Chapter 171: The Imperial Household

In the quiet garden path, Mr. Feng stood on the gravel road and looked at Chen Ji with interest: "How did you guess it?"

Chen Ji thought for a moment and said, "When Mr. Feng came to Cuiyun Lane earlier, he first asked who was the commander of the Tiger Armored Cavalry. This shows that this guard is not under your control, and you are very concerned about who their new commander will be."

Mr. Feng was amused: "Then why should I kill General Qian?"

Chen Ji looked directly at Mr. Feng and said, "Because you are such a smart person, you don't like things to be beyond your control."

Without waiting for Mr. Feng to speak, he continued to analyze seriously, "The leader of the Tiger Armored Cavalry was originally General Zhou, but now it has been replaced by General Qian... I guess this is also your doing. You used a trick to get rid of General Zhou. You originally thought that by getting rid of General Zhou, you could control this personal guard, but you didn't expect that Elder Liu didn't choose you, but gave it to General Qian instead."

Mr. Feng gradually stopped smiling and said nonchalantly, "Then do you know that being too smart is not good?"

Chen Ji said sincerely: "As long as it is useful to Mr. Feng, it will be fine."

Mr. Feng patted him on the shoulder and said, "Young man, remember this. The promise I made to you in Longwangtun will be valid forever. Imperial Doctor Yao and the others will stay in this palace. If you can help me kill General Qian within one day, they will live. If you can't do it, you will have to wait to collect their bodies."

Chen Ji was unwilling to take the risk of several lives, but he had to. Mr. Feng was unscrupulous, inciting civil unrest and killing his own people to seize power. There was nothing he couldn't do.

If he doesn't accept it, Zhang Zhuo, his master and others will really die.

Chen Ji took a deep breath and said firmly: "Okay, I will go kill General Qian."

Mr. Feng smiled and said, "This General Qian is a master of the Xiantian realm. He is always accompanied by a hundred cavalry guards. It is not easy to kill him."

Chen Ji frowned and asked, "What kind of official career does he have?"

Mr. Feng shook his head: "I don't know either. This is a soldier that my master has raised for many years and has always kept as a treasure."

Chen Ji thought for a moment and said, "The matter of seizing power must be very important to Mr. Feng. Why not let Jiang Yan put on a suit of armor and act with me? This way we will be more confident."

Mr. Feng laughed: "Jiang Yan has his own things to do and has no time to help you. If you want Doctor Yao and your fellow apprentices to survive, you have to find a way yourself."

After that, he turned around and walked towards Jing'an Palace with his hands behind his back: "Follow me, I wasted so much time here with you that I missed Prince Jing's chess game."

……

……

The Jing'an Hall was brightly lit, with soldiers standing in front of the gate.

Mr. Feng arrived in front of the hall, stepped over the high threshold and walked in. Chen Ji and Zhang Zhuo could only wait silently outside the door.

In the main hall, Lord Liu and Prince Jing sat opposite each other in front of the Qianlong Screen Wall.

The chess game was coming to an end. Elder Liu, wearing a simple gray cloth, sat at the chess table and said slowly, "Your Highness, you lost your mother when you were young. If it weren't for my sister who adopted you and raised you patiently in Kunning Palace, you would have been killed long ago. During those years, she brought you up with His Majesty and treated you like her own child. Did she ever treat you unfairly?"

Prince Jing stared at the chessboard without looking up and said, "No. In winter, she would specifically instruct the palace maids to prepare charcoal for me, and in summer, she would bring me ice cubes from the cellar to cool me down. I have everything that Your Majesty has, and I also have everything that Your Majesty doesn't have. Even my elementary school teacher was chosen by her personally."

Elder Liu rolled up his sleeves and dropped another son. "After your majesty ascended the throne, you two became estranged from her. Now she is sad and haggard in the Cining Palace. You have worked so hard to raise two sons, but now they are like strangers to her. No mother in the world can withstand such a blow."

While thinking about the chess game, Prince Jing said calmly, "My father-in-law is also a reasonable man. After Your Majesty ascended the throne, the Queen Mother should have let go earlier and should not have indulged the Liu family in a tyrannical way. No one is good for a thousand days, and no flower is red for a hundred days. The disasters that the Liu family has suffered recently were also planted long ago."

Elder Liu smiled and said, "My Lord, you were crowned a king at the age of 21, and the first thing you did was to go south to collect grain taxes for Your Majesty. I remember when you first arrived in Jiangnan, those wealthy families killed their wives and carried them to the government office, gathering thousands of people and saying that you were forcing people to death by collecting taxes. In the end, it was the Liu family who stepped in and helped you collect the grain."

Prince Jing sighed, "I was a rookie at that time and didn't know the importance of the situation. Fortunately, I had my father-in-law to help me."

Elder Liu continued, "In the winter of the eleventh year of Jianing, there was a bandit rebellion in Nanguang. You contracted a lung disease and fainted while leading troops to suppress the rebellion, and were besieged by the bandits in Liuzhou. It was my Liu family who went to the Taoist temple on Mount Laojun to ask for the elixir and sent troops to support you, which saved you. At this moment, Liu Mingjing is on his way to the Taoist temple on Mount Laojun, saying that he would do everything he could to get the next life feather pill for you."

Prince Jing paused for a moment, then sighed, "The Liu family helped me a lot."

Elder Liu raised his head and stared at Prince Jing. "Your Highness has been running around for His Majesty all these years, but how has His Majesty treated you? Some of the old members of the Qiansui Army were demoted, and some were killed. Let's talk about General Zhang four years ago. He left his post without permission because his mother passed away. Although it was a serious crime, it was not punishable by death. But the eunuch party executed him first and then reported to the emperor, and beheaded him on his way to the funeral."

Elder Liu continued, "Let's talk about General Li under the prince. He was meritorious in suppressing the rebellion but was not rewarded. In the end, the eunuch party found a crime of discussing state affairs after drinking and threw him into the inner prison, where he was tortured to death. Think about my Liu family, isn't it the same? Although we are ashamed of His Majesty, we are also meritorious ministers who helped him seize the throne. Why would he kill us all?"

Prince Jing sighed, "Father-in-law, you worry too much. Why would His Majesty kill them all?"

Elder Liu said slowly, "The prince should know best who that person is in Renshou Palace. He won't be able to sleep well until the prince and the Liu family are dead!"

At this point, he messed up the chessboard in front of him and said, "Prince, if it weren't for you, why would the Liu family have endured for so many years? The timing was not right back then, so we had to give up. Now my Liu family has strong soldiers and horses, abundant food and grass, and in the north we have the support of the Jing Dynasty's Shenwu Army... Don't hesitate any longer, start the rebellion!"

Chen Ji outside the palace was suddenly startled. Could it be that Prince Jing and the Liu family had already discussed the rebellion?
He had been wondering before: Where did the Liu family get the confidence to plot a rebellion? Concubine Yun was only a concubine, so where did she get the courage to contact the Jing Dynasty’s Military Intelligence Department?
This puzzle seemed to be incomplete, and many things could not be explained. But if Prince Jing was placed at the center of the puzzle, many things would make sense. However, the next moment, Prince Jing said softly, "Father-in-law, if you start a rebellion, I'm afraid that the people of several states will suffer. I can't agree to this."

This confused Chen Ji. Looking at Prince Jing's behavior, it didn't seem like he was planning a rebellion.

What went wrong?
In the Jing'an Palace, Elder Liu slowly stood up and said, "Your Highness, the arrow has been put on the string and must be shot. You can't hesitate any longer. You can sit on the throne whether you want to or not. If you want to blame someone, blame me alone, not the Liu family."

Just at this moment, a burly general walked towards the hall, his footsteps making a thudding sound on the bluestone bricks.

He came to the palace and saluted to Liu Gelao: "Master, someone found the movement of the golden pig in the East Market. This person now lives in seclusion and hides in a small garden of a courtesan."

Liu Ge Lao waved his hand and said, "General Qian, take a group of tiger-armored cavalry and make sure to capture him."

After that, he said to Mr. Feng: "Wen Zheng, invite the prince, the crown prince, and the princess to the Liu family mansion. Tomorrow, open the ancestral temple, beat the drums to gather the people, and offer the heads of the eunuchs as sacrifices to the flag. Then the army will set out!"

Liu Ge Lao walked out, and the densely packed soldiers followed behind him, surging outward like a black tide. The strong killing aura was like hot magma that could melt even pig iron.

Mr. Feng smiled and looked at Prince Jing: "Your Majesty, please? Please don't embarrass me."

Prince Jing stood up calmly, smoothed the wrinkles on his robe, and walked out of Jing'an Hall with Baili. When Mr. Feng came out, he glanced at Chen Ji intentionally or unintentionally, with deep meaning in his eyes.

……

……

The impatient sound of horse hooves broke the tranquility of Anxi Street.

Chen Ji and Zhang Zhuo were wearing armor and riding their horses at the end of the Tiger Armored Cavalry. All of them had their faces covered with black armor and they rushed towards the East City of Luo City like a torrent.

Zhang Zhuo tightened the reins and moved closer to Chen Ji, lowering his voice and saying, "Something is fishy. Why do I feel like these people...are all a little strange."

Chen Ji raised his head and glanced at the cavalry in front of him, then turned his eyes slightly and whispered, "Master Zhang thinks so too?"

Zhang Zhuo crouched low, "I think there is something wrong with Prince Jing. The Liu family has been besieging Luo City but has been reluctant to send troops north. It is clear that they are waiting for him to make a decision. Prince Jing has been managing Yuzhou for many years. How could he not know about the Liu family's private iron casting and raising of private armies?"

Chen Ji asked, "Master Zhang, do you mean that Prince Jing is also involved?"

Zhang Zhuo hesitated for a moment: "This is exactly the problem. As the saying goes, speed is of the essence in war. If he really wanted to rebel, he should have raised his flag and headed north. Why is he stalling here? This will not do him any good at all!"

Zhang Zhuo continued, "And Mr. Feng, is he still fighting among himself at this time? How much benefit will it bring to him if he seizes the power of the Tiger Armored Cavalry? I don't understand, I don't understand at all!"

Chen Ji suddenly said, "Master Zhang, if something unexpected happens later, you must immediately ride to Tuoluo Temple to get help and save my master first."

Zhang Zhuo was stunned: "Change? What change?"

Chen Ji said: "The timing of the golden pig's appearance is too coincidental. This is a trap for General Qian... They want to help Mr. Feng get rid of the stumbling block."

Just as he finished speaking, he heard a sharp sound of breaking wind from the front.

Chen Ji looked up suddenly, and saw that the windows of the two-story buildings on both sides of the long street were open, and long spears came whistling in, piercing through the tiger-armored cavalry one by one!

For a moment, the war horses neighed and the neat cavalry team became chaotic.

Chen Ji said in a low voice: "Go quickly."

Zhang Zhuo responded by turning his horse around and heading into the alley.

Chen Ji sat on his horse, looking at the dark windows from afar. He suddenly remembered a lot of things: when he met Mr. Feng in Longwangtun, the other party said, "It's a pity that all the masters around Prince Jing were eliminated by the Imperial Household Department over the years."

The other party was talking about the "Silijian" instead of the "Eunuch Party".

At that moment, Chen Ji also noticed that there was something wrong with the words in this sentence, but he didn't think about what was wrong. Now that all the clues came together, he finally realized it.

No wonder after Mr. Feng and Tianma fought, both sides escaped unscathed.

It’s because Mr. Feng has always been a member of the Imperial Household Department.

(End of this chapter)