Chapter 457: The Substitute Version of Hai Rui Is More Cost-Effective

I, Zhang Juzheng, want to be an official for the people of the world.

In the West Garden, these words were spoken.

Yan Shaoting immediately looked at the other person with ambiguous eyes.

Hai Rui's expression softened a bit, and there was even a look of success in his eyes.

Seeing that the two were silent for a while, Zhang Juzheng coughed dryly, looking a little embarrassed, but still repeated in a deep voice: "When serving as an official, one should serve the people of the world. How could I, Zhang Juzheng, not understand this principle?"

Yan Shaoting glanced at Zhang Juzheng again, then glanced at Hai Rui.

He did think of a sentence.

The people of the Ming Dynasty cannot live without Hai Rui, and the Ming Dynasty cannot live without Zhang Juzheng.

At this moment, he was a little confused as to whether the two people in front of him could still respond to this sentence.

Hai Rui, who had forced Zhang Juzheng to express his views in public, finally smiled and said, "I have served with my uncle for quite some time, so I naturally know his ambitions. I know this myself."

Zhang Juzheng snorted: "Since you know it, why do you force me to tell you?"

He knew that Hai Rui had said those things before just to make him show no mercy in dealing with the Xu family in Huating, and not to show mercy because of the past teacher-student relationship between him and Xu Jie.

How could I not understand this truth?
After hearing what Zhang Juzheng said, Hai Rui did not refute but just smiled.

Yan Shaoting stood up and walked forward to hold the two of them, and walked to the table where wine and food were already placed.

He first took two glasses full of wine from the table and passed them to Hai Rui and Zhang Juzheng, and then he took a glass of wine himself.

"No matter what, today we are here to see Brother Gangfeng off. The emperor's order is hard to disobey. Even though we know that this is a trick by Jiangnan officials in Beijing to lure the tiger away from the mountain, we have no choice but to accept it."

Although he said so, Yan Shaoting still didn't quite understand. Anyone with a discerning eye knew that it was Jiangnan officials in Beijing who transferred Hai Rui from Jiangnan to the capital, and they also knew what their purpose was.

But the old Taoist priest seemed unable to see through it and nodded in agreement.

If Xu Jie and others had brought up this matter, the old Taoist priest would have raised some doubts, and there would have been no need for his own old master to step in, because Gao Gong and Yang Bo, who had already been dragged into it, would have firmly opposed it.

But the result was that Hai Rui, who had just taken office as the governor of Yingtian for only one year and was about to do something big, was mysteriously recalled to the capital.

Zhang Juzheng glanced at the wine in his glass, and then said with a twinkling gaze: "I'm afraid that our emperor doesn't want to cause a big chaos in the south..."

Yan Shaoting immediately looked at the other party.

This is really heartbreaking.

Hai Rui's face darkened. "I will eventually return to the capital in compliance with the imperial order. No matter what happens in the capital, I will know everything after I return. If..."

He looked at Zhang Juzheng who had just made those heart-piercing remarks.

"If this is truly your Majesty's will, I, Hai Rui, will write a letter to the Holy Lord to advise him!"

I'm afraid this is difficult.

Yan Shaoting muttered to himself.

If it was really Xu Jie and others who proposed it, and the old Taoist priest agreed without thinking or having any concerns, then Hai Rui's advice would be useless.

Zhang Juzheng also shook his head: "Don't be reckless. Just like what we said before, shouldn't we discuss the tax burden later? Now... we just try our best. The most important thing is to protect ourselves and occupy the high position."

This wasn't really a hint, it was a direct reveal.

Everything the three of them have to do will have to wait until later.

in short.

The current emperor is not worthy of their ambitions.

Seeing that Hai Rui still looked unhappy.

Yan Shaoting immediately raised his glass with a smile: "No matter what, should we drink this glass of wine?"

Zhang Juzheng immediately laughed and agreed: "Yes, yes, yes! You should drink it to the full!"

Seeing that both of them were like this, Hai Rui had no choice but to turn his dissatisfaction into motivation. He raised his head and drank the wine in the glass, then grabbed the wine jug on the table.

"drink!"

……

"Gulu gulu..."

Time flies like an arrow.

On the canal, there is a water gate post station along the way.

The river water rolls with the boat, hitting the pier and making a pleasant sound.

Gao Hanwen, the Censor of the Censorate, was one of the three judicial officials who were ordered to go south from Beijing to investigate corruption in the Nanjing officialdom. He stood on the pier with his distinctive wide beard, watching an official ship with an official flag heading north.

"Master, this Master Hai really doesn't give me any face. As a fellow official of the Taiwan Academy, Master, I will not accept your visit from now on."

Behind Gao Hanwen, his staff and advisors were muttering with dissatisfaction.

Gao Hanwen shook his head and looked back at the young staff who followed him.

Yes.

Mr. Gao Hanwen, who is now doing very well in the Censorate, also has his own staff.

Although he is just a young man who failed to pass the imperial examination and is short of money, and has to work as a staff for others, his emotional intelligence is indeed a bit low.

But at least Mr. Gao has become a master with staff.

Gao Hanwen reached into his sleeve and took out a letter.

He whispered, "Whether we meet or not is just a scene. Now that we can't meet, it's better than meeting in person."

The young staff member obviously didn't understand the meaning of this.

He leaned sideways and nodded, wondering, "This time the cabinet sent a letter to the three judicial departments to send officials south to thoroughly investigate the officials in Nanjing. Why did you choose to go ahead alone? Are you trying to catch them off guard?"

On the canal, the water was constantly rippling, official ships were connected end to end, and civilian ships were also shuttling back and forth.

As the imperial court opened the seas, private merchants were encouraged to go out to sea, and more and more goods from all over the country were shipped to the coastal prefectures and counties where the Maritime Customs Offices were located.

Local merchants and people earned more money, and the canal transport workers naturally earned more as well.

Of course, most of it is black money.

Gao Hanwen kept in mind the corruption he had seen in the canal shipping along the way. He never felt upset and even explained to the young aide in detail: "Wrong, you are wrong again."

The young aide tilted his head, his face increasingly confused: "Is this young man wrong again?"

Gao Hanwen nodded: "You said that I went ahead to catch the officials in Nanjing off guard, which is wrong. Because there is no need for me to go ahead, the situation over there has actually been decided long ago, do you understand?"

The young man is actually quite talented, but he grew up in a poor family and his emotional intelligence is not high, so he has failed to pass the imperial examinations in recent years. This reminds Gao Hanwen of his past self, who was naive and ignorant even though he passed the imperial examinations and became an official in the court.

Just like the young aide in front of us today.

It was precisely because of this that I felt compassion for him and took him in as my aide, but in fact, it was more like taking him in as a student.

The young aide frowned and thought for a moment, then suddenly his eyes lit up: "It's because of guest Yan!"

A hint of satisfaction finally showed on Gao Hanwen's face.

He nodded.

The young staff member smiled and said, "Because Mr. Yan is still in charge of Jiangnan, even if Mr. Hai is recalled to the capital, there will still be no danger in the south. Because of this, the master and the three judicial officials went south on this trip under the order of the emperor. There is no need for any tricks. We just need to follow what Mr. Yan has done and continue to investigate and convict those people."

"It's still wrong."

Gao Hanwen still shook his head with a smile on his face, looking at the pier beside him, waiting for his ship to set sail again and for the boat trackers to be ready to continue sailing south.

The staff member couldn't hold it in any longer, and opened his mouth with a sad face: "The student is wrong again?"

He really couldn't figure out where he had gone wrong.

Gao Hanwen was not in a hurry and asked softly, "Then tell me, if I only need to follow what Yan Binke has decided, to investigate the officials in Nanjing and convict them, why should I take the lead? Why do you seem so anxious?"

The young staff member was in a state of confusion, and felt that his brain was no longer enough.

I even felt a little itchy from thinking so hard.

I feel like I'm going to grow a brain!
Gao Hanwen simply smiled at this, and then, under the watchful eyes of his staff, he took out from his sleeve the letter that he had received when he happened to meet Hai Rui's ship returning to Beijing on the canal, but was refused to see it.

There were only a few words written on the envelope: "Gao Jun personally read Hai Rui's letter."

The contents inside are unknown.

Just when the staff thought that their master, who had a bright future in the Censorate, was going to open the envelope to read what was inside.

Gao Hanwen shook his head and smiled as he tore the letter into two pieces.

"master?"

The staff spoke urgently.

However, Gao Hanwen had already repeated the tearing action, tearing the letter into pieces.

Finally, he walked to the pier, stretched out his arm and raised it, with his palm slightly raised.

The torn letters were swept into the water by the wind. The waves rolled and in a few seconds they disappeared without a trace.

The staff hurried to the pier and looked at the flowing canal water in a daze.

Before the other party could ask, Gao Hanwen straightened his back and said loudly, "It's the same whether you look at it or not, just like seeing it or not. It's enough that the governor of Haifu can write to me. The rest depends on how I, Gao Hanwen, do it!"

The aide squatted beside the pier, glanced up, his face full of confusion.

Gao Hanwen, however, was full of heroic spirit.

"The reason why I went south first this time was for only one thing."

"fair!"

……

Just as Hai Rui was recalled to the capital, the news that the post of Yingtian Governor was suddenly vacant spread to the twelve prefectures under the jurisdiction of the Yingtian Governor's Office, and the gentry and wealthy families in the south of the Yangtze River were celebrating.

No one expected it.

They had just sent away a mountain, but a huge Buddha came.

Less than ten days after Hai Rui left Nanjing.

Gao Hanwen, the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, suddenly followed the emperor's order and rushed into Nanjing city.

Although everyone had long known that the court had ordered officials from the three judicial departments in Beijing to go south to investigate previous cases of corruption in Nanjing officialdom, who would have thought that Censor Gao would come so hastily and so quickly, which seemed a bit hasty and made people feel that his motives were not pure.

But in fact, what Mr. Gao Hanwen, the Censor Gao, did after entering Nanjing City completely stunned everyone.

First of all.

The relationship between Mr. Gao Hanwen, the Censor Gao, and the Yan family is basically open to the public in Beijing.

After all, no one could plagiarize and steal Yan Binke's tea so casually.

To this day, Yan Shaoting still has a small desk outside the cabinet duty room.

To this day, Gao Hanwen would take the tea leaves on the table whenever he went to the cabinet to do business.

To this day, people from the Yan family have been delivering tea to that table.

This kind of relationship is unique in the whole city of Beijing.

wrong.

Later, as people like Wang Xijue and Shen Shixing came to the court to serve as officials, when they went to the cabinet to do business and deliver some documents, they could also openly steal the tea on the small table at the door of the cabinet's duty room.

And this kind of official notes.

People in Beijing know it, and people in the south naturally know it as well.

However, even though Gao Hanwen had such a relationship with the Yan family, after entering Nanjing City, Gao Hanwen never went to the West Garden to pay a visit to Yan Shaoting.

It's a bit like passing by the door three times without entering.

But other than that.

Gao Hanwen did something even more surprising.

After all, we were going south on orders.

Then Gao Hanwen is the imperial envoy.

Although the officials from the three judicial departments of the capital who received the imperial edict were all considered imperial envoys, who could blame them for the fact that only Mr. Gao Hanwen, the Censor Gao, was in Nanjing City now?
then.

Gao Hanwen, the Censor Gao, Master Gao, the Imperial Envoy, announced publicly that all Nanjing officials detained in the Nanjing Jinyiwei prison would be escorted to Beijing for interrogation.

Just when everyone was shocked that Imperial Envoy Gao had taken down all the officials in Nanjing at once, Imperial Envoy Gao received a new order.

A large-character poster was printed in countless copies and, under the order of Imperial Envoy Gao, was distributed to the twelve prefectures under the jurisdiction of the Yingtian Governor's Office and then to all counties.

note.

The Imperial Envoy Gao used the word "pass on the edict".

The wording of this thing is almost the same as that of the anti-traitor manifesto.

The imperial envoy Gao's message was also very simple, just one sentence.

Because it was discovered that officials in Nanjing were corrupt and committed abuse of power, the gentry and wealthy families in the twelve prefectures under the jurisdiction of the Yingtian Governor's Office were ordered to immediately clear out all the land they had previously occupied and return it to the people to benefit their lives.

As soon as this proclamation was issued, the entire Jiangnan region was shaken.

No one expected that just after sending away a living King of Hell, Hai Gangfeng, a real King of Hell, Gao Hanwen, the Censor Gao, and the Imperial Envoy Gao, appeared.

Before Hai Rui was the governor of Yingtian, he was only required to check the number of fields and population in the twelve prefectures under his jurisdiction. Although the purpose was also to clear out the land, it was not stated explicitly. Moreover, according to the information leaked by various parties, he only needed to return the land that he had occupied in recent years.

But now.

The newcomer, Gao Hanwen, actually used the name of investigating the case and, as an imperial envoy, demanded that the twelve prefectures in Jiangnan clear all the land.

This is a way to kill people!

Even if you eat a whole family, you won’t eat anything like this!
Suddenly, people even began to miss Hai Rui, whom they had just sent away.

Just when Gao Hanwen arrived ahead of time and caused an uproar throughout Jiangnan, the West Garden in Nanjing City was filled with laughter and joy.

"Hahahahahaha!"

"Your old friend, Mr., is truly the King of Hell!"

"I thought Hai Rui was already a headache, but I didn't expect Gao Hanwen to be even better than him."

In the waterside pavilion, after reading the latest news, Zhang Juzheng finally couldn't help laughing out loud, and he praised Gao Hanwen to Wang Xijue who was serving tea there.

Wang Xijue served a cup of freshly brewed tea to his master's friend, then glanced at his master, then smiled and said softly: "According to what you said, this Gao Yushi is... a replacement for Hai Futai, and more cost-effective."

Yan Shaoting was stunned for a moment, then glared at his student.

Zhang Juzheng was puzzled, and then burst into laughter again.

"A substitute?"

“Value for money?”

"Hahahahaha!"

"Okay! Well said!"

"Gao Hanwen is a more cost-effective alternative to Hai Rui!"

…………

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(End of this chapter)