Cai Quan, the Secretary of the Ministry of Punishments, has been very busy recently, because after the Xuanjing Division ceased to exist in name only, several unfinished cases were handed over to the Ministry of Punishments. The methods and procedures used by the Ministry of Punishments to investigate and file cases are completely different from those of the Xuanjing Division, and these cases have all been reported to the Ministry of Justice.

Guo Tianting, Emperor Liang himself sent it down for inspection, and when he received it, he found that all of them were red-hot charcoal balls. However, Cai Quan was a naturally stubborn person, and Xia Jiang escaped from the prison, which made him hold his breath.

No matter how difficult it is to get rid of the things assigned to him now, he will definitely take them down.

Fortunately, he had the support of Prince Jing and a few very useful people under his command. He often went to Suzhai to talk to Qilin Talents and often got useful suggestions. Therefore, after a month of hard work, he was actually very productive.

Who would have never expected that the new chief minister of Dali Temple, Ye Shizhen, would be such an eccentric and picky person. When the case file was moved for re-examination, he would find several loopholes at once, except that "the writing was not in compliance with the standards."

, vague wording" can be regarded as nothing but looking for trouble, the other loopholes are really real. Cai Quan, who has always been high-spirited and never suffered setbacks since taking office, was temporarily disgraced, and everyone in the Ministry of Punishment also became aware of it.

He was in such a state of shame that he became brave again, and vowed to regain his temper. According to Shen Zhui, the scene was, "I almost went crazy..."

Madness naturally has the effect of madness. During the second review, Ye Shizhen couldn't pick out anything after a long time, so he had to add signatures and seals and transfer to the inner court. After this strict test, Emperor Liang was naturally satisfied and originally planned to choose another one.

The idea of ​​appointing someone to take charge of the Xuanjing Division was naturally abandoned, and King Jing allowed the government to abolish it, subdivide its functions and powers, and merge some of them into Dali Temple and some into the Ministry of Punishment.

At this point, the dust had settled down, and the young Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment had just breathed a sigh of relief when Meng Zhi, the commander of the Forbidden Army, came to the door with two arresters. It turned out that these two people were not angry with the minister of Dali Temple who had always made things difficult for the Ministry of Punishment. On this day, they took advantage of the opportunity.

Taking the opportunity to seize a prisoner, he deliberately ran into Ye Shizhen's sedan. He happened to be met by Meng Zhi, who stopped him in advance. Without any trouble, he quietly dragged him to the Yamen of the Ministry of Justice and handed him over to Cai Quan for processing. He immediately made the minister very popular.

I was speechless.

After summoning the entire department to sternly state that they should not have any personal grudges against Dali Temple, Cai Quan also thanked Meng Zhi repeatedly for calming the situation. The two had no personal relationship before, but after chatting about this matter for a while, they found that they were quite compatible.

.It happened that the two mansions were not far apart, and Cai Quan spent more than half a month in the Yamen with food and lodging without going back to see his wife and children. As they talked, they decided to go back to the mansion together in the carriage of the Ministry of Punishments.

On the way, they found a new topic and talked about Mr. Su, who was now only a guest. As he was talking happily, Meng Zhi accidentally glanced out of the screen window and suddenly burst into laughter.

Cai Quan followed his line of sight and couldn't help but smile. On the busy street outside, he saw Shen Zhui, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance, dressed in civilian clothes. He was holding a watermelon as round as his belly in his arms, sitting at various stalls.

Wandering around, I stopped from time to time to chat with the stall owner.

"Shang Shu Shen has always paid attention to people's living standards and is indeed a good official, but why is he holding a watermelon?" Meng Zhi said with a smile.

"Maybe you just bought it?" Cai Quan also shook his head and smiled, and ordered the driver to stop. The two were about to get out of the car to say hello, but something unexpected happened suddenly.

In front of a carriage full of wood, the binding rope broke unexpectedly, and all the logs as thick as a bowl rolled down the carriage, heading straight towards Shen Zhui's direction. The others screamed and dodged to avoid it. But Shen Zhui was fat and slow to move. Meng Zhi jumped towards him, but it was difficult to save him from a fire that was far away. He was about to escape when a nimble figure flashed past. The fat Minister of the Household Department was immediately snatched away like a sack. It was placed under the eaves of the street.

"Fei Liu!" Meng Zhi was immediately delighted, "Fortunately you were passing by!"

Cai Quan had also rushed over at this time and supported his friend. Shen Zhui calmed down for a moment and hurriedly went over to thank Fei Liu, but the young man had a handsome face and just said "hmm".

Since they often visited Su's house recently, Cai and Chen knew Fei Liu's situation and didn't take it seriously. They looked around and saw that although many stalls were damaged and the scene was in chaos, fortunately no one was injured, which was considered lucky. The owner of the carriage was already sweating profusely and his face was pale. He was soon surrounded by various stall owners claiming compensation.

"Feiliu, where are you going?" Meng Zhi saw that everyone was just arguing about the amount of compensation and there was no major conflict, so he ignored it and turned to ask the young man with a smile.

Fei Liu snorted and turned away from him, and the commander of the imperial army could only smile bitterly. Ever since that day when he made Xiao Shu angry by proposing to confess to Prince Jing, Fei Liu, who was guarding Brother Su, regarded him as a bad person and refused to pay attention to him anymore. .

But it’s really strange to think about it. No matter how wrong suggestions he made in the past, Xiao Shu would always patiently explain to him why he couldn’t do it, but that day he didn’t say anything, just turned away and left, acting very tired and Emotional.

So every time he thinks about it, even Meng Zhi, who considers himself a rough man, will feel a little uneasy.

"Brother Shen, are you injured?" Cai Quan suddenly asked in surprise.

"No……"

"Then this red one..." Cai Quan reached out and touched it, "Oh, watermelon..."

Fei Liu turned his head and glanced, took out a piece of broken silver from his arms and gave it to Shen Zhui, which made the Minister of the Ministry of Finance confused: "What are you doing?"

"I'll pay you!"

The three people present all tensed up their faces in an instant, trying desperately to hold back the laughter that was about to burst out. They endured it until their stomach hurt. Only then did Shen Zhui catch his breath and put the silver back into the boy's hand: "Fei Liu Xiao Brother, you saved my life, but if you destroy a watermelon and ask for compensation, what will happen to me?"

"I'll abort it!" Fei Liu said seriously, "I'll pay for it!"

"Okay, Lord Shen, please take it," Meng Zhi said, holding back a smile, "Tutor Feiliu is so good, he will be angry if you don't take it."

Shen Zhui looked dumbfounded at the broken silver being pushed towards him again. Just as he was about to speak, a frivolous voice suddenly came from beside him.

"Little beauty, you can't touch spicy things with such beautiful hands. Come on, come on, I'll help you pick..."

The three of them turned around and saw a twenty-eight-year-old girl picking up fallen garlic next to the vegetable stall that had been knocked down by a rolling log. She blushed immediately because she was being talked to by a strange man. Although she was Xiaojiabiyu, If you look closely, it's really stunning.

"What a beauty..." The frivolous prodigal squatting next to her looked like he belonged to a wealthy family. His appearance was actually quite handsome, but the look on his face that was ready to drool at any time really detracted from his image. What's more, what he said next was even more outrageous, "My dear lady, may I ask your name? Have you agreed to her?"

The girl blushed with embarrassment and wanted to run away. As soon as she turned around, she was blocked by the swinger again, "Don't leave in a hurry. I won't be rude to a beautiful lady. Let's have a chat?"

Cai Quan really couldn't stand it, and snorted coldly: "It's clear as day, this young master should restrain himself."

The swinger raised his peach-blossom eyes, turned half sideways and looked this way, and said, "Why are you restraining yourself? Are you jealous that I'm talking to the little beauty?" As soon as he said this, he suddenly saw Fei Liu, and his eyes suddenly froze.

One light.

"Wow, this little brother is so beautiful. He looks very strong. Come on, let me pinch it..."

Meng Zhi and the other three people saw the swinger approaching in a lustful manner, reaching out to touch Fei Liu's face. They couldn't help but raise their eyebrows, knowing that they would soon see the wonderful performance of the trapeze artist.

But the next scene almost made their eyes fall to the ground. Fei Liu pursed his thin lips tightly and stood stiffly on the spot. He actually let the swinger pinch his face gently.

claw.

"Hehehe, Fei Liu is so good, but he seems to be a little fatter. I have already told Chang Su not to feed you like that. If you feed you fat, you will not be beautiful anymore..." The swinger was talking when he suddenly remembered

Looking back as if something was wrong, she stumbled and sighed, "Where's the little beauty? She ran so fast... It's been a long time since I've seen such a raw beauty. It's a pity, a pity."

"Over there!" Fei Liu pointed in a direction.

"Ah, our little Feiliu is the best. Then I will go after the little beauty. You go and tell Chang Su that I have brought him a generous gift. He will be happy. We will see you in the evening." After saying that, he said softly.

Shaking the fan, he took off his feet and ran away.

"Who...is this person...?" Shen Zhui stared at the handsome figure and asked stammeringly.

"It sounds like he is Mr. Su's friend... would he make such friends?" Cai Quan raised his eyebrows in confusion.

But Meng Zhi looked thoughtfully at the man's not-so-fast footwork with a serious expression.

Fei Liu was probably struck by the words "See you in the evening". He stayed there for a long time, then suddenly pursed his lips and disappeared in a flash. He didn't know whether he had returned to Su's house or escaped to other places.

Once the two of them left, the three people who stayed at the scene would certainly not continue to stand in the street like this. Originally, Meng Zhi was with Cai Quan, but he became interested in this swinger whom he met by chance and planned to follow him to have a look.

Look, then he suddenly remembered a date that he had to go to and said he wanted to say goodbye. It happened that Shen Zhui also hinted that Cai Quan had something to say to him, so everyone broke up politely. Meng Zhi left alone, but Shen and Cai went together.

Got on the carriage of the Ministry of Justice.

"Have you heard?" Shen Zhui said urgently as soon as the car curtain was lowered, "Si Tianjian's auspicious day has been divined, and the crown prince's coronation is scheduled for June 16th."

"Really?" Cai Quan suddenly beamed, "I've been so busy these days that I haven't bothered to listen to any news. So Prince Jing will be the crown prince in more than half a month... It seems that the court is planning to

There’s hope!”

"Yeah, I just hope there won't be any more trouble before this happens..."

"Why do you say that? I think everything is in order, how can there be any chaos?"

Shen Zhui glanced at him, "Have you not noticed that His Highness Prince Jing has been depressed recently, as if he has something on his mind?"

"No... I've been almost dizzy from being busy... Why is Your Highness unhappy?"

"If I want to know, why should I discuss it with you?" Shen Zhui frowned with his stubby eyebrows, "The government is going smoothly, there are no dangers at the border, and the emperor's attitude is that he is favored. I really can't think of anything else that your highness can do. What’s missing?”

Cai Quan raised his head and thought for a long time, but couldn't think of anything, so he asked, "Could he be sick?"

"I just heard the day before yesterday that he subdued a fierce horse sent from the south in the imperial garden. How could it be sick..."

"Maybe he is about to become the crown prince, so he feels a little scared..."

Shen Zhui was silent for a while, and then said: "It still doesn't look like...but it's for no reason, and I don't know how to ask him. I just hope that after the coronation, maybe it will be better. Now that the crown prince's appointment has been decided, the death edict from King Yu is just I'm afraid that the award will be issued in the next few days. I heard that he wrote letters of repentance and begged to be spared from death for several days, but His Majesty has not allowed it."

"How can you avoid death by raising an army and plotting a rebellion?" Cai Quan shook his head and said, "King Yu should have understood this in his heart. He took this risk. If he wins, the world will be ruined. If he loses, he will be completely defeated. There is no third way. ?”

"Thinking about it this way, it was actually better for the former prince to lose to him first," Shen Zhui said with emotion. "Although he was imprisoned in a remote place and not close to the imperial capital, he saved the lives of his family. It is really difficult to decide between luck and misfortune. ah."

Cai Quan suddenly narrowed his eyes and said slowly: "You said... His Highness's concern, could it be for King Qi back then?"

Shen Zhui was startled, forgetting that the two of them were on the carriage for a moment, and instinctively looked around: "Why are you talking about this all of a sudden?"

"They are both counter-cases. Why is it strange that this one reminds me of that one?" Cai Quan looked at him strangely, "Why are you so nervous?"

"You don't know..." Shen Zhui breathed a sigh of relief, "During the King Qi case, the imperial capital was almost a river of blood. Half of the civil and military ministers of the dynasty begged for mercy, but things got worse and worse. People were killed one after another. , several mansions were taken over. My mother went into the palace at that time and saw with her own eyes that Concubine Chen, who was favored for a while, was actually wrapped in a white silk and carried out when she died... In the years since then, ,Who dares to mention King Qi easily?"

Shen Zhui was the son of the princess of Qinghe, and he was close to the clan. He was naturally much more aware of the bloody tragedy of that year than Cai Quan, who was a local official at that time. He just said these two simple sentences, and he seemed to feel a little chilled.

Cai Quan was stunned for a long time, his expression suddenly turned solemn, and he said solemnly: "But the case of King Qi was investigated by Chief Xia Jiang, right?"

Shen Zhui immediately understood what he meant and frowned.

"His Royal Highness Prince Jing has always had objections to King Qi's case. This attitude is well known to everyone. He has also been suppressed for ten years because of this. He often can't even stay in the capital. If the person who is in charge of investigating King Qi's case conspires to rebel, what will happen to His Highness's heart? Maybe he has no idea?" Cai Quan said seriously, "I think he has been very preoccupied recently, and he is probably considering whether to propose to His Majesty a retrial of King Qi's case."

"Absolutely not!" Shen Zhui broke into a cold sweat, "The registration has not been done yet. If we offend His Majesty, we will be in trouble. Although Xia Jiang is the chief investigator of the King Qi case, it is His Majesty who ultimately dealt with it like that. If If you ask for a retrial without strong evidence, your majesty will only think that he is relying on new achievements and retracing old things for no reason. You know what your majesty hates most? It is the intention to belittle the monarch! If you want to retrial the case of King Qi, isn't it clear? Do you think His Majesty made a big mistake back then? Your Majesty will never tolerate it!"

"But..." Cai Quan insisted, "from Xia Jiang's rebellion, we can see that maybe the truth back then..."

"Why don't you understand yet?" Shen Zhui said angrily, "What is the truth? Do you think no one questioned the truth thirteen years ago? But the result is that he may be demoted from the capital, or be killed, or... ...obediently kept silent. Perhaps to Your Majesty, it doesn’t matter whether King Qi really rebelled at that time. What’s important is that once he wants to rebel, he can rebel at any time!”

This was the first time Cai Quan heard such an argument, and his whole body felt numb. He looked at Shen Zhui speechless for a long time.

"In short, just based on Xia Jiang's rebellion, it is not enough reason to speculate that it was an unjust case." Shen Zhui slowed down his tone again, looking a little helpless, "I think His Highness Prince Jing probably also thought of this, which is why he is so depressed. Yeah..."

Cai Quan looked at the roof of the car solemnly and said coldly: "If I were His Highness Prince Jing, I would not give up."

"What did you say?" Shen Zhui didn't quite understand and looked at him in surprise.

"What does it mean that you can rebel at any time if you want to? Just because of this, tens of thousands of people will be killed?" Cai Quan became angry as he spoke, "The responsibility of the emperor lies in nurturing the people, and the power of the emperor lies in benevolence. Yifan. There is no trace of rebellion, but there is suspicion that someone has renegade intentions. With the emperor's broad-mindedness, how can a minister come to Ji Yueguangfeng? I originally thought that King Jing was aggrieved by King Qi, but it was because of the deep friendship between the two brothers. Today I heard you say this Said, unexpectedly..."

"Okay," Shen Zhui covered his friend's mouth, "Pretend I didn't say anything. But seeing how indignant you are, I can better understand His Highness's mood. But we can't rush now. Son, when the time comes...what can't be done when that time comes? We still need to find an opportunity to persuade His Highness not to act recklessly."

"I want to persuade you to do so, but I won't go."

"Okay, just be your Gengchen. I'm tactful and I'll go and persuade you myself." Although Shen Zhui said this angrily, he still thought it was wrong, "It's not appropriate for me to go. Why don't you ask Mr. Su to persuade you someday?" Please advise. This time he went hunting with His Highness in the spring and went through the dangerous situation of rebellion. People in Prince Jing’s Palace said that Your Highness is more respectful to him now. He is also very eloquent. If he is willing to come forward to dissuade him, Your Highness will definitely listen."

In fact, Cai Quan knew in his heart that Shen Zhui's point of view was more timely than his, so he held a stalemate for a while and finally said "Yeah".

Outside the carriage, they happened to pass by the former Prince Yu's Mansion at this time. Looking through the screen window, the once illustrious Prince's Mansion has now fallen into dust. The two ministers thought of the discussion just now, and suddenly realized that the world was like a gray cloud, and they couldn't help but express their regrets. He glanced at it and let out a long sigh.
Chapter completed!