Although there are still more than 20 days before the end of the year, most of the big families in the capital have begun to hold New Year's celebrations, and the palace of the jaw king has already been opened. The chief steward of the palace is called Du Chong, who is a slightly chubby middle-aged. Du Chongyuan was a centurion in Qingxi County, and in the autumn of that year, some homeless people went into the mountains to make grass bandits, and from time to time they went to neighboring villages to rob, and caused a lot of lives. Du Chong was ordered to go to the mountains to suppress bandits, and unfortunately suffered a knife wound in the waist and abdomen during the fight. At that time, Xia Muchao was sent by Emperor Yonghua to Qingxi County to supervise local defense, and after learning about this incident, he transferred Du Chong to his side. In this way, Du Chong stayed by Xia Muchao's side for seventeen years, and gradually became the manager of the Jaw Palace, and he was really Xia Muchao's most trusted confidant.

The steward of the Prince's Mansion is a special military position, although it is a six-rank military position, but it does not wear the official animal robes of the Dahua Dynasty; although he receives the grade of the military department, he does not have a registered soldier. Du Chong has his own courtyard in the palace, in the second of Genjia, close to the side door, there are three halls before and after, twelve large and small rooms, connected by four corridors. Five years ago, I didn't know what to do, and the younger brother from Qingxi's hometown came straight to the family with the old and young. Because there was no communication in advance, and such a long-distance wrap-up, it was obvious that he had made up his mind to run for a long time. In ancient times, there was a saying that "one person attains the Tao, and the chicken and dog ascend to heaven", not to mention that these are all flesh and blood, how can they bear to refuse? It's just that he is still a guest residence of the shogun, and he does not have a mansion, so Du Chong is really not embarrassed for a while. When Xia Muchao learned of this, he immediately asked someone to vacate the courtyard, let the Du family move in, and allocate money every month to provide a living room. Du Chong was introverted and cold, and he received a lot of kindness from Xia Muchao but never said much, but he was meticulous and dedicated to managing the daily life of the palace.

When the Xia Mu Dynasty conferred the title of prince, Emperor Yonghua issued a decree to create it, and it was the most noble place. There are more than 700 registered soldiers in the palace, more than 200 government service, and nearly 100 dependents. The palace is on duty outside and loose inside, more than 100 internal guards, three quarters of the hour and three minutes of the hour to change the guard; more than 600 external guards, Mao, Wei, Hai at the beginning of the moment each change the guard, this daily five times to change the guard, Du Chong will personally supervise. Du Chong admits that his ability to change color is not as good as Zhou Xukuan's, and his martial arts are not as good as Lu Jianting's, and these two are by no means less loyal to the jaw king, and they can only be appointed as the steward of the palace "carefully".

"My lord, I just received a post from the palace of the king, His Royal Highness the king of Yi came to visit at the beginning of the hour, and the sedan team of the palace has risen at three o'clock", the post guard on the side hall of the palace reported to Du Chong.

"Oh, yes, let's go down!" Du Chong answered the prayer and walked quickly to the main hall. Combining the distance between the two mansions and the sedan team, Du Chong estimated that the sedan team of the Yiwang Mansion fell off the sedan chair and it was only this cup of tea. According to Du Chong's many years of experience as an attendant, he knew that King Jaw was now a director of the main hall.

There are two large gardens between the partial hall of the palace and the main hall, and the pavilions and corridors in the middle are connected, which is enough to be a mile away. As soon as Du Chong approached the main hall, he couldn't speak, Xia Muchao knew that he was coming after listening to his footsteps, and quickly wrote two lines on the notebook and put down the pen. When Du Chong approached his side for about a zhang, looking at his description, he was in a hurry and not angry, and asked with a smile, "Say, what's the matter?" while motioning to serve tea closely. "It's cold, take a sip of hot tea!"

Du Chong made the first salute and took the tea according to his words, but he didn't drink it, and bowed his head and reported, "His Royal Highness King Yi is coming, and he will be here next moment." After speaking, he committed himself and stood aside.

Xia Muchao took a sip of tea, got up from the desk, paced a few steps, and instructed the attendant, "Go and ask Siyuan to come!" and said to Du Chong, "You wait in front of the mansion first, Brother Yi Wang has arrived, and he has come here."

At this time, the appointment document of the ministry had already been issued, and Mei Siyuan was a member of the second rank. According to the law, local officials who go to Beijing to report on their work can enter the post house for a while. Mei Siyuan also asked to move out of the palace, but was rejected by Xia Muchao, "This palace is very big, and there are many vacant houses, and you live in this Yuqiong Langyuan." Before you took office, you had a lot of things to do, and Xu Kuan and Du Chongzheng can help you and save you a lot of time. And my father has always been generous, and he will understand how difficult it is for you to act from afar, and there is no need to avoid suspicion. Although Mei Siyuan still has concerns in his heart, his new position may be within the season, and he has a long way to go and the facts are not well prepared, so he has to live honestly with his family. In the past ten days, the jaw king arranged for Mei Yuanchen and the son Xia Chengxuan to be employed together, the two are children of a family of the same age, although there is no shortage of people of the same age around them before, but after all, there are few similar companions.

Since talking with King Jaw in Jinghu Pavilion, Mei Siyuan has made every effort to formulate a strategy to solve the salt shortage. However, in recent days, Mei Siyuan is investigating the way of transporting salt from Fuzhou to Anxian County, how can the Ministry of Industry be related to the official road and post house case recently entered more than 30 years ago, it is really not enough to audit, and he is in boredom, but he heard Fu Shou come to report, "My lord, the prince is here to invite!"

Mei Siyuan hurriedly got up from the desk seat, and at this time, the personal soldier who summoned the interrogation had already arrived, and he could only hear him say, "Lord Mei, the prince is in the main hall, and he ordered me to invite him." ”

"Oh, please lead the way", Mei Siyuan gestured, and followed to the main hall after speaking.

Along the way, Mei Si was born with a sense of concern, and he also knew a little about what the Jaw King came to do.

The thoughts do not stop, and the steps do not stop, and they do not realize that they have arrived.

I saw a middle-aged man on the right seat of the main hall, graceful and luxurious, with a solemn face, and just sat down. There are two people under the middle-aged seat in Chinese clothes, one is tall and thin, and the other is black and gray, these two people thanked the jaw king, and they were about to sit down when they saw the jaw king get up and said heartily to the guest head, "Brother Yiwang, Lord Mei is here!"

As soon as the two men in blue and black robes got off the chair, they got up immediately. Mei Siyuan didn't pay attention to the two, approached and bowed his head in turn, "Xiaguan Mei Siyuan has seen His Royal Highness King Jaw and His Royal Highness King Yi!" After finishing the salute, he gestured to the two people sitting on the right side of the guest. The person sitting on the right guest seat above the main hall is the third son of the current emperor, Prince Yi Xia Muren, known as "King Ren". Xia Muren is the brother of Xia Muchao, both of them are princes, according to the rite Mei Siyuan should be the first to salute Xia Muren, but this is the palace of the jaw king, Xia Muchao occupies the gift of the lord, so the salute should be from the jaw and Yi.

After everyone sat down, Xia Mu Chao smiled at Xia Muren and said, "Brother Yiwang, I expected you to visit today to settle the matter of Anxian Salt Transport, so I invited Master Mei to come." You don't come to my house often. ”

"You and I are responsible for heavy responsibilities, it is difficult to clear the general affairs, there is really little leisure, you are in this house, I really haven't been back for a few years", Xia Muren said with a wry smile, "Today's disturbance is indeed related to the current salt shortage", after speaking, he slowly looked at Mei Siyuan on the first seat on the left side of the guest.