The sweat on Song Nan's back trickled out, he knew that Zhengde was actually not confused, but he didn't expect that he was not only not confused, but he could almost be called shrewd. didn't expect that incident to hit the muzzle of the gun, and Zhengde saw through it at a glance. After Kang Ning stole the dragon robe and came out, how could he pay attention to the ink on the sleeve of the dragon robe, everyone was very nervous at that time, no one would care about such a detail, but it was this detail that made Zhengde see through his plan.

"Minister...... Damn it. Song Nan said in a low voice.

Zhengde smiled proudly, as if he had done the most proud thing in his life, and said softly: "You must be strange, since I saw through it on the spot, why did I let you frame Liu Jin and kill Liu Jin late?"

Song Nan wiped his sweat and said, "I hope that the emperor will be relieved." ”

Zhengde said quietly: "I once said that you and Liu Jin are my right-hand men, and I don't allow you to fight each other, but the contradictions between you are becoming more and more difficult to reconcile, and after Liu Jin designed to assassinate you in Ningxia Town, I know that you have become mortal enemies." I understand your temper, whoever wants your life, you will pay it back tenfold, so I weighed it again and again, if there is only one left between Liu Jin and you, of course I choose to keep you. ”

After a pause, Zhengde continued: "You are much more capable than Liu Jin, I need you to do more for Daming Sheji." And Liu Jin, although he has followed me for more than ten years and is loyal to me, he has become the common enemy of you and the ministers of the outer court, and he has no real ability, and the policies he advocates have made people angry in the end, and I have abandoned him, but also to calm the anger of the court a little. Because I gradually understood that absurdity is absurd, the Ming Dynasty still can't be messed up, and I can't make the Ming Dynasty stormy, then I will really become a sinner through the ages. So I acquiesced in your disposal of Liu Jin, do you understand? ”

Song Nan's heart was churning and sighing, although he had a deep relationship with Zhengde, he actually looked down on Zhengde in his heart, but Zhengde at this moment impressed Song Nan; Although he is ridiculous and willful, he can see the overall situation clearly, understand the importance of the situation, and even make compromises for the sake of the overall situation. How should you evaluate such a righteous person, whether he is good or bad, wise or stupid?

……

In the southwest of the Yangxin Palace, on the palace road leading to Shouning Palace, several officials with knives were hurrying forward along the gaps in the flowers and trees beside the road, and they were ordered to follow Wang Yong to monitor. Everyone knows that Wang Yong is an important figure in the Jinyi Guard Yamen, and when he left alone, he must have been ordered by Song Nan to inform Song Nan, who was transferred to the Han General Camp stationed in Xiyuan, to enter the palace, and this matter was strictly forbidden by the Queen Mother. The reason why the Han military camp was transferred to Xiyuan was because the entire Han military camp was Song Nan's subordinates, and the commander Wan Zhi was Song Nan's henchman, and transferring them was convenient for the palace.

The front is not far from Shouning Palace, and the small garden at the turning point is full of trees and green grass, and dozens of peach trees are blooming. But several officers with knives suddenly found that they had seen Wang Yong enter the garden, and after entering the small garden, they lost his trace in their field of vision, and there was only a splendid peach forest in front of them.

The officer with the knife at the head made a gesture, and everyone immediately dispersed, slowly searching and advancing along the gap between the peach trees. The footsteps of everyone were light, and only the sound of bees buzzing could be heard in their ears, the wind blowing, the peach trees swaying, the petals falling to the ground, and the silence around was a little terrible; Suddenly, there was a muffled grunt from the outermost part of the left, followed by the sound of heavy objects hitting the ground. The officer with the knife at the head shouted: "Over there." ”

The other four people flew to the place where the sound came from, and their bodies shook the broken peach branches, and a thick layer of petal rain fell; The gathering was not too far away, everyone was a vigorous person, and after more than a dozen breaths, the four officers with knives were already standing at the scene of the incident in amazement; The knife-wielding officer who searched on the outermost side had already slumped face down on the green ground, and there was no one else around but him.

"Alert." The leader of the knife officer broke off, and the other three immediately looked around to look around on guard, and the leader of the knife officer squatted down, and gently flipped the brother who threw himself on the ground, only as soon as he flipped, the person's head was tilted to the side, and the body showed a very incongruous angle, and the well-informed little leader subconsciously reached out and touched the neck of the deceased, and exclaimed.

"Brother Wang broke his neck, this guy is so poisonous."

The three guards with knives around were shocked and their cold hairs stood on end, they had seen a lot of dead people, and they would not frown even if they killed people, but in broad daylight, they killed their brothers under the noses of several of their own people, and they disappeared without a trace after killing with one move, which was the reason for their coldness.

"Stay close to the left, he can't run far, and if he doesn't hear footsteps, it means that he is still around us." The officer with the knife whispered.

The three subordinates suddenly had a numb scalp, and the palms of the hands holding the steel knives were wet, and the officer with the knife led by him squatted down and looked around along the gap at the bottom of the peach tree, and suddenly his body shook, and he gestured to make several other people squat down as well; The three guards with knives crouched down and looked in the direction of his finger, only to see a pair of boots and the hem of a long robe exposed in the gap under four or five peach trees, which were covered by dense peach blossom trees, and the man's body could not be seen.

The officer with the knife at the head gestured, and the other three people slowly approached along the ridge of the ground, and then attacked at the same time, and after the decision was made, the four of them gently bit the single knife in their mouths, and even crawled slowly like turtles around the peach tree where the man was hiding; Soon, they entered a distance of ten paces, and the officer with the knife at the head took a single knife from his mouth and shouted: "Kill." ”

The four of them burst out like springs, and rushed to the peach tree in the blink of an eye, and the blade in their hands greeted the man like lightning, and suddenly the peach blossoms flew, the branches and leaves flew, and there was a loud chatter, and half of the branches and leaves of the peach tree were cut off, and the petals of the branches and leaves on the ground were a mess.

In addition to cutting off the branches of the peach tree and cutting down the peach blossoms, there was a long robe that had been cut into several pieces in front of them, and an empty boot was lying alone on the ground, where someone was hiding here, just a piece of clothing and an empty boot.

"Oh no, I've been tricked." The head of the knife officer was upside down, and the blade in his hand subconsciously picked up the knife flower, and when he heard a crisp sound, the steel knife actually bumped into a flying thing, which was bumped and flew diagonally, and was nailed to the trunk of the peach tree with a thud until there was no handle. It was a glittering throwing knife.

At the same time, there was a popping sound behind him, and the officer with the knife swept behind him with his afterglow, and suddenly his soul was scattered, and the three brothers behind him all fell to the ground, blood spurted from their necks, and in silence, they had already been hit.

The officer with the knife danced the steel knife to protect his head and neck, and he was about to flee backwards on tiptoe, he knew that he was the only one left who was not an opponent, and it was serious to flee at this moment, so he heard a deep voice on the side: "Can you still go?" ”

The little leader of the official with the knife looked at it in shock, and a short figure slowly walked out of the peach grove on the side, who is it not Wang Yong?

"Wang Yong, you are so bold, you dare to kill people in the palace, and you actually killed the guards with knives in the palace, do you want to rebel?"

Wang Yong was wearing a close-fitting small backrest, with more than a dozen flying knives stuck in a row of cowhide ribbons around his waist, and sneered: "You guys sneakily follow Lao Tzu, do you blame me for doing it to you?" Sun Laoba, we originally didn't interfere with the river water, you were on an errand in Cining Palace, and Lao Tzu was working in the yamen outside, so there were no grievances at all, but you helped the abuse, wanted to be unfavorable to my family, and came to follow Lao Tzu, probably also wanted to kill me while I was not prepared, so I can't blame me for making the first move. ”

Sun Laoba, the small leader of the knife officer, shouted: "I am just acting on orders, we are just watching where you are going, but we have no intention of harming your Lord Wang's life." ”

Wang Yong pointed to the shredded long clothes and said, "This is not to harm Lao Tzu's life?" If Lao Tzu had been hiding here, he would have become eight pieces of minced meat by now. ”

Sun Laoba shouted: "That's because you killed Brother Wang first, and we had no choice but to do it." ”

Wang Yong nodded and said, "What you said makes sense, so you actually don't have the intention of harming me at all?" ”

"Absolutely not, there are five thunders in the sky, and I swear by the curse of humility."

"Well, in that case, then it seems like I should spare your life......"

Sun Laoba was overjoyed, there was no chance of winning against Wang Yong, the most important thing now was to escape with his life and go back to report it, and then mobilize manpower to arrest and kill this guy, as long as he could fool Wang Yong and let him go, he could say anything.

"Lord Wang, the humble duty is grateful, the humble duty will never tell this matter, these brothers said that they were lost, and the humble duty personally dug a pit and buried them under this peach tree as flower fertilizer."

"Very good, you are very good, just do as you say, you can go, don't provoke me again, otherwise you know the consequences." Wang Yong squinted and waved his hands, like driving away a buzzing bee.

Sun Laoba was ecstatic, turned around and left, and turned into a trot after a few steps, hoping to get as far away from Wang Yong as possible, for fear that he would change his hexagram.

Wang Yong squinted at his back and sneered, reached out and pulled out a flying knife from his waist, made a sound, raised his hand to mark, and the flying knife came quickly, hitting Sun Laoba's heart, submerged into the flesh, only the handle of the knife remained.

Sun Laoba stood stiffly, one hand bent backwards to touch the place where he was shot, several attempts were unsuccessful, he staggered a few steps under his feet, and fell to the ground, splashing and falling flowers.

"Will you believe your words? Lao Tzu just didn't want to fight you head-on and alarm the palace guards, my lord said, today is a life-and-death battle between you and me, you can't be soft, you should be unlucky, I want to provoke your grandfather. Wang Yong spat to himself, quickly dragged several corpses to the ditch and laid them out, covered them with peach tree branches and leaves, and put his muddy feet into his boots, and walked towards Shouning Palace.

……

In the Palace of Cultivating the Heart, the last conversation between Zhengde and Song Nan was still continuing, and after Zhengde said a few secret things about Song Nan, Song Nan's expression was quite unnatural.

"Your Majesty, the ministers deserve death."

"It's not like this, I'm not a master to ask for guilt, I just want you to understand that I am the Lord of the Ming Dynasty, I am not as confused as you think, if I want to know something, no one can hide it from me. Besides, I also said that you are my helper, if it were not for your loyalty to me, without you to share my worries, I would not be able to predict what the Ming Dynasty would be like now. ”

"Your merits are obvious to all, I remember the few major things you did for me, Xinpingbao saved my life, Liu Liu Liu rebelled when you turned the tide, when King Anhua rebelled, it was you who detected and quelled the rebellion in time, when the Tartars buckled the pass, you led the army to fight to the death, and also tried your best to raise your own military salaries to recover the Hetao, and now, you have just returned from quelling the Chenhao rebellion, you have been killing me everywhere in the past few years, and you have never said a word of complaint, I remember these things firmly, and I understand that these things are not easy. It is precisely because of this that I can rely on you with confidence and give you the greatest trust, and I should not know about your mistakes. ”

Song Nan shook his head and said: "These are the duties of the minister, the emperor's business is the minister's business, and the minister does not dare to claim to be a hero." ”

Zhengde smiled and said: "I remember you said that excessive modesty is hypocrisy, are you too modest now?" This qiē has proved your loyalty and ability, and I have also expressed my trust and tolerance for you, which is why you and I have been able to live in harmony with each other for so many years. You are someone I can really rely on, so the ultimate reason why I am saying these words to you today is that I want to ask you for some important things, which I can only feel at ease if I ask you. I will soon die, and I still have a few words to say to you, or my request, and I hope you can still promise me as you did before, so that I can go with peace of mind. ”

Song Nan's expression was solemn, and he said softly: "Your Majesty, please speak, the ministers will definitely act in accordance with the emperor's wishes, please rest assured." ”

Zhengde smiled and nodded, frowned and moved his body a few times, he had been in bed for a long time, his whole body was sore, numb and painful, his body did not obey the call, and his whole body was extremely uncomfortable. Song Nan got up to help him, but was stopped by Zhengde waving his hand and said: "My time is running out, maybe I will leave and return to the West in the next moment, it is better to cherish this last time." The first thing I want you to say yes is......"

Zhengde hesitated for a moment, and looked at Song Nan who was suddenly silent.

Song Nan was a little uneasy by him, and called softly: "Your Majesty...... What happened to you? ”

Zhengde smiled and said: "I'm fine, the first thing is that I want you to promise me personally at this moment, after my death, you must not have the heart of rebellion and usurpation, you have to promise me to assist the emperor who ascended the throne, and pass on the Ming Dynasty steadily, if you have the heart to take away my Zhu family, I will not allow you to turn into a ghost." ”

Song Nan stood up in surprise and said, "Why did the emperor say this?" ”

Zhengde waved his hand weakly and said, "Sit down...... Sit down, I didn't say that you would do that, but now you have a heavy army, a high reputation, and your name is louder than mine in the Ming Dynasty, and I just remind you not to do anything wrong. Although I believe that you will not have two hearts, but the addition of the yellow robe of Zhao Song Taizu may not happen to you, and I trust you to warn you, otherwise I only need a holy decree to deprive you of your military power, and dismiss all the party you have gathered. I didn't do that before, because I thought you weren't that kind of person. ”

Song Nan sat down slowly, cold sweat broke out on his body, although Zhengde explained, but Song Nan knew that this idea had probably lingered in Zhengde's heart for a long time, on the one hand, he needed to calm the crisis for him, but on the other hand, he was afraid of his own high merits, as his official position became higher and higher, Zhengde was probably more and more wary of himself. But Zhengde can calmly express the worries in his heart at this moment, and in the end, he is still confident in himself, which shows the quality of love and righteousness in Zhengde's character, and it is very likely that any emperor will use thunder to solve the worries of his descendants before he dies.

Song Nan raised his hand to the sky, and said in a firm tone: "Your Majesty, the minister hereby swears, the emperor and the queen of heaven are the proof, and Song Nan will do his best to assist the descendants of the Zhu family to rejuvenate the Daming Society, and there will be no two hearts." The emperor has deep affection for his ministers, and his ministers will never do anything contrary to their loyalty. ”

Zhengde sighed, stretched out his hand with difficulty, shook his palm tightly with Song Nan, and said with a smile: "Then I can rest assured, I didn't misunderstand you, and I am lucky to have you with me in this life." Since you have promised me this first thing, I can explain the rest of the matter, and the second thing is that regarding the candidate for succession, Zhu Houxi, who has been recommended by the Queen Mother and the officials of the outer court, is my cousin, and I have no objection to this candidate, but now, I need to listen to your opinion. ”

Song Nan said: "The emperor wants to listen to the opinions of the ministers, and the ministers naturally dare not answer truthfully, Zhu Houxi, the emperor's heir, is a very suitable candidate, but the minister thinks that the queen mother and Yang Tinghe did not think about how to make the emperor recover when the emperor was seriously ill, but the things they did for the selection of the new emperor are really difficult to accept and tolerate." Correction is the most unforgivable crime, will the emperor allow such a great rebellion to exist? ”

Zhengde thought for a while and said, "I ask you, what do you plan to do with the Queen Mother?" ”

Song Nan shook his head and said: "How dare the minister deal with the Queen Mother, the Queen Mother was bewitched by the outer court to do such a foolish thing, and the people behind the scenes are Yang Ting, Liang Chu and others; And the fault of the queen mother, only the emperor can deal with it, and the minister will never dare to make the fault of the queen mother. ”

Zhengde nodded and said, "Very good, I am afraid that you will say something to punish the Queen Mother, which shows that you are loyal to me." The Queen Mother is my mother, her fault is my fault, you are right, the fault lies with Yang Ting and them, and the Queen Mother's fault, I will personally deal with it. However, Zhu Houxi must not be the choice to succeed to the throne, do you have a candidate in mind? ”

Song Nan shook his head and said, "The minister has been busy quelling the rebellion, and he hasn't paid much attention to this major matter. Is there any other candidate in the emperor's mind? ”

Zhengde said: "After you led the army to set off in February, Yang Yiqing and Zhang Lun came to the palace to meet them, and they talked about the selection of the emperor's heir. ”

Song Nan can't talk, the candidate is actually secretly finalized by him, Yang Yiqing and Zhang Lun, in order to avoid suspicion, Song Nan asked Yang Yiqing and Zhang Lun to mention it in front of Zhengde after he led the army, and when Zhengde said it, Song Nan could only pretend to be confused.

(Many brothers are talking about the issue of updating, I said hello before, this book is coming to an end, and the new book is checking the information and writing an outline to communicate with the editor, which consumes a lot of energy and time.) So the book ends with a big chapter of 5,000 words updated every day. Since you don't want to read the author below, I'm going to put this notice in the text; Thank you for your understanding. Another: This passage does not charge money, this chapter is 5000+ words. ）