first and second

With the scent of sweet-scented osmanthus and the yellowing ginkgo leaves all over the ground, the Mid-Autumn Festival has finally arrived in a round of big and round moon.

In the past, the Mid-Autumn Festival was held in the "Fengtian Hall" to entertain the officials, but this year, Emperor Huiming had a whim to hold the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet in the elegant "Yingfeng Hall", because the "Yingfeng Hall" was built by the water. The lotus flowers in the garden are in full bloom.

At the beginning of the moon, it was time to sit at the table, and all the officials above the sixth rank came. Since it was at night to enjoy the moon, naturally the concubines in the harem were also there.

When Li Chengyun arrived, the music of the Jiaofang Division had finished, and the "Yingfeng Hall" was full of people, and it was extremely lively.Sitting high on the crystal royal couch, Emperor Huiming looked at Li Chengyun who had come late, and asked, "Why did you come?"

Li Chengyun said: "When I went out, something happened, so I missed the hour."

Emperor Huiming frowned slightly, a little displeased. Concubine Lan Gui who was sitting next to her saw it, and smiled softly: "Your Majesty, I haven't sung the second half of the song that I sang with you last time. Today, I will use it Xiao will play a song for you." After finishing speaking, Xiulian handed over a white jade Xiao, accompanied by the fragrance that filled the room, Concubine Lan Gui slowly blew it, twirling and turning.

Li Chengyun looked at Liu Wenchao on the opposite side. Tang Weizhen was sitting on Liu Wenchao's right side across from Chen Xueliang. The two of them were drinking while admiring the moon, as if they regarded Chen Xueliang as a transparent body. Chen Xueliang was drinking alone with a blank expression. 'Flirting', Lee Seung Yoon looked away bored.

After the song was over, the queen sitting beside Emperor Huiming took the opportunity to put a bowl of soup in front of him, and said, "Your Majesty, try this bergamot soup. The concubine specially ordered Guanglu Temple to cook it slowly for an hour. .”

Emperor Huiming took a sip from the spoon, tasted it, took another sip, then nodded and said: "That's right, the empress has a heart," he took another sip and said to Concubine Lan Gui: "My concubine, you can taste it too." Immediately He also said to other people: "Try it all, this soup is really good, don't be restrained, open your belly to eat, drink and have fun."

At this time, everyone's expressions were in unison, like dead parents staring at the bowl of bergamot soup in front of them.Even the ordinary people know that the meals made at Guanglu Temple in the capital are unpalatable, and there are rumors among the people that there are "four unreliable things in the capital": articles from the Imperial Academy, swords and guns from the Arsenal; tea soup from Guanglu Temple, and prescriptions from the Taiyuan Hospital.

Soon all the delicacies and delicacies were served. At a glance, they were all delicious and salivating. Everyone who heard the word Guanglu Temple was as afraid as a tiger and a leopard, and all the people swept away these dishes with a "full heart" .

The most interesting thing is that many ministers have brought meals from their homes to the palace to eat. Liu Wenchao and Liu Mingxiao are two of them. Ling Ran often brings meals to their two brothers, so Li Chengyun is deeply impressed by Ling Ran.

At the end, the preface class brought a tray of snacks to everyone. Looking at the mooncake in front of him, Chen Xueliang touched his three mustaches with emotion and said: "There is another story about this mooncake. The note "Uprising on the [-]th day of the lunar month" was stuffed into moon cakes and distributed to the hands of the rebels from all walks of life, forming a momentum of "a new spark can start a prairie fire", and only then did they win."

Emperor Huiming raised his glass to Chen Xueliang and said, "Don't forget the heroic souls of our ancestors, we should carry on the long-cherished wish of our ancestors, and we should make the country prosperous." After drinking the wine in his glass, Emperor Huiming said to everyone, "Let's all try the mooncakes." Then he said to Prince Li Changshuo: "I heard that there is a guest in your house who is known as the 'Four Great Talents in the Capital'. It is said that this son has the talent of the number one scholar at a young age. You should also put away your fancy. Go out and mess around all day, and get closer to such students, so that in the future, I will rest assured that I will hand over this world to you."

Li Changshuo said with an open-minded appearance: "Father, your teaching children have already memorized, and children will follow Father's teachings to get closer to that person and learn more."

Emperor Huiming nodded in satisfaction, and when all the officials were eating mooncakes and reciting poems to the moon, Li Chengyun whispered to Mu Yu, "I'll wait for you at the pavilion in front of the lotus pond."

Soon Mu Yu brought Qintian Supervisor Zhao Side to the pavilion, and as soon as Zhao Side stepped into the pavilion, Li Chengyun said: "There are a few shops on Chengxi Road that are very suitable for me. I heard that you are quite famous in that area." ’, it’s better to help me set them up.”

Zhao Side laughed and said, "Don't make fun of me, King Chu."

Li Chengyun turned around to look at Zhao Side, and said with a smile: "What I want is the ones in the most prosperous area."

Before the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, Li Chengyun sent Mu Yu to investigate Zhao Side, and found that Zhao Side was "little famous" in the west of the city - the fame of the rich, a shop in a prosperous area where the money is worth, so Mu Yu made an in-depth investigation and found that this Zhao Side used means to force the original boss to transfer several shops to him at a low price.So Li Chengyun missed the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet in order to wait for Mu Yu's information.

How can someone who can understand the emperor's mind and observe the sky be a fool?When Zhao Side heard it, his heart became clear. The king of Chu had grabbed his braid, so he had no choice but to say: "What orders does the king of Chu have, just say it, and I will try my best to do what I can."

Li Chengyun curled his lips and said, "It saves effort to talk to smart people. My king's wedding date is scheduled to be the Qixi Festival on July [-]th next year."

Zhao Side smiled and said: "I understand, I understand, the prince is really considerate and romantic to the princess."

Li Chengyun smiled meaningfully.

"...there are assassins... hurry up... protect the emperor", shouts came from a distance, Li Chengyun heard it and walked back quickly, the 'Yingfeng Hall' was in chaos, Liu Mingxiao protected Emperor Huiming and walked into the hall, Li Chengyun searched for Liu Wenchao's figure in the crowd, he was relieved when he saw that Liu Wenchao was safe, he walked to Liu Wenchao's side a few steps, and said, "Are you okay!"

Seeing that it was Li Chengyun, Liu Wenchao said, "It's nothing, the emperor was quite frightened, where did you go just now?"

Li Chengyun looked Liu Wenchao's whole body up and down, and after confirming that he was not injured, he said, "I'll leave for a while, sir, miss me?"

Liu Wenchao: "..."

A group of people entered the inner hall under the guard of the Imperial Army. The officials and concubines were still in shock. The Commander of Jin Yiwei made Li Yin kneel on the ground and said: "The guards are not effective. Please forgive me."

The assassin was the eunuch Wei Yi. When Wei Yi stabbed the dagger at Emperor Huiming, seeing that Emperor Huiming was about to die in Huangquan, Ying Zi threw his life on Emperor Huiming.Jin Yiwei's duty was to protect the safety of the emperor, but they were a step too late, and the dagger landed on Ying Xin. Li Yin took advantage of this moment to cut Wei Yi's throat, sealed it with a sword, and then Wei Yi was killed by several Jin Yiwei dragged him out of the hall, the road he passed was stained with blood.

Emperor Huiming said angrily: "It should be killed. If Ying Xin hadn't blocked this blow for me, then the dagger would have pierced into my chest. I don't know if I will survive." After a pause, he said: "Come on People, put Li Yin in prison."

Chen Xueliang said: "Your Majesty, the assassin is dead, why don't we wait until we find out who ordered it before we deal with it."

Emperor Huiming sternly said: "Except for Ying Xin, arrest all the eunuchs first, who is in charge of patrolling tonight?"

Liu Mingxiao knelt down: "Your Majesty, it's my minister."

Emperor Huiming looked at Liu Wenchao and did not answer, and all the officials also looked at Liu Wenchao.

Liu Wenchao was recommended to join the cabinet by Xu Shouhui, the former chief assistant, before he retired and returned to his hometown. Xu Shouhui was Emperor Huiming's teacher. Although he is deceased now, Emperor Huiming respects this teacher very much.

There was no sound in the hall, a complete silence.When he thought that no one would speak anymore, Chen Xueliang said, "Liu Mingxiao is the main person in charge of tonight's inspection, but he didn't even find out the person with the sharp weapon. I don't know if he did it on purpose."

Liu Wenchao stood up and said, "I ask for evidence for everything I say and do. What evidence does Mr. Chen have?"

The hall once again fell into dead silence.

All officials knew that this was not just an assassination case, but also a dispute between the first assistant and the second assistant.

Before eliminating the enemy's leaders, all peripheral and helpers must be eliminated. The so-called mixing sand is also digging the foundations of the wall. (1)

Liu Mingxiao was Liu Wenchao's important helper, if he could take the opportunity to kill Liu Mingxiao, it would be equivalent to directly breaking Liu Wenchao's arm.

Unexpectedly, Liu Fang stood up and said, "Your Majesty, it's not time to conclude the coffin yet. We still need to start the investigation before the assassin enters the palace."

Everyone nodded frequently, discussed in low voices, and expressed their agreement.

Emperor Huiming thought for a moment, and said: "Ying Xin gave up his life to escort him, and was promoted to chief eunuch. The commander of Jin Yiwei made Li Yin ineffective in escorting him, and the imperial staff was eighty. , Chen Qing, in order to avoid suspicion, this matter is handed over to Liu Fang for trial, is there any difference between you two?"

"Your Majesty is wise."

Regarding the dispute over power and ministers, Emperor Huiming was also like a mirror in his heart. After all, the emperor was good at imperial power, and he almost lost his life. He didn't want to favor anyone in this matter. He wanted a clear and definite result, so he left it to Liu Fang Most suitable, he is fair and honest.

Tonight is destined to be a sleepless night, even the emperor has been assassinated, there is still a safe place wherever he wants to go.Because of a eunuch, everyone in the palace panicked.

It was late at night, the beautiful Mid-Autumn Festival banquet was over, and the assassination incident was over. It was extremely untimely. Liu Fang and the Ministry of Criminal Justice stayed behind to arrest the eunuchs.

In an inconspicuous dark corner outside the palace gate, a carriage was waiting quietly. There were two horses pulling the carriage. The carriage was made of black nanmu. People cannot perceive the scene inside.At this time, the owner sitting in the carriage raised a corner of the curtain, his face was in the dark, his sharp facial features were as delicate as if carved by a ghostly axe, he was extremely handsome, and under the reflection of the stars and the moon, his deep eyes were a little sentimental, like It is the best aphrodisiac/emotion/drug in the world.

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(1) Things from the Ming Dynasty