Four-faced saint

The two were grinding their ears and temples, complaining to each other, but someone at the door seemed to hesitate to come in. Zhu Youzhu raised his eyes and saw that it was Li Guang, the great eunuch beside him, so he opened his mouth and asked, "What's the matter?" ”

Li Guang knew that he saw him, so he bowed down and walked into the house, and said respectfully to Zhu Youji: "Your Majesty, the golden sword catcher Ding Si has entered the palace and is waiting in the Wuying Palace. ”

After hearing this, Zhu Youzhu couldn't help but say, "Ding Si has already returned to the capital?" It had been a long time since he had been on this long trip, but he had come back just in time, and I had something to tell him to do. After speaking, he smiled apologetically at Zhang Yue'er: "Queen, you rest first, and I will return to Kunning Palace after I have dispersed for the afternoon." It turned out that since Zhu Youzhu ascended the throne, he has been diligent in political affairs, not only in the early dynasty, conscientiously handling state affairs, but even later making an exception to open the Wu dynasty, which has been the case every day for more than ten years, and has never slackened off.

In less than a while, Zhu Youzhu had come to the Wuying Palace, only to see Ding Si carrying a golden knife on his waist, sitting on a chair, looking at his nose and nose, looking at his heart, upright, and not seeing the hard work and fatigue of the long journey. Hearing the footsteps, Ding Si hurriedly got up and saluted, Zhu Youzhu helped Ding Si up, and said in his mouth: "You and I still come to this set of false courtesy, sit down quickly." ”

The two monarchs and ministers sat down, the little eunuch hurriedly served tea, Li Guang retreated to the door to wait, only Zhu Youzhu and Ding Si were left in a huge hall, the spring breeze blew the curtains in the hall, and the fragrance of tea overflowed the house, which only made people feel comfortable and relaxed.

Zhu Youzhu saw that Ding Si was still sitting upright, and couldn't help laughing: "Ding Si, you have been boring all these years, every time you see me, you are serious, not like when we first met, alas, we are all old." ”

Ding Si heard Zhu Youzhi say this, so he relaxed his body slightly, and said with a smile: "The emperor said that he was joking, now the saint is at the peak of the Spring and Autumn Period, and the people of Li still pray that you will live longer than the sun and the moon." ”

Zhu Youzhu laughed, and when the laughter stopped, he said to Ding Si again, "When did you come back?" ”

Ding Si hurriedly replied: "The minister will return to the capital this morning, and when the arrested criminals are transferred to the criminal department to complete official business, it is almost mid-hour, and then I responded to the Tianfu to the government Yin, only to hear that the emperor asked about me, and asked me to hurry into the palace to face the saint after I returned, so I hurried over." ”

Zhu Youzhu looked at Ding Si with appreciation: "That Jiangyang thief Bai Qiwen stole all the ten households in the capital overnight, it was too rampant, this is a peaceful event, how can he be allowed to act like this, so I was furious and appointed the Criminal Department to be in charge of this case, fortunately, you did not disgrace your mission, and finally caught this thief." ”

Ding Si thought to himself, Zhu Youzhi is now more and more of the momentum of the king of a country, remembering that when the two first met, Zhu Youzhu not only let go of the thief who stole his sachet, but also gave him a piece of silver, he disagreed with it at the time, but this time flies so fast, how can decades pass in a blink of an eye, the past is vivid in front of me, and many years have passed.

Zhu Youzhu didn't notice the trance in Ding Si's eyes, and asked again: "I heard that this time you chased Bai Qiwen all the way to Mobei?" ”

Ding Si heard Zhu Youji's question, hurriedly gathered his spirit, and replied: "Exactly, that Bai Qiwen is very cunning, he thought that Mobei was very populated, and I didn't dare to go deep into the desert, so I was a little careless, and I was caught by luck." ”

Zhu Youzhu thought about it and said: "From the capital to Mobei, do you have to pass through Wuwei, Xining, Taozhou and other places?" ”

Ding Si nodded and said, "Exactly." ”

Zhu Youzhu asked again: "You passed all the way, how are the people there?" ”

Ding Si's face showed a hint of joy: "I came out of the capital at the end of January, all the way to the northwest, although often eat and sleep, but also saw a lot of local customs, according to me, although these places are not very rich, but the basic food and clothing can still be guaranteed, it is said that there are only more than ten people who freeze to death in a winter in Gansu, compared to before, it is too good." ”

Zhu Youzhu listened very attentively, and when he heard Ding Si's words landing, he let out a long breath and said with great relief: "I am relieved to hear you say this in person." ”

Ding Si said sincerely: "This is the result of the emperor's hard work day and night since he ascended the throne. ”

Zhu Youzhu said with emotion: "Those most difficult times have passed, think that when I first ascended the throne, the officials**, the treasury was empty, the morale was low, and the people were not happy. He thought of the past and sighed.

Ding Si saw that Zhu Youzhu was indulging in the past and couldn't speak, so he waited for a while, and saw that Zhu Youzhu was still looking back on the past, so he couldn't help but ask in a low voice: "I don't know what the emperor called me to do?" ”

Zhu Youzhu woke up from his memories at this time, and couldn't help but smile and said: "Look at my memory, I'm really old, and I love to think of the past more and more." After speaking, his face turned grim, and he said, "Ding Si, you probably have to be busy again." ”

Ding Si saw Zhu Youzhi describe it like this, and knew that something unusual must have happened, so he arched his hand and said: "Your Majesty, you don't have to be polite, you know that my greatest wish in this life is to hunt down the murderer and chase the thief, so that the bad guys will be brought to justice." He was excited, and his voice trembled a little.

Zhu Youji's eyes flashed with joy, and he said loudly: "Okay, good, good, Ding Si, you have never changed, you are still the Ding Si I knew back then." He motioned for Ding Si to listen, and said slowly: "There is indeed a strange thing happening now, but it is not in the capital, but in Quanzhou Mansion. He looked out the window, as if he was thinking about how to continue, and paused for a while before saying: "Recently, rumors have spread in the capital, saying that Zhang Hansheng, the prefect of Quanzhou, has met a demon road, this demon road also has some ability, often can make something out of nothing, do something godly and ghostly, Zhang Hansheng has his way, and he has a lot of trust in him, but I didn't expect this demon road to take advantage of Zhang Hansheng's carelessness and secretly steal his big seal, and then made a mantra and escaped, Zhang Hansheng regretted it to death, and he didn't dare to say anything. I cried and cried in the yamen all day long, and I didn't eat tea and dinner all day, and I saw that people had only one breath left. As a result, a few days later, it was rumored that the demon Dao was the reincarnation of Yu Ji of the Three Kingdoms, and he wanted to do something great in Quanzhou. He paused slightly, and Ding Si was also dumbfounded, only feeling unbelievable and unheard of. Zhu Youzhu continued: "This matter is getting more and more spreading, so that it has become a topic of conversation on the streets and alleys, after tea and dinner, but there is no news reported from Fujian and Zhejiang, I am afraid that Zhang Hansheng, the prefect of Quanzhou, will not dare to report it, but he is in a hurry, so I want to send someone over there to see what is going on, to see if it is as spread by everyone." He glanced at Ding Si, and saw that Ding Si was thoughtful, so he simply said what he thought in his heart: "You also know that in the year I ascended the throne, Wei Xing tried in vain to collude with the Red Lotus Sect to commit rebellion, and I was worried that this incident in Quanzhou was also done by people with ulterior motives. Ding Si only knew where Zhu Youzhi's heart was after hearing this, it turned out that Wei Xing's incident left a deep impression on him back then, in the past, fortunately, the Red Lotus Sect refused to seek skin with the tiger, otherwise it is not certain who will kill the deer after this accident, so there are abnormal things anywhere, Zhu Youzhu must find out, but for many years, there are very few such things in various places, so Zhu Youzhu can often have no worries.

Seeing that Zhu Youzhu was so cautious, Ding Si immediately clenched his fists and said, "The emperor can rest assured, the ministers will not disgrace their mission." ”

Zhu Youzhu bowed his head and said: "With you accompanying Wu Hai, I am at ease in my heart." After thinking about it again, he said: "You have been tired from long-distance work for more than a month, and I want to send you to Quanzhou, Abi must be complaining in her heart when she knows it." "Abi is Ding Si's wife Guan Biyue, the two have two sons, the eldest son is over five years old, and the youngest son is not yet 100 days old.

Hearing Zhu Youzhi say this, Ding Si hurriedly said: "The emperor can rest assured, Abi is not a stingy person, she will have no regrets and do housework at home." ”

Zhu Youzhu thought for a while, and said to Ding Si: "You and Ah Bi are both good, so, Ding Si, I will give you a grace another day, and decree that your two sons will no longer be bound by the laws of their ancestors, and treat them as adults, if they want to participate in the imperial examination, I will allow them to take the examination." "It turned out that according to the regulations of the Ming Dynasty, three generations of children and grandchildren can only participate in the imperial examination, and Zhu Youzhi did this, obviously to give the two children more opportunities.

Ding Si knew Zhu Youji's kindness, and hurriedly thanked Zhu Youji, Zhu Youzhu didn't care, and said again: "You go home and reunite with your family for a few days, and after three days, you and Wu Hai will go on the road together, Quanzhou is in a remote area, you can bring more people." ”

Ding Si hurriedly agreed, he wanted to take this opportunity to talk to Zhu Youzhu about Zhang Yanling, but just as he was about to open his mouth, he saw Zhu Youzhu patting his head and saying, "It's going to be morning again, I won't keep you today, and when you come back from Quanzhou, I'll give you another pick-up." Ding Si's words had to be choked in his throat, and he watched Zhu Youzhu leave like a gust of wind, and he had to go out of the palace and return home.