Eagle-eyed and wolf-watching

Chapter 1537 Concubine’s Birthday!

According to the report submitted by the Ministry of Rites, Zhang Yilin was a native of Youyan. He passed the imperial examination of the Former Zhou Dynasty and entered the Hanlin Academy of the Great Zhou Dynasty. After working as a reader in the Hanlin Academy for several years, he went to Qi and Lu and initially worked in the Provincial Government. Later, he was transferred to Haiqing County as a county magistrate.

After the Fengwu Army captured Qi and Lu, Zhang Yilin continued to serve as the magistrate of Haiqing County because he had a good reputation among local officials in Qi and Lu and was willing to surrender to the Fengwu Army.

Later, there were rumors within the Fengwu Army that Ye Mingsheng only trusted people from Liaoyang and that people from other places would not be valued in the Fengwu Army. In order to quell this rumor, Ye Mingsheng transferred capable people from Qilu, Youyan, Jiyu and other places to the central government!
Because Zhang Yilin had passed the imperial examination and served as a county magistrate for many years and had rich experience at the grassroots level, he was assigned to serve as the prefect of Yuyang.

Yuyang was originally an important border town and a military fortress built to guard against the Luobi people. However, because the Luobi were conquered by Ye Mingsheng, the two sides began to trade with each other, so Yuyang established a market to do business with the Luobi people.

Although the Fengwu Army and the Luobi had ushered in peace at that time, there were still too many deep-seated hatreds between them. So when facing the Luobi people who came to the market to do business, the merchants on the Youyan side were actually not very friendly. The nice ones would just mock them with words, while the bad ones would just cheat you and ruin your business!

The Luobi people were very angry about this, and complaints about the trade were everywhere. Because of some conflicts, the two sides even resorted to knife fighting. Faced with such a situation, several other markets were intentionally or unintentionally biased towards the businesses on the Daqian side, which made the Luobi people even more dissatisfied...

But only Zhang Yilin was very fair and just in this market town of Yuyang. He did not favor Daqian's business and target you, Luo Bin, just because I was an official of Daqian. He only dealt with the matter, not the people, in this market town!

It is precisely because of this that many Luobei people come to Yuyang specifically to do business. The market in Yuyang has become more prosperous, and the government has also collected a lot of taxes from the market, which has greatly increased Yuyang's tax revenue!
In addition to increasing tax revenue by running the market town, Zhang Yilin also encouraged the people of Yuyang to reclaim wasteland!
There are many lands suitable for planting around Yuyang, but Yuyang has always been a military fortress, and wars often break out in the surrounding areas. The Luobi people are quite brutal and would burn, kill and loot at any time, so the people around Yuyang did not dare to plant crops there and all ran away. This also caused some arable land to be abandoned and became wasteland with no one to cultivate it.

In response to this situation, Zhang Yilin specially arranged people to go to densely populated areas such as Qi, Lu, Hebei and Henan to preach that the Yuyang area is now safe, the Luobi people have surrendered to Daqian, and your life will not be in danger if you come to Yuyang!

And the wasteland you reclaim in Yuyang can all belong to you and will be tax-free for three years, and the tax will be reduced by half within five years!

Qi, Lu, Hebei and Henan are the traditional densely populated areas in the Central Plains. Although Ye Mingsheng has taken various measures in the past to strive to allocate land to every household, because the population in the area is indeed large, people do not get much land. In addition, agricultural technology is not very developed now, so many people are still on the line of food and clothing...
Therefore, many people in Qi, Lu, Hebei and Henan, although they were skeptical about whether Yuyang was really as safe as Zhang Yilin said, under the temptation of land, they still embarked on the road to the north!
In this way, Yuyang absorbed a population of nearly 70,000. Zhang Yilin also bought a lot of oxen from the Luobi people at low prices in the name of the government through trade with them, and rented these oxen to the people. In this way, the grain produced in Yuyang ushered in a bumper harvest!

And it was because of these political achievements that Zhang Yilin was promoted by Ye Mingsheng to the position of deputy governor of Youyan!

Although he had not met Zhang Yilin yet, through these ZJs Ye Mingsheng felt that Zhang Yilin looked like a good talent and was qualified to be the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel!

But judging from his resume, Zhang Yilin is quite good at economic and people's livelihood affairs, and is a master in this area. If he wants to be promoted, he should go to the Ministry of Revenue. But the Ministry of Personnel is mainly responsible for personnel work. Can Zhang Yilin handle it well?

Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng fell into deep thought. After careful consideration, Ye Mingsheng made an order to arrange for Zhang Yilin to meet the emperor!
In any case, I should meet him now, see with my own eyes what kind of person he is, and then talk about what he thinks about working in the Ministry of Personnel, and finally decide how to appoint Zhang Yilin and put him in that position!
Also, Zhang Zhiwen is the governor of Youyan, and Zhang Yilin is his deputy. I can let Zhang Zhiwen submit a memorial and let him talk about his views on Zhang Yilin, which can be used as a reference...

After working for nearly an hour and a half in the afternoon, Ye Mingsheng finished his work for the day. Just as Ye Mingsheng was about to go to the Imperial Garden for a run, Ye Cheng came over and reminded him:
"Your Majesty, today is Imperial Concubine Murong's birthday. You promised to celebrate her birthday with her!"

Ye Mingsheng was stunned at first and then asked
"Is today Murong Qingwu's birthday?"

"Yes! February 19th is Concubine Murong's birthday!"

Seeing Ye Cheng's very certain look, Ye Mingsheng also suddenly realized. When he got up this morning and looked at the date, he felt that there was something he had to do, but when he thought about it carefully in the morning, he couldn't remember anything, so Ye Mingsheng put it behind him!
I never thought that this incident would happen on Murong Qingwu’s birthday!

Speaking of this incident, it happened before the New Year. I went to Murong Qingwu's place to rest. Murong Qingwu didn't take the initiative to say that February 19th was her birthday, but the palace maid Ying'er beside her said this intentionally or unintentionally!
So when Ye Mingsheng heard about this, he promised that he would go to celebrate Murong Qingwu's birthday!

But Daqian was busy with state affairs, and Ye Mingsheng did not have a superhuman memory, so after Ye Mingsheng promised this matter, he forgot about it. Fortunately, Ye Cheng reminded him now, otherwise he would have really forgotten about it...

Although Murong Qingwu is not a pretentious person and is very sensible, even if I really forgot about this matter, she probably wouldn't care too much about it, but it is still a sad thing.

Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng also instructed Ye Cheng:
"Does Murong Qingwu like ice jade? I remember she seemed to have bought a lot of ice jade pendants. Go to the treasury and pick two for me!"

Hearing what Ye Mingsheng said, Ye Cheng immediately went to make arrangements, while Ye Mingsheng himself continued to run laps in the Imperial Garden. Ye Mingsheng wanted to run off the fat he had gained during the Chinese New Year, so he could not stop running and had to persist. Persistence is victory!
Just when Ye Mingsheng finished running one lap in the Imperial Garden and was about to run the second lap, he met Ye Cheng who came in a hurry.

The director of the attendant department wiped the sweat from his forehead and reported to Ye Mingsheng:

"Your Majesty, the icy jadeite in the treasury was given by the Empress to Consort Pei, Consort Bai, Consort Shen and others ten days ago. Now there is no icy jadeite jewelry in the treasury!"

Ye Mingsheng was also stunned when he heard this, and shook his head helplessly after he reacted. This An Miaoyi was really narrow-minded. She could actually do such a thing. She knew that Murong Qingwu liked ice jadeite, and she gave all the ice jadeite away before her birthday. Now, what could he give to Murong Qingwu?

But this matter is also my fault. If I had remembered that Murong Qingwu’s birthday was today and prepared a birthday present earlier, I wouldn’t have had to cram at the last minute... As if seeing Ye Mingsheng’s helplessness, Ye Cheng hesitated for a moment and reminded:

"Your Majesty, although there is no ice jade in the treasury, the other jades are also good! There are bracelets and pendants with pink jade and black jade!"

Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly when he heard this:
"Go find two good ones and package them beautifully!"

"Yes!"

After arranging Ye Cheng, Ye Mingsheng continued to stay in the Imperial Garden. In fact, Ye Mingsheng knew that Murong Qingwu loved ice jadeite. Whenever there was good ice jadeite in Yijing, it would be bought by Murong Qingwu at a high price. And those ice jadeites originally in the treasury were actually things that Murong Qingwu did not like. If Murong Qingwu liked them, she would have taken them away long ago and would not have waited until now.

So when Ye Mingsheng prepared a birthday gift for Murong Qingwu, it was actually just a token of his appreciation. He had no intention of trying to please Murong Qingwu. Although he was busy with state affairs, as a husband he still had to give her some sense of ceremony and emotional value on her birthday.

Ye Mingsheng, who had just finished running in the Imperial Garden, came to Murong Qingwu's courtyard carrying the birthday gift prepared for him by Ye Cheng.

Following the announcement of His Majesty's arrival, Murong Qingwu and a group of people came out to pay homage to His Majesty. Ye Mingsheng noticed the pretty girl behind Murong Qingwu at a glance. Ye Mingsheng was not surprised that Murong Xinyun appeared here. It was her sister's birthday, and the younger sister came to celebrate with her sister. It was very reasonable and there was no problem at all!

Murong Xinyun was still as bright and beautiful as ever, but for some reason, Ye Mingsheng felt a little strange when he saw this girl. Ye Mingsheng was very puzzled about this, as he had clearly seen her in the Attendant Department a few days ago...
In such a short period of time, what kind of changes could Murong Xinyun have undergone that would make him feel unfamiliar?

Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng became even more confused. His intuition had always been sharp and had helped him make correct judgments many times, so Ye Mingsheng always believed in his intuition. But at this moment, he didn't know whether his intuition was wrong!

Just when Ye Mingsheng was a little dazed, the voice of guard Zhang Hu came from behind him.

"His Majesty!"

Ye Mingsheng, who was reminded by Zhang Hu, realized that Murong Qingwu and others were still kneeling at his feet. Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng also said:
"My beloved, please stand up! Everyone, please stand up!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

After entering the house, Ye Mingsheng handed the gift that Ye Cheng prepared for him to Murong Qingwu, then smiled and said:
"Qingwu, this is a birthday present prepared for you! Happy birthday to you!"

Looking at the beautifully decorated gift box in front of her, Murong Qingwu seemed a little moved. She looked at Ye Mingsheng and said with a little grievance:

"Your Majesty, you haven't come to see me for almost a month! I thought you had forgotten me!"

Ye Mingsheng felt a little embarrassed when he heard this. Murong Qingwu didn't rank high in his heart, and he now preferred those young girls, so he did come to Murong Qingwu less frequently recently. Although he thought so in his heart, Ye Mingsheng still said:

"The Qingwu New Year has just passed, and there are a lot of things going on in the court! I have also been quite busy, and I have indeed been a little negligent towards you. Please bear with me. After this period of time, I will come to see you often..."

Hearing Ye Mingsheng using the busy state affairs as an excuse again, Murong Qingwu repeatedly said that state affairs were more important and she could fully understand.

After saying these clichés, Murong Qingwu focused her attention on the gift that Ye Mingsheng brought, and said with some anticipation:
"Your Majesty, what birthday present are you going to give me?"

Ye Mingsheng felt a little guilty when he heard this question. Just now, when Ye Cheng prepared the gift for him, he told him what the gift was, but he just listened to it with one ear and out the other, and did not take it to heart.

So when faced with Murong Qingwu's question, Ye Mingsheng didn't know what to say and could only answer casually:
"Qingwu, this is a surprise I prepared for you! You have to open it yourself!"

Although Ye Mingsheng said it was a surprise, Murong Qingwu noticed that Ye Mingsheng's eyes were flustered for a moment. She immediately realized something and couldn't help feeling a little disappointed with this so-called surprise!

Although she had begun to feel disappointed, Murong Qingwu still tried hard to pretend to be expectant when facing Ye Mingsheng. Then she opened the beautifully packaged gift box and saw a pink emerald pendant and a black emerald bracelet.

Seeing these two things, Murong Qingwu's disappointment reached its peak. She originally thought that Ye Mingsheng would prepare ice-type jadeite for her as before, so the ice-type jadeite in the treasury were all the ones that Murong Qingwu looked down upon, but at least they were still the ice-type jadeite she liked.

Although these two jade jewelry looked very good in the eyes of others and were worth at least a hundred taels of silver in the market, Murong Qingwu did not like the texture of the jade, the style of the jewelry, and even the craftsmanship of the jade. In her eyes, these two things were worthless garbage...