After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

"A memorial to the emperor?"

Staring at the red memorial lying on the patterned carpet, Ning Nan let out a surprised "Eh," her expression puzzled.

He raised his hand to Xu Xiyin, gesturing for her to get up first.

As for Zhen Susu, who was determined to swear a solemn oath, he simply grunted in response.

"Okay."

He reached out and pressed down in the air, gesturing for the stunningly beautiful woman in black to sit down.

"Don't get excited."

Xu Xiyin picked up the red memorial from the ground and asked Su Su, who was chilled to the bone by the cult leader's indifferent reaction:

"What is this?"

Zhen Susu sat down abruptly, glancing at Ning Nan and Xu Xiyin without looking at either.

"I just grabbed it from Li Wei's study!"

"study?"

"Are you deaf?" Zhen Susu turned her head and looked at Ning Nan, who wanted to confirm the origin of this item.

"How dare you speak to the cult leader like that!" Xu Xiyin's slender blade flashed with a cold light.

Zhen Susu's facial expression changed very naturally: "My Lord, I was just joking with you."

The woman's eyes softened, and her voice was as sweet as melted candy: "I just stole something when I escaped from Li Wei's study..."

As the woman's voice grew increasingly seductive, Xu Xiyin opened the memorial and glanced down at it.

Ning Nan sat on the rosewood stool and saw that the usually calm female Taoist priest's expression changed the moment she glanced at the memorial. She quickly scanned through about six or seven sections of the memorial, and the female Taoist priest's expression became more and more shocked.

"A secret memorial written by Emperor Yongzheng for Li Wei." Xu Xiyin handed the secret memorial to Ning Nan with both hands.

A dense fold?

Ning Nan took the memorial, a hint of doubt in his mind.

He had heard that, in addition to the normal channels, Emperor Yongzheng also liked to write so-called "secret memorials" to his ministers.

Officials could also write "secret memorials" that bypassed the Six Ministries and the Grand Council and were presented directly to Emperor Yongzheng. In fact, officials could only write these memorials themselves and were not allowed to have their staff write them on their behalf.

When Ning Nan received the secret report, he saw that Xu Xiyin looked solemn, so he couldn't help but shake his neck and perk up.

I opened it with both hands and looked:

"I hereby decree to Li Wei, Governor-General of Jiangnan: Two newly made enamel snuff bottles, bearing the design of Prince Yi, are hereby sent to you as a gift. Prince Yi is my foremost confidant! You are second only to him. Yet, you and the Prince are also bosom confidants. The Prince often tells me that your talent is no less than that of Guan Zhong and Xiao He. The Prince is known for his loyalty and integrity, and these words are indeed sincere, showing how much he respects and loves you. You should also cultivate a closer relationship with the Prince. However, this decree need not be made known to the Prince."

Ning Nan frowned as he scanned the first two folds from top to bottom and from right to left.

"Prince Yi?"

He composed himself. Prince Yi was Yunxiang, who was Hongfeng's father.

Prince Yi made a snuff bottle for Li Wei?

Ning Nan was stunned for a moment, not quite used to the emperor's somewhat blunt way of speaking.

Turn it over again:

"With the great event approaching, I am greatly pleased that you, as the governor of Huaiyou, have raised funds, provisions, and military equipment. This is far superior to Shandong and Shanxi. Yue Zhongqi also said that with you in charge of Huaiyou's provisions, he can go all out at that time. You are my Xiao He, and he is my Han Xin. Han Xin's words may be ominous, but the General knows my heart and will not think too much about it. The two of you should meet several times three months in advance to discuss this matter."

"event?"

"Yue Zhongqi?"

Ning Nan frowned. He knew, of course, about Li Wei's efforts to raise silver and grain; the major salt guilds were almost driven to suicide by this Governor-General of Jiangnan.

With Li Wei in charge of Huaiyou, Yue Zhongqi dared to take a gamble?

Ning Nan's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

He suppressed the vague discomfort in his heart and turned to the last two pages.

"As for what I said before, Prince Yi, there is another matter I hope you will know. It is about my two nephews who went south and were beaten by a boy surnamed Ning from the false dynasty. This matter is very strange and very bad, and I believe you already know about it."

"The Southern Dynasty's delegation is about to depart and will inevitably pass through Huai'an. I am already annoyed by this matter. I have heard that the man surnamed Ning is also in the delegation and will be going to the capital. When my late father was alive, he always pitied the Prince. The Prince has rendered great service to the country, and his nephew has suffered this humiliation. If I do not kill the child who humiliated the Prince, I will not be able to appease the Prince's anger."

"But a major event is approaching, and a single move can affect the whole situation. I am in a dilemma, and I feel it is not appropriate to provoke the emperor's anger because of an arrogant person. After much consideration, I have decided that you and the king are acquainted, and Hongfeng's two sons will call you uncle."

"You are also quick-witted, so I'll entrust this matter to you. The Southern delegation should head to the capital immediately, while this boy should remain in Huai'an to avoid putting me in a difficult position. Do not harm his life for now, nor let him return south. This matter must be handled swiftly and secretly! Very secretly!"

Ning Nan squinted and read through the secret letter several times, word by word.

"Should I stay in Huai'an?"

"Exactly!" Xu Xiyin nodded.

She had just finished reading the entire secret report, her eyes filled with anxiety, and immediately analyzed:

"The Tartar emperor's final intention was naturally for Li Wei to find a way to keep the leader of the sect in Huai'an without disrupting the important alliance between the North and the South. Yesterday, he hosted a lavish banquet for the delegation and, on the grounds that there was a lot of ice in the first month and that they were breaking ice to pave the way for the delegation to cross the Huai River, he kept the delegation for another day. I'm afraid he was making preparations for this."

Xu Xiyin glanced at Zhen Susu with a stern look, then suddenly remembered something and said with a worried expression:

"In my opinion, Master, last night the so-called adopted daughter of Li Wei deliberately replaced Zhen Susu and performed the dance 'Green Waist' to get close to you."

Ning Nan placed his right hand on the desk, his fingers tapping lightly on the surface.

Li Wei wanted to force him to stay in Huai'an, and even sent his adopted daughter to get close to him. What was his motive?

Assassination?

He arranged for his adopted daughter to become an assassin, only to stab him in the back? And forced him to stay in Huai'an to recover?

Or was this adopted daughter arranged to use her beauty to seduce him and force him to stay?

Or perhaps?

Ning Nan's eyes were unpredictable.

Xu Xiyin breathed a sigh of relief, her eyes hardening as she said:

"The leader must not be alone in a room with Li Xinlian."

Ning Nan chuckled and nodded slightly. It seemed that Master Xu had also thought of this... that he had slandered and humiliated someone like Li Xinlian, causing the Southern Dynasty delegation to suffer a humiliating defeat and forcing them to quickly head north, while he himself was forced to remain in Huai'an.

Tap, tap, tap, his fingers tapped lightly back and forth on the table.

It was a small matter. He didn't really care. Even if he didn't know about it, he would never have been alone in a room with that Li Xinlian.

Compared to these... something else terrified him even more.

"What do you think that 'big event' is?" he asked Xu Xiyin.

Xu Xiyin's delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly:

"Isn't it to attack the Rakshasa in the north? Yue Zhongqi is the General Who Pacifies the Distant Lands. He is raising provisions in Huaiyou, Shandong, Shanxi, and Henan, all in order to form an alliance with the Southern Dynasty and reclaim Aigun."

The Qing Dynasty faced rebellions from the Dzungars and various tribes in Qinghai and Tibet to the west, and the Rakshasa army pressing in from the north. Furthermore, the Huaihe River region had been plagued by years of war, leaving nine out of ten houses empty and the land severely abandoned. The three major military camps had consumed a great deal of the Qing people's manpower and provisions and were already overburdened, which led the Rakshasa to set their sights on the south.

Rather than doing so, it would be better to temporarily abandon Huaiyou in exchange for the North-South alliance completely defeating the Luosha and pacifying the Dzungars, allowing them to recuperate and rebuild before planning to move south again... This was the view held by many officials of the Southern Dynasties.

Ning Nan's fingers tapped faster and faster.

"If that's the case," he narrowed his eyes slightly, "then...why wasn't there a single word about Rakshasa in the entire secret memorial?"