After the banquet, Zhu Houxi did not stay in the Ruwang Mansion, but went to his palace under the escort of eunuchs and guards. Although this banquet was a family banquet, it was still accompanied by the local prefect, the governor of Henan and a cadre of the Beijing Division. The heavenly family is selfless, and it is not so easy to have a family banquet in the real sense.

At the banquet, King Ru, as the host, became a dispensable foil. The real protagonists at the banquet are still those big players. King Ru couldn't say a few words for a long time, and as for the two county lords, they didn't even have the qualifications to serve at the table. Looking at Mu Ne's cowardly imperial uncle, Zhu Houxi felt both sympathy and disgust in his heart, and the food was not interesting, and he didn't say a few words.

In order to welcome the Son of Heaven, Luo Gong did his homework very much, including the fact that when the Son of the World invited the angels to the Angel in Anlu, he only ate vegetarian and did not eat meat, and he also inquired. The dishes in front of Zhu Houxi were all vegetarian dishes, and after picking them for a long time, he couldn't find any meat, which made him a little more bored.

On the way back to the palace, Huang Jin reported the news of Yang Chengzu to Zhu Houxi, and the future Tianzi's face instantly became ugly, with a little chill in his eyes

"Huang Ban, do you mean that Brother Yang came to report the urgent military situation to me, but you blocked him? The military intelligence still said that the White Lotus Sect appeared in Weihui, and the eldest brother was afraid that something would happen, so I raised my vigilance. If you do this, I don't know if you want to cut off the news of our brother, or do you think that this news is not important at all? ”

"Your Majesty...... The slave and maid did not dare to be lazy, but at that time, you and the king of you were talking about family affairs, and there were all the princes in the court, and the slave and maid did not dare to disturb it, and they did not dare to let others disturb it. Huang Jin knelt in the carriage, justifying his actions.

"Even if the White Lotus Demon wants to be unfavorable to Banzai, it is not so easy, we have tens of thousands of soldiers here, and it is difficult for them to make trouble. On the contrary, the prince is about to become His Majesty, and unlike the time of the palace, the rules of respect and humility still have to stand up. The slave maid just hoped that General Yang would understand that it was not that he could see Banzai if he wanted to. Please let your majesty punish the slaves and maids for their own crimes. ”

Is this a struggle for power? Of course, Zhu Houxi understands that Huang Jin is actually not quite at odds with Yang Chengzu, probably because of the Miao family, the two of them formed a relationship. As a personal eunuch, he is actually his playmate, he is a few years older than himself, and he is a military eunuch who is proficient in martial arts, and he has always been his personal guard since he was a child.

For Huang Jin, Zhu Houxi trusts him very much, knowing that this personal companion will never betray him. It's just that he has been practicing martial arts since he was a child, and his attainments in literature and ink are very low. Later, he followed himself to study, but he really believed in etiquette and education, in other words, this is a eunuch who yearns for Confucianism.

There are many eunuchs like this in the Ming Dynasty, such as the eunuch Huai'en of the previous dynasty, and Zhang Yong, who is beside Zhengde, according to Wenchen, they are all good eunuchs. Yang Chengzu and the concubine's stepmother got together, and even gave birth to a son, this kind of immoral and unscrupulous thing, in the countryside, most of them are going to make trouble and kill people, but in Huang Jin's view, it is also not enough to kill, and it is more than enough.

The matter of the longevity county lord is even more intolerable for Huang Jin. If Zhu Houxi hadn't specially issued a gag order, he would have reported this to Concubine Jiang a long time ago, and beat Yang Chengzu to death. Regarding the reuse of this person by the prince, Huang Jin's opinion is the greatest.

It's just that he is a eunuch after all, and he has no say in this kind of employment. It is unlikely that he will cooperate with Yang Chengzu, such as today's incident, that is, this eunuch deliberately did not let Yang Chengzu pass the news in, lest he gain fame in front of these bigwigs and really soar in the future.

In an instant, Zhu Houxi was almost ready to kick Huang Jin off the elephant's rim, and then called Yang Chengzu to comfort him in person. I just thought that the eunuch in front of me had taken care of himself since he was a child, and when the thieves attacked the palace, Huang Jin was injured and fought, not retreating, and made a contribution with a knife and a gun, but this kick really couldn't be kicked.

The way of the king is to maintain balance. He thought of this sentence again in his mind, maybe the eunuch in front of him could still take advantage of it. After all, the inner court must have a reliable eunuch to contain the outer court, if he is suppressed too much, it will not be easy to find people in the future.

In the end, Zhu Houxi just said, "Only this once, not for example." In the future, Brother Yang has anything to see me, no matter what the occasion, he must be courteous, if you dare to stop me, then you don't follow me, go to Xiaoling to accompany the ancestors of the Ming Dynasty. ”

"The slave obeys."

"You told the kitchen to make me some supper, that meal was boring, it was all vegetarian, and I was hungry to death." Zhu Houxi touched his stomach, for a half-year-old child of his age, not eating a few bites of a meal was indeed a torture.

"Also, tonight's defense has been tightened, after all, the White Lotus Thief has appeared, and there will definitely be no good thing. Meals should be carefully checked on the diet to prevent them from being poisoned. After saying goodbye to the emperor's uncle tomorrow, we will set off for Beijing, and even if the White Lotus Demon has any intentions, there is no place to do it. ”

"Your Majesty, rest assured, the slave maid will personally lead people to do it."

When he returned to the palace, Huang Jin took his cronies and military supervisors to patrol the sentry overnight regardless of fatigue, and the anger in Zhu Houxi's heart gradually calmed down. In fact, this kind of competition for favor is not bad, with such a eunuch here, the eldest brother will not become the second Jiang Bin. As long as he, the emperor, can settle his mind, he will not spoil his brotherhood because of outsiders.

Although a large number of guards, personal entourage, internal officials, and palace people are stationed around this palace, because it is the palace of the Son of Heaven, everyone knows the rules, so they did not make much movement, and on the whole, it is still very quiet. In the distance, there was a faint sound of the second watch, and Zhu Houxi was waiting for the diet to think about how to maintain the balance between the court and the inside, who to use to restrain whom, and how to ensure the overall stability.

In the kitchen, the exhausted cook was busy preparing his newly favorite Panlong dish for the Son of Heaven, not noticing that a burning stick had fallen where the firewood and grass were piled up.

In a corner of the compound, two small firefighters in green robes turned bags of gunpowder out from under the bed and piled them up like towers.

With the devotion of martyrs on their faces, they kept chanting words such as the Three Tribulations of the World and the Vacuum Hometown, and the fire fold in their hands came to the lead.

Outside the palace, in the temporary quarters that are close together, the same scene is being played out in several places. Their identities may be eunuchs, palace people, or guards who have been selected to defend the Son of Heaven, but at this time, they all have only one identity: the White Lotus Sect.

Whether it was Huang Jin or the other officers in charge of security, almost no one thought that the White Lotus Sect's assassination method tonight was not the traditional secret plot or poisoning, but the use of fire attack, a fire that shook the Ming Dynasty and was about to ignite.