Qiu Yizhi had been to the imperial city more than once when Zheng Rong was still the King of Youyan. However, he had a strong purpose in those visits, and he would leave in a hurry after finishing his business in a certain place. Therefore, he was not very familiar with the roads and terrain in the imperial city.
So Qiu Yizi followed Zheng Xin and Zhongli Kuang closely and walked all the way into the depths of the palace.
After passing through countless magnificent, tall and majestic palaces, the three finally stopped in front of a slightly shabby hut.
Qiu Yizhi looked up at the thatched cottage. It was no different from ordinary country folks' houses, except that it was slightly larger and the thatched roof was a little more neat. On the plaque of the cottage, there were three large characters written in a dignified manner: "Shu Li Dian".
It turns out that before Emperor Taizu of this dynasty, Zheng Bangxian, started his business, he was just a farmer. Unable to bear the tyranny of the previous dynasty, he rose up and established the foundation of the Han Dynasty. After his success, Emperor Taizu specially built a thatched house in the imperial city in the same style as the humble house he lived in at the beginning, and named it "Shuli Hall" with his own handwriting, which means "common people". He also specially ordered his descendants to work and meet people in this hall in the future, so as not to forget the difficulties of their ancestors in starting their business and the hardships of the people's lives.
Although the current emperor Zheng Rong came to the throne illegitimately, he is also the legitimate descendant of the Zheng family and dares not disobey the will of Emperor Taizu. After he succeeded to the throne, he ordered people to tidy up the "Shuli Palace" and used it as his daily office as usual.
This incident was an example of the Han emperor's diligence and love for the people. It was widely circulated in the court, and even the old farmers in the countryside knew about it - despite the emperor's noble status, he lived in the same house as themselves.
Therefore, when Qiu Yizi saw the three words "Shuli Palace" from afar, he knew that the current emperor, his adoptive father Zheng Rong, was in this palace. He quickly tidied his clothes, acted extremely respectful, followed Zheng Xin and Zhongli Kuang, and walked into the Shuli Palace with his neck shrunk.
However, Zheng Rong was not in this hall. He asked the eunuch who was serving there, and he was told that the emperor felt the hall was too stuffy and hot, so he ordered people to build a shed in the small courtyard behind the hall and temporarily work in the shed.
So Zhongli Kuang and the other three hurriedly left the Shuli Hall, walked around for a while, and as expected, they saw Zheng Rong sitting behind a table in the shed behind the hall, reviewing a mountain of memorials one by one.
Seeing this, Zhongli Kuang and Zheng Xin hurried forward and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, we pay our respects to you!"
Zheng Rong asked without even looking up, "All of you please excuse yourself! Didn't you say you would come to see me at 3 p.m.? Why are you half an hour late? Did Zheng Xin get delayed by something?"
Zheng Xin did not argue when he heard this, but smiled and said, "Father, look who's here?"
Zheng Rong then raised his head and saw a not-so-tall but very familiar figure kneeling beside Zhong Li Kuang. He took a closer look and saw that it was his adopted son Qiu Yizhi. He was immediately surprised and delighted. He put away the memorial in his hand, stood up and walked to Qiu Yizhi, helped him up with both hands, and asked, "Yizhi, why are you here?"
Qiu Yizi looked up and saw that Zheng Rong was still as vigorous as ever, but his brows showed a hint of worry. She said distressedly, "It's only been a few days. How come godfather has lost so much weight?"
Zheng Rong was stunned after hearing this. When Qiu Yizhi stood up, he turned to Zhongli Kuang and Zheng Xin and said, "I have been in good spirits these days and have not been ill. Has my complexion really become ugly?"
Zhongli Kuang bowed hurriedly and said, "We see His Majesty every day, but we really can't see any changes. Perhaps His Majesty is really too busy with government affairs and has lost some of his energy. Yizhi hasn't seen him for several months and then noticed something strange." He bowed again and said, "This is also the fault of our ministers for not assisting you well. Please order your Majesty to punish us."
Zheng Rong waved his hand and said, "Everyone wants to be an emperor, but only after becoming one do you realize how difficult it is. When I was a vassal king in Youyan Dao, I had a lot of military and government affairs to deal with every day. But compared to now, my life is more than ten times more relaxed!"
After Zheng Rong ascended the throne, he often complained to his ministers about the emperor's hard work. In addition to establishing his reputation as a diligent official among the ministers, he also implied that the court officials should learn from him. This was originally Zhongli Kuang's strategy, to reverse the decadent trend of the Han Dynasty by such small things.
Zhongli Kuang then bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty is diligent in government and loves the people, which is rare in ancient and modern times. Although we are stupid, we should take Your Majesty as a role model, be loyal and hardworking, and live up to Your Majesty's love for the people."
Zheng Xin also knelt down and kowtowed a few times, but he said in a unique way: "I know what your Majesty is thinking. However, your Majesty's health is the most important thing in the world. You can't worry too much, so as not to damage the foundation of the Han Dynasty. In my opinion, if it is those trivial matters, your Majesty can leave them to your son and others to handle."
Zheng Rong was very pleased to hear this. He smiled and asked several people to stand up. He also asked the eunuchs to bring three chairs over and allowed several people to sit down. He then asked Qiu Yizhi: "I just asked you why you came back to the capital? You haven't answered me yet."
Qiu Yizhi hurriedly leaned forward in his seat and said, "Yizhi originally had a difficult case in the county and wanted to come to the capital to seek advice from the emperor. However, I just saw the emperor's letter. My case is really trivial and not worth disturbing the emperor."
Zheng Rong laughed and said, "Qiu Yizi has always been a man who speaks his mind. How come you have only been a county magistrate for a few months and you have already started to speak empty words like those in the officialdom? If you say so, then don't talk to me in the future. There are at least 8,000, if not 10,000, such polite words in the court."
Qiu Yizhi was startled when he heard this. He looked up and saw that Zheng Rong's face was not angry at all, but smiling. He finally plucked up the courage to say, "Since the emperor said so, then Yizhi will obey the order. I remember when I first arrived in Shanyin County and entered the county government, a woman complained in the street, saying that..."
Therefore, Qiu Yizi told Zheng Rong about the complaint received from Yang Qiaoer, the late-night capture of Li Shenshi who intended to silence him, and the all-night interrogation and confrontation.
He talked for a whole cup of tea, and Zheng Rong's face was full of gloom. He also felt dry in the mouth and couldn't help licking his dry and cracked lips with his tongue.
Seeing this, Zheng Rong angrily ordered the two eunuchs beside him: "Are you all blind? Why don't you serve tea to the masters?"
The two eunuchs were frightened when they heard this and hurriedly brought up three bowls of tea.
Qiu Yizi took the tea bowl, took a sip to moisten his throat, and then continued: "According to Li Shenshi's confession, I went to the 'Liaochen Palace' to investigate the case, and unexpectedly found a murder den."
Therefore, Qiu Yizi told Zheng Rong in vivid detail how he almost died at the hands of "Mr. Miaozhen" and how he was rescued from the gates of hell by Yuchi Jiming.
After hearing this, Zheng Rong couldn't help but clapped his hands and exclaimed, "Great! What a great Yuchi Jiming! She is so young and a woman, but she has such ability. It just proves the sayings 'Heroes have always been young' and 'Women are as capable as men'. If I have the chance to meet her, I will definitely reward her handsomely. And Yuchi Lianghong has made an invaluable contribution to raising such a daughter. I will reward him with a good Japanese sword."
Qiu Yizi bowed and said, "I would like to thank the emperor for his grace on behalf of my brother. I will also thank him in person when I have time."
He brought the conversation back to the point, saying, "After all these twists and turns, I knew there must be something fishy going on in this 'Liaochen Palace', so I searched it carefully and unexpectedly dug out twelve more corpses. Yizhi then realized that this was a rare and important case, so he brought the demon Taoist Miaozhen to trial early the next morning to find out the truth of the case..."
As he spoke, Qiu Yizi took out the case report that was originally rejected by the prefect Cai Min and the governor Yin Chengliang from his arms, and handed it to Zheng Rong with both hands.
Zheng Rong took the document and read it very carefully while listening to Qiu Yizi's explanation. He read until the end and suddenly read out loud: "For such a treacherous and evil person, the only way is to punish him with the legal punishment and death by slow slicing. Otherwise, it will not be enough to respond to the people's sincere filial piety and brotherhood; it will not be enough to deter the bureaucrats from being lazy and incompetent; it will not be enough to repay the emperor's intention to reorganize the government. The crime of us, the bureaucrats in the south of the Yangtze River, will be the same as Miao Zhen's!" - These are the last few sentences of Qiu Yizi's article.
Zheng Rong said, "You wrote these few sentences very well! I think I'll give them to your Master Zhongli to polish a few sentences. Then they can be used as my edict, published in the official newspaper, and distributed throughout the country."
Qiu Yizi hurriedly said a few words humbly: "These are just some of my heartfelt words. How can I stand such false praise from the emperor?"
Zhongli Kuang said coldly: "The official articles nowadays are full of gorgeous words, but there is no sincerity in them. It's really boring. In my humble opinion, they should be sent to the Hanlin Academy first, so that those corrupt scholars can take a good look at them. In the future, the court should follow this style of writing."
Zheng Rong praised: "Okay, sir, what you said is what an old minister should say for the country. Let's do it this way."
Seeing that Qiu Yizhi and Zhongli Kuang had both won the prize, Zheng Xin bowed and said, "I have just read Yizhi's article. But there is one thing I don't understand. Although this case is serious, it has been thoroughly investigated, and there are witnesses and evidence. The criminal has confessed. Why are the state and provincial governments still holding back on the case? I think there must be something behind this, the prefecture governor Cai Min and Yin Chengliang."
Zheng Rong's eyebrows, which had just relaxed a little, frowned again when he heard this, and he asked Qiu Yizi, "This is indeed strange. What is the reason? Do you have any idea?"
Qiu Yizhi bowed and said, "Yizhi knows a little bit, but this matter may involve a huge scandal in the entire Jiangnan officialdom. I thought that even if these officials are shameless, the court still has to maintain some dignity, so I didn't dare to explain it in detail at Mr. Zhongli's house just now."
He paused, and then said, "Since His Majesty wants to ask, Yizhi naturally dare not hide it. But can you ask the eunuchs around the emperor to step aside for a moment?"
Zheng Rong frowned and listened to Qiu Yizhi's words, then said: "You are right. The eunuchs around me are all villains, and we must be most wary of them."
After that, he glanced coldly at the eunuchs beside him and said, "Did you all hear that? Why don't you leave immediately? If you think your neck is stronger than my sword, you can go outside and eavesdrop!"
Several eunuchs were frightened by Zheng Rong's words. They were speechless and could not utter a word. They stumbled back.
Zheng Rong saw that there were only Zhongli Kuang, Zheng Xin, Qiu Yizhi and himself in his sight, so he said to Qiu Yizhi: "There are no outsiders now, Yizhi, feel free to say whatever you want to say." (To be continued)