With Qi Ning supporting him, Dou Kui became more confident and said decisively: "Unless there is an imperial edict from the emperor, no one has the right to inspect the carriage tonight."
Sima Changshen stared at Qining's eyes and said, "Qining, it seems you mean the same thing?"
"What Lord Dou means is exactly what I mean." Qining said: "I and Lord Dou are closely related in inspecting the Huainan Prince's Mansion. If people who have nothing to do with this matter come to check, should we still let everyone line up? waiting?"
Sima Changshen laughed and said: "Okay, in that case, I will go and ask for the order now."
"Is the Marquis of Loyalty and Righteousness too much?" Although Dou Kui had Qi Ning's support, he was a little anxious when he thought that the treasures in the carriage were not visible to anyone: "Your Majesty is getting married today. It is an auspicious time. At this time, I will go and ask your Majesty for the wedding." Aren’t you deliberately displeasing the emperor?"
"The emperor is getting married. Naturally, I will not disturb the emperor." Sima Changshen said with a sneer: "I will send someone to ask the Queen Mother for an order. Master Dou will not disobey it when the time comes, right?"
"Queen Mother?" Dou Kui's face changed slightly.
"The King of Huainan is a member of the royal family, and the many treasures he collected are not all rewards from the palace." Sima Changshen said proudly: "It goes without saying that the Queen Mother's status in the royal family, and it is related to the palace's treasures, the brocade clothes, etc. You can't just say that the Queen Mother can't intervene in this matter, right?"
Qi Ning sighed and said: "Since Lord Zhongyi insists on this, I won't say anything more. Just send someone to the palace to request the order. Lord Dou and I will wait here." He said to Dou Kui: " Mr. Dou, since Marquis Zhongyi has repeatedly claimed that you want to embezzle the treasures of the palace, to show your innocence, you will wait for the Queen Mother's order to come and let Marquis Zhongyi take a look."
Dou Kui felt guilty and saw Qining nodding slightly to him. He thought that since the young prince said this, maybe there would be a way to resolve it later. At this time, he had no other way to deal with it. He could only delay it for a while. .
"Come here, drive the carriage outside the palace gate and wait." Sima Changshen said in a deep voice: "Don't let anyone sneak away."
His words were very rude. Dou Kui snorted coldly with his sleeves. Seeing that the group of people were about to drive the carriage away, he immediately said: "Wait a minute, Lord Zhongyi, you want to ask for permission to check the carriage. I won't say anything, but again What does it mean to drive the carriage outside the palace gate? Today is a festive day, is it necessary to bring this matter to the palace? "
Sima Changshen put one hand behind his back and said: "The palace banquet is about to end. We have arrived outside the palace gate. It is time for the officials to leave the palace. Then we can see the truth in full view. You, Lord Dou, are very sharp-tongued, but I am not good at words." , Wouldn’t it be better to expose the facts in front of everyone, so that the right and wrong can be understood at once? Otherwise, Mr. Dou will say that there is no one to testify, and I have wronged you. "
Sima Chang carefully observed his words. Today, Dou Kui and Qi Ning repeatedly stopped him from checking the carriage, so he had already determined that the treasures must be in the carriage.
Dou Kui felt a slight chill in his heart, thinking that if he really arrived outside the palace gate and opened the box under the eyes of all the officials, there would be no room for maneuver at that time.
Once those treasures were revealed, he would be unable to evade the charge of embezzling the property of the palace. When hundreds of officials were present, Dou Kui knew that someone would immediately impeach him to the court. It would be light to dismiss him from office. Maybe someone would take advantage of the situation and have his house confiscated and beheaded. There may be some.
Qi Ning also changed his color slightly, frowned and said: "Zhongyihou, this matter doesn't need to be a big deal, right? The emperor and all the officials are in a good mood today. Isn't it bad if this matter disturbs everyone's mood?"
"State affairs are of paramount importance." Sima Changshen pressed forward step by step: "Marquis Jinyi, you are also an important minister of the imperial court. Don't you understand that compared to everyone's interest, the seizure of the palace is more important?"
"This...!" Qi Ning looked ugly, but Sima Changshen had already urged: "Come here, drive the carriage outside Zhengyang Gate."
Dou Kui looked at Qining, who frowned and looked sad.
Sima Changshen led two carriages to the Zhengyang Gate, the main entrance of the palace. Everyone walked on foot. Qining followed him for a while and suddenly said: "Zhongyi Hou, I drank a few too many drinks just now, and my health is not good. , I won’t go over to the palace gate…!”
When Dou Kui heard this, his body became weak. He thought that the young prince seemed to want to escape before the battle and put all the blame on himself. He looked at Qining, who was also looking at him, and the two looked at each other. Afterwards, Dou Kui's eyes showed a look of begging, but Sima Changshen immediately said: "Jin Yihou, you can't leave."
"Why?"
"You are the organizer of confiscating the palace. Now there are items transported from the palace in the carriage. How can you leave halfway?" Sima Changshen stared at Qining like a knife: "No matter whether this matter has anything to do with you or not. , when the time comes to check the carriage, you must be at the scene, otherwise it will not be justified."
Qining sighed, shook his head helplessly, and followed the team.
The Huainan Palace was naturally not too far from the palace. After walking for less than half an hour, they had already arrived outside the Zhengyang Gate. At this time, they happened to encounter a group of officials coming out of the palace gate in small groups. The officials saw Sima Chang Shen and others drove the carriage over, all looking surprised.
The carriage stopped at the side, so as not to block the way the officials went out. However, when the officials saw not only Sima Changshen, but also Dou Kui and Qining, they became more and more surprised as to why they were willing to leave.
There was a banquet in the palace, and people were drinking and drinking. When Qi Ning and the other three left, they left quietly. Many officials never noticed the three people leaving. At this time, they saw three important ministers who were at the night banquet suddenly appearing outside the palace gate. , and also drove two carriages over, which was strange to them all.
"Master Marquis, what's going on?" Chen Lanting, the minister of official affairs, took the lead and walked forward: "Who is in the carriage?"
The dignified Marquis Zhongyi and Marquis Jinyi were walking on foot. The people in the carriage were naturally very important. However, the Emperor and Sima Lan were both in the palace. Everyone really couldn't imagine who else in the world could allow these two hereditary Marquises to follow the carriage on foot. .
Sima Changshen glanced at Qining triumphantly and said, "There is no one in the car."
"No one?" There was an uproar everywhere, and it was even unclear what kind of medicine was sold in this gourd.
At this time, Wuxiang Hou Suzhen had also come out and came up to him with a confused look on his face: "There is no one in the carriage. Why are you driving an empty carriage here? Are you borrowing someone to leave?" As soon as the words came out, it felt a little impossible. .
When the ministers entered the palace, there were naturally many carriages and sedans to pick them up, but they all had special waiting places. No one had the guts to block their vehicles outside the palace gate, and the two carriages in front of them looked very impressive. Ordinarily, it was a carriage that only gentry and countrymen would ride in. Officials of some rank in the court would never look down on such a simple carriage.
"My lords, please wait here." Sima Changshen said: "I am entering the palace to ask for an order!" He told his men: "Watch carefully, don't let anyone escape." Without any nonsense, he went straight to the palace. Ask the Queen Mother for an order.
Su Zhen then approached Qi Ning and asked: "Jin Yihou, what happened? This... which song is this?"
Qi Ning smiled faintly and said, "I'm not hiding anything from you. Yesterday, the Huainan Prince's Mansion was confiscated, but not all of it was confiscated." He raised his hand and pointed at Dou Kui: "Master Dou worked tirelessly, and before the night banquet was over, he continued to go to the Prince's Mansion to collect the remaining items. Transported to the Ministry of Household Affairs, because it is the day of the Emperor's wedding, so I try to keep a low profile so as not to disturb everyone." He sighed and continued: "But when he got halfway, he was stopped by the leader of the Zhongyi Marquis. He insisted on checking the contents of the carriage, and even said that Mr. Dou was smuggling treasures from the palace."
There was a burst of excitement all around. Chen Lanting put his hands behind his back and sneered: "No wonder Marquis Zhongyi. Mr. Dou was transporting items from the palace in the middle of the night. Who knows what he was transporting? Jin Yihou said it was going to the Ministry of Household Affairs, but who knew? Can we guarantee that it is true or false? Maybe Zhongyi Hou didn’t stop it, and it was transported to other places without anyone noticing.”
"Shut up!" Dou Kui couldn't bear it anymore and shouted sternly: "Chen Lanting, what the hell are you talking about?"
Chen Lanting was stunned for a moment, but instead of getting angry, he smiled: "Master Dou, what are you so anxious about? You are also a scholar, don't you think it is insulting to be polite when people say dirty things outside the palace gate? I'm just telling the truth. If you don't like to hear it, don't listen. .”
The Ministry of Personnel is concurrently held by Sima Lan, but Sima Lan assists in the affairs of the government on weekdays. The Ministry of Personnel is actually always presided over by Chen Lanting, the Minister of Personnel, and his actual power is not much different from that of the Minister of Personnel.
But in terms of official position, Chen Lanting was still one level lower than Dou Kui, the Minister of Household Affairs. At this time, Dou Kui was mocked in public. Many officials knew in their hearts that Chen Lanting dared to be so presumptuous because of the power of the Sima family.
"Chen Lanting, have you read the book, do you know the difference between high and low?" Qi Ning felt disgusted when he saw Chen Lanting, a man who pretended to be powerful, and sneered: "A servant, you talk so presumptuously to Lord Dou, who gave you the courage? "
When Chen Lanting heard Qi Ning's voice, she felt guilty and said with a forced smile: "It's Xiaguan's fault, isn't it? Xiaguan... Xiaguan just said it was possible."
"Some things really follow the same pattern." Qi Ning smiled harshly: "The loyal Marquis just stopped Master Dou with the same excuse. He couldn't produce any evidence to prove that Master Dou was transporting treasures from the palace, but he made great speculations about Dou. The adults just want to line their own pockets, hehe...!"
At this time, the officials around also understood the reason. Someone had already asked: "Master Dou, what exactly is being transported in the carriage? There are twists and turns. If you open it, you will understand."
Dou Kui put his hands behind his back and said in a cold voice: "The imperial court has court laws, the household department has the regulations of the household department, and the things confiscated by the household department are registered in the household department. Can anyone interfere?"
Qi Ning raised his hand and said loudly: "My lords, it's useless to say anything now. The Zhongyi Marquis wants to check the carriage, saying that he wants to protect the court, and now he goes to ask the Queen Mother for an order, so we won't say anything more. As the saying goes , The pure will self-purify, and when Lord Zhongyi comes over with the decree and opens the carriage, everyone will see if Lord Dou really smuggled the treasure."
Su Zhen couldn't help but ask: "Jinyihou, is it something you and Master Dou transported out of the palace together?"
"That's not true." Qi Ning said with a smile: "I suddenly met him on the way. I trust Mr. Dou's character. In addition, I was indeed in charge of the seizure of the palace, so I came together to find out what happened."
When the surrounding ministers heard this, they immediately thought that you, the young marquis, are really big-hearted. No one can believe it, but they must believe in Dou Kui's character. If it is really found out later that the carriage is the treasure of the palace, the whole family will be dressed in rich clothes. Wouldn't it be that Dou Kui was also involved? The Sima family was worried that they couldn't find a handle on your Qi family. Now that you are here, it's no wonder that Sima Changshen would hold on to you.