To The Land of Nevernight

The three princes left Beijing for half a year, and when they left, they were white men, and they did not make any meritorious service.After arriving at the place under his jurisdiction, he naturally worked hard and wanted to make some achievements.

The second prince, Zhao Shang, went to Gusu. He originally wanted to start with the Yinqi Village of the Ministry of War and join the Yinyin Division's errand.His intentions were good, he wanted to work for Yin Yinsi and help Yin Yinsi to do better with the local errands in Gusu Mansion, but this matter was not as simple as he thought.For some reason, he didn't do the work of Yin Yinsi anymore, and now he handed over the booklet, which said that he led the troops to exterminate a group of water bandits.

The fourth prince, Zhao Jing, went to Jizhou.The lower reaches of the Yellow River cross Jizhou, and every year floods, Jizhou will become a vast ocean, and the people will be displaced.Zhao Jing found a skilled craftsman from the Ministry of Industry to consolidate the Jizhou dam again.

The fifth prince Zhao Ji went to Liangzhou.Gusu Mansion is a prosperous and prosperous place, but fortunately there are occasional water bandits who can make a fuss from it; since the state is a place where the Yellow River must pass, as long as the embankment is strengthened, it can be regarded as credit.Liangzhou is different.

Liangzhou is located in the Central Plains, where the people are rich and well-off. Since ancient times, there have been no natural or man-made disasters, and no major disasters have occurred.The fifth prince, Zhao Ji, wanted to break his head, so he listened to the advice of his staff and started with the administration of officials.Although the effect is not obvious, but its meaning is far-reaching, and it takes painstaking efforts, which can be compared with Zhao Shang and Zhao Jing.

Now that the New Year is approaching, the three princes all wanted to return to Beijing for the New Year, so they wrote a note together and sent it up.

Because the prince's memorial was sent directly to Zhao Fu's case without going through the Qinzheng Hall, no one "marked the key points" for the three's memorial.Zhao Fu opened a booklet, and the beginning reads, "My son came from Gusu to study, and he was sleepless day and night. Thinking about his father, he felt ashamed and heartbroken."...

What a bunch of shit.

After reading the three memorials while pinching his nose, Zhao Fu became a little interested in the errands run by the Fifth Prince Zhao Ji.He took the third booklet and looked at it for a long time, and finally called Shen Yun, Minister of the Ministry of Officials: "My sons want to go back to Shengjing for the New Year, what does Shen Qing think?"

Shen Yun said respectfully: "At the beginning of each year, local officials above the fifth rank come to the Ministry of Officials to report on their duties. It is natural for the three princes to want to return to Beijing. However, the princes have different identities, so naturally they don't have to follow the rules of the Ministry of Officials. It was justifiable to return to Beijing before. I think it is very appropriate."

Zhao Fu: "Then let them come back."

The news that the three princes were about to return to Beijing spread throughout Shengjing overnight.

Officials sent the imperial decree to Gusu, Jizhou, and Liangzhou. At the same time, officials in Shengjing also had speculations.

Tang Shen also smelled something different from Zhao Fu's will this time.It is no small matter for the three princes to return to the capital. I am afraid that there will be a torrential flood waiting to submerge the capital.

However, no one thought that two days after the emperor's decree was issued, an interesting incident happened in Shengjing City.

The right servant of the Ministry of Industry and the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, Su Wenyun, Mr. Su, was forced to marry by his family!

Mr. Su is twenty-six this year, he is really old, and he has never been married.The Su family is a big family in Northern Zhili, because Su Wenyun has the highest official position in this generation of Su family, so no one has dared to urge him.In addition, Su Wenyun stayed in the capital all year round and did not go home, so the Su family could not go to Shengjing to find him.

But seeing that Su Wenyun was 27 during the Chinese New Year, the Su family couldn't help but be anxious.

The old Mrs. Su came to Shengjing from Beizhili overnight, holding the family rules and whips, forcing Su Wenyun to kneel in the ancestral hall, looking at the ancestral spirit tablet, looking at the tablets of his parents, asking him to recite the family rules, ordering him not to If you continue to indulge, you will start a family.

In the past, only Su Wenyun, the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, took the criminal officials as living targets and beat them to death, so there was no place for him to be taught a lesson.This anecdote spread all over the streets and alleys of Shengjing in an instant, and became a joke in the back houses of many officials.

"There are three ways to be unfilial, and the greatest thing is to have no offspring. Are you worthy of your parents who left early!"

Su Wenyun knelt until her knees were blue, but she didn't dare to be presumptuous to her own grandma.Poor him, a third-rank official, was forced to kneel at home, and he hasn't said anything yet.

This incident caused a stir all over the city, and soon even Zhao Fu knew about it.

Zhao Fu summoned Su Wenyun into the palace, and asked curiously, "But it's true?"

The expression on Su Wenyun's face suddenly became extremely exciting, his knees were swollen, could it be true?

In the vertical arch hall, Zhao Fu's cheerful laughter came.

In a few days, the right servant of the Ministry of Industry received the imperial edict and went to Cizhou to inspect the built Cizhou official road.

After a word of decree, the officials have their own feelings.

Tang Shen felt that something was interesting: "The forced marriage by the Su family is not necessarily a lie, nine out of ten it is indeed true. Su Wenyun himself never thought that Mrs. Su would come to Shengjing. It's just that he was forced to kneel in the ancestral hall Kneeling for a day and a night... Is this really what Su Wenyun did?"

Tang Shen sighed in his heart: "Anyway, once this incident happened, he took the opportunity to leave Shengjing. I'm afraid he won't come back until next year's Lichun. It can be regarded as avoiding the momentum of the three princes returning to Beijing."

Su Wenyun left Beijing logically, but others were not as lucky as him.

Tang Shen didn't know that, the day before Su Wenyun left Beijing, a memorial was sent from Youzhou to Shengjing and placed on Zhao Fu's desk.Shang Shu Zuo Pu shot Wang Qin's letter, expressing the hardships of Yinyin's errands, which cannot be accomplished overnight, nor can it be achieved by one person.The implication is that every word is implying that he wants to ask the emperor for someone, and transfer Tang Shen from Shengjing to Youzhou, and handle the errand of Yin Yinsi with him.

Zhao Fu knew the relationship between Wang Qin and Tang Shen a long time ago, and now that Wang Qin wrote this note, he even hinted at the end of the note that he misses Tang Shen dearly.This is a private word that only a favorite minister can say to the emperor. Others can't understand it, but Zhao Fu understands what Wang Zifeng means.

However, unfolding Wang Qin's colorfully written notebook, Zhao Fu wrote a sentence in an understatement.

"I know."

Today, Zhao Fu sent Yu Chaosheng, Xu Linghou and others to Youzhou, except Tang Shen.

A few days later, Tang Shen heard about Wang Qin asking the emperor for someone, and he understood the twists and turns in a few moments.His heart warmed, and he thought of Wang Zifeng's kindness, so he wrote a letter and sent it to Youzhou.The letter is concise and to the point, writing five-character quatrains written by a poet in the previous dynasty.

"May you have less worries, and the green plums in the west window are ripe.

Smell Huang Shiyu, happy to meet each other. "

After sending the letter to Youzhou, Tang Shen was in a serious mood, and even more thought about Zhao Fu's intentions.

Tang Shen was originally the right deputy censor of Yin Yinsi, and Wang Qin needed people for his affairs, so it was only reasonable for the emperor to send him there.But he would rather send Xu Linghou, the left servant of the household department, than Tang Shen.

Into the twelfth lunar month, the weather is getting colder.

Tang Shen looked at the sky covered by thick clouds in Shengjing City, frowning.

The vicissitudes of the officialdom have nothing to do with the common people.

As Chinese New Year was approaching, Aunt Yao and Tang Juan bought a lot of necessities for the New Year, and pasted couplets all over the doors of their house.Yao San hurried back to Shengjing on the sixteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, and he brought Tang Shen good news as soon as he came: "My little master, I found what you wanted in Liao Kingdom!"

Tang Shen asked in surprise, "Did you really find it?"

Yao San: "I can still lie to you. You originally said that there are many things in the north, and there is no need to go to Liao Kingdom. We should have them near Jingzhou in the Song Dynasty. But I have been looking for more than a year, but I still haven't found what you want. The thing, or it’s too little, doesn’t work. It’s just that I don’t understand what you want it for. I found a local person and asked around. This thing is a fuel, which can be used for iron making and so on. But Iron, how much do you need?"

Tang Shen: "What is it called?"

Yao San has long been used to Tang Shen seeing something in an ancient book, but he doesn't know the name, but wants him to find it.He replied: "The locals call it graphite. It's all black and hard. I don't see how it's useful."

Tang Shenchang sighed: "So it's called graphite. Graphite..." He smiled, "It's also interesting that it is called this. You don't know what it is for. In fact, I don't know it now. Maybe I have spent my whole life , after all, it is just graphite for ironmaking, maybe it will become something like gold that makes you obsessed."

Yao San was surprised: "So amazing?"

Tang Shen: "I suddenly remembered that when I first entered the officialdom, I wanted to be an official the most."

Yao San: "Little Master, what kind of official do you want to be? But a senior official, a first-rank official like Lord Wang?"

Tang Shen's eyes gradually calmed down, he laughed helplessly, and said, "Like Wang Zifeng? Shangshu Zuopu shot? Or like the right minister Wang Chuan and Wang Xianggong, the left minister and the right minister have the power to rule? Member, I never thought about it. Who would know, when I rode out of Xuanwu Gate on a tall horse when I was on the gold list that day, my eyes caught Lord Yuan Muyuan."

Yao San: "Who is Master Yuan?"

Tang Shen said seriously: "Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, Master Yuan Muyuan!"

Yao San was stunned and said: "The official you most want to be, Xiaodong, is actually the Minister of the Ministry of Industry?"

"I just thought about it. Once you enter the court, what you can do and what the future will be are no longer up to you. The world is not controlled by people, but by the sky? You are the king!"

Accompanied by Tang Shen's memories of the past and many emotions, five carriages entered the capital from the west gate.

Fifth Prince Zhao Ji was the first to return to Beijing.

On the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, the second prince Zhao Shang also rushed back to Shengjing from Gusu Mansion.

On the same day, Tang Shen told the patient's family that he would not see any more guests.

The three princes had just returned to Shengjing, and they were all apprehensive and uneasy, not daring to act rashly.But the emperor prayed to the gods and recited the Buddha wholeheartedly, only met them once, asked a few words, "I have eaten well and dressed warmly in the past six months", and then ignored them.

The fourth prince, Zhao Jing, first visited Jing Zhaoyin and Liu Quande. The two have been friends for many years, and there is no problem in getting along with each other.Zhao Jing used this as a knocking stone to test the emperor's reaction.Zhao Fu was indifferent to this, so he felt relieved and gradually began to visit various officials.Seeing this, the other two princes also stretched out their hands and feet, and they were no longer so restrained.

On the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, the night before New Year's Eve, the emperor held a banquet in the Yanchun Pavilion to have fun with his officials.

On New Year's Eve, there will be a family banquet in the palace, and only relatives of the emperor will be present at that time.Therefore, on the eve of every year, the emperor will hold a banquet to have fun with all the officials.

Tang Shen couldn't stop participating in such a grand banquet.

At night, hundreds of carriages lined up outside the gate of the palace like a long dragon.The officials in official robes got out of the carriage and entered the palace on foot.As long as they are officials of the fourth grade or above, no matter what position they are in, they can go to the Spring Pavilion to participate in the banquet.So along the way, Tang Shen met some officials he knew, but most of them he didn't know.

Gong'e lit the palace lantern, and saw the three princes entering the Yanchun Pavilion surrounded by the lanterns.