Gui Yuan

Chapter 56

Before Ning Kecheng could react, Ning Qing had lowered her eyes and replied: "It makes sense."

Although he didn't show much on the surface, but in his heart there were not a few Emperor Luoxiangfeng, no matter what errands he would take on others, the dignified General Zhenbei, after returning to the imperial capital, he had to lead troops to fight, and he also had to deal with the aftermath of those people in the Sixth Ministry.

"Wei Yao will definitely tell you about this after we go back." Ning Ke asked, "Are you going with him this time?"

Ning Qingyuan wanted to reply: It would be like this if there were no accidents, but before he had time to say it, his father said to himself: "It's okay, once you are born twice, after a few times, you must be able to deal with it calmly, without me Say more."

This was beyond Ning Qing's expectations, his father had always disliked him hanging out with Wei Yao, but this time he took the initiative to agree.

"Father, you were not..."

Ning Kecheng waved his hand and interrupted him: "I can't help my father, your thoughts are already on him, there is nothing else I can do to stop you."

Ning Qing smiled slightly, raised the teacup and respected him: "Drink tea."

Ning Qing thought that Li Meng must have other business matters to discuss with his father, so he didn't stay any longer.

After he left, Ning Kecheng was not in the mood to continue eating, so she ordered the servants to remove the dining table and went to the study room. After closing the door, Li Meng took out a letter from his sleeve. The letter had been rolled up in the sleeve for a long time, and the skin was slightly wrinkled .

While Ning Ke looked at it, Li Meng replied, "I finally got to the bottom of the letter stamping..."

...

Ning Kecheng ignited the letter, sparks flickered in his eyes, making his eyes bottomless.

He sneered: "It really is him."

-

Later, Wei Yao really mentioned Huangzhou, and the matter had already been heard by the heavens. Emperor Xiangfeng asked Wei Yao to leave for Huangzhou in two days, saying that it was a long night with many dreams, and told him to settle the matter as soon as possible and return to the imperial capital to report.Ning Qing naturally followed, Fei Tian and Lin Rong were also with him, and at some point, they became their little tails, they were everywhere they went, and they couldn't be shaken off.

The day before his departure, news came from the East Palace. Ning Qing thought that what he had said to the prince last time had been settled. Sure enough, the prince gave him some documents that were secretly copied. deep pool.

He was curious about what made the crown prince like this, and while looking at the papers, the first one on the top of the page read Xiangfeng's five-year imperial examination official book.

Zhu Yudao: "I asked people to check the officials of the year. These things were not secrets, but unexpectedly, these documents were all in the secret volumes of the Ministry of Rites. Only willing to open the library of secret scrolls, and wanting to read the secret scrolls without a waist card is simply a dream."

It seems strange that an official book is kept so strictly.

Zhu Yu said again: "Since it's obvious that you can't come here, you can only come to Yin. It's not difficult to sneak into the archives, but the difficulty is that there is a special room for the secret archives, and there are three gates installed. There are four big locks, and there are guards from the Ministry of Rites patrolling outside the archives. These days, for these archives, the secret guards under his command visited all the famous lock-pickers in the imperial capital, and it took a lot of effort."

Ning Qing also felt that it was not easy after listening to it, and sighed: "It's really hard work, what is in this official book, it is worth such vigilance."

He turned the paper to the last page, and saw the name of the chief examiner who made people think about it day and night. There were three chief examiners sent for the big exam that year.Ning Qing's eyes froze when he saw those names, a little surprised.

Ziya, Ding Chongan, Ning Kecheng.

Zi Ya is the Minister of the Ministry of Rites, so it makes sense, if there was a problem with the imperial examinations back then, as the Minister of the Ministry of Rites, he must be responsible, and then contact him for the strange move of putting the official book into the secret file library, not to mention the mastermind , at least knowingly, or covering up for others.To let Zi Ya and Liu Ping's six ministers keep the aftermath secret for him, this person must be extremely powerful, under one person, above ten thousand people.As a result, Ning Qing turned his attention to Ding Chongan.

Speaking of this Ding Chongan, he is also a well-deserved favorite of the powerful officials. In the first year of Xiangfeng, he won the first prize, but in four or five years, when he was only 25, he was appointed as the right minister. However, Ding Chong'an is ten years younger than his father, so he has this honor, which shows His Majesty's favor and trust.

Of course Ning Qing believed his father, so the suspicion fell on Ding Chongan, but it was hard to say whether others, especially His Majesty, would think so.Ning Kecheng was the founding minister of the country, and he had been prime minister for five years at that time. Ding Chongan had just risen to the position and had not yet established his footing. Let him rely on his own efforts to make Ziya, an old minister, hang his head and collude with him, and to fight for He dealt with the aftermath...why?

In this matter, his father has no advantage at all. If one day something happens and the matter is brought before His Majesty, Ning Kecheng may be the first to go to prison for trial.

How could Zhu Yu not understand what he was thinking, and comforted him: "Ning Xiang is a lonely person, I can't be more relieved, but there is no evidence, so it's not easy to justify him with a single mouth, but don't worry, the lonely has already been investigated. There are also some clues now, you can turn to the back and have a look."

Hearing this, Ning Qing turned to the bottom, and there were more than [-] lives written on the paper, some of them were familiar, such as Zhan Guiyou, Liu Ping, Du Yuan, and some had never seen them before, but without exception, they all had official positions. It's just that some are in the court, and some are outside.

"This is?" Ning Qing asked puzzled.

Zhu Yu explained: "My secret guards found out that the officials on the paper, headed by Liu Ping, are all from the same sect. Liu Ping won the second place in the scientific examination, and it was Ding Chong'an who recommended him to the emperor. These people are all his disciples. .”

At this point, the confusion of the smog in the past suddenly became clear.

Among the twenty or so people, six or seven were Jinshi in the fifth year of Xiangfeng. Besides those who were gradually added later, their official positions were not big, but they were mostly lowly and important local positions.Among them, Du Yuan could have stayed in the imperial capital, but he invited him to be released to Xingchuan, Zhan Guiyou went to Changzhou to be a military envoy, and colluded with Xu Yang and others to sell saltpeter, while Liu Ping stayed in the imperial capital. , sitting in the household department minister, the grain and grass in charge are still related to Xingchuan, this thread is really a big game of chess.

It is really frightening to think carefully, Ning Qing has to admire Ding Chong'an, foresight and foresight, playing tricks to the extreme, fearing that no one in the world can compete with him.

He could understand these things, how could Zhu Yu fail to understand these days, he said: "Ding Chong'an is an unfathomable person, and my father still favors him so much, if we don't get rid of him as soon as possible, there will be endless troubles."

Ning Qing nodded, and he thought of one thing: "If he is the person behind the scenes, then the vermilion lacquer tiger stamp is from him. This is Beidi's thing, and with the saltpeter that was gone before, his negotiation with Beidi should not be difficult. shallow."

"That's what I thought too. I've already asked people to investigate. Now the surrounding area is not stable. Dongyi, who used to live in peace with him, has also messed up. It seems that King Beidi can't stand it anymore. This happened for a while. Guys, it’s hard to get results, you will go to Huangzhou with Wei Yao tomorrow, so be careful, if I have any news, I will let you know as soon as possible.”

After Zhu Yu gave a few more instructions, Ning Qing left the East Palace with a heavy heart, as if a stagnation that had not disappeared for many years was stuck in his heart.

After returning to the mansion, Wei Yao saw that something was wrong with him, Ning Qing told him all these things, he was silent for a long time after listening, and then said: "It's not good to be in the dark, but now that he surfaced, at least there is something wrong with him." I asked Zhao Min to stay in the imperial capital to assist the prince in the investigation, and we will go to Huangzhou to deal with the merchant ship issue tomorrow, and we will discuss it slowly after returning to the imperial capital."

Now that Emperor Xiangfeng is staring at him, Huangzhou is his immediate confidant's serious trouble, so he can deal with Ding Chong'an wholeheartedly if this matter is resolved as soon as possible.

The luggage was packed that night, and the next morning, everyone packed up and set off.

Huangzhou is close to the sea, and it only takes four or five days to travel by water from the imperial capital. However, due to the incident in Huangzhou, the passenger ships on the sea have stopped at present, and they can only take the official road. However, Wei Yao and Ning Qing mostly travel together by car now, especially after the two of them opened the skylight on the Mid-Autumn Festival night, they are very gluey right now.Although there was nothing wrong with his behavior in front of outsiders, it still made Fei Tian and Lin Rong complain unceasingly, wishing they would lose their eyes so that they wouldn't have to watch them flirt with each other in front of their eyes.

For this, Ning Qing was very dissatisfied: "We are already passionate enough in front of you, and we don't even touch our hands very much. What else can you say?"

Lin Rong succumbed to the coercion and lure of his son, and did not dare to refute, Fei Tian was much more fearless, and said bluntly: "You don't move your hands, but your eyes, from time to time, make people feel creepy, as if the next I'm going to fight naked in seconds, is it more scary than going straight and talking? I said, brother Lan Yu, don't hold back. When you are in the same room at night, you can warm up a few times or be honest. No, we will stop halfway and find an inn to rest, no matter how bad it is, we will get off the car and let you do what you want."

Lin Rong really wanted to join in the applause, but he regretted his life, so he could only hold back, silently waving the flag in his heart.

Ning Qing blushed a little at his blunt words, she didn't know whether she was angry or ashamed: "What's in your head, we just met our eyes and expressions, it's because you just thought too much."

Fei Tian obviously didn't believe it, and said resentfully: "I think your eyes are not simply meeting, but you are eager to take over..."

"Nonsense!" Ning Qing hurriedly stopped him from continuing, pointing at him with a trembling finger, "Dirty thoughts!"

The other party finally had enough of the drama, patted Ning Qing on the shoulder, and said softly, "Don't be angry."

Then he turned to Fei Tian, ​​and the voice jumped from March in Yangchun to Wanli in Shuofeng in an instant: "If you don't restrain yourself, I will throw you down."

Tian Cheng heard it in front of the car, and said: "General, just throw it away, and your subordinates will pay attention, and you must not let Mr. Fei trip over the horse."

Fei Tian: "..."

Wei Yao's few words made Fei Tian very useful. From the beginning to the end, he never doubted that Wei Yao could not do such a thing, so he immediately shut up.

Later, he and Lin Rong figured out a way, every time they got into the carriage, they would watch their mouths, mouths and noses, and recite the Heart Sutra silently. After two days, their minds became more and more calm, and they saw that Wei Yao and Fei Tian had a bit of compassion. .

When I arrived in Huangzhou, there were already people outside the city to greet me. The leader was wearing an official uniform, and he should be the governor of Huangzhou.Seeing Wei Yao and the others got out of the car, he saluted and said, "I'm the governor of Huangzhou, He Guan, and I have met An Guogong."

Among the crowd, Ning Qing saw the man next to He Guan at a glance. He was dressed in white, with long hair in half a bunch, and his demeanor was calm. Expensive, doesn't look like anything in the pool.

After Wuli got up, He Guan turned sideways, and happened to introduce the man in white who caught Ning Qing's attention beside him: "Officer Rong introduced, this is Lin Suiqiong, the head of the Lin family."