The Qionglu is actually a row of very simple wooden houses, if it matches the identity of the emperor, it can even be said to be simple. It's just a few unremarkable small wooden houses, and what's planted outside are not flowers and plants but rows of cucumbers and beans. The house is not tall, compared with those huge buildings in Taiji Palace, it is simply unsightly. Some green vines climbed along the wooden wall to the roof, but they didn't bloom, so I couldn't name them.
Next to the window is an earthen kang. It seems that it is very difficult for the emperor to sit at the desk and deal with the government affairs. Whether it is the East Nuan Pavilion of the Taiji Palace or this dome, the small kang has become a landmark in the imperial study. However, the kang is next to the window, and when you are tired, sitting on the kang with the soft cushions to enjoy the scenery outside the window is a very pleasant thing.
But such a humble place is undoubtedly the heart of this huge empire. Every summer, the emperor moves here to handle the government affairs. I don't know how many government orders came from here, and how many memorials were sent here. When Fang Jie came to Qionglu last time, he took a peek cautiously. The memorials on the low table of the kang could be half the height of a person when stacked. And this is at most one day's memorial, Fang Xie couldn't imagine how troublesome it would be to read the memorial day after day.
But the emperor's understanding of this huge empire all came from the memorials.
Sometimes Fang Jie would think that if half of those memorials reported false news, then no matter how wise the emperor was, it would be difficult for the emperor to become a wise emperor praised by the people. If he told the emperor this idea, he would definitely make the emperor laugh. Then the emperor would tell him very seriously that perhaps half of the memorials he read every day were actually lying.
For a qualified emperor, the first thing to do is to distinguish what is true in these memorials and what is fabricated.
Also see the truth behind the lies.
How could it be a simple and easy thing to become a holy emperor in the eyes of the common people? The following magistrates, six out of ten report the good news but not the bad news, lest a memorial that tells the truth ruin their future and official career, but as long as they seriously speculate, they can still learn from their memorials, or with others. The truth is found in the comparison of the memorial.
For example, when there was a flood in some counties, the county magistrate, in order to avoid the imperial court's accusation that the usual construction of dams was unfavorable, often tried to hide it from the higher authorities, and then tried his best to find ways to treat the victims so that the incident would not cause too much trouble. But this was before, the most incredible thing that Emperor Tianyou did after he ascended the throne was to make those local officials dare not protect each other. But even so, there is not much truth in the memorials submitted.
Local officials are different from Beijing officials. Sixty-seven out of ten Beijing officials have no real power in their hands. They go to the Yamen to report every day, and they still have a lot of free time to do nothing after finishing their work. If the magistrates really wanted to govern themselves well, they probably wouldn't be able to do what they were supposed to do even if they didn't sleep for twenty-four hours.
No matter how capable a person is, there will be some mistakes in the management side.
Therefore, the habit of writing more things that make His Majesty happy and less things that make His Majesty upset in memorials is not unique to the Sui Dynasty.
Throughout the dynasties, it has generally been like this.
When Fang Jie walked outside the row of wooden houses, he explained to Fei Yupao who was guarding outside that His Majesty had summoned him. That Feiyupao turned around and went in to report, and stood at the door and said something softly. The eunuch Su Buwei, who was waiting at the door, hummed, then turned and went into the back room to ask the emperor for instructions.
"Let him wait."
The emperor didn't look up, and wrote a memorial with a red pen in his hand: "The Huai River in the south of the Yangtze River began to be dishonest in the summer. I sent people to supervise the construction of the dam last year. It took a year for the levee to be built... If you don't pay attention, Not to mention that many people will die. Du Wumei, the governor of Huaiyang County, is rare not to tell lies. He said that if the levee is not stable, it must be unstable. The Huai River is thousands of miles away. unimaginable."
Su Buwei lowered his head and said: "The servant asked him to wait outside for a while."
"Um."
The emperor hummed, then raised his head and ordered: "Go and call Zhang Chaochong, Minister of the Ministry of Households, and Liu Renjing, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, immediately."
"Here."
Su Buwei bowed and exited, and gently closed the door of the inner room.
Walking out of the house, Su Buwei saw the young man standing outside a little awkwardly, he smiled apologetically and said: "You wait outside for a while, His Majesty is dealing with court affairs...Jianghuai seems to be suffering from floods, wait for His Majesty to call The two ministers from the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Industry will see you when you are done."
"Thank you, Eunuch."
Fang Jie clasped his fists in thanks.
Su Buwei nodded and smiled, and when he walked past Fang Jie, he stopped and said in a low voice: "You can go to the woods over there to rest for a while, but don't walk around carelessly. After a while, His Majesty finishes dealing with Jiangnan's affairs, and I will go find him." you."
"Thank you."
Fang Jie clasped his fists again and saluted, looked at the corner of the yard and said, "I'll just stand there, I don't dare to go too far at will. There are many nobles in Changchun Garden, it's not good if they collide."
Su gave Fang Xie a glance of approval without fear, and then left in a hurry.
…
…
Fang Jie walked to the corner of the small courtyard, looked around and saw that no one was paying attention, then he got behind a rock and sat down. After a whole day, I ate something in the morning, and now I feel hungry. If he just stood outside like that, he was really afraid that his legs would tremble and his body would shake. As a scout, it was not uncommon for him to be hungry. Not being able to eat for a day is not too much for him, but this is not Fan Gu, where he has to stand respectfully all the time.
If you can find a place to rest for a while, why not do it.
There is not much space behind the rockery, next to the flower wall. Fang Jie sat down on the rock and sighed helplessly listening to the louder and louder grunting in his stomach. Anyway, the emperor would not see him for a while, so he simply closed his eyes and leaned against the stone to rest and recuperate. About half an hour later, Fang Jie heard footsteps, he looked along the cracks in the rockery, and saw Su Buwei leading two people in purple official uniforms walking over quickly.
He saw Su Buwei glance at where he was, seemingly casually, but Fang Xie felt that even though he was behind the rockery, he still didn't escape the eunuch's eyes.
When Su Buwei and the others entered the wooden house, Fang Xie leaned against the stone and looked up at the sky again. He just sat there bored for a long time, and he didn't wait for Su Buwei to come to him until it was dark. The gurgling sound in his stomach became louder and louder, Fang Jie couldn't help but sighed and said that he didn't know how long he would have to wait.
Lights were already on inside the wooden house, and the shadow of the emperor in the room could be seen reflected on the windows. Fang Jie couldn't help sighing that the emperor had been sitting there for at least four or five hours without moving, and he was tired enough.
He looked left and right, and saw that none of the flying fish robes guarding the yard were looking at him. He hesitated for a long time, but finally couldn't hold back, quietly reached out his hand from behind the stone, groped for a while and pulled down a cucumber. He wiped it randomly on his clothes, and started to eat as quietly as possible.
After eating a cucumber, I feel even hungrier.
After eating, he simply stretched out half of his body and continued to grope. Borrowing the faint moonlight, I picked three or four of them in one breath and held them in my arms.
Just as I was about to eat, I suddenly heard footsteps coming again. He was startled, and quickly stuffed the cucumbers into his clothes. After hiding, I heard Su Buwei's voice outside: "Fang Jie, His Majesty let you in."
Fang Jie swallowed the cucumber in his mouth as fast as he could, and after tidying his clothes a few times, he got out from behind the rockery. He said to Su Buwei in an apologetic tone: "The humble official fell asleep, please don't blame my father-in-law."
Su Buwei glanced at Fang Jie with a half-smile, the smile on the corner of his mouth was a little weird. Fang Jie didn't understand it, but he knew that there was absolutely no malice in the smile.
Following behind Su Buwei, Fang Xie saluted after entering the door: "Fang Xie, vice scout team, knock on His Majesty."
"Get up, I'm busy dealing with some court affairs, but you've been waiting outside for a long time. Come here, I have something to ask you."
Fang Jie got up, leaned slightly and walked to the back room. Then he saluted the two adults who hadn't left yet. When he bent down, he found that the legs of the two adults were trembling slightly.
I'm also hungry.
Fang Jie smiled inwardly, and said to himself that you don't have cucumbers to eat.
The emperor picked up a piece of paper from the low table and handed it to Fang Jie, saying: "This is the exam question for the mathematics department of the Academy of Martial Arts this year. I asked Dean Zhou for a paper. This is just a question in the exam paper. Take a look." How to solve it?"
It turns out that the emperor still has to study himself.
Fang Jie took the test question with both hands, and looked at it by the light.
At night, there are ten candles. Light the first candle first, then light the second candle after it is burned out, and then light the third candle after it is burned out. After the candle is burned out, light the remaining candles together. Just as the wind blows, only one candle is not extinguished. How many sticks
Seeing that Fang Jie frowned slightly, the corner of the emperor's mouth curled into a smile. When this question was in the Martial Arts Academy, none of the big figures seemed to answer it correctly. Most of them think the answer is too complicated, and those who think too simple are distracted by this question.
"Four."
The corner of the emperor's mouth curled into a smile, and Fang Jie gave the answer.
"Um?"
The two ministers standing not far from him looked at him at the same time, the emperor smiled and nodded and said: "It seems that I am not cheating in giving you these five excellences, and I did not expect to give you the answer so quickly. "
Fang Jiexin said that this world without brain teasers is so boring.
At this time, Liu Renjing, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, who was standing aside, suddenly groaned in disappointment. The Lord Shang Shu, who had just been severely scolded by the emperor, lowered his head in embarrassment to hide the embarrassment on his face. Before His Majesty asked him why the Huai River embankment had been repaired for a year, but when it couldn't stop the flood, he was so scared that he forgot to be hungry. But now I can't control it, my stomach is already empty.
"what sound?"
The emperor listened carefully and asked.
"It's the minister... it's the minister's stomach."
Liu Renjing replied with a blushing face.
The emperor was stunned, and then couldn't help laughing: "I forgot, you probably haven't eaten since noon, and I haven't eaten, either. I feel hungry when your stomach growls. Su Don't be afraid, ask someone to bring some snacks and let them make a cushion first, and then cook a bowl of rice porridge and bring it to me."
"The porridge is already boiling hot. If Your Majesty eats it now, the servants will bring it up immediately."
"Well."
The emperor smiled and said: "Bring more bowls, don't let them say I'm stingy. Fang Jie...you stay too, I have something to ask you after eating."
"No, no, I'm not hungry, I'm not hungry at all."
Fang Jie subconsciously waved his hands to decline, but at this moment, with a few clicks, none of the cucumbers hidden in his clothes fell down the clothes.
For a while, the room became very quiet.
The emperor couldn't help but widen his eyes, raised his finger and pointed to the few emerald green palaces underground and asked, "This is... what?"
Fang Jie took a deep breath, then leaned over and replied, "Your Majesty... this object is called... cucumber."
The emperor froze for a moment, but the surprise in his eyes had not dissipated. Fang Jie quickly bent down to pick up the cucumbers, and hurriedly stuffed them back into his clothes.
"I'm rude... Your Majesty please punish me."
As he spoke, he thought about what to do next.
"Bold!"
The emperor sitting on the kang suddenly yelled, which startled Fang Xie. Just when he decided to plead guilty truthfully, the emperor pointed at the tip of his nose and said slightly angrily, "How dare you stuff the cucumber back after picking it from me? You are so brave! I ask you...is it delicious!"
“Fragrant, crispy and sweet... delicious... ”
Fang Jie answered with his head down, his tone trembling.
"Delicious? Why don't you take it out for me and the adults to taste?!"
Hearing this sentence, it was Fang Jie's turn to be stunned. He subconsciously took the cucumber out of his cuff, carefully placed it on the low table, and then quickly retreated. The emperor picked up one and looked at it, then took out a clean white handkerchief from his sleeve and wiped it. He didn't think it was dirty, so he stuffed it into his mouth and took a bite.
"I planted it with my own hands. It's really sweet and delicious! Come on, come on, you two have one plant, there's no solution."
The emperor magnanimously pointed to the cucumbers, but the two ministers were dumbfounded. Su Buwei pursed his lips and smiled, thinking that this little guy really fell in love with His Majesty. He walked up quickly and handed one to each of the two Master Shangshu. The two Shangshu looked at each other, and they both saw incredulity in each other's eyes.
They never imagined that one day they would eat cucumbers with His Majesty...
Click!
Click!
The crisp chewing sound floated out from the hut, and seemed to be carried up into the air with the breeze, and floated to a far, far away place.