Chapter 10 The Ninth Secret Letter Sends a Murderous Affair

When the cabinet was dismissed, Gao Gong did not go to the Suzhou Guild Hall to meet Shao Daxia as scheduled, but ordered the sedan chair team to carry the sedan chair home, and asked Wei Xuezeng to come and meet him at home quickly.It was only an hour after Gao Gong arrived home, and Wei Xuezeng rushed over. "Did you eat?" Gao Gong asked. "After receiving the notice, I rushed over directly from the Ministry of Officials, so I didn't care about eating." Wei Xuezeng replied. Gao Gong immediately called a family member and said, "Go tell the cook to cook a pot of two-rice porridge and bake a few cakes, and bring them directly to the study." After saying that, he led Wei Xuezeng into the study.

At this time, it was already dark, and the lamps had already been lit in the study.As soon as he was seated, Gao Gong hurriedly said, "Qi Guan, something serious has happened." "Ah, what's the matter?" Wei Xuezeng also became nervous. Gao Gong took out a letter from his sleeve, and Wei Xuezeng took it to see that it was the letter Li Yan sent to Gao Gong for the last time a few days ago using the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi.Wei Xue once read it, and although he despises Li Yan's approach, he can't see what disaster will happen here.During the silence, Gao Gong said angrily:

"This Li Yan, I originally thought that he was just a little less capable, but his character was not bad. Who would have thought that he would do such a tricky thing behind the back of this old man." Wei Xuezeng knew that Gao Gong was always honest and refused to accept people's property, so he was not pretending to lose his temper, but now that the matter has come to this point, he can only persuade him with good words: "Although what Li Yan did violated Yuanfu's consistent However, as a student, it is reasonable for Li Yan to have such a heart of gratitude to the Master. It is up to him whether to send it or not, and it is up to me whether to accept it. The 5,000 mu of land will be returned, so why bother getting angry over such a trivial matter."

"A small matter? If it was really a small matter, would this old man come to you in such a hurry?" Gao Gong was restless, moved his body, and continued, "When I just received this letter this afternoon, I thought the same as you. After reading the letter twice, I gradually saw the flaws. According to the letter, Li Yan bought the five thousand mu of land for the old man in the second year of his tenure as governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. However, Why did it take more than a year to send a letter to inform me? The reason he stated was that he originally wanted to give me the land deed after the old man became an official. Afterwards, he used eight hundred miles to deliver this letter to me? In the past, when the official career was stable, he was not in a hurry to send the land deed, but now that he has lost his official position, he is so anxious to go to the house, so he hastened to appeal the matter. Qi Guan , don’t you think there’s a lot to write about here?”

"Shoufu has a deep insight into the subtleties. In this way, Li Yan's letter is really famous." After Wei Xuezeng finished speaking, he picked up the letter on the coffee table and read it again. At this time, the cook brought in a small dining table and set out two rice porridge, pancakes and a few side dishes.Gao Gong glanced at a plate of sauce next to the pancake, and asked, "Where is this sauce from?" The cook replied: "My lord, this is the sauce from the imperial dining room, the famous golden hook bean paste, which was given to you by the emperor during the Chinese New Year."

"If you don't eat this sauce, you won't be used to the bland taste. You'd better go and bring up a plate of wheat sauce from your hometown." As he spoke, Gao Gong picked up the plate of Golden Hook Douban and was about to ask the cook to take it away, but suddenly put it down again , Said to Wei Xuezeng, "Maybe you like to eat, so keep it." After picking up the topic just now, the two talked while eating. "You have read this letter again, you should see the problem." Gao Gong took a bite of the pancake, and his tone of voice changed a little, "You are also familiar with Li Yan's handwriting, and the booklets or letters that are usually sent are written in lower script. Just to point it out, it is quite Zhao Mengyu's effort. But this letter is quite sloppy, and there are several obvious clerical errors, such as writing "Zhuo" state instead of "Zhuo" state, but they were not found. It can be seen that when he wrote the letter, Disturbed." At this point, Gao Gong stared at Wei Xuezeng and asked, "Did Li Yan bribe you?"

"When he came to Beijing to report on his work, he came to visit my house. When he heard that my daughter was getting married, he said, 'The dowry of your daughter will be on me'. "Bitches don't wag their tails, and male dogs don't go up, that's what they're talking about," Gao Gong laughed for a while, and then asked, "So, did he ever give you dried fruit?" "Preserved fruit?" Wei Xuezeng was taken aback, then smiled in surprise, "There are preserved fruits everywhere in Beijing, so there is no room for him to send any preserved fruit all the way."

"This candied fruit is not that candied fruit!" Gao Gong smiled half a smile, and then told what Emperor Longqing had said in the morning. "How does the emperor know Li Yan's candied fruit because he lives in the palace?" Wei Xuezeng was puzzled. "That's exactly why I'm worried," Gao Gong said expressionlessly, but in fact his heart was turned over, "Even though the emperor usually doesn't care about political affairs, he has very good ears. Think about it, Feng kept Dongchang secretly monitors the movement of all officials. These bastards are running around like loaches all day long. What can they not find out? A few days ago, an official from the Ministry of Industry went to the brothel and got drunk. I fell down and broke a front tooth. The emperor asked me about it the next morning, but I didn’t know about it. Feng Bao sent a lot of interview forms to the emperor every day.”

"Speaking of Dongchang, all the officials hated and feared. The many prisons in Sejong's reign were all caused by the troubles caused by Dongchang." Wei Xuezeng had always hated Dongchang, so he said indignantly, "Admiral Feng Bao supervised Dongchang, I don't know how much slander has been given to the emperor, Yuan Fu should find a way to deal with him as soon as possible." "This is a later story," Gao Gong continued, "If Li Yan's matter is not handled well right now, let people get the evidence, we will let them clean up." "Is it really that serious?"

"Have!" Gao Gong hiccupped loudly as he spoke, which was the reason why he ate too fast just now.He took a sip of his tea and was about to continue, when suddenly the porter came to report that it was Han Yi who asked to see him.Gao Gong frowned and said: "Why is he here to join in the fun, let him in." Han Yi came in with a gray head and a gray face, and when he saw Wei Xuezeng present, he became more and more embarrassed. "What's the matter with you?" Gao Gong asked. "It's a small matter, but..." Han Yi glanced at Wei Xuezeng, and said hesitantly, "However, it's not too important."

"It doesn't matter what you came here for," Gao Gong reprimanded unceremoniously, "You didn't see, I'm talking to Mr. Wei." Han Yi blushed, stood where he wanted to leave but didn't want to.Wei Xue once saw that Han Yi meant that he wanted to talk to Shoufu alone, so he got up and said, "Han Yi has something important to report, so I will avoid it for now." "No, no, just sit down, there is nothing to hide from you," Gao Gong said, Wei Xuezeng had to sit down again.Gao Gong said to Han Yi again, "Let's talk about it if you have anything to say, Mr. Wei is not an outsider, so it's okay to listen." Han Yi obeyed his master's order, bowed down to find a chair and sat down, and said in a low voice, "Master Shoufu, I still want to come and talk to you about the 10,000 taels of silver." "Ah, so that's why you came here." Gao Gong nodded, and seeing Wei Xuezeng just entered in a daze, he told him the whole story. After seeing Li Yanxin in the afternoon, Gao Gong was meditating alone in the duty room, when Han Yi happened to bring in the official documents.Although this Han Yi was only a junior official of the seventh rank, but because he was on duty beside the chief assistant, he was deeply trusted, so the officials of the Six Departments, the officials of the frontier and other ministers of the court and the central government did not dare to neglect him.Although Han Yi pulled up a big banner outside as a tiger skin to show off, but he was cautious in front of Gao Gong, and he always had the same industrious, thrifty and pious look.Gao Gong was satisfied with the rest, except that he bothered him to ask for instructions and report everything in detail, and regarded him as a retainer in his heart. However, after Han Yi put down the official documents, he lingered and still didn't want to leave, so Gao Gong asked him, "What else do you need?" Han Yi bowed and said, "Just now, Mr. Meng sent two pots of flowers, both of which are exotic peonies grown in the Imperial Garden. One pot of white is called Nishang Wuyi, and the other pot of scarlet is called Qiujiang Xizhao. Humble job In my thirties, this is the first time I have seen such a delicate and beautiful flower. Now please tell me, Mr. Shoufu, whether these two potted flowers should be placed in this value room, or should I take them home to enjoy." The relapse of Emperor Longqing's old illness came to the cabinet to look for Nu'er Huahua, and Li Yanlai's letter made Gao Gong feel like he was in a state of turmoil. Even eating tasted like chewing wax, so how could he have time to enjoy the flowers?As soon as Han Yi finished speaking, Gao Gong yelled angrily: "It's worth asking for advice on such trivial matters as idle flowers and idle grass? Go down!" "yes." Han Yi, who wanted to win a lottery, had no choice but to back down obediently.At this time, Gao Gong suddenly had a thought: "This Han Yi usually helped Li Yan say a lot of good things in front of the old man. Did he benefit from him by doing so?" Suspicious, he called Han Yi back again, He asked, "Li Yan, what do you think of him?" Han Yi, who had just been reprimanded, didn't dare to answer rashly, because Li Yan sent the letter to the chief assistant half an hour ago.Shoufu was in a bad mood after reading the letter, but he didn't know why.After some consideration, he replied: "Master Li has repeatedly failed to suppress the bandits in Qingyuan, and the punishment of being dismissed is not a serious punishment, but Qingyuan is a place with high mountains and savage mountains in the southwest, and Master Li stayed there for three years. There is hard work as well as credit.” "You Liulidan didn't say anything," Gao Gongying glanced over, and said, "You don't know Li Yan very well. You came to my house to handle errands. Li Yan has already served as the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. Li Yan came to Beijing to report on his work, you two met once, and you just nodded acquaintances. But why do you always help Li Yan speak well in front of me? Now explain the reason." Gao Gong was in a hurry to ask, Han Yi blinked his eyes, and said another slippery sentence: "I think Li Yan is the disciple of the chief assistant, so I feel relieved to say a few good words for him." "Fart! Aren't you ashamed to say this kind of pug talk?" Gao Gong was furious, poked his finger on the bridge of Han Yi's nose, and shouted, "Now tell me honestly, how much benefit did you get from Li Yan?" "Master Chief Assistant..." Han Yi yelled, but there was nothing to say. Gao Gong saw that his face turned sweaty, and he understood that this "cheat" had worked, so he simply cheated to the end. He picked up Li Yan's letter and shook it in front of Han Yi's eyes. He shook his head and said with a sneer: "Well, you Han Yi, you dared to accept bribes without telling the old man, and even dared to deny them when things came to an end." Han Yi really thought that Li Yanxin had mentioned this matter, so his knees softened immediately, and he knelt down in front of Gao Gong, crying and said: "Master Chief Assistant, I dare not deny my humble position, Li Yan sent someone to give me two Bank notes, five thousand taels each time, a total of ten thousand taels." "You took it?" "Humble job... Accepted." Gao Gong was so angry that his seven orifices were filled with smoke, and he wished he could kick Han Yi out the door.Han Yi has been with Gao Gong for two years, and he has never seen Gao Gong so angry, his face turned pale with fright, and his underwear was soaked in cold sweat.He bent down and couldn't get up, choked up and said: "The lowly job was obsessed with money for a while, and I failed the favor of the first assistant to cultivate me. I still hope that the first assistant is loyal to the humble job. Forgive me this time. From now on, I will change my mind and start a new life..." According to Gao Gong's temperament, he wished that Han Yi could be sent to the Metropolitan Procuratorate for interrogation, but he was concerned that "the family ugliness should not be publicized", so he swallowed his anger again, and sighed, "Get up and talk." Han Yi shivered and got up, not daring to sit down, and just stood there like sifting chaff.Gao Gong looked at his bear-bag appearance, wishing he could spit on him.He looked out of the window, saw that the flowers and trees were scattered, and no one came in or out of the shed, but he still lowered his voice and asked: "Do you know who else took bribes from Li Yan?" Han Yi knew that several ministers had received Li Yan's "filial piety", but he never dared to reach out to others, shook his head and said: "Li Yan will never let a third party know that Li Yan does this kind of thing, so I don't know what to do with my humble position." .” Gao Gong thought about it for the same reason, and asked again: "Li Yan sent out a lot of money, where did the money come from?" Judging from the tone of the question, it seemed that Li Yan hadn't confessed anything in the letter.Han Yi couldn't help but regret "confessing" so quickly, but the words he said were like splashed water, and he couldn't take them back.In order to get Gao Gong's forgiveness and not to be accused of "selling friends", Han Yi replied vaguely: "I don't know how Li Yan earns money from his humble position, but I heard that Du Huazhong, the official of the driving department of the Ministry of War, knows." "You pass on my instructions now and order Du Hua to come to the cabinet at a medium speed." In less than an hour, Du Huazhong walked into Gao Gong's room panting.He was also a student of Gao Gongmen, so when he received the instructions from the old seat owner, he didn't dare to neglect, so he rode a fast horse and ran over.Gao Gong did the same thing, "cheat" Du Huazhong three times and received a total of 30,000 taels of silver from Li Yan.And from Du Huazhong's mouth, he learned the fact that Li Yan had embezzled huge amounts of military expenditures by "emptying the quota". ……… After hearing this narration, Wei Xuezeng also felt the seriousness of the problem, and his two thick and black eyebrows were immediately locked together. Looking at the cowering look of Han Yi in front of him, he couldn't beat his anger. , and couldn't help but rebuke him a few words: "You Han Yi, someone bought your soul for 10,000 taels of silver. A few days ago, Yuan Fu discussed with me that he would promote you to the Sixth Division as an official. You know the weight of this official position." , the leader of the world's speech officials! This is good, the carp did not jump into the dragon's gate, but jumped into the ghost's gate." Han Yi was so ashamed that he wished he could find a crack in the ground and slip in.After twitching for a while, Fang said: "Master Wei, this afternoon the first assistant will be slapped with a blow, like a giant thunderbolt, and the humble official has committed a crime. The humble official came here at night in order to return the ten thousand taels of silver." Saying, from Pulling out a bank note from the armhole, he handed it to Gao Gong respectfully. Gao Gong didn't reach out to pick up the silver bill, but got up and took out a book engraved during Song Jia's reign from the bookshelf, flipped to the middle section of "Greedy Chapter", handed it to Han Yi, and said, "Read this section. One thought." Han Yi took the book, stuttered and read it: In the second year of Zhenguan, Emperor Taizong said to his courtiers: "I have said that greedy people don't understand love of money. Even if you are an internal and external official above the fifth rank, you have a good salary rank, and you can earn as much as you want in a year. If you take bribes from others, it is only tens of thousands. Once it is revealed and the ranks are plundered, is this the solution of love and wealth? It is also a small gain but a big loss. In the past, Gong Yixiu was addicted to fish, but he did not accept mermaids, and his fish would last forever. Lose his country; if he is a minister, he will perish. The "Poetry" says: "The strong wind has a tunnel, and the greedy people are scum." It is certainly not a fallacy..." "Okay," Gao Gong interrupted Han Yi, and said tauntingly, "You are also a Jinshi who passed the provincial examination all the way. Haven't you read this book before?" Without waiting for Han Yi's answer, he continued , "Tang Taizong's generation of British lords were diligent and thoughtful about politics. Wei Zheng, Fang Xuanling, Xiao Yu and other officials were honest and honest. Such a meeting between monarchs and ministers created a flourishing Tang Dynasty. Although today's sages are not like Tang Taizong, they will win the world immediately. , but self-restraint and courtesy, always guarding a word of honesty. He liked to eat donkey intestines, but since he heard that the imperial kitchen made a plate of donkey intestines for him every day, he had to kill a donkey, and he never refused to eat donkey intestines again. .Where can I find such a good emperor! But you, a courtier, easily coveted 10,000 taels of silver. All the money the emperor saved from his teeth was turned into his own by you bastards, your majesty Isn’t it chilling? How can the common people not hate? How can the grasshopper be without resentment? ‘If you are greedy for your master, you will lose your country; When Gao Gong said these words, he was no longer furious, but rather reasoned and emotional.It could be heard that his throat was a little choked after speaking, and Wei Xuezeng and Han Yi who were sitting there were all greatly moved.Han Yi wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, and said: "After listening to the chief assistant's words, I have no place to be ashamed of my lowly position. Tomorrow, I will give the emperor a letter and ask for punishment by impeachment." "That's not necessarily the case." Gao Gong stared at Han Yi, and said in a tone of hatred, "As long as you have the heart to admit your mistake, the old man will forgive you this time, and this matter will come to an end. You You don’t have to cry and let everyone in the world know what you have done wrong. You should also go and talk to Du Huazhong, do what you should do, don’t be too preoccupied and let others see your flaws.” Gao Gong changed his harsh attitude and suddenly became so tolerant, Han Yi was unexpected, and then he was very grateful.He knew that Gao Gong and Wei Xuezeng had something to discuss, so he hurriedly said goodbye. "Come back," Gao Gong called to Han Yi, pointing to the silver note that Han Yi put on the tea table, "You take this back first, and how to deal with it will be discussed after the regulations are in place." After Han Yi left, Wei Xuezeng sighed, "The first assistant's mouth is like a knife, but it turned out to be a bodhisattva's heart." Gao Gong laughed at himself, and said: "If not, what else can we do? According to the old man's analysis, Li Yan has given gifts to various yamen in the capital in recent years. How much money is enough for the empty rations of 20,000 soldiers? You Think about it, who will he give it to? The officials of the yamen, and the chief doctor of the important department, how many of these people were not promoted by you and me? I have been running Gao Gong for many years, and finally I have this The situation where there is a lot of response, and now it is at the critical point of the competition with Zhang Juzheng, it is impossible for people to catch them all at once." Wei Xuezeng also thought of Gao Gong's concern, and said with great concern at this time: "Li Yan's embezzlement amount is so large, it is impossible to leave no trace in the account books. Now that Yin Zhengmao takes over, will he follow the vine to find out this big case?" case?" "Yes!" Gao Gong agreed, and then analyzed, "There are two possibilities here. One is that Yin Zhengmao is hard to change his greedy nature and opens his whale mouth like Li Yan to become a giant greedy. The other is that he is vigilant. If Tie Xin followed Zhang Juzheng and exposed Li Yan, the situation would be in jeopardy." "I knew Li Yan was like this earlier, and regretted letting Yin Zhengmao take over." Wei Xuezeng was outspoken, and fired another "cannon".Although Gao Gong felt a little regretful in his heart, he was never a person who complained about himself, so he was taken aback, and he said: "The letter Yin Zhengmao sent to this old man a few days ago was intended to thank you for the promotion. He is far away, and it can be seen that he is still observing the direction of the wind. At this time, if we give him another hand, we may be able to receive the effect of turning the enemy into a friend. Li Yan received the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi with the title of Qindu Yushi. I think Yin Zhengmao will mention it. He is at the first level, and the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi is led by the right deputy capital censor, you can write a letter tomorrow and send it to the emperor to explain your intention, and I will draft it immediately and send it out in two days." When Wei Xuezeng heard that Gao Gong's strategy towards Yin Zhengmao had changed, he immediately asked: "The supervisory censor has arrived in Nanchang, should we still investigate Yin Zhengmao's tenure in Jiangxi?" "Investigate! Not only must we investigate, but we must also find out his corruption and bad deeds." Gao Gong replied decisively, "If he ever exposes Li Yan, we must hold him in our hands. Give him candy first, If you don't eat candy, give him a sap." "Preparing with both hands is a surefire strategy," Wei Xuezeng thought about changing from passive to active, and he could only act in this way, and then said, "I will handle the official documents of Yin Zhengmao's promotion when I arrive at the Ministry tomorrow. But Li Yan alone has the safety of many officials tied to him. But don’t take it lightly.” "You can rest assured about this, I have my own opinion." After some discussion, it was late at night, and Wei Xuezeng said goodbye and went home. As soon as Wei Xuezeng left, Gao Fu stepped into the study.Gao Gong was a little tired, stretched his waist, and then asked: "Is the matter settled?" "Go back to the master, it's done." Gao Fu replied respectfully. "It's not hard for him, is it?" "No, the master didn't give instructions. No one in the criminal department would dare to act recklessly." "Prepare the sedan chair, I'll go there now." "Master, the night is getting dark, shall we go tomorrow?" "The roads are sparsely populated at the moment, and it's just time to travel. Besides, he is a distinguished guest from afar, so we don't want to be too cold. I won't take the big sedan chair. You go and prepare a female sedan chair." "yes." Gao Fu withdrew.Gao Gong went to the inner room to change into a Taoist robe, then went to the sedan chair hall and got on the female sedan chair, taking advantage of the night to meander towards the prison of the Ministry of punishment. The person he went to visit on this trip was none other than Shao Daxia who came all the way from Nanjing to meet him. But he said that after Gao Fu came to the cabinet in the morning to inform Shao Daxia that he had arrived in Beijing, Gao Gong asked Gao Fu to bring a letter to Shao Daxia. Be careful not to go out.After thinking about it, he was worried, so he sent someone to bring Gao Fu back, and told him to go to the Ministry of Criminal Justice to find some police officers to secretly follow Shao Daxia. If he wandered out on the street, he would find an excuse to take him to the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice and imprison him.When Gao Gong gave this order, Yuan also had a thought, thinking to kill Shao Daxia without anyone noticing.After becoming the first assistant, he has always been worried about Shao Daxia.Afterwards, he sent someone to make an unannounced visit, and Shao Daxia was so focused on doing business in Nanjing that he never talked about helping him recover from the past, so he decided to let him go, and the two sides of the world will not fight each other from now on.Last year Shao Daxia entrusted someone to come to Beijing to intercede with Hu Zigao, and he felt unhappy in his heart. Although Hu Zigao was relieved of face and promoted to the head of the Nanjing Ministry of Industry, his guard against Shao Daxia, who had faded away, tightened up again.This time Shao Daxia came to the capital suddenly and said that he had an urgent meeting, Gao Gong knew intuitively that he came to meddle in political affairs again, so he was very upset.He originally wanted Shao Daxia to disappear forever without a trace, but now that he has been sent to his door, how can he let him go at ease?Gao Fu knew his master's mind very well, so he worked very hard on this matter.When Shao Daxia was arrested and sent to the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, he ran to the cabinet to report the letter, asking for instructions on how to deal with it next.At this time, Gao Gong was disturbed by Li Yan's letter, and he only said: "Put him in the death row and be held in secret, don't let anyone know, and don't give him any additional punishment for the time being." Not a moment after Gao Fu left , Gao Gong got up his sedan chair and went home to meet Wei Xuezeng. After a deep talk, he had a new idea about how to deal with Shao Daxia. When Gao Gong came to the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, it was almost the first watch of the day.At this time, the drums were even more heavy, and everything was silent. The last quarter moon that had just emerged from the sky cast a little bit of cold light, dimly illuminating a pair of stone lions in front of the prison gate, making their faces even more ferocious and terrifying.The skin-piercing spring breeze swept across the deserted alleyway, which made people feel the fear of the imminent end of yin and yang.At the time of handover, the heavily guarded prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice closed the door, and people on business at night entered and exited through the ear door.Knowing that Gao Gong is coming, the jailer who manages the prison has never dared to leave.Seeing Gao Gong coming down from the female sedan chair in casual attire, he was taken aback for a moment, then knelt down to greet him, Gao Gong asked him to lead the way, and the jailer got up to lead Gao Gong into the court room. "Where are people locked up?" Gao Gong asked. "In death row," replied the warden. "Then go directly to the death row and not enter the imperial court." "Looking back at Mr. Fu, the death cell is full of ghosts, and there is not even a stool. You should go to the court to sit in the chamber, sir. I will order the arrester to bring that man quickly." The Prison Department was worried that the prisoners in the death row would frighten the chief assistant, so they politely blocked it.Gao Gong felt that there were still idlers in the imperial court, so it was not as safe as being in the death cell, so he didn't appreciate it, and said, "Don't be so talkative, quickly lead the way and go to the death cell." The jailer couldn't help it, so he had to order someone to carry the stool, and a group of people walked around the corner to the death row. Even though it was late at night, there were still sentries at the gate of the death cell.The Jinyi guards guarding the prison stood in armor and held a knife, as if they were facing a big enemy, they did not dare to relax a little.The prison guard ordered the soldiers to remove the door bars of the death cell, unlock the lock himself, and led Gao Gong into the corridor of the death cell.After walking about ten feet away, I saw single cells lined up on both sides of the corridor. Except for the thick wooden fence on the side facing the corridor, the remaining three walls were made of stones one foot square.Two or three zhang away, there is a lantern hanging on the corridor.The fire is dim, and the shadows are everywhere. Standing on the corridor, you really have the feeling of stepping into hell. It was the first time in Gao Gong's life that he came to this kind of place, and when he first smelled the disgusting musty and bloody smell, he immediately shuddered and got goose bumps all over his body.Perhaps because of hearing their footsteps, there was a small commotion in the dead cell.Although confined to a single room, the death row prisoners all looked up to see this group of people passing by, not knowing what happened suddenly in the middle of the night.Gao Gong had just walked through three or four rooms following the prison guard, when he suddenly heard a hoarse scolding: "I'll fuck your eighth-life grandma, look, this mouse is more than a foot long, and it gnawed my foot until only the bones remained." Out of curiosity, Gao Gong stopped and looked towards the cell where the scolding came from, and saw a prisoner lying on a narrow earthen kang, chained tightly and unable to move, a fat mouse was Lying on his feet, gnawing on the carrion, seeing people approaching, the mouse dodged for a moment, but did not run away. It only stared at the figure outside the wooden fence with a pair of bean-like green eyes vigilantly.The instep that had been gnawed by it really exposed the white bones. This miserable scene is horrifying. "Why don't you untie him?" Gao Gong asked. Prisoners are used to such things, and replied indifferently: "This is a prisoner who is waiting for the autumn execution, and he is not worthy of sympathy." Gao Gong let out an "oh" and moved his feet.The jailer led him all the way to the innermost part, and saw another iron gate guarded by two guards. The jailer made a gesture, and one of the guards took out a key to open the iron gate, walked in two or three feet away, and See a small door.Gao Gong walked into this small door, only to find that it turned out to be a stone secret room with no windows on all sides. This was originally a place where imperial prisoners were imprisoned, and Shao Daxia was imprisoned here. When Gao Gong came in, Shao Daxia was curled up on the kang with his back to the small door, sleeping in a daze.The jailer put down his stool, bowed and retreated.Only two masters and servants, Gao Gong and Gao Fu, were left in the room.Seeing that Shao Daxia was still lying down, Gao Gong coughed. Shao Daxia moved, turned his face, rubbed his eyes, saw that it was Gao Gong, and quickly turned over and sat up. "Teacher!" Shao Daxia's shout really had mixed feelings.Gao Gong pretended to be concerned, and hurriedly asked: "They didn't make things difficult for you, did they?" "Why didn't you make things difficult?" Shao Daxia said angrily, "Falsely accused me of raping a woman from a good family for no reason, and chained me here in public. I don't know where this is." "You walked all the way, how could you not know where this is?" "How would I know? They grabbed me, put a black cloth hood over my head, walked into this room like a dog, and then took off the hood." Shao Daxia talked and gestured, looking very annoyed.Gao Gong pretended to be surprised and said: "So that's how it is. In that case, you are really wronged." "Master, let's go now." "I can't go. In such a huge Beijing city, this is the only safe place." "where is this place?" "Death Row Cell of the Ministry of Criminal Justice." "Death Row?" Shao Daxia's surprise was not trivial, and he said with lingering fear, "Thanks to the grand master finding it in time, otherwise, no one would have known that I, Shao, had become a ghost. When I get out of this door, I will definitely find the gang of criminals to settle the score .” Gao Gong said, "I can't blame them for this matter." "Then who is to blame?" "If you want to complain, blame me. This is really the old man's idea." Gao Gong's words were so confusing that Shao Daxia felt as if he was in a fog.Gao Gong went on to say: "Looking at you like this, you must have never eaten dinner, Gao Fu, go and order the prison department to prepare a table for a banquet, and I will have a few drinks with Shao Daxia here." Gao Fu obeyed and left, leaving only Gao Gong and Shao Daxia in the room.Shao Daxiahu questioned: "Why did the grand master put me in death row?" Gao Gong sat on the stool, looked at the airtight secret room again, and said with a smirk: "Under the feet of the emperor of the capital, it is not only an inch of paradise, but also a trap every step of the way. Dongchang, Jinyiwei, and Xuncheng Yushi's men Secret agents are all pervasive guys. There are people on the street. Do you know who is a good person and who is a spy? You live in such an eye-catching place as the Suzhou Guild Hall, and you have another building. Being stared at to death?" I haven't seen each other for a few years, Shao Daxia didn't expect Gao Gong to become so cautious, and an inexplicable annoyance suddenly surged in his heart, and he said sullenly: "I, Shao, can guarantee that there are millions of people in the capital, and anyone who can recognize me, Shao No more than ten people." "But almost all the three officials and nine ministers, ministers of civil and military affairs, know your name!" When Gao Gong said this, a trace of imperceptible cruelty flashed across his eyes.The lights were dim, and Shao Daxia didn't notice it, but from the high-arched tone, he still heard some kind of terrible overtones.In order to further explore Gao Gong's mind, he said angrily: "The grand master felt that it was inconvenient to meet each other, so he asked Gao Fu to tell me, so why is there such a fuss about making me go to death row to suffer the crime of being useless?" "If you say it's inconvenient to meet each other, it's not an excuse." Gao Gong tapped his knees, speaking carefully, "I'm sure you know the latest situation in the capital. Ever since Emperor Longqing fell ill, the government Brothers are against the wall, Zhang Juzheng's ambition to seize the position of chief assistant is well known to passers-by, and I guess you came to Beijing this time because of this." Seeing Shao Daxia nodding frequently, Gao Gong continued, "The old saying is good , Lu Yao knows the horsepower, and it takes a long time to see the hearts of the people. Three years ago, I Gao Gong was promoted to the position of chief assistant. But I never come to my house. This is the style of a real worldly expert. For this alone, I, Gao Gong, admire you very much. Why not? Don’t say that you came to see me in the capital on your own initiative. Come on, I still want to send someone to invite you to meet me. In this extraordinary period, I need you by my side, a righteous man who is not for profit but for the common people, a friend who shares honor and disgrace with sincerity..." As he was talking, Gao Gong actually became emotional, and the corners of his eyes were moist with tears.If Shao Daxia still had doubts and fears about Gao Gong before, and now seeing Gao Gong having a heart-to-heart talk with him, and the words he uttered were sincere and touching, that bit of suspicion would disappear, and he would inevitably say emotionally: "Since we met in Taishi's hometown three years ago, I, Shao, have been thinking about Taishi all the time in my heart. It's just because Taishi is an important minister in the court, and Shao is a wandering cloud and a wild crane in the wild. It's inconvenient to meet each other because of the disparity in status. Just like Mrs. As the teacher said, now Emperor Longqing's illness affects the hearts of the people in the two capitals, and some frictions between the palace and the cabinet are gradually known to outsiders. Although Shao is in the world, he occasionally walks in the officialdom I heard some rumors, so I was very worried about the grand master. Then I came to the capital boldly, originally wanting to join the grand master's sect, and take some responsibility in this dispute..." Shao Daxia opened up his chatter box, and was about to express his opinion on the disputes in the palace and cabinet, but Gao Gong cut off his words and said: "I already understand your deep affection for this old man, so I don't need to say anything extra, I just want to ask you, Do you think the old man is exhausted?" Images of Li Tiezui and Qian Shengliang flashed through Shao Daxia's mind for the first time. The two people he met in the afternoon could be described as joyful and sad.Shao Daxia believed in the fate of the gods. After thinking for a while, he replied: "Qi and numbers are two different things. There is life in the air, but there is skill in the numbers. Where there is no life, we should use skills to make up for it." Gao Gong laughed after hearing this, and said: "It's good to use skills to make up for it, good, good! Fate is determined by God, and skills are made by man. According to you, I am Gao Gong's energy?" "Yes," Shao Daxia said half flatteringly and half sincerely: "I just want to remind the Grand Master that you must pay attention to your skills, just like on a chessboard, you must make a good hand to trap the dragon." "Well said, Shao Daxia is really a unparalleled national scholar." Gao Gong's praise made Shao Daxia's brows bright, and Gao Gong saw that the fire had come, he took the opportunity to say: "Now the old man has thought of a trick, but if To complete it, we have to rely on Shao Daxia's skillful hands." "Teacher, please tell me, as long as Shao can do it, he will die." "With your words, the old man is relieved." As Gao Gong said, he took out Li Yan's letter from his armband, Shao Daxia took it and read it, and asked in puzzlement: "This is the disciple's filial piety to the lord, such a top-secret private letter, why did the grand master let Shao read it?" ?” "Let you see, it's because of the 'art' just mentioned that it was caused by this letter." Gao Gong took back the letter and carefully put it in the armhole to hide it, and then explained the ins and outs of Li Yan's embezzlement of a huge amount of military pay by means of empty credit. Hearing this, Shao Daxia felt deeply that the problem was serious, and said worriedly: "If Zhang Juzheng knows about this, the Grand Master will be in danger." "That's right, it's not just me, I'm afraid all the yamen in the capital will be empty for a while." "Say, how to handle this matter?" Gao Gong twirled his beard slowly, and asked back, "According to Shao's opinion, how should we deal with this matter?" Shao Daxia bit his lips and thought for a moment, then suddenly clapped his hands, and said with a fierce look on his face: "There is only one way, kill Li Yan to stop the trouble." Gao Gong's heart was shocked, and he stared fixedly at Shao Daxia with his bright eyes, before shaking his head after a while and saying, "No, it's too cruel to do so." "Teacher, there is a saying in Jianghu, no poison, no husband..." Shao Daxia still wanted to argue with reason, but Gao Gong waved his hand and interrupted him, saying: "Li Yan is my student after all, it is certainly hateful that he is so greedy for ink, but I can't bear to put him to death." "Then, how does the grand master plan to deal with it?" "I want you to take a hard trip, go to Guangxi to meet Li Yan, first ask him to return the two land deeds, and second bring him the old man's message, I can let him go, but the condition is that he must keep his mouth shut ，避居乡里，再不要同官场上任何人打交道。” "this one?" “就这个。怎么，邵大侠感到为难吗？” “这点小事，有什么为难的。”邵大侠拍着胸脯说，“太师放心，我邵某一定把这趟差事替你办好，把口信带过去，把那两张地契带回来。” 高拱看着邵大侠的神态，知道他把意思理解错了，连忙解释说：“我要那两张地契干啥，你把它烧掉就是。” “也好，太师你说何时启程为好？” “越快越好，最好今夜启程。” "In such a hurry?" “真的就有这么急！不及早同李延打招呼，恐怕隆庆一朝最大的谳狱就会从他嘴中吐出来。” “既是这样，我这就走，只是我带来的一干家仆，都还在苏州会馆。” “这个你不必担心，我已差人把他们全都送往通州，你现在可以赶去和他们见一面。明天一早，他们沿运河乘船回南京，你则可沿中州大道直奔广西而去。” “仆人中，有三四个功夫不错，我得带上，”说到这里，邵大侠一拍脑门，叫道：“哎呀，差点忘了，我这次来京之前，给太师在南京物色了一个十六岁的良家小姐，叫玉娘。虽非天姿国色，倒也有闭月羞花之貌，我本说当面交给太师，现在只好让高福给你领回去了。” “你怎么想到这个，”高拱又好气又好笑，说道，“老夫今年六十一，你领来一个一十六，像什么话！” “上次去新郑，就听高福讲，太师一生不曾纳妾，老夫人又没生下儿子。我当时就留了心，一定要给太师物色一个合适的好女子，给太师生个儿子传宗接代。” 邵大侠说得恳切，高拱却不动心，摇着头说道：“心意我领了，人还是让她回南京。” “太师，你总得给我邵某一点面子。” 邵大侠说着就沉了脸。高拱虽然心里不乐意，但不肯让这等小事误了大事，只得应承下来，说道：“好吧，我让高福去通州，把这位玉娘接回来。” "It's so good." 邵大侠腾地下炕，一拍屁股就要开路。 “慢着，”高拱拦住他，说道，“我们的酒席还没吃呢，这个高福，弄了这半夜，酒席还不知道在哪里。” “老爷，酒席在这里。” 话音未落，高福和狱典两人便推开门，抬了酒席进来，原来酒席早就备好，高福见里头两人正谈得火热，生怕打扰，就静静地站在外面守候。 邵大侠看看一桌已经凉了的酒菜，也没有什么胃口，说道：“方才太师进来时，我肚子的确感到饿，现在又什么都不想吃了。” “不想吃也得吃一点，”高拱说着拿起酒壶，斟了满满两杯，举了一杯说道，“三杯通大道，来，邵大侠，既是为你接风，又是为你送行，我们来满饮三杯。”