Chapter 237: The Death of the King of Yan

In August of the first year of Jianwen, King of Yan Zhu Di attacked Liaodong with an army of 150,000. He divided his troops from two groups, one by Zunhua, one by one, and detoured the north to attack Liaoxi, while the other by himself led a army of 100,000 to attack Shanhaiguan. After a brief tentative attack, Zhu Di began to realize that he could not capture Shanhaiguan, but he was not willing to retreat, so he stationed outside Shanhaiguan, waiting for news from the Northern Army.

But the Northern Route Army also encountered trouble. Under the leadership of General Zhang Yu, 50,000 Yanshan Iron Cavalry was preparing to break into western Liaoning from Guangwu's defenders, but he unexpectedly discovered that a long defensive Great Wall was built on the original flat field. His cavalry team could not pass, and could only capture Yizhou before entering western Liaoning. However, Li Wei was prepared for a long time. Tens of thousands of Liaodong troops were waiting for it and implemented a solid wall to clear the field, not giving them food. To the east, his spies reported that the cavalry of the three guards of Duoyan of Mongolia were also staring at them.

Zhang Yu was very embarrassed and wanted to attack Yizhou. He did not bring siege weapons and used Yanshan Iron Cavalry to attack the city. This was absolutely not allowed by the King of Yan. However, if he wanted to detour to Jianzhou in the east, he did not prepare so much food. Moreover, since Li Weizheng was prepared, he might not be able to attack the east, and there were three guards of Duoyan intercepting him!

After thinking for a whole day, Zhang Yu sent someone to deliver a letter to the King of Yan. At the same time, he ordered the army to retreat slowly, while retreating while waiting for the order. Four days later, he received the order. The King of Yan ordered him to return to Peiping immediately and give up attacking Liaodong.

At this time, King Yan Zhu Di was also rushing back. In just four days, several major events happened in a row. A secret spies from Shanxi used flying pigeons to report that the Qin and Jin coalition forces sent 200,000 troops again, marched quickly, and came to Beiping. At the same time, tens of thousands of naval troops in Liaodong suddenly appeared outside the Tianjin Wei waters, flattened the dock with cannons, and sunk dozens of Tianjin Wei warships, and the last fire destroyed the only shipyard in Hebei, Tianjin Wei Shipyard.

The emptiness of Peiping made Zhu Di give up Liaodong and he withdrew his troops, but it was not the Qin and Jin coalition forces that eventually prompted him to withdraw, or the Liaodong navy's surprise attack on Tianjin Wei, but his military advisor Yao Guangxiao urgently sent someone to send news from the court.

Zhu Yunwen once again reduced the vassal state, with the goal of the King of Zhou who had just lost his army. The court sent troops to capture the King of Zhou back to the capital, imprisoned him, and abolished the King of Zhou's vassal state. The last time he withdrew the King of Ning's vassal state, but this time he had no reason.

Zhu Di, the imperial court's vassal, was shocked. He thought that Zhu Yunwen would wait until the military power was captured before taking action. It was two or three years later, but he didn't expect it to be ahead of schedule.

Two days later, Zhu Di returned to Beiping. As soon as he entered the Yan Palace, he asked Yao Guangxiao on his head: "Master, Zhu Yunwen has reduced his vassals, how should we deal with it?"

Yao Guangxiao had already made a decision. He smiled slightly and said, "Your Highness, don't worry, Zhu Yunwen's reduction of power is not the kind of reduction of power I'm afraid of. I have already thought of a solution to it."

Zhu Di was overjoyed and quickly invited Yao Guangxiao into the study, sat down and asked, "Please teach me the military teacher?"

"Your Highness must first know why Zhu Yunwen wanted to cut off the Zhou royal vassal?"

Zhu Di thought about it, and he suddenly asked, "But because of the emptiness of Henan?"

Yao Guangxiao laughed, "Your Highness is indeed wise, it's clear at all, right! The reason why he cut off the Zhou king's vassal was because they were implementing new military reforms and establishing the so-called new ten army directly under the emperor. The Henan Guards were almost all transferred back to the capital, leaving only a little bit of scattered soldiers to maintain public order. In this case, they certainly could not allow the Henan territory to have ambitious vassal kings, so they took advantage of the Zhou king's army being taken away and eliminated the Zhou king's vassal in one fell swoop."

Zhu Di suddenly realized, and he learned from it and said: "Then, the next step of reducing the vassal states should be the King of Qi in Shandong, then the King of Chu in Wuchang and the King of Xiang in Changsha, right?"

Yao Guangxiao nodded, but shook his head and said, "The King of Qi is right, but I think the King of Chu and King of Xiang will not cut it for the time being. Your Highness may have forgotten the Lan Yu in Guizhou!"

Zhu Di nodded. Indeed, the court would not touch the two kings of Hunan and Chu for the time being, and wanted to maintain the stability of Huguang. He suddenly asked again: "What is the news over Lan Yu?"

"I am also about to report to Your Highness that our detailed work in Yunnan has been reported that Lan Yu attacked Yunnan and fought several battles with the Mu family army in Yunnan, each with his victory or defeat. Since the news of Yunnan came far away, it was already three months ago. At that time, Mu Chun happened to go to Beijing to report his work. It is estimated that Lan Yu saw this gap before attacking Yunnan."

Zhu Di thought about it and said that it should be like this. He had been dealing with Lan Yu for many years and knew that his military use seemed to be strange, such as the battle of fishing sea, such as the surprise attack on Sichuan, etc., but this was just a tactical trick. But from a strategic perspective, Lan Yu was very cautious. If he wanted to attack the Central Plains, he had to take Yunnan first to protect the backyard. With Yunnan and Guizhou as the backing, he would attack Sichuan or Huguang on a large scale. Therefore, Lan Yu would not counterattack the Central Plains so quickly. If he wanted to counterattack, he would have to take it to Yunnan. In this way, it was possible for the imperial court to reduce the vassal of Hunan and Chu.

But Lan Yu's affairs are still far away. Now that he wants to solve the crisis in front of him, he let go of Lan Yu and said, "What the military advisor means is, will I really give up in Liaodong?"

Yao Guangxiao smiled and said, "If Your Highness wants to be King of Goryeo, you can fight against Liaodong, but if Your Highness wants to be the Emperor of Ming Dynasty, then Liaodong must give up and come to deal with it in the end."

Zhu Di nodded silently. In fact, this was what he thought along the way. He knew Li Weizheng. This man seemed to be swaying between himself and Zhu Yunwen, and he was a little nervous. In fact, he didn't want to surrender. He just wanted to be independent. He would never be a vanguard for Zhu Yunwen. He was just ambitious for the Ming Dynasty, but at that time he had already had a million troops, and it was no problem to solve him.

"Okay! I'm listening to the military advisor, I'll spare Li Weizheng and Liaodong for the time being. So what should we do now?"

"Your Highness, I think no matter what the imperial court's intentions are, we cannot put ourselves in danger. We must first solve the imperial army near Beiping, otherwise the strong enemy will be on the side and we will not be able to do anything. My plan is to seize the imperial army first, and then declare the world, and use the excuse of pacifying Lan Yu to march towards Qin and Jin, Sichuan, eat the three kings of Qin and Jin, and Shu, and then enter Huguang and Henan. At that time, half of the world's country had already returned to You, and you could officially compete with Zhu Yunwen's son."

"Okay!" Zhu Di laughed with a high-five and said, "The military advisor and Lu Siyuan are a coincidence, so we will do it."

Speaking of Lu Siyuan, Zhu Di suddenly remembered his son who was a concubine in the capital, and his face changed: "What should Gao Xi do?"

Yao Guangxiao did not answer. In fact, he had thought about this question for a long time. This was something he had considered for a long time. Zhu Di had three sons, Gao Chi, Gao Xi and Gao Sui. Gao Sui could not mention it for the time being, but Gao Chi and Gao Xi were similar in age. Gao Chi was weak and Gao Xi was fierce. Gao Xi always hated that he could not be a prince one year earlier. He was ambitious and did not take his eldest brother seriously at all. But the King of Yan liked the second son the most, who thought he was like himself and very disliked the obesity and weakness of his eldest son Gao Chi. He even wanted to change the second son to the prince several times, but he was not agreed by the late emperor.

But Yao Guangxiao attached great importance to his eldest son Gao Chi, benevolent and kind. In the future, he would definitely be able to revive the Ming Dynasty. If Gao Xi became emperor, the Ming Dynasty would be really over. How could there be a dynasty that would not be defeated in the three generations of martial arts? And from a personal perspective, Yao Guangxiao was Gao Chi's master, and he would assist Gao Chi in succession for the throne in public and private.

So Yao Guangxiao had an idea, and it would be best to make the King of Yan annex the imperial army, anger the court, and kill the hostage Gao Xi, and it was over. However, the King of Yan sounded at this critical moment, and the son who was hostage in the capital was heard secretly. However, he refused to give up the opportunity to get rid of Gao Xi. After pondering for a moment, Yao Guangxiao advised him: "If you want to do a big thing, you must give up something. Although your son is important, it can be compared to the world of Ming Dynasty.

It is important, but not as good as it is. At that time, Liu Bang's father was going to be cooked by Xiang Yu, but he wanted to get a piece of the pie. Even after the soldiers were approaching, he could push his children out of the car and escape. This was how he was unable to be kind to women. Therefore, he defeated the strong with the weak and conquered the Han Dynasty for four hundred years. His highness was very talented and had the posture of an emperor. Although his troops were weak, as long as he could act decisively, he might not be able to seize the world. His highness should follow Liu Bang and not ruin the opportunity for his children's affection."

Seeing that Zhu Di still had hesitation, Yao Guangxiao advised again: "Your Highness, don't think that it's not even a critical moment. Now that the Qin and Jin coalition forces are entering Hebei again, the imperial army does not stop it. It is very likely that they have seen that the two kings of Qin and Jin are not threatening, so they want to help the Qin and Jin army destroy Yan State first. Your Highness, if the Qin and Jin army arrive in Baoding, our destruction will come."

Speaking of this, Yao Guangxiao actually knelt down, "I would like to make a quick decision!"

Zhu Di sighed to the sky and said slowly with tears in his eyes: "Okay! Send me a letter to inform me overnight and ask him to escape on his own. His life and death will be left to fate."

The next day, the King of Yan accidentally fell from his horse, his life was in danger, and he asked famous doctors to treat them ineffectively. On the last moment of death, Yao Guangxiao, who was extremely sad, sent someone to invite Hebei governor Zhang Bing, to command the left envoy Zhang Xin and the right envoy Xie Gui, who said that the King of Yan was about to die, and asked the three of them to come to see each other for the last time to discuss the affairs of the Queen Yan.

The three of them were surprised by the news. Zhang Bing secretly sent someone to find Ge Cheng, the chief envoy of the Yan Palace, in an attempt to get the real news from him, but the news that Ge Cheng returned was that the Yan King did make a mistake from his horse and is now lying in the deep palace, and he doesn't know the truth.

At this time, Zhang Xin said to Zhang Bing and Xie Gui: "The King of Yan is the emperor's uncle. If we really die of illness and we do not visit him, the King of Yan's army will not be obtained by the court. The emperor will blame us, but we must prevent the King of Yan from being cheated. Therefore, I suggest that we make preparations for both. The two can represent the General Secretary and the Commander of the Commander of the Ministry of Justice to visit the King of Yan and listen to his last words. I will take heavy troops outside the Palace of King of Yan. In this way, even if he cheats, he will be afraid to harm the two. What do you think?"

Zhang Bing was the governor, and he had to go. Although Xie Gui didn't want to go, his lord was slightly lower than Zhang Xin, and he was robbed by Zhang Xin and finally had to agree. In this way, the three of them discussed the detailed support method and led an army of 20,000 to the palace of Yan. Zhang Bing and Xie Gui entered the palace to visit the king of Yan. Zhang Xin was waiting a mile away, but the troops did not remove their armor and horses did not leave their saddles, and were ready to support them at any time.

But the tragedy happened at this moment. As soon as Zhang Bing and Xie Gui entered the Duanli Gate of the Yan Palace, they were rushed up by the five hundred knives and axemen who were ambushing here and chopped them into meat sauce. King Yan Zhu Di immediately appeared and ordered the chief envoy Ge Cheng, who had been arrested first, to behead them.

King Zhu Di of Yan rode out of the Yan Palace. Zhang Xin turned over and got off the horse and bowed, and then passed a false edict: "Zhang Bing and Xie Gui wanted to collude with the two kings of Qin and Jin to rebel, but they were beheaded on the spot. The Qin and Jin army are about to arrive, and the Hebei army is handed over to the King of Yan to temporarily command the Emperor to safeguard Hebei's security."

In early September of the first year of Jianwen, King Yan Zhu Di seized 250,000 troops from Hebei, and his troops had increased to 500,000. Three days later, local officials from Hebei spread the news to the capital in an expedited manner of 800 miles, and the court was shocked.
Chapter completed!