"Of course I can't bear it." Quan Wanji said leisurely as he cut his hands behind his back and looked out the window at the cool autumn blue sky. "Although I have been in Prince Wu's Mansion for only a year, I have developed a deep relationship with His Highness Prince Wu. Although he He respects me, fears me, and even hates me. Sometimes when he gets angry, he wants to kill me with a knife, but he always obeys me afterwards. If you are like this, what else can I ask for? Your Highness, King Wu, is actually kind to me. Yes. Moreover, he and I are both enemies and friends, teachers and students, and confidants. Furthermore, His Highness, King Wu, is extremely intelligent and gifted. Although he has some shortcomings occasionally, he is by no means comparable to the prince. How could he bear to let King Wu be implicated by the prince and suffer such an unreasonable disaster?"
"Sir, I deeply appreciate your righteousness, and I admire you." Qin Mubai bowed his hands sincerely.
Unexpectedly, Quan Wanji is still a sweet-tempered person. What he said just now was very emotional and reasonable, and he obviously spoke from the bottom of his heart.
Quan Wanji paced back and forth in the room with his hands cut behind his back, thinking hard about the solution. Qin Mubai did not disturb him and stood quietly aside.
Although Qin Mubai has always been conceited and smart, there are some things that he still dare not be arrogant about. In terms of the principles of officialdom and government, he was obviously not as good as someone like Quan Wanji, who had been in the officialdom for half his life. Instead of coming up with bad ideas on your own, it's better to wait for the power to come up with a perfect plan. There are three cobblers, but they are even more powerful than Zhuge Liang. It is not a bad thing to pool their wisdom.
After a long time, Quan Wanji paused for a moment, turned to look at Qin Mubai and said, "General, what is your clever plan to solve the problem at hand?"
"I just want to hear your master's clever advice." Qin Mubai said, "I am young and energetic when I first entered the official career. I am inexperienced and reckless and stupid. I don't dare to make my own decisions on such a big matter, so I came up with a plan and asked you to get involved. The case was planned together. All the reasons are Qin Mubai’s fault. Please don’t blame me."
"There's no need to say this. We have to think of a way." Quan Wanji's brows knitted into a big knot, and his expression was extremely serious. He walked up to Qin Mubai and whispered, "The most difficult thing right now is this. Sheng Nanhou. In fact, we know that this matter must be related to him, from the embezzlement of dike construction funds to the final flooding of Jishan City and the murder of Zhu Chengwen. I still don’t believe it. The little governor has the guts to do these things! In fact, I had heard before I came to Jishan County that in Jiangzhou, led by Sheng Nanhou, all the local officials were vassal, and they seemed to be on the verge of surrendering. This time the emperor took advantage of the floods in Jishan and sent King Wu and General Qin to come together, with the intention of rectifying Jiangzhou and uprooting this nest of cancers! Do you need to use a prince and the emperor’s personal bodyguard?”
"That's what the gentleman said. It seems that the emperor has already made a plan in advance. In other words, the current situation is a huge test for both King Wu and us." Qin Mubai said, "Test us It is none other than His Majesty the Emperor. In fact, Sheng Nanhou and the officials of Jiangzhou pose no threat to us. The emperor wants to test whether the King of Wu will take this opportunity to inflict insults on the prince and whether he will seize the throne. Ambition; by the way, I will test whether you and I are loyal to our country. Mr. Quan, are you right?"
"Absolutely." Quan Wanji nodded solemnly, "General Qin, I really underestimate you. I didn't expect you to have such insight at such a young age! You are absolutely right. Right now, it is actually the emperor who is putting us in front of us. The question before us is a matter of life and death, and the three of us must have different answers to the emperor!"
"Please teach me, sir, how should the three of us respond?" Qin Mubai bowed his hands and asked for advice sincerely.
"Hmm... let's think about it..." Quan Wanji nodded, paced for a while with his hands behind his back, tapping his forehead lightly with his hands from time to time, and finally walked to the window and stopped for a while.
"Sir...do you have a good plan?" Qin Mubai took a step forward and asked.
"Actually... a good strategy is already in front of us. I didn't think of it. It was you, General Qin, who gave the answer long ago." Quan Wanji turned his back to Qin Mubai and said calmly, "Let King Wu know this matter It's better for Your Highness to pretend not to know. In this way, the emperor may blame him for hiding and neglecting public affairs, but he will never really blame him. Then, I will come forward to report Sheng Nanhou and write a letter to impeach him. , you can tell the truth to the emperor, haven't you already thought about these three answers... Why do you need to ask again?"
Qin Mubai was silent for a long time, then chuckled awkwardly: "Sir, are you still angry with me?"
"No." Quan Wanji shook his head, sighed softly, and said, "I'm not that stingy. Although I fell into your trap for a while and was led by you, it was because I was not as smart as others and lost to you. By the time I woke up, I had completely fallen into your trap. But even if you didn’t set it yourself, I would jump in anyway, because I, Quan Wanji, would never tolerate it. A group of people like Nanhou and Jiangzhou corrupt officials continue to torture our people of the Tang Dynasty! "
"Then... what if this causes a huge earthquake in the imperial court, affecting the whole body and causing the prince to be deposed?" Qin Mubai asked, "In this way, sir, you will become a fuse to detonate an explosion. Violent turmoil!"
"I know." Quan Wanji spat out these three words one by one, paused for a long time, and suddenly turned around, "But isn't this exactly what His Majesty the Emperor needs? Otherwise, why would he send the three of us forward? Come!!!"
Qin Mubai was suddenly startled and was speechless for a long time.
Quan Wanji is absolutely right. With Li Shimin's shrewdness, he must have already had some understanding and inference of everything when he and Li Ke issued such a secret order before leaving. Although it was not a sure thing, Li Shimin must have already known that this matter was closely related to Marquis Shengnan. If Marquis Shengnan is implicated, the sword is pointed at Prince Li Chengqian... Li Shimin's intentions are clearly revealed!
"The emperor... is he really going to depose him?" Qin Mubai murmured.
"The emperor's heart is unpredictable, and this is inconvenient for you and me." Quan Wanji raised his eyebrows and waved his hands repeatedly, saying in a deep voice, "If you want me to die, I have to die. Finding Sheng Nanhou is what the emperor wants. I, Quan If a person is plotted to kill because of this, then he will die for the sake of the emperor and he will die in a worthy manner! If the sky net is wide and sparse, if we can catch all these corrupt officials in Jiangzhou, then I will die for the sake of the people and die in a worthy manner!"
"How magnificent! What a worthy death!" Qin Mubai took a deep breath and clasped his fists tightly, "Sir, if you go, I am willing to go with you!"
"No! In His Majesty's situation, neither you nor Li Ke can die." Quan Wanji's eyes widened and he said in a deep voice like a roar, "Li Ke, the emperor is just testing his filial piety. As long as he doesn't use his teacher to take the initiative to attack the prince, he will be fine; and for you, everyone actually understands that the emperor just wanted you to leave the romantic whirlpool of Chang'an temporarily, so he sent you out together, and by the way, you and you The Baiqi under his command emboldened Li Ke. In fact, you are the one who has nothing to do with this case, so you, an innocent person, do not need to die. And I, Quan Wanji, am Li Ke's teacher and was sent by the emperor to correct him. If I don’t come forward in this matter, it will be a crime worthy of death!”
"Mr. Quan... If you do this, you will be so wronged!" Qin Mubai sighed.
"No." Quan Wanji snorted resolutely, "I died loyally and righteously as a minister, and I, Quan Wanji, deserved to die. In fact, if I did this, His Majesty the Emperor would not kill me, but would reward me. It's just that In this way, I will offend the prince and all the people in the prince's camp, and they will be at odds with me. But it doesn't matter. Over the years, I have offended everyone from the emperor to the common people. I can’t even count them. The only thing I am afraid of and worried about is that it will cause such a huge shock as the abolition of Li. But just now I suddenly figured it out - if the emperor really knew it when he sent us, Then all he lacks is an excuse. Even if Jiangzhou can't give him this excuse, he can do it elsewhere. Instead of letting the emperor go through repeated troubles, it's better for me, Quan Wanji, to go ahead and defeat the emperor. Your Majesty will give you what you need. Isn’t it the duty of a minister to solve the country’s problems and relieve the king’s worries?”
Qin Mubai was speechless after listening. I just sighed in my heart: The loyal ministers in the feudal era had such an awareness... If it were me, Qin Mubai, I would definitely not be able to do that. Quan Wanji, is this considered pedantic and foolish, or upright and honest? I think that in different eras, there will be different understandings of his approach and spirit...
"Now, everything is business as usual. Let's just pretend that nothing happened." Quan Wanji said, "We should put the overall situation first and get the disaster relief and relief work done first. Once this major matter is done, I will have my own opinion. You don’t have to worry about all this. From today on, you can focus on accompanying His Highness and helping him to provide relief to the people. Just leave all matters concerning this case to me and I will get to the bottom of it. Yes, but you can rest assured that it won’t scare the snake away.”
"If you need help, Mr. Quan, just speak up." Qin Mubai said with a somewhat apologetic hand, "From now on, I will work with you in the same boat!"
Quan Wanji turned to look at Qin Mubai with a stern expression, and nodded lightly: "Yes!"
Qin Mubai didn't feel much relieved either. In fact, he also knew that he could completely disassociate himself from the case and let the emperor decide. But if there was something difficult to decide, just let him know in secret and then let the emperor decide. However, if he acts on his own without consulting Li Ke and Quan Wanji, he will put them in a passive position and may even cost them their lives.
I didn't kill Boren, but Boren died because of me.
One is Li Ke, who is in love with his sister, is kind to me, and treats me like a close friend and brother, and the other is an upright and selfless loyal minister like Quan Wanji... How can I be embarrassed if I want to frame them? !
[Please give me some red tickets! ]