Qu Zixi was about to set off to meet the emperor, and only brought his personal entourage, leaving the subordinates of the Censor Terrace in the city.
Everyone saw him off, and Nan Zhijin was among them, calmly, without the slightest panic.
Qu Zixi felt impulsive, and really wanted to order Nan Zhijin to be tied up and taken to see the emperor together, but he held back, called Nan Zhijin aside by himself, and said in a low voice, "Do you understand how sinful this is? "
Nan Zhijin cupped his hands and said, "You can't have both, let the emperor go further and further down the wrong path, and see the Great Chu court torn apart. What you do, I believe that Lord Qu will be a virtuous prime minister through the ages. As a prime minister, you need not only the trust of Your Majesty, but also the support and cooperation of your colleagues. Please go on the road and tell His Majesty all the truth. After this matter, Your Majesty is right Your lord will have no more doubts."
"All the truth? The Ministry of War acquiesced to Yankang to get rid of General Louchuan, and you secretly interfered in the affairs of the state. Are these truths also revealed?"
Nan Zhijin smiled and said, "Who can stop your lord? It doesn't matter if you are a humble post. It's just an extra crime on top of the death penalty. As for the Ministry of War - a low post, I believe that you have your own choice, and it is the most correct choice."
Exposing the Ministry of War means collecting a lot of evidence and offending a large number of colleagues. For Qu Zixi, it is not worth the loss, and it is not even good for the emperor. Instead, it will destroy the emperor's various plans.
It is very likely that Huang Pugong will never come back. He has no foundation in the court and disappears, and it is meaningless to dig out the truth.
For Qu Zixi, this was the "most correct" choice.
Qu Zixi disliked Nan Zhijin, so he studied the book of sages himself, and was appreciated by Ming Jun for his ability. In the end, his fate seemed to be manipulated by a small official.
At the same time, he also admired Nan Zhijin and felt ashamed in his heart.
"Your Majesty's mind is not so easy to guess. It is very likely that the person who takes over as prime minister is not me."
"Fortunately, I have guessed accurately for so long."
Qu Zixi sneered and turned to leave.
Nan Zhijin watched Qu Zixi leave, completed the rest of the paperwork with a few colleagues, and then returned to his room, and asked the servant to go outside to buy a pot of wine and three or four kinds of side dishes. Write a letter, long or short, with a swipe of a hand, wherever it goes.
The servant came in and announced: "The Minister of War Zhang Shilang is here."
"welcome."
Minister of War Zhang Qing entered the room with a smile on his face, looking at the wine, dishes and paper on the table, and said with a smile, "Brother Nan loves Yaxing, should wine go with the text, or the text with wine?"
Nan Zhijin stood up to greet him. The two exchanged greetings for a while. When the servant left, the smile on Zhang Qing's face disappeared: "Your Majesty refuses to enter the city and summons Yushi Qu in advance. What does this mean?"
"It's the same as refusing to enter the capital."
When the emperor was on his western tour, he expelled Zhao Ruosu, and after returning to Beijing, he refused to enter the city and had a "confrontation" with the ministers.
Zhang Qing sighed slightly, "After all, Your Majesty still refuses to trust the minister."
"Don't blame Your Majesty, this is human nature. If you want to restore Your Majesty's trust, you can only rely on Yu Shi."
"Yushi Qu... Is it reliable?" Zhang Qing was still a little unsure.
"If you just look at people, who is reliable in the world?"
Zhang Qing laughed, "Yushi Qu is worried about the country and the people. If he wants to make a career, he must rely on the entire court."
"Master Zhang, wait a moment." Nan Zhijin remembered something, walked back to the table, and picked up the pen to write.
Zhang Qing's official position was much higher than that of Nan Zhijin, but at this moment he sat on the side and waited patiently.
Nan Zhijin finished writing the letter, folded it one by one, there are seven letters in total, put them in the letter, wrote the recipient's name, got up and handed it directly to Zhang Qing, "I will work for Mr. Zhang to transfer it on your behalf."
"what is this?"
"Some personal matters that need to be dealt with."
The letter was not sealed, Zhang Qing looked at Nan Zhijin, and after obtaining acquiescence, he took out the letter and swept it over. I couldn't do it, I made demands on my wife and children...
Zhang Qing sighed again, put away the letter, and said, "I will do my best to avoid harm to Brother Nan's family."
"No, Your Majesty is careful, you must not let him see the flaws, and Your Majesty is kind by nature, and will never punish innocent people."
"Brother Nan killed himself. Please rest assured. When the limelight passes, Brother Nan's family will be taken care of. Brother Nan's several grandchildren are all studying. I heard that the eldest grandson, Nan Guanmei, is quite famous."
"I'm still young, so I can't see anything." Nan Zhijin smiled, but didn't say much, neither praising the eldest grandson nor entrusting him, but instead said: "The son of the former prime minister, Lord Shen, should take part in the big test in the year after year. Lord Zhang please remember this, Lord Shen will not forget it."
Zhang Qing shook his head, "Sir Shen, he couldn't hold his breath when he was a censor, and he is still like this now. As long as his son is talented, why should he worry about not being able to stand out? Being an official of the same dynasty, will everyone still be Will it not work? The court has its own rules, and everyone can follow them, so why not ask them clearly?"
After Shen Mingzhi heard that Nan Zhijin had offended the emperor, he sent people into Beijing to inquire about it, which made some ministers unhappy.
"As long as he doesn't overdo it, the urgency is understandable. How about Prime Minister Yan?"
Zhang Qing's expression was gloomy, "He doesn't know yet, and he thinks he can get rid of the crime. Alas, this Yan Kang is too impatient to let Huang Pugong lose once and lose His Majesty's trust. Caught His Majesty's attention, and he was hoping to cover up with intrigue. I think he was used to doing things in the East China Sea, and he completely forgot to play by the rules."
Zhang Qing shook his head, disappointed with Yan Kang.
Nan Zhijin stared at Zhang Qing and said, "Is Prime Minister Yan willing to flee to sea and never return to his homeland?"
"What? He didn't know our plan, and I didn't reveal a word. I don't know what he thought."
"Master Zhang has been with Yan Guo for many years, and he knows him well, so he can guess."
Zhang Qing pondered for a long time, "The entire Yan family is in the East China Sea and has been rooted for a long time, so they can't leave."
"I see." Nan Zhijin nodded.
Zhang Qing understood what Nan Zhijin meant. He showed sympathy just now. Nan Zhijin was reminding him not to leak the secret in advance. Yan Kang had no chance of saving it, and leaking the secret would only cause trouble.
Zhang Qing finally felt relieved, got up and bowed deeply, "Brother Nan, go well."
Nan Zhijin is a small official. He usually behaves respectfully in front of any adult, but today he calmly accepted the bow of the Minister of War, and muttered: "I hope Your Majesty will be really satisfied with the next prime minister."
Zhang Qing asked, "How far should we support Yu Shi?"
"It's good to perform their own duties. Master Zhang said just now that some rules must be followed and not stated clearly, Master Qu will understand." Nan Zhijin paused, "I don't understand now, and I will understand in the future, he is a smart man. ."
Zhang Qing bowed again and saluted, and left.
Nan Zhijin returned to his chair, he had no more letters to write, he continued drinking cold wine and eating scraps, not at all bitter, suddenly laughed, remembered his grandson, and said to himself: "The Nan family will come out ahead. ."
The two officials in the city were at ease, but Qu Zixi, who was walking on the road, could not be calm, and he was worried about gains and losses: if he acted according to Nan Zhijin's plan, he would become part of the "rules" of the court, and he would have a safe future, but he would lose his independence and independence. Freedom is especially uneasy in the heart; if you tell the emperor and all the truth, the court will be in chaos, and even if you become a prime minister, it will be difficult to accomplish great things.
When he was in Guozijian, Qu Zixi watched the affairs of the DPRK and China with a cold eye.
What he couldn't understand was, was it the entire court that was at fault? some ministers? Or the emperor
On the morning of the third day after the imperial decree was issued, Qu Zixi rushed to the patrol camp. From a distance, the camp was surrounded by mountains and rivers, which was no different from an ordinary military camp. Man is the supreme emperor.
Qu Zixi began to be inspected from ten miles away. After that, he had to be inspected every two or three miles. At the gate of the camp, an official came out and recognized the censor of the right patrol before allowing him to enter the camp.
Today's emperor likes to do things on his own. The so-called patrolling and ruling the country is more like a fantasy of young people, and it is difficult to see actual results. When Qu Zixi found that he was gradually accepting the ideas instilled by Nan Zhijin, he couldn't help being surprised.
Han Ruzi went to the navy camp again in the morning, listened to the battle plan formulated by the generals, asked some questions, and finally praised him, and returned to the Suwei camp before noon.
The navy had no general command, lack of warships and equipment, and did not particularly trust the new generals such as Chen Xiao, and they were reluctant to go to sea. They were relieved to see that the emperor was really just talking about soldiers on paper.
Han Ruzi took a short nap after dinner, and summoned Qu Zixi, who had already been waiting in the camp, with only Jin Chunzhong left beside him.
Qu Zixi entered the account and reported the situation normally first.
Hearing that Huang Pugong was not dead, he actually surrendered to the pirates, Han Ruzi was surprised, took the letter and read it several times, "Is this really written by Huang Pugong?"
"I can't confirm, this is a copy, and the original is still in the Prime Minister's Mansion. Even if it's actually Huang Pugong's handwriting, it doesn't explain much." Qu Zixi began to tell the story of Huang Pugong being framed, and finally said: "There is evidence and physical evidence for this, Yan Kang Intention to put the blame on others, but instead show the blame."
Han Ruzi glanced at Jin Chunzhong and said to Qu Zixi, "Master Qu did a great job."
Qu Zixi went on to talk about Wang Pingyang. He did some investigations himself and found that Wang Pingyang not only misbehaved, but also received a lot of property—a lot of gold, silver, and cloth that he was supposed to use to entertain the emperor, but he was thrifty and could not use it.
Han Ruzi snorted, his mother believed too much in family affection, and did not see Wang Pingyang's nature of greed for money and profit.
"Master Qu has lived up to my trust, and this trip has been very rewarding."
"To be honest, these are not the credit of the minister."
"Oh? Anyone help?"
"This minister has been unable to make progress. It was Nan Zhijin, his subordinate, who found out these things."
"Nan Zhijin." Han Ruzi felt vigilant all of a sudden, "Is he still doing what he did before, trying to figure out what's on my mind?"
"Yes, he still wants to pull the minister into the water." Qu Zixi took a deep breath. So far, everything he said was within Nan Zhijin's plan, and he still hadn't made a decision on what to say next.