New·New Consort

Liu Mansion in the capital was completely silent.

Prime Minister Liu Taoku sat in the hall, his son and son-in-law stood beside him, and everyone's faces were sad.

After a long time, Liu Tao sighed: "1000 million taels of gold is just for one person's extremely ridiculous dream, and now this ridiculous thing has to be realized by my hands. I have been in politics for 30 years, and I have been a prime minister for ten years. I am very cautious. , begging for perfection, but now, you are going to be reduced to this point—God, do you still have eyes!"

At the Bairi Dynasty meeting, the emperor announced that he would build a reception platform to welcome the Taishang Laojun who was above the nine emptinesses to come down to earth to send the elixir, so as to realize the dream of immortality as soon as possible.

When Liu Tao said that Chen Ming's treasury was empty, Yuxian said with deep meaning: "Wealth in the world is everywhere, it depends on whether you bend down to pick it up." .

"'Baizhang high, golden pillars, and silver terraces', that old miscellaneous hair can do whatever he wants, and the incompetent and stupid king really let him!" Liu Changying yelled angrily.

Madam Liu's complexion changed, she stepped forward and slapped Liu Changying across the face, but Li Zhaoting couldn't stop her, so she could only exclaim in astonishment.

Under the astonished stares of everyone, Mrs. Liu said with an ugly face: "Everyone in the world can scold the emperor, but you can't."

Liu Changying said angrily, "Why?"

Mrs. Liu paused, and said with difficulty: "Because, because he is the emperor."

Liu Changying took a step forward and said to his father Liu Tao: "Father, my son has been studying with you since he was a child. From the Four Books and Five Classics to the strategy of governing the country, he is full of economic articles. Why? Isn't it to learn literary and martial arts and sell it to the emperor's family?"

Liu Tao shook his head deeply: "No..."

"What's that for?"

Liu Tao turned around and said, "I want you to be a good person. You have a straightforward temperament and are not suitable for this officialdom. Su Zi once said in a poem, 'I hope that I will have a son who is stupid and rude, and I will be a public official without any disasters and difficulties'. My expectation is that 'there will be no disasters and no troubles for the common people'."

Liu Changying smiled sadly: "I understand, no wonder, I take the imperial examination, you won't let me go; the emperor recruits a son-in-law, and my mother gave me a dagger to make me commit suicide! You won't let me enter the official career, okay, I obey , but in this case, why do you want me to read so many books?!"

Since there are already rivers, seas, hills and ravines in the abdomen, it is difficult to calm down when there is a storm.

Liu Changying continued: "The literacy problem in life begins. When I was young, I read about Ou Yezi's sword in a book. I wanted to make a Zhanlu sword. "If the king has the way, the sword is on the side. If the king has no way, the sword flies away." The world will rise and fall, even if you make me subdue to be an ordinary man, I am also responsible for every man!" After finishing speaking, he angrily waved Li Zhaoting's hand away, and walked out.

Liu Tao was furious: "Come here, take care of Young Master, don't let him step out of the prime minister's house!"

The cock crowed for the second time, and the countryside became lively.

"My son, the porridge this morning is so watery, how can I go to the field if I can't eat enough?" Xu Jia Dalang squatted at the door and drank a bowl of porridge, quite dissatisfied.

"There are more people in the family, but the food has not increased, so we can only add water to the porridge? Drink more water and bear with it." Mrs. Xu was not a little angry.

Da Lang hurriedly stopped her: "Hush, keep your voice down. That's Mr. Song's nephew. If it weren't for Mr. Song, the seedlings in the field would have died of drought."

Mrs. Xu curled her lips: "What's the matter if I said it? Even if Mr. Song helped us build two water trucks, it was for the whole village, but why did his nephew only put it in our house? I can't lift my shoulders and resist, but I know how to play with his wood every day, a big man can't even help me pick up a stupid egg and drive a duck."

Da Lang hurriedly coaxed her a few words, saying that he would bring her new patterns when he came back from work in the workshop in the afternoon, which calmed her down a little, hummed a little tune and put the breakfast at the door of the small west room— —

"Young Master Song, have breakfast!"

The prince in that door actually woke up a long time ago, the thin wooden door can't block anything, he is always woken up by mice in the middle of the night, sometimes he goes to bed late, and he can even hear the couple's boudoir, what Xu Dalang and his wife said just now Of course he didn't miss a word.

According to the past, he must be too temperamental to ignore this young lady, but now he lives under the fence, and the temple of five internal organs is the most important.He opened the door, thanked him, and squatted by the door to drink porridge.

Who knows, as soon as he picked up the bowl, he bumped into something warm beside the bowl.

egg.

The Xu family raised two hens, and they were very diligent, laying two eggs every day.According to the usual rules, one is for Mr. Xu Changsheng, and the other is for Da Lang's four-year-old daughter, Xiao Hua'er.

There is very little meat in the farmhouse. He has been eating porridge for several days in a down-to-earth manner, and now he can't help swallowing his saliva when he sees the eggs.He turned his gaze and saw a four-year-old girl squatting beside her with a smile: "Little brother, I'll give you the chicken, and you can read a poem to me."

The prince smiled: "Okay, when I'm doing carpentry, you can listen to me reading poems next to me." He peeled the egg, squeezed it in half, and ate half of it with Xiao Hua'er.

Yijian Piaohong dutifully brought the crown prince to the village of Huailai. Chief Jia scratched his head and read Feng Suzhen's letter. He took the two princes and walked westward for another ten miles. They found the home of Xu Changsheng, an old carpenter in the village, and settled the crown prince. In the long-abandoned carpentry workshop of the Xu family.When Xu Changsheng was young, he did a lot of carpentry work and hurt his waist. Now he seldom works.

The Xu family is not considered rich. Besides farming his own land, the Xu family also goes to work in the oil mill in the village in the afternoon to supplement his family income.And the two elders of the Xu family are supporting the eldest son's house, Mrs. Xu can't wait to divide a penny into eight petal flowers.Chief Jia promised the Xu family benefits, saying that if Mr. Song lived here for a few days, someone would pick him up and give the Xu family 20 taels of silver when he left.

After the prince was settled, Yi Jian Piaohong disappeared before the prince could react.

Although the prince was depressed that Xu Changsheng didn't know how to make a flying wooden bird, but without the preaching of his sister and brother-in-law in the countryside, he could immerse himself in the joy of woodworking, which neutralized his dissatisfaction.

What's more, he also gained a heartfelt supporter——

"Little brother, that's how Xiao Hua'er's name was originally written!"

"Little brother, are you from the capital? Have you seen the emperor? Is he very fierce?"

"Little brother, can you really make a flying wooden bird?"

The prince blew the sawdust off his hand and said, "Of course, our ancestors were able to make flying wooden birds, but now people have forgotten this skill."

"Little brother, you are amazing." Xiao Hua'er looked yearning.

The prince laughed straight.

"When the wooden bird flies, can Xiaohua fly by sitting on the wooden bird?"

"Of course!" The prince picked up Xiao Hua'er and let her sit on the wooden bird. "When the wooden bird flies up, my brother will take Xiao Hua'er to the capital to see the fierce emperor."

The little flower rejoiced.

The prince couldn't help being happy seeing Xiao Hua'er's happy appearance.

As the sun was setting, Xu Dalang came back from work and brought some flowers for his wife, a piece of caramel for his daughter, and a piece of wood for the prince.

Wine is rarely seen at dinner in the country, because food is expensive, and wine making is a waste of food.

The Xu family’s dinner is still not a big one. The porridge is thicker than in the morning. On the table, there is a pot of stewed radishes in broth overflowing with meat. , this pot of radish is simply outstanding.

The prince couldn't help but slapped his chopsticks a few more times, and he got a few knives from Mrs. Xu.

Xu Dalang was a little embarrassed, glared at his wife, and poured a bowl of radish soup for the prince himself.

The prince took a few sips, but still couldn't hold back the doubts in his heart, and asked embarrassingly, "Brother Xu, why are there only radishes and no meat in this broth stewed with radishes?"

Xu Dalang laughed and said: "I made Mr. Song laugh. Tomorrow is my father's [-]th birthday. My two brothers are coming to celebrate my father's birthday. My wife cooked a piece of bacon that was stored during the Chinese New Year for tomorrow's banquet. No, the bacon is in the stove. We in the countryside are reluctant to pour out this broth, so we use it to stew radishes."

The prince suddenly realized.

Although he knew that the idyllic life he described to his brother-in-law was not so easy on the first day when he arrived at the Xu family, he still didn't expect that the Xu family would not even give the old man a sixty-year-old birthday. I just cooked a piece of bacon that has been stored for more than half a year.

He suddenly remembered last year, when he celebrated his father's fiftieth birthday, there were dazzling and precious gifts everywhere, the whole palace was filled with the banquet aroma of delicacies from mountains and seas, fine nectar and jade liquid, and the reprimand he received for offering a wooden bird .

He gulped down the broth with oily stars floating in the bowl.

The night is getting darker.

Liu's Mansion in the capital was still silent, and the rooms of Miss Liu Qian and Uncle Li Zhaoting were brightly lit with candles.

Liu Qian brought a bowl of white fungus snow lotus soup from the kitchen and put it on Li Zhaoting's desk, and said worriedly: "Zhaoting, my brother was locked up by my father because he was so busy writing a ten-thousand-word book to speak to the emperor. Tell me, now I what to do?"

Li Zhaoting drank half a bowl in one gulp, looked at the notebook with only a dozen characters written in it, and sighed: "Your brother is too impulsive, he has no seniority in the court, and he is weak. The emperor is now in a hurry." No matter how much he writes, the emperor won’t read it.” He had persuaded the stubborn Wang Ge Lao and several important ministers to write a letter to persuade the emperor, but the memorial was like a stone sinking into the sea, without any response.

Although Tianxiang once told him not to take others as the first bird, but he knew that his weight in the emperor's heart might not be as important as Liu Changying, so he dared not directly write the letter himself.

Liu Qian said urgently: "But now, my brother can't do anything, and it makes my Liu family's house restless. My father is so angry that his chest hurts every day, and my mother washes her face with tears. What should I do?" He said ruthlessly, "Why don't I go and release my brother!"

Li Zhaoting hastily stopped her: "Don't worry, the princess and the son-in-law are not in the court right now, if you release your brother, he will really annoy the emperor, and there is not even anyone who can talk back. And you Elder brother really has nothing to do except write ten thousand words, letting him out can only add trouble to father-in-law."

Liu Qian was a little discouraged: "Yes, today I heard that someone is already building a loyalty book, saying that they will ask all the officials to donate money to the emperor. Why are those two not in Beijing at this critical moment?"

Since the farewell in Miaozhou, the son-in-law and the princess have lost news for more than a month, and now such a big event happened in the court, I don't know if they know the news.

Huailai small courtyard also had a general silence.

Tianxiang stared at the three words "Jiexiantai" on the note, and didn't recover for a while.

This time, Eunuch Wang wrote three ink-stained papers to clarify the ins and outs of the matter. He spent a lot of time investigating the emperor's decree, and he even rewrote it as the matter progressed—no wonder it took such a long time. It took a long time to hear back.

It turned out that when the national teacher first proposed the matter of taking over Xiantai, the emperor suppressed the matter.He had just finished checking the world's assets, and he originally thought of raising taxes for the local government in order to fill the national treasury.Unexpectedly, after all the calculations, this year's tax revenue will be increased by one million taels of silver, so he announced this in the court, so that the rich people in the world voluntarily "give love".

Tianxiang secretly counted her fingers and made the calculations. The tax increase was launched earlier than the timing of the announcement in court in the previous life. Maybe the previous father, the emperor, also asked the local government for the money to repair the Xiantai. Pressure to raise taxes.

Later, the matter in the previous life was fermented again and again, because she and Feng Suzhen got involved in it, making this "offering love" into a drizzle, and the emperor followed the advice of the national teacher and sold the official title directly.

At that time, Tianxiang didn't feel deeply, she just thought that repairing Xiantai was a big and useless project to save face, costing people and money, but now she was scared into a cold sweat.

What is said to make the rich people in the world "voluntarily" offer their loyalty to the emperor, after thinking about it, it is giving the local officials a legitimate excuse for exploitation and giving them the power to squeeze. This is clearly a catastrophe!

And the sale of officials and nobles afterwards was also based on exploitation. People who can spend money to buy officials are greedy for the property of many people!

And in her previous life, in the process of buying an official for Feng Shaomin, she invisibly supported her father's prostitution of officials and nobles, and helped the tyrant to do evil.

A voice resounded faintly: "Since the Emperor's bureau began with the declaration of the world's assets, if so, I am afraid that the military land coupons are also inseparable from this matter."

Sensing the heavy questioning in Feng Suzhen's eyes, Tianxiang's mind flashed like lightning.

By the way, the emperor wanted money so desperately, how could his pressure be only exerted on the local officials.

Where there are soldiers, there is power, and if there is power, there are officials. Gu Chengen, who has a heavy soldier in his hand, naturally, the father will not let him go.

Tianxiang's heart sank.

In her previous life, because Tianxiang was mainly wandering in the capital at this time, she didn't know the local and border affairs, so naturally she didn't expect that her father would be able to extend her hand asking for money so far.

At that moment, her world was nothing more than three men, Yijian Piaohong, Zhang Shaomin, and Feng Shaomin, inside and outside the palace.

Breaking out of the shackles of time, space and love, everything becomes clear gradually.In the previous life, when Tianxiang was in power, it was already ten years after the emperor's brother ascended the throne. At that time, the treasury was rich and the world was peaceful. She didn't know much about the financial situation of the emperor's early dynasty.

In the previous life, not long after the emperor's brother ascended to the throne, he appointed Gu Chengen as the Grand Marshal of the Eastern Expedition, and marched towards Liaodong with generous military pay.

Under the national policy of the former Donglin remnant party—Prime Minister Liu Tao who ruled by doing nothing, the country has not added a tax for 30 years.As a result, with the recovery of national strength, the emperor increased the salaries of officials several times, prices soared, and the treasury was always empty.

Where did the emperor get the money?Naturally, it was the money accumulated by the royal father in the last few years in a violent way.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s taking over Xiantai, military land certificates, or adding local gifts, it’s just that the father used his indulgence in his later years to leave a prosperous dynasty for the prince, allowing him to freely display it and create a dynasty that belongs to him under his reign. prosperity.

As soon as the wind passed, the sweat she had just sweated turned cold, but Tianxiang's eyes turned red.

She is superior, she is a courtier, and she is also a daughter.

She didn't know how to evaluate her father, she only knew that he was a king who used imperial power to the extreme.

Midsummer is coming to an end, and autumn coolness is coming.

When he was in court, Zhang Shaomin was stopped by Li Zhaoting.

"My lord Zhang, I have heard your son-in-law praise your character many times. Now the emperor has made a wrong decision. As ministers, we should speak up and ask the emperor to change his decision. But I heard that you recently made a loyalty chart." , lobbying everywhere in various yamen to show loyalty to the emperor, you are clearly helping the emperor!" Li Zhaoting spoke righteously, and he, who was always tactful, also cursed without hesitation.

Zhang Shaomin glanced at him coldly: "Master Li, be careful! It is our duty as servants to show our loyalty to the emperor. Besides, the emperor is in charge, how can you say such words as helping the evildoers?!"

"You..." Li Zhaoting was tongue-tied.

Zhang Shaomin took out an account book from his pocket, and said calmly: "Master Li, as an important minister of the Ministry of Rituals, must know the etiquette. You can see how much you should give."

Li Zhaoting looked down and saw the words "Loyalty Book" written on the cover of the account book.

He flipped through the account book angrily, but was at a loss for words.

500两、300两、200两、100两、50两、40两……

According to this amount, I am afraid that a single pillar connecting Sendai will not be able to be built.

Li Zhaoting was silent for a while, took the pen handed to him by Zhang Shaomin, and added 15 taels.

Zhang Shaomin: "...Master Li's loyalty is too thin."

Li Zhaoting was embarrassed: "Li's family is poor, and he still lives in his father-in-law's house."

Zhang Shaomin nodded, and when the ink was dry, he closed the account book and turned to leave.

"Wait—" Li Zhaoting suddenly remembered something, "Master Zhang, you are the inspector of the eight prefectures, and the main town is Gyeonggi, do you know the whereabouts of the son-in-law and the princess?"

Zhang Shaomin asked: "Master Li, I wonder if you still have any private money."

Li Zhaoting was puzzled.

Zhang Shaomin said with a chuckle, "Sitting in the inspector's mansion all day long, what I see and hear is only one-third of an acre of land. But there is an old prisoner in this palace who has an eye for money. He is the head of the palace. The most well-informed person. However, I heard that he was recently paid a sum of gold by the emperor to repair Xiantai. If you go to him to buy information, I am afraid you will suffer some blood."

Li Zhaoting naturally knew who he was talking about, but he had a deep grievance with Manager Wang, and he really couldn't save face, so he had to let Liu Qian go out.

Manager Wang scraped off a sum of gold, and then pointed to the west with satisfaction.

The news of receiving Xiantai swept through Gyeonggi like a whirlwind, and the notices of the county government were changed almost every day. Yesterday was the National Division's survey and site selection, and today the emperor began to recruit craftsmen from the people to prepare to build Xiantai.

Song Changgeng's face became more and more gloomy, and after reading the notice today, he entered the door and recited: "The governor of Xuancheng knows, there is a blanket of one foot, and a thousand taels of silk. The earth does not know the cold, and people want to be warm, and less people's clothes are taken to make lichens." After reading, he looked at Tianxiang and the two, with disappointment that could not be concealed in his eyes.

Although he didn't reprimand him, he pointed at the current emperor, Tianxiang's imperial father, every word and every word.Tian Xiang immediately felt extremely ashamed, but she still didn't know how to treat her father's behavior.

It is impossible for her to contribute to the flames like in her previous life, and it is impossible for her to be indifferent to her father's money-gathering actions.

The inhumane world regards everything as a straw dog, and the sage is inhumane and treats the small people as a straw dog.But she couldn't do it, and the people around her didn't allow her to do it.

No matter how many reasons and ambitions the emperor had to force him to use this thunderbolt method to plunder the wealth of the people into the treasury, she could not remain indifferent.

But even though she has lived two lives and gained 20 years of experience, she still doesn't know how to solve it perfectly in this life.

A hand rested on his shoulder.

Feng Suzhen's steady voice reached her ears, making her calm down a little: "Let's go back to Beijing. Regardless of the pros and cons of this matter, we must let the emperor know that he is wrong."

Tianxiang turned around abruptly, met Feng Suzhen's clear eyes, and suddenly her heart cleared up a lot.

Pros and cons are pros and cons, right and wrong are right and wrong.In the face of big right and wrong, she should not weigh the pros and cons.

The experience of her previous life taught her to weigh, but she gradually lost the innocence of a young man who couldn't get rid of the sand in her eyes.And Feng Suzhen, the handsome Feng Suzhen in front of her, with clean eyes, is still the hot-blooded young man in her memory.

The Xu family in the countryside is not peaceful either.

These few days Xu Dalang came home and sighed again and again.

The family has already been separated, and if he really went to serve the emperor to build this laoshizi and receive the immortal platform, he would definitely not be able to escape.Now, the family will delay the autumn harvest.

If you don't serve the corvee, you have to pay money for the service, but the Xu family is so poor, where can you get the money to pay this tax?

Xu Changsheng, who had just passed his 60th birthday, finally gritted his teeth and decided to serve in the army on behalf of his son. But according to his body, this departure may not be life, but death.

The Xu family was gloomy.

The prince stopped making his wooden birds in the past few days, and instead made some wooden utensils, hooped some wooden barrels and tubs, picked them up by the road by the side of the village, and wanted to sell them for money.

But the countryside has always been self-sufficient, and his wooden barrels and tubs are too delicately carved, but no one cares about them.

The prince was very melancholy, so he had no choice but to pick it out, and how to pick it back.

"Little brother, what poems are we reading today?" Xiao Hua'er was small, sitting in a wooden barrel on a pole, her big eyes flickering.

"You may not understand this poem very well," the prince smiled wryly, cleared his throat, and read aloud, "'Mutou Shihao Village, there was an official arresting people at night. The old man walked over the wall, and the old woman went out to watch...' "

At night, the prince sneaked out of the room. As soon as he walked out of the small courtyard of the Xu family, he was blocked by a tall figure.

Yijian Piaohong was just about to ask the prince where he was going in the middle of the night, when the prince's eyes lit up: "I knew you must be watching me around here, do you have any money, give me more money! "

"...Why do you order me?" Yijian Piaohong said coldly.

"Didn't my brother-in-law ask you to take good care of me?" the prince said.

Yijian Piaohong said: "But your brother-in-law didn't ask me to give you money, he just asked me to protect you."

The prince said: "Then you go to my brother-in-law and ask him to give me some money."

Yi Jian fluttered red and shook his head: "Your brother-in-law wants me to protect you and stay close until they come to pick you up in person. Now you want me to leave unless you come with me."

The prince hesitated for a while: "No."

Yijian Piaohong said: "Then you can go back to sleep."

The prince had no choice but to go back to his room and sleep.

The next day, he used a pole to pick up some wooden handicrafts and sold them on the side of the road.

This time, there was business. A passing peddler bought all the wooden gadgets and generously gave the prince ten taels of silver.

The prince was in full bloom, and carried the little flower on his shoulders to the butcher's house to cut off five catties of meat, singing and carrying it back to Xu's house.

Of course he didn't know that the peddler was carrying the pile of wooden things, went around in the woods, and came to a tall, cold-faced knight, and exchanged 15 taels of silver.

The prince returned to Xu's house, got into the kitchen, and gave Mrs. Xu both money and meat.

Mrs. Xu looked at the prince in a daze for a while, and stewed a big pot of braised pork at night. The prince hadn't eaten big meat for a long time, and his mouth was full of oil.

In the middle of the night, the prince was so overwhelmed that he couldn't sleep, he got up and walked around the yard, Mrs. Xu was in the yard, holding the soles of her shoes by the moonlight.

"Miss Xu, go and rest, you hurt your eyes carefully." The prince persuaded kindly.

Mrs. Xu smiled and said: "Father is going to serve in the army in a few days, I have to prepare all the things he needs."

The prince was stunned: "...No, isn't it possible to use money to serve corvee?"

Mrs. Xu smiled wryly: "Mr. Song, even if a family like us has money, how can we use it like this!"

The prince stared blankly at the bright moon in the sky.

As soon as Li Zhaoting and his wife entered the Huailai city gate, they were discovered by Shan Shiwen who was patrolling around. He immediately reported to Tianxiang and his wife. At this time, they were packing their things and preparing to go out to find the prince.

"Presumably they also came here to take over the affairs of Xiantai," Feng Suzhen said, "Why don't you come with us to find the prince, so that we can learn about the situation in Xiajing through them."

Tianxiang curled her lips, although she was reluctant, but Feng Suzhen's words were reasonable, so she had no choice but to agree: "Okay."