North Zhili, a small town in Zhending Province.

As night fell, the noisy town soon calmed down, and the streets became deserted, with the cold moonlight pouring down on the cold ground.

At midnight, a figure sneakily appeared in front of the courtyard of a house in the south of the town, and after vigilantly glancing around to make sure that no one was following him, he climbed deep over the wall.

There were several big men with knives in their hands in the courtyard, and when they saw the figure jumping into the wall, they immediately pressed their hands on the hilt of the knife, but when they saw each other's faces clearly by the moonlight in the sky, they removed their hands from the handle of the knife and let the figure enter the living room of the main house.

There was no light in the living room, but when someone opened the curtain of the suite on one side of the living room, the light of the candle flame revealed from inside.

A middle-aged man with a Chinese character face sat expressionlessly at the table sipping tea, the candle flame burning on the table was flickering, and the dancing candlelight reflected his face, it was Zheng Dahu who had escaped from the capital.

"Lord Zhao Xiang, Wang San didn't have time to get out of the city, he was arrested the night before he left the city, and now the entire road in Beizhili is blocked by the government, and he is only allowed to enter and not go out, and his subordinates have worked hard to get here."

The person who entered the door bowed his hand to Zheng Dahu and said in a deep voice, "Now that the Dog Emperor has posted an imperial list for seeking medical treatment, those who can cure the Dog Emperor's condition will be rewarded." ”

"What a quick move!" Zheng Dahu frowned slightly when he heard this, put down the teacup in his hand, he never expected that Wang San would be arrested, he had already known that he would let Wang San leave a day earlier.

However, Wang San is different from him, he is in the capital to find out the news and secretly develop the sect, while Wang San is to come to the capital to make a living, how can he leave like him if he has a family and a business.

To be honest, because Zheng Dahu gave him enough benefits for the rest of his life, Wang San vaguely realized that something was wrong, so he had tried his best to dispose of his property, but even so, it was still a step too slow.

In fact, it was not that Wang San's movements were slow, but that the government's reaction was too fast, and even Zheng Dahu didn't expect the government to find Wang San's head so quickly.

Zheng Dahu's background is a secret, he is the incense master of the White Lotus Sect's Jingcheng Xiangtang, and he is specifically responsible for the White Lotus Sect's intelligence network in the Gyeonggi region, secretly developing followers.

Because the White Lotus Sect is a cult severely cracked down on by the imperial court, Zheng Dahu naturally used a fake name and identity when he joined the White Lotus Sect, named Zhao Yongfang, and changed his name to Zheng Dahu after coming to the capital.

Because the imperial court dealt a heavy blow to the White Lotus Sect two years ago, causing many high-ranking members of the White Lotus Sect, including the sect leader, to die, he wanted to take revenge on the imperial court.

Finally, Zheng Dahu waited for the opportunity, and after learning that the Emperor of the Apocalypse, who had been living in the Forbidden City, was going to visit the West Garden, he immediately activated an attendant recruited in the West Garden and asked him to wait for the opportunity to assassinate the Emperor of the Apocalypse.

Zheng Dahu didn't have any hope for this assassination, after all, the Emperor of the Apocalypse was surrounded by strict guards, and it was difficult for that chamberlain to get close, let alone assassinate.

But the result was beyond Zheng Dahu's expectations, and by mistake, the Emperor of the Apocalypse actually passed in front of the chamberlain, which gave him the opportunity to assassinate, and the guards accompanying him did not have time to rescue at all, which caused the Emperor of the Apocalypse to be seriously injured.

Zheng Dahu used Wang San in order to find out the news, although he had already arranged a retreat for Wang San, but he still had a bad move, so that Wang San was arrested by Jinyiwei overnight.

Although the injury of the Emperor of the Apocalypse made Zheng Dahu happy in his heart, first, the Emperor of the Apocalypse was not dead after all, and secondly, the reaction of the government was too fast beyond his expectations, so he was worried that the imperial court would then retaliate frantically.

Originally, as long as Wang San left, no one would associate him with Zheng Dahu, so that he would not know that Zheng Dahu was the mastermind behind the scenes, let alone let the outside world know his identity as the master of the White Lotus Sect's Jingshi Xiangtang.

Now that Wang San has been arrested, Zheng Dahu will definitely be involved, and it is difficult to guarantee that the imperial court will not find out the intelligence network of the White Lotus Sect in the Gyeonggi region, and the White Lotus Sect's power in Gyeonggi will be uprooted at that time.

"Do you know why Wang San was found out so quickly?"

After pacing back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back a few times, Zheng Dahu stopped and asked the person who came to report the news with a serious expression, with his understanding of the people in the yamen in the capital, the yamen should never find Wang San's body in such a short time.

"Lord Huixiang, according to the news from his subordinates, it seems that the military and political affairs of the court after the emperor fell into the water in Xiyuan are all in charge of Young Master Li."

The messenger bowed to Zheng Dahu and replied in a deep voice, "Therefore, the subordinates believe that this matter is related to Young Master Li. ”

"Young Master Li?"

Zheng Dahu was slightly stunned when he heard this, how could he forget such an important person, and then nodded thoughtfully, "No wonder Wang San will be arrested, I see!" ”

If Li Hongyu came to handle this case, then it would not be surprising that Wang San was arrested by Jinyiwei, who is Li Hongyu, the youngest champion of the Ming Dynasty, both civil and military, naturally it will not be difficult for him.

"Lord Incense, if we knew that this was the case, we should have destroyed Wang San in the city, so that the Lord of Incense would not be implicated." The man who reported the news also knew that Li Hongyu was not easy to provoke, so he said with annoyance, after all, only dead people can keep secrets in this world.

Wang San should actually thank Jinyiwei for catching him in time, according to Zheng Dahu's plan, after Wang San left the capital, he would be intercepted and killed by Zheng Dahu's men pretending to be robbers on the way, and Zheng Dahu would not allow anyone to threaten him.

Originally, Zheng Dahu's subordinates had already laid an ambush on the road, just waiting for the arrival of Wang San's family, but Wang San was arrested on the night he left Beijing, and then luckily escaped the catastrophe.

The reason why Zheng Dahu chose to do it outside the city was naturally because he didn't want Wang San's death to arouse the suspicion of the government, Wang San had no grievances with people on weekdays, and his family was ordinary and didn't have much money, so his death would definitely be noticed by the government.

After listening to the words of the man who came to report the news, Zheng Dahu's face suddenly changed slightly, if he had known that Wang San would have been found out, he should have killed Wang San earlier, so that the people in the government would not know that Wang San was inquiring about the news for him.

"Tell me to go down, the wind has been a little tight during this time, so that the sect members everywhere will stop all activities and wait for my order."

Zheng Dahu now has to face the investigation of the government where Li Hongyu sits, so the attitude of the Seven Shangguan Group in his heart is very important, although they cannot participate in the decision-making, but whether they support the new emperor can often influence and influence the will of the Queen Mother, after all, the Queen Mother wants to see a stable situation in the court, so she will not make the relationship with the civil official group too stiff.

The so-called sons of the close branch refer to those members of the imperial family who are close to the deceased emperor, which is also for the need to maintain orthodoxy, and it is the place where the civil official group insists the most.

In other words, Emperor Daxing's cousin of the same grandfather usually inherits the throne, and of course, Emperor Daxing's uncle and uncle can also be considered, after all, they are also very close in blood.

Considering the situation of the Emperor of the Apocalypse, it is most likely that two people will inherit the throne, one is the younger brother of the Emperor of the Apocalypse and the King of Letters, Zhu Youzhen, and the other is the uncle of the Emperor of the Apocalypse, Zhu Changxun, the King of Fu.

Zhu Changxun was deeply loved by Emperor Wanli as early as that year, and it triggered a famous national capital dispute in the history of the Ming Dynasty, and almost abolished the crown prince of Emperor Taichang.

The situation is different now, the Emperor of the Apocalypse has no heirs, so this gives Zhu Changxun a chance, and Zhu Changxun is also qualified to inherit the throne.

Compared with the young Zhu Youzhen, the biggest advantage of King Fu is that he is mature and steady, and he is more able to control the courtiers.

This is also an important reason why the civil official group strongly opposes King Fu to replace Emperor Taichang as the crown prince, if King Fu succeeds to the throne, the monarchy will be stable, while the mild-natured Emperor Taichang will be different, which will allow the power of vassals to expand.

Today's situation is so similar to that of the past, compared with the old Fu Wang, the young Zhu Youzhen is more likely to be controlled by the civilian clique, just like the Emperor of the Apocalypse had to make every concession to the civilian clique after he ascended the throne.

However, if you consider it from the perspective of the stability of the Ming regime, the succession of King Fu is more in line with the interests of the Ming Dynasty, at least to ensure the stability of the court.

Although the Emperor of the Apocalypse is young, he is very bold, and he has had enough of the suffering of the Wenchen group, so it is very likely that he will not repeat the mistake of the past and let Zhu Youzhen succeed him.

Obviously, after the young Zhu Youzhen ascended the throne, it took a lot of time to establish the prestige of the monarch, stabilize the situation in the court, and balance the relationship between the factions in the court, which was not something that the Emperor of the Apocalypse wanted to see.

(End of chapter)