Record of ups and downs in troubled times

"Come to see you is of course the most important reason, but there is indeed one more thing that needs your help: I ​​want to check the funeral records of King Huai."

It goes without saying that Tan Yangui has always described it as being serious. Liu Pu has been emperor for many years, but he is not an idiot.There may be a little ridicule in ordinary speech, but whenever you encounter doubts, you will definitely not let it go as a joke.

"King Chenghuai?"

In fact, regarding whether the third elder brother Cheng Huai Wang is dead or alive, Liu Pu thinks the former is more reliable.Although he had never been lucky enough to meet this third elder brother who was said to be as capable as a god of war, he had also known a thing or two from books and from the mouth of the palace servants.If such an invincible and victorious figure is still alive, would he be willing to hide in the world?

Furthermore, there have been no rumors that he is still alive for many years, but it was revealed just when King Ke was about to die?Isn't it ridiculous?

Thinking about it this way, King Chenghuai's death is already a conclusion. I am afraid that the bones have been scattered into smoke and dust, so what else is there to investigate?

But Liu Pu couldn't convince himself: because of his consistent experience of "not being cautious, it is tantamount to killing himself", he couldn't let go of his mind.

In the Longevity Palace just now, he also asked obliquely about the scene of King Chenghuai's burial.According to the queen mother's answer, she watched King Chenghuai being encoffined and buried with her own eyes. Under the tomb of King Chenghuai in the suburbs of Beijing, someone was indeed buried.

But what if, even if what happened, the person who was buried was not King Chenghuai?

What if, before nailing down the four bronze lion-head coffin nails, someone carried out the people inside?

The Empress Dowager did not have a chance to see the face of the deceased under the coffin lid, so Liu Pu could not believe her words.If he really wants to let this matter go, he has to give him a piece of evidence that can really prove that the person in the coffin is the true deity of King Chenghuai.

And this evidence may be found in the clan annals of the royal family of the dynasty: this annals is actually a collection of biographies of each member of the Liu clan.It records the life and death of the Wang family, the promotion of officials and ranks, and also records the details of the most important events in a person's life.

The matter of death and life is also great.

Regarding the last major event in a person's life—the funeral, naturally, the description will be as detailed as possible.What Liu Pu wanted to hear was whether there was anything unusual at the moment before the coffin was finally covered with white silk and closed.

"But even if King Chenghuai is still alive, what are your plans?" Tan Yangui couldn't help wondering after he finished speaking.

"First of all, I have to give my eldest brother an explanation. He has helped me a lot, so I will naturally complete the last task he entrusted to me. He asked me to help him look at the third brother again, so even if I dug the king's tomb See you!" Liu Pu's last sentence was joking, seeing Tan Yangui's unbelievable eyes, he hurriedly said solemnly: "The matter of digging graves is just a joke, and it is absolutely impossible to do it. But fulfilling the elder brother's orders It's a small matter, but more importantly, I haven't found out who spread the rumors beside the elder brother's sick bed. If it falls into the hands of the Cheng family or someone else, it will be bad."

"Is it possible that it was organized by the few palace people you killed?" Tan Yangui guessed.

"No. Brother is not stupid. Those palace people were arranged by other people, not his own. It is not so easy for him to believe. If he can be taught to believe without doubt, it must be someone he is familiar with." Liu Pu hated Said: "Don't tell me to catch this man, otherwise I will really have to skin him and pick his bones!"

"If this is the case, then you should be careful. I will find out and report to you immediately."

Tan Yangui got up and searched along the winding corridors between the shelves. After searching up and down for a long time, he found that the files from more than ten years ago were randomly scattered and piled up in several places, and some were even soaked in water. , Gently pulled and cracked crisply.

He shook his head helplessly.

Once the annals have been compiled for a year, they are rarely taken out for inspection.This is the case for a year, and the volumes of nearly 20 years ago are delusional.This survey, I am afraid that we will encounter difficulties.

Even if you run into difficulties, you have to check it out.He gently held the pile of things, and wanted to move them to a relatively flat place for inspection, but when he turned around, he found that Liu Pu was still standing two steps away with a smile on his face, and was about to reach out to take his hand volume.

"Don't." Tan Yangui hid, turned around, and protected the volume in her arms.

He was really afraid of this person, and his hands were not light or heavy. If these scrolls were scattered again, they would have nothing to investigate.

Tan Yangui carefully avoided Liu Pu's hand, walked around him, and gently stacked the things in his hands on a mottled vermilion table in the corner of the attic.He didn't turn his head, as if he had eyes on his back, and asked, "Are you still going?"

"Don't go." Liu Pu smiled, instead walked to the table and sat down cross-legged. "I'll be right here with you. We're busy with our own business, and there aren't many opportunities to get together during the day."

Do you want to come here to be lazy?

Tan Yangui knew it in her heart, but she wisely didn't make it clear, and asked again: "Could it be that even King Ke's funeral has to be delayed?"

"Where can we delay?" Liu Pu didn't care, looking confident, "I taught Zhou Zheng to order the doctor of ceremonies, whether he agrees with Cheng Nan or not, first follow the specifications of the late emperor's funeral. I don't believe it, he really dared to tear the curtain and split the coffin board on the spot?!"

Liu Pu was just doing his own thing in Lantai, completely unaware that Cheng Nan might not care about the specifications of King Ke's funeral at all: what he wanted was not limited to this, so why would he waste money on such a 'insignificant matter'? thought?Whether King Ke was buried according to the emperor's etiquette, or thrown into the wilderness to feed wild dogs, as long as it can deter Liu Pu and imply that Cheng Nan has the final say on Liu Pu's court, that's enough.

It's just a pity that this little emperor is quite shrewd.

In the Cheng family's mansion, a middle-aged man with a white face and beardless was sitting behind a handful of mermen in the main hall holding a long moon cypress tree.The man's eyes were like a phoenix, his lips were thin and his nose was narrow, and there was a proud smile at the corner of his mouth, and he threw a page of letter paper in his hand on the desk lightly.

"How do you say it?" A short and fat man sitting at the bottom put down the porcelain bottle in his hand and asked cautiously.He was Cheng Nan's prime minister, Shao Shi, and the letter he sent was only a short page, but Cheng Nan read it for more than a stick of incense, and the one who told him to wait was also very anxious.

Could it be that the letter said something unfavorable to him?Although this idea is absurd, but...

"How?" Cheng Nan looked at him with a smile on his cheeks, but his eyes were as cold as ice. "The little emperor is not stupid. After a few words, he turned the queen mother over."

As he spoke, he tapped the letterhead on the case table with his fingertips, and said contemptuously: "Isn't it? The queen mother is here to advise me to follow the emperor's wishes and hold a splendid funeral for King Ke."

The "duk-duk" sound made by tapping the desk with the fingertips was more like hitting the short and fat man's forehead: the fat on his cheeks trembled with the beat, and his body fell to the ground. Li was half short, forced a smile and said: "Maybe the queen mother has some difficulties, or just follow what she said..."

"According to what she said?" Cheng Nan raised his eyebrows, "I have the final say on this family. Go and tell the official doctor, no matter what the emperor wants, I will suppress it. The funeral will be according to King Ke's original plan." If I find out that there is one more nail nailed on the coffin and one more thread drawn, he won’t need to be a doctor anymore, just teach him to recognize his master and bury him with him.”

"Yes, yes." Shao Shi agreed and stepped back in small steps.

"Slow!" Cheng Nan picked up the thin paper from the table with two fingers, "There are more interesting things on it."

As he spoke, he read it word by word, with a smile in his tone, as if he was watching some joke: "Zong Zhengqing, Fu Xiyuan, may be suspected of trying to peep into the palace. The case of the Yonghe Palace the day before yesterday may be related to it." .”

As soon as this article came out, even the short and puffy Shao Shi was a little puzzled: Aren't those palace people killed by the Yonghe Palace all placed by their prime minister's mansion?How did he get involved with Fu Zongzheng?

"Could it be that," Shao Shi guessed, "among our people, Fu Zongzheng bribed us?"

"It's also possible that the little emperor is deliberately disturbing the audience."

"Emperor? Can't you? He's just..." Cheng Nan stared at Shao Shi and shut up knowingly.

"That kid is just a smiling cat," Cheng Nan judged. "On the surface, he is weak and deceitful, smiling, and seems to let others play with him, but he hides sharp claws secretly, and has his own set of thoughts."

"But it's just a cat." Cheng Nan sneered and threw the thin paper aside. "Fu Zongzheng, please come here. When he comes, don't we know, is the emperor playing tricks?"

Shao Shi got the order, and hurriedly stepped back out of the main hall of the Prime Minister's mansion.Seeing him go far away, a tall man with broad shoulders and narrow waist flashed by the door, walked up to Cheng Nan, and called out, "Master."

This man is young, with long eyebrows and a handsome and handsome face.There is also a long sword on his waist, and the palm of his left hand is often held on the polished hilt, as if he is always on guard against unexpected events, and can draw out the sword to fend off the enemy at any time.

"Is it all right?" Cheng Nan spoke more kindly to the young man than to Chang Shi.

"En." The man nodded, and without waiting for an order, he continued to report: "There is indeed one person missing. I have sent her to a safe place, and no one will know her whereabouts."

"Do you think she deserves this life?"

"She is just over twelve years old, and her mind is not yet sound. When I found her, she was hiding under a bridge hole. Seeing that she was very frightened, I thought she had nothing to do with the emperor."

"That's good." Cheng Nan didn't ask any more questions, nodded his head reassuringly, and mentioned another thing: "Jingyang," Qi Jingyang, this is the name of the man with the sword. "What do you think of Fu Xiyuan?"

Suddenly being asked this question, Qi Jingyang thought about it carefully and replied with two words: "I don't know."

"Most of the people placed in the palace are arranged by you. Have you ever found out who has contact with Fu Xiyuan?"

"Never." Qi Jingyang thought about it again, and gave a very affirmative answer, "However, Fu Xiyuan has someone in the palace, I am sure of that. I have seen Fu Xiyuan contact people in the palace. As for which palace person, You have to look it up to find out.”

"Oh." Cheng Nan nodded thoughtfully, and said to himself: "This Fu Xiyuan may be worth a while."