After coming out of Xianju Tower, Chunxiang's carriage went south along the South Street inside Chaoyang Gate. Due to the cold weather in the night, there were few pedestrians on the street, and the snow foam in the air became denser with the cold wind.
The eunuch Li Dong who was driving the carriage shrank his neck, but his eyes were extremely alert: "Eunuch Chun, are you going to Chongwenmen?"
In the car, Chunxiang hummed in a low voice and gently wiped the steel knife in his hand. This knife had never seen the sky or blood since returning from Taiyuan.
Tonight, hey...someone will come to feed the knife!
The wheels rustled on the snow, not a single human voice was heard outside the car window, and the cold wind was always whistling by. Chunxiang seemed extremely excited. Although his arm was not completely healed, with a knife in his hand, he seemed to have returned to the battlefield. , the time of fighting side by side with Chang Yu.
"Eunuch Spring"
At this moment, the carriage suddenly stopped, and Li Dong heard a low roar.
coming!
A sneer appeared on Chunxiang's face. He opened the curtain in front of the carriage and saw that Li Dong had a steel knife in his hand, and about ten meters away in front of the carriage, five masked men stood.
Looking around, I saw the carriage parked in front of Nan Xiao Street and Zongpu Alley. I couldn't help but feel furious. These people were so bold and lawless.
Zongpu Hutong is today’s general name for Dongxi Zongbu Hutong and Xi Zongbu Hutong. During the Qianlong period, it was changed to Headquarters Hutong, and during the Xuantong period, it was renamed Dongxi Zongbu Hutong and is still in use today.
Shi belongs to Mingshi Fang, what is Fang? Similar to today's street district committees, when Chengzu established Beijing as the capital in the Ming Dynasty, a total of 28 districts were divided into 28 districts. By the Jiaqing period, the capital was expanded to a total of 36 districts.
What is a shop? It is a divided unit in the local Baojia system of the Ming Dynasty. According to records in "Wanshu Miscellaneous Notes": "The area in the city is based on the square." There are plaques under the squares and shops under the plaques. "Every square in the city is divided into a number of shops according to the number of residences. Each shop has a shop head, Mrs. Fire, and unite them all with the general armor.” The general shop is the place where the general director is. The general store alley should be the general store of all nearby alleys.
To put it simply, this group of people took action in front of the village defense team. This is not audacious!
"What do you want?" Chunxiang jumped out of the car with a knife, looked around, and saw three masked men in black clothes two feet away behind the car.
"Send you back to the west!" The voice of the person in front of the car was cold.
Haha, Chunxiang laughed angrily: "You dare to commit murder even under the emperor's feet, you are really impatient with life." After saying this, he shook the steel knife in his hand, and murderous aura spread throughout his body.
Those who have been on the battlefield and killed people are different. He followed Chang Yu and killed thousands of people in and out. He saw Chunxiang with corpses piled up like a mountain, but he was not afraid at all when facing these seven or eight people.
But Li Dong was obviously nervous.
"Do it!" The big man in black couldn't help but shudder when he saw Chunxiang's momentum. Then he let out a low roar and rushed towards Chunxiang first.
"Well done!" Chunxiang shouted. As he spoke, he faced the masked man in black and slashed with his knife...
"Killing, killing!" Li Dong shouted at the top of his lungs while wielding a knife to fight. He was indeed scared, but this was also a tactic, because the killers were more afraid of his screams.
Screams resounded through the night sky, and there was already movement in the surrounding neighbourhoods. At this time, three people quickly ran out of the alley of the main store, carrying the guy in their hands, and joined the battle group without saying a word.
"Eunuch Chun atones for his sins, but he has come late for his humble duty." Later, the three of them whispered while fighting.
"It's not too late, it's just right, we'll kill them all," Chunxiang shouted, chopped down one person, and then rushed towards the other killer.
With eight against five, this gang of killers came with ferocity, but they did not take any advantage. Almost within a few seconds when Chunxiang's three helpers joined the battle, several people were chopped down, and then they ran away with a scream.
It's not that easy to escape. Chunxiang sneered, put his hand in his mouth and blew a sharp whistle.
Not long after, two guards in brocade uniforms hurriedly ran over: "Eunuch Chun, the brothers have blocked us, they can't escape!"
Chunxiang sneered and looked at the four corpses on the ground. One of them seemed to still be breathing, so he stepped on his chest and stretched out his hand to pull off the face towel: "We, Hou'er, have been waiting for a long time."
You said that Chunxiang had nothing to do, and he just ran to Xianju Tower to talk nonsense with Fang Ba in the cold wind at night? Or was he really depressed in the palace and came out to relax?
Of course not.
As soon as Chunxiang returned to Beijing, he was summoned by the prince to Duanben Palace (Prince East Palace) for a secret discussion after entering the palace.
If we talk about who Chang Yu is closest to in the palace, apart from Chunxiang, it is the prince. If we talk about who the prince is closest to in the palace, there is no one else, not even his father.
Therefore, as Chunxiang is Chang Yu's close partner, Zhu Cixiang naturally wants him to come to the palace to detail everything Chang Yu has done after leaving the palace, even though he has already arranged an eye liner to know Chang Yu's every move through secret reports.
Chunxiang did not disappoint Zhu Cixiang. From the time he left the capital, he met bandits on the road, to how Xuanda battled wits and courage with those local snakes, how to avoid assassination, how to capture and kill Jiang Yu, how to arrange the arrangements in Taiyuan, and how to sneak into the enemy camp to assassinate him. Li Laiheng, how he pretended to surrender, how he set up a trap, etc., listened to Zhu Cixiang with excitement and uneasiness. He kept pacing in the hall, his eyebrows were dancing, and he whispered from time to time: "Good job Chang Yu, good job Chang Yu It’s really, really enjoyable..."
In front of him, Chunxiang was like a master storyteller, and what he said was far more exciting than the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin that he had heard.
But when he calmed down, he had to remind Chunxiang that Chang Yu had offended too many people. There were countless people in the government and the public who wanted him dead, and even Chi Yu was affected. Even Chunxiang and other confidants were in the opponent's plan.
There are too many people who want to kill Chang Yu quickly. Chunxiang knows this, but he never thought that he would be lucky enough to be implicated.
Try not to leave the palace. This was Chunxiang's first response. He didn't believe that anyone in the palace would dare to attack him. His brother Chang Yu was the boss of Dongchang, and even the Jin Yiwei had to follow orders. All the twenty-four yamen of the Internal Affairs Bureau were They are flocking to each other like ducks, who dares not to have a good eye?
But when he left the palace and went to Jiangmi Lane to look for Song Siyang, he found that he was being followed. This made him extremely frightened when he thought about it. Jiangmi Lane is just outside the Daming Gate. It is only a stone's throw away from the palace. He was being targeted at such a short distance. , it can be seen that although the other party does not dare to make a move in the palace, he already has an informant and is just waiting for the right time.
After returning to the palace, Chunxiang immediately started to make arrangements. As the brother in charge of Dongchang, he could naturally mobilize the manpower of Dongchang and Jinyiwei.
He deliberately left the palace several times during the day and was followed every time. This made him sure that the prince's words were not groundless, and made him determined to break the pustule.
In just half a cup of tea, Jin Yiwei came to report that two of the four people who had escaped were killed and two were captured alive. They requested to be punished.
Chunxiang pondered for a while: "He was taken to the Dongchang Yamen and tortured all night."
Jinyiwei and Dongchang are the two sharp swords of the emperor. Unlike other pro-military yamen scattered throughout the capital, they are all close to the imperial city. Jinyiwei's North and South Town Fusi are at the main entrance of the imperial city, on the west side of the Thousand-step Corridor. , adjacent to the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion and the area where the Great Hall of the People is now.
The Yamen of Dongchang is located in the northeast corner of the imperial city, which is the Dongchang Hutong that now runs from Wangfujing to the Forbidden City. The name of the alley is also derived from the Yamen of Dongchang.
There was a reason why Chunxiang asked these people to be taken to Dongchang Yamen instead of Jinyiwei's Yamen.
Firstly, he believed that he was from Dongchang, and secondly, Dongchang Yamen had been almost forgotten over the years and it was time for a comeback.
The two killers were escorted to Dongchang Yamen by the Jin Yiwei, but Chunxiang did not follow him. He was still aware of his position. Although Chang Yu was the boss of Dongchang, he was nothing. There was no reason to point fingers and do things for Chang. Yu leaves people with something to talk about.
"Thank you, brothers." Chunxiang cupped his fists and thanked the three strong men who came to help.
"Eunuch Chun, it's our honor to serve Eunuch Chun." These three people were actually Guan Haishan, Jiang Feng and Yu Guoqiao. The few masters that Chang Yu had recruited from the Guards for a boxing match were actually found by Chunxiang. To protect yourself secretly.
Chunxiang smiled slightly, took out ten taels of silver from his arms and handed it to Guan Haishan: "Brothers, take this to drink."
Guan Haishan and others refused. They refused, life or death. The three of them were supported by Chang Yu, and they also made a lot of money in the palace during this period. Moreover, helping Chunxiang was helping Chang Yu, and they were also doing things for the prince and the emperor. How could they dare to accept them again? money.
"Drink money! Let's go have some drinks to warm up in this cold weather." Chunxiang followed Chang Yu for a while and learned a lot of things subtly. For example, no one should help you! Not to mention that people are working hard for you.
Seeing Chunxiang's dark face, Guan Haishan had no choice but to accept the money and thanked him repeatedly: "Mr. Chunxiang, where are you going later? I will escort you with my humble rank."
"No need." Chunxiang waved his hand: "You should go back early and let us have some fresh air at home."
"Resigning from humble position." After hearing this, Guan Haishan knew that he had other things to do and it was not convenient for them to follow him, so he left wisely.
After a few people left, Chunxiang got in the car, and Li Dong drove southward until he arrived at Chongwen Gate.
"What are you doing?" the guard guard shouted loudly by the brazier in the doorway.
Li Dong got out of the car, took out an object, and then whispered a few words. The gatekeeper immediately opened the city gate respectfully, and the carriage immediately left the inner city.
