"Come in. Qin Siyang in the room replied lazily, and the whole person fell asleep, leaning on the soft pillow lazily.

Yin Xuezheng saw that the door was pushed open, so he bowed down and retreated to the side.

The little eunuch entered the room and neatly put his pen and ink on the table on the couch.

After the little eunuch put it away and saluted, Qin Siyang sat up, but his eyes looked at Yin Xuezheng who was standing on the side.

"Why did Commander Yin run so far, come over and help me study ink. ”

Yin Xuezheng lowered his face, half-pushed and half-agreed, bowed down and walked to the front of the couch, took the ink cartridge handed by the little eunuch, and slowly grinded it.

Qin Siyang chuckled, motioned for the little eunuch to retreat, then raised his eyebrows, suddenly stretched out his hand with a smile on the corner of his mouth, pulled Yin Xuezheng's sleeve, and pulled him forward, with an intimate gesture, but impartially, just let Yin Xuezheng, who was close, cover the little eunuch's gaze looking at the case.

Slowly unfolding the portrait of the show girl on the right way to learn from the right talent, Qin Siyang kept rubbing his forehead and made a look of hard thinking. After a while, he seemed to understand something, and then he wrote a big book on a few portraits with the red ink that Yin Xue was researching. But just wrote a few strokes, and then thought about it wrong, and heavily lit the red ink and waved his hand to smear it, and then thought about it and rewrote it after painting.

After a few times, four or five of the four portraits of the show girls were remarked, including the one painted with a small red fish.

An hour later, the east room of the main hall of Ci'an Palace.

The queen mother unfolded the portrait of the show girl presented by the close eunuch Gao Yueming, and looked at Yin Xuezheng, who was kneeling below, so she sighed in embarrassment.

I saw that under the portrait, under the previous Yin Xuezheng's small character annotation, there were a lot of red thick ink and extremely unserious words.

I agreed, this woman's nose was too high, and I was scared when I looked at it, and I didn't like it. ”

"This suspicion is very good, this woman's mouth is too big, and she can eat a big bun in one bite when she looks at it, which is scary, and she retreats. ”

......

And so on.

Looking through them one by one, the Queen Mother shook her head again and again while watching.

"This is all written by the emperor himself?"

"Yes. Yin Xue is the right answer.

Putting down the last portrait, the Queen Mother sighed lightly: "Look at what is written here, what are the words, what about the emperor, there is nothing else to say?"

Yin Xuezheng responded: "Back to the Queen Mother, no." ”

The Queen Mother shook her head and sighed again: "That's it, that's it, you can return these show girls according to the emperor's wishes, and the Ministry of Rites doesn't have to worry about them." ”

"Obey. ”

After bowing, he took the portrait of the show girl turned back by the little eunuch with both hands, and Yin Xuezheng bowed and withdrew.

waved his hand to let the two little eunuchs serving on the side retreat, and only the queen mother and Gao Yueming, the chief eunuch of Ci'an Palace, were left in the room.

The Queen Mother closed her eyes tightly and rubbed her forehead, leaning less, before she raised her eyes to look at Gao Yueming who was standing aside.

"What's going on over there in Jiangnan?"

"Jiangnan?" Gao Yueming exclaimed, even if he didn't leave the Queen Mother for twelve hours a day, how could he listen to his master's question at this time, he couldn't figure out what he was asking.

"Huang Ming told the mourners yesterday that the number of overturned boats on the canal in recent years is a little wrong. ”

Huang Ming is the queen mother's most trusted imperial physician.

"What's wrong?"

The Queen Mother's eyes darkened: "It is said that the number reported by Jiangnan is much less than the actual number." ”

Gao Yueming couldn't help but exclaim, "How can this be?"

The Queen Mother's willow eyebrows were upside down, and her hand with long finger gloves slammed on the table.

There was a loud 'snap', Gao Yueming was so shocked that he hurriedly lowered his head and took half a step back.

"The mourning family didn't think that Jiangnan could report it completely according to the real number, but Tian Laosan, Fang Lao'er, you can do it, and it has more than doubled the difference between the mourning family. ”

More than doubled?

Gao Yueming raised his head in surprise and looked at his master in a daze.

So that's it!

Early this morning, Imperial Physician Huang came to give the Queen Mother a routine pulse, because it was a very common thing, he did not follow him, and he didn't know what Imperial Physician Huang and the Queen Mother said.

After Imperial Physician Huang left, the Queen Mother's expression was extremely heavy.

Then Long Xingwei Yin commanded to bring the portrait into the palace to question the show girl selected by the Ministry of Rites, and the queen mother was annoyed and was not in the mood to ask more, so she just said a few words, and asked Yin to mark the suspicion on the portrait, and then threw the question to the emperor.

I don't want to, what makes the Queen Mother's mood so bad is the matter on the other side of Jiangnan.

What kind of difference is this? Listening to the meaning of the Queen Mother, it has a lot to do with the two Tianfang families?

Today's mother is like corn kernels roasted on charcoal, bursting at the touch of a button.

". Gao Yueming didn't dare to think about it, and cautiously whispered.

The queen mother scolded for a while, and there was no one in tow, so she leaned on the kang at this time, squinting slightly, and her fingertips pressed against the painful brain.

"Spread the decree," the Queen Mother ordered in a deep voice, "Mingyue, you go in person, Xuanzhong Taiqing will enter the palace immediately." ”

Due to a sudden cold, Zhong Xuanchong, the second assistant of the cabinet and the secretary of the household department, who had been idle at home for many days, was really surprised when he saw Gao Yueming, who came to the door in person.

Being summoned to the palace is a common thing for him, an old minister. But being summoned in such a hurry was that it was still the queen mother's henchman, Gao Yueming, the chief eunuch of Cining Palace, who came to the door in person, but it was a rare thing.

"What is the will of the Queen Mother?" asked Zhong Xuanchong on the road, who couldn't help but have doubts in his heart.

Gao Yueming hesitated for a moment, but still reminded him: "As long as the elder has a number in his heart, is it about Jiangnan?"

Gangnam?

Zhong Xuanchong thought about it, what happened to Jiangnan recently?

The biggest thing is that the boats in the Huaiyang section of the Grand Canal capsized.

Tens of thousands of taels of silver were covered in the river in an instant, and there was nothing left.

The reason for this is still a mystery to the outside world!

Zhong Xuanchong understood the complexity of it, and didn't dare to say more, and followed the eunuch who was introduced all the way to Cining Palace.

Entered Cining Palace, turned into the side hall, passed through the purple brocade hanging down from the carved beam, bypassed the hundred flowers embroidery screen, and saw two palace maids standing in front of the door on the left and right bowing down and raising the curtain.

The breeze mixed with sandalwood greeted the face, and an eight-fold screen of an immortal visiting the mountain cut off the inside.

Gao Yueming asked Zhong Xuan to wait, he turned the screen first, and no words came out, and after a while, he saw two palace maids holding teacups and turning out from the inside.

"Come in. ”

It was the voice of the Queen Mother, Zhong Xuanchong agreed, and turned the screen.

The golden peony incense burner in the house curls green smoke rises in the air and disappears without a trace, and the faint cold fragrance wafts throughout the house. The sunset sun entered the house through the window, which was framed with a lake-green curtain, and it seemed to gild the palace woman sitting on the first seat.

"This is the newly paid tribute to the sea of clouds in southern Xiangnan, it tastes good, Ge Lao tastes it. ”

Zhong Xuanchong thanked him, stepped forward to take the tea, took a sip, and sure enough, the fragrance was endless.

After another round of praise, the Queen Mother smiled and said, "Pavilion Elder, please take a seat." ”

Zhong Xuanchong confessed his guilt in fear and sat down on the low couch below.

Yitong's polite greeting was warm, and at the end of the day, he heard the Queen Mother sigh lightly and said: "Lord Zhong is the secretary of the household department, and you should know that this year has passed half of the year, and the tax silver collected by the household department is less than 20 million taels of silver. ”

Not a question, but an affirmative statement. Zhong Xuanchong was taken aback, and hurriedly said: "Yes, the household department just reported the income of the first half year a month ago, totaling 18,234,865 taels of silver. ”

The Queen Mother nodded: "The elder remembers it very clearly." ”

Zhong Xuanchong bowed slightly: "This is a matter for the old minister." ”

The Queen Mother sighed lightly: "The mourning family still remembers that the elder of the pavilion was still crying at the beginning of the year, and you can't take the family of Da Zhou." Now, the expenses reported by the various ministries are a total of 30 million taels. Elder Ge thinks that Da Zhou's family can still be managed?"

Zhong Xuanchong didn't want the Queen Mother to ask such a question, so he stood up in surprise and asked directly, "What does Niangniang mean?"

The Queen Mother waved her hand and motioned for him to sit down, then sighed lightly again, raised her eyebrows and said, "Don't misunderstand, the mourning family is not questioning you. The mourning family just sighed, Da Zhou's family can't even manage the mourning family. ”

Zhong Xuan was surprised: "Why does Niangniang sigh like this?"

The Queen Mother shook her head: "Jiangnan has always been a major tax place for the imperial court, and the mourning family remembers that last year's taxes, the three provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and southern provinces accounted for eighty percent, right?"

"Yes. ”

"Tell me how many taxes were paid in the three provinces south of the Yangtze River last year?"

Zhong Xuanchong squinted his eyes slightly, and replied in a deep voice: "Back to the Queen Mother, last year, the three provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and southern provinces paid a total of 38.9 million taels in taxes. ”

"Three thousand, eight hundred and twenty thousand, nine hundred and ninety thousand taels. The Queen Mother nodded, "At the beginning of the year, the elder said that the treasury had a total deficit of 3.8 million taels last year, right?"

"Yes. ”

The Queen Mother's eyes were half-closed, her long eyelashes trembled, and she opened her lips slightly after a long time: "If the taxes of the three provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and southern China doubled last year, what does the elder think will happen?"

Zhong Xuanchong shook his head: "It's in the past, and the old minister doesn't want to make any more assumptions." ”

The Queen Mother smiled softly: "Didn't the elder of the pavilion cry that the family of the Great Zhou Dynasty could not go on? If the pavilion endowment of the three provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and southern provinces increases, does the elder feel that this family is still difficult to manage?"

Zhong Xuanchong sighed slightly: "The Queen Mother is thinking about the old ministers, and she is looking forward to increasing the tax power." However, Niangniang also knows that the taxes of the three southern provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang have already been received. ”

The corners of the Queen Mother's mouth curled unnaturally.

"Don't you know?"

Zhong Xuanchong was naturally taken aback, and replied directly: "What do you know?"

"A case of a boat capsizing in a river for many years. ”

Zhong Xuanchong suddenly realized this and nodded: "This minister has heard of it." ”

"I heard?"

"Yes. ”

"Just heard?"

"Yes. ”

"Elder Ge didn't know much about it?"

Zhong Xuan Chongwei arched his hand: "Niangniang knows that the old minister is not in charge of the Criminal Department. ”

The Queen Mother sneered: "The elder is the second assistant of the cabinet, the important minister of the country, what can I do if I ask about the case of the Criminal Department?"

Zhong Xuanchong still arched his hand: "The minister is afraid, this matter is really unknown, if the mother wants to understand, it is best to ask Tian Ge Lao." ”

The Queen Mother suddenly laughed: "Ask Tian Laosan, hahaha, do you think the mourning family hasn't asked." The mourning family asked, and asked many times, hehe, the elder of the pavilion might as well guess how the third child of Tian returned to the mourning family!"