The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Wei Guangde and his party moved slowly towards Baoan Prefecture, but Li San was not like this. He ran quickly to the capital along the way.

Although he didn't know what was in the box on his back, he could guess from what he heard and saw in the past few days that it might be related to the life and death of Mr. Shen, otherwise Wei Guangde would not have let him fly back to the capital.

Along the way, Li Sanxiao stayed overnight and had three meals a day on horseback. He did not dare to waste time at all. On the fourth day after he separated from the brigade, he had already rushed into Beijing.

Of course, when he arrived at the gate of the capital, Li San had already slowed down his horse speed. It would be a taboo to rush into the city like this, and he knew not to cause trouble for his master.

After entering the city gate, Li San didn't bother to go back to the Wei family first, and went directly to Xiyuan. When he got there, he waited nearby. He couldn't enter and exit at will, so he could only go there when Chen Ju came in and out.

Of course, he is not stupid. After all, Chen Ju is the eunuch beside Emperor Jiajing and cannot be sent around. Therefore, Li San still has some scattered silver in his arms, ranging from a few coins to one or two taels, ready to see someone. When the chamberlain entered Xiyuan, he asked them to send a letter to Chen Ju. Naturally, the money was needed, but there was no reason to find someone to run away in vain.

Having been in the capital for a long time, Li San also knew that these eunuchs were extremely greedy for money. They looked down upon the copper coins in their arms, but a little bit of silver was their favorite.

This is a palace, and there are many eunuchs coming and going on weekdays. In a short time, Li San invited two groups of people to bring messages inside.

After all, he didn't know these eunuchs, and he didn't know if they would bring the message to Yongshou Palace after receiving the money. Therefore, Li San would not just find a group of eunuchs to take the message, in case that person did not do anything after receiving the money. Son, isn't he just left here?

At this point, he can no longer be anxious.

There are many rules in the palace, and these eunuchs must have their own errands to go in and out of Xiyuan. They either drop by when they are carrying a message, or they go there after they have finished their own business.

He found a big tree not far outside the gate of Xiyuan. Li San tied two horses to the tree stump and squatted under the shade of the tree. He kept staring at the direction of the gate of Xiyuan. Although he was anxious, he could only be patient. Waiting, just hoping to see Chen Ju coming out of the gate of Xiyuan next moment.

The contents of the wooden box on his back must be very important, otherwise the master would not let him come back and hand them over to Chen Ju himself.

But more than an hour passed during this wait. During this period, Li Sanyou stopped two groups of eunuchs who were about to enter Xiyuan and asked them to go in and talk to Chen Ju in Yongshou Palace.

Li San only hoped that one of these people would have a little conscience and help him carry the message after receiving the money.

After squatting outside Xiyuan Gate for such a long time, he had already attracted the attention of the guards guarding the gate. However, the location Li San chose was still relatively far from the palace gate and would not threaten the safety of the palace, so the guards did not come out to question him. .

As for asking these gatekeepers to go in and deliver messages, that is impossible. They have their own activity areas during the duty period and cannot run around. Only the eunuchs in the palace can come and go freely to deliver messages.

There were eunuchs at the Xiyuan Palace gate, but they had to pass the interrogation of the guards at the gate. But a servant like him could not ask the eunuch at the gate to pass the message to Chen Ju.

The relationship in the palace is actually more complicated than that in the court. Perhaps except for Huang Jin, the other eunuchs are also deeply involved. When they meet, everyone is smiling and peaceful. Who knows what is going on behind the scenes.

Most of the eunuchs who were sent to the gate to communicate were the sons and grandsons of the high eunuch in the palace. They also helped collect information. If the eunuch invited to deliver the message was not from the high eunuch, he would naturally be reported to the palace. The other eunuchs noticed.

Although Li San was a rough soldier, at this time he showed a side that he thought was very wise.

The master probably doesn’t want more people to know that he was sent back to deliver things. He should be careful and delaying a little time will not cause any problems. Well, if he sees someone coming in later, he will spend some money to clear the way.

But what he didn't know was that such a big man like him had been squatting outside Xiyuan Gate for more than an hour. The eunuchs and guards in the palace were too lazy to pay attention to him, but the Jinyi captains outside who were responsible for monitoring the surrounding situation had already reported it. .

From the look of Li San's clothes, he could tell that he was an official's servant. He must have been squatting outside the palace gate waiting for someone.

It didn't take long for someone to recognize him as a servant of Wei Guangde's family.

There is no need to marvel at how Jin Yiwei found out Li San's identity. In fact, there are specially selected people in Jin Yiwei who have good memories to form a team of people who recognize people. Not only do they memorize the appearance of Beijing officials, but they also know the family members around them. You need to have an impression and be able to recall it quickly.

Of course, the same is true not only for officials and their families, but also for some outstanding figures in the three religions and nine streams in the capital.

While Li San was still squatting outside the gate of Xiyuan, Jinyiwei commander Lu Bing had already received the information sent by his subordinates.

Wei Guangde sent his servants to wait outside Xiyuan Gate. What did this mean?

Wasn't that boy sent to drink tea at the border in Ji Town?

Did something happen?

But that's not right. If something really happened, the servant should not stay at the gate of Xiyuan, but go to the General Affairs Office to report.

Such a trivial matter was not trivial in Lu Bing's opinion.

"Send someone to keep an eye on him to see who he is waiting for. If you see him, tell me immediately."

Lu Bing gave an order, put the note in his hand aside, picked up a book of information on the table and continued to read.

Lu Bing's daily job is to check the intelligence sent back by the Jin Yiwei's overt and covert lines from various places. He will classify this information, select some that he thinks are important, or need to be known to the emperor, and have someone copy it and send it to the palace. go.

Not all information must be reviewed by the emperor. Emperor Jiajing was busy cultivating immortality, but he couldn't see it.

Li San had been waiting outside Xiyuan Gate for nearly two hours. It was already past lunch time. He could only take out two steamed buns and a water bottle from his bag and gnawed them there without blinking for a moment. Dare to leave the Xiyuan gate.

Finally, after he didn't know how many times he called in his heart, a familiar figure appeared at the gate of Xiyuan. The man just stood inside the door and looked out. Naturally, he soon saw Li San under the shade of a tree in the distance. , then waved to him and motioned for him to come over.

Li San didn't need to turn around and go back to lead the horse. He touched the baggage on his back and got up and walked over. Maybe he had been squatting for a long time, so he felt a little dazed when he got up.

When they arrived at the gate of Xiyuan, there was Chen Ju, a high-ranking eunuch, and the guard next to him did not stop Li San and let him walk directly to the door.

"Didn't you follow me out? Why did you come back suddenly?"

Of course Chen Ju had an impression of Li San. He was Wei Guangde's groom.

"The master has something that he asked me to hand over to my father-in-law."

Li San respectfully took off the baggage on his back. Inside was a small wooden box, and then handed it over with both hands.

Wei Guangde sent him to deliver it?

Chen Ju felt a little strange, "Come with me."

Chen Ju could not take Li San into Xiyuan, so he just took him to an empty room next to the gate and let him sit down and rest. Then he opened the wooden box, and a memorial and a letter appeared in front of him.

The memorial has a special cover, so it is naturally easy to recognize. As for the letter,

Chen Ju naturally picked up the envelope, tore it open and took out the letter paper and read it quickly.

He came from the inner study room and was naturally literate. In fact, his knowledge was not low. According to Wei Guangde's judgment, it was possible to pass the Jinshi.

Chen Ju frowned after reading the letter. The content of the letter was that he had arrived at the Xuan Mansion and asked Chen Ju to deliver the memorial to Emperor Jiajing. This was all information obtained from the Xuan Mansion. The last part of the letter also mentioned that Shen Lian beheaded in public. As for the situation of his family, the youngest son was sent to Jibian with Shen Lian's wife, and the two sons were killed with a stick. Now the eldest son has also been stripped of his scholar status and taken to the Xuan Mansion, fearing that his life will not be saved.

Chen Ju is a very measured and honest person. Although he has seen a lot of intrigues in the palace, he just sticks to his duty, is strict with himself, and does not give others the opportunity to punish him.

Until now, perhaps because his rank was too low, or perhaps for the sake of the high eunuch, no one had made it difficult for him.

However, after reading Wei Guangde's letter, Chen Ju felt a little dissatisfied in his heart. He naturally saw that the Xuanfu wanted to eradicate the roots and kill Shen Lian's family without giving them justice or justice. It's a chance for revenge.

The Yunzhou where the youngest son was assigned was actually Datong, which was a war-torn place and the Anta tribe launched several attacks there every year.

Shen Lian's wife and children were sent from Baoan Prefecture to Yunzhou, which was even further away from the capital. When they arrived in Yunzhou, they would most likely be assigned to die in the military fortress of Bianzhen.

As for the remaining eldest son Shen Xiang, Chen Ju could almost imagine that if he entered the Zhizhou Yamen of Baoan Prefecture, he would be beaten to death directly in court.

Regardless of whether Shen Lian is a White Lotus cultist or not, it is impossible for his son in Zhejiang to know about this matter. Is there any value in interrogating him?

Why would you spend so much effort to get people to come to Xuan Mansion just to kill people?

Thinking of this, and then thinking of Wei Guangde's intention of sending someone back the letter, Chen Ju knew that Wei Guangde wanted to leave a heir for the Shen family.

However, this matter was not trivial, and Chen Ju did not dare to hand over Wei Guangde's memorial directly to the emperor.

"You go home first. It seems you haven't gone back yet. Go home and rest first. I will send someone there if there is any news."

After Chen Ju said something to Li San, he put the letter back into the wooden box and turned around and left the house.

He wanted to discuss it with his godfather Gao Zhong first. From his heart, he was naturally similar to Wei Guangde. He hoped that good people would be rewarded and did not want Shen Lian's family to be ruined.

Li San got what Chen Ju said, and after Chen Ju left, he also left Xiyuan and went directly back to Wei's house to rest. He was also exhausted these days.

When the things arrived in Gao Zhong's hands, Gao Zhong just frowned slightly, which was against the rules.

The memorial went directly to the Secretary of Ceremonies without going to the General Secretary. If the outer court found out about this, they would not know what would happen.

The memorial was sealed with lacquer, and even though Gao Zhong was the eunuch Bingbi, he did not dare to open it and read it at this time, but he still read the letter Wei Guangde wrote to Chen Ju.

"What did you tell him?"

Gao Zhong suddenly asked Chen Ju.

"No."

Chen Ju answered instinctively.

"No, the wording in Wei Guangde's letter is a little different from his previous style. Did you tell him that the person I analyzed with you before may have changed his attitude towards the Yan family?"

Gao Zhong shook his head and continued to ask.

"This, this, I said."

Chen Ju really couldn't lie. After Gao Zhong asked that question, his face changed slightly and he immediately admitted it.

"You are so honest."

Gao Zhong shook his head. He loved and hated Chen Ju at the same time. He liked his love and justice, but he was also worried that he would get involved in the end.

"Go to Eunuch Huang's place. This matter is not easy to handle."

Gao Zhong shook his head and then said to Chen Ju.

Gao Zhong was in front, and Chen Ju followed behind, holding the wooden box and returning to Yongshou Palace.

At this time, Lu Bing had also received the news. Wei Guangde's servant met Chen Ju and handed him a wooden box with a letter inside. The rest was unknown.

Chen Ju did not take out the memorial, but just opened the letter and read it. Others did not know what else was in the wooden box.

Just by looking at the size, you could tell that there should be something inside, but Chen Ju didn't take it out, otherwise there would be no need to put it in a wooden box if it was just a letter.

Lu Bing had known about Wei Guangde's interactions with Chen Ju for a long time, and he had secretly reported it to Emperor Jiajing, but he had not mentioned his own affairs. This was why Emperor Jiajing asked Chen Ju to pass the message.

In fact, the first time Wei Guangde was summoned to the palace, it was Chen Ju who led the way, so Emperor Jiajing was not surprised after seeing Lu Bing's secret report.

Soon, Gao Zhong and Chen Ju entered the Yongshou Palace. Gao Zhong was waiting outside the palace. Chen Ju quietly walked to Huang Jin's side and pulled his sleeves. When Huang Jin looked over, he pointed in the direction of the palace door. .

Huang Jin naturally knew that someone was looking for him outside, so he nodded and asked Chen Ju to take his place temporarily. At this moment, Emperor Jiajing was still dozing on the couch, so Huang Jin carefully exited the hall.

After learning the details from Gao Zhong, he sighed slightly after opening Wei Guangde's letter.

He couldn't tell such an obvious purpose.

He also understood what Gao Zhong meant. It was a bit troublesome to think about the memorial.

Of course, they could also hand over the memorial to the Wei family now and have them send it directly to the Supervisor of Ceremonies, but Wei Guangde obviously knew that it would be too late to do so.

Yan Song did not dare to hide this memorial, but he could suppress it and delay the time for a few days, then everything he had done would be in vain.

It's not that Huang Jin doesn't understand the dirty things in the inner and outer courts. Although he was able to reach this position because he had been following Emperor Jiajing in his early years, reaching this point is a natural thing. He doesn't need to compete with others, but he naturally has good ears and eyes. Know many things.

It is precisely because of this that Huang Jin is not as ruthless as those former admiral eunuchs who competed for jobs at any cost. He understands the value of time, which is a life.

Overflowing with compassion, Huang Jin looked at the memorial in the wooden box and said, "Send it to the Emperor when he wakes up. Put the letter in it and hand it in too."