Although Yuan Wei is arrogant and a little arrogant, he is not ignorant at all, I saw his eyebrows tremble a few times, and said slowly: "The so-called corporal Lixian must have a plan, Lord Shen does not have to beat around the bush, what to say." ”

Shen Mo smiled without embarrassment: "Adults' eyes are like torches, and people have nothing to hide." As he spoke, he raised his head, looked at Yuan Wei and said, "Okay, then I'll just say it directly, I heard that His Royal Highness King Jing is hanging down and intends to let me serve as the official of the palace, may I ask my lord, can you do this?" ”

"So what?" Yuan Wei squinted and said, "What's the matter?" ”

"If yes," Shen Mo said calmly, "I would like to ask the adults to do a round or two on my behalf, so that I can be exempted from this errand." ”

"Oh......" Yuan Wei frowned and said, "Could it be that you don't look down on our King Jing?" ”

"How can that?" Shen Mo shook his head and said with a wry smile: "Who doesn't know that King Jing is like Xu Dongsheng, and winning the East Palace is just a matter of waiting, I don't think I can stammer, how can I ......?"

Yuan Wei couldn't help frowning and said: "Then you still ......" The second half of the sentence was 'toast without eating and punishing wine', but he didn't say it.

"Hey......" sighed silently, "It's not that wishful thinking." Your Majesty gave it to me, and that is to put a tight hoop on me...... This wishful thinking is of such great significance, if I serve King Jing, it will be tantamount to dedicating that wishful thinking to His Royal Highness, although this is a good thing that everyone expects......" said in an accentuated tone: "But even if I dare to offer, does the prince dare to ask for it?" ”

"This ......" Yuan Wei was speechless, what Shen Mo said was right, although it was of great significance to attract his subordinates, it would also attract the suspicion of the king. Thinking of the intelligent and suspicious Emperor Jiajing, he felt a cold wind swishing in the back of his head, as if the butcher's knife had been placed on his neck. I couldn't help but secretly exclaimed: 'Your Highness, this time is really not very careful, this is not a good sign. ’

Seeing that he was deep in thought, he was silent and did not interrupt, listening to the bursts of laughter outside the house, while quietly drinking tea, waiting for him to come back to his senses.

After a long while, Yuan Wei said slowly: "Lord Shen, take the liberty of asking, where will you go?" ”

Shen silently put down the teacup, and said with a wry smile: "Don't hide it from your lordship, Xia Guan now feels that he is like His Majesty's marionette, no matter how he pulls the old man, I have to move, how can I make my own decisions." As soon as these words came out, it was like a close minister of the Son of Heaven, but in fact, this was purely sticking gold and grabbing flesh on his face. But with the tiger skin of 'Topaz Ruyi', why not pull up the banner of Jiajing, which can not only defend yourself but also grow a face, why not?

Thinking about the problem from another angle, it has always been a quiet specialty since reading books and doing interception questions.

Although Yuan Wei is smart, compared to the old monsters like Yan Song and Xu Jie, his level is still almost there, he can't see through Emperor Jiajing's thoughts, and he was really bluffed by silence. The heart said: 'This kid is really deep in the emperor's heart, maybe he will be promoted one day.' So he made up his mind and tried his best to live peacefully with the boy, so as not to offend him.

Thinking of this, he didn't have a trace of fireworks, put the red envelope given by Shen Mo in his sleeve, got up and said: "What Lord Shen means, the old man has already understood, Your Highness, I will try my best to help you make peace, but as for whether it will be successful, I dare not guarantee it." ”

He got up with a silent smile and arched his hand, "Thank you, my lord." ”

"It's easy to say, it's easy to say." Yuan Wei nodded, arched his hand and said, "The old man has taken his leave first." ”

"I'll send you." Shen Mo smiled and stretched out his hand to please.

When the two went out to the front hall, they saw that those officials were fighting fiercely, their faces were red, their ears were red, their collars were unbuttoned, their sleeves were rolled up, and their shapes were so dissolute that it was difficult to connect with their usual sanctimonious image.

Yuan Wei shook his head and signaled to silence not to alarm everyone, and the two quietly walked out of the main hall and came to the courtyard.

The courtyard was still brightly lit, and when he walked halfway through the road, he suddenly remembered something and said, "Hehe, yesterday I went to the Economic Bureau." ”

"Oh," Yuan Wei smiled when he heard this: "It's really fate, we are the two masters of the two before and after." ”

"It's an honor for the lower officials." Shen Mo smiled and lowered his voice: "There is something to report to the adults, please make a decision." ”

Yuan Wei said strangely in his heart: 'I'm not your boss, what do you want me to decide?' But his face remained silent and said, "Please speak modestly." ”

"That's right." Silent said lightly: "I don't know how much the adults know about the situation in the library of the Bureau of Economic Affairs." ”

As soon as he heard the word 'library', Yuan Wei was cold, and secretly screamed in his heart, 'It's not good, why did you forget this stubble!' Then he waved his hand, let the sedan chair that approached the front retreat, pulled Shen Mo and pushed it to the porter, and whispered, "What do you want?" As Shen Mo expected, Yuan Wei is sprinting towards the dream of the Ministry of Rites, and there is no way to go wrong at this juncture.

"Don't get me wrong, my lord," he silently withdrew his hand and said softly: "The lower official is by no means deliberately embarrassed and coerced, but just wants to ask the lord, how should the lower official deal with this matter?" ”

Yuan Wei's expression relaxed slightly, and he said lightly: "Humble words, you should know that the Zhan Mansion is just the relocation step of our Hanlin officials, in other words, it is a pedal for us to step on, at most it will only be two years, and you will definitely leave the Zhan Mansion and have another high level." ”

Shen Mo nodded and did not speak. I heard Yuan Wei continue: "So the wisest choice is to have more than one thing than less, and less than nothing, and leave the troubles to the people behind." ”

Shen Mo nodded slowly, but said, "But if it is checked from above, what should I do?" ”

"No, it won't." Yuan Wei shook his head and said, "I have never heard of it in the Economic Bureau for so many years. ”

"I'm not afraid of 10,000, I'm afraid of just in case." Said silently.

"No whatever, trust me!" Yuan Wei was a little annoyed and said angrily.

"Okay," said silently, lowering his eyelids, "I've put a seal on the door of the library......"

"What are you doing with that?" Yuan Wei was anxious and said, "Didn't I say that no one will check?" ”

"Even if no one comes to check, it will be convenient for the subordinate to hand over to the successor." Shen Mo smiled and said, "My lord, you said yes, right?" ”

Yuan Wei knows very well that if he is silent, this is to poke things up, but his full responsibility, there is a way of 'a thousand miles of embankment, destroyed in the anthill', and his dream of entering the cabinet to worship the prime minister is likely to come to naught...... What is the reason for writing green words for 20 years? Isn't it just that one day, he will be respected as 'Yuan Ge Lao'?

Once he thought so, his attitude quickly softened, and he almost pleaded: "Lord Shen, you are accommodating, and when this summer is over, I will definitely think of completing the books in the library." ”

Shen Mo knew what he meant, it was nothing more than that when he became the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, he could mobilize books from all over the country, and when the time came, he might be able to plug this hole. But you can't count it like that...... There is no basis for empty talk, if he regrets it afterwards, who will he find to cry? Then he said slowly: "It's not that I mean to be an adult, it's really dragged on for a long time, and all the responsibilities will be transferred to the lower officials. ”

Yuan Wei's face changed for a while, and he finally knew that this was a master who didn't see rabbits and didn't scatter eagles, so he had to give up the luck in his heart, gritted his teeth and said, "I'll write you a guarantee, it's okay now, right?" ”

That's what I'm waiting for, Shen Mo smiled in his heart, but said with a guilty look on his face: "The lower official has spent the belly of a gentleman with the heart of a villain......"

"Hehe, it's easy to say...... Yuan Wei laughed more ugly than crying, so he picked up the pen and wrote a few sentences on the paper, to the effect that 'the library books of the Department of Economics and Economics have been lost, and it has been serious in my tenure, and it has nothing to do with Lord Shen silent.'" Then he owed his name and handed it to Shen Mo, and said angrily: "Now the old man can always go, right?" ”

Shen Mo nodded and smiled affectionately: "Look at what the adults said, you can come if you want, you can leave if you want, and no one dares to stop you." ”

"Hmph, you, Lord Shen, are really a character......" Yuan Wei arched his hand with a smile and said, "Farewell." After saying that, he shook his hand and left the gatehouse, boarded the sedan chair waiting on the side, and left without leaving for a moment.

This is really a happy and unhappy return, I can't imagine that my old Yuan actually let a stinky boy blackmail! Walking halfway in a huff, Yuan Wei finally remembered that there was still a red envelope given by Shen Mo in his sleeve, and his heart was a little better. took it out and opened it to see, and couldn't help but gasp, it turned out to be 50,000 taels of 'Huilian ticket' that was paid at sight.

Lord Yuan has grown so big, and he has never seen more than 1,000 taels of silver, but at this moment, he actually has 50,000 taels of silver tickets in his hand! This made him involuntarily dry mouth, his heart beat faster, and he had to gasp for breath so that he would not be taken in one breath and be killed by this huge amount of money.

When he got home, he was dazed, carrying the silver ticket, not knowing where to hide, and finally hid in the study, tied the latch to the door, and put a chair on the back of the door, and then lit the lamp, and looked nervously - yes, the style is very standard, there is a riding stamp, there is a silver number painting, there is a court-to-worship endorsement, there is a heaven and earth end stamp, it is a genuine Huilian bank ticket.

That night, Lord Yuan had insomnia, in the first half of the night he locked the silver ticket in the box, afraid of being stolen, got up in the middle of the night to open the box, took it out and put it in his arms and hid it closely, and felt that it was not safe, and finally pressed it under the pillow, so that he could be regarded as putting his heart in his stomach; Then in the second half of the night, he began to think about how to spend the 50,000 taels of silver, whether to renovate the residence in the capital, or to wait for Zhishi to go back to Cixi's hometown to build a garden.

After thinking about it all night, I didn't make up my mind, but the only thing that is certain is that the resentment towards Shen Mo has long disappeared with this lovely silver ticket...... Not to mention being poor and rich, Lord Yuan, who was about to go crazy, returned to the silent mansion. Those guests were in high spirits and played until the third watch, when they were tired, sleepy and drunk, and left one after another. But there are also those who are drunk and can't walk, and those who are picked up by their families are carried back by their families, and there is one who is not cared for, so Shen Mo had to stay overnight.

After sending all the guests away, he stretched out tiredly, took a deep breath of the night air, and commanded left and right, "Close the door." Turned around and returned to the main hall, the cups and plates in the hall were messy, and the people were cleaning up, so they silently asked Shen An for the altar of wine, packed a few side dishes, and carried them to the guest room.

Pushing open the door of the guest room, Shen Mo saw Zhang Juzheng sitting there with blazing eyes, and couldn't help laughing: "I knew that you guy was pretending." ”

"How do you know?" Zhang Juzheng smelled his body, the smell of wine was very heavy, and he was curious: "Am I not pretending to be like it?" ”

"Intuition." He smiled silently: "You Zhang Taiyue is not a person who drinks and makes mistakes. ”

When Zhang Juzheng heard this, he smiled slyly: "I also know that you guy took down Yuan Wei." ”

"How do you know?" Now it was silent and asked.

"Intuition." Zhang Juzheng laughed and said: "You are silent, but you are a guy who doesn't get up early, and you suddenly invited that person surnamed Yuan, it is impossible just to add color to the dinner." ”

The two looked at each other and laughed together. After laughing, Shen Mo put the wine jar on the table and said, "Since you are not drunk yet, let's continue to drink." ”

"Okay, let's talk all night while drinking." Zhang Juzheng jumped off the bed, sat down at the table and said: "There are fewer cups of wine for a thousand confidants, and there are more than half a sentence of speculation, this drinking and chatting is also a scoring object, if you want to drink happily and chat happily, you have to be with you Shen Shuyan." ”

"Falsely praised." Silently put down the wine jar, took out a few plates of side dishes, and the two of them pinched the peanuts and drank each other in small sips.

While drinking, Zhang Juzheng asked Shen Mo what he had done in Suzhou, and said: "I heard that the gods outside are about to blow you into Kong Ming II, is there really such a god?" ”

"What God?" Shen Mo smiled and said, "I just happened to meet and did something to adapt to the situation." For example, the city has been banned for many years, and there are Japanese robbers on the sea, whether it is a buyer on our mainland or a buyer at sea, the demand has been suppressed for too long, and once the market is opened, it will be vented out like a torrent, and it will naturally be out of control. ”

Seeing that Zhang Juzheng was confused, he said silently: "Another example is that Xu Hai, who has been fighting with the imperial court for many years, seeing that he is getting bigger and weaker, but the official army is getting stronger and stronger, and the better he is at fighting, he naturally has the intention of surrendering, but no one is as bold as me and dares to accept him." ”

How could Zhang Juzheng be satisfied with such a brief answer? Naturally, he continued to ask all the way, but fortunately, he was more concerned about macroeconomic issues at the macro level, as for how the city department operated, and the cooperation of various departments, it was not what he cared about. What Zhang Juzheng is concerned about is how to collect the tax burden in Suzhou, how to distribute the benefits of all aspects, how the people are doing, and so on.

Shen Mo answered them one by one at first, but seeing that he asked more and more deeply, he was about to ask those ulterior secrets. Quickly stopped, changed the conversation and said, "You've been asking me for a long time, so it's time for me to ask you, right?" ”

Zhang Juzheng laughed self-deprecatingly: "What do I have to ask?" People say that I stand in my thirties, I am already thirty and six this year, and it has been more than ten years, but I have just waited for the idle years, and I have not done anything serious. Saying that, he shook his head, drank all the wine in the cup, and said with a depressed face: "Don't say that you can't compare, even compare with those county magistrates, and I'm ashamed of myself." ”

"Hey, Brother Taiyue, don't think so." Shen Mo hurriedly comforted: "Hanlin official, it has always been like this, saving for many years, once you get your will. Waiting for many years of daughter-in-law to become a mother-in-law, it is time for you to show your ambitions! He said with a smile: "When the time comes, when you are in power and too busy to spare a little time, you will miss the leisurely days of touring the mountains and rivers." ”

Zhang Juzheng showed his face a little when he heard this, shook his head and said, "When you took sick leave a few years ago, did you go to the mountains and rivers?" ”

"Isn't it?" Shen Mo smiled: "Such a good opportunity, it would be too wasteful not to go around and see the customs." ”

Zhang Juzheng's face suddenly became solemn, and said: "Yes, I have been home for five years, but I have traveled around for three years, and I have indeed been to many places of interest, but while broadening my horizons, I have seen a side that I never knew before-it turns out that although my Ming Dynasty has Suzhou and Hangzhou, it is not heaven!" Outside the affluent Jiangnan, I saw countless ragged and skinny people, begging along the streets, selling their children and daughters, just to eat more and live longer! Their miserable life is not in any county or province, but in all parts of the country! The prosperous Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Huguang is just a fig leaf, which can't cover the chicken feathers of the entire Ming Dynasty, wailing everywhere......"

When Zhang Juzheng said this, tears welled up in his eyes, obviously his impression of those tragic scenes was too deep. Although he was still lamenting, revenge could not be served, and his talent had no chance to be displayed. But in any case, born in a rich peasant family, since childhood, talented, from Xiucai to Juren, from Jinshi to Hanlin, it is smooth sailing, although it is not brocade clothes and jade food, but it has never been worried about food and clothing, and never thought that the Ming Dynasty, which he was proud of, has reached such a precarious situation, and his dear compatriots and siblings have been living in a purgatory of suffering and hopelessness......

(To be continued)