also came out, clasping his fists together: "I am willing to lead troops to the northwest to kill the rebels."

Shi Junji nodded: "I have always trusted General Su, but they are just a group of rebels who are not considered climate in the Northwest. Wouldn't it be overkill to let General Su go?"

Hearing what Shi Junji said, General Su was about to speak again, but was stopped by Prime Minister Jiang's voice: "Your Majesty, I have an idea."

"Prime Minister, please tell me."

Prime Minister Jiang said with a smile: "The third prince has been interested in the art of war since he was a child, and has always regretted not being able to find a suitable opportunity. Now that there is a rebellion in the northwest, the veteran feels that it is better to give the third prince this opportunity. Firstly, to counteract the disaster of the rebellion, and secondly, to exercise The third prince's ability to lead troops, adding another general to Daping, wouldn't it kill two birds with one stone?"

General Su didn't agree with Prime Minister Jiang's words, and retorted: "The matter of the rebellion is not trivial. If the third prince has the heart, he will go to the border with the army in the future. Now it's better to leave this matter to our generals."

The quarrel between General Su and Prime Minister Jiang is known to all civil and military officials. It is not a one-time or two-time thing to quarrel in the court. Hearing what General Su said, he was naturally displeased, but Shi Junji's purpose was not to watch the two quarrel. Considered."

General Su and Prime Minister Jiang calmed down, Shi Junji said again: "Then, where is the best place to transfer the troops?"

Prime Minister Jiang stood up again: "Your Majesty, I think it would be better to transfer the troops in Zhoucheng."

General Su immediately stopped him: "No, the main task of the Zhoucheng army is to guard the capital, how can they be transferred away in person? I think that the Northwest garrison has a large number of troops, and only the army closest to Gancheng in the Northwest garrison will be transferred. It is unnecessary to spend a lot of manpower, material resources and time to send Zhou Cheng's army to the northwest."

Shi Junji pondered for a moment: "Most of the Northwest garrison cannot be moved." Most of the rest are from the forces of the Jiang family, but because there is no military order on the surface, they can only stand still. If they are really sent It's just adding more troops to Gancheng's rebellion, and it has no effect on quelling the war.

Prime Minister Jiang saw that Shi Junji had a vague intention of not wanting to mobilize the military forces in the Northwest, so he hurriedly said: "Although the rebels have occupied Gancheng, they are just a group of mobs after all. How do they know how to march and fight? Maybe they are occupying Gancheng now because of the carve-up. Even if Zhou Cheng's troops are dispatched there, it is still in time."

Shi Junji seemed to be persuaded by Prime Minister Jiang, but General Su felt that something was wrong, and hurriedly said to Shi Junji: "Your Majesty, Zhou Cheng's army is to defend the capital and must not move. Since the army in the northwest cannot be mobilized, It’s better to transfer troops from the central part.”

Shi Junji shook his head: "No, the army in the central region is too far away from the northwest. By the time they reach the northwest, the rebels must have already reached the capital."

After all, the Daping Kingdom has a vast territory, and it is almost impossible to transfer troops from the central part to the northwest in a short period of time. When the troops from the central part arrive in the northwest, the cucumbers and vegetables will be cold, and it will be too late, and the number of troops is fixed Those, where can I find other troops in a short time?After all, the army in the northwest cannot be transferred, the army in the central and northeast is too far behind, and the courtiers know about the war in the southwest, let alone act rashly. The rest is the army near the capital?

Then Prime Minister Jiang's proposal to transfer Zhoucheng's army seems to be the best choice, and General Su has to admit this, but Zhoucheng's army is the first line of defense to guard the capital, General Su feels that this is very inappropriate .

Shi Junji pondered for a moment, then said: "Let me think about this matter again." His eyes fell on General Su, "General Su, wait for me at Changping Palace after the court."

"The minister obeys the order."

After coming down to court, General Su stayed in Changping Palace for a full hour. I heard people in the palace say that General Su's complexion was very bad when he came out, and he didn't know what the emperor said to General Su in Changping Palace. Not long after General Su left, Shi Junji's will came down - to appoint the third prince as the general, and he would lead 70.00% of Zhoucheng's troops to the northwest to suppress the rebellion.

This decree almost did not adopt General Su's suggestion in the court at all. They thought that with General Su's heart, he would definitely write to the emperor and even go to the Changping Palace. The act of dissatisfaction was that on the second day after the decree was promulgated, General Su closed the gate of the Su Mansion, and refused to see guests if he did not step out of the Su Mansion.

Shi Junji didn't say anything, he just let General Su's behavior go.

On July [-]th, the Third Prince led his cronies and rushed to Zhoucheng to join the army. Shi Junji stood on the city wall and watched the team of the Three Princes drifting away, expressionless.

As soon as Xu Yunjin entered the room, he saw the Second Prince holding the old account book in a daze, walked quietly to the Second Prince's side, and patted the Second Prince suddenly: "Are you lazy?"

The Second Prince, who was startled by Xu Yunjin, came back to his senses, threw the account book on the table, and couldn't help saying: "Sister-in-law, are you silent when you walk? You scared me to death."

Xu Yunjin walked to his desk, and said with a smile: "You are the one who lost your mind and you blame me?" Taking a closer look at the Second Prince's expression, Xu Yunjin raised his eyebrows, "Didn't sleep well last night?"

The Second Prince smiled wryly, but did not speak.

Xu Yunjin said again: "Today is the day for the Third Prince to leave the capital, did you not go see him off?"

This time the second prince didn't smile bitterly anymore, he just didn't speak.

Xu Yunjin thought for a while: "I heard from your elder brother about the matter between you and the Third Prince. I heard that you had a very good relationship when you were young. How come it is now?"

The second prince sighed: "Our relationship was really good when we were young, but since he knew that the first queen mother is not the biological mother of me and the emperor's brother, he has gradually alienated me, and even developed resentment towards me and the emperor's brother. It's not that I haven't asked him to persuade him, but it's a pity that he didn't listen to it, and now he wants to take the position of my emperor brother." At this point, the second prince became even more desolate, "What else can I do?"

Xu Yunjin was thoughtful: "...So that's the case."

The second prince stood up: "Sister-in-law, today I..."

Xu Yunjin nodded: "Go back first, I will help you with today's work."

The Second Prince forced a smile and left.

Xu Yunjin chuckled, shook his head, and began to deal with today's affairs.