After the first and third armies of the Praetorian Guard were in place, everyone in the country began to be suspicious, but people with good intentions focused on the State Council, especially Prime Minister Shen Shiming, thinking that this was a precursor for the emperor to deal with the prime minister.

But it's a pity that everyone waited and waited, and they didn't wait for the news of Shen Shiming's resignation, and there was no large-scale reshuffle in the political arena, except for the stricter management of the military restricted area, and the queen and the prince still did not return to Nanjing, everything seems to be no different from the past.

Slowly, except for a very small number of well-intentioned people, most of the people gradually accepted the statement that this was a surprise training of the Praetorian Guard, and continued to focus on the firewood, rice, oil and salt around them.

However, as one of the parties to this incident, Prime Minister Shen Shiming, has not had a good time recently, not to mention that the emperor has not given him an accurate answer about this transfer order, which makes him always worried about this, and even in the State Council, he also found that something is wrong, and the people below always disobey him, and his orders can no longer be effectively implemented as in the past.

In addition to these things, Shen Shiming also found that he was being followed, and no matter where he went, he could always see some strangers behind him.

At the beginning, these stalkers were somewhat restrained, but after they arrived, after these people found out that Shen Shiming had discovered them, they simply followed them openly, not politely at all.

At this point, Shen Shiming has completely understood, that is, he has lost the trust of the emperor and has been completely isolated, and the reason why he has not been removed is probably because the emperor still has some old feelings, or he is not ready.

After understanding this, Shen Shiming simply did not go to the State Council. directly asked for long-term sick leave, stayed at home for a long time, and looked at ease waiting for the final ruling.

"What's this called?" Looking at Shen Shiming, who was pruning flowers and plants in the garden, his wife suddenly became angry, "Master, those spies have gone too far recently. You don't go to the court, but they still don't let us go, they hang around in front of our house every day, and they even have to follow the people who go out to buy vegetables, which is simply treating us as prisoners! It's so deceitful! ”

Speaking of this, seeing that Shen Shiming still looked calm, the woman suddenly said hatefully: "Master, if you want me to say, don't ask for leave." Directly quit this errand is, let's pack up and go home, and be a peaceful common man, it's better than now. ”

"Resign?" Shen Shiming shook his head, put down the scissors in his hand, clapped his hands, and then said to the middle-aged woman, "Things have come to this point." Do you think we can still resign? Staying at ease means that things will be resolved one day. ”

See him like this. Especially after hearing him say this, the woman subconsciously covered her mouth, looking shocked: "Master, you, you won't really be like what the outside says, because." Because you want to rebel, right? ”

That's right, this woman is Shen Shiming's original wife, she was originally from a beautiful family, and her personality is quite gentle, so she looks like a shrew on the street now. Purely forced.

Because of the sudden transfer of the Praetorian Guards and the incident of taking away the queen and the little prince, she asked Shen Shiming many times what happened, but unfortunately Shen Shiming never said it, which made her quite depressed.

Later, when things got more and more wrong, she finally couldn't help it, and always used various methods to knock on the side, just to figure out what was going on in between.

Originally, she wasn't going to come up with something today, after all, her husband's tone was quite tight, and she had tried many times before without success, who would have thought that now she actually revealed a trace.

It scared her a lot, afraid that things would really be as bad as she thought, or as rumored out there.

I can't help but be afraid, after all, she has read a lot of books, especially a lot of history books, and knows that things like this are all big crimes of robbing the family and destroying the nine clans, in other words, if Shen Shiming really did any major crime of rebellion and was punished by the emperor, then even her wife, and even her mother's family, would not be spared!

"Nonsense." Shen Shiming immediately reprimanded, "How could I rebel, don't say I didn't think about it, even if I really wanted to, I didn't have the ability." ”

"Then why does the emperor treat him like this?" The woman trembled, "Aren't you a minister he personally promoted?" Hasn't the emperor always valued you? Why did you suddenly do so badly? You, it's all this time, and you still haven't been honest with me? ”

"No, no, really!" Shen Shiming waved his hand irritably, "I haven't thought about rebellion at all, and it's impossible to rebel." ”

Speaking of this, Shen Shiming put his hands behind his back and simply walked around the garden, as if he was dispatching the impatience in his heart.

After walking back and forth for seven or eight laps, he finally stopped, looked at his wife who had been staring at him, and finally sighed: "It's true, I didn't lie to you, I really never thought about rebellion." ”

Immediately afterwards, without waiting for the other party to talk, Shen Shiming immediately said to himself: "Actually, you think, although the husband has become the prime minister, it seems that he is under one person and above ten thousand people, as far as the courtiers are concerned, they have reached the limit of the ministers."

But in fact, my foundation is very shallow, I don't have so many protégés, and all the power can be said to come from the emperor. Therefore, once the emperor distrusts me, my power will immediately cease to exist, and not many people will really recognize me and be willing to obey my orders.

Why didn't I go to the State Department? Just because what I said is no longer good, and the people below don't listen to me at all, which already speaks for itself. ”

Speaking of this, Shen Shiming paused, and then continued: "As for rebellion, the idea is not important, the most important thing is to have that power!" But I am a pawn of the emperor, there are no soldiers and no generals in my hands, even if I can command the national defense force before, but it is because I stand behind the emperor, in other words, everyone listens to me only because of the emperor's face, if I lose the emperor's support, those arrogant soldiers and fierce generals will not be able to listen to my assignment at all.

Let me ask you, how could a person like me, who does not have strong connections in the imperial court and no real military power, rebel? What qualifications do I have to rebel? ”

"Then, why did the emperor suddenly do this to you?" The woman frowned. "It can't be for no reason, right?"

"For no reason, that's not true." Shen Shiming frowned, "Actually, before the emperor did this, I, it seems that I did do something that angered the emperor. ”

"Something that angered the emperor?" The woman immediately asked. "What the hell? Speak up! ”

"Well, well, in that case, then I'll tell you."

After speaking, Shen Shiming told the original content of his previous phone call with Li Yongji, including his private concealment of the emperor, his own initiative to carry out the so-called simplified reform, unauthorized embezzlement of land taxes, and changing its use.

"You. You ......" After listening to Shen Shiming's statement, his wife looked dumbfounded, "Master, you, what kind of sin are you doing, why are you so bold?" When doing this, why can't you ask the emperor for instructions in advance? You're doing that, and you're going to say it. What's the difference between that and bullying? If I were the emperor, I wouldn't be able to tolerate you! ”

"I can't say that." Shen Shiming touched his nose. "In fact, my reforms, strictly speaking, are the same as the orders issued when I first became prime minister, the essence of which is the rule of man, and it is the rule of people to alleviate the overly complicated laws formulated by the emperor."

Speaking of this, Shen Shiming put his hand behind his back again: "I want to be at the beginning." I was just promoted to prime minister by the emperor, and many people disagreed with me, but it was the emperor who gave me support and trust, and gave me great power, so that I quickly stood firm.

Followed by. I found some problems, that is, the emperor may be too earnest, or too obsessed with Western law, and has done a lot of law, and is too meticulous and harsh.

Originally, the emperor's idea was good, but most of our people are illiterate, and after hundreds of thousands of years, many bad habits are accumulated and difficult to return.

Therefore, I told the emperor that these laws are too much, too detailed and too harsh, and suggested that he delete some of them, but the emperor looks at it, although he has deleted a lot, it still can't satisfy me, at least I don't think this kind of law can be implemented smoothly in our country.

But the emperor was also very insistent, so in the end I thought of a way, that is, to keep the law unchanged for the time being, but to make more fuss about sentencing, that is, to increase the power of judges and use the rule of man to assist the rule of law.

In other words, those laws still exist, but in terms of enforcement, they are still people-oriented, and the other is to minimize the interference of officials in the people.

His Majesty had agreed, and praised me for my good approach, and supported me in pursuing these policies, which I had worked out since I came to power.

Looking back, the reforms I later made were in the final analysis an extension of the rule of man, but what I did was more thorough, which was to use the method of administrative orders to strictly restrain officials, so that the grassroots officials below should try to get involved in the affairs of the common people as little as possible, unless it was absolutely necessary, otherwise some small disputes would be handled by the people themselves, after all, we have been like this for hundreds of years.

In short, I am all for the good of the country, for the good of the people, and of course for the good of His Majesty, otherwise, why would I do this?

You must know that as soon as my order to streamline administration came out, it can be said that the financial routes of many officials were cut off, and there were really many people who hated me. However, my approach is very beneficial to the people, after all, there are many constraints from low-level officials.

Hmph, I know too much about the virtues of those low-level officials, even if the law is formulated above, in their hands, it can become a bad law that harms the people, and in the end they got oil and water, but the infamy was borne by the court and His Majesty, I can't let the emperor do this wrong. ”

"I don't understand what kind of law you are talking about, and I don't understand the rule of man." The woman shook her head, "I know one thing, what you did later was done without your majesty, right?" What is the root of the problem? It's a bully! ”

"It's all said, I didn't deceive the king!" Shen Shiming suddenly shook his arm angrily and said loudly, "I am loyal to the sun and the moon, how can I deceive the king?" ”

"If you say no, it's not?" The woman immediately said, "If others don't say it, at least the emperor thinks that you are a bully, and that's enough." ”

Shen Shiming suddenly sighed, the heart that had just been puffed up dispersed again, waved his hand, and said a little weakly: "I, I was also confused for a while, and I listened to other people's slander, so I did something to conceal and not report."

Well, in fact, I also wanted to surprise the emperor after making some achievements, and I wanted to tell the emperor that I, Shen Shiming, am definitely a good person in governing the country, and Your Majesty did not choose the wrong person at the beginning, who knows...... Hey, in short, it's hard to say, it's hard to say. ”

"Listened to slander? Who is it? Madame immediately asked, "Who can make you deceive the king?" Why don't you explain to the emperor and tell this person about it? ”

"Do you think I didn't call the emperor, but the emperor doesn't answer my call now." Shen Shiming shook his head, "As for who that person is...... That's not what you should ask, and when the time comes, I'm sure I'm not going to hide it. ”

Hearing him say this, the woman suddenly burst into tears, sat down on the steps, and said while crying: "Master, we will be killed by you!" You say, in case the emperor really blames it...... Ah, you won't want to punish the Nine Clans, will you? ”

"What nonsense?" Shen Shiming frowned, "The emperor is wise and martial, and he has always disliked Zhulian, even if I really commit a crime, I will only be blamed for one, and it will not be difficult for you, at most it is a fine for raiding the house." ”

"That, that's ...... too"

"Okay, okay, don't guess." Shen Shiming waved his hand, looked left and right, and found that no one was nearby, so he walked up to the woman in a few steps, leaned into her ear and said in a low voice, "Madam, I have thought about it carefully in the past few days, this matter is actually very strange, and the emperor may not be targeting me." After all, if you really want to deal with me, you don't need to use any Praetorian Guards at all, and you don't need such a big battle to make people panic, just give an order. ”

The woman was also a smart person, seeing Shen Shiming's appearance, and listening to his previous words, she also felt that this was the truth, so her eyes lit up: "You mean, the emperor him, he actually has other plans?" Not to deal with you? ”

"Yes." Shen Shiming's eyes narrowed, "Don't look at the emperor's young age, he may lay such a foundation in a short period of time, how can he be an ordinary person?" Moreover, His Majesty knows the situation of his husband best, not to mention His Majesty's right-hand man, it is not too much.

His Majesty can now fully trust and have the ability in the court, in fact, there are only a few, strictly speaking, they can be counted on both hands, and among these people, the husband must be one of them. Therefore, even if the husband occasionally makes a mistake, with His Majesty's open-mindedness and the current situation, he will definitely not do this, let alone do it.

Therefore, I can't think of any reason for His Majesty to deal with me like this, and after thinking about it, I can only have other plans, using me as a cover to attract the attention of others. ”

"Then we ......"

"We'll wait and see what happens." Shen Shiming interrupted his wife's words, raised his head again, and narrowed his eyes, "Don't worry, in this turmoil, it will definitely not be me who is unlucky in the end, you and I just need to wait with peace of mind, and sooner or later things will come to light." (To be continued......)