Jing Chen rare not because of Jing Shao's reckless words and reprimand him, just silent for a long time. If the imperial decree is not Hongzheng emperor, then the fourth prince usurped the throne, they outside the prince should go back to clear the side of the king; if the imperial decree is true, this time Hongzheng emperor if he really suspected him, then only body back to the capital is also a dead end.
Mu Hanzhang looked at Jing Shao and sighed softly, "Things have come to this, and the only way to find a ray of hope is to let go."
With Rui Wang's qualifications, naturally is the right choice for the Crown Prince, originally thought that as long as they act cautiously, bide their time, Hongzheng Emperor will naturally be able to ascend to the throne after a hundred years, but didn't expect to give birth to this kind of disaster. However, since ancient times, the royal seizure of the throne is rarely calm, they have done a lot of preparations before is not also to prevent this day?
Jing Shao understand the meaning of his eyes, hold the hand of the long and smooth, and then look to the brother of the calm and steady as a mountain, this time, he has the power of the army in his hands, will be able to protect these two people all around.
"Go back," Jing Chen finally spoke, his voice steady and reassuring to listen to, "I'd rather be broken for the sake of jade than for the sake of tile!"
Without delay, Jing Shao left 30,000 of Jiangnan's 80,000 soldiers, and the remaining 50,000 plus his own 5,000 troops to personally escort his brother back to the capital. Gu Huaiqing also wanted to follow, but was unanimously rejected by the remaining three, now Emperor Hongzheng is the time of suspicion, if he sees the King of Huainan, then Jing Chen will only force the palace to seize the throne one way to go.
The fiefdom of Huainan is in a peculiar location, and with this as a starting point, it can be attacked directly, and there is basically no heavenly danger if the army wants to attack the capital.
Jing Shao has never understood why the great-grandfather would give this dangerous fiefdom to the ancestor of the king of Huainan, but no matter why, now the great-grandfather left this "defect" is greatly cheaper for him.
As they expected, along the way, there are constantly intercepted, but that small group of soldiers in front of the army is not worth mentioning, eight hundred miles of a flat river, King Cheng is like a bamboo. The capital heard of it, the great prince with troops to stop the king of Cheng army.
"What is the strength of the Grand Imperial Prince's army?" Jing Chen sat on the carriage and asked Mu Huanzhang, who had just burrowed in.
"Less than thirty thousand." Mu Hanzhang, who was used to seeing Jing Shao fight, wasn't too worried.
Jing Chen put down the book in his hands, pondered for a moment, and nodded slightly.
"Brother, but do you see something?" Mu Hanyang Zhang couldn't help but ask when she saw him contemplating.
"If the large army in the Central Plains is deployed by Father, at least 80,000 can be deployed." Seeing that he instantly understood, Jing Chen showed some satisfaction in his eyes and said a few more words about the distribution and deployment of Da Chen's troops.
These days rush, most of the time Mu Huanzhang and Jing Chen ride together in the carriage, the two are not much to say, but occasionally talk, can make each other benefit a lot, especially Mu Huanzhang, for the emperor has a deeper understanding of the art of mind, but also know, Jing Chen since childhood really learned is the way for the king.
"Jing Shao good at war, and the rest of the things but always not open-minded, you decided to spend this life with him, you have to take more responsibility from time to time." Jing Chen looked at his own brother's silhouette in the distance, speaking words of reproach under his breath, but his tone was full of defense.
"Brother can rest assured, I will not bully him." These days with this elder brother also close a lot, Mu Hanyang also can not help but tease two sentences.
Jing Chen glanced at him and slowly revealed a faint smile.
"Whinny~" a steed's neigh sounded, and Jing Shao noisily shouted outside the carriage, "Brother, Junqing, come see what I caught!"
The two of them walked down from the carriage at the sound of the voice, and saw Jing Shao standing outside the car, with a person bound into a dumpling with hemp rope at his feet, glaring at them with eyes full of yin and jie, but it wasn't the Great Imperial Prince Jing Rong!
"Imperial brother, is Father poisoned?" Jing Chen quietly looked at the person on the ground and said in a deep voice.
"Hmph, you and the others are committing a crime and shall not die!" The Grand Prince sneered without denying it, his eyes filled with resentment and madness.
Jing Chen closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "Killing the king and father, you guys, you're simply heartless!"
"You're really good at throwing dirty water, everyone knows that you can't wait to ascend the throne, on top of poisoning father, do you want to kill and maim your elder brother?" The eldest prince struggled and was about to lunge towards Jing Chen when he was kicked down by Jing Shao.
"It just so happens that Jing Yu gave me a prison cart, so now I'll pass it on to the eldest imperial brother." Jing Shao picked up the person on the ground, threw him to Zhao Meng, and pointed to the prison wagon not far away, the very same one that the person who declared the decree brought in the first place.
Zhao Meng was unambiguous, lifting Jing Rong onto his shoulder with one hand and striding towards the prison wagon.
"The army just these two carriages, Rui Wang and Marquis also have to share a ride, single row to your highness a, really is our king house kind-hearted." The Right Guard followed over to join in the fun, looking at the Grand Prince's expression of wanting to pounce over and bite he couldn't help but stab a couple sentences.
"Hao big knife is not here, you kid again mouth owe." Zhao Meng threw the person into the prison car, clanging closed the door, a few of them, Hao Dazhou is the most upright, usually the right guards to play with their mouths, always inevitably be taught.
The Left Guard stood silently watching the two of them fight, and went up to fasten the large lock on the prison wagon.
Jing Shao them this time, if the bet is wrong, is to commit insurrection, follow his generals have no way to live, so although Hao Dazhou a hundred reluctant, or by Jing Shao stay in the south of the town, then if they fail, not to be implicated too deeply. But Zhao Meng and the left and right guards are to say anything to follow, after all, they are from the beginning to the end of the King's soldiers, always can not get out of it, since the allegiance to the end.
Jing Chen glanced at the noisy generals and turned around to get into the carriage again. The journey was long and the situation was critical, there wasn't much time for them to waste.
"Bold King Cheng, how dare you bring an army back to the capital!" A hundred miles outside of the capital was where Duke Maoguo's military power was located.
Jing Shao glanced at the Duke of Maoguo, the Duke of his title is the highest, and therefore the hands of the military power is also the closest to the Imperial City, after the choice of marriage with his family, is really a wise move, but ...... look at the Duke of Maoguo behind the less than ten thousand soldiers and horses, it is really not enough to look at.
"This king has heard that someone is committing treason, so he should return to the capital to remove the traitors for his father." Jing Shao pointed his silver spear at Duke Maoguo's nose and spoke with a straight face.
"Hmph, you two brothers plotting to usurp power, the emperor already knows, I advise you to immediately abandon your armor and surrender, return to the palace with the old minister to thank you for your sins, the emperor's benevolence, may not be able to spare your life." Duke Maoguo looked like he had a plan.
"The army is returning to the capital, father should know something, Duke Maoguo might as well take out father's handwritten message, my brothers and I will take it in our stride." Jing Chen stood on the carriage and coldly looked at Duke Maoguo.
"Be careful!" Mu Hanyang heard the sound of the breaking wind and pushed Jing Chen away, Jing Chen immediately reacted and pulled Mu Hanyang who was in no hurry to dodge, the two of them rolled down to the ground in unison, and a black arrow was nailed straight to where he had just stood.
"Well ......," Mu Hanzhang climbed up, her glistening palms were scratched by the stones on the ground, and blood spilled out, quickly staining the snow-colored sleeves.
"Jun Qing!" Jing Shao turned around and saw that his own princess was injured, he was instantly enraged, and when he turned around again, Duke Maoguo had already brought his troops to kill him.
Jing Shao tilted his body to avoid Maoguo Gong's chopping, turned back and threw himself fiercely towards him with his spear shaft, Maoguo Gong returned his hand at that time and blocked the silver spear with the back of his sword, and the cavalry behind him rushed up, and the sound of chopping and killing shook the sky.
The left and right guards did not go forward to fight, but firmly guarded the two sides of the carriage, killing all the cavalrymen who rushed over under their swords.
Jing Chen pulled his son-in-law to his feet, and the Mo Yun 18 riders quickly came forward to surround the two in the center, along with the cavalry of the left and right guards, forming an impenetrable barrier.
Duke Maoguo was also a young man who fought for many years, and his martial arts skills are not comparable to those of the Grand Prince who was negligent in practicing, so it was not easy for Jing Shao to promise to do so.
Coiled with the green dragon text of the big sword flexible as the left arm and right arm, a chopping and chopping seems to have a thousand pounds of force. Jing Shao connected several moves with his spear and was shocked to the point of numbness in his tiger's mouth. Shining cold light blade in the silver gun across, issued a piercing sound, Jing Shao immediately turned the silver gun, with the head of the gun dead stuck blade, Fang was able to breathe for a moment.
"Do you really think that you are the number one warrior of Da Chen?" Duke Maoguo contemptuously looked at Jing Shao, in the view of these old ministers, King Cheng repeatedly led the troops but because the subjects do not dare to take credit, all pushed to him alone to appear so powerful, in fact, when encountering the real masters, only to be beaten part.
Jing Shao coldly looked at Maoguo Gong, seems to be some exhaustion, holding the hand of the silver gun is also shaking slightly. Mao Guo Gong eyes more color, more and more pressure up, see the silver gun was bent, the blade is going to touch Jing Shao's neck, suddenly heard "brush pull" sound, through is the sound of blood gushing.
Duke Maoguo froze for a moment and slowly lowered his head, looking at his waist and abdomen that had been cut open by the sharp sword, and was unable to react for a moment.
Jing Shao single-handed gun, horizontal fierce shot, Maoguo Gong fell off the horse, the big sword fell to the ground, was surrounded by the sound of killing all cover. Left hand shook off the long sword on the blood beads, into the scabbard, the old man wore that armor from head to foot, even the neck are protected, causing him to waste half a day's effort to see that the waist there is a cloth connected to the slit.
"The Duke of Maoguo has been ambushed, so all of you quickly put down your weapons or be punished for treason!" Jing Shao's voice with internal power spread in all directions, and Duke Maoguo's soldiers were in disarray, while King Cheng's side was demoralized.
This battle stopped not long after, Jing Shao quickly rushed to the carriage, squeezing out the eighteen riders of Mo Yun, and carried his own princess over, "Where's the injury, show me."
"It doesn't matter, it's just a scratch," Mu Hanzhang held up his already-wrapped left hand to show him, "Duke Maoguo's purpose was to kill his brother, and it certainly wasn't Father's intention."
"The wound is so deep, no, we have to use that medicine, otherwise it should leave a scar." Jing Shao didn't listen at all, skillfully removing the bandage and reapplying the medicine once more.
Jing Chen silently glanced at his younger brother, who had a daughter-in-law and had forgotten his brother, and turned his head to ask Mo Yun's eighteen riders, "Before leaving the Imperial City, did Father give you any explanation?"
The eighteen black-clothed dudes looked at each other in dismay, and one of them replied, "Back to King Rui, the Emperor only said that he asked us to protect His Highness, and said nothing else."
"The imperial decree says that this king conspires against the king, do you still want to protect this king?" Jing Chen looked at the person who spoke in a deep voice, this journey he had not interrogated these eighteen people, they have been following, but also because of their eighteen people, so that he is sure that his father is not really want to kill him, and now will soon be entering the capital, the capital is sure to be a lot of danger, it is necessary to reconfirm the position of these eighteen people.
Jing Shao quietly winked at the left guards on the periphery, once the loyalty of the eighteen riders was in question, they would immediately be killed by the sword.
"We have never received any other orders, and the eighteen subordinates will fight to the death to protect Your Highness." The man responded without hesitation.
The Eighteen Riders of Mo Yun said in unison, "Swear to protect His Highness King Rui to the death!"
Jing Chen nodded slightly, these people did not change their allegiance to him in the slightest even in front of Jing Shao's army, insisting that they were only following the Emperor's orders, then Father's meaning was clear.
"The army cannot approach the capital within a hundred miles, so you should let them station themselves here." Jing Chen looked up and said to Jing Shao.
Jing Shao frowned, Duke Maoguo is dead, there are really no more troops around the capital, however, there are still 10,000 imperial troops in the capital, "Zhao Meng and the army stay here, the pro army will follow the king for another 50 miles to the camp." Fifty miles south of the city is where Jing Shao reorganizes his personal army before each expedition.
Traveled to fifty miles to the camp, is already the next morning. Jing Shao is actually not willing to let the army stay, after all, the capital is a situation is not yet clear, lightly patted the arms of the sleeping people, want to discuss with him how to persuade his brother.
The long eyelashes fluttered, Mu Hanzhang slowly opened his eyes, before he could say anything, not far away came a burst of hoofbeats, a closer look, it was actually the Secretary of the Ministry of the Army with a group of forbidden troops rushed over.
"My humble servant greets King Rui, King Cheng, and Marquis Wen Yuan!" Sun Shangshu dismounted and saluted.
"Minister Sun, what on earth is going on here?" Jing Shao opened his mouth and asked, after so many days, he finally saw someone from his side. The Minister of Military Affairs signaled the forbidden soldiers behind him to wait a moment and walked to Jing Chen's carriage, Jing Shao immediately drove his horse to get over there, but did not dismount and stood right behind him.
"I'm not sure," Shangshu Sun said in a low voice, "His Majesty hasn't been to court for days, sealing off all news, and a few days ago the Fourth Prince suddenly announced that he was acting as the Supervisor."
"Then, today the adults came ......" Mu Hanyang frowned, just do not know Sun Shangshu came who gave the order.
"It's the Emperor's decree." Shangshu Sun immediately replied, taking out an oracle from his sleeve and handing it to Jing Chen with both hands.
Jing Chen unfolded and took a closer look, it was really the handwriting of Emperor Hong Zheng, asking the two brothers to place their soldiers at the 50-mile camp and enter the palace alone.
Jing Shao frowned and quietly slipped a military talisman into the hand of the man in his arms, whispering in his ear, "You'll take the left and right guards to that forest in a moment, and once I set off the fireworks, you'll lead the troops to rush into the palace."
Mu Hanzhang's eyes widened and he quietly hid his hand in his sleeve, nodding slowly and lightly squeezing Jing Shao's palm: "Be careful in all things."
Since it was the Hongzheng Emperor's will, they could not disobey, Jing Shao left Xiao Hei to his own princess, drilled into his brother's carriage, and only took the eighteen riders of Mo Yun towards the Imperial City.
The entire palace was silent, the guards' faces were serious, and when they got off the carriage, they saw An Xian, the chief eunuch beside Emperor Hong Zheng, standing quietly outside the carriage.
"The two highnesses please follow the slave girl." Anxian face rare no smile, also do not say much, directly led two people to Hongzheng emperor's chambers to go, ink cloud eighteen rider is the emperor's guards, now follow to actually no one stop.
Traveling to the bottom of the jade steps, An Xian did not lead the two up, but left the eighteen horsemen at the bottom of the steps, and led the two through the side door behind the main hall, which was guarded by eight tall guards, allowing the two to remove their blades as much as they could.
Jing Shao frowned and was about to lose his temper when his elder brother pressed his arm, signaling him not to act rashly, and then handed the small porcelain bottle in his arms over to An Xian, "This is the thing that Father Emperor has explained that this king is searching for, so I'll trouble the eunuch to hand it over to Father Emperor."
The two unloaded all their weapons, not even allowed to keep the jade belt on their bodies, and headed inside in their loose clothing.
"Clang!" The door behind him slammed shut, and when Jing Shao saw what was in front of him, the hairs on his body stood up.
In front of them was a long tunnel, not dim with candles lit on both sides, but without weapons, on this narrow path, once there was some kind of mechanism in here, the two of them would die without a burial place.
Jing Chen also raised a heart and leaned closer to his brother, "Don't panic, let's get out quickly."
Jing Shao nodded, "I'll go ahead, brother must stick to me!" Said a click and broke off a candlestick embedded in the wall, the hollow brass candlestick was about a foot long, not a good weapon, better than nothing.
Jing Chen nodded, really close to his brother, and sprinted quickly toward the end of the tunnel.
In fact, the tunnel is not long, but in this case it feels incomparably long, just to the end, the wooden door opened by itself, Jing Shao instantly blocked the candlestick in front of his body, the light from outside the door shone in, provoking both of them to squint, and to be clear about the situation inside the house, immediately threw the candlestick to his feet.
At the end of the tunnel, it turned out to be the inner room of Emperor Hongzheng's bedchamber, and the two of them walked in, facing Emperor Hongzheng's bed.
"Don't come over yet." Emperor Hongzheng leaned against the bed and glared at Jing Shao.
The brothers hurried over to the bed and knelt down in front of it to bow.
An Xian had already stood peacefully at the head of the bed, and there was another eunuch, who was holding the small porcelain vase for examination.
"Jing Shao, you killed Duke Mao yesterday?" Emperor Hongzheng did not bother to look at that eunuch's movements, leaning back on the large welcome pillow at the head of the bed and resting his eyes.
"Yes," Jing Shao lowered his head, "Duke Maoguo led troops to block my son's entry into the capital with the intent to assassinate my royal brother, and I had no choice but to behead him." Saying this, without the slightest intention of admitting fault.
Emperor Hongzheng actually didn't say any more, only asking, "Where's Jing Rong?"
"Back to Father, the Great Imperial Brother and the army are all parked a hundred miles outside the capital." Jing Shao answered honestly, of course not saying that the Great Emperor was in a prison wagon.
"Your Majesty," the eunuch over there suddenly opened his mouth, "This medicine is a folk recipe, a small amount of food can stop the high fever, but the medicine is fierce, taking too much will be like poison, there is no cure ...... Weichen incompetent! " Said plopped down on his knees, actually pathos and sobbing.
Emperor Hongzheng opened his eyes and quietly looked at the two brothers kneeling in front of the bed.
Jing Chen raised his head and looked at the eunuch in shock, then at Emperor Hong Zheng.
Jing Shao was also a bit confused.
"Your mother was poisoned by this kind of poison back then," Emperor Hongzheng took that small porcelain bottle and looked carefully, ignoring the two brothers who were struck by lightning, his voice calmly said, "Now, I can't escape either."
"Father!" Jing Shao cried out in disbelief, the Hongzheng Emperor of his last life had clearly lived longer than him as his son, what was going on now?
"Jing Shao, you have been fighting for the royal family for many years, throughout the entire Great Chen there is no one who is your rival," Emperor Hongzheng's face was flushed and he spoke without haste, not at all like a person who has been poisoned, "I want to pass the throne to you, are you willing to do so?"
Click click click boom! As if a thunderbolt had struck the ceiling of the sky, Jing Shao was truly confused this time!
In his previous life, he had worked hard for Da Chen, and eventually ended up with a bird in the hand! This life is sneaky and selfish, and now his father has said that he will give him the throne, which is really a big joke.
Jing Shao was silent for a long time, and without looking at the look of his elder brother beside him, he said in a single word: "Father, my son, I am unwilling!"
"Why?" Emperor Hongzheng stared into Jing Shao's eyes.
Jing Shao tilted his head and looked squarely at his father: "I'm just a military general, I know nothing about ruling a country, and I'm in love with Mu Hanzhang, and I only want to stay with him for the rest of my life. If my father hands over the country to my son, I'm afraid that I'll ruin it in a matter of seconds!"
Emperor Hongzheng quietly looked at him for a long time and slowly leaned back, his voice carrying a hint of exhaustion, "Declare the decree."
As soon as the words fell, he saw two people walk out slowly from behind the screen, it was the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and the Minister of Revenue, Xiao Yuan.
Xiao Yuan held a long wooden box and followed behind Shangshu without looking away.
The Minister of the Ministry of Revenue took out a decree and shouted, "King Jing Shao of Cheng, committing treason, shall be imprisoned in the Heavenly Prison, and shall never come out in this life!"
Jing Chen's eyes widened and he said in a miserable voice, "Father!"
Emperor Hongzheng waved his hand to stop him from speaking, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue put away the first decree and took out another one: ''King Cheng Jingshao, extraordinary bravery and martial arts, before the new Emperor ascends to the throne, the inner guards of the Grand Palace and the Imperial Forest Army will all be placed under his jurisdiction, and he is given the Shang Sword to be used to decapitate all princes and grandsons! On the day the new emperor ascends to the throne, he will be awarded the hereditary title of Prince of Zhen Guo.