The Great Wei Music Bureau

Chapter 235: Thunderclouds (Part )

Last time we talked about that Pei Zhenhai, the commander-in-chief of the anti-Liang faction, had important matters to report. This time, let’s continue reading and see what he has to say.

The dark clouds from the north are still floating towards Jiankang, and now cumulonimbus clouds are gathering above Jiankang City. The clouds are getting higher and higher, and I really don’t know how heavy the rain will be.

In the imperial study, Xiao Yongming frowned and said, "What happened today? There has never been a break in the flow of things!"

Xiao Zongqing said: "If your Majesty feels tired, you might as well take a rest and let General Pei report again tomorrow."

Xiao Yongming waved his hand and said, "Governing such a big country, how can you just rest whenever you want? Well, since he's here, let him in."

After kneeling, Pei Zhenhai saluted the three princes, then stood aside without saying a word. Xiao Yongming said, "They are all my sons, so just say whatever you want to say, no need to hide it."

Pei Zhenhai bowed and said, "Your Majesty, Lord Shen has recently met with Northern Wei's Prince of Ping'an Tuoba Li and Minister of Rites Lu Yu in private. Although I don't know what they talked about specifically, I can be sure that both parties have reached an agreement.

We checked the secret letters sent by Tuoba Li and Lu Yu to the Northern Wei. Since secret letters are often sent multiple times, in order to avoid alerting the enemy, we only copied down the contents of the secret letters and sent the messengers back to the Northern Wei. These are two secret letters. Please have a look, Your Majesty."

Eunuch Xu took the two letters and handed them to Xiao Yongming, who read them and asked, "What are these black tortoise shells and thousand spirit wood used for?"

"Your Majesty, on his way back from Kuaiji, Lord Shen deliberately took a detour to Qiyun Mountain and asked about the matter of re-gathering the spirit. These two things are used as spiritual materials for re-gathering the spirit. The black tortoise only grows in the northern sea, and we don't have it in Daliang, and the Thousand Spirit Wood is even rarer than in a thousand years."

Xiao Yongming muttered, "So, the rumor that Shen Lu's spirit was sucked away by the fox demon is true? Shen Yue is indeed trying to find a way to help his son regain his spirit."

"Reporting to your majesty, the fox demon in the Yu Mansion has been confirmed. We secretly checked Liu's body and found that she had been dead for several months. During this period, it was the fox demon who pretended to be Liu. However, I am incompetent and do not know why the fox demon went to the Yu Mansion."

Xiao Yongming waved his hand and said, "You have done very well. I still want to know why Shen Yue insisted on killing Li Yi, why he insisted on killing his family against my will, and why he insisted on letting Qizhen marry to the Northern Wei."

Pei Zhenhai replied: "The agreement between Lord Shen and Tuoba Li should be related to the marriage. I guess it was in accordance with the intention of the Queen Mother of Northern Wei. Your Majesty, please allow me to say something disrespectful. This marriage was originally targeted by the Queen Mother of Northern Wei against your Majesty, just to avenge the past.

The Northern Wei Dynasty had the custom of leaving the son behind and the mother behind. If it weren't for Empress Dowager Xiao bringing the orthodox customs of the Central Plains to the Northern Wei Dynasty, they would still be barbaric. Although this Prince Ping'an Tuoba Lifei is Empress Dowager Xiao's biological son, he is an adopted son. He naturally wants to repay the grace of raising him, so it is reasonable for him to conspire with Lord Shen to force His Majesty to marry Princess Huaxuan far away. "

Xiao Yongming shouted angrily: "How dare Shen Yue send my daughter to the fire pit for his own son! Who is the emperor of Daliang?"

The three princes and Pei Zhenhai knelt down together and shouted: "Your Majesty, calm down and take care of your health!"

Xiao Yongming threw all three secret letters to the ground and said angrily: "Shen Yue has also joined forces with the Northern Wei clan to get rid of Li Yi. He knew that Li Yi had surrendered, but he still wanted to do this. He only cares about his own interests. He doesn't take me seriously at all!"

After the three princes picked up the secret letter and read it, they all frowned. The second prince was shocked and said, "Father, this... Lord Shen has always been loyal. He should not betray our Daliang for his own selfish interests."

The prince was displeased and said, "I don't agree with what you said, second brother. Look at what Lu Yu wrote in his secret letter. He used the harm of the imperial examination, the hatred of Su Xiao, and the Qianling Wood to convince Shen Yue to help get rid of Li Yi. Isn't this personal gain or something else?"

Xiao Yongming looked at the frowning Xiao Zonggang and asked, "Why don't you say anything? Why are you frowning all the time?"

Xiao Zonggang shook his head and sighed, "Father, the Emperor of Northern Wei wrote a secret letter to Nangong Guan, the commander of the Dingnan Army, stating that if Li Yi died in Liang, he would directly send troops south. This is what worries me. Li Yi was assassinated outside the palace. No matter what personal grudge he had with Lord Shen, this is a contempt for the prestige of our Daliang. Father must punish him. But if Li Yi is really killed, I'm afraid the two countries will go to war..."

The second prince Xiao Zongji said unhappily, "If you want to fight, then fight. Why should we be afraid of him? Father, we have the Yangtze River as our natural barrier and are invincible in naval battles. The Wei army is only known for its cavalry. Are we afraid that they will equip their horses with wings and fly across the Yangtze River?"

Xiao Zonggang shook his head and said, "Brother, the Yangtze River can indeed stop the Wei cavalry, but there is no natural barrier in the Jianghuai area. What if the Northern Wei only takes the Jianghuai area and does not cross the Yangtze River? Brother, haven't you heard that Tuoba Tao built seven fortifications in the north of the Yangtze River, scaring the people so much that they dared not go out on the boats and even looked north?"

"Stop trying to boost others' morale and destroy your own prestige! Back then, General Chen Qingzhi led his army to capture more than 20 cities in the Northern Wei Dynasty in one month. The people of Wei lined the streets to welcome him wherever he went. Haven't you heard of this, Third Brother?"

"Of course I have heard of it, but General Chen died young. Now, apart from Wei Hu, who is brave but not wise, who else in Daliang can stop the Wei army's cavalry?"

Xiao Zongji swung his sleeves and saluted, "Father, I want to fight! I am willing to sign a military order. If I cannot stop the Wei army in the Jianghuai area, I am willing to die to apologize! I only ask that you allow me to control the Jianghuai army and civilians and mobilize the Yanjia new army to fight!"

The prince was surprised and asked, "Control the soldiers and civilians in Jianghuai? Are you planning to gamble your military achievements with the lives of the people in Jianghuai?"

"Brother, what do you mean by this? Are you saying that I want to be crowned king and divide the land?"

"Hey, I didn't say that! I meant what I said literally. You can't gamble with the lives of millions of people in Jianghuai! What's more, there is the emperor's uncle guarding Shouyang. If you want to control the soldiers and civilians in Jianghuai, don't you have to control the emperor's uncle as well? Isn't this a bit disrespectful to the elders?"

"you!"

Xiao Yongming slammed the table and shouted angrily: "Shut up! Shut up! You guys are giving me a headache!"

"Father, calm down and take care of your health!"

"Your Majesty, calm down, the dragon body is important!"

"Take care of yourself? Humph, if you keep quarreling like this, I will be pissed off to death! After quarreling for so long, have you come up with a solution? No! What's the point of quarreling! As a family, shouldn't harmony be the most precious thing? Didn't I teach you what brotherly love and respect is through my words and deeds?"

At this moment, the eunuch outside the door came to report, "Your Majesty, the Prince of Linjiang wants to see you!"

Xiao Yongming was stunned and muttered, "Why is he here just when we were talking about brotherly love? What is this brat doing here? Well! He must be here for no good reason! Well, I'm about to be pissed off by the three of you, so I'll take it out on him! Zhenhai, please leave first and let the King of Linjiang come in."

Pei Zhenhai bowed and left. When he was about to leave, he was stopped by Xiao Yonghong. He asked, "Hey, hey, hey, don't leave in a hurry. Tell me what's going on inside? How does my brother feel?"

Pei Zhenhai said in embarrassment: "This... this..."

Xiao Yonghong said unhappily: "Is there anything you cannot tell me? Tell me now! Otherwise I will not let you go! Tell me now!"

Pei Zhenhai glanced at the imperial study and whispered, "Your Majesty is not in a very good mood, so it would be better for you to be careful."

"Oh, if that's the case, then I won't go in. Come on, I'll go with you." After saying that, Xiao Yonghong pulled Pei Zhenhai out.

Eunuch Xu walked out of the imperial study to stop him and said, "Hey, Your Majesty, why are you leaving now? Didn't you say you had something to report? His Majesty is still waiting for you inside!"

"Ah, it's nothing serious. Let's not talk about it today. Let's talk about it another day, another day!"

Xiao Yongming's voice came from the imperial study: "Since you are here, why don't you get in quickly!"

Eunuch Xu pointed at the gate and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, listen, His Majesty has spoken, and you can't disobey his order, right?"

Xiao Yonghong muttered with a wronged look on his face: "Disobeying the order? It's not like I haven't disobeyed the order before. My brother is in a bad mood today, so I won't bother with this. I'm leaving now. You can tell my brother that I haven't been here, I haven't been here!"

"Xiao Yonghong, get in here!"

After hearing Xiao Yongming's roar, Xiao Yonghong no longer dared to think of running away. He walked to the door and looked out. Seeing the three princes, he thought that with the younger generations around, his brother the emperor would at least give him some face. Then he straightened his body, tidied his clothes, and walked inside.

But before the ceremony was over, Xiao Yongming pointed at his brother and scolded him, "You better have something serious to do here today! The situation in the northern border is tense, and Kuaiji is investigating corruption in river management. I'm so busy that I haven't figured out a plan yet. If you cause trouble for me again, I guarantee you'll be in big trouble!"

Xiao Yonghong felt something was wrong when he heard this. His brother was not giving him any face and was taking it out on him, so he immediately bowed and said, "Hey, brother, I do have something important to do! I have also heard about the situation in the northern border and know that you are in trouble. I have come here to help you with some advice! Hey, my nephews are here!"

The three princes saluted the uncle. Xiao Yongming looked at his sons and said playfully, "Hey, did the sun rise from the west today? Your uncle, who never asks about government affairs, actually wants to give me some advice! Do you think his advice is worth listening to?"

The prince bowed and said, "Uncle Emperor also wants to share your worries. It's a good intention. Your Majesty, you might as well listen. Who knows, he might have some brilliant ideas that can break this situation."

"Ah, the prince is right! My royal brother, don't think that I am useless just because I don't care about government affairs. In fact, I have a very clear mind."

Xiao Yongming smiled and said, "What? Weird? Well, then I'd like to hear what ideas your peculiar mind can come up with. Go ahead!"

Xiao Yonghong said seriously: "I met Li Yi before."

Just this sentence made Xiao Yongming immediately nervous and asked, "Did you meet Li Yi? What did he say? What is he going to do?"

"Well, he almost smashed Le Zonghui. Fortunately, I arrived in time and the loss was not big. He just beat Zhang Hongchen up. Otherwise, I really don't know how much money would have been spent..."

Xiao Zongji interrupted, "Uncle, it's already late, please talk about the important things and don't worry about Le Zonghui!"

"How can President Le just ignore it? That's your uncle's business! We can't just ignore it!"

"Xiao Yonghong!" Xiao Yongming shouted, and Xiao Yonghong immediately saluted and said, "Well, he should have come to Jiankang for Su Xiao."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Zongji immediately bowed and said, "Father, since Li Yi has arrived in Jiankang, I will lead my men to set up an ambush and capture him!"

Xiao Yonghong stretched out his hand to stop Xiao Zongji and said unhappily: "Hey, why are you trying to capture him? You can't beat him. If they really fight, he'll hurt you again!"

Xiao Yongming waved his hand to signal him to wait, then turned his head and asked Xiao Yonghong: "What did he say to you?"

“Well, he said that if anything happens to Lidya Su, I won’t think about it.”

Xiao Zongji had been threatened by Li Yi before, so he could not bear to hear this. He bowed again and said, "Father, Li Yi has repeatedly defied the majesty of heaven. He threatened me before, and now he is threatening my uncle. Are we going to let him be so presumptuous?"

Xiao Yonghong said unhappily, "Why are you so impulsive, kid? I don't feel threatened by him! Li Yi is a scholar, not a vicious person. If there is no reason, why would he use violence? I have a good personal relationship with him. Even if it has become like this now, I think there is still room for maneuver."

"Oh? How do you do that? Tell me about it!"

"Although Shen Yue secretly sent guards to kill his family, they failed to do so, so there is no hatred between the two. As long as Su Xiao is safe, we can still sit down and talk. Shen Yue ignored his brother's opinion and deliberately sent guards to kill his family. It was Shen Yue who was wrong first. Let him apologize to Li Yi, admit his mistake, and have a drink together. Isn't this problem solved!"