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Early the next morning, the two old prime ministers Yang Yuanzhi and Qiu Yizhi set out for the residence of the emperor's eldest son Zheng Chang without even taking a single person with them.
Although Yang Yuanzhi is a retired prime minister, his title of "Grand Master" will not expire, so there are always eight green sedans in the palace; however, today, in order to avoid ostentation, he only took a light two-person sedan. cool sedan chair. Qiu Yizhi did not dare to ride the extremely eye-catching sweaty horse again, and just followed closely behind the sedan like a follower.
According to the regulations of the Han royal family, after the eldest son of the emperor is named the prince, he can build a palace, handle government affairs, and receive court officials in the "Yuxiu Palace" to the east of the palace. However, the current eldest son Zheng Chang has yet to win the favor of his father Zheng Yong. He has not been named the prince. Naturally, he cannot live in the Yuxiu Palace built specifically for the prince. He can only live in a place under the east wall of the palace city. He lives and works in a huge mansion.
The sun had not yet reached three o'clock in the sky, and the entrance to the mansion was already crowded with officials of all kinds who requested to see the emperor's eldest son and who wanted to handle various public and private matters. The weather is still very hot. Among the officials who are a little more important in status and appearance, they can endure the scorching heat and close their eyes in the sedan chair to relax. Those who really can't bear the heat have taken off their official boots and official hats, lifted up their robes and sat on the sedan bars with their legs crossed. Talk loudly.
However, the red-lacquered door of the Emperor's eldest son's residence was tightly closed. There were red lanterns as tall as a pair of people hanging symmetrically on the left and right. Under the lanterns, there was a small door that could accommodate two people passing side by side. From time to time, officials handed out name cards. Enter.
Qiu Yizhi saw it from a distance and thought that the eldest son of the emperor was much grander than King Youyan. There were so many officials waiting to receive him, but he didn't even give him a cup of tea and just let them wait outside the door. He thought so in his heart, but he only said: "No wonder I didn't know that I was a junior official until I arrived in the capital. The eldest son of the emperor is so impressive!"
Yang Yuanzhi didn't seem to hear it, coughed slightly and asked the two bearers to stop. These two bearers were experts at carrying sedans. Following the old master's instructions, they removed the sedan bars with a shake of their shoulders and gently and slowly placed the sedan on the ground. The bearer walking in front turned around and lifted the curtain, and Yang Yuanzhi walked out of the sedan calmly on crutches.
Some sharp-eyed officials present recognized Yang Yuanzhi's identity, lifted up the corner of his robe, bowed his head, and said: "Students are blind, and they don't know that the teacher is coming, so they greet him at a distance."
Yang Yuanzhi saw that the person kneeling on the ground was Yuan Maoen, the Minister of Justice, who was the Jinshi chosen by him when he was in charge of the examination, and said: "I have retired for a long time. Just like you, I am here to see His Royal Highness the eldest son to do business. There is no need to be so polite. "
After hearing this, Yuan Mao'en bowed again and said: "Once a teacher, he will always be a father. The student dare not forget the kindness of his teacher." Then he stood up.
When the surrounding officials heard the conversation between the two men, they also gathered around. Many of them were Yang Yuanzhi's disciples, and several were his disciples' disciples. They all knelt on the ground to perform the teacher-student ceremony. Others who did not have this relationship also said "Old Prime Minister" and "Old Master" and bowed.
Yang Yuanzhi spent a lot of effort to greet these officials one by one, and bowed to everyone: "I, like all of you, are here to see His Royal Highness, the eldest son. It's just that I staggered and came a little late. My lords, Can you give me some face and let me join the team?"
There was no reason for the officials not to agree. They had already made way for the old prime minister to slowly walk to the door, handed a name card to the gatekeeper, and then stood at the door and waited.
After a while, the door of the prince's palace opened, and a fat man walked out quickly, followed by countless guards and entourage. The man hurriedly ran to Yang Yuanzhi, bowed deeply and said, "If you have any advice, teacher, just send a disciple to come and tell me, and I will come to you for advice. Look at this hot day, teacher, please take care of yourself!"
When the officials who had been waiting at the door for a long time saw the man leaving the house, they all knelt on the ground and shouted in unison: "A thousand years old! A thousand years old! A thousand years old!"
After Qiu Yizhi heard this, he knew that this was the eldest son of the emperor who he wanted to see during his trip to Luoyang. He followed the others' example and knelt on the ground, not daring to look up, but he pricked up his ears and listened carefully to the conversation between Zheng Chang and Yang Yuanzhi.
Yang Yuanzhi felt very pleased when he heard that the eldest son of the emperor, Zheng Chang, spoke so humbly, and said: "Your Highness is humbled. The old man is just a withered bone in the grave, how can he dare to give any advice?" Then he pointed to the man kneeling on the ground behind him. Qiu Yi said, "This is a grandson of the old man's family. He has admired His Highness for a long time and is about to come over to introduce you."
Zheng Chang thought that his master always had a selfless look on his face, but he never expected that one day he would run for an official position for his family. He felt quite proud, but he pretended to be humble and said: "Now The Minister of Libu is the teacher's disciple, so I only need to inform him about this little thing. If the teacher can come to visit in person, I think he must be very considerate and take care of the student. "
As he spoke, he supported the old Yang Yuanzhi and walked towards the door. After taking a few steps, he turned back and shouted to the people behind him: "You all go back, I will be missing today."
Seeing this, Qiu Yizhi quickly got up from the ground and followed him.
The palace of the eldest son of the emperor is indeed very impressive. When entering, there is a screen wall with five five-clawed golden dragons embossed on it. Going around the screen wall, there is a huge garden. Ordinary gardens usually have a pond as the core, surrounded by bluestone paths, supplemented by small bridges, running water, and rockery pavilions. It is a famous residence passed down from generation to generation for a wealthy family to waste several generations of hard work and financial resources to build. However, the garden at the residence of the emperor's eldest son, Zheng Chang, is more like a villa than a garden - ancient trees and arbors grow here and there, a vast lake, row upon row of pavilions and pavilions, and a lot of effort has gone into building them in the courtyard. The addition of a hill makes this already huge garden appear even more winding and unfathomable.
The most luxurious garden mansion Qiu Yi had ever seen in her life was the manor built by her maternal uncle Zhao Fuyi when he was very rich, but it was insignificant compared to the mansion of Zheng Chang, the eldest son of the emperor. The great witch is just like a plaything in his sleeve.
While Qiu Yizhi greedily admired the beautiful scenery in the garden, he followed an old prime minister in front of him, a highly respected minister, and the eldest son of the emperor, to a large-scale building with a plaque on the door that read "Begging" "Yuan Shuwu" means just a study room. However, Qiu Yizhi's visual inspection revealed that this house was at least three feet high and more than ten feet deep. The roof was covered with dark green glazed tiles, and it was surrounded by countless red pillars with people hugging each other. It looked like a palace, and it was like a palace. Compared with the main hall of my father's palace in Guangyang City, it was not much smaller.
Entering the house, there are serious study furnishings inside, which are nothing more than a desk, an armchair, and the four treasures of the study. There are various vases and screens scattered around, and famous calligraphy and paintings are hung on the tall and long white walls. In such a large space, it seems that Seems nondescript.
Yang Yuanzhi was already sweating slightly from walking and was sitting on the guest seat panting constantly.
When the emperor's eldest son Zheng Chang saw it, he personally picked up the tea bowl held by the palace maid and placed it very humbly on the coffee table on Yang Yuanzhi's left hand side. He then said to a young eunuch standing beside him: "Why are you standing there? You didn't see the teacher coming. ? Why don’t you step on the waterwheel?”
The little eunuch listened to the instructions and hurriedly ran out of the study. After a while, the sound of gurgling water came from the roof, and water curtains were hung under the eaves, making the entire study instantly cool.
Zheng Chang said with a smile: "Teacher, is it cooler? The students specially invited skilled craftsmen from the Western Regions to pump water from the pond to the roof with water trucks for cooling. Once it is used, water will accumulate around the study room. Okay. After a while, the students will dig some culverts to divert the water back to the pond, and then invite the teacher to come over to cool off."
After hearing this, Yang Yuanzhi's face gradually became sullen, and she said: "There are many things going on in the world today, and the Lord is in poor health. It is the time for His Highness to contribute to the country. Forgive me for talking too much, Your Highness is in charge of the staff, The Ministry of Punishment, the Ministry of Works, and the government affairs of Gyeonggi Province, I think everything is much more important than using these weird tricks."
Zheng Chang was bent on pleasing people, but he suffered a soft blow. He was a little unhappy in his heart, but due to Yang Yuanzhi's status as Grand Master, it was difficult for him to get angry, so he could only stand aside and listen to his sermons quietly.
"Also. When I just entered the garden, I saw a dozen singers in the garden, hiding their heads and showing their tails. I dare to ask Your Highness what is going on?"
Zheng Chang blinked his eyes twice and said: "This was sent by Chang Chengliang, the governor of Jiangnan. He said that he had learned a few Jiangnan silk and bamboo songs and asked me to taste them. The student didn't want to accept them, but he thought that the Jiangnan sounds were very different from the ancient style. Far, it is very helpful to understand the ancient poetry dictionary. My Gyeonggi Mandarin has only five tones, while the Jiangnan dialect has nine tones, and the remaining finals of "er" in "one, two, and three" are also pronounced in Gyeonggi. 'Ear', while Jiangnan is pronounced as 'Ni' in the upper tone..."
When Zheng Chang talked about phonology, he talked endlessly without any fun.
Yang Yuanzhi was already impatient after hearing this. He hammered the ground hard with his crutch and said: "The ancients emphasized that when reading a book, you should read it briefly and not ask for a deep understanding. The essence of a saint lies in benevolent people who love others, rather than chewing words. Even if you have to study every word carefully, with your highness's knowledge, compared with What about Empress Li Chao before?"
This Empress Li was the last emperor of the previous dynasty. He was the best in calligraphy and painting, and was especially good at poetry and poetry. No one in the past dynasties could compare with him. However, he was not good at governing the country. When he was in power, he appointed treacherous ministers, killed loyal ministers, indulged in women, and ignored political affairs, causing chaos in the world. Only then did the Taizu of this dynasty seize the opportunity to rule the world.
When Zheng Chang was attacked by the old prime minister, he compared him to a king who had subjugated his country. He barely suppressed his anger and muttered: "The teacher is absolutely right. How can a student compare to Empress Li? After all, he has turned his back on the south and has been the emperor for several years." How can a student be so blessed? He might become a prisoner in a few years!"
After hearing this, Yang Yuanzhi stood up and was about to speak, but she couldn't catch her breath. She sat back slumped, her eyes turned white, and she lost consciousness.
Qiu Yizhi, who had been silent for a long time, reacted quickly. Seeing this, he quickly supported the old prime minister, pinched Renzhong hard, took the tea bowl on the side, blew away some of the heat and drank it slowly. Seeing that Yang Yuanzhi's face was getting rosy again, he said to Zheng Chang, the eldest son of the emperor who was dumbstruck, "Excuse me, Your Highness, is there a place to rest here?"
Only then did Zheng Chang come back to his senses and said: "Yes, yes. There is a couch behind the screen." He then angrily scolded several eunuchs and maids in the room, "Are you all dead? Come and help carry the teacher to the Rest on the couch!” (To be continued)