Chapter 612 Capture
In late October, Xia Zihan made three sets of Chu Jingqi's winter clothes, inside and out, and even three pairs of lambskin boots. News finally came from the south.
This news was brought back by Chu Xuanyu.
"The Emperor of Japan was assassinated when he left the palace in mid-October to worship heaven in a temple. It is said that he was killed with a sword."
The emperor of Japan was not old, only about forty years old, and he was in good health. His sudden death threw the entire Japanese country into chaos.
According to the news from Japan, the emperor did not leave any edict before his death, and after his death, his dozen sons were not concerned about his funeral, but about his position as emperor.
On the second day after the death of the emperor, the ministers of the Japanese country quickly formed a line and divided into four factions. The four factions supported the eldest prince, the third prince, the fourth prince, and the seventh prince respectively.
The four princes had equal power. At the emperor's funeral, overtly and covertly, the four groups were fighting with each other, and the world was turned upside down. No one would give in to the other.
As for Dasheng, as soon as the emperor got the news, he issued an order, ordering Chu Xuanyu to be the Grand Marshal of the Cavalry Army, leading 50,000 troops and horses to secretly go to Wanfeng City.
At this end, Chu Xuanyu left the capital on the third day after the emperor's decree.
As for the Japanese country, seven days after the death of the emperor, the fourth prince was so grief-stricken by the death of the emperor that he drank and died in his study.
As soon as the fourth prince died, the ministers who supported the fourth prince were immediately wooed by the other three factions. Those who could not be wooed would be attacked, sick, dead, and demoted.
Even the Ninth Prince and the Twelfth Prince, who supported the Four Princes, were found to have made a mistake. They were expelled from their titles, demoted to common people, and kicked out of the Japanese palace. They were not even allowed to attend the emperor's funeral.
Of the remaining three factions, the Grand Prince was the strongest, suppressing the other two factions, forcing the Third Prince and the Seventh Prince to join forces in order to survive. This prevented the Grand Prince from taking advantage and being obedient.
The Japanese side was fighting fiercely and life and death, and Xia Zihan was nervously looking forward to the news coming back from the Japanese country every day.
She had a hunch that all the chaos in Japan must be caused by Chu Jingqi.
At the end of November, news came from the Japanese country that the emperor's funeral had been completed, and the ministers were quarreling fiercely, all wanting to nominate the prince they supported as the emperor.
Originally, the emperor's position should be occupied by the prince of Japan, but the prince was not born by the queen, but by a concubine.
That concubine happened to be from a lowly background. Before entering the palace, she was a prostitute who had her body disfigured.
When the emperor was still a prince, he went to play with a prostitute in the technical court. He fell in love with her at first sight and took her back to the palace. Within a month, news spread that the concubine was pregnant.
Later, after the emperor ascended the throne, he made the prostitutes his concubines.
Originally, the emperor wanted to make the eldest prince the crown prince, but the Japanese ministers repeatedly opposed it, saying that the eldest prince's mother was of low origin, and some even doubted the eldest prince's bloodline.
It is suspected that the eldest prince is not the son of the emperor.
Therefore, after the death of the emperor, several princes competed for the throne that was supposed to be succeeded by the eldest prince.
Although the Grand Prince's mother-in-law came from a lowly background, over the years, she had secretly accumulated some power due to the Emperor's love for her, and these forces were all supporters of the Grand Prince.
The Grand Prince is currently the one with the most support.
However, by the end of November, Xia Zihan received news that the eldest prince had been assassinated in the palace.
The person who assassinated him was a woman, a dancer who had just entered the prince's palace less than half a year ago.
The dancer was very beautiful and loved the eldest prince very much. Within a month, the eldest prince slept in her room for half of the month, and had a lot of flirtatious relationships with her.
The day the eldest prince died, he was enjoying himself happily on the body of the dancer. The dancer took advantage of the moment when the eldest prince reached climax and inserted the dagger into his heart.
The eldest prince died, the dancing girl disappeared, and the Japanese country became even more chaotic.
Everyone's attention was unanimously focused on the third prince and the seventh prince. The third prince and the seventh prince also suspected that the other party had done it. They were secretly investigating the evidence, hoping to step on the other party after getting the evidence.
As for the Japanese throne, only the third prince and the seventh prince were left. After the death of the eldest prince, the people who supported the eldest prince were also divided between the third prince and the seventh prince.
After the death of the eldest prince of the Japanese state, Ao Tianchen, who was far away at the border, suddenly received a secret order from the emperor, asking him to lead troops to invade the territory of the Japanese state.
Ao Tianchen has recruited 300,000 soldiers and horses in Wanfeng City, which is twice as many as Chu Xuanyu recruited.
Last year, because of the fighting here, many farmers were so frightened that they abandoned their fields and ran away from home to survive elsewhere.
When the fighting stopped and they returned home, it was already the winter months, they couldn't plant the land, and there was no food to eat at home. Some of the strong laborers went out hungry to find work.
In a small city, there are not so many jobs for them to do. For a while, the low-paid job was only given two steamed buns a day, and there were people rushing to do it. Later, Ao Tianchen recruited soldiers and horses, and gave the steward three full meals. Many young laborers who were about to starve to death due to lack of food at home went to work as soldiers, saving the little food distributed by the court at home for their families to eat.
Ao Tianchen was lucky enough to recruit 300,000 troops within three months.
Now, the emperor issued an order for him to invade the Japanese territory with 200,000 soldiers and horses. Ao Tianchen did not dare to neglect. After discussing with the three generals around him, he set off to attack the Japanese territory three days later.
The Japanese country is in the most chaos at this time, and it is the last moment to decide on the emperor.
The third prince, the seventh prince, whoever wins will be the emperor of Japan. At this last critical moment, neither of them will give in to the other. They will jump out and bite the dog. They both secretly accuse the other party of sending people to kill the eldest prince and not worthy of being the emperor of Japan. .
Just when they were biting fiercely, Ao Tianchen led an army of 200,000 people, and with lightning speed, they invaded the city closest to Dasheng in the Japanese country.
This news reached the Japanese palace. No one among the three princes and the seventh prince was vying to be the emperor. They both recommended each other to lead the troops to resist Da Sheng's 200,000 troops.
At the same time, they also sent people to capture Princess Ximin.
Princess Ximin was betrothed to Prince Zhengtian, and Prince Zhengtian belonged to the Zhongzheng faction and would not help anyone. However, when the people of the third and seventh princes went to arrest Princess Ximin, they found that Princess Ximin had disappeared long ago.
Just a few days after the emperor's death, everyone was busy fighting for the throne. During the funeral, he disappeared.
Because she was a married princess with an important status, and she suddenly disappeared, Prince Masada was also responsible for the lax supervision. After Prince Masada found out, he did not dare to spread the news and only sent people to search secretly.
I thought that no one would know about finding her secretly.
However, after searching for almost two months, Princess Ximin was still not found.
When the news of Ao Tianchen's invasion of the Japanese country came, Prince Masada knew that Dasheng had fallen out, and Princess Ximin might have been rescued by a spy sent by Dasheng.
Without any hostages to hold Dasheng's troops and horses, the Japanese ministers began to discuss who would send troops to resist Dasheng's 200,000 troops.
However, no matter how they discussed it, neither the third prince nor the seventh prince wanted to lose their own troops, and both wanted the other party's generals to go.
Prince Masada suggested that he lead troops, but Prince Masada did not have military power under his command. If he agreed to go, the Third Prince and the Seventh Prince would have to give him military power. Neither of these two princes was willing to hand over their military power to Prince Masada in vain. .
After arguing for two days and two nights, there was no result.
When Ao Tianchen led his troops to attack the next city, the ministers were anxious. In the end, with the consent of both parties, they finally came up with a method that satisfied both parties.
The third prince and the seventh prince each led 100,000 troops and went to resist Dasheng's 200,000 troops. Whoever could obtain the head of Marshal Dasheng would be the emperor.
However, on the third night after the Third Prince and the Seventh Prince led their troops to leave Kyoto of the Japanese Kingdom, a group of high-ranking officials and ministers such as the Taizhengguan, Taizhengminister, Left Minister, Right Minister, Interior Minister, etc. of the Japanese Kingdom were assassinated by unknown persons.
Regardless of whether they were the third prince or the seventh prince, basically, all the ministers in important positions in the Japanese court were assassinated overnight.
When this incident happened, people in the Japanese country were panicked and frightened. Those officials were like frightened birds, so scared that they didn't even dare to go out of the door.
The Japanese court, as the two princes left Kyoto, killed and injured hundreds of ministers, and was paralyzed overnight.
In the end, Prince Masada, who stayed in Kyoto, personally came forward to persuade the other two princes who, like him, had not participated in the internal fighting, to step forward and take charge of the overall situation together. This slowly eased the situation in Japan.
However, these three princes also took the opportunity to place their own people in dozens of the most important positions in the court.
By the time the Third Prince and the Seventh Prince learned the news and wanted to send someone back to take charge of the overall situation, it was already too late. The entire court was in the hands of Prince Masada and the other two princes.
The Third Prince and the Seventh Prince each led an army of 100,000 men and were stationed halfway, hesitating whether to go back or continue moving forward.
If you go back, you will have to watch the Japanese city being invaded by the Dasheng people. However, if you don't return to Kyoto, by the time they take back the lost city of Japan, the emperor of Japan will have already ascended the throne, so what will happen to them? , then wouldn’t it be that they made wedding clothes for others in vain, and the gain outweighed the loss.
The soldiers and horses of the Third Prince and the Seventh Prince stopped halfway, unable to get off the tiger.
Just as they were hesitating, suddenly, bursts of fierce gunfire rang out from all directions, and then, the 200,000 troops around them were like weeds swept by the strong wind. In one breath, they all fell down.
By the time they reacted and were about to counterattack, not much of the 200,000-strong army was left.
Half an hour later, the third prince and the seventh prince, who were trying to escape while being protected by more than a thousand soldiers, were both arrested.
(End of chapter)