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Qiu Yizi, who was in the restaurant, saw the scene inside Dongyang Gate clearly.
At first he thought it was the imperial court's regular announcement, but then he saw ambushes everywhere and his adoptive father was taken away alone, so he knew something was wrong and wanted to rush downstairs. But after walking up a few steps, he remembered that he had no soldiers around him and he was not an invincible general who could take the head of a general in a million-strong army. He also thought that even if he could rescue his adoptive father now, he would definitely not be able to leave the heavily guarded Luoyang City.
Thinking of this, Qiu Yizi went back upstairs and drank the bowl of cold tea in one gulp, trying to calm his mind: his adoptive father has now fallen into the hands of the enemy and has become a prey, and the one who wants to kill him is the current emperor, whose words are law - it can be said that things are now in a desperate situation, and if he takes even the slightest wrong step, his adoptive father will be doomed.
Qiu Yizhi was halfway through his plan when Zhao Chengxiao suddenly rushed up from downstairs and tried to lower his voice and said, "Your Highness, the prince... the prince... "
"I saw it all." Qiu Yizi replied, "Now we need to be cautious and calm, and never do anything reckless!" The last sentence was said not only to Zhao Chengxiao, but also to himself.
After saying that, Qiu Yizi's hands were almost trembling as she refilled her water bottle, and she was calculating rapidly in her mind:
Right now the Youyan army is deployed on the northern front or near Guangyang City, and cannot mobilize for a while. But even if they can immediately send troops to attack Luoyang, my adoptive father would probably be convicted of treason by then, and he might not even have to wait until the autumn to be executed, but would be immediately sent to the Meridian Gate to be tortured to death.
Or maybe the new emperor just wanted to dampen the arrogance of the two princes and uncles who were in charge of the army, but he might not really have the intention to kill them. If so, as long as the senior ministers with face in the court recommended it, the adoptive father might just have to hand over the military power and live in seclusion from then on, and the emperor might even let him go for the sake of his uncle.
Thinking of this, Qiu Yizi had made up his mind. He drank the lukewarm tea in front of him in one gulp and said to Zhao Chengxiao, "Let's go! Let's go see Prime Minister Yang. Such a big thing has happened, I don't believe he will still refuse to see us." After that, without waiting for Zhao Chengxiao's consent, he ran downstairs and rode his horse towards Yang's Mansion.
The two of them walked to the door of Yang Yuanzhi's mansion, which was a world of its own inside but looked very shabby outside, and knocked hard on the wooden door. Soon, the door was pushed open a crack, revealing half of the face of the doorman, Lao Zhang.
Qiu Yizi no longer had time to be polite with this Zhang's doorman. He kicked the door open and shouted, "I want to see your Prime Minister Yang!"
Old Zhang seemed not to understand and said, "This is the first time I meet you, sir. My old prime minister never meets strangers. Please forgive me."
Zhao Chengxiao, who was standing nearby, had lived with Lao Zhang for a while half a month ago. The two of them got along very well. Seeing Lao Zhang's disloyal look, he knew there must be something fishy going on. He asked, "Lao Zhang, why are you pretending to be so ignorant? This is the adopted son of King Youyan. How can you not recognize him after just a few days?"
Zhang's tone softened when his trick was exposed: "So Brother Zhao is here too. My master left early this morning, saying he was going to see the emperor. He doesn't know when he will be back, so he told me to close the door and not see any guests today."
"Really? Are you telling the truth?" Qiu Yizi asked.
"Sir, are you still suspicious of me? I have been serving the master here since I could walk. I would not make up a single word of what the master said. The master really went out to attend court early in the morning!" Old Zhang had a sincere expression on his face.
Qiu Yizi saw that he was very sincere, and sighed, "Okay, since you said so, I won't embarrass you. When your master comes, tell him that I have been here and I need your help for some urgent matters. I will come to visit you again tomorrow. You can go back!"
After hearing the last sentence, Lao Zhang said "Oh" as if relieved, and without saying anything else, he turned around and closed the door again.
Zhao Chengxiao saw this, his face full of confusion, and asked Qiu Yizi in a low voice: "Sir, we haven't seen each other for just a few days, why is Old Zhang acting like this?"
Qiu Yizi snorted and said, "Even if he had a hundred guts, he wouldn't dare to treat me like this. He was just following his master's orders." After that, he took a long breath and said, "Okay, let's not talk about him. Maybe the old prime minister met with the emperor just for the prince's business!"
Zhao Chengxiao nodded and said, "Sir, what you said makes sense..."
Qiu Yizi knew in his heart that the attitude of Prime Minister Yang had become strange since he met the eldest prince Zheng Chang. He himself could not figure out what this veteran minister of three dynasties was planning - what he said just now was just to comfort himself.
Seeing Zhao Chengxiao's half-understanding expression, Qiu Yizhi suddenly remembered that there was another person in the capital who was more powerful than Yang Yuanzhi. Although he had no friendship with this person, he was famous for being indifferent to fame and fortune. If he could ask him to say something, the emperor might not reject his face. So he said to Zhao Chengxiao: "Let's go! Let's go see Prince Heluo!"
This Heluo King Zheng Hua is the younger brother of the late Emperor Zheng Yong and Youyan King Zheng Rong, and the elder brother of Lingnan King Zheng Gui. When he was a prince, he devoted himself to studying and withdrew from the throne dispute early, so he is quite famous in the court and the country. He is the elder of the current emperor and has a great influence in the literati. If he is willing to come forward to recommend, it will undoubtedly add an extremely valuable and heavy weight to the scale of Youyan King's life and death.
Thinking of this, Qiu Yizi no longer cared about anything else and just wanted to see King Heluo as soon as possible, so he mounted his horse and headed for King Heluo's palace.
But the Heluo Palace is a huge place in Luoyang City. In terms of scale and structure, it is larger than the residence of the current emperor Zheng Yao and the residence of the eldest son Zheng Chang. Therefore, Qiu Yizi only asked passers-by and arrived at the gate of the Heluo Palace.
It was already past noon, and Qiu Yizi and Zhao Chengxiao were both starving, but with an important mission on their shoulders, they had to endure the hunger and knocked on the door of the Heluo Palace.
When the gatekeeper of the palace heard someone knocking on the door, he just pushed the side door slightly open and asked, "Who is knocking on the door?" His tone was very arrogant.
Qiu Yizi didn't want to argue with him any more, so he took out the name card of Youyan Prince Zheng Rong from his bosom and handed it to him, saying, "I am here to see Prince Heluo as ordered." He also handed him a silver ingot, "The matter is very urgent right now, please go in and report it."
The gatekeeper was not as unyielding as Old Zhang from the Yang Mansion. After receiving the silver, his attitude improved a little: "Well, please wait a moment, sir." After saying that, he closed the door and went into the mansion.
Qiu Yizi waited in the autumn wind for only a cup of tea before the side door of the palace opened again. The original gatekeeper handed the King of Youyan's business card back to Qiu Yizi and said, "The person you are looking for is not here. There is a small courtyard on the right when you go out. You can go and ask." After that, he slammed the wooden door shut again.
Zhao Chengxiao saw this and looked puzzled. He asked, "Your Highness, this is the Heluo Palace. If the Heluo Prince we are looking for is not here, where else could he be?"
Qiu Yizhi carefully put the name card made of precious black jade back into his arms and sighed, "This is the way of Prince Heluo to keep a low profile. No wonder he can live freely in the capital Luoyang for decades! Well, it's useless for us to stand here, so let's go and try our luck."
The two followed the instructions of the palace gatekeeper, went out, turned right, walked around the wall and walked nearly a hundred steps. As expected, they saw a courtyard house located next to the Heluo Palace.
Qiu Yizi knocked on the door twice in half a day to ask to see the master. He had practiced this routine very well. He stretched out two fingers and knocked hard on the wooden door twice, letting the door make a "knock knock" sound before he stood aside.
This time the reaction from inside the door was extremely fast. As soon as the knock on the door fell, an answer came: "I'm coming, please wait!" In the blink of an eye, someone pushed the door open and came out.
Qiu Yizi saw that the person who opened the door was wearing a very simple and elegant light green silk robe, with a white gauze tied around his waist, holding a folding fan, with an unusually calm but unfathomable smile on his face. Knowing that this person must be an extraordinary person, Qiu Yizi did not dare to be negligent in the slightest, so she bowed deeply and said, "I am here to look for Prince Heluo. May I ask if the prince is here?"
The man raised his hand to help Qiu Yizhi up, and said with a smile: "I am Zheng Hua, and you are from my brother, right?"
Qiu Yizi was startled when he heard this, and quickly looked up at the man. He was nearly 40 years old, and his face was quite similar to his adoptive father Zheng Rong, but his eyebrows were less heroic and more elegant, and his eyes were as deep and steady as Zheng Rong's.
Since Qiu Yizhi left Guangyang to work, within two months he had already seen all kinds of people, including wealthy businessmen, tycoons, martial arts masters, eunuchs, bandits, and more. The knowledge he had gained from them was more than what he had learned in the five years he had studied in the palace. In addition, he was originally a very smart and insightful person, so his ability to treat people and observe their expressions had increased a lot.
Therefore, Qiu Yizhi only needed to meet the man in front of him to know that if this man was not a royal family, if he had not read the classics, he would definitely not have such a magnanimous and sophisticated person. So he bent his legs and knelt on the ground, bowed twice and said: "I am Qiu Yizhi, the humble servant, and I pay my respects to His Highness Prince Heluo!"
Seeing Qiu Yizi being so respectful, Heluo King Zheng Hua bent down and helped him up in a very casual manner, saying, "Young master, there is no need to be so polite. If you have anything to say, please come into the hall and talk." After that, he led Qiu Yizi into the courtyard, and said with a smile as they walked, "My brother occasionally writes to me. When talking about Young Master Qiu, they all say that you are smart but not calm enough, and they hope that I can give you some advice. However, from what I have seen today, I find that you are indeed smart, and you don't seem to be frivolous at all. Could it be that my brother is wrong?" After that, he laughed.
When Qiu Yizhi heard the King of Heluo commenting on his adoptive father, he immediately stood up and bowed, saying, "Every word my adoptive father said hits the nail on the head. It's true that I'm a little smart, but my calmness right now is just an act. I guess the prince has heard about my adoptive father's accident, and I'm extremely worried now, so I came to pay my respects to the prince for this matter."
"This is a major event in the capital, and I have heard about it. The so-called thunder and rain are all grace from heaven, but I don't know what benefit it will bring to you, young master, to see me?" Zheng Hua said as he walked slowly into the house. (To be continued)