The emperor rested in Daming Mansion that night. Wang Zhong waited until he fell asleep, then he walked out of the bedroom carefully, took a long breath, and ordered his attendants: Don't doze off, take turns to watch, and someone must be awake at all times.
After that, Wang Zhong was about to find a place to sleep for a while, when he saw a thick-boned, pale-faced, thin eunuch standing under the eaves outside. Who else could it be but his godson Peng Hanju? He had been sent to Tokyo before, but he returned to the army so soon. Wang Zhong thought he would wait for everyone to return to the palace in Tokyo.
"Godfather," Peng Hanju bowed.
Wang Zhongdao: Follow me.
The two of them entered a room next door. Wang Zhong closed the door himself, pulled Peng Hanju's sleeve and walked a few steps inside, and asked in a low voice: "What did you say?"
I brought it, but I didn't see the Queen, I only saw Cao Tai, Peng Hanju said.
The two of them were one white and one sallow, with completely different skin colors. Wang Zhong was originally one or two years younger, and he was white and plump, looking much younger than his son. Wang Zhong nodded and said: Cao Tai had taken refuge with the queen in Yedu. At that time, the queen had just remarried to the emperor and was no longer the queen. If you told Cao Tai, it would be the same. Hey, Wang Jie'en stayed in Tokyo to wait for us, why didn't you come back with him
My son wanted to talk about this. Peng Hanju lowered his voice and whispered, "My son thought about it and decided that he couldn't be bothered and had to go there quickly because he felt it was very strange."
What's so strange about that? Wang Zhong asked casually.
Peng Hanju said: "Before godfather asked his son to deliver a message, he mentioned that he had asked Wang Jie'en to deliver a message. But Cao Tai said that he had never received a letter from Wang Jie'en. I saw that Cao Tai was quite surprised and suspicious about my delivering a message. So I think what he said was true, otherwise he shouldn't be surprised to see me."
"What about Wang Jie'en in Tokyo?" Wang Zhong asked.
Peng Hanju replied: Yes.
After Wang Zhong pondered for a moment, he immediately cursed: This traitor
Peng Hanju also echoed: Godfather scolded well, he returned to Tokyo but did not send the letter, so where did the letter go
Wrinkles appeared on Wang Zhong's forehead. I trusted him too much. I'm going to go back and settle the score with this guy.
The emperor met Fu Yanqing twice in Damingfu, and did not stay long before continuing south. The procession and the army took a slightly roundabout route, but they could go along the river; the emperor seemed to be just passing by, after all, Fu Yanqing was his father-in-law.
Starting from Xiongzhou, the army took nearly a month to reach Tokyo.
On the night when the emperor entered the palace, Wang Zhong immediately called Wang Jie'en over and dismissed all the idlers in the courtyard of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. For a moment, Wang Zhong was furious. In this dim courtyard, it was not a big deal for him to kill a eunuch.
When the round-faced Wang Jie'en saw his godfather's appearance, he was also afraid despite his usual power. He first said that the letter was lost, and he did not dare to report it because he was afraid of being punished by his godfather.
Wang Zhong was furious and cursed: "If I don't teach you a lesson, you will be disrespectful to your parents.
Wang Jien's face suddenly changed when he saw this, and he said coldly: Godfather, you are wrong in every way, you shouldn't have written the letter yourself. Don't you think that's a real handle? How dare you touch me
What do you mean? You are threatening the miscellaneous Wang Zhong, who is angry and anxious. You are an unfaithful and unfilial thing, and you still have the nerve to call me godfather.
Wang Jie'en suddenly straightened his back, looking like a dead pig that was not afraid of boiling water: "Wang Zhong calls you godfather, why do you think he is just because he has been with the emperor for a long time and has served the emperor for a long time? The emperor trusts you so much, if I don't vote for you and call you godfather, how can I get away with it?"
Hum. Wang Zhong made a sound.
Wang Jie'en said: "The emperor trusted you so much, but you betrayed him. If the letter fell into the hands of the emperor, what do you think would happen?" Wang Jie'en suddenly said in a stern voice, "The emperor was betrayed by a dog servant who was trusted by him. With his temper, he would cut you into pieces."
After hearing this, Wang Zhong couldn't help but show a look of fear.
Wang Jien became even more proud: "The letter is no longer in my hands. If I give it to someone else, don't ask who it is. I won't tell you. If you force me into a corner, or if something happens to me, the letter will appear in front of the official. It will be too late for you to regret it then."
The bastard Wang Zhong was frowning, and suddenly felt that he was too negligent. He really didn't expect that his godson who had been with him for several years would be so insidious.
Wang Jie'en said confidently: "When disaster strikes, everyone flees." The emperor trusted you so much, and when you saw that your backer was no longer in service, you shamelessly wanted to join the new master. It was the same for the Zajia family, but with a slight difference: the Zajia family was not after the queen, and what's more, if you took the same risk with me, how much benefit would it bring to the Zajia family
Wang Zhong's face turned pale and blue, and he was speechless in rebuttal.
After a while, Peng Hanju carefully suggested: We are just poor people begging for food, why should we fight against each other
Wang Zhongdao: What do you think we should do about this
Peng Hanju said: We do our thing, Wang Jie'en does his, we don't interfere with each other and pretend we don't know each other.
Wang Zhongdao: Since you told Cao Tai about the secret letter, if we investigate, what should we do if we don't get Wang Jie'en out to explain
Peng Hanju said: "Cao Tai doesn't care about this. He doesn't even believe what we said. What Cao Tai needs to find out first is why his godfather wants to communicate with him secretly, whether he really wants to surrender and whether he can be trusted. As for the secret letter I mentioned that day, it is not worth pursuing. Maybe he thought we wanted to show our loyalty."
Wang Zhong thought about it for a while, nodded and said: That's true. Even if they ask, just find an excuse to get rid of them. Then he looked at Wang Jie'en.
Peng Gong's suggestion is quite good. Wang Jie'en said, as long as you don't deal with me, I will naturally turn a blind eye. I will risk revealing your secrets, which will not benefit me at all.
Who did you vote for privately? Wang Zhong couldn't help but ask again out of curiosity.
Wang Jie'en did not answer.
He had not originally intended to have a falling out with Wang Zhong, and had intended to play both sides quietly. But since the truth had been revealed, he had no choice but to throw the pot into the ground and threaten Wang Zhong with the evidence.
Now that his identity has been exposed, Wang Jie'en plans to be more careful in the future for the sake of prudence and will not contact his personal acquaintances unless it is absolutely necessary.
But Wang Jie'en didn't expect that his whereabouts at every moment had been watched by people in turn. He thought that before his identity was exposed, he had secretly met Zhao Pu when the imperial guards arrived in Tokyo.
In the study of Zide Hall, Cao Tai was reporting to Wang Jie'en about his whereabouts in recent days.
The queen was holding a chess manual and placing the black and white pieces on the chessboard one by one, as if she didn't listen at all and didn't care at all. But the eunuch Cao Tai didn't need to care whether the queen listened or not. If she wanted to listen, she would listen. If she didn't want to listen, Cao Tai would shut up at the slightest movement.
Cao Tai said: Your Majesty, how should we deal with Wang Jie'en? It is not a good thing to let this fellow interfere in the palace. Otherwise, we can find a reason to send him somewhere else, but that will not be easy to deal with. Wang Jie'en is Wang Zhong's man, and we cannot send his good son away without Wang Zhong's permission.
He is indeed a good son. Fu suddenly revealed a hint of a sneer.
Cao Tai hurriedly echoed: "That group of people have bad intentions, it's really a dog biting a dog and getting a mouthful of fur." At this point he hurriedly said, "I was wrong and shouldn't have polluted the queen's ears."
At this time, Fu pointed at the chessboard and said: I didn't have the leisure to play chess before, and no one played with me. I only started learning last year, and I have never played with anyone.
Cao Tai hurriedly said: With your Majesty's intelligence, those who have learned chess since childhood may not be able to beat you now.
Fu smiled and said: It's very simple. Look, if you insist on using the white pieces to eat up this area of black pieces, the black pieces will be forced to fight for this area, and in the end you won't be able to eat it up.
Cao Tai nodded and said: That's right, I will only let go if my opponent is giving in to others.
You can make a move when playing chess, but can you make a move when it comes to life and death? Fu said, the best way is for no one to move. Just keep it in mind, it's not the time for us to move yet; don't get yourself into trouble for an insignificant thing.
Cao Tai seemed to be thinking about something.
Fu looked at him and said: You are usually a smart person, but once you are involved in many things, the more you get confused. Wang Zhong naturally cannot be touched. No matter what he is planning, it is always a good thing to show goodwill to us. We can find an opportunity to make some requests and ask him not to keep an eye on your people.
Yes, your majesty is right. Cao Tai nodded and bowed.
Fu said again: You have to think ten steps ahead before you take one step. Wang Jie'en must not move, because one move will affect the whole body. Once Wang Jie'en is dealt with, he and his accomplices may suspect that it was Wang Zhong who did it; in this case, the secret letter mentioned by Peng Hanju will be exposed. Wang Zhong will be in trouble. Wang Zhong's misfortune is because he secretly wanted to surrender to me. Of course, this has nothing to do with us, but the government will think that I have some intentions. And Wang Jie'en's accomplices
Cao Tai was confused and looked dazed.
Fu looked at him, stopped talking and said: Forget it.
Cao Tai hurriedly said: I am stupid, but I will be loyal to the Queen and listen to your orders.
Fu ignored him and suddenly muttered something, which made Cao Tai a little unable to keep up with her thoughts. It was really a coincidence that a wooden sign could fly to the emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. If anything could fly to the emperor, would the world still be like this
She thought for a moment: If I’m not mistaken, it won’t be long before someone starts talking about celestial phenomena.
How did the Queen know
Fu said: The words on this sign have an allusion, a prophecy from the Tang Dynasty: Tang Zhongruo has a female warrior to replace the king. According to the unofficial history, the next thing is the celestial phenomenon. The person who gave the advice must be a civil servant who has read a lot of books, including unofficial history and miscellaneous books.
Cao Tai asked hurriedly: What should we do
There is no way. Fu sighed, sometimes things are just like this, you know what others want to do, but there is nothing you can do.