Once a year, the emperor's birthday is coming soon, and the ministers once again made it difficult to give gifts, but the emperor suddenly proposed that hundreds of officials were not allowed to collect rare treasures, nor were there extravagant and wasteful things at the banquet. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

The emperor advocated frugality, and many ministers who were accustomed to luxury had to follow thrift, drinking flower wine in private, as if they were thieves, fearing that they would be discovered, and went to the emperor to join him.

However, within a few days, the ministers seemed to have a clear heart, and they all knew everyone's private actions, so they shielded each other, kept their mouths shut, and went to the court to meet and drink all day.

Recently, the disasters have continued, and Liu Yan was deeply disgusted when he saw that these ministers did not understand the people's feelings, so he put forward the idea of fundraising in the early dynasty.

He hoped that the ministers would take out a part of the silver and contribute to the disaster, which should be used as a congratulatory gift from the emperor for his birth.

Liu Yan announced in front of the court that he was going to take out five thousand taels of silver, which immediately caused an uproar, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince made such a generous move, so how could these ministers be embarrassed to donate a few hundred taels of silver?

Several wealthy ministers hurriedly said that they were also willing to donate 3,000 taels of silver, hoping that the people of the world would not suffer from hunger, but most of the officials were silent.

After leaving the court, some ministers couldn't help but muttering behind Liu Yan's back, with annoyed expressions.

Today also happened to be the day when Chu Shenxia came back, and when he saw Liu Zhengsheng, who was a little embarrassed at the gate of the East Palace, he couldn't help but dismount and asked, "Why is Lord Liu wandering in front of the palace gate but not going in?" ”

Liu Zhengsheng told the court about the affairs of the court, and said in a low voice: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has made such a generous move, how can the ministers below make a move?" Don't say that they can't do it, even I, with all my family resources, is less than one-third of His Highness. ”

"Lord Liu, don't worry, let's go in and talk." Chu Shenxia handed the reins to the guards who greeted him on the side, and motioned for him to walk towards the palace gate.

Liu Yan was very happy when he saw Chu Shenxia coming back, and said, "You can be regarded as coming back." ”

But when his eyes touched Liu Zhengsheng beside him, he couldn't help but be a little surprised: "What's wrong?" What happened. Lord Liu is so worried? ”

"I heard Lord Liu say that His Highness wants to take out five thousand taels of silver to raise donations?" Chu Shenxia sat down casually as he spoke, and at the same time did not forget to pour himself a cup of tea.

"Yes, five thousand taels of silver is for the East Palace. Although it is a big deal, it is not impossible to take it. Liu Yan looked at the two of them with some puzzlement, thinking in his heart, could it be that Liu Zhengsheng came for the five thousand taels, but he didn't feel that he had done anything wrong.

Chu Shenxia gulped down two large glasses of water. wiped the corners of his mouth before he said: "Your Highness, you can know that most of the officials in this court can't get so much silver at home." ”

"I know, this is the money I donated, but I didn't ask them to donate as much as I did."

"In the court, the highest annual silver of civil and military officials is only two hundred taels, and the lowest is only thirty taels. I'm not saying how they should compare, but this silver can't be too different from the silver sold by His Highness, right? His Royal Highness and a few ministers of good faith sold a few thousand taels of silver. But the other ministers can only afford to give a hundred taels, and this one hundred taels is hard to guarantee that they have accumulated for many years, and now they have donated it, what should happen to the family? Chu Shenxia said word by word, very clearly and quickly.

After hearing this, Liu Yan was stunned, of course he didn't think about it so much, and retorted: "In my opinion, fundraising is not just something you and I are willing to do, how much is this donation." Could it be that others donate too much, but I feel uneasy? Do you have to donate the same as someone else's? What is the rationale for this? ”

"This is not a reason, this is just a kind of officialdom atmosphere, and the first-class ministers and third-class ministers have solid backgrounds. accompanied His Royal Highness to donate 1,000 taels of silver, but the second-grade minister was a poor Qing official, and he only paid 100 taels of silver. Your Highness thinks about it, what will other ministers say, and what will the emperor think? No need for others to think about it, presumably he himself is already so worried that he can't eat. Chu Shenxia said that the voice behind him was getting louder and louder. even stood up excitedly, hearing that Liu Zhengsheng felt uneasy in his heart, and looked at the faces of the two people in front of him from time to time.

When Liu Yan heard this, he disagreed very much, and also said loudly: "Since he is a Qing official, since he is a Qing official that everyone knows, he naturally knows that he has no silver, and the small donation proves that he is a Qing official?"

"The minister who donated a lot is not telling the emperor that I am a corrupt official, and I got this money by corruption."

"Then according to you, there is no need to raise donations at all, because no matter what you do, it is wrong."

"I didn't say that fundraising was bad, I just thought that His Highness's money was too generous, and ordinary ministers couldn't afford it."

Seeing that the two of them were talking more and more urgently, Liu Zhengsheng hurriedly said: "Eh, okay, okay, don't quarrel with Your Highness and Mr. ”

"Sir, let's talk about the receipt of the trip to Jincheng."

After Chu Shenxia sat down again, he took out a book from his arms, Liu Yan originally just wanted to glance at it, but he didn't expect to look at it, so he couldn't take his eyes off it.

On the cover of the book is written three big words, Wangyou.

Liu Yan took the book, flipped through a few pages, and listened to Liu Zhengsheng ask, "Sir, what is the purpose of this book?" Could it be that the gentleman went to Jincheng and came back with this book alone? ”

"Liu Yu's people should have been to Qinwang's Mansion before me, but I found this book in Qinwang's Mansion, think about it this way, a few people who sneaked into Weifu to steal things some time ago are not from Liu Yu's faction, otherwise, Liu Yu's people have been to Qinwang's Mansion, why don't they destroy the book and destroy the traces?" Chu Shenxia was in a hurry for many days, and when he said that, his voice was a little hoarse.

Liu Yan glanced at him when he heard this, and asked while flipping through the book: "What did you mean when you said before that you went to Qingzhou?" ”

When he asked this, Chu Shenxia was drinking tea, this gap was very quiet, so quiet that Liu Zhengsheng could hear Liu Yan's sound of flipping through the book, he was afraid that Chu Shenxia would drink tea like this, and he would avoid answering.

Chu Shenxia finally put down the teacup and said to Liu Zhengdao: "Lord Liu, please hand me another teapot." ”

Seeing that Chu Shenxia drank tea again, Liu Yan looked at the book intently, but the action of turning the book was much faster.

"Your Highness," suddenly heard Chu Shenxia call himself, Liu Yan's hand turning the book suddenly paused, looked up at him, and listened to him continue, "Your Highness has been watching for so long, do you see something?" ”

Liu Yan casually closed the poetry book, put the book on the table and said, "It's just some ordinary poems, nothing special." ”

"Does Your Highness know what happened to the all-white layman who wrote this collection of poems?"

"What's going on?"

Chu Shenxia took the book in front of him, gently rubbed the words on the cover with his fingertips, and said word by word: "He was sentenced to death." He has written a lot of reverse poems, the throne is not hereditary, cloth clothes can be ascended, saying that the throne should not be inherited by the emperor's descendants, ordinary people can ascend to the throne. ”

"Is this book one of the pieces of evidence that framed King Qin back then?" Liu Zhengsheng interjected.

"Naturally, the emperor has read this book, but I am afraid that he will be so angry, because this book, the strategists in the Qinwang Mansion can be said to have one copy in their hands, so those strategists were not spared back then."

Liu Yan finally reacted, clarified his thoughts and said: "So the person who was arrested was one of the people who framed King Qin back then, and this person is not necessarily Liu Yu." ”

After a pause, he said: "Maybe it's Liu Yu's person, after all, there are many people involved in this matter, and he is afraid that the matter will be exposed, so he is anxious to destroy the evidence?" ”

Chu Shenxia nodded and agreed: "It should be like this, His Royal Highness asked me what I was doing in Qingzhou, King Qin once returned to Qingzhou three times that year, which made me very strange, and Qingzhou was also mentioned from time to time in the letter with Gongsun Taifu." More than twenty years ago, Qingzhou was the capital of the Wu Kingdom, and I don't know how many things there are worthy of such concern for the two of them. ”

"Did you find anything?" Liu Yan couldn't help but interrupt him.

"It can be said that I found nothing, so I went to Yanqueguan again, and when I came back, I found that there were many bandits near Qingzhou, and the number of these bandits was so numerous that it made people suspicious." Chu Shenxia saw that Liu Yan's gaze was a little strange, so he stopped and asked, "What's wrong?" What did His Highness think? ”

"You should be passing by Xiaoshu Mountain in Qingzhou, I was ordered to quell the chaos a few years ago, and when I passed there, I found those bandits, in fact, those are not bandits at all, but well-trained soldiers." Liu Yan recalled the past, with some chagrin on his face, "They said that they were deserters from the previous dynasty, hiding in this mountain and building a cottage, just to live the rest of their lives quietly, and they didn't want to live a life of fighting and killing." At that time, all the women, children, and children on the top of the mountain knelt down and begged me to let them go, and even the villagers at the foot of the mountain came to intercede, saying that they had not done anything bad, but had done a good thing of robbing the rich and helping the poor. ”

"So...... Your Highness spared them? Even to the emperor to hide this matter? Chu Shenxia twisted his eyebrows and said.

Liu Yan felt a chill down his spine, and there was a clear and catchable uneasiness in his voice, "Yes...... For so many years, they haven't moved, and I ...... I thought that they were really deserters from the previous dynasty, but now that I think about it, I really regret it, and the villagers at the foot of the mountain must be their people. ”

"This must have happened years ago, right? Why did they still stay in Xiaoshu Mountain after they found out that they were exposed? If they are sure that His Highness will not send troops to encircle and suppress them, it is too unbelievable. ”

Liu Zhengsheng, who had been listening to them, finally couldn't help but say loudly: "Perhaps, it was really a deserter from the previous dynasty, the soldiers who disappeared in Yanque Pass should have been transferred by Liu Yu, it is impossible to leave it there and ignore it, these deserters, maybe Liu Yu didn't know, but they were discovered by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince by mistake." ”

Chu Shenxia and Liu Yu glanced at each other, nodded their heads, and agreed with Liu Zhengsheng's statement.

(To be continued.) )