Xu Tianguan sent Li Gui to express his goodwill to the eldest princess Guide. Firstly, he did not want to make many enemies. Secondly, the officials responsible for supervising the entire process of Beijing inspection were all recommended by His Highness Chitose. They were placed in the cadres by the eldest princess.
One of the minions.
Princess Guide and Mr. Peng Ge are not at odds with each other. If Xu Tianguan's main goal this time is to attack the power of Mr. Peng Ge and Mr. Xu Ge, the largest party in the cabinet at present, His Highness Chitose will naturally be happy to see it happen.
Li Gui followed Guide Chitose's instructions and went to the Prince Consort's Mansion that night to get back a list.
Then the next day, he secretly entered the official department and sent the list directly to Xu Shangshu. Although Mr. Xu thanked the guests behind closed doors, Li Gui, who had a mission, was obviously not among them.
Seeing Tianguan accept the list, Li Gu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. What he was worried about was that there would be a conflict between Chitose and Tianguan, which would make it difficult for him as the middleman.
At noon the next day, Zhu Fanghe, a member of the Ministry of Etiquette, suddenly came outside the cabinet and sent a message to invite Li Ai to drink at a place called Shengchun Tower outside the right gate of Chang'an.
Mr. Li accepted the invitation without thinking too much.
After a few glasses of warm wine, Vice-Lang Zhu bluntly stated the reason for his visit: "I have a good friend who is also very talented, but he has been a bit old and sick in the past two years. I am afraid that the test papers given by their court officials are not good, and he will not be able to pass the imperial examination."
Check this level." There are eight methods for Beijing inspection. Each person under inspection must check one by one to see if they have this problem. They are: greed, cruelty, impetuousness, lack of ability, weakness and inaction, carelessness, old age,
disease.
According to Vice-Lang Zhu, if this person is really old and sick, and one person has both old age and illness, he will most likely be ordered to retire.
Li Gui wondered: "I don't care about the affairs of the capital, so what's the use of coming to me for this?"
"My dear brother, if a wise man doesn't tell secrets, if you don't have this ability, my brother will definitely not come forward to embarrass you. It's easy for you to go in and out of the official department to meet Xu Shangshu. This matter is too simple for you." Li Gui
He was very surprised, "I did secretly go to the official department yesterday, how did you know?" Vice-lang Zhu said with a smile: "Go secretly? Who in the yamen doesn't know about it now? I thought you went there openly and with a lantern." Yes.
Weird! Li Gu thought that the leak must have been leaked by one of the several petty officials he met when he went to the Ministry of Personnel yesterday. These subordinate officials are really cunning, shameless and hateful!
At this time, I suddenly heard someone next door snapping the case and saying loudly: "There is no way out for us! I heard that the Heavenly Official is going to use the Beijing Police to carry out a large-scale rectification. It is said that a ten-to-one regulation has been set, and one out of every ten people will be eliminated!"
"
Is there such a ridiculous rumor? Li Gui asked Zhu Fanghe again: "Is this really the rumor?" "This rumor has indeed spread in various government offices in Beijing."
This was clearly a tactic that deliberately used rumors to stir up group emotions. Although it was simple, it had been tried and tested throughout the ages, from the Chen She family to the Jing He Dynasty. It could be called a classic strategy, and Li probably had done it himself.
"Clumsy!" Mr. Li commented, "It's just a headache for Mr. Tianguan. You and I can just drink.
Vice Lang Zhu smiled half-heartedly, "It seems that you also have a headache. I also heard that Li Zhongshu, Zuo Wenxuan, and Pan Kaogong are known as the three most powerful people under Tianguan. Now those two live in the Yamen. In order to avoid suspicion, they only
You are still running around, so I thought that the Jingcha would have to come to curry favor with you." What? There are still such rumors? Li Gui was speechless for a moment, and suddenly felt like he had been hit by an arrow while lying down. What does the Jingcha have to do with him?
ah.
In fact, he knew that there was a difference between him, Zuo and Pan. They were both right-hand men with formal academic backgrounds, confidants promoted by Xu Tianguan.
As for him, to put it bluntly, he was just a low-cost pathfinder temporarily found by Tianguan. He was from a wild background. But he was brave enough to fight and had good luck. At the same time, he betrayed his appearance to the eldest princess.
Only by taking advantage of being from the same hometown as the Queen Mother did he achieve his current status in the world.
Although he, Li Gui, has developed to this day, it is undeniable that he borrowed the influence of Tianguan, but he cannot be said to have been cultivated by Xu Tianguan himself. The difference here is too big, and Li Gui still cares about it.
Mr. Li was stunned for a while, and then he clarified his thoughts and said, "How come I haven't heard of you?" "Of course others won't say this to you face to face."
Li Gui, who was worried, wrote down the name of the person Zhu Zhu had entrusted to him, left the restaurant to see how late it was, and went home drunk. However, when he arrived at the entrance of the alley, he was shocked. He saw people walking from the front of his house to
At the entrance of the alley, there were more than a dozen sedans lined up. They must have been fools who heard the rumors and believed them!
Mr. Li may have imagined that when he was daydreaming, he would be a general and a prime minister, and he would be in a prosperous and prosperous society, but it would definitely not be what he can have now. Such ostentation is not a blessing!
Could it be that what Zhu Fanghe said was true and not a joke? At the critical juncture of the Beijing police investigation, was it an accident or someone deliberately adding fuel to the flames? The latter is probably the most likely scenario.
Mr. Li, who originally had a soy sauce mentality, was helpless to be involved in the scandal. This is the price of the party's big tui. Once something happens to the leader, no matter how innocent the subordinates are, they just want soy sauce.
It is estimated that some people with ulterior motives want to open a breakthrough from him. First, they are throwing dirty water on him, and second, they are forcing him to show his flaws. Now Xu Shangshu and other key figures are deep in the official department, isolated from both inside and outside.
He, a trusted confidant of the Heavenly Official in the eyes of others, is still in and out of the house normally. If he doesn't torment him, who will torment him?
Most of the people who came to visit had made mistakes and were worried about losing their official positions. Although it was very vain to be sought after, Li Gui judged clearly in his heart that there were countless pairs of eyes watching his every move, so
You can't even see these people. If you do, you can't explain them clearly, and you'll be in trouble.
While he was still in a daze, Li Gui, who was standing at the entrance of the alley, had been discovered. Someone's servant recognized Li Gui and shouted: "Master Li is back!" You can't stay here for a long time! Li Gui was in a panic.
He just pulled out his tui and left, running wildly like a wolf and a dolphin, unable to tell the difference between east, west, north and south. He looked for directions at random and just kept moving forward, but he didn't know where to go.
Of course he could hide it for a while by randomly finding a place to hide, but Li Gui would have to go to the inner court after all. He couldn't hide his face all the time. As long as he had a cover, it would not be difficult for someone to follow the clues and find the hiding place.
After the place of residence is discovered, I am afraid that people with ulterior motives will hear the news and come!
If other officials encountered a similar situation, they could pack up their clothes and go live in the yamen. At worst, they would not be able to come out. But Li Gu couldn't do that. The palace was locked up every night. How could he be allowed to stay overnight for no reason?
Given the size of the capital, Mr. Li was suddenly homeless and had no place to stay! Fortunately, in order to have a drink with Vice-Lang Zhu, Li Gui was wearing casual clothes at this time. This would not let the people of the capital witness the comedy of a sixth-grade courtier living on the streets.
In any case, the dirty water has not been poured on him yet. Li Gui, a veteran who is well versed in this matter, naturally understands that the best strategy at this time is not to contact and ignore him. Anyway, he is not the person in charge of the Beijing inspection, and there is something weird about him.
Rumors will not affect the overall situation. As long as there are no actual actions, it will not be a problem to endure it until the Beijing inspection is over.
"You're right! You can't imitate the Shi Da Shen from Suzhou!" Zhang San, the chief attendant, loudly encouraged Li Gui. The original Shi Da Shen in politics collapsed because he couldn't stand the rumors and had to stand out.
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a long voice coming from behind the two of them: "It is not the behavior of a gentleman to talk about other people's shortcomings and shortcomings behind their backs." Li Gui turned his head and took a closer look, and almost lost his mind when he saw a man who was nearly fifty years old.
An old face with a good appearance. I haven't seen him for a long time. The former guard of Su Songdao, Mr. Shi, participated in politics.
There are not only 100 million people in Ming Dynasty, but there are 100 million people in the Ming Dynasty. There is a huge sea of people, and you can meet them just by saying a word. How lucky is this?
Shocked, Li Gu subconsciously asked: "Why are you here?" "I have been favored by the imperial court, and I have returned to offer wine to the Imperial Academy. I just took office a year later."
Only then did Li Gui remember that he had heard about this incident before, but he didn't worry about it. Facing Shi Dacan, who was upright but had been defeated by him before, he felt a little uncomfortable and embarrassed.
He naturally cupped his hands and said, "Congratulations! Farewell!"
"Wait a minute!" Mr. Shi stopped Li Gui: "I heard that you experienced the bloody case in the Imperial College last fall?"
When Li Gui heard this, he quickly clarified: "It's not an experience. It's just some misunderstandings caused by meeting a few supervisors by chance."
Just kidding, the Imperial Academy murder case is so deep that it is still a mist. Only two officials have been dismissed to resolve the matter. It is estimated that Li finally managed to pull himself out of the quagmire. How could he want to get involved in this matter again?
Mr. Shi is too responsible. Does he still want to uncover this shady story?
Shi Lun stroked his beard and said: "When I took office, I saw that the morale of the students in the prison was low, they were impetuous and inexplicably unwilling to learn, and they failed the country's desire to educate talents. This is because last year's classmate died violently and could not avenge the injustice. The majestic capital, at the feet of the emperor, is the imperial college of the country.
, how can it accommodate..."
Before he could finish speaking, Li Gui once again cupped his hands and left without saying anything. It would be better to stay away from this person.
"Master, where are we going?" Zhang San asked.
Li Gu thought about it again and again, and finally thought of a good place, "Go to Guide the Prince Consort's Mansion to stay for a few days." Lin Prince Consort is a member of the royal family and does not belong to the civil service circle. It is not easy for those officials to stalk this unfamiliar person.
Is it just a matter of building connections with the Prince Consort? Secondly, the Prince Consort has a distinguished status and cannot be harassed by others unscrupulously. The shield works well.
So Mr. Li thought about it a lot, and decided that it would be most appropriate to go to the Prince Consort's Mansion and stay there for a few days. Prince Consort Lin should give him this face.
It was said that Lin's consort was chatting and joking with a group of idle people at home. He was not surprised to see Li Gui come to visit him. Li Gui came to "visit... many times. But he suddenly thought that the eldest princess was not here at the moment.
In the Prince Consort's Mansion, they felt strange about Li Gui's purpose of coming.
"I am homeless, so I would like to ask the Prince Consort for help, and I will take him in for a few days." Mr. Li said in a familiar voice.
Lin's consort looked at Li Gui with a mocking look in his eyes. You can't be so shameless. I'm just not going to argue with you about Gui De Qiantai. Do you still want to occupy Jiu's nest? What do you mean by being homeless, making up such a story?
Are childish lies meant to bully him into thinking he has no brains?
Also, everyone in the capital laughed at him for being stingy, misunderstanding that he was reluctant to give away even a maidservant, and asked Mr. Li to write a rudimentary imitation of Mulan's resignation...
He was about to refuse coldly, but Prince Consort Lin suddenly remembered the Cheng family's father and daughter who were guarding the house, and changed his mind again...