[Qing Chuan] Mu Emperor's Grace

He Shen smiled and said, "I can't say it's a true friend, but I have always admired Mr. Qian for his character."

Hongli curled his lips in disapproval: "It's just a stinky rock, and it deserves your praise?" Although he complained, he was relieved because of He Shen's relief just now.

Hongli sat down on a stone bench beside him, and sighed, "It's not that I don't want to spare Qian Feng, but I don't want to implicate others..."

Seeing He Shen's gloomy expression, Hongli hesitated for a moment, then let go and said, "I can promise you that although the punishment will not be light, Qian Feng will definitely be spared."

Hongli thought that He Shen would be happier with these words, but the seriousness on the young man's face did not ease in the slightest.Hongli vaguely heard him say something softly, frowned and asked, "What did you say?"

He Shen raised his eyes and looked at Hongli seriously: "If possible... I hope the emperor will not pursue this matter."

Hongli was stunned. He looked at the serious young man in disbelief, and said coldly, "Are you... serious?"

Before He Shen nodded, Hongli couldn't help laughing out loud.His eyes wandered around for a while, and finally returned to He Shen's face, but this time there was a trace of pain in the depths of his eyes: "Have you...have you thought about it for me? Don't pursue this matter?" Hong Li laughed twice, and suddenly raised his voice: "You mean, let me accept the groundless accusations of those people without saying a word, and let me admit that I was wrong. The east tour is indeed a waste of energy, then what? Half a word of the biography is correct?"

He Shen's heart skipped a beat, he knew Hongli would be wrong.It was for Hongli's consideration that he made such a proposal.

Hongli is obsessed with distinguishing the gains and losses of right and wrong in front of him, but he doesn't know that in modern times a few years later, people look at history from the perspective of breaking away from the pattern.The general public will not remember what any emperor was visited by his courtiers, but they will remember that Hongli was the monarch of the Daxing Literary Prison.In the final analysis, only the demise of human life can make future generations feel the real pain.

If Hongli disposes of Qian Feng today, later generations will accuse Hongli of being a monarch who disregards human life and kills loyal and good people.After all, Hongli is now sitting on the throne of the monarch, and it is nothing more than an edict to take the life of any local official.How could a smart official talk about the emperor's faults in front of others?

He Shen figured this out, and was very calm when facing Hongli's accusation. He said slowly: "Your Majesty, you know better than anyone else that this is a dead end. If Qian Feng is not executed, there will be no end to death. If the investigation continues, it will lead to the worst possible outcome. But Mr. Qian is really innocent, and the emperor will not bear to punish him. In fact, there is still a way to go in this case, but everyone ignores it: that is the emperor You no longer pursue Wen Zhe."

After all, the reason why the real culprit dared to spread the documents so boldly was that the emperor would not let it go.If Hongli wanted to keep thousands of scholars, then Qian Feng would be punished; if Hongli let Qian Feng go, it would be a bloody storm.

Hongli's face was as black as the bottom of a pot, and he said sharply: "Stubborn! I see that you really don't take me seriously." There was no one around, so Hongli's voice sounded particularly abrupt and terrifying .

He Shen said anxiously: "Your Majesty...Think twice, now that we are in Qufu, thousands of pairs of scholars are watching the emperor's every move, and a little carelessness will cause turmoil in the hearts of the people. The crowd at the Confucian Memorial Ceremony was mixed. , if things get serious, I'm afraid it won't benefit the emperor's safety."

Hongli was still furious, and he didn't listen much to He Shen's explanation, he just sneered and said, "You always keep thinking about me, but have you ever thought about it, if I don't pursue this matter, what will those officials talk about me? Doesn't this hit their chests, saying that I am that stupid king who is extravagant and ignores the people of the world?"

He Shen was not intimidated by Hongli's aura, he said loudly: "Let me ask the civil and military men of the Manchu Dynasty, who would dare to say these things in front of the emperor..." Seeing Hongli opening his mouth to speak, He Shen took the lead and said: "If there is any Whoever dares to say such stupid words, the slave will be the first to let him go, and it will not be too late for the emperor to deal with those officials one by one."

Hongli paused, his momentum suddenly weakened, and his tone became much lower. He said slowly, "What did you just say?"

He Shen repeated the last sentence again: "The slave just said that the emperor will wait until those gossiping officials are found out, and it will not be too late to deal with them one by one. If the emperor is still worried, he can also arrange someone to monitor the local officials... But this move It’s hard to guarantee that those who watch will not have selfish motives.”

"Not this sentence, but the previous sentence." Hongli looked at He Shen stubbornly with his eyes shining.

"If... whoever dares to say such stupid words, I will be the first to let him go." He Shen's voice was very soft, but it exploded in Hongli's heart like clusters of fireworks.

Just as he was in a daze, he heard He Shen say again: "The emperor's embarrassment, the servant understands." Hearing this, Hongli felt that the thing he had been obsessed with had finally found an answer, and the thousands of words of slander from others were not as good as the person in front of him. A word of affirmation.

"He Shen..." In the quiet night, just as Hongli wanted to say something, He Shen preempted him and said, "Your Majesty... it's late at night, please take care of the dragon body..."

He Shen couldn't tell what he was avoiding, he just didn't want to listen to Hongli's explanation.It doesn't matter if you say that he is stagnant, or that he has an ostrich mentality, or that sometimes people are so cowardly that they are so ambiguous.

In the early morning of the next day, He Shen was disturbed by Hailancha early in the morning. Hailancha excitedly said: "Master He... Lord Qian has been released and has been reinstated."

He Shen was not surprised, just stretched his waist, and asked carefully: "What did the emperor say?"

Hai Lancha said: "The emperor seems to have suddenly realized, saying that the case has been found out, and the matter of Wen Zhe has nothing to do with Mr. Qian... He also said that Wen Zhe means that Emperor Qin and Han Wu visited Langyatai and lingered in the land of Qilu. "

He Shen's eyes lit up when he heard the words, he almost wanted to applaud the emperor's trick of confusing the public.Although the prose was straightforward in the eyes of discerning people, it did not clearly say who the protagonist of the poem was.There are countless emperors who visited Shandong from ancient times to the present, not to mention the most recent emperor Kangxi, the talented and ambitious monarchs of all dynasties, which one is not proud of climbing Mount Tai?

As long as Hongli himself decides that this poem is not written about the current dynasty, who would dare to say that this poem is a satire of the current emperor.Anyone who is not a complete idiot should understand that Wen Zhe's case is no longer beneficial.

Seeing that He Shen didn't speak, Hai Lan watched him carefully, and was taken aback by the heavy shadow under his eyes: "Master He...you haven't slept all night?"

He Shen forced himself to laugh and said, "I'm insomnia, old problems are fine."

Unexpectedly, Hai Lancha said anxiously: "You...you should go to sleep while you have nothing to do, and you will be the chief priest when you pay homage to Confucius later."

He Shen almost spit out the tea from his mouth: "Officer? Shouldn't the governor of Shandong act as the officiant?"

Hai Lancha looked at him with some amusement: "Didn't the former governor of Shandong, Xu Ji, be pulled down by you personally?"

He Shen let out a long sigh, and could only lament that the rare leisure time was wasted again.He didn't care about resting, so he packed up in a hurry and went to the altar to check.

The Confucian sacrifice ceremony held at the Confucian Temple in Qufu, Shandong is the most grand and solemn among the many Confucian sacrifices. In previous years, if the emperor was not present, the governor of Shandong or the imperial envoy specially appointed by the imperial court presided over the ceremony.

He Shen checked the arrangement of the animals, fruits, and wine with the magistrate of Qufu, and checked the rehearsal of the singing and dancing in advance. He rehearsed the scene on the day of the ceremony two or three times, so that he was sure of it.

On the day of the official sacrifice, He Shen, as the chief priest, led Hongli to offer incense to Confucius.The sound of eight qi music and dancing, singing the eulogy of Confucius, who is a teacher of all ages.The dancers on the altar danced the music and dance in honor of Confucius. The simple and simple music made people feel relaxed and happy, and felt very solemn.

Hongli glanced at the students standing on both sides, read out the sacrificial speech loudly, and suddenly took a booklet from the tray behind him.He Shen could tell at a glance that what Hongli was holding was the document that had been circulated in secret.

There was a faint commotion in the crowd, but they dared not act presumptuously because of the king's presence.Hongli looked around, if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn't have known that the incident had become so big, and it might have spread among the Qilu scholars in front of him.

For a moment, the students bowed their heads one after another, and some timid ones were already fighting with each other. Looking at this posture, they all thought that Hongli was going to settle the score on the spot.

Not wanting to be under the watchful eyes of everyone, Hongli threw the paper fold in his hand into the brazier.The flames quickly engulfed the manuscript, and in an instant the entire manuscript was reduced to ashes, and all the scholars in the audience fell silent.

Hongli said with a smile: "I visited Shandong for this Confucian sacrifice. Later, due to the complicated local government affairs, I stopped in Shandong many times. Now it's time to return to Luan. Unexpectedly, as soon as I left Tai'an, I just received such a generous gift. The document handed over by the governor of Henan compares me to Emperor Qin and Han Wu, saying that I have been in Shandong for a long time, just like the ancient overlord of the Ming Dynasty." Hongli paused, looked at The respectful crowd continued: "But I hope to be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with Emperor Qin and Han Wu in other places. That's why I decided to compile the Siku Quanshu and collect the essence of the world's classics in one place. If you have a profound family knowledge, please help Compilers, you can recommend yourself to me; if you have a rich book collector in your family, I also hope that you can donate books to the government for a while, but after the records are copied by a special person, they will be returned as scheduled.”

As soon as Hongli finished speaking, He Shen took the lead in saluting: "The repair of the Siku is a grand event of the world's civilization, the emperor is holy..." The officials who accompanied the sacrifice in the back row saw He Shen knelt down, and they all knelt down along with him.In the group of scholars and students, I don't know who started it, but they knelt down one after another, shouting long live for a while.

Amidst the praise, He Shen raised his head quietly, but met Hongli's eyes, and his heart trembled uncontrollably, as if the two were guarding a secret together, isolating the hustle and bustle of the world.