After the crown prince Jinglan received the emperor's will, he had the same nightmare almost every night, in which there was a man in white, wearing a strange mask, and an ancient long sword in his hand, slashing straight at him. The capital is full of nightmares, these are all bad signs, and he immediately gave an order to his shadow guards.

At night, more than a dozen guards dressed in black escorted a vermilion carriage quietly in the streets of Beijing, the accompanying people all had solemn expressions, hurried steps but brisk and orderly, the appearance of the carriage looks no different from ordinary vehicles, but the details are brilliant, set off the noble and remarkable temperament of the master, the soldiers on the night patrol saw the jade plate of the owner of the car and immediately avoided it.

At this time, the night was dark, the sky was covered by thick clouds, and there was no light, and the vehicle quietly arrived at a mansion in the deep alley of Jingshi East Street, where a tall shadow guard knocked softly on the door and handed the master a greeting post.

After a while, an old man in civilian clothes hurriedly came out of the house to greet him, this person was about fifty years old, with a jade face and a long beard, although his sideburns had a lot of white hair, but there were no wrinkles on his face, although he was in a hurry, he did not panic at all, after pushing the door open, he saw a young man wearing a purple robe and cloak standing at the door, the man was seven feet tall, his skin was fair, he was born with dragon eyebrows and phoenix eyes, although the night breeze was urgent, his back was still straight, and his whole body was full of luxury, the old man immediately bowed his head and saluted, "The old man has seen His Royal Highness the Prince." Jing Lan immediately went to hold the old man's hand with both hands, looking extremely respectful, "Taifu doesn't need to be polite, Xiao Wang is talking about important matters late at night." This crane-haired, child-haired, energetic old man is named Han En, who is the master of the crown prince Jinglan, who specializes in teaching the prince etiquette, "Let's go, go to the inner study." The two have been masters and apprentices for many years, and they have a tacit understanding, and Mrs. Han immediately knew that the matter was urgent, so he ordered others to lock the door, and no one was allowed to enter without notification.

Jing Lan and his entourage followed Mrs. Han to the house, and after the two entered Mrs. Han's study, the shadow guards immediately quietly surrounded the study and set up a sentry. As soon as he closed the door, Jing Lan made a standard disciple salute to this Taifu, and after sitting down, he told him about the strange things he had been doing recently, "Sir, Lan has had many nightmares recently, and they are all the same nightmare, Lan is terrified in his heart, so he bothers him late at night. Mrs. Han immediately sensed in his heart that something uneasy was about to happen, and hurriedly asked, "What is Your Highness's dream?" ”

"In the dream, Lan walked alone in a forest, surrounded by thick fog, suddenly, a man in white with a strange mask held an ancient sword and slashed straight at the king, but the king couldn't move, the man was not dressed like he was wearing at the moment, and there seemed to be words in his mouth, the king wanted to hear clearly but couldn't hear what he was reading, and when the sword was about to stab, the man disappeared out of thin air, and the king also woke up with a headache." Mrs. Han sat opposite, he stroked his beard, his eyes fell into contemplation, and his tone suddenly became solemn, "Your Highness, has this happened before?" ”

"This kind of situation has never happened before, but since the Jingshi Weishui burst the embankment, he has been dreaming every night, this king suspects that it is a nightmare, and asks Li Yuanshou of Tai Hospital to come and check, Li Yuanshou also diagnosed it as a nightmare, but carefully examined all the food and tea of this king, and did not find out the reason. This king also paid attention to whether the people around him were strange, but when he checked them privately, he did not find anything unusual. This nightmare came so strangely, and the time was after the embankment burst, the king was worried that it might be related to the recent flood in Beijing. Weishui burst the embankment, flooded to the western suburbs, if this matter is not handled carefully, I am afraid that the country will be shaken, such an important moment, the father ordered the little king to supervise the country, in charge of all disaster relief matters, the little king recently pondered and meditated, but he could not understand what the father and the emperor meant, and praised it? Kill? I hope that Mr. will tell the truth. After Jing Lan finished speaking, he arched his hands to Mrs. Han and bowed his head, his eyes sincere and anxious.

Han Taifu frowned, the crown prince suddenly had a nightmare, and it happened after the embankment burst, this matter was extremely tricky, but he immediately said unhurriedly, "Your Highness, Your Majesty's thoughts are far-reaching, far from us as courtiers can speculate, the immediate urgency should be to share your Majesty's worries, although Your Highness does his duty, there is no need to panic." ”

"This king also understands that the top priority is to share the worries of his father, but now there are three difficult things in front of this king, which are really difficult to solve. Jing Lan's tone had calmed down at this point. "Oh? Your Highness might as well say it directly", Han Taifu replied.

"This first difficult thing, the Weishui River embankment has been washed away by floods, and it is necessary to build a dam in a short period of time and divert water to the south, the amount of work is tight, and the cost is huge, I don't know who else in the court can do it except Qin Shouyi (Qin Gangzi).

This second difficult thing, the day before yesterday, when Xiao Wang was supervising the dam on the river embankment, a short-legged man wearing coarse cloth suddenly rushed towards Xiao Wang, as if he saw something extremely frightening, and kept shouting in his mouth, 'Disaster from heaven, netherworld asking for life'. At that time, the situation was urgent, and the left and right shadow guards around Xiao Wang immediately escorted him, but when the person rushed halfway, a blue fire suddenly rose all over his body, and his face was deformed after that, and it didn't take long for him to die on fire all over his body, and what was even more strange was that when this person was on fire, there were people around him who tried to extinguish it with water but to no avail. Later, Xiao Wang heard that there were two similar murders in the city. The time, place, and deceased of these three murders have not been found to be connected, but they are all killed in the same way, this bizarre way of death can not even find out the reason for the Dali Temple, this matter has made the people of Beijing panic now, everyone is afraid that the underworld will come to ask for their lives, the father has removed the position of Xiao Jin, the secretary of the Dali Temple, because of this matter, but the newly appointed Dali Temple Secretary Yang has no clue about this matter. Attack the city first and attack the heart, if the reason for this matter is not investigated, the king is worried that the rumors of the netherworld asking for his life will spread more and more, and in the end, everyone will be in danger, who still thinks about the guard. Mrs. Han nodded, the Netherworld case did have ulterior motives, and he didn't interrupt to let Jing Lan continue.

"This third difficult thing is about nightmares, if the first two things are for the Jingshi, then this matter is obviously for the king, the king has been trying to figure out who the man in the dream is, his clothes, mask, ancient sword The king has not seen it in the ancient books, his posture and action with the sword are like water, quite the wind of everyone, this person is a person or a ghost, why he will repeatedly enter the dream of this king, and why he wants to assassinate this king in his dream, the reason behind this is really difficult to guess. The king suspects that the masked man in the dream has some connection with the Netherworld case, but he doesn't know where to start. Jing Lan sighed slightly, thinking of the solitary figure these days, since the death of his mother, these things are all he is fighting alone, "These days this king has been restless, after the defeat of the Gu clan, Pei Yi used Pei Guifei's power to become bigger and bigger in the court, he controlled the public weapons, private fraud, now it can be said that the government and the opposition are full of henchmen, if they want to continue to retain power, they will definitely target the king, this time the father ordered the king to solve the disaster situation, Pei Yi and his party actually did not speak, what are the plans behind them, whenever I think of these, This king always broke out in a cold sweat behind his back. ”

Han Taifu was in a complicated mood after hearing this, he understood that Jinglan was currently in a difficult situation, these days, he thought about it day and night, rummaging through the resumes of the courtiers up and down the court, in order to seek a way to rescue, "Your Highness is in a difficult situation, and you don't know that the trouble of the Jingshi seems to be a natural disaster, but it is actually a human disaster, and its purpose is only one, to create chaos and capture the Jingshi." "This point coincides with the idea of this king, but how to get out of the predicament, please ask the Taifu to speak out." Jing Lan said solemnly.

"The old minister is incompetent and can't help His Highness solve the current predicament, but the old minister knows that there are three people in the court who can help His Highness get out of the predicament, and if used properly, he can even make His Highness have the strength to compete with the Pei family." Mrs. Han preached firmly.

"Which three? Mrs. Fu, please speak. Jing Lan hurriedly asked, "This first person is Qin Gang's son Qin Ye, this person is Qin Gang's only son, since he was a child, he has been with Zikui (Qin Gang's character) since he was a child, because he has some friendship with the old man's family, the old man knows that Qin is also very knowledgeable, likes to study, and has proposed to use artificial fish mouths to divert the stream, in order to achieve the dual effect of eliminating harm and prospering." This son is proficient in water conservancy, is a rare talent in our dynasty, his ability is far better than his father, if you want to deal with the trouble of Weishui, this person must be. ”

"Qin Ye, this king has heard that this person is young and talented, and this matter will depend on Taifu, since this king has full authority to handle this matter, early tomorrow morning, this king will immediately send someone to Qin's mansion to invite Qin Gongzi."

Han Taifu suddenly got up and saluted the prince, "Your Highness, this is also what the old minister wants to say, the Qin family has been loyal and good for generations, they have always taken it as their responsibility to protect the river embankment, and it is impossible to let the river burst the embankment. ”

Jing Lan immediately got up and saluted back, "Sir, don't worry, Qin is the minister of the humerus of the country, even if Mr. doesn't say it, this king will do his best to find out the truth." As a matter of urgency, please tell me about the other two. ”

Mrs. Han sat down again, "I heard that before the flood in the western suburbs of Beijing, someone reported that there was a fire in Tanshan Mountain, which burned many livestock. Someone else had reported to Dali Temple, saying that several young and middle-aged people in Xiyu Village had disappeared one after another, and the government also sent people to investigate at that time, but they couldn't find clues. Now it seems that the murderers behind this case are interlocking, step by step, and today's plan is to find out the real murderer and find out the cause in order to solve the panic of the Beijing Division. ”

"In Mr.'s opinion, who can solve the case now?" Jinglan asked.

"Quzhou assassin Jiang Bing, in recent years, the old decay has checked the appointment history of officials in various places, Jiang Bing has cracked a number of major homicide cases in office, this person is as careful as dust, discerning, very good at restoring the truth from the small and subtle, and this person knows the law of our dynasty very well, if you want to solve the murder case of the Beijing Division, this person must be. However," Mrs. Han stroked his beard worriedly, "The imperial court appointment must not be rushed, if you want to use this distant water to save the fire, you have to rely on one person." "The person Taifu said is the newly appointed Dali Temple Secretary Yang Kai?" Jing Lan asked, "Your Highness really understands it at one point, but Your Highness can rest assured, Lord Yang will personally go and say that above the court, the prince does not need to come forward in person." ”

"Okay, then there is Mr. Lao", Jinglan thanked again, "I don't know who the third person Mr. is talking about?" ”

"I am the new national teacher Lang Qingfeng", Han Taifu said firmly, "If you want to know whether the prince has been poisoned, you have to rely on this person." I heard that this person is a closed disciple of the former dynasty master Uncle Ion, not only in martial arts morality, feng shui gossip, Qimen Dunjia quite attained, but also very good at alchemy. If His Highness has the help of this person, he will be like a tiger with wings. ”

After Jing Lan heard Lang Qingfeng's name, he hesitated a little in his heart, "Taifu, you know, this king never believes in this. "The Gu clan is the descendant of the nobles of the first dynasty, there was a training, the men of the Gu family respect heaven and earth, do not respect ghosts and gods, so the Gu clan has produced more than a dozen generals from the previous dynasty to the present, and they have quite prestige in the army, but it is a pity that in recent years, the heirs of the Gu family have withered.

"Your Highness, alchemy is good and bad, and it cannot be generalized. Before appointing the national teacher, this person had openly said to His Majesty in the court, 'Poor Dao Alchemy does not ask for immortals, but only to prolong life and eliminate disasters and solve difficulties, if Your Majesty does not agree, Poor Dao should leave by himself.' This person is very familiar with the medicinal properties of various herbs, and the old man is thinking that this nightmare must be strange when it comes suddenly, and looking for this person may be able to solve the mystery. ”

The nightmare really bothered Jing Lan, even the head of the Tai Hospital, Jing Lan knew that his master was meticulous and knew people well, so he nodded and said, "Yes, this king has been quite troubled by this matter recently, and even the capital of the Tai Hospital can't find out the cause, this method that Taifu said may be able to try, and the king of Ming Japan will personally visit this person." ”

Han Taifu was very relieved in his heart, thinking to himself, although the prince is young and the power of the maternal family is weak, it is rare to have a sincere heart in his heart, and he is good at absorbing other people's views, and he is not panicked when he encounters things, but there is one thing that has been pressed in his heart for a long time, if he does not decide, the future will be endless, and he will not vomit or be unhappy at this critical juncture, "Your Highness, there is a sentence that I don't know whether to say or not." Jing Lan saw a hint of hesitation flashing on Taifu's face, guessing that it might be related to Ah Yao, so he said, "Taifu, but it's okay to talk about it." ”

"Your Highness, as the prince of a country, in a high position, it is inevitable that the height will be cold. After the first battle of Kunning, General Gu Mo died on the battlefield, the Gu clan is declining, the queen mother is also sick and passed away because of this matter, the bloody rain and bloody wind above the court is no less than that on the battlefield, if His Royal Highness does not have the protection of a strong mother, it is like a lonely tree on the mountain, without any foundation, wind and rain, His Royal Highness should make plans as soon as possible and start a family as soon as possible. ”

"Sir, Ah Yao", Jing Lan wanted to speak and stopped, "Ah Yao and this king have the same heart, and this king doesn't want to lose her." ”

When Mrs. Han heard this, her face was anxious, "Your Highness, A-Yao is the daughter of the minister, and the minister doesn't want to see her sad, but the situation is pressing, and Your Majesty is not concerned about your marriage, so a decision must be made on this matter." His face was solemn, "Your Highness, Ah Yao is simple-minded, she only likes to write poetry and paint on weekdays, and the others are not good at it, even if you enter the East Palace, it is difficult to assist Your Highness in achieving great things." Although the old official position is from the first grade, but there is no real power, it is really more than enough and not enough, and I hope His Royal Highness will think twice about this matter. ”

Jing Lan's heart was desolate after hearing this, his back was straight, his face was facing out of the window, the cool breeze blew in in the middle of the night, and the purple robe on his body looked a little thin. Outside, the lone star is twinkling, the candles are lit by the lake, and the leaves falling on the lake are swaying in the wind. How many nights, he often meditated alone in the night sky, why his father gave him the title of prince, but did not give him the honor that the prince deserved. After the death of his mother, he was even more like a duckweed in a high position, often feeling frightened and uneasy, and wondered how many people outside were calculating his position. "That Taifu thinks who is a good match." Jing Lan's voice revealed a bit of thinness and helplessness.

When Mrs. Han saw Jing Lan's expression, a trace of emotion flashed in her heart, but she still secretly made up her mind, "Ning Yu, the daughter of the head of the Ningguo Mansion." Seeing that Jing Lan was silent, he continued, "Ningguo Mansion is one of the four major princes of the dynasty, and now Ning Yuan, the father of Ningguo Gong Ningwu, is the founding noble, known as the pillar stone of protecting the country, Ning Wu is quite knowledgeable about the art of war, and is good at strategy, and has repelled the invasion of the Xiongnu in the north several times, and is very prestigious in the army. Since ancient times, the imperial power has the right to send troops, and if there is a big family like the Ning family behind His Royal Highness's back, then His Royal Highness's position in the East Palace will be at ease. The old minister also heard that Ning Yu had followed his father several times to go on expeditions, and won the love of his father, this daughter not only knows how to strategy and knows the art of war, but also knows how to be reasonable, generous and decent, and has a good reputation in Youzhou, if she is the hostess of the East Palace, His Royal Highness does not have to worry about villains around her. ”

He knew that sometimes the exhortation should be done in moderation, but he still couldn't help but say, "In recent years, the Pei family has become more and more prosperous, not only squeezing the prince everywhere in the court, but Pei Guifei also relies on her favor in front of His Majesty to constantly mention King Jing Yu of Qi in front of His Majesty, even if Jing Yu does not have the heart to fight for the prince, His Royal Highness must make plans early." And I also heard that Ning Wu's second son Ning Yi and the little girl Ning Yu have a very good relationship with the Shen Mansion, and the Shen Mansion is now the only force in the court that can confront Pei Yi's party. Saying that, Mrs. Han actually had some tears in his eyes, he watched this lonely young man grow up step by step, and he was no less worried than his own children, he knew that this young man seemed to be cold and detached, but in fact, he was generous-minded, had the world, and was good at accepting words, and was the best candidate for the heir of the emperor.

"The king knows." Jing Lan clenched his fists, this was his only chance, he secretly made up his mind that since he was the prince, he could not be indecisive, "Mr. Today's words have benefited Jing Lan a lot, Mr. thinks about Lan everywhere, how can Lan live up to Mr. However, Jinglan is also a man, how can he be unkind, but Ah Yao's matter, Rong Lan thinks about it again. After speaking, Jing Lan got up, "It's dark at night, Mr. rest early, Jing Lan will leave." He solemnly bowed to Taifu Han En again, and then got up to leave.

Introduction:

Jinglan: (20 years old) Prince, the word Lanzhi, the mother concubine Queen Gu has died, and the mother concubine family is withering due to the death of the general Gu Mo, and it is rumored that she has a cowardly personality.