In order to encourage Xu Huai to make up his mind to correct the imperial edict, Zheng Huai Zhong left a note at the mouth of the Longzangpu River in the early morning, stamped it and sealed it, admitting that the abolition was planned by the Zheng family, in order to win Xu Huai's trust.
At this time, he saw Xu Huai openly reading out this letter in front of the political hall. How stupid was Zheng Huaizhong to think that the whole thing was a conspiracy to lure his Zheng family into trouble?
Zheng Huaizhong felt that his chest was cramping like a knife cutting him, and he pointed at Xu Huai:
"You are a thief, you are trying to trick me with Zhao Guan'er!"
Zhao Fan had a bitter taste in his mouth. He stretched out his hand and wiped the corner of his mouth. The sleeves of his robe were stained with blood. He felt that his eyes were turning black and he could hardly stand behind Zheng Huaizhong.
Zheng Cong held the sword at his waist, wishing he could peel Xu Huai's skin off; Han Qihu and a dozen armored soldiers came over from both wings with murderous intent.
"Mr. Wen Guo, do you still want to fight stubbornly?"
Xu Huai slowly put the letter into his sleeve, stared at Zheng Huaizhong, Zheng Cong and his son, and said calmly,
"You are deeply favored by the country, but His Majesty's body is still cold, but you have arbitrarily abolished the establishment and murdered the loyal. Do you deserve His Majesty's trust? You can just go and be arrested. Whether it is a merit or a crime, it will be dealt with according to the national law. If you act rashly, Xu will
I don’t mind the blood splattering on the political hall today!”
"His Majesty intended to establish Prince Yin before he was alive. We act according to the imperial edict and make more arrangements to prevent accidents. How can this be considered as a waste of time? Xu Huai, how dare you hand over the real secret imperial edict to the princes for inspection!" Zheng Congqiang
Resisting the urge to draw the sword and fight, when Han Qihu and others tied him up with ropes, he struggled and shouted.
When people use carving knives to carve seals on jade, they will leave special knife patterns, and each seal is different. Therefore, as long as you take out the retained proofs or original seals and check them carefully, during this process
No one is cheating, and the authenticity of the secret edict can still be seen.
"How dare Xu keep His Majesty's edict privately?" Xu Huai glanced at Zheng Cong, who was struggling to his death, and sneered.
Zheng Huaizhong and Zhao Fan were captured without any intention of struggling. How could they not understand at this time that the secret edict that Xu Huai showed them before was fake.
Besides, even if Xu Huai comes up with a fake secret edict to support King Huai, who would dare to stand up and say it is fake?
In their opinion, all this was a conspiracy by Xu Huai and Huai Wang Zhao Guan. They fell into the trap completely and unpreparedly. Is there any use in saying anything?
Xu Huai took out the real secret edict from his sleeve, raised his hands to Zhou He, Hu Kai, Zhu Hang and Zhao Yi, the king of Wuwei County, and said:
"Your Majesty's secret edict is here. Please ask the Prime Minister, the Privy Council, Prince Wuwei, and Duke Zhu to verify it!"
Princess Yingyun and her concubines listened to the edict in the Chui Gong Hall, and King Huai listened to the edict in the Privy Council. The ministers in the Zhengshi Hall were headed by Zhou He, Hu Kai and Wuwei County Prince Zhao Yi. In addition to the three of them, Xu Huai also sent Zhu
He took Hang with him and handed the secret edict to Zhu Hang first.
His heart was so frightened that Zhou He's head felt stuck, and his chest was stimulated with cramping pains. It took him a while to calm down.
"Prime Minister Zhou, do you think there is anything wrong with this secret edict?"
Hu Kai and the prince of Wuwei County first took the secret edict from Zhu Hang, and after reading it, they handed it to Zhou He, who was in a daze, and urged him softly.
Zhou He woke up with a start and took the secret edict and read it quickly.
"...How is Chushan? We haven't seen each other for another year, and we miss each other very much. Although I knew that drinking alcohol would be harmful to the body, since Xiangyang came to the throne, I have been having trouble sleeping all night. Only after drinking can I get a sound sleep or two to relieve fatigue.
I often warn myself, but it is difficult to abstain. You must not learn from me in this matter. When I heard about the assassination of the king of captives, I was extremely happy. I convened a banquet with all the ministers. I thought about drinking heavily before I restrained myself, but I didn't want to get drunk in the early morning.
I woke up with a splitting headache, constant vomiting, and paralysis of the limbs. I am afraid that the evil illness will not be cured, but the internal and external troubles have not been eliminated, so I write this edict to you. The prince is young, the younger brother is too thoughtful, the officials are stubborn, the generals lack courage, and the Hulu
Like a leopard watching, I am worried about my relative Zheng..."
This is the real secret edict, but it was slightly altered at Han Gyu's insistence.
In particular, the "ye" between the last two sentences was erased to make it coherent into one sentence, so that the holy meaning of Emperor Jianji's concern for Zheng's family when he was dying could be more clearly demonstrated.
This secret edict was originally written in an illegible manner with many alterations. It was written by Emperor Jianji while he was seriously ill. As long as he did not add words at will or erase a word or two casually, it would not be considered a flaw at all; but he had actually seen what was written in the secret edict.
Princess Yingyun will definitely understand.
The mood changes of Wang Boqian and Gu Fan in the past two days were much more dramatic than those of Zhou He and Hu Kai.
At this moment, they all couldn't believe that what they were seeing was real.
All this is a secret plan made by Marquis Jingsheng and King Huai, with the purpose of getting Zheng Huaizhong, Zheng Cong and his son into their trap?
Why did King Huai hide it from them? Aren't they worthy of King Huai's trust?
Wang Boqian and Gu Fan couldn't help but feel a little disappointed in their hearts, but looking back at King Huai's behavior in the past few days, it definitely didn't look like he was acting. Furthermore, even if the Zheng family was to be killed, wouldn't it be safest for King Huai to ascend the throne first?
When King Huai ascends the throne, it will not be easy to deal with the Zheng family. Why take risks to lure the Zheng family and his son into the trap now?
Wang Boqian and Gu Fan were both confused for a moment, thinking about secretly sending someone to inform King Huai, but they were afraid that there was some conspiracy that they couldn't see through, or some other situation, so they could only hold back their hearts.
The impulse was silent.
Although the Zhengshitang retains the proofs of the seals, at this juncture, if you want to convince the ministers, it is best to check the seals directly - Zhou He did not know whether it was necessary to check the secret edict, and looked at it with some uncertainty.
He asked Hu Kai and Zhu Hang:
"Please ask Princess Yingyun and Si Xiguan to bring the emperor's jade seal for verification?"
"Then please ask Princess Yingyun and Si Xiguan to come over with the seal." Hu Kai said in a deep voice.
Hu Kai glanced at Xu Huai with a serious face. He could roughly understand what was going on. He didn't know if King Huai dared to come directly to the political hall at this time. At the moment, he could only ignore King Huai and decide to go first.
Let’s finalize the secret edict before talking about anything else.
The Political Affairs Hall is just outside the south gate of the palace. After a cup of tea, Princess Yingyun, Qiao Jien and Si Xiguan came panting to the Political Affairs Hall holding the seal box and escorted by a group of imperial guards.
"It is indeed a secret edict written by the emperor. Please compare and verify the seal..." Seeing Zheng Huaizhong, Zheng Cong and his son had already surrendered. Princess Yingyun took the secret edict, spoke, and opened the seal box from the official Si Xi,
He took out the emperor's seal and gave it to Zhou He and others for inspection.
Zhou He, Hu Kai, Zhu Hang and Wuwei County Prince Zhao Yi first inspected the seal, and then Gaochunnian, Wang Boqian, Gu Fan, Jin Zhuangcheng, Qian Zerui and other ministers came forward to inspect it in turn.
Next, everyone took the official seals, signatures and other samples left in the Zhengshi Hall of the Huainan East Road Zhizhi Department and Zheng Huaizhong to check Zheng Huaizhong's handwritten notes that fell into Xu Huaizhong's hands.
"Xu Huai lives in Chushan and has just received His Majesty's secret edict. He is also puzzled and has to rush to Jianye to meet the Holy Spirit. However, he does not want to fail to receive only a few words from His Majesty. Zheng's ambition is clearly revealed." Xu Huai Chao Zhou He, Hu
Kai, Zhu Hang and Prince Zhao Yi of Wuwei County cupped their hands and said, "Zheng Huaizhong's conspiracy was exposed, and his son Zheng Cong was also captured. It is not in line with the rules of the court for me to lead my troops and horses to stay in the political hall for a long time. At this time, all matters need to be invited by the Duke of Huai.
Determination…”
Zhou He looked at Xu Huai suspiciously, then looked at Hu Kai and Zhu Hang.
He is completely confused now, especially now that the political affairs hall is still under the guard of Chushan tigers both inside and outside. Of course, he is afraid that if he says even half a sentence wrongly, he will end up like the Zheng family and his son.
After hesitating for a while, he decided not to make any statement today. It all depends on how Hu Kai and Zhu Hang will deal with it. Xu Huai wants to restrain his temper, but any ambitions he has will definitely be revealed at this moment. Wang Fan may
To avoid suspicion, Zhu Hang is the best spokesperson for Chushan.
Of course, Zhou He also suspected that the scene between Xu Huai and Hu Kai in Funing Palace yesterday was just an act.
Hu Kai also hesitated, not sure what Xu Huai was thinking.
Zhu Hang said directly: "Xu Huai, you can leave a small team of soldiers and horses to guard the Zheng family and his son. The other soldiers and horses will retreat to Daliang Gate for a while. If there are any other matters, we will invite His Highness Prince Huai to come over and discuss them before making a decision.
——”
Obviously, the elite troops of the selected vanguard stayed near the Zhengshi Hall, so Huai Wang Zhao Guan would not dare to come to the Zhengshi Hall.
The best way now is for Chushan to leave a small number of troops to guard the Zheng family and his son. Xu Huai first leads the elite cavalry of the vanguard army to retreat to the Fujun barracks near Daliang Gate for a short break. The soldiers of Prince Huai's Fu will take over the guards on the left and right sides of the political hall.
Only then can things move forward smoothly and quickly.
Everyone was confused again, thinking that everything was a conspiracy between Chushan and Prince Huai. At this time, they could just ask Prince Huai to come forward and take charge of the overall situation. There was no need for Xu Huai to restrain his temper and retreat temporarily.
However, seeing Zhu Hang standing up to take charge, everyone chose to follow. Anyway, they would not express their opinions casually until Xu Huai actually led his troops to withdraw from Jianye City...