That night, Xu Rui and Yuwang had a secret conversation for half the night, and then Xu Rui sat alone in the study until dawn.

At the end of the day, An Ge walked in with a bowl of gruel and gently knocked on the table, waking up Xu Rui, who was in a trance.

"Young master, this is my aunt's own hands for you, she is very distressed when she sees you working hard in the past few days."

Xu Rui nodded, picked up a small spoon, and drank the gruel in a few sips.

Seeing that he was still looking absent-minded, An Ge couldn't help but ask, "Young Master, what did His Royal Highness King Yu tell you last night?" ”

Xu Rui shook his head: "Actually, he didn't say anything useful, he just told me that this case may be a conspiracy against him." ”

"A conspiracy against him?"

An Ge was puzzled.

Xu Rui sighed: "This case is very involved, I am afraid that it will soon trigger a series of party disputes in the court, and he will probably be pushed to the forefront of the storm, and his future is uncertain." ”

Hearing this, An Ge nodded thoughtfully, didn't ask any more, put away the dishes and walked out of the study.

Xu Rui glanced at An Ge deeply, stretched a big lazy waist, and went back to the house to change into official clothes.

At this moment, a big storm is brewing in the court, although the tragedy is still being investigated, but the public opinion caused by this case has accumulated to a critical point.

At the beginning of the dynasty this morning, Wang Hua, the imperial historian of the right capital, went to the table to impeach Liu Xingcai, the uncle of Hongtongbo, on the charge of helping Tang Jiuguang forge official documents and embezzle 2.36 million taels of official silver from the treasury.

After that, the Imperial Court of the Left and Right Deputy Governors of the Imperial History, and the Left and Right Imperial Historians seconded the proposal, and listed 173 nobles and officials related to the case, and the target was directly aimed at the prince.

The first wave of the voice of the King of Liao finally shouted, and the sound shook the tile.

Immediately after that, the princelings immediately used the color, Zhuo Yanghou to participate in the household department Shangshu Du Ruo, and the seventy-five household officials under him to fabricate charges and frame Tang Jiuguang.

Immediately afterwards, the nobles attacked him en masse, and the two dukes and three candidates jointly appeared on the table, based on Tang Jiuguang's last recital before his death, impeached the scholar of Wenhua Palace, and the first assistant of the cabinet, Huang Tingzhi, secretly plotted a conspiracy, formed a party for personal gain, and attacked the prince.

As soon as these words came out, the cabinet and the six ministries collectively protested, but two princes and several princes in the Xungui group immediately stood on their feet, and they still overpowered the civil official group.

The two sides insisted on their own words, and they were fried in the court.

When the stalemate was at a stalemate, Zhang Min of Dali Temple suddenly threw out a letter of note, and King Yu and Lu Hua, the secretary of the Criminal Department, investigated unfavorably, protected the prince, and pulled King Yu into this party dispute.

The princelings were afraid that the civilian clique would find a breakthrough from King Yu, and immediately impeached King Yu for protecting the criminal officials of the household department on the grounds that King Yu had not reported Tang Jiuguang's defense to the emperor.

A new round of competition has begun again, pushing this battle to a climax.

However, what is interesting is that Emperor Hongwei, who was sitting on the dragon chair, had an ambiguous attitude, and did not say a word from beginning to end, and all the above tables were left behind.

Since the emperor did not speak, after scolding each other for two hours, the early dynasty dispersed, and the court could not fight.

Everything seems to have come to an end, but everyone knows that today is only the first round of testing between the two sides, and the more tragic struggle continues, and both sides are forced into a corner, and they have to see the red with bayonets in order to protect themselves.

And there are only two points that can determine the outcome of the two sides, one is the Hongwei Emperor with an unclear attitude, and the other is the investigation results of the extermination case and the treasury corruption case.

Liu Haofei, the waiter of the Criminal Department, naturally understands this truth.

Lu Hua, the secretary of the Criminal Department, has a lonely temperament, and there is no faction behind him, after a few years of cleanup, most of the officials in the Criminal Department are also officials without factions, and they are even more stormy in this turmoil.

At the court meeting, Liu Hao flew out in a few cold sweats, and immediately rushed back to the criminal department before leaving the court, wanting to solve the case as soon as possible.

But when he returned to the Criminal Department, he heard from his subordinates that King Yu and Lu Hua had led people to the Tang Mansion to investigate thoroughly.

At this time, Liu Haofei happened to receive a report from his subordinates, and after reading the official document submitted by the lower official, he was shocked, and decided that he must immediately report the matter to Shangfeng, so he rushed to the Tang Mansion non-stop.

Today's Tang Mansion is heavily guarded, and the soldiers of each yamen perform their duties, making the Tang Mansion impassable.

Liu Haofei was secretly frightened, and hurriedly grabbed an errand officer to ask.

The messenger happily told him, "My lord, Lord Xu has found the secret room!" ”

"There really is a secret room in the Tang Mansion?!"

Liu Haofei was shocked, and hurriedly asked, "Where is the secret room?" ”

The messenger said, "It's in the backyard!" ”

Liu Haofei hurriedly rushed into the backyard, and saw that Xu Rui had really dug out the secret room passage from under a rockery, and was directing the messengers to move the door at this time.

"Your Excellency has come just in time, come and see what is in the secret room with the lower officials."

Xu Rui saw Liu Haofei coming in a hurry, so he hurriedly grabbed his wrist and walked to the secret room.

"Lord Xu, this official still has urgent matters, and I will come to accompany you to find out after I have met King Yu and Lu Shangshu."

Liu Hao still had urgent matters in his heart, and he didn't want to delay, but Xu Rui couldn't help but say, and pulled him to the secret room, he couldn't help it, and he was really curious, so he had to follow Xu Rui into the secret room first.

The secret room is even larger than expected, covering an area the size of seven or eight wings, which is basically hollowing out the entire backyard.

The walls of the chamber are made of solid masonry and divided into small rooms, like the dungeons of the Punishment Department.

Unfortunately, the entire chamber has apparently been looted, damaged, and sealed from the outside, appearing to have been abandoned for some time.

But even so, the very existence of this chamber is shocking enough.

"What is Tang Jiuguang's intention in making such a big secret room?"

Liu Haofei looked at the furnishings in the secret room in shock, and subconsciously asked.

Xu Rui squatted in the corner of the wall, carefully looking at a pattern on the wall, it was a small flower that could not be seen, like a work of graffiti with gravel, the painting style was extremely naïve, but there was a sense of innocence.

Hearing Liu Haofei's words, Xu Rui didn't answer, but asked rhetorically: "Lord Liu, you said that Tang Jiuguang didn't move for thirty years, could it be because of this secret room?" ”

Liu Haofei was slightly stunned, thought about it carefully and nodded: "It's possible, if you want to dig a secret room of this scale without being noticed by the neighbors, you must be cautious, I'm afraid it won't be completed in ten or eight years, this official is just wondering, what is he doing with such a secret room?" ”

Xu Rui stood up and said with a smile: "Lord Liu, aren't you curious about how the lower officials found out about this secret room?" ”

"Of course I'm curious!"

Liu Haofei nodded.

Xu Rui said: "It's very simple, this is the secret of the haunting of the Tang Mansion. ”

"What?"

Liu Haofei frowned and looked at Xu Rui in dismay.

Xu Rui smiled: "Do you remember Feng Jin, who lives in Liu's Mansion?" He once said that more than two months ago, he was doing a ritual at home, but when he was a child, he suddenly encountered a crack in the wall, and then there were screams of women and children. ”

Liu Haofei nodded: "It's true." ”

Xu Rui said with a smile: "The lower officials went to Qintian to investigate, and on the night of the incident, a major earthquake happened to occur in Chongzhou, six hundred miles away. ”

"You mean ......"

Liu Haofei was shocked in his heart, as if he had been enlightened, and looked at Xu Rui in shock.

Xu Rui nodded: "The backyard of Liu's Mansion is empty, so although the earthquake is six hundred miles away, it still caused great damage.

Therefore, the back wall separating the Feng family from the Tang Mansion will crack, and Feng Jin will be able to hear the screams of women and children from the fractured strata, and those screams will come from the Tang Mansion but seem to linger in his ears for a long time. ”

"And those people who returned to the countryside in the Tang Mansion are probably also buried by the collapsed secret room, and the reason why the secret room is closed is because the earthquake caused too much damage and is no longer usable!"

Liu Haofei deserves to be an expert in criminal names, and when he was reminded by Xu Rui, he immediately drew inferences.

Xu Rui nodded: "Most of the homicides are due to this reason, but the secret room is completely unusable due to the earthquake damage, and I am afraid that the secret exposure here should be the main reason for the closure of the secret room."

There are also traces of the closure of the secret room in the study, but the traces are much later than this secret room, and the secret room can be used after the earthquake, and there is no reason why this secret room can't be used. ”

"There's a secret room in the study? What did you find? ”

Liu Haofei asked.

Xu Rui shook his head: "That secret room has been completely filled in, and nothing has been found. ”

"It's a pity...... But in this way, there were many children hidden in this secret room at that time, could it be that the child theft case in Changxing City was committed by Tang Jiuguang? ”

Liu Haofei rubbed his chin and made a guess.

Xu Rui glanced at the little flower on the wall again, and sighed: "I'm afraid it's right, I just don't know what he is doing with so many children." ”

As he was talking, an errand officer suddenly walked over and said to Liu Haofei: "My lord, Lord Wang and Lord Shangshu are waiting to see you in the inner hall." ”

A word woke up the person in the dream, Liu Haofei remembered that there was still an urgent matter, and hurriedly hugged his fist at Xu Rui and said: "Lord Xu, this official has an urgent matter to report to Lord Wang and Lord Shangshu......

As he spoke, he paused slightly, hesitated slightly, and said, "If you don't have any arrangements, you might as well listen to it together." ”

Xu Rui was slightly stunned, and was about to agree, but suddenly saw that the entrance of the secret room seemed to have a reflection flickering, and the words immediately became: "The status of the lower official is low, how can he be qualified to listen to the conversation of the adults, if the prince thinks that he should let me know, he will tell me that the adults do not have to break the court etiquette system for the sake of the lower officials." ”

"That's fine."

Liu Haofei nodded, no longer insisted, and arched his hand towards Xu Rui again, and walked out of the secret room first.

After he left, Xu Rui also quietly slipped out of the secret room, and while the servants were not paying attention, he pretended to look for clues and came to a room where no one was around.

After a while, there was a sudden sound of breaking on the beam, and then Li Kuang jumped down from the beam like a civet cat.

Xu Rui saw that Li Kuang's face sank like water, his heart sank slightly, and asked, "How is the situation?" ”

Li Kuang shook his head: "A good news, a bad news, which one do you want to hear first?" ”