Immediately, Zhu Zanyi and Chen Liping held a collection ceremony, combined eight characters, exchanged marriage books, and completed the engagement ceremony. At this time, all the princes who came to the capital to pay tribute in Layue except for Zhu Shangbing, the king of Qin, and Zhu Yunxi, the king of Yong, were still in the capital, and the others had already returned to the fiefdom, but the two of them were the same generation as Yunxi, so Yunxi chose Zhu Ying, the king of An, as the elder of the man, to attend some occasions that required the elders to come forward, although he was actually one year younger than Zhu Zanyi.

In the days leading up to Zhu Zanyi's engagement, officials in the capital were still talking about how the Li family should be treated, and even officials outside the capital joined the discussion: Fang Xiaoru, who was still serving as a student in Jianghuai Province, wrote a letter in support of Chen's opinion. And because he happened to be presiding over the hospital examination in Chuzhou and Hezhou, he sent a series of letters to the Qianqing Palace to bomb Yunxi.

Until the beginning of April, Yun Xi did not decide whose opinion to adopt, but only used the excuse that the domestic situation in Annan was undecided, and when the domestic situation in Annan stabilized in the future, he would bring the Li clan or the Hu clan to the capital and decide on the final disposition of them.

At the same time, Yun Xi crowned Chen Tianping as the monarch of Annan in the capital and arranged for him to go to Guangxi.

"Chen Tianping, now when Hu Jichen delays your return to China and assumes the throne under the pretext of the uncertain domestic situation, although I understand what he means, what he said is also reasonable, so I will not let you return to China and take the throne for the time being."

"But it's not good that you've been in the capital. You will need many close ministers to ascend to the throne in the future, and Pei Boqi alone is not enough. ”

"That's why I arranged for you to go to Guangxi. Those ministers who are still loyal to you will definitely do everything possible to go to Guangxi when they hear that you have come to Guangxi, and you can choose suitable people from these people to be your subordinates after succeeding to the throne in the future. Before Chen Tianping left the capital, Yun Xi said to him.

Chen Tianping was a little puzzled as to why Yun Xi was so concerned about their Annan affairs, and arranged it so properly: according to Yun Xi's previous practice, he should not be too concerned about their countries.

However, he thought that Yunxi also took better care of Korea, Fuso, and Ryukyu, and was immediately relieved: "It seems that His Majesty the Emperor treats us countries who call themselves Little China more favorably. ’

Yun Xi said a few more words to him and told him to step down.

Then Yun Xi stood in place, his face changed for a while, and he exhaled and said to Wang Xi: "Xuanjin Yiwei commanded Qin Song to come to the palace, I have something to tell him." ”

……

……

"What? Chen Tianping is in Guangxi now? At the beginning of May, Hu Jichen, who had just reached an armistice agreement with Champa and hurried back, said loudly.

"Yes, father, Chen Tianping is in Guangxi now." Hu Yi replied.

"This." Hu Jichen walked around, thinking about countermeasures.

The strategy set by him and his son Hu Ao before was similar to that in history, that is, to find various reasons to delay time, it is best to delay for a year or two to make Yun Xi no longer pay attention to this matter, and then ask Chen Tianping to return to China as the monarch, and find an opportunity to poison him or let him have an accident without leaving a trace after he returns to Annan. In this way, all the men of the Chen clan died, and it was impossible for the Ming Kingdom to find a suitable person to serve as the monarch.

In this case, as long as there is no evidence to prove that they poisoned Chen Tianping, Da Ming can only pinch his nose and admit the throne of their family. Hu Hao's biological mother is the sister of the previous monarch, his wife is the daughter of the former monarch, and his eldest son is also the son of the main wife. Even if Da Ming still has to investigate his crime of killing the monarch at that time, as long as he recognizes Hu Hao's throne, he is willing to accept the punishment, anyway, he is sixty-seven years old this year, and it is still two days whether he will be alive in two years.

But Mingguo's placement of Chen Tianping in Guangxi completely disrupted his strategy. Although only a few of them knew about it now, the paper could not contain the fire, and the ministers would know sooner or later that many of the officials who were still loyal to the Chen clan would abandon their father and son, collude with Chen Tianping, and some troops would regain their allegiance to him. When Chen Tianping returns to Annam a few years later, he can easily get rid of himself and others and truly succeed to the throne.

"King Taishang, Your Majesty, this matter cannot be delayed, it must be resolved now." Hu Jichen's close minister Congqi said: "King Taishang, King Wang, the longer it drags on, the more people have their hearts towards the Chen family, and the more panicked the King Taishang and the people on the king become, if it drags on for a year or two, I'm afraid that if we don't wait for Chen Tianping to return to China, we will make a mess ourselves." ”

"Father, do you want to send someone to continue to capture and kill the ministers close to the Chen family?" Hu Hao said.

"No!" Li Duan, another of Hu Jichen's close ministers, said: "King Taishang, Your Majesty, the other day I captured and killed too much, and many people were very dissatisfied, even those who were worried about me had some opinions. ”

"Besides, those who are really loyal and unyielding to the Chen Dynasty have all been executed, and the rest of the people are either cowardly as rats, or people whose families are too big to give up their family business for the sake of the Chen Dynasty, and there is no need for these people to continue to capture and kill."

"To solve this matter, we can only start with Chen Tianping, as long as we get rid of him, there will be nothing else."

"But how do you get rid of him?" Congqi said: "He is now in Guangxi, and it is found that he is in Nanning Mansion, can we still send troops to take Nanning and kill him?" Or send someone to poison him? None of this is possible. ”

"Let's not talk about whether we can defeat the Ming army in Guangxi, even if we can defeat the Ming army in Guangxi, Chen Tianping will run away and can't catch him; And in this way, it completely angered the Ming Kingdom, and there was no room for reconciliation after that. ”

"It's harder to send someone to poison him. The people Chen Tianping is serving now are all people sent by the Ming Kingdom and ran over from Annan, unless they are the subordinates who went with him at the beginning, they can't get close to him at all. The people we sent could only find out where he was, and they didn't even know where he was going when he went out every day. ”

"How about inviting Chen Tianping back to China now and taking the opportunity to poison him?" Li Duan said suddenly.

"No, it doesn't. Chen Tianping is not stupid, he knows that he can't control the court at all when he returns to China now, but is in danger of being murdered by us, and he will definitely not be willing to return to China. Hu Xi said.

"What if there is an escort from the army of the Ming Kingdom? He was alone and naturally didn't dare to come back, if there was an escort from the Ming army, he might be willing to come back, and he probably wanted to return to China early to take the throne. Li Duan said again.

"Ming Guo may not be willing to let him come back now, right? Now the Chen family is only Chen Tianping, he will inevitably be the lord of the country in the future, and the Ming State also let the King of Jingjiang, who was enshrined in Guilin, Guangxi, marry his sister, and it is likely that he wants him to stay in the Ming Kingdom for a few more years, and then come back after having some feelings for the Ming Kingdom, so as to enhance the relationship between the two sides. Another close minister, Nguyen Thanh Thanh, said.

Congqi was about to speak, Hu Jichen suddenly waved his hand, and everyone hurriedly stopped arguing and looked at him.

"Regardless of whether Chen Tianping is willing to come back or not, or whether Ming Guo is willing to let him come back, there is no harm in giving this plan a try. Ruan Jingzhen, this king ordered you to send an envoy to the Ming Kingdom and ask Chen Tianping to return to China and succeed to the throne. Hu Jichen said.

Ruan Jingzhen bowed and promised. Several other ministers saw that Hu Jichen had made a decision for the time being, and they also bowed down and retreated. Soon, only Hu Jichen and Hu Huan, father and son, were left in the house.

"Father, what if Chen Tianping still doesn't come to Annan in the end?" Hu asked asked.

"That can only risk sending someone to assassinate him." Hu Jichen said: "Now we can't afford to delay, we must solve this matter as soon as possible." ”

"Father, in fact, as long as we stop the reform at hand and the war against Champa, the resistance of the family to our Dayu will be reduced a lot, and if it drags on, it may not be that we can't afford to drag it out." After a while, Hu Xi said.

"No! The reforms that are now underway and the war against Champa must not stop. Hu Jichen said: "Why did the Chen family die in the country? Of course, those great Confucians outside will say that it is my wolf ambition and the image of a wolf, but I know that the Chen Dynasty has ruled Annam for 200 years, and it is now rotten, and even if there is no me, there will be another person who will die in the Chen Dynasty. ”

"And why a country will perish after one or two hundred years of rule, I have been searching for the reasons, although I have found some, but I always feel that it is not complete."

"But a few years ago, when the emperor of the Ming Kingdom was the emperor's grandson, he said that the population theory (miscommunication) made my father understand that one of the real reasons is that a country has been stable for too long, the population is too large, and the current fields cannot support so many people, which will prompt the people to rebel and lead to chaos. In troubled times, a large number of people died and the population decreased, so the new dynasty could maintain stability after it was established. While this is not the whole story, it is also an important one. ”

"And the Dayu established by your father and me, according to the Han people, is a usurpation of power, and other problems can be solved, but the population problem cannot be solved."

"So I can only reform internally, reduce slaves and increase yeoman farmers, and fight against the big families, so that they can't oppress the farmers too much."

"At the same time, they fought foreign wars, conquered the cities and expelled the locals, and distributed the fields to the landless farmers to cultivate."

"If I stop this reform and conquest, the population problem in the country will not be solved, and even if we have the support of the clan for a while, it will be difficult for us to maintain it for long."

Hu Hao also understood the truth of what Hu Jichen said, and after being silent for a while, he said: "This reform and foreign conquest cannot be stopped, but other reforms can be stopped for the time being. ”

"It is true that other reforms can be put to rest, but when the country gradually stabilizes, it will be very difficult to pick it up again. And these reforms are also very important. Hu Jichen said.

"It's important, but it's not urgent, so let's stop for now, father." Hu Hao said.

Hu Jichen was silent for a long time, and said: "If the matter of inviting Chen Tianping to return to China is not successful, and the first assassin sent fails to kill Chen Tianping, other reforms will be stopped for the time being." ”

Hu You breathed a sigh of relief. While other reforms are important, they don't have to be done now, and they can be put on hold until the most dangerous period has passed.

Now it depends on whether Ming Guo is willing to send Chen Tianping back. He thought to himself.