The apse of Kunning Palace.

In the empty apse, there were only Emperor Shunhe, the eunuch chief beside Emperor Shunhe, Gao Xuan and Ye Qiong.

Ye Qiong knelt in the center of the hall with her head bowed.

Although the apse of Kunning Palace also burned the earth dragon, the bluestone bricks under her knees were still cold and hard, but Ye Qiong knelt straight and had a beautiful posture, as if she was not facing the current Son of Heaven, but like a respectful student waiting in the private school to answer Mr. 's questions.

Emperor Shunhe pinched the somewhat curled map, and unconsciously relaxed his posture, Gao Xuan, who was standing on the side, couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, and he thought a little more highly of Ye Qiong in his heart.

is worthy of being the granddaughter of Emperor Ye, and was also accepted as an apprentice by Mr. Zou, just this bearing, looking at the entire Beijing, it is also a leader.

But I didn't know that even if she was as calm as Ye Qiong, there was a lot of sweat in her palms.

Emperor Shunhe has reigned for more than 20 years, and he has his own prestige, if it weren't for the fact that Ye Qiong often accompanied the Queen Mother in his previous life, and also saw His Majesty many times, if Ye Qiong is really just a twelve-year-old boudoir girl today, I am afraid that she will really lose her temper.

After comparing the map with what he saw in the newspaper in Beijing, and confirming that there was no difference, Emperor Shunhe finally spoke: "Ye Qiong, how did you know about the evacuation of the people in the suburbs of Beijing, is it just by virtue of this map?" ”

Ye Qiong, who was kneeling on the ground, kowtowed first, and then replied cautiously word by word: "Your Majesty, the people's daughter really relied on this map to know where the suburbs of Beijing might be flooded when the autumn flood came, and evacuated the people according to it. ”

Emperor Shunhe didn't believe it, and said coldly: "Just by virtue of the map, you dare to do such a big thing, aren't you afraid that the map will not be accurate?" ”

In the last half of the sentence, Shunhe Di specially raised his voice, and his tone was angry.

Gao Xuan couldn't help but jump in his heart, squinting his eyes at Ye Qiong in the hall, the anger of the Son of Heaven was pressing on the top of his head, I don't know if this Ye Er girl can stand it?

Ye Qiong pretended to be frightened, touched the ground with her forehead, and although her voice trembled a little, she still said clearly: "The people dare not hide it from Your Majesty." The people's daughter dares to do this, but there are three reasons, I don't know if Your Majesty is willing to listen to the people's daughter? ”

Gao Xuan sneered in his heart, this Ye Er girl, it turned out that the newborn calf was not afraid of tigers, not really afraid, but also really smart, as soon as this statement came out, His Majesty would definitely ask about it.

Emperor Shunhe didn't think about what to do with a twelve-year-old girl, if ordinary officials dared to talk like this, Emperor Shunhe would have thrown his face and let people pull him down, but when Ye Qiong said this, Emperor Shunhe felt novel, so he softened his tone and said, "Tell me about it." ”

Ye Qiong really looked surprised, straightened up and said: "First, the circle on this map was drawn by the father of the people's daughter, as a daughter, the people's daughter naturally believes in his ability, and firmly believes that he will not harm the people's daughter." ”

Emperor Shunhe's expression was even more softened, and he said, "This is your filial piety, go on." ”

Ye Qiong breathed a sigh of relief.

The Great Liang Dynasty has always valued filial piety, and it will not be wrong to start with this reason.

Ye Qiong said again: "Second, it is the folk girl who knows the truth that water flows to a low place. Several places circled in vermilion on the map are either low-lying or in the middle of a valley. The people have checked the county records and verified that there were many waterlogging disasters in these places during heavy rains in previous years, so they are more convinced of the accuracy of this map. ”

Emperor Shunhe touched his chin, Gao Xuan looked at it, and nodded secretly, knowing that the emperor recognized this reason.

In the end, Ye Qiong said: "Three comes, human lives are at stake." If the map is really wrong, it is just a waste of bothering the people to run in vain and suffer some losses; If the map is correct, or even if only one place is circled, it has saved a lot of lives. If the people's women choose to stand by and watch because they are afraid of being responsible, knowing that their lives are about to fall, then how is the people's women different from murderers? ”

Emperor Shunhe nodded almost inscruably, and then threw a question to Ye Qiong: "I heard that everyone among the people praises the Ye family as a family of goodness, and the Ye family's reputation is rising, what do you think?" ”

Ye Qiong's heart jumped, and the higher the Ye family's momentum, which made Emperor Shunhe suspicious.

Fortunately, this was in his own plan, and the reputation of the Ye family's Jishan family was spontaneously brought up by the people, and Ye Qiong just boosted it.

Emperor Shunhe summoned Ye Qiong, because he already had the idea of reusing the Ye family, so he would not care about the Ye family's small means in this matter, and maybe he would be more at ease because of the Ye family's careful thinking, after all, an official who is too pure and good cannot gain a foothold in the treacherous court.

What Emperor Shunhe tabooed was to make something out of nothing.

Ye Qiong secretly pinched her sweat, and pretended to be innocent and said: "Your Majesty, forgive the people's daughter, whether the Ye family is a family of goodness, the people's daughter can't say. But the people have rods and scales in their hearts. The folk girl once followed her master to the Jingzhong Charity Hall to relieve the displaced people, and no one among the refugees did not praise His Majesty's act of supervising the construction of the Charity Hall, so that they could have a tile to cover their bodies. Whoever is good to the people, the people naturally know in their hearts. ”

Gao Xuan's heart was happy.

This Ye Er girl is worthy of being a scholar, her mouth is really sweet, she praised the Ye family and His Majesty in a corner, His Majesty cares about the people's hearts the most, this is really a sycophant.

Emperor Shunhe's eyes really showed a slight smile, he glanced at Gao Xuan with slanted eyes, and said, "Gao Xuan, how did you serve by my side?" Second Miss Ye still has injuries on her body, and she didn't remind me. ”

Gao Xuan smiled and admitted his mistake, and Emperor Shunhe said to Ye Qiong again: "You get up first." The banquet in the Queen's Palace is good, so you can try it too. ”

Ye Qiong stood up, lowered her head, and the corners of her mouth rose slightly.

Judging by His Majesty's reaction, it seems that he answered well.

After asking yourself, Your Majesty should ask your father and uncle again.

My father and uncle have been officials for many years, and they have real materials, and in the face of His Majesty's questions, they should be more comfortable than themselves.

……………………

In the Kunning Palace, the queen ordered a small banquet, and the palace people in beautiful clothes shuttled through it, but they didn't even hear a cough, it was orderly, only the sound of the bowls and basins touching lightly.

The royal meal has its own rules, a small banquet was eaten silently, Ye Qiong ate some according to the palace etiquette, only according to the cloth dishes of the palace people, and Ji Qin'er, the lord of Nanping County, who saw it on the side, widened his eyes, but unfortunately he didn't say anything about eating, and waited until the palace people withdrew the meal before saying: "When you eat, it really looks like you have learned the rules for many years." When I first entered the palace, I was scared, so I just lowered my head and ate violently, but I also made a big joke about my stomach ache. ”

Queen Wang and the palace people all laughed, Queen Wang smiled and pointed at Ji Qin'er and said: "What do you still say, at that time, Jin Se couldn't help but remind you to eat slowly, you still only care about eating, I still have such a large amount of food when you are born, and quietly let the small kitchen prepare refreshments." ”

Jin Se was the palace maid beside the queen, and she also smiled when she heard this.

Ye Qiong also smiled slightly, and said to Ji Qin'er: "My grandmother, Mrs. Shen, often enters the palace, and I specially followed her to learn the palace rules before entering the palace, and I am afraid that I will lose my manners." ”

Saying that, Ye Qiong pretended to be distressed and said, "If I don't do a good job, my grandmother will slap the palm of my hand." ”

The queen secretly bowed her head, just like a twelve-year-old girl.

Ji Qin'er giggled and said, "It turns out that you also have to hit the palm of your hand, when I was learning the palace rules, I was also beaten by the queen's palm." ”

Ji Qin'er smiled innocently, Ye Qiong's eyes flashed slightly, and sympathy flashed unconsciously in her heart.

Ji Qin'er, the lord of Nanping County, and his father, the king of Nanping, died in the battle between Nanyue and Daliang nine years ago.

In that war, there was also the only child of Emperor Shunhe and Empress Wang, who went to South Vietnam to make peace, the eldest princess Ji Luomi.

In order to compensate the heroes, and probably to find a comfort for the queen who lost her daughter, Ji Qin'er was admitted to the palace.

Because of this reason, Emperor Shunhe and Empress Wang were extremely fond of Ji Qin'er, and only then did they develop Ji Qin'er's splendid character.

It's a pity that Ji Qin'er ended up with the same ending as the princess......

The queen on the throne was a little surprised that Ji Qin'er liked Ye Qiong, and she was originally in poor health, and she was a little interested, and said: "It's hard to have a sunny day today, and Miss Ye Er is also here, Qin'er, let's go to the imperial garden together." ”

Ji Qin'er was very happy that Queen Wang was willing to go out, and said with a smile: "Okay, I saw the camellia blooming in the flower room a few days ago, and there are several colors blooming on one plant!" ”

Everyone talked and laughed and set off towards the Imperial Garden.

Ye Qiong couldn't help but think to herself, the queen left herself in the palace, probably because her father's side had not yet come up with a result.

I wonder if we can go home together today?

At the same time, in the Wenyuan Pavilion, Ye Qishu and Ye Zhujin, who had been washed by the eunuchs, were kneeling in front of the throne, and several cabinet ministers stood in front of them.

It's a little funny to say, the few cabinet ministers are not so much standing beside Ye Qishu and Ye Zhujin, but rather around a strange wooden model in the Wenyuan Pavilion with Emperor Shunhe.

Speaking of which, back to just now, Emperor Shunhe invited Ye Qishu and Ye Zhujin to personally explain how the only big stone bridge in the suburbs of Beijing that was not washed away by the autumn flood was built.

Ye Qishu proposed that it would be more intuitive to borrow the materials needed for carpentry to build a model.

With a wave of his hand, Emperor Shunhe asked Ye Qishu to quickly build a model in a small room in Wenyuan Pavilion, but he didn't expect Ye Qishu's hand to be so skillful, and he really built a miniature version of the "big stone bridge" on a small square inch of land in a short period of time, and there was a round arch bridge of about the same size next to it.

But whether it was Emperor Shunhe or several cabinet ministers, they were dumbfounded by this model.

Emperor Shunhe saw that the cabinet around him didn't dare to ask questions first, so he said to Ye Qishu: "Ye Qishu, you come to demonstrate how this 'big stone bridge' works." ”

Ye Qishu said yes, and said to the little eunuch who was already preparing on the side: "Please also ask your father-in-law to move a small water tank." ”

The little eunuch didn't dare to move, this was Wenyuan Pavilion, where would someone move the water tank to Wenyuan Pavilion.

Emperor Shunhe waved his hand casually and said, "Go ahead." ”

The little eunuch dared to move his legs, called a few people to move a small water tank up, and did not forget to put a water scoop in the water tank.

Ye Qishu asked for instructions again, and Emperor Shunhe said: "Even if you come, you don't have to care about us." ”

Ye Qishu then rolled up his sleeves, scooped a small spoonful of water from the water tank with a water scoop, and poured it on the two bridge models, both bridges were not moving, Ye Qishu said: "Your Majesty, please see, when the water level is not high and the water flow is small, there is no difference between the two bridges." ”

Saying that, Ye Qishu quickly scooped several large spoonfuls of water and splashed it on the "big stone bridge" and the ordinary round arch bridge, in addition to the bridge hole in the middle, the "big stone bridge" also opened two bridge holes on both sides, a total of five bridge holes, and the water flow was smoothly discharged from the middle of the five bridge holes, while the ordinary round arch bridge with a bridge hole in the middle was quickly washed away on the other side.

Li Guangji, the first assistant of the cabinet, clapped his hands and smiled: "The minister understands, these extra bridges and holes drain all the water, so the 'big stone bridge' can stand." ”

Ye Zhujin interjected in a timely manner: "Moreover, because of these bridges, the big stone bridge requires less stone than other bridges to build, and the household needs to allocate less money." ”

Xie Yongyan, a scholar of Wuyingdian University, glanced at the two Ye family brothers, then at the bright eyes of Emperor Shunhe, and said with a smile: "Congratulations, Your Majesty, you have found a good talent!" ”

Ye Zhujin's eyes flashed with a hint of interest.

Xie Yongyan is the leader of the Xie family in the capital, and he is related to the Ye family, but he heard from the third brother and sister, and the third brother and sister begged to come to the door at that time, but the door of the Xie family in the capital was closed.

Now, I'm willing to speak for them.

Xie Yongyan's words expressed Emperor Shunhe's thoughts, and Emperor Shunhe said: "The two Aiqing of the Ye family are indeed good talents. Ye Zhujin, Ye Qishu obeyed-"

Ye Qishu and Ye Zhujin hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed.

Emperor Shunhe said: "Ye Zhujin, the right attendant of the original household department, and Ye Qishu, the director of the Ministry of Works, did not do well in the soul calling case and should have been severely punished. However, I remembered that the two of them built the big stone bridge to ensure the continuous traffic of the capital, and promised to offset each other with merit. Ye Zhujin was demoted to the head of the Ministry of Households, and Ye Qishu was demoted to the deputy of the Ministry of Industry. You two, go back and rest for a few days, and then go to work. ”

Ye Qishu and Ye Zhujin hurriedly thanked him, with mixed feelings in their hearts.