Pei Gonggui

During this scorching night, in just one hour, the palace had undergone tremendous changes.

Pei Jun took out the emperor's seal from Jiang Zhan's kit, and approved several papers on Jiang Zhan's imperial case. First, he approved the rations given to Jiang Yue by the household department, and then he stopped the cabinet's thorough investigation of Mr. Jiang. , and about half an hour after Jiang Zhan was poisoned in the inner hall, he asked Hu Li to deliver the antidote to the screaming Jiang Zhan, and asked him to persuade Jiang Zhan to soften up.

After Hu Li came out, he questioned Hu Li carefully, and learned that Jiang Zhan had also sent secret guards to ambush the Prince Jin's mansion, so he borrowed Jiang Zhan's letter and ordered the withdrawal of those troops, and informed Zhao of his move tonight. Sir, then write a letter to Jiang Yue who is still on the march:

"The dark guards have committed crimes and have sneaked into the army. I hope you must investigate and be careful. The palace is under control, and everything in Beijing is safe. Don't worry about it. I hope you will triumph as soon as possible. I am here, waiting for your return. Pei Jun on .”

After handing over the letter to the guards to send it out of the palace, he signed and approved the rest of the official documents that were put on the imperial case overnight, almost ten lines at a glance, folded with a raised hand.Such efficiency made Hu Li smack his tongue while watching: "Look, you really seem to have been in the cabinet for many years... No, it seems to be faster than the cabinet."

Pei Jun didn't have time to talk to him. At this time, he had just finished approving the letter of duty report from Beibu Liudao, and was about to put it down, but suddenly paused.

He counted the letters again, and found that there were only five of them, and only one from Northwest Road was missing.

The Northland is where Cai's party is entrenched. Although it is common for these letters to report sooner or later, in the current situation, it makes Pei Jun faintly uneasy.

He hurriedly wrote a letter, urging Northwest Road to submit the form quickly, stamped with God's seal and sent it out, and then checked the internal affairs. Considering the urgency of employing people, he wrote another letter: "The Minister of the Household Department is old, I want to give money back to my hometown, and let my servant Fang Mingjue succeed me, and it will be implemented immediately."

After finishing writing and stamping the seal of God, he saw the sky turning pale outside the window, so he summoned the guards and said: "You go to Yan Shangshu's mansion, hand in this letter, and announce that he and Fang Mingjue will enter the palace immediately for an audience."

It was dawning soon.As the palace bells rang one after another, the palace gates of the majestic imperial city gradually opened. Fang Mingjue changed into the Wensanpin patch coat of the Minister of the Household Department, followed Yan Yuliang all the way, along the palace road in the middle of the imperial city, sleeved his hands, and hurried to the palace. Go to Zhongqing Hall.

Together with Pei Jun, he experienced the dangerous situation in the Zhongyihou Mansion on the first day, and he was fully aware of Pei Jun's plan. He was in a hurry at this time because he was worried about Pei Jun's safety.

Er'er finally reached the inner palace, and as soon as he entered the gate of the Chongning Hall, he saw Pei Jun wandering between the corners of the hall and the verandah. The collar was all messed up, and the black hat was not worn at all—however, it happened that this disheveled man with a tired face was secretly controlling the lifeline of the entire empire at this time.

Yan Yuliang was informed of the situation by Fang Mingjue in advance, when he saw Pei Jun, before Pei Jun could speak, he rushed forward and punched him on the chest, cursing: "You son of a bitch, you almost scared me out of my wits! "

Pei Jun received his punch, but he didn't fight back. He just raised his hand and patted his upper arm, and forced a smile: "It's a sin, a sin. If it wasn't for the persecution from the palace and the cabinet, how could I have forced the palace to hold Jiang Jiang in a hurry? Zhan? If I didn’t do this last night, I’m afraid my head would have moved, and even Ming Jue’er would have to follow me on the road.”

"Don't talk about that useless." Fang Mingjue looked worried, "Da Xian'er, are you really sure this time?"

Facing the worries of his seniors and juniors, Pei Jun shook his head sincerely, "I'm absolutely sure, I really dare not say it. The political situation is like this. If you pull a hair, you will change your head, and if you pull a hair, you will change your body. Everything will change." There are too many possibilities, how can we fully predict what will happen next? We want to win, but we can only try our best to control the present. Brother, Ming Jue'er, I am not a general, except for the troops left behind by King Jin, I have nothing in my hands. An adjustable soldier who is able to control the situation at the moment depends entirely on luck and is extremely familiar with the arrangement of the court and the palace. Now that Jiang Zhan is being held hostage, it is not a problem to lie to him for a few days, but as time goes by, all civil and military officials will not see the emperor , must be suspicious, and Jiang Zhan's behavior is becoming more and more weird, I am afraid that outsiders will notice sooner or later. When the matter is revealed, if King Jin has not returned to Beijing to take power, I will be punished by civil servants and surrounded by military generals. Land——that's why, right now I'm dispatching people, but it's just to let me come later in the day when everyone will be punished. It would be great if Jiang Yue could rush back as soon as possible, but if the situation is really difficult to deal with, we Also think about how to get out on the day when the incident happens..."

"That's right." Yan Yuliang said, "Last night, I also told Ming Jue'er and Master Mei that this is exactly what we should keep behind, and Master Mei has already started planning. But Ziyu, the most urgent thing right now is this As for the arrangement in the palace, we must never let anyone know that you are in charge of the palace!"

Pei Jun nodded, and led the two of them to sit down in the corridor and said: "Senior brother is very right. I think, right now, we can use the repairs of Zichen Hall and Feihua Hall to make people enter the palace pretending to be craftsmen from the Ministry of Works, and they will go to the palace for seven consecutive days. On the eighth day, hundreds of people can enter the palace. These people can be used to control various important roads in the palace, one is to monitor Jiang Zhan's every move for us, and the other is to facilitate us to pass on news."

"What about the Zhang family?" Fang Mingjue said, "What if Zhang Ling becomes suspicious?"

Pei Jun thought for a while and replied: "Although Jiang Zhan takes poison and is controlled by me, he still hates me for forcing him to do things. Now that the Cai family is gone, he can only rely on the Zhang family if he wants to deal with me, so he only Can try to inform Zhang Ling of the situation in the palace. Zhang Ling has a heart of iron, and he will never give up until he achieves his goal. Once he becomes suspicious, we can't cover it up. There is no solution to this matter, so we can only try our best to prevent Zhang Ling from knowing .”

Yan Yuliang sighed evilly when he heard the words, and became worried: "But that Zhang Ling is an old cat, how can we deceive him?"

"This matter, since it's not easy for us to do," Pei Ruo looked up at the sun thoughtfully, narrowing his eyes slightly and said, "Then we have to see how Eunuch Hu wants to protect himself..."

On the fifth day when Pei Jun secretly entered the palace to hold the emperor hostage, after the early morning, Zhang Ling asked for an audience again after several failed attempts.

Regardless of dissuasion, he entered the inner palace, knelt on the ground outside through the purple gauze screen of Chongning Hall, kowtowed, and politely asked Jiang Zhan, who was trapped behind the gauze screen, if he really couldn't do it because of a cough. up court.

Hearing the words, Jiang Zhan almost blurted out to ask Zhang Ling for help, but just as he was about to speak out, Hu Li who was beside him happened to offer a cup of tea: "Oh, don't worry, your majesty, don't worry, drink a cup of tea and speak slowly, It saves me from coughing again."

Jiang Zhan paused, and looked at Hu Li because of his words. Seeing Hu Li frowning at him in great concern and shaking his head desperately, the firmness and anger in his eyes dissipated with Hu Li's admonishing expression for a moment.

Jiang Zhan trusted Hu Li.This trust has been born since he was succumbing to the cold palace of Fenglinzhai, and it has been accumulated over the years, and it has turned into a habit that penetrates into his mind.Hu Li has been with him since he can remember, and has already taken root in the blind spot of his vision. Even if he sees the wind and rain in the outside world, he will never imagine that the person who makes the trouble is the person closest to him. Right now, he is even more He thinks that Hu Li is the only one who cares about his life in this palace.

In the past few days, Jiang Zhan watched his palace being taken over by Pei Jun, and his personal guards were replaced by Pei Jun's gradually increasing manpower. Looking around at this moment, except for Hu Li, he could hardly find a single one of him. The eunuch who can still be named; once he gets angry or resists, or is found trying to escape, Pei Jun will let him suffer from severe pain, and will not throw an antidote until he twitches in pain and begs for mercy. In front of him, watching him gobble it up without dignity, I just coldly ordered him not to use his brain.

Thinking of the pain of the poisonous hair, Jiang Zhan shivered, but his eyes gradually filled with cold hatred. Holding the tea from Hu Li, his thin white fingers couldn't stop trembling.

Zhang Ling didn't answer outside the screen, but heard the sound of cups and plates clashing from inside, so he asked again: "Your Majesty, are you still in serious trouble?"

Jiang Zhan was pulled back to his senses by this remark, looked at Hu Li, lowered his eyes, and said weakly: "Master Zhang is worried. I really feel unwell recently. I guess it's because of the wind and heat. I'll be fine after a few days of rest. Everything in the court, Lord Lao Zhang and the cabinet will lead the way."

But Zhang Ling, who was off-screen, heard the words, but the solemn inquiries did not stop: "The old minister dared to disturb and begged the emperor to forgive his sin, but... the minister heard the emperor's decree, not only stopped the six thorough investigations, but also promoted Fang Mingjue to be the secretary of the household department, I am really confused. Your majesty, if Yan Yuliang is Pei Jun’s right arm in the imperial court, then Fang Mingjue is Pei Jun’s right arm. Since the emperor ordered the cabinet to thoroughly investigate the six ministries and severely punish Pei Jun, why did he act uncharacteristically? Are you using Pei Dang again?"

When Jiang Zhan heard this, he suddenly knew that Zhang Ling was suspicious, and he couldn't help but have a glimmer of hope in his heart.He was about to hint to Zhang Ling with words, but he saw that the servants around him were staring at him with wide eyes, and the hope in his heart was covered with fear again. After thinking about it, the words he wanted to say were cut off again, and he could only He tried his best to say something in his words: "Master Zhang's doubts are justified. It is true that Pei's party committed crimes and formed a party for personal gain, which should not be reused, but I think that if they are not given some sweetness when they are under investigation, they may easily become agitated. Isn't this Call it external war and internal strife in the imperial court? When Pei Jun was consul, this person did have some political achievements, and when he is currently employing people, it doesn't matter if he is temporarily envoy."

When Zhang Ling heard this, he was skeptical, but he couldn't catch any mistakes for a while.He didn't hear anything strange from Jiang Zhan's desperately flattening voice, and thought that the trembling in that voice came from illness and anxiety, so, out of consideration for sharing your worries, he promised Jiang Zhan: " The old minister must hurry up to find a good minister to replace the Pei party's ruler, the emperor please feel at ease and take care of him."

After finishing speaking, he kowtowed and said goodbye, got up and left the palace.

Jiang Zhan watched Zhang Ling's faint figure disappear among the silk threads on the gauze screen, and felt that a glimmer of hope that had just sprung up in his heart disappeared at the palace gate along with this figure.

There was a rustling sound of clothes being rubbed aside, and he looked back, only to see Pei Jun walking out from the inner hall.

Without saying a word, Pei Jun took out the porcelain bottle from his sleeve, poured out a red elixir, and put it in Hu Li's open palm respectfully. Immediately, he only took one look at Jiang Zhan, and walked out from the side hall up.

Under Hu Li's service, Jiang Zhan swallowed the elixir with water. Seeing Pei Jun's figure turn into the porch of the side hall, he couldn't help but think that Pei Jun can come and go freely in his bedroom now. Pointing Jiangshan in the government, the heart is even more resentful.

With white knuckles, he put the porcelain cup in his hand heavily on the tray that Hu Li handed over, his eyebrows were tightly knit, and he tried his best to think about how to secretly inform Zhang Ling of his situation.

Suddenly, he seemed to think of something, his eyebrows twitched, and suddenly he lowered his eyes to look at his left hand under his sleeve.

He gradually stretched out the fingers of his left hand from under the gold silk cuff, and saw that on the index finger was a jasper ring with simple carvings.

——The jade ring turns, loyalty and treachery are broken!

His heart was agitated, and he suppressed the trembling all over his body immediately, he clenched his fingers tightly, and quietly rolled up his left hand.

Outside the side hall, as soon as Pei Jun walked down the stone steps in front of the porch, he saw a guard trotting towards him, bowed his head and handed the two letters into his hands.

He glanced down and saw that the first letter was printed with Jiang Yue's military special sealant, and quickly opened it, only to see Jiang Yuexiu's elegant and elegant handwriting inside.

Jiang Yue's letter this time obviously has not received Pei Jun's previous letter, but there is a piece of good news: After Jiang Yue and the Guo brothers' lobbying for many days, Li Si finally agreed to join forces with Jiang Yue. At that time, he was already discussing with Jiang Yue about joining forces. Once agreed, it would be a great help for Jiang Yue to return to Beijing to seize the throne.

In the letter, Jiang Yue told Pei Jun that on the account of the DPRK and China, there was still a loss of military resources for the army, and he reassured Pei Jun that there was no battlefield at the moment, and he would inform Pei Jun immediately once a return date was set.

After reading the letter, Pei Jun finally let go of his worries for several days, heaved a long sigh of relief, and then opened the second letter.

The second letter was from Qian Haiqing, saying that according to Pei Jun's instructions, he and Zhang San had cleared up the case of the salt industry, and they would return to the capital by boat after they cleared up the things that were suppressed.

These two letters were both good news, and Pei Jun couldn't help saying hello secretly after reading them.When he was putting away the letter, he was waiting to get someone to prepare a car to leave the palace, but a guard ran over again and said, "Master Pei, Jing Zhaosi sent a letter to your house, saying that Mr. Cao, who was imprisoned earlier, wanted to see you." .”

——By the way, there is also Cao Luan.

Only then did Pei Jun remember that Cao Luan's family was still in prison and had not been dealt with.

He predicted that Cao Luan's proposal to meet was nothing more than to let him be released from prison, but the current situation is not safe for him and Cao Luan.

Although Cao Luan betrayed him to Jiang Zhan, he had to do it because his family was killed.Although this matter was wrong, but after many years of acquaintance, he couldn't let Cao Luan just let it go.

Cao Luan is in prison and does not know the outside situation. Instead of releasing Cao Luan and letting Cao Luan's family struggle on their own in the waves of power struggle, it is better to let them stay in Jingzhaosi's prison until Jiang Yue returns to Beijing.

Thinking of this, Pei Jun pondered for a while, and told the guard: "Send a message to Jing Zhaosi, saying that I am busy with business and have no time to meet Mr. Cao. If he has anything missing or wants, let him go to Song Shensi to get it." Just come."