Although what An Qing said is reasonable and well-founded, this is not the focus of Lao Zhu's concern. What Lao Zhu cares about is the face of Da Mingxia and the royal family. Now that this incident has disgraced the royal family, it is impossible for him to let Han Du and Yao Yue go.
However, Lao Zhu did not reveal his inner thoughts. He just said to An Qing with a calm face: "I have to think about this carefully and let's talk about it later."
An Qing thought that his father was thinking of giving him a lighter sentence, so he smiled and nodded.
Lao Zhu also talked to An Qing's parents in a kind tone, and stayed with her to have a meal together before letting An Qing go back.
After An Qing left, Queen Ma looked melancholy and asked, "How is the emperor going to deal with it?"
"Huh!" Lao Zhu naturally knew what Queen Ma meant, and she didn't want him to let Han Du go. But this time, Lao Zhu didn't want to let Han Du go easily.
In his life, Lao Zhu has grown from a poor and untouchable to a king. What he cares about most is his face, especially the face of the royal family now. If Han Du is easily let go, where will the royal family's face be?
Empress Ma knew Lao Zhu very well. Seeing his expression, she knew that she couldn't persuade him now, so she had to sigh and say nothing more.
...
Time passed day by day, Han Du was always banned in the house, and Yao Yue was also under strict supervision.
Yao Yue is nothing. Although she is very famous, she has always been reclusive, so she has not appeared for a while and has not attracted people's attention.
But Han Du was different. As the Marquis of Zhenhai, he was building houses for hundreds of officials. Now it seems that the house has been repaired, the flowers, plants and trees that should be planted have been planted, the rockery and waterside pavilion have been completed, and even the water has been introduced into the pond. As a result, Han Du was nowhere to be seen, let alone saying anything about allocating a house.
You must know that this is a major event that concerns all the officials. One or two days are fine, but as time goes by, the officials become more and more restless and start to become restless. If you want to find out why the house has not been allocated yet, what is Han Du doing?
Under the prying eyes of countless people, Han Du's secret could not be hidden at all. Although the officials didn't know what was going on for a while, they still had a rough idea.
However, the officials were all smart people. They knew that this matter could easily arouse the emperor's anger, so they all pretended to be deaf and dumb. Even though I was extremely anxious about dividing the house, I had to hold it in and didn't dare to complain at this time.
While the officials of the capital were accompanying Han through the torturous days, Tang Ding entered the palace.
When Lao Zhu heard the old eunuch's report and Tang Ding entered the palace to ask for an audience, the Zhu batch in his hand couldn't help but tremble. A large piece of cinnabar ink fell on the memorial, and soon it smudged out into a large area, just like a piece of bright red blood.
"Quick pass!"
The old eunuch was suddenly in a trance when he heard the emperor's words. He actually heard a hint of sadness in the emperor's tone. The emperor is the supreme king in the world. He kills with his heart and always acts calmly. What else can make the emperor so sad?
"yes."
After replying hastily, the old eunuch quickly ran out of the palace gate.
Soon Tang Ding followed the old eunuch in.
Lao Zhu was sitting on the dragon chair, feeling unusually restless. When he saw Tang Ding's sad face, his heart sank even more. Before Tang Ding could pay his respects, he immediately stood up and asked, "How is my second brother?"
Tang Ding was confused, his legs went weak and he fell to his knees, bursting into tears, "Go back to the emperor, my father... my father is dead."
If Lao Zhu gets the news, what's the point? He immediately shouted to the old eunuch: "Quickly, show off to Duke Xin's Mansion."
After taking two steps, he stopped and turned around and ordered again: "Send someone to inform the queen, quickly."
Lao Zhu and Queen Ma hurriedly arrived at Duke Xinguo's Mansion, where the housekeeper was directing people to prepare white cloth. Everyone looked sad. Seeing the emperor coming, the housekeeper quickly led his servants to kneel down.
But Lao Zhu ignored them at all, staring unblinkingly at the room where Tang He was, and kept walking in a hurry to get there.
Tang Ding followed behind, and after signaling everyone to get up, he also hurriedly followed.
Lao Zhu came to Tang He's house and saw Zhu Rui here.
When Zhu Zhu heard the commotion, he turned around and saw his father. He quickly bowed his hands and said, "My son, I pay my respects to my father, and I pay my respects to my queen."
Queen Ma nodded in agreement.
Lao Zhu's gloomy face could not help but soften a little when he saw Zhu Zhu, and said softly: "Forget it. How is Duke Xin's condition?"
Zhu Rui sighed, shook his head and said, "When the oil is gone and the lamp is dry, I'm afraid it's just tonight."
Lao Zhu suddenly asked with dissatisfaction: "Didn't it mean that Han Du found the holy nourishing product, didn't he use it for his second brother?"
"I have been using it all the time, and it has never broken." Zhu Zhu said helplessly: "But no matter how nourishing the holy product is, if the body's bones are broken, it is just treating the symptoms and not the root cause."
After listening to Zhu Xi's answer, Lao Zhu also knew that life and death were determined by destiny, and sometimes even he, the emperor, could not force it.
After exhaling, Lao Zhu said softly to Zhu Zhu: "Let me see my second brother."
"Yes." Zhu Ru bowed slightly and said, "But Duke Xin is in a coma now. I am not sure when he will wake up. It is also possible that he will never wake up again."
Then he stepped aside and stood with his mother.
Lao Zhu still stepped forward, reached Tang He's bedside, and looked at him quietly. It's just that the current Tang He is far different from the high-spirited second brother in Lao Zhu's heart. Being bedridden for a long time made Lao Zhu lose weight a lot, and his formerly plump cheeks became sunken. The eyes were sunken, as if they were skin and bones. The white hair on his head had no luster, and was as dry as weeds.
Strangely enough, Zhu Tie was not sure that Tang He would be able to wake up. Not long after Lao Zhu sat down, he slowly opened his eyes.
Lao Zhu was surprised when he saw it. Before he could recover, he heard Tang He's words.
"The Emperor is here~"
Lao Zhu couldn't help but be overjoyed when he saw that Tang He could speak and speak clearly. He quickly grabbed Tang He's hand and said, "Second brother, have you made it through this? When you are cured, we will hold a big banquet to celebrate you."
Tang He smiled and said: "You don't have to spend money to get the upper hand. We know our own body and bones. We are recovering from the past and there is nothing we can do about it."
"Second brother, you..." Lao Zhu was shocked and was about to speak.
But Tang He interrupted Lao Zhu's words and smiled at Queen Ma behind him, "If you please, please come and see us off, Tang He is ashamed to accept it."
After hearing this, Queen Ma stepped forward and looked at the smile on Tang He's face, her tone was astringent and she was speechless.
Lao Zhu didn't pay attention to Tang He's rudeness, looked at him and said: "Second brother, there is still something that I can't let go of, but it doesn't matter."
After hearing this, Tang He glanced at Tang Ding and asked, "Why didn't Han Du come? Isn't this a bad old man like us worthy of a visit?"
Tang Ding's expression froze and he subconsciously looked at Lao Zhu.
Lao Zhu took a deep breath and said, "He has been grounded by me."
Tang He seemed to have become accustomed to it, and smiled and said: "This son-in-law should not let the superior worry about it, but Han Du is a great talent, so the superior should not be too harsh on him."
Lao Zhu suddenly felt a surge of anger in his heart. He looked at Tang He's face and gritted his teeth to hold back.
His behavior was naturally noticed by Tang He. After a pause, he asked worriedly: "Han Du, have you committed another crime?"
Seeing that Lao Zhu didn't want to mention Han Du, Queen Ma naturally knew that the hurdle in his heart had not passed yet. Then he explained to Tang He: "Han Du and a woman..."
Tang He endured the discomfort and listened hard, and then he understood why the superiors had banned Han Du.
Queen Ma looked at Tang He longingly, hoping that he could say a few good words to Han Du, but Tang He did not mention this. Instead, he took out a book of memorials from the quilt and handed it to Lao Zhu.
"The superiors use their troops. They have their own plans for conquering the grasslands, so I won't do anything. However, I have a little knowledge on the defense of sea frontiers. I hope it can be of help to the superiors."
Lao Zhu took the booklet and said movedly: "Second brother, why don't you take good care of your health just because of this booklet?"
Tang Hesan smiled and replied: "I started writing this book early in the morning, but I always felt that it was not perfect, so I revised it many times without submitting it to the superior. However, I can't change it now, even if I have Omissions can only be reported to the superior."
Lao Zhu opened it and took a quick look, then raised his head and asked: "Second brother, do you think there will be a threat from the Ming Dynasty on the sea?"
Tang He nodded and said: "I believe that there are two threats to the Ming Dynasty. One is the grassland, such as the tribes of the Mongolian and Yuan Dynasties. The other is the sea, such as Japanese pirates. In fact, the main idea of this booklet comes from Han Du .”
When Lao Zhu heard Han Du's name, he couldn't help but paused, but he didn't say anything and continued to listen to Tang He's words.
When Queen Ma heard Tang He mention Han Du, she suddenly understood. Sure enough, Tang He was the one who knew the emperor best. If Tang He had directly spoken and begged for Han Du just now, it might not have had the slightest effect. Instead, he might have asked the emperor to punish Han Du heavily.
And now that Tang He attributes the credit for his entry into the book to Han Du, even if the emperor is dissatisfied, seeing that Han Du has made the contribution, he will be relieved a lot.
The emperor's reaction now proves this point well.
Tang He saw that the emperor did not object, so he continued: "To defend against enemies overseas, build the Great Wall inside. This was the idea that Han Du and his ministers proposed when they discussed maritime defense. He believed that the Ming Dynasty's artillery and shipbuilding skills were unparalleled in the world. As long as it lasts forever, By maintaining the advantages of Ming Dynasty's artillery and shipbuilding skills, we can annihilate enemies overseas and protect Ming Dynasty's maritime borders. This is clearly reflected in the Japanese pirates. When I was in charge of the navy, I spent manpower, material and financial resources to build garrison. Guard against Japanese pirates. But the result is half the result with half the effort. Although we can withstand the Japanese pirates' attack, we will lose if we defend for a long time, and the Japanese pirates plunder a lot of people."
"But since Han Du took charge of the navy, he took the initiative to wipe out the Japanese pirates. He easily maintained the peace of the people along the coast of the Ming Dynasty for more than ten years. From this point of view, the war ministers on the sea are really not as good as Han Du .”
