The first volume of pearl curtains rolls up the western mountain rain at dusk Chapter 85 A Different Prince
That night there was a grand welcome dinner in the governor's office. All the prominent people in Jizhou City were there. It was said that there were more than 200 tables. People of high status ate in the house, while those of lower status ate in the yard.
It's still the same principle. Those with high status can go to the main hall to toast Prince Wu Yang Jijiu, while those with low status can sit in the yard and watch those people in the main hall chatting and laughing from a distance.
Is it sour?
But there's nothing I can do.
After the dinner, Jiedushi Zeng Ling cordially invited Prince Wu to stay in his house, but Prince Wu did not agree. Instead, he wanted to live in Prince Yu's house. When he left, he asked Youzhou General Luo Geng to go with him.
This seems to indicate some attitudes, as if Prince Wu cares more about Luo Geng than Zeng Ling, the governor who holds both military and political power.
Another banquet was set up in Prince Yu's residence, with only four people seated. Everyone outside knew that Prince Yu was there, Prince Wu was there, and Luo Geng was there, but what they didn't know was that the Jiedushi came from the back door, and it was Prince Wu who specifically instructed this.
"I heard that there are some scoundrels abusing their power in Jizhou City?"
Yang Jiju looked at Prince Yu Yang Jixing and said, "You dare to provoke me?"
Yang Jixing smiled helplessly but said nothing.
Prince Wu looked at Zeng Ling and said, "As the governor of Jizhou, how could you allow someone to bully the royal family?"
Zeng Ling quickly stood up, took two steps back, and leaned forward to say, "I am guilty, Your Majesty, please forgive me."
"My third brother didn't hand the matter over to the Internal Affairs Department because he felt that he had a good personal relationship with you and didn't want to ruin your future. Otherwise, how could he have made a small Jizhou prefecture governor feel disgusted? If the matter was handed over to the Internal Affairs Department, the first person to be dealt with would be Lian Gongming, and the second would be you."
Prince Wu's expression became more and more unfriendly, but Zeng Ling, who was scolded, felt relieved. If Prince Wu continued to ignore him as before, then it would be really over.
Prince Wu said, "Back then, His Majesty asked me to choose between you and Guan Feiyun, who would be qualified to be the governor of Jizhou. I strongly recommended you and praised you as a loyal minister. His Majesty gave you the position of governor, and I personally escorted you out of the capital. What did I say to you outside the city gate?"
Zeng Ling lifted his robe and knelt on the ground and said, "The prince said... my third brother is in Jizhou. You must take good care of him when you get there. If someone in the area is disrespectful to him , you, the governor with power and a sword hanging on your waist, know what to do? I said to the prince, I know."
Prince Wu grabbed the wine glass on the table and smashed it on Zeng Ling's head. The hit was so hard that a line of blood immediately flowed down Zeng Ling's forehead.
"What about what you promised?"
Prince Wu shouted loudly.
Everyone in the world knows that Prince Wu Yang Jiju has a violent temper, just as everyone knows that he is a great commander of troops. There are so many rebels in the world, but wherever Prince Wu leads his troops, the rebels all retreat. Not to mention fighting, they dare not even see him.
Why didn't the great eunuch Liu Chongxin want to provoke Yang Jiju? Because Liu Chongxin knew that Yang Jiju was really brave enough to kill people.
Liu Chongxin had tried to take the military power from Yang Jiju, and instigated several spineless censors from the Censorate to report Yang Jiju to the emperor. Upon hearing the news, Yang Jiju entered the palace with a horsewhip and beat those people until they were bloody in front of the emperor.
What did your majesty say?
Your Majesty said so.
His Majesty has never trusted his brothers, but he has been afraid of Yang Jiju since he was a child. The current His Majesty is the eldest son, and Yang Jiju is the second prince, but His Majesty has never won a fight since they were young.
Later on, His Majesty did think about taking back Yang Jiju's military power, but he didn't dare to. He was really afraid that Yang Jiju would lead his troops into the palace in anger. His Majesty knew that Yang Jiju didn't dare to kill him, but no one around him would survive.
This time, Emperor Yang Sheng originally wanted to let Yang Jixing take charge of the military power of Jizhou and Youzhou, because Yang Jixing was relatively obedient. However, Liu Chongxin thought of a clever plan. Liu Chongxin said to the emperor, let Prince Wu go, and he would go to the north, so His Majesty would not have to worry.
This statement was extremely effective. The emperor immediately rescinded the decree he had written himself and instead appointed Yang Jiju as the general of the Left Guard, giving him full responsibility for suppressing the rebellion in the northern states.
The capital is in the south and Yang Jiju is in the north. Even if he has the imperial whip given to him by the late emperor before his death, it will be of no use.
Perhaps the late emperor had anticipated that Crown Prince Yang Sheng would be weak in character and incompetent, so he gave Yang Ji Ju an imperial whip, saying that if Yang Ji Ju found that the crown prince did anything foolish after ascending the throne, he could use the whip to teach the crown prince a lesson.
With the imperial whip in his hand, Emperor Yang Sheng was really afraid of Yang Ji Ju.
Knowing Prince Wu's temper, Zeng Ling didn't even dare to wipe his head even though it was bleeding.
"I am guilty, please punish me, Your Majesty."
"Didn't you just say that you knew your sin, but asked for my forgiveness?"
Prince Wu stared at Zeng Ling, who lowered his head and dared not say another word.
Seeing this, Prince Yu Yang Jixing said quickly: "Brother, Zeng Ling is also thinking about me. He doesn't want people to say that I interfere in local government affairs. He is afraid that some people will use it against me..."
"you shut up!"
Prince Wu turned around abruptly and looked at Prince Yu, who immediately lowered his head: "Yes, yes, yes... Brother, calm down."
Prince Wu looked Prince Yu in the eye and said word by word: "The country belongs to the Yang family, and the world belongs to the Yang family. As a member of the royal family, the Prince of Chu, you were bullied by a local petty official, and you actually swallowed your anger?! Does the world still belong to the Yang family, or have you privately decided to give Jizhou to Lian Gongming?!"
Prince Yu's face changed drastically.
“Kneel down!”
Prince Wu reached out and took the imperial whip held by the guards beside him: "You are unworthy of our ancestors!"
Prince Yu fell to his knees with a thud, not daring to argue a single word, even though this was his home and that was his brother.
"You bring shame to the royal family."
Prince Wu stepped forward and hit Prince Yu hard on the back three times with the imperial whip, turning Prince Yu's face pale as paper. It was a real beating, not just a pretense. After three hits with the whip, the clothes on his back were torn into three pieces.
"you!"
Prince Wu pointed at Zeng Ling and said, "Crawl over here!"
Zeng Ling didn't dare to say a word. He knelt and crawled in front of Prince Wu. Prince Wu handed the imperial whip to the guard beside him, stretched out his hand to take the horsewhip, and started to hit Zeng Ling's back with it. He hit him thirteen or fourteen times in one breath, and Zeng Ling's back was covered with blood.
"Third brother, are you convinced?"
"Clothes."
"Zeng Ling, are you convinced?"
"Clothes!"
Prince Wu was so angry that he threw away the whip, sat down and said, "Go and call someone to apply medicine to them."
Prince Yu and Zeng Ling both stood up. Prince Yu was better off, although he really couldn't bear it for the sake of face, but his second brother was punishing on behalf of their father, and the imperial whip represented his father, so he had to accept it with humility and sincerity.
Zeng Ling was different. Zeng Ling was not even worthy of being beaten with the imperial whip. He was just beaten with an ordinary horse whip. But the beating was even more severe. His back was covered in blood and flesh. It would take more than a month or two to heal.
The two medical officers nervously applied medicine on the backs of the two important figures. They were so frightened that their hands were shaking slightly.
"I didn't get angry in public in your house today, Zeng Ling. I gave you enough face by letting you enter the house through the back door. I still treat you as someone I can trust. Don't let me down again."
Prince Wu picked up the wine glass and took a sip, and his expression eased a lot.
"It is because my Yang family is too kind and indulgent to others that some people increasingly ignore the royal family and their affairs. They have forgotten that the power and influence they hold were given by the Yang family."
Prince Wu looked at Zeng Ling and said, "I'll give you a month. If you can't kill Lian Gongming and his entire family within a month, then I'll have to kill your entire family."
"yes!"
Zeng Ling quickly bowed again and said, "I will remember this."
Prince Wu looked at Luo Geng, who was sitting on the side, feeling extremely embarrassed and frightened, and said with a smile, "General Luo, you are making fun ."
Luo Geng said quickly: "No, no, I will also keep in mind the prince's teachings."
This was also a warning to Luo Geng, how could Luo Geng not see it.
"Um."
Prince Wu seemed to want to ease the atmosphere and asked Luo Geng, "Did you encounter anything interesting on your way here? My third brother and Zeng Ling really pissed me off. Tell me something interesting."
Luo Geng couldn't think of anything interesting at the moment. All he saw on the way from Youzhou was devastation, ruins left by the rebels, destroyed villages and barren fields. Interesting? How could it be interesting?
But he didn't dare say any of this, not even a single word.
"He is an interesting person indeed."
Luo Geng suddenly remembered the young man.
While he was thinking of the young man, Prince Yu was thinking of the old Taoist priest named Changmei. That man said that he would have a bloody disaster, and it seemed to have come true. The pain from being whipped was as if it went deep into his bones.
Prince Wu said, "Tell me about it."
"On the way, I met an interesting young man, a Taoist priest. When he saw me leading the army passing by, he donated 20 to 30 horses to the army. I chatted with him for a while, and he was able to predict many things. He even... asserted that I would be rewarded when I arrived in Jizhou, and His Majesty would promote me to the rank of general."
"Um?"
After hearing these words, Prince Wu immediately became interested: "How can a young man have such ability? What is his Taoist name and where is he?"
Luo Geng was confused and thought he forgot to ask.
But he suddenly remembered that his son knew him, so he quickly said, "My son Luo Jing knows him, I wonder if we can let him come to see the prince?"
Prince Wu waved his hand casually: "Let him in."
Not long after, Luo Jing came jogging over and bowed down to pay his respects even when he was still a distance away. Prince Wu waved his hand and asked him to come over and talk, and asked about the young man.
Luo Jing recalled and said, "I didn't take it seriously when I met them that time. My cavalry said that the master and disciple should be the Taoist priest with long eyebrows who traveled in the seven counties of Jiyou and was quite famous."
"Long-browed Taoist?"
Prince Yu's face changed, and he quickly said, "The old Taoist with long eyebrows was still in my house today. I sent someone to send him away when I welcomed my brother."
Prince Wu is a person who believes in all kinds of supernatural things. Although he dare not believe in them openly, people who are familiar with him know that he has a close relationship with a Taoist named Zhang Youxu who came from Longhu Mountain.
Prince Wu said, "Well, send someone to tell Lian Gongming to find the master and disciple for me as soon as possible. If he fails to find them, I will be very unhappy."
Prince Yu and Zeng Ling looked at each other, and they both understood what Prince Wu meant, so they responded at the same time .
"yes."
Prince Wu said, "Go find him as soon as possible. I will lead my army to the battle soon and cannot wait for a few days."
"Yes Yes Yes……"
