The moment Qi Ning stood up, he knew that the Sima family would inevitably target himself from now on.

But he knew better in his heart that if he was afraid today and allowed Sima to set off a big case, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Sima's next purge will inevitably be extremely bloody, and take this opportunity, but all forces that pose any threat to Sima's will be subjected to a bloody purge.

Qi Ning understands even more that if no one stands up today, then the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty will definitely be silent about the Sima family, and the dominance of the Sima family will inevitably be formed.

Standing up by himself, although he will become a thorn in the side of the Sima clan, at least it will make the courtiers clear that after King Huainan, not no one dares to resist the Sima clan.

Qi Ning knew that his foundation in the court was still shallow, and he saw the situation clearly today, knowing that not all the courtiers were willing to be at the mercy of the Sima clan, at least the group of ministers who had a close relationship with the king of Huainan before were resentful of the Sima clan, and standing up by himself would naturally make the people of the king of Huainan regard him as a savior.

Qi Ning had only weighed for a long time, and knew that if he was afraid and did not dare to come out, then he would lose a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and if he wanted to fight against the Sima clan in the future, he would definitely have more than enough strength but not enough strength, but after he stood up, the more he confronted the Sima clan, the more he would get the favor of the officials under the king of Huainan and win a lot of strength.

Su Yu stood up and confirmed the conjecture in Qi Ning's heart.

The sacrificial ceremony lasted until the afternoon, originally according to the previous plan, the emperor and the hundred officials should stay in the imperial tomb for one night, but such a major event happened today, after the sacrifice, Longtai immediately issued an order to return to the capital immediately.

The Black Knife Battalion and the Black Scale Battalion did not return to the camp separately, but followed the Holy Driver back to Beijing together, and it was not until they arrived outside the capital in the middle of the night that the two teams of men and horses stayed outside the city, and only waited until the Dragon Driver entered the capital, and then they went separately.

Since the emperor went to the imperial tomb yesterday, the capital began to implement a curfew, so when entering the capital, the entire capital was silent, Chi Fengdian transferred a part of the troops to escort a cadre of prisoners to the prison, and then escorted the holy car into the imperial city with hundreds of officials.

After the ministers sent the emperor directly into the imperial city, they each returned, Qi Ning was about to return to the house, Chi Fengdian had already come over, and said in a low voice: "Master Hou, the emperor has a decree, announce that you will enter the palace immediately." ”

Qi Ning knew the little emperor's thoughts, followed Chi Fengdian into the palace, arrived at the imperial study, and before he entered, he heard a crackling sound inside, Qi Ning frowned slightly, and cautiously probed in, only to see Longtai grab the things at hand and smash them to the ground angrily.

Qi Ning sighed secretly in his heart, knowing that the little emperor had been holding back today, but after all, he was young, and after returning to the palace, the anger in his heart poured out.

Longtai saw Qi Ning standing at the door, and did not speak, sitting on the chair with a cold and terrible face.

Qi Ning stepped closer, the little emperor glanced at him, gritted his teeth and said, "Qi Ning, if the Black Scale Battalion hadn't arrived in time today, would Sima Lan's old thief kill me?" ”

Qi Ning said softly: "Your Majesty, although Sima Lan is ambitious, he doesn't dare to do anything to you at the moment, and being able to get rid of King Huainan today is already a great success for the Sima family." ”

"King Huainan is stupid." Long Tai couldn't hide the anger in his heart: "He wanted to get rid of Sima Lan, but he was completely counted by Sima Lan, which is self-defeating." Stared at Qi Ning and said: "You said that you wanted these two people to restrain each other, but now that the king of Huainan is gone, who else can compete with Sima Lan in the Manchu Dynasty?" He is in charge of the government, and there is a black knife camp in his hand, I always thought that Qian Raoshun was the person of the king of Huainan, but I didn't expect that today Qian Raoshun would bite the king of Huainan and ......! ”

Qi Ning sat down on the chair next to him, stared at Longtai, hesitated, and finally asked: "Your Majesty, forgive me for daring to ask, King Huainan attacked Sima Lan in the imperial mausoleum, can you hear the wind in advance?" King Huainan secretly communicated with Chi Fengdian, is Chi Fengdian loyal or traitorous? ”

Long Tai was stunned for a moment, his expression was solemn, and he groaned for a while before he said: "I won't hide it from you, the King of Huainan wants to use the Yulin Camp to deal with the Sima family, and Chi Fengdian did report it to me." ”

Qi Ning sighed: "So the emperor is ready to use the King of Huainan to get rid of Sima Lan?" ”

"Sima Lan is deeply entrenched in the court, even if there is no rebellion of Qian Raoshun, it is impossible for the king of Huainan to bring down Sima Lan with the Hu Bowen case." Long Tai said: "I just want to see how many means King Huainan can come up with, and what means Sima Lan has to fight back." Clenched his fists: "In the final analysis, I overestimated King Huainan and underestimated Sima Lan." ”

Qi Ning said: "In this way, the emperor originally wanted to take this opportunity to see how strong these two people are?" ”

Long Tai said: "After Chi Fengdian secretly reported this matter, I didn't mention it to anyone. I ordered Chi Fengdian to be in charge of the guards of the imperial tomb, just in case, as long as there was the Yulin Battalion present, neither King Huainan nor Sima Lan could set off a big storm, but I didn't expect that Sima Lan would be so bold that he would dare to secretly mobilize the Black Knife Battalion. ”

"The emperor is still in a hurry." Qi Ning said: "In the final analysis, it is still Sima Lan who is too old and cunning. ”

"Before you went to Eastern Qi, Feng Ruohai, the head of the household department, impeached Sima Changshen, but he had to succeed, but he was put into prison by the Sima family with evidence." Long Tai frowned and said: "Since that time, the hundred officials in the court have known that the Sima family is deeply hidden, and many people have approached the Sima family. When you went to Eastern Qi, the Sima family made people continuously impeach the people on the side of the King of Huainan, and the evidence was conclusive, five or six courtiers were impeached and removed by the Sima family, so those people under the King of Huainan were worried day and night, lest they be targeted by the Sima family. ”

Qi Ning nodded slightly, and said: "King Huainan saw that the people on his side were continuously knocked down, and his heart was naturally anxious, and now it seems that the Sima family's intention to impeach the King of Huainan was originally to make the King of Huainan angry and provoke the King of Huainan to make a move. Sima Lan was afraid that the king of Huainan would not act rashly, so he deliberately set a trap in the Sima Mansion and got rid of the commander of the palace guards, which was the last agitation, which could be regarded as completely angering the king of Huainan. ”

"It seems that it is." Long Tai said with annoyance: "Sima Lan dug a big trap for the King of Huainan and led the King of Huainan to step in, not only did the King of Huainan fall into Sima Lan's trap, but even I didn't see Sima Lan's intentions. ”

Qi Ning sighed: "Your Majesty, King Huainan's action this time is indeed too hasty, but before he starts, he is indeed very careful. The assassins recruited by King Huainan were all shadow rats on the rivers and lakes, not reckless warriors on the rivers and lakes, which was originally worried about the rumors. It's just that he didn't calculate that the biggest omission was by his side, Qian Raoshun was bought by Sima Lan, and all the plans of King Huainan were under Sima Lan's control, and they were doomed to fail from the beginning. ”

"Shadow mouse?" Long Tai looked at Qi Ning: "Do you know that the King of Huainan has recruited assassins?" I didn't know in advance that the King of Huainan had colluded with the Lingxu Sect to install assassins among the group of Taoist priests in Longhu Mountain. ”

Qi Ning shook his head: "I only know that the shadow mouse haunts the capital, but I don't know that it was arranged by the King of Huainan." In the past few days, I have been investigating the whereabouts of the shadow rats, until I grasp their plans and then show them to the emperor, and I always thought that the target of this group of shadow rats was the prince of Dongqi, but I didn't expect them to appear in the imperial tomb. ”

"I see." Only then did Long Tai come to his senses, and he groaned slightly, and then said, "Your mobilization of the Black Scale Camp today can be regarded as a great help to me." At that time, if it wasn't for the timely arrival of the Black Scale Battalion, the Sima family would definitely not back down, and would definitely set off a big case, and it would be okay for him to cut off dissidents. ”

"Your Majesty, Sima Lan will not stop there." Qi Ning's expression was grim: "Today in the Imperial Mausoleum, he saw that the time to set off a big case had not yet come, so he temporarily restrained a little, but this is by no means the end, such a great opportunity to clear dissidents, how can the Sima family let it go." After a pause, he said softly: "I'm only worried that from now on, the Sima family will be even more rampant, and now Sima Lan is still in charge of the government, if you want to ask the emperor for a non-share ......!" ”

"I'll put up with it." Long Tai sneered, "I want to see what he wants." Staring at Qi Ning's eyes, he said: "But Sima Lan wants to cut off dissidents, I must not let him succeed, if he is allowed to act recklessly, it won't be long before the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty are all his henchmen, and I will really become his puppet." ”

Qi Ning nodded and said, "Yes, at least some officials in the court do not want to succumb to the authority of the Sima clan at the moment, and these people must be saved." ”

"Qi Ning, I want you to do me a big favor." Long Tai's eyes were sharp, and he said in a low voice: "After the wedding, Sima Lan will definitely bring up the case of Huainan Wang Yudang again, I can't let him succeed, so I have to strike first." ”

"First strike?" Qi Ning was stunned.

"Not bad." Longtai said: "The rebellion of the king of Huainan will soon spread out, if I don't give a thorough investigation, I will be truthful." Therefore, I immediately issued an order to give you a thorough investigation of the case of Huainan Wang's henchmen, only in this way will the Sima family not be allowed to do anything wrong. ”

"Let..... Put me in charge of the case? Qi Ning was surprised.

"You're the right fit." Long Tai said: "You usually don't have a deep friendship with the King of Huainan, and you are not close to the Sima family, so you will be appointed, at least you will not let the people of the court and the opposition think that you have a heart of favoritism." Today, I dismissed Qian Raoshun, and the position of the secretary of the criminal department is vacant, Sima Lan will definitely let his people sit in this position, how can I let him succeed. ”

Qi Ning understood and said, "The emperor wants me to take the Criminal Department first, so as not to fall into the hands of Sima Lan, and then try his best to prevent Sima Lan from eliminating dissidents." ”

"Not bad." Long Tai said: "A thorough investigation of the case of King Huainan can only be investigated by the Criminal Department, as long as you hold the Criminal Department, the Sima family will not be able to call for wind and rain in this case." ”

Qi Ning thought for a moment and said softly: "Your Majesty, I don't have the ability to punish names, and I have never done an errand in the Criminal Department before, if I suddenly sit in that position, will I be unconvinced?" ”

Long Tai smiled coldly and said: "Back then, Sima Lan was also the first marquis, and he did not work as an errand in the Ministry of Officials, and then the Ministry of Officials was still a scholar, and there was no suitable candidate for the vacant position for a while, and the father decreed that Sima Lan should temporarily serve as a concurrent, and Sima Lan has been sitting in the position of the Ministry of Officials since then. ”