Act like a spoiled child

In the spring of the third year of Zhenghua, the rebellion in Yunlong and Yunze completely subsided.

In this battle, a young man named Huo Bing shined brilliantly. An imperial decree promoted him to three ranks, conferred the title of knighthood, and rewarded him with countless gold, silver, jewels, pearls, jade and emeralds.Even though he is already a cabinet minister and has made great contributions on the battlefield, this is still a rare favor.Even Bu Yu, the number one celebrity in the court, seems to be inferior to this person in winning the favor of the Holy One.

It was rumored in the world that this little general Huo was from the Huo family who had been famous for generations, and he seemed to have a bit of Huo Yan's demeanor back then.More people said that this person may be even worse by then, because this young general is obviously sharper and more powerful.

However, there was also a strange saying - at the moment when the imperial decree was delivered, the general in the wheelchair couldn't help showing a smile on his face. Instead, he asked a very strange sentence: "I am the one who rewarded, not other people. Who is it?"

At the moment when he received an affirmative answer from the eunuch passing the decree, Lord Huo's face changed instead, and then he left the mess on the battlefield that had not been cleaned up by himself, and hurried to Beijing.Before reaching the capital, he suddenly changed direction and went directly to Wanling in the south of the Yangtze River.

At the same time, the Forbidden City was also closed, and the city gate was closed for nearly half a month. Yulin Yuman searched the city for a long time, making people panic, but he didn't know what he was looking for.If you are looking for someone, but don't post a portrait, it is really strange.

Common people are always interested in gossip.After asking and asking, there is no accurate statement about the source of the news. In the end, according to insiders, it is said that a very precious treasure was lost in the palace, but no one knows what was lost.

Six months later, Yunlong.

Since the new general took office, this place has been respected by the family name Yun. Gradually stretch out.

And the Ouyang family is just one of them that has accumulated capital at a frightening speed, and has become a rich and powerful person who can call the wind and rain in one fell swoop.It is said that young master Ouyang also wanted to run away half a year ago, but with the advice of an expert, he took the initiative to propose to the imperial court the matter of taking charge of salt and iron, and opened a warehouse to release grain, which won the hearts of the people in one fell swoop.

"The war is over, but what about now? A stone of rice can be sold for 50 taels. The money is not worth it, and the banknotes can be used to light a fire. A few days ago, I heard that the plague showed signs of recurrence. Fortunately, the people from the Tai Hospital came quickly...my wife You are also clamoring to move, what do you say, Mr. Huo?"

In the tall building of the mansion, the person he called "Mr. Huo" was still very young.He was enshrined on the throne, but his expression was quite modest and gentle, his voice was clean and kind, his eyebrows were bright, like a pale Clivia.If this was not a banquet for Ouyang's secret meeting, others would almost think that he is still a student of books.

However, Ouyang Xizhao did guess so: the young gentleman he invited was not very old, at most in his early twenties.

It was this person who found himself when the war was just over and in turmoil. At the cost of revitalizing the Ouyang family, his words of sincerity made him dispel the idea of ​​taking his family property to seek refuge elsewhere, and instead opened a warehouse to release food and help the poor. And comfort the wounded soldiers and hungry people in Yunlong area.

At that time, this young man who called himself Huo Yi ran all over the area around Yunlong, searched for the local aristocratic families, and visited them one by one.A younger generation who is as beautiful as a girl has received a lot of stares and been rejected a lot, but after ten days and a half months of looking for one family after another, he actually persuaded a group of plutocrats and squires who were willing to stay. Let them take out their family assets to open warehouses to release grain, tidy up salt and iron military affairs, and maintain order.

For an unarmed, poor and white young man from out of town, this is simply an impossible thing to accomplish in one fell swoop.Everyone knows that this year is particularly difficult, and what will happen in the future is still unknown. Who is willing to use their last fortune to bet on a righteous word?

But there really are.

Ming Shen didn't expect this result at first, he had prepared the worst plan, and now everyone is in danger, facing the flames of war that have just been extinguished and the plague that is about to break out, everyone wants to flee to the north.The distance is too far, and the imperial court can't manage it. Several provinces and cities in succession have been overwhelmed by this year's severe drought, let alone helping here, and the relief sent directly from the capital is just a drop in the bucket.

Therefore, even though Yunlong won the battle, it has always been Yumin's serious worry.

In the eyes of many people, this problem is already unsolvable, so we have to plan early.However, Mingshen has stayed by Yumin's side for two years, and has been listening to political affairs for the past year. He knows that the biggest problem now is only one word: money.

The national treasury is empty, because of the war on the border, the pirates are raging, and the salt, iron, tea and wine are cut off. .The government can only reduce the issuance of coins as much as possible, and turn over the grain stored in various places. However, the mess left by the Supreme Emperor during his reign is really too bad. The grain accumulated in the granary in many places is a few years old, rotten and rotten. I can't eat it for a long time.

Compared with the unsustainable situation of the imperial court, merchants and those well-established gentry were not so reluctant.

The imperial court monopolized salt, iron, tea and wine, and suppressed merchants for many years. Over the years, it has caused dissatisfaction among many rich merchants. These people hold large sums of money and food. Useful, it depends on whether they want it or not.

When Mingshen was still in the palace, he discussed this issue with Yumin.Yumin told him: "Official business and private business have been a disaster since ancient times. The theory of salt and iron is very clear. However, the difficulty lies in how to persuade these people. Merchants seek profit, which is related to the treasury and the government. , I absolutely cannot retreat."

Ming Shen asked him: "But what if we go to them one by one? Maybe there are always a few who can be persuaded?"

Yumin laughed at him for being stupid.

But he really did.

The richer the family background, the more famous a family that has grown up in Yunlong for hundreds of years, the more they let go of everything and act according to what he said.There was also an old man with white beard and hair who told him bluntly: "If someone else came, I would think it was an empty-handed wolf and drive away. But young people, I am willing to try this attitude towards you." Give it a try."

When he first arrived in Yunlong, he was not acclimatized to the environment, and when he landed, he had a high fever. With his crumbling sick body, he searched for each family, tirelessly analyzing the pros and cons of others, until he lost his voice. Later, it was difficult for him to speak, so he Write patiently with pen and paper.

This place is almost abandoned by people—because of the snowstorm, the roads are blocked, and even the locals want to abandon this place, but Ming Shen knows that he can’t retreat a step. This is the territory his own brother tried his best to defend. To the south is the sea, which is also the maritime hub of imperial transportation.Now that it was in such a mess, no one dared to do the most popular salt and iron envoy in the past, so Ouyang Xizhao took over the matter.

During these six months, Mingshen carried eighty bags of rice a day when serving porridge, and also went to sea with Ouyang Xizhao, he was seasick and often vomited all kinds of meat and vegetables, but he recovered later.Once they met a pirate, and the pirate's arrow pierced the deck of his room while he was asleep, and the cold point of the arrow was only an inch away from the tip of his nose.

This is not the most dangerous, once Mingshen rescued a mother and son who lost their way while fleeing, and showed them where to go. The next day, news came that both mother and son were infected with the plague and were about to die.

At that time Mingshen had just lost his voice, so he couldn't help but suspect that he was also infected with the plague.Nowadays, there is a lack of clean water and medicine, and if one is really sick, there is no way to recover from it.It was later discovered that it was not, but I still had lingering fears.

He is a mortal, greedy for life and afraid of death, and even more greedy for warmth.He was pampered and raised, and in the past two years he has been taken care of unreasonably, but when he really walked out of the protection of his two brothers, he found that he was not a person who could bear hardships.

In just six months, he lost a lot of weight, didn't get a full night's sleep, and suffered from a hoarse voice.Even Ouyang Xizhao was regretful: "It's a pity, Mr. has a good voice."

Ming Shen just laughed: "I don't have the voice to sing wildly, if it breaks, it breaks."

It took three months to fight the war, and it took more than six months to recuperate after the war. Although the problem has not been completely solved, the urgent need of the court has been solved.

Later, he found the seeds of two crops of rice and delivered them to the government. Ouyang's family exchanged the rice for a title.

During Mingshen's time in Yunlong, he also set a precedent, that is, the merchant reported to the official uniform, temporarily acting as the agent of the power of salt and iron, and even took care of the transportation of salt and iron, tea and wine along the entire coast, and cleaned up by the way. The pirates that have been rampant recently——the Yun Family Army, which the Yun Family is proud of, lost their jobs after Yun You was trapped in Beijing. Ming Shen brought these people back, and joined forces with Ouyang Xizhao and other local family soldiers. Together, guard the official ship.

Ouyang Xizhao was still wailing there: "Sir! What should I do, money is getting worthless!"

Ming Shen smiled: "It's okay, if you are worried, you can spend all your money to buy gold bars now, but I don't think it's really necessary, and it will be worth more in two years."

Ouyang Xizhao was still brooding on her heart, Ming Shen thought about it, and said unsurely, "Or when I... go home, I will give you double the compensation?"

"Who the hell are you?" Ouyang Xizhao became interested when he mentioned this, and tried to force something out of his mouth again, "According to the style of the gentleman's conversation, I know that the gentleman's family is very powerful, you said you are here to show off your ambitions Coming here, from my point of view, your vision and demeanor are absolutely extraordinary, your surname is Huo, are you from the Huo family in the capital?"

Ming Shen was stunned.

His original name was Huo Yi, but he took his mother's surname and father's first name.After he left the capital in a hurry, he was penniless and didn't even prepare his luggage. He had to go to the old house in the south of the Yangtze River, and he packed away his father's full set of equipment when he was an actor. At first, he wanted to use the tools inside to continue working. He showed his old job of mending pearl flowers, and later found out that there are tools for making people look different. Although they are old, they are very complete.

Relying on his crappy disguise technique, he evaded the officers and soldiers all the way and came to Yunlong.

He coughed: "No...the Huo family has only one son, Lord Huo Bing."

"Really?" Ouyang Xizhao looked at him suspiciously, "But Mr. is so powerful, if he hadn't been to court..."

Mingshen smiled and said, "I have never been to court, but my two elder brothers are very powerful figures, they taught me a lot, I just followed the scriptures."

"Well, when I have a chance, I will go to Mr.'s house to bother. As for the money, there is no need, you have already earned me back the money for disaster relief, not to mention that the people are in dire straits, our family naturally cannot stand by. You are right, The common people will see any contribution." Ouyang Xizhao said.

Ming Shen is still smiling, but slightly lost in thought.

In fact, Yumin told him this sentence.

A year ago, he always felt sorry for Yumin who was too busy and dragged down his body.There were three natural disasters within three months, and Yumin issued an edict of guilt, which made him very sad: "Brother Min, you are the emperor, why are you still so busy and unhappy?"

"Who says I'm not happy? I have you here." At that time, Yumin held him in his arms, shaking him gently with his whole body, like coaxing some kind of child, Yumin said softly: "Before, I I also asked my father why he gave up the throne."

Ming Shen opened his eyes wide and looked back at him.

Yumin rubbed his head: "At that time, I couldn't understand it, but my father said that his character was too gentle and refined, and many things in the court could not be weighed. The emperor should be a capable person, so that the people can be happy and happy. ...Others say that the emperor is above ten thousand people, omnipotent, can do whatever he wants, can find the most beautiful woman in the world as his concubine, gather the world's talents in the pot, and live a fairy life. But this is not the original intention of the emperor , the emperor, the virtue of the heaven and the earth is called the emperor, the person with the highest virtue leads the people, and the master guides the education... This is not a position to enjoy blessings."

Mingshen listened intently, and rubbed the back of Yumin's hand with his fingers.

Yumin kissed him on the cheek: "everything I do, the common people see it. Now you think I've worked hard, and you will naturally get rewards in due course. With this, I also think it's worth it."

When Mingshen first came to Yunlong, he inquired about the court affairs, and after learning that Yumin was still complaining of illness, he was very worried and regretted that he left in a hurry and did not take good care of Yumin.Later, when he heard that Yumin had recovered from his illness and started going to court again, he was relieved.

He knew that his elder brother Min was not someone who would feel sad for anyone, he could even ignore his own body, let alone spend time thinking about him every day.He figured this out a long time ago, the person he fell in love with was the emperor.He wants to be his queen, so he must be like him, without the slightest weakness.

He and he are under the same sky, working hard for the same goal, and he knows that he is with him.

"...Sir, sir? Are you listening?" It wasn't until Ouyang Xizhao knocked on the table that Ming Shen suddenly withdrew from his memories and scratched his head: "What's wrong?"

"Are you planning to hide your identity this time? Last time the officials and family members asked, I said that I came up with these ideas myself, and I didn't tell them that there was Mr. Huo at home." Ouyang Xizhao said.

Mingshen didn't know why: "Yes... don't mention me this time, reputation is something external to you."

"Then this time Your Majesty came to Yunlong from the south and asked to stay at our house by name. Would you like to attend the banquet?" Ouyang Xizhao observed his expression and said, "I don't think Mr. is seeking fame, but it doesn't matter if you meet His Majesty." Forget it, your contribution is so great, but in the end it was all taken over by my Ouyang family, and it is difficult for me to say it in front of His Majesty."

"..." Ming Shen was stunned for a long time, not knowing what he was thinking, he shook his head first, then nodded again.After a long time, he whispered: "Okay, I'm coming. But can you not let me sit with you?"

"I think it's next door, or outside the screen... and take a look at him, can I?"