Jianwen Tianzi ordered someone to choose a place for Shen Ruoyu to live outside the palace, and sent someone to help him move the whole family in. It was a small courtyard, very close to the palace, slightly larger than Liang Tiehan's house, three rooms, and the things of him and Nangong Qiu were also installed in one room, and the remaining two rooms were one for the coachman Hu to live in, and the other was given to the maid Dou'er.

But the court never gave him an answer; Someone in the palace came to deliver coins and various supplies every other day, but Jianwen Tianzi never had any new message. Fang Xiaoru still came over to greet him from time to time, but it was only a greeting, and he never talked about the government. He couldn't get close to the imperial court, and he had nothing else to do, so he played and went shopping with Nangong Qiu all day long, or sat at home with his head bored to read and play the piano.

He never wrote to King Yan to report the latest developments; Since coming to the capital, he has only sent a secret letter in total, asking Yuan Hui to come to Yingtian, and this first secret letter has been detected by the imperial court in such detail that he can't expect to send another secret letter. He has never received any news from King Yan, and he doesn't know what the situation in Beiping is now. He guessed that King Yan's preparations for raising troops must still be secretly and methodically carried out as planned, including training the army, especially the 800 secretly recruited brave warriors in the tunnels, including building weapons, hoarding grain and grass, rushing to make military uniforms, including continuing to buy people's hearts in Beiping, and dealing with the court officials in Beiping. Most of the elites of the Yanshan Three Guards have been transferred away by Song Zhong, and even a general like Tan Yuan has been taken away by Song Zhong. Song Zhong must have been very proud in his heart, but he didn't know that this was exactly King Yan's move. At this moment, King Yan must take care of the only remaining warriors in his hands. The three princes also went back, and the court received a report from the local government, saying that the second prince, Zhu Gaoxu, had killed many innocent people along the way, and had killed the officials of the post station at the Zhuozhou post station. The Manchu Dynasty was full of indignation and constantly accused King Yan. However, in any case, the three princes went back safely, and King Yan should have completely relieved himself and had nothing to worry about anymore. He knew that the "northern army" mentioned by Cheng Ji a year ago was just around the corner.

Time walked unhurriedly. In June, the matter of cutting the feudal domain began again. Xiping Marquis Mu Sheng went to the imperial court, and participated in the role of Zhu Yang, the king of Min who sat in Yunnan, and was full of evil, and he was not evil. Even Zhu Yunwen began to feel a little bored, and he was reluctant to take these innocuous princes anymore and play a game of hide and seek with the four emperors and uncles of King Yan. However, the case of King Min is different from other vassal kings who have been cut, and the people who denounce them are all unknowns. This time, it was Musheng, the Marquis of Xiping, who sued King Min. In front of the Son of Heaven, the face of the Xiping Hou Mu family is extraordinary, the descendants of Emperor Taizu Gao's favorite adopted son, although the title is only the marquis, but under the rule of the Son of Heaven in the Ming Dynasty, they all enjoy the same treatment as the prince. Minwang Zhu Yang is indeed with Qi Wang Zhu Rong, acting Wang Zhu Gui belongs to the same goods, has never been a fuel-efficient lamp, naturally in Yunnan to do a lot of evil, caused a lot of public anger, Xiping Hou sued him is not surprising. Of course, it is not ruled out that Zhu Yang made trouble for Mu Sheng himself and formed a personal vendetta. However, in any case, the Xipinghou family is highly respected and famous, but King Min is bad and notorious. Zhu Yunwen had no other way, of course, he cut down his domain, abolished him as a concubine, and deposed the entire family of King Min to Zhangzhou.

Regardless of whether King Min brought bad luck to himself because he provoked the Marquis of Xiping, in short, in this way, the beam between Zhu Yang and Mu Sheng was deeply rooted. If he can't turn over again in this life, and this guy can only continue to do it, it probably doesn't matter whether this Liang Zi knot or not, and he doesn't have the ability to settle accounts with Mu Sheng again. However, Xiping Hou probably never thought that His Royal Highness Uncle Minwang, who had overturned the boat as he wished, would eventually make a comeback, and in turn clean up Mu Sheng; However, since the day Zhu Yang was cut down, he has been viciously calculating how to take revenge on the Marquis of Xiping one day.

Zhou King Zhu Hu is in Menghua, the Hunan King Zhu Bai who died unjustly in the fire is in the underworld, the King of Qi Zhu Rong and the acting king Zhu Gui are imprisoned, maybe these vassal kings are all the same as Min King Zhu Yang, they have an account in their hearts, if one day in the future they can see the light of day again and can restore the original lord, they will make a large number of people unlucky, and the people who capsized the boat in the first place will be retaliated against, not just Xiping Hou Musheng.

And they only have one way out, their hopes can only be gathered on one person, as if the grievances they have suffered are also for this one person in the final analysis, just like the court is cutting the feudal domain around the corner, and the drunkard's intention is only in this one person.

The day when Zhu Di, the king of Yan, raised his troops is getting closer and closer. It is now June, and it is getting closer and closer to the bottom limit of the one-year period predicted by Cheng Ji.

People all over the world can see that the Son of Heaven is naturally not a fool. Zhu Yunwen saw that July was getting closer and closer, and his heart became more and more anxious. He couldn't wait for Cheng Ji's prophecy to come true, although in his heart, he didn't want to kill this stunned teacher who didn't know the importance of it. He must take immediate measures to stop all possible rebellion of the Yan King. And now, he doesn't have time to go around in circles anymore, he has to attack the Four Emperor Uncles directly.

At this time, King Yan fell ill.

When the news reached Jingshi, everyone from the Son of Heaven to the courtiers, including Shen Ruoxiao, was taken aback. Because Zhang Yu and Xie Gui's secret report said that King Yan was not suffering from an ordinary disease, but a madness.

Everyone's first reaction when they heard the news was exactly the same: "Pretending to be sick, right?" ”

However, Zhang Yu and Xie Gui said in the secret report that they also suspected that King Yan was pretending to be sick at first, so they specially visited the door, wanting to expose his disguise, but unexpectedly saw King Yan hiding by the burning stove in a thick quilt at noon in June, and his family members were not allowed to open the window and open the door, and there was not a drop of sweat on his head, and he kept trembling and screaming that he was cold to death. However, as soon as he was making a cup of tea, he suddenly jumped up again, stripped off his clothes from head to toe, ran out into the street naked, yelled, and snatched garbage from passers-by, and put it in his mouth as food, and then fell asleep in the pile of horse dung by the roadside. The people of the whole city of Beiping wept and lost their voices, saying that the court had driven a rare good prince crazy for no reason, and several of their court officials did not dare to go out at all now, and the people would throw rotten vegetable leaves when they saw them.

The court then launched a big discussion, whether King Yan was really crazy or pretending to be crazy, and the two sides were evenly matched. Zhu Yunwen finally made up his mind to cut Yan Fan, but he didn't expect such a change, he was at a loss, he was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, almost crazy, and he was a little unsure whether he was crazy or not.

In all fairness; At this time, someone sent him a ready-made excuse to repair King Yan.

At noon on June 12, Xu Huizu, the Duke of Wei, suddenly appeared at the door of Shen Ruoxiao's house with a team of personal soldiers, and announced to the lord of Cheng'an and Yibin that the Son of Heaven had decreed that King Yan had deceived the monarch and rebelled. The lord of Cheng'an was to be placed under house arrest at home, and he was not allowed to meet guests or go out.

Nangong Qiu was frightened; Shen Ruoyu didn't have time to comfort her, so she was shackled. Xu Huizu has been pressing his sword every step of the way, he respects Wei Guogong in his heart, and is even more shocked by the other party's prestige and perseverance, plus he doesn't want to make trouble in the capital anymore - even if he beats Wei Guogong and escapes this team of personal soldiers, how can he escape the army deployed by Wei Guogong on the riverside? He did not resist at all, obediently followed them out of the house, got into a sealed prisoner car, drove to the punishment department, and was escorted directly to the court.

There were three people sitting high above the public hall, and Lian Zining, the new imperial doctor, sat on the left side; He didn't recognize any of the other two, but he saw Huang Zicheng and Fang Xiaoru sitting on the side seat on Lian Zining's right hand with a calm face. There are also two empty seats on the left side of the desk. Xu Huizu escorted him to the hall and knelt down, and walked to the lower seat on the left side and sat down. On both sides of the public hall, two rows of tall and mighty warriors stood majestically, holding killing sticks in their hands, standing opposite each other with solemn expressions.

Shen Ruoyu honestly knelt there, waiting to be tried. But no one spoke in the courtroom. Everyone was just staring at him intently, as if they were still waiting for something. They didn't wait long; Before a cup of tea was held, a shout suddenly sounded outside the hall:

"King Xu has arrived—"

The six court officials in the hall immediately stood up at the same time. The fifth brother of Jianwen Tianzi, Zhu Yunxi, the king of Xu, timidly walked into the hall of the Criminal Department, and after accepting the salute of the six officials, he walked to the left side of the front of the hall and sat down.

Seeing that King Xu sat down, Xu Huizu sat down; Wei Guogong sat down, and the other five officials dared to take their seats.

After the case, the three inquisitors glanced at each other; The presiding judge, sitting in the center, spoke politely:

Cheng An Yibin was frightened. Xiaguan Hou Tai, inheriting His Majesty's new life, is now the secretary of the Criminal Department. The one on the left is Lord Xue Yan, the Shaoqing of Dali Temple; The one on the right hand is Lord Lian Zining, the imperial historian. His Majesty's decree was established by the rebellion of King Yan, and Cheng'an Yibin was seriously suspected of cooperating in rebellion and bullying the monarch, and ordered the three halls of the Criminal Department, Dali Temple, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate to be tried and investigated. As the case involved the royal family, His Royal Highness King Xu was appointed by the Holy Lord to supervise the entire interrogation process, accompanied by the Duke of Wei, and the Huang of Taichang Temple and the scholars of the Hanlin Academy attended the hearing to ensure that the interrogation process was fair and impartial, in accordance with the laws of the Ming Dynasty. Do you have any questions? ”

Shen Ruoyu was a little shocked. For a month, the court was only careful and polite to him; The Son of Heaven also personally commended Cheng'an Yibin for his loyalty to the imperial court a month ago. Why did he suddenly make such a posture, interrogate him three times, and ask King Xu to be present to supervise? Although the imperial court has always secretly believed that King Yan was plotting rebellion, the official statement has never been recognized; How did it suddenly become established overnight?

He looked at Zhu Yunxi carefully; King Xu looked no more than fifteen or sixteen years old, and his appearance and temperament were similar to his brother Tianzi, weak and shy from head to toe, with doubts and uneasiness in his soft eyes, and a little fear.

Seeing that he didn't answer, Hou Tai continued:

"Since Lord Yibin has no doubts, the lower official will turn to the topic. A month and a half ago, the imperial court intercepted a secret letter sent to Beiping by Lord Yibin, in which he asked King Yan to send Yuan Tingyu to Beijing as soon as possible. Ten days later, Yuan Tingyu arrived in Beijing. The next day, a crazy old man with a cloak appeared on the streets of the capital, singing and proverbs, and then disappeared mysteriously. Five days later, the Son of Heaven ordered the third son of King Yan to return to Beiping. Later, Beiping Tanma returned, and Yuan Tingyu returned to Beiping on the same day that the Son of Heaven ordered the release of the third son of King Yan. Cheng'an Yibin, the Holy Lord asked you in the palace before, and in front of several important ministers, you openly denied that Yuan Tingyu had anything to do with the Gao Ge Daoist. Now, the imperial court has reliable evidence that Yuan Tingyu is the crazy old man who sang on the streets and spread rumors a few days ago. Lord Yibin, do you still refuse to admit that you assisted King Yan in his rebellion, openly deceived the king, and used despicable means to force the Son of Heaven to release the third son of King Yan? ”

Shen Ruoyu was silent for a moment, and said softly: "Your Excellency said that there is evidence, please come up with evidence." Otherwise, I will be out of my mouth, and I will not be able to refute it. ”

Hou Tai said: "Lord Yibin, if the official presents evidence and leads the witnesses, but you have no way to refute it, the crime will be aggravated; If you confess now, you still have a chance to reduce your guilt. Do you know what is important? ”

Shen Ruoliao said: "If you are innocent in your heart, you are not afraid of adults showing evidence." ”

Hou Tai sighed slightly. "As you wish. - Witnesses. ”

A few samurai brought a man into the hall. It was a man in his early thirties, not tall, sturdy, at first glance he was a soldier from the army, standing in front of the hall, looking around suspiciously, seeing Shen Ruoliao, he was slightly stunned, and then lowered his head.

Shangshu of the Criminal Department looked at the man and ordered: "Who is the person who came, report the name of the family." ”

The man replied, "Yes." The villain's name is Ni Liang, and he is one of the hundred households in the Yanshan Central Guard Army. ”

Hou Tai asked: "Ni Liang, His Royal Highness King Xu is here, do you tell His Highness and a few adults what you said to the Son of Heaven before?" ”

The man: "Yes." Yan Wang was not sick at all, he was pretending to be sick all the time. He secretly recruited 800 warriors to train the army in the underground palace, only waiting for the three princes to return to Beiping, when the time was ripe, ready to raise troops at any time. ”

Hou Tai glanced at Shen Ruoliao and continued to ask:

"Ni Liang, do you recognize this person?"

Ni Liang hurriedly replied: "I recognize, he is the personal bodyguard of King Yan's new recruitment, Cheng An Yibin Shen Ruoyu." ”

"In front of the Son of Heaven, you also said something about Cheng'an Yibin. Now speak these words to him. ”

Ni Liang turned around tremblingly, but he didn't dare to look up at Shen Ruoliao, so he only buried his head and whispered:

"Cheng'an Yibin came to Beijing because of the direct instruction of King Yan, King Yan made an appointment with him, but there was a disturbance in the court, so he wrote a secret letter to report to him, and told Cheng'an Yibin to find a way to get his third son back to Beiping. Cheng'an Yibin then wrote a letter to King Yan to ask for Yuan Tingyu, and the three princes returned to Beiping smoothly, and the entire Beiping City is now talking about Cheng'an Yibin going deep into the tiger's den alone, rescuing the three princes, and making great contributions. King Yan also asked him to stay by the Son of Heaven and continue to spy on the movements of the imperial court. ”

Everyone looked at Shen Ruoliao quietly; Hou Tai asked lightly:

"Does Cheng'an Yibin have something to say?"

Shen Ruoyu thought for a while and said, "I have nothing to say to him. But I have a few doubts about the three presiding judges. ”

"Lord Yibin, please speak."

Shen Ruoyu said: "I haven't been with King Yan for a long time, I have never heard of Ni Liang's name, let alone seen this person. I don't care if he is really a hundred households of the Yan Army. Most of what he has just said about me is not false, but it doesn't tell the whole story. I came to the capital because King Yan instructed me to help him get back the third son, and to find an opportunity to stay with the Son of Heaven and spy on intelligence for him. These, when I first arrived in the capital, I had already taken the initiative to explain to the Son of Heaven and Mr. Fang, how could I have been deceived? The court listened to what Ni Liang said, but it seemed to be the first time to hear it, and completely forgot that I had said exactly the same thing before? As for the third son of King Yan, I wrote to Yuan Tingyu, how could I have denied this fact? He said that the three princes successfully returned to Beiping, and the whole city talked about it as my credit - a few adults, I would like to ask, since when did the street rumors become ironclad evidence, and the three law divisions can be convicted on this basis? What kind of logic can make his words prove that things must be related to Yuan Tingyu? ”

Hou Tai shook his head and said to Ni Liang:

"Ni forgive, do you understand what Lord Yibin said? Do you have any evidence to prove that Yuan Tingyu must be related to this matter? ”

Ni Liang said: "That day, the villain needed to report to King Yan because of something, and he was just in time for Yuan Tingyu to return to Beiping; The guards stopped the villain at the door and refused to let him in. After a while, when I saw Yuan Tingyu come out, King Yan summoned me in, but the villain saw that he was radiant and energetic, as if he had just heard some happy event; And before that, since Cheng'an Yibin left Beiping and went to the capital, King Yan had never had such a happy time. Later, when the three princes returned to Beiping, King Yan treated Yuan Tingyu as a guest and ordered the guards to be allowed to go immediately, regardless of day and night, as long as Yuan Gaoren, Master Daoyan and Master Yao asked to see him, they must be released immediately and not blocked. ”

Shen Ruoyu sneered: "Lord Hou, please forgive me for still not seeing that there is any inevitable connection between this. It is best for him to say that it was said by King Yan himself, and Shen Ruoyu and Yuan Tingyu made great contributions to saving his three sons; I will have nothing to say. But he couldn't say it, because King Yan would never say such a thing, because—the two of us had nothing to do with it. ”

The disbelief and disdain in his eyes were clearly visible. Hou Tai thought about it, turned around, and respectfully asked King Xu:

"Your Highness, what do you think? Do you have any questions for Ni Liang and Cheng An Yibin? ”

Zhu Yunxi, the king of Xu, was startled, and the six gods looked at Xu Huizu without a master. Wei Guogong glanced at Shen Ruoliao contemplatively, but said lightly:

"The holy decree should be decided by the three Dharma Divisions, and the three adults should be engaged in it cheaply; His Highness is here only to overseer; There is no doubt that the three of us will only give a hearing. ”

Hou Tai exchanged ears with Lian Zining and Xue Yan, and whispered for a while, as if they were arguing about something. Then, Hou Tai asked:

"Lord Yibin, what Ni Liang just said, do you know the details of King Yan pretending to be sick and secretly practicing the rebel army in the underground palace?"

Shen Ruoyu said: "King Yan's violent illness is something that just happened, how do I know?" ”

"What about the eight hundred warriors in the dungeon?" Hou Tai stared at his eyes attentively.

Shen Ruoyu didn't answer immediately. He didn't have the confidence to lie about it anymore. This is not the same as him saving the three princes; Yuan Tingyu came to Yingtian to stage the "Mo Zhuyan" drama, he knew that the prince and Yuan Gaoren were cautious, and they never revealed half a word to Master Daoyan and Master Yao; No matter how much Ni Liang knows, he can only speculate at best. Although the eight hundred warriors in the Yan King's underground palace are still top secrets, there are far more than two people in the know, or even more than twenty. He had no way of knowing how well Ni Liang had mastered this matter.

He knew that his silence at this moment was tantamount to an answer to confession. However, although he is unwilling to be exposed and humiliated by openly lying, he is also unwilling to admit and show weakness. He remained silent, silent, and did not look at anyone, just quietly staring at the shocking wood on the public case.

In this way, he acquiesced to the court about the fact that King Yan rebelled. At this moment, he was somewhat relieved. After all, King Yan's intention to rebel has long been a public opinion of the imperial court, and everyone in the world knows it. Today, finally because of Ni Liang's change, the contest between the two sides was officially brought to the table. At this moment, the imperial court has gone through the detour of cutting the domain, and there is no other prince who has made mistakes to start, and he is more and more impatient to move the knife against King Yan; At this moment, King Yan is ready to raise troops, and the three princes have returned to Beiping, and they have no worries, just waiting for the court to give him an excuse. It's also time for both sides to tear apart hypocrisy and tension. He can calmly say that he did not betray and betray King Yan, everything is just natural in the current situation.

However, his own guilt was thus established; Even if he didn't save the third son of King Yan from escaping, if he concealed and didn't report the soldiers who were plotting rebellion in King Yan's private placement, his conspiracy was a certainty, and he was guilty of the same crime as the rebellion. What will the court do to him? the crime of rebellion, sitting on the nine clans; The emperor's relatives, meritorious heroes and princes are not exempt. In that year, Lan Yu, the Duke of Liangguo, was also the in-law of Emperor Xiaokang and the general of the imperial court, and he was also executed for the crime of rebellion. What will happen to him? What about Qiu'er?

Perhaps the opportunity for King Yan to finally wait for the army was himself. And he inadvertently said that he had really become a pawn of King Yan, life was his death, and death was just an excuse for King Yan to crusade against the court.

At this moment, Shen Ruoyu suddenly had an experience: even if King Yan loves soldiers like a son and tries his best to buy people's hearts, he still didn't expect that there would be a traitor in his army, and he went to Beijing to tell the truth, and told all the secrets of Beiping, seeing that he was about to drink the northwest wind when he accepted An Yibin's life.

Hou Tai saw that he was silent all the time, his expression was solemn, and he silently glanced at Lian Zining, tacitly acknowledging each other. Master Shangshu of the Criminal Department couldn't help but smile, and said loudly:

After discussion, the official and Dr. Lian and Xue Shaoqing agreed that although Ni Liang has no definite evidence to directly prove that Cheng An Yibin is related to this matter, Cheng An Yibin still cannot clear the suspicion. And Ni Liang said that King Yan raised the dead soldiers and trained the army in the underground palace, Cheng An Yibin, as a person in the know, claimed to be loyal to the Son of Heaven, but did not report it to the court, and his intention to assist King Yan in rebellion was clearly revealed. This alone is enough to convict you. I wonder if a few adults agree? ”

Huang Zicheng immediately loudly agreed. Fang Xiaoru glared at Shen Ruoliao with hatred on his face, and also agreed with Hou Tai's words bitterly. Xu Huizu's expression was still flat, and he simply nodded.

Hou Tai asked King Xu again: "What does Your Highness think?" ”

Zhu Yunxi hurriedly replied softly: "Since several adults have the same opinion, Lone has no objection." ”

The Criminal Department Shangshu was complacent and announced:

"That being the case, this official pronounced the verdict: Shen Ruoyu, the guest of Cheng'an, found out that he assisted Yan Fan in rebelling, deceived the Son of Heaven, and endangered the community, which is the same crime as rebellion. If there is no protest, please draw a detention. ”

Shen Ruoyu was silent; The clerk who recorded the confession brought the confession, and he did not hesitate, picked up the pen, wrote down his name, and pressed his fingerprint.

Hou Tai smiled and said: "The lower official sealed the confession file and immediately praised the saint." As for the final sentencing, whether or not to strictly follow the "Da Ming Law", everything is decided by the Son of Heaven. The subordinate and his colleagues would like to thank Lord Yibin for respecting the dignity of the national law and cooperating with the trial, so that the case of the Three Law Divisions can be successfully concluded. Before the edict is issued, it is necessary to continue to aggrieve the adults to stay in the prison of the criminal department, waiting for the holy will. ”

A warrior had already come up, lifted him from the ground, re-cuffed him, and put a heavy iron rope around his neck. The moment he was taken out of the court, he heard Huang Zicheng snort with disdain in his nose:

"Mr. Fang, I said it a long time ago, if there is a father, there must be a son."