golden scales

() Chongzhen got off his chariot at the main entrance of Kunning Palace, and walked in at a leisurely pace.The emperor, who has just passed his thirties, walks very fast, as if someone is always chasing him.The corrupt situation over the years also made him frown, and it has been a long time since he had a chance to relax.

Of course, Zhonggong was notified of His Majesty's arrival.According to the rules, Her Royal Highness should greet the emperor at the main entrance of Kunning Palace.However, as soon as Empress Zhou entered the palace, she abolished this rule. The reason was that "the wives of dross will not go to court", and they just greeted them at the gate of the main hall.

It has been like this for 16 years.

After seeing the ceremony, the couple of the Tian family went to the throne together.A desk was placed in front of the throne, and a thick thread-bound booklet was spread out on top of it.

Chongzhen sat down in a hurry, and asked, "What books does the queen read?"

"I just checked last month's account book." Zhou Hou said: "Compared to the previous few months, there is no drop, but it has dropped a lot compared to this time last year."

Chongzhen finally heard some good news.Since he ascended to the throne, he has been building a frugal inner palace, hoping to guide the subjects of the world to tide over the difficulties.For this reason, Queen Zhou set up 24 spinning wheels in the palace, and took the maids to spin.In the eighth year of Chongzhen, Zhang Xianzhong destroyed Fengyang's ancestral tomb, and Chongzhen even withdrew Shanle and moved to the Wuying Hall in the Outer Palace. In the end, the ministers couldn't hold back and invited him back to the palace repeatedly, so he moved back to the Inner Palace for daily living.

"During the Wanli period, the monthly food silver in the palace was 1 taels. In the 12th year of Chongzhen, the majesty dropped to 9000 taels, and now it is only 5000 taels." The queen sat next to the emperor, drew closer to the ledger, and drew her fingers between the rows. Pass.

This is a bookkeeping book that is completely different from traditional journals. It is actually more like a report.All major items, minor items, and miscellaneous items are clearly classified, and the income and expenditure are clear at a glance. The point library is fixed every quarter, and a list of movable and immovable properties is made.All kinds of things sound troublesome, but once they get used to this set of rules, the female officials and eunuchs in charge, and even the emperor and queen, will feel a lot easier.

The only ones who are annoyed are the palace servants and eunuchs who are in charge of affairs below. There are too few places where they can cheat.And it's so small that they can't capture it at their level. No matter how careful the accounts they make, they can't escape the eyes of Tianjia.Only a few people know that it is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince who is helping the mother to audit, which is even more chilling than the old fortune teller. <How did brother come up with it.I originally wanted Liubu to use this kind of report, but unfortunately it is too difficult for those officials to learn. "

"A middle-ranking official who has never read any books can learn it, but the foreign ministers are all talented people who have read sage books, so they can't learn it?" The queen shook her head and said: "Even if it is not as beautiful as my brother Chun, If you can’t even learn it, it’s just perfunctory.” <What does brother say? "

"Going out of the palace to provide disaster relief."

"Oh, yes, he has been here before." Chongzhen was stunned, and said again: "Have you allowed him?"

"How can we let him go out!" Zhou Hou said loudly: "No matter how many people die in the capital, the foundation of the country cannot be shaken! What's more, my brother is not yet fifteen, if he is among the people, he doesn't even have his hair tied! "

Chongzhen's face darkened, and he said: "However, foreign ministers are not as good as my crown prince."

"I haven't heard of any foreign minister's family who has lost a close relative. They are not in a hurry. Why are we in a hurry."

"It's not like that," Chongzhen stood up and paced slowly, "This world belongs to my Zhu family after all. They are not in a hurry, but I can't watch my people suffer."

Zhou Hou let out a long sigh.

In this sigh, there is worry about his son's imminent danger, as well as helplessness for his husband.

——Your Majesty's rebellious heart is really too strong.

Even the maids sighed silently in their hearts.

"I've thought about it, it's good to let the prince go out of the palace to see the sufferings of the people. To appease the military." Chongzhen said firmly.

Although victorious, there was no excitement a week later.Taking advantage of her husband's weakness of character, this was taught to her by her son.I can't even scratch my head, why does the prince who has been raised in the deep palace have a deeper understanding of people's hearts than her dignified mother?

——Let that bastard succeed again!

Zhou Hou bit her inner lip lightly.

"Queen, I don't worry about the prince's work, and you should too." Chongzhen thought that Zhou Hou would not let his son go out, so he stepped forward to persuade him gently.

"Hey, where will the prince live when he leaves the palace?" The queen said again: "It is better to send more experienced and capable palace people to follow."

"Let him live in the Qian Mansion." Chongzhen said: "As for the palace people, the empress will take care of them. Just don't overstep the rules. Well, the crown prince will have to choose a concubine next year, so this time, even the female officials of the Fourth Division will be together." Sent."

"I don't need it," the queen said after a pause, "I always feel that the prince is still very young, it's too early."

Chongzhen smiled, and his eyes fell on the ledger again.

……

"Oh, according to the military regulations?" Zhu Cihong sat in the study room in Duanben Palace, and the rice paper spread out in front of him was written in dense small script.Although he was talking, the brush under his hand didn't stop at all.After he finished writing a sheet, he put down the brush, picked it up casually, and handed it to the eunuch beside him: "Go and engrave."

The accompanying eunuch took the page, walked quickly to the door, and handed it to another eunuch.The eunuch sandwiched the paper into the cardboard and hurried to the Sili Supervisor's Economics Factory.

Seeing the little eunuch run away, the eunuch who was wearing a big red python robe just turned around and returned to the prince.

"Tian Cunshan." Zhu Cihong leaned on the back of the chair, closed his eyes and called.

"The servant is here."

"According to Fujun regulations, how many guards can there be in the East Palace?" Zhu Cihong asked.

"This... I will report to the prince after I go back and check it." Tian Cunshan said cautiously.Does he know that the wiseness of the current prince is by no means someone who can be fooled.

Zhu Cihong's eyebrows twitched slightly.This Tian Cunshan was considered young and promising among the eunuchs, and at the age of 30, he had to be awarded the Eastern Palace Seal, but this age was still too young for the eunuchs in the inner palace, and he had no foundation.The means and temperament are still too immature.Especially compared with Cao Huachun, Wang Chengen, and Wang Zhixin, they are even more incompetent.

But the big pengs that the crown prince likes may not necessarily look up to the crown prince.One is because the crown prince has seized the easiest job to play tricks from the chief inspector of ceremonies, and the other is that these big pengs are already a lot of age, and today's sons are in their prime of life, so there is really no need to pave such a long way back.

If I had a capable old eunuch by my side, I would have been able to relax a lot in the past ten years.

Zhu Cilang took a breath, straightened his back, picked up the pen again, and started writing again.After writing two characters, Zhu Cihong suddenly raised his head and said: "Last year, the palace entered the book, there seems to be a copy of "Zhuo Zhong Zhi"?"

Tian Cunshan didn't dare to say that he didn't know. He knew that the prince never forgets his photographs, so he boldly echoed: "It seems that there is, His Highness seemed to say at the time... and said that he would look for it when he had time." The prince's reading list , For many books, he would say "look for it when you have time", so even if the prince remembered that he didn't say that at the time, it's not a big mistake if he didn't remember well.

After all, not everyone is as wise as the prince.

"Is this book written by the great eunuch of the Shenzong Dynasty?" Zhu Cihong asked again without raising his head.

"Prince forgive me," Tian Cunshan knelt on the ground with a puff, "I will go to investigate and report back to the prince."

"Probably not in the palace anymore, otherwise he would be an admiral and eunuch." Zhu Cihong pretended not to know, but said: "You go and investigate, if he is still willing to return to the palace as a servant, please ask the chief of ceremonies to come to my side."

Tian Cunshan felt uneasy, and secretly complained: This is because the prince is dissatisfied with us!Alas, being with a prince is like being with a tiger, but being with the crown prince is even more fierce than a tiger!Forget it, this master is not something we can serve, and it would be a good thing to change places.

"Your maid obeys the order." Tian Cunshan kowtowed and was about to run out when he heard the prince cough lightly, and quickly stopped in his tracks.

"Cao Huachun has been back to his hometown for five or six years." Zhu Cihong said suddenly.

Tian Cunshan knelt down immediately, with tears in his eyes: "His Royal Highness, benevolence and kindness is rare in ancient and modern times, and he still remembers us as slaves. Eunuch Cao was begging for leave due to illness in 11 years, and returned home in February of 12 years."

"Where is his home?"

"My servant remembers that Eunuch Cao is from Wuqing, Tianjin."

"It's not too far," Zhu Cihong continued, "Send someone to visit the sick. If he is still healthy, invite him to Beijing. I want to see him."

"Slave obeys the order." Tian Cunshan hurried out to explain something, and then hurried to the outside of the palace.

Zhu Cihong immersed himself in writing for a long time, and finally finished writing two more pages, and called the eunuch, and asked them to go to the factory for engraving and printing.Although he has already printed many books, and it is said that some of them are circulated outside, but after all, the red wall is so deep that he has never heard a single movement.Now the Beijing plague is not in Zhu Cihong's historical knowledge, it is an emergency, so the epidemic control draft can only be written now.