Chapter 453: A stone stirs up a thousand waves

October 13, 1933, Jingtai. At noon.

In the Golden Dragon Hall of the Great Chu Palace, the work in the morning came to an end, and Emperor Jingtai was having a slow meal.

I saw that the large dining table covered with bright yellow silk cloth was filled with exquisite and luxurious tableware, and the dishes were filled with vegetables, fruits and melons. Speaking of which, the imperial meal on this table was strictly followed by the recipes designated by the genius doctor Qin, mainly coarse grains, such as cabbage, radish tassels, pumpkin seedlings, sorghum dumplings, etc.... Basically, the emperor would eat whatever chicken was eaten.

He was originally a person who never got tired of semen, but Qin Yutian said that these things are rich in nutrition, regulating the five internal organs, and there is also something called "fiber", which can solve the problem of stool that has troubled him for many years. So he 'gritted his teeth' and ate it! At worst, he could imagine himself as a big rooster.

Just now, he swallowed a piece of unchewable old celery and picked up a piece of cabbage leaf dipped in soy sauce... Emperor Jingtai smiled bitterly in his heart, "What's the point of living like this?" But then he was seduced by the beautiful prospects depicted by Qin Lei, and continued to chew the cabbage bangzi.

While using meals, an internal supervisor rushed into the hall. Qilin Jinyi looked at the fire dragon flag raised by the internal supervisor, and made way out, allowing him to go freely and enter the inner palace. The fire dragon flag represents a hundred thousand urgent fires. No matter what the emperor is doing, he must go directly to the heaven to listen. Correspondingly, the chance of such a flag appearing is pitifully small, and even many Qilin Guards on duty in front of the hall have never seen this thing.

Under the guidance of the palace servants, the inner priest immediately arrived at the side hall where Emperor Jingtai had a meal. While removing the documents from his back, he bowed and said, "Report, the magistrate of He County came to the emergency military information. At around the hour of today, on the canal in his territory, the envoy of Qi State was found on the canal in his territory..." He said, "After the envoys of Qi State, all more than a thousand people were killed..."

‘Baji’, the half-chewed cabbage chuckled in the soy sauce, and the front of the dragon robe was suddenly covered with black dots, but the old emperor didn’t care. He took the Chinese document in the inner supervisor and looked at it without breathing.

The document is very simple, and the word repeated by the inner supervisor is good. But Emperor Jingtai still read it for a quarter of an hour.

After a long time, the document slid from the emperor's hand, and the supreme Chu State leaned softly on the back of the chair. The emperor's faint voice echoed in the hall: "I sent an order to the Prime Minister on the left and right, the Central and Lower Pillar Kingdoms, and the four of them met immediately."

Since it was an immediate meeting, it would not be delayed at all. In less than two quarters of an hour, the four civil and military masters in the capital rushed to the Golden Dragon Palace panting and kowtowed to the emperor, and everyone got up to discuss matters.

Emperor Jingtai had already put on a clean dragon robe, but he was still leaning on the soft couch weakly, closing his eyes and saying, "Do you all know the matter?" He is really old. Although he is in a good mood, he is in good health as soon as he gets angry and becomes weak all over. He is really not suitable to manage this country anymore.

The four bigwigs claimed that they were actually earlier than the emperor and had already started investigating.

But for the sake of the Great Chu, he had to hold on and cheer up. Emperor Jingtai said with a voice: "Who did it?"

The four of them shook their heads together and said, "I don't know yet..."

"A bunch of people!" Emperor Jingtai whispered: "How many people do more than a thousand elite Qi soldiers need to be wiped out?"

The second-ranked general of the Central Pluto Kingdom, who is in charge of the Central Army, whispered: "It takes five thousand people, and even the Pingbo Army of the Shangzhu Kingdom needs three thousand people."

With a 'bang', Emperor Jingtai kicked the incense burner beside the bed and said furiously: "A army of thousands of people? Is it a rebellious?" As he said that, he hit the head of the bed hard, gritted his teeth and said: "Check it out for me to see who dares to do this rebellious thing!"

The third-ranked military figure, the general of the Xiazhu Kingdom, who was in charge of local defense, gritted his teeth and said, "I have already checked it as soon as possible, and there is no sign of military entry and exit in Chaohe County."

"Where did they come out? They fell from the sky? Or did they grow on the ground?" Emperor Jingtai's tone became more and more sarcastic: "What's the use of I raising you, these people!"

Seeing the two generals being scolded, the left prime minister had to speak out and advise: "Your Majesty, please calm down. The most urgent task is how to deal with this matter."

"Say..." Emperor Jingtai panted.

"I think we should send a special envoy to Qi to explain this matter first, find out the culprit, and hand it over to Qi for disposal." The left prime minister said calmly: "At the same time, block the news, we must complete the above matters before Qi reacts."

Emperor Jingtai calmed down a little, nodded and said, "From Aiqing, why does this happen?"

"I think that the reason why this happened is because some people hope that we will break completely with Qi, so I suspect that it was the Qin people..." The left prime minister quickly reported.

"How did they do it?" Emperor Jingtai shook his head and said, "The Great Chu is not the back garden of Western Qin, their army cannot cross the river and the sky trench."

"But one person may do it." The right prime minister who had been silent on the side suddenly spoke: "King Zengshou is the prince of Qin and has been insulted by the Qi delegation. He has a good reason to do so." He is indeed a worldly-savvy old fox, and he can guess who the culprit is at once.

Although he was unwilling to accept this speculation, Emperor Jingtai also understood that Qin Lei was indeed the biggest suspect. However, there was still something unexplainable: "He only had 300 personal soldiers, how could he wipe out more than a thousand elite troops in Qi?"

Qin Lei's two thousand guards and a group of escorts all followed the prince back to Qin. This was a true matter, so although he had the greatest suspicion, he had no conditions for committing the crime...at least in the eyes of the monarch and ministers of Nan Chu, this was the case.

"That's it..." Both prime ministers could not explain this, so they had to shake their heads helplessly and said, "You might as well invite King Zengshou to ask first, and then make a decision."

"He and Yunluo went to Chushan for hunting... They won't be back tomorrow." Emperor Jingtai frowned and said, "Come here, take a team of Qilin brocade clothes, quickly go to Chushan to pick up the princess and Zengshou King back to the city. If there is any resistance... kill it without any consequences!" Although the two of them maintained a good relationship with doctors and patients, they had to do whatever they should do at the critical moment.

The eunuch in charge of the Punishment Department who was with him quickly took the order.

"The borders and the borders of various states and prefectures will be blocked, and the whole country will enter a state of martial law." Emperor Jingtai ordered in a deep voice: "First, temporarily confiscate all military arrows and trumpets, and generals at all levels are strictly prohibited from taking action without authorization! Second, authorize all martial law troops to be arbitrary on the occasion, and can kill all suspicious people, and do not let a person or piece of paper cross the border!"

The military system of Chu and Qin is different. The army is under the control of the emperor. The generals in the court only have command power and have no jurisdiction. Before every battle, the emperor must grant the general the "Tiger Tiger Talisman" so that the general can mobilize the army and go out to fight. Therefore, the Chu army is nationalized with a light personal color, which can prevent the general from gaining troops and threatening the central government.

At the same time, in order to avoid slow reaction, the court will issue a small tiger talisman to the main generals, called the "Machine Arrow Talisman", which can mobilize up to 2,000 local troops to deal with emergencies.

The talisman of the lead army was in the hands of the emperor, and the talisman of the transfer of troops was in the hands of the generals. The emperor had the final say in the big things, and the generals took care of the small things. This is the military rights system of the State of Chu, which better handled the relationship between centralization and decentralization.

So the two seemingly contradictory orders are actually the same thing - I will no longer separate power, I will centralize power! I will both give me the martial law to be honest!

The four of them took the order solemnly and went to execute separately.

Under the service of the old eunuch, Emperor Jingtai slowly lay down. He closed his eyes and tried his best to calm the blood and rushing in his chest. He didn't know why he was so angry these days, but he knew that impulse was the emperor's enemy and he had to overcome it.

Emperor Jingtai had realized that he and Da Chu were trapped in some kind of conspiracy. But he firmly believed that he would definitely win because his thirty-three years of imperial career gave him too much power and confidence.

At around the middle of the day, another rapid pace rang out of the palace. Qilin Jinyi looked up and saw another fire dragon flag appear. While making a hurry to get out of the way, the guards looked at each other uneasy and read four words from each other's eyes: "A turbulent autumn"!

"Report, the three guards of Qilin came to report, Princess Nongyu was pushed down from Yunding by her eunuch Fuquan. His Highness Zengshou fell down to rescue the princess." The little eunuch reported loudly and moaned in his heart: 'I am really in trouble today...'

But fortunately, His Majesty the Emperor fainted...

The imperial physician who was attending him rushed forward, pinched the man and poured medicine again, and then saved the poor old emperor.

After a while, four adults who had not returned home appeared in front of the emperor's dragon couch again: the angry emperor, the depressed minister, the dim lights, everything was exactly the same as at noon, just like the conversation continued...

"Who can tell me what's wrong today?" The extremely angry emperor presented a terrible calm: "Is it God's punishment?"

Everyone knew very well that this information overturned the conclusion they came to at noon... If Qin Lei was really a spy from Qin State, how could he give up his life for the princess of Chu State?

Since the inference is not valid, the culprit is someone else. The general of the Xiazhu Kingdom came out and said in a deep voice: "I will report to Your Majesty. After the imperial edict was executed in the afternoon, His Highness of the King of Qi refused to hand over the talisman of the dispatched troops." After pausing, he said with difficulty: "Besides, the five thousand personal troops belonging to His Highness of Qi have left the garrison since last night!"

Silence, dead silence! Everyone in the hall held their breath and looked at Emperor Jingtai's gloomy and terrible face.

Because he was responsible for protecting the imperial capital, the King of Qi's army mobilization talisman could mobilize five thousand troops.

And five thousand people... are enough to wipe out the 1,000 Qi State.

"Catch that rebellious son!" Emperor Jingtai patted the edge of the bed hard and roared: "What kind of evil did I commit? Will I be punished like God?"

"What kind of evil did I do? I want to be punished like God?" Qin Lei laid helplessly on the horse's back, "My butt..."

Shi Gan, who was following the side, held back his laughter and comforted softly: "Prince, we are considered auspicious stars. If we turn a little more, we will really plunge in."

Gongsun Jian on the other side also nodded and said, "Yes, the prince, his butt has thick skin and flesh. Although it hurts a little, it gets better quickly."

"Then when will I get into the ground?" Qin Lei asked with his head tilted.

"Just wait until you get down the mountain. Just don't run, don't jump, don't sit, don't squat, it's all right." Gongsun Jian learned from Le Buyi, not only good at kung fu, but also good at medical skills.

Qin Lei rolled his eyes and said depressedly: "Why is it okay?"

"It's okay to stand or walk, that's enough." Le Buyi, who had been silent in front of him, suddenly turned around and said, "Don't act rashly, otherwise you will suffer from disability in the future."

Qin Lei's eyes suddenly widened and he said in a daze: "So serious? Why are you disabled?"

"External Eight Characters..." After saying that, Le Buyi laughed and startled the flock of birds sleeping in the forest.

Shi Gan suddenly said, "Prince, what should you do with Your Highness the Princess?"

Qin Lei looked at Princess Yunluo who was still unconscious beside him, and curled his lips and said, "Twist it whatever you want." Naturally no one believed this... Everyone saw the scene of the prince and hero saving the beauty.

Seeing that no one believed what he said, Qin Lei had to scratch his head and said, "It's very difficult. She basically can't take care of herself. It's better to leave it to the government when she wakes up."

The group walked down the mountain with laughter and laughed. Before they could walk out of the vast Chushan Mountains, they saw the scouts guarding on the outside rushing over: "Report! A large number of troops were found at the foot of the mountain, and they were quickly moving towards us."

"So fast?" Although I knew that the Chu State would send people to collect the body, I had to walk at least twenty miles of mountain road from the front of the mountain to the mountain. How could I react so quickly? Unless they could calculate and set off early. But that was impossible!

"Hidden!" With Qin Lei's order, after only about thirty breaths, everyone hid in the bushes beside the road without any clues. Even Qin Lei was supported and lies in the grass, and let Yelu wet her chest, but she didn't move.

Less than a quarter of an hour later, footsteps faintly heard from a distance. Qin Lei looked at the sound and saw a light and simple army appearing at the entrance of the valley. As the sound became clearer, the appearance of the army gradually appeared... It was the tiger and leopard personal army of the King of Qi! Qin Lei couldn't help but breathe: "Is this guy crazy? Are you afraid that others wouldn't know that he had murdered his biological sister?"

He looked at Le Buyi suspiciously, but saw his eyes staring at someone at the end of the team... "Gong Liangyu!" Qin Lei smiled bitterly in his heart and said, "This guy is no longer reasonable."

After the team passed, another scout came over and reported softly: "The three necessary paths to get out of the mountain have been blocked by the Chu army."

Qin Lei asked softly: "How many are there?"

"There are about one thousand on each road." The scout replied in a low voice.

Qin Lei closed his eyes and pondered for a moment, and said firmly: "We must seize the time to break through, otherwise we will become a turtle in the jar when the army arrives tomorrow."

After ordering, the three teams of scouts were sent out to collect the most accurate enemy situation for Qin Lei. Shi Gan marked the information he fed back on the map for the prince's decision-making.

Qin Lei lay on a military carpet, thinking hard with the faint light.

In fact, if it is on the plain, these troops are not a problem at all. One charge will break out. However, the mountain road is narrow and the landform is complex. Once it is occupied with a favorable terrain, it will form the so-called "one man should be blocked and ten thousand men will not open". If you do not act carefully, it is not exaggeration to say that "the entire army is wiped out."

But we have to worry about the return of the army behind us. Time is extremely precious and we must act as soon as possible.

Fortunately, special operations are Qin Lei's strengths. After the latest intelligence arrived, he had already formulated an action plan.
Chapter completed!