Eunuch Gao hurriedly grabbed someone and got on the sedan chair. The little eunuchs who came with him took a step behind, took Cui Xie's official uniform, boots and hats, and tooth badges, and only helped him put them on outside Zuo Shun's door.
When he reached the west corner gate, he saw that Xie Ying had already been waiting there. When he saw him entering the door, a burst of brilliance suddenly appeared in his eyes, as if he had a lot to say. However, the imperial front was not the place to talk, the two exchanged glances silently, and both stood at the foot of the steps, bowing their heads respectfully, waiting for the emperor to summon him.
Soon after, an inner servant led the two into the Wenhua Hall, where they saw the Emperor Hongzhi dressed in uniform. The emperor's face was radiant, with a stretched smile on the corners of his brows and eyes, and he instructed the servant: "Give Mr. Cui the seat, and give thanks to Tongzhi. Show that side report to the two adults to read!"
The two Xie En sat down and read the side paper together.
This is a side report issued in February. The content is similar to what Eunuch Gao said. It is the beginning and end of the invasion of the little Tatar prince under the command of Ganzhou. And in this battle, the brick powder and cement they had produced were of great use, stopping the cavalry of the pirates from rushing under the city.
At the end of last year, they presented a recipe for native cement. After the Ministry of Industry tried the effect, they passed the recipe to Jiubian, and Ma Wensheng, Minister of War, made a memorial, begging to rebuild the Great Wall along Jiubian. The Son of Heaven fulfilled his edict, ordered the Ministry of War to transport more lime and gypsum to the border, and asked the locals to make arrangements to build and strengthen the city gate.
The four commanders of the provincial capitals of Shaanxi and the two commanders of Ganzhou guards in the city took advantage of the New Year to demolish many old houses in the city, thickened the city walls by several inches, and raised the arrow stacks outside the walls. The Inwara and Tatar tribes both inherited the excellent tactics of the cavalry of the former Yuan Dynasty. In order to deal with the cavalry rushing technique, several commanders built a circle of cement around the city to resist the horses, and the cement was condensed into sharp vertebrae. Buried in the wasteland outside the city.
When the little prince attacked Ganzhou, it was the beginning of February, and weeds had grown outside the city, covering the concrete vertebrae. The robbers thought that the horses outside Ganzhou were ordinary wooden horses, and they didn't know that something more sinister than the plum blossom piles had been buried on the flat ground.
If they wanted to get close to the city gate, they had to walk with their horses and give up their best horse fighting; if they didn’t give up, they had to shoot arrows outside the concrete forest, and they couldn’t hit the city head that was several feet higher. But the falling arrows, hurling stones, arquebuses, and cannonballs on the city can severely damage the Tatar troops and horses.
The pirates besieged the city for several days, with heavy casualties, and after a stalemate for several days, they had to retreat. At this time, the commander Li Qing resolutely ordered people to open the city gate and paved a road leading to the grassland with pre-cast bamboo reinforced concrete slabs. class and captives.
The emperor was overjoyed, and ordered the head sent from Ganzhou to be passed on to Jiubian, in order to strengthen the heart of the army. Those who have meritorious decapitation of soldiers and soldiers are promoted to one level, and they are given thousands of coins. And those who resisted the enemy at the frontier were also credited with making cement. The emperor specially summoned Xie and Cui to come here, and he wanted to praise and reward them in person.
Since both of them are newly promoted officials, the relocation is too fast. It should be Yin Yizi who is more suitable for Jinyiwei.
However, neither of these two had a son, not even an adoptive nephew. Xie Ying's nephew is the only seedling of his uncle's family, and if he adopts it, he will break up the fireworks of his relatives; Cui Xie's only second brother has given birth to the eldest son. - No matter how hard you try, you won't be able to give birth.
Only then did the emperor realize that he still had two bachelors with no descendants in his court.
One is devoted to handling cases, keeping clothes and guards clean; the other is obsessed with education, preaching to the world's students... or also to teach the relationship between the two uncles, but they are so old that they have not married and have children!
According to the old practice in the DPRK, if there is no son, the nephew should be favored. But when the emperor thinks that they have no biological son, he can't help but hesitate a little - even if these two are married now, they will have a son at the end of the year. When the child grows up, the father will also be older, and the merits earned by the fathers will be given to If you lose your nephew, who will the weak sons who will be born later rely on
Thinking of Jiao Er and his daughter in the palace, he persuaded them: "You two should think about yourself, you don't have to learn from Huo Qu Bing, you must kill the sun, kill the captives and get married again. The two Qing families will keep it until you think about it clearly."
Xie Ying had only one nephew, and he was given all the positions of the world, so he didn't have to think about it, he invited nephew Yintang on the spot. Cui Xie still had to see who would have two younger brothers and who would have a promising son, so he was not in a hurry to choose someone right away, so he begged the emperor to allow him to make a decision in the future and then ask for an decree.
These two are going straight to the end!
If it wasn't for the emperor to know that they have always been of good character, they don't raise good children at home, they don't go out and they don't act like actors, and they only focus on their careers, they would think that they have a craving for Longyang.
He saw that Xie Ying had invited Zhiyin to seal his nephew, so he didn't say anything more, and only persuaded Cui Xie: "Cui Qing is still young, it's not too late to get married at this time, go back and think about it slowly. My lady, I will also be rewarded in the future."
Cui Xie was very moved and reiterated that he was warned by his ancestors that he could not get married.
What a pity.
Eunuch Gao was in tears, and Zhu Youzhen almost wanted to order him to separate from his younger brothers, but it is still the Confucian filial piety that brothers live together. .
The emperor shook his head slightly, stopped mentioning the matter, and ordered his servants: "Please invite the prince to see Mr. Cui, and Xie Qing does not need to evade. I will ask him to meet the heroes of the country today."
Immediately, an internal servant came to Qingning Palace to pass on the decree. When the prince heard this, his face was light and expressionless, and he took up the posture of the prince and said, "Gao Banban and Liu Banban, change the clothes for Gu, and go with Gu to see the two adults."
Eunuch Liu looked at him with concern and pity while changing the prince's clothes.
In fact, Zhu Houzhao was not too shocked and did not need consolation.
From the moment he got the copy of the side paper, he vaguely guessed that there would be a chance to meet Cui Xie, and he was even prepared for the worst.
What's worse is that Cui Xie also holds a post in the East Palace, and is only his lecturer.
No matter how vicious this Mr. Cui was, he couldn't punish him as an ordinary disciple. He now has more than a dozen class attendants, lecturers, and orthographers, and many of them have higher status than bachelors. Could it be that he can really cover the sky once he comes in
Impossible, he also has Cheng Zhanshi and Wang Xueshi...
The maesters, who were usually so serious that the little prince was terrified at the thought of it, seemed to have become his spiritual support at this time.
He refreshed himself and walked into the Wenhua Hall with his chest and belly up. Cui Xie and the two immediately stood up and saluted. The prince answered the salute, looked up at the two, and sighed in his heart: These two real people are more respectable than those depicted in the comics, it would be great if there were such people in the East Palace!
It's a pity that one of them taught the country's uncle to handle the case, and the other compiled comic strips for the country's uncle, so that the young and powerful eunuchs in his palace were all arrested when the country's uncles were investigating the case, leaving only the wife Gao and Liu. .
The prince lowered his eyes slightly and couldn't bear to look at the two faces that reminded people of sad things, and said in a low voice: "I have heard the names of the two adults for a long time, but I have never had the opportunity to see them in person. I am very happy to see them today."
The two thanked him for a while, and Hongzhi pointed at Cui Xie and said, "Mr. Cui is outstanding in learning and has a good character. I have ordered Shusheren to make an order, and I will ask him to serve as a lecturer in the East Palace in the future. Listen to Mr. Cui's words, study hard, and cheer me and your mother at ease."
Sure enough!
It is not enough for this Mr. Cui to appear in the mouths of the uncles, in the books he has read, and in the memorials, so he will go to the Wenhua Hall and become his husband!
The prince couldn't help but glance at Cui Xie again, only to see his long eyebrows slightly wrinkled, his eyes as sharp as a sword, slanting towards the top of his head. That look was even more terrifying than when Mr. Wang He found out that he was not studying seriously. He was so frightened that he immediately avoided that look and turned to see Eunuch Gao, who was beside his father, Futai, and he felt a little more secure. Calmly, he asked, "The boy is now reading "The Great Learning" and "Book of Rites" with Mr. Yang and Mr. Zhang. What will Mr. Cui say when he comes?"
The emperor gave him a doting look: "Gentlemen not only teach you to study, but also teach you the principles of being a human being, the principles of governing the world, and nurture your temperament... Mr. Cui has excellent conduct and is good at farming. After Mr. Ri Yang and Mr. Zhang Er finished explaining the gist of the scriptures, they asked Mr. Cui to tell you the way of farming."
The country has always been based on farming. The emperor and the queen have to personally perform the ritual of farming and silkworms every spring.
Emperor Hongzhi knew that the prince usually liked to read comics about farming, and he also hoped that his son would grow up to be a good emperor who knew the suffering of the people and the difficulty of harvesting.
The little prince, however, didn't feel beautiful at all, and gave Cui Xie another trembling look.
Cui Xie was standing with his head bowed, promising to be a good lecturer and teach him with all his heart. Those eyes were also slightly drooping, the expression was gentle and calm, and the brows were relaxed, as if the sharp gaze just now was his illusion.
Zhu Houzhao puzzled him for a moment with his gentle expression, but he dared to ask him: "When Mr. Cui is lecturing, can Gu Neng take the "Daily Agricultural Classic" as a sermon? Ask Mr. to speak more deeply."
In fact, he didn't dare to read comic strips in front of the gentlemen, but now that his father was behind him, and Mr. Cui was the one who edited and printed comic strips, he dared to ask a question.
After asking, he suddenly felt that his idea was really brilliant.
If Mr. Cui agrees, then Mr. Cui is a good gentleman with him, so he need not be afraid; if he is to teach him a lesson, he is not allowed to read comics while listening to the lecture, then he will tell the old gentlemen in the waiters that this Mr. Cui is a comic editor. of!
He seemed to have grasped the handle of Cui Xie, and he was not so afraid of this gentleman, and there was a smile on his face as if he was holding the victory.
Cui Xie also smiled, his eyes respectfully fell on the square brick in front of him, and confidently replied: "Those things are imprinted in the heart of the minister, why do you need to speak to the sermon? Just ask if there is anything you don't understand, Your Highness. Minister, I don't need to read the manuscript."
The prince opened his mouth slightly, unable to think of how to deal with him for a while. After thinking about it for a while, I really remembered a question that I thought was very difficult and that the gentlemen must not understand, so I turned to the emperor and acted like a spoiled child: "My son has a question in the "Nongjing" and wanted to ask the gentleman for a long time. The gentlemen are too serious, I dare not ask, the father asks Mr. Cui to speak for me."
The Emperor looked at him helplessly and indulgently, and said with a smile: "Prepare to speak the case, write and write, I will ask for you, sir."
Of course, Cui Xie did not dare to wait for the emperor to beg him, so he took the initiative to ask for orders to teach for the prince. The prince thanked him indiscriminately, and immediately called out "Liu Banban", asking him to go to the Qingning Palace to get the crystal mirror to look at the peas.
Liu Jin, like the most ordinary chamberlain, turned around to go out in a docile and low-key manner, not even daring to look up at the two ministers in front of the imperial court. But his surname was destined to attract the attention of Cui Xie and Xie Ying. Before they went out, their appearance and demeanor were already in their hearts.
—Although Gao Feng, who is also one of the Eight Tigers, was scanned once by the two’s X-ray-like eyes, but because he was too transparent in history, Cui Xie did not remember his name. Then it was thrown aside.