Liaocheng, Li Chengdong's mansion.
The first moment of Xu.
Yan Ermei, who was reading at night, suddenly noticed that the lights were shaking, and then he saw a man in black appearing in his room.
Yan Ermei was shocked when she saw this, stood up suddenly, and instinctively wanted to call out, but suddenly stopped.
Then he squeezed the scroll in his hand tightly and stared at the other party solemnly.
"Mr. Yan, don't be alarmed. I am Zhao Li's colleague, Li Wu, one of hundreds of Huben dead soldiers!"
Li Wu saw that Yan Ermei had a cautious look on her face even though she didn't shout, so he hurriedly took out his badge and explained.
When Yan Ermei heard this, not only did she not relax, but she even became more vigilant and said: "What Zhao Li, a dead soldier of Huben, I have no idea what you are talking about!"
"Tell me, what are your intentions when you came to my room late at night?"
Li Wu was stunned for a moment, then took out a letter from his arms and handed it to Yan Ermei. Unexpectedly, Yan Ermei took a few steps back.
Upon seeing this, Li Wu put the letter on the table, took a few steps back and said, "Mr. Yan, don't doubt it. There is a letter written by His Majesty here. You will know it as soon as you read it!"
Yan Ermei hesitated for a while, then slowly stepped forward, picked up the letter on the table and scanned it quickly.
Although he had never seen Chongzhen's handwriting, he believed it somewhat when he saw that the letter asking him to monitor Li Chengdong was roughly the same as what Zhao Li said.
But when he saw "Emperor's Letter of Trust" stamped at the end of the letter, he couldn't help but frown.
It turns out that the Yellow Emperor's seals in the Ming Dynasty were divided into twenty four types: the Emperor's Fengtian Treasure, the Emperor's Treasure, and the Emperor's Trust Treasure. Different seals were used according to different occasions.
This time Zhu Yuanzhang asked Yan Ermei to assist in countering the rebellion. It should be called a "treasure of punishing people and bringing peace to the people" or a "treasure of entrusting life", and it should never be a "treasure of the emperor's trust".
Because the Emperor's Xinbao was used to give orders to princes, ministers or to mobilize troops, it was not consistent with this matter.
Yan Ermei had heard Shi Kefa say that etiquette was the most important thing in Chongzhen, so when he saw that the seal did not match the letter, he felt a little suspicious.
Seeing the change in Yan Ermei's expression, Li Wu said worriedly: "Mr. Yan, do you still have any questions?"
Hearing this, Yan Ermei looked at Li Wu carefully and saw his sincere face, so she asked: "Your seal..."
"Oh, Your Majesty is traveling lightly this time. Considering that the main purpose of this trip is to reward meritorious ministers and mobilize troops to suppress the rebellion, I only brought the Emperor's Treasure and the Emperor's Trust Treasure."
"If you have seen Uncle Xinyi's edict, you should know that the edict is also stamped with the emperor's treasure, not the imperial edict..."
Li Wu hurriedly explained without waiting for Yan Ermei to finish.
Hearing this, Yan Ermei remembered that Li Chengdong had read the edict to him before, and it was indeed stamped with the Emperor's Treasure. He was about to nod subconsciously, but suddenly said: "Hasn't His Majesty returned to Beijing already?"
Seeing Yan Ermei's expression, Li Wu knew that he must have seen Li Chengdong's edict, so he secretly stepped up his guard, but said calmly: "Your Majesty originally planned to return to Beijing, but he heard about changes in Linyi on the way, so he changed his route to Linyi."
Yan Ermei nodded and said: "I see, it's just that Li Ren always delivers the message. Why are you here today?"
Li Wu smiled and said: "Mr. Yan, you don't have to lie to me. You have always been in contact with Zhao Li. The first two times..."
Seeing that what Li Wu said was true, Yan Ermei lowered her guard and apologized to Li Wu: "Don't blame Li Baihu. It's just because Zhao Li told me before that there was a spy among the Jinyi Guards, so I had to contact him to avoid being cheated." A trap."
Li Wu was worried that Yan Ermei was still suspicious, so he explained: "Zhao Li was originally going to come this time. Because he was injured during the encirclement and suppression of Zuo Xianmei, I saw that he had difficulty moving, so I made a trip for him."
Yan Ermei remembered that when Li Chengdong told about the encirclement and suppression, he also mentioned that another group of people was chasing Zuo Xianmei. Now it seemed that it was Zhao Li and the others who did it.
Thinking of this, his doubts disappeared.
To avoid embarrassment, he asked about Zhao Li's situation.
After Li Wu briefly talked about Zhao Li, he tried again: "Mr. Yan, I see that the security outside your house is very tight, but Li Chengdong is already suspicious of you?"
"Before I came, His Majesty gave you repeated instructions to ensure your safety. How about I take you out of here first?"
Yan Ermei shook her head and said: "Li Chengdong was very polite to me because of Mrs. Zhao's matter. The reason why there are so many guards in the mansion is to protect Mrs. Zhao."
"Mrs. Zhao?"
Li Wu was a little surprised when he heard this.
Yan Ermei nodded and said: "Speaking of this Mrs. Zhao, she can be regarded as a fierce woman..."
It turned out that Mrs. Zhao was a concubine of Xie Sheng. When Li Chengdong killed Xie Sheng that day, Ms. Zhao first tried her best to protect her, and then angrily denounced Li Chengdong's unjust act and prepared to die in retribution.
When Li Chengdong saw Zhao, he was immediately attracted by his courage and appearance, and immediately stopped her, saying that everything before was a misunderstanding, and heavily blamed the person who killed Xie Sheng.
Unexpectedly, Zhao was also a fierce woman. She was not satisfied with Li Chengdong's perfunctory behavior and demanded that Li Chengdong kill the perpetrator and at the same time vindicate Xie Sheng.
Although Li Chengdong loved Zhao very much, he could not ruin his plan because of her. He lied that the matter was complicated and needed long-term planning, and took the opportunity to bring Zhao to Liaocheng.
At first, Zhao was concerned about Xie Sheng's reputation, so she resigned herself to compromise. Unexpectedly, after arriving in Liaocheng, she discovered that Li Chengdong was not sincere and began to seek death again.
Strangely enough, Li Chengdong was originally a rough and murderous man. In the past, when he saw a woman he liked, he would snatch her away and have fun with her.
But he had a soft spot for Ms. Zhao and refused to let her suffer any injustice.
He was very distressed when he saw that Mrs. Zhao had been seeking death and survival.
Later, he heard from Zhao's maid that Zhao liked poetry and books. He thought that Yan Ermei was quite talented and learned, so he asked Yan Ermei to persuade her.
Yan Ermei was originally dissatisfied with Li Chengdong's execution of Xie Sheng. Now when she heard that he was asked to do such a dishonorable thing, she was immediately furious.
He wanted to scold Li Chengdong and then die.
However, thinking that Shi Kefa had entrusted Liaocheng to him before leaving, and that the incident in Dezhou was also caused by him, he suppressed his anger and prepared to deal with it.
He never expected that when he met Ms. Zhao, he would find that she was not only well-spoken, but also very loyal, and he felt a certain admiration for her.
Then he thought that Li Chengdong valued Zhao so much. If he could persuade him properly, he might be able to temporarily appease Li Chengdong and buy time for the court.
So he pretended to be furious and reprimanded Zhao for being unkind and unjust. After attracting the other party's attention, he took advantage of Zhao's loyalty and persuaded her to remain useful and wait for an opportunity to take revenge.
Although Zhao was a little moved, she still refused on the grounds that "a virtuous woman never has a second husband."
When Yan Ermei saw this, she immediately knelt down to beg for help. She also tried to persuade her with big and small details, and told Zhao about the situation in the world, asking her to focus on the overall situation.
After hearing what Yan Ermei said, Zhao hesitated for a long time and finally agreed.
Later, under the guidance of Yan Ermei, Zhao first set up Li Chengdong with a high hat of loyalty, and then entangled him with tenderness.
Li Chengdong was already afraid of Zhu Yuanzhang, and because he couldn't let go of the Zhao family, and at the same time wanted to maintain his loyal image in front of the Zhao family, he no longer fulfilled his agreement with Zuo Xianmei.
Seeing that Li Chengdong had not moved yet, Zuo Xianmei sent people to urge her many times, which made Li Chengdong very dissatisfied.
Seeing that the time was right, Yan Ermei asked her confidants to pretend to assassinate Zhao and put the blame on Zuo Xianmei.
Li Chengdong was furious when he saw that Zhao was injured.
Immediately, on the pretext of discussing actions, troops were sent to sneak attack Zuo Xianmei.
Some people died, but not completely...
