lady, please calm down

There is no shortage of gamblers around ambitious people.

At the East Camp Prison Army Station, when Pan Xiong slowly read out the so-called "Princess's own handwriting" imperial edict to support the king, more than a dozen of his subordinates in the tent were silent for a moment.

The generals were not fools, and they could naturally sense the suspicious aspects of this mysterious decree. His prison troops were not the confidants of the King of Chu before, and now they have little connection with the princess.

How could the princess invite them into the city to protect the Prince of Chu at such a critical moment?

But no matter how suspicious it is, the next choice is the most important.

All those who could be recruited into Pan Xiong's tent now were his confidants who followed him in the rebellion in the prison camp. Before the Battle of Cangzhou, these people were either desperate criminals or bandits roaming around the borders of Jin and Qi.

After the Battle of Cangzhou, in order to gain control of the prison troops, Pan Xiong became brothers with seventeen of his skilled subordinates.

Nicknamed "Eighteen Arhats".

Unfortunately, when they followed the army south to Huainan, the two brothers Wang Wu and Wang Liu among the Eighteen Arhats were executed in front of the entire army for the crime of adultery.

At that time, the King of Chu controlled half of the country and had already shown signs of becoming a monarch. The remaining sixteen Arhats, who had agreed to "not live together but die together", did not even dare to express their dissatisfaction openly.

They are naturally resistant to "order" but have a sense of familiarity with "chaos".

If he hadn't been reluctant to give up his official uniform, he would have been unable to endure the strict military discipline.

Now that the King of Chu has passed away, it is as if the huge stone weighing on everyone's heart has disappeared in one day.

After a brief thought, Lou Heihu, the third of the Eighteen Arhats, said to Pan Xiong: "Brother, whatever you say, I'll do it!"

"Good!" Pan Xiong first praised Lou Heihu who spoke first, then looked at some of his sworn brothers who were not strong-willed and said, "The King of Chu died suddenly, leaving behind the princess and the prince as orphans and widows. We brothers value the words 'loyalty and righteousness', so how can we sit back and ignore the princess's order? If we don't do anything, won't this huge country fall into the hands of others!"

Well, when I talk about loyalty, I am actually reminding my brothers. Now that the King of Chu has passed away, these five thousand miles of beautiful territory will fall into the hands of the orphan and the widow. If we don't take it, it will definitely be taken advantage of by others.

It is not feasible to encourage everyone to do this life-threatening business just based on "loyalty and righteousness".

But things like power and authority are enough.

Suddenly, a brother stood up and said, "Brother, don't say anything. I, Zhang Baozhong, will do this business!"

After that, the man called Zhang Baozhong looked around at his brothers, and said with a grin, "I am young among the brothers present, and I still want to give it another try. Brothers, who wants to do it? Who doesn't?"

"Done!"

"When a person dies, the bird flies upwards. He will live forever! Big brother, tell me, what should we do?"

There was an immediate response from all around.

Haha, after Zhang Baozhong expressed his stance, the rest of us have to do it whether we want to or not!
Otherwise, don’t even think about leaving this camp alive today.

"Hahaha, great! It's worth it that Pan and all the brothers are brothers!" Pan Xiong couldn't help but laugh heartily when he saw this, and then said, "Everyone, please be patient. Lord Pei Weishu of Anfeng has found a strong reinforcement for us! Wait for a moment, we will act together with him!"

"Strong reinforcements? How can the Huainan Army be called strong reinforcements?"

During the Northern Expedition to Liaodong last year, the performance of Zhang Duofu's Huainan Army was poor, and all the soldiers saw it. Pei Weishu was an official of the Anfeng Dynasty, so Lou Heihu naturally thought that the so-called "strong reinforcements" were the Huainan Army.

But Pan Xiong just laughed. In order to make his brothers more confident about this gamble, he simply revealed in advance: "Neither the Huainan Army nor the Lin'an Army can be considered strong reinforcements. I'm talking about the Tiger Regiment that terrorizes Liaodong and traverses 3,000 miles!"

"what!"

The generals were stunned for a moment.

A person's name is like the shadow of a tree. The Tiger Regiment is no longer a regiment, but everyone is still used to calling Xin Qiji's troops that.

As a team that joined the Huaibei Army midway, the Tiger Regiment, under the leadership of Xiao Xin, has made many outstanding achievements in the past decade.

In the third year of Xuanqing, the Tiger Regiment traveled thousands of miles to Liaodong and persisted in the heartland of the Jin Kingdom for two years, greatly depleting Wanyan Liang's battlefield sustainability.

After this battle, the Tiger Regiment became famous throughout the world, and was already showing signs of surpassing the Black Flag Army and the 1st and 2nd Guards Regiments to become the leader of the Huaibei First Army.

Moreover, the news about the connection between the Chen family and Xin Qiji was spreading in the city, and the latter was not from the direct lineage of Tongshan. After the death of the King of Chu, the situation of the Tiger Group became delicate indeed.

Thinking about it this way, the Tiger Group’s actions don’t seem surprising at all.

The logical chain is perfect!

With their participation this time, great things can be accomplished!
Zhang Baozhong, Lou Heihu and others couldn't help but smile, as if they saw a bright future.

"Although Commander Xin has no intention of harming anyone, he must be on guard! The King of Chu suddenly passed away, and undercurrents are surging in the city! From what Pei has seen, many rumors in the outside world that are unfavorable to the commander may not have come from within Huaibei."

Three miles southwest of the Prison Army, in the central army tent of the Tiger Regiment’s base, Pei Weishu was talking freely.

Xin Qiji looked serious and asked, "Rumors are spreading in the city. Someone must be fanning the flames. But what do you mean by 'from within Huaibei'?"

"General! The reason you were able to gain a foothold in the Huaibei Army is not only because you are both civil and military and command with confidence, but also because the King of Chu favors you! Now that the King of Chu has passed away, your only guard of honor in Huaibei is gone! Peng, Zhou, Yang and other generals who commanded the army all came from Tongshan County. How could they tolerate an outsider like you leading the way?"

"."

Pei Weishu saw that Xin Qiji frowned but remained silent, so he could not help but try harder: "In the face of chaos, what opinions can a woman have? The princess has lost the support of the King of Chu, and she will definitely not be able to withstand the pressure from the Tongshan generals such as Peng and Zhou, and seize the military power of the Marshal! By then, the Marshal will be a fish on the chopping board!"

"In your opinion, Lord Pei, what should I do?"

"For now, it is better to go with the flow and directly support Chen and his illegitimate son! The Chen family has many followers in the court, but they have no military power. Now the Chen brothers have been detained in the palace for a day and a night, and they are also in danger! If the Marshal can help them at this time, the Chen family will be in charge of internal affairs in the future, and the Marshal will be in charge of military affairs, so that they can be invincible!"

"But my army only has a few thousand people. I'm afraid we can't accomplish anything!"

"Marshal, General Pan Xiongpan is ready and willing to join forces with you! As long as you nod, he can come to see you at any time!"

"."

Xiao Xin hesitated again, Pei Weishu stamped his feet and said, "Marshal, the situation is critical, don't hesitate any longer! Marshal, even if you don't think about yourself, don't you think about your wife and children at home!"

"Ah!" Xin Qiji sighed, as if he had finally made up his mind. He suddenly shouted to the back of the tent: "Brother, second brother, if you don't come out, I will really follow Lord Pei in a rebellion!"

Pei Weishu was confused for a moment. Mainly because of the sentence "I really followed Lord Pei to start an uprising." It sounded like Xin Qiji was really convinced, but it was in a questioning tone.

Who is he asking?

The next moment, the answer came.

Behind the big tent, two people slowly walked out.
One was the General of the Zhen Army and Marquis of Wuxiang, Peng Er, and the other was.
Peng Er's sudden appearance here was enough to scare Pei Weishu, but at this moment his eyes were fixed on another person, who was tall and handsome.
Pei Weishu couldn't help but rub his eyes to make sure that he had not recognized the wrong person!
Or so it should be said. After all, he was a bureaucrat who had been in the officialdom for half his life. Pei Weishu suddenly knelt on the ground with a plop, and then he fell to the ground and cried bitterly: "Oh, Prince Jin! This morning, there were rumors in the city that the palace had bought a large piece of plain cloth, and they all said that the prince had passed away. When this old minister heard about it, my heart was burning and I felt pain like a knife was cutting my throat. Seeing that the prince was safe and sound at this time and place, this old minister, it was worth it for this old minister to recite scriptures all night last night! The prince is fine, Da Qi is saved, and the people of the world are saved. Long live the prince"

Chen Chu slowly sat down in Xiao Xin's commanding position and silently watched Pei Weishu's hard work.

I have to say, Lord Pei's acting was so good that he was in tears. His crystal snot hung above his philtrum, hanging down several inches, and was about to fall.

It's disgusting.

"The mansion did buy a large amount of plain cloth this morning, but it was bought for you. I will arrange your funeral affairs for you, which will be worthwhile for me to work with you."

This was the first sentence Chen Chu spoke.

By now, Pei Weishu had clearly realized that he and Pan Xiong and others had fallen into the King of Chu's trap.

Jiangnan is playing chess with the King of Chu, and now, Lord Pei, who is willing to be a chess piece, is about to be eaten.

His greatest strength was that he was decisive when admitting defeat. Pei Weishu's crying suddenly stopped, and he slowly raised his head and looked at Chen Chu and said, "Your Majesty, please treat my family well."

"Haha, why?"

"This old minister still has some value to His Majesty."

"Oh? Tell me?"

"You, my old minister, can go to the prison and bring Pan Xiong and the others to General Xin's camp to prevent innocent soldiers from being implicated."

This old fellow Pei Weishu hit the nail on the head for Chen Chu.

Chen Chu allowed Pan Xiong to jump around, intending to fester the abscess in the prison army and then eradicate it in one fell swoop. However, in doing so, some soldiers were inevitably deceived and coerced by him because they were worried about the safety of the princess and the prince without knowing the truth.

The subsequent purge was bound to be exaggerated, and there would be resentful killings and wrong killings. If Pei Weishu could single out the group of people in the prison army who were most loyal to Pan Xiong, it would be a good opportunity.

Chen Chu did not respond to Pei Weishu's words, but frowned and said, "Wipe your nose."

After Pei Weishu wiped his nose with his sleeve, Chen Chu asked again, "Tell me, who ordered you to do this?"

There was really no one instructing Pei Weishu. He just wanted to take advantage of this big game and gain some benefits for himself.

But he also knew that the King of Chu went to such great lengths not just to eliminate Pan Xiong and others.
He just said without thinking: "If the prince wants me to tell you who ordered it, I will tell you who ordered it. I can write a confession or confront the mastermind in person."

"."

Chen Chu couldn't help but look at Xiao Xin in astonishment. Xiao Xin suddenly burst into laughter. Xiao Xin laughed so hard that he was out of breath and said, "You old dog, you really know how to save your life!"

Just now, Pei Weishu came up and asked the King of Chu to treat his family well, as if he knew that he had committed a serious crime and was prepared to face death calmly. Then he actively cooperated with Chen Chu to eradicate Pan Xiong's family.

This attitude alone made Chen Chu, Xiao Xin and others reduce their disgust towards him a lot.

Then he said he was willing to be a dog for the king of Chu, and he would bite whoever the king wanted him to bite, and he also said he could confront him face to face.
Needless to say, he must have guessed that Chen Chu wanted to take action against Jiangnan, but temporarily lacked a legitimate reason. However, a face-to-face confrontation would take at least a year or two before he could conquer Jiangnan and capture the mastermind behind the assassination alive, and only then would he be able to allow Pei Weishu to confront him.

In this case, Pei Weishu won't have to die for the time being.

Hearing Xiao Xin's ridicule and sarcasm, Pei Weishu remained calm and said, "Only if you are willing to accept the loss, you will have no shame in being upright."

It was a very powerful statement, but Pei Weishu looked particularly funny kneeling on the ground with tears and snot all over his face.

"Haha, bring paper and pen, please write the petition, Master Pei."

Chen Chu gave an order, and Xiao Yi brought pen and ink to Pei Weishu.

Chen Chu didn't tell him to get up, so he continued to kneel. After receiving the paper and pen, he simply lay on the ground and carefully wrote the five words "Confession of Assassinating the King".

After writing the beginning, Pei Weishu stuck out his butt, but raised his head and looked at Chen Chu and said, "Your Majesty, who is the mastermind?"

"In Lord Pei's opinion, who is the most suspicious?" Chen Chu asked back.

"I think Qin Huizhi is definitely not going to be missing!"

"Well, I think he is the only one behind this."

"I, the guilty minister, also think so!" Pei Weishu wrote down Qin Huizhi's name on a piece of paper like a judge in the underworld, and then continued, "The Qian family from the eastern Zhejiang Road was also involved, right?"

This is a question.

Chen Chu couldn't help but frowned and said unhappily: "As an accomplice, do you still need to ask this king?"

"Oh, Zhedong Qianlu ordered the guilty minister to assassinate the King of Chu."

Pei Weishu, who had already put himself in the role of a tainted witness, changed his sentence to an affirmative one this time and added Qian Luzhi's name on the white paper.

Afterwards, Pei Weishu seemed to be talking to himself, "Jinghu Road gentry Cui Yuwen is also one of the masterminds!"

He raised his eyes quietly and saw that the King of Chu had no objection, so Pei Weishu wrote another person.

"Zhang Jun, a prominent gentry in Jiangnan Road, was jealous of the King of Chu's achievements in both civil and military affairs, and he also participated in the assassination."

Pei Weishu became more and more skilled. He licked the inkstone with the tip of his pen and continued to write: "Lin Yuzhu, a wealthy man in Fujian Road, is also indispensable."

"Stop!"

Although Chen Chu had no evidence, he roughly guessed who was behind the assassination based on the intelligence. However, there was no intelligence to support that the old man from Fujian Road was involved in the assassination.

“This Linlin.”

"Lin Yuzhu!" Pei Weishu repeated this slightly difficult to pronounce name.

"Oh, Lin Yuzhu should have nothing to do with this matter." Chen Chu spoke a fair word for him.

Unexpectedly, Pei Weishu made a "tsk" sound and said, "Your Highness, you need to know that nearly 20% of the good farmland in Fujian Road belongs to the Lin family! Without the Lin family's leverage, it will be difficult for Your Highness to push forward the farmland reform in Fujian Road when you rule Jiangnan in the future!"

After Pei Weishu finished speaking, Chen Chu, Peng Er, Xiao Xin and the others were all stunned. After a few breaths, the three of them looked at each other and laughed, "Master Pei, you are really considerate!"

Not yet.

Pei Weishu left the Tiger Group camp and took a sedan chair to the prison army’s base.

On the way, he opened the curtain of the sedan chair and looked greedily at the fields full of vitality in mid-spring. He almost never saw this beautiful spring scenery again.

However, he couldn't relax at this time, because the task of bringing Pan Xiong and others to the Tiger Regiment camp was still waiting for him.

This is not a difficult matter. According to the agreement, as long as the deal is reached, Pan Xiong will go to meet Xiao Xin in person to show the alliance.

As for escaping halfway, Pei Weishu had never even thought about it. From yesterday till today, all his plans were based on the premise that Chen Chu was seriously injured or dead!
Now that the King of Chu was staying at the Tiger Group’s base, there was no point in talking about any plans.

Not to mention Pei Weishu, even if Pan Xiong led the entire prison army to charge into Tokyo City, as long as the King of Chu still had a breath left, as soon as he showed up, thousands of people would surrender on the spot.

Although the prison army is composed mainly of the Hebei Prison Camp, there are many soldiers from Huaibei and Central China. No one in the world can possibly attack the King of Chu.

Soon, Pei Weishu entered the camp.

Pan Xiong and the others had been waiting in the tent for nearly an hour. They were a little anxious when they met and asked directly, "Why did you take so long?"

Pei Weishu pretended to pick his teeth and said proudly: "Although General Xin is known for his bravery, he is still young after all. His blood boiled after hearing what I said, and he specially invited me to stay in the camp to eat a meal of roasted venison."

"It's already this late, and Lord Pei still has the heart to eat and drink! We haven't even finished our lunch yet, waiting for your news!" Zhang Baozhong complained.

"Whenever you encounter a major event, you must remain calm! What can you accomplish if you panic?"

Seeing that Pei Weishu was about to kill the Sixteen Arhats, he did not seem to feel guilty at all. Instead, he taught the other party a lesson.

This scene fell into Pan Xiong's eyes, making him subconsciously think that Xiao Xin was joining in the rebellion, which gave Pei Weishu strong confidence and courage, so Pan Xiong naturally had no doubts about it.

He raised his hand to interrupt Zhang Baozhong who was about to continue arguing, and said, "Alright! Lord Pei, let's go to see General Xin and discuss everything. At dusk today, the two divisions can suddenly enter the city!"

"Okay!" Pei Weishu glanced at Zhang Baozhong who was unwilling to accept the defeat, stretched out his right arm, and asked Pan Xiong to go first.

Not even a moment later.

Led by Pei Weishu, Pan Xiong and sixteen other brothers came to the main tent of the Tiger Regiment.

Pei Weishu stepped forward to inform them, and the guards went inside to report. Then someone in the tent said, "Generals, please come in."

Since Pan Xiong came down, sixteen people have entered the tent one after another.

The large cowhide tent blocks out the light.

There was a sharp contrast between the light inside and outside the tent. After Pan Xiong and others got used to the light inside the tent, they saw the famous General Xin standing on the left side of the main seat with a sword in his hand.

The person standing on the right was Jiao Tu, who was also from Hebei and was leaning on a steel gun with a straight posture.

Since the battle of Cangzhou, Jiao Tu has been kept by the King of Chu.

At the main seat of the big tent, there was a person with his back to the crowd, looking at a map hanging in the middle.

Pan Xiong had been feeling vaguely uneasy, and was wondering why Jiao Tu showed up at this time, when he saw the man with his back to everyone suddenly turned around and slowly said, "I heard that when you eighteen brothers became sworn brothers, you made a vow that we would not be born on the same day, month, or year, but would die on the same day. That year, the Wang brothers were executed, and you did not keep your vow. Today, I will give you another chance to fulfill your wish and die together today."

As soon as the man spoke the first word, Pan Xiong knew who it was!

"Fight!"

Pan Xiong only knew that his life was over today, and without giving it time to think about it, the brutality in his bones burst out. With the idea of ​​killing one man to get his revenge, Pan Xiong shouted to the brothers behind him.

But when the people behind him saw the living King of Chu, they were so frightened that they stood there in a daze, and no one dared to move. (End of this chapter)