Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 29 Anxious Sheng Hong

"Angel, please come in."

After a few pleasantries, Sheng Hong welcomed Liu Sanshi in.

When they arrived at the central courtyard, an incense table had already been set up in the yard. Liu Sanshi stood behind the table, while the Sheng family members stood in front of the table with their bodies bowed, waiting for Liu Sanshi to read out the imperial edict.

Kneeling was not a popular ritual in the Song Dynasty, but the etiquette for receiving an imperial edict was complicated and one had to kneel down to receive it.

This refers to the imperial edict issued by the Secretariat. This time it is a private edict and does not require kneeling to receive.

Liu Sanshi didn't waste any words. After the Sheng family was ready, he directly read out the emperor's decree and summoned Sheng Hong's eldest son Sheng Changbai to Beijing to serve as the prince's tutor.

After hearing the imperial edict, the entire Sheng family was stunned.

Sheng Hong was originally nervous because of the sudden imperial decree, but he didn't expect it to be a huge pie in the sky, which directly hit him on the head and made him dizzy.

"Lord Sheng, please accept the order!" Liu Sanshi reminded with a smile.

Sheng Hong came back to his senses, and Xie En, dazed, stepped forward to take the imperial edict.

It was not until he received the imperial edict that he came to his senses a little. He took out the silver bills he had prepared long ago from his sleeve and stuffed them into the pockets of Liu Sanshi, calling them wedding money.

Liu Sanshi was very satisfied with Sheng Hong's understanding. He smiled and said that he wanted to share in Mr. Sheng's joy, and took the banknote.

"Changbai, quickly take the angel to the main hall to rest for a while."

Sheng Hong gave an order to Sheng Changbai behind him, then looked at Liu Sanshi and said with a smile: "Angel, I will first deliver the imperial edict to the ancestral hall for worship, and then come back to talk to the angel later."

Gu Tingye was rewarded with a red tasseled spear by the government, which was enshrined in the ancestral hall by the Gu family, let alone an imperial edict.

"Please do as you wish, Lord Sheng." Liu Sanshi said with a smile.

Sheng Hong delivered the imperial edict to offer sacrifices, while Sheng Changbai led Liu Sanshi into the main hall.

Madam Wang quickly ordered her servants to deliver the prepared tea and snacks, including to the imperial guards who had followed, and gave each of them ten taels of silver.

The female members of the family were not in a position to come forward, so the angel went to the main hall and then returned to their rooms. Sheng Changbai and Sheng Changfeng kept them company for the time being.

Sheng Changbai became Zhao Xing's study partner. Liu Sanshi did not dare to look down on him. He wanted to make friends with him and went out of his way to chat with him.

However, after chatting for a few sentences, Liu Sanshi paid more attention to Sheng Changbai.

Sheng Changbai is only eleven years old now. Despite his young age, he is very calm when facing him. He is polite and considerate during the chat, not nervous at all, and seems very mature.

Although Liu Sanshi was just a eunuch, he was able to get around in the palace and was adopted as the emperor's trusted eunuch, Eunuch Liu, so he must have some abilities.

Liu Sanshi not only knows how to read people's expressions, but also has a good eye for people. He doesn't know how knowledgeable Sheng Changbai is, but with his calm temperament, he will have a bright future.

As they were chatting, Sheng Hong came back. After a while of greetings, Sheng Hong tried to find out in a roundabout way why the emperor summoned his son to the palace to study with him.

The news that Zhao Xing was going to enthrone a crown prince had already spread throughout the world, and Sheng Hong naturally knew about it as well.

A few months after Zhao Xing was enthroned, Sheng Changbai would become the prince's companion.

When hearing the contents of the imperial edict, even Sheng Hong, who considered himself to be very shrewd, was stunned for a while.

It was not until I went to the ancestral hall that I calmed down a lot.

Everything has a reason. He was just the Tongpan of Yangzhou, a lowly official. The government might not even have an impression of him. So how could they suddenly summon his son to the palace to be the prince's companion?

Liu Sanshi naturally heard Sheng Hong's test and did not hide it. He directly told Sheng Hong that it was Sheng Changbai who was recommended to the prince by Gu Tingye.

There was nothing to hide about this kind of thing, so he was naturally happy to give Sheng Hong some face.

After chatting for a while, Liu Sanshi suggested that he had something to say to Sheng Hong in private. Upon hearing this, Sheng Hong quickly asked his two sons and the servants serving in the hall to leave.

"I heard that Lord Sheng has a beautiful concubine, whom he dotes on very much. Apart from the status, she is even comparable to his wife in other aspects. Is this true?" Liu Sanshi said with a smile.

Sheng Hong was stunned when he heard this, and then cold sweat broke out on his forehead: "No...no, as a scholar, how could I not know the ethics and morals, how could I do such a thing as favoring a concubine and killing my wife." The ancients emphasized self-cultivation, family management, governance of the country and peace in the world. This sentence is easy to understand, which means that one should have upright morals and noble conduct and be able to manage one's own family well.

As the saying goes, if you can't clean up your own house, how can you clean up the world? If an official can't even manage his own house, how can he be a good official?

When judging officials, political achievements and abilities are only one aspect; their moral character is more important.

The so-called "managing the family" does not mean asking men to take care of household affairs, but refers to family style.

Disrespecting elders, favoring concubines over wives, and failing to educate children well are all manifestations of a bad family tradition.

The Song Dynasty was tolerant of civil servants. If an official was impeached for corruption or bribery, he would probably just be fined some salary or demoted.

But if one is morally corrupt and impeached, he may lose his job and be punished.

Sheng Hong did favor his concubine, but he was still rational and did not dare to kill his wife.

However, it is certain that the treatment he gave to Lin Xiaoniang had already gone beyond the scope of a concubine.

But this is just a family matter and outsiders don't know about it.

When Liu Sanshi mentioned this, Sheng Hong naturally didn't think that Liu Sanshi was gossiping.

He guessed that it was probably because the government investigated the Sheng family when it was preparing to recruit Sheng Changbai as a companion, and therefore asked Liu Sanshi to give him a warning.

That’s why Sheng Hong was afraid.

Liu Sanshi was not concerned about this matter, but just wanted to complete Zhao Xing's explanation. Seeing Sheng Hong's denial, he said calmly: "Your Highness seems to think highly of the young master. Lord Sheng has the best. Otherwise, it would be morally flawed and affect the young master's future. That would be bad."

"Yes, yes, thank you for the reminder, Eunuch Liu."

Sheng Hong wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. It seemed that the government just wanted to give him a warning and had no intention of pursuing the matter.

Liu Sanshi stayed at the Sheng family for more than an hour, declined the Sheng family's invitation to a banquet in the evening, and took his people to the Yangzhou post station.

Although the decree has been announced, the Chinese New Year is only a few days away, so Sheng Changbai needs time to pack up and prepare.

The time to return to Beijing was set on the third day after the New Year.

Liu Sanshi was accompanied by dozens of imperial guards, so the soldiers at the city gate naturally questioned him when he entered the city.

As soon as Liu Sanshi entered the city, the soldiers reported it.

While Liu Sanshi was chatting with Sheng Hong at Sheng's house, almost all the officials in Yangzhou, big and small, got the news.

Officials in Yangzhou also knew that this was not a clear order, so they sent people to inquire about the news.

After learning that the angel had gone to the Sheng family, they all rushed to the Sheng family after the angel left.

Imperial edicts in ancient times were not read out by eunuchs as shown in some film and television dramas.

Not to mention anything else, during the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang prohibited eunuchs from learning to read. How could they read the imperial edict if they couldn’t even recognize the words?

In fact, the imperial edicts issued by the Secretariat were read out by special officials, not eunuchs.

Only private decrees like these would be read out and conveyed by the eunuchs in the palace.

Therefore, the Yangzhou officials did not go to the Sheng family immediately. After all, the literati were noble and aloof, and there were no eunuchs in power, so they naturally would not rush over to curry favor with a eunuch.

If the person who delivered the imperial edict was an official, they would probably come to show goodwill and make friends as soon as they got the news.

A group of officials from Yangzhou came to inquire about the content of the decree.

Sheng Hong had just sent Liu Sanshi away, but he was feeling uneasy because of what Liu Sanshi had said. When he saw the officials from Yangzhou coming, he had to cheer them up and entertain them.

(End of this chapter)