At night, in the Forbidden City, Emperor Chongzhen looked down from the throne, watching Lan Tianbao and the three chamberlains "accompani" the old fritters who had finished writing the confession book and withdrew from the palace to wait for the decree, and then he looked down at the eight anonymous confessions presented.

Outside the main hall, the cold wind was whistling, and in the main hall, there was a "crackling" sound, and occasionally there was the sound of a wick burning. Other than that, there was basically no sound.

Chen Baoting and the other four chamberlains stood with their hands down, waiting in the hall, quietly waiting for the emperor's orders.

Today they have gained a lot of knowledge!

Usually for them, the eunuchs who are high up in charge of the seals are frozen outside for an hour, and then the emperor will let them do whatever they want, at least on the surface, they are obedient like sheep.

At this moment, they realized that in this palace, there was only one real tiger, and the others were just paper tigers!

Appreciated by the emperor, directly from the inner study hall to serve the emperor, this is his own great opportunity, no matter what, we must firmly seize this opportunity given by God!

When they were thinking about it, they suddenly heard a sneer from Emperor Chongzhen, and whispered to themselves: "Hehe, it's really still a group of old fritters!" ”

Vaguely hearing this, Chen Baoting and the others immediately held their breath, not daring to make the slightest sound that would affect the emperor's attention.

Emperor Chongzhen, who was on the throne, threw away the confession book in his hand and shook his head after finishing speaking. He can be regarded as suddenly isolating them and not giving them a chance to discuss, but the confessions of each of them are all things that avoid the important and trivial.

Speaking of which, I'm just fooling myself. A very simple thing is enough to show that these palm seal eunuchs did not write all the illegal things in the palace that they knew.

For example, Emperor Chongzhen didn't believe it, and Xue Guoguan, an assistant minister in the cabinet, knew that there was something wrong with Dongchang, and these eunuchs in the palace would not know? However, none of the eight palm seal eunuchs mentioned this. Obviously, if this matter is revealed, it is likely to implicate themselves in serious things!

The officialdom at the end of the Ming Dynasty was rotten! At the same time, in fact, the officialdom in the palace is also rotten. They cover each other, they can all do one look, and they can even join forces to deceive the emperor without even using a look.

Thinking of this, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but sneer.

If this is the case, for the original Chongzhen Emperor, he can't crack it, and the current Chongzhen Emperor has a way to break the situation.

For example, use today's anonymous reporting method to expand it to the eunuchs at the lower level, and even the eunuchs and chamberlains at the bottom. With so many people in the palace, there must be someone who will stab the emperor with the anonymity.

However, in this way, Emperor Chongzhen's experience in his previous life told him that if he really wanted to do this, there would be panic in the palace, and the scope would be too wide, and it would be difficult to do unexpected things, and there would be a situation that was difficult to clean up.

There is a certain truth in the so-called law not holding the people accountable. The striking surface must be narrowed within a controllable range so as not to cause a full-scale rebound.

Well, this time, I will take advantage of this matter to deal with Cao Huachun's matter first.

When Emperor Chongzhen thought of this, he opened his mouth and ordered: "Come on, burn these fire plates!" ”

The sound was a little loud, and a little could be faintly heard outside the hall. The eight palm print eunuchs waiting at the gate of the hall looked at each other and seemed to be a little surprised. They wonder that the emperor made such a big deal to ask them to write confessions, and then easily burned them? Don't you deal with the circumstances that come out of these confessions?

In his heart, he was puzzled, and because the four waiters who had just come out of the inner study hall were watching from the side, it was difficult to ask each other about the situation, so he could only wait quietly.

After a while, the emperor went out of the palace gate, obviously to set up a meal.

Seeing the eight palm print eunuchs at the door, Emperor Chongzhen smiled and said, "He is worthy of being my confidant to be able to report such an important situation." As long as this is the case, and I don't know who reported it, I will all pardon all eight of you for what happened before, and I don't have to worry that I will pursue it. ”

With that, he turned and walked away.

And when the eight palm seal eunuchs heard this, they were also clever people, but they didn't know whether to thank or deny it at this time?

Didn't the words of gratitude explain to others that there was something important that the emperor had reported himself? The way the emperor asked for anonymity to write before, and also burned the confession, and there is nothing to check can be found out at once, who can be found at once?

If someone is punished, as long as they don't die, they still have a chance to turn over, or they get holy grace, but they only give a verbal punishment, and the revenge that follows must be very severe, which is not what any of them want to see.

But if you don't thank you but deny that you wrote it, wouldn't you tell the emperor that you didn't report that important situation? Looking back, if it is related to yourself and conceals it and does not report it, it is not as simple as losing your holy grace!

In a dilemma, the eight of them were worthy of being the old fritters in the palace, and they all bowed down together to thank them. In this way, everything remains anonymous.

Emperor Chongzhen, who had already left, heard a neat voice of gratitude behind him, and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly, revealing a trace of disdain. Even if you are all monkey spirits, then I am the Buddha, see how you turn out my Five Finger Mountain!

Putting this matter behind him and looking up at the half moon in the sky, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but think of Lu Xiangsheng again. In the past half a day, he has combed through his memories of Lu Xiangsheng and found that some of the suggestions Lu Xiangsheng made before were very good proposals. It's a pity that it violated the interests of those with vested interests, and in the end, it was not promoted and insisted on by the original Emperor Chongzhen. Otherwise, at least Emperor Chongzhen wouldn't have hanged himself!

Thinking like this, he was even more desperate to hope that Lu Xiangsheng was okay. Looking up at the moon, he secretly said in his heart: I don't know my previous efforts, did I save him? I hope God willing, don't let yourself lose a really useful talent!

Emperor Chongzhen naturally didn't know that at this time, some people were working hard to save Lu Xiangsheng!

The sound of horses' hooves was hurried, and even when it reached Jize City, there was no slowdown. At the gate of the former county government and now the director, the rotating captain saw that the speed of the three horses was not reduced, and he couldn't help frowning, so he waved his hand and prepared to let people stop him.

However, the speed of these three horses is already in an instant.

The neighing sound sounded, and the war horse stopped in pain, and its front hooves stood up.

The knight on horseback rolled off the saddle almost at the same time and fell to the ground. When the other two knights behind him saw this, they hurriedly turned over and dismounted, trying to grab it and help him.

But the man had already gotten up from the ground, and before he could stand firmly, he stumbled towards the gate, and at the same time spewed white gas, and said loudly: "Xia Guan is Yang Tinglin, the head of the Ministry of War, and there is an urgent military situation to see the director!" ”

Hearing this, seeing the embarrassment of this civil official, the captain at the door couldn't help but be stunned. Then he came back to his senses, and without any hesitation, he stepped forward and stopped: "The director has rested, and there are no guests!" ”

When Yang Tinglin heard this, he stood up and looked at it fixedly, and found that it was not the captain during the day. But at this time, he didn't care about this, and shouted loudly: "Emergency military situation, the subordinate must meet the director, and please pass it on!" ”

Remembering that the comrade on duty during the day was reprimanded by the superintendent, the captain immediately shook his head and replied: "At this time, the night is dark, and there are no visitors!" Otherwise, it will affect the superintendent's handling of military affairs tomorrow, and no one can bear this responsibility! ”

In fact, Gao Qiqian has already explained, and all the things about Lu Xiangsheng's side have been blocked. And Yang Tinglin had been here during the day, so they naturally knew what he was here for, so they naturally blocked him from seeing him.

Yang Tinglin had already made up his mind to come, but when he heard it, he was willing to take a break, his eyes widened angrily, and he let go.