On the eighth day of the first month, in the morning.

Xiao Rui, who was on an errand in Dali Temple, received an urgent announcement from the inner servant, and passed him into the palace to wait for His Majesty.

When he received this urgent announcement, Xiao Rui was in Luoyang's house, which was a very luxurious mansion, although he was only one of the six masters of Dali Temple, and he was only a green-robed petty official from the six grades. But the house he lives in is considered luxurious in Luoyang City.

This is not because he is corrupt, as a Dali temple who divides the temple affairs and the severity of the punishment, he does not have so many opportunities to be greedy for too much money. According to the Daqin system, all major cases should be tried by Dali Siqing, Shangshu and Shilang of the Criminal Department, together with Yushi Dafu and Zhongcheng, and it is called the triage of the three divisions.

But the power to decide the prison lies in the criminal department, and even if Dali Temple does not agree, it can only play the holy judgment.

In Dali Temple, Sicheng is in charge of the review of judicial cases of various departments of the central government and local counties and counties.

Xiao Rui's grade is not high, and he does have authority, but he is strictly restricted, but he can live in this mansion, and even the door is double, not because of him, but because of his father.

His father Xiao, who had served as the prime minister of the imperial court, served as the Zhongshu Shilang, and the Pingzhang of the Tongzhongshu Menxia, although he had been dismissed, he was also the first prince with a different surname in Daqin, and he was the prince of the country, and he had a hundred miles of fiefdom in Yili.

In addition, the Lanling Xiao family is also a Jiangnan scholar clan who has produced two dynasties, so although Xiao Rui is young and his grade is not high, in Luoyang City, I don't know how many upstart families want to marry him.

Now it is the New Year's Festival, the imperial court has a holiday before the year, and it will be put on the eighth day of the first month to open the government to work, and then the fifteenth day of the first month will be scattered for vacation.

Although the government has been opened today, it is the past that is, the next day, and then the government dispersed and returned home.

Now that the emperor suddenly sent someone to announce it, Xiao Rui was also a little confused for a while.

Looking at the hour, it's not too early, but it's not too late.

The sun has not yet risen to the middle, it can be regarded as morning, but it can also be regarded as afternoon, after all, many traffickers and pawns in Luoyang City have been busy for a long time, eating a little food to fill their stomachs, ready to rest and then continue to work in the afternoon to earn money to support their families.

However, for those noble officials in Luoyang City, this hour is still very early, and some of them may have just woken up not long ago.

Xiao Rui originally planned to play polo in the afternoon, but he had already made an appointment with several princes, and he even asked his good horses to be washed early, cut the horse's mane and bound the horsetail, re-trimmed the hooves and nailed the horseshoe, changed the saddle, and even let the manu walk the horse for him.

Xiao Rui is very confident in today's polo game, although it is only a warm-up match for the children of the princes, but today's game has a good prize.

Although Xiao Rui's father went to the court, the Xiao family's influence in the court is not bad, and even this time his father returned to Luoyang from Yili's fiefdom, and the emperor specially greeted his father at the Zhengdan court meeting, and rewarded a lot of royal items afterwards.

However, Xiao Rui still felt that the emperor was a little surprised to summon him, and if he wanted to summon him, he should also summon his father, he was just a Dali Temple, and he was one of the six princes, a young noble son and a low-level official, so he couldn't summon him.

Xiao Rui was unexpected, but he didn't dare to delay.

Hurry up and take a shower before heading to the Royal Palace.

The Emperor summoned him to the inner court, which was quiet and could not hear any noise.

Outside the temple.

When the little eunuch on duty saw him being brought in, he gently pushed open the door of the temple with a very gentle movement and let him in.

As soon as I entered the hall, I felt extremely warm, and there was a faint fragrance inside, which erupted from the copper beak of the crane and permeated the entire hall.

The temple was empty.

The little eunuch kept leading him to the front of the palace and sang in a low voice, "Sage, Xiao Rui of Dali Temple has arrived." ”

At this time, the emperor was bowing his head and pulling an abacus, calculating something himself, and he didn't look up when he heard the report, but just nodded slightly, indicating that he already knew, and then continued to pull the abacus.

Xiao Rui stood there quietly, bowing slightly, his head lowered.

But he also quietly looked at the emperor with his spare eyes, Xiao Rui is not a permanent counselor, but he will still participate in the Shuowang Dynasty on the fifteenth day of the first month of each month, as long as the emperor will come, he can see the emperor from a distance, but it is too far away to see it really.

At this time, this distance is really not usually available.

The emperor casually wore a black soft-footed hat today, which was a very ordinary crown hat, and a pale yellow five-clawed dragon robe on his body.

Xiao Rui was very surprised to find that the emperor pulled out the intention plate very quickly, almost without pause, and sometimes, the emperor would even pull out the intention bead with both hands on the left and right sides of the abacus at the same time.

The proficiency of this abacus even surpassed that of the accountant in his house.

The Emperor was so attentive that after about two quarters of an hour the Emperor stopped, he picked up his pen and wrote a few words on the notebook in front of him, and then pushed the abacus aside.

At this time, the emperor finally raised his head.

"I heard that you recently bought a new BMW from Dawan, named Green Eyebrow, is there any reason for this?"

The emperor's tone was very kind.

But Xiao Rui felt a little chill in his back, the Dawan horse he had just bought three days ago, and he named the horse Green Eyebrow, which he had just set last night.

He didn't even mention it to anyone else except for talking to a few horse servants in the palace, but the emperor was in the deep palace and already knew everything.

"Back to Your Majesty, the daughter of the eastern neighbor is described in the lustful Fu of the disciple, with eyebrows like green feathers, muscles like snow, waist like bundles, and teeth like shellfish."

The eyebrows are like green feathers, of course, not that the eyebrows are green, but that the eyebrows are very dark.

Therefore, Xiao Rui's green eyebrows, in fact, have a very clear meaning, that is, he is a jet-black horse, so he named it Green Eyebrows, which means that this horse is as black as his eyebrows.

The emperor even knew that Xiao Rui privately named the newly bought horse Green Eyebrows at night, but he didn't know that he was a dark horse.

The Emperor just smiled.

"This horse should cost a lot, right?"

Xiao Rui had no choice but to respond truthfully, "It costs eight hundred yuan, and it doesn't include the tooth money for the tooth man." ”

Luo Cheng nodded, and asked again, "Eight hundred guan for a horse, plus tooth money, that is, nine hundred guan is estimated to be more than ninety, nine hundred yuan to buy a horse, Xiao Sicheng is very chic." ”

Xiao Rui hurriedly said that he didn't dare, he didn't dare.

"I heard that Xiao Sicheng is very fond of playing polo, and there are more than 30 good horses raised at home, each of which is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and he has specially bought dozens of horse slaves to take care of your hobby, and there is also a special polo field training, these costs must be millions, right? It's definitely not enough to rely on your little money, even if your father has a hundred miles of fiefdom, it must not be enough, right? ”

Xiao Rui felt the sweat on his forehead come down, "Back to Your Majesty, the Chen family still has a bit of a family heirloom, and there is still some income every year." ”

"I know that your Lanling Xiao family's ink is very famous, your Lanling family has three points of the world's ink, and in the past, Taiyuan Wang's ink also accounted for two points, and your two families accounted for half of the world's ink, which is not a little income, and the annual income is more than 10 million."

"Some small family business, insignificant."

Luo Cheng nodded, "Lanling Xiao's ink is very famous, in addition to ink, you also have a paper workshop and a pen-making workshop in Lanling, all of which are not bad, and even make inkstones, it can be said that pen, ink, paper and inkstone are involved in your family, and there are a lot of entries every year." ”

Xiao Rui's head was sweating, he felt that the emperor was eyeing these properties of their Xiao family, and he didn't know what to do for a while.

"Rest assured, although the royal family now also has a paper bureau and a printing bureau, etc., but I am not the kind of person who likes vicious competition, as long as I do not violate the laws of Daqin, do not violate morality, and do not deliberately vicious competition, I am encouraged, of course, I must also remember to pay taxes truthfully, and I cannot evade taxes, as long as it is in accordance with the rules, I support it."

"But!"

The Emperor suddenly raised several pitches.

"You Xiao Rui can't make a living by yourself, but on the other hand, you have to instruct other scholars and officials to write in the newspaper what royal workshops compete for profits with the people, if you really want to say that it is your Xiao family, your Xiao family's workshop has a lot of illegal operations, such as the acquisition of a paper mill before, you used very disgraceful means to persecute, and also, these industries of your Xiao family, in recent years, the actual tax payment is less than half of the amount that should be paid, and through false accounts and other means, there are many tax evasions."

Xiao Rui's legs suddenly became weak, and he knelt down.

"Please open up Your Majesty, the Xiao family is willing to make up all the taxes."

Luo Cheng smiled slightly.

"I summoned you today, instead of sending someone to the door, to give you a chance. After I go back, check myself, I don't want to investigate whether it is your Xiao family's steward, or your father and son's instructions, in short, all the taxes evaded will be made up, and your Xiao family will take out the same amount of tax as the money to donate to the nursing home and orphanage, not a single cent can be missing, otherwise, there will be no next chance. ”

"The minister must be sure." Xiao Rui is not his father Xiao, who was frightened by the emperor's words.

"This time, I will give you a chance, neither demoting your position, nor punishing your salary, nor even naming you. But in the future, remember to be a person or do things, and try to be as stable and heavy as possible. Don't talk about the court and state politics at every turn. Also, the four words of competing with the people for profit cannot be said nonsense. ”

"Remember!"

Xiao Rui's head had already been attached to the ground, and he didn't dare to lift it.

"When you have energy in the future, put more effort into your ministry, and don't always think about playing polo, which is just entertainment, and you can't put the cart before the horse."

"I don't dare to play polo anymore."

"Polo still has to be played, you just have to master it yourself, okay, step down."

Xiao Rui dared to get up, "Chen Xiao Rui retires!" ”

Exiting the 100 million years old hall, Xiao Rui's cold sweat had already wet his clothes.