Chongzhen Sunset Song

?one

"One and a half years, father-in-law will come here all right?"

In the supervisor of ceremonies, Li Quan bowed to Wang Chengen.Towards the end of October, the daytime chill was getting stronger, and a brazier had already been set up in Sili Prison's room early, and the room was filled with a dry smell of charcoal fire.Wang Chengen clasped his hands, sat upright, and nodded.

"Well, our family is very good. How are things settled in my hometown?"

"I'm sorry for my father-in-law's concern, all the trivial matters at home have been properly arranged." Li Quan said respectfully.

"That's good. There is nothing important in the palace. Although the eunuch is not an official of the imperial court, if Ding You needs three years, it is feasible. Why do you return at this time, and you have not fulfilled your filial piety, do you have any regrets in your heart?" Although Wang Chengen said He was polite, but there was no concern in his tone.

Li Quan slightly smiled. "As an eunuch, if you serve the palace all the year round, if you say that your filial piety is perfect, you will never be able to do it. After the high hall is gone, it will be futile to spend another year or so in mourning. It is better to come back earlier to honor your father-in-law." After finishing speaking, he lifted his clothes, Sitting on the side seat.At this time Zhou Xi came out from the inner room, holding a cup of hot tea in his hand, and served it to Li Quan, and then he also stood behind the side seat.

"It's rare for you to have such a heart." A smile floated on Wang Chengen's face, he glanced at Zhou Xi, lowered his head and straightened his cuffs, and then continued: "Speaking of filial piety, leave it to our family when you leave." This kid is smart and caring, our family likes it very much, why don't you just let him work with our family, are you willing?"

Li Quan was taken aback for a moment, followed Wang Chengen's gaze, and half turned his head. "My father-in-law said... but Zhou Xi?"

"Exactly."

Hearing this, Li Quan remained expressionless, picked up the hot tea at hand and took a sip, then put it back on the table firmly, with an indifferent smile on his lips. "Father-in-law, what's the matter? Let alone Zhou Xi, the entire ceremonial supervisor is at the mercy of the father-in-law. Why does the father-in-law ask for the opinion of the subordinates. The father-in-law took a fancy to him, it was the boy's good luck, and the father-in-law just used it." Already." As he spoke, he turned to Zhou Xi and said, "You are blessed, don't hesitate to thank you."

"Thank you, Eunuch Wang, for your help. Thank you, Eunuch Li, for your success." Zhou Xi seemed to have been prepared, and walked quickly to the front of the hall, obediently thanking Wang Chengen and Li Quan successively.Wang Chengen raised his hand and called Zhou Xi to get up, but Li Quan smiled without saying a word, not knowing what was going on in his heart, a strange light flashed in his eyes inadvertently.

two

In the afternoon of this day, the sky was gray and the autumn wind was chilly.Wen Tiren bid farewell to the cabinet ministers as usual, put on a thin cotton cloak, got into the warm sedan chair from Donghua Gate, and headed for Wen's residence.These bearers had served Wen Tiren for many years, the sedan chair was lifted steadily, and their feet were extremely fast. After a while, they walked to Zhongzi Hutong, which was only one street away from Wen's residence.Wen Tiren was resting his mind in the sedan chair with his eyes closed, suddenly the sedan chair stopped suddenly, but there was a noise outside the sedan chair.

"Who dares to block the sedan chair! Do you know who is sitting in the sedan chair!"

"Small Changshu Chen Luqian! I have something important to report to Mr. Wen!"

"What important business can a poor scholar have! Go! Get out of the way!"

"The villain really has something important to do! It's about Qian Qianyi, the former servant of the Ministry of Rites..."

"Let him come over."

Before Chen Luqian could say a word, Wen Tiren's voice came from the sedan chair.Seeing that Mr. Wen had spoken, the bearer stopped obstructing him and got off the sedan chair to make way for Chen Luqian.Chen Luqian hurried forward a few steps, bowed to the side of the sedan chair, and said in a low voice: "Master Wen, please forgive the villain for blocking the sedan chair. Sir...can I take a step to speak?"

A corner of the curtain of the small window of the warm sedan is lifted, and through the narrow gap, the suspicious eyes of the people in the sedan can be vaguely seen.As soon as Chen Luqian raised his eyes, he accidentally met the eyes of the person in the sedan chair. He lowered his head in a busy and respectful manner, stood with his hands down, and waited quietly for Wen Tiren's reply.After a while, the curtains were closed with a pop, and Wen Tiren's indifferent voice came from the sedan chair:

"Come back to the mansion with me."

The back hall of the Wen Mansion.

Chen Luqian was wearing an old dark coat that didn't fit well, and stood alone in the hall, watching the maids and servants coming and going from the hall, his standing posture was a bit unnaturally stiff.The sky is cloudy again, and it seems that rain and snow are coming.After about a stick of incense, I heard a creaking door, I saw Wen Tiren changed into casual clothes, walked out from behind the screen, followed by a gentle young scholar, that person was naturally Wang Cong.

"Sit." Wen Tiren uttered a simple word, then stopped greeting and sat on the seat.

"Thank you, thank you sir." It seemed that he had exhausted his courage in blocking the sedan chair in the street, facing the chief minister of the court directly, Chen Luqian could not conceal his nervousness in every move.He swallowed, sat cautiously on the edge of the chair, opened his mouth, but was at a loss and dared not speak first.

"What's the important thing? I still need to take a step to talk." Wen Tiren didn't look at him, and fiddled with the teacup on the table with one hand, lowered his eyes, and asked casually.As soon as Chen Luqian heard the words, he stood up as if sitting on a spring, stepped forward and knelt down on his knees, and stammered, "Master, Mr. Hui! Back then, Mr. Qian was very aware of the details and sent Qian and Qian Qianyi He was removed from the imperial court, but even though Qian Qianyi had been dismissed for a long time, he still ran amok in the countryside, accepting bribes, manipulating lawsuits, confounding right and wrong, and rampaging one side. Yi, this is the pleading paper, sir, please take a look at it!" Chen Luqian said the prepared remarks, but his nervousness retreated a little, and he took out a few thin pleading papers from his arms, held them up over his head, and presented them in front of Wen Tiren.

Wen Tiren glanced sideways at the paper, but didn't take it, moved his body, and still said in a calm manner: "This Qian Qianyi has long been a member of the opposition, a commoner, no matter what the crime, you just have to go to court if you want to sue him." Just go to the county government office, find me directly... what is the purpose?"

"Your Excellency is wise. The villain also knows that this act is very abrupt and reckless, but...the villain is thinking of the adults, and there are reasons why he has to go to the adults." Chen Luqian still held the pleadings, raised his eyes tremblingly to look at Wen Tiren's expression, and then He quickly lowered his head.

"Oh? For my own sake?" Wen Tiren finally looked at Chen Luqian, "Why, let me tell you."

Success or failure is here.Chen Luqian settled down, gritted his teeth, raised his head suddenly, and said loudly:

"Qian Qianyi instigates the officials to impeach you, trying in vain to remove you from the position of Chief Assistant!"

"Bold!" Wen Tiren slapped the table, raised his eyebrows, and said in a sharp tone, "No matter how big or small the affairs of the imperial court are, they are all secrets. How did you know it, and how dare you speak nonsense!"

"The villain is not talking nonsense!" Chen Luqian said in one breath, his eyes widened, his shoulders trembling because of excitement, "The villain is from the same hometown as Qian Qianyi, and he has already seen his attempt to make a comeback over the years, but he himself Knowing that there is a deep feud with your lord, and he has no chance if you have a lord sitting in the cabinet, so he mobilized his old acquaintances in the court to impeach him and clear the way for him to return to the court!" Chen Luqian threw the pleadings on the ground and kowtowed three times , "How did the villain know the details? Although it is inconvenient to explain, this matter is indeed a fact. Please also learn from me!"

"My lord." Wang Cong lowered his body and whispered in Wen Tiren's ear, "Wang Gonggong did mention in his letter a few days ago that Qian Qianyi in his early years was often mentioned in those impeachment memorials. This endless impeachment is probably related to Qian Qianyi, and what this person said is probably true."

"Hmm..." Wen Tiren's face turned cold. For a moment, he calmed down and motioned for Wang Cong to pick up the paper from the ground. He spread his hands, looked at it briefly, and put them together on the table next to the teacup.

"After learning about this, the villain boldly wrote this pleading paper, thinking that these crimes might help the adult, so I took the liberty to block the sedan chair and ask the adult to forgive me." As he said, Chen Luqian lowered his body, but his eyes secretly looked at Warm body.

"Well. There's no need to mention the matter of blocking the sedan chair. You can go back to your hometown." Wen Tiren regained his indifferent expression, got up and went back to the inner room.

"My lord! Stay here..." Chen Luqian looked at the pleadings that were casually thrown on the table, and saw that Wen Tiren was about to leave, so he knelt and took two steps and shouted in a hurry.

"I know what's on your mind." Wen Tiren stopped without turning his head, and said with his hands behind his back, "After you go back to your hometown, find someone who can write a certificate and bring it here."

"Write another copy?" Chen Luqian was taken aback when he heard the words, and went in if he didn't understand.

"Based on these few crimes, what big things do you want to accomplish?" After finishing speaking, Wen Tiren paced and disappeared behind the screen, leaving only Chen Luqian, who had turned his doubts into joy, kneeling on the hall, and kowtowed heavily.

three

In the Hall of Martial Heroes, the atmosphere was very dignified.Chongzhen read a long memorial, and it took half a stick of incense to read it.Xi Zhao squatted down and tidied up the folders that had been dragged to the ground, while secretly reading the contents of the folders.This memorial is eloquent and full of more than 50 crimes: manipulating scientific research, concealing money and food, selling private salt, setting up private tax items, champering lawsuits, fraudulent payment, accepting donations, raping women, beating and killing civilians , Blackmailing one's own family... It can be said that there are all kinds of evils in the world.And these appalling crimes all point to one person——Qian Qianyi, the former Minister of Rites.He couldn't help holding his breath, and quietly looked at Chongzhen's face.I saw the emperor resting his forehead with one hand, his sword eyebrows lowered and his eyelids lowered, his expression was as cold as the air outside the window.Xi Zhao only glanced at it, then suddenly withdrew her gaze, her back went numb, and she couldn't help shivering.

"According to Qian Qianyi's fellow villagers, Qian Qianyi has committed countless crimes with the gentry in the village over the years, far more than just 58. The evil of this person can be seen." Wen Tiren said seriously.

Chongzhen's eyebrows twitched slightly. "I didn't expect Qian Qing to be so evil..." He muttered something, as if talking to himself, but Wen Tiren heard it clearly, and picked up Chongzhen's words in a loud voice:

"Exactly, what this person has done has really failed His Majesty's trust in him at the beginning. Your Majesty is wise and dismissed his official position early. He thought he would be able to restrain himself and repent, but who knows that this person has no With a heart of kindness, when he returned to his hometown, he was still a treacherous and sycophant who did harm to one side. Now it seems that Qian Qianyi can no longer be indulged lightly, and I hope His Majesty will make a decision as soon as possible."

Seeing Wen Tiren's upright and serious posture, Chongzhen relaxed his expression slightly, and looked at this thin-faced, gray-haired and bearded courtier with deep meaning.That side of Wen Tiren respectfully lowered his head and didn't move, as if he didn't notice the strangeness in Chongzhen's eyes.The emperor is honored above, and his courtiers are humble below. From a rough look, all the etiquette is not messed up.But looking more closely, under Wen Tiren's overly correct and thoughtful humility, it seemed that he was secretly hiding a little provocation, silently mocking the inviolable majesty of the emperor.The two of them faced each other in silence for a long time, finally Chongzhen withdrew his eyes first.

"Well, I got it." Chongzhen casually stacked the long memorial, handed it to Xizhao, and decreed: "Wu Mengming, the commander of Jinyiwei, will take people to Changshu to arrest Qian Qianyi and bring him to Beijing for interrogation." , if the crime is true, he will be punished severely according to the law and will not be tolerated."

"According to the order."

Wen Tiren bowed, saluted and left.

"Does the emperor trust Mr. Wen just like that?"

After Wen Tiren left, Xi Zhao thought and thought, and finally couldn't help but speak.

Chongzhen flipped through the memorial, and replied casually: "He is my chief assistant, so I naturally trust him."

"But... the villain thinks this matter is really suspicious. Maybe this Mr. Qian is indeed guilty, but the villain really can't believe that a courtier who once held a high position could commit such a heinous crime. This crime must be too much. Yes." Sunset said with a frown.

"Oh?" Chongzhen squinted, with a half-smile, "What basis do you have for saying that?"

"According to..." Xi Zhao paused for a moment, then smiled calmly and said, "I believe in the emperor. Mr. Qian was single-handedly selected by the emperor back then. I believe in the emperor's vision. I will never be so wrong."

"Really." Chongzhen paused, put the ink brush back on the inkstone, looked at the sunset, and smiled slightly, "You believe in Qian Qianyi's eyes, why don't you believe me in Wen Tiren's? vision?"

"This..." Xi Zhao was taken aback for a moment, not knowing how to answer.

Chongzhen didn't seem to expect Xizhao's answer, he stood up, walked to the window, opened half of the window slightly, and looked out the window at the hazy and dry winter scenery.

"I actually understand what you want to say. Wen Tiren, I believe it, but I don't believe it either. Loyalty to oneself is greater than loyalty to the monarch, and power is more important than the country. He has been the chief assistant for many years, and he cares about personnel matters. The achievements in the government are mediocre, and I see all of these." Chongzhen's words seemed to have been hidden in his heart for a long time, and when he spoke, there was no wind or waves in his eyes, and the waves were calm, "But ineffectiveness does not mean In the past, although he has no political achievements, he has been a clean and honest official for many years. He has not planted party members, and he is still shrewd and capable in handling political affairs. How much, I will naturally distinguish."

"Yes...but the villain still doesn't understand. Since Mr. Wen is not completely trustworthy, why doesn't the emperor find another virtuous prime minister?" Xi Zhao asked puzzled.

Chongzhen still turned his back to Xizhao, and was silent for a moment, before he said: "Guan Xiao's talent, how can we expect extravagantly. Now that all the officials are busy, it is rare to be as warm as Wen Tiren. Just make the best use of people."

The air outside the window slowly flowed into the room from the window, icy cold piercing the cheeks, stabbing one's mind for a while.Xi Zhao originally wanted to say something more, but when the words came to her lips, her mind froze suddenly, but she kept her mouth shut and said no more.What is his identity, as early as the Zheng Xun incident, he had already made a clear distinction, but now, do he still want to talk about state affairs too much... Xi Zhao silently shook his head.Since the emperor already has such thoughts in his chest, there must be nothing wrong...

At least at that time, Xizhao comforted herself in this way, even Chongzhen didn't realize that her thinking was serious, and she was so wrong. ?