Force a good concubine

Xu Zhixuan left Chengtianmen in a daze.Going west along Chang'an Street, the second yamen is the main hall of the Ministry of Justice. He entered through the side door, gnashing his teeth all the way: He entered the Ministry of Criminal Justice in ten years of cold windows and the first division. Now that there are eight seats in the imperial court from the second rank, is it so necessary to pay for it in one day?

The first thing an official should learn is the Twelve Techniques of Climbing the Dragon. Xu Zhixuan gritted his teeth and entered the flower hall. He sat down behind the desk, took a deep breath, and extracted the confession of Gu Yuan's case from the desk. When he came out, he read the manuscript while beating his stomach, and the servant next to him cautiously whispered: "Cheng Siyu asks to see the master."

Xu Zhixuan ignored it, went through the confession from beginning to end, leaned in the chair and closed his eyes in thought for half an hour before he smiled coldly: "I'm just looking for her, let her in!" Seeing Cheng Su follow Xiao Hugging the documents and entering the door, Xu Zhixuan sat upright, and shouted loudly: "Bold Cheng Su! How did you collude with the Zheng family to slander your beloved? Why don't you come and tell me the truth?"

"Where did your lord come from?" Cheng Su put the documents on the case table, and calmly cupped his hands, "Just now the cabinet passed the decree, saying that this year's collusion will be suspended for one year, and the lower officials are sorting out those who are about to go on a red mission. The list of prisoners and the case file are all released in one step, so how can we slander the beloved?"

"Are you still pretending to be confused?" Xu Zhixuan only hated Cheng Su for pretending to be confused, and even made up his mind to let her take the place of the dead ghost, and sneered, "Then Cao Ding and Gu Yuansu didn't know each other, why did they climb up on her for no reason? If you I have no complaints with her, why bother to make irresponsible remarks in front of this official?"

Cheng Su smiled calmly: "My lord, she and I are teachers and students. We only have kindness. How can there be any personal grievances? If Gu Yan is famous, I have the same brilliance on my face. Why bother to frame her? If she bewitches the Sacred Heart like this, she is the cabinet." The adults here are just as unacceptable, let alone me?"

"What bewitches the Sacred Heart?" These words are in response to the emperor's questioning of Xu Zhixuan, Xu Zhixuan was secretly happy, and raised eyebrows on his face, "Your Majesty and Gu Yuan met each other and presented tea, but it was out of love for talents, and everyone in the court knew about it , What is your intention to slander the monarch with such false speculations?"

"That's strange." Cheng Su said leisurely, "Your Majesty heard that Gu Yan has already entered the palace. Does your majesty want to accept the virtuous corporal?"

"What?" Xu Zhixuan's eyes suddenly lit up, he didn't care to speak harshly, he leaned forward from the chair and asked, "Really?"

"This is what Gu Yuan and I personally said to me in the same year. They personally sent Gu Yuan into the palace and entrusted an official to take care of it. How can it be untrue?"

"So it seems that His Majesty deliberately deceived me." Xu Zhixuan sat back in the chair, his fingers tightly gripping the rosewood armrest, as if he could hold that lifeline firmly, and raised his head to grow out. After taking a breath, his tone suddenly softened, "I was just abrupt, Cheng Siyu, don't take it to heart. Today His Majesty learned that he wants me to wait for an answer, and his life is at stake. He really has to ask clearly."

"How dare I blame my lord?" Cheng Su sneered from the bottom of his heart, and bowed calmly, "My lord asks, and my lord should tell me."

"Then where did Gu Yuan go in the palace? Could it be that he is in front of the imperial court now?"

"Although it's not here, it's not far away." Cheng Su smiled slightly, "I heard that the empress dowager engraved scriptures and recruited people through the factory. Just think about it, my lord, although the palace recruits proofreaders, you must Literate and hyphenated, but most of the palace maid candidates are under sixteen years old. Gu Yuan is over double ten years old, and he can't pass the first test as usual. Why is he still in the palace at this time? It can be seen that this is just a false name. The palace ban is strict and cannot be accommodated, Gu Yuan They are all new to the capital, so what is the way to reach the sky? If this matter is not arranged by someone with a heart, who can arrange it?"

"That's right." The more Xu Zhixuan thought about it, the more he felt it was true. He had lived in the capital for a long time, and he had heard a little about the rules in the palace.The age criteria for selecting palace maids in the palace is basically the same as that for civil servants: a big selection every three years, all young girls around the age of ten are selected, and they must be under the age of 16 when they are in a hurry to employ people on weekdays. Training rules; it's not about choosing a cook and nurse, who would choose a lady in her twenties?It can be seen that there are disadvantages!Gu Yan has no connections and no money. Besides the emperor, who else can she rely on?

The emperor is not easy to get along with, if he stepped forward rashly, he might be overwhelmed by some high-sounding principles.Xu Zhixuan decided to play it safe this time. First, he looked through the "Regulations of the House of Internal Affairs" in a calm manner, read the few articles of the false entry into the palace several times, and pondered over the rhetoric several times. At night, he quietly went to visit Jin Xue Xiaotong, a scholar of Shendian University.

Xue Xiaotong is a well-known Confucian, he is upright, and he was the most opposed to the emperor's discussion of ceremonies before, and the monarch and his ministers almost turned their heads.Xu Zhixuan didn't dare to talk about Gu Yuan's case, but only repeated several times about Gu Yuan concealing his age and entering the palace. Xue Xiaotong really took his heart, and asked Xu Zhixuan several times. Bai Xu thought for a while, took up a pen and wrote a letter, and handed it to Xu Zhixuan, saying: "This matter is of great importance. If it is publicly rumored, I'm afraid it will hurt His Majesty's reputation. This old man has a student who works as a steward of the Imperial Store in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. You mention it to him and let him inquire about it in secret." Then he rubbed his knees and shook his head and sighed, "Your Majesty has been intelligent since childhood. When I was enlightened, the old man told her the "Three Character Classic" and "Poems of a Child Prodigy". , it is really a holy birth. Before the late emperor passed away, he specially asked me to wait for you to help your majesty well, to be far from a villain and to a gentleman, and she must not be allowed to go the way of abolishing the emperor. In the past few years in the cabinet, I only feel that Your majesty is diligent in government and wise, how can you compare with the former deposed emperor? But you never thought that your majesty was young, and someone took advantage of his children's affair—"

He muttered and complained, Xu Zhixuan waited respectfully for half an hour, and then took a chance to say goodbye, sat in the sedan chair with the letter in his sleeve, and secretly had a smug realization in his heart—students are really easy to deceive and easy to use, no wonder The emperor likes Xu Zhang and his group of nerds!Thinking about the emperor's words in the Wenhua Palace, Xu Zhixuan secretly made up his mind: this time, he will also discuss the matter according to the facts. Gu Yan concealed his age and entered the palace, so he will follow the regulations on entering the palace with false citizenship - expel her from Beijing, Never allowed to return to the capital, can the emperor hold back his life and not hide his personal affair?

But anyone who can be a steward in the Ministry of Internal Affairs is not a person with seven orifices.Xue Xiaotong is upright. His student, Lu Kun, has been working in the Ministry of Internal Affairs for many years. He still has a dignified appearance, but the inside has long been ground into a glazed ball, which is smooth and does not hold back his hands. .Xu Zhixuan's calculations were almost covered by the air of an old student's Taoist essay. He stared at the letter and found himself in trouble: the teacher can't be offended, but can the emperor be offended?

The courtiers all said that today they are in the ninth place and behave exactly like the late emperor, but the inner courtiers think differently.On the face of the first emperor, he was strict and unsmiling, but on the inside he was extremely gentle and kind. He was very respectful and kind to his courtiers, and he was equally generous to his courtiers. Just make the imperial dining room tidy and obedient, and you will know that the emperor is shrewd inside, and he is definitely not a fool. Now this Gu Yuanming is pretending to be the emperor's protector. In the face of the first emperor, he may not treat the teacher well, but he will never get better. Even in the face of the teacher, he will not be angry with himself, but the teacher is more than seventy years old. Isn't it over?

Lu Kun sipped his tea and thought about it for half an hour, and finally came up with an idea - the teacher said that things cannot be turned away, but what to do is always his own decision.There are so many people in the palace with their hands and eyes open to the sky, so it's reasonable to let people cover it up a little bit, even if you can't find anything, isn't it?

He is not familiar with Zhao Rong, who is in charge of the factory, but Zhao Rong is very good at food. Xu Sanniang is an aunt in the Shangyi Bureau. On the second day, Zhao Rong led Xuan Yunzi to visit Lu Kun in person under the pretext of sending a begging talisman to Mrs. Zhang.

"How dare a poor cultivator violate the palace ban? It's nothing more than doing some good deeds and accumulating some merit." Xuan Yunzi brushed his white beard in a stern manner, "To be honest, Gu's face is rich and noble, but poor. Dao saw that the villain was committing crimes against her, and she felt a little bad, so he decided to send her into the palace. One is to eliminate the disaster for her, and the other is to make good fortune for the people in the palace. If Master Lu gives a helping hand today, there will be good luck in the future .”

"I was born with wealth and honor, and I have never dreamed of any future blessings." Lu Kun was overjoyed in his heart, but his face was still evasive, "It's just that Mr. Xu is too deceitful. This action by the lower official is only out of righteous indignation and public desire, just to seek peace of mind. It's just that although the lower official's place is passable, if Xu Shilang finds someone else to come—"

"To tell you the truth," Zhao Rong said with a smile, "this young lady Gu is a noble person, and she was able to enter the palace. In addition to the kindness of Taoist Xuanyun, she also got the care of the noble person. I got the letter yesterday, so I went there. After passing the words, today the nobleman sent a message: Since someone is watching, the best way to do it now is to get rid of the salary from the bottom of the pot. Like Gu Yan, she hasn't had time to sell the stalls yet. Now she is still in Nei'an Letang, and her parents are living in Beijing from other places. They are extremely poor, and they have no other thoughts to send the girl here to make a living. Now Just give them some money generously, let them just don’t sign the paperwork, and quietly take the ashes of the daughter back to the hometown, can there be any grievances?”

"This is the solution." Lu Kun thought for a while, and then said, "The maid has been in the palace for a long time—"

"It's okay." Zhao Rong smiled, "In the clothing bureau, apart from the low-class court ladies who are stupid and useless, they are felony palace people who don't see the light of day. Even if they know that Hu Ruanniang, who can come out and talk nonsense in front of others? Let alone that Hu Ruan Niang suffered from tuberculosis, and she lay in the Nei An Le Tang for a year, because the disease was passed on from person to person, and there were few people to visit, and now I am afraid that those acquaintances can’t remember clearly. Now it is only said that she was raised in the An Le Hall. When he recovered from his illness, he was transferred to work in the factory, and he had to re-examine the rules first, and no one could find fault."

"Guan Zhao is right." Lu Kun thought for a while, and then came up with an idea, "From my point of view, Hu Ruanniang and Gu Yuan have similar names and the same birthplace and age. Then Gu Yuan."

"Master Lu is really talented!" Zhao Rong applauded, "This is so perfect, Master Xue must have nothing to say!"

"Don't dare to do it, don't dare to do it." Lu Kun and Zhao Rong looked at each other and laughed, their minds were clear like a mirror: Who else could make out such a generous and meticulous thought, except the emperor?Regardless of whether this young lady Gu has future blessings or not, now that she is secretly working for the nobleman, his own future blessings are predictable.

Several people chatted politely for a while, Zhao Rong and Xuan Yunzi got up and said goodbye, and when they left the Lu residence, there was no smile on their faces.Zhao Rong let out a long sigh: "Aren't the elders in the pavilion all Xue Dashi, if this important matter leaks out in the future, according to the palace rules, you and I, Taoist priest, will have to go to the vegetable market to be hacked. I listen to Miss Gu. The tone revealed does not seem to have anything to do with His Majesty, His Majesty spent so much effort to send her into the palace, in case—”

Xuan Yunzi had a stiff face with no expression on his face: "You keep her previous documents for entering the palace yourself. If that day really comes, a pack of medicine will kill her, and the documents will be turned into ashes together. Once it’s spilled in the river, who would know?”

"But--"

"It's nothing to worry about," Xuan Yunzi stretched out his hand and patted him on the shoulder, "His Royal Highness Sui has a clever plan, and there will naturally be another trick in a few days. You can wait at ease! Besides, this is not a serious crime of treason. Help His Majesty Make a good marriage, His Majesty will know in the future, I'm afraid it's too late to reward!"

He was calm on the face, but also determined in his heart: the imperial court treats the clan leniently, as long as it does not abuse the people and harm the people, and does not seek to disrupt the government, such a little trick can always be excused.What's more, King Sui was not the only one involved in this plan. The emperor wanted to have a queen, but all the ministers tried to block it. Although the princes were silent, they didn't think so. , even if there is a matter of seizing the heir in the future, it will not reach the previous level, let alone there may not be?The first emperor was eccentric, and the clan was so old in the Yuan Dynasty, but he forced a five-year-old boy to succeed him. Seeing that this child is also up to the mark, there is nothing to be picky about in government. Are the children and grandchildren planning to plan?