Gao Qiu really kept his promise this time. After the secret meeting at Fan Lou, all the criticisms and criticisms he made against the prince before the party members in the DPRK quickly stopped. And one of their parties was the vanguard in crusade against the impeachment of the prince for his reckless behavior and the disregard of human life. Now that they are withdrawing, other forces in the DPRK will also stop.
As a result, the courtiers who did not dare to speak out to protect the prince finally seized the opportunity. In just a few days, memorials to excuse him and plead for mercy were also sent to the Yintai Department like snowflakes. The direction of the wind suddenly changed 180 degrees.
Even Zhao Ji had not expected this. Originally, he really wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to capture the crown prince Zhao Heng. But now, seeing how the ministers reacted, he hesitated and could only hold off for the time being. Set it aside to see the effects.
In fact, Gao Qiu's duplicitous behavior was considered taboo in the court. If it was not a matter of life and death for his only son, he would not dare to take such risks. Fortunately, Zhao Ji was different from those heroes who guessed. In addition, he, Captain Gao, had enough wings to actually let him resolve the matter smoothly and satisfactorily.
Naturally, there was a reason why Cai Jing and other powerful ministers let him go. As for the whole story, apart from not wanting to lose both sides in a fight with Gao Qiu, the more important thing was that they really had no intention of offending the current prince. After all, the prince is the future king, and he has great righteousness. There are many loyal and conservative officials who speak up for him. If there is a dispute, they may not be able to escape intact. Now that Gao Qiu has joined forces with the prince, it is not something they are willing to provoke at will. Especially when they themselves are not likely to benefit from it, officials in the DPRK are still reluctant to do things that harm others and do not benefit themselves.
The previously loud impeachment criticism against the prince finally subsided quickly, but the investigation of the responsibility for the incident in the capital that day has not completely stopped. Soon, the courtiers found a brand new target - Yue Hou Sun Tu!
Previously, because everyone focused their attention on the higher-status prince, he was ignored, and only a few people impeached him. But now, as they no longer embarrass the prince, the officials suddenly discovered that the Marquis of Yue was the real driving force behind the matter. He was the one who contacted the officials of the three yamen, took action personally, and even ordered the waterway below to be filled with water. The smoke that caused thousands of lives to be choked and killed was also his people - the prince's warrant had been selectively ignored by them - which allowed the officials to find the prince's scapegoat, and various impeachments started again.
It has only been two days since the twelfth lunar month, and hundreds of copies of the impeachment against Sun Tu have been piled up in the Yintai Department, and many of them have been sent to the palace. In these chapters, Sun Tu was completely described by them as a cruel and murderous villain who stole power and acted cruelly. Some people even brought up old stories and brought out his previous crimes of killing court officials in Shandong and Jiangnan many times as evidence, thinking that his crimes were so heinous that he should be executed.
In fact, how many of the officials who impeached Sun Tu were motivated by their own intentions, and how many were instigated by certain people, but it is hard to say without even knowing what kind of person Sun Tu was. Anyway, now it has become the right thing for the imperial court to condemn and impeach Sun Tu. As for whether his doing so will eliminate major troubles for Tokyo, and what do the people think of this? These imperial courts
But I don't think about it at all.
It was also under such circumstances that Sun Tu's biggest weakness was finally exposed - he had almost no foothold in the court, and he had risen too fast, and he still had no allies in the capital. At this critical moment, At this moment, there was no one who could speak out for him.
It turns out that there is still a Tong Guan to rely on. But at this time, Tong Shuai had been staying in the north and was busy preparing for the Northern Expedition. How could he be the enemy of so many forces in the capital for his sake? Even if he comes in person, he can't resist it, let alone those henchmen. All they could do was not to add insult to injury and follow others to impeach and denounce Sun Tu.
As for other people in the court who were good friends with Sun Tu, Di Huchen was originally a member of the prince's party, so it was naturally impossible for him to suddenly change the direction of the attack at this time. Di Yingyang was even more humble and could not even hand over the memorial. . The family members of the Huben Army's subordinates all had their own political parties, and it was impossible for them to change their tune just because of a few words from their son. Some people even acted more urgently to impeach Sun Tu in order to express their position.
It can be said that Sun Tu is now in a precarious situation, surrounded by enemies. Being in the middle of the court is like a lonely boat falling on the vast sea. When the wind and waves rise, it may be completely overturned at any time. In the eyes of many people, if it hadn't been for the Song Dynasty's tradition of not killing scholar-bureaucrats, he would have really lost his life this time.
Although the emperor has not yet made a final decision to punish him, in the eyes of many people, this young general and rare young marquis who has made many contributions to the court is probably at the end of his life. Even if he could really save his life, it would be difficult to maintain his mission. But once he was in the capital with no mission and enemies everywhere, Sun Tu's future would be really gloomy and full of thorns.
The Palace Chief was the first to react. With just one order, Gao Qiu took back all the military power from Sun Tu. Although he still held the post of Yuhou, the Chief of the Palace, he was just an idler. Worse, no real power anymore. In order to embarrass him, Gao Qiu specially sent Di Huchen to deliver the decision.
Although Di Huchen was filled with guilt, he could only obey the orders. On the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, he came to see Sun Tu again with the order in hand. Originally, when he thought about it, Sun Tu would be very angry after knowing this, and he might even kick himself out of the house because he blamed himself. But the result was far beyond his expectation.
Sun Tu, who was already in a whirlpool and might not be able to protect himself at any time, seemed quite calm at this time. He even had time to take his son Hu Tou to have a snowball fight in the backyard of his home. When Di Huchen was led to him, our Yue Hou had a lot of snow foam on his head, and he looked a little embarrassed.
"Sanlang, you..." Di Huchen looked at the other party in a daze. The comforting words he had prepared could not be uttered at this time.
Sun Tu smiled and held his son in his arms, nodded to Di Huchen and said, "Second brother is here today on the order of Gao Qiu? He wants to make fun of me..."
"You...had expected it?"
"What's so hard to guess? This is all he has achieved. A villain who succeeds is also a villain." Sun Tu commented disdainfully, and then handed his son over to Ya'er, who had already heard the news. : "Second brother, you don't have to feel guilty. Even if you don't come, you still
Others will still come. And compared to you, others will only show more arrogance and want to make me stand down. "
"Haha, you see clearly, and you outshine me." Di Huchen smiled bitterly and shook his head: "But in the final analysis, I failed you. If I hadn't helped you get things done for the sake of the prince. , you wouldn’t end up like this today.”
"So I don't plan to invite you, second brother, to sit down and talk today, nor will I give you tea." Sun Tu said and stepped forward to get the warrant. He only opened it and glanced at it before he threw it aside. Since I had known that Gao Qiu would make this arrangement, there was no need to watch.
However, there was still a hint of pity on Sun Tu's face: "It's a pity for the Tiger and Ben Army. Originally, under my leadership, they could slowly become a rare elite among the Forbidden Army, but then others would intervene. , I’m afraid it will be beaten back to its original form again.”
"Are you still worried about the Hu Ben Army at this time?" Di Huchen was a little shocked. His brother-in-law was really too worried. This was so urgent. He actually had time to think about other things
Sun Tu chuckled: "I know what you are worried about, second brother. Obviously those guys in the court cannot let me go so easily."
"In my opinion, this is just the beginning. When all your responsibilities are taken away, it means that you no longer have any ability to resist and protect yourself. By then, they will naturally have all the means to control you. ." Di Huchen looked worried: "Are you really not worried about yourself at all? I know that you have experienced many wars, and you have the most rich experience in fighting on the battlefield, but this court battle has disappeared. Blood, but sometimes it is more dangerous and terrifying than real swords and guns. My ancestor Di Wuxiang has been fighting for many years and has rarely suffered a defeat. But in the end, when he got to the court, he couldn't achieve his ambitions and ended up in a dismal end
"There is a huge difference between civil and military forces. Now that you have no job to protect you and you have made many enemies, I'm afraid it won't be long before you become the target of public criticism. Even if you are fine, they can find all kinds of crimes. .”
Sun Tu could see that Di Huchen was really worried about him this time, and he even did not hesitate to talk about his ancestors' affairs. This made him feel warm in his heart, and his resentment towards his uncle completely dissipated.
At that moment, he smiled again: "I know that I am in a difficult situation, and there may be more troubles coming one after another. However, I, Sun Tu, am not a fool, and I can let them do whatever they want. I dared that day After returning to the capital from Jiangnan, we have already made preparations."
"Do you... have a backup plan?" Di Huchen's heart suddenly jumped, as if he had caught something.
Sun Tu didn't say any more, he just said: "Second brother, don't worry about my affairs here. If you really want to help me, say a few good words for the brothers in the Huben Army, and at least give them the reward I promised them before." Beg for it, otherwise their hard work in begging for the thief the day before yesterday will be in vain."
"I understand." Di Huchen nodded in agreement: "Then you can rest at home and recuperate. Fortunately, it is the New Year's Day right now. Even if those people have any ideas, they can only delay it for a while."
"Yes, the Chinese New Year is coming soon. Debts are not enough for the Chinese New Year..." Sun Tu agreed, but the last sentence was inaudible. Even Di Huchen in front of him couldn't hear clearly what he was saying.