Xu Miaozi made the lotus seed soup for His Highness the Crown Prince. If it had been anyone else, he would have given it to someone else.

But Fan Xiaodao was not polite, he picked up the bowl and drank it three times.

In the eyes of the prince, it is true that he is not formal. But in the eyes of outsiders, he is a little ignorant of etiquette.

Fan Xiaodao wiped the corner of his mouth and asked, "What's the matter with the prince?"

Zhu Yan asked, "Did Master Zhuge arrange the route for His Majesty to leave the palace during this holy ceremony?"

Fan Xiaodao nodded.

"Shouldn't Jin Yiwei usually arrange it?"

Jinyiwei Xue Yingxiong is currently ill and spends his days raising flowers and grass. Apart from fishing, Jinyiwei is now managed by Murong Tiechui, who is far behind Xue Yingxiong in terms of ability and influence. Now under the pressure of Dongchang,

Become dispensable.

At least, in this holy ceremony, there is no trace of Jin Yiwei.

However, due to Xue Yingxiong's face, he still has a place in the list of the palace night banquet.

Fan Xiaodao secretly laughed in his heart. Didn't His Highness the Crown Prince ask questions knowingly? Jin Yiwei's presence is very low now and he has been ignored by His Majesty. Isn't it because Xue Yingxiong is too close to the Crown Prince? Logically speaking, Xue Yingxiong is a veteran of the court and has come out of Xingxian Palace.

People should not make such stupid mistakes.

But he said: "The Sacred Heart should not make assumptions on its own."

Zhu Yanda gave him a meaningful look and said, "Our father is actually very smart, but he is a little more suspicious."

Fan Xiaodao reminded: "Prince, be careful what you say!"

I don't know whether it was because of the sensitive word "we" used, or because of the discussion about His Majesty's character.

Zhu Yan smiled, "Despite this, your Majesty has never doubted that there are two and a half people. One is Eunuch Zhao, and the other is Uncle Xue."

They are all old men who have followed him since childhood and have now reached the pinnacle of power.

Zhu Yan asked again, "Guess who is the remaining half?"

Fan Xiaodao said: "Priest Taoist Taiping, the National Preceptor?"

Zhu Yan shook his head, "Taiping Taoist Priest is the National Preceptor, but we also have a cooperative relationship with His Majesty. Your Majesty provides all resources to the Imperial Preceptor's Office and makes Taiping Taoism the state religion. Taiping Taoist Master refines the elixir of longevity for Your Majesty. This is

A transaction and a sale.”

"Is that Princess Taiping?"

Zhu Yan smiled and said: "My aunt? She is even more careless than me. She plays political tricks in the court all day long. My father sees it in his eyes. As long as he doesn't cause big trouble, he will turn a blind eye.

, after all, they all belong to Lao Zhu’s family, as for trust? Haha..."

Fan Xiaodao said: "Then I don't know."

Zhu Yan said: "There is another person who is not as good as the first two, but he is also trusted by your majesty. That is Zhuge Xianyu."

"Master Zhuge?"

Zhu Yandao: "In the Qifeng Pavilion case, Master Zhuge tried his best to block Song Jingang's sword. It was this sword that blocked a future for Zhuge Xianyu."

Zhuge Xianyu was once a guard of Ouchi. During the bloody night in Kyoto, the Forbidden Army was purged. Zhuge Xianyu was a member of the Fengzi camp, but he was safe. This was also related to this sword. Don't look at Zhuge Xianyu as he was only a fourth-grade official.

Although he has a military position, he has the power to carry a sword into the palace. It is precisely because of this that he has been able to control the six gates for more than 20 years. No matter how the circumstances of the Ministry of Punishment change, it will never affect him.

However, when he heard that Zhuge Xianyu was related to the Qifeng Pavilion case, Fan Xiaodao also kept a cautious eye on it.

This case is still full of doubts.

Zhu Yan added: "Your Majesty asked Zhuge Xianyu to stay at the six gates, but there is actually one more thing: the secret of a flower."

Fan Xiaodao asked, "Eternal Life Pill?"

Zhu Yan shook his head, "No, Dingzhou City."

The disappearance of Dingzhou City overnight from the Ming Dynasty was one of the three major unsolved cases of the Lizong Dynasty two hundred years ago.

There are two more, one is the Great Fire of Yinyang City, a fire from the sky without any warning, burning Yinyang City to ashes overnight, leaving no one alive among the 80,000 people in the city.

Another incident was when Emperor Lizong was assassinated and his head was removed by a flying sword.

Because these three cases were less than a month apart and all occurred in the later years of Emperor Lizong's reign, and there is no conclusion yet, they are called Lizong's three major cases.

Zhu Yandao: "When my father was still the crown prince, he once met an immortal. The man told him that he would be the most honored person in the Nine-Five-Year Plan, and it later came true. Therefore, he has always believed in the immortal way. Moreover, in the documents left by our royal family,

, Emperor Lizong, my great-great-grandfather, once entered the land of immortals with the sword. In his later years, he wrote his lifelong practice into a book called "Dao Shen Tong Qi", which contained the secret of immortality. However, this book followed

Lizong died and disappeared, but Taoist Taiping told him that he had seen this book in Dingzhou City. He and the leader of the Demon Cult, Yi Zhihua, are the only two people in the world who have been to Dingzhou.

People from the city.”

However, of the only two people, one is a national master and is deeply respected, and the other is a prisoner and is behind bars.

Zhu Yan added: "You want to live forever with just one immortality pill? That is tantamount to a fool's dream. Therefore, the Six Gates and the Wucheng Army and Horses Division fought, and Zhuge Xianyu was dismissed from his position as the chief catcher.

I don’t believe it even to death. Master Zhuge traveled all over the Yangtze River, Southern Xinjiang, Western Regions, and the Northern Zhou Dynasty this year. He must have been looking for something. When he came back this time, he had some results. As for Uncle Xue, he practiced elixir against his father.

I am extremely opposed to Taoism, but even so, my father still has faith in him."

On the contrary, he takes precautions against his own sister and son.

As a result, Zhu Yan was very cautious every step he took today.

Originally, the Holy Code was coming soon, and Zhu Yan was so busy every day that he couldn't even find time to sleep, but he took Fan Xiaodao here to chat. There were some royal secrets, palace gossip, the situation in the capital, and even

He also mentioned the Qifeng Pavilion case, revealing some information to Fan Xiaodao intentionally or unintentionally.

It stands to reason that if you are a veteran in officialdom, you can easily see this trick clearly.

This is exchanging resources.

I have given you some key information, such as the emperor's most trusted person, Zhuge Xianyu's status in the court, etc. There are also some that you are interested in, such as the Qifeng Pavilion case. Next, it depends on whether you can accept it.

Come on. Fan Xiaodao is not involved in official circles and has no interest in it. Naturally, he is too lazy to guess its purpose.

After chatting for a while, Zhu Yan asked smoothly, "By the way, has the travel route been decided? I can make preparations."

For safety reasons, the emperor prepared three routes for this ten-mile trip.

The first one is from Zhengyangmen, through Qianmen, all the way south, which is also the most orthodox route.

The other two are one in the east and one in the west. The east one passes through Shiwangfu Street (today's Wangfujing) and enters the Temple of Heaven from Dengshikou. The west one goes through West Street and passes by Dingguo Temple.

Nowadays, the capital seems prosperous, but in fact the situation is grim.

Although the assassins of the Northern Zhou Dynasty have been arrested, who can guarantee that the opponent will only send out one round of assassins?

In addition, the ghost king of the demon sect and the King of Gaoyang who have always wanted to regain the throne cannot be ignored. Their remaining forces cannot be ignored. As the dispatching office for the emperor's travels, the Dengwen Department does not dare to be careless about this. The emperor's real travel route,

It is also highly confidential.

As for whether there are other forces hiding among them, that is unknown.

Fan Xiaodao shook his head, "We have no right to participate in such confidential matters."

In fact, Fan Xiaodao and Zhao Xing also gave travel suggestions after visiting several places. The middle route is short, the surrounding houses are low, the defense situation is better, and the road is wide, and there are a thousand forbidden troops to guard it. It is actually the best.

Proper route.

However, Zhuge Xianyu also said that His Majesty used himself as bait during this trip, hoping to bring out all the monsters in and outside the capital, and then catch them all in one fell swoop.

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Therefore, he didn't know exactly which route to choose.

Not only that, but His Highness the Crown Prince, who is responsible for the specific handling of the Holy Scriptures, is not clear about it either?

The three lines are all armed according to the highest security level.

This kind of matter can only be decided through discussion between Zhuge Xianyu and Your Majesty.

At the last moment, it is not impossible for the Sacred Heart to have an idea and decide to temporarily change the travel route.

Zhu Yan smiled and said, "Forget it. In fact, His Majesty is accompanied by a thousand forbidden troops and twelve dead men as personal guards. There will also be Taoist Taiping, a peerless master, traveling with him. Secretly, there will also be three thousand muskets from the Shenji Battalion. There are

What’s there to worry about?”

As the mastermind behind the scenes, this Holy Ceremony is a test for the Crown Prince.

However, this test was also full of distrust.

At least in terms of security, His Royal Highness has no involvement at all.

Not only that, even Princess Taiping has no right to interfere.

The festive atmosphere in the city is very strong.

From the eighth day of October, the curfew will be lifted in the city.

The holy ceremony is held on the tenth day, but starting from the eighth day of the lunar month, for three days, the people started various celebration activities.

Parading, praying, lantern market.

Chang'an Street and Temple of Heaven Street are full of pedestrians.

On the ninth day of the Lunar New Year, some people even came early to wait on the street outside the Temple of Heaven.
To be continued...