Lu Zuo followed Dai Heng to the backyard and saw no one around, so he took out the jade token from his arms. Dai Heng only glanced at the jade token and knew that Lu Zuo wanted to see King Ning, so he led Lu Zuo Zuo and Yin Ji walked around the corridor and came to the woodshed in the backyard, where three or four guys were chopping wood and chatting.
Seeing that the acting boss of the accounting room had arrived, the three or four waiters in the firewood room stood up and saluted with fists in their hands. Lu Zuo saw that these people had strong bones and quick hands and feet. He guessed that they were also informants of Prince Ning's Mansion, specially disguised as waiters to guard the firewood. room.
Sure enough, after Dai Heng signaled them with his eyes, those people went out and closed the woodshed door, then stood at the door and chatted as if nothing had happened. Dai Heng pushed the firewood leaning against the east wall to the ground, then leaned over and picked up a floor tile under his feet. There was a hidden compartment under the floor tile, and inside was an egg-shaped stone structure. Dai Heng twisted it with all his strength. Suddenly, the white wall slowly opened a door that was as tall as one person. Lu Zuohe and others spread their heads to look inside, only to find that there was a dark hole behind the door, and they couldn't see the movement inside at all.
Dai Heng blew his whistle and made a sign of invitation to Lu Zuo. Lu Zuohe was already following Dai Heng. As soon as he entered the secret passage, he felt a chill coming over him. The three of them slowly walked down the secret passage and walked zigzag for almost a quarter of an hour before reaching the end of the secret passage. There is a wall blocking the way, which is the exit. Dai Heng lightly knocked on the wall twice. Someone seemed to be talking outside, and then three sounds of tapping on the wall came from outside. It seemed that this was their secret signal. After Dai Heng heard three responses, he tapped three times on the wall with the same frequency. After a moment, there was a "hu la la" sound, and the wall opened, and there were two people dressed as servants. The two servants bowed to Dai Heng and asked boss Dai how he was.
Dai Heng led Lu Zuo and Yin Ji into the woodshed and asked his servants to close the wall door again. Dai Heng then lowered his voice to the servant and asked: "Where is the prince? Go and report quickly, people are coming!"
The thinner servant replied: "In the study, I will go and report to the housekeeper now! Acting boss, please wait here for a while!"
"Okay! Just say that Mr. Lu is here! Go and come back quickly!"
Shaoqing, several figures flashed outside the woodshed. After the door was opened, there was a burst of hearty laughter. It turned out that Ning Wang Liu Xun came to greet him personally.
When Liu Xun came in from the door, he hugged Lu Zuo with a fist and said with a smile on his face: "Mr. Tao, oh no! Mr. Lu, I have been waiting for a long time!"
Lu Zuo and Yin Ji also smiled and bowed to Prince Ning.
Liu Xun stepped forward and took Lu Zuo's right hand, while smiling and making a gesture of invitation, "It's not convenient here! Let's go to the inner hall to talk."
In the inner hall of Prince Ning's Mansion, after everyone was seated as guests and hosts, servants sealed the cups of tea. After a few words of greetings with Lu Zuo, Liu Xun began to ask, "How was your morning? I heard that the Holy Emperor left you with the royal meal." Already?"
Lu Zuo remained calm as usual, "Exactly, everything is as we expected!"
"That's good, now it's up to the emperor to announce who will be in command!" Liu Xun then asked again, "But I heard that you did not recommend Gao Jun to the emperor today? Why is that?"
"Of course it's to avoid suspicion! Lu just told the Holy One to use anyone he trusts, that's enough!"
"But it's just such a sentence, does it work? A person trusted by the Holy One? Marshal Zhou, too! What if..."
Lu Zuo smiled slightly, "Look, among the civil and military officials of the entire dynasty, whoever is promoted fastest will naturally be the person trusted by the emperor. As for Marshal Zhou..." Lu Zuo thought for a moment, then continued, "If the Holy Emperor really I trust him as usual and would not have let Xun Mou take command a few months ago."
A proud smile appeared on Prince Ning's face, "Now let's kill Xun Mou's vigor first and see how long he can run rampant."
Lu Zuo said disapprovingly: "It is difficult to make the emperor distrust Xun Mou based on this alone. We can only say that we take this opportunity to gain a foothold in the army. Xun Mou's power in the army cannot be underestimated. Moreover, …”
Liu Xun saw Lu Zuo's serious face and lowered his head without saying a word, so he also asked: "And what?"
"And Xun Mou is very likely to ask Marshal Zhou to come out! If Zhou Lao is really persuaded by Xun Mou and takes the initiative to ask for help from the emperor, our plan is also likely to fail, so it is too early to rejoice now .”
"That's absolutely true. If old guy Zhou Zhongwang relies on his old age, the emperor might really let him take command." Liu Xun thought, "Could it be that all our efforts today have been in vain?"
Lu Zuo smiled and said: "That's not true. We just gave the Holy One one more way to choose. Moreover, it was Mr. Zhou who went into battle at that time. I have ways to discredit his reputation!"
When Liu Xun saw Lu Zuo's remarks, he couldn't help but trembled in his heart. Did Marshal Zhou lose his reputation? Thinking of this, I felt a little unbearable in my heart. After all, the old marshal was an old minister of the Han Dynasty and had made many great contributions to the Han Dynasty. If it weren't for the fact that his apprentice Xun Mou was the prince's son, maybe I would still have great respect for him, but even so, I He never thought about discrediting Zhou Laoying, "Mr. Lu, we'd better think of a foolproof strategy to make the emperor choose Gao Yun!"
Lu Zuo seemed to understand Liu Xun's thoughts, "What's wrong, my lord? Are you worried about Marshal Zhou?"
Liu Xun smiled coquettishly, "Not entirely, but Mr. Zhou is a meritorious minister of our dynasty. He can just enjoy his old age at his current age."
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, I will naturally have my own solution."
It was already lamp-lighting time, and the lights were already hanging high on the street. Xun Mou came to the Zhou Mansion on horseback alone. When the disciples of the Zhou Mansion saw that it was General Xun, they all came forward to greet him. Xun Mou explained his purpose, and a servant flew back to the mansion to report.
Shao Qing, an old man dressed as a housekeeper in the Zhou Mansion, walked out of the inner courtyard, smiled kindly at Xun Mou, and saluted Xun Mou from a distance.
Xun Mou strode forward, saluted, and greeted with a smile: "Why bother the old housekeeper with such a trivial matter?"
"General Xun, you're welcome. Master, he is waiting for you in the main room!"
Xun Mou came to the main room and stepped into the room. Although he had not come to visit the master for a long time, the furnishings in the main room were as usual, extremely simple. The master was sitting in the main hall at this time, holding a book in one hand and stroking his beard with the other, reading the book attentively. After seeing this, Xun Mou slowed down and tiptoed to the middle of the main room, waiting on the side without daring to say a word.
After a long time, Zhou Zhongwang put down the book in his hand, raised the tea cup beside the desk, took a sip of tea, and then said slowly: "Sit down!"
