Coming back from Shen Mo, Zhang Juzheng went to see Xu Jie, and relayed his words to Xu Ge Lao, when Xu Jie heard the silence of instinctively staying out of the matter and not wading into this troubled water, he was willing to go to the soup for himself without hesitation, and he was speechless for a long time. After a long while, he slowly asked, "Don't you blame me for my clumsy words?" ”

"I asked him this question," Zhang Juzheng said, "He told me that there are all parents in the world, and even more so teachers." No matter what decision the teacher makes, it is for the sake of being a good student, whether it is understood or not, this fact cannot be changed. Said with a touched face: "Teacher, humble words, in order to repay the teacher's kindness, he is willing to deal with those people to the end, even if it is broken bones, there is no regret......" At this point, tears filled Zhang Juzheng's eyes, and he said in a trembling voice: "Teacher, the ancients said that 'the wind knows the strength of the grass, and the cold of the year withers', in this critical moment, the humble words stand up without hesitation, teacher, don't you think, should you re-recognize him?" ”

After listening to Zhang Juzheng's words, Xu Jie, for the first time in his life, felt that he was wrong. If it was usual, if he said these things silently, he would only feel that it was rhetoric and not enough to believe. But just like Taiyue said, 'the wind knows the strength of the grass, and the country shows loyalty in chaos', in this kind of crisis, the thing that best reflects the essence of a person, Shen Mo can stand up to help without hesitation, facts speak louder than words, he is a true loyal person!

"Such a person, no matter how bad it is, it can't be any worse...... Xu Jie sighed in his heart, "It seems that I am really wrong." Then he slowly bowed his head and said: "All the things in the past are because the old man is biased, you can tell me humbly, from now on, the old man will not be." ”

"Teacher, you should tell him this in person," Zhang Juzheng said with a smile, "I think I will be happier to hear it." ”

"Hehe, it's also ......" Xu Jie nodded and said, "When the turmoil has passed, I will talk to him well." ”

"Great!" Zhang Juzheng said with a smile: "Finally, I don't have to be caught in the middle, I am in a dilemma." ”

"Haha, you......" Xu Jie shook his head helplessly and smiled: "Okay, let's get down to business." What do you want the old man to do? ”

"It's still the last time," Zhang Juzheng said, "He asked you to arrange for someone to write a letter and impeach Yan Party elements." The difference is that last time it was for him to disperse the fire, this time for the teacher you. ”

"Why bother?" Xu Jie shook his head and said: "This kind of book has almost no chance of winning, and most of those who are waiting for the book will be dismissed, exiled, or even killed!" I don't want to see this kind of sacrifice until the last resort......" He can't forget his student Yang Jisheng, that tragedy has caused a huge psychological shadow on him, and he really doesn't want to repeat it. In fact, his last break on his promise to silence was not all because he wanted to cross the river and tear down the bridge.

"The original words of the humble words are that there are many evil deeds in the world, and the most tolerated thing by Your Majesty is party strife." Zhang Juzheng said in a deep voice: "Of course, the premise is to sacrifice a few officials who have obvious relations with you, so that in the emperor's place, you will definitely think that it is a resurgence of party strife, so that all the next attacks on you will be classified by Your Majesty into the category of party strife, and you will not pay attention to it, so that we can escape this catastrophe." ”

Xu Jie listened silently, and did not express his position for a long time, Zhang Juzheng continued to persuade: "This is not just the meaning of clumsy words, the students also think so - now that we have been forced into a corner, it is impossible to be unharmed." In extraordinary times, you must be able to expose yourself and seek self-protection! As he spoke, he raised his voice and said, "Teacher, take out the courage of a strong man to break his wrist!" Students are willing to be pawns! ”

Xufu. There was a brief silence in the study, except for the occasional crackling of charcoal in the flickering charcoal basin.

Xu Jie's hands have been covered with charcoal basins, he is an old man, and a southerner, very afraid of the cold. A well-maintained face, dim in the flickering firelight, asked softly for a long time: "Last time, you asked Wu Shilai and Dong Chuance to find a few of them, but the old man didn't explain anything, so he drove them back, how did they react afterwards?" ”

"Oh, they all said that the elder must have a heavy responsibility to entrust." Zhang Juzheng took an iron clip, sent pieces of charcoal into the charcoal basin from time to time, and said softly: "But you didn't say anything in the end, it hit them very hard, and they all said that the elder was not at ease with them, so he changed his mind again." Saying that, he glanced at Xu Jie and said, "They are all very sad, and they hope to have a chance to prove themselves." ”

"The price is too great...... Xu Jie shook his head and said, "In case we can't even save our lives, how can we face their relatives and parents?" ”

"It's their blood book." Zhang Juzheng carefully took out an envelope from his arms and said, "Teacher, please take a look." ”

"Oh......" Xu Jie took it with both hands, opened the envelope, took out the letterhead, and after flattening it, he saw sixteen big characters and said: 'Not for personal grievances, only for righteous indignation, seeking benevolence and benevolence, and hoping for public success!'

"Don't be a personal grudge, ask for benevolence and be benevolent...... Xu Jie said a little distractedly: "When was this written?" Have you been to see them lately? ”

"It was last month." Zhang Juzheng said: "Actually, I wrote it to me a long time ago, but I felt that the timing was wrong, so I never gave it to you." ”

Xu Jie knew that during that time, because of the injustice to Shen Mo, Zhang Juzheng was actually chilled by him, so he didn't take it out for a long time. Of course, he didn't bother with his beloved disciple, so he withdrew his gaze to the paper and said, "It's very determined......"

"They also said that even if you don't say yes, they're going to do it!" Zhang Juzheng said angrily: "Teacher, students are willing to go with them!" Let's join the impeachment of the Yan Party! ”

"Ridiculous!" Xu Jie glared at him angrily and said, "Don't forget your ambition, if you want to die before you become a teacher, you can just follow them!" ”

Xu Jie usually listens softly and never rushes, but at this moment, he was so angry that he calmed Zhang Juzheng, shrunk his neck, and didn't dare to do anything more, and whispered: "The students all listen to the teacher, and they don't mess with heroes anymore." ”

"Alas, Taiyue," Xu Jie sighed and said, "For a person who is determined to do great things, he must always have Haoran righteousness in his chest, otherwise he will not be able to transcend his own small family and look at the problem from a higher standpoint, which is right." He said in a stern voice: "But you remember for me, from now on, keep your sense of justice in my chest, don't hang it on your lips, shout and kill all day long, and fight with others at every turn, how different is this kind of behavior from a reckless man?!"

Zhang Juzheng hurriedly accepted the teaching, not daring to refute in the slightest.

Xu Jie was discouraged, got up with the back of the chair, walked to the back of the big case, opened the drawer and rummaged through it for a while, found a thick brown paper bag, walked to Zhang Juzheng's side and said: "This is the material that was handed over to me by the original humble words, and I don't know how he got the material from Xuanda, but I have seen it, there is no doubt about it, Tong Suo is not deceived!" You try to pass these things on to Wu Shilai and tell him that only the famous ones are impeached, and no one else is allowed, otherwise they may fall short, and their situation will be dangerous. ”

Zhang Juzheng took it and said softly: "I know, I'll give it to them." ”

"Don't go yourself, think of a way to hide somewhere." Xu Jiedao.

"Now there are Dongchang eyes and ears everywhere," Zhang Juzheng said: "Every move of the students is watched by them, and there is no way to hide it." ”

"Even if you want to cover up, you still have to hide it." Xu Jie shook his head and said, "Being guessed that you gave it to them is completely different from being seen as being given to them by you." ”

"Yes." Zhang Juzheng nodded in response.

In the alley of Fangju Temple, in an ordinary house, there lives an ordinary young official, his name is Wu Shilai, the word is only Xiu, the number is Wu Zhai, a native of Xianju, Zhejiang, a Jinshi in Jiajing for 32 years, just in his early thirties this year, and the current criminal department is in the middle of the matter.

He can write poetry at the age of seven, known as a prodigy, the county test, the government test, and the hospital test are all the champions, and Shen Mo is the same, he has obtained a small three yuan, when he is a scholar, he is not very old, only twenty-five years old, but because he did not take the Jishi, the eunuch road is much more unsmooth than that fellow, and this year is already the ninth year of the office, but he is still a small criminal department member, and even the section chief is not mixed...... The six departments are all given to the matter, and they are respectfully called the 'section chief', and they are the section members in this kind of work.

Seeing that he had entered the age of establishment, and he was still making achievements and waiting for leisure, Wu Shilai felt deeply helpless, and often drank with two good friends, Dong Chuance and Zhang Chong, the directors of the Criminal Department, to drown their sorrows.

But the three of them are just insignificant sesame mung bean officials, and it seems that in addition to scratching their hair, they can only go back to their respective homes with enough wine and food, and then continue to have no hope and meaningless day by day.

This day, the three of them gathered at Wu Shi's house to drink, and it was not until the middle of the moon that the banquet finally dispersed. Wu Shilai sent the two to the door, watched them swaying and disappearing at the mouth of the alley, then turned around and closed the door and latched, and walked to the house, ready to wash and sleep.

As soon as he walked to the middle of the courtyard, he heard a pop at the root of the south wall. Wu Shilai was a little strange, so he walked over through the moonlight, and saw that it was a burden. He felt a little strange, who threw the burden at my house, what was he doing? I bent down and picked it up, and it was quite heavy!

It took him some effort to carry the bag into the room, put it on the table and open it, and saw a thick brown paper bag in the middle of a mass of old clothes.

At this time, Wu Shilai's wine woke up, and looking at the thick paper bag, he had a strong premonition in his heart that a big event was about to happen in his hands. Taking a deep breath, the seal of the paper bag was cut, revealing a thick stack of paper, Wu Shilai carefully looked at the file under the lamp, only to see that it was recorded in detail that in August this year, the Tartar captives agreed to enter Kou Datong, and Yang Shun, the governor of Xuanda, was in charge of 200,000 border troops, consuming seven or eight tenths of the national funds, but he was afraid of defeat and asking for guilt, and he saw that the people were tragically abducted and plundered, and he was able to hold his troops still. waited until the Tartars were fully loaded, and then they sent troops to transfer their generals and pretend to pursue them.

When he saw that Yang Shun was afraid that the truth would be revealed and he would be convicted, he secretly told the soldiers: 'Find the civilians who have avoided the army, behead them to fill the head of the Tartars, and send them to the military department to report their merits!' At that time, Wu Shilai couldn't help but burst into tears, and roared in a low voice: "Dog thief dares, bold!" I saw Xuanda Yushi Lukai again, accepting a bribe of 7,000 taels from Yang Shun, not only did not report the truth, but also tried every means to help him get through the trick.

"It's bearable, it's unbearable!" Wu Shilai patted the case and said: "This Yang Shun and Lu Kai are so shameless, they are weak to the Tartars, but they take the people to account!" How can we leave such evil obstacles and continue to do harm! "When I turned to the last page, I saw that the font changed, but it was someone's message: 'Not for personal grievances, but for public indignation, only impeach Yang Lu, don't ask others, leave green mountains, and only have firewood.'"

Although this font was very unfamiliar, he knew at a glance that it was written by Zhang Juzheng, because the blood letter had not been shown to others. 'It seems that the elder gave the order! Wu Shilai was excited for a while, so he wanted to go to Dong Chuance and Zhang Chong immediately, and wanted to discuss the matter of going to the book with them, but it was already three watches after seeing that it was already the third watch, so he had to wait until dawn.

Wu Shilai naturally had no sleep all night, he sat at the table and pondered repeatedly, and finally changed his mind, this kind of book is more auspicious and less auspicious, why do you need the three of you to pay it together, or come alone, the family is also taken care of.

In the end, I made up my mind to hide from those two people and read the book myself! I bathed in incense, then re-read the material and wrote a book of impeachment recitals that were like thunder!

And the initiator of this matter, the prince of the Ming Dynasty was silent and clumsy, and he also bathed and burned incense at home, and sat alone in the quiet room, because he had to make a major choice, and he had to think carefully and plan before acting.

Xu Jie thought that Lan Daoxing's matter had nothing to do with Shen Mo at all, he returned to Beijing just to accept inquiries about Lu Bing's violent death, but Shen Mo was dumb and ate Coptis chinensis, and he knew that he was suffering, because he not only had a relationship with Lan Daoxing, but also very deeply. It's just that the two sides have not been in direct contact, but secretly passed on the news through Lan Daoxing's apprentices.

If it weren't for Lu Bing's death, Lan Daoxing would have been implicated, and this relationship might have been hidden in the shadows forever, foolproof. But now that Lan Daoxing has been arrested and tortured, as long as he can't stand it and tell his relationship with himself, there will be Dongchang fans coming to arrest people soon, and what awaits him will be the same fate as Lan Daoxing.

Every time I think of going to prison, I will wake up from my sleep, and when I touch my forehead, it is full of beads of sweat that are the size of beans.

One midnight, after waking up from a nightmare again, he fell into deep thought, he couldn't go on like this anymore, he wanted to think about doing something!

It's not that he didn't want to escape from Yanjing, in fact, he also made corresponding preparations, three clippers were at the mouth of Dagu in Tianjin, and fast horses were also prepared along the way. As long as he leaves the capital, he will be able to get on the boat and escape from Ascension in a short time, but until the last moment, he will not do this, because this time, his more than ten years of hard work will be in vain, and he will always bear the charge of being a fugitive, and he will no longer be able to gain a foothold in the land of Daming.

Going overseas, the dream is beautiful, but it's not a knife on the neck, who wants to go that far?

After thinking about it repeatedly, Shen Mo decided that he couldn't sit still, and if he wanted to take the initiative, he would be passive and active, and he couldn't pin his hopes on Lan Daoxing alone!

In the clean room, looking at the curling sandalwood, a wry smile appeared at the corner of his silent mouth, and he said secretly: "I made up my mind that I will do what I can in the future, and I will not rush forward. ’

But this time it's not like before, it's a matter of life and death, and I have to give it a go!

After making up his mind, Shen Mo put on a white dress and plain clothes, wrapped a plain white headband around his head, put a burden on his back, and went out into a sedan chair.

"My lord, where are you going?" Sanchi asked softly.

"Xiyuan!" Shen Mo said lightly: "I want to see the emperor!" As he spoke, he glanced at the sedan chair behind him and smiled at the people inside: "I don't have to tie you up this time, right?" ”

"I hope you'll be able to laugh later!" Li Shizhen's usual cold voice came from inside.

Since Lu Bing's death, the guards of Xiyuan have not allowed foreign officials to enter the palace, and it has been six days, yesterday Li Fang easily brought a letter to Feng Bao of Yuwang's Mansion, asking him to find Shen Mo and ask him to use the topaz Ruyi given by the emperor to take Li Shizhen and knock on the door of the forbidden palace!

Shen Mo realized the seriousness of the situation, and also realized the opportunity contained in this crisis, if he could take this opportunity to meet the emperor, he would probably find a good way to break the situation!

It's just that Xu Wei heard the news, hurriedly threw it out, stopped the sedan chair and whispered: "Didn't you never find a suitable topaz?" ”

"Yes." Shen Mo glared at him angrily and said, "Now this, you can only watch from a distance, you can't play with it." ”

Xu Wei looked at him guiltily and said, "Or, I'll take it and go into the palace?" ”

"Forget it." He said silently: "This is something given by the emperor, how can I pass it on to others?" Said with a smile: "Ruyi is like a fish in my throat, I have been stuck for a long time, maybe I can take this opportunity to wash my name." ”

"What are you going to do?" Xu Wei asked eagerly.

"Mountain people have their own clever plans, let's see." He waved his hand silently and said, "Get up the sedan chair!" ”

Under Xu Wei's gaze, the two sedan chairs left the chessboard alley and went in the direction of Xiyuan.

(To be continued)