Chapter 46 Chapter 46 "What is the young lady's wish?"...
==Chapter 46==
The collision of the imperial examination and the refugee issue is bound to cause a lot of discussion. The court officials may remain silent on the matter, but there are many young and frivolous people, and many students are indignant about this matter.
When he heard the discussions around him again, Feng Wenyu had to say that the person behind the scenes was really clever.
The situation has become so serious that the court must give an explanation, especially since a natural disaster can easily make people think that the king is unworthy of his position. The pens of scholars are the most touching and can touch people's hearts. Simply executing a county magistrate cannot quell the voices behind this matter.
Because of this incident, Feng Wenyu didn't even bother to care about Qiao Anyu going to the Jiaofangsi.
Feng Wenyu certainly doesn't want the second prince to be proud. There have been conflicts between the Feng family and the second prince. Once the second prince comes to power, it will not be a good thing for the Feng family.
The originally intensive gatherings have now come to a halt, and each family is very well behaved. The girls and boys are all kept at home to avoid attracting attention at this time.
The porridge distribution outside the city was still in full swing. Just as Xie Zhujing said, after the Feng family started it, soon all the well-known families in the capital also started to distribute porridge, and the refugees outside the city were barely settled down.
Anyone with a discerning eye could see that there was something hidden behind this matter. Some people watched coldly from the sidelines, some tried to protect themselves, and some secretly worried about being implicated.
It wasn't until a memorial impeaching the Fourth Prince was brought to the court that everyone knew that this matter had finally begun.
When Feng Wenyu heard the news, he couldn't help but be surprised:
"Impeach the Fourth Prince?"
The prince and his entourage were far away from her, and when it came to the Fourth Prince, Feng Wenyu couldn't help but think of Qiao Anyu.
If anything happens to the Fourth Prince, the Qiao family will inevitably be implicated.
Zhou Yueyu frowned. In the Feng family's environment, she never hid such news from her children. To some extent, these were resources that people of humble origins could not access. She shook her head, sighing somewhat.
"It is said that the prefect Song is a member of the Fourth Prince's party."
Feng Wenyu hesitated for a second before finally asking, "What is the charge against the Fourth Prince?"
"Shecang Hamster."
Feng Wenyu was speechless for a moment.
The practice of stealing grain from local granaries stored for famine or disasters involves secretly reporting losses from rat bites or mildew, or selling large amounts of grain in small quantities and reselling the stored grain in secret, resulting in a lack of food for disaster relief in years of disaster and worsening people's hardship.
Zhou Yueyu shook her head. "What goes around comes around. Prefect Song tried to curry favor with the Fourth Prince, and the county magistrates tried to curry favor with the prefect. County Magistrate Chen was one of them. The granaries were empty, and after falsely reporting the disaster, there was no food to provide relief. This resulted in countless casualties among the people in the county. Eventually, they couldn't survive any longer, so they fled to the capital."
Xie Zhujing had reminded her that this matter was related to the Second Prince, so it was obvious who secretly arranged for officials to impeach the Fourth Prince.
Feng Wenyu frowned.
The Fourth Prince was definitely not innocent. Without irrefutable evidence, who would dare to impeach a strong contender for the crown prince at this time? And the Second Prince allowed the situation to fester, disregarding the lives of the people of the city, simply to strike down his rival for the throne.
As the superiors, they have no mercy in their hearts. No matter who of these two people finally takes that position, it may not be a good thing.
Feng Wenyu couldn't describe her emotions. The tragedy she had witnessed outside the city made her brows furrow involuntarily. She asked, "How does the Emperor intend to deal with the Fourth Prince?"
Zhou Yueyu: "Imprisoned within the palace, the three judicial departments are investigating."
As for the final fate of the Fourth Prince, it depends on the results of the investigation by the Three Judicial Departments.
Feng Wenyu stopped talking. She knew very well that the worst that could happen to the Fourth Prince would be imprisonment. He was the emperor's only legitimate son. Could he be executed?
In the imperial palace, a sound of breaking suddenly occurred in the imperial study.
The atmosphere was tense, and the palace servants guarding outside couldn't help but lower their heads even more, while the servants in the hall had no way to hide and knelt on the ground in an instant.
Gu Yushi was holding the memorial and lowered his head when his voice was interrupted.
Xie Zhujing also stood quietly aside.
Emperor Wenyuan was furious. He smashed the string of white jade beads in his hand directly onto the imperial desk. The jade beads could not bear the weight and broke directly, scattering all over the floor!
Emperor Wenyuan still felt unhappy and sneered:
"Every one of them wants me to execute the fourth brother immediately. Looking at me, I can't see what he is thinking!"
He's not even dead yet! He's already eager to kill his brothers. How dare he hand over this position to him?!
After this angry remark, Emperor Wenyuan closed his eyes. No one knew what he was thinking. Gu Yushi remained silent.
After a long time, Emperor Wenyuan opened his eyes and said coldly:
"Order the Governor of Yanmen to take over the border town, investigate the granary, and deal with the difficult situation."
Gu Yushi tightened his grip on the memorial, and his eyes finally showed some fluctuation.
Xie Zhujing also raised his head imperceptibly.
He was naturally familiar with the then Governor of Yanmen, Wang Qinghui. Lord Feng had two formal disciples, and Wang Qinghui was Lord Feng's last disciple. In other words, this person was Xie Zhujing's third uncle.
Among the four members of the second generation of the Feng Party, Song Zuoliang and Feng Rongyu lived in the capital, while Feng Ge Lao's youngest son and Wang Qinghui had been serving in local positions. To some extent, this was Emperor Wenyuan's check and balance on the Feng Party.
After a pause, Emperor Wenyuan raised his head again and said casually:
"Order Hanlin scholar Cheng Ruizhu to go to the border town and assist in investigating this matter. There must be no mistakes."
After these words were spoken, there was silence in the hall, and Xie Zhujing remained calm.
Gu Yushi lowered his eyes and his gaze on the memorial became more focused.
The two of them glanced at each other inconspicuously in the air, and then quickly looked away.
Cheng Ruizhu is not that prominent in the Hanlin Academy, but no one dares to look down on him. The Cheng family was once a member of the Gao Party, but before the Gao Party fell, Cheng's father cut the Gordian knot and left the Gao Party. When the wall fell and everyone pushed it down, the Cheng family was not among them, but became more low-key.
Later, Gao's party fell, leaving many positions vacant. Cheng's father was also promoted to a higher level. Now he is the Minister of Rites and entered the cabinet at the beginning of the year.
Cheng Ruizhu is his legitimate son and only son.
Cheng Ruizhu has one characteristic, which is that he is upright and incorruptible.
The Governor of Yanmen is in charge of the military and political power of the area. It is also located at the border and borders neighboring countries. This position has always been held by the emperor's confidant.
The border town belongs to the Yanmen area. There is nothing wrong with the emperor asking Wang Qinghui to investigate the border town, but he sent Cheng Ruizhu to assist in the investigation.
The profound meaning behind this makes one ponder deeply.
Gu Yushi and Xie Zhujing left the imperial study together. Xie Zhujing looked up at the sky. The two were colleagues, and no matter what their personal feelings were, they would inevitably communicate with each other.
Gu Yushi's faction is unclear, but Xie Zhujing can vaguely sense that Gu Yushi is partial to the Feng Party.
The reason is self-evident.
The two of them walked along the long red corridor as usual. Xie Zhujing suddenly said softly, "Your Majesty has become increasingly unpredictable in the past two years."
Gu Yushi kept walking, his expression calm. He didn't intend to respond to Xie Zhujing, but Xie Zhujing kept asking:
"What do you think His Majesty's intentions are?"
Gu Yushi finally looked at him, his eyes slightly cold: "Thank you, Minister, be careful with your words."
How could they possibly guess what the emperor was thinking? They speculated in their hearts, but discussed it openly. Were they tired of living?
The imperial edict and memorial were sent out urgently over a distance of eight hundred miles.
After Xie Zhujing finished his shift, he went to the Song Mansion. Since they were master and disciple, it was natural for them to meet frequently.
All memorials would pass through the cabinet, so the Feng family must have received the news. Xie Zhujing was not allowed to specifically inform Song Zuoliang about what happened today. Xie Zhujing frowned:
"Your Majesty, are you suspicious of Third Uncle?"
After all, that position is hard to trust. It has nothing to do with loyalty or not, but only with the power of that position.
Upon hearing this, Song Zuoliang sighed slightly and shook his head.
"It's just a check and balance system."
The Cheng family used to be a member of the Gao Party, and now they have a cabinet minister. No matter before or after the fall of the Gao Party, the Cheng family and the Feng family will never shake hands and make peace.
Xie Zhujing paused for a moment before lowering his voice and saying, "I see that His Majesty is becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the Second Prince."
Song Zuoliang did not talk about this matter.
The emperor is getting older. After the border town incident broke out, he was once angered and fainted. No one dares to guarantee how long the emperor can hold on. The second prince is in his prime. His former love for his heirs has gradually turned into suspicion and fear of the power successor.
It is almost inevitable that His Majesty would feel dissatisfied with the Second Prince.
But this was not something they could discuss.
After finishing the business, Song Zuoliang couldn't help but care about his lifelong event: "How are you and the young lady getting along?"
Xie Zhujing paused, then lowered his eyes to look at the cup. After a moment, he said:
"Good."
Not great, just good.
He could feel that Feng Wenyu was not opposed to him, but he couldn't sense that she liked him. She just treated him as a potential marriage partner.
Maybe the love is not that deep, but the couple can still live in harmony.
Most couples get along like this nowadays, and there is nothing wrong with Feng Wenyu's behavior.
He should have been content.
But he had seen how she looked when she liked someone, so his desire was hard to satisfy, and he couldn't deceive himself by saying that he was satisfied.
Song Zuoliang keenly heard the unclear emotion in the voice and was a little surprised.
He believed that he knew his disciple very well. He was ambitious and unscrupulous. Even the incident in the border town this time was actually due to Xie Zhujing's tricks.
How could it be possible that no one noticed such a big thing beforehand?
It was Xie Zhujing who suggested helping the Second Prince cover up the whereabouts of the refugees. Only when the matter became a big deal could Emperor Wenyuan see clearly that the Second Prince disregarded the lives of the people and was not suitable for that position at all.
For Xie Zhujing, as long as his goal can be achieved, he doesn't care about the sacrifices in the process.
Song Zuoliang always thought that people like Xie Zhujing would not care about love at all.
Thinking of this, Song Zuoliang cryptically revealed a piece of news to him: "I heard that the young master is planning to take the young lady with him to study abroad."
The young lady is about to get engaged, but the young master wants to take her away from Beijing, which is also an expression of his dissatisfaction with the marriage.
Xie Zhujing raised his eyes and asked, "What does Master say?"
"Your master naturally refused, but he was a little helpless with the young master."
It is said that there is no way, but in fact it is also indulgence. In other words, the Feng family's old house will not too much hinder the young master's behavior, which also means that they will not too much promote the marriage between Xie Zhujing and the young lady.
Song Zuoliang asked Xie Zhujing, "Are you disappointed?"
The look he gave Xie Zhujing seemed to be a little scrutinizing.
Xie Zhujing did not answer this question. His expression and tone were calm:
"What are the young lady's wishes?"
Song Zuoliang suddenly laughed out loud: "Young lady has always been sensible, so naturally she didn't agree."
After he finished speaking, he stood up and patted Xie Zhujing on the shoulder, as if it was a casual remark, but also as a warning:
"Young lady, you are soft-hearted. Don't use some tricks on your own family."
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