There was silence in the imperial study room. Longtai didn't speak, and neither did several important ministers.
"The capital is now in chaos. You are all important ministers of the imperial court and pillars of the empire. Why don't you say anything?" The little emperor glanced at the ministers and said calmly.
Although he had just ascended the throne and was still young, he had a calm and steady air in his words and deeds.
Marquis Zhongyi is the auxiliary minister and the most important minister in the imperial court at the moment. Longtai said this. Marquis Zhongyi finally took two steps away from Qining, walked to the middle, bowed and said: "Your Majesty, this is not a big deal. Troops and horses have been mobilized, and the chaos in the capital will soon calm down. Your Majesty, don’t worry too much.”
Longtai frowned and said: "This is unprecedented, how can I not be worried?"
Ximen Shenhou finally stood up and reported: "Your Majesty, the root cause has been found. Now that we know the root cause, we have a way to deal with it. It is really my incompetence that I am worrying you, Your Majesty. Please punish me!"
"At this time, there is no need to talk about the crime." Longtai said: "Ximen Shenhou, I ask you, you said earlier that this incident is related to a Miao evil sect in Bashu. Can you confirm it?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty, the Shenhou Mansion found out that there is a poison in the corpse that is only produced in the yin and yang realm of Baishagang in the West Ridge of Bashu, and that is the territory of the Bai Miao people." Ximen Shenhou replied: "There is a poison among the Bai Miao people called The person who makes Swing Yi is called the Poison King of Jiuxi, and he is known as the best poison master in Bashu. Only he can prepare this kind of poison."
Longtai frowned: "Swing Yi?"
"Exactly." Ximen Shenhou said: "As far as I know, Zhuo Qianyi should be a member of the Black Lotus Holy Sect, and the Black Lotus Holy Sect is a cult founded by the Miao people."
Longtai asked: "So, the chaos in the capital is indeed caused by the Black Lotus Holy Sect?"
At this time, King Huainan had already sneered and said: "Your Majesty, I have heard of the name of the Black Lotus Holy Sect."
Longtai looked at King Huainan with a look of respect on his face and asked, "Uncle Huang also knows about the Black Lotus Sect?"
Qi Ning peeked over and saw Long Tai's face showed respect, his tone was soft, and he smiled secretly in his heart. He felt that this little emperor was also an actor.
King Huainan was obviously very satisfied with Longtai's attitude. He nodded and said: "I know a little bit. The Black Lotus Holy Sect is located in a remote place, so the court may have been neglectful." He glanced at Ximen Wuhen and said with a smile: "God I’m afraid the Marquis’s Divine Marquis Mansion doesn’t know everything about the Black Lotus Holy Sect.”
Ximen Wuhen cupped his hands and said, "That's what the prince said. The Black Lotus Holy Sect is located in a remote area and rarely travels to the Central Plains. It has always been active in the southwest of Bashu and keeps a low profile. The Shenhou Mansion does not know much about them. Too many. The duty of the Shenhou Mansion is to supervise and control the forces in the world. Whenever there is a violation of the court's laws and regulations or even a disturbance to the local peace, the Shenhou Mansion will do its best to deal with it. The Black Lotus Holy Sect has always been hidden. , the Shenhou Mansion did not spend much manpower and financial resources on them."
Longtai had already asked: "Uncle Emperor, how much do you know about the Black Lotus Sect?"
"Actually, it's not too much." King Huainan said: "Your Majesty, as far as I know, the Black Lotus Holy Sect has existed for more than twenty years and was founded by the Black Miao people. This Black Miao people...!" Leng He smiled coldly: "The Miao people are neglectful, vicious and cruel. The black Miao people are the strongest among the Miao people. Moreover, this group of people always wants to separate themselves and form a country of their own. But after all, our strength cannot compete with our great Chu Empire, so we don’t dare to openly raise the flag of rebellion.”
"Are they going to rebel?" Longtai frowned.
The King of Huainan smiled and said: "The barbarian people have never known the majesty of heaven. What they do is not like our race. It is not surprising that those unruly people have different aspirations." After a pause, he said: " As far as I know, this Black Lotus Holy Sect is a group of anti-people who want to stand on their own. There are hundreds of thousands of mountains in Bashu, and there are 72 caves of Miao people, and there are dozens of tribes with mature seedlings. , In fact, they have always been scheming with each other. The purpose of the Black Lotus Holy Sect is to gather all the Miao people under their banner, and when they become stronger, they will raise their troops to rebel."
"The Black Lotus Holy Sect is really whimsical." A gray-haired veteran of King Huainan sneered: "Even if all the Miao people were added up, there would only be only a few hundred thousand people. How could they have the strength to rebel?"
King Huainan smiled and said: "Master Lu, you can't say that. Those Miao people are very familiar with the environment of Bashu, and they are not a mob. If they really rebel, the court will not be afraid, but it will also be a big trouble." After a pause, he said: "When the old Marquis Jinyi sent troops to conquer Bashu, if it weren't for the help of the Miao people, it wouldn't have been so smooth." After saying this, he glanced at Qining with a smile.
Qi Ning also knew about the past events in which the old Marquis of Jinyi punished Shu. Therefore, the Qi family of Jinyi Marquis and the Li family of Shu king had a grudge.
He remained calm, but he already had a faint feeling in his heart that the Black Lotus Holy Sect might be in trouble this time.
At this moment, I heard a voice coming from outside: "The Marquis of Wuxiang and the Commander of the Tiger God Camp are asking for an audience!"
Then he saw Su Zhen hurried in, followed by Xue Lingfeng, the commander of the Tiger God Camp.
The two of them came forward to pay their respects. Longtai frowned slightly and said, "Get on your feet!"
Su Zhen stood up, cupped his hands and explained: "Reporting to Your Majesty, something happened in the mansion... After I received the order, I arrived late, so I asked Your Majesty to punish me!"
Qi Ning felt relieved and secretly thought that he would be summoned to the small court meeting today. After all, Su Zhen was also one of the four marquises, so it was impossible to ignore him, but it turned out that this guy was late.
Xue Lingfeng stood as straight as a javelin as always. Everyone present was an important official of the imperial court. Although he was the commander of the Tiger God Camp, he had the lowest status among the officials in the Imperial Study Room and could only stand at the bottom.
Su Zhen had sweat on his forehead and was out of breath. It seemed that he had come all the way quickly. After getting up, he looked around, hesitated, and finally reached Qining's head.
Qin Ning knew that although the status of the four hereditary princes were the same, they were still different. Zhongyi Hou ranked first among the four princes, Jinyi Hou ranked second, and Wuxiang Hou ranked last.
When he saw Su Zhen standing next to him, he knew that Jin Daohou had not come after all, otherwise the person standing next to him must be Jin Daohou.
He couldn't help but glance at Su Zhen, then frowned and his face changed slightly.
Su Zhen happened to look at him at this time, and when he saw Qin Ning frowning, he thought Qin Ning was disgusted with him, sneered and turned away.
But I heard the official surnamed Lu ask in a deep voice: "Xue Lingfeng, last night the Tiger God Battalion deployed troops to block the streets of the capital, but was it your order?"
Xue Lingfeng cupped her hands and said, "Reporting to your lord, I learned from my humble position that someone was taking to the streets to cause trouble, so I dispatched manpower to protect order in the capital."
Qi Ning thought to himself that this man surnamed Lu was going to show his knife and accuse Xue Lingfeng.
Xue Lingfeng claimed to be in a humble position in front of this person, but she didn't know who this person was.
"I have learned that last night was just a group of beggars wandering around on the street." Although Mr. Lu is old, his back is straight, and his eyes have not lost their sharpness due to old age. "A group of beggars are about to go to war." , is it too reckless to mobilize hundreds of soldiers from the Tiger God Battalion?"
Xue Lingfeng's angular face was calm and calm, and she said: "It's my humble duty and I don't dare to be negligent in the slightest."
"Without the emperor's order, you mobilized hundreds of people. This is in the capital. Didn't you think that it would cause a rebellion?" Mr. Lu said coldly: "When I heard the noise last night, I thought it was someone in the capital who was plotting a rebellion. .”
Xue Lingfeng's body trembled slightly, and she quickly said: "This is a dereliction of duty. Please punish me!"
"Your Majesty, no matter what, as the commander of the Tiger God Battalion guarding the capital, he mobilized troops without His Majesty's will and violated the national law. If the crime is not punished, I'm afraid people will not accept it." Mr. Lu immediately said to Longtai: "Please forgive me, Your Majesty. !”
Qi Ning frowned, his eyes showing coldness.
At this time, he admired Xue Lingfeng even more. Xue Lingfeng only mobilized a few hundred people last night, but today someone immediately launched an attack. If a large number of soldiers and horses were mobilized to blockade the capital last night, the result today would probably be More serious.
"Xue Lingfeng, is it your own idea to mobilize troops and horses to block the streets of the capital, or is there another hidden agenda?" Lord Lu lowered his head and another person said in a deep voice: "You have always been cautious. You have led the Tiger God Camp for many years, and you have not made any mistakes. What's the mistake? Why did you take over the power this time?"
Qi Ning sneered inwardly, knowing that the man was already targeting him.
Xue Lingfeng's expression was solemn, but his voice was very calm: "I don't dare to arbitrarily take power in my humble position. It is purely to ensure the safety of the capital." Turning to Longtai: "Your Majesty, I serve the country with loyalty and have no intention of arbitrarily taking power."
Before Long Tai spoke, he heard Qi Ning say calmly: "My lords, if Commander Xue hadn't made preparations earlier, the situation in Beijing might be even worse now. Countless people in the city are now threatened by the epidemic, and you are not planning how to solve it. In this crisis, you are here to hold Commander Xue accountable again and again. Don’t you know that things have priorities?”
Everyone immediately looked at him.
Mr. Lu looked ugly and said calmly: "Marquis Jinyi, the epidemic is indeed very important, but is the royal law of the court unimportant? Xue Lingfeng is the commander of the Tiger God Camp, and his position is of great importance, so he must be cautious. There is no imperial decree this time, and he can make adjustments without authorization. Isn't it an extremely serious crime to be a soldier?" He snorted coldly and said, "If the leading general can mobilize troops without authorization regardless of the court's laws, has Jin Yihou thought about the consequences?"
"I know what Master Lu means." Qi Ning said with a smile: "Master Lu wholeheartedly upholds the laws of the imperial court, which is admirable." He glanced at the man below him and said, "Someone asked Xue Lingfeng if he mobilized troops without authorization. Out of his original intention, I just said it, and he mobilized troops and horses. I rushed to his house with hundreds of thousands of troops. After repeatedly explaining the interests, Commander Xue reluctantly mobilized some troops in order to protect the capital." After a pause, he slowly said: "If you have any more questions, I will answer them all."