The yellow sunset shines on the vast land, dyeing the earth an orange color, which is particularly beautiful.

In the warm incense pavilion of the Forbidden City in Beijing, Chongzhen, who had been tired for a day, closed the last book in his hand and took a long breath, at this time he only felt a wave of exhaustion welling up in his heart, and he leaned back on the chair behind him and closed his eyes, and after a while, there was a slight snoring.

Wang Chengen, who was originally waiting on the side, saw Chongzhen asleep, and immediately glanced at the eunuch palace maid next to him, and soon a row of people immediately retreated silently. And Wang Chengen also brought a bright yellow cloak to cover Chongzhen's body in case he caught a cold.

Wang Chengen, who had covered Chongzhen's cloak, was about to take a few steps back, but he heard a sound of footsteps behind him, Wang Chengen suddenly became angry in his heart, and he turned around and was about to reprimand the person fiercely, but as soon as he saw the person, he immediately changed his face, and quickly stepped forward and knelt down to the person who came, and whispered: "The slave has seen the queen mother, and the concubine has seen the concubine!" ”

The people who came were none other than Empress Zhou and Concubine Tian, and behind them were several palace maids, who were carrying two food boxes in their hands.

"Alright, you get up!" Empress Zhou raised her hand lightly and motioned for Wang Chengen to get up, he looked at Chongzhen for a moment before asking, "Princess, did the emperor just fall asleep?" ”

Wang Chengen said respectfully: "Back to Niangniang's words, the emperor has just finished his work, and now he is resting from being too tired." ”

As soon as the words fell, Chongzhen, who was originally lying on the chair resting, was woken up, he opened his eyes, saw that Empress Zhou and Tian Guifei were here, and slowly sat up and asked, "Zitong, why are you here?" Hey...... Concubine Tian Ai, you're here too, what day is it, you're all here? ”

Seeing Chongzhen's tired face, and looking at the stack of reviews on the table that were more than a foot high, Queen Zhou's eyes immediately turned red. stepped forward and grabbed Chongzhen's hand and sobbed: "Your Majesty, the concubines also know that you are busy with government affairs, but no matter how busy you are, you have to take care of the dragon body, this thing can't be done, no matter how busy you are, you have to rest, you are always so desperate to review and write, what if you collapse your body?" Queen Zhou counted her husband as she spoke, and Concubine Tian on the side also bowed her head and was silent.

Seeing that Queen Zhou and Concubine Tian were crying together, Chongzhen smiled and stretched out his hand to summon Concubine Tian, holding Queen Zhou with one hand. The other hand held Tian Guifei's small hand and said softly: "What are you crying about, the ancestors handed over the country to me, I have to take good care of it, otherwise I will see the ancestors and ancestors under the nine springs in the future." By the way, if you haven't returned to me yet, why did you come to me today? ”

Speaking of this, Chongzhen's tone carried a hint of doubt and majesty. Chongzhen is a very well-behaved person, Nuanxiang Pavilion is the place where he handles official affairs, and the concubines in the harem cannot come in at will without reason.

Empress Zhou gave her husband a blank look. "The concubine knows that the emperor's rules are big, but now a sister of the Tian family found the concubine here, saying that the emperor had agreed to inscribe her album a few days ago, but more than a month has passed. The emperor still didn't do it. Sister Tian didn't dare to disturb you, so she had to find a concubine to make the decision for her, Your Majesty, what do you say the concubine should do? ”

"Hahaha......" Chongzhen smiled, stood up and said to the two, "So it's not me." Good...... Anyway, today's recital is over, let's go to Concubine Tian Ai's place to sit down! After speaking, Chongzhen stood up and walked out first. Immediately afterwards, Empress Zhou and Concubine Tian also followed.

Wang Chengen glanced at Empress Zhou with admiration, he naturally knew that Empress Zhou came to ask the emperor for an inscription this time was fake, and the real purpose was actually to let Chongzhen move more, so as not to get sick after sitting for too long. He shouted in a sharp voice as he followed, "Your Majesty has a purpose...... Swing the Chengqian Palace......"

After Chongzhen and his entourage arrived at Kunning Palace, the overjoyed Tian Guifei hurriedly took out a copy of "Qunfang Tu" drawn by herself and presented it to him. This is twenty-four pieces of fine brush flowers, Chongzhen is very appreciative on weekdays, specially called the royal supervisor to use the precious yellow brocade to decorate the ridged into a book, Chongzhen flipped it, and saw that each album in addition to the original "Chengqian Palace Seal" of the Yang inscription, and covered a "Nanxun Secret Play" of the Yin inscription, making the whole album appear more elegant.

Chongzhen smiled: "Aifei, your Danqing level is getting higher and higher, it seems that I have nothing to teach you!" ”

Tian Guifei smiled slightly, and said modestly: "The emperor has won the award, this is just the concubine's leisure and boring work, the emperor is pretending to be a major event in the world and taking care of every opportunity, how can he have this leisure to bother on such a path." ”

Chongzhen was useful, put the album in his hand on the rosewood tea table next to him that was inlaid with snails, agate, jade and Han jade into a picture of fish play and colorful lotus, and took the jasper cup handed over by the palace maid next to him, the faint fragrance of tea was refreshing, he took a sip of hot tea, gently sighed and sulked, and felt that his whole body was relaxed.

These days, with the 100,000 army led by Azig last year being taught a hard lesson by Lu Xiangsheng and Yue Yang, the threat from the Manchu Qing has become less bloody and more bloody, and the Manchu officers and soldiers who originally came out to fight the grass valley every few months have also disappeared, which also makes Chongzhen, who has always been worried about this matter, breathe a sigh of relief.

The external pressure was less, and Chongzhen's mood was naturally not so depressed, he handed the jasper cup to the palace maid on the side, and said to Queen Zhou and Tian Guifei with a smile: "Zitong, what are you and Tian Aifei doing today, are you painting?" ”

"Not really." Queen Zhou shook her head, then pursed her lips and smiled: "Today, the father of a concubine came to the palace to see the concubine, and the concubine chatted with her father for a few words, and her father said a few interesting things, which is also quite interesting." ”

"Oh...... Jiadingbo entered the palace today? Chongzhen was slightly stunned, and then asked, "What did Uncle Jiading say?" ”

Empress Zhou smiled and said: "It's nothing, it's just that Jiading Bo and his concubines chatted about folk interesting things, which is quite interesting." ”

"Let's talk about it, what's the interesting thing?"

In order to make her husband happy, Queen Zhou took out a stack of things that seemed to be post newspapers from the table next to her and handed them to Chongzhen: "Recently, Marquis Zhongyong came to Jinling and opened a thing called "Daming Times" in Jinling. In particular, there are two articles in it that are very thought-provoking, and the emperor may wish to read them when he is free. ”

After hearing the name Marquis Zhongyong, Chongzhen's brows furrowed. Reaching out and taking the stack of newspapers, when he saw the first page, he read softly: "The old man's travels are interesting." ”

It's just that when he looked at it slowly, his originally relaxed face gradually became solemn, and in the end, he became even more iron-blue, and he said softly: "The corrupt officials are hateful, and everyone knows it." Qing officials are especially hateful, and many people don't know about it. The official who covered the stolen goods knew that he was sick and did not dare to act openly and wrong, while the Qing official thought that he did not want money. Why not? Rigid for oneself, small is murderous, big is misguided country, I see it with my own eyes, I don't know how many things...... Darn...... Hateful! ”

"Bang ......" In the end, Chongzhen was so angry that he slapped it the coffee table, and the corners of his eyes jumped with anger, "What does this Yue Yang want to do, he still has no end?" ”

"Your Majesty. What's wrong? When Queen Zhou saw that her husband was angry, she hurriedly walked over and gently rubbed his back, and the lady on the side also hurriedly brought a cup of tea to Chongzhen.

Chongzhen impatiently pushed away the teacup in Tian Guifei's hand, pointed to the newspaper on the coffee table and shouted angrily at Queen Zhou: "Your father is also old and confused. He also dared to bring this kind of gossip to confuse the public into the palace, what is called "corrupt officials are hateful, and clean officials are especially hateful", can it be said that the world style has fallen to the point where even clean officials have to be discussed? What about the imperial court? Could it be that the officials of my Ming Dynasty have become corrupt officials to weigh his heart? ”

After being scolded by Chongzhen. Queen Zhou was also disgraced and knelt down in fright. On the side, Concubine Tian and the eunuchs and palace maids saw that the queen was kneeling, so they knelt down themselves. So there was a big kneeling in the room.

Seeing this situation, Chongzhen was bored for a while, and waved his hand, "Okay, Zitong, get up, don't look at this kind of messy thing in the future, and don't stain your eyes." ”

It stands to reason that this matter Queen Zhou only needs to admit that it is wrong, and it will pass, who knows that today Queen Zhou did not admit her mistake immediately for some reason, but said sadly: "Your Majesty, you only read the beginning, but you didn't read it, in fact, the concubines think that this article is still quite meritorious, you read it first, if you still say that there is no reason to deal with the concubines after reading it, it is not too late." ”

"You ......"

Chongzhen just wanted to get angry, but when he saw Queen Zhou kneeling on the ground with a pitiful appearance, he couldn't help but feel soft in his heart, sat down again and picked up the newspaper he had just thrown on the table and read it, and slowly his expression changed from anger to solemnity, and after reading one issue, he frowned and asked, "Why is it gone, what about the rest of the articles?" ”

"The rest of it is here?" Empress Zhou stood up and handed the rest of the other newspapers to Chongzhen, who slowly read them one by one, and it was not until half an hour later that she finished reading nearly thirty issues of "The Travels of the Old Remnant".

It's just that after reading it, Chongzhen fell into a deep contemplation, Chongzhen grew up in the deep palace since he was a child, and was sent out of the palace to become his letter king after being a little older, and within a few years his brother Zhu Youxiao, the emperor of the Apocalypse, was seriously ill and died, and handed over the Ming dynasty to him before he died. Prior to this, he had never received any training that a prince should have, and his understanding of state affairs was limited to understanding from the twists and turns, and he had always believed that as long as the officials of the imperial court were as clean as water, the world could be determined.

But today, he found out from this "Travels of the Old Remnant" that in fact, evaluating whether an official is qualified is not simply to see whether he is honest or not, and sometimes a clean official poses a greater danger to the court and the people than a corrupt official. The "Qing officials" in "The Travels of the Old Remnant" are actually some executioners who are "eager to be big officials" and do not hesitate to kill the people to invite merit, and use human blood to stain the red official robes. Yuxian made up for the prefect of Caozhou with "outstanding talents and achievements".

In less than a year of acting Caozhou Mansion, more than 2,000 people died in 12 station cages in front of the Yamen, and nine and a half of them were good citizens. Yu Chaodong's family was framed for settling a grievance with a robber, Yuxian did not investigate, and insisted that he was a robber, and the father and son were killed in the station cage. The young son of the shopkeeper of a grocery store in Dongjiakou was caught by him and put in a station cage to die because he casually criticized Yuxian after drinking. The people in the bookstore in Dongping Mansion said the truth about Yuxian with a sharp point, "Whether you are justified or not, as long as he feels good in his heart, he will be in the cage." Yuxian's logic is: "Whether this person is wronged or not. If I let him go, I must not be reconciled, and I will not be able to protect my future in the future. As the saying goes, 'cut the grass to the roots'. In order to soar, he refused to put down the butcher knife in his hand even if he died. In the text, he sat down and inscribed a poem, saying, "The city is unjustly buried in the dark, and the blood is stained with pearls", "Killing the people is like killing a thief." Taishou is Yuan Rong", profoundly revealing their essence.

Seeing this, Chongzhen's heart shook, and for the first time, he began to examine his previous standards for judging officials.

"Am I all wrong before?" Chongzhen muttered, "Or have all the officials deceived me?" What's going on like this? ”

Seeing Chongzhen's lost soul, Queen Zhou felt distressed for a while, she slowly stepped forward and hugged her husband's waist and cried: "Your Majesty, you don't have to mind too much, in fact, the most difficult thing in the world to understand is people's hearts. How can you take all the blame for yourself? ”

Perhaps feeling the faint fragrance and softness coming from Queen Zhou's body, Chongzhen also slowly came back to his senses, and said with a long sigh: "That's it, these things can't be said at a glance, and the merits and demerits are left for future generations to comment." Zitong, I blame you for my mistake, this article is still a little interesting, you all get up! ”

Chongzhen waved his hand, and Tian Guifei, who had been kneeling on the ground for a long time, and the palace maids and eunuchs got up with difficulty. Although the knee pain was unbearable, everyone endured it.

After sitting for a while, Chongzhen remembered, he stretched out his hand and beckoned Wang Chengen on the side and asked, "Big companion." You go and inquire and see why this Yue Yang came to Jinling, and what does he want to do? ”

Wang Chengen bowed down and replied: "Long live, this slave knows a little bit about it." Some time ago, there was a small group of pirates attacking the coast. Even went to the vicinity of Jinling, for the defense of Jinling, Wei Guogong bought a batch of artillery from the Marquis of Zhongyong. Marquis Zhongyong personally escorted the artillery to Jinling this time. ”

Chongzhen frowned, pointed to the "Daming Times" on the side, and said, "Is that all?" Then Yue Yang didn't do anything else? ”

Wang Chengen said cautiously: "Naturally, after the Marquis Zhongyong arrived in Jinling, he first ransomed the three Qinglou leaders on the Qinhuai River, and then accepted them as concubines, and then set up this "Jinling Times". I don't know what's going on, this loyal and brave marquis seems to hate those Donglin party members very much, and he specifically speaks ill of those Donglin party people, saying that they are better at internal strife and shorter than governing the country and the army. The only difference with the three parties of Qi, Chu, Zhejiang, and the eunuch party is that the Donglin Party misleads the country, while the opposite of Donglin harms the country. You think, Jinling is the territory of those Donglin Party members, how can they be resigned to rest when they are pointed at their noses, so those Donglin Party members also set up a post newspaper in Jinling...... Well, now it's called a newspaper. What is it called "Jinling Times", every issue is scolded with "Daming Times", scolded that it is called a Huan, slaves and maids heard that now the people in Jinling are divided into two factions, one faction supports "Daming Times", and the other faction supports "Jinling Times", and both sides are about to fight. ”

Wang Chengen is worthy of being a person who has watched Chongzhen grow up since he was a child, knows what Chongzhen likes to listen to, and talks about these things in a colorful way, Chongzhen is also very happy to listen to it, and the original dignified mood has become cheerful again.

For an emperor, they will never interfere in the battles below, and will even support them secretly, because for a superior person, only the people below can mediate with each other, so as to get the greatest benefits. As a descendant of the old Zhu family, this instinct has even been integrated into their blood, and Chongzhen has always been very tolerant of such things.

I saw Chongzhen smiling and pointing at Wang Chengen and said: "You old slave, if you know it, you won't report it to me earlier, if the queen hadn't told me today, I wouldn't have known?" ”

Wang Chengen smiled bitterly, except for the queen and the crown prince, how dare anyone else talk nonsense in his ear, even he, a eunuch who grew up with Chongzhen, has to be careful.

"Alright, that's it." Chongzhen decided on this matter, he stood up and stretched before he said: "Big companion, from now on, you will send someone to send me a copy of each issue of "Daming Daily" and "Jinling Daily", these things don't look very good at first glance, but they are still quite interesting. Oh, by the way, you send someone to Jinling and tell sù that Yueyang, if you have had enough fun in Jinling, then hurry back to Shanxi, but a dignified marquis always lingers on the Qinhuai River, what a system! ”

"Yes!" Wang Chengen responded softly, and then whispered: "Emperor Qiqi, according to the news from Dongchang, the Marquis of Zhongyong has returned to Shanxi the day before yesterday, I heard that before this he transported a large amount of refined salt to Jinling, and for this reason he also had a conflict with those salt merchants, killing a lot of people. What do you think you should do? ”

"Can money? Those salt merchants? When Chongzhen heard this, a trace of disgust appeared on his face, and he said disdainfully: "You go and sue Sù Qian Neng, let him be less involved in this matter, then Yue Yang doesn't want to sell refined salt to Jinling and let him buy it, but you must let him pay the salt tax, understand?" ”

"Yes!" Wang Chengen responded respectfully.

"Hmm......"

Chongzhen was about to go out, when suddenly a little eunuch knelt down in front of Chongzhen and said, "Long live Qiyu, the Jinyi Guard command room Luo Yang reported that the Manchu Qing Dynasty was fighting with the Zhongyong Marquis outside the Guan!" ”

"What?" (To be continued......)