Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

"This also divides the burden of the minister!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "I don't want to hide it from your highness. After returning to Chang'an, I have been exhausted from carrying such a heavy burden. I just have the great trust of your highness and two majesties to support me. That's all. Now Wu Sansi is here to share the burden, and if there is one more person to discuss things, how can I be unhappy?"

Li Hong looked at Wang Wenzuo carefully, and then he breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that the other person was not a yin and yang maniac: "It's great if you can think so, Sanlang. I was originally worried that you would be angry because of this matter and have resentment towards my mother-in-law!"

"Then how could it be!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "This time I returned to Chang'an, it was the intention of the two Majesties. Besides, Your Highness is the Queen's own child, mother and child are one body, how can I have a grudge against Her Majesty the Queen? "

Hearing that Wang Wenzuo said this, Li Hong nodded happily: "Sanlang really has a public heart. If the ministers of the court and the central government can be like you, then the country will be fine. But don't worry, Wu Sansi will be the left of the East Palace." Wei Lie is just your deputy and is subordinate to you. I will issue an edict tomorrow to add the crown prince guest to your official position and judge all matters concerning the guards of the East Palace!"

"Thank you, Your Highness, but the minister's reputation is shallow, and he is not a scholar of literature. I am afraid that it is not enough to be the prince's guest?" Wang Wenzuo hastily declined.

"It doesn't matter!" Li Hong waved his hand: "It doesn't mean that older people have high moral standards. Although Sanlang is not a scholar, he often gave advice and advice when he traveled with me. Why can't he be a guest? If I appoint you as an official, you will let the people of the world You know, who is the person whom I have entrusted my heart to!" It is said that in the political discourse system of ancient China, the status of guests is higher than that of servants. For example, after the Zhou Dynasty destroyed the Shang Dynasty, the descendants of the merchants of the Song Dynasty were made Dukes, and they were treated as guests without courtesy. Treat each other as subjects; after Cao Wei usurped the Han Dynasty, he treated Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty as Shanyang Gong and treated him as a guest. Shanyang Gong could use the Emperor's chariot in his fiefdom.

The prince’s guest is one of the official systems of the Eastern Palace, that is, the prince, as the prince of the country, chooses ministers with outstanding virtues to serve as his guests. He usually chooses older, prestigious and virtuous ministers. The allusion comes from Shangshan in the early Western Han Dynasty Sihao (Dongyuangong, Qiliji, Xiahuanggong, and Mr. Jiaoli), apart from the honorary titles of Prince Taifu and Shaofu, is already the pinnacle of the system of officials in the Eastern Palace.It turns out that Wang Wenzuo in the East Palace was only about weight, not high position. There were still many officials in the East Palace with higher positions than him, but the crown prince directly added him as a guest of the crown prince, and sentenced him to the guards of the East Palace. It was clear that it was to suppress Wu Sansi. , Tell everyone that Wang Wenzuo is the one he believes in, the real talker of the Donggong pro-army.

Back at the residence, Wang Wenzuo told his subordinates what happened just now, and Cui Hongdu sighed: "This matter can be regarded as a blessing in disguise, but the queen's move is really insidious. She used Wu Sansi to divide Saburo's military power, which is really a hit. It hit our vital point!"

"Critical?" Wang Wenzuo laughed: "Hongdu, you are wrong, the empress is in a hurry to go to the doctor."

"Go to the doctor in a hurry?" Cui Hongdu was taken aback when he heard the words: "Why do you say that? By the way, you think that Wu Sansi is an incompetent person who can't beat you?"

"It's true that he can't beat me, but it has nothing to do with talent!" Wang Wenzuo smiled: "Even if the queen brings Han Xin, Bai Qi, and Duke Wei to the East Palace, they are not my opponents!"

"Why do you say that?" Cui Hongdu asked.

"It's very simple. All the soldiers in the East Palace want the crown prince to become emperor as soon as possible. I also hope so, so I can order and prohibit it. But if the prince ascends the throne as emperor, the queen can only go to be the empress dowager. Unlike the empress dowagers of the Han Dynasty who are in control, how can she be willing? So the people she sent can only do everything possible to oppose the prince's early enthronement as emperor, even if such people are capable, how can they be my opponents in the East Palace?"

"That's right!" Cui Hongdu clapped his palms and said with a smile: "No wonder you don't care about it, Sanlang. The queen sent his nephew to divide your power. It's really urgent to go to the doctor! If the queen wants to win, what can I do?"

"It's very simple, abolish the prince, or kill me!" Wang Wenzuo said: "The prince is our foundation. If you abolish the prince, we will have no foundation in Chang'an City. The only way out is to escape as soon as possible; if you kill me, the prince will die." If one arm is broken, the rest will be easy to handle.”

"It turned out to be like this, no wonder you sent Seventh Sister away, it turned out to be—"

"That's right, after what happened last time, I sent my wife away and moved into the East Palace by myself. I didn't leave the palace easily, just to prevent the queen from rushing to attack me and destroy me physically! As for the prince, as long as the saint returns It’s fine, so you don’t have to worry about abolishing the crown prince!” Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: “Now the queen is using Zhou Xing to kill dissidents outside, just to establish her own power in the court as much as possible, but the queen’s pocket does not have enough talents to fill the vacancy , so her top priority now is not to deal with me, but to continue the path of He Lanminzhi, and continue to use the path of Hongwenguan to cultivate books and accumulate talents. In the final analysis, politics is to occupy more positions than anyone else. It’s useless if you only know how to pull radishes, you have to know how to grow radishes, otherwise, in the end, you’ll end up making wedding dresses for others! The queen has few relatives, and she used the few available people to compete with me for the military power in the Eastern Palace. It's really a bad move!"

"So, what is our top priority now?"

"First, ensure the safety of the prince!" Wang Wenzuo said: "I will personally be responsible for the arrangement of the prince's guards of honor; second, keep abreast of the news in the palace, especially the physical condition of the saint. If there is a big problem, the Queen of the Beimen Imperial Army and the Nanya Imperial Army will not be able to move. Without soldiers, she will not be able to do big things; in the end it is me, don’t let the queen chop off my head, just ensure these three points, the final winner It must be the prince!"

"Yes, if the prince wins, we can't lose!" Cui Hongdu said the last sentence that Wang Wenzuo didn't say.

"It's good to understand!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "There is one more thing, you and Iji Lianbode, you must know how to advance and retreat. You must understand that the ten leaders of the East Palace are all thinking about the merits of the dragon. They grab credit. To put it bluntly, with me, you guys will definitely be indispensable in the end, and the opportunity to make merit must be given to others!"

"Yes, my subordinates understand!" Cui Hongdu smiled. He has been with Wang Wenzuo for many years, and he knows very well that although this person appears to be very generous, employs eclectic people, and is talented, but in fact he misses the old feelings very much, like himself, Shen Faseng, He Bayong, Yuan Aolie, Zhang Junyan, and Gu Cihang, the old brothers who came to Baekje together at the beginning, as long as their talents are passable, they will either rule a party and build a government, or they will have a lot of land and houses, and their families are wealthy. The benefits are countless.Although latecomers like Tsuneyuki Black Tooth, Ijiren Hakata, Fubi Fujiwara, and Wenzong Cao have made great achievements and talents, in fact, their power status within the group is lower than that of these old brothers.So Wang Wenzuo reassured them, and he was really relieved.

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The Ministry of Punishment, the Great Prison.

"Tell me! Hao Shilang, what did Lu Zhaolin discuss when he first met you! Also, who else is in your party?" The swaying fire light shone on Zhou Xing's face, giving this originally quite polite face a look. Casting a ferocious meaning: "Don't think that you can get away with it, other people have also been arrested, and it's useless if you don't confess!"

"Since you have already arrested everyone else, why do you care whether Hao will be recruited or not?" Hao Chujun sneered: "A cruel official like you who plays with the law, do you think you can deceive Hao?"

"Cheat?" Zhou Xing sneered: "Hao Shilang, the queen has made a decree that anyone involved in it will be charged with treason. You should know what this means, right? If you think I'm lying, it's very Alright, I'll let you go back to your cell now, and I won't come to you again in the future!"

"Wait, rebellion is a crime?" Hao Chujun was worried this time: "Zhou Xing, don't talk nonsense. I just met Lu Zhaolin once and talked about poetry and science selection. What does this have to do with rebellion?"

"Lu Zhaolin is a key figure in the treason case, who would believe you when you met him but only talked about poetry and scientific selection?" Zhou Xing sneered, "You should know the history of the treason case. What is the result of the crime, you father and son Dabi needless to say, even the three clans will be implicated, you have to think about it clearly!"

When Hao Chujun heard this, he was speechless.Even if a high-ranking official like him breaks the law, he has all kinds of forgiveness, except for the crime of treason. If you are involved in this kind of case, the emperor will not reason with you, not to mention him, even if it is Blood relatives and flesh and blood are also a dead end.As long as Zhou Xing puts his name in the list, his three clans will be completely destroyed.

"Tell me! When Lu Zhaolin talked to you that day, did you mention Wang Wenzuo? I remember that he came from Chengdu. Before Wang Wenzuo came to Chang'an, he was an official in Chengdu. The two must have known each other before?" Zhou Xing's voice It has become milder, but the ending still has a cold aftertaste, like a snake letter spit out by a poisonous snake.

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Daming Palace.

"His Majesty the Empress, these are the confessions I got from the prisoners these days!" Zhou Xing kowtowed and presented the stack of confessions in his hand.

"En!" The queen took the confession from the maid in satisfaction, and looked at Zhou Xing: "Zhou Qing has lost weight, have you worked hard these few days?"

Hearing the Queen's greeting, Zhou Xing was overjoyed, and hurriedly said: "The minister obeys His Majesty's order, so naturally he will devote himself to his errands. He spends these days in the yamen, lest he delay his official business and let the villain escape the punishment of the court. Didn't think too much about it!"

"Well, well said!" The queen nodded with satisfaction: "There is really no court minister who can be as thin and fat as Zhou Qing. It's a pity that Zhou Qing has just been promoted to Shangshu. In one month, I will promote you to be the servant of the Ministry of Punishment!"

Zhou Xing felt as if there was a thunder in his ears, and he was dizzy, so he threw himself on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly: "Thank you, Your Majesty, Your Majesty the Empress!"

The queen read the confessions while speaking, and she was satisfied to see that Wang Wenzuo was mentioned in these confessions. From these confessions, one can clearly see a conspiracy network with Wang Wenzuo as the core, the purpose of which is to kill He Lanmin. , and then abolished the queen, forced the emperor to abdicate, ascended the throne with the prince, and ruled the world with him as a puppet.Judging from the handwriting on the confession and the bloody fingerprints on the paper, Zhou Xing's method of obtaining these confessions was not very clean.But the queen didn't care. She lured her with a high official and rich salary. She didn't want a clean gentleman and a man of integrity. Although Zhou Xing's behavior was contemptible, it was really easy to use, and it would not be a pity to throw it away after it was used up.Thinking of this, she looked at Zhou Xing who was kneeling on the ground, and sneered in her heart: "A servant of the Ministry of Punishment will take care of it, Zhou Xing doesn't have much appetite this time!"

"Zhou Qing!" The queen put the confession aside: "The confession here is not detailed enough. You also know that His Highness the Crown Prince trusts Wang Wenzuo very much. If there is not enough strong evidence, there is nothing he can do. And if he knows Even if you are doing this, you will not sit idly by, do you understand?"

"Your Majesty, please rest assured!" Zhou Xing hurriedly kowtowed twice: "I will definitely make this case an iron case, leaving everyone speechless!"

"Very good!" The queen nodded with satisfaction and patted her palms lightly: "Come here, bring a jar of buttermilk that I ate yesterday and give it to Zhou Qing. He has worked hard on the case and needs to recuperate! "

"Thank you, Your Majesty the Queen!" Zhou Xing kowtowed twice, then raised his head and said loudly, with tears on his face.

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Longevity Square, the residence of Ling Jiyou.

Bang bang bang!
Hearing the knock on the door, Wang Bo dropped the book in his hand and asked loudly, "Who is it?"

"It's me!" A friend's voice came from outside, Wang Bo got up and opened the door, saw his friend's face was pale, as if half of his life had been lost, he teased: "Brother Ling, today is an hour later than yesterday , shouldn’t you be staying in the Ministry of Punishment to work overtime again? If this continues, before you get promoted, you will go to see your ancestors first!”

"Bah!" Ling Jiyou spat: "Brother Zi'an, just laugh at me! When you get selected, if you become an official and bump into a boss like Zhou Xing, you will know what it's like!"

"If I really meet this kind of boss, I won't resign?" Wang Bo said with a smile while pouring water for his friend: "What's the matter? Has he created a new case?"

"It's still the same one as before!" Ling Jiyou sat down on the bed and sighed as he took off his shoes: "But there are a lot more people in custody, the cells are full, and the cells in Chang'an County and Wannian County have been recruited. Used. Tortured day and night, transcribing confessions. You also know that the prisoners in the Ministry of Punishment are all heartless people, but even these people can't stand it any longer, but Zhou Xing can still do it all day and all night. He really has a heart of stone. I looked down on him at first, but now I admire him a little. Really, he is a bad guy, maybe he is so bad, he is so bad, it is really rare for him to have no human touch at all. !" (End of this chapter)