The West Garden of the Forbidden City, on the southwest bank of the Taiye Pool, has more than 200 houses here, forming a unique architectural complex that is not connected to the other houses in the palace. If you look down from above, you will find that these rooms are arranged like a huge labyrinth, and if you don't have someone who knows the way to guide you, you will only get lost in these houses and don't know where you are.

The construction of these houses took five years before and after, costing more than 240,000 taels of silver, and on weekdays, there are a large number of warriors and soldiers coming and going, and there are tigers, leopards, fierce dogs and other evil beasts emitting terrifying roars. This is the leopard room specially built after the Son of Zhengde ascended the throne because he was tired of the rules of the palace.

In folklore, the leopard house is always associated with absurdity or incense, but in fact, it is nothing more than a haven built for himself by a willful and reckless emperor.

Since the completion of the leopard room, most of the decisions of the Ming Dynasty have come from here, and the beauties, heroes, beasts, and delicacies have not dampened the fighting spirit of a king. The young Son of Heaven just wanted to get everything he wanted here, and even arranged it into a yurt and played the horse-head qin to pretend to be a Mongolian Great Khan, and no one could say anything.

In the past, the leopard room, which was lively and noisy and brought countless good memories to the Son of Heaven, is now a little desolate. The beasts and dogs, like those monks and warriors, were gone, except for the eunuchs on duty, and in the night, the lanterns swayed weakly in the wind.

In the Leopard Room, the palace people in charge of serving were all driven out, and only Yang Tinghe, the head assistant of the current dynasty, and the Zhengde Heavenly Son, who had just recovered his senses, were left in the room. Since he passed out at the Temple of Heaven, he has been in a coma, and Ren is Tai tried his best to not let the Son of Heaven regain his senses. Until not long ago, the Son of Heaven Miraculously opened his eyes, and his mind was exceptionally clear, and his spirit was much better than at the beginning.

His face was flushed with a bit of morbidity, his breathing was short and rapid, and his chest rose and fell violently. Liu Wu'er, Ma Shi and several other women were also kicked out by Zhengde, and the room was empty. Zhengde is a lively, like luxury, when this room was built, it was very spacious, when there were only two people left, I felt that the distance between the two was a little far.

Yang Tinghe sat opposite Zhengde, with a cup of tea in front of him, and Zhengde pointed to the teacup with his finger, "Teacher, I still remember the first time I gave you tea." At that time, I was the crown prince, and my master was still compiling the records of Xianzong at that time, and when I first met my teacher, my father asked me to pour tea for my teacher. And told me that no matter when it comes, you must listen to the master's words and do what the master says, only in that way can you be eternal, and you can be a wise man. Now that I think about it, I didn't listen to my father's words, but always made my master angry, which was wrong. ”

Yang Tinghe sighed, "At that time, the Son of Heaven was still a young man, and it was the time when he was in high spirits. When I was studying, I was quite careless, and the old man's teaching may be too strict. Fortunately, Banzai is magnanimous, and he does not remember the mistakes of the old ministers, but instead entrusts the old ministers with important tasks. It's a pity that Weichen is slightly limited, incompetent, and has failed the expectations of the emperor and the great grace of the Son of Heaven, and he really deserves death. ”

"Master doesn't have to say that, your talent is unique in the country, even the great genius Li Dongyang has said, I am in Wenhan, quite a day, if it is economic, it must be returned to the husband. Even the famous Li 18 said so, which shows that the talent and learning of the teacher is enough to take on the position of the first assistant, and the state affairs are like this, and I am not the master. ”

As he said this, his breathing seemed to be even more rapid, and he grabbed a medicine gourd from his hand, swallowed the pill in his mouth and chewed it regardless of it, and then grabbed the tea bowl and swallowed it. Perhaps it was because the medicinal fruit was effective, and after taking the medicine, his spirit seemed to be a little better, and he said:

"When the master taught me to write, he told me. Horizontal should be flat, vertical should be straight, stroke by stroke, to be clear, clear. The master also said that writing is the same as being a person, the important thing is the word rules, and the rules can never be messed up. ”

"Long live is a rare smart person in the world, the old minister has read countless people in his life, but there is no one in ten thousand who is smart and holy. Lao Chen always thinks that with the wisdom and wisdom of long live, when I can adjust the wind and rain of my Ming governance, the harvest of grains will be. Maybe at some point, you think too quickly, and if there is anything offended, long live. ”

"No, how could I blame you? No matter what you do, I remember that you are my master. Everything I know about being a human being is what you taught me, so how can I blame you? The master is a gentleman, I'm not, I just don't want to live like my father. I'm an emperor! ”

After a violent cough, Zhengde shook his head, "It's not interesting to say this." Over the years, what I have done is actually one thing, which is to go against everyone. Everyone asked me to do something, but I didn't do it, and now that I think about it, isn't it stupid. Right or wrong, leave it to future generations to comment, everyone may call me a faint king? When I see my father, ask him to punish me. Because of my nonsense, I have done a lot of wrong things and poked a lot of leaks, and I will have to rely on the master to make up for these leaks in the future, thank you for your hard work. ”

"This is the duty of the old minister, and it is incumbent on him."

"You let the beasts in this leopard house be slaughtered, right? Why bother? Those are just brutes, so why should you have trouble them? ”

"Those beasts cost a great deal of money, and it is useless to keep them. Part of it was disposed of by Weichen, and the other part was sent to the elephant training institute and disposed of by Jinyiwei. ”

"Whatever you want. But I want you to promise me one thing, don't deal with the Liu family like you did with these brutes. These things have nothing to do with them, they are ...... It was I who harmed them. Master, I beg you, to grant me this request, to let them live well, to protect their safety for me, you will definitely be able to do it. ”

His breathing became more and more rapid, and his middle qi had begun to weaken, Yang Tinghe understood that the time to return to the light was about to pass, and this Son of Heaven was about to pass away. Thinking of the young man who tried every possible way to skip school in front of him, and then saw the patient in front of him who was about to die, a soft part of his heart was touched fiercely.

Even Yang Tinghe didn't understand why he nodded, and then he saw a smile of relief on Zhengde's face, "I know that my teacher treats me well." I...... I'm going to see the emperor now, the country can't be left without an owner for a day, the successor to the throne, have you ever chosen? ”

Yang Tinghe nodded, and read softly: "I am dying, the heir has not been built, the eldest son of the emperor and the elder brother of Xingxian Wang has grown up, virtuous, benevolent and filial, and the order of Lun is established, and he has obeyed the text of the ancestral training brother and the last brother, and told the Zongmiao, please send an official to the Empress Dowager Cishou to welcome the emperor to Beijing on the same day, and enshrine the emperor's throne. ”

When Zhengde heard this, there was a little more inexplicable meaning in his eyes, he stared at Yang Tinghe tightly, breathed desperately, and said with all his might: "It turns out ...... It turned out that the master had already prepared an edict for me. Sure enough, he is a good master, and even this has been thought of for me. I hope that my teacher will remember what he promised me and protect those women for me...... Protecting ...... Protecting this piece of society and society, the ancestral foundation ......"

The emperor slipped weakly from his chair and fell to the ground, and all the eunuchs hidden in the shadows jumped out and tried their best to save them.

After less than a cup of tea, an abrupt and dense death knell sounded in the palace, and the cries rang out, and the civil and military officials in Beijing left their mansions to listen to the news outside the Forbidden City, while at the same time, the fast horses that delivered the news left the city overnight and headed towards their respective destinations.

On several key roads outside the Beijing Division, a large number of sergeants carried torches, winding like fire dragons, and marched in the darkness. The officer leading the troops looked at the direction of the Beijing division and gritted his teeth, "I hope there is no delay." Finally left the ghost place at the border, Jiang Bin, let's see! ”