"What did you bring Gu, brought me here?"
After all, Zongzheng Qingqi was young, and after dispelling Yan Chu's anger at taking him out of the palace privately, she was attracted by the bustling scenes on both sides of the street.
Especially those booths where clay figurines were made and kites were made, the dazzling array of items on them made Zongzheng Qingqi's eyes nowhere to rest.
There are also some hawkers who sell candied haws along the street, carrying targets full of candied haws. On the wooden skewers, bright red sugar coatings are wrapped with round and plump fruits. Although he has never tasted the taste, he just looks at the attractive I can't help but salivate, I want to go down and buy a bunch to try.
All this has always been in the ears of Zongzheng Qingqi.
It is different from other imperial brothers who have already left the palace to start a mansion, and there is an imperial brother from a natal family who borrowed the honor of Concubine Jiang and his family was conferred a false title with no real power. Zongzheng Qingqi's other relatives are far away in the northwest, and they have never been out of the palace since they were young. They can only listen to the interesting stories outside the palace described by the brothers and emperors who have been outside the palace and those court ladies and eunuchs who came in from outside the palace.
Because he wants to save face and has a tight mouth, Zongzheng Qingqi always shows a disdainful expression when listening to the emperor's younger brother telling stories outside the palace, but in fact, in his heart, he has long been interested in other people in the imperial city. On the other side of the world, a curious and inquiring mind has emerged.
This time Yan Chu took him out of the palace without any preparation, saw the scene he had imagined in his dream, and when Zongzheng Qingqi turned his head to look at Yan Chu's face again, he was pleasing to the eye Not a lot.
But why didn't the carriage stop at the busiest and noisy market in the capital
Zongzheng Qingqi saw that the scenery outside the car window was becoming more and more monotonous, and the houses on both sides were getting older and older. The carriage left the city gate under Zongzheng Qingqi's doubts and drove towards an unknown place. Gong Er's joyful heart gradually sank, and the initial worry surfaced in his heart.
Especially at this moment when he was stepping on the muddy path in the country, looking at the vast fields around him, there were only a few old farmers leading their cattle to loosen the roots of the newly harvested land, and a group of children playing happily on the ridge.
Zongzheng Qingqi looked at Yan Chu vigilantly, what did he bring him to this place.
"Old man, how is the harvest in the field this year?"
Yan Chu ignored Zongzheng Qingqi's questioning, but got out of the carriage and walked straight to the old farmer who was plowing in the nearest field.
"The harvest is good. The weather in our area has been good these years, and the harvest has been good every year. With the new emperor ascending the throne, 30% of the tax has been reduced. This year we can also have a prosperous and good year."
In Zongzheng Qingqi's eyes, Yan Chu and Zongzheng Qingqi's attire today was shabby and rough, but in the eyes of the old farmer, the clean and decent brocade was even more expensive than the expensive cloth they rarely saw when they went to the cloth shop in the city. Well, it looks like the master and young master of a rich family.
So facing Yan Chu's question, the old farmer answered with a smile.
Zongzheng Qingqi's originally uneasy face cleared up after hearing what the old farmer said, and he stepped forward with great interest: "Old man, what do you think of the new emperor?"
As he said that, he glanced at Yan Chu. This old man also seemed to be sensible, and he must not be used to the current situation of eunuchs in power in the court.
He wanted to see how Xiao Chu would feel when he was pointed at by an old farmer and scolded.
"I can't say it, I can't say it."
The old farmer waved his hands again and again, looking at Zongzheng Qingqi's expression as if he was looking at something strange.
That's the emperor, the aloof emperor, talk about the world today, don't you want your head
The young master of this family looks fair and smart, why is he so thoughtless when he asks this question.
"My lord, don't be mad at the old man, I'm talking too much, your son, you have to teach me well, the Jinyiwei in Dongchang is so powerful now, there was a lazy man next door to our village, he got drunk and scolded the little emperor, the second He was taken away by the people of Jinyiwei." The old man had a look of horror on his face, and his attitude of preaching to Yan Chu was much more earnest.
"Young master is so clever, if he says something wrong, he will suffer."
It is said that if you enter Dongchang, you will have to peel off your skin if you don't die. In the hearts of ordinary people, that is a taboo, a place more terrifying than prison.
"What did that lazy man scold the little emperor?"
Zongzheng Qingqi has become a puffer fish in anger. He has only been on the throne for a long time, and some people scolded him before he took charge of the government. Xiao Chu clearly handles government affairs. Why should he scold him? Thinking about it, Zongzheng Qingqi felt a little wronged. Glaring at Xiao Chu, it's all his fault.
"You little son, why don't you listen to persuasion?"
The old farmer became angry, that lazy man scolded the little emperor and was arrested by Jin Yiwei's people, and the young man in front of him asked him to repeat the lazy man's words, didn't he want him to be arrested together.
The old farmer felt that the young man was a troublesome person, so he picked up the hoe and planned to plow the field on the other side, so as to save him from implicating him by saying something he shouldn't have said.
"Don't go."
Zongzheng Qingqi rummaged through her whole body, but couldn't find anything valuable. Suddenly, she remembered that the jade wrench finger in her hand hadn't been taken off when she just changed clothes. She pulled it off without thinking. The jade ring, and then handed it to the old farmer: "Can we talk now?"
The behavior of the old farmer reminded him of those court ladies and eunuchs in the palace. Some low-ranking and unfavored concubines want to have a better life in the palace, so they have to use money to bribe the Secretary of Industry and the Imperial Cuisine. The servants of the house, only in this way can they eat hot meals and wear beautiful clothes that are in season.
He thought that this old farmer was also like this, because he didn't get any benefits, so he didn't want to say those things to him.
"You little boy."
The old farmer sighed, not understanding why he broke the casserole and asked the bottom line about such a terrible thing.
"If you don't want to talk about the question I just asked you, then I'll ask you another question. As long as you answer it, this jade wrench will be yours."
Zongzheng Qingqi glanced at Yan Chu, saw that the other party had no intention of stopping his behavior, puffed out her chest, and said to the old farmer with a little arrogance.
"This old man, our young master is naturally curious. He asked, so you can talk about it."
The guard who had been standing behind them took a step forward after receiving the signal from Yan Chu's eyes, and exchanged the jade wrench finger in Zongzheng Qingqi's hand for a piece of scattered silver taels, estimated to be worth four or five coins. For farmers who depend on the sky for their food, this is already not a small amount.
"Well then, young master, you can ask, but it's too difficult for me to answer the old man's questions."
In the eyes of the old farmer, silver money is much more valuable than the jade wrench he has never seen before. Under the temptation of money, he hesitated for a moment, thinking of his newborn grandson, he bravely agreed.
"Old man, from your tone just now, are you afraid of Jin Yiwei?"
Zongzheng Qingqi also knew that the old farmer would not answer his previous question, so he simply put that question aside and planned to investigate this matter after returning to the palace. Face is more important.
"Scared, who isn't afraid of Jinyiwei?" All of them were vicious, just like Lord Yan, the old farmer shivered, and said without thinking.
"If one day, Jin Yiwei no longer exists, will you be happier?"
Jin Yiwei is Xiao Chu's minion. Now the courtiers are afraid of Xiao Chu, a large part of the reason is that they fear the Jin Yiwei behind him. If Jin Yiwei disappears, Xiao Chu's strength will be reduced by half.
Zongzheng Qingqi also seemed to be able to see that Xiao Chu looked down on him now, and had no defense against him, and even indulged him intentionally or unintentionally, without any intention of suppressing his growth.
He didn't understand whether it was the other party's fearlessness or some other reason, but it was also a good thing for him.
It is also because he has seen through this point that now he is not so cautious in front of Xiao Chu, but occasionally he is a little apprehensive.
"Why did Jin Yiwei disappear?" The old farmer was stunned after hearing Zongzheng Qingqi's words, and asked suspiciously, with a trace of melancholy on his face.
Seeing the old farmer's expression, the smile on Zongzheng Qingqi's face stopped, he thought what he saw would be the old farmer's happy and relieved expression.
He turned his head to look at Xiao Chu who had been silent all the time, and the other party seemed not surprised by the old farmer's reaction.
There was even no wave in the other party's eyes, as if his questions just now, in his eyes, were just children's ignorant playfulness, which had no effect on him.
"Aren't you afraid of Jinyiwei?" Zongzheng Qingqi squeezed the jade wrench tightly in his hand, and looked at the old farmer with his might as an emperor in his eyes.
Just because of his young age and lack of arrogance, in the eyes of others, he is a spoiled and somewhat arrogant young man.
Because I didn't get the answer I wanted, I lost my temper.
"I'm afraid that Jin Yiwei is right, but since we have Jin Yiwei, our life is much better than before, so why should I be happy that Jin Yiwei disappeared?"
The old farmer looked at Zongzheng Qingqi and said: "In the past, in addition to paying taxes for the future of our land, there were also various taxes set up by the officials above. I am a concubine, we have to pay taxes, we are still at the foot of the imperial city, those people are so bold, let alone other places, where the mountains are high and the emperor is far away, life must be more difficult than ours, but since the appearance of Jin Yiwei, all corrupt officials have been killed If you catch them, your taxes will be normal, and we ordinary people will still have a surplus every year if we have enough to eat and drink, and it’s too late for us to be grateful to them.”
In the past, there was no Dongchang, no Jinyiwei, the old emperor was weak and incompetent, he let his officials go, the court was full of corrupt officials, the common people had no means of living, even if there were no natural disasters, life would be difficult.
People don't care who is the emperor or who is in power, they only know that since the establishment of Dongchang, they have lived a good life. really good.
"Jin Yiwei arrests people, that is to arrest those who should be arrested, such as that lazy man, who told him to say what he shouldn't say, an honest man like me, an old farmer, live a good life, no matter what others are right or wrong, and be open-minded , why would you want Jin Yiwei to disappear?"
What the old farmer said made Zongzheng Qingqi speechless. He looked at the happy old farmer who received the silver ingots, and then at Xiao Chu.
A conspiracy, it must be a conspiracy, Xiao Chu brought him here just to make him listen to these words, so as to lower his vigilance against him.
As a wise and mighty emperor, he is not so easy to fool.
"What else do you want to ask, hurry up and let's go back to the city."
Zongzheng Qingqi glared at Xiao Chu, he had to go back to the city and ask more people, but he didn't believe it, Xiao Chu's ability was so great that he could bribe everyone in the world.