In the summer court, if no one passes by, it is silent.

As soon as a summer cicada flew to a plane tree, it only cried twice, and two guards pounced on it with poles, and suddenly there was no sound.

This is a habit left by Song Shouyue as a palace marshal, and in the past 20 years, it has become a story that is inherited in the palace. There were several new lieutenants, and none of them had changed this routine.

In the past two years, after Miao Zhu served as the deputy commander of the palace, he sent more people to pave pebbles or cement under the large and small trees in the palace.

Because in "Nature", there was a paper on the life of cicadas: cicadas lay eggs on tree branches, and the larvae fall to the ground after hatching, burrow into the ground to suck the sap of tree roots, and then climb up from the ground after they grow, molting and feathering into worms, which has become common knowledge for many people. Miao Zhu did this to prevent the cicadas in the field from crawling out and making noise in the court.

Wang Zhongzheng came to the palace from his own mansion outside the palace, and immediately felt that his ears were much quieter.

That's the story.

The story in the palace is always ridiculous, with the privy council respecting, whenever the palace banquet can only go down to accompany the guests, this is because the privy envoy just appeared, this is the close servant of the Son of Heaven, not a courtier, it is impossible to stand side by side with the prime minister, the late Tang Dynasty, the five dynasties, the status of the privy council gradually rose, after the establishment of the country, it was gradually controlled by the scholars, but this stereotype, until Xizong ascended the throne did not change.

Wang Zhongzheng sometimes thinks that if it is changed to the Tang Dynasty, the privy envoy can also sit in this seat. If the imperial court can award officials according to merit, their own family can still enter the Western Mansion. It's a pity that now the scholar is powerful, even in his dreams, Wang Zhongzheng can't imagine that he can stand at the forefront of the Western class. In today's Emperor Song Dynasty, the eunuchs want to be privy envoys again, unless there is a faint monarch like King Shang and Emperor Yang of Sui.

However, there is more emotion, Wang Zhongzheng, who is on duty next to the Queen Mother because of his identity with imperial equipment, is gone, and at the end of the day, he is more cautious in his heart.

At home, he is the head of the family, and his wife, concubines, and children and grandchildren are to be respectful in front of him. But in the palace, in front of the Queen Mother, he is a house slave who must abide by the rules, even if the festival envoy is close at hand, he has no arrogance capital.

But although Wang Zhongzheng is old and his body is not very neat, he has never asked for leave once. Working hard in front of the Queen Mother, what you get is affection, and working hard in a place that the Queen Mother can't see is just merit and hard work.

"Wang Zhongzheng."

As soon as he heard the voice of the Queen Mother, Wang Zhongzheng immediately bent down: "The minister is here." ”

But I can't help but wonder if this is the conditioned reflex mentioned in "Nature", although the word is a little weird, but the truth is not bad at all. In the past two years, thousands of dogs with perforated stomachs in the world have verified this, 'Poor dogs. ’

"Han Xianggong heard everything he said today."

Wang Zhongzheng was shocked when he heard this, and the cranky thoughts in his mind were suddenly swept away, "...... Yes, the ministers heard it. ”

"What do you think?"

The Queen Mother's question gave Wang Zhongzheng a headache.

Han Gang has already left, and now the Queen Mother is on her way back to the palace.

During the audience for nearly an hour, the Queen Mother and Han Gang chatted a lot - the reason why they used to talk was that Wang Zhongzheng didn't think that this was the right question from the monarch and the minister.

At first, he did say something about Shen Kuo's appointment, but then the topic turned to Shen Kuo's wife. After that, the topic is even more off-topic.

During the entire audience, Wang Zhongzheng witnessed how Han Gang tried every means to bring back the topic that had gone wrong, and how the topic was repeatedly led crooked by the Queen Mother.

Now the Queen Mother asked Fang Cai's 'right question', what is her opinion, Wang Zhongzheng really didn't know how to answer for a while, so he had to push it clean, "The Queen Mother and the Xianggong asked the right question, it is related to the world, how can the servants in the Weichen District judge in vain?" ”

"Even if I talk to the wife, I will also say a few words about the court, and you are even more interested in the court, what can't you say about these words? …… Forget it, you're also embarrassed. It's hard to say, so what do you think of Han Xianggong? ”

Wang Zhongzheng was immediately relieved, just don't answer that question. Discussing the content of the question between the queen mother and the prime minister, this is a clear interference, and it is the most fatal.

It's simple to evaluate whether officials are virtuous or not, which is the duty of the Son of Heaven.

"Han Xianggong is a sage in governing his studies, and he is a capable minister in governing the country, which is rare in the world."

However, it is inappropriate to talk about the short and long reigning prime minister, after all, Wang Zhongzheng still used a more conservative praise that has been circulated in the world. The Queen Mother has been listening to politics for many years, how can she have no intention of asking such a thing? It doesn't hurt to be conservative.

"How does that compare to the previous Han Xianggong?"

"Is it Han Xianggong of Anyang, or Han Xianggong of Lingshou?"

Wang Zhongzheng used questions to delay time, while thinking about how to avoid offending Han Gang and satisfying the Queen Mother.

"Both."

In the court, there has always been no shortage of ministers surnamed Han. Always go to a Korean Xianggong, and come to another Korean Xianggong. Wang Zhongzheng has served in the palace for many years, and several Han Xianggongs have dealt with him.

Han Jiang always does not mince words to the eunuchs, and every time Wang Zhongzheng sees him, he can always feel a little chilly. At the beginning, Han Jiang led the army to recover Hengshan, and he Wang Zhongzheng was ordered to go to Yanzhou to measure the military, and he was sent to the front line as soon as he arrived in Yanzhou.

But the other rulers, whether they are Han Qi with the same surname, or Fu Bi and Wen Yanbo, even if they meet and laugh at these servants, it is just to listen to the news in the palace and curry favor with the Son of Heaven.

As for Han Gang, Wang Zhongzheng has never seen him deliberately collude with the favored servants in the palace, and at the same time, Han Gang does not regard eunuchs as outliers - there are too many important ministers who can be used for comparison, and the difference in attitude is very obvious. It's just that they have been together for almost 20 years, but Wang Zhongzheng still can't understand Han Gang.

Han Gang himself is a scholar and a great Confucian in the world, and he has traveled all over the world for many years, and has seen countless people and things, and his knowledge is far from being comparable to that of a woman trapped in the palace, but Han Gang has always maintained respect for the queen mother's choice, and basically there is no arbitrary situation. Personnel arrangement, if you have your own ideas, you will try to persuade the Queen Mother, if it is not successful, you will simply give up. If necessary, he will come back after a while to advise. For example, when he wanted Li Nangong to serve as the third envoy, the Queen Mother did not agree, so Han Gang did not insist.

The Queen Mother's persistent trust in Han Gang is caused by Han Gang's attitude all along. If Han Gang relied on his original merits to be arrogant and domineering, a little affection would have been exhausted long ago. But Han Gang can keep doing this, it is not like being in awe of the Queen Mother at all, but like he has set a rule by himself, and then he acts according to the rules.

With Han Gang here, there is no need to say much about the superiority of the three Han Xianggongs, but Wang Zhongzheng can't just offend people so simply.

"The two ministers of Anyang and Lingshou are both capable ministers of the world, and if there is a change in the court, they can be entrusted by the world. Xiao Han Xianggong is also a pillar of the country, not to let the two ministers specialize in the front, but also to enter the phase, both civil and military, as if the ancient sages, today can not reach. ”

Han Qi is the father of the two dynasties, and Han Jiang is also the prime minister who presided over the internal meditation of the first emperor, and he also has the merit of making decisions. With the comments entrusted by the world, both of them deserve it. However, Wang Zhongzheng only mentioned governing the world and avoided talking about martial arts, of course, it was praised.

Wang Zhongzheng's comment did not get a reaction from the Queen Mother. Following behind the Queen Mother, I couldn't see her expression, and Wang Zhongzheng could only wait quietly.

After walking a few steps, he heard a voice from in front of him: "Thanks to the three Han Xianggongs who have been in power one after another, Yingzong, the first emperor and the official family can live in the palace in peace." ”

"The country is virtuous, and it is the blessing of the ancestors." Wang Zhongzheng immediately agreed.

"There have been a lot of things recently, if there are a few more courtiers in the court who can be like the three Han Xianggongs, I can also relax."

Wang Zhongzheng replied in a low voice.

Of course, the Queen Mother is tired, in recent years, the world has been peaceful, and there are virtuous ministers in the court, and the Queen Mother Xiang has gradually become sluggish. Every three or five days, I have to drop out of the court, and I only go to the small hall of the inner east gate every day to sit down. Suddenly, the palace has not been very peaceful recently, and there are many things to do, and the queen mother, who is used to dealing with a few things every day, will definitely not be used to it.

The Empress Dowager has not yet recovered from a serious illness half a year ago, and has recently been dying again, and more than a dozen imperial doctors have consulted, all saying that the Empress Dowager has little time. And the eldest princess of Qilu, because of excessive sorrow, tired of serving relatives, suddenly fell ill, and she was seriously ill in just a few days. The emperor's grandmother and aunt were seriously ill and dying, and perhaps in a few days, in addition to the emperor, there would be only one child and several children left in the family.

Forget about the eldest princess, the Empress Dowager Xiang only hates the Empress Dowager for not dying early, but when it comes to the end, there should be no lack of etiquette. The Queen Mother still had to inquire every day, and then came back with a straight face. When the Empress Dowager dies, there will be a lot of things to be done.

"The safety of the world is all on the Queen Mother. Recently, the Queen Mother has been overworked, so she should be a good student to recuperate. ”

"How else do you recuperate? In the Taiyi Bureau, there are several medical officers who can disembowel, like Hua Tuo, to treat diseases and save people, and they have their prescriptions, how can they recuperate? ”

Wang Zhongzheng said: "Chen has been taking royal jelly recently, and after half a year, he only feels that his spirit is vigorous, and some old diseases on his body are gone. "Shennong's Materia Medica" says that honey soothes the five organs, nourishes qi and replenishes the middle, relieves pain and detoxifies, removes all diseases, and hundreds of medicines, and prolongs life if you take it for a long time. But bee larvae fed with honey can only become worker bees, and after eating royal jelly, they can become queen bees. It can be seen that the nourishing power of royal jelly is far greater than that of honey. ”

"I'm eating this every day." Xiang nodded to the Queen Mother and asked, "The Qing family also watches "Travels in the Nine Domains"? ”

With the circulation of "Nature" and "Travels in the Nine Domains", supplements such as royal jelly, sheep colostrum, and cordyceps sinensis that once appeared in the two books have become nourishing products in the eyes of the world, and now they have even become tributes, and the Queen Mother also takes them all year round, but the amount of royal jelly is small, and it is not resistant to storage, so it cannot be rewarded to courtiers, and can only be shared in the palace.

"Although the Nine Domains is a novelist's words, it is full of the truth of learning from things, whether it is astronomy, geography, or the art of war, it is all a positive theory. The same is true of medicine, so the minister often looks at it. ”

"Han Xianggong's words have always made sense."

Wang Zhongzheng chuckled, "It's just that Han Xianggong refuses to admit it." ”

"It's really inappropriate to be distracted to write a novelist's words. Blame those who are reluctant, otherwise why would it be so? ”

Wang Zhongzheng is the only one, and he can't go along with the Queen Mother to scold Wang Anshi.

"Wang Zhongzheng!" The Queen Mother's voice suddenly became serious.

Wang Zhongzheng was mentally prepared, bowed down and said, "The minister is here." ”

Han Xianggong wanted to repair the track, and felt that Shen Kuo had done a good job, so he wanted him to continue to do it. It's just that Shen Kuo has never had a good reputation, and his family is well-known for his disgrace, so there is always someone to talk to. You just go and see how Shen Kuoxiu's track is, if he really does a good job, as long as he can pass the court push, I will be approved. ”

"Minister—obey."