In early September, it rained in Zhili. After the autumn rain, the weather became cold, and the capital had a bit of early winter.

There is a gatehouse between the red walls west of Kunning Palace; as soon as you pass the gatehouse, there is the West Six Palace outside. Not long after the emperor ascended the throne, there are not many concubines, and the concubines of Emperor Taizong have also moved away, so some courtyards in the West Six Palace have been empty.

Because Empress Zhang believed in Buddhism, the eunuchs in the palace picked one of the courtyards in the Western Six Palaces and arranged them into a Buddhist temple.

Most of the people surrounding the queen's sedan chair were palace maids and female officials. In addition to a few small eunuchs, there were two eunuchs: one was Haitao and the other was Yang Qing.

The sedan chair stopped when it arrived at the foyer outside the yard of the Buddhist temple. Yang Qing immediately opened the umbrella and blocked the sedan door very steadily; Haitao took a soft silk cloth to pad his wrist and stepped forward to let the queen help him down. The queen could cook and do some housework, but she could only work for the emperor. Of course, her hands could not be rubbed at all because the material of the eunuch's clothes was rough.

The queen was surrounded by a foyer. Haitao turned around and ordered, "You are all waiting in the foyer, don't make any noise."

The palace ladies said: "Yes."

The queen did not go to the Buddhist temple first, but walked into a wing room along the corridor house under the eaves. Haitao ordered Yang Qing to serve tea, but he followed him into the wing room.

When the queen sat down, Haitao bowed forward and said, "I have already asked the inside story of Kuizhou City. It is said that there is a hundred households in the rebel defender named Li Jiaming. He was originally a military officer in Chongqing Prefecture, and later followed the Chongqing Guard Commander Xu Hua to surrender to the rebels. But one of the brothers of the hundred households was in Jingzhou, Huguang.

At that time, the government troops ordered to advance westward had 50,000 or 60,000 people on the water and land, all of which were Jingzhou troops. Somehow, the general of the government army learned about Li Jiaming's affairs, so he sent his brothers from Baijia to surrender and surrender, and sent a message to Li Jiaming: Buy Kuizhou City at a position of a thousand households and a price of 200 taels of silver. As a result, the rebels really opened the city gate!"

"The Buddha blessed my Ming official army." After hearing this, the queen said softly.

Haitao echoed, "Yes, God is really open to his eyes! There are many mountains in Kuizhou, and the army is not afraid of it. Fortunately, the inner supporters quickly captured the city; otherwise, it would have taken a year or two to wait for the rebels to come to help, and the official army would have no choice."

The queen nodded slightly.

Seeing this, Haitao said again: "These are all the civil and military officials in the court... The rebels of the Han King fought fiercely with the Ming Dynasty's official army. Both sides were Ming military households. Maybe there were some people who knew each other, and the soldiers of both sides were easy to surrender. Therefore, we cannot lose the momentum! As long as the British Duke can win the Huguang War this time, even if there are hundreds of thousands of rebels, it will be useless, and the defeat will definitely not be stopped!"

"Although Zhang Fu is the chief general, there are hundreds of thousands of soldiers in Huguang. How could he be the only one who deserves it?" the queen said softly.

Haitao hurriedly said, "What the Empress said is right."

The queen said again: "Today I want to recite scriptures and pray here. By the way, the Buddhist beads brought back from India last time were said to be beads used by the Buddha (Sakya Mani). They had magic power to keep them on the holy objects, and they seemed to be placed in the Kunning Palace. Go and get them."

"Yes." Haitao said.

At this time, the eunuch Yang Qing knocked on the door outside the wing room and brought the tea. Haitao ordered Yang Qing to serve the empress, and he went to Kunning Palace to get Buddhist beads in person.

Queen Zhang felt that Yang Qing had heard about the Buddhist beads just now. She suddenly asked, "Where is Zheng He now?"

Unexpectedly, Yang Qing was also a very thoughtful eunuch, and immediately answered: "When I go back to the emperor, Zheng He has recently lived in the imperial city, and is in the inner palace prisons west of the Altar of the Soji Temple. He is in charge of the eunuchs in the palace, and Zheng He is not allowed to enter the palace. However, Zheng He was the confidant eunuch of the late emperor. He has many followers in the eunuchs in the Sili and eunuchs in the Sili and eunuchs in the prisons, and knows most of the things in the palace."

Zhang asked quietly: "Do you have an old grudge with Zheng He?"

Yang Qing hurriedly said, "When I replied to the Empress, I was not the eunuch of the Silijian, but the Eunuch Hai brought me in. I had almost never faced with Zheng He, let alone a grudge. But when the Empress asked, I dared not hide anything, nor was I afraid of offending others. I only had to be loyal to the Empress and speak in everything."

"I hear you speak very quickly, it's just a slight statement." Zhang smiled.

Yang Qing suddenly knelt on the ground and kowtowed, "I'm talking too much, please punish me!"

Zhang said kindly: "Get up, get up. When did I mean to blame you?"

Yang Qing then stood up carefully, but he didn't seem to feel that he was talking too much, and immediately spoke again: "I heard that Zheng He gave the gift to the Empress, but I felt a little strange. Isn't he the King of Han?"

Zhang's face suddenly changed: "Zheng He has always been a close servant by the late emperor, why is he the King of Han?"

Yang Qing said in surprise: "I think the Empress knows it."

Zhang frowned and said, "Tell me, what's going on?"

Yang Qing said: "From the 'Jingnan Campaign', Emperor Taizong lived in Peiping. Every time he summoned the Prince of Gaoyang at that time, he sent Zheng He to him. There were many opportunities for the two to meet alone. In addition, Wang Gui, the eunuch around the King of Han, also gave Zheng He property from time to time, and had already made friends..."

"Who did you hear these things? What you said is true?" Zhang asked.

Yang Qing bowed and said, "I have been in the Yan Palace for many years. I used to do some rough work, but I can find a lot of things over time. Wang Gui and Zheng He had had contact with him, so I saw it with my own eyes! I dare not say anything in front of the Empress!"

Zhang's face was not very good, and he sat there without a response.

Yang Qing looked up and glanced at the queen quietly, and said, "There is another old thing. During the 'Jingnan Battle', Jianwen Dynasty once used a divisive plan to alienate the father-son relationship between the emperor and the late emperor; he sent a secret letter to the prince's mansion (Zhu Gaochi)..."

Zhang nodded and said, "I remember that incident. The emperor was not trapped and immediately handed over the spy and the untold secret letter to the late emperor."

Yang Qing bent down and said, "What the Empress said is very true. However, when the King of Han heard the wind of secret letters, he wanted to take the opportunity to attack and slander the emperor before the late emperor. Later, Zheng He went to see the King of Han and dissuaded him. Therefore, the King of Han stopped and did not attack the emperor, which was deeply praised by the late emperor."

At this moment, the eunuch Haitao returned. Haitao walked into the wing room, opened the box in his hand, bowed his body, and held the box in front of the queen.

Queen Zhang looked at the old Buddhist beads in the box with a picky look, but she didn't reach out to touch them for a long time.

"This thing is too dirty, put it away again." Zhang said coldly.

Haitao was stunned for a moment, but he didn't say much. He just glanced at Yang Qing slightly and said, "I will obey my decree."

Zhang waved his hand again and asked Haitao to approach. She turned her upper body and leaned closer and whispered a few words.

Haitao bent his waist lower and said in a deep voice: "I will do it right now, and there will be no mistakes!"

Zhang never looked at the Buddhist beads used by the Buddha again, stood up from the chair, and she said, "I'm going to the Buddhist temple, let Yang Qing follow you. You go and do your business."

"Yes, Empress." Haitao said.

...Haitao passed on the imperial edict of the queen and went to the Meridian Gate to transfer a small team of Jinyiwei soldiers. They did not enter the palace, but went straight to the inner palace prisons southwest of the palace. It would not matter if they did not enter the palace, as long as the verbal edict was enough.

Between the houses in the inner palace and the prisons, it was raining heavily on the streets. The rapid steps of the eunuchs and the Jinyiwei suddenly made the place feel a little more bleak and murderous.

The group arrived at a yard and knocked on the door. A small eunuch opened the door. When he saw Haitao and Arsenal, the little eunuch looked awe-faced, nodded and bowed.

Silijian was a palace yamen established by Emperor Taizong's edict. Its main function was to manage all eunuchs in the palace; its function was to separate eunuchs from the Ministry of Personnel, because eunuchs were in charge of the Ministry of Personnel in the past. Therefore, all eunuchs, seeing the eunuchs who directly governed their peak, were of course very afraid.

Haitao didn't say much, and asked Zheng He clearly where he was, so he took the Jinyiwei straight over.

On a rainy day, Zheng He was indeed staying in the room. He was sitting in front of the window, carefully carving a wooden boat model.

Zheng He looked back and glanced over Haitao and the Jinyiwei armored soldiers behind Haitao, and soon said to a little eunuch beside him, "You go out first."

"Yes." The little eunuch replied.

Haitao walked in and sat directly on the chair opposite the table.

The two people sitting opposite each other didn't say a word, and the atmosphere was very strange. The soldiers of the Jinyiwei were also standing behind silently, waiting.

"Can we have a look?" Haitao asked politely.

Zheng He nodded.

Haitao reached out to pick up the wooden boat, looked over and over again, and kept nodding, "It's very exquisite and very unique."

Zheng He finally spoke, "This is a great cannibal ship, and its structure is different from that of our Ming Dynasty. After I die, can I help me and hand it over to Wang Jinghong?" He paused and said, "We castrations cannot be passed on, but there must be someone passing on the matter. When Wang Jinghong dies, I will give it to Hou Xian."

"Yes." Haitao nodded, "But what Eunuch Zheng said depends on the meaning of the emperor and the court. The fleet spent millions of taels to go to sea. Without the national policy of the Ming court, it would not be passed on."

A cold incident happened suddenly, and the two of them were silent for a long time again.

After a while, Haitao broke his silence and said, "We don't have the courage to take action on our own."

Zheng He glanced at the Jinyiwei behind him and nodded seriously: "What does the emperor mean?"

Haitao bowed and whispered: "Empress. But the eunuch Yang Qing seemed to have said something in front of the Empress."

Zheng He stood up and bowed with fists: "Thank you, Eunuch Hai, for letting our family know how to die."

Haitao turned around, took a wooden box from the sergeant of the Jinyiwei, opened it with his own hands, and there was a neatly folded white silk inside. Haitao stood up, left the box on the table, bent down and bowed to Zheng He, and then left the room.
Chapter completed!