Three steps into the courtyard of the Lord Protector's residence, in a wing to the east, a whale oil lamp was burning, and the light blue light illuminated the entire room, projecting the graceful shadow of Lady Yipin Gaoming.
Liu Zhaosun, who was not interested in powerful women, held the memorial in his hand and read it word by word in traditional Chinese vertical characters.
After the Jingnan, Liu Zhaosun had the power to approve memorials and votes, and his level of ancient prose improved by leaps and bounds.
Facing the official documents sent from all over the country, he went from being completely confused at the beginning to reading them effortlessly now.
Gaoming's wife, Yang Qing'er, had just taken a bath and was sitting in front of the bed, looking at her husband lovingly.
However, Liu Zhaosun was like a wooden man, showing no reaction to the stunning wife in front of him.
There is a mountain of memorials piled up on the desk.
Liu Zhaosun grabbed the Tang newspaper sent from Suidezhou and said angrily:
"Money! Money! Money! I only ask for money from the court and the people! I just opened my mouth and asked for two million taels of relief silver!"
"There were disasters in the two counties of Suidezhou last spring, but they have been delayed in reporting them until now. The people's taxes were still levied, and it was not worth a penny. How many people were killed! Damn it!"
"This group of rats are greedy for the imperial court's disaster relief money. They are not satisfied, and they want to take my own money. Damn it! No wonder they finally forced out a person like Li Zicheng."
A year has passed since the civil unrest in Mizhi County. The bandit leader Wang Er fled into the mountains and has not been caught.
The imperial court continued to allocate money and grain to Shaanxi, but the situation in various places continued to deteriorate. Refugees were rising in droves, and deserters and postmen continued to join.
Now, not only in Mizhi, but also in Longxi, Hanzhong, Fengxiang and other places, people's minds are agitated, lurking in the grass, and may break out at any time.
Liu Zhaosun has not paid much attention to the situation in Shaanxi.
It is said that it is just a disease caused by the disease. After all, there is no need to collect Liao pay now, and the burden on the people should be reduced a lot. Moreover, before the Eastern Expedition, the Lord Protector also asked the cabinet to urgently allocate 800,000 silver to Mizhi for disaster relief.
Unexpectedly, this delicate disease gradually developed into a disease of the elbows and armpits.
Now it seems that the 800,000 yuan for disaster relief has been wasted, and may now be hidden in the cellars of some officials' homes.
The water in Shaanxi is very deep.
If the delay continues like this, before Li Zicheng comes out, Sun Zicheng and Qian Zicheng will come out first.
At some point, Yang Qing'er had arrived behind Liu Zhaosun. Seeing that her husband was angry, she silently rubbed his shoulders and hit his back.
Liu Zhaosun adjusted his mood and turned around to smile at Yang Qing'er.
"Husband has many things to do every day, so don't get angry all the time."
Liu Zhaosun stretched out and looked out the window. The dark night sky was full of stars, and a waning moon hung in the western sky.
"What time is it?"
Yang Qing'er quickly said: "It's just past midnight."
In the afternoon, more than a thousand memorials were sent from the Supervisor of Ceremonies, requesting the Lord Protector to read them and approve them as soon as possible.
During the nearly half a year of the Eastern Conquest of Japan, Emperor Tianqi finally got a taste of power. Although the young emperor worked hard and worked overtime, thousands of memorials were backlogged. It is said that memorials from some provinces have been withheld for more than a month. .
Now that the Protector of the Country has returned and regained control of the power, he continues to do the hard work of revising the memorials.
The backlog of memorials included many urgent tasks related to disaster relief and counterinsurgency, and there was no room for delay. Therefore, the Lord Protector worked overtime after returning to the capital, not daring to carry any of them.
Even when I came to Yang Qing'er, I brought the memorial with me and I have been busy from noon to now.
"That's it for today."
Liu Zhaosun rubbed his bloodshot eyes and remembered that he had been sitting on this chair for two hours without moving. He couldn't help but worry that he would be like Yongzheng and be exhausted to death among the memorials one day.
The maid Shaoyao and the others had already gone to bed, and Yang Qing'er went to get hot water for her husband to soak his feet and wash himself.
Liu Zhaosun curled up in the Taishi chair to rest. He tilted his neck and stared blankly at the burned-out whale oil lamp above his head.
When Yang Qing'er pushed the door open and came in, he turned over and picked up an oil pot the size of an inkstone from the desk and added oil to the lampstand.
The lights were crackling, and a light blue halo rose in the room.
Liu Zhaosun took a handkerchief soaked in decoction and applied it on his dirty face. He felt refreshed.
After a while, his bloodshot eyes regained their vision as if they had been given eye drops.
Yang Qing'er put down a basin of hot water and picked up a bowl of steaming soup:
"Husband, drink the medicine first and then soak your feet."
Liu Zhaosun took off his handkerchief, took the soup and drank it in one gulp.
This Wu can give Huguo a public prescription - Danggui Huini Decoction, to treat the cold syndrome Liu Zhaosun left in Hetuala.
It is brewed with 17 medicinal herbs such as Angelica sinensis, Jiuhangshao, Beixin, Xiaomutong, Sichuan Achyranthes and so on. As long as you are awake at midnight, you must take a bowl to dispel cold and dampness, expel wind and dredge meridians. .
Yang Qing'er has already made more than ten pairs for her husband.
"
Putting your feet into the wooden basin filled with mugwort, your toes were immediately surrounded by warmth.
A warmth spread from the soles of the feet to the cold knees, and then surged up to the whole body.
Liu Zhaosun squinted his eyes and looked at Yang Qing'er standing next to him:
"Madam is really a good housekeeper. She is talented in literature and martial arts, calligraphy, painting, piano and chess, arithmetic and strategy, medicine and horoscopes, and the five elements. She is proficient in all of them. She is also a master in throwing pots."
"I've been with Jin Yuji for a long time, and I blurt out obscene words and flirtatious words... Is that just these, is there anything else?"
Liu Zhaosun stared at Yang Qing'er's whole body and looked at it carefully.
"Well, we'll talk about it later."
Yang Qing'er glanced at her lips and saw her husband suddenly took out a letter from the memorial and handed it to her with a smile:
"Today's last memorial, Madam, will read it to me. After reading it, turn off the light."
Yang Qing'er was speechless.
She took the envelope with sincerity. After opening it, her eyebrows furrowed slightly and she read in a manly voice:
"King Shangfeng of Ryukyu supervises the construction of warships for the purpose of arresting the Nanyang red barbarians..."
The king of Ryukyu was indeed effective in his affairs. Kaiyuan's army helped Ryukyu recover. In less than half a year, they began to build warships and prepare for an expedition to Australia.
Liu Zhaosun did not believe that Ryukyu had such courage and financial resources. If it had, it would not have been captured by Satsuma in the first place.
Sure enough, just listen to Yang Qing'er read at the end:
"The heart of boxing can be used to learn from the sun and the moon, but the funds are insufficient. I have to compete with the chief envoy Yuan Chonghuan. I have spent more than 100,000 taels of silver. There are hundreds of wastes in Handong Province waiting to be revitalized, but the amount is not enough, so many squares have been borrowed. But. May the Emperor use his time and money to pacify Australia..."
In the end, he still asked the court for money and regarded the Protector as the main culprit.
Liu Zhaosun chuckled, and was about to mock the Ryukyu King a few more words, when suddenly a faint fragrance filled his heart.
He quickly stood up and grabbed Yang Qing'er's arm, pulled her into his arms, and smelled her body.
"What kind of rouge gouache is this? It's so tempting. Why have you never smelled it before?"
Yang Qing'er chuckled and carefully placed the memorial of the King of Ryukyu.
"Director Xie sent it the day before yesterday. It was said to be the Chamber of Commerce's new perfume this year, made of ambergris."
Liu Zhaosun was shocked. He did not expect that the business of the Ocean Whaling Team had expanded to perfume purification.
"How come I don't know? Xie Guangkun never mentioned it."
Yang Qing'er knew that Xie Guangkun was Director Xie's alias, although she didn't know why Lord Dao called Xie Yang this name.
"My husband spends more than three hundred and sixty days a year and three hundred days fighting outside. He is either busy conquering cities and territories or accompanying your beautiful lady from Korea. How can he have time to care about other people? How many people did the whaling team find in Penglai in March? One hundred kilograms of ambergris were shipped back to the capital. I don’t know how much the chamber of commerce will sell it for this time..."
Seeing that there was something in Yang Qing'er's words, Liu Zhaosun quickly giggled.
The so-called ambergris is the secretion from the huge intestine of sperm whales. It is gray-brown and contains the unique scent of musk.
The fragrance is unique and the price is as high as gold.
As far as Liu Zhaosun knows, ambergris has been used as a high-end spice a long time ago. Even in later generations, perfumes containing ambergris are still synonymous with luxury goods.
"Did you give them money?"
Yang Qing'er knew her husband's temper and said quickly: "Of course I gave it. Don't worry, it's my private money. I usually go out for shopping, and I won't miss a penny from the Chamber of Commerce."
Liu Zhaosun nodded with satisfaction.
The two of them sat on the bedside, facing each other.
Liu Zhaosun suddenly discovered that Yang Qing'er was in a better shape than when he left half a year ago.
Under the light, the beauty only wore a tube top, her skin was as beautiful as snow, and she was extremely beautiful.
Liu Zhaosun held her in his arms and felt that Yang Qing'er was round and much bigger than half a year ago.
Sure enough, women have changed over the years, becoming more and more beautiful.
In addition, Yang Qing'er has been pampered by her parents since she was a child and has no foot binding, so she is very different from the morbid beauty of most upper-class women of this era.
She was born in the south of the Yangtze River. Although she is not as charming as Zhang Yan, she is elegant and refined, and her every move and smile has the aura of a beauty from the south of the Yangtze River.
Thinking of Yang Qing'er's suffering in the capital some time ago, Liu Zhaosun felt a twinge of love in his heart, but he just looked at Madam Gaoming longingly.
Seeing that her husband was already in love, Yang Qing'er stretched out her hand and gently took off his official robe, all the way to the inside. Suddenly she pushed Liu Zhaosun away, her eyebrows hanging upside down and she said:
"I heard that Zhang Yan is back. She is still pregnant, or is she a baby boy?"
Liu Zhaosun was in a state of confusion and was about to take the next step when he suddenly heard his wife's question. His face suddenly changed and his mouth felt as if he had eaten coptis. He replied after a long time:
"Madam, that was really an accident. I told Jin Yuji, that's all. I won't drink anymore. Drinking will cause trouble..."
When Liu Zhaosun wanted to speak again, Yang Qing'er leaned forward and blocked his mouth.
"My husband just said that I am proficient in calligraphy, painting, music, chess, arithmetic, medicine, astrology, and the five elements. How could there be such a powerful person in the world? However, I just read a medical book yesterday and got a prescription for a child. See if it works."
With that said, Yang Qing'er put on a big cloak and got up to blow out the whale oil lamp.
There was a sudden silence in the house, and the stars were moving outside the window. It was the third watch, and the bright moonlight passed through the west window of the wing and just fell on Mrs. Gaoming, showing off her willow waist.
Liu Zhaosun stared blankly at the beautiful figure in front of him until Yang Qing'er walked to the bedside and looked at him with a pair of crystal clear eyes.
The beauty's slender eyelashes blinked, like a pool of autumn water, pouring on Liu Zhaosun's slightly hot cheeks.
Liu Zhaosun's breathing also rose and fell.
