It is not difficult to see Xiao Zheng, Li Xin can even go directly to the palace to find Xiao Zheng, the difficulty lies in how to meet Xiao Zheng secretly.

Li Xin is the imperial prince of the dynasty, the general of the forbidden army, and can be said to be the ultimate foreign minister, with a high and powerful position.

And Xiao Zheng has been a great eunuch since the Taikang Dynasty, and he has been in charge of the inner court for nearly ten years, and he is the ultimate minister, and the two of them can't theoretically have any private meetings.

But where there are people, there are rivers and lakes.

The last time Li Xin went to the inner chamberlain to inquire about Zhang Daozheng of Longhu Mountain who was giving medicine to the Taikang Emperor, the great eunuch of the inner court had mentioned to Li Xin that he wanted Li Xin to help him.

At that time, Li Xin didn't agree to come down immediately, because there were still things to consider, but now, Li Xin needs Xiao Zheng's help, so this matter can be discussed.

Therefore, as long as Li Xin can quietly inform Xiao Zheng, then there will be no problem for the two of them to meet privately.

Not long after Chen Sixteen went down, a little eunuch in the palace received a note from outside the palace.

The note asked him to hand a message to Xiao Zheng.

Originally, he was just a small eunuch at the bottom of the inner prison, and he would never dare to do such a thing on weekdays, but thinking of the gambling debts accumulated in the last year or two, the little eunuch gritted his teeth and found the eunuch who was going to clean the Grand Duke's house today, and got this errand at the cost of five yuan.

This is not strange in the palace, after all, this is an errand that is possible to get close to the Grand Duke, in case he is appreciated by the Grand Duke and worships the Grand Duke as a godfather, he will be able to ascend to the sky in one step like Xiao Huai, the young eunuch of the inner chamberlain.

So, that night, when the great eunuch Xiao Zheng returned to his room after serving the emperor in Weiyang Palace, he saw a note on the bed in his room.

Xiao Zheng took a deep breath and hid the note in his sleeve.

………………

The next day, in a private house in Liushufang, Li Xin, who was drinking tea, waited for Xiao Zheng, the eldest duke in civilian clothes.

This is one of Xiao Zheng's properties, he has served in the palace for many years, and he will naturally buy some family businesses outside the palace, but he does not dare to buy properties in Yongle Fang, only in Mingde Fang and Liushufang near Yongle Fang, each has a number of properties.

After seeing Li Xin, Xiao Zheng hurriedly saluted respectfully.

"I've seen Master Hou."

Li Xin got up, pointed to the other side of the table, and said with a smile: "Grand Duke, please take a seat." ”

Xiao Zheng nodded and sat down cautiously opposite Li Xin.

"Didn't you cause trouble for the Grand Duke?"

Xiao Zheng shook his head and said: "In the past, every month, I had to go out of the palace for a day or two, and the people in the palace are used to it, so there will be no trouble." ”

As he spoke, he glanced at Li Xin cautiously.

"I don't know if Master Hou summoned me ......"

The Marquis of Jing'an took out a few money orders from his sleeve, put them on the table, and said with a smile: "Naturally, there are some things that I want to ask the grand duke to help." ”

Xiao Zheng's face changed slightly, and he waved his hand again and again.

"If there is anything to the Hou Ye, just give it a direct order, and if you can do it for the Hou Ye, it is naturally incumbent, but you don't dare to accept the Hou Ye's things."

Li Xin pushed the bill of exchange in front of Xiao Zheng, and said with a smile: "It's not much, it's just the tea money, and the grand duke receives it, and we can both rest assured." ”

Xiao Zheng bowed his head slightly.

"Master Hou should talk about things first."

Li Xin's face was calm, and he said lightly: "I want to know something about Meihuawei." ”

The plum blossom guard is in charge of the inner chamberlain, Xiao is the eunuch of the inner chamberlain, and he has actually been in charge of the inner chamberlain for more than ten years, so he has actually mastered the plum blossom guard for almost ten years.

As long as he is willing to say it, Meihuawei is no longer a secret.

Xiao Zheng's face changed, and then he lowered his head and said, "Master Hou said that he laughed, the inner court has not heard of any plum blossom guards......"

Li Xin looked at Xiao Zheng lightly: "I haven't talked about the inner court yet, why doesn't the grand duke recruit himself?" ”

Xiao Zheng looked embarrassed.

Li Xin said with a smile: "Grand Duke, I have often been in and out of the palace over the years, the first emperor also mentioned to me about the plum blossom guard, the grand duke does not have to be so embarrassed, the plum blossom guard belongs to the inner warden, it is something I originally knew, otherwise I would not have found the grand duke." ”

Xiao Zheng took a deep breath and glanced at Li Xin cautiously.

"Master Hou...... Want to know what? ”

"How many people are there in Meihuawei?"

Xiao Zheng frowned, and said in a deep voice: "Not as good as Yu Linwei." ”

Li Xin nodded and continued to ask: "At the end of the eighth year of Taikang, after I returned to Beijing from the southwest, did Meihuawei go to the southwest?" ”

Xiao Zheng was embarrassed, he looked up at Li Xin, and said with a wry smile: "Master Hou, if I didn't hide Lord Hou, Meihuawei has always been directly under the Son of Heaven, and it has always been a secret in the inner court, if you leak Meihuawei's whereabouts to outsiders, it will be a car crack if it is discovered......"

The Marquis of Jing'an's face was calm.

"The grand duke knows me, it's not a day or two, I'm a person who never drags others down, the grand duke just said, out of your mouth, into my ears."

Xiao hesitated.

He picked up the tea on the table, took a sip of it, and then said, "Master Hou, after those two years......"

This time, Li Xin replied without hesitation.

He said in a deep voice: "Two years later, the new emperor will be in power, and I don't dare to say that Gonggong Xiao is still the great eunuch of the inner court, but I can promise Gonggong Xiao that Gonggong Xiao will not fall to the point of guarding the emperor's mausoleum, and at least the second half of his life will be rich and rich." ”

"If there is a chance, Gonggong Xiao will also be the great eunuch of the inner court."

At this time, if he directly promised Xiao Zheng that he would still be in charge of the inner court two years later, it would seem a bit fake, after all, Li Xin could not decide who the chief eunuch of the inner chamberlain was, he lowered the price a little, but was much more sincere.

When Xiao Zheng heard this, he was a little moved, but he still hesitated.

The Marquis of Jing'an said in a deep voice: "Grand Duke, no matter what the outcome of this matter is, it has nothing to do with you from beginning to end. ”

"Even if I knew, I would have found out on my own."

Xiao Zheng's face turned a little pale, and he took a sip of tea again.

He looked up at Li Xin, gritted his teeth and said, "Master Hou, then I said ......."

"At the end of the eighth year of Taikang, the first emperor did send a plum blossom guard to the southwest ......"

"But where they went and what they did, I don't know very well......"

The face of the Marquis of Jing'an sank.

He took a deep breath: "Does the Grand Duke know if the plum blossom guard has any symbols or imprints used to connect..."

Xiao Zheng's face turned pale.

"Master Hou, this ......"

There are some things, once the first step has been taken, there is no turning back.

After a while, Xiao Zheng had almost told everything he knew.

Li Xin got up slowly and said to Xiao Zhengzuo: "Thank you, Grand Duke, Li Xin will remember today's events." ”

He took two steps out and suddenly glanced back at Xiao Zheng.

"Grand Duke, do you know about this matter today?"

Xiao Zheng swallowed.

"No...... I don't know. ”

The Marquis of Jing'an nodded, turned around to say goodbye, and before leaving, he also gave Xiao Zheng the latest glass telescope.

During the Chengde period, Li Xin made this thing out of crystal, and ten years later, his craftsmen had figured out how to fire glass, but even so, this thing was still rare and valuable.

The Grand Duke hesitated for a moment, but finally put the money order and binoculars on the table into his sleeve.

…………

The next day, Li Xin, Marquis of Jing'an, wrote to the imperial court, saying that his mother's grave had been repaired for ten years and that he would return to his hometown to go to his mother's grave.