There is no phoenix

Shui Ruoyang had just returned to Chengde Hall and was about to read the memorial when Dai Quan came in again and said: "Your Majesty, Mr. Puma, the man who governs the country, please see me!"

Shui Ruoyang was a little surprised and asked: "Master Ma has been recuperating at home due to illness? Let him in!"

Dai Quan hurriedly said: "The servant will send him in."

"Your Majesty, the old minister is guilty, please forgive me!"

As soon as Ma Zibiao came in, he knelt down and kowtowed to Shui Ruoyang, "Your Majesty, please forgive me!"

Shui Ruoyang looked at Ma Zibiao, and asked in surprise, "Master Ma, you have been recuperating at home, where did your crime come from?"

Ma Zibiao kowtowed and said in apology: "Your Majesty, this old minister is recovering from his illness. But this morning, this old minister found out that his son Ma Shang has caused a great disaster. The old minister still doesn't know how much the Dongcheng Grain and Grass Depot has lost, but the emperor can rest assured that this old minister is After pawning all the belongings, I will definitely compensate for all the losses, I only ask the emperor to see that the old minister has been loyal in his dying years, and for the sake of his mother who is over 80 years old, let the dog be punished lightly!"

After hearing this, Shui Ruoyang said angrily: "So, the flood in Dongcheng was caused by your son Ma Shang's dereliction of duty?"

Ma Zibiao burst into tears and said: "Your Majesty, a good son is like a father. Ma Shang is the youngest son of the veteran, and he should have been good in the Western Beijing military camp a few years ago. But since he went to the East City to manage the grain and grass, he has changed. The veteran has also reminded him many times He scolded him, but because the old minister's old mother has always been partial to him, which made him develop a bad habit of spending money lazily. The old minister never thought that a year ago, this rebellious son would learn to gamble, and occasionally invite some gambling friends Come to the house to drink and mess around. If it wasn't for the quarrel between the husband and wife last month, and the old official's wife said that Ma Shang actually stole a lot of jewelry from her to pawn money, the old official would not have known that this rebellious son has become addicted to gambling."

After hearing this, Shui Ruoyang asked: "Ma Shang is on duty in Dongcheng, how can he have time to gamble?"

Ma Zibiao said: "Your Majesty, the old minister didn't believe it at first. But today someone from Dongcheng came to the mansion to look for Ma Shang, saying that this rebellious son was not at the Dongcheng Grain and Grass Depot last night. It can be seen that this rebellious son must often go to gamble games at night. Your Majesty, Your Majesty." His old mother is now sick in bed, and she had always doted on Ma Shang before. If something happened to Ma Shang, the old mother would surely die. The old minister begged the emperor, no matter what, let this rebellious son live first. The son’s debt is paid by the father. The loss of Dongcheng will be compensated by the veteran, and I only ask the emperor to show mercy!"

Shui Ruoyang saw that Ma Zibiao was so earnest and burst into tears, he seemed to be unable to bear it, so he said: "Lord Ma, the specific loss of the flood in the East City has not been reported yet, why the accident of the flood has not been investigated clearly, I am also now I don't know what crime Ma Shang should be convicted of. However, if the loss is not big this time, and you can make up for it with such righteousness, I can spare his life. However, if it is really caused by Ma Shang's malfeasance, he will be spared the death penalty. , Living crimes are inevitable, you must know it!"

Ma Zibiao kowtowed in gratitude and said, "Thank you, the emperor, for your kindness! As long as you can save the rebellious son's life, the old minister has nothing else to ask for. This rebellious son, who accidentally made friends and caused this disaster, should also learn a lesson!"

Shui Ruoyang heard this and asked: "Lord Ma, listen to you, do you mean that Ma Shang was brought down by someone else? Then who can bring him down? He is not a child. I heard from the Fourth Prince that Ma Shang was originally in Beijing Xijunying is good, with good martial arts skills, and a straightforward person. But it’s only been two or three years, how did he become so fast?”

Ma Zibiao said: "Your Majesty, the rebellious son Ma Shang has a bold temper, likes to make friends, and likes to use guns and clubs. This is the same as his brother. Because of this, the old minister always thought that he could be like his brother." It is reassuring. He used to be the closest to Jia Zhen, the hereditary third-rank general Wei Lie of Ningguo Mansion. I heard that it was with him that he learned to gamble. I only found out not long ago that Jia Zhen of Ningguo Mansion was in mourning. The military generals went to the Western Expedition again, so he was bored, so he set up an archery target under the Tianxiang Building in his mansion, and invited the children of the aristocratic family and relatives and friends to come and practice archery. A penalty contract, a gamble for a profit. Later, in the archery competition, the winner can get a prize, and the loser will be punished. After that, they take turns cooking and entertaining guests. A few months later, Jia Zhen and others came up with a new idea. He turned this kind of archery practice into a gathering of people to gamble, and the bets of fighting cards and dice are getting bigger and bigger. The old minister also heard that more and more people come to gamble. Outside the gate of Ningguo Mansion at night, there is a daily four or five carts of gamblers, not counting those on horseback."

After hearing this, Shui Ruoyang responded to what the envoy Chai Yunxun had just played when he went up to the court, so he said angrily: "It seems that I am too tolerant of those meritorious families, I am afraid that I will not be able to do it if I don't use them. Ma, Mr. Ma, You go down first, what happened to Ma Shang, I will let your family know when the matter is clear!"

After hearing this, Ma Zibiao immediately took out 3 taels of silver bills from his pocket, presented them to Dai Quan, and said, "Your Majesty, when the old minister came, he had already managed to collect the money to make up for the loss of food and grass in the East City. If it is not enough, the Emperor will let you know." Old minister, old minister will definitely find a way to make up for it as soon as possible!"

Shui Ruoyang said: "Okay, I will take your money first. Lord Ma, what I said just now is that Ma Shang will be spared the death penalty, but he must be alive. You must know it!"

Not long after Ma Zibiao left, Dai Quan came to report again: "Your Majesty, Prince Beijing has returned from Dongcheng, please see me now!"

Shui Ruoyang put down the memorial and said, "Come in, please!"

At that moment, Shui Ruoning, king of Beijing, came in. Having seen the ceremony of the monarch and his ministers, Shui Ruoyang first asked, "King of Beijing, what happened to the Dongcheng Grain and Grass Depot this time? What is the loss?"

Shui Ruoning said: "Your Majesty, everything has been investigated now. The reason for the escape this time is that someone set fire and the criminals have been caught. They are three young soldiers. They said it was because of the payment of military pay a few days ago, and Ma Shang was late. After two days, each of them deducted 100 yuan for this month. The three warehouse soldiers went to Ma Shang the day before yesterday, but they were scolded by Ma Shang. I don’t know how the three of them knew that Ma Shang was not in the grain and grass depot last night. To vent their anger, they set off several fires. Fortunately, a veteran had a stomachache and went to the latrine to find out, so he lost six haystacks and more than 3 shi of grain, and it is estimated that it will cost nearly [-] taels to make up for it!"

Shui Ruoyang asked again: "Then how did Xie Kun and Ma Shang explain it?"

Shui Ruoning said: "Your Majesty, the truth is that Ma Shang got into the bad habit of gambling and wasted a lot of money. He couldn't help him for a while, so he embezzled the money from the military pay. Now the minister has sent two of them, and the three The Ku soldiers who set fire to the fire were taken to the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice as ordered by the emperor, and awaited by the emperor!"

Shui Ruoyang said: "That Ma Shang was in Ningguo Mansion last night, right?"

Shui Ruoning glanced at Shui Ruoyang, nodded with some doubts and said, "According to the Ku Bing who went to look for Ma Shang, he did meet Ma Shang who was about to return to the East City outside the Ningguo Mansion early in the morning."

After hearing this, Shui Ruoyang patted the table hard and said: "King of Beijing, Ningguo Mansion and Rongguo Mansion are all credited with saving Taizu, so they got these two hereditary inheritances. It seems that if we don't ring the alarm bell, we may not be able to do it!"

Shui Ruoning hurriedly said: "The emperor didn't wait for Concubine Xiande to give birth?"

Shui Ruoyang said: "I won't let her know, I won't move Rongguo Mansion for the time being. I want to know that Ma Shang has caused trouble this morning, so I will go there to have a look in the evening. It would be good if the Ningguo Mansion is restrained from today. If this mansion is still open to gambling like in the past, then no wonder I am merciless! Prince Jing, how about you and the crown prince taking [-] imperial forest troops to Ningguo Mansion at Xushi tonight?"

Shui Ruoning listened, thought for a while, and hurriedly said: "Your brother obeys!"

Shui Ruoyang sighed: "Prince Bei Jing, time waits for no one, you and I are over half a hundred years old in a blink of an eye. But now it is better to go to Ningguo Mansion. It is almost noon now, you go back and have a good rest. In the evening, you go to the palace to eat earlier, I am afraid that you will be late when you return to the mansion. We brothers have not had a drink for a long time, so we will have a good gathering tonight! Rong'er's daughter-in-law is pregnant, and she is getting better these days ?”

Shui Ruoning said: "I got better yesterday, today when I came out, Yu'er was talking with her mother and concubine in the yard."

Shui Ruoyang said: "I hope that these two brothers, Rong'er and Ze'er, can give us a grandson. Miaoyu got married at the beginning of the year, and now she will be a mother at the end of the year. The Feng family is thriving!"

Shui Ruoning said with a smile: "The emperor is so sincere, he can definitely get what he wants. I heard from Mr. Zhang that the life of the crown princess and Yu'er are similar this time. Judging from the pulse, they should both be male fetuses!"

Shui Ruoyang said: "Brother Beijing, Xi'er is already 16 years old, if there is a suitable woman, you can marry him too. I heard from Mr. Zhang that he only has a bad leg, and there are no other problems. "

Shui Ruoning said: "The emperor cares about Xi'er, why not my brother. But with Xi'er like this, my brother is afraid that a good girl will be wronged, and a bad girl, Xi'er will look down on her. The emperor doesn't know, since Xi'er I met Yu'er a few times, and often said that if you want to get married, you have to marry someone like this sister-in-law. How is this possible? But Xi'er said, then he also wants to be like the young prince and brother, and find someone he likes. Otherwise, don't marry."

Shui Ruoyang laughed and said, "I don't see that Xi'er still has such ambitions, so what is he doing in your mansion now?"

To know what Shui Ruoning said, read the following article.