Inside Yanzhou City.
Zheng Haizhu, who had already returned to the inn and changed clothes, went out with Wu Bondang through the back door, walked around an alley, and then called a car and rushed to General Jingguo's mansion.
Zhu Yipai was making bean cakes for his two beloved horses with Mr. Guo in the westerly sun.
When he looked up, he saw the housekeeper from the house coming quickly with Zheng Haizhu and Wu Bondang.
"Master, this Miss Zheng said she had something urgent to report, so the younger one brought them in directly."
Zhu Yipai looked at Zheng Haizhu in surprise: "What's the matter?"
Zheng Haizhu got straight to the point and said: "To be honest with you, Your Highness, I want to find mineral veins on this trip, so I first asked my man to go to Chai Tan Mountain to mine the front station. My man said that when he saw charcoal workers transporting charcoal before, they always used big bamboo baskets. It is easier to place them on the sides of the mule. But the charcoal worker we met today used sacks. Today is not a rainy day, why is it like this? It seems to be to cover the iron tools inside. If it is just some damaged shovels and the like Come and repair it, just expose it openly. What's more, today's charcoal worker is suspected of being a member of the Wenxiang Cult. Therefore, the common people guess that there are weapons inside."
When Zhu Yipai heard this, he was quite surprised and his eyebrows furrowed.
Zheng Haizhu continued: "We were afraid that the other party would be suspicious, so we did not follow the uncle and nephew all the way. We don't know whether they unloaded their weapons somewhere along the way. If not, it would be even worse. We would directly kill the iron guy. They are sent to the palace, what are you doing?"
Zhu Yipai's face turned stern, and he turned to ask the housekeeper: "Did you go to the Wang's Mansion to get all the charcoal from our house this month?"
"Home Lord, yes."
Zhu Yipai thought for a while and said to Zheng Haizhu, "Thank you, Miss Zheng and Shopkeeper Wu, come with me and have a look."
Wu Bangde reported: "Your Highness, can the common people just keep an eye on the area and not go in. And Miss Zheng, it's best to pretend to be a servant of your house."
Zhu Yipai nodded: "It makes sense. If they really have a bad reputation, there must be a concubine in Chai Tan Yard who might recognize you."
Mrs. Guo on the side quickly assigned her maid to take Zheng Haizhu to change into the indigo robe worn by the general's official attendant.
At this time, dusk was approaching and the darkness was getting thicker. Zheng Haizhu and two of Zhu Yipai's guards followed behind Zhu Yipai. To outsiders, he looked like an ordinary boy.
The Chaitan Courtyard of Prince Lu's Mansion is located in the Yangsheng Gate on the east side of the palace. Because it also sends charcoal to three princes' palaces and two General Jingguo's palaces in Yanzhou, its scale is larger than that of ordinary government offices. In front of a row of warehouses, There is a spacious yard.
Distribute charcoal to various prefectures in the morning and collect charcoal from charcoal households in the afternoon.
At this early hour, the servants ushered in the most relaxing moment of the day.
While waiting for the steamed buns and noodles to be delivered from the kitchen, a few young people relaxed in the courtyard playing Cuju.
Suddenly, with the sound of "General Jingguo has arrived," Zhu Yipai stepped into the courtyard angrily.
He kicked down the bamboo pole supporting the net and said angrily: "Kick your ass, you are a bunch of bastards who took my Zhu family's money and didn't work hard!"
Several servants immediately fell silent and knelt down, not daring to make a sound.
A little old man hurriedly ran out of a room on the left.
"Oh, oh, oh, your highness is here, how come..."
Zhu Yipai waved his sleeves and interrupted him: "Are you in charge?"
The little old man kowtowed repeatedly: "I have a humble surname of Cui. I have made great achievements in my previous life. I can help the princes and nobles make money."
Zhu Yipai said coldly: "Zhang Luo is so good. What kind of things are Zhang Luo here?"
There was a hint of confusion in Guanshi Cui's panicked look.
Zhu Yipai didn't say a second word to him. He turned to Zheng Haizhu who was pretending to be a follower behind him and said, "Come in with me and take a look."
Zheng Haizhu stooped and followed.
Thanks to the torches sent by Zhu Yi's guards, Zheng Haizhu saw that two of the young servants who had just been kneeling on the ground raised their heads.
When Zhu Yipai passed by them, he paused and asked, "Which woodshed is it?"
A young man stood up and said, "Your Highness, please lead the way."
Zhu Yipai nodded, and the young man ran around in confusion.
Go to the front.
After walking only a few steps, Zhu Yipai suddenly spoke again: "Who are the charcoal houses?"
The young man seemed stunned, then turned around quickly and said carefully: "Your Highness, the charcoal room is the big one at the west end. The charcoal room is dirtier than the firewood room, but don't dirty your highness's brocade boots."
Zhu Yipai waved his hand and pointed at Cui, the manager who was following Pei Diandian, and said, "Go and light the lamp in the charcoal room, then come out and wait in the courtyard with the others."
…
The charcoal room is not small. Upon entering the door, there are several rows of neatly stacked bamboo baskets filled with charcoal.
Zhu Yipai stood with his sleeves back under the oil lamp, his long shadow reflected on the sandy ground outside the door.
Zheng Haizhu walked around the bamboo basket lightly and walked deeper into the charcoal house.
When she passed the only window, she suddenly ducked to the window sill and looked out.
There is no one outside the window.
Zhu Yipai observed the details of Zheng Haizhu's behavior calmly.
He saw her scanning around, then walked directly to the sacks piled half high on the wall, stopped to observe for a moment, then carefully pushed the sacks on top, stretched out her feet, and looked back at Zhu Yipai.
Zhu Yipai immediately scolded him loudly: "You bastard, you don't even know how to cover it with an oilcloth!"
In his voice that sounded like a bell, Zheng Haizhu quickly stretched out his feet and kicked the bottoms of the sacks at the edge.
Not long after, the horrified Manager Cui outside the hospital, as well as the two young servants who were nervous, finally saw Zhu Yipai coming out.
"Which charcoal worker sent the sack inside?"
Manager Cui stepped forward in a panic, his voice trembling: "Go back, go back to your highness, this is the home of the villain's mother-in-law's brother."
"What's your last name?" Zhu Yipai's tone still showed no emotion.
"The surname is Zhao."
Zhu Yipai finally showed a trace of kindness on his face and threw a small object on the ground: "This is for your uncle's family. The work is done carefully. Look at the charcoal sent by other families, just hanging it out in a bamboo basket, ah ? What should I do if it rains on the road? There is a northwest wind now, and what should I do if rain comes in through the broken window in the middle of the night? The reason why the general is so angry today is because yesterday the charcoal in our house was extremely damp. It made the little county boss cough!"
Manager Cui bent down and picked up something on the ground, and it turned out to be a small gold leaf.
Mom, it feels so good to be here.
He kowtowed four or five times like a chicken pecking at rice, and said loudly: "Your Majesty, you reprimanded me, you reprimanded me rightly. The charcoal is in the mountains, and the villain can't take care of it. Once the charcoal enters this yard, the villain should take care of it with all his heart." Yes. I will definitely protect the charcoal of other families from now on."
Zhu Yipai snorted and took a deep breath.
It seemed like I had made a big fuss and finally felt comfortable.
As he walked out of the courtyard, he suddenly remembered something and asked, "Hey, is there a gate at the other end of Tan Yuan?"
Manager Cui replied: "Yes, there is a gate at the west end, and across the corridor is the second east gate of the palace wall."
Zhu Yipai said, "Take me along the way. I, the general, want to enter the palace."
Manager Cui was stunned and blurted out a presumptuous question: "At this hour?"
Zhu Yipai's face sank: "Why, you are such a fussy person, but you are taking care of me? Let me tell you, this general is the one who complained to Your Highness. The steward of the Timber Court, and a good-for-nothing member of the clan." The ceremonial guests colluded to embezzle wood and money in the name of repairing other businesses. Listen carefully, if any vassal clan comes to you in the future, pay attention to the charcoal fire and report it to this general first, and you will be rewarded heavily."
Yibin is the husband of a daughter from a clan such as a princess or a county lord.
Emperors and princes of the Song and Ming dynasties became the consorts of princesses or the guests of honour, which meant that they had no chance of having an official career.
Therefore, few men from large families who have high hopes for becoming a Jinshi are willing to be guests of honor.
Many of those who were pushed out to be ceremonial guests were good-looking but hopeless nephews. After getting married, they ate the soft food of their wives’ parents’ families and gradually became depressed. They even fell in love with money-burning antiques, calligraphy and paintings, etc. As time went by, Then he came up with all kinds of greedy ideas.
Cui Guanshi has actually encountered many people using various names
The guest of honor who was about to remove the charcoal couldn't bear to be disturbed. When he heard this, he hurriedly led everyone to respond.
Zhu Yipai and others walked to the west gate of Chai Tan Courtyard. The young man who had just claimed that the charcoal house was dirty brought a lantern from nowhere and followed diligently to supplement the blind spots illuminated by torches and remind Zhu as he walked. Yipai and Zheng Haizhu paid attention to the gravel under their feet.
When he arrived at the west gate, Zhu Yipai suddenly stopped, pointed to a wooden wheel placed against the wall, and asked, "What is this?"
Cui Guanshi said respectfully: "Your Highness, there will be some big guys in the lanterns at the Princess's birthday party tomorrow. In order to surprise the Princess, the leader of the lantern dance will bring the lantern dancers to gather in our charcoal demolition courtyard first. When the fireworks are at their peak, They walked through the corridor from this gate, then passed the east gate of the palace, and arrived in front of Cunxin Hall. The wheels that your highness saw were all made of colorful lights. I don't know how to actually make them."
Zhu Yipai didn't seem to be interested in this. Instead, he muttered with some displeasure: "Mysterious and extravagant skills are just to defraud our Zhu family's money."
…
In the middle of Xu Shizhong, in the Xiaonuang Pavilion behind the Chengyun Palace, the eighth generation of King Lu of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Shouhong, and his concubine Meng were listening solemnly to the young woman kneeling in the hall.
Zheng Haizhu recounted today's journey from Chaitan Mountain in the suburbs to the Chaitan Courtyard of the Wangfu, and then said in a calm tone: "Your Highness, the people in the charcoal house counted thirty sacks on the backs of eight mules, and one mule. The twenty small sacks on the car are all there. The peasants kick the sacks, and there is a clanking sound of copper and iron. The charcoal in the bamboo baskets that have been stacked in the charcoal room will be distributed to various prefectures early tomorrow morning, so the next morning It’s time to get rid of the charcoal in those sacks. If they are not disposed of tomorrow, the secret will be exposed tomorrow. Now the two inner doors are locked, so the common people speculate that the charcoal householder named Zhao is suspected of being a charcoal householder of the Wenxiang Sect, and he has taken great pains to Bring these iron guys into the royal city for tomorrow night."
Zhu Yipai stood next to Zheng Haizhu, looking at her condescendingly most of the time, with a serious look in his eyes like a noble looking at civilians.
But there were also moments when Zhu Yipai would quickly glance at King Lu who was sitting in the seat, trying to capture his uncle's reaction.
Zhu Yipai, the impetuous young highness in everyone's eyes, was actually just good at using the explosive smoke as a curtain to cover up his deep heart as deep as a pond.
But he believes that no matter how deep the pool is, as long as it is clear, he has a clear conscience.
Since he was fifteen or sixteen years old, he has been paying attention to, participating in, and even trying to make decisions on various affairs in the Lu Fan fiefdom with this intention in mind.
Of course his father, Prince Taixing, had reminded him that although King Lu, as his uncle, loved him dearly, King Lu's concubines might not, nor could other princes and uncles who had legitimate sons.
In the three hundred years since the Ming Dynasty, the Lu vassalage has been smooth sailing until now. It owns thousands of hectares of land, enjoys the benefits of the canal, enjoys the glory of the hometown of Confucius and Mencius, and looks to the northeast of Dengzhou and Liaohai. Except for the beloved son of the current Long Live Lord, who awkwardly joined the vassal In addition to King Fu of Luoyang, the title of King Lu was coveted by many people named Zhu.
No matter how sudden or urgent something happens, you must be careful not to let others take advantage of you.
Therefore, after they had just passed the second east gate and were waiting for Xiaohuo to take them into the Nuan Pavilion to meet King Lu, Zhu Yipai briefly checked with Zheng Haizhu on his judgment of the two people, and then told her: "After entering the house, you First, let me stop when it comes to judging whether the iron tool will be used tomorrow night. Whatever your Highness asks later, I will answer it."
At this moment, King Zhu Shouhong of Lu listened to Zheng Haizhu's words and looked at Princess Meng with suspicion.
Meng showed a look of surprise and said, "Isn't there a birthday banquet hosted by Your Highness for my concubine tomorrow night? According to the number of sacks mentioned by Miss Zheng just now, there must be forty or fifty pieces of fighting. These forty or fifty people, from now on Where did it come from, what should you do?"
Zhu Yipai weighed the reactions of King Lu and Princess Lu, and he was already aware of their ignorance in advance.
He followed Meng's words and said: "Yes, what needs to be detailed is who they are going to use and what they are going to do. Tonight, after my nephew verified what Miss Zheng said in the charcoal room, he was first worried about the two highnesses. Safety, after all, the Zaitan Courtyard is already in the royal city. Later, I saw that the guards at the two gates were as usual, and the soldiers were all familiar faces of the noble family, so I calmed down a little bit. My nephew then started thinking about the wheels he saw in the Chaitan Courtyard."
When Zhu Yipai said this, he turned slightly and looked at the two little flamers at the door.
King Zhu Shouhong of Lu uttered a slight "Huh", and the servants and maids standing beside him walked down the hall and walked out of the threshold with the two little flamers.
Zhu Yipai then took a few steps forward and told Zhu Shouhong and Concubine Meng his guess in a low voice.
Zhu Shouhong pondered for a while and looked at Concubine Meng: "What do you think?"
Concubine Meng only gave birth to a daughter after entering the palace. She was infected with the epidemic again and never became pregnant again. In addition, her natal family had many old Confucian scholars who wrote books and taught Confucian classics. Therefore, she had no intention of having an heir to succeed the next generation of King Lu. Obsession, like Zhu Shouhong, has loved Zhu Yipai's nephew for several years.
"Pai'er is right," Concubine Meng said. "The only thing on my mind is the safety of His Highness. Only when the truth comes out can the undercurrent of danger be eliminated. Therefore, we can't alert the snake tonight. We will wait for the snake to come out of its hole tomorrow night." "
Zhu Shouhong nodded: "I think so too. We need to show them to find out whether the Wenxiang Sect is doing something evil or whether it is related to other unruly traitors. Our sect did a smart job. While verifying the strangeness, we didn't Make them feel like they're being targeted."
Zhu Yipai's face did not show any joy at being praised, but he still frowned and said, "But tomorrow, if more guards with swords are sent inside and outside Cunxin Hall, the gangsters may become suspicious. If twenty people are placed as usual, wouldn't it be too much? not enough."
Zheng Haizhu, who was kneeling on the ground, suddenly raised his head and said, "The ordinary people dare to say that there will be a group of people tomorrow, who will definitely not be the gangster's accomplices. We can use their cover to install His Highness's personal guards."
