After Zhu Yijun received this seal, he summoned Shen Shixing and asked: "The people really want to go and ask the sky for rain?" ”

Shen Shixing's thick eyebrows stretched slightly, and he got up with a pleasant expression and replied: "Back to Your Majesty, the people of the world have been looking up to Ganlin for a long time, and they do have the heart of complaining about the sky. ”

Zhu Yijun bowed his head after hearing this, and then said: "But the master really thinks that if I ask for it, I can ask for the rain to come down?" ”

Shen Shixing calmly replied: "It is up to the people to do things, and it is up to the sky to succeed, Your Majesty is willing to work hard for the people, and for the people, it is a rain and dew." ”

"What the master means, I understand! However, I thought that it was better not only to comfort the people's spirits, but to actually ask for rain. ”

Zhu Yijun said.

Shen Shixing had to give up his hand for a while: "Please also ask Your Majesty to make it clear." ”

"Has the master noticed that every time a heavy rain is coming, there will be dense dark clouds?"

Zhu Yijun asked.

Shen Shi bowed his head.

Zhu Yijun said again: "So I asked the people of Qin Tianjian to study the meteorology in the past five years, and summarized a few phenological phenomena, knowing what kind of clouds are easy to rain after they appear, and I also asked them to try to use the principle of lime when it meets water to try to think about whether it can artificially produce rain, in the last year, they came up with a method, that is, to make a kind of yellow powder (silver iodide) with kelp, green water and caustic soda, etc., and put it in a special furnace to burn, it can be used to achieve rain with the help of air flow, and it can also be shot into the clouds with cannon and salt powder!" ”

"But it's only for when it's a little colder, so I thought I'd wait a little longer, and then pray for rain when the clouds are suitable, so maybe I can really pray for rain."

Zhu Yijun said to Shen Shixing: "The matter of praying for rain will not be carried out for the time being, and when the weather is cooler, when Qin Tianjian observes the change of clouds, after I know about it, I will make an order to prepare to pray for rain." ”

"The ministers obey the holy commandment."

Shen Shixing then drafted Wang Jiaping's chapter according to the edict, so that it was necessary to wait for Qin Tianjian to select a good day for rain, so that when the Son of Heaven prayed for rain and calmed the people's hearts, he could also use practical learning to achieve rain in an artificial way.

"This is clearly lazy, and I don't want to pray for rain! Where is because of the fact that the research has found that the rain has to be timed! ”

"Everything else is good for the Son of Heaven in this dynasty, but he is not as diligent as Taizu in sacrificing to heaven and earth."

Wang Jiaping didn't want to believe that the emperor was waiting for the opportunity to ask for rain, but thought that the emperor was deliberately delaying.

Because he knew very well that the ceremony of praying for rain was very hard, and many kings of previous dynasties were unwilling to do it, because praying for rain was to ask the emperor to personally walk from the palace to the altar area outside the palace, and then personally pray for rain.

For the pampered emperor, this is indeed a very hard job.

Wang Jiaping instinctively thought that the emperor was unwilling to work hard.

So, Wang Jiaping and Zhao Nanxing waited for the second letter asking the Son of Heaven to pray for rain immediately, on the grounds that the drought was serious and could not wait any longer, the rain was determined by heaven, and sincerity would have rain, not the so-called practical learning, that is, human beings could achieve it.

Zhu Yijun ignored it and only let the cabinet deal with it.

Now that there is a division of labor in the cabinet, Zhang Xueyan, a university scholar, is in charge of internal affairs-related affairs.

Therefore, Wang Jiaping, Zhao Nanxing and other joint Shangshu scripts finally came to Zhang Xueyan's hands, and Zhang Xueyan decided to deal with the opinions.

Zhang Xueyan knew that this seemed to be a trivial matter that he hoped that the emperor would immediately pray for the sky and rain, but it involved the question of who was in charge of the imperial power or the scholarly power.

If he voted in the name of the emperor and allowed Wang Jiaping and others to invite the Ministry of Rites and Qin Tianjian to prepare the great gift of praying for rain, it would be tantamount to his own servitude.

And if he votes in the name of the emperor and does not allow Wang Jiaping to wait for what he asks, it will be tantamount to obeying the imperial power.

This is a common choice encountered in the administration of the right to vote, that is, whether to choose from the power of the priesthood or from the imperial power.

And because Wang Jiaping and others were indeed thinking about the community and speaking out for the public opinion this time, Zhang Xueyan was even more difficult to make decisions, so he chose to ask the first assistant for instructions and asked Shen Shixing how to vote.

Shen Shixing glanced at Zhang Xueyan and said, "Do you still need to ask?" ”

"Your Majesty is a person of flesh and blood, you must think about Your Majesty's personal feelings at any time, and think about whether you respect Your Majesty, otherwise it will not be the new way of governing the country, it is in the name of thinking about the common people of the society."

"Understood! Then be strict! For the sake of the people, we will not pursue it for the time being, and if we continue to coerce the people, we will deal with it strictly. ”

Zhang Xueyan really voted to punish Wang Jiaping and other officials.

Wang Jiaping sighed after receiving the chapter play, but he didn't continue to play, but when he got together with Zhao Nanxing and others in the other garden one day, he talked about it again, and couldn't help but look at the dry grass and trees in the courtyard and was stunned, and said to Zhao Nanxing, who was also here:

"The drought is like fire, and the hearts of all the people are like soup boiled and charcoal roasted! At this time, even if you can't ask for rain, you can calm people's hearts by making a show! ”

Zhao Nanxing said: "It's not because Shenwu County is in charge of the country, he cares too much about the feelings of the Son of Heaven, and even connives, if it weren't for this, he wouldn't kill the doctor at every turn." Otherwise, it can be better with the wisdom of today's son! ”

"You're right, if the Son of Heaven can use his own internal money arbitrarily today, just because Yuanfu advocates that the Son of Heaven should also have private property, saying that if the property of the Son of Heaven cannot be preserved, then no one in the world can have assets to be preserved, and he has always treated the Son of Heaven as the same as us."

Wang Jiaping echoed and waved his sleeves and said: "But the Son of Heaven is the lord of the world, not us, the subjects!" ”

Zhao Nanxing said at this time: "The repair of the West Garden has been completed, and the Ministry of Industry has requested that His Majesty and the nobles in the palace move to the West Garden. I'm afraid that His Majesty will fly to the matter of moving to Xiyuan now, so he has no intention of praying for rain. ”

"At this time, we should stop moving to Xiyuan, otherwise the people of the world will be even more dissatisfied, and they will say that Your Majesty only knows pleasure and does not know compassion for the people."

Wang Jiaping said.

"That's right!"

Therefore, although Wang Jiaping did not ask the Son of Heaven to pray for rain immediately, he asked the Son of Heaven to stop moving to Xiyuan.

……

"I am also a human being, I also need to be respected and understood, I also need to have relatively free fun, and I also have my own opinions, not everyone can teach me to do things!"

After Zhu Yijun received this letter, he secretly complained about these words, and summoned Shen Shixing to instruct: "This Wang Jiaping cares a lot about the society and the people, and he is really sincere for the country. ”

"Your Majesty said yes! The ministers of Qingliu belong to him the most respected. ”

Shen Shi Xing returned.

Zhu Yijun narrowed his eyes after hearing this, and said after pondering for a long time:

"I remember that Hanhai has not yet been supervised to manage the people who have moved there, as well as to lead the army to repair the city and guard against the Rakshasas, so let him go!"

"He is a minister who cares about Sheji and Li Min, he shouldn't care about personal gains and losses, he is not afraid of the bitter cold there, just as he doesn't consider the feelings of others, and is willing to grieve others for Sheji and Li Min, presumably, he is also willing to grieve himself for Sheji and Li Min!"

(End of chapter)