Several black-clothed and masked figures sneaked into a courtyard under the protection of the night.
This courtyard looks like a wealthy home, with three entrances and three exits. Although the decoration is not very luxurious, it is very exquisite and full of the precipitation of time.
It was late at night, and the owner of the courtyard had fallen asleep. There were only a few lamps sitting on the eaves, emitting weak light.
Several black-clothed and masked figures searched the courtyard and finally stopped next to the well platform.
After several people communicated silently, one of them took out a porcelain bottle and poured a drop of purple-brown liquid into the well.
The purple-brown liquid looked particularly eerie under the dim moonlight, and fell into the well as the liquid fell.
There are ripples on the water in the well, and the shadow of the moon in the well is hazy and charming.
After all this was done, several black-clothed and masked figures quietly left the well platform.
The night was still dark, and the courtyard was still as quiet as ever.
However, after those figures left, a figure also dressed in black and masked appeared next to the well platform.
He looked into the well and found nothing unusual. Then he fetched a bucket, took out a bucket of water from the well, and filled it with a porcelain bottle of well water.
"What are these guys doing?"
"Poison!"
"The owner of this house is not a big shot, so why would he poison him here?"
The man in black looked around and said to himself.
After that, he checked again and saw that there was no other abnormality before leaving the courtyard.
After leaving the courtyard, he continued to follow the traces of the men in black in front of him, and found that they had actually left a drop of purple-brown liquid in the well water in many courtyards in the city.
It wasn't until dawn that the men in black stopped and hid in an ordinary house.
But at dawn, when he discovered the hiding place of the men in black, he was exposed.
"Who!"
In an ordinary house, a cold shout came.
The man in black, who was leaning against the corner, heard a sharp sound breaking through the air. He didn't have time to think about it, and the man in black immediately retreated.
The next moment, a snow-white sword edge penetrated from the wall. If he had been a little slower, the sword would have left a hole in his body.
"Depend on!"
The man in black cursed secretly in his heart, turned around and ran away.
But as soon as he turned around, a dozen people jumped out from the wall.
"stop!"
The cold shout made the man in black sweat break out on his forehead, and he immediately ran towards the street in the distance.
Clang!!
The crisp sound of sword sounds sounded.
The long sword flew forward, and with a thud, the long sword pierced directly into the shoulder of the man in black.
The man in black stumbled as he fled, almost falling, but he still insisted on running towards the street.
"Killed!"
As they approached the street, the man in black suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs.
The shrill shout broke the silent dawn.
This caused those who were chasing behind him to pause for a moment.
Several people looked at each other, and one of them said coldly: "Let's go!"
The next moment, more than a dozen people disappeared into the alley.
And the man in black also crossed the street and entered the narrow alley.
Then, bursts of rapid footsteps sounded along the long street, and a group of soldiers wearing armor came running quickly.
"Sir, didn't you notice?"
"Sir, there is blood here!"
The soldiers were searching the alleys on both sides of the street and suddenly found blood stains on the ground.
When the leading flag officer saw this, his face became a little gloomy.
"Damn it, these bastards actually dare to use force in our Bei'an City!"
Where is Bei'an City?
This is one of the four major castles in Kyoto.
There were two hundred thousand soldiers stationed inside and outside the city.
However, during the recent period, many warriors were causing trouble in the city every night, which made the night patrol soldiers feel very frustrated.
Warriors who dare to cause trouble in Bei'an City must not be weak, and dealing with such warriors is not an easy task for the soldiers.
Especially in the city, there are houses and courtyards everywhere, and those warriors are flying around, making it really difficult to catch them.
"Come here, report this to the general immediately!"
The flag officer was also helpless and could only report the matter to the superior first. As for what happened next, it was beyond his control.
…
Kyoto Saijo.
Qin Wei sat under the shade of a tree in the courtyard.
Since meeting Eunuch Lu, Qin Wei has been living in seclusion these days, always paying attention to the reaction in the imperial city.
After a few days, after confirming that there was no abnormality in the imperial city, Qin Wei breathed a sigh of relief.
This already shows that Eunuch Lu did not report his matter to Emperor Li, which means that his alliance with Eunuch Lu is effective.
"Eunuch Lu has solved the problem, the next step is Ji Yuanchen, the chief minister of the cabinet!"
Under the shade of the tree, Qin Wei sat on the rocking chair and rocked gently. He closed his eyes slightly and considered his next plan.
Dali Chaotang pays equal attention to civil and military affairs, and there is no saying that civility is more important than military affairs. However, in the court, the voice of civil officials is louder than that of military attachés.
In particular, the status of the cabinet is higher than that of the governor's office, because the cabinet is the highest staff and decision-making body of Emperor Li. All memorials in the entire Dali are summarized by the General Secretary, and the Secretary of Ceremonies reports them to the emperor for review, and then to the cabinet.
, the cabinet is responsible for drafting handling opinions, and then the ceremonial supervisor submits the opinions to the emperor for approval.
Therefore, the cabinet has the power to propose and make decisions on all affairs in Dali. This aspect alone cannot be matched by the Governor's Office of the Five Armies.
As the chief minister of the cabinet, Ji Yuanchen was the most important person in the court. Although he did not have the title of prime minister, he had the actual status of prime minister.
If Qin Wei wants to inherit the throne in the future, he must get Ji Yuanchen's support. Without Ji Yuanchen's support, even if he takes the throne, he will suffer backlash from civil servants.
However, he already had a plan in mind on how to win over Ji Yuanchen.
Ji Yuanchen still owed him a favor.
"Your Highness, what you asked for has been brought!"
At this time, Xiao Shunzi came to Qin Wei holding a wooden box. Qin Wei stood up and opened the wooden box.
Inside the wooden box is a calligraphy and painting, in which is written a famous poem "Wude Fu" in this world.
More than a hundred characters are written eloquently, like a group of crocodiles playing in the sea, dancing cranes flying in the sky, and the pen forcefully flowing like clouds and flowing water, which is pleasing to the eye.
The signature is Xiyuan.
Xiyuan is Ji Yuanchen’s pen name.
When Qin Wei served as the commander of the Zhenwu Division in Kyoto, he caused many things in Kyoto. Even Duke Cheng Guo and Qing Jiang Yuan of Dali Temple were dealt with by him, which made all the civil and military officials in the court panic.
For this reason, Ji Yuanchen wrote this word, hoping that Qin Wei could restrain himself a little.
Qin Wei didn't attach too much importance to this favor at the beginning, so he left this word in the palace. He didn't expect that it would be used today.
After admiring Ji Yuanchen's calligraphy, Qin Wei thought for a while, took out the pen and ink and wrote a letter.
"Send them to Ji Yuanchen's residence."
Qin Wei ordered.
"Here!"
Xiao Shunzi responded.
After Xiao Shunzi left, Qin Wei lay on the rocking chair under the shade of the tree again.
It was a bit hot in Kyoto in July, which made Qin Weidu become much lazy.
Just when Qin Wei wanted to be lazy, Zhao Gao quietly appeared in the courtyard.
"Meet Your Highness!"
"sit!"
Qin Wei pointed to the seat next to him without raising his head and said casually.
Zhao Gao sat down and said softly: "Your Highness, we found some abnormalities in Bei'an City!"
"What's abnormal?" Qin Wei turned to look at him.
Zhao Gao said: "We found that someone was poisoning everywhere in Bei'an City."
When Qin Wei heard this, he sat up and asked, "Poison?"
He didn't frown.
"Well, they poisoned the well water in many houses in Bei'an City." Zhao Gao said.
"What poison?"
"A plague!"
Qin Wei's pupils suddenly condensed.
Depend on!
Actually using biological weapons!
This kind of thing is so disrespectful of martial ethics.
Plague is a poison that can cause plague.
The theory of elixirs in this world is very advanced, and it is many times better than the traditional Chinese medicine on earth in the previous life.
Similarly, poisons are also used very frequently in this world, not to mention Mongolian sweat medicine and the like, but also poisons such as poisons, plague poisons, blood poisons, etc. All kinds of poisons are strange and terrifying.
Pills that consume one's own potential and improve one's cultivation, such as the Yuan-devouring Pill and the Blood-Destroying Pill, are actually considered poisons.
Another example is that among the southern barbarian countries, many wizards are good at cultivating voodoos and poisoning them.
And many people in the South China Sea Islands are good at poisoning.
"Can you suppress it?" Qin Wei asked nervously.
Plague is no joke. If a plague really breaks out around Kyoto, it will definitely be a horrific disaster.
There are millions of people in the city of Kyoto, and the four major city guards combined have more than a million soldiers and civilians, plus the counties around Kyoto, etc.
Once the plague breaks out, there is no telling how many people will suffer.
"Your Highness, there is no one in the net who is good at treating poisons." Zhao Gao said.
There are killers inside the net. It's okay to let them use poison to kill people, but it's a bit useless to let them detoxify.
Qin Wei stood up and paced back and forth solemnly.
It's absolutely abominable that these bastards would use such harmful methods!
At this time, he couldn't help but feel a burst of anger in his heart.
"Tell Wang An about this first, and let Wang An tell Eunuch Lu!"
"In addition, arrange people to go to Shuzhou immediately to find Zuo Ci and Li Shizhen!"
Professionals are needed to deal with this kind of thing.
Dali has Tai Hospital, which should have experience in this kind of thing. As for Zuo Ci and Li Shizhen, they are just in case of emergency.
If the hospital cannot do it, then Zuo Ci and Li Shizhen will have to rely on it.
"And immediately find out the origins of those poisoners."
"If I guess correctly, it should be those people from Xiaoyao Island and Nanhai who did it."
Qin Wei said with a gloomy face.
This time the people on Xiaoyao Island had angered him, and this method of creating a plague was really hard for him to accept.
"Slave, I obey!" Zhao Gao bowed and responded.
Qin Wei nodded and said, "Let Zuo Ci and Li Shizhen come over as soon as possible."
"Slave understands!"
…
dusk.
As soon as Ji Yuanchen returned to his mansion from the imperial city, he received a report from the housekeeper.
"Master, someone sent a letter and a calligraphy and painting this afternoon."
"Oh! Who sent it?"
Ji Yuanchen stepped into the main hall and asked casually.
"The person who came didn't say anything," the steward said.
Ji Yuanchen frowned slightly, "Why should you accept it?"
As the chief minister of the cabinet, many people want to give him gifts, but everyone in his house is not allowed to accept gifts.
This matter is already a rule of the Ji Mansion, and the housekeeper should not violate it easily.
The housekeeper said softly: "Calligraphy and painting are my master's calligraphy treasures!"
Ji Yuanchen's eyes narrowed slightly, and his expression became more solemn.
This is not a gift!
This is asking for a favor.
He gave away a lot of calligraphy treasures, but it was impossible for most of them to send them back because there was no point in sending them back.
But there are only a few calligraphy treasures that he owes as a favor, and sending them back means that he has to repay the favor.
I just don’t know who sent this calligraphy back.
Thinking of this, Ji Yuanchen opened the wooden box on the table and unfolded the calligraphy and paintings inside.
"Wude Fu"!
He took a deep breath and said helplessly: "Whatever you are afraid of will come to you!"
He already knew who sent this calligraphy, because he only gave "Wude Fu" to one person.
Then he opened the letter. There wasn't much content in the letter, just a few polite words and a few words of concern.
But after he saw the signature of the letter, the look of helplessness on his face became more intense.