Zhao Mingting rushed to the front hall with Empress Xu, Niu Gengru and others in a panic.

The crown prince Yang Yuanwu and Wen Duqiao, the young eunuch of the Inner Servant Province Chen Xingmo and others personally stared here.

Seeing Empress Xu and others rushing over, Yang Yuanwu came out in a bit of a panic and said, "Queen Mother, my father and emperor have died!" ”

"What's the panic? The old thief is dead, don't you just rightfully inherit the throne? Empress Xu frowned slightly, stared at the overwhelmed prince Yang Yuanwu and said, and walked straight to the dormitory.

Zhao Mingting saw Wen Duqiao squeezing his brows at Niu Gengru, thinking that with Wen Duqiao's old spiciness, he probably secretly felt that the situation at this time was much more complicated than they expected, very tricky, and if it was not handled well, the good situation would collapse, right?

Zhao Mingting followed and walked in, only to see that on the brocade couch in the inner dormitory, His Majesty was lying there, his face was gray, there was a piece of black blood on the yellow silk embroidered dragon quilt, and he couldn't see some ups and downs of breathing, and his deep-seated eye sockets were tightly closed, he should be dead, but the corners of his mouth were slightly upturned, no matter how he looked at it, it looked like a weird smile, which made Zhao Mingting shudder, and he really couldn't guess what His Majesty was thinking about when he was about to die.

Empress Xu's thin body, standing in front of the dragon couch, motionless as a sculpture.

Zhao Mingting, Niu Gengru, Wen Duqiao, and the crown prince Yang Yuanwu and Chen Xingmo stood behind Empress Xu, and saw the flesh on the back of Empress Xu's cheeks twitching gently, and he didn't know if she was angry at the strange smile on His Majesty's face after his death.

They didn't dare to step forward to see if His Majesty's breath was really completely cut off.

After a long time, Xu Houhou turned around and gritted his teeth and said hideously: "Passing on my edict, I said that the adulterous concubine Mrs. Wang, secretly communicated with Changhou Li Pu, and the ugly matter was exposed, and the dog jumped over the wall in a hurry, and colluded with Xinchang Hou Li Pu to harm His Majesty and escaped from the palace ......"

Niu Gengru and Wen Duqiao glanced at each other, thinking that the other party was the first to spread the word to the world, and they could only stitch each other, and continue to muddy the water to confuse the public.

"Lord Wen, you went to see Yang En in person, said that the old thief had died, and asked him if he wanted to see the Yang family in Jinling City fall to the ground one by one. If he doesn't want to, the mourning family won't force him to do anything, as long as he obediently rolls back to the house to drink and chant poetry, and doesn't jump out to cause trouble for us," Xu Hou said, "Lord Niu, you will send Shi Yandao and Yang Tai to summon Shi Yandao and Yang Tai into the palace again." If they are willing to assist Wu'er and help prepare for the enthronement ceremony, the six departments will continue to be led by Shi Yandao in the future, and the affairs of the clan will continue to be controlled by Yang Tai. If they are unwilling, they will arrest their wives and concubines, their children, nephews, and grandchildren, and kill them one by one in front of them, until they are willing to bow their heads - Zhao Mingting, you escort me out of the city to see Yang Jian, the Marquis of Zhenyuan! ”

"......" Wen Duqiao and Niu Gengru were all shocked and persuaded, "Yang Jian will take over the family and leave the city in the afternoon, even if he does not collude with Han Daoxun, Li Pu, and Wang Wenqian, he has already shown his attitude towards closing the camp......"

"What can he do, kill such an old woman who is about to fall into the ground?" Empress Xu's cloudy old eyes suddenly became fierce at this time, staring at Wen Duqiao and Niu Gengru and said, "If we could have thought that it was today's situation, we should have done it when Shen He was poisoned and died, instead of delaying it for another three or four months, so that the would have three or four more months to prepare in Tanzhou......"

Wen Duqiao and Niu Gengru did not dare to refute.

In hindsight, it was an extremely bad mistake for them to delay for three or four months, so that many things were out of their control, but if it weren't for the last resort, who would kill the king and usurp the throne, and since ancient times, how many usurpers could have a good end?

Wen Duqiao and Zhu Gengru looked at each other, thinking about it, whether they could win over Yang Jian, the Marquis of Zhenyuan, at this time, was indeed the key winner who would determine the future trend of the situation in Dachu.

Yang Jian controls the most powerful water division in Great Chu, and his choice will directly determine the next development of the situation in Jinling City.

Even if Xu Zhu led his troops over, he was not sure that he would be able to storm Qiuhu Mountain in a short period of time, and the confrontation might drag on for ten days and half a month.

At this time, Yang Jian led the Lou Boat Army to help there, the soldiers and horses of Chuzhou could cross the river at any time and meet the thieves in Qiuhu Mountain in the fastest time, and the Dragon Bird Army of the Three Princes could also go down the river without any scruples, and it may not take ten days, and tens of thousands of troops can be drawn to Jinling City.

In comparison, if the soldiers and horses of Shouzhou want to cross the river on a large scale, it will become extremely difficult.

Win Yang Jian over, the situation will be reversed, and help them completely control Jinling City, and it will become difficult for the soldiers and horses of Chuzhou to cross the river, and the Longque army will not dare to go down the river unscrupulously.

The Yangtze River, which is wide from more than ten miles to dozens of miles in the middle and lower reaches, is a natural danger on which Jinling City depends, and even if the situation is extremely bad, it can ensure that it is difficult for the Liang army to attack the prefectures and counties on the south bank of the Yangtze River in a short time.

"It's just ......" Wen Duqiao and Niu Gengru still felt that it was too dangerous for Empress Xu to go out of the city in person, and said, "Maybe let's go out of the city?" ”

"Just what?" Empress Xu looked at everyone with sharp eyes, and said, "You go, it is impossible to gain Yang Jian's trust, the mourning family can't go into battle to kill the enemy, if you don't show your head again, it's really useless." After Wu'er ascended the throne, the mourning family and the ministers established Fen'er as the prince, this great Chu Jiangshan is still surnamed the Yang family, the mourning family in the past, just to give him this guarantee, is it possible that Yang Jian really hopes that the Yang family will be wiped out? ”

"What is Han Do-hoon going to do?" Niu Gengru asked.

"Send someone to see him, if he is willing to write a letter of guilt and denounce the slut of Cishou Palace, he will leave his life for the time being—but, believing that he is not afraid of death, then bring him another glass of wine," Xu Hou's old face that looked stiff with lead powder, at this time his eyelids twitched slightly, and his cloudy old eyes revealed resentment and ruthlessness, but he said in an extremely calm tone, "No matter how mysterious he is, he can't be used by the mourning family, and staying can only be a bane!" ”

Listening to Empress Xu's cold tone, the crown prince Yang Yuanwu, Niu Gengru, Wen Duqiao, Zhao Mingting and others all felt a chill coming out of their bodies, but they didn't know if this chill was born for the resentment in Empress Xu's words, or for Han Daoxun's unsparing tricks......

…………

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The Inner Servant Province is located on the east side of the Qiuyang Palace, and it is used to deal with those unruly eunuchs and palace maids in the palace.

In addition to imprisoning and executing eunuchs and palace maids who committed crimes, in the sixteen years since the founding of the Great Chu, there have been 800 eunuchs and palace maids who have been directly killed with canes in this class.

The blood penetrated into the brick cracks on the floor, accumulating over time, every time Zhou Bin, the warden of the Inner Government Bureau, walked into the class courtyard, he could feel an unspeakable filth permeating the air, and he couldn't help but feel a chill enveloping his heart, making people want to escape; This time was no exception.

In such a place, if someone commits a crime and is sent over for detention or torture, there are usually two supervisors with more than a dozen young eunuchs in Tsing Yi such as the secretary to guard, which is very leisurely, after all, the palace is strictly controlled, and it is not every day that someone does not dare to open his eyes to commit crimes.

Today, it is heavily guarded, in addition to the previous head and secretary's room, the inside and outside of the class courtyard are full of guards and guards transferred from the Anning Palace and the East Palace; In the more than 20 prison cells, it was also overcrowded today, and more than 400 eunuchs, large and small, who were not trusted by the Anning Palace, were all imprisoned one after another in the afternoon, filling every small cell to the brim.

Zhang Xinchun, the provincial supervisor of the old Longzhong, was sitting in the courtyard of the class courtyard at the moment, with a small quilt on his thighs, the rising sun shining on his body, the weather was not as cold as in the early morning, he snored slightly, but at the moment when Zhou Bin walked into the class courtyard, Zhang Xinchun, who was like a sick cat, suddenly opened his eyes and looked over, and a trace of sharp essence flashed in his eyes, like a hungry beast that would pounce at any time.

Zhou Bin knew that Zhang Xinchun was the real powerful person around Xu Hou, but he was too old in the past two years, like a beast with lost teeth.

Zhou Bin didn't know why Zhang Xinchun, who was nearly eighty years old and too old to walk, could give him such a strong sense of oppression, and his eyes revealed a majesty and fierceness that seemed to be able to tear people into pieces at any time.

Zhang Xinchun has served three generations of Xu family heads.

When the Guangling Jiedu Embassy was incorporated into Huainan, Emperor Tianyou did not have the habit of privately using eunuchs in the Inner Mansion at that time, and later Zhang Xinchun led the eunuchs privately raised by the Guangling Jiedu Embassy, and assisted Xu Hou to support the Inner Mansion of the Huainan Jiefu Embassy.

Zhang Xinchun can be said to be the core backbone of Anning Palace, except for Empress Xu.

Zhang Xinchun has been frail and sick in recent years, and his body has almost been squeezed dry by the ruthless years, as if he will die at any time, but it is precisely that he can survive and not die.

Zhang Xinchun usually doesn't ask much about the affairs of the palace except for the occasional report to the Anning Palace, but Emperor Tianyou has never been able to ask Zhang Xinchun to step down from his position as the provincial supervisor and retire with peace of mind.

After the palace change, Zhang Xinchun didn't have the energy to run around, he handed over the opportunity to serve Empress Xu and the crown prince to him, and brought out a few apprentices who are now in high positions in the inner court, and he himself stayed in this class where prisoners were held to sit in person.

Zhou Bin also knows the importance of guarding this place.

They can remove a group of guards from the palace, but there is no way to replace all the palace maids and eunuchs in the more than 8,000 palaces.

The vast majority of low-level eunuchs and palace maids follow the crowd, and they are usually under the absolute leadership of middle and high-level eunuchs.

Therefore, if one of the more than 400 middle-level and high-ranking eunuchs who were imprisoned in the Banyuan in the afternoon complained about the injustice of Emperor Tianyou, they might stir up some waves if they escaped.

Keeping all unreliable middle and high-ranking eunuchs in close custody is the key to ensuring that there is no accident in the palace; Zhang Xinchun didn't have the energy to run around, so he personally guarded here.

"Zhou Changshi," Zhang Xinchun opened his eyes, stood there and arched his hand towards Zhou Bin, which was regarded as a courtesy, and saw the wine jugs and wine glasses in the tray held by the two Tsing Yi eunuchs behind Zhou Bin, stood up lazily, and said, "You came over to send Han Daoxun on the road?" ”

"I came here to do things on the instructions of the queen. Under the persuasion of Lord Zhang, is Han Daoxun willing to be used by the new emperor? Zhou Bin asked.

"......" Zhang Xinchun smiled slightly, and didn't say whether he had persuaded Han Daoxun, and said, "How can there be such a person in this world who is so resourceful and scheming?" According to my old fool, most of you are scaring yourself, but if you can get rid of it as soon as possible, it will save you a lot of long nights and dreams - he is imprisoned in the upper left room, Zhou Chang will take someone with you yourself, and I will not accompany you. ”

Zhang Xinchun said this, and Zhou Bin motioned to the eunuch behind him to follow him with wine.

Zhang Xinchun hesitated for a while, and said to Zhou Bin: "Zhou Changjie, you wait first, Han Daoxun is also the number one person, just kill him quietly in the palace, and it seems that he has not been able to play his role - you wait here first, and I will come when I go." ”

Zhou Bin was slightly stunned, he didn't know what tricks Zhang Xinchun wanted to play, did he want to drag Han Daoxun out and kill him in the city?

Zhou Bin kept his identity, stood there and said, "Everything is under the orders of Master Zhang. He motioned to the eunuch behind him to stand in the courtyard with a wine jug in his hand, waiting for Zhang Xinchun to run to Chongwen Hall to see Queen Xu.