After the 37th day after the death, wreaths and paper horses were still placed outside Dashamao Hutong, but the prime minister's residence had closed its doors to visitors and no longer accepted condolences.

On this day, Prime Minister Zhang was reviewing memorials in the study in the backyard. In the mourning hall in the front yard, Zhao Hao was playing poker with Sixiu and Maoxiu, who had come to Beijing to report the death. The Prime Minister's residence was quiet.

It was not until the morning that You Qi led an official in his thirties in. Zhao Hao and the other two all recognized him as Deng Yizan, a native of Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, who was the champion and the winner of the imperial examination in the fifth year of Longqing. After the palace examination, he was selected as a scholar, and after the academy was dismissed, he stayed in the Hanlin Academy as an editor. He was one of the students that Zhang Xianggong was very proud of.

When Zhao Hao saw Deng Yizan, his eyebrows twitched. He threw down the bad cards in his hand and stood up.

"Deng Chuanlu wants to see you for something important, not to express condolences." You Qi quickly explained. "Please ask him to come in."

"Oh." Zhao Hao nodded, watched the two of them go in, feeling uneasy, so he followed behind.

In the study, Zhang Juzheng received the report and came out of the inner study to meet Deng Yizan in the outer room.

In fact, it was mainly because the inner room was filled with memorials, which had a bad influence...

"Student greets my dear teacher." Deng Yizan bowed respectfully to Zhang Juzheng.

"Get up." Zhang Xianggong held his pipe and looked at Deng Yizan kindly, "What's the big deal?"

"I have a book here, and I'd like to ask my dear teacher to take a look at it." Deng Yizan said solemnly as he handed over a book.

The current name of this chapter is "Tiben" for official affairs and "Zouben" for other matters.

Zhang Juzheng's face became increasingly uglier, as if he had guessed what was inside.

He was not in a hurry to take the question book, but stared at the other person with his demon-intimidating eyes, as if he wanted to see through his spleen and lungs.

Deng Yizan also met his gaze and looked at Zhang Xianggong without fear.

Although the heating had been turned on, the temperature in the house seemed to have dropped to freezing point.

After a suffocating silence, Mr. Zhang reached out and took the test book, but he only glanced at the questions on the cover and did not open it to read the contents.

After another silence, Zhang Xianggong slowly asked, "Has this petition been submitted?"

"I didn't dare mention it to my mentor before I reported it to the emperor." Deng Yizan answered neither humbly nor arrogantly.

"Bu Gu understands, you can go." Zhang Juzheng nodded slowly.

"Yes, I'll take my leave now." Deng Yizan bowed deeply and left the study.

After he left, Zhang Juzheng sat alone for a long time, and finally opened the question book and started reading.

Unexpectedly, as he was looking at it, he suddenly threw the question book in his hand, and it hit You Qi in the face who was waiting outside the door with a whoosh.

"Oh..." You Qi screamed halfway and quickly covered his mouth, not daring to make a sound.

When I looked up again, I saw that Mr. Zhang had turned angrily and went into the inner room.

Zhao Hao bent down and picked up the notebook, and was stunned when he saw the title - "To clarify the great principles and correct the conventional principles by changing the statements."

It was only one or two words different from the book that Wu Zhongxing was supposed to have read in another time and space.

The content is basically the same. Deng Yizan said that Zhang Juzheng had not seen his father for 20 years, and now his father passed away thousands of miles away. If His Majesty still does not allow him to "crawl on the stars and mourn by the coffin", he will definitely be extremely painful because of excessive self-blame. How can His Majesty bear to let him plan state affairs? Wouldn't this increase his pain?

Moreover, Zhang Juzheng always talked about "the principles of saints and sages, and the laws of our ancestors". So how about we take a look at the teachings of saints and sages?

In the past, Zai Wo wanted to shorten the mourning period, which made Confucius furious. He scolded him, "Zai Wo is really unkind. Didn't he receive the love of his parents for three years?"

Later, King Xuan of Qi wanted to reduce the mourning period to a few months. Gongsun Chou said, "It is better to mourn for a year than not mourn at all, right?" Mencius said sarcastically, "It is like someone twisting his brother's arm, but you advise him to twist it slowly and gently. You should teach him to be filial to his parents and respectful to his elder brother!"

What are the teachings of sages?

From another perspective, even a small official cannot conceal the death of a deceased person. How can the Prime Minister of the current dynasty take the lead in breaking the law? Even if there is an old precedent for reinstatement, there is no reason to reinstate an official without leaving the capital for a day! Is this treating the ancestral system as a joke?

Finally, he said, "This matter is a matter of eternal principles and will be heard by all quarters. If we do not do anything wrong today, there will be no more criticism in the future. There is no better way to eliminate change than this!"

It is still not too late to correct it now and allow Prime Minister Zhang to return home to bury his father in mourning. This is the best way to eliminate the star changes.

But if the emperor and Zhang Xianggong still persist in their wrongdoings, they will surely be cursed for all eternity! There will also be greater disasters to come!

The whole text is sarcastic and sarcastic, no wonder it made Mr. Zhang so angry.

~~

"Oh my god, another Liu Tai!" You Qi was so scared after seeing this that he peed himself. His lips trembled as he said, "It is said that since ancient times, no student has ever impeached a teacher. What sin has the master committed? All these students are rushing up to bite him?!"

Zhao Hao's face also looked unhappy, but he was shocked by different things.

In fact, Zhao Hao had expected this day to come when his father-in-law refused to observe mourning before the great comet appeared.

Although he had driven Wu Zhongxing and Zhao Yongxian to Taiwan Island in advance, leaving them no chance to cause trouble for him, Zhao Hao had thought at the time that if Zhao Yongxian wasn't there, there would still be Zhao Yongdan. If Wu Zhongxing was gone, someone else might pop up and scold his father-in-law to the point where he couldn't take care of himself.

As expected, Wu Zhongxing did not come, but Deng Yizan came.

But Zhao Hao never expected that the content of Deng Yizan's memorial was exactly the same as Wu Zhongxing's original one!

Although the wording and paragraphs are different, the meaning is exactly the same, even the allusions are the same! Especially the sarcastic energy, it is exactly the same!

Zhao Hao could imagine that there was a group of people who gloated over the Xingbian fire, drinking and teasing Zhang Juzheng. Then they put together such a shady article and chose someone to submit a petition.

That’s why the situation occurs that different people write the same articles…

He ignored the frightened You Qi, called "father-in-law" outside the door, and lifted the curtain to go into the inner room.

I saw Mr. Zhang standing in front of the windowsill with his arms folded, a pipe in his hand, staring at the mourning hall outside the window in a daze.

"Father-in-law." Zhao Hao called again.

"Have you seen it?" asked Mr. Zhang quietly.

"yes."

"Is it funny?" Zhang Juzheng asked in a tone of despair.

"I didn't find it funny. I just felt very surprised and angry." Zhao Hao replied respectfully.

"Nothing surprising." Zhang Juzheng smiled sadly and said, "This is all my fault. I expected to be impeached that day, but I didn't expect that the one who started it would be my disciple again."

The word "again" expressed the pain in Mr. Zhang's heart.

The veins on the back of his hand holding the pipe bulged slightly, and his voice became a little nervous as he asked, "Students stabbed Bu Gu one after another. Is this retribution?"

"There must be someone behind this." Zhao Hao said softly, "They may just want to anger my father-in-law in this way."

"Yes, I think so too. They will definitely do whatever it takes to get rid of me." Zhang Juzheng nodded in agreement and said through gritted teeth, "Whatever tricks you have, just bring them to me. I will take them all!"

~~

Zhang Xianggong's prediction was correct. Once the enemy launched an attack, follow-up moves followed one after another.

The next day, another Hanlin reviewer named Xiong Dunpu wrote a letter to impeach Zhang Juzheng, using the same sarcastic tone.

In his memorial, he said, "I am surprised that Ju Zheng could serve the emperor and his subjects for several years, but could not serve the emperor and his son for one day. I am also surprised that Ju Zheng's achievements and reputation have accumulated for several years, but Your Majesty suddenly failed in one day!"

He also made a suggestion that he could be allowed to temporarily observe mourning, like Yang Pu and Li Xian of the previous dynasty, and then set a date to return early.

This method actually has no good intentions, because now the country is at peace and the treasury is full. With the foundation laid by Prime Minister Zhang, the officials can just lie down and do nothing for a few years.

But as long as Zhang Juzheng has been gone for a year or two and there is no major event in the court, there will definitely be people who say strangely, see, the world can survive without anyone... Then they will clamor again, saying that Prime Minister Zhang has learned from Yang Tinghe and will not resume his post in advance no matter how the emperor summons him.

In short, don't underestimate the shamelessness of civil servants, just assume the worst of them...

In any case, Mr. Zhang was heartbroken when another student came to attack him.

This was not the end. On the third day, Zhang Juzheng's fellow townsmen, Ai Mu, a deputy minister of the Ministry of Justice, and Shen Sixiao, a director of the Ministry of Justice, jointly wrote a letter to attack Duoqing! They demanded that Zhang Juzheng be ordered to return home immediately to observe mourning so that the gods would calm down and not bring down disasters again.

This time, they were still sarcastic and said, "Your Majesty kept Ju Zheng, saying that it was for the sake of the country. However, the country is more important than the moral principles, and the prime ministers are the representatives of the moral principles. If the moral principles are ignored, how can the country be safe?"

"Even if Zhang Juzheng stays with a sullen face, when the country has a big celebration or a big sacrifice, if he avoids it, it will harm the loyalty between the monarch and his subjects, and if he attends it, it will hurt the relationship between father and son. I don't know how your majesty will arrange for Juzheng at that time, and how Juzheng will deal with it?"

The most vicious thing is yet to come. Ai Mu quoted the story of Xu Shu entering Cao's camp, saying that Xu Shu said to Zhaolie on behalf of his mother, "I am confused." Is Ju Zheng the only one who is not a son of man and is not confused? He is in the highest position among officials, but he does not practice the common principles of an ordinary man. How can he face the world and future generations?

What this means is that when Xu Shu heard that his mother was captured by Cao Cao, he said goodbye to Liu Bei and said, "I am confused and can no longer serve you." Is Zhang Juzheng the only one who is not a human being, so he is not confused? How can he have the nerve to talk to the world when he is at the highest position and doesn't care about his dignity? How can he face the history books in the future?

Ai Mu's memorial finally broke Zhang Xianggong's defense. He sat back in his chair dejectedly, and said with tears in his eyes: "It's fine if those people call me a villain and a beast, but now even my students and fellow villagers are attacking me and even calling me a non-human..."

"Bu Gu believes that he has made some small contributions to the country, but at least he is better than Yan Song who brought disaster to the country and the people. But even though Yan Song was criticized by people all over the world, I have never heard of any of his fellow countrymen or students attacking him viciously..." At this moment, Zhang Xianggong had completely given up on these civil servants. He wiped his tears and said quietly:

"Bu Gu still remembers that if Hu Ruzhen had been willing to impeach Yan Song, he could have saved his life and property. However, he refused to say a word against his teacher until his death. Is Bu Gu worse than Yan Song?"

"Sir, don't dwell on this. Those people can say anything vicious to achieve their goals." Li Yihe and others hurriedly advised, "If you take it seriously, you will lose."

"Yes, sir. Our land survey will affect the interests of those people. The louder their opposition and the more despicable their methods, doesn't it just prove that you are on the right track, sir? Are they really scared?" Zeng Shengwu's words touched sir Zhang's heart.

Everyone saw Zhang Juzheng's eyes become firm again, and he said murderously: "Submit all these impeachment letters, plus a copy of Bu Gu's resignation, and let the emperor decide!"