The Second Master of the Red Chamber

Chapter 720: Memorial

Jia Lian escorted Princess Zhaoyang and her brother out of the door, then turned around and said, "Who were the people following the Fourth Prince? Wait for me outside the study."

After saying this, Jia Lian came to the side hall.

Aqin just told him that Yingchun came to see him.

After sending Yingchun away, Jia Lian came to the study and said to Zhao Sheng and others, "Tell us everything that happened before the Fourth Prince left."

The Fourth Prince has a special status. Even if Jia Lian does not give orders, his subordinates will not let him move freely. He must be protected and received by someone.

The Fourth Prince had a strange look on his face before he left, so Jia Lian naturally had to investigate.

Zhao Sheng and the others recounted what happened after the Fourth Prince left the hall, but they hesitated at the end.

Jia Lian immediately realized the source of the problem and dismissed the extra people with a wave of his hand, leaving only Zhao Sheng.

Zhao Sheng also guessed what Jia Lian really wanted to ask, and when he saw that there was no one around, he took two steps forward and whispered, "Prince Xiao was coming back from the martial arts arena and happened to see the second lady's carriage.

When the second girl got off the carriage, Prince Xiao seemed to glance at her a few more times..."

Jia Lian frowned, "Is this true?"

"I dare not make up such a thing. Many people in the front yard saw it."

Jia Lian's face turned completely dark.

In the end, Jia Lian said nothing, waved his hand and sent Zhao Sheng away.

Sitting alone at the desk, he picked up a book, flipped through a few pages aimlessly, then angrily slammed the book on the table and cursed inwardly.

I thought something was wrong with him, but it turns out he has taken a fancy to my own girl!

As for the Fourth Prince, Jia Lian was fine except that he thought he was a little immature and a little stupid.

Speaking of which, among the royal family members, they are among those with good moral character.

But even so, Jia Lian still felt unhappy when he learned that he might have improper thoughts about Yingchun.

  This dissatisfaction came from the reluctance that his good cabbage was finally being coveted by someone else, but also from the fact that he had not forgotten the ugly face of the Fourth Prince when he and Princess Zhaoyang were in love!

snort!

If he was just momentarily intimidated by his sister's appearance, that would be it.

If he still has any other inappropriate thoughts, then he must be made to know what it means that eight out of ten times out of ten life is not satisfactory!

Just when Jia Lian was secretly getting angry, a beautiful figure walked in.

Seeing Jia Lian's expression, she was a little surprised, but she still walked over gently and asked, "What's wrong, Lord Marquis?"

Jia Lian shook his head, looked at the beautiful figure beside him, and casually held her in his arms and played with her.

After she kicked slightly, he let her go, held her waist with one hand and sat on his lap, opened a blank form with the other hand, picked up a pen, and began to write a memorial to the emperor.

His behavior naturally made the beauty in his arms a little dissatisfied.

But it seemed that he was really doing his job, and such a handsome man was writing seriously. The content was directly about the emperor. His charming temperament and the aura of power made her, a young lady from an official family, extremely obsessed.

So he went down quietly without making a sound, squatted lightly under the table, and took off Jia Lian's sweat towel and clothes.

Her only job in the Jia family was to help Jia Lian manage the study, or to put it more politely, she was the red sleeve that added fragrance to the family.

As time went by, she naturally knew what she should do to make Jia Lian happy when he was doing something.

But today Jia Lian was acting out of character. Seeing her like this, he subconsciously reached down and touched her head, but he did not encourage her. Instead, he asked, "Did the princess give you a badge that allows you to enter and leave the princess's mansion freely?"

"Yeah." Hu Yuanyao smacked his eyes, looking puzzled.

Jia Lian smiled and said, "In that case, you can go back to the princess's mansion this afternoon. I will go with you."

Hu Yuanyao was the middleman between Jia Lian and Princess Zhaoyang, and had often been in communication with them in the past. Jia Lian had already said this, so how could she still not understand?

  She was confused at first. She didn't need to report to the princess's mansion. The guards in the princess's mansion all knew her, so who would stop her? Why did the princess give her a waist badge?

It turned out to be a convenience for the carriage to take Jia Lian in...

All her doubts were cleared up at once. She did not dare to compete with the princess for food, so she stood up obediently, walked behind Jia Lian and massaged his shoulders.

Only then did Jia Lian calm down and continue writing the memorial.

With him in charge of Yingchun's life, she will never suffer any loss.

The current important matters are still to be discussed with Princess Zhaoyang, as there may be some disturbance from Emperor Ning Kang.

Although he guessed that Emperor Ning Kang would most likely launch an uprising in Tiewang Mountain.

But it's just speculation after all.

Speaking of which, if Emperor Ning Kang really wanted to force the emperor to abdicate, then he, who is well known as Emperor Ning Kang's confidant and also a confidant who holds certain military power, has not received any orders, not even a hint, until now!

Even before Emperor Ning Kang set out for the imperial mausoleum, he said that he would review the results of his musket army's special training after returning, but there was no follow-up.

In this situation, Jia Lian couldn't help but start to doubt, maybe he didn't do well enough, and the boss had him in his heart...

Therefore, he decided to submit a memorial to Emperor Ning Kang. In addition to reporting the results of the musket army training, there were two more points.

The first was to ask whether the musketeer army should withdraw most of its troops back to the city after its training was completed.

The second was to request that the 1,500 artillerymen and 300 cannons of the Firearms Battalion be moved outside the city for training like the Musketeers.

You know, the Firearms Camp is located outside the North City, not too far from Tiewang Mountain...

Therefore, his action was mainly to test Emperor Ning Kang's reaction.

No matter how Emperor Ning Kang responded to his memorial, he could use it to infer some of Emperor Ning Kang's thoughts.

……

Daming Palace.

When Emperor Ning Kang received Jia Lian's memorial, he, who had been reading the memorial in a somewhat trance, immediately stopped writing his imperial comments with his red brush.

After reading it carefully, he fell into deep thought, then waved to Dai Quan beside him.

"Take a look at this memorial."

Dai Quan was slightly surprised. Although he was deeply trusted by Emperor Ning Kang, it was still rare for Emperor Ning Kang to directly let him read the memorials like this.

After all, how to prevent eunuchs from abusing their power is a compulsory course for every emperor.

After taking it and taking a look at it, Dai Quan said with a smile: "Marquis Zhenyuan is loyal to the king and is so diligent in training the troops. He is indeed a minister that the emperor values."

After a few words of flattery, he looked up and saw that Emperor Ning Kang said nothing with a deep look in his eyes.

Dai Quan was slightly startled, and immediately knew that this was not what the emperor wanted to hear. For a moment, cold sweat was about to fall on his forehead, and he thought that his embezzlement was exposed, and Emperor Ning Kang was warning him.

After all, he had followed the emperor for decades and was well aware of Emperor Ning Kang's thoughts. He rationally thought that even if the emperor wanted to punish him, he would not use Jia Lian's memorial as an excuse.

By the way, Jia Lian, lead the troops!

As if blessing had arrived, Dai Quan, who was in a panic, grasped the key point and his expression became serious.

He quietly stepped forward and lowered his voice and said, "Master, the Marquis of Zhenyuan has helped us... Although the Marquis of Zhenyuan only has a few thousand soldiers, according to what he said, his few thousand soldiers can defeat the tens of thousands of soldiers in the Beijing camp.

Although we don't know whether it's true or not, judging from the results of the original training ground trial, Marquis Zhenyuan's control over firearms is indeed far superior to other generals.

He trained for another year, and thought that it would be effective.

Let’s not talk about that. The key point is that the Firearms Camp’s camp outside the city is only 20 to 30 miles away from there. Once… the master may be able to use it!”

After Dai Quan finished speaking, he observed Emperor Ning Kang's expression. Seeing that his brows relaxed, he breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that he had chosen the correct option.

Then he said, "Although Lord Chen and Commander Zhao are worried about the background and position of the Marquis of Zhenyuan, I do not think so.

  Although Zhenyuan Hou was born in Rongguo Mansion, his grandfather Jia Daishanhe...but he himself was promoted by his master. If it weren't for his master's insightful eyes, Zhenyuan Hou would have been just an unwelcome dandy in the Duke's Mansion. How could he have such a great reputation today?

Moreover, I think Lord Zhenyuan is loyal to his master. Over the years, the eldest prince and the third prince have repeatedly shown goodwill to him, but he has not been moved at all. His master also knows this, which shows the loyalty of Lord Zhenyuan.

If we can get the help of Marquis Zhenyuan this time, it will surely be a great help to the master's cause!"

Dai Quan rose from a small eunuch to the current chief steward of the Daming Palace, holding the title of internal minister, a career that has lasted for more than fifty years.

But in these fifty years, he has been living under the power of the emperor emeritus all the time!

He was in awe of the emperor's majesty to the core.

However, as the absolute confidant of Emperor Ning Kang, whose life and death, honor and disgrace were tied to those of Emperor Ning Kang, there was absolutely no possibility for him to betray Emperor Ning Kang and join the retired emperor.

Therefore, when he learned that Emperor Ning Kang intended to commit rebellion, he was terrified in his heart. He feared Emperor Ning Kang's failure more than anyone else.

Because Emperor Ning Kang's failure meant that he, the high and mighty Prime Minister, would suddenly fall to the bottom and even his life would be in danger.

Therefore, he hoped that Emperor Ning Kang would have as many chips as possible and be as fully prepared as possible.

This is why he spared no effort to recommend Jia Lian to Emperor Ning Kang.

Emperor Ning Kang obviously understood what he meant, but he still shook his head, "I don't think I can use him this time. He is a sharp sword, and I will use him when I can, but not now."

  Emperor Ning Kang casually explained, and then he did not intend to say more, but changed the subject and asked: "What I want to ask is, what do you think of him submitting such a memorial at this time?

Could it be that he guessed something? "

Emperor Ning Kang's dark brows were furrowed deeply.

He was sure that ever since he had the idea of ​​seizing power, he had been extremely cautious and tried not to leave any traces. He knew very well that things should be accomplished in secrecy.

Even the person he trusted the most, who was most useful to him and who was absolutely necessary for this operation, was only known to him when the time came.

These less than five people are completely tied to his interests and have absolutely no reason to betray him.

But now, a letter from Jia Lian made him, who was already on edge, even more nervous.

There was no other reason, it was just that Jia Lian's memorial was exactly what he wanted!

Although he had no intention of involving Jia Lian in this incident, being able to reasonably deploy Jia Lian's 5,000 troops to the outskirts of Tiewang Mountain would be like adding an extra layer of insurance to his plan. Why not do it?

  But why is Jia Lian so sensible?

If it were just a coincidence, it would be fine.

  If not... he knew that Jia Lian was a smart man, could it be that he saw through some clues and deliberately came to please him?

Emperor Ning Kang was not very worried about Jia Lian's loyalty. As Dai Quan said, almost everything Jia Lian had was given by him, and based on his observation of Jia Lian, he did not think Jia Lian had any reason to betray him.

What he was worried about was that if Jia Lian could see through it, there might be other people who might also have ulterior motives.

If any one of these people dares to inform the emperor, his plan will be completely thwarted!

This was unacceptable to him.

He couldn't make a conclusion himself, so he tried to test Dai Quan's opinion. After all, one person's plan is limited.

"How can it be!"

Dai Quan was so surprised that he subconsciously raised his voice.

Then he quickly glanced inside the hall and saw only two young eunuchs standing in the corner with their heads bowed and their ears drooped. Then he turned around and expressed his opinion.

"My Lord, you are too suspicious. Even if the Marquis of Zhenyuan is very smart, he can't guess it!

Even if the servant follows the master every day and serves the master every day, if the master does not reveal it, the servant will never guess the master's thoughts.

Marquis Zhenyuan...it's impossible.

Probably just a coincidence.

Zhenyuan Hou has always been determined to help his master to clear the world, so he has always advocated the strategy of strengthening the country and the army. The Firearm Battalion was an army that he had built with the support of his master and with great effort, so he naturally attached great importance to it and wanted to make achievements in front of his master to repay him.

Therefore, they did not dare to stop for a moment. As soon as the training of the musket army was completed, they immediately and impatiently asked for permission to pull the artillery army out of the city for training.

By the way, didn’t the prince mention it yesterday? He said that Marquis Zhenyuan was diligent in training his troops. The prince once saw him leading a large army to travel dozens of miles back and forth for physical training before daybreak.

It is not surprising that Zhenyuan Hou, who has such a heart to serve his country, made such a memorial at the meeting."

Emperor Ning Kang only had a momentary doubt. In fact, he didn't really believe that Jia Lian could guess what he was going to do in Tiewang Mountain.

Over the years, he has been suppressed by the emperor more than once or twice.

Although the power struggle between him and the emperor had escalated since last winter, all the ministers in the court felt insecure and felt that a storm was about to come.

But it was bold enough to guess that he was going to use force to force the emperor to abdicate, and to accurately guess that he would choose Tiewang Mountain to act so quickly, and to deliberately submit a request to mobilize troops to cooperate with him...

This can no longer be described as wisdom, it is not an exaggeration to call it a monster.

So after hearing Dai Quan's explanation, Emperor Ning Kang suppressed his doubts and wrote a reply to Jia Lian.

He first praised Jia Lian, then approved his two requests, and handed Jia Lian's memorial and several other memorials to Dai Quan, asking him to return them today.

Dai Quan was about to leave with the memorial in his arms when he was stopped by Emperor Ning Kang.

Emperor Ning Kang pondered for a long time and said, "I have told Jia Lian before that when I return to the capital, I will personally go outside the city to review his training results.

But now that the trip to Tiewang Mountain is imminent, I really don't have the time. Why don't you go there for me and take a look, and see carefully whether he is boasting or not.

The time... let's choose tomorrow."

Dai Quan bowed and accepted the order. He waited for a while and when he saw that Emperor Ning Kang had nothing to add, he withdrew.