Emperor Que Shaohua

It was the evening of June [-]th when Chu Huan rushed back to Luocheng.He rode his horse and galloped along the official road, and rushed into the city just as the Xihua Gate closed.When he slowed down his horse and passed through the city gate, among the noisy pedestrians nearby, two men dressed as merchants followed without a trace.

Chu Huan was obviously exhausted all the way. After entering the city, he slowed down and headed slowly towards the east of the city. When he passed by a small shop, he stopped again and went in for a sharpie.The peddler who followed him was not in a hurry. The two of them put down their loads and rested on the side of the road outside the shop.

After Chu Huan entered the city, he obviously relaxed a little. After eating and resting for a while, he remounted his horse.At this time, the sky was already dark, and the people following him saw him walking in the direction of Qipan Street, and they gave each other a tacit wink.

It took nearly an hour to walk slowly from the west of the city to the east of the city, the night was dark, and the full moon was gradually rising to the zenith of the sky.Chu Huan finally reached the Qipan Street area. He knew the way and was familiar with it.

Nim turned into the secluded alley.

The streets were already sparsely populated, and the alleys were even more silent, with all the residents closing their doors.The two traders set down their loads, an errand that needed to be made like a street brawl, so they each hid a butcher's knife and a dagger in their loads.

Chu Huan turned a corner in the alley, there was a big pagoda tree, as thick as a person's arms, with luxuriant branches and leaves, even the moonlight in the sky was blocked, except for the blurred light and shadow cast on the ground, it was pure darkness .

One person and one horse walked to this area. Although Chu Huan had been mentally prepared, he still couldn't help feeling nervous when he heard the slight approaching footsteps behind him.He straightened his body, looking towards the direction of the tree trunk as if casually, there was a flash of light in the corner of his eyes, it was the moonlight reflected by the sharp edge.

The next moment, there was a sharp whistle above his head, and several black-clothed figures sprang out from the darkness without a sound, and rushed towards him from the top, side and rear with incomparable speed.

Chu Huan's martial arts ranked eighth among the Jingyu Guards. He was already on guard. He gave a cold shout, and with the long knife in his hand, the light of the knife suddenly drew an arc in the air. He blocked all the attacks, and his arms were numb from the shock.

The assassins didn't use weapons at their fingertips. They wanted to catch people by surprise and succeeded in one fell swoop, but they didn't expect the target to react so quickly.But they were well-trained and cooperated with each other tacitly. They continued to fight together without stopping, and they still didn't make a sound.

Three of them attacked Chu Huan, but two of them chopped off his horse.Chu Huan took several tricks, and felt that the assassins were fierce and practical, they didn't talk about any rules, and they wanted to kill people. If the commander doesn't come out again, the brother will explain here."

Before the words were finished, more than a dozen figures jumped out from behind the roof ridges on both sides of the alley, occupying the direction of coming and going, surrounded the five assassins, and amidst the shouts and shouts, the situation suddenly reversed.A person came out from a dark place not far away, it was Yu Chiyan, he did not step forward to make a move, but stood aside with his arms folded, and shouted in a deep voice: "Your Highness wants to live, don't let anyone go!"

The sneak attackers knew that they had fallen into Jing Yuwei's trap, and when they were about to retreat, they had no way to escape, and their retreat routes were blocked.

The nearby residents heard that there was a fierce fight outside, so they dared not come out.On the side of the locust tree, separated by a house, there is a high courtyard wall. Inside is a five-entry courtyard with a garden, which is the residence of Yushi Zhongcheng Sheng Ruhong.

Wang Xian, a servant of the Sheng family, was watching the night along the wall of the backyard as usual.One of his duties was to go back and forth three times during each watch shift.Walking to the back garden, he saw a slim figure under the moonlight, and shouted, "Who is here?"

The person seemed to be taken aback. Turning around, it was a beautiful girl. She patted her chest: "Brother Nursing House, you scared me to death."

Wang Xian recognized that it was Ye Yin, an embroiderer who entered the mansion last month. It is said that she used to work in an embroidery workshop called Huanshafang. Because of her excellent embroidery skills, she was borrowed by the mansion to teach two young ladies how to embroider.

When Wang Xian saw that it was her, he was secretly delighted. He had been paying attention to this girl for several days, and he always felt that there was a kind of beauty in her that other maidservants did not have.He laughed and said: "You are not allowed to wander around at night in the mansion. Why did Miss Ye sneak into the garden and call Big Brother Wang, so I won't tell anyone about it."

Ye Yinfu gave a blessing, and said softly: "I see the moonlight is bright, so I can't help but come out for a walk, Brother Wang, please don't mention it to your superiors."

Seeing that she wanted something from him, Wang Xian became more energetic, and was about to chat and laugh, when he suddenly heard the sound of fighting and fighting outside, he was startled, he didn't care to provoke the girl again, and said: "Miss Ye, it seems that there is a lot of trouble outside." If something happened, it would be bad if it affects entering the mansion. You should go back quickly, Mrs. Tai has been seriously ill for several days, and my lord is in a bad mood. The mansion is strictly restrained, so don't be caught wandering around at this stall."

He thought of the guards who had been placed outside the hospital in Mrs. Tai's hospital since June, and he felt a little guilty, and stared at Ye Yin again: "Young lady, I don't know how powerful, I just say a few more words for your own good."

Hearing his serious tone, Ye Yin thought she was a little scared, and said, "I'll go back now, thank you Brother Wang for your advice." After saying that, she hurried back, and Wang Xian saw her back quickly disappearing in the garden path. twists and turns.

He breathed a sigh of relief, and the sound of the impact of weapons outside was also weak, as if it was coming to an end.What he didn't see was that the slender Miss Ye stopped when she reached a place he couldn't see, and she was also listening intently to the movement outside.Then he gestured towards a figure hidden behind the bushes not far away.

The winner by the locust tree was already divided, and three of the five killers died. They all committed suicide when they saw that they were injured and could not escape. The other two had their jaws removed in time to prevent them from taking poison or biting their tongues.

Yu Chiyan was a little dissatisfied with only catching two alive, and was about to order to search the surroundings, when a cavalry suddenly pointed his finger to the right and exclaimed: "It's on fire!"

Yu Chiyan looked up, and sure enough, he saw red flames leaping up from a nearby house, which was extremely dazzling in the night.He lived nearby, and he recognized that it was clearly the home of Sheng Ruhong, the imperial censor Zhongcheng.There are residential buildings on the left and right. If the fire spreads, it will not be a trivial matter.

He frowned, and ordered: "Leave four people to take care of the aftermath, and the rest will follow me to help." After that, he jumped up, regardless of etiquette, went straight to the eaves and walls, and entered Yushi Zhongcheng's mansion over the wall.

The Sheng mansion had already found flooding, and there was a lot of noise from people, and they rushed to put out the fire in a panic. When Yu Chiyan and his party came in, no one cared about it, and several servants hurriedly brought the water dragon.

Yu Chiyan quickly saw that the fire was started from a firewood house in the backyard, perhaps because sparks flew out, it ignited another side room next to it.The two houses were located independently, so there was no danger of sprawl, he was relieved.

With the fighting, the fire is gradually weakening, but the black smoke billows, almost covering the entire back house in the nearest distance, which should be the residence of Gaotang in Fuzhong.Yu Chiyan had heard that Sheng Ruhong's mother was ill and convalescing all the year round, and thought, how can people be treated in this courtyard, Sheng Zhongcheng is too careless, why didn't he just move his mother out as soon as he put out the fire?Leaving it alone like this, even a healthy person inside would be choked to death, and the strange thing is that none of the servants thought about it.

He looked around, many female family members of the Sheng Mansion did not dare to stay in the house, they had come out and stood there, but none of them looked like Mrs. Sheng Tai.

At this moment, a young girl's voice started to cry: "Sister Yin, take me in to save the old lady. Daddy won't let me see the old lady for a few days. Yanyan misses her very much."

In a blink of an eye, he saw that it was a seven or eight-year-old girl in satin clothes, dragging a girl dressed as a maid, and looked around, but there was no sign of Sheng Ruhong.Yu Chiyan felt a little weird, but he didn't have time to think about it, he just felt that saving people was the most important thing, and he told his subordinates: "Mrs. Sheng Tai is sick, please find a few maidservants to follow me in, move her out, be gentle."

Because Jing Yuwei set up an ambush to trap thieves and rebels, and coincided with the fire in Yushi Zhongcheng's mansion, this night, Qipan Street in Luocheng was quite uneasy.The deputy commander, Yu Chiyan, led his subordinates to help fight the fire. He originally wanted to help rescue Mrs. Sheng, but the housekeeper in charge of the Sheng's mansion tried every means to prevaricate and delay, and his expression was very flustered, which made people suspicious.So Yu Chiyan didn't wait for Ding Tong to report to Sheng Zhongcheng, and directly ordered Jing Yuwei to enter the room to save people.

However, what was shocking was that there was no living person in the house, and what everyone saw was a corpse on the bed and melting ice all over the room.

It turned out that Yushi Zhongcheng's mother passed away a few days ago, but he concealed it from the public and kept the funeral secret. He brought a lot of ice and put it in Mrs. Sheng Tai's room to prevent the body from rotting in the summer. It is only said that the patient needs to rest and rest, and no one else is allowed to enter or leave, so it has been delayed for more than ten days.

Why do you want to do this? Anyone who cares can think of it. According to Yu Zhou's official system and etiquette, officials must report to the court immediately after Gaotang's death, and then he will be mourned at home for three years and not be allowed to participate in political affairs. With this, it is not difficult to understand why Yu Shi Zhongcheng refused to step down at a critical moment and Ding You.

Jingyu Guard sent someone to report to King Ning overnight after the initial handling of the matter was completed.The East Palace was waiting for news from Prince An's Mansion, so it was a step late, and sent someone to report to the Prince early the next morning.At this time, the guard of honor of the royal chariots and horses headed to Wulan Mountain had rested for one night in the palace on the way, and was continuing on the road in a mighty way.

Jing Yuwei's courier caught up in the afternoon, and Luo Pingyuan was waiting for the reward. He was not surprised that he had succeeded in setting up an ambush to capture a living man, but it was really unexpected that he broke such a secret in Yushi Zhongcheng's mansion.

The Sheng Mansion suddenly caught fire, and the timing was too coincidental.Thinking back to the whole process of arranging the ambush, and thinking of the piles of cool ice in Lancangju and Hanxiaozhai, it was hard for him not to suspect that King Jing had secretly arranged the setup.In the Twelve Orders of Langhuan, Qibi was in charge of intelligence, King Jing probably discovered the anomaly in the Sheng Mansion in advance, and borrowed the opportunity of Jing Yuwei to expose the good deeds of Yushi Zhongcheng.

Luo Pingyuan turned his head and looked behind him, the light caravan of Prince Jing's Mansion was still driving in the caravan at a leisurely pace.For a moment, he had an impulse to grab Luo Yanhua and ask him what happened.Grabbing Liu Kedu's fox tail should have been happy, but the feeling of being used made him very unhappy.

He pondered for a while, this matter needs to be public before private, since it involves cheating and violating the family rules of important court officials, Emperor Tianyi must be informed as soon as possible.So when the convoy stopped to rest, he immediately turned the horse's head and reported to the imperial driver.

When Emperor Tianyi heard what King Ning had said, he was very angry with Yushi Zhongcheng.Sheng Ruhong was the No. [-] candidate in the ninth year of Tianyi. He was an authentic Jinshi in the two lists.He has always believed that this person is upright and talented, and he dares to speak out. Two years ago, he appointed the general Yu Shitai, which can be said to have increased trust, but unexpectedly he did such a thing now.

Thinking of the stack of references to Yan Sicun, Chen Mingxia and others piled up in the imperial study room recently, he felt that he was not righteous and had bad intentions. It's been a while." He said again: "Sheng Ruhong deliberately deceived, his heart can be punished, he will be resigned from his official position, and handed over to Dali Temple for investigation. Ask him if he has any words to refute, and what face he will come to see me again!" Quickly spread out the paper and write down the oracle.

Emperor Tianyi issued an order, and his anger calmed down a little.He admired King Ning's recent actions and comments, and said gently: "The emperor has a keen mind, and it is very rare to think of letting the thieves reveal their own flaws." The evil gentry on one side, but don't say much, let's see how much Luo Pingyuan can find out.

The plan was proposed by King Jing, Luo Pingyuan didn't want to take credit for it, but he still didn't understand the whole thing, so he answered it vaguely and didn't explain it.

Emperor Tianyi looked at the youngest son in front of him. Now that he has grown into such a talented person, he works hard and cares a lot, and he said: "Pingyuan, when we arrive at Wulan Mountain in the evening, we will have dinner with you and have dinner with me." Concubine Rong and Xue Ning are talking. Now that you are out of the palace, you don't have to be too restrained." During the conversation, there was a bit of a father's kindness.

The crown prince has been paying attention to King Ning. He saw that Luo Pingyuan was still indifferent after receiving the secret report. If something happened to Chu Huan, he should be a little surprised.Of course he didn't want to inquire, so he just held his breath and waited for Donggong to deliver the letter.

Emperor Tianyi arrived at the Wulan paddock in the evening, the royal tents had already been set up in advance, and three thousand forbidden troops set up camp around them.The messengers from the Eastern Palace arrived at this time, the crown prince and King An had already heard the letter issued by Emperor Tianyi, they didn't understand the ins and outs, and were anxious.

Luo Wenxiao suppressed his anger, so he didn't kick the messenger like what Wang An often did, and patiently listened to the information collected by the mansion. The faces of the two princes were gloomy for a while, and Wang An cursed in a low voice: " You've been tricked, and you always say that you are from the Hanshan faction, and you are upright, such a shame, you set a trap for this king to take advantage of!"

Luo Wenxiao didn't say a word, ever since he learned about Sheng Ruhong, his heart felt cold and heavy, and now it's even worse.The Yu and Zhou dynasties ruled the world with loyalty and filial piety. Sheng Ruhong committed both crimes and was caught. If he could lose his official position in the end and never be used again, he should go to burn incense.

In order to keep this important minister in his hands, he did not know how much thought and means he spent to get the secret support of Yushitai, which is an extremely important hidden chess.He has always been very cautious, if it is not for the opportunity of borrowing troops to gain some military power, he will not take risks.Originally, he wanted to let Sheng Ruhong hold on for a few days, and Ding You would wait until the goal was achieved, but now he really lost his wife and lost his army.

It seems that the Liu family is also difficult to save.Two things happened at the same time, and it was hard to say which hit him harder.

"Soldiers never tire of deceit, and getting angry is useless." The matter has come to this point, and he can only deal with it calmly. He said to King An lightly: "Sheng Ruhong let it go first, and when the father's anger subsides, I will find a chance to intercede for him. .Anyway, it is unlikely that he will be able to retain his favor, and if there is no accident, he will be idle for three years and will not be able to use his strength."

King An walked a few steps back and forth in the spacious tent, and basically regained his senses, and said, "We must inform Yuzhou as soon as possible, and tell Liu Kedu to go out first, and leave everything else alone."

"It's too late." The prince sighed, "Third brother, you still underestimate Ping Yuan. Since he can think of setting up a trap in Beijing, how could he only do half of it? He must have sent someone to Yuzhou. , I'm afraid Liu Kedu has already been captured."

King An gritted his teeth and said, "It's not easy to deal with. Fortunately, Jing Yuwei probably didn't find any evidence, so I don't want to admit it. I don't know if the two people who were caught will recruit something?"

"The two dead soldiers who were captured, I'm sure they dare not reveal the reason." The prince said, he still has some confidence in the killer sent by the Kunlun Mansion, "Now we have to find out the situation in Yuzhou first, Jing Yu If Wei catches Liu Kedu, he will definitely be escorted to Luocheng, and it will be five or six days later. I will send a letter to Mr. Zhuang, and he will handle it with full power. If there is anything unclear, I will ask Dai Shifa. Okay," his expression turned cold, "Anyway, find an opportunity to warn Liu Kedu, don't say a word that shouldn't be said, so that I can try to protect him, at least make Liu's family safe. I don't think that Liu Kedu looks like a Hard-bodied, you might as well speak more seriously, if you can't, bring him a medicine, when you can't stand it, don't hurt your family."

Speaking of this, his tone softened again: "Of course, this is just in case. He does things for you and me, so he will try his best to save him and save his life."

King An understood that the prince had actually launched a murderous plan, intending to lose his pawn to save the car.His filial piety to the Liu family has always been very useful. Thinking that Princess An might cry for a few days, he felt very depressed, and said: "This fifth emperor's younger brother is taking care of Jing Yuwei, and it will become more and more an eyesore. From now on Maybe there will be something bad to come up with, so I have to find a way to deal with him." He lowered his voice again, "Second Brother, I just feel that something is wrong, no matter how capable the fifth brother is, he is only 19 years old and has no After a lot of experience, it's only been a few days since he took over Jing Yuwei, and he can do so many things in one go? He lives in Prince Jing's Mansion now, could it be related to that person?"

Luo Wenxiao also had doubts. If the fire in the Sheng Mansion was not a coincidence, but someone arranged it in advance, the things involved behind it would be a bit scary.King Jing hasn't seen any movement during this time, and he doesn't know how many people from Langhuan's old department are following him, maybe it's time to test the opponent's strength.

With a calm and gentle expression on his face, he said: "The fifth emperor's brother has a lot of troubles in his heart. It can be seen that he has been indifferent to the elder brother and has no good looks. But what you said makes sense, and this matter must be guarded against." While out hunting, you and I will observe again, and if necessary, we can add some suspicions, if they fall out completely, there will be no time to trouble others."

He pondered for a while and then said: "For Ping Yuan, we should try our best to get closer. He has no conflict of interest with us. It is the best policy to have more affection." What he was thinking at this time was that if King Yun was defeated, It means losing power, and Luo Pingyuan is not stupid, so he will draw closer to himself at that time.