Zhou Yu had not read the palace maid's confession before, but Zhou Yu knew that the Empress Dowager Sun often asked men to be brought back to the palace. Of course, Ma Shun told him.

Just before when the ministers were arguing in a mess, Zhou Yu left the Wenhua Palace several times, one of which was to see Ma Shun and Wang Shan, and then learned these things from them.

These two people were smart enough to tell Zhou Yu this big secret without hiding anything. After all, if a secret is taken to the grave, it is not a secret but something that did not happen.

The two of them also knew very well that the Empress Dowager Sun would never let them go if Emperor Baozong did something like this. One of them was Wang Zhen's nephew and the other was Wang Zhen's party member. If they wanted to survive, they had to overthrow the Empress Dowager.

Rely on Zhou Yu.

The tit-for-tat confrontation between Zhou Yu and Empress Dowager Sun was just another act, staged for many people to see, including the Empress Dowager, many ministers, and everyone in the palace, this huge harem.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Zhou Yu's standing up and taking a clear stand is equivalent to giving a guide to all those who are now panicking and fearing being implicated. It is like a magnet that will attract some people who are dissatisfied with the Empress Dowager Sun. There may be some people at the beginning.

I will continue to wait and see, but now that the Empress Dowager Sun is grounded by the Empress Dowager, this signal is particularly obvious.

Of course, the first person to approach will definitely be the clan. The clan has been suppressed very seriously in the past few years when the Empress Dowager Sun was behind the curtain to govern. Everyone is a descendant of the Zhu family, and an outsider with the surname Sun can control the court. As long as the surname is

Zhu's royal relatives would have a lot of dissatisfaction in their hearts.

Isn't it Consort Jiao who was the first to express his stance? He is a smart man who is also very tolerant. Now that he gets the opportunity, he immediately jumps out without any hesitation. But this guy is also a capable person. It is recorded in the history books that Civil Engineering

He had a share of the credit for the chaos and stability after the Fort Incident. Zhou Yu didn't believe that this guy didn't know about the Empress Dowager Sun being grounded for self-reflection before he came.

Then the people who will stand over are his cousins.

I learned from my memory that his biological mother, Queen Hu, and the previous queen had two brothers and seven sisters. Although the Hu family was in ruins due to the downfall of Queen Hu, for the sake of Queen Hu's face, the uncle still directed the affairs.

Affiliated to the Jingwei, they are responsible for guarding the capital and the imperial palace. They do not join the Imperial Guards, but they still have people in their hands, but there are not many...

These are not important now. What is important is the palace maid's transcript submitted by Ma Shun. There is a lot written on it. Zhou Yu can at least guarantee its authenticity.

After all, although it was mentioned that the Empress Dowager Sun took people in and out of the harem without authorization, and was not a relative but a man, she did not mention what happened after entering the palace. This is true. It would be a lie if she wrote something randomly.

But this hidden talent is even more arousing to people's imagination. Even the Queen Mother cannot do this. She is not a court official and not a relative of the family, bringing a man into the harem? This is a big taboo.

Frequent private meetings are a royal scandal, and ministers naturally avoid such things, but Zhou Yu went even more outrageous and directly threw the transcript in their faces. They had to read it whether they wanted to or not.

Several pavilion elders were so angry that they were itching their teeth, but they had no choice but to take a few glances.

Zhou Yu looked at the person brought back by Prince Consort Jiao: "After staying in the palace for so long, you should know the situation of Jinyiwei very well. Do you think what Jinyiwei found out through the investigation is true or false? You should know that Xu Bin, right?

, the confession record clearly states that every time I enter the palace through the door arranged by you, do you know what the crime is?"

"King Yin, please spare your life, Yin Wang, please spare your life!"

Zhou Yu continued: "You have several wives, concubines, and children in your family. There are thirty-seven people in your family, including old and young, plus servants. Am I wrong?"

The people kneeling on the ground kowtowed heavily, and soon there was a trace of blood on the ground: "Your Majesty, King Tan, please spare their lives! Please, King Tan, I say, I will say anything, King Tan, please spare their lives."

"I can spare your life." Zhou Yu spoke softly and said slowly: "Tell me everything you know. Tell it all in front of these many ministers. With so many ministers acting as guarantors,

Not only will I spare your life, but I can also ensure the safety of your family of thirty-seven. After leaving the palace, your family will leave the capital and change places to live the life of a wealthy man. My words are hard to follow. Ministers, can you?

Everyone heard it."

"Yes, Your Highness King Xi, we all heard it."

"Thank you, King Tan, thank you King Tan!" The guy kneeling on the ground kowtowed a few times again. He didn't care that his face was covered in blood and his head was dizzy, and he started chattering: "That man's name is Xu Bin. He is the childhood sweetheart of the Queen Mother. I

I only know that Xu Bin has been secretly working for the Queen Mother, but I really don’t know what he is doing, and I am not qualified to know this."

"But the Queen Mother and Xu Bin are indeed Jingnan's orphans, and so am I, but I am not a central figure. I used to be an untouchable relative of the Sun family. I was completely implicated by the Queen Mother's family. Later, the Queen Mother became the Queen.

Then he recruited me into the palace,

After she became the Queen Mother, I also became the deputy commander. King Xi, I know this much. All the things were asked by the Queen Mother. King Xi, you will spare my family a lot. I must do it for you.

King Yin, please erect a shrine of longevity and offer incense and pray every day.”

Zhou Yu said calmly: "Who else is there?"

"I also know some people. There are some imperial maids in the palace, and there are people around the Queen Mother. I can write out the list. I will write it right away."

"Xing'an."

Eunuch Xing'an quickly took out a pen and paper and handed it to the other party. After watching the person finish writing and drying the ink stains, he handed the rice paper to Zhou Yu.

Just by looking at Zhou Yu, I remembered the names in my mind. There were quite a few people there. There were almost twenty names of eunuchs, palace ladies, and courtiers.

After reading it, Zhou Yu asked Xing'an to show the list to the ministers present, and then called Ma Shun in.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Ma Shun, whose name was called, came in from the outside and once again threw himself in front of Zhou Yu with a slide: "Your Highness."

"Prince-in-law." Zhou Yu ignored Ma Shun and said to Prince-in-law Jiao: "Please, Prince-in-law and Ma Shun, please arrest him together. If you torture him severely, you must completely resolve the internal troubles."

Consort Jiao clasped his hands and saluted: "Yes, Your Highness."

Zhou Yu: "Ma Shun, you heard it"

"I heard it. I will definitely check it out and get to the bottom of it."

"Go." Zhou Yu glanced at the informer who was still very worried, and said: "I keep my word. I will definitely do it even if I don't harm your life, but you still need to keep a few people in the palace. Ma Shun

, Prince Consort Jiao, don’t let anyone hurt him, and don’t target his family. I will give you three days to find out. After three days, let him and his family leave the capital, without any embarrassment or obstruction.”

"Yes, Your Highness!"

Two people carried one person out of the Wenhua Palace, and Zhou Yu looked at the ministers in the Wenhua Palace: "Ministers, what do you think should be done, and what should the Queen Mother do?"

The minister who was stared at by Zhou Yu stood up with itching teeth and bowed with his hands folded in salute: "Your Highness, this is your Highness's family. The ministers and others don't know what to do, but Jingnan's orphan cannot be let go."

Zhou Yu pretended to be stunned: "You mean you can't even let the Queen Mother go?"

Cold sweat broke out on the minister's head immediately: "The minister didn't say that, Your Highness. The Queen Mother is the Queen Mother after all. Ma Shun also said that the Queen Mother has been pardoned by Emperor Chengzu, so it has nothing to do with this matter."

"I think so too." Zhou Yu pretended to think and said slowly: "But we have to find out whether the leakage of His Majesty's whereabouts has anything to do with these people."

"Your Highness is wise, but the most important thing now is to face Wala's attack. You can let other things go for a while."

Zhou Yu nodded: "What you said makes sense."

Of course, Wala's threat was greater than that of Empress Dowager Sun, but Zhou Yu was not prepared to let Empress Dowager Sun go.

He set a time limit of three days for himself. Within three days, he must find more things that could crucify the Queen Mother Sun and completely make her lose face in the court. He tried his best to suppress the power of the Queen Mother Sun. After losing face, he lost his life.

There is no need to worry about supporting the Queen Mother Sun.

He didn't believe that the Queen Mother was suspected of fooling around with men in the harem and keeping in touch with Jingnan's orphan... This was not enough.

Just this is not enough to make Empress Dowager Sun lose face. The latter also has Emperor Chengzu's pardon. Even if they are added together, it is not enough to make Empress Dowager Sun completely lose power.

"We still have to think of another way."

Zhou Yu was thinking in his mind but did not show it. He came to the sand table in the palace and propped himself up on the edge of the table, looking at the entire sand table and the countless small flags on it, and seemed to be analyzing the situation in front of him.

"How many troops can still be used in the Beijing camp?"

"Less than 20,000, the food, fodder and military equipment are sufficient. That's this guy..." A minister shook his head slightly with a sad face: "But including the Jingwei Battalion, it can last for a while. Now we can only actively respond to the battle and make preparations as much as possible.

Already."

"They came well prepared, but we responded hastily, and lost an emperor and 200,000 troops in one battle, haha."

Zhou Yu sneered.

"Your Highness, be careful what you say."

"You should be cautious about what you say at this time. What should you be cautious about?" Another minister shook his head and said, "If we don't tell the truth, how can we hide it from the rest of the world?"

"In the first year of Orthodoxy, His Majesty issued an order to Siam to release more than 120 envoys and officials on overseas voyages. As a result, they were not released until the eleventh year of Orthodoxy. When did a small country like Siam start to

If you can ignore our Ming Dynasty, the Wan Guo Lai Chao has long since disappeared. Why is it that our Ming Dynasty itself has fallen? Or is our Ming Dynasty’s deterrent power insufficient? Our soldiers have become useless?”

"Yes, otherwise there would not have been this big change. Annan is chaotic in winter, chaotic in summer, chaotic in autumn, and chaotic in spring. It is chaotic all year round. How much time, energy and money have been spent there.

We still couldn't get a result. Isn't that why we sent the army to quell the chaos this time? In the end, we had no troops to use."

"Besides, Wala was first granted the title of King of Huai in the sixth year of Zhengtong."

"In the 8th year of Zhengtong's reign, he was granted the title of Grand Master and was given to Prince Huai. The Zhongshu also contains the title of Prime Minister You. What happened in the past ten years? Why has our Ming Dynasty become what it is now?"

"Who is to blame?" Zhou Yu looked at Mr. Ge, and his voice gradually became colder: "Is it the emperor or you who are to blame? The emperor has only been in power for a long time. If you don't blame the emperor, then you have to blame it, or maybe..."

The ministers did not dare to speak. They lowered their heads and did not dare to answer the words. It was not easy to answer the words.

Of course, Zhou Yu didn't expect them to answer the call. The decline of the Ming Dynasty certainly didn't happen overnight. There were actually signs of it starting from Xuanzong. Emperor Sanyang amplified the decline a lot before he took charge. But these are all

It's the cause, and what's happening now is the effect. Speaking of which, the Empress Dowager can't escape the involvement.

Zhou Yu could see that the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager Sun were not dealing with each other. The Empress Dowager Sun listened behind the curtain, but the Empress Dowager wanted to support San Yang. It was not until San Yang died one after another that the Empress Dowager slowly faded away from power.

Mind you, this is quite interesting.

"Just rest, you can't conjure up heavenly soldiers and generals just by standing here."

Zhou Yu waved his hand and turned to leave. Ministers, you looked at me and I looked at you, and finally you all shook your head.

Zhou Yu did not leave the palace that night, but found a side hall and began to rest.

It felt like he hadn't rested for long before Zhou Yu was called up. What he saw when he opened his eyes was not Xing'an but Cheng Jing, the chief steward who should be staying in the palace.

"Your Majesty, it's time to get up."

Zhou Yu rubbed his head and sat up: "Yes, it's time to get up. The court meeting is about to begin."
To be continued...