That night, in the Forbidden City, in the Cining Palace, Zhu Cijiong was sitting in the study nervously, thinking hard about countermeasures. When Sun Chengzong left, he could tell Cao Huachun that Wei Zhongxian would definitely do it tonight! What to do? Although Cao Huachun said that most of the eunuchs in the palace were on his side, if they didn't come out at that time, it would not be a fake.

Zhu Cijiong was really not at ease, and he said to Cao Huachun, who was standing on the side: "Father-in-law Cao, will Wei Zhongxian really come tonight?" ”

Cao Huachun hurriedly replied: "Back to His Royal Highness the Prince, Wei Zhongxian has been staying in the Dongchang Yamen today, and he has not entered the palace, and it should be his subordinates who came." ”

Zhu Cijiong was stunned when he heard this, and asked, "Wei Zhongxian didn't enter the palace today?" ”

Cao Huachun sneered: "Luo Yangxing is a mortal enemy with him, and he is probably afraid that Luo Yangxing will ambush him at the palace gate." ”

Zhu Cijiong had an idea, and asked again: "How many eunuchs are in charge of the palace, and how many of them are Wei Zhongxian's subordinates?" ”

Cao Huachun replied like a few family treasures: "There are a total of 12 eunuchs, 4 divisions, and 8 bureaus in the palace, a total of 24 yamen, of which each of the twelve eunuchs has a palm seal eunuch, and one young eunuch on the left and right and one on the left and one on the left and one on the left and one on the left and one on the left and right ministers; The Fourth Division and the Eighth Bureau are all one steward eunuch and two deputies, so there are about one hundred and twenty stewards and eunuchs in the palace, and there are about thirty or forty who have taken refuge in Wei Zhongxian. ”

Zhu Cijiong pretended to be curious and asked, "So many eunuchs?" What are they for? Why don't you let them come to the main hall of Ciqing Palace and tell me about it. ”

When Cao Huachun heard this, his eyes lit up, and he was about to order someone to deliver the decree, when a eunuch suddenly came outside to report: "His Royal Highness the Prince of Qiqi, Gonggong Cao, ten eunuchs just broke into Ciqing Palace, saying what Gonggong Wei arranged to serve His Royal Highness the Prince." ”

Such clumsy means have been used, is it muddy to be His Royal Highness the Prince? Cao Huachun snorted coldly when he heard this, and asked, "What about people?" ”

The eunuch replied, "It's all tied up." ”

Cao Huachun inquired: "His Royal Highness the Prince, why don't you drag them to the palace gate and cut them down to set an example?" ”

Zhu Cijiong only felt creepy when he heard this, and dragged him to the palace gate and cut it? I've had to hit there every day!

He hurriedly dissuaded: "If you don't scold it with a rod, a hundred strokes, you won't die, right?" “

Cao Huachun replied: "It depends on the ability of the eunuch to execute, if you want to fight to death, more than ten or twenty rods are enough, if you don't want him to die, two hundred rods will not die." “

Zhu Cijiong nodded, and said fearfully: "Don't kill them, give them a breath." “

Cao Huachun naturally had no opinion, he immediately conveyed Zhu Cijiong's meaning, and arranged for someone to notify all the stewards and eunuchs.

As a result, the Ciqing Palace began to be lively, more than 100 stewards and eunuchs in the main hall stood there neatly, one by one taking turns to introduce their work, and outside the main hall, there was a continuous sound of meat and screams.

It's only been a hundred times, how can there be a lot of screams?

There is no way, Cao Huachun does not have enough manpower, so he can't be executed together, so he can only beat them one by one and beat them slowly.

Of course, Zhu Cijiong was not really curious about the work of these eunuchs, he was sitting in the spacious main seat, leaning on a soft pillow, dozing off and listening. When you wake up, just ask a few random questions, and if you fall asleep, then you can continue.

It lasted like this for an hour, and by the time it came, these stewards and eunuchs had not yet finished introducing a small half, and Wei Zhongxian outside the palace couldn't sit still.

In the palace, he arranged two sets of plans: first let ten Wu eunuchs go to Ciqing Palace to try if they can control the prince, and if not, let the stewards and eunuchs inside organize hundreds of people to seize Ciqing Palace.

This hour has passed, and there is no movement in the palace at all!

There is no way, he only has to implement the third plan, that is, let Jinyiwei Tongzhi Cui Yingyuan lead a thousand Jinyiwei to sneak into the palace from Donghua Gate!

Cui Yingyuan originally refused, and led his troops to break into the palace at night, how different is it from rebellion, it is for the nine clans! But there is no way, everyone agrees that it is best for him to go, who calls him Jinyiwei Tongzhi.

In Zhou Yingqiu's words, in case he was discovered by Luo Yangxing, it can be said that he was ordered to hand over the defense. Therefore, the position of the leader is very important, if the position is lower than him, he will use the excuse of colliding with the official to arrest people directly, and the only one with a higher position than him is Tian Ergeng, Tian Ergeng is the commander of the Jinyi Guard, and he is already the boss, who can he serve? There's no one above him!

Therefore, Cui Yingyuan had to bite the bullet.

Fortunately, along the way, the wind and waves were calm, and no one was encountered, Cui Yingyuan led a thousand brocade guards, and came to the Donghua Gate silently, just as he took advantage of the fact that the dozen or so brocade guards guarding the gate were not paying attention, rushed up, subdued them, and then asked Neiying to open the city gate, countless torches suddenly lit up all around, and at least four or five thousand people stood there neatly, surrounding them solidly.

Luo Yangxing walked out of a pile of brocade guards and said mockingly: "Hey, who is this, you don't go to sleep at night, and lead so many people to run outside the palace, you don't want to rebel, right?" “

Alas, it was still discovered, and Cui Yingyuan could only act according to the prior filing.

He directly puffed up his chest and said loudly: "Jinyi Wei Tongzhi Cui Yingyuan was ordered to come to hand over the defense. “

Luo Yangxing continued to mock: "On orders? On whose orders? “

Cui Yingyuan replied confidently: "Of course, it is on the order of the commander Tian Er to cultivate the field. “

Luo Yangxing plucked out his ears boredly, and pretended to be puzzled and asked Qianhu next to him: "Who is Tian Ergeng?" Are we Jinyiwei's people? “

Qianhu next to him arched his hand and replied loudly: "Back to Lord Tongzhi's words, that Tian Ergeng is the grandson of Tian Le, the former military department, and not our Jinyiwei." “

Luo Yangxing nodded, and said disdainfully: "It turned out to be a grandson, I thought it was who." “

The brocade guards around laughed very cooperatively.

Cui Ying's whole body trembled, and he pointed at Luo Yangxing and shouted: "You dare to insult Shangguan!" “

Luo Yangxing said indifferently: "What kind of insult to Shangguan? Isn't he Tian Le's grandson? Go back and tell the grandson that I am following the emperor's will, and if he thinks he is older than the emperor, he will come and hand over the defense to me. “

Who dares to say that he is older than the emperor, so don't you look for death, Cui Yingyuan was speechless, so he had to lead a group of subordinates to walk away.

The work briefing in Ciqing Palace lasted until three o'clock, and all the stewards and eunuchs finished introducing their work, but Zhu Cijiong fell asleep.

The eunuchs stood there and waited for about half an hour before Zhu Cijiong woke up again in a daze.

He rubbed his eyes, looked at the stewards and eunuchs standing below with trembling legs, and asked curiously, "Hasn't Wei Zhongxian come yet?" ”

Cao Huachun replied in a gloomy voice: "Back to His Royal Highness the Prince, Wei Zhongxian is afraid that he won't be able to come, last night a few little eunuchs wanted to open the Donghua Gate and let him in, but they were all caught by us." ”

Zhu Cijiong pretended to be naïve and asked: "Oh, it seems that the palace gate will not be opened at night, what does it say in "Da Ming Law"?" ”

Cao Huachun replied coldly: "Go back to His Royal Highness the Prince, open the palace ban privately, and behead them according to the law, or drag them out and cut them down?" ”

Dizzy, I want to drag it to the door and cut it, I just want me to go out and bump into a ghost, right?

Zhu Cijiong shook his head and said, "Didn't this open the palace gate?" It's still a hundred rods. ”

Cao Huachun naturally would not disobey his wishes, and soon there were flesh noises and screams in Ciqing Palace.

When the screams sounded, Zhu Cijiong asked innocently, "Everyone is tired, right?" ”

When the eunuchs below heard this, they showed joy, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince finally remembered them, and now they can go back to sleep.

Zhu Cijiong said innocently: "Why don't you leave a few people to accompany me and wait for Grandpa Wei, and everyone else will go back to sleep." ”

The eunuchs below naturally couldn't ask for it, and Zhu Cijiong looked at Cao Huachun, who was standing on the side.

Cao Huachun slowly took out a piece of paper from his arms and read it slowly: "Wang Tiqian, Li Chaoqing, Wang Chaofu, Sun Jin, Wang Guotai ......"

He recited more than thirty names, all of which were stewards and eunuchs who had taken refuge in Wei Zhongxian.

After Cao Huachun finished reading, Zhu Cijiong yawned, waved his hand and said, "If you read your name, stay with me and wait for Grandpa Wei, and everyone else will go back to rest." ”

Most of the eunuchs below bowed and saluted: "Obey the order, the slave retires." Then, bending down respectfully, he withdrew.

Only more than 30 stewards and eunuchs were left standing there in a cold sweat, not knowing what to do.

Zhu Cijiong didn't care about them, leaned straight on the soft pillow, and continued to sleep.

The one he slept on was called a solid one, he must be safe tonight, Wei Zhongxian was not there, and the eunuchs in charge were all pulled over by him to punish him, and the little minions below would not spontaneously organize to murder the prince!

Not to mention, his trick is crooked, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty has a characteristic, that is, he kills officials at every turn: rebellion, killing; deceive, kill; oppress the people, kill; embezzlement, killing; Dereliction of duty, killing ......

The most powerful one killed was the founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, who is said to have killed more than 100,000 corrupt officials alone!

It can be said that being an official in the Ming Dynasty was the most dangerous profession, with a mortality rate of more than 30%, and these eunuchs were also officials, and what they were most afraid of was that the prince suddenly became nervous, and said: "Drag me out and cut them all!" ”

It's not impossible, as long as the prince dares to speak, the people below really dare to kill, not to mention that they really intend to hold the prince hostage, even if they don't have this intention, they can kill it, who told you to listen to Wei Zhongxian. What is it to kill these 30 people, Zhu Yuanzhang was the most ruthless, killed more than 10,000 officials, killed more than half of the Manchu civil and military forces, and many of them did not commit any crimes at all, they were implicated!

So these eunuchs stood there and didn't dare to move, for fear that if they moved, they would be charged with contempt for the prince and dragged out and cut down!

Zhu Cijiong punished them for standing here, just to prevent them from organizing people to murder themselves, but he didn't expect this station to have other effects.

These eunuchs stood there unable to move their bodies, but their brains could move, and they began to reflect on whether it was worth it for them to follow Wei Zhongxian to hold the prince hostage.

First of all, it depends on whether they are held hostage or not, if they don't succeed, then they will die.

Even if it is successful, there is a premise for coercing the Son of Heaven to order the princes, and the premise is that the royal family is decadent and has no power.

Now that the royal family of the Ming Dynasty is powerful, not to mention the left-behind court of Nanzhili, there are dozens of princes and county kings in various places alone, is it useful for you to just hold a prince hostage? those princes of the royal family, and directly set up a new emperor, and they will still die when the time comes.

Left and right are dead, so what's the head?

Therefore, most of the eunuchs present decided not to follow Wei Zhongxian after thinking about it all night, what do you Wei Zhongxian like to do is your own business, so we don't follow you to seek death!