The arrival of the three Yinzhen soon caused a sensation in Gu Yuan, and a group of young people from the envoy group came one after another when they heard the news, but when they saw that the guards behind the three of them obviously looked bad, none of them dared to make a mistake, but no one stepped forward to salute, just stood silently, venting their dissatisfaction in this way.

Yinzhen glanced at Yinzhen and Shi Shibiu, both of them were going to go to Europe, this wicked man today, only he was suitable to do it, at that moment, he stood up, took two steps forward, stood on the steps outside the pavilion, glanced at everyone, and then ordered in a deep voice: "Go and gather everyone over." ”

Li Xianguang and the other six people arrived last, and when they saw the situation in front of him, they hesitated slightly, and then he took the lead and bowed and saluted, saying, "Xiaguan Li Xianguang, see the prince and the prince of Yong." Naturally, the rest of the people also stepped forward to salute.

When Yinzhen saw it, he said with a smile: "There are still smart people, the one behind is Shi Shibiu, Shi Junmen." ”

As soon as they heard that it was Shi Shibiu, Li Xianguang hurriedly stepped forward to salute the fact that Shi Shibiao would be appointed as the commander of the navy in the European expedition, they had heard about it a long time ago, and when they saw this situation, it confirmed that the rumors were true.

After Li Xianguang and the six of them finished the ceremony, Yinzhen said with a smile: "Li Xianguang, do you also plan to resign and return to Beijing?" ”

"Returning to the prince, the lower officials don't dare." Li Xianguang bowed down and replied calmly.

"Well, it's interesting, it's not that you don't dare, not that you don't want to." Yinzhen nodded and said, "Why don't you dare?" ”

"Returning to the prince, the state has national laws, the army has military regulations, and military affairs are not allowed to be child's play?" Li Xianguang said in a deep voice: "If you say that you may not be infected with illness and die, even if you know that you are dead, you can't escape from the battle, and the naval envoys such as Xia Guan and others on the expedition to Europe represent both the Qing Empire and the Qing Navy." Although the lower officials were also afraid of contracting the disease, they died overseas. But he didn't dare to defy the law. ”

Yinzhen nodded secretly when he heard this. Although this Li Xianguang is smart, he is also sharp, and when these words came out, he was afraid that he would be sad in the days of the envoys. With his character, he is afraid that he will never come out in officialdom. However, it is suitable for development in the army, and he glanced at him approvingly. Yinzhen raised his voice and said: "That's good! Sensible. Knowing awe, this is what a scholar looks like. As he spoke, he glanced at everyone and said lightly: "Yesterday, the four people who handed in the resignation came out of the queue and came to the front. ”

Those four unlucky people knew that something was wrong. But the resignation was handed over, and it couldn't be confused. I had to be bold and full of apprehension to step forward.

Yinzhen didn't look at the four of them, and said in a more and more flat tone: "The four of you, who can give this king a reason not to kill you." ”

As soon as they heard this, the four of them immediately turned pale, and one of them said boldly: "We haven't violated the law and military discipline, you can't kill us." ”

Yinzhen's chin lifted slightly, and asked: "Shi Junmen, disturbing the morale of the army, what crime should I be guilty of?" ”

"Slash!" Shi Shibiu's voice made the hearts of everyone present cold.

"I want the prince to spare my life, we are not naval non-commissioned officers." One of them screamed in fright.

"But you are members of the legation that accompanied the navy to Europe!" Yinzhen shouted angrily: "With the military envoys, you don't know? When you get to Europe, each of you represents the image of the Qing Dynasty and the image of the Qing Navy! With your greedy appearance of being afraid of life and death, you can only smear the face of the Qing Dynasty and the navy! ”

Speaking of this, he single-handedly designated four people and angrily reprimanded: "What is the use of such Sven scum who is greedy for life and fears death, ignores the general interests of the country, and only cares about his own selfish interests?" ”

"Fourteenth brother, slow down!" Yin Zhen hurriedly shouted, and then got up and stepped forward and said: "It is human nature to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, these four people were born in a scholarly family, grew up in a peaceful and prosperous era, and stayed in the prosperous place of the capital, neither war, nor the strictness of the army, and they are also ignorant and ignorant of the envoys with the army. ”…,

As soon as they saw King Yong come forward to plead, the four of them hurriedly knelt on the ground and kowtowed, not daring to say more at all, for fear that if they didn't say the right thing, they would give away their lives in vain.

Seeing that Yinzhen was silent, Shi Shibiao also quickly got up, bowed down, and said: "Lord Sui, the four of them disturbed the morale of the army, which is indeed a capital crime, but thinking of their first offense is an unintentional mistake, and the expedition is imminent, it is ominous, and please ask the prince to be extrajudicially gracious." ”

Yinzhen was originally singing with a white face, seeing that the two of them were pleading hard, he got off the donkey, turned around, sat down with a golden knife, and said: "The death penalty can be avoided, the living crime cannot be escaped, and the punishment for washing the deck for one month." ”

Hearing that it was not a military stick, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, the four of them had fine skin and tender meat, if they were fined twenty military sticks, they were afraid that they would not be able to get out of bed in three months, but Shi Shibiao glanced at the four of them with pity on his face, washing the deck is the hardest and most tiring job in the navy, and this is Sven sweeping the floor.

The four of them fled for their lives, kowtowed again and again, thanked them without words, and when they got up, everyone's foreheads were already blue.

Yinzhen took a sip of tea, and then said: "You are all officials of the imperial court, and you are also top-notch talents selected from thousands of temples and supervisors in various ministries, and you are all scholars who have studied hard for ten years.

But your performance today really makes this king feel confused, a strange disease of hearsay can make you forget about the interests of the country, and in order to live greedily, you don't even want to lose face? This king is ashamed of you, you are not even an ordinary soldier of the navy, but they still have the courage to die for their country, do you? ”

"Absolutely!" One person stood up and said loudly: "We have the ability to share the worries of the country, and we also have the courage to sacrifice our lives for the country, but it is meaningful to die, we are not willing to die in vain, and we are not willing to die silently." ”

Another person who reads and reads rust funny, up and down for thousands of years, how many people can die vigorously? Yinzhen glanced at him lightly and said in a deep voice: "Who let you die in vain, and die silently?" Is it only your envoy corps of 300 men who are on an expedition to Europe? Sailing in the ocean, easy to get strange diseases? You are all scholars, Zheng He went to the West seven times, the scale was huge, and the number of people was as many as 26,000 at a time, how many people died of strange diseases? If you sail to the ocean once, so many people will die, can Zheng He go to the Western Ocean seven times?

You are scholars, don't blindly follow the crowd, think diligently when encountering problems, and know why the envoys choose young people? Because the imperial court needs ministers who can fully understand, understand, and be proficient in the historical status quo, cultural system, natural science and technology of European countries in the future, what the imperial court needs is ministers who can have their own unique opinions. ”