Time flies, and it has been nearly three months since Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao ascended the throne. Although the ministers of the court and central government were very unaccustomed to changing from the calm and introverted Emperor Hongzhi to the now soaring and jumping righteous emperor, the common people did not experience much difference - perhaps the only difference was that the little emperor often tossed all kinds of bizarre things, so that they could have more topics to chat about after every tea and dinner. Therefore, on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15, when the notice of the imperial court was posted on the notice board of the West Fourth Archway again, naturally many people rushed up to take a look.

Nowadays, although there are many literate people, after all, the writing of the edict is difficult, and many people can read all the words but cannot read the full meaning. For a long time, a show was invited to read the whole article, and then he was begged to explain: "The meaning of this is very simple, the emperor ascended the throne, but it has rained more than a few months, the emperor is sympathetic to the prisoners in the world's prisons, so he plans to let the Dali Temple of the Criminal Department and the Metropolitan Procuratorate clean up the prison well, and don't leave any unjust cases." It's just that there is one more rule in the end, but all the criminals who rebel will not be pardoned in the event of forgiveness, and they will be quickly executed within these few days. ”

"So the West Fourth Archway is going to kill people again?"

"It's not autumn yet...... The emperor is young, but he is benevolent, and he is not soft when he kills people! ”

"Chen Liu's family, you have a lot of courage, you dare to arrange the emperor and his old man!"

When there was a hustle and bustle on this side of the West Fourth Archway, the yamen of the Criminal Department was immersed in a solemn atmosphere, and even the soap scribes who walked inside and outside were trembling. Shangshu Min Jue, who had been in charge of the Criminal Department for many years, was suddenly involved in a case of intimidation and assassination, and ended up with a "serious illness" Zhishi who had to be a little bit "seriously ill" to Zhishi, and Tu Xun, the left waiter who had many years of experience in the Criminal Department, did not get the position of Shangshu by mistake, but instead gave Jiao Fang, the left waiter of the Ministry of Officials, to occupy it. As soon as Xin Shangshu arrived, the emperor ordered to clean up the world's prisons, and the matter ahead of him has not yet been completely concluded, and the criminal department will be busy again.

At this moment, in the main hall, Jiao Fang frowned and looked at the henchman he brought from the ministry, and asked word by word as if he couldn't believe it: "You mean, the emperor plans to restore the names of Tang Yin and Xu Jinggong?" ”

"Yes. The master of ceremonies, Gonggong Li, specially asked people to send a letter to say, and the Tao was the emperor's unintentional tone to the left and right, and he easily found out the news. said that it was to clean up the world's prisons, firstly, for the fame of Tang Yin and Xu Jing, and secondly, to kill Zheng Wang's pioneers Min Shangshu who dragged them for a long time. ”

Just for these two things, he was almost bent by so many cases!

Jiao Fang hated it so much, waved his hand and told the soap to retreat, he wanted to find Liu Jin to listen again, but after thinking about it, he heard that Liu Jin had just become an internal official and eunuch, and he was cultivating private individuals in the palace, and he was a little hesitant when he had constant conflicts with Li Rong, Wang Yue and others. But after thinking about it, he really couldn't bear to deal with these messy prisons in the Criminal Department in such an unknown way, and passively accepted the result of Tiantian and Tu Xun's tricks, so he still ordered someone to send a letter to Liu Jin. However, it wasn't until the sun set and the moon was about to come out that he got the news and hurried out of the yamen to Liu Jin's private house.

"This is a great Mid-Autumn Festival, the emperor in the palace is accompanying the queen mother to admire the moon, you are so anxious to find me something, so I hurried over!"

When Liu Jin saw Jiao Fang, he complained a lot, and his face was very ugly. This Mid-Autumn Festival is not the main festival of the Ming Dynasty, and it is not even as grand as the Dragon Boat Festival, and it is over to make some moon cakes and enjoy the moon. But after all, the Mid-Autumn Festival has the meaning of reunion, this happens to be the first Mid-Autumn Festival after the death of Hongzhi Emperor Zhu Youji, Zhu Houzhao naturally did everything possible to coax the Empress Dowager to be happy, the eunuchs with heads and faces were all flattering in front of him, Jiao Fang gave him an appointment, how could he be happy? Moreover, he gave Jiao Fang a position as a scholar, and Jiao Fang didn't even say anything before, so he was naturally even more unhappy.

Jiao Fang saw Liu Jin's reluctant face, and immediately put down his body and put on a respectful and polite appearance of asking for advice: "Father-in-law Liu, I want to ask for advice, the emperor issued an edict this time to clean up the world's prisons, what is the purpose of this?" ”

Liu Jin is more than ten years younger than Jiao Fang, and seeing that Jiao Fang is now promoted to Shangshu and respectful to himself, his heart is a little calmer, and he just knows this by himself, so he smiled and said: "If you ask someone else about this, it may not have a result, so I will tell you the truth." This is the first, of course, when Min Jue was in office before, he dragged Zheng Wang's case that should have been decided for almost a year, and the emperor was annoyed and wanted to kill people quickly, out of sight and out of mind. Second, it was the case of fraud in the imperial examination back then, and the emperor felt that he had wronged those two scholars and planned to restore their fame. It's as simple as that, you just want to do it. ”

And so it was! It's as simple as that, do it!

Jiao Fang was almost so angry that he was smoking, but in front of Liu Jin, he had to reluctantly press it, and then cautiously probed: "What Gonggong Liu said is ...... Speaking of this promotion to the secretary of the Criminal Department, I was not mentally prepared at all. You must know that there are three people on the list pushed by the court, Tu Xun is old in the Criminal Department, Wang Hua has the support of Xie Gelao, and his son Wang Shouren had some fate with the emperor in the past, so what happened to me in the end? ”

It's okay not to ask this, but as soon as he asked this, Liu Jin suddenly became annoyed. He stared at Jiao Fang for a long time, and then snorted heavily: "Do you really not know or fake don't know?" This matter was decided by the emperor's imperial pen, except for me, who else can persuade the emperor to decide on a criminal department? Even that Xu Xun didn't dare! ”

This sentence revealed too much information, Jiao Fang only felt that his heart was tumbling badly, and it was easy to laugh and say: "That's that, my father-in-law's favor in front of the emperor is unmatched...... It's just that Xu Xun is bold, will he dare to do something? ”

"He has only been in Beijing for a year, and he knows a few people, where can he recommend a main hall of the Criminal Department?" Liu Jin thought of Xu Xun's knowledge and interest at that time, and his face was full of smiles for a while, "So, as soon as the emperor asked him, he excused himself and said that he couldn't recommend this kind of talent, so I immediately recommended you." You have spoken for Xu Xun a few times before, and the emperor is very impressed by you, plus Tingtui already has your name, of course, it will be ticked immediately. This time to clean up the world's prisons is just an opportunity, and if you do it, you will not be worried about the saints? ”

Even though Jiao Fang and Li Rong have dealt with each other for many years, Li Rong has never spoken to him with such a condescending attitude like Liu Jin, and Jiao Fang's heart is unusually bad for a while. Thanks to him, he repeatedly comforted himself with his body in Cao Ying's heart in Han, and after calming down, he said carefully: "I know the kindness of Gonggong Liu, but in the past, I was the left waiter of the Ministry of Officials, and I was only one step away from the position of Shangshu, and Ma Wensheng was dying, and this time he happened to become the target of the public, as long as he went to the position, I would be able to grasp the Ministry of Officials logically, and when the time came, wouldn't it be better than the Criminal Department in the hands of the promotion of officials in the world?" ”

Liu Jin was stunned when he heard this, and then he vaguely felt that he was in a hurry. However, he has always been a stubborn person, and he has a little disdain for Jiao Fang, so he suddenly took advantage of the situation and stood up: "Why, I tried my best to plan your future, and you still picked and choose?" Do you think I don't want to get the official book in my hands, the old man Ma is the target of everyone, but this time the book is partial to the emperor's liking, this time and a half will not come down, people are old and not dead, you are a lot old, how many years can you wait until that son? ”

Speaking of this, he felt more and more that he was right, and immediately took the tea angrily: "Kindness is treated as a donkey's liver and lungs, I don't have time to talk to you more, I have to hurry back to the palace, you go back to think about it yourself!" ”

Jiao Fang wanted to say more, but seeing Liu Jin's impatient face, she had to endure the anger in her heart and leave. Wait until he got out of the door and got on his sedan chair, he couldn't help but slam his fist on the armrest, and as a result, the four sedan chair men were planning to lift the sedan chair and go to eat this hammer, the one in front of the left stumbled for a while, and the sedan chair immediately fell to the ground, Jiao Fang was caught off guard, and staggered in the sedan chair, and finally even fell out of the sedan chair with a forward rush. Although the servant next to him saw the opportunity to help each other, his knee still hit the ground heavily, and his face turned blue in pain for a while.

"Old man......"

"Damn it!"

Although the sedan chair man who caused the accident hurriedly kowtowed and begged for mercy, the pain in his knee was just in his flesh and bones, and the stinging pain in Jiao Fang's heart was unbearable. Gritting his teeth and refraining from getting angry at the door of Liu Jin's private house, he barely supported himself and sat back in the sedan chair, and then burst out with difficulty: "Go!" ”

The four palanquin men looked at each other for a while, and finally they carried the sedan chair with trepidation and set off, and the little guy hurriedly followed after making a gesture to the first two family members. When these people disappeared into the night, someone at the door of Liu's house walked in to inform Liu Jin.

"I'm still frizzy at my age, if I don't have someone in my hand, how can I use you!" Liu Jin muttered, but finally let go of this stubble, and suddenly asked the little guy again, "Did they pick it up, big brother?" ”

"Back to my father-in-law, the eldest lord has not yet arrived in the capital, only the two nephews and young masters have arrived today."

Liu Jin was stunned when he heard this, and then immediately stood up: "Don't tell me early when you come, quickly call someone to me to take a look!" ”

When the little guy rushed out of the door in three steps and two steps, and after a while, he brought two neatly packed young men in and kowtowed to him, and he carefully looked at the two of them for a while, and then suddenly grinned: "Okay, good, I finally found a few of my own family members to help." You two, what's your name? ”

"Uncle, nephew Liu Erhan."

"Uncle, nephew Liu Kui."

Seeing that the heads of the two people were unusually neat, Liu Jin smiled for a while, and then patted the handrail for a long time before patting the armrest and said: "Okay, get up, today's Mid-Autumn Festival, accompany me to take a good look at the moon, I finally have my own family to accompany me for the Mid-Autumn Festival!" ”

(To be continued)