After entering September, the weather in the capital gradually cooled, and at the end of September, a burst of autumn rain hit, and the cold capital was like falling into early winter.

In the Zhu Skull Teahouse on Yujie, the warm fragrance of tea permeates the lobby, the temperament is elegant, and the beautiful tea prostitutes come and go in and out of the elegant huts from time to time with tea trays, in the innermost hut on the second floor, the princess Gao Tao and Zhu Jie sit opposite each other, Gao Taotao frowned slightly, "You said that the prince asked your father to take 30,000 yuan?" ”

"Three thousand taels of gold, to be exact."

Zhu Jie said worriedly: "I'm not reluctant to give up three thousand taels of gold, but this matter is indeed a bit strange, the prince asked my father to make three vouchers for extracting gold, and it feels like he is going to give it away." ”

Gao Tao's expression also became solemn, and she needed to use a thousand taels of gold to bribe, which was not a trivial matter, and an intuition told her that her husband was going to have trouble again.

"When did this happen?"

"Just three days ago, September 26."

Gao Tao asked again: "Other than that, does he have any other requirements?" ”

"Other"

Zhu Jie thought for a while and said: "He seems to be very interested in the "Hong Kong Economic Journal", and hopes to be able to intervene in the "Economic Journal", and he hopes that my father can fully support him financially, and he will return it tenfold in the future, and he will also crown my father as the king of the county." ”

"Did you let Ling Zun keep it a secret?"

"Of course there is, but my father won't hide it from me, and immediately told me, he was very worried that the prince was doing something stupid again."

Gao Tao asked again, "Did you tell Fanning about this?" ”

"Not yet, but I'm going to go to his house in the afternoon, and I don't think I can hide it from him."

"Alright! We're going to go separately to investigate, and we're going to meet here if there's a situation. ”

The two soon went their separate ways.

Gao Tao sat in the carriage, her anger had disappeared, she was only calm and rational now, her husband asked for three thousand taels of gold, divided into three parts, that should be for three people, then who would they be? What is the husband's idea?

Of course, Gao Taotao knows that her husband is definitely not for a woman, she knows his problem very well, he must be preparing for the seizure of power, and it should be unrealistic to seize power now, his son has become the emperor's heir, he is messing around now, the Son of Heaven will not allow him, and the officials will not allow him, maybe after his son takes the throne?

Gao Taotao was suddenly shocked in his heart, what does her husband want to do? If you want to take your son's throne, you still want to force your son to give way in the name of Emperor Tai.

A kind of mother's calf instinct made her suddenly feel deep hatred for her husband, in fact, this kind of dissatisfaction and hatred has long existed, since she found out that her husband was extremely dissatisfied with his son's ascendancy, a seed of resentment germinated in Gao Tao's heart, but she has been silently patient, and until today, this seed of resentment has finally grown into a tree of hatred.

The hatred in Gao Tao's heart was about to burst out irrepressibly, and she muttered to herself in a low voice, "Don't force me, everything is your own doing!" ”

Back at the palace, Gao Tao asked, "What about the prince?" ”

"Back to the princess, the prince is reading in the study."

Gao Tao nodded and said to the maid Cai'e: "Let me Liu Qu come to see me!" ”

After a while, Liu Qu hurriedly came, knelt down on one knee and said, "See the princess!" ”

Gao Tao said coldly: "Do you have something to hide from me?" ”

"The villain doesn't dare, he has already told Miss Cai'e everything he knows!"

"Then there's something you don't know!"

Liu Qu was ashamed and said: "For more than a month, the prince often goes out, and there are indeed four times when he has not brought a villain. ”

"Three days ago, on the 26th of September?"

Liu Qu nodded, "Yes, the prince went out alone that afternoon, but he didn't go out for a long time, and he came back an hour later, and the villain didn't know where he went?" ”

That's right, there are some things that the husband doesn't believe in the general, it seems that this matter is very secretive and important.

Gao Tao secretly thought in his heart, her husband hadn't gone out for the past few days, and the three thousand taels of gold should still be in his hands, who did he want to give the gold to?

The East Palace has been in place for more than a month, and things are not as troublesome as imagined, they are basically some trivial matters, and all kinds of government affairs are running smoothly without personal conflicts of interest between officials.

The only contradiction was the conflict between Wen Yanbo and Han Qi regarding the resettlement of the victims of the severe drought on Shaanxi Road, with Wen Yanbo advocating that the victims be allowed to stay on Hebei West Road to reduce the capacity of the drought-stricken areas on Shaanxi Road, while Han Qi advocated that the victims should return to their hometowns and that the government should provide disaster relief and organize the victims to help themselves.

The two sides refused to give in to each other, and finally reported to Zhao Zhen, the son of heaven, for arbitration, and Zhao Zhen agreed to Han Qi's plan with border defense as the priority.

This is the only time that there are disagreements, but Fanning still sensitively captures the breath of party strife, Wen Yanbo and Han Qi seem to be competing for the dominance of the government, both have been the right minister for a long time, both have a strong desire to dominate, and the disaster relief dispute is just a temptation for the two.

Fan Ning began to be a little worried, he began to feel that the East Palace was not a good solution, for a while Zhao Ji was completely hollowed out, and secondly, the imperial court wanted to form two power centers, which was bound to form a fierce power struggle within the imperial court, which would weaken the centralized power of the Great Song Dynasty.

Fanning's carriage stopped in front of the mansion gate, and he entered the mansion gate, and it was Aya who greeted him, "My sister-in-law is here, and the two ladies are talking to her, as if my sister-in-law has something important to ask for an official." ”

"I see!"

Fan Ning came to the back house, but he didn't rush to find Zhu Jie, but accompanied his daughter to feed the sheep, and took his daughter to find the little squirrel, so he handed her over to the nurse and came to the inner hall by himself.

In the inner hall, the three women were drinking tea and chatting, and when Zhu Pei saw her husband coming in, she smiled and said, "Sister-in-law has been waiting for you for a long time, Sister Qian, let's leave!" ”

"What is this stupid kid talking about?"

Zhu Jie watched the two leave, and then said lightly to Fan Ning: "Your trouble is coming." ”

Fan Ning's face immediately became solemn, "Zhao Zongshi? ”

Zhu Jie nodded, "Three days ago, he asked your third grandfather for three thousand taels of gold, divided into three parts, and promised to crown your third grandfather as the king of the county in the future." ”

The county king's empty promise Fan Ning didn't care, he cared more about three thousand taels of gold, that is, thirty thousand yuan, which was the price of buying the army!

"Does the princess know about this?"

"She knows, I saw her in the afternoon."

"What is the attitude of the princess?"

"Of course, she is also very nervous and annoyed, she will keep an eye on Zhao Zongshi, and she also hopes that our side will also keep an eye on him."

Fanning was silent for a moment and said, "Why did the third grandfather give him the gold? ”

Zhu Jie felt the dissatisfaction in Fan Ning's tone, and she explained helplessly: "Your third grandfather is just a commoner, he can't afford to offend Zhao Zongshi, besides, he has invested a lot of money in him over the years, he doesn't want to turn his face over this matter, and his previous investments have been wasted." ”

Fan Ning pondered and said: "I will keep an eye on Zhao Zongshi, but I suspect that Zhang Yaozuo is also staring at him, now Zhao Zongshi is the biggest soft handle of the emperor's heir, and Zhang Yaozuo will not let him go." ”

"So what do we need to do?"

"It's very simple, let the third grandfather return to Pingjiang Mansion immediately, and if he gives Zhao Zongshi money, Zhao Zongshi will be indirectly killed by him, will Zhao Ji spare him when he ascends the throne in the future?"

Zhu Jie's face turned pale, and she nodded, "I'll let him go back to Pingjiang Mansion overnight tonight!" ”

In fact, Fan Ning's most taboo is Zhao Zongshi, if Zhao Zongshi finds back the historical trajectory and ascends the throne as Song Yingzong, then the first thing he has to clean up is not necessarily Zhang Yaozuo, but it will definitely be himself.

Not only himself, but the entire family will be brutally retaliated against by Zhao Zongshi.

It is precisely because he knows this well that Fan Ning will stop Zhao Zongshi from ascending to the throne at all costs and not allow him to return to the historical trajectory, but he has to consider Zhao Ji's feelings, after all, he is his biological father, so how to grasp this degree?

Fanning had to find the right person to fulfill his wish.

After pondering for a long time, Fanning thought of Gao Taotao, and it might be the best way to let Gao Taotao go to the top and listen to the government.

Gao Taotao also gave himself three promises, the higher the person, the heavier the weight of this promise, isn't it?

Pulling out three pieces of jade from his waist bag, Fan Ning smiled playfully, he was very keen in some aspects, and he could feel that Gao Taotao's attitude towards him was a little special, of course, it was not that she liked herself, but her dedication to her son.

She can be said to do whatever it takes for her son.

Fan Ning came to his outer study, and after a while, Zhu Long appeared in the room, hugged his fists and said, "Please command!" ”

Fan Ning asked with a faint smile: "Who do you think will know the whereabouts of a big man best?" ”

"It should be his henchman!"

Fanning shook his head, "I think it's the coachman!" ”

Zhu Long was stunned for a moment, and didn't dare to answer, Fan Ning said again: "If I were Zhang Yaozuo and wanted to monitor Zhao Zongshi's every move, I would definitely buy his coachman, which is why you didn't find out how Zhang Yaozuo was spying on Zhao Zongshi, Zhang Yaozuo bought it from the inside, so you don't need to monitor it anymore." ”

"What do officials need to do with their humble duties?"

"You have to do two things, first, monitor Zhao Zongshi's coachman to see if he has been bought by Zhang Yaozuo, but whether he has been bought or not, you have to control him, I want to know who Zhao Zongshi has been in close contact with in the past month; Second, in the past few days, Zhao Zongshi has to pay 3,000 taels of gold to the outside world, and this gold is stored in the main store of Zhu's money shop, once this gold is used, you must notify me immediately. ”

"Where is the money shop?"

"I will greet Steward Liu, in addition, you have to remember one thing, no matter what Zhao Zongshi does? Even if he buys the murder of me, you can't do it without permission, you must report it to me first. ”

"Humble, remember!"

"Take your three brothers with you! It's better to hide your identity so that no one recognizes you, and the same goes for the coachman, and I have to stay out of it, understand? ”

Zhu Long nodded, hugged his fists and saluted, and hurried away.