Chapter 53: Bufan is safe and sound, and the streets are deserted

Li Chengming and Chen Yinzhao were inexplicably called out and were both stunned.

Chen Yinzhao reacted quickly, stood in front of him and was about to speak.

Li Zhi suddenly spoke quietly: "Although I don't know your identities, I still recognize you two Jinyiwei."

"The emperor's eyes and ears, you can't hide when you need to hear something."

Chen Yinzhao glanced at the guards behind him.

I don't know if he has good eyesight or he saw something when checking in.

He said cautiously: "Elder, please take a look. We are just merchants."

The man in front of him was obviously not an old scholar, so he changed his words accordingly.

Li Zhi grabbed his hand and whispered, "I am going to the capital too. Young Master, please don't blame me for being nosy and causing you two to lose your sacred heart."

Chen Yinzhao was obviously hesitant.

It’s not that these words are very deterrent. After all, you won’t be punished for such a trivial matter.

He was just a little unsure about the origins of the person in front of him.

With such insight and even such words, it is obvious that his identity is not simple.

Seeing that Chen Yinzhao was still hesitating, Li Zhi explained, "Don't worry, it's not a difficult matter. I'll ask you two to be witnesses so that you won't be severely beaten by Wang Zhigao."

Chen Yinzhao glanced at him.

After all, the person upstairs is the Minister of Justice, an important figure that the nobles avoid. He would have to be crazy to provoke him.

He asked in a deep voice: "Elder, why don't you tell me the truth?"

Li Zhi said helplessly: "I am a juren, and I am Li Zhi, the head of the Nanjing Ministry of Justice. Last month, I was transferred to the director of the Imperial College, and now I am going to Beijing to take up the post."

Chen Yinzhao was stunned.

The head of the Ministry of Justice and the director of the Imperial College were both of the sixth rank. Although they were promoted from Southern Zhili to Northern Zhili, they were still small characters.

A small character of the sixth rank wants to control him? It's just a pipe dream!
This guy looked like he wasn't even afraid of the Minister of Justice, and I was almost scared by him.

He had a plan in mind, so he spoke calmly, "Then Li Siye should just go to his post. Why are you lingering here?"

When Li Zhi saw him like this, he knew what he was thinking.

He immediately said, "I am going to take up the post, but I still have a case to deal with in the Ministry of Justice, and it just happens to fall to Minister Wang."

Then he became mysterious and whispered, "It's also related to His Majesty."

This last sentence immediately stunned Chen Yinzhao.

Although the Ming Dynasty had a cheerful atmosphere, it would not go so far as to make up stories about the emperor in front of the Embroidered Uniform Guards.

Now that he has said that, it might be hard for him to hide.

I was in a dilemma.

The two of them were whispering to each other, and the servant boy had already become impatient.

He suppressed his temper and reminded: "What are your backgrounds? Why do you want to see my master?"

Li Zhi hurried over.

While pointing at Chen Yinzhao and Li Chengming, he whispered.

Then he patted his chest and showed some proof.

The servant boy nodded hesitantly, "Come up with me."

Li Zhi then pulled the two nobles and followed him upstairs.

Then the servant led the clerk into the room first, asked the three to wait for a moment, and then he went in to report.

Seeing that they had to queue behind the clerk, several people were a little dissatisfied.

Only at this time did Chen Yinzhao have time to ask.

He whispered, "Li Siye might as well explain it more clearly."

Since Li Zhi had coaxed the two of them up and knocked on Wang Zhigao's door, he no longer concealed it.

He said slowly: "I'll keep it short."

"At the beginning of last month, His Majesty held a lecture."

"At the first lecture, the lecturers took the opportunity to introduce some schools of thought on Confucian classics, such as the theory of the ready-made conscience and the theory of cultivation and verification."

"A certain imperial lecturer just started talking about the theory of good and evil."

"The emperor was curious and asked, is human nature inherently good or evil, or is it that there is neither good nor evil in the philosophy of mind?"

"The lecturers each had their own opinion, and His Majesty was displeased."

"It just so happened that the Kingdom of Korea came to Beijing to express gratitude and was summoned by the emperor. He told me about a wild man in the mountains of that country who was abandoned since childhood and lived with nature."

"Then the emperor was overjoyed and said that if there was any doubt, we should verify it to see whether this innate person was good or evil."

Having said that, he swallowed and paused.

Li Chengming simply took advantage of this opportunity to interrupt and said, "What does this have to do with you?"

Chen Yinzhao also looked at Li Zhi, his eyes full of confusion.

Li Zhi shook his head: "Originally it was none of my business, but some scumbags in Nanzhili heard about it and rushed to get involved."

"I have a case on my hands, and the criminal is a mentally retarded person."

"When I left office, I was about to close the case and release the person, but then I heard from below that the person was taken away by this Minister Wang."

Combined with what he said before, the two of them could understand the purpose of taking the person away.

Li Chengming asked doubtfully, "I'm afraid that being mentally retarded and being uncivilized are different."

Chen Yinzhao, who was standing by, understood this.

Although they are different, they are all good attitudes.

His focus was elsewhere: "Since Li Siye is here to ask for someone, why would he bring us two along? I'm sorry I won't accompany you."

He had just been frightened by the big banner, and now when he heard that it had nothing to do with the emperor, he immediately prepared to slip away.

Li Zhi quickly pulled the man back.

He was prepared.

He slowly said, "To be honest with you two, this matter is indeed a bit troublesome."

"The emperor has personally written to urge me to go. If I ask for someone to send me back, wouldn't it be a waste of time to go back and forth and keep the emperor waiting for a long time?"

"So, I have to trouble the two of you Jinyiwei to send him off for me."

Chen Yinzhao frowned. What was the matter? Why did the emperor personally urge him to come to Beijing?

At first he thought he was a big shot, but later when he heard the official title, he thought he was just a small role.

Now after hearing this, I’m not sure anymore.

Li Chengming didn't expect so much, and directly refuted: "It's your business to make His Majesty wait for a long time, but it's not our fault."

This is the truth.

But Li Zhi grinned and pulled off his Confucian scarf, revealing a bald head.

He then took out a piece of paper from his headscarf, on which were written six words: "I have long heard of your name, and I look forward to meeting you."

Li Zhi waved casually.

He said shamelessly: "As the saying goes, a bald man is not afraid of a man wearing a crown. Today, I will rely on you."

Chen Yinzhao and Li Chengming's expressions changed.

They looked at each other, and it was obvious that they both saw the emperor's private seal on it.

Such a person who is in the holy heart is not easy to offend, no matter his official rank.

I immediately knew that this person should not be neglected.

After Li Zhi promised that he would not offend Shangshu Wang and that he would only act as a witness, the two had no choice but to agree reluctantly.

Li Chengming suddenly asked curiously, "Is Li Siye a monk who has returned to secular life?"

As the saying goes, the hair on our body is given by our parents, and Confucian scholars would never treat their hair like this.

I couldn't help but ask this question.

Li Zhi waved his hand and said nonchalantly, "One day my head was itchy and I was tired of combing it, so I just shaved my hair and left only my sideburns."

It cannot be said to be free and easy, it can only be said to be unorthodox.

Chen and Li looked at his bald head again and again, feeling impressed, what a crazy guy.

Li Chengming couldn't help but say, "The Book of Filial Piety says, 'Our bodies and hair are from our parents...'"

Li Zhi looked at him strangely: "If Confucius barked like a dog, I could understand the Confucian scholars following him, but you are probably a nobleman, how come you imitated him?"

As soon as the words came out, they were both startled.

Chen Yinzhao shuddered subconsciously and looked around to see if anyone heard it.

Seeing that everyone around was far away, I finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He pulled Li Chengming and signaled him not to talk to this guy anymore.

He was scared. It was the first time he met such a crazy person.

If this word got out, there would still be room for debate among the Confucian scholars, but if he, an outsider, was affected in any way, he would be scolded.

For a moment, the three of them fell silent.

After a long while, the servant boy finally led the people out.

He said to the three people, "My master invites you in."

……

The next day.

early morning.

Chen Yinzhao and Li Chengming got up early, quietly left the official inn and headed for the dock.

The reason for being so sneaky was naturally to avoid Li Zhi.

Yesterday, he said he would not offend anyone, but when he met the Minister of Justice, he did not speak politely.

The two of them were on pins and needles, but they had to pretend to remain calm.

The good thing is that it fulfilled Li Zhi's wish, and finally he sent the Jinyiwei to help him send it back.

In the end, not only did he not think well of them, he also got involved with them.

He said he wanted to talk by candlelight at night, but he also wanted to sleep with his feet together.

Sometimes he asked them about the emperor, and sometimes he wanted to impart his insights into the classics, which made the two of them avoid him.

So I decided to go out early this morning to avoid being harassed again.

The two of them walked briskly as if they were fleeing and arrived at the dock.

At this time, the ship had already docked. The two men paid the silver and boarded the ship to Northern Zhili.

After choosing a room on the upper floor, Chen Yinzhao said, "I wonder if Li Siye and Wang Shangshu are on this ship. We should go out less to avoid running into them again."

Li Chengming nodded repeatedly.

He said with some fear: "No wonder my father said that I should go out and gain more experience. These people are really not simple."

Chen Yinzhao shook his head: "Even a small clerk surprised me, not to mention other things. It's better for us to stay out of it."

"In my opinion, there may be other clues in the matter between Li Zhi and Wang Zhigao."

Li Chengming was stunned.

Qi asked, "What do you mean?"

Chen Yinzhao looked puzzled. "Yesterday I sent someone to the governor's office to inquire about this matter. This Li Zhi is not just a madman."

"When he was twelve years old, he wrote an article criticizing Confucius, and he continued to make rude remarks afterwards, saying that Confucius was nothing but a barking dog." "After passing the imperial examination, he successively served as a teacher in Huixian County, Henan Province, and a doctor in the Imperial Academy in Nanjing, where he once promoted his unorthodox doctrines."

"What about equality between men and women, what about the absolute truth and the absolute falsehood? He also criticized his colleagues, saying that they 'talk about morality but are actually trying to steal' and 'have no intention of doing anything for others'."

"He also spoke nonsense of the Holy Lord, and widely proclaimed that 'Heaven established the monarch for the people', and openly said 'the best governance is silent, the best teaching is speechless' to imply that the court is too involved."

"This kind of person was invited to the capital by His Majesty himself. Do you think Wang Zhigao didn't have any thoughts?"

Li Chengming reacted immediately.

He looked thoughtful: "Brother Shi, are you saying that Minister Wang intends to take control of Li Zhi and test his bottom line?"

"No wonder Li Zhi was able to get the person so easily. Wang Zhigao was waiting for him on purpose."

Chen Yinzhao did not directly say whether he agreed or not, but instead said something irrelevant: "Wang Zhigao is also a Chu person."

Seeing that Li Chengming still didn't understand, he stopped talking.

Some words come to an end.

Wang Zhigao was a native of Chu and was promoted to the capital by the Prime Minister Zhang Juzheng.

Li Zhi was a heretic, but he was personally invited by the emperor.

It is hard not to wonder whether it was the emperor's academic inclinations that made the old scholars in the court somewhat wary, and they wanted to test Li Zhi to see what the emperor really thought.

It seems... a lot of things happened during the emperor's lecture.

The two of them put the matter aside and talked about some serious matters.

Soon, several shouts were heard from the deck of the ship.

It was the sound of sailors pulling on ropes in unison.

Then, the big ship slowly left the shore.

After leaving Jining Nancheng Posthouse, the rest of the journey will be faster.

It passes through 22 ferries of various sizes, including the Anshan Ferry in Dongping, the Chongwu Ferry in Dongchangfu, the Ande Ferry in Dezhou, the Zhuanhe Ferry in Cangzhou, and the Yangqing Ferry in Tianjin, and finally gets off at Tongzhou and arrives in the capital.

This is a fast boat and most of the ferries don't stop, so it will be faster.

It will take about ten days to reach the capital.

For the past five or six days, everything was calm and peaceful, without any other incidents.

The two of them were no longer so cautious and occasionally went down from the guest room to the deck to get some fresh air.

On the seventh day, the ship docked at the Fengxin Ferry in Jinghai and took on more passengers.

This is Jinghai County, which belongs to Tianjin Wei, and the capital city is already in sight.

At noon, Li Chengming went to find Chen Yinzhao to get off the boat and rest - he was seasick again.

As soon as I knocked on Chen Yinzhao's door, I found that this brother was still lying on the bed.

He walked closer in confusion, only to find Chen Yinzhao reading a tabloid intently.

Li Chengming called out, "Brother Shi, let's go off the boat and get some good food."

Chen Yinzhao waved his hand: "Wait a moment, let me finish reading this."

Li Chengming was even more confused and asked curiously, "Brother Shi, what are you doing? Why are you reading tabloids?"

In addition to official newspapers, there were also tabloids among the people.

However, most of them are erotic and not worth watching.

He was somewhat suspicious that this brother had been out for too long and was feeling suffocated.

Chen Yinzhao was absent-minded: "It's not a gossip newspaper, but a novel was published in it."

As he said that, he threw the previous few issues to Li Chengming and continued to read them with relish.

Li Chengming took it subconsciously.

There were only four words written on it: "Riyue Morning Post". The quality of the paper was not very good, just average, but the engraving was very fine.

The handwriting is obviously that of a skilled craftsman.

The typesetting is also quite exquisite, with lace engraved around it.

There is a date on the top and an official seal of the Ministry of Public Security on the lower right corner of the signature.

The most noteworthy person is the one with plain words written all over it.

Li Chengming was deeply moved. He thought that even though he was rich, he was not afraid of wasting paper.

He immediately became curious.

I simply closed the door, sat down at the table, and picked up a magazine at random to start reading.

It starts with a big news: Feng Bao, the former seal holder of the Imperial Household Department, was raided by the Shuntian Prefecture government officials, who seized 20,000 taels of silver.

Of course he knew about Feng Bao's downfall, so it was reasonable for his property to be confiscated at this time.

It also contains some current affairs content, official position changes, and promulgated policies, all in plain language.

However, I didn't see the novel that Chen Yinzhao mentioned.

He changed to the next issue.

The cabinet ordered Shuntian Prefecture to re-search the property to check if anything was missed.

When Shuntian Prefecture searched again, they found another 40,000 taels of silver.

Li Chengming sighed, it was the same drama again.

He continued to look down.

Starting from this issue, the novels written by Chen Yinzhao were published.

I saw five big characters above my head: "Journey to the West in Vernacular Chinese".

The author is unknown, but later it was proofread by Huayang Dongtian Master and Shi Rang Sanren, and translated by Banlu Jushi.

Li Chengming was stunned. Isn't this the storytelling that one often hears in restaurants?
Is this the novel that was written based on this?

He read the first chapter "Spiritual roots nurture the source of flow, the mind and nature are cultivated to give birth to the great way", wow, he is still a disciple of the School of Mind.

Thinking of this, I calmed down and slowly looked down.

I was dismissive at first, but as I read on, I became fascinated.

When I read that all the mountains and seas were bowing down, I couldn't help but applaud.

When I read about being appointed as the Horse Master, I could not help but despise the Heavenly Court and Zhao An for being so magnanimous.

Before they knew it, half a day had passed while they were looking at each other.

By the time I came to my senses, it was almost evening.

When Li Chengming came to his senses, he realized that he had already finished reading it.

I couldn't help but mutter to myself, "Only six chapters have been updated in two months!? This is totally unreasonable."

After saying that, Li Chengming put down the newspaper and rubbed his sore eyes.

When he looked up, he saw Chen Yinzhao, who was very disappointed with him: "How can you be so idle, brother? You ignored me when I called you for dinner."

After saying that, my stomach started to growl.

He pointed to his stomach and said, "Look, I've been waiting for you for so long that I'm getting extremely hungry."

"Come on, let's get off the boat and get some food."

Li Chengming was not thinking about eating.

I couldn't help but ask, "Where do these tabloids come from? Why are they all written in plain language? They also publish novels. Don't you think it's a waste of paper?"

Of course, the implication is that no matter who publishes the newspaper, he will tie the author up and bring him to his house to do the updating.

Chen Yinzhao led him off the boat and said with a strange look on his face, "Didn't you see the seal of the Ministry of Public Security down there?"

Li Chengming was stunned.

Then he reacted.

I just saw it, then I was so engrossed in watching it that I forgot about it.

But... is it that the Ministry of Public Administration is not only publishing official bulletins, but has also started publishing tabloids?
Li Chengming nodded: "Just now I saw that it was all plain language, some vulgar, and I forgot about it for a moment."

After they got off the boat, they went to find something to eat.

The sailor reminded the two that the ship would set out at night and they should return as soon as possible. The two bowed and thanked him.

After getting off the boat, Li Chengming said casually: "The Ministry of Public Affairs has its own official bulletin, why do we need this tabloid? It's full of plain language, don't you think it's insulting to society?"

In his impression, all Confucian scholars wanted to be obscure and pedantic, and hoped that no one could listen to them so that they could quote scriptures and explain things in a condescending manner.

Chen Yinzhao was also unsure: "Maybe... it's for the people to see?"

If that's the case, there will be big problems.

Whether or not the common people should have the right to be literate is a question that is not controversial on the surface, but is a very serious issue in secret.

The two of them chatted idly.

Suddenly, I saw a crowd of people gathering and pushing in one direction.

Many people exclaimed and ran forward.

The two were stunned.

Curiosity arose.

He quickly stepped forward and called out to one of them, "Brother, what happened up ahead?"

The man looked ecstatic, and he didn't mind being grabbed suddenly. Instead, he said enthusiastically, "Hai Qingtian...Hai Qingtian has risen again! He is on his way to the capital to meet the emperor, and is passing through here!"

After saying that, he shook off the two people pulling him and ran forward.

It didn't take long before the two of them found themselves on an empty street.

Even the street vendors quickly closed their stalls and rushed out to join in the fun, carrying their wares on their shoulders.

Li Chengming was amazed: "Is this how the streets are empty? Hai Rui actually has such a high reputation."

Anyone who can be called Hai Qingtian can be known without being told the name.

Chen Yinzhao shook his head.

It would be fine if he had a good reputation among his subjects and scholars, but how could the common people in Tianjin know Hai Rui?

He handed a folded tabloid to Li Chengming: "I want you to stop reading novels."

Li Chengming took the tabloid.

He glanced at Brother Shi before slowly unfolding it and looking at the content he had just ignored.

He skimmed through the novel and immediately grasped the main point.

This newspaper not only contained the news of Hai Rui's reinstatement, but also his past experiences and even some plain words about public security!
He opened his mouth, unable to hide his astonishment: "Actually...actually used Sejong as a raft?"

Where did Hai Rui's good reputation come from?
It was because Emperor Sejong did not care about the world at that time that Hai Rui wrote a letter entitled "Memorial on Public Security" to advise him with sincere feelings.

When advising Emperor Shizong, he said things like "The world has been against your Majesty for a long time" and "Jiajing Jiajing, every family is clean."

He disregarded his own life, spoke out frankly and expressed the sufferings of the people of the world. Naturally, these actions won him the recognition of the people of the world.

Not to mention sending away his wife and children and preparing his own coffin at home, which is something that is very representative of the sentiments of the scholar-officials.

No matter whether it is the scholars or the common people, everyone praises it.

Now, once it is published in the tabloids, it can instantly attract the admiration of the entire county and people will line the streets to welcome it.

Chen Yinzhao couldn't help but exclaim: "The foreshadowing is thousands of miles away."

"Having come to this point, I'm afraid that this Hai Qingtian has been burdened with a huge burden."

He pulled Li Chengming and went in this direction to join in the fun.

But in his heart he was thinking that things were about to get lively in the court.

(End of this chapter)