Bachelor

Chapter 416 Unprepared
Yang Tinghe Mansion.

Sun Dan is already a regular visitor to this place. He and Yang Shennai were good friends before, and they got along very well.In a month, I always come to him three or five times.

The last time he got a teacher, under the guidance of Zhao Jian, Minister of the Ministry of Justice, Sun Dan also intends to make friends with people in the scholarly circle, so as to consolidate his popularity among the lower class.And because Yang Shen was a well-deserved leader of scholars in the Ming Dynasty, his family was full of guests every night, and he was quite like a Dongpo layman.In contrast, Sun Dan is a bit narcissistic.

Since he wanted to make friends with the scholars, Sun Dan worked a lot here.It was here that Sun Dan got acquainted with officials in the capital, big and small, such as Sun Yingkui.

Normally, Yang Tinghe didn't attend because of his special status, and let his son and other scholars make trouble at home.

But today it was strange. Hearing that Sun Dan was coming to visit, the Chief Assistant of the Ming Dynasty made an exception and came to the living room.

It was time for dinner, so Yang Tinghe simply arranged a banquet and invited everyone to eat in the dining room next to the living room.

A lot of people came today, including Wang Yuanzheng, Sun Yingkui, a head of the Ministry of Punishment, a member of the Ministry of Rites, Wai Lang, and an envoy of the Overwatch Council, together with the Yang family, father and son, and Sun Dan, the table of the Eight Immortals was fully occupied. .

All the servants pushed down, and a large table of dishes was set up, but no one moved their chopsticks, and no one even spoke.

The sky was completely dark, the weather was very bad, and the black clouds seemed to be pressing down on the roof.The stuffy air seemed to be stagnant, making it suffocating.

Everyone hadn't eaten yet, and they didn't come to Yang's residence together, it took more than an hour to arrive one after another.However, Yang Tinghe was very particular about food and clothing, and the cook in the mansion was always on duty [-] hours a day, as long as he gave an order, hot meals would be served.

In front of everyone is a pair of ivory chopsticks and a black-glazed wine cup made in Qionglai, Sichuan.Although the style of this cup is simple and unsophisticated, it is not as good as Jingdezhen's official kiln fine porcelain, but Yang Shoufu is a nostalgic person, and his daily utensils are bought from Sichuan.

Under the light, Yang Shen's eyes were still as bright as jewels. In contrast, his father Yang Tinghe's face was slack and he looked old.

The weather has started to heat up, and I drank too much tea in the living room just now, everyone has no appetite, and no one touches their chopsticks.

In the silence, Yang Tinghe slowly picked up his chopsticks, picked up a piece of tofu and slowly put it on the plate in front of Sun Dan, saying: "Jingyuan, this is our famous mapo tofu in Sichuan. This cook is specially prepared by me. Chengdu Mansion invites you here, it’s original, you have to try it.”

After finishing speaking, he glanced at everyone and smiled gently: "Use your chopsticks, and don't underestimate Sichuan cuisine. There are no precious ingredients in this Sichuan cuisine bar, such as twice-cooked pork, mapo tofu, boiled fish, etc. They are all worthless things. But the more common the materials are, the more the chef’s skill is considered.”

"Yes." Wang Yuanzheng stood up, picked up a piece of spicy chicken respectfully, and was about to treat Yang Tinghe to dinner.

Yang Tinghe stopped Wang Yuanzheng, lifted the wine glasses on the table, and poured wine for everyone one by one: "This wine is also produced in Qiongzhou, and it was not a rare thing in the first place. But this year is very particular. Back then, my son Yang Shen wanted to drink wine. When Beijing took the exam, he knew that he wanted good wine for his father, so he specially brought a large jar from his hometown. The so-called hometown water is sweet or not. After so many years, there is only this last pot of wine left in that jar. Hey, more than ten years have passed in a blink of an eye, and I am getting old too."

Hearing Yang Tinghe's emotion, everyone didn't know how to answer.Ever since Sun Dan brought the news from Tongzhou, for some reason, everyone's mood was as heavy as the weather with dense clouds and no rain above their heads.

Hearing Yang Tinghe talk about the past, Wang Yuanzheng stood up with a sigh, picked up the glass that was already filled with wine and drank it down in one gulp: "The past few years have not been easy for Mr. Ge. Everyone knows that the court has had many complicated things in the past twenty years. Three generations of kings have changed, and the political situation is just like the wind and rain entering the building. If it is not for the chief assistant, there are a lot of upright gentlemen maintaining the court, but they don't know when the building will collapse. In Wang Yuanzheng's opinion, the wine of Ge Lao has both sweetness and bitterness , sour and astringent, with all kinds of tastes, which cannot be summed up in words."

Yang Tinghe stretched out his hand to signal Wang Yuanzheng to sit down, smiled wryly, and sighed: "I'm old, I'm old, I really want to hang up the crown and leave. I learned from Tao Qian and came to plant Ju Nanshan."

Everyone was shocked: "Why did Mr. Ge say that, you old man can't leave. If you leave, the sky of the imperial court will collapse immediately."

Only Sun Dan and Yang Shen were still sitting still, Sun Dan's face sank like water, but Yang Shen looked a little sad.

But Yang Tinghe smiled gently: "We southerners are also Southern barbarians, and we don't have that much attention to our words. There is a saying that goes like this: After Yang Butcher died, why do we still eat hairy pigs? People should retire when they reach a certain age. Come down, the so-called predecessors scattered soil, fascinated the eyes of future generations. If you don’t give up your position, you will block the path of future generations, and you will be disgusted. Also, if you are old, you are old and sophisticated , but it has lost a lot of vigor. For a country, vigor is the most important thing. The world is first of us as old people, but in the future it will belong to the younger generation." Expectant eyes fell on Sun Dan and Yang Shen.

Sun Dan seemed to understand what Yang Tinghe wanted to say, and stood up: "Old Ge."

Yang Tinghe put his hands on his shoulders and told Sun Dan to sit down: "Sit down Jingyuan and listen to me. I haven't told you what happened in Tongzhou. Let me just say it straight. Everyone, please come here, the emperor must have known about it. Just now, a servant from my mansion reported that there were Jinyiwei outside the mansion. However, this is not important. We will act in an upright manner, but we are not afraid of being known .”

The weather had started to heat up, and everyone was wearing thin clothes. Sun Dan could clearly feel that Yang Shoufu's hands were dry and cold.

When everyone present heard that there were Jin Yiwei outside, their expressions changed at the same time.But then he calmed down again, and even looked a little indifferent.

However, Wang Yuanzheng was still a little surprised, he stood up and asked, "Master Shoufu, what happened to Tongzhou?"

Hearing his question, including Yang Shen, the other four also stood up and looked at Yang Tinghe and Sun Dan.

"Please sit down, sit down and talk." Yang Tinghe pressed his hands down again and again, and replied: "Just now Jingyuan brought back the news from Tongzhou, saying that the Queen Mother Xing is going back to Hubei."

"Coax!" Everyone started talking in low voices, and some even showed joy.If the queen mother really has to leave Tongzhou, it may not be a good thing.It's not a solution for her to live in the Tongzhou Palace without embarrassment. There must be a solution to the matter.

Just when everyone was jumping for joy, Sun Dan noticed that Yang Shen beside him was shocked.

Sun Dan nodded secretly: Yang Yongxiu is indeed a sensible person, and he can actually see that something is wrong.

Seeing that everyone was happy, Yang Tinghe didn't stop, waiting for everyone to calm down.Only then did he sigh: "You didn't see what's wrong with it! In fact, the empress dowager's ceremonial ceremonies for entering the palace are related to the country. But Huang Jin and Zhang Cong are determined to please His Majesty, and they must follow the empress dowager's standard." Greeting the Empress Dowager, the upright people in the court are all indignant. What we should do is to bring the Empress Dowager into the city as soon as possible, but now the Empress Dowager is going back to Hubei. The suspicion of forcing the Queen Mother Xing away also seems unreasonable. In this way, it will be disadvantageous to oppose us on the issue of the imperial examination. Hey, this is a big deal... negligence, negligence!"

Hearing Yang Shoufu's words, everyone was shocked and stunned for a while.

After a long time, Wang Yuanzheng asked, "Shoufu, what should we do now?"

There was still no wind, and the room was filled with the numbing smell of Sichuan cuisine, which was full of pepper, which made people feel a little breathless.

"What else can I do, there are already different voices coming out." Yang Tinghe walked around the table with his hands behind his back, and then took out a copy of the memorial from his sleeve and handed it to Yang Shen: "This is Huo Tao, the head of the Ministry of War. In the memorial, I denounced the cabinet for forcing the Queen Mother Xing away, and please honor the title of the emperor for King Xing and the Queen Mother Xing. After the cabinet received the memorial, the officials on duty did not dare to delay, so they immediately copied a copy and sent it to me. Everyone Let's see."

"Ah!" Wang Yuanzheng was taken aback, and quickly took it.The faces of several other officials also changed, and they immediately understood the importance of this matter.

At this time, I couldn't care about eating any more, and several officials hurriedly cleaned up the dishes on the table.Probably out of agitation, an official shook his hand, and a string of golden red oil dripped down on the table.

When the table was cleared, Wang Yuan was laying the copy on it, and everyone surrounded it silently, watching intently.Even Yang Shen and Sun Dan walked over.

As for what was written in Huo Tao's notebook, Sun Dan naturally knew it clearly, but on the surface he still pretended to be very serious.His eyes wandered to another place.

Over there, Wang Yuan was taking out a pair of short-sighted eyes from his bosom and hanging them on his nose, his eyes were vacant.

This discovery made Sun Dan feel unbelievable. He never thought that Ming Dynasty also had eyes.

However, after carefully searching the information in his mind, Sun Dan found out.Such things as eyes are not some terrible high-tech products.According to historical records, glasses should have been introduced to China before the Yuan Dynasty. It is recorded in Marco Polo's book that "the elderly in China wear glasses when reading small print."

Wang Yuanzheng studied hard in his early years, and his eyes were not very good.I specially asked someone to grind a lens with crystal, use tortoise shell as the edge, and tie it to the back of the head with a rope. The material selection is very particular, and the price is naturally high.Of course, without optometry equipment, there is not so much attention to the degree.

After reading this copy, Yang Shen was the first to get angry. He slapped the table and scolded: "Little man, villain, this Huo Tao is also a Jinshi and holds a high position. How can he say such shameless words? This person looks wretched." , born from the heart, really did such a thing that both people and gods outraged."

Wang Yuanzheng was not as strong as Yang Shen, so he only sighed slowly: "Although Huo Tao is short and thin, he has no problems with his conduct. This matter... well, on the surface, it seems that the queen mother was forced to leave by the cabinet. Make sense!"

Wang Yuanzheng's words made everyone aggrieved for a while, the Empress Dowager's move was so powerful that everyone was caught off guard.Speaking of it, they have reason, but the court ministers are suspected of persecuting their orphans and widowed mothers.

Sun Yingkui's chest was also heaved by the turtle, and when Nei Yuanzheng, the bricklayer, said such dejected words, he shouted: "My lord Wang, what's the use of saying such things now, we should hurry up and think of a way to deal with it. "

Hearing this, everyone turned their eyes to Yang Shen's face.

Young scholar Yang is a scholarly leader, known to be quick-witted, and now, he may have remedial measures.

Yang Shen sat at the table and pondered for a moment, then gritted his teeth suddenly, and said: "The most important thing now is to immediately reject Huo Tao's papers, and not let the people in the cabinet hand them over to the Supervisor of Rituals according to the procedure. By the way, I'll go see Huo Tao right away and see if I can convince him."

Sun Yingkui nodded again and again: "This method is good."

"It's late." An old voice came.

Everyone turned their heads at the same time, only to see Yang Tinghe shaking his head.

Yang Shen asked in surprise, "Why did father say such a thing?"

Yang Tinghe replied: "Just now, Huang Jin has sent someone to collect the paper in advance. He must have known about it before Huo Tao submitted the paper, otherwise it would be impossible to pinch it so accurately. Look, my house There are so many Jinyiwei outside, don't you understand?"

"This Huo Tao seems to have taken refuge in Huang Jin." Yang Shen was so angry that his hands and feet trembled, "Scum, scum!"

Everyone also cursed at the same time.

Yang Tinghe had a headache from being quarreled by everyone, and he frowned unconsciously.Shouting, beating, and killing is certainly enjoyable, but it is not a good way to solve the problem.Now, he has been cornered.On the issue of the imperial examination, he and his courtiers have always stood for reason.As long as we stand on this principle, people in the world will naturally not say anything.However, now that the empress dowager is forced away, the sympathy of the people in the world will naturally turn to the emperor and the empress dowager.In this case, things will be troublesome.

His son Yang Shen has practiced for so many years, and he can be regarded as a capable person, but his personality is straightforward, but he lacks the tactful means that a person should have.Blindly using force may not be a good method.Hey, he keeps yelling and cursing whenever he encounters troubles, but he can't think of a good way.In the future, how can I safely hand over this imperial court to him?

Feeling a little lonely, Yang Tinghe turned his attention to Sun Dan, and suddenly asked, "Jingyuan, how do you think this matter should be handled?"

Hearing Lord Shoufu suddenly ask Sun Dan for his opinion, everyone fell silent.

Sun Dan did not refuse, and said slowly: "Master Shoufu, if the matter does not happen, it has already happened, and now I am afraid it is not appropriate to use force to fight against His Majesty. According to Sun Dan, it is better to make a compromise."

Yang Tinghe said "Oh!", as if Sun Dan had expected what Sun Dan would say next: "Tell me, what a compromise."

Sun Dan: "Shoufu, my lords, Sun Dan has a sentence that I don't know if I should say it or not."

Yang Tinghe looked at Sun Dan with encouraging eyes: "Speak, speak."

Sun Dan said: "Sun Dan believes that everyone should take a step back. The so-called step back means that the sea and the sky will be brighter. The queen mother can't go back to Hubei anyway. She came to the capital to reunite with her majesty. If she left for this reason, wouldn't she Let people laugh at me and push people too much. Of course, the question of the imperial examination involves the foundation of the country, and there is no room for chaos. In my opinion, it is better to respect King Xing as Emperor Xingxian and call Concubine Xing the Queen Mother of Xingguo. In this way, people in the world can also accept it. gone."

As soon as this remark came out, there was an uproar among the crowd.

Yang Shen refused at first: "Jingyuan, this dedication character can't be used indiscriminately."

"Yes, yes." Sun Yingkui and the others nodded at the same time.

"The country is about to implement a new policy and reform the corrupt system. If all the energy is involved in the emperor's examination etiquette, what good will it do for the country and the court? At least, Sun Dan can't see it." Sun Dan smiled slightly, without explaining, He just looked at Yang Tinghe: "Lord Shoufu, this is just my humble opinion. I only put forward my thoughts. As for making a decision, I ask you to make a decision with one word."

Yang Tinghe thought for a while, but nodded: "Yes."

"Shoufu." Everyone was surprised.

Yang Tinghe sighed, and thought to himself: Politics is the art of compromise, why can't you figure it out!

Since Shoufu has decided so, it is difficult for others to say anything, so they can only acquiesce.

It was still Yang Shen who was a little worried: "Father made such a decision, so the son naturally has nothing to say. But there is one thing, if the Queen Mother Xing leaves in Tongzhou, it will be difficult to deal with it."

But Yang Tinghe sneered: "Don't worry, the Queen Mother won't leave, she's just posturing. Huang Jin, Huang Jin got advice from an expert. If nothing else happened, Zhang Cong was the chief envoy in this matter, and Huo Tao was on the side to help. "Suddenly he felt a little worried. He was naturally not afraid of the emperor and Huang Jin alone. After all, the ministers of the court and the scholars all over the world were on his side.But now there are celebrities like Zhang Cong and Huo Tao, the situation is not good.

Huang Jin, this person doesn't want to look so stupid on the surface!
Thinking of this, Yang Tinghe didn't delay: "I'll go to the cabinet immediately to discuss with Prime Minister Mao and Prime Minister Jiang about giving King Xing the honorary title. Let's all leave. Go back and make preparations, and give His Majesty a note about it. "

"Yes."

Everyone was not in the mood to eat anymore, they all got up and said goodbye, and went to prepare separately.

Now that the matter has come, there is finally a satisfactory solution.Sun Dan also breathed a sigh of relief, since that's the case, he doesn't have to go back to Tongzhou.You can read and write in the Hanlin Academy all day long, and you can be happy.

As soon as he walked out of Yang's mansion, he stepped onto the sedan chair he was sitting in when he came, but saw a young man in brocade clothes sitting inside.

Sun Dan was startled, and looked intently, whoever it was, was Lu Bing, who was still wearing the official uniform of the Beiya. No wonder the expressions of the two porters were a little strange when they got into the sedan chair just now.

Sun Dan: "Xiao Luzi, why did you run into my sedan chair?"

"Don't talk, wait until you leave here." Lu Bing patted the sedan chair.

The two bearers lifted the sedan chair and ran quickly.

After leaving the Yang Mansion, Lu Bing finally said: "Jingyuan, Your Majesty wants to see you, so let me come and find you and go to Yuxi Palace."

Sun Dan: "Oh, Your Majesty wants to see me. It just so happens that I have something to report to Your Majesty."

Lu Bing had a sad face: "Jingyuan, you and I have known each other for many years, but because of our identities, it is not convenient for me to say some things."

Sun Dan: "What's wrong?"

Lu Bing hesitated for a long time before saying: "Your Majesty seems to be very displeased with your private return to the capital, and now you are angry in Xiyuan."

(End of this chapter)