Qianlong was really in a dilemma at this time, so he had to nod and say, "Yes......" "This is worth it!" The Queen Mother suddenly pounded the bed and was furious, and pulled a yellow silk ribbon tied to the big pillow and threw it to Qin Meimei: "Go, take it to Jinxia, just say my words, I know everything about her!" Qianlong hurriedly said: "Mother! Don't be angry, I'm not - I'm ...... Listen to me—"

"Go, I'll have the final say!" The Queen Mother shouted at Qin Meimei, and ordered everyone, "You all quit!" ”

Everyone withdrew, and only the Queen Mother, the Emperor and the Empress were left in the hall, relatively silent, only listening to the unhurried "click" of the Dajin self-striking bell. When Qianlong looked at the queen with a wooden face, the queen turned her face to look at the candle, and she seemed to have no expression.

"You explained." The Queen Mother sighed relaxed and said, "Do you still need to decompose?" This kind of thing is common to everyone, your brothers are all young, and there are a few foxes and goblins in front of the emperor, if I don't block this mouth, and spread it out in a sentence and a half, do you still want the royal face? What's more, you are still in the heat of filial piety! Don't think that I don't know about the collapse of the first emperor, in fact, the matter has come to this point, and if you can't think about it, you have to think about it, and it's not good to say it. Didn't he also suffer from the woman's loss? Besides, you have a lot of concubines with the former queen, which one is not a beautiful fetus! You still have to look at the pot while eating, and you have to pull the person in front of you? Qianlong blushed and bowed his head and said yes. I just hope that she will finish it soon. However, the Queen Mother talked endlessly, from Xuan Daji to Han Feiyan and Tang Yuhuan, and kept talking about the hour of a meal before she said: "The queen took the emperor back to the palace, I am tired." ”

The queen accompanied Qianlong just out of the Hanging Flower Gate of the courtyard of Cining Palace, and just saw Qin Meimei coming back to pay Yizhi, and her face was as white as snow under the lamp. Seeing the two of them, Qin Meimei timidly stepped aside and lowered her hand to give way. Qianlong knew that the matter was irreparable, and stared at Qin Meimei and swallowed his spit. The queen said: "Qin Meimei, send the envoy...... Done? ”

"Go back to the master, do it...... It's done......" He glanced at Qianlong, whose face was full of clouds, and snorted: "She...... She didn't say anything, just tore off the strings, lit three sticks of incense, and ......"

"Where's the strings?" Fucha said with tears in his eyes, "Bring it." Qin Meimei hesitated, took out a ball of silk strings from her cuffs, and held it to Fucha with both hands. Fucha took it and looked at it, and handed it to Qianlong, and said to Qin Meimei: "Ming'er will go to my palace to fulcrum some silver, and send it well." ”

Qianlong clutched the strings tightly, his heart shrunk into a ball like soaking in boiling water, and he said after a long time: "You go in, and pass all the attendants who have waited for Kangxi in Cining Palace here-don't alarm Lafayette!" Seeing that the Fucha clan looked at Qin Meimei's back in confusion, Qianlong said: "Don't worry, I'm not here for this. ”

After staying for a while, Qin Meimei came out with five or six eunuchs, the old ones were in their sixties, and the young ones were about thirty years old, and they saluted Qianlong and the queen in the wet rain. Qianlong took a breath and asked, "Lafayette said to repair the temple, do you know about this?" An old eunuch with white hair bowed down and said in the voice of the male duck: "Go back to Long Live Lord, everyone waiting in this palace knows ......"

"I have only one word for calling you." Qianlong said coldly, "I take the law of Lord Kangxi as the law. You have all waited for Kangxi, Xiaozhuang Lafayette also believes in Buddhism, have you ever asked the emperor to take money to repair the temple? ”

“……”

"It's your fault." Qianlong said, "If you encounter such a thing in the future, you have to advise Lafayette from the side." Just cite Kangxi's example, Lafayette will definitely be willing to listen - this time I forgive you, I won't take it as an example. ”

The queen said beside her: "If Lafayette has anything to think about, he will naturally have to do it." The emperor is a filial son. You can't do this and that with Lafayette to make money out of it. I will know that I will surely cure your sins! As he spoke, he and Qianlong went up together. In Chengyu, Qianlong asked:

"Queen, why don't you persuade Lafayette to take back his order to dispose of Jinxia?"

"Because Lafayette handled it right."

"Hmm, then why do you want to give me the silk strings again?"

"You should keep it to mind. I can't be a jealous woman. ”

"Oh, why did you bury her with money from your own body?"

"Because I'm a woman too."

Neither Qianlong nor the Empress spoke again. That night, they all had insomnia.

Yang Mingshi has been imprisoned in Kunming Mansion for three years. The governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, who exposed Zhang Tinglu's fraud in the examination room in the past, was arrested and imprisoned for dredging the Erhai Sea and collecting salt merchants and silver. Yang Mingshi was promoted from the governor of Guizhou to the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, and as soon as he took office, it rained continuously, and several alarms were called in succession, all because the Erhai embankment collapsed, flooding the village, washing away the fertile land, and countless people died. Several times to declare the household department, at that time, the household department was in a hurry to urge the officials in various places to pay for the deficit and report to the emperor for the results, who is willing to allocate a huge amount of money to do this good deed? Therefore, Yunnan was called "local fundraising and self-restoration". Yang Mingshi roughly calculated, at least two million taels of silver. Yunnan and Guizhou provinces do not have such financial resources. Fortunately, Yunnan produces salt, so he made up his mind on the salt merchants, and ordered the key roads of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces to set up cards to collect silver. However, Zhu Gang, the new governor of Guizhou, was single-handedly promoted by Li Wei, the governor of Liangjiang, and wrote to Li Wei to inform him, "Yang Mingshi scraped the land here to levy salt tax", and Li Wei replied happily: "Niang Xipi, no wonder the price of salt has risen here." If he is corrupt, sue him. Zhu Gang wrote a down-to-earth report, suing Yang Mingshi for "building construction in vain and trying to encroach on the project", forcing the card-keeping officials to unreasonably exploit passing travelers. It is said that it is heart-wrenching. Yang Mingshi was always opposed to Yongzheng's reform of taxation, the payment of grain by the gentry, the cleaning up of deficits, and the maintenance of incorruptible silver, but only because he was honest and honest did not punish him. Seeing this movement, Yongzheng was furious. On the same day, he issued an order to send it to Yungui with 600 li, ordered Zhu Gang to act as the governor, and sent Huang Bingxing, the head of the household department, to Dali at night. Huang Bing is Zhang Tingyu's protégé and wants to avenge his teacher. At the beginning of the second Qin mission, he dismissed Yang Mingshi from his post and sent him to prison without saying anything, and regardless of the laws of the Qing Dynasty, he privately used extremely miserable torture instruments such as fire and oil dragons to put Yang Mingshi to death.

Yang Mingshi was too incorruptible, because he didn't charge a penny of fire, he was in a high position as a governor, and sometimes he was too poor to cook. He didn't even bring his family with him, only one of his nephews to take care of him inside and outside. This is a fact that the gentry and people of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces are well known. Raided the family property, and only found a few patched torn underwear and two strings of frogs. The two messengers, who could not make the difference, counted the requisitioned salt and silver as embezzlement. This angered the people of the two provinces. On the day of the ascension to the court and torture, 30,000 ordinary people gathered outside the governor's yamen, and the people were so angry that even the goshha and the officials in the yamen turned against each other, shouting: "Yang Gong is tortured, what days are there left?" We're the opposite! It was Yang Mingshi who came out with a shackle and a lock, and ordered the people to "not violate the king's constitution" before the siege was lifted. But this time, Zhu and Huang no longer dared to be punished. The grass and straw tool book is over. Yongzheng didn't know what he wanted, and when he decided to hang Yang Mingshi, he didn't hang him for three consecutive years.

When he was an official, no one dared to send things, and when he sat in the class room, people had no taboos. Some of them went up and down the prison for him, lived in a single cell, and allowed their nephews to go in and wait for him "due to illness". People who don't know their names often send clothes: "The jailer's brother will keep some of it, and the rest will be worn by grandpa"; Every day, someone carries the meat, "Please take care of Grandpa", and leaves it. Therefore, Yang Mingshi, a prisoner awaiting death, was even more generous than when he was governor. Every year in autumn, how many people beg the Buddha to burn incense, looking forward to "Yongzheng Ye squinting one eye" to miss the name of Yang. Yang Mingshi was still studying in prison, sometimes he also invited prison guards to give lectures, played tai chi in his spare time, and walked leisurely in the courtyard, raising his face full of red light.

After receiving the court letter from the court when Yang Ming was released from the study, Zhu Gang did not do so for a few days, and wanted to write to Qianlong to "maintain the original judgment of the first emperor", and then soon received an edict that "the government is still lenient...... I am the lord of Yu Kuan", and the newspaper also prominently carried "I have ordered the study to go to Yunnan Province and release Yang Mingshi"; Zhu Gang didn't dare to delay any longer, and personally took an eight-person sedan chair to the prison to announce the decree. As soon as I entered the prison gate, I saw the warden coming out of a small tiled room with a group of prison guards, all of them red-faced and red-faced. Zhu Gangling stood brilliantly behind the iron grille at the front door, and reprimanded with a straight face: "It's not a year, it's not a festival, what kind of wine are you eating?" Looking for a fight? ”

"Returning to Taiwan, uh-" The warden said with a glass of wine, "Lord Taishui of Dali Mansion has just come to visit, and said that he has seen the Di Bao, and Lord Yang will go out soon." The banquet was brought by the government. Lord Yang refused to eat, so he rewarded the little ones—" Zhu Gang swallowed, didn't say anything more, and stepped into the hut.

It was a very elegantly furnished small house, with mulberry paper on the ceiling walls, and a very precious green cicada wing veil pasted on the small wooden windows. A wooden couch occupies half of the room, and the paint is bright and shiny. On the couch are two whitewashed green cloth quilts, and there is a low bookshelf against the wall. The books on the shelves have been emptied, and there are objects such as inkstones, paper and pens on the small wooden table. Yang Feng'er, Yang Mingshi's nephew, was sweating and kneeling on the couch with books tied. Yang Mingshi seemed to be in a heavy mood and sat on a stool under the bed. Seeing Zhu Gang coming in, he got up and said lightly: "Zhu Gong is okay when he comes?" "Let go of your hand and ask Zhu Gang to sit opposite.

"Yang Gong," Zhu Gang looked calm when he saw Yang Ming, his flustered mood gradually calmed down, and he smiled while sitting, "It's made you suffer." But it looks good. His bones seemed to be stronger than before. Yang Mingshi said with a smile: "Born in sorrow, died in peace - I think adults come here today, not just to say this." Zhu Gang smiled: "I'm here to congratulate the adults." Today, the saint is lenient and benevolent, and he has been sent by the court, so that his brother came to release Yang Gong from prison and immediately entered Beijing. Yang Gong has been wronged for three years, and now he has seen the light of day, and Feihuang is hopeful. It's amazing! As he spoke, he commanded loudly outside: "Go and prepare a sedan chair for Master Yang!" - In the past, the brothers acted on orders, and there were many offenses, Huang Shilang - too, alas...... This is not the place to speak, and after a few days of going to the yamen, the brothers sent Yang Gong off, and everything was slowly discussed. ”

Yang Mingshi was silent for a long time and said, "Zhu Gong, you still don't know much about Mingshi. I'm a straightforward person, what to say. In handling my case, you have private intentions. But how many people in the world can have no selfish intentions? It's okay to take care of it? The past is in the past. If you are really uneasy in your heart, please listen to me, in the spring of March, step up the treatment of the congestion of Erhai Lake. As for me, I don't want to 'fly yellow' anymore, and I entered Beijing to thank me and ask the emperor to allow me to return to my hometown and always accompany plum blossoms. Zhu Gang was pregnant with a belly of ghosts, afraid that Yang Mingshi would come to Beijing to sue him, and he listened to Yang Mingshi's meaning, as long as he was willing to dredge Erhai Lake, he could be forgiven, and he was immediately overjoyed and said: "Brother is really a man and a real husband!" However, the brother has already heard that the emperor intends to order his brother to be the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and I am afraid that my brother will rarely be satisfied-please, it is inconvenient to speak here, go to the Yamen, I will prepare wine and food, and we will talk about it overnight. Yang Mingshi said: "Zhu Gong, please forgive me, I have never eaten banquets, let alone gifts." This way into Beijing is a decree, and the post station can provide meals according to the routine. You can rest assured, cure Erhai Lake, and I will set up a thin wine to entertain you when you come to Beijing. As he spoke, he got up with a smile. Zhu Gang was ashamed and grateful, and with a trace of inexplicable jealousy, he got up and respectfully resigned.

When Zhu Gang went out, the group of jailers had already swarmed in, greeting, greeting, and saying auspicious words, and they were all ready to send Yang Mingshi on the road as if they were holding the moon. When the warden saw that he looked dumbfounded, he asked, "Lord Yang, do you have any other orders?" Yang Mingshi said with a smile: "I have nothing to worry about, and I have nothing to order." After studying here for three years, I have taken care of my health, and I have nothing to thank you. I was thinking: how did you get this big wooden couch into such a small room? A few words made everyone laugh. At this moment, the prison was already full of people, and the firecrackers crackled into a field. Seeing Yang Mingshi's robe sleeves, Xiao Ran walked out calmly, and everyone knelt down. A few kneeling in front of him were poor people, who had won the lawsuit in the past when Yang Ming was in office, looked up and choked up: "Grandpa, you are leaving, who will take care of us Yunnan people?" ”

"Get up...... Get up...... Don't ...... like this" Yang Mingshi called himself a "tearless literati", seeing people looking up and looking at themselves, somehow, there was a sour heat in his heart, and tears could no longer stop coming out of his eyes. The sorrow and sorrow that he had accumulated for three years seemed to melt into these tears, so he wiped away his tears and barely comforted him: "How can he be so loved by his father when he is famous!" Only then did Zhu Zhitai come, but he had already conveyed the public opinion to him, and Zhu Zhitai had promised to cure Erhai Lake once and for all. Today, the emperor is Shengming, everyone go back to make a good living, don't lose your name, and have high hopes......" said and moved, and there were thousands of people seeing off the pedestrians at this time. The people in front of him held hands and squeezed to make way for him. Yang Mingshi walked in front, Yang Fenger followed behind with a bookcase, and then squeezed out of the crowd, and a person flashed out under the eaves of the street, bowed down to Yang Mingshi, and said: "Please take care of the villain!" When Yang Mingshi looked at it, he was thin and short, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, he was a young man less than twenty years old, wearing a homespun indigo shirt, and a pair of "kicking dead cow" double-beam cloth shoes under his feet, hoping that he would just kowtow. Yang Mingshi didn't recognize it, so he looked at Yang Feng'er.

Yang Feng'er smiled: "His name is Xiao Luzi." The people of Dezhou, Shandong, they suffered a disaster. He has a cousin-in-law who is the cell boss in the prison where we live. When my uncle was in the classroom, he was outside to do the work for you. Yang Mingshi smiled: "In this way, I still have the benefit of you." But how can I take care of you when I am like this? And how do you want me to take care of it? ”

This little path is the young man from the Shen Family Inn who was frightened by He Luying's "ghost" and fled overnight. He escaped from He Luying's house, and no longer dared to delay in Zhejiang, so he rushed back to Texas. As soon as he entered the village, he was seen by an uncle of his own family, and he was pulled into the cemetery and said: "Here Liu Futai has been promoted to supervise the road, and a robbery case has been tried before, and your boss Shen has climbed out." The people in the store are fleeing to death, and even your mother is hiding and doesn't know where to go! You're so bold, you dare to come back! Hurry up and fly high! Xiao Luzi was stunned at the time, and it took him a long time to wake up. This is Liu Kang's ghost in his heart, borrowing a knife to kill people and kill his mouth. The uncle of the family also did not let him go back to the village, and took a string of money to send him on the road: "My family Kangkang sells silk and satin in Guangzhou, you go to him, and come back when the limelight is over." But when Xiaoluzi begged for food and sulu to Guangzhou, his brother Kang went to Nanyang to trade. In a hurry, I remembered that there was a cousin who married in Dali, Yunnan, so I went here again. Unfortunately, my cousin died of tuberculosis three years ago, and my cousin-in-law continued the strings. Fortunately, my cousin-in-law is okay. When the wealthy households in the city agreed to take turns to take care of Yang Ming, someone had to be outside to procure him, so he was temporarily resettled. After Yang Mingshi was released from prison, this messenger was naturally gone. Xiao Luzi thought about his future, cried a lot, and thought that Master Yang was a good person, and begged him to be afraid that there was still a chance, so he came to plead. Hearing Yang Mingshi ask like this, Xiao Luzi knew that there was a door, cried and told his bitterness, and begged: "Just ask the master to take me in, I can do any work, and I can endure any hardship." When do you want to look at me and let me fall! ”

"I can only take you in temporarily." Yang Mingshi listened to his bitterness, and couldn't help but feel moved, and said: "When I entered Beijing to take the examination to become an official, I was strictly ordered by my mother not to follow the servants for a long time. But your situation is pitiful. In this way, I will take you into Beijing first, and find you a bowl of rice to eat—can you recognize the words? Xiao Luzi hurriedly said: "The master is so kind to take him in, he will definitely be a prince of Wandai, and his official fortune will be prosperous!" The little one has been in private school for three years, and he can still do a good job of keeping accounts and copying a register......"

In this way, Xiao Luzi followed Yang Mingshi on the road. Because Yang Mingshi has not yet been reinstated, the road from Yunnan to Guizhou is a post station transmission, according to the rules, only for Yang Mingshi to ride a horse. Yang Mingshi was very strict with himself, and he refused to ask for more stagecoaches, and this horse was only used to carry books, and he was on foot with Fenger and Xiaoluzi. But this time it was inevitably slow, and when I arrived in Guiyang, it was February 21 of the first year of Qianlong, and I walked on the road for half a month. That night, a group of three people checked their tickets and stayed at the post station after Sanyuan Palace, and just after dinner, Yi Cheng hurried to the west wing where Yang Mingshi lived, and asked as soon as he entered the door: "Which one is Lord Yang?" Yang Feng'er and Xiao Luzi were washing their feet, and they were all stunned when they saw him so reckless.

"I am." Yang Mingshi was holding a copy of "Zizhi Tongjian" and browsing under the lamp. He put down the book and asked, "What's the matter with you?" The post man "horned" a thousand children and said: "Yue Junmen is here, there is a will for Lord Yang!" Yang Mingshi was shocked and said, "Please!" Is it General Yue Dongmei? As he spoke, he saw an official with a short figure and a black and red face walking in, and it was Yue Zhongqi, who had joined forces with General Nian Qianyao in Western Xinjiang to quell the rebellion.

Yue Zhongqi is wearing a robe of eight pythons and five claws, the new crane is bright and shiny, and there is a peacock flower feather inserted behind the coral top. Yue Zhongqi strode into the door, glanced into the room, and saw that Yang Mingshi was dressed so simply, his brows furrowed, and his voice was like a Hong Zhong: "Zhong Qi is edicted, Yang Mingshi kneels and listens!" Feng'er pulled the dumbfounded little path and avoided it.

"The sinner Yang Mingshi, please Saint Ann!"

"St. Ann!" Yue Zhongqi waited for Yang Mingshi to kneel three times and knock nine times, opened the holy decree, and read aloud: "Today, Yang Mingshi is the title of the secretary of the Ministry of Rites and the priest of the country, and he will train the prince for me day and night." Be reluctant! ”

"Minister...... Shane! ”

After Yue Zhongqi finished announcing his decree, when he helped Yang Ming with both hands, he said: "Song Gong, when I didn't see you, I thought I was still haggard, it seems that I am much stronger than the last time we met!" It's really a cool person. Yang Mingshi smiled and said: "What about 'Shuangda'?" Tranquil ear. I wanted to go to Beijing to ask for a recess of my guilt, but the will came first. What should I say when I see the emperor? Yue Zhongqi said: "Song Gong, the emperor has new intentions, he just pardoned you from prison, and promoted you to wash the horse for the East Palace, the prince's master." How can you live up to such a grace? ”

"Dongmei Gong," Yang Mingshi asked, "You are a Sichuan general, why did you come to Guiyang, especially to pass the decree?" Yue Zhongqi said: "I'm here to deliver the decree." But it's not just for you. I have just come from the Yamen, where the Miao people rebelled, and it has spread to half of the province. The original Qin mission Zhang Zhao, the chief military officer Dong Fang, and Ha Yuansheng were all removed. Most of the soldiers here are what I brought with me in Qinghai, and with such a big personnel change, the emperor was afraid that he would not accept it and cause trouble, so he specially ordered me to announce the decree to handle it. The emperor said that Yang Mingshi had no position, and he was afraid that he would be too tired on the road, so he could return to Beijing in an eight-person sedan chair if he was given an official title. Yang Mingshi never expected the new monarch Qianlong to be so considerate to him, and he was moved in his heart, and lowered his head with a sigh, and said after a while: "No wonder I feel wrong as soon as I enter Guiyang." Three steps, one sentry, five steps and one post, there are barracks everywhere, and it turns out that the imperial court will raise a large army here to recruit Miao Bian! Who will preside over the military affairs here? Presumably it's also Dongmeigong? Yue Zhongqi smiled: "I'm just announcing the decree." The prime minister's minister for Miao Xinjiang affairs is Zhang Guangsi. He was my subordinate, and now even I have to listen to his moderation. I'm an advocate of appeasement. The emperor's intention was to clear it first, so Zhang Guangsi was used. ”

Zhang Guangsi, Yang Mingshi knew him, he was very capable of fighting, and he was a famous general in Yue Zhongqi's army. Yang Mingshi had just come out of prison, and he couldn't judge which was better or worse, so he was silent. Yue Zhongqi knew his temperament, and just as he got up to say goodbye, he heard the sound of horses' hooves outside. A Goshha shouted loudly: "Prime Minister Zhang Guangsi, Minister of Miaojiang Affairs, has arrived!" Yang Mingshi was stunned for a moment and asked, "Why is this person so becoming?" The last time I saw him, he wasn't so arrogant! Yue Zhongqi smiled and said: "The so-called one time is also another." Before he finished speaking, the courtyard heard the clatter of riding boots on the stone slabs. Zhang Guangsi had already entered the house proudly.

This is a middle-aged man in his early forties, with a slightly longer white face, a pair of eyebrows straight up, revealing a murderous aura, and the corners of his mouth slightly upturned, as if he was expressing his contempt to others at any time. He stood at the door and looked, clasped his hands into fists, and said, "Song Gong is okay?" - Dongmei Gong, you've already passed the decree, right? Yue Zhongqi smiled and nodded, Yang Mingshi got up, let go of his hand, and said lightly: "My lord, please take a seat." ”

"Please forgive Matsuko, I can only sit for a moment." Zhang Guangsi sat with his hands on his knees, "I have to arrange the invasion when I go back tonight." Yang Mingshi stared at the general gently and smiled: "The general's spirit is extraordinary. This time, the Miao Village will be ploughed and swept away. Can you tell us about your strategy for sending troops? Zhang Guangsi glanced at Yue Zhongqi with a smile and said, "Lord Yang is a scholar, how can he explain the affairs of military affairs clearly!" Actually, Dongmei misunderstood me. I'm still going to caress it. Only for those who rebelled against the court, I will fight hard, I must capture that fake Miao King! ”

Yue Zhongqi said: "You are the main general, I will definitely obey the order." The strategy of dividing troops into three ways to attack the upper nine units, the lower nine units and the lower village of the Qingjiang River is feasible. Zhang Guangsi said: "The old military gate is right, I command the officers and soldiers of the six provinces, if I can't win a battle, I can only commit suicide to thank the court." After saying that, he got up and said: "Knowing that Songgong is cold, this trip to Beijing is thousands of mountains and rivers, and you can't be too self-suffering, so I specially sent three hundred taels of silver for the journey-I don't know when you will leave?" I'm here to see him off. Yue Zhongqi also stood up and said: "Song Gong, I should also resign, I will go back to Chengdu to deploy military affairs, you pass by there, and you will meet after all." ”

"I'm a scholar and don't understand military affairs. But I understand politics. Yang Mingshi also stood up, "A thousand words come down to one word, the general must not kill people too much." In the future, when the military is over, it will be difficult for the magistrate to appease the people - as for Cheng Yi, when you know the name, you definitely don't dare to accept it, and admit it. ”

Zhang Guangsi said with a smile: "Guizhou is a military zone. I've got the final say—come, get the money! "Let's go with Yue Zhongqi. After Yang Mingshi waited for them to go, he called Yi Cheng and said, "You will return this silver to Zhang Junmen tomorrow—oh, don't be afraid of his punishment." I write a letter before I leave, and you can give it to him along with it. ”