Walking out the door, Fan Xian put down the cup of cold tea in his hand.
With a bang, the teacup was placed on top of the other teacup on the desk with great accuracy, and the two cups were stacked on top of each other, not much residual tea overflowed. The teacup pressing on the previous teacup was just a very ordinary and casual movement.
He went down the stairs and whispered something to Hong Zhu, and the two of them left the small building and walked towards that side along the cold stone path in the palace.
After sending Fan Xian away from the palace, Hong Zhu bypassed the Tai Chi Hall, passed through the curved stone gate, and returned to the Royal Study Room. Along the way, I joked with the maids I met, chatted with the little eunuchs, and was indescribably happy. The eunuchs and maids were also a little surprised, thinking that since the young eunuch Hong Zhu was with His Majesty, his status had risen, and even his temper had become calm and ruthless, but something happened today that made him happy so
Seeing that the Imperial Study Room was not far away, Hong Zhu came to his senses. Knowing that he had acted a bit too much, he quickly stopped, grabbed two handfuls of snow from the rocks beside the road, and wiped his face vigorously. After cooling down the hot skin on his face, he finally felt relieved, coughed lightly twice, imitated the style of Grandpa Hong, the ancestor of the eunuch in the palace, with a dead face, and pushed open the door of the imperial study.
The emperor was arguing with Master Shu at this time, the voice was very loud, this Master Shu was really courageous, and he refused to give up an inch in front of the emperor, only vaguely listening to the river, transfer of money, and household affairs. thing.
Hong Zhu stood aside with his ears pricked up, not daring to vent his anger, but in his heart he knew exactly what it was for Master Shu to have the courage to challenge His Majesty.
This winter is a good time for dredging the river. Under the door, the Zhongshu Ministry had already drawn up the regulations two months ago. After the Ministry of Households raised the money, it organized states and counties from all over the country to recruit people to repair the river. But I didn't expect that the Ministry of Household Affairs would not be able to come up with so much money in the end, and the gap was too large, which seriously delayed the time for repairing the river. As a result, Fan Shangshu became the target of public criticism. If His Majesty hadn't tried his best to protect him, then that Lord Shangshu would have asked to resign himself.
The Qing Kingdom is in its prime, but the treasury cannot provide enough money! The Zhongshu under the door asked the Ministry of Accounting, but the Ministry of Accounting didn't know anything about it, and only said that it was called by the palace. But the items used in the palace have always come from the inner treasury... Could it be that the inner treasury has fallen into such a state now? The matter of the inner treasury involved the eldest princess and the face of the royal family, and recently the Overwatch Council was investigating Cui's family, and pointed the finger at the inner treasury. At this moment, it was not good for the ministers in the court to ask the emperor face to face.
Henceforth, there was the trip of Master Shu to enter the palace. It seems that the communication between the monarch and his ministers was not very peaceful.
The emperor coughed, and vaguely mentioned several vague words such as Fan Xian and Jiangnan. Master Shu's complexion finally improved, and he seemed to believe that Fan Xian would be able to solve Qing's financial problems after he went to the south of the Yangtze River.
The old scholar lowered his voice, but his face was full of worry: "I'm afraid that there will be no time, what should I do if there is another flood next year? The affairs in the south of the Yangtze River are complicated. Even if Fan Tisi is talented, if he wants to sort it out, he may not be able to get it right." It will take a year, even if next year is blessed by God, what about the year after?"
The emperor laughed, comforted Shu Wu and said, "Fan Xian is leaving in a few days, so there should be time."
Shu Wu responded, and left the imperial study with a smile. In fact, both the monarch and his ministers were mature and prudent people, how could it be possible that they really stopped worrying just because Fan Xian was so young and went to Jiangnan
What's more, Shu Xueshi's fight is not limited to these things on the surface. As the head of the court officials, he needs a statement from His Majesty, what to do with the inner treasury, and more importantly, after the two rumors came out one after another, the imperial court or the palace city, for Fan Leisure, what are you going to do with it
The royal family plays mysticism and keeps many things secret, but the official system in the court can't stand this. People are panicked and always ask for permission. Since the emperor clearly stated the date of Fan Xian's departure from the capital, firstly, he announced that the management of the internal treasury would definitely start, and it would start very strongly; Come to an end, no matter whether he is the remnant of treason against the Ye family or the emperor's illegitimate son, everyone else has left the capital anyway, so stop guessing and let the matter fade away!
…
…
"Hong Zhu." The emperor suddenly woke up from his contemplation and asked, "What was his reaction before?"
Hong Zhu was stunned, and quickly responded in a low voice: "Fan Tisi had tears in his eyes, and a look of relief on his face... He once laughed three times in the building, but he didn't know why." Being by the emperor's side, he was naturally smarter than the average person by three points, so of course he knew that the person His Majesty was talking about was Xiao Fan who had just left the palace.
The emperor's face darkened, and he immediately smiled and said: "That's fine, after letting go, I can work for the court without any worries."
Hong Zhu smiled carelessly, and didn't dare to answer, but was quite frightened by what the emperor said next.
"From next month, go and serve the queen." The emperor said casually, rubbing a piece of meditation jade in his palm.
It was like a thunderbolt hitting the little eunuch's heart! With a sound of lying down, Hong Zhu knelt down straight, lying on the ground, crying and said: "Your Majesty, slave... I don't know what I did wrong, please kill me, Your Majesty, and don't drive me away."
The emperor looked at him with a frown, and said in disgust: "What's the future! I asked you to go to the palace over there to be the chief eunuch, but I promoted you, but I was so frightened... It's really useless!"
Hong Zhu was confused, knowing that he had made a mistake, but tears were still streaming down his face, and he howled, "I don't want to be a chief eunuch, I just want to be by your side."
"Oh." The emperor looked at the little eunuch in front of him with a half-smile, and said, "What's the benefit of being by my side?"
The word "benefits" can be regarded as a joke, or as a knife to kill a head. Hong Zhu raised his head from the ground in a daze, his face was stained with tears, and he said ramblingly: "... Serving by the emperor's side...slaves...with a radiant face."
"Glory?"
Hong Zhu hit his head like garlic, sobbing and said: "Slaves should die...slaves shouldn't be greedy..." He seemed to have a mirror in his heart, the eunuch accepted a bribe, and the masters in the palace didn't care, but it all depends on the mood of these masters .
"How much money did you collect?" The emperor laughed when he saw the little eunuch's face covered in dust and tears, his appearance was ridiculous.
Hearing the laughter, Hong Zhu calmed down a bit, and replied in a nonchalant manner: "The slave has been in the imperial study for two months, and he collected a total of four hundred taels of silver."
The emperor's face suddenly sank, and he was chilled, and said coldly: "Really? Who bought you the 800 mu of land in Jiaozhou? Your brother's official, and who gave you the door? You are so big!" You have the guts to do something like this within less than a hundred days by my side!"
Hong Zhu's complexion was gloomy, all thoughts were lost, and he wailed loudly: "This slave is guilty, this slave is guilty." He didn't even dare to ask the emperor to spare his life.
"Who is it?" The emperor turned around, kicked off his boots, sat on the couch and began to correct the memorial again.
Hong Zhu's face was blue and white, knowing that he couldn't hide it after all, he gritted his teeth and said, "It's... Fan Tisi."
The emperor's face remained unchanged, and he hummed slightly to express his doubts.
Hong Zhu suddenly used both hands and feet, climbed to the emperor's feet, raised his face and sobbed: "Your Majesty, you can kill this slave as much as you want, but the sky can learn from you. The slave is loyal to your majesty, and never secretly with Lord Tisi." ... Lord Tisi is a good man, this is what the slave asked him to do, please forgive him."
At this time, the emperor showed a little surprise: "Oh? You pleaded for him?" He immediately laughed and said, "This child, it seems that the popularity is much better than I imagined."
The emperor looked at the little eunuch's painted face, and cursed with a smile, "Get out, Fan Xian has told me about this a long time ago, if it wasn't for my liking for your cleverness, he would have slaughtered you with one knife, and you still do it Plead for him."
"Ah?" Hong Zhu's expression was filled with embarrassment and embarrassment amidst the shock, and he didn't recover for a while.
"Still leaving?"
"Yes, Your Majesty." Hong Zhu cried sadly, but he was very happy in his heart, so he climbed out of the imperial study without getting up. As for whether he was going to be driven to the Queen's Palace to become the chief eunuch, or another way out, this I don't care anymore.
…
…
After leaving the imperial study room and running to the side room, Hong Zhu calmed down his panting breath, and felt the cold sweat on his back be so icy cold. After taking a towel, he wiped away the tears, sweat and dust on his face indiscriminately, and angrily drove all his subordinates out, until he was sitting alone in the room, and he started to feel terrified.
"Your Majesty Fan is right, there is nothing in this world that can be hidden from His Majesty." The little eunuch thought with lingering fear, "If His Majesty allows you to be greedy, you will be able to be greedy, so it is better to do everything on the bright side. "
At this moment, his admiration for Fan Xian has been deeply rooted in his bones, and besides his admiration, he has a lot more gratitude and gratitude for Fan Xian. The other party can guess that His Majesty doesn't care about the little eunuch's greed for money at all. It's just that Mr. Fan is very smart, and Mr. Fan used this matter to hide the most terrible thing. This is the key. Master Fan walked closer, His Majesty would not be suspicious anymore.
Thinking of that incident, the little eunuch Hong Zhu's eyes narrowed, he was indescribably grateful, but he was about to be transferred out of the imperial study, and he wondered if he could help Lord Fan in the future.
※※※
In the carriage leaving the palace, Fan Xian was resting with his eyes half-closed. He led Gundam and the two Tiger Guards under the carriage, and Su Wenmao was in the carriage. He closed his eyes and thought, although he couldn't tell if there was any eyeliner in the palace in Qi Nian's group, but he bumped into Wang Qinian, and Wang Qinian went to pick so many unsatisfactory Overwatch Council officials to his side. However, the most trustworthy people are these people. If you want to do things yourself, you can only trust them.
"Is there any tail to what happened in Yingzhou?" He frowned and asked.
Su Wenmao didn't drive the car at this time, he listened carefully to the movement outside the car, and then said softly: "My lord, don't worry, Zhizhou of Yingzhou died of illness after being imprisoned, and he didn't take the way in the courtyard. Your medicine was used, and the police can't find it out. .”
Fan Xian nodded: "If it is confirmed that it is safe, the family members of that prefect don't move. This matter is over, you should know what to do."
Su Wenmao nodded, knowing that the lord Tisi told him to keep it secret, and that the lord Tisi trusted him to do this kind of private matter, which shows that he finally succeeded in becoming the confidant of the lord.
But as a confidant, he naturally had to consider Fan Xian, and he still deeply disagreed with this matter. Secretly killing a fourth-rank official of the Dazhi Prefecture, this kind of thing rarely happened after the establishment of the Overwatch Council for so many years. If nothing happens in the future, if something happens, the entire Overwatch Council will be in bad luck—not to mention that the Zhizhou has no factions and is a pure disciple of the Son of Heaven.
Seemingly guessing what Su Wenmao was thinking, Fan Xian sneered and said, "That magistrate disregarded human life, occupied the villagers' property, and even went along with the bandits. To slaughter the village and wipe out the clan, I only took his life, which is considered cheap for him."
Su Wenmao said with concern: "My lord, even though this is the case, after all, there has been no real evidence. The captured bandit bites his mouth very tightly and refuses to testify against the prefect."
"Nonsense." Fan Xian said, "If I can have evidence, why would I bother to use this method."
Su Wenmao shook his head in disapproval and said: "It's still too risky after all. It's not good for your lord to write a booklet for the middle school, or even skip the door for the middle school, and directly report to His Majesty. Although there is no real evidence, but His Majesty will take it for the sake of your lord's sake." The magistrate took it."
Fan Xian smiled, shook his head and said nothing.
His majesty must not know about the prefect. He closed his eyes and rested his mind leisurely, but his mind was spinning rapidly—the reason why he wanted to deal with the Zhizhou who was far away from the capital was because he wanted to sell the little eunuch Hong Zhu a favor, a great favor, a Hong Zhu... Zhu will have to repay the favor as soon as he thinks about it in the future.
Hong Zhu, a young eunuch working in the imperial study, is from Yingzhou, and his original surname is Chen. The magistrate who was killed by Fan Xian used to forcibly take away the family business of the Chen family because of a certain mountain when he was the county magistrate. However, there were two scholars in the Chen family, so naturally he refused to follow him. Mountains and mountains, lawsuits across prefectures and states, even claiming to bring the lawsuit to Kyoto.
The county magistrate was terrified and relentlessly killed him. He colluded with the bandits in the middle of the night and forcibly wiped out the Chen clan!
I don't know how many people died that night.
However, Hong Zhu and his brother were still children at the time, and they forgot to go home after playing in the mountains. They were lucky to escape this tragedy. The two brothers were also considered smart, they climbed the mountain overnight, begging all the way to Shandong Road, never dared to go to the Yamen to file a complaint, but struggled to survive in the human world. One day, the two brothers couldn't survive anymore, Chen Xiaodi, who is now Hong Zhu, practiced magic skills, and threw himself into the palace with blood in his crotch.
…
…
After entering the palace, Chen Xiaodi timidly behaved, was bullied by the elder eunuchs, pinched his ass by the damned old maid, the humiliation gave rise to fear, and he didn't even dare to say his surname.
Coincidentally, one day, Chen Xiaodi was carrying water and passing by the Hanguang Palace, and met the old eunuch Hong who was sleeping outside the house to rest his mind. The old eunuch was only wearing old clothes from many years ago, not wearing palace clothes. Looking at the old eunuch leaning on a broken bamboo chair with a few flies flying around his face, he felt that the old eunuch was so pitiful.
He is also a downtrodden person in Tianya, but Chen Xiaodi is still a little warm-hearted, thinking that he has nothing to do, so he went back to the house and took a broken cattail fan, and started to fan Eunuch Hong to drive away flies.
After the old eunuch Hong woke up, it didn't happen like the common scene in the story books, where the young eunuch Chen Xiaodi was passed on to be a supernatural power, and he was accepted as a younger brother, walking sideways in the palace, eating and drinking hot food everywhere. But for the favor of a fan, the old eunuch Hong knew that the young eunuch didn't have a surname, so he only gave him a surname.
flood.
And because the old eunuch was lying on the bamboo chair at that time, he was called Zhu casually. This is the origin of the name of Hong Zhu, who became a popular eunuch later.
…
…
From that day on, the old eunuch Hong never cared about Hong Zhu's life or death, and didn't even say a word. Even if Hong Zhu went to the imperial study and tried to curry favor with the old eunuch Hong, the old eunuch ignored him.
But the little eunuch has a name after all, surnamed Hong Mingzhu. The surname Hong is unusual in the palace, and Mr. Hong did not express any objection. Gradually, people began to spread rumors that Hong Zhu was the new grandson of the old eunuch Hong, so no one dared to bully him anymore. I still have to flatter him, begging him to do some easy and decent work.
Hong Zhuren is clever, he has experienced childhood tragedy, and his mind is extremely calm, there are so many opportunities in front of him, coupled with Lao Dai's loss of power, several rounds of personnel in the palace, unexpectedly made this little eunuch very lucky, and directly entered the imperial study , and began to work by His Majesty's side.
This is the so-called chance.
Having seen a lot, knowing that the imperial palace is like this, that Zhizhou is not a high-ranking official, the flame of revenge in Hong Zhu's heart began to burn, but he was young after all, he didn't know the way, and he didn't know how to proceed, could it be To directly state your grievances to His Majesty? He didn't have the guts.
Just at this time, God sent a person to him.
※※※
The carriage jolted, Fan Xian woke up leisurely, yawned, and looked a little tired.
What happened to Hong Zhu was set out by him, and Hong Zhu didn't know about the follow-up methods at all. He just did it silently and only told the other party today.
Fan Xian knew that, based on Hong Zhu's development in the palace, he could judge the emperor's trust in him. In just three years, this little eunuch would definitely have considerable influence. There are many people who come to help him work hard and avenge him, so I must do it three years ago, and do it cleanly, without threats, without showing favor, and without causing future troubles.
This is the best way to give favors.
The Zhizhou who died was Yingzhou Zhizhou, and Hong Zhuji was from Jiaozhou. The two places are extremely far apart. The case of exterminating the family was so long ago that no one remembered it. Fan Xian was not worried that anyone would guess that Hong Zhu had something to do with this He was very careful not to tell anyone about the relationship between the two things.
In the future, even if His Majesty finds out that Yingzhou Zhizhou died abnormally, and finds out that the Overwatch Council was responsible, Fan Xian can still find a whole bunch of reasons—as long as it has nothing to do with the people around him, and has nothing to do with the vitals in the palace, a mere Zhizhou Life, in the eyes of the emperor, is always inferior to his own son Jingui.
He opened a corner of the carriage window, squinted at the far and blurred turret of the imperial city behind him, and wished the little eunuch student a prosperous career in it.