Chapter 167 Night Talk

Li Shizhong knew that there were by no means a small number of people in the DPRK and China who were dissatisfied with the so-called Qingliu who were becoming more and more domineering, but most of them dared not speak out, and those guys became more and more arrogant, and even openly shouted the slogan "If you are not a fellow enemy, you are an enemy," elevating the dispute of different opinions to the height of contradiction between the enemy and us, and putting on a hideous face of "we are gentlemen, and if we don't follow us all the way, we will be villains, and we will wipe out all the villains." The Son of Heaven has clearly released a signal through this court staff, so Gonggong Li accurately predicted that there must be many people who will find ways to make their position clear to the Son of Heaven - not only for self-preservation, but also for deep grievances. The officials of the outer court, the palace can't enter as soon as they want, they will inevitably come to Ma Quan's door, so they specially told the Holy Son of Heaven to take a few nights off in the past few days, and came to the Ma Mansion to hide in the study to observe. The Son of Heaven has already made up his mind to use the power of the inner court to balance those mouths who don't do anything all day long, so he is naturally accurate.

Most of these people who have come to the door in recent days are officials of the six ministries, and their visits to Mafu are full of topics of wind and snow, and other current affairs are not discussed, which is also the common practice of Ming officialdom - visiting is to show their attitude, and the imperial elites who are familiar with the books of sages will certainly not do things like they have to name and confide in a clear market aunt, so they will have traces and lose their identity. The coincidental person entered the house, and when he arrived late to see the entourage of other colleagues outside the Ma Fu Gate, he asked his subordinates to cast their own name thorn for the doorman, and then stuffed a door bag of two or three taels: don't "forget" to hand the name card in, let Ma Daren know that he has been here, and there will be opportunities for this young upstart in the future.

In the capital division, of course, there will be a night curfew. The natural rank of the official who can be unimpeded at night will not be small, and the lantern is printed with the official position, and the guards who patrol the night are respectfully avoided. Li Shizhong also sent a literate little eunuch to guard the nearby secluded place, and secretly noted down the officials who were too timid to even dare to vote for the door thorn - at this time, Gonggong Li needed to attract as many foreign court reinforcements as possible. On this day, after the last one was sent away, and the second watch (nine o'clock to eleven o'clock in the evening) had been knocked, Li Shizhong came to the living room and had a brief conversation with Ma Quan.

In the Ming Dynasty, the second watch day is almost equivalent to one or two o'clock in the morning in modern society, and when you come to visit at this time, you can see how much you want to avoid people's eyes and ears! Ma Quan yawned and looked at the famous thorn handed by Menzi and couldn't help but be tired, cast a stunned look at Gonggong Li, and muttered: "How could it be him?" ”

Li Shizhong's literacy is limited, but he still recognizes most of the words on the name post, and at a glance, he even knows who it is, and he is also taken aback. After explaining a few words to Ma Quan, he hid behind the screen and listened-the last person who came in was Jiang Yuanbiao in civilian clothes!

Jiang Shizhan is the Shaanxi Provincial Inspector of the Imperial History, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Six Ministries are the places where the clear stream gathers! Lu Guangyu was recommended by him to lead the army to suppress Zhang Hu.

Ma Quan bowed his hand to Jiang Yuanbiao: "Master Jiang......"

Unexpectedly, as soon as he came in, the latter didn't care that the person leading the way was still there, and without saying a word, he knelt down with the hem of his clothes, kowtowed heavily, and shouted: "Lord Ma, help!" ”

Of course, Ma Quan knew that Jiang Yushi's late-night visit was definitely not to come to the door to scold the street, but it was completely unexpected to make this gift as soon as they met, so he hurriedly stretched out his hand to help him and said: "Lord Jiang can't help it, please get up quickly, please get up quickly!" ”

Jiang Yuanbiao took a few steps back on his knees, broke free of Ma Quan's hands, and lay on the ground crying: "Master Ma! If you don't remember the villain, if you don't give the villain a clear word, the villain will die in front of the adult's eyes today......"

At this time, Ma Quan's promotion has not been a few days ago, and he has been bullied super experienced, but it is the first time he has been begged like this, and he is at a loss and embarrassed. When Jiang Yuanbiao heard this, he mistakenly thought that Ma Quan was refusing, and even more tears were spilled, so the two of them tore up in the hall. Li Shizhong, who was hiding behind the screen, saw that he was getting more and more disagreeable, he couldn't stand it anymore, coughed, walked out quickly, and said softly: "Stop!" In the dead of night, tell the people to spread the word! ”

Whether to come to Mafu Jiang Yuanbiao was originally a battle between heaven and man, and hesitated for a long time. Master Jiang, who was originally a son of a poor family, was actually not the kind of person who had nothing to do, and he entered the Metropolitan Procuratorate by mistake, and the toss of the clear stream, in fact, Jiang Yuanbiao was not without opinions in his heart. But on the one hand, he is the expectation of the entire family for several generations, and once he offends those guys, he will go home with ironclad rolls, and everything will become a shadow of the mirror; On the other hand, although the rank of the seven grades of the imperial history is not high, the big and small officials have to be respectfully served, and after a long time, they will naturally develop some professional superiority. At the moment, it is clear that the Son of Heaven wants to clean up these trolls, if he doesn't distinguish it as soon as possible, he will inevitably end up with him - maybe even in the first batch: Lu Guangyu is still locked up in the prison, not only will he be defeated in the first battle, but the nest will be taken out by thieves, and the pigtails are ready-made! After thinking about it, I came at night. The more this is the case, the more I saw Ma Quan, I somehow had mixed feelings, and my psychology almost collapsed before this scene happened.

The two of them were reprimanded by Li Shizhong like this, and they both came to their senses. Ma Quan immediately responded and reached out again to drag: "Lord Jiang, everything is easy to say, everything is easy to say, please get up and sit down and talk." Jiang Yuanbiao also got up in disdain, and bowed deeply to Li Shizhong: "Father-in-law Li forgives his sins!" ”

Ma Quan let Li Shizhong sit at the top and let Jiang Yuanbiao sit in the guest seat. The relationship between the Ming eunuchs and the officials was delicate. For example, if the Son of Heaven is compared to the head of the family, the inner supervisor is the slave of the Son of Heaven, the civil official is the housekeeper, and the military attache is the bodyguard and the courtyard. No matter how you say it, a house slave is also a family member, and his own people, whether they are housekeepers or bodyguards, are always outsiders. The status of the housekeeper is high, so he is always domineering, but the master does not speak but has no right to dispose of the house slave, and the bodyguard is only responsible for the subordinate, and he will be much more polite to the house slave - sometimes the housekeeper bullies the nursing home ruthlessly, and they have to count on the house slave to help him appeal a few words in front of the master. This is the private residence of Mafu, although Jiang Yuanbiao did not know that Ma Quan had worshiped Li Shizhong as his father-in-law at this time, but he was not a fool, of course, he had already known that the relationship between the two was extraordinary, and this trip was also to ask Ma Quan to take the door of Father-in-law Li.

Li Shizhong's identity is the eunuch of the inner court, and the spearhead of the officials is mainly to compete for power, at this time, the authority of the court is not in the inner court, and the officials do not have any deep hatred with him, but occasionally point to Sang and scold Huai with a few words. Gonggong Li's purpose is very simple, to be angry for the Holy Son of Heaven and contribute to the empire of the Holy Son of Heaven. Seeing Jiang Yuanbiao, there was a burst of ecstasy in his heart: If the matter of the officials is really a bit tricky, but if they can pull a few of their own people, it will be much easier!

The two sides hit it off.

When Jiang Yuanbiao mentioned his worries about Lu Guangyu's case, Li Shizhong's eyes lit up, and he said to Jiang Yuanbiao: "Shizhan has friends from other provinces who are familiar enough to say a few words in an excerpt?" ”

Jiang Yuanbiao's eyes were hot when he heard this, and he left his seat again and knelt down: "Some have, my father-in-law is very kind, and the villain has no teeth and never forgets." - Gonggong Li's title uses the word Jiang Yuanbiao, not "Lord Jiang", which is already a clear indication that he is his own person.

Li Shizhong nodded and said to Ma Quan: "Quan'er can say hello to Feng Shilang, who came two days ago, and ask the military department to also put up a script for Commander Lu to make meritorious contributions." There is almost room for a turnaround. ”

Ma Quan responded.

Li Shizhong turned his face and said to Jiang Yuanbiao again: "When you look forward to your self-reference, our family estimates that it will be almost the same as a penalty." Seeing that the latter was stunned as he spoke, he was a little displeased: "What? Don't you feel a little heavy? ”

Jiang Yuanbiao came to his senses at this time, kowtowed his head heavily, and said, "How dare the villain!" The villain didn't expect to get out of trouble like this, and the villain was so happy that he was stupid! ”

Li Shizhong smiled: "When the time comes, get up and speak." In the future, don't call villains and villains, you are all scholars, and you are also officials of the court, so you must take care of the dignity of the court. ”

"Obey the teachings of the Grace Lord. Xiaguan, oh, lowly, oh, no, Yuan Biao thanked the benevolent prince again. Yuan Biao is ashamed and landless, he has saved some money over the years, and he is willing to repay his kindness. ”

Li Shizhong smiled again: "Oh? Tell me, how much money do you have? ”

"Hui Engong. Don't dare to deceive Engong, the yuan mark is almost eight or nine hundred, a thousand two. Jiang Yuanbiao knew that he really couldn't get this money, so he was so ashamed that he wanted to find a crack to get into.

"Hahahaha, it's only been a thousand taels after many years of imperial history, Shi Zhan is a good official! We don't want your money. Stop, sit down, and listen to what we have to say. Seeing that Jiang Yuanbiao, who had just sat down, was about to jump up again, Li Shizhong waved his hand to stop, "Our family entered the palace with a ruthless heart in desperation. You scholars often talk about it, saying that you can't serve your parents when you do things for the court, and you can't have both loyalty and filial piety, isn't it true that our family is too? Not to mention honoring your parents, even your ancestors are sorry! Isn't that the reason? After he died, the thought in his heart could only be to do something for his hometown and do something for his clansmen. Our family is not a traitor who brings disaster to the country as the officials say, but it is not a saint either, and there will definitely be no shortage of places to use money. We can't accept your money-you are a clean official, and if you accept your money, not only will our family not be able to hold on to this old face, but if you die in the future, the ghosts and gods will not agree. But some people are different. Our family knows, that Commander Lu, who has eaten Juntun for several generations at home, is that money not collected for nothing? Ming'er, you go to the prison to tell him a letter, and ask him if he wants to die inside, or take 10,000 taels out and go back to be a commander......"

Talking about the third watch, Jiang Yuanbiao, who was very grateful, said goodbye, and everyone was happy.

A few days later, the Inner Court.

The Son of Heaven put down the piece of Feng Kai (the character Guofeng), the right attendant of the military department, picked up the one he had just read, and said to Li Shizhong thoughtfully: "Jiang Yuanbiao was derelict in his duties, and Feng Kai asked for Lu Guangyu to be guilty of meritorious service, and Qian Qianfu, who had just been transferred from Jiangning to the governor of Shandong two days ago, also wrote to intercede for him...... Do you know this? ”

Li Shizhong replied respectfully: "Back to Your Majesty, the old slave knows." Jiang Yushi went to Ma Quan in the middle of the night, and the old slave came back and told His Majesty. I think Jiang Yushi was afraid that His Majesty would blame him, so he also found someone to help him say a few good words, right? ”

The Son of Heaven said "hmm" and said unhappily: "Then Jiang Yuanbiao betrayed my trust and even pulled others to intercede, is he a little bold?" Hum! ”

Li Shizhong knelt down: "Your Majesty." The old slave has some words, I don't know if I should say them. ”

"Say it."

"Thank you, Your Majesty. Jiang Yuanbiao did live up to His Majesty's trust. At Ma Quan's place, he begged the old slave to say a few good words for him in front of His Majesty, and he also gave money to the old slave. I didn't dare to deceive Your Majesty, and in a hurry, he said that he had saved a few hundred taels over the years, and he wanted to give it all to the old slave. The old slave knew that he was in a hurry, and he was telling the truth. Of course, the old slave didn't dare to ask for this money. However, having said that, an imperial historian has been doing it for many years, and he has only saved this money, and the old slave thinks that Jiang Yushi's character is still okay. Lu Guangyu is naturally not as good as Sun Shuai and Commander Yan, but no matter how you say it, he has really fought. Whether it's Shaanxi Province or Shaanxi Xingdusi, who else really dares to fight Zhang Thief? Those who didn't fight dare to report a big victory, for the sake of the overall situation, the court can't expose them for a while, if they are really punished too much, some, some, well, the old slave thinks it's a little inappropriate, right? That class of Qingliu will form a gang at every turn to respond to every call, Jiang Yuanbiao is a person from the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and when he is in a panic, it is normal to find a few people to help. Besides, who would dare to help him at this time, and His Majesty also knew his friends—and he would be able to know something about what was going on under the surface of the outer court? ”

The Son of Heaven was a little moved: "Hey, what you said has some truth!" Since Jiang Yuanbiao was seen at Ma's house, what did Ma Quan say? ”

"Your Majesty. Ma Quan only said one sentence: 'When employing people, it is better to make merit than to overdo it'. ”