In the distance, the sound of drums broke the dead silence of the East Warm Pavilion.

The eunuch Wang Gui cautiously spoke: "This matter can only be said to be an accidental fire?" ”

Zhang Sheng said in a deep voice: "I'm afraid that no one will believe it." According to the signs written in the newspaper, the fire in the 'Easy City' smelled of tung oil, and the water tanks for the fire were all broken! It doesn't look like an accident at all. There are soldiers, officials, and servants involved in the firefighting, not only our people, it is impossible to hide the truth; I think that eunuch Wu Zhong is very suspicious, so it is better to push it on him! ”

Wang Gui sighed and said, "This is still not credible!" Everyone in the world knows that the family of the abolished prince was sent to Fengyang Shouling by the emperor; The emperor was in charge of the court again, and arranged for people to watch in Fengyang. Let's say that the death of the abolished prince's family in murder makes people even more suspicious! It is also said that a eunuch did it under the noses of our people, so who instructed it? I'm afraid there are no three hundred taels of silver here! ”

Zhu Gaoxu's heart was as irritable and annoyed as a fire, but he didn't have a seizure. Or because of the troubles and crises encountered over the years, there are too many!

His rough palms rubbed back and forth on his forehead and cheeks, as if he wanted to rub the skin off!

After the two people around him talked, he didn't stop them, but felt that Wang Gui and Zhang Sheng had some truth in what they said.

After a while, Zhu Gaoxu finally stopped his trivial actions and said coldly: "Now, it is impossible to make everyone in the world believe it. The most important question is, who do you want to believe? ”

As soon as he opened his mouth, Zhang Sheng and Wang Gui both stopped, looking thoughtful.

Zhu Gaoxu also pondered for a while, and the surroundings were very quiet. But he seems to have hallucinated and can faintly hear the sound of a "tick-tock" clock in his mind! Time was indeed passing, but the sound was not, it was all his imagination.

Sitting in a quiet and luxurious palace, this is not a battlefield, but Zhu Gaoxu feels like a battlefield at this time!

"Timing is important, it's fleeting! There is no time to delay. Zhu Gaoxu suddenly spoke, he patted lightly on the imperial case, his eyes were fixed, and he made up his mind, "Immediately convene the ministers to discuss the matter!" Asked all the ministers to be scholars, squires, temples, royal families in Beijing, and princes and marquis to go to the Wuying Hall to discuss matters. ”

Zhu Gaoxu paused and said: "Those who haven't left the imperial city yet, tell them to go straight to the Wuying Palace; Those who have already gone home on duty, send someone to those people's houses to give an order! ”

The two of them bowed together and said, "Obey!" ”

When the ministers arrived at Wuyingdian one after another, and Zhu Gaoxu also took a sedan chair, it was already dark.

However, at this time, the streets of the palace and inside and outside the palace were lit up, and the surroundings were brilliantly lit.

The main hall of Wuying Hall has been changed into the office of the cabinet, but the throne above is still there, and no one sits on it. When Zhu Gaoxu walked into the main hall, he saw that there were already dozens of people inside.

Everyone bowed down and hugged their fists to face Zhu Gaoxu, just waiting for him to go up and sit down, and then salute.

But Zhu Gaoxu did not go to the throne. He took out the secret letter from his sleeve pocket, first handed it to the official next to him, Shangshu Jianyi, and then said straight to the point: "My eldest brother, I have been killed in the fire of the Imperial City of Zhongdu!" ”

I didn't expect that the sound of talking just now suddenly disappeared together.

Dozens of people present became silent!

"All of them are dead, including my eldest brother's wife and concubine and son." Zhu Gaoxu continued, "What happened late last night, that is, on the night of April 26. This morning, the people who stayed behind in the central capital wrote a chapter and sent it to Beijing in an expedited manner for 800 miles. I had just received an urgent report, and I heard the drum beat of the unitary hour. Let's circulate the newspaper first. ”

Still no one spoke, and there was a dead silence in the hall. Zhu Gaoxu didn't go up to sit, but just stood in the north, very close to everyone. His gaze lingered slightly on Xincheng Hou Zhangfu's face for a moment.

Zhang Fu is one of the generals of the Northern Expedition, and he has not left Beijing at this time. At this time, his expression was very serious, and there were a few vertical lines between his eyebrows, but he couldn't see any other emotions other than that. The people summoned today are all civil and military officials, all of whom are in power, and they are indeed calmer and calmer than ordinary people, and no one is noisy.

Gradually, there was a whisper in the hall, probably a simple conversation between the person who delivered the letterhead.

Because there are a lot of people, everyone consciously doesn't read it for too long when they read the secret letter, and quickly reads the content and passes it on to the next person. Rao is like this, and it took a long time for everyone to circulate it.

People are waiting and thinking, and at this time, no one is talking to Zhu Gaoxu in front of him.

When the eunuch Wang Gui sent back the crumpled letterhead, Zhu Gaoxu spoke: "Heaven and earth, ancestors and ancestors, this matter is not my doing!" It's not my bidding! ”

Some of the civil and military officers who were buried in their heads looked up at Zhu Gaoxu one after another, and some of them even showed confused expressions on their faces.

Zhu Gaoxu pointed to Zhang Sheng, the commander of the Jinyi Guard, and Wang Gui, the eunuch of the ceremonial eunuch, and said: "Except for the officials who stayed behind in the central capital, the people who took care of the 'waste prince' were all the people of the Jinyi Guard and the celebrant eunuch. I swear by the heavens, at least the heavens, the spirits of the ancestors and fathers in the heavens, and the people of the brocade guards must know the truth. ”

Suddenly, there was a sound of talking and discussion in the main hall, and it seemed that some people soon believed it in their hearts.

After all, whether this matter was instructed by the emperor or not, the lackeys of Jinyiwei and the celebrant must know about it! Under the surveillance and guard of so many people in the Zhongdu Left-behind Division, if you want to kill the prince's family, someone must deploy, prepare, and act, and it is impossible to hide things from everyone! As Zhu Gaoxu said, the brocade guards and the celebrant should know.

Zhu Gaoxu, as the Son of Heaven and the grandson of Taizu, spoke to heaven and ancestors; If it is false, and someone knows about it...... Not really! After all, all the ministers know in their hearts that the abolished prince has completely failed, and it is difficult to survive!

"Judging from the report, there was a fire last night and someone is suspected of setting it on fire." Zhu Gaoxu said, "I have decided to send the officials of the Dali Temple, the Criminal Department, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate, as well as the commander of the Jinyi Guard, to set off early tomorrow morning and go to Zhongdu to find out the truth!" ”

At this moment, Hu Hu, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, said: "Holy Lord, the minister thinks it is impossible!" If it is publicized to the world, and the abolished prince is murdered by arson, there will be rumors in the world. ”

For a while, there was a lot of discussion in the hall, and it finally became lively.

Previously, there were only two people around Dong Nuan Pavilion and Zhu Gaoxu, and they also had disagreements on how to declare this matter; At this time, there were dozens of people in the Wuying Palace, and it was even more difficult to talk about them together, and people's opinions were different.

Zhu Gaoxu raised his head and made a gesture to make the ministers quiet a little. With a sad face, he said with a straight face: "Although the abolished prince is guilty, he is still me

My father's son-in-law, my brother-in-law. This matter must not be concealed, and it must be found out in full view of the facts, and an explanation must be given to the royal family! I have made up my mind, you don't need to persuade you! ”

Suddenly, a voice said, "Holy Wisdom! ”

Zhu Gaoxu and the ministers all looked at each other, and they were all surprised. Because the person who spoke turned out to be Zhang Fu, the Marquis of Xincheng!

Zhang Fu's daughter and grandson, those are all victims; After all, it was said in the report that all six members of Zhu Gaochi's family died, including the "concubine" Zhang and her son. No wonder everyone was so surprised.

Everyone was surprised and had different expressions. When some officials looked at each other coldly, they faintly showed a look of disdain; seems to suspect that Zhang Fu doesn't even care about his relatives for the sake of wealth.

But Zhang Fu calmly looked at him, and said loudly and solemnly: "It is absolutely impossible for this matter to be related to the Holy Lord and the ministers that the Holy Lord relies on!" ”

He looked back and said: "During the 'Battle of Jingnan', the minister knew the Shengshang, and in the battle of Annan in the Yongle period, the ministers fought side by side with the Shengshang, and they knew the Shengshang's personality very well, and they were the masters who planned and then moved, so they were able to destroy the Annan Kingdom in a few months!" The timing and strategy of the Holy Lord's affairs are as stable as Mount Tai, and it is impossible to be as hasty as last night's incident.

It is a great sin to depose the crown prince. Even if there were people in the palace who wanted to persuade the Holy Lord to cure him, it should not be this time (not long after he ascended the throne, on the eve of weakening the military power of the vassal king and launching a large-scale northern expedition), let alone do it so ugly. ”

Zhang Fu paused for a moment and continued: "If the Jinyi Guard or the eunuchs in the palace are ordered, why would they give the left-behind officials and soldiers a chance to witness it? What about the obvious signs of arson written in this recital? The matter is so obvious, so only stupid people will have different hearts and mouths, and doubt the Holy God behind their backs! ”

As he said this, his voice gradually choked, and his eyes were red. His grief was palpable and sincere, and he didn't seem to be pretending at all. He choked up: "I am a father who watched his own daughter die unexpectedly, so young...... The white-haired person sends the black-haired person, can the princes know that I am sad? ”

Zhang Fu suddenly "pounced" and knelt on the ground, crying: "When my father died, the minister was the head of the family, and he promised to take care of his family in front of his father's spirit, and it is even more of his duty to protect his relatives. Please find out the real culprit in order to comfort the soul of the father's father and the little daughter in heaven. ”

Liu Sheng first went up to persuade Zhang Fujie to mourn and change, and soon many civil and military people said good things. After all, it was Zhang Fu's daughter who died, and no matter who it was, it was hard to say anything.

Zhu Gaoxu stepped forward to help Zhang Fu, he looked at Zhang Fu's eyes movingly, and said sincerely: "Xinchenghou, rest assured, I will do official business and severely punish the villains!" I have only been on the throne for a few months, and there were only some cronies of the Han Palace, so it is impossible for me to have so many officials in the Three Law Divisions, all of whom are my private individuals; Let all the officials go to investigate together, and they will be able to make it clear and give justice to the deceased! ”

When he said this, he also said with a sad face: "I and my eldest brother were both born to my father and queen mother, and we grew up together, no matter whether I am morally right or wrong, I can't give up my brotherly love......

"Holy Day mourning, will rest the dragon body!" Someone hastened to persuade.

All the ministers knelt on the ground and said, "Holy Feast! ”

Zhu Gaoxu hid his face and said: "The Three Law Divisions and Jinyiwei prepared overnight, and they will leave as soon as possible tomorrow, and the real culprit must be identified!" ”

https:

1 second to remember Aishang:. Mobile version reading URL: m.