Returning to the East Palace, the prince went to visit the injured Lu Yunxi.
Lu Yunxi was seriously hurt.
Although Confucians are not good at killing alone, every move of a third-level cultivator cannot be underestimated. Lu Yunxi broke more than a dozen bones, and his internal organs were injured by Haoran Zhengqi.
"Your Highness, this servant is of no use. The assassin has made preparations in advance. I don't know it at all. When the assassin comes in, I can't stop him.
Your Highness can punish the slaves however you want, but our monkey cubs have been with me for many years, and they cannot be spies for the assassins. Please beg Chen Bingbi and let them go!"
Chen Shuncai arrested all the eunuchs in the East Palace and sent them to the Supervisor of Ceremonies for severe torture.
Lu Yunxi felt aggrieved, but what Chen Shuncai did was really right.
The assassin was able to set up the yin and yang magic circle in front of the East Palace Gate. According to common sense, this should be the work of the inner ghost.
The prince asked Xu Zhiqiong: "What do you think we should do?"
Xu Zhiqiong said: "Let me tell Chen Bingbi that as a favor to His Highness, please let those servants go."
The prince agreed, and Lu Yunxi struggled up from the bed and thanked the prince.
After comforting Lu Yunxi for a few words, the prince took Xu Zhiqiong to the study and asked: "Why do you want me to let those servants go? Are you sure there is no mole among them?"
Xu Zhiqiong said: "I dare not say that there is no mole among the servants. According to my opinion, there is probably a mole among the servants, or even more than one mole."
The prince frowned: "Then you still asked me to let them go?"
Xu Zhiqiong said: "Your Highness, these chamberlains have followed Lu Yunxi for more than ten years. They must have followed His Highness for more than ten years, right?"
The prince nodded.
Xu Zhiqiong added: "If Your Highness does not save these servants, I am afraid that they will definitely die. By then, a new batch of servants will come to the East Palace. Where do these servants come from?"
"Lu Yunxi is the general manager of the East Palace, so he naturally has to recruit the servants of the East Palace..." Halfway through the words, the prince was stunned. He understood what Xu Zhiqiong meant.
"If Mr. Lu is injured like that, how can he still recruit people? Besides, it's not that one or two people are missing. There is no one available in the entire East Palace. When the time comes, Chen Shuncai will definitely make an emergency response and transfer people from all over.
A group of internal servants are for the use of the East Palace. Your Highness, can you guess who Chen Shuncai will transfer?"
The prince nodded and said: "By then, the entire East Palace will be the moles sent by Chen Shuncai."
The prince immediately wrote a letter and sent it to Chen Shuncai in person at the Office of Ceremonies.
Chen Shuncai was startled: "How dare you bother the prince with something like delivering a letter? If the prince says a word, I will go to the East Palace and wait for your orders."
The prince smiled and said: "What you said is nice. I want to find someone to send you a letter, but there is no one available in my palace! The guards and the lantern bearer can't wander around the palace, and we can't let the female family members come to you.
Deliver the letter?"
Chen Shuncai smiled and said: "It's my fault, isn't it? I have selected more than 20 servants here and will send them to His Highness tonight."
The prince shook his head and said, "You should read my letter first before speaking!"
Chen Shuncai opened the letter, read it over, and said with a troubled expression: "Your Highness, these servants have not been cleared of suspicion yet, so we must not let go now!"
The prince said: "I have cleared their suspicions. These people have followed me since they entered the palace. I am used to being served by them. I feel uneasy if I change people."
"Your Highness, this is related to your safety, so don't be careless!"
The prince smiled and said: "Chen Bingbi, if these eunuchs are changed, can you guarantee that assassins will never come again?"
"I can't guarantee this, but the rules in this palace..."
"If it's just about rules, how can I come to beg you in person? If you agree to me, I owe you a favor today, and this letter is the evidence. If you don't agree, you will offend me, and so will this letter.
evidence."
Chen Shuncai sighed and said: "That's all, these servants have been tortured and have some injuries. Your Highness should not blame them."
"What's the point of blame or not? Whether these people's lives can be saved depends on what you say, Chen Bingbi?"
Chen Shuncai had no choice but to send these servants back to the East Palace.
After returning to the East Palace, the prince discussed countermeasures with Xu Zhiqiong. If the assassin comes again next time, where should the prince hide?
"The assassin was hidden in the ice well this time because he was unfamiliar with the palace. Is there anything else in the palace that outsiders don't know about?"
The prince thought for a long time and said: "There is a secret garden next to Kunning Palace, called Baihuaju. It is a secret place. Even I have never been there."
Xu Zhiqiong shook his head and said: "Don't consider the places that Your Highness has never been to. You can't find the place in a hurry.
Besides, Kunning Palace is the residence of His Majesty and the Queen. You can’t go to places like that easily, and I can’t take you there either. I’d better find a place closer to the East Palace.”
"The secret place closest to the East Palace should be the Secret Pavilion."
Xu Zhiqiong still shook his head, but did not give a reason.
He suspected that the assassin was Gongsun Wen. If Gongsun Wen was a confidant of the emperor, he must have visited the Secret Pavilion many times.
"There is another hidden place. There is a painting building behind Zichen Palace, which most people don't know about."
"Zi Chen Palace is just one place, are there any other places?"
The prince thought of more than a dozen places, and Xu Zhiqiong selected two places, one was the painting building in Zichen Hall, and the other was the study room in Huangyi Hall.
"Although these two places are good, they are far away from the East Palace. When you are in a hurry, it is difficult to solve your urgent problem. Is there any place closer?"
The prince smiled bitterly and said: "How many secret places do you think there can be near the East Palace? My father would not worry about a place that is too secret!"
Looking at the layout near the East Palace, I wish there were countless pairs of eyes monitoring the prince. Apart from the Ice Well Service, it would be too difficult to find a secret place.
"Then send more imperial troops to garrison the East Palace."
The prince still smiled bitterly: "Mobilizing the imperial army must have the will of the emperor. The emperor has not issued an order so far, and I can't speak out.
Besides, the East Palace in the Forbidden Army camp is very close, but every time something happens, they come a step late. Is it really reliable to call them here?"
"If you can't rely on people, you have to rely on equipment. Call the Pension Workshop to arrange more traps around the East Palace."
The prince rubbed his hands and said, "It's difficult to practice in a penance workshop."
"Is this difficult?" Xu Zhiqiong said in astonishment, "His Highness once said that Ye Ansheng, the owner of the Ascetic Workshop, is His Highness's friend!"
"We are considered friends, but so what? He is not my brother," the prince sighed, "and he is also King Huai's disciple. I really don't think my life will be long if I let him fix the trap."
"Is the owner of the Pension Workshop a disciple of King Huai?" Xu Zhiqiong felt that he seemed to have overlooked an important issue, "Isn't the Pension Workshop from the Mohist family? Does King Huai belong to the Mohist family? Isn't it true that the descendants of the royal family can only practice Canglong?
Is it domineering?"
The prince shook his head and said: "King Huai is not Ye Ansheng's mentor, they are only nominal masters and apprentices."
"What's going on?" Xu Zhiqiong was puzzled, "The owner of the ascetic workshop casually worships the prince as his teacher? How can he repay it if His Majesty knows about it?"
"When Ye Ansheng became a disciple of King Huai, he was not the master of the ascetic workshop, but a poor craftsman. You know, the Mohists emphasize asceticism, but the real poor people cannot succeed in Mohism.
Mohist practice depends on merit, and their merit depends on the objects they create, such as weapons, equipment, ceramics, jewelry... If you offer high-quality objects with exquisite craftsmanship to Kuji Hanxing, you can exchange for merit.
To make high-quality objects, you must have high-quality materials. A Mohist disciple may spend nearly a hundred taels of silver on the materials for the products.
Back then, Ye Ansheng was just a blacksmith in Xiji, earning more than a dozen dollars a year. He couldn't afford even a square meter of good clay, let alone high-quality copper and iron materials."
Xu Zhiqiong said: "How could such a poor person have the opportunity to meet King Huai? As far as I know, the first thing Prince Huai, Liang Yuming, looks down upon are poor people."
The prince sighed: "King Huai is really not like his son. He is a person who truly loves talents and never cares about the origin of talents. In this regard, King Huai is indeed outstanding and is very popular in the clan."
rare,
He once recruited a group of craftsmen to renovate his mansion in Xiji, and Ye Ansheng happened to be among them. Liang Yuming, who was six years old at the time, had just started practicing martial arts. He chopped up the long sword, curled the blade, and threw it away. Ye Ansheng picked up the long sword.
When he came back, he saw that the material of the long sword was very precious, and he remade it. He forged a new sword and presented it to Liang Yuming.
Liang Yuming suspected that Ye An had touched his sword, so he beat Ye Ansheng severely and threw away the sword. Unexpectedly, the sword was picked up by King Huai.
King Huai saw that the craftsmanship of this sword was very exquisite, and when he learned that Ye Ansheng was extremely talented, he accepted him as his disciple on the spot and offered him two hundred taels of silver to learn the craftsmanship. Ye Ansheng successfully made it into a sword in less than a year.
,
King Huai recommended him to the Ascetic Training Workshop. In less than ten years, Ye Ansheng was promoted to the fourth rank.
At the beginning, no one knew that Zhong Shen was a Mohist cultivator. They only thought that the fourth grade of cultivation was the highest among the Daxuan Mohists. Under the recommendation of King Huai, Ye Ansheng became the master of the ascetic workshop.
To this day, Ye Ansheng still calls King Huai his master. However, King Huai gave orders, and Ye Ansheng obeyed them. If the assassin was really sent by King Huai, you asked Ye Ansheng to help me fix the trap, but you said he would help me.
Me, or will it harm me?"
After listening to the prince's words, Xu Zhiqiong fell into silence.
Previously, I had always thought that the Blood Tree planted in the Ascetic Workshop was under the instruction of Emperor Zhaoxing. Now it seems that there may be another possibility.
But if King Huai ordered Ye Ansheng to plant the blood tree, why was it planted in the royal hunting garden?
Why is King Huai crazy? Is he afraid that Emperor Zhaoxing doesn’t know?
Xu Zhiqiong couldn't think of a clue.
The prince rubbed his forehead and suddenly became irritated: "Is it useful to think about this? How can I guard against him?"
he?
Xu Zhiqiong asked: "Who is your Highness referring to?"
Before the prince could answer, he suddenly heard Lin Qianniang asking for an audience.
The prince said impatiently: "Miss your Xu Lang again? I'm busy right now, please wait a moment longer!"
Qianniang said: "Your Highness, I have something important to do with Xu Lang, and I would like to ask Your Highness to be a witness!"
The prince was stunned; "But what about your Taoist sect?"
Qian Niang nodded.
The prince looked at Xu Zhiqiong and then at Lin Qianniang: "This is indeed a serious matter, but it cannot be forced. It depends on Zhiqiong's will."
Xu Zhiqiong was stunned: "What on earth is going on?"
Lin Qianniang blocked the sound and said to Xu Zhiqiong: "Xu Lang, are you willing to join my famous Taoist sect?"