The emperor was not in the main hall of Chaohua Garden at this time. Li Congyuan followed the four rats all the way through the verandah next to the side hall, exited through an archway full of crabapple trees, and went around to a hillside covered with pines and cypresses.

Reflecting the maple forest in the distance like fire, it became more and more green and lush.

Climbing up the stairs, Li Congyuan finally saw the young man sitting in the pavilion. The man was wearing a straight long coat with narrow sleeves, as if he had just returned from riding a horse. His expression was calm, which was very different from the past.

The two eunuchs Yiji and Sanmao were waiting carefully on the side.

Sanmao half-knelt on the ground to change the dressing on the wound on His Majesty's hand, and said softly:

"Your Majesty, at least you are thinking about yourself. How can you hold the reins if your hands are not strong yet?"

Pulling his hand back, His Majesty raised his eyebrows: "A few minor injuries prevent me from fully enjoying myself."

At a glance, Li Congyuan knew that His Majesty's hand injury was not fully healed and he rushed to ride the horse, which in turn affected the injury.

Seeing Li Congyuan coming, His Majesty waved his hand, and the three cats went down carrying the medicine box.

Li Congyuan saluted, but before he could say anything, he heard His Majesty ask him directly: "Do you think Chen Shouzhang deserves to die?"

He immediately understood what the Four Rat Eunuchs had just said to him. His Majesty had indeed changed. In the past, His Majesty would only say, "I want Chen Shouzhang to die." In order for His Majesty to take back his life, the cabinet could only retreat again and again elsewhere, retreating to

His Majesty will reluctantly relent only when he is satisfied.

Now, His Majesty has changed his approach. He is a bit confused when it comes to bargaining.

"Your Majesty, I believe that even if Chen Shouzhang is a little frivolous and his words are a little indulgent, it is because of his temperament that he will not be punished until death."

"I feel the same way."

He was called a child prodigy at the age of six. He entered the palace to talk about "Li" with the emperor. At the age of sixteen, he entered the Hanlin Academy and rose to prominence. At the age of thirty-five, he was appointed as the lecturer of the East Palace. Now he is only forty-nine this year.

Li Congyuan was the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and the Grand Scholar of Wuying Palace. Most of his life had passed. Li Congyuan thought that there was nothing in the world that would surprise him. At this time, he could hardly hide the surprise in his eyes.

Your Majesty, what are you talking about?

It's not that what His Majesty said was unreasonable, it's just that... Li Congyuan vaguely remembered that the last time His Majesty was so "reasonable" was when he was eight years old. He said he wanted to study hard and become a wise king, but it turned out that the homework article was written by him.

He hired someone else to do it for him, and he played cricket with the eunuchs all afternoon.

At this time, Li Congyuan could hardly help but want to leave the palace immediately and go to Jinyiwei's prison to see if Chen Shouzhang had been secretly executed.

Shen Shiqing, who acted like an emperor, did not look at Li Congyuan, but looked at the scroll in front of her. She had just tried riding a horse. Emperor Zhaode himself was good at riding and shooting. She had almost forgotten the riding skills taught by her mother when she was a child.

Fortunately, this body still remembers how to ride a horse. As soon as I sit on the horse, my waist and abdomen naturally relax without any tension. My legs are strong and my arms are relaxed, so I naturally look good at riding.

In this way, even if she is a little rusty in riding skills, she can still excuse it as the injury on her hand.

Another matter was solved. She also had the leisure to enjoy paintings. The imperial eunuch sent several paintings by palace painters. Most of them were meticulous flowers and birds. The painting skills were naturally first-class, but they had a lot more craftsmanship. She looked at a few paintings. Shen Shiqing liked them the most.

It is a picture of a pine forest. The brushwork is delicate without losing the character of the pine forest. The artistic conception is profound and it is a masterpiece.

Of course, Shen Shiqing, who is proficient in pigments, also likes the green color made by mixing green salt with the finest malachite and ground stone green. The materials used in this painting alone are worth several taels of silver. He is indeed a palace painter. There is absolutely no expense involved in using materials.

"I don't want to kill Chen Shouzhang because I don't want anyone in the court who dares to talk about the sufferings of the people."

Li Congyuan paused and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty is wise."

Saint?

Shen Shiqing glanced at Li Congyuan and then looked back at the painting.

"I have sent Jin Yiwei to Dengzhou to thoroughly investigate what Chen Shouzhang said. Once we have the results, we will discuss how to deal with him. I called you over because I have something to ask you."

The young man sitting on the stone bench spoke kindly, but Li Congyuan's heart tightened.

Ever since His Majesty ascended the throne, he has spoken to him in such a consultative tone for three reasons: killing people, fighting wars, and building palaces.

None of these three things can make people worry. They discussed it with him in advance, and said that if Chen Shouzhang was not to be killed, he would only have to ask him, a bachelor, to stand up for His Majesty and suffer the scolding from the imperial censors.

That's all, if Chen Shouzhang can be saved, what if he takes a few steps towards His Majesty and gets scolded?

Li DaShangShu, a well-established scholar in the city, secretly breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to face a new round of attacks from His Majesty the Emperor. However, he heard His Majesty ask him:

"Zhang Qi has been a fourth-grade general for less than two years, but he has accumulated tens of thousands of taels of silver. Where did this money come from?"

This is what Shen Shiqing didn't understand after reading the Jin Yiwei report.

According to the military system of the Yong Dynasty, Zhang Qi's actual duty was to command the Pengcheng Guards. There was also a commander on top. The Pengcheng Guards only had more than 5,000 people. The commander knew that he had won the hearts of the army and transferred 2,000 people to him for two years. , the total amount of money and food allocated to Peng Chengwei is not as much as what he gained from greed. Even if he knocked the bones of these two thousand people and sucked out their marrow, how could he save so much money?

She looked at Li Congyuan and saw Li Congyuan looking at her in surprise.

A chicken on the side quickly called out in a low voice: "Li Shangshu? The emperor wants to ask you something."

"Ah..." Li Congyuan felt that he had lost his composure and quickly lowered his head and rolled up his sleeves to cover up, "The money obtained from the deed came from embezzling military pay to line his own pocket, and from occupying military fields..."

Seeing that His Majesty had been watching him quietly and listening to his words, Li Congyuan felt a sense of relief arise spontaneously, and he began to speak in more detail, starting from the military system since the founding of Dayong to the current occupation of military fields in various military stations. An untenable situation.

After saying this, they talked endlessly. The place where the monarch and his ministers talked moved from Zhuoxin Pavilion to the side hall of Chaohua Garden. In the middle, they also had dinner together. Li Congyuan's temperament was quite unruly and unruly. As he said that, seeing that His Majesty the Emperor was listening attentively, he simply told the map about the entire branch of Dayong Guards.

He is well-read and knowledgeable. He keeps all the documents he has reviewed in his heart. He is very familiar with the receipts and expenditures in all places. He speaks eloquently and lucidly.

When he finally spoke happily, the lights in Chaohua Garden were already on.

"Thank you, Li Shangshu."

"Emperor Zhaode" smiled slightly and thanked him.

Li Congyuan realized that there was no perfunctory intention in it, and he felt a sense of joy. He wished he could live in the palace immediately, and take advantage of His Majesty's rare opportunity to learn, and tell him again what he should have said before.

He planned to devote himself to his best work, but Shen Shiqing had no intention of letting a would-be chief minister die of exhaustion in Xiyuan. Just when Li Congyuan was bowing to leave, the lights were bright, illuminating his temples, which had some white hair.

Shen Shiqing's heart moved lightly with the candlelight.

"Li Shangshu."

Hearing His Majesty's call, Li Congyuan stopped retreating.

Come on, come on! Your Majesty suppressed his temper and became a good student for a day. How big of a trap is he trying to make?

At this moment, Li Congyuan even began to consider writing a letter begging for the remains.

"I heard that celebrities from all over the capital would gather at the Zhezhu Terrace to recite poems and compose poems into collections. Have you ever been there?"

Folding bamboo platform?

Li Congyuan exclaimed: "Your Majesty said that the bamboo platform was broken ten years ago, and I have not heard of it for a long time. At that time, several of my old friends and I were young and energetic, and we thought we could make the world's articles new, so we wrote it. What "Zhezhutai Jixianji" came out."

After saying that, he smiled.

The emperor, who was sitting at the table, lowered his eyes and said slowly:

"How many old friends? If you can be friends with Li Shangshu, you will be a pillar of the world."

The pillar of the world?

Some people have lost their official positions and returned home, some have been sent to the frontiers, some were once full of high spirits but are now twilight, and some are extremely talented but no one knows where they are buried. Only he is still standing in the court to repay the favor of generations of His Majesty. That’s all.

All the old things came to Li Congyuan's mind, and he smiled with a bit of bitterness:

"The ups and downs of the world are unpredictable, and gatherings and separations can only take a moment. When I was young, I also thought that 'everything is confused, and peace and recovery will make me sad'②. Only now do I understand that a day is only a day after living, and a day is only counted after living for a day. Just do a day's work."

After speaking, Li Congyuan bowed again: "Your Majesty, what else do you have to say?"

The young emperor blinked and suddenly smiled and said: "No, Li Shangshu should go home and rest early."

Really gone?

Li Congyuan bowed and retreated outside the palace. After all, he never heard the emperor calling him to stop him again.

Turning around, out of the corner of his eye he saw the eunuchs standing on both sides. Li Congyuan suddenly remembered what the Four Rat eunuchs had said to him in the afternoon.

Your Majesty is different from before?

Your Majesty, it seems, maybe, probably... is it really different from before?

In Chaohua Palace, Shen Shiqing raised a hand to support her face.

When she was twelve years old, her father asked her to dress up as a boy, pretending to be his nephew, and took her by the hand to the bamboo folding platform.

On the folding bamboo platform, a group of scribes wearing blue robes and white robes did not care about their official position or their age. They expressed their thoughts directly and gave pointers to the country, which was an eye-opener for her at a young age.

Some people were very happy to play drums and recite poems, some people wrote very elegantly in pavilion style, some people looked at her paintings and smiled and said, "This kid will become everyone in time", some people held her in their arms and were more praised than themselves. A hundred times happy.

She still remembers that ten years ago, Li Congyuan neither wrote poems nor articles. He only drank alcohol first, and only after he was drunk enough did he put pen to paper to write poems. The writing was all in wild cursive writing.

Li Congyuan is old.

Her father is dead.

While she was deep in thought, Sanmao walked in carrying a tray:

"Your Majesty, the new tie is ready. Do you want to choose one? My servant will hang the tie back for you."

Shen Shiqing raised his eyes and saw a dozen veins decorated with different gemstones and a large white jade seal placed on the tray.

The color of the seal is plain white and the quality of the jade is very delicate. It looks like it is often put in people's hands, rubbed and played with.

She picked up the seal, and when she looked back, she realized that the seal must have been stained before. Not only had the tassels been replaced, but the entire seal had also been cleaned and re-cultured with Longquan ink paste for a few days.

"A gentleman has no power."

Looking at the words on the seal, she inexplicably remembered the white jade hairpin her father left for her.

Although the two pieces of jade are different in shape and size, their textures are very similar, as if they were carved from one piece of jade.
To be continued...