Chapter five hundred and eighty third multi-party wrestling (nine)
The bright autumn sun shines into the house. Brother Shou is sitting against the light, his expression not very clear. The smooth brocade robe on his body reflects the fine silver light, as if his whole person is shining, and he is showing more and more imperial majesty.
His voice also came out from the light ball. It was still so lively and childish, but it gave people an inexplicable invisible pressure. He said with a smile: "Ping Shen. Shen Rui, when did you know it was me?
Did Mr. Yang tell you?"
Shen Rui was lifting his clothes to get up, and when he heard this, he raised his head in surprise.
Seeing his reaction, Brother Shou grinned and said, "I knew Mr. Yang wouldn't talk." His words were full of joy. After saying that, he waved his hand to the side and said, "Sit down and answer."
, it wouldn’t be boring to have those rules outside the palace.”
Shen Rui breathed a sigh of relief. He was really careless when talking to this little emperor with nine orifices and exquisite heart. Fortunately, he was really surprised that Brother Shou would mention Yang Tinghe, and it was a purely natural reaction. If there was any hesitation, Brother Shou's
Sensitive, afraid of causing suspicion to his father-in-law.
Shen Rui stood up and thanked him for sitting down. Instead of being afraid of sitting on half a chair like those cautious ministers, he sat down and down. He knew that Brother Shou would ask about the case soon, and he didn't know how long it would last. He was hanging on half a chair.
It was he who suffered the consequences.
This move fell in Brother Shou's eyes, but he felt that Shen Rui was right after all, and he was indeed a magnanimous person.
Brother Shou cleared his throat and asked again: "Since Mr. Yang didn't say anything, how did you know it was me?"
Shen Rui respectfully replied: "Student..."
Brother Shou interrupted him and said impatiently: "Student, what a student? It sounds very old-fashioned. Although you know my identity, our friendship makes it awkward to talk like this, so I'd better call myself 'I'."
Then he said with a smile: "When you become a Jinshi one day and become the Emperor's disciple, it won't be too late to call yourself a student."
Distracted by this, Shen Rui really couldn't maintain his respectful attitude. He smiled and said, "Then I'll borrow the Emperor's good words. I first thought Wen Hu's expression was a bit strange. The Emperor knew Wen Hu's temperament.
He is honest and straightforward, and cannot hide his thoughts at all..."
Brother Shou burst out laughing, "Yes, yes! You don't know, the way Hu Tou looked when he first learned about my identity, and the way he opened his mouth, it didn't look like he was swallowing an egg alive, but rather like he was swallowing an egg alive."
Whole chicken! Hahahahaha!”
After laughing a few times, Brother Shou suddenly felt a little unhappy again and muttered: "It's a pity, the tiger's head will always be so twitchy from now on, and it's not as happy as before." Then he looked sideways at Shen Rui and said: "Don't do it.
Learn from him."
Shen Rui thought to himself, how many people dared to be so carefree and cheerful in front of the emperor, he just smiled and said: "Wen Hu is also a pure innocent."
Brother Shou also acknowledged Gao Wenhu's sincerity, nodded and smiled, and motioned to Shen Rui to continue.
"When we entered the box, we saw that the emperor was sitting in the main seat. After hearing the introduction from Mr. Zhang, we found that after all the distinguished ministers present, the emperor is not the oldest, so his status is the most valuable. And..." Shen Rui
There was a slight hesitation on his face, but he still said: "Furthermore, the emperor is followed by Liu Naiguan. I have met him a few times and know that he is the chief minister of ceremony. I thought that even the noble Tianhuang would not be the chief minister of ceremony."
The reason for the prison officer to follow, and after recalling all the interactions with the emperor in the past, I guessed that it was the Ninth Five Emperor. After they all left and Mr. Liu retreated, I confirmed..."
Since Brother Shou can even find out about such an inconspicuous teahouse, he and Wang Shouren can't hide the fact that he and Wang Shouren know Liu Zhong, so they might as well tell it frankly.
Brother Shou brought Liu Zhong here with the intention of testing him.
Hearing Shen Rui speak frankly, he nodded with satisfaction and said: "Shen Rui, you are indeed a careful person." Yin added: "I think you know why I asked you to come."
Shen Rui stood up and bowed solemnly, expressing gratitude from the bottom of his heart: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for allowing the two imperial envoys to clear the Shen family's name!"
If the young emperor hadn't sent Wang Shouren to investigate this case, no matter how much evidence he and Shen Li had, they might not be able to overturn the case so thoroughly. His gratitude was not false at all.
When Brother Shou saw it, he smiled happily, knocked on the desk with his fingertips, and said with a touch of impatience: "Get up, get up. It's so boring to be so polite. Just sit down and talk to me about this matter." "
As he spoke, he suppressed his smile again and said seriously: "Shen Rui, you know, what I want to hear is the truth. Tell me all the ins and outs of this matter, what you found out and what you thought of."
Shen Rui stood up and sat down in response, and told everything about what happened after returning to Songjiang. However, for the part about sinking beads, he still used some Spring and Autumn brushwork.
Shen Rui was not sure. Although psychological suggestion was used in the surprise attack at that time, Shen Zhu could withstand the interrogation of the Jin Yiwei. However, Zhang Yong did not use torture when he led the Jin Yiwei to interrogate Shen Zhu. Now that he has been back in Beijing for a long time, the three divisions will meet During the trial, if there are other forces that want to get other answers and use punishment, what will Shen Zhu Baoqi say?
Therefore, when replying to Brother Shou, Shen Rui did not say anything to death.
Brother Shou had been listening quietly and did not interrupt Shen Rui to ask questions. Finally, he motioned to Shen Rui to drink tea to moisten his mouth. He touched his chin and pondered for a moment, then asked: "How many years ago do you estimate the Taihu water bandits who caused trouble in Songjiang?" number?"
Shen Rui calmed down after drinking two cups of tea. Unexpectedly, this was what Brother Shou asked first. His character was indeed as recorded in the history books, and he cared about martial arts more than anything else.
He pondered for a while and said: "When I went back, the number of bandits reported by different parties in Songjiang was different. Because Songjiang has been plagued by Japanese invaders for a long time, the people feared them like tigers. A hundred bandits can cause great chaos, and the words of the people cannot I believe it. I think that this time the bandits mainly focused on robbery. More than 80% of the homes of wealthy families were looted. This requires a lot of manpower to search every house, move money, and abduct women. Therefore, I estimate that the bandits who came here will It should be more than a thousand."
Brother Shou suddenly said: "The day before yesterday, Zhang Yongmi announced that he had wiped out three water villages in Taihu Lake, killed more than 700 bandits, captured nearly a thousand prisoners, and rescued 130 people who were taken captive in Songjiang."
Shen Rui immediately became energetic and said with joy on his face: "That's great!" Then he remembered the polite words and quickly added: "Congratulations, Your Majesty!"
Brother Shou glared at him and couldn't help but laugh, "I know you care about your teacher, so you don't need to be so cautious."
Shen Rui felt a little embarrassed. Compared with people of this era, he still could not put loyalty to the emperor first.
Speaking of victory, the atmosphere of the conversation became much more relaxed. Brother Shou smiled and pointed at Shen Rui and said: "I thought you were good at martial arts before, but now that you are so concerned about the war, why not find an official position with you in the Jinyi Guards and work with your teacher as soon as possible?" Let's go together to suppress the bandits for me."
Shen Rui smiled bitterly and said: "Although I have some superficial martial arts skills, I know nothing about arranging troops. I am just an ordinary man's bravery. Wouldn't I miss the emperor's business? The emperor should allow me to take the imperial examination to find a career."
Brother Shou counted with his fingers and sighed: "It would have been better if you had passed the exam last time. Now that you have to wait until you are a filial piety and take the exam again, I will have to wait for a few years before I can use you." He glared again and said:
"You have to study hard and pass the imperial examination in one fell swoop. Otherwise, I won't have the patience to wait for you for three years after another!"
Shen Rui also joked and bowed, saying: "How dare students embarrass His Majesty?"
"Haha, that's good," Shou Ge Da Le stood up from his seat, took two steps behind his hands, and said with a majestic look, "Don't throw away my people."
Shen Rui was helpless and pretended to accept it. Brother Shou burst into laughter and just passed it off as a joke.
In fact, Brother Shou is still quite regretful in his heart. It would be great if Shen Rui was an official now. There are too few people he can trust and use. Cabinet ministers, eunuchs, and relatives all have their own thoughts.
, who doesn’t talk about being loyal to the emperor, but only looks at power.
From the moment he revealed his identity to Gao Wenhu, he had already made up his mind to cultivate important ministers that he could use.
Shen Rui was originally his friend outside the palace and Yang Tinghe's son-in-law, so he was naturally a good candidate. So Brother Shou came here not only to inquire about Ning Fan's case, but also to test whether Shen Rui was available.
After walking for a few more steps, Brother Shou had arrived in front of Shen Rui, sat down next to him, stared at Shen Rui and said: "Shen Rui, according to what you said before, there are about a thousand water bandits who caused trouble in Songjiang, and the bandits have also been wiped out.
There are more than a thousand people, look, these water bandits have been wiped out. Can you return to the court with your troops?"
This has the meaning of a test. Although Shen Rui didn't know that the little emperor was taking the entrance examination for his trusted ministers, he would not give up such a good opportunity to perform, not to mention that he still had to fight for his teacher Wang Shouren.
At that moment, Shen Rui said categorically: "Taihu Lake is so big that it can accommodate more than a thousand bandits. Although I am not familiar with military affairs, according to common sense, I should seize the opportunity to pursue the victory and pacify Taihu Lake. Regardless of whether they are real bandits or someone with ulterior motives, they will all
It should be completely eradicated to avoid future troubles."
In fact, in terms of pure bandits, the water bandit gang of more than a thousand people during the Taiping years was already quite large. But if we consider that Taihu Lake was the place where Ning Fan raised his troops, and Ning Fan had rebellious intentions, it would be impossible to only support more than a thousand people.
——That’s not enough to fill the gap between the teeth of the imperial army, which can easily number dozens or millions.
At this time, not striking while the iron is hot will destroy his water stronghold in one fell swoop, leaving him open to rebellion in the future.
However, Brother Shou said: "Now Xuanda is also using troops, and it will cost a lot to pacify Taihu Lake."
Shen Rui's mind was spinning, and he decided to speak out according to his own thoughts. He first said: "I don't know anything about swordsmanship. I only have some superficial thoughts. If it is inappropriate, please forgive me, Your Majesty."
Seeing Brother Shou nodding, Shen Rui added: "All the troops in Taihu Lake come from Nanjing, and it does not affect the war in the border towns. As for food and wages, it has become a water village, and there is always some food to support the whole village. Besides, this group of bandits just plundered from Songjiang
After all, there seems to be plenty of money and food in the village. In my humble opinion, there is no need to spend any money on the treasury. The emperor will give a few percent of the money and food he captured to the army, so that we can supply supplies on the spot and continue to go deep into Taihu Lake to suppress the bandits."
The method of using war to support war is not new either.
In principle, the proceeds from the suppression of bandits should be turned over to the national treasury, but who would be stupid enough to hand over all the loot? Everyone from generals to soldiers would keep some stuff privately.
Now it is just turning darkness into light, allowing them to supply supplies on the spot in the name of rewards, which also eases the burden on the court.
However, Brother Shou still shook his head and said: "In the opinion of a scholar, the court is afraid of making noise. Once this case is opened, there will be more people who suppress bandits and kill good people and take credit for their merits."
Shen Rui really never thought about killing good people and taking credit for it. He frowned slightly and said: "Can we make an exception just this time as a special purpose? There is something special about this time. One thing, if
Someone has a good intention and thinks that the place where the water bandits are kept should be relatively secret and difficult for others to find. Then there should be few people around it. If the army comes to suppress it, it is unlikely that the people will be accidentally injured."
To put it bluntly, Ning Fan would not be stupid enough to put private soldiers under the eyes of the court.
Brother Shou's eyes flashed, but he didn't speak.
"The important thing is that Mr. Zhang Yong is the emperor's trusted companion," Shen Rui said solemnly: "And my mentor Wang Shouren has a noble character. The emperor also knows people and makes good use of them, so he can cooperate with Mr. Zhang. I believe they will restrain him.
Subordinates, Qiu has done nothing wrong."
Brother Shou raised his eyebrows and said, "Say this to me, okay. How to convince the cabinet?"
Shen Rui looked directly at Brother Shou and asked seriously: "Has the emperor ever thought of raising a navy to prevent the 'Japanese Rebellion' from happening again?"
Brother Shou narrowed his eyes slightly and pursed the corners of his mouth.