At the end of the day, the countless officials who returned home from the major yamen on both sides of the left and right gates of Chang'an have always been a scenic line in the capital. The number of officials serving in these yamen, the complexity of their ranks, the messy clothes, the ages of their children, and the vastly different means of transportation are all incomprehensible to those who have not seen them. It's like a respected scholar, Xing Xu has a simple official uniform, and the seventy and eighty only use an old ox to pull a broken car; And the humble is like the main thing, the family is rich and brightly dressed, and the two people have to use various decorations on the sedan chair. And along the way, giving way or fighting for the road is always inevitable every day.

As the sky completely darkened, there were more pedestrians on the road, not less. After all, during the Hongzhi Dynasty, few officials in the ministry were really Shen Zheng Sanya, and most of them would go home after taking care of their affairs. However, at this time, those shabby or extravagant sedan pedestrians were all courteous to a carriage that drove out of the right gate of Chang'an on the side of the roadside, for a very simple reason, the person sitting in the car was Li Dongyang, the prince and the head of the household, and the scholar of the temple. In addition to being polite, there are also low-grade civil officials who rely on two legs to walk in twos.

"It's been two or three days since the excerpts were delivered, and I don't know what the cabinet's attitude is towards those excerpts!"

"Yes, I heard that on the day His Royal Highness the Crown Prince escaped from the Wenhua Hall to give a lecture, it was Li Ge Lao who lectured on the Book of Rites."

What people outside were talking about, Li Dongyang in the car naturally didn't know. The cabinet scholars went home to rest, and as a rule, they couldn't bring out the memorabilia, of course he wouldn't make an exception, not to mention that the few imperial histories were carefully decorated and impassioned, and they hadn't been sent to the cabinet at all before the ceremonial eunuchs and eunuchs reviewed and sent them to the imperial court according to their priorities, where did he go to see them? Just because he didn't see it doesn't mean that he didn't hear it, he has always been a person who pays attention to the movements of the court officialdom, and he can't help but be worried about the emperor's attitude.

Emperor Hongzhi is indeed a good person, but he is not without stubbornness in some things. For example, the Zhang brothers are rampant, and they don't know how many imperial history books have been impeached, but almost all of them are left in the middle, and the emperor even asked Guanglu Temple to make amends to Zhang Heling for his sins, and in the end he really couldn't see it and actually went out to teach a lesson in person, as for the words of the admonition, no one knew. Although this Xu Xun is not as good as the Zhang brothers, since the prince likes it, it is not easy to move. What's more, if there is no evidence to hear about it, which Son of Heaven would like those imperial histories that the prince brought in?

"Master, Ma Shangshu's car is ahead, and it seems to be waiting for us."

As soon as he heard the coachman's words, Li Dongyang groaned slightly, and immediately ordered the car to drive over. As soon as the car stopped, he lifted the curtain and looked at it, only to see that in the carriage opposite, the white-haired Ma Wensheng also looked at it with a thick cotton curtain in one hand. Between the four eyes, Ma Wensheng spoke: "Elder Li Ge, the prince said some time ago that he retreated halfway while lecturing in the Wenhua Palace, and a few days ago, several officials before and after the court meeting were talking about it. After the old man inquired carefully, he couldn't help but write a book to suggest. ”

Seeing Li Dongyang's shocked face, Ma Wensheng hesitated for a moment, and then sighed: "The old man still remembers that on the sixth day of the third month of the eleventh year of Hongzhi, the old man lectured with the prince in the Wenhua Palace, and after a lapse of five years, in April of the fifteenth year of Hongzhi, he gave a lecture for the prince in the Wenhua Hall again. In addition, it is only the New Year's Day, the winter solstice and the monthly New Year's Eve said, in the Mandarin Palace. In the past few months, although there are many opportunities to meet Rui Yan, but every time it is only half a day, the prince's window textbook is almost impossible to see, and the old man is really worried. The attack on the Lord of Xing'an is already a fait accompli, and the old man doesn't want to say anything, but instigating the prince to skip class is something that the old man can't tolerate! ”

In addition to ordinary business exchanges, the top cabinet scholars and ministry bigwigs of the Ming Dynasty did not easily communicate with each other. After all, at their level, it is not a good thing to walk too often in the eyes of the emperor. Therefore, although Li Dongyang still respects Ma Wensheng as a person, he also has a headache for this old man who relies on the old and sells the old, and the personal relationship between the two is only general. At this time, after hearing Ma Wensheng's words, he couldn't help but frown tightly together.

"Brother Yo Zhai, things may not be as rumored in the outside world, why do you bother to mix with those officials!"

Ma Wensheng was old, and he didn't know if he didn't hear Li Dongyang's words clearly at all, or deliberately pretended not to hear it, so he paused and continued: "The old man has an old bone, and he has written several times and three times, and he shouldn't have occupied the son of the official department anymore, but he is really unwilling to say something. Elder Li Ge should know better than the old man that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince can write all the big characters now. The old man is just afraid that there are already those eunuchs in the palace who do what he likes, if there are still villains outside who hook up with the prince to learn badly, this will be out of control, and the old man must not tolerate it! Even if what the old man said is wrong, as long as the emperor notes it in his heart, at least he can prevent it from getting worse, and even if the old man returns to his hometown, he will also share his worries for the court. ”

Seeing the deep wrinkles on Ma Wensheng's face, Li Dongyang thought about it, and wanted to persuade a few more words, but it can be seen that the old man's white eyebrows and white beard are very stubborn, and finally pressed it, only nodded and said, "Okay, I know." ”

Li Dongyang's voice was not loud, and there were a lot of pedestrians on the street, Ma Wensheng, who was behind his ears, couldn't help but stare at Li Dongyang for a while, until he almost figured out the shape of his mouth, he roughly understood what this pavilion elder meant, and immediately bowed his head slightly and said goodbye, and lowered the curtain again.

Li Dongyang watched the carriage, which was so simple that it didn't look like a first-class officer at all, went away, and then put down his hand and gave the coachman an order to go. It's not the first time that he has a deep helplessness about this official Shangshu, but this time after the helplessness, he thinks for the first time, if this stubborn old man is not there, then who should be replaced?

Speaking of which, at least the most slippery Jiao Fang will definitely not wade into this troubled water!

When the carriage turned into Li Ge Lao Hutong, Li Dongyang threw all these messy emotions behind him, and when he got off the car, his face did not show the previous depression as always. The butler who came forward carefully helped him get out of the car, and then said, "Master, there are two groups of guests waiting for you today." One is Lord Liu, the secretary of the Ministry of War, and the other is Lord Wang, the squire of the Ministry of Rites, and Lord Xiao Wang, the director of the Military Selection Department of the Ministry of War. ”

Liu Daxia, as well as Wang Hua and Wang Shouren!

Li Dongyang immediately understood the identities of these two groups of guests, frowned slightly and asked, "Did you come at the same time, or did you come one after another?" ”

"It was Lord Wang and Lord Xiao Wang who came first, and Lord Liu came later. Lord Wang and Lord Xiao Wang are in the Little Flower Hall, and Lord Liu is in the study. The little one didn't let Lord Liu know that there were guests in front of him. ”

"Good."

Li Dongyang nodded appreciatively at the housekeeper, and ordered him to go in and pass the word to Mrs. Zhu and Li Zhaofan, saying that there was no need to wait for him to eat together, so he straightened his clothes and went to the study. He and Liu Daxia were both Jishi of the Hanlin Academy, and they were both from Hunan, although he grew up in the capital from the outside, but others inevitably regarded them as fellow villagers. In addition, now that they are in the cabinet, this friendship has not been lost. Only Liu Daxia rarely came to him, and today is really strange.

Is it the same as Ma Wensheng? It is very likely that if you want to be stubborn, Liu Daxia will not let Ma Wensheng!

So, when he pushed the door into the study, Li Dongyang's face was full of a warm smile: "Brother Dongshan, how can you have time to come to me today?" ”

"No matter what kind of guest, I'm about to be angry with that Wang Shouren!"

Liu Daxia stood up angrily and arched his hand to Li Dongyang, the two sat down separately, and the scholar immediately changed the tea with a small tea tray of red lacquer. After the people retreated, he said bluntly, "He is the director of the Wuxuan Division, not the director of the Ministry of Justice, Cheng Yueli seconded all kinds of historical materials of the war map to see, the Department of the Ministry of Justice did not borrow him to grind, I only used the excuse of the Dingguo Mansion for funeral a few days ago, and lent the person to the Ministry of Rites, and the result was good, after the Dingchang Sun was written, he actually sent the person back to me in a good manner!" That's it, he actually told me today that Xu Xun, the son of Xing'an, was training in Xiyuan, and he was willing to go over there and keep an eye on it! ”

Li Dongyang, who was drinking tea, heard this, and a mouthful of water choked on his throat, and he coughed again and again. After all, liberating Wang Shouren from the idle task of governing the funeral of Dingguo Gong was his suggestion to Liu Jian. However, Wang Shouren actually made such an earth-shattering suggestion, but he didn't expect it at all, and he couldn't help but think about the father and son waiting in the Little Flower Hall at this time.

"It's also common for young people to be full of spirit, since Brother Dongshan can't get used to him, it's good to send him to Xiyuan to keep an eye on that side. These few imperial histories are all tinkering with the book there, and even Ma Wensheng also mentioned Xu Xun's matter to me today. In this way, it can also save those people from staring at such a trivial matter. ”

"Insignificant?" Liu Daxia really fell into the trap of Li Dongyang changing the topic, and his eyebrows almost didn't stand up, "Xiya, your cultivation is too good, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has escaped your lecture, you can still be so calm?" Ma Wensheng is a good person, he is not emotional, and if he doesn't say it well, that is to be willful! But he finally did a good thing this time! Forget it, with him coming forward, I am too lazy to do much, after all, I also obeyed the edict of the original promotion of his official. Alas, I regret that I didn't see such a little annihilator at the beginning......"

Li Dongyang originally intended that it was getting late at this time, and Liu Daxia obviously couldn't sit for long when he came hungry, but he didn't expect that this old man who was ten years older than him would never finish babbling, sometimes counting Ma Wensheng's no, sometimes talking about the situation of the armies on the nine sides, and sometimes turning to the head of the crown prince Zhu Houzhao...... When Li Dongyang, who was so hungry, finally sent people out of the door, he suddenly heard Liu Daxia's stomach screaming angrily.

Oh, who made you talk about it and forget the hour!

If it were to be changed to usual, Li Dongyang might keep people to eat, but this time there was another wave of guests to meet, so he watched Liu Daxia get into the carriage that trembled as his age, and knew that this incorruptible military department Shangshu was reluctant to buy something outside to fill his stomach, and after he turned around, he couldn't help but order: "Go, immediately send Liu Shangshu a box of snacks to eat on the way." ”

Putting aside these words, Li Dongyang had no choice but to use half a piece of jujube cake to cushion his hunger first, and then walked to the Xiaohua Hall. As soon as he entered the room, he saw Wang Hua and Wang Shouren both standing up, so he waved his hand, and then asked with a straight face: "Bo'an, do you really plan to go to Xiyuan to observe the avant-garde drill of the government army?" It's a cold day, and it's a critical juncture for the year-end military election, not to mention, Xu Xun is in trouble, and it's too late for others to hide from him, so you have to get up by yourself? ”

Wang Shouren didn't seem to see his father's frequent glances, so he arched his hand and said loudly: "Back to Elder Li Ge, what I'm afraid of is not trouble. What I'm afraid of is that the Ming military system is hopelessly corrupt! ”

(To be continued)