When it was about to be unitary, Zhu Gaoxu and others returned to the palace from Xuanwu Gate. As soon as he arrived at the Qianqing Palace, he saw the eunuch Wang Gui.

Wang Gui stepped forward and said, "Your Lord, Hou Zuo's envoy (Hou Hai) has been waiting on the ramp for almost half an hour. ”

He then said in a low voice, "In the afternoon, Hou Zuo's envoy went to the Wuying Hall to the Rouyi Hall and asked the eunuch on duty, where the emperor was. The slave had no choice but to let the eunuch pass the word, saying that the emperor had returned to the Qianqing Palace to rest.

Hou Zuo seemed to have something important, and invited Dongnuan Pavilion to meet and tell us to report. The slave maid went to see Hou Zuo's envoy, thinking that the emperor would go out in the morning and should return to the palace at this time, so he asked Hou Zuo's envoy to wait. Unexpectedly, he waited for half an hour. ”

Zhu Gaoxu glanced down at the straight-leg robe on his body, and said, "I'll go to Dongnuan Pavilion now." ”

After a while, Zhu Gaoxu walked to the inclined corridor, and sure enough, he saw Hou Hai still standing in the corridor. Hou Hai was not tall, wearing a loose red robe, and his figure looked a little thin, he looked back, and immediately knelt on the brick floor: "The minister knocks to see the saint, long live the saint." ”

Zhu Gaoxu stretched out his arm and lifted Hou Hai up, "Get up, I'll keep you waiting for a long time." ”

Hou Haidao: "Minister thanks, it is right to wait for the saint." ”

"What's the matter?" Zhu Gaoxu asked straight as he walked inside.

Hou Haidao: "Go back to the saint and guard the affairs of the Imperial Division." ”

Zhu Gaoxu turned his head to look at him again, Hou Hai seemed a little nervous, and reached out to gently rub his forehead with his sleeve. The two of them walked through the door one after the other, and there was no one inside.

After Zhu Gaoxu sat down on the chair, Hou Hai bent down and said, "The minister is negligent, please condemn the saint." ”

Zhu Gaoxu frowned and looked at him, waiting for the following.

Hou Hai continued: "Huang Yan, who fled to Mongolia, once communicated with the mainland through the Uliangha people. But the minister ignored the matter. ”

He pondered for a moment, and then said: "The original Tatar commander set up by the Northern Administration, named Guo Ang, is stationed in Beiping City.

A few years ago, Guo Ang reported an incident that a Wuliangha man named "Flower Girl" came to Beiping; The flower girl took Huang Yan's token, and the first person to find was Shi Gusheng, the governor of Zhao Wangfu, in order to take out the money stored by Huang Yan from the bank.

Chen vaguely remembered that he had read this report. Guo Ang said in the report that after Gu Sheng told him the reason for the incident, he thought that he could use Huang Yan and the Uliangha people to get some news of the Tatar tribes; Therefore, Guo Ang asked for his life and continued to maintain contacts with the Uliangha people.

At that time, the minister didn't pay much attention to it, so he thought that it was nothing more than the ordinary means of the Tatar commander of the Northern Administration, so he didn't pay much attention to it. Nor did he tell the Holy God the news. ”

Zhu Gaoxu asked, "Then how are you concerned now?" ”

Hou Haidao: "Guo Ang sent another secret letter back to the North Office of the Imperial Palace, saying that Gu Sheng had accepted a bribe!" Guo Ang got the news that the Tatars were going to send an envoy to Beijing, and he also found that the governor of the Zhao Dynasty, Shi, had received money from the 'flower girls' of the Uliangha people. The minister felt that the situation was not so simple, so he hurried to come to the saint. ”

After listening to the narration, Zhu Gaoxu subconsciously thought of a question, did Hou Hai collect money before? But Zhu Gaoxu didn't ask.

Hou Hai is a very spiritual person, as if he could guess Zhu Gaoxu's thoughts, and suddenly said: "The minister has never benefited from it, and he was indeed negligent before." ”

Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said, "Of course, there is no need for Hou Zuo to covet that little profit. Drop the identity. ”

Hou Hai breathed a sigh of relief, hugged his fists and said, "The Holy Lord's lesson is yes." ”

Zhu Gaoxu habitually rubbed his palm on his flat forehead a few times, and he thought for a while and said: "Shi Gusheng, the head of the Zhao Palace, told Guo Ang about the matter at first, which can be understood as wanting to reduce the risk of collaborating with the enemy. But this time Gu Sheng dared to accept bribes privately, what happened? ”

Hou Hai frowned and thought for a while, "The joints mentioned by the saint are indeed a bit strange. ”

Zhu Gaoxu asked: "The bribes sent by the Wuliangha people, did the money come from the money bank?" ”

Hou Haidao: "Back to the saint, no, it's the gold that the Uliangha people brought to the Ming Dynasty by themselves." As he spoke, he took out an envelope from his sleeve pocket and presented it with both hands, "This is the original secret letter of Guo Ang, please take a look at it." ”

Zhu Gaoxu took out the paper and quickly skimmed through it first. Then he stretched out his hand again and said, "Did Guo Ang bring that letter from a few years ago?" ”

Hou Hai bent down awkwardly and said, "The minister will go back and get it immediately." ”

Zhu Gaoxu withdrew his hand and said, "Bring it to the Rouyi Hall tomorrow." ”

Hou Haidao: "The minister obeys the order." However, the secret letter, the minister read it roughly again today, and he remembers the reason for the incident. ”

Zhu Gaoxu said with certainty: "We still have to look at the details." The meaning of the same thing, different ways of narrating, may be different. It's getting late, so go back and rest. ”

Hou Hai bowed and said, "Thank you, retire." ”

Zhu Gaoxu sat alone for a while in the Dongnuan Pavilion.

He remembered the clumsy conspiracy deployed by the previous king, and was bewitched by his staff Yang Pu. And this Zhao Wangfu Governor Shi Gusheng was personally selected by Emperor Taizong, and he should not be like Yang Pu, who was born in the wilderness. And Gu Sheng may not dare to take the money alone.

Zhu Gaoxu's mind appeared in Gao Sui's face again, and after thinking about it for a long time, he shook his head lightly again.

He picked up the letter on the royal case and looked at it carefully. The secret letter also described the "bribery" in detail.

Guo Ang's people first found out that the "flower girl" of the Wuliangha people had been to Zhangde Mansion, so they decided that the flower girl had met the long history Gu Sheng. When Guo Ang saw the flower girl of the Uliangha, he made a speech to provoke him.

Guo Ang said to the flower boy that when Gu Sheng helped and took out Huang Yan's frozen money from Qianzhuang, in addition to cash, there were also a large number of land deeds. After Gu Sheng's several manipulations, a large part of the latter has fallen into the pockets of Gu Sheng and others; These things are the big heads. And the cash taken by the Uliangha people is less than one-tenth of the wealth that Huang Yan has amassed.

The flower girl was angry. Guo Ang promised some benefits and asked the flower girl to tell the inside story of Gu Sheng's private meeting. Only then did I learn that the flower girl took a hundred taels of real gold and a letter to see Gu Sheng.

But nothing is known about what the Mongol epistle wrote. Zhu Gaoxu even flipped the letter over and didn't find any more content......

That night, it was Shen Baoyan who came to Qianqing Palace to accompany him, and Zhu Gaoxu was a lot more relaxed. He only felt that the time to see the favor today was the right time.

After the ceremony the next morning, the first person to wait in the Rouyi Hall was Hou Hai. Hou Hai presented the old letter that existed in the North Office of the Imperial Division. The old letter is also the handwriting of Guo Ang, the Tatar commander of the Northern Administration, and it is no different from the handwriting of the letter that Zhu Gaoxu saw yesterday:

Huang Yan was involved in the rebellion case on behalf of the king, and he was afraid that the old enemies of the court, Wang Jinghong, Hou Xian and others, would put him to death, so Huang Yan fled to Tatar through the Uliangha Mongols. Huang Yan promised large sums of money to the Uryanha and Tatars who received him, but he had no money; So the Mongols arranged for another Uliangha to return to Beiping to get money, which was the flower girl.

Huang Yan was not wanted by the imperial court, no one was caught, and even Huang Yan's crime was not officially decided. So Huang Yan's property in the Zhao Wangfu was divided among the people of the Zhao Wangfu; And what is stored in the money village requires Huang Yan's specific tokens and official documents from the government. Gu Sheng and the others couldn't get it by their own means alone, and they have been sealed in the money bank.

Huang Yan also thought of some ways to bring some news of the Tatar chieftains. He intended to make a deal through Gu Sheng, an old friend of Zhao Wangfu, and contact Jinyiwei (Huang Yan thought that Jinyiwei was still in charge of these things). asked Gu Sheng to help, and the flower girl took Huang Yan's token to the money village to get the property; And Huang Yan and his Tatar friends provided news for Jinyiwei.

The person who took over this matter was not Jinyiwei, but the Northern Department of the Imperial Division. Guo Ang, who was stationed in Beiping, sent a letter to ask for instructions from the Beijing Division's Northern Bureau, but because Hou Hai didn't care much at all, the matter was not stopped; And so the deal was closed.

In fact, in the end, the North Agency did not get any useful information, and of course, the North Agency did not have any losses, and they did not care about it. From the mouths of the Uliangha people, they only got the news that the marriage between Arutai and the Horqin tribe was not new.

"What exactly was written in the letter that the flower girl sent to Gu Sheng recently, this is what we should know." Zhu Gaoxu said casually.

But he quickly came back to his senses, because his words might be misunderstood by the minister, so he immediately reminded Hou Haidao: "You don't care about this matter for the time being, so as not to cause extraneous branches." I turned around and asked Gao Sui in person. ”

Hou Haizuo said: "The minister understands. ”

Zhu Gaoxu said that he was walking around the Rouyi Palace, still remembering some things in his heart. Most of the time, he doesn't write down his thoughts, and once these thoughts are known to others, it is dangerous to keep them in his heart.

He had some judgments: Zheng Heyu's party, led by Wang Jinghong and Hou Xian, was fatally hit by his power and connections during the Hongxi Dynasty. Now the connections in the court don't seem to be very wide, at least the Shouyu Division doesn't buy Wang Jinghong and others at all.

Otherwise, Huang Yan, the sworn enemy of Wang Jinghong and others, would not be able to trade with the imperial court through the Northern Office of the Imperial Division. But as long as there is a way, Wang Jinghong and they will put Huang Yan in the pit of death.

Hou Hai's voice said: "The minister is ashamed that he failed to share his worries for the saint. ”

Zhu Gaoxu came back to his senses, turned around and saw Hou Hai still standing in the middle of the hall, so he said kindly: "You don't have to think about it, just looking at the report a few years ago is not too important. No man is born wise or learned? Then again, if even Hou Zuo's envoy is not reliable, who else can I rely on? ”

Hou Hai looked relieved, bowed down and said, "The minister will be conscientious and conscientious and work for the saint." ”

Zhu Gaoxu also felt for a while that the position above was really not easy to sit on. The key is to have a group of one's own people, so that only when you speak and make decisions can someone listen to them and make them; And you have to make a more realistic decision, otherwise you will get bad things.

At this time, Hou Hai said: "Please retire." ”

Zhu Gaoxu said: "Go and do your business." After a while, he watched Hou Hai's back disappear at the door of the Rouyi Palace.