lady, please calm down

At the court meeting on August 17, the old officials in Jiangnan were very nervous because of Cai Yuan's sudden appearance.

But at the morning court session that day, the real ruler of the Great Chu seemed drowsy and yawned constantly, perhaps because he had been traveling for days.

As everyone knows, Prime Minister Cai was born a clerk, and he looked so old when they first saw him today, which inevitably caused some people to look down on him.

However, an official like Mei Rupin, the Imperial Counselor, who has been in official circles for most of his life, would naturally not make the low-level mistake of "judging people by their appearance".

Cai Yuan’s sudden arrival must be a plan!

After the court was dismissed, Mei Rupin changed into casual clothes and went to the residence of Xie Kuo, the Minister of Justice, who was sick at home.

He was led to the back house by the servants of the Xie Mansion, where he saw more than ten bird cages hanging among the rockery and green trees, all of which were filled with parrots.

Xie Kuo, who was dressed in his ordinary clothes, was not surprised by Mei Rupin's arrival. He even had the mood to tease the parrot in the cage with a bamboo stick, calling "Call..."

The parrot seemed to understand human nature and immediately imitated the human voice and called out: "Good luck and good health. Good luck and good health."

"My lord is very cheerful."

Mei Rupin said with a smile, then lowered his voice and said, "Cai Yuan has come to Lin'an."

Xie Kuo's expression remained normal, "I have already heard about it just now."

Mei Rupin saw this and couldn't help but asked with some concern: "Could he be here for the Funing Palace incident?"

Xie Kuo suddenly frowned, turned around and looked at Mei Rupin and said, "What happened in Funing Palace? What does it have to do with you and me?"

"." Mei Rupin was stunned and speechless.

After five or six breaths, Xie Kuo's expression finally eased a little. "The person in charge of communicating with the palace had been eliminated long before the incident on the fifth day of the first lunar month, and the person in Funing Palace was killed by Cai. There is no evidence. The lords and I have long forgotten about this matter. Why is Lord Mei still obsessed with it?"

"Yes. From today on, I will forget about this matter."

Mei Rupin bowed slightly and replied carefully and respectfully.

If there were outsiders here, they would probably not understand what these two adults were talking about.
"You guys, continue doing what you should do. Cai Yuan came to Lin'an alone. What kind of trouble can he cause? Don't panic. Let's not give him any handle. Can Cai Yuan punish us just because we are sick at home?"

Xie Kuo continued to tease the parrot while speaking.

For a while, the birds' calls of "good luck and health" continued.

But when it was the last parrot's turn, no matter how Xie Kuo teased it, the parrot refused to speak. Xie Kuo just smiled, opened the birdcage, reached out and took the parrot out.

"This flat-haired animal has no human nature. It eats and drinks from me, and thinks it is the master and we are its slaves, haha."

While Xie Kuo was speaking, he suddenly exerted force with his thumb and index finger at the same time. The parrot was only the size of two chicken eggs, so it could not withstand this force. With a slight "crack" sound, its neck was broken alive.

Xie Kuo then spread out his palm, glanced at the slightly twitching parrot, and casually threw it into the pond. He turned to Mei Rupin and smiled gently, "I told it to bark, but it refused to bark. If it doesn't listen, then why keep it?"

Mei Rupin stood aside with his head bowed, not daring to respond for a moment.

On the same day, at the time of Si.

Cai Yuan took over the Secretariat with more than a dozen followers. Since Qin Huizhi fled south and Chen Chu entered Lin'an, this place symbolizing the core of power quickly became deserted, with only a few minor officials left behind on weekdays.

Due to the recent turmoil in the court, the few remaining minor officials were not dedicated, so when Cai Yuan arrived, he found that except for the duty rooms used by the remaining officials to drink tea and chat, the rest of the public housing was covered with a thick layer of dust.

When the officials learned that the person who had suddenly arrived was the prime minister of the current dynasty, they hurriedly lined up in the courtyard to greet him, looking very frightened.

Cai Yuan walked around the Zhongshu Province office area and saw weeds growing in the corners of the house under the wall. He was not annoyed, but smiled and said to the officials who stayed behind: "Our office needs to be repaired. You can take a 20-day paid leave and go home."

Well, the big boss came to inspect and did not punish them for the mess in the yamen. Instead, they got 20 days of vacation for free. Everyone was happy and left after thanking him.

After they left, there was no longer a single old official from Jiangnan in the entire Secretariat.

But it also meant that Prime Minister Cai Yuan was almost left alone in Lin'an.

Over there, Ximen Fa and Gou Sheng led people to clear the weeds in the yard. Cai Yuan went to the chief officer's duty room by himself, only to see that the desk, chair, and document rack were all covered with dust.

He didn't care, and used the sleeves of his wide official robe to clear a clean area on the desk, then slowly found the inkstone, paper and pen, and ground and spread the paper himself.
All the arrangements that had already been thought out in my mind were soon put on paper.

'Gou Sheng, the Ministry of Justice'

'Ximen Fa, Dali Temple.'

'Chen Yinglang, Secretary of the Secretariat.'

'Xu Zhiyuan, Lin'an Prefecture Procurator'

'Peng Yuyan, Wu Yanzu, and Tang Tingzhi are the planning officials of the Secretariat.'

After writing more than ten memorials, Cai Yuan called Gou Sheng and asked him to send them to Yande Hall and ask His Majesty to use the seal before issuing them.

Gou Sheng naturally saw the petition for his promotion at the top and couldn't help but said excitedly: "Thank you, Prime Minister, for your support!"

Cai Yuan calmly waved his hands and said, "Your Majesty, we have a long history. You have been working hard for me over the years. This is what you deserve. But this mission is much more dangerous than before. Don't let Your Majesty down."

"Yes! I am willing to lead the way for your majesty, the country, and the prime minister, and I will go through fire and water without hesitation!"

Noon
Chen Yinglang, who had been confined at home by his father recently, ate his lunch without any appetite. He also knew that there were undercurrents beneath the seemingly calm political situation outside the house.

At his age, it is the time to be the first in everything, but his father does not allow him to leave the house for various reasons. He is almost suffocated.

While the father and son were eating in silence, an old servant suddenly came in and said, "An urgent document has arrived from the palace."

Chen Jing'an silently glanced at Chen Yinglang who was looking around curiously, put down his chopsticks and said, "Eat your meal well, I'll go take a look."

But as soon as he stood up, the old servant said, "Erlang, is the document for you, young master?"

"For Yinglang?"

Chen Jing'an looked back at his son in confusion. Chen Yinglang's official certificate was still in Hebei Road. The position of the head of the field reform team in Lin'an was not an official position. Logically, he should not have been given an official document, and he was the Duke Wen of the "palace".

But Chen Yinglang had already walked out anxiously.

Chen Jing'an followed his son to the front court and saw that the person who came to deliver the official document was a eunuch from the palace. This was even more against the rules.

The eunuch didn't say much. He handed the document to Chen Yinglang and left in a hurry.

Chen Jing'an vaguely guessed something, and reached out to take the document that had just been unfolded from Chen Yinglang's hand.

"Father! This is for my son!"

Chen Yinglang was very unhappy, but he didn't dare to snatch it from his father's hand. He could only move closer and look at it with his father.

This was an official document for recruitment. The first half naturally praised Chen Yinglang, and the following main text was about recruiting Chen Yinglang to work as a secretary in the Secretariat.

The sixth-rank secretary of the Secretariat was one rank and two levels higher than Chen Yinglang's official position in Hebei Road.

But this is not the most important thing. The more crucial thing is that Chen Yinglang jumped from a local official to an important central department that important officials of all dynasties must pass through!
He was very willing to do this, but he also knew some of his father's concerns, so he said: "Father, if you don't let your son take office, it will be embarrassing."

"How could a father not know!"

Chen Jing'an slowly sat down on the chair, looking at the clear seal on the document, and finally sighed: "Your Majesty has used the seal and specially asked the eunuch to forward it. How can there be room for refusal! Oh, it must be Prime Minister Cai's idea!"

Chen Yinglang glanced at his father and said cautiously, "Father, please don't be angry if your son says a few words."

"Fart!"

"."

This is the father who is known for his elegance! Chen Yinglang organized his words and said, "You and your uncle are both as knowledgeable and talented as Prime Minister Cai, but you have been overshadowed by Prime Minister Cai all these years. Why is that? It is because when your father encounters a conflict between His Majesty and the gentry, he will be cautious. Although His Majesty does not say it, how can he have no grudges in his heart? My cousin suffers from a heart disease and is unhappy all day long, which is related to these things."

Chen Jingan sat in the chair, silent.

Chen Yinglang then continued, "Father, you said that this was Prime Minister Cai's idea. But as a sixth-rank secretary, the Ministry of Central Secretariat could have directly appointed me, but His Majesty went to the trouble of using the imperial seal and sending it to me by the eunuch. To me, His Majesty's intention is very clear! This is to let my family make one last choice. In my opinion, this time when Prime Minister Cai comes to Lin'an, there will be no shortage of bloody battles. If father continues to hesitate, I'm afraid that both sides will suffer!"

Chen Jingan certainly understood this. But betraying one's own class is always the most difficult psychological barrier.

After a long silence, Chen Jing'an suddenly waved his hand tiredly, "Go, doesn't the official document say that you should report to the Secretariat today? Go."

Chen Yinglang was overjoyed and rushed out of the room after a quick bow.

"Hidero!"

But a voice behind him called out, causing Chen Yinglang to stop and look back. He saw that his father, who had looked dejected two breaths ago, had regained his usual calmness and composure. He said, "You are right. Since you have gone to work under Prime Minister Cai, you must not be as cautious as your father. The power of officials and gentry in Jiangnan is intertwined. Once the fight begins, you must not show any mercy! You must root them out completely, so that Your Majesty and our families will never have any trouble again!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Yinglang solemnly bowed and said, "I will remember your father's teachings!"

That afternoon.

People came from all directions to respond to the call and gathered in the Secretariat.

Cai Yuan even ordered people to prepare bedding in advance so that everyone would not have to travel back and forth every day. This arrangement also shows that this place will be extremely busy in the coming period of time. Secondly, it is also beneficial to safety for everyone to live together.

With Lao Cai's level, just a few simple words of mobilization were enough to make these passionate young people scream and shout, wishing they could tear the bad guys apart with their bare hands.

In his words, he not only mentioned that the real culprit behind Cui Zaidao's death was not only the Changhua Cao family, but also vaguely mentioned that someone wanted to use the palace people to harm His Majesty.

It was also mentioned that many officials and gentry in the south of the Yangtze River still maintain unclear relations with the remnants of the Zhou Dynasty.

In short, it contains elements of personal grudge and national hatred!
Finally, Old Cai said emotionally: "Your Majesty always says that you young people are the future of the country. I am already old, so I will sacrifice my broken body to cure you of this thousand-year-old disease, so that you can go into battle with ease in the future!"

Listen, Prime Minister Cai will pave a smooth road for everyone with his flesh and blood!
What kind of spirit is this!
Tang Tingzhi, who was still in grief over the death of his good friend Cui Zaidao, cried out, "Prime Minister Cai is not alone! Although I am not very talented, I will sacrifice my life for the sake of the Great Chu!"

"Okay! Just do what you want, I'll hold up the sky if it collapses!"

After the excitement, everyone took up their respective duties.

Chen Yinglang and others mainly do desk work, so it's quite peaceful.

But Gou Sheng and Ximen Fa have to go to the Ministry of Justice and Dali Temple respectively to perform their duties, and their side is much more exciting.

At 3 p.m., Ximen Fa led more than 20 officials from Huaibei to the Dali Temple.

The work style in the government offices in Lin'an was lax. In the morning, the officials could still stay in the government offices obediently, but in the afternoon, they either had a drink somewhere else or went home early.

So when Ximen Fa arrived, there were only a few officials and a group of doormen and jailers who were gambling under a tree in the Dali Temple.

When a judge saw Ximen Fa coming with a large group of people, without waiting to ask who they were, Ximen Fa took out his official certificate. The judge was confused when he saw the title of "Dali Temple Chief" written on the official certificate.

Now the chief official of the Dali Temple, Dali Temple Minister Zhou Wei, is at home on sick leave, and the deputy Dali Temple Shaoqing resigned and returned home long ago after Emperor Zhou fled south.

These two chief and deputy chief officials are not here. In terms of official rank, the next highest official is the chief of the Dali Temple, which is of the sixth rank.

In other words, at this moment, Ximen in Dali Temple has the greatest trouble!
The judge wanted to stop them but didn't dare to, yet he was unwilling to let Ximen Fa and the others in, so he quickly winked at the doorman and asked him to go to the master's house to inform him immediately.

Ximen Fa ignored the people with different expressions and went into the Dali Temple with his subordinates.

He then chose a public housing unit with good lighting as his duty room, and immediately ordered his subordinates to move the official documents, rosters and even seals that were in the duty room of the Dali Temple Minister to his own duty room.

The commentator was stunned by this operation.

How can this be seen as an official taking up his post? It is simply a military coup!

After doing all this, it was not over yet. Ximen Fa took his men to the Dali Temple prison.

Dali Temple was responsible for interrogating officials.

But after the Zhou emperor fled south, in the chaos, it was unknown who ordered the release of all detained officials.

After Chen Chu arrived, he did not build a large prison, so now in the entire prison, there is only one person, Zuo Shao, the Right Assistant Censor of the Censorate!
On the sixth day of this month, Zuo Shao roared in front of the Lord of Yan De Hall and was convicted and detained in the Dali Temple.

It's just that Dali Temple Minister Zhou Wei was at home on sick leave, and his case had never been tried. In fact, with Zhou Wei's special care, Zuo Shao was living quite comfortably in prison.

At 1:00 pm, in the Jiayi cell of the Dali Temple.

Although Zuo Shao was wearing only his inner garments, they were plain white and clean. He was leaning against a thick mattress, with half a roast chicken left on a small table in front of him.

The jailer who was waiting on the side turned his gaze from the half chicken to Zuo Shao, nodded and said, "Master Zuo, are you full? If you are, I will take the food away."

Zuo Shao pinched a grass stem, picked his teeth, and glanced at the jailer, as if he saw through him, and said, "The remaining chicken is yours as a reward."

"Hey, thanks, Master Zuo!"

The jailer immediately sat down cross-legged, picked up a half-eaten chicken leg that Zuo Shao had left, and started chewing it.

God have pity on him, he is a policeman and he can't afford to eat meat even with his monthly salary, but this prisoner, under the care of his superior, eats a chicken every day!

But in order to eat some leftovers every day in the future, the jailer still flattered him: "Master Zuo, I have been on duty in the Dali Temple prison for more than ten years. It is rare to find an official like Master Zuo who can be so leisurely in prison! You are worthy of the respect you masters have for you!"

The jailer raised a greasy thumb and gave Zuo Shao a thumbs up.

"Haha." Zuo Shao smiled slightly, and then said: "I have spoken for the country and corrected the mistakes of the king. I have a clear conscience. If I have no guilt, why should I be afraid?"

"Master Zuo has great magnanimity, and I admire him. He will definitely be a pillar of support for the Chu State in the future."

The jailer had a fawning smile on his face, but he thought in his heart: If you didn't have Lord Mei from the Censorate as your father-in-law, how could you be so free in prison?

"The Cai family is immoral, and Your Majesty is obsessed with women and does not listen to honest advice, so that all officials and gentry in Jiangnan are in danger. We are well-read in the books of sages, how can we turn a deaf ear to personal gains and losses! Not to mention going to jail, even if it means sacrificing our lives, we will do it."

Zuo Shao had been making impassioned speeches every day since he entered the Dali Temple prison. Today, after eating and drinking, he started the same routine again.

However, his words were quite disrespectful to His Majesty and Concubine Cai, and the jailer did not dare to interrupt him, but just lowered his head and listened.

But today, before Zuo Shao could say anything, he heard a noisy sound of footsteps outside.

After just a few breaths, a sturdy, bearded man walked in with more than a dozen muscular companions.

The leader seemed to be quite surprised by the roast chicken in the Jiayi cell. He then frowned and looked at Zuo Shao, and said in a deep voice: "You are the one who offended His Majesty's Right Assistant to the Censorate, Zuo Shao?"

Seeing that this group of people seemed to have bad intentions, Zuo Shao was a little afraid, but he still insisted on standing up, trying to put on a fearless expression, "It's me, who are you?"

After hearing his confession, the man kicked over the small table with the roast chicken on it, muttering to himself, "Eat your mother!"

After cursing, he waved his hand and said, "Take it away!"

"How dare you! I am an official, who are you?"

Zuo Shao shouted while struggling frantically.

Unexpectedly, the man raised his hand and slapped Zuo Shao twice, knocking him unconscious. The other person was wearing casual clothes, not official uniform.

Zuo Shao covered his face, waiting for the man to attack, and said in disbelief: "You dare to hit me!"

"I am Ximen Fa, a sixth-rank Dali Temple official! You, an eighth-rank Right Assistant, dare to roar in front of the emperor. How can I not beat you, a traitor who has no respect for the emperor and father, and colludes with Zhou Ni!"

Ximen Fa waved his hand again, and two people came forward and carried Zuo Shao away.

Zuo Shao was a little confused. Firstly, because he was slapped twice for no apparent reason, and secondly, when did the Dali Temple suddenly have a chief priest named Ximen Fa?
But before he could figure out these two doubts, Zuo Shao suddenly realized that Ximen Fa had just said that he was "connected with Zhou Ni". He immediately realized that this was a serious crime of exterminating the family and property!

"Don't talk nonsense! When did I ever collude with the traitor Zhou? Wait a minute, I want to see Lord Zhou, the Minister of the Supreme Court, and Lord Mei, the Minister of the Court of Censors!"

Zuo Shao kicked wildly with his legs, and Ximen Fa turned around and hit him in the stomach with an elbow. Zuo Shao was in pain, tears and snot flowed, and he could not utter a word.

Only then did Ximen Fa slowly say, "According to the traitor Qian's steward, you provided information about Lin'an to Zhou Ni, hoping to collude with Chai Chong to restore the Southern Dynasty!"

"Hiss~Haha~"

Even though he was in so much pain that he couldn't speak, Zuo Shao still wanted to make it clear that he was very clear that once the accusation was confirmed, even God himself could not save him!
Seeing this, Ximen Fa smiled and patted Zuo Shao on the shoulder, comforting him: "Don't worry, Master Zuo. Our task force will not let a bad guy go, nor will we wrongly accuse a good guy." (End of this chapter)