Reincarnation of the powerful minister

"Have you heard that the matter in the palace happened on the night of the Lantern Festival..."

"It's so tragic! It's a corpse lying all over the place, and the whole square is stained red with blood. It is said that when many little maids died, their clothes were rotten..."

"It couldn't be more true. The nephew of the old woman's cousin next door works in the palace, so he said it himself. The prince is young and has a strong temper. He kills people at the slightest disagreement. He is very tyrannical!"

"Not only tyrannical, but also extremely stubborn. He doesn't read the books of sages and sages, and only sees the mischief of the sky. He only reads and hangs out with court ladies and eunuchs, and martial masters. You think, if this person ascends the throne in the future, will the lives of our common people be easier?"

"Long Live Lord is so wise, why did he give birth to such a..."

"Good bamboo produces bad bamboo. Besides, it's not always like this. Isn't there a second prince, maybe it's better than this."

"That's definitely better! After all, it's hard to find people who are more tyrannical and licentious than this. Xia Jie, Shang Zhou, Zhou Li, Qin Ershi, plus Zhao Wang Shihu, count them on one hand, and they are gone."

"Shhhhhh, keep your voice down, don't you want to die? Don't be afraid that the officials and gentlemen will hear you, aren't you afraid of Jin Yiwei's son?"

"Shengdou Xiaomin eats according to the sky. He has to bear the wind, rain and thunder. What's the use of talking about it? It's gone."

In the streets and alleys, there are rumors like this floating around, whispering and whispering, which have become the talk of many people after dinner.

But within two or three days, the rumor spread almost throughout the entire capital, and even the servants of the officials' families couldn't help but chat with each other.

Many courtiers couldn't sit still, especially the officials who were in charge of picking up hundreds of officials and admonishing the emperor.

Yan Guan, also known as "Feng Xian Guan, Ke Dao Guan", is selected from the civil servants who are outspoken, knowledgeable, and proficient in government affairs.

These people do not have high official positions, and their salaries are pitifully low. They only have a pair of iron teeth and copper teeth. regret".From the central government to the local governments at all levels, from the emperor, clan to hundreds of officials, and the common people, from state affairs to social life, they are all within the scope of their supervision and speech.

The fire in Kunning Palace and the fact that the crown prince killed the people in Sangong, the censors patrolling the city found out the next day, and they were still inquiring about the inside story, and the people in the city were already arguing about it.

If they don't act now, won't it appear that they are more dull than ordinary people?So on the seventeenth day of the first lunar month, at the court meeting at the beginning of the new year, Jia Gongji, the right-hand censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, fired the first shot at the prince.

——Yes, this is Jia Yushi, who once exposed the private possession of the little yellow book in the East Palace, and even impeached Feng Que, the former commander of Jinyiwei. Helped Su Yan.

If you think that with this friendship, Jia Yushi will sell Su Yan's face in court affairs, you are very wrong.He also wished that Su Yan and even more officials would get involved in this matter so as to expand his bombardment targets.

Therefore, Su Yan didn't want to communicate with him in private at all.

Jia Yushishu pointed the finger at the prince, accusing him of being obstinate, slackening of studies, violent behavior, disregarding human life, and having no virtue for a good life.

Immediately, several censors agreed, asking the prince and Taifu to strictly discipline the East Palace, and Zhan Shifu to supervise the prince's studies diligently, and implored the emperor to punish him according to the law, so as to reassure the people.

Emperor Jinglong did not express his position immediately.

Yan Xing, the Minister of Rites who is the prince's Taifu, and Yang Ting, a cabinet scholar, came out to win back a city for the prince.It is said that the palace people neglected their duties, causing the main hall of Kunning Palace to be burned, and they should be executed according to the law.The prince was furious and killed the queen because the palace and relics of the former queen were burned down.As for being obstinate and lazy at school, I used to have it in the past, and I have grown a lot in the past six months. Why don't I look at the present and only remember the past?

Another official came out to report, saying that the prince acted recklessly and regarded the court rules and ancestral rituals as correct, which aroused criticism from the people and damaged the reputation of the holy majesty.The prince must write a letter of guilt to thank the world.

Li Chengfeng, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, asked back. Since ancient times, kings have committed crimes against themselves, and there are no more than three situations: misplaced monarchs and ministers, natural disasters, and political peril.The crown prince is the crown prince, so it should be similar to this, so which one of these three kinds has been violated, and a letter of guilt must be written?

The two sides clashed with each other, and it was like a war of words.

"...The servants heard all this with their own ears in Fengtianmen. As soon as the court meeting was over, the servants hurried over to report to the young master."

In the nave of Taimiao, Fu Bao said to Zhu Helin out of breath.

Zhu Helin knelt on the futon, looked up at the divine tablet of the former empress, and heard Fu Bao describe some of the officials at the court meeting, especially the attacks on him by the speech officials. Instead of jumping angrily as usual, he murmured : "Qinghe is right."

"what?"

"Qinghe said, don't look at Li Shangshu and Yan Shangshu who usually scold me harshly, but they are the ones who stand up to block the gun for me at critical moments."

Fu Bao scratched his forehead, "That's true. Including the rumors in the market, the slaves also asked people to inquire about them, and indeed, as Mr. Su expected, the more they spread, the more outrageous they became. Even the slaves couldn't listen to it, let alone Tell the young master to know, I am afraid that I will spoil the ears, and I hope the young master will forgive me."

Zhu Helin snorted coldly: "Someone behind the scenes is fueling the flames, so naturally the more rumors spread, the more outrageous it will be."

"Then what should we do? We can't let them tarnish the young master's reputation!" Fu Bao said urgently.

Zhu Helin didn't answer, but asked instead: "How will father deal with swords and swords in the court?"

Fu Bao thought for a while, and replied: "The emperor took it calmly. He didn't express his opinion on anyone who spoke, and finally accepted the memorials from all parties."

"If you don't discuss it, don't criticize it, and if you don't post it, you won't publish it—this is how my father dealt with those memorabilia that impeached the four uncles in the past." Zhu Helin pursed the corners of his mouth forcefully, "Your father can take it calmly, my little brother." Grandpa can too."

He took out an envelope and handed it to Fu Bao: "You go to the Su Mansion and give this to Qinghe, and tell me that you don't need someone to grab a knife and write it yourself."

Fu Bao didn't ask any further questions, and solemnly put the envelope in his arms, and took his leave.

Zhu Helin turned his head to look at the low table beside him. On it were lake brushes, a thick stack of rice paper, a plate of cinnabar, a plate of gold powder, and an empty inkstone without ink sticks.

After being dazed for a moment, he pulled out a dagger from his sleeve and pierced the tip of his left finger.

Blood came out immediately, and after squeezing hard, a thread was poured into the inkstone.

Seeing that the inkstone was more than half full of blood, Zhu Helin stopped squeezing, wrapped his fingers with thin gauze, and added cinnabar and gold powder into the inkstone, grinding it into an even bright red color.

Then he touched it with a pen and wrote the first sentence in Sanskrit on the rice paper:

"That's what I heard. For a while, the Buddha was in the Trayali Heaven, teaching the Dharma for my mother."

The "Ksitigarbha Vow Sutra" records that Sakyamuni Buddha preached for his mother, Mrs. Maya, and praised Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva's grand vow of "the hell is not empty, and he will not become a Buddha. Only by saving all living beings can he realize Bodhi".

The first empress believed in Buddhism, and once left a Ksitigarbha Sutra written in Sanskrit, which was destroyed in the fire.

Zhu Helin may not believe in Buddhism, but he taught himself Sanskrit by imitating his mother, and his proficiency is no less than that of monks who translate Indian scriptures.

Tongue blood, fingertip blood, mixed with cinnabar and gold powder as ink.The blood is easy to dry, so it is necessary to pierce and write from time to time, and the scars are numerous; in order to keep the ink from turning black, it is necessary to fast meat and salt, and to be clean both physically and mentally.

So painstakingly written with sincerity.

It is for blood.

In the study, Su Yan took the envelope and said to Fu Bao: "Eunuch Fu Bao has worked hard, go back and take care of the young master. Leave the rest to me."

Fu Bao was very curious about what was in the envelope, although he didn't ask, his thoughts were written in his eyes.

Su Yan smiled and said, "You will know in a day or two—not only you, but everyone will see it."

After Fu Bao left, Su Yan opened the envelope and unfolded the three pages inside carefully.After reading it, he sighed: "Every word is heartbreaking. Sure enough, no amount of gorgeous rhetoric can touch people's hearts more than the sincerity."

He walked to the desk, stayed up all night, referred to many famous works, searched his guts, and tore them into pieces.

The sacrificial style is originally based on rhyme.The sacrificial rites written by the scholar-bureaucrats are all embellished and rhymed.

Only when the heart is so painful that you can't make words, can you disregard any rhythm and change the tone into a loose body, so that the whole text has the state of swallowing and whimpering, without exaggerated ornate words.

Thousands of words, only love is the most moving.

No matter how parallel, four, li and six, it can't be worth the sentence "there is a loquat tree in the courtyard, which was planted by my wife when she died, and now it is as graceful as a roof".

Su Yan couldn't help but read the sacrificial letter written by the crown prince himself to the late empress again. Every sentence was bloody and tearful, touching his heart.

Among them, the dream of going back to the fire scene of Kunning Palace, the dialogue with the dead soul of the mother, complaining and weeping, hesitating and sobbing, intertwined with grief, self-blame, and remorse, has a particularly shocking emotional power.What's even more rare is that there is nothing difficult or obscure in the whole text, and the words are so straightforward that even ordinary people can understand them.

——It's really excellent!Su Yan finally broke free from the sense of substitution, and praised: Zhu Helin, you don't know how to study or write, you just don't pay attention at all!

He folded up the sacrificial text, put it in his arms, and immediately went out to visit his friend Cui Jinping who was in the same year.

After Cui Jinping became the number one scholar in high school, he took up the post of editor in the Imperial Academy as usual.Compilation is Cong Liupin, and its main responsibilities are to master the historical records of the country, to lecture on the history of scriptures, and to draft manuscripts about ceremonies.

He prided himself on his talents, and it was wasteful to do such clerical work, so he always wanted to find a way out.

Once in the palace examination, because of a pair, Su Yan got the emperor's blue eyes by mistake, and got mixed up with the prince. Dali Temple Shaoqing.Cui Zhuangyuan was very envious of this, and asked him how to get ahead in officialdom.

Su Yan asked him to find the antenna.

Cui Zhuangyuan got this enlightenment, just like a dead tree blooming, and a stubborn stone opening his mind. First, he visited Wei Xueshi, an attendant of the Imperial Academy who admired his theories very much. This big ship finally got a recommendation from the General Secretary of the General Administration and was promoted to the fifth rank.

The Secretary of General Administration is not as noble as the Imperial Academy, but it is a department with real power, responsible for matters such as internal and external rules and regulations, and subjects' sealed appeals.

To put it simply, it is to have the power to compile the playbooks from local and Beijing officials and present them to the emperor uniformly in the early court.

This is an important transfer station for the political information of the imperial court. According to the words of later generations, it is called the political information hub center.

Similarly, the memorials agreed upon by the cabinet and approved by the emperor were also publicly published by the Secretary of General Administration and the Sixth Division for mutual reporting among the yamen in Beijing.

And select important content, such as the emperor's decree, various royal news, appointment and dismissal of officials, ministers' chapters, etc., and make it into a mansion newspaper for distribution.It is similar to the "People's Daily" of later generations.

These mansion newspapers were then copied twice by the Titang officials stationed in the capital, and quickly sent to the provinces, and further spread to the prefectures and counties, so that all local officials could see them.Di reported to the place, and more people copied it, not only officials, but even country gentlemen rushed to circulate it.

What Su Yan hit was Di Bao's idea.

After entering the office of the General Secretary, he drove straight to find Cui Jinping.

Cui Jinping was overjoyed to see a friend from the same year come to visit. He took Su Yan to make tea and chatted, and thanked him for his advice.

Su Yan asked with a smile: "Cui Shen is like a fish in water?"

Cui Jinping never hesitated to be sharp, so he answered truthfully: "It's a pity that the pool is still too small for 'the dragon leaps to the golden scale'."

This is a poem he wrote at the Enrong Banquet.

The other two poets, No. [-] and Tanhua, both became prophecies with their poems.

One "relying alone on a dangerous building is the most important" - was stabbed and fell to his death on a tall building in Dongyuan.

A "cold moon and a thousand rivers shining in the sky"-determined by the Ministry of Punishment as committing suicide in fear of crime, came to the world for nothing.

While Cui Jinping was sighing, he couldn't help having some ridiculous thoughts, thinking that he could also make a poem come true.

From this point of view, people have to have lofty ambitions and wings to live. Small family and lofty attitude are not enough-he thought so, and expressed it like this.

Su Yan nodded: "The number one scholar has extraordinary ambitions, I am not as good as you."

Cui Jinping is very useful.

Su Yan said again: "I have an opportunity to play for the East Palace here, do you want to give it a try?"

"East Palace?" Cui Jinping has also heard about the Kunning Palace and the rumors among the market, and he can clearly see the quarrel at the court meeting today in Fengtianmen.

In all fairness, he didn't feel that the crown prince had done too much, at most it was disgraceful, and he was very surprised by the scene of the officials forming a group to spray wildly.

That is the prince, the future emperor!What good do you get if you hold on to it so tightly?Not to mention offending the emperor, in the future when the prince succeeds to the throne, you will be the first to be liquidated!Cui Jinping shouted in his heart, and even wanted to step forward, but just as he moved his feet, his immediate superior, the General Political Envoy, noticed him and stared him back fiercely.

Cui Jinping refused to accept it, feeling that his political talent was wasted.

Unexpectedly, the opportunity turned a corner and came again.

"Yes, just say do you want it?" Su Yan asked.

Cui Jinping thought for a while, then asked, "Why not?"

Out of friendship, Su Yan reminded: "You can think clearly, once you get involved in this matter, you can no longer be alone."

Cui Jinping laughed loudly: "What do I want to be alone! I can't wait to turn the clouds and rain. There is no wind and no waves, how can I show my ability?"

Su Yan just smiled at his arrogant words, took out the envelope and handed it to him.

Cui Jinping took out the page, carefully, and clapped the table after a long time, shouting: "Wow!"

"It's great to be praised by Zhuangyuan Lang." Su Yan said, "I don't know if such a good sacrificial oration is from the East Palace, can the Mansion Newspaper be copied and published? Publish it to the world?"

Cui Jinping weighed it for a moment, then said emphatically, "Yes!"

Su Yan stood up and cupped his hands: "It's all thanks to Master Cui."

Cui Jinping held his hand and said gratefully: "Brother Qinghe, why bother to be polite. You and I are both the same age and good friends with the same ambitions. You have always been generous to me, whether it is the reward from the Eastern Palace or the opportunity for promotion, you always want to take me with you. For a journey, of course I also need to be aware of current affairs, so as to live up to your painstaking efforts."

Su Yan said with a smile: "Brother Pingshan is serious. From now on, we will help each other, so that we can stand firm in the wind from east to west."

Cui Jinping acted resolutely, and immediately ordered someone to engrave the engraving, preparing to publish this sacrificial text in the latest issue of the mansion newspaper, which will be published in the next day.

Su Yan exchanged some pleasantries with him, then left, and transferred to the newly opened Dali Temple to start a new year's career.