The man who had been discussed by the wild Taoist was holding an umbrella until he walked to a restaurant before he stopped, looked up, and stepped up the steps.
When Zhang Zhou closed his umbrella, the waiter nodded and bowed to him: "Oh, isn't this Mr. Zhang? Please come in! Do you want to eat alone or with friends?"
Zhang Zhou came here more than once or twice. The waiter knew that he was the steward of Prince Shu's palace, so he didn't dare to treat him lightly, so he quickly let him in.
He said calmly: "I'm here to see a friend. I'm in the private room above. You don't have to worry about me and go about your business."
With that said, Zhang Zhou went up to the second floor.
Just after we got to the second floor, around a corner, a person walked out. As he walked in, they bumped into each other.
"Oops." This person looked very ordinary, and he screamed in pain when he was hit.
Zhang Zhou hurriedly apologized to him, but the man shook his head: "Nothing, nothing."
The two of them separated each other, Zhang Zhou squeezed Kong's hand, and his amiable eyebrows turned into a smile.
The letters have been exchanged and the mission is considered completed.
Behind the laughter was deep exhaustion and fear.
"Alas, there is no way out."
Zhang Zhou was not a fool. He quickly realized that he had fallen into a trap and was pulled into the water, but he had no way out.
The King of Shu has always been known for his magnanimity, but everyone in the government knows that this is towards officials and ministers. How can a servant like himself have the dignity to allow the King of Shu to be "kind"?
"The only chance I had at the beginning was to take the initiative to report to the King of Shu when I realized something was wrong and the situation was not deep enough. However, in this case, the Qiu family and their children would definitely die."
"Even if he surrenders himself, the chance of death is more than half. He will suffer fifty bullets to avoid death. There is another half chance of death. The rest will be disabled. The chance of escaping unscathed is less than 10%."
"The government and the royal family have said many times that they must rein in the situation. In fact, that is from the standpoint of the government and the royal family, and from a personal standpoint. Even if the situation is reined in, it is basically over, almost as good as death."
Zhang Zhou knew what was going on. Thinking about it this way, he got rid of any trace of regret.
"It's better to have wine today and get drunk today. As long as Zhuer grows up a little, I will ask someone to change his identity, study and be a good person, and not disturb this place."
"Although Mrs. Qiu is from Prince Qi's palace, she is also Zhu'er's mother. Mother and son are close to each other. I suggested that I take a child to replace Zhu'er and transfer Zhu'er to an outsider. Although she was reluctant to part with it, she agreed."
"Oh, I hope everything is safe."
Next, what he has to do is to have a meal with some businessmen he has made an appointment with, as a steward of the Prince of Shu's palace.
If asked, it would be a matter of course that these merchants are all merchants of the palace.
"I'll get drunk today. If I get some red silver, I'll help you."
Zhang Zhou used to be a smart and capable person with clean hands, but after he realized that his job was not guaranteed, he changed his original intention.
Just do it.
As a result, the relationship within the government improved.
Last time, Manager Shi even patted himself on the shoulder: "You finally become sensible."
Thinking of Steward Shi's somewhat relieved expression, Zhang Zhou smiled bitterly. There was no trouble down there, he just had to do it according to his own will. He easily opened the door and entered the private room.
"Ouch! Manager Zhang, you're here!"
Several businessmen in the private room were talking in low voices. When they heard the sound of the door being pushed, they immediately looked toward the door. One of them stood up and raised his hands.
Several people were brought to dinner by this businessman who knew Zhang Zhou, in order to be led to have a relationship with the steward of the Shu Prince's Palace.
So they also stood up and said hello to Zhang Zhou.
Zhang Zhou had been working in the Shu Palace for many years and had long been accustomed to being flattered by outside businessmen. He sat down with a very natural expression and invited these businessmen to sit down.
Seeing him acting like this, these businessmen felt relieved.
If a person of Zhang Zhou's status is too polite to them, he does not regard them as one of his own.
Only this kind of politeness with a hint of rudeness is the gesture they most want to see. This shows that this meal is not in vain, and this relationship should be established smoothly.
But getting along and being able to get along for a long time are two different things.
If you want to be together for a long time, you have to eat the meal well, drink well with Zhang Zhou, give Zhang Zhou good chips at the dinner table, and let Zhang Zhou get enough satisfactory filial piety. Only then can you really be together with Shu.
Relations with the royal family.
Zhang Zhou was very familiar with this routine. Food and drinks were being served one after another. He had a good drinking capacity, and even when he was facing several other people by himself, he did not appear drunk at all. On the contrary, the faces of the people opposite him all showed blushes, even if they were just pretending.
I really can’t drink it but I don’t dare to drink it, but this Zhang Zhou is real.
A businessman pretended to be drunk and gave Zhang Zhou a banknote.
Zhang Zhou lowered his head and saw that one hundred taels of silver notes were quite a lot.
The remaining merchants also competed with him for drinks, and also stuffed him with banknotes, ranging from fifty taels to one hundred taels.
None of them were big businessmen, so just a few hundred taels from a few people was a considerable amount of money for Zhang Zhou.
This amount even exceeded his expectation before coming, and he became even more happy.
"I've been really lucky lately. I picked up five taels of silver a few days ago, and today I got nearly three hundred taels! I deserve to get rich!"
"Manager Zhang, when we have the wine, why don't we call some singing girls to help the fun?" A businessman saw that he was happy and asked softly.
Zhang Zhou was startled. He had been bitten by a snake once and had been afraid of straw ropes for ten years. He waved his hand and said, "Forget it. Drinking is normal. If someone sees you calling a singer, it will be difficult to explain when you go back."
No one noticed that this elegantly decorated room was actually only separated from the one opposite by a screen, and there were two uninvited guests.
Behind the screen, Zhou Yao and the wild Taoist were already standing.
The two of them don't have to worry about being discovered when they talk. With Zhou Yao's ability, he can naturally cover up their figures and voices.
"Are these people all spies?" Zhou Yao listened a little and felt that they didn't say many sensitive things, and the ugly behavior of several of them after drinking made her uncomfortable.
Stay far away to avoid being hit by the alcohol smell of these people.
The wild Taoist saw "Ms. Zhou" in front of him with a cold face. He didn't dare to look at her. He only introduced the situation of the people outside to her in a low voice.
"Absolutely, this man is Yao Cuo, a man who has the virtue of guarding thousands of households." A thin businessman was pointed out by the wild Taoist.
"This is Mu Rong, who has some relationship with the Marquis of Shanyin."
"This is Hou Cheng. By offering his sister, he established a relationship with the housekeeper of He Wuling, deputy commander of Jianzhangwei."
"This is the Imperial Guard, and it has very little connection with the Imperial Palace Bureau."
Siyuan Bureau is in charge of vegetables, fruits, etc. It looks like a small yamen, but in fact it is the most difficult to guard against the entrance of nobles, and they also pay the most attention to.
Zhou Yao has been in the palace for a long time and knows the inside story very well. These people, if they are there or not, are related to the military, nobles, and the inner palace. If you don't check, you won't know. Once you check, you will immediately feel horrified.
"Actually, in the capital, if you don't have some connections and some roundabout connections, you can't do anything."
"Whether it's Qi Gate Guard Qian Hu, deputy commander of Jian Zhang Guard, or even Shanyin Marquis and Siyuan Bureau, they actually have no intention, no collusion, and no conspiracy."
The wild Taoist's eyes were dark: "But once it comes to plotting a major rebellion, do you think the Imperial City Secretary and the Emperor will ignore these small clues? Do you think this is a coincidence?"
"My grandson once told me that there is a kind of boxing among the people called Tai Chi. It is said that there is no place in my body that is not Tai Chi. I am invisible and have no image. I only think about the spirit and have one mind. All phenomena hide the five aggregates. I cannot predict its spirit. It can be said that Tai Chi is the true creation of yin and yang.
, the mandarin duck embroidery comes out and you can see it."
"In fact, any soldier who doesn't follow his rules can beat the Tai Chi master to pieces."
"But those principles that are put together to scare people can really be achieved in terms of strategy."
"My punch is either there or not, bright or dark. It looks fine at first glance, but terrifying upon closer inspection. Even the emperor can't break it. He has to be suspicious."
"If the master is suspicious of someone, he must be killed in large numbers. This is called self-inflicted murder."
Zhou Yao's eyes fell on these businessmen. If the wild Taoist hadn't pointed it out, she really wouldn't have seen anything special about these businessmen.
She thoughtfully asked: "Are these people all loyal to the emperor?"
"yes!"
"That person from Siyuan Bureau, the Queen is going to remove her and replace her with one of her own."
"The Qi gatekeeper Qian Hu is a virtuous businessman, a drunkard, a lustful man, full of faults, but he is loyal to the emperor, and he doesn't hold back in this position. We can't bully him, and we can't change him, so we have to get rid of him!"
"He Wuling, the deputy commander of Jianzhangwei, is not a member of the emperor, but he originally had a good relationship with the Qinghe County Prince. This is just to muddy the waters."
"The emperor's reaction may not be as you wish." Zhou Yao pondered for a moment and shook her head: "If the young emperor is a hot-blooded emperor, he will be immediately frightened, and his family may be confiscated and his family may be exterminated."
"But the old emperor has been in power for a long time, and he knows very well that the emperor values quietness rather than movement. The emperor does not cherish his ministers. It does not matter whether these ministers themselves die, but he cannot mess up the rules."
"Yes, but what we want is a little bit of suspicion, a little bit of scrutiny and identification."
"Especially when it comes to the major matter involving King Qi's collusion with the demon clan to conspire against him, we would rather kill him by mistake than let him go. At the very least, he must be isolated and examined - this is what we want."
The wild Taoist pointed to the next door again and whispered: "The people drinking in the opposite room are from Prince Qi's Mansion. It took me a lot of effort to bring them together."
Zhou Yao pondered again and nodded, understanding.
This is through vague clues. It seems that if you think about it carefully, it seems like a big network that vaguely connects the palace, the army, the dignitaries, and the princes. Who is not afraid of it?
Once there is a shock, even if the old emperor has been emperor for twenty years and remains calm and does not kill, isolation and review are a must. As long as this minimum step is completed, several key points of the grandson can be filled in, especially
This is with the Queen's assistance.
"Now that Miss Zhou understands, I will take action."
As the wild Taoist said that, he took out a small piece of thin jade from his sleeve pocket. Under Zhou Yao's gaze, he used his fingers hard and broke it into pieces with a crisp sound.