In the middle of the eighth year of Taikang.

After a few days of rain in the capital, it snowed heavily, and this time the heavy snow was comparable to the snow in the seventeenth year of Chengde, and the heavy snow covered the ground, blocking the official roads in and out of the capital.

On the road, it is difficult for cars and horses to walk, and people are rare.

However, there are still some people who are in a hurry against the wind and snow, these people wear heavy cotton clothes, enter the city from the east gate of the capital, enter the Yongle Fang from the willow shop, and then enter the imperial city directly from the Yong'an Gate.

This group of people is Xiao Zheng, Xiao Huai and others.

After entering the imperial city, Xiao Zheng turned around and asked Xiao Huai and the others to disperse, he briefly sorted out the description himself, touched the things in his sleeve, took a few deep breaths, and walked in the direction of Weiyang Palace.

He is the great eunuch of the inner court, walking in the palace naturally unimpeded, and he entered the door of the study of the Son of Heaven in Weiyang Palace smoothly, when he walked to the door, he hesitated for a long time, and finally gritted his teeth, walked in, and knelt in front of the Son of Heaven who was reviewing the book, and bowed his head and said: "Your Majesty, the slave is back." ”

The Son of Heaven slowly put down the red pen in his hand and glanced up at Xiao Zheng.

"Why did you come back?"

Xiao Zheng bowed his head and said: "The heavy snow closed the road, the carriage and horses were blocked, and the slaves and maids could only abandon the carriage and come all the way, so it was delayed for a few days." ”

The Son of Heaven was expressionless, stretched out his hand and threw a copy of the book in front of Xiao Zheng.

"You haven't returned to Beijing yet, but Hanzhou Muying's Zhao'an recital book was sent to me."

Speaking of this, His Majesty the Emperor stood up from the dragon chair, put his hands behind his back, and walked in front of Xiao Zheng.

"Didn't I send you to the southwest and ask Pei Jin to stop?"

The Son of Heaven grabbed Xiao Zheng's front and asked coldly: "What is the situation in the southwest, you have made it clear to me as it is!" ”

The Son of Heaven was angry, Xiao Zheng was terrified, he knelt on the ground, kowtowed, and said: "Your Majesty, the slave is about to report to Your Majesty about the situation in the southwest......

Only then did the Son of Heaven let go of Xiao Zheng's front placket, and after taking a deep breath, he sat back on his dragon chair.

And Xiao Zheng, his body trembled faintly, and he told the Son of Heaven about the situation in Hanzhou little by little.

When talking about the siege of the city that day, Xiao Zheng first secretly glanced at the Son of Heaven, then swallowed his saliva, gritted his teeth and said: "That day is the fourth day of Pei Jin's siege, because the siege of the first three days was very smooth, and Hanzhou City was already crumbling, so General Pei's attack on the fourth day was very fierce, and he directly transferred the Hanzhong Army and the garrison of Jincheng to attack the city, and from morning to noon, Hanzhou City was almost about to be breached......"

Xiao Zheng's body shook and continued.

However, at this time, on the wall of Hanzhou City, some unknown things were thrown down by a group of people, and these things would explode when they were thrown into the crowd...... Extremely lethal. ”

Xiao Zheng took out a palm-sized pottery shard from his sleeve, held it in his hands, bowed his head and said: "Your Majesty, look, this is a fragment of the thing that the slave maid brought back from the southwest, and it is this thing, which is extremely terrifying when it falls in the crowd." ”

"In just an instant, the soldiers in the front row were killed and injured by the bombing, and the formation was chaotic. The thieves rushed out and were defeated in the end......"

The Son of Heaven's face was gloomy.

He came to Xiao Zheng, took the pottery shard in his hand, looked up and down a few times, and said coldly: "What is this thing?" ”

"It should be a clay pot."

On the way back, Xiao Zheng carefully studied this thing. Hearing this, he immediately replied: "When this clay pot falls into the crowd, it will shatter violently, and the pottery shards will splash in all directions, and the soldiers around will be cut by these pottery shards even if they are wearing armor, which is very powerful." ”

The Son of Heaven held this pottery shard in his hand and sat back in his place, his face extremely ugly.

"A few days ago, the military newspaper from the southwest was delivered to me, and the military newspaper wrote that there was thunder falling from the sky, and no one could stop it."

"So Pei Jin was under the city of Hanzhou, killing and wounding nearly 40,000 people, but a small city of Hanzhou did not move!"

The Son of Heaven trembled with anger, he looked at Xiao Zheng coldly, gritted his teeth and said, "Where is Li Xin, did you find it?" ”

"No ......"

Xiao Zheng said in a trembling voice: "Jizhou City, and Li... Hou Ye's hometown Yongzhou, the people of Tianmu Prison have gone to look for it, but they have never found the figure of Hou Ye Li......"

"Rubbish!"

The Son of Heaven slapped the table angrily, still puzzled, and continued to scold: "Rice bucket! ”

The Son of Heaven was angry, not only Xiao Zheng, but all the palace people in Weiyang Palace knelt on the ground, trembling.

The Son of Heaven had a gloomy face, and after thinking for a moment, he said coldly: "Immediately let Xie Jing transfer the people of Qianniuwei to surround the Jing'an Hou Mansion, without my order, no one from the Jing'an Hou Mansion is allowed to come out!" ”

Xiao Zheng knelt down and bowed his head.

"Slave maid, let's do it......"

He was about to get up when he heard the cold voice of the Son of Heaven coming from the dragon chair.

"Immediately send the people of Tianmu Prison to the Qi Wangfu in Yangzhou and the Zhao Wangfu in Gusu, and put all the people in these two palaces under house arrest."

The face of the Son of Heaven was a little distorted.

"If you find Li Xin's figure in these two places, do it immediately and correct the Fa on the spot!"

Xiao Zheng's body trembled, and he said in a trembling voice: "Your Majesty, is it the two princes of the Fa-rectification, or the ......?"

"Kill them all!"

In the eight years since Taikang Tianzi succeeded to the throne, it was the first time that he had lost his temper like this, and he almost gritted his teeth and said: "Order the Tianmu Prison, let them closely monitor the clans in various places, if there is any abnormal movement, or if Li Xin's figure is found, he will immediately take it down and take him to the capital to ask for the crime!" ”

"Slaves and maids obey ......"

Xiao Zheng was so frightened that he climbed down to do things.

After Xiao Zheng left, the Son of Heaven withdrew from the palace people around him and sat alone in his study.

He was still shivering.

On the one hand, because of anger, on the other hand, because of fear.

He was angry that although there was no evidence that Li Xin was in the southwest, the battle of Hanzhou was almost certainly written by Li Xin, that is, Li Xin used force against him as a monarch because of those remnants of Nanshu.

The reason for fear is simpler.

He knows better than anyone how he sat on the throne, to put it mildly, it was Li Xin who single-handedly put him on the throne, and it is for this reason that he has always loved and feared Li Xin.

Why be afraid?

Because he thinks that Li Xin has the ability to hold himself up to the throne of God, he has the ability to hold others up to the throne of God!

That's why after knowing the defeat in the southwest, he reacted so much, and asked Xiao Zheng to closely monitor the clans in various places, especially his third and fourth brothers.

The charcoal fire in the delicate copper furnace flickered, making the study of the Son of Heaven warm like spring.

Taikang Tianzi looked at this charcoal fire in a daze.

He muttered to himself.

"Without me, you're still a charcoal seller......"

"You can't betray my ......"

………………

Just when the emperor was in a daze at the furnace, at the east gate of the capital, a group of more than a dozen horsemen braved the wind and snow and arrived at the gate tower of the capital.

Because the snow was too heavy for their horses to walk, most of them were leading their mounts.

There is only a tall black steed that can barely walk in the snow.

A group of more than a dozen people lived at the gate of Dongcheng, and a young man in black clothes jumped from the black horse, he dusted off the snow on his body, and patted the snow off the big black horse, and then looked up at the capital in front of him, and sighed.

"It's been a lot of snow this year."