Yongzhou, Chang'an, inside the imperial palace. Royal study room.
Eunuch Li Yan reported to Chen Xuan who was reviewing the memorial.
"Your Majesty, my unfilial son is back."
"who?"
Chen Xuan asked without raising his head, "Come back as soon as you come back. What else did you tell me specifically?"
"Does he have something important to report?"
"no."
Li Yan said bitterly: "Your Majesty, you sent him to Donghai County to deliver the order to Xu Jiuguan, but Xu Jiuguan returned to the capital."
"My unfilial son returned to the capital and found that Xu Jiuguan had returned to Donghai County. As a result, the Holy Emperor's decree was not conveyed to Xu Jiuguan. My unfilial son came here to receive his punishment."
Chen Xuan was dumbfounded and sighed: "What an unlucky child."
"That decree is of no use. If it is not delivered, it is not delivered."
"Oh, by the way, did he go to Donghai County to deliver the order?"
"Then he should know something about Yun'an County. I'd like to invite him to see him. I have something to ask him."
As Li Yan shouted, the young eunuch Li Hecheng walked to the imperial study room in fear.
With a plop, he fell to his knees on the ground, shouting long live, and then drooped his head, not daring to raise his head.
"Unlucky boy, have you ever been to Yun'an County?"
Chen Xuan asked.
Unlucky kid?
me?
Li He asked himself.
Who gave you the nickname?
But when I think about it carefully, it seems quite unlucky.
I traveled back and forth for so long to deliver an imperial edict, but surprisingly I didn't meet anyone who would receive the edict.
He replied respectfully, "Your Majesty, I have been to Yun'an County."
"oh?"
Chen Xuan said unexpectedly: "Didn't you go to Donghai County to deliver the order? Why did you go to Yun'an County again?"
"I went with Tian Hanlin."
Li He reported truthfully.
He also mentioned Cao Qing's lawsuit against Zhao Ping.
"What?"
After hearing this, Chen Xuan was furious, "Mr. Zhao conquered the plague and saved their lives for these wolf-hearted people. They are so ungrateful that they even sued Mr. Zhao. They simply don't know how to live or die."
"Huang Fengnian did a good job. He finally did something very satisfying."
"You make another trip to Yun'an County to convey the decree and make Zhao Ping an imperial physician. Let's see who dares to accuse him of practicing medicine indiscriminately without being a medical officer?"
"ah?!"
Li He wanted to cry, but had no choice but to agree.
Just as he was about to say goodbye and leave, Chen Xuan asked again: "How is the situation in Yun'an County? Has the plague been really conquered?"
"This slave doesn't know."
After all, Li He didn't dare to speak nonsense when it came to the plague.
But when I think about the benefits I got from Zhao Ping, I have to say something nice.
After returning to Beijing, he secretly asked about the price of acacia wine. A jar of acacia wine had been sold for 20,000 taels, and the key point was that no one was willing to sell it.
The ministers in the DPRK were all proud to have acacia wine.
It is even vaguely intended to be a family heirloom.
Li He brought back three jars. According to the current price, that is 60,000 taels.
He cut himself off and entered the palace, and he would never earn that much in his lifetime.
So after pondering for a while, Li He continued: "But when we went to Yun'an County, many people gathered there, complaining about Mr. Zhao and asking the county magistrate to judge right from wrong."
"It doesn't look like he's sick at all."
"And combined with what Cao Qing said when he sued Mr. Zhao, it is not difficult to see that Mr. Zhao solved the plague."
"Hahaha, okay, great."
There were memorials before, but now there are witnesses. It can be confirmed that the plague in Yun'an County has really been solved.
The big stone hanging in Chen Xuan's heart was finally let go.
"Unlucky boy, this time you go to Yun'an County again and send an order for Zhao Ping to come to Beijing. I will reward him heavily."
"yes."
Li He answered respectfully.
I still felt a little awkward, as I couldn't take off the name of this unlucky child.
However, he could earn 60,000 taels of silver if he was unlucky once. Li He wanted to be unlucky every day.
"You go down."
Chen Xuan waved his hand and sent Li He away, but when he was about to walk out of the imperial study, Chen Xuan said again: "By the way, I went to the political hall and asked Su Wencheng, Xu Chun, Zhuge Yuanlang and others to come and see me."
"yes."
Li He took the order and went to the political hall.
When the purpose of their visit was mentioned, the three of them were dumbfounded.
what's the situation?
When His Majesty summons them, he usually asks Li Yan to deliver the message. Why would he let a young eunuch like Li He deliver the message?
Did Li He get reuse?
Or are the three of them about to be punished?
The three of them are all human beings, and they can understand the meaning in each other's eyes just by looking at each other.
Su Wencheng, the cabinet scholar, took the lead and quietly handed Li He a bag of silver.
He smiled and said, "Little Eunuch Li, I wonder why your Majesty summoned us?"
"Don't dare, don't dare, you can't do it."
How could Li He dare to ask for their money? He hurriedly evaded and explained: "My servant went to Donghai County to convey the order but failed. He returned to the capital to resume his duties. Just as he was about to leave, His Majesty asked his servant to tell several important ministers that he wanted to summon you and so on. What are the details?" I really don’t know when.”
Return to life?
Su Wencheng grasped the key point and forced the money into Li He's hands.
He said with a sullen face: "Take what is given to you."
"Now tell me, when you came back to life, what did His Majesty ask you and how did you answer?"
Li He did not dare to hide anything and told what happened in the imperial study room before.
Su Wencheng sent Li He away and began to discuss with the other two.
"What do you think?"
"Is it a good or bad thing that Your Majesty summoned us this time?"
"How do you guess this?"
Zhuge Yuanlang said speechlessly: "We don't even know the specific reason why His Majesty summoned us, how can we know the good or bad?"
"It's bad, but it's also good."
Xu Chun, on the other hand, said with a smile.
"What's the meaning?"
Both of them looked at Xu Chun.
Regardless of the fact that the three of them are of the same rank, one is a cabinet bachelor, one is a Hanlin bachelor, and one is a minister.
They are all first-class officials of the Dawei Dynasty.
However, both the cabinet bachelor and the Hanlin bachelor were official positions in the previous dynasty.
The previous dynasty abolished the prime minister system, and only then did a Shangshu order appear.
Although he was obviously on the same level as the cabinet bachelor and the Hanlin bachelor, everyone knew that Shangshu Ling was in charge of the political affairs of the entire dynasty, just like the prime minister, and had more power than the two of them.
The relationship with the emperor is closer.
It is better to guess the holy intention.
Xu Chun said leisurely: "If my estimate is correct, Your Majesty should be asking for money and food for disaster relief."
"The plague has been completely exposed, and it's time for the money and food to be returned to the court."
"This is evil."
"Yes, this is evil."
Zhuge Yuanlang immediately echoed: "We didn't pursue it. If your Majesty knew about this, wouldn't you blame us heavily? How could it be so lucky?"
"Ji is here too."
Xu Chun continued: "It's our business that we didn't pursue the case, as long as His Majesty doesn't know about it, that's fine."
"According to our original statement, we have sent people to recover, but we encountered bandits on the way back. All the money and food were robbed, and even the officers and soldiers sent out were strangled."
"In this way, our responsibility is completely removed."
"If we recover the money and food in the future, it will be our own money and food."
"High! High! Xu Ling is worthy of becoming the prime minister. He is unparalleled in resourcefulness and is really admirable."
Zhuge Yuanlang gave a thumbs up and praised.
"Stop flattering, let's go see His Majesty quickly, lest he get impatient with waiting."
Xu Chun laughed and cursed.
The three of them packed up their clothes and quickly went to the imperial study room.
When he saw Chen Xuan, he saluted him and asked his Majesty why he was looking for them.
"Last time I asked you to collect money and food for disaster relief. Do you have any clues?"
Chen Xuan stopped what he was doing and asked.
thump!
The three of them immediately fell to their knees.
Chen Xuan's face darkened and he said coldly: "What do you mean? You couldn't turn a deaf ear to my words and not take them seriously at all, right?"
"Back to Your Majesty, I have already done it, but, but..."
Xu Chun hesitated.
"But what?"
"I did not do my job well and failed to recover the money and food."
"What?"
Chen Xuan's face became even more ugly.
That’s more than one hundred thousand taels of silver!
Moreover, there are tens of thousands of stones of grain, which can be converted into tens of thousands of taels of silver.
The treasury was already empty, and the money and food that had been allocated could not be recovered. How could Chen Xuan not be angry.
He threw the imperial pen to the ground and said angrily: "You can't handle such a trivial matter, so what use do I have from you?"
"Your Majesty, actually, actually..."
Xu Chun became hesitant again.
"Actually what?"
Chen Xuan scolded sternly, "If you have anything to say, just say it all at once. If you hesitate again, I will order your tongue to be cut out."
"yes."
Xu Chun then said loudly: "Back to Your Majesty, since Your Majesty asked the ministers to recover the money and food allocated, the ministers have made preparations and sent thousands of soldiers to escort them."
"However, there are too many bandits. As soon as we arrived in Yuzhou, we encountered bandits."
"The money and food were robbed by bandits, and thousands of soldiers we sent lost their lives trying to protect the money and food."
"I have just received this news, and I am planning to go to court tomorrow to report to His Majesty and ask Your Majesty to make a decision."
"Damn bandits!"
Chen Xuan gritted his teeth and said, "Send General Zhenbei, I will make sure that there will be no more bandits in the entire Dawei Dynasty."
