Women Wearing Men: The Growth Path of the Bastards of the Aristocratic Family

In the imperial palace of the capital, in the royal study.

Emperor Jingfeng was concentrating on reviewing the memorial, while Cheng Yan lowered his eyebrows and quietly waited on the sidelines.

After approving, Emperor Jingfeng raised his head, pointed to the memorial in his hand and smiled at Cheng Yan: "Not long after summer started, the Sichuan Chief Envoy came to me crying on the memorial, saying that there was a severe drought in Sichuan and the grain production was reduced. , asking the imperial court to reduce or exempt grain tax.”

"But there are still two months before the summer tax is collected. If he can deliver this letter to me now, even if he rushes to do it, it was written at least half a month ago. Pu Tingnan is actually so capable, two days in advance In more than a month, you can predict that the drought in central Sichuan will be so severe that the grain production will be greatly reduced?"

Hearing Emperor Jingfeng's slightly sarcastic tone, Cheng Yan smiled gently, did not make any comments, and continued to study ink with his head down.

Emperor Jingfeng looked at him twice and said: "I heard that it hasn't rained in Shuzhong for a long time, but I don't know what the drought situation is. Do you know what the situation in Shuzhong is now?"

Cheng Yan shook his head and said in a calm voice: "Wei Chen doesn't know. Wei Chen has been staying in the capital. Occasionally, His Majesty appreciated him and took him with him to accompany the pen and ink. This gained him a little knowledge. As for outside the capital, especially Shu, which is thousands of miles away. In the middle of a drought, a minor official in the Imperial Academy will not know more than the other court officials."

Emperor Jingfeng smiled inexplicably, stared at his lowered eyes, and suddenly said: "I remember... Gu Yunji was working as a judge in Xuzhou Mansion, right? You two have a good relationship, but he has never written to you. , mention a few words about the drought in Shu?"

Thinking of the potato, drought and other things Gu Yunji mentioned in the letter, Cheng Yan paused slightly while studying the ink, and said without changing his expression: "I haven't exchanged letters with Mr. Gu for a long time. Maybe he is busy with official duties and can't spare time." Empty.”

He was busy with official duties, but he didn’t say what official duties he was busy with. He might be busy with the drought, or he might be busy with something else.

Cheng Yan's words left room for advancement and retreat. Emperor Jingfeng couldn't ask anything, so he had to retract his gaze and return his attention to the memorial in front of him: "I heard the governor of Sichuan say some time ago that although there has been no such thing in Shu for a long time, It rained, but there are many rivers and there is still no shortage of water for irrigation. I guess the drought is not as serious as Putin said."

"But to be on the safe side, I still need to find someone to go to Shuzhong in two days to see how the drought is going. I can also decide whether to reduce or reduce the grain tax by a few percent based on the situation."

The governor is an official sent by the central government to the local area. He is in charge of various administrative, judicial, supervisory and other powers of a province. The original purpose was to restrain local officials such as the chief envoy and the inspector general and strengthen the court's control over the local area. Later, he gradually became the same as the governor. He became the de facto supreme leader of the place.

Governors and governors are divided into two types: long-term residence and temporary dispatch. If they stay for a long time, their power is superior to the chief envoy and other officials, and they have overall power over a province; if they are temporarily dispatched, they are equivalent to the "incarnation" of the emperor and have political attributes. Weaker, with stronger supervisory attributes - just like the current governor of Sichuan.

Emperor Jingfeng clearly had the Sichuan governor's report on the drought, but he still asked Cheng Yan. It might not necessarily be a test, it was really just a casual question, but if Cheng Yan didn't answer well, then this unintentional question would be It will quickly rise to suspicion, and then to defensiveness and fear.

However, through his experience as an official at the Jingyan Banquet in the past few years, Cheng Yan was able to figure out the temperament of Emperor Jingfeng. In the eyes of others, Emperor Jingfeng was an elusive emperor who was moody and angry.But in Cheng Yan's eyes, Emperor Jingfeng was, to put it bluntly, strong, suspicious, and willful. As long as he understood these, he would be able to accompany the emperor with ease.

Sure enough, after the incident just now, Emperor Jingfeng didn't take it to heart, and quickly devoted his attention to reviewing the memorial.

"Boom" - "Boom" - "Boom" -

The Western clock in the corner swung its pendulum clumsily to tell the time.Emperor Jingfeng laughed when he heard the sound: "Sometimes the Westerners' strange skills are not useless. For example, this Western clock can tell time much more accurately than our sundials and hourglasses. Look, it can also tell the time when it is on time. Woolen cloth."

With that said, he waved and called Ning Fuhai: "Bring me the elixir. It's time to take the elixir."

Ning Fuhai hesitated, but in the end he did not dare to disobey his order. He responded and turned around to get the elixir.

Soon, the elixir was brought, a palm-sized brocade box. The lid was opened, revealing a bright red, finger-sized small elixir inside.

Cheng Yan's eyes froze when he saw this, and he hesitated to speak.

Emperor Jingfeng noticed his movements and explained with a smile: "This is an elixir made by a warlock named Lan Wenyong. He has just returned to Beijing from traveling in all directions. He is a very good Taoist. I have only taken the elixir for a few days." , I felt completely comfortable and refreshed. So I left him in the palace to refine elixirs for me every day."

Cheng Yan's eyes were complicated, and after a battle between heaven and man in his heart, he finally couldn't help but said: "Your Majesty is in the prime of life, and the fortune of the Great Xia is prosperous, which is the time to make great achievements in governing the country. The so-called immortality is after all empty words. Many monarchs in history have pursued immortality, but in the end..."

"Cheng Qing, don't worry, I understand the truth." Emperor Jingfeng didn't take it seriously and interrupted him with a wave of his hand, "People who eat whole grains will inevitably get sick. How can they live forever?"

"I am not the ancestor of the dragon. I left the great country and the government affairs unattended and worked hard to find the magic of immortality. As a result, I died at the age of 50. The country that I have worked so hard to build for the sixth generation will finally be given to a man who is four years younger than him. The head of the pavilion in Surabaya made the wedding dress."

"It can be seen that immortality is ultimately illusory. It is better to live a long life. I do not seek immortality, only longevity. Therefore, the elixir that Warlock Lan made for me is not an elixir of longevity, but a medicine that strengthens the body and prolongs life. I After eating for a few days, I feel much better than before, and it’s not a problem to batch off six or seven hours a day!”

Speaking of this, Emperor Jingfeng was in a happy mood and smiled broadly: "I'm not greedy, and I don't want to live a long life. As long as I can live to be six or seventy years old without any disease or disaster, I will be satisfied!"

In history, many emperors neglected government affairs because of their pursuit of immortality, which led to turmoil in the court and the alienation of monarchs and ministers. Now it seems that although Emperor Jingfeng did not have this intention, but now that he has made this move, there is no guarantee that similar thoughts will not arise in the future.

What's more, Cheng Yan has read poetry and books and looked at Chinese history books, but he has never seen anyone who takes elixirs to get better and better. On the contrary, there are many cases of premature aging and short life, which shows that this is not a good thing.

However, Emperor Jingfeng's attitude was such that Cheng Yan couldn't say anything more and closed his mouth knowingly.

Ning Fuhai didn't know the difference between longevity pills and longevity pills, but he had seen Lan Wenyong make pills, such as cinnabar, mercury, sulfur, lime, etc. None of them could be eaten alone, let alone combined. Together.

He was a slave, he didn't dare to point fingers at his master's affairs, so he could only look at Cheng Yan anxiously, hoping that this recently favored Imperial official would say a few more words to persuade Emperor Jingfeng to give up taking pills.

But Cheng Yan didn't persuade him any more, so Ning Fuhai had no choice but to look away in disappointment.