About an hour later, at the secret invitation of Zhao Junchen, Xu Sheng, the eunuch in charge of the Royal Horse Supervisor, quietly came to the Zhao Mansion.
Then, in the study of the Zhao Mansion, Zhao Junchen told Xu Sheng in detail what had happened before, and also gave Xu Sheng a secret edict to check.
Looking at the contents of this secret decree, Xu Sheng's expression was full of shock!
This secret edict was brought out by Li Chunchen in order to prove his true identity to Zhao Junchen.
The content of the secret decree is very simple, with only a few sentences, but the weight contained in it is as heavy as a thousand stones!
——"If the officials of the fifth rank and below of the imperial court see this imperial edict as if I were here in person, they will all order and prohibit it. The local garrison of less than three thousand can be mobilized. I appreciate this!"
Xu Shengnai was one of the most important people in the inner court, so it was obvious that this secret edict was definitely authentic, and it was written by Emperor Deqing himself.
Although the content of this secret edict did not explicitly state that Li Chunchen was the director of the inner factory, and it did not even mention the existence of the inner factory from beginning to end, but Li Chunchen was the secret confidant of Emperor Deqing, and he also shouldered the responsibility of Emperor Deqing. How could he have such a secret edict?
With this seal in his hand, even if Li Chunchen is not the director of the inner factory, he already has a position and power that is not inferior to that of the inner factory director.
Therefore, Li Chunchen’s statement that he is the factory supervisor and the secret reconstruction of the inner factory will most likely not be false!
*
"Could it be said that... the Ouchi Factory has really been rebuilt secretly? But as the eunuchs of the royal horse supervisor, why are we completely unaware of this matter?"
While muttering to himself, Xu Sheng's expression changed, and a trace of panic flashed in his eyes.
Emperor Deqing could just rebuild the Da Nei Hsing Factory, but why did he deliberately hide it from the inner court?
For Xu Sheng, this matter is really scary to think about!
At this time, in the study room of Zhao Mansion, apart from Xu Sheng, only Zhao Junchen and Li Chunchen were present.
Among them, Li Chunchen was sitting on the seat next to Xu Sheng, his expression calm and composed, giving people a sense of inscrutability, completely devoid of his previous pitiful demeanor.
After hearing Xu Sheng's muttering question, Li Chunchen also smiled and said nothing, not intending to explain at all.
On the other side, Zhao Junchen also looked calm and replied slowly: "There should be no lies. Although this secret edict does not clearly state Li Chunchen's identity as the factory supervisor, it is enough to prove that Li Chunchen is His Majesty's secret confidant and is also subject to His Majesty’s secret has been reused! What’s more, now that things have developed to this point, there is absolutely no need for Li Chunchen to lie!”
Having said this, Zhao Junchen turned to Li Chunchen and nodded and smiled, without any hint of arrogance. After Li Chunchen noticed Zhao Junchen's behavior, he also nodded and smiled at Zhao Junchen. It seemed that the relationship between the two was equal. .
After a pause, Zhao Junchen continued: "As for why Your Majesty deliberately concealed it from the various yamen of the inner court when he was rebuilding the inner factory, it is because the Holy Heart is unpredictable. As ministers, it is best not to speculate at will!"
Hearing what Zhao Junchen said, Xu Sheng nodded repeatedly, not daring to pursue the matter further, and quickly handed the secret order back to Li Chunchen, laughing and saying: "Oh! That's it! The flood really washed away the Dragon King Temple, and the whole family People don’t recognize a family! This is all a misunderstanding!
Our family had heard before that there was a secret folk association that was operating secretly in the name of "Da Nei Xing Factory". We mistakenly thought that someone was pretending to be someone who was cheating, so we sent a Xichang fan to secretly monitor Factory Supervisor Li, but nothing happened. Unexpectedly, the reconstruction of the inner factory was actually true!
I hope Factory Supervisor Li will not take offense! What our family did was to fulfill our duties and we did not intend to be enemies of Factory Supervisor Li. Fortunately, we solved the misunderstanding in time and did not cause any losses... Factory Supervisor Li can rest assured. , our family immediately asked the Xichang gangsters to remove the surveillance, and this matter has been exposed, it has been exposed! Haha!"
Hearing what Xu Sheng said, Li Chunchen's eyes suddenly flashed.
Xu Sheng's words unintentionally revealed a key piece of information!
According to Xu Sheng, the reason why he discovered the clues about the existence of the inner factory was because he "heard about it" rather than "perceived it"!
"Hearing" is passive, while "detecting" is active!
In other words, it was someone who told Xu Sheng the relevant information, so Xu Sheng was able to discover the existence of the inner factory, rather than Xu Sheng and the Yuma Supervisor Yamen discovering the existence of the inner factory on their own.
Therefore, Xu Sheng's various actions against Li Chunchen and the inner factory were only used by others, and there was someone else behind the scenes.
After realizing this, Li Chunchen remained calm on the surface. He just sighed and said slowly: "Although it was just a misunderstanding, it may not be true to say that no loss was caused...
The secret reconstruction of the Da Nei Xing Factory is related to His Majesty's future plans. It must be kept secret as much as possible and no information can be leaked! But now, not only has the existence of the Nai Factory been discovered by the Royal Horse Supervisor, but even Zhao Gechen has accidentally discovered it. The truth was discovered... In this way, His Majesty's future plans will inevitably be affected. How can it be said that no losses were caused?
Of course, all these things are due to the junior's lack of ability and lack of thoroughness in doing things, and have failed to live up to His Majesty's holy hope. Therefore, the junior has decided to go to the palace immediately to see His Majesty, to apologize to His Majesty, and to be willing to bear His Majesty's thunderous wrath. !
At the same time, I would also like to trouble Zhao Gechen and Xu Governor to go to the palace with the younger generation to meet with His Majesty and explain to His Majesty the whole story of this matter."
Hearing what Li Chunchen said, Xu Sheng's expression changed again on the spot, while Zhao Junchen remained calm.
At the same time, Zhao Junchen was also keenly aware that Li Chunchen had been secretly observing the changes in his and Xu Sheng's demeanor while speaking. His expression seemed calm, but there was a hint of nervousness hidden in it.
*
In fact, Li Chunchen revealed his identity as the factory supervisor to Zhao Junchen and Xu Sheng, which was a huge gamble, betting that Zhao Junchen and Xu Sheng would help him conceal and cover up the matter!
After all, once the secret reconstruction of the inner factory is exposed, it will definitely affect Emperor Deqing's future plans. Emperor Deqing may then anger all relevant people. Zhao Junchen and Xu Sheng may not Be willing to take risks and wade into troubled waters.
At the same time, the current strength of the inner factory is still weak, and its main threat lies in its concealment. If Zhao Junchen and Xu Sheng discover the secret of the inner factory, but pretend not to know, the inner factory will naturally He can't threaten them, and he can also take the opportunity to build a good relationship with Li Chunchen. Maybe he can use the internal factory to make profits for himself in the future. Naturally, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.
On the other hand, if Zhao Junchen and Xu Sheng confessed everything to Emperor Deqing and said that they had discovered the secrets of the inner factory, Emperor Deqing, even if he would not anger them, would build a new secret intelligence agency to replace the inner factory in the future. factory, when the time comes, the threats to Zhao Junchen and Xu Sheng will be out of control, which can be said to do more harm than good.
Therefore, Li Chunchen believed that Zhao Junchen and Xu Sheng must be unwilling to confess their findings to Emperor Deqing out of their own selfish interests, and would even help Li Chunchen conceal and cover up everything that happened today.
In fact, since he realized that he was being followed and monitored by Xichang fans, Li Chunchen had quickly considered all the pros and cons.
Now that the Royal Horse Inspector has discovered the secret of the inner factory's reconstruction, he has only three options.
One is to refuse to acknowledge the existence of the inner factory and to hold on until the end.
This choice was the most beneficial to Emperor Deqing's future plans, but Li Chunchen himself had to bear all the blame!
At that time, Li Chunchen will definitely be arrested and tortured in Xichang Prison. After the incident is exposed to Emperor Deqing, Li Chunchen will definitely lose his face in the eyes of Emperor Deqing. Emperor Deqing will not only be extremely disappointed with Li Chunchen , for reasons of confidentiality, they might give up on Li Chunchen completely and let Li Chunchen die unjustly in Xichang Prison!
Naturally, Li Chunchen could not accept this kind of development!
Second, before Xichang took action against him, he took the lead in confessing to Emperor Deqing that he had messed up everything and that the secret reconstruction of the inner factory had been discovered by the Royal Horse Supervisor, and he begged Emperor Deqing to stop it. The actions of the Royal Horseman.
But in this way, although the scene looks better, after Emperor Deqing takes action to protect Li Chunchen, the secret reconstruction of the inner factory will still be completely exposed. After the inner factory loses its concealment, it also loses its existence value, and Emperor Deqing also They will seriously doubt Li Chunchen's ability to do things, and in all likelihood, he will be completely abandoned. Li Chunchen's future career will also be bleak.
Li Chunchen still couldn't bear this development.
Third, he took the initiative to confess the secret of the internal factory reconstruction to Zhao Junchen and Xu Sheng, and teamed up with them to conceal the news, and then pretended that the discovery of the internal factory secret had never happened. There is no need to confess one's faults and responsibilities to Emperor Deqing...
This naturally created more hidden dangers and violated the will of Emperor Deqing. Once Emperor Deqing found out that Li Chunchen deliberately concealed himself, Li Chunchen's ending would be extremely tragic.
But compared to the first two options, Li Chunchen believed that he had to take a gamble. If he gave it a try, there might be a chance to save the situation in the future, but if he just sat there and waited, he would definitely end badly.
What's more, if they can unite Zhao Junchen and Xu Sheng to conceal the truth from Emperor Deqing, the three of them will be grasshoppers on a rope from now on. Li Chunchen can also gain two more powerful allies, why not?
It is precisely because of this consideration that although Li Chunchen said that he would take the initiative to confess to Emperor Deqing, he opened his mouth to express Emperor Deqing's future plans, and closed his mouth to express Emperor Deqing's thunderous wrath. The implication is very obvious, that is, he hopes that Zhao Junchen and Xu Sheng will stop him and conceal the matter with him.
*
Sure enough, after hearing what Li Chunchen said, although Zhao Junchen remained calm, Xu Sheng's expression immediately changed.
As Li Chunchen expected, Xu Sheng was worried that he would be angered by Emperor Deqing after he unintentionally ruined Emperor Deqing's future plans. He also believed that if he pretended not to have discovered the secret of the reconstruction of the inner factory, it would be more detrimental to his future. favorable.
So, Xu Sheng immediately said: "Actually, since all these things are misunderstandings, we feel that there is no need to report this matter to His Majesty. His Majesty has many things to do every day and is already tired enough, so why bother with his old man's distraction? Not happy?
Since the secret reconstruction of the inner factory is related to His Majesty's future plans, it is natural that the more concealed the better, the more low-key the better. If what happened today were revealed to His Majesty, there might be a stir and more people would be involved. It's not good for people to find clues...
What's more, the three of us are His Majesty's confidants and have always been loyal to His Majesty. Even if we know the secret of the reconstruction of the inner factory, we must keep it secret and will never destroy His Majesty's future plans, so why bother? What's the matter? Just pretend that this incident never happened."
After saying that, Xu Sheng looked at Zhao Junchen with expectant eyes, and Li Chunchen also turned his eyes to Zhao Junchen, both waiting for Zhao Junchen to make a statement.
Zhao Junchen was naturally unwilling to confess to Emperor Deqing that he had discovered the secret of the Neichang's reconstruction. He also expected the Neichang to help him deal with the Seventh Prince Zhu Hejian in the future, and just as Li Chunchen imagined, the Neichang After losing its concealment, Zhao Junchen also lost most of the threats. However, if Emperor Deqing abandoned the inner factory and started a new one, a new threat and variable would appear.
Therefore, after Zhao Junchen pretended to think deeply for a moment, he nodded in agreement: "What Governor Xu said is reasonable, and I also believe that as long as the three of us keep it secret from now on, there is no need to report this matter to Your Majesty."
Then, Xu Sheng and Zhao Junchen both turned their attention to Li Chunchen.
Li Chunchen also pretended to think about it for a while, and then nodded and said: "Since Zhao Gechen and Xu Governor both have this view, the younger generation has little talent and little experience, so naturally he has to listen to their advice... Just like the two of them said As long as the three of us keep our mouths shut from now on, the secret of the reconstruction of the inner factory will not be leaked, and naturally there is no need to disturb or annoy His Majesty."
In this way, the three people present all claimed to be Emperor Deqing's confidants and were loyal to Emperor Deqing, but under the guise of considering Emperor Deqing, they all chose to conceal the truth from Emperor Deqing.
Seeing this situation, Zhao Junchen actually felt a little sad for Emperor Deqing for a while, and he also understood why Emperor Deqing always indulged in the emperor's tricks.
At the same time, seeing that the three of them had agreed, Xu Sheng laughed and said: "In this case, we can be considered our own people from now on! Zhao Gechen has always been powerful and powerful, and he is different from our family both internally and externally. , so our family has no chance to help Zhao Gechen do anything, but Factory Supervisor Li, you are now in charge of the internal factory, so naturally there are many things that you can help our family with!"
After a pause, Xu Sheng added with a smile: "As far as we know, the Neichang Yamen was first established not long ago, and there were deficiencies in terms of manpower, financial resources, experience, etc. Otherwise, Factory Supervisor Li would not have He doesn’t even know he is being spied on by someone from the West Factory... So, if Factory Supervisor Li wants to expand the strength of the inner factory as soon as possible, and there is something we can do to help, even if he puts it forward, our family will definitely give his full support!"
Xu Sheng's statement seemed upright, but in fact he had the intention of secretly infiltrating the internal factory.
Li Chunchen naturally saw Xu Sheng's sinister intentions and was extremely resistant, but after thinking for a moment, he still said: "This junior really has two things to ask of Governor Xu!
First, the junior wants to ask Governor Xu for a few manpower, that is, the few Jin Yiwei who have been responsible for monitoring and tracking the junior these days. They now also know the secret of the reconstruction of the inner factory, so in order to prevent the news from leaking further , the junior hopes that Governor Xu can hand over a few of them to the internal factory for deployment, and they will work with the junior in the future."
This was obviously Li Chunchen's way of stopping losses. Those Jinyi guards had secretly monitored Li Chunchen for a long time, and they must have discovered many secrets. After bringing them into the internal factory, Li Chunchen could try to remedy the situation.
Xu Sheng hesitated for a moment, but quickly nodded and agreed: "Of course, it's just a trivial matter. Those people will be transferred to the internal factory from now on!"
Then, Li Chunchen's eyes flashed and he said: "As for the second matter, I want to ask Governor Xu for advice. Since the inner factory was secretly rebuilt, I think that all the actions of the inner factory are fairly hidden and low-key. He didn't do anything that attracted attention, but I don't know... Director Xu, how did you detect the clues about the existence of the inner factory? If a flaw is discovered, this junior can make up for it as soon as possible. "
After Xu Sheng heard the inquiry, his expression suddenly froze.
Although Xu Sheng was not particularly shrewd, he was not a fool either. When he discovered that Emperor Deqing deliberately bypassed the various yamen of the inner court and secretly rebuilt the inner factory, he believed that one of the powers and responsibilities after the reconstruction of the inner court must be to monitor the inner court. related!
Perhaps Emperor Deqing had vaguely noticed signs of infiltration into the inner court, so he did this!
Xu Sheng also knew very well that the person behind the secret infiltration of the inner court was the seventh prince Zhu Hejian!
At the same time, it was the seventh prince Zhu Hejian who informed him of the existence of the inner factory!
Obviously, Zhu Hejian's approach was a tactic to drive away the tiger and devour the wolf. He wanted to use Xu Sheng to deal with the internal factory, so that both Xu Sheng and Li Chunchen would suffer losses, so Xu Sheng was obviously used by Zhu Hejian this time.
Xu Sheng understood all these things clearly.
But Xu Sheng still did not dare to tell Li Chunchen the truth of the matter at will, otherwise it would expose Zhu Hejian's details, which would be equivalent to betraying the inner court forces who fully supported Zhu Hejian.
So, after Xu Sheng hesitated for a moment, he finally shook his head and said: "This governor is the eunuch in charge of the Royal Horse Supervisor. He is in charge of many things, and Xichang is just one of them. Therefore, this governor only remembers that he received the letter from Xichang." Intelligence, so we discovered the existence of the inner factory, but where the information from the west factory came from, we have to wait until the governor returns to the Yuma Supervisor Yamen and personally asks the people in the west factory to get the answer."
Sensing Xu Sheng's reaction, Li Chunchen seemed to have no suspicion on the surface, but respectfully thanked him: "In that case, I'll thank you, Supervisor Xu!"
*
Next, after Zhao Junchen, Xu Sheng, and Li Chunchen agreed on some cooperation matters with each other, Xu Sheng and Li Chunchen did not dare to stay longer, and soon said goodbye to Zhao Junchen together.
After Zhao Junchen personally sent them to the front yard of Zhao Mansion, he stared at their leaving figures thoughtfully.
According to Zhao Junchen's plan, his conversation with these two people today has not yet ended completely.
However, the subsequent conversation must be conducted separately so that the two of them do not know each other.
But he said that after Xu Sheng left the Zhao Mansion, he quickly boarded his carriage and planned to return to the palace as soon as possible.
Sitting in the carriage, Xu Sheng thought to himself: "I didn't expect that the inner factory was actually rebuilt. And the reason why the inner factory was rebuilt in secret was most likely because it was tasked with secretly investigating the inner court. Otherwise, it would be impossible." I won’t deliberately hide it from the inner court...
The Seventh Prince was obviously aware of this situation, so he instigated our family to investigate the matter... Alas! It seems that the Seventh Prince and our family are separated by a layer after all, and he does not regard our family as his confidants...
However, we must seriously consider whether or not to disclose this matter to Li Chunchen... This matter is of great importance, and our family cannot figure it out for a while, so we must find a clear-minded confidant to discuss it!"
While thinking secretly, the image of Li Ruan flashed through Xu Sheng's mind.
But at this moment, his carriage suddenly stopped, and then he heard the voice of Zhao Junchen personally accompanying Xu Qingyan from outside the carriage.
"Director Xu, my cabinet minister invites you to go to the Zhao Mansion again. I still have something to discuss with you, but there were others present just now, so it is not convenient to say some things directly!"
On the other side, Li Chunchen left the Zhao Mansion on foot, thinking about everything that happened today as he walked. However, Li Chunchen didn't go far when he found Zhao Junchen's confidant Zhao Dali appeared in front of him.
"Mr. Li, my cabinet minister invited you to go to the Zhao Mansion again. There are still things to discuss, but there were other people present just now, so it is not convenient to say more about some things!"