From time to time, cicada cries came from outside the window. Zhu Yi and Zhang Xi sat opposite each other. As soon as they sat down, Zhu Yi couldn't wait to speak.
"Second Master, what exactly is going on? Could it be that the Emperor has given you some special errand?"
It has to be said that Zhang Shi was quite pleased with Zhu Yi's appearance at this moment. You must know that he had never been as favored as Zhu Yi in front of the Supreme Emperor. Now it is rare to see that Zhu Yi also has something unknown to him. He has something in his heart.
Of course I'm a little proud.
Of course, it only took a moment before he put away his thoughts and said.
"My lord, don't worry. Since the Emperor has given orders, I will tell you everything, but..."
At this point, Zhang Xi paused and said:
"If I guessed correctly, the Supreme Emperor should have also assigned errands to you alone, right?"
Are you trying to get some information?
Zhu Yi's eyes sharpened, and he immediately remembered the instructions given to him by the Supreme Emperor in Nangong.
So, after weighing it briefly in his mind, he quickly nodded.
"Indeed, why, Master, do you want to know what the errand is?"
"My lord, are you willing to tell me?"
Faced with the question being thrown back again, Zhang Xi just asked rhetorically.
As a result, the two of them stood in a stalemate, and a ray of sunlight leaked into the room, reflecting the colorful colors in the swirling purple smoke.
Finally, Zhu Yi took a sip of tea and said calmly.
"If the Second Master insists on listening, then of course I have to say..."
Seeing this situation, Zhang Xi's eyes flashed, and then he smiled.
"What are you talking about, Mr. Guo? It's important to run your errands well. As a family friend of ours, am I the one who makes things difficult for you?"
At the same time, looking at Zhang Shi who stopped asking questions, Zhu Yi felt relieved.
It seems that his idea is correct...
What Zhang Xi just said was to test him.
You must know that the rumors in Beijing are getting tighter now, and the Supreme Emperor has made up his mind to rebel. Because of this, many of Nangong's actions have become cautious.
The most obvious point is that many things are handed over to him, Zhang Shi, and Chen Mao.
So far, although Zhu Yi can roughly guess the general movements of the other two people, the specific details are not clear at all.
There is no doubt that this is a means of keeping secrets, which is not surprising. After all, it would be truly stupid to entrust such a major matter as rebellion to the hands of one person.
In fact, when Zhang Xi asked the question just now, Zhu Yi wanted to exchange his arrangements for Wu Yu and others with Zhang Xi for a moment.
However, when the words came to his lips, he suddenly stopped talking, because he suddenly remembered that when the Supreme Emperor specially separated the three of them to explain the matter, he specifically asked him to keep the matter confidential and not to tell others.
For Zhu Yi, Nangong's decree was of course not binding. However, just now, he suddenly thought that if the Supreme Emperor had consciously divided the entire plan to avoid failure due to the mistakes of one of them, then...
It is very possible that they are faithfully carrying out Nangong's instructions.
In other words, Zhang Xi's current actions are probably to test him on behalf of the Supreme Emperor. If he really tells the story about Wu Yu and others, then Zhang Xi might turn around and report it to Nangong. .
Zhu Yi was not sure whether his idea was right, but at least it was possible, so he would try to avoid risks as much as possible.
Judging from Zhang Shi's performance now, his guess is indeed not unreasonable. However, what makes him somewhat doubtful is whether this kind of temptation is due to the Supreme Emperor's caution, or whether it is because of his too eager attitude just now. What suspicions did Zhang Min have?
"Let's not mention this. Just now in the Nangong Palace, the Supreme Emperor ordered me to inform you about the imperial mausoleum. I should obey it."
Thoughts were swirling in Zhu Yi's mind, but Zhang Xi continued to speak on the other side.
Seeing this situation, Zhu Yi had no choice but to suppress the doubts in his heart, cheer up and look at Zhang Xi opposite him. Then, the latter pondered for a moment and spoke.
"Actually, my knowledge of this matter is limited. The Supreme Emperor ordered me to pay a lot of money to bribe two eunuchs who were supervising the construction of Shouling. Later..."
…………
"What? Has the imperial mausoleum been tampered with?"
In the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Qiyu was leaning on the couch. When he heard Shu Liang's words below, he immediately sat up straight.
Shu Liang obviously knew how important this was, so he quickly took two steps forward and explained the news in detail.
"...According to the news from the Duke, the reason why the imperial mausoleum was flooded this time was not just because of the heavy rain in recent days, but because Zhang Xi was hindered by the order of the Supreme Emperor, and their purpose was Chen Jing, the prime eunuch of the Internal Affairs Bureau!"
In fact, this matter is not complicated to talk about. Previously, Zhang Shi was ordered to recruit many people from various religions and nine schools and keep them in the mansion. Among them, there were people who were proficient in Feng Shui and Kanyu for this purpose.
Shouling is an imperial mausoleum, so in addition to the officials from the Ministry of Works, the people responsible for the construction were also the internal officials and supervisors in the palace. Among the two, the officials sent by the Ministry of Works had a lower position, so the internal officials and supervisors occupied more of the position. Chen Jing, one of the two favored eunuchs who was promoted by Huai En himself, is now in charge of the internal affairs department.
Chen Jing was originally a eunuch in the inner study. He especially liked reading and was neat in his work. Therefore, he won the favor of Huai En and was promoted all the way up to be responsible for the affairs of the inner palace. However, this person had a shortcoming, that is, Believe in Feng Shui.
Zhang Shi grasped this point and first bribed two eunuchs in Shouling and asked them to find a way to introduce Chen Jing to an alchemist named Tongyin. This man was quite famous in Beijing, and many Wealthy people had asked him to perform divination, and Zhang Shi had already spent a lot of money. Therefore, under the bragging of the two eunuchs, his colleagues seemed to have become omniscient gods.
Back to Chen Jing, after he got to know his colleague, he asked him to find a ghost house for him with good feng shui. So, after his divination, his colleague told Chen Jing that if he wanted to have good feng shui, it would be a good place for his descendants. , naturally it is the Royal Tianshou Mountain, but the entire Tianshou Mountain is a royal mausoleum. Naturally, a mere eunuch like Chen Jing would not dare to think of it.
So Tongyin pointed him to another road, which was a place seventy miles northwest of Tianshou Mountain. According to Tongyin, although that place was far away from Tianshou Mountain, it was not far away from Tianshou Mountain. The mountains are connected, and one can borrow a little bit of the dragon energy that leaks out. With this blessing and shelter, the Chen Jing family can be long-lasting and become an official family from generation to generation.
You should know that although Chen Jing was an eunuch, he also had descendants of his family. Therefore, after learning the news, he was overjoyed and immediately asked his colleagues to help him tap acupuncture points to find out the specific location.
It was also at this time that his colleague proposed that if he wanted to borrow the dragon's energy, he must first go into Tianshou Mountain in person and see the Yuling and Shoulings currently being built. After determining the true location of the main palace, he could follow the energy. Analyze the context and find the trace of dragon energy leaking out.
Chen Jing thought at the time that he was just going in for a look, and it would be no big deal, so he ordered someone to take his colleagues in. However, the matter ended here, but it was just the beginning. The colleagues had finished looking at the two tombs. After taking the position, he came out and told Chen Jing that the Emperor is the Supreme True Dragon. Logically speaking, there can only be one true dragon in this world.
However, now there are the Supreme Emperor and the current Holy Emperor in the palace, both of whom are real dragons, and Yuling and Shouling are too close to each other. As a result, the two dragons will definitely fight with each other. Even if the Tianshou Mountain Mountains can draw out a trace of dragon energy, It will be exhausted in the fight between the two dragons.
After going through so much trouble, the opportunity that was supposed to benefit his descendants was slipped away quietly. Chen Jing was naturally very frustrated, so taking this opportunity, his colleagues proposed a solution.
He said that although Yuling and Shouling are close to each other, as long as they find a way to separate them, they can avoid the situation of the two dragons fighting. It just so happens that the main palace of Shouling is built on the main line of Tianshou Mountain. The main palace of the mausoleum is moved ten feet to the northeast, and the Yuling Mausoleum and Shoule Mausoleum will be separated by the main line of Tianshou Mountain. In this way, although it is not visible on the surface, it can perfectly solve this problem. .
After all, it is the imperial mausoleum, and the stakes are very high. Once the matter is discovered, it will be a crime of losing the head. Therefore, at first, Chen Jing sternly rejected this method, and his colleagues did not bother him and left. However, his actions did not stop. After that, colleagues kept going in and out of wealthy families, pointing out many hidden gems in the underworld, and their reputation spread more and more.
At the same time, Zhang Mian continued to ask the two eunuchs who had been bribed by him to mention his colleagues in Chen Jing's ears from time to time. Finally, after a few months, Chen Jing couldn't hold himself back anymore and approached his colleagues again. , he really didn't have the courage to change the location of the imperial mausoleum, but he couldn't resist the temptation of the so-called Feng Shui treasure land, so he had to ask his colleagues again and again if there was any other way.
Finally, when his colleague saw that Chen Jing had finally taken the bait, he revealed his true purpose. He told Chen Jing that if the method of moving the main palace did not work, then he could only dig a three-foot-wide strip underground on the northwest side of the main palace. He used this path to barely separate the dragon energy from the two imperial tombs. Then he went to the so-called Feng Shui treasure land to do the same thing, and he could barely achieve the same effect.
It should be said that changing the structure of the underground palace without authorization is also a capital crime. However, compared with moving the location of the underground palace, it is just digging a path underneath and still covering it with bricks and stones. If you don't check carefully, basically nothing can be found, so
, after repeated hesitation, Chen Jing still could not resist the temptation, and secretly modified the underground palace according to Chen Jing's method.
However, after such a change, something went wrong. Originally, the location of the underground palace was not high. Under the continuous heavy rain these days, the accumulated water flowed in along the path underneath. This is how the Ministry of Works issued this memorial.
…
"...Your Majesty, I have sent someone to investigate secretly. The underground palace was flooded ten days ago. On that day, Chen Jing went to the imperial mausoleum. However, he did not report the matter to the superior.
He suppressed it, and then he secretly met several times with the officials in charge of the matter from the Ministry of Works, and then the Ministry of Works submitted a memorial to repair the imperial mausoleum."
"Although the evidence is not complete yet, I think that if nothing else happens, Chen Jing is afraid that the matter will be exposed, so he bribed the Ministry of Works officials responsible for the construction and planned to cover up the matter as an accident."
When he said these words, Shu Liang's face looked very careful.
After all, if something like this happened involving the imperial mausoleum, you can imagine how angry the emperor would be.
On the contrary, Zhu Qiyu himself was indeed angry, but it was not as intense as Shu Liang imagined.
After all, in his previous life, his Shouling Mausoleum was directly demolished by Zhu Qizhen after the restoration. Now it is just flooded, which is really not a big deal.
What really puzzled him was...
"Shu Liang, have you ever thought about why Nangong did this?"
After pondering for a moment, Zhu Qiyu frowned and asked.
After hearing this, Shu Liang was stunned for a moment, not knowing how to answer.
However, this time, it was not because he didn't know the answer, but because the answer was already ready to come out. Shu Liang didn't understand why the emperor would still ask questions.
However, seeing the emperor's cautious expression, Shu Liang could only say cautiously.
"In my humble opinion, I feel that their move is to bring down Chen Jing. According to the emperor's instructions, since Wu Yu and others were transferred back to the palace, they secretly paid bribes or did other things. Servant
They all pretended not to know, and occasionally pushed me. Now, Wu Yu is the eunuch of the Qianqing Palace, and Wang Dingtong is the young eunuch of the War Bureau."
"Although Chen Jing is bold enough to do such a thing this time, he has always been Eunuch Huai'en's right-hand man. If he falls, someone will definitely have to take over from the Internal Affairs Bureau. When the time comes, Wu Yu and others will
If you have some connections, you might be able to go a step further and become the eunuch in charge of the inner palace. In this way, it will be much easier for them to move around inside and outside the palace..."
There are twenty-four yamen in the palace. Although the internal officials and supervisors do not seem to be prominent, because they are responsible for the construction of palaces and mausoleums, they often need to go in and out of the palace. Therefore, in Shu Liang's opinion, if he can
Obtaining the inner official prison is undoubtedly a good thing for Nangong. With the help of the inner official prison, they can convey news more conveniently. In some special times, it may even play a greater role.
Unknown.
After listening to Shu Liang's words, Zhu Qiyu did not refute, but he also did not express agreement. Indeed, Shu Liang's analysis was reasonable, but he always felt that something was not right.
Although it is said that the internal official supervisor is indeed an excellent position to communicate with the inside and outside, you must know that according to the current situation that Zhu Qiyu has grasped, although there are many people placed in Nangong, there are actually only Wu Yu and Wang Ding who have some positions.
These two people, although these two people have high positions in the palace, are not particularly favored people. At least, the number of times they can show their faces in front of Zhu Qiyu is limited.
Under such circumstances, how can Nangong guarantee that after Chen Jing falls, his replacement will be Wu Yu or Wang Dingtong?
If it cannot be guaranteed, then Zhang Xi has spent so much energy, and Zhu Qizhen may even have planned all of this personally. Isn't it a waste of time to draw water from a bamboo basket?
This really made Zhu Qiyu a little confused, so in the end, after hesitating for a long time, he finally spoke.
"Don't take any action for the time being, let's see how it develops in the future..."
