On the sixth day of the eighth month, the wind and the sun were beautiful, and at the beginning of the morning, the prince took Jiang Anyi, Xiong Yi'an, and Xue Minlin and his party out of the Chunming Gate to the east, and galloped towards the Huangzhuang of the East Palace in Suxi County. Xue Minlin, the left guard of the Prince's Mansion, is the fourth rank of the loyal general, and the role of a bodyguard is on this trip.

Changle Fang, Chu'an Wangfu is brilliant in the rising sun, the grass and trees in the house are lush, the birds are singing and the flowers are fragrant, walking in the corridor is like a picture scroll, revealing vitality. In the study room next to the Yin'an Palace, Shi Chongjie, the king of Chu'an, was dressed in a light blue silk robe, with black hair, and was full of luxury, leaning on the brocade chair and discussing with his subordinates. The Nanzhu chairs in the study were placed at random, and several royal officials sat relaxed and sipping tea and discussing matters, and there was no need to be restrained in discussing matters in front of King Chu'an.

The vassals in the East Palace are insufficient, and the subordinates in the Chu'an Palace's palace are even less. According to the "Da Zheng Law", the prince's mansion set up a Fu, this position is temporarily held by Ma Suizhen, and the military vacancies are consulted, and the friends of the house (from the bottom of the five products) are Shen Wenqing, a famous man from Fangzhou hired by Shi Chongjie; There is only one of the two in literature, and Ding Chu, a member of the Ministry of Rites, was transferred to the palace literature, and the Son of Heaven asked the Ministry of Officials to raise his official rank to the sixth rank and raised two ranks, which is considered an encouragement.

There is only one person in the East and West Pavilions, Sun Chaofeng, who is smiling and saying to everyone at the moment: "...... Song Qingke, the chief speaker of the East Palace, invited me twice, and each time he asked me about the Mid-Autumn Festival reward in the palace, and I added something every time according to Mr. Shen's suggestion, and now the festival reward can be more than ten taels of silver, which makes this Song master of ceremonies feel confused and want to speak. ”

Shen Wenqing is a scribe with a clear face, he is a Jinshi in Fengle for six years, when he was awarded the official coincided with the death of his mother, he returned home to keep filial piety for three years, and later when his father died, he successively kept filial piety so that he had no intention of career, traveled in the mountains and forests, and taught several students. With the more than ten disciples he taught successively won the first place, Shen Wenqing became famous and was regarded as a virtuous teacher, which was almost to catch up with Fan Yanzhong.

"Those who are right and wrong are right and wrong, this Song master of ceremonies may have ulterior motives, and the East Palace is troublesome." Shen Wenqing slowly and methodically fiddled with the tea leaves in the cup, and looked at Sun Chaofeng with a sharp gaze, "He wants to ask next time, you might as well ask him if the festival reward of the East Palace has been decided, and by the way, the palace can not be compared with the East Palace." ”

Song Qing frequently asked the palace about the Mid-Autumn Festival reward, obviously there is a comparison, the East Palace is far richer than the palace, according to the usual practice in previous years, the reward of the East Palace is higher than the palace, why ask again and again, unless the East Palace feels constrained, and is worried about being compared to the palace, it will be asked many times. Shen Wenqing once heard King Chu'an say privately that the prince had asked his subordinates to donate silver when he bought Yanshan Villa, which made the Son of Heaven feel annoyed, and Queen Wang lived in Yanshan Villa temporarily, and the prince had no funding, and Jiang Anyi, the assassin of Yuanhua Prefecture, was appointed as the Shaozhan of the Zhan Mansion of the East Palace, and if the prince asked Jiang Anyi to help again, this matter could be used to make a fuss.

Shi Chongjie laughed and said: "Since Sun Saijiu has promised a festival reward for Xiao Wang, then he will do what he said, everyone has worked hard during this time, and it is also a little bit of Xiao Wang's heart." My Chu'an Mansion is not as big as the East Palace family, and there are many people, but small also has small benefits, and the cost is much less. ”

Ding Chu sighed: "The East Palace is clothed in fine clothes and food, and there is the queen's mother behind her to help, and the prince spends a lot of money and has a lot of money. The prince is diligent and thrifty, barely maintaining the expenses of the palace, if there is no funding from the Huang family of Xuanwu Marquis, the palace may not even be able to support the scene, which makes people sigh. ”

Seeing that everyone's faces were gloomy, Shi Chongjie laughed loudly and said: "Born in sorrow and died in peace, Xiao Wang and Zhujun can create a career, and show the true character of a husband." ”

Including Shen Wenqing, everyone's expressions were lifted, and it was a blessing for everyone to meet such a motivated and hard-working lord. Huang Wenxiang, who was joining the army outside the house, walked in, made a circle to everyone, and then put a piece of paper

Give it to Shi Chongjie. Huang Wenxiang is the second son of Huang Jiwei, and he is Shi Chongjie's cousin, who takes care of some confidential matters in the Chu'an Palace.

Shi Chongjie read the note, handed it to Shen Wenqing beside him, and said sarcastically: "My prince brother took a few people out of the Chunming Gate, and eighty percent went to the mountains and rivers. ”

Ding Chu said angrily: "The Son of Heaven ordered the prince to be the regent, how many major events are there every day in the court, he still has time to play, and the corpse is mistaken for the country." ”

Peng Guanjing Chengli said: "The sky is watching, which is not a good thing for the prince." When the prince sees Dr. Huang, he might as well mention it, and let the Yushitai wait for the opportunity to play tomorrow. ”

Shen Wenqing handed the note back to King Chu'an, and said after a while: "The prince only took three people with him, not like he went to the mountains and rivers, otherwise he would not be able to explain to Kong Xiang, I think the prince has another purpose for this trip, prince, what is the east side?" ”

Jing Chengli responded: "To the east of the capital is Suxi County, where the East Palace Huangzhuang is located, and the prince must have gone to the Huangzhuang." Lord, should we send some people to take a look? ”

White Arowana suit, these four words flashed in the minds of the people in the house, and they all looked at Shi Chongjie. Shi Chongjie was startled by the burning eyes of everyone, and then he also thought of the reason, and quickly shook his head, and said: "No, who dares to make a mistake at the feet of the Son of Heaven and follow the prince, if the father knows that the sin is unforgivable." ”

"That's what the prince said." Shen Wenqing said: "The prince is the prince of the country, and the masters of the dragon guard and the secret guard are ready to protect him. There are not a few unjust cases reported in various places, so let's continue to discuss tomorrow. ”

…………

Suxi County is seventy-three miles away from the capital, the prince and the four people are riding good horses, less than an hour to the territory of Suxi County, Huangzhuang is in the south of Suxi County, Shi Chongwei is full of interest, and said with a horsewhip: "The hour is still early, let's go to the county seat first, and then go to Huangzhuang to see." ”

After running for more than 70 miles in one breath, everyone was a little tired, and followed the prince into the west gate of Suxi County. Suxi County is the upper county, adjacent to the capital, is the main road to Yongchang in the east, and the merchants have to rest when they pass here. The city was very lively, the caravans were constantly coming and going, and the south and north were noisy, Shi Chongwei looked at the buildings on both sides of the street with interest, and his eyes glanced over the eldest girl and the little daughter-in-law.

There was a shouting sound from the front, and the crowd flashed to both sides in a panic, Shi Chongwei looked forward with his palm on the horse, and said excitedly: "Yo, there are really people who are rampant and domineering, and my son is going to do the right thing for the sky today." ”

Xiong Yi'an pouted secretly, his brother-in-law clearly wanted to cause trouble. Xue Minlin and Jiang Anyi couldn't just watch the excitement, the two urged them to step forward, blocked in front of the prince and Xiong Yi'an, and were hugged by people and leaned to both sides.

There was the sound of horses' hooves on the avenue, and the two apricot yellow flags fluttered left and right, and the strong men who rode on the horses and held the flags were actually a pair of twins, wearing black suits, with straight waists, and looked majestic. Shi Chongwei praised: "Good man, powerful enough, I can't find a few such mighty men in the East Palace Guard." ”

Xue Minlin is the left guard rate, holding the East Palace soldiers and horses honor guard Yu Wei, and taking charge of the affairs of Zhu Cao, and is the first person in the East Palace Zhu Rate Mansion. His wife is the daughter of Wang Keyan, the Marquis of Yicheng, the niece of the Queen Wang, and it was Wang Kefu, the Duke of Shenguo, who suggested that the Queen choose him as the commander of the Zhuwei and Zhurate Mansions of the Eastern Mansion.

"Your Highness, these two people are just looking good, looking mighty is actually an embroidered pillow, a good rider has to lower his upper body on horseback, you see that these two people's shoulders are tight, obviously not, they have to relax, and there are knees and legs, there are loopholes everywhere, let alone me

Compared with the soldiers under my command, even the soldiers who led me to brush horses in the house were better than them. Xue Minlin couldn't help but retort when he heard the prince belittle his subordinates.

The prince couldn't get off the stage, and reprimanded in a low voice: "If you want to call Childe, why can't you always remember, I won't take you out next time." ”

Shi Chongwei saw that the car was spacious, a man in a fancy dress was sitting crookedly under the bed, a delicate woman was feeding him fruits, and another woman was gently beating his calves for him, so he enjoyed it.

Behind the incense cart is a long convoy, full of goods, there are boxes and bags, cars of cured meat, dry goods, deer, roe deer, sheep, pigs, game and poultry are covered by rope nets on the board car and scream and struggle, the most rare thing is that there are golden pheasants, black and white rabbits, sika deer, white cranes, colorful ducks and other things packed in bamboo cages; More than ten large barrels splashed water, Jiang Anyi sat on the horse and could see clearly, there were fish and shrimp jumping around; After that, there are baskets of fresh fruits, preserved fruits, and a wide variety of vegetables and vegetables; Rouge rice, blue glutinous, white glutinous, flour japonica, variegated sorghum and other colorful colors are dazzling; Followed by silver frost charcoal, fragrant charcoal, fruit charcoal and firewood charcoal, all kinds of wood and bamboo products, and finally drove a herd of cattle. The long queue walked a pillar of incense, and the people on the side of the road talked about it.

"Brother, this is the business of a commercial house, and the things are complete." A vendor with a picket asked the candy gourd seller next to him.

The candy gourd seller glanced at the vendor and said, "Look at the outfit of the elder brother is a foreigner, I don't know, this is something from the Huangzhuang, and I went to send a festival to His Royal Highness the Prince." ”

"It turned out to be a filial piety for the prince, no wonder it is so magnificent, these things are enough for the prince to eat until next year." The merchant was envious, thinking that the goods on his shoulders were really a drop in the bucket compared to the convoy.

"What is this?" The locals who sold sugar gourds talked about it and boasted ostentatiously: "Our Suxi County is where His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is located, and nearly half of the fields in Suxi County are the private property of the Prince, and the grain produced in a year is enough for you to eat for several lifetimes." ”

Jiang Anyi frowned, he heard the flaw in these words, Suxi County is an upper county, located in the Liaoxi Plain, it is said that the number of acres of land in the county is at least seven or eight thousand hectares, and the manor given to the prince by the Son of Heaven is only one thousand hectares, how can it be that half of the fields are the prince's.

There was a scholar next to him who said his question, "Xiaosheng is from Fangzhou, and he traveled through Guixian County. I just heard this little brother say that half of the land in Suxi County is the private property of His Royal Highness the Prince, and Xiao Sheng heard that the East Palace Imperial Village is only a thousand hectares, how can there be so much as the little brother said. ”

The sugar gourd seller was obviously a little angry when outsiders doubted his words, changed the sugar gourd on his shoulder, and squinted his eyes to the scholar and said: "Xiucai doesn't know, the prince's Zhuangzi doesn't have to pay taxes, and the people in this county have found a way to dedicate their fields to the prince's name. ”

The scholar said angrily: "Long live clearing the fields everywhere, just to suppress this kind of surrender and merger, how can the prince, as the prince of the country, do this?" ”

Shi Chongwei's face flushed, to be honest, he didn't know about the land annexation, thinking that so many fields and mountains and forests were hanging in his name, and the Huangzhuang grain of silver paid to himself did not increase, it seems that he was deceived by his family, these damn guys, actually made money under my banner, but the infamy let the lonely king carry it for them, and when they got to the Huangzhuang, they had to punish this group of minions.

The seller of sugar gourds was angry when he saw the book, and his heart was a little weak, so he shrank and disappeared after living in the crowd.

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