Xia Yan saw Lu Bing's surprised expression as if it was expected, Lu Bing's joy and anger were all in shape, but this made his accidental disguise more successful, and it also made him more elusive, which is exactly how powerful Lu Bing's life is. Lu Bing said: "What about the two things that Lord Xia called the other? ”

"The other thing is that when the disaster relief was distributed later, you must know that the porridge for disaster relief credit porridge is required, and it must be able to insert chopsticks to ensure a certain viscosity before the people can eat enough. But this time the imperial court has put a lot of effort into it, and I am also personally supervising it, and I have used it all for disaster relief, plus the food aided by the Shen family and the Lu family, if there is no corruption, it is more than enough for disaster relief, and I used gruel with white flour steamed buns. In addition to the Chinese New Year's holiday, the average farmer can't eat white flour steamed buns a few times a year, and it is said that they should be very excited after seeing these, although they will not flock to them, but they should also enthusiastically receive them. I was afraid that the scene would be too chaotic, so in order to maintain order, I also specially transferred a group of people to assign and manage. And guess what? ”

"How?" Lu Bing didn't hear about it, because this information was passed on to Meng Xueqing, unless the matter was urgent, Lu Bing didn't have time to take care of it, so he didn't know about it. At that time, Lu Bing was in Beijing, dealing with some major decisions every day, and was busy inventing and creating zào, if he handed over the information to Lu Bing in every detail, then Lu Bing would not be enough to grow a hundred heads, so he didn't know about it, and now he wanted to know what happened.

Xia Yan sighed and said: "The people would rather gnaw the bark and eat the grass roots than receive the food from the imperial court for disaster relief. Even if you have a lot of opinions about the court, you shouldn't be unable to live with your own life? I don't know why, but I can't ask people to ask why, maybe they don't dare to report it to me. I was weird. Isn't it just the famine that happened because there was no grain to be slaughtered, how to distribute food but didn't want to receive it, could it be that it was really a poor mountain and a bad water out of the people? I asked the soldiers to carry baskets of steamed buns to the streets of the village, but no one would accept them, and I thought that perhaps the people here were quite dignified and unwilling to be fed, and mistakenly thought that I was as arrogant as other court officials, so I went to distribute the food myself. I took the steamed bun and walked over to a refugee. It was a woman, dirty, with a four or five-year-old child in her arms. At least the height is only four or five years old, and it is likely to be stunted. I handed the steamed bun to her, but the woman didn't want it, so I shoved it into the woman's hand. Then turn around and serve the porridge. But the woman threw the steamed bun at me. ”

"How so?" Lu Bingqi said.

Xia Yan said: "I was also very strange and angry, so I asked her sharply why she was like this. As a result, the woman pointed at me righteously and said, natural disasters do not complain, but man-made disasters have to fight, the heavy rain and floods did not kill the family, and then the court disaster relief was unfavorable, and we didn't say anything. We are the courtiers of the Ming Dynasty, and we are also in the dark, and the family did not starve to death after working hard to escape the famine and beg for food. As a result, my father was kicked to death by the dog officer. The husband was confiscated as an official and was killed for resisting. The younger brother was teased by the dog officer when he was receiving the disaster relief food, and finally he was tied alive and dragged to death immediately. My brother is a rebel army, confronting the imperial court, killing dog officials and robbing the emperor's grain, and finally preferring to die rather than surrender to die on the battlefield, although defeated he still died a glorious death! Dog officer, how can you say that I would ask for food from the imperial court, I would rather starve to death than eat, although I am a woman, I still have this bit of integrity. ”

"This woman should have grown up in a solid family, and although she was a little vulgar in her conversation, she must have studied for a few days as a woman. I have never been inferior in the debate with those rich and wealthy people in the court, but at that time I was dumbfounded and speechless by such a country lady. Xia Yan said: "I only felt that being a court official was no longer a kind of pride, although these ugly things were not done by me, but they were also done by colleagues who were also Ming officials, in the eyes of the people, I was no different from them, I was eager to find a crack to get into." All the people looked at us, and there was doubt and contempt in their eyes, but the most was anger, the hatred that came from the bones. Although they may have suffered differently from the woman, they should also have a bitter hatred for the court, and they can't solve their hatred by frustrating their bones and scattering ashes. I felt a kind of fear at that time, I was not afraid of being torn to pieces by this group of hungry people, I only felt that I was seen through by their eyes, and the most terrifying thing for me was that the Ming Dynasty lost the hearts of the people, the foundation of the country. Not only did he lose the hearts of the people, but he was also hated by the people, and the hatred was so great that he would rather die than be helped. Hatred can be reversed, but when death is greater than hatred, even the power of heaven cannot be reversed. ”

Xia Yan let out a long sigh, two lines of tears flowed down again, looking up at the sky, the golden dragon in the sky was still floating slowly, floating unhurriedly, as if mocking the group of "pillars of the court" who looked up at it, in Lu Bing's opinion, the situation was no longer mysterious and strict, but full of banter. The world is going to be chaotic, what bullshit is still going on here, Lu Bing finally understood why Xia Yan told him so much.

Lu Bing sighed and stopped talking, Duan Qingfeng was also shocked, but his face instantly regained calm, Ji Lianhong should have understood, but he was reckless by nature and couldn't bear to listen to it anymore, his eyes were already a little moist, he waved his hand and scolded: "What kind of nonsense to talk about." With that, he squeezed and left. Lu Bing said leisurely at this time: "Water can carry a boat and can also capsize a boat." ”

"Yes, Lord Lu, to say something rebellious, I don't know how long such a Ming can last, but if it goes on like this for a long time, it can only be said that it is nonsense for fools to talk about dreams." Xia Yan said, Lu Bing laughed again, Xia Yan asked, "Why is Lord Lu laughing?" ”

"Lord Xia has said a lot of rebellious things today, aren't you afraid that I will bring you to justice? I'm a brocade guard. Lu Bing looked at Xia Yan's eyes and asked, Xia Yan shook his head and said, "Don't be afraid, you Lu Bing is not the one who stabbed you in the back, you didn't deliberately praise you, you are not a loyal minister, but you are not a villain either." You know what's right and do it most of the time. ”

Lu Bing put away his cynical expression, looked at Xia Yan seriously, and said, "As a minister, what can I do besides being loyal?" The emperor's holy will is beyond our control, and the moth to the fire seems to be heroic, but in fact it is useless at all. This time the longevity festival is a waste of money and money, and the taxes in many places have been collected until the year after tomorrow, and the harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes are not demanding, and it is also a common thing to kick and deduct food, but what can we do? can only sit and watch the world, wait for the wind and rain to come, if you are lucky enough to help the emperor to serve the country and level the world, you will have fulfilled the duty of being a courtier. ”

"Do you allow the rioters in Shandong to live in poverty?" Xia Yan asked suddenly, Lu Bing was puzzled but replied truthfully: "Naturally, no." ”

"Because that's your territory, you've worked so hard to get it." Xia Yan said: "But the saint doesn't know, what he fought for was only the battle in the court, and what he won was the orthodoxy of the throne, the right to rule and the unshakable position, so he cares about this very much, and no one can question and violate, otherwise there will be murder." But he doesn't care about the world at all in his heart, he doesn't understand what the world is, the world is not a struggle for power but the hearts of the people. In the final analysis, the difference between you and me is that Lord Lu, you regard the emperor as a brother, so you feel that you are just helping under your brother now, and its purpose is to help each other, and it is also related to your own interests. You think it's enough to help him calm the chaos, and the first few times you have paid have not been rewarded well, but have caused a commotion, so it's normal to be cold. And we are different, we are the courtiers of the Ming Dynasty, so we naturally have to bow down and die. ”

"I don't deny that what you say may have a point." Lu Bing said.

Xia Yan nodded: "Da Ming has been ruined enough by the saints, in the past few years, there has been no hard work in the early years, and the national strength has also gone downhill, thanks to Lord Lu, Da Ming has been able to be peaceful." On this Halloween Festival, after you make that performance, the emperor will not only not introspect, but will think that he is really the imperial power granted by God, and even more forget the truth of carrying the boat and sinking the boat, he will get carried away and become even worse. You are not silently helping him maintain the stability of the regime, but harming him, it is better to drink it as a slap in the face. ”

"So I'm still doing something bad with good intentions?" Lu Bingdao, indeed, this performance does have such thoughts, and the minister of the gradual change of people's hearts is also suspected of moving. One of the main purposes of Lu Bing's longevity festival is naturally to please Zhu Houxi, which has achieved the effect of preserving himself, and at the same time, it is not without the intention of helping Zhu Houxi, which makes people think that the divine authority of the monarch is unshakable and makes the minister more loyal. At the same time, when it comes to selfishness, it is safer to be God's spokesman.

Xia Yan nodded and said: "That's true, it's difficult to raise a wolf as a dog to watch the house, you do this like luring a wolf into the house, and it is even more powerful medicine for the emperor who is already rapidly expanding and difficult to dissuade, I'm afraid that no matter how we dissuade him, it will be difficult to turn back." ”

"What does Lord Xia think?" Lu Bing asked, Xia Yan looked at Lu Bing and said, "It doesn't matter whether I am loyal to the country or your brother's righteousness." If you don't want this Ming to be subverted so quickly, you and I need to put aside our prejudices and work together. ”

"Hehe, is this an alliance?" Lu Bing said with a smile, Xia Yan shook his head: "I, Xia Yan, only do things that are beneficial to Daming, and never form a party for personal gain, which can only be regarded as our cooperation." Saying that, Xia Yan stretched out his palm, Lu Bing was stunned and also stretched out his hand to high-five Xia Yan and swear. (To be continued......)