After mid-November, the city of Beijing has been completely dominated by the cold and harsh winter, especially after a few rains and snowfalls, and the temperature here has dropped to the point that no one wants to go out. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Then, another heavy snowfall fell on this thousand-year-old city. Snow flakes fell like goose feathers, and soon the entire capital was covered in silver, which made the pedestrians on the streets almost extinct, and only those in the official offices with important missions would go out to walk in such weather.

Arriving in Beijing at the same time as this snowfall, there was also the final result of the Xu family case from the south of the Yangtze River, which naturally caused many people to argue and discuss.

Of course, many people are very embarrassed about Xu Jie's tragic end, after all, his reputation has always been excellent, and he even fought Yan Song, the traitor who had plagued the court for many years, with the power of one person, and then made great efforts to make the dynasty have a new atmosphere.

But who would have thought that such a high-ranking official who was praised and regarded as a model by the officials still had such a deep secret hidden behind it, and what the Xu family did could even be described as a book. If it weren't for the nearly 7 million taels of silver in the report, many officials would not have been able to accept this fact.

Seven million taels of silver, what kind of concept is this? The Ming Dynasty was a huge country, and the treasury income in a year was less than 10 million, which was normally almost the same as this figure. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that the Xu family is a rich country.

Where did such a huge amount of money come from, and what means did it use? As long as you have some brains, you don't have to think about it to know the answers. From this point of view, the Xu family finally ended up like this, which is exactly what those four words are in line with - to blame.

However, the case of the Xu family did not end with the seizure of the Xu family, the death of Xu Jie, and the beheading of the three Xu brothers in the city -- in early November, after Jin Yiwei completely announced the charges one by one, the emperor personally approved and convicted the three Xu Ying brothers of death, and they could not wait for the autumn verdict next year, but the execution, and hundreds of people rushed to witness this execution process -- it ended, but more people were implicated.

After the Xu family was raided, the government obtained not only their family property, but also countless case texts and letters. Some officials who have close contacts with the Xu family, and even have private gifts and benefits, have also been exposed. In the face of such a discovery, those Qingliu and upright people in the imperial court naturally would not turn a blind eye, so the counterattack against the officials of the pro-Xu faction also began.

And because Xu Jiecai has only been out of office for five or six years, and his successor disciple Zhang Juzheng is not easy to drive the teacher's people out of his position, so the number of officials of the DPRK and China who have been implicated this time is a bit terrible. For these people, the imperial court punished them by means of transfer, relocation, dismissal and imprisonment, and for a time a large number of court officials were replaced, completing a shocking clean-up. Even if a few of them slip through the net, it is difficult to do anything in such a situation.

And in this purge against the Xu family, or Xu Jie, among the people who are close to Xu Jie, only one person is really out of the matter, and he is still the one who has the closest relationship with Xu Jie. This person is naturally Zhang Juzheng, the first assistant of the dynasty.

As Xu Jie's proud protégé, he will support the cultivated successor, and if those officials in the court want to find a thorn, they can always find out a lot of problems. But I don't know if they didn't dare to go to the sparse, or because they were not accepted by the emperor, let those officials with the brand of Xu Jie fall one after another, but Zhang Juzheng is just like his number, as steady as Taiyue, not moving at all.

It's just that this is not moving, not being disturbed, does not mean that he really has nothing to lose. On the contrary, in this clean-up, Zhang Juzheng suffered an extremely serious blow.

The officials who were purged because they had a close relationship with Xu Jie, so they have been able to hold important positions in the court, not only because of their relationship with Xu Jie, which makes Zhang Juzheng difficult to start, but also because they are indeed really talented and learned. Xu Jie is not a fool, and Zhang Juzheng is not either, he has taken a fancy to the talents of these people, and he is out of the same class as himself, and the relationship is acceptable, so he will continue to use them, even if they have some problems, he can endure them for the time being.

But now, when his reform is halfway through and he is about to succeed, there is such a sudden incident, and those capable subordinates who are used to it have fallen one after another, which is naturally a great blow to Zhang Juzheng, and he even doesn't know how to deal with the distribution of complicated official affairs next.

But Zhang Juzheng is not good at speaking for these officials, after all, their charges are real, if such people are allowed to continue to stay in the DPRK and the Central Government as officials, how will the officials and people in the world view him, especially the new law and new policy he promotes? The ancients did not have the dialectical thinking of modern people to divide into two, and in their view, it is an eternal truth that all the wicked do evil.

With the loss of these capable assistants, Zhang Juzheng will inevitably go through an even more difficult process in the next step in implementing the new law, and it is by no means possible to select a group of credible people who can be entrusted with important tasks. A long way to go is not enough to describe the daunting problems it will face next.

But even so, on November 24, Zhang Juzheng still took a day out of his busy schedule and ignored the many chores, but locked himself in the study alone, even the closest staff and subordinates, and they couldn't get close, let alone let people know what he was doing inside.

On the long table in the study, a small tablet is prominently placed on it, and in front of it are some incense and tribute. Look carefully at what is written on the tablet, it is the words "Ancestor Xu Gong's Spiritual Position".

There is no superfluous description of the official title, just because in Zhang Juzheng's eyes, Xu Jie has always been just his teacher, a teacher who taught himself carefully, helped pave the way for himself, and finally sent himself to the pinnacle of his life. The title of teacher has trumped everything.

In front of this case, Zhang Taiyue, the first assistant of the court, was wearing a linen robe and a filial piety scarf, kneeling in front of the spiritual seat, and a copper brazier was placed in front of him, and several stacks of dark paper were gently thrown into the fire by him.

Seeing those dark papers being slowly burned in the fire, I don't know when, a trace of tears flashed in Zhang Juzheng's eyes: "Teacher, today is your first seven days, but the apprentice can only pay tribute to you here, and I hope you don't blame me." ”

After muttering a few times, he raised his head again and looked at the small tablet, which seemed to have turned into Xu Jie himself: "As early as a few years ago, I wrote to you several times to advise you, asking your Xu family to act a little more restrained, after all, there are still upright people in this court, and once they go too far, they will always get into trouble." You may not have believed it at the time, but now you have to believe it, right? ”

A bitter smile appeared from Zhang Juzheng's resolute face, he looked a little miserable at this moment, and even lost his previous majesty and domineering in the court, and he looked a lot older: "Of course, this incident can't be completely said because you are at fault, the fault is also me, it is because I underestimated Yang Zhen's methods and his vicious intentions."

"Thinking back now, their previous reminder to me was correct, first Liu Shouyou, and then Feng Bao, at that time, this Yang Zhen was already working to get rid of the people who could be used by me and could balance him one by one. But at that time, I only saw his talent, and I didn't want to have a grudge against the Son of Heaven, so I didn't really regard him as an opponent. Maybe it's because I've been in the top position for too long over the years, and I've long lost my keen instincts when fighting with people in the past, and I've just allowed him to sit under his nose until now.

"It is precisely because of my miscalculation that it eventually led to the death of you and several Xu family brothers, even if it is your other family members, I am difficult to preserve, how can I ...... you to the teacher" Speaking of this, Zhang Ge Lao slammed his head on the ground with some guilt, and his forehead was suddenly blue.

"But teacher, you will definitely understand my inaction this time, I can't come forward this time about the Xu family, otherwise I will only put myself in, in that way, I will really fulfill Yang Zhen's wish." Only if I am still here, the children and nephews of the Xu family will not be completely in a desperate situation. I can swear to your spirit in the sky, when the wind is not so tight, I will do my best to rescue the Xu family from prison and other places, so that they can live a normal life from now on, this is the first thing I can do for you, teacher. ”

Speaking of this, the tears in Zhang Juzheng's eyes have disappeared, and what has been converted into a kind of Ling Ran's majesty that people dare not look at, that is the majesty of the first assistant of the cabinet, the most powerful person in the world: "As for this second thing, it is naturally to avenge you and a few brothers, as well as those who were framed and killed by Yang Zhen." Although he Yang Zhen is good at it, I, Zhang Juzheng, am not so easy to provoke! Even if he is likely to have the Son of Heaven hidden behind him, even if all this may be at the behest of the emperor, at this time, I can't care too much. Only by using my means to get rid of this person can I comfort the spirits of you in heaven! ”

After saying these last few words, Zhang Juzheng bowed down in front of the spirit again and did not get up for a long time. After nearly a stick of incense, he slowly got up from the ground, at this moment, his eyes were full of the light of battle, after untying the sackcloth and the filial piety scarf on his head, the Zhang Juzheng who could make the world tremble and tremble like a sword!

At this moment, the north wind is tighter, and the snow is blowing all over the capital, as if even this heaven and earth have been intimidated by Zhang Juzheng's momentum......

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