The center of the Ming Dynasty is the city of Beijing.

As soon as the Shangyuan Festival is over, the year is completely over, and the major yamen in the capital are busy one after another.

Now that the power is getting bigger and bigger, and there are more and more party henchmen, the eunuch Wang Zhen is also much busier than in the previous two years, not only busy sharing worries for the Son of Heaven, handling a lot of government affairs, but also busy receiving benefits.

In the past two or three years, there has been an unspoken rule in the DPRK and China, as long as you are an official who enters Beijing from the local state capital, whether you are here to report on your work or return to Beijing after completing an errand, the first thing you do after returning is not to submit relevant documents to the Ministry of Officials or the Yamen, but to give gifts to the prince first.

If the gift is heavy enough to make Wang Zhen happy, then everything will be fine, and he may even be promoted. But if the gift is light, or even not given, the end will be miserable. What the prince has is the means to make these unknown guys lose their officials and be convicted, and even lose their lives.

In the face of such lawlessness and greed, the Manchu ministers were naturally very dissatisfied, and many people were impeached. It's a pity that most of these bullets were intercepted by Wang Zhen's celebrant supervisor, and then what awaits them is even more brutal persecution.

In addition, the current Son of Heaven is extremely fond of Wang Zhen, even if someone has the courage to denounce him directly at the court meeting, the emperor will not believe it. Over time, there are fewer and fewer people in the court who dare to confront Wang Zhen, and more people have learned to protect themselves wisely, blindly flattering and scolding this eunuch who has covered the sky in the court.

Now that Wang Zhen is powerful, even the elders of several dynasties such as Hu Hu and Yang Pu have to retreat against him, and dare not face him head-on. This makes it seem to outsiders that the prince will no longer have any troubles.

But this is not the case, at least Wang Zhen still has two knots left in his heart until now, every time he thinks of this, even if he receives a treasure of great value, he can't make him happy. These two knots, one is that he failed to fulfill his wishes, and made immortal deeds like Zheng He; The other is Lu Jin.

The former is okay to say, Wang Zhen can still patiently wait for the opportunity, and subtly change the mind of the Son of Heaven through his daily speech. But the latter made him unbearable when he thought about it. This Lu Zhen is one of the few enemies he has been difficult to get rid of in the past few years, and the only one who can compare with him may be Yu Qian.

When the magistrate named Lu Zheng in front of him gave Wang Zhen a generous gift with a flattering face, he unconsciously remembered Lu Zhen from this name, which made Wang Gonggong's face change immediately. However, he was still reasonable, just glanced at the other party and said, "This gift, our family has accepted it, but Lord Lu." ”

"The lower official is in ......" The unlucky official saw the gloomy face of the prince, and he was also full of anxiety, and he didn't understand why these gifts he spent a lot of money couldn't be exchanged for the smiling face of the prince? So when I agreed, I was even more sincere and afraid.

"We don't have anything else to mention you, just a little. Your name is not good, if you can change it, maybe it will be much smoother in the future. ”

Lu Zheng was suddenly surprised, and he didn't understand how the prince could say this. But he is also a well-behaved and dexterous person, so he quickly came back to his senses and said busily: "Thank you father-in-law for mentioning it, but the lower official is only shallow in learning, and he can't change a good name, and I hope that my father-in-law can give the official a name." In order to please Wang Zhen, he not only agreed to change his name, but also depreciated his identity.

Wang Zhen was also stunned, and then said: "Then call Lu Cheng." "Mistakenly believing Lu Zhen before was the one thing he regretted the most.

"Yes, the lower officials will call Lu Cheng from today onwards, and Gonggong Xie will give him his name." Lu Zheng, no, it's time to call him Lu to repent, and quickly knelt on the ground and kowtowed.

Seeing that he was so obedient, Wang Zhen's face looked better, and after a few words of encouragement, he sent away this guy who could even change his name at will in order to cling to the powerful.

Although the name was changed, the unhappiness caused by this name did not dissipate so easily, so Wang Zhen called his housekeeper and asked the other guys who were waiting outside to give gifts to leave their things and go back.

The prince helped His Majesty to take care of everything, but he didn't have much time to deal with these people. However, he didn't stay quiet for long, and after a while, Ma Shun came with a little excitement to ask for a meeting.

As Wang Zhen's right-hand man, he was of course able to come in quickly. Ma Dudu, who was good at observing words and feelings, saw that Wang Zhen was a little annoyed, so he said tentatively: "I don't know why my father-in-law is worried? Can you let the subordinate share one or two for you? ”

"Hmph, our family has already asked you to do this, but how many days have you been, and you haven't achieved nothing?" Wang Zhen glared at him angrily: "That Lu Jin, to this day, is still an official in Zhejiang, and I don't know what you do as a commander of the Jinyi Guard!" ”

In normal times, once he heard this, Ma Shun would inevitably only have to bow his head and listen to the training. But today, he smiled and said: "Father-in-law, please calm your anger, today's officials came here for this person." ”

"Huh? Finally got rid of him? Wang Zhen's spirit suddenly perked up, and he hurriedly asked.

"He is still alive, but he has been involved in a big case." While speaking, Ma Shun took out the report of the brocade guard hidden in his arms, put it on the desk, and then briefly told the series of changes in Hangzhou before.

When he heard that Lu Zhen was trapped in the city and was still not dead in the face of those robbers, Wang Zhen couldn't help but say: "This guy is really a scourge for thousands of years!" None of this can kill him! ”

"Father-in-law, the lower officials thought that if he really died like this, it would be too cheap, and maybe the court would show his loyalty and courage at that time. But now, he is under suspicion of colluding with the Japanese and assassinating his superiors, as long as these charges are carried out, he will definitely die! And he will be ruined because of this, so he will really be severely punished! Ma Shun boldly retorted.

This time, Wang Zhen was as good as a stream, touching his smooth chin and nodding again and again: "What you said is right, you should punish him ruthlessly and let him never recover!" Is there anything you can do? ”

"The lower officials have ordered Nanjing Jinyiwei to send people to Hangzhou as soon as possible to carry out his crimes. However, there are still difficulties. In the end, Ma Shun showed embarrassment again.

"What is it?"

"The father-in-law also knows that those civil officials are always in collusion, and if something happens to Lu Jin, the officials in Hangzhou will definitely protect him, and even go to the court because of this, so the father-in-law must finalize the matter before His Majesty is persuaded by them. This case must be handled by our Jinyiwei or the people of Dongchang, so that he Lu Zhen will have no chance to turn over! Ma Shun finally said the intention of coming today, or to take advantage of Wang Zhen's momentum.

Otherwise, with Ma Shun's hatred for Lu Zhen and his desire to surprise Wang Zhen, I am afraid that he will keep this matter a secret until everything is done before he will take credit.

Wang Zhen thought for a while, then nodded: "What you said is right, Your Majesty is indeed easy to be moved by some people, and you must do it as soon as possible." As he spoke, he looked at the sky outside: "Without further ado, I'll go into the palace, this time, neither Hu Hu nor Yang Pu will want to excuse him again." ”

"Father-in-law is wise!" Ma Shun hurriedly flattered, and his heart was already settled. Now in front of the Son of Heaven, Wang Zhen's words are much more effective than those old ministers, so Lu Zhen is really dead this time, he not only helped his brother avenge, but also made a contribution to the prince.

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The conspiracy against Lu Zhen is still ongoing. Although Nanjing's Jinyi Guards had not yet arrived, the people of the White Lotus Sect, who had been hiding in the shadows and had been waiting for an opportunity, moved again.

After meeting with Wu Miao again the night before, and after confirming the cooperative relationship between the two sides from his mouth, Bai Lian quickly made arrangements, and what he was eyeing was a very inconspicuous little person.

Lao Wutou is an old man in the yamen of the political secretary, because he cooks a good dish, and has been left in the yamen by several political envoys to cook, which is an existence that is easily ignored.

Although it was inconspicuous, he received a lot of benefits, not only to get some rewards from those adults, but also to get some ulterior income by deducting the vegetable money in the yamen.

Over the past few decades, although he has not made a fortune, he has also set up a large family business in Hangzhou, and his two sons have also found a good errand in the Yali of Qiantang County. Now, for him, just wait for another amount of money to save money, and he can retire in peace.

But that evening, when he had finished everything in the yamen and carried the lantern home, he was dragged into a secluded alley in the middle of the road.

Old Wu Tou was just about to shout, and a knife was already on his neck: "Wu Laosan, we have a deal to talk to you about." ”

"You...... What are you going to do? I don't have any money on me. The old Wu Tou didn't dare to make a noise, so he could only suppress his voice.

"Don't worry, our brother is not interested in your money, but I just want you to help us do something." The man spoke, lowering his voice and muttering to him.

As soon as he heard this, the old man immediately panicked: "I...... How dare I ......"

"If you don't, we'll have to find another way. However, you, and the eight members of your family, can only die for them! The man threatened in a cold voice.

As soon as he heard what the other party said, and he could accurately report the number of his family, Lao Wutou's body trembled even more, and his eyes showed hesitation: "No, don't ......"

"I advise you to do as we say, or else...... I'll give you two days, and when everything is done, no one will trouble you again. As he spoke, the man stuffed a bag of things into the old man's hand, and then added softly: "Don't think about running away, our people will keep an eye on you and your family." ”

When he had said this, the man removed his sword, turned away, and disappeared into the darkness. After a long time, the old man came back to his senses from his fright, and if it weren't for the extra bag in his hand, he would have felt that everything was a dream.

But now, what should he do?