Capital.

The courtyard located in the northwest of the imperial city is just like the way it was back then, the walls are the same as before, and the owner is still the same.

On this day, Liang Fang finished handling the official affairs of the imperial horse supervisor and returned home, a steaming cup of Shanghao Longjing had not yet drunk two sips, and a carrier pigeon flew down in the courtyard "fluttering". Liang Fang put down the teacup, grabbed the carrier pigeon, took off the small bamboo pipe tied to her feet, pulled out a hairpin from her head, removed the sealing mud at both ends, and poked out the thin silk that was stuffed in the bamboo tube.

Liang Fang unfolded the thin silk, which was the handwriting of the Tatar national teacher: Liang Fang, Almu will go to your house tonight, and there is something important to discuss.

Liang Fang's heart was troubled. He hadn't had a good night's sleep since he had been tied up with the Tatar Khan Batu Munk that year. The loss of the two secret letters has always been a problem for him, although the descendants of the Han family have evaporated like the world in the past twenty years, but in the dark he feels that they will never give up. Although he was afraid that when he woke up one day, those people would hold bright swords around his neck, but he was even more afraid that those two letters would be placed on the emperor's dragon case. If a few years ago there was Wan Guifei's "life-saving straw" or life-saving, now he not only has no fear, but even the position of the imperial horse supervisor and the eunuch is in jeopardy. After Zhu Youzhu ascended the throne, the first fire was to suppress the eunuchs and the ministers of Yu Xing. The Chenghua Dynasty used secret techniques to recommend the monk Jixiao who was favored by the former emperor through Liang Fang's gesture, and the scholar Liu Ji, the cabinet minister Wan An, and Li Zixing, Deng Changen, Zhao Yuzhi and other ministers were either exempted or killed. Although Liang Fang is fine for the time being, the ministers have been impeached, and he has already heard about it. At this time, the Tatars came to discuss "important matters", which was definitely not good news.

Liang Fang sat down on the Taishi chair, unintentionally tasting the cup of the brewed dragon well, rolling his eyes and thinking about what might happen.

After a long time, as if he had made up his mind, Liang Fang took the fire pleats and burned the thin silk, and ordered the little eunuch who was waiting for him to go to the second master's mansion quickly and ask the second master to come over immediately.

As soon as the second watch arrived, Almu arrived as scheduled, and there was an old man with an indifferent face who came with him.

As soon as Liang De saw this person, he hurriedly hugged his fist at him: "Bao Sanren has been absent for a long time. "It turned out that this person was one of the 'Eight Murderers of Lingnan' who besieged Han Shen and his wife nineteen years ago, and Bao Yu, the five murderers who had Han Shen's forearm cut off.

Bao Yu was as proud as ever, his nostrils "hummed" lightly, and he clasped his hands together and made a gesture, which was regarded as a return of courtesy.

Liang De didn't think it was wrong, but stared at Bao Yu's right hand, with an incredible look, his mouth opened, and he stopped talking.

Seeing that he was surprised, Bao Yu said coldly and proudly: "You wonder how my broken arm was restored, Fifth Master, right? I think that Han Shen cut off my little arm back then, thinking that he had disabled me. I didn't know that I was a blessing in disguise, not only did my arm recover, but I also practiced a trick. Hey. As soon as he stretched out his right hand, Liang De, who was five feet away from him, saw a black shadow rushing towards him, and he was so frightened that he closed his eyes, only to feel a breeze sweeping by his neck. When he opened his eyes, Bao Yu was still standing in the same place, but there was an extra sword in his hand that had been cut off by Han Shen's forearm.

Liang De didn't know why, but Liang Fang on the side could see it clearly. It turned out that a spring-shaped mechanism was installed on the broken arm of Bao Yu's right hand, which could make the iron hand at the front end stretch out instantly, and it could be stretched out freely, which was extremely convenient. The iron hand at the front end can be opened and held, and it is as delicate as a human hand. What Tie Hand was holding was the sword hanging on the wall behind Liang De, which was more than five feet away from Bao Yu.

"Bang, Bang, Bang!" Liang Fang approached Bao Yu while clapping his hands, reached out to take the sword in Bao Yu's hand, and hung it back in its place. Turning to Bao Yu, he said: "The so-called Sai Weng lost his horse and knew that it was not a blessing? Congratulations to Senior Brother Bao for another stunt, he will be able to surprise the enemy every day, and win with one blow." ”

Liang Fang can be regarded as Bao Yu's fellow brother, so he didn't dare to support Liang De like he did, so he bowed slightly and returned the salute: "Senior Brother Xie praises falsely." ”

Liang Fang nodded, then turned to Almu and said, "Almu's envoy has been visiting at night, I don't know what to learn?"

"After a long time, how is Liang's father-in-law's life going?" Almu did not answer Liang Fang's question, and greeted Liang Fang with deep meaning.

Liang Fang had lived in the temple for a long time, and he had seen a lot of foreign envoys, and he knew that these diplomats were accustomed to using such flickering tricks to achieve the goal of opposing guests. He also wanted to respond to Almu in the same way to maintain the dominance of the main position. However, he has always been known for his prowess, how can he be so eloquent? In his eagerness, he replied to Almu's question:

"Chengwu Emperor's Hongfu, our family is living well. ”

Almu asked provocatively: "Is it? If your imperial lord knows that Gonggong Liang has taken double portions of Yulu inside and outside, I'm afraid he will be 'emperor's grace', right?"

"This ...... You ......" Liang Fang's heart "soared" with anger, eager to punch down his mouth full of yellow teeth. However, the Tatar national teacher had faith first, and he still took it into account, so he didn't know how to deal with it for a while.

Of course, Liang De knew that Almu's words were hidden, and when he saw that his brother was about to get angry, he hurriedly came forward to play a round: "Almu's envoy has something to say, everything is easy to discuss." Come, come, Almu, Special Envoy, please take a seat. ”

Almu glanced at Liang De, sat down on the chair that Liang De had moved, and continued to say to Liang Fang: "Liang Gonggong only thinks about the good of the Ming Emperor, has the Great Khan of my country forgotten the benefits to you?" Nearly 20 years, the Great Khan of our country has done according to the agreement every year, but what Liang Gonggong should do is ......" Almu paused, eased his tone, and said: "I came this time to ask Liang Gonggong for an explanation on the orders of the Great Khan of our country and the national teacher. ”

After Liang Fang received the flying pigeon transmission from the Tatar national teacher, he pondered for a long time, and thought that it was related to the events of that year. Listening to what Almu said now, it was as expected.

"Special envoy Almu, you also know that according to the agreement, our family is doing our best to do what we should do, but Xia Yao's old thing is soft and hard and does not eat, our family through Wan Guifei plucked the Chenghua Emperor and him to add officials to the knighthood, and announced that his gold medal is no less than ten ways, he resisted and did not obey the order, and he just stayed in the Hetao and did not leave. You said that the emperor announced that he would not move, what can we do with a royal horse eunuch and a eunuch?" Liang Fang said softly and firmly.

Almu shook his head in disbelief, and asked rhetorically: "Resisting the decree is a great crime of bullying the king, is it possible that the old emperor of Chenghua will not move to kill?"

Liang Fang smiled bitterly and said: "The old emperor is cowardly and incompetent, every time he hears Xia Yao's resistance, he comforts himself and says: 'Okay, with Xia Aiqing guarding the border pass, I can also worry about it, let him be." There is nothing to be done about it. ”

After being silent for a while, Almu said: "Emperor Chenghua has died, and now the new emperor has succeeded to the throne, which is the time of youth and vigor. What would he do if he knew that Xia Yao had repeatedly resisted and disobeyed his decree and despised imperial power? This was a good opportunity, and Gonggong Liang should do something. ”

When Liang Fang heard this, he said with a bitter face: "Our family is all appreciated by Wan Niangniang, so that we can call for wind and rain in front of the emperor." After the concubine and the old emperor drove to the west, some lonely ministers and sons counted down our family in front of the new emperor. Although the new emperor did not listen to their slander, he was also very cold to our family. If you speak at this time, I'm afraid you will get into trouble. This is absolutely unacceptable. ”

Seeing that he had pushed it cleanly, Almu's face that had just eased suddenly tensed again: "Father-in-law Liang is going to wash his body and go ashore?"

Liang Fang had already made up his mind, and it was important to save his life at this time. He spread his hands and said helplessly: "It's not that our family has no strength or plan, but there is really no chance." ”

Seeing that his words were closed and stubborn, Almu had no choice but to resort to the "trump card": "For so many years, the ...... that our country sent to Liang's father-in-law"

Liang Fang intercepted and said: "Our family has not been as your Great Khan wishes, so we should return it as it is." "Now that the way of the world has changed, if you want to force yourself, you will be killed. He wanted to return the little prince's things, and ended up unrestrained and secure in his old age.

The little prince is deliberately trying to buy and buy, how can he break free from the cage? Almu smiled "hehe", half joking and half threatening: "Liang Gonggong is not rare Those treasures, I think the little emperor Hongzhi will definitely like it, so it is better to dedicate it to your emperor." ”

Armu made it clear that if they didn't cooperate with them, they would reveal the truth to the court.

Liang Fang couldn't understand what he meant, but thinking of the current situation, even if he agreed to continue to cooperate with them, it would be difficult for him to do anything at all, and he might still be able to take this old life in the end. Rather than being pressed on both sides, it is better to simply break off. So he said to Almu: "If the Great Khan of your country is unwilling to take it back, I can't say that our family has to honor the Emperor Ming." ”

Liang Fang looked like a dead pig who was not afraid of boiling water, which made Almu in a dilemma. Really let the Ming court know the truth, it doesn't matter whether Liang Fang's life can be saved, and the Ming Dynasty will be out of reach. Therefore, before leaving, Batu Munch drew a bottom line for Almu, which could only scare Liang Fang and force him to cooperate; if Liang Fang broke the kettle and refused to give in, even if Liang Fang, a eunuch, was cheapened, he must not let the Ming people know the intentions of our country, so as to stabilize the Ming court and make another plan. Of course, this bottom line is only known to Almu, and Bao Yu, who is traveling with him, has no idea.

Almu thought, sure enough, Liang Fang, who was an old and cunning man, was not bluffed but pinched by him. Fortunately, the national teacher had already planned, otherwise it would be really difficult to ride a tiger. He looked at the "Five Murderers" Bao Yu who was sitting on the side, and raised his chin slightly to Liang Fang. Bao Yu understood and said to Liang Fang:

"Senior brother, the national teacher wants me to bring you a letter, saying that if you don't rarity those things, you will hand them over to me to take back to honor his old man, and when his old man is happy, maybe he will let you see his unique stunt 'Bone Breaking Grab', which is a magic skill that makes people want to live and can't die. ”

When Liang Fang heard "broken bones", her expression changed greatly.

As the name suggests, this "broken bone grasping" is the use of internal strength to crush all the bone joints in the human body, the tortured person has no worries about his life, but the whole body is weak and weak, not only can not walk, even peristalsis is extremely difficult. If there is no one to take care of them, they can only die of thirst and starvation. Just like the five murderers Bao Yu said, I can't bear to live and I can't die.

But how did Almu and Bao Yu know Liang Fang's situation at this time? Although the "broken bone grasp" is powerful, it is still in the desert thousands of miles away, and if he acts rashly, Zhu Youzhu will take his life in front of him. Liang Fang was both frightened and afraid, and spread his hands and said:

"It's not that our family doesn't rarity those things, but there's really no way to keep them. If our family can do it, we must do our best and go all out; if we can't do it, even if we can't do it, even if we can't do it, there is nothing we can do. ”

Liang Fang's tone was so resolute, not like the appearance of saping a fool, could it be that he had really reached the point of exhaustion of mountains and rivers and the exhaustion of donkey skills? Almu asked tentatively:

"Why did Grandpa Liang say this?"

"The envoy did not know that at the beginning of the new emperor's succession, he began to rectify the rule of officials, and successively dismissed more than 40 important cabinet members such as Wan An, the secretary of the Ministry of Officials and the scholar of Huagai Temple, Du Ming, the secretary of the Criminal Department, and Li Zixing, the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, and laid off thousands of officials below the third rank and above the fifth rank. Today's Ming court can be said to be an officialdom shock, and everyone is in danger. At the end of last year, Li Yu, the secretary of the ministry, Liu Xuan, the servant of the ministry, Li Min, the secretary of the household department, Jia Jun, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Liu Fu, the right capital of the Imperial Palace, Feng Guan, the secretary of Dali Temple, Qiu Jun, the supervisor of Guozi, and Jia Bin, the head of Honglu Temple, and other 26 high- and middle-grade courtiers, each went up and asked for Zhishi. Although the new emperor will not allow it for the time being, it will be a matter of time before these people are dismissed, and they may spend the rest of their lives in prison. Because of our family's friendship with Li Zi Province, after Lord Li was deposed, some officials who had festivals with our family in the past put all the 'illegal things' of Master Li on our family's heads, and they all went up to the court to put our family to death. Envoy think about it, at this time, our family is still in danger of protecting itself, what else can we do?"

Only then did Almu know that he was a mud bodhisattva crossing the river - he could not protect himself, and he had the intention to let him go, but whether the purpose of this trip could be achieved depended on his secret help. didn't care about comforting Liang Fang at the moment, and continued to ask:

"The new emperor is just a rectifier, what does he do to the army?"

Liang Fang was stunned for a moment, then immediately understood Almu's intentions, thought for a while and said:

"There is no small movement in the army. After the new emperor succeeded to the throne, Wen relied on Wang Jie'an (that is, Wang Shu, the secretary of the ministry), and Wu relied on Ma Wensheng. After Ma Wensheng took office as the secretary of the Ministry of War, he reported to the new emperor about the fifteenth matter, and dismissed more than 30 military generals at one time on the grounds of 'chasing warlocks to prevent confusion, and reposing the evil with the effect of punishment'. These deposed generals and their relatives and friends were very angry, some took bows and arrows and prepared to shoot Ma Wensheng, and some wrote a song to impeach Ma Wensheng. In order to protect Ma Wensheng, the emperor also specially sent twelve Jinwu knights to protect him day and night. ”

When Almu heard this, his frowning brows stretched a lot, and he asked with interest: "In this way, isn't there a lot of vacancies in your country's civil and military generals?"

Now the emperor and the ministers are still in the book, and Wang Shu can be said to be overstretched. In order to select capable ministers and good generals, the imperial court reopened the imperial examination, and after last year's township examination and the just-concluded general examination and palace examination, a total of 339 civil and military jinshi and fellow jinshi were selected, and they will be awarded officials in the next few days. Even so, it is not a drop in the bucket, and many yamen are still vacant and ineffective. ”

Hearing this, Almu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Many people in Tatar have heard of these situations. Dayan Khan Batu Munk endured for many years, but he never found a good opportunity to "recover" the Hetao region. I heard that after the new emperor of the Celestial Dynasty succeeded to the throne, he drastically rectified the rule of officials, and made the political and military departments of the imperial court fragmented and languished.

However, half of the subordinates thought that it was better to see than to hear, and what the situation of the Celestial Empire was still to be further explored.

Batu Munch thought about it and made sense, and thought hard of a plan, and ordered Almu to go to the Ming Imperial City to inquire about the news in the name of Nagong, and Jinong Abahai personally led 3,000 men and horses into Beijing later. If it is found that the rumors are not true, the Ming Dynasty will try to lead 3,000 men and horses into the imperial city, and change from "Wengong" to "Wugong", so as to make a statement for the official closure of the Ming Dynasty and the dispatch of troops to the Hetao.

When Almu listened to Liang Fang's speech, he knew that the news was not false, and he was overjoyed in his heart, and according to the arrangement of Dayan Khan and the national teacher before the trip, he immediately turned to a new topic:

"No wonder people say that once a son of heaven is a courtier. But Liang Gonggong's stable position as the imperial horse eunuch and the eunuch should be gratifying. I heard that Liang's father-in-law's old rival Wang Gonggong has been relegated to Nanjing, and I believe that it will not be long before the position of the eunuch in charge of the imperial horse supervisor is none other than the father-in-law. ”

Liang Fang shook his head and said with a wry smile: "Special envoy Almu smiled. It would be a blessing if our family could get out of the way, as for the position of the palm print eunuch, how dare our family think so. Indeed, he said this from the heart.

"Father-in-law Liang was too worried, and believed that Jiren had his own natural appearance. Almu said perfunctorily, and then the conversation changed, "Let's talk about business." Not long ago, I Dayan Khan came across a piece of rare jade, as white as mutton fat, crystal clear. According to the appraisal of connoisseurs, this jade is rare for thousands of years and extremely auspicious. Although Dayan Khan is tired of playing and can't bear to let go, he heard that the current queen has been pregnant with a dragon seed, so he wants to take this jade as a tribute this year and dedicate it to the emperor. In order to show the solemnity, the Great Khan of our country has taken Jinong Abahai as a special envoy and personally led a delegation of 3,000 people to the imperial capital to pay tribute, and at this time he is already on the way to Beijing, and will arrive outside Beijing within three days. However, the tribute ceremony had to be done collectively by the tributary missions, so it was necessary to find an open place outside the Golden Luang Palace. As an outpost of the tribute mission, the envoy must pre-establish the place of tribute. During the day, I looked at several places in the capital, and the guard school field outside the Xuanwu Gate was the most suitable, but to implement it here, I still need the help of Liang Gonggong. ”

Liang Fang knew that Almu Mingli was high-sounding, and he must have ulterior motives in secret, otherwise why would he need to ask for his own help? But Rao wanted to break his brain, and he didn't know what tricks they were going to play. How easy is it to let the 3,000 Tatars enter the imperial city to garrison and guard the school grounds? Just as he was about to call out to Almu, Liang De, who had been standing on the side for a long time, spoke:

"Envoy Almu doesn't know that since Taizu founded the Praetorian Guard, the Praetorian Guard system of this dynasty is complicated and strict. Not only are the palace gates in the Forbidden City guarded by the guards of the Twelve Guards, but the gates of the Imperial City are also guarded by the guards of the Imperial City. According to the customary system of this dynasty, foreign envoys to our capital, no matter how honorable their titles and official positions are in their own country, they will all be light and simple, except for a few servants who are allowed to enter the city, the rest of the men and horses can only be stationed outside the city, and they must also accept the control of the Yulin army, and they are not allowed to swim freely. As for the royal school grounds, it is a military forbidden area, and it cannot be occupied for any other reason except for the military drills, competitions, and expeditions of the dynasty. The officials and people of this dynasty are still strictly forbidden to enter, let alone the people of your country. ”

After listening to Liang De's speech, Almu patiently said: "This envoy has been back and forth to your country more than ten times, how can he not know the rules of your country? But there are always exceptions to everything, and this envoy will naturally put forward reasons to the emperor of the Celestial Dynasty and the relevant yamen at that time that they cannot refuse. Of course, this had to be secretly assisted by Father-in-law Liang to clear some obstacles in advance. ”

Although Liang Fang was not sure why Almu insisted on bringing 3,000 men and horses into the city, he was sure that there were 12 guards under the emperor's direct jurisdiction and tens of thousands of Yulin troops stationed in the capital, and the 3,000 men and horses in the Tatar area could not make a big wave. What's more, his weakness is controlled, and he is afraid of the prestige of the national teacher, so it is impossible to stay out of the matter. I had to bite the bullet and say:

"If you want our family to help, please ask Special Envoy Almu to explain. It's still the same sentence: If our family can do it, we must do our best and go all out; if we can't do it, even if we are late, there is nothing we can do. ”

This time, Almu didn't bother with him, and said as if he was "considerate": "If you want Father-in-law Liang to handle this matter independently, it will definitely be difficult to do so." The envoy will go to the Ministry of Rites tomorrow to convey the meaning of the Great Khan of his country and negotiate from the level of diplomatic etiquette. As long as Father-in-law Liang secretly helps again, I believe that this matter will not be difficult to implement. ”

"Xu Pu, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and Liu Jian, the right waiter, are all at odds with our family, and our family is afraid that they won't be able to speak......"

Without waiting for Liang Fang to finish speaking, Almu hurriedly said: "Father-in-law Liang, don't be in a hurry to resign, and listen to this envoy." In order for our tributary mission to be stationed to defend the school grounds, it had to pass through two gates: the city gate and the school grounds. In charge of the imperial city access control is the imperial city guards in the Yulin avant-garde, the pacification envoy Hu Yanda was once the imperial horse supervisor subordinate to the four guard battalion Tengxiang left guard of the pacification envoy, presumably Liang Gonggong can still be effective when talking in front of this person; the guard school is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War, and the official in charge is Yin Zhi, the right attendant of the Ministry of War, this person can be the official to the third grade, and has a great relationship with Liang Gonggong's friend Li Zi Province. If Liang Gonggong speaks, Yin Shilang is afraid that he will also obey his words. As long as these two people play side drums at the court meeting, there will be no big problems for the emperor. ”

Liang Fang secretly sighed that Almu was scheming and probing the situation of this dynasty so carefully and accurately. Since this is the case, it is useless to say anything more, so I have to do it according to Almu's ideas. Of course, you have to spend a lot of money to do it. Thinking of this, he nodded to Almu and agreed:

"In this case, our family will act separately from Special Envoy Almu tomorrow, and I hope that we will not fail in our mission. ”

After speaking, he picked up the teacup in front of him and hinted that Liang De would send off the guests.