The eunuch raised his head and glanced at Zhu Gaochi.

Then he said slowly and authentically: "It's Jiang Chen, the left minister of the Ministry of War, and Zhou Yan, the commander of the Jin Yiwei."

Zhu Gaochi frowned: "It's late at night and it's inconvenient for me to summon you. If you have anything to do, let him talk to you early tomorrow morning."

The eunuch said: "It's something urgent..."

Zhu Gaochi showed an unhappy look.

Of these two people, one is in the Ministry of War and the other is in the Jinyi Guards. Their identities are relatively sensitive.

He is the prince, and it is very inappropriate to meet them privately in the middle of the night.

He stood up and said, "Did you tell me what happened?"

"This... I have never heard of it, but it seems to be quite urgent."

Zhu Gaochi was quite worried, fearing that something urgent might happen and it would be delayed.

But he felt it was inappropriate, so he immediately said to the eunuch: "Go and ask."

The eunuch nodded, went out, and came back a moment later, saying: "Your Highness, the two of them said... this matter is of great importance... I have to meet His Highness before I can talk about it."

Zhu Gaochi said angrily: "If this is not true, then just don't see me."

As he spoke, he fluttered his sleeves and looked angry.

But then, Zhu Gaochi said again: "Order all the scholars from Chunfang on the left and right sides of Zhan Shifu to come, and then summon these two people to see you."

After hearing this, the eunuch hurriedly passed on the report.

Calling all the subordinate officials from Chunfang to the left and right would not be regarded as a private meeting, but would be an open and honest meeting.

Zhu Gaochi did this because he was afraid of words. Although the emperor now trusted him as the prince, as a prince, he still had to worry about many things.

He has a gentle temperament, but after all, he still doesn't have a drastic side. He heard that there was an urgent matter, but he didn't dare to neglect it.

When the subordinate officials from Chunfang arrived, Jiang Chen, the left minister of the Ministry of War, and Zhou Yan, the commander of Jinyiwei, also walked in and saluted them together.

Zhu Gaochi then said: "Why is it so important?"

Zhou Yan looked worried and said: "Your Highness, I heard that there are chaotic party activities in the city. I feel that the situation is urgent, so I came here to report it."

Zhu Gaochi took a deep look at Zhou Yan and said, "Has this matter been reported to Nanzhen Fusi?"

Zhou Yan was stunned. The person he was in charge of was Beizhen Fusi, and there was also a commander named Tong Zhi above him.

Zhou Yandao: "I think the situation is urgent, so I should report to Your Highness. Moreover, the commander is in Jiangxi, and now Nanzhen Fusi is there. Although Chen Li, a colleague, is in charge of the overall situation,... Nanzhen Fusi is outside the capital.

Qixia..."

Zhu Gaochi frowned and then said: "A chaotic party, what kind of chaotic party is there?"

Zhou Yandao: "The remaining members of the White Lotus Sect."

"Hasn't the White Lotus Sect been completely eliminated?" Zhu Gaochi said in a bad tone.

Zhou Yandao: "Now it has resurfaced, but it is more secretive than before. It was only after His Majesty went to Jiangxi that he started to act again. It seems that he has an agenda. Seeing that this matter is of great importance, I came to report it overnight."

The subordinate officials of Chunfang on the side looked at me and I looked at you. Now that His Majesty is not in the capital, something like this suddenly happened, which made them wary.

You must know that the identity of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is extremely embarrassing. Although at this time, the Crown Prince oversees the country and can deal with ordinary affairs, but...

Once an emergency occurs and the guards are mobilized without authorization, unusual consequences may occur if no one causes trouble.

But if there is no mobilization, if something happens, it may be another situation.

In other words, no matter what decision you make, you may get burned.

Zhu Gaochi was calm, looked at Zhou Yan and said, "What do you want me to do?"

"The matter is urgent. What I am worried about is the safety of the Forbidden City and the East Palace, but... it is inappropriate to disturb the guards without permission. I discussed it with the Minister of War, Zuo Shilang, and it is better... to gather some local soldiers and horses from the five cities.

I wonder if it is feasible for the idle local Jinyi Colonel to protect the East Palace in advance to prevent trouble before it happens?"

Not mobilizing troops on a large scale, but using only a small number of troops to protect some key points to prevent unexpected events. This is obviously the safest arrangement.

Zhu Gaochi seemed hesitant and looked around: "What do you think, sir?"

Someone stood up and muttered: "Your Highness, this is a solution that has the best of both worlds."

Zhu Gaochi thought for a while and said: "But what if there is really a rebellion and the attack is not on the Forbidden City and the East Palace? The Forbidden City and the East Palace are already guarded by guards, so there is no need to worry... But how can the soldiers and civilians in the capital abandon them?

regardless of?"

"Your Highness... is the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince should be cautious when acting. If you want to protect the safety of the city, you must mobilize the guards of each guard. But what if... there is no chaos? At that time, His Majesty returns to Beijing... I'm afraid...

…”

He wanted to say that he was just afraid that His Majesty would get suspicious.

You know, this kind of thing is very sensitive. In peacetime, if you dare to mobilize the guards with just any excuse, is that okay?

Zhu Gaochi said: "We might as well summon Duke Qi and Duke Cheng to discuss..."

Zuo Chunfang's subordinate officer immediately said: "Your Highness, this is absolutely impossible. I think that Zhou Qian's idea is the safest at the moment. Things are not clear now... It is better to be cautious."

Zhu Gaochi pondered, thinking about what everyone said.

At this moment, he suddenly thought of Zhang Anshi. If Zhang Anshi was here, he wouldn't have to be so timid, and his father would never suspect him.

He has read too much history and naturally knows that the most difficult thing in the world is the prince.

He raised his head, glanced at Zhou Yan, and said: "For the time being, we will follow this plan. There is no need to worry about the Forbidden City and the East Palace. If there is a chaos caused by the rebel party, Zhou Yan, please mobilize your troops to protect the soldiers and civilians first. The East Palace

We have our own imperial guards and garrison, so don’t worry about it.”

Zhou Yan then said with tears in his eyes: "His Royal Highness loves the people more than ever before..."

Zhu Gaochi waved his hand and said: "Okay, it's getting late, so just go."

The two resigned.

Zhu Gaochi frowned deeply. His father was not in the capital now, and something like this happened again...

So he pondered for a moment, asked someone to get pen, ink, paper and inkstone, wrote a memorial, and ordered it to be sent to Jiangxi as soon as possible.

Then he wrote a note to Lord Wenyuan, thinking that he would wait until dawn tomorrow to go to the Forbidden City to see his mother and discuss it with her before making a decision.

…………

It was late at night, but the stars in the sky were covered by dark clouds.

Someone hurriedly came to a deep house.

Here, there are already people waiting anxiously.

This man came in and said excitedly: "It's done."

The people sitting upright here stood up one after another, and all of them showed excitement.

"Okay, very good."

"In this way, we can act immediately."

"It's not too late, we should take action immediately."

After everyone said that, they looked at the person in the main position.

Under the spotlight, the person sitting on the main seat nodded and said: "In that case, you can take action."

After hearing this, the visitor hurried away again.

…………

Boom...

In the middle of the night, there was a roar of gunpowder, and a bright light suddenly flashed, as if the entire dark earth was illuminated at once.

Then, many people in the capital woke up from their sweet dreams.

Zhu Gaochi, who was in the East Palace, got up and couldn't help but panicked, saying hurriedly: "What's the matter? What happened?"

He jumped onto his shoes and stood up.

Crown Princess Zhang also woke up with a start, and her first reaction was: "Come, come and take a look at Zhanji."

Then, he also started to get busy with his shoes.

A eunuch came in a hurry and said hoarsely and tiredly: "Your Highness, someone seems to have used gunpowder. There was a fire suddenly at the Confucius Temple. From a distance... it seemed that there was a faint cry to kill..."

Zhu Gaochi was shocked and said: "There is really a thief, someone... someone..."

However, Mrs. Zhang stepped forward, gently stroked Zhu Gaochi's back, and said softly: "Your Highness, it's just some chaos caused by the chaos. Since this is the direction of the Confucius Temple, then nine times out of ten...it must not be chaos caused by the officers and soldiers. These

It’s just a mob, Your Highness doesn’t need to be worried at this time…”

Only then did Zhu Gaochi regain his composure.

So he quickly put on his outer robe and went to the main hall of Zhanshi Mansion.

The assistant officers on duty rushed over in a hurry, all looking panicked.

Zhu Gaochi asked: "What's the situation outside?"
To be continued...