In the government prison, Ding Xihou stood in the corner with a calm face.
With his back to the cell door, he didn't know what he was thinking.
"Open the cell door." Xiao Chen's voice came from outside the door.
Dingxihou suddenly turned around, with tears on his face, and ran towards the prison door.
He grabbed the bars of the cell with both hands and shook it vigorously: "Your Majesty the Imperial Envoy, have you kept Kuan'er well?"
With a "bang" the cell door was opened, Xiao Chen put his hands behind his back, stared at Ding Xihou, and walked in slowly.
"Wang Kuan was saved after drinking the Resurrection Soup, but he said something I didn't expect." Xiao Chen said slowly.
A flash of panic flashed in Ding Xihou's eyes: "What did he say?"
"He said he didn't eat anything and only drank half the bowl of gruel you handed over. Lord Marquis, how did you poison the porridge in front of Wang Kuan without letting him find out?"
Xiao Chen smiled lightly and asked casually like he was chatting every day.
Ding Xihou's heart skipped a beat, and he subconsciously took a step back, his eyes fixed on Xiao Chen, and the tears on his face disappeared: "Sir, are you kidding me? Wang Kuan is my biological son, I will poison him?
"
"Why not?" The corner of his mouth raised, with a playful smile on Xiao Chen's face: "You asked him to help you hide your weapons, but he didn't want to. He also said that living a good life is not good, and he insisted on causing some involvement.
It’s about the Nine Clans. Since he has committed a capital crime and has no way out, why not poison him to avoid leaking your secrets?”
"You, you don't want to slander others. Hiding arms secretly is a crime of treason. I am the dignified Marquis of Dingxi. Why do I want to hide arms in preparation for rebellion?" Dingxihou's expression changed drastically.
"Rebellion? I didn't say you were treason, I only said you were hiding armaments. It turns out that the purpose of the Marquis is to prepare for his own rebellion? Rebellion is not enough only with armaments, but also with manpower. Marquis, your manpower
Where are they?" Xiao Chen began to press forward step by step.
"Your Majesty the Imperial Envoy." Marquis Dingxi's eyes revealed a fierce look, "Although I am your prisoner now, I am not someone you can slaughter at will. If you accuse me of hiding arms for no reason, I will go to the Emperor.
I’ll sue you in front of you.”
"Sue me? In the cave of Nanshan, not only are your armaments, but also there are five hundred innocent souls on the road in the valley, ready to kill you. I am not here to get any confession from you, I am
I want to tell you that from now on, there will no longer be any Dingxi Hou in Dingxi. As soon as my troops from the East Factory arrive, it will be the day to go to your Dingxi Hou Mansion to ransack your home."
After saying a few words, Xiao Chen slowly walked out of the cell.
Ding Xihou stood quietly in the center of the cell, as if stiff, motionless.
Three days later, in the capital, the emperor's palace.
Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty, served by Wang Xiaosi, had just laid down on the dragon bed when Lin Shangli's voice came from outside.
"Xiaosi, has the emperor fallen asleep?"
"I'm not asleep yet, come in if you need anything." Before Wang Xiaosi could respond, Ming Chengzu, who was sitting on the dragon bed, opened his eyes and roared.
In the past few days, Ming Chengzu was deeply relieved to receive "good news" from Xiao Chen from Gongchang Mansion.
Although, more than half of the victims in Gongchang were killed or injured, which made me heartbroken.
But the court's disaster relief finally arrived in time and saved the lives of the remaining victims.
As long as there are people around, later construction of water conservancy projects can be done bit by bit.
It's just that Xiao Chen is not good at building water conservancy projects. Who should the Ministry of Works send to take charge of this matter?
While I was thinking about this question, I heard Lin Shangli's voice asking in a low voice outside the door.
Holding an urgent letter in his hand, Lin Shangli hurriedly walked in.
"Is this the news from Gong Chang?"
"Yes." Lin Shangli nodded and was about to hand the letter to Ming Chengzu.
"Read it." Ming Chengzu slowly closed his eyes and whispered.
"Your Majesty, I don't dare to read it, you should read it yourself." With trembling hands, Lin Shangli handed the letter forward.
"Huh?" Ming Chengzu opened his eyes again, "What is it that you don't even dare to read about?"
"Xiao Chen discovered a large amount of armaments hidden in caves within the jurisdiction of Gongchang Mansion, which involved..." Lin Shangli did not dare to say the next words.
Seeing Lin Shangli's troubled look, Ming Chengzu said: "Help me up."
Wang Xiaosi, who was beside the dragon bed, hurriedly stretched out his hands, grabbed Ming Chengzu's lower back, and gently helped him up.
He pulled another pillow over and stuffed it behind Ming Chengzu before slowly retreating.
"What's involved?" With a straight face, Ming Chengzu stretched out his right hand.
Lin Shangli hunched over and placed the letter in Ming Chengzu's hand: "It involves the Marquis of Dingxi."
"Wang Rong of Dingxi?" Ming Chengzu frowned, put his left hand on his mouth with some saliva, and opened the letter.
As the contents of the letter read, Ming Chengzu's face became darker and darker.
After a long while, he closed the letter and let out a long breath.
"Wang Rong, Marquis of Dingxi, is a marquis personally granted by Taizu. On weekdays, even I treat him with great respect. He wants money and fiefs, and fiefs. Does he really want to hide so many armaments?
Want to rebel?" Ming Chengzu's face showed a hint of loss.
A person whom I respected very much actually wanted to start an army and rebel.
Is it because I didn’t do a good enough job, or am I simply unpopular?
"The Marquis of Dingxi not only colluded with Gong Changwei, but also took the largest gang in the west, the horse caravan, under his command. Even if his son Wang Kuan arranged for the caravan to ambush the Dongchang disaster relief imperial envoy in the Qinling Valley, it can be private.
The emperor must strictly investigate and deal with the matter of hiding armaments." Hunched over, Lin Shangli "accidentally" revealed the matter of the ambush in Dongchang.
"What? Wang Kuan dared to ambush the imperial envoy? Did he not take the court or the suffering of the victims seriously?" Looking up, Ming Chengzu looked at Lin Shangli: "Did Xiao Chen and the others suffer any losses?"
Lin Shangli bowed his hand: "Back to the emperor, we only lost eight military horses, and the personnel only suffered superficial injuries."
"Ambushing the imperial envoy, just for this one reason, Wang Kuan should be exterminated. Now it's better, Dingxi Marquis actually hid armaments secretly. So what if Taizu personally granted him the title? Taizu would never want to see that the marquis he rewarded was preparing to rebel.
."
With a "pop" sound, Ming Chengzu placed the letters in his hand on the dragon bed.
"Your Majesty, now that the matter is over, should Ding Xihou be escorted back to the capital for trial before his house is searched, or should Xiao Chen directly lead his men to search his house first?" Lin Shangli asked in a low voice.
After ambushing Dongchang, do you still have eyes for me, the owner of Dongchang?
Now that the handle has fallen into Dongchang's hands, don't blame me for being ruthless.
Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty was silent for a moment: "This Wang Rong, after all, was personally granted the title by Taizu. If he is sentenced without going through the three-level trial, I'm afraid someone in the court will make irresponsible remarks."
"The joint trial of the three departments is a matter of course." Lin Shangli stepped forward and began to squeeze Ming Chengzu's shoulders, "However, the nature of concealing arms is very different from other crimes. According to the slave, we are currently going to
What we are doing is not just to try Dingxihou alone, but to wipe out all the rebellious forces hidden behind him. Dingxihou himself, we will put him in prison, and Xiao Chen will be escorted back to the three courts when he returns to Beijing.
The Division will review it. However, it is better to eliminate the forces under his command as soon as possible to avoid future troubles."
After a moment of silence, Ming Chengzu said: "According to Xiao Chen's request, send 500 Dongchang captains to set off immediately. At the same time, I have given instructions that the northwest army will be at his disposal, and the rebellious forces of Dingxihou will definitely be eradicated.
"
"Yes, I will go and make arrangements right now." In response, Lin Shangli hurriedly retreated.
With this incident, Ming Chengzu lost all sleep.
Get out of bed with your clothes on.
"Your Majesty, Eunuch Lin has arranged all this, so you should rest." Wang Xiaosi hurriedly stopped him.
"Dingxi Hou is planning to rebel. How can I sleep? Bring your shoes. I have to go to the imperial study."
"yes."
Walking into the imperial study, Ming Chengzu pointed to the bookshelf against the wall: "Bring me the official roster of the Ministry of War and the northwest military layout map."
Wang Xiaosi didn't dare to neglect, so he hurried to the bookshelf, found the northwest military layout map, opened it on the desk, and hurriedly found the list of officials from the Ministry of War.
Holding the clothes on his shoulders with one hand, Ming Chengzu pointed at the map.
The sandalwood in the incense burner floated slowly, and by the light of the oil lamp, Wang Xiaosi discovered that Ming Chengzu had a lot more white hair on his temples.
