Reincarnation of the powerful minister

Forbidden City, Fengtian Temple.

The voice of the eunuch reading was clear and high-pitched, and the lingering sound echoed in the Golden Luan Hall:

"...Second, clean up the horse pastures."

It is requested to re-measure the land, place landmarks, and restore the original 16 hectares of grassland.

It is proposed to severely punish the powerful officials who occupy land and reclaim private fields. Anyone who steals grasslands will be punished according to the law, and the profits made during the illegal farming period will be pursued.

Promulgate and implement the "Retirement Order". If you resist the order and refuse to return the stolen land, the officials will be dismissed, the soldiers will be sent to the border guards, and the people will be sentenced to exile.Those responsible officials who don't check carefully will be punished together.

There was no objection from the ministers on this item, and it was passed quickly.

Emperor Jing Long waved to Lan Xi.

Lan Xi immediately walked over and listened carefully to the instructions.

Just listen to the emperor whispering: "Remember to remind Bingbi when you look back, and add a sentence in the official reply-Su Yan, the supervisory censor, should take care of the overall situation, and don't need to do everything personally. Specific matters such as measuring land, checking and retiring, etc., will be handed over to Wei Quan, governor of Shaanxi Province, for implementation." That's it. Tell Wei Quan that he dares to obey others, so I will take off his official hat and let him go home to grow sweet potatoes."

Lan Xi lowered her head, promised again and again, and couldn't help complaining in her heart: the emperor made people travel thousands of miles and worked hard, but at the same time worried that people would be tired, so he thought of ways to teach him to be lazy.But when I watched the other party’s memorial last night, our Long Live Lord was still sighing, saying that Su Yushi was young and well-raised, and his body was weak. Did it all?With such conflicts between left and right, it is better to keep people in the capital and not let them out.

The prince sat close, with sharp ears. Hearing these whispers, he hurriedly added: "One more thing! Tell him not to forget his role as the prince's companion, not to slack off his duties, and write letters to the East Palace in his spare time. Write letters Don't be fooled, don't keep talking about the leaves turning yellow, seeing a few wild geese and other nonsense, you have to tell the young master, does he want to..."

Emperor Jinglong coughed.

The courtiers thought that the sage had something to say, so they all shut their mouths, and the servant who read it also became mute, and there was no sound in the hall.

The prince looked at his father awkwardly, stopped talking, a little aggrieved.

——Why does the memorial cover more than ten or twenty pages, and the emperor can read it from time to time, gesticulating between the lines like looking for pearls in a golden bean plate.And what I got was just another greeting letter, with only 613 characters from the beginning of the salutation to the end of the signature.It's not fair to treat each other more favorably than another!

Emperor Jinglong saw the prince's grievance and dissatisfaction, but did not intend to appease him.

After coming down to the court, the emperor said to the prince: "613 characters is enough, at least more than the number of words you handed in the window class. Today, I will submit another policy statement on 'the art of checks and balances', which must not be less than 613 characters. "

After the prince's various protests were in vain, he walked away limply like a defeated little rooster.

Su Yan didn't know that the prince, who was immersed in writing policy in the imperial palace of the capital, hated that he only wrote 613 words in the letter, and at the same time was glad that he only wrote 613 words. It was the same contradiction as his son and father.

Su Yan just wanted to know, if he used the Shang Fang sword to cut off the head of the emperor's relatives, would Emperor Jing Long feel that the clan was humiliated, could not tolerate his repeated overreaching, turned his face ruthlessly, and sent him back to avenge his relatives?

Because he was almost unable to control his unicorn arm, and wanted to chop off the fat man in front of him.

The dead fat man's name is Zhu Yougou.

Zhu Yougou, king of Pingliang County, was the grandson of the first emperor (that is, Emperor Xianzu).His father was an unfavorable prince born to a concubine of Gaoli. He was named Cunwang and was sent to Shaanxi to become a vassal early.

After the death of King Cun, the eldest son took over the throne, but died young, and the title of "King Cun" was cut off.As the second son, Zhu Yougou only got the title of Prince of Pingliang County.

In terms of seniority, he is Emperor Jinglong's nephew.But he also knew that if he really treated the emperor as his own uncle, he would be the number one fool in the world.

What kind of temperament is today, defending the clan is like guarding against thieves, such as the king of Liao, the king of Wei, the king of Gu, the king of Ning... These princes who used to be in charge of the town have all cut off their military power, and even the younger brothers of the direct relatives have been imprisoned in the capital , where would he take a second look at his nephew who is invisible to everyone.

It is estimated that even today he doesn't even know what his nephew looks like.

You must know that there are more than 100 county kings today, and the fiefdoms scattered all over the country, like the prince, are not allowed to enter Beijing for life without an edict.These clans are also kept idle in the vassal land, and they are not allowed to interfere in local political and military affairs, and they are not allowed to deliberately make friends with local officials.

Zhu Yougou farts in the fief, so he devotes half his life to finding fun for himself, that is, building a manor.

He is rich, not only has the county king's salary for nothing, but also has a small private gold mine, and manors have been built one after another.These manors are his other courtyards, hunting grounds, and even his cash cows. They are used to grow food, fruit trees, spices, etc., and then recruit fleeing herders and refugees to cultivate them, which is another big income every year.

Zhu Yougou was addicted to building the manor, and there was not enough land, so he came up with the idea of ​​grassland.

He thought, anyway, there are too many farms and few horses, and the pasture will be eaten by rabbits, so why not use it for me to cultivate.At first, they bought land from Yuanma Temple at a low price. Later, they became more and more courageous, and simply inserted the landmarks and occupied them directly, and started a land enclosure movement.

The local officials were afraid of his status as an aristocrat in the clan, and took advantage of both. They simply partnered with him to start an in-depth development of agricultural and sideline industries-of course, they occupy the country's land, earn their own money, and don't even have to pay taxes. nothing wrong.

Originally, the money was well earned, but when Su Yan, the damn supervisor, came, he wanted to force them to clear the land and return the pasture.

Cutting off a person's wealth is like killing one's parents, so Zhu Yougou felt that his dead father had been killed again, so he slapped the table and scolded his mother in a rage, and drove the officials who came to complete the clearance procedures out of the county palace.

Not only that, but he personally brought [-] guards to patrol the vicinity of the manor, and when he found the officials of the two temples who came to measure the land, they were beaten violently when they were caught.

It has been more than a month since the withdrawal order was issued, but Zhu Yougou's manor is still standing majestically on the meadow, not even a single grain of wheat is missing.As a result, the other officials and gentry who were dismissed stopped working, and followed suit one after another, lingering and refusing to implement the decree.

"... It's hard to make orders!" The newly appointed Minister of Yuanmasi complained to Su Yushi, "Ten of the officials under the subordinate officials were severely injured, dozens of them were slightly injured, and two of them were seriously injured. If he dies, the subordinate officials will have to move around to pay for the pension."

Su Yan said in a deep voice: "Unless the Pingliang County King's thorn in the door is pulled out, the decree of resignation will not be carried out. I will leave this matter to this official. You go to appease the officials first."

So he carried Shang Fangjian with the imperial decree in his arms, led Jing Hong to chase and a large group of Jin Yiwei, and went to the Prince's Mansion of Pingliang County to kick the restaurant.

At the same time, the royal guards who delivered the letter for the King of Yu traveled to many places. From hearing that Su Yushi fell into the valley and disappeared with a thunderbolt, to hearing that Su Yushi was found back, he was relieved and chased all the way along Yan'an, Lingzhou, and Qingyang. , It took nearly two months before and after, and finally rushed to Pingliang.

The official who received him told him that Su Yushi had gone to the Prince's Mansion in Pingliang County and asked him to wait patiently in the government office.

It's not that the guard couldn't wait, but he ran after the exhaust of Su Yan's whereabouts. He was really scared. Now that he finally got the exact news, he wished he could send the letter to the other party immediately, ask for a reply letter, and return to Beijing immediately. Cross business, so as not to have long nights and dreams.

He decided to wait outside the Prince's Mansion in Pingliang County and wait until Su Yan came out.

So this personal guard crouched in disgrace on the corner of the street with Yu Wang's fiery love letter in his arms, gnawed on soy milk and gnawed sesame seed cakes, and stared at the gate of the Prince's Mansion in Pingliang County.

His eyes were too eager, with resentment from running around for a long time, and his purpose was too obvious. After more than half an hour, he caught the attention of the guards of the county palace.

Originally, the guards were too lazy to take care of the affairs outside the palace, but recently it was an extraordinary period, and they had frequent conflicts with the officials of the two temples, so they had to be more vigilant.According to their county king, "This Su Twelve is the best at cuddling grass and beating rabbits. You think he only kicks you in front of you, but he is actually lighting the back of your ass! So show off your tricks to this king. , don’t just stare at one place, you have to watch all directions and listen to all directions, you know?”

The guards of the palace who were watching Liulu noticed the man squatting at the end of the street, and suspected that he was here to watch, either the guards from the two temples, or the Jinyiwei spies sent by Su Twelve, and hurriedly reported to the prince.

At this moment, Zhu Yougou deliberately left Su Yan, who came to collect debts, in the flower hall, and asked the maid to serve him with tea and snacks, and he refused to come out because he said he was sick.

Hearing that the guard came to report, he immediately took the case and said: "Ming people don't do secret things! He, Su Twelve, came here when he came to kick the hall, and he secretly spied on the private affairs. He wanted to shoot some dark arrows at the king? Put a sack on that person, first Beat him up and then take him to the mansion, this king will interrogate him slowly."

After the guards got the order, they secretly outflanked the man from the rear, trapped the man who ate sesame seed cakes, and dragged him to the palace after a beating.

The man yelled in the sack: "I'm not a villain! I'm a messenger...I'm from Prince Yu's Mansion, let go!"

The sack was very stuffy, and he was beaten so badly that his nose was bruised and his face was swollen. He could not speak clearly. The guard sneered and said, "What is it from the palace? There is no one like you in our palace! How dare you pretend to be an impostor? This time you are Li Gui. Li, I can't run away!"

After dragging the sack into the palace, the man was gagged and tied to the pillars of the hall, waiting for the king of Pingliang County to deal with him.The guards searched him, and threw weapons, waist tags, broken silver, envelopes... miscellaneous on the table.

The chief guard grabbed the waist card, looked at the inscription on it, gave the opponent an elbow, and said mockingly: "Prince Yu's Mansion? You can't pretend to be a member of Prince Yu's Mansion, but you have to pretend to be someone from Prince Yu's Mansion? Do you know where King Yu is? The capital, At the feet of the Son of Heaven, you are locked up like a lion and tiger in a cage. How can you care about the outside world! He asked you to deliver the letter, to whom? To our lord? Does he know who our lord is? A joke!"

The man was beaten until his nose bleeds, and he wanted to tell, but his mouth was gagged and he couldn't speak.

At this time, Zhu Yougou came in with a fat body, and after listening to the head of the guard, he took the waist card, weighed it, and hissed: "This waist card is quite realistic, the material and format are correct, could it be Steal it from Prince Yu's mansion?"

He picked up the envelope again and looked through it. There was a personal seal on the wax paint, and he carefully identified two words: "Jincheng".Like a person's name.

Zhu Yougou felt that the name seemed familiar, and after thinking about it, he suddenly realized: Isn't this the real name of King Yu Zhu Xujing? !

The sons of the first emperor all took "hibiscus" when they were named.After Jin ascended the throne, according to the rules, all the princes had to change their names, and they were not allowed to use this word. His father, King Cun, also changed his name.Even hibiscus flowers are renamed "Buddha Sanghua" among the people, just to avoid sacred taboos.

Looking around the world, only Prince Yu, the younger brother of the Son of Heaven, dared to use this old name in private.

Someone once caught this little pigtail and reported to the emperor, saying that King Yu kept his old name because of his resentment towards the Holy Majesty, and he must have the heart of disobedience.Without further ado, the emperor beheaded the informer, and said: "When I summoned King Yu yesterday, I still called him 'Jincheng'. Why, I also have resentment towards myself? Who will dare to use these unreasonable things in the future? The crime of trying to provoke discord in the clan, I will punish his clan!"

The prince and the county kings all know about this, and they can clearly see the status of King Yu in the mind of the Holy One—only he is his real brother, and the others are fake brothers and nephews, who are honestly squatting in the domain It’s just right to go to the capital to write congratulatory essays and get some rewards and spend time and wine in the capital during the festivals. As for other things, don’t even think about it.

Apart from the clan and the cronies around him, who would know the real name of King Yu?

If this letter was really written by King Yu, this taboo name would be used on the wax seal, which also shows that the recipient has a close relationship with him.

It was only then that Zhu Yougou realized that he might have really beaten his uncle's messenger by accident——

He hurried forward, tore off the cloth ball from the messenger's mouth, and asked anxiously, "The letter was written by King Yu? To whom?"

The courier had a few teeth knocked out, gasped for breath while swallowing blood foam, and did not speak.

Zhu Yougou thought to himself, if you don't tell me, I'll take it apart and look at it myself.

He tore open the envelope in twos and twos, unfolded the letter paper, and just read two lines, as if a dye shop had been opened on his face, the red, white, yellow and green were changing, it was really wonderful.From shock to unbelievable to suddenly enlightened, from contempt to a flash of inspiration to unfinished, Zhu Yougou finally raised his head and laughed, extremely carefree.

He winked at the chief of guards, and walked out of the room with the letter.

The messenger scolded angrily behind him: "As the county king and nephew, how dare you open the secret letter from the prince's uncle? If you commit such a crime, you are not afraid of offending the king of Yu, and the emperor will punish you!"

Zhu Yougou ignored him and thought to himself: This letter should fall into the hands of the king, God is helping me!

As for King Yu's messenger, he would be offended anyway, so if he really couldn't do it, he would destroy the corpse and wipe out all traces!The sky is high here, the emperor is far away, and the king of Yu is in the capital, how can he know where the messenger Lian Xin has gone?Maybe the letter was lost on the way, and the person died in the hands of thieves or tartars, and there is no proof of death.

Seeing that the master was in a good mood, Shi, the head of the palace who followed behind, asked attentively, "What good news did the prince get?"

Zhu Yougou had a strange smile on his face: "It's very good to send a pillow when you are sleepy!"

He got on the carriage and told the servants who carried the carriage to go to the flower hall.Chang Shi asked as he walked: "My lord is going to see that Su Yushi? Are you going to leave him alone?"

Zhu Yougou stroked his belly: "How long can I let it hang out? This king pretending to be sick is just a stopgap measure. His Su Twelve's trick is called courtesy first and soldiers later. If this king doesn't show up today, he will be able to ignore his sympathy as soon as he returns. Leading troops to level my manor, do you believe it or not?"

Chang Shi nodded and said, "I believe."

Zhu Yougou was furious: "You don't believe me! That bastard who pretends to be powerful, thinks he can scare me with the imperial decree and the monk's square sword? After all, I am the king of the county! The grandson of the late emperor! The real noble! He didn't dare to slash his neck!"

"Yes, yes, the lord has great insight, but his subordinates are ignorant, so they were frightened by him." Chang Shi hurriedly bowed his hands and confessed.But I thought in my heart: our lord will be even more stern when he feels guilty, this problem may not be corrected in a lifetime.If you are really not afraid of the imperial decree and monk Fang Jian, why bother to pretend to be sick and hide for a while?I don't know what was written in this letter, and the prince instantly gained the confidence to go head-to-head with that iron-toothed Su Twelve and the five thousand Jinyiwei.

Zhu Yougou read the letter again from the beginning to the end, and felt that it was both fragrant and irritating to the eyes. After thinking about it carefully, he still had some fun in his heart - King Yu was famous for wandering in the flowers, and his romantic affairs with young and beautiful courtiers, He also heard about it in Pingliang.It's just that I didn't expect that this Su Yushi, who looked upright and stern, talked about the righteousness of his family and country, and secretly had such a wicked relationship with his prodigal uncle Wang!

But it's not surprising when you think about it, after all, Su Yan was born with a good-looking face, and it was reasonable for King Yu to regard him as a sex hunter.

If this letter is thrown in the face, even if it doesn't ruin Su Yan's reputation, it will be enough to pour the dirty water on him to welcome the traitor, show off, and flatter the prince. Then what face will he have to speak nonsense in Shaanxi official circles?

With such a handle in hand, Su Yan didn't have to weigh his words and deeds.Threats first, then lures, and pulled him into his own boat.

Money touches people's hearts, and everyone has a price to buy, more or less.He didn't believe it anymore, there really are people who don't love money in this world!