A group of men and horses marched slowly southward on the vast plain.

It was a good time when the sun was shining, the grass was growing and the warbler was flying, and the warm spring breeze gently caressed people's faces, making people immersed in a very pleasant atmosphere, as if all the melancholy and troubles in their hearts had been washed away.

The group was led by a young man in his early twenties—not of great stature, but riding a sturdy horse; It was when the spirit was high, but an imperceptible sadness appeared between the eyebrows.

The young man sat upright, holding the reins in one hand and the book in the other, and did not read carefully, but glanced once or twice from time to time, and raised his eyes to enjoy the scenery along the road.

Behind him, a rider stepped forward and said in his ear: "Childe, we have been walking for most of the day, it is time to drink saliva and fill our stomachs, do you want to find a place to rest?" "The man who spoke was swarthy and dark, and at first glance he was not an ordinary horseman.

When the young man heard him, he looked up at the sun again, and said, "Okay, go ahead and find a little shop, and rest over there." ”

The man nodded, let go of the reins, and clamped the horse's legs at the same time, and the very human steed under his crotch galloped forward.

After a while, the man had already come back to his life: "Son, there is a tea stall under the big elm tree in front, although it is not a good place for high grades, but it is also very clean, or I will wait for the rest now." ”

The young man nodded indifferently and said, "Good! It's up to you to lead the way. ”

The big elm tree that the black man said was not far away, and the group had already arrived there after walking for a cup of tea. Sure enough, there was a white-bearded old man under the tree who set up a stall and set up several sets of tables, chairs and benches to sell herbal tea to passers-by.

Although the old man was old, he was also very enthusiastic, and when he saw more than 20 customers coming, he hurriedly got up and stepped forward, and greeted: "Come on, come on, all the guest officers have been walking for most of the day, why don't you come here and sit here?" ”

When the leading young man saw that although the tea stall furnishings here were simple and old, they were still spotlessly clean, and he felt a good impression in his heart, so he said to the old man: "Okay, I'll borrow the precious land and rest for a while." I also asked the old man to pour a few bowls of tea. Then he saddled and dismounted.

Seeing this, the eighteen men who followed behind the young man also turned over and dismounted, and tied their horses to the side of the road.

When the old man saw that the dozen or so men who had dismounted were all five big and three thick, with hateful faces, he couldn't help but be a little panicked, and hurriedly said to the young man: "This boy has a kind face and looks like a scholar. But these followers look like bandits, don't get into any trouble! ”

The young man smiled: "Although these people have ugly faces, they are not bad people, and please don't care about the old people." I'll have to hurry up, so I'll have a cup of tea here and leave. As he spoke, he took out a tael of silver from his sleeve and handed it to the old man.

The herbal tea that this old man sells here is only a penny and a bowl, and this tael of silver is enough to cover his income for ten days and half a month.

Therefore, the old man took the silver and said with a sad face: "Childe has such a big piece of silver...... The little one didn't bring the scissors, but he couldn't get change! ”

The young man smiled and said, "Who wants you to find money?" You stammer, and the extra money will be considered your reward. ”

When the old man heard this, he immediately smiled, and thanked him: "Although the old man is dizzy, he is a noble man at first glance. Look at this style, needless to say, it's a master, a little bit of it from your fingernails is enough for us to eat and drink......"

He was pouring flattery, but he heard a man on the side shout, "Hey! The old man over there, come over and pour a few tea for the uncle first, I can't delay you from patting my son-in-law's ass! ”

The old man was startled when he heard the man speak rudely, and hurriedly said, "Here it is, here it is." This man, please be calm for a while. As he spoke, he stepped forward to make tea and pour water for him.

The young man grabbed the old man and said, "The old man doesn't have to deal with them, just talk to me here." Then he turned to the man who shouted and said, "The tea bowls and tea jars are all here, and you got up and poured the tea yourself, did you get tired and break your dog's legs?" What kind of system does it become? ”

The stout man was reprimanded by the young man, and immediately scolded, so he had to get up obediently and scoop a bowl of tea by himself. When the rest of the people saw this, they didn't dare to call the old man to serve them, so they took the bowls and drank tea one by themselves, and took out the dry food they had with them and swallowed the water.

When the old man saw such a large group of rough men, they all bowed their heads to this handsome young man, and felt more and more strange, so he hurriedly invited the young man to sit down, personally brought him a bowl of tea, and asked cautiously: "Listen to the childe's accent, is it a northerner?" This time I went south, did I want to be promoted or to get rich? ”

The young man did not answer, but asked, "Old man, where is this place?" ”

The old man replied casually: "This is the ground in Huaiyin County, has the son seen this big elm tree?" It is said that it was planted by an immortal hundreds of years ago, and our village was named Big Elm Village after this tree. ”

The young man nodded and said, "The new monarch supports the establishment and exempts the world's money and grain." You Henan is a poor place, and last year there were two wars, and the emperor specially ordered that taxes were exempted for two years, so life is much better, right? ”

I didn't want this old man to shake his head and said, "What do national affairs have to do with us little people?" Without money and food, poor people like us will not get any benefits, and will not be the officials and the local lords who will benefit the most? ”

When the young man heard this, he frowned, and pondered slightly: "Isn't it that you have corrupt officials here again, who disobey the will of the Holy God and apportionment without authorization?" ”

The old man shook his head again and said, "Although we are just small grass people, we also know that Prince Youyan has become the emperor and hates corrupt officials the most. He killed a few officials as soon as he ascended the throne, who would dare to make money? ”

"And what does the old man mean by that?" The young man asked.

The old man smiled "hehe" and asked rhetorically: "Listening to the tone of the son, I'm afraid that it is an official sent down from above to observe the people's feelings, right?" ”

The young man was stunned for a moment, waved his hand hurriedly, and said, "Where is the old man?" I'm just a person who went to Beijing to catch the exam, and I didn't do well in the strategy, so I didn't have high school. Therefore, I paid attention to some livelihood affairs along the way, and planned to enter Beijing to take the exam in three years! ”

The old man replied, "It doesn't matter if you are an official, or not, it is good to let the court know something about the situation here." Let the old man say slowly......"

The old man poured himself a bowl of tea, took a sip, moistened his throat and said: "The emperor's taxes are all land taxes, but tenants and poor peasants, as well as those of us who do small businesses, have no land, so naturally they can't reduce our heads." Who has more land in his hands? It was not the landlords and officials who were exempt from the land tax and refused to reduce the land rent. So the emperor reduced the money and grain, and in the end, didn't it all fall into the hands of those big landlords? ”

When the young man heard this, he knew the drawbacks and couldn't help but be stunned.

The old man sighed and continued: "But the emperor is surrounded by those landlords and officials, when will he hear the voices of grass people like us? If the son can be the top student in high school in the next subject, remember to tell the emperor these nonsense words of the old man, and my life will not be in vain. ”

The young man pondered for a long time before he said: "Thank you for the good words of the old man in the future, if he has a fate, I will definitely present these words to the saint." He smiled again, "I didn't expect the old man to see a tea stall here, and he could have such knowledge, which shows that the real person does not show his face." ”

The old man scratched his head embarrassedly and said, "I'm an old man, how can I understand such a truth?" It's not all thanks to this stall, I listened to the guest officials who came and went from the south to the north say a lot, so I just echoed two sentences. ”

The young man nodded and said, "Then I will be instructed by the old man." He no longer paid attention to him, but beckoned to a black man beside him and said, "You take the four treasures of the study, and I will write a letter to my father-in-law." ”

When the black man heard this, he hurriedly took out the pen and paper and the ink he had prepared in advance from the package, and handed them to the young man.

The young man spread out the paper on the rough table, and the pen and snake wrote:

"A farewell for five days, such as every three autumns, the heart of the fist of the instrument, long live the dragon's health, longevity without borders......"

It turned out that this young man was none other than the current emperor Zheng Rong's righteous son who was killed in a ruined temple in Henan more than ten years ago - Qiu Yizhi.

He was resourceful, bold and careful, and went deep into the tiger's den in Longtan in the capital several times last year, skillfully used gunpowder to blast open the gate of Luoyang, and rescued Zheng Rong, who was still the king of Youyan at that time, from the prison of the Criminal Department. made a strange plan to help Zheng Rong conquer Tongguan; then use gunpowder to collapse the east wall of Luoyang; personally led the troops, and said that the "pseudo-emperor" Zheng Yao died - he made great contributions to Zheng Rong's ascension to the emperor, and he was already a world leader at a young age.

Emperor Zheng Rong originally planned to keep him by his side, and after a few years of accumulation, he would calmly pay homage to the prime minister and reuse it.

However, Qiu Yizhi witnessed the tragic changes in the palace several times, and did not want to stay in the center of the court, so he invited the emperor's grace, and was appointed as the sixth Jinshi of the second class in this year's Enke examination, and put it in the place to be a seven-grade county order, so he happened to pass by here.

Before leaving Beijing, Emperor Zheng Rong personally met him and asked him what he wanted. Qiu Yizhi did not want either gold nor silver, and only made three requests:

First, although he himself was born in the north, but the ancestral hometown of the Qiu family is in the south, I hope the emperor will point him to Shanyin County, the capital of Yuezhou, Jiangnan Province, as an official, which can be regarded as a return to his hometown;

second, although he was only a seven-rank petty official, he secretly sealed the earl title of Cong Ruibo, and was commensurate with the emperor's father and son, so he was unwilling to worship other bureaucrats except for the emperor's relatives and master Zhong Likuang;

The third is that Zhao Chengxiao and the eighteen thieves under him recruited An, who could not bear to leave after their birth and death, so they had to follow themselves to the county as personal soldiers, so they had to have a helper.

None of these three requirements were important matters related to national affairs, and Emperor Zheng Rong agreed to them without thinking about it.

Qiu Yizhi offered three more strategies:

First, the world is initially decided, and the people's hearts are fluctuating, the emperor must win the hearts of the people, rest with the people, and save expenses, and take turns to exempt the tax burden according to the situation, so that the people of the world can bathe in the emperor's grace;

Second, the Han Dynasty officials are corrupt and difficult to return, and they have reached the point where they have to be ruthlessly rectified, and the imperial court must punish a group of corrupt officials and corrupt officials, so as to make an example of chickens and monkeys, and give warnings to hundreds of officials;

The third is that although the Tianzun cult has been severely damaged after repeated blows, the hundred-legged insects are dead but not stiff, and I don't know how many Tianzun disciples are still hiding in the court and in the rivers and lakes, and there are even more evil culprits who are still at large, and they must be strictly inspected in order to eradicate the grass and eradicate the roots.

Emperor Zheng Rong heard that this article was a policy to help the people through the world and for thousands of generations, and his heart was high-tech, so he gave Qiu Yi three other rights:

First, the name card of "Marshal Zheng of the Soldiers and Horses of the King of Han Youyan" given to him at the beginning to facilitate Qiu Yizhi's affairs is still by his side, and he can enter and leave the imperial city at will with this name;

The second is that although Lingnan King Zheng Gui surrendered verbally, his intentions are still unpredictable; Therefore, the emperor's gold medal order arrow was given to Qiu Yizhi, once Zheng Gui raised the flag and rebelled, Qiu Yizhi could use this order to mobilize troops and horses and immediately organize counterinsurgency;

The third is to give Qiu Yi the power of secret music, which can monitor the officials of all sizes in the south of the Yangtze River, no matter how big or small, they can be sent to the master Zhong Li Kuang, who has been appointed as the prime minister, to be able to listen to the heavens.

Therefore, Qiu Yizhi felt that what the old man of the tea stall said, although it was a slang folk language, was related to the policy of the imperial court, and he did not want his father-in-law Zheng Rong to be deceived by the officials and gentry, so he considered writing down these words and asked someone to send them to the capital.