However, it is said that although Zhu Shiyang is absent from the government, in order to get by, he will always symbolically convene important ministers of the court once a month to discuss the matter. said that it was a matter of discussion, but in fact, the emperor came out to show his face, told everyone to be okay in the inner palace, and then simply listened to the courtiers' report a few words, and it was all right. But that's it, Zhu Shiyang was reluctant, either lying that he was sick and couldn't come out, or before the minister's words were finished, he left ahead of schedule.

On this day, it is also the day of the monthly routine to summon the courtiers, Zhu Shiyang relied twice in the previous two months, and this time it was a bit unusual, and Fan Zhefu reported that the drought in the Central Plains this summer was severe, and the emperor needed to personally come forward to preside over the disaster relief matters, so he reluctantly let Guixi change into court clothes and come forward to preside over the proceedings.

The officials of the third rank and above in the DPRK and the central government, as well as the two cabinet scholars Yan Yong and Fan Zhefu, waited in the court early in the morning, and when they saw the arrival of the emperor, they knelt on the ground one after another, and shouted long live.

Zhu Shiyang only had impatience in his heart, and his eyes inadvertently swept down the hall, but he accidentally caught a familiar figure. He chuckled in his heart, and then remembered that Lu Wenyuan had reached the third rank and should be qualified to attend the proceedings, but he only said in his heart that the road was narrow, but he was helpless, so he had to order the courtiers to be exempt from courtesy.

The ministers got up one after another, and there was a sound of rustling in the hall. Lu Wenyuan's old injuries had not healed, and his movements were a little inconvenient between kneeling, and he was about to fall, Fu Qian glanced at his side, and took advantage of the chaos to reach out and secretly help him, so that he did not fall.

Zhu Shiyang has been staring at Lu Wenyuan, how could he miss this scene. I secretly complained in my heart that Fu Qian was nosy, otherwise he could just be punished for the crime of dereliction in front of the king, and when the time came, it would not be up to him to punish more and punish less. However, he was angry for a while, but he suddenly thought about it, only pursed the corners of his mouth, and secretly sneered.

The ministers in the hall took their places for a while, ready to start playing, but before they could open their mouths, they heard Zhu Shiyang who was sitting on the dragon chair say: "All Aiqing have been waiting here for me in the morning, and now I am tired of thinking about it, and someone is coming-" Several imperial guards rushed in from outside the hall in response, and Zhu Shiyang said: "Sit." ”

Several imperial guards counted the number of courtiers in the hall in their hearts, and there was a commotion, and the corresponding number of chairs were dragged from the side halls on both sides, and they were each placed in the court, and they were about to retreat, but they heard Zhu Shiyang say again: "Remove one." ”

Several guards looked at each other for a while, not knowing what the emperor was thinking, but they didn't dare to disobey, so they withdrew immediately and withdrew from the hall.

Zhu Shiyang smiled with satisfaction and ordered: "Everyone Aiqing sit, you don't have to be polite." Seeing that the ministers were confused and turned their heads to find chairs, they called: "Lu Wenyuan-"

Lu Wenyuan was startled, and hurriedly knelt down: "Weichen is here." ”

Zhu Shiyang smiled and said gently: "Lord Lu's old injuries have not healed, and I'm afraid it's not convenient to sit, so let's kneel down and discuss things." ”

The courtiers were full of people for a while. Everyone was given to sit, but Lu Wenyuan was the only one to kneel, this was not just a punishment, but a □□ naked insult, and they all looked up to look at the emperor's face, and saw that although he was full of smiles, he was clearly hiding a knife in his smile, and everyone was silent for a while, pinching a handful of cold sweat and sitting down. Fu Qian bent down and wanted to kneel for Lu Wenyuan, wanting to intercede for Lu Wenyuan, but how could Zhu Shiyang not know his thoughts, his eyes were cold at the moment, and Fu Qian was so frightened that he hurriedly shrank back.

Zhu Shiyangzhi was complacent, cleared his throat, and announced the start of the discussion.

The six Shangshu first came together to report on the work of the past month. Zhu Shiyang was the most annoyed by this item, but this time because he wanted Lu Wenyuan to kneel for a while, they all listened carefully, and interjected to ask two questions from time to time. The ministers didn't know what Zhu Shiyang was thinking, and they only said that he had changed his personality and cared about national affairs, so he spoke more lengthily and in detail.

This drag is more than an hour. Zhu Shiyang secretly looked at Lu Wenyuan's face, seeing that his body was stiff and pale, he didn't know if it was because of the pain of the wound or the humiliation, he pursed his lips tightly, his heart felt even more happy, and he became more calm between questions and answers.

At this time, Fan Zhefu got up and played: "Your Majesty, the Central Plains region has been dry and rainless since this spring, and it has not rained a drop of rain after the summer, and many provincial roads have been affected by disasters, and Shanxi has been repeatedly crossed by locusts, and the crops have been destroyed, and the summer harvest is not expected. ”

Zhu Shiyang knew that this was the main topic of this discussion, so he said with a straight face: "This appropriation should be in the hands of the household department, Lord Liu, is there any surplus silver in the treasury now?"

Lord Liu, the head of the household department, got up and played: "Back to the emperor, the taxes in various places have not been paid in full this year, so although there is surplus silver in the treasury, there is not much. ”

Zhu Shiyang asked, "How much more can you take out?"

Hubu Shangshu lowered his head and muttered for a moment, then raised his head and said, "Back to the emperor, you can allocate up to three million taels of silver." ”

Zhu Shiyang didn't ask about politics for a long time, and he didn't know whether the three million taels of silver was enough for disaster relief, so he was hesitating, but he saw Yan Yong, a scholar in the cabinet, get up and play: "Your Majesty, I'm afraid it's too early to allocate funds for disaster relief at this time." Half of this summer has not yet passed, and it is not known that the rain will fall in the coming day, and it is feared that the use of such a large amount of money and silver will not be distributed to the victims, and most of it has been embezzled by people with ulterior motives, and the gains really outweigh the losses. According to the minister's view, the taxes in various parts of the Central Plains can be reduced or exempted as appropriate, and at the same time, autumn seeds can be distributed to encourage cultivation, so as to see the after-effects. ”

Zhu Shiyang also felt justified after hearing this, and became even more hesitant, but listened to Fan Zhefu and said: "Your Majesty, the disaster in Shanxi is urgent, if it is really as Lord Yan said, sow autumn seeds first, and then watch the after-effects, I am afraid that it will not be able to support the autumn harvest, and the local people have starved to death." Please ask the emperor to learn and allocate funds for disaster relief in a timely manner. ”

Yan Yong said: "Fan Da kept saying that the disaster situation should not be delayed, but he listened to the words of the prefect Chen Jincheng, and personally sent someone to inspect it? Then Chen Jin Cheng is lazy and slippery, and he is not kind to the official, what is his political performance in the past few years, just ask the officials, and you will know, if it were not for the protection of some people and officials, how could you sit until today? Handed over the disaster relief money to such a person, ask the emperor, can you rest assured?"

Zhu Shiyang didn't know what kind of person Chen Jincheng was, and before he had time to react, he heard Fan Zhefu say: "Your Majesty, lying about the disaster is a big crime of deception, so Chen Jincheng is an official and has no reason, and he doesn't dare to talk nonsense." However, Lord Yan obstructed the disaster relief in every way, and I don't know what his intentions were. If the disaster expands in the coming days and the displaced people revolt, will you be responsible, Lord Yan?"

Yan Yong hugged his fists and said: "Your Majesty, disaster relief is not trivial, if the money and food are not properly arranged, not only will it not be beneficial to disaster relief, but it will be easy to make officials greedy for ink and provoke public resentment." The minister asked the emperor to postpone the appropriation of funds, and Rong Chen sent someone to investigate, and then it was not too late to make plans. ”

Fan Zhefu said in panic: "Your Majesty, the disaster relief matter is indeed urgent. If the emperor hesitates for a while, one more person may starve to death in the Central Plains. Your Majesty, please ask the Emperor to make a decision as soon as possible, and not to be deceived by people with ulterior motives. ”

Zhu Shiyang's head was as big as a bucket for a while. Yan Yong and Fan Zhefu are not on good terms, he already knows about it, but he doesn't want them to pinch on such a major matter as disaster relief that is related to the stability of the government and government. I don't know who to listen to, but when I saw that all the ministers in the hall were substantial, I squinted at Lu Wenyuan, who was kneeling, and had the intention to stir him into this troubled water: "Lord Lu is usually sharp-toothed, why don't you squeak now?"

Lu Wenyuan knelt in the hall for a long time, stiffening his body and not daring to move, and his heart was already blurred in pain. The injury was wet, and I didn't know whether it was sweat or blood, but at this moment, I only strengthened my consciousness and said slowly: "Weichen thinks that Master Fan is reasonable, no matter what the disaster is, it is always not wrong to give relief when there is a disaster." As for what Lord Yan said, I am afraid that officials will be greedy for ink, so I will send a few more imperial historians to supervise it. ”

Zhu Shiyang snorted secretly and disagreed. The opinions of several other ministers were consulted one by one, but they were all submissive and ambiguous. Zhu Shiyang didn't know what was going on, he discussed it for a long time, but he couldn't come up with a result, but there was already a sound of hunger in his stomach, taking advantage of Yan Yong's verbal battle with Fan Zhefu, he turned around and asked Gui Xi to know that it was already past noon. This meeting took most of the day to go in.

Looking at Lu Wenyuan in the hall again, not only did his lips close tightly this time, but even his eyes were tightly closed, cold sweat was pouring down on his forehead, the court clothes around his neck were wet for a small piece, his thin body was shaky, and he was about to faint the next moment.

Zhu Shiyang also felt that he was almost angry, and he died after playing once, and he was afraid that he would not have to play in the future. At this time, the head of the household came up with a compromise idea, saying that he would allocate two million taels for disaster relief first, and only a part of the taxes would be exempted. Zhu Shiyang was hungry in his stomach, and he didn't want to listen to Fan Zhefu and Yan Yong's noise, so he broke up the meeting when he was a little leader.

Fu Qian helped Lu Wenyuan out, only saying that he was tortured a lot this time, but he couldn't help but ask: "I saw that you just supported Fan Zhefu in the court, but are you willing to use it for him?"

Lu Wenyuan bothered his heart and said: "But what Master Fan said does have some truth. ”

Fu Qian stared at him for a while, as if he had something to say, but after staying for a long time, he finally turned into a long sigh. Raising his hand to help him, he slowly walked into the distance.

However, it was said that Yan Yong had seen Lu Wenyuan's appearance in the court, and he was even more sure that he was Fan Zhefu's comrade, and seeing that the emperor was so tired of him, it was obvious that he would be punished on a large scale if he grasped the slightest handle, so how could he not take advantage of this great opportunity? Zhu Shiyang didn't care about Fan Zhefu, he only couldn't get along with Lu Wen, and he wanted to demote him to the third grade at the moment, but Fan Zhefu said badly, but he refused to give up, and finally changed to a one-year fine.

Yan Yong saw that his plan failed, so he gathered his subordinates and officials, jointly wrote to Zhu Shiyang, and continued to impeach Lu Wenyuan, only sending all his big and small handles to Zhu Shiyang's hands. But at the last moment, he was stopped by Fan Zhefu in time, which saved Lu Wenyuan from a catastrophe.

On this day, Fan Zhefu sent his subordinates to the Fu family to call Lu Wenyuan to his house. The two of them closed the door, and Fan Zhefu took out the pieces he had stopped recently and showed them to Lu Wenyuan one by one. How could Lu Wenyuan not understand, he just wanted to use this to tell himself, Yan Yong's party has long been your enemy, but I can protect you from their persecution, now if you are willing to be used by me, there is still a way to live, if you are not willing to be used by me, then you can only be killed by Yan Yong and the emperor.

But to understand it, Lu Wenyuan will never break it, and Fan Zhefu naturally refuses to take it lightly. The two of them were in the same room knowing it, and after watching the recital, they talked about the affairs of the court, and when they said goodbye, it was already the full moon in the middle of the sky.

As soon as Fu Qian returned home, he was told by the people in the house that Master Fan's subordinates were here again. He immediately muttered, since Lu Wenyuan was promoted to the third rank, Fan Zhefu sent people to his mansion more and more times, he was really afraid that Lu Wenyuan would be dependent on Fan Zhefu. It turned out that he usually guarded his subordinates strictly, just because he was afraid that they would act imprudently and involve the entire ministry in the party struggle of the imperial court.

Fu Qian was full of apprehension, and after dinner, it was already dark, but Lu Wenyuan had not come back. Fu Qian was even more worried, he didn't have the heart to do anything, and finally simply put down the affairs at hand and stood in front of Lu Wenyuan's door to wait for the rabbit.

In this way, as soon as Lu Wenyuan returned home in the evening and entered the courtyard, he saw Fu Qian standing by the flower bed in the courtyard, looking at him with a gloomy face. After these days of getting along, he already knew that Fu Qian was cautious and unwilling to get involved in party disputes, and he also knew that his behavior with Fan Zhefu had been too much recently, so he had to walk over and stand side by side with him, thinking about it, but he didn't know how to speak, so he had to say: "It's so late, Brother Fu still hasn't slept?"