When Tong Xian was dragged out of the Hundred Banquet Hall, Emperor Yi's will only said to take him out, but did not say where to put him, the emperor was in a rage, how could the two guards dare to ask? But they didn't dare to make decisions on their own, and after thinking about it, they had to temporarily put him in a small side hall of the Fengtian Palace.

Tong Xian was a second-class member of the court, and they couldn't afford to offend, so they didn't restrict his freedom, but just guarded the door, so that they could wait for the banquet to disperse and then go to their commander.

In Dayi, the imperial historian was in charge of the law and order, responsible for picketing and impeaching hundreds of officials, and his status was respected. Song Li's previous prime ministers had all served as imperial historians, and he himself was directly promoted from the imperial historian to the first assistant of the cabinet. It can be said that if you become a doctor of imperial history, you are equivalent to stepping into the door of the prime minister with one foot.

Tong Xian was born in the imperial examination, the last champion of the literary examination of the previous dynasty, and he wrote a good article and was extremely famous. Tong Xian, who was born in a poor family, took a full 20 years to be promoted from the seven-grade cultivation of the Literature Museum to the imperial historian. He has a strong temperament, goes straight and never beats around the bush, and the emperor is no exception. It is said that being an official like him will only kill the official, but his integrity from being partial to the public makes the Yi Emperor quite appreciated, and after the Yi Emperor ascended the throne, it took a few years from Zhizhou to the Imperial History Zhongcheng and then to the Imperial Historian.

After being "invited" into the side hall, Tong Xian stood stiffly in place. The two guards who brought him in were also people who would do something, and this side hall was usually a place for ministers to rest and wait before going to the banquet, and it should be fully furnished and luxurious. There is a pear blossom wood chair next to Tong Xian, and there is a tall bronze cloth mirror with animal horns in front of him, which is used by the ministers to organize their appearance before the banquet.

He stood there, his tall figure almost obscuring the entire mirror, still the same as he had just taken off the hairpin, the blood on his forehead had dried up, and the marks on his pale face were crisscrossed, coupled with his blood-red eyes, there was an indescribable tragedy and desolation.

After Nie Bei came in, he saw his embarrassed appearance in the mirror, and couldn't help but sigh and said, "Master Tong, why are you so troubled!"

Tong Xun stared at him with round eyes, "Commander Nie, are you saying that I, Tong, am you stupid?!"

Nie Bei sighed, and persuaded again: "The king of Dingbei has made outstanding achievements, and he has a robe with the emperor, and he is just a prince, you are really ...... just now."

Tong Xian waved his hand and interrupted him, "What? Am I not right? Or have you long been numb? Commander Nie, you are responsible for protecting the safety of Gyeonggi, and the emperor's net worth and life are in your hands, so you are not worried at all?"

"Worried, worried about what?"

"Three years ago, the seventh prince was born, and the emperor changed to Yuan Changxi, have you ever seen the birth of the prince change the year name? The previous princes haven't changed, right? Why what? Now he wants to canonize the prince at the age of three, and the throne is hereditary...... Do you think all of this is normal?"

"The prince is loyal, and it's normal for the emperor to be favored."

"Loyalty? Isn't this the duty of a minister? Not to mention that loyalty is really so reliable?" Tong Xian paused, looking at Nie Bei, his face full of worry, "Okay, I don't doubt the loyalty of the prince now, he has a friendship with the saint, and the love of the robe, what about the saint after a hundred years?

"Also," Tong Xian added, "what kind of character will Bai Guang be in the future, can you say it accurately?"

Nie Bei was silent, he had never heard this kind of remarks before, and he had never thought about it in this regard, Tong Xian's words made him speechless.

After a long silence, Nie Bei shook his head helplessly.

Emperor Yi's will was to let Tong Xian go back to his house, and when he figured it out and when he would go to the court to reply.

Nie Bei sent Tong Xian out of Chonghua Gate, watched the carriage roll away, and finally disappeared into the wind and snow, only to feel that this winter was particularly cold.

Tong Xian wiped the blood on his forehead with a cotton handkerchief dipped in snow water on the carriage. When he returned to the mansion, it was already midnight, the servant who guarded the door opened the door, Tong Xian walked quickly to the inner courtyard in a snowy body, the lights in the corridors and corridors were still on, and the entire Tong Mansion was waiting for him to come back.

He stopped at the door of the main courtyard, the servant took off his thick velvet cloak, the heavy cotton curtain was lifted, and a woman in her thirties, with willow eyebrows and almond eyes, tall and beautiful, welcomed him into the warm pavilion.

"Ayan, you said you don't have to wait for me, why don't you listen?" Tong Xian blamed his wife distressedly.

"If you don't come back, where will I sleep? Madame Tong brought over the sweet soup that had been warmed a long time ago.

Waiting so late, Tong Xian knew that his wife didn't know how worried and worried, and his heart was even more apologetic, so he couldn't help but take a step forward, took his wife into his arms lightly, and said softly: "Don't worry, isn't this coming back?" ”

"You tap," Madame Tong tugged at his cuffs, "Yi'er quarreled all night, and finally fell asleep." ”

"A child who is less than two years old cries very loudly, like a boy. The corners of Tong Xian's lips stretched with a smile, and gently pushed open the openwork door in the middle, and there was a small Nanmu bed covered with a brocade quilt inside, on which a little girl slept, and her beautiful little mouth pouted slightly, as if she was dreaming.

......。

Twenty-sixth of the lunar month.

After the early dynasty, Ji Min, the secretary of the criminal department, stayed alone at the emperor's instructions. In the early dynasty, Emperor Yi saw Ji Min's unspeakable appearance and knew that he had something to play, he had been busy trying the case lately, Emperor Yi guessed that he must have asked something important, and it was inconvenient to play it in front of the public, so he left him behind, and when he watched the ministers withdraw from the palace, he stopped Bai Qi, Song Li, Xing Danyou and Li Yan and asked them to listen together.

"Ji Qing, now you can say it!" Everyone stood still, and Emperor Yi raised his hand and motioned for Ji Min to stand and speak.

"Your Majesty," Ji Min said with a tired face, "The ministers have interrogated for a few all-nighters, and the methods have been exhausted, but they still don't work." ”

"Oh...... What else is there?" Emperor Yi narrowed his eyes, his face full of curiosity. Ji Min is a master of torture, and he is afraid that no matter how hard the bones are, they will be fried in his hands.

Yes, he kept scolding Song Jie, saying that he didn't keep his promises, and didn't care about him afterwards, what else did he say, what ...... If it weren't for his father's sake, he wouldn't have worked for him. Ji Min peeked at Song Li as he spoke.

Emperor Yi saw that Song Li was looking at his nose and his nose, as if he hadn't heard it at all, and he was indifferent.

"It's all clichés, didn't you say anything else?" Emperor Yi asked Ji Min with a frown.

"Also...... Also, it's all crazy nonsense. ”

"Oh, let's hear it!"

The minister didn't dare to say. ”

"If you want to say it, you can say it, I won't blame you!"

Ji Min had no choice but to bite the bullet and say: "That madman said that Lord Song has long regarded King Dingbei as a thorn in his eye and a thorn in his flesh, and he wants to get rid of him as soon as possible, because Lord Song knows that King Dingbei will rebel, and Lord Song will not think about the emperor, but also think about the future of the prince." He also said that the emperor knew that what he said was true, but he was not willing to believe it, and he didn't dare to believe it, so he could only do some senseless things to deceive himself, such as torture other results from his mouth, and hastily settled the case. Because in this way, it can not only protect the real murderer Lord Song, who is dedicated to the public, but also stabilize the king of Dingbei, who will rebel sooner or later......"

This confession is heart-wrenching, and it is not crazy at all. But Emperor Yi would believe his words even if he had the slightest suspicion of King Dingbei, however, he underestimated Emperor Yi's trust in King Dingbei.

Emperor Yi listened to Ji Min quietly, and a sneer slowly appeared on the corner of his lips, judging from this confession alone, this is definitely not what an ordinary assassin said, just a few simple sentences, the three most powerful people in the Dayi Dynasty were involved in the center of the most sensitive vortex of "imperial power usurpation", and the depth of scheming made people chill down their spines.

Emperor Yi bent his fingers and gently knocked on the dragon case, his face was cloudy, and after a long time, he said something that made everyone present stunned, "This person is a little interesting, bring it over immediately, I want to meet him!"

Seeing Ji Min standing still, Emperor Yi was slightly displeased, "Why don't you go?

The emperor wants to see a lowly person, which is a rare thing, Ji Min couldn't react for a while, and when the emperor asked again, he hurriedly said: "Okay, it's not dead, the minister is just worried that he will make His Majesty angry with his nonsense." ”

"It's okay, how can I believe such absurd words?"

When King Dingbei saw that Ji Min arranged for someone to go to the prison of the Criminal Department to raise prisoners, he faintly felt that something was wrong in his heart, and he was about to speak out to disrupt him, but he couldn't say what was wrong, so he had to continue to remain silent.

In less than half an hour, the sound of chains grabbing the ground was heard outside the hall, and an unkempt and bloodied man was pushed to the golden steps of the dragon couch, wearing fine iron shackles as thick as a baby's forearm at his wrists and ankles. The person knelt on the spot, his upper body shook slightly weakly, and finally he couldn't support it, and he curled up on the ground, his body twitched slightly, and the whole thing looked like he would swallow his last breath in the next second.

Emperor Yi asked his upper chin to be raised, and his vision was not very good on a snowy day in winter, and the inner supervisor burned the palace wax, and under the light of the wax, a square face was covered with blood, and his long knotted hair covered half of his face like saliva hanging down from the eaves of the harsh winter.

His eyes were closed, and he looked like he had fainted.

Emperor Yi let the two eunuchs wake him up, and the prisoner slowly opened his eyes, and his eyelids raised weakly to look at Emperor Yi on the dragon chair, and the corners of his lips outlined a sneering laugh line.

Emperor Yi accurately captured this action, and unconsciously felt a slight fire in his heart, and said coldly: "What kind of character is I Dao, just a dying dog biting indiscriminately. ”

"What kind of character are you? Haha, you're just a pitiful worm!" the man chuckled and sneered.

King Dingbei listened to him carefully, and felt that his breath was steady when he spoke, and he did not look weak or weak, but the scars around his body were by no means unpretending, and he couldn't help but be secretly vigilant in his heart.

"Do you want to repeat that ridiculous confession? I ask you, who are you doing for? Say it, and I will not kill you!"

"You're wrong!" the corners of the man's lips twitched, as if he had to use all his strength for every word, "I'm not the most damned, I'm just being instructed by others to do things for others." Most...... The most damn is Song Jie, oh yes, it's still ...... And Song Li, or more precisely...... It's white. But you don't dare to kill it, so I'm right to say you're a wretch. ”

At this point, Emperor Yi knew that it was impossible to ask anything from his mouth, this person was so stubborn and rude, he just wanted to dismantle him quickly, so he slowly stood up and said: "Actually, no matter who you are doing things for, and what the ultimate goal is, I don't care, because it is all in vain and will not play any role at all." I was just curious, but now I just want you to ......"

As soon as he said this, he suddenly felt a gust of wind blowing in his face, and this strange change was abrupt, and the instinctive reaction formed by Emperor Yi after several years of life and death saved him again. In the midst of the crisis, he quickly turned sideways, and after a loud bang, the back of the dragon chair was smashed by something.

One blow missed, the figure of the prisoner instantly burst out, and another piece of iron chain in his hand was immediately thrown, and the iron chain with a scorching wind sound, quickly and accurately smashed towards Emperor Yi again, Emperor Yi dodged the first blow, but could not avoid the second blow that followed.

The sound of the wind brought out by the iron chain made his cheeks hurt, and the body wrapped in the dragon robe was already cold, and in a trance, he heard the cold summoning voice of the god of death, and a huge light cluster appeared in front of him, reflecting his dazzling and brilliant and thrilling life.

He couldn't hear all the exclamations and cries around him......

At the moment when it was time for life and death again, he habitually remembered those hands, the hands that had pulled him back from the brink of death countless times.

It seemed that after a long time, he did not feel the dull pain of the iron chain hitting his body, but it was the familiar and warm breath that wrapped him tightly, and after a muffled sound, the red blood on the placket of his chest was so hot that his chest muscles were hot, and he shouted loudly without imperial dignity: "Brother Wang, Brother Wang." ”

Mao Shouren, who was on duty today, tried his best to block the way of the prisoners rushing to Emperor Yi again and again, and there were already spots of blood on his clothes, but his long sword danced impenetrable, and he was dead in front of Emperor Yi ten steps in front of him. When the guards heard the news, they rushed over one after another, and the inner and outer three floors surrounded the prisoners in the hall that was not spacious in the warm pavilion.

Emperor Yi, who had been protected by layers, looked at the dying king of Dingbei in his arms, and was unbearable with grief and indignation, and shouted loudly: "Don't let him die, I will cut him with a thousand knives!"

Hearing this, the prisoner roared, his body suddenly rose a few feet, stepped on the top of the head of a guard, and rushed towards the golden pillar of the dragon in the hall, only to hear a muffled sound of "bang", the head exploded like a watermelon, and the brains scattered in all directions, like a firework blooming in the hall.

From beginning to end, Ji Min was like a fool, stunned in place. His mind was in chaos, his eyes were blurry, he couldn't hear any sound in the hall, the only thing he knew was that his career was over, and now he could only pray for God's blessing, hoping to save this old life.

After the king of Dingbei sacrificed his life to block the second blow of the prisoner to open the mountain and crack the rock, Song Li, Xing Danyou, and Li Yan also reacted and hurriedly protected the surroundings of Emperor Yi.

The two little eunuchs next to the murderer were slapped to death by one palm at the same time when he broke the shackles, and the other eight who died were the guards who came later, Bai Qi and Mao Shouren were seriously injured.

Since the founding of Dayi, there has never been such a shocking thing. Emperor Yi immediately ordered the information to be blocked, and if anyone leaked, he was punished with a beheading. The scene of the incident in the warm pavilion of Yangyuan Hall was also closed, leaving it for future investigation and evidence collection.

On the twenty-seventh day of the lunar month, the day after the incident, the cabinet issued two edicts in succession, one is that Mao Shouren, the deputy commander of the Praetorian Guard, has made meritorious contributions to the escort and gave him a three-grade purple robe and a gold belt. The second is to canonize the son of the king of the north as the son, and the conferral ceremony will be held on a later date.

On the 28th of the lunar month, the cabinet issued another decree to cancel the Chinese New Year's Eve court dinner, ban fireworks and fireworks in Kyoto, prohibit singing and dancing, and except for sacrificing ancestors, all ceremonies should be simple and must not be violated.

Because of the strict order of Emperor Yi, there are very few people who know about what happened in the Yangyuan Palace, and there should not be too many people who can know about it afterwards except for those who are there. In addition to the matter of canonizing the prince of the Ming court, it is unknown why the two edicts were issued, and the officials and people of the entire Xihao just thought that something big must have happened in the palace, otherwise why would Mao Shouren be promoted under his escort, and why should fireworks be banned?

This time to say that the most unlucky should be the criminal department Shangshu Ji Min, the angry Emperor Yi later suspended him from his post and detained, and ordered Song Li to send candidates from the Criminal Department to investigate the scene, but to check and check, or from the side to assist Nie Bei found the clues, from the scattered iron chains scattered throughout the Yangyuan Palace, found a few smooth and smooth incisions, apparently left by sharp metal cutting, this discovery made Emperor Yi even more angry, so he ordered Ji Min to be taken into the prison, and all the officials involved in the trial of the Criminal Department were all imprisoned pending trial.

In the world, if you do harm, you will benefit from it. Ji Min is finished, but Concubine Yue benefits from it. Mao Shouren desperately defended the lord, and was rewarded by the emperor for the promotion of the third grade, and it was not surprising that it was a matter of time before the emperor's character was reused.

On the day of the incident, Xing Danyou told her about the 1510, and her face turned pale for a while before she finally took a long breath and said in the tone of the rest of her life: "Fortunately, the emperor is fine," after a pause, he still asked uneasily, "Commander Mao is really fine?"

Xing Danyou knew what Concubine Yue was worried about, if the emperor really died unfortunately this time, the crown prince would succeed to the throne in advance, once this was the case, then the master's years of hard work would be in vain. As for Mao Shouren's situation, he was scared stupid at the time, and when he reacted, the fight was basically over, and he could only say according to the last thing he saw, "Commander Mao is covered in blood, and he looks quite terrifying, but he has been standing and commanding, which should be better than Bai Qi." ”

Concubine Yue secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and asked again, "Speaking of Bai Qi, it seems that you just said that he has been passing out?"

"Well, he didn't move in His Majesty's arms, spit out a few mouthfuls of blood, and then His Majesty called Imperial Doctor Liu to carry him out. ”

Concubine Yue frowned slightly, and asked uncertainly, "Imperial Doctor Liu?" Is it Imperial Doctor Liu Wen and Imperial Physician Liu?"

"Where will there be another doctor surnamed Liu in the Tai Hospital, who is it if it is not him. ”

"It's a pity, there is a miracle doctor Liu Wen to treat him, and Bai Qi seems to be unable to die again. Concubine Yue regretted for a while, but after a while, she focused on Mao Shouren, "Commander Mao must not have anything to do." There are a few boxes of good plasters here in the palace, and you can take them to Commander Mao when you go back, and this time thanks to him, the emperor can get out of danger. After this incident, the palace saw more clearly, Commander Mao not only had courage and knowledge, but what was even more rare was his calmness and courage when life and death were at stake......"

Concubine Yue glanced at Xing Danyou, and saw that his expression was a little gloomy, I don't know if she was annoyed by her performance at the time, or if she was worried about something else, she couldn't help but smile slightly, and said softly: "Xing Shangshu, thanks to you and Mao's leadership, Bengong and Ye'er have hope!"

When Xing Danyou met Concubine Yue, Song Li also went to Zhengyang Palace. Queen Song Zilu hadn't seen her brother for many days, so she pulled Song Li to sit next to a few cases, Xinbi brought a pot of hot tea, and poured one for the two of them.

Too many things have happened recently, and the queen has a lot to ask her brother, but before she can speak, Song Li spoke first, and went straight to the point as soon as she spoke, "Niangniang, something big happened today!" When the queen heard this, the hot tea in the cup almost spilled out, but fortunately, she was a stable person, and it only took a moment to return to normal, Song Li didn't pay much attention to the change in her expression, and finished telling what happened in the Yangyuan Hall in a short time.

The queen listened quietly, her expression looking indifferent, but the corners of her lips pursed slightly, and her unmoving gaze showed that she was thinking about something. After a long time, she raised her head and looked at Song Li fixedly, "Has my brother ever thought about the true identity of that person?"

The queen asked "have you thought about it" rather than "whether you know", which is obvious, she knows that it is impossible for a human prisoner to leave any valuable clues.

"Don't want profits, reckless of consequences, don't care about life and death, except for revenge, I really can't think of anything else for the minister. ”

"I know that, too. But has my brother thought about it, this person deliberately identified Song Jie, he knew that as long as the emperor thought about it, he would definitely not believe it, and he would definitely let Ji Min retry it. Because the matter involved the king of Dingbei, he was sure that the emperor would pay extra attention to the progress of the case, and he was also sure that Ji Min would show the emperor every detail of the interrogation, every word he had ever said, thinking of this, he deliberately angered the emperor with extreme and rude words...... His martial arts are so high, even if he can't kill the prince on the rocky mountain, no one can stop him if he wants to get out. But why didn't he run away? The most plausible explanation is that he didn't want to run away at all, and he stayed on purpose. And the reason why he worked so hard and didn't care about life and death, there was only one ultimate goal, that is, to see the emperor and then ......"

Song Li lowered his head and listened carefully, the iron chain that suddenly burst inch by inch in the Yangyuan Palace, the broken chain that shot towards the emperor like a flash of light, and the brains that fell like rain when they jumped into the golden pillar...... Scenes drifted through my mind. Song Li's lips turned blue, that kind of strength, that kind of speed, and that kind of determination, people couldn't help but feel desperate.

"He almost made it. Song Li said in a low voice.

"Fortunately, God has mercy, and fortunately there is the king of Dingbei. When the queen said this, she suddenly looked sideways at the window, "Maybe it's been too quiet in the past few years, the emperor is careless, and we are careless......"