The three masters and apprentices sat at the table, ate hastily, picked up the topic just now, and continued to talk.

"You've seen it again, you should see the problem." Xu Jie took a sip of Lao Junmei's new tea, looked at Zhang Juzheng, who was still reading the letter, and asked, "You are also familiar with the years when Hu Zongxian was the secretary of the military department, and you have also seen the excerpts or letters sent in the past. This letter was written quite sloppily, with several obvious clerical errors, it stands to reason that Hu Zongxian is a decent person and a scholarly family, and it should not be like this, which shows that he was in a hurry when he wrote the letter. ”

Speaking of this, Xu Jie stared at Zhang Juzheng, his brows furrowed, and he couldn't help asking, "Hu Zongxian didn't give you a bribe?" It is impossible to say that Hu Zongxian wants to do something to the old man's disciples and grandchildren, and pull Xu Dangyi into his troubled water."

"Not really! Five years ago, when Hu Zongxian went to Beijing to report on his work, he came to visit my house, and when he heard that my son was born, he gave me some extremely valuable gifts, but I refused them outright, and I never mentioned the matter again. ”

"Female dogs don't wag their tails, and male dogs don't get up." Xia Mu laughed, and said, "This Hu Zongxian is sick and rushed to the doctor, but I want to come to Hu Zongxian this time and I can't say it, but I see where is the Suzhou Hall today, it is very lively, Zhao Zhenji, Wang Shizhen, Li Chunfang, Guo Pu, Brother Taiyue's department is almost all here, it is said that it is a classmate and friend invited by Xu Wei, a genius in Jiangnan, why doesn't Brother Taiyue know?" ”

"Xu Wei?" Zhang Ju was stunned when he heard this, and said with a surprised smile, "Although I have had a few encounters with Xu Wei, but I am not as close as Brother Yuanmei, I think they are all Taishan Beidou in the literary world, and it is reasonable for old friends to see me and not invite me!" ”

"Really?" Xia Mu took a sip of tea and smiled silently.

"It's okay not to go to this banquet, I'm afraid that this banquet is not a good banquet, it's a Hongmen banquet!" Xu Jie seemed to be smiling, and then recounted Xu Wei's words as Hu Zongxian's staff.

Xia Mu heard and remembered something: "Today, Jinyi Weibei Town Fusi Yamen, suddenly said something strange, and the fan of Dongchang went to Suzhou Hall. "It's a surprise.

"No wonder today in Xiyuan, the saint suddenly asked the old man about Xu Wei's words!" Xu Jie's face was expressionless, in fact, the image in his heart turned over the pot, "Don't look at the emperor, he usually doesn't care about political affairs, but his ears are very clear." Think about it, Chen Hong is in charge of the East Factory, secretly monitoring the movements of hundreds of officials, these eight lambs, running around like loaches all day long, what can't they inquire about? A few days ago, a member of the Ministry of Labor went to the kiln and got drunk, and when he came back, he molested a woman from a good family and knocked out a front tooth. The next morning, the emperor asked me about it, and I didn't know about it. Chen Hong is emasculating, and a large number of visit orders are sent to the emperor every day. ”

"When it comes to Dongchang, the officials hate and fear, how many prisons Sejong once had were caused by the turmoil in Dongchang." Xia Mu has always hated Dongchang, and said indignantly, "Chen Hong's admiral Dongchang is another eye in addition to Jinyiwei, this is not the internal supervisor of the twelfth regiment battalion, so the emperor let Chen Hong insert a rod in." The 12 regiments and battalions were waiting to be developed, and I didn't know how to start, so I simply didn't go to the barracks of the three major battalions, and I couldn't see that my heart was cleaner. ”

"That's for later." Xu Jie then said, "At the moment, if Hu Zongxian's matter is not handled well, let the family get the evidence, and we will all clean it up for the family." ”

"Is it really that serious?"

"Yes!"

Xu Jie took a sip of tea and was about to continue, when suddenly the porter came to report, saying that Zhao Zhenji asked to see him.

Xu Jie frowned, this student is now the left waiter of the ministry, doing things under Li Mo's eyelids, if he is fine, he never comes to the door, and he wants to hurriedly say: "Let him come in." ”

Zhao Zhenji came in with a gray face, and when he saw Xia Mu present, his expression changed, and he became more and more cramped and uneasy.

"What's the matter with you?" Seeing that Zhao Zhenji's expression was different, Xu Jie couldn't help but ask a little more seriously.

"It's a little trivial, but it's ......" Zhao Zhenji glanced at Xia Mu and said hesitantly, "However, it doesn't matter much." ”

"Why don't you come? You are working under Li Mo, you should be cautious in everything! Xu Jie reprimanded unceremoniously.

Zhao Zhenji turned red-faced, standing in place and wanting to leave but not wanting to leave. Xia Mu saw that Zhao Zhenji meant to talk to Xu Jie alone, so he pulled Zhang Juzheng to get up and said, "Lord Zhao has something important to report, and I will avoid it with Brother Taiyue for the time being." ”

"No, no, you sit down, there's nothing to hide from you, they're all my students" Xu Jie said this, Xia Mu and Zhang Juzheng glanced at each other, and had to sit down again.

Xu Jue said to Zhao Zhenji again, "If you have something, just say it, they are not outsiders, it doesn't hurt to listen." ”

Zhao Zhenji listened to the teacher's order, bowed down and found a chair to sit down, but his expression looked sneering, and said: "Teacher, I came to tell you that today's Suzhou Hall, Xu Wei gave me, Yuanmei, Chunfang and others 10,000 taels of silver each. ”

"Ten thousand taels of silver?" Xu Jie looked stunned, glanced at Xia Mu and Zhang Juzheng, who were also surprised, his face darkened, and asked, "How many people can Wang Shizhen and Li Chunfang accept?" ”

"Both...... Collect them all! ”

Xu Jie's face softened slightly, and he asked again: "What else did Xu Wei give?" ”

Zhao Zhenji hurriedly bowed and said: "The mansion also said that Xu Wei sent two pots of flowers, both of which were cultivated exotic peonies. A pot of white is called colorful neon clothes, and a pot of scarlet is called sunset in the river. The student was in his forties, and it was the first time he had seen such a delicate and beautiful flower, so he accepted it. ”

Xu Jie was originally angry because Zhao Zhenji received Xu Wei's courtesy, and in this eventful autumn, the families were not cautious, and carefully asked people to ask for the guilt together, and shouted angrily when they thought about it: "Such a trivial matter as idle flowers and idle grass is also worth chewing your tongue to talk about once?" If it's okay, go back! ”

"Yes."

Zhao Zhenji wanted to ask the teacher how the gift was received, but when he saw that the teacher was angry, he had to retreat.

At this time, Xia Mu suddenly had an idea, it stands to reason that Xu Wei came to Beijing this time, and as soon as he arrived, he invited his former classmates to a banquet at the Suzhou Hall, thinking that he was going to do activities for Hu Zongxian, so Hu Zongxian spent a lot of gifts to the officials of the Beijing Ministry a year, Wang Shizhen, Li Chunfang, and Guo Pu all received some gifts from Hu Zongxian, and the four of them were friends, which made sense, but Zhao Zhenji was not familiar with Xu Wei, and he didn't help Hu Zongxian say good things on weekdays. ”

Suspicious, he called Zhao Zhenji back again, and couldn't help but smile and ask, "What does Lord Zhao think of Hu Zongxian?" ”

Zhao Zhenji, who had just been reprimanded, looked at the teacher and didn't dare to answer rashly, because Hu Zongxian's letter to the teacher Xu Jie was sent in through his hand.

Thinking about Zhao Zhenji, he kept an eye on it, thought about it, and replied: "Governor Hu has failed again and again in suppressing bandits in the southeast, and the punishment of removing the official is not heavy, but there is no shortage of mountains and barbaric places in the southeast, and Lord Hu has stayed there for three years, and there is no merit and hard work. ”

Xia Mu smiled and did not speak.

Xu Jie sensed that something was wrong, Zhao Zhenji had nothing to do with Yan Dang and Hu Zongxian, why did he help Hu Zongxian say good things in front of him.

Thinking about Xu Jie, he was taken aback, and hurriedly asked: "Did you accept the benefits of Hu Zongxian, why did Xu Wei come to Beijing this time, the three major members, but you Zhao Zhenji were invited?" ”

Xu Jie's urging was very urgent, and Zhao Zhenji panicked, so he had to say another slippery word: "I thought that Hu Zongxian had some friendship with the teacher, so I was relieved to say a few good words for him." ”

"Fart! Don't you be ashamed to say this kind of bullshit? Xu Jie was furious, poked his finger on the bridge of Zhao Zhenji's nose, and shouted, "You are honest now, how much benefit have you gained from Hu Zongxian?" ”

"Teacher ......"

Zhao Zhenji shouted but did not follow, and sweat fell like rain on his forehead.

Xu Jie saw that his face had changed sharply and sweated like rain, and he had already understood that this "fraud" had worked, so he simply defrauded to the end, he picked up Hu Zongxian's letter and shook it in front of Zhao Zhenji's eyes, and said with a sneer: "Okay, you Zhao Zhenji, you eat leopard gall, you dare to accept bribes from the old man, and you dare to deny it when the matter comes." ”

Zhao Zhenji really thought that Hu Zongxian had talked about this matter in his letter, and suddenly his knees weakened, and he knelt down in front of Xu Jie, and said in fear: "Teacher, student...... The students did not dare to deny it, and Hu Zongxian did send someone to send me four silver tickets, 5,000 taels each time, a total of 20,000 taels. ”

"You took it?"

"Student...... Accepted. ”

Xu Jie was suddenly so angry that he couldn't wait to kick Zhao Zhenji out of the door.

Zhao Zhenji has followed Xu Jie for many years, and he has never seen the teacher so angry, his face is as frightened as earth, and his underwear has been soaked with cold sweat. He bent to the ground, choked up, and said:

"The student is obsessed with wealth for a while, and he lives up to the teacher's cultivation grace, and I hope that the teacher will read the loyalty of the student's dogs and horses, spare me this time, and from now on I should change my mind and be a new ......."

According to Xu Jie's temperament, he hated to send Zhao Zhenji to the Metropolitan Procuratorate to ask for guilt, but he was afraid that "family ugliness should not be publicized", he swallowed his anger again, sighed and said, "You get up and speak." ”

Zhao Zhen Jiser shrank up and didn't dare to sit down, just stood there like chaff.

Xu Jie looked at his bearish appearance, and couldn't wait to spit on him, but he was sulking there, and Xu Dang didn't want to get rid of it, and the three divisions would interrogate Hu Zongxian, and he couldn't guarantee that Xu Dang would be planted.

Xia Mu made the relationship the most clear, as soon as Hu Zongxian arrived in Gyeonggi, he was afraid that Li Mo would have to be interrogated by the three divisions, Yan Song must kill Hu Zongxian, protect the Yan Party and Zhao Wenhua's cadres, etc., and Hu Zongxian wanted to pull Xu Jie into the water in order to save his life, but the Xu Party may not be able to protect itself now, and if he can't protect the emperor, he will have to play fifty boards each.

Thinking about it, Xia Mu looked out the window and saw that the flowers and trees were sparse, and no one was in or out of the shed, but he still lowered his voice and asked Zhao Zhenji: "Do you know who else has taken Hu Zongxian's bribe?" ”

Zhao Zhenji knew that several ministers had received Hu Zongxian's "filial piety", but he never dared to climb others, shook his head and said: "Hu Zongxian will never let a third party know about this kind of thing, so I don't know." ”

Xu Jie thought about it and thought about it, and when he saw that Xia Mu was silent, he continued to ask: "Hu Zongxian sent a lot of money out, where did this money come from?" ”

Listening to the tone of this question, it seems that Hu Zongxian did not explain anything in the letter. Zhao Zhenji couldn't help but regret "confessing" so quickly, but the words he said were like spilled water, and he couldn't get them back. In order to seek Xu Jie's forgiveness and not be accused of "selling teachers", he replied vaguely: "Hu Zongxian does not know how to make money, and the students do not know very well. ”

Xia Mu knew that Zhao Zhenji didn't tell the truth, among the six departments, Zhao Zhenji was definitely not the only one who benefited from Hu Zongxian, how many Xu Dang and how many Li Dang were there?

Hu Zongxian will not hang himself from a tree in the strict party, and Li Mo Bingchen is outside, it is impossible not to know the slightest hint of wind and grass! Thinking about Xia Mu, he was shocked again: That's it, Li Mo must have learned that Hu Zongxian had bribed Xu Dang's people, but he just hid it and didn't say it, that old boy was holding back his bad farts in his heart, and wanted to take advantage of Hu Zongxian's case to crack down on Yan Dang while kicking Xu Jie's people out of the cabinet.

What an old fox, really thoughtful. And when Xia Mu thought about it again, he was shocked into a cold sweat, no wonder Li Mo came to the door alone that day, and he had to sign the fold of convicting Hu Zongxian, so that if he spoke for Xu Jie at that time, wouldn't he be shooting himself in the foot, and even getting involved himself.

This step by step, intrigues, calculations everywhere, can't be prevented!