As dusk approached, Zhao Yang and his party walked out of the restaurant drunkenly and said goodbye to Fan Chunren outside the restaurant.
They said they were drunk, but in fact they were only 70-80% drunk. Fan Chunren and Wang Zhongzheng drank the least, and they were only 50% drunk at the moment.
This situation forced Zhao Yang and his party to walk through the streets and alleys back to the palace. Fan Chunren was also afraid that they would cause some trouble again, so he entrusted the waiter in the restaurant to notify the old servant at home in advance and ordered the old servant to rent two carriages and send them there. Zhao Yang and others returned to the palace.
After bidding farewell to Fan Chunren, Zhao Yang and others got on the carriage and slowly headed to the palace.
About a quarter of an hour later, two carriages arrived outside Xuande Gate one after another.
The imperial guards guarding the palace gate saw the two carriages and immediately stepped forward to question them. They happened to see Zhao Yang and others getting out of the car.
"It turns out to be Xiao Langjun."
The heads of the Imperial Guards led by them immediately changed their expressions. After all, they could see clearly that day when Yuan Zheng, the Chongban of the Inner Palace, led more than a hundred Imperial Guards to bring Zhao Yang and his party back to the palace.
"All the brothers in the Forbidden Army have worked hard on your duty."
Zhao Yang returned the gift with a smile, estimated the number of people and then ordered Wang Zhongzheng: "Zhongzheng, bring me eight guan of money and invite all the brothers in the imperial army to drink."
"yes."
Wang Zhongzheng hesitated for a moment, then took out eight pieces of money from the wooden box and handed it to the leader of the team, the hundred-man general.
"I can't, I can't. ...Thank you very much, Mr. Xiaolang."
The Ming Dutou refused repeatedly, but finally accepted it at Zhao Yang's insistence. While smiling, he became more and more enthusiastic towards Zhao Yang.
To be honest, regardless of how majestic the Forbidden Army sounds, in fact, more than 80% of the millions of Forbidden Army soldiers in the Song Dynasty only received half a monthly salary. Four Imperial Guards can get one. Considering that there are only dozens of Imperial Guards inside and outside the palace gate at this moment, Eight Imperial Guards is quite a lot of money, at least enough for a few of them to take their brothers to eat and drink.
You must know that Zhao Yang and others drank for two hours at the restaurant in Xiaotianshui Lane today, and they only spent more than two guans.
Of course, the reward is secondary. The more important thing is that the Imperial Guards feel respected. Although they are assigned to guard the main entrance of the palace, their status and allowances are higher than those of ordinary Imperial Guards. Generally, no one will deliberately look down on them, but there are very few. There are people like Zhao Yang who are brothers to them.
After exchanging pleasantries with these forbidden troops, Zhao Yang and his entourage entered the palace and headed straight towards Funing Palace.
After all, at this hour, the official family should have already had dinner in Funing Palace.
On the way to the Palace of Funing, Zhao Yang generously rewarded all the Imperial Guards, eunuchs, and palace maids who took the initiative to salute and greet Zhao Yang. He would reward three to five people one time, two to seven or eight people, and no more than three or four before and after. After calling people, Zhao Yang had almost spent the remaining eight coins. When he arrived outside Funing Hall, Zhao Yang gave away the last copper coins and the wooden box.
Even if they have selfish motives, Wang Zhongzheng and others can't help but sigh that this young man is really a generous person who does not hesitate to spend money, and they also identify with Zhao Yang more and more - even strangers reward him like this. Could someone close to me still suffer a loss?
Entering Funing Hall, Zhao Zhen was indeed having a meal in the side hall. Seeing Zhao Yang wandering into the hall, Zhao Zhen glanced over immediately and said lightly: "Do you still know to come back?"
Zhao Yang acted as if he hadn't heard anything and stepped forward to bow to Zhao Zhen: "I'm reporting to the official, the matter has been settled."
Zhao Zhen was very happy. After all, Yuan Zheng, the Chongban of the Inner Palace, and Li Xing, the imperial medicine envoy, had returned to the palace early to tell him their orders. It was a good thing for this boy that they only returned to the palace after sunset. No one else would have done it. Such courage.
But thinking that this kid had taken care of things, Zhao Zhen didn't care anymore and asked casually: "Where did you get the money to drink?"
Zhao Yang didn't hide anything. He sat on the stool next to him and answered truthfully: "Chen Zhizhong... hiccup, Mr. Chen asked someone to give him a thank you gift."
This kid is getting more and more presumptuous...
Zhao Zhen glanced at Zhao Yang's behavior, but for some reason he didn't have the thought of scolding him, and asked: "Not a lot, right?"
"Quite a few, twenty strings." Zhao Yang said truthfully.
There are indeed quite a few...
Zhao Zhen nodded slightly, very satisfied with Zhao Yang's honesty, and asked: "How much did it cost?"
"It's all spent." Zhao Yang shrugged.
Zhao Zhen opened his eyes slightly: "It's all spent? Where can you spend twenty guan on drinking?"
"Alum Tower..."
As soon as Zhao Yang said two words, Zhao Zhen's eyes widened. After all, he knew about Fanlou: "You don't take my advice at all, right? Where people like Fanlou talk so much, you …”
Before he finished speaking, he saw Zhao Yang burping from wine and continued: "...I didn't go."
"..."
Zhao Zhen choked on the boy's heavy breathing. He stared at it for a long time, then shook his head helplessly and ordered someone to prepare tea.
During this period, Zhao Yang continued to narrate: "...I originally wanted to come, but Brother Chunren took me to the street where he rented a house because he thought there were too many people there. It was pretty good, with two private rooms and two tables. There were dozens of dishes on the table, and we only spent two dollars in the end..."
Fan Zhongyan's son is still sensible.
Zhao Zhen secretly nodded in praise. After the tea was served, he said angrily: "Rinse your mouth. Don't direct the alcohol at me."
"Eh."
Zhao Yang happened to feel thirsty, so he took the tea and drank most of it.
At this time, Zhao Zhen asked again: "I drank twice, what about the rest?"
"When I return to the palace, I will give the reward to the Imperial Army and the people in the palace..." Zhao Yang said while holding the tea bowl.
"You are quite heroic." Zhao Zhen snorted coldly: "Did you know that your monthly contribution to the Foreign Minister of the Ministry of Industry is only twenty guan!"
He didn't care about the twenty coins, he cared about the boy's attitude towards spending money. After all, he thought he was quite frugal, so naturally he didn't want this boy to be extravagant and wasteful.
Although his daily expenses are far more than this amount.
"I know." Zhao Yanghun said nonchalantly: "But this is a windfall. Besides, I call it driving the economy... The money spent is money. If it can circulate in the market, it can be considered as money. It has boosted the economy of the Song Dynasty; if I hide it and don’t use it, what’s the difference between the Song Dynasty and the Song Dynasty missing these twenty coins?”
"You always have some fallacy!" Zhao Zhen scolded angrily.
"This is not a fallacy. Officials, if you think about it, if everyone doesn't spend money and hides money at home, will there be less money circulating in the market? If there is less money circulating, will prices rise? Prices have gone up. , the people are increasingly unable to afford consumption, and everyone is in danger. They are increasingly hiding their money and no longer buying goods. The market supply exceeds demand, currency circulation is slow, and the country cannot collect taxes, thus falling into a vicious cycle.… That’s called deflation.”
Zhao Zhen was a little surprised when he heard this, and said thoughtfully: "Go on."
"It's gone, what else is there? The truth has been explained clearly."
Do you think I understand you?
Zhao Zhen stared at Zhao Yang angrily, and said seriously for a while: "Stay in the palace tomorrow, write me a note, and explain your... deflation clearly, so that I can understand it."
"Didn't you agree to lift the ban?"
Zhao Yang was a little dissatisfied. He suddenly remembered the impeachment letter in his arms and hurriedly promised: "I will be honest and won't let the housekeeper worry."
Seeing this, Zhao Zhen became a little suspicious: "You...what other evil ideas do you have?"
"What bad ideas can I have?" Zhao Yang looked innocent.
"..." Zhao Zhen was doubtful and was about to ask again when he suddenly heard a few noises coming from outside the palace. Then, a eunuch hurried inside to report: "The official family, the imperial concubine is here."
Zhao Zhen raised his head slightly, and before he could say anything, he saw a gorgeously dressed beautiful woman bursting into the palace with a group of palace maids. It was his favorite concubine Zhang, who was also known as Zhang Meiren in the market.
"Official family."
I saw Zhang Guifei walking towards Zhao Zhen with broken steps and a look of aggrievedness. When Zhao Zhen just stood up, she threw herself into his arms. She said pitifully: "The palace people are preventing me from seeing the official family..."
With just one sentence, the eunuchs who had previously blocked him turned pale with fright, and some of them fell to their knees in fright.
Zhao Yang glanced at Zhao Yang who was blinking and watching, and said helplessly: "Are they trying to stop Aiqing? It's just the rules in the palace..."
As he spoke, he waved to the eunuchs and motioned for them to retreat.
The eunuchs were relieved, thanked him and left quickly.
During this period, Concubine Zhang was lying in Zhao Zhen's arms and said coquettishly: "I don't care, those people are just stopping me..."
Zhao Zhen smiled helplessly. From the corner of his eye, he saw Zhao Yang still tilting his head to look at the two of them. He couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. He coughed and reminded in a low voice: "Ai Qing, there is a junior here."
"Huh?" Concubine Zhang seemed to have noticed Zhao Yang sitting beside her.
In fact, she had noticed it a long time ago, but she just habitually wanted to show that the officials loved her in front of everyone. It was the same reason why she broke into the palace without waiting for notification just now.
In her opinion, only by allowing her to "break the rules" could she show her favored status.
Who makes her not a queen? She can only compete with Queen Cao in this aspect.
At this moment, seeing Zhao Yang sitting on the stool and staring directly at the two of them, Zhang Guifei was a little embarrassed and a little surprised. Regardless of Zhao Zhen's hint of patting him, she sat on Zhao Zhen's lap and stared at Zhao Zhen. Yang, said in a sweet voice: "This young man, could it be that he was the young man Zhao who had a dispute with my concubine's uncle?"
Oh, this is where we come to ask questions.
Zhao Yang suddenly understood. He stood up and bowed, neither arrogant nor humble and said: "Zhao Yang pays homage to...Empress."
"Well, you are quite polite." Concubine Zhang nodded slightly and said softly: "Young Master, do you know that the person who conflicted with you two days ago was my uncle?"
Just as Zhao Yang was about to answer, he saw Zhao Zhen frowning and reprimanding: "I already know about this matter. The fault lies all with Zhang Yaozuo. He also admitted his fault. If it were not for Aiqing's sake, I would never forgive him! Aiqing!" What more?"
After that, he patted her twice gently and motioned for her to come down.
Concubine Zhang Guifei couldn't help being surprised. She turned around and saw Zhao Zhen's unfailing expression. She was secretly shocked. She obviously didn't expect that the official would reprimand her like this for a young junior.
