It was late at night, the lights in the Yongsu Hall were still bright, and the imperial case was full of inscriptions and playbooks, and the emperor was in a strong spirit, so he wanted to read the last few urgent letters and then go to rest, but his mind was tired, and his eyelids became heavier and heavier.

Wang Zhen slowly entered, stopped and glanced at it, and several close officials immediately bowed and retreated.

"Your Majesty, according to the report of Jinyiwei, several groups of people have withdrawn from Zhuolu Mountain."

The emperor raised his head, and the lights lit up his eyes, "It's finally stopped!" ”

That being said, he wasn't necessarily very relieved in his heart. Power is easy to make people addicted, since the pro-government, he likes some contention between his subordinates, whether it is a courtier, a clan, the ubiquitous contention is like a hypnotic drug, which can make him sleep peacefully. As long as the situation does not get out of hand, it is far more effective to use contention than to play with checks and balances.

He is looking forward to the great timing of the world, and then play the power trick to another realm, that is, to skillfully use contention, pull a faction to fight a faction, no, to be precise, it should be a faction to fight a faction to help a faction! In this way, since the subordinates can be played in the palm of their hands, the throne of the Son of Heaven can be as stable as Mount Tai.

As for who is wrong on both sides of the fight, this is completely negligible!

"Your Majesty, there is a group of people from the rivers and lakes of unknown origin on the side of Zhuolu Mountain, but the leader is a Confucian scholar, his name is Pang Zhe!"

Pang Zhe? After a moment of confusion, the emperor finally remembered Pang Zheqi, who had been Zhishi many years ago, and was shocked in his heart, "A hermit is mixed with people from the rivers and lakes, this matter should not be underestimated, and the Jinyi guard will investigate carefully!" A suspicious cloud suddenly flashed through his mind, "Is it Jinyiwei who discovered Pang Zhe?" ”

"Your Majesty, this has nothing to do with Jinyiwei. According to a servant of the Zhou family, Concubine Zhou's sister led her family to Zhuolu Mountain, wanting to be unfavorable to the Lu family, but was caught by Pang Zhe, who reported his name at that time. ”

The emperor stood up straight, "What about the Lu family?" ”

"Your Majesty, you should have been rescued by Pang Zhe and the crowd."

Pang Zhe rescued the Lu family? The emperor suddenly felt suspicious clouds in his mind, "Could it be that King Yue is making friends with hermits and people in the rivers and lakes, and secretly cultivating power?" ”

"Your Majesty, it is difficult to corroborate this matter, but Pang Zhe was friendly with Lu Xi in his early years, and the personal relationship between the two is extraordinary!" Wang Zhen glanced up at the emperor, "Right now, the situation of the second daughter of the Zhou family is worrying, and Your Majesty must not ignore it." ”

The emperor's gaze froze, "Where is she?" ”

"I was escorted back to Beijing by the people in the rivers and lakes before dark today, and I was confined in Yuefu."

"Concubine Zhou's sister only knows how to mess around!" The emperor secretly gritted his teeth, strode down the royal platform, and paced in the hall.

There are many things in the society, and the matter of canonizing the emperor's eldest son Zhu Jianshen as the crown prince has been put on the agenda, coincidentally, Concubine Wan has given birth to the second son of the emperor Zhu Jianyan, at this time, Concubine Zhou's reputation cannot be damaged, otherwise, the court will be boiling!

And Concubine Zhou's reputation is closely related to the reputation of the Zhou family, once this matter spreads, the world will discuss it, and it will inevitably be related to Zhou Xiaodie's private deeds and Concubine Zhou, suspected of being secretly instigated by Concubine Zhou, and even linked to the emperor's secret order Jinyiwei to track down Lu Xiyao, suspected of being unkind and unjust by the Son of Heaven! If this is the case, the canonization of the crown prince will inevitably lead to a vicious struggle between the previous dynasty and the harem, and then damage the reputation of the Son of Heaven.

When the national disaster is at hand, the DPRK and China can't stand the toss, and the reputation of the Son of Heaven can't afford to hurt!

Wang Zhen seemed to have seen the emperor's worries, "Your Majesty, Yuefu is now headed by Ouyang Tong, the chief historian, and I am afraid that he will escort the second daughter of the Zhou family to Shuntian Mansion or the Criminal Department." Earlier, for the sake of the Lu family, the reputation of the Zhou family has been damaged, and besides, the secret deeds of the Jin Yiwei to track down the Lu family cannot withstand the discussion of the world, and now once the private deeds of the second daughter of the Zhou family are introduced to the market, it will inevitably set off stormy waves in Beijing, and I am afraid that it will be taken advantage of by traitors! ”

After a pause, he continued: "Your Majesty, everything must be prepared for the worst, you said, King Yue will be in danger before, the court did not call the shots for him, so he holds a grudge and wants to wait for the opportunity to disturb the capital, do you have any plans from it?" ”

The emperor was shocked and hurriedly stopped. He naturally knows that he is not afraid of 10,000, but he is soft-hearted after all, even if he plays with power, he still has room for it, and he does not want to make things irreparable, which makes him hesitate at the moment.

"Ask the emperor to call the shots for the concubine's sister!"

Concubine Zhou's mournful cry floated from afar, the corners of the emperor's mouth grinned, and he said in a deep voice: "Quickly order the Jinyi guard to go to Yuefu to save people, send the second daughter of the Zhou family home, and everyone who knows in Yuefu will be silenced!" ”

"The old slave obeys!"

······

It was the height of summer, and it rained for a few days in the area of Longmen River, and the weather was sunny and ushered in a hint of autumn coolness early.

Zhu Qiming passed through Donghe Village during his inspection, and saw that the men, women, and children in the village heard the movement and gathered one after another.

He didn't know how many times he had come to Donghe Village, and the people here were getting to know him better and more and were quite curious about him. In the eyes of the villagers, he is said to be a prince, but his every move always brings people a sense of intimacy, and even the coarse tea and light rice of the farmer are not disliked; Say that he is not a prince, but there is naturally a bit of nobility between his eyebrows and eyes, and with that peerless appearance, how can he be comparable to ordinary people!

Whenever he appeared in the villagers' field of vision, people always had an indescribable excitement, just because the mighty King Yue was here, who dared to rob the villagers?

"His Royal Highness King Yue always stays with us farmers, but I am afraid that I will lose the dignity and humility system." An elderly man kindly reminded.

"It doesn't matter." Zhu Qiming smiled peacefully, "When this king was in trouble, he was taken in by a kind-hearted farmer, worked as a farmer's boy, ate farmhouse food, and did farm work. ”

He bragged about his memories, causing everyone to laugh good-naturedly. These words made a group of people who have not seen much ability, but their hearts and eyes are higher than the sky, sound very useful, look, the heroic and warlike King Yue is the same as us, they have all been peasant boys!

A group of girls who have reached the age of talking about marriage do not know how to shy away from it, hiding behind people and snickering, glancing at him from time to time.

Another old man raised his hand to stroke his beard, with a solemn look on his face, "The old man finally understands, I only know that when the people in the nest encounter a thief, most of them are cowards!" And a person like His Highness, who makes the Tartars fearful, can treat the common people well. Yan Bi glanced coldly at the group of young people next to him.

These young people look like martial arts practitioners, maybe some people are usually brave and bully, and at this moment they lowered their heads in shame when they heard the words. Teaching by example is more important than words, King Yue is here, and the power of example is infinite!

The villagers also wanted to find a lot of topics to talk about with Zhu Qiming, but they saw a guard walking up to him and whispering in his ear, his face was slightly gloomy, and everyone realized that King Yue had something to do and was about to leave.

Alas, a pity!

Zhu Qiming said goodbye to the villagers, rode a horse north, and saw a man standing by the road, and looked at it, it was Ma Li!

"See His Royal Highness King Yue." Ma Li saluted and said with a smile: "Your Highness, Mr. Pang has saved Miss Lu, and now Miss Lu lives in Hangweiju, where His Highness lived. ”

Zhu Qiming smiled leisurely, his mood was happy, the thoughts that had tormented him for months were instantly dissipated, and he could finally let go, only to feel very comfortable all over his body.

"Your Royal Highness, Concubine Zhou's sister led her family to Zhuolu Mountain, wanting to harm Miss Lu, and was arrested. However, on the night when the Zhou family was escorted back to the capital, the Jinyi guard broke into the Yue Mansion, took away the Yue Mansion Changshi and more than a dozen informed guards, and imprisoned them in the imperial city, but the Zhou family returned home safely. ”

Fair! Zhu Qiming called for the word justice in his heart, Pang Zhe ordered someone to send Zhou to Yuefu in a hurry, and in this regard, doubts flashed in his mind, but the perpetrator Zhou was safe and sound, while the innocent Yuefu people were in prison, such a change made all suspicions superfluous!

"Your Highness, I'm afraid that the internal officials who passed the decree are already on the way, it is said that the emperor will order His Royal Highness to live in the camp for a long time, and he will not go out without a decree."

Zhu Qiming rode away without saying a word, and after a long time, he pulled out his sword, but when he saw a flash of cold light, a pine tree was suddenly broken into two.

Just when the blue light of Ru Lian was subdued, the last trace of fantasy in his mind suddenly swayed and disappeared with the wind.