Minister

153 [Jiankang Nine Years]

This year's autumn is a bit strange, it is not so gloomy and cold. In September, people are still wearing thin blouses. If it is not for the cold dew in the morning and evening, I really think it is spring again.The update is the fastest and the eyes are fast. Shi Xiaoxiao lay on the window sill, facing the afternoon sun, and felt a little "spring sleepy".

"Sir, Master Feng is here." The servant girl came over with tea in her hands: "Sir, shall I see you now, or wait a while?"

The corner of Shi Xiaoxiao's lips curled up in her sleep: "Don't wait, just invite him into the house."

Shi's small bedroom is extremely gorgeous, usually only the eunuch Huang is lucky enough to enter.But Feng Shixun would not be so honored by this, Xu Xiaonian is Shi's little elder, in terms of 'seniority', he can afford it.

"Master Feng, why do you have time to visit me? Not on duty today?" Shi Xiaoxiao looked at Feng Shixun with a half-smile.

Feng Shixun also looked at her with a half-smile: "Hehe, it's just a matter of asking for leave when I'm on duty, how can my husband be busy?"

"Yo, brother-in-law is too polite, how can we compare with you who are officials?" Shi Xiaoxiao was still lying limply on the couch.

"I have to worry about the sisters in the building, and I also have to worry about the court situation, isn't it busier than me?"

"You go out first." Shi Xiaoxiao sat up and said to the maids.

The door was closed, and Shi Xiaoxiao smiled: "It's really disappointing, Mr. Feng is indeed a man of insight."

"Before I get down to business, I want to ask." Feng Shixun may not be the fool in many ministers' minds: "Why did you choose me instead of Wei Chi?"

"Wei Chi?" Shi Xiaoxiao rubbed the corner of her mouth: "It's wrong to ask this way. In this matter, Mr. Feng chose Eunuch Huang, not Eunuch Huang. Since Wei Chi didn't know what to do, he naturally chose He went."

Feng Shixun was really not sure that this perverted woman would stand on his own boat, because even Xu Xiaonian couldn't figure out what this woman was thinking.

"This morning, Jiangnan's case file was sent to Beijing in an express delivery of [-] miles. The first person to read it was the emperor, and the second person to read it was Huang Gonggong. Would you like to be the third person to read it?"

Feng Shixun didn't move.

"Master Feng hasn't participated in the morning court yet, has he? If he can be promoted to another level, it will be just around the corner... To tell you the truth, the Ministry of Rites escaped a catastrophe last time, but this time, we have to shuffle the cards .”

Jiangnan is in chaos, not because of soldiers and horses, but because of a case involving a weak woman, the newly appointed magistrate of Tonglu County broke up the roof of the governor's office in Hangzhou, not only detaining all the people involved in that case The suspect also ruthlessly signed a copy of Trusting the Governor of Jiangnan, and asked the cabinet to issue an order to thoroughly investigate the Jiangnan crime.

Feng Shixun, who had never personally participated in such incidents, was breaking out in cold sweat holding this thick stack of files. No matter how far he was from the court, he knew that this was a war, a war between old forces and new forces, between the royal family and ministers. The war between the cabinet and the chief inspector.

"I... a small official from the Ministry of Rituals, what can I do?" Feng Shixun swallowed.

Shi Xiaoxiao nodded: "That's right... How could you and I guess the emperor's strategy? If you want, then you just need to obey the orders."

"Who do you listen to?"

"Eunuch Huang's."

"..."

"..."

Shi Xiaoxiao's words were only half right, and Feng Shixun was not the third person who saw this file.Although Eunuch Huang was able to stop the cabinet, he had devoted all his efforts to fighting against the cabinet for so many years, so much so that he ignored Liu Min.He forgot who arranged for that damn county magistrate to go to Tonglu County. Naturally, it is impossible for the county magistrate of Tonglu County not to give a copy to Mr. Liu Min.

This extremely low-key official handed over the case file to Yu Mian immediately: "I think, the emperor should be reading this case file right now."

After reading it, Yu Mian put the case file on the lamp and burned it: "I think the next step is that the emperor is going to prepare for murder. Master Liu, please be careful."

Sure enough, the next day, an officer from Jinyiwei visited Liu's residence, and in the afternoon of the next day, someone from Dongchang invited Mr. Liu to Mr. Huang's residence as a guest.

What they said, no one knew. On the third day, Wang Xieshan, who hadn't shown up for a long time, returned to the Ministry of War to be on duty. Dongchang suddenly shot an eunuch with an unknown reason.

After that, it was morning again, and there seemed to be no new news. After talking about some trivial matters in the north and south, everyone was ready to end the meeting.Without warning, Chen Xing suddenly said in person, "Lord Liu? You stay here for a while."

At noon, the weather was still hot, and the ice tasting table in the inner hall had not been removed. Chen Xing sat leisurely in front of the table and read a booklet of tasting: "Show Master Liu a seat."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Liu Min kowtowed and sat down.

"Yu Mian is still very competent."

"Yes, he is very grateful for the emperor's sympathy."

Chen Yan smiled inadvertently: "I haven't seen him for a long time, let him enter the palace one day, I remember that he can write well."

"Yes……"

"There is a county magistrate in the south of the Yangtze River named Wei Qingfeng. Do you remember Master Liu?"

"I remember, he is the supervisor of the new department."

"A prison student, why did Master Liu send him to Tonglu to be the county magistrate?"

Liu Min sighed: "In this matter, the humble job does have selfish motives."

"Oh? Tell me?"

"My lord, this year's exam is only a small exam, and the number of talents is limited. Many candidates and supervisors will go to the big exam next year, so naturally they will not be in a hurry to occupy a share of the official. In previous years, most of the candidates were ranked. It is recommended to recruit people to fill the vacant positions. Jiangnan has just undergone a major transfer, and there are more vacancies than in previous years. The people there are rich and wealthy, and they are not in a hurry to let scholars from their own families fill the vacancies, so they can only transfer people from Beijing. In the past, there were not many people who could fill in the vacancies except those from wealthy families or those with elders as officials. Therefore, I chose among the supervisors those who are older and whose hometowns are remote."

"Really? Your grandson is still young, so there's no need to take such pains to leave a vacancy for him, right?" Chen Yan seemed to be joking.

Liu Min also seemed to be joking: "The Emperor Shengming, this year has been the ninth year of Jiankang. Counting the important ministers in the court, whether they have grandsons or sons, they will almost all be at the age of the big exam next year, and the ministers will have to do something. Such an arrangement."

"Xiang Fang," Chen Xing handed the pamphlet to Xiang Fang, "Master Liu is the most talkative person in the whole court. You are a stupid person, so you should ask Master Liu for advice. Go and get some frozen fruits. , the weather is still hot, Master Liu also come over to eat some."

Chen Xing wanted to arrest Liu Min, but he was helpless. Although Chen Xing was the emperor, he could kill Liu Min without asking any reason, but he didn't want to tear his face and hurt his face in front of all officials. .According to what I know about Liu Min, this person is impeccable, and it is not easy to find a reason to get rid of him. Whether it is Zhenfusi or Dongchang, in his eyes, he is just a few dogs barking. , is nothing but self-inflicted humiliation.I let these slaves go to find out the truth, and I really underestimated him.

Chen Xing sneered - Thaksin believed that the whole matter was still under his control, and Liu Min was just a minister in front of the imperial power.

The matter in Jiangnan is still just a case file. The cabinet has not read it, the supervisor of rituals has not read it, and the six ministries and nine ministers have not read it.Chen Xing did not issue an edict to the Sanfa Division, but directly sent Shen Yang to the south of the Yangtze River, dismissed Wei Qingfeng's official position, and took him directly to the Imperial Prison in the capital.

On September [-]th, the autumn wind picked up, and the leaves in the capital seemed to turn yellow overnight.

This day was the day when Wei Qingfeng arrived in Beijing, Shen Yang did not make any delay, and interrogated him overnight.

The Jiangnan case is finally about to be understood.

Eunuch Huang has worked as an errand for decades, and he became restless at this stall.

Shi Xiaoxiao joked that he was too lenient: "The emperor is the king of a country, how can there be troubles among those officials? As long as this case is certain, use this to settle the case with Eunuch Xiang. Isn't this year just a happy and peaceful year? "

"Xiang Fang is not as simple as you think. Who in the know doesn't know that if the emperor wants to overthrow the cabinet, he must overthrow the Ministry of Rites? The people in the Ministry of Rites are not fools, they will make a good deal of it, and Xiang Fang will also make a good deal of it."

"No matter how hard you toss, you can't beat the emperor." Shi Xiaoxiao pouted.

Every day, the situation of all the officials in the capital had to be reported to Eunuch Huang. For dozens of days, the officials in the capital were eating and drinking as usual, which was a bit boring.Eunuch Huang finally let go of his fatigue and simply waited for Shen Yang to finish the case.

On October 25th, Wei Qingfeng had been locked up in the imperial prison for 25 days. Shen Yang did not get the confession he wanted smoothly, but was blocked for a while and was unable to speak. He finally lost his patience and was planning to Enter the palace and ask the emperor to approve the punishment.Unexpectedly, before he went to the palace, the people in the palace came to invite him first.When Shen Yang saw Chen Xing, he was still a little puzzled, and only saw the anger that could not be concealed on Chen Xing's face: "I raised your Zhenfusi, it really is for nothing!!!"

Snapped!A stack of handwritten documents fell on Shen Yang's face!

Shen Yang was so frightened that he quickly knelt on the ground: "The emperor calms down, the emperor calms down!"

"Where did you get the food from Beizhen Fusi??? You can't even keep a copy of the file??? See for yourself, why are the secret files of Ouchi spread all over the world??? Dogs know how to guard the house, I think you are really not as good as dogs!!!"

Shen Yang was shocked: "Chen... this case file was sealed when it came from Jiangnan, this... this."

"Oh, you mean... I leaked it?"

"I dare not!" Shen Yang hurriedly kowtowed.

"Master Shen, you are the most important thing to the emperor, you should answer properly! Who the hell spread the secret scroll and copied it viciously! Answer quickly!"

Since there was Jinyiwei in the first dynasty, this was the first time that such a thing had happened. Ouchi's case file was copied in a mess by the imperial students in the capital, and the people in Jinyiwei didn't even know about it.

What's even more ridiculous is that even the people in Dongchang don't know about it.

The most ridiculous thing is that if there were no officials who questioned the court, the emperor would not know that even the candy seller on the street would know about the tightly covered scroll beside his bed!

"Get Huang Gui! And the cabinet! Get them all here!!! I want to see what you leaders are doing!"

Guo Taifu was very old, Zhou Wenyuan helped him kneel down.Shen Yang was kneeling next to Zhou Wenyuan, and Shen Yang's forehead was covered with blood.Behind them are several members of the cabinet, all of them with their heads pressed to the floor.Kneeling in front of Chen Xing's case was Huang Gui, who was almost stuck to the ground, sweating profusely even though it was cold.

"It's so good, it's so good, you don't even know it, you've been deaf for the past few dozen days??? Are you dumb now?"

"Answer! Answer quickly!" Xiang Fang was so anxious that she was sweating.

"Back... If you go back to the emperor, the servants are guarding Dongchang, and the situation of all the officials has passed before the eyes of the ministers, but this time the matter is not reported by the officials... Slaves... Slaves really don't know."

"You don't know?"

Huang Gui felt his hands lying on the ground tremble.

"Say! Who is instigating behind the scenes?!"

"Slave, slave! I took someone to investigate immediately! The loyalty of my slave to the emperor can be learned from the sun and the moon! I only ask the emperor to give this slave a chance to show his heart! When the situation is found out, this slave implores the emperor to kill this slave to calm down! Your majesty... ...Your Majesty, please don't be mad at yourself! These things that were transcribed and circulated must have been passed on by the Tai students! The slaves and servants checked thoroughly overnight! We will definitely be able to find out the mastermind behind it!"

Chen Yan sneered: "Mr. Zhou Ge, you have been the chief of the cabinet for five years, and you let a few people make trouble? Are you also negligent?"

Zhou Wenyuan kowtowed his head: "I boldly beg the emperor to show you the case file."

"What?" Chen Yan laughed loudly: "Huang Gui, look how smart my minister is! Zhou Wenyuan, you don't want to tell me that you don't know anything about this matter now, do you?"

"Your Majesty, you don't need to go through the approval of the cabinet to make a statement in the middle of the matter. I really don't know."

"Bold!" Huang Gui knelt on the ground and scolded Zhou Wenyuan: "All the officials are under your control, and you are so clean at this moment?!"

"Hundreds of officials are indeed under the jurisdiction of the minister, and now the minister cannot shirk the blame, and the minister has no intention of dismissing it! It is because the blame cannot be shirked, and the minister must know the reason. Please let the emperor express it clearly." Zhou Wenyuan was neither humble nor overbearing.

"What a sharp mouth!" Chen Yan sneered.

"Zhou Wenyuan! Your subordinates dare to go to the court alone! You are still sophistrying! Your Majesty! This kind of thing has never happened since the beginning of the dynasty! This Zhou Wenyuan is obviously eloquent, treacherous and loyal! That fellow! They must be arrested immediately, and this Zhou Wenyuan must also be arrested immediately! Anyone who has ties to them will be arrested, and whoever is involved will be investigated!"

"Zhou Wenyuan, do you still want to listen to my instructions?"

"Return to Your Majesty," Zhou Wenyuan's face did not change: "The crime of negligence comes first, so I just need to punish him. Now that the emperor has given up, I just go to Dongchang with Eunuch Huang."

"Okay! A Shen Yang, a Zhou Wenyuan, all of them are not afraid of death, very good! Xiang Fang! You bring Huang Gui, tell me how this matter will be tried! Taifu! You are Zhou Wenyuan's teacher, Tell me, how do you judge this matter!"

Xiang Fang knelt down first and said, "Your Majesty calm down, we can only investigate this matter from that matter first."

The Grand Tutor also kowtowed: "This is the end of the matter, we can only stabilize the outer court first, and then investigate the matter carefully. Although the minister is old, he will definitely fight to the death at the court meeting. Zhou Ge is old, and Eunuch Huang is the emperor's family." Maid, you are the emperor's courtiers, so we must cooperate in this matter, and there must be no mistakes!"

The inner hall where hundreds of people could gather was very empty and deserted. Chen Xing was angry, not because of a stupid person, but because of the group of people in front of him.With Wang Yunyi gone, will this group of people live in peace?Huang Gui is in charge of the East Factory, Zhou Wenyuan is in charge of the officials, Shen Yang is in charge of the Jinyiwei, and they are all acting with him here!Who should be trusted and who should not be trusted... Chen Yan is suspicious and fearful like every high-ranking person.The incident in Jiangnan involved many people. I originally thought that it would be bad for everyone to make a big fuss, but it happened to be a big fuss, and I was kept in the dark!Which one of them wants to use their own hands to kill people?Chen Yan was really puzzled at this moment.

At the first moment when he saw this letter, Chen Xing realized that there were only two people left in his hands - one was the Taifu, and the other was Xiang Fang.If they can't set aside their distractions and support the scene for themselves at this moment, it's hard to imagine the situation at the court meeting.

"Let's go!" Chen Yan was exhausted.

The people kneeling below were also exhausted, especially Shen Yang.But this exhaustion was different from those two. Although Shen Yang's face was covered with blood, his heart was still in his stomach.On the surface, he bears the greatest responsibility for this matter, and it is good to save his life, but Shen Yang himself understands that the emperor trusts him in the end, so he let them fight.

Since Huang Gui entered the palace, he has studied for two years more than ordinary scholars. Today, he knew that he had touched the emperor's bottom line. What a cunning old fox Zhou Ge is?I am afraid that the two years of books I have read are not enough to fill the gap between his teeth.Huang Gui thought about it carefully, after all, Shen Yang was a brother in the palace, and there was no reason to go outside at this time, but judging from today's situation, it was embarrassing, so we should discuss everything with someone first.Huang Gui wiped off his sweat and sent someone to find Jiang Shouping, the Minister of Rites.In recent years, Huang Gui's ability to be successful is mostly due to the suggestion of Brother Jiang. Of course, Eunuch Huang also regards him as his own. In the past three to five years, he has also mixed from a secretary to a doctor. After being dismissed from his position, Mr. Huang promoted Master Jiang as a matter of course.

In fact, Master Jiang is by no means incompetent, if he is just a person who is sycophant and curry favor with eunuchs, then a smart person like Lin Xiao might have noticed him long ago.From the Ministry of Punishments to the Ministry of Rites, Mr. Jiang has been a local official for five years and a Beijing official for eight years. He knows who he can mess with and who he can't.Rushi Xiaoxiao, who can't be messed with, is just a brothel girl, but she is smart and vicious, even if she doesn't have Huang Gui's relationship, she won't act against her face.There are so many people who can be provoked... For example, Feng Tanhua, who looks quite aura, is actually a noodle.

Jiang Shouping didn't expect such a big event, but after he became a servant, he also paid attention to the people in the Ministry of Rites. After all, there are many old people in Zhouge here.What gave him a headache was that the people in the Ministry of Rites were either some useless officialdom hooligans who followed Lin Xiao, or they were self-proclaimed clean, and they were useless in their hands.In fact, he didn't like Feng Tanhua either. This was the person recommended by Shi Xiaoxiao. Although Jiang Shouping couldn't figure out what that meant, he just let it go. The one he liked was Wei Chi who came to the Ministry of Rites not long ago.Wei Chi's ability is still very limited, but seeing how he behaves in the world, one can predict that he has a bright future.The only thing I feel sorry about is... this person's background is extremely complicated, and he has constant ties to Wang Yunyi, King Yan, and King Qin.

Jiang Shouping, who was thinking about his thoughts, was dozing off at the yamen of the Ministry of Rites. Suddenly, an eunuch came and rushed in: "Jiang... Mr. Jiang... Father-in-law..."

"Stop talking!" Jiang Shouping was very annoyed when he saw that Huang Gui's people went directly to the yamen to find him!But I'm also a little worried - it's not a very important matter, Eunuch Huang also knows how to avoid suspicion!Jiang Shouping closed the door and changed his clothes: "Stop talking, let's go."

Jiang Shouping was shocked when he saw Huang Gui.Huang Gui pointed at his red and swollen cheeks with some embarrassment: "The emperor is very angry, and our family has to suffer a little bit to calm down the emperor's anger."

After listening to Huang Gui's details, Jiang Shouping thought for a long time: "Eunuch Huang, I'm afraid this matter is not easy. Let's not go to Jin Yiwei or the cabinet. Whoever starts this matter first will lose... Instead of fighting with them If we don’t want to fight, it’s better to set up our game first.”

"How to arrange it?"

"The people from the East Factory are carefully watching Feng Shixun's every move. I will discuss other matters after I have inquired about them."

In fact, the people in Dongchang are much more diligent than the people in Jinyiwei, and they will try their best to do even such confusing and boring surveillance work.Autumn is slowly coming to an end, there is nothing new in the Feng family, the only thing that counts is the return of Feng Shixun's wife from outside the city.It stands to reason that it has been a long time since the summer vacation. The rumor from their house is that this lady fell ill in a nunnery outside the capital. Because it was inconvenient, she simply recovered from her illness and came back.

Feng Shixun naturally didn't know that he was being followed. What he cared about was the incidents in the court during this period.When the matter reached him, he inexplicably thought of Wei Chi next door. The handwritten papers of those imperial students all mentioned that this case was filed by a young girl from Jiangnan to the capital.Counting the time, it was almost a coincidence that I ran into Wei Chi's book office leading a sloppy man to his yard in the alley at the door.Usually the book office is a clever person, but that day he was in a panic, and he secretly noticed it after this incident, and it seems that the Wei family has never seen such a person again... Could it be?

After all, this matter involved the cabinet, Jinyiwei, and Dongchang, so Feng Shixun dared not report such a flirtatious matter.

Wei Chi...Feng Shixun began to think about this person...he has a close relationship with the eldest princess of the dynasty...everyone knows this, even if he doesn't care about being a son-in-law, he won't humiliate himself like this.When Mama Liu told him about those things, Feng Shixun was indeed furious, but after a few days of calm thinking——Qi Yuan will be 26 this year, and Wei Chi is only 20!In terms of appearance, Qi Yuan is not a shocking beauty... Besides, she is an official in the same dynasty as Wei Chi, so she really doesn't want to live with such a plan?

Or...or...is this bitch interested in Wei Chi?

Feng Shixun's mood was very complicated, and he knew the reason... It's just that he thought that this stubborn woman was still a strong woman, so she wouldn't embarrass him, so he respected her for that.But women... they are watery after all, if they really mean that, then don't blame yourself for not giving Mr. Qi face!

"Master, Ma'am is back, everything has been settled, is the whole family having dinner together?" The old lady in charge came over to ask.

Feng Shixun paused: "Naturally, arrange more dishes that Madam likes."