Immediately, Shi Shenzheng started writing. His staff, Mr. Gao, stood aside. Seeing the words "I am old and mediocre and unable to serve", he felt excited and couldn't help but hold it down and said: "It can't be like this, it can't be like this!"
Unlike the capital, where local officials are relatively worthless, it would be more difficult to overthrow a high-ranking official like Shi's participation in politics, unless it reaches the point where people are angry with God and everyone is angry. At least it is more difficult for the court to verify, and the distance is also required
More time, it will take some time to get the results based on verification.
From a procedural point of view, although Ma Xunjing's attack was fierce and severe, Shi Shenzheng still had room for maneuver. The eight major crimes were not serious at all.
There are two types of crimes committed by officials of the state and dynasty, public crimes and private crimes. Public crimes such as dereliction of duty and failing to complete court tasks are considered public crimes, while private crimes such as murder, arson, accepting bribes, etc. Shi Shenzheng was impeached for basically all crimes.
It fell within the scope of public crimes and moral character, did not cause any major damage, and was dealt with leniently.
Therefore, it is not a problem for Mr. Shi to at least resign and protect himself, so that everyone can get what they need and everyone will be happy - Li Tuiguan moved away the stone, Ma Xunbo gained fame through his successful impeachment, and Mr. Shi continued to be an official in another place.
This is also the subtlety of the design of the officialdom mechanism of this dynasty. Balance is everywhere, and cause and effect are intertwined. There are only two great powers who have truly broken the crystal wall to a certain extent and entered a new realm in half a step, Wanli Zhang Regent and Tianqi Jiuqian
age.
But why did Mr. Shi come up with the idea of retiring from office? There is also a saying that there is no greater sorrow than death, which is very appropriate to describe Mr. Shi at this time. In fact, so far, no substantial harm has been caused by this impeachment, but
The mental blow to him was too great.
Officials who can be impeached by the censor for being incompetent are all rubbish among the rubbish. But now he, Shi Lun, who aspires to be a famous official in history, actually wants to associate with these rubbish, how embarrassing and shameful! If it has become the case in recent years
It is even more shameful for the highest-ranking local official to be successfully impeached by the inspector!
Is it necessary to wait for the imperial court to send people to investigate again? Do I have to face the imperial envoys for questioning and interrogation? Which of these crimes is found to be untrue? I guess there are some people who can make it true if it is not true.
.
If that kind of humiliating conclusion really comes to mind, Mr. Shi will probably even want to die. What dignity would there be in being an official in another place? The only way is to take the initiative to retire from office to thank the world while the investigation has not yet started, so that the matter can be forgotten.
So far, it has been fruitless, at least it saved some face.
After all, Shi Shenzheng couldn't bear the humiliation and would rather have the jade in pieces than the whole thing. This is similar to Li Guang's idea of "finally being unable to deal with the sword and pen of an official" and committing suicide. If it were replaced by Mr. Li You, Mr. Li who recommended the official, he would naturally be
Another choice is to live an ignoble existence. Character determines destiny.
Master Gao finally let go of his hand and looked at the proprietor with tears streaming down his face as he continued to write.
When the news spread that Shi Shenzheng had submitted a letter begging for his body to be promoted to an official position, Li You was delighted. After the court investigation was completed, the back and forth would last for at least a few months, and there might be some twists and turns in the process. But Mr. Shi wanted to resign on his own initiative.
, that would save trouble.
He couldn't help but praise the old man for his self-awareness, admirable spirit, and Fairplay style. He also sighed and said that a gentleman can deceive others, but the ancients will not deceive me.
The big mountain above his head is finally moving away! He can flex his muscles in the future! It seems as if he sees a beautiful and wonderful life waving to him not far away. After winter, will spring not come?
Shen Tongzhi immediately ran to the gate of Houya Magistrate's compound, knelt down and handed back the seal with both hands. Wang Zhifu was kind and did not make things difficult for him, so he accepted it directly. When Li You learned about it, it was already too late, and he hurriedly told Wang Zhifu Said: "This person is as forbearing as you, the Lord of the House, back in the day. You must be careful and guard against him. How can you let him go so easily?"
"Get out of here!" Wang Zhifu laughed and cursed, and kicked Li You out of the apartment.
The person who claimed to have come to act as the governor of the government office, did not even leave his name and walked away in despair. He turned around and asked someone to send two hundred taels to Li Tuiguan, saying that it was really the Shangguan who had been sent away a while ago. It’s up to you, please forgive me.
All the government officials and officials congratulated each other. This time, everyone was on the wrong team! Another official battle has been safely passed. It is really gratifying.
Speaking of which, one thousand taels of silver made Li You feel heartbroken to this day, and he kept lamenting that the imperial censor was worth a hundred times more than the famous prostitutes in the brothel. But after all, it was not in vain and it was worth the price.
In Ma Xunjian's eyes, seeing Qianliang, he felt that the Jiangnan area was really rich, and a promotion official who had only been in office for half a year could earn so much money.
He didn't know that Li Tuiguan had one thousand taels of silver in cash? It was all misappropriated from the capital of the newly opened pawn shop. Where did this capital come from? As mentioned before, it was borrowed from the Song family, a wealthy businessman.
Fortunately, when things happened, Li Youcai could be called wise and decisive. If things didn't work out, it would have been a fool's errand to give away his money.
However, the capital was taken away without any reason, which caused panic among the people in the pawn shop. Li You had no choice but to show up in the backyard and explain his identity. After revealing his identity, he completely calmed everyone down.
After all, these days, the gold standard and the silver standard are not as good as the official standard. With such a master secretly backing the shop, what does the shop have to worry about? No wonder that when trouble occurs since its opening, there are always government servants who appear at the right time, and they do good deeds without leaving their names and asking for no money. It was so baffling that everyone thought he was a fake government official.
There was another thing that made Li Tuiguan happy. Chen Xundao sold a few paintings with the word "pawn" and earned more than two thousand taels! At this point, he felt relieved. It seemed that this idea was indeed very effective. Use a best-of-both-worlds approach to help Chen Dadu solve the problem of lack of funds.
The situation in all aspects is good, not a small good, but a great good.
It is said that on this day, Li You took the money from selling calligraphy and quietly sent it to the back office of the inspection branch. Naturally, the accountant accepted it, and also gave a copy to Mr. Huang.
After seeing Li You off, Mr. Huang smiled and said to Chen Xun: "Master Li is too pushy. A mere official can push Participation into such a situation. Recently, he has been very proud of his horse and is about to show off his ambitions in Fucheng. I really wonder what surprise he will have when he learns the good news and realizes that driving Shi Shenzheng away may be a futile effort."
Imagining Li You's tangled expression at that time, Chen Xundao's calm face also showed a bit of laughter, which must be very interesting. But he asked: "In your opinion, where did Shi Shengzheng fail? ?I should warn those who hear this.”
Master Huang said sternly: "I have repeatedly studied Shi Shenzheng's actions this evening, and I have three insights. One is that he is arrogant and confident, and despises others, which leads to mistakes and many flaws. Look at his eight crimes. , which one is the big deal? Any one of them mentioned individually will not attract attention. But there are as many as eight in total. Listing them one by one will have the effect of gathering sand to form a tower and a river to form a sea. The small ones become bigger."
Chen Xundao nodded and said, "Why do I think Li You caused it on purpose?"
"The proprietor thinks too much of Mr. Gao Li. How can Mr. Li have this ability? Mr. Shi is just not careful in doing things. It's good to meet careless people. But if you meet someone who is careful and searches carefully, you will inevitably be in trouble. But Mr. Li is just a good person.
You are a careful person who can use your strength."
Mr. Huang added: "Secondly, we are rigidly rigid and do not know how to adapt to the rules. We must know that soldiers are impermanent, power and water are impermanent, Suzhou's folk customs are different from those elsewhere, and there are no unchanging principles in governance. Master Shi does not understand this. Thirdly,
On the official side, the local tycoons are intertwined and cannot be ignored. We must make good use of the situation. How can we control the officials appointed by the court and coerce people everywhere? These three points are the root causes of Shi Shen's political failure."
At this time, a small official sent in a letter. Chen Xundao opened it and read it. After reading it, he said: "What a coincidence, it's already done. It is estimated that the letter will be finalized in the next few days."
When Master Huang heard this, he turned around and said, "I'm going to report the surprise and good news to Mr. Li."
When Li You returned home, the doorman reported: "Mrs. Wang misses Mrs. Liu. She came from Xujiang today and is now in the backyard."
When he heard that his mother-in-law had arrived, Li You went to pay her respects. In Mrs. Liu's room, all the daughters in the family gathered around Mrs. Wang and were talking. It turned out that Mrs. Wang had brought some melons and fruits native to Xujiang and distributed them to each room.
Gather all the girls to taste melon together.
Li You also sat aside. Xiaozhu's sharp eyesight and quick hands handed over the cut watermelon, and Li You ate it with everyone.
Not long after, a maid came to report: "Master Qian Mansion has sent people to deliver gifts and they have stopped at the gate."
Master Qian naturally refers to Qian Huangshang. Last month, Li You took the initiative to find Master Qian and made a deal, asking Master Qian to come forward as a taint witness. Anyway, he is a clan member that the Queen Mother can use, and the court usually does not care about small matters.
If you really want to do anything to him, you can at most reprimand him, but it won't affect anything.
For Li You, even if he drank poison to quench his thirst, he couldn't care less. The top priority was to overthrow Shi and participate in politics. Besides, he was not a petty official with nothing now, and he also had some money to bear the consequences of his business dealings with Qian Huang.
Shi Shenzheng did say that he asked Qian Huangshang to go find Li You. He just wanted to catch the thief, seize the stolen goods, and seize the double. He did not believe that Li You, a bold cat, would not eat fish.
Who would have expected that the two of them would actually collude to defeat each other. Instead, Qian Huangshang turned himself in and accused Shi Shenzheng of consorting with himself, a powerful person, and colluded with himself, a relative, and also hinted that his subordinates acted accommodatingly. This crime became the most serious of the eight crimes in Ma Xun's memorial.
A serious one.
He digressed again, but said that Li You was in a good mood these days. Hearing Qian Huangshang's gift, he waved his hand and said with intention to show off: "Master Qian comes from a wealthy family. His gift must be extraordinary. Bring it in and call him."
Everyone, open your eyes."
After a moment, the door curtain parted to the left and right, and two beautiful beauties flashed out. Pingping raised her feet to cross the threshold, lowered her head and lowered her hands and stood at the door. She bowed four times and said, "I have met the master."
The two beauties, one on the left and the other on the right, have exactly the same apricot eyes and peach cheeks. They are equally graceful and beautiful, like mirrors facing each other. They are rare twin beauties. It really opened the eyes of the whole room, including Li You's mother-in-law, wives and concubines.
.
"I've gained so much experience..." someone murmured in a low voice.
Is this a gift from Qian Huangshang? Li You was dumbfounded after seeing it. It wasn't because of the beauty. He had already passed the point of drooling at the sight of beauty.
The key is that at this moment, his mother-in-law is sitting behind him... He is talking to his mother-in-law and his wife. Suddenly, two beauties were sent to him, and he showed them off. There are few scenes more embarrassing than this.
It's hot to the touch, so I can't take it away, Li You thought to himself.
While I was thinking about my words, I heard someone else report: "Mr. Huang from the Police Department is here to visit."
Li You was very surprised. He had just returned from the inspection branch, why did Master Huang come over again? Could it be that some emergency had occurred?
He quickly forced a smile to his mother-in-law and said: "This gift is definitely not what my son-in-law meant. I really can't accept it. We will deal with it later. Now that we have distinguished guests, my son-in-law will go and receive the guests first."
When Li You entered the front hall, Master Huang cupped his hands and said, "I just heard the good news, so I would like to congratulate Mr. Li!"
Li You asked: "Could it be that the imperial court dismissed Shi Shen from politics?"
Master Huang said with a smile: "How can it be so fast? The happy news is that Meng Chen Xundao helped you open your joints, and you will be suspended from work and imprisoned!"
Hearing this, Li You's ears were like thunder from the ground!