My father ordered me to kill the emperor, but His Majesty bestowed a princess upon me instead.

The three documents were placed side by side on the table.

The first one came from the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.

In the fourteenth year of Chengxi, the old sacrificial vessels in Changning became damp and, following precedent, were moved to the old warehouse in the west of the city for sun exposure and repair. Twelve carts and forty-seven boxes were moved out of the palace at the hour of Xu (7-9 PM).

The second document came from the Central Secretariat.

The Imperial Guard's Western Camp was rotated to defend the southern granary, the reason being that spies from the southwestern rebel forces might seize the grain. The transfer order was issued with the official seal of the Secretariat, and the Ministry of War's deputy signatory was also present.

The third one didn't have paper.

There was only one sentence in the inner court records.

By imperial decree, Sun Ajin's old illness has relapsed, and he has been moved to a separate palace to recuperate.

Three orders.

A single object is moved.

A change of troops.

A person moved along the way.

There was no fire.

There wasn't a single masked assassin.

Everyone who gets things done can say that they were just following the rules.

I'd rather they were the ones setting the fire.

Fire will at least produce smoke.

These papers won't.

They will quietly move the evidence, the people, and the door away, and by the time you find out, all the formalities will be complete.

Gu Xingzhi picked up the third record first.

"The oral message is false."

The eunuch in charge of the palace records lay prostrate on the ground.

"Commander Gu, the messenger carried Eunuch Wei's old token and could even tell you the time when the medicine was taken in the warm pavilion. I dare not forget it."

Wei Zhi's face turned ashen.

"Our old brand name was discontinued three years ago."

"Where are the cards?"

"Enter the abandoned treasury of the inner court."

I looked at Gu Xingzhi.

Who manages the discarded decks?

"Feng happy was one of his men before he left the palace."

It's Feng happy again.

A man who died of illness three years ago, registered in the palace register, is still using an old imperial edict to convey the emperor's decrees.

Dead people are really busy.

They work even harder than a living person.

Xiao Lingyi picked up the transfer slip from the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.

Why were the offering vessels moved tonight?

The Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices knelt very properly.

"Your Highness, the heavy rain the day before yesterday caused the old storehouse to leak. Among the offerings are sacrificial vessels that belonged to the late Empress, which should not be exposed to moisture. According to the old precedent of Chengxi, they can be moved to the storehouse first, and then the missing items can be reported later."

"Where to send it?"

"The old treasury of the Imperial Sacrifices in the west of the city."

"Who supervised the collection?"

The Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices paused for a moment.

"The old warehouse was managed by Registrar Cao."

Gu Xingzhi said, "Clerk Cao has already resigned due to illness this afternoon."

"Where's the deputy?"

"In the car."

"name."

Shaoqing paused again.

If you stop once, you can say you didn't remember it.

If someone pauses twice, it usually means they remember it too clearly to say it.

I reached out my hand.

Give me the vehicle registration slip.

The shipment list contained forty-seven boxes, divided into very small portions.

Twelve sacrificial vessels.

Old clothes box nine.

Six medicine tools.

Twenty document boxes.

The document box was the most numerous.

However, each bite was only written as "Chengxi's old file," without any details.

I asked, "The old archives are damp, why weren't they aired out in the palace?"

The junior official said, "There isn't enough space in the palace."

"The palace is so big, can't it fit twenty boxes?"

"This is an old example."

The word "oversight" is used today.

The word "old precedent" took over its place.

Xiao Lingyi closed the transfer order.

"The carriage is not allowed to leave the palace."

The junior official said urgently, "Your Highness, the transfer of items from the Imperial Treasury has its established procedures. If the Princess's residence obstructs this, who will bear the responsibility if the old items are damaged in the future?"

"I will take responsibility."

"Your Highness..."

"If you feel that I am not worthy of this responsibility, go and ask my father to say it to me in person."

Shaoqing immediately shut up.

I looked at the second rotation order.

Although Pei Shen had already handed over his seal of office, he was still kept in the palace.

His expression changed after just one glance.

"This official seal is genuine."

Who was on duty last night?

"Three people."

"Who can take the seal alone?"

"cannot."

"Were all three of them involved?"

"not necessarily."

Pei Shendao said, "The seal of the Secretariat must be registered after it is used, and the register is kept by another person. If the seal and the registration are genuine at the same time, there must be at least four people involved."

Ah Liu muttered something behind me.

"And you're telling each person only needs to do a small section?"

Bai Zhi turned back.

"One stamps the seal, one keeps the ledger, one delivers the order, and one receives the order."

"Exactly four segments."

Ah Liu stopped talking.

They probably felt that the more they calculated this, the less suitable it was for the living.

The troop rotation order was beautifully written.

Spies from the southwestern rebel army may have seized grain.

The Chengnan Granary is vital to the livelihood of the people in the capital.

It was perfectly reasonable for the Imperial Guards' Western Camp to be ordered to rotate their garrisons.

However, once the Western Camp takes over the charitable granary, the living register, the list of disaster victims, and the charitable granary artifacts that were just restored in the south of the city will fall into the hands of another group of people.

The living person has just been written back, but may be written to die again.

Xiao Lingyi said, "Stop at three places simultaneously."

"No."

Everyone looked at me.

"We cannot be separated."

"If the Imperial Guards were to stop the Princess's carriage, they could say that Zhao Ning had violated the established rules."

"If the Imperial Guards' rotation is blocked by the Censorate, the Secretariat can accuse me of using the investigation to control the capital's granaries."

"If Aunt Sun gets into trouble again, tomorrow in the Golden Hall, only Wang Shi's false testimony from the West Courtyard will remain."

"What they want is for us to each go and save one place."

Gu Xingzhi asked, "Which area should we save first?"

"Seal the door first."

Pei Shen looked up.

"Without an imperial edict, suspending the mobilization of the Secretariat, the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, and the Imperial Guards will cause chaos."

"Vice Minister Pei."

I looked at him.

"We are not the ones who are most afraid of chaos right now."

"They are the ones who have to move the books before the final audit."

A cough came from the warm room.

The voice was very low, but each note was deeper than the last.

Xiao Lingyi subconsciously looked behind the curtain.

The emperor has not shown his face tonight.

The imperial physician said it was a recurrence of an old ailment.

However, the physician Song detected a faint sweet scent of acacia benzoin in the medicine cup.

It's not heavy.

It's just right to make people sleepy and sluggish, but not to the point of fainting.

I suddenly thought of the third false imperial edict.

The messenger could tell you the exact time when the medicine would be taken in the warm chamber.

This shows that someone in the palace not only knew when the emperor took his medicine, but also when it was inconvenient for him to speak in person.

Someone used his silence to issue a command.

This is more convenient than a fake imperial edict.

The fake imperial edict required imitation of the characters, the seal, and the use of the central secretariat.

All that was needed for an imperial edict was an old token and a few eunuchs who dared not ask too many questions.

I walked outside the curtain.

"His Majesty."

There was no response.

Xiao Lingyi glanced at me and walked over as well.

"Father."

After a long time, a sound came from behind the curtain.

"Wei Zhi".

Wei Zhi went inside immediately.

A moment later, he presented a short edict that he had just written.

There was only one line on the paper.

All new orders issued tonight by the Palace, the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, and the Secretariat shall be suspended pending my personal inspection.

The handwriting is somewhat blurry.

The seal is very stable.

I handed the short imperial edict to Gu Xingzhi.

"Seal off the gate."

Gu Xingzhi didn't ask any further questions.

"The palace gate?"

"All doors."

The palace gates were locked.

The imperial carriage carrying supplies was parked inside the gate, and the driver and the escorting official were all on the spot awaiting trial.

The order for the Imperial Guards to rotate out of the city was revoked, and the troops of the Western Camp were stopped three miles south of the city and could not advance any further.

Three officials from the Secretariat and one clerk were brought in at the same time.

All obsolete old plaques in the inner palace were resealed and inventoried.

The orders were sent out one after another.

There was no flash of blades.

The entire imperial city seemed to be suddenly held down by a hand.

The first to malfunction was the Taichang power supply vehicle.

Gu Xingzhi's men opened the boxes to check, and found that three of the forty-seven boxes contained incorrect quantities.

A single stroke reveals an old garment, inside which are filled with stones.

A medicine container was placed inside, containing old medicine records from the Changning side hall.

The last document box was unlocked.

There was only a folded piece of white paper in the box.

Angelica dahurica unfolds.

There were four characters written on the paper.

Old scores remain unresolved.

Below is a broken orchid seal.

Lady Wang's hand had already left the Wang residence.

Her orders still circulated within the palace.

The four people in charge of the seal of the Secretariat also quickly separated.

Both claimed they only verified the seal.

One person said he only keeps records.

The young clerk cried the most.

He found half a burnt list in his sleeve.

The list header only has four characters left.

Chief Commander of the Inner Court.

There are three columns below.

medicine.

Clothes.

door.

Each column has a different code.

The first character in the medicine stall is Liu.

The first character on the gatepost is Feng.

I asked Pei Shen, "What is the Chief Commander of the Inner Court?"

Pei Shen stared at the paper.

"After the second batch of inventory tokens were issued, they were used to unify the secret orders for the three lines of medicine, clothing, and gates in the palace."

"Who's in charge?"

He was silent for a moment.

"It was Feng happy at first."

"And then?"

"I do not know."

I looked at him.

Pei Shen gave a wry smile.

"Lord Shen, I truly had no idea this time."

I'll believe him for now.

Because if someone truly knows something, they will usually act as if they don't know.

Gu Xingzhi retrieved Feng happy's palace register.

He left the palace three years ago due to illness.

He died two months later.

He was buried in the cemetery north of the city.

Salary payments have been suspended.

Everything was clean.

It was as clean as the Ministry of Revenue's ledger for the dead receiving their grain rations.

Bai Zhi turned to the last page of the palace register.

"The salary has been stopped."

"But his nephew's Yongfeng Bank account will receive an extra twenty taels every month."

"Where do we leave from?"

"Miscellaneous repairs and maintenance within the inner court."

I asked, "Do dead people build palace walls?"

Ah Liu said, "Young master, the dead in the capital can do anything."

He was right.

The dead can receive food, medicine, and a salary.

Even now, oral decrees are still transmitted.

I closed the register of Feng happy's deaths.

"Checking graves."

Gu Xingzhi said, "I've already sent someone."

"Check the medicine records, family members' documents, and the vehicle records for leaving the palace."

"The dead don't collect their own money."

"I won't give my nephew twenty taels every month either."

When the drumbeat sounded, all new orders were suspended.

The general review will be held at chen time tomorrow.

Wang Song will be there.

Sun Ajin will be there.

Both batches of clear account cards, the hidden tail of account B, and Wang's false testimony will arrive.

I thought that with the door sealed, I could finally breathe a sigh of relief tonight.

At this moment, news was sent back from the cemetery north of the city.

Feng happy's grave is empty.

There were no remains in the coffin.

There was only one set of old court attire.

Half of a debt token was sewn into the sleeve.

There was no "clearing old debts" sign on the sign.

There is also no "An Chaogang".

Only two words.

By order.