The inner sanctum in the center of Qujiang Garden.

This is the place where the emperor came to rest every time, and now the banquet is arranged, and the princes and nobles of the Manchu Dynasty gather here.

Not far away is a small gathering place for officials.

The inner women were all in another place at this time, with the concubines in the palace.

The whole banquet was lively and chaotic, but it was distinct.

At this time, the emperor was sitting in the center of the palace, receiving congratulations from his ministers.

The emperor has rewarded the ministers, speaking of which he has a lot of money this year, one is the good news of the recovery of the three states one after another, it can be said that it is a great victory in the Tubo War, it is indeed worth celebrating, and the second is from the succession to the throne, he has been trembling, until this year is a consolidated position, Ma Yuanzhen has made it clear that he wants to retire, and he should resign within the year.

This is also the happiest thing for him, he can finally send his henchmen to control the Shence Army.

There is no longer any need to worry about Ma Yuanzhen suddenly pushing others out and replacing him.

You must know that if you are replaced, you will not die well.

He is also grateful to Ma Yuanzhen from the bottom of his heart, without the other party, he is just an imperial uncle with no real power, people like him are caught in the royal family, but now it is different, he is the emperor, the Ninety-Five Supreme, and he has to be a saint of the ages!

So as soon as he was happy, he rewarded his favorite rhino jade belt to Ma Yuanzhen today!

It was given to him by the Empress Dowager Zheng.

Ma Yuanzhen naturally knew the inside story of this, and looked grateful.

As long as the other party hands over power, then both parties are good masters and servants.

These eunuchs thought that it was a family inheritance, and the emperor felt that he could give it, and Ma Yuanzhen's sons Ma Gongru and Ma Gongdu could be reused.

As long as his people have mastered the Left Army, they are not afraid that the lieutenant of the Right Army, Tutu Shiye, is also Ma Yuanzhen's person.

Ma Yuanzhen was also very happy, the emperor showed that he would be favored by the Ma family in the future, and nothing made him happier than this.

The more inhumane the eunuch, the more you want to be like a normal person.

He took a fancy to his two adopted sons, and hoped that their sons would inherit their father's business and become lieutenants in the left army in the future.

Ma Yuanzhen is nearly sixty years old, such an old age is already a long life in the Tang Dynasty, he is already a very popular minister, it is time to resign.

The enemy had good rights to invade the government and the opposition, but he couldn't keep the heirs behind him, and Ma Yuanzhen felt that he couldn't learn from him.

After all, they are the domestic slaves of the Li family, and it is impossible for them to usurp the throne, at most they will coerce the Son of Heaven to order the princes, but Qiu Shiliang has proved that there will be great trouble after doing so, and they will be dug up after death.

Wuzong wanted to replace him, so he could only give it a go, and Emperor Dazhong was established by Ma Yuanzhen, even for the sake of his reputation, he would not make trouble for no reason.

And this emperor is especially good-looking, Ma Yuanzhen feels that he has figured out the emperor's temperament thoroughly.

So he felt that he could retire and pave the way for his sons.

The banquet continued, and as a slave of the Son of Heaven, there was no eunuch seat at the banquet.

Even the actual controller of Chang'an's military power, such as the lieutenant of the left army, is not qualified to sit with the prime ministers.

Finally, when the banquet was over, the ministers spread out to enjoy the flowers, and he was tired of standing beside the emperor, so he said that he wanted to quit.

The emperor also knew that he was not in good health, so he was approved.

Ma Yuanzhen was walking outside Qujiang Garden, and met a minister who was waiting on the side of the road, and when he saw it, he came up quietly and bowed: "The eldest brother is long, congratulations." ”

Ma Yuanzhen looked at it, and it turned out to be Ma Zhi.

The strange thing is that Ma Zhi has no entourage around him, as if he is waiting for himself here on purpose, his heart is tight, what is the matter?

He walked into a forest with Ma Zhi, kept his entourage away a little, and asked, "Why are you here alone, and what is the situation?" ”

Ma Zhi nodded into the distance and said: "I scattered people around, I have something urgent to report to my eldest brother, these days I sent people to investigate, and found that Bai Minzhong colluded with Choi Hyun and wanted to bring me down." ”

Ma Yuanzhen didn't feel strange and said: "You don't have to be frightened, Your Majesty knows it in his heart, and he won't change his appearance!" ”

Ma Zhi breathed a sigh of relief and said, "But my people found out that Cui Xuan sent someone to contact Wang Zai, the envoy of Hedong Jiedu, and I don't know what I want to do. ”

Ma Yuanzhen groaned slightly, which he didn't know.

Ma Zhi looked at his face and said: "This reminds people of the time before the change of manna in the Wenzong Dynasty, the prime minister Li Xun Zheng Zhu sent someone to contact Lu Ze Jiedu to make Liu Congzhi. ”

Ma Yuanzhen was shocked and shouted, "What do you mean? ”

Ma Zhi hurriedly said: "Big brother is angry, I'm just guessing like this, if the court doesn't fight, what are they doing with the Jiedu envoys?" I'm afraid that they will cultivate the plank road in the dark, and Xiang Zhuang's sword dance is intended for Pei Gong! ”

Ma Yuanzhen was shocked when he heard this, and said: "I have already told Your Majesty to resign within this year, he won't be so impatient." ”

Ma Zhi said: "Knowing people and knowing faces but not knowing their hearts, Emperor Wuzong of the previous dynasty was still Qiu Junrong and Yuyoujun, didn't he kill them all after three years?" Maybe Your Majesty is just delaying the army, and wants to wait for the lieutenant to resign before making a move, after all, even if the lieutenant retreats, the real power of the left and right armies is still under your control! ”

Ma Yuanzhen shook his head and said, "I don't believe he would be so ruthless!" ”

Ma Zhi said: "That's not simple, just try to see if Your Majesty still respects the eldest brother as before." ”

Ma Yuanzhen asked, "What can you do?" ”

Ma Zhi said: "If in the past, Your Majesty gave the eldest brother a rhino jade belt, if the eldest brother gave it to me, I deliberately showed it to him in the court, would Your Majesty be angry?" ”

Ma Yuanzhen shook his head, and he said: "Your Majesty knows about internal and external transportation, but in fact, the minister in the court and the central government does not make friends with the eunuchs?" Back then, Li Deyu and Yang Feilong were so good that they wore a pair of pants, but now the surname Yang has made friends with Pei Xiu's party, and he is a Buddhist believer, but in fact, he only believes in money. Even if I bring the jade to you today, Your Majesty will not be angry. ”

Ma Zhi shook his head and smiled: "At this time and that time, why don't we make a bet." ”

"Okay, take the jade belt, I want to see if Your Majesty has really changed his mind!"

Ma Zhi and Ma Yuanzhen exchanged belts, and then after saying goodbye, Shi Shiran walked far away, saw that there was no one around, wiped his face, and turned into Ma Yuanzhen's appearance, he turned out to be Guo Hong pretending!

These days, he has been observing the speech and behavior of courtiers and Ma Yuanzhen and others, and he thinks that he can imitate Ma Zhi and Ma Yuanzhen seamlessly!

Ma Zhi and Ma Yuanzhen are both wearing purple court clothes, their figures are about the same, and the eunuch clothes are slightly different, Guo Hong tidied up a little, took out a bronze mirror and looked at it again, felt that there was no flaw, and went to look for Ma Zhi again.

If you want to do this meticulously, you have to give the jade belt to Ma Zhi and let him take the initiative to wear it to the emperor.

Fortunately, it was not troublesome here, Ma Zhi saw Ma Yuanzhen appear alone, although he also felt a little strange, and asked, "Why is the lieutenant alone?" ”

"I let them scatter around for protection

。 Guo Hong nodded around, and Ma Zhi didn't think much about it when he saw some people who looked like guards, after all, he would never have imagined that there were really people in the world who could confuse the real with the fake.

Guo Hong only said that he should wear the jade belt to the court, the reason was just to turn over what he had just said to Ma Yuanzhen and say it again, this time it was Ma Yuanzhen who found out the news, felt uneasy, and wanted to test the emperor's temper through Ma Zhi.

Although Ma Zhi was unwilling, he didn't dare to offend Ma Yuanzhen, and after thinking for a while, he reluctantly agreed after Guo Hong repeatedly promised that nothing would happen.

In this way, Guo Hong's strategy was realized, and unless the two horses confronted him immediately that night, it was impossible to find the problem.

He originally wanted to sow discord, but he never thought of it, but after mixing into the banquet, he found that the emperor had given him a jade belt, and he had an idea to think of this strategy.

The only problem is that there are no followers, but this is Qujiang Garden, there are some people everywhere, the emperor sent a lot of people to patrol around to prevent chaos, which gives him an opportunity to take advantage of, if it is in the palace, there is no such possibility, he can become the appearance of the other party, but he can't change the entourage!

Unless the other party is knocked unconscious, and then the entourage is deceived together, but then the person concerned will wake up and notice it, leaving a flaw.

So he thought about it for a long time, and finally decided to take advantage of the chaos after the birthday banquet in Qujiangyuan.

If the emperor, Ma Zhi, and Ma Yuanzhen get along, of course this strategy will not work, first of all, Ma Yuanzhen will not bring the jade to him, but Ma Yuanzhen knows that he is a thorn in the emperor's heart, and he has long been uneasy, so as soon as he proposed it, the other party agreed.

There will be nothing to do with Guo Hong next, Ma Zhi will wear jade to the court tomorrow, if the emperor pretends not to see it, Guo Hong will also find a way to make the ministers notice, so that he can't act as if nothing happened!

Shouchang Festival rested for three days, and on the fourth day, Guo Hong did not mix with the emperor, and the inner servant had a radish and a pit, and one more person was immediately noticed.

Guo Hong didn't want to knock one out casually, after all, the inner servant had a lot to do, and if he was faint for a day, he would definitely report to the above, and when the time came, it would be bad if there was a person in the palace who could change his face.

The morning is calm.

When it came to retreating from the dynasty, Wang Zongshi looked at the six roads, and suddenly found that the emperor's fists were clenched, and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly, as if he was trying his best to restrain himself.

He followed His Majesty's gaze and saw that Ma Zhi was wearing a rhino belt around his waist, and this belt had the emperor's mark on it, which was indeed the one given to Ma Yuanzhen the day before yesterday!

The emperor's face remained unchanged, and his face turned blue after retreating after a while.

Ma Yuanzhen had been paying attention to it for a long time, and he was relieved when he saw it, it seems that the emperor still won't move himself.

Ma Zhi was also frightened, and finally survived until he retreated, and hurriedly walked out of the main hall to the atrium outside, he relieved his nerves, and decided to wait for Ma Yuanzhen and ask if there were any other orders.

At this time, the officials who retreated from the dynasty walked out one after another, and saw that many people from Ma Zhi came up to greet each other, and Ma Zhi responded with no match, and his mind was not on this at all.

At this time, a little eunuch came over and said to Ma Zhi: "Ma Xianggong, Your Majesty has something to ask you." ”

Ma Zhi was shocked and said, "What's the matter with Your Majesty?" ”

The little eunuch pointed to Ma Zhi's belt and said, "Ma Xianggong understands in his heart. ”

The surrounding court officials whispered when they heard this, Ma Zhi's face was ugly, he couldn't imagine that the emperor really cared, and now he could only count on Ma Yuanzhen to help him cover up the past.