Chapter 97

This is plainly pulling the tiger's whiskers!

No.

This is practically plucking the tiger's whiskers clean!

Jiang Huan looked at Su Qiao in shock, even forgetting for a moment that he had come to extract information.

Only after a long while did he suddenly snap back to his senses.

Was the real shock that Su Qiao was pulling Old Zhu's whiskers?

The key is that Su Qiao has a way to deal with the bandits without deploying a single soldier!

"You, me, Your Majesty."

Jiang Huan looked at Su Qiao incoherently.

Only after a long while did he suddenly snap back to his senses, looking at Su Qiao excitedly and saying,

"This... my lord Su, do you truly have a method to make the bandits retreat without deploying a single soldier?"

Su Qiao took a deep breath and looked at Jiang Huan, asking,

"The premise is that all the Great Ming imperial clan members died in battle beyond the Pass."

"Exactly!"

Su Qiao sneered,

"Why would the Tatars beyond the Pass collude with the bandits?"

Jiang Huan said mechanically,

"It should be because the bandits are also Han people, and officials in the court helping the bandits wouldn't count as traitors to the Han?"

Su Qiao nodded slightly.

"Isn't that it then?"

"Just find a way to pin it on them, that's all!"

Jiang Huan's expression froze.

"If it were that easy to pin, would Your Majesty still be worried?"

Outside the wall, Zhu Yuanzhang's expression also darkened.

Accusing someone of secret collusion isn't that easy to say.

The Great Ming of this era did not have media as developed as in later generations.

The court's edicts could only be conveyed by the gentry.

Right now, the gentry of the later Great Ming are determined to defect to the rebels.

How could they possibly help Zhu Youjian bury himself?

Su Qiao looked at Jiang Huan helplessly and said,

"What's so hard about pinning it on them?"

"The imperial clan members all died in battle beyond the Pass, didn't they?"

Jiang Huan nodded mechanically.

"Yes, they died in battle..."

Su Qiao looked at Jiang Huan and asked,

"If they died, shouldn't their remains return to their roots?"

Jiang Huan immediately nodded firmly, saying,

"Of course, especially since these are heroes who died on the battlefield resisting foreign enemies!"

"Even commoners know to return their remains to their roots; how much more so for heroes?"

Su Qiao suddenly slapped the table.

"Isn't that it then?"

"Then let me ask you, is the ancestral grave of the Qin Wang Fu located in the bandits' territory?"

"He is causing trouble in Shu; is the ancestral grave of the Shu Wang Fu not in his territory?"

"Where are the bandits left?"

"The Central Plains? Shandong? Huguang?"

"Just tell me, where is there no ancestral grave of our Great Ming's feudal princes!"

Jiang Huan looked at Su Qiao with a confused expression and asked,

"What does my lord Su mean?"

Su Qiao looked at Jiang Huan helplessly.

"No, Commander Jiang, is your brain still fit for the Embroidered Uniform Guard?"

"Our Great Ming's imperial clan members died on the battlefield and returned their remains to their roots; that's no problem, right?"

"No problem."

"Then if our Great Ming sends a few escort units to accompany the imperial clan's coffins back home for a forty-nine-day mourning period, that's no problem, right?"

"No problem."

"Then you directly take a thousand or two thousand men to send the imperial clan's coffins to Chang'an, which is occupied by the bandits; tell me, will those bandits block us or not?"

"Block... no, if they block us, they become traitors to the Han; even if they issue an order, I doubt anyone would dare to actually act."

"If they don't block... if they don't block, these few thousand men will immediately attack and seize the city."

Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang outside the prison also had a glint of light in his eyes.

Brilliant!

This move of returning coffins for burial.

Undoubtedly, this simply passed the ball back to those bandit rebels.

Wasn't Chang'an lost?

Didn't you, Li Zicheng, seize the Qin Wang Fu to make it your Chong Wang Palace?!

Over ten thousand members of the imperial clan died in the battle at the Qin Wang Fu.

Lay it all right before your very eyes.

Let's see what you, Li Zicheng, will do!

Even if you, Li Zicheng, grind your teeth in hatred, what can you do about it?

Ask the soldiers and officers under your command what they think!

Moreover, aren't the gentry and scholar-officials of the realm now bent solely on joining the rebels?

Then they must have concealed quite a bit of news regarding the battle situation in Liaoxi!

Just let our Zhu family's children return to their fiefs for grand funerals.

Let's see how you gentry continue to cover things up from here on!

Let the common people of the realm come and see.

How our Zhu family came to sit upon the Jiangshan!

Looking at Su Qiao in the prison cell.

Zhu Yuanzhang simply ground his teeth in hatred.

Why can't this boy just honestly serve as a minister who plans for the state for us?

Did we owe him in a past life?! 3.

86, Telegraph Operator Zhu Yuanzhang!

Inside the Imperial Prison, Jiang Huan's chest heaved incessantly.

Only after a long while did he squeeze a single sentence out between his teeth.

"Minister Su, you are truly ruthless!"

Having spoken, Jiang Huan rose and left; before Jiang Huan had even walked out of the Imperial Prison,

he heard Su Qiao's voice drift over from behind, low and eerie.

"Wasn't the Fourth Young Lady of the Liu family, the wealthy landlord of Fengyang, just married?"

"Your Majesty only went back once to offer sacrifices to the ancestors."

"Heh, guess what?"

"That bridegroom kicked the bucket just a couple of days later."