Just when Shi Xiangyun was urging the carriage back outside Donghua Gate.

On the corridor leading to Donghua Gate from Qianqing Palace, Jiao Shun was walking between the red walls and yellow tiles with a frown on his face.

Because his position has gradually stabilized recently, he has been somewhat slack, and this assassination undoubtedly sounded the alarm for him and made him more deeply aware of the cruelty of political struggle.

But this was not the thing that alarmed him the most. What alarmed Jiao Shun the most was the attitude shown by Emperor Longyuan when he used the assassination incident to test the emperor yesterday.

…………

After yesterday's assassination, Jiao Shun immediately joined forces with people from Dali Temple to start an interrogation. During this period, people from Dali Temple were only responsible for questioning. All physical contact with the assassin, and even executions, were handled by Jiao Shun's personal followers, so that Make sure the assassin is not silenced.

The assassin was very tough at first, but after experiencing several waterboardings based on local materials, he finally couldn't stand it anymore and recognized the rhetoric of "salt owl hires, kills and silences".

How could Jiao Shun believe these lies?

Not to mention the death of Wang Ziteng, not many doubts have been found for the time being, but it was really assassinated by the two of them. Then they could just leave after they got it, so why bother to come and assassinate him again?

Even if these two people don't know the number one favorite of their emperor, they are here under the holy orders and are standard imperial ministers. If they really get their hands on him, the imperial court will definitely investigate to the end.

Rather than killing people and silencing them, they are here to stir up a hornet's nest!

Jiao Shun immediately pointed out the flaws, and then continued the torture and questioning, but this time the assassin was bitten to death and refused to speak again, and even tried to commit suicide several times during this period.

Although Jiao Shun failed to take precautions in advance, judging from his stubborn attitude, this person should be a dead soldier specially raised by some people. It is probably not that easy to get him to speak in a short period of time.

Sure enough, until the official ship docked outside Dongbianmen, no more information could be obtained from the assassin.

In desperation, Jiao Shun had to ask people from Dali Temple to temporarily take him back to the Dali Temple Yamen for custody, and then went to the palace to report to the emperor.

When Emperor Longyuan heard that Jiao Shun had almost died at the hands of an assassin, he immediately became furious. He ordered Dali Temple and Shuntian Prefecture to mobilize manpower to investigate the case thoroughly at all costs; : "My dear, now we are the only two people here, you and I. If you have any doubts in your heart, you may as well speak up to me - as long as what you say is reasonable, I will never condone it!"

Obviously, Emperor Longyuan did not think that the assassination of Jiao Shun was the work of Jiangsu and Zhejiang officials and merchants - after all, doing so was tantamount to digging one's own grave, and there was no benefit at all.

And from his eerie and terrifying tone, he definitely had the intention of killing someone by mistake.

Jiao Shun pondered for a moment, then cupped his hands and said: "I don't have much clue at the moment, but if you follow the idea that the more profit you make, the greater the suspicion, the person who would do this murderous attack on me is nothing more than someone who is deeply hostile to me, and someone who is very hostile to me." There will be a chance to replace him after death."

"this……"

Emperor Longyuan raised his eyebrows: "I'm afraid there are as many rotten scholars in the court who hate you as the crucian carp crossing the river."

"But there are not many people who meet these two requirements at the same time!"

“Conforms to both of these two things?”

When Emperor Longyuan heard this, he struggled to change his posture, frowned and said, "Are you talking about Chen Mingju, the Secretary of Engineering?"

Before Jiao Shun could answer, he shook his head again and said: "No, no matter what, I will not trust the Ministry of Industry to this person - that is from the Ministry of Industry... that's not right either!"

He cited two people in a row and denied himself before Jiao Shun could speak.

Finally, he simply stopped, looked directly at Jiao Shun and said, "My dear, please stop being so secretive. Just say what you have to say."

"I thought..."

Jiao Shun bowed deeply and said solemnly: "Wang Zhe, the cabinet scholar, may be suspected."

"Wang Zhe?"

Emperor Longyuan was stunned for a moment, then blurted out and asked: "Do you have any evidence?!"

After saying that, he also felt that this was inappropriate. After all, what he said at the beginning was the freedom of mind.

So he quickly added: "Wang Zhe is a veteran of two dynasties and has been in the cabinet for a long time. Therefore, his old disciples are all over the world. If there is no solid evidence of guilt, I'm afraid it will be difficult to touch him."

Although Jiao Shun gave an explanation, his attitude was completely opposite to the previous shouting and killing.

Jiao Shun's heart sank at that time. He did doubt Wang Zhe's truth, but taking the initiative to point it out in front of the emperor was more to test the emperor's attitude - to be precise, it was the emperor's attitude towards the so-called 'New Confucianism'

manner.

In the past month or so, while Jiao Shun was attacking Lin Daiyu, the idea of ​​"New Confucianism" gradually emerged, and quickly became the target of public criticism. It was denounced and condemned by countless Confucian scholars, and the intensity even overshadowed Jiao Shun and Gong Xue.

After all, heretics are always more hateful than heretics.

Especially the initiator of this heresy is a cabinet bachelor sitting in the temple - in the eyes of many people, this is clearly a naked betrayal!

Most people in the engineering school gloated over this misfortune, wishing that old and new Confucian scholars would fight among themselves and beat people's brains into dog brains.

A few people hope to merge with the "New Confucianism" and take the opportunity to increase the influence of the engineering lineage.

Only Jiao was very vigilant.

Gein’s ‘New Confucianism’ theory hits exactly the current weakness of engineering.

As a visitor from later generations, Jiao Shun naturally understands that industrial innovation requires the support of a corresponding theoretical system. Otherwise, what is the difference between just knowing it but not knowing why, and those skills that have been passed down orally for thousands of years?

Therefore, at the beginning of the establishment of engineering, he formulated the "industry-university-research" route - that is, in the early stage, short-term students were used to promote production, and in the mid-term, some talented and intelligent people were selected for further study, and finally reached the level of theoretical research and development.

However, New Confucianism advocates that the best Confucian students who are proficient in this way should conduct theoretical research, and then pass on the knowledge gained to New Confucian students or working-study students.

Even Jiao Shun had to admit that in terms of theoretical research ability, working-study students are definitely not as good as Confucian students - after all, there are many Confucian students who are interested in scientific knowledge, but in the past, working-study students were not compatible with Confucianism.

Under the circumstances, these people were deliberately ignored and suppressed.

Now that Wang Zhe has stepped forward to carry the banner and gather a group of "New Confucianism" with a solid foundation, it is not difficult to think about it.

Once they gain a firm foothold in higher-level research and gain the right to speak, wouldn't the engineering that Jiao Shun worked so hard to create become a wedding dress for others?

Even with the presence of Jiao Shun, a later visitor, he could still suppress the New Confucians in a short period of time.

But what if someone he loves is gone?!

Therefore, it was not without reason that he suspected Wang Zhe. At the same time, he also wanted to test the emperor's attitude towards "New Confucianism".

But now it seems that the situation is not very optimistic.

Emperor Longyuan is now single-minded and only wants to carry out his grand ambitions. As for how this grand ambition should be realized and who will realize it, he does not seem to care too much.

So much so that...

It would also be nice to see someone sharing the ‘pressure’ on Jiao Shun.

Of course, those 'New Confucians' would not be able to replace Jiao Shun's position in the eyes of the emperor until they showed sufficient value.

So after denying Jiao Shun's accusation, Emperor Longyuan quickly used thunderous tactics. First, he let Jiao Shun stay in the palace, and then he sent officials from Jiangsu and Zhejiang who had been reported by Wang Ziteng before, but no evidence was found for the time being.

They all had their homes searched and imprisoned, and people were quickly sent to Jiangsu and Zhejiang to search for the salt owl mentioned by the assassin.

As a result, the capital was shaken overnight, and the whole city was talking about Jiao Shun's assassination.

At the same time, Wang Ziteng also became a hot search topic - even though Wang Ziteng was a top rank in the dynasty and had the nickname of Southeast King, his influence in the capital was far less than that of Jiao Shun, at least among the people.

Is such that.

This morning, the emperor summoned Jiao Shun again. In addition to comfort, he also received many rewards, but he never mentioned Wang Zhe again.

…………

In the corridor of the palace wall, Jiao Shun subconsciously turned back and looked in the direction of Qianqing Palace. Regardless of whether Wang Zhe was behind the assassination or not, it aroused the restlessness deep in his heart.

Isn’t it just that we can’t fight with force instead of fighting with literature?

What a coincidence~

He had this idea at the beginning of the year!

After secretly strengthening his belief in continuing to strengthen the pickets, Jiao Shun strode out of Donghua Gate.

Before he could finish the formalities for leaving the palace, he heard loud noises coming from outside the palace gate. He raised his eyes and looked into the distance and saw many familiar faces standing a hundred steps away. Most of them were first- and second-term work-study students.

.

Jiao Shun hurriedly waved to them and made a silent gesture.

After all, he was trained in the military, and his discipline is not comparable to that of ordinary scholars. Seeing Jiao Shun's gestures, the palace gate quickly became quiet.

After Jiao Shun finished the formalities, he was about to step forward to chat with the work-study students, when out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of Lao Xu, the coachman in Taohua Lane.

He couldn't help but pause at his feet, and at the same time his heavy heart lightened.

No need to ask, there must be Lin Daiyu on the carriage - otherwise Lao Xu would have pulled a rickshaw to pick him up.

And Sister Lin is so concerned about her, which shows that more than a month of hard work has paid off.

He was in a good mood for a while, and he spoke impassionedly and upliftingly in front of the work-study students, with the aura of not changing his expression even if the mountain was about to collapse.

In this way, he naturally gained the admiration of a large number of fans.

More than a hundred people surrounded him, and it took half an hour before they dispersed one after another under his persuasion.

When there was no one in front of the palace gate, Jiao Shun turned to Lao Xu's carriage.

The moment the car curtain was rolled up, he looked inside with a smile on his face. The first thing he didn't want to see was Shi Xiangyun's slightly teasing smile.

Jiao Shun's face froze, and then he immediately put on a more surprised expression. Without any explanation, he jumped onto the carriage. While holding Shi Xiangyun in his arms, he complained to Lin Daiyu: "You are my sister, why are you letting her do it?"

Are you kidding? If this is a fetal movement, should the mother tell you the truth?"

Otherwise, it’s not easy to be a scumbag.

These two short sentences not only showed concern for Shi Xiangyun, but also placed Lin Daiyu in a higher and special position so that she would not feel left out.

To be able to achieve this level of success in an instant cost Jiao Shun no telling how many brain cells he had.
To be continued...