The Rebellious Officials and Traitors of the Late Han Dynasty

Chapter 533 Qin Chengji

The prison in Chang'an was deep and cold, with fine water droplets condensing on the blue brick walls. Qin Chengji walked through the corridor carrying a gilded palace lantern, his iron boots making a crisp sound on the stone slabs. The prisoners in the cells on both sides huddled in the shadows, except for the deepest cell, where Zhuge Liang, dressed in white, was fiddling with the sand table in the moonlight coming in through the high window.

"Sir, you are in a good mood." Qin Chengji signaled the jailer to open the cell door. The sound of the jade pendant on his waist disturbed the fine sand on the sand table. He suddenly found that the sand grains were arranged in the shape of the mountains and rivers in Mobei, even the Yinshan Pass was exactly the same.

Zhuge Liang didn't even raise his head, and the sand dunes changed as he waved his feather fan lightly: "Your Highness has been much more diligent in the past few days."

Qin Chengji's pupils shrank when he heard this. He calmly waved his sleeves and sat down: "Sir, you are still able to make plans even though you are in prison. No wonder Emperor Liu came to my thatched cottage three times to ask you to come out of retirement."

"Your Highness, thank you for your praise. It's a pity that I am incompetent, which prevented my uncle from accomplishing his great cause and the Han Dynasty from reviving." Zhuge Liang finally looked up. The candlelight illuminated his thin face, making his expression changeable.

"Sir, your talent is praised by my father. It would be a pity if such a talent as yours were imprisoned in prison." Qin Chengji's eyes flickered, and he said, "I wonder if you are willing to lend me a helping hand?"

"Your Highness is wrong." Zhuge Liang suddenly used a wooden stick on the sand table to draw a deep groove, dividing the sand table into two, and said lightly: "Governing a country is not about dividing territory. Look at this sand, forcibly drawing boundaries will only cause both sides to collapse." He suddenly pushed down the sand table and wrote the word "贤" on the flat sand surface.

Qin Chengji stared at the sand character that was gradually blown away by the night wind, and suddenly sneered: "Sir, do you want me to learn from Fusu? Wait until Chengqian's knife is on my neck before talking about brotherly love and respect?"

"Your father seized the world by force. He wanted to leave his name in history and make the Tang Dynasty last forever. So the heir he chose was not about military strength, but about who could inherit the country and carry it forward. It didn't matter whether it was a legitimate heir or a concubine."

"Please give me some advice, sir." Qin Chengji was overjoyed and asked quickly.

Zhuge Liang gently waved his feather fan, his eyes were like torches, and he looked at the other party and said, "Your Highness, you know that the world is divided into three parts: one part belongs to the emperor, one part belongs to the people, and one part belongs to the aristocratic families. Although your father values ​​military achievements, he values ​​civil governance more. If you can win the hearts of the aristocratic families, you will have won half of the country."

Qin Chengji frowned slightly, shook his head and said, "Sir, you are wrong. Father hates the aristocratic families becoming too powerful. The disaster of the aristocratic families in the previous dynasty is still before us."

“That’s why it’s even more precious.” Zhuge Liang interrupted, outlining the outline of Chang’an City on the sand table with his fingertips, and chuckled, “Although these aristocratic families have been suppressed, their century-old foundations cannot be easily destroyed? The Cui family of Qinghe has a collection of tens of thousands of books, the Lu family of Fanyang controls the horse market in Youzhou, and the Wang family of Taiyuan is in charge of the horse market in Bingzhou.” Every time he said a name, he would mark a place on the sand table, and for a moment, all the aristocratic families in the world were under the control of the other party.

Suddenly, a drum beat sounded outside the cell, startling a few night crows. Qin Chengji's gilded palace lantern swayed, casting the shadows of the two people on the mottled brick wall, like two beasts facing each other.

"Henei Sima." Zhuge Liang suddenly lowered his voice, his feather fan covering half of his face: "I heard that the eldest daughter is only 28 years old and is the most favored by Sima. If Your Highness can take the position of concubine..."

"Ridiculous!" Qin Chengji stood up suddenly, and the jade pendant made a crisp sound: "How could I sell my marriage for fame?" But when he lowered his head, he found that Zhuge Liang had arranged the word "Sima" with sand, and there was a faint shape of a military token next to it.

Zhuge Liang stroked his feather fan, reflecting the word "Sima" on the sand table. He explained: "There are many civil and military ministers in the court, but they are all quite old. Only Sima Yi is young and will occupy an important position in the court in the future. Moreover, Sima Yi is ambitious and will not be content to be an ordinary minister."

"Can Sima Yi really be used by me?" Qin Chengji hesitated, "He is loyal to my father!" Zhuge Liang just smiled and explained, "The greatest power in the world is the aristocratic family. Your maternal grandfather is the world-famous Cai Yong, and who is the current queen? How can a little-known woman like this be the queen of the Tang Dynasty? I believe many people would not be willing to accept this."

There is a huge gap between Du Shiniang and Cai Zhaoji. One is an ordinary woman, but she is very beautiful, while the other is the daughter of a great Confucian scholar and has a noble status.

More importantly, the ministers in the court actually admired Cai Zhaoji very much and all hoped that Cai Zhaoji would become the queen instead of Du Shiniang.

"My father is dissatisfied with the aristocratic families and has recently been thinking about weakening their power. If I join forces with them, I will definitely anger my father." Qin Chengji said hesitantly.

“The aristocratic families have existed for hundreds of years, how can ordinary people suppress them? There are only aristocratic families that last for thousands of years, but no dynasties that last for thousands of years. Even the emperor cannot change this rule.” Zhuge Liang sneered.

Qin Chengji felt a little uncomfortable after hearing this, but he didn't say anything in the end. In fact, he also agreed with this point of view in his heart.

In the previous dynasty, Emperor Guangwu was so powerful, but he had no way to deal with the aristocratic families. Although his father was very brave on the battlefield, he still had to rely on the power of the aristocratic families to govern the world.

"Can the aristocratic family really win? I'm worried that I might be deposed by my father because of this matter before I succeed." Qin Chengji said with a wry smile.

His father was a powerful ruler who controlled the world and had a very high prestige. Whether it was himself, the son, or those ministers, they were all terrified. It took a certain amount of courage to go against the other party.

"Compared with the crown prince, you are already at a disadvantage, unless the other party makes a mistake. Otherwise, Your Highness will have no chance. I am not asking Your Highness to take the initiative to contact these aristocratic families. You only need to say a few words casually, and everything will be easy. Naturally, someone will come to Your Highness." Zhuge Liang's eyes flashed with strange light.

He did not deceive the other party, but told the truth.

Of course, this did not mean that he really surrendered to Qin Chengji. He just wanted to cause chaos in the Tang royal family. After all, the hatred between him and Qin Shou could not be eased.

From the time Zhuge Liang was imprisoned until now, Qin Shou had never seen him, and Zhuge Liang had not written a confession, but everyone knew the relationship between the two.

Qin Chengji was silent for a long time, and suddenly reached out to smooth out the marks on the sand table. He whispered: "Mr., what you said is very true, but this matter needs to be considered carefully. The emperor has many eyes and ears, and if the news leaks out..."

A smile immediately broke out on Zhuge Liang's face, and he bowed respectfully to the other party.

(End of this chapter)