Reincarnation of the powerful minister

The crown prince no longer forced Su Yan to stay overnight in his own palace, and ordered the servants to lead him to the side hall, and arranged for the young servant of the Su family to serve him personally.

As a result, the next day, Su Yan didn't even have time to sleep, and was hit by a terrible news from the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice in Nanjing——

The sound of the prince's footsteps walking into the dormitory of the side hall woke up Su Yan who was turning over in bed with the quilt in his arms.Su Yan buried his face in the blanket and asked vaguely, "So early?"

Zhu Helin sat down on the edge of his bed with a serious face: "Yan Yiyi is dead."

Su Yan was dazed for a few seconds, then suddenly sat up: "What?"

Zhu Helin took the robe hanging by the bed and put it on him, and said: "The prison of the Ministry of punishment just sent someone to report that when the guards inspected the cell in the early morning, they found Yan Yiyi's body and head in a different place, and the door of the cell was still locked. Well done."

As far as the crime is concerned, the death of eunuch Yan is not a pity, but it must not be at this time.This case has not yet been settled by the court, and the principal culprit died tragically in prison, not to mention whether the accomplices will retract their confessions because of this, the question of "death without evidence" is enough for the presiding judge to eat a pot.

——The presiding judge is the prince.

Obviously, someone didn't want the crown prince to be cleared of the crime of desecrating the imperial mausoleum. Su Yan's first suspicion was Mr. He who was lurking in Nanjing.

"Have you sent me the memorabilia for the capital?" Su Yan asked.

Zhu Helin said: "It was sent out yesterday, and the messengers divided into two routes, one took the official road and the other took the Caohe."

Su Yan thought for a while and said, "Escort the remaining accomplices to the capital immediately, Nanjing is not safe."

Zhu Helin hesitated: "The road may not be safe, in case someone intercepts and kills..."

"The interception on the road just shows that there is a black hand behind it, and it has nothing to do with the prince. It's hard to say if you die in Nanjing. What if you are detained for 'torture to death' or 'killing in vain'?" Su Yan finished dressing. Clothes, got out of bed and put on boots, took a cotton towel from the palace man and hurriedly wiped his face, then walked out the door.

Zhu Helin took the teapot and chased after him: "Drink some water, drink some water."

Su Yan took it and rinsed it out a few times, and took two sips.Zhu Helin threw the teapot back, went down the steps with him, got on his horse and galloped away.

Go out from the Yuanwu Gate in the north of the palace, and then pass through the Taiping Gate in the inner city, and soon arrive at the official office of the Nanjing Ministry of Punishment.

The two entered the cell with a large group of guards, and saw that Eunuch Yan's body was still on the bed, and the blood had soaked the mattress.

The leader of the guards finished interrogating the jailer, surveyed the surroundings, went to examine the corpse, and replied: "Master, he died only two hours ago. He was beheaded by a sharp knife in his sleep, and he didn't even struggle."

"Who did it, do you have any clues?"

"There is no trace of the door lock being picked. I suspect that the murderer managed to sneak in and steal the jailer's key. After killing the person, he returned the key and left. There are no redundant footprints or handprints in the cell. The murderer is very calm and professional. .”

Zhu Helin glanced at Su Yan, and also felt that it was probably the assassins of the Seven Killing Battalion under Mr. He who did it.

Su Yan couldn't stand the smell of blood, so he turned and left the cell.Zhu Helin followed him into the courtyard, frowned and said, "This matter has to be reported separately, and there is also the whereabouts of Mr. He..."

Before finishing speaking, a guard of the Eastern Palace came to report: "My lord, there are people from the capital. It is a team composed of the imperial censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Jin Yiwei, and the officials of the Rites. They said they came by the emperor's order The investigation of the Xiaoling case has now reached the lobby of the government office in Yingtianfu. Governor Guo is in prison, and there is no one in the government office to take charge of the overall situation. I heard from the servants that they are going straight to the Nanjing Ministry of Criminal Justice."

What a bad time!Su Yan smiled wryly and shook his head, as long as he could arrive a day earlier... no, a few hours earlier, that would be great.

The matter has come to this point, regret is useless, Zhu Helin is more open-minded, patted Su Yan on the shoulder, and said: "You have nothing to do with this case, and go back to the yamen of the Ministry of Rites first, I will deal with them, my lord."

"Master..."

"It doesn't matter, the facts are there, what should be is what should be. The cause and effect of this case are all related and corroborated, and will not disappear with Yan Yiyi's death."

Seeing that the crown prince was well-educated, Su Yan was relieved a lot, and said with a smile, "Then I'll go to the government office to make an appointment first, and then I'll go to the market to pack breakfast for the young master."

"Okay, I also want steamed buns and soft-boiled eggs. The ones made outside are better than those made in the palace."

Looking at Su Yan's back, Zhu Helin ordered the commander of the guards of the Eastern Palace: "Go and order [-] elite elites with excellent physical skills, change into plain clothes, and follow and protect Su Shilang... You lead the team yourself. If you are attacked, you must protect him first. "

The commander of the guards held his fists and took the order away.

In the bustling market, Su Yan found an empty table at the breakfast stall, ordered a plate of beef pot stickers and a bowl of duck blood vermicelli soup, and ate them slowly.

He has already seen that the group of rogues not far behind him are actually the guards of the Eastern Palace disguised as protecting him, and his sense of security is doubled, and he feels relieved that "the cub I brought out with my own hand is really reliable".

And just in front of him, at a distance of seven or eight feet, at the door of another restaurant, there was a man in dark clothes and a bamboo hat. Betting on him for a moment.

"Guest officer, our family is most famous for its small wontons. Would you like a bowl?" the waiter approached and greeted.

The man remained motionless, and a sentence came from under the bamboo hat: "I hate wonton."

The waiter in the shop was stunned and then smiled apologetically: "Then what does the guest officer want? The shop also has other food."

A gust of north wind blew the curtain, revealing half of Shen Qi's face under the bamboo hat.He stared at the figure who was thinking about it day and night not far away, showing a hunger expression of extreme restraint.It was a hunger that seemed to come from a deep hole in the soul that nothing tangible could fill.

"Give me...three taels of pot stickers, a bowl of duck blood vermicelli soup." His gaze followed the spoon in Su Yan's hand to his fluttering lips that were ironed red by the hot soup, and finally accompanied the other's swallowing, his Adam's apple slid up and down .

"Okay!" The shop waiter threw the sweat towel over his shoulder, and turned to pick up the food.

Su Yan didn't notice the peeping eyes from the dark, so after eating breakfast, he packed another portion for the prince, and rode a horse to the palace gate.

It was almost noon before the prince returned to the Spring Harmony Palace.Su Yan handed the food to the waiter to heat it up, and asked him, "How is the situation?"

Zhu Helin poured a cup of tea and said: "Three censors, two commanders of Jinyiwei, and one eunuch of the Royal Horse Supervisor. The Jinyiwei and the internal officials treated me very respectfully. It was business-like and asked a lot of key questions. I feel that if they are not stupid, they should be able to understand the truth behind the case."

Su Yan's hanging heart was half relieved, and he speculated: "It is estimated that they will go to Zhongshan for a walk, and then go to the prison of the Criminal Ministry to interrogate those accomplices. The young master's memorandum is in front, and their report is in the back. There should be a fair conclusion."

Five days later, the Bailu case investigation team left Nanjing and returned to the capital.

It was the end of the twelfth lunar month, and although the prince didn't say anything, he was looking forward to an edict from his father calling him back to Beijing for the new year - even if he couldn't make it in time for the reunion on New Year's Eve, at least he would be able to catch up with the Lantern Festival at Aoshan in the new year .

But from the twelfth lunar month to the New Year's Eve, and from the New Year's Eve to the Lantern Festival, there was no such edict.

The folk flavor of the New Year is strong, and the officials of the six ministries in Nanjing are also thinking about holding some kind of celebration, so as to win the favor of the crown prince.But Zhu Helin refuted all the enthusiasm of the officials with one sentence: "You can't be filial at the knees of the father and emperor, and you don't have the heart to celebrate the New Year, and the palace doesn't plan to hold any banquets, so you can do it yourself."

Seeing the prince's lack of interest, Su Yan felt a little distressed, so he organized some low-key entertainment activities, playing with the prince in different ways, such as Cuju, polo, and shadow puppetry, as if he had returned to the time when he first entered the East Palace.

After a spring break, the prince is good at playing mahjong (mahjong).And Su Yan took the Go record bestowed by the emperor to study hard, and also learned some tricks.

The prince is a stinky chess player, and he can't bear Su Yan treating a chess record as a treasure. He didn't even bother to play horses, so he came to confiscate his chess record.

Su Yan refused to give up, so the crown prince snatched it up and turned it over—oh, it really was his father's collection.

"Where did you come from?" Zhu Helin asked with a straight face, knowingly.

"Imperial study room." Su Yan smiled awkwardly, "I talked with the emperor hand-to-hand, and I fought and failed repeatedly. The emperor threw this chess record to me and told me to read it more when I had time, saying that the chess game is like a battlefield. I always lose, not because of the formation of troops, but because of the control of the overall situation."

Zhu Helin snorted and said: "Even the national players surrendered to my father's abandoned son, why are you playing Go with him? Play Western chess, or if you can't, play backgammon, which you are best at."

Su Yan shook his head with a sneer: "It's all lost. The emperor can master all chess if he masters all chess."

"It's better to play chess..." Zhu Helin held back for a moment, and said, "It's better to play horse crane! My master's skills are not good, but luck is good!"

The lucky prince won another four times in a row. Not only did Su Shilang lose face, but the commander of the guards of the Eastern Palace lost all his salary.

The commander of the guards was so red-eyed that he almost took off his clothes to pay off the debt. After being scolded by the prince, he went out of the palace to wander around, and came back with a raccoon cat in his arms.

"The servant in the imperial dining room always said that there was a cat that came in to steal food, and I caught it the night before. Look, it's beautiful, with smooth fur, but it has a strong temper, and it can howl overnight in a cage. There's really nothing left, Just mortgage it!"

The prince raised his eyebrows to examine the cat, and saw that its fur pattern was alternate in depth, dark like chestnut, light like gold, with a round face, white mouth and glazed eyes. It was indeed a rare and beautiful raccoon slave.

He has always been irresistible to furry animals, whether cats, dogs or ligers, he stretched out his hand to scratch the chin of the cat-eared cat, which made the raccoon cat meow comfortably, and immediately turned its back on its original owner and jumped into his arms.

The prince hugged the big raccoon flower and rubbed it back and forth, and said with a smile: "You still have to lose."

After another half an hour, the commander of the guards walked out of the palace gate in a daze.He lost his cat forever.

The prince was addicted to his hands, and stuffed the cat into Su Yan's arms: "Give me a name?"

Su Yan thought he had no feelings for pets, especially cats. He always felt that they were more ungrateful than dogs, and had a more arrogant temper. In order to save face for the prince, he rubbed the cats a few times, and said casually: "The raccoon is the raccoon, named after it. What are you putting so much effort into?"

"Okay, it's called Pear Blossom." Bai Xue rustled outside the window, and the palace on a spring night was silent.The prince leaned over, not knowing whether he was rubbing the cat through the servant, or getting close to the servant through the cat, "'Only because the spring is coming to an end, keep the pear blossoms', this is our cat."

Su Yan's heart was moved, and he looked down at Lihua.

Lihua called delicately: "Meow."

After the Lantern Festival, the edict from the capital arrived long after, and finally reached the prince.

However, he was not called to return to Beijing. On the contrary, he was asked to move out of the Nanjing Imperial Palace, live in a hut at the foot of Zhongshan Mountain, and be relegated to Xiaoling to save himself from the blame.

Zhu Helin read the edict three times, unbelievable, and already had a premonition——

His holy father wrote very clearly in the imperial edict:

Nanjing has a long history of peace and stability. When you came to the mausoleum, disaster occurred. It is hard to say that it was not a punishment from God; since the suspect was arrested, you died in prison in a strange way at the first trial, so there must be some deceit.

The accessory has already been beheaded, and the Bailu case is over, but it's not that you are not at fault, but that my father gave you face and didn't want to embarrass you too much.You have to reflect on yourself and see if you are up to the moral standard of a "Prince", cherish what you have now, and don't let me down again.

Zhongshan has not been restored to its original appearance, so you go to the foot of the Xiaoling Mausoleum and live in the mausoleum. When will the Emperor Taizu forgive you, and you will return to Beijing.

"What do you mean by 'couldn't it be God's punishment'? What do you mean by 'must have been deceived'? There is nothing wrong with wanting to commit a crime!" Zhu Helin threw the edict to the ground, first feeling wronged and resentful, then disheartened. Regardless of the date of return, this is clearly exile... How and when did the Emperor Taizu forgive, did he rely on dreaming for him?! Such illusory excuses...excuses..."

He was so sad that he couldn't speak, and sat down on the steps in the hall, holding his head tightly with both hands.

Su Yan was silent for a moment, stepped forward to pick up the edict, read it carefully from beginning to end, and sighed exhausted.He sat down next to Zhu Helin, rolled up the imperial edict and gently placed it on his lap: "Throwing the emperor's imperial edict is a crime of disrespect. If someone with a heart sees it and informs it, it may cause another bloody storm."

Zhu Helin held his head and murmured: "Where should I go? Really just follow orders so honestly, go to Zhongshan to guard the mausoleum for an unknown period of time? Until a certain day in the future, the father will find another illusory excuse, useless..." He spat out the word with great difficulty, "Abolish my crown prince, and let me die forever..."

Su Yan suddenly got up, paced back and forth in front of him, and said loudly: "Where should I go? Is it true that I am so willing to be beaten by the court rod, and I will hold my nose and dare not express any dissenting opinions from now on? Until a certain time in the future Today, the Wei family crushed me to death like an ant on the soles of their shoes!"

Zhu Helin raised his head to look at him, his eyes were a little startled.

Su Yan raised his hands high and continued to question himself: "——Where should I go? Is it true that I can just follow the trend of the officialdom in this rotten place, and I don't have to work hard to reform? Until a certain day in the future, the people will scold me and say What is the morals of the Qingming Dynasty in Shaanxi, and the result is another corrupt official!

"——Where should I go? Is it true that I just stayed in Nanjing for the rest of my life without food, leaving all my ambitions behind, and crying with the prince when encountering difficulties and sufferings? Until a certain day in the future, the prince was deposed, and I, too, will die as a henchman—"

Zhu Helin swooped over and covered Su Yan's mouth. Excited, he exerted too much force, and both of them fell to the ground.

"Stop it, stop it!" Zhu Helin was extremely ashamed and begged, "I know I was wrong! Qinghe..."

Su Yan opened his palms and gasped, "Since I became an official, whenever I was in a difficult situation, I was discouraged and lost my fighting spirit. Now the grass on the grave is as tall as you, Zhu Helin! What are you? If you are alive, at least your status is still there. If you don’t collapse, you may not have a chance to recover in the future. If you collapse first... Where is the sword? I will cut off your righteousness first, then abandon my official position and run away to save my life go!"

Zhu Helin firmly grabbed his arm: "Don't go, don't leave me!"

Su Yan responded viciously: "I'll go and make a clean break—the cat belongs to me!"

Zhu Helin's eyes were red, and he laughed out loud: "The cat belongs to you, and I belong to you. You have to be accompanied by me wherever you go. Why don't you just settle down here and wait for the opportunity."

Su Yan was discouraged, and sprawled on the floor. After a long while, he murmured: "It's good that you wake up."

Zhu Helin put his arms on his undulating belly, and one leg turned sideways to press his thigh, and said in a deep voice: "As long as you are here, I am not afraid of anything, and can bear anything."

"Understood, get up, you're crushing me to death!" Su Yan patted his arm and muttered unhappily, "It's obviously three years younger than me, with stiff muscles and heavy weight."

Lihua got out from nowhere, stood on the table, looked down at the two lying on the ground, her glazed eyes narrowed happily...

Slumping its waist and raising its tail, it jumped up suddenly and jumped up into the air——stomped heavily on Su Yan's chest.

As if hitting his chest with a heavy hammer, Su Yan let out a miserable cry, almost spurting old blood, covering his chest and begging for mercy: "Don't step on the milk!"

Zhu Helin was taken aback, and shook Lihua off him with a wave of his hand, and rubbed his chest nervously: "Are you all right, are you all right?"

Lihua rolled on her feet, because she had never been treated so roughly by the shit-shoveling officer, she was so angry that she flicked her tail and ran out of the palace.

With great difficulty, Su Yan breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that half his life was lost, and cursed with tears: "This cat is fucking heavier than you!"

Zhu Helin couldn't bear his pain, but also couldn't bear to give up the cat, so he said slowly: "Next time before you lie down, I will remember to lock it in the cattery."

The prince left the ceremonial car, took only a small number of palace personnel and guards, held a raccoon cat in his arms, and left the Nanjing Imperial Palace in a green robe, embarking on the journey to Zhongshan to guard the mausoleum.

According to the etiquette, during the period of guarding the mausoleum, he can no longer wear fancy clothes, only blue and white, can't drink alcohol, listen to songs and dances, or do other entertainment activities.

He didn't even bring too many utensils for daily use, everything was kept simple, and the Nanjing officials were not disturbed. The team left quietly before dawn.

Su Yan also changed into casual clothes, and saw each other for tens of miles, until he arrived at the mausoleum where the prince would live in the future, and only returned to the city under his repeated persuasion.

The sky was very gloomy, and it was about to snow again, but Su Yan didn't intend to go back to the empty official office of the Ministry of Rites or rent a house, so he walked slowly to the market.He was terribly cold from his fingers to the tips of his toes, and he desperately wanted to drink a bowl of numbing and spicy hot soup in order to suppress the lonely cold rushing out of his heart.

Shen Qi, who had been in Nanjing for a whole Spring Festival, hesitated not far behind Su Yan——

The crown prince was exiled to guard the mausoleum, although his status is still there, he has fallen out of favor and is almost abolished. The knock on the door that the player asked him to hand over is basically completed.

He wanted to appear in front of Su Yan in a fair manner before leaving Nanjing, give his wife a big hug, see the surprised expression on the other side's face, and hear the other side call "Qilang" with his own ears.

——They have been separated for too long, from the last spring to this spring.Life is like a journey against the sky, how many springs are there?

Shen Qi gritted her teeth, and stepped out of the dark corner. After walking a few steps, she saw an old man in short brown clothes with a black turban on his hair, blocking him in front of him.

The old man's body was dry and thin, but he was as straight as a javelin. With his back to him, he stood in the middle of the alleyway, like a cavalry guard guarding the pass, and no one could get out.

Shen Qi felt a sharp blade-like coercion, pressed her hand on the handle of the knife, and asked in a serious voice: "Who are you, why are you blocking the way?"

The old man didn't turn around, and said in a blunt tone: "Beizhen Fusi is in your hand now?"

Shen Qi's heart became more and more awe-inspiring, her thumb rested on the knife, and she was about to draw the knife violently at any time.

The old man sneered: "Jin Yiwei is really inferior to a crab now! You can't even pick out a commander. With your good looks, you can only make do with managing a prison."

Shen Qi asked again in a cold voice: "Who are you? If you play tricks again, don't blame me for being ruthless!"

The old man turned around, revealing an aged but not haggard face, with thick eyebrows and leopard eyes, and a very conspicuous aquiline nose.

Seeing this face, Shen Qi was startled for a moment, then quickly searched for the corresponding portrait in the huge and complicated memory in her mind, and said in a voiceless voice: "You are—"

The old man said: "Former commander of Jinyiwei, chief commander of the Five Armies Commander's Mansion——Yuan Bin."