In the middle of February, the snow and ice have slowly melted away, the branches of the trees are showing tender green leaves, and a flock of swallows peck the spring mud from the fields and fly under the blue sky, like arrows into the houses in the city.

Zhengyangmen Street is full of traffic, there are a variety of commodities here, businessmen and scholars from all over the world gather here, and foreign friends appear from time to time.

Bah!

A mouthful of thick phlegm spit on the green brick pavement, and the spitting man's face showed that his only good eyes were bohemian, showing no one in his eyes, showing flying and domineering.

The arrogant behavior of this one-eyed spitting man immediately attracted the sideways eyes of the people around him, but the people of the Ming Dynasty usually do not take the initiative to provoke right and wrong, but they choose to stay away.

In this lively street, there was already a group of dusty officials, officials, two criminals in iron chains, and a group of evil slaves followed.

After months of escort, Yan Shifan finally came to the capital.

Yan Shifan stood unscrupulously in front of Zhengyang Gate in the spring, this capital used to be the place where he studied and became an official, and he was naturally very familiar with this place.

It's just that things are wrong, he is no longer the little pavilion elder who commands civil and military officials, but a fugitive suspected of rebellion, and what awaits him will be the great trial of the imperial court.

"Yan Shifan, let's go!" Lin Run, who was riding on horseback, glanced at the thick phlegm on the ground, but said indifferently to Yan Shifan.

Yan Shifan clasped his earwax with his little thumb, and asked without looking back: "Lord Lin, who is the secretary of the Criminal Department now?" ”

After all, he had been away from the capital for nearly three years, and he didn't know much about the changes in the court officials, so he inquired directly about Lin Run.

Lin Run glanced at Yan Shifan condescendingly, and responded coldly: "The current secretary of the Criminal Department is Huang Guangsheng!" ”

"Huang Mingju? This person has some knowledge and can survive enough, but his talent is mediocre! Yan Shifan didn't care at all when he came to other people's territory, and commented directly on Huang Guangsheng.

Huang Guangsheng was a jinshi in the eighth year of Jiajing, and was first awarded the magistrate of Changxing County, Zhejiang, and later moved to the criminal department and the military department, but he could not stay in Beijing to take up his post, and instead went to the local area to serve as the chief judge of Zhejiang.

In the thirty-fourth year of Jiajing, Huang Guangsheng was promoted to the political envoy of Zuobu in Sichuan, and then the governor of Sichuan

In the 40th year of Jiajing, Huang Guangsheng returned to the capital again, reappointed as the right attendant of the Ministry of Industry, and then promoted to the secretary of the household department in Nanjing, and now serves as the secretary of the criminal department.

If you want to write a record of the promotion of the Ming officialdom, Huang Guangsheng is probably the most suitable candidate, and the richness of his position is rarely comparable to it.

Starting from the county, and then as a speech official, when the magistrate was promoted and could not be promoted, he continued to serve as the local governor, and then also had the experience of serving in Nanjing, and now worships one of the six Shangshu of the Criminal Department.

Although this promotion route seems tortuous, it can be said to be a late bloomer, how many officials in this Ming Dynasty can go from the top three jinshi to the criminal department?

However, Huang Guangsheng received such an evaluation from Yan Shifan, but he didn't know if this was a fair evaluation, or just because of Yan Shifan's temperament.

"Now that you've arrived in the capital, don't follow you anymore, find a place to stay!" Lin Run turned his head to look at the several domestic servants who had served Yan Shifan all the way to Beijing, and ordered with a straight face.

Several house slaves couldn't help but look at each other, and they didn't know how to decide for a while, Yan Hu seemed to want to send Yan Shifan all the way to the yamen of the criminal department.

Yan Shifan waved his big hand, and said indifferently: "You all go to the house to live, and when you get to the capital, ......" He sneered, looked up at Zhengyangmen and said proudly: "I see who dares to take Lao Tzu!" ”

Although he was escorted to the capital as a fugitive, and was also detained by Lin Run with a hat of rebellion, he was not afraid at all, he still had the handle of many officials in his hands, and there were many officials who remembered his Yan family's old feelings.

"Yes!" When several servants led by Yan Hu heard Yan Shifan's words, they responded in unison.

Yan Shifan yawned and said loudly to the unkempt Luo Wenlong behind him: "Brother Wenlong, let's go!" ”

Lin Run went to Yan Shifan to open his face, but he was not very polite to Luo Wenlong, and he did not allow Luo Wenlong to bring servants to serve, which made him suffer a lot along the way.

Lin Run watched the two of them walk in front, and followed slowly.

After passing through the Chengkou Cave of Zhengyang Gate, he looked at the familiar appearance of the inner city, and his heart also swelled with emotion: he had finally returned to this haunting Ming capital.

After passing through Zhengyang Gate, you soon came to Jiangmi Lane, which connects east and west. However, the Criminal Department is not in the same place as the other six Yamen, and the Criminal Department is located in the Qianfu Hutong of Xijiang Mixiang, adjacent to the Dali Temple and the Duchayuan.

The group soon came to the yamen of the criminal department, where the main courtyard seemed very quiet, but behind the courtyard gate were some officials who looked carefully.

It is not a secret that Yan Shifan was escorted to Beijing, in fact, before he entered the city of Beijing, the Yamen of the Criminal Department already knew that this master had arrived.

Even if Yan Shifan is a fugitive, many people dare not despise this master, not to mention other officials of the imperial court, their current main hall lord used to be behind Yan Shifan in the Yamen of the Ministry of Industry.

Upon learning of their arrival, a junior head of the penal department was pushed out to complete the work of receiving prisoners.

"The person has been handed over to your criminal department, please be careful to take care of it, and the official has to go back to the ministry to hand over the errand!" Lin Run said seriously to the head of the criminal department.

Yan Shifan looked at Lin Run and was about to leave, but suddenly asked: "Lin Ruoyu, I remember that my Yan family has never offended you, but I don't know why I am so targeted at my Yan family?" ”

Lin Run is a Jinshi in Jiajing for 35 years, and he was first awarded the knowledge of the county, and he was transferred to Nanjing Yushitai to serve, but he did not have much intersection with the Yan family, and the Yan family did not hinder him in his career.

However, when he was hiding in Jieqiao Village to spend his days quietly, this Nanjing imperial historian gave him a knife in the back, and even pointed the finger at his father.

"This official is to eliminate traitors for the country?" Lin Run met Yan Shifan's gaze and responded with a righteous and awe-inspiring expression.

Yan Shifan also endured all the way, but said with a sneer: "You were ordered to go to Jiangnan to inspect the river defense, and this is just a matter of running to Yuanzhou, Jiangxi, and it will only take a few days to know what I Yan Shifan is doing in Fenyi?" You say that my Yan family is in charge of the world's treasures, and that my family is a slave and a servant Peng Kong's family has hundreds of millions of dollars, which can be described as rich and rivals the country. Why do you still say that I, Yan Shifan, are still greedy for people's wealth and instruct my clansmen to rob money, isn't it contradictory? ”