Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 665 Urgent Mission
After killing the man, Hua Qi watched as the people watered the ground and raised the wooden threshold so that the blood on the ground could flow into the ditch outside the house after being swept. He then walked down leisurely, patted the shoulders of several imperial attendants who did not join in the work but stood there like clay sculptures or wooden statues, and walked out of the criminal hall leisurely.
When he went straight to the Qianqing Palace to ask for an audience, the official uniform that was once splattered with blood had already been taken off and changed into casual clothes that looked very out of place in the palace.
The news of his murder in the Lixing Hall had not yet spread in the palace... because most of the people guarding the gate were replaced by people he had personally discovered and taught, and it was impossible for someone to fly out with wings. Therefore, although the people entering and leaving the Qianqing Palace saw that he was dressed casually, most of them did not care too much.
However, when Chen Yongshou, who had come to greet him personally, came up to him, he couldn't help but sniff lightly, then frowned and asked, "Master Hua Qi, what's that smell on you?"
"What's that smell? Of course it's the smell of blood." Hua Qi laughed, and seeing Chen Yongshou's face suddenly frozen, he joked, "It's just killing a few people, why is Eunuch Chen so cowardly?"
What does this have to do with cowardice? You killed someone, but you didn't even clean yourself up before coming to see the emperor? And, I remember you didn't leave the palace today, did you? Where did you kill someone in the middle of the night? Although Chen Yongshou knew that the man in front of him could enter and leave the Qianqing Palace at any time, and it seemed that he was not just a family general who had made many achievements in the Duke of Zhao's mansion, he still couldn't help but get mad after hearing that simple answer. However, the man didn't mean to go back to bathe and change clothes, and the emperor summoned him directly, so he couldn't say much.
He gritted his teeth and led the person into the East Warm Pavilion. He took a look at the ranking list piled up like a mountain next to him and felt even more overwhelmed. He didn't dare to stay any longer. Seeing that the emperor didn't have any instructions, he immediately tiptoed out. As soon as he raised the door curtain and stepped out of the door, he heard the emperor's voice coming from inside the door.
"Is everything done? Are there any of those guys who are dissatisfied with you?"
"Kill five of them, and they won't dare to disobey."
Chen Yongshou was terrified and hurried away. Hua Qi heard the footsteps and saw that the emperor looked nonchalant, clearly not caring about who he killed. He put away his smile and reported the truth: "They are all guys who are proven to be deserving of death. Chu Kuan provided some evidence, and I also collected some before. After killing them, I will bring in new people."
"Well, since I have given you these tasks, just do it." The emperor casually unfolded a scroll and looked at the names he had never heard of. He still looked at the scores of each question very carefully, and then he said slowly, "The reputation of the imperial attendants has always been spread privately. After rumors spread, they were inevitably demonized."
"Since you have taken over, then you should stand out in the open. Choose two young but reliable men , apprentices are fine, to serve as sparring partners for Sanlang and Silang, so that they can strengthen their bodies. Then, keep a few who occasionally do dirty work, and the rest will take the open path. For example, look at this ranking list that Zhang Shou made for me, dozens of paper rolls, all posted up, it will take a lot of manpower."
"Seeing this, the students of the Imperial College might get angry and tear up the things. So, your first task now is to gather some capable people. I hope that these ranking lists will appear on the wall at the entrance of the Imperial College early tomorrow morning. Remember, keep an eye on it and don't let any angry people tear up the list. Also, I don't care whether you beat gongs and drums or use other methods, in short, attract enough people to watch the fun over there."
"Moreover, we must attract as many candidates who come to the capital to take the exam as possible to watch the fun!"
"Your Majesty, your request is really high. There is no problem in posting the ranking list, but it will take me a lot of effort to attract the scholars to watch the fun." Hua Qi frowned as if he had a headache, and then asked as if he was purely curious, "By the way, how many attendants of the Eastern Palace will be selected from the final list?"
"Originally, I said ten. Now I have looked at the rankings and scores, as well as the test papers brought by Liu Zhiyuan. Let's take the top five from the six halls of the Imperial College. They don't have to feel that it's unfair. Although not all six halls have one, the Ruxing Hall has two. The other three halls each have one, and the other two halls have zero. They deserve it."
The emperor sighed as if he was disappointed with his work, and then tapped the handrail with his fingers: "Banshan Hall should take the top two. Although the current affairs essay is a complete mess, the two policy papers on agriculture are really remarkable, which can be called an unexpected surprise."
With the emperor's order, Hua Qi immediately knew that when the ranking list was posted tomorrow, it would probably cause an uproar.
So, after he left the Qianqing Palace and returned to the Lixing Hall, he saw a large group of people still working hard to water and mop the floor. They were really working hard. He did not realize at all that he had caused such a big trouble by killing people indiscriminately, but just clapped his hands lightly.
"After you finish your work, go back and pack up. Come out with me tonight. The emperor has an order. It's an urgent mission."
Even if the imperial attendants had never done anything like the so-called emergency mission, they had heard of it. After all, when they were under the supervision of the Ministry of Rites, or were assigned to the Qianqing Palace, Kunning Palace, or Qingning Palace, it was inevitable that they would have to do something once or twice.
The difference is that most of the time the emperor just wanted to leave the palace on a whim, and wanted to visit a mansion or meet a minister in the middle of the night; the empress dowager usually treated the imperial attendants like ordinary eunuchs, and the so-called emergency tasks were sometimes just to pass on a message to the Qianqing Palace or to deliver a message to a minister outside the palace.
In comparison, Kunning Palace was the most dangerous. For more than 20 years, everyone had watched the empress's temper become increasingly extreme and her methods more and more vicious. In the palace, because there was the empress dowager watching and the emperor suppressing her, she could not do anything. But if someone from the empress's family came to the palace to cry about what happened outside, then most of the time, the imperial attendants working in Kunning Palace would suffer.
Because they are the knife in the Queen's hand. Although killing is not done often, after all, they have to consider the environment and public opinion in the capital, but breaking a leg or an arm for no reason is really common!
Now that the boss had just taken office, the emperor had assigned a task. No one dared to slack off at this time to show their boss some color. Those who dared to do so would have died. Therefore, everyone continued to clean the hall urgently while complaining in their hearts. It was not until the bloodstains on the ground were gone and the smell of blood gradually dissipated because the door was open that they hurried back to their rooms.
By the time a large group of people had dressed themselves up and reappeared in the courtyard in front of the court, it was already late at night. More than 30 people stood in the wind, and although they were all wearing black cloaks, they still felt the bone-chilling cold after only a short while.
Fortunately, Hua Qi did not leave them waiting in the windy land. He showed up soon and told everyone to leave without saying anything. It was not until they walked silently, first out of Xuanwu Gate and then out of Bei'an Gate, that they saw a carriage parked over there, and there were a few unfamiliar servants in blue clothes beside the carriage, that they suddenly became nervous.
Could it be that they were escorting some noble person… or even the emperor out of the palace? Where were they going at this late hour? Was they going to a minister’s house for a chat, or did the emperor meet some confidante outside the palace?
Although the latter possibility is relatively low, after all, the emperor is not so absurd as to say that, but now the queen has been deposed, there are only two imperial concubines left in the palace, and the East Palace already has a prince. Even the empress dowager will not care much about the emperor's private affairs!
Although they had many doubts in their hearts, no one dared to ask a single question. They followed Hua Qi's instructions, and those who were on horseback got on horses, and those who were walking followed the carriage, carefully escorting the carriage forward. When the carriage finally stopped, those who were familiar with the terrain suddenly realized that this was outside the Imperial College.
Then, they saw Hua Qi dismounting from his horse and walking to the side of the carriage, opening the door. Because this was the Imperial College, everyone thought that the person getting off the carriage was most likely the emperor who suddenly decided to go out of the palace to visit the Imperial College at night. However, when Hua Qi opened the door, he looked directly at them.
"What are you still standing there for? Come over here and move your things!"
Move...move things? A large group of imperial attendants were simply dumbfounded. Such ordinary carriages have always been a must for the emperor's incognito trips. In the past, they had carefully escorted him out of the palace together with the Sharp Cavalry Battalion. But now, from Hua Qi's tone, it seemed that the person in the carriage was not the emperor, but something else? An urgent task in the middle of the night was to move things?
It was not until the first person was stunned for a while, then hurriedly went up to move the things out of the car, and the others also rolled up their sleeves and joined in.
However, what they thought were heavy objects turned out to be rolls of light yellow paper. Everyone's intention to show off their strength in front of their new boss was completely dashed, and instead they couldn't help but start to have wild thoughts.
The emperor seemed to have been dissatisfied with the Imperial College for a long time, otherwise he would not have come in person and issued an order to rectify the Imperial College and upgrade the ranks of the chief academic officers and other academic officials. This had some effect at first, but after a series of disputes, Jiuzhang Hall and Banshan Hall were directly separated from the Imperial College, and this highest institution of learning seemed to have become the target of public criticism again.
Now it was the middle of the night, and the emperor suddenly sent these imperial attendants on an urgent mission. Could it be that he wanted to post a bunch of notices that were unfavorable to the officials of the Imperial College?
As expected, under the gazes of everyone who could not hide their curiosity and doubt, Hua Qi said lightly: "The order is marked on the yellow list. Post them on the wall in numerical order. Post them next to each other. Don't look back and be dumbfounded when you can't post them. The emperor has seen them all. You should do your job more carefully. Whoever posts them wrong will go back and accept the punishment!"
Seeing that twenty or thirty people had taken down all the paper rolls and distributed the buckets of paste used for pasting, but then one by one they began to stare blankly at the blank wall. Hua Qi could not help but scolded them angrily: "Calculate the width of the paper roll, measure the length of the wall with your steps, then use the ink line to mark the position, and finally paste it. Do you need me to teach you this?"
As soon as these words came out, everyone scattered like birds and beasts, and went about their business. Facing this scene, Hua Qi snorted coldly: "A bunch of guys who only know how to fight and kill, their brains have really been beaten into paste by swords!"
Although he said it lightly, he was thinking in his heart that the court or the government office had never posted such a large number of notices... Therefore, after Zhang Shou came up with the killer move of ranking all the notices, he had already calculated the length and height of the eight-character walls on both sides of the Imperial College. He even estimated the width and length when preparing the paper rolls, and calculated the dimensions of the ink line drawing table.
Therefore, as he folded his hands as a supervisor, he thought with a certain evil taste in his heart how the students of the Imperial College would react when they saw this huge gift when they came to class tomorrow.
Of course, he did not forget the task given to him by the emperor, which was to attract people... especially the candidates to pay attention to this matter. However, beating gongs and drums and shouting all over the streets was undoubtedly a very uncreative way. In addition, the personnel changes in the Imperial Household Department before, that's how the troublemakers did it. But if we divide the people into small groups and send them out to spread this ranking list all over the streets, attracting people to see it...
This seems a bit deliberate. How about giving it a try by taking a different approach?
Hua Qi narrowed his eyes slightly, then glanced at the group of imperial attendants who were working hard, and then quietly retreated into the night.
In the western warm room of Zhaoren Hall, the fourth prince had to sleep alone tonight because the third prince was doing calculations by candlelight. When he felt someone pushing him hard, he couldn't help but get angry and hit the person with his arm. In the past, the older palace servants who served in Zhaoren Hall were already used to his little quirks and would easily grab his hands and feet and pull him up.
However, today, the Fourth Prince suddenly felt a cold touch on his neck, and he screamed subconsciously, but the sound that reached his throat could not come out. All his sleepiness was gone in an instant, and he suddenly opened his eyes and saw a face swaying in front of him, and his mouth was covered tightly by a big hand. He was terrified.
But the next moment, he heard a soft voice: "Fourth Prince, it's me. I have a small task tomorrow that can help His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Master Zhang. Can you come out and help?"
Huh? The fourth prince suddenly widened his eyes, and finally saw clearly that the person in front of him was Hua Qi, who often hung around in front of his father - of course, he often hung around in various places in the palace, who used to be from the Duke of Zhao's mansion, but was now responsible for teaching him and his third brother martial arts. He remembered that the person was Ah Liu's master, and his behavior seemed very special, so he thought about it and suppressed his anger for the time being.
But he couldn't help but hesitate when the other party suddenly sneaked in in the middle of the night and said such a thing. When Hua Qi whispered something in his ear, the naughty child who had just been full of doubts immediately became very happy. Without much hesitation, he immediately nodded and said, "Don't worry, I will take care of this little thing!"
He believed that even though his third brother had become increasingly strict with him recently, he would definitely agree to his request this time!
