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The next day, Li Chuanwen and Xiao Wenxuan arrived at Prince Fu's Mansion early and met with Prince Zhu Heyu again.
It is worth mentioning that Zheng Yicheng, the prefect of Luoyang, found an excuse to avoid today and did not meet Zhu Heyu with Li Chuanwen and Xiao Wenxuan.
Although Zheng Yicheng was indeed touched by Zhu Heyu's performance as Corporal Li Xian yesterday, considering the pros and cons of his future career, he still did not want to get too close to Zhu Heyu.
However, Zheng Yicheng is now half of Zhao Junchen. Seeing that Zhao Junchen seemed determined to assist Zhu Heyu, he naturally would not betray easily, so Zheng Yicheng sent Li Chuanwen and Xiao Wenxuan out of the Luoyang Prefecture Yamen At that time, he also deliberately asked the two of them to send a message to the crown prince Zhu Heyu for him, saying that he would keep tight-lipped and never reveal Zhu Heyu's plan to anyone. He stayed at the Luoyang magistrate's Yamen today just to help Zhu Heyu. After collecting information, if Zhu Heyu wanted to rely on the power of the Luoyang government in the future, he would never refuse.
All in all, although Zheng Yicheng is not a high-ranking person, he is definitely an old fox in the officialdom. At this time, no one can offend anyone. Everyone can see that he is playing both sides, but no one can find fault with him.
Li Chuanwen and Xiao Wenxuan were a little disdainful of Zheng Yicheng's bisexual behavior, but they didn't say much. After all, after Zheng Yicheng introduced them to the prince Zhu Heyu, they could interact with Zhu Heyu at will without Zheng Yicheng. meet each other, so Zheng Yicheng's role is not so important.
Just as Li Chuanwen and Xiao Wenxuan imagined, when they rushed to Prince Fu's Mansion to ask for an audience with Prince Zhu Heyu, although Zheng Yicheng was not with him, Zhu Heyu still received them immediately. And know.
When Zhu Heyu learned that Zheng Yicheng was still looking for reasons to withdraw from his plan, he couldn't help but feel disappointed, but he just sighed slightly, then quickly cheered up, and once again led Li Chuanwen and Xiao Wenxuan to his place in Fu In the study room of the palace.
After roughly sorting out the evidence yesterday, they will discuss together today to formulate a preliminary plan, and then use the evidence in their hands to launch another attack on the vassals.
However, after Li Chuanwen and Xiao Wenxuan entered the study, they found a shrewd middle-aged eunuch staying here, responsible for guarding the box of evidence left by Zhu Hezeng, the eldest son of King Fu.
In fact, when Zhu Heyu led Li Chuanwen and others here yesterday to sort out the evidence, they had already seen this middle-aged eunuch. This middle-aged eunuch was also responsible for staying here to guard the evidence. Obviously He is the confidant of Prince Zhu Heyu, otherwise Zhu Heyu would not have entrusted such an important task to this person.
Because too many things happened yesterday, Li Chuanwen didn't think much about it, let alone carefully observe the middle-aged eunuch. But at this time, after Li Chuanwen carefully observed this person for a few times, he immediately discovered something was wrong.
It turned out that this middle-aged eunuch was actually wearing the clothes of the eunuch of the feudal prince's palace, not the eunuch clothes of the prince's east palace.
In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the number of eunuchs reached hundreds of thousands. Not only were there eunuchs in the palace who were responsible for serving the emperor and his concubines, there were also eunuchs in the Prince's East Palace who were responsible for serving the prince and the prince's concubines. There were also eunuchs in the vassal palace who were responsible for serving the princes. With nobles and nobles, there are also a large number of eunuchs guarding various places to monitor the local areas, and their power is enough to compete with the local officials.
Eunuchs who were born in different places also wore slightly different eunuch attires, and one must pay close attention to discover the differences.
Because of this, Li Chuanwen didn't pay attention yesterday. He originally thought that this middle-aged eunuch was Zhu Heyu's eunuch and was born in the Prince's East Palace. But now he discovered that this middle-aged eunuch was actually from Prince Fu's Mansion!
Prince Zhu Heyu and the vassals headed by King Fu are now locked in an endless battle. For Prince Zhu Heyu, the biggest trump card in his hand is the evidence left by Zhu Hezeng. It can be said that it is extremely important and cannot be missed. Under such circumstances, Zhu Heyu actually asked a eunuch from Prince Fu's Palace to guard this batch of evidence? Li Chuanwen felt incredible for a moment.
"His Royal Highness, but I don't know who this minister of Prince Fu's Mansion is? I met him yesterday, but I still don't know the origin of his name. I don't know how to call him for a while."
After hesitating for a moment, Li Chuanwen still raised a vague question.
On the other side, Xiao Wenxuan also discovered something was wrong and immediately frowned, looking at the middle-aged eunuch with doubts in his eyes.
Prince Zhu Heyu also immediately noticed the thoughts of Li Chuanwen and Xiao Wenxuan, and immediately smiled with relief and explained: "This minister's name is Zhao Lei. He is indeed the eunuch in charge of Prince Fu's Mansion, but he is also a confidant of Prince Fu's eldest son Zhu Hezeng. He has always been loyal and prudent! After Zengdi secretly prepared these evidences, he handed them over to Zhao Lei for safekeeping. It was precisely because of his transfer yesterday that I was able to get hold of these evidences.
It is precisely because of this that I asked him to be responsible for guarding these evidences. After all, if he had second thoughts, it would be impossible for these evidences to be handed over to me. It can be said that... he is also one of the people I trust most at the moment. One! "
Speaking of the latter part, Zhu Heyu couldn't help but feel a hint of loneliness flashing across his expressions.
After hearing Zhu Heyu's explanation, Li Chuanwen finally felt at ease, but there was also a hint of pity in his eyes when he looked at Zhu Heyu.
Zhu Heyu is indeed a traitor and has no one to rely on. As the current crown prince, the most trusted person around him is actually just a eunuch who was born in Prince Fu's palace. Such a tragic situation is really sad and pitiful. sigh.
But in a way, this situation is also caused by Zhu Heyu. He has extremely high demands on himself and the people around him, but he has never considered whether ordinary people can withstand such harsh demands.
The supervisors of the inner court and the two factories and one guard should obviously be the force he relies on most. This force is also extremely powerful. However, he has always been naturally disgusted with the inner court's interference in politics. In the past, his attitude towards the inner court and factory guards was also extremely harsh, which made the inner court Both the factory guards and the factory guards were full of fear and hostility towards him. Even the eunuchs in the Prince's East Palace treated him with more fear than respect. In the end, they could only rely on those Qingliu who failed to achieve anything but failed. After abandoning him, Zhu Heyu looked around but suddenly found that he was alone.
Today, Zhu Heyu leads a group of factory guards to Luoyang City to investigate King Fu's crimes. However, he has completely offended the eunuch forces in the past. Now he can only be defensive and useful, not trusting, and is very worried about the factory guards. They would stab him in the back... If he had been a little more tolerant towards the eunuchs and factory guards, he wouldn't have no one around him now.
"Given the situation of His Highness the Prince, even if he makes a comeback and regains his position in the future, is it still possible for him to reconcile with the inner court forces?
I'm afraid it's extremely difficult. His Royal Highness's wariness against the inner court forces is based on instinct. The inner court forces' fear of His Highness is also deep-rooted. In the future, even if His Highness the Crown Prince matures further and chooses to take the initiative to make good friends with the inner court forces, the hearts of both parties will remain. It is difficult to completely untie the knot... Alas, the prince's mental maturity came too late. Once you make the wrong choice in some things at the beginning, it will be difficult to make up for it afterwards...
The inner court is an important part of the imperial power. If His Royal Highness and the inner court forces are always wary of each other, even if he successfully ascends to the throne in the future, without the full support of the inner court forces, it will be difficult to intimidate the ministers like His Majesty today. I'm afraid he will become a relatively weak emperor...
Well, I probably understand why Zhao Gechen chose to support His Highness the Crown Prince... That's it! "
Thinking of this, Li Chuanwen felt even more in awe of Zhao Junchen deep in his heart, but at the same time, he was also more optimistic about Zhao Junchen's future prospects.
It was precisely because of this change in mentality that Li Chuanwen quickly restrained his sympathy for Zhu Heyu, as well as the slightest hesitation in his heart, and determined to act firmly in accordance with Zhao Junchen's plan.
Just when Li Chuanwen's mood was changing, Zhu Heyu also introduced the identities of Li Chuanwen and Xiao Wenxuan to Zhao Lei, directly stating that they were Zhao Junchen's confidants, without any intention of hiding anything, and his tone was extremely gentle.
Obviously, Zhu Heyu's attitude towards Zhao Lei was completely different from other eunuchs.
On the other side, after learning that Li Chuanwen and Xiao Wenxuan were envoys sent by Zhao Junchen, Zhao Lei suddenly remembered Zhu Hezeng's original order and couldn't help but feel moved in his heart.
"The eldest son of the Wang Dynasty ordered me to hand over the evidence of the Seventh Prince Zhu Hejian's wolfish ambition to a certain important figure in the capital, either to the current His Majesty, to the First Assistant Zhou Shangjing, or to the elder Zhao Junchen... …I was still a little embarrassed at first, not knowing how I should contact these big shots, but now that I have met Zhao Junchen’s staff, I can take the opportunity to build a good relationship with them, and it will be easier to meet Zhao Junchen in the future... ...Although I may not hand over the evidence to Zhao Junchen, there is nothing wrong with being prepared in advance..."
Thinking of this, Zhao Lei also saluted and said hello to Li Chuanwen and Xiao Wenxuan in a cordial manner, and then proactively served tea and water for everyone, showing quite attentiveness.
Seeing Zhao Lei's knowledgeable performance, Zhu Heyu couldn't help but nodded with satisfaction.
Zhu Heyu's friendly attitude towards Zhao Lei was not only because Zhao Lei had just made a great contribution and handed over key evidence to Zhu Heyu. Zhu Heyu subconsciously projected his gratitude to Zhu Hezeng, the eldest son of Prince Fu, on Zhao Lei. It was also Because as Zhu Heyu gradually matured, he also discovered that he was unable to control the future hidden dangers of the inner court, so he wanted to reverse the disadvantage starting with Zhao Lei.
So far, Zhu Heyu is very satisfied with Zhao Lei's performance and believes that although Zhao Lei is a eunuch, he is loyal and reliable and is worth using.
However, for Zhu Heyu, the most important thing at the moment was to use the evidence in his hand to suppress the vassal power in one fell swoop, so he did not waste time this time and quickly started a discussion with Li Chuanwen and Xiao Wenxuan. Discuss the follow-up action plan together.
For the time being, Zhu Heyu still trusts Li Chuanwen and Xiao Wenxuan. This is not only because there is no one around Zhu Heyu now, but also because the performance of Li Chuanwen and Xiao Wenxuan yesterday really confused him and made Zhu Heyu They mistakenly thought that Li Chuanwen and Xiao Wenxuan had not received clear instructions from Zhao Junchen, and now they could only accept their own arrangements.
In fact, the performance of Li Chuanwen and Xiao Wenxuan today still did not disappoint Zhu Heyu, especially since Li Chuanwen is a Shaoxing master and the founder of the industry. He has extremely rich experience in litigation and case handling. For those at the bottom of the imperial court, The current situation is also very clear. The three of them only discussed it for half an hour. Zhu Heyu has already found the key breakthrough direction in the future with the advice of Li Chuanwen and Xiao Wenxuan.
However, Zhu Heyu didn't know that Li Chuanwen had now changed his position and received a new task. His main goal was no longer to assist Zhu Heyu to clean up the mess, but to secretly stumble Zhu Heyu. Let Zhu Heyu's plan fail, and Zhu Heyu will eventually have to suffer the consequences himself.
Li Chuanwen has been in the field of master for more than thirty years. He has assisted low-level officials such as county magistrates and chief ministers, and has assisted high-ranking officials such as governors and governors. He has witnessed countless changes in the officialdom. , has also personally participated in countless official attacks. After Lin Lao became Zhao Junchen's staff, he broadened his horizons... So, he is really a means of stumbling and sabotaging secretly!
How can a seemingly good plan be completely destroyed and people can’t find fault with it, only to have the planners and promoters of the plan reap the consequences?
The simplest and most effective way is to amplify the situation!
What? Do you want to fight against corruption and catch corrupt officials? Okay, then let everyone in the officialdom be investigated, and even if they just embezzle a few taels of money, they will be severely punished. In the end, all officials will be in danger and have no interest in official duties. In the end, it will naturally affect people's livelihood. People will also complain.
What? Do you want to promote Confucianism? Okay, then deliberately put this matter in the most important position, so that all officials will spend a lot of time and energy learning Confucianism, squeezing normal office hours, causing a large backlog of government affairs, and ultimately completely Disrupted the normal operation of the government!
What? Do you want to rectify the atmosphere in the literary world? Okay, great thing. Have you ever heard of Literary Prison? Do you understand that this kind of thing is far-fetched and forced to be understood? It is human nature to be picky! In the end, a large number of innocent literati were involved, causing chaos in the entire scholarly community, and then your reputation was completely ruined!
There are countless similar examples at home and abroad in ancient and modern times.
This method was so simple and effective that Li Chuanwen didn't hesitate at all and immediately had a specific plan in mind.
After deciding on the countermeasures, Li Chuanwen raised his head and glanced at Zhu Heyu, only to see that Zhu Heyu was still in high spirits at this time, obviously full of confidence and wanted to have a big fight.
"Your Highness, I'm sorry!"
Then, deep in Li Chuanwen's heart, the exact same emotion as last night arose again.
But this time, Li Chuanwen no longer hesitated.
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