golden scales

Song Hongye is a smart man.

If you can work in a place like Wucheng Bingmasi for 20 years, an idiot will become a smart person.

An idea flashed in Song Hongye's head, and he suddenly realized the intention of the prince being unworthy of an official position.This is because there is no one around the prince!He secretly looked around the prince's traveling entourage, a pampered nobleman, several eunuchs, and an eight-foot-tall warrior.

Sure enough, there are no scribes!

The prince is building a team from scratch!

Song Hongye felt a little joy in his heart, and said in a loud voice: "The humble job is willing to serve His Royal Highness the Crown Prince with the money of a poor horse, and I will die without hesitation!"

Zhu Cihong was a little surprised, this was the first time he saw someone so excited because he became an official of the Eastern Palace.Every time he saw the lecturers in Zhan Shifu, he felt lifeless and unfit for appointment.Rarely have I seen such a spirited person.This emotion alone made Zhu Cihong almost blurt out and give him an official status.

Fortunately, only a little bit.

"Song Hongye," Zhu Cihong said, "do something for me, and you are not afraid of making mistakes, only three words."

"Humble post, I would like to hear the order of the prince!"

"Lazy, greedy, mediocre." Zhu Cihong increased his voice, and at the same time, he was also listening to the group of old people in the East Palace behind him. He said: "Afraid of difficulties and not moving forward, afraid of labor, I will never let such lazy people The corpse is a vegetarian meal. If you dare to take it without warning, if it falls into my hands, it will be light to peel it off and fill it with grass! As for Yong, if he can’t do things, what’s the use of me keeping him? What’s the use of the country supporting him?”

"I understand!" Song Hongye replied loudly, and after thinking for a while, he said: "Although I am a scribe, I have fired cannons on the wall during the Jisi change, and I have killed thieves with my hands. The crown prince has orders, and there is nothing wrong with the humble official." !"

Zhu Cilang smiled slightly when he heard the words: "You are not mediocre." He turned his head and said, "Tian Cunshan, have you found the one who wrote "Zhuo Zhong Zhi"?"

Tian Cunshan's heart tightened, as if digging a grave for himself.He didn't dare to say that he didn't search for it with all his heart, but said: "Your Highness, this slave girl found out that Liu Ruoyu who wrote "Zhuo Zhong Zhi" entered the palace during the Wanli period. It was only released in a year."

"There is a confession in his book, I know all about it." Zhu Cihong raised his eyebrows: "But you can be lazy and not do what I ordered!"

"Your servant is guilty!" Tian Cunshan immediately knelt on the ground, thinking to himself: The prince will not want to make an example to the newcomer Song Hongye, right?How can I be so unlucky!

"Arrange him to be a match tonight." Zhu Cilang said calmly, and then continued to walk forward.

Song Hongye was so shocked that he broke out in a fine sweat, and thought to himself: This prince is really unpredictable. It seems that he will either be prosperous in the future, or be smashed to pieces!

"Song Hongye," Zhu Cihong suddenly called out as he walked in front, "Do you have a sign?"

"I don't dare to insult respectful words." Song Hongye hurriedly followed, bowing a step behind.

"Say."

"A lowly job and low name Zhenhua." Song Hongye said.

"Aspirational." Zhu Cihong praised casually, and then asked: "Why do I see a basin of water on the cabinets of many shops? Is it for washing hands?" If people in this era already know that washing hands frequently can prevent plague, Then the epidemic prevention work will be much easier this time.

"Return to Your Highness, this is for checking money." Song Hongye said.

"How to test money? How do you test it?" Zhu Cihong knew that copper coins can be divided into official mints and private mints, and silver also has differences in fineness, but this is the first time I have heard of using water to test money.

"There is an allusion to this." Song Hongye was not willing to give up the opportunity to deepen his impression in front of the prince, but he didn't dare to be too aggressive with Meng Lang, so he immediately stopped talking and looked at the prince's face.

"Say."

"As ordered," Song Hongye cleared his throat, "It was the 24th year of Wanli, Gaogong Company was in charge of Chongwenmen, and dreamed that a man of God said to him: 'Tomorrow there will be a ghost and two cars entering this gate, so don't accept it' Eunuch Gao was so surprised that he personally sat in Gaomen that day and ordered all cars not to enter the city.

"At noon, he thought that the ghost would not come out at this time, so he went to eat. Unexpectedly, after a while, he heard the sound of a car passing by the door, and hurriedly asked the left and right. The left and right began to say 'absolutely not', and were whipped by Eunuch Gao Later, he confessed: "Someone offered a piece of silver to cross the customs privately. The villain wanted to donate a few dollars, but now I got five taels. It's a good deal." Eunuch Gao said, "This must be a ghost." Then I ordered a big search, but I couldn’t find it. I took the silver and put it in the water, and it floated up immediately. It turned out to be made of paper. Now that there is a major epidemic in the capital, it is said that all ghosts are going to go, and they are looking for a surrogate. The water basin is on the cabinet to distinguish between ghosts and humans."

Zhu Cihong was silent after hearing this.

Seeing that the young prince was so deep, Song Hongye was afraid that he had committed some taboo in this story, and felt uneasy, like beating a drum.

After walking for a while, Zhu Cihong finally said: "Your allusion is really humble. There are officials, education, and people's hearts. You must know that the epidemic prevention is not very difficult now. It is because the officials refuse to follow my orders and the people don't understand my teaching plan. How can you do it?" What can be done to get it right?"

Song Hongye's mind just turned around, and he followed the idea of ​​"testing money with water", recalling the prince's reaction just now, and said: "Your Highness, the people are ignorant, and they believe in ghosts and gods. You might as well use the name of ghosts and gods to teach the prince Pass it on."

Zhu Cihong was noncommittal.

"Also," Song Hongye saw that the crown prince was not very satisfied, and quickly added, "Let the Lijia in each workshop, organize the people in the workshop, and act with heart. This does not require the government to come forward, as long as two servants are sent to explain it."

"The thing about ghosts and gods before was a thaumaturgy." Zhu Cihong then said, "Order Li Jia to explain the truth and let the people follow it. This is the right way. My majestic Prince Ming, how can I use thaumaturgy instead of righteousness?"

"It's a humble job with little knowledge and improper thinking. Please forgive me, Your Highness." Song Hongye heard the strings and knew the elegant meaning, and thought in his heart: The prince's words clearly mean that he can't use strange things, and the subordinates should do it.That's right, I'm a low-level official, who should do this if I shouldn't?

Thinking of how useful he was to the prince, Song Hongye felt a little proud unconsciously.

The crowd walked around the city for a long time, and they came to the front door without knowing it.Looking at the time, it was already approaching noon, Zhu Cihong and others came out early, and did not dare to eat those street food along the way. At this time, they were also hungry and their legs and feet were sore.

Zhu Cihong pointed to the signboard of a two-story building on the side of the road: "This house looks clean, and there are sedan chairs parked at the door, you can use some."

Tian Cunshan was about to go to clean up, only to hear Song Hongye say: "Your Highness, that is the sedan chair of Li Banghua, the censor of Zuodu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate."

"Oh? What a coincidence, I still want to meet him." Zhu Cihong said with a smile: "It's fate, let's go eat and drink first, and then let him come over."

Tian Cunshan bowed and continued to run into the store.As soon as he entered the store, he first grabbed the shopkeeper's hand, revealing the palace's waist card.

When the shopkeeper saw the ivory brand, he knew that he was a great eunuch, so he didn't dare to disobey the slightest, so he let Tian Cunshan inspect the kitchen, supervise the cleaning, boil hot water and scald the pot and cook the dishes.

"The shopkeeper," Xiao Er came in from the door, and said mysteriously, "It seems that he is a noble person."

The shopkeeper hastily straightened his clothes and went out to greet him. He saw a sixteen or seventeen-year-old young nobleman walking towards him with a solemn expression. The group of people behind him were in awe of him. .Could this be the county king?

The people in the capital are no strangers to the affairs of the Tian family.Today, there are only the crown prince and the two kings Yong and Ding in the Tian family, none of whom have left the palace.It has never been heard in the middle of the capital that the king of the foreign domain came, but if he is the general of Zhenguo and Fuguo, where does he come from such a great majesty?

"Shopkeeper, I want a private room." Zhu Cihong already greeted him with a smile, and pointed at Li Banghua's sedan chair: "It would be better to sit next to them."

"Yes, yes," the shopkeeper laughed quickly, "Please come inside, honorable guest, please lift your feet, honorable guest, please go upstairs." He shouted again: "Clean out Ziyun Pavilion quickly! Do you want it to be clean? A little gray!"

The shop assistants didn't dare to be negligent, and hurried up to clean up.

Zhou Jing winked, and the guards of the East Palace hurriedly followed, and searched the inside and outside of Ziyun Pavilion to prevent any thieves from ambush.

Seeing this situation, Zhu Cihong thought to himself: How did the protagonists of those novels pretend to be pigs and eat tigers?In such a big battle, even if it was really a pig, the tiger would not dare to come up.

When the upper floors were cleared up, Zhu Cihong moved upstairs and saw Furong Pavilion next to Ziyun Pavilion, and a servant in green clothes and a small cap came out of it, looking at him nervously, so he generously smiled and pushed himself away. The door entered his private room.

According to the custom at that time, many distinguished guests served drinks and snacks first, and then passed the dishes to start the table after talking about business.Although Furong Pavilion came early, the kitchen was still preparing ingredients.Zhu Cihong's side was in a hurry to eat, Tian Cunshan didn't need to force him, the chef first cooked the prepared ingredients in Ziyun Pavilion.

What Zhu Cihong ate in the palace was delicacies from mountains and seas. When he first ate the "food" outside, he only felt that in terms of color and aroma, only the taste could be regarded as edible, and the color and aroma were completely unappreciable.As soon as this thought came up, a warning flashed in his heart: It is said that it is difficult to go from extravagance to frugality. If I lead the army to fight and regain the country in the future, I am afraid I will not be able to eat such meals!

Tian Cunshan saw that the prince ate more than the palace, and finally a stone fell from his heart.Before he had time to rejoice, he heard a high-pitched voice from the private room next door:

"Isn't this nonsense! The crown prince...is a child after all, how can he pre-empt military and state affairs!"

The air in Ziyun Pavilion suddenly condensed, and everyone instantly turned into stone.

Cursing people behind their backs is nothing, but in this situation...

"Hehe." Zhu Cihong put down his chopsticks and laughed before saying anything, which made Tian Cunshan's hair stand on end.

"I recognize this voice." Zhu Cihong leaned back, "It's Zuo Zhongyun and Li Mingrui. It seems that he and Xianchen haven't had dinner yet, why don't you invite them to use together."

One of the big Han generals on the left and right of the guards walked out, obeying orders.

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