Ji Qingwen rushed from Beijing to Shanhaiguan, originally wanting to ask for the support of Sun Chengzong, the teacher he and Yuan Chonghuan shared, but unexpectedly, in exchange for Sun Chengzong's acquiescence that he did not participate in and did not get involved in this matter.

Ji Qingwen ate soft nails here with Sun Chengzong, and his mood suddenly became extremely bad, and after giving Sun Chengzong some supplements such as bird's nest, sea cucumber, and ganoderma lucidum that he brought with him, he called Li Yan, Li Yuanyin, Huang Degong and others, and immediately rushed to Jingshi, without even staying overnight.

Wu Sangui felt strange, Ji Qingwen finally came to the capital from Jiangnan, and finally rushed from the capital to Shanhaiguan, the words can be regarded as speculative, and the meal can be regarded as a happy meal, why is he about to leave in the blink of an eye?

Now Wu Sangui is still a straightforward young man, and he grabbed Ji Qingwen and said, "Why is Lord Ji in a hurry to go back?" Why don't we go out overnight, and tomorrow morning we will go hunting together, it's fun! ”

Wu Sangui's father, Wu Xiang, was obviously a lot older, and guessed from the solemn atmosphere between Sun Chengzong and Ji Qingwen that something must have happened between the master and apprentice, so he immediately stopped Wu Sangui and said, "What do you know about a child? Lord Ji is in a hurry to go back, there must be something urgent to do, don't bother the lord. ”

Wu Sangui still didn't give up, and said, "What's important? Is there anything you need me to help with? I haven't been back to the capital for a long time, so I can go back and have a look. ”

Ji Qingwen looked at Wu Sangui's heartless appearance, it was really difficult to connect with the big traitor and traitor in the future, but he didn't want to ruin his interest, and said: "General Wu, I really have something urgent to do this time...... It's better to be like this, the Ming Wu army in my south is short of some military horses, and you have good horses here, please prepare two hundred good horses for me, and I will come to you to get them before I go back to Jiangnan. As for the price of buying a horse, it is natural that General Wu will not suffer a loss. ”

When Wu Sangui heard this, his mood was better, and he immediately patted his chest and agreed.

Ji Qingwen and his entourage hurried from the capital to Shanhaiguan, and then hurriedly returned to the capital from Shanhaiguan, walking for two days and one night.

When they returned to the Yunlai Inn next to the Jingshi Shaanxi Hall, Ji Qingwen and the others were already tired, and after asking the innkeeper to prepare some food and eat it hastily, everyone fell asleep.

When he got up early the next morning, the first thing Ji Qingwen asked was how Yuan Chonghuan's body was recuperating now, and whether the dysentery he had caused had been cured.

Li Yuanyin has many ears and eyes in the Beijing Division, and as soon as he went to the Criminal Department to inquire, he got the news, saying that although Yuan Chonghuan's illness was fine, it had not completely recovered, and it would take three or four days to go to court for trial.

When Ji Qingwen heard the news, he was a little relieved, and he was just about to discuss with Li Yan about the countermeasures to save Yuan Chonghuan, but unexpectedly, someone from the Criminal Department came with news that Yuan Chonghuan's case would be retried immediately.

Ji Qingwen was shocked when he heard this, and asked the official of the criminal department who came to deliver the message: "Didn't you say that you would wait until Yuan Chonghuan recovered from his illness before opening the court?" How can you Wen Shangshu talk and not count? ”

The official hurriedly said: "Sir, this is wrong to blame the old Wen Ge." It was not that Wen Ge wanted to try the case, it was the emperor's will, and he invited Gonggong Gao to come over to hear the trial. ”

"Father-in-law Gao? Which high father-in-law? Tell me clearly. Ji Qingwen asked.

"It's the high and diving father-in-law of the master of ceremonies." The official replied.

At this time, Li Yan also walked out of the Yunlai Inn, and whispered in Ji Qingwen's ear: "What's going on? Wei Zhongxian's body hasn't rotted yet, why did the emperor reuse the eunuch again? ”

Ji Qingwen shook his head and said, "I don't know, it's probably just an ear and eye taken by the emperor." Brother Li, don't forget, isn't there a Shen Liangzuo at Songjiang Wharf? It is estimated that this high dive is similar to Shen Liangzuo, which is just a decoration. ”

Li Yan frowned and said, "It's hard to say." This eunuch surnamed Gao is also a eunuch who is in charge of the seal, and there is no eunuch in the palace who is bigger than him. The emperor sent him over, which showed that the emperor not only attached great importance to Yuan Chonghuan's case, but was also a little dissatisfied with the progress of the trial. Otherwise, it is already very rare for the imperial court to send two cabinet ministers to try the case, so why should it send another chief eunuch down to hear the trial? ”

Ji Qingwen listened to Li Yan's words, his heart suddenly tightened, and he remembered Sun Chengzong's attitude towards Yuan Chonghuan, and suddenly felt that he was now in a dilemma both internally and externally: he had to deal with Wen Tiren, the second assistant of the cabinet, and faintly had to deal with the supreme Emperor Chongzhen, but the attitude of his two possible allies, Zhou Yanru, the first assistant of the cabinet, and Sun Chengzong, the secretary of the military department and the governor of Jiliao, was still very unclear.

At this moment, Ji Qingwen stood in front of Yunlai Inn, an inn in the late Ming Dynasty in the seventeenth century, looking at the top of the gatehouse of the Forbidden City from afar, and really felt like a world away and fighting alone. And Ji Qingwen himself withstood such huge pressure, and Yuan Chonghuan, who was bent on saving him, was he really a pillar of the country in the absolute sense?

Although Ji Qingwen couldn't help but have doubts in his heart, it was not his style to give up halfway - just like when he was a coder before, he finally wrote a piece of code, and he always had to go through the process of testing and removing bugs, otherwise this code would become a pile of garbage.

Without further ado, Ji Qingwen sat on the small sedan chair he specially built, and then selected four more tall entourages from the miners who came to Beijing with him, escorted them all the way to the yamen of the Criminal Department.

Ji Qingwen has come to the Criminal Department many times to do business, and the officials up and down the Criminal Department have been rewarded by him once. Therefore, this group of snobs became more and more respectful to Ji Qingwen, and when they saw the arrival of the new lord's sedan chair, someone immediately stepped forward, carefully held the sedan chair steady, and bowed to the side.

Ji Qingwen came out of the sedan chair, threw some scattered silver, and was about to break into the yamen of the criminal department.

Unexpectedly, the official on the side stretched out his hand to stop Ji Qingwen and said, "Sir, please stay, please wait outside first......"

Ji Qingwen was fed up with the past two days, and scolded when he saw this: "What? Isn't the Yamen of the Criminal Department remarkable? I've always been able to get in whenever I want, where are there so many rules? ”

The official hurriedly said: "Sir, although the rules of our criminal department yamen are big, none of them can control you, sir." However, today is different from the past, the emperor sent Gao Gonggong to come to hear the trial. Early in the morning, Elder Wen Ge let go and said that he wanted us to serve well and not be rude. Therefore, please wait outside the door for a while......"

"Wait? Want me to wait? Isn't it just a high diving hole! Why should I wait? Ji Qingwen scolded.

As if he had heard some kind of spell, the official took two steps back in fright, looked around with his head and eyes uncontrollably, and then said, "Sir, you can't talk nonsense. Gonggong Gao is the eunuch who holds the seal of the celebrant and is known as the internal minister, but he is the person who speaks loudly in front of the emperor. What's more, Gonggong Gao is still supervising the East Factory, which is even more difficult to provoke. ”

While he was talking, the two cabinet ministers Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren had also arrived.

These two extremely popular civil leaders did not go to the yamen first, but after greeting each other with a good look, they stayed outside the door, presumably waiting for the arrival of Gao Qiqian.

Sure enough, after another cup of tea, I saw a small sedan chair of two people hurrying from a distance, and after stopping steadily, a short man without a beard walked out of the sedan chair, slowly walked in front of everyone, arched his hand and said, "All the adults are here?" Then please go in and try the case. ”

Wen Tiren is the secretary of the Criminal Department, and he is half the master here, so he hurriedly flattered: "Father-in-law Gao, please go first, you see, Lord Ji, Zhou Shoufu and Xiaguan and I are all waiting for you here!" ”

Unexpectedly, he pinched up and said, "Yo! Master Wen, where did this start? The miscellaneous family was ordered to come to the hearing, and the miscellaneous family and the miscellaneous family were not all judged the same? If the trial of the case is delayed because of the relationship between the miscellaneous family, the miscellaneous family can't afford this sin! ”

Gao Qiqian's words are all right, but the tone is yin and yang, revealing a little disdain, and a little arrogant, even Wen Tiren, who has always been a little faceless in talking and doing things, is a little embarrassed, and the muscles at the corners of his mouth twitched, and he didn't know how to deal with it.