If it was said that adding chairs to the discussion hall was adding oil to the fire, it was the young vassal king's own trap. Then the White Feather Cavalry Commander Yuan Nanting brought several retired generals to the discussion hall, it was one disaster after another. Not only did the former cavalry deputy commander Wei Tieshan and the former infantry deputy commander Liu Yuanji come, even Lin Doufang came. The latter had not only beaten up Liu Yuanji who wanted to fight for Zhong Hongwu at the Liangzhou border, he had also appeared with Partridge Zhou Kang in the procession to send off His Royal Highness. This old soldier of the Xu family had almost become in-laws with Xu Xiao back then. So while Lin Doufang had retired from Beiliang for many years, in the eyes of the masters of the Beiliang cavalry of the two dynasties, he was a very special existence, far from being comparable to ordinary Beiliang generals. The discussion hall was already crowded, and after adding chairs for Liu Jinu, Wang Lingbao and the other heroes, when Lin Doufang and the others sat down, the discussion hall that had been empty for many years was overcrowded tonight. At this time, there were nearly sixty chairs in the discussion hall. The main generals of Beiliang's cavalry and infantry, the generals of the three provinces, the local officers with real power, the Qingliang Mountain civil officials and strategists were all gathered together. A storm was coming.
After Lin Doufang sat down, he looked around. There were some young faces, but more were old faces that he had known for half his life. The old man had a complicated expression. Looking at the situation, the two sides had not broken through the window paper, so he did not come too late. Although they were two sides, in the end, it was just Hsu Fengnian and all of Beiliang. This old soldier who had once risked his life for the Xu family had a dazed expression. He thought back to the past, after winning the Battle of the Western Wall, the general had faced a similar situation. With Zhao Changling as the leader, he strongly advocated that the Zhao family of Liyang, who had shown signs of being cooked after the cunning rabbit was killed, be controlled by the river. Yan Wenluan, who was still sitting in the discussion hall, was one of those people. There were also Xu Pu and Wu Yong, who were no longer in Beiliang, and Zhong Hongwu, who was already dead. Of course, Lin Doufang himself was one of them. It was just that the new and old Prince Liang had been together twice. It was similar but also different. After all, at that time, the General had Li Yishan by his side. Except for the scheming Chen Zhibao, the other five adopted sons who had outstanding military achievements stood firmly behind the General. But today's young king seemed to have really fallen into a situation of being betrayed by his friends and family.
Lin Doufang glanced at the brocade partridge without showing any emotion. It was said that Zhou Kang was forced to hand over part of his military power in Beicheng, so he was already at odds with the Prince. Lin Doufang's gaze moved to the Beiliang Governor Chu Lushan and the cavalry commander Yuan Zuozong. Chu Lushan was looking down at his feet like he was counting ants. Yuan Baixiong was resting with his eyes closed. Beside the two, Qi Dangguo, who was also the General's adopted son, straightened his back and clenched his fists. He looked like he wanted to say something but stopped. This made this burly general look somewhat comical. Lin Doufang glanced at Tian Peifang, who was about to step down as the provincial governor of Liangzhou. This nominal third civil official of Beiliang was probably like a lamb standing between wolves, tigers, and leopards. Lin Doufang sighed quietly. He had long received the news that they were going to have an audience with the Prince on New Year's Eve. Chen Yunchui, who still held great power in the border army, told him about it. He didn't say anything in detail. He only said that all the high-ranking people in Beiliang would go to the Prince's Mansion. He only asked Lin Doufang if he wanted to join in the fun. Lin Doufang knew that it wouldn't be something pleasant. He didn't want to get involved in this mess, but he couldn't hold it in. He was afraid that the Prince's hard-earned family property would fall apart overnight. In the end, Lin Doufang called his life-saving brother, Liu Saner, and the old and wise Wei Tieshan. He hoped that no matter what happened, the three old men would be willing to sacrifice their lives to be the peacemakers so that things wouldn't get out of hand. The strange thing was that when they arrived at the Prince's Mansion, Yuan Nanting had been waiting there for a long time. He said that Yan Wenluan and Chu Lushan had passed a message to the three old men, telling them to wait and see. Lin Doufang, who had rushed to Liangzhou in a hurry, immediately felt a surge of anger. However, because Yuan Nanting was one of the old soldiers who had sent off His Royal Highness, Lin Doufang held back his anger and didn't get angry at him on the spot.
In the hall, there was no noisy chatter of "the emperor and his subjects are suitable for each other", and the group of civil and military officials did not exchange pleasantries either. Lin Doufang, Wei Tieshan, and Liu Yuanji all felt a kind of suffocating pressure. At this time and place, silence was better than words. It wasn't hard to imagine how much pressure the young King was under. Liu Yuanji had a rough temper and was used to being careless. He turned to He Zhong, who was sitting next to him, and suddenly asked in a low voice, "Old He, what do you want to do? Tell me, Liu Saner, so that I don't feel uncomfortable. It's too uncomfortable to have a knife on my neck. "
The old general, who had been ill in recent years, hesitated for a moment. He lowered his voice and said calmly, "We don't know when the Beimang barbarians will send their army to the border. At this time, the Prince wants to lead an elite cavalry to the south to the Central Plains …"
Liu Yuanji immediately glared at him and said, "What? Are we finally going to kill those ungrateful Liyang?! Good thing, count me in! I don't want to continue to be the deputy commander of the infantry after I come back. If I can be a general and have twenty to thirty thousand soldiers, it's enough. Do you want to attack Xishu or Hezhou first? But let's make a deal, I want to be the vanguard general … "
In the past, when Liu Yuanji returned to his hometown from outside the Great Wall, the old general immediately beat his three offending sons half to death, and almost personally ran to Mount Qing Liang to bring a bramble and ask for punishment. Only after the Great General wrote a letter to Liu Yuanji did he give up. However, very quickly the old general personally escorted his three sons to Yan Wenluan's army, saying that they could throw them to wherever in Youzhou it was easy for people to die. Even if they died, it didn't matter. But what was more interesting was that Yan Wenluan said to Liu Yuanji, which made Liu Saner so angry. Yan Wenluan said in front of the old man that the Youzhou infantry didn't accept garbage. Because of this, the two old men almost broke off their friendship. In the end, it was Chen Yunchui who helped Liu Yuanji's three sons to join the army.
Lin Doufang asked softly, "Old General He, what happened?"
He Zhong suddenly said helplessly, "Do you know the Empress of West Chu, Jiang Si?"
Lin Doufang nodded, "It's a hot topic. I even heard about it in the countryside. It's said that this woman was saved by the general and had been secretly kept in the Prince's mansion. Later, she was taken away by Cao Changqing. That's why West Chu was reinstated."
Lin Doufang frowned after saying this, "Could it be …?"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
