Searching homes is a craft. Snitching is also a craft.
The snitches in the capital are divided into five sects and ten guilds.
After the high-ranking officials fell, their mansions remained empty. It’s not surprising that some snitches take the opportunity to visit the area to see if there are any bargains to be found.
Chang Feng didn't take it seriously. Cai Zhong's belongings are piled in the front yard. Ten brothers in uniforms were on guard duty at all times. Snitches are extremely hard to come by.
What's more, there are still two hundred soldiers from the Military and Horse Division guarding the outside of Cai Mansion?
At most, only a few pieces of debris piled up in the east courtyard were thrown away.
He strode to the front yard and asked Colonel Shi, who was in charge of the night watch: "Is there a snitch?"
Captain Shi replied: "Yes."
Chang Feng asked: "Did you lose something?"
Lieutenant Shi replied: "There are no shortage of boxes containing gold and silver. They are so heavy that even a thief can't take them away. It's just..."
Chang Feng asked: "Just what?"
Lieutenant Shi said with a sad face: "It's just that Cai Zhong's letter box is missing."
Chang Feng was horrified when he heard this, and grabbed Captain Shi's collar with both hands: "Tell me again, what's missing?"
Lieutenant Shi said tremblingly: "Report to the commander-in-chief, the letter box is missing."
Chang Feng let go of Captain Shi.
Shang Ming's letter to Chang Feng was a framed letter; Zhu Ji's letter to Chang Feng was a whitewash letter.
The letter box was stolen by a snitch. There are two consequences.
The first consequence: the frame-up was gone, and the so-called charge of "the prince instigating Cai Zhong to amass money with the intention of treason" was no longer established.
The second consequence: Chang Feng could not put the cleansing letter into the box, so he could not absolve the prince of the charge of improper employment.
The prince will still be criticized by the world and impeached by the imperial concubine party for using a corrupt official.
He calmed down his mind first and asked Lieutenant Shi: "Have you not reported this matter to Gao Qianshi who is on duty in Wei?"
The two commanders of the Jin Yiwei work together, and the two commanders share the same knowledge. They have to take turns to stay on duty at night in the Jin Yiwei to deal with emergencies.
Captain Shi replied: "I was about to send someone to report the news, but they haven't left yet."
Chang Feng breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good."
He called the ten officers together: "The prisoner's letter box has been stolen. Report to the guard, and we will all be dismissed from our posts and punished."
"There is only one way now. There are still four hours before dawn. Hire Wei Li and retrieve the letter box before dawn."
Captain Shi and others said in unison: "It all depends on General Chang Qi's orders."
Chang Feng ordered a warrior: "Go and tell the commander of the Military and Horse Division. Nothing is missing here."
"Warn him, don't care or inquire about Jin Yiwei. Otherwise, you will be responsible for the consequences."
The strong man took the order and left.
Chang Feng raised his head and looked around the front yard.
The front yard is three hundred steps from east to west and two hundred steps from north to south.
Boxes containing gold and silver and letter boxes are concentrated in the center of the front yard.
Chang Feng asked Lieutenant Shi: "You fell into the snitch's trick to lure the tiger away from the mountain? Are you just going to catch the snitch, and no one is guarding the letter box?"
Captain Shi denied: "Absolutely not!"
Shi Xiaowei told Chang Feng what happened.
Before two quarters of an hour. There was a noise on the roof of the living room directly south of the front yard.
The moon is as bright as a mirror tonight. Under the darkness of night, Captain Shi and the others saw a dark figure on the roof.
Captain Shi ordered that all the royal guards and robes must not be touched without permission and the property should be surrounded. Just in case the black shadow has an accomplice and takes advantage of the chaos to steal the gold and silver.
In addition, Lieutenant Shi called the soldiers guarding the courtyard gate and asked them to go to the room to catch the snitch.
A strange scene happened!
Captain Shi heard a "bang" and turned around to see that the letter box on the silver box behind him disappeared out of thin air!
From the beginning to the end, Shi Xiaowei and the nine robes were always holding waist knives to protect the property.
The letter box was so strangely missing.
After a while, the black figure on the roof also ran away.
After listening to Captain Shi's story. Chang Feng frowned.
Could the Snitch really fly? Falling from the sky, getting the letter box and flying into the sky again?
Obviously impossible.
Chang Feng remembered a legend!
The snitches in the capital are divided into five sects and ten guilds. Among them, the most sophisticated and mysterious organization is called the Miaoshou Sect.
Legend has it that the six masters of the Miaoshou Sect have a magical skill - they can travel to the underworld, bribe imps, and retrieve objects from across the air!
Chang Feng doesn't believe there are any ghosts and gods in this world.
However, the legend that the Miaoshoumen can retrieve objects from the air has been circulating in the capital for more than ten years.
Since ancient times, there can be no waves without wind. If the Miaoshou Sect is really able to retrieve objects from afar, it must have some unknown special stealing method.
Chang Feng decided to go home first. Tell Zhu Ji what happened.
He said to Lieutenant Shi: "You guys stay here and I'll go find the letter box."
Then he left Cai Mansion, mounted a fast horse, and went straight to his courtyard.
It was already four o'clock in the morning. There are still four hours before dawn.
at the same time. Wantong Mansion.
Wantong is drinking with Shang Ming, celebrating in advance that the framed letter will be successfully passed through the cabinet and handed over to the emperor tomorrow, and he will overthrow the prince.
These two giants did not know about the theft of the letter box.
Wantong toasted Shang Ming with a glass of wine: "You are still smart. You came up with such a clever plan to help my sister defeat Zhu Youtang."
Shang Ming said with a smile: "Oh, everyone thought Cai Zhong was the prince's man. Who would have thought that Cai Zhong was sent to the prince's side by us?"
This is a vicious plan.
A year ago, Cai Zhong, who was the young minister of Taichang Temple, spent two thousand taels of silver to get someone to recommend him and got the opportunity to drink with Shang Ming.
Taichang Temple is in charge of rituals and music, and the rituals of the ancestral temple. In later parlance, this was a department that managed military bands.
Among the six temples and five temples in the capital, Taichang Temple is the poorest. It belongs to the kind of poor yamen where every mouse passes by with tears in his eyes.
Cai Zhong hoped to grab Shang Ming's thick legs and make a profit.
After three glasses of wine, Shang Ming came up with a vicious plan.
He told Cai Zhong: "I can help Brother Cai get promoted to the Ministry of Household Affairs and become the Left Minister."
Cai Zhong was so excited that he almost fainted on the spot! That's the Ministry of Finance! The fattest yamen in the entire Ming Dynasty!
Still be the Zuo Shilang!
The Shaoqing of Taichang Temple is only a fourth-rank official, and the Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Rites is a third-rank official. There is a third-rank junior minister in between, which is a leapfrog promotion.
Cai Zhong immediately kowtowed, expressing his willingness to swear allegiance to Eunuch Shang from now on.
Shang Ming told him with a smile: "The person you want to be loyal to is not me, but the prince!"
"The prince has suffered in the past two years because there are not many officials who obey his orders. If you go there, he will definitely accept you."
"When the time comes, you can persuade the prince and ask him to recommend you to be the left minister of the household department."
Zhu Ji was an internal agent sent by the prince's party to the imperial concubine's party.
Cai Zhongze is an internal agent sent by the imperial concubine party to the prince.
It's also an internal response, but the usage is different.
Zhu Ji conveyed news from the imperial concubine's party to the prince's party.
Cai Zhong is a barrel of gunpowder buried by the imperial concubine party next to the prince! In the words of later generations, it is similar to the self-destructing truck of "My name is Magnetic Rod"!
Let's say that Cai Zhong "took refuge" in the prince and became the left minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs as he wished. Everyone in the world thought that Cai Zhong was the prince's confidant.
Brother Cai is greedy by nature. Shang Ming has been encouraging him to be extremely greedy. He also taught him a bunch of bribery methods.
"Cai Butang, Baoquan Bureau has a lot of money for casting silver! If you just quote the fire consumption, it will be a shocking figure."
"Cai Butang, have you supervised the warehouse recently? Hey, it's a lot of money to mess around with rats and insects. There are so many grain stores in the warehouse, and it's not uncommon for one or two to catch fire occasionally. Well?"
"Cai Butang, you are in charge of the salt affairs. That is a cornucopia! Just open a few more salt quotations, and Jiangnan salt merchants are not allowed to line up to give you money?"
Shang Ming not only taught Cai Zhong how to bribe. Over the past year, the entire imperial concubine party has been protecting Cai Zhong's bribery.
Finally, Cai Zhong was fattened up!
The imperial concubine party immediately ignited the gunpowder! They found an official to impeach Cai Zhong for being greedy and amassing money.
Factory guards then intervened and imprisoned Cai Zhong in prison.
The imperial prison is the territory of the imperial concubine party. Less than three days after Cai Zhongguan entered the prison, he "committed suicide out of fear of crime" in a daze.
Next, the factory guards sent people to Cai Zhong's home to search the property. The money copied out was placed on top of an internal transport warehouse.
Plus that framed letter. The imperial concubine party weaved a perfect lie: the prince recommended Cai Zhong to be the left minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs so that Cai Zhong could raise military salary through bribery and plot to rebel!
This is Shang Ming's poisonous plan! A sinister plan to make the prince never recover.
