Chapter 249 Wang Anshi and Sima Guang
Minglan is very measured. If she just delivers fish soup, she will definitely not come in person.
Although she is a maid, she has been favored.
The meaning of her coming to deliver fish soup is different from that of an ordinary palace maid.
The sisters were jealous of others, so they naturally had to pay more attention.
"I know that I can't hide it from His Highness." Minglan said: "Today, my eldest sister came to visit me and my fifth sister. Please ask me and my fifth sister for a favor from your highness. My fifth sister said that she was stupid, so she asked me to come."
As he said that, he told what happened, and finally said that if Zhao Xing was in trouble, forget it.
"What's the matter with Gu?" Zhao Xing said indifferently after hearing this: "Go back and send someone to Yuan's house to tell you."
It turns out that Zhao Xing went to Yuan Wenshao and Sheng Chang that day. After chatting with Wu, after the two returned home, they told their families about the news that they were going to work in the northwest.
Mrs. Yuan preferred her eldest son. When she learned that Yuan Wenshao was valued by Zhao Xing and was appointed to the East Palace, she wanted him to put in a good word for her eldest son.
Generally speaking, the eldest son of a lord will inherit the title, and Yin Feng will also serve in the Forbidden Army.
The other descendants, Yinfeng, all went to the Wucheng Army and Horse Division to hang around.
In the early years, many lords were deprived of their titles because they were involved in the dispute over the establishment of the crown prince, including the Earl of Zhongqin.
After the current officials succeeded to the throne, perhaps in order to win people's hearts, they ordered people to thoroughly investigate the matter and restored their titles to some of them.
Although he has regained his title, the house and property that were collected back then were either given away as rewards or succeeded, and there is definitely no way to return them.
The so-called loyalty and diligence means loyalty and hard work. It can be seen from the titles that the Yuan family was able to gain titles only by hard work and without any great merit.
The Yuan family had a relatively low status among all the earls. In addition, they had been deprived of the title for several years, and their ancestral property was also lost.
Nowadays, there is nothing more than the title of Earl's Mansion, and none of the lords look down on the Yuan family.
Otherwise, how could the Yuan family marry the Sheng family? After all, Ru Lanke had not been designated as the crown prince's concubine at that time.
Therefore, the eldest son of the Yuan family was granted the title of Yin, and he was unable to go to the Imperial Army. Instead, he entered the Five Cities Military and Horse Division.
The Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Department was a place for the children of lords to hang out, and there were a lot of children of princes and princes among them. Yuan Wenchun, the legitimate son of a run-down Earl's Mansion, was nothing in it.
He is just a captain so far, just like Yuan Wenshao before him.
Mrs. Yuan asked Yuan Wenshao to speak kindly to her eldest son, but Yuan Wenshao remained silent.
Now that Yuan Wenshao was going to the northwest to take up a post, and there was no telling when he would come back, she naturally couldn't sit still, so she forced Yuan Wenshao to find Zhao Xing.
Fortunately, Uncle Zhongqin was sober and scolded Mrs. Yuan.
However, Mrs. Yuan was not willing to give up, so she used the excuse that Brother Hualan was still young to keep him at home, and sent two concubines and Yuan Wenshao to the northwest to serve him.
Hua Lan felt aggrieved. She had been making things difficult for her mother-in-law. She finally gave birth to a brother last year. Yuan Wenshao also woke up and was not as stupid and filial as before, and the relationship between the couple became better and better.
If Yuan Wenshao takes two concubines to serve in the northwest, it will be okay after a long time.
But although Yuan Wenshao has changed a bit and is no longer foolish and filial, he does not dare to contradict his mother.
Hua Lan felt aggrieved and went back to her parents' home to cry to her mother.
Mrs. Wang was furious when she heard this, and was clamoring to go to Yuan's house to cause a scene.
Finally, Madam Wang gave me a scolding.
Although Mrs. Yuan has no good intentions in this matter, it is an indisputable fact that Hualan's child is young.
The child is just over one year old now, and what if something happens to him after a long journey?
Even if there is a commotion, it will be the fault of the Sheng family if word spreads.
In the end, Mrs. Sheng gave the idea and asked Hua Lan to go to the East Palace to meet Ru Lan for the reason of visiting her sister.
Let Ru Lan speak up in front of Zhao Xing. As long as Zhao Xing opens his mouth, Mrs. Yuan does not dare to stop him.
Rulan was worried that she was stupid and could do bad things if she couldn't explain clearly, so she asked Minglan to speak.
Among the brothers and sisters, Changbai and Hualan were the best to Minglan. Minglan couldn't bear that Hualan and Yuan Wenshao were separated, so she agreed.
The reason why she agreed was after careful consideration. This matter was not difficult for Zhao Xing.
"Thank you, Your Highness." Minglan said happily after hearing this.
Looking at Minglan’s bright smile, Zhao Xing’s irritable mood improved a lot.
Minglan's smile is healing. No matter how troubled you are, your troubles will disappear when you see her smile.
Zhao Xing pinched Minglan's face and said with a smile: "What you just said inspired me a lot. I have done this for you, so I will reward you. If you really want to thank me , in a few days..."
Minglan's face turned red when she heard Zhao Xing's words, and she said coquettishly: "Your Highness said it was a reward, why did you still impose conditions?"
Zhao Xing lifted Minglan's chin, lowered his head and kissed her, their lips parted for a long time.
Looking at Minglan who was slumped in his arms with charming eyes like silk, Zhao Xing smiled and said: "Then are you going to agree or not?"
"I...I just She is just a dowry maid, how can she refuse His Highness, but she has to agree from the fifth sister," Ming Lan said shyly.
"Haha, she will definitely not refuse." Zhao Xing smiled and said: "Okay, you go back first, I am busy."
Minglan heard this and jumped from Zhao Xing's arms When I came down, my legs went weak and I almost fell down after my feet hit the ground.
"Are you okay?" Zhao Xing helped her.
"My slave is fine."
Ming Lan was so happy that he trotted out.
Zhao Xing shook his head and dealt with the problem.
What Minglan said just now gave him great inspiration.
He still has a lot of shortcomings in the way he employs people. Minglan is right, no one is perfect, as long as he is good at making use of his advantages.
But he always thinks about the shortcomings.
Sima Guang’s advantages and disadvantages are obvious.
The advantage is that he is very capable in all aspects, but the disadvantage is that he is conservative and cautious and very stubborn.
I can make good use of Sima Guang's abilities. As for his conservativeness and stubbornness, I can just ignore him.
Reform does not require major changes in everything. Some problems can be solved with small adjustments.
Didn’t Sima Guang want to solve the long-standing disadvantages by governing people? By then, all the matters that did not require serious warfare would be left to him.
If Sima Guang can handle it well, it will be better. If he handles it poorly, it will make him realize the reality.
After thinking about this, Zhao Xing was in a good mood.
But that's all for the future. For now, let Sima Guang stay at home.
…………
The Liao Kingdom has all signs of raising troops, but has not actually sent any troops yet.
When the court was discussing the response, the officials strictly ordered not to leak the news.
The British leader led 50,000 troops to the north. He said to the outside world that he was inspecting the northern border defense on behalf of the sky. The troops he brought were for defense replacement, so it did not cause much trouble.
On the Kaifeng government office, every landowner, squire or descendant caught has evidence of illegality.
Because there were too many people involved, at the instruction of Zhao Xing, Sheng Hong petitioned the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple to participate in the trial.
As soon as the officials heard this, they knew that Zhao Xing was trying to silence the officials in the DPRK, so they agreed directly.
At the joint trial of the Kaifeng Mansion Office, the Criminal Department and the three departments of Dali Temple, the evidence was very sufficient, and the sentences of those people were soon announced.
Kill to kill, exile to army, exile to exile.
At this time, the landlords and squires in the counties of Kaifeng Prefecture were completely dumbfounded.
The landowners and squire's family has a great business, the clan is flourishing, and the family has such a large population, there are so many problems that need to be investigated.
When someone in their family commits trouble, they will use coercion and inducement to smooth things over.
After local officials take office, they need the cooperation of landlords and gentry to manage the place well and achieve political achievements, so they are very polite to them.
As the saying goes, if the people do not promote it, the officials will not investigate it. Even if I heard something about it, I wouldn’t care about it.
However, Zhao Xing did not follow common sense and directly sent people to investigate secretly. After obtaining the evidence, he directly arrested people.
With the solid evidence, it is useless for them to have backgrounds and backers.
These landlords and squires have become honest, and they dare not go against Zhao Xing.
For a time, the places where youth loans were applied for in various counties changed from being crowded with people to being empty.
After Zhao Xing learned about this, in addition to letting Wang Anshi continue to supervise the Qingmiao Loan matter, he also asked him to check the county officials in Kaifeng Prefecture to see which ones had colluded with the landlords and squires.
This time, officials from various counties were involved.
Zhao Xing had no time to deal with them before, but now that things have calmed down, it is naturally impossible to let these people go.
…………
A house in the west of the inner city covers an area of more than ten acres. The entire house is maintained and repaired extremely delicately.
The plaque on the door of the house is engraved with three characters - Sima House.
This is Sima Guang's house in Bianjing.
Speaking of which, the Sima family was once a royal family, and Sima Guang’s ancestor was Sima Yi’s younger brother.
Although the Jin Dynasty has long since perished, the Sima family still has a rich heritage and built a house in Bianjing early.
Sima Guang was punished by Zhao Xing to think about his mistakes at home. He could not go out every day and could only read at home.
Sima Guang was reading in the study that day. A young boy came in and saluted: "My lord, Your Majesty, Prince Xima, please see me."
Sima Guang's hands trembled slightly when he heard this, and his expression was a little complicated.
It took a while before he came back to his senses and said: "Invite people to the study."
"Yes!"
The boy felt a little strange and waited in the study. It is better to have a personal relationship with the guests, but if you have a good personal relationship, there is no reason not to greet them.
However, he did not dare to ask any more questions, so he responded and left.
At the door of the house, Wang Anshi's face seemed calm, but his eyes also had complicated meanings.
Seeing the boy come out, Wang Anshi asked: "Brother, your master, would you like to see me?"
The boy saluted and said, "My master, please go to the study to meet me." See you."
After speaking, he turned sideways and pointed in the direction of the door, saying: "Sir, please!"
Wang Anshi nodded and walked in under the guidance of the boy.
The boy led Wang Anshi outside the study and asked Wang Anshi to wait. After going in to report, he came out and led Wang Anshi inside.
“Brother Junshi, long time no see!” Wang Anshi smiled and saluted.
Sima Guang looked cold, but when Wang Anshi came in, he still stood up. Upon seeing this, he bowed and said calmly: "Sit down."
(End of this chapter)