"Those who are near will be in trouble, and those who are far away will be harmed to their descendants." Warring States Policy·Zhao Ce IV

After the banquet, Ma Rixi did not go back to Chengming Hall with Dong Cheng, Zhao Wen and others to manage the affairs. Instead, he excused himself from feeling unwell and went back home early to rest.

Dong Cheng and Zhao Wen saw that Ma Rixi's face turned pale, and knew that the other party was disturbed by the intimidation just now and wanted to take a good rest, so they didn't say anything and let him leave after saying a few polite words.

Yang Qi finally said, "It's hot in summer and Mr. Ma is not feeling well. He might as well spend more time at home to cultivate himself. Although government affairs are urgent matters, they are not temporary achievements."

Ma Rixi was so impatient that he couldn't pay attention to it carefully. After only a few words of false reply, he slowly walked out of the Qingliang Hall. As soon as he came out, he was blinded by the strong sunlight outside and felt that his whole body was hot. He stretched out his hand and

The light was blocked in front of my eyes, and the turbid and hot air was sucked into my lungs.

Hot air currents filled the square in front of Qingliang Hall, and the brilliant sunshine made people dizzy.

Ma Rixi's body suddenly trembled and he almost fell down. Fortunately, there was Zhonghuangmen beside him who supported him. Even so, he was already extremely weak. With the support of Zhonghuangmen, he stooped and walked.

He walked slowly back to the carriage.

It was also at this time that Zhao Wen realized that Ma Rixi was also very old and had no energy at all.

Dong Cheng, who was standing side by side with Zhao Wen, suddenly said, "Situ is also old."

Ma Rixi is nearly 70 years old, while Dong Cheng is only over 40 years old, and Zhao Wen is only over 50 years old. In their eyes, Ma Rixi is indeed old. The ages of the ministers in Chengming Palace are not young at all.

, except for Xun You, who was in his thirties, Shangshu Pushe Wu Shuo, and Yang Qi, the servant, were all in their forties and fifties. The emperor was only fourteen, young and vigorous, and it was true that he needed mature and prudent ministers, but thinking about it, there were more senior ministers around him.

I like people who are proactive and courageous.

Zhao Wen was thinking silently in his mind without saying anything.

Dong Cheng didn't feel dissatisfied, and said to himself, "Speaking of which, Shangshu Ling's health has never gotten better since he suffered from heat stroke. When the drought and locust disasters are relieved, we will visit him and inquire.

two."

What he said was hypocritical, but no one took the initiative to echo it. Wu Shuo, who was standing behind Dong Cheng and others, originally wanted to echo a few words, but when he turned around, he saw Yang Qi with a cold face, as if he hadn't heard Dong Cheng's words.

As if gibbering, he suddenly consciously shut up in this mysterious atmosphere and did not dare to say anything. Zhao Wen turned around and glanced back. The emperor had left the table before them. At this time, only a few middlemen were left in the Qingliang Hall.

The tables and cases are cleared away at the Huangmen Gate, and the curtains in the hall are lowered, making it cool and quiet.

After leaving the palace, Ma Rixi hurried back to his residence. It was not until he changed into court clothes under the service of his maid that he suddenly felt a cold sweat break out on his back. Ma Bi, who was idle at home due to his dismissal from office, came up to him at this time.

He was shocked when he saw Ma Rixi was fine when he entered the palace, but looked weak when he came back. Ma Bi quickly dismissed the servants, helped Ma Rixi to sit down on the banquet, and asked worriedly, "I heard that the country today

I invited all the gentlemen to a banquet and left the palace early, but what happened?"

Speaking of this, Ma Rixi felt psychologically nauseated. He waved his hands with an ugly face and said, "I suffered a lot today."

"Why is this?" Ma Biqi asked.

Then, he learned the cause and effect from Ma Rixi's intermittent narration, and he couldn't help but sigh, "Hey! Even if locusts are edible, you can just spread the recipe to the world. The common people are very hungry, how can they not eat it? Why is it necessary?

Do it yourself, but let the monarchs and ministers set an example? The country knows that you hate these insects, so it forces you to eat them. I think this is clearly an intentional warning. Although I made a mistake that day, I have already been punished. How can the country do this?

On you?"

"This year there have been frequent disasters. The emperor did not want to issue a new edict just after last year's edict to offend him. He also did not want to go back on his previous words and punish the three princes. So he decided to ignore it and the emperor and his ministers turned a blind eye.

, only talking about disaster relief, not talking about repairing provinces, trying to ignore it." Ma Rixi took a sip of cold water, barely suppressed the discomfort in his abdomen, and put the tea bowl heavily on the table, "But this

How could a major event be avoided by just ignoring it? Even when emperors like Guangwu and Xiaoming were around, when they encountered disasters and disasters, why didn't they focus on both treatment and repairing the province? Nowadays, no one from the Chengming Palace has answered the question.

, If you tell it, won’t it make the whole world laugh?”

Ma Bi was also extremely helpless. Sometimes the emperor was open-minded, but sometimes he was so stubborn that it was unimaginable. In fact, he couldn't understand how a simple matter of blaming oneself or blaming the three princes could be so in the eyes of the emperor.

Tigers and wolves were so afraid of him.

"The country said several things at the table today, each with its own meaning." Ma Rixi calmed down and thought for a moment, then said, "First, disasters and disasters must be treated, but the issue of repairing provinces must not be mentioned again; second, the issue of repairing provinces must not be mentioned again;

We are from a high-ranking family, and we often don’t appreciate the hard work of the people. We must understand the hard work of the people in order to be able to govern smoothly." He thought about it for a while and said, "The country is deliberately warning us not to talk about cultivating morality.

Self-reflection and other matters should not be taken lightly in disaster relief, but why don’t we understand the suffering of the people?"

Ma Bi thought for a while, then his face suddenly turned pale and he said, "Does the country know something?"

"What's the matter?" Ma Rixi asked strangely, suddenly remembering the dream the emperor mentioned last time. In the dream, the monarch was deceived by his ministers and did not know the affairs of the world. But how can the current emperor be a monarch who can be deceived? This dream is obviously

He was saying to Ma Rixi, "You can't hide anything from me." However, Ma Rixi claimed to be hiding things from the emperor, which only allowed Ma Bi to take the opportunity to spread some rumors, and You Fufeng Ma visited the stall that was driving up food prices.

thing.

Ma Rixi broke out in a cold sweat again. He had regarded today's banquet as a beating. After the beating, he would restrain himself. This was not a big deal. But if it was like what he thought, the emperor knew that he was secretly

All private matters are now being kept secret. It is clear that there is a back-up plan targeting him.

But he remembered that when the imperial court was cracking down on illegal grain merchants in Chang'an last month, it had already sent Ma Bi to Youfufeng to stop Ma Fang from hoarding, and asked him to stop in time. Why did the emperor suddenly bring it up again, insinuating that he was used to eating Jinyi?

Do you want to eat jade but don’t know the suffering of the people?

Ma Rixi glared at Ma Bi and asked, "What happened to You Fufeng?"

"Actually, I don't know much about it." Ma Bi left the table and knelt down, saying with an apologetic expression, "I had already urged Ma Zimou to stop as soon as possible that day. Later, I did see that the price of grain in Youfufeng had stabilized. However, at that time, Ma Bi visited the office

After all, I have made too many mistakes, and I cannot make up for them all at once. It is inevitable that some omissions will be made. In addition, at this time, the locust swarms are raging in Fufeng, and the common people are increasingly deprived of food and clothing, and they have to sell their fields and houses..."

It doesn't matter how big this omission is. As long as the emperor is intentional, any mistake is worthy of prosecution. What's more, Ma Fang may not be able to resist the temptation of huge profits and take advantage of others. Ma Rixi thinks of the people who have become increasingly active in recent days.

Huang Wan and his family went to Shu several times to liquidate Liu Yan's relatives but received no reply, and his eyes suddenly went dark.

"Ming Gong, Ming Gong!" Ma Bi saw something was wrong and quickly stepped forward to help Ma Rixi.

Xinghan room
Chapter completed!