The Xu residence was not very lively these days.

Xu Xiang was in a very bad mood, and everyone in the house saw it. In the whole family, Xu Xiang has always been the same, and in the whole house, except for the eldest young master who is wild outside and does not come home, no one dares to touch the bad head of Master Xiang.

At the same time, everyone also vaguely knew that the Xu family had recently committed a taboo against the emperor, and even the officials in the court did not dare to walk with the Xu family easily.

Today, when heard that the father-in-law who had a message from the palace came, the atmosphere in the entire prime minister's residence became even more condensed.

Not a good thing to think about.

The servants of Xu Mansion were a little murmured in their hearts, and they were discussing in private, saying that they didn't know what happened to the mansion.

However, everyone's discussion was just a discussion, but they all tacitly stayed away from the study.

Because at this time, Xu Xiangzheng and his eldest son Xu Zongwei were discussing matters in the study.

The library was depressing.

"Father, this..." Xu Zongwei said, standing in front of Xu Xiang's desk. "It is said that Jiangnan's arrangement is flawless, and you know that, father. It's just that the boy from Anna ran off and caused so many troubles, so that the Fifth Highness seized the handle..."

"I told you to get Cong'an back, who made you linger like this!" Xu Xiang glared angrily.

Xu Zongwei hurriedly said: "My son asked Cong'an's food and clothing expenses to be reduced earlier, and it would not take long to force him back, but..."

"But you just can't control your wife!" Xu Xiang said angrily. "It's dragged on until now, and it will soon cause a catastrophe?"

Xu Zongwei did not dare to talk back.

But he also knew that his father's temper was really unreasonable. Xu Cong'an is the only male in the next generation of his own family. Who doesn't hold him in the whole family? Ever since he was a child, he felt that this child was too spoiled, but he had a poor body and bones, and even his own father was used to him being tight.

A few months ago, Xu Cong'an sneaked out of Chang'an to play. Although he wanted to force this kid back, he still had to take care of his wife and parents. Slightly harsher, not to mention his wife making trouble, even his mother would cry hard at him for a while, crying for his dear grandson.

Xu Zongwei is now an official minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and his affairs are complicated. In addition, Xue Yan has been violent in the court this year.

He apparently cut his son's expenses, but let his mother and wife fill the vacancy with their own bodies. Instead, he let Xu Cong'an play outside for half a year.

But didn't expect that this game would have such a big accident.

Xu Zongwei stood silently by the desk.

Xu Xiang reluctantly drank two sips of tea, suppressed his anger for a while, and said again: "Now is not the time to ask the teacher to ask for guilt. Fortunately, Eunuch Lingfu is still there, and now the saint has just received the news, and there is still room for turning back. "

Xu Zongwei heard the words, but the dignified expression on his face did not subside at all.

"Dad meant...?" he asked.

After all, now their Xu family's charges are real. Some officials in Jinling were greedy for ink, and all the money was given to the sons of the Xu family. Coupled with the chaos in Shandong a few days ago, it was enough to kill him and his father.

In addition, after listening to Lingfu, Xue Yan also found the head of the King of Yunnan, and seemed to have found a clue. He knew that the trouble in Jiangnan was sent by the King of Yunnan.

Their Xu family had money exchanges with the King of Yunnan, but it was not a day or two. Now the soldiers under the King of Yunnan are like private soldiers raised by their Xu family.

Although the emperor has been around for a while and still can't find out who is sponsoring the king of Yunnan, it is only a matter of time. Their Xu family has greedy ink for so much money, and it is impossible for them to leave no trace of such a large amount of exchanges.

Besides, the emperor has already sent troops to deal with the king of Yunnan. When the king of Yunnan is captured and returned to the dynasty, will he still be tight-lipped for the Xu family?

When the emperor found out the truth, it was when their Xu family was destroyed.

Either way, it's a dead end.

Xu Xiang looked at Xu Zongwei.

"Just now, there's a piece of news from Lingfu that my father hasn't told you yet," he said.

Xu Zongwei hurriedly asked, "What is it?"

Xu Xiang said slowly: "The daughter of Jun's family is pregnant with a dragon heir, and it has been three months now. The saint, Longyan Dayue, has already made her a noble concubine."

Xu Zongwei was shocked: "Isn't she infertile?"

"I heard that there was a capable maid next to me. She didn't have enough oil and salt, and she was very skilled in medicine." Xu Xiang said. "This time, they kept it a secret, and they didn't let the emperor know until the three-month fetal image was stable."

Speaking of this, Xu Xiang raised his eyes and looked at Xu Zongwei.

"You should know that whether Xue Yan or the fetus in the Jun family's daughter's womb, the fate of the Xu family will not be better than today's if any of them ascend the throne." He said.

"Nowadays, the only way to save the Xu family and prosper for a few more years is to put it to death and live again before completely losing hope."

"But father, what should I do?" Xu Zongwei said hurriedly. "The forces we have worked so hard to arrange have already been stabbed to the surface by the Fifth Highness, and we can't come up with anything else for a while..."

"We still have the last card." Xu Xiang said.

Xu Zongwei was shocked when he heard this.

"You mean..." He paused for a long time before speaking with difficulty. "Fourth Highness?"

They made so many layouts because they relied on a prince in the palace. They are the prince's power, the prince, and their backer.

But this trump card will not be used easily.

When will it be available?

...only when there is a change of dynasty.

Xu Zongwei looked at his father in shock.

His father glanced at him lightly, his expression as usual, but Xu Zongwei saw the bloodshot in his father's eyes, and the madness hidden in the calm.

That is a desperate gambler, betting on his entire net worth, in order to bet the madness and decisiveness of winning or losing.

——

Emperor Qingping made up his mind to send troops, but now, when to send troops and where to send troops, it still needs to be considered.

The military generals of the previous dynasties frequently rebelled, causing the world to be disturbed and uneasy. Therefore, when the Dayong Dynasty was established, Taizu had the intention to suppress the generals and cultivate civil servants.

This custom has been passed down for several generations of emperors until today. Looking at the court, some military generals with real power are those guarding the frontier. It is really not easy to find a general who can speak before the Holy Spirit.

In addition, the Xu family has lost the trust of Emperor Qingping. When Emperor Qingping called people to discuss matters, he had to consider the relationship between the other party and the Xu family. If you are too close to the Xu family, you cannot choose.

Although the information sent by Xue Yan this time did not indicate that it was the Xu family who sponsored the King of Yunnan, the confession stated that there were officials in the court who cooperated internally and externally.

Combined with the Xu family's two huge corruption cases, even if Emperor Qing Ping did not want to doubt, he had to suspect that it was the Xu family who cooperated with the king of Yunnan.

Therefore, after picking and choosing, the Qing Ping Emperor still selected a group of civil servants to discuss and arrange the troops and horses to go south to Pingfan.

When the civil servants came, they quarreled endlessly.

When it came time to use soldiers, the drawbacks of emphasizing literature and suppressing martial arts were revealed. There are fortresses all around Dayong, and the number of officers and soldiers stationed there are fixed, and they cannot easily move. Moreover, they had to dispatch troops urgently, so that the King of Yunnan could not notice in advance, they needed to mobilize troops and horses near Chang'an.

The civil servants fought back and forth, but could not come to a conclusion.

Among the civil servants, there was one official who didn't say much, just nodded and shook his head.

Everyone was arguing with dry mouths, and Emperor Qing Ping was also upset, no one noticed that the official was vaguely embarrassed.

Only Lingfu stared at him absently.

Lynford knew who this man was.

This person was originally from the Jiang family, and he also came from the Linjiang Academy in Jinling. This person was originally very upright, but a few days ago, because of his children, he was caught by the Xu family.

Today, this person was arranged by the Xu family.

The man looked around, and he happened to meet Lingfu's gaze.

He paused and looked away.

At this moment, the arguing civil servants stopped for a while.

Emperor Qingping rubbed his eyebrows and sighed.

"Li Aiqing." He took a sip of tea and happened to look at the official. "I see that you haven't spoken much, but what are your thoughts?"

The official stood up tremblingly and knelt down in front of Emperor Qingping.

"I have an idea." He kowtowed. "I dare to speak, and ask Your Majesty to forgive me."

Emperor Qing Ping said, "Come on."

The official paused for a while, and seemed to be timid because of the thoughts that he was about to say.

"Qinmen Pass in the north of Chang'an City has soldiers available," he said.

For a while, the surroundings were quiet.

Emperor Qingping frowned, pondered for a moment, and said, "Does Li Aiqing know, whose soldiers are the soldiers of Qinmen Pass?"

"I know first of all that all the troops and horses in the world belong to Your Majesty." The official kowtowed and said slowly. "Although the soldiers at Qinmen Pass belonged to General Xu Zonglun, on the one hand, General Xu Zonglun was just the son of Xu Xianglun, and he was not close to Xu Xiang; on the other hand, General Xu was sincere. He sacrificed his life to save His Majesty. Three things... Wei Chen is bold, His Majesty is now keeping the Xu family's greed for ink secret, and he must have not made up his mind, and I don't know how to deal with them."

Emperor Qingping looked at him silently.

He was right.

He also knew a little about Xu Xiang's family affairs back then. Xu Xiang's children were weak and he never had a son, so he adopted his brother's child, it was Xu Zonglun. But within two years of Xu Zonglun's arrival, Xu Xiang's wife gave birth to his current parent and son Xu Zongwei.

Xu Xiang tried his best to train Xu Zongwei, but he ignored Xu Zonglun. If not, Xu Zonglun would not have gone to the border before he was crowned.

Xu Zonglun also sacrificed his life to save Emperor Qingping.

Thinking of him, Emperor Qingping fell silent.

Although he hated the Xu family for being greedy for money under his own eyes, he could not find any other family to replace them now. The stability of the previous dynasty has always required peace between all parties, and it is most taboo to suppress one party and make the other party bigger.

Emperor Qingping was silent for a while.

"Go on," he said.

The official heard the words, fell on the ground and continued: "Your Majesty might as well give the Xu family a chance and let them send troops to pacify the King of Yunnan. If they do well, His Majesty can punish them again, but let them live their lives. In the future, they will be punished. I will definitely repay your majesty.”

It was quiet all around.Emperor Qingping was silent, and no official dared to refute.

The official continued: "If Your Majesty is still worried, you can let General Xu Zonglun serve as his deputy and have no decision-making power, and then arrange a person whom His Majesty is assured to serve as the main general."

These words spoke to Emperor Qingping's heart.

After a moment, he put down the teacup.

"Do as you say," he said."Come here, pass the decree, and immediately call the Qinmenguan garrison to Chang'an, and I will personally do it for them."