A court discussion in the inner court ended with the emperor's "unauthorized assertion".

When the three cabinet members returned to the duty room, Cheng Minzheng originally used the excuse to leave, but he also saw that today's incident was very unfavorable to the cabinet, and wanted to avoid it, but was stopped by Li Dongyang.

"Keqin, what do you think of today's events?" Li Dongyang asked.

Cheng Minzheng said: "Your Majesty said that it will take a while longer, and Jinyiwei will investigate, and things may have a turnaround." ”

Li Dongyang shook his head and said, "In my estimation, Your Majesty will condemn Qiao's capital crime, or ...... Alas! ”

Even if you don't die, you have to peel off your skin.

Cheng Minzheng said helplessly: "Your Majesty set the rules of the court bow a long time ago, and now it is just doing things according to the rules, who would have thought that there would be a Yanwu Hall, but said that there is someone in the Yanwu Hall now?" Could it be...... Someone casually gave a note? ”

Li Dongyang looked at Liu Jian.

Liu Jian said: "It doesn't matter what the opinion of Yanwutang is, it depends on His Majesty's opinion. If His Majesty didn't mean to do so, how could the people in the Yanwu Hall be like this? At the end of the day, the wind has changed. ”

Cheng Minzheng asked: "In this case, is there room to make up for it?" I think so, if there are some people in the cabinet that His Majesty has to consider, or ...... How to say it, or His Majesty intends to create some gap between the Cabinet and the Upper Hearing Office, we must ...... Hold on to some of the past? ”

At this time, Cheng Minzheng can only express his thoughts tactfully.

There are some things that you really can't say directly.

The most critical point lies in Zhang Zhou.

Li Dongyang said: "It's Zhang Bingkuan, who is neither in the listening office nor in the cabinet, but he is still a member of the Hanlin Academy. So this time, even though he was the secretary of the military department, he didn't make a sound at all in the matter of Qiao. ”

Li Dongyang obviously understood, let's follow the emperor's wishes and pull Zhang Zhou to the cabinet, maybe things won't be so complicated.

Liu Jian asked: "Keqin, you often go in and out of the listening office, do you have this opinion?" ”

The spearhead is directly aimed at the two-sided unflattering Cheng Minzheng.

Cheng Minzheng sighed: "The recent affairs of the Shangting Office are all done by others, and I go there occasionally. I can't finish the affairs of the cabinet, and there are still things waiting for me in the Hanlin Academy, alas! ”

This will be hated by Cheng Minzheng too.

Who told the emperor to let him hang him in the listening office?

Nominally, there must be one person in the cabinet who is on the errand of the upper listening office, and this person just falls on his head, and now when it comes to the dispute between the upper listening office and the cabinet, Cheng Minzheng is equivalent to saying that neither side treats him as their own.

Cheng Minzheng also seemed to see that Liu Jian was angry with him, and he had no choice but to avoid it quickly, so he ignored Li Dongyang's strange gaze, arched his hand and left the cabinet without even saying a word.

……

……

Penal Department.

Li Shishi, the right attendant, handed over the "pardon letter" to Liu Yu on this day, which means that Liu Yu is already free.

Liu Yu asked: "I don't know the official position ...... below?"

Li Shishi said: "Your official position is entrusted by the ministry, I don't know, but I heard that this time you were transferred to Liaodong and responsible for the transportation of grain and grass there." ”

"Liaodong?" Liu Yu didn't quite understand.

"Huh." Li Shishi said with a smile, "Liaodong is a good place to produce talents." Think about it, the Ming Dynasty has leveled the grassland, and the grassland tartars don't dare to move now, where is the next step? It must be the Jurchens who subdue it first! This trip to Liaodong has already used troops, and you used to make the best use of your talents. ”

"But ......"

Liu Yu had a lot of questions he wanted to ask, but he couldn't.

Because Li Shishi is not the person responsible for the appointment and removal of his official position after all, he can indeed only use some gossip to prevaricate him.

Li Shishi said: "Why are you in such a hurry? Go back and rest for two days, and you'll be burned out here. If you don't have a place to go, I still have a small courtyard in Beijing where you can stay. ”

"No, no, no."

Of course, Liu Yu doesn't need Li Shishi to help him, even if he is down, he still has some power.

In his opinion, when he leaves this yamen, there will still be people who scold him, and the property he left through the three caves of the cunning rabbit can still come in handy.

Liu Yu suddenly thought of something again, and asked, "Xie Ge, old man, ...... him?"

"Xie Ge don't think about it." Li Shishi said with a smile, "I thought that his case would be closed before the end of the year, but now it seems that it is hanging." Not only could it not be solved before the year, but he may also be questioned for capital crimes after the year, and now the person has been sent to the edict prison and death row. Alas! What nice people! ”

It seems to be a pity, but he is still laughing.

This made Liu Yu unable to understand Li Shishi's mentality, but now he only cares about going home to recuperate, and the suffering of this prison has made him torture, and he also wants to leave this ghost place as soon as possible.

……

……

Princess Yongkang has returned to Beijing.

After coming back from Santun Camp and going straight to her home, she was still in a very good mood on the way home this time, because Cui Yuan had officially become the Marquis of Jingshan, which meant that her husband had become the Marquis of Daming, and the official position in the family would be hereditary in the future.

After returning from this trip, she immediately asked people to prepare gifts for Zhang Zhou.

"Your Highness, didn't you say that Cai Guo just tossed our family's horse and gave him a gift?" Naturally, the mother-in-law did not understand.

On the way back, Yongkang complained every day that Zhang Zhou abducted her husband, and said that Zhang Zhou was a "communiqué personal vendetta", but when he came back, he gave gifts, which was a model of inconsistency between words and deeds.

Yongkang said: "What do you know? This gift is for him to treat the horse well, if he doesn't give it, what should he do if he wears small shoes? The title has been obtained, but whether he can return to Beijing now depends on Cai Guogong's words, and the imperial brother doesn't listen to me now, what else can I do? ”

Not to thank Zhang Zhou, but to appease Zhang Zhou, so that Zhang Zhou could send her husband back to the capital as soon as possible.

The mother-in-law thought about it, this princess's thinking is also very strange, and it is better not to explain it if she explains it.

"Your Highness, I just heard that Elder Xie Ge was asked about his capital crime and may be sentenced to death row." The mother-in-law said again, "In the past two days, someone from the house has come to visit, and the disciples have been sent away, and most of them have heard that the horse has been promoted to the marquis, and they have come to congratulate." ”

"What congratulations, it's just a group of villains who tend to be inflammatory, what does Xie Ge Lao have to do with me?" Yongkang obviously didn't want to bother with those troubles.

The mother-in-law said: "There are a lot of people who come, and there are also ministers in the court, and they all seem to be concerned about this matter, and they want to know what you and our concubine have to say about this." ”

"Really?" Yongkang was a little satisfied, and said with a smile, "It seems that in the future, our princess's mansion will be able to care about the major affairs of the DPRK and China, and it is no longer like before, there is no one who even comes to give gifts during the New Year's holidays." They all say that I am in the capital, what is it? Isn't it a good thing for the colt? ”

"Your Highness, you are wise, if someone asks again, will you drive people away?" The mother-in-law continued to inquire.

"No, it's better to receive it, but those poor relatives of the horse family don't need to, they all want to get benefits from the horse, and don't see what they can do, why should they rely on the horse to help them? If it is a court official, those who come will be entertained with tea, and the courtyard of the West Wing will not be empty? Let them come in, sit down and drink tea, talk about the affairs of the DPRK and China, and tell me everything they have heard. ”

"Yes."

"If someone asks me about my opinion and that of the horse, just say that we are not qualified to speak in the court, and we can't influence Your Majesty's opinion, and we can't help anyone you want me to intercede."

"Your Highness, are you saying that they deliberately talked about Elder Xie Ge here, just to ask you to intercede?"

"Or else? This group of them, as soon as they puff their wings, they know where they want to fly, and they really think that they just care about us. They just wanted to use the convenience of me to enter the palace and let me go to intercede with that Xie Ge Lao, but now, we don't rely on this group of people, and we and Xie Ge Lao are not all the way. ”

The mother-in-law seemed to understand something, and nodded: "Also, you are the eldest princess, and you are a royal person." ”

"Wrong." Yongkang smiled and said, "We are Zhang Bingkuan's people, and the opinions of that faction are ours, and the imperial brother is on Zhang Bingkuan's side, so we are equivalent to agreeing with the imperial brother." Let that group of people also know that since we are upstarts, we should also stand with the mainstream of the imperial court, and they are outdated. ”

Mother-in-law: "......"

I thought that you were the eldest princess with a lot of backbone, and it turned out that she was ready to surrender.

Still scolding Zhang Bingkuan like this?

I was going to wear a pair of pants with Cai Guogong's mansion at all.

It's a pity that the group of ministers in the court thought that they could bring Cui Yuan into the "right path", and now it seems that even if Cui Yuan doesn't want to take refuge in Zhang Zhou, this eldest princess will let her husband be a handsome man who knows current affairs.

……

……

Cai Guo Gong's Mansion.

On this day, Jiang Pingyu was still talking to Han Qing about the renovation of the ancestral house of the Zhang family in Jiangnan, the so-called ancestral house is not the mansion inherited by Zhang Ye, but the old mansion of the Zhang family outside the city, and I don't know where to find it.

Before Zhang Zhou left, he specially allocated dozens of taels of silver, saying that he would just send someone over to take a look.

Because the Jiang family still has some connections in Nanjing, this matter will also be completed by the Jiang family.

But it was this Lichun who came in and informed: "Madam, the people over there in the main courtyard said that there are a lot of people who have come to visit in the past two days, and they can't cope anymore, can you transfer a few more people over?" ”

"What's going on?" Jiang Pingyu said, "Before the master left, didn't he say that the people of the DPRK and China would not come to visit easily?" Usually one or two people come to see if they have nothing to do, but why are there more now? ”

Han Qing said: "When I went out yesterday, I saw someone sitting at the door, saying that I had to see the master. ”

"Who?" Jiang Pingyu frowned.

I've seen something wonderful, but I've never seen anything so strange.

The military department of the DPRK is still in the book, is it seen by ordinary people?

"I don't know, it seems to be a scholar, wearing a literary shirt, and quite young, and a few of them are still watching from the side, as if to say...... Someone in the court was arrested, it was related to our master, saying that our master is also a scholar and should help. ”

Han Qing obviously didn't know so many twists and turns.

At this time, Lin Yi walked out and said, "Madam, in fact, they are here for Xie Ge's business. It is said that Xie Ge Lao is going to be sentenced to death, so the scholars in the capital want to come forward to speak for Xie Ge Lao. What our master said worked, and they wanted to try their luck here. ”

Jiang Pingyu said: "Or sister, you know a lot, how do we know this?" If the master is not at home, we can't control this matter. Let people go out and say, let them disperse. ”

"It's useless." Lin Yi said, "Now the whole capital is talking about it. Some people think that it was our master who caused that Xie Ge Lao to go to prison, and they didn't come to plead, but to find trouble. ”

"That'...... They're going too far, did the old man do it? Jiang Pingyu asked.

Lin Yi shook his head and said: "I heard that it was because of the formation of a party and other things, our lord has never taken care of it, but because Xie Ge Lao looked for someone to impeach, it was the master who pulled it up, and later they won the battle in the northwest, Your Majesty felt that it was Xie Ge Lao who had nothing to do, and secretly looked for officials to make trouble." I don't know exactly how. ”

"Sister, what do you say you should do?" Jiang Pingyu had no idea.

This will be a major event in the family, nominally listening to her, but at a critical time, someone who is knowledgeable and reasonable is still needed to come out and preside over the overall situation.

Lin Yi said: "It's best to follow what the master said, just close the door, I believe it won't take a few days, and this matter will fade away." Moreover, the Jinyi Guard and the people of the city defense yamen will definitely send someone when they see someone making trouble at the door. ”

"Yes, yes, let's close the door. Don't go out lately! Lin Yi said, "Qing'er, you also have distant relatives over there, right?" Just give something to pass away! Now that we are dignitary, everyone comes to see us, and they say that the master is not at home, and it is inconvenient to do anything. Be hardened, too. ”

"Uh-huh." Han Qing also nodded hurriedly.

Jiang Pingyu sighed: "It would be nice if Ming Shan was at home, she was guarding the door, and no one dared to come in." The old man also walked for a while, and he didn't know when he would come back. This year, there is no master in the house, and it seems that it is not so lively again. ”

……

……

Li Zhang's office.

Li Zhang was busy sorting out the matter at hand, because the grapevine said that he would step down as the eunuch of Admiral Dongchang at the end of the year, and he could only solve the things that could be explained, especially those things that could not be passed on to the next term.

lest there be any extraneous branches.

There are a lot of pickled things in the East Factory, some of which can only be known by the current Admiral, and those who are behind them are known to them, and they are likely to take advantage of the topic.

Especially the person who will take over in the follow-up is likely to be Yang Peng, that is the person Li Zhang feels he can't afford to offend, the most important point is that this Yang Peng used to be the eunuch of Admiral Dongchang, and he has a wide range of contacts.

"Father-in-law, everything that needs to be done has been done, but there is something ......" Mu Bin came over to report to Li Zhang.

Li Zhang said: "Is it Xie Ge Lao's business?" ”

"yes." Mu Bin said, "Elder Xie Ge is about to be tortured, if you don't use it in the next step, Your Majesty's side will ...... It's hard to say. There are some things, Xie Ge is old and refuses to say, this does not need to be punished, I am afraid that it is not appropriate. ”

"Use it when it should be, what are you afraid of? Is the elder of the pavilion worried? When Master Cheng came in, what should I do? Li Zhang said, "Here, we must treat everyone equally!" ”