Chapter 27 Chapter 26 Preparing for Action

Huang Zicheng and Qi Tai were ready to fight, but they had a dispute over the determination of the target. Qi Tai believed that it would be better to use the king of Yan first, but Huang Zicheng believed that the other kings should be cut off first, and the wings of King Yan should be removed, and then Only then did he attack King Yan. When we look back at these two plans today, they seem to be reasonable. When evaluating later generations, they often think that Qi Tai's approach is correct, but in my opinion, such a conclusion seems to be a winner and loser. Huang Zicheng's plan is It is reasonable.After all, picking the weak first still has a certain effect.

This is a game of chess that determines the fate of the world. The two players are Zhu Yunqi and Zhu Di. Now the emperor Zhu Yunqi guessed the first move, and he made his first move on the chessboard. King Zhu of Zhou is the same mother and brother of Zhu Di, King of Yan. In Zhu Yunwen's view, he will be Zhu Di's powerful assistant. It is for this reason that he was the first person to be eliminated.The person who was ordered to perform this task was Li Jinglong, the son of Li Wenzhong, whom we have introduced many times before. Facts have proved that this man may not be good at fighting, and he still has a way of arresting people. He suddenly dispatched a large army to the Zhou Palace in Henan, and escorted Zhou Wang's wife and children, including himself, to the capital. Uncle Wei was not polite, demoted him directly from a national first-level cadre to a commoner, and moved him to Yunnan. At that time, Yunnan's tourism resources had not been fully developed, and it was considered a semi-primitive barren land. King Zhou was placed in this place. To be Tarzan of the Apes.

At this time, Emperor Jianwen had only ascended the throne for one month.But he obviously didn't have the shyness and modesty to go to work in the new unit, and began to pack up his uncles. Zhou Wang was the first, but by no means the last, and Zhou Wang will soon find out that compared with what happened to the latecomers , it might be a good thing to travel to Yunnan. In December of the same year, someone reported that the acting king was "greedy, abused and cruel". Emperor Jianwen showed a strong sense of justice, resolutely fulfilled the legal principle that the emperor's uncle committed the same crime as the common people, and moved his uncle to Shu to take care of him.

In May of the following year, Emperor Jianwen once again exterminated relatives righteously, arrested Min Wang Zhu Min on the charge of "illegal affairs" and demoted him to a commoner.In the final analysis, this "illegitimate thing" is nothing clear, and it is comparable to the famous "unnecessary". From this point of view, in history, there is really no need to find too many reasons to punish people. Before everyone could react, Emperor Jianwen attacked King Zhu Bo of Hunan for the crime of financial sabotage—private printing of banknotes. In fact, there was no plan for banknotes in that era.Of course, this was just an excuse, and then the imperial court sent envoys to the fiefdom of King Xiang to arrest people. They thought that this time it would be as smooth as before, but something unexpected happened.

King Zhu Bo of Xiang is worthy of being the descendant of Zhu Yuanzhang. He has a lot of backbone. After he learned that someone was coming to arrest him, he smiled and said to his subordinates: "I saw with my own eyes that many ministers who were convicted by the Taizu did not want to be arrested." Humiliated, committed suicide and died, I am the son of Emperor Gao, how can I be insulted by the prison guards just to seek a way out!" Instead of opening the door to greet the envoys, he gathered his wife and children together, closed the palace door tightly, and burned himself to death.

Such tragedies did not stop Jianwen's action. He captured Qi Wang Zhu Yu and Dai Wang Zhu Gui one after another with lightning speed, and both of them were deposed as common people. So clean and merciless!At this point, even a fool would know what Emperor Jianwen wanted to do. You may wonder why these vassal kings did not resist. In fact, the reason is very simple. On the one hand, they do not have the capital to resist like King Yan, and another more important reason is that they have no reason to resist. In that era, the emperor was the supreme ruler, and all the vassals were his subordinates. Don't say you were the emperor's uncle, even if you were his grandfather, as long as he was the emperor, you had to listen to him.To put it bluntly, it is polite to cut down the vassal and ask the crime, which is enough to save face. If the vassal king is not convinced and makes it clear, he will naturally be served with big knives and sticks.

So far, Emperor Jianwen has completely violated his own promise to Zhu Yuanzhang, and all the virtues of convincing people have been thrown out of the sky. It seems to be vigorous and sharp, but the effect is limited. This is a brutal political struggle, but also a boxing match. The naive Zhu Yunqi didn't know that the boxing match he was going to participate in was not a three-round amateur match, but a twelve-round professional match.In this kind of competition, it is impossible to beat the master to death with random punches. The key to victory lies in patience and accurate judgment.

Zhu Yunqi got the upper hand, but he didn't. Zhu Di is about to make his own response. Emperor Jianwen was about to come to his door, and now Zhu Di couldn't help but either rebel or be killed like his brothers.At this time, Zhu Di was in a difficult situation. He was not as good as Zhu Chongba back then. Even if Zhu Chongba didn't rebel, he could still escape from the temple, become a blind man, and make a living.But Zhu Di did not have such good luck.The world belongs to Zhu Yunwen, where else can he escape? Dao Yan seized the opportunity in front of him and continued to sell his rebellious theory to Zhu Di.Zhu Di has long been used to this point, and it would be strange if one day this man doesn't say these outrageous things.In the past, Zhu Di could laugh at these words, because he knew very well that rebellion is not something that can be done after eating supper, and this monk, who is afraid that the world will not be chaotic, will have nothing, so he will devote himself to the cause of rebellion.But he is a vassal king, and he is very different from these poor people.How could it be possible to be dragged into the water by these people.

But only now did he realize that if he indulged this nephew, he would become incapable of even being a poor monk. So he started his own preparations. He recruited a large number of strong soldiers as guards and conducted military training. The location was within his palace.The so-called criticism of weapons cannot replace the weapons of criticism. If you want to rebel, you can't do it with sticks and farming tools. This requires a lot of weapons. The movement of building weapons is very large, and there was no soundproofing equipment at that time.Zhu Di gave full play to his imagination and creativity on this issue. He built a large basement, surrounded it with walls, and opened several chicken farms nearby. Non-stop, people outside can't hear it at all.

In addition, Zhu Di also learned the advanced experience of peasant uprising wars throughout the history, and humbly learned from peasant brothers, that is, before rebelling, he should engage in feudal superstition, ancient legends and the like.To this end he recruited a large number of special people.These people are called alien warlocks, but they are actually fortune-tellers and fortune-tellers on the street. He recruited these people just to embolden himself and do publicity work by the way, but he himself would not have thought that this move would happen in the future. Then it worked unexpectedly.

When Emperor Jianwen dealt with other vassals, his eyes were always on Zhu Di, because he also knew that this person was his most terrifying opponent.In order to reduce Zhu Di's strength, he first sent Zhang Bing, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, to take over the post of mayor of Beiping, and then appointed Xie Gui and Zhang Xin as the commanders of Beiping, and took control of Beiping's military.After that, he also sent Song Zhong (this name is extremely unlucky) to lead 30,000 troops to guard the area of ​​Tunping and Shanhaiguan, ready to attack at any time. The knife had already reached his neck, and Zhu Di seemed to be a fish on the board. In the eyes of many people, he could only be caught with nothing to do. However, at this moment, Zhu Di did something that no one else could think of. According to regulations, after Emperor Jianwen ascended the throne, the vassal princes should enter the court to meet the emperor. Because the situation was very tense at that time, many people thought that Zhu Di was afraid to meet the new emperor as scheduled, but everyone never thought that he not only came, but also did a great job. Amazing move. In March of the first year of Jianwen, the king of Yan entered the court to pay homage to the new monarch. Normally, you should be honest when you come to someone else's territory, but this man actually "walks the way of the emperor, and does not pay homage to his majesty" in full view of the public.It can be seen how arrogant Zhu Di has become. Zhu Di's rude behavior aroused the anger of the officials. Zhuo Jing, the servant of the Ministry of household affairs, went to the court many times, demanding to solve Zhu Di on the spot. Emperor Jianwen actually rejected this correct proposal on the grounds that King Yan was his close relative.Zhuo Jing was so angry that he jumped up and shouted: "Aren't Yang Jian and Yang Guang father and son?" ! But Emperor Jianwen still rejected his proposal. Zhu Di walked around the capital in this way, and returned to Peiping in a good mood.However, Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng actually became spectators for a while. This is the level of the so-called strategists who usually plan strategies on the map and win thousands of miles. Of course, not all of Emperor Jianwen's subordinates were people like Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng. Facts have proved that he still has many capable subordinates. In this struggle, Emperor Jianwen was not vulnerable. He also used many tactics, especially in underground work, which was very effective. At the beginning of the first year of Jianwen (1399), Zhu Di sent chief Shi Gecheng to the capital to meet the emperor. In fact, this Ge Cheng was also a spy. His real purpose was to inquire about news, but what Zhu Diwan did not expect was that this person was turned against him. And it was the emperor himself who instigated Ge Cheng's rebellion. As soon as Ge Cheng arrived, Emperor Jianwen let go of his airs and treated Ge Cheng with the honor of Ninth Five-Year. He probably kindly asked him about his family income and encouraged him to work hard and so on.Ge Cheng was very moved that the emperor valued himself so much!When he got a headache, he took the initiative to confess all kinds of illegal activities of Yan Wang Zhu Di and his identity as a spy.Then he honorably accepted the title of Emperor Jianwen's underground worker, saying that he will work hard after returning, and do a good job in the transmission of intelligence information in time, striving to catch Yan Wang and others as soon as possible. A nail was driven in like this. If Ge Cheng is a small spy, then the person to be introduced below is a super spy. Ironically, this person does not know that he is a spy. This person is Zhu Di's wife, the daughter of General Xu Da. Generals often have no offspring, such as Chang Yuchun's son Chang Mao, and Li Wenzhong's son Li Jinglong.But there are always exceptions, Xu Da's son Xu Huizu is an exception.Although he was born in a famous family, he was never proud of it. He was modest and prudent, familiar with the art of war, and loyal to Emperor Jianwen. He took advantage of his nepotism and took the route of his wife. While chatting with his sister, he learned a lot about his brother-in-law Zhu Di's study and work, and informed Zhu Yunqi who had always cared for Zhu Di. In this way, Zhu Di's top-secret information continuously reached Zhu Yunqi's ears. In fact, on this front, Zhu Di's work is not inferior. His sources of information are quite special, mainly provided by the eunuchs around Zhu Yunqi.Zhu Yuanzhang once strictly prohibited eunuchs from intervening in politics. As the orthodox heir, Zhu Yunqi naturally regarded this as a golden rule. All the eunuchs under him were extremely tired and had extremely low status. In fact, eunuchs are also human beings, and they also have their own emotional tendencies. They are very dissatisfied with Zhu Yunqi But nowhere to complain. At this time, Zhu Di, the savior of the world, appeared. He not only actively made friends with the eunuchs in the palace, but also kept giving gifts to these people who no one looked down upon. Therefore, the name of King Yan's kindness spread among the eunuchs, and everyone was willing to help him. King Yan works. Zhu Yunqi had never looked directly at these lowly people he thought, but what he didn't expect was that these lowly people decided the outcome of this struggle to some extent. In addition to these eunuchs, Zhu Di also has a very secret relationship with two people in the court. These two can be said to be his trump card spies. Of course, Zhu Di will not use this trump card until the critical moment. Waiting for the last moment to come. In April, after Zhu Di returned to Peiping, he reported his illness to the court. After a while, his illness became more and more serious, and he became critically ill.This disease is not sudden, but has been brewing for a long time.Because in the coming May, Zhu Di has something that he doesn't want to do but has to do. May is the death day of Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang. According to the etiquette system, Zhu Di should come by himself, but Zhu Di keenly felt that if he went to the capital again this time, he might not be able to come back.But it was impossible not to go on the anniversary of his father's death, so he sent his eldest son Zhu Gaochi and his other two sons Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Gaosui to worship instead of him.Sending three sons at once, in addition to expressing that he attaches importance to this matter, another purpose is to tell the court that he has no dissent. Zhu Di made a wrong calculation this time, the situation at that time was already very clear, Zhu Yunqi made it clear that he wanted to get rid of the vassal king, and sending his son to the capital at this time was simply a hostage. Sure enough, as soon as the three brothers Zhu Gaochi entered Beijing, Qi Tai, Minister of the Ministry of War, advised Emperor Jianwen to take the three as hostages immediately.Emperor Jianwen also agreed, but Huang Zicheng thought that this would scare the snake, and the three should be sent back to the King of Yan, showing that the court had no intention of cutting the vassal in order to paralyze the King of Yan. It really doesn't make sense!Five or six vassal kings had already been dealt with, and the incident was full of uproar. Even the beggars on the road knew that the imperial court was going to take action against King Yan.Scholars really don't know what to do. Emperor Jianwen couldn't make up his mind. At this time, Wei Guogong Xu Huizu came out to speak. According to the relative relationship, these three people are his nephews. He watched these three people grow up and knew their conduct very well. We can't let these three people go back, because these three people can not only be used as hostages, but also have great talents. If they let the tiger go back to the mountain, the consequences will be disastrous. Now it seems that Xu Huizu's fortune-telling level is close to the professional level, and his prophecy was confirmed not long after, but the more amazing is yet to come. Immediately afterwards, Xu Huizu specifically mentioned Zhu Gaoxu. He told Zhu Yunwen that among his three nephews, Zhu Gaoxu was the bravest and the most rascal. Not only would he not be loyal to His Majesty, he would not be loyal to his father either. I have to accept that Xu Huizu's hexagram has been calculated more than 20 years later, and the accuracy rate has reached 100%, far exceeding the weather forecast. But the decision was in the hands of Emperor Jianwen, and he finally made a decision to let go of the three brothers Zhu Gaochi. If Zhu Yunqi knew how much Zhu Gaoxu played in the subsequent war, he would definitely find a place to kill him for this decision he made.It is precisely for this reason that he later lamented: regret not using Huizu's words! Unfortunately, regret and if these two words have never had a market in history. Zhu Di, who was far away in Beiping, had already regretted his own actions. Unexpectedly, his three sons came back unscathed. They ate well and lived well. They seemed to have gained a lot of weight. He jumped up from the bed happily and shouted: "Our father and son can be reunited, this is God helping me!" In fact, it was his opponent Zhu Yunqi who helped him. Zhu Di understands that what should come will come sooner or later, and you can’t hide. If you fight for the throne, you may not have it, but if you don’t fight for it, you will definitely not. And now there is no other way out. Zhu Yunqi is destined not to let him go, he is not the emperor The road is a dead end! Let's fight! However, Zhu Di still lacks one thing, and that is time. Rebellion is not about going camping. Hundreds of thousands of people have to prepare food, clothing and weapons. Play crazy. As a result, there was another mental patient Zhu Di in Beiping, but the strange thing was that while others were crazy at home, Zhu Di was crazy in the downtown area, looking for crowded places. The specific clinical manifestations of mental patient Zhu Di are as follows: 1. Shouting and incoherent speech in the downtown area (but we can guarantee that there will be absolutely no reactionary slogans). 2. Wait until meal time to trespass into private houses, look at people laughing, and rob others of their meals, but without violence (many beggars also have similar behaviors). 3. Sleeping on the street, and still sleeping all day, can be called a sleepy god. This incident alarmed the eyes and ears of Emperor Jianwen, so Emperor Jianwen sent Zhang Bing and Xie Gui to find out what happened. It was June and the weather was like fire in midsummer. The scene was stunned. In the weather where maggots can be covered, Zhu Di actually put on a big quilt and stayed in front of the big fire to "warm up the fire". Just when the two were dumbfounded, Zhu Di also uttered the classic line: "I'm freezing to death!" This must be a mental patient. Zhang Bing and Xie Gui immediately reached a consensus and played it to Emperor Jianwen. How patient it is to avoid misfortune by making such a bad move!What forbearance! Ask what power is in the world, and teach life and death!