It was noon, the sun was shining brightly, and the sky was cloudless. The entire capital city was illuminated by the dazzling sunlight, cleansing all the darkness.
More than half an hour had passed since Zhu Ping'an was escorted to Shuntian Prefecture by Gao Botai and others. After more than half an hour of verbal battles, both sides rang the gong to withdraw their troops and return to the camp.
On the main road in front of the Shuntian Prefecture government office, Zhu Ping'an and Gao Botai, each with their own thoughts, stood opposite each other, appearing to be in harmony on the surface.
"Alas, today is all misunderstanding. It's all my fault that my subordinates didn't do their job well and misled me, causing Lord Zhu to suffer injustice. I feel extremely guilty. When I return to the yamen, I will severely punish these unreliable bastards. And my rebellious son, I will also teach him a lesson when I return. Of course, I can't escape the blame for not being strict with my subordinates and not educating my children well. Lord Zhu, please give me a chance. I will definitely hold a banquet to apologize to you someday. Please do me a favor."
Before leaving, Gao Botai said this with his hands clasped. He seemed very sincere, but he was still shirking responsibility in his words.
"No need for wine."
Zhu Ping'an curled the corner of his mouth, waved his hand, turned and left, seeming to be unwilling but helpless.
Watching Zhu Ping'an turn and leave, Gao Botai took a deep breath, recalling Zhu Ping'an's unwilling but helpless expression. A complacent smile gradually appeared on Gao Botai's sincere face.
Gao Botai knew that he was actually at a disadvantage in the verbal battle just now and was in a very dangerous situation. Fortunately, he deliberately revealed and emphasized his relationship with Yan Shifan many times, which made Zhu Pingan feel wary and unwilling, but helpless.
The relationship between him and Yan Shifan, Young Prime Minister Yan, is not just an ordinary one, but a very close relative.
My own aunt entered the Yan residence last year and became Yan Shifan's concubine. It didn't have any impact at first, but as luck would have it, last month my aunt was found to be pregnant and she was promoted to a concubine.
Otherwise, he would not have been able to fill the vacancy in the West City Military Department.
Gao Botai believed that it was because he emphasized this relationship that Zhu Pingan felt unwilling but helpless.
"Haha, it's easy to be an official if you have someone in the court. Even if you, Zhu Ping'an, are a higher official, what can you do to me..."
On the way back home, Gao Botai couldn't help but feel lucky again and again that he had established a relationship with Yan Shifan. Otherwise, he, Zhu Pingan...
Thinking of Zhu Ping'an, Gao Botai was still feeling frightened and turned his head to look back at Zhu Ping'an's departing back.
Zhu Ping'an's steps seemed to be very hurried and he looked a bit embarrassed.
Looking at Zhu Ping'an's hurried and embarrassed back, Gao Botai seemed to be able to see his unwilling yet helpless face.
Then, Gao Botai's remaining fear suddenly dissipated, and a smile of relief quietly appeared on his face:
It is nice to take shelter under a big tree;
It is easy to be an official if you have someone in the court...
In Gao Botai's eyes, Zhu Ping'an left in a hurry and in a panic. Actually, he left very quickly, but not in a hurry, nor in a panic.
Why
Because Zhu Ping'an was in a hurry to go back and write a memorial.
For officials like Gao Botai, every day he exists means one more day of risk for the people!
In order to return to Linhuai Marquis Mansion as soon as possible to draft the memorial, Zhu Ping'an did not even go to Zhuji. He just bought two buns on the way back and ate them while walking.
In fact, it was possible to buy paper in a bookstore and write the memorial on the spot, but for reasons of confidentiality and safety, and also because Linhuai Marquis Mansion was not far from Shuntian Prefecture Yamen, Zhu Ping'an chose to return to Linhuai Marquis Mansion to draft the memorial.
After returning to Linhuai Marquis Mansion, Zhu Ping'an did not tell Li Shu what happened today in order to avoid her worrying her. Instead, he flirted with Li Shu as usual, and then went into the study amid Li Shu's coquettish voice.
After entering the study, Zhu Ping'an folded a piece of rice paper into the shape of a memorial, then picked up a pen and wrote a square character "奏" (meaning "zou") on the first page of the memorial.
On the second side, he wrote his official title and name neatly, then put down his brush temporarily and began to think.
Although time is tight, the content of the memorial is crucial and cannot be handled carelessly.
After thinking for a moment, Zhu Ping'an started to write again. He planned to refer to the writing style of Ouyang Yijing, a famous Ming Dynasty writer who cursed gods, and combine it with the memorial of Chen Ru, the left vice minister of the Ministry of Justice, who would inspect the military farms in Xuanfu and Datong three years later, to write today's memorial.
The last and most glorious battle of the future Ming Dynasty's No. 1 curser was against Gao Gong, the then chief minister of the cabinet. Ouyang wrote a memorial to the emperor, enumerating all the evil deeds of Gao Gong. The highlight was that he compared Gao Gong with Cai Jing, a famous treacherous minister in history, saying that Gao Gong was even worse than the treacherous Cai Jing, which immediately incited the entire court and the country.
The devastating power of this memorial was so great that even Gao Gong could not withstand it. Seeing that the situation was not right, Gao Gong voluntarily resigned and went home to retire.
One can imagine the destructive power of the writing style that insults God.
In his memorial, Zhu Ping'an referred to Ouyang Yijing's memorial criticizing Gao Gong, and further escalated it. In the memorial, he compared Gao Botai's behavior today with the behavior of the treacherous minister Zhao Gao in history who called a deer a horse, and the behavior of the treacherous minister Qin Hui in the Southern Song Dynasty who made false accusations. He said that Gao Botai's behavior of falsely accusing himself of being a thief today was even worse than Zhao Gao's behavior of calling a deer a horse and Qin Hui's false accusations.
When you are in the palace, the pot will come from the sky.
The world is clear and there is no evidence at all. Gao Botai is so bold as to make a judgment without any evidence and blatantly accuses Shangguan of being a thief!
If even the superiors are like this, what can ordinary people do? !
In this way, after finishing the first half of the memorial, Zhu Ping'an continued with the words "What can ordinary people do" from the first half and started a new line to write the second half of the memorial.
"Ordinary people are in deep trouble!"
With this as an introduction, Zhu Ping'an disclosed Gao Botai's act of occupying military farms, and based on the memorial from Chen Rufu, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice, he polished the text with Ouyang Yijing-like words.
After writing the memorial, Zhu Ping'an wrote "Respectfully requesting your approval" at the end of it, noted the year, month, day, name and official position, and stamped it with his official seal.
After finishing, Zhu Ping'an blew gently with his mouth to speed up the drying of the ink and seal on the memorial, then put the memorial in his arms and pushed the door open to leave.
Li Shu was not in the courtyard. Zhu Ping'an listened to Huaer's explanation and said that the eldest daughter of Linhuai Marquis' Mansion was wronged in her natal family and just came to Linhuai Marquis' Mansion in a fit of anger. Li Shu and other sisters were called by the old lady to accompany the eldest daughter to relax.
I can't get involved in the affairs of the rear house.
Zhu Ping'an nodded when he heard this, and told Hua'er that he was going to Zhu's and asked her to tell Li Shu when she came back. Also, she didn't have to prepare her own lunch at noon.
After saying this, Zhu Ping'an left Jingxiang Garden, went to the stable to get his black horse, rode out of the mansion, and went straight to deliver the memorial.