The rise of the late Song Dynasty reigns supreme

Chapter 197 Too busy?

"Han Zhang, you go down first!" Zhu Tingzuo asked his son to go out, obviously there were some things he didn't want him to know.

Zhu Hanzhang said with a wry smile: "Father, this..."

This is not their own mansion, Zhu Hanzhang didn't know where to go, looking at his father dumbfounded.Zhu Tingzuo looked at Zhao Gou from beginning to end, as if he didn't take his son seriously. In the end, Zhao Gou ordered someone to take Zhu Hanzhang down to rest.

"There are no outsiders now, please tell the truth!" Seeing him push Zhu Hanzhang away, Zhao Gou guessed that Zhu Tingzuo was going to tell the story, so he straight to the point and expressed his doubts in his heart.

Zhu Tingzuo sighed: "Since I returned to my hometown, I haven't been to the capital for several years. It may be destined to come here again today, or it may be difficult to escape. Since the king of the county wants to know something, then I must tell the truth and decide. Don't hide."

Zhao Gou said in a deep voice, "Do you know why your father resigned and returned to his hometown?"

Zhu Tingzuo nodded, and said: "Because I know some unknown secrets, I have to leave Beijing and return to my hometown. If I don't leave, maybe I will die soon! It's just that my father resigned, but he still hasn't escaped their grasp! Since the county king wants to know the cause and effect , then I won’t hide it anymore.”

So, Zhu Tingzuo told Zhao Gou something about his father, but he didn't say anything about it. The only thing he was sure of was that his father seemed to know some secrets.Moreover, Zhu Tingzuo told Zhao Gou his doubts.

At the beginning, when Zhu Tingzuo’s father was dying, he told him: “Tingzuo, you have to remember that after my death, the children in my family will never be allowed to serve as officials in the court. It will not be too late to wait for that matter to be settled. As for your talent, why not Father knows it well, but you must also remember that you are not allowed to take the imperial examination, and Han Zhang is not allowed to participate, otherwise it will be a great disobedience."

Zhu Tingzuo's eyes were red, and he choked up and said, "Father, why are we not allowed to be officials in the court, nor to take the imperial examinations? What is this matter, why haven't you told me yet? I am your son!"

Zhu Minzhong struggled to open his cloudy eyes, with tears streaming down his face, and said bitterly: "There are some things you shouldn't know. You just need to remember one thing. After I died, I declared that I died of illness, and you are not allowed to display your talents. You can work in agriculture and business, but you are never allowed to take the imperial examinations, and you are not allowed to be an official.”

"If someone traces the cause of my death and some things in the future, you must remember that people who are not upright should not tell, and would rather die than be allowed to tell the real reason. If that person is upright and traces some things, you will take out I entrust him with the things I left in the box, you must know who it is, and you must not fall into the hands of traitors, otherwise the Zhu family will suffer disaster, you must remember!"

Zhu Tingzuo said: "Father, why haven't you told me the reason why you left the capital? Could it be that there is something important in it?"

Zhu Minzhong sighed, and said: "You don't have to ask about this matter, you will know when the time comes, remember that as a father, you must keep that box well, even the Han Zhang is not allowed to tell it apart from you, and you are not allowed to Take it apart and check it privately, otherwise, even if you die as a father, you will not be able to rest in peace, you have to promise me!"

"Father, the child should obey!" Zhu Tingzuo saw the helpless look on his father's face, and there was some dodge in his expression, so he guessed that his father's matter was not simple, but he didn't ask any more questions. He could only obey his father's orders, and what he promised would definitely happen do it.

After Zhao Gou heard it, he also felt that Zhu Minzhong's death was a bit strange, and it must be because someone secretly harmed him that he died prematurely.After Zhu Minzhong's death, the servants, servants and others were strictly ordered to keep silent and not to disclose any information about the master, so that no outsiders knew about it, except Zhu Tingzuo.

"Your father must have something to hide!" Zhao Gou sighed, frowned, and said suspiciously: "Based on my guess, your father's death is a bit strange. Could it be that someone intentionally harmed him?"

Zhu Tingzuo said bitterly: "My father passed away, and I guessed that something was wrong, but I didn't have any evidence. My father's health has always been very strong, and within a few months after returning to his hometown, his health has been deteriorating. Even a famous doctor is helpless. Finally, after I Under the persecution of the doctor, the doctors told my father that he had been poisoned by a slow poison, and the poison had already penetrated into the lungs, and there was no way to recover."

"Chronic poison?" Zhao Gou asked in surprise, "Don't your father know about it?"

Zhu Tingzuo said: "My father knew, but it was too late. Some people must have done it on purpose. My father wanted to exchange his life for the lives of the entire Zhu family. I guess my father knew something he shouldn't know, but there was nothing he could do. That's the only way!"

Zhao Gou said: "Do you know about that?"

Zhu Tingzuo shook his head and said: "Go back to the prince, the grass people don't know!"

Zhao Gou nodded. He understood why Zhu Minzhong didn't let his heirs know the truth of the matter. It was just because the matter was of great importance. If more and more people knew, it might not be a good thing for Zhu's family , only one person carried it down alone.

To put it simply, this is Zhu Minzhong's means of protecting them, using his own death to tell those people that the secret has followed him into the coffin, and no one else knows.If Zhu Tingzuo knew the truth of the matter, he might not be able to restrain the anger in his heart, which would lead to a greater crisis. Only knowing nothing can make Zhu Minzhong and those people feel at ease.

When Zhao Gou heard this, he had to admire Zhu Minzhong's heart, but he also left behind, and only Zhu Tingzuo knew about this backhand, and no one else knew about it. Even Zhu Hanzhang didn't know the cause and effect of the incident.But in this way, it will be easier to handle.

"Did you bring that box?" Zhao Gou asked directly.

Zhu Tingzuo shook his head bitterly, and said: "How can that box be with me all the time, I have already buried it well, and I don't know why it was hijacked this time, and I thought it was for money and death, and it is even more impossible to bring it with me." by my side."

Zhao Gou nodded in agreement, and sighed, "If that's the case, we'll have to send someone to Min County to fetch it. I'm afraid it will take a lot of time!"

Zhu Tingzuo replied: "My lord, actually that box is not in Min County, but in the capital!"

"What? That box is in the capital?" Zhao Gou exclaimed.

"My father once said that the most dangerous place is also the safest place. Soldiers make dangerous moves, and they have to do it!" Zhu Tingzuo said, "At the beginning, in the first few months after my father's death, people broke into the mansion at night, especially in front of my father. What are you looking for in the study room, Cao Min was worried that it would not be safe to leave the box in the mansion, so he secretly took it out, and then returned to the capital with the caravan, and then secretly returned to the Shangshu mansion."

"Although the Shangshu has changed people, the Shangshu Mansion was also the place where I lived before, so I am familiar with some places, and I was worried that there would be drastic changes, so I hid the box under the flowers in the corner outside the backyard of the Shangshu Mansion. It's just that these years have passed, and I haven't been back for a long time, and I don't know if the box is still there!"

Zhu Tingzuo's face was full of guilt. He also felt that it was a little thoughtless to make such a decision at the beginning, but for safety reasons, it could only be placed in the household department minister's mansion in the capital, and that was the only way to do it.However, he ignored the importance of this box and was embarrassed.

Zhao Gou was also depressed by his behavior, and actually hid the important box in the flowers in the backyard of the Hubu Shangshu Mansion. A few years later, even the box should be almost completely decayed, and the evidence inside has long been destroyed , In this way, it is tantamount to busy work in vain, and I feel unspeakable bitterness in my heart.

(End of this chapter)