In the ninth year of Jinghe's reign, the emperor's southern tour was carried out under the banner of "visiting the ancestral mausoleums, patrolling the rivers, and observing the people's customs." In a sense, it was also a campaign to build momentum before the emperor took office.
Therefore, during this southern tour, Bingzheng Empress Dowager Cisheng did not accompany her, but sent her daughter Princess Guide and her younger brother to accompany her to visit relatives in Suzhou on her behalf.
On April 20, Li You, who was based in Yangzhou, received news that the royal chariot had arrived at Huai'an Prefecture. The emperor would inspect Qingkou Tangba at the intersection of Huang, Huai, and Yun in Huai'an Prefecture, and then set off from Huai'an Prefecture to the Sizhou Ancestral Tomb.
After finishing the mausoleum, return to Huai'an Prefecture and continue southward along the canal.
On the same day, the guide arrived in Yangzhou City, inspected the palace, roads, and taught the local reception etiquette.
According to the instructions of the guide, the qualifications for greeting the driver are also different according to the rank. Officials of the third rank and above can go to the prefectural or provincial boundaries to greet the driver to show special treatment; officials and common people below the third rank can only go to the county boundary to greet the driver.
As one of the five key places of the southern tour, Yangzhou should be welcomed by people from a distance. Master Li was full of secret joy and pretended to be helpless and said: "We in Yangzhou have been experiencing frequent troubles recently. There are no officials above the third rank in the city, so there is nothing we can do.
"
The guide glanced at Li You and said, "Prefect Li has also served as an attendant. He has a relationship with the emperor, so he should be able to make an exception. Then I will make a hard trip to Baoying County to meet him."
Mr. Li sighed and said, "In order to avoid being disrespectful to Yangzhou, I have no choice but to overstep my bounds.
Immediately, Li You set out for Baoying County overnight. This Baoying County is connected to Huai'an Prefecture and is the northernmost county of Yangzhou Prefecture. To pick up the driver at the border of the prefecture, you must go to Baoying County.
When passing through Gaoyou Prefecture, I also took along an old official named Mr. Wei. This old man was appointed as a third-grade minister, so he was naturally qualified to go to the government to greet him.
A few days later, Li You and Wei Shilang arrived in Baoying County. The county magistrate welcomed them and arranged for them to stay overnight.
But in the middle of the night, Li You was half asleep when he suddenly heard soldiers coming to report that a royal boat was coming!
He hurriedly put on his court clothes and went out of Beiguan of the county with the old minister, Baoying magistrate, county magistrate, chief secretary and other non-idle people, and went to the waiting pavilion along the river.
There are a number of seats in the upper row of the pavilion. Since there are seats, there are seats above and below. The leader of the group, Mr. Li, followed the usual practice and said humbly: "I am young and have little knowledge..."
Before he had finished speaking, a fiery red figure suddenly swayed beside him and took the lead in sitting on the main seat. Li You looked at it and saw that it was Old Minister Wei. He was the only one wearing a third-grade official robe and his figure was red. However, this agility was real.
The skills are not commensurate with his age and do not appear to be those of a sixty-nine-year-old man.
The old servant smiled boldly and said: "I am old and frail, and I can't support myself any longer, so I have to sit down first. Don't blame me, please take a seat!"
This old man who relies on his old age to sell off his old age! Li You frowned, he really didn't expect that there would be such a person who came out to steal the limelight. Although the old minister Wei was a third-rank official, he had already served as an official. It was enough to have a second position, and it was too big to be in the top position.
If he is disrespectful to his elders, how should he, the chief officer, handle himself?
But Li You had nothing to do at the moment, and he couldn't really take action against the senior officials in the officialdom, and he didn't want to sit down at the bottom. He could only say bitterly: "I am still sleepy, so go down and take a walk along the river."
After saying that, he walked away, and heard Old Man Wei say to the Baoying County officials: "More than ten years ago, I served as Zuo Chunfang. At that time, Jinshang was in charge of the East Palace. The late emperor valued me, and I taught Jinshang how to read..."
Zuo Chunfang, a bachelor of the fifth rank, is an official of Zhan Shifu in the East Palace of the Prince. In fact, it is a transfer official exclusively used by the Imperial Academy. It is the most noble type of Ci Lin official. In the officialdom, there is often a Hanlin Fang Bureau, and this Fang is
It refers to Left and Right Chunfang.
From what he meant, didn't he teach hundreds of family names and thousand-character essays... Li You couldn't stop slandering him. He was one of the most noble Ci Lin officials, and he was only a third-rank official when he reached the official level. It really wasn't a shame.
There were private houses by the river. Li You sent someone to borrow a chair and sat under the eaves facing the river bank to wait.
At first light, I heard someone shouting: "It's coming! It's coming!"
Li You quickly stood up, walked to the dock and looked north. Sure enough, there was a group of boats coming along the water, there were dozens of them vaguely.
When he got closer, he saw a huge yellow boat about ten feet long and two or three feet wide. It was escorted by two small boats at the front, rear and left. Li You knew that this giant boat was the imperial boat.
When the imperial boat docked, there were warriors guarding the shore, and an edict was sent from the imperial boat, ordering everyone to come forward to see him.
But they saw a throne placed on the deck of the royal boat, with the emperor standing on it, surrounded by attendants holding various ceremonial guards, while Li You and others kowtowed three times and bowed nine times on the shore.
Master Li was about to speak, but he heard Minister Wei next to him taking the lead again, "Your Majesty Wei Tong and others are waiting to bow to the Holy Lord!"
Li You was immediately furious. This old man was so ungrateful that he showed off carelessly and didn't care about the situation. If he wasn't worried about his disrespect for the king, he really wanted to get up and kick him into the river.
At this time, I heard the emperor asking from above: "Are you the magistrate of Yangzhou? Could it be that the queen mother has chosen a new position?"
Wei Shilang's face turned red with embarrassment, and he never expected that the emperor had no impression of him at all.
Li You burst out laughing. Do you really think that the emperor is a god who descends to earth and has a photographic memory? When you were Zuo Chunfang, the emperor was just a four or five-year-old child. It would be a ghost if he could still remember it clearly after more than ten years.
At this time, Mr. Li kept silent, and Wei Shilang was still in embarrassment. On the other hand, an internal eunuch in his thirties who was standing next to him whispered a few words to the emperor, who just then made a sign of enlightenment, "It turns out to be Mr. Wei..."
Li You immediately said loudly: "I, Yangzhou Li You, kowtow to the Holy Lord!"
Emperor Jinghe had no choice but to turn to Li You and said: "I remember that you have been in Yangzhou for a year. What is your current position?"
The officials below were secretly shocked when they heard this. There were tens of thousands of officials in the world, but the emperor could actually remember that Li You had been in Yangzhou for a year.
"The Tongzhi of Yangzhou Prefecture is in charge of government affairs, in charge of Jiangdu County, and is also in charge of the government defense department, and organizes salt ritual affairs."
The emperor smiled and said: "It's still as lengthy as ever."
The thirty-year-old eunuch next to him coughed heavily, and the emperor stopped smiling and asked in a serious manner: "How is the situation in Yangzhou this year?"
Li You replied: "There was a drought in spring, so this year's harvest will be poor."
The Emperor nodded slightly and said, "Last year, our ancestor's mausoleum was almost in danger. You risked your life to save me. I am grateful to you."
Li Youqian said: "It is really my duty as a minister. How can I not repay the kindness I received from my country?"
After answering Li You, the emperor asked the names of other officials one by one.
He ordered to take out a plate of cakes and give them to everyone, saying: "There is nothing else in the boat and carriage. I only use this to comfort you and others for their hard work."
He also ordered: "Send Li You to Houzhou and accompany him to Yangzhou."
In the envious eyes of everyone, two guards took Li You to the back of the fleet and sent them to another large ship. The guards explained to Li You: "All the ministers who accompanied him gathered on this ship during the day.
, in preparation for summons.”
The little eunuch waiting outside the door opened the door diligently and invited Li You into the cabin. Before he could see the people in the cabin clearly, Li You felt the boundless air-conditioning and murderous aura coming towards his face. The inside and outside of the cabin seemed to be completely separate.
sky.
Taking a closer look at the people chatting in the cabin, even Li You, a brave and talented person, had the urge to turn around and run away.
Among them were Mr. Yuan Ge, a scholar of the Wenhua Palace who had quarreled with him countless times, Qian Guojiu, whose son was sent to the ministry without knowing what the outcome was, and a disciple of Mr. Shi who was a political participant in the Suzhou government and the minister of the Ministry of Industry.
Mr. Qin, there is someone named Lin, the commander-in-chief of Guide's Prince Consort...
He recognized others such as the Minister of Rites and the Bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, but what surprised him even more was that there was an unknown young seventh-grade official in his twenties who also glared at him fiercely. (To be continued.