The story of Mrs. He swallowing gold in front of the Metropolitan Procuratorate was promoted by thoughtful people and spread in the capital for less than half a month. Until the beheading of the person involved, the Lingchi of Lingchi, the banishment of the slaves, etc. were all dealt with, there were still reports of imperial concubines.
History was brought up when folding.
As Shen Rui expected, three of the famous sons of the Shen family, who were the masters of the suffering, were tortured, maimed, and died. It is impossible for any censor who came from the imperial examination to criticize such a Shen family. Therefore, the incident of Mrs. He ultimately affected
Only Wang Shouren arrived.
Although the case has been settled, the imperial censor is always "heard of", and all kinds of impeachment papers about Wang Shouren are still piled on the little emperor's desk.
The young emperor still ignored them and kept them all in the government. He refused to give up the idea of Wang Hua joining the cabinet and Wang Shouren joining the General Affairs Department.
The cabinet, on the other hand, delayed responding on the grounds that "it was afraid that public opinion would boil over."
There was a lively quarrel in the court, but Wang Shouren, who was in the whirlpool of public opinion, remained calm. When Shen Rui came to visit, his teacher was wearing a half-worn Taoist robe, holding his son and teaching him how to write.
Seeing Shen Rui follow Chang An into the study, Wang Shouren put down his pen, smiled and waved his hand to let him sit down without courtesy, and then said: "I told you to stay behind closed doors, but you still ran out." As he spoke, he handed his son to Chang An to lead him out.
Shen Rui smiled and said: "Isn't the case settled? I missed the teacher so I came here quickly. Since the teacher let me in, it's okay to come."
After saying that, he looked at Wang Shouren again and saw that he was much thinner than before, but he was full of energy. His energy and energy were definitely not comparable to before. He couldn't help but secretly praise that the God of War was indeed suitable for staying on the battlefield, but he still said: "
The teacher’s income has been reduced.”
Wang Shouren glared at him and said, "Why are you acting like a child?"
Shen Rui touched his nose awkwardly and said, "This disciple also felt it."
Wang Shouren laughed and said, "You are a lot fatter than you were in September. I wonder if it's because you are lazy in your homework." But he was going to test him when he came up.
Shen Rui is also used to it. He went to visit his in-laws two days ago. Not to mention his father-in-law taking exams, even his elder brother-in-law asked him to write two contemporary articles.
Shen Rui understood their eagerness for him to become an official, and he himself was not at all anxious. He had to pass this subject no matter what, because Brother Shou might not have the patience to wait for him for three years.
Moreover, Liu Jin has been in power for a few years now. He has never thought about turning the tide by himself. He only hopes that he can be by the little emperor's side and be able to say a few good words to officials like Wang Hua and Wang Shouren. Maybe
Save them from persecution.
This time Shen Rui came to Wang's house and brought some recent writings, so he handed them over respectfully, and took the paper and pen he had prepared aside to write a classic essay.
Wang Shouren finished reading the article, then looked at the words, nodded and said: "Yes, I haven't missed my homework, and I have made considerable progress. I still need to practice my handwriting carefully. If you write in a hurry, you need to be steady."
Shen Rui smiled and thanked the teacher, then said: "In the past month, my second uncle has been at home and has also given me guidance on my homework."
Wang Shouren raised his eyebrows, shook his head, smiled, and said: "After all, you have been in the Hanlin Academy for many years, and you are in the Imperial College for offering wine, so you are lucky."
Shen Rui knew that Wang Shouren also knew what had happened previously. To say so was to consider his disciple's face, which was very euphemistic.
You must know that when he went to visit his father-in-law Yang Tinghe later that year, he was praised for the progress of his article. When he mentioned that his second uncle had helped give guidance, Yang Tinghe said unceremoniously: "It's a sensible thing. I just hope that he will not be confused again in the future."
.”
The stain of Shen Zhou has actually more or less damaged the reputation of all Shen family children. How could Yang Tinghe tolerate his promising son-in-law being innocently affected?
Shen Rui couldn't argue for Shen Zhou. Besides, Shen Zhou was really stupid to take the daughter of a Jinshi as his concubine this time. It's no wonder people said he was confused.
After completing the examination and homework, the master and the apprentice really talked about the use of troops in Taihu Lake.
Shen Rui also knew the Ming Dynasty's military strength, and Wang Shouren also said bluntly: "Military discipline is lax and armaments are empty."
But after all, it was Wang Shouren who was in charge of the army, and he always had the ability to turn decay into magic. He briefly told Shen Rui about several major battles. When he talked about the fiercest parts, Shen Rui's heart was surging, and his pride suddenly rose. He wished he could Abandoning his pen and joining the army, he also galloped on the battlefield like this.
"The Taihu sailors were indeed carefully trained. Fortunately, the time was short and their supplies were cut off, so they finally captured them in one fell swoop." Wang Shouren said, "It was also fortunate that Wang Shangshu was in charge and personally intervened. Various arrangements.”
The Wang Shangshu he mentioned was Wang Shi, the Shangshu of the Ministry of War in Nanjing. "I heard people spoke highly of him when it came to suppressing the rebellion in Guizhou. This time I dealt with him and he was indeed a god in his military skills. It's a pity that the old man is old. In recent years, His body suffered from old injuries frequently, and he was forced to become an official several times."
Shen Rui also sighed silently. Generally speaking, Nanjing is a place for people to take care of the elderly. It is a pity to put such a person in Nanjing. Listening to the teacher, I am afraid that the old man will not stay in this position for a few years. .
Thinking of Liu Liu, Liu Qi's rebellion, and King Ning's rebellion, Shen Rui sighed deeply. He wondered whether the Nanjing soldiers would be able to fight the rebels after Wang Shi became an official, and whether it would be the same as in history...
As he was thinking about it, he couldn't help but ask, "According to the teacher's opinion, if there is military training in Nanjing..."
The luster on Wang Shouren's face gradually dimmed due to the mention of martial arts. He was silent for a moment and then said: "Now that the imperial treasury is empty, there is nothing we can do. Natural disasters continue, and the Tatars are knocking on the door..."
Shen Rui pursed his lips and said: "The emperor originally intended to raise a royal navy in Taihu Lake to prevent Ning Fan. If the training is good in the future, will it be able to go to sea?"
Wang Shouren was stunned, then shook his head and said: "Are you thinking of sea trade? You are thinking simply. It is possible to defend Ningfan, but it is not easy to go to sea. Ships on rivers and seas are different, and it is difficult to distinguish the direction on the sea. You need a sea Maps must be used to guide the way. The charts from the Taizong period have long been lost and destroyed. It is difficult to recreate the grandeur of the Sanbao eunuchs back then."
Shen Rui smiled bitterly and said: "Because I have no money, I want to go to sea to trade to make profits. But if I have no money and can't buy a ship, how can I go to sea? It's really a dead end."
Wang Shouren said: "Although the Songjiang disaster was not really caused by Japanese pirates, there are still a lot of Japanese pirates. Let alone Japanese pirates, there are not many pirates roaming the East China Sea."
As he said that, he sneered, "There are not many maritime merchants in the southeast, so how can they be willing to let the imperial court get a piece of the pie? By then, they will become pirates if they are not pirates."
Shen Rui was also silent. They all knew that sea merchants and pirates were actually no different. It was just that pirates always robbed and did not sell much goods themselves, and most of the goods they sold were stolen goods; while sea merchants sold goods while doing so. They just robbed other boats on the way.
It is extremely easy to cover up a few crimes in the vast sea.
Although the imperial fleet is large enough, if there is no strong navy to protect it, it is still easy to be sniped at sea by maritime merchant families with ulterior motives.
What's more, snipers don't always come from maritime merchants.
The maritime merchants who are unwilling to give up the huge profits from the sea will definitely use all the relations between North Korea and China to prevent the imperial court from rebuilding the fleet and navy.
Shen Rui couldn't help but muttered: "I don't know what King Ning did to raise the Taihu water bandits."
Wang Shouren was silent for a long time and said: "I'm afraid... not only Songjiang will be robbed."
Shen Rui was stunned for a moment, his heart filled with anger, and he couldn't help cursing: "Ning Fan is so unconscionable that he should not allow this evil to happen!"
Wang Shouren sighed in a low voice: "The master of the king in the imperial court naturally has a reputation, and the vassal king does not care about that. The vassal kings mostly lord it over their fiefdoms, and the court just pretends to disappear. If there is a big problem, the emperor will just issue an order.
, the imperial court is always very cautious towards the vassal king."
*
Shen Ruiben, like Wang Shouren, believed that the court was cautious towards the vassal king.
But within two days, Shou Ge broke his opinion.
Previously, the Nanhai Commandery Lord entered the capital without permission, and later found out that Commander Yibin had committed various crimes, and even blamed him for causing Shanxi disaster victims to come to the Capital. At that time, Brother Shou also issued an order to warn King Qing, but his tone was quite stern.
But in essence, they only exempted the title of the Nanhai County Lord, took back the fiefdom, and at the same time ordered Yibin to be executed, and did not involve the rest of the Qing Palace.
On the first day of February, Wang Jin, the guest of honor of Yuanling County in Prince Zheng's Mansion, engaged in prostitution during his mother's funeral, and was impeached by the censor.
In fact, it is very common among scholar-bureaucrats to engage in prostitution and concubinage during mourning periods, not to mention among nobles and relatives. As long as there is such irrefutable evidence that a child is not produced, it is probably not investigated by the public.
If they were civil servants and military generals, their political opponents might seize their pigtails and impeach them. Unless the conflict in the court was severe, they would be held up high and put down gently.
Not to mention members of the clan, unless people are jealous of their real power, generally no one will have the patience to pay attention to them.
But this time, the young emperor directly issued an order to dismiss Wang Jin from his post, and ordered King Zheng to restrain the royal family of Prince Zheng.
Although all the officials were surprised, they remembered that King Zheng had displeased the Yingzong. The royal family had always been unhappy with Prince Zheng's family, and the young emperor was a very filial person. He was afraid that he would be shameful and unfilial, so a heavy punishment was nothing.
On the seventh day of the second lunar month, King Rong Chen begged to transform the former horse pasture in Xin'an Town, Xin'an Prefecture into a farmland.
Prince Rong is the thirteenth son of Emperor Xianzong, and he has just turned twenty years old. This imperial uncle has been raised in the palace, and he was also quite popular with the former Empress Dowager Zhou. As early as the fourth year of Hongzhi, he was granted the title of Rong.
king.
Before her death, the former Empress Dowager Zhou was still very concerned about Prince Rong's marriage. Emperor Hongzhi had already planned to choose a concubine for Prince Rong. Unfortunately, the former Empress Dowager passed away soon after. Prince Rong's filial piety was not fulfilled, and Emperor Hongzhi passed away.
Prince Rong's marriage has been delayed, and he has never entered the vassal state. He still remains in the capital.
A letter from the Ministry of Household Affairs pointed out that this area was a pasture set up during the Yongle period to raise horses and military equipment. In the Chenghua period, Chen Qi, a relative of the emperor, began to use it as a farmland. However, when the late emperor was around, it had been cleared and stocked, and the public was not used for private purposes.
Now King Rong was about to choose a concubine and join the feudal clan, so he wrote to the emperor asking the emperor not to marry her.
Brother Shou did not refuse as he had done before, but he politely said that he would follow what his father had done before. Instead, he rejected King Rong's request very forcefully and directly.
Not long after, the Empress Dowager Wang in the palace assigned concubine selection envoys to begin selecting concubines for Prince Rong.
Once King Rong gets married, he will immediately become a vassal.
If we say that Prince Qing and Prince Zheng are no longer of the same bloodline as today, it would be fine if we didn't care about them. Prince Rong, the younger uncle of the emperor, grew up together with Brother Shou, and they have some feelings for them.
In this way, Brother Shou clearly expressed his suppression of the feudal king.
Even after Nanhai Junjun was sent back to Prince Qing's Mansion and issued an edict to investigate, King Qing wrote a letter bitterly complaining about the unfilial piety of his sons and daughters. Many princes, including Nanhai Junjun, township princes, and generals Zhu Qitao, Zhu Qizhe, etc.
Many illegalities.
It's just a move to retreat in order to advance, and cry a little, hoping to get some words of comfort from the emperor. Prince Qing has more than a hundred descendants, so how can he care about a few unworthy descendants.
At that time, the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Justice discussed the culpability of several people in Prince Qing's Mansion, but Brother Shou, the Ministry of Rites, did not pursue the case.
On the contrary, after the incident in Prince Zheng's Mansion came out, Brother Shou issued an edict, and many generals, lieutenants, and princes of counties and counties came to Beijing to lodge complaints. It had become a common practice to harass the roads and humiliate the clan. He immediately forwarded the document to all the princes' palaces and banned the treaty.
Anyone who dares to violate the rules will be severely punished.
He also sent a decree to Prince Qing's Mansion, asking those of Prince Qing's descendants who were so unfilial that they should be dismissed from their posts.
It actually frightened King Qing into hurriedly submitting a confession.
Ordinary ministers only thought that this was the new atmosphere of the new dynasty after the Yuan Dynasty was changed.
However, the high-level bosses were well aware of the inside story of Taihu's bandit suppression, and they were afraid that the little emperor would not know the importance of it, and would become proud after Ning Fan's arm was broken, and would try to subdue other feudal kings.
Once you go too far, I'm afraid it will force you to rebel against the feudal king.
Today's Ming Dynasty cannot afford another "Jingnan".
However, the cabinet went to communicate with the little emperor several times, and the little emperor said that the old gentleman was overly worried, but he did not take it seriously.
The three elders in the cabinet went back to discuss it, and they all came together and agreed that there might be some internal officials stirring up trouble in front of His Majesty. The young emperor's temperament was undecided, and he was very fond of military service. This time, the eunuch Zhang Yong took charge of the royal horse after receiving military honors.
I wonder if there are any eunuchs or eunuchs who want to take this path, and then vigorously advocate it in front of the emperor...
Once this sword moves, there will never be peace.
At present, the censors under the three cabinet ministers have begun a new round of impeachment of internal officials.
In addition to the clichéd saying that a distant person befriends his cabinet ministers and carefully selects his servants, he also accuses the inner palace of being extravagant and the inner officials being greedy and cruel. The emperor is not as frugal as the previous emperor, but spends extravagantly on toys.
In the East Nuan Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace, Brother Shou couldn't help feeling suffocated after reading these poems. He threw down two piles of poems before he could calm down a bit.
Liu Jin stood aside, silently watching Brother Shou finish venting, then he leaned over to pick up the scattered papers on the ground, and said with a smile: "The emperor also knows their tune. The more alarmist they are, the more they appear to be loyal and concerned about the country and the people."
, why bother getting angry with such people. When it is warm and cold, it is important for your Majesty to take care of yourself."
Brother Shou looked at him sideways and said coldly: "They also scolded you, and you looked at them, but you're not angry yet. You're quite tolerant."
Liu Jin smiled bitterly and said: "Your Majesty, I have beaten slaves to the East Palace, and they have been scolded me all the time. If I were to get angry again, I would have been angry to death countless times."
After a pause, he turned around and said: "Your Majesty, please take a look at the book. How many of the internal officials around you have not been scolded by foreign ministers? Or they are scolded and so on. The slaves have their fingernails."
Gail's big and small matters can't be hidden from these censors."
Brother Shou's face became darker and darker, and he glanced at Liu Jin several times without answering. He walked around the room twice more with his hands behind his hands, then turned back to pick up a booklet on the other side and read through it.
After looking at it twice, he threw it down and continued to read the next book, but he paused. Shou Ge said curiously: "Liu Yu, the imperial censor of Zhili, was on patrol, and the eunuch Wu Zhong was ordered to be impeached for not being prudent when choosing a marriage, and for indulging his subordinates.
He is good at doing power and fortune, and he can do a lot of tricks wherever he goes. Isn't this Wu Zhong the Queen Mother's steward? Why did he go out to choose a marriage? Which marriage did he choose? After the election, or Princess Rong? "
Liu Jin laughed dryly and said, "I think it's the Queen Mother's decree."
Brother Shou was even more surprised, "This is strange, the girls from the Zhang family's relatives have all moved into the palace to accompany the Queen Mother. Why did the Queen Mother send people out to select concubines instead? What are you listening to?"
Liu Jin shook his head and said: "I have never heard of this. However, it is the right thing to send beautiful girls from all over the country." In fact, he was thinking in his mind that he was afraid that he would still have to compete with the Zhou family, and the Zhang family would send people out to select those suitable to enter the palace again.
beauty.
Speaking of which, even if the girls from the Zhang family live in the Queen Mother's Palace, they have very few opportunities to see the emperor. On the contrary, the girls from the Zhou family who live in the Queen Mother's Palace see the emperor more often.
I just couldn't tell which person the emperor was more interested in. They seemed to be indifferent to each other.
Seeing that the Yuan had been changed and the Emperor's wedding was about to happen, the Queen Mother might become impatient.
Brother Shou said "Oh" when he heard this, threw away the discount, and didn't bother to look at anything else. He turned around and took two steps onto the Arhat couch, stretched his arms and legs, and sent Liu Jin away: "Go ahead. Call Lu Shun'er."
This one is right here. Let me take a rest." After saying that, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Liu Jin hurriedly took the thin quilt and put it around the little emperor's waist. She also sent two young chamberlains to collect the quilt properly, and then tiptoed out and went to the ceremonial supervisor.
About a quarter of an hour later, Shou Ge called the young chamberlain in and ordered Zhang Hui to follow him to find Gao Wenhu, who was Xiu Mu.
An hour later, in front of the Shen Mansion in Renshou Square, Shen Rui came to greet the second son of the British Duke in person. However, he was greeted by Brother Shou, who was dressed in ordinary civilian clothes. The two tall and strong young men behind him, Gao Wenhu and You Xuan, were actually carrying a
Holding a huge, tightly tied and whole smoked pig's head.
Shen Rui, dumbfounded, invited everyone in. He couldn't help but pointed at the pig's head and asked, "Who are you, what are you doing? Isn't it already past the 16th day of February to donate land?"
Brother Shou said with a smile: "Is this Hutou's future Yue's family's signature dish, or is it made by Hutou's future wife herself? We'll bring it to you to try."
Shen Rui turned to Gao Wenhu and smiled: "When was the happy event decided? I haven't heard you mention it during the New Year."
Even though Gao Wenhu's face was dark, he could still see a hint of red. He was extremely ashamed, and his voice was much lower than usual, "My parents only decided after the Chinese New Year..."
Brother Shou was the first to laugh and said: "I... I originally said that Hutou is now the bannerman of Jinyiwei, so he should marry a daughter of an official family. However, my aunt has taken a fancy to the young lady from the bacon shop at the corner of their street.
, it’s settled.”
Gao Wenhu said angrily: "Your Majesty... you, Wenhu is the son of a butcher, and the butcher's shop and the bacon shop are the right match."
Zhang Hui winked at the side and said with a smile: "This bacon shop has been getting meat from Hutou's family for many years, and he is also a regular customer. It is indeed 'right', and the little lady is Hutou's childhood sweetheart."
You Xuan also started laughing and cheering.
Gao Wenhu suddenly became more and more embarrassed, and rarely hesitated.
Shen Rui came to his rescue with a smile, and asked someone to take the pig's head to the kitchen and thank him for his kindness.
After passing Xiaoxiang, there was already a smell of meat in the house, but the family didn't eat much. Brother Shou personally brought the smoked pig head meat and recommended it as delicious, so he planned to keep some for the whole family to try. The rest were sent to the Mao family and the Yang family.
Welcoming everyone to the study room, because Shen Quan and Shen Lian had returned to Songjiang after closing the case, only Shen Rui received everyone.
Brother Shou first picked up the most comfortable soft couch and tilted it up. He let out a sigh of relief and said, "After all, it's more comfortable outside the palace." Yin looked at Shen Rui again and said, "The tribute order will come down in a few months."
Shen Rui brought up the tribute as soon as he opened his mouth, and hurriedly wanted to thank the emperor for his kindness, but Shou Ge signaled to Zhang Hui to stop him.
Brother Shou raised his arms, looked at Shen Rui with a smile, and said, "Shen Rui, do you have any way to make money?"