In the early morning, there was a hoarfrost between heaven and earth, and there was no one on the street, only the two sedan chairs of Shen Mo and Li Shizhen, marching firmly in the direction of Xiyuan one after the other, ignoring the sneaky followers behind them.

Sitting silently in the sedan chair, holding the burden in his arms with both hands, his face was as calm as an ancient well, and his heart was clear, which was not pretending to be calm, but calmly and resolutely after seeing through the appearance of things and grasping the essence of the problem.

Although the current situation is extremely dangerous, Shen Mo firmly believes that the essence of the political struggle in the Jiajing Dynasty will not change in the slightest, that is, no matter how lively the game is below, the final referee must be the emperor, in this Ming Dynasty, as long as the Jiajing Emperor is one day, this law will never change!

Although he is now in his fifties, and he is addicted to the path of cultivation and cannot extricate himself, and he is unwilling to experience government affairs in person, he is no longer the emperor who can see everything clearly, see the fire, and can play with the ministers in the palm of his hand, but the authority he has forged in forty years is something that no one can challenge!

As long as he is physically healthy and his mind is clear, this will never change.

But what is ridiculous, lamentable, sad and hateful is that after years of dedication to cultivation and taking Jindan, not only did not bring him immortality and inviolability from all diseases, but seriously damaged his body, eroded his lifespan, and made him unable to even maintain the most basic sobriety.

Yes, since receiving Li Fang's news yesterday, combined with the judgment of the current situation in the capital, Shen Mo can almost be sure that Emperor Jiajing has temporarily lost control, or that he is in big trouble with his health. And Li Shizhen also confirmed his judgment, Emperor Jiajing has been deeply poisoned by lead and mercury, and mood swings or overwork may cause fainting, or even a semi-coma that lasts for a long time.

Therefore, Shen Mo believed that in order to restore calm to the capital and avoid an uncontrollable situation, it was necessary to keep the emperor healthy, at least sober...... Because this emperor also has a deep-rooted habit, that is, he has an instinctive resistance to any too drastic political changes, because it is too troublesome, there are too many uncontrollable factors, if he is young, he can still manage and reason, but now he is old and decrepit, and the tiger does not bite when he is old, not to mention Emperor Jiajing, who does not care about things?

After an unknown amount of time, the sedan chair stopped, and a three-foot voice came from outside: "My lord, Xiyuan has arrived!" ”

Shen Mo tightened the big curtain on his body, lifted the thick sedan curtain, calmly stepped off the sedan chair, glanced at Li Shizhen wearing a cotton robe and cotton hat, and set his eyes on the solemn vermilion gold nail palace door.

Now that the time has passed, the palace door is open, of course, it is impossible to close, because the cabinet is also in the West Garden, and the center of the Ming Dynasty cannot be stopped from going to work because the emperor is sick.

But when the guards guarding the door saw that he was not from the cabinet, they immediately raised their alarm, and two guards with knives came over and asked, "Which one is from the yamen, if there is something to do, please leave quickly." Seeing that Shen Mo was wearing a sable fur that only high-ranking officials of the fourth rank were qualified to wear, the attitude of these guards was also polite.

As soon as Shen Mo was about to answer, a purple-clothed eunuch came over and said, "This is Lord Shen, who was invited by the old ancestor." Saying that, he smiled at Shen Mo and was about to take him into the palace...... This person silently knew that it was the eunuch next to Li Fang, so he nodded and said to Li Shizhen: "Let's go in." ”

Who knew that the two lieutenants exchanged glances, bowed to the eunuch and said, "It turned out to be Gonggong Yuan, but there is a warrant from Gonggong Chen?" ”

The purple-clothed eunuch Yuan's face changed suddenly, and he glared at one of the guards angrily and said, "You say it again, whose warrant do you want?" ”

"Don't be angry...... the guard whispered: "A few days ago, Gonggong Chen passed the word that no one is allowed to enter the palace except for the cabinet members, unless there is a warrant from him. He said with a smile: "You also know that now Gonggong Chen is in charge of the guards, and the little ones are just acting according to orders, not to refute your face." ”

"You know, I'm such an unreasonable person?" The eunuch Yuan suddenly lost his angry face, changed to a mysterious smile and said, "I don't have Gonggong Chen's warrant, can you take a look at this?" As he spoke, he put his right hand in his sleeve and beckoned to the guard, "Come closer." ”

The guard thought he had some secret, so he turned his head closer, only four or five inches away from the fist that Eunuch Yuan was caged into his sleeve.

I saw that Eunuch Yuan's face suddenly changed again, and his right hand stretched out from his sleeve like a poisonous tongue spitting out a letter. said that it was too late, and before the guard could react, he slapped him twice, and he was stunned when he landed, so he heard Eunuch Yuan scold while beating: "You are a king and a lamb, the ancestor is still alive, so you will go and lick his asshole surnamed Chen instead?" ”

The guards on the side watched, but no one dared to come up to stop them, the guards covered their faces, and they didn't dare to attack, but said aggrievedly: "Gonggong Chen is the eldest son of the old ancestor, we think that those who listen to him are those who listen to the old ancestor." "The palace guards of the Ming Dynasty were originally called the 12 guards of the pro-army command; Later, Xuande changed to 'Yulin 3,000 households' in six years, and then changed to Wuxiang and Tengxiang four guards, and the establishment was changed, but it has always been subordinate to the imperial horse supervisor.

Therefore, the name of the imperial horse supervisor is to raise horses, in fact, he commands the forbidden army to prevent the annihilation of the imperial insult, and is the military yamen in the inner court, and its position as a governor and eunuch is definitely among the top three among the twelve eunuchs in the inner court. But no matter how awesome he is, he has to be supervised by the celebrants, because the celebrant is in charge of the eunuchs, and he is in charge of the ceremonial punishments of all the eunuchs, so those guards will not dare to offend the celebrities around Li Fang no matter what.

So after being beaten, the guard had to be careful to laugh, but Eunuch Yuan still didn't understand his hatred, and said fiercely: "I'm bah! He kicked his feet hard and said: "You listen to me, in this palace, the emperor and the emperor can call the shots, that is, the ancestor, Chen Hong wants to be the master for the ancestor?" Unless the sun comes out of the west! Finally, he shouted, "Get out!" Sure enough, he scolded the guards who blocked the way, and opened a passage one after another, and Eunuch Yuan took Shen Mo and Li Shizhen and entered the West Garden with their heads held high.

When he entered the palace, he saw that there was no one in front of him, so he asked silently and in a low voice, "Gonggong Yuan, what's the situation now?" ”

"As soon as Lu Taibao went, he flashed his master." Eunuch Yuan sighed and said softly: "First I couldn't eat for several days, and then I started a high fever, and the fever never subsided, talking nonsense, calling Lu Taibao's name ......" said and really wiped his tears and said: "The master is benevolent and righteous, although he is a brother with Lu Taibao, but it is really rare for the emperor to be like this to his courtiers......" Shen Mo listened and was silent for a while.

After a while, Eunuch Yuan restrained his emotions and said softly: "At that time, the bad news of Lu Taibao was reported by Chen Hongyu to the master, and the master was stunned when he heard it, so Chen Hong took the opportunity to ask the master: 'Do you want to check it?' The master didn't think about it, so he roared angrily: "Check, of course check, you can catch it, kill it that should be killed, don't let anyone go!" Saying that, he shook his head, and said with a face full of resentment: "Our family is pondering, the master is just an angry sentence, not a formal order at all, but Chen Hong grabbed this sentence and began to be arrogant...... not only relaunched the East Factory and began to search and arrest outside the palace, but also in the palace in the name of investigating and destroying details, unscrupulously excluding dissidents. The old ancestor didn't have the same knowledge as him, so he thought that the old ancestor was easy to bully, and he actually stopped the old ancestor from seeing the master, saying that before the suspicion was ruled out, no one could get close to the emperor except himself! ”

Shen Mo finally understood, why did Li Fang go around in such a big circle before he delivered the letter to himself, why did he enter the palace with Topaz Ruyi, it turned out that he couldn't come to see the emperor to see a doctor, and he had to rely on this thing to knock on the door!

While thinking about it, the three of them arrived outside the Yuxi Palace, and saw countless eunuchs and guards from a distance, surrounding the sleeping palace of Emperor Jiajing.

Those eunuchs and guards, apparently having received orders from above, actually held hands in front of the palace gate, forming several human walls, lying in front of Shen Mo, Li Shizhen and Eunuch Yuan.

Looking at this formation, several people know, don't you Eunuch Yuan love to slap you? Then fan as much as you like, we are too many people and have a lot of faces, you dislocated your own fan, and you don't want to go further.

Eunuch Yuan Xu felt that he was being teased, and shouted angrily: "Get out of the way!" ”

Behind the human walls, there was a eunuch who was also dressed in purple, and he smiled when he heard this: "I'm sorry, Lao Yuan, it's difficult for my brother to obey my orders, we were ordered to guard the palace for the emperor, and no one wants to take a step before the matter is clarified." ”

"You don't fart, surnamed Fang!" Eunuch Yuan waved his hand impatiently and said: "This is Imperial Doctor Li who has seen the master, the ancestor asked him to diagnose the master, you hurry up and get out of the way, if you delay the master's condition, you will pick your skin!" "Looking at so many people on the other side, but he was a little isolated on his side, he couldn't help complaining in his heart: 'The ancestor is old after all, what kind of bullying has he become, and he still doesn't fight with Chen Hong'......

"Who picks my skin? Are you? That eunuch Fang is Chen Hong's henchman, and he and Eunuch Yuan are on the tip of the needle, and now that they have the upper hand, how can they not play him to their heart's content: "If you really have that ability, Lao Tzu's skin will be given to you as a mattress!" The crowd burst into laughter.

"You ......" Eunuch Yuan jumped to his feet in anger, and was about to sneer at each other, but saw that the eunuch Fang preemptively said: "You brought people just right," and ordered Dongchang Fanzi, who did not participate in the arranging of people: "Arrest that Jianghu traveling doctor surnamed Li and send him to Dongchang to be tortured!" ”

"What are you going to do?" Eunuch Yuan was shocked and said, "Imperial Doctor Li is here to see the master!" ”

"What Imperial Doctor Li?" Eunuch Fang sneered and said, "Looking through the roster of the Tai Hospital, can you find someone named Li Shizhen?" Raising his eyebrows as he spoke, he said sharply: "Not long ago, this person entered the palace to see the master, but after his diagnosis and treatment, the master's illness not only did not improve, but became more and more serious, I now suspect that this traveling doctor intends to murder His Majesty, and decided to arrest him and return to the edict for careful interrogation!" ”

Seeing that Eunuch Yuan was panicked, Eunuch Fang was excited in his heart, and decided to take advantage of the victory to pursue: "The one next to him must be an accomplice, and he will be arrested and interrogated carefully!" He shouted, "Arrest someone!" Those fans with pointed hats on their heads and white leather boots on their feet held iron chains, iron rulers, and iron shackles, and dominated Shen Mo and Li Shizhen from all sides.

"Who dare!" Eunuch Yuan hurriedly protected the two of them behind him and whispered, "Lord Shen, Ancestor Shen, did you bring that thing?!" ”

"Brought it." nodded silently and calmly.

"Then take it out quickly......" Eunuch Yuan said in a trembling voice, it seemed that he was also holding on.

Those fans surrounded Shen Mo in a few groups, and just as they were about to pounce forward, they heard a low shout: "Yuci Yu Ruyi is here, who dares to step forward?!" ”

Everyone followed the prestige, only to see Shen Mo holding a glass box with a sandalwood bottom, through the pale red glass wall, you can clearly see that there is a yellow Ruyi inside! Yes, yellow Ruyi.

As soon as they saw the wishful shape, many people immediately knelt down, this thing was too familiar to them, Emperor Jiajing used to play with it in his hands, and many people were impressed.

Of course, most people haven't seen it, but when they see the people around them kneeling down and knowing that this thing is not a fake, where do they dare to stand? Qi Shushu knelt on the ground, and in front of the entire Yuxi Palace, except for a few silent, no one was standing.

Eunuch Yuan saw that the eunuch was also kneeling, feeling too relieved, and said to Shen Mo: "Lord Shen, let's go in." Shen Mo nodded, changed the crystal box to hold, and went inside with Li Shizhen.

But again, he was stopped and said, "Wait! The voice was gloomy and arrogant, and when I heard it, he was a pretentious guy - I saw Chen Hong, who was wearing a big red python robe, appear in front of everyone. Obviously, he was in it for a long time, but he didn't want or disdained to come forward, but at this moment, he saw that the people below couldn't stand it, so he finally jumped out.

"Bold, when you see Topaz Ruyi, why don't you kneel!" Anyway, it's already yours to die, Eunuch Yuan asked for a surname and tore his face.

Chen Hong's horse face twitched, and he sneered: "Little monkey, it's not your turn to teach me a lesson." Saying that, he arched his hand towards Na Ruyi and said: "This object is in the hands of the emperor, so that it can represent the emperor, or when His Majesty gives it to Lord Shen, he says, 'Seeing this thing is like seeing the king', then it can't be said, everyone has to kneel down and kowtow, obediently obey the dispatch." This guy is so eloquent, it seems that he can get out of the master of ceremonies, and there is no good stubble, so he continued: "Now Your Majesty has not said this, so I just gave this thing as a reward to Lord Shen, and the meaning has changed, it is no longer a national weapon, but just a treasure given by the emperor, we as courtiers, of course, we will pay respect, but it does not mean that we have to listen to Lord Shen's orders!" As he spoke, he glanced at his kneeling men and said, "Why don't you all get up?" ”

The guards and eunuchs on the ground hurriedly got up and surrounded Shen Mo in the middle again.

As soon as he saw Chen Hong come out, he immediately turned the tide, Eunuch Yuan was sweating profusely, but he was helpless, so he had to look at Shen Mo with a begging face and said: "Lord Shen, how can you ......" Before the word 'do' was spoken, he saw a black thing flying towards him, and Eunuch Yuan subconsciously grabbed it, and saw that it was the big one that Shen Mo had been wearing on his body.

Then he looked at Shen Mo, and saw that he was only wearing a thin official robe, holding up the box containing Ruyi, and said with a smile: "Gonggong Chen is so big-mouthed, he doesn't even buy the treasures given by the emperor, so naturally he won't care, I'm a little fourth-grade official." ”

"Don't misinterpret our family's words," Chen Hong said with a gloomy face: "What I'm saying is, of course this treasure must be respected, but you can't rely on it to order the guards!" ”

"I didn't command the Janissaries." Shen Mo smiled faintly, ignoring those knives and guns at all, and took two steps forward: "I just want to go in." The guards were afraid of touching him, and when they missed Ruyi again, they all involuntarily retreated backwards, keeping a safe distance from him.

"Isn't it all the same? Hugh is going to quibble here! Chen Hong said angrily: "Otherwise, I'm welcome!" ”

"How can it be the same? I want to go in to face the saint, but you don't let me in, that is, you don't take this royal treasure seriously. Shen Mo sneered, held the box to his chest and said, "Let me ask you, what is this?" ”

"Wishful Wishes!" Chen Hong deliberately didn't say the word 'topaz', which is a lot smarter.

"Yes, the Imperial Gift!" Shen Mo raised his voice and said: "The emperor has given me wish, do you dare not let me wish?" Get out of the way! The last four words were like spring thunder on the tongue, and they all stunned Chen Hong and the others.

Chen Hong couldn't help but panic and said, "You dare to misinterpret the holy will? ”

"Lord Shen didn't misinterpret the holy will...... A gentle but majestic voice sounded, and the eunuch guards who had just stood up immediately saluted and greeted: "Old Ancestor...... If it weren't for Chen Hong's murderous gaze, he would definitely fall to his knees again.

The white-haired Li Fang appeared in front of Yuxi Palace, he didn't look at others, just looked at Chen Hong with blazing eyes and said: "When our family is present, Your Majesty's meaning, because Lord Shen gave up the three-grade waiter, so give him a chance to be wishful, Gonggong Chen, what else do you have to refute now?" ”

Chen Hong was already deflated by silence, but now that Li Fang appeared, he sprinkled half of his remaining anger and completely deflated, so he had to retreat to the side and say, "Go in." ”

Shen Mo breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Father-in-law Li, please." ”

Li Fang pointed at the Ruyi and said with a smile: "It's better Lord Shen to invite first." ”

Shen Mo immediately came to his senses, and said with a smile: "Okay, then the next official will be advanced!" Holding the box, he strode into the Yuxi Palace.

Li Fang and Li Shizhen followed closely behind, leaving only Chen Hong, who was pale and sweating.

(To be continued)