Pei Gonggui

Everyone in this world has a prison in their life.

Some people have been trapped in this life and still haven't felt imprisoned, and some people have known that they have fallen, but they don't want to turn around.

There are even people who built this prison by themselves, and packed every brick and tile tightly. They never thought of entering by themselves. Behind the bars, he was the only one left.

This is the end of the 18th year of Yuanguang.

Just in time for the treacherous official Pei Jun who has been rampant for several years to be imprisoned, this earth-shattering show in the imperial court, where the emperor eliminates sycophants, will end on New Year's Eve. There has been rushing around to spread a water of extremely auspicious water called Tianhong.

Suede lanterns with pinched gold threads were hung on the corners of the palace eaves one by one, and the dim yellow light showed that there had been blood of a dazzling color on the corridors, as if it had come from the eyes of the palace people. faded.

There is only one important thing for the people in the palace right now, and that is the Chinese New Year.

The night sky was dark and the winter stars were cold. Although the hall for the New Year's Eve banquet in Feihua Hall was half empty, the silk and bamboo orchestras, singing and laughing were still roaming the entire imperial city.The civil and military officials who survived the turmoil all took up the imperial wine with lingering fear, and congratulated the young emperor sitting on the high seat of the bead curtain. Holding the precious eyebrows and eyes, they said a word of sympathy to each other.

"Princess Rui isn't here today?" There was such a low voice from the group of sisters-in-law.

From a distance, whoever glanced at the half-empty table in front of the imperial court, covered his mouth and smiled: "I heard that Lord Narui saw a servant girl again, one concubine for five days and one concubine for seven days Damn, I don't know how his concubine can still sit in the mansion."

"Why are you still sitting?" Others quickly came together to joke, "My mother's family is already in prison, and her younger brother will be executed in a few days. What day does she have in the mansion, and why is she ashamed today?"

"If she doesn't come, then we should have moved us all over that table." Someone said again, wiping his mouth with a shawl between his fingers, sporadic pieces of luxury and fragrance, "Prince Jin often does not return outside the pass. Well, that seat has been vacant for a few years. Tsk, it's a pity that there are so many delicious dishes, so few people have eaten here."

"It's such a big deal, you're the only one who wants to eat." The first few sneered, causing this person to put aside the porcelain bowl of flowers in front of him, and stared at them with wonderful eyes: "Forget it, then I won't eat it either. This bird's nest is tasteless, let's put it aside."

"Yo," at this time someone saw behind the beaded curtain in the hall, and stopped laughing, "Look, the emperor doesn't eat anymore, he's leaving."

Coincidentally with this remark, the uproar of people stopped for a while, and all the princes, princes, and grandchildren stood up.After the great eunuch Hu Li gave a long cry, "The Son of Heaven arose", they led the surrounding officials, relatives and relatives to kneel down in groups, and shouted auspiciously.

The next moment, the bead curtain was lifted from the high platform of the imperial seat, and the palace crowd helped the young emperor to go down the steps. When the little officials and girls who were able to join the banquet for the first time dared to turn around, looking out of the palace gate under the night, they could only see one The thin and cold bright yellow back slowly stepped onto the dragon chariot.

The north wind was harsh and cold, and there seemed to be a cough that seemed to be there.

It was at this time that the night snow began to fall.

At the bottom of the inner prison of the imperial city, Pei Jun woke up from a dream, his anger was like a thread, and he heard someone calling him outside the prison door, so he opened his eyes.

The oil lamp outside the prison was dim, and the straw mat under his body was damp and smelly. Lying on his side, he felt that his eyes had turned the world upside down. After much effort, he finally saw clearly——

Outside the prison is an old friend Cao Luan dressed in black fur, who is leaning over and holding the iron bars tightly, looking at him, with a worry and urgency on his face, his lips are opening and closing:

"Ziyu, Ziyu, wake up, I'm Lao Cao..."

"Listen to me, I'll prepare a way for you..."

Even if you only count the people in Beijing with hands and eyes open to the sky, Cao Luan can be regarded as an extremely capable one, Pei Junguan came to know.Otherwise, in this situation at this moment, it is absolutely impossible for this person without official, job and royal relatives to enter the heavily guarded Da Nei Tian Prison, let alone see him, the death row prisoner appointed by Yubi to be executed.

This life has been ups and downs in the world of mortals for more than [-] years, and Pei Jun has experienced this body among thousands of flowers. He has never been short of wine and meat, but at the end of this dangerous and desperate moment, he has already expected it - if there are still people in the world who can come to see him , then the one who comes must be Lao Cao, who is the same as this general.

There was no light in the cell, and it was pitch black. Cao Luan couldn't see the situation inside clearly at all. At this moment, he could only see the figure bound by the iron chain trying to move slightly, as if he really got up, so he hurriedly said:

"Ziyu, listen, someone will pick you up when you change your meal tomorrow morning."

"At that time, you will leave the palace in disguise, and go west by water to find Meng Guangqiu whom I mentioned to you..."

"It's such a big disaster. There has been a bloodbath in the palace and court. Now there are no eggs in the nest, even the Xiao family and the Mei family have been implicated. Your family's assets have been confiscated, all your property has been lost, and your cronies and disciples have dispersed. Everything is up to you." But to start all over again, the Meng family has always been concerned about changing the name and surname..."

"In the past, the capital was prosperous and prosperous, with high-ranking officials and rich salary, but now it has disappeared. My brother knows that you must hate him, but he needs to let it go for now. After three to five years, when the limelight passes, if you want to, you might as well find another—"

Clang!

Suddenly there was a loud sound of iron chains, and a terrifying bloody hand stretched out from between the bars, and instantly grabbed Cao Luan's five fingers tightly.

Cao Luan was startled, and only heard a moment of silence in the cell before a low and hoarse voice sounded:

"……never mind."

Once a powerful official fell from the horse overnight, and was murdered everywhere in the prison, the prisoner was poisoned dumb and had bloody sores on his mouth. Now just saying these two words is terribly difficult, making Cao Luan, an old friend of the past It sounded like his eyes were hot, and when he was about to raise his breath and try to persuade him again, he had already heard him say again with difficulty:

"never mind……"

The bloody hand holding Cao Luan slowly let go. It was covered with scars and blood pus. When it slowly opened, it revealed a hideous wound on the palm that was pierced by a sharp weapon.

Cao Luan felt that his eyes were stabbed for a few moments, then when he frowned and raised his head, he finally saw the miserable face behind the iron fence everywhere with the whip marks, and the blood dripping from the prison clothes all over his body.

Pei Jun grinned at him through the iron bars, at that moment he looked like the naughty young man who came to seek trouble from him, but the fine lines drawn when the corners of his eyes curled up completely explained the past twenty years of wind and rain.

However, in just 20 years, his body has been worn out by the world. Now that he has fallen into the prison, his legs that have stepped on the yellow sand are broken, and his hands are useless. With a mouth that refers to a deer as a horse, it can no longer utter a whole sentence.

--How to go?

What are you waiting for for another three to five years?

Pei Jun put his bloody hand on the back of Cao Luan's hand in silence, and patted it tremblingly.

After waiting too long, he took a second shot with great care, finally spit out the last word:

"……Walk."

Cao Luan's hand holding the fence suddenly lost strength, and when he staggered and stood up straight, he only had time to look inside the prison with his bare eyes, and closed his eyes with hatred, the waiter who led the way from the side had already invited him outside:

"Mr. Cao, the time has come, let's go here."

Outside the prison, the cold wind was like blades, and the night snow was like weeping. Cao Luan walked in the vast white catkins, unable to shake his hands, looked down to see the shadow of the moon in a trance, his fingers trembled slightly, and his eyes were full of contaminated blood.

The night is getting darker.

Between the carved towers and palaces in the inner palace of the Forbidden City, there is a row of important officials walking geese.

The head is the old man Yingua Sable, with warm sleeves and hands. He is Cai Yan, the chief assistant of the cabinet.His gray eyebrows and eyes were gloomy, and he walked without saying a word, while behind him, Cai Lan, the third son who had just been transferred to be the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, was facing the wind, with bright eyebrows and open eyes, and walked like a spring breeze blowing on his face. Afterwards, various ministries and halls followed closely, all of whom were disciples of the Cai family. So far, the situation in which officials were divided into two surnames for ten years in the court ended, and there will be no minions of the Pei surname in the future.

Not long after, the Chongning Hall where the young emperor Jiang Zhan lived arrived.All the officials wanted to invite An to see him outside the hall, but they were worried that it would be a big problem for the holy bow to leave the banquet in illness, but the eunuch outside the hall only said that the emperor was fine, and told all the ministers not to worry about it, and didn't mention anything else .

After hearing this, all the officials looked at each other, thinking that the audience could not be met, so they had to kneel down and leave.

Among the group of people walking out of the hall, the Cai family and his son were at the head again, rubbing shoulders with the servants who entered the hall.

Cai Yan stopped and turned around as if aware of something, and saw that there was an outsider among the servants, who was walking towards the Chongning Hall closely surrounded by him.

Cai Lan also saw it at the side, and felt strange: "Father, isn't that person—"

Cai Yan coughed heavily, stopped his son's words with a dignified look, turned around and looked at the tall figure who had not entered the hall, thought about it for a moment, and couldn't help sighing compassionately: "I've been a dog for a lifetime, I didn't think about it." He was actually bitten to death by one of our own people... Mr. Pei is also pitiful."

Cai Lan has long been used to his father's prudent behavior when he is out, so he just followed behind and bowed his hands in a respectful sentence: "That fellow Pei Jun, how many arms have been cut off in the past ten years, and he still sits, sits, and works with you?" Domineering, there is always more than enough to die. Now we will get rid of him, and the inside of the pavilion will be clean. You don’t have to worry about anyone anymore. He will be killed tomorrow. Dad, you can sleep in the future Feel at ease."

Cai Yan just patted the broken snow off his warm sleeves, and glanced at him deeply: "I'm afraid your eyes are only on the tip of your nose, and you haven't seen a catastrophe coming."

Cai Lan was baffled, and saw the old father looked up at Dangkong Xingzi, his eyes revealing hidden worries:

"The formation of Guansuo, with nine stars all shining, is the face of the great prison in the world. The surname of Pei Bange Cai in the imperial court is Pei Bange. Now that the Pei family has been destroyed and the criminal law has fallen, how can there be such a big prison again?"

Old Cai Yan looked back at the lights in the Chongning Palace, and his tone was both calm and calm: "Accompanying the emperor is like accompanying a tiger. The tiger hides and suddenly emerges, just like the emperor's heart is unpredictable. Although the emperor has allowed me to destroy the Cai family Pei Jun, in the future, he can even slaughter my Cai family for the overthrow of the Pei family. Therefore, although the Cai family is standing now, it is still standing under the guillotine... Mu Feng, now that you have been walking in front of the emperor, you have to let go When the spirit is awake, not only need to serve the emperor attentively, but also take care of the Cai family."

Cai Lan showed some color on her face: "Father, don't worry, the emperor has honored and favored his son, and will never make things difficult for Cai."

Cai Yan saw his son's complexion in his eyes, and the corner of his lips twitched, but he said ruthlessly: "Then Pei Jun didn't know what would happen today, so he must have thought like you."

Cai Lan stopped in shock, and heard her father say again in front of her: "Pei Ziyu has been in power for ten years. Although he is now serving as mermaid in the sky prison, he is more than a hundred times worse than you, but he used to teach before the emperor and came to the court on behalf of the king. , honored and favored, and the attitude of responding to all calls is far better than you by a thousand times, I am afraid that among the treacherous sycophants of all dynasties, you can win a historian's stroke-but a favorite minister, a favorite minister, no matter how honorable and favored you are, you are also a minister, Once the emperor's heart is gone and worries begin, it will be a favored minister... a dead body!"

Cai Yan suddenly stopped, turned around, caught a glimpse of the expected panic in the astonishment of the son behind him, then gradually narrowed his shrewd eyes, and said something to him intently:

"Mu Feng, you should remember how Pei Jun died in the future."

It was snowing heavily outside the Chongning Hall, but inside the hall, candles were hung in golden cups and warm charcoal was burning.

In the inner hall of the hall, there was a short young man kneeling, with short brows frowning, submissive, lying on the ground for less than half an hour.

From time to time in the hall behind the purple gauze screen came low coughing and panting, waiting for the palace servants to bring soup and medicine, but Jiang Zhan on the golden dragon chair waved them away, snuggling up by the copper stove with animal head to warm up, drooping Xiumei glanced at the eye screen, and in the suffocating silence of the room, she moved her stiff white fingers close to the hot copper furnace, until she looked down and saw that her fingertips were slightly reddened by the heat, and then she suddenly said to the outside of the screen: : "I remember, you may have followed your master for many years."

The servants immediately kowtowed, shaking their backs: "Returning to the emperor, it has been... 14 years."

Jiang Zhan nodded slowly, muttering to himself with frowned eyebrows: "Oh, it's been 14 years..." He turned his hands over to roast, looked at the red charcoal fire in the eyes of the furnace, and his clear voice slightly Get up quickly: "After several twists and turns, Pei Dang was imprisoned. You have contributed a lot. I will reward you. What do you want?"

Hearing the words, the people in the hall trembled with their hands on the carved floor tiles, and their voices were filled with uncontrollable excitement: "The grass... the grass people only wish to die for the emperor, for the country, no, no... dare not have side delusions."

When Jiang Zhan heard the words, he seemed to be really amused, and burst out laughing, and immediately withdrew his hand to take the tea on the table, and said softly: "This sounds sweet, and you really are a good apprentice of your master." After finishing speaking, he glanced at the eunuch beside the screen, and then said: "It's cold too, come over to say hello if you're having a hard time, and have a sip of hot tea first."

Hearing this, the eunuch waved to the maids in the hall, but after a while, he brought out a cup of tea.

The person off-screen thanked him for taking it, and then knelt on the ground and took two sips.For a moment, the tea warmed into his heart, which made him feel the truth and reward of betraying the bitter cold for many years. Now, looking at the exquisite tea in his hand, it is even more like being in the misty hot mist rising from the surface of the tea. I dreamed of myself who will be a high-ranking official, wealthy and prosperous in the future, and I intuitively feel that the tea in my stomach seems to be getting hotter and hotter, and my whole body is agitated.

But at this moment, the other side of the listening screen suddenly sighed: "Hey, your master used to tell me that your short-sighted virtue will never be changed in a lifetime. Now it seems that it is true."

In the next moment, the people outside the screen did not have time to say a word, but suddenly felt the heat surge in the abdomen bring about a burst of excruciating pain. In an instant, his eyes were black and he spit out blood, and he fell backward with a bang, and immediately lost his breath.

Inside the purple gauze screen, Jiang Zhan still lowered his eyes and warmed his hands, without saying a word, but the servants in the side hall filed in and silently carried away the dead body. In a few breaths, even the blood on the ground was wiped clean.

At this time, another person was brought in from outside, and the eunuch reported: "Your Majesty, the person has brought it."

Jiang Zhan raised his eyes and looked across the screen, and Chuoyue saw a dark gray figure kneeling in, so he said indifferently, "Get up."

Then he saw the people in the hall kowtow: "Thank you, Your Majesty." Slowly stood up again.

Jiang Zhan withdrew his hand from the stove, leaned on the handle of the golden dragon chair with his sleeves shaking, and looked at it playfully: "Your Excellency is indeed busy with affairs, and I have sent people to the mansion three times to invite people, but I have not seen them. I heard that Your Excellency recently Are you all eating wine at Cui Lin's home?"

The figures in the hall froze for a moment, trying to calm down for a moment, Fang said: "...Reporting to the emperor, Caomin and Cui lord are married in Caomang, but they are just old friends."

Hearing this, Jiang Zhan nodded, and sighed regretfully, "Then I'm going to mourn. Just now the subordinate said that Mr. Cui was paralyzed this morning, and he was driving a crane. It's strange that I didn't even see it at the state banquet."

The figures in the hall shook violently, and Jiang Zhan continued: "By the way, the Hexi Meng family must have come to Beijing to express condolences. I heard that he is also your old friend?"

Immediately, there was a thud from the hall, and the eunuchs had hurriedly helped him away.

Jiang Zhan looked at him with a smile on his face and curled up the corners of his lips, like a child who was amused, "Forget it, I won't ask about your personal affairs. I invited you here today, just thinking about the overthrow of the Pei Party. It is a great achievement for you, so I will ask you what reward you want."

I saw the gray and black shadow flickering on the screen, as if being lifted up by an eunuch outside, at this moment when answering questions, the voice was already dry and trembling: "Cao Min... I hope my relatives are safe and peaceful, other things... don't dare to ask for nothing, look to the emperor... ...to complete."

Hearing the words, Jiang Zhan paused with Duanzhan's hands, and the corners of his raised lips gradually flattened. After waiting for a long time, he slowly uttered a sentence: "... He is right, your Excellency is a really smart man."

Afterwards, there was a dead silence in the hall for a long time again, until the people in the hall saw the bright yellow color behind the gauze screen shaking, as if waving, and then the eunuch forced them out.

In the Chongning Hall that was once again silent, Jiang Zhan put down the teacup on the imperial case, and when he raised his eyes, he let the dazzling array of gold and jade in this exquisite palace change one by one, and when his eyes locked on a small and lovely golden rooster on the imperial case, When paperweighting, the coldness and indifference inside gradually turned into a dark hatred.

The next moment, he suddenly raised his hand and swept the paperweight away, his breath fluttered amid the sharp pain in his palm, and he immediately coughed violently again.

Amidst the exclamation of the palace people rushing to preach the doctor, the thin and young emperor slumped down on the dragon chair behind him, covered his lips with his golden sleeves and gradually coughed until he was heart-piercing and endless. I saw that it was already bright red.

The night is deep.The night banquet at Feihua Palace ended, and the officials and relatives bid farewell in the snow.

Ning Wuhou's eldest son Tang Mingyu was so drunk that he moved out of the hall and shouted behind him: "Siqi! Qian Siqi! Why don't you come and support me as a teacher!"

The scar-faced disciple behind him woke up and helped him away.

"Where did you go just now? You were asked to toast Mrs. Cai at the banquet, but I couldn't find you..." Tang Yuming scolded the disciples with his tongue out, but he just wanted to relieve his anger, and didn't really want to ask for a response.The disciple had known it for many years, so he secretly raised his sleeves and wiped his eyes without saying much. Hearing Tang Yuming's clamor to catch up with the Cai family in front, he silently helped him over, and soon disappeared into the noisy and complimenting crowd.

About ten steps away from them, a group of people headed by Wenyuan Pavilion University scholar Zhang Ling and his son had just left the palace. on whom.

"Father, be careful."

Zhang Ling was carefully supported down the steps by his son Zhang San, he beat his back with his backhand, looked up and saw that the sky was covered with dark clouds after the heavy snow, so he turned his eyes back and sighed in a deep voice: "The sky is going to get worse. Go back."

"Yes." Zhang San lowered his eyes, and instructed from the side: "Father, be careful."

The same heavy snow blows across the streets in central Beijing, covering the cold and hard ground with a layer of extremely cold white.

In Prince Rui's Mansion in Dongcheng, the nine-year-old son avoided a mouthful of soup from his mother, ran to the window with a happy smile and said, "Concubine Mother, the snow is really big! Can I make a snowman tomorrow morning?"

But the boy's smile caused the princess to panic.She put down the porcelain bowl, and finally couldn't help but raised her hands to cover her face, the withered and thin wrists exposed under the sleeves in mourning were covered with eye-catching bruises.

Naive cold.

The 19th year of Yuanguang's New Year came quietly on this night, but today, the Jiang's community that has stood for three hundred years is almost in turmoil.

The severe drought in the north caused famine, and the court couldn't care less about the hungry wilderness and the many bandits on the road; the injustice case in Jiangdong ignored human life, and the court couldn't care less about the rampant corrupt officials and the people's lack of fat—but at this time, the big case of Pei Jun called the imperial power in danger Suddenly, the officials who were sitting on a vegetarian diet suddenly cheered up and worked together to take out the traitors, and everyone involved in the incident was immediately imprisoned for strict interrogation. The day of execution is only half a month.

However, in the east of the great river, there are still riots in various places. Outside Shuoyang Pass, there are still tens of millions of refugees fleeing the wilderness.In this world, unscrupulous officials kill soldiers, greedy soldiers suppress the people, fathers who rob food lose their sons, and cold and hungry daughters bury their relatives—the people of the Li people kowtowed in panic and wailed, but the imperial court could not be moved, desperate and mournful. , I almost expected to hear the sound of mountains and rivers being crushed by iron hooves.

To them, this night is dark, and it will never change because of the death of a minister, and the dark clouds covering the moon will not disperse all of them because of a sudden strong wind.

But this does not prevent the sun from rising as usual the next day.

In the glare of the sun, the iron bars of the prison clanged wide open. Pei Jun's eyes turned pale and he could only hear the clanking of the iron chains around him. The next moment he was limped out of the prison and thrown into the prison cart, he heard the warden's voice sang in a high-pitched voice. Chanted:

"—Pei Jun, the traitor! Great rebellion, deceit, arrogance and rebellion! There are a total of 96 felonies! After the cooperation of the three divisions and the imperial approval of the emperor, it is decided to kill the abandoned city today and execute the sentence immediately!"