Qidu wanted to enjoy chrysanthemums in September, but because of the drought in Yongcheng, the imperial court still owed part of the monthly salary of the officials. Both inside and outside the palace followed Li Jianting's will and did not hold a banquet for chrysanthemum appreciation. Fuman had originally found someone to grow hundreds of pots of precious chrysanthemums in his own village, but now he doesn't dare to give them away.
At three quarters of Yin Shi Fu Man woke up, rinsed his mouth and changed his clothes under the service of the little eunuch. Eunuchs should serve their masters closely, and they must not have any smell on themselves. Their collars are all fake collars, which can be changed immediately if they get stained with sweat, and their socks and boots are hard velvet socks and boots that make no sound when they walk.
Fuman cleaned up properly, dressed neatly, put his waist badge in front, and stepped out the door. When he saw that there were still stars in the sky, he went to the duty room in front of Mingli Hall and asked the eunuch who served in the dormitory last night: "How did you sleep last night, Your Majesty?"
The eunuchs were having tea and breakfast, and the vigilantes did not dare to eat casually, for fear that they would come out at night, and they were also afraid that they would leave a smell in their mouths, so they only dared to eat some snacks before going in, and they were so hungry right now . Hearing Fuman's question, he quickly lowered his hands and stood respectfully, and replied, "Back to the old ancestor's words, the emperor slept well last night, and turned around four times, but he didn't call a servant."
Fuman counted the time and estimated that Li Jianting should wake up, so he went to the eaves to wait for the summons. He waited for a while, and when Fengquan came out, he just smiled and nodded, which counted as a salute. Fengquan didn't realize it, and saluted him according to the etiquette.
"The emperor wanted to call the old ancestors to serve him last night," Feng Quan bowed and said to Fuman in a slow voice, "old ancestors, double happiness is coming."
Fuman couldn't figure out what medicine was sold in Fengquan's gourd, so he was suspicious, and he didn't dare to answer casually.
After all, without waiting for Fengquan to continue, he took the lead in lifting his robe and entered the Mingli Hall.
The curtains in the dormitory had just been tied, and the windows were wide open. Frost fell early in the morning, and Fuman felt the chill. He walked slowly to the bronze mirror and saw that Li Jianting had finished dressing. In normal times, he would have to praise him at this moment, but he was cautious today and only said, "Your Majesty, breakfast is ready."
Li Jianting's expression was as usual, the flower tin on her forehead pierced her eyes, she helped the gold hairpin, and said, "It's fine."
"The slaves did not dare to forget the emperor's instructions, and specially asked Guanglu Temple to choose the simple ones," Fu Man bowed and supported Li Jianting, "It's just a small roll of gold and silver, jade white tofu."
Li Jianting left the dormitory, and the memorials on the imperial case were newly approved last night, so she re-read the one specially picked out.
"Go back and tell Yuan Fu," Li Jianting opened the small scroll of gold and silver, "please Ann's cabinet will save it and don't have to submit it again. Like this Juexi Liuzhou's You Tan, who wrote the book in a long and verbose way, and it's just that much over and over again. Flattery is a waste of time."
Fuman was serving Li Jianting's meal, and he said with a smile: "Sir You, all the servants have heard of it. It is said that his book is like this. In the early years, the old Haige was not good-looking."
Li Jianting didn't answer, and after finishing his breakfast, he rushed to the morning.
Zaochao mentioned the matter of leaving the north and east, and the Dancheng sentry reported that the Beiyuan school field had increased troops. Before the military information of the Ministry of War was reported, the Ministry of Personnel had a quarrel with the Ministry of Household, and asked the Ministry of Household to quickly pay the monthly salary in arrears. The Ministry of Household was helpless, had no money and couldn't put the matter on Li Jianting, so he could only be scolded silently. Halfway through the scolding, the officials of the Supreme Court impeached the local officials for negligence in control, and within half a month of the new state government in Huaizhou, Huaizhou rioted.
"The deduction of the monthly salary is to help Yongcheng," said the Ministry of Household official. "The national disaster is at the forefront, and we should work together. Your monthly salary has not been paid, and our household monthly salary has not been issued. Everyone is starving. What about us!"
"You have been checking the accounts. You have checked Dancheng and Wucheng. Pan and Han have been copied. Fei in Trent took the lead. Now the rest of the cities are filling up the land tax," the official retorted, "according to the budget at the beginning of the year. Now, the monthly salary is enough. Where is the money, where did it go? I have to give an explanation!"
"The empress dowager drives a crane, the emperor ascends the throne, you ask the Ministry of Rites, where did the money go? The money is used on the edge of the knife! There is also the renovation of the Taimiao, the reconstruction of the residential area, the Ministry of Industry..."
"You talk about monthly salary," the Ministry of Industry official said anxiously, "what are you talking about?"
"We are not afraid of shadows, and the accounts checked are reviewed by the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple, and then reported to the emperor by the cabinet, without any concealment." Liang Luoshan saluted Li Jianting, "Your Majesty, the accounts of the Ministry of Household are submitted to the cabinet every month. , Yuan Fu gave the ticket, the emperor approved it, and every step strictly followed the law and followed the rules..."
"Strictly abide by the law? Lord Chongshen, it's not necessarily true." The Censor of the Ducha Yuan raised his hand and saluted, "Your Majesty, Wei Chen is about to take part in Xue Xiuyi's bribery!"
This shout filled the hall with silence, and the gang of people who had been arguing turned their heads.
Xue Xiuzhuo stood silently among the ministers without moving his eyes.
Li Jianting glanced at Xue Xiuzhuo, paused for a moment, and said, "Isn't Xue Xiuyi now the guardian of the inner warehouse?"
"Returning to the emperor, that's right. This person used to be confused when he was in the Ministry of Household, and he slandered the court many times, and he has never been reused." The emperor granted an amnesty, bribed the eunuchs in the palace with a lot of money, and obtained the position of the neicangdian."
The golden butterfly beside Li Jianting's temple swayed lightly, and she sat up straight.
"Xue Xiuyi made a lot of money in this position, and earned three places in the courtyard of Donglong Street. This person has no shame, and he also cooperated with the eunuch to make false accounts, and the stolen treasures from the inner warehouse were resold for a total price of 200,000 taels!"
The whole hall immediately boiled over. Yongcheng's relief money was only 100,000 yuan, and Xiao Chiye's bribery case involved only 8,000 taels of Quancheng silk in Xian Denian. Who knew that Xue Xiuyi had been in office for less than three months, and he had greedily lost 200,000 yuan. two!
"Shuo, Shuoshu..." The old cabinet minister was dazed for a while.
Li Jianting's expression darkened, Xue Xiuyi reselling 200,000 taels of rare treasures from the inner warehouse, but asked Fuman to report 80,000 taels to himself, and they took all the remaining 120,000 taels.
"Wei ministers also want to attend Dali Temple's young minister Xue Xiuzhuo!" The censor turned his gun and pointed at Xue Xiuzhuo, "Xue Xiuzhuo is domineering and arrogant. The rat entered the warehouse, and Xue Xiuyi was embarrassed to be a traitor, it is really hateful, hateful, and spit to the extreme!"
"You are presumptuous!" Li Jianting shouted suddenly.
The whole hall fell to his knees with a "clatter", and the needles could be heard falling.
Li Jianting got up, turned sideways in front of the throne, pointed at the censor and said: "As a public official, you are responsible for supervising and impeaching hundreds of officials, so you should check and be pragmatic! You know that you control the court's words, but you use this to reprimand your dissidents. Look at you, you're nasty!"
The official rank is not high, but the deterrent power can penetrate from top to bottom. In the early years, Emperor Guangcheng didn't dare to rebuke Yanguan, only to be reprimanded by Yanguan. In Tianchen year, the bastard Li Jianheng was released, and in the bribery case, Fu Linye broke out in order to stabilize the situation. Apart from that, Dazhou has no emperor yet. Dare to offend the officials in court.
Sure enough, the censor immediately said: "The evidence of the minister is conclusive, but the emperor wants to favor the guilty minister, doesn't it mean that he can't distinguish right from wrong, black and white—"
"Xue Xiuzhuo is the emperor's teacher!" Li Jianting said coldly, "How can I allow you to frame my teacher like this?"
Kong Qiu's heart sank, and he exchanged glances with Cen Yu while kneeling.
"Xue Xiuyi is embezzling money and perverting the law. I immediately ordered someone from the Department of Punishment to investigate and deal with it. We must try to understand it as soon as possible. As for Xue Xiuzhuo," Li Jianting walked away, "What you said is all nonsense!"
"Your Majesty," the censor said sadly, "If Xue's family is not eliminated, he will become a partisan! He, Xue Xiuzhuo, is clearly the next Hua Siqian..."
Xue Xiuzhuo buried his head on the ground, and did not speak from the beginning to the end.
* * *
It also started to rain towards evening.
Fengquan was serving outside the Mingli Hall, and he could vaguely hear Kong Qiu's remonstrance inside.
"Although Xue Xiuzhuo is the emperor's teacher, he is involved in Xue Xiuyi's bribery, and he must be suspended pending investigation according to the law," Kong Qiu said.
Li Jianting went down to the court and was silent, no matter how eager Kong Qiu was, she did not answer. Kong Qiu stood up and bowed down. Seeing that Li Jianting did not want to answer, he raised his body and bowed down again.
"I have made up my mind," Li Jianting said, "Yuanfu does not need to persuade him any more. Fengquan, help Yuanfu go down!"
It was drizzling continuously in Qudu, and Fengquan supported Kong Qiu and held an umbrella for him in person. Kong Qiu stepped out of the Mingli Hall, and the strong wind carried a few fallen leaves. He turned a hundred kinds of advice into a sigh, gently pushed the Fengquan away, and did not need an umbrella, and went into the rain alone. Feng Quan hurriedly chased after him with his robe and umbrella, and sent Kong Qiu all the way out.
On the other side, Fuman heard the wind and hurried to Mingli Hall. Before entering the door, he knelt down. As soon as he knelt down, he wiped his tears with his sleeves. He wanted to cry out through the curtain, but before he opened his mouth, a tea cup was violently smashed out of it and fell in front of him, shattering into pieces.
"You are greedy for fame and fame, colluding with the courtiers to steal treasures from the inner warehouse." Li Jianting scolded through the curtain, "Come here, drag this bastard out!"
In the duty room, Fuman listened to Erbaoshen's detailed statement of the early-morning dispute. He knelt on the broken porcelain, propped up on the ground, and kowtowed: "Your Majesty! If the Emperor listens to the servant again, then Xue Xiuyi will be transferred to the Ministry of Officials. What does the recommendation have to do with slaves, slaves, and other despicable people? Your Majesty," he shouted desolately, "What kind of virtues are slaves, how can they be so wronged!"
Li Jianting waved his sleeves and said nothing, as if he was still angry.
Fu Man immediately banged his head and cried, "It's not a pity for slaves and servants to die. Although the emperor is down, but all the masters in the hall are full of poetry and books, how can they abuse slaves and servants like this!"
Xue Xiuyi filial piety to Fuman's things, and Fuman has already been cleaned up. He is usually cautious, and the good goods will not be sent to the palace, they are all hidden in the house in Yedu, and they are looked after by the godsons. Now that something happened, the Ministry of Punishment would definitely investigate him, and when he was in the duty room, he immediately asked someone to inform him.
Li Jianting listened to Fuman's miserable cry, as if he really moved his heart of pity.
Fuman seized the opportunity and was about to sue the Metropolitan Prosecutor's Office for inviting his name, but he saw Fengquan hurried back.
Feng Quan put away his umbrella under the eaves, as if he hadn't seen Fuman's petition, and reported to Li Jianting inside: "Your Majesty, this servant saw several little eunuchs rushing around with flowers on the road, and only after inquiring did she find out that it was for Mingli Hall. of."
Fuman looked familiar to the eunuchs, all of them were holding the most expensive chrysanthemums, and he saw Fengquan standing high, and suddenly felt bad. Li Jianting pulled out the curtain, frowned, and asked, "I told you not to spend time and effort planting these chrysanthemums. Who paid it? The duty room didn't report it."
The eunuch knelt down and kowtowed, and replied, "Report to the emperor, this is Eunuch Fu's order."
Fu Man's five hearts were burned, and he refuted: "On the side of the emperor, you dare to talk nonsense! Today I am on duty, when have I told you such a thing?"
The outer court still owes a monthly salary, and Li Jianting continued the order of Yongcheng, and the palace still pursues thrift, which is a sign of eliminating extravagance. Today, Fuman is torn up with the pirate sale of the inner warehouse again. It is precisely when he is afraid that he will get into trouble. Here, he makes a mournful statement to abandon Xue Xiuyi and become a scapegoat. I don't want to have a sudden change, and I am even more stuck in the Jedi.
"Shut up!" Li Jianting's expression became more and more ugly, and he said to the eunuch in a cold voice, "You tell the truth."
The eunuch said in fear: "Last night, Eunuch Fu sent someone to tell the slaves and servants, saying that the chrysanthemums in Zhuangzi were bought and bought in the Guanglu Temple and sent to the palace. The flowers are precious and must be taken care of well. When the emperor is in court today, they will be sent to Mingli Hall. The emperor relieves the boredom-"
Fuman's hands and feet were cold, and he said sharply in a split second, "You falsely accuse me of white teeth! Since I sent someone, where's the ticket? Where's the brand?"
The eunuch raised his arm to wipe the rain, and when Fu Man drank it, he was so frightened that he almost collapsed on the ground. He said: "...the person here is familiar, yes, the godson of the old ancestor, how dare a slave to ask for a brand."
Fuman was holding the porcelain, his palms were bloody, and when he heard he said there was no brand, he immediately said, "What a bunch of nonsense! I have been serving nobles in the palace for nearly 20 years. Although I am stupid, I know the rules and do errands. Show it to others. Your Majesty, Your Majesty!" He held up his waist placard and walked forward on his knees, watching Li Jianting cry loudly, "Even if the slave girl dies today, she will die with her eyes closed!"
"Your Majesty, the servants also think this is strange," Fengquan lifted his robe and knelt in front of Li Jianting. "Eunuch Fu is in charge of internal affairs and is the emperor's confidant. We mustn't let people frame him for this, we have to find out." He looked at Fu Man, "Why don't we call the 'god son' who passed on the father's message to the imperial front and let the emperor take a look?"
Fuman saw the sneer on that handsome face, Li Jianting didn't wait for Fuman to reply, and said to the guard: "Go, get the son of the ancestor."
She pronounced the word "old ancestor" very seriously, which made Fuman feel cold.
In less than a moment, the guards brought people to the front of the hall. The rain washed over the steps, and the god-son buried his head in the rain, trembling all over.
Li Jianting couldn't see clearly and said, "You raise your face."
He whimpered in his throat, as if frightened, and shook his head frantically against the ground. The guard next to him squeezed his shoulders and lifted his head.
Li Jianting didn't recognize it, but the little eunuch in the rain said, "It's him, the emperor, the father-in-law Yingxi!"
"Tianchen's New Year's Eunuch welcomes you," Fengquan reminded Li Jianting in a whisper, "I was imprisoned in the capital by King Donglie, and I have already been imprisoned in the Prison of the Ministry of Justice."
Fuman looked at Yingxi in astonishment, and when the guards approached, he seemed to wake up.
Greetings rubbed against the ground and whistled. He clawed on the ground, choking and crying: "Ancestor, Ancestor, save my son!"
Li Jianting pulled away the skirt that Fuman touched, looked at him, and said, "You are so capable, you can also fish out the eunuchs who have been convicted by the Ministry of Punishment. As expected, they are the 'old ancestors' that thousands of people rely on. "
Blessed and cold, he knew that this was a dead end, he read: "Emperor, emperor, beg the emperor to remember the old love..."
"You and I are just masters and servants of the deep palace," Li Jianting said. "Where is the old relationship? I lift you up, but you are not grateful. You have made such a big mistake, and it is not a loss for me to kill you."
The guards dragged Fuman, and Fuman's round neck restrained his neck. He panicked, kicked his legs and struggled: "Your Majesty! Your Majesty—"
Fengquan winked at Konoe, who immediately blocked Fukuman's mouth and dragged him out as fast as he could.
* * *
"No seizures?" Shen Zechuan looked back and glanced at Fei Sheng.
Fei Sheng nodded and said, "It is said that the empress scolded the imperial censor in the courtroom, which has already caused a lot of trouble. Master, didn't she reward Jiang Qingshan before because she wanted to fight with Xue Xiuzhuo in the arena? How could she become a teacher again after such a good opportunity? Are you in love?"
Shen Zechuan stared at the bright mirror, and the jade bead in his right ear was dark and unclear. He pondered for a moment and said, "I still underestimate the Empress."
Yao Wenyu watched the raindrops tick from under the eaves, and suddenly waved his arm to remove the full board of chess pieces. The black and white chess pieces suddenly splashed into the rain, and were soon covered up by the ripples. The smell in his throat was sweet, he coughed a few times, and said: "If the wood is beautiful in the forest, the wind will urge it; if it piles up on the shore, the current will rush it." I want to abolish Xue Xiuzhuo."
The author has something to say: ①: Selected from Li Kang's "Theory of Destiny"