Chongzhen Sunset Song

?one

Snapped!

A sudden crisp sound made Xi Zhao's heart tremble in shock.I saw Chongzhen throwing the memorial on the table, leaning on the back of the chair, with an irritable expression on his face.

"Your Majesty...?" Xi Zhao asked cautiously.

"Don't these civil servants have anything else to say? All the time they are pleading for Zheng Xing, saying that loyal people are hard to find and should be punished lightly. Could it be that they all took money from Zheng's family!" Chongzhen said angrily, His face was livid.

"The emperor calms down." Xi Zhao comforted with kind words, "The officials also have good intentions. If Zheng Xun's crime is not true, they don't want to see the emperor punishing a good person by mistake."

"Good intentions? Hmph! This Zheng Yan..."

Chongzhen didn't finish his sentence, just listened to the report from the eunuch outside:

"Eunuch Wang, the supervisor of ceremonies, asks to see you."

"Biography." As soon as Chongzhen's words were interrupted, he didn't continue.

After a while, Wang Chengen entered the warm pavilion with a stack of memorials.Chongzhen signaled him to put it on the case, picked up the first book, opened it for a rough reading, then snapped it shut and threw it out.

"Your Majesty..." Wang Chengen twitched his eyebrows and was also taken aback.

"From now on, I won't be able to send me any of Bao Zheng's books, I don't like to read them." Chongzhen said in a muffled voice.

"Yes..." Wang Chengen carefully picked up the folder on the ground, and put it in his arms in panic, not daring to put it on again.Pausing for a moment, only to hear Chongzhen say again:

"How is the trial of Zheng Xun's case going by the Ministry of Criminal Justice?"

"Returning to the emperor, the Ministry of Criminal Justice said that there is not enough evidence to convict Zheng Fu yet..."

"Insufficient evidence?" Chongzhen raised his eyebrows, "With the testimony of Wu Zongda, the uncle of Zheng's family, what evidence is insufficient!"

"Yes... the maidservant also said the same, and has urged the emperor to go down. After a few days, the case will be closed." Wang Chengen said cautiously.

"En. Good." Chongzhen nodded, his expression relaxed a little, "I passed an order to the Ministry of Punishment, no matter what the public opinion is, it must be investigated and dealt with impartially, and it must not be tolerated."

two

Since the emperor returned from Fengyang, his temper seemed to have changed overnight, so much so that he was so angry because of the crime of a little man with no official or nobility.Did the matter of the mother of the stick touch the emperor's filial son's heart, or bribed and begged officials to arouse the emperor's hatred, or these are not important, but the self-blame and depression since the disaster of Fengyang needs an outlet?The internal officials and courtiers were all full of question marks and couldn't make up their minds, so they could only sigh in private that the holy will was unpredictable, and each sighed.But in Xizhao's heart, she secretly hides her own answer—the emperor's uncharacteristic behavior is probably because the journey of taking off the costume was too forgetful. unbearable.

"It's just a nobody. If the emperor wants to kill Gao Xing, then he can kill him."

In the supervisor of ceremonies, Wang Chengen was playing with the newly purchased emerald jade handle with an indifferent expression.

"...Elder-in-law is right, it really has nothing to do with him." Li Quan took a sip of his tea and said with a smile.

"Hey, it's an innocuous case, of course it's none of your business." Wang Cheng'en said, "All the courts, this kind of Wen Zhenmeng's stone head is not enough, this time it's the turn of bad luck to mess with the emperor, It just happened to be less clean."

"Look at what the emperor means, Zheng Fu must die." Li Quan looked calm, with that faint smile still floating on his face.Wang Cheng'en had nothing to do with himself, and Li Quan himself didn't seem to feel any grief over the case.

Wang Chengen sneered, held up the emerald jade to the light, and examined it carefully.This jade is slightly oval in shape, thick emerald on the top, light green on the bottom, and the texture is extremely transparent. A piece of mountain stone and pine is also carved exquisitely and delicately, just like a work of heaven. "Actually, this Zheng Yan...isn't necessarily dead at all. The chief assistant, Mr. Wen, just wants to cut off his way to become an official in the court. If this matter is going to go bad, it will go bad because of these gangsters who have evil intentions." on the civil servants."

"Oh? How do you say that?" Li Quan asked.

"How do you say? It's not easy." Wang Chengen raised his eyes, "Who do you think Zheng Xun sued?"

The autumn wind rolled up the wreckage of dead leaves and lifted the door curtain, and a trace of chill sneaked into the house.Li Quan was taken aback for a moment, then nodded if he realized something.

"Our lord Chief Assistant is getting worse day by day. We want to punish him, but we have recruited so many people to protect him." Wang Chengen put down his jade and continued in a slow voice, "I mean, there are people who really care about Zheng Xun's life and death. It is not without relatives and friends who have old acquaintances, but most of them are ulterior motives, seeing the law and not punishing the public, benefit without danger, firstly to show their integrity and loyalty, secondly because they want to save Zheng Xun and destroy one. The prestige of that side. It's just that the emperor was really angry this time, and the remonstrance of these stone-headed people provoked the emperor to become more energetic... Hey, I'm afraid it will kill him instead."

"Hmm... Your majesty is also surprised this time, how come he and this plain-headed commoner recognized the truth. Is it true that the word stepmother is a taboo as everyone said?"

"Who can guess what the emperor is thinking." Wang Chengen replied casually, not caring too much, and before he finished speaking, he began to examine the emerald jade carefully.

Seeing this, Li Quan smiled and said: "Master Wen really likes others. I know our father-in-law likes this jade thing, and recently I have been sending him some waist pendants every now and then. Could it be that I am asking for you? "

"Huh, don't worry about his many things. Whether you want it or not, just send it over, and our family will accept it."

A little eunuch came from a distance, closed the door tightly, and straightened the curtain.Wang Chengen kept his eyes on the jade, but the corner of his mouth twitched, revealing a scornful smile.

three

A few days later, the Ministry of Criminal Justice sent a memorial: Zheng Xun's crimes are all true, but the impact of this case is great, the relegation is too light, and the exile is too heavy, so I dare not make a judgment, but ask for a judge.

"It's a fact, but why don't you dare to judge?" After reading the memorial, Chongzhen narrowed his eyes.

"Yes..." Wang Chengen bowed in response, peeping Chongzhen's expression in his eyes.I saw Chongzhen holding a vermilion pen, sipping it on the edge of the inkstone, and without any hesitation, swiped the pen and wrote four heart-shattering characters on the fold-he deserves to be punished.

The crime should be punished, and the crime should be punished.This four-character holy order was like a stone that stirred up thousands of waves. Not only the civil servants who had gone to Shuli to protect Zheng Fu, but even people who had never participated in this matter discussed it in private, feeling deeply unfair.Let's not say whether the crime of Zhangmu's steaming concubine is really true, even if everything is true, at worst, he will be exiled into the army, why should he be punished so severely.However, even if the discussion suddenly broke out, the number of pleadings for Zheng Xing suddenly decreased a lot.The holy will has been decided, the general trend is over, and once those speculative deals are withdrawn, only Huang Daozhou and Zheng Wei's fellow-men are still persistently petitioning, doing everything possible to keep Zheng Wei's life.

Despite all this, it has long since entered a dead end.

"Don't stain the name of the world because of a moment of anger..." The cold wind was blowing outside the window, and Chongzhen's face inside the window was frosty, and he closed the booklet coldly, "The words are so insulting, does Huang Daozhou want to go with Zheng Yan? "

"The emperor appeases his anger..." During this period of time, Xi Zhao has said countless times that the emperor appeases his anger.Facing the increasingly violent emperor, Xi Zhao felt very melancholy.After all, he selfishly believed that the Zheng Fu incident was not something worthy of anger. Even with those disturbing emotions interfering with him, the always calm and self-disciplined emperor had never allowed his anger to rage for such a long time.Looking at Chongzhen's face, he felt that those eyebrows and eyes that had been relatively old for many years seemed to gradually become strange.

"Things don't go your way, how do we calm down?" Chongzhen didn't notice Xizhao's thoughts, but pulled his face, and his voice became deeper and deeper, "I just want to deal with such a person, and he jumped out of such a person." Many people are desperately trying to obstruct it, can it be said that as a king, I can't even punish an unfaithful and unfilial person?"

"How can this not be possible." Xi Zhao withdrew her thoughts, paused, and forced a smile, "It's just that the emperor's punishment of Zheng Fu this time is indeed... quite surprising, and Master Huang and the others are just..."

"Even you think I've punished you too much?" Before Xizhao finished speaking, Chongzhen glanced sideways, and directly pointed out the words.

"No, no..." Seeing the anger in Chongzhen's eyes, Xi Zhao hurriedly defended, "Your Majesty, the villain just thinks..." Xi Zhao was halfway speaking, but suddenly stopped talking.

"What do you think?" Chongzhen asked with a suppressed voice.

"No...it's nothing..." Xi Zhao hesitated to speak, and his heart went back and forth for a moment.Should I say it or not...?Having said that, the emperor will definitely be displeased, and I don't know if he will vent his anger and punish him.But the emperor has always trusted him like this, and because of the emperor's trust, Xi Zhao felt that he had some obligation to speak out.But in the end... forget it.In fact, Zheng Yan's life and death have nothing to do with me; I treat the emperor with sincerity, but I just hope that the emperor will go his way. How can the political affairs themselves be discerned and managed by themselves, why not... Let's just follow the emperor's wishes.Thinking of this, Xi Zhao closed her mouth, swallowed, and swallowed the remaining half of her words.

But Chongzhen didn't want to listen to half of it. "What do you think? But it's okay to say." He asked again, his voice became louder, but suddenly softened.

The palace maid walked into the room lightly and stood in the corner of the room.Xi Zhao lowered her head, her eyes subconsciously moved along with the fluctuating skirt of the court lady, and she thought quickly in her heart.Can't I stop answering... The emperor has already asked the question, if he evades and refuses to answer, isn't it a suspicion of deceiving the emperor.What's more, the emperor said it himself but said it's all right... Maybe, it really is all right... Xizhao secretly glanced at Chongzhen's side face, although it was not sunny, it didn't seem gloomy either.So Xizhao took a deep breath and plucked up his courage, but when he opened his mouth, his voice was still weak and unconvincing: "The villain just thinks that... Zheng Xun's crimes are mostly secret affairs in the boudoir in the deep house compound. It is difficult for others to see for themselves. There are rumors and gossip, and what is said is unavoidably exaggerated and untrue. Zheng Fu is certainly guilty...but the crime should not lead to death, the emperor should think twice before acting..."

"Enough!" A muffled shout suddenly cut off Xizhao's words, Chongzhen's face suddenly changed, he raised his hand and slapped the table suddenly, scaring Xizhao to kneel on the ground in a hurry.I saw Chongzhen staring at Xizhao sullenly, his thin lips moved slightly, as if he had something to say, but in the end he couldn't say anything, just flicked his sleeves, leaving Xizhao lying on the ground and not daring to get up, and strode away from the Nuan Pavilion .

In the next few days, Xizhao was trembling in her heart, but she still came to Nuange to serve Chongzhen as usual, but the two of them were in the same room, but they didn't say a word.Xizhao naturally wanted to find a chance to reconcile with the emperor, but when he saw Chongzhen frowning in boredom, he hesitated and didn't know how to bring this up.Although he promised the emperor to tell the truth, knowing that the emperor is in a bad mood, it is indeed a bit reckless to go against the emperor's wishes.But Xi Zhao still believed deep in her heart that the always wise emperor didn't intend to refuse to listen to the truth, even if he felt uncomfortable for a while, he still wouldn't be really angry with himself.Thinking of this, Xi Zhao can probably feel at ease. ...But in the future, it's better to say less of these meaningless truths.After another day of duty, on the way back to the room, Xi Zhao thought to himself.After all, I am not a speech official and a courtier, so I can't do anything good by saying such things, and even provoke the emperor's anger for no reason, why bother.

In this way, the days passed by in an instant.But what happened the next day was something Xi Zhao could never have expected.