Although it was already late at night, the lights in Qianqing Palace were still brightly lit.
However, what is different from usual is that the Qianqing Palace is in a state of solemnity at this moment, and there are forbidden troops on duty inside and outside.
In the Nuan Pavilion, Zhu Qiyu was wearing a medium coat, leaning on the couch with his eyes slightly closed. Beside him, Queen Wang quietly held his hand and sat by the bed without saying a word.
Suddenly there was a noise outside, and a steady voice sounded.
"Your Majesty, we've been caught."
Then, the door of Nuan Pavilion was pushed open, and a figure came from far to near. It was Wynn who should be under guard in the harem at this moment.
At this moment, Wynn did not look like he had lost power as rumored outside. On the contrary, his expression was as usual, and it was obvious that he was still the king of the palace.
Hearing this, Zhu Qiyu opened his eyes, a coldness flashed across his face, and said.
"Has it been interrogated?"
So, Wynn took out a piece of paper with freshly dried ink from his sleeve, handed it over, and replied.
"Go back to your Majesty. After interrogation, this is a confession. Please read it to your Majesty..."
After receiving the confession, Zhu Qiyu frowned and read it. Unsurprisingly, the confession solved many of his doubts.
This time the underground palace collapsed, he was indeed very angry, but he was not so angry that he passed out. Speaking of which, it was only because of his two lives as a human being. If he had been in his previous life, he would have heard that his imperial mausoleum was destroyed. Damn, there is really no telling what will happen. In fact, it can be said that it is not just Zhu Qiyu, but anyone else. Faced with this situation, it is impossible not to get angry.
But what is different about Zhu Qiyu is that a hundred years of loneliness have long tempered his character to be extremely tough. When he learned the news, he was angry, but it didn't take long for him to regain his composure.
After regaining his sanity, he quickly realized something was wrong, because if Zhu Qizhen just wanted to get the internal prison sentence, there was no need to go through such trouble. Moreover, more importantly, Zhu Qiyu realized that he had walked into A misunderstanding occurred.
That is, he will use the information he already knows to speculate on Nangong's intentions. Under normal circumstances, there is no problem with this. However, in the case of the collapse of the underground palace, too much information actually hindered Zhu Qiyu's plan. judge.
To put it bluntly, he knew from the beginning that Nangong was responsible for the flooding of Shouling. Therefore, he kept his eyes on Chen Jing. And because Zhu Yi was an undercover agent, he knew Nangong’s purpose early. Positioned above the imperial prison.
But in fact, most of the information in his hands came from channels that Zhu Qizhen didn't know about. Therefore, when the other party was planning, they must have planned in advance how Zhu Qiyu, who didn't know the information, would react.
But when he had the information, he used his own reactions to infer Nangong's purpose. Naturally, he could not draw the correct conclusion.
After thinking about this, Zhu Qiyu suddenly became enlightened.
Although Shouling is an imperial mausoleum, the construction period is too long, so generally speaking, no one will pay special attention to it. Even Zhu Qiyu himself will only occasionally ask about the progress.
If he did not have Zhu Yi, an undercover agent, he would not have noticed the strange thing about the underground palace being flooded from the beginning. After all, there were constant heavy rains in the capital during that time, so it is not surprising that such a thing would happen. .
From this point of view, Zhu Qiyu immediately discovered that his initial direction was wrong. He always believed that Nangong's target was Chen Jing. He wanted to make a big deal about the flooding of the underground palace, and then pulled Chen Jing down to help Wu Yu. Wait for someone to take over.
But in fact, if this kind of thing is not deliberately exaggerated, it will not be specially investigated, and if special personnel are not sent to investigate, then Chen Jing will have time to make up for his mistakes without leaving any trace.
Therefore, after reacting, Zhu Qiyu immediately realized that since Nangong had not spread the news for a long time, it meant that their purpose was not in the palace at all. Letting Zhu Yi help Wu Yu and others move around in the palace was just an illusion. The real purpose of Qizhen is the imperial mausoleum itself.
You must know that every step of the construction of the imperial mausoleum has a strict process. From the selection of materials to the craftsmen, it must be approved by the Ministry of Works. Under such circumstances, it is impossible for Nangong to do anything with the strength, but , after something like the underground palace flooding happened, things were different.
Chen Jing knew the seriousness of the matter and would definitely try his best to make up for it. However, he did not dare to let others know the real secret of the underground palace, so he could only find craftsmen to repair it himself. Therefore, these craftsmen who were not registered with the Ministry of Industry You can enter the underground palace with the help of Chen Jing.
This method can be said to be very secretive. Unless you are staring at Chen Jing from the beginning, otherwise, it is impossible to detect the clues.
Therefore, the gunpowder was naturally brought into the underground palace by these craftsmen, and news of the collapse of the underground palace came.
Continuing the train of thought just now, under normal circumstances, when Zhu Qiyu heard the news, he would definitely be shocked and angry, and his first reaction would be to conduct a thorough investigation. Moreover, if such a big incident occurred, he would definitely send his most trusted people to investigate this candidate. , it will definitely be Shu Liang.
Therefore, this is Nangong’s purpose!
An internal official prison is nothing. Zhu Qizhen's biggest obstacle to rebellion is actually Dongchang and Jinyiwei. Among them, Dongchang is especially difficult to deal with. As Zhu Qiyu's most trusted eunuch, Shu Liang's loyalty There is no doubt that as long as he is here, unless Nangong can completely control the Beijing Camp, there will be no chance of winning.
Therefore, Shu Liang must be eradicated, but here lies the problem. Not only Zhu Qizhen knows about Shu Liang's loyalty, but Zhu Qiyu himself knows it too. Therefore, no matter what, he cannot really do anything to Shu Liang, let alone What's more, although Shu Liang has been replaced by outsiders as a 'mad dog', in fact, he is not completely unreasonable in his actions. It is not easy to catch him. Even if he can be caught, Zhu Qiyu will definitely try his best to protect him. he.
With Zhu Qiyu's current prestige in the court, if he is determined to protect someone, no matter how much trouble the ministers below him make, it is impossible for him to change his mind.
Therefore, it is almost impossible to kill Shu Liang. In this case, we can only find a way to transfer Shu Liang away. However, given Shu Liang's status, two conditions must be met for him to personally take action. One is that it is related to the royal family, and the other is that the impact of the matter is large enough. Obviously, the collapse of the Shouling Underground Palace fully meets these two conditions.
After understanding this, Zhu Qiyu resolutely decided to lay out the current strategy of taking advantage of the situation.
As things have developed now, Zhu Qiyu has to say that his brother is still somewhat smart. At least, after he deliberately divided Zhu Yi, Zhang Wei, and Chen Mao, Zhu Qiyu could no longer fully control what Nangong did in private. What preparation.
However, at least one thing he could be sure of was that Zhu Qizhen planned the collapse of the underground palace and was definitely aware that he was well prepared and planned to take action.
This conclusion is not difficult to come to, because there are not many opportunities to transfer Shu Liang out of the capital. Such a big incident happened this time, and the goal was barely achieved. Once you miss this time, you will have to find an opportunity again. It's very difficult.
And, more importantly, although the underground palace was bombed in secret, it does not mean that no clues can be found. Even if Zhu Qiyu does not have Zhu Yi as an undercover agent, just following the incident and carefully investigating it may not necessarily be enough. The truth of the matter cannot be found.
Once found, Zhu Qiyu would immediately be alert. This was Nangong's conspiracy. The purpose was to lure the tiger away from the mountain. In this way, it would be basically impossible for Nangong to repeat his old tricks.
Under this situation, if you want to find the right opportunity to take action, you can only wait for Zhu Qiyu to deliberately let go. But then again, Zhu Qizhen has made so many arrangements over the years, and the purpose is actually to break out of Zhu Qiyu's control. , and then achieve the final victory.
If it really comes to the point where Zhu Qiyu forces him to take action, then it can only mean that Zhu Qiyu is well prepared to deal with any unexpected situation, and Zhu Qizhen will definitely lose as long as he takes action.
Therefore, this is his only chance. As long as his goal is achieved, he will definitely take action without hesitation, and the current facts just prove his judgment.
However, there is still a crucial issue, and that is...Zhu Qiyu himself!
The significance of Shu Liang is that he is absolutely loyal to Zhu Qiyu, and he is crazy enough. Once he detects signs of rebellion in Nangong in the capital, he will immediately use all his power to counterattack, even if it is Without getting the will, this is what Zhu Qizhen fears most about him.
Therefore, it is necessary to transfer Shu Liang, but this does not mean that as long as Shu Liang is transferred, everything will be fine. Apart from this unstable factor, the emperor Zhu Qiyu still holds great power. There are forbidden troops in the palace, Jin Yiwei and Jingying outside the palace. , even if there are manpower deployed by Nangong in the Jinyi Guards, the power of the Forbidden Army and the Beijing Camp is enough to overwhelm everything. Therefore, in addition to mobilizing Shu Liang, Zhu Qizhen must also ensure that the palace cannot issue orders to mobilize the Forbidden Army and the Beijing Camp. Jingying.
If this point cannot be achieved, then raising troops will inevitably lead to death and no life. Zhu Qizhen knows this, and Zhu Qiyu knows it even better.
Therefore, after he understood the truth about the collapse of Nangong, the second conclusion he came to was that Zhu Qizhen must have other back-ups in the palace. However, Zhu Qiyu didn't know what this back-up was. However, No matter what this backhand is, there is only one goal in the end, which is to block the connection between the palace and the outside world, and even the harem and the Forbidden Army.
Therefore, for the sake of safety, he secretly transferred Wynn back to him, and the fact was exactly as he expected. After Shu Liang left the capital, Zhu Qizhen took action in the palace at the same time...
"Where was the person caught?"
After glancing at the confession, Zhu Qiyu asked Wynn next to him, so the latter immediately bowed and answered.
"Back to the Emperor, he was in the ceremonial department. According to Wu Yu's confession, he used the poison he had prepared in advance to confuse Eunuch Xing'an, and then stole his seal. He originally planned to use this seal to forge a warrant. , transferred all the other servants of the Qianqing Palace, and then took the cronies he had accepted over the years to seal off the Qianqing Palace."
"However, before he could leave the Ceremony Supervisor, he was captured by the servant and his men. When the servant arrested him, his wooden frame was beside Wu Yu. In addition, Wu Yu presented a The imperial edict brought by his wooden frame can be used as proof!"
After saying that, Wynn waved gently to the chamberlain next to him, and the latter immediately presented an edict. Zhu Qiyu glanced at it, with a trace of laughter and tears in his eyes, and he couldn't help but shook his head gently.
Sure enough, the so-called great simplicity is the ultimate principle.
He had always felt that if Nangong wanted to stop him from commanding the imperial army to suppress the rebellion, the best way would be to poison him, making him fall into a coma and unable to issue orders. Therefore, he had always been strict in this regard, but ignored other aspect.
Now it seems that Zhu Qizhen has obviously realized this a long time ago, so he found another way and chose to forcibly control Qianqing Palace.
Although it is said that, as the supreme emperor, Zhu Qiyu can mobilize all the armies in the world, regardless of the power of the imperial power, Zhu Qiyu is only one person.
Therefore, if you want to control Qianqing Palace, you only need to consider how to deal with the people around Zhu Qiyu who can be directly mobilized.
This is the thinking in Shu Liang's matter. If this continues, Nangong will not be able to fight against the Beijing camp and the imperial army, but it will be relatively simple to deal with the people around Zhu Qiyu.
And, in fact, he doesn't need to really knock these people down, he just needs to create a gap period.
Huaien was implicated by Chen Jing and was sent back to the harem. Next to Zhu Qiyu, he was replaced by a young boy named Xing'an. When he first arrived, both in terms of prestige and power, he was different from Wu Yu, an eunuch who had been in the Qianqing Palace for some years. In comparison, they are all insufficient.
Compared with directly attacking the emperor Zhu Qiyu, the success rate of attacking Xing'an is much higher. Shu Liang is not in the capital, Huai'en is detained in the harem, Xing'an is fascinated, and the most confidant eunuchs around Zhu Qiyu are temporarily restrained. This gave Wu Yu a chance.
Stealing Xing'an's seal, transferring other people on duty in Qianqing Palace, and replacing them with Wu Yu's own people can temporarily block the transmission of internal and external news.
Of course, this kind of barrier is destined to be temporary, and it has serious restrictions. One is that there should be no obvious confrontation or turmoil in the Qianqing Palace, otherwise it will attract the attention of the imperial guards outside. The other is that the intention cannot be revealed too early, otherwise , will also fail. Moreover, by doing this, Wu Yu actually took advantage of the fact that it was still late at night. There were not many palace people on duty in the Qianqing Palace at night. Once dawn, more palace people poured in, and he would not be able to control it. Live the situation.
Therefore, the only purpose he can achieve by doing this is to ensure that during this period of turmoil outside, Zhu Qiyu will not get news from the outside world. If he does not get the news, he will naturally not issue orders to the outside world. This is Zhu Qiyu's Of course, he could not be sure of Zhen's true intention. Whether Zhu Qiyu was seriously ill enough to be in a coma, but in his opinion, even if he was not, he was at least slightly ill and mentally weak.
Therefore, as long as he can temporarily block the news, move quickly enough, and create a good time difference, control the Fengtian Palace, hold the ministers in his hands, and then mobilize the Beijing camp, then even if Zhu Qiyu learns the news and mobilizes the imperial army to resist, it will be To no avail…
(End of chapter)
