Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

"If I help plot to poison the emperor and it succeeds, what benefit will it bring me?"

Li Shi said, "Of course you want to be a marshal."

"What evidence do you have?" Jin Wuzhu questioned.

Li Shi said, "I heard it with my own ears."

Jin Wuzhu sneered: "That means there's no evidence!"

Wu Qimai said, "Drag him away and interrogate him properly."

"His Majesty,"

Wanyan Zongxian stepped forward.

"There are not many veteran generals left who can lead troops into battle. If we kill more, how can we repel the Ming army?"

Wu Qimai said, "It was just an interrogation; they didn't say he had to be killed."

Enraged, Jin Wuzhu pointed at Wuqimai and said, "You have turned black into white, you cannot distinguish right from wrong, and you have killed the general in command of the army. Just wait for your death and the destruction of your country!"

Wanyan Zongpan roared, "You scoundrel, how dare you rant in the court and curse the Emperor of Jin!"

"These crimes alone warrant the death penalty."

Wu Qimai waved his hand and said, "Detain and interrogate him."

That night, Li Shi, accompanied by several cruel officials, arrived at the prison and dismissed all the jailers guarding Jin Wuzhu.

Jin Wuzhu said irritably, "Ask what you want to interrogate quickly."

"I did not plot a rebellion, and I am not in the same party as those two."

Li Shi sat down, took out paper and pen, and wrote as he read aloud: "Wuzhu himself said that he colluded with Woben to plot against His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Jin with poison..."

Jin Wuzhu said urgently, "I didn't say that, don't write it down!"

Li Shi continued to write furiously, recording Jin Wuzhu's crimes one by one.

After a long while, Li Shi finally finished writing and said to Jin Wuzhu, "Sign here."

"You scoundrel, don't even think about it!" Jin Wuzhu cursed angrily.

Li Shi didn't say anything more, but instead gave a wink to several cruel officials.

They unlocked the brass lock on the cell door, and one of them was carrying a rope.

With his hands bound behind his back, Jin Wuzhu realized the danger and immediately lunged forward.

He knocked over one of the cruel officials, and when he reached out to grab another, Jin Wuzhu broke free.

Jin Wuzhu rushed out of the prison cell, but a cruel official suddenly stuck out his foot and tripped Jin Wuzhu to the ground.

All the cruel officials rushed over and pinned Jin Wuzhu down like a pig being slaughtered.

Jin Wuzhu roared, "The heavens are clear, the heavens are clear, I have not rebelled!"

The cruel official with the rope pressed his knees against Jin Wuzhu's vest and knelt down to strangle Jin Wuzhu's neck with the rope.

Jin Wuzhu struggled for a while before finally calming down.

Li Shi reached out and found that the person was no longer breathing.

So he took out the inkpad, untied the rope binding Jin Wuzhu's hands, and signed his name on the crime he had just recorded.

Li Shi glanced around the cell and said to the cruel officials, "Wuzhu untied himself and hanged himself out of fear of punishment."

The cruel officials understood and hung up Jin Wuzhu.

The following day, news spread that Jin Wuzhu had committed suicide out of fear of punishment, and the ensuing political storm was just beginning.

Shi family.

Shi Li'ai looked at the officials who barged in and asked in fear, "What do you want?"

The officer in charge of the team said, "Wuzhu has already implicated you all, and the Shi family is also secretly plotting a rebellion!"

"My Shi family has always been loyal to the Great Jin Dynasty, how could there be any treason?" Shi Jian rushed excitedly into the courtyard.

"Whether there's treason or not, we'll find out with an interrogation. Arrest them!" the officer shouted.

Suddenly it dawned on him: "It must be because the Ming emperor cut off my ear that they think I offended the Ming emperor."

"I didn't! The two countries were at war at the time, and I was just going to be an envoy... Let me go, let me go!"

Shi Li'ai, however, had calmed down and said disheartenedly, "Don't beg them anymore. They harm loyal and good people, and betray their country for personal gain. The Great Jin Dynasty is doomed!"

While executing the male members of the Shi family, Wu Qimai also promoted the Shi family's relatives by marriage.

In this way, we can prevent everyone from feeling insecure and quickly stabilize the storm.

……

Yang family.

Yang Pu, Aguda's chief strategist, was seriously ill.

He called his son to his bedside, listened to the recent events, and instructed him: "Killing Wuzhu will cause the army to lose all morale."

"Killing Shi Li'ai will also chill the hearts of civil officials."

"The Jin Dynasty is about to be destroyed. You should not participate in any fighting. Just wait until spring to come out of the city and kneel to welcome the Ming army."

The son asked, "Is it really impossible to negotiate peace?"

Yang Pu strained his voice, managing only to manage to utter: "The Ming Emperor Zhu was an extraordinary man. Could he tolerate the existence of the Jin Dynasty?"

"Given the strength of the Ming army, the Western Xia will perish sooner or later, and may even recover the Western Regions."

"What a pity! If I were twenty years younger, I would definitely dedicate myself to assisting that Liangshan emperor."

Chapter 3479 Showing Off Power

"He wants to be Emperor Taizong of Tang?" the son asked in surprise.

Yang Pu said nothing more and gestured for his son to leave with a flick of his finger.

He estimated he wouldn't survive this winter and now only hoped to be relieved of his physical pain as soon as possible.

He helped Aguda establish the Jin Dynasty, and now he has died alongside the Jin Dynasty.

.......

A whole cartload of heads was dragged away by sleds to see Ma Kuo.

Ma Kuo was also very familiar with Jin Wuzhu. He looked at the head in front of him and reached out to close Jin Wuzhu's eyelids.

I'm quite moved!

Li Shi, who swaggered around in the capital, turned into a dog the moment he saw Ma Kuo.

He humbly asked, "What other requests does the angel have? Please tell me."

Ma Kuo stopped looking at the severed heads: "First, the historical records of the Liao Kingdom must be carefully sealed and preserved; second, Wu Qimai must die!"

Li Shi was shocked upon hearing this: "This...this..."

Although Wanyan Zonggu was frightened, he was also angry and said, "If you don't want to negotiate, just say so. Why say all this?"

Ma Kuo smiled and said to Wanyan Zonggu, "Your father is dead, but your elder brother can still succeed him."

"Your father certainly killed countless Han people, but your brother didn't go to the battlefield much."

"Your brother's hands are clean!"

“After you go back, you can keep it from your father and discuss it with your brother.”

Wanyan Zonggu stood there, stunned.

Ma Kuo then asked Li Shi, "Why haven't the escaped empress dowager and emperor of the pseudo-Song Dynasty, as well as those treacherous officials of the pseudo-Song Dynasty, been sent here?"

Li Shi quickly replied, "It will be sent immediately after the peace talks."

"Considering that His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty might want to keep them alive, we dared not kill them without authorization."

"That's quite a thorough consideration," Ma Kuo chuckled.

On the way back, Wanyan Zonggu asked, "What should we do?"

"I don't know," Li Shi replied.

Li Shi is a typical speculator; he won't make a decision easily until the situation becomes clear.

Once the situation becomes clear, make a decision immediately.

When this person first joined the Jin Dynasty, his first actual position was as a clerk under Jin Wuzhu.

He was very honest and kind, quiet and reserved, and therefore had a very good personal relationship with Jin Wuzhu.

However, it was he who fabricated the charges against Jin Wuzhu, and it was he who killed Jin Wuzhu in prison!

The Ming Dynasty now demands the execution of Wu Qimai in order to negotiate peace, and has even hinted that Wanyan Zongpan could succeed to the throne.

Li Shi couldn't understand Wanyan Zongpan's thoughts, and under these circumstances, he couldn't express his opinion.

Back in Beijing.

After much deliberation, Wanyan Zonggu decided to bring the matter to light.

When he reported to his father, he invited his elder brother to listen as well.

“That scoundrel Ma Kuo is sowing discord,” Wanyan Zonggu said. “First he lured us to kill Wuzhu, and now he says that we can only make peace if we kill my father. He even asked me to come back and discuss this with my brother in secret.”

"Ming troops are mostly just stalling for time, instigating internal strife within our Great Jin, and then launching an attack after spring."

Upon hearing this, Wanyan Zongpan was so frightened that he immediately knelt down and said, "I have absolutely no intention of killing my father!"

Wu Qimai remained silent, lost in thought.

Wanyan Zonggu said, "The Southern bandits are really going too far! They've already agreed to cede territory and become vassals, yet they still won't give up!"

After a long silence, Wu Qimai finally spoke, saying to his eldest son, "You shouldn't overthink it, and neither should I, otherwise we'll fall into the Southern bandits' trap of sowing discord."

“If you and I, father and son, kill each other, no matter who survives, the capital will be in complete chaos.”

Wanyan Zongpan said, "Your Majesty is right."

Wu Qimai further stated, "The Ming army is powerful, and we lack soldiers and food; we are absolutely unable to resist them."

"The only option is to move the capital eastward and temporarily avoid their sharp edge."

"Where would be a suitable place to move the capital?" Wanyan Zongpan asked.

Wu Qimai said, "We will move to Huligai, which is hundreds of miles away from Shangjing."

"There are many mountains and forests on both sides of the Hunhe River (the main stream of the Songhua River). We took all the boats that were going to Beijing with us, and after the river thawed, we moved them to Huligai."

"If the Southern bandits come after us, we can hide in the mountains and forests."

The Huligai Road of the Jin Dynasty stretched from Mudanjiang City and Jiamusi City all the way to the mouth of the Heilongjiang River.

The administrative center was located in Yilan, at the confluence of the Songhua River and the Mudan River.

Wanyan Zongpan had many questions in his mind, but he dared not say them at this moment.

Wanyan Zonggu asked, "When we move the capital, should we take the wealthy households and artisans from Shangjing with us?"

"Should we also take the civil officials from various ethnic groups with us?"

Wu Qimai said, "Take only the artisans and the army. The civil officials of various ethnic groups cannot be trusted; they may rebel against Jin at any time. Kill them all during the grand court assembly!"

“A portion of the wealth from officials and wealthy households was given as rewards to the soldiers, and some were seized and made into slaves for them.”

Wanyan Zonggu said, "Although there are still a few thousand remnants of the army, most of them are those who fled back from the front lines."

"The generals and soldiers were terrified, and there were not many from my Wanyan tribe."

"If we kill civil officials, rob wealthy households, and move the capital, the people's hearts will probably fall apart immediately."

“The soldiers of each unit may flee back to their hometowns and no longer obey the Emperor of the Great Jin, but instead submit to the Liangshan Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.”

Wu Qimai said, "Use the stolen goods to bribe as many people as you can."

Chapter 3480 Bowing Down and Submitting