Tanhualang

Shen Jing came out with Wei Zheng, and sure enough, she saw Xi Wei standing at the door. When she saw him coming out, she immediately went up to meet him: "Mr. Shen!...do you remember me?"

Shen Jing really couldn't remember, and said apologetically, "Sorry, General Xi—"

"It's nothing if I don't remember. It was just a one-time relationship." Xi Wei smiled embarrassedly, "I just didn't expect to see you here again, so I took the liberty to come here to catch up on the past. I admired you so much in the past, then You took the top spot in the Tongke Township Examination in [-]... Hehe, don’t be afraid to say it out loud. I happened to lose my name in Sun Shan, and when the list was released, I was so sad that I shed tears at the bottom of the list. When I met Mr. Shen, I also persuaded me that the imperial examination sometimes depends on luck, so don’t worry too much about it. "

Shen Jing thought about it carefully for a long time, and vaguely remembered that at that time, he seemed to have indeed met a crying young man who failed the ranking before the ranking, but he couldn't think of anything more, so he could only smile awkwardly: "I'm really sorry, I I can’t remember clearly. Let’s talk about that incident... General Xi must have heard about what happened afterwards. It’s all over now, and I don’t want to think about it for a long time.”

Two or three years have passed since the Suzhou township examination, and Shen Jing no longer wants to mention that experience.

But Xi Wei said: "I heard some things about it later...but I don't believe it! There are a lot of juzi I knew back then, and they all thought it was very strange. We all know that you are a rare talent in Suzhou. , It is easy to test a person, why bother to cheat for the reputation of a little Jieyuan, and miss his own future in vain? What's more, the yamen tried for a long time, but did not produce any evidence to make it public, and finally closed the case hastily. Wan Cunshan, the prefect of Suzhou at that time , The reputation of being an official has always been bad, and his mind is also a little confused. This is well known, and everyone thinks that he has some ulterior motives to frame you."

Shen Jing listened, and was somewhat moved in her heart: "Thank you, General Xi, for thinking highly of me."

"Hey, don't call me General. You should be two years older than me. Just call me Xi Wei. Mr. Shen, you have been wronged like that. With such a reputation, you will not be able to take the imperial examination in the future. Wouldn't it be a lifetime of delay?" Xi Wei looked up at Wei Zheng who was standing not far away, and lowered his voice, "Speaking of which, since you are by King Yu's side now, why don't you ask the prince to help you find out what happened back then, and rehabilitate you? If you want to do In this matter, I am willing to testify for you.”

Listened quietly, silent for a moment.

Xi Wei has always been straightforward and enthusiastic. Seeing that Shen Jing was silent at this moment, he realized that the two had actually met for the first time. These words were a bit shallow, so he hurriedly said: "I talked too much. I wanted to talk to you tonight. A fellow from the same country, his mouth becomes bald while talking, Mr. Shen, don't take it to heart. It's getting late, I won't bother you, Yu Xi's reading is good, wait for another day when you have time to talk about it!"

"Okay." Shen Jing looked up and smiled, "It's not easy to meet fellow villagers, so I'll treat General Xi to a drink some other day."

The two said goodbye, Xi Wei left with Wei Zheng, and Shen Jing returned to the courtyard alone.

By the end of July, the hot and dry June has disappeared in the morning and evening, and the night in the courtyard is as cool as water, only the sound of insects.

Xi Wei's words stirred up Shen Jing's melancholy memories of the past. He stood in the corridor for a while, and when he calmed down, he went back to his room to get the wound gauze, and knocked on the door to change Zhao Heng's dressing.

When Shen Jing opened the door and entered, Zhao Heng was sitting behind the desk with a pen in his hand, seemingly lost in thought.He saluted and put the tray on the table and said, "Your Highness, it's time to change the wound."

Zhao Heng came back to his senses after hearing the words, put down his pen, put his arms on the table and rolled up his sleeves.Shen Jing stepped forward to remove the blood-stained cloth strip, scrubbed the wound again and wrapped the gauze, and finally reminded in a gentle voice: "Your Highness is injured, it is better to wait until he is well before writing. To avoid leaving chronic diseases."

"En." Zhao Heng responded, paused and ordered, "Miao'an, write a report on today's battle situation, and report it to the Beijing Central Committee tomorrow morning. In addition, prepare a briefing report and distribute it to Fang Tingxiang, Cao Feng, and Sun Ping. Your Majesty's report must truthfully state Xi Wei's achievements."

Shen Jing took the order: "Yes."

Zhao Heng thought for a while, and then slowly said: "One more letter to His Majesty on behalf of Gu. In the letter, he pleads for Zhang Zhi, and see if he can be exonerated from the crime of killing the Nine Clans."

Hearing the words, Shen Jing looked up.

Zhao Heng leaned on the back of the chair, lowered his eyes slightly, thoughtfully: "... Miao An, is the way of death for Zhang Zhi alone a bit too cruel?"

Shen Jing lowered her eyes, and said slowly: "I wonder if Zhang Zhi had a soft heart when he slaughtered innocent people. I wonder how Zhang Zhi will treat His Highness if he succeeds in attacking the city today?"

The success of the king and the defeat of the bandit have been caused since ancient times. What is the reason?

Zhao Heng stood up, turned his back, and sighed inaudibly: "When I was alone in Taiyuan, I had a friendship with Zhang Zhi for two years. At that time, his twin sons and daughters were just born, and his family wrote to him Good news, he also asked me to name the youngest son. I don’t know if it has been changed now.”

"..."

"It's up to each other. He knows my temper and character very well, so he knows exactly what to do to anger me the most."

Shen Jing heard the words: "Think twice, Your Highness. Your Highness treats Zhang Zhi like this today, but he pleads for his children in the future. I'm afraid it will become a disaster in the future."

As soon as the words came out, Shen Jing was startled for a while.

Sure enough, times make people.In the past, he often had a heart of compassion, and he also denounced the evils of torture by cruel officials in his articles, and denounced the court for treating the people as straw dogs. He never thought that one day, he would stand in such a position and say such words.

Zhao Heng didn't pay attention to Shen Jing, and after a moment of silence, he waved his hand and said, "Let's do what Gu said for now."

Zhang Zhi was captured and died, and the remaining thousands of captured rebels all returned to the court.So far, the crisis along the Yangtze River has passed, and the situation has generally stabilized.

However, the King of Han's rebellion in Shandong has not subsided, and Zhao Heng is still thinking a lot, and it is not easy.

In the following period of time, Zhao Heng gathered the remaining troops first, and with the help of Xi Weiyong's army, he searched and wiped out the remnants of the rebels who fled under Zhang Zhi's command along the Yangtze River.Afterwards, they communicated with Beijing, Henan, and Huai'an, mobilized troops from several nearby guards, and re-armed along the Yangtze River.

In addition to this battle along the river, several guard camps in Jinshan, Changzhou, and Nanjing suffered heavy casualties.Although Zhao Heng didn't have to do everything personally, he didn't dare to be sloppy. For this reason, he took Wei Zheng, Shen Jing and others to personally investigate the five counties of Chongming, Jiading, Huating, Shanghai, and Haimen that Zhang Zhi had captured, as well as Jinshanwei, which was destroyed before, re-appointed officials, appeased military households, repaired fortifications, and restored order.

All sorts of people stayed in Changzhou for more than half a month before gradually completing the follow-up matters.

Zhao Heng is busy with daily affairs, and Shen Jing is even more exhausted.For more than half a month, he followed Zhao Heng in and out, and almost traveled all over the counties along the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.Although there are also Wei Zheng and guards to follow and serve, Shen Jing still has to take care of most of the affairs around Zhao Heng, and also takes care of Zhao Heng's injured arm.

Not to mention that almost all the documents and reports around King Yu were written by him alone. He had to light up the lamp every day until midnight, and the lamp was exhausted.In the past half a month, Shen Jing used up two or three yuan of ink sticks, and three or four pens were worn out. At night, in her dreams, there are papers flying all over the sky.

It wasn't until the middle of August, when everything was basically over, that Zhao Heng was a little more relaxed.

Shen Jing could finally breathe a sigh of relief.The night before, he struggled to finish all the paperwork and information at hand before the third watch. He didn't bother to wash up, and went back to his room with his clothes and fell asleep; probably because he was in a relaxed mood, he fell asleep the next day. At three poles in the sun, I still haven't woken up.

He slept in the dark in the room, and then he began to wake up for a while, vaguely heard someone knocking on the door outside, and heard a voice like Wei Zheng, calling his name in the distance, and seemed to hear Zhao Heng's words again Voice.After listening for a long time, he was half awake and half asleep and reluctantly opened his eyes.

After calming down, I saw the bright sunlight coming in through the half-open window. I'm afraid it was already noon, and then I woke up suddenly, turned over and sat up, and patted the edge of the bed twice in frustration: "Oh! Oops! Overslept! "

Just in time to hear unhurried footsteps passing by outside the door, Shen Jing remembered that she had heard Wei Zheng knocking on the door calling him in a dream just now, thinking that Zhao Heng must have sent Wei Zheng to call him for something, she immediately became anxious and pulled Putting on the robe in a panic, with disheveled hair and bare feet, he ran over to open the door: "Here we come! Captain Wei, wait a moment! I'm just--er, Your Highness, Your Highness..."

Zhao Heng stood outside the door with one hand behind his back, looking at him with a smile on his face. He was wearing a jade-white silver thread embroidered python robe and a pine-green luan belt, which made him slender and radiant like a jade tree facing the wind: "Miao'an is so early! get up?"

Shen Jing: "...um."

...Is this irony?

He quietly turned his head to look at the noon sun... It was ironic.

In his heart, he also envied Zhao Heng such an energetic person. Even though his daily duties were not as easy as him, he was able to get up so early and look radiant.But he was born with this kind of physique. If he was overtired and fell asleep, he would be unshakable. What can he do?

Zhao Heng didn't seem to let Shen Jing go, and looked him up and down with a smile, admiring him from disheveled hair to his bare feet, and said with a smile: "Just now I was alone in the courtyard and heard Wei Zheng knock on the door to call you, and asked Don't disturb your quietness, let you sleep more. I didn't expect you to wake up now. "

Shen Jing quietly stretched out his hands to gather up his clothes and robes: "...Thank you for your consideration, Your Highness."

Zhao Heng chuckled: "There is no important business today. If you haven't slept enough, you can go back to sleep. You have worked hard these days."

"No, there's no need. Heh." Shen Jing laughed dryly, "It's not hard... I've indeed had enough sleep."

"Yeah." Zhao Heng looked down at his bare feet again, "Get up late and sleep long enough to feel good. Put on your shoes after enough sleep, and go eat."

"...Yes." It's really embarrassing, alas.

Seeing Zhao Heng turning around to leave, Shen Jing was about to enter the house and close the door in a hurry, but Zhao Heng stopped in his tracks, turned his head and took a step closer, and called out to Shen Jing with the corner of his mouth curled up: "Miao'an."

"Your Highness?"

"Cough...you——" Zhao Heng raised his hand, hesitated again, and finally couldn't hold it back, with a face full of uncontrollable laughter, he pointed his fingers at the quiet face: "There are...saliva marks on your face. Remember to wipe it clean."