Three people were seen off, and it was not long after nightfall.
Zhu Mo had now decided to go all out. Since he had no helpers, he decided to act alone.
Because,
Gao Gong had always pretended to be clean. His mansion was not large, and to distinguish himself from the Yan family, he deliberately did not hire servants. In his residence, there were only two old women who cooked and an old man who guarded the gate. As for his family, none were allowed to accompany him to the capital; they all stayed in their hometowns to farm.
This was well known in the capital. Old Gao, the bearded man, was a hypocrite, and those who knew him often joked about it.
And tonight,
Zhu Mo would personally steal. The hypocritical facade of this man would become his greatest weakness.
As soon as the hour of Hai arrived,
Zhu Mo quietly crept to Gao Gong's mansion in the west of the city alone. In the snowy night, the mansion, about the size of a small courtyard, bore the inscription "Cultivation and Reading Passed Down Through Generations." The rumors were indeed true; Gao Gong's mansion was only the size of a middle-class household in the capital.
At this moment, the lights were also extinguished. There was no barking of dogs, nor any human sounds.
Zhu Mo sized up the situation and guessed that the study was likely in the northwest corner. He then crept to the outside of the courtyard, climbed an old willow tree, and reached the top of the wall.
Lying motionlessly on the wall, he observed further. Gao Fu was indeed as simple as could be. The two old women lived in a woodshed next to the kitchen, while the gate-keeping old man resided in a shack next to the main gate. In the snowy weather, the cold was unimaginable.
Zhu Mo couldn't help but sneer inwardly: Damn Gao Gong, the show-off. He cared only about putting on an act, but he made these three old people suffer. In this kind of weather, it wouldn't be strange for them to freeze to death! This showed that the man was truly inhumane…
He grabbed the wall edge and slowly lowered himself. As soon as he landed, he quickly crouched down, remaining motionless. After observing for a while longer and finding no one had discovered him, he crept to the study in the northwest corner.
Gao Gong was already asleep. Even from outside the door, his snores could be heard.
Zhu Mo, taking advantage of the snoring, gently pushed open the door.
Gao Gong, in his ultimate pretense, did not even lock the doors, claiming to "show the world the sincerity of not closing the doors at night." In the capital for the past two years, he had heard the Hanlin academicians discussing this.
This study, although quite spacious, with a grand desk and bookshelves, was almost devoid of decoration. If one didn't know better, they might truly think it was a clean official's private space.
There were three drawers under the desk, one of which was locked. However, Zhu Mo, having roamed the jianghu in his youth, was not stumped by such trifles. He used a piece of wire, poked it a few times, and with a click, the small lock opened.
The drawers indeed contained private letters and two manuscript drafts. Although not thick, each was about two hundred pages. There were about twenty to thirty letters. In the dim light of the snowy night, Zhu Mo clearly saw that the three or four letters on top were either written by Yin Zhengmao to him, or by him to Yin Zhengmao.
As for the manuscripts, a few pages flipped through were enough to tell that they were all of Gao Gong's Legalist insights. Works like "Discourses on Shang Jun Shu" and "The Legal Classic Revisited" were, to any scholar, undeniably the writings of a harsh Legalist.
What Zhu Mo noticed was a memorial, titled "A Memorial on Rectifying Eight Malaises to Promote Rule of Law." After a brief perusal, he knew it had not yet been submitted and had been revised multiple times. Its content advocated for strict laws and severe punishments, which was indeed different from what people said about him. The real Gao Gong was truly a pure advocate of rule of law.
He dared not linger. Stuffing these items into his embrace, he climbed out of the study window, scaled the wall, descended from the old willow tree, and ran home in one breath.
When he opened them again, it was already past the hour of Zi.
…
After dawn,
Zhu Mo immediately found a printing workshop and paid ten times the price, instructing them to transcribe and engrave immediately. With seven or eight people dividing the work, the transcription was completed by the afternoon.
He took the original manuscripts to the Grand Secretariat and happened to encounter Xu Jie, who had just woken from his midday nap and was coming from the back chambers to work.
Without a word, Zhu Mo pulled Xu Jie to a corner of the courtyard, took out three letters, a memorial, and a manuscript draft, and handed them to him.
Xu Jie was immensely surprised: What was this young man trying to do now? The matter was settled, and you should be leaving… Why are you still coming to the Grand Secretariat? Did the Immortal Lan send another message to the Emperor?
With a displeased expression, he opened them to look, and upon seeing them, nearly dropped his reading glasses –
These letters were actually from Gao Gong and Yin Zhengmao!
The three letters all involved grave transgressions. One of them, a reply to Yin Zhengmao, directly spoke of killing people to reform the law! This was a grave matter indeed…
Xu Jie rubbed his eyes, finished reading the letters and the memorial, shook his head and sighed repeatedly, and finally skimmed the manuscripts. With a long sigh, he wanted to say something, but suddenly remembered: he could not say another word to this young man, otherwise, he would never be able to clear his name!
At the same time, seeing Zhu Mo's smiling face, he suddenly understood the intention behind this matter –
Zhu Mo wanted Xu Jie, as the Second Grand Secretary, to publicize these documents, thereby ending Gao Gong's dream of becoming Grand Secretary…
This, of course, was a good thing!
Gao Gong had been following him, Xu Jie, for so many years. Could he not see his intentions? The only thing he hadn't anticipated was that Gao Gong actually wanted to climb over his head to get ahead! If the Third Grand Secretary surpassed the Second, he, Xu Jie, would have suffered a complete defeat!
Xu Jie had always sought victory through caution, maintaining a calm and steady demeanor. However, when others trampled on him, it was unbearable. In his former temperament, he would have retaliated. But now, Gao Gong had clearly reached an agreement with Yan Song; Gao Gong represented the Yan faction for the position of Grand Secretary and had no connection with the Qingliu faction. Given the Yan faction's power, how could Xu Jie avenge this insult?
At this moment,
He silently watched Zhu Mo walk away, his feelings mixed. He was both pleasantly surprised and somewhat uneasy. He murmured, "This young man… he never ceases to cause trouble… To do this at the very end, Gao Suqing is finished… And I, I will have to play the villain…"
One should know that,
Gao Gong's downfall naturally pleased him. However, if Xu Jie were to personally take action, it would surely incur the resentment of officials and gentry throughout the empire.
…
In the evening,
Outside Chaotian Temple, the snow air was crisp and clear.
Immortal Lan had met his friend He Xinyin and was now, accompanied by two factions of Taoist priests, entering the palace for the last ritual sacrifice of the year.
He had been a Taoist priest since childhood. For twenty-four years, he had traveled the capital and gained the appreciation of Emperor Jiajing. The reason for his current status was simply that in his youth, he had found a book named "Ren Yao" in the Pudu Temple. Starting with Da Liu Ren, it explained all the arts of divination.
From his more professional perspective, Emperor Jiajing was truly devoted to cultivation and possessed exceptionally high talent. However, he had not yet begun to grasp divination and numerology.
Earlier, He Xinyin had entrusted him with a message. Initially, he had not agreed, but upon hearing that Zhu Mo could obtain Gao Gong's secret correspondence, he decided to test the waters. If Emperor Jiajing was displeased, then he would stop.
Accompanying the ruler was like accompanying a tiger. For the past decade, he, Lan Daoxing, had proceeded with extreme caution.
That's right, he had read about the school of Mind, and he had met Wang Gen. As a Taoist priest from a commoner background, he also wished for the well-being of the common people. However, the Way of Heaven was superior to the way of man. Sometimes, the suffering of the common people was also a burden of the Way of Heaven, which had to be endured, and no one could do anything about it…
Throughout this year, he had naturally heard of Zhu Mo.
He always felt that what this person intended to do was something he had never heard of before. Last time at the Yuxi Palace, he had also secretly glimpsed the legendary secret memorial, and he roughly understood that Zhu Mo sought the era of Yao and Shun, combined with the laws of Wei Yang. This was naturally good, extremely good, but how could the officials and gentry of the Yan faction in the empire agree?
This round of turmoil, in his view, was bound to happen sooner or later. Zhu Mo would either be dismembered or beheaded by the five horses. Fortunately, He Xinyin came to help him, which saved his life. The Emperor had also said last time that since he was someone the common people liked, they couldn't simply call for his head. Yan Song and Gao Gong naturally had no way to force him further…
But to reach this point,
He was still pursuing a comeback? Was he insane?
Thinking of this,
Lan Daoxing couldn't help but smile –
What was more frightening than his own thoughts was actually this drive of his…