(Brothers, vote with the guaranteed monthly votes in your hands)
Qin Wen quietly moved with everyone to the Shangshu Provincial Political Affairs Hall outside Chongyang Gate.
The hall of the Political Affairs Hall is far less spacious than the Chongwen Hall, but the Political Affairs Hall is only a small part of the Shangshu Province. It is the central meeting place located in the Shangshu Province. As the center of the government affairs of Dachu, there are hundreds of people in the courtyard of the Shangshu Province. Between the Yamen.
The Shangshu Province is within the imperial city, and the Privy Council, which is the center of military affairs, has a defense level slightly lower than that of the Chongwen Palace. There are usually more than a hundred armored soldiers on duty in the squad room. At this time, the Shangshu Province's duty courtyard and the outside of the courtyard are all The station was filled with armored soldiers drawn from Wu Xiang's army on the left and Wu Yi's army on the left and right, guarding the huge courtyard so that not even a fly could escape.
Seeing this scene, Qin Wen didn't feel the slightest sense of security in his heart. He knew that people's hearts are the easiest to be deceived. The biggest drawback of Shen Yang, Yang En and others, or Emperor Yanyou Yang Yuanpu, is that no one can trust them at this time. The direct line soldiers can be used.
Qin Wen never believed that there was no one around Yang Yuanpu when he died, and the eunuchs and maids who witnessed Yang Yuanpu or were around when Yang Yuanpu was assassinated should have been isolated by now for strict interrogation.
However, Cishou Palace did not show any obvious flaws at this time, which means that the people around Yang Yuanpu when he died, and the people responsible for isolating these people for interrogation at this time, should be Cishou Palace or Lu Qingxia. direct lineage.
Qin Wen thought to himself that over the years, in addition to the Cishou Palace and the Weaving Bureau, Lu Qingxia had secretly deployed a lot of people in the palace. He didn't know how deeply Lu Qingxia had secretly penetrated the guards and soldiers. .
However, judging from the existing facts, it seems that mastering military generals has always been Wan Honglou's flaw; or perhaps Wan Honglou is better at conspiracy and conspiracy, which naturally conflicts with the temperament of senior generals who can truly gain a foothold in the military.
This is probably the main reason why people can still be optimistic about the current situation.
Otherwise, if Guo Liang or Zhang Han were directly involved in the palace coup, it would be hard for Qin Wen to imagine that the imperial city would not turn into a bloody and tragic situation.
Qin Wen observed secretly, thinking about everything in front of him, and followed the others into Shangshu Province.
At this time, the ministers who participated in the political affairs had the opportunity to sit in their own rooms and convene their close relatives to discuss some matters secretly; the officials with lower status had to stay in the political hall to listen to orders.
Everyone was whispering in panic and observing each other's colors. After all, at this time, they still didn't know who they could trust.
Those who can stand in the courtyard of Shangshu Province at this time, even if they are not of high rank, are definitely human beings. Not to mention that the royal concubine and the eldest prince are still missing, not to mention how many more are hidden in the imperial palace. Assassin, is there really nothing suspicious about the assassination?
They saw it but couldn't tell it, and no one was willing to discuss the matter of supporting it, but everyone knew very well that the new emperor needed to be confirmed in the next two days, so as not to give Tangyi or Huaidong the opportunity or excuse to intervene.
"Perhaps the Cishou Palace used the pressure from the Tangyi army to urge the princes to support the second prince?" Qin Wen pretended to be probing and approached Han Daoming and said in a low voice.
Nowadays, anyone who comes into contact with anyone may be a temptation, but it will not arouse anyone's suspicion.
Han Daoming nodded calmly. The imperial city had been completely sealed off by the guards and soldiers. They could not contact the outside world and could only adapt to changes.
Of course, even in the worst case scenario, they just had to endure it for a while. He didn't believe that Lu Qingxia really dared to kill Jinling City until it became a river of blood.
To be honest, when things have developed to this point, Yang Yuanpu is already dead. Han Daoming is more looking forward to chaos in Jinling, and then Han Qian will lead his troops across the river to quell the chaos, and he should be able to control the capital and Jiangdong more quickly.
area.
Not to mention Tangyi generals, Han Daoming could not miss this opportunity to replace him just because the young son whom Cishou Palace wanted to support was most likely a member of the Han family.
Basically, Han Qian wanted to avoid the Jianghuai land from falling apart at this time, and did not want to go to war with Huaidong. In any case, Tangyi and the Han government could only act according to Han Qian's will at this time.
Before Feng Liao and Guo Que sneaked back to Jinling this time, Han Daoming had no idea that Han Qian had secretly deployed so many crucial secrets in the imperial city and palace over the years.
When Han Duan and Han Daochang looked over in confusion, Qin Wen walked away to the government office at the back - as the general secretary of Shangshu Province, it was more convenient for him to move around in Shangshu Province at this time than others.
, a while later he walked to the front yard again and saw Xue Ruogu running towards him.
"Xiang Shen called you, where have you been?" Xue Ruogu asked.
Qin Wen didn't rush to say anything and followed Xue Ruogu to see Shen Yang.
When Shen Yang saw Qin Wen and Xue Ruogu walking in, his voice was extremely hoarse and he asked:
"Is there anything you can say that you must avoid being heard by others?"
It had only been a long time since I last saw Shen Yang. Shen Yang looked as if he was more than ten years older. Sitting there, his figure was unavoidably hunched over. Qin Wen knew that Yang Yuanpu had been assassinated, which hit him hard.
Qin Wen just quietly went to see Qingyang and Yun Puzi, and reorganized their story about "going out of Changxin Palace to avoid trouble" to avoid too many flaws. At this time, he stepped forward and reported to Shen Yang: "Wang Guifei
She almost ran into an assassin in Changxin Palace. Fortunately, she knew the opportunity early. When she and Yun Puzi, the envoy of Chongfu Palace, saw that something was wrong, they took the eldest prince and escaped from Chongfu Gate to find Shen Xiang.
Your Excellency went to Chongwen Hall - I was worried that someone in Chongwen Hall was secretly colluding with the assassins, so I didn’t dare to say it out just now, so I hid them in the government office at the back..."
"What?" Shen Yang guessed this possibility after seeing Qin Wenshen's mystery before. At this time, he was not particularly shocked. He frowned and asked, "What does Wang Guifei know?"
The number of assassins was definitely small. Princess Qingyang noticed that there were assassins, but did not call the guards in the palace. Instead, she took the eldest son of the emperor and escaped from Changxin Palace. Unless Princess Qingyang knew more secrets that they did not know, she would be frightened.
, otherwise, it would be hard for Shen Yang to imagine why she hastily chose to leave the palace to avoid disaster?
"I was so anxious and confused, and I was afraid that I would ask something I shouldn't ask, so I didn't ask any more questions," Qin Wen said.
"Go and invite Lord Yang and Prince Shou over quietly. Don't disturb the others yet." Shen Yang ordered Xue Ruogu.
Yang Yuanpu summoned Guo Liang early in the morning, Huang Lu entered the palace, and suddenly sent a secret message in the afternoon to leave the city to escape the summer heat. How could Shen Yang simply believe that the assassin was sent by the Mongol people?
Among so many ministers involved in politics, Shen Yang currently only trusted Yang Zhitang and Yang En, and asked Qin Wen and Xue Ruogu to go separately and secretly bring people from both sides to this government office.
Qin Wen also quietly walked to the Yamen at the back to find Qingyang and the eldest prince. Of course, they could not take the initiative to expose the true life experience of Li Zhigao and the second prince, but Princess Qingyang could tell what she had seen and heard in the past two days. There was no need to hide anything when she revealed everything; only in this way could Qingyang explain why she fled from Changxin Palace in a hurry to avoid trouble.
As for how many secrets Shen Yang, Yang En, and Yang Zhitang can dig out in the future, it depends on their ability, or how far they are willing to dig out.
Sometimes for the sake of stability in Dachu, we can only hold our noses and pretend not to see something ugly and bloody...
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Yang En, Yang Zhitang and Shen Yang sat side by side. The eldest son of Emperor Qingyang sat opposite Shen Yang. Yun Puzi, Xue Ruowen and Qin Wen stood aside. The atmosphere was so depressing that it could make people sweat. The sultry weather made it even worse. People are restless.
"Uncle Hou, have you ever said, 'The Marquis of Xinjin and the Marquis of Qianyang seem to be at odds with each other, but there is no discord in all major matters'?" Yang Zhitang frowned and looked at Yang En and asked.
"How could I have said this? When Chen Ruyi came to see me, Prime Minister Shen was playing chess with me, and Ruogu and Qin Wen were still watching." Yang En said bitterly, spreading his hands.
Although Yang Zhitang was a prince and Yang En was a marquis, in terms of seniority within the clan, Yang En was Yang Zhitang's uncle.
Yang Zhitang did not have too many doubts about Princess Qingyang's words. His Majesty's unusual behavior in Cishou Palace today was seen by Queen Huang and the many concubines in the harem, and they already knew about it.
There must be some special reason why His Majesty suddenly decided to go out of the city to escape the summer heat - His Majesty's decision to go out of the city to escape the summer heat was extremely alarming. Every year, arrangements were made several days in advance, so why did he suddenly leave at the drop of a hat?
But these are just doubts, and there is no direct evidence pointing to anyone. They had previously suspected that the conflict between His Majesty and the Queen Mother and her son might have been a conflict, which was exploited by traitors and assassins.
After all, they had also secretly observed the reactions of Li Changfeng, Chen De and others, and they found that the reactions were heavier and calmer than they imagined, and they did not look like they were involved in a conspiracy. At the same time, they could not imagine Cishou Palace's motive for choosing to take action at this time.
Now that Princess Qingyang mentioned Chen Ruyi, a key figure, and Yang En confirmed that Chen Ruyi might indeed be the instigator, Yang Zhitang looked at Shen Yang, and Yang En asked: "Arrest Chen Ruyi for secret interrogation?"
"Do you want to inform the others?" Yang En asked hesitantly.
"No, let's interrogate Chen Ruyi secretly first." Shen Yang shook his head and said.
He did not suspect that other families were involved in the assassination, but the assassination had already occurred. Whether it was the Zheng family, Han Mansion and Tangyi, Cishou Palace and Xiangbei, or the Zhang family, what thoughts and actions would they have at this time? , Shen Yang really couldn't guess, so he thought it would be better to find out everything secretly.
As the privy envoy, Yang Zhitang was also the only remaining prince. Even if the water infantry of Youlong Wujun were not transferred from Runzhou, there were still manpower available in the imperial city to bypass the guards and pro-army troops.
Seeing Shen Yang and Yang En both agreed, Yang Zhitang immediately summoned a close aide and ordered him to avoid the eyes and ears of others, secretly arrest Chen Ruyi and send him here for interrogation.
After Yang Zhitang's cronies left, Qin Wen couldn't help but ask: "Should we be more careful about Cishou Palace?"
"Don't alert the enemy just yet." Shen Yang shook his head and said.
Qin Wen was secretly anxious and looked at Yang Zhitang and Yang En.
Even though there were enough doubts, the two of them still seemed to find it hard to imagine why the Queen Mother would choose this opportunity to attack her own son?
Seeing the attitude of these three people, Qin Wen could only calm down for a while, lest doubts arouse to his head.
Before they could wait for their cronies to leave and return, they heard a commotion coming from the courtyard of the front hall of the Political Hall.
When they walked out, they saw three guards coming over. They were reporting to Han Daoming, Zheng Yu, and Zhang Chao that Chen Ruyi, a regular servant in Chongwen Hall, had just been assassinated behind the main hall. At the same time, there was also a Mongol assassin with a gun stuck in his chest. He held a dagger and died beside Chen Ruyi. It seemed that the Mengwu assassin hiding in the palace was accidentally discovered by Chen Ruyi, and the two died together.
Shen Yang, Yang Zhitang, and Yang En were so angry that they were not stupid. Of course they knew that things were definitely not that simple, but what could they say?
Qin Wen searched the crowd and didn't know when Zhou Yuan, Xu Jing and others had disappeared. He secretly asked an old official about their whereabouts, only to find out that when they were in the Yamen behind, Zhou Yuan, Xu Jing and others were not there. Knowing what news he heard, he dragged Li Changfeng out.
Qin Wen's heart sank one by one. He walked to Shen Yang and lowered his voice and said, "We seem to be being targeted. Zhou Yuan, Xu Jing and Lin Jinhou all seem to have gone to Chongwen Palace..."
The fact that Cishou Palace killed Chen Ruyi and evacuated Zhou Yuan, Xu Jing and others at this time can only mean that Lu Qingxia has determined that Princess Qingyang is meeting Shen Yang, Yang Zhitang, Yang En and others in Shangshu Province.
Shen Yang's face was solemn, Yang En was full of grief and anger, and Yang Zhitang's eyes were wandering. It was obvious that they realized that the situation was somewhat out of their control.
At this time, they also realized that it was a very wrong decision to leave the Empress Dowager, Chen De, Lu Qingxia and others in Chongwen Hall while the ministers and officials moved to Shangshu Province.
This means that the Queen Mother, Chen De, Lu Qingxia and others can bypass them and directly give orders to the guards and soldiers.
Although he had said before that "Everyone without political control will lead to chaos", the Queen Mother is still qualified to directly overturn his words. Is it possible that because of his words, the generals of the guards will really kill the Queen Mother? Is it regarded as "random fate"?
Just like Han Qian and Li Zhigao bypassed Emperor Yanyou and acted according to the Queen Mother's orders, who can blame them afterwards?
The final key fell on the guards and generals.
At present, the ones who can really decide the fate of Da Chu are no longer the normally aloof ministers participating in politics, but the generals who led the more than 40,000 elite soldiers to seal the imperial city and enter and exit the palace.
With real evidence, Shen Yang could directly order the generals to arrest Chen De, Li Changfeng, Li Xiu and others on the spot, and then put the Queen Mother, Lu Qingxia and others under house arrest.
If there is no solid evidence, even if Zhang Han, Guo Liang and other bodyguard generals can be persuaded to cooperate with them, and immediately remove Chen De, Li Changfeng, Li Xiu and others from military power, and then detain them for slow interrogation, it can still eliminate the problem. There was a big chaos.
But the problem is that they have no real evidence, so why should they convince Zhang Han, Guo Liang and their generals to listen to them instead of the Queen Mother and Lu Qingxia?
Shen Yang, Yang Zhitang, and Yang En didn't even know whether any of them were involved in the assassination plot, so what else could they do?
"No, Li Xiu led a team of armored soldiers from Chongyang Gate. He said that Wang Guifei was colluding with the assassins and hiding in Shangshu Province. He was ordered by the Queen Mother to arrest the suspect!" A man ran over and shouted in a panic.
There was a lot of noise among dozens of officials in the courtyard in front of the Political Hall.
Shen Yang, Yang En, and Yang Zhitang turned pale. Unexpectedly, Cishou Palace's actions were much faster than they imagined. They even directly bit back and framed the collusion with the assassin on the head of Princess Qingyang. superior.
And once Li Xiu is asked to bring in the armored soldiers and search out Princess Qingyang and the eldest prince from Shangshu Province, how many mouths can they tell clearly and win over the generals who are guarding the army to listen to them?
Qin Wen's hands and feet couldn't help but tremble slightly. He didn't expect Lu Qingxia's preemptive attack to be so powerful.
He suspected that when Princess Qingyang and Yun Puzi were brought to Shangshu Province, the whole process actually fell under the eyes of Cishou Palace, and they were still unaware of it.
"Nonsense, Shangshu Province is the center of the outer dynasty, and all the ministers involved in politics are here. How can we allow the guards and soldiers to search as they please?" Han Daoming thought about Han Qian's repeated emphasis on avoiding chaos, so he could only act tough at this time. Shou stood up and shouted fiercely. He looked towards Zhang Chao again, "Zhang Hou, say something!"
Everyone looked towards Zhang Chao, the salt and iron transporter.
Zhang Chaonai was the cousin of Zhang Han, the commander of the Youwu Yi Army. Among the bodyguards, in addition to Zhang Han at the head, there were also many generals from the Zhang family and Langzhou.
Zhang Chao's status among the ministers involved in politics is not prominent, but at such a critical moment, his words are more effective than Shen Yang or even Yang Zhitang.
Zhang Chao's dark eyes swept over everyone's faces. He was a little suspicious of Han Daoming's attitude at this time. He hesitated for a while and then said: "It seems that it would be better to wait for Marquis Li Duyu to come over and first listen to what the Queen Mother's order is?"
Seeing Zhang Chao playing such a trick, Han Daoming sneered in his heart, without even thinking about it. When Li Xiu found out the royal concubine and the eldest prince from Shangshu Province, Zhang Chao would definitely be the first to stop at Cishou Palace.
Shen Yang looked hesitant when he saw Yang Zhitang, and Yang En secretly tugged on his clothes at this time.
Shen Yang understood what Yang En meant. Yang Zhitang must not be given a chance to escape at this time, otherwise the unjust case would never have a chance to be cleared, and they would most likely die without a burial place.
Shen Yang stood up and said: "The Concubine Wang and the eldest prince are indeed in Shangshu Province at this time. I, Marquis Liyang, and Prince Shou have just met them. Concubine Wang Guifei pointed out that Chen Ruyi, the constant servant of Chongwen Palace, was colluding with the assassins, but we just secretly Someone was sent to arrest Chen Ruyi for trial, and the news came out that Chen Ruyi and the assassin died together. There are too many strange things in this matter that need to be investigated - this matter is related to the great Chu State and must not be overlooked..."
Shen Yang did not directly point the finger at the Queen Mother, Lu Qingxia and others. Of course Han Daoming knew that he was also trying his best to prevent the situation in the imperial city from getting completely out of control. He stood up and asked Yang Zhitang:
"Prince Shou, is it really what Prime Minister Shen said?"
In any case, in the minds of the guards and generals, the combined weight of Yang Zhitang, Yang En, and Shen Yang was definitely no less than that of the Queen Mother.
Be it Han Daoming, Zheng Yu, or Zheng Chang, they will also be regarded as representatives of the vassal forces.
In the eyes of the bodyguards and generals, their words were difficult to win trust in. Even if they stood up to confront the Queen Mother, Chen De, Lu Qingxia and others, they might be slandered.
However, at least now no one should think that Yang Zhitang, Shen Yang, and Yang En would betray Emperor Yanyou and be related to the assassination.
"It is true that I just saw the imperial concubine and heard the imperial concubine say this." Yang Zhitang did not deny Shen Yang's words, but he had reservations about speaking out at this time.
Shen Yang didn't dare to have too high expectations for Yang Zhitang. It was good enough to see that he and Zhang Chao went directly to Cishou Palace without seeing the opportunity. He immediately signaled Qin Wen to lead his people to capture Princess Qingyang, the eldest prince and Yun first. Pu Zi please come out to meet with the ministers.
Of course, Shen Yang guessed that Yang Zhitang and Zhang Chao at this time did not think that Cishou Palace was absolutely not involved in the assassination, nor did they think that Princess Qingyang was really suspected of colluding with the assassin, but they chose to remain neutral for the time being. They did not turn directly towards Cishou Palace, which seemed to have the upper hand in the imperial city. It was not because they had clear grudges and had a bottom line in their hearts.
After all, they didn't care at all how His Majesty and Empress Li died. They were just worried that everyone in the imperial city could not quickly reach a consensus on the matter of support, which would only lead to divisions among the guards and pro-army, internal strife, and then chaos in Jinling City. , blood flowed like a river, and in the end it was just the oriole who gained the last advantage.
If the final situation is that Han Qian just finds an excuse to cross the river, how many people present will not be dumbfounded?
Shen Yang also knew in his heart at this time that the rule of law, or the legitimacy of the law, had become more important than ever at this moment, which also made everyone avoid it and did not dare to act rashly. However, Chen Ruyi had been killed and silenced, how could they still do it? Can you find any evidence against Cishou Palace?
Perhaps this is the chaotic situation that the Queen Mother, Lu Qingxia and others need to see?
