The Ming Dynasty started with caution

"Your Majesty, the traitor Bai Lian is in the East Palace, serving as your companion."

Xiao Jing was panting, not caring that Emperor Hongzhi was resting, and walked into the Qianqing Palace and went straight to the imperial couch.

No one can control the prince except your majesty,

Although the factory guards have been sent to the East Palace to arrest the companion named Wang Ziran.

But if the prince stops, it will be difficult to deal with.

So, he came to the Qianqing Palace to report without stopping.

Emperor Hongzhi slept very lightly, and the slightest strange sound would wake him up.

He suddenly shuddered, sat up in a dream, turned his eyes slightly, and asked in succession: "Hidden in the East Palace? Did the prince hide it himself?"

Xiao Jing told the whole story without leaking a single drop.

He was worried about this face,

The eunuchs in the palace were all supervised by the Silijian.

As the eunuch in charge of the Silijian, the thief was sent to the East Palace, and he didn't know it at all.

Not to mention, he is also the head of the East Factory, and is the eyes and ears of His Majesty.

Emperor Hongzhi took a deep breath,

Although the prince was not deeply involved, even if he was not deeply involved, he could not bring his murderous enemy to the palace!

This is not stupidity, this is a brain disease!

Today, Wang Ji must let Zhu Houzhao, this evil son, take a look at his brain.

"It is also good to bring him back to the palace, so that we can find out the whereabouts of the remaining White Lotus. The court has cleared it many times, but it cannot be completely destroyed after all."

Zhu Houzhao was born by me after all, and I can't belittle him too much in front of outsiders.

Emperor Hongzhi had the idea of ​​thoroughly investigating the White Lotus Sect.

He lifted the quilt and stood up, put on the crown robe, and walked quickly towards the East Palace.

"Call the cabinet and the nine ministers."

The little eunuch hurried to report, notified the various government offices in the palace, and summoned the nine ministers to the East Palace.

The small courtyard of the cabinet,

Going to the East Palace must be related to the prince. His Majesty has always avoided outsiders when teaching the prince.

Liu Jian stroked his beard and asked, "Why did you summon the nine ministers to teach the prince a lesson this time?"

The little eunuch: "Your Highness turned the remnants of Bai Lian into eunuchs."

Liu Jian and Li Dongyang suddenly realized.

Your Majesty asked them to go, and he must want all the departments to work together to thoroughly investigate the whereabouts of Bai Lian.

Bai Lian is like a fishbone, stuck in the throat of the court. If it is not pulled out, the whole body will feel uncomfortable. But there is no definite news, and there is no way to start to eliminate it.

Now it seems that Bai Lian assassinated the prince, but it is a good thing.

"Let's go, let's go to the East Palace first."

Yan Chengjin received the summons from Emperor Hongzhi and walked towards the East Palace with steady steps.

Wang Shouren guessed well, but he never expected that Zhu Houzhao would dare to turn people into eunuchs and keep them by his side.

When he arrived at the East Palace, Emperor Hongzhi was already sitting on the throne in the main hall.

The six ministers stood on both sides, and three people from the cabinet had not come.

The Jinyiwei attacked from both sides and captured a eunuch.

This eunuch had a knot in his throat, and it was obvious that he was not castrated since childhood.

Zhu Houzhao knelt at the feet of Emperor Hongzhi, and his clothes were rotten, like whip marks.

Obviously, His Majesty had exercised.

"Has the cabinet not come yet?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the golden brick road is slippery, and Mr. Liu is old and walks slowly." Xiao Jing reported in a low voice.

"It doesn't matter, it won't be too late to wait for Mr. Liu to come."

All the officials were silent, not daring to plead for Zhu Houzhao.

It has been more than ten days since the prince was attacked.

Li Dongyang and the other two came late, walked into the main hall, saluted Emperor Hongzhi, and stood aside.

Only Bai Lian could be personally interrogated by His Majesty.

Since the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Bai Lian has caused headaches for emperors of all dynasties, just like cell division, with many branches, which lasted until the Qing Dynasty.

In the history of the Ming Dynasty, every emperor hated Bai Lian.

The most ruthless one was Zhu Di, who killed many people in Shandong in order to eliminate the rebellion.

Emperor Hongzhi had no time to teach Zhu Houzhao a lesson.

He looked at Wang Ziran with burning eyes: "Tell me where the thief is, and I can spare your life."

When Wang Ziran saw the current emperor and the officials, he began to cry.

He was the only child in his family. Before entering Beijing, he had never thought of becoming a eunuch.

Before becoming a member of the White Lotus Sect, he had been "fishing" in Poyang Lake.

"My lotus was carved not long ago. Before entering Beijing, I was a lone lake pirate. I have never seen the thief of the White Lotus."

The White Lotus has a great reputation in the streets, and many people know it.

Wang Ziran certainly knows it too.

Qin Hong stepped forward and glanced at the lotus in Wang Ziran's hand: "Your Majesty, it was indeed carved with a sharp weapon not long ago, and it has only scabbed.

However, the number of lotus petals is wrong. The lotus of the White Lotus should have three petals, and it should be shaped like a flame."

When he was the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi in Guangdong, he had seen people who caught the White Lotus.

The officials had different expressions.

I'm afraid this person has been fooled and doesn't even know that he is a fake Bai Lian.

If he is fake, it means that someone else wants to murder the prince.

Emperor Hongzhi began to worry.

"Who sent you?"

"I really don't know. The man said he would give me five thousand taels, so I accepted it."

The reason why Wang Ziran dared to accept it was because after making a fortune, he could go out to sea as a pirate without fear of being hunted down by the court.

Yan Chengjin kept his head down.

Zhu Houzhao beat up Prince Ning in Liangxiang. Could it be that Prince Ning wanted revenge?

Emperor Hongzhi looked at Yan Chengjin: "This matter will be investigated by the Censorate for me."

"I dare not..." Yan Chengjin uttered three words after careful consideration.

Li Dongyang and others showed contempt. You really shirked your responsibility again.

Emperor Hongzhi had a stern face: "But is there any difficulty?"

"To be honest with you, Your Majesty, since Wang Shouren told me that Your Highness brought the thief into the palace, I have been investigating, but I have not found any trace."

It is false that there is no trace, and it is true that it is inconvenient to investigate thoroughly.

It was done by Prince Ning.

This is just his guess, and there is no definite evidence.

Wang Ziran was deceived several times and could not get anything out of him.

Identifying a prince is different from impeaching a minister. If it fails to accuse Prince Ning of rebellion, it will be slandering the royal family and he will be beheaded.

He does not have enough evidence to bring down Prince Ning.

After taking this case, he must give an explanation to His Majesty.

Emperor Hongzhi's tone was unquestionable: "Then you investigate, I will order the factory guards to assist you."

Investigating Bai Lian is not something that can be done by one government office.

When encountering a major case, it is usually investigated by the three judicial departments.

Emperor Hongzhi saw Yan Chengjin's impeachment and knew the inspection ability of the Censorate.

This kid did not dare to agree because he was not sure enough.

Yan Chengjin's face was dark. Since the three yamen were to be coordinated, he accepted the order.

Emperor Hongzhi waved his hand to signal the ministers to leave, but he stayed in the East Palace.

He knew what His Majesty would do next without thinking.

Back at the Censorate,

Yan Chengjin sat in front of the desk, on which Yang Tinghe's family files were placed.

"Even the six ministers and Li Dongyang and others did not know Zhu Houzhao's specific movements.

The only people in the palace who knew Zhu Houzhao's movements were the factory guards and the Zhanshi Mansion.

If Zhu Houzhao did not go to Minglun Hall, Yang Tinghe would know that he had left the palace."

So, he decided to start with Yang Tinghe.

Zhanshi Mansion,

Yang Tinghe heard from the censor that Yan Chengjin was looking through his family files, and he was uneasy.

Ever since he received the generous gift from Prince Ning, he was always worried that he would be impeached.

Today, Emperor Hongzhi ordered all officials to conduct a thorough investigation, which made him more determined to sever his relationship as soon as possible.

If he took the initiative to be honest with His Majesty, it would be a disgrace to his reputation.

With your majesty's magnanimous character, he was not punished.

He put on his black hat and walked towards the Fengtian Hall.

When he entered the hall, the cabinet and the nine ministers were all there.

"Your Majesty, I received the gift from Prince Ning."

Emperor Hongzhi opened his mouth slightly.

Yang Tinghe quickly added: "Prince Ning said that he admired my literary talent and gave me five paintings and a piece of jade paperweight, etc. I have returned them all."