After Mu Hanzhang went to court, he saw that Jing Shao was practicing swordsmanship in Dongyuan, and Xiao Huang was nowhere to be seen. After all, Xiao Huang is a tiger, and even if he has no backbone in front of them, he is still very fierce towards outsiders, so Mu Hanzhang never allowed him to run outside the East Garden to play, so as not to hurt people.
When Jing Shao saw that his princess was back, he took his sword and leaned over, looking up at his sweaty face and waiting for his princess to wipe it.
"Where's Xiao Huang?" Mu Hanzhang took the towel that Zhixi handed over, and resignedly wiped his sweat.
"I don't know," Jing Shao narrowed his eyes comfortably, "he doesn't want to play with me, so he probably went to sleep somewhere."
Mu Hanzhang was a little worried, so he asked Yunzhu to look for it.
The two sat down on the long couch under the corridor, and Miao Xi brought the hot and sour plum soup.
"Why did you come back so late today?" Jing Shao drank a whole bowl of sour plum soup and breathed a sigh of relief. He glanced at the slender legs covetously. go up.
Mu Hanzhang put down the small bowl, and saw a big head on his thigh. Perhaps because he was bored at home these days, Jing Shao became more and more sticky to him, and he would come up to touch him whenever he was free. Reluctantly, he touched the top of his hair, sat back and made him lie down more comfortably: "My father asked me to go to the imperial study and talk for a while."
Emperor Hongzheng seems to be very interested in the matter of Tonghai Merchant. Mu Hanzhang handed in the statute a few days ago. After a long time, there was no movement, but he was suddenly called today to discuss many details, "Look at it this way. Come on, the royal father did read your regulations carefully." Jing Shao looked up at his graceful chin.
"Well, maybe the royal father also had this plan." Mu Hanzhang carefully recalled the expression of Emperor Hongzheng today, and seemed to be very interested in this. There are ports in Jiangnan where overseas ships dock. If you go to Jiangnan after a while, maybe you can try this kind of business first.
"Princess, it's not good!" Yunzhu hurriedly ran in.
"What's the matter?" Mu Hanzhang frowned, just as Yunzhu went to look for the tiger, could it be that Xiao Huang got into trouble
"I just found out after asking for a long time that Xiao Huang went to the stable!" Yun Zhu said breathlessly.
"What?" Jing Shao sat up immediately, Xiao Huang's size is not small now, and a roar might scare the tame horses in the stable. The horses in the palace are all famous horses, and anyone who is scared to death will feel distressed.
The two hurriedly followed Yunzhu to the stable, and the horse-raiser stood outside the stable with a sad face, trembling with fear.
"What's the matter? What about the tiger?" Jing Shao asked him.
"Yes, in the little black horse's shed." The servant who kept the horse was about to cry. When he saw the tiger, he was so frightened that he couldn't move, and he watched it get into Xiaohei's exclusive stable.
Because Xiao Hei is the prince's favorite horse, it has always been placed alone. Its stable is much more spacious than other horses, and two delicate low walls are built. random activities.
Mu Hanzhang lifted his foot and walked towards Xiao Hei's stable, but Jing Shao was relieved when he heard this, and followed his princess in without hesitation.
The stables are very clean, the ground is covered with soft hay, the trough is filled with fresh forage, and a bamboo pole is built on the water trough. The sink catches it and drains directly outside the stable. The entire stable is very clean, presumably because it is cleaned several times a day, there is no smell of horse manure at all.
Xiao Hei nestled on the haystack, wagging his tail boredly, a furry half-big tiger nestled beside him, sleeping on his back with a horse's hoof in his arms.
Everyone was silent for a while.
Xiao Hei was very happy to see the master coming, so he stood up and thought that Jing Shao was going to take him out to play.
Jing Shao was a little speechless when he saw this picture. He knew that Xiao Hei was born abnormal. Not only did he avoid obstacles by himself, but he was not afraid of the beasts. No matter what happened on the battlefield, he had never seen it frightened. , and Xiao Huang naturally wouldn't make Xiao Hei's idea when he had a full meal, so he wasn't worried at all. But it was beyond his knowledge that a horse could fall asleep with a tiger.
Xiao Huang's pillow suddenly disappeared, he got up in a daze, shook his head a little unwillingly, turned his head and saw Mu Hanzhang, and ran to him and rubbed it around.
It just so happened that it was noon at this time, because Xiaohei's stable was not easy to serve, so the servants who kept the horses would work half a day. The servants on duty in the afternoon came to change shifts and found that there were many people in the stables today, thinking that Xiaohei was out. What happened, I rushed over to see it. After asking what was going on, the man said boldly, "Don't worry, my lord, this tiger cub often comes to the stable to play with Xiao Hei, and he has already gotten used to it."
But it turned out that Xiao Huang couldn't find a suitable playmate in the palace. Once, he sneaked out and got into the stable, jumped to the mane and scratched Xiao Hei's mane, but was sprayed with heat by Xiao Hei and was almost scared. After falling down, it was discovered that the only living creature in the palace was Xiao Hei who was not afraid of it, and would often come to play with Xiao Hei in the afternoon.
"Wow!" Seeing that the master ignored it, Xiao Huang ran back to Xiao Hei to catch the tail that was tossing around. Xiao Hei was anxious to go out to play. The hair on the top of the head blew out a small Xuaner.
Xiao Huang usually came to the stables in the afternoon, but today he ran over in the morning, which caused everyone to fret. Mu Hanzhang looked at Jing Shao, and he must have bullied the tiger so much that he forced the little guy to the stable to escape.
Jing Shao looked away with a guilty conscience: "It's not bad for me, I'm just bored to play with it for a while."
Mu Hanzhang sighed. He had been raised in the inner house since he was a child. It would be fine if he stayed in the palace for ten days and a half without going out. He could also pass the time by writing and reading, but Jing Shao was different and let him be locked in the palace by himself. He was really wronged: "I have already told the royal father, this charter needs to be elaborated in detail, the royal father has already exempted me from other errands, and I will come back after the court."
"Really?" When Jing Shao heard the words, he immediately became happy. He was not in the court, and Emperor Hongzheng even let Mu Hanzhang take over the affairs of the Ministry of War, and his own princess was a serious worker, and often came back from the court to have lunch. , and go to the Ministry of War for another afternoon. Now, as long as he goes to court, he will go to sleep in the morning, and he will be able to see him when he opens his eyes.
Seeing him happy, Mu Hanzhang also raised his lips, another reason why he didn't mix with the government. The emperor found out that King Huainan had entered the capital privately. He decreed but never heard back. King Huainan looked like a dead pig that was not afraid of being scalded by boiling water, which made Emperor Hongzheng angry. Strict, seeing that the evacuation of the feudal lord is not far away.
As for Gu Huaiqing's visit to Beijing and contact with Jing Shao before, Emperor Hongzheng still couldn't seem to let it go. He discussed with Jing Chen to avoid the limelight, so the Ministry of War should try to avoid such sensitive places as possible.
Of course, for Jing Shao, this is really a good thing.
Fast forward to July, the weather is getting hotter and hotter, and the situation in North Korea and China is getting more and more tense. Jiangnan is very important to Jing Shao and the others, and the fourth prince has also been eyeing this "opportunity for meritorious service" early. , the situation seems to be very favorable for the Fourth Prince.
At the same time, Qiu's birth is imminent.
"I heard that the little prince of Prince Rui's mansion is sick again, have you visited?" Mrs. Qiu took the fresh fruit handed over by her son and asked worriedly.
Mu Hanzhang is a man, and there are many royal rules. Qiu's family has always worried that his son will not handle it well, which will hurt the harmony of his sister-in-law.
"How could my mother know about this?" Mu Hanzhang frowned. It was taboo for a minor child to be ill, and it was taboo to tell everyone that because of Princess Rui's temperament, she would naturally not want to let others know. How do you know these
"The third lady went to Biyun Nunnery to offer incense. Master Mo Bei was not here. I heard from the little nun that she went to Prince Rui's mansion again." Mrs. Qiu sighed. It is not easy to raise a child. People are worried, but Princess Rui now believes too much in that Mobei nun, which is not a good thing.
Then Mo Bei coaxed Princess Rui to light forty-nine long-bright lanterns at Biyun Nunnery, and the lantern money was forty-nine taels of silver per month. Every time the third lady came back from the incense, she would sigh for a long time.
"The child is still young, I'm afraid that I will collide when I go there," Mu Hanzhang pursed his lips, "Not to mention that there are so many things in the court, and the prince is still on the ground, I can't walk to Prince Rui's mansion."
A few days ago, the old nun figured out that the one with Xiaosi was the concubine who was a few days away from him, and Princess Rui said that the concubine should be sent to another courtyard to be raised. Jingchen was very annoyed when she found out, saying that she was obsessed with her mind, but that Wang Ji was so busy, she knelt in front of Prince Rui and said she was going to take the child to another hospital.
Hearing this, Mrs. Qiu frowned: "Then don't go there for now." Now that the concubine is not here, and the little four has a fever again, I don't know who to blame, it's better not to cause trouble.
Mu Hanzhang advised her not to worry about these idle thoughts. He is very careful about his mother's body. After all, he is old and the birth is a little dangerous, so he spent a lot of money to hire a famous wife Wen, who has been living in Beiwei Hou's mansion. Jiang Taiyi's pulse diagnosis has also changed from seven days to one. Every three days is a consultation to prevent any accident from happening.
The women of Beiweihou Mansion were all speechless, lamenting that it was different to have a son of a prince. Even though Mrs. Beiweihou was pregnant with a child, she had never been taken care of like this.
In mid-July, the court and the King of Huainan finally broke their faces. Emperor Hongzheng ordered to withdraw his vassal, while Gu Huaiqing directly blocked the messenger of the decree from the city gate and let him announce the imperial decree under the city gate. The messenger turned the horse's head and ran.
Emperor Hongzheng was furious and decided to send troops to attack Huainan.