The mischievous spot of light ran away from under the bright tiles of the Taiji Palace, passed through the heavy wooden door of the harem, ran into the Hanguang Palace, drilled into the Shufang Palace, circled a few times under the big tree with some scars, and finally hid in the Guangxin Palace, which has been uninhabited for a long time. The white curtain in the palace has long become a broken and brittle veil, there is no one with plums, but it is brilliant, and when it is rotten, it is still lonely.

Compared with the quiet harem, the imperial city around the front hall is also not suitable for the light atmosphere in the palace, especially in the bluestone imperial city, deep in the room under the vermilion palace wall, there is a solemn and dignified sè, several generals with resolute and cold eyes are guarding outside the room, but the room does not know what to say.

"Your Highness doesn't know when you'll be back. "The palace general, who was reinstated as the commander of the forbidden army and was in charge of the safety of the entire imperial city, stood beside that person and said slowly with some unpleasant feelings.

There are not many people in this world who can make Gong Dian stand by him so honestly, and the one at the table at this time is naturally one of them. Ye Shuai, who was the head of the Privy Council, made immortal contributions in the Kyoto rebellion, and was now ordered by His Majesty the Emperor to be in charge of the world's soldiers and horses, stroked the teacup with one hand, his eyes were slightly solemn, and he was speechless for a long time.

"Senior brother?" Perhaps this silence made Gong Dian a little difficult to accept, but he couldn't help but remind him after all.

"Oh. Ye Zhong seemed to wake up from his contemplation, and responded: "Dean Xiao Fan will return to Beijing in a few days, and His Royal Highness will come back, at least when he opened Chūn." ”

He glanced at Gong Dian, a trace of complicated feelings flashed in his eyes, and after a while, he said in a deep voice: "What do you want to ask? Even if Your Highness returns to Beijing, he must be transferred to Yanjing City by His Majesty immediately to prepare for the Northern Expedition, what do you want to ask?"

Gong Dian was silent, he and Ye Chong were both cronies of the emperor's cronies, but this afternoon, the entire palace seemed peaceful, but there was a killing intention that made him extremely uncomfortable. He vaguely guessed that this killing intent was related to the big man who had just left Kyoto, otherwise the senior brother would not have stopped watching the affairs of the Privy Council, but calmly in the imperial city, and waited for a whole rì.

"What are you waiting for?" Gong Dian asked, looking at Ye Chong.

"I am waiting for His Majesty's will. After Ye Zhong said this, he thought that His Majesty was making a decision at this time, and a trace of anxiety and uneasiness unexpectedly appeared in his eyes. With Ye Chong's identity and power strength, there are too few things in this world that can make him feel so emotional, and he slowly closed his eyes, not wanting Gong Dian to see this scene.

However, Gong Dian had already seen it, and he knew that he had finally guessed correctly. Today, inside and outside the imperial city, it seems to be peaceful, but in fact, the undercurrent is surging, the defense level of the entire forbidden army has been raised to the most tense situation, the palace just accepted the order of the inner court, and did not know what His Majesty was guarding against in the palace, and then in the morning, the forbidden army received a handstamp from the Kyoto garrison, and then I knew that Shi Fei led 15,000 officers and soldiers of the Kyoto garrison division to spread out a formation along the south of Kyoto, which seemed to be a drill, and seemed to be preparing for a big battle.

The Privy Council also moved, the Inner Court also moved, and in the streets of Kyoto, some forces began to prepare.

To be able to mobilize so much military strength and discharge such a large array within one rì can only be His Majesty the Emperor of Qingguo. And in today's world, there is only one person who can be treated so seriously and carefully by the emperor, and who has the ability to make His Majesty consume so much attention.

Only that person would make the dignified Privy Council make Ye Chong, and he still couldn't stop being uneasy and anxious while waiting for His Majesty's final will.

All kinds of circumstances are intertwined, and Gong Dian has finally confirmed that His Majesty is going to do something to Dean Chen!

............ "Why?" Gong Dian's throat was a little dry, and he sat down beside Ye Chong, raised the cold tea and drank it all, but he still didn't extinguish the fear burning in his heart.

The transfer of the Forbidden Army, the Garrison and the Privy Council was undoubtedly aimed at the arrangement of the Kyoto Supervisory Yuan. However, whether it is the emperor's majesty, or Ye Chongdà, or the palace dian, once they think that it is Chen Pingping who they are going to deal with today, no one has full confidence. Only these figures at the top of Qingguo know what kind of powerful strength Chen Pingping, a thin old cripple, has, although this person is no longer the dean of supervision, but he has been the king of the darkness of the continent for decades, once he falls into a crisis, who knows what kind of energy will burst out.

What made Gong Dian feel most frightened and even a little faintly angry at His Majesty was that he couldn't find any reason or reason for the imperial court to deal with Dean Chen!

Is it just because of the high merit of the master? This doesn't make sense at all, if you think about this, Your Majesty might have killed Chen Pingping twenty years ago. Could it be that Chen Pingping has different intentions? But the world knows that Old Dean Chen is the most loyal courtier around His Majesty, and if it weren't for him, His Majesty doesn't know how many times he would have died.

Why? This is the explanation that Gong Dian needs the most, and he began to feel that His Majesty is too mediocre! No matter what people in the world think of the Supervision Yuan, or what they think of Chen Pingping, but the Supervision Yuan is originally His Majesty's secret service, and Chen Pingping was originally His Majesty's loyal dog, and His Majesty would actually risk the chaos in the court to do such an unreasonable thing.

Ye Zhong sat at the small table, silent for a long time, without saying a word. Of course, he knew what Gong Dian's gaffe was because of this time, even if he had countless soldiers and horses in his hands, but knowing that it was Chen Pingping who he was going to deal with today, it was the entire Supervision Yuan, and he still felt a shake and panic in his heart.

Chen Pingping's prestige is too great, and the things that are on his mind are not at all something that ordinary courtiers can understand, and decades of history have long proven that anyone who wants to use yīn tricks against Chen Pingping has not ended up well.

Sean in his heyday was one of them, and the rebellion of the eldest princess and the old Qin family became a joke under the joint efforts of the old dean Chen and His Majesty.

Ye Zhong took a deep breath, and in the darkness of Fangzheng's face, he brought out a sense of perseverance: "What you have to do is just to protect the safety of the palace, what I want to do is undoubtedly to stabilize my army in Daqing, as for those things, naturally someone will do them." ”

"You must make a move, otherwise His Majesty will not summon you today. Gong Dian glanced at his senior brother worriedly, feeling a little uncomfortable, Chen Pingping was able to keep a spy in Lao Qin's house for twenty years, who knows who is Chen Pingping's person in today's Ye family, or even in the most reliable Dingzhou army?

"陛xià...... Confused. Gong Dian thought that if His Majesty really broke with Dean Chen, no matter what the final outcome was, the entire Qingguo Imperial Court would definitely suffer irreversible damage because of this turmoil.

"The Supervision Yuan may not necessarily be against ......" Ye Chong closed his eyes tightly and said quietly: "Your Majesty must have its own means of controlling the Supervision Yuan. ”

Gong Dian just shook his head, although in his heart, His Majesty was the most powerful and worthy of loyalty and worship in the world, but Chen Pingping was undoubtedly the most powerful person hidden in the dark, and the Supervision Yuan was not so easy to control. And then he thought of another terrible thing.

"If the old dean is really arrested and returned to Kyoto. Gong Dian stared at Ye Chong's eyes, gritted his teeth and said, "What will Lord Xiao Fan do......?" Confused!"

This is the third time that he has said that His Majesty is confused, as a loyal minister, today's reaction is indeed a bit big, but this is not to blame him, anyone who knows the real movement of the imperial court today will feel cold from the heart.

This operation, if it is aimed at Chen Pingping, it is equivalent to targeting the Supervision Yuan.

"Fan Xian?" Ye Chong suddenly opened his eyes and said coldly: "He is only afraid that he has just left Dongyi City, once the wood is completed, what can he change?" Chen Pingping has the grace of inheritance to him, but in fact, this is the meaning of His Majesty after all, Fan Xian, as a son of man, will he rise up to take revenge on his father because of an old boss?"

Gong Dian pondered it carefully, and nodded slowly, these two important military ministers just thought that Fan Xian could be in charge of the Supervision Yuan It was His Majesty's meaning, and Chen Pingping just played a role in it, but he didn't think of Fan Xian's feelings for Chen Pingping at all, and the story involved in this matter many years ago.

"Shi Fei has already taken the Kyoto garrison south. Ye Chong opened his mouth and said slowly: "I only hope that the fluctuations caused by this incident can be smaller." ”

"No way. Gong Dian directly broke Ye Shuai's illusions, they are all courtiers of Qingguo, and they all hope that under the current situation, Qingguo can maintain stability, maintain harmony, and be able to follow the established pace, calmly and forcefully towards the most glorious day, but everyone knows that the war between His Majesty and Chen Pingping will definitely cause a great ravine in this country.

"I don't know what His Majesty thinks. Ye Chongmian said word by word: "I only know that since His Majesty wants to take Dean Chen, it must be that Dean Chen has done something." ”

Gong Dian shook his head and said, "I don't think so. ”

............ If the great emperor of Qingguo is like the god in the sun, unattainable, dazzling, and reigning in the world. So Chen Pingping, who has been in charge of the Supervision Yuan for decades, is like a king in the dark, who has been carefully hiding behind the light of His Majesty, completing some things that are inconvenient for him to do, and making some things in the dark for Qingguo.

For decades, the Qingguo court has been moving forward in the struggle between the civil system and the Supervision Yuan, whether it is Lin Ruofu, the minister of power at the time, or the later Zhongshu Metropolitan Procuratorate, no one can shake Chen Pingping's status in the imperial court, and no one can reduce His Majesty's holy favor and trust in Chen Pingping.

The officials have long been accustomed to this, and they have died of their hearts, they think that His Majesty and Chen Pingping are an outlier between a pair of monarchs and ministers, and they may know each other until they are white-headed, and then they die of old age, it is still such a mixture of light and darkness, and the mutual trust between the monarch and the ministers is really a natural pair, and the earth makes a pair.

Therefore, Gong Dian will be frightened, Ye Zhong will be anxious, they dare not imagine how many terrifying energies will be torn out once there is a conflict between light and darkness, and those energies can be solved if they are not overwhelmed by the army.

Shi Fei, who knew the inside story and was rushing to the southeast of Kyoto, was the one with the heaviest heart, he was like Gong Dian, he couldn't understand why His Majesty had already resigned from his position and wanted to return to his hometown to retire, why did He do it at this time? The most important thing is, why himself?

Shi Fei thought that he was going to face Chen Pingping, even if he was galloping in the warm breeze of early autumn, he couldn't help but shiver a few times, he would rather be willing to face the barbarian who killed people like hemp in Xihu, the Uesugi Tiger who used soldiers like a god in Northern Qi, but he was not willing to face the old cripple who only had a few hundred people by his side and dozens of female dependents.

He led 4,000 jīng soldiers and had already arrived on a mountain not far from Dazhou, nervously and helplessly waiting for that moment to come. Fortunately, His Majesty has never made his will clear, he doesn't have to send troops now, he hopes that he can never send troops, he is waiting for His Majesty to change his mind and save his life.

Arresting Dean Chen and returning to Beijing, General Shi Fei already had the consciousness of exchanging his life from the moment he left the city.

He rode on his horse, looked back in the direction of Kyoto, his eyes narrowed slightly, and secretly prayed that His Majesty's final will would never come.

............ Father-in-law Yao stood quietly in the imperial study, and the previous trembling words were just the duty of a slave. Like all the generals and ministers of Qingguo, he didn't want to see His Majesty and Dean Chen turn their faces.

However, after Hong Siqi, the eunuch Yao, who became the head of the Qing Inner Court, knew too much of the inside story, and thought that he knew the reason why His Majesty suddenly had such a great killing intent towards Old Dean Chen, so he just stood aside nervously and didn't dare to say anything at all.

The emperor was still thinking, and a trace of confusion involuntarily appeared in his eyes before, for him with the emperor's heart like the sky, this kind of confusion was a love that had not appeared for many years. Perhaps only Chen Pingping, a partner who has accompanied him since childhood, a slave who has always been loyal, has saved his life many times, opened mountains and roads for Qingguo, and made countless contributions, will make him fall into this kind of love.

In front of him lay a few thin documents, one of which was the mysterious assassination of the third prince in the deep palace during the investigation of the Kyoto rebellion by the inner court. One is a covert investigation into the matter of the Hanging Temple, especially when it comes to the disputes between the six places of the Supervision Yuan that really hosted the Shadow and the Four Gu Swords in the City Lord's Mansion of Tiandong Yi City this year. The third is that Fan Xian secretly sent the seriously injured shadow to Jiangnan. The fourth is the process of sniping Fan Xian in the valley that year, when the rì supervision court caused the abnormality, and the process when the two city-guarding crossbows were transported out of the inner library Bingfang.

The fourth investigation file is the thickest, but the things recorded are also the most vague, the inner court and the imperial court secretly investigated for three whole years, but in front of the Supervision Yuan, under Chen Pingping's deliberate cover-up, Emperor Qing only found a trace of taste, without any real evidence. This file refers to the fire in Kyoto's Hui Chūn Hall, the defection of someone from the three places of the Inspectorate, and the fact that the Inner Palace, the crown prince, the eldest princess, and the thunderstorm night are directly pointed at.

There is also a fifth, a sixth...... "third, second, Chengqian, Yunrui......" The emperor's face was a little pale white, he picked up a thin scroll, put it aside, and would say a name, threw four copies, and said four names.

Finally, he picked up a few papers, pressed his knuckles slightly, gently put them aside, and sighed and said, "This is Anzhi." ”

The Emperor slowly raised his head, the confusion in his eyes was long gone, only a faint sadness and self-deprecating sneer: "My most loyal courtiers once tried to kill all my sons, or forced me to kill them. ”

His brows furrowed: "The most surprising thing for me is that this old dog didn't even let go of An Zhi, if it wasn't for An Zhi's life, I am afraid that he would have died at his hands long ago." ”

Emperor Qing shook his head slowly, took a deep breath, and said faintly with a cold glint in his eyes: "Bring that old dog back, I want to ask him what is going on." ”

Father-in-law Yao didn't dare to say much, bowed deeply, and walked towards the outside of the imperial study, his legs were almost weak, because he knew His Majesty's feelings better than anyone else, and His Majesty's last faint words were already filled with too much unstoppable killing intent.

When he was about to leave the imperial study, the emperor suddenly said coldly: "Send a message to Yan Bingyun, just say that I am watching him." Send a message to Shi Fei again, I want to live. ”

The emperor's face was still indifferent: "If that old dog dies, he won't come back alive to see me!"

"Bring that old dog back alive, and I'll ask him what the hell is going on!" the Emperor repeated his order, and he slapped his palm on the desk, and in a fit of rage, the case turned into countless pieces of wood that were broken into fine sand, flying all over the room.