Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 124 The scenery here is unique
The cultural trip that Xia Lin had planned a long time ago was just right. There is a saying that goes, "When luck comes, it can't be stopped."

Who in the world can be more famous than the emperor? The effect of the emperor personally promoting the product is self-evident, right? Before, Xia Lin was still planning whether to let Lao Zhang trick a group of literati and scholars to come and advertise, but who knew that a super advertiser would come now.

If I have to fill up the advertisements, how can I justify the efforts I have made in the past two months? I also spent hundreds of thousands of taels to redeem those girls, and the wool has to be taken from the sheep.

As the dragon boat moved forward, every stop of the trip around Poyang Lake was not missed. Where there were views, we viewed them, and where there were no views, we created the scenery. If there was no time to create the scenery, Your Majesty could experience the customs of the small towns along the coast.

It's no wonder that after several years of development, the entire Poyang Ring Road is in pretty good shape, showing signs of being an economic and cultural center of central China, which makes His Majesty very satisfied.

Gao Shilian was a smart man, and he certainly would not cause trouble at this critical juncture. He was also having a great time, so apart from those censors who kept chattering along the way, everyone was very satisfied with the trip.

A total of 27 days were spent, and 19 days were spent on Poyang Lake alone. This bought a lot of time for other regions with less sound infrastructure. Some places were originally included in the plan, but in the end we were unable to visit them due to lack of time.

"What beautiful mountains and waters! Really beautiful mountains and waters."

His Majesty's favorite place is the viewing platform. This is one of the few opportunities for him to trample all the civil and military officials under his feet without them having any complaints. On this day, they came to Nanji and happened to see the scene of egrets flying together. Emperor Hongbao couldn't help but feel refreshed and happy: "My dear ministers, you are all well-educated in poetry and books. Why don't you take advantage of this beautiful scenery to write some poems, so that future generations will not think that we are all uneducated and unskilled people."

Well, since the emperor said so, there was no way to escape. Naturally, the ministers began to speak in a pretentious manner, but after listening to all of them, none of them were satisfied. He could not help but complain, "Everyone says that a top scholar only appears once every three years. Now there are twelve top scholars here, and none of them can produce a work comparable to the Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng?"

The officials in the court all shrank their necks, like students who were afraid of being called by their teacher...

Your Majesty, are you kidding me? They say this article is a natural creation, a product of a master's hand. Even if the author himself were here, he probably wouldn't be able to write an article as good as this one.

That kind of article requires the youthful spirit, the unconstrained ambition and the talent of being well-read. Everyone can be well-read, but after all, people are no longer young, so how can they write such sentences?

Seeing that all the civil and military officials in the court were silent, Emperor Hongbao sighed: "If I had known this would happen, I would have let Xia Daosheng come on board as well. I was wondering what kind of wonderful article he could write here."

This is a small regret, but it was soon overshadowed by the boundless beauty. The most beautiful place in the south of the Yangtze River is Poyang. The 800-li Yunmeng lacks some gracefulness, and the winding Jiangdong lacks some heroism. Only the surging Poyang Lake is as magnificent as the sea and as quiet as a dream, which makes people intoxicated and dreamy.

A few days later, when the boat reached Liaonan, it would turn and enter the Ganjiang River and head straight for Hongdu Prefecture. At this point, there were more people's residences along the way, and people would stop to watch wherever the boat passed. When it was lively, there would even be more than a thousand people gathered on the shore, cheering and rejoicing, which made Emperor Hongbao very pleased.

"One tael per person, line up!" Xia Lin had set up a stall just below the embankment. "Hurry up, those who have received the money should go to the next stall! Move quickly! Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

After getting the money, some of these people started off immediately, while others drove their mules, horses and donkeys along the way. Xia Lin's carriage also followed the team. Anyway, each point was worth one or two taels of silver, and how much one could get depended on one's ability.

It was a false prosperity. Anyway, it was too far to see who was who. I rushed over to wave and landed to pick up the money. If I had enough physical strength to run the two hundred miles, I would get two hundred taels, and I wouldn't have to work for three years.

At this moment, the Minister of Revenue on the boat was stunned. He wondered why there were so many people along the coast. He was a math major, and if the population density was like this, then the population of Hongdu Prefecture would be at least six million.

But the actual number of people on the yellow list is only 2.03 million, and this is even including the number of households that have moved in from the surrounding areas in recent years, but not the number of households that have moved out. If they were counted, the number would be around 1.5 million at most.

"Hey, Lord Cao." The Minister of Revenue nudged the Minister of Rites next to him with his elbow: "This number doesn't look right?"

Minister of Rites Cao Dahua raised his head and glanced at His Majesty, who was holding his head high and accepting the love of the people, then lowered his head and whispered, "Is Your Majesty happy?"

"I am glad, but what does this have to do with your majesty?"

"If your majesty is pleased, then the number is correct."

"Been taught a lesson."

It was dusk when the boat reached Tengwang Pavilion. Xia Lin was so tired that he was soaked all over. He went to the green grass beach next to him. He was too lazy to get up again. From morning to night, he ran 122 kilometers a day. Although he had a horse-drawn carriage, every time he arrived at a place, it was like going to war. He was so tired that his whole body was sore.

"Do you want to eat rice noodles?"

Suddenly, a big bowl was stretched out from behind him. When Xia Lin turned around, he found Lao Zhang standing there, holding a large bowl in one hand, which was filled with boiled rice noodles.

Xia Lin usually wouldn't even look at it, but now he snatched it up and started sucking it into his mouth. Lao Zhang didn't say much, just squatted beside him. The two of them watched the Ganjiang River rolling eastward while slurping noodles.

"How did you know I was here?"

"Where else could you be?" Lao Zhang took out a few figs from his arms: "Look, I found them on the wall of a fellow villager's house on the way here just now. They are well dried in the sun." Xia Lin glanced at Lao Zhang and for the first time realized that this Zhang's desire to steal was getting stronger.

"Speaking of which, you will probably be the biggest winner of His Majesty's southern tour this time." Old Zhang hugged his knees and looked into the distance: "In a few years, you will probably become a high-ranking official."

"Correct!"

Xia Lin drank the soup in the bowl in one gulp and sat up: "When I reach the fourth rank, I will find a way to go to Luoyang as an imperial envoy, and you can go with me."

Old Zhang sneered: "Isn't the fourth rank a little small?"

"Your mother's Zhang Zhongchun, you are still young for the fourth rank. Do you know that the fourth rank is already a minister? Even if you are an official sent out, you are already a second-class provincial governor. You are still young?"

"Little one! The Luoyang garrison commander is a third-rank official, you must be at least as high as him."

What Lao Zhang said made sense. Xia Lin touched his chin and said, "There is another way."

"what?"

"Imperial Censor." Xia Lin narrowed his eyes. "How about I think of a way to work part-time as an Imperial Censor?"

Old Zhang pursed his lips and said, "It's difficult. No one has ever heard of an official from outside the country being a censor, unless your father is really Guo Minghuai."

At this moment, hundreds of meters away on the Tengwang Pavilion, there were fireworks, lights and decorations, and people everywhere. Although no sound could be heard, one could hear the sounds of clinking glasses at a glance.

"Tengwang Pavilion." Old Zhang shook his head. "Daosheng, when do you think we can eat and drink to our heart's content up there?"

"Which day?" Xia Lin was stunned for a moment: "Today!"

"today?"

Without further ado, Xia Lin secretly took Lao Zhang and swaggered into the Tengwang Pavilion. The guards at the gate did not even bother to check them. Lao Zhang was stunned and thought it was some kind of magic. Only after they went up did he dare to ask: "You are... an invisibility spell?"

"What? I'm responsible for all the arrangements along the way, so I've already informed the Eunuchs and the Imperial Guards. My coming in and going out are all official duties."

"Damn, I thought you were just a stray dog ​​running around outside. I felt sorry for you for nothing."

"Your mother's words are useless." Xia Lin smiled and led him into the compartment on the second floor of Tengwang Pavilion. There was an untouched banquet table here. He pulled Lao Zhang to sit in front of the table and said, "This is the food distributed by the Eunuchs' Office. Let's eat."

"Fuck you! Why didn't you tell me earlier!" Lao Zhang went to the side to pick his throat after saying this: "I ate that bowl of noodles for nothing!"

"Stop being disgusting." Xia Lin pulled him back and took some wine from the cabinet next to him: "Drink some. You don't usually get to drink this tribute sweet-scented osmanthus wine. You can't buy it even if you have money."

Upstairs, music and drinking were going on, while downstairs, Lao Zhang and Xia Lin were leaning against their cups and drinking. At this moment, two soldiers in armor walked in. When the four of them looked at each other, they were all stunned for a moment, and then Xia Lin waved his hand: "Come on, let's drink together!"

The two men were not polite and sat down to eat and drink. Not long after, three young eunuchs came in stealthily. Everyone understood each other tacitly, and finally two palace maids who were taking over the shift came in.

It was quite interesting, they could even gather a table at this moment. There was laughter and joy upstairs, and the downstairs was no less lively. Old Zhang was very good at teasing, which made the two palace maids smile brightly, and the guards and eunuchs also drank with Xia Lin and were all flushed.

Gradually, the voices above gradually became quieter. The guards, palace maids, and eunuchs all had to leave one after another. Only Xia Lin and Lao Zhang were left sitting there. Lao Zhang was sucking on a fish tail, his eyes were red, and he said with a bit of drunkenness: "It turns out that you are really knowledgeable. This table is prepared for them."

"We are all human beings. There are six such prepared tables in total. I calculated that it is just enough for them to eat in two shifts. It is called a poison test, but in fact everyone knows it tacitly." Xia Lin leaned there and said cheerfully, "I let these workers have a good time on the way. I thought that maybe one day these people who have eaten one of my fish can save my life. It is always right to be kind to others."

At this moment, the people upstairs began to see His Majesty off respectfully. Lao Zhang burped and said, "The Emperor is going back to the dragon boat. Aren't you going to follow him?"

"No, I'm going back to Fuliang tomorrow morning. His Majesty will stay with me for half a month. I have to make perfect arrangements for them. Find a chance to go over there and try to show your face to the old man. I'll give you a chance."

Old Zhang chuckled and shook his head: "Forget it, I'm not good at officialdom, I'll just be your support outside, that's good enough."

(End of this chapter)