I can't die

So years ago, apart from the incident of Cixi tripping up Prince Gong, the court was considered calm, but when the Spring Festival was approaching, another incident happened.This matter is not big or small.As a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty, Ryukyu did not make a confession.

Many people think that Ryukyu is another way of saying Taiwan, but this is not true.The Ryukyu Islands are located in the East China Sea, between Taiwan Island and Japan’s Kyushu Island, including the Osumi Islands, the Tukara Islands, the Amami Islands, the Okinawa Islands, the Miyako Islands, and the Yaeyama Islands. Being a minister is regarded as belonging to the country.

A vassal country that didn’t come to offer offerings, and it’s a small country like Ryukyu, the emperor who doesn’t do anything, actually wouldn’t bother to ask about it at all. If he was a little stupid, he would even ask, “Where is Ryukyu?”

However, when Zai Chun heard the news from the Ministry of Rites, he felt a "thump" in his heart.I always feel that something is wrong, "Ryukyu?"

Hearing Zai Chun's question, Li Lianying hurriedly waved to the little eunuchs nearby, and soon, a servant came out holding a map.Since the incident of the Taiping Army, the Hall of Mental Cultivation has kept this map of the Qing Dynasty and the "Haiguo Tuce" all year round for Zai Chun to consult.Looking at the small Ryukyu Islands on the map, Zai Chun couldn't help asking, "Have you ever dealt with the Ryukyu Lord?"

Shen Guifang, Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, replied: "He is a man of etiquette, and he seems to be loyal to my Qing Dynasty."

Hearing Shen Guifang's words, Zaichun couldn't help tapping his fingers on the table. He looked at the chart and thought about Shen Guifang's words: "Go to the Ministry of War, ask Zeng Shangshu to transfer a group of guards, and send envoys to Ryukyu once. I always feel afraid that something is wrong.”

"Your majesty is saying?" Shen Guifang started to think about it when she heard the words, and finally her face sank: "I'm so afraid that there will be another war."

Shen Guifang knew Zai Chun's thoughts, if everything was as Zai Chun thought, then I'm afraid they must send troops. When the northwest was pacified, Zai Chun was very angry because someone dared to intercept the grain at sea. But due to the unrest in the civil war, there has been no outbreak, if those people still don't know how to restrain themselves, ha ha. . .

"The minister leads the order."

"By the way, next spring is the college exam. You should prepare in advance. Don't be in a hurry after the Spring Festival." Zai Chun ascended the throne, opened Enke in the second year, county exam, township exam, college exam, after one year, The beginning of spring this year is the hospital examination.Only in this way can Zaichun have his first batch of disciples of the Son of Heaven. This is also a big event, and he has to be careful.The Minister of Rites also knew that the imperial examination had always concerned the face of the imperial court, so he hurriedly agreed and withdrew.

In this way, only Zai Chun and a group of palace servants were left in the Hall of Mental Cultivation.Zai Chun got up, got off the dragon chair, saw the red wall and yellow tiles outside the window, and opened the window of the Hall of Mental Cultivation by himself.The cold winter wind whizzed in from the window, which made Zai Chun's face ache.Seeing this, Li Lianying hurriedly stepped forward holding a bright yellow cloak: "Your Majesty, the wind is strong, be careful."

Zai Chun asked Li Lianying to put on the cloak, feeling a little moved: "Aying, you have been in the palace for seven or eight years."

"That's right, I've been serving the emperor since I was seven years old, so it's been quite a while now."

Li Lianying was really lucky among the eunuchs. When Zai Chun was three years old, he was chosen to serve by his side, and he was appointed to serve by his side. In the eyes of the emperor, it can be said that he ascended to heaven in one step. here.

"Hehe, follow me out of the palace for a walk. If it gets colder, I won't be too lazy to move. Speaking of which, I haven't visited the capital properly yet."

Although Zai Chun became rich in the world, he never went out of the palace except to go to Rehe to escape the summer heat, or to go to the Old Summer Palace in his early years.Li Lianying heard that Zai Chun wanted to go out of the palace in low clothes, and she was a little worried: "Your Majesty, do you want Xia Dutong to accompany you?"

Xia Changping is the head of the blood drops, and he is most suitable for micro-services to protect the safety of the emperor's life. Li Lianying dare not stop Zai Chun, so she can only think more about safety.

"Success, you can make arrangements, I just want to go."

In this way, Zai Chun went to the study to sue Weng Tonghe.Weng Tonghe is now also one of the emperor's tutors, but his status is far inferior to Jiao Youying, and he has never been very popular with Zai Chun. He also feels good and rarely criticizes Zai Chun's affairs, which makes his official career not encounter any setbacks.

The Qianqing Palace and the Hall of Mental Cultivation actually have a secret passage leading directly from the Forbidden City to the outside. Only the Qing emperor knew about it. It is said that it was built during the Qianlong period.However, even though Zai Chun knew about this secret path, he never walked through it. Obviously, he wanted to use this secret path for his escape.

Li Lianying went to the Lama Temple to find Xia Changping. Xia Changping got the order and quickly arranged for it. He found more than 20 plainclothes blood drops as cover and waited on Zai Chun to leave the Xihua Gate.

In Beihai outside Xihuamen, noble relatives in the Qing Dynasty liked to build luxury houses in Beihai. Zaichun didn't want to be disturbed by too many acquaintances, so he made a sedan chair and walked all the way outside the city.Although it is true, but because Xia Changping was with him, many people saw that the leader of Xuedizi was escorting him out of the palace, so they dared not look up, and they arrived smoothly, until they reached Liulichang.

Liulichang Street is located outside the Heping Gate in Beijing. It is a very famous cultural street in Beijing. Most of the people who came to Beijing to take the imperial examination in the Qing Dynasty lived in this area. Therefore, there are many shops selling books, pens, inks, papers and inkstones here. So there is a strong cultural atmosphere.

When Zai Chun arrived in Liulichang, he no longer took the sedan chair, but got out of the sedan chair and walked instead.But seeing that this Liulichang is really lively, there are people coming and going, there are many shops on both sides of the street, and even many officials come and go here.

"Your Majesty, the Manchus and the Han have lived separately since ancient times in the Qing Dynasty. Han officials live near Liulichang, so it's a lively and elegant place." Xia Changping looked at Zai Chun and said kindly.Zai Chun nodded, walked to a stall, and looked at it casually, but saw that the things on the stall were mixed, some were real and some were fake, some were good and some were bad, and it was interesting.

Zai Chun picked up an inkstone from the stall: "Is this the She inkstone?" She inkstone is one of the four famous Chinese inkstones, produced in the area of ​​Huangshan and Tianmu Mountain in Anhui, because the ink it grinds is "astringent without leaving a pen, slippery without rejection" Ink, melon skin and rationality, golden sound and jade virtue", and is loved by the hearers.

"Hey, this young master has good eyesight too. This is the most authentic She inkstone, but it is a rare good product, just leaked from Ruguzhai." These small vendors in Liulichang are all craftsmen who buy and sell , I often buy some good things from real old stores and sell them together with other products.Buying real and buying fakes depends entirely on the eyesight of the buyer, and selling things depends entirely on the mouth of the dealer.

"My lord, these small businessmen like to boast that three-cent goods are seven-cent treasures. Don't lose your eye when you look at them." Xia Changping kindly reminded Zai Chun from the side to avoid buying fake goods.Hearing this, the peddler looked displeased at the moment, but because Zai Chun and his party were dressed in clothes that were either rich or expensive, it was not easy to get angry, so he just said: "How could it be? You go out and inquire about it, and the people in Ru Guzhai have a good eye. Can it still be a fake? If it is a fake, you can go to the "Beijing News" to report me if you bought it."

"Beijing News?"

Zai Chun was playing with the inkstone in his hand, and looked at the peddler.Hearing Zai Chun's doubts, the peddler quickly became complacent: "You are from outside, don't you? Don't you know, this Beijing newspaper is the favorite thing for the literati in Liulichang nowadays. They are all for sale, and they are very cheap, ten yuan a piece.”

Hearing this, Zai Chun thought of Lin Ruzhou, a descendant of the Lin family who had been arranged by him to be a newspaper errand. He thought that he had achieved some results in running a newspaper in the past few months, but Zai Chun was in the palace all the year round and was busy with processing. In the war in the northwest, there is no time to pay attention to this aspect.

"Sure, I want this thing. The inkstone is genuine, but the color is not correct, and there are not many ripples. Don't open your mouth like a lion." The most wonderful thing about this inkstone is that its dark inkstone will show waves like waves. Patterns, the more patterns, the more expensive.Zaichun himself used the best tributes selected by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, so he had this insight.Zaichun has no shortage of inkstones, but just buy fresh ones.

"20 taels." The peddler heard that Zai Chun seemed to know some tricks, and he didn't open his mouth like a lion, but he still charged a slightly higher price.Zai Chun made a guess, and when he got interested, he asked Xia Changping to pay without haggling.Seeing this, the peddler laughed very happily, and hurriedly said "Master" to Zai Chun, which made Zai Chun feel funny.

"Do you want anything else?" Seeing Zai Chun's arrogance, the peddler planned to trick Zai Chun into buying some more.Zai Chun bought the inkstone, and his interest dropped a lot.

"Forget about the others, there are not many that catch the eye. By the way, do you know where I can buy the "Beijing News"?"

"There are teahouses in every major teahouse. You can buy them if you go and ask the shopkeeper." Zai Chun was satisfied after hearing this, so he led his servants and said that he would go to the teahouse to have a look.As I said a long time ago, the tea house culture in the capital is very strong.Because they have nothing to do, many royal families, bureaucrats and nobles, and children of the Eight Banners spend all day in teahouses.Teahouses are not simply drinking tea and dining. They prepare chess, riddles, etc. for tea guests to entertain them.Larger teahouses have a stage, and in the afternoon and evening there are folk performances such as Peking Opera, storytelling, and drums.Many actors first gained fame from singing in teahouses.At the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were more than 60 "book teahouses" in Beijing.

Xia Changping knew that Zai Chun was going to visit the teahouse, so he would not take Zai Chun to such a small and nonsensical teahouse, summoned the servants to find the bearers, turned to the east of Liulichang, and went to Tianhuixuan.This day, Huixuan was said to be a tea house, but its scale was no less than that of a main palace in the Forbidden City. When Zai Chun entered, he didn't even get out of the sedan chair, but instead entered the backyard through a small suppressed gate.Most of the backyards are courtyards, and each one looks like a box.A guy knew that a distinguished guest was coming, so he set up a stove early in the room, making the room very warm.

"It's an elegant place." Zai Chun entered the room, seeing that the decorations in this room are all first-class, it can be seen that he has put his heart into it, and nodded heartily.Seeing the guests coming, the clerk came forward and asked Zai Chun what he wanted to drink, and ordered "Ten Thousand Trees Evergreen", and the clerk made good tea, so he retreated outside the door and waited, obviously being treated very politely.

"May the emperor want something to play with?" In winter, many wealthy tea drinkers in Beijing have oil gourds, crickets, smacking lips, grasshoppers, and even butterflies and praying mantises. These small things are prepared in every big teahouse. , is also a popular thing nowadays.

"No, let's call the buddy to find a copy of "Beijing News" to read."

Zai Chun waved his hand and took a sip of the so-called "Ten Thousand Trees Evergreen".The so-called "evergreen trees" is just a pseudonym for Biluochun, but this teahouse uses tea bowls painted with green pines, bamboos and cypresses to make tea, which has an elegant meaning, presumably to appeal to the preferences of those literati.

The "Beijing News" run by Lin Ruzhou is pretty good now. Sure enough, there are quite a few surviving teahouses. Xia Changping bought all the "Beijing News" since its opening, and then Presented in chronological order.

Zai Chun flipped through it casually, but saw that the "Beijing News" was full of articles written about the direction of the court and some literati, and there was no mention of the ban on smoking.I think it is also because the "Beijing News" has only been opened for a short time, so the descendants of the Lin family want to draw it slowly.

"Zhang Zhidong?"

Zai Chun flipped through the newspaper, and suddenly his eyes stopped on an article "Lu An Shuo".But I saw that this article was very interesting. "Lu An Shuo" mainly talked about a concept, that is, if the local people want to live and work in peace, road construction is actually very helpful.In Zhang Zhidong's article, he discussed the benefits of local governance and road construction, which is really a bit like the slogan of later generations "If you want to get rich, build roads first".

"This Zhang Zhidong is interesting." Zai Chun said with a smile.Isn't it?Today, the four famous officials in the late Qing Dynasty in history, Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, and Zuo Zongtang, have all become scholars and held extremely high official positions in the court, so he is the only one missing.

"This Zhang Zhidong is the fourth son of Zhang Ying, the magistrate of Xingyi Prefecture. He is going to take the exam next year. Zhang Ying is still very successful in being an official. He built an academy and took care of the road construction in Xingyi Prefecture. I want to come to this Zhang Zhidong. Dong also got his father's idea, so he wrote it like this." Xia Changping is the head of the secret service agency, and he has a lot of information on officials above the fifth rank in the Qing Dynasty. Hearing Zai Chun's words, he hurriedly told the information about Zhang's family one by one.

"Everyone in the world knows that the Qing Dynasty pays more attention to Westernization, but among the scholars, the way of Confucianism and Mencius is still the most popular. There are not many people who have such a pragmatic idea. Xia Dutong, pay attention."

In this way, this hole fell into Zaichun's eyes, and it was also a coincidence. At least his official business was much easier.

The author has something to say: It’s rare to write a longer one, so tiring~~~