Now it is the twenty-fourth year of Chengping, because the two emperors died one after another, there was no time to change the yuan, and now the throne is vacant, so the Chengping year name of Emperor Taizongwen is still used.

This year is a rare good year, the wind and rain are smooth, especially after the spring, the white plague on the grassland tends to ease, Jiangnan and other places see that it is another good year, but unfortunately now the war has started, no matter how the white disaster on the grassland, the grassland army has been waved south after all, no matter how much rain in the south of the Yangtze River, the soldiers fight together, the people flee, the fields are barren, and there is no good year.

At the end of spring and the beginning of summer, Xiao Jin, the king of Wei, ordered his general Shangguan Tan to launch two offensives, with a total of 300,000 troops on both sides, as well as nearly 1,000 catapults, bed crossbows, artillery, etc., especially on the besieging side, which was enough to gather 500 catapults, which were as good as cannons. If the attacker has the art of artillery, the city will be unstoppable, and if the defender has the art of cannon, he can control the enemy. Later, when the army attacked Xiangyang, it was to destroy the city wall of Xiangyang with a salvo of boulder cannons, and the three-year battle of Xiangyang finally settled in the sound of artillery.

The "cannon" here is not a cannon in the traditional sense, but a stone thrower, and the thing fired is a boulder, not a solid iron bullet. At that time, Xiao Yu's northwest army had a stone throwing machine, after Ai Linnan's improvement, it was more labor-saving at the same time, it could throw a boulder weighing one hundred and fifty catties, and the projectile distance was two hundred and fifty steps, about one hundred and thirty zhang, and after the boulder landed, it could enter the ground seven feet, this kind of power, even if it was a blow from the peak realm of immortals like Chi Bing. During the first battle of Dingding, Xiao Yu's army was divided into two roads, advancing by land and water, Xiao Yu personally sat on the bank of the river, and Wei Ban led an army from Shuzhou to attack Liangxiang, which made great contributions, and was named "Zhongdu Cannon" by Xiao Yu himself, and Ai Linnan was knighted as a foreign woman, which also came from this.

At this time, the trebuchet used by the Wei army is the "Zhongdu cannon", Xiao Jin was responsible for supervising the construction of the "Zhongdu cannon", how could he not have such skills, as early as after the end of the battle of Dongting Lake, he relied on the three major battalions, and ordered people to join in to rush to build, which is why there are 500 catapults in formation today, every salvo, it is really a rain of flying stones, and the sound of falling rocks is shaking for hundreds of miles, and it is three feet into the ground, which is also the confidence of Xiao Jin to dare to attack the city directly.

At the same time as the battle between the two Xiang, the first batch of reinforcements from the Shuzhou front army had also been drawn from the White Emperor City, and Zhao Qing personally led the army to aid the two Xiang.

After the two wars in the last years of Da Chu and the last year of Da Zheng, Liangxiang once again became one of the key nodes that determined the direction of the whole world, so that many people were worried.

Could it be that today's Great Qi will follow in the footsteps of these two?

At this critical time, Xu Beiyou, who wore the seal of the general of Pingyu, as the highest-ranking military attache in the war in the south of the Yangtze River, should have been in charge of Liangxiang, but at this time, Xu Beiyou secretly left Xiangyang City and did not know where to go.

For Xu Beiyou, what he can do is almost done, and the next confrontation between the two armies, for Xu Beiyou, who can no longer shoot wantonly on the battlefield, he, a person who has not led the army, is not of much use, it is better to go to the place where he is needed more.

......

No matter how you look at it, before the summer season, Jiangnan, and even the whole world, is already an eventful autumn that makes people anxious.

At this time, the imperial capital ushered in a long-lost peace, and at this time, a problem that was temporarily forgotten by the officials was brought up again, as the so-called country cannot be left without an owner for a day, but now the Great Qi court does not have a nominal master, that is, the emperor.

If there is no emperor, the name is not right, if the name is not right, the word is not good, and if the word is not good, everything will not work, after all, a person must be elected to truly determine the status of the monarch and minister, even if it is a woman.

After all, there is a precedent for a long time, since there has already been an empress, and that empress can be regarded as a promising monarch, so what's the harm in having a second empress? What's more, the current situation has become completely clear, several princes are hopeless treasures, Han Xuan and Xu Beiyou's father and son are in charge of power inside and outside, and the only one who can take over the throne is Her Royal Highness the princess.

Since there is no objection, then there is nothing new under the sun, and the next is the most common drama, the civil and military officials are persuaded to advance.

It's just that to everyone's surprise, Her Royal Highness the Princess, who was only one step away from the chair, neither gladly accepted it, but sat on the chair, nor did she refuse sternly, pretending to be humble, she just kept all the persuasions in the table, so that the officials of the court and the central government were a little unsure of what Her Royal Highness the princess thought for a while.

Could it be that Her Royal Highness the Princess feels that the time is not right? Or does Her Royal Highness the Princess have other plans?

Except for a few cabinet elders who could guess a thing or two, it was difficult for everyone else to guess what Her Royal Highness the princess really thought.

Now Xiao Zhinan has rarely lived in his own princess mansion, most of the time he lives in the Flying Frost Palace, although the Flying Frost Palace is called the Palace, far less than the scale of the Ganquan Palace, but at the beginning of the building is to imitate the structure of the Daomen, so that the whole palace hangs above the clear pond lake, so that the pool water surrounds the palace, like a moat river, there is only one royal road to enter and exit, and there is no partial hall and access control, so it is called the Flying Frost Palace, not the Flying Frost Palace.

At this time, in a lakeside hall in the depths of the Flying Frost Palace, Xiao Zhinan, who was dressed in a plain dress, was lying on a rosewood chaise longue placed near the window.

Xiao Zhinan stretched out his hand and took the top one, which was made by an old minister of the Three Dynasties, with gorgeous rhetoric throughout, quoting scriptures, reasonable, and convincing, but Xiao Zhinan just glanced at it casually, and then closed the gorgeous fold with silver wire and put it aside.

That position, for many men, is a place that they dream of sitting on, even if it is to be a puppet at the mercy of others on the throne, they are also willing to eat, such as Xiao Li, the king of Yan who has been deposed by her of the title of vassal king.

There are also people who do not hesitate to let the common people suffer and make the people hang upside down, but they also want to sit in that position, such as her ambitious uncle, Xiao Jin, the king of Wei.

But for her, this position is like a piece of iron felt that has been burned red, and if she sits on it rashly, she will be burned to the end.

This reminded her of a sentence she saw when she read Zhang Wenzheng's public collection when she was a child, such as gathering in a fire, you have to cool the door.

This is a sentence that Zhang Jiangling, the first assistant of the Great Zheng Shenzong Dynasty, said in his later years, because the Taizu of this dynasty greatly admired the first minister of the Great Zheng, and she was particularly impressed by this sentence.

Standing in the fire pit, it is like being in an ice cellar.

Under what circumstances did Zhang Jiangling say this? At that time, he joined forces with the eunuch and the empress dowager to set up the young Emperor Shenzong and tilt his power towards the government and the opposition.

The name is Shousuke, but in fact he is the regent.

At this time, it is the time when this great Zheng Shoufu is in full swing, which is the so-called "gathering like a fire".

But why do you say "cool door"?

The contemporaries of the bones said that he was "working and seeking the country, and was clumsy in seeking a living".

This minister, known as the "blue sky", has been upright and jealous all his life, and this kind of person should be good at making things and not good at making a living, but he finally got a good death, won the name before and after his death, and was admired by people for centuries. And Zhang Jiangling from a commoner, the last official to Zaifu, set the world's power in one, can do so far, it shows that Zhang Jiangling is very good at making a living, but his final fate is diametrically opposite, after his death, all his achievements during his lifetime were denied by Emperor Shenzong, his son committed suicide, or was assigned, and even the mansion of his hometown was surrounded by local officials and people, and finally more than a dozen family members were trapped alive and starved to death inside.

How can a person who can be a regent once be meticulous and intelligent, and how can he not see through such a simple truth? It is precisely because he has seen through it that he can say the words "If you gather in a fire, you will get a cool door."

However, Zhang Jiangling also said another sentence, explaining his "work and seeking the country, clumsy in making a living".

I am willing to serve the dust with a deep heart, and not seek my own interests.

Xiao Zhinan thinks that he is not as good as this Da Zheng Yixiang, but at this time, he already feels the same way.

There are some things, as long as they are done, there is no way back.

If you gather in the fire, you have to cool the door.