After being blocked by Zhongli Kuang, Lin Shuhan didn't give up. Suddenly he had a plan in mind and turned to look for Zheng Hua, the king of Heluo who followed the emperor south.
Zheng Hua has always kept a low profile and ignored government affairs. After arriving in Jiangnan, he certainly would not participate in military and government affairs. Instead, he found a group of so-called Jiangnan talents to travel around the mountains and rivers every day, which could be regarded as a happy life. Therefore, when he heard that "Mr. Bansong" Lin Shuhan was visiting, he immediately became interested and went out to greet him personally as the emperor's younger brother.
After welcoming Lin Shuhan into the study, he dismissed him and began to talk about poetry, calligraphy and painting.
Lin Shuhan, however, was not at all interested in chatting with Zheng Hua, King of Heluo. After telling Zheng Hua about Qiu Yizhi, he asked Zheng Hua to come forward and report Qiu Yizhi's protection.
Zheng Hua is a sensible person and knows that the emperor will not easily punish Qiu Yi for ordinary mistakes due to his status and merit. Being imprisoned by the emperor today must have committed a heinous crime.
Originally, due to Zheng Hua's nature, he was unwilling to participate in such a shocking event. However, Lin Shuhan was determined to rescue Qiu Yizhi and promised that if Zheng Hua helped, he would hand-copy a copy of "The Analects of Confucius" for Zheng Hua and Carve a seal.
In Zheng Hua's eyes, these two things are priceless treasures. After weighing the balance, he simply asked his subordinates to take out the Hu pen, Duan inkstone, Hui ink, and rice paper, and asked Lin Shuhan to copy them here. He immediately went to the emperor to protect the Qiu Yi. Of.
However, the emperor's anger was still lingering. Zheng Hua ran over rashly. Apart from spraying a hard nail, he only got back a reprimand from the emperor: "You can just enjoy the scenery and recite poems in the south of the Yangtze River. This kind of thing is not yours." It can be blended in." Then he returned to his residence in despair.
At this time, Lin Shuhan only copied the Analects from "Xueer No. 1" to "Yong Ye No. 6". Seeing that Zheng Hua's face was gloomy without any joy when he came back, he knew that the matter was not done, so he had to keep this half. The Analects of Confucius was with Zheng Hua, so he said goodbye and went back.
Both of these people were in trouble, and even the resourceful Lin Shuhan didn't know how to rescue Qiu Yizhi. After thinking about it, apart from writing a letter in his own hand and sending it to Zheng Miao, who was supervising the country in Luoyang, the capital, asking the third prince, who had a close relationship with Qiu Yizhi, to speak as a guarantee, he could only sit in his study and let the situation go. Just development.
While Lin Shuhan was running up and down outside, looking for a way to rescue Qiu Yizhi, Qiu Yizhi himself was as calm as water.
Originally, Qiu Yizhi's identity was here. Even if he committed a crime, he would not be thrown into prison. Instead, an official from the Ministry of Punishment would choose a secluded house or a Buddhist temple to put him under house arrest. However, this time the emperor personally issued the decree, and the officials of the Ministry of Punishment did not dare to make their own decisions. They could only follow the emperor's imperial decree and lock Qiu Yizhi in the prison of Jiangnan Daofu Yamen.
Even so, with the personal instructions of Prime Minister Zhongli Kuang and the personal care of Yuchi Lianghong in the Ministry of Punishments, Qiu Yizhi did not suffer at all in the cell - the Thirty-Six Stratagems of Killing Power Stick at the entrance were naturally avoided. Even though the cell leader was too timid, he did not dare to make things difficult or torture him. His food and daily life were very comfortable. Even the single cell where he lived was cleaned twice a day by dedicated personnel.
Compared with scheming outside and walking on thin ice, Qiu Yi felt much more at ease in this airtight cell. But facing the four solid walls made of blue bricks, he was really bored, so he started I got a book list and asked the prison boss to go out and buy it.
Since Qiu Yizhi came between the big businessman Zhou Cijing and the old ship owner Li Zhi, he has been at odds with each other, and his monthly income is more than ten thousand taels of silver. Although the emperor imprisoned him, he did not order the search and seizure of his home. He was really rich. Oily flow. So far, Lin Shuhan, as Qiu Yizhi's adviser, has spent the money very generously, and because of Yuchi Lianghong's reputation, he has taken care of all the cell leaders and jailers up and down, inside and outside. Of course there is nothing difficult about purchasing a few books. To put it bluntly, even if Qiu Yizhi wanted to see an oiran from a brothel by the Qinhuai River, the prison boss would find a way to send him in.
In this way, Qiu Yizhi stayed in the cell in a daze. As usual, he slept until he woke up naturally every day. After a good meal, he practiced a set of boxing techniques taught by Yuchi Lianghong in the cell, skimmed the books, and had a full meal after lunch. After a good night's sleep, he woke up and read, ate, and slept again. As a result, he was much fatter than when he was in prison.
In this way, Qiu Yizhi was imprisoned for more than half a month, and in the blink of an eye it was mid-spring and early summer.
The weather in Jiangnan is hot. At this time, the climate is already very sultry, and it is even more unbearable in the airtight cell.
There were no polite people in this prison. Qiu Yizhi simply took off his clothes and pants, leaving his arms bare and only wearing a pair of loose pants. He piled the bedding on the bed into a corner of the bed, crossed his legs and held a cup in his hands. Reading this book.
He was reading engrossed when he suddenly heard someone scolding him outside the cell door: "Yi Zhi, how can you behave like this?"
Qiu Yizhi was stunned by these words, hurriedly rolled out of bed, bent down to pick up the robe that was thrown on the ground, and put it on in a hurry. Then he cupped his hands towards the door and said, "This is what the master taught you. "
It turned out that Zhongli Kuang, who was the prime minister of the dynasty, came to visit the prison.
Zhongli Kuang came alone, and the cold temperament he exuded still made others feel an inch shorter. He pursed his lips and said to the prison guard standing behind him, "Open the door. I want to talk to him. You all should stay away. If you dare to eavesdrop, be careful!"
The old man quickly picked out a key from a bunch of keys on his waist, opened the door with a trembling voice, turned around and walked away. The cell leader was walking in such a hurry that he even forgot the bunch of keys on the door and did not take them away.
Seeing this, Zhongli Kuang shook his head, called the old man back, and said with a sullen face: "You don't even want the key? How did you become the cell leader? Go down and go to your boss. Say it’s me who said it, and you’ll be fined for three months, do you understand?”
When the cell leader heard Zhongli Kuang telling him to leave, he seemed to have forgotten the fact that he had been punished, and actually stepped back with gratitude, as if he had just experienced a great ordeal and escaped death.
Zhongli Kuang closed the door himself, and when he turned around and saw Qiu Yizhi still arranging his clothes, he said, "Yizhi, do you know? The Central Plains was called 'Huaxia' in ancient times. One of the characters 'Xia' refers to the vast territory, and the other word 'Hua' The word talks about being well-dressed. How can you be so disheveled as a court official?"
Qiu Yizhi had been informal since he was a child. He had experienced this many times when Zhongli Kuang scolded him in person for trivial matters. Although he didn't take it to heart, he admitted his mistake: "The student knows he was wrong. But Seeing that it is very hot and stuffy in this prison, and there is no need to worry about other people's opinions, I just let myself go wild."
Zhongli Kuang shook his head, walked to sit down next to his adopted son, and said, "You think you are high in the sky and the emperor is far away, and you have done so many lawless and reckless things that you are in jail today. After such an experience What a disaster, don’t you still understand the principle of ‘a gentleman should be cautious about independence’?”
Qiu Yizhi thought that he was determined not to lead troops and serve as an official, so he offended the emperor, which made him angry and led to his imprisonment. However, Zhongli Kuang's words woke him up like a shock - if he had not done those things at the beginning If something happened, then the emperor would not be able to catch himself, and there would be no reason to arrest him...
Thinking of this, Qiu Yizhi hurriedly bowed deeply to Zhongli Kuang and said, "Yizhi is really a fool. If he could have realized this meaning earlier, how could he have fallen to this point."
Zhongli Kuang did not answer, but changed the topic and said, "I know what you are thinking. After you become famous, being able to retire to the mountains and forests, study and farm, is a good destination. It is better than those who scheming in the court and eating nothing. It's better to be stronger. But since you intend to do this, you should hide your strength and bide your time. If you show your strength, there will be no way out. "
Qiu Yizhi sighed and said: "Yu Chi Lianghong often told his students that 'when people are in the world, they can't help themselves'. In fact, 'when people are in temples', it's the same as 'people can't help themselves'. When some things come to the students' eyes, they can't help themselves." I have to take care of it, but I really can’t pretend to be deaf or dumb!”
After hearing this, Zhongli Kuang sighed even more deeply than Qiu Yizhi and said: "You have such thoughts... Sigh... It is your misfortune, but it is also the blessing of the court. It seems that you may not be able to live in the mountains and forests in this life. I am destined to serve the imperial court for the rest of my life."
When Qiu Yizhi heard this, he suddenly found that Zhongli Kuang was trying to persuade him to become an official every word of his sentence. He was immediately unhappy. However, due to his awe for Zhongli Kuang, he did not get angry and just said: "After this turmoil, if the emperor asks me to become an official again, the students will no longer dare to refuse. It's just that the students are not talented and have little knowledge, and they are exhausted. I am afraid that if I can't be a high official like commanding Youyan and Lingnan, I will betray the emperor's trust. ”
Unexpectedly, Zhongli Kuang changed the topic again and said: "Yi Zhi, the officials of the imperial court are generally divided into several categories, do you know?"
Qiu Yizhi was stunned after hearing this, thought for a moment, and said: "It's hard to distinguish. It can be classified by civil servants and military generals, high and low grades, capital officials and local officials, imperial examination officials and miscellaneous officials by origin, etc... "
Zhongli Kuang shook his head: "These classifications don't even get to the point. I think they are just divided into these types. One is the junior official who has just entered the officialdom. All he thinks about is how to become famous and get ahead, but He also doesn't know the rules of officialdom. He wants to do things but is afraid of doing the wrong things, so he is disrespectful and cautious all the time.
"One is the officials who came from the old Prince Youyan's palace. These people know that they are the direct descendants of the emperor. They can get promotions and titles just based on their birth status and qualifications. Therefore, they usually do things without seeking faults and not seeking merit. Now look at it. Although this kind of people are loyal, they have more than enough harvest but not enough development.
"One type is the old officials who have been around for a long time. They are more or less familiar with some of the methods of running the court, but they also know that it is difficult for them to advance further at their age, so they are either ignorant or corrupt and bend the law. The most disgusting group of officials is this group of officials.
"There is also a kind of bureaucrat who is a very humane minister. These people have gone through many hardships in the officialdom to get to this point. However, they are in a high position, with countless eyes staring at them below, and there are British masters like the current emperor watching above. He is also walking on thin ice like a new official."
Qiu Yizhi listened to Zhongli Kuang's vivid outline of all the officialdom in just a few words. He couldn't help but marveled at the case, but fell into deep thought again. After a while, he asked: "Master, what kind of student should be classified as this?" Woolen cloth?"
Zhongli Kuang nodded: "You can ask such a question, which shows that you are a child who can be taught. As for classification, you are the only one in this world, Qiu Yi, who does not fall into any category. You do not seek promotion or wealth. , and will not form cliques for personal gain, and are not even afraid of being punished by national laws if they make mistakes. Cheng is an outlier."