Chapter 57 5. Be the first to act first

Just when many Liu family members hoped that Lu's pheasant would die early, Lu's pheasant fell ill.The day she fell ill was the last day. This festival existed in the pre-Qin period.On this day, people go to places with water to pray for blessings and avoid disasters.In the folk, this day is also a festival for men and women to meet freely.Therefore, this is a grand and festive festival.Both the folk and the court attach great importance to it. Lu Zhi went to the waterside outside Chang'an to pray for blessings on this day.On the way back to the palace, she felt unwell. Her armpit felt like a burning pain. When she touched it with her hand, there was a lump.Called the imperial doctor to see, the imperial doctor made some medicine and asked her to drink it, after a few days, there was no improvement.

Others can't figure it out, the festival was originally intended to attract blessings, but they didn't know that blessings did not come, but they brought disasters. Lu Zhi himself also felt that his condition was getting worse day by day, and the amount was also sharply reduced day by day, and he became thin and shapeless. As her condition deteriorated, Lu Zhi's younger sister, Lu Mi, stood by her side all the time.In addition, there is another guardian, Zhang Shi, the great visitor.Except for these two people, no one can approach Lu Zhi's bedroom. As a generation of women, Lu Wei is not a fuel-efficient lamp. When Lu Zhi was critically ill, she simply took care of all the affairs of the inner palace.At this time, Zhang Shi also showed off his power. Since Lu Zhi became seriously ill, he has been conferred the title of Marquis of Jianling.He was originally an eunuch, but he was named a marquis. This is a beginning in the history of the Han Dynasty.

Generally speaking, man-made disasters come first, and natural disasters must follow.In the summer of the year when Lu's pheasant was seriously ill, the Yangtze River and the Han River flooded, and the villages and fertile fields in the two river basins were flooded into a swamp country, and countless people drowned. No one reported the news to Lu Zhi, because reporting the disease was useless, Lu Zhi had no energy but cared about any major national affairs, and she was already approaching the end of her life step by step. The family closest to the Lu family is the son-in-law Zhang Ao’s family. After Princess Lu Yuan died of illness, her son Zhang Yan was named the King of Lu. Zhang Ao died in the fourth year and was posthumously named King Lu Yuan. Before Princess Lu Yuan, she had two sons with concubine Ji, one named Zhang Hao and the other named Zhang Shou, both of whom were fifteen or sixteen years old. They were very friendly to King Lu Zhang Yan, and Empress Lu also liked these two children very much. Thinking that King Lu will also need the help of these two half-brothers in the future, he can't leave any regrets while he still has breath.So an imperial edict was issued to confer the title of Marquis of Xindu on Zhang Lu and Marquis of Lechang on Zhang Shou.

After struggling for a few more months, Lu Zhi issued her final edict when she was dying: appoint Lu Chan as Xiangguo, Lu Lu's daughter as the Queen of the Young Emperor, and Shen Shiqi as the Young Emperor's Taifu. This edict was carefully considered by Lu Zhi. After her death, the power of the imperial court must be handed over to one of her own people immediately, and this person must be Lu Chan.As for Shen Shiqi, he is doing a good job in terms of aspect at the moment, and once Lu Zhi dies, he will definitely become the target of public criticism. If he is re-elected as Taifu, he may be able to be preserved.

After explaining the funeral, Lu Zhi closed his eyes and died in Weiyang Palace that night. Chen Ping, Zhou Bo, and Shen Shiqi took care of Lu Zhi's funeral.Lu Chan and Lu Lu followed Lu Zhi's will and firmly held the Northern and Southern Guards in their hands. At this moment, Lu Chan and Lu Lu had no time to be sad. They were more nervous. If there was any trouble, they would immediately raise their troops to protect themselves.This point was also explained to them by Lu Zhi. The atmosphere in the palace was extremely tense, bouncing like a bowstring, as if it would break at any moment.

Although the North and South Imperial Guards were in the hands of Lu Chan and Lu Lu, the Liu family also assembled a powerful military force, which was the army of the county headed by the princes and kings surnamed Liu.This army is controlled by Liu Jiao, King of Chu, Liu Xiang, King of Qi, Liu Qiang, King of Huaiyang and others. This county army has a complete range of arms, including infantry, knights, light vehicles, and building ships.Among them, the infantry is the most well-equipped and perfect, and the number is the largest. Although Lu Chan and Lu Lu mastered the Northern and Southern Guards, they had no experience in leading troops to fight at all.In the county army, there are famous generals such as Zhou Bo and Guan Ying. They are all experienced veterans.Lu Chan and Lu Lu were not rivals at all.

On this point, the royal faction is very clear.Therefore, they decided to strike first! The first to attack was Zhu Xuhou Liu Zhang.The daughter of Liu Zhang's wife Lu Lu, when he saw through Lu Lu and Lu Chan's plot to raise troops, he immediately sent someone to contact his elder brother Qi Wang Liu Xiang and sent troops to the west. Liu Xiang himself is not smart, but he has a resourceful uncle named Si Jun. Before sending troops, Si Jun analyzed the general situation of the world to his nephew Liu Xiang, and suggested to Liu Xiang that under the banner of maintaining the "white horse alliance" proposed by Liu Bang and the princes back then, he called on the world to jointly attack Zhu Lu.

At the same time, Liu Zhang and Dong Mohou Liu Xingju contacted the clan and powerful officials in the capital. Their idea was to let the Taiwei Zhou Bo and the prime minister Chen Ping serve as internal responses to jointly kill Zhulu.After that, they wanted to support Liu Xiang as emperor. In this way, Qi Wang Liu Xiang has more confidence and more energy.He decided to go to war immediately.However, just when he was about to raise an army, he was stopped by a person.