Chapter 85 The 22nd round invites the five princes to celebrate the new year and read unfeeling poems to the vacant room

As soon as the twenty-fourth of the twelfth lunar month passes, the atmosphere of the New Year in Beijing gradually becomes stronger.The shops that are usually deserted and do not have much business are now crowded.There are people everywhere in the streets and alleys, some running here and there to buy new year's goods, some carrying long pole brooms and yelling to sweep dust and clean chimneys for others; Waiting for miscellaneous things, there are those who set up a table on the street to write Spring Festival couplets for others; What I want is to ask for a few copper coins.In short, no one is high or low, and they are all too busy for the annual Spring Festival.

But on the morning of New Year's Eve, the inside and outside of Wu Qingbo's mansion were decorated with lights and festoons.In previous years, during the Chinese New Year, eight red lanterns were hung at the gate, creating a lively and lively atmosphere.This year, the number of lanterns has doubled, a total of sixteen.Moreover, none of these lanterns are old items taken out of the warehouse, they are all new palace lanterns ordered from the Wangjia Lantern Shop in Zhushikou: Early in the morning, when the family halls moved out their ladders to hang the lanterns, a group of beggars were attracted: These street bastards who are talking and looking for food, whenever there is a happy event, they will come together and say auspicious words to make money.At this moment, a little fellow among the beggars, nicknamed Copper Pea, saw a lantern being hung on a beam, quickly shrunk his snot, pulled out the allegro from his belt, threw a trick, and beat it loudly with the allegro. To the rhythm, he sang in an orderly manner with his voice:

Hanging lanterns, bright red, This family has the east wind. The days are hot, To be an official is to be a passerby. This auspicious word is pleasant to the ear, if a few copper coins are thrown over at this time, the little beggars will bow to thank them and coax them away.However, the members of Li's family didn't take it seriously. Not only was no one willing to give a small amount of money, but one even stared at him and shouted: "Go, go, this is not a place for you to make trouble." Before the sentence was finished, Copper Pea knocked on the bamboo board again, and sang with a deflated mouth:

Hanging lanterns, bright red, Beautiful outside and empty inside. New Year's Eve comes to an end, Remove the word rich and replace it with poor... Copper Pea opened his mouth fluently, and he was about to lay it out, when suddenly there was a "snap", and he received a heavy slap on the cheek.Looking up, a tall and strong man was lying in front of him like a wall. Copper Pea was covering his face and was about to yell, but the strong man picked him up like a chicken and shouted: "Little bastard, who told you to curse me here?" This strong man is Li Gao, he was originally a player who sleeps at night and sleeps at night.On New Year's Eve, when there was a happy event at home, he got up very early in the morning. He went out for a walk on the street to do some errands. When he came back to his house, he encountered a group of beggars making a scene, so he caught him.

When Tong Wandou saw that Li Gao was dressed gorgeously, and saw that a group of brutal thugs had surrounded him at some point, she felt guilty at the bottom of her heart, sucked her snot and replied: "We praised the lanterns in this house, but he refused to give money." "Who?" "them?" Copper Pea pointed at the servants at the door, Li Gao put the Copper Pea down, then frowned at those servants and reprimanded: "How can you be as knowledgeable as these gossips, huh? You can't afford a few fucking coppers, can you?" After a few words of cursing, the servants were not only not angry, but also bowed their waists and smiled apologetically.An elderly servant hurriedly took out a handful of copper coins and handed them over. The copper pea took it and broke into a smile.

"What's your name?" Li Gao asked. "Copper peas." "I'll fuck your mother, look at your muddy pussy, and want to earn a reputation that can't be chewed and beaten," Li Gao said with a grin on his face, "You took it away!" Rewarding money, it's time to slap your own mouth." "Why?" asked the Copper Pea. "You just cursed me." "Let's read the rhetoric again, let's break the curse for the master?" "Alright, you can read a paragraph and see if we like it or not." With a dozen copper peas and bamboo boards, they sang sonorously:

Hanging lanterns, bright red, This house is very prosperous. The men are all big golden dragons, The women are all big colorful phoenixes. As soon as Copper Pea finished reading, Li Gao's eyes narrowed.He patted Copper Pea on the head and asked: "The dragon is the son of heaven, how dare you make nonsense, saying that there is a big golden dragon in our house?" "We only make up the lyrics for auspiciousness, no matter how much it is." "Well, let's see that you have a sharp tongue, and you don't want to leave today. There will be many guests coming from our house later. For every person who gets off the sedan chair, you can read a jingle, as long as it makes them happy. , we have a lot of rewards."

After Li Gao finished speaking, he cut his hands and strode into the gate with big strides. Copper Pea looked at his majestic appearance, and asked the servant in front of him: "Who is this master?" The family member said: "Condolence, you didn't even know who he was after a long time of trouble. This is the famous Uncle Guo." Li Gao entered the mansion, but saw that his father Wu Qingbo was already wearing a brand new embroidered python robe, sitting in the living room, commanding a group of servants to move around and arrange the environment.Li Gao walked in and proudly said to his father:

"Father, as soon as we went out in the morning, we got a good omen." "What good omen?" Wu Qingbo asked. Li Gao recited the last four jingles that Copper Pea uttered, and then said joyfully: "Father, our sister's name is Caifeng, but people in the capital, no matter how old or young, only know Queen Mother Li, but not many people know her name is Li Caifeng. The copper pea opened its mouth and said, 'The women are all Da Caifeng. ’, it can be seen that no matter how powerful or how high our sister is, she is still a member of our Li family.” Wu Qingbo grinned innocently.Ever since Qi Jiguang filed a complaint, Wu Qingbo has been in fear.He not only listened to the instigation of the prince consort Xu Congcheng and his son Li Gao, but staged a farce of fake hanging himself.Since then, he has also prayed to gods and Buddhas everywhere, looking for a good way to avoid evil.It was because he knew that Zhang Juzheng was holding on to this matter.He didn't know what Zhang Juzheng wanted and what kind of tricks he would use to punish him, he couldn't figure it out in his mind, so he had a sad face every day, he didn't eat well, and he couldn't sleep well.Ten days ago, he heard that the Yangzhou side had arrested Shao Daxia and Hu Zigao, and his heart became more and more frightened.He was afraid that Shao Daxia would tell the truth of the matter, even if he made up his mind to deny it, how much talk would it take? I don't know if the interrogating officials will deliberately oppose it.After another ten or twenty days of such desperation, he suddenly heard the news that Shao Daxia had "committed suicide in fear of crime" in the Yangzhou Water Transport Prison. How could he commit suicide?" Zheng Zi was dubious, but yesterday he received a letter from the palace, saying that Empress Dowager Li would send someone to Wu Qingbo's mansion to deliver New Year gifts tomorrow.Upon first hearing the news, Uncle Wu Qing and his son were ecstatic.Empress Dowager Li's move indicated that the father and son had been completely freed from the "cotton coat incident".Therefore, Li Gao suggested to his father that in order to get rid of the bad luck in the family, he might as well take advantage of the opportunity of his sister's new year's gift, and invite some powerful families in the capital to witness the grand occasion of "gift giving", so that they can go back and publicize it. No matter what time it is, the Li family is still the number one royal family in the capital.Wu Qingbo always only liked money and didn't like publicity, but this time he really had enough of being "worse", so he really wanted to save some face in front of everyone, so he readily agreed to his son's suggestion.Therefore, starting from last night, Uncle Wu Qing's residence has been busy, and this morning is full of joy.

After Chen Shi, the invited guests arrived one after another, more than 20 people came, all of them were well-known figures in the capital, the highest status among them was Zhu Xixiao, Duke of the Town.He is a descendant of Zhu Neng, the founding father of the country, and he has been hereditary for nine generations.This Zhu Xixiao is cautious and never provokes disputes, so he is very popular among powerful and powerful families.Zhang Juzheng also had great respect for this prince with the highest title, and it was his strong recommendation that Zhu Xixiao was also appointed by the emperor as Jinyiwei's town governor. He was in charge of the Jinyiwei's north and south sixteen guard battalions, and he could be regarded as the number one military official in the imperial court.His arrival made Uncle Wu Qing very happy.

After more than an hour, about a quarter of an hour, suddenly a doorman ran into the living room like a gourd, knelt down and said: "Master, the sign in the palace has arrived." Li Gao hurriedly went out to greet him. After a while, Wan He, the eunuch under the name of Empress Dowager Li, followed Li Gao into the living room.Wan He couldn't help being taken aback when he saw many distinguished guests sitting in the living room. Most of these people he didn't know, but he had dealt with dignitaries like Zhu Xixiao and Xu Congcheng before.He immediately clasped his fists at all the nobles present.Then he saluted Uncle Wu Qing and said: "My lord, Empress Dowager Li sent her servants to give presents." "Well, my daughter always misses my old bone," Li Wei said with a blushing face, showing off, "Eunuch Wan, how is the Queen Mother?" "Okay, I still copy the scriptures and chant the Buddha every day." "What about our little nephew?" "In addition to studying books and calligraphy, the little emperor also has to read memorials from various places and deal with military and state affairs. He is very busy every day." "Ah, did my daughter send us a message?" "Bring it on," Wanhe is used to being cautious, and replied with great sense of proportion, "Miss Li wants you to take care of yourself, old man." After finishing speaking, he called the two little firemen who came with him, and carried a gift box into the living room Delivered it on the spot, and then took the reward money, said goodbye and went back to the palace. As soon as Wanhe left, the atmosphere in the living room suddenly became lively again. The first person to get up and leave the table, and walk to the gift box with his bloated body was Xu Congcheng. He walked around the gift box for a week, sighing road: "As the saying goes, whether you are close or not, you are a family. You see, when it comes to critical issues, family affection is the most important thing." Those present could understand Xu Congcheng's intertwined words—this was an allusion to the "cotton coat incident."As a result, there was a lot of discussion in the living room: "Some people have extremely long hands and want to interfere with the affairs of the emperor's family. This is really beyond their capabilities." "Don't look at the emperor as young, Li Niangniang is a woman, in fact, they are very bright in their hearts. They can judge adultery in their hearts." "This year's Zilitian taxation, we paid four thousand taels of silver for nothing." "As for me, I'm not the same. When I meet this kind of person in power, I have to eat three meals a day and sleep at night. Buddha of Infinite Life." "Don't worry, evil will be rewarded with evil, and good will be rewarded with good. If you don't listen to the ancients, thousands of people will accuse you, and you will die without illness." Xu Congcheng lit a fire, drawing out everyone's anger.Except for Zhu Xixiao, these people are all extremely opposed to Zilitian's taxation, and they have been hiding their slander for a long time, so it is inevitable to take the opportunity to vent their anger.Zhu Xixiao couldn't hear these extreme words, so he coughed loudly, and when everyone calmed down, he said softly: "Gathering with friends at home to discuss state affairs and state affairs is really a taboo of the court, everyone should be more cautious." Considering Duke Zhen's prestige, everyone dared not do anything wrong when he said this.Xu Congcheng is a cute lamp that can't be extinguished, how can he be idle? Then he changed the subject, pointed to the gift box and said: "Guess everyone, what's in this gift box?" "Silver ingots." Someone replied. Li Gao stepped forward and said, "It's not heavy." "Then it's not a silver ingot," Xu Congcheng said. "We can't guess the details after looking at it. Why don't we ask Uncle Wu Qing to open it, so we can see it quickly." Everyone agreed, and Wu Qingbo approached with a smile on his face, looking at the ribbons and silk flowers tied outside the gift box, he was overjoyed.Li Gao handed him a pair of scissors and asked him to cut the ribbon.Wu Qingbo was reluctant to cut it, so he clumsily tried to untie the knot of the ribbon, and it took him a long time to untie it. When he opened the layers of packaging and uncovered the last layer of silk, the princes and officials who had been standing on the sidelines were suddenly shocked. dumbfounded. Lying in the box was a masonry knife. Uncle Wu Qing was born as a mason. Empress Dowager Li sent Wan He to bring him a masonry knife. Everyone present did not understand Empress Dowager Li's good intentions: she asked his father not to forget his roots. "Hey, why is this?" Xu Congcheng couldn't believe his eyes. Wu Qingbo and Li Gao father and son looked at each other in dismay, and stood in front of the gift box, as if they were two wooden stakes.On the morning of New Year's Eve, Zhang Juzheng took a sedan chair to go to the cabinet.The New Year's holidays of the yamen in the capital are from the 28th of the twelfth lunar month to the 16th of the first lunar month of the following year. During this period, except for the on-duty personnel who are on duty every day to meet the needs, the yamen are closed for business.Zhang Juzheng rarely had a few days of leisure, but he was still worried about state affairs.Thanks to the blessings of God, since he took office as Chief Assistant for more than two years, the weather in the region has been smooth, and there has been no flooding in the Yangtze River, Yellow River, or Huaihe River.On the nine sides to the north, from Yulin in Shaanxi to Sanwei in Liaodong, the defense line of thousands of miles, apart from the occasional small group of Tatars and Semu hussars crossing the border to plunder cattle and sheep in autumn, there was no major battle.For two and a half years in a row, the paddy fields in the south and the dry land in the north had good harvests. Therefore, there was no arrears in the grain collection departments of the prefectures and counties, and the state warehouses were full of grain.In the first year of Wanli, the accumulated debts were reduced or exempted once, and in the second year, Henan, Shanxi, Huguang, and Hebei provinces that suffered more disasters over the years also had a large amount of debts. Now the accumulated debts have basically been cleared.What Zhang Juzheng could not accomplish in six years during the Longqing period took two years.The imperial court has food in its hands, and the common people have benefited from it. Therefore, the common people, the peasants, the peasants, and the common people, all praise the benefits of Wanli's New Deal.Coupled with the taxation of Zilitian and the restructuring of the top ten tax bureaus in the country, the reform of Tunbian and Mazheng, the reduction of royal expenses in the palace, and the reduction of redundant staff in the major yamen in the two capitals and other financial measures, the treasury’s silver balance has been reduced. A substantial increase.In the second year of Wanli alone, compared with the sixth year of Longqing, the saved silver taels amounted to three million taels, plus the newly collected tax silver of more than five million taels. In the past two hundred years, the poorest Minister of the Household Department has transformed into the richest Da Situ.This autumn, Zhang Juzheng decided to increase the annual salary of officials across the country.In the past, officials above the fourth rank received three cents of silver and seven cents of copper bills, and officials below the fifth rank received four cents of silver and six cents of copper bills. Now it is reversed—officials above rank four receive seven cents of silver and three cents of copper bills. Officials below the fifth grade receive eight cents of silver and two cents of copper banknotes. It should be noted that copper banknotes are too much and too indiscriminately minted to be worthless.Officials get more cash in their salaries, which is tantamount to raising their salaries, and small and medium officials get more benefits, so they are also praised.In short, this Spring Festival is full of prosperity, and the north, south, east, and west are full of joy. Zhang Juzheng knew in his heart that this kind of situation was achieved because Empress Dowager Li and the little emperor obeyed his advice. "Every time the cabinet has a discussion, the emperor will make a decree." This kind of intimate relationship between the monarch and his ministers is the solid cornerstone for the deployment of the Wanli New Deal.With the passage of time and the beginning of the dream of a rich country and a strong army, Zhang Juzheng's vigilance when he first ascended to the high position of chief assistant not only did not relax, but became stronger.There are too many lessons learned from falling short in history.Although the current situation is favorable to him, there are no obvious guns, but hidden arrows are everywhere.Under such circumstances, he did not dare to be negligent. It was because of this sense of vigilance and urgency that he couldn't stay at home at the age of thirty, and still wanted to go to the cabinet. Since today it was just an inspection tour and nothing real to do, Zhang Juzheng took his time on the road, and when he got off his sedan chair in the cabinet yard, it was past time.As soon as he entered the cabinet, he suddenly saw that the door of a duty room opposite Lu Tiaoyang had opened. It was the duty room of the newly added cabinet minister Zhang Siwei.Speaking of Zhang Siwei's entry into the cabinet, there is another story here: Not a few days after Qi Jiguang sued the imperial court, Empress Dowager Li summoned Yuniang. When they were gossiping, they talked about Zhang Juzheng's ability to work hard for state affairs and hate having no part. Rong'er passed on her imperial edict and asked Zhang Juzheng to pick one or two more assistant ministers to handle affairs with others.Zhang Juzheng received this decree, and thanked Empress Dowager Li and the little emperor for their concern for him, but he hesitated in recommending candidates for assistant ministers.He has three candidates in mind, one is Zhan Shifu Zhan Shifu, the other is Xu Guo, the left servant of the Ministry of Rites, and the third is Zhang Siwei, Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites. among the lecturers.These three people were born as champions when they applied for Fufu, and their knowledge and morality were all respected by scholars; After being admitted as a Jinshi in the 38th year, he became a governor from a county magistrate.Last year, Zhang Juzheng recommended him to take up the post of Minister of Rites, and he originally intended to let others take over.However, Zhang Juzheng was not very satisfied with what he had done during his tenure as Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites for more than a year.What I am most dissatisfied with are two things: First, Zhang Juzheng's eldest son Jingxiu and second son Sixiu participated in this year's examination. Sixiu was also named Luosun Shan.Although Zhang Juzheng would test things beforehand and repeatedly told Zhang Siwei to be impartial and upright, but in the end he still felt very uncomfortable seeing his two sons in such a mess.In fact, Zhang Siwei has always wanted to take care of him, but because of Zhang Juzheng's cautious and independent style of life, he dare not take the risk.But he saw that Zhang Juzheng didn't like the arrogance of Jiangxi Juzi Tang Xian's ancestral talent, so he just threw a colorful test paper he made into the wastebasket, making this great talent who was determined to win leave Beijing sadly.Although the intention of this disposition was to win Zhang Juzheng's favor, Zhang Juzheng still did not accept this favor at all costs, but Zhang Juzheng still did not accept this favor; With the relationship between Wu Qingbo and Li Wei, he wantonly bribed and gave gifts to them.Zhang Siwei is a native of Puzhou, Shanxi. His ancestors ran the salt industry and accumulated a huge amount of wealth. He doesn't need to be greedy at all. Based on the above two reasons, he almost gave up the idea of ​​promoting Zhang Siwei.However, after the "cotton coat incident" occurred, this matter has undergone new changes.After Qi Jiguang filed a complaint, the first person who felt nervous was not Wu Qingbo Li Wei, but Governor of Jiliao Wang Chonggu.Among the governor-generals who were born as Jinshi who mastered literature and martial arts in the current dynasty, Tan Lun, Yin Zhengmao and Wang Chonggu were the most outstanding.When Yang Bo was changed from Minister of War to Minister of Officials, who should succeed him?Zhang Juzheng was determined not to step down for a while, and finally, he came up with a compromise plan, let Tan Lun be the Minister of the Ministry of War, Wang Chonggu be the Minister of the Ministry of War, and let Wang Chonggu be the Governor of Jiliao, and Yin Zhengmao was still the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi.In this way, the three of them are all second-rank officials in terms of rank.The difference is that Tan Lun is in a real position, in charge of the national military, and his actual power is greater than that of Wang Chonggu and Yin Zhengmao.With such an arrangement, all three of them were very happy, because Tan Lun was the oldest, and once he became an official, Wang Chonggu would be the first person who was qualified to take over the post of minister of the Ministry of War.But the odds are unpredictable. Seeing that Wang Chonggu can take over smoothly, who knows that the "cotton coat incident" broke out suddenly-the cause of this tragedy is that Wang Chonggu gave the business of making cotton coats to Wu Qingbo Li Wei as a favor. After the incident, Wang Chonggu was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot. He wanted to write an excerpt to explain it, but he didn't know how to explain it after several times.Although Li Wei took the initiative to come to get the business, how dare he push the responsibility to him.If he gritted his teeth and took this responsibility, wouldn't he stick his head out to be chopped off? As the saying goes, Wu Zixu's hair turned gray overnight after passing Zhaoguan, and now he is compared to Wang Chonggu, which is almost the same. In fact, Zhang Juzheng also found it very difficult to deal with this matter.In all fairness, he admired Wang Chonggu's talent very much. Like Yin Zhengmao, this handsome man showed a shrewd and capable official style from the inside out, without any pedantic and empty talk.The reason why he suggested Qi Jiguang to go to the imperial court to file a complaint was that he wanted to use this to rule out Li Wei, the number one figure in the foreign relatives group. This idea is exactly the same as the "Please suppress the foreign relatives" he presented to the emperor this summer.As a result, Wang Chonggu, one of the parties involved, is bound to be impacted.Under the current situation, the most direct consequence is that it is no longer possible for him to take over as Minister of the Ministry of War.Although this kind of ending is Wang Chonggu's own fault, but Zhang Juzheng is unwilling to let Wang Chonggu bear the psychological burden, or even be devastated.If so, the imperial court will lose a rare capable minister and good official.The purpose of cracking down on noble relatives is to punish corruption and remove stumbling blocks blocking the Wanli New Deal, not to cut out dissidents and destroy the Great Wall.Retaining a talent for the court is tantamount to seeking a blessing for the common people in the world. Based on these considerations, Zhang Juzheng has been secretly seeking a solution.At this moment, Empress Dowager Li asked him to add cabinet ministers. After careful consideration, he decided to recommend Zhang Siwei.Although in the Tingtui presided over by the little emperor, some people still felt that it was the most suitable time to apply for assistantship, but he insisted on his own opinion and listed six reasons for recommending Zhang Siwei.But there was one reason he kept silent, but it was the real reason, and that was because Zhang Siwei was Wang Chonggu's nephew. This recommendation shocked both civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty.There are not many high-ranking officials who don't know the relationship between Zhang Siwei and Wang Chonggu's uncle and nephew.Just when the "Cotton Clothes Incident" was causing a lot of uproar and everyone was shocked, Zhang Siwei was able to be crowned as a cabinet minister without being implicated by Wang Chonggu. They, one by one, are in a fog.Of course, Wang Chonggu and Zhang Siwei's uncle and nephew, as the parties involved, completely turned their feelings towards Zhang Juzheng overnight, from suspicion, resentment and frustration to self-ashamedness, admiration and gratitude. After Zhang Siwei entered the cabinet, he strictly followed the emperor's edict and the empress dowager's edict: "Follow Yuanfu Mr. Zhang into the cabinet to handle affairs." The word "follow" clearly defined his relationship with Zhang Juzheng.He can't decide anything by himself, he must ask Zhang Juzheng for instructions.Therefore, although Zhang Juzheng asked him to take charge of the two chapters of rites and punishments, he was respectful and humble, and he did not dare to have any personal intentions. But Zhang Juzheng stepped into the cabinet and saw the door of Zhang Siwei's duty room was open. He was guessing and wondering, and Zhang Siwei also heard the sound and walked out of the duty room.Seeing that the chief assistant was walking in, he quickly cupped his hands and said with a smile: "Shoufu, why don't you rest at home today on New Year's Eve?" Zhang Juzheng returned a salute and asked back, "Aren't you here too?" "Although Shao Daxia's case has been dealt with, it has not yet been closed. Yesterday, my subordinates transferred the case file from the Ministry of Punishment and wanted to take another look." "Ah, do you have any new ideas?" Zhang Juzheng asked with great interest, and then asked Zhang Siwei to come to his room on duty. After sitting down, Zhang Siwei reported: "The Great Xia Shao is dead, and the cotton-padded clothes case can be closed logically, but Hu Zigao has not been dealt with, and is still detained in the Yangzhou Water Transport Prison." "What do you look at in the file of the Criminal Transfer Department?" Zhang Juzheng asked. "Look at Hu Zigao's interrogation transcript," Zhang Siwei said, looking at Zhang Juzheng's face, and said cautiously: "Since Hu Zigao was imprisoned, there has been a lot of public opinion outside, saying that Eunuch Feng is his iron backer. Now Yuanfu ordered him to arrest him." Hu Zigao, do you want to investigate the matter of Eunuch Feng?" "You don't need to listen to these rumors outside. Before arresting Hu Zigao, Bu Gu specially notified Eunuch Feng about this matter, and Eunuch Feng also agreed," Zhang Juzheng explained to Zhang Siwei, and then asked, "What did Hu Zigao say during the interrogation?" what?" "He has repeatedly argued that he has nothing to do with the cotton jacket incident." "Didn't he approve Yanyin to Shao Daxia?" "He said that Shao Daxia set up a scheme to deceive him, and he had to do it." "He didn't talk about Eunuch Feng?" "No, not a word." "This slippery loach knows to keep its mouth shut." A look of disappointment flashed across Zhang Juzheng's eyes. After thinking for a while, he asked, "Who can convict Hu Zigao?" "There is someone to prove the evidence, and if it can be implemented, he is really greedy for 90,000 taels of silver." "So little, do you believe it?" "We don't believe it either, but there's nothing we can do about it," Zhang Siwei sighed and frowned, "The Nanjing Ministry of Criminal Justice has sent officers to ransack Hu Zigao's home. Except for the valuables and valuables in the house, they can get more than 30,000 taels of silver. His cash is only more than 30,000 taels." "He has moved a long time ago, and he is still waiting for you to raid the house?" Zhang Juzheng asked, "Does the Minister of the Household Department, Wang Guoguang, know about this situation?" "He has read the dossier, and he doesn't believe that Hu Zigao's corruption is limited to this amount." "Just this number can also be punished as a felony." "The problem is..." Zhang Siwei hesitated to speak. "What is it?" Zhang Juzheng raised his eyes. "Yesterday, Eunuch Feng sent someone to send a message to his subordinates. He said that although Hu Zigao's punishment is not a death penalty, a life crime cannot be lightly forgiven." "Hey, Eunuch Feng is really good at talking," Zhang Juzheng said with an elusive smile, "On the surface, he meant to punish Hu Zigao severely, but actually he wanted to save his life." "That's right, so I will read Hu Zigao's file again today, sum up his crimes clearly, and then report to the Chief Assistant to see how to deal with it." "If you want to severely punish a corrupt official, it is as difficult as going to heaven," Zhang Juzheng sighed, he tapped his forehead, and continued, "There is nothing to discuss, just according to Mr. Feng's words, living crimes cannot be lightly forgiven. Confiscate Hu Zigao's family property, and personally migrate three thousand miles to guard the frontier, and will never be allowed to return to his hometown." "yes!" Zhang Siwei led the order to withdraw.Zhang Juzheng was sitting alone in the duty room, thinking about the whole story of the "cotton coat incident", when he heard someone shout timidly at the door: "Master Chief Assistant." Zhang Juzheng looked up and saw that it was Liu Pu, the director of Jixianglu, he motioned for him to come in, stared at him and asked: "How did you come?" Liu Pu was full of panic, knelt down and said, "Sir Chief Assistant, Yuniang is gone." "What did you say?" Zhang Juzheng stood up abruptly, and asked repeatedly, "You said Yuniang disappeared, where did she go?" "She came downstairs yesterday afternoon and said she was going to the street to have a look. The younger one didn't dare to stop her, so he let her go. Who knew she would never return. The younger one sent people to look for it, but so far there has been no response." whereabouts." Liu Pu knelt on the ground and stammered incoherently, Zhang Juzheng was so angry and impatient, he stamped his feet and shouted: "Hurry up and go to Jixianglu." About half an hour later, Zhang Juzheng came to Shanweng Tingyu Tower in a hurry, and along the way he stomped on the sedan chair to tell the bearers to hurry up.How could the bearers dare to be negligent, they rushed like arrows along the way.When they arrived at Jixiang Lu, everyone was so tired that they were out of breath and almost collapsed.Zhang Juzheng rushed upstairs, pushed Yuniang's bedroom away, and saw that the Qin and Zheng were still intact, and the incense was still there, but he didn't know where he had gone. "Yu Niang!" Zhang Juzheng shouted loudly, echoing in the bedroom.He sniffed hard with his nose, as if he smelled the unique fragrance of Yu Niang's body. "Yu Niang!" He called softly again, and the only answer was the faint sound of the zither in the void.An ominous omen suddenly rose in his heart, and he remembered that the last time he came here was three days ago.Yuniang still smiled sweetly at him, but she was not as willful and coquettish as before.Since that time when he accidentally slapped Yu Niang, Yu Niang's character has changed a little.Although he repeatedly apologized to Yu Niang, and Yu Niang forgave him, and his playing the piano and composing poems was as tender as before, but he was careful, and he could still feel a little melancholy hidden in Yu Niang's heart.Her confusion about dressing up in the mirror and leaning on the railing in the wind aroused Zhang Juzheng's love for her in every possible way.He knows that this ambiguous relationship between the two is a kind of harm to Yu Niang, and he is about to choose a good date to formally accept Yu Niang as his concubine.However, before he could tell Yuniang about his decision, this charming beauty suddenly left him and disappeared without a trace. Zhang Juzheng's heart was tightly gripped by the pain, he walked to the dressing table with heavy steps, only then did he find a colored note under the powder case.Zhang Juzheng picked it up carefully, and wrote a few lines and a poem on it: Master: This servant learned today that you still killed Shao Daxia.The dead cannot be brought back to life, and the living have no pain in their hearts.It is really difficult to influence the hard-hearted master with the pink and infatuated love of slaves and servants.The slaves are gone, and I wrote a small poem with tears, talking about the tenderness of the slaves: The bitter wind and bitter rain are full of hatred, Go to the slave's house and cry. Once the mandarin mandarin dream becomes a thing of the past, It's hard to talk about grievances and grievances. After reading this piece of paper, Zhang Juzheng was in a daze for a moment, and two muddy tears overflowed from the corners of his eyes.