"Ting Long is so unkind in what he does!" Xia Yuanlong stepped out from behind the screen with an angry look on his face.
"Alas," Wei Huai hurriedly grabbed his arm, "Although he accompanied Wan Heshun in this play, he was forced to do so. It was not his intention. Why should you say this to him!"
"You'd better give me some advice first." He pulled Yuan Long to sit down and sighed: "I'm afraid I can't violate what Wan Heshun told me."
Xia Yuanlong calmed down for a while, and then said slowly: "I think that although Ji Min must write this memorial, we still need to use a clever trick to get out of it, so as to avoid the two families from launching an attack on us in the future. "
Wei Huai nodded twice: "That makes sense."
"For example, hand this memorial to the magistrate's office, and then Lord Ye will present it to the palace for court discussion..."
Wei Huai only hit the ground with his crutch and yelled: "How can you have the nerve to let him take the blame? This is not what a gentleman would do, and it is absolutely unacceptable!"
"My foolish brother's move is just to give Mr. Ye some protection. Do you think that he is a person whom the king of Wanjun relies on and has nothing to do with the Lu Party, so how can he cut off his arm? Therefore, the king will definitely not seek help. His troubles; if we try to shift the responsibility, it will be difficult for us to take the blame if it affects Ye Yongjia."
"Then... no, I might offend the prince." Wei Huai said thoughtfully.
Xia Yuanlong sneered: "Over the past few years, we have been on the same level as the government. We have offended them several times in secret, but there is nothing we can do about it. But Wan Heshun has done what he asked us to do. We have done what we said openly, at least we will not break our promise. Leave it to people.”
Wei Huai lowered his eyes and was writing on the ground with his crutch.
"That's it. I'll get it stamped immediately and send it to the prefect's office."
Yuanlong saw that he was in a trance and knew that Wei Huai had something on his mind, so he asked, "Is Jimin thinking about the academy?"
"Oh." Wei Huai suddenly raised his head, his eyebrows showing a little surprise, but he smiled happily: "You understand too."
He stood up with crutches and said, "Have you heard about Li Zhizhong, the dean of the academy in Suzhou?"
Xia Yuanlong nodded and said: "This matter has been widely circulated in the alliance, of course we know about it."
Wei Huai slapped his forehead and sighed: "You and I have known each other before. Except for Nanjing, almost all academies in Jiangnan have lost their jobs and started to make money. Unfortunately, they were busy at that time and had no time to care about other places. I bothered an old gentleman from the league to go and state my intention, but it ended up like this! Well, now, Li Zhizhong violated the law and went to jail, which put the academy in danger of being immediately closed down. It was a tough day. …”
"Yes," Xia Yuanlong did not dare to neglect, "but the case has been going on for a month. The government must have concealed the news and wanted to catch us off guard."
"That's right, we can't even understand the situation in Suzhou now." Wei Huai's eyes wandered restlessly.
"Fortunately, the case is not over yet, and we still have time to react." Seeing that he couldn't sit still, Xia Yuanlong said: "Don't think about it in a hurry. This matter must be discussed with everyone in the alliance. If you have countermeasures, don’t act hastily.”
After Wei Huai heard this, he knocked the cane on the ground: "That's it! Go and gather everyone to discuss matters at Guangsi Altar."
More than a dozen Confucian scholars crowded into the bamboo house of Guang Si Tan and chatted for about half an hour before they agreed on a common theme. At the beginning, the discussion was about the problems of the academy itself. Some people thought that "if the corruption in other places is not eliminated, the situation will become more and more difficult", so they bluntly said, "If we do not confront the government as soon as possible and instead adhere to the "Xing Yao", it will be delayed." For a long time, everything will be ruined'. Xia Yuanlong retorted, "Our alliance only focuses on writing and does not raise its voice externally. We are sincerely worried about it. However, if we want to break with the government, we must work together internally and externally to have the power to shake the world. Suzhou cannot be free now." An, the big thing still can't be solved by itself, how can we use this strategy?" Then everyone gave up.
Since they are determined to deal with the problem in Suzhou, they naturally have to face the first choice: Is the academy in Suzhou worth risking their lives to save? No doubt, it's certainly worth it. But if you want to go to the rescue, you really need to think carefully about how to negotiate with the government. As the leader of the alliance, Wei Huai spoke first and said:
"This matter is of great importance, and it must not be controlled by the government when it goes out. Therefore, it is necessary to formulate a strategy and implement it consistently to ensure that there will be no trouble. In my humble opinion, there are probably the following: First, follow our old method of mobilizing the people Put pressure on the government and build momentum for us; secondly, there must be many people who run the academy with salaries, let them enlist the help of various bureaucracies and undermine their power from within; thirdly, we must stabilize The government's temper is to delay the process as much as possible and wait for a turnaround. We must act steadily and not take risks.' He added: "Also, we can't engage in those sneaky and evil ways. There is absolutely no room for negotiation in this matter. "
Who is going? Xia Yuanlong stood up in response: "I am willing to go."
Wei Huai glanced at him secretly.
"I think, as the deputy leader of the alliance, Mr. Xia doesn't have to risk his own life and go to the dragon's pond and the tiger's den."
“I don’t trust leaving this matter to others.”
"Okay." Wei Huai pursed his lips, "Since Deputy Xia wants to risk his life for our alliance, we don't have to fight. We have to believe in him."
"Understood." Everyone replied in unison.
"That's it."
Wei Huai walked out of the house and saw a thin layer of light on the clouds. Knowing that it was getting late, he turned to Yuan Long and asked, "What time is it?"
"What time is it?" Wan Heshun looked at Hu Qi, who was walking slowly, and made an invitation gesture to sit next to him.
"Your Majesty, it's just Youshi." He saluted, pulled out a chair and sat down.
"You have to hurry up." Wan He grabbed a few tea leaves and threw them into the purple clay pot.
"What are you talking about?" Hu Qi's eyebrows formed a black line and his expression became serious.
King Wanjun shook the teapot and smiled easily: "The matter of abolishing redundant officials."
"If the prince still wants to push Wei Chong down, his subordinates will have to do as they please." Hu Qi sighed.
"Wang Lun, this person should not be kept here any longer."
Hu Qi's hands trembled slightly: "This is a member of the official department. He has been with me for many years, and he has no bad deeds."
"I'm afraid you don't know what happened today." Wan Heshun put down the teapot and pulled out a so-called 'official document' from his sleeve, "Take a look."
Hu Qi was puzzled and hurriedly took it to read: "It's really hard to come all the way to inform. In order to thank you for your long-term investigation in the palace, I only have a few taels of silver, which is not worth mentioning. Yue Gong Lu Fangxuan's handwriting..." He read this place, and then took a breath of cold air.
"If you are careless in employing people, you should remember the first fault. But since you still have merit in the past, I will not pursue it. Just do it." Wan Heshun took the letter.
"Could this be Lu Fangxuan's plan to alienate each other?" Hu Qi asked.
"If he had this intention, he would have gone to win over Wei Chong long ago. Why bother to frame this unimportant subordinate?" Wan Heshun glanced at him and smiled kindly: "I know you treat your servants well, and I can't bear to do this. But since he did such a thing, you should be selfless."
Hu Qi could only swallow the depression in his heart, accepted the order, and exited the study.
