The way of a judge is extremely secretive, and the fact that he can say this proves that he is probably a judge.
Is he a fellow-minded person?
He may even be a disciple of the Taoist Master just like himself.
But even if it is, so what?
Regardless of whether he is a judge or not, Xu Zhiqiong has no intention of revealing his identity.
Anyone else might have wanted to use this relationship to gain a backer as the Minister of War, but Xu Zhiqiong had no such plan.
Sui Zhi couldn't be his backer. He said he didn't want him to go to the battlefield, so why couldn't he find a job for him in the Ministry of War? Isn't the job in the Ministry of War unseemly?
Lin Tianzheng asked for help, but Sui Zhi didn't agree. Could it be that for the sake of his colleagues, he could take care of him?
Do your colleagues have such great dignity?
Aren’t peers meant to hurt each other?
Xu Zhiqiong looked directly at Sui Zhi, expressing that he did not understand what he meant.
Sui Zhi smiled and said: "You don't know what is the judgment of life and death? Silly boy, but you still pretend to be confused with me!"
Xu Zhiqiong scratched his head and said: "Judgment of life and death... should you wait for me to go to the Imperial City Division and kill? It won't be against the law to kill someone?"
Sui Zhi smiled and said: "Forget it, my Taoist sect cannot reveal your identity to outsiders. If you don't tell me, I won't embarrass you."
Xu Zhiqiong scratched his head repeatedly, staring at the table full of food and drinks, and saliva flowed from the corner of his mouth.
"Eat, good boy, just eat!" Sui Zhi became ambiguous again.
Xu Zhiqiong picked up the chopsticks and continued to eat. Not long after, Lin Tianzheng came back. The two sides exchanged some polite words, and Lin Tianzheng and Xu Zhiqiong stood up to say goodbye.
Sui Zhi got up to see him off, walked to the stairs, and heard a familiar voice coming from a private room.
"Everyone has been working hard recently. I would like to give you a drink from Zhong."
This voice belongs to the commander of the Imperial City Division, Zhong Shen.
Sui Zhi looked at Lin Tianzheng, who looked blank and took Xu Zhiqiong downstairs.
The relationship between Dean Lin and Zhong Shen is not very good, mainly because he looks down on these hawks and dogs.
Tonight, Zhong Shen called three of his subordinates to have a dinner at Fengle Building. These three subordinates were Shi Xun, the general of Wuwei Camp, Jiang Feili, the young commander of Qingyi Pavilion, and Wu Xu, the head of the Lantern Yamen Qianhu.
These three people are in charge of the three major organizations of the Imperial City Division. Although their official rank is only fifth grade, they are the three most powerful people in the Imperial City Division besides Zhong Shen.
The four of them drank several drinks together, and Zhong Shen took out the roster and started talking about business.
"Three days later, His Majesty will select the knights. I have already drawn up the roster. You can take a look first."
The so-called scholar selection means that the emperor personally arranges jobs for students from major royal academies.
Of course the emperor would not do this kind of thing himself, it would just be a formality. Before selecting the scholars, each government agency had already selected the talents they wanted from among the students, and the results would be announced on the day of the selection.
The reason why Zhong Shen invited them to the restaurant was to tell them the result in advance so that no one would cause trouble.
Zhong Shen recruited a total of thirty-three students, including eleven female students.
"There is no need to look at these eleven female students. They must be following Jiang Shaoshi."
It is natural for a female official to go to Qingyi Pavilion.
Jiang Feili looked at the roster and said, "It's really rare that there are Confucian students this year."
In Daxuan, if you want to be a female military attache, you can only go to Qingyi Pavilion. If you want to be a female civil servant, the road is much wider. Confucian female students with both good character and academics can enter the three provinces and six ministries, and even have the opportunity to enter the palace and become a palace official, with the highest
Can be promoted to level 2 Nei Si.
It is not easy to draw a Confucian female student to the Imperial City Division. Zhong Shen smiled and said: "I have put a lot of effort into recruiting a Confucian student for you. I want to have subordinates like you who wield swords and swords all day long, but I can't."
It’s time to learn how to dance, write, and use calligraphy.”
Wu Xu nodded and said, "I am in charge of the office and I also lack the fragrance of books. Why not give that female student to me?"
When the troublemaker comes, Zhong Shen is the one to be on guard against.
Wu Xu, whose courtesy name was Bo Feng, was in charge of thousands of households in the Imperial City Office. This person always had two hobbies. One was to do things for Zhong Shen in the Imperial City Department, and the other was to do things for Zhong Shen outside the Imperial City Department.
"Bo Feng, don't be ridiculous, we are talking about female students."
Wu Xu nodded and said, "My yamen is short of female students."
Zhong Shen said angrily: "When did Zhang Deng Yamen have female officials?"
“It’s not too late to set one up now!”
"I'm too lazy to talk to you!" Zhong Shen couldn't help but get angry when talking to Wu Xu.
Wu Xu flipped through the roster and asked, "What's so special about this person named Xu Zhiqiong?"
Zhong Shen pursed her lips: "Nothing special, he is a loyal and honest person."
There was an introduction next to the name. Wu Xu read Xu Zhiqiong's introduction and sneered: "This is a child from a poor family, and both his parents are dead. How can he enter Wuwei Camp with just his family background?"
Zhong Shen explained: "Xu Zhiqiong is very talented and has the great talent of fueling the tiger's power with anger. I want to send him to Wuwei Camp to train him."
"Why don't you send me to Zhang Deng Yamen for some training?"
Sui Zhi pondered for a moment and said: "Your yamen..."
Wu Xu's expression changed: "What happened to my yamen?"
Sui Zhi quickly explained: "I don't mean to look down on you. Xu Zhiqiong's family is poor, he is a loyal man, and his father is a colleague of the Sui Minister. I want to find a good future for him!"
Wu Xu said: "Isn't the future of Zhang Deng Yamen not good?"
Zhong Shen lowered her face and remained silent.
Wu Xu then flipped through the roster: "Yu Shan? Is this person Yu Shangshu's son?"
Shi Xun, the general of Wuwei Camp, said: "Yu Shangshu told me before that he wanted his son to go to Wuwei Camp."
Wu Xu frowned and said, "He can go whenever he wants, but this doesn't count as using power for personal gain?"
"That's not what they said..." Shi Xun laughed dryly and looked at Zhong Shen, who remained silent.
Wu Xu saw Chu He's name again, with a brief introduction next to it: "This man has a height of nine feet? Is he taller than me?"
Wu Xu is eight feet eight tall, which translates into one meter ninety-eight meters.
Chu He is a little over two meters tall, which is really taller than Wu Xu.
Zhong Shen said impatiently: "So what if I'm taller than you?"
Wu Xu said: "Why did this man also go to Wuwei camp?"
Zhong Shen said: "Wuwei camp is the face of the imperial court. I will choose some top students..."
"What's that?" Wu Xu interrupted Zhong Shen, "Wuwei camp is the face of the imperial court. Could it be that I, who is in charge of the lamp yamen, am the imperial court's foot wipe?"
"Wu Bofeng!" Zhong Shen couldn't bear it anymore, "You've seen the roster. Think about it tonight. If you have anything to do, we'll discuss it tomorrow!"
The meaning of this sentence is: Reflect on yourself tonight and don’t cause trouble for me again tomorrow!
The night ended unhappily. Zhong Shen, Shi Xun, and Jiang Feili went back to their respective homes. Their day was finally over.
Wu Xu rode a black horse to take charge of the Deng Yamen. His day had just begun.
Jiang Feili rode a red horse and caught up with Wu Xu. She tapped Wu Xu's saddle lightly with her riding whip and said, "You really have to disgrace the commander at the wine table."
Wu Xu smiled: "What else? Wait until tomorrow when we go to the Imperial City's Sizhengtang to show off his face?"
"You care about that young man named Xu Zhiqiong?"
Wu Xu shook his head and said: "It's not that I care, I just hate Zhong Shen's unfair treatment."
"Listen to my advice. This matter is over. We will meet tomorrow morning and don't argue with the commander again."
Wu Xu smiled but did not respond.
The two horses walked together for a long time, and Jiang Feili whispered: "It's still early, please come and have a drink with me."
Wu Xu was startled: "You didn't drink enough when you were at Fengle Tower?"
Jiang Feili said angrily: "Just listening to the two of you arguing, how can you think about drinking? The commander was really angry, and his face was scary when he got on the bus."
"Get in the car?" Wu Xuyi frowned, "He came in a carriage today?"
In Daxuan, military attaches generally rode horses.
Jiang Feili said: "The commander said it will be cold tonight and he was afraid of getting cold, so he came by car."
"That's nonsense. During the Northern Expedition, he held on to the city tower for a whole month in the heavy snow. Countless of his colleagues died of illness, and he didn't catch any cold."
Jiang Feili smiled and said: "Why do you care about this? Let's have a bowl of fish soup at Lu's Fish Soup Shop in front."
"You go ahead, I have other things to do."
Wu Xu urged the horse to leave, which made Jiang Feili's face filled with anger and she left in anger.
Arriving at the Wang'an River, Wu Xu dismounted in front of a small shop. The waiter came out to greet the guests: "Sir, what would you like to eat?"
Wu Xu took out a handful of copper coins and said, "You can help me look after the horses. I'll be back as soon as I can."
The waiter waved his hands repeatedly and said, "I can't afford that much money."
"Just take it."
Walking to Qilang Tea House, Wu Xu jumped out of the wall into the backyard without leaving the door.
Qilang Tea House is the largest flower tea house in Beijing, and the backyard is where Shuli serves her guests.
Wu Xu walked along the eaves of the corridor to the bottom of a red building, clinging to the smooth wall and climbed up to the second floor like a gecko.
Peeking in through the crack in the window, I saw that Zhongshen was indeed inside the pavilion.
No wonder he had to take the car today.
He came on horseback and returned empty-handed, fearing that others would gossip.
He came in a car and returned with an empty car, thinking that no one would see him.
Zhongshen, you are still careless.
Commander Zhong changed into a white shirt, held a folding fan, and looked like a scholar.
The spring water on the tea stove was just boiling, and Pan Shuihan, the first lady of Qilang Tea House, had also grinded the tea foam.
After brewing a cup of tea, Zhong Shen took a sip, and Pan Shuihan also took a sip.
With their four eyes facing each other, full of affection, Zhong Shen stroked her scarf and composed a poem:
Beauty sitting in the house
Cheeks smiling
Eyes sparkling with tears
The lips are red.
Pan Shuihan's cheeks turned red when he heard this, and he fell into Zhong Shen's arms with a cry of tenderness: "Sir, what a poem, what a poem!"
Wu Xu almost slipped off the wall.
You must speak with your conscience!
What kind of good poem is this?
"The great talent and learning make this humble concubine admire me day and night. If you don't mind it, please eat this cup of tea." After saying that, Pan Shuihan brought the remaining half cup of tea to Zhong Shen's lips.
Zhong Shen smoothed her headscarf again, drank the tea in one gulp, picked up Pan Shuihan, and entered the bed...
At dawn the next day, during the morning meeting of the Imperial City Secretary, Wu Xu yawned and entered the main hall.
The head of the yamen is responsible for law enforcement at night. Others start work in the morning, and it is time for him to get off work.
Seeing Wu Xu, Zhong Shen felt uncomfortable all over, and said patiently: "Wu Qianhu, if you are tired, you should go back and rest early. I have said before that you don't have to attend the morning meeting in charge of the lamp office."
Wu Xu shook his head repeatedly and said: "Today is unusual. I have something important to report. I thought carefully about the command mission last night. I have thought about it and drafted a new list. Please take a look at it."
Wu Xu handed a list to Zhong Shen. Zhong Shen didn't even look at it, just threw it aside and said to Wu Xu: "What do you want?"
Wu Xu said: "I want to recruit two talented young people for Zhang Deng Yamen."
"What can you do if the talented ones are gone? In the past few years, has anyone in your lantern yamen become talented?"
Wu Xu said: "You sent all those who could become talents to Wuwei Camp, and left the rest to Zhang Deng Yamen, but you still expect which one will become talents?"
Zhong Shen said angrily: "This is how we divide people, and this is how things are settled. After all, I am the one who makes the decision in the Imperial City Division. What can you do if you don't accept it?"
The two sides were at war with each other. Shi Xun was watching the excitement. Jiang Feili was so anxious that she was covered in sweat and winked at Wu Xu frequently.
Wu Xu took a step back and touched his waist.
Zhong Shen was shocked, thinking that Wu Xu was going to use force.
Jiang Feili whispered: "Why are you crazy? Why don't you stop!"
Before he finished speaking, Wu Xu suddenly took out a folding fan from his waist.
Everyone was confused and Zhong Shen looked pale.
But when Wu Xu smoothed his headscarf, held his head high and said: "The beauty is sitting in the room, her cheeks are full of smiles, and her eyes are shining with tears..."
Snapped!
Zhong Shen stood up and slapped the case, glaring at Wu Xu angrily.