Chapter 123: The true nature of a hero

Xiao Fanguan sighed at home, a sexy trouble was waiting for him to solve.

Princess Jiangdu is beautiful and has a gentle and gentle personality. She is simply the most ideal wife candidate in the minds of all men in the world, not to mention that she is covered with the halo of the royal princess. Such a wife can't even be found with a lantern.

However, Xiao Fan refused.

It was difficult to refuse. Faced with a beautiful woman's forced marriage, a man with a slightly unstable will must have agreed on the spot. If he did not agree, he would seem pretentious.

Xiao Fan really doesn't want to be a pretentious man, but he has to refuse the princess.

First of all, he didn't want to be sorry to Xiao Huamei. Although Huamei was young, her experience was very bumpy, which led to her mentality becoming much more mature and vicissitudes than her peers. In this world, there was finally a Xiao Fan who made her trust and even regarded it as a belief. As the object of faith, Xiao Fan did not want to disappoint her, nor did he want her sensitive and fragile heart to hurt her.

Secondly, the princess forced a marriage to seem erotic, but in fact there is danger behind it. The consequences of destroying the marriage that Lao Zhu Qin decided not to be able to bear by him, a small Jinyiwei Tongzhi. The court is deep, the crisis is everywhere, and it is unpredictable. Princess Jiangdu is a woman, so naturally she would not think much about it. She thought that Xiao Fan was deeply favored by the emperor, and as long as he came forward to ask Zhu Yuanzhang to change the imperial edict and let her marry Xiao Fan.

A woman is a little stupid, that is cute, and a man is so stupid, that is an idiot, and he is an idiot who lives a very short life.

If this matter is really aroused, Huang Zicheng and other old guys were worried that they would not find a reason to deal with Xiao Fan. Now that they have the opportunity, why don’t they kill him?

Xiao Fan is not an idiot, so he wisely refused.

How to solve danger? Avoiding it is auspicious.

So Xiao Fan temporarily threw this matter behind his mind.

Because of this, Xiao Fan didn't go to the Jinyiwei Fufu Division for a whole day. In the afternoon, Cao Yi brought several Jinyi lieutenants to the door.

After entering the inner hall, Cao Yi handed Xiao Fan a piece of information with a serious expression.

"Sir, a few days ago, as my instructions, I set up a silk farm in Peking in the name of Jiangnan merchants and secretly established the first northern liaison station of the Jinyiwei. This was the first piece of information sent from Peking."

Seeing Cao Yi's face was solemn, Xiao Fan quickly looked at the information carefully.

"Tartar soldiers besieged Beiping?" Xiao Fan gasped and said in a lost voice: "Why didn't the court see the Beiping Army newspaper?"

Cao Yi said: "The way we contacted was to use carrier pigeons, and set up several pigeon stations along the road from Peking to the capital. They changed flights day and night, which was naturally much faster than the military newspapers in Peking. Now the fast horses sent to the capital are probably still halfway."

"I have to go into the palace quickly and report this news to His Majesty immediately."

The struggle between the court is the struggle between the court, and the former Yuan Dynasty attacked the border was a great thing that concerns the life and death of the border people. Xiao Fan could still clearly distinguish this point.

"Slow down! Don't worry, sir, there is something wrong with it." Cao Yi said in a solemn voice.

Xiao Fan was stunned: "What's wrong?"

Cao Yi frowned and said, "I have fought with the Tartars countless times in Peiping. The Tartars attacked the border every year. This is no surprise, but this year the Tartars attacked the border is a bit strange..."

"What's weird?"

"In the past, the Tartars attacked the border only burned, killed, plundered and plundered the border villages outside Beiping. I have never heard of the incident of soldiers siegeing the city of Beiping. No matter how the King of Yan is, it is undeniable that he is a good general who is good at using troops. He will defeat the Tatars every time he fights. The King of Yan has been guarding the vassal of Beiping. The border war in the Ming Dynasty has always been under the advantage of taking the initiative. The Tartars have been beaten for a long time and are in a passive defense. This year they dared to encircle Beiping City. Moreover, this is just a tribe called Qierjis among the Tartars. In fact, there are less than 50,000 soldiers under the siege of the city. Beiping City is now stationed with 100,000 elite soldiers. The chief general Zhang Yu is also a brave general, both wise and brave. Under his leadership, he can't even defeat tens of thousands of Tartars?"

Xiao Fan's expression rose a little deep thought.

Cao Yi continued: "...and it is late spring now, which is very different from the habits of the Tartars in previous years. The reason why the Tartars invaded the border of our Ming Dynasty was because before the winter, the tribes did not store enough food. Therefore, they attacked the border every year before the deep winter. Before the heavy snow covered the grassland, they gathered the tribes to harass and plunder our borders. In the late spring, it was the time when the grass was full and the sheep were fat. At this time, the Tartars did not grazed on the grasslands well, but instead led their troops to attack Beiping City. It was unheard of."

Xiao Fan tapped the table gently with his fingers and said in a deep voice: "I understand, this is a plan to surround Wei and save Zhao!"

"What's the meaning?"

Xiao Fan chuckled and said, "The King of Yan feels insecure in the capital, so he wants to return to the Beiping vassal state."

After all, Cao Yi was only a military member and was not very clear about the affairs of the court. He said in confusion: "The King of Yan wanted to return to Peiping, so he directly asked the emperor for an order. What does this have to do with the Tartar soldiers siegeing Peiping?"

Xiao Fan shook his head and said, "It's very related. Haven't you heard of it? The kings left the capital and handed the resignation memorial to Your Majesty. Your Majesty all approved it. However, if the King of Yan submitted the resignation memorial again, he would inevitably be suspicious of the Emperor. Therefore, he used this move to surround Wei and save Zhao. If the military affairs in Beiping are in urgent need of the military affairs, even if Your Majesty is not allowed, he must be approved. Who can command the elite soldiers and generals of Peking except the King of Yan?"

Cao Yi thought about it and then said in surprise: "Sir, what do you mean is that the Tartar soldiers surrounded Beiping was actually the trick played by the King of Yan?"

Xiao Fan nodded and said, "Yes, the soldiers of the Qierji tribe surrounded Beiping, perhaps because they colluded with the Yan army behind their backs and set up a stage to sing a big show for His Majesty. Perhaps because they were angry with the Yan army's provocation, they came to the city of Beiping. No matter what the truth was, the Yan army had only one purpose, that is... forcing His Majesty to release the King of Yan and let him return to Peking to defeat the enemy."

Cao Yi gritted his teeth and sighed: "King Yan... is so scheming!"

Xiao Fan also sighed: "Just like today, the grandson is weak, if the King of Yan returns to Beiping, it is like a tiger returning to the mountain and a dragon soaring to nine nights. He holds 100,000 elite soldiers and generals in the north. Who in the world can control him?"

"Sir, why don't the emperor reduce the vassal state?"

Xiao Fan shook his head and said, "Whether the emperor cuts down the vassals or not is not something our ministers can guess. We are just the Jinyiwei who is loyal to the emperor. We will do whatever His Majesty asks us to do. How can we ask about state affairs and political affairs?"

Cao Yi and others bowed their heads and said nothing when they heard this.

That being said, Xiao Fan felt a little anxious. Judging from Zhu Yuanzhang's performance during this period, he seemed not very enthusiastic about the matter of reducing the vassals. He could not make a safe arrangement for the transfer of military and political power in all parts of the country after the vassals. He valued the most power in his life, and he wanted to add all the powers of all sizes and big things in the country to him. He would never allow the power to be handed over to those ministers in other surnames. In contrast, he would rather hand over the power to his sons and let them guard all over the place of the emperor. Only in this way would he feel that Zhu Ming's country was in his hands.

These are all superficial reasons. The most important thing is that Zhu Yuanzhang still did not want to believe that his son would rebel, and he would not want to attack his son and let those ministers of other surnames take office. This is the fundamental reason why he was unwilling to reduce the vassal states.

After all, Zhu Yuanzhang is old, and he is no longer the cold-blooded and cruel emperor who killed his ministers without blinking an eye. Especially this time, what he faces is his own biological son, an emperor who has been busy all his life and has a bad reputation. How can he bear to attack his son? Isn’t this completely rejecting everything he has done for the descendants of the Zhu family in this life?

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't want to do this, so he was even willing to turn a blind eye and leave this difficult problem to Zhu Yunwen. At least he couldn't do this when Zhu Yuanzhang was alive.

Who said that Zhu Yuanzhang was cold-blooded and heartless all his life? As he approached his whole year, he showed the helplessness of an old man in the world and his tolerance for his descendants in his speechlessness.

It’s a pity that this kind of tolerance will inevitably lead to a disaster.

What can Xiao Fan do when facing Zhu Yuanzhang like this? He is just a small magistrate of the Jinyiwei. Do he dare to advise Zhu Yuanzhang to reduce the vassals?

"Sir, if King Yan returns to Peiping, I'm afraid..." Cao Yi said a while and stopped talking, but his expression was quite anxious.

Cao Yi was once a general under the command of King Yan, and he was more aware of King Yan's strength and ambition than others.

Xiao Fan's eyelids were half-hung and he said lightly: "What should be come, you will always come, and you can't stop him."

As he was talking, butler Zhang hurried over outside the hall and stood at the door and replied: "Master, His Highness Yan King outside the door is asking for a meeting. He... also brought a monk and a dozen guards."

Xiao Fan sighed, "What should come, it will come."

He turned his head to Cao Yi and said, "You sit here and wait for me, I will go to the front hall to meet the King of Yan."

Cao Yi and others responded in a low voice.

Xiao Fan left the inner hall, walked towards the front hall, and took two steps. He seemed to remember something, and turned around and entered the inner courtyard.

In the bedroom in the inner courtyard, Xiao Huamei was clumsyly working as an embroiderer, stitching and threading around. Although her movements were stiff, her expression was particularly serious.

Seeing Xiao Fan come in, Xiao Huamei's face suddenly showed a happy look. He pulled Xiao Fan over and pointed to the embroidery work in his hand for him to see.

Xiao Fan smiled and praised: "It looks good! It looks so good!"

Xiao Huamei's face was praised by him, and two pink halos floated on her tender white cheeks, which was very charming.

"My husband, I'm embroidering very hard..." Xiao Huamei's face slightly raised, her big eyes staring at him, looking anxiously waiting for the praise.

Xiao Fan praised him very consciously: "Yes, it's very well embroidered, without makeup, white clothes, sometimes bright and sometimes sad. This pig has a blessing..."

Xiao Huamei's face suddenly collapsed, and he curled his little mouth and threw the embroidered piece in his hand away.

"What's wrong?"

Xiao Huamei pouted and said, "I embroidered the Qilin..."

Xiao Fan coughed awkwardly and immediately changed the subject: "...Your biological father, King Yan, is here, right at the door now, do you want to see him?"

Xiao Huamei's expression remained unchanged, shook her head calmly, then smiled and said, "My husband, will I embroider you a mandarin duck purse, okay?"

Seeing her indifferent attitude, Xiao Fan felt a grasp in his heart. It seemed that in her eyes, his biological father came to the house and was not as important as embroidering a mandarin duck purse for his husband.

Xiao Fan looked at her deeply and smiled, "I understand. I'll go to the front hall to meet him. You... continue to embroider the mandarin duck purse for me."

As soon as Xiao Fan walked into the front hall, he saw a hustle and bustle outside the gate. Then someone pushed away Butler Zhang who was blocking the door. He shouted in a rough voice: "What are Xiao Fan doing? I haven't seen him welcome me in so long. How dare he treat me so slowly!"

Then a group of murderous guards surrounded a middle-aged man wearing a dark yellow king robe, and a group of people rushed in.

Xiao Fan sneered a few times, then tidied up his clothes and greeted him and said, "Your Highness, the King of Yan, came to the humble house, and the lower official was flattered. He was burning incense and bathing in the inner courtyard just now to show his sincerity to Your Highness. I came late to pick him up, please forgive me."

Zhu Di snorted coldly, and said, "Fortunately you just burned incense and bathed. If you are more sincere and fast for three or five days, wouldn't I wait for you when I stand outside the door?"

"Your Highness is so serious. Those who eat meat can only fast if they pay homage to death..."

"You..." Zhu Di was furious and pointed at Xiao Fan for a while and couldn't speak. Then he swung his sleeves hard, turned around and strode into the front hall.

The monk Daoyan, who followed, glanced at Xiao Fan with a gaze, and followed Zhu Di into the front hall. The other dozen guards guarded the outside of the hall with murderous aura.

Xiao Fan's eyelids twitched. Zhu Di is really bad today.

Zhu Di entered the front hall, sat on the guest chair on the right, then gloomy, stared at Xiao Fan and said straight to the point: "Mr. Xiao, I took the liberty to come here for one person. I hope Mr. Xiao is a gentleman who is beautiful and warm, and I will give you advice."

"I wonder who your highness came?"

Zhu Di stared at Xiao Fan in a stern manner and said word by word: "I came for Princess Changning!"

Xiao Fan's expression remained unchanged and said calmly: "Has the prince made a mistake? The official did not know Princess Changning."

Zhu Di's tone became colder and colder: "Mr. Xiao, no secret words are spoken. Chang Ning is my youngest daughter. I have been separated from her for five years. I heard that she is currently living in your mansion. I am here today to take her back to recognize her ancestors and return to her hometown. I hope Lord Xiao will fulfill his grace. I will repay you for your kindness to help my daughter."

Xiao Fan's expression remained unchanged and said, "The prince may not have heard what the emperor said just now. The emperor said it again. I don't know Princess Changning."

Zhu Di was furious when he heard this. He came to the country of Izumo. He heard that his long-lost daughter had been in trouble with his enemies. He was already full of resentment. Now seeing Xiao Fan shirking all his responsibilities and excuses, Zhu Di couldn't help but become more angry.

"Bang!"

Zhu Di slapped the table hard and said furiously: "How dare you bully me if you are a man!"

Zhu Di led 100,000 troops and fought on the battlefield for many years. In this anger, he was thunderous and powerful. In the front hall of Xiao Mansion, a solemn aura surged into the sky and spread wildly throughout the hall, gradually becoming solemn.

Xiao Fan's expression still had not changed. Facing Zhu Di's anger, he didn't even raise his eyelids and looked calm, but the clothes behind him were so scared that they were soaked in cold sweat. He pressed his hands on his thighs to prevent his legs from shaking too much.

"Your Highness is mighty, and the emperor is convinced..." Xiao Fan said calmly.
To be continued...