Chapter 578: New Chess Game
Li Zhai.

Ever since the current cabinet minister, the head of the family, Li Chunfang, came back from government office, the entire mansion has been in a state of panic, with enemies appearing everywhere, making the servants of the Li family afraid to act rashly.

They are the maids who are most favored by Lord Li.

Today, I only dared to stand outside the study, with my head down and not daring to look into the study.

A loud bang came from the study.

The maids who came from Jiangnan to Beijing to serve Prime Minister Li were frightened and terrified.

After a while.

The aide came out of the study in a panic.

Only then did everyone dare to look up.

I saw that half of the aide's body was wet, and there were a few tea leaves stuck in his hair.

In the hands of the aide was a letter tightly sealed with lacquer.

Arrived in the yard.

The staff then called the stewards and servants of Li's house.

After handing over the letter, the staff said in a deep voice: "Quick! Arrange someone immediately to rush the horse and deliver the letter to Leizhou Prefecture and personally deliver it to Prime Minister Xu!"

The steward took the letter and understood where it was going. His expression immediately stiffened and he rushed out of the yard quickly, not daring to delay for a moment.

Seeing the steward leave with the letter, the staff member breathed a sigh of relief. He turned around and was about to return to the study, but he heard a burst of noise coming from the study again.

There was a sound of something heavy falling to the ground.

The aide stopped and looked at the maids who were only fourteen or fifteen years old standing guard outside the house.

"Go, everyone, go in."

"If you can't calm down the Prime Minister's anger, you..."

The maids were so frightened that they knelt on the ground.

They know it very well.

If they fail to do well, the only place they will go is the mass grave outside the city.

The aide looked at the women kneeling in front of him, sighed, and waved his hand: "Forget it... As long as you can calm the Prime Minister's anger, I will let you go back to Jiangnan and settle you down on the farm."

After hearing this, the maids who were kneeling on the ground stood up trembling like quails, and disappeared into the study with a bit of despair and expectation.

And outside of Beijing.

Changping Academy.

A figure sneaked around the main house of the villa, and whenever he saw a figure swaying around, he would immediately squat down and shrink his head.

In this way, I walked out of the yard carefully and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Young Guard?"

A voice with a clear hint of snickering rang out.

Yan Shaoting, who had just stood up, was so frightened that he jumped suddenly and trembled all over.

After seeing clearly that the person coming was Xu Wei, Yan Shaoting finally breathed a sigh of relief. He looked back with lingering fear towards the house where no one had come out.

He was really scared these days.

It was also the first time that I deeply understood the words that have been passed down through the ages.

There is no land that can’t be plowed to death in this world, only cows that are worked to death.

What's more, I am just an ordinary person, how could I have the physique of a working ox?

He had never been afraid on the battlefield outside the Great Wall, nor had he been frightened by the Mongols' swords and horses.

But he broke down in this courtyard so close to home, frightened out of his wits.

Lu Wenyan's voice was heard from the yard behind him. Yan Shaoting was so scared that his scalp was numb. Without waiting for Xu Wei to speak again, he pulled the other party and fled away.

Only when he brought Xu Wei to the academy in front did he breathe a sigh of relief.

Xu Wei stared at the breathless Yan Shaoting with amusement on his face.

He didn't say anything, but his bright eyes said it all.

Yan Shaoting slumped in a chair beside him impatiently but helplessly. He picked up the teacup beside him with his limp hands and took a sip of water to calm himself.

"I seriously believe that Mr. Li has made mistakes on certain professional issues! I suggest that all branches of the academy should immediately hold a teaching and research conference to correct Mr. Li's mistakes!"

Mr. Li is naturally Li Shizhen, who is now serving as the dean of the Changping Academy Medical College.

And Yan Shaoting changed the subject like this.

Xu Wei was also under control.

He smiled and teased, "I've also seen Mr. Li's prescriptions. They are all for strengthening the body. As for having a child, that's something that even gods can't help with. How can Mr. Li grant every wish?"

Yan Shaoting grinned, rubbing his knees with one hand and pressing his back with the other: "The old man and my father spoke personally, but I am the one who suffered."

Xu Wei couldn't help laughing, and said comfortingly: "In a few days, the Second Master will get married, and then the pressure on you will be much less."

"Now what?"

Yan Shaoting asked with his neck stiffened.

When he thought about his recent life, he felt like crying but had no tears.

Since she came back, Lu Wenyan received hints from the old man and Yan Shifan, especially when the Yan family was going to have a deeper relationship with the nobles of the Ming Dynasty and several nobles would send their daughters from their collateral families to the Yan family.

It can be said that Lu Wenyan completely let go and went all out.

Things that we were unwilling to do and postures that we were unwilling to use in the past are now performed in various forms every day.

Lady Gaoming's complexion is getting better and better, and her face is so rosy that it seems like water can be squeezed out of it every day.

But it was hard for Yan Shaoting.

In order to expand the Yan family, she tried her best to have children, but her waist could no longer bear it.

Xu Wei chuckled: "At the moment... the young master can only enjoy this great blessing."

Yan Shaoting rolled his eyes fiercely, but was unwilling to admit that it was because of his own inability.

He changed the subject and said, "I heard that Hai Rui has quietly returned to Beijing. Has he caused any trouble in the past few days?"

Now I am being kept in the villa by Lu Wenyan all day long, and I am really slow to catch the news from outside.

Xu Wei immediately restrained his expression and explained, "On the day when Censor Hai returned to the capital, he entered the palace and made a speech before the emperor. I heard that he made Li Chunfang speechless and furious."

Yan Shaoting's eyes narrowed. "Does that mean Hai Rui has already started to deal with the Nine Borders incident?"

Hearing the news, Yan Shaoting nodded silently.

Hai Rui's fighting ability is still strong.

With him in the court, he could save a lot of energy.

Xu Wei nodded and said, "Wang Zhigao and others have been discussed by the cabinet and the emperor has made a holy judgment. Both sides have made concessions and it has been decided that they will be executed immediately, their property will be confiscated, their three clans will be sent into exile, and they will be exiled to Lizhou. There will be no pardon even if they are pardoned." After saying this, the court's decision.

Xu Wei smiled and added, "With the court's handling of this matter, the matter of the Grand Guardian forcing Wang Zhigao and others to return to the capital with the power of the General of the Northern Expedition has been settled, and he will not be involved in any other matters. And with this opening, Hai Rui will have a clue if he wants to continue to deal with border affairs in the nine borders, and he will have a reasonable excuse in the future."

Yan Shaoting completely agreed with Xu Wei's explanation.

Wang Zhigao and others were sentenced to immediate execution, which was within his expectations.

After all, it was I who pushed Hai Rui to leave Beijing to patrol the border.

As for exiling Wang Zhigao and his three clans to Lizhou as soldiers, it was a decision that ended possible troubles in the future.

After all, although Lizhou is not in the Nine Frontiers or in Lingnan, it is also in Sichuan, thousands of miles away.

It can even be said that the environment in a place like Lizhou is even worse than that in Leizhou Prefecture where Xu Jie was exiled.

To the west of Lizhou is Tubo.

A large number of Ming troops were stationed in Lizhou and other places such as Quantianliufan for a long time, and small-scale wars often occurred with Tubo.

If the three families of Wang Zhigao and others were just exiled, they would still have a way to survive.

But now with the addition of exile, there is basically no way to survive.

Seeing that Yan Shaoting's expression had eased a little.

Xu Wei added, "In addition, someone from the palace has also sent a message that the emperor has approved the request of the Grand Tutor. The Grand Tutor will be the chief examiner for the next spring examination. The cabinet will issue a letter to all ministries and departments in the near future."

Yan Shaoting's eyes turned and he leaned back in his chair, "So, I don't have anything to do this year."

According to the policy set by the New Party's Yan faction, all Yan faction officials, including himself, now need to keep a low profile and not participate in the new policies headed by the Cabinet Chief Minister Gao Gong.

Cultivate hope and train new party members and new people.

These are the only two things Yan Xi needs to do now.

These two things will basically not affect the new policies headed by Gao Gong.

Xu Wei shook his head: "According to the news personally delivered by Lu Tongzhi this morning, the Qingliu Old Party does not seem to be planning to stop, and I'm afraid they will make some more moves."

Yan Shaoting narrowed his eyes instantly.

This news is not good at all.

He narrowed his eyes and said in a long tone: "Oh? Li Chunfang and his gang are still unwilling to give up their evil intentions?"

Xu Wei chuckled, "After Hai Yushi returned to the capital, he facilitated the emperor's holy judgment to execute Wang Zhigao and others. On the same day, Li Chunfang wrote a letter and sent someone to deliver it to Leizhou at full speed. However, in order to avoid being exposed, Lu Tongzhi and his people did not intercept the letter, so what was written in the letter is still unknown."

"Leizhou?" Yan Shaoting's eyes flickered for a moment, "Are you planning to secretly collude with Xu Jie?"

Xu Wei pondered for a moment before saying, "The letter was sent to Leizhou, so it must be to get in touch with Xu Jie. Now it seems that the people in the Qingliu old party still have the intention of finding an opportunity to reinstate Xu Jie. It's just that we can't think of what means they will use now, but no matter what, they are most likely to make a fuss about the Jiangnan incident."

Yan Shaoting immediately asked, "Mr. Wenchang, what do you think they will do in Jiangnan? Where will they start and when will they do it?"

This time, Xu Wei spent longer thinking about it.

After a long time.

He then spoke in a low voice: "Gao Gong's new policy idea is to rectify the administration of officials as the core, and everything is carried out around this. In his view, as long as the administration of officials inside and outside the court is sorted out, the rest of the things can be solved. Once he has unified the voices of the court, he can use this as a starting point to implement matters such as measuring land, clearing the army, and re-setting commercial taxes. So..."

When Xu Wei started his analysis, Yan Shaoting listened carefully and nodded from time to time.

In fact, Gao Gong’s new policy ideas were exactly the same as what Xu Wei said.

In Gao Gong's opinion, the reason why things in the world are difficult to do is because of those corrupt officials.

Therefore, he always regarded the rectification of official administration as more important than anything else.

Gao Gong firmly believed that as long as the administration of officials was well rectified, it would be enough, not to mention making the officials bow down to him and submit sincerely, as long as the officials in the central government and local governments were afraid of punishment and had to obey orders.

But Yan Shaoting scoffed at this.

If we do not fundamentally resolve the institutional and ideological problems and only solve the personnel problems, even if we can solve the temporary difficulties, we will not be able to solve the long-term problems.

Xu Wei continued, "So, we think... if the Qingliu Old Party wants to use Jiangnan as their base, push Xu Jie back to the throne, and ruin the New Deal, then the most likely thing they will do is to tamper with the land measurement and commercial taxation."

"Provoking people to fight, raising prices, and interrupting the flow of goods?"

Yan Shaoting narrowed his eyes, but there was a hint of murderous intent in them.

Xu Wei nodded.

"We think this is the most likely thing to do and it is also the method they usually use most often."

Yan Shaoting immediately fell silent, frowning slightly.

Xu Wei took a look and saw that Yan Shaoting was obviously thinking about something, so he stopped talking.

After a while.

Yan Shaoting smiled and said, "Since Li Chunfang can write a letter to Leizhou, we can also write a letter."

Xu Wei was stunned: "Write a letter? To whom?"

But Yan Shaoting smiled and shook his head, then stood up and walked aside.

In Changping Academy, there is not much else, but the most numerous are pens, ink, paper and inkstone.

Basically, wherever there are buildings in the academy, there will be pens, ink, paper and inkstones.

Even the pavilions on the mountainside and the corridors by the lake will be equipped with these things, simply because the students of the academy may engage in heated debates in these places at any time and have a clash of ideas about a certain matter or something that is being developed.

Yan Shaoting held the ink pen and quickly wrote two letters and sealed them in envelopes.

"One copy for Gao Hanwen."

"One copy for Zhang Juzheng."

"We will also rush to deliver it to them personally."

Xu Wei took the two letters, glanced down, and was full of doubts.

So he looked up at Yan Shaoting, who had already started writing the poems he had written a few days ago.

Xu Wei thought about it, then walked out of the house first, arranged for someone to deliver the two letters to Jiangnan, and then returned to the house.

at this time.

Yan Shaoting had just finished writing a poem called Qinyuanchun.

He raised his head and looked at Xu Wei who had returned, chuckled and said, "Since they are still intent on evil and their evil nature is hard to change, we have no choice but to go with the flow and make our moves in advance, so that we can have an opponent on the chessboard and not just let them control the game."

Xu Wei nodded.

Although he had the opportunity to open the letter and read its contents, he did not do so.

Facing Yan Shaoting at this moment.

He just smiled and asked, "Since the Shaobao has already made arrangements for the affairs in Jiangnan, then I think the Shaobao will definitely take action on the affairs in Beijing as well?"

Yan Shaoting pretended not to answer and changed the subject: "The emperor said before that it was time for the prince to go out to study, and hoped that I could go to Wenhua Hall to give lectures to the prince every day. Although I am now responsible for the Ministry of Rites, it is not tedious. Since I have nothing to do, I might as well be a teacher for a few days."

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(End of this chapter)