Chapter 15: Interlude of Black and White

Fan Xian had ordered one of the departments to arrest Dai Zhen, precisely because the head eunuch was behind the other party.

When the officials in Kyoto realized that even Eunuch Dai had succumbed to the situation, they were naturally shocked by the determination of the Supervisory Yuan and the means of Fan Tiji. The work of the one place, methodically and secretly carried out in Kyoto, in accordance with the rules of previous years, in the dark at night to break into the door, quietly invited those officials back to the courtyard.

The sudden purging action brought a not so pleasant cold wind to Kyoto, and all the officials thought that this great talent was going to set off a storm in the capital again, just like the case in the spring. But gradually people found that it is not so, this storm in the investigation of the official rank are relatively low, no important figures in the various factions, there is no what is involved in a wide range of big cases.

The court’s senior officials and the subjects of the princes did not react violently to Fan Xian’s face and Eunuch Dai’s previous experience. After a long time, found that this storm does not involve the key points of the officialdom, just some fragmentary knocking, all the officials had some of the heart, but also put back in the belly, guessing that Fan Xian is just a new official, through the three fires to establish the prestige of the only.

Although the fire is not big, but there are always people who are worried about being affected, so these days, Liu became the busiest person in the Fan Mansion, that pair of hands in the past like to pass a silver ticket without fireworks, and now began to have a very fragrant and compassionate atmosphere to collect the silver ticket, and these silver tickets she naturally all transferred to Fan Xian, Fan Xian and picked most of them to send to the Department, and the rest of the part of the speech sent to the House.

From time immemorial, from Fan Shen’s world to Fan Xian’s world, money, has always been the supreme weapon to appease people’s hearts, as well as to pacify them.

So the staff of one section of the Supervisory Authority were much better motivated, and the officials of the various factions who had managed to get close to Madam Shangshu’s fingers were also much more at ease – those who sent money, and those who received money, comforted in their own way.

Since things were already on track, Fan Xian did not go to the New Wind Pavilion recently, but sat in his study and looked over the case files in his hands. The case file was summarized by Mu Tie, and although the writing was not exquisite, it was better because the regulations were clear.

Dai Gonggong’s nephew, after paying a large fine, finally luckily from the Supervisory Yuan and back, drilling the Qing law of the hole, not moved to the Ministry of Justice or the Da Lisi, but the inspection of the Department of the small official naturally can not be, and a few other small cases are also dealt with more moderate.

According to reason, since the Supervisory Yuan check the case of the Inspection Department, I’m afraid that the Dai Zhen not only as long as the fall of the hat, even the head will not be able to keep, but Fan Xian some appreciate the Dai Duke’s knowledge and wisdom, to help themselves to reduce some of the trouble in the future, but also Ye Ling’er silent into the palace to help themselves to speak, but also on behalf of the Shuji Fei’s a word of pleading – this favor should naturally be sold. -This favor is naturally to sell.

Shi Elaborate Li looked at the desk opposite his young “door division”, some fidgety. After the spring exams, his three good friends Hou Jichang, Yang Wanli, Cheng Xilin has been released as an official, according to the letter, in the counties road are doing well – Lin Chancellor in the dynasty for many years, the counties road state, naturally all over the relationship, these people are now looking at the eyes of the Fan Xian, for the Fan Xian’s three “favorite disciples! These people now have their eyes on Fan Xian, and for Fan Xian’s three “favorite students,” they naturally want to take care of them.

Of the four, he was the only one who was not on the list, so naturally, he could not immediately embark on his career and show off his skills. Before Fan Xian left for Beiqi, he left him a letter, asking him to wait for his return. Unexpectedly, when Lord Fan returned, he immediately accepted the affairs of one of the Supervisory Courts. Shi Yanli was really not sure what he could do to help his mentor, and when he thought that his friend and friend had already become the pastor of a party, while he could only sit in his study and transcribe some case files, even though he was extremely sparse, he could not help but feel a bit gloomy.

Fan Xian raised his head, glanced at him, and said with a smile, “Is it too boring?”

Shi Yanli smiled bitterly and said, “Teacher is a few years younger than me, and can be so calm in the midst of tedious public documents, it seems that the student also needs to sharpen his temperament.”

Fan Xian laughed, thinking that if Hou Jichang were here, he would have stood up and replied; if Yang Wanli were here, he might not have been able to hold back his questions and started to ask himself why he had let the felons go. Only this Shi Yanli is not in a hurry, yet his words are not boring. His own decision to keep him by his side in the first place didn’t seem to be a wrong choice.

“Don’t call me teacher.” He said, “I’d rather you call me lord, it’s not that the official position is too thick, it’s really because I think it feels a bit ridiculous.”

Shi Yanli froze, in fact, the matter of a candidate being younger than the examiner was really common in this world, and he himself didn’t find anything wrong with it.

Fan Xian handed over the case file on the table and asked, “What do you think?”

Shi Hanyanli did not know if the adults were testing themselves, just these official documents, which had been memorized in the past two days, shook his head and said sincerely, “The student really does not understand what the teacher …… adults mean by this move. If you really want to fight the tiger, it is not always staring at these rats.”

Fan Xian smiled and said, “I’m just looking for something for the cats in one place to do, to familiarize myself with them, so that I won’t be too flustered when I really do something big in the future.”

Shi Yanli pretended not to hear the word “big event” and sincerely asked for advice, “Sir, as an official in the court, naturally, we should share the worries of the emperor and work for the court, but looking at your actions these days, although you have caught a small enlargement, you have always offended some people.”

“Offending people is a trait that the Supervisory Court must have.” Fan Xian explained, “As you are well aware, the Procuratorate is His Majesty’s private organization, not a public weapon in the true sense of the word, but rather His Majesty’s private weapon. We only have one allegiance, so whether it is from the palace’s perspective or the Procuratorate’s own perspective, we have to be an offending character …… and one place is deep in the capital, tripping over this Kyoto prosperity, and has simply lost his majesty’s original intention in the first place, and is not tough enough, not sinister enough. His Majesty asked me to take charge of one place, naturally he wants one place to return to the original role that dared to offend people.”

Shi Yanli could no longer disguise anything, the door master had already spoken to him so thoroughly, and could only honestly return, “His Majesty is wanting His Excellency …… to be a lone minister.”

Fan Xian nodded: “Not biased and not party, his majesty wants me to become the second Chen Pingping, just ……” he said with a turn of phrase, slightly mocking, “I went to the dean of the Lord’s residence to visit, the mansion is more extravagant than the princes, but the carving to the bone of loneliness, is really not a good idea. Bone of loneliness, really not my favorite.”

Shi Elan immediately understood his meaning, and said sadly, “But if you make a false pretense, His Holiness will naturally see it clearly, and I’m afraid it will be unfavorable to your future.”

Fan Xian smiled and did not say anything, thinking that that emperor’s old man would not normally move to thoughts more poisonous than a tiger’s.

Shi Yanli also understood that he had said too much, changed the topic and said, “A nowadays investigate the case, although resumed the tradition of the past, began to catch people at night, but adults have been refused to cover up the news, but where someone inquired about are truthful to tell …… the students really do not agree with it. ”

Fan Xian asked with interest, “Why?”

Shi Yanli said after a little deliberation, “The Supervisory Yuan is His Majesty’s special agency, and the reason why it is able to deter the hundred officials is that, in addition to the privileges set forth by the Qing Laws, it is due to a greater extent to its sense of mystery and dark …… darkness. The world is ignorant, and the less they know about something, the more they will feel afraid. Your Excellency is now deliberately putting the actions of one place on the table, and I’m only afraid that it will weaken this feeling and make the court look down on the Supervisory Yuan.”

Fan Xian recognized that he had a point, but still said, “I know that you don’t agree with certain clauses within the new regulations of the one place, such as releasing information and the like, and I also recognize that it would be very convenient for us to act if the Supervisory Yuan kept up its image as a devouring demon in the darkness.”

Shi Yanli was a bit surprised that the Gate Master would agree with him, thinking to himself, “Could it be that you are not willing to let the world see you as a ghost? Do you want to change your image?

Fan Xian’s next words immediately overturned his imagination, “I don’t care what the world thinks of the Supervisory Yuan …… but you have to be clear, I am now supervising just one place, not the entire courtyard. A place in Kyoto, in addition to those rooted in the princely mansion of the secret agent, all the things simply have no way to hide. Kyoto officials are as numerous as walking dogs and swimming carp, and there are thousands of connections between all of them …… Since there is no way to maintain the mystery of one place, then I simply brighten up to do it, and perhaps there will be some more deterrence.”

He then said seriously, “However, I am only asking for the results of the investigation to be presented brightly, and not asking for the process to be the same, and what kind of shady means to use in the middle, I can accept …… You should be clear that I do not want to become a saint.”

Shi Yanli nodded, his heart extremely comforted, it seemed that his own disciple master was indeed a character who dared to expose the evils of the officialdom, but only had reservations for the time being.

Fan Xian looked at him, not knowing the other party’s opinion of himself, and said, “From today onwards, but all the cases investigated and handled by one place, after the case is closed and sent to the Da Lisi or the Ministry of Justice, you have to write a charter, detailing the cause of the case and so on, and then make a public announcement, and I have already chosen the place for posting the announcement, on the wall between one place and the Da Lisi. ”

Shi expounded Li jaws stuttered: “This …… this …… this is not the rules, neither the Ministry of Justice to send the sea arrest instrument, not the court issued a list, the Supervisory Yuan … … also have to send out announcements?!”

Fan Xian said in a bad mood, “It’s not the Supervisory Yuan, it’s a place! Didn’t I say earlier that I wanted to be brighter? Are you going to let me write a novel and sell it around?”

Shi Yanli immediately responded with joy, “This is the best, it can solve the people’s confusion, and can slightly maintain the feeling of a place where people don’t get close to you …… and your honor has opened a bookstore, it’s the most convenient to do it.”

Fan Xian gasped and spat out a cloudy breath, got up and walked out, Shi Yanli carefully followed behind him, finally could not help but ask: “Teacher, then the student this is the beginning of the Supervisory Yuan as a businessman?”

Fan Xian sighed, knowing that the world’s readers are ultimately unwilling to enter the eerie and shameless secret service organization, patting him on the shoulder, he said, “You’re my personal secretary, I’ll talk to my father and temporarily hang out at the Ministry of Households, and discuss it at another time. Don’t worry, no one will point to your back and say that you are a vicious dog of the Inspectorate.”

Walking into the incredibly large garden of the Fan mansion’s backyard, Fan Xian frowned, “Using dark means to reach a bright result?” He thought that he was not a saint who was so condescending, although he was willing to do something for the people of Qing, to slightly curb the culture of official corruption, at least to ensure that the embankment of the big river in the south would not collapse so swiftly, but the rectification in one place was more out of his own selfishness.

Because although he topped the name of a poetry fairy, and now there is a new generation of literati leader of the secret praise, but with the Supervisory Yuan accumulated twenty years of filth collide up, for their own reputation will always be some damage, so he wants to make a place to brighten up a bit. Because a good reputation will help himself a great favor in the future.

Thinking about the darkness and light of the sentence, can not help but think of the time in Beiqi and Haitang chat, said that “the night gave me black eyes …… but I want to use it to the world to roll their eyes”, he could not help but worry a little about the situation in the north, I do not know that Haitang Can you arrange that thing you entrusted to him – Uncle Wu Zhu is still playing missing, and there is no news of Bitter Lotus returning to Shangjing.

In the courtyard in the distance, there are vaguely a few girls gossiping. It was a sunny day today, the grasshoppers hopped playfully in the grass after fall, and the robins on the trees took advantage of the last moments of the cicadas’ lives to call desperately, muffling the voices of the women talking. Dabao was catching ants at the courtyard wall, and that guy Fan Sicheng was not at home even though he didn’t go to the clan school.

Fan Xian squinted his eyes and realized that Ye Ling’er was here again today. This girl had consciously done Fan Xian a huge favor, and had been coming to the mansion to play all the time these days, without a care in the world. When he realized that Ye Ling’er was sitting next to the shy County Mistress Roujia, his heart was even more bitter. The twelve year old girl became a thirteen year old …… but still a little girl, Fan Xian did not want to be stared at by the adoring eyes of a little girl.

In these recent days, he had already refused several times Li Hongcheng s banquets, and since Yan Bingyun had not yet been investigated, he had to hide first. And today he had to hide from Zojia, the little loli who had a crush on him. Inside the body of the true qi a movement, small Fan Lord body shape a light, perform the stick under the shadow of the practiced light body kung fu, yellow grass a fly over, silently leaped out of the mansion to go.

Arriving at the mansion on Shenzheng Road in Kyoto that Wang Qinian had spent one hundred and twenty taels of silver on, Fan Xian sat in the innermost room and stretched out comfortably. This was his most secretive lair, and apart from Qinian’s group and Chen Pingping, even the people at home did not know that he conducted both official and private business here from time to time.

Deng Ziyue solemnly placed the two bamboo tubes on the table and retreated. He knew that he was not as trusted as Wang Qinian by Lord Tisi, so he consciously went out of the house.

The colors of the bamboo tubes were very similar, perhaps they were both produced at the foot of Yanshan Mountain on the edge of Shangjing. The fire lacquer used at the seal is also very similar, are very complete, should not have been moved. It was only the hidden markings on the bamboo joints that let the secret agent of the Supervisory Court responsible for passing on information know that these two extremely secret letters belonged to two separate routes in the northern system.

Fan Xian picked up the bamboo tube, and first of all, he was very careful to make sure that no one had opened it. Wang Qinian’s calligraphy on the fire paint, which was quite similar to Pan Ling’s charm, was indeed not a good impersonation, and only then did he feel relieved to open the bamboo tube and take out the two letters inside.

One letter was sent by Si Li Li, and the other letter was sent by Haitang. Fan Xian had set up a special communication line for Haitang in order to facilitate contact with her.

Si Li Li had not sent any information worth paying attention to, and although she had already converted to Tiantong according to Fan Xian’s and Haitang’s plan, her efforts to enter the palace had not paid off for the time being. In the Upper Capital, on the other hand, the destruction of Shen Chong’s family had not caused much repercussion, except for the heavy blow dealt to the forces of the Back Party. Uesugi Tiger has also been confined to his home, but the end of the letter says that the Northern Qi State Master, Bitter Lotus, has returned to Shangjing and has been in seclusion. Although no one dared to suspect anything, Si Li Li was convinced that the supremely powerful man must have been injured.

Fan Xian smiled, the only people in this world who could fight with Bitter Lotus, that human flesh eating monster, were those two or three great masters.

Inside Haitang’s letter, however, there was not even half a word about that Great Master at all – he was in an interchangeable relationship with Haitang, so naturally, he did not expect her to say anything, but was only concerned about whether or not that auspicious thing had been arranged properly.

After thinking about it, he began to write back a letter, urging Haitang to fulfill the agreement made at that time. This matter was just an incidental thing for Haitang, but it was of extreme importance to Fan Xian. In his reply letter to Si Li Li, he only copied a small lyric by Li Qingzhao to show his sympathy, and did not say anything more.

In fact, during these days of dealing with one place, what Fan Xian thought about the most was still the issue of Ruo Ruo’s marriage to Li Hong Cheng. This matter was not at all about how the son’s character was, and whether there was any conflict between the two sides’ political stances. For Fan Xian, the most crucial thing was only one point.

Did his sister like it?

Ruo Ruo had already made it clear that she didn’t like it – although Fan Xian, like all older siblings, had some puzzling anger towards girls in their adolescence, thinking Could it be that you’re not going to marry? But more than that, it was a protective desire that came from his bones. Since his sister didn’t like it, he would have to proceed to break the marriage, which was very simple reasoning.

This was not a small matter, and could even be said to be the most troublesome thing Fan Xian had encountered since arriving in Kyoto from Tanyu. The marriage had been appointed by His Holiness, the door was right for the family, and there was no reason at all to thwart this marriage.

Therefore, there were only two ways to proceed: first, to keep an eye on the second prince’s side, and always be prepared to bring the other side down, dragging Li Hongcheng down, and then ask for a withdrawal from the marriage, which might be feasible. Second, from Ruo Ruo’s side, give a benefit temptation that even the emperor can’t ignore, and temporarily keep Ruo Ruo away from Kyoto.

The first maneuver, I do not know how much noise will be made, the latter maneuver is too vague, even Fan Xian himself does not have much confidence.

“Humanity a will be a success, is it possible that one has to engage in a marriage to break a million bones?”

He laughed mockingly, thinking that by then if it really didn’t work out, he could only trouble Uncle Wuzhu to bring Ruo Ruo girl to the end of the world to wander and travel, thinking that His Majesty wouldn’t be able to really decapitate the Fan House just because of this matter.