Sahalang and Kharchin were taken to Beijing and imprisoned in a temple in the beekeeper lane. When they left Shanxi, they felt a lot quieter in their hearts, because Shanxi was the place where Khaljishan had been running for many years, and the officials tended to be inflammatory, who was willing to take care of them at the risk of offending Khaljishan and Fu Heng? In Shanxi, three meals a day, buckwheat batter, stick noodles and nests are one for each meal, and family members are not allowed to send food, so this one cannot be endured. It's good here, the Criminal Department has always had regulations, and the food of the undetermined criminal officer is twenty-four taels per month, and you can also eat fine rice and white noodles, and you can't break the meat, which is nothing less than Taiyuan. As soon as Sun Jiagan returned to Beijing, he handed over the envoy, and Shi Yi of the Criminal Department was directly in charge, which also made these two people feel a lot of heart. Shi Yi is straightforward and bold, but he is not as hard-hearted as Sun Jiagan. Moreover, the affairs of the Criminal Department are now actually in charge of Liu Tongxun, and Liu Tongxun is a talent in Khalchin's middle school in Shandong. Sahalang's backer is Yunlu, and Khalchin's backer is in the Hanlin Academy, so as soon as they arrived in Beijing, both of them had friends who came to visit and visit the prison. Because the case was approved, the jailers were happy to do favors. Look at the beginning of winter, the annual imperial decree of the culprit has long been stopped as usual, this year is irrelevant, no punishment will be imposed in spring and summer, and it will be delayed until next autumn, and there will be a new branch in the middle, and when you encounter an amnesty, a decree, everything will blow!

The two of them were secretly happy in their hearts. On this day, there were no guests, so Sahaliang made the east, gave twenty taels of silver, ten taels to the jailer, and ten taels to set up a table to eat and drink to relieve the cold. He smiled and said to Kharchin: "It's me today, and you come tomorrow." Next time your friend comes to greet me, my friend will also call you, don't let outsiders look at me. ”

"It would have been nice to have that a year earlier." Kharchin smiled bitterly, "It's just a pleasure in suffering." ”

Sahalang blushed. The two of them were originally like ice charcoals in different furnaces. The reason was caused by Sahalang. When Kharchin heard that Sahaliang was pushing his subordinates to expose him for fraud in the examination room, Khalchin was unwilling to sit still, so he took the first step and instigated his protégé to go to the governor Khaljishan to report Sahaliang's corruption and bribery. The more the thread trembled, the more uncontrollable, and the snowball rolled bigger and bigger. At that moment, Sahaliang smiled and said, "What's the use of mentioning this?" Now we are friends. When Kharchin was about to speak, he saw four jailers come in with a table of sumptuous dishes and place them in the north room of the west wing, where Sahaliang lived.

"Which room does Mr. Ka live in?"

Kharchin and Sahalang saw in a blink of an eye that it was Liu Tongxun! The two of them trembled in shock and tried to stand up, but their legs were so weak that they didn't have any strength. Seeing that Liu Tongxun didn't bring anyone with him, it was expected to be a private visit, and the two regained their calm. Sahaliang got up first to greet him, and Kharchin still had to put the teacher's score, so he only stood up and nodded with a smile, and said, "It's Yanqing!" Come in and sit. If you don't want to be taboo, eat a few cups in one place. ”

"Teacher Ka is well!" Liu Tongxun smiled and said goodbye to Kharchin, and then he waved Saha's forgiveness, sat down easily, and said, "What haven't the students eaten?" What's so taboo! Come, I will borrow flowers to offer Buddha, and I will first give the teacher a cup. He poured a full glass of wine, held it in both hands and drank it to Kharchin, raised his glass and touched Sahalang, and said with a smile: "Come, accompany the teacher for a drink." Accustomed to living here? I had to come several times, but I tripped my leg halfway and couldn't get out. Take care of the two of you here. It's too cold in Beijing this year! ”

He greeted enthusiastically, but the two of them were pregnant with ghosts, and when they saw that he never mentioned the case, they were a little anxious. But the flag people pay the most attention to being calm and chic, and if people don't say it, it will be very difficult to say that they are begging for information. After talking for a long time, Sahaliang asked tentatively: "Is the emperor busy for a while?" Is he okay? ”

"Busy!" Liu Tongxun Yin Yin persuaded to drink, "I've been busy trying it in the palace for a while!" The emperor disposed of several royal relatives before, and the sixteenth master was also punished, and several chief officials of the seven divisions of the yamen were closed and degraded. Beijing has been bustling lately! Then he told the situation of Hongsheng and several people in detail. Saharong knows a little bit about this. If you don't kill someone in such a big case, it doesn't matter if you do your own business. He pondered and said to himself: "Lord Zhuang loves me the most." As I said, he will not come, and he will send a eunuch to see me, a man who has fallen into trouble. How do you know that something happened to him too? He sighed.

Kharchin was concerned about the palace examination and asked Liu Tongxun: "Who is the champion of today's department?" ”

"This Kochi is very good, it is the Manchurian who takes the lead!" Liu Tongxun raised his wine and touched it with the two, drank it together, and said with a smile, "It is the eldest son of Le Zhongcheng, who used to be the governor of Huguang, called Le Min." He originally took second place in the second class. The emperor said that it was not easy for the Manchurian children to get this kind of examination, and they had to set an example for the banner people, and the royal pen hooked the first name and champion. This is an outlier. ”

The two of them were pretending to be their own cases, but they couldn't ask, and they were anxious. The hot wine covered his face, and Sahaliang finally couldn't help it, and asked: "Yanqing, in fact, now that you are the palm print of the Criminal Department, our case is not short, I didn't listen to what the imperial court is planning?" Liu Tongxun said without hesitation: "This is a regular thing, of course there is a rule." This is a nonsense sentence, but Liu Tongxun refused to elaborate, and the two were also in a hurry, so they had to continue to eat and gossip. Looking at the day, Saha forged: "Usually at this time, friends have come to visit one after another, why haven't any of them come here now?" It's weird. ”

"What's so strange about that," Liu Tongxun said with a smile, "It's cold." As he spoke, Qian Du walked in. Kharchin said: "It's not Qian Du who is here, what a rare guest!" Come on, come in, take a seat, and get three glasses of wine first! ”

Qian Du ignored him, only stepped forward and bowed to Liu Tongxun, and said, "The time has come." ”

"Got it." Liu Tongxun nodded and said, stood up, there was no smile on his face, he only nodded politely to Kharchin, and said, "This is a matter of no way." If you don't want to do it, you have to do it, and if you don't want to say it, you have to say it. Brother Sa rewarded the man with twenty taels of silver," he said, taking out the ingot, and placing it on the table, "This table is a guest of my invitation, and I have sent you off." ”

Sahalang and Kharchin realized that something was wrong, and they were so frightened that their faces turned like dirt, and they sat motionless in their chairs. Liu Tongxun saw that the people outside had all been served, and seeing that they were paralyzed, he coldly ordered: "Come in a few people, and take the two masters to take the order." After the two of them trembling and being forced to kneel, Liu Tongxun began to read out the edict:

Kharchin and Sahaliang are both members of the three grades of the imperial court, but they dare to know the law and break the law, deceive and contempt for reason, and accumulate tens of thousands of stolen goods, real pigs and dogs are not as good as shameless people, officialdom scum, and they must not stay in the world for a day. That is, Sahalang was tied up and sent to the execution ground to be executed. Khalqin committed suicide and returned to his life in the afternoon, not waiting for the edict. Chin this!

"Thank you...... Thank...... Well......" the two men replied, half-unconscious.

Liu Tongxun ordered someone to help them up, and sighed: "The identity of the Qin Cha is not up to me, and the two of you will not be surprised." Brother Sa is my supervisor on the other side, and I have already told them to do their work neatly. Teacher Ka, don't worry, the students will still take care of something at home - come! ”

"In!"

"Tie up Sahalang!"

"Wow!"

The officials are all familiar veterans, and they will be tied up when they come up. No matter how Liu Tongxun repeatedly drank his life to "loosen the tie", he still tied up a feudal lord with a bloody face. Liu Tongxun stopped talking, silently bowed to the dejected Kharchin, and said to Qian Du: "Good students wait for Teacher Ka to ascend to heaven, and you go directly to the emperor to return to your life." With a wave of his hand, he took Sahalang and drove away, and for a moment he heard the ox carts rolling away. What was left was a dead silence.

"Ka-sama." Qian Du looked at Kharchin, who was not possessed by his soul, and seeing that he had no reaction, he took a step forward and said softly: "Mr. Ka! Kharchin's throat moved, and he didn't know what he muttered, Qian Du smiled: "There are a number of shortcomings, life and death are fate, why bother so much?" As he spoke, he took out a dagger, a rope, and a packet of medicine from his bosom, shook it open, poured it into the jug, shook it, and pushed them all in front of Kharchin.

When Kharchin saw these three things, he seemed to have just woken up from his nightmare, and he leaned into his chair with a miserable scream, covered his face with his hands, and shouted to the sky: "Okay...... It's miserable...... I didn't expect me to end up like this...... No, no! I want to meet the Holy One, I have something important to do, Khaljishan—"

"Khaljishan has been transferred out of Shanxi." Qian Du said coldly, "He wants to do evil, and the Son of Heaven has his own charter." You'd better break it faster. You know, struggling is worse than dying! Besides, there is something in the holy decree, you don't have to wait for the edict to be ordered, the emperor will rectify the rule of officials, starting from you, how can he spare you? ”

"No, no! I don't! ”

Qian Du smiled, picked up the wine, and said, "If I want to choose for you, I'd rather use this wine." This is specially prepared for you by Lord Yanqing, and you will be able to eat it. The knife was also fed with poison, and the throat was sealed with blood. You don't ...... with a rope."

"No ......"

"You don't want to kill yourself," Qian Du said with a cruel smile, "I have to ask someone to help you kill yourself, otherwise, if my mission can't be done, how can I pay the order?" He shouted, and immediately came in the four Soap Officers of the Criminal Department, and said, "Help Lord Ka." This is a good deed! ”

Four officials came over at once, two of them set Kharchin, one stuffed the poisoned wine cup into Kharchin's hand, and clamped his hand and could not let go, and the other pinched Kharchin's nose and raised his ears, and forced the poisoned wine into it—he took the wine "himself", and opened his mouth "by himself", which of course meant "suicide"—Qian Du saw that he was dying, and asked the coroner to fill in the corpse, so he walked out of the beekeeping tunnel and rode away in a sedan chair.

When he came to the Palace of Nourishing Hearts, Qian Du saw that it was not yet noon, so he first asked Wang Shi to go in to know, and then asked the eunuch Xiao Sula next to him: "Who is the emperor receiving this time?" ”

"The new champion Lemin." The eunuch and Qian Du were familiar with each other, and said with a smile, "The master is happy today, and he has already issued an edict to call Fu Liuye back to be the Minister of Military Aircraft, the Minister of the Upper Study, and the Minister of the Guard!" My good girl, even the Ezhong Hall and the Nezhong Hall have been pressed to the second layer! As he spoke, he called "Qian Du come in". Qian Du hurriedly agreed, and quickly entered the East Warm Pavilion of the Heart Cultivation Palace.

Qianlong was really happy. He did not wear court clothes. Because the room was very warm, he only wore a sauce-colored lambskin silk cotton robe, and he did not even tie his belt, and sat very upright, but he looked easy-going and chic. Lemin, who was standing on the side, looked very reserved. Seeing Qian Du come in, he nodded to Qian Du and said hello. Qian Du was extremely skillful in calling Qianlong, kowtowed, hit another thousand, and said, "The servant's envoy has been done." ”

"Have you tested it?"

"This is the autopsy."

Qianlong smiled, took a glance at it, put it aside, and said, "This kind of thing happened in the hands of the Holy Grandfather, and he gave the governor of Liangguang to die, but he took fake medicine, and he lived for a few years before he found out. Given to commit suicide, he refused to 'commit suicide' and was embarrassed to do the errand. ”

"This medicine was first fed to the dogs and verified," Qian Du said busily, "If that kind of ridiculous thing really happens, the master will give the slave to die!" ”

Only then did Le Min know what kind of errand Qian Du was doing. Listen to the twelve ringing bells in a row. Le Min sighed: "At this moment, Sahalang has fallen to the ground. The master's rectification not only does not hurt the purpose of taking leniency as the government, but also makes the rule of officials serious, which is like the benevolence of heaven. Holy rule is about punishment and honesty, and benevolence is about lightly punishing and giving money. The history of bamboo silk will be a model for future generations. This move is as strong as Mount Tai Feng Zen! ”

"I am determined to create a prosperous world in the Qing Dynasty. Because the Holy Ancestor and Sejong left me a treasure, that is, benevolence and autocracy. Qianlong's eyes sparkled, but then he sank down, "In the current situation, how easy is it to talk about?" I have not been to the south since I ascended the throne, and the north has seen it in person. I don't believe the that asks for an excerpt that 'the people are rich and happy'! You just talked about Feng Chan, that's what an arrogant emperor like Emperor Wu did. The world is safe, the family is rich and the people are sufficient, what is the harm if you don't seal Zen? Thieves are swarming, the people are struggling to make a living, what good is it to seal Zen? The whitewashed peace will leak sooner or later. Therefore, I am most convinced of one thing about Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty, thirty years after the establishment of the martial arts, Emperor Guangwu toured the east, and the courtiers said that the Han dynasty was prosperous for thirty years, and the holy text and gods were no less than the former kings, and they should be enshrined in Mount Tai. Liu Xiu said, 'Thirty years after his reign, the people are full of resentment, who can I bully, deceive the sky! Who dares to call him false beauty and Qu A for favor again, I shave his bald head to fill the army! - The emperor who dares to say such a thing is really a great husband emperor! ”

Qianlong stood up, took out a paper bag in front of the gold-lacquered cabinet, put it on the imperial case, and asked, "Qian Du, do you remember the first time you met me, and you had a conversation around the fireplace on a snowy day?" ”

"The minion didn't know the holy face at that time." Of course, Qian Du remembered those words, but he didn't dare to say them directly, so he bowed down and said, "I didn't talk about it at the time, but later I knew that it was blasphemy against the Lord of Ten Thousand Vehicles, but I was so frightened that I couldn't remember it clearly." ”

"You forgot, but I haven't forgotten, it's this kind of unintentional words that are particularly precious." He shook off the paper bag and said, "Look. ”

The two of them shot their eyes together, it was a piece of black charcoal-like thing, and after careful examination, they saw that it was an oatmeal nest, mixed with bran, and there were traces of it, as if it was rubbed into some dried vegetables, and placed on this carved jade and gold-inlaid kang table, it seemed that it had also become a living thing, looking at the person in a daze.

"This is the 'meal' of the people of Jindong!" Qianlong smiled to himself, "You forgot, but I tried to read it according to what you forgot." It doesn't matter if the family eats the nest, you live in the hotel and I have a private visit, and almost every family has this ordinary meal. This is a mirror that shines on both the people and the officials. Therefore, I have issued an order to transfer Khaljishan out, and the officials who were corrupt and bribed in the two cases will all be handed over to the ministry for punishment. All the officials in Shanxi stopped working for a year and used this money to help the people! ”

Somehow, listening to Qianlong's words, two people with different thoughts and feelings shed tears.

"You go out to watch the wind this time, don't learn the eight mansion patrols in the play." Qianlong's mood seemed to be very excited, "Sitting in the yamen and waiting for someone to complain, if there is a complaint, there is a case to go for a private visit, it is very boring - a Qingguan hat falls from the sky for you to wear, and the Qingguan is too cheap!" You talk to Qian Du and listen to his opinions. He didn't tell the truth just now, and he was there to fool me! After saying that, he smiled, and when he saw that Qian Du was about to kneel, he said, "It's normal for people - you kneel down!" ”

Qian Du and Lemin each breathed a sigh of relief when they left Xihua Gate. Qian Du said with a smile: "Champion Gong, you are a patrolman, and I am the executioner today." How about going to your house and getting some joy? Le Min said: "I still have to go to Xiwa, where I want to burn incense and pray for Yu'er and them." In the evening, we were ordered to talk on our knees. By the way, I invite you to have a drink, and I don't see an outsider. After that, they each said goodbye.

Qianlong watched the recitals, wrote Zhu Pi, and even met people from time to time, and even summoned the ministers to play the right game while having dinner. The matters that were arranged for the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Officials to send new jinshi to take up posts in various provinces or stay in Beijing were screened one by one. According to age, personality, appearance, and speech, they were weighed one by one, and arranged to meet them from tomorrow. I was busy until it was dark before I went to Cining Palace to say hello to the Queen Mother. When he came out, he was already holding the lamp. But when he saw a palace maid facing him, he came over with a lantern, and when he looked at it, Qianlong couldn't help but cry out:

"Tang'er!"

Soon after Tang'er gave birth, her face was still a little pale, she hadn't seen Qianlong for a long time, she felt a little flustered at first glance, and she blushed secretly, and she could only pretend to be generous in front of everyone, squatting down to give a salute, and said softly: "Master Wanfu!" ”

"You're all right, go down." Qianlong waved his hand. The crowd immediately retreated into the distance. Qianlong said to Tang'er: "Go, go to the old place." "...... now" "Don't be afraid!" Qianlong said: "A handful of rules and grass are sown, if they talk nonsense again, they will be killed!" ”

Tang'er was speechless, followed him to Cining Garden again, and stood still in front of the Guanyin Pavilion. It's still that season, it's still that place, it's still these two people, it's just that there was moonlight that night, and at this time, even the stars were covered by clouds, and only a few dim palace lights in the distance reflected their figures. Tang'er suddenly threw herself into Qianlong's arms and sobbed in a low voice: "I'm ...... I miss the emperor so much...... You don't know how difficult it is for Fu'er to be born. He's not at home, and you can't come to see me...... I'm so miserable......"

"I miss you too......" Qianlong put one hand on her shoulder, and gently stroked her long hair with the other, "I can't forget you wherever I go, I can't forget you at any time, I always think about you, and I feel sorry for your ......"

Tang'er raised her head, she was swarthy, and she couldn't see Qianlong's face clearly. Suddenly, two cold tears dripped down her cheeks. She asked in a panic, "Master, master!" What's wrong with you? You're crying, you're dripping tears. - Ahh Your words...... The slave doesn't understand, do you want to leave me? ”

"Yes." Qianlong caressed her face and hugged her tightly in his arms. His voice was a little choked, "Fu Heng is going to return to the dynasty for reuse." You...... Our fate...... It's over. The heart is never-ending, so my heart is dripping blood. ”

"You don't mean ......"

"I'm afraid. But this is not good for Fu Heng, Yu Zhen, or you. Qianlong's voice was full of sadness, "At that time, I sent him out to ...... with you But he is indeed not only an uncle of the country, but also a pillar of the great cause. Now for the sake of the community, I want to reuse him as the first minister, I can only be, no, I have to endure the pain and cut my love......"

Tang'er slowly left Qianlong's embrace, looked at Qianlong's majestic body with wide eyes, and said: "The emperor is not afraid, I am not afraid, I don't want the emperor to bear the reputation." You are the biggest, I am a little woman, and one bite of medicine is a hundred. ”

"Idiot, that's the last thing I want to see. True love, keep it in your heart, look forward to the next life, and we can meet tacitly in the future! Qianlong said, "You don't understand, it's not that the emperor is the greatest." Really, I don't lie to you. ”

"Who? Who is older than the emperor?! ”

"Confucius."

The two of them were silent, standing side by side in front of the Guanyin Pavilion, and from which room came the sound of the golden self-striking bell, which hit it again and again long and tremblingly, like a never-ending sigh.

In September 1992, he was born in Wan