King Pingxi and Nie Chen led an army of 20,000 people. With flags flying all the way, they entered Gyeonggi County in a mighty manner. The people on the road all looked sideways and watched curiously.
The people in Gyeonggi Province have not seen such a regiment of more than 10,000 people marching for a long time.
After walking for another four days, they finally arrived in the capital.
Today is November 23rd, and there is still half a month before the longevity banquet begins.
They were the first ones to arrive, and the other three kings had not arrived yet.
As a prince, Prince Pingxi naturally has a mansion in the capital. It was a mansion that the emperor rewarded when he was crowned king, but Prince Pingxi never lived in it.
Because he rarely comes to the capital.
His mansion is basically the Red Armor Guard's office in the capital.
It stands to reason that when a county governor like Nie Chen returns to the capital to do business, he can stay in an official hotel. But what kind of person is Nie Chen? In line with the principle of taking advantage of it, he stayed in the palace of Prince Pingxi. middle.
After all, there were all kinds of officials in the hotel, it was a mess, and there were not enough guards, so it was safer to live in King Pingxi's house.
As for the army, it must not enter the city.
Bringing troops into Gyeonggi County can be said to be to protect safety, but if troops are brought into Beijing, the nature changes. It is rebellion, mutiny, and forcing the palace.
At any time, unless they are the emperor, foreign legions are never allowed to enter Beijing.
King Pingxi asked the army to set up camp one mile outside the city, and he led Nie Chen and others as well as the escorts into the capital, and drove towards Prince Pingxi's palace in a carriage.
Along the way, everyone opened the curtains and looked at the capital curiously, sighing at the prosperity here.
After arriving at Prince Pingxi's Mansion, Ling Juan personally arranged a place for them to stay. It was getting late, so they went to rest directly after eating.
Nie Chen slept soundly, and he would have slept even more soundly if Weng Qiuchan hadn't been talking about taking a nice stroll around the capital.
In the end, Nie Chen repeatedly said that he would go out for a walk early tomorrow morning. Only then did Weng Qiuchan give up and fall asleep holding him in her arms.
Early the next morning, Nie Chen got up and saw Weng Qiuchan put on beautiful makeup, dressed up and ready to go out.
Nie Chen couldn't help but smile. It's really a woman's nature to love shopping.
He and Weng Qiuchan walked out of the house together, and happened to meet Ouyang Ming, and asked,
"Mr. Ouyang got up so early, what do you plan to do?"
Ouyang Ming smiled and said,
"I'm going to visit an old friend in the capital. This old friend is also a learned and upright person. He is currently a doctor in the Ministry of Household Affairs and is an official of the fifth rank."
"Oh? If Mr. Ouyang can be said to be a highly educated person, he must be a wise man. How about visiting him together? We also want to visit the capital."
"That's very good. I'm planning to take him to visit the lord after I visit him. Since the lord wants to go, let's go together."
"Okay, I'll ask Aaron to prepare the carriage."
Nie Chen smiled.
Soon, Zhou Long and Zhou Hu came with the escort and carriage, and Zhou An and Lin Guang also came.
When they heard that they were going to visit the capital, they all became interested and wanted to go shopping together in the name of protecting their lord.
Nie Chen, Weng Qiuchan and Liang Ouyangming were riding in a carriage, while the others were riding horses and slowly left the palace.
Along the way, they walked very slowly. Weng Qiuchan jumped out of the car from time to time to buy some rouge jewelry and other things. She wanted to buy whatever rare things she saw.
As for Ouyang Ming, since he was going to visit others, he also bought some gifts, but they were only books, pens, inks, paper and inkstones that were for the study room, which was in line with the gift-giving tradition among their literati.
Nie Chen looked at what Ouyang Ming was carrying and smiled,
"After buying so many things, when you get to your friend's place, you have to beat him up and let him treat us to dinner."
Ouyang Ming smiled bitterly.
"He invited me to dinner? Forget it, with the way he is, I'm afraid I have to invite him to a restaurant."
"Oh? Listen to what you said, that friend of yours is a tough guy who doesn't pull anything off."
"It's not that there's nothing to pluck out, it's that there's nothing to pluck out."
Ouyang Ming said,
"My lord, you don't know something. This man's name is Li Ze, and he is forty years old this year. Although he is currently a doctor in the household department, and he is a fat official in the household department, you know how poor the officials in the capital are.
In addition, this friend of mine can be said to be very upright and upright. He only relies on his own righteousness to survive every day. The family is often too poor to take the blame.
When he was taking the scientific examination in his early years, he didn't even have the travel expenses to come to Beijing. He had only one young daughter at home, and his wife thought he was poor. He only knew how to study and could not make money, so he left his young daughter and ran away with others.
But he had the integrity to not sell his daughter even though he was so poor that he was about to starve to death.
In order to raise enough money to travel to Beijing for the scientific examination, he wrote and sold calligraphy for others to make money. He also sold the only three-and-a-half-thirds of his family's land and old house, and trudged all the way to the capital.
Fortunately, Huangtian paid off. He passed the examination, won the first place in the second class, and could become an official. However, because he had no money to bribe officials in the Ministry of Personnel, he was only arranged to be a member of the Ministry of Revenue. , after many years of qualifications, I became the doctor I am now.
He does not accept bribes and is not greedy for money. The salary of a Beijing official is pitifully low, and there is often no rice for cooking at home.
He still lives in a remote small courtyard. The courtyard also belongs to the imperial court and is just a temporary residence for him. The house deed is not in his name.
Fortunately, Hu Bu had nothing to do, and he was not an extremely pedantic person. He did not stick to the Hu Bu Yamen every day, but returned to his old business, often writing calligraphy and painting to make a living. "
After listening to Ouyang Ming's words, Lin Guang smiled and said,
"What a good and honest official. It's very rare. However, this person is a bit rigid. He's already an official. Why can't he make some money? He doesn't seem to be a smart person."
"General Lin's words are wrong. Li Ze can be regarded as a wise man with a small reputation. He is quick and intelligent, but he is too honest and unwilling to do illegal activities.
Although he is poor, he lives with a clear conscience, which is enviable. "
After speaking, Ouyang Ming looked at Nie Chen again and said,
"My lord, when I came to the capital this time, I planned to take him to see you and ask him to stop being a capital official and follow you to find a way out.
This person is capable, and he is honest and honest. He is a person who can be of great use. "
Nie Chen treated the wise men with relatively high wages, and he was an emerging force and was in the initial stage of development. There was a lot of room for development with Nie Chen, so Ouyang Ming wanted Li Ze to follow Nie Chen.
Of course, according to Ouyang Ming, this Li Ze was indeed capable, and he would not recommend someone to Nie Chen who was virtuous but not talented.
