exchanged pleasantries with Chun'er's uncle, gave a dowry, and Chun'er's family affair was decided.

It was getting dark, and Chun'er couldn't be seen in the boudoir, so she had to take people home unhappily.

After getting engaged, Shen Ao's heart was also put away, and the Guozijian side could not rush to go, but instead make some articles at home, and learn more things; On the other side, the Jin Wangfu came to invite several times, all of them asked Shen Ao to participate in the training of the Keju Society, Shen Ao refused, in fact, his training method is very simple, with the head of Wu Jiao, urge them to step up their physical exercise, and wait until the time of the competition to dial down the tactics, and then it will be okay.

After a few days, seeing February, the chill gradually dissipated some, the weather gradually warmed up, and news came out from the palace that Shen Ao was called to enter the palace on duty, and the bachelor's degree was to accompany the emperor to do some calligraphy and painting, which was Shen Ao's internal business, and when the emperor was interested, he would summon him.

This is the emperor's order, he refused, put on a scarlet suit, wing hat, tied a silverfish bag, immediately asked the groom to send him to the palace, but when he arrived at the palace gate, he knew that the official family was in Banzai Mountain, so he had to go around along the moat again, and enter the palace to the Tobu Gate, which is the closest to the Banzai Mountain, after the palace gate, the towering peaks are undulating and continuous, quite spectacular.

Bianjing City is located in an open place, there are no famous mountains and rivers, even mounds are rare to see, this Long Live Mountain is Zhao Ji's whim, the artificial mountain built by the people, Shen Ao has long heard of Long Live Mountain, but I didn't expect this artificial mountain to be so majestic, the emperor will really enjoy it.

Entered the Tobu Gate, passed through several archways along the road, turned a long corridor, passed through the moon cave, and then arrived at the foot of the mountain, went up along the stone steps at the foot of the mountain, there were internal attendants along the way, Shen Ao enjoyed the beautiful scenery of this artificial mountain, as well as strange stones and strange trees along the way, and the heart was in a cold, it turned out that the flower stone was mainly supplied to the use here.

When I arrived at the mountainside, there were attics and pavilions, it was still early, the fog had not yet dispersed, the mist shrouded the attic, as if he was in a fairyland, Yang Jian saw him from afar, and greeted him with a smile: "Master Shen, come on, the official family is waiting for you." ”

Shen Ao saluted in the past, and he didn't know what to call him for a while, called father-in-law? I can't say it, it's a bit rude to call my father-in-law.

was hesitating, Yang Jian seemed to see his thoughts, and said loudly: "I still call you Shen Gongzi, you call me Yang Gonggong." ”

Shen Ao hurriedly called: "Gonggong Yang." ”

Yang Jian led Shen Ao into the attic, up to the second floor, the windowsill of the attic is facing the mountain, from here, the scene under the mountain is magnificent, in the mist, the scenery is magnificent.

Zhao Ji was picking up his pen to paint, and when he heard the movement behind him, he didn't look back, and said, "Shen Ao, how are you going to see my paintings?" ”

Shen Ao walked over, this is a landscape map, depicting the smoke in the mountains, the mountains are full of rockeries and strange stones, so that people can see at a glance, they know that the scenery made in this painting is Long Live Mountain.

Shen Ao pursed his lips and smiled, Zhao Ji's flower and bird paintings are enough to enter the top three in the world, but the landscape paintings are much worse, especially the layout, which is a little less dense and layered; In fact, this is related to the environment in which Zhao Ji grew up, after all, there are no famous mountains in Bianjing, he has spent his whole life in Bianjing, where have he seen any famous mountains and rivers, if he is not immersive, how to feel the strange scenery of thousands of miles and peaks?

Shen Ao coughed and said, "Does Brother Wang want to listen to the truth or lie?" ”

Zhao Ji raised his chin and smiled: "I want to listen to the truth." ”

Shen Ao shook his head and said: "It's not good, the official's brushes are too delicate, and the brush style and the painting scene clash with each other, instead of painting the magnificence of the landscape, it looks a little childish."

Zhao Ji was not angry, laughed, put down his pen, and said with a hint of regret: "Hey, I thought that with Long Live Mountain, this landscape should have growth, but who knows that it is still the case." ”

Shen Ao had an idea and said, "Your Majesty, Long Live Mountain is a rockery after all, and it looks like there are countless strange stones and strange trees stacked on top of each other, but compared to the real famous river, it is still thousands of miles away!" ”

"Oh?" Zhao Ji couldn't help laughing and said, "What you said, it's really the first time I've heard that my Long Live Mountain has collected the world's rare treasures, why can't it compare to the famous Sichuan Mountain?" ”

Shen Ao said: "Your Majesty thinks what is the best scenery in the world?" ”

Zhao Ji hesitated, but he couldn't answer for a while.

Shen Ao said: "The real beauty exists in nature, it is carefully carved by God after 10,000 years, as for this Banzai Mountain, although it has collected countless treasures, but in Shen Ao's view, it is more like a woman who is delicate and pretentious, rouge foundation, although she has made all kinds of enchantment, but after all, she still falls inferior." ”

Zhao Ji pondered, felt that Shen Ao's words were quite reasonable, and couldn't help but feel annoyed in his heart, he asked people to transport flowers and stones from various states to Bianjing, but it turned out that it was still not as natural as those natural scenery; Thinking about it, he nodded and said, "Shen Ao is right. ”

Zhao Ji cleaned his hands and sat down with Shen Ao to talk, Shen Ao knew the disadvantages of Hua Shigang, and knew that he couldn't convince Zhao Ji for a while, so he simply said some scenery of famous rivers and mountains in various places, he had seen a lot of famous mountains in his previous life, and he tried his best to depict them one by one, and his mouth was like a river.

Zhao Ji listened very seriously, and couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "If I have the opportunity, I would also like to see such a beautiful scenery." ”

Shen Ao's heart moved, and he couldn't help but say: "Your Majesty occasionally goes out to relax, and it is good to visit the world." ”

Zhao Ji shook his head and smiled bitterly: "The cost of patrolling is too big, and I am afraid that I will disturb the people." ”

Shen Ao couldn't help but scold in his heart, disturbing the people, your Huashigang is the real disturbance of the people, a stone, originally not worth a few dollars, transported from Lingnan and other places, the cost along the road will be thousands of yuan, and it will occupy roads and rivers, and those granite envoys will eat and drink all the way to teach the cost is amazing; There are more than 10 million strange stones in this Long Live Mountain, and this expense alone is enough to empty your treasury; It's a shame that you're embarrassed to say the word nuisance to the people.

Instead of going to get the flower stone gang, it is better to take the time to walk around, and the money may be less.

Shen Ao smiled slightly, and stopped talking, some words are not mature to say now, rushing to achieve results will only backfire, for this kind of psychological mastery, Shen Ao is still very proficient.

After a while, an attendant came in and said, "Your Majesty, the upper secretary from the Ministry of Rites has arrived." ”

Zhao Ji frowned, and said with annoyance: "Present it." ”

The chamberlain handed over the music to Yang Jian, Yang Jian handed the music to Zhao Ji's hands, Zhao Ji unfolded the music and looked at it, his face was even more obscure, and after the music was finished, he couldn't help but say: "The Khitan people are taking the opportunity to play, hum ......"

Although he snorted coldly, he did not say any more.

Shen Ao saw that his face was not good, according to the rules, he was just a bachelor in the Academy of Calligraphy and Painting, and he couldn't ask about national affairs, so he stood up and said, "Your Majesty, Weichen farewell." ”

Zhao Ji beckoned and said, "You don't have to go, just sit here." He seemed to think about it, handed the song to Shen Ao and said, "You can come and see." ”

Shen Ao was a little excited for a while, it stands to reason that this is court affairs and politics, Zhao Ji showed himself this important performance, it was his trust in himself, on the other hand, he was afraid that Zhao Ji also wanted to hear his own opinions.

It turned out that the envoy of the Liao State had arrived in Bianjing four days ago, and was discussing with the Ministry of Rites about the New Year's coin, which was the product of the Song Liao War that year, and the Liao State repeatedly invaded the Central Plains in the early days. The Liao State saw that the Song Dynasty was in a difficult situation for a while, so it simply chose to negotiate peace. At that time, it was stipulated that the Song Dynasty would give 200,000 horses of silk and 100,000 pieces of silver to the Liao State every year in exchange for peace between the two countries.

200,000 silk and 100,000 silver were not much for the Song Dynasty at that time, and they could afford to send them every year. It's just that as soon as this precedent was opened, the Liao State opened its mouth widely, making trouble every year, and asked for an increase in the year's coin, and now, this year's coin has been as high as 800,000 silk and 600,000 silver. It would have been fine if this was still a peaceful and prosperous era, but now the imperial court has been very tight because of the encirclement and suppression of Fang La in the past few years, coupled with Zhao Ji's extravagance; Originally, it was quite difficult to come up with this New Year's coin.

But this time the envoy of the Liao State had an accident last night, the envoy took the slave to the Bianhe flower boat to play, got on the boat, and happened to have a conflict with the Shanggaohou, who was also a dignitary in Bianjing, where could he stand the anger, and beat the person in a rage, the Liao envoy returned to the Wanguo Pavilion in a hurry, and suffered some minor injuries, in addition, a slave who came with him was also killed.

When such a thing happened, early this morning, the envoy immediately went to the Ministry of Rites, and in the name of humiliation, asked the Great Song Dynasty to hand over the murderer Gao Hou, and also asked for an additional 800,000 silver coins before he could stop.

Shanggaohou's family background is not small, and his mother is the third daughter of Emperor Shenzong, with such a prominent status, how can he say that he will hand it over? What's more, this envoy took this opportunity to ask for additional New Year's coins, and added another 800,000 silver, which is equivalent to 800,000 yuan in banknotes, such a huge amount is also unacceptable.

"Could it be that this envoy is inlaid with diamonds, and it will cost 800,000 yuan to be beaten?" Shen Ao secretly slandered in his heart, and continued to read the annotations on the side of the Ministry of Rites, which were generally divided into two parts, one part was the original situation of the Daoming matter, and the lower part was the opinion of the ministry, so that the emperor could make a better decision after reading the opinion.

The Ministry of Rites means that he can discuss with the envoys of the Liao State again, and the so-called Xu Xu Tuzhi is to try to lower his requirements as much as possible, such as not handing over the high marquis, and then reducing 800,000 silver to 300,000. Shen Ao put down the song, and finally understood why Zhao Ji was embarrassed, when he encountered such a file, the emperor was also a little aggrieved.

raised his eyes and glanced at Zhao Ji, seeing that he was angry and worried, with a straight face and a dilemma, as if he was hesitating.