National Division

Chapter 59 Shandong

The farce of the false pregnancy in the harem ended silently.Of course, the truth cannot be announced to the outside world, so what the courtiers know is: Xiu Jieyu is weak, and the servants who served her were careless, which caused Jieyu to fall into the water, resulting in a miscarriage, and her own body was also damaged, so she was bedridden. rise.

When something like this happened, the palace servants would of course not be able to stay. All the palace servants close to him were executed, and the palace servants below were sent to the Laundry Bureau to do low labor.It is said that in this incident, the saddest one was not the emperor and queen mother, but the queen.It has been a few years since the empress became a crown princess, but there has been no news. Now there is movement in the palace, and she is planning to raise the child under her knees after birth. Who knows that it will be small? She gave birth, felt sad and disappointed, and blamed herself for not being able to manage the palace well, and punished several of her palace servants; and because of her grief, she fell ill and had to rest for a while, and the affairs of the palace had to be handled by the concubine Xian for the time being caught.

As a result, the palace was suddenly as deserted as a tomb.The queen's Zichen Palace closed its doors to thank guests, and the palace staff changed a batch, so no one could see them. Even Mrs. Taipinghou handed over a sign to see her, but the Queen Mother rejected them on the grounds of recuperating.Xiu Jieyu moved from Liuxiang Palace to Bixiang Palace, that place is in the far north, no one has lived in it for decades, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a cold palace, according to the privates of the palace people who walked by at night , Sometimes at night, I would hear Xiu Jieyu's cry, either "deer" or "mouse". There are mice in the cold palace, but how could there be deer?So they deduced that Xiu Jieyu probably lost her mind because she was too sad due to miscarriage.

That being the case, even though the concubine is in charge of the palace, what should she care about?Oh, you said there is another literary talent?Unfortunately, Wen Cairen seems to be mentally ill. I heard that after Xiu Jieyu had a miscarriage, Wen Cairen was shouting about retribution every day. If you think this is not a little confused, what is it?So now Concubine Xian is taking care of one sick person and two lunatics every day. Fortunately, these three families are living by themselves behind closed doors, so what she can really do is to pay the Queen Mother a daily greeting.

But this kind of deserted life is not too long. The queen mother has already said that the harem is so withered.Get ready now, once the first emperor's anniversary passes, that is, at the end of June and the beginning of July, the general election will begin immediately, and by then, the concubine Xian will be a hero.As for whether Concubine Xian would be happy because she came in handy, then - that's unknown.

For the draft, Xindi himself didn't care much about it. Instead, he was planning to go on a tour of Shandong, saying that he wanted to see the examination room in Shandong for himself.

Yes, after the case of fraud in the examination room, Qi Jun ordered the current Qiu Wei and Chun Wei to be canceled and start again.Because it is a re-examination, there is no need to wait until August, just take the Qiu Wei exam in June, and retake the Chun Wei exam next year.Because there are several candidates from Shandong among the important witnesses who exposed the fraud case this time, he planned to go to Shandong to have a look.This is also for the sake of fairness. Although these candidates testified meritoriously, in order to prevent the examiners from trying to curry favor with the emperor, the emperor planned to go to Shandong in person to watch the examiners mark the papers.

Of course, these reasons are all high-sounding reasons that can be put on the table. As for the private reasons-well, the national teacher is one of the insiders.

"...In the harem of the past dynasties, it is inevitable that concubines and concubines fight each other. I just think that there are only a few people in my harem, so it should be better?" The emperor who is about to go on a tour is leaning on the couch, feeling a little tired at first glance. The look of burnout, "Unexpectedly, although the sparrow is small, it has all five internal organs..."

The words were both sarcastic and a little self-deprecating, Zhibai stroked his hair sympathetically: "It's human nature to worry about inequality rather than scarcity."

This consolation really doesn’t look like consolation, Qi Jun smiled wryly, pulled down the hand that was wobbling on his head and held it in his own, and then felt a little more at ease in his heart: “I just feel strange, how could Wenxiu be like this? How does she look? She waited on me when I was a child. At that time, the Ye family was very powerful. Thanks to her and Feng En's loyal dealings with me, I thought she was also a good family member. When I was enthroned, I promoted her to be a female officer. Or for a small official, wouldn’t it be good to marry in a glorious manner and be the head wife? Even the dowry, I’ve thought about it for her.”

When he doesn't call himself "Zhen", his tone is often low, knowing that Bai is in harmony with his vitality, although he doesn't know how to look at his face, he naturally has a three-point resonance, so he stretches out the other paw that is not held by him, and again Qi Jun frowned.

Qi Jun didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this, so he simply let him toss his hair, and instead he lay down on Zhibai's lap, and continued: "Later she branded Lu Shu on her body, didn't I see I can't tell she used tricks - if you draw such a spiritual thing, it will be for me - it's just that she is loyal, if you just want glory and wealth, I can give it to her. Let’s count the relationship between master and servant in the past. What’s more, I really want to have an heir, otherwise who will this country be paid to? The Queen Mother is about to be enchanted by this.”

Zhibai shrugged his shoulders: "The fate of children is only for one life. Your Majesty will control the guests in the future, and the country will not be your Majesty's country. If the country is entrusted only for the blood, then the descendants may not be able to govern; if the country is entrusted for the people, then As long as it's not entrusted to someone else, who's blood doesn't matter?"

It was the first time for Qi Jun to hear him say such a serious truth, and he couldn't help but open his eyes and stare at his face: "Who taught you this?" But the crime of treason.If everyone held this theory, wouldn't the world be in chaos?Even King Ping, I'm afraid he will feel that he has a good excuse.

Zhibai curled his lips: "Where can I use who to teach? Since the Yellow Emperor, the kings and sages of the world have done it. Yao, in order to find a Ming king, once gave up the world to Xu Youchao's father, but he was promoted from the fields. Pulling out Yushun, he put his son Danzhu outside, and raised Yushun as emperor. Although this is said to be the emperor with his son-in-law, Yao married his two daughters to be his wife in order to examine Shun's inner integrity. Later, Shun raised Yu , but it was purely for water control. Not only did the two have no relatives, but in detail, Yu and Yao had the hatred of killing their fathers. It can be seen that Yao and Shun's entrustment of the country was purely for the common people. It becomes a family and the world, and from then on it is brothers who end up with younger brothers, and sons who succeed after father's death. The kings of all dynasties claimed to want to pursue Yao and Shun, but which one passed on the virtuous but not the son?"

Qi Jun was choked to death by him, and he said after a while: "You can tell me these words, but you must never say them outside."

Zhibai grinned, revealing two rows of small white teeth: "If Your Majesty calls himself Zhen right now, I won't say such a thing."

Qi Jun was choked by him again, looking at his sly face, he couldn't help but smile wryly: "When did you learn to be so cunning and winky?"

Zhibai also sighed in a dignified manner: "There is no way..."

Qi Jun was laughed angrily at him again, and stretched out his hand to pinch his face: "You can't do anything? I'm even counted in this palace, who dares to show you face?"

Zhibai pouted, and nestled down by himself, huddling with Qi Jun: "I just think it's boring."

"Why are you boring again?" Qi Jun held him in his arms and stroked his smooth hair, "I see that you are very active in meditating and practicing every day? If you want to practice double cultivation, isn't I here on call?" ?”

Zhibai huddled up in his arms like a puppy, a little sleepy: "I don't know, I just think this palace is really boring..."

Qi Jun thinks about the unrestrained life he lived in the mountains in the past, but now he opens his eyes and closes his eyes, but there is only a square sky like the observatory. Even if the garden of the observatory is spacious, it is limited after all. Some pity: "If not, I will take you out for a walk?"

Zhibai lazily opened only one eye: "Is it the Xishan siege again? It's bloody and bloody, and I feel uncomfortable watching it."

"No——" Qi Jun suddenly had an idea, "How about I take you to Shandong? Didn't you see the Fairy Mountain on the Sea in Penglai back then, and this time I will go to see if I have such a good fortune. It just so happens that I want to see it too Looking at the scientific research, Su Rui and the others are all in Shandong, and under their banner, no one will comment."

When Zhibai heard that he could leave the palace, he immediately became excited.Last time I went on a tour with Emperor Jing'an, although I went to many places, but after all, I couldn't let go of my arms to play, and I had to always be on guard against Zhen Mingzi and Qizhang Naoyaoer. This time I went out with Qi Jun, I think there will be no such trouble , couldn't help laughing and bent his eyes: "It's a pity that it's already the turn of spring and summer. It's hard to see mirages, but it's not bad to climb Mount Tai to watch the sunrise. Mount Tai is the first of the five mountains, and it's a small world when you climb it. Last time It's really a pity that the first emperor just sacrificed to heaven at the foot of the mountain."

Seeing that he came alive in an instant, Qi Jun was also happy, so he nodded and said: "Okay, let's go to Mount Tai to watch the sunrise, and I will ask people to prepare for the tour. Don't mobilize the crowd this time, I will only take you alone."

It is not trivial for the emperor to go on a tour, and there are hundreds of people in the guard of honor alone. Although Qi Jun tried his best to simplify, he finally brought more than 200 people out, and there are [-] imperial guards far behind, always ready in case there is something wrong The Assassins from the city show up to save you.

But speaking of it, this was already the emperor's tour with the least noise, and after only ten days of preparation, the team left the capital.As soon as he came to the official road, Zhibai was so excited that he wanted to go out to ride a horse. Qi Jun couldn't resist him, so he had to order someone to prepare a horse, and led him to ride all the way. Fortunately, the official road was flat, and riding a horse was no problem, and it would allow the team to move forward faster.

Although I was going to Shandong to see the examination room, I also had to watch the wind along the way. By the way, I asked about the people's livelihood achievements of various prefectures, states and counties, or rewarded or reprimanded, and it took a lot of time.Wherever he went, if there was a good view, Qi Jun would secretly take Zhibai to have a look.

After walking all the way in this way, when we entered Shandong, it was already the Dragon Boat Festival in May.

"This year's wheat has grown well." On both sides of the road, there were patches of wheat fields, with golden waves of wheat undulating and connecting, and the ears were all heavy. Qi Jun looked out from the carriage and thought it was pleasing to the eye, "Is it time to harvest?"

The little official who came to greet Shengjia hurriedly replied: "This year's spring is a little bit cold, and the wheat seedlings are also late. If it is in previous years, it is already time to harvest at this time. This year, it will be delayed for another two days, so that the wheat grains can be refilled. Grouting, the harvest will be more. It is estimated that the sickle will start in two or three days."

Qi Jun glanced at him: "You know a lot about farming, that's right. Tell me about the crops here."

This little official is just a humble person, because he has no backing, he has not moved in this position for more than ten years.I didn't want Shengjia to patrol Shandong, but it was earlier than the original announcement, and he did not go to the prefecture and county towns after entering the territory, but passed through the countryside.In this life, I was fortunate enough to have a few words with the emperor. I felt that smoke was rising from the grave of my ancestors, and I never expected to be praised by the emperor. I suddenly felt that the hard work of this life was worth it, and I started to talk non-stop.

He really knows a lot about local farming. Starting from these few wheat fields, he said that the wheat fields in the fourteen nearby villages are all ripe this year. And so on.

"Why sorghum doesn't grow wheat?" Qi Jun had been listening to him quietly, and suddenly asked when he heard this.Sorghum is a coarse grain. Although the yield is much higher than that of wheat, it is not as profitable as growing wheat. Why do people use the land where wheat is grown to grow sorghum?

The little official hurriedly said: "It's because big businessmen came to purchase sorghum last year, and the price of sorghum has increased, so this year more people grow sorghum. Naturally, no one is willing to grow sorghum in such a fertile and good land, but that's about the same." The yield of growing sorghum is high, and it takes less effort to tend it than wheat, so there are those lazy people who don’t grow wheat and switch to sorghum.” Speaking of this, he is a little proud, “There are few people like this in this county, most of them He is a diligent person. However, the atmosphere in the neighboring county is not good, and the political performance in previous years is not as good as that of this county."

Qi Jun frowned slightly: "Is there a big businessman here to purchase? Why purchase such a large amount of sorghum?"

But this made the little official question: "This--Your Majesty forgives the crime, I really don't know, do you want to come or make wine?"

Qi Jun pondered for a moment, then asked again: "Where did this merchant come from? Where did the sorghum go? Will he come again this year?"

The little official didn't want the emperor to be so concerned about the crops, so he wiped his sweat and said, "I just heard that the sorghum I bought seems to have gone to the Yangtze River and traveled by water. As for where it will be shipped, I really don't know. After thinking for a while, he quickly added, "But he will definitely come back this year. Last year, he placed a fixed amount of money at several grain farms in the town. If the emperor wants to know, when he comes, the minister will go and ask?"

Qi Jun shook his head: "No. If someone comes, you don't have to be alarmed, just send someone to report to me quickly." He glanced at Feng En, "Write down his name."

Feng En smiled and said, "May I ask your lord's name?"

The emperor's personal eunuch came to ask your name, and he knew it was a great thing with his knees. The little official was so happy that he didn't dare to take it. Although the post house is simple and crude, it has been repaired by Shengjia, and it is barely livable."

Feng En laughed and said: "Your Majesty's loyalty and filial piety are known to the emperor, but the emperor did not want to disturb the village when he went on tour this time. If he enters the county town, it is inevitable that the city will have clean roads and quiet streets, which will hinder the people's life. I won’t go, I’ll just stay in the outskirts temporarily tonight, and my lord should not spread the word.”

The little official hurriedly praised the emperor's benevolence, and finally asked carefully if he could bring some soup and porridge, after all, there are hundreds of people here: "Eating in the countryside should not be in the eyes of the emperor, it's just a big pot. Some clean soup and porridge, let the accompanying adults use it to moisten the stomach, and it doesn't take much effort."

After a little thought, Feng En agreed: "Be sure to clean it up. Naturally, the emperor has money to reward the people. Chicken, duck and fish meat are not required, and only five grain porridge is enough."

The little official repeatedly agreed: "Although the new wheat has not yet been harvested, some fields are already full. Some farmers have harvested the new wheat and sent some porridge with wheat kernels. It is also their loyalty and filial piety."

Qi Jun and his party set up camp on the flat ground outside the village, and they had their own attendants to light a fire and cook.Sure enough, the little official brought over a dozen large barrels of porridge and soup with the villager who was waiting for someone to bring over a dozen buckets of porridge and soup in an ox cart, and specially asked his wife to carefully cook a few side dishes, as well as new wheat kernel porridge and steamed buns made of new wheat noodles, and laughed with him. Send it to Feng En.Feng En asked the imperial doctor to examine it carefully before sending him to Qi Jun's carriage.

Although the country flavor, no matter how delicate it is, is nothing more than steamed fish and scrambled eggs, but it is fresh. These people also seemed to be floating in the clouds for a long time, and they went back dancing and dancing until the sky was completely dark, still muttering their gratitude to the emperor for his kindness.

The new grain has its own fragrance of grains, the boiled wheat kernel porridge and the steamed buns are both delicious, even Qi Jun ate half a bun more than usual, the way of health preservation is to prevent food accumulation, so he brought Zhibai and more than ten guards with him Going out for a walk is not only to see the wild scenery, but also to digest food.

On a summer night in the countryside, at first you hear everything is silent, but when you listen carefully, there are insects talking on the treetops by your feet, chirping and chirping, with a variety of tunes.The sky is dark blue with no clouds, so the sky seems extremely low, as if it is pressed on the treetops far away, and the stars are as bright as gems, as if they are within reach.

Zhibai also drank an extra bowl of porridge, hiccupped from time to time, took Qi Jun's hand and sauntered away, and took off a willow leaf and blew it in his mouth. Qi Jun just said, "Put everything in your mouth." It’s not too dirty.” He had already blew out a series of crisp sounds like birdsong, which caused the birds in the woods next to him to wake up from their dreams to chirp a few times.

Qi Jun also found it interesting, the two of them didn't need to talk, they walked away in such a leisurely manner for an unknown period of time, Qi Jun turned around occasionally, only to see the darkness behind him, the bonfire on the campsite could not be seen, and he didn't know how far the two had walked. The dozen or so guards who had been following behind just now disappeared, and he couldn't help being surprised: "It's time to go back."

After he said this, he realized that he had walked into a forest. He saw that the forest was sparse from the outside, but now that he really walked in, it was so dark that even the light of stars could not penetrate from the branches.The two were looking around to find the direction, when they suddenly heard a rumbling sound in the distance, it was extremely heavy, it sounded like a series of muffled thunders in the quiet night, coming towards the forest.And not far in front of him, a little light suddenly lit up, at first it was like a firefly, and then it became brighter and brighter. Looking at the size of a fist, it actually illuminated the surrounding tens of feet, and unexpectedly revealed a house.

Qi Jun took Zhibai's hand and hid behind a big tree.Although the forest was dark, it was not so dark that he couldn't see his fingers. Just now, he could see clearly that there was a tree in front of him, and the light was like a firefly in the grass, clearly rising from the ground. After getting up, how come with the light spreading, there is an extra house on the ground?Could it be the ghost fox?

At this time, the sound of the rumbling car was getting closer. The person holding the lamp raised the lamp in his hand, and the light shone out. There was an additional road on the ground. On the other side of the road, a group of people were pushing a few strange-shaped cars slowly. At first glance, it looks like a trebuchet used to attack the city. What's even more surprising is that the bottom of the car seems to be not wheels, but something that rotates like paddles. No matter how angry you are, you can't see your face clearly.

When they got to the front of the house, a person said in a low voice: "Ah Xiang, these are eighteen mine carts. Tomorrow at noon, push the carts to harvest wheat."