On the evening of the day when Shang Wanzhen was left in Wu Yingxiong's Mansion, Lin Tianqing, who was arranged by Lu Fatzi to secretly see Kang Mazi, finally returned to Wu Yingxiong's Mansion, although the old thing has been trying to stay calm and try not to show a suspicious look, even Lu Fatzi and Wu Yingxiong, who are good at observing words and feelings, can't judge what he thinks and things are developing. But what the old man said to Wu Yingxiong made Lu Fatzi and Wu Yingxiong suddenly realize.

"Lord Shizi, good news, good news." Lin Tianqing said to Wu Yingxiong, "The old man went out to meet friends today, and several friends in the court improved the old man, saying that Yin Li Tianyu of Shuntian Mansion was ineffective in handling the case of the murder of Nan Shenfu, perfunctory, and full of ugliness, and the emperor was furious, and he had decided to give up his plan to be promoted to Li Tianyu as the governor of Yunnan!" ”

"yes, that's really good news?" Wu Yingxiong's face was full of surprise and asked, "Is this news reliable?" Li Tianyu can't be the governor of Yunnan, who has any hope of taking over? ”

"The message is absolutely reliable!" Lin Tianqing said with a smile on his face: "It was told to the old man by Hao Weine, an old friend of the old man for many years, and he was definitely not wrong." As for who will replace Li Tianyu as the governor of Yunnan, this is not accurate news - but Hao Tangguan estimates that the old man can't waste the money you spent before. ”

"Really? Congratulations to Lin Zhongcheng for that humble position. Lu Fatzi will also be funny, and immediately stepped forward to salute, and said respectfully: "Lu Yifeng, the lowly Qujing Zhi County, please say hello to Lord Chenglin in this province." ”

"Lord Lu is polite, please get up quickly." Lin Tianqing smiled so hard that his eyes narrowed into two slits, and said with a smile: "Master Lu, don't be in a hurry to call it that, now there is just hope, a little hope, it has not been decided, it has not really been decided." ”

"As long as there is hope!" Wu Yingxiong said categorically: "Lin Shibo, since this matter has taken a turn for the better, then we have to do our best to fight for it." In this way, you go to the court to carry out activities again, and strive to take down this key position, if you need anything, just ask. ”

"Shizi, the old man has already spent more than 50,000 taels of silver on you for this position, how dare you continue to spend your silver?" Lin Tianqing was rarely a little weak-hearted and blushed, so he hurriedly postponed it resolutely, while Wu Yingxiong said a few more polite words to him, pretending to be completely unaware of the ins and outs of the matter and the background behind the scenes.

After gossiping for a while, Lin Tianqing got up to say goodbye and went back to the room, and Lu Fatzi also said goodbye and went back to the room with Lin Tianqing to rest. On the way, Fat Lu had to lower his voice and asked Lin Tianqing: "Lin Zhongcheng, has the emperor promised to let you serve as the governor of Yunnan again?" ”

"I didn't give the right words, but I didn't leave it." Lin Tianqing also lowered his voice and replied: "That's what the emperor said, first praised the old man for his loyalty to the country, and then mentioned how disappointed Li Tianyu's performance in the case of Priest Nan, let the old man prepare, and after this year, the emperor will consider letting the old man exert his residual heat and appoint the old man an important messenger again." - Lord Lu, thank you for the introduction, if it weren't for your help, how could the emperor say such a thing to the old man? ”

"Senior Lin is polite, this is just the work of the juniors." Fat Lu agreed in a low voice, and then asked: "Then when the emperor asked about the salary of Yungui's army, how did you answer your seniors?" ”

"The old man still wants to go to Yungui to be an official, of course, he will answer according to the number you pointed out, Lord Lu." Lin Tianqing said in a low voice: "But the old man didn't dare to insist that it was 3.5 million taels, but he just said that the prince asked the old man to help calculate two Yungui military salaries, one was 4 million taels and the other was 3.5 million taels. ”

"Senior Lin is clever, and his answer is really tactful." Fat Lu praised it, and was thinking in his heart - is this old thing's words reliable? Did he really answer Kang Mazi like this?

"By the way, Master Lu, there is one more thing you have to be careful." Out of gratitude to Lu Fatzi, Lin Tianqing kindly reminded him again, "When the emperor's meeting with the old man was about to end, a eunuch entered the Yangxin Palace to report to the emperor, saying that Shang Zhixiao, the second prince of Pingnan, and Shang Zhili, the third prince, asked to see him, and wanted to sue Lord Lu that you abducted their little Gege from Pingnan Wangfu into Pingxi Wangzi's Mansion. The emperor laughed when he heard this, let the old man out of the palace, and ordered to receive Shang Zhixiao and the monk's gift, but the old man didn't know what to say. ”

"Thank you Lin seniors for your advice, the juniors will be careful." Fat Lu smiled, said goodbye to Lin Tianqing, and went back to his room to rest.

Of course, Lin Tianqing honestly went back to the room to be excited, but Lu Fatzi turned around, and soon turned back to the most heavily guarded study in Wu Yingxiong's house, and Wu Yingxiong and his henchman Kotou Military Master Lang Yanshu had been waiting in the study for a long time. As soon as he entered the door, Lu Fatzi didn't say a word, and immediately repeated Lin Tianqing's words to Wu Yingxiong as they were, and reported the good news to Wu Yingxiong.

"In this way, Yifeng, your plan is going quite smoothly, as long as the court and the emperor believe that three and a half million taels of silver is our military salary card, things will be much easier." Wu Yingxiong was not stupid, and after nodding his head in approval, he quickly groaned and asked the same question as Lu Fatzi, "But, is this old thing Lin Tianqing telling us the truth?" Did he report to the emperor according to the figure of 3.5 million?! If not, then it's a big problem! ”

"Lord Shizi, this is something that cannot be confirmed, and we haven't been able to put our hands into the Heart Cultivation Palace." Lang Yanshu, who is usually very taciturn, rarely spoke, and said in a deep voice: "Speaking of which, the prince really shouldn't have said in front of Lord Lin that the minimum limit of our military salary is two and a half million taels. ”

"I regret it now." Wu Yingxiong rubbed his temples, and said in his heart, why didn't Lao Tzu see Lin Tianqing's wolf heart and dog lungs in the first place? Although 2.5 million taels of silver is not the real hole card of Pingxi Palace, this is money, and it is related to whether Pingxi Palace's belt will be tightened next year!

"Don't worry." Fat Lu said unhurriedly: "I have thought about it carefully just now, and I have already thought of a way to verify whether Senior Lin is lying. ”

"How? Say it. Wu Yingxiong sat up straight.

"It's very simple, the humble plan is to steal a letter in this study of the prince and dedicate it to the emperor." Lu Fatzi said gloomily: "A letter from the prince to the prince, there are two main contents on the letter, one is that the prince told the prince that because the king of Pingnan, the king of Jingnan and Sun Yanling have all proposed to the court to increase their salaries, the pressure on the Pingxi palace has been greatly reduced, in order to show goodwill to the court and transfer the object of pressure from the court, the prince ordered the prince to make a slight concession on the issue of military salary, and you can appropriately make concessions of 120,000 taels on the basis of 3.5 million taels, so that the king of Pingnan, the king of Jingnan and Sun Yanling will be the first bird. ”

"In the second paragraph, the prince ordered you to increase your efforts to buy Wang Xu, the imperial history of the left capital, in case it is of great use. This paragraph can be written vaguely, as long as it is revealed that the prince has already sent a sum of money to Wang Xu through the prince. ”

"Why are you writing this second paragraph?" Wu Yingxiong asked suspiciously: "I understand the meaning of the content of the first paragraph, and it is verified from the side that what Lin Tianqing said is true, but I don't understand the content of the second paragraph, I have never sent silver to Wang Xu?" Why frame him like this? ”

"Lord Shizi, the root of this year's three feudal clan salaries is in Wang Xu's bad boy!" Lu Fatzi said angrily: "If he hadn't impeached the prince in the first half of the year, and took the initiative to jump out to be a gunman for the emperor, accusing us of the huge military salary expenditure of the Pingxi Palace, what reason would the emperor have asked our Pingxi Palace to renegotiate the salary?" ”

"But if you say that, will it work?" Wu Yingxiong asked: "After Wang Xu impeached our Pingxi Palace, he was immediately promoted to the imperial history of the Zuodu, which is enough to prove that the emperor trusts him very much, so is it so easy to fall down all at once?" Moreover, Wang Xu is an honest official, a well-known clean official in the government and the opposition, we say that he is corrupt and bribery, will the emperor believe it? ”

"Don't worry, Weichen has already thought about it." Lu Fatzi said eloquently: "The prince probably doesn't know, because of the assassination of Father Nan, the big red man Mingzhu in front of the emperor took over the Criminal Department Man Shangshu and led the Shuntian Mansion and the Metropolitan Procuratorate to investigate the case. Wei Chenna said that he came into contact with Mingzhu and found that in order to close the case as soon as possible, Mingzhu directly aimed at Yang Guangxian, the chief supervisor of Qintian, who was the most suspected, and Wu Mingxuan, the deputy of the prison, but Wang Xu resolutely opposed it in the name of insufficient evidence, and there was a conflict on the spot. ”

"Mingzhu is a young man, it is a time for great joy, but Nan Huairen's case involves Ao Zhongtang, with his surname and the current situation, he will never dare to investigate Ao Zhongtang. In order to establish his prestige, and in order to compete for favor, and in order not to fall behind a poor test, he privately speculated that he must be determined to push Yang Guangxian and Wu Mingxuan out of the business! In this way, Wang Xu, who insists on handling the case according to law, will inevitably become a thorn in his side, and handing over this letter is equivalent to stuffing a musket loaded with gunpowder projectiles into Mingzhu's hand, and Mingzhu will definitely not spare Wang Xu! ”

"As for the evidence of investigating Wang Xu, this is easier to do—Lord Shizi, you found thousands of silver tickets issued by Qian Zhuang two and a half years ago from the account room, and let Yang Qilong sneak into Wang Xu's house secretly overnight and hide in a secret place! At that time, once it is exposed, it will immediately become ironclad evidence that Wang Xu was killed! ”

"For Wang Xu, you must not be soft-hearted, since he impeached our Pingxi Wangfu this year and spent a huge amount of military salaries, then he will dare to impeach our Pingxi Wangfu like this next year and the year after! Such a kraft candy dog will suffer endless troubles if he is not killed with a stick early...... Hey? ”

After talking about this, Fat Lu found that Wu Yingxiong and Lang Yanshu had changed their faces, and they were both looking at him dumbfounded. Fat Lu couldn't help but be surprised, and asked: "Shizi, Mr. Lang, why do you look at the lowly position so much, is there something wrong with the lowly position?" ”

"No, nothing?" Wu Yingxiong reacted at this time, quickly wiped a handful of sweat, and muttered in his heart Fortunately, this kid is a member of the Pingxi Palace, and he is still very loyal to my father-if it is the enemy of our Pingxi Palace, then the Pingxi Palaces will be miserable. After muttering, Wu Yingxiong said again: "Yifeng, your intentions are very good, and your methods are not bad, but there is one thing, my father does not have such a letter, if you forge one, what if a flaw is exposed?" ”

"It's easy." Lu Fatzi didn't think about it and said: "Mr. Lang can write such a letter first, and just copy one and hand it in, and then the lowly can say that if you steal the letter, you are afraid of being detected, so you just hurriedly copied one." ”

"That's an idea." Wu Yingxiong nodded, and after thinking for a while, Wu Yingxiong muttered again: "But Yifeng, have you thought about the consequences of doing this?" Your letter was handed over to the emperor, if Lin Tianqing's old thing didn't lie to you, and what he said to the emperor was indeed 3.5 million taels of silver, then everything is easy to say, and it can further prove that Lin Tianqing didn't lie to the emperor. But if Lin Tianqing's old thing didn't tell us the truth, it would be 2.5 million taels to tell the emperor the truth——。 ”

Speaking of this, Wu Yingxiong paused and said solemnly: "Yifeng, what will be the consequences when the time comes, have you thought about it clearly?" You said in front of the emperor before that you don't know the minimum salary of the Pingxi Palace, if you don't send this letter, even if Lin Tianqing doesn't tell us the truth, the emperor will think that you don't know the truth, and those who don't know are not guilty - but if you take such a letter and send it, if there is any accident, it will immediately expose your crime of deliberately deceiving the king's head! ”

"Thank you for your concern." Fat Lu said in his heart that if he doesn't shoot at this time, when will he shoot again? Surrendered his hand to Wu Yingxiong, and also said solemnly: "Please rest assured, of course, the humble position has considered this dangerous consequence, and has also considered the countermeasures!" Although the countermeasures for the preparation of the humble post are not completely certain, in order to repay the prince, the prince and the second prince for their kindness, the grace of Mr. Mao Yao's teaching, for the military salary of the Pingxi Royal Mansion in the coming year, and for the food and clothing of the Yungui soldiers in the coming year, he is willing to give up his life! To test the true intentions of the emperor for the prince! ”

"Besides, this is also the last contribution that the humble position can make to the prince in the matter of salary." Speaking of this, Lu Fatzi paused for a moment, and said more seriously: "The prince ordered the humble position to assist the prince to negotiate with the imperial court, today is the twenty-fourth day of the lunar month, and in a few days on the second day of the Lunar New Year, the prince will enter the palace to discuss the salary!" At that time, the lowly officials will be lowly and lowly, and they will not even have the qualifications to negotiate the salary of the court, and they will not be able to use the ambition to serve the country with all their hearts! Therefore, the humble post has already made up his mind, and he must do this last thing for the prince and complete the order of the prince! ”

Wu Yingxiong stared at Fat Lu, who had firm eyes and didn't blink his eyelids. After a long time, Wu Yingxiong's eyes flickered slightly, and then he said softly: "Yifeng, you are indeed a treasure given by God to my father!" Go ahead, after the matter is completed, the Pingxi Royal Mansion and the Prince of the World will never fail you, even if it does not work out, the Prince of Pingxi and the Prince of the World will not treat your family badly. ”

Lu Fatzi got up and saluted, Wu Yingxiong tearfully helped Lu Fatzi up, shook hands with Lu Fatzi solemnly, and then ordered Lang Yanshu to immediately follow the plan, according to the content of the letter dictated by Lu Fatzi, wrote a fake letter in the tone of Wu Sangui, and Lu Fatzi copied it. But at this moment, the weakness of Fat Lu's inability to write calligraphy was also exposed, and the writing was crooked and twisted and even uglier than a dog crawling chicken painting, which made Fat Lu lose face.

Fortunately, Lu Fatzi's show was chosen, and Wu Yingxiong already knew this, so Wu Yingxiong just smiled and suggested: "Yifeng, when this matter is over, you have to find a master to help you act as an official document." ”

"The lesson of the son of the world is that he has planned to be humble and have this plan early." Fat Lu said with a wry smile: "I just haven't been able to find a suitable one, so it's going to be settled for the time being." But it's okay, such an ugly word, doesn't it just prove that the time is urgent and the text is written in a hurry? If you hand it in neatly and neatly, and say that it was copied from you, will the emperor believe it? ”

…………

After preparing the letter full of lies, Wu Yingxiong summoned Yang Qilong overnight, handed him a stack of carefully selected silver tickets, and asked him to arrange for people to sneak into Wang Xu's house overnight and hide the stack of silver tickets. On the morning of the next day, Yang Qilong personally sent the news and reported to Wu Yingxiong that the task had been successfully completed. Only then did Lu Fatzi hold the determination that the wind was sluggish and the water was cold, and the strong man would never return, and he took the letter to ask for a meeting, and asked Suo Etu to immediately lead Xiao Mazi for him, and there was a confidential performance.

Suo Etu's movements were also very fast, and at noon, Lu Fatzi secretly entered the palace under his arrangement, and came to the Heart Nourishing Palace again to present this letter to Xiao Mazi. To Lu Fatzi's expectation, Xiaozhuang and Su Malagu, the two old demon women, appeared in the Heart Cultivation Hall with Xiao Mazi again. And when Xiao Mazi and Xiaozhuang and others finished reading this ghost drawing, they didn't wait for Xiao Mazi to speak, but Xiaozhuang laughed.

"Lu Yifeng, you are really loyal to your Prince of Pingxi! Yesterday, Lin Tianqing was arranged to enter the palace to use a counter-strategy, and today he personally came to play Jiang Gan's book stealing in front of the mourning family, are you really a fool to be the mourning family and the emperor? ”

(To be continued)