Liu Jin led the two princes to sit down in the side hall of Wenhua Palace. After sitting down, Zhu Xi took the tea handed over by Liu Jin and said with a smile: "I passed the state capital on the way back to Beijing, and I got a few interesting gadgets. After a while,
Have someone bring it to you."
Liu Jin hurriedly said: "I would like to thank His Highness the King of Chu in advance. You will remember me when you are out of the capital. I don't even know what to say."
Although he knew that the King of Chu could give gifts to his eunuch, it must be for the sake of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince behind him, and he hoped that if something happened in the future, he could help, but it is very rare for someone to have such a heart. After all, it is Tianhuang
Noble man.
Zhu Xi pretended to be dissatisfied and said, "Remember Liu Jin but forget your second brother?"
Without waiting for Zhu Xi to speak, Liu Jin replied helpfully: "Melons are bitter first and then sweet, people are beautiful with age, and good things are coming later. Why should His Highness the King of Jin be anxious?"
"Hahaha, of course my younger brother will not forget the second brother's share, but I have to say it first, they are not rare things, they are just ordinary things in the market."
Only then did Zhu Feng say with satisfaction: "It's just interesting. If there are rare things in this world, there's really no need to go out of the palace to find them."
After talking for a while, Liu Jin went out to arrange the food and drinks to leave space for the two brothers. The two princes were not prisoners and were considered distinguished guests in the East Palace and should not be neglected.
After Liu Jin withdrew, the two brothers suddenly fell silent. The third brother was on a business trip to Beijing this time, and they were already in a very clear team.
Disaster relief is rarely that easy. Zhu Xi managed it so beautifully, not only because of his status as King of Chu, but also because of the full support of the local Donggong family.
The prince's position is indeed noble and noble, but he has no real power and will not be able to control them in the future. Even not listening to the prince to a certain extent is a sign of loyalty to the prince.
Only if this prince is in the same party as them and is truly divided into superiors and subordinates, will the local officials respect him. Otherwise, how much difference can there be between the prince and the imperial envoy?
"I heard that you promoted several junior officials to officials. This is not something you can do."
Zhu Tie took a sip of the soft and fragrant tea before saying: "I didn't dare to do it before, but now it doesn't matter. I heard that there aren't many censors in the court who have impeached me."
Zhu Fang smiled coldly: "Not many. There are Chen Tongzheng and others to help you exonerate, not to mention the elder brother who stands above Lord Dan. There are not many people who dare to stand up and impeach you."
After saying this, there was silence in the palace for a while. Zhu Xi drank the tea in the cup and even poured the tea leaves into his mouth and started chewing: "Second brother, it turns out that it is true that the book remembers Yi Zi eating it."
"When I set out from Beijing, I thought all along the way that it was just another corrupt official who hid the money for disaster relief and used it heavily when I got to the place. I am not one of those imperial envoys with their hands tied. My father and elder brother are here, so I am afraid that I will not be able to control it.
Rat?"
"When I first arrived at the place, it was just as I expected. I received a secret report from the pro-military governor's office and an official who was willing to serve. Soon I seized enough food, and then started to distribute porridge to relieve the victims. The people's support gradually strengthened.
.”
"I thought it would last for two or three months, but the number of victims increased, and the originally sufficient food was consumed in a short period of time... The people in the city saw that the victims were eating so well, so they pretended to be
Disaster victims go there to eat every day..."
"Some people eat more and some eat less. In order to save food, even if I ordered people to add sand to the porridge, it would not help. After a month and a half, food was completely exhausted... I relied on my status as the king of Chu to forcibly requisition food from noble merchants.
We can barely survive until the next batch of food for the imperial court."
"During this period, I saw with my own eyes the legendary Yi Zi. He could barely survive by eating porridge, but the hunger in the bellies of the victims was unstoppable. Three of the seven children from five households had already died due to
Those who died of hunger and disease turned into white bones smelling like meat overnight..."
Zhu Xi seemed to be telling anecdotes about the countryside, and there was no trace of tolerance on his face. Zhu Xi frowned after listening: "Then how did you deal with these five households?"
"After the official reported it to me, I took a look myself. The women who had just finished eating their children last night had been tied up by their men. How could they be willing to continue drinking porridge after eating meat?"
"So, I privately ordered people to kill them all."
Zhu Xi's brows eased: "Kill well, animals, especially those that have eaten human flesh, must be exterminated."
"Haha, second brother, I killed them not only because of this, but also because I founded the Ming Dynasty and governed the world with two days hanging in the sky. How could the scandal of exchanging children and eating them happen so quickly?"
"Not only these households, but also the neighbors who reported them were dealt with by me. I also saved a few mouthfuls of food."
Zhu Xi stood up and looked at his brother with eyes filled with astonishment. Zhu Xi spat out the chewed tea leaves and shook his head and said: "Second brother, if you can't do it, listen to the younger brother and go and soften the eldest brother until the father comes back."
, you go admit your mistake again, and settle down to be a wealthy and idle king."
Zhu Feng seemed to be offended. He slapped the table and said sternly: "Lao San, don't think it's great just because you did something dirty. Do you want to scare me with more than a dozen lives?"
Of course not, Zhu Xi stood up and put his hands on the shoulders of Chu King Zhu Ping: "How could I not know the temperament of my own second brother? Not to mention that dozens or hundreds of lives are nothing in front of you.
But second brother, you are just simply bad, and I am no longer the same."
"Oh, third child, there is no big brother. Based on your words, I want you to look good in the future."
"If you don't have an eldest brother, you will be the eldest brother. I will naturally be your good brother, but you are not as good as the eldest brother. I, the younger brother, will not be willing to remain the younger brother forever."
……………
Zhu Biao drowsily opened his eyes and glanced at Li Yan who was guarding the edge of the bed, and then prepared to continue sleeping. This sleep was so comfortable that he didn't want to get up at all.
But almost instantly, Zhu Biao remembered that the third child should be back. Although he could postpone seeing her until tomorrow, it would be difficult to fall asleep again now that he was thinking about it.
Under Li Yan's service, he stood up, and the imperial physician who had been staying in the East Palace came in to check for pulse, and then presented him with the boiled decoction. After learning that King Chu had returned, the imperial physician also ordered him not to drink alcohol.
He changed into a set of light long clothes, with his hair hanging casually behind his back. He wasn't going out of the East Palace or to receive courtiers. He was just going to meet his younger brother, so there was no need to be too solemn.
The sun was sinking at dusk, and the breeze was blowing in his black hair. After stepping out of the palace gate, Zhu Biao raised his head slightly and looked at the sunset. He looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar palace pavilions. He hadn't taken the time to look at them carefully in a long time. It felt like he had lived a lifetime ago.
Liu Jin caught up and put on a light cloak for him: "Although there is no wind, I am sick after all, so I should be more careful. Otherwise, I should go and invite the two highnesses to have a meal here."
"That's fine."
The Wenhua Palace was not far away, but Zhu Biao was really too lazy to go there at this time. When Liu An heard this, he immediately walked quickly towards the Wenhua Palace.
"Just now, the maid on duty outside the Wenhua Palace seemed to have heard some quarreling between the two His Highnesses..."
Not long after, Zhu Biao, who was standing at the entrance of the palace, saw his two younger brothers coming hand in hand. They looked very affectionate. It seemed that they had not seen each other for such a long time and they had a great time chatting with each other.
Zhu Xi stopped, and Chu King Zhu Xi quickly stepped forward and bowed down: "My brother Zhu Xi pays homage to His Highness the Crown Prince. Your Highness will be blessed forever."
Zhu Biao walked down the steps with a smile, bent down and pulled him up to take a closer look before saying: "It seems that I have suffered some hardships during this trip, but it's okay. How can I help my eldest brother solve his problems without going through it? How will my eldest brother use big things in the future?"
Trust each other."
"My younger brother's hard work is no better than that of a firefly than my elder brother's. As for the rest, I dare not fulfill my responsibilities and will not let my elder brother down."
Zhu Biao patted his shoulder slightly, and then looked at Zhu Xi, who was standing aside with a smile on his face: "Don't stand here anymore, let us brothers come in and say."
The three of them entered the palace, and Chang Luohua led Li Yan to greet them. The King of Jin, King Chu, first saluted the emperor's wife. Chang Luohua bowed and returned the salute, said a few polite words to Zhu Xi, and then excused himself and left.
Although they are members of the same family, it is not easy to stay together all the time. The right way is to wait for them to get married and have more contact with their sisters-in-law.
"Sister-in-law, walk slowly."
Zhu Fang and Zhu Tie stood up and bowed their heads solemnly to say goodbye. They could not look directly at their sister-in-law's back, so they turned around and sat down after the footsteps faded away. As for Zhu Biao, naturally he had already sat down.
When the food and wine were ready, Zhu Biao held the teacup and said, "My body can't drink these days. Second child, please help me drink a few more cups with the third child."
"Don't worry, brother, I'll leave it to my younger brother."
After all the talk, the topic finally came back to Zhu Xi’s experience during his disaster relief trip. Zhu Xi talked about it carefully from beginning to end, without avoiding any merit or fault. Zhu Biao made a few comments from time to time, but did not blame Zhu Xi for anything.
It is not easy to do things on mission, let alone to provide disaster relief and comfort the people. The attitude of the past dynasties towards disaster relief imperial missions is that no major demerits are considered merits. Otherwise, who would be willing to do such a thankless task.
As for the incident that Zhu Xi and Zhu Xi had previously discussed in the Wenhua Hall, they were not mentioned here, and Zhu Xi did not mention it deliberately, so he naturally ignored it.
After more than half an hour, the two brothers stood up and left. The prince was ill, so it was hard to let him stay with him for a long time, otherwise something would happen. Their identities were so embarrassing that they could not escape from it, whether in the court or with their father.
body.
Zhu Biao felt quite good about himself, but he understood their concerns and did not force him to stay. When he walked to the palace, he saw that Chang Luohua was not there and asked, "Where is the princess?"
The palace maid who served the pastries responded: "Reporting to Your Highness, the eunuch in charge of Concubine Guo Ning just came to invite the Crown Princess to administer justice."
Zhu Biao nodded slightly, picked up a pastry and lay down on the bed. Lao Zhu was away during this period, and the harem had been peaceful for a long time. But when he came back, the concubines started to make trouble again.
Liu Jin knelt beside the couch and took off his highness's boots. Zhu Biao straightened his legs in response, but suddenly ordered: "Bring me the secret report from the pro-military captain's palace in Shandong."
The Qingjun Duwei Mansion monitors the world and reports almost every day. Zhu Biao does not check it all the time. Although Shandong is a disaster area, it is really not an important place. After all, there is no year in the world.
There is no disaster anywhere.
The dispatched imperial envoys had allocated food funds, and local officials had to do the rest. The imperial court could not keep a close eye on one place, unless there was a major event such as a civil uprising or rebellion.
