In the early morning of the next day, Zhu Youzhen and his entourage left Tongzhou Station, and before noon, they saw the majestic outer city wall of Jingshi from afar.

In the previous life, Beijing's city walls had already been demolished cleanly. Therefore, it was the first time for Zhu Youzhen to appreciate the majesty of the Beijing Division from a long distance. However, when I saw that the outer city of Beijing was not far to the north after passing the Guangqu Gate, it went into a large concave to the west, and after about a few hundred meters, it turned due north again.

Zhu Youzhen originally thought that the city wall must be boxy, but when he saw this layout, he couldn't help but feel strange, so he asked Lin Youkun for the reason.

Lin Youkun explained: "Your Highness, the capital division is divided into two cities, inner and outer. It is bounded by the bend of the city wall you see, with the outer city to the south and the inner city to the north. The inner city is in the Yongle period, based on the city wall of the Yuan Dadu to rebuild, the circumference is forty miles, the city gate is nine, basically the layout of the four directions.

"But on the one hand, with the gradual increase in the population of Jingshi, the available land in the city is gradually decreasing, and it is quite overstretched; On the other hand, the Warat and Tatar repeatedly violated the border, and the Beijing division was only a few hundred miles away from the border, and when the Warat soldiers were sharp, they could kill the Beijing division within a few days.

"In the twenty-ninth year of Jiajing, the Tatar chief answered tens of thousands of elite soldiers, first attacked Datong and Jizhen, and then broke through the ancient Beikou, and attacked the city of Beijing in one fell swoop, which was the 'Gengxu Change'. At that time, there was only one city wall in the capital division, and if one point was breached, the thieves broke into the city, and the consequences were unimaginable. Therefore, the imperial court decided to build another wall outside the inner city, which was for the outer city. Even if the outer city is broken, you can still retreat into the inner city to hold on. ”

"But the outer city doesn't enclose the inner city, does it?" Zhu Youzhen asked in surprise, "It's just that in the south of the inner city, there are two city walls, and the other east, west, and north sides, aren't they still the original city walls?" The enemy is not stupid, do they have to attack from the south knowing that there is an extra wall to the south? ”

Lin Youkun sighed and said, "What His Highness said is extremely true. In the thirty-second year of Jiajing, the construction of the outer city of Beijing began, and the presiding officer was Yan Song, a bachelor who was the first assistant at the time. The original design was naturally to build walls on all sides to completely enclose the inner city. After the start of construction, it was discovered that the project was huge, the treasury could not cover the expenditure, and if the original design and construction period were followed, it could not be completed at all.

In order to avoid taking responsibility for the design error, the traitor Yan Song relied on Sejong's favor and lied that the project should be carried out in phases, and the southern city should be built first. After the southern city was built, it was connected with the inner city wall with a small section of the city wall, and it was hastily completed, and the outer city became what it is now. In the following decades, the imperial court repeatedly proposed to rebuild the outer city, but unfortunately the treasury was gradually depleted, and the human, financial and material resources were seriously insufficient, so it had to be stopped. ”

Zhu Youzhen was amazed in his heart, he couldn't imagine that Beijing, as the capital of the Ming Empire, was actually a half-pulled project!

This time, Lin Youkun asked the carriage not to go out of the Guangqu Gate when it was in the city, but to enter the city from the Chaoyang Gate, the east gate of the inner city. In this way, it is possible to return to Ouchi more quickly without having to go through the crowded Chongwen Gate or the Zhengyang Gate.

As soon as he entered the city, Zhu Youzhen felt that the atmosphere was wrong. In the streets, bands of heavily armed soldiers patrolled back and forth in a murderous manner, and ordinary people were so frightened that they closed their homes. It seems that it has entered a state of martial law.

Further on, there was a team of Yulin guards who set up barricades to prohibit the passage of cars and horses. Lin Youkun dismounted and showed the waist card of Teng Xiang's right guard, and when the officer of Yu Linwei saw it, he naturally couldn't afford to provoke him, so he quickly let him go. Lin Youkun took the opportunity to ask: "Why is Jingshi under martial law?" Is something big going on? ”

The officer hurriedly said flatteringly: "It's not that there is no martial law in the whole city, but this section of the road is indeed under martial law." Senho-sama still doesn't know? Long live this morning suddenly issued a strict decree to ask the deputy capital Yushi Yang Lian to resign. Yang Lian's mansion is just in front, because it is usually quite popular, in order to prevent the mob from taking advantage of the opportunity to cause trouble, Jinyiwei asked us to help maintain the street. If you go further, you will be the people of Jinyiwei, and you can't even go past your humble duties. ”

Zhu Youzhen listened to it in the car and couldn't help but be surprised. He thought to himself that the Apocalypse was obviously sitting on the mountain watching the tiger fight, and he was noncommittal about the mutual attack between the Donglin Party and Wei Zhongxian's eunuch party. The Donglin Party is outnumbered, and it seems that the scolding is higher than that of the Eunuch Party. Why did he only leave Beijing for a few days, and the situation in the DPRK had undergone earth-shaking changes, and Yang Lian, the vanguard of the Donglin Party, was about to be imprisoned?

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but ask through the car window, "Do you know what Yang Lian is charged?" ”

Although the officer didn't recognize Zhu Youzhen, he saw that the thousands of households in Tengxiang's right guard were respectful to the people in the car, and knew that it must be a big man who couldn't be provoked, so he hurriedly replied on one knee: "I only heard that Yang Lian accepted a bribe of 5,000 taels of silver from Xiong Tingbi of Liaodong Jingluo, and wanted to exonerate him from the crime of abandoning the whole of Liao. As for the specific situation, it is not very clear. ”

Zhu Youzhen shook his head in disbelief. Yang Lian he had seen, that was a very person-like person; Although Xiong Tingbi didn't meet him, he listened to him through the wall for a long time last night, and he was obviously a guy who was upright by nature and couldn't make twists and turns. To say that these two people paid and accepted bribes, he really couldn't believe it for a while.

But after thinking about it, the word "corruption" is not engraved on the head of any corrupt official. Before being investigated and punished, who didn't sit on the stage and talk loudly, speaking impassionedly and extravagantly? When the incident happened in the east window, it was discovered that it was despicable, dirty, and obscene, far beyond ordinary people's imagination. Before and after him, he was completely two-faced.

As the saying goes, it is difficult to draw dragons and tigers, and it is difficult to draw bones, and you don't know your heart! Who can guarantee that this Yang Lian and Xiong Tingbi are definitely not this kind of goods?

The carriage went further, and sure enough, there were a large number of brocade guards, surrounding a mansion and holding the street entrance, strictly prohibiting traffic. However, Lin Youkun has the waist card of the four guards in the palace, so he is naturally unimpeded.

As he was about to pass the door of the mansion, the gate slammed open, and first a group of soldiers opened the way with swords dangling brightly, and then an old man with a disheveled head, wearing heavy wooden shackles and shackles, was pushed and shoved out of the door. Zhu Youzhen looked at it, it was Yang Lian, who knelt in front of the Qianqing Gate a few days ago to play Wei Zhongxian's twenty-four cardinal sins!

At this time, Yang Lian also happened to raise his head and saw Zhu Youzhen sitting in the car at a glance. He couldn't help but tremble violently all over his body, and scolded with all his might: "King of Faint! As the second ancestor, you don't want to assist the saints, but make the saints frolic all day long! You help the gang to abuse, let the eunuchs cause trouble in the government, and frame the loyalty! I don't know what kind of face you will have under the Nine Springs to see your ancestors after you die! ”

Zhu Youzhen was stunned for a moment, and said in his heart Comrade Yang Lian, I didn't offend you! It's impossible to talk about what kind of "aiding and abusive" is, and my old man almost let Wei Zhongxian die! It's miserable that you've become a prisoner now, but don't catch anyone who sprays anyone, okay!

Just as he was stunned, hundreds of people nearby rushed out of their homes when they saw that Yang Lian was about to be escorted away, and Jinyiwei couldn't hold it down. They shouted with tears in their eyes: "Lord Yang is an honest official, and his family has no money to spare, why should such a good official be arrested?!" ”

Seeing that the people were clamoring to prevent Jinyiwei from taking him away, Yang Lian wanted to arch his hands to everyone, but his hands were caught by wooden shackles and he couldn't reach them at all, so he had to bow deeply and shout loudly: "Rank high neighbors!" It is the will of God to ask Yang Lian for dismissal, please don't resist the will! Yang Lian believes that justice is in the hearts of the people, and the Holy Cave is subtle and discerning, and he will be able to clear up his grievances. Even if you can't get rid of the crime for the time being, the thunder, rain and dew are all royal graces, and those who are ministers will also accept it..."

When the people heard Yang Lian say this, tears fell like rain. Yang Lian was also in tears at this time. Seeing that the situation was not good, the brocade guards took out their weapons one after another and forcibly dispersed the people, and then they escorted Yang Lian to the wooden cage prisoner car and went all the way.

Zhu Youzhen watched this thrilling scene, and his heart was mixed. Thinking about Yang Lian, yesterday he was still a python jade in the sky, and today he will become a prisoner under the steps, he is really a companion like a tiger! Even Wei Zhongxian, who is now in power and in the opposition, will not be wiped out in an instant after the death of the Apocalypse in history?

If you want to say that it is really safe, only the emperor is the emperor. Although he sits high in the temple, he can control the fate of the people in the world; He can turn his hands into clouds and cover his hands into rain, and play all the courtiers and generals in the palm of his hand; If he is not angry, he can do it, but if he is angry, his head will fall to the ground! …

At this moment, Zhu Youzhen finally couldn't help but have a trace of doubt about the escape plan that he had been proud of before.

While he couldn't stop thinking, the carriage and horse didn't stop for a moment, and finally passed through the east gate of the imperial city, and then entered the long-lost Forbidden City from the Donghua Gate.

In fact, it is said that "after a long absence", Zhu Youzhen has only been out for a few days. But in the past few days, it has been really thrilling, * stacked, making this product feel like a world away. At this time, he felt that only the Wenhua Hall was his quiet harbor, and only the arms of his wife Rui'er were the places he could really rely on!

The Wenhua Hall is actually not far from the Donghua Gate. But with the emperor's order, Zhu Youzhen had to change to a small sedan chair and go to the Qianqing Palace to find the apocalypse to pay the decree.

The car came to the Qianqing Palace, only to hear the familiar sound of "clanging" inside. Zhu Youzhen smiled bitterly, it seems that the business of the apocalypse has not stopped for a day.

Just as he was about to step into the hall, Wei Zhongxian retreated from the hall with a large stack of concerto. Seeing that it was Zhu Youzhen, he was busy giving a salute, but he accidentally dropped the piece to the ground, looking quite embarrassed.

Zhu Youzhen knew that he had won the battle with the Donglin Party, and it was when the spring breeze was proud, how dare he provoke him again, so he hurriedly put his hands together and said: "Why should the factory be polite!" He also helped Wei Zhongxian pick up the pieces in that place one by one.

Wei Zhongxian seemed to be taken aback, hurriedly put away the chapter, said a few polite words, and then said: "Long live the lord is waiting for the prince, and the slave will not delay your time!" Then he took his leave with a smile on his face.

Of course, Zhu Youzhen couldn't see it, and Wei Zhongxian, who turned around, was already full of horror, and his forehead was full of fine cold sweat!