Ming Dynasty: At the beginning, the house was ransacked and the ancestral temple was burned down.

Chapter 85 The collapse of Shen Shixing! A new storm is coming!
  "Want to pretend to be a ghost again?"

Shen Shixing didn't seem surprised that Zhang Chonghui would say such a strange 'greeting'. He sneered with disdain and saw through:
  "Want to pretend to be Zhang Taiyue? You are not qualified yet!"

Shen Shixing had long expected that Zhang Chonghui would use the same trick on him that he used against Yu Shenxing and Wang Xijue.

To be honest, Shen Shixing was actually very angry about Zhang Chonghui's behavior, and even wanted to scold him as an elder.

However, before he could speak, Shen Shixing saw Zhang Chonghui walking to the bookshelf beside him.

"How many years has this broken box been, and you're still reluctant to throw it away?"

Zhang Chonghui looked at the small wooden box containing the 'letter', as if he was disgusted, and then he said:
  "It's just like that broken piece of wood. It hasn't bloomed in so many years. Why do you still keep it?"

It has to be said that Shen Shixing was really stunned by Zhang Chonghui's "natural" behavior...

Because not only the tone of Zhang Chonghui's words, but also the movement of walking with his hands behind his back are very similar to Zhang Juzheng!
  Shen Shixing was very familiar with Zhang Juzheng. It was precisely because he knew Zhang Juzheng that he distrusted the person in front of him even more.

"Ha." Shen Shixing sneered and said, "Don't pretend, don't think I don't know. You got the information from You Qi."

Shen Shixing knew very well that there was one person who knew Zhang Juzheng better than him, and that was Zhang Juzheng's personal butler You Qi.

You Qi has been following Zhang Juzheng for so many years, let alone some ordinary hobbies, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a roundworm in Zhang Juzheng's belly.

Shen Shixing was almost certain that Zhang Chonghui learned from You Qi some of the things Zhang Juzheng had done when he was still alive, as well as some of the small details of his daily habits, so he pretended to be like this.

Facing Shen Shixing's disdainful questioning, Zhang Chonghui didn't panic at all. Instead, he seemed to have seen through Shen Shixing's mind and said with a chuckle: "It seems you know me better than You Qi?"

Shen Shixing couldn't stand Zhang Chonghui using his identity as Zhang Juzheng to talk to him one after another. He was very angry and didn't want to talk nonsense to the person in front of him anymore. He asked directly:

"Who are you! What do you want to do!"

Shen Shixing didn't believe that the person in front of him was 'Zhang Juzheng', but he didn't believe that this person was Zhang Chonghui even more!
  "Who am I?" Zhang Chonghui asked again. He did not answer, but asked with a smile: "Who do you think I am?"

"You can't be Zhang Taiyue anyway!" Shen Shixing said with certainty.

The 'good old man' in the eyes of outsiders, Mr. Ge, was actually a little angry at this moment. Not only did he lose his usual gentleness, he even pointed at the young man in front of him and said angrily:

"Zhang Taiyue is dead. I don't care what evil spirits you are, but you can't! You don't deserve to use Zhang Taiyue's name to deceive you! You don't deserve it!"

Seeing Shen Shixing, who was fine just a moment ago, suddenly become so angry, Zhang Chonghui immediately understood what kind of "status" Zhang Juzheng held in his heart.

In this way, it will be easier to handle.

"Not worthy?" Zhang Chonghui looked up and said with a smile, as if he had heard some joke:
  "Ha, is Zhang Baigui a god-like figure? Is he worthy of it? He is just an eternal sinner who had his house confiscated after his death, was despised by the emperor, and was despised by the world! A man who almost died after his death How can a guilty minister who has his coffin opened and his body killed be worthy of it?"

"Shut up!" Shen Shixing angrily interrupted Zhang Chonghui's taunting, as if these words hurt his ears, and said angrily: "You have no right to speak against him!"

"Why are you excited?" Seeing Shen Shixing so excited, Zhang Chonghui just smiled and said:
  "Those who don't know think that you Shen Rumo appreciates and supports me Zhang Baekgui. Or is it that you Shen Rumo has no face to face me, so you just say these embarrassing words to me? Rumo, I don't like to hear this kind of flattery, you are knew."

"Shuzi! Stop pretending!" Shen Shixing was really angry. He was very angry that the other party was pretending to be Zhang Juzheng, and even more angry with the yin and yang tone of the other party's questioning of him.

Shen Shixing didn't believe that the person in front of him was Zhang Juzheng, but before he knew it, his back was covered with sweat.

"No more?" Zhang Chonghui looked indifferent, as if he was still waiting for Shen Shixing to continue scolding him. When the other party stopped saying anything, he continued: "Since you have nothing to say, it's my turn. "

While talking, Zhang Chonghui sat directly on the main seat of the study without being noticed, as if he was the master of the house.

"Why do you want to abolish the examination method?" Zhang Chonghui leaned on the Taishi chair and asked Shen Shixing this question.

As soon as he finished speaking, Shen Shixing's eyes widened slightly, as if in disbelief, and even more so as if he had a guilty conscience.

At the same time, Shen Shixing was shouting in his heart:

"why?"

"Why would he ask that question?"

"There are so many questions to ask! Why did he ask this question?"

Shen Shixing was originally prepared to "pretend to be a ghost" and Zhang Chonghui would ask him questions such as why he had ignored the Zhang family all these years. After all, he really felt that the person in front of him could not be Zhang Juzheng.

However, Zhang Chonghui asked this question.

Why was the examination law abolished?
  Shen Shixing was stunned, because Zhang Juzheng should be the only one in the world who would ask him such a question...

"No matter how much you pretend to be like him, I won't believe a word you say!" Shen Shixing gritted his teeth. He wouldn't believe it because Zhang Juzheng is dead!
  Facing Shen Shixing's gnashing of teeth, Zhang Chonghui's face also turned cold, and he said questioningly: "I ask you why you want to abolish the examination law!"

"I..." Shen Shixing, who was asked this question again, became a little flustered unconsciously.

He didn't know how to answer this question, he couldn't think of an answer, let alone didn't want to answer it.

As if escaping, Shen Shixing softened his tone and said, "You can leave. I will go back to Suzhou in two days..."

"I ask you why you want to abolish the entrance exam law!" Zhang Chonghui interrupted Shen Shixing's doubtless thoughts, and he decided to ask this question!

"What does it have to do with you to abolish or not abolish the examination law?" Shen Shixing became anxious again, and even said in a less polite manner: "You are not an official! Stop meddling in other people's business!"

"Rumo." Zhang Chonghui didn't care at all about Shen Shixing's sarcasm, but sneered in disappointment:

“When I chose you, I wanted you to continue my restructuring, but what did you do?

In order to reform the system, I can even give up the lives of my entire family; in order to reform the system, I can give up any posthumous name.

I don't want anything, and I don't expect you to continue the ZTE era, but you... you ruined all the hard work I put in during my lifetime.

Alas, I shouldn't have said that to you in the first place. Rumo, I am really disappointed in you. "

Zhang Chonghui's question, which contained a hint of disappointment, actually did not have much emotional ups and downs, and his tone was so calm that he seemed to be asking: "Why don't you hold an umbrella when it rains?"

However, it was this calmness that aroused the waves buried deep in Shen Shixing's heart.

For a moment, Zhang Chonghui's words and what Zhang Juzheng said to him that year were rolling back and forth in Shen Shixing's mind.

"I shouldn't have said that to you in the first place."

"Rumo, come with me, let's create a rejuvenating world together!"

"Rumo, I'm really disappointed in you."

The past and reality overlap, and Zhang Juzheng's warm invitation to Shen Shixing, full of expectations, is in sharp contrast to Zhang Chonghui's calm and disappointed look at this moment.

As if he had received a fatal blow, the string that had been buried deep in Shen Shixing's heart for a long time finally broke.

Shen Shixing's defense was broken. He waved his hands crazily, seeming to have forgotten the 'identity' of the person in front of him, and said loudly and unwillingly:

"Disappointed? Why are you disappointed? What I did is not good enough? Test the method! Test the method! You always only know how to follow your own ideas! Do you know the disadvantages of the method?
  Do you think that the ministers and officials will conscientiously achieve political achievements in accordance with the assessment standards you have set? Do you think local officials will be diligent and caring for the people just because they have passed the law test?
  you are wrong! Zhang Baigui, you are wrong! Taking the exam will only make the ministers and officials complain! The passing exam law will only allow local officials to further exploit and squeeze the people in order to meet the assessment standards!
  Even if it's not a law, it's still the same with a whip! Do you think that if the land is re-measured, the landowners will obediently pay taxes? Do you think that by merging taxes and servitude, the common people will be less likely to suffer from labor?
  Do you know that the whip you vigorously promote has made the people’s grains cheap and silver valuable? Do you know that landowners will always find ways to transfer the extra taxes to ordinary people?
  Zhang Baigui! It has been more than two hundred years since the Ming Dynasty! Many shortcomings have already taken root! The earth collapses and the fish rots! hopeless!
  You just know there are policies! Don't you know if there are any countermeasures? All you know is filling the treasury! Don’t you know how many people starve to death in this exploitation when the national treasury is full?

Zhang Baigui! Do you know what you think is for the imperial court? You think it’s for the people! In the end, it was sucking the blood of the people of Ming Dynasty! Come and renew the life of the Ming Dynasty! "

Shen Shixing was hysterically questioning 'Zhang Juzheng' in front of him. He seemed to have forgotten what he had sworn to say not long ago.

Or maybe Shen Shixing still remembers it, but he doesn't want to remember it now.

He just wanted to say these words. He just wanted to tell Zhang Juzheng that he was not wrong, and the person who was wrong was Zhang Juzheng!

Shen Shixing seemed not to have scolded enough, so he continued:

"Uncle, I know you don't expect a happy death, and I know you have never thought about a happy death. I know you just want to be 'Shang Yang'. At least you are gone, but the system is still there.

But this is the Ming Dynasty, not the pre-Qin Dynasty. You, Zhang Juzheng, are just Zhang Juzheng, you are not Shang Yang! You can’t become Shang Yang either! You can only become another 'Wang Anshi'!
  Do you think I don’t want to continue the restructuring? But do you know how difficult this is? I, Shen Shixing, am just Shen Shixing, I am not you, Zhang Juzheng! I don't have the idea of ​​'Thousands of people will die even if they die'! "

Shen Shixing seemed to have finished speaking, but judging from the way he hesitated to speak, it was obvious that there were still words left unsaid.

Logically speaking, Zhang Juzheng, who had been criticized a lot, should refute the opponent loudly, but Zhang Chonghui just asked lightly:

"So? What do you want to explain?"

Shen Shixing seemed to have waited for the question he wanted. He was prepared and answered with certainty: "So! It's you who are wrong!"

For a moment, the atmosphere was silent.

Zhang Chonghui did not answer immediately, but lowered his head and pondered.

Seeing that the other party was speechless by him, Shen Shixing couldn't help but feel overjoyed, as if he had really beaten 'Zhang Juzheng' to the point of being speechless.

Just when Shen Shixing was immersed in the joy of this 'achievement', Zhang Chonghui, who had been silent for a long time, finally gave his answer. "Even if I'm wrong, you're definitely not right."

Zhang Chonghui's rebuttal was still calm and only lightly passed by Shen Shixing's ears.

However, it was such a light sentence that made Shen Shixing stunned.

The original joy in my heart gradually dissipated and faded, and was replaced by a gradually increasing sense of failure and despair.

Perhaps he had stayed in the cabinet for too long, and even Shen Shixing himself had almost forgotten that he had set an ambition in his heart and wanted to prove to Zhang Juzheng that he was right.

But this ambition was gradually forgotten by him in his political career year after year.

Shen Shixing felt very embarrassed when his long-cherished ambition was mentioned again, and he even asked himself:

"So, even if Zhang Taiyue is wrong, I, Shen Shixing, am definitely not right?"

At this moment when he was doubting his life, Zhang Chonghui seemed to have seen through what Shen Shixing was thinking and began to speak:
  "Rumo, I have held the position of chief minister of the Ming Dynasty cabinet for ten years, and you have also held the position for ten years. You said I was wrong, but in fact you were even more wrong than I was.

I know that you have always thought that it was extremely stupid for me to offend so many people when I was in office. And you think you can find a compromise method to serve as the chief minister of the cabinet.

In the past ten years, you have been fawning on both sides between the emperor and the officials. You are so cowardly that you don't even dare to retaliate when your subordinates who are lower than you are pointed in the nose and scolded.

You are so cautious about your career and please both sides, but in the end you are still used as a shield by the emperor. You are also humiliated and impeached by the ministers day after day, and you have become notorious for being both the leader and the mouse.

You have been in the cabinet for ten years, you have been a good guy for ten years, and you have also been a doormat for ten years. I have enjoyed and been glorious during my reign, but what about you? So Rumo, you are actually more completely wrong than I am. "

It can be said that every word of Zhang Chonghui's words hit Shen Shixing's pain points, making this 'good old man' Ge Lao furious again!

"No! You are more completely wrong!" Shen Shixing retorted loudly. Perhaps he was so angry that he burst out the anger that had been suppressed in his heart for ten years and said loudly:

"So what if I have both ends? So what if I'm a doormat! Do you want me to bear the eternal infamy like you?

Do you know how badly those Party members who supported your reforms have been scolded over the years? All civil and military officials in the dynasty are calling them your accomplices and lackeys!
  Do you know that less than half a year after your death, your reputation is already worse than shit?

The common people are calling you a scumbag! The Emperor says you are a hypocrite whose words and deeds do not match your words! Even those people who flattered you back then all jumped out to scold you!

They say you have dozens of wives! He also said that Qi Jiguang would give you a daughter and a sea dog whip!

Zhang Taiyue! You went from being the chief minister of the cabinet respected by thousands of people in the Ming Dynasty to a guilty minister despised by everyone. All of this changed so quickly that it only took half a year after your death!

No matter how contradictory I am, no matter how notorious I am, in the history books of future generations, my Shen Shixing is just such a superficial brushstroke!
  what about you? Uncle! It’s not just the scholars who hold pens that you offend! You have offended too many people!

From the emperor to the ministers and officials, to the landlords and ordinary people! All of these people, all of us in the Ming Dynasty, have been offended by you!
  So what if your original intention is for the Ming Dynasty? Even if your original intention is for the common people, so what? The voices heard by ordinary people are all... said by officials and gentry families...

Emperor Sejong was so sophisticated in his city government methods that even he, an emperor, did not dare to carry out major reforms in the Ming Dynasty, which had long been suffering from abuses!

And you, Zhang Taiyue, are just a minister. Why are you risking your life like this? Is it really worth it..."

Shen Shixing started to choke when he finished speaking.

From the beginning he was complaining for himself, but in the end he was complaining for Zhang Juzheng.

After so many years, Shen Shixing always wanted to ask Zhang Juzheng this question: "Is it really worth it?"

However, Zhang Juzheng was dead, and no one could answer his question, not even Zhang Chonghui.

"I'm sorry, I just lost my temper." Shen Shixing regained his original rationality and explained to the young man in front of him: "In addition, I said these words to Zhang Baigui, not you."

Not only did Zhang Chonghui no longer dwell on Shen Shixing’s gaffe, he even cooperated and changed the subject, saying:
  "Now that I am a guilty minister, if you fall, our Zhang family will be doomed. So you can't leave, you have to stay and continue to be the chief minister of your cabinet."

Shen Shixing smiled bitterly: "Do you think this cabinet is my home, and you can stay if you want? To tell you the truth, it was the emperor who forced me to leave. He pulled me out as a last shield, and wanted to take this opportunity to The water is muddied so that the third son of the emperor can be made the crown prince."

Faced with Shen Shixing's difficulties, Zhang Chonghui smiled disapprovingly and said: "The emperor can muddy the water in order to establish a crown prince. Can't you, Shen Rumo, also muddy the water in order to stay in the cabinet?"

These words made Shen Shixing frown, as if he wanted to ask something, but in the end he chose not to ask, but compromised and said:
  "Forget it... these ten years of being the first assistant have exhausted me. I'm tired. I'd better retire early and go back to my hometown to live a leisurely life growing bamboos and raising cranes.

Don't worry, the emperor will ask Wang Xijue to return to the cabinet after I leave. At that time, I will ask Wang Xijue to protect your Zhang family secretly. "

Faced with such an answer, Zhang Chonghui seemed not to have heard the last sentence and only asked: "Go home? Which home?"

Shen Shixing was stunned for a moment when he heard this question. He began to examine the young man in front of him carefully. After all, the only person who dared to ask him such a sensitive question was Zhang Juzheng.

"Of course it's the Shen family." As Shen Shixing answered, he was also observing the other party carefully. He wanted to see how good the other party was at acting.

Zhang Chonghui didn't seem to notice that Shen Shixing was carefully examining him, and said very naturally: "Oh, but you probably won't get used to living there when you go back, right? After all, no one in that big family is familiar with you."

At this moment, Shen Shixing fell silent because he didn't know how to refute this sentence.

Indeed, he has spent most of his life trying to integrate into the Shen family, but he has never been able to truly integrate into it.

Even if he has changed his surname and entered the Shen family's genealogy, he can't blend in. He just can't blend in...

It was like he had spent decades trying to integrate into the officials and the emperor, but he had never been able to truly integrate into this treacherous court.

Even if all he wants is to go with the flow and live a stable life, the trees want to be quiet, but the wind doesn't stop...

"Okay, let's go have a meal together." Shen Shixing did not answer this question that was difficult for him to answer, and instead talked about eating.

Zhang Chonghui shook his head and said, "Rumo, I didn't come to you just to eat."

"Don't call me that, I know you are not Taiyue." Shen Shixing returned to his original disdain, seeming to have completely forgotten his previous hysteria.

"It's your business to believe it or not." Zhang Chonghui seemed not to care about the other party's doubts about his identity, but said: "I can help you secure your position as the chief minister of the cabinet."

Shen Shixing seemed to have heard a joke: "First of all, I don't think you have this ability. Secondly, I really don't want to stay in the court."

"Oh?" Zhang Chonghui seemed very surprised. While getting up from the Taishi chair, he asked again: "Are you sure?"

"OK." Shen Shixing said without doubt.

"Okay." Zhang Chonghui seemed not surprised to receive such an answer. When he passed by Shen Shixing, he said lightly: "In this case, there is nothing to talk about between us."

Zhang Chonghui left just like that, and Shen Shixing did not persuade him to stay for a meal together.

Looking back at Zhang Chonghui's leaving figure, Shen Shixing frowned more and more. He always felt that the purpose of the other party's trip was not simple, and it was definitely not just to show off and play tricks with him.

"That's all."

Shen Shixing sighed, thinking that he would be going home to retire soon anyway, and if Zhang Chonghui really wanted to make trouble, just let him make trouble.

……

Shen Shixing seemed to have been pursuing a stable life all his life, even if he entered the most unstable officialdom, even if he had already sat in the position of chief minister of the cabinet, the head of hundreds of officials.

He did not carry out drastic reforms, and even advocated the abolition of the examination law established when Zhang Juzheng was in power.

In the eyes of many people, the chief minister of the cabinet, who has been in office for ten years but still has no sense of existence, just wants to make peace among the emperor and officials day after day, and is "just messing around" day after day. "That's all.

Perhaps this is indeed the case. After all, Shen Shixing was once a key member of the Hanlin Academy. Such a calm person may have never had the dream of reviving the Ming Dynasty... right?

But who hasn’t been a teenager?
  Even Yan Song, the treacherous minister who was despised by the world, was once a young dragon slayer.

Although it is inevitable in the end, the boy who slays dragons will eventually become an evil dragon.

……

Chief Assistant Shen Shixing is going home to retire, although he is going back to a 'home' that he doesn't really want to go back to.

However, no matter how much you don't want to go back, it is still a thousand times better than staying in the court where there is right and wrong.

But fate is always so unpredictable. Shen Shixing, who wanted stability, once again felt the existence of "the tree wants to be quiet but the wind does not stop".

Because this time, even if he wanted to go home to retire, he couldn't go back.

.........

In the 19th year of Wanli, August 25th.

On this day, Shen Shixing, who had received the approval of his resignation from Emperor Wanli, packed his luggage and prepared to set off back to his hometown in Suzhou early the next morning.

However, on that night, Shen Shixing was involved in a new storm by a 'demon book' called "Worry and Risky Hongyi".

(End of this chapter)