On the second day, Ye Yichen went to Shunzhen Gate early in the morning to hand over the sign. After a while, Wang Ying, the head of the eunuchs beside the emperor, hurried over. When he saw Ye Yichen, he bowed, "Lord, the emperor has been busy with the military situation in front recently, and he is overworked, and he has been infected with the wind and cold for a while, so he can't see you." The emperor asked me to bring you a message, if there is any important military situation, write an excerpt and hand it to the palace, and the emperor will watch and deal with it. "This will is actually awkward for Wang Ying to pass it on, the emperor is the emperor after all, you are big in the world, do you want to see Ye Yichen is not a matter of words, why do you have to explain it to him, as if he is a thief.

In fact, the emperor is not only a thief, he is a little afraid to see this younger brother. He is older than Ye Yichen, when Taizong ascended the throne, he was already an adult prince, and the officials said that Taizu died of a violent illness, in fact, how did Taizu die, and when he ascended the throne and saw many secret files, he understood in his heart.

After that, Taizong slaughtered the children of Taizu and his lineage, and he also saw it clearly. After all, Taizong's lineage is not right, and after Taizong ascends the throne, the Forbidden City will convene high-ranking monks every year to hold large-scale events, ostensibly to pray for the country and the community, but in fact it is just to pay tribute to Emperor Taizu and ask for peace of mind. After the accession to the throne, Orthodoxy also adhered to this tradition.

Ye Yichen was saved by the Queen Mother in the end. The orthodox emperor watched him grow up day by day, watching him work hard day by day, this sixteenth brother has always been very outstanding in both talent and ability, and gradually became an important position, and the orthodox emperor is simply uneasy!

Orthodoxy was afraid that Ye Yichen would plot to seize his throne, but let him find a reason to kill Ye Yichen, at first he was worried about the infamy of slaughtering his younger brother on his back, but when Ye Yichen was old and his wings were stiff, he held 100,000 tigers in his hand, and the emperor did not dare to do it easily.

finally found an excuse to take away Ye Yichen's military power in secret, and the emperor met with Ye Yichen head-on, only to find that he was becoming more and more powerful, and in the face of his ice-like eyes, the orthodox emperor was even more nervous than Ye Yichen, a courtier. The contempt in his eyes made him indignant and frightened. From then on, he could not see this younger brother.

"This king has an urgent military situation, and he wants to show the emperor in person, and I will report it to my father-in-law!" Ye Yichen said patiently to Wang Ying.

Wang Ying immediately showed a look of embarrassment, he served the emperor every day, how could he not understand the emperor's intentions, this trip was also in vain: "Lord, it's not that the slave doesn't want you to run this leg, but the emperor is really ...... Indeed, he is sick, and no one can see him, and no one wants to see him! ”

Yes, Ye Yichen understands it now! The emperor is not sick at all, but he doesn't want to see him at all! Although he is a prince, he cannot enter the emperor's Qianqing Palace unless he is called, and he can only sigh under the current situation. Ye Yichen snorted coldly, and had to return to the prince's mansion with a group of guards, although he held his breath, he immediately wrote a note, which made it clear in the note that he suspected that he had formed an alliance with the Jurchens, and ordered the family to hand the horse into the Qianqing Palace.

As for whether the emperor is willing to watch it or not, and what his reaction is after reading it, it is not up to him to influence it.

The central government was busy exterminating the northwest thieves and resisting the sudden invasion, but the Xiao family was in full swing planning to seize the heir.

In the secret room of the Shangshu Mansion of the Ministry of Officials, more than a dozen people gathered, both civil and military, and all those who were able to participate in this meeting were the core figures of the Xiao Party. Xiao Jiawen has the official department, the martial arts have the Marquis of Jinghai, there is the imperial concubine, and there is an extraordinary hero, who is deeply loved by the emperor and the fourth prince Zhao Wang Ye Minyu. Accusing Xiao Jia'an of forming a party for personal gain will not wronged them at all.

Sitting at the top is Xiao Zongchang, the secretary of the ministry, who is over fifty years old, but he is born with comfortable eyebrows and a handful of beautiful hair under his chin that is very finely cultivated.

Xiao Zongchang's face was solemn, and he slowly spoke: "Although this time the emperor did not send the prince to recommend him to be the governor of the three sides, he handed over the task of transporting grain and grass to the prince, which shows that the emperor still trusts the prince. That's not good news for us! ”

Xiao Zongsheng, Marquis of Jinghai, said: "It's only to blame Yang Peishi, the first assistant of the cabinet, if it wasn't for him to write the book, how could the emperor hand over such an important task to the prince, if this battle is won, the prince's position will be stable!" At that time, it would be inconvenient for us to support King Zhao on the throne! ”

At this time, a civil official dressed in a second-grade uniform said: "Yang Peishi and the prince, one is the prince of the country, and the other is the first assistant of the cabinet, and now the prince has become Yang Peishi's grandson-in-law, can you make some fuss about this!" "That means pouring some dirty water on them, slandering the two of them for conspiring and colluding!

Although Xiao Zongchang has not entered the cabinet, he is the head of the Great Jiuqing "Heavenly Official", and his authority is not under the ministers, so he is often called into the palace by the emperor to discuss matters, and Concubine Xiao in the palace transmits news, so he knows everything about the movements in the palace, and he shook his head when he heard this: "Difficult!" Difficult! Yang Peishi is the emperor's teacher, and the emperor has a deep relationship with him, which can be regarded as a half-teacher and half-monarch relationship, and he has always been favored for many years. This old fox is scheming and slippery, and it is not so easy for the emperor to suspect him. At first, I also wanted to make some articles in this regard, but I don't know what the emperor said in front of him, and the emperor didn't even care about his marrying his granddaughter to the prince! This is not possible! ”

Everyone nodded and shook their heads, and there were many discussions, although the prince was mediocre, he was definitely not stupid, he had always clamped his tail and behaved all these years, and it was definitely not so easy for everyone to catch him. No one could come up with any good ideas for a while.

Xiao Zongsheng, Marquis of Jinghai, looked at a middle-aged man with weak writings, "I don't know what Li Yushi thinks?" Everyone here is a second-grade and third-grade member, but this Li Yushi is only wearing a fourth-grade civil official uniform, but the strange thing is that everyone looks at him without the slightest contempt.

Li Yushi's name is Li Yan, who was the imperial envoy of the Zuo Du of the Imperial Court at the time, and was a four-rank official. The reputation of the Xiao Party is not obvious, but secretly he is the core figure of the Xiao Party. Without him, because although this person is not good-looking, he is extremely smart, extremely scheming, good at calculating people's hearts, and is a think tank of the Xiao Party, and many decisions of the Xiao family come from this person's head. This is also one of the top secrets of the Xiao Party.

Xiao Zongchang held the power to promote and promote officials, and five years before this, Li Yan was only promoted from the fifth rank to the fourth rank, not that Xiao Zongchang didn't pay attention to him, but it was precisely Xiao Dang's means to confuse other political enemies and hide him as an important person behind the fog. Of course, the political enemies of the Xiao family would not care about a petty official of the fourth or fifth grade, and they would not waste resources to deal with him. This is exactly the protection of Li Yanhao.

Li Yan's more than a dozen first, second and third grade officials looked at him calmly, gently touched the bush of short beards under his chin, and muttered for a moment before he said: "If you want to overthrow the prince, it is difficult to say, and it is easy to say!" ”

Xiao Zongchang's eyes lit up: "What does Changling already have to do?" "Li Yanzi Changling.

Li Yan smiled with a smug smile: "I want to ask all my lords, the prince's ability in terms of virtue and ability is mediocre, not to mention His Royal Highness the Wise Shenwu King Zhao, that is, the fifth prince born to the concubine Hui, although he is still young, I look at it is much stronger than the prince, why does the emperor want to make such a mediocre person the prince?" ”

Who doesn't know about this matter, everyone immediately said: "It's not because the prince stands in the position of the eldest son, and the queen mother supports it." ”

Li Yan slapped the table: "Ah! Exactly. The crown prince occupies both the heir and the long, so everyone in the court knows that His Royal Highness King Zhao is stronger than the prince, but most of them still stand on the side of the prince, because he represents Zhengshuo, a rule handed down by the ancestors for thousands of years! ”

Everyone nodded, and they couldn't help but ask, "What does this have to do with moving down the prince?" ”

Li Yan smiled mysteriously; "If you don't have this Zhengshuo identity, wouldn't it be easy to bring down this prince who has no qualifications, no prestige, and no size for the country?"

Xiao Zongchang's face changed; "You mean, the first thing to do is to bring down the Kunning Palace?"

Li Yan smiled and said, "Teacher, you are really smart!" "Xiao Zongchang is the seat teacher of Li Yan's imperial examination. Xiaoxiao patted the teacher's ass, and Li Yan said again: "The prince and the queen are one, and if the queen is overthrown, the prince will definitely not be happy." However, this matter is not urgent, the queen is also quite cautious, although the palace is not very careful, but it is done less and less wrong, although the imperial concubine Niangniang favors the harem, but it is not so easy to let the emperor abolish this bad wife. It's just that there is a breakthrough in front of us! ”

"I have a case file here, please take a look at it with the teacher and the Hou Ye!" Li Yan said and took out a thick dossier from his arms, Xiao Zongchang and Xiao Zongsheng saw that he had already prepared, and they couldn't help but be shocked, this Li Yan has extremely rich experience in political struggle, and his actions are ruthless and treacherous, and his strategies are always interlocking, pressing step by step, and when his enemies react, they often have already lost all the games.

Xiao Zongchang flipped through the case file at random, and immediately understood Li Yan's intentions. I couldn't help but exclaim: "Wonderful, Changling has found a good breakthrough, I will let my subordinates write a bullet to impeach Cheng Enbo tomorrow, and when the time comes, the queen will inevitably eat some hanging!" ”

Li Yan hurriedly stopped: "No! It is bound to impeach the queen's brother Cheng Enbo Chen Xun in the letter, but it is not appropriate for us to come forward! ”

Xiao Zongchang was slightly stunned and said, "Why is this?" ”

Li Yan explained: "Now Yang Peishi's old husband is obviously on the prince's side, although the prince is ignorant, but Yang Peishi is an old treacherous and cunning, the teacher has a few officials under the imperial history, I am afraid that he knows it clearly, if it is by my dialect official, Yang Peishi only needs to go to the emperor to sue us, saying that we are plotting wrong, I am afraid that we will be self-defeating!" ”

Xiao Zongchang thought about it, but not! The emperor is not a fool, this impeachment is obviously going to the prince, if the emperor knows that the person who wrote on the road is his protégé, it will inevitably be associated with King Zhao, the conspiracy to seize the heir is a high-voltage line, no matter how powerful you are, you will die if you touch it.

Xiao Zongchang asked: "Then who should come forward?" ”

Li Yan slowly spit out two words: "High time!" ”

Xiao Zongchang stroked his palm and smiled when he heard this: "If this person is willing to come forward, then Cheng Enbo will definitely fall." "It turns out that this Gao Shi is not a simple person, he is a Jinshi in the first year of orthodoxy, ranked third in the second class, and was successfully admitted to the Shu Jishi. Originally, the future was very good, and it was not impossible to enter the cabinet in the future.

But he has been mixed for seven or eight years, but he has only achieved a small thing, and he is only seven grades. Rao is like this, but this is famous, and even the emperor knows him. There is no other reason, because he loves books and curses! Up to the six cabinets, down to the civil and military officials, there is no one he dare not scold, in the past few years, he has scolded the civil and military officials, I don't know how many powerful and high-ranking officials have been offended, it is not easy to still be alive and kicking now, and still want to be promoted?

To say that he was not killed by someone knocking him behind his back, it is thanks to Yang Peishi's protection. Although this Gao Shi loves to scold people, he scolds all the people who should be scolded, and it is rare in this officialdom that he is not moved by interests, and he has a position on principle, and it is precisely because of this that Yang Peishi saved his life and kept his position as a seven-grade petty official.

If he came forward to impeach Cheng Enbo, it would naturally be more convincing than the general official imperial history. It's just how to get him to come forward. Li Yan didn't wait for Xiao Zongchang to ask, so he explained to himself: "It's not difficult to get him to come forward. When he was in high school, he was jealous and hateful, so I only had to hand over this file to him, and provoke him with the method of agitation, and he would definitely go to the emperor the next day. I'll take care of this matter! However, before the bullet seal is sent to the emperor's imperial case, it is still necessary to trouble Wang Ying's father-in-law and let him lead the emperor to watch a good show! ”

At this side, the orthodox emperor did not know that a conspiracy around the prince and the queen was quietly unfolding, and he was still busy watching the chapter every day, preparing for the queen mother's coffin to be buried in Tailing after 49 days, and the emperor Taizong was buried in the cave. Although the funeral of the Queen Mother has been carried out for most of the time, there are still many follow-up ceremonies that need to be presided over by the emperor himself, and the military situation is urgent, so he wants to be lazy but he can neither nor dare to be lazy.

On this day, Wang Ying easily stayed up to the days of duty in the Qianqing Palace, although the emperor has relied more and more on him in recent years, but the emperor is a nostalgic for the old, the eunuch Meng Chong has been with the emperor for more than ten years, and the emperor has always had a lot of feelings for him, so although the emperor is estranged from Meng Chong, he has been unwilling to dismiss him, and Wang Ying has been pushed to the position of the first eunuch in the interior. This is also a reason why the emperor knows that the prince of Lu Dao is not angry, but he is unwilling to replace it. Wang Ying thought that the imperial concubine and Xiao Shangshu had promised in person that if they did a good job this time, they would do their best to help him ascend to the position of prime minister, and his heart couldn't help but become hot.

After reading the military intelligence report in front of him, Wang Ying hurriedly took the little eunuch and handed over the ginseng tea, bent his waist, and personally brought it to the emperor and said: "Your Majesty, you have been up in four days, and you have been busy until now, and you haven't even used breakfast well, so let's use some ginseng tea first!" I'll tell them to set the table right away! ”

The emperor came over and took a sip and put the tea bowl aside: "Don't be in a hurry to set the meal!" I've been sitting all morning, and I'd love to get out of the loose! ”

Wang Ying was secretly happy in her heart, and was worried about finding an excuse to call you out of Lu to take a look, but you didn't take the initiative to bring it up!

Wang Ying immediately instructed the little eunuch to bring a cloak and a big coat, and carefully waited for the emperor to put it on, while accompanying the emperor outside, he looked at his face, and said cautiously: "It's good to look at the sun today, the slave sees that you are busy with government affairs every day, and your brows are always wrinkled, it is better to climb up and look at it today, and you can also open your mind!" ”

In fact, the emperor is not a very assertive person, so he doesn't care much about these small things. Sure enough, after hearing Wang Ying's words, I was also interested. "Whatever you want!"

Wang Ying was overjoyed when she heard this. Immediately instructed the little eunuch on the side to go and make arrangements. After a while, the emperor arranged for Wang Ying to ascend a tall building in front of the three major halls.

It was noon, the sun was shining, and the scenery around the imperial city was in full view. Suddenly, I saw that there was a mansion near the imperial city on West Chang'an Street, with carved beams and paintings, which was extremely luxurious. The bricks and tiles are all clustered, and it looks like a house. He couldn't help but be stunned, so he asked Wang Ying: "Wang Ying, who is that house?" ”

Wang Ying waited for the emperor's words, and immediately gave the queen's brother Cheng Enbo eye drops and said: "That's Cheng Enbo Chen Xun has just completed the courtyard!" ”

The emperor saw that the house was very large and magnificent, and it was just a courtyard of Chengenbo, and he was also very displeased. Wang Ying added to the side and said: "I heard that Cheng Enbo spent hundreds of thousands of silver to build this house, and the craftsmen alone invited thousands of people!" Before the eye drops were finished, Wang Ying continued: "It's not that the slave is talkative, for the sake of the country's social welfare, the emperor, you have saved money from not repairing the garden as military expenses, but this Cheng Enbo relies on himself to be the queen's brother, and he has too little eyesight!" I don't know where he got all this money? ”

The emperor was furious, and his face was pale. Where did it come from? Of course, it is corruption and bribery, and it is obtained by looting the people's fat and people's ointment! He flicked his sleeves, stopped looking at the scenery, and went downstairs first.

Seeing that his eyes had been reached, Wang Ying didn't dare to say anything more, and hurriedly followed the emperor back to the Qianqing Palace. The emperor ate very unpleasantly at lunch.

Speaking of corruption and bribery, the emperor also knows that he is corrupt and bribe-taking if he is an official, this is not a necessary condition for punishing officials, Cheng Enbo is angry with him or has no eyesight, the emperor himself has tightened his belt and sent money to fight, don't you keep a low profile? The emperor has no money to repair the garden, and you still build high-rise buildings there, don't you find the emperor to find out if it doesn't hurt, the emperor doesn't hurt, can you hurt?

The queen was born in a small family, and Cheng Enbo, as the queen's brother, naturally has no knowledge, and the emperor didn't like it very much, but now when he sees such a scene, he doesn't like it. But after all, he is the queen's brother and the prince's uncle, and he always has to leave some dignity for the queen and the prince. After thinking about it, the emperor decided not to punish him for the time being.

After a lot of ideological construction, the emperor finally straightened out his qi. is inevitably suspicious of the queen and the crown prince.

Early the next morning, the General Administration Department handed the reports from all over the country into the Forbidden City, and the little eunuch carried a stack of documents into the duty room of the celebrant supervisor, Wang Ying called the little eunuch over, rummaged through the stack of folds, and sure enough, he found Gao Shi's impeachment of Cheng Enbo Chen Xun.

Wang Ying was satisfied with the fold and pulled it into her arms. Now is not a good time to show the emperor this excerpt, Wang Ying has been following the emperor for a long time, and he has a better understanding of the emperor's temperament, the emperor is not a decisive person, and he is more soft-hearted, at this time he showed him this excerpt, the emperor is very likely to be soft-hearted and gently put it down, then Xiao Shangshu's arrangement will be in vain.

Wang Ying waited for an opportunity.

took the little eunuch into the Qianqing Palace, the emperor had finished breakfast, Wang Ying put the stack of folds on the emperor's imperial case, watched the emperor flip through the correction folds one by one, and watched the sun rise higher and higher, but he was secretly anxious.

At this time, the savior arrived. A little eunuch rushed in in a hurry, and knelt down: "Your Majesty, Xuanda Governor Wang Gu has an urgent military situation!" ”

The emperor stood up and shouted nervously: "Present!" ”

The little eunuch immediately presented a sealed document to Wang Ying, who tore open the fire paint and respectfully handed it to the emperor. The emperor handed it over and read it at a glance, and the blood on his face suddenly disappeared, as if he had been beaten with a stick, and sat back on the dragon chair in a dejected manner.

"The emperor's ......" Wang Ying rushed up at first glance, but his eyes secretly aimed at the emergency document, only to see only a few lines on it, and wrote: The thief chief Zuoyan soldiers invaded our border in four ways, surrounded Xuanfu and Datong cities, Datong soldiers lost, Saiwai Castle, so it fell, and Datong General Lin Hao died in Maoerzhuang.

The emperor breathed a sigh of relief and ordered someone to immediately invite the cabinet, the military department, and the governor's office of the five armies to come and discuss the military situation. Wang Ying saw that the time had come, so he found an excuse to go out and sneak around, and when he came back, he knelt down at the orthodox feet, and took out the hidden fold from his arms: "Your Majesty, the General Administration Department has just sent another ......."

The emperor raised his voice and asked, "What fold?" ”

Wang Ying buried his head deeply: "It's for the impeachment of Cheng Enbo and Chen Xun in the middle of the matter!" ”

The emperor was shocked and frightened just now, but when he saw Chen Xun coming to make trouble for him again, he immediately burst into a nameless fire, and he couldn't hold it back: "Take it to me!" ”

The emperor took Wang Ying and handed it over, unfolded it, and saw that it was written: Cheng Enbo Chen Xun, the world is favored by the emperor, corruption is illegal, and now it is verified that the crime is true, and it should be severely punished by the legal department!

This is a very weighty twist, the full text lists a total of 15 Chen Xun's crimes, all of which are found to be substantiated, the more the emperor looks at it, the more angry he becomes, and then he trembles with anger, and throws the fold to the ground on the spot. yelled, "Bastard! What a bastard! Immediately arrest the person, put him in prison, and let the criminal department try this case for the first trial! ”

The emperor issued an edict and ordered Jinyi Wei to throw Chen Xun into prison, and the news spread far and wide, and the queen got the news.

The queen's parents died early, and it was her brother Chen Xun who raised her, the eldest brother is like a father, and she has a very deep affection for her brother. Later, she became the queen, and the emperor also named her brother as the Duke of Chengen, who knew that she was first impeached by Jiang Yue, and the Duke of Chengen was reduced from the Duke to the earl, and now I heard that the emperor went to probe the little eunuch and reported that the emperor was angry and angry, and claimed to make the Duke of Chengen a typical example!

When the queen heard the news, it was like a thunderbolt from the sky, there were no six gods, and there was a catastrophe in Kunning Palace, and it took a long time for the little palace maid to say: "Go and invite Concubine Jin over!" ”