I'm watching the gate in the jail

The prosperous place of Jinling, the stone city of the Six Dynasties.

Outside the Taiping Gate of Yingtian Mansion in the Ming Empire, there is a vast water area with vast mist and picturesque scenery.

In the Qin Dynasty, it was called "Moling Lake" in ancient times, and later it was also called "Zhongshan Lake" and "Hou Lake".In the period of the Six Dynasties, because Jiankang was the capital, the lake was in the north of the city, and among the four gods, the north belonged to "Xuanwu", so the lake was later called "Xuanwu Lake".

This place is a place with clear water and long fields, covering picturesque places of interest.There are five small islands in the lake, known as "Five Continents".

According to legend, both Prince Zhaoming and Empress Li once lived on the small island in the lake and recited words.As a result, countless literati and poets in the past dynasties fell in love, and left poems of praise one after another.

In the generation of Hongwu Emperor Lao Zhu, the name of Xuanwu Lake was changed back to "Houhu".Not only was his name changed, he was also completely isolated from the world.

From the 14th year of Hongwu to the year when the Ming Dynasty perished, this charming lake and the five charming islands on the lake completely broke away from the fate of a "scenic spot" and became a place for management and storage of Ming Dynasty. Towards the general archives of the national household registration yellow book and topographic fish scale map.

What overturned Zhoushan, Jilongshan; what Yingzhou, Liangzhou; what Jiangnan love, literati show, in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, no matter how beautiful the scenery, no matter how profound the history, no matter how gorgeous the poems are, they are not worth what he needs. A place that is isolated from the world and can prevent water leakage is used to store the Atlas of the World.

The Houhu area can be said to be the first forbidden area of ​​the Ming Dynasty, even more so than the Forbidden City.

Starting from the 14th year of Hongwu, Houhu Lake will only be opened to the public once every ten years, when the yellow book is cleared.At that time, the yellow books and fish scale pictures transported to the Ministry of Households from all over the country will be escorted into the Houhu Lake of Nanjing after offering sacrifices to heaven and earth, for verification, registration and storage.

On weekdays, if it weren't for the lake officials and lake servants of Houhu, and the Nanjing Imperial College supervisors who were in charge of checking the yellow book, ordinary people and officials would never approach the Houhu area without imperial edicts and transfer orders.

Although the state government is eligible to apply for access to the yellow book, it is used for litigation and investigation purposes.However, very few people have been approved to enter the island over the years, and it is time-consuming and labor-intensive. Often the cases are withdrawn, and the procedure has not yet been completed.

Qiu Zijin lay bitterly on the table, couldn't help but took out a candied fruit box from his bosom, took out a sour plum, and threw it into his mouth.Suddenly the sour face was distorted, looking even more pitiful.

Eight days ago, Wanda Feige sent a letter and wrote a heartfelt letter, asking his dear brother-in-law of the emperor for permission to enter the back lake.

It has been nine days today, and there is still no carrier pigeon to fly back from the imperial city.

Qiu Zijin lay down by the window of the post station every day, looking at the sky eagerly, and the passing birds almost fell from his sight.

It stands to reason that each state capital should have a copy of the yellow book of the state, and the government office of Huizhou Prefecture is next to the county government office in Shexian County, so they don't have to look far away.

However, in the flood 23 years ago, the entire She County was almost submerged, and the government office of the state government collapsed when the flood passed due to years of disrepair.Today's Huizhou government office was newly built 20 years ago.

After the flood receded, the officials returned to the yamen to save their property, and finally found the official seals, but the various documents were basically ten to eight or nine, and there was nowhere to check them.

Since then, County Magistrate Sun was promoted to the Ministry of Household Affairs in Nanjing because of his meritorious service in water control.

However, the magistrate at that time was considered incompetent by the court for disaster relief, so he was dispatched to the north.

No one could have imagined that the final end of these two officials was to end up together, and they all died in foreign countries.

But just looking through the archives, you can also feel the thrill of the flood.

"The carrier pigeon is back."

At this moment, Wanda came in beaming with a big fat white pigeon in his arms. Qiu Zijin stood up abruptly, his eyes sparkling.

"Let's see, what did His Majesty write... 'cheap'?"

Wanda took off the small bamboo tube on the pigeon's feet, opened the sealing wax, looked at the two short words on the thin note, and fell into deep thought.

I spent my whole life writing a small composition of [-] characters in traditional Chinese characters, and almost exhausted the pigeons. In the end, His Majesty replied me with a "cheap"?

What about my brother-in-law scolding me?

"It's not 'cheap', it's 'cheap'."

Yang Xiuxian shook his head helplessly, "It is said that Commander Han Yong and Bai Guishangshu, who went to Jingxiang to hang the thief, wrote to His Majesty on the front line. When they asked about the strategy of the thief, His Majesty both replied A word. It means 'will be outside, everything will be done'."

Last month, Bai Shangshu and Fu Ningbo led an army to quell the Jingxiang Rebellion, captured Liu Qianjin alive, killed [-] enemies, and captured more than [-] bandits.Coupled with Han Yong's previous victory in Guangxi, the Southwest Rebellion was almost completely put down.

All of this is of course the result of the generals being brave and strategic, leading the army to fight bravely.However, it has a lot to do with Zhu Jianshen's daring, good use of generals, and willingness to delegate power.

If it was his overjoyed father, he might be pointing fingers at this time, or he would go to the west again...

The emperor asked the two great commanders to "act cheaply", because they had soldiers and food in their hands, and they had already prepared strategic plans in their stomachs, and they were just waiting to explode.

And he replied to Wanda with "do it cheaply"...

Wanda scratched his head and couldn't think of any "cheap" support for him. Could it be that he can "clean his face" when he arrives in Houhu?

"No matter what, since His Majesty already knows, why don't I go to Xuanwu Lake first, and then slowly map it? Otherwise, I will be trapped here, and I will be helpless."

Yang Xiuxian suggested.

In the past few days, Wanda took a few of them, almost from door to door, and ran all over the city of She County. Although they have found some clues related to this case, they must rely on the records in the atlas to proceed. Comparison.

Otherwise, the centuries-old grievances between these two families, just talking about it, without black and white evidence as evidence, is definitely not enough to convince the public.

Fortunately, Nanjing is not far from She County, so they gave up sailing and rode northward on horseback, and arrived at Yingtianfu in Nanjing three days later.

After almost a month of tossing, the time has come to mid-May.

The day I arrived at the inspection hall at Huhukou, Houhukou, Taiping Gate, no more, no less, was exactly the [-]th of May.

The ancestral system stipulates that only the first and sixth day of each month can "cross the lake".People outside rowed boats to send up the supplies needed on the island.The people inside can also come out to take turns to rest and rest.

On other days, don't say that someone on the island is sick.

Even if it is dead and smelly, you have to wait for the day of "crossing the lake" before moving the body out of the island.Doctors and so on can't go up at all.

"This... It's not that Miscellaneous Family is deliberately embarrassing the adults. There are no documents and tokens, so we can't make decisions."

Wanda did not expect that the person in charge of the keys and gates of Houhu would be an eunuch.

The so-called "Houhu garrison eunuch" is very good, it is very "Ming".

"Eunuch, do you know who I am?"

Wanda pointed to his face, and said a famous line to strike up a conversation, "Have my father-in-law and I met somewhere? Why do we look familiar?"

"Uncle Xiaoguo, of course the miscellaneous family knows you. The miscellaneous family used to work with Eunuch Wynn, and was only transferred to Nanjing half a year ago. He also served the empress in the past. It's not surprising that you look familiar. "

The old eunuch surnamed Chen looked puzzled.

To be honest, he would rather not know this "Uncle Xiao Guo" in front of him.Offending him is no better than directly offending His Majesty and Empress.

"You know who I am, and you still won't let me go? Good father-in-law, just hold your hand high, if you keep on going, it will be dark!"

Wanda pointed anxiously at the gloomy sky outside and said.

Before coming, he heard Qiu Zijin and Yang Xiuxian mention a few rumors about this "Houhu Archives Room".

In order to prevent excessive fire from affecting precious documents, once it is dark on this huge island, it is not allowed to burn fires, nor is it allowed to light lamps.

If you can't get in before dark, even if you go to the island, your eyes will be dark.

Not to mention that if you can't go up today, the next time you "cross the lake", you will have to wait another five days until the 21st to go up.

You must know that time waits for no one, brother-in-law.

To be honest, as Wanda, who regards the inner city of the Forbidden City as his half home, before arriving at the Taiping Gate, he never imagined that it is so heavily guarded.

I thought to myself that although I have never been to the "Xuanwu Lake Park" in Nanjing in the future, isn't it just a big lake surrounded by mountains?

After coming here and witnessing it with my own eyes, I realized how pragmatic and reckless Grandpa Zhu Yuanzhang was.

The fire gate where he is standing now, and the tall wall where his left and right eyes go out, is also called "Taiping Embankment".

The high and steep city walls cut off the border between Jilong Mountain and Zhongshan Mountain, and blocked the possibility of someone entering the Houhu Lake from the mountains on both sides.

Not to mention the boundary stones stretching along the lake, Zhu Yuanzhang also sent people to repair the sluice gate, blocking the possibility of entering the back lake from the Qinhuai River.

As a result, both land and water routes were cut off, and the Taiping Gate became the only entrance to the Houhu Lake.

Of course, the scenery of lakes and mountains, the sparkling water, the luxuriant grass, the fragrance of lotus root flowers - there is nothing in the military restricted area.

The residents were driven away, the paddy fields were dug up, and the lotus flowers were pulled out.

If it weren't for the endless fish and shrimps in the lake, Comrade Zhu Yuanzhang really wanted to turn this place into a biological forbidden zone.

There are no bridges on the lake, so you must enter by boat from the Taiping Gate.

There are twelve official ships docked outside the Taiping Gate, and they are usually sealed.Only on the "one" and "six" days, the official ship will be pulled into the door, the seal will be released, and the mission will be carried out.

Wanda squinted her eyes, watching groups of people patrolling along the lake and training soldiers.All of them are military-looking and clean-up, with strong backs.

And I heard from the eunuch just now that there are still people rowing boats to patrol the lake at night to prevent illegal people from sneaking into the lake.

In short, there is no serious identity certificate, and the vouchers and documents are consulted. If you want to enter the island on the lake, you must either fly in as a bird or swim in as a carp.

The so-called "surrounded by patrols and forbidden, Zhongzhou guards the thoroughfare" describes this place cut off from the sun, without the slightest exaggeration.

And even if you are on the island, if you want to open the yellow book storehouse and take out the book you are looking for, it will be another procedure...

"So, my brother-in-law told me to 'act cheaply', how did I 'cheap'?"

Watching the sun set little by little, and today's "crossing the lake" is coming to an end, Wanda scratched her head anxiously.

"That...Uncle Xiaoguo, excuse me for asking too much, how did you get into the university on weekdays?"

Eunuch Chen tilted his head and blinked at Wanda.

"Into the palace? Of course it was Eunuch Tan or Eunuch Wynn who took me in...ah!"

Suddenly, Wanda had a flash of inspiration and clapped his hands violently.

token!The token given to him by the emperor's brother-in-law!

When he came back from Guangxi last time, he made his own claim and brought Xiao Wang straight into the palace.Although he was not led by the two eunuchs, but only with tokens, the Imperial Forest Army and gatekeepers still let him in.

This thing is so precious that Wanda always takes it with him wherever he goes.

He hastily opened his half-open coat, untied the token that was tied to his belt and tied with the purse that his sister sewed by himself, and put it in front of Eunuch Chen.

"Your Majesty, long live, long live, long live, long live, long live."

At the moment when he saw the token, Eunuch Chen raised his hands high, shouted long live, and kowtowed three times to Wanda respectfully.

In the inspection hall, apart from Yang Xiuxian and Qiu Zijin, all the other soldiers, officials, and yamen servants knelt down and saluted.

Wanda opened his mouth wide, looking at the token in his hand, which was only half the size of a palm.

In the past, I only knew that this piece of Guanfang carved with dragons and painted phoenixes could allow me to enter the Forbidden City. So it turned out that it actually represented the emperor's own visit. Is it such a useful "big treasure"?

"If you don't write a letter this time and get His Majesty's approval, see if you can use this 'big treasure' next time..."

To say that Yang Xiuxian is simply a roundworm in Wanda's stomach, when he saw Wanda holding up the badge and smiling so blindly, he immediately came over and poured a pot of seeds on his little brain that was just about to start "random delusions". cold water.

Wanda seemed to be a big fat cat whose nape had been pinched, its tail that had just been raised was dragging lazily on the floor, and it gave a weak sweep twice as a response.

"It's just that this token can only allow one of you adults to go to the island..."

"Let me go."

Qiu Zijin took a step forward.

"It will be Shen Shi in a while. This is the last boat entering the lake. Please come to me, my lord."

Wanda carefully stuffed the token into Qiu Zijin's palm, and handed him a large bag of luggage, "Go. I heard that the lake is very cold and there is little to eat. You must take care of yourself. Don't It's cold."

"Well, Master Wan, thank you for your kindness."

Qiu Zijin jumped onto the boat with his bundle in his arms, and nodded to Wanda.

"Five days later, we will wait for you to come out here. You have to work hard!"

The boat rode the ripples and headed for the depths of the lake, Wanda shouted loudly in Qiu Zijin's direction.

"Where are we going these five days?"

A few people walked out of the Taiping Gate, looking at the streets and alleys of the bustling Yingtianfu, Wanda stretched a lot.

Xiaoqiu went to work, and they were about to start their work.

"My lord, do you still remember that there is an 'old friend' of ours in Nanjing?"

Yang Xiuxian thought for a while, "How about we go to Xiaoling to visit him?"

The eunuch Niu Yuniu, who was implicated by the empress Wu and relegated by Zhu Jianshen to grow vegetables in Xiaoling, is not in the suburbs of Nanjing.

It is said that the eunuch Niu had served the Queen Mother Zhou back then, and he served the grumpy old lady comfortably.

So far, there is no maid in Renshou Palace who is worthy of the Queen Mother Zhou's favor.

According to the content in the mansion newspaper, Empress Dowager Qian's health has not been very good since the opening of the Spring Festival. Although she welcomed her first grandson at the beginning of the year, she is still in good spirits.

But her body had been tortured to the brink of death during the years of waiting for the return of "Beishu"'s husband.Now it is worse than a year.

After the first emperor ascended the throne again, she resumed her title of empress, and Zhu Qizhen didn't feel sorry for his blind and lame wife.

But during his long life in captivity, he and the concubine Zhou at that time faced each other day and night for more than eight years, and gave birth to Zhu Jianze, so it was inevitable that they became closer.

Empress Dowager Qian was a virtuous woman all her life, but she had nothing to show for her, and her knees were empty.Although she has no intention of fighting, the Queen Mother Zhou has never planned to let her go for so many years. Whenever there is a chance, she will press on every step of the way.

After the Taihang Emperor passed away, the Empress Dowager Zhou joined forces with the eunuch Xia Shi to falsely pass on the decree and respect her Zhou family as the Empress Dowager alone, completely ignoring the existence of Yingzong's original wife, the serious queen Qian Shi.

Finally, under the obstruction of Ge Lao Li Xian and others, the sole respect of the Queen Mother of Zhou was changed to the second queen's respect. The old lady was so angry that she scolded the emperor for being unfilial and the ministers for being disloyal. .

Now that Empress Dowager Qian is not in good health, Empress Dowager Zhou's fighting spirit has somehow started to burn again.According to Eunuch Qin Chang's guess, the empress dowager meant that she did not want to be buried with Emperor Taihang after her death...

"It's really an old lady who can make troubles. It's not right, isn't it as old as my sister, and it's not very old."

Wanda felt infinite sympathy for the emperor's brother-in-law.

Even the emperor can't choose who will be his own mother.

This old lady is determined to bully her concubine, and she wants to step on the Empress Dowager Sun everywhere.

But seeing her son doting favor on Concubine Wan Gui, abolishing her favorite Empress Wu Shi, and the eldest son of a concubine called Wan Shi, I feel that it is appropriate for His Majesty the Emperor to discriminate between concubines and concubines. Double standard.

"In this world, maybe only Eunuch Niu can guess what the Queen Mother is thinking."

If possible, Wanda didn't want to confront this empress dowager at all.

But if he wanted to keep his sister and protect His Majesty the eldest son of the emperor, he had to face up to the difficulties.

Wanda has always been holding a big stone in his heart. He vaguely remembers that the eldest son and sister of the emperor in history did not end well.

But since he can use his golden finger to save Wang Zhi, then it should be possible to keep the most expensive mother and child in the world away from danger, right?

"This, how can this be done?"

Facing the majestic Yellow Book Warehouse, which occupied three full warehouses, each with more than 20 bookshelves, Qiu Zijin said dumbfounded.

"Here, is this just the yellow book and fish scale map of Huizhou Prefecture?"

"Yeah, it's actually less than [-] volumes."

The person in charge of sorting out the collections in Huizhou was a supervisor of Nanjing Guozijian, surnamed Lin.

Although he was seven or eight years older than Qiu Zijin, when he saw Xiao Qiu, he could only bow to him and call him master.

Like Qiu Zijin, who was studying in Beijing Guozijian, the students of Nanjing Guozijian also need to go to the Yamen to "record events".

This Houhu library is an important practice place for the students of Nanjing Guozijian.

On the five small islands of this back lake, every ten years, fifty supervisors will go to the island to check, register and sort out the yellow book, and carry out a three-month history.

In addition to supervisors, lake officials, and hundreds of servants on the island, they have to turn over the yellow books and maintain each storehouse on a daily basis to ensure that these precious materials are free from snakes, rats, ants and moisture.

"There are more than 1 volumes. I want to find the ones in Shexian County from among the more than 1 volumes..."

Any bookshelf here is as tall as two Qiu Zijins.The bookshelf is divided into three layers, and each layer is densely packed with booklets.

Thinking of finding two unremarkable books from this sea of ​​books, Qiu Zijin was about to explode.

"My lord, let's go out first. It's getting dark, and the island can't light the lights. If we don't leave, it will really be dark. No matter what work we have, we can only come back tomorrow morning."

Lin Jiansheng told Qiu Zijin to leave as soon as possible, they were going to Huanzhou by boat, there was no book storage there, they could light a fire for cooking.

Qiu Zijin followed Lin Jiansheng back to the boat, stepping on the wooden boards covered with yellow sand to prevent rat infestation. When he left, he turned his head frequently and kept looking at the bookshelves.

"Don't worry, my lord. This library seems to be cumbersome. In fact, it is indexed step by step according to the order of "Heaven, Earth, Xuanhuang" in "Thousand Characters". You only need to know which chief secretary you are looking for and which department you are in." Fuzhou County, Lifang, Duhetu. Naturally, the villain has a way to help you find it."

On Huanzhou, this is the place where the officials, handymen, and soldiers who work in Houhu on weekdays rest.Because this place is isolated from the world, they generally cannot get in touch with outsiders, and they all expressed curiosity about Qiu Zijin's arrival.

It was even more surprising to hear that he was already an inspector censor at such a young age, and that he came to the island in person this time to investigate the case.

"My lord, eat."

Seeing Qiu Zijin holding the porridge bowl without moving his chopsticks, Lin Jiansheng said a little embarrassedly, "Does your lord think this food is unpalatable? No way, there are three fears for the books on the back lake - one is afraid of fire, and the other is afraid of moisture , Three fears of mice. The food we eat every day is sent to the island every few days according to our personal share. We are afraid that if there is leftover food overnight, it will attract mice. So it’s all about ‘wearing your head as a hat’.”

These people didn't expect that there would be one more person coming out of the island, so naturally they didn't prepare his food.Fortunately, today is the first day of "Crossing the Lake", and there is enough food, so if everyone saves a bite, there will be an extra bowl.

If you want to eat well, then there is no more.

Even though they could light lamps and cook on Huanzhou, they still didn't dare to bring in wine and meat.I'm afraid that if I get too angry, it will spread to the surroundings.

What I eat every day is just ordinary porridge.Surrounded by water, there is nowhere to go for a toothbrush.

Now it was night, and the lake breeze came out, Qiu Zijin, who was only wearing thin spring clothes, couldn't help shivering, regretting that he didn't put on his clothes.

On this small island surrounded by water and thick with humidity, at night, it is so cold and damp as if returning to winter, making people forget that it is already the turn of spring and summer.

I really can't imagine how these people survived the cold winter.

Qiu Zijin put down the bowl, took out some pastries from his luggage, and put them on the table.

"I don't know if I can't bring food to the island... Please help me eat these cakes. Don't really recruit mice and make a big mistake."

Originally, this matter was used by Lord Wan for tooth-making sacrifices, so I should distribute it to these people, after all, I have eaten other people's rations.

"Hey, I haven't seen such an exquisite dim sum for a long time."

"Then thank you, Lord Qiu."

Several servants came over and were overjoyed to see this rare delicacy on the island.After thanking Qiu Zijin, he carefully opened it, divided it and ate it.

It may be that the pastry is too delicious, or it may be that the mouse is really afraid of the sweet taste of the pastry. These people ate without leaving any crumbs.

Qiu Zijin picked up the porridge bowl again, his thin body was shivering from the cold.

He had no taste for this simple meal, and the bedding and mattresses on the island, because they were covered with moisture and dew all the year round, could not feel the slightest heat even if they covered him.

Qiu Zijin spent his first night on the island tossing and turning, hungry and unable to sleep.

After that, every meal on the island was basically passed in this way.

And the closer to the next "crossing the lake" day, the less food left.Most of the more than 100 big men on the island are craftsmen who do manual work, and they cannot bear such a heavy workload without enough food.

In the last two days, Qiu Zijin couldn't bear to lose his face, so he simply said that he was not feeling well and skipped all the meals.

And this time Qiu Zijin's luck was not very good. After going to the island for several days, the lake was rainy and the light was very dim.

Although with the help of Lin Jiansheng the next day, he found the location of the Shexian Fish Scale Atlas.

However, because the atlas cannot be taken away from Houhu at will, he can only take advantage of the time when the sky is the best every day, and use a pen and paper to copy the mountain terrain map on the fish scale map little by little.Before the sky completely darkened, leave the library, and come back to paint the next morning.

On May 21, when Wanda and others came back from Xiaoling to visit Niu Yu, they stood in the inspection hall of the Taiping Gate and saw Qiu Zijin, who was constantly coughing, had a high fever, did not eat well, and was thin and out of shape. It's so distressing that I can't add it.

"Then you are the one who works like this? Are you going to lose your life!"

In the inn, Wanda scolded and helped him up to drink medicine.

"What did your lord say? When your lord was investigating the case before, you were injured several times. They are all loyal to the country, so what complaints can you have. Cough, cough, cough..."

With a pale face, Qiu Zijin took the medicine bowl and drank the bitter juice in one gulp.

Then he hurriedly took out a piece of plum candy from the box next to the bed and threw it into his mouth to relieve the bitterness.

"What kind of broken yamen is this? There are still yamen in the world that don't allow people to eat. It's unreasonable."

Wanda helped him to sleep, tucked the quilt for him, and said comfortingly, "Sleep at ease, when you wake up, you can eat the meals I cooked. Today I will make sweet and sour pork for you, and my mother chicken soup."

Qiu Zijin nodded, rubbed the dry and warm quilt, and fell asleep in a daze.

Wanda packed up the medicine bowl, and was about to turn around and go out when she heard Qiu Zijin's sleepy chatter from inside the tent.

Wanda paused.

Yang Xiuxian and Gao Hui were standing on both sides of the door. After hearing this, both of them were shocked.

Wanda came out and looked at them, doubting her ears.

"He said, 'Mother, don't hit me', 'Mother, don't deny me food'..."

After speaking, the three looked at each other.