NOVEL NEXT Chapter 485 Countermeasures
Li Ce's words instantly caused the tearful expressions of Queen Lin and Concubine Lu to freeze. They looked at each other and soon resumed their initial grief.
Concubine Lu said sadly: "Oh, seventh brother, what else can we do now? It has become a foregone conclusion that the King of Chu will enter the capital. We can only welcome them to the capital. Moreover, Liu Jin, an expert factory, has already joined the King of Chu. I'm afraid that before we Everything we have done is known to the King of Chu, and when the King of Chu takes over the court, he will deal with us."
Empress Lin lamented and nodded: "We can only admit that we are unlucky. I hope that the King of Chu will be magnanimous and be lenient to us."
"Is that so? Is there really no other way?" Li Ce sat down in despair, his face gloomy.
The eighth prince Li Hui grabbed Li Ce's arm nervously and said in panic: "Brother Seventh Emperor, we should be fine. We didn't do anything. Fifth brother has always been kind, so he will definitely not care."
"Yes, Fifth Brother is so kind to us, he will definitely not care."
"We are just going to see the Great Ancestor. Why would Fifth Brother care about such a trivial matter?"
Li Hui seemed to have found a way to comfort himself, lowering his head and constantly comforting himself, but his dazed expression had revealed his inner thoughts.
"Seventh Brother, what do you think we should go and beg the Fifth Emperor Brother? After all, we are all brothers, and the Fifth Emperor Brother will not be so heartless."
Originally, Queen Lin and Concubine Lu were secretly happy when they saw their expressions, but when they heard Li Hui's last words, they couldn't help but feel anxious, because Li Hui's words were correct. Li Ce and Li Hui's previous actions were the most It's just to make the King of Chu unhappy. They are all descendants of the royal family, so nothing will happen to them at all.
But they are different. They are now bewitched princes, and the King of Chu will definitely punish them severely. Moreover, Lin Xiang and Lu Shangshu behind them have decided to choose Prince Xuan. There is no way back for them.
Queen Lin calmed down her sad expression, frowned, looked at the two men, shook her head and sighed: "Seventh brother, eighth brother, this is not necessarily the case. King Chu has been able to reach this point in the past few years and has a decisive mind. What we did before was not the same in Chu." It seems that the king is already an enemy, how could the King of Chu be merciful to his enemies, especially in such an important place as Kyoto, he will never allow any enemy to stay in Kyoto."
"Yes, seventh brother and eighth brother, we have nothing to do, because we are Li Yao's concubines. Wherever Li Yao goes, we can only follow him. Our fate has been determined.
But you are in dire straits. You are about to open a government, and you have made the King of Chu unhappy. The King of Chu will definitely use you to scare the monkeys. At that time, he will just seal you a desolate and remote small fiefdom, and live a miserable life in dire straits. . "
Concubine Lu looked at Li Ce and Li Ce with a sad but sympathetic face, as if she felt the same.
Li Ce and Li Hui's eyes trembled, as if they saw their miserable appearance in the future. They stood up suddenly and gradually shook their heads and said:
"No, we must not do this!"
The two clenched their fists and looked angry. Anyone could see the panic and unwillingness in their eyes.
But soon the two of them seemed to be discouraged and fell down on their seats.
Li Ce's eyes were dull, he leaned on the chair and said dejectedly:
"But now it has become a foregone conclusion that King Chu will enter the capital. What can we do?"
"Damn it, I wish I had known we wouldn't go looking for the Great Ancestor."
Li Hui glanced at Queen Lin and Concubine Lu, with a hint of complaint in his tone.
"Hey, Seventh Brother, why don't we go and beg the Fifth Emperor Brother? Maybe the Fifth Emperor Brother will let us go." Li Hui said without giving up, with a look of anticipation in his eyes.
"That's all."
Li Ce was in despair, lowered his head and said helplessly.
When Queen Lin and Concubine Lu saw that they wanted to plead with King Chu, they naturally refused to agree and did not pay attention to their complaints.
Queen Lin wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes with a handkerchief and said softly: "Seventh brother and eighth brother, don't worry, actually we still have a chance."
"Yes, seventh brother and eighth brother, we still have a chance, you can't give up!" Concubine Lu said quickly.
Li Ce's eyes flashed, and his lost face slowly lifted up to look at the two of them, with an expression that wanted to laugh but couldn't, and said:
"Two royal sisters-in-law, please stop comforting us. Is there any other way to deal with King Chu now?"
Concubine Lu saw Li Ce's expression and said seriously: "Yes, Seventh Brother, have you forgotten that King Chu is not invincible now? King Chu has another opponent, and there is King Xuan in the southwest."
Queen Lin nodded heavily, as if she had also made a decision, and said:
"That's right, King Chu was sent to the fiefdom from the beginning, and he had no foundation at all in Kyoto.
We don't have to be afraid of him at all. If it were Lingzhou and Huanzhou, we would have to wait to die, but this is Kyoto and we are our home field.
And King Xuan has already cooperated with Lin Xiang and Lu Shangshu. Even if King Chu enters Kyoto, he will not be able to control the court. With King Xuan and Lin Xiang and others, more than half of the entire court will not agree with King Chu. It is not easy for King Chu to control the court. . "
Li Ce's eyes brightened, but dimmed again, "But our opening a palace belongs to the royal family. The great ancestor has asked the Kyoto royal family to obey the orders of King Chu, and the court can't help. What if King Chu directly deals with us? what to do?"
Queen Lin said: "It's okay, seventh brother, there are people from King Xuan in the Kyoto royal family. If you cooperate with King Xuan and use King Xuan's influence and supporters in the royal family, you can create a force within the royal family to deal with King Chu. In this case, the King of Chu cannot grant you fiefdoms casually."
"We have the support of the court and the royal family, and the King of Chu cannot dominate everything."
Li Ce's eyes became brighter and brighter.
Seeing Li Ce's excited expression, Concubine Lu said: "Hmm, as long as King Xuan defeats the Zhenguo Mansion and leads his army back to Beijing, we can easily defeat King Chu. By then we will be great heroes, and King Xuan will definitely not Treat us badly.”
"Is it true that King Xuan is really sure of defeating King Chu?" Li Ce couldn't help but ask.
Queen Lin was shocked and affirmed: "Of course, if you think about Prince Xuan's influence in the entire Kyoto, countless people have already taken refuge secretly. How can it be compared to a prince like King Chu who has no foundation in Kyoto? Once If King Xuan enters the capital, King Chu will definitely be defeated!"
"We will be King Xuan's great contributors then, and King Xuan cannot treat us badly."
Li Ce breathed heavily and slowly clenched his fists.
"How about it, seventh brother and eighth brother, do you want to watch King Chu's face carefully and expect King Chu to show mercy, or are you willing to take a gamble and become a great contributor to King Xuan!"
Li Ce took a deep breath and looked at Li Hui, then nodded heavily:
"So what do we do now?"
Seeing their determined expressions, Queen Lin and Concubine Lu secretly breathed a sigh of relief, finally completing their mission.
Empress Lin smiled and said: "Now more than half of the six ministers in the imperial court, including Prime Minister Lin, Minister Lu, Minister Tang of the Ministry of Industry, Minister of Hubu, Lord Chen, Lord Hao, etc., have secretly joined forces to resist the King of Chu, and the seventh and eighth brothers are going to find you Zuo Zongzheng, Li Shen and Li Liang of the Royal Ancestral Temple, these respected royal elders, are members of Prince Xuan. You go with them to win over the royal clan.
We have the power of the royal family plus the power of the court. Even if the King of Chu comes to Beijing, he cannot deal with us unscrupulously. "
Li Hui looked shocked when he heard that Zuo Zongzheng, Li Shen and the others wanted to resist Li Yuan.
In the ancestral temple, Zuo Zongzheng and Li Shen were the second-in-command under King Lingluo.
I didn’t expect to catch such a big fish!
Li Ce showed an exciting smile on his face and said with piercing eyes: "Great, with Uncle Clan and the others here, the King of Chu can't suppress us casually."
Queen Lin also showed a happy smile: "Seventh brother, eighth brother, we are concubines and cannot get involved in the royal family. The affairs of the royal family depend on you."
"Don't worry, Sister-in-law, I will definitely win over all the royal family members who are dissatisfied with King Chu!" Li Ce patted his chest and said firmly.
"Okay, let's say goodbye first. Xiang Lin and others will tell you if they have any actions. If you have any difficulties, please inform Xiang Lin immediately and they will help you. We will work together to resist the King of Chu."
Queen Lin and Concubine Lu stood up and left.
Li Hui looked at the disappearing figures of the two women, looked at Li Ce and expressed his initial doubts:
"Seventh brother, how do you know that the two imperial wives want to continue to use us?"
Li Ce's face had regained his composure. After hearing Li Hui's words, he sneered:
"Eighth brother, if someone did something wrong and put you in a passive and dangerous situation, would you go out of your way to complain to him?"
"How is it possible? I wish I could just kick him to death. Out of sight and out of mind, how could I still complain to him?" Li Hui said without hesitation.
"So, the two royal sisters-in-law suddenly came to us when the fifth brother was about to enter the capital. Their motives must not be pure."
"That's it." Li Hui nodded slowly, indicating that he understood, and then asked:
"So what do we do now?"
Li Ce frowned and analyzed:
"Queen Lin is actually right. The forces in Kyoto are complex and have stood for many years. Each force is inextricably linked to the royal family. It would be fine if only the fifth brother was left as the overlord in the Dayu Dynasty, but there is still King Xuan. , so Fifth Brother cannot go on a killing spree as soon as he enters Kyoto. He needs a gentle policy to slowly control the court, and old foxes like Lin Xiang cannot easily let Fifth Brother seize the opportunity. unfavorable."
"Yes." Li Hui nodded.
Friends who often kill people know that ordinary people may not need a reason to kill a person, but an emperor must have a reason to kill an official.
Li Ce said with a solemn expression: "So our task is to help Fifth Brother seize the handle of these traitors and let Fifth Brother deal with them one by one!"
"Okay, no problem!" Li Hui nodded without hesitation.
"We are going to contact Li Shen right away to win over the royal clan members. I want to see which outstanding clan members are inclined to the fifth brother, and which ones dare to be dissatisfied with the fifth brother!" A cold light flashed in Li Ce's eyes.
………………………
In Prime Minister Lin's Mansion, four important officials of the imperial court, including Prime Minister Lin Shufan, Minister of Rites Lu Xun, Minister of Works Tang Zuxing, and Minister of Household Liang Haidong, sat opposite each other.
The teapot on the table is steaming hot, and the faint fragrance is floating in all directions.
Tang Zuxing frowned and asked worriedly:
"Are the Seventh and Eighth Princes trustworthy?"
"The two of them had no choice. The royal family saw the two of them going to find the royal ancestor. The royal ancestor did leave. I just don't know how King Chu persuaded the royal ancestor." Lu Xun held hot tea in his hand. , said with a solemn expression.
"The seventh prince and the eighth prince are still trustworthy."
"But we have no choice now, don't we? I hope there will be no more mistakes in the palace."
Liang Haidong, the Minister of Household Affairs, said in a deep voice.
Lu Xun's hand holding the hot tea froze, and a trace of unnaturalness flashed across his face. He understood what Liang Haidong meant.
The Seventh Prince and the Eighth Prince said from the beginning that the Grand Ancestor was going to save Li Yao, but Queen Lin and Concubine Lu deliberately concealed the matter, and even made excuses to hold them back, making them think that the Imperial Patriarch was going to ban the When the King of Chu entered the capital, all their previous preparations were in vain.
In this matter, Queen Lin and Concubine Lu have unshirkable responsibilities.
"Don't worry, they have realized their mistake and they will not make it again this time. But what is the attitude of Li Zonghai and Yang Zhao now?" Lin Shufan met Liang Haidong's gaze and took a sip of fragrant tea and said slowly.
Li Zonghai, Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.
Yang Zhao, Shangshu of Xingbu.
Upon hearing Lin Shufan's question, Tang Zuxing snorted coldly and changed the subject easily:
"Hmph, they are still the same as before. It's really ridiculous. The King of Chu rose from a fiefdom and has a large number of loyal talents under his command. Do they really think that they can keep their position by joining the King of Chu?"
"It's okay if they don't join us. Otherwise, if King Xuan wins, how can he reward the talents under his command? As long as our position can be maintained." Lu Xun said coldly.
Jiang Shang, Minister of the Ministry of War, was captured. Now there are five ministers in the court.
There are already three of them here. If they help King Xuan defeat the King of Chu, it is not too much to take three ministerial positions. The remaining half will be left for King Xuan to reward the talents under his command.
Combining old and new is the right approach.
Liang Haidong nodded slightly and felt that it made sense, but soon he frowned and said:
"What I'm most worried about now is that the royal family ancestor has recognized King Chu. If we openly resist King Chu, will he take action?"
Lu Xun and Tang Zuxing also nodded heavily, their faces solemn.
This is their biggest concern.
When the three people's eyes were focused on Lin Shufan, Lin Shufan looked indifferent and said calmly:
"You don't have to worry about this. Although the royal family's ancestor recognized King Chu, it does not mean that the ancestor will help King Chu remove all obstacles from the court. Everything we do is a test in his eyes.
What's more, we didn't betray the royal family, we just supported Prince Xuan. This is a dispute between the imperial court and the great ancestor will not interfere. "
When the three of them saw Lin Xiang's calm expression, the seriousness on their faces slightly eased.
Everyone was silent for a while. Lin Shufan lowered his eyelids and slowly said:
"According to the news, King Chu is about to arrive in Jinglan City. He can enter the capital in two days at most. Are you ready? There is no way back for us!"
Tang Zuxing and Liang Haidong's eyes burst out with intense light.
Now they have no choice!
"Okay, then we are ready to welcome the King of Chu to the capital!" (End of Chapter)