minions live

Chapter 739 Winter Clothes
King Pingliang's eyes flickered.

The old chief secretary in front of him was indeed a core figure in the palace, but in the final analysis he was just a famous official or a servant, and he was still unaware of some secrets of the court.

For example, the Chief Secretary is not aware of the demotion and promotion of royal titles that Ren Ning is about to re-implement.

Thinking of this, King Pingliang sighed secretly.

He inherited the title of Prince from his ancestors and had hardly contributed anything to it.

Once Ren Ning implements the promotion and demotion of royal titles, it remains unknown whether the royal palace can remain unchanged.

As for being promoted to prince, Prince Pingliang didn't even dare to think about it.

In addition, he had carefully read the rules left by Taizu and knew that it would be extremely difficult to maintain the title of Prince.

At least the masters of the various royal palaces can no longer live a life of debauchery and chaos as they did in the past, but need to do something beneficial to the empire or the royal family.

And this achievement cannot be too small.

Trouble.

King Pingliang sighed secretly again.

As the saying goes, you only regret not having enough money when you need it, and you only realize it is exhausted when you need it.

He thought about it again and again, and then he painfully realized that he actually had nothing to offer except the title of a prince.

Finally, King Pingliang's gaze silently turned to the main gate.

It seems that I will have to rely on my in-laws for help in the future.

"Go and invite my second uncle over."

The old chief secretary was delighted and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Your Majesty is wise. I will go and invite my second uncle right away."

----

Time flies, and September passed quickly.

Xingji City remains largely the same, but there are exceptions.

From time to time, there would be rumors or newspapers that a general's mansion affiliated with the Central Army Corps had suddenly gone from being blockaded by the Imperial Guard to being ransacked by the Ministry of War.

Confiscating property and exterminating a clan is definitely a big deal for the people involved.

But it did not affect the lives of ordinary people at all. For them, it just gave them more topics to talk about after dinner.

royal palace.

As soon as the morning court session ended that day, there was one more person in the imperial study.

The commander of Jinlin Guard, Du Ziming.

After the ceremony between the emperor and his subjects, Ren Ning, who was sitting on the dragon throne, looked up at him.

"Tell me, what did you find out?"

"Your Majesty, Jinlin Guards captured a former Central Army commander named Li Bin who was attempting to escape outside of Lu Zuo Academy in Huayang County yesterday."

After saying this, he held up the information he had found with both hands.

Little Li took the letter and quickly put it on the dragon table.

"Li Bin?" Ren Ning pondered as he opened the thick letter.

These names of generals he had never heard of were usually just minor figures, not great generals.

"What's going on with him?"

It was so worthy for Du Ziming, the busy commander of the Jinlin Guard, to personally deliver the case to the imperial study.

"Your Majesty, this Li Bin was born in the Youlong General's Mansion in the east of the city. In addition, he has another identity. He is the son-in-law of the second uncle of the King of Pingliang."

"According to the investigation by Jinlin Guards, the reason why Li Bin was able to escape from the prison of Lvzuo Academy had a lot to do with Prince Pingliang."

The dignified prince is second only to the emperor and is above everyone else. As long as he gives the order to add one or two more people to the inspection teams in various places, the Ministry of War will agree without even thinking about it.

So Li Bin was suddenly released from prison.

Of course, there is another "Li Bin" in the prison of Luzuo Academy.

However, Li Bin looked haggard, as if he was seriously ill. It looked like he would not live for more than a few days...

Unfortunately, the Jinlin Guards were keeping a close eye on him, and the real Li Bin had just walked out of the Luzuo Academy and had not yet changed into clean clothes when he was arrested again.

"Very good, very good." Ren Ning scanned the document in his hand, "Another substitution, a substitution of one thing for another."

It seems that re-employing Ming Wang Chen Xiujian is still of some use. At least it has made the princes and princesses under him relax their vigilance, allowing them to do some risky things that they would never have dared to think of in the past.

"By the way, which royal palace is this involved?"

The voice on the dragon throne was very calm and peaceful, as if it was a casual question asked by friends during a chat, but Du Ziming's scalp tingled when he heard it.

He didn't dare to think too much and quickly lowered his head to report.

"Your Majesty, based on the current information, the Pingliang Palace is the fifth prince's palace involved in the Central Army Corps case..."

"If all the royal and princess palaces are added together, this should be the eighteenth royal family member involved."

Eighteen seats!
After listening to this, Ren Ning nodded expressionlessly.

"Don't alert the enemy. Let's play the long game."

"I want to see how many royal families and palaces dare to secretly interfere."

Du Ziming's back was instantly covered in cold sweat, and he lowered his head even lower. "I obey your order."

After seeing Du Ziming off, the state affairs for the day were almost done.

Ren Ning took Little Li Zi and went to the harem.

As always, the harem was peaceful.

Three palaces, six courtyards and seventy-two concubines?

Ren Ning thought about the dreams of many time travelers and smiled silently.

Home and everything are prosperous.

At present, both Yingpan and Li Hezhu are still young and healthy. If the three of them have a few more children in the future, the inheritance of the royal family will basically not be a problem.

There is no need to be like Emperor Changxing, who made the harem so chaotic that it is difficult to find a quiet place to stay.

Just as I was thinking about it, I suddenly heard a hearty and familiar laughter from the front.

Walking around a rockery, I saw Yingpan and Madam Zhang playing with little Ren Zhan.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

"Greetings to Your Majesty, Father!" The three of them hurriedly saluted.

"No gift."

Yingpan smiled and brought over a plate of snacks.

"Your Majesty has just left the court, are you hungry? I have some cakes here, they taste pretty good."

Ren Ning laughed.

Nowadays, no one could starve the emperor, but after he responded, he picked up a piece of cake and ate it slowly.

When he finished eating, Ying Pan said, "Your Majesty, tomorrow is the Cold Clothes Festival."

"Yeah." Ren Ning nodded.

He knew about the Cold Clothes Festival; Leo had just reminded him of this solar term.

On the first day of October, winter clothes were given.

It is said that Meng Jiangnu set out on the first day of October to travel to the Great Wall thousands of miles away to bring warm clothes to her husband.

However, when she arrived at the construction site, she learned that her husband had died of exhaustion and was buried at the foot of the Great Wall. She burst into tears and cried down the Great Wall, allowing her to bury her husband's body. Finally, she jumped into the sea and committed suicide.

In the Yunchui Empire, at this time of year every year, the emperor would bestow cotton clothes on his ministers who had worked hard and made great contributions as a reward and encouragement.

At the same time, this is also the day when each border defense corps distributes cotton clothes to the soldiers.

"How did my father celebrate the Cold Clothes Festival in the past?" Ren Ning never hesitated to ask questions.

Little Leo was naturally prepared.

"Your Majesty, every year during the Cold Clothes Festival, the late emperor would give cotton-padded clothes to the Grand Tutor, the six ministers, the five army commanders, and the three great generals guarding the pass."

"Everyone?" Ren Ning was curious, "Without exception?"

"This..." Little Leo hesitated and quickly flipped through the notebook in his hand.

After a long while, he looked at his master again.

"Your Majesty, in most years, the late emperor did give the above-mentioned officials cotton-padded clothes to keep warm. But there are exceptions. For example, in the seventh year of Changxing, for some reason, the late emperor did not give clothes to the then Minister of Personnel. In addition, there were also exceptions in the thirteenth and nineteenth years of Changxing..."

"I understand."

Ren Ning didn't listen any further and raised his hand to interrupt Xiao Lizi.

"Since there is a precedent, then it's fine. I will choose the cotton-padded clothes for you this year."

This is to prevent the heads of the six ministries and the border generals of each legion from always thinking that they are on an equal footing with their colleagues and having no sense of crisis or competition.

"Your Majesty is wise." Little Leo naturally obeyed his orders.

Coming back to his senses, Ren Ning looked at Ying Pan, who had a beautiful face in front of him.

"The Queen mentioned the Cold Clothes Festival. Is she trying to give clothes to the ladies?"

Yingpan and Madam Zhang looked at each other, and she shook her head.

"Your Majesty is really a forgetful person. At this time of year in previous years, I should have prepared to go to the South City Gate with the Crown Prince's Consort of the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion and the Crown Prince's Consort of the Earl of Zhongyong's Mansion to distribute porridge."

Ren Ning slapped his forehead, "So that's what happened. If the Queen hadn't mentioned it, I would have really forgotten about it."

"Why, your status is different this year, and you are going to leave the palace to distribute porridge?"

Yingpan giggled and nodded.

"If your majesty allows, I would naturally like to go out of the palace to distribute porridge."

"Of course, it would be best if this could become a tradition among concubines in the future."

For them, even providing porridge for a winter would not cost much money, but it could provide a way to survive for the displaced people outside the city.

With the Queen taking the lead, the ladies in every county and prefecture would follow suit whether they were reluctant or not.

However, because of their small action, many people in the entire empire will be spared from starvation and cold death.

There is no greater good than this.

Ren Ning understood and felt greatly relieved.

"If you want to go, go ahead, but be careful."

"Okay."