The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

Chapter 41 Assassination 1
It was still the same private room, but the wooden table was no longer filled with tea and snacks, but with paper, pen, ink and inkstone.

Bai Hongzhi stood in front of the wooden table, holding a pen in his hand, concentrating on thinking, as if he was drafting some brilliant article.

Outside the door, the voice of the old steward came: "Master Sun"

Bai Hongzhi came back to his senses: "Come in."

The door opened, and the old steward came in excitedly. He greeted Bai Hongzhi and then said, "Master Sun, they are not trying to rob the execution ground, but to assassinate Li Hu."

Bai Hongzhi put down his pen and looked at him: "What did you say?"

The old steward said excitedly: "The people from Qinglong Hall want to assassinate Li Hu!"

Bai Hongzhi: "Are you sure?"

The old steward said, "It can't be wrong. News came from East City, and all those hiding in the horse market have received orders." At this point, he took a deep breath, "Master Sun, this is a great opportunity for revenge!"

Bai Hongzhi was shocked, and after considering for a moment, he shook his head: "No, this is the capital, and there are spies of the Imperial Guards everywhere. It is impossible to hide such a big commotion from them."

The old steward said: "Li Hu has offended the entire Jinyiwei. They dare not refuse to provide information to Li Hu like Shaanxi did, but they can suppress the news. That's enough."

Bai Hongzhi was somewhat excited. He kept rubbing his hands and walking back and forth quickly.

The old steward: "If Master Sun is worried, we can prepare first. If it works, we can take action later."

Bai Hongzhi stopped and looked at him: "Go and get ready."

"Yes!" The elderly steward answered loudly, turned around and strode out.

Bai Hongzhi's guess was correct. Such a big commotion could not be hidden from the Jinyiwei's spies.

There is a huge sand table in the duty room of the Northern Pacification Office, which takes up almost half of the room.

In front of the sand table, officials from the Northern Pacification Office stood silently.

Captain Qiu looked around the sand table and spoke after a while: "Capture the White Lotus Sect members hiding in the horse market, and then cause chaos in the entire East Market to attract people from Shuntian Prefecture and the Five Military Camps."

An official from the Northern Pacification Division spoke up: "What about this intelligence?"

Captain Qiu looked at him: "What information?"

Another official from the Northern Pacification Division said: "The White Lotus Sect has sneaked into the capital. We can just arrest them according to the rules. There is no need to report it."

The Northern Pacification Division official wanted to say something, but another Northern Pacification Division official spoke up: "Almost all of our people have been transferred to Shaanxi and the border areas, so how can we keep track of the movements of the entire capital? If the brothers from the Southern Pacification Division hadn't discovered it by chance, we wouldn't have known that the White Lotus Sect had sneaked into the capital."

Many officials from the Northern Pacification Office immediately nodded in agreement.

The others looked at each other, and no one said a word.

Captain Qiu said: "We are all in the same boat. We should learn to work together." He glanced at the officials.

All the officials within his sight lowered their heads in panic.

Captain Qiu took out his pocket watch, glanced at it, and then said, "You should take people to surround the horse market and search every house carefully."

Everyone answered in a flurry, “Yes.”

Captain Qiu: "I'll go to Prince Zhongshun's mansion first and I'll be there later."

Everyone was relieved and answered loudly, "Yes!" Then they saluted to Captain Qiu, squeezed out of the door and dispersed.

Captain Qiu flicked his sleeves and strode out.

At the same time, in the dining room of Yuqing Palace, which was in the opposite direction of the Beizhenfusi duty room, dozens of bowls of various dishes, large and small, were placed on the long table.

The prince sat at the top with his eyes slightly closed.

Zhao Tong, the eunuch in charge of Yuqing Palace, brought Li Hu in.

Li Hu had obviously just finished taking a shower. He was wearing a brand new robe and a ribbon embroidered with gold flowers tied around his head.

The prince opened his eyes, looked Li Hu up and down for a while, then smiled and said, "I am nearly ten years older than you, but my robe fits you better than mine."

Li Hu smiled. After passing Yanzhou Prefecture, he had been on the road, sleeping in the open air, and his body smelled bad.

The prince then asked Zhao Tong to take him to bathe and change clothes, so that Li Hu could enjoy the treatment of a cabinet minister.

There is a cabinet minister on duty every night in the cabinet duty room, handling urgent government affairs and waiting for the emperor to summon him at any time. There is not only a place to sleep, but also a small kitchen and a place to bathe. Zhao Tong hurriedly said: "General Li is a military general."

The prince raised his hand and said, "Bring General Li's chair over here."

Zhao Tong responded and moved the chair over.

Li Hu: "Thank you, Your Highness, for your grace."

The prince sat at the top and Li Hu sat next to him.

Zhao Tong poured the wine in the thermos to Li Hu.

"I don't dare to accept it. Let me do it myself." Li Hu stood up immediately.

The prince said to Zhao Tong, "Don't talk about so many rules. Just let General Li do whatever makes him feel comfortable."

Zhao Tong: “Yes.”

Li Hu suddenly thought: "Please ask the manager to send someone to inform Wang Daniu and let them go back to rest first."

The prince nodded.

Zhao Tong bowed and walked out.

The prince said: "I just took the medicine, you can do as you please, eat more."

"Yes."

Li Hu was really hungry. As soon as a big piece of mutton wrapped in oil went into his stomach, his eyes lit up instantly. He picked up another piece and stuffed it into his mouth. It was fat but not greasy, and tasted delicious. After a glass of wine, he was left with an endless aftertaste.

The prince smiled and asked, "Is it so fragrant?"

Li Hu swallowed the food in his mouth and said, "This is like a blessing after a long drought. In order to hurry on this journey, I have been eating dry food for most of a month." As he said this, he poured himself a glass of wine and drank it.

The prince smiled and said, "Eat more of whatever you like. If it's not enough, I'll ask the imperial kitchen to prepare it." Having said that, he looked at the eunuch on duty.

The chief eunuch understood and stepped out.

The prince whispered, "I've had a showdown with the emperor," and told him about the conflict he had with the emperor that day.

Li Hu was slightly stunned, then he picked up a vegetarian meatball with chopsticks and brought it to his mouth, saying, "The emperor wants to talk about the misunderstanding between me and the second prince."

The prince's heart skipped a beat and he stared at Li Hu.

Li Hu took another sip of wine. "I'm not a petty person, but I'm not that magnanimous either. I hate people who stab me in the back the most! I risked my life to block a sneak attack from behind for him, but he impeached me again and again. I have no hatred for him for killing my father, nor for stealing my wife."

The prince noticed that he was off topic and quickly changed the subject: "This mutton should be eaten while it's hot, eat it quickly."

Li Hu: “Yes.”

The prince said: "You know your own body. I can hold on for another ten or eight years without any problem."

Li Hu looked at him without saying anything.

The prince continued, "I have thought about it carefully. Let's proceed in three steps. The first step is to accumulate strength and seize the emperor's desire to train a new crown prince to gain greater power. The second step is to train the emperor's grandson. As long as he is fourteen or fifteen years old, I can submit a petition as the crown prince to request the canonization of the grandson.

The emperor will never agree to this. The bloody example of the former Ming Dynasty is there. This is the critical third step! The reason why my uncle was defeated was that he had no military power. Therefore, only military remonstration can force my father to bow his head. I have to ask General Li for help!"

Li Hu was stunned! He stared at the prince with his big eyes, thinking: Prince Zhong's curse has really come true!

Prince: "General Li?"

Li Hu came back to his senses and stood up quickly. "Thank you for your trust, Your Highness. I will go through fire and water without hesitation!"

The prince also stood up: "Okay! God, if you don't let me down, I will never let you down! By the way, let me get something for you to see." As he said that, he took out a piece of paper from his sleeve and handed it to Li Hu.

Li Hu took it and looked at it. His eyes suddenly widened. The characters were in the familiar cursive handwriting of the crown prince. It read: "Li Hu is to be conferred the title of king of a different surname, and his family will inherit the throne without interruption. I decree this."

The prince smiled and said, "Don't worry, I will never treat you unfairly." He took the "imperial edict" back and put it into his sleeve. "Whether I take over the throne or my grandson inherits the throne, I will write you a real one in front of all the civil and military officials in the Palace of Heavenly Purity."

Li Hu bowed and said, "Then I thank you in advance."

The prince waved his hand and said, "Sit down. The food is getting cold."

(End of this chapter)