In the name of the prince, Yan Sikong asked the officials of the Ministry of Rites about the situation of winter hunting, and learned that it was Zhao Fuyi who was in charge of the safety of the mountain and sea hunting grounds, and that Zhu Lanting would bring another 500 imperial guards to protect the emperor and his relatives.
If he can win over General Zhao Fuyi and cooperate with the two thousand family troops brought back by Feng Jianping, Zhu Lanting's imperial guards will not be taken seriously, so the key to success is Zhao Fuyi.
Yan Sikong doesn't intend to tell Chen Yu about this for the time being. Chen Yu is young and weak, but it is just a chess game in the hands of adults. If it succeeds, he can take the throne even if he doesn't want to. If it doesn't work, there is no need to implicate him. Tiger Dubushizi, being crippled can at least save his life.
The thing to do now is to convince Feng Jianping, and secondly, let Feng Jianping convince Zhao Fuyi. Every step of this is like dancing on the tip of a knife, which is extremely dangerous.
Yan Sikong personally went to see She Zhun and asked him to prepare. Once he received the signal agreed by the two of them, She Zhun would be responsible for sending the person out of the city and returning him to the city.
When he returned home after a busy day, he saw a man who looked like a servant standing in the courtyard. He felt vaguely familiar, but he couldn't remember who it was.
Seeing him, the boy said respectfully, "My lord, you are back."
Yan Sikong glanced at Ali: "Who are you?"
"The young one is from your house, named Shitou."
"Oh, I seem to have seen it that day, what's the matter?"
"The butler ordered the younger one to come over and tell the young master that Eunuch Xie has brought you a generous gift for the young master's housewarming." Shi Shi took out the brochure wrapped in gold silk satin from his sleeve, and offered it with both hands, "This is the gift book, please have a look."
Yan Sikong's eyes widened, and he snatched the gift book. The unfolding was so unbelievable that he couldn't see it all even if he straightened his arms. The gold and silver treasures on it were dazzling. He scanned it roughly, but he didn't hear a lot of it Said. With chills running down his spine, he closed the booklet and said sharply, "Who told him to take it?!"
Stone was taken aback: "This... this little one doesn't know..."
"Whoever gave you the courage to accept gifts without my consent!" Yan Sikong felt that his scalp was about to explode.
Shi Shi hurriedly knelt down: "Sir, calm down, the younger one is just passing on the message, the younger... the younger one has heard that the young master also accepted all the congratulatory gifts in the past, so I just want to be the housekeeper... just..."
Yan Sikong kicked him to the ground: "You bastard!"
In the past, when he was promoted to head of affairs and when he was bestowed a marriage by the emperor, he had received congratulatory gifts from various officials, especially when he became a son-in-law, there was no shortage of expensive gifts. Send everything. But those are just ordinary favors. If you are an official in the court, you can't avoid the bad rules in the officialdom. It is natural to honor your superiors for three festivals and two longevity. ", Weddings and funerals, new recruits, promotions and meritorious service, you can give it away. Usually, if you have nothing to do, you have to find a reason to give it away, and you have to give it away when you have something to celebrate, so he can accept it with peace of mind and no harm.
But this time it was very different. One is that he has not had a happy event recently, and the other is that the value of this gift is too terrible. If he accepts it, it is understandable for the official to take bribes at all. If he does not accept it, it is obvious that he will not give Xie Zhongren face. The faction is different, but he is a sixth-rank chief, and he works in the bureaucracy full of eunuchs. Now that a big event is coming, he doesn't want to offend Xie Zhongren and cause trouble at this time.
Yan Sikong held the thick gift book, his hands trembling slightly, this is not a treasure worth tens of thousands of gold, but a poisonous scorpion that bites people. What frightened him the most was that his housekeeper was apparently placed by Xie Zhongren, otherwise he wouldn't dare to pass over his master to receive gifts casually even if he had the guts of a bear.
I'm looking for death...
Shi Shi cautiously looked at Yan Sikong, and tentatively called out: "... Young Master?"
Ali walked to Yan Sikong's side, glanced at the gift book, his expression was also ugly, and he turned his head to stare at the stone viciously.
Stone trembled.
Yan Sikong tightened his grip on the things in his hands, and said in a cold voice: "Go back and tell the butler that he is personally guarding the pile of congratulatory gifts tonight, and he is not allowed to move any of them. I will check tomorrow, and there is a copper coin discrepancy with this gift list. He is asking!"
"Yes, the little one, let's go right away." Shito ran away rolling and crawling.
Yan Sikong turned around and strode into the study, slammed the door behind him, and sat down in the chair.
What is Xie Zhongren's intention? What is the intention, think about it, think about it carefully, he has to think clearly.
It was getting late, it was too late to discuss with Yan Zilian, and he would return the gift himself at dawn tomorrow.
No, he had to figure out what Xie Zhongren was going to do first.
Want to win him over? He is Yan Zilian's disciple, how could he be wooed by the enemy, Xie Zhongren would not be so stupid.
Want to frame him? All he has to do is return it intact.
Want to drive a wedge between him and Yan Zilian? Xie Zhongren would not underestimate his deadly enemy for decades.
Xie Zhongren chose this time to do such an incredible thing, could it be that he heard something? How does he want to see himself react? How to accept it, how not to accept it? What exactly is Xie Zhongren's purpose!
Calm down, Yan Sikong, calm down.
Yan Sikong took a deep breath, those complicated people and things crazily intertwined in front of his eyes, he calmly drew them out one by one in a clear context...
Too bad, Xie Zhongren is leading him into the bait!
From the moment the boxes of treasures were brought into his mansion, he was caught.
In front of the joint camp of the gentry and the Feng family, Xie Zhongren also felt trembling. He was neither as highly respected as Yan Zilian, who had many disciples and old officials all over the world, nor was he as powerful as Feng Jianping, who had great achievements in battle and was famous all over the world. He is an eunuch, so he has no chance of winning, but he holds a sharp sword in his hand that can defeat the enemy with one blow, that is the emperor.
Eunuchs do not have their own responsibilities and public power like real officials. Eunuch power is only an extension of imperial power, sharing government affairs for the emperor, and playing a role in checking and balancing power. Once they lose the favor of the emperor, they are nothing.
Xie Zhongren took advantage of this and pressed on step by step to remove Feng Jianping's military power to attack the gentry, but he was also afraid of the rebellion of King Liang. If Feng Jianping turned against him, his power would be several times that of King Liang , even if Feng Jianping was almost unarmed under his nose and had no reason to convince the public, how could he just take it as he said.
It's easy to kill Feng Jianping, but it's difficult to block the mouths of Youyou.
Therefore, while Xie Zhongren used the emperor to force Datong to disarm, he also made another preparation, which was to drive a wedge between the gentry and the Feng family.
That's right, in Xie Zhongren's eyes, Yan Sikong is nothing more than an ant, and being a filial disciple of Yan Zilian for a lifetime can't threaten him. Even if he becomes a son-in-law, he is just a son-in-law after all. The ultimate goal of giving this generous gift is not him .
What Xie Zhongren likes is his subtle existence between the gentry and the Feng family. He is also the only one who has close ties with both Yan Zilian and the Feng family. In the eyes of outsiders, he and Feng Ye have a deep estrangement. use.
He is a small hole in the sheepskin drum found by Xie Zhongren. The harder the drum is hammered, the louder it will be, the louder it will be, and the more tenacious and unyielding it will be.
After thinking about this point, Yan Sikong broke out in a cold sweat.
In such a complicated situation, even if he misses even a tiny bit of detail, he may be doomed, but Xie Zhongren unexpectedly dug such a big hole in front of him unexpectedly.
He always thought that he had never appeared in Xie Zhongren's eyes, but in fact, he had already been stared at by those sinister eyes.