Just like that, another half month passed.
On this day in early September, Meng Zezhi, who sneakily walked around the cold palace and sent away more than a dozen ghosts, was in a good mood. He couldn't help drinking a few more glasses of wine, and then fell asleep drunk.
Then Meng Zezhi had a dream.
He dreamed that he was turned into a dough, being touched by hands and kneaded here, swelled and bitten soft, the process was slow and long, and it was comfortable to hold.
When he was comfortable, he woke up and turned around, it was already dawn.
Hearing the movement, the maids filed in, two of them were responsible for opening the bed tent, and one served tea soup for gargling.
Meng Zezhi sat up, took the tea bowl, took a sip of strong tea, held it for a while, and spit it into the porcelain cup beside him.
When he got up and got out of bed, another palace maid came over with warm water.
Meng Zezhi took the cloth towel, dipped it into the copper basin, and found that there were a few faint hickeys on his neck.
He frowned.
At this moment, the maid who was making the bed found a letter from under the pillow: "Your Highness—"
"Huh?" Meng Zezhi turned around and saw the letter in the palace maid's hand, so he quickened his movements.
You don't have to think about it to know that this letter was left by the client last night.
After washing his face, he took the prostitution money from the palace maid and opened it up—
There is indeed another hidden story about the rupture of the Yellow River in Henan.
In the first ten days of August, the Yellow River was executed at the Xiaxun Shibao in Zhengzhou, but within two days, the gap expanded from more than ten feet to more than one hundred feet, and the river was diverted to the south and poured into the Jialu River.
The Jialu River can be regarded as a thousand-year-old river. Its predecessor was the 'chasm' when Chu and Han were fighting, and the fertile soil along the coast is thousands of miles.
The local prefect saw that the river flooded the fertile fields on both sides of the river, and refused to listen to his subordinates' dissuasion, and insisted on opening the embankment to release the flood.
Unexpectedly, due to the opening of the embankment downstream to release water, the whole river can continue to flow, but within two days, the rupture that had stopped expanding in the upstream and was being blocked suddenly expanded to more than 300 feet. The dam, which was originally impregnable, began to burst on a large scale because it could not withstand the impact of the flood...
The floods affected more than 800 villages in nine counties. All the victims, except those with a little strength, migrated to other places. There were 70,000 homeless people sleeping on the embankment, and countless casualties.
Here comes the point-
Half of the tens of thousands of acres of fertile land on both sides of the Jialu River belonged to the residence of the King of Chu, who was the title of the second prince. And the prefect who ordered the opening of the embankment to release water was the son-in-law of Jiangxiahou's mansion. Jiangxiahou's mansion was the maiden family of the current queen and the second prince's foreign family.
As for why the tenth fort in Xiaxun of Zhengzhou suddenly burst, the prefect of Geinna has been embezzling the river management funds of the tenth fort for four years since he took office to strengthen the dam on the lower reaches of the Jialu River.
No wonder the second prince could not wait to send Lou Shuxun to the south for disaster relief.
"Natural disasters are even more man-made disasters." Meng Zezhi frowned and muttered to himself.
I just don't know how Emperor Guangde will deal with this matter.
"evil creature-"
Looking at the memorial in his hand, Emperor Guangde was trembling all over, with blue veins on his forehead, his face flushed red, from his neck to behind his ears.
The next moment, his staring boss spit out a mouthful of blood.
"Long live—" Seeing this scene, Tao An's breath tightened.
Emperor Guangde abruptly blocked Tao An's hand. He gasped for breath, closed and opened his eyes, and two tears fell from the corners of his eyes.
"Dangerous to the country, to the people, to the country and to the people..."
This is his good son!
One is the 22nd year, the culprit who triggered the riots of the Qingzhou refugees.
In order to compete for power and profit, one of the court officials embezzled taxes and money, fabricated a case of fraud in the imperial examination, and now there is a tragic incident like the Yellow River burst.
If this world is handed over to such people, how will the people live!
It was at this moment of effort that Emperor Guangde finally made up his mind.
He stretched out his hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth, took a deep breath, and said, "Tao An, go get the memorial that the Ministry of Rites presented a few days ago."
Tao Anxin was overjoyed, but his face did not show: "Yes."
When Tao An found the memorial, Emperor Guangde took it and opened it, but it was a book about the drafting of the title of the five princes. On the fine rice paper, the five characters Qin, Jin, Shu, Dai, and Ning were listed.
Without any hesitation, Emperor Guangde grabbed the imperial pen on the side and drew a circle on the Ning character, and then approved the accurate character in the blank.
"Return the book to the Ministry of Rites, so that Zhao Hongyi quickly cleans up the Liao Wangfu and uses it as the Ning Wangfu."
Zhao Hongyi is the current minister of the Ministry of Industry, and the Liao Wangfu is the residence of Emperor Guangde's second brother who did not have the last laugh.
"Yes." Tao An breathes slowly.
…
"How, how could this happen?" In the study room of the Prince of Chu, the second prince held a secret letter sent by Lou Shuxun, his face pale.
He never imagined that the disaster in Henan would be so serious.
"His Royal Highness, don't panic." The second prince and concubine on the side barely maintained her composure: "Perhaps there is still room for things to turn around, the father and the emperor have always been generous, you forgot that last year, Qingzhou refugees rioted, Tang Wang (the eighth prince) ) Isn't it still nothing at all?"
"What do you know?" The second prince slapped the desk with a slap, with blue veins on his forehead, gritted his teeth: "Did you think that the father and the emperor didn't want to do the old eight, are you worried that without the old eight, my family will be left in the courtroom Dominance, threatening his position."
Speaking of this, he collapsed and murmured: "But it's different now, isn't there a Gu Shian still living in Duanben Palace? Without me, the royal father can help Gu Shian up in a blink of an eye. ."
He was powerless to accuse Emperor Guangde of being cold-blooded, and there was only one thought left in his mind: he was finished, just like the eldest prince who was brought down by him, completely finished.
Hearing this, the second prince also realized the seriousness of the matter. She was in a turmoil, and then blurted out as if thinking of something: "Your Highness, why don't we escape!"
"Escape?" The second prince's eyes lit up.
The more the second princess thought about it, the more she felt that this was feasible. She said anxiously: "Yes, escape, Your Highness, let's go to Henan to meet with Lou Shilang first, and then go straight to Yunnan."
Lou Shuxun had a lot of soldiers and horses by his side, and the father of the second prince and concubine was the commander of the capital in Yunnan, with no less than 70,000 soldiers and horses.
"Yunnan?" How could the second prince not understand what the second prince and concubine meant, a fiery light rose in his eyes.
He has been planning for so many years, and he finally got what he is today, and he will not be reconciled to let him be captured like this.
He gritted his teeth: "Okay, let's go to Yunnan."
A quarter of an hour later, three unpretentious carriages drove out of the backyard of the Chu palace and headed straight out of the city.
The carriage went out of the inner city smoothly, but stopped when it was about to reach the Yongding Gate.
"What's going on?" the second prince asked anxiously.
"Dian, Young Master, King Tang (Eighth Prince) is leading the soldiers to inspect the carriages and horses out of the city." The driver replied.
"What?" The second prince's face turned pale, he couldn't think about it, and said repeatedly: "Hurry, hurry back."
However, it was too late.
The next moment, someone was heard shouting, "Encircle me all."
A series of neat and orderly footsteps sounded and stopped, followed by a familiar voice from outside the carriage: "Everyone has reached the gate of the city, and they turned back again. Is it a guilty conscience of being a thief."
The second prince was burning with anger, but he had to hold back. He took a deep breath, opened the curtain of the car, and forced a smile from the corner of his mouth: "Isn't this the old man, why isn't he sitting in Shuntian Mansion today?"
"Ah, so it's the second brother, didn't the second brother also not go to court today?" The eighth prince said with a smile: "Isn't this a domestic slave who ran into trouble from the British government? I guess he will definitely go to the capital. When I ran outside, I simply brought people to the gate of the city to try their luck. Why, the second brother also wants to leave the city?"
At this point, how could the second prince not know what the eighth prince was up to? Hearing the eighth prince liken him to a troubled family slave, sparks of anger suddenly burst out of his eyes: "Gu Shihuai, you, you are ruthless— "
"Each other," the eighth prince said with a smile, "Come on, send His Royal Highness the King of Chu back to his residence."
"Gu Shihuai, don't get too happy too early, you forgot, there is still an empress's son living in Duanben Palace..."
The Eighth Prince scratched his ears and didn't care.
The second prince has been in the court for more than ten years, and he has not been defeated by him in the end. Can he still be afraid of a young boy
What's more, his good father emperor may not be able to toss for a few days.
…
Throughout September, the clouds floating in the sky are red.
On the Jialu River in Henan, more than 40 officials fell to the ground, and the rest were either dismissed, exiled, or sentenced to prison.
After this incident, the entire Henan officialdom was empty.
The second prince was imprisoned in the palace of the king of Chu for the crime of treason, the queen was abolished, and all the party members were confiscated and exiled.
In early October, the renovation of Prince Ning's mansion was completed.
On the day Meng Zezhi moved in, the streets outside the palace were full of traffic.
After the excitement, Meng Zezhi went to the study under the leadership of the long envoy Zuo (big housekeeper).
The door was pushed open, and there was a familiar face in front of him. Concerned about the presence of others, Meng Zezhi bowed and said, "Madam."
Xiao Shi was blessed with a blessed body, and smiled extra softly: "His Royal Highness."
Meng Zezhi's eyes fell on the men and women in the study.
Mrs Xiao said, "I'm here to introduce to His Highness, this is Fang Jiucheng, the head of the Fang Family of the Imperial Merchant."
The middle-aged man immediately knelt down and kowtowed: "Caomin Fang Jiucheng, has seen His Royal Highness King Ning."
"This is the wife of the prefect of Wenzhou."
…
"This is sincerity Boding Weizhong."
"They are all my business partners."
Meng Zezhi didn't say a word, and let Xiao shi drive everyone back.
She just looked at Meng Zezhi from top to bottom, and then said softly, "These days, Your Highness is having a good time."
Meng Zezhi moved his lips: "Everything is fine."
Xiao Shi's eyes were red, but she still said with a smile: "Your Highness is doing well, I can rest assured."
Meng Zezhi looked moved: "Mother."
"Don't, Your Highness," Xiao Shi was about to burst into tears: "Don't call these two words again in the future. Long live, you will be unhappy when you find out."
After all, all of Emperor Guangde's favor on Meng Zezhi is based on his guilt and remembrance for Empress Xiaogong Qian.
Meng Zezhi followed with red eyes.
"Okay, let's not talk about this." Xiao Shi forced a smile: "Although you are a prince now, you have no foundation, and I am a mere woman with limited ability, so I can't help you. What are you. Those people just now, you can use it if you can, forget it if you can't, the main thing is this—"
Mrs. Xiao took a wooden box from Ji Guyang and handed it to Meng Zezhi.
Meng Zezhi opened it and saw a silver note worth 1,000 taels. Judging from the height of the wooden box, it was at least 1,500,000 taels.
His expression froze: "This-"
Xiao said: "Mother has no ability, that is, she can do some business. You are standing in this position now, and when you have money, you can take these banknotes."
"No." Meng Zezhi subconsciously refused.
But Xiao Shi couldn't refuse: "You forget, I said it a long time ago, after a hundred years, all of my body will be owned by you, so I'm just giving what belongs to you in advance. you."
"But-"
"That's it." Xiao said, "I give you this in the hope that it will increase your stake in winning. As long as you are well, I will be relieved."
Hearing this, Meng Zezhi opened his mouth, and his face couldn't hide his emotion: "Thank you mother... madam."
Hearing this, Xiao Shi was relieved while feeling sad.