Now there is silence in the entire hall of the Qianqing Palace, and unlike the noise of the vegetable market just now, even the sound of a needle falling on the ground can be clearly heard.

After receiving the news from his godbrother Ma Cheng, You Er, the harem steward and eunuch, hurriedly put down everything in his hand and rushed to the harem to deliver a letter to Ma Hongning. Of course, this is not that You Er really regards Ma Cheng as a brother, nor is it that Ma Cheng's 1,000 taels of silver to You Er has played a role, but that Ma Cheng's identity has risen, and his son Ma Shiying has become the first assistant.

You Er is a good eunuch with ideals and no morals, so he naturally doesn't want to eat and wait for death in the harem, Lu Jiude and Han Zanzhou will fall one day sooner or later, You Er also wants to take over the two of them and enter the ceremonial supervisor, so he is so concerned about Ma Cheng's affairs.

After You Er saw Ma Hongning, he told Ma Cheng about it, and at that time, the matter was urgent, and Ma Cheng didn't tell the little eunuch in detail, but just asked him to inform You Er, so You Er didn't know the details of the matter, only that the emperor sent Jinyi Guard to arrest Ma Cheng.

Although Ma Hongning is in his twenties, after all, he doesn't know anything about officialdom. In Ma Hongning's heart, Jinyiwei are all a bunch of wealthy wolves, tigers and leopards, and his former father-in-law and husband are very afraid of these Jinyiwei, is it okay for his younger brother to fall into their hands now?

Ma Hongning hurriedly spun around in place, and asked You Er: "Father-in-law You, what do you think about this matter?" ”

Although You Er's ideals are quite high, he entered the celebrant to become a palm seal eunuch, but he is a eunuch with a cleaning background who has never read at all, and naturally there is no city government, listening to Ma Hongning say this, he thought about it and said: "Little mother, now the second prince is at the sage's place, and the most important thing at present is to invite the sage over, so that he can speak!" ”

Ma Hongning heard You Er say this and hurriedly asked: "Yes, what is the way to invite the emperor?" ”

You Er looked at Ma Hongning and said: "Then the little lady will have to suffer a little, only if the little lady puts on a look of hanging herself to save her brother, the saint can come over in person." ”

This is simple, although Ma Hongning resents Ma Cheng in his heart, but Ma Cheng is his own brother who he watched grow up after all, and now that his brother is killed, can he see death or not? So Ma Hongning made the illusion of hanging himself with the help of You Er, and then asked You Er to hurry up and inform the emperor to know.

You Er knelt on the ground and listened to the silence in the hall, looked up at Zhu Yousong slightly, and found that the fat emperor was sitting on the dragon chair in a daze.

Zhu Yousong is recorded in the history of the Ming Dynasty in later generations, although this person may be stupid but definitely not stupid. Just now he heard that Ma Cheng had framed Xu Jiujue, and he really wanted to kill this nonsense guy for the first time. But after Ma Hongning's trouble, Zhu Yousong calmed down, thinking about it, this matter was flawed from beginning to end.

Regardless of whether what Ma Cheng said was true or not, no matter how stupid Xu Jiujue was, he would never dare to say the phrase "King of the Seven Poisons" in public. In addition to the time when Ma Hongning hanged himself, it was too coincidental, Ma Cheng hanged himself half an hour after entering the palace, and no one reported the news, Zhu Yousong absolutely did not believe it.

In addition, Zhu Yousong knows Ma Cheng very well, and he can make a trick of crying and fainting in Fengyang, and today this matter must be Xu Jiujue who offended him for some reason, so he wanted to use means to kill Xu Jiujue by the emperor's hand.

Zhu Yousong figured it out and naturally didn't want to be Ma Cheng's tool, but Zhu Yousong didn't want to spare Xu Jiujue. The reason is very simple, at that time, Xu Hongji, the Duke of Wei, was ready to support King Lu to ascend the throne. After Zhu Yousong ascended the throne, although he used Ma Shiying's hand to push the power in Xu Hongji's hands to the end, how could Zhu Yousong swallow this breath? It's just that this Xu Hongji's identity is the founding duke, and there is nothing to rebel against him. But now that it's okay, Ma Cheng has prepared the knife to be delivered to himself, so can Zhu Yousong let go of this opportunity to clean up Xu Hongji?

Thinking of this, Zhu Yousong said angrily: "Xu Jiujue, look at what you are doing?" Do you think you're damned? ”

Xu Jiujue saw that the emperor's body was like chaff in anger and fright, and he hurriedly kowtowed again and again and begged for mercy: "Your Majesty, the minister really didn't say it!" ”

"You still don't admit it? Good! Come on, go and pass on Xu Hongji, the Duke of Wei, I want him to see what his good son is like? ”

The emperor asked Xu Hongji to pass the message, but the little eunuch who passed the decree didn't go to the palace gate when he saw Xu Hongji, the Duke of Wei, hurrying over.

The Mansion of Wei is not too far from the Confucius Temple, and Xu Jiujue has already gone back to report such a big incident on the street. Xu Hongji listened to his son and other people fighting and was caught in the palace to hang out of anger, Xu Hongji has been very unhappy with Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng for the matter of supporting the establishment in the past few months, plus Xu Hongji sympathizes with the Donglin Party, so he naturally looks down on Ma Ruan and the two who were born in the eunuch party. But people are now gaining power, so Xu Hongji instructed his sons to keep a low profile and never stab him again. Love Book House

Now that Xu Hongji heard that his eldest son had stabbed Lou Zi into the palace, he was naturally angry to death. However, Xu Hongji didn't pay much attention to it, although he did not support Zhu Yousong at that time, but after all, Wei Guogong was the head of Nanjing's nobles, as long as it was not a major crime of rebellion, the emperor naturally had nothing to do with his Xu family.

But when he met the little eunuch at the gate of the palace, Xu Hongji was half frightened to death after learning that his son said those nonsense.

However, Xu Hongji is worthy of being an old bureaucrat in the officialdom, after careful analysis after the initial panic, he found that the emperor was not really angry, it was very simple, if the emperor really wanted to clean him up, it was not the little eunuch in the palace who was sent to deliver the decree, but the brocade guard with a torture instrument in his hand.

Seeing that he still had a glimmer of life, Xu Hongji trembled and followed the little eunuch to the Qianqing Palace to meet Zhu Yousong, the Hongguang Emperor.

Seeing Xu Hongji enter the palace and kowtow, Zhu Yousong snorted coldly and asked, "Wei Guogong, it seems that you are still a little dissatisfied with the succession of the Great Unification?" ”

Zhu Yousong's words were very serious, Xu Hongji hurriedly kowtowed and said: "Your Majesty, the minister definitely doesn't have that thought!" This is all someone slandering and slandering the ministers! ”

Ma Cheng heard Xu Hongji say this and scolded: "Fart, Xu Hongji! Your son is a waste second ancestor, the upper beam is not right, the lower beam is crooked, it must be your son who heard you say at home that your majesty is the king of the seven poisons to learn! ”

Xu Hongji knew that this kid was Ma Shiying's son Ma Cheng, but he didn't expect that this kid was the same as his old son, he was a black-hearted and rotten ass* person, and he couldn't deal with himself, so he attacked his son. But what kind of character is Xu Hongji, where can he be frightened by a little Ma Cheng?

Xu Hongji looked at Ma Cheng and said coldly: "Ma Cheng, you are a little chief soldier who is not qualified to accuse this official, your father Ma Shiying is almost here, you are not enough to see!" ”

Seeing that Xu Hongji looked down on himself, Ma Cheng was so angry that he secretly cursed in his heart that sooner or later he would kill your whole family.

Zhu Yousong waved his hand to stop Xu Hongji and Ma Cheng from fighting, and said to Xu Hongji: "You said someone slandered you? Okay, I'll give you this opportunity, can you explain, why did your son say that? Did you listen to you at home? ”

Xu Hongji calmed down, and then said: "Your Majesty, now that the throne is determined, the minister is His Majesty's courtier, so dare the minister say those rebellious words?" What's more, the minister is the head of the nobles of the southern capital, and the fame and wealth of the minister are all given by His Majesty, so can the minister destroy his future? Although the son of the minister is stupid, he will not dare to say such rebellious words in front of the public if he is given a hundred dares, so someone must have framed my father and son! ”

Xu Hongji is not an old fritter, a few words are all on the point, the first point is that now Zhu Yousong is now the emperor, I, Xu Hongji, am your courtier, where do you dare to say those words? The second point shows that your identity and status are all given by the emperor, and if you oppose your emperor, you can't get along with your own wealth. The third point shows that his son is not a fool who has read books, and he can say the words of the King of the Seven Poisons in front of so many people, so there must be someone who is making trouble in this and framing my father and son.

These words not only praised Zhu Yousong but also proved himself, Zhu Yousong nodded after listening to it, he also knew that Ma Cheng must be making trouble in today's incident. But today, Zhu Yousong wants to use this incident to beat the dishonest noble, so the death penalty can be avoided, and the living crime will have to be suffered.

Zhu Yousong said in a deep voice: "That's good, I believe you, but after your son is a meritorious hero, he fights on the street, how can such a person be the son of the world?" I now remove Xu Jiujue from the position of prince and succeed him by Xu Hongji's second son! Xu Hongji, the Duke of Wei, had no way to teach his son, and was fined 50,000 taels of silver! Are you convinced? ”

Xu Hongji breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that he was only fined silver today, he was worried about whether he would be able to get out of the palace alive, but he didn't expect the emperor to punish him so lightly. The Wei State has a great business, and there are hundreds of shops in the city, and 50,000 taels of silver is really like a drop in the bucket.

Seeing that Xu Hongji was willing to take the silver to atone for his sins, Zhu Yousong was in a very good mood, and waved his hand to let everyone in the palace go down. Ma Cheng saw that today's original plan was very good, and seeing that Xu Jiujue was about to lose his head, he didn't expect this guy to escape again. Ma Cheng sighed in his heart, it seems that this guy's life should not be extinguished.

Ma Cheng was just about to walk out of the gate of the Qianqing Palace, when he heard Zhu Yousong say: "Ma Cheng, wait a minute, I have something to ask you!" ”

Ma Cheng had no choice but to return to the palace again, Zhu Yousong and the others left and said with a smile: "Ma Cheng, you kid is ruthless enough, how did Xu Jiujue provoke you, you have to kill him?" ”

Ma Chenglai in later generations, there is no concept of respect and inferiority of the Ming Dynasty people in his heart, and he likes to talk to Zhu Yousong's peers when there is no one in Huai'an and Fengyang. Zhu Yousong has no scheming, and he doesn't have much knowledge in addition, so he likes this brother-in-law very much. Now that there is no one in the hall, it is natural to ask why the brother-in-law killed Xu Jiujue.