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

Chapter 86 The capital is filled with demonic books! The old ladies and concubines crashed together!
  Zhao Mansion.

For the past two days, Zhao Shizhen not only claimed to be sick at home, but also closed the door of Zhao's house. Except for the mother-in-law who went out to buy, no one was allowed to go out.

"My father-in-law, why are you closing your doors for the past two days?" Zhang Chonghui seemed to have no idea what was going on outside, and asked his father-in-law Zhao Shizhen with a blank look on his face.

Zhao Shizhen shook his head in great distress and sighed: "Oh, something big happened outside. My dear son-in-law, it's best if we don't go out, so as not to cause trouble and be implicated by innocent people."

"What's the big deal, father-in-law?" Zhang Yunxiu also asked with a confused look on his face.

Zhao Shizhen, who was questioned one after another, had a troubled look on his face, and it was obvious that he didn't want to say anything.

At this time, Zhang Yunxiu seemed to be anxious and questioned: "My father-in-law, are you deliberately making up a pretense of 'something big happening outside' to deceive us? Although my nephew is here to see you, A visit to your home, but a visit to your home is not a prison, you can’t keep him locked up in your home for the rest of his life!”

Zhao Shizhen was always impatient. After being slandered by Zhang Yunxiu in a few words, he immediately became excited and vomited everything about what happened outside!

"Why am I making up a pretense to deceive you? Uncle, do you know how chaotic it is outside now?
  Nowadays, the entire Shuntian Mansion is full of "demon books" flying everywhere. This "demon book" not only involves the matter of establishing the crown prince, but also involves the emperor's most beloved concubine!
  In addition, Shen Shoufu and Mr. Xu Ge from the cabinet are also involved. The only one who has not been involved, Mr. Wang Ge, is now subject to rumors!

The emperor was furious about this matter and sent the royal guards all over the city to search for the murderous thief who wrote the demon book! Your identities are already sensitive. If you still go out and hang out at this time, wouldn't you just make yourself a mess?
  I didn't let you go out for your own sake, but you, my uncle, actually accused me of making up a pretext? I, Zhao, have been upright and aboveboard all my life, and I have never done such petty things! "

After Zhao Shizhen explained very excitedly, he angrily shook his sleeves to show that he was really angry.

After hearing this answer, Zhang Chonghui and Zhang Yunxiu just looked at each other calmly, saying nothing.

"Oh, it turns out that I misunderstood your kindheartedness, father-in-law. It's all my fault." Zhang Yunxiu returned to his usual elegance and humility, admitting his mistakes with a smile.

As the saying goes, don't hit someone with a smile. Zhao Shizhen, who has a straight temper, does not like to hold grudges. Seeing Zhang Yunxiu admitting his mistake so humbly, he was no longer angry, but he still didn't like Zhang Yunxiu, his uncle.

"Master Yue Zhang, what is written in that 'demon book'? How could so many people be involved?" This time, it was Zhang Chonghui who asked.

"Alas..." Zhao Shizhen sighed again, and this time he replied: "To tell you the truth, the demon book this time has something to do with your Zhang Taiyue, so I won't let you go out."

"Ah?" Zhang Chonghui's face was filled with confusion: "What does it have to do with my grandfather?"

"Actually, it doesn't have much to do with it, it's just..." Zhao Shizhen finally couldn't hold it in anymore and said it out: "The demon book is actually not a book, it's just a one-page newspaper."

While talking, Zhao Shizhen took out a piece of paper from his sleeve. This was the legendary 'Demon Book'.

"Read the content for yourselves. I will burn it after you finish reading it." Zhao Shizhen handed the 'Demon Book' to Zhang Chonghui and sighed at the end:

"Forget it, it doesn't matter whether it's burned or not. Anyway, it's all over the streets now. Maybe a gust of wind will blow it into our house..."

Zhang Chonghui did not accept the demon letter from Zhao Shizhen, but took two steps back and motioned for Zhang Yunxiu to pick it up.

This subtle move made Zhao Shizhen even more satisfied with this good son-in-law who did not overstep his bounds, was polite, and followed the rules.

After Zhang Yunxiu took the 'Demon Book', he opened it and looked at it.

I saw this so-called "demon book". Although the title is "Worry and Risk Hong Yi", its content is actually a dialogue between two people.

The two people talking to each other were named "Zhu Dongji" and the other was Xu Guo, the second assistant to the cabinet.

The contents are as follows.

[Zhu Dongji said: The world is not peaceful today and the country is not solidified. What do you think we should do well? 】

[Xu Guo said: Today, the Holy Emperor has been slow to appoint the Emperor's eldest son as the Crown Prince. This is all because the Holy Emperor's favorite concubine Zheng gave birth to the Emperor's third son, and the Holy Spirit prefers the Emperor's third son to be the Crown Prince. 】

[Zhu Dongji said: "The Ancestral Instructions of the Emperor Ming Dynasty" says that if there are direct descendants, there will be no direct descendants. The holy will is against the ancestral etiquette and law. What do you think should be done? 】

[Xu Guo said: It's easy. The Holy Emperor can follow Xuanzong's move of deposing the queen and make Zheng the queen. In this way, the third son of the emperor will be the legitimate daughter. 】

[Zhu Dongji said: Although the current queen does not have a legitimate son, she still has a princess, and she is virtuous and virtuous without any faults. If the current emperor follows Xuanzong's move of deposing the queen, he may be criticized by the world and chill the world. 】

[Xu Guo said: That is a matter for saints. All I need to do is be loyal to you. 】

[Zhu Dongji said: So, your Excellency agrees with the Holy Spirit’s intention and also wishes that the third son of the emperor should be the crown prince? 】

[Xu Guo said: Naturally. 】

[Zhu Dongji said: In this case, why do you need to unite all officials to persuade the emperor to appoint the crown prince to the emperor's eldest son? 】

[Xu Guo said: Shen Yaoquan's name preceded mine. This was his doing, not my wish. 】

[Zhu Dongji smiled and said: Sir, you are joking. Shen Yaoquan was recuperating at home at the time. Are you trying to imitate Zhang Taiyue's move to expel Gao Xuan, and use this strategy to expel Shen Yaoquan from the cabinet and take the position of Yuan Fu as your own? 】

[Xu Guo said: Hahahaha. 】

That's all the content of "Worry and Risk Hongyi", and the four words "hahahaha" at the end of the article are thought-provoking.

"What does this mean?" Zhang Yunxiu seemed to not understand and asked Zhao Shizhen.

Zhao Shizhen couldn't help rolling his eyes, and explained bluntly with some disgust:

"This "Worry and Crisis Hongyi" actually means that Mr. Xu Ge wants to do what your father Zhang Taiyue did when he brought down Gao Gong. He also wants to use this to establish the throne and drive Shen Yuanfu out of the cabinet so that he can become the Yuan Yuan. auxiliary."

"That's it." Zhang Yunxiu looked suddenly enlightened and asked, "Who is this Zhu Dongji?"

Zhao Shizhen replied: "Zhu is the emperor's surname, and Dong means the East Palace. This Zhu Dongji is a fake name. It is probably just used to insinuate that the East Palace is now ownerless."

"So that's it." Zhang Yunxiu suddenly realized it again, and asked again: "So who wrote this 'demon letter'? Has the bad guy found it?"

"There are millions of people in Shuntian Mansion, and people come and go every day. How can it be so easy to find bad guys?" Zhao Shizhen shook his head and said:

"Since the emperor stopped going to court and ignored the government affairs, many official positions in our Ming Dynasty have been vacant and unfilled, and many places have become chaotic and undisciplined due to 'no officials' control.

Although Shuntian Prefecture is the capital of the emperor, over the years, security has become increasingly loose, and some people can enter the capital without even using road signs.

For now, let alone finding the villain who wrote the demon book, no one knows how the demon book spread everywhere. "

After hearing these words, Zhang Chonghui, who had been silent all this time, suddenly sighed and said, "It turns out that the security of the capital has deteriorated to this level."

Zhao Shizhen smiled helplessly: "You should have seen it when you entered Beijing. The streets are full of foreigners doing business, selling everything, even gold bottles... Ahem, in short, you should not go out during this period. , after all, your Zhang Taiyue’s name is in this ‘demon book’.”

Zhang Chonghui nodded: "Then my son-in-law will follow my father-in-law's words and won't go out for the time being."

When Zhao Shizhen saw his son-in-law being so obedient, he couldn't help but like him even more.

Perhaps he was so happy to have such a good son-in-law that Zhao Shizhen actually came up with the idea of ​​​​wanting his future son-in-law to meet his precious daughter who had been living in the backyard for a long time.

But when he thought of his stupid daughter's dumbfounded look, Zhao Shizhen immediately suppressed the idea that had just emerged.

"No, they must not be allowed to meet before they get married!" Zhao Shizhen thought to himself.

What if my future son-in-law finds out that my daughter is not very smart and scares her away?
  All we have to do is wait until they get married and the rice is cooked. By then, this good son-in-law will not be able to run away even if he wants to!
  Zhao Shizhen was making plans in his mind, and Zhang Chonghui and Zhang Yunxiu had never raised the idea of ​​meeting Miss Zhao.

Both parties were silent in a tacit understanding, after all, each had their own agenda.

……

The old Zhao family was relatively peaceful in a short period of time.

However, outside the Zhao family, several key figures in the 'Demon Book' were all in bad luck.

Shen Shixing, who was supposed to return to his hometown the next day, was directly ordered by the emperor to 'stay' in Shen's mansion. Now he can't leave even if he wants to.

Among them, Concubine Zheng, who was involved in the matter of "establishing a crown prince", was fiercely attacked by the courtiers. There were so many memorials to impeach her for being charming and confusing the emperor and causing chaos in the country that the Wanli Emperor Zhu Yijun almost drowned.

What's more, an old incident was even brought up.

In the eighteenth year of Wanli's reign, a eunuch named "Chen Ju" brought back a book called "Illustrated Notes on Concubine Zheng" from outside the palace in order to curry favor with Concubine Zheng.

This "Illustrated Notes on Girlfriends" was written by a person named "Lü Kun". It collects the glorious deeds of women, wives, and mothers throughout the dynasties.

This book is widely circulated among the people, and many families will buy a copy for their boudoir daughters to read and learn from.

The book brought back by Chen Ju can be said to be flattering to the point, and it deeply touched Concubine Zheng's heart.

Women in feudal society were proud of being "virtuous" and "virtuous". Concubine Zheng Xu felt uncomfortable being sprayed with stinking shit by the ministers over the years, so she wanted to borrow this "Pictures of a Girlfriend" 》To establish a "virtuous and chaste" persona for yourself.

In other words, give yourself prestige.

So, Concubine Zheng used her "money power" and ordered people to continue writing the "Illustrated Notes on Girlfriends", starting with Empress Mingde of the Eastern Han Dynasty and concluding with Concubine Zheng herself, and she also wrote an additional chapter herself. preface.

The "Illustrated Notes on Girlfriends", which was written by "Tail of the Dog", was completed in this way. Concubine Zheng expressed that she was very satisfied with the contents.

But writing it down was not enough. Concubine Zheng also asked her uncle Zheng Chengen and her brother Zheng Guotai to print this 'new' version of "Illustrated Stories of Girlfriends" on a large scale and disseminate it among the people. To establish your own 'virtuous reputation'.

It's just such a thing, it's actually nothing to talk about.

This is just a rich and powerful concubine who wants to publish a book for herself. It is not a big deal at all.

After all, during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, when the novel industry was extremely developed, there were many people who had too much money and no place to spend it, so they found someone to publish their own books.

However, it was such a common thing that made the civil servants in the DPRK seize the opportunity.

The ministers wrote letters one after another to impeach Concubine Zheng. The reason why she reprinted this book was actually because she had evil intentions and wanted to use "false propaganda" to spread her reputation to overpower the queen, so as to vindicate the "scrap" in the "demon book". For the last thing, make preparations in advance.

Her ultimate true purpose is to seize the crown prince position for her own son, the third emperor Zhu Changxun.

Only Concubine Zheng knows whether she has this intention.

Lu Kun, who was the governor of Shanxi at the time and the original author of "Illustrated Notes on Girlfriends", could be said to have had bad luck for eighteen lifetimes.

I wrote a novel on a whim, and it became a little popular. However, the current imperial concubine actually used it to continue writing a novel.

Forget it, the key is that this matter now involves the 'national foundation'.

After Lu Kun, who was far away in Shanxi, learned about this, he only felt that this bad luck was terrible.

In fact, he was the one who truly dodged a bullet.

It was miserable that Shen Shixing could not return to his hometown, and it was even worse that Concubine Zheng was impeached. However, the worst person was Xu Guo, the second assistant in the cabinet.

As the "male lead" in "The Demon Book", he finally experienced the feeling of "sitting at home while the pot comes from the sky" just like Shin Si-hyung.

Xu Guo really wanted to die now. Because his presence in the 'Demon Book' was too strong, Xu Guo could not go to the cabinet to handle matters, so he had to hide at home to avoid suspicion. Shen Shixing and Xu Guo have now crashed, and now, only Wang Jiaping is left in the cabinet.

Logically speaking, Wang Jiaping should be able to escape this difficulty. After all, his name is not in the 'Demon Book'.

But the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty were extremely trouble-making. Their favorite thing to do was to oppose for the sake of opposition.

They are keen to oppose the words of the emperor and their colleagues. They do not care whether things are right or wrong, they only oppose for the sake of opposition.

After all, according to the rules set by Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, admonishers will not be punished even if they object wrongly.

It didn't matter even if he was punished. The officials of the Ming Dynasty were not even afraid of beheading, and being punished was a symbol of 'honor'.

For this group of scholars who are familiar with classics and history, it can be done with just opening their mouths.

As a result, some people soon became restless and pointed the finger at the minister Wang Jiaping who did not exist in the "Demon Book".

Some people say that there are only three ministers in the cabinet. Now Shen Shixing and Xu Guo are involved in the 'demon book', but Wang Jiaping has nothing to do.

Therefore, some people suspect that this 'demon book' was deliberately published and disseminated by the cabinet minister Wang Jiaping. The purpose was to make Shen Shixing and Xu Guodu leave the cabinet due to rumors, so that he could rise to the top and become the chief minister of the cabinet!
  Once this idea was circulated and discussed, many people soon took to Twitter to impeach Wang Jiaping.

Wang Jiaping, who was surrounded by rumors, had no choice but to go home because of illness and stay at home.

At this point, the three cabinet ministers collectively crashed...

The entire Cabinet Office became deserted, with piles of papers awaiting votes.

In these memorials, there are trivial matters that are insignificant, but there are also important matters such as natural disasters and catastrophes, which require urgent support from the court.

However, no matter how big or small these things are, in today's capital and in today's court, everyone's eyes are focused on the issue of 'national foundation'.

As the saying goes: the family, the world, the country, the family, the country, the world, are originally one.

But the common people who are in the midst of a disaster, on the thin line between life and death, can only listen to fate and wait quietly like ants and weeds.

They also have a family, they also have a country, but sometimes, it seems that there is not much difference between having one and not having one...

……

This 'demon book', which was only one page long, had spread throughout the entire Shuntian Mansion in just a few days.

Not only did it force all three cabinet ministers to hide at home and dare not go out, it also brought Concubine Zheng's reputation to a whole new level.

In the end, the Wanli Emperor Zhu Yijun was tortured to the point of death.

……

Qianqing Palace.

Concubine Zheng was crying again, and this time she cried louder.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"

But now the ministers are all scolding me for trying to covet the position of the queen, but I have always respected the queen, and you know this. How could I dare to occupy the magpie's nest!

Your Majesty, I am really unjust. You must make the decision for me and catch the originator of the 'demon book' and punish him severely. Otherwise, I will be wronged in vain, wuwuwuwu..."

Zheng Mengjing cried so hard that she felt aggrieved. Although Zhu Yijun himself had a headache, it was hard to be angry at the woman he loved when he saw her crying like this.

"I've been checking for several days, but why haven't I received any results yet?" Zhu Yijun asked Zhang Cheng in a cold voice.

"Return to the Emperor." Zhang Cheng replied hurriedly: "Luo Sigong is still investigating, and the results will probably be available soon..."

"How soon does it mean soon?" Zheng Mengjing interrupted unhappily: "You said it was soon two days ago, but how long has passed and how come there is no progress at all!"

Zhang Cheng was also speechless and could only kneel down in sweat and beg for mercy.

For a time, the whole hall was in chaos with people crying and begging for mercy.

Zhu Yijun felt that his head was about to explode. Finally, he couldn't help but shouted: "Okay, stop arguing!"

With this roar, Zheng Mengjing immediately stopped crying, and the atmosphere in the hall became audibly quiet.

"What exactly is Luo Sigong investigating?" Zhu Yijun asked, "Where is the progress now?"

As the emperor, Zhu Yijun actually didn't have to worry about the things below at all. He only needed to wait for the people below to give him a result.

But several days have passed, and the demonic books have become more and more intense, flying all over the capital.

It doesn't matter if they can't catch the culprit, but they actually let the culprit continue to spread the demonic book. Dongchang Jinyiwei was so ineffective that the 'boss' Zhu Yijun was even angry.

"Return to the Emperor." Zhang Cheng was very worried. Next, he was going to report the 'results' of these days one by one and said:

“Luo Sigong first searched the whole city and found demonic books, which were originally scattered throughout the capital by a man named Liu Erwu.

However, this Liu Erwu turned out to be a fool. No matter how he was tortured, he would only say that a young man who had just turned eighteen asked him to spread the news.

Seeing that this fool couldn't find anything, Luo Sigong began to investigate all the engraving merchants in Shuntian Mansion, the capital, and found something.

It is said that there is indeed a young man who visited many engraving shops a month ago, but more than a month has passed, and the man is nowhere to be found..."

Hearing such a messy answer, Zhu Yijun felt his head hurt even more. He interrupted: "Is this how Jin Yiwei does things?"

Zhang Cheng was speechless again and had no choice but to kowtow and beg for mercy. At the same time, he wanted to strangle Luo Sigong alive!
  Your kid is not doing things well at the back, so I am scolded at the front, right?尻!
  "Okay, stop kowtowing." Seeing that Zhang Cheng's head was about to break from kowtowing, Zhu Yijun interrupted and said:

"There are so many people in the capital. If we search at this speed, we will never find him. Now we need to analyze who did this and what is the purpose of doing so."

"The purpose?" Zheng Mengjing wiped her tears and said, "The purpose is of course to force you to quickly appoint the eldest son as the crown prince! I think it must be the ministers in the court who did it!"

"I know." Zhu Yijun said in a somewhat impatient tone: "The key is who would do this?"

Zheng Mengjing used her not-so-smart mind to think about it and said, "Could it be Wang Jiaping? After all, he is the only one of the three cabinet ministers who is not in the demon book."

Zhu Yijun shook his head: "Wang Jiaping is just old, not stupid."

Zheng Mengjing realized that Zhu Yijun was calling her stupid, and immediately felt stingy and pursed her lips and stopped talking.

"Your Majesty..." Zhang Cheng said cautiously: "I am ignorant, do you know whether to say it or not?"

"Say." Zhu Yijun spoke.

Ever since, Zhang Cheng talked about his guess and said:

"Your Majesty, I believe that sometimes the most impossible things are actually the most likely.

In this case of the demonic book, I feel that the three elders in the cabinet are all very suspicious.

The first is Wangjiaping Wangge Lao. His name is not in the demon book. Logically speaking, he is the most suspect.

The slave also agreed with the imperial concubine’s view and felt that Mr. Wangge did have this motive.

Next is Mr. Xu Guo. Logically speaking, he should be the least suspect. After all, no one would be stupid enough to involve himself. The slave also thinks that Mr. Xu Ge has no chance.

But it is often possible to risk one's life and survive, and it is not impossible to enter the situation with one's own body, although the risks and costs are so high that they can easily backfire. "

At this point, Zhang Cheng stopped talking. The implication was obvious that he would leave the highlight moment of revealing the 'real murderer' to His Majesty the Emperor.

"So..." Zhu Yijun heard it and said, "So the most likely person is Shen Shixing?"

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty." Zhang Cheng continued:
  "In this demon book, Mr. Shen Ge is the only one who is persecuted. Moreover, the target of the demon book is directed at Mr. Xu Ge of the Xu State. It just happened that Mr. Xu Ge signed on behalf of Mr. Shen Ge not long ago and jointly signed the petition with hundreds of officials. One thing.

This incident caused Mr. Shen Ge to be reviled by hundreds of officials, and he had no choice but to resign and go home. After all, he must have hated Mr. Xu so much that revenge was not impossible... So the slave girl felt that Mr. Shen Ge was most likely behind the scenes. Instruct. "

Zhu Yijun looked thoughtful and shook his head: "He has packed his luggage and is going back. It is not in line with Mr. Shen's character to cause such a big incident at this time. I don't think it is him."

"Your Majesty." Zhang Cheng said that sentence again: "The most impossible things are often the most likely ones."

This time, Zhu Yijun was silent. He looked at the 'demon book' on the table that made him angry. The first thing he saw was the three words 'Zhang Taiyue' on it.

Recalling the relationship between Shen Shixing and Zhang Juzheng during his lifetime, Zhu Yijun couldn't help but guess:
  "Is it possible that Shen Shi wanted to give me a big one before he left?"

……

Beizhen Fusi.

Luo Sigong has had a lot of headaches these days.

This demon book is really weird, especially the person who spread the demon book in the first place turned out to be a fool, which made it even more difficult for him to deal with.

"Boss." Chen Yin came over and reported: "Today's demon book has several versions printed with different engravings. Some even have the wrong words printed, Zhang Taiyue is printed as Zhang Dayue, and some... "

"Stop, stop, stop!" Luo Sigong interrupted such useless words and said with a headache: "Don't look at it, someone is joining in the fun and stirring up trouble."

Nowadays, there are so many versions of demon books. It seems that someone is following the trend and stirring up trouble. Otherwise, the demon books would not be flying all over the sky after Liu Erwu, the 'chief criminal', was caught.

"Are there no useful clues?" Luo Sigong asked: "How is the interrogation of the three pavilion elders' families? Have there been any unusual interactions recently?"

"There is no unusual contact..." Chen Yin thought for a moment while answering. Suddenly, he seemed to remember something and said, "Only Shen Shixing's house, two special guests came to the house a few days ago. .”

"Special guest?" Luo Sigong narrowed his eyes and asked, "Shen Shixing is about to collapse, and who dares to go to his house? What kind of guest is not afraid of death?"

"Speaking of which, we are still old acquaintances." Chen Yin joked with a smile:
  "Do you still remember the house raiding case seven years ago? One of the guests who went to Shenshi Expert's House was Zhang Yunxiu, who was stupid back then.

The other is Zhang Chonghui, a six-year-old boy who claimed to have committed murder and set fires. "

　Ah...I've really been on a blind date these past two days...

　　This chapter was written just now...

　　In addition, although there is only one chapter, this chapter has a total of 7,000 words!
  　　One chapter is better than three! Absolutely large and filling!
  　　So bosses, please don’t keep books!
  　　I'm going to continue typing!

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)