In Yuxi Palace, there was a melodious sound of jade chime in the Jingjing, lingering inside and outside the palace gate.

Li Fang lifted the seal from the clay sculpture state, glanced at the two Taoist priests guarding the door, and said softly: "Your Majesty is done, open the door." ”

The two Taoist priests lifted the vermilion gate with dark energy, and slowly opened it to the left and right, without making a sound.

Li Fang took a deep breath, then took the corner of his robe and entered the fine house, but did not go straight to the futon where Emperor Jiajing was meditating, but first wrapped his hands in the copper incense burner in the hall, wrapped his hands with a thick handkerchief, took out a delicate brass pot, and added a few pieces of sandalwood to the stove and covered the incense burner lid.

Then pour the water in the copper pot into a small silver basin, stretch out a finger to feel it, and find that the temperature is just right, so he took a white towel from the shelf, put it in the silver basin and brought it to Jiajing's futon. He took a few steps closer, picked up the soaked towel and wrung it out, bowed down and whispered, "Master, wipe your face." ”

Jiajing opened his eyes, and as a result, the warm towel was slowly applied to his face, and he couldn't help but moan comfortably: "How many days have I been in this time?" ”

"Back to the master, it's exactly ten days, no more, no less." Li Fang replied softly, and asked with a concerned face: "I don't know how the master is going, have you passed the test?" ”

"It's not close." Jiajing sighed and said, "You lift my sleeves and take a look." ”

"The slave is offended......" Li Fang said and stepped forward, gently rolled up Jiajing's sleeves, and saw dark red scars, which looked a little shiny, obviously fresh. He couldn't help but feel distressed: "Master, why hasn't it disappeared yet." ”

"At the beginning, Tao Tianshi said," Jiajing shook his head, withdrew his arm and said: "Cultivation is said to accumulate over time, there will always be some levels, and it is very painful to break through, but once it passes, you can prolong your life, and you will not be invaded by all diseases, and the benefits are still great." As he spoke, he sighed unconsciously and said, "I have obviously reached the big pass this time, and if I want to break through the past, I have to work hard." ”

"Master's cultivation is important," Li Fang's eyes turned red and said, "But your dragon body is even more important, or ...... Let's stop for a while, let the imperial doctor take a look, and wait for the dragon body to heal, and then it's not too late to continue practicing. ”

"Ridiculous!" Jiajing's brows twitched, and he said unhappily: "I'm not sick, what do I want the imperial doctor to see?" Besides, what do those imperial doctors know? What else are they going to do besides giving me medicine? As he spoke, he leaned forward, stared at Li Fang coldly and said, "You are the old man next to me, don't you even know what I want?" What I want is the first longevity of ancient and modern emperors! For the sake of this goal, I have had few desires, cultivated hard, and endured countless hardships, and now you want me to give up? What is the intention? ”

Li Fang hurriedly knelt down, kowtowed vigorously and said, "It's the slave who talks too much, and the slave thinks it's okay to stop." ”

"Why is it okay?" Jiajing snorted coldly and said: "Those who sing opera still know that if you don't practice your hands for three days, you won't sing for three days, and you can't afford to delay my Xuangong for a day!" ”

"The slave and maid have taken it to heart." Li Fangse shrank.

"Get up." Jiajing glanced at him and said lightly: "Don't get older and not grow up, be careful to let Chen Hong overtake you." ”

Only then did Li Fang dare to raise his head, only to see that his forehead was already black and purple.

Li Fang served Emperor Jiajing to take a bath and change into comfortable clothes, and the emperor's mood improved, and he asked him, "Is there anything going on lately?" By the way, the township test has begun, right? What's the situation? ”

Li Fang said softly: "There is really a situation...... The chief examiner of the Shuntianxiang test was silent, and he actually came out of the examination room and entered the palace to ask to see His Majesty. ”

"What?" Jiajing's brows tightened and said, "Did something happen?" ”

"He didn't say it, and the slave maid didn't ask," Li Fang replied in a low voice: "But the slave and maid know that this matter is not trivial, so he let him enter the palace to save himself from being eye-catching outside." ”

"Hmm......" Jiajing nodded, obviously satisfied with his decision, thought about it, and said softly: "Xuan, this kid is not a frizzy person, there must be a reason for doing this." ”

Li Fang said softly: "The slave called him in." He bowed and withdrew.

When he was halfway there, he was stopped by Jiajing and said, "Wrap your head and go out, my chief manager still has to maintain this dignity." ”

Li Fang's body trembled when she heard this, and she almost burst into tears.

When he saw Shen Mo, he had already changed into a red python robe, and the crown on his head completely covered his forehead.

Shen Mo saluted him, Li Fang stretched out his hand and motioned for him to follow him to Yuxi Palace, and when there was no one on the road, he whispered to Shen Mo: "Lord Shen, you have to have a degree, Your Majesty hates to make trouble the most, and play with the topic." ”

Shen Mo nodded, and said softly: "The lower official came this time just to make a big deal small, not to cause trouble to His Majesty." ”

"That's good, that's good." Li Fang nodded slowly, and then stopped talking.

In front of Yuxi Palace, Li Fang went in to pass the ceremony, and Jiajing announced it after a while. Shen Mo handed over the things in his hand to the two eunuchs, and followed them into the retreat.

After the big salute, Shen Mo knelt there and waited for the emperor to ask questions.

Emperor Jiajing's gaze stayed on the large stack of papers, white silk, and strips of cloth held by the eunuch, and then looked at the red box in the hand of another eunuch, and finally asked, "Why don't you stay in the tribute courtyard, what are you running out for?" ”

"Back to the Holy Lord," Shen Mo said with a sad face: "There is a big incident in the Gongyuan, if you don't let Your Majesty know as soon as possible, you will be bullying the king." He lowered his voice and said, "The ones on the left are from the candidates who entered the exam, and there are thirty-seven copies of cheating information; The right is from Weichen, which was sealed and issued after being reviewed by the Ministry of Rites, and has not been opened yet. Then tell the emperor everything that happened in the tribute courtyard as it is.

While listening to him, Jiajing tore off the seal of the Ministry of Rites on the red box, took out the exam questions inside, and then picked up a piece of white silk casually, put on tortoiseshell glasses, and looked at it under the lamp.

Soon, his suspicions were confirmed—the three questions were exactly the same, even the strokes were identical! Pick up another piece of paper and take a look, it's generally the same, and it's really a large-scale leak!

A nameless karmic fire rose in Jiajing's heart, and his face changed when he landed! He slapped those things on the small table in his hand, and roared, "Who did it?" All the palace people in the main hall knelt down, and no one dared to answer the emperor's question.

The more Jiajing thought about it, the more angry he became, and he actually flew up with a kick and kicked those few feet far away...... He was wearing thin cloth shoes, and this hateful kick on the coffee table made of pineapple wood could be imagined...... Seeing that the emperor's face gradually changed, his body trembled and curled up, and finally he hugged his right foot and stamped his left foot in pain, and said angrily: "You are all stupid, aren't you? Don't you see me hurt? ”

The palace people just knelt down, and they really didn't notice what happened to the emperor. Hearing this, he hurriedly got up from the ground, some went to get the medicine utensils, and some went to pass the imperial doctor, and Li Fang stepped forward to support the emperor who was stomping his feet, lest he accidentally fall to the ground and be injured again.

Only Shen Mo knelt there alone, looking very embarrassed, no way, he was a foreign minister, this kind of thing could not be interfered with.

In the end, the imperial doctor came, and took off the dragon socks for the emperor to see, good guy, the entire big toenail cover was lifted, no wonder he could ignore the roar of the dragon's face, and no one could stand it.

The imperial doctor hurriedly treated the emperor's injuries, applied Yunnan Baiyao, and then carefully wrapped them in a white cloth, which slightly reduced Jiajing's pain.

When the imperial doctor retired, the chaos came to an end, and half an hour passed, Jiajing saw that Shen Mo was still kneeling there, so he said angrily: "What are you doing there?" Is my bustle beautiful? ”

"Weichen is definitely not ...... that meaning" Shen Mo said aggrievedly: "I am waiting for the emperor to fall, how dare I withdraw quietly?" Saying that, he said with a look of indignation: "Weichen is at the mercy of His Majesty, but the top priority is to ask Your Majesty, what should be done with the Gongyuan?" Is it to pass the test or ......"

"How to deal with love," Jiajing sucked in the cold air and said, "Haven't you Lord Shen already dealt with it?" What else are you going to do with this afterthought? Saying that, he waved his hand impatiently and said, "Hurry back, first fool the township test, and then let's settle the account after the autumn!" ”

Seeing that the emperor's face was distorted, until he was in more and more pain, and stayed any longer, designated as the object of his venting, Shen Mo had to quickly quit.

But at this moment, the palace door is locked, and no one is allowed to open the door without the emperor's order...... Now Jiajing is in pain and angry, with thorns all over his body like a hedgehog, who would dare to provoke him? Li Fang had no choice but to let him get together in the guard's room for the night, and wait for the door to open at dawn before going out.

The room where Shen Mo lives is a captain who is not bad, most of these royal forest soldiers are from the old family, and there is no shortage of sons of royal relatives, so they are very particular about food, clothing and housing, and they are absolutely the only outliers in all the military sequences of the Ming Dynasty.

After sitting in a neat and elegant room for a while, he silently took off his official uniform, and before he finished washing, a soldier brought dinner. Although there are only four dishes and one soup, the chef has done a very good job, as if he has taken up a bit of the aura of the imperial chef, so that he almost bit his tongue...... Of course, this has absolutely something to do with the fact that he hasn't eaten seriously for a day, and he is finally relaxed at the moment.

After eating and drinking, the orderly cleaned up, silently turned off the lights, and went to bed, as if he had slept.

But if you go up to him, you will find that he has a pair of black eyes, and he is looking at the top of the tent. Yes, if something like this happens, it is estimated that even if you have no heart or lungs, you won't be able to sleep...... At this moment, the mood of silence should still be mostly relieved, after all, although Emperor Jiajing had a bad attitude, he still recognized his method of dealing with the problem...... The reason why Shen Mo insisted on not opening the box and revealing the truth to the officials was because the consequences of doing so were too serious -- large-scale fraud in the scientific field, which was put on hold in any dynasty and generation, was a shocking case that attracted the attention of all people, and it had to be tried by the Dali Temple, the Shangshu of the Criminal Department, and the Imperial History of the Metropolitan Procuratorate...... Of course, this is all high-sounding statement, in fact, every time the three law divisions are tried, because there are too many aspects involved, it will become a wrestling field for all parties.

The final result is often that whoever has the bigger pincers will achieve the final victory, and the result of the so-called 'triage' will naturally be subordinated to this 'victory', which is the so-called 'politics'.

Let's take a look at the list of officials in the Ming Dynasty now, He Bin, the secretary of the Criminal Department, and Wan Cai, the secretary of the Dali Temple, are the backbone of the Yan Party; Originally, when Zuodu Yushi Zhou Yan was there, he could still withstand it for a while, but he had a serious illness since the summer, and now he has not returned to work in the yamen, so he can't count on it at all.

Speaking of which, it can be regarded as Xu Ge's old age, and it is easy to find some powerful comrades-in-arms, but because of old illness, it has caused a huge attrition, and he can't compete with the Yan Party at once.

Knowing that you can't do it, in many cases, you will be made a hero, a righteous man, and admired by thousands of people, only in the officialdom, this sentence is synonymous with finding death, and it is stupid to try.

So Shen Mo chose to retreat and complain to the emperor in an informal way...... He believed that with Emperor Jiajing's cleverness, he would definitely know who did this, but with Emperor Jiajing's ability to get by, it was unlikely that he would exhaust the truth of the matter, because if he pulled out the radish and brought up the mud, it would be too troublesome to end up. For the emperor, such a waste of time and energy is not beneficial to cultivation, where would he bother to do it?

Therefore, after the initial outrage, Jiajing quickly agreed to the silent choice - to make the matter a small thing and a small thing. Of course, a stern warning to someone is still indispensable! It's so unbelievable, if you don't repair it, those guys will really turn against the sky!

"Wushan, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites......" In the Yuxi Palace, Emperor Jiajing asked with a very ugly face: "Where is it from?" It seems to be Yan Ge's fellow countryman, right? In addition to Shen Mo, the author of the township test paper, the official of the Ministry of Rites can see it, and this matter was exposed by Shen Mo in advance, so it can naturally be excluded, and the biggest suspicion falls on Wu Shan, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, who succeeded Zhao Zhenji.

Li Fang was overjoyed when he heard this, his face was still unwavering, and he nodded and said: "The master is good to remember his surname, Wushan Wu Butang is a native of Gao'an, Jiangxi, and he is a very close fellow villager to Yan Ge. After a pause, he dropped his jaw and said, "But Wu Butang's official reputation has always been good, so he won't do such a thing, right?" ”

"People's hearts are like water," Emperor Jiajing sighed: "No, people's hearts are not comparable to water, water goes down, people's hearts are always high and want to be high......"

Li Fang understood what Jiajing meant, which was to say that Wu Shan was originally the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites, and he was still behind Yuan Wei, the left attendant, but he was able to catch up from behind, obviously without the strong support of Yan Gelao. Pushing back from this, why should Yan Ge help you Wu Shan? Isn't it because the two are fellow countrymen? Taking a step back, it is obvious that even if Wu Shan cherishes his reputation, for the position of the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, he will follow behind the countryman's ass.

"The hands of taking others are short, and the mouth of eating others is short." Li Fang said with emotion: "It seems that Wu Butang is also trying to repay his kindness." One sentence shifted Jiajing's attention from Wu Shan to the Yan family's father and son.

"When will my authority be used to give favors?" Hearing this, Jiajing said angrily: "Oh, he Yan Ge gave Wu Shan the book of the Ministry of Rites, and Wu Shan took my township test as a return gift to repay Yan Ge Lao's 'promotion love'. "Smart people have a lot of associations and trust their own judgments. Thinking like this, Emperor Jiajing was almost angry, and said angrily: "The state official weapon is not something that he Yan Song and Wu Shan are fiddling with at will!" Do they still have the emperor in their eyes?! ”

"Your Majesty is angry." Li Fang said softly: "It's better to say that the slave maid will pass on Wu Shan to talk back, and if this matter is true, punish him heavily...... And those people are not too late. ”

Hearing this, Jiajing shook his head and said, "Although you are much older than Shen Mo, you don't see things as well as him...... If I want to make a big fuss, what am I guessing with you? directly sent them to prison, Lu Bing has a way to make them confess! Saying that, he sighed and said, "But not now, the situation does not allow it, so I can only cheapen them." ”

"Is this the end of it?" Li Fang said with some disappointment.

"Forget it? Of course not. Jiajing snorted coldly and said: "I hate being deceived the most in my life, Wu Shan's dog head is just on his head." After a pause, he said, "I write a letter, you send it to Elder Yan Ge," Jiajing's voice became higher and higher, and his eyes widened more and more: "In front of their father and son, read it to them!" After speaking, he wrote a holy precept of the dragon flying and the phoenix dance, and asked Li Fangtian to pass on the decree as soon as it was dawn.

When the morning bell rang and the morning sun was about to rise, the gate of the West Garden slowly opened, and Li Fang and the silent sedan chair almost walked out of the palace gate side by side, one to the east and the other to the west...... A violent storm seems to have been quelled before it was launched, but the cyclone of conspiracy has not been broken at all, and the development of things can really be as Jiajing wishes, turning big things into small things and small things?

We'll see.

(To be continued)