[Qing Chuan] Mu Emperor's Grace

After a pot of tea boiled, He Shen patiently brewed a cup for Ji Xiaolan: "I don't know Mr. Ji...what advice do you have?"

Ji Xiaolan took a sip of tea in a leisurely manner, and then slowly said: "My lord... the case of Mr. Qian, doesn't it remind you of anything?" Ji Xiaolan suddenly said something with an unclear meaning.

He Shen was puzzled and said, "What is the meaning of Mr. Ji's words?"

Ji Xiaolan clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction: "It is said that Mr. He has the ability to remember with a photograph. It seems that the rumors cannot be trusted. Ji gives Mr. He a hint." Ji Xiaolan dipped her fingertips in water and wrote a letter on the table. "Sun" word.

In the blink of an eye, He Shen vaguely grasped something, he frowned and said, "Master Ji wants to say...Sun Jiagan?"

Ji Xiaolan glanced at He Shen, nodded and said, "It seems that you are not too stupid. Isn't Qian Feng's case very similar to the Sun Jiagan case?"

He Shen hesitated and said: "He is ashamed. I only know the whole story of the Sun Jiagan case, but not the details. I would like to ask Mr. Ji to give some pointers." A copy of the refutation of the emperor's southern tour was inexplicably circulated among provincial officials.The signature of the zhezi is Sun Jiagan, a veteran minister who has gone through the three dynasties of Kang, Yong and Qian, and dared to speak out.

Ji Xiaolan was like a storyteller who was eager to show off and finally found his audience. He smiled secretly: "On the surface, the case of Qian Feng is exactly the same as that of Sun Jiagan. You know, the case of Sun Jiagan back then caused the emperor to use a lot of The manpower was used to track down the authors of the papers, which involved Zhili, Shandong, Shanxi, and Henan provinces. The emperor ordered the governors of the provinces to step up the search. In the attitude of preferring to kill by mistake, many innocent literati and students were implicated. For a while, all the scholars in the provinces were in danger, and there were also some local officials who brought private revenge, so the number of people involved in the case continued to expand, but in the end, no reason was found out."

He Shen frowned and said, "So, Sun Jiagan's case has never been solved?"

Ji Xiaolan curled her lips: "Success is easier said than done. At the end of the case, the Ministry of Criminal Justice was forced to have no choice but to find a scapegoat at will and take the blame. This is not for the sake of the emperor's face."

It was the first time that He Shen knew the details of this case, and he keenly sensed the conspiracy from Ji Xiaolan's words.

"So, Qian Feng's case this time is also following the example of Sun Jiagan's case in the past. He wants to drag all the scholars from many provinces into the water, and have another protracted literary inquisition?"

He Shen only felt a layer of cold sweat on his back, who on earth came up with such a vicious scheme?

Ji Xiaolan didn't want to, but shook her head: "My lord...you are thinking too simply. Don't forget who Sun Jiagan was back then, a veteran of the three dynasties, even the emperor had to be courteous. How can the current Qian Feng Compared with Sun Jiagan, this is not a case of the same type, I am afraid it is a poisonous plan to kill two birds with one stone."

He Shen didn't dare to follow Ji Xiaolan's words, he completely understood what Ji Xiaolan meant.Sun Jiagan's qualifications as a veteran of the three dynasties is the best gold medal for avoiding death. Even if he is involved, Hongli will not touch him.But Qian Feng is different, he is just a small speaker in the court, once he gets involved, his life and death will be unpredictable.

Seeing He Shen's pale face, Ji Xiaolan knew that he had already figured out the joints, and immediately smiled and said: "But, in my opinion, there may be room for maneuver in this matter." Ji Xiaolan's painting style changed, attracting He Shen Doubtful eyes.

"That person has calculated all the tricks, but he missed one..." Ji Xiaolan was halfway through speaking, but turned to drink tea again.

He Shen thought for a moment, and his eyes lit up: "Master Ji is referring to the emperor?"

Hearing this, Ji Xiaolan took a sip of tea and coughed in a low voice: "Today, Ji finally understands the benefits of talking to smart people. You are right, today is the variable in this game."

He Shen smiled and said, "Since Mr. Ji can think of the case of Sun Jiagan, the emperor can also think of it."

Ji Xiaolan nodded and said: "Exactly, to be honest, the emperor felt more uncomfortable than anyone else when the case came to such a result. Of course, he will try his best to avoid repeating the same mistakes."

He Shen was stunned by Ji Xiaolan's words.He hesitated and asked: "You mean, the emperor knows that the last person is a scapegoat?"

Ji Xiaolan looked at He Shen in surprise: "My lord, you don't really think that a closing statement from the Ministry of Criminal Justice can hide the truth from the emperor. Regardless of the royal family's eyeliner and eyes and ears in the local area, such a confession full of loopholes is Putting it in front of you and me, it can reveal flaws, let alone submitting it to the imperial court. Since the emperor acquiesced in the criminal department's closing of the case, he just didn't want to pursue it any further. Maybe in the emperor's heart, he also felt ashamed of those scholars who were innocently implicated. .”

The more He Shen listened, the more flustered he became. It turned out that Hongli knew everything.He knew that if the case was pursued, many innocent people would be involved; he also knew that Qian Feng was wronged from the beginning to the end, and that Hongli put him in prison was just a measure to stabilize the situation.As for him, what did he say when Hongli was in a state of desperation?He even suspected that Hongli designed all this!

He Shen held his forehead in frustration, feeling at a loss for a while.He couldn't help but think, to whom would Hongli confide in the aggrieved and sad feelings in his heart at this moment?He came to find himself, indulged his petty temper and obvious bad face like that, maybe he just wanted to find a harbor without wind and waves.But his own words drove him back to the lonely battlefield, where he faced open and dark arrows alone.

Ji Xiaolan obviously sensed He Shen's emotional fluctuations, he raised his eyebrows, and smiled meaningfully: "My lord... If you don't drink it, this tea should be cold."

How can He Shen still be in the mood to drink tea at this moment? He is so upset that he can only pour the tea handed in front of him into his mouth.Unexpectedly, it was a cup of boiling hot tea, and as soon as he swallowed it, his tongue was almost scalded.

He Shen came back to his senses, glared at Ji Xiaolan angrily, and begged for mercy: "My lord...you can't blame me for this, I think the tea is going to be cold, so I specially poured you a new cup, I didn't expect it You don’t even look at it and just pour it like this. If someone drinks tea like you just now, you don’t know how many times you’ve been scalded.”

He Shen looked at the snickering on Ji Xiaolan's face, feeling helpless.The two were arguing, but a guard's voice suddenly came from outside the door: "My lord, the emperor has a decree to leave for Qufu tomorrow morning without delay, and please pack up the things as soon as possible."

He Shen and Ji Xiaolan looked at each other, and they both saw surprise in each other's eyes.He Shen couldn't help but opened the door, and asked the guard face to face: "Has the emperor given an explanation, how to deal with Mr. Qian Feng?"

The guard replied: "Qian Feng? That servant imprisoned Qian Feng? The emperor told him that he had prepared the prison cart and the shackles and torture equipment, and escorted him all the way to Qufu. Alas, I don't know what crime Mr. Qian committed, so he rushed to the streets to show the public On weekdays, I heard that he is upright and upright, it seems that he is really heartbroken."

The guard sighed to himself, but the more He Shen heard it, the more frightened he became.Wearing shackles on the road will hurt your body.Qian Feng is a literati, and he lacks exercise on weekdays. How can such a thin body withstand this torture instrument.As for this parade in the street, it really hurts the heart, literati value the most honor, so parading the street in broad daylight like this is really going to wipe out Qian Feng's last bit of face.

However, this is the emperor's golden words. Rao Heshen and Ji Xiaolan feel that such a punishment is too heavy, but they still have to obey the order.

Over there, Heshen was packing his luggage with a heavy heart, while Hongli asked the guard who had just announced the decree: "Heshen, did you say anything?"

The guard responded respectfully: "Go back to the emperor, and ask your lord about the servant, how the emperor plans to deal with Mr. Qian, and the servant answered truthfully."

Hongli pondered: "What did he say?"

The guard shook his head: "I didn't say anything to my lord, but his face looked very heavy."

Hongli's face sank like water, and he waved his hand to make the guard retreat.After a long while, he stared at the broken porcelain pieces on the ground that had not been cleaned, and said word by word: "Don't you doubt that I will do something to Qian Feng, so I will show you."

On the day when everyone set off for Qufu, the weather was not good, and there was a light rain, and the air was filled with the dampness and coldness unique to rainy days.

Ji Xiaolan helplessly looked at the young man who raised the curtain to look out, and sighed: "My lord, this is the eighth time you have raised the curtain. It's winter, it's hard to have a curtain to keep out the wind, please Please do me a favor, don't lift the curtain again."

He Shen lowered the curtain in embarrassment, but looked restless.Ji Xiaolan peeked at him through the pages of the book, and couldn't help persuading him: "My lord, even if you read it again, Mr. Qian will still have to sit in that prison cart. The wooden shackle must weigh at least twenty-one catties, but Mr. Qian suffered a lot. , this rainy day has been tossed like this, it will inevitably be the root cause of the disease in the future."

Seeing that He Shen was silent, Ji Xiaolan simply put down the book, and smiled with great interest: "Master He... There is another inside story about the Sun Jiagan case. Ji was in a hurry to visit that day, so he forgot to tell Mr. He about it." .”

Seeing the sly smile on Ji Xiaolan's face, He Shen felt bad.Just listen to Ji Xiaolan said: "When the case happened that year, it coincided with the funeral of the late empress. Some people speculate that the reason why the emperor was furious and dealt with the people involved mercilessly was because he was deeply distressed, so he had some anger."

He Shen heard the words, frowned and looked at Ji Xiaolan, his face was very cold: "Why are Master Ji telling me these things?"

Ji Yun looked at He Shen intently, with a smile in his eyes: "My lord, now that time has passed, and the emperor's mood has calmed down, he will definitely not be as irritable and irritable as he was during that period of time, so you can relax. .”

Holding the stove in his arms, He Shen could vaguely see Qian Feng's back that was still straight while holding the wooden shackle through the crack of the curtain, and sighed secretly.