West Garden, Wanshou Palace.

Jiajing, dressed in a blue robe, crossed his legs in front of the statue of Sanqing Daojun, sucking wisps of sandalwood in the air between his nose, adjusting his mood to a peaceful state, seeking the method of immortality, hoping to soar like Qu Tong in the day.

It is said that thousands of years ago, a plague occurred in Chenzhou, Hunan, "ten rooms and nine emptiness, and new mounds became forests". Qu Gong in the state died of illness, Qu's mother chased her husband three days later, his son Qu Tong fell like a bitter vine falling melon, the villager Liu Wu saw this, took Qu Tong on the boat, went down the water, went down the Taoyuan Mountain in Wuling, and entered the Taochuan Palace to learn Taoism and practice medicine. Huang Dongyuan, the master of the temple, accepted Qu Tong and brought him to the medicine hall, so that he could worship Zhu An, the Taoist of the medicine hall, as his teacher.

The strange man had an adventure, and later won the favor of the patriarch, who chose to help him become an immortal.

Qu Tong came as promised, and came to the ancient pine behind the view, just as the sun was rising in the sky. A purple cloud swept over the top of the Taochuan Palace, and the ancestor pressed the mount, pressed it on Qu Tong's head three times, and then rode the crane with him.

The senior brother and brother who saw him off called for a long time, but Qu Tong couldn't bear it, so he took off a shoe and threw it down as a souvenir, which happened to hit the top of the pine tree, and the pine tree became like a bald old man.

Li Qunyu, a poet in the late Tang Dynasty, once set foot under the ancient pine, has a poem as evidence: "I went to the place where Qu Tong soared, the mountains and rivers looked west to make people sad, and the purple clouds and white cranes did not return, only the water of the peach blossom stream." ”

It is these bizarre stories that make people fascinating, so that the tiger girl once wanted to become a chivalrous heroine, and the monarch of the Ming Dynasty wanted to become an immortal in the sky.

The same strange story, some people scoffed, and some people believed it and started to chase it.

Huang Jin is like the most loyal old servant in the world, standing quietly on the edge of the threshold of the ashram, where he can not only serve the saints of the present day at any time, but also keep in touch with the outside world in a timely manner.

As the minutes ticked by, the slender figure sat there like a wooden carving, a ray of autumn sunlight shining in through the skylight, and a white circle of light appeared on the smooth ground.

A little eunuch hurriedly trotted into the hall, his face full of excited smiles, and his eyes were extraordinarily bright. It wasn't until Huang Jin, who was guarding the door of the quiet room, glared at him with his eyes, and the smile on the little eunuch's face retracted.

Huang Jin was able to climb to the position of the eunuch who held the seal of the celebrant eunuch, not because he was smart, but because of his awe and loyalty to the emperor. He will never be polite to anyone or anything that disturbs the emperor's cultivation.

The little eunuch secretly swallowed and spit, cautiously came to Huang Jin's side, and whispered the news in Huang Jin's ear.

Huang Jin's face looked very calm, nodded slightly, and gave a few words to the little eunuch, and then waited on the threshold of the quiet room like an old monk.

The circle of light slowly moved on the ground, and it magically fell on Jiajing's body, roasting Jiajing's body warmly, making the blue robe even more sacred.

But I don't know if it was because I couldn't stand this light, or because my body was roasted, Jiajing slowly opened it, and her wrinkled eyes still showed a touch of perseverance.

Since ancient times, the emperor is not a long-lived profession. Jiajing will turn 57 next month, which is already a long-lived person in this era, and it is also a rare long-lived emperor.

Even if cultivating Changsheng is a delusional thing, he has already achieved a high life, at least in front of his two sons, and he has become the Ming Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, second only to Taizu and Chengzu.

For Jiajing, who has been frail and sickly since childhood, he has already created a small miracle.

"Master, it's time to take the elixir!"

Huang Jin, like a loyal old servant, led several palace people to quietly appear beside Jiajing, and reminded softly.

Jiajing was already accustomed to the sudden appearance of this satisfactory eunuch chief, so he turned around, reached out and took a vermilion pill from the plate, and then swallowed the pill into his stomach with the water of the golden cup.

Due to some physical problems last year, he did not deliberately increase the dosage after adjusting through the diet. Just after swallowing a pill, he felt a sense of loss in his heart, and the effect of this medicine was obviously not as good as before.

As he grew older, he lost his confidence in immortality, but he was relieved that he was now approaching the age of sixty, and his health was not too bad.

Huang Jin watched Jiajing take the pill, first observed Jiajing's facial expression, and then reported happily on his face: "Master, great joy!" ”

Jiajing has long been accustomed to the good news and not bad news of the people below, and Huang Jin is even more used to play this spirit, every day at the end of his cultivation, he will always get one or two happy events, that is, he said lightly: "What a big joy, don't always fool me with some small things!" ”

"Master, you missed the slave and maid, how dare the slave and the slave fool the master!" Huang Jin knew that Jiajing had no intention of blaming, so he pleaded his case, and then officially reported: "Master Qiqi, it's really a great joy!" Just now, the public of Bairui Garden came to report that the white turtle was resurrected, and good things came in pairs, which is an auspicious number! ”

Jiajing's love for auspicious rui far exceeded that of previous kings, so that the streets of Beijing were filled with many dealers selling fake auspicious rui, and officials from all over the world were also struggling to find auspicious rui.

In the thirty-ninth year of Jiajing, Hu Zongxian offered five Ganoderma lucidum and two white turtles, and Jiajing was very happy at that time. Today's white turtle is not Hu Zongxian's pair, the pair of white turtles offered by Hu Zongxian actually died not long after.

The so-called white turtle is actually just an ordinary turtle with leukemia, and its lifespan is usually not too long. It's just that it's always been rare and expensive. Because the turtle has something in common with Taoism, it is Jiajing's favorite.

"Where is the little turtle? Send it to me quickly! Jiajing's eyes lit up immediately, but as soon as the words fell, he changed his words again: "No, I want to go to Bairui Garden to watch it in person!" ”

With the continuous increase in the number of auspicious rui, Xiyuan had to build a "Bairui Garden", where the treasures and auspicious rui collected from all over the country are raised.

The little eunuch on the side listened to the emperor's change of words, but he couldn't help but look at Huang Jin with admiration.

Huang Jin heard that Jiajing was going to Bairui Garden, and immediately made arrangements.

Because they were walking in the West Garden, Jiajing's team only maintained the usual specifications, and the group soon carried Jiajing directly to Bairui Garden, which was less than 200 meters away from Wanshou Palace.

Bairui Garden can be compared with the zoo of later generations, entering the gate is a pool, where all kinds of water creatures are raised, and in front is a square size animal circle, which raises a lot of birds and animals, among which a few white cranes add a bit of fairy energy.

Jiajing led a group of eunuchs into here, but he did not stay in the main courtyard, but went directly to the courtyard of the White Turtle World, and the high-grade Xiangrui had an exclusive courtyard.

The eunuch surnamed Li Mingsheng in charge of this place seemed to lead the way very enthusiastically, and introduced the situation seriously: "Your Majesty, the white turtle seems to have little energy these days, but just after the two little guys were born, it began to eat. Also, those two little turtles are very lively, and they are not mortal at first glance! ”

While they were talking, the group had already come to the courtyard house, but they saw a white turtle raised in the house, this turtle with leukemia and white shell was crawling there motionless.

Two baby turtles that had just broken out of their shells looked very energetic and were foraging in the shallow pool next to them. Perhaps sensing someone coming, he fled to the other side, and then shrugged his head there and pretended to be motionless, staring behind with those dark eyes.

Looking at the white turtle shell remaining in the sand over there, and looking at such a young life, it shows a kind of magic.

Huang Jin looked at these two cute little turtles and couldn't help but praise: "If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I really didn't expect that the white turtle could still give birth, and even gave birth to these two spiritual little guys." Congratulations to the emperor, this is a great auspicious time! ”

The other eunuchs also said yes, sighing at the spirituality of the little turtle.

Jiajing is quite fond of these two little turtles that have just broken their shells, listening to Huang Jin's compliments, knowing that auspicious reproduction is indeed rare, so he laughed loudly: "Okay, this is really auspicious, so that the ministers congratulate the watch!" ”

When Huang Jin heard this command, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly, and he immediately said yes respectfully.

When the eldest grandson was born, Jiajing could ignore it. Now, this white turtle gave birth, but he immediately ordered the ministers to congratulate him, which is really full of irony.

It's just that this is Jiajing, the monarch of the Ming Dynasty, a father who is indifferent to family affection, but an emperor who is obsessed with cultivating and immortalizing.

For those who hinder his cultivation, he can kill people in pain. For those who have contributed to his cultivation of mysteries, he is not stingy with gifts, and he is also generous to Shao Wenfang and Tao Zhongwen, two high-ranking Taoist officials.

Now seeing the birth of the white turtle, he is also unambiguous, and decides to ask the ministers to congratulate him on his birthday, and even let his ministers write a moving Qingzi article.

Since Jiajing has come to Bairui Garden, he has not favored one over the other. As if he were a leader inspecting the place, he also watched other auspicious things, from the red rabbit to the snow wolf.

After a delay of about half an hour in Bairui Garden, he drove back to Wanshou Palace, and began a busy day of work.

Good things followed, Guangdong City Bosi into ambergris up to one hundred and eight taels, Fujian governor into ambergris is eight taels.

"There are so few in Guangdong?" Jiajing complained slightly about the amount of ambergris paid tribute by the Guangdong side, but as soon as he heard the amount presented by the Fujian side, he immediately chose not to say anything.

In essence, he also knew that this ambergris incense was extremely difficult to find, and he was afraid that it would only become less and less in the future.

Jiajing is a person who is good at managing his time, focusing on important things, but in the face of a large number of notes, he will not go through them one by one, but pick out the key points.

When he sat down in front of the case, he directly and lightly asked the two eunuchs who were in charge of ceremonies: "What is the movement of the Japanese in Fujian!" ”

In this way, Daming has already developed a set of fixed processes and rules, and he doesn't need to innovate too much at all, just draw a gourd according to the experience of his predecessors.

Like the fall of Xinghua City, Qi Jiguang, the deputy chief soldier of Zhejiang, supervised the Zhejiang soldiers to Fujian and Liu Xianyu Dayou, the general soldier, joined forces to collect the Fuxing City, and the imperial court wanted to reward Qi Jiguang and others for their meritorious deeds, and the people of Xinghua Mansion were exempted from taxes for three years.

In the event of a disaster, the imperial court was exempt from tax for three years, which was already a fixed routine of governing the country.

Chen Hong and Feng Bao were responsible for classifying the recitals, and after Chen Hong heard the question, he immediately took a note handed over by Feng Bao and said: "Back to the emperor, there is good news from Fujian just now, please take a look at it!" ”

Jiajing's eyebrows were slightly raised, and he took over the music and found that it was from Tan Lun, the governor of Fujian.

For this Jiachen's Jinshi, he has a deep impression. During his tenure as the prefect of Taizhou, he won three battles and three victories, not only defending the capital of Taizhou, but also killing all the Japanese invaders. The year before last, he returned to Jiangxi to keep filial piety, but he didn't want to meet Zhang Lian, and after his comeback, he expressed it remarkably. This year, he was appointed as the governor of Fujian, and he led the three roads to recover Xinghua City.

Jiajing opened the song, but saw Tan Lun write on it: "Tan Lun, the right of the Imperial History of the Chendu Inspectorate, Fujian Xinwu landed from Changle, robbed Fuqing and other places, the chief military officer Liu Xianyu Dayou and his troops invited to attack Yu Shalang and annihilate it, Pinghai Wei led the boat out to sea, and copied the general Xu Chaoguang with a light boat, beheaded the forty-nine ranks, the thief was burned, and his boat was returned to Pinghai......"

It's a small battle, just beheading forty-nine levels. However, this is a kind of status quo of the Ming Dynasty's suppression of the Japanese invaders, these Japanese are usually small groups of battles, and the local army has already achieved great merit in exterminating dozens of people.

"If General Xu Chaoguang has such courage, then reward him with a guard commander!" Jiajing has never been stingy with awards, even if he is indifferent.

Chen Hong and the others naturally agreed, and then fed back this intention to the Ministry of War, and then the Ministry of War pushed Xu Chaoguang, the chief of the seventh grade, to the chief of the third rank of a certain guard.

When Feng Bao heard Jiajing ask if there was any important note, he held a note above his head and said, "This is the note that Lin Haoran, the left deputy capital of the Imperial Palace, just sent up!" ”

Jiajing has always been more important to officials who can do things, and Lin Haoran has already squeezed into this column through the seizure of illicit salt just now, so he reached out and took over the note.

Whether it was Huang Jin or Chen Hong, at this time, his attention was also attracted by the letter from the left deputy capital Yu Shi Lin Haoran.

In the current Ming Dynasty, the official with the biggest variables is undoubtedly the left deputy capital Yu Shi Lin Haoran.

From the opening of the sea in Guangdong, to the many battles in the capital later, and then to the current suspension of the salt administration, this demonic young man can always bring different things to people.

Jiajing read the content of the song, but he made a contemplative expression, and suddenly ordered: "Go and call Xu Ge Lao, Yan Shangshu, and Wu Shangshu here!" ”