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

It took a whole day to get back to Yong'an from Qingxia.

Lan Yue cannot be jostled.

Even Lady Wang couldn't.

The two people lay down in the car, one in front of the other.

There were three military vehicles in between.

Lan Yue's car was guarded by the military doctor from Qingxia Village and Xiao Shuang.

Lady Wang's carriage was guarded by four of Ge Tong's personal guards, two people from Guimingcang who had returned to their hometowns, and Bai Zhi.

The car doors have three locks.

A key is in Ge Tong's hands.

One was in Bai Zhi's hand.

He handed it to Cao Shun.

It's not that I don't believe in Ge Tong.

It was written in my mother's letter.

A living person's life cannot be taken away by someone at will.

When Madam Wang heard the word "three locks," she asked:

"You let a river worker handle the keys?"

Cao Shun said from outside the car, "My name is Cao Shun."

Madam Wang did not ask any further questions.

When we arrived in Yong'an, it was just getting dark.

The list of revitalized warehouses in front of the old warehouse has covered half a wall.

At the very top are the seventy-three men of Yong'an.

Next to it is the Qingfeng General Record.

The list of those eligible for verification has not yet been fully copied; only over three hundred names have been listed so far.

There are people on the list every day.

There is evidence of the injuries.

Some people also came to curse the county government.

The most offensive insult came from an elderly woman in her seventies.

Her son was written to be dead six years ago.

I am currently at the Qingzhou Saltworks.

The county government told her to wait for the official document.

She sat under the list and cursed for three days.

Lin Huan had someone bring her porridge.

She finished drinking and continued cursing.

Xiao Lingyi was waiting for me at the entrance of the old warehouse.

She was wearing a dark riding outfit.

But they seemed more like people coming to interrogate than those carrying knives.

She looked behind me first.

Where is Shen Lie?

"He didn't come."

"Did I hit you?"

"No, not at all."

Did I insult you?

"no."

Ah Liu quickly said from behind, "Your Highness, I also feel that he doesn't seem like my biological father."

Xiao Lingyi glanced at him.

"You're still alive?"

Ah Liu immediately bowed.

"Thanks to Your Highness."

"I did not use a shill."

Ah Liu quietly withdrew.

"letter."

I gave her the original letter from my mother.

She didn't look at it immediately.

"You disassembled it?"

"It's been dismantled."

"Did you cry?"

"no."

"Ah Liu cried."

A Liu's aggrieved voice came from behind.

"Your Highness, it's just that salt water got into the canal, and my eyes hurt."

Xiao Lingyi was too lazy to expose him.

She tucked the letter into her sleeve.

"Where are the cards?"

I took out the second Qingjiuzhangzhen token.

She kept the first one.

The two cards are identical in shape.

The patterns on the back are different.

The one from Yong'an has a water pattern.

The father's has a fire pattern.

The stone gate has six slots.

Beyond the five lines for medicine, clothing, doors, food, and water, there is an extra sixth slot, which originally corresponded to fire.

It is not a section of the five lines after the accounting meeting.

It is the military line originally left by the late empress.

Fire refers to the army.

Wang later changed the six lines to five lines.

It's not about neglecting one thing.

They hid the military lines.

Southwest Army rations, identities of dead soldiers, fake soldiers, and urgent reports were all dismantled and incorporated into the clothing, food, and door supply systems.

That way, if something happens in the military, everyone can say they only did a small part of it.

We descended to the stone gate.

Physician Song was already waiting.

"Are you injured?"

"no."

"Really not?"

"Bumped into the shield."

"where?"

"shoulder."

"Take off your clothes."

"Open the door first."

"If the people inside see your split shoulder, they'll scold me first."

But Xiao Lingyi stood to the side.

I had to take off my outer robe first.

Physician Song pressed it.

"You still know pain."

"That means I'm not completely stupid."

We only checked the license plates after the inspection was completed.

Gu Xingzhi also rushed back from Qingzhou.

Liang Su will temporarily be in charge of the relief work camp in Qingzhou.

Gu Xingzhi brought back a copy of the Three Prefectures' General Account Book.

Before the second plaque was placed in the slot, there were six witnesses from both inside and outside the stone gate.

Princess House.

Living registration in three mansions.

Qingxia returned to its name.

Cao Shun served as a witness to Guiming Granary.

I changed into clean clothes.

Standing in front of the stone gate, I was so nervous that I barely breathed.

"Lord Shen."

"Um."

"Can I really stand here?"

"You took Madam Wang's car lock key."

"This is bigger than being a gatekeeper."

"But I used to be just a river worker."

"The people inside the gate told us to write about living people first."

I said, "You've brought it to life."

"So you can stand."

Three knocks came from behind the stone gate.

Cao Shun's eyes reddened.

He bowed to the stone gate.

The first water ripple token was placed by Xiao Lingyi.

I placed the second Fire Emblem card.

Bai Zhi pressed the ink rubbing through the gap between the plaque and the groove.

Confirm that the dimensions match perfectly.

Gu Xingzhi inspected the top and bottom of the stone gate.

No new connections were found.

The Song Dynasty physician sealed the copper tube used for delivering medicine.

To prevent someone from sending poison through the pipe after the sign is placed in the slot.

The preparations took a full half hour.

Ah Liu squatted down beside him.

"Young master."

"Um."

"If it takes three days to verify six tokens, won't the people inside think we're too slow?"

"meeting."

"What should we do then?"

"Let her insult me ​​first."

There was a knock on the door.

Ah Liu whispered, "Madam heard you."

I pushed the Fire Emblem card into the second slot.

A deep, resounding click came from inside the stone gate.

It's not opening the door.

The latch retracted somewhere.

Immediately afterwards, a layer of fine dust fell on top of the door.

Gu Xingzhi immediately ordered everyone to step back.

Two lines of text slowly appeared in the center of the stone gate.

It was originally covered by stone powder and sludge.

As soon as the mechanism moved, the outer thin layer of stone fell off.

It is engraved on it:

Water was used to test the people's grain production.

Fire was used to test military rations.

The six tents were not closed, and the door was not opened.

Ah Liu understood.

"You really want six ledgers?"

Bai Zhi said, "It's not six books."

"It is a six-line mutual verification."

"Water tests the silver road."

"Test military rations with fire."

"The remaining four cards should correspond to medicine, clothing, gate, and food, respectively."

"Medicine, clothing, doors, food, water, and fire."

I said, "After the accounting meeting, only the five-line orchid will remain."

"Swallow the fire line."

Xiao Lingyi looked at me.

"Because the military supply lines are in Shen Lie's hands."

"not only."

Gu Xingzhi took out the Qingzhou General Register.

"Fourteen years after Chengxi, all old military files of the Ministry of War involving the southwest were classified as grain transfer and border defense lines."

"Military tents are no longer listed separately."

"Who changed it?"

"The year Wang Song served as the Vice Minister of the Chancellery."

After the cleanup meeting removes the line of fire, all the dead soldiers in the army can be dismantled and used.

The grain supply line provides pay.

The door line was adjusted.

There is no separate military register to prove whether these people belong to a particular army.

The fire-patterned token in my father's hand was the only key that could re-establish the military line as a separate entity.

He held it for eleven years.

The door was not open.

No accounts were opened.

The mother's voice came from behind the stone gate.

"An'er".

I pressed myself against the stone gate.

"I am here."

"Who gave you the cards?"

"Shen Lie".

There was silence behind the door for a long time.

"Is he still alive?"

"To live."

"Am I getting old?"

I recall the white-haired people by the brazier at the old post station.

"I'm getting old."

"Still fierce?"

"He didn't scold me."

A very soft sound came from inside the stone gate.

"Feeling guilty."

I think my mother's judgment was very accurate.

Xiao Lingyi asked, "Madam Gu, do you remember which account the fire token corresponds to?"

"Book of the Fallen Soldiers"

Where is the original copy?

"Half a book... Shen Lie."

"The other half?"

"Tetsutsuki."

Another voice rang out from inside the stone gate.

But he knew better than his mother.

"In the palace."

Zhaoyue finally spoke.

"The late empress divided the register of military casualties into four parts."

"One copy for Shen Lie."

"One copy for Gu Qinghe."

"Give one copy to Bai Song."

"The last one... remains on the medicine wall of Changning Palace."

Xiao Lingyi's expression changed.

The place where the late empress lived before her death.

The palace was sealed for eleven years after her death.

The case was recently reopened due to the discovery of hospital gowns, old medicines, and Qing Dynasty clothing.

But no one dismantled the medicine wall.

Because behind that wall are the late empress's prescriptions.

According to palace rules, one cannot act rashly.

The emperor also ordered it to be sealed up.

"Where is the medicine wall?" Xiao Lingyi asked.

"West side of the sleeping quarters."

"Behind the third row of medicine cabinets."

"One of the wall tiles is mortar-free."

"Where's the key?"

"Wei Zhi".

Xiao Lingyi and I looked at each other at the same time.

The fourth group of people in blue entered Beijing.

Chen Ping handed over the document to change the guard at the palace gate.

What they might want is not the emperor's life.

They wanted the military death register hidden in the medicine wall of Changning Palace.

Once obtained, the forty-one dead from the southwest can be rearranged.

Who is the celebrity replacement?

Conversely, if the clearing committee gets the booklet first, it can also cancel the last copy of the military-to-military mutual verification.

Zhaoyue continued:

"This isn't the first time Wei Zhi has gone missing."

Xiao Lingyi asked, "What do you mean?"

"The fourteenth year of Chengxi."

"The night the late Empress fell seriously ill."

"He was also missing for two hours."

"After returning, they said they were detained by the Imperial Guards."

Gu Xingzhi said, "There are no old files in the Inner Guard."

Zhaoyue knocked on the stone door.

"So the Empress Dowager no longer allowed him to carry the key alone."

"Who got the other one?"

Pei Shen.

It's Pei Shen again.

This person seemed to have cut himself into many pieces.

A piece of paper was tucked inside each old ledger.

When others flipped to the end, they realized that he had never truly left.

Xiao Lingyi looked at Gu Xingzhi.

"Return to Beijing immediately."

"Investigate Changning Palace."

Gu Xingzhi said, "The princess's residence currently has no deputy imperial decree to enter the palace."

"I will write this."

"Has His Majesty already sealed off the palace?"

"Then let's find Pei Shen first."

I said, "Pei Shen will be temporarily confined to the palace."

"He's still in the palace."

"Perfect."

Xiao Lingyi looked at me.

"You stay."

Why?

"They need you inside."

"The capital city needs it too."

"I'll head back first."

"Your Highness."

"That's an order."

"I will not listen."

Her eyes turned cold.

Suddenly, her mother's voice came from inside the stone gate.

"Don't make a sound."

Xiao Lingyi and I both stopped.

The person behind the door was imprisoned for eleven years.

The first thing we need to do is write about living people.

The second thing is to stop my husband and me from arguing.

The mother paused for a moment.

"Let the maid go."

Xiao Lingyi was taken aback.

"You know me?"

"Zhaoyue said so."

"You guarded the gate... well."

Xiao Lingyi remained silent.

He continued speaking from behind the door:

"An'er, stay for two days."

"Seal off the Qingxia tent completely."

"Woman Wang...must be publicly identified."

"Back to Beijing."

I asked, "Why?"

"She can't run anymore."

"We can no longer just be Mrs. Wang."

Three knocks came from inside the stone gate.

"Make her acknowledge the debt in her own name."

Xiao Lingyi said softly, "Don't worry, Madam Gu."

"I will return to the capital to guard Changning Palace first."

"You shouldn't die either."

"It's inside the door," said the person inside.

Xiao Lingyi's eyes reddened for a moment.

Her expression of emotion always sounds like a command.

My mother was similar.

The two spoke to each other through the door for the first time.

It's as if we've known each other for many years.

Before she turned around, she left the first real card in the slot.

Then he looked into my sleeve.

"Keep the second one too."

"Afraid I'll lead you to kill the emperor?"

"They're afraid your father will regret it and send people to take it back."

"He doesn't seem like he'll regret it."

"Then we should stay even more."

I left the fire token at the stone gate as well.

The two cards are jointly guarded by all six parties.

No one can take it alone.

Xiao Lingyi walked to the top of the stone steps and then turned back.

"Shen An".

"Your subject is here."

"I have read your mother's letter."

"Um."

She said that even if the emperor ordered you to kill your father, you could refuse.

"Yes."

"If Father Emperor really issues an order..."

"I won't listen either."

After saying that, he left.

I stood in front of the stone gate.

A very soft voice came from inside the door:

"You made a good wife."

I couldn't resist.

Laughed.

"Bestowed by His Majesty."

Silence fell again inside the door.

After a while.

Mother said:

"Well, he's not entirely wrong either."