After the emperor left, the Shen family felt like they were in a dream.
Lu Ruoxi, Shen Heng and his wife returned to the main hall and sat down together, without saying anything for a long time.
After a while, Shen Heng said: "I don't know what kind of contribution eldest brother has made, but he was able to alert the Holy Emperor to leave the palace and come to our house in person..."
Lu Ruoxi sighed slightly and said, "No matter what achievements he made, he probably suffered a lot. I heard that others also followed him to Northern Qi and are no longer in Huai'an."
At this point, she looked at Shen Heng, hesitated, and said: "Uncle, this matter should be big. Now that my husband is not at home, you can only be the backbone of our family. I mean, you go I went to Uncle Zhao’s house and asked him for advice..."
"Let's see if there is any news from him, or if he has anything to tell us."
Shen Heng nodded silently, stood up, cupped his hands to Lu Ruoxi and said, "Sister-in-law said that I will leave now to find Uncle Zhao."
Lu Ruoxi thought for a while, then stood up and said, "It's not good to go empty-handed. I heard my husband say before that Uncle Zhao likes to eat our Jiangdu square cake, but I don't know how to make it. It just so happens that I can make it. The two of us After two days of making some, you take them to the Zhao family and say they were made by family members."
Chen Youniang was born in a farm family. Although she is a little timid in big scenes, she is very hard-working and can do any job. Jiangdu square cake is a famous delicacy in Jiangdu. She is hard-working and learned how to do it when she was working in Shenjiacheng, Jiangdu.
Shen Heng nodded, looked back at Chen Youniang, and said with a smile: "Madam, you are pregnant and still making these pastries, thank you for your hard work."
Chen Youniang was a little shy, lowered her head and touched her belly, and said softly: "It's okay, my sister-in-law said, it's better to exercise more now. The children in the future will be healthier. Look at Yuan'er, he hasn't been sick very often. "
"correct."
Chen Youniang asked: "Today, His Majesty said that Yuan'er will be granted the title of Chengzhilang. What kind of official position is this?"
Shen Heng smiled and said: "You are in the sixth grade, which is higher than my uncle."
Chen Youniang was amazed again and again.
After Shen Heng said a few words to his sisters-in-law, he went to get a handful of square cakes under the leadership of Chen Youniang, held it in his hand, and then walked out of the house and walked towards the Zhao family.
It happened to be evening at this time. When Shen Heng walked to the Zhao family, someone from the Zhao family was already waiting at the door. They welcomed him in directly and took him to Zhao Shangshu's study, where he met Zhao Changping who was studying.
Shen Heng walked in, first put the things aside, then bowed his hands respectfully, lowered his head and saluted: "Meet Master."
Zhao Shangshu put down the scroll in his hand, looked up at Shen Heng, and said with a smile: "I guessed that Zichang was coming today, so I came back a little early."
Shen Heng then lifted up the square cake, placed it next to Zhao Shangshu, and said, "I heard that my uncle likes to eat square cakes, so I asked my family to make some and brought them to my uncle."
Zhao Shangshu was a little surprised: "Did someone at home make it?"
"yes."
Shen Heng lowered his head slightly and said, "My wife is very skillful and can do a little bit of everything."
Zhao Changping nodded repeatedly, put away the square cake, and motioned for Shen Heng to sit down. After Shen Heng sat down, he asked: "How do you feel about being in the Humanities Department of Zhongshushe recently?"
"Not bad."
Shen Heng quickly replied: "The seniors take good care of my nephew, and there is nothing difficult about the errands. It's just that I often sit for a long time, and sometimes I feel stiff."
Zhao Changping shook his head and said with a smile: "It's not because they take care of you, it's because they don't dare to provoke you."
"Your brother is a third-rank minister of the Ministry of War. He carries a lot of troops. Among those seventh-rank officials in the Zhongshu Sheren Department, who dares to offend you?"
Having said this, he paused and said with emotion: "Back then, when my uncle was just filling the vacancy, he also filled the position of a Beijing official. No matter which yamen he went to, he had to show his smiling face to others. He had to suffer slowly year after year. Isn't it good? Hard."
"Uncle, I still got over it. Your teacher couldn't stand this kind of life, so he simply resigned and went back to Jiangdu to teach."
Shen Heng nodded repeatedly, looked up at Zhao Changping, and whispered: "Uncle, today..."
Zhao Changping shook his head slightly and interrupted him.
"My uncle can probably guess what Zichang wants to ask. He just wants to ask why your Majesty suddenly went to the Shen family today."
Shen Heng lowered his head: "It turns out that my uncle already knows."
"I'm not the only one who knows."
Zhao Changping shook his head slightly and said: "The dragon chariot left the palace from the main entrance, with all the guards of honor, and arrived at the door of Shen's house. Most of Jiankang City may already know about this."
Shen Heng looked at Zhao Changping and asked, "Do you know, uncle, why..."
"have no idea."
Zhao Shangshu shook his head slightly and said: "Not only does my uncle not know about it at this time, I am afraid that the prime ministers in the imperial court may not know about it either, but one thing is certain now."
"This is a blessing rather than a curse for the Shen family."
Zhao Shangshu patted Shen Heng on the shoulder and said softly.
"Relax and do whatever you have to do. Your Majesty is the Holy Lord and Mingjun, and he will not do anything without reason. I want to wait for a day or two, at most two or three days, and we will see the result."
Shen Heng quickly lowered his head and said, "Yes, thank you for your guidance, uncle."
…………
In fact, without waiting for two or three days, Shen Yi's report to the court was delivered to Jiankang the next morning.
There are still two copies, one is sent to the palace, and the other is sent to the court for delivery to Zhongshu.
After seeing this report, the Zhongshu Prime Ministers headed by Chen Jing all widened their eyes with disbelief.
However, because the news of the emperor leaving the palace yesterday spread almost throughout the Jiankang official circle, these prime ministers were already somewhat mentally prepared. They just blew their beards and glared, and did not do anything too extraordinary.
After all five prime ministers had read the document, Prime Minister Chen stood up silently with a calm expression: "Everyone, regardless of whether the contents of this memorial are true or false, we must all enter the palace together to see His Majesty."
Cui Yu and Cui Xiang took a deep breath and said in a somewhat obscure voice: "At the beginning of the year, the imperial court did not allow the Huai'an army to attack Qi. This Shen Yi..."
Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Prime Minister Xie Min who had already stood up. Prime Minister Xie stroked his beard, looked at Cui Yu with a smile, and said: "Prime Minister Cui, what happened at the beginning of the year?" You have seen the imperial edict that allows Shen Yi to act expediently."
"Do you want to deny it now?"
Cui Yu snorted and said: "Xie Xiang, I don't mean to deny it, but there is a limit to doing things cheaply! Could it be that just because of the words "acting cheaply", he led his troops to turn around and rebel, that's also..."
"alright."
Hearing that he was getting more and more outrageous, Chen Jing gave a low drink, interrupted him, and said: "Cui Xiang, if you continue to talk nonsense at this time, Your Majesty will blame you, and no one can protect you."
Cui Yu also realized that his mood was a bit wrong. He quickly adjusted it and said: "Mr. Chen misunderstood. I am not dissatisfied with Shen Yi. I am just worried that my army will penetrate deep into the territory of Northern Qi alone. If How can we get it when we are surrounded by Qi people in Xuzhou?"
Chen Jing looked calm.
"All this will be discussed after meeting with His Majesty."
Xie Xiang glanced at Cui Yu with a smile and said, "When I meet His Majesty, if Prime Minister Cui dares to say what he just said again in front of His Majesty, from now on, I will only follow Prime Minister Cui's lead."
Cui Yu was annoyed by his strange words, and he couldn't help but feel embarrassed. He snorted and turned his face away.
The two prime ministers, Yue Qian and Yu Fang, stood aside with smiles and did not get involved.
Soon, the five prime ministers of Zhongshu Province took Shen Yi's memorial all the way into the palace and came to the Manlu Hall to see His Majesty the Emperor who was studying.
The five people bowed their heads and saluted.
"My ministers, please pay homage to Your Majesty."
Emperor Hongde looked up and saw the five prime ministers standing neatly in front of him. He was startled and stood up quickly. He said with a smile: "What kind of big event can alarm my five prime ministers?" Come together?"
Although the emperor's performance was a bit "pretentious", the five prime ministers could only act with him. Prime Minister Chen Jing stepped forward, holding a document in his hand, and said: "Congratulations, Your Majesty! Congratulations, Your Majesty!"
"The Huai'an army won a great victory in the north, defeated the Qi people, and regained the important city of Xuzhou!"
Seeing what he said, several prime ministers could only raise their hands and congratulate the emperor.
His Majesty the Emperor blinked.
"What? Aren't the Huai'an troops incompetent? How could they occupy the city of Xuzhou?"
The four words "unattractive" were openly spoken by a certain prime minister two years ago. At this time, the emperor said them in a strange way, which was quite harsh.
The emperor frowned and said, "Is it possible that there was a mistake, or that the Huai'an army lied about their military exploits?"
Chen Jing lowered his head helplessly and said, "Your Majesty, Minister Shen should not dare to conceal such important military and national affairs."
"Your Majesty, please make a decision after reading the report handed over by Minister Shen."
The emperor stretched, then took the document from Chen Jing's hand. After calling it and reading it "seriously", he put it aside, sat back in his chair, and read it lightly. Look at the five old men in front of you.
"Since all the prime ministers feel that this matter is true, let's discuss a charter."
"Should we send troops from the Huaihe Navy to meet the Huai'an Army's return, or..."
The emperor spoke calmly.
"It's better to send our troops north and completely occupy Xuzhou Mansion."
(End of chapter)
