The tenth day of the first lunar month in the twenty-third year of Chenghua.
It was an ordinary day, but something big just happened yesterday.
Wan Guifei passed away.
Many officials did not get the news until they arrived at the yamen this morning.
Unlike many anonymous concubines in the harem, this news is particularly important because of the status of the Wan family in the emperor's mind.
The Wan family has dominated the harem for more than ten years, and there is really nothing that can be praised by others. On the contrary, she has made a lot of troubles, including the emperor's abolition of the first queen, the prince's abolition of the establishment, etc., all of which are indispensable to her.
Everyone really couldn't pretend to be mourning. Although Liu Jian, Xu Pu and others didn't say it, they even thought it was good news.
Because they feel that once Wan's death, many things will be resolved. For example, the previous emperor insisted on changing the crown prince. In the final analysis, it was because of Wan's affection. Now that Wan is away, naturally no one will blow the emperor's pillow. When the wind blows, Wan Dang's influence will also be greatly reduced, and the prince's crisis will finally be lifted.
But before they could breathe a sigh of relief, another unexpected thing happened.
The emperor wanted to posthumously confer the title of Empress Wan.
At the cabinet meeting, when Wan An proposed this intention on behalf of the emperor, the cabinet exploded at once.
This is not the first time the emperor has raised this idea.
As early as when Wan was still alive, or in other words, this needs to go back even further. At that time, when the emperor had just ascended the throne, he couldn't wait to make his beloved woman queen, but he immediately encountered opposition from all sides. The most objectionable is his mother, the Queen Mother Zhou. The reasons here are very complicated, and it is meaningless to follow up one after another now. The only thing we can know is that the emperor at that time was still very young and more indecisive than now. He could not Persevere, only another queen can be established.
But soon, Empress Wu had a conflict with the Wan family. The emperor finally found this opportunity, took the opportunity to abolish the Wu family, and wanted to make the Wan family the queen. This was the second time, and he was also strongly opposed. Once again unable to hold on, compromised.
The third time, after Wan gave birth to the eldest son of the emperor, he made Wan the imperial concubine, and promised to abolish the current successor Wang, and establish Wan as the imperial concubine in the future. Later, but the sky does not follow people's wishes, the premature death of the eldest son makes the two's wishes come true again.
Now that many years have passed, the older courtiers still remember how the emperor tossed for the Wan family. I didn't expect that now that the person is dead, the emperor's tossing energy has come again, and he has to make her the queen.
It's not legal at all.
In the Ming Dynasty, there was a system. Most of the harem came from the innocent daughters of small civilian families. They didn’t pay much attention to the level of family, but Wan’s origin was not a matter of family. Serving the emperor who was still a prince at the time, he was able to jump through the dragon gate, and it was impossible to talk about his innocence. What's more, the Wan family had neither great achievements nor gave birth to a prince, so he did not meet the conditions of being a queen at all.
Therefore, Liu Jian immediately objected, and explained the above reasons, and finally said: "Weng Yuan, don't forget, the prince's biological mother is only Concubine Zhuang Xishu!"
Although Ji's son is now the crown prince, she was not posthumously named queen after her death. The emperor only gave her the posthumous title of Concubine Gongkezhuang Xishu. Liu Jian's implication was that even the crown prince Even if the biological mother can't be sealed, why can the Wan family
Wan An said slowly: "Isn't this still up for discussion, what are you anxious about? The cabinet is the head of the officials, and all government affairs must be decided by the cabinet before going down. Liu Xixian, you are already old, why are you so impulsive and impulsive? Don't know the rules?"
Liu Jian rolled his eyes from the choking and couldn't speak for a long time, so he could only sit down angrily.
After Liu Jian touched the nose, the atmosphere of the cabinet was a bit stagnant, and everyone was reluctant to express their position easily, especially Liu Ji, the second assistant.
Although Wan An said "Let's discuss", but who doesn't know that Wan's just died, the emperor must be full of grief. Anyone who opposes this moment will be torn apart by the angry emperor. Liu Mian is resolutely not involved in this kind of thing. fit.
Looking around the cabinet, Liu Jianhui is now competing with Wan An. Xu Pu is better at acting than speech. Even if he wants to help, he probably doesn't know how to say it.
Peng Hua said: "People die like a lamp goes out. In my opinion, the noble concubine has passed away. It's normal for His Majesty to do this. It's okay to comfort His Majesty."
Liu Jian sneered: "As for Concubine Zhuang Xishu, you have to pursue the empress, otherwise, where will the prince be placed?"
Yin Zhi yin and yang is strange: "It's not right for you to say that, whether Concubine Zhuang Xishu pursues the empress or not, the prince is the prince, no one can change this, Your Majesty is deeply in love, and before the imperial concubine died, he tried to seal her as the queen several times but failed. Now, even if it is to comfort Your Majesty, why not? Your Majesty is now in grief, but you are resolutely blocking it. Do you hope that His Majesty will be mad at you, so that your wish will be fulfilled and the crown prince will be enthroned as soon as possible, right?"
Liu Jian tilted his nose in anger: "You are making trouble and making trouble without reason!"
In addition to being angry, Liu Jian once again realized the value of Tang Fan.
If it had been changed before, Wan Dang would have been criticized by Tang Fan for being incompetent, where would it be the turn of a villain like Yin Zhi to speak up here
Without Tang Fan's help, he and Xu Pu couldn't compete with Wandang in the battle of words.
Seeing Liu Jian jumping with anger, Yin Zhi's mouth slightly raised, secretly proud.
In fact, from the very beginning, the pursuit of the Wan family was just a pretense.
But it is obvious that Liu Jian and the others have now attracted the attention of this matter.
I believe that it will not be too soon, the news that the emperor will pursue Wan's empress will spread like wildfire, and the court and the public will no longer be calm because of this.
Those who oppose, those who agree, those who are neutral, those who want to please the emperor, those who want to express themselves, all parties are arguing, and they all want others to accept their views. Who will pay attention to the matter of the prince
Seeing that they were quarreling, Liu Ji said slowly: "Does the Queen Mother approve of this matter?"
He pointed out the key point in one sentence. Before Wan's death, the queen mother was firmly opposed to making her the queen. Now that she is dead, it is even more impossible to agree.
Liu Jian was reminded by him, and immediately said: "Yes, the Queen Mother will definitely not agree to this matter."
"Mother and son are heart-to-heart." Wan An said meaningfully: "The queen mother must not have the heart to watch her majesty continue to grieve for a long time."
The cabinet's opinions were not unified, so naturally the matter could not come to a conclusion, and the whole morning was wasted in the endless wrangling.
Near noon, Wan An announced the end of the meeting, and everyone left one after another, preparing to eat.
"Yuan Weng!" Liu Jian called out to Wan An.
Xu Pu tugged at his sleeve, motioning him not to be impulsive, but Liu Jian pretended not to see him, just stared at Wan An, and said word by word: "If you are a minister, you should think about the name behind you, and your children and grandchildren's innocence, not for the sake of it. It's just a moment of pride to do something that you can't regret!"
This kind of provocation was changed from the usual, and Wan An ignored it, but today he stopped, waved to Peng Hua and the others to go out first, and then sneered and asked, "What does it mean to regret it? You are also worthy of saying that to me. The way of ministers? You have no eyes on the ruler, ignore your will, what do you call the way of ministers!"
Liu Jian said angrily: "The way to be a minister is not to flatter, but to persuade! If the king has something wrong with his words or deeds, he should persuade and persuade him. This is worthy of the conscience of the world and the people of Li. I am Zaifu. , Lord Shang Zuo, Kuang Fu She Ji, not those traitors who can only slap the horse! Wan Xunji, touch your chest, can you be worthy of the word "Zaifu"!"
"Presumptuous!" The clay figurine still has three points of anger, not to mention that Wan An is not a clay figurine. He knows that there are many people secretly scolding him, but secretly scolding him is one thing, after all, he can't hear, and being scolded by his nose is still the head one time.
"You know what it means to be Saisuke! It's not your turn to judge how this master behaves! Do you think you have the ability to support the prince, don't you? Look, even Daxing's watermelon is smarter than you!"
Wan An is a fake Meizhou native. Chuan people scold people in a set way, but after he entered the cabinet, he has not scolded anyone for many years. Today, it seems that Liu Jian is angry, and the accent is not good. Consciousness emerges.
Although Liu Jian didn't understand the meaning of Guawa Shrimp, he knew that it was not a good word, and his face turned pale with anger. He rolled up his sleeves and wanted to use Henan dialect for an eye for an eye. !calm!"
He didn't know where he suddenly got so much strength, so he dragged Liu Jian out directly, avoiding an impending scolding of the boss.
"Why are you holding me, I have to scold him to death!" After leaving the cabinet, Liu Jian finally got rid of Xu Pu's hand and said angrily.
Xu Pu smiled bitterly: "What can you do if you scold you and win? Not only will it be useless, but it will also make people laugh when it is spread. The first assistant is scolding the old man. Do you have a lot of face?"
Liu Jian said angrily: "Listen to what he said, it's shameless to hug your thighs! What the emperor wants to do, Wan An will do it, what a ragged first assistant, the outsiders are really right, his first assistant It's just a response bug, and it has humiliated our cabinet!"
Xu Pu sighed: "Forget it, if even the Queen Mother can't object to this matter, what's the use of us fighting hard? I think His Majesty has made up his mind this time, and he has to screw it to the end, and I don't know the end of the Wan family. What kind of gu has been given to His Majesty, even when people are dead, they are still so affectionate!"
Liu Jian pouted his lips: "What is the love, the love is really important, many years ago, it was reckless, and it's really disturbing to make a scene after everyone died!"
Xu Pu changed color slightly: "Your mouth is really unforgiving, just tell me, don't say these words in front of outsiders!"
Liu Jian was impatient: "I see, when did I say this in front of outsiders! If you didn't hold me just now, I would have to scold that turtle grandson to death!"
Xu Pu was helpless: "Do you still remember this?"
Liu Jian rolled his eyes: "Why don't you remember, what does that melon baby shrimp skin mean, and Daxing watermelon... I'm really mad at me, or I'll go back now and scold him again!"
After turning around, I really want to go back.
Xu Pu hurriedly grabbed his arm: "Ouch, I said it's alright, you just scolded him hard enough!"
Liu Jian: "But I haven't used Henan dialect yet!"
Xu Pu: "..."
With a helpless expression on his face, seeing Liu Jian suddenly stop, he thought he had listened to his advice, and hurriedly said: "Let's go, let's go, I have to be on duty in the afternoon, go to dinner first, don't get angry, it's not worth it when!"
Liu Jian suddenly asked, "Do you still remember the words he scolded me just now?"
Xu Pu: "Remember, what's wrong?"
Liu Jian: "I'll listen to you say it again."
Xu Pu thought he was stunned, and said speechlessly: "No more, it's not a good word, are you still addicted to it?"
Liu Jian shook his head: "No, no."
Xu Pu didn't know what he wanted to do, so he could only imitate Wan An's accent and said, "Shrimp with melon skin?"
Liu Jian: "...not this sentence, the previous one."
Xu Pu thought for a while blankly: "The front? He said that it's not up to you to judge his actions, and he said that you think you are very capable of supporting the prince... These?"
Liu Jian frowned: "In the morning we were arguing about the issue of the post-Wan clan, but why did he suddenly involve the prince?"
Xu Pu was not sure: "Maybe it was just a casual mention?"
Liu Jian was suspicious: "Really, isn't he implying something?"
Xu Pu said: "No way."
Liu Jian shook his head and found that he couldn't understand: "Forget it, leave these things to Tang Runqing to worry about."
Xu Pu smiled bitterly: "No matter how capable Runqing is, he can't stop His Majesty from pursuing the Wan clan. I think it's more reliable to talk to the Queen Mother first!"
Liu Jian: "That's right, let's go to Renshou Palace!"
Xu Pu: "Ah? Stop eating?"
Liu Jian: "What else to eat, come back and eat again!"
Xu Pu: "Okay, okay, don't drag me, slow down, slow down, I'm all old bones, I can't stand the toss!"
…
The quarrel between Wan An and Liu Jian soon spread. This is a rare thing. Discord between the cabinet has always been present, but it is rare to see such a complete face-breaking as today.
But compared to the matter that the emperor wanted to pursue the seal of the Wan family, this seemed to be nothing.
There was a lot of discussion between the court and the opposition, and many officials were gearing up for their preparations to persuade.
Tang Fan naturally heard about this, but he didn't take it to heart until Liu Jian came to Tang's house in the evening and told him what happened in the morning.
"Actually, I didn't take that to heart at first, and Wan Xunji's shamelessness is not a matter of one or two days." Liu Jian would never say that he was half-suffocated in the morning, "but after I went back, I thought about it carefully. After thinking about it, it's safer to come and talk to you, but I think this may be because I'm overthinking..."
"Daxing watermelon?" Tang Fan chewed these words and was a little puzzled, "What is Wanan doing to bring Daxing up for no reason?"
Liu Jian was embarrassed: "It's not to use that as a metaphor to scold me!"
Tang Fan thought for a while, but couldn't think of a reason. He shook his head and said with a smile, "It should be just ordinary swearing, and I can't hear anything unusual."
Liu Jian breathed a sigh of relief: "It's good if it doesn't, Wan Xunji's servant is thoughtful, cunning and insidious. I'm just afraid that he means something, and it seems that I think too much!"
Because it was getting late, Liu Jian quickly left, and Tang Fan personally sent the person to the door, but instead of returning to the house, he went to Sui's house next door.
Suizhou knew that Liu Jian was visiting, so he didn't go to Tang Fan. When he saw him coming, he asked, "He's gone?"
Tang Fan nodded: "Let's go."
He was a little absent-minded, chewing over the words just now.
Seeing his strange expression, Suizhou couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong?"
Tang Fan: "What's so special about Daxing watermelon?"
Suizhou was inexplicable: "Where did the watermelons come from at this time?"
Tang Fan felt that his thinking was wrong, so he asked another question: "Does Daxing County produce watermelons?"
Suizhou: "It seems to be born."
Tang Fan: "Does every family plant it?"
Suizhou: "I don't know either, but Xue Ling is from Daxing. You can ask him tomorrow."
Tang Fan: "Just now."
His impatience is a bit rare, but in many things, Tang Fan's carefulness has always proved to be very necessary.
Sui Zhou, who was born and died with him, naturally had a deep understanding of this point.
The tacit understanding between the two has reached the point where they can understand each other without needing to say much, so when he heard him say this, Sui Zhou didn't say much, and immediately went out to find someone.
Xue Ling was quickly called over. He was drinking with his colleagues in the liquor store he frequented, and the smell of alcohol had not yet dissipated. It was a bit embarrassing to be suddenly called to the house by the boss, but neither Tang Fan nor Sui Zhou did not. Think about the details.
"Daxing?" Xue Ling was a little surprised, he didn't expect Suizhou to call him over in the middle of the night just for this.
"It is indeed rich in melons and fruits. Most of the watermelons and grapes in the tribute palace are produced in Daxing. There is one of the melon farmers next to their hometown, but I heard from them that the profit from this business is very thin, because the price from the government is not high, they It can't be sold to a merchant instead."
He didn't know what Tang Fan wanted to ask, so he could only tell what he knew.
Naturally, there was nothing wrong with those words.
Tang Fan frowned: "Is that so? Have you heard any rumors there, it's related to Wan'an?"
Xue Ling thought for a while, then shook his head: "No."
Tang Fan was a little disappointed.
But he couldn't think of anything to ask any more, thinking that maybe Liu Jian and himself were over-hearted, and Wan An's words might just be just angry and cursing.
"That's right!" Xue Ling suddenly said, "I heard that not all of those melon farmers lost money. One of them lived next to Wantong's other village and somehow had a relationship with Wantong, so the government was buying The price of the melons from his family is always higher than that of others."
Tang Fan's heart froze: "You said Wantong has a different village in Daxing?"
Xue Ling nodded: "Yes, but he rarely goes to live there. I heard that the villa is used to house his concubines who have fallen out of favor, so he only visits occasionally."
After Tang Fan listened, he frowned tightly.
If Wan An's remarks really meant something else, was that what it was referring to
But why did Wanan imply Liu Jian, did he know that Liu Jian would definitely tell him this
But isn't Wan'an in the same boat as Wantong? Why does he want to do this again
Even if there is really a problem with Wantong's Bie Zhuang, what does it have to do with the prince
Many questions came to mind, and it was difficult for Tang Fan to solve these messy mysteries for a while, no matter how smart Tang Fan was.
Tang Fan asked Suizhou, "Do you think it's possible that Wan An is hinting at us?"
Suizhou thought about it for a while, but suddenly brought up another irrelevant matter: "At that time, you solved Chen Luan in Suzhou, and then Shang Ming was involved. At that time, Wynn and Wang Zhi took the opportunity to ask the Admiral of Shangming East Factory to dismiss. The emperor also agreed to the position of Wantong. Seeing the general trend, Wantong followed Shang Shu and agreed to this matter. For this reason, Wantong was furious and scolded Wanan for being a scumbag. However, the two soon reconciled. You are not in the capital, so I don't know."
Tang Fan's eyes lit up: "You mean that Wan An is not a firm Wan Party, and he also has his own plans?"
Suizhou said: "His plan is just to please the emperor and keep wealth and honor. Because the emperor likes Concubine Wan and obeys Concubine Wan, he will follow suit. If one day the emperor dislikes Wantong, he will definitely not. On the side of Vantone."
After that, the corners of his mouth curled into a smirk, but he did not laugh out loud: "This kind of person can only share wealth and honor, and cannot share weal and woe."
Regardless of whether Wan Shoufu can share the ordeal, this is something that Wantong needs to worry about, not Tang Fan and the others.
But Tang Fan could hear a hint of overtones in Sui Zhou's words: that is what Wan An scolded Liu Jian, and it's possible that he didn't scold him on a whim.
Just one more question now...
Tang Fan frowned: "Even if we speculate that Wantong may be hiding some ulterior secrecy in Daxing's other village, it's impossible to rashly search it. If nothing is found, it will fall into place."
"It's okay, leave this to me." After Suizhou finished speaking, he turned to Xue Ling: "Now go and gather the brothers."
When Xue Ling heard this, not only did he not hesitate to be afraid, but instead showed excitement that he was eager to try: "Go and turn the villa of the turtle grandson upside down?"
Sui Zhou nodded slightly: "Let go and do it, just hide your identity."
Xue Ling laughed and geared up: "Don't worry, eldest brother, with you, this time it will definitely be a big ticket! Brothers have long wanted to embarrass that turtle grandson, let him always put pressure on our heads to make a fortune! "
Listening to this tone, it doesn't look like Jin Yiwei, but like a bandit who is going to rob his house.
Daxing is located on the outskirts of the capital and is under the jurisdiction of Shuntian Prefecture.
But no matter how close it is to the capital, it is not the capital after all. It has become quiet in the evening, and it is even more silent after nightfall.
On a windless night, it seems that even the grass and trees are frozen by frost, standing silently and not moving. In summer nights, the birds and insects are often chirping, and this season also disappears.
The weather is cold and the ground is freezing, but anyone who has a house to shelter from the cold will hide in the house and huddle under the blankets. Wife and children are hot on the kang head, which is tantamount to the best solace in winter.
This villa by the Dalong River is no exception. Although it may look more stylish and beautiful than the surrounding farms in the daytime, it can't be seen now that the candles in one of the houses in the house are completely extinguished. It also fell into a slumber at night.
Until a woman's scream sounded!
Manniang clutched the quilt tightly and looked at these people of unknown origin in horror.
The torches in their hands illuminated the room brightly, and the whole body was dark, only the eyes were exposed, fierce and fierce, and at first glance they knew that they were not good.
She wasn't the only one screaming in the house, but there was nothing they could do but scream.
"You guys, do you know what this place is! This is the villa of the commander of Jinyiwei. You dare to trespass, don't you want your life, don't you go out quickly!" She trembled, hoping to use the name of Wantong to scare away them.
But she was disappointed, the other party not only did not hear it, but searched around her house.
Manniang is one of Wantong's concubines. She was sent here after she fell out of favor a few years ago. The women in Bie Zhuang are basically like this. They know their fate for the rest of their lives, but there is nothing they can do. Live in loneliness day in and day out in Bie Zhuang, waiting for Wantong to come and visit occasionally on a whim.
However, about half a year ago, this situation changed. For some unknown reason, Bie Zhuang suddenly entered a large number of highly skilled nursing homes. For this reason, Manniang and the others further narrowed their scope of activities. They were detained in the backyard and were not allowed to step into the front yard. , and Wantong has come more frequently since then, but he still rarely sets foot in the backyard, Manniang and the other women are like withered flowers, as if they have been completely forgotten.
One of Manniang's sisters couldn't stand the loneliness and wanted to seduce one of the nursing homes, but Wantong found out and was dragged down and beaten to death. Remember now.
Since then, the front yard has become a forbidden area for other villages.
But now, these people in black are like no one, but no one comes to stop them. Those nursing homes seem to be dead, and they can't even notice the movement here.
The only possibility is that those people have now been brought down.
Manniang's heart moved, and she seemed to see her hope of escaping from this villa.
"You, what are you looking for?" She only wore a bellyband when she lay down, but the men in black didn't even look at her, seeing that she was not here to rob her.
But it certainly wasn't for robbery, because all the silk and satin in his box were turned over and scattered on the ground, sometimes mixed with some softness, and those people didn't move.
"Shut up, I'll kill you if you talk more!" One of the men in black said, the impatience in his voice was obvious.
Manniang watched them even use daggers to pry the bluestone bricks on the floor, and once again mustered up her courage and said, "...I know what you are looking for!"
The movements of the men in black suddenly stopped, and they all looked at her.
Manniang flinched and stammered: "Actually, I don't know too well, but you must be looking for something? I, I may know some clues..."
"What do you know?" It was the man in black who just spoke.
Manniang also wanted to bargain: "What's the benefit after I said it?"
The other party's answer was to put the knife directly on her neck.
Manniang immediately persuaded: "I, I'm joking... But if you're looking for something, it's definitely not here, but in the front yard!"