The Red Chamber: Starting from Saving Xue Baochai

Chapter 41 Shen Yuan meets the Emperor in the Imperial Study

The next day, Hanmo Zhai.

Shen Yuan was invited here, thinking that they were discussing disaster relief matters, but Gao Yue's words caught him off guard.

"Brother Shen, His Majesty wants to see you."

After Gao Yue finished speaking, he stared at Shen Yuan intently and saw that although the young man looked surprised, he was not at all shocked.

He couldn't help but wonder, is this the character that a young person should have?

Not to mention an eighteen-year-old boy, even a middle-aged official with a calm personality would show an expression of fear or surprise when summoned by the emperor for the first time, no matter how shrewd he is.

After being stunned for a moment, Shen Yuan asked in a clear voice: "What is Mr. Gao's identity? Can you tell me?"

He had asked someone to investigate before, but failed to find out Gao Yue's identity.

What surprised him even more was that Emperor Yuanzhen had extremely strict control over information about the royal family, and almost no one in the public knew how many children the current emperor had.

As usual, when princes and princesses came of age and left the palace, they would be given titles, but no titles were given to Emperor Yuanzhen’s children.

The members of the Great Zhou royal family whose identities were made public, such as Prince Zhongshun, were all from the same generation as Emperor Yuanzhen.

Gao Yue was silent for a moment, then said thoughtfully, "I didn't intend to hide this from Brother Shen, but I hope Brother Shen won't spread it to others in the future."

Shen Yuan nodded.

Gao Yue slowly uttered three words: "The fourth prince."

Upon hearing this, Shen Yuan confirmed his guess that this person was indeed the prince of the current dynasty. However, judging from his age, he should have left the palace. As for why he did not have a title, he did not want to explore it any further.

Knowing the other party's identity, Shen Yuan bowed to Gao Yue and said, "I wonder when Your Highness is going to take me into the palace?"

"Brother Shen, there is no need to be so polite. We will still treat each other as friends in the future." Gao Yue gave him a false support and said with a smile, "The emperor has left the court at 9:00 pm. I will take you to the palace later."

"I'll follow Mr. Gao's arrangements." Shen Yuan nodded calmly. He still had a lot of thoughts in his mind, but he just didn't show them.

He had envisioned the scene of meeting the emperor, but he didn't expect it to happen so soon.

No matter what, he had to perform well in front of the emperor today to win the trust of the Emperor of the Great Zhou and get a good start for his career.

The two chatted for a while, and then Gao Yue ordered the maid to take Shen Yuan to bathe and change clothes.

When entering the palace to meet the emperor, there are certain rules or etiquette to follow, such as bathing and burning incense, how to greet the emperor, and the posture of standing and sitting, etc. To put it bluntly, it is to make the emperor feel comfortable when he sees you.

While taking a bath, Shen Yuan was thinking about meeting the emperor.

After all, he had never seen the Emperor of the Great Zhou. Even though he had some understanding of his character from Gao Yue's description, he could not be really sure. After all, the emperor's mind was unpredictable, and even Gao Yue might not be able to see through Emperor Yuanzhen's character.

You still have to be careful when speaking, and some probing is necessary.

After bathing and fumigating with incense, Gao Yue taught Shen Yuan some basic etiquette.

Afterwards, the two of them rode in a canopy carriage towards the palace.

Half an hour later, the carriage drove into the palace gate. With the prince's identity token, the guards did not check it too strictly.

After getting off the carriage and handing the carriage to the eunuch for guarding, Gao Yue led Shen Yuan to the imperial study.

On the palace road, Shen Yuan took a quick look at the Great Zhou Palace.

The towering palace walls and intricate carved beams and painted buildings all demonstrate its grandeur and majesty.

Everywhere you look, you can see eunuchs and palace maids walking in pairs.

From time to time, you can see guards patrolling in groups, walking solemnly. This is the core of power of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and it is also the place where people are most likely to breed ambitions.

A true man is born between heaven and earth.
Putting aside the unrealistic thoughts, Shen Yuan thought again, who knows how much blood has been shed here, and every change of supreme power may result in mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

After walking for about a quarter of an hour, Shen Yuan saw a majestic hall with a towering plaque hanging on it with the words "Qianqing Palace" written in large letters.

Gao Yue smiled gently and said, "We're here. The imperial study is inside."

After the eunuch reported the matter, Shen Yuan and Gao Yue entered the imperial study.

"Greetings, father." Gao Yue bowed.

"Shen Yuan pays respect to Your Majesty. Long live the emperor." Shen Yuan also bowed and saluted.

As Gao Yue said before, there is no need to kneel for an informal worship.

"Everyone, get up." A vigorous and majestic voice sounded from above.

Emperor Yuanzhen put down the imperial pen, raised his eyes to look at Shen Yuan below, his face serious, and said in a deep voice: "I have heard Yue'er mention you a lot recently. When I saw you today, I found that you are indeed quite generous."

"Your Majesty, you are too kind." Shen Yuan spoke calmly, without showing any timidity and without saying much.

Seeing that Shen Yuan remained calm, Emperor Yuanzhen continued, "In the memorial Jiang Zhongnian gave me, he was full of praise for you, saying that you are a rare talent, not only brave but also talented in governing the country."

Shen Yuan heard this and knew that the emperor was testing his attitude, so he pretended to be terrified and said, "Master Jiang, thank you for your praise. I really don't deserve this talent for governing the country."

Emperor Yuan Zhen couldn't help but smile when he saw Shen Yuan's attitude, and thought to himself, "This boy is really thoughtful."

He stopped probing, but did not mention disaster relief. He pondered and said, "I heard that you are a scholar, so you must be quite knowledgeable about history. Emperor Wu of Han was killed even though he was far away, and Emperor Tang was worshipped by all nations! Tell me, what is the key to the prosperity of these two dynasties?"

Emperor Yuanzhen changed the topic quite quickly, which was beyond Shen Yuan's expectation.

Moreover, the question was a bit too broad, directly comparing it to Emperor Tang and Emperor Wu of Han, which shows that Emperor Yuanzhen had the ambition to revitalize the country.

The topic was somewhat sensitive, so Shen Yuan did not dare to answer rashly, and said, "Yuan only has some superficial views on historical events. How dare I talk nonsense about ancient times in front of Your Majesty?"

Emperor Yuanzhen paused for a moment, and said in a serious tone, "You don't need to hide your shortcomings in front of me, but if you have something on your mind, just speak it out. I am not so magnanimous as to be so magnanimous."

He knew that Shen Yuan still had concerns and thought that the young man thought too narrowly of him.

However, the emperor's every word and smile contained his majesty. How could others dare to be careless?

When Shen Yuan saw the gloomy expression on Emperor Yuanzhen's face, he knew that he was not testing him, or that he really wanted to hear his thoughts. If he didn't give him some advice, he was afraid that the emperor would really be unhappy.

He considered his words and said slowly: "At the beginning of Emperor Tang and Emperor Wu of Han, they were surrounded by foreign enemies, and the danger was no less than it is now, but they still rose up bravely and all nations submitted to them, all because of the four words of enriching the people and strengthening the army.

The prosperity of the Han Dynasty began with the rule of Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing. After several decades of recuperation, the people became prosperous and the society became tolerant. By the time of Emperor Wu of Han, he had a large army and sufficient armor, and was able to strengthen his weapons and horses. He was able to defend Wei and Huo, pursue the enemy to the north, and seal off the Wolf's Lair.

However, the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty was also inseparable from the Zhenguan Reign. The 24 ministers in the Lingyan Pavilion were both civil and military. What was slightly different from the powerful Han Dynasty was that Emperor Taizong used war to support war, and used both kindness and power to attract all nations to pay tribute. "

Shen Yuan first gave a general reply and then watched the emperor's reaction.

Emperor Yuanzhen nodded. He understood all of this. He said in a clear voice, "China has gone through more than ten dynasties. There are many emperors who have worked hard to govern the country, but very few can truly achieve civil and military success. It's not that later generations don't understand the experience of their predecessors, but each dynasty has its own unique situation, and the experience of the predecessors may not be applicable to the present."

He had always aspired to revive China, and had naturally studied the history of these prosperous times. He knew that what Shen Yuan had just said was only superficial.

He said in a deep voice: "Go on."

I recommend a book written by the same author, about the history of the late Yuan Dynasty, no system, hardcore time travel, pacifying the Japanese and the barbarians, fighting for supremacy at sea, and also contains Zhao Min and Zhou Zhiruo~


(End of this chapter)