The news of Cheng Min's death came back to Kyoto. Emperor Yan Ping was furious and asked the Ministry of War to thoroughly investigate the mystery of Cheng Min's death.
"How come the commander-in-chief of an army, leading an army of 100,000 people, died in an unknown manner?"
Wei Guangdu felt quite disdainful in his heart, but still replied respectfully: " Reporting back to Your Majesty, Cheng Min led an army of 100,000 to Zhengping County a few days ago. This campaign lasted for half a month. Later, King Zhao sent troops to surprise Jinyang and destroyed Jinyang's defenses. Jinyang almost fell, and Cheng Min had to lead a large army to come back for reinforcements. On the way to Jinyang, he was ambushed by King Zhao. Cheng Min abandoned the army and fled, and eventually died under Jinyang City."
Emperor Yan Ping felt that there was something fishy about Cheng Min's death. The cause of his death was indeed a bit disgraceful. The commander was greedy for life and feared death, so he abandoned the army and fled. It was a common practice in the military for the deserter to be beheaded and sacrificed to the flag. Saying that he had died for his country had already given the Cheng family face, and Emperor Yan Ping's anger slowly subsided. . Cheng Min was not a talented person, but it was just a nepotism, as a sign of his favor to the Cheng family. Naturally, he would not be sad about Cheng Min's death. There was no shortage of clan members around the Cheng family.
Emperor Yan Ping snorted angrily and asked: "Jinyang is an important military place that military strategists of all ages have fought for. There are still 200,000 troops stationed in Jinyang City. How could it be almost lost? This Jinyang guard general Who is it? He is guilty of failing to defend the city!"
Upon hearing this, Wei Guangdu lifted up the hem of his robe and knelt down, saying, "This matter is the fault of Weichen and has nothing to do with Jinyang. "
Emperor Yan Ping frowned and looked at Wei Guangdu with some confusion. This Wei Guangdu was the father-in-law of King Li Jun of the Jin Dynasty. When he first made him Minister of the Ministry of War, his intention was to poison Li Jun. At that time, he could only choose to stand on Emperor Yan Ping's side. Wei Guangdu was a capable minister and a pillar of talent. Coupled with the wealth behind the Wei family, Emperor Yan Ping naturally wanted to take it for his own use. Unexpectedly, after several attempts, Li Han failed to be completely killed, and he was allowed to have an heir with the Wei family. Now it was impossible for Wei Guangdu to stand on his side.
It’s not that Emperor Yan Ping doesn’t want to replace Wei Guangdu, he really doesn’t have a suitable candidate, and wars are happening frequently nowadays. Even if he hates the people of the Jin Dynasty, he will not attack them at this time. .
"What do Wei Qing mean by these words?"
"Your Majesty, a few days ago there was news from the King of Jin, stating that Li Yunxu, the number one scholar, was an enemy of the enemy. Please take more precautions and be careful. The minister thought that this person had traveled among various ministries and might not be able to get some secrets, so he checked the defense plans and other important military information in various places, and found no traces of being stolen. Therefore, he just reminded the adults of other ministries to pay attention, and failed to discover this son in time. The conspiracy led to the defeat of our army, please forgive me."
Emperor Yan Ping was furious. In the final analysis, the fault still lies with him. There is no exception for allowing the number one scholar to travel in various ministries. He set this precedent, and it was also his fault that he did not investigate Li Yunxu's details clearly and believed him only after hearing Cheng Xueqi's words. Emperor Yan Ping suddenly felt a chill in his heart. Cheng Xueqi's deep understanding of Li YunxuAre you aware of it? What role does she play in this process?
When Emperor Yan Ping became suspicious of the Lu family, it seemed that many things were out of the ordinary. He could no longer trust anyone, only the emperor's suspicion and the checks and balances of power.
Fang Dacheng, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, also came out and knelt down and said: "This matter is due to my negligence. Please give me the death penalty!"
Fang Dacheng, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, is neutral and only An old minister who was loyal to Emperor Yan Ping, so even if Fang Dacheng made mistakes, he still had to defend him to avoid chilling the hearts of his ministers.
"That's all. The most important thing now is to keep Jinyang intact, and at the same time regain Zhengping. Who do you think can serve as the commander-in-chief of the Huben Army?"
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Pei Lun, the Minister of Punishment, came out and said: "Your Majesty, I think King Chen can take on this important task."
Pei Lun did not speak much in the court. He spoke just now and kept a low profile for too long, which made Emperor Yan Ping forget that Pei Lun was the father-in-law of Chen Wang Li Wei.
Four years ago, he instructed the prince to take Li Jun's life. At that time, in order to counter the prince and prevent the prince's family from becoming dominant in the court, he bypassed Li Jun and recommended Li Wei to marry Pei. Lun's daughter, the purpose is to pit the prince against King Chen. During that period, the effect was indeed good, and the competition between the two factions for fame and fortune made his position much more stable. As Li Jun returned to the court, the two factions gradually disappeared. The prince's family gradually moved closer to the King of Jin, while the King Chen's family fell silent. In the court, except for Pei Lun who could not be ignored because he was the father-in-law of King Chen, The other officials of King Chen's line almost didn't speak much.
Let King Chen take over the Huben Army? Emperor Yan Ping had a profound vision and seemed to be analyzing the pros and cons of this.
There is really no one in the Cheng family who can help him rise to power. It is war time now, and he needs a general who can win battles to lead the army to victory, but this person must not be a general from Li Jun's family. Looking at it, There are really very few people in the court who can meet his expectations.
Emperor Yan Ping finally nodded, because the military situation was urgent and he really couldn't find any more suitable candidate.
The reason why Li Wei chose this time to ask Emperor Yan Ping for military power was because he was sure that Emperor Yan Ping would definitely choose to hand over the military power to him when there was no one available. Li Wei is still young and needs to experience many things. Always having a background is not good for his future, so the queen asked Pei Lun to give him a hand and go out to gain experience.
Li Wei received the imperial edict, arranged everything properly, and rushed to Jinyang as soon as possible.
In Jinyang City, people rushed eight hundred miles in advance to tell Fuliang and the others about the matter, asking them to cooperate with Li Wei to reorganize the military. The three of them got together again to discuss the matter.
"Prince Chen is our prince's younger brother, how can we deal with this?"
Zhang Guang is also in trouble. This Prince Chen is not Cheng Min, so he cannot be killed just by asking. kill, and if Li Jun knew about it, I'm afraid he would still blame them. If you want to make Li Han return to Jinyang by causing an accident for the coach, this road will not work.
"Let's take a look first and then talk about it."
Li Wei came to Jinyang and after checking the damage, he knew that this matter was not an overnight success and wanted to repair Jinyang in a short time. It seems impossible to recapture Zhengping through city defense. Li Wei did not rush for success, but carried out the tasks one by one very steadily. The side-stepping strategy formulated by Zhang Guang and others was also adopted by Li Wei. Both parties were waiting for a suitable opportunity to have a big fight.