Zhang Ping'an, the most cunning commander of the slave army, found that Emperor Xuantong Zhu Cilang used open conspiracy to trap him, only felt a chill on his back. If it weren't for the huge gap in strength between the two sides, Zhang Ping'an would probably have taken despicable measures to solve this problem. Since Emperor Xuantong and Yang Lian, the chief assistant of the cabinet, had already taken action, Zhang Ping'an stayed in Gaoyang and said that he would pay tribute to the former cabinet master Sun Chengzong. At the same time, Zhang Ping'an gave emperor Zhu Cilang a memorial, for example, the people of the Ming Dynasty lived a poor life and advised him not to engage in extravagant and wasteful ceremony.

In the memorial, Zhang Ping'an spoke earnestly about how simple the previous emperor Emperor Chongzhen was. He hoped that Zhu Cilang would inherit the concept of diligence and thrift in the country and not spend precious money on nothingness. Zhang Ping'an went over and over again in the memorial. Emperor Chongzhen was simple by nature and hoped that Emperor Xuantong, who governed the world with filial piety, would cancel these fearless celebrations. The Duke of China, Zhang Ping'an, was not a kind person, and Emperor Xuantong wanted to set a trap for him. He also used the simple example of Emperor Chongzhen to warn Zhu Cilang that you were a bit unkind to do things with the money I gave.

Emperor Xuantong was very helpless about Duke Zhang Ping'an of China taking Emperor Chongzhen as a shield. What made him feel slapped in the face was that holding a ceremony for Duke Hua to enter the city eventually turned into a debate. Duke Zhang Ping'an of China was a good player in politics. He wanted to resolve the crisis to bring out the sign of Emperor Chongzhen, and he also used the mentality of future generations to indirectly deny the authority of Emperor Xuantong. Although Zhu Cilang, who was angry in his heart, had to show a glorious image of humbly accepting advice in the face of Duke Hua's high-sounding reason. Emperor Xuantong, who followed the advice, had to show a glorious image of humbly accepting advice.

Zhu Cixuan issued an order, asking the chief assistant Yang Lian to go to the Duke of Huaguo Mansion of Zhangjiazhuang to announce the order, commending the great contribution of Duke of Huaguo Zhang Ping'an to the harmony and stability of the Ming Dynasty. Although Zhang Ping'an won the debate completely, officials from various factions in the court had already smelled the strong atmosphere of war. The officials of the court, including the Duke of China, still accounted for 80%. Emperor Xuantong Zhu Cixuan also promoted some of his own people with the support of the chief assistant Yang Lian. In particular, Yang Lian promoted Yu Wenzheng, Tanhua and Wenzheng as Minister of Personnel in the 35th year of Wanli, and controlled the key position of appointing officials.

The mistake made by Duke of China Zhang Ping'an was mainly too careless. Zhang Ping'an only paid attention to controlling the money of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, he believed that controlling the money and grain would naturally control the human rights. Unexpectedly, Yang Lian appointed Yu Wenzheng, who was retired and idle at home, and asked the veterans of the four dynasties to come out and drilled a small hole in the government affairs of Duke of China like a solid iron barrel. The new Ming Dynasty was decided at the beginning, leaving too many vacancies for the official position. The Ministry of Personnel was in charge of the appointment of officials in the world, and the cabinet was under the control of the chief assistant Yang Lian, so there was no resistance to promoting some small officials below the sixth rank. The official of Duke of China was mostly changed for the ruling of the wind.

They pay more attention to positions above the fourth rank, and generally don’t care about some positions with low rank. In just one month, Emperor Zhu Cixuan arranged more than 200 officials in various departments through the Ministry of Personnel. When Zhang Ping'an returned to Zhangjiazhuang, he realized that the situation in the court had changed subtly. Yang Lian, the chief assistant of the Ming Dynasty, came to the Duke of China's mansion to read the imperial edict, and Zhang Ping'an had to show extreme gratitude. Yang Lian, the former governor of the Slave City, did not care about the face of Zhang Ping'an, the old Shangfeng when playing with power.

After a false reading of the imperial edict ceremony, Zhang Ping'an invited the chief minister Yang Lian to study to discuss matters. The rule passed down in the officialdom for thousands of years is that political transactions must be communicated privately, and they are all veterans in the officialdom. Zhang Ping'an has already found that the situation in the court is not conducive to his side. When his layout is not completed, he has to conduct some political compromise transactions to buy time for himself. Zhang Ping'an also wants to launch a mutiny and solve Zhu Cilang once, but doing so will bring serious consequences, that is, such bloody defeat will become the norm in the future. The Tang Dynasty was at the beginning.

How brilliant the national strength was, and how powerful and wise Emperor Taizong of Tang Li Shimin was. Since the Xuanwu Gate Mutiny, the Tang Dynasty coup has almost run through the dynasty. Zhang Ping'an, who is familiar with history, naturally wanted to avoid such historical recurrence, so he had to temporarily endure and make a good plan. Now, the glorious image of Duke of China Zhang Ping'an working hard to calm internal and external troubles for the Ming Dynasty was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and he also had good deeds to exempt the world from taxes. Any means of targeting Duke of China Zhu Cixuan would weaken his dominance. Because of this, Zhang Ping'an started to dispatch the army to quell the civil strife of the Ming Dynasty, while forcing Zhu Cixuan to counterattack.

This time, the chief assistant Yang Lian came to the Duke of China's mansion, and there was also an order from Emperor Xuantong Zhu Cilang, which was to let Duke Hua participate in the ceremony of the Taimiao Presentation. However, today Yang Lian announced the order and was not good at the army. Duke Zhang Ping'an of China did not accept the order but returned the imperial edict to the Emperor Xuantong. The two came to the study to sit down. Sun Xigui gave the two tea and left quickly. Without outsiders, Zhang Ping'an used the official water-melting skills to chat with Yang Lian about interesting news about the southern expedition. Yang Lian, who had long experienced Zhang Ping'an's bored greeting skills, did not speak for the time being,

He has been waiting for the opportunity to talk to Zhang Ping'an about serious matters. Obviously, Yang Lian underestimated Zhang Ping'an's ability to speak and behave well. It was almost an hour before Zhang Ping'an was still laughing at Zhu Yousong, a pseudo-emperor. Yang Lian finally moved the topic from Zhu Yousong, and Zhang Ping'an began to sigh at the friendship between him and Sun Chengzong again. Seeing Zhang Ping'an talking nonsense endlessly, Yang Lian interrupted, "Duke Hua! Let's talk about serious matters, what are your plans for the next step?"

"The master of the cabinet is really impatient. My country's Duke devotes all his efforts to the happiness of the people of the Ming Dynasty. As long as there is a bandit in the Ming Dynasty, my slave army will definitely arrest him even if he chases him to the ends of the world. He will never withdraw his troops until his goal is achieved!" Zhang Ping'an's loud words made Yang Lian dizzy. Duke of China Zhang Ping'an asked the Ming Dynasty court to first take out a suitable price and then talk about withdrawing troops. Yang Lian knew very well in his heart that Zhang Ping'an had already controlled the Ming Dynasty's taxes, money and food, and the court no longer had the capital to bargain with him.

Seeing that the matter was about to break out, Yang Lian had to change the topic: "It is quite puzzling to understand that Duke Hua repeatedly resigned to the title of Prince. Could it be that the title of the emperor's canonization is not worthy of Duke Hua's military merits?"

The prince is the highest title of the Ming Dynasty and has only been awarded the prince of the Zhu family since the year of Hongwu. Yang Lian said this a bit heartbroken. He implied that Zhang Ping'an had the intention to usurp the rebellion. Although Zhang Ping'an had the idea of ​​rebellion, he still retorted on the spot: "Hmph! Mr. Yang learned this method of frame-up in the eunuch party's eunuch's edict! I recall that the Kaiping King Chang Yuchun helped Emperor Taizu Gao to conquer the world, which was a hundred times better than us. He was also a prince after his death, and he was also a prince. How many times did I say I don't want the title of king, and he still had to be granted a title. What does the court mean? I want my Duke to meet the Kaiping King in advance?"

Zhang Ping'an's words were sarcastic, and he also hinted that Yang Lian was him, Zhang Ping'an, who rescued you, Yang Lian from the Jinyiwei Prison. Yang Lian certainly understood Zhang Ping'an's intentions. He hurriedly defended: "Duke Hua misunderstood! The court had no intention of this. The Duke now destroyed Jiannu and suppressed the civil strife in the Ming Dynasty far exceeded that of the King Kaiping. The emperor was grateful to Duke Hua for recreating the Ming Dynasty, so he ordered Duke Hua to be the prince. Unexpectedly, Duke Hua became suspicious. If there was any inappropriateness, I apologized to Duke Hua!"

"I dare not take it! I dare not take it! Since everyone has misunderstood, what if the matter of imperial enfeoffment is to give up?" Zhang Ping'an took advantage of the situation and eased the dispute between the two sides.

"It's so good! It's a great joy to pacify the civil strife in the Ming Dynasty, and it's also a common practice for the Emperor Taimiao to offer victory. As the greatest contributor in pacifying the world, Duke Hua should declare the great merits of the soldiers of the Desubs Army to fight the enemy bravely when the Taimiao show victory. Please prepare for this matter in advance. As usual, Duke Hua must perform rituals in the Ministry of Rites to avoid omissions when the Taimiao show victory. I wonder what the Duke's intentions are?"

The reason proposed by Yang Lian, the chief assistant of the Ming Dynasty, made Zhang Ping'an unable to refuse. After all, he was the commander of the Pou Nu Army. It was his duty to perform his merits to the soldiers who killed the enemies on the front line when the Taimiao was offering victory. If he didn't go, he would really be unable to explain to the soldiers who fell. In the Ming Dynasty, whether the incense was solemn after death, it would be a great comfort to the soldiers who fell after the emperor's personal tribute. In fact, such activities as sacrifices are for living people to see, and the families of the Pou Nu Army's fallen soldiers valued this ceremony more. For the sake of his own safety, Zhang Ping'an also agreed with him.

There were many doubts. For this reason, Zhang Ping'an did not express his opinion immediately, but pondered for a while without replying. It was obvious that Yang Lian, who was familiar with Zhang Ping'an's style, saw his thoughts. Yang Lian also knew that the situation between Duke of China Zhang Ping'an and Emperor Zhu Cilang had become a trend of fire, and both sides would think that the other party would be detrimental to him. Yang Lian, who knew the whole story of the matter, smiled and expressed his opinion to Zhang Ping'an: "It seems that Duke of China is quite concerned. Let's do this. I have accompanied Duke of China to the Ministry of Rites to perform ceremonies these days. On the day of the ceremony, I welcome Duke of China to the city at Xizhimen!"

As the chief assistant of the Ming Dynasty, Yang Lian said something very important today. Yang Lian was protecting his decades of reputation and life, and striving to participate in the ceremony of the Exorcist Ceremony to protect the face of the Ming Dynasty and the imperial court. After all, Yang Lian had been in the Xuanwei Envoy Office of the Posou City for more than ten years, and Zhang Ping'an never doubted Yang Lian, who was upright by nature. For this reason, Zhang Ping'an nodded to agree to Yang Lian's invitation. After seeing off Yang Lian, Zhang Ping'an summoned Chief of Staff Gu Xin, Chief of Intelligence Department Qu Guozheng, Chief of Intelligence Department Xie Xun, Chief of Inspectorate Office Xie Xun, and Chief of Intelligence Department Zhao Huchen came to discuss matters. Everyone talked for an hour and had a consensus that the time when Emperor Zhu Cilang was most likely to take action was after the New Year's Day.

At the Taimiao Victory Ceremony, General Zhang would not bring too many guards at this important celebration, and the main generals of the Pou Nu Army were leading troops to scattered everywhere in the Ming Dynasty. At this time, Zhang Ping'an's guards were the weakest. Another unfavorable factor was that Qian Mingrong, who had the strongest martial arts skills around General Zhang, had not recovered from illness, which made the generals attending the meeting feel that something was wrong. After a long discussion, Zhang Ping'an finally made up his mind. He secretly ordered Huang Zhi's troops in Shandong to leave a cooperation team to garrison the local area and his main force heading towards the capital. With the three A-level combat camps in the Pou Nu Army, and Zhao Guangming's troops who had just changed their clothes, Zhang Ping'an planned to force Zhu Cixuan to take the lead after the Spring Festival. (To be continued)
Chapter completed!