In the corridor leading to the Chongzheng Palace, Lu Huiqing and Chang Zhi of the Judgment Taichang Rite Yuan met head-on. After asking a few words casually, they each gave their hands goodbye.

The status of the chief official of the Taichang Rite Academy is not high, and it is rare to have the opportunity to go to the Chongzheng Palace to perform, and today is for the golden book of Song Jieyu, the biological mother of the third prince Zhao Jun.

On the first day of the fourth month, Song Cairen gave birth to the third son of the emperor to the Son of Heaven and gave him the name Jun. Recently, Song Cairen was promoted to Jieyu because of this. The name is one level higher, so it is natural to canonize it with a golden canon.

After the Son of Heaven has a queen, it is a happy event of the Great Song Dynasty, and the ministers are all congratulators. But Lu Huiqing still remembers that when the ministers congratulated him in early April, the Son of Heaven on top smiled happily. , and Zhao Hao, the king of Yong, who was below, smiled extremely reluctantly.

Since the Son of Heaven already has flesh and blood, no matter what thoughts he had before, he can now accept it.

However, two months ago, the Son of Heaven smiled happily, but now, there should be no smile.

Lu Huiqing's steps are heavy, it is the end of June, and the weather is still very hot. Walking in the court, although there is no cicada song that makes people feel impetuous, the oncoming wind blowing through the hall is hot and coaxing.

There was not a single cloud in the sky, and the hot sun shone directly to the ground without obstruction, and the sunlight reflected from the glazed tiles on the roof of the palace made the eyes dizzy.

A few days ago, Wang Anshi led Zhongzaifu to the eastern suburbs to pray for rain, which can be said to be in vain.

This year the climate is dry. In particular, Beijing, Tokyo and Hebei have reported drought conditions one after another.

In the Central Plains, there has not been much snow this winter, but fortunately, a few rains in the spring have prevented the crops in the fields from being lost. However, after the summer harvest, the rain was gone, and there was no rain for two months.

For this matter, the top and bottom have become nervous. The only thing that can be fortunate is that the summer grain has long been stored in the warehouse, at least there will be no worry that there will be too heavy famine in the Central Plains and Hebei this year.

The day before yesterday, the Son of Heaven issued an edict one after another, 'All those who use water on the river to irrigate the people's fields, such as those who are in violation of the system, and the lawsuits condone the same', in order to irrigate the fields, no water can be wasted at all, even the stone mill driven by water power. Neither the mill nor the water mill are used. Otherwise, it would be a transgression—a crime of disobedience, which is serious enough—and an official would be guilty of the same crime if he connived at it.

At the same time, in order to keep the river navigable, the mouth of the river was opened eight times in two months, and the influx of water from the Yellow River not only restored the water level of the river to a depth of six feet, but also raised the riverbed from the mouth to Tokyo by half a foot. The boats running in the Bianhe River are even higher than the roofs on both banks, and the situation of boats on this house is becoming more and more serious.

The Bianhe River is still a trivial matter, as long as the levees are raised and navigable, there will not be much of a problem. The biggest headache is the disaster after the drought. There are many locust plagues in the second half of the year. If not this year, there will be next year. At that time, famine may be inevitable, and I don't know if I can be prepared for Chang Liquidation.

Lu Huiqing felt more and more irritating from the inside out.

Beijing Tokyo West is easy to do, because relying on the capital, the situation of often closing positions is controlled by Zhongshu, and people are sent to check once every three or five days. In order to ensure the stable supply of grain in the capital, no one dares to be negligent. However, the second road in Hebei is very tricky, the old party is entrenched in Hebei, the implementation of the green seedling law is not good, this summer's drought, Hebei's emergency is the most diligent, Wang Anshi is already thinking about whether to send capable people to the two roads to visit, in case some of them take advantage of this to make trouble.

Just thinking about it, Lu Huiqing's footsteps stopped, and he had already arrived in front of the gate of the Chongzheng Palace, and asked the cabinet official to report inside, and waited in front of the door to pass the news.

At this time, Zhao Ji was looking at the recital of Wang Fuzhi, the transfer judge of Hebei East Road, when he heard that Lu Huiqing was recruited. After ordering him to enter the palace, he took this piece and asked him: "Lu Qing, Wang Fuzhi's piece of music, but after Yan Wenyan became famous, he only knew how to invite guests to a banquet, and he never cared about official affairs, I don't know what you said should be done?" ”

After being by Zhao Ji's side for a long time, although the Son of Heaven only came to ask with a piece of music, Lu Huiqing still heard the tendency in his words. Knowing Zhao Ji's intentions, he knew how to answer. He replied: "If you return to Your Majesty, you will be foolish to the minister." The patriarch and important ministers should not be detained with trivial matters. If Wang Fu's performance is taken as a mistake, I am afraid that the original intention of His Majesty to give preferential treatment to the elders of the previous dynasty will be lost. ”

Lu Huiqing's answer, Zhao Ji was very satisfied. If you don't have different political views and use your excuses, you can be fair and straightforward, this is a pure minister.

"It is precisely this reason that Wang Fuzhi does not know what he wants, and he can't stay in his original position." personally mentioned the Zhu pen, and wrote a few strokes on the chapter: "With the old virtues of Sikong, I am bothered to lie down and protect the north gate, and I don't have to worry about the details." Auxiliary ministers, dare to be rude, will not be dealt with. ”

Turning around, Lu Huiqing helped Wang Fuzhi to speak, "But Wang Fuzhi is also loyal to state affairs, although he doesn't know His Majesty's hard work, it is inconvenient to blame him too much." ”

"Since this is the case, it is the book to choose the place to move it."

Preferential treatment of veterans is preferential treatment of veterans, Zhao Ji knows that from the perspective of reason and regulations, Wang Fuzhi did not make a mistake. If they are severely punished, who will dare to supervise those old fellows in the future? The transfer of Wang Fuzhi instead of degrading the official can also make the old and important ministers understand that state affairs are not caused by them. The Son of Heaven can take care of them, but they also have to respect themselves.

Putting down Wang Fuzhi's recital, Zhao Ji asked Lu Huiqing: "Lu Qing, can the matter of praying for rain be decided?" ”

What Zhao Ji asked was the purpose of Lu Huiqing's recent visit: "The day before yesterday, the auxiliary ministers prayed for rain, but the rain has not yet arrived. In order to make the system, when the auxiliary ministers were sent to build an altar in the eastern suburbs, and then pray for rain. ”

"I don't have to come in person?"

In the spring of this year, the rain was erratic, and the wheat in the fields was in urgent need of irrigation. So on March 3, Zhao Ji personally went to the powder altar of Huajing Pavilion in the back garden to pray for rain. From the evening of the fourth day of March the next day, there was a rain for two consecutive days. With this success, Zhao Ji has also greatly increased his confidence in himself, and he also wants to show his skills this time.

But Lu Huiqing never believed in the induction of heaven and man, but it was just a trick that Dong Zhongshu came up with to deceive the emperor. Although it is also mentioned in the "Book of Shang" and "Spring and Autumn", people in the serious Confucian sect know that this is just a tool used to deter the Son of Heaven from acting recklessly. Of course, when necessary, it is also a good weapon to attack political opponents who occupy high positions. But how many would take it seriously?

The Son of Heaven now wants to pray for rain in person, and if he hits the good luck once, it doesn't mean that he can still hit it twice or three times, but it is better to take it easy: "Although the drought is heavy, fortunately it is not in the agricultural time." If there is no rain in the autumn season, it is not too late for His Majesty to pray to heaven again. ”

Lu Huiqing replied like this, and Zhao Ji thought about it and did it. There are still some crops in the summer fields, but they are not as important as wheat, which is the staple food. It's not appropriate to pray for rain now, but if there is still no rain in autumn, it's not too late to go.

Putting this matter aside, waiting for the results of the Zaifu begging for rain below, Zhao Ji asked about another matter by the way: "What is the situation of the Jingyi Bureau?" ”

"It's already coming off, and before October, it should pay off." Lu Huiqing replied confidently that the new meaning of the three classics of "Poems", "Books" and "Rites" had actually been compiled most of them before the establishment of the Jingyi Bureau, and now they are just revising, but they can't reply truthfully, "This is also the result of His Majesty's attention to this matter." For example, Yu Zhongxinke and the first Jinshi, after being placed in the Jingyi Bureau by His Majesty, did not dare to slack off, and did their best for this. ”

The top six in today's science and technology scholars, led by the champion Yu Zhong, were all transferred to Zhao Ji into the Jingyi Bureau, wanting to borrow their literary talents, and at the same time, they also had the intention of letting them learn.

"They've all come back from the village?" Zhao Ji asked in surprise. After Jinshi participated in Qionglin Garden, he basically had to return to his hometown. The farther away from my hometown, the later I will return to Beijing. As far as Zhao Ji knows, among the six people in Yu Zhong, there are Fujianese.

"Yu Zhong, Shao Gang, and Lian Hengfu have all arrived."

"They're diligent." Zhao Ji nodded and praised twice, any son of heaven would like to see ministers who are attentive to state affairs. “…… Is there any news about Han Gang? ”

Lu Huiqing shook her head, "Not yet." ”

Zhao Ji was slightly disappointed, but asked again: "Han Gang's dispatch, I don't know what Zhongshu thinks?" ”

Han Gang's official rank is the same as that of Zhang Dan, only slightly lower than himself, how can he arrange it like this. Lu Huiqing didn't want to have a headache about this, so he said: "Han Gang's grade is too high, and his reputation is insufficient, it is really difficult to decide, it is not too late to discuss it after he enters the court." ”

………………

Han Gang didn't care about his errand, and he didn't have the idea of rushing back to Korea. Every day, he still reads and learns to write some poems, but he is far from being as good as Wang Yi, who has a family history, and in his spare time, he also took his parents, wife and children to the village outside the city to recuperate for half a month. Compared with the guests in Longxi City, they are still on their own Zhuangzi, and they live at ease.

This break lasted until the beginning of August. I've been at home for almost three months. The heat outside gradually dissipated, and the sun was no longer as blazing as it had been for the previous two months.

Feng Congyi had good news, and after a friendly and frank exchange, the Fan Guild was finally established at the end of July. There are a total of six heads of the line, and the spokespersons of Han, Wang, and Gao account for half of them. With the guild, it will be easy for the united force to open up the situation in the capital, and when the cotton harvest begins in mid-to-late August, the entire guild will start to operate around this matter.

When it was finally time to leave his hometown, Han Gang took four companions to return to Beijing first, and when the place of employment was decided, it was not too late to pick up Wang Yi and them.

Bidding farewell to his parents, his wife and concubine with tears in his eyes, and his sleeping children, Han Gang turned over and left Longxi with a group of five.