Chongzhen took the will prepared by Han Kuang, the first assistant, and read it skimmingly, and felt that there was nothing to modify, so he stamped the jade seal and exchanged it with Han Kuang, so that he could immediately send the Jingshi up and down in the name of the cabinet.

Emperor Chongzhen was young and vigorous, and his spirit was always in a state of tension and excitement, although he stayed up all night, he did not show any signs of sleepiness.

However, Sun Chengzong is almost old, no matter how young he is and how energetic he is, he can't be compared with young people, and he is already so sleepy that his upper eyelids and lower eyelids keep fighting.

Chongzhen saw that the teacher was so tired, and he couldn't help but feel a little unhappy, so he ordered the eunuchs in the palace to clean up a side hall next to the Qianqing Palace, so that Sun Chengzong could live in the side hall for a few days, and he could rest and work at any time.

He was still unsatisfied, and when he saw that the palace gate was full of first- and second-class officials in the court, he asked them to go home, and in addition to taking out their own money and food, they also had to persuade their relatives, protégés, and old friends who were good friends with him to donate silver taels to come out.

In this way, Emperor Chongzhen took the trouble to tell the old fritters in the officialdom a lot of truths, which made the officials who had been frozen outside for a day go home.

Ji Qingwen also took this opportunity to resign, and left the Forbidden City with his head down and behind everyone.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he stepped out of the gate of the Forbidden City, Ji Qingwen was surrounded by a group of civil and military officials - they were all hideous and arrogant, and they did not have the calm demeanor of the best officials of the imperial court at all.

The first to attack was Zhou Yanru, a scholar of Dongge University.

I saw him take a step forward, stretched out his finger and pointed at Ji Qingwen's nose, and said, "Ji Qingwen, is it your slander to the saint and ask the rich to pay money?" ”

The officials next to him also chimed in: "Yes, tell me quickly, did you come up with this idea?" ”

Ji Qingwen was taken aback by their appearance, and said truthfully: "This is the idea of the Holy Lord himself, and it has nothing to do with me. ”

"!" Another official, in his mid-fifties, stepped forward and rebuked, "Don't think we don't know. When you were aiming for disaster relief in Shaanxi, you made a fuss about forcing rich families to pay for disaster relief. Today's emperor's will is exactly the same as what you did, do you dare to deny it? ”

The person who spoke was Qian Longxi, a scholar of Wenyuan Pavilion and a deputy assistant to the cabinet.

Because he is a native of Songjiang Huating, Xu Guangqi, the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, is a fellow villager, and Xu Guangqi is good friends with Ji Qingwen.

Therefore, Xu Guangqi stepped forward and persuaded: "Why does Zhiwen Gong (Qian Longxi's character) need to be like this? This is indeed the emperor's clear will, and it is for my Daming Society. The soldiers outside the city fought bloodily, and we enjoyed peace in the city, so we should more or less pay some money to comfort us......"

Who knew that Qian Longxi didn't look at the face of his fellow villagers at all, and scolded Xu Guangqi: "Zixian (Xu Guangqi's words), I know that you have some friendship with this Ji Qingwen, but the reason is not like what you said." Although the soldiers outside the city worked hard, the gentry were the foundation of the imperial court, and if they hurt the fundamentals, even if they repelled the Manchurian Tartars, what was the use? ”

Qian Longxi still has the demeanor of a prime minister, and he can reason with Xu Guangqi and Ji Qingwen calmly.

The rest of the officials did not have such a temperament, and they had already cursed:

"What are the soldiers capable of? The court has not been short of their food and salaries! ”

"If they really work hard, then they won't let the Manchurian Tartars enter the customs at all!"

"The most hateful thing is that Yuan Chonghuan. Every year, the imperial court raises more than one million taels of silver, but it can't suppress those savages and barbarians in Manchuria. ”

"Not really! The surrounding area of Jingshi was poisoned by the Manchurians, and several Zhuangzi of Lao Tzu were looted by them! ”

"Who isn't? Being troubled by the Tartars, Lao Tzu said that he would lose tens of thousands of taels of silver, and at this moment, do you want me to pay for the army? Dream! ”

As soon as it comes to their own money and food income, those righteous gentlemen who are plain and polite and well-behaved have lost their etiquette and education, and they began to scold and scold, which is no different from ordinary cloth and horses.

With the rank and status of these officials, ordinary people or petty bureaucrats may really be frightened by their siege.

But who is Ji Qingwen?

It was a socialist newcomer who had gone through the nine-year compulsory education system, and he did not have the slightest reverence for these feudal bureaucrats.

"I said, what are you doing at me one by one? This will is the emperor's will, and there are five of you and six of you, and you have the ability to give advice to the emperor! Do you dare? Go on! ”

These officials have all seen the cruel methods of Emperor Chongzhen when he liquidated the eunuchs, and they also knew that the emperor was now anxious about the Manchurian invasion, and if he touched this bad head now, he would lose his official position and be dismissed, and his life would be difficult to protect.

These officials, the first thing they value is their own lives, and the second thing they value is their future, no one dares to joke about these two things, so naturally they don't dare to give advice to Emperor Chongzhen.

The crowd was silent for a moment.

Seeing this, the corners of Ji Qingwen's mouth raised, and he said with a smile: "Since you adults have nothing to say to me again, then the lower official will not accompany you." ”

As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and pointed obliquely at a breakfast stall erected at the palace gate, and said, "A few of Xiaguan's friends have been waiting there all night, and Xiaguan wants to have a hot breakfast with them." A few adults should be interested, it doesn't hurt for us to eat together, and the lower officials will pay the bill. ”

As he spoke, Ji Qingwen walked to the early stall, and there were Li Yan, Huang Degong, and Xiao Duozi sitting on the stall, and the three of them wrapped up the stall all night, so they waited for Ji Qingwen to come out.

When those officials saw Ji Qingwen's villainous appearance, they were unwilling to give up, only to see an old official with a white beard step forward to stop him, and asked, "Ji Qingwen, you are too arrogant!" I heard that you once had a feud with Mr. Qian Shouzhi. Let me ask you, do you have a grudge against my Donglin Party? Are you a eunuch? ”

"Money?" Ji Qingwen replied, "You're talking about Qian Qianyi, right?" I can't get used to seeing a real villain and hypocrite like him, what's the big deal about scolding him? As for the grudge...... It was he Qian Qianyi who offended me first, so I naturally wanted to fight back. If you say that this can be considered hatred, then it is fine. ”

"Good! Since you are an enemy of our Donglin Party, then you are a eunuch! The man knocked down his big hat at once.

Ji Qingwen knew that the word "eunuch" was a big taboo in Chongzhen's heart, so he must not let him buckle this basin on his head.

So he had an idea and said: "You say that I am a eunuch, which means that the emperor has no vision!" I am the first year of Chongzhen, and it was the emperor who appointed me to weave the admiral, at that time Wei Zhongxian's corpse was cold, how could I be this eunuch? Are you as stupid as you are when you become the emperor? ”

The man was stunned by Ji Qingwen's words, gritted his teeth, and then said forcefully: "Then you must be a secret button set up by the eunuchs, specially used to deceive the saint!" ”

"Yo ho!" Ji Qingwen followed his words and said, "It turns out that the emperor didn't see it, but you saw it?" It's not easy for someone to know such an inside story - hum! You are the inside line of the eunuch party, so you can know such a secret! ”

"You fart!" The man was obviously annoyed by Ji Qingwen's reversal of black and white.

"You talk nonsense!" Ji Qingwen didn't leave any virtue in his mouth, and scolded him, "Why did the imperial court get to the point where it was bullied by the Manchurian Tartars like this?" I didn't think it was Yuan Chonghuan, let alone the emperor. The fault lies with you scholars who don't know how to learn and only know how to talk. I don't ask you to do anything really and give you any real insight, as long as you keep your mouth shut and say less empty words, nonsense, and cool words, thank God! ”

The man was counted down by Ji Qingwen, and he was flustered for a while, he couldn't swallow one breath, his head was dizzy, and he fell down.

Everyone immediately supported him, rubbed his chest, pinched the people, and finally rescued the white-bearded old official.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and someone scolded Ji Qingwen again: "Okay, you Ji Qingwen, you are a person who has fallen off the list, and you dare to humiliate Lao Tanhua, it is really insulting to Sven." In that case, then we don't need to talk to you about benevolence, righteousness and morality, you see, what kind of place is this? It's the left door! ”