Jing Xiang is dead.

Or before he died, he also understood that he shouldn't have run away.

What made him realize was the true identity of the assassins.

If he stays in Chang'an City, he may lose his status as prime minister and lose power, but as a buffer between the Zhu brothers, he can at least delay or even stop the outbreak of internal strife, so that the Daliang regime, which he has worked so hard to maintain, will not collapse.

Unfortunately, when he came to his senses, it was already a sword and axe.

Yang Honggui, who returned from a serious injury, did not last long, and after bringing Xu Fu's message to Zhu Youyu, he died of serious injuries. As the bearer of Jing Xiang's death, until the last moment of his death, he was still muttering: "I didn't kill Jing Xiang!" ”

But none of this matters.

"Old dog Xu Fu, bully me too much!" The angry Zhu Youyu overturned the big case, "If you want to fight, then you will fight, am I still afraid that you can't do it?" ”

Sheng Zhonghuai's face was solemn.

"Your Highness, a battle is definitely inevitable, but we still have to treat this matter with the mentality of fighting for peace."

"What does it mean to promote peace by war?" Zhu Youyu was a little puzzled.

"Your Highness, now it's not that the four seas are leveling, but the major forces are advancing at the same time, not to mention others, Li Ze in the north alone is bound to be eyeing each other, if Your Highness, you and the three Highnesses are inseparable and entangled for a long time, then the Tang Army in the north is coming, how should we deal with it." Sheng Zhonghuai sighed and said: "So we must promote peace with war, the most important thing is the first battle, this battle must be won, and we must also beat the Third Highness and Xu Fu to let them know that we are not so easy to get along with, and if the truth is against each other, in the end, it is just cheaper for outsiders." ”

"Xu Fu is a madman." Zhu Youyu gritted his teeth and said, "You don't know how crazy this old frustration is. ”

"Xu Fu is a madman, but His Royal Highness is not." Sheng Zhonghuai said. "Brother is on the wall and outside to resist his insult, the third highness wants to beat us, for the chair in the palace of diligence, but not for the revenge of His Majesty the Emperor, if the fight to the end, not only did not take this chair but broke the chair, he may not be alone, right?"

"So what do you think we'll do next?" Zhu Youyu asked.

"Your Highness, first of all, we need a general who can be compared to Xu Fu to go to Tongguan to guard the town." Sheng Zhonghuai said: "At the moment, this person is only the generation of super generals. Only the acting general can not lose to Xu Fu in terms of status and prestige, and can he suppress this field. Moreover, the military attainments of the acting general are not inferior to Xu Fu, with him in Tongguan, it is not so easy for Xu Fu to take the gateway to Chang'an. ”

"But Xiangyang?" Zhu Youyu hesitated.

"Where can I take care of Xiangyang now?" Sheng Zhonghuai said with a wry smile: "Let's go through the current hurdle first, although General Dai has gathered more than 10,000 defeated troops in Xiangyang, whether it is grain and grass, equipment, or morale, it has fallen to a low point, it is better to simply give up Xiangyang, save strength, return to Chang'an, and wait for us to understand the Third Highness, and then talk about the counteroffensive." ”

"Xiangyang fell into the hands of the Tang Army, and the consequences are also very serious!"

"Send a letter to the Second Highness, and let the Second Highness march from Shannan West Road." Sheng Zhonghuai said: "It's unrealistic to want His Royal Highness to come directly to help you, but if you let him take control of Shannan Dongdao, he may not be moved." ”

"It's a good idea." Zhu Youyu's eyes lit up: "The wealth is moving, the enemy of Shannan Dongdao at the moment is only Tian Guofeng's soldiers and horses plus a water division, the strength of the second child is more than enough, even if it falls in the old second-hand house, in the future, when I stabilize the form, he is a person, I am afraid that he will honestly hand it back to me again." ”

"The second step is to win the hearts of the generals of the forbidden army." Sheng Zhonghuai continued: "Your Highness, Xu Futong has led the forbidden army for many years, and there are many military centers, so he has to guard against it, and His Highness's pace in the past few years still seems to be too small. ”

"Some people, it's damned." Zhu Youyu said viciously.

"No!" Sheng Zhonghuai shook his head and said, "It's too late to kill now." At this time, these generals were only afraid that one of them would be wary, and if one was not good, it would cause a mutiny, which would be a bad thing. ”

"So what do you say?" Zhu Youyu was a little annoyed, he is still a military general, he likes to do things neatly and neatly, what he is most afraid of is that he is like this, sticky and sticky. Kill and can't kill, use and don't worry, isn't this a bamboo pole to fight a wolf, are you afraid of both ends?

"Your Highness, it's time for you to ascend the throne." Sheng Zhonghuai arched his hand and said: "The matter has come to this point, and there is no need to cover it up." With the queen's endorsement, you can ascend to the throne openly. ”

Zhu Youyu thought for a moment and thoughtfully: "You mean that if I have this position, I can use this position to do a lot of things." ”

"Not bad." Sheng Zhonghuai said: "The generals of the forbidden army, more than ninety percent, are all Xuanwu old men, what they follow His Majesty the Emperor to get, but they are the founding heroes, the wife and the son, after you ascend the throne, you can give these people a lot of rewards, money, beauty, titles, and a lot of rewards, naturally you can gather the minds of a group of people, the scope of the reward, not limited to the main general, to expand the scope as much as possible, to win people's hearts." ”

"But there will always be some people who are stubborn?"

"That's less." Sheng Zhonghuai said: "The first emperor has left, those who are loyal to the first emperor have lost their goal, they need to find a new master, in fact, it is nothing more than you and the Third Highness, and you, in Chang'an, this is the first opportunity, even if the Third Highness also wants to give them these things, but it is not the current thing, you have to defeat you first." In this world, most people can only see the three feet in front of them. ”

"Makes sense."

"As long as the vast majority of people are loyal to Your Highness, among the remaining people, some people will become grass on the wall, follow the crowd, and be truly stubborn, and you can raise your knife at this time." Sheng Zhonghuai said with a smile.

"Third, Chang'an horses are going to enter a wartime control state, Luoyang has cut off the road for material input, although Chang'an has stockpiled more abundant grain and grass earlier, but it can still be prevented. At this moment, it is imperative to guard against Tunjiju and raise prices, and it must not cause panic among the people. ”

"You are responsible for this nature."

Sheng Zhonghuai said with a smile: "Your Highness, after you ascend the throne, of course, you will have to accept a few more concubines, whether it is the daughter of a wealthy gentry in Chang'an City, or the daughter of a high-ranking official or general, you can enter the palace." Your children are still young, but they can be married. ”

"I see, this is the meaning of using marriage to tie those key people to us, right?" Zhu Youyu sighed.

Sheng Zhonghuai said: "Your Highness Mingjian." ”

"Let's do it, I'll go to see the queen mother first." Zhu Youyu said.

In the dark and damp tunnel, Hao Ren groped for a distance alone, took out a dagger from his waist, turned it upside down, knocked it a few times on the seemingly complete stone wall, paused for a moment, knocked a few times, the stone wall suddenly sunk inward, and a sharp knife appeared in front of him, the person holding the knife glanced at Hao Ren, looked around again, and then dodged to get out of the way.

This is a stone room, and there are more than a dozen big men in it, as well as Fan Sheng sitting in the middle.

"What's the news today?" Fan Sheng was wrapped in a thick blanket and looked at Hao Rendao coldly.

"Your Highness is about to ascend the throne." Hao Ren said: "The city is already holding a ceremony, and at the same time, several concubines have been accepted, all of whom are the descendants of senior generals of the forbidden army. And there was a lot of rewards, all the generals of the forbidden army were promoted by one level, and I heard that there was also a large amount of silver rewards in the army, my brother in the army said, now everyone is happy! ”

Fan Sheng sneered: "No matter how he struggles, he won't be able to jump for a few days." I know all these things you said. ”

"Look, should we give him some trouble? We can't get close to those big guys, ordinary ones, we can still do some for him. ”

"No need." Fan Sheng shook his head: "Now the other party must be loose on the outside and tight on the inside, we are too active during this time, and we have lost a lot of brothers, and then we have to lie dormant, leave it useful, and wait until the army of the Three Highnesses comes back and then take the initiative to attack, so as to help the Three Highnesses take Chang'an in one fell swoop and take the head of this traitor." ”

"Master Fan is far-sighted, unlike us guys who go in with white knives and come out with red knives, it's easy to think about things!" Hao Ren said with a smile.

"Sensei put a high hat on me." Fan Sheng said: "Hao Ren, this time you have saved Jingxiang's family, and when His Royal Highness enters the city, your reward will inevitably be indispensable, and you will not have to do these things in the future, you can be an official in a bright and bright way." ”

"The villain is used to doing these jobs, if you really give it to an official, I can't do it, anyway, I'm familiar with this, and I can do more things for His Royal Highness, right?" Hao Ren said with a smile.

Fan Sheng nodded and said, "Then that's it, let your people stop moving." ”

"Yes, Master Fan, this place is absolutely safe, no matter how many soldiers and horses they send, it is impossible to find here, you can hide here during this time, and I will send someone who is absolutely trustworthy to send it when needed."

"You don't care about me." Fan Shengdao.

"You're going out?" Hao Ren was taken aback: "Didn't you just say that they were loose on the outside and tight on the inside?" People like you, they're definitely going to kill them quickly. ”

"Then they'll have to catch me." Fan Sheng sneered.

Hao Ren, who said goodbye and left this secret room, walked in the tunnel for half an hour, these tunnels were not dug by him, they were all underground sewer passages in Chang'an City, and the lanes extending in all directions, only people like Hao Ren can really be familiar with the door, and change someone to come in, I am afraid that I will turn for ten days and half a month, and I can't find a little doorway.

When he appeared in a secret room again, what appeared in front of him was Gao Xiangsheng, and the person standing next to Gao Xiangsheng was the blind Tao who escaped in the attack on Jingxiang.