Shen Yichen looked at the official escorted in for a long time before calming down and slowly speaking: "I thought it was you, but I couldn't understand why you did this. ”

"Yuanfu, I'm sorry for you, so use my life to make amends."

The official's eyes were red in front of him, and he knew that it was pointless to say more at this time, and the only thing that could atone for his sins was his own life!

Hearing the other party's words, Shen Yichen could no longer suppress the emotions in his heart, and raised his voice and scolded angrily: "Are you sorry for me?" ”

"What you are sorry for is the Ming Dynasty, what you are sorry for is the hundreds of thousands of soldiers on the nine sides, and what you are sorry for is hundreds of millions of people!"

"Once the conquest fails, and the Tartars are strong again, how many people will die because of your defection to the enemy and treason!"

The angry voice resounded in the room, not only Shen Yichen's anger against the thief, but also the disappointment of the betrayal of his colleagues who had worked with him for many years. The reason is that the middle-aged official standing in front of him is none other than Zhao Ranyuan, a scholar in the cabinet.

You must know that Shen Yichen just stepped into the officialdom and went to the East Pavilion from the Hanlin Academy to study, Zhao Ranyuan served as his middle school scholar. More than ten years have passed in the blink of an eye, and Shen Yichen has spent more time with him in officialdom than anyone else, and it is no longer an ordinary relationship between superiors and subordinates.

It turned out to be betrayal!

Although Shen Yichen is very aware of the deceit of officialdom and understands how deep the troubled waters are, this incident really happened to him, and it is inevitable that there will be a sense of sadness and heartache.

"Motosuke, I didn't think about defecting to the enemy and treason, I didn't ......"

Zhao Ranyuan faced Shen Yicheng's angry rebuke, two lines of tears slipped down the corners of his eyes, he passed the news of the raid between the Liaodong Army and the Monan Army to Cao Jixiang, he really didn't think that the other party would directly inform the Tatars.

You must know that Cao Jixiang is already a eunuch in charge of the seal, and he has reached the point where he cannot be promoted at the level of eunuchs, and no matter how weak the Ming Dynasty is, it is always stronger than the Mongol Khanate.

To tell the truth, this is the same as Qin Hui's collaboration with the enemy in the Zhao and Song dynasties, which makes many people feel incomprehensible, they have already stood at the height of a very popular minister, and the Jin people can no longer give him greater benefits, but they are still doing the things of betraying the country and seeking power and recognizing the thief as their father.

Any criminal often says one sentence before he is convicted, and that is the word "wronged". Shen Yichen didn't want to listen to Zhao Ranyuan's own defense, so he asked Wei San, who was escorting the Jinyi Wei Qianhu, "Did you find anything else?" ”

"Qi Yu Shen Yuanfu, orthodox nine years Emperor Yingzong conquest of Wuliang Ha Sanwei, Cao Jixiang served as the supervisor of the army and Xing'an Bo Xu Heng sent troops to Lingkou, at that time had already built a contact line with the Tartars, during which a large number of generals and Jiaojian soldiers were raised as private soldiers, and they are basically all placed in the Beijing camp and Tengxiang four guards."

"This time, Jinyiwei was ordered to investigate the spies, destroyed the liaison station between Cao Jixiang and the Tartars in Beijing, and dug out the inner Ying Zhao Zhongshu next to Yuan Fu. However, the contact with the Tartars has never been Cao Jixiang himself, and any letters are destroyed immediately after delivery, so it is not possible to have sufficient evidence of the crime for the time being. ”

"Another ......"

Speaking of this, Wei San wanted to speak and stopped, looking at Shen Yichen and not knowing whether he should say it or not.

"Anything else, but it doesn't hurt to say it."

Shen Yichen was worried that he had something unspeakable, so he encouraged.

"During the investigation, we found that Zhao Zhongshu's only son fell into the hands of Dongchang, and he may indeed have a last resort."

Because Wei San had experienced the pain of his relatives being "taken away", he would hesitate to mention this matter to Shen Yichen. The officials in the deep palace are different from the officials outside the court, they will not abide by the bottom line of "disaster will not affect the family", as long as they can achieve the goal, they will do whatever it takes.

"Zhao Zhongshu, is there such a thing?"

Shen Yichen looked at Zhao Ranyuan and asked towards confirmation.

"The subordinate officials have no way to teach their children, so that they will bring disaster to the country and the people, and the rebel son really deserves it!"

Zhao Ranyuan responded with pain, a mistake is a mistake, he doesn't want to explain too much in this matter and find too many excuses.

Seeing Zhao Ranyuan's expression, Shen Yichen could probably guess that it was the gentleman who caused the trouble, and was caught by the Dongchang spies under Cao Jixiang, so as to threaten Zhao Ranyuan to comply.

Growing up in the circle of Xunqi since he was a child, Shen Yichen has seen too many similar second-generation children, and he has long been surprised by this phenomenon.

"Wei Qianhu, take the person down for interrogation."

Shen Yichen issued an edict to Wei San, his heart was filled with a feeling of mourning his misfortune and anger at the moment, and he didn't want to see Zhao Ranyuan again.

"Yes, obedience."

Wei San gave up his hand and took the order, and summoned several subordinates to prepare to take Zhao Ranyuan to the Imperial Prison.

But just as everyone turned around and was about to walk out of the door, Shen Yichen suddenly shouted: "Slow!" ”

In the face of this shout, everyone in the room showed a puzzled expression, and Shen Yichen exhaled again and said: "Zhao Zhongshu, I still want to believe that you are the last time, and you have no intention of collaborating with the enemy and treason." ”

"If you give a good account of the crime, you may be able to save your life."

People are not plants and trees, who can be ruthless?

Shen Yichen and Zhao Ranyuan have been friends for more than ten years since the East Pavilion, what kind of person is the other party, and what kind of temperament does they have, how can they not know at all?

Cao Jixiang is the main culprit in this matter, and Zhao Ranyuan is considered a member of the coerced team, if he can change to a status similar to a "tainted witness", he will still have a chance to get amnesty if he atones for his crimes.

This is also the last thing Shen Yichen can do for more than ten years of friendship.

Hearing the words behind him, Zhao Ranyuan turned to look at Shen Yichen, his lips trembled and he wanted to say something, but he never had a way to say it.

In the end, he chose to lean over and kneel down slowly, and thanked Shen Yichen: "Xiaguan Xie Shen Yuanfu forgives, the great kindness has nothing to repay in this life, only to ask for the grass to carry the ring in the next life!" ”

After saying this, Zhao Ranyuan got up and walked out of the room resolutely, he didn't want to add any more trouble to Shen Yichen, this kindness was enough.

Looking at Zhao Ranyuan's back disappearing from sight, Shen Yichen let go of the fist he had been clenching, and Zhao Hongjie next to him saw this scene, walked over and patted him on the shoulder and comforted: "Zhao Zhongshu is not a bad person in essence, he can understand your kindness, and explain in detail the evidence about Cao Jixiang." ”

Facing Zhao Hongjie's comfort, Shen Yichen took a deep breath, did not say much about this matter, and returned to his previous calm state.

"Hongjie, is this Jinyi Guard's operation secretive enough?"

"Before the conviction of the Three Law Divisions, it was the practice of Jinyiwei to act in secret."

"That's good, let out the news that Zhao Zhongshu committed suicide in fear of crime, don't let Cao Jixiang know that he was arrested by Jinyiwei."

"Xiangbei, are you worried that Cao Jixiang will destroy the evidence of the crime?"

Zhao Hongjie asked rhetorically, he didn't understand Shen Yichen's motives for doing this.

"No, I'm trying to prevent him from jumping off the wall."

"The Jingying side is controlled by Cao Jixiang's heirs and nephews, and it is basically difficult to buy and persuade them. On the side of Teng Xiang Siwei, although the middle and low-level generals have been replaced by some of the well-raised generals, the eunuch of the Imperial Horse Supervisor is not Cao Jixiang's henchman. ”

"The earlier reform of the imperial court tax system took the internal money from the hands of the internal supervisors and put it under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance, which is equivalent to cutting off Cao Jixiang's financial power. I received news that in order to ensure his control of the Beijing camp, he embezzled and deducted the military salary of Teng Xiang Siwei. ”

Cao Jixiang's move seems to be a solution to the financial crisis, but in fact it is a deep hidden danger that we can take advantage of. In addition, take a step back and say, the generals are not Ming people, they purely rely on money to sell their lives to Cao Jixiang, and if they don't have money to support them, will they still be loyal and serve their lives? ”

Shen Yichen told Zhao Hongjie earlier that he had a solution to deal with Cao Jixiang, and that sentence was not a perfunctory remark, but he really considered how to divide and disintegrate the entire eunuch group, as well as the huge soldiers and horses under its control.

There are two key points to break the game, one is that the celebrant is in charge of the eunuch Wang Cheng, and the other is the financial power controlled by Shen Yichen!

Wang Cheng is the old man of Emperor Jingtai Zhu Qiyu, and he was expected to succeed him as the eunuch of the master of ceremonies, but unfortunately Zhu Qiyu's untimely death was too sudden, and the court's attention at that time was all on the candidate for the prince, who would pay attention to the appointment of a eunuch?

As a result, in the end, Cao Jixiang, who was the most powerful, seized the opportunity to unite with Shi Heng, the prince of Zhongguo, to form a party and compete with him, crushing Wang Cheng, who had no backing, and won the position of eunuch in charge of the seal.

However, in order to appease the old man of the Jingtai Dynasty, Cao Jixiang handed over the real power position of the eunuch in charge of the imperial horse eunuch to Wang Cheng, who also reciprocated the peach, and An An was reduced to a puppet almost everything.

But Shen Yichen knew that after tasting the taste of power, no one would give up willingly, Wang Cheng had just half a foot in the ceremonial eunuch, and he also invoked the court officials to enter the cabinet with no glory, how could he not have a little ambition?

Shen Yichen and Wang Cheng barely had a relationship, and he believed that he could find a breakthrough from here.

As for the second key point, it is better to understand, the household department, the Ministry of Finance, and Daming Qianzhuang are all in the hands of Shen Yichen, and if the internal money controlled by Cao Jixiang can be recovered, then it will naturally be able to cut off the supply of military salaries for Tengxiang Siwei.

Of course, the word "pinch" is a bit too much, and we have to consider the emperor's position to avoid being seized by Cao Jixiang to expand the situation and beat Shen Yichen's powerful ministers.

Use arrears, discounts, and so on appropriately, and everything will seem logical. After all, Daming's deduction of soldiers' salaries can be called the ancestral system, and in recent years, it has been under Shen Yichen's power that soldiers and soldiers from all walks of life have achieved full salaries.

Once even Teng Xiang's military salaries are in short supply, Shen Yichen wants to see if Cao Jixiang has the courage to embezzle all the salaries and silver of the Ming soldiers and subsidize them to the generals, and I am afraid that there will be a good show of infighting at that time!

After listening to Shen Yichen's countermeasures, a look of excitement appeared on Zhao Hongjie's face, and he stretched out his hand to stop his shoulder and said: "It's really worthy of Zaifu, who is strategizing, and he has played the trick of differentiation and disintegration, why is Cao Jixiang fighting with you?" ”

"The gentleman is harmonious but different, the villain is the same but not harmonious, it's not me who is strategizing, it's Cao Jixiang's ambition that dooms him to failure."

"He wants too many things, and at the same time it is too unattainable, and the general trend will not be on Cao Jixiang's side."

Shen Yichen said this sentence surgingly, counting from the Qin and Han dynasties for nearly 2,000 years, how many eunuchs have appeared in history, and how many of them have the power to abolish the imperial power.

Even if this is the case, is there another person who has been able to reach the top of the Ninety-Five Supreme by virtue of his eunuch status?

The world will not accept the eunuch as the emperor, and in a sense, it will not accept the eunuch's heir to seek the usurpation of the throne. From the very beginning, Cao Jixiang stood on the opposite side of the general trend, and Shen Yichen only needed to take advantage of the situation.

In a sense, it is much easier to deal with Cao Jixiang than it is to deal with the civil official clique and the scholar class.

After saying this, Shen Yichen took down Zhao Hongjie's hand on his shoulder, turned back to business, and said: "Okay, the matter of destroying the Tartar liaison station, Cao Jixiang should know soon, and you must immediately create the illusion that Zhao Zhongshu committed suicide in fear of crime." ”

"In addition, in terms of public opinion dissemination, don't point the spearhead of treason to the enemy at Cao Jixiang, you just need to maintain the investigative posture, and under pressure, he will launch a scapegoat to take the blame and put down the collusion with the Tartars."

"During this time, the factory guards should focus on monitoring my whereabouts, so they will not stay in Nanzhen Fusi for a long time, and go back to the cabinet first to wait for Cao Jixiang to make a move. As long as he is still holding on to luck, the rope around his neck will never be removed! ”

When Shen Yichen said this, there was a fierceness in his tone that could not be hidden.

To be honest, he has endured Cao Jixiang for a long time, the reason is that after all, the power of the eunuchs is only limited to the Forbidden City, and he relies on the clan power to extend to Beijing.

If you want to compare the tax reform, the clearing of the country's acres of land, and the gentry as an errand and grain pile, Cao Jixiang's small action is really not worth mentioning, and Shen Yichen, as the person in power, scored a priority.

But Cao Jixiang couldn't hold back, and in order to defeat himself, he did not hesitate to collude with the Tartars, pass on the military information, and make a treason with the enemy, which touched the bottom line of Shen Yichen's patience. After all, the importance of the great cause of the Northern Expedition is no less than the confrontation with the scholar class, which is almost equivalent to doing a multiple-choice question of whether to fight outside or settle first.

In the end, Shen Yichen still chose Xian'an Nei and decided to tighten the rope that had long been tied to Cao Jixiang's neck.

Once the plan is implemented, all kinds of methods of boiling frogs in warm water will be carried out step by step, and by the time Cao Jixiang discovers that something is wrong, he will no longer have the ability to fight to the death.

"Okay, to the north, I'll do it immediately."

Zhao Hongjie also put away his attitude of giggling, he knew that this matter could not be negligent, but if Cao Jixiang noticed that the situation was wrong, the other party would inevitably mobilize Jingying and Tengxiang Siwei to have a fish death.

Shen Yichen will not give Cao Jixiang this chance, and the same is true for Zhao Hongjie!