On the same day, a lot of the poems were recovered, and the number of them was not enough that Zhu Pingjin expected.

Zhu Pingjin originally thought that since he wanted to submit a letter to the S Committee, no matter how arrogant the person was, he had to be cautious, and he would only make a move before he made a move. Unexpectedly, the scholars quickly made a risk-benefit assessment in their minds, and the conclusion was that the benefits were great and the risks were zero. How many sheets of paper are worth how many copper plates? The reward of five hundred taels and the fame that comes with it, which one is not blushing? So they shot one after another, and they counted dozens of songs, and they made a lot of profits. Even some rich men who fight cocks and lackeys also came in, and asked some down-and-out literati to connect a few words to see if they could bump into good luck.

The review process designed by Zhu Pingjin is to read it by himself first, and then send it to Master Shu to see. In order to ensure that a single submission is not lost, Cao Sanbao arranged eight reliable and capable eunuchs in advance to guard the cabinet on the imperial city dam. The cabinet was almost full, and the carriage pulled another cabinet to replace it, keeping plenty of room to accept each submission.

There is a reclining chair in the middle of the courtyard in front of the main hall in the Shizi Mansion, and the current Shizi Zhu Pingjin is half-leaning on the recliner, with a brocade quilt on his feet, facing the slanting sun, drinking small tea, sipping melon seeds, and swinging his index finger outward from time to time. A group of eunuchs and palace maids were divided into three splashes, centered on Zhu Pingjin's chair, back and forth like a swarm of ants. The one on the left is responsible for opening the cabinet to pick up the pieces, flatten the poems, and pass them to the middle of the splash; In the middle, the people gathered on both sides of Zhu Pingjian, among which the four loyalists and the four sages were the closest, and they were responsible for reading the poems one by one; The one on the right is responsible for retracting the poems according to the finger signals of the prince, stacking them neatly, and then loading them into the basket, and transporting them to Master Shu's house for evaluation.

"It's been an hour or two, and I haven't heard what I want to hear. It's so tiring to draw the lottery alone. Another cabinet was brought in by a cart, Zhu Pingjin was sighing in his heart, and out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Cao Sanbao hurrying in.

It turned out to be summoned by my mother.

There are six formal halls in the Shu Palace, which are distributed on the central axis of the palace city from north to south, which is also the central axis of the CD Mansion. The three to the south are office, and the three to the north are sleeping, separated by a wall and three doors. The sleeping palace of the king of Shu was the first in the south, but he had long since lived. The prince renovated a separate garden for himself outside the northeast corner of the outer city of the palace, with pavilions and water pavilions, where his daily life is located. The sleeping palace of the princess of Shu is the northernmost one on the central axis, named Changchun Palace. On the large platform where the two bedrooms of the prince and princess are connected, there is also a slightly smaller palace with a square palace in the middle, which is officially used as a place where yin and yang meet, but it has not been used for a long time.

The prince doesn't like his bedroom, lingering among the flowers, waters, mountains and rocks outside the palace; Not so with the princess. She steadfastly occupies her nest, vigilantly defending the fruits of her victory, and not allowing any pretenders to take advantage of it.

Princess Qiu of Shu was born in a scholarly family in Chongqing Mansion and was just in her early thirties. My grandmother was the secretary of the Jiajing Dynasty, but my father was just a show talent and has passed away. There is a younger brother named Qiu Zigong. The family has 100 hectares of fertile land, 100 shops, 100 large ships, in short, very rich.

After receiving the news from Cao Sanbao, Zhu Pingjin immediately called for all the poems, took the east gate of the prince's mansion, and rushed to the princess's bedroom across Xichang Street. Under the platform of the dormitory, there were already two lines of eunuchs and female officials waiting for the matter, honestly waiting for the big eunuch Cao Yicheng to call in one by one.

Cao Yicheng is Cao Sanbao's godfather, who entered the palace at an early age and worked in the Shu King's Mansion for forty or fifty years, serving three generations of Shu kings. The princess married into the palace of Shu and followed here, and she was the most loyal and powerful. Cao Yicheng saw the honor guard of the prince from afar, and hurriedly entered the palace to report. But the princess didn't squeak with a cold face, and continued to be busy ordering all kinds of messy things. Cao Yicheng had no choice but to go out of the main hall again, and greeted Zhu Pingjin outside the palace gate to confess.

Zhu Pingjin stood and waited for a while before he had the will to let him in.

Zhu Pingjin knelt and listened to the princess's reprimand:

"The prince of the world is out, and Xiao has a poetry to meet friends," the voice of the princess in front of him was cold, "As soon as you make a move, it will be five hundred taels, which is generous enough." and Master Shu's hard-earned money, it is estimated that he can't beat a thousand taels. ”

"The ...... of the Enlightened Mother"

"Call Mom! Look at it, well, your mother and I get up early and are greedy for darkness, more than 300 Zhuangzi, more than 700 shops, inside and outside the palace, relatives and friends, drinking and feasting, and your father and your unprosperous son! What's one thing you don't want your mother to worry about? What's the one thing you don't ask your mom for money? Just now your third aunt sent someone to say that more than a dozen Zhuangzi outside the city were plagued by thieves, and they couldn't celebrate the New Year, so they didn't come to ask for money again? Isn't our family's Zhuangzi also plagued, why can't we celebrate the New Year without a few Zhuangzi? ”

The third aunt in the princess's mouth is the concubine of Zhu Zhishen, the king of Fushun, and Zhu Zhishen is the third uncle of Zhu Pingjin.

"The ...... of the Enlightened Mother"

"Call Mom! And your father, who doesn't do his job, has been messing around with your fourth uncle all day long, and he can't see the ghost. raised a group of useless Qing guests, and spent his days chanting poems and paintings. I got a lot of good women, Yingge Yan Dance, and those two fox spirits......"

"Mom......"

"Your mother and I work hard every day, not for you, not for this family. You still don't understand your mother's heart? ”

"Mom, I'm about to report this matter!"

"If you have something to say, if you have a fart, let it go!"

Zhu Pingjin looked left and right, the princess waved her hand, and the eunuchs and palace maids around her were well-trained and quickly evaporated.

"Erchen gave out a thousand taels of silver, and Erchen was also distressed." Zhu Pingjin thumped his chest, looking very heartbroken. "However, Erchen thinks it's worth it."

The princess's eyes widened.

"This move of the sons and sons, one is to collect the hearts of the army, and the other is to form a soldier."

"What's the knot with those guys who can only hum two bad words? You take a look at the articles written by those sour people, what flowers, birds, insects, grass, what gold, houses, cars, women, Taishang Laojun, Jiutian Xuannu, Xitian Yaochi, and Yin and Yang double cultivation, I'm bah! Speaking of this, the princess blushed a little: "Shameless, what serious person would write such bullshit!" At first glance, you can tell that it is not a good thing. Don't think your mother doesn't understand, our Qiu family is also a scholarly family for generations. You are not allowed to learn from them. ”

"The sons will never learn from them." Zhu Pingjin hurriedly promised, "Look at what Erchen wrote, although there is only one sentence, it is still heroic and righteous when you read it!" Zhu Pingjin hurriedly recited the fourteen words again.

"Okay, don't read it, I've already heard it when Cao Sanbao came to ask for money. Come on, don't be stupid and kneeling, sit next to your mother. "The chairs were wide and easy to seat two people.

"Good boy, what do you want mom to know." The princess took Zhu Pingjian's hands and kept rubbing, "But you may have made a mistake this time." You think, although he is as fierce as a tiger and is very capable of fighting, he is Yuchu's guest army after all, and he will leave after all. Don't look at the thief who made a lot of trouble in Sichuan this time, the officials and soldiers can always beat him away. The thief went out of Sichuan, and most of the fierce tigers returned to Henan, isn't your mind in vain? So, you have to spend money on our own people, such as the left guard of the palace. It's almost the New Year, and there is already a reward, so it's not good to send it together? ”

If you can deceive your father, you can't deceive your mother, you can't do it. However, Zhu Pingjin didn't want to admit it, he wanted to win back a game: "The palace guards deserve to be rewarded, and it is hard work all year round." However, some of the ministers couldn't trust the guards of the palace. ”

"Huh?" The princess was a little surprised when she heard this.

"It's not that they steal and rob, they don't dare, Mom, you can manage it well." Zhu Pingjin explained, "Erchen feels that everywhere has not been peaceful in recent years, and our Sichuan is not quiet. Shu since the Chongzhen years, the first to calm the rebellion, and then the thieves came again, the thieves just left, and the thieves came again, Baoning Mansion, Kuizhou Mansion is still making trouble, making local riots, the more troublesome the more fierce, the Yamen officers and soldiers have nothing to do. This year, Sichuan is in another severe drought, and the harvest is much less. Erchen heard that Shaanxi and Henan were even worse. First there was a drought, then a locust plague. The insects were so overwhelming that they ate up the dead grass and leaves. Erchen heard that he had begun to eat people. ”

Zhu Pingjin felt that the princess's hands were a little tight, so he continued to play: "Officers and soldiers are useless. This time, the thieves entered Sichuan, and the Chu army, the Qin army, the Yu army, and our Sichuan army all went up to fight, but the result was that they couldn't win or catch up, and even Qin Liangyu lost. ”

"Didn't the governor Shao Jiechun arrest and enter Beijing last month, and changed the prison army to Liao Dazhong. It's a pity, Shao Jiechun was wronged by Yang Sichang, and my mother heard that Jinyiwei was locked up in the Tribute Courtyard at that time, and tens of thousands of people went to beat him. Your father also went to the rescue book, and it is estimated that most of it is useless, and he may have to die. If Shao Jiechun was still here, maybe the situation would be better. ”

"It's useless for anyone to be the governor, the main thing is that the officers and soldiers can't fight." Zhu Pingjin retorted, "Mom, just look at my guards, there are all farmers, and there are also turtle men who go to Hualou." It's okay to set up a guard of honor to show majesty or something, but if you really go to the battlefield and work hard, more than half of your urine will flow into your pants! ”

"You know all this?" The princess smiled.

Zhu Pingjin continued to fan the flames: "Besides, the guard commanded Liu Fatzi, opened a shop and put money in the flower building, and bullied men and women all day long under the banner of the palace. Count on him to protect my family? ”

This is the real poke at the princess's sore spot. What the princess hates the most is not that this fat man Liu did all the bad things, but that he got two wild women out of nowhere to present them to the prince, saying that they were all his sisters, and the prince believed them. The princess's teeth were also tightened, and she asked Zhu Pingjin what she wanted to do.

"Erchen wants money."

"Don't you have the prince of the imperial court?"

"I still owe most of this year's 3,000 stones! Mom, it's not like you don't know! ”

"Then what do you want money for?"

"Buy a few orphans to raise."

The princess ordered loudly, "Cao Yicheng, you go out too!" ”

After only the mother and son were left in the main hall, the princess whispered to Zhu Pingjian: "Good girl, you can give you whatever you want." Anyway, it's all yours in the end, and you just need to give a little bit to your younger brother. Don't think about rebellion, that's going to kill your head, and your father can't protect you. ”

"Mom, you're thinking too much," Zhu Pingjin laughed innocently, "Erchen is only fourteen years old, not yet fifteen." Is there such a small anti-minister? When it comes to it, others don't believe it. Erchen just wanted to do the tea and horse business, and raised 100 orphans to take the road from Yazhou to Dajian Furnace. Erchen asked Cao Sanbao, the road was very dangerous, one side of the road was next to the mountain, the other side was next to the cliff, and under the cliff was the river. Stones often fall from the mountains, and the number of people killed by stones and drowned in the river every year is too many to count. I heard Cao Sanbao say that this year was plagued by disasters and thieves, and the tea harvest was less, so the market over there was very good. Erchen thought, this year's disaster, orphans must be cheap, and there is no need to bury silver for the family when they die, so ......"

The princess was obviously relieved: "It's that my mother wants to go wrong." The imperial court is very close to us, the vassal families. It doesn't matter if you occupy a little field and sell some tea, as long as it is stained with military armor or something, there will be local officials who will immediately participate in the impeachment. A few years ago, Jingshi was surrounded by Tartars, and Lord Chongzhen issued an order to the king of Qin. The Tang King of Nanyang had a hot head, and he took it seriously, and he also wanted to lead troops into Beijing, but he was blocked by the magistrate before he left the domain, and he was soon locked up and taken into Beijing. In the end, Lord Chongzhen somehow still had a good heart, but he just sent Fengyang to guard the mausoleum. THERE IS ALSO ZHU YI (YI) ZHONG, THE SON OF ZHENG IN HUAIQING MANSION (NOW QINYANG), WHO WAS ORIGINALLY NOT IN THE RIGHT POSITION (NOTE 1), AND HE HIMSELF HAD A VERY BAD REPUTATION IN THE VASSAL STATE, AND HE ALSO SOLD SLAVES AND ILLEGALLY KEPT CUSTOMERS. Last year, just a few months after his death, he was given death by the emperor. ”

The princess finally pressed Zhu Pingjian's head: "The matter of leading soldiers has nothing to do with my family, don't think about it." Tea and horses are feasible, and anything that makes money is fine. Let's discuss it again when we find time, and think of a safe way. Let's talk about this after the New Year, my mother has been tired and panicked recently, and she can't sleep, so she beats her back. The princess turned around and let Zhu Pingjin beat her back, and suddenly twisted back, "By the way, you will be fifteen years old in the new year, do you have a favorite person?" Bring it back to Mom to see. If you don't have any, Mom will tell you a few, you look at the Zhang family in the south of the city and the ancestral family in the west of the city, Mom thinks it's good......"

Note 1: King Zheng's throne was supposed to be inherited by his son, Zhu Jaeyu (YU). However, in the past fifteen years, he has resigned and returned to China, and has devoted himself to writing books, including 40 volumes of "The Complete Book of Music and Rhythm" and other works of millions of words. The common people did not believe that his act of giving up the country was from their hearts, and felt that there was a conspiracy in it, so there were many people who took the initiative to cry out for him.