Qiu Yizi's words were harsh, but to Lin Shuhan, they sounded like a spring breeze. He unfolded his folding fan and gently waved it, saying, "Lin is not a fool. I only said this to Lord Qiu. If Lord Qiu wanted me to die, why would he bother to say this today and kill one thousand enemies but lose eight hundred of his own lives?"
Qiu Yizi waved his hands and said, "Mr. Lin, what are you talking about? When did I want you to die? It's just that the world is not the same as it used to be. It's inevitable that the speaker may not mean it, but the listener may take it seriously. If someone with ulterior motives hears it and uses it to seek credit and reward, it will be bad."
After hearing Qiu Yizhi's sincere words, Lin Shuhan put away his smile and said seriously, "Master Qiu, what you said is the way to protect yourself. I have learned your lesson. But even a poor scholar like me should cherish my life. A pillar of the country like you should know how to be cautious at every step!"
Qiu Yizi laughed at himself and said, "Am I considered a pillar? I would rather be a rotten tree next to a wall of dung and die of old age. But now that I have come to this, I wonder if you have any good ideas to save me?"
Lin Shuhan shook his head and said, "Although I have some talent, I am not a god who can predict the future. The succession of the royal family is always changing rapidly and hard to predict. Today's clever plan may be a bad idea tomorrow. If you want to protect yourself, you have to take one step at a time. However, the four words 'hide your strength and bide your time' will never go wrong no matter when and where it is used."
Qiu Yizhi listened, nodded vigorously, and said: "I was originally just an orphan who was living from day to day, but I didn't expect that one day I would be affected by such a great event. Now I just hope that the emperor can make up his mind as soon as possible, and let the ministers worry less."
Lin Shuhan also nodded and said, "It is said that the power of heaven is unpredictable, and we mortals can only do our best. I only hope that decades later, Mr. Lin and Mr. Qiu, two octogenarians, can still drink and chat happily in my manor."
After hearing this, Qiu Yizi couldn't help but clap his hands and laugh, "Great! Mr. Lin said so many things, but only this one has a hint of joy." As he spoke, he raised the teacup in front of him and said, "Then I will borrow flowers to offer to Buddha and use tea instead of wine to toast you first!"
After hearing this, Lin Shuhan smiled, raised the tea bowl in front of him, and drank it all in one gulp.
Speaking of which, Zheng Xin is indeed not a person of mediocre talent.
He saw that there were 284 officials involved in corruption in Jiangnan, and a total of 107 cases, which were really vast and complicated. So he specially transferred officials and clerks who were familiar with the laws and cases from the Ministry of Justice, which he was in charge of, and simply worked hard in Jiangnan, investigating cases and reading files day and night.
When Zheng Xin sentenced the officials involved in the case, he mostly punished them according to the severity of their crimes in accordance with the laws of the Han Dynasty.
Although there were one or two cases where the convictions were obviously too light, other people thought that these people had a history with the prince and he was given leniency outside the law - this kind of thing was common in the officialdom, and no one would think of it as forming a clique for personal gain - so Zheng Xin was able to convince the public when handling these cases.
In addition, when Zheng Xin was handling these 100 corruption cases, he also cleared up some old cases in the prefectures and counties, redressing the grievances and revenges for many people. Therefore, Zheng Xin's reputation among the people grew day by day, and he even had the reputation of "the great justice".
When Zheng Xin heard about these things, this nobleman, who was born with a bit of "ambition" in his bones, became even happier and he tried the case with even greater enthusiasm.
In a short period of time, the prison of Jiangnan Prefecture was filled with prisoners of all levels, and the officials who were put in shackles and displayed in front of the prefectural government office were shoulder to shoulder and crowded into the gate, causing panic in the officialdom of Jiangnan.
If His Highness Zheng Xin had always been impartial and treated everyone equally, the officials in Jiangnan would naturally have no other thoughts. But this His Highness had a selfish heart, and although there were not many officials who showed mercy, there were some - with countless eyes watching, who could hide it
Therefore, those officials with ulterior motives all thought that the great prince might have a way out. They also heard that Qiu Yizi was also from Youyan Dao, and when he was in court to try the case, the great prince obeyed his orders. Although they didn't know the reason, it was indeed a life-saving straw.
Thanks to their large numbers and good information in Jiangnan, they found out that Qiu Yizi was staying at the manor of "Mr. Bansong" Lin Shuhan.
This really troubled the group of Jiangnan officials - this "Mr. Bansong" Lin Shuhan had always had a reputation for being arrogant and eccentric, and his manor was not accessible to ordinary people; and Qiu Yizi was also a tough guy who dared to lead troops to fight against his two superiors - the door of this small manor was even more difficult to enter.
However, those Jiangnan officials with ulterior motives saw Zheng Xin dealing with the offending officials one by one and their turn was about to come. They had already panicked and felt that giving gifts was better than not giving any gifts. They did not care whether they could meet Qiu Yizi or not. They put the generous gifts they had prepared carefully along with their business cards and piled them at the gate of Lin Shuhan's manor, which was considered as a gift.
Lin Shuhan was always aloof and aloof, and he hated the officialdom's hustle and bustle. Seeing that his carefully prepared manor was blocked by the vulgar gifts prepared by these corrupt officials, he was immediately furious and ordered his servants to throw all the gifts into the Yangtze River.
Qiu Yizhi saw this and said, "Mr. Lin, please don't be so hard on money. These officials have come a long way to send money here. Isn't this just the right way to help you out?"
When Lin Shuhan heard what he said, he remembered that he still had hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to redeem his confidante Wu Ruofei. But he was a man who valued his reputation and was unwilling to use the people's money, so he refused to accept it.
However, Qiu Yizi didn't care so much. He thought about it and came up with a plan. He said, "Since Mr. Lin doesn't want to accept it, then I will accept it! Since I have money, based on my friendship with Mr. Lin, it is only natural for me to lend him hundreds of thousands of taels to help him out of his urgent need. It won't be too late to repay him slowly when he has more money in the future. As for the right and wrong here, I took the money but didn't do anything anyway. Even if I am convicted, I can only be convicted of highway robbery. I absolutely refuse to bear the bad reputation of accepting bribes!"
Although Qiu Yizi's words sounded almost shameless, they were also sincere. If Lin Shuhan continued to be stubborn, it would really disappoint Qiu Yizi's kindness. After thinking for a long time, he finally agreed reluctantly.
Even though these corrupt officials were eager to survive, the wealth they extorted from the people in the fertile land of Jiangnan was extremely generous. In just a few days, Qiu Yizi collected nearly 300,000 taels of silver. Not only did he have the money to redeem Wu Ruofei, but he himself also had more money than ever before.
In this way, Qiu Yizi instantly became rich and had free time.
Since he had already applied for sick leave in advance, he did not have to report to the government office or Qixia Temple every day. Therefore, Qiu Yizi made appointments with his friends to have fun in and around Jinling City every day.
Occasionally, when he was tired of playing, he would go to the provincial government office to take a look, but he saw that the officials and clerks brought by Zheng Xin from the Ministry of Justice were working hard, and there was no place for him, a small seventh-rank county magistrate, to intervene. So he simply gave up his job and did nothing, so as not to disturb Zheng Xin from showing off his skills - he just looked through the case files sent by Zheng Xin every night, so that he could always grasp the progress of the case handling.
After more than ten days of fun, Qiu Yizi finally received an order from Zheng Xin, asking her to come over for a talk. At the end, he said that the matter was urgent and asked Qiu Yizi to come to the meeting even if she was sick.
Since Zheng Xin said so, Qiu Yizi could no longer refuse, so he called Yuchi Jiming and headed all the way to Qixia Temple.
In Qixia Temple, Zheng Xin was admiring flowers beside a pond. He saw Qiu Yizhi coming towards him from afar. Without waiting for Qiu Yizhi to greet him, he smiled and went to greet him, saying, "Brother, you have been ill for a long time. I have been busy with worldly affairs and have no time to visit you. But seeing that you look well, I am relieved."
Qiu Yizhi smiled and said, "I don't have any illness. I've just been too busy these days and wanted to take a break, so I made up a lie to cover it up. How could I fool you, big brother?"
Zheng Xin also smiled and said, "Speaking of which, my dear brother, since we went south together to wipe out the Tianzun Sect rebels two years ago, we haven't had a few days of leisure. It's only natural that you have the rare opportunity to travel around in this land of Six Dynasties..."
He suddenly changed the subject and said, "But there have been some rumors recently, saying that you have received many gifts from the criminal officials, and it is said that you can get some leniency from me, but is it true? Why don't you come to me to plead for the criminal officials?"
Qiu Yizi scratched his head and said, "How could I do something that violates the law? I have been poor since I was a child, so I can't help but be greedy when I see so much money. Besides, this money was plundered by corrupt officials, so I took it because I thought it would not hurt my integrity. Please don't mind, Your Highness."
Zheng Xin laughed out loud and said, "Brother, I have watched you grow up. How could I not know what you are thinking? Look, I have already written a letter to my father about this..."
When Qiu Yizhi heard what he said, he broke out in a cold sweat and stammered, "What...what? Even the emperor knows about this?"
Seeing Qiu Yizi, who usually looked cynical, was so nervous now, Zheng Xin felt a sense of pride and said with a smile on his face, "Don't panic, my dear brother! I told the emperor it as a joke, and the emperor also listened to it as a joke. Look, father even wrote you a note for this matter and asked me to pass it to you!" As he said that, Zheng Xin took out a piece of yellow sealing paper from his arms and handed it to Qiu Yizi.
Qiu Yizhi took a look at it and saw that it said: "Yizhi's approach is very good! In the past, honest officials might refuse bribes, and the bribers would not lose anything even if they failed to get things done. What Yizhi did today can also teach them what it means to 'get nothing with a bamboo basket'. I think these corrupt officials may be more restrained in the future after this lesson."
Although this note was unsigned, it was indeed written by Emperor Zheng Rong himself. However, the handwriting was very relaxed, which was different from his usual meticulous Weibei style. I guess it was written when Zheng Rong was in a good mood.
After reading it, Qiu Yizhi felt relieved. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve and handed the note back to Zheng Xin, saying, "Brother, are you trying to scare me to death?"
Zheng Xin pushed Qiu Yizhi's hand holding the note away and said, "This is written by your father specifically for you. You don't have to return it to me. Just keep it for yourself. But I asked you to come here today because I have something else to discuss with you." (To be continued)