Qi Ning had long known that Long Tai would definitely ask about this matter, and had already thought about how to respond. He said with a respectful look: "Your Majesty, actually I want to inform you about this matter."
"Come on, tell me." Longtai was obviously very interested in this: "I have fought with you, and your martial arts is not better than mine. How long has it been just now, and you have learned such a powerful swordsmanship? I looked at Master Bixiang. Not much different.”
Qi Ning smiled and said, "The emperor may not believe it. A few days in the middle of the night, a mysterious man came to my house and taught me these sword skills."
"Is there such a strange thing?" Long Tai was startled and asked curiously: "Who is that mysterious person?"
Qining shook his head and said: "I really don't know. I asked him, but he didn't tell me. He is an old man."
"Old man...?" Long Tai thought thoughtfully, then smiled and said: "Those guards in your Jinyihou Mansion are not vegetarians. That person can run into your house quietly without being discovered. His martial arts are naturally extremely high. , he taught you swordsmanship, and of course he has no ill intentions towards you. He should be an expert in our Chu country." He then asked, "Is he still coming these days? I would like to see what this expert looks like. "
"Your Majesty, he didn't even want to tell me his name. How dare he enter the palace to see the Emperor." Qi Ning said, "But after that man taught me swordsmanship, he never showed up again, and I don't know his whereabouts."
Long Tai nodded slightly, suddenly thought of something, and said: "I am so confused, I almost forgot about the business. I summoned you to the palace because I have something to ask you." He threw a note on the desk in front of Qi Ning and said: "You should read this guide first before talking about it."
Qi Ning picked it up with both hands, scanned it, frowned, and asked: "Your Majesty, is this a secret from Wei Shutong, the governor of Xichuan?"
"That's right." Long Tai said: "Wei Shutong's zhezi arrived a few days later than Li Hongxin's, but the meanings on the zhezi are not much different." After a pause, he handed over another zhezi from the shore, "This is Take a closer look at the folds Li Hongxin sent last time to see what the difference is between these two folds."
Qi Ning immediately read the two folds carefully, then raised his head and said, "Li Hongxin's fold reported that Heiyan Cave had killed Bai Tangling, the magistrate of Danba County, and several officials, but Wei Shutong's fold said that Several officials died in Heiyan Ridge. They seem to have the same meaning, but there is a big problem in the middle."
"That's right." Longtai said with a faint smile: "Wei Shutong only said that the officer died in Heiyan Ridge, but he did not say that he was killed by the people from Heiyan Cave. Moreover, Li Hongxin's booklet directly stated that Bai Tangling, the magistrate of Danba County, had also been killed. Kill, but Wei Shutong's book only said that the officer died in Heiyan Ridge, but it did not say that Bai Tangling was also among the dead."
Qi Ning frowned and said: "Your Majesty, Wei Shutong's report is a bit unclear. He is a border official appointed by the imperial court to Xichuan. Logically speaking, the report should be clearer than Li Hongxin's, but this After reading it, Daozhezi made people feel confused."
Longtai smiled lightly and said: "You haven't seen many excerpts, so naturally you don't understand the key points."
"Please give me your advice, Your Majesty!"
"You think Wei Shutong's statement is a bit vague. In fact, this is what Wei Shutong wanted to express to the court." Long Tai said: "What he said is not within the statement, but outside the statement."
Qi Ning understood immediately and said: "The emperor is saying that the content in this excerpt is not what Wei Shutong wants to tell the court. He just wants to use this excerpt to let the court see that there is another mystery in it?" He frowned. He said: "But why did he do this? He is the governor of Xichuan. If he has something to tell the court, why should he be vague and force the emperor to guess what he means?"
Long Tai also frowned and said: "I have seen this excerpt, and after thinking about it, there are only two possibilities. First, Wei Shutong was worried that this excerpt would be seen by others, so he did not dare to say what he wanted to say clearly. He can only speak vaguely to let me understand that he has something to hide. Another possibility is that Wei Shutong deliberately made his words unclear to leave a way out for himself."
"A way out?"
"Maybe there is something fishy about Xichuan. Wei Shutong was worried that the court would find out other things, so he took precautions and made plans to clear up the relationship first." Longtai sneered: "The reason why the late emperor sent him to Xichuan was to let him If you manage a party well and become the eyes and tongue of the imperial court in Xichuan, if this person protects himself wisely and is proactive in doing things, I think there is no need for him to stay in Xichuan."
"Your Majesty, forgive me for being stupid. Your Majesty said that Wei Shutong might be worried that others would see the contents of the book and did not dare to tell the truth. Then I have two things that I don't know. First, who is Wei Shutong worried about? Second, who is he? What could be the truth that I dare not tell?" Qining's expression became serious, "If even the dignified governor of Xichuan has concerns about the Black Cave incident and dare not speak clearly, then there must be something serious behind this incident. "
Longtai leaned forward and lowered his voice: "Things happening in Xichuan have been happening one after another recently. Don't you think it's very strange?"
"What the emperor said is absolutely true." Qi Ning also said softly.
Longtai thought for a moment and then said: "Last time I was in a hurry to save people, so I didn't have time to ask you more questions. Last time you were kidnapped by Zhu Qianyi and left. Ximen Wuhen sent people from the Shenhou Mansion to Xichuan. They have already started Investigating the Black Lotus Holy Cult, this time the Black Lotus Rebellion, King Huainan meant that the Black Lotus Cave was inseparable from the Black Lotus Holy Cult, so he used this excuse to dispatch troops and annihilate the Black Lotus Holy Cult as well. .”
"King Huainan seems to have always been very enthusiastic about annihilating the Black Lotus Holy Sect." Qining asked: "What does Zhongyi Marquis mean?"
"Sima Lan has always said that he needs conclusive evidence. Now that Jiuxi Poison King broke into the Shenhou Mansion, he has nothing to say. The Black Lotus Holy Sect intends to rebel, so the court will naturally not sit idly by." Long Tai said: "Lu Xiao The Ministry of War has begun to formulate a plan to encircle and suppress the Black Lotus Holy Sect's nest, but it is currently in the depths of winter, the terrain in Xichuan is dangerous, and the Black Lotus Holy Sect's nest is in the high mountains, so even if we want to attack, we have to wait until spring."
Qi Ning nodded slightly and said softly: "But Zhu Qianyi claimed that the epidemic in the capital had nothing to do with him."
"So the imperial court still gave them time." Longtai said: "Since the Black Lotus Holy Sect is a force in the world, I will also tell them about the rules of the world. People from the Shenhou Mansion will go to the Black Lotus Holy Sect and ask them to hand over the Swing Yi. , if Zhu Qianyi tied himself up and went to Beijing to plead guilty, and the Black Lotus Holy Sect could find and hand over the real culprit who spread the epidemic in the capital, the court might still be merciful to them, otherwise... Even if the epidemic had nothing to do with them, they would not Complying with the imperial court's orders is undoubtedly tantamount to rebellion."
Qi Ning said: "Your Majesty is wise. You can show your emperor's royal demeanor by being polite first and then fighting." After a pause, he said: "However, those people from the Black Lotus Holy Sect are unruly and may not cooperate with the court."
"Then you can't blame the imperial court." Longtai said: "Xichuan can't be in chaos at any time. If there is a trace of disturbance, it must be wiped out quickly." Then he smiled and said: "Yes, there are still about twenty days before New Year's Eve. , what are you going to offer me?"
Qi Ning opened his mouth, sweating on his forehead, and said: "Your Majesty, please forgive me for speaking frankly, it should be... it should be something given to me by the Emperor, right?"
"I have just ascended the throne. This is my first year since I ascended the throne. You don't want to be filial to me, but you still want me to reward you. You are so bold." Long Tai deliberately lowered his face and said: "That's all, I don't need you. Don't let me reward you with anything, we don't owe each other anything."
Qi Ning thought to himself that I have never seen such a stingy emperor. He chuckled and asked in a low voice: "Your Majesty, in fact, the minister's palace is really short of money recently. People who are celebrating the New Year have no confidence if they don't have money. Can your Majesty?" Can you borrow some money first?" I thought to myself, you still owe me five hundred taels of fucking gold, and you probably have no hope in this life.
"Oh?" Long Tai rolled his eyes and said softly: "Don't pretend that I don't know. I'm asking you what happened when you asked for five thousand taels of silver from the Dou family?"
Qi Ning knew that Longtai would know about this sooner or later, and said with a smile: "Dou Lianzhong took advantage of him cleverly, I just took some money from him for fun."
"You are quite courageous." Long Tai said: "In my name, you also said that you need to collect money to prepare for the sacrifice to heaven. Tell me honestly, how much money did you collect in total?"
"Your Majesty, we really don't have much silver." Qi Ning said with a bitter face: "There is not even ten thousand taels of silver in total."
"Okay, ten thousand taels of silver is not enough for you." Longtai laughed and scolded: "I can't even get so much silver in my hands. I can tell you that the first two generations of Jinyihou were honest and dedicated to the public. Don't smash it. The Jinyi Hou Mansion is clean and honest. These silvers should be regarded as my rewards for you." After a pause, he sneered: "A small household secretary can easily earn tens of thousands of taels of silver. The Dou family is really a businessman. Prosperity.”
"Your Majesty, I heard that half of the business in the capital is related to the Dou family." The Qi and Dou families are incompatible with each other. Given this opportunity, Qi Ning certainly did not forget to give the Dou family eye drops, "That Dou Lianzhong is just Dou Kui. My son does not have any official status, but he spends a lot of money."
Longtai thought for a while and then said: "I understand." He added: "What you are doing now is to train the Black Scale Battalion for me. If anything happens, you should come and report to me."
"According to the order!" Qining said.
"By the way, where is that gold medal?" Longtai said: "The gold medal I gave you, you haven't returned it to me yet."
Qining thought that the little emperor still thought of this. Last time he went to Shenhou Mansion, Longtai gave him a gold medal to facilitate the interrogation of Anao. Qining took the gold medal and never exchanged it. At this time, Longtai said Come out, you can only hand over the gold medal.
After leaving the palace, Qining did not rush back to the palace, but went directly to the Yamen of the Ministry of War.
To rebuild the Black Scale Battalion, equipment, food and salary are naturally indispensable. Although the equipment, weapons and food and salary are all allocated from the Ministry of Household Affairs, the military usually negotiates directly with the Ministry of War to receive equipment, money and food from the Ministry of War, rather than directly asking the Ministry of Household Affairs.
The Blackscale Battalion has begun preparations, but Qining doesn't have a piece of equipment or a penny of food, so he naturally has to go to the Ministry of War to negotiate first.