Tanhualang

After lunch, Zhao Heng led Wei Zheng, Xiao You, Shen Jing, and two or three other guards in plain clothes, and rode straight to the Nanjing camp in the city.Not long after the few people arrived, Feng Hong rushed over with his people in a panic.

The weather was bad, and it began to rain shortly after noon.When Feng Hong arrived, he saw that Zhao Heng and the others had already entered the camp, he went up to say hello, and smiled apologetically:

"Why didn't your Highness say something in advance, so that the humble staff can come and lead the way."

Zhao Heng is tall and tall. Although he is wearing ordinary clothes, standing in front of Feng Hong, who is wearing an official uniform and black gauze, is more imposing. He nodded to Feng Hong:

"It's hard work, Mr. Feng, come here."

"Where is it!" Feng Hong smiled very humbly, "We all have to listen to His Highness' orders, which is what we should do. Please Your Highness follow me."

A group of people braved the rain and followed Feng Hong around the camp.

Although Shen Jing didn't know much about military affairs, after turning around, he could see that everything in the camp was slack: most of the weapons and armor in the warehouse were old and dilapidated; there were few people in the martial arts arena, and one of them was overgrown with weeds.

Feng Hong ordered a thousand generals in the barracks to gather bravely on the martial arts field for drills, and saw the soldiers procrastinating, it took more than a quarter of an hour to line up.Not to mention that the soldiers who were practicing were not proficient in their movements, even their demeanor and movements seemed to be three points sluggish.

At the end of the rehearsal, Feng Hong also felt a bit uneasy:

"It came suddenly today, and I didn't prepare in advance. It made His Highness laugh."

Shen Jing followed behind Zhao Heng, thinking that he would lose his temper, but who knew that Zhao Heng had a surprisingly good temper today:

"It should be that I took the liberty to come here today and cause trouble to Lord Feng. It's not early, so I should leave."

A group of people left the Beijing camp and returned to the Weaving Department in the rain, almost completely soaked.

Zhao Heng dismounted and threw the reins, and went straight to the backyard:

"Xiaoyou sent someone to invite Ding Bao. When he comes, we will wait in the study together."

Xiao You is busy arranging someone to invite Ding Bao.

Shen Jing hurried back to the courtyard to take a bath and change clothes.

The weather in Nanjing has been hot and humid recently, and for convenience, he and Xiaoyou asked someone to clean up a utility room in the south of the garden and use it as a bathing place.Shen Jing quickly took a shower to get rid of the sweat, then changed her clothes and tidied up, hurriedly went to the study, when she saw that only Wei Zheng was already waiting there.

He smiled with Wei Zheng, and sat down opposite Wei Zheng under the window.

After a while, Zhao Heng came in hurriedly with Xiao You.

Shen Jing and Wei Zheng got up to salute, and saw that he had changed into a silver and blue silk robe, with only a brocade belt with jade buttons around his waist, and his hair was still damp, obviously he had just bathed.

It was normal at first, but Shen Jing looked at Zhao Heng's attire, and suddenly remembered what he had seen in the bath in the morning, and suddenly felt his ears heat up, and he couldn't look directly at Zhao Heng, so he hurriedly looked away.

Zhao Heng sat down and didn't speak. After a while, Ding Bao came and simply pointed to the seat beside him:

"sit."

After thanking Ding Bao, he sat down and turned to Zhao Heng:

"I heard that His Highness went to Nanjing Jingying today?"

As he said that, the boy had served tea.Zhao Heng took the tea bowl, lowered his eyes and nodded:

"Well. That's why I invited you here."

He put down the teacup and looked back at Shen Jing:

"Shen Jing, tell Ding Bao what you saw and heard today."

Fortunately, Shen Jing had put in a lot of effort in studying the report of the Ministry of War before, and today he followed Zhao Heng to the Nanjing Camp, and he also paid attention to it in many places.

He stood up unhurriedly, thought for a while, then calmly classified what he saw and heard in the Nanjing camp today, and told Ding Bao one by one.

After he finished speaking, Zhao Heng was not in a hurry to ask Ding Bao, but instead asked Shen Jing:

"In your opinion, how is Feng Hong, Minister of the Ministry of War, doing?"

Shen Jing hesitated for a moment.

He could see that Zhao Heng was very dissatisfied with the Nanjing Barracks, but judging from the reports that he sorted out before, if what was said in the reports were true, it would be really difficult for Feng Hong:

"The lack of military affairs in the Nanjing barracks and lack of drills are not all due to human factors. If what the previous report of the Ministry of War said is true, then there are at least three reasons: one is the lack of money and food, and the weapons and armor are naturally obsolete; the military pay is insufficient, The number of deserters will naturally increase. The second is that the Japanese invaders have repeatedly invaded, resulting in the dispersion of troops. The barracks are full of recruits, and the drills are inevitably rusty. The third is the responsibility of the Ministry of War for neglecting management.”

Ding Bao nodded while listening, and finally said:

"Xiao Shen is right, and the situation is almost the same as what I know. Feng Shangshu has not made any credit in Nanjing these years, but he has worked hard. In fact, the situation in Nanjing has been deteriorating these years, and the Ministry of War can only support it. .”

After finishing speaking, he paused again:

"I don't know what your highness means?"

Zhao Heng lowered his eyelids, knocked on the armrest with his fingers, and finally raised his head to look at Ding Bao:

"I would like to invite Your Majesty to give Feng Hong a promotion. Then Sun Jian will be transferred from the Ministry of Rites to the Ministry of War as Minister."

It was already night when Ding Bao was sent off.

Shen Jing hadn't rested yet, and was arrested by Zhao Heng, locked in his study and drafted a memorial to be presented to the emperor to replace the Shangshu of the Ministry of War in Nanjing.He had never written such a report, so he could only draft a draft based on his own ideas and show it to Zhao Heng.

Zhao Heng didn't rest either, just drinking tea and reading a book in the study and waiting.

After Shen Jing gave him the finished manuscript, Zhao Heng looked at it, got up and took out another memorial from the shelf and gave it to him:

"Understood. According to this format, we will draft another copy."

Shen Jing picked up his pen and worked hard again.

There are two candles in the room, one is on Shen Jing's desk, illuminating his vigorous writing; the other is beside Zhao Heng's desk, illuminating the dim volume in his hand.There was no sound on both sides, except for the sound of rain outside from the half-closed window.

As the hour was about to end, Shen Jing finally copied out a draft and handed it to Zhao Heng.Sitting in front of the case, Zhao Heng glanced over it briefly, picked up the ink brush and corrected a few words, saw Shen Jing standing respectfully by the side, and said:

"You go down first."

After speaking, he dipped the pen into the ink again:

"I'll think about it carefully. You can come and transcribe it tomorrow morning."

It looks like I still need to spend a while in the study alone.

Shen Jing silently bowed to him, then closed the door and went out.

Zhao Heng looked at the memorial by a lonely lamp.I don't know how long it took before he heard someone knocking on the door. He thought it was Xiaoyou, and said "Come in" without raising his head. Unexpectedly, there was a knock at the door, but it was an unexpectedly familiar gentle voice:

"Your Highness."

Zhao Heng had lowered his head and was concentrating on reading the memorial, but when he heard this, he raised his head, only to find that Shen Jing was standing at the door, the hem of his cloth robe was stained with deep and shallow water stains, Yihan should have come in the rain:

"Why did you come back?"

Shen Jing stepped forward with his head down, and put a cloth bag on the case:

"I went to the kitchen and fried a packet of coarse salt. Your Highness, burn your knees."

Zhao Heng stopped holding the pen, stared fixedly at Shen Jing, and asked in a deep voice for a long time:

"how do you know?"

Quietly whispered:

"When His Majesty was just reading, his left hand kept covering his knee."

Zhao Heng always sat upright, with a straight back; but when Shen Jing was drafting the memo just now, he inadvertently raised his head, and saw that he arched his back intentionally or unintentionally, and put his left hand on his left knee, and immediately guessed that he might have suffered another chronic illness.

Hearing this, Zhao Heng couldn't help looking up at Shen Jing again, only to see that he was still standing there as before, watching his nose, nose, nose, and heart; although he was dressed in plain robes, he was as tall as a stick of bamboo, and his usual gentle eyes were all there. Hiding under the long eyelashes.

He withdrew his scrutiny and refocused his gaze on the memorial:

"understood."

Silent but did not leave:

"If the hot compress doesn't work, His Highness just ask someone to call me. Acupuncture should work faster than hot compress."

After finishing speaking, without waiting for Zhao Heng to speak, he saluted again, then turned around, closed the door and left.

Zhao Heng stared at the door for a while, then reached out to take the hot salt bag from the desk, raised his left leg, and placed the salt bag on his numb knee.