The night was deep, and the clear moonlight shone on the snow in the courtyard, reflecting a shining silver light.
Shu Liang was dressed in plain clothes and stood in the corridor at the entrance of Kunning Palace, waiting.
Although he had already put on clean clothes, the fatigue and dust on his face could not be concealed.
He rode back all night, almost without stopping along the way.
Although he had practiced some rudimentary martial arts in the palace in his early years, Shu Liang was not a martial artist.
Continuous running around for several days left deep blood marks on his legs. Although he had been bandaged repeatedly with medicine, he still felt a dull pain.
However, after pinching the thing in his sleeve, Shu Liang felt that all the suffering he had suffered these days was worth it!
The door of the palace was pushed open through a small gap, and Shu Liang felt a burst of hot air hit his face. Then, a young chamberlain stepped out and said.
"Eunuch Shu, the emperor has summoned you. Come in with our family."
Shu Liang took a step forward, a polite smile appeared on his frozen face, and said.
"My father-in-law is happy with your hard work."
After so many years in the palace, Shu Liang has gone through ups and downs, and he has become even more proficient in dealing with people.
Although he is now in charge of Dongchang and can be regarded as a powerful figure among the eunuchs, he is more cautious.
As he spoke, he stretched out his hand to explore, and two gold talons fell into the former's hand.
Xing'an's hand sank, reflecting the light in the palace man's hand, he caught a glimpse of the golden light in his hand, and put it back into his sleeve, with a polite expression on his face.
"Eunuch Shu, you are so polite. Our family deserves this."
Shu Liang followed Xing'an and walked in. Hearing this, he also smiled.
"No one in the palace knows that you are worthy of your honor. Your Majesty and your Majesty are deeply in love with each other. Our family works for your Majesty, and Eunuch Xing works for your Majesty. There is no difference between us."
The words were affectionate, but Xing'an was also training in the palace these days. He was no longer the little eunuch who was so happy after hearing a few words of flattery that he couldn't find him.
The footsteps paused for a moment, Xing'an pointed out softly and said.
"When Eunuch Shu comes in, there's no need to exaggerate, just tell us what's going on."
Shu Liang had an idea and quickly figured out how to play it right.
After passing through a series of palace doors, we finally arrived at the main hall.
Lowering his head and walking quietly into the palace, Shu Liang saw the emperor leaning on the couch, his eyes slightly closed, and there was no emotion or anger on his calm face.
"My servant pays homage to the Emperor."
"Get up, why are you here so late?"
Shu Liang stood up carefully, remembering Xing'an's instructions just now, not daring to talk nonsense, he took out an envelope wrapped in oil paper from his sleeve and handed it over.
"Your Majesty, as you expected, there is indeed someone on the road who wants to assassinate Eunuch Jin."
"But he's not a killer, he's just a few of the escorting guards who are daring enough to steal everything."
After listening to Shu Liang's words, Zhu Qiyu opened his eyes, his calm face looked a little gloomy, he snorted and scolded.
"Jinyiwei?"
"How does Lu Zhong manage his subordinates? In such an important matter, someone can sneak into the escort team."
Jin Ying's assassination was something Zhu Qiyu had long expected.
In other words, he intentionally promoted this matter.
On top of Tingju, the ministers petitioned hard, and Shi Pu was jailed and sentenced to death for several crimes. Although Jin Ying's crime was slightly lighter, he should be sent to Fengyang to guard the mausoleum.
Zhu Qiyu let him go and sent him to a Buddhist temple in the prosperous area of Jinling for retreat. He also graciously left his family property so that he could spend the rest of his life in peace.
As a result, Queen Mother Sun would definitely feel uneasy.
For the sake of safety, killing people and silencing them is a matter of course.
After leaving the capital, Jin Ying was no longer in the spotlight of the government and the public. The important ceremonial supervisor Da Yun was just an ordinary old eunuch.
To put it bluntly, he is just a decent exiled prisoner.
His life and death, the elders in the court would not give him a second glance.
Zhu Qiyu did this just to see how much hidden power Queen Mother Sun still had hidden in her hands.
It has to be said that Mrs. Sun did not disappoint him.
Not only was he not disappointed, but he exceeded his expectations!
According to Zhu Qiyu's original idea, if Empress Dowager Sun wanted to kill people and silence her, the best way would be to find someone to assassinate her.
There were actually quite a few retainers in the homes of many distinguished relatives in the court.
During the restoration of Nangong in the previous life, Shi Heng's main force that invaded the palace city was about 3,000 people. They were basically the retainers raised by him, Cao Jixiang, and several relatives.
These powers cannot be seen in normal times.
After all, a noble house in the capital must have at least a hundred guards, and in addition, there will be three to four hundred servants.
When the court wants to investigate, they are just ordinary servants, but if it is a family with a long history of ancestors, it is not uncommon for servants to know martial arts.
He originally wanted to take this opportunity to find out which family member was closest to her and be willing to send his retainers to help the Queen Mother Sun.
But she never thought that Queen Mother Sun would directly touch her men in Jinyiwei.
Among the Jin Yiwei, there are people from the Empress Dowager Sun, not only the Empress Dowager Sun, but also relatives from various families.
Unlike Dongchang, Jinyiwei is a formal yamen, within the imperial system, and all the descendants of various families have titles.
In recent years, the various official positions of Jinyiwei have gradually been awarded as false titles to reward merit.
Among them, many are directly transformed from virtual to real.
Therefore, many of the Jinyi Guards had complicated origins and were officials of the imperial court. They could not be killed at will like the fans in Dongchang.
Therefore, Zhu Qiyu did not force Lu Zhong to make Jinyiwei a completely airtight existence like Dongchang.
But this time, he specifically asked Lu Zhongxuan's confidants to be responsible for escorting Jin Ying out of Beijing.
Under such circumstances, it was the Jin Yiwei people who actually took action themselves. It can only be said that Lu Zhong was derelict in his duty!
But this time was not the time to ask Lu Zhong to teach him a lesson. He raised his hand to open the envelope handed over by Shu Liang, and Zhu Qiyu continued to ask.
"Why did you move your hands, but you stopped me?"
A trace of pride appeared on Shu Liang's face, but he quickly calmed down and said.
"Go back to your Majesty and escort the team that escorted Eunuch Jin. Just two days after they left the capital, they broke into Eunuch Jin's house at night and wanted to commit murder."
"Fortunately, the servants and Dongchang's fans had already disguised themselves and secretly monitored the situation. It's a pity that those thieves saw that the situation was not good and committed suicide by taking poison."
"But don't worry, Your Majesty, Eunuch Jin is fine. I followed your Majesty's instructions and showed the secret edict to Eunuch Jin."
"After reading it, Eunuch Jin wrote a handwritten letter and ordered the servant to hand the handwritten letter into the hands of the emperor himself."
"My servant did not dare to delay, so I left half of my troops to guard Eunuch Jin and continue on his journey. I returned to Beijing overnight and presented the handwritten letter."
Zhu Qiyu nodded, his face looking better now.
In the hearts of the court officials, Jin Ying was of no use, but in Zhu Qiyu's heart, he still had value.
For example, he once contacted the foreign ministers for Empress Dowager Sun and handled things for her.
Empress Dowager Sun sent someone to assassinate him, which was a bad move.
In fact, if Jin Ying was unwilling to talk about these things, Zhu Qiyu would not be able to torture him severely. After all, he had made great contributions to the country.
But Empress Dowager Sun sent someone over, and even if Jin Ying was completely pushed to the opposite side, he had to rely on Zhu Qiyu's protection if he wanted to survive.
After reading the letter sent by Jin Ying carefully, Zhu Qiyu glanced at Shu Liang and asked.
"Has anyone else read this letter?"
Shu Liang immediately knelt down and said.
"I dare not return to the Emperor. This letter was written by Eunuch Jin himself and sealed with wax. I carried it with me all the way and did not dare to leave for a moment. As soon as I entered the capital, I immediately sent it to the Emperor without anyone else." Know the content.”
Zhu Qiyu waved his hand, his face still calm, and said.
"Don't be nervous, I have no intention of doubting you."
With that said, he ordered someone to hand the letter to Shu Liang.
"Since you worked so hard for it, just take a look!"
Shu Liang took the opened envelope. After thanking him, he looked at it intently. After only two glances, a cold sweat broke out on his head and he said angrily.
"This gang of thieves dare to collude in private and plot evil. They are so audacious."
In contrast, Zhu Qiyu was calm and spoke.
"I leave this matter to you. After the New Year, I want a clear truth. Do you understand?"
Shu Liang said with a confident look on his face.
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, I will catch these thieves one by one and hand them over to Your Majesty!"
