palace garden

After receiving the order, King Zhongshun was very worried and followed Xu Guan, the chief eunuch of Chonghua Palace, all the way to the Tihe Hall.

King Zhongshun looked at the palace in front of him and had no choice but to bite the bullet. Under the gaze of everyone, he followed the eunuch into the palace and moved into the bedroom. Before he could get closer, he knelt down and walked towards the old man on the bed.

He left and cried: "Father, Gong's mausoleum has collapsed. I am guilty, guilty..."

I cried so hard that it really made everyone sad when I heard it, and shed tears when I saw it.

The eldest princess of Jinyang was not far away from Queen Song at the moment, staring at the figure kneeling on the ground, with a little joy flashing through her heart, huh, today too?

Empress Song was instructing the maids, removing the dishes on the table, and looking at King Zhongshun indifferently.

In fact, even if Empress Song did not have much favorable impression of King Zhongshun, if King Zhongshun did not take charge of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, perhaps her relatives or sons would have the opportunity to take over.

"You actually still remember me, my father, ahem..."

Emperor Longzhi's face was as dark as water, he looked coldly at King Zhongshun who was approaching on his knees, said in a cold voice, and then coughed violently.

Queen Mother Feng quickly stroked the Queen Mother's back and sighed secretly.

King Zhongshun wiped his tears with his sleeves and cried: "My son was frightened, the earth dragon stirred, Gongling Mausoleum was robbed, my son was also horrified when he heard about it, and he immediately went to the palace to report to the emperor's younger brother... My son supervised the establishment of the emperor.

If the mausoleum is not strong enough, please ask Father to punish me!"

This statement naturally attributes the collapse of the mausoleum to natural disasters rather than man-made disasters.

"Disaster?" Emperor Longzhi sneered, stared at King Zhongshun, and said sarcastically: "During the palace confinement, even with the power of the Mengdilong's churning, not one of the palaces collapsed. My mausoleum has been repaired for several years, but it has not been destroyed."

If it shakes, it will collapse! Are you saying that I have failed in all directions and committed sins in the world, so I deserve this retribution?"

"My son, I dare not." King Zhongshun cried loudly, his heart was awe-inspiring, and he secretly thought that something was not right. Sure enough, he said this, "bang", violently knocked on the gold brick, and clasped the Mingyu Jade King's hat on his forehead, and suddenly

Traces of bright red blood appeared, and the old body kept trembling, crying: "Father, the people below must have deceived the superiors and deceived the subordinates. I will go back to investigate carefully and give an explanation to my father!"

At this point, we have to lose a few heads to take on this matter before we can give up.

The Supreme Emperor looked up at the sky, stared blankly at the beams on the palace, and said indifferently: "Strict investigation? No need, I have selected another person to investigate the culprits. You can stay in the palace and wait for the results of the investigation."

He has been the emperor for decades and has been at war with his ministers all his life. Once a seed of doubt is planted in his heart, it will immediately take root and grow into a towering tree. How could he let King Zhongshun get away with it?

If he wasn't involved in this matter, that would be fine. If he was involved in the case, there's no way he...

When King Zhongshun heard this, his old body covered in a dragon robe shook violently. He kowtowed like smashing garlic and cried bitterly: "Father, my son has been wronged, wronged."

As he said that, he suddenly looked at Emperor Chongping who was standing aside with a cold face. Prince Zhongshun's gray-haired face showed eagerness, and he cried: "Your Majesty, although there is something fishy about the collapse of the imperial mausoleum, my brother doesn't know about it. Now send Shen."

The people from the Criminal Division will conduct a strict investigation and must get to the bottom of it!"

Emperor Chongping stared at King Zhongshun with cold eyes, feeling extremely disappointed. No matter how arrogant his brother-in-law was, he could still tolerate it, but if he tampered with the mausoleum, where would he be, the emperor?

After pondering for a moment, he said in a cold voice: "The safety of the mausoleum is not a trivial matter. Now it collapsed due to an earthquake for no reason, and so many people were buried. We need to investigate the source. As the chief supervisor of the construction, you are also suspected, so it is not appropriate to investigate yourself."

King Zhongshun was struck by thunder because he noticed some bad signs. Was he suspicious?

Does this mean you want to give up on him?

After calming down his confused mind, he asked in a low voice: "Your Majesty, I wonder who is going to investigate this matter?"

"Jinyi Mansion, internal investigation factory." Emperor Chongping said in a cold voice with a face as solid as iron.

Suddenly, like a bolt from the blue, King Zhongshun felt a chill of early spring coming from all directions, and his heart trembled.

If Jia Heng, who is in charge of Jinyi Mansion, investigates, wouldn't he... make things worse!?

The Supreme Emperor interrupted King Zhongshun's complicated thoughts: "Take him down and kneel at the entrance of the palace until the Jinyi Mansion and the inner guards find out the truth!"

King Zhongshun felt nervous and opened his mouth to say something.

Xu Guan, the eunuch in charge, approached and whispered: "Your Majesty, let's go."

As he spoke, he winked at the two eunuchs.

King Zhongshun felt his hands and feet were weak, so he was dragged outside the palace with the help of two young eunuchs.

At this moment, the rain curtain outside the palace was deep, like a curtain or fog, the huge palace garden was a vast expanse, the wind and rain were like darkness, the rainwater gathered on the eaves tiles was like broken pearls, washing away the dust that had been shaken by the earthquake in front of the palace, and

Dark clouds gathered in the sky above the Tihe Hall. The owl-kissed beast on the ridge had its neck and eyes soaked by the rain. Not far away, a willow tree with new branches and leaves was also swaying in the wind in the early spring of February.

, verdant and full of greenery.

Ministry of Internal Affairs

In this yamen with red doors and copper rings, red walls and black tiles, a large number of guards from the Jinyi Mansion rushed into the government office and began to search for Luo Chengwang, the construction director of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and his subordinate officials.

Because it was raining, Jia Heng and Dai Quan, surrounded by a group of guards in royal robes, entered the main gate, the Jingyi Gate, and entered the official hall. Because the rainy day was gloomy and the light was dim, the guards had already lit a lot of candles. In an instant,

In between, the spacious and tidy official hall is illuminated with bright lights.

At this moment, the official hall was crowded with people and noisy. The bright candlelight shook the panicked faces under the black gauze hats. They were the officials of the Seventh Department and the Third House of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

In fact, when the guards of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Jinyi Mansion were confronting each other in front of the door, the staff of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were all worried and confused.

Jinyi Mansion sent people to arrest Luo Chengwang, the construction manager. Is something big going to happen?

However, Zhou Changshi, the Zhongshun Prince's Chief Historian, who was in charge of the government affairs, actually ordered all officials in the government office to stay in their positions and not to act rashly. He even ordered the government guards to gather troops to resist the Jinyi government guards who entered the government office and took people away.

Therefore, although all the officials were anxious like ants on a hot pot, they had no choice but to cry out in vain.

Along with Jia Heng, Dai Quan and a group of internal guards, darkness poured into the hall.

The officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who were originally crowded around and chattering away, all looked over in panic.

"quiet!"

The guards of the Jinyi Mansion who were accompanying them began to shout loudly, as if spring thunder exploded in the official hall, making everyone's hearts tremble and the noise suddenly stopped.

"Eunuch, please take a seat." Jia Heng looked at the case in the main hall of the official hall and invited him.

Dai Quan smiled and said: "Dudu Jia is the presiding judge of this case, and he should be the one who takes the seat."

Seeing this, Jia Heng did not go behind the case, but sat down on the chair on the left side of the case. He glanced at the officials and saw the panicked officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs is a large-scale ministry and yamen. Each of the doctors is responsible for the secretary, and the foreign minister is the assistant, responsible for the affairs, and the scribes are running around doing things.

"The governor, Zhou Shun, the chief historian of the King of Loyalty and Shun, Xie Shan, the doctor in the Kuaiji Division, and Du Jing, the doctor in the Shenxing Division, have all been captured!" At this moment, a member of the Jinyi Mansion from a hundred households strode into the official hall, clasped his hands in fists, and reported.

.

Jia Heng frowned and said in a cold voice: "Bring everyone here, I want to question you."

The hundred households in brocade clothes made a promise, turned around and called to the eaves of the corridor: "Bring the prisoner here."

Following a burst of scoldings and quarrels about "Be honest, hurry up", Zhou Changshi and two officials wearing fifth-grade green robes and black veils entered the official hall.

The figure is staggering, and the official hat is crooked.

The scolding and pushing clearly came from a middle-aged official with a tall stature and a dark complexion.

When several people arrived at the official hall, one after another looked at the three people.

Jia Heng looked at Zhou Changshi with his stern eyebrows and said, "Is Zhou Changshi okay?"

Zhou Changshi raised his head and looked at the young man in python suit sitting on the chair. His face was as gloomy as iron. He snorted coldly and said nothing.

Jia Heng ignored him and asked in a deep voice: "Where is Luo Chengwang, the construction manager?"

At this time, a man in rich clothes said in a low voice: "Sir, these two are Xie Shan, the doctor in the Kuaiji Department, and Du Jing, the doctor in the Shenxing Department. Luo Chengwang is not among them."

Jia Heng nodded, looked at Zhou Changshi again, and said in a deep voice: "Zhou Changshi, I want to ask you, is it your intention or the intention of King Zhongshun to resist arrest by the guards of the Ministry of Internal Affairs?"

Zhou Changshi's heart trembled, he looked at Jia Heng and said coldly: "Since they have no edict, who knows if they are falsely passing on the imperial edict? The prince is worried about the safety of the secrets of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and he cannot allow people from the Jinyi Mansion to enter the mansion and do anything rashly.

rash!"

"The Jinyi Guards are the emperor's personal soldiers, and there are also internal guards accompanying them. The oral instructions are unquestionable. You are the emperor's servant, but you are so unruly and resist arrest. This is to resist the order and disobey the emperor's prestige. Now you have been exposed.

How dare you make sophistry!" Jia Heng said coldly and shouted: "Kneel down and slap your mouth!"

The Jinyi captain who was pressing Zhou Changshi's shoulder first kicked Zhou Changshi hard in the crook of his leg, causing him to kneel to the ground. Then, a hundred households rolled up their sleeves, rounded their arms, and faced Zhou Changshi.

Changshi's cheek was slapped hard.

"Pa bang..."

After several slaps, Zhou Changshi groaned in pain. His originally thin cheek swelled to the height of half a finger, and a little blood oozed from the corner of his mouth, dripping on his beard and the front of his official robe. However, this palace chief historian

, staring at the boy in the python suit with resentful eyes.

All the officials in the Ministry of Internal Affairs were frightened.

This is the official historian of Prince Zhongshun, who was beaten and humiliated in public like this!

Du Jing, the doctor of the Shenxing Division who was still struggling, stopped struggling and lowered his head slightly.

Dai Quan saw this and nodded secretly.

I'm obviously here to manipulate you, but I'm not trying to reason with you. I'm going against the guards of Jinyi Mansion, causing the guards to fight with each other. How does it feel in the eyes of outsiders?

Using the words of later generations, it greatly tarnished the image of the royal family and shook the emperor's prestige!

Neither the Ministry of Internal Affairs nor the Chief of Staff of Prince Zhongshun were considered court officials, nor did they have anything to do with the scholars of the "Two Lists of Jinshi".

At this moment, Qu Lang came in from outside the official hall, cupped his hands and said: "Captain, when I first arrived, Luo Langzhong was hung from a beam by several of Zhou Changshi's retinues, and he fainted."
To be continued...