Liuheyuan.
In the shade of the green trees, the breeze caresses gently, and the forest smells fresh, keeping the heat of summer out of the forest. A pavilion surrounds it. In the exquisite octagonal pavilion, the Mingyue King gently twists a grain The white chess piece, after thinking for a long time, put it down gently, and said softly: "My son-in-law, this is called dredging the bottom of the pot, you have no way out."
Opposite him is the son-in-law Yi Chenyuan.
Putting down the chess pieces, Yi Chenyuan sighed: "Ming Yue Wang, what kind of hospitality are you doing? If you invite me over, you will let me experience the pain of failure. This is the third game you have let me lose gone."
King Mingyue laughed, and said: "It is said that the son-in-law has a big heart, so you don't think you have prejudice against me just because you lost two games?"
"It's nothing to lose two games of chess." With a charming smile on the corner of his mouth, the son-in-law said slowly, "It's just that if you lose your life, it's too late to regret."
King Mingyue stood up, put his hands behind his back, looked at the gurgling stream in the forest, and said calmly: "My son-in-law's words seem to mean something else."
Yi Chenyuan stared at the chessboard on the stone table, and said indifferently: "You are the King of the Moon... Maybe you feel very uncomfortable lying here."
King Mingyue smiled slightly, and his voice was still gentle: "Chen Yuan, you and I have been playmates since we were young, so you should know me well. This king loves this elegant and quiet place. Living here, you can feel leisurely and carefree, and you are the most important thing for me." Companion, how beautiful is it to play chess and the piano, and how can it be uncomfortable?"
"You will always be tired." Yi Chenyuan sighed softly: "If you do too much of anything, you will get tired. Although the scenery here is beautiful, it is not suitable for you. You are used to the wind and sand in the northwest... It won't take long. These beauties will become boring in your eyes, and you will miss Yongzhou...the wind there, the sand there...!"
King Mingyue's body moved slightly, and his hands behind his back trembled slightly at this moment, but after only a moment, he regained his composure, and said softly: "I was born here...Yongzhou...is not my destination...!"
"You are wrong." Yi Chenyuan suddenly stood up and looked at King Mingyue: "The royal family originated from Yongzhou, you are the heir of the royal family, the prince of His Majesty Yangwu, Yongzhou... will always be your hometown."
Mingyue King frowned slightly, glanced at Yi Chenyuan, and said calmly: "There are only you and me here...!" Seeing Dou An not far away, sitting under a tree with closed eyes, he said: "He is mine. A confidant is also me, so you don't need to beat around the bush, just say what you want to say!"
Yi Chenyuan pondered for a while, and finally said: "If you stay here, you will never have a bright future... In other words, you may not be able to leave for the rest of your life. Your loyal subordinates in Yongzhou, those who are loyal and willing to go through life and death for you Your subordinates, in the days to come, will soon be eradicated by our emperor by all means without your protection, you know this better than me!"
Mingyue King's originally gentle eyes became sharp in an instant, and he glanced at Yi Chenyuan, with a slight sneer on his mouth: "Are you trying to provoke my relationship with the Holy One? This is not what a courtier should do, let alone what you should do." What you are doing, you are the husband of Sister Qiong, and Sister Qiong has always defended the Holy One, as her bedside person, you should not think contrary to her!" After a pause, he said lightly: "What are you doing for?"
"Look at me!" Yi Chenyuan said coldly: "Do you still remember Yi Chenyuan twenty years ago? He was young and frivolous, holding an eight-foot long sword, singing and drinking, and full of enthusiasm. At that time, you made an appointment with me. , will lead my great Chu warriors together, march northward, destroy Beihu, and complete the unfinished business of Chuhou... But look at my hands, now I can only play the piano and make jade, and I can no longer lift a knife or gun .”
King Mingyue sighed, but did not speak.
"As long as you live here for a year or two, you will become like me... you can't hold a knife or a gun, you can't pull a bowstring... you can even sit in a gorgeous sedan chair and have no interest in riding a horse...!" Yi Chenyuan's voice was calm, but extremely cold: "Your fighting spirit will be worn away bit by bit, and the Mingyue King, who is proud of the Northwest, will become a degenerate mediocrity in the hearts of his people... that's what you want to see." Arrived?"
King Mingyue said calmly: "Six ministries and three divisions jointly signed, and the Holy One is even more powerful, allowing me to stay in Beijing... Do I still have to refuse?"
Yi Chenyuan suddenly laughed, and said: "Mingyue King, although you tried your best to conceal it, I still heard dissatisfaction and slight blame from your voice...!"
King Mingyue's gaze was as calm as water, and the calm expression on his face did not change because Yi Chenyuan saw through his thoughts.
"The Ministry of War has issued a document, and has ordered Qingzhou, Yizhou, and Huizhou to be full of staff and battalions, and prepare for war... They keep saying that they are preparing to go to war with Beihu, but the place where these three states are located is surrounded by To the south of your Yongzhou, King Mingyue, don’t you also think that they are trying to deal with Beihu?” Yi Chenyuan sneered.
King Mingyue frowned slightly: "You mean, the court wants to deal with Yongzhou?"
"I don't know!" Yi Chenyuan said indifferently, "But if we want to deal with Beihu, we should send more troops to the border. However, in the current situation, not only the three states have reorganized the army, but also the Ministry of War seems to be planning to draw troops from other states. Gather to the northwest... the imperial court's thoughts, don't ask yourself, right?"
King Mingyue pondered, the corners of his brows twitching slightly.
…
In all directions of Liuheyuan, there are elite soldiers of Habayashi guards watching every move of the whole Liuheyuan.
Ximen Leizang personally sits in the Sixth Courtyard, and his son-in-law Yi Chenyuan comes to the Sixth Courtyard, in his eyes, this is not a strange thing.
The invitation card for Yi Chenyuan was sent by him personally at the order of King Mingyue, and he also greeted Yi Chenyuan at the front gate when he came to Liuheyuan.
He observed Yi Chenyuan with Habayashi Wei's unique vigilance, and found no problems.
King Mingyue once had a good relationship with Yi Chenyuan, and this is something that everyone in the upper echelon of Kyoto knows. It is not a strange thing for King Mingyue to invite Yi Chenyuan to play chess and enjoy the flowers while bored in this Liuhe courtyard.
Lord Zongwei's order was to keep an eye on King Mingyue, but he didn't really treat King Mingyue as a prisoner.
When Yi Chenyuan's gorgeous carriage came out slowly, Ximen Leizang immediately tensed up, but greeted him with a respectful expression on his face: "My son-in-law, are you leaving now?"
Yi Chenyuan opened the curtain: "Lord Ximen, it's scorching summer, and you still have to work hard to guard. It's really hard work. Hey, I played chess with King Mingyue today to relieve my boredom. I lost a few games in a row. It seems that I'm not lucky. Ben Gong It's better to stop earlier, lest you lose even worse, and make yourself unhappy when the time comes, haha...!"
Ximen Lei Zang said with a smile: "The son-in-law's chess strength is second to none in the entire capital, and King Mingyue can win. From this point of view, King Mingyue's chess strength is also exquisite." While speaking, a pair of sharp eyes looked at him through the curtain Looking inside the carriage.
The space in the carriage is not very spacious, Yi Chenyuan tactfully opened the curtains as much as possible so that Ximen Lei Zang could see clearly.
After all, the son-in-law is a relative of the emperor, so it is not easy to get in the car to check, and Yi Chenyuan also understands that the inspection work of Liuheyuan is extremely strict and harsh, maybe Mingyue King was hidden in the car and taken away. Lin Wei's strict inspection is also part of his job, so one seems to open the curtains casually, and the other looks casually but extremely cautiously scans the situation in the compartment. Between talking and laughing, an inspection is completed quietly .
"King Mingyue's chess skills may not be exquisite, it's just that I was fascinated by the beauty of Liuheyuan today, so I was negligent for a while." Yi Chenyuan smiled, his handsome face was full of kindness: "I will come to him to fight again in the future." Let's see who is stronger."
Amidst the laughter, the carriage passed the inspection and drove away slowly.
"Can you see clearly under the carriage?" Ximen Leizang asked in a deep voice, his expression turned serious.
A Habayashi next to him said: "Don't worry, my lord, I have bent down and checked, and there will be no problem."
Ximen Leizang's face was slightly relaxed, and he nodded, "That's good. The Holy Majesty and Zongwei entrusted us with this place because they trusted us. We must not be negligent in the slightest, otherwise... we will not be able to grow a few more heads." Not enough to chop." Paused, waved his hand: "Send someone to see if King Mingyue is still in the yard."
…
…
Xue Poye is in the household department, he is the servant of the household department, and he has his own house to run errands, but at this time he is not busy preparing food, grass and military pay like other household personnel, he is just waiting, waiting A huge conspiracy hidden underground slowly surfaced.
According to the news, those strange noises were made at night. In other words, those thieves only dared to act at night, and they must not dare to approach the bank easily during the day.
He has already made full use of the "Soldiers of the Underworld" he received from the Kyoto Prefecture.
Since this group of people were able to disappear in the woods and not be seen in the epicenter, they must be able to cover their tracks in the warehouse that seemed to have nowhere to hide. They were mentally prepared to meet the "ghosts", so They will transform into a wall in the warehouse, silently waiting for the "ghost" to appear.
What Xue Poye was waiting for was how these "ghosts" would appear.
It was almost dusk, and as usual, the officials of the Ministry of Households could go back to rest, but this time it was different. In order to prepare as much food, grass and military pay as possible, under the leadership of Shangshu Wang Dezhao, the Ministry of Households made a One resolution after another, one order after another was issued, and it can even be said that these officials of the household department sometimes reached the point of forgetting to eat and sleep.
This is not because these people are very conscious, but because Wang Dezhao obeyed the little emperor's order and issued a death order. If the standard is not met, a large number of officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs will throw away their black hats for this. For the sake of the future, everyone can only try their best to do it It's a tough job that exceeds your own load.
"Master Hou!" Wang Dezhao entered Xue Poye's room with a tired face: "If Master Hou is tired, you might as well go back first, I will take care of it here."
Xue Poye shook his head with a smile, and murmured: "Waiting... I'm waiting...!" He raised his head, looked at Wang Dezhao, and asked, "Master Shangshu, is the silver preparation going well?"
Wang Dezhao sat down on the chair next to him, shook his head and said, "Master Hou, this is not the time to collect taxes, and the difficulty of collecting money is extremely great. Now we are just doing our best to let the yamen in rich places collect taxes as much as possible. It is to ask the local government and businessmen to sell the goods on hand as soon as possible and buy grain and grass... But these things are still very complicated to deal with."
Xue Poye smiled, and said softly, "It's enough for a person to do his best." After thinking about it, he suddenly laughed.
Wang Dezhao was a little surprised when he saw Master Xue suddenly burst into laughter, and asked, "Master Hou, what are you...?"
Xue Poye shook his head with a smile and said: "I was thinking, I have dozens of prefectures in Chu, which can be regarded as a large land and rich in resources. It is quite difficult to raise money at this time. Then in Yongzhou, if you want to raise money, food and grass... Wouldn't it be even more difficult? ?”
…
Xue Poye waited in the household department until late at night, and finally got the news. The strange voice from the household department bank resounded again, and the guards of the Habayashi strictly obeyed the orders of the general guard, and watched from afar. Who dares to approach.
Standing in a corner of the Hubu compound, looking at warehouse No. 23 from a distance, it is already far away, and ordinary people can no longer hear the voices coming from the warehouse, but Xue Poye has a beyond Although the hearing ability of ordinary people is very faint, he still vaguely heard a strange sound coming from the warehouse.
"My lord, listen!" Zhao Tianda said in a low voice, "That's the sound."
Xue Poye rubbed his nose and said with a sneer, "I'm still worried that this kind of voice won't appear... Now that it has appeared, we will be able to solve the puzzle in the middle soon."
"My lord, will those purple clothes be okay?" Those purple clothes were secretly inserted by Zhao Tianda at dusk, almost no one knows, if he wants to hide himself in an empty room without being discovered, only those purple ghosts can do it.
Xue Poye smiled confidently: "Master Wei has been trained for so many years, and he is not a fool."
In the environment where everything is quiet around, strange sounds that are hard to be found can be faintly heard from the warehouse from time to time, but Xue Poye is actually sitting against the wall, smiling, and resting his eyes with his eyes closed.
Zhao Tianda was very anxious, but seeing that General Wei was calm and calm, he knew that some of the steps had been planned long ago, so he didn't need to worry, so he also sat down and waited patiently.
That weird sound could only disappear around dawn, and Xue Poye and Zhao Tianda sat in the corner for a whole night.
"My lord!" Zhao Tianda tried to open his sleepy eyes: "Let's... are we going to act?"
Xue Poye opened his eyes, rubbed his face, looked at the sky, and said with a smile, "Grandma, it's dawning so soon." He has been leaning against the corner of the wall to cultivate his strength all night .
He stood up, stretched his waist, looked at the silver vault bathed in the dawn light, and said, "Wait a little longer."
After more than half an hour, Xue Poye finally said: "Open the door and enter the warehouse!"
…
Stepping into the dark passage, there was silence inside, as if nothing had happened, it was still an empty warehouse, and there was only turbid and hot air.
Zhao Tianda couldn't help admiring in his heart: "Those purple clothes are really powerful. It's not something everyone can do to stay in such an environment for one night."
When the treasury official opened the door of a warehouse, Xue Poye and Zhao Tianda quickly entered, and saw that everything in the room was as usual without any change, so they couldn't help but glanced at each other.
"My lord!" Zhao Tianda asked in a low voice, "Where is the purple robe?"
Xue Poye looked around and was a little puzzled, yes, there should be a Ziyi arranged here, but where is he now
At this moment, they heard an exclamation of "Ah" from the powerful warehouse official behind them, so Xue Poye and Zhao Tianda saw that in the northwest corner of the warehouse, at the corner of the seemingly flat roof, the originally extremely solid wall unexpectedly Squirming slightly.
Zhao Tianda drew out his saber, stood in front of Xue Poye, and looked at the wall in horror.
In his opinion, it must be a ghost, maybe the purple clothes hidden in the warehouse have been eaten by this monster.
There seemed to be something falling off the wall, and there was a "chuckle", as if a small piece of the wall had collapsed, but after the thing fell off, the corner of the room was still normal, and there was no damage at all, and the thing that fell on the ground "Wall", had already stood up, walked over quickly, and knelt down on the ground: "This subordinate has seen Lord Hou!"
Zhao Tianda realized at this moment that Ganqing Ziyi was hiding in the corner of the roof, but his methods were clever, no matter what, he couldn't see who was hiding.
The clothes on Zi Yi's body were almost the same color as the wall, and if it was really stuck to the wall, it would be really hard to tell.
"Blindfolding!" Xue Poye clapped his hands in praise: "It's really brilliant, it's really brilliant, hard work."
Zi Yi respectfully said: "The mission ordered by Master Hou has already been investigated clearly by the subordinates... There is indeed a mechanism in this room."
Xue Poye looked serious, and said in a deep voice, "Where is it?"
Ziyi stood up, looked around, and respectfully said: "Master Hou, please look!" He quickly ran to the wall on the left, stretched out his hand, pressed it up and down seven or eight times, and then walked to the east corner of the warehouse. Pointing to one place, he said: "Master Hou, the mechanism here is very hidden. There are ten places to be activated, and it seems that there is a strict order. This is the last place that needs to be activated. If the order is wrong, or ten places need to be activated. If everything is not activated, the mechanism cannot be opened!"
Xue Poye nodded. The place Ziyi pressed just now seemed normal, but when he stepped forward to observe carefully, he could find that there was a gray mark like mosquitoes and ants in these places. I thought it was just on the rocks, but I never thought that these were the marks of organs.
This Ziyi was able to memorize the order of the organs, and he was also able to quickly analyze the doorway geographically. He was indeed very experienced. From this point of view, it is very reasonable for the terrifying yamen of the Kyoto Prefecture to be feared by the late emperor.
Xue Poye walked to the east corner, and gently pressed down on the place where Ziyi pointed out. There was no feeling of depression, nor any feeling of touching the mechanism. It was just a cold wall, but after touching it, everyone in the room heard it. There was a very strange sound, and at this moment, an even more astonishing scene in the room was suddenly revealed.