As early as when Zheng Rong was still the king of Youyan, Qiu Yizhi had entered the imperial city more than once. However, the few times he came, he had a strong purpose, and after identifying a place to do things, he hurriedly withdrew. Therefore, he was not very familiar with the road terrain in this imperial city.

So Qiu Yizhi followed closely behind Zheng Xin and Zhong Li Kuang, and walked all the way to the depths of the palace.

After passing through countless palatial, tall and magnificent palaces, the three of them finally stopped in front of a slightly shabby small hut.

Qiu Yizhi raised his head and looked at this thatched house, which was no different from the residence of ordinary country people, except that the scale was slightly larger and the thatch on the roof was slightly neater. I also saw that on the plaque of this thatched house, three big characters were written in a grand manner, "Shuli Palace".

It turned out that before Zheng Bangxian, the emperor of Taizu of this dynasty, started his business, he was just a farmer, and because he could not bear the tyranny of the previous dynasty, he rose up and established the foundation of the Han Dynasty. After the success, Emperor Taizu deliberately built a thatched house in the imperial city according to the appearance of the humble room where he lived, and took the meaning of "Shuren Li Min", and personally nominated it as "Shuli Palace". He also specially ordered his children and grandchildren to work in this temple in the future, so as not to forget the difficulties of the ancestors in starting a business and the hardships of the people.

Although the current emperor Zheng Rong is not in the right position, he is also the grandson of the Zheng family, and he does not dare to disobey the edict of Taizu.

This incident is an example of the Han Emperor's diligence and love for the people, which was widely spread by the imperial court, and even the old farmers in the countryside knew that with the dignity of the emperor's old son, he also lived in the same house as himself.

Therefore, Qiu Yizhi saw the three words "Shuli Palace" from a distance, and knew that the current saint, that is, his father-in-law Zheng Rong was in this hall, so he quickly tidied up his clothes, played twelve points of respect, followed behind Zheng Xin and Zhong Li Kuang, and shrunk his neck into this Shuli Palace.

However, Zheng Rong was not in this palace, and asked the little eunuch who was waiting here, but said that the emperor thought that the palace was stuffy, so he ordered someone to erect a pergola in the small courtyard behind the palace, and then temporarily worked in the shed.

So Zhong Likuang and the other three hurriedly withdrew from the Shuli Palace, went around half a circle, and sure enough, in the shed behind the hall, they saw Zheng Rong sitting behind a table, reading a mountain of notes and chapters.

Seeing this, Zhong Li Kuang and Zheng Xin hurriedly stepped forward, bowed their heads and said, "The ministers meet the saint!" ”

Zheng Rong didn't raise his head and asked, "You are all exempt!" Didn't you say that you would come to you in due time? Why did you come half an hour late? Could it be that Zheng Xin was delayed by something? ”

Zheng Xin didn't argue when he heard this, but said with a smile: "Father, who do you think is coming?" ”

Zheng Rong raised his head at this time, and saw a not tall but very familiar figure kneeling beside Zhong Likuang, and looked at it - it was his righteous son Qiu Yizhi. He was immediately pleasantly surprised, pushed away the music in his hand, got up and walked to Qiu Yizhi, helped him up with both hands, and asked, "Yizhi, why are you here?" ”

Qiu Yizhi raised his eyes and saw that Zheng Rong was still in that heroic appearance, but there was a little more work between his eyebrows, and he said distressedly: "It's only been a few days? Why did my father-in-law lose a lot of weight? ”

Zheng Rong was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and when Qiu Yizhi got up, he turned his head to Zhong Likuang and Zheng Xin and said, "I have been in good spirits these days, and I have not had three illnesses and six disasters, has my complexion really become ugly?" ”

Zhongli Kuang hurriedly said: "The ministers wait to see the Holy Lord every day, and they really can't see any changes. Maybe the saint is really too busy with government affairs and has some energy loss, and he has not seen him for several months, so he can see something unusual. He replied, "This is also the sin of the unfavorable of the courtiers, and I ask the Holy Majesty to punish it." ”

Zheng Rong waved his hand and said: "Everyone wants to be the emperor, and only when you become an emperor do you know the difficulty of the emperor." I want to be the king of the vassal in Youyan Road back then, and the daily military and government affairs are also very heavy, but compared to now, it is more than ten times more leisurely! ”

After Zheng Rong ascended to the throne, he often complained about the emperor's hard work in front of his courtiers, in addition to establishing his own reputation for being diligent among the ministers, it also implied that he wanted the officials of the court to learn from him. This was originally Zhong Likuang's strategy, to reverse the decades-old decline of the Han Dynasty from such a trivial matter.

So Zhong Li Kuang bowed his head and bowed again: "The saint is diligent in government and loves the people, which is rare in ancient and modern times. Ministers are dull, but they should also take the saint as a model, be loyal and practical, and live up to the saint's love for the people. ”

Zheng Xin also hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed a few times, but said ingeniously: "My father's thoughts, my sons know." However, the body of the father is the first major thing in the world, and he can't work too hard, so as not to damage the foundation of the Han Dynasty. From the perspective of the sons, if it is those trivial matters, the father and the emperor will hand them over to the sons and others to handle them. ”

When Zheng Rong heard this, he was also very relieved in his heart, smiled and asked a few people to get up, and asked the little eunuch who was accompanying him to move three seats and give a few people to sit down, but asked Qiu Yidao: "I also asked why you came back to Beijing again?" You haven't answered me yet. ”

Qiu Yizhi hurriedly bowed in his seat and said: "Yizhi originally had a difficult case in the county, and he wanted to come to Beijing to ask the Pope. However, I just saw the emperor's tens of thousands of letters, and my matter is really trivial, and it is not worth disturbing the emperor's ears. ”

Zheng Rong said with a smile: "You Qiu Yizhi has always said what you have to say, why did you learn that set of empty words in the officialdom after being the county magistrate for a few months?" If you want to say that, then don't talk to me in the future, if you want to say this, there are not 10,000 in the court, but 8,000. ”

Qiu Yizhi was taken aback when he heard this, and raised his eyes to see that Zheng Rong's face was not full of anger, but was smiling, and finally plucked up the courage to say: "Since the saint said so, then Yizhi will obey the order." I remember that as soon as I arrived in Shanyin County and entered the county government, a woman sued me on the street, saying that it was ......"

So, Qiu Yizhi told Zheng Rong about the letter he received from Yang Qiaoer, arrested Li Shenshi who intended to kill him on the spot late at night, and interrogated the confrontation overnight.

He said that there was a lot of tea kung fu, and Zheng Rong's face was clouded, and he said that his mouth was also dry, and he couldn't help licking his dry and cracked lips with his tongue.

Seeing this, Zheng Rong angrily ordered the two eunuchs beside him: "Are you all blind?" Don't serve tea to a few adults? ”

The two eunuchs were frightened when they heard this, and hurriedly shook Suo Suo and brought three bowls of tea.

Qiu Yizhi took the tea bowl, took a sip, moistened his throat, and continued: "According to Li Shenshi's confession, I went to the 'Dust Palace' to investigate the case, and I actually found a murder demon cave. ”

So, Qiu Yizhi told Zheng Rong how he almost died under the poisonous hands of "Miaozhen Jushi", and how he was rescued by Yu Chi Jiming before the ghost gate was closed.

When Zheng Rong heard this, he couldn't help but exclaim: "Okay! A good Wei Chi Jiming, at a young age, and a female streamer, can actually have such ability, which is in response to the two sentences of 'heroes from ancient times' and 'women don't let their eyebrows', if I want to meet her, I will be rewarded heavily. and Yu Chi Lianghong was able to raise such a daughter, which is also indispensable, and I will reward him with a good sword. ”

Qiu Yizhi bowed down and said, "I have thanked the emperor for my brother first, and I will thank you in person when I am free." ”

He brought the conversation to the main topic again, and said: "With such twists and turns, I also knew that there must be something strange in this 'dust palace', so I searched carefully in it, and actually dug up twelve more corpses. Yi Zhifang knew that this matter was a rare and important case, so he interrogated the demon Dao Miaozhen early the next morning to find out the facts of the case......"

As he spoke, Qiu Yizhi took out his original report on the case that was rejected by Zhizhou Cai Min and Assassin Shi Yin Chengliang from his arms, and handed it to Zheng Rong with both hands.

Zheng Rong took the document, and while listening to Qiu Yizhi's explanation, he read it very carefully, and read it until the end, and suddenly read it out loud: "Such a great traitor and evil man, only the Ming canonical punishment and Ling Chi execution, otherwise it is not enough to meet the people's filial piety; It is not enough to deter bureaucracy from being lazy; It is not enough to repay the meaning of the Holy Lord's rectification, and the sins of our Jiangnan bureaucrats will be the same as Miao Zhen! These are the last sentences of Qiu Yizhi's article.

I only heard Zheng Rong say: "You write these words well!" I will hand it over to you, Master Zhongli, and after a few more thoughts, it can be regarded as my edict, published in the Di Bao, and distributed to all parts of the country. ”

Qiu Yizhi hurriedly said humbly: "This is just Yizhi's feelings and some heartfelt words, how can it withstand such a false praise from the emperor?" ”

Zhong Likuang said coldly: "Now those horse articles in the officialdom are gorgeous in terms of words and races, but there is no sincerity in them, which is really boring." In the humble opinion of the ministers, they should be sent to the Hanlin Academy first, so that those rotten Confucians can take a good look, and in the future, the court will also take this style as the right. ”

Zheng Rong praised: "Okay, sir's words are the words of the old minister to seek the country, so I will do it like this." ”

Zheng Xin saw that Qiu Yizhi and Zhong Likuang had won the lottery, so he hurriedly bowed and said: "Yizhi's article, Erchen has also read it." There is only one thing that is unclear - although this case is serious, according to the facts of the case, it has been investigated, and the human and material evidence is complete, and the criminal has also confessed, so why did the yamen at the state and provincial levels delay in suppressing and refusing to approve it? I think there must be an article behind Zhizhou Cai Min and Yin Chengliang in this matter. ”

When Zheng Rong heard this, the eyebrows that had just stretched out a little immediately wrinkled together, and asked Qiu Yizhi: "This is really strange, what is the reason for it, do you have a clue?" ”

Qiu Yizhi bowed and said: "Yizhi knows a little bit, but this matter may involve a big scandal in the entire officialdom in Jiangnan." I thought that even if these officials were shameless, the imperial court still had some dignity, so I didn't dare to say anything about it in Mr. Zhongli's mansion. ”

He paused, and then said, "Since the saint wants to ask, then Yizhi naturally doesn't dare to hide it." It's just that these eunuchs around the emperor, can you ask them to avoid it first? ”

Zheng Rong frowned and listened to Qiu Yizhi's words, and then said, "You're right. These eunuchs around me are all villains, and I have to be wary of the most. ”

After that, he glanced coldly at the few eunuchs beside him and said, "Did you all hear it?" Why don't you give me a quick retreat? If you weigh that your neck is stronger than my sword, you can go outside and listen to the corner! ”

Several eunuchs were frightened by Zheng Rong's words, and they couldn't say half a word when they opened their mouths, and stumbled back.

Zheng Rong saw that there were only four people left in his sight, Zhong Li Kuang, Zheng Xin, Qiu Yizhi and himself, so he said to Qiu Yizhi: "There are no outsiders now, what does Yizhi have to say, just say it." ”