Yangyue

The whole hall fell into chaos, the screams of dancers and officials, the sound of tables, chairs and meals being overturned one after another.

The commander of the dry gate guard and Zuo Tongzhi Duan Rufeng turned pale with fright. Who would have expected that the dry gate guard specially set up to protect the emperor's safety and set up his eyes and ears would come out with an assassin who vainly tried to assassinate the emperor!

The emperor was splashed all over by the blood spurted out by Ding Feiyun. He looked sullen as if he was about to spew fire. He stood up from the chair and shouted angrily, "Xiao Aiqing."

Henry Zhang bowed his head: "The minister is here."

"Immediately mobilize the staff of the Duckweed Pavilion to surround the entire hall, and no one is allowed to be released. Anyone who dares to leave the banquet without authorization will be killed without mercy." To interrogate and interrogate, how could this assassin appear among my personal guards!"

"Yes."

The queen and several princes who were paralyzed from fright were sent to the side hall by the imperial physician, while the rest of the ministers and marquis were all left in the hall, all of them pale.

After some confusion, all the guards were escorted up, while the commander and Zuo Tongzhi bowed their heads and knelt in front of the emperor with solemn expressions.

Zuo Tongzhi Duan Rufeng clasped his hands and replied: "Your Majesty, I really don't know about the assassins. I am stupid. I didn't realize that You Tongzhi harbored evil intentions and tried to assassinate the Emperor. Please punish him!"

The commanding envoy also immediately replied: "Back to the emperor, what Zuo Tongzhi said is very true. I request that all the people in Beijing be recalled immediately. I will try my best to investigate this matter. Please forgive me!"

The emperor was silent for a moment, and finally issued an order: "Take back the guard tokens of the commander and Zuo Tongzhi, recall all the guards in the capital, and send them to the Criminal Division. Wait until this matter is clarified!"

The commander and Zuo Tongzhi knew that they could not completely break away from the relationship, and the right Tongzhi conspired against the vain attempt to assassinate the emperor. Fortunately, Henry Zhang made a decisive move. If he really succeeded, the consequences would be disastrous.

The two presented their tokens and sabers on their own, willing to be punished.

All the officials present couldn't help but secretly cast their eyes on Henry Zhang, who stood there quietly, like a cold but tough beauty sculpture.

After this incident, the emperor will definitely thoroughly investigate the guards from top to bottom. The emperor is suspicious by nature, not to mention how many people will be implicated, the entire guards will definitely go through a big cleansing.

And at this time, the only military authority that the emperor trusted in the court was the duckweed pavilion, not to mention that Henry Zhang escorted and killed the assassin in time.

The power of the Chaozhong Generals Group finally fell into Henry Zhang's hands.

The officials were all panicked and insecure, especially the officials who had made friends with Qianmen Youtongzhi, who were almost scared out of their wits.

Qi Zhu sat among the marquises, and since the assassination happened, he has bowed his head silently.He slowly raised his eyes, looking at the body and head of Tongzhi You who had not been taken away, with a hint of meaning in his eyes.

Henry Zhang cut open the clothes of Ding Feiyun's corpse with a knife to see if there were other weapons hidden on his body, but the moment he opened Ding Feiyun's cuffs, Henry Zhang frowned suddenly.

On the arm of Ding Feiyun's official uniform, there was a scarlet cloth, which was exactly the same as those assassins in the tavern yesterday.

Henry Zhang turned around and shouted in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, I have something to do."

The emperor ordered Xiao Yangyue to follow him to the side hall. After Xiao Yangyue reported to him that Ding Feiyun was wearing a red cloth on his arm, the emperor's expression was gloomy for a moment.

The embroidered gold dragon robe was stained with blood, and the blood splashed on the dragon, which was terrifying. The emperor said coldly: "Go on and find out the members of this assassin group, and kill them all."

"Yes."

The emperor was silent for a while, and said again: "You said that it was Xian Kunhou who was with you yesterday?"

"Yes."

"Where did Xian Kunhou go after he left the tavern yesterday? Did you send someone to follow?"

"Back to the emperor, he went straight back to the mansion without going to other places."

After being assassinated in the tavern yesterday, Henry Zhang sent two duckweed pavilion guards to quietly follow Qi Zhu, which was also a way to protect his safety. After Qi Zhu left the tavern, he went home directly.

The emperor thought for a moment: "Go down, I have my own arrangements."

Within a few days, all the guards were cleaned and searched. Ding Feiyun ransacked his family and imprisoned the nine clans. Many officials who had contacts with Ding Feiyun were sent to prison for interrogation. The whole court was panicked.

At the same time, Luping Pavilion found all kinds of martial arts classics, poisons and drugs, and weapons that had never been seen in the court system in the floor tiles of Ding Feiyun's middle bedroom in Tongzhi's mansion.

For so many years, the duckweed pavilion has secretly taken root in the martial arts for a long time, and has already established a set of intelligence network dedicated to serving the imperial court.After finding these things, Henry Zhang immediately ordered a quick search to find clues about these things.

The hearts of the officials are like mirrors. Once they are linked to the martial arts, the emperor must be very afraid. After all, the Taizu who was born in the martial arts back then also relied on such an assassin.

Some of the evidence recovered from Ding Feiyun's mansion is kept in the official mansion of Dali Temple.As the magistrate of Dali Temple, Qi Zhu could somewhat have access to those physical evidences.

That afternoon, Qi Zhu sat alone in the official mansion of Dali Temple, and what was spread out in front of him was a book found in Ding Feiyun's mansion.

That is not a secret book of martial arts, but a dictionary of the former dynasty, "Compilation of Dacheng Characters".

As early as when the third emperor of this dynasty succeeded to the throne, officials were prohibited from circulating books compiled by the previous dynasty, including historical materials, legal codes, dictionaries, etc., and this "Compilation of Dacheng Characters" is naturally included in it.

Important evidence such as martial arts skills, weapons, and poisons have been taken away by the people of the duckweed pavilion, and the rest of the unimportant but somewhat suspicious small objects are placed here, including this forbidden book.

The dictionary is very old, the pages are peeling off, and there are fingerprints everywhere. Qi can tell from looking at it one by one that this book is often read.

Why did Ding Feiyun go out of his way to hide a dictionary from the former dynasty?And why do you keep checking?

Qi Zhu gently turned the pages of the book with his fingers. Ding Feiyun must have used his fingers to point to the words on it when he was flipping through the book. Over the years, finger-shaped smudges gradually formed under the handwriting.

Qi looked at the pages one by one, and suddenly, his eyes stopped on a certain word on a certain page, and the fingerprint smudges under that word were more obvious than other words.

Qi Zhu stared at the square letter, and when he rolled his eyes, it was a little more meaningful.

Two days later, Qi Zhu came to the official residence of Dali Temple to Dianmao as usual. Several masters of Dali Temple gathered together and murmured, shaking their heads and sighing when talking about recent events.

Seeing Qi Zhu coming, everyone bowed their hands and said hello to Lord Hou. Although everyone was an official in a government, Qi Zhu's Dali Temple Chancellor was not very high-ranking, but he was already Lord Hou at a young age. It's far from being compared with their petty sense organs.

Qi Zhu sat down on the case table and asked, "What results did the criminal department find out about the assassination? These physical evidences have been kept in Dali Temple for a few days, and no one has come to ask?"

A master shook his head, and whispered: "Master Hou, all this depends on the emperor and that lord's will."

As for "that lord", it naturally refers to Xiao Yangyue, the owner of the Duckweed Pavilion.

Qi Zhu seemed to recall something, unfolded his fan, shook it, and sighed: "My lord was really decisive at that time, and beheaded You Tongzhi in front of all the emperor's officials. Tell me that after that day, he remembered the scene at that time when he ate for several days, and he was so scared that he couldn't eat and couldn't sleep well."

At this time, a figure suddenly stepped in from the open courtyard door of the Dali Temple official mansion. Qi Zhu was still talking to himself, as if he didn't notice that someone came in at all, but saw the expressions of the several masters in front of him change, and then returned. Overhead.

Henry Zhang stood by the door, looking at him calmly.

Several directors bowed their heads and greeted each other, but Qi Zhu was leisurely and in no hurry. Although Xiao Yangyue held the power of the court military general group, in terms of status, he still had to salute with himself, a super-class Marquis first.

It's a pity that Xiao Yangyue was born in martial arts, and has always been cold-tempered and unapproachable. She didn't follow that set, and just said lightly: "The emperor has a decree, please come to the imperial study."

Several masters looked at Qi Zhu in fear, the latter raised his eyebrows slightly, stood up unhurriedly, straightened his clothes, and said with a smile: "Then please trouble the master to lead the way."

Speaking of leading the way, Henry Zhang didn't like to walk in front of unfamiliar people, so he slowly followed behind Qi Zhu's side.

Although Qi Zhu was in a family of civil servants, he was tall and straight, with slender arms and legs. He had just walked through the gate of the official mansion. Henry Zhang roughly measured the height of the standard porch, and Qi Zhu's length was about six feet plus three feet. About an inch, a little taller than Henry Zhang.

It is very rare for a person who does not practice martial arts to have such a length.

Qi Zhu asked abruptly: "Why does the emperor seek me?"

Xiao Yangyue replied lightly: "The assassination has something to do with the assassin in the tavern in the city that day. Lord Hou was also there at that time, and the emperor wanted to inquire personally."

Qi Zhu smiled lightly, but did not answer.

The two came to the imperial study room, the emperor was sitting by the imperial case, with a stack of memorials on the table, and several eunuchs stood around.After Henry Zhang brought Qi Zhu, he stood by the door.

As Henry Zhang said, the emperor asked about the ins and outs of Qi Zhu's encounter with the assassin in the tavern that day, and Qi answered one by one. As for whether it was "truthful", perhaps only he himself knew.

After the questioning, the emperor rewarded Qi Zhu with some supplements so that he could retire.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for the reward." Qi Zhu was silent for a while, then suddenly said, "I have something else to tell you."

The emperor: "Qi Aiqing said so bluntly."

"I have the guts to look through the "Dacheng Character Compilation" found from You Tongzhi's home in Dali Temple, hoping that the emperor will forgive me." Qi Zhu said in a deep voice, "I found some clues in this forbidden book."

Henry Zhang raised his eyes and stared at Qi Zhu.

If it were any other Wenzhi emperor, Qi Zhu would be convicted even if he was an official of Dali Temple if he read the forbidden books without authorization.But the current emperor doesn't care too much about these things. Qi Zhu probably made up his mind that the emperor will not punish him, so he dared to say so grandly.

Sure enough, the emperor heard the words, frowned and said: "Go on."

"I found that the dictionary had been read for a long time and many times, and there were smudges caused by pressing fingers on the bottom of many handwritings." Qi Zhudao, "I read the entire book and found that there are a few words. The smudges of the words are much more obvious than other words, and they must be left by frequent pressing with fingers."

"What word?"

Qi Zhu said loudly, "It's the emperor's name!"

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In the future, the measurement unit of "foot" may be used, because the standards of different dynasties in ancient times were not uniform, and a foot was about [-] centimeters, so this article will count it as [-] centimeters