Chapter 1626 It’s time to show real skills

The next day, Zhao Shouzheng asked Shen Shixing to go to the Dongchang Yamen to challenge him.

The two dressed neatly and took the official sedan chair to the north of Dong'anmen, along the East River. After crossing the bridge, they saw a government office made of blue bricks and gray tiles, which was not very impressive. In front of the government office stood a memorial archway with the four characters "Bai Shi Liu Fang" inscribed on it.

If it weren't for the twelve guards wearing round hats, dragon robes, white boots, with double swords hanging from their waists and fierce-looking faces standing under the eight-character wall, it would be impossible to connect this government office with lofty pursuits with the notorious East Depot.

The East Factory was established in the 18th year of Yongle, and there is no need to say much about what it does. In short, everyone in the Ming Dynasty knew that once an official was arrested by the East Factory and sent to the imperial prison, very few officials could walk out alive. As long as someone could do this... like Hai Rui, there is a high probability that he would be remembered for generations.

Everyone avoided this notorious secret service agency, and the guards stared at the empty streets all day. It was a rare day for an official sedan to come to the door, and they didn't react for a while until the two third-rank sedans came close. The white-booted lieutenant who led the group shouted, "Get off the sedan quickly. Don't you know that 'civil officials get off their sedans and military officers get off their horses'?"

The two sedan chairs then stopped, the bearers opened the curtains, and Shen Shixing and Zhao Shouzheng got out of the sedan chairs together.

The guards at the gate were stunned. They saw two adults wearing big-framed sunglasses on their noses and smoking cigars. The saddest thing was that each of them had a white alpaca scarf around their necks.

Although he didn't understand what the hell this outfit was, the guard still felt very unhappy. If they weren't wearing the official robes of the third rank, he would have beaten them so hard that they couldn't take care of themselves.

"Which government office are you from?" The captain in white boots stopped his restless subordinates and asked politely.

"Minister Shen of the Ministry of Personnel."

"Minister Zhao from the Ministry of Rites has come to pay a visit to your boss." The two men's attendants quickly handed over their business cards.

Hearing the names of the two, the white-shoe lieutenant's expression changed, and he said, "Wait a moment." Then he turned around and ran in to report. Seeing this, the other guards were stunned, wondering when did the leader become so honest and diligent? Not only did he not ask for a door-to-door allowance, but he also went in to report in person?

Shen Shixing also breathed a sigh of relief when he saw this. Actually, he was gambling this time.

One month later, Shen Zhuangyuan also had some ideas about the imperial recommendation. Although he had served as a chief examiner, he should be able to enter the cabinet. But after all, he was still a little junior. There was Ma Butang and several other ministers in Nanjing ahead of him, and officials from the opposition were also eligible to be recommended... For example, Pan Butang was dismissed by Gao, not to mention the original ministers, so it was not surprising that he was pushed down by others in the imperial recommendation.

Shen Shixing was a calm person on the surface, but he was full of drama in his heart. He saw that Zhao Shilang, who had always been like an elephant with its nose cut off, suddenly became active and made a big move that affected the government and the country! He guessed that Brother Gongming also wanted to fish in troubled waters.

The reason why he was so sure of being the number one was largely because of the time when his partner served as the chief examiner of the imperial examination at the beginning of the year. That time, Mr. Zhao's performance of pretending to be a pig and eating a tiger shocked him greatly - especially when the results were announced later, Mr. Zhang was criticized by the court and the public just because his son became the second place.

Although Minister Zhao had more than 200 disciples who passed the imperial examination, he was not only not scolded, but was praised for his wisdom - Mr. Zhao avoided suspicion perfectly with an exaggerated performance, and proved his fairness and selflessness by letting the eldest son of his relative fail the exam.

Later, people nicknamed him "Sleeping Minister Zhao" to describe his ability to pretend to be confused.

Now Minister Zhao, who had been sleeping soundly, has woken up. What else could it be for other than to enter the cabinet and become a prime minister?

Coincidentally, Shen Shixing was also such a person who wanted to hide his true colors on the outside but was different from others on the inside, so he made a prompt decision and gave up his years of keeping a low profile. He decided to join hands with Mr. Zhao and share the great merit with him to increase his chances of being recommended by the court.

~~

Although Shen Zhuangyuan had made up his mind last night to accompany Zhao Shouzheng even if it meant going through dangerous situations, he did not expect that when they met today, he would dress himself up like this...

Shen Shixing adjusted his heavy sunglasses and sighed inwardly, "It's a cloudy day today. I can hardly see the road clearly."

"Brother Gongming, why do we have to dress like this?" he asked in a low voice.

"This is how you look like a killer." Zhao Shouzheng said as he stroked the scarf his daughter-in-law gave him: "Have you never seen killers in cartoons dress like this?"

"Oh, I have an impression." Shen Shixing puffed on the cigar awkwardly, and accidentally got it into his lungs, so he couldn't help coughing twice. "But what does the killer temperament have to do with us?"

"Today we have to show our killer instincts and shock those people from the East Factory!" Zhao Shouzheng adjusted his sunglasses and said with all his might, "Evil needs evil to defeat evil! We have to let them know that the devil is one foot high and the law is ten feet higher! Even the East Factory has to abide by the law!"

"Well said!" Shen Shixing praised hurriedly, but secretly sighed in his heart, if the East Factory abides by the law, then what is the point of its existence?

But he didn't show it on his face, because he always felt that Brother Gongming's behavior must have some unexpected wisdom...

Let's wait and see whether the East Factory can be reasonable.

After waiting for a while, the captain in white boots came out and said that the eunuch Zhang in charge wanted to see him.

The two followed the captain into the East Factory Office, and after turning around the screen wall, they saw a statue of Yue Wumu enshrined in the small hall on the left side of the main hall. It can be seen that any organization considers itself to be righteous, and no one thinks that they are born a bad guy.

Ironically, however, not far behind the Yue Fei Temple is the Imperial Prison, which is like hell on earth...

Zhang Dashou, the eunuch in charge of the East Factory, received the two assistant ministers in the second hall. Eunuch Feng accompanied the emperor in the palace all day, and all the major and minor matters of the East Factory were handled by Eunuch Zhang.

After the tea was served, the two top scorers explained their purpose.

Eunuch Zhang lifted his orchid finger and skimmed off the foam in the teacup, saying expressionlessly, "This is against the rules. The prisoners in the imperial prison are all imperial prisoners, and no minister can bring them to trial without an imperial decree."

"We are both assistant ministers of the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites, neither of us is an assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice, so there is no question of bringing them to trial, right?" Shen Shixing argued, "I am only here to talk to them on behalf of the ministry. They are all officials appointed by the court, and now that they have been imprisoned, the Ministry of Personnel must ask them clearly."

"Visiting the prisoner is not allowed either." Zhang Dashou snorted. No matter how Shen Shixing persuaded him, he remained unmoved. Annoyed, he asked, "When have you civil servants ever opened a back door for us eunuchs?"

"I'm helping you now!" Zhao Shouzheng, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke. He took off his sunglasses and stared at Zhang Dashou with his killer eyes that had been gathering strength for a long time:

"Eunuch Zhang, right? I hope you understand that we are here to help you!"

"Help us?" Zhang Dashou seemed to be frightened by Zhao Shouzheng's sharp eyes and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Last time, your eunuch Feng's cronies took our people back and wanted to beat them in court because they opposed Zhang Xianggong's seizure of her love!" Zhao Shouzheng said loudly and aggressively, "But now the emperor has allowed Zhang Xianggong to return home, and Deng Yizan and Xiong Dunpu's memorials mean exactly this! You still insist on beating them in court, are you trying to make the emperor and eunuch Feng the bad guys?"

"Uh..." Zhang Dashou gulped and said, "It's not up to us to decide whether to punish the emperor or not. That's the palace's decision."

"Don't always use the palace's opinion as an excuse!" Zhao Shouzheng waved his hand vigorously and said, "Now there is a clear opportunity to make those young people admit their mistakes and save the emperor's face. But you want to stop them. What is your intention?"

Without waiting for Zhang Dashou's reply, he clasped his fists towards the west and said with a sad face, "The emperor is only fifteen years old! He has issued an order to punish five officials in court! How will people in the world see this? How will this be recorded in history books? You have also studied in the Inner Book Hall, don't you know the harm that the Zuo Shunmen Incident caused to Emperor Shizong Suk?!"

Zhang Dashou was speechless and had no idea what to refute.

Zhao Shouzheng then sighed and said in a slow tone: "Eunuch Zhang, you are the emperor's internal official, Lord Shen and I are the emperor's daily lecturers. We are the emperor's closest people. We must consider the emperor in everything and put the emperor first! The emperor is still young, even more so..."

"Hey..." Although Zhang Dashou didn't quite understand what he heard, he was shocked and said, "Well, we can't lose to the two assistant ministers, so let's make an exception this time."

As he spoke, he waved his hand and said, "Come here, take the two assistant ministers to the imperial prison..."

Shen Shixing was stunned. He didn't expect that this eunuch would actually fall for Brother Gongming's nonsense?

It was not until he left the second hall and walked to the gate of the imperial prison that he woke up as if from a dream and said, "Brother Gongming, you actually convinced them."

"This is what they call sincerity and determination. It can move mountains and break rocks." Master Zhao wiped his sweat with his scarf and said, "Brother Yaoquan, now it's up to you."

"Don't worry, I'm sure." Shen Shixing smiled confidently, and the two of them, led by the head eunuch, entered the gloomy imperial prison.

~~

Shen Shixing is very rational and is always very confident whenever he takes action.

His strategy was to first take down Deng Yizan and Xiong Dunpu, and then use the point to lead the whole to complete the task.

Moreover, when these two people were in office, Shen Shixing was the teacher of the Shujishi. He spent three years with them and established a deep relationship with them. He also got to know them well.

Disciples who criticize their master are already under great pressure. In addition, although the two were not tortured after being imprisoned, their courage had been destroyed by the dark and harsh environment of the imperial prison. Therefore, they are not as strong as outsiders imagine...

When they found out that the host was so angry that he bled profusely because of them, they could no longer be strong...

Shen Shixing then persuaded them with emotion and reason, telling them that they had misunderstood their teacher. In fact, Zhang Xianggong had the same idea as them, and wanted to return to the burial place and leave the capital first... But they scolded their teacher without any reason, how heartbroken was Zhang Xianggong?

But the rift between teacher and student will only make the relatives sad and the enemies happy, which is very harmful to both teachers and students. So I still admitted my mistake to the emperor, saying that I was too young and thought things were too simple. I thought that I could use provocation to make the emperor let the teacher go back home quickly, but I didn't expect to stir up such a big mess.

In this way, the emperor will at most send you away, and Prime Minister Zhang will also forgive you. Your contribution as the first mover will still be there, and you will not be regarded as betraying your teacher and ancestors. Isn't it a happy ending for everyone?

ps. Tomorrow, actually today, is my mother-in-law's birthday. This year it's our turn to host the event, so I definitely won't have time to write during the day tomorrow. I have two commissioned articles to write in the evening (one is a reflection for new authors; the other is a fairy tale for charity). Both have deadlines and must be finished. I can only take a day off. See you on Monday...

(End of this chapter)