made up his mind, and Shang Cheng settled down. While drinking tea, he patiently waited for His Majesty's meeting, and at the same time silently remembered the etiquette of His Majesty's meeting in his heart.

After receiving the message from the inner court last night, the two ceremonial priests immediately gave him a detailed speech in the post house. The etiquette system is very complicated and cumbersome, walking, standing, sitting and answering, basically every action has special rules, even the emperor sent him a cup of tea, there is also a set of fixed thank-you etiquette. He must follow these routines, and he can't make a wrong move, nor can he say a wrong word, otherwise it will be the sin of "missing the table in front of the king". Moreover, whether he was thirsty or not, the tea that the emperor gave him had to be drunk in one gulp, and then the bowl was handed over to the person who brought the tea, and then he thanked the emperor again, and when the emperor smiled and said, "Yan Du does not need to be so polite, and sit down to talk", he can accept the gift. There is also customization of the sitting, the main seat must be oblique to the throne, the upper body is slightly tilted, not the head can be lowered, the eyes must not look directly at the holy monarch, and the head of the dragon supported by the throne must be taken as the standard; can't be "sliding and frivolous", can't "smile", can only "answer solemnly"; Stating facts is called "playing", putting forward one's own ideas is called "enlightenment", stating one's own opinions is "yu", and refuting the emperor's views should be said "refu" one by one

"Resurrection, the subordinates are a little suspicious......"

This is the most surprising place for Shang Cheng. He had read so many books, watched so many movies and plays, and it was the first time he had heard of such a thing. It is not surprising that the matter of correcting the emperor is surprising, but it is surprising that there is a special word used to refute the emperor. It's incredible!

However, there was only one thing that surprised him, and more things were within the scope of what he could understand and barely accept. The two ceremonial priests spent half an hour introducing him to the whole set of His Majesty's etiquette, and they were all dry-mouthed; He was also dizzy. It is absolutely impossible to fully understand and memorize so many things at once, and he can only rely on the good habits he has developed when he is studying by cramming. Anyway, I remembered most of it.

Now, while he was meditating on how he should behave when he saw Emperor Dongyuan, he was still sighing in his heart: This kind of etiquette is too rigid and dogmatic!

When he thinks this way, he is not actually against this system. There are no rules, so no matter what it is, there must be a system to restrain it; That's not a bad thing. But if such a system restricts even the most basic human interactions, it is certainly not a good thing. Especially in this imperial city that deals with the world's secrets, people not only need to communicate in language, but also need to communicate in thought, when opinions cannot be unified, there will definitely be contradictions and disputes, which requires a relatively harmonious and active atmosphere. However, the rigid and inflexible "etiquette" will hinder the creation of such an atmosphere. If a person is not to think of whether his opinion is correct or not, but to weigh whether it is appropriate or not to say so, he may delay a lot of important things......

He couldn't help but think of an interesting question: Is the emperor's speech and demeanor when receiving ministers also limited to these rules and regulations? And when he spoke to his wife and children after he retired from the dynasty, did he also follow these systems?

He felt that the answer should be yes, and that the emperor must also abide by these systems. Since ministers have to follow the etiquette system, the emperor himself needs to lead by example.

He smacked his lips, not making any comments on the daily lives of these emperors. But one thing is very clear, a person who lives in a "suit" every day probably won't have any happiness and joy worth talking about......

He was wandering when suddenly there were three clear knocks on the cloud board from outside. With these three dull sounds, the sound of conversation that had been filling the outer room also disappeared suddenly. Except for two gentle coughs that lowered their throats, nothing else could be heard.

After a few more moments, the conversation began again. But this time the voice was obviously much quieter than just now. Shang Cheng guessed that the three cloud plates just now represented the arrival of the Eastern Yuan Emperor. Thinking that Emperor Dongyuan would soon receive him, he suddenly had an inexplicable sense of tension, and at the same time a little excited—the person he was going to meet soon was not the emperor played by an actor in the movie and TV series, but a living emperor, the supreme ruler of the Great Zhao Dynasty whose origin he still didn't know, a real big man...... He became cramped by this, and it seemed that his hands and feet were at the mercy of nothing.

He straightened the wings on his head first, stood up and tidied up his clothes, and exhaled several times in a row, which relaxed his nervousness.

Now, he was mentally ready to meet an emperor, sitting firmly on the edge of the kang, waiting for the summons of the chamberlain.

But the eleventh father-in-law who led him into the imperial city never appeared. Not only did the eleventh father-in-law not come, but there were no other chamberlains who came to pass the word.

He had to sit and wait.

This continued until early noon. Just when he became irritable because of the long wait, he finally waited for someone.

But the person who came was neither the eleventh father-in-law nor any other chamberlain, but an official with a beautiful beard. As for why the inner court summoned him without sending him with a chamberlain, this seven-rank civil official who claimed to be the right Zhan Shi of Shangshu Province was not very clear.

What was even more strange to Shang Cheng was that he did not lead him into the side hall, but through a corner gate at the end of the opposite wing, through a sandwich passage, and led him to another courtyard. The official who led the way stopped in front of the steps of the three upper rooms in the main room, and said to him, "Governor Yan, please." One by one, Tang Xiang and Zhang Xiang are waiting for you inside. ”

Shang Cheng was even more puzzled. Didn't you say that today is the emperor's edict? Why did it become that Tang Xing on the left and Zhang Pu on the right were waiting for him in the blink of an eye? If he reports on his work today, he doesn't have any information files with him, so is he just talking about his work with the two prime ministers? There are so many things in Yanshan, so many clues in military and government affairs, how can he explain it clearly for a while?

At this time, two first-class officials wearing red official robes came out of the upper room, standing on the steps and looking at Shang Cheng with a smile. The person on the left greeted him with a smile and said, "This general is Shang Yandu?" Shang Cheng nodded in return while guessing the identity of this person in his heart. This man was about fifty years old, with a clear appearance, thin eyebrows, long eyes, and a smile on his face. Could it be that this is Lu Ji's master, Zuo Xiang Tang Xing? He also thought that the old man next to him who had been paying attention to him was Tang Xingli.

He took a breath and was about to say hello when the man said, "...... Tang Lao Xiangguo and I have long admired the prestige of the general. ”

This is not Tang Lao Xiangguo. This person is the right minister Zhang Pu!

It's so dangerous, I almost made a big joke!

Shang Cheng put his legs together, stood up and gave a military salute, and said loudly: "Yanshan is on leave to supervise Shang Cheng, and he was ordered to go to Beijing to report on his work. I've seen Tang Xiang under my job! I've seen Zhang Xiang! ”

Tang Xing and Zhang Pu were a little stunned by his actions, and they forgot for a while that they should turn sideways and accept this salute. The admiral of the four guards went to Beijing to report on his work, whether it was talking about private affairs or official business, he saw that the two of them were all plain courtesy, and Shang Cheng was still the first to solemnly salute like this, and he was a little uncomfortable in a hurry. Zhang Pu reacted quickly, and immediately realized that Shang Cheng did this not without reason: in addition to the fake post of commander, the imperial court did not grant Shang Cheng any other civilian positions, so he is still a general, and when he comes to the imperial city today, he is also wearing a general's robe, and the military salute is naturally reasonable. He returned the salute again, greeted the steps with a smile and said, "General Zida is polite......

Lao Tang Xing waved his hand on the steps, made a gesture of please, and said with a smile: "General, please." ”