In the name of the crown prince, Yan Sikong inquired about some details of the winter hunt from the officials of the Ministry of Rites, and learned that it was Zhao Fuyi who was in charge of the security of the Shanhai Hunting Grounds, and that Zhu Lanting would bring another 500 guards to closely protect the emperor and his relatives.

If they could win over General Zhao Fuyi's troops and cooperate with the two thousand Feng family soldiers brought back by Feng Jianping, Zhu Lanting's imperial guards would not have to be taken seriously. Therefore, the key to success or failure lies in Zhao Fuyi.

Yan Sikong did not intend to tell Chen Yi about this for the time being. Chen Yi was young and weak, just a chess piece in the hands of the adults. If it succeeded, he would have to take the throne even if he didn't want to. If it failed, there was no need to implicate him. Even a tiger won't eat its own cubs, so at least he could save his life if he was deposed.

What needs to be done now is, first, to persuade Feng Jianping, and second, to let Feng Jianping persuade Zhao Fuyi. Each step is like dancing on the edge of a knife and is extremely dangerous.

Yan Sikong personally went to find She Jun and asked him to be prepared. Once he received the signal agreed upon by the two, She Jun would be responsible for sending people out of the city and then bringing them back to the city.

When he returned home after a busy day, he saw a man who looked like a servant standing in the courtyard. He felt vaguely familiar with the man, but could not remember who he was.

When the servant saw him, he said respectfully, "Sir, you are back."

Yan Sikong glanced at Ali and asked, "Who are you?"

"I am a member of your family, and my name is Shitou."

"Oh, I seem to have seen it that day, what happened?"

"The housekeeper has ordered me to come and tell you that eunuch Xie has sent a generous gift to Mr. Qiao Qian." Shitou took out a book wrapped in gold silk from his sleeve and presented it with both hands, "This is the gift book, please take a look."

Yan Sikong's eyes widened as he snatched the gift book. It was so huge that he couldn't even see it all even with his arms outstretched. The gold, silver and treasures on it were dazzling. He glanced through it and found that many of them were things he had never heard of. He felt a chill down his spine, closed the book, and shouted, "Who told him to accept it?!"

Shitou was startled: "This... I don't know... "

"Who gave you the guts to accept gifts without my permission!" Yan Sikong felt like his scalp was about to explode.

Shitou knelt down hurriedly: "Master, please calm down. I am just a messenger. I heard that you accepted all the gifts in the past, so I want the butler to just...just..."

Yan Sikong kicked him to the ground: "You idiot!"

In the past, when he was promoted to the position of chief official and was given a marriage by the emperor, he had received gifts from officials, especially when he became the future son-in-law, there were many expensive gifts. Xie Zhongren was generous and gave gifts to all those who had no direct grudges with him. But those were just ordinary favors. As an official in the court, he could not escape the bad rules of the officialdom. He naturally had to show respect to his superiors on the three festivals and two birthdays. In addition, he had to "give ice" in the hot summer and "give charcoal" in the cold winter. When he went on a long journey, he had to "give gifts on the way". He could give gifts for weddings, funerals, births, promotions and meritorious service. He would find excuses to give gifts when there was nothing to do, and he would give gifts even more when there was something to celebrate. So he received them with a clear conscience and it did not hurt his dignity.

But this time was very different. First, he had no happy events recently, and second, the value of the gift was too terrible. If he accepted it, the censors would accuse him of accepting bribes, which was understandable. If he did not accept it, it would be a clear disrespect to Xie Zhongren. Although the two of them belonged to different parties, he was only a sixth-rank official, working in the Ministry of Personnel, which was full of eunuchs. Now that a big event was coming, he did not want to offend Xie Zhongren at this time and cause trouble.

Yan Sikong held the thick gift book, his hands trembling slightly. This was not a treasure worth a million dollars, but a biting scorpion. What frightened him the most was that his housekeeper was obviously someone planted by Xie Zhongren. Otherwise, even if he had the guts to do so, he would not dare to accept the gift without the permission of his master.

It's simply courting death...

Shitou looked at Yan Sikong cautiously and called out tentatively: "...Young Master?"

Ali walked to Yan Sikong, glanced at the gift book, his face looked ugly, and he turned around and glared at Shi Tou fiercely.

The stone trembled.

Yan Sikong clutched the things in his hand tightly and said in a cold voice, "Go back and tell the butler that he is to guard these gifts tonight and not to touch anything. I will check them tomorrow. If there is a discrepancy between the presents and the presents by one copper coin, I will hold him responsible!"

"Yes, little one, I'll go right away." The stone rolled and crawled away.

Yan Sikong turned around and strode into the study, slammed the door, and sat down in the chair.

What is Xie Zhongren's intention? What is his intention? Think about it, think carefully, he must think it through.

It was already late, and it was too late to go to Yan Zilian to discuss it. Tomorrow morning, he would have to return the gift in person.

No, he had to first figure out what Xie Zhongren wanted to do.

Do you want to pull him down? He is Yan Zilian's student. How can he be pulled down by the enemy? Xie Zhongren is not that stupid.

Want to frame him? He just needs to return it intact.

Want to alienate him from Yan Zilian? Xie Zhongren would never underestimate his mortal enemy of several decades.

Xie Zhongren chose this time to do such an incredible thing. Could it be that he heard some rumors? He wanted to see how I would react? What if I accepted it or not? What was Xie Zhongren's purpose?

Calm down, Yan Sikong, calm down.

Yan Sikong took a deep breath. Those complicated people and things were madly intertwined in front of him. He calmly sorted them out one by one in his mind to make a clear connection...

Oh no, Xie Zhongren is luring him into a trap!

From the moment those boxes of treasures were carried into his house, he fell into the trap.

Facing the combined forces of the gentry and the Feng family, Xie Zhongren also felt trembling. He was not as highly respected as Yan Zilian, with students and former officials all over the world, nor was he as powerful as Feng Jianping, with famous military exploits. In terms of civil and military skills, he was just an imperial official and had no chance of winning. But he held a sharp sword in his hand that could defeat the enemy in one stroke, and that was the emperor.

Eunuchs do not have their own duties and public powers like real officials. Eunuch power is merely an extension of imperial power. They share government affairs with the emperor and serve as a check and balance on the power of the prime minister. Once they lose the emperor's favor, they are nothing.

Xie Zhongren took advantage of this and pressed step by step to strip Feng Jianping of his military power in order to strike at the aristocracy, but he was also afraid of the Liang Wang Rebellion. If Feng Jianping rebelled, his power would be several times that of Liang Wang. Even if Feng Jianping was almost unarmed and had no reason to obey him, he could not be taken away just like that.

It is easy to kill a Feng Jianping, but it is difficult to silence the public.

Therefore, while Xie Zhongren used the emperor to force Datong to reduce its military, he also made another preparation, which was to alienate the gentry and the feudal family.

That's right. In Xie Zhongren's eyes, Yan Sikong was as insignificant as an ant. Being a filial and virtuous disciple of Yan Zilian all his life would not be a threat to him. Even if he became a royal consort, he was still just a royal consort. The ultimate target of this generous gift was not him.

What Xie Zhongren was attracted to was his subtle existence between the aristocratic families and the Feng family. He was also the only person who had close ties with both Yan Zilian and the Feng family. To outsiders, the grudge between him and Feng Ye was quite deep, and he could be exploited.

He was a small hole on the sheepskin drum that Xie Zhongren found. The harder the drum was hammered, the louder the sound became and the more unyielding it became. But as long as one grabbed the hole and gently tore it...

After realizing this, Yan Sikong broke out in a cold sweat.

In such a complicated situation, if he missed even the slightest detail, he could be doomed, but Xie Zhongren unexpectedly dug such a big pit in front of him.

He always thought that he had never appeared in Xie Zhongren's eyes, but in fact, he had already been stared at by those sinister eyes.