On October 20, the 16th year of the reign of Emperor Zhengde of the Ming Dynasty, a super cold current from Siberia brought the first snowfall since the beginning of winter to most areas in the north of the Ming Dynasty. Overnight, three feet of snow accumulated in the capital.

The north wind howled all day and night, and the cold weather lasted for five or six days before it cleared up.

During this period, a major event occurred in the officialdom of the capital. Wang Qiong, the Minister of Civil Affairs, was impeached by officials one after another. The impeachment contents were all about old events.

As mentioned earlier, Wang Qiong was extremely talented and good at making friends with powerful people. By pleasing Qian Ning, Jiang Bin and others, he got the opportunity to display his talents, so he was disliked by most civil servants.

Although Wang Qiong was talented, he also had many shortcomings, one of which was being narrow-minded and shallow-minded. When he was still the Minister of the Ministry of War, he was jealous of Peng Ze's victory over Zhao Sui, a bandit in Henan, and his reputation overshadowed him, so he

They colluded with Qian Ning to slander Peng Ze with serious crimes, which eventually led to Peng Ze being demoted from his position as a civilian. In addition, he was implicated in the conviction and imprisonment of several provincial governors.

After the young emperor Zhu Houcong came to the throne in April this year, he had already ordered the execution of his sycophants Qian Ning and Jiang Bin. Now the censors are digging up the old story, and people are angrily demanding that Wang Qiong be imprisoned and put to death.

In fact, the civil and military officials of the entire dynasty knew very well that the reason why Wang Qiong was brought out by Yan Guan and attacked was that he could only blame him for being too active recently. He was constantly going against the chief minister Yang Ge Lao. If Yang Ge Lao didn't fix it, who could he fix?

?

Since the censors had solid evidence for impeaching Wang Qiong, the young emperor Zhu Houcong could only order the dismissal of Wang Qiong from the post of Minister of Civil Affairs, but in the end he was spared his life and was exiled to Suide to serve in the army.

Wang Qiong was the Minister of Personnel at the head of the Six Ministries, and his demotion and exile shook the officialdom a lot. Yang Tinghe used this to re-establish the prestige of the Chief Minister, and also to show that it was he, Mr. Yang Ge, who had the final say in the court today.

On October 26th, the weather started to clear, the snow in the capital had already melted away, and the sunshine was warm during the day.

A horse-drawn carriage bearing the emblem of the Imperial Guard was driving gurglingly through the streets of Xiaofang. There were dozens of big men holding swords on both sides of the carriage. Pedestrians on the street hurriedly hid when they saw the battle.

From a distance, I guessed that the person sitting in the carriage must be a certain eunuch in the palace.

The carriage stopped in front of a large house, the curtains were raised, and a young eunuch got out. He looked about fourteen or fifteen years old, with a face so handsome that even girls would be jealous. The young eunuch's face at this time

With a proud smile on his face, he straightened his eunuch hat and walked towards the gate of the house.

This person was none other than the young emperor Zhu Houcong who sneaked out of the palace. Behind him were dozens of men, all dressed in casual clothes.

The facade of the house in front of me looks very rich, with a pair of mighty stone lions standing on the left and right, a copper-skinned red-painted door, and a plaque hanging above it: Xu Mansion. These two words are written with iron and silver hooks, which are strong enough to penetrate the back of the paper. They obviously do not belong to Zhu Houcong.

Handwriting, in fact, these two words were written by Fei Hong, Deputy Assistant to the Cabinet.

It is said that the mansion of nearly 3,000 square meters in front of me originally belonged to Jiang Bin, the Bo of Anbian. However, since Jiang Bin was executed, the mansion was confiscated. The young emperor Zhu Houcong had long planned to give a mansion to sister Xiaowan.

He was raising a baby and waiting for delivery, but he was worried about the criticism from the ministers. Xu Jin had won a great victory some time ago, so the young emperor took advantage of the situation and gave Xu Jin a big house.

Xu Jin has made such great achievements, and it is not excessive for the emperor to give him a house, so the officials have nothing to say.

It is said that this mansion was built by Jiang Bin two years ago. It was only completed in March this year and took more than two years. As a result, before he could move in, the Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao passed away, and soon after, Jiang Bin's house was confiscated.

, so this newly built mansion became cheaper for Xu Jin.

A few days ago, Xie Xiaowan sent someone to clean up the house, bought some new furniture, and moved in. After all, the house in Mingshifang was too narrow, and the family of dozens of people was too crowded. In fact, Xu Jin was leaving

Jing had previously asked Dabao to find a house with a larger area. Dabao had already selected a few houses and was waiting for Xu Jin to make a decision when he returned to Jing. As a result, he now even saved money to buy the house.

You must know that the houses in the capital are the most expensive in the inner city, and the most expensive houses in the inner city are concentrated in Shishifang and Shiyongfang. This large house in Shishifang, with an area of ​​nearly 3,000 square meters, is even more valuable.

According to the market price, it is estimated to be over ten thousand taels. This is just the ground price. If you include the various rare flowers and trees, rockery, jade, etc. that Jiang Bin specially had transplanted into the yard, the value is estimated to be two or three times higher.

The young emperor Zhu Houcong was a frequent visitor to the Xu Mansion. Even though he was dressed like a little eunuch, the concierge of the Xu Mansion still recognized him at a glance, nodded and bowed, opened the door and let him in. If Zhu Houcong hadn't stopped him with a gesture, this guy would have knelt on the ground and kowtowed.

Already.

Since mid-October, good news has spread frequently from various places. The unrest in Henan, Hebei, and Shanxi have been put down one after another. Therefore, the little emperor Zhu Houcong has been in a good mood recently. After entering the house, he walked briskly towards the backyard, and ended up in the middle of the house.

When he passed through a moon gate, he bumped into a girl.

"Ouch!" The girl screamed, and the roll of drawing paper in her hand fell to the ground.

This girl was wearing a pink coat and skirt. She was about fifteen or sixteen years old. She had pretty eyebrows and slightly bulging breasts. She was none other than Fei Xiaoyu, the little hot pepper.

Fei Xiaoyu probably hit her nose. She covered her nose with her left hand and burst into tears. She grabbed Zhu Houcong's ear with her right hand and shouted angrily: "Are you blind? You don't have eyes when you walk, please give it to me now."

Girl, apologize, or my ears will be twisted off for you!"

Fei Xiaoyu's force was obviously not light, and Zhu Houcong was pulled to the point where he tilted his head and screamed in pain. He slumped down and weighed his feet, making him look like a fawning little eunuch.

Lu Bing, who was originally following Zhu Houcong, was stunned for two seconds before he realized what he was doing. He pulled out his embroidered spring knife and shouted: "Be brave, let go of the emperor!"

"Fei Xiaoyu, you...why do you want me to apologize to you? Oh, let go!"

"Your Majesty?" Fei Xiaoyu finally recognized that the little eunuch in front of her was Zhu Houcong, and her face suddenly changed color. The maid behind her turned pale as she watched the chess game, and knelt on the ground shivering.

Although Fei Xiaoyu is willful, she also knows that the boy in front of her is no longer the little slave that she could have his face pinched at the beginning. She said in amusement: "Your Majesty, you... why are you dressed like this? People didn't recognize you. I'm sorry.

sorry!"

Zhu Houcong couldn't help crying or laughing. He rubbed his red ears, waved his hands and said magnanimously: "Forget it, no one is guilty if you don't know, but if you don't do it next time, Lu Bing, put the knife away and don't tell anyone what happened today."

The dignified Ninth Five-year-old had his ears pulled. If this matter spread, it would definitely cause quite a disturbance, and I'm afraid it would also implicate Fei Hong. This is not what Zhu Houcong wants to see.

Lu Bing agreed, sheathed the Xiuchun knife, and glared at Fei Xiaoyu, who stuck out his tongue in fear.

"Hey, what is this?" Zhu Houcong was about to pick up the roll of drawing paper on the ground and opened it to take a look.

Fei Xiaoyu stroked his forehead and exclaimed: "Oh, the emperor can't look at it!"

"Hey, isn't this painting of Xu Jin? Why can't you see it? You painted it? It's a good painting!" Zhu Houxuan said in astonishment.

I saw a young man riding a horse drawn on the rice paper. The young man was covered in armor, with a long sword hanging on his waist, and a blunderbuss in his hand. He looked very heroic and looked very similar to Xu Jin.

, using exactly the sketching method, and there are two poems written on the drawing paper: It is better to chase the poor bandits with courage, but not to be a famous scholar.

Fei Xiaoyu laughed heartlessly and said: "My fourth sister painted it!"

As soon as Fei Xiaoyu finished speaking, Zhu Houcong saw a woman in a yellow dress hurriedly running towards him. She had picturesque eyes and was graceful. She was none other than Fei Jixiang, the fourth girl of the Fei family.

"Fifth sister, I'm angry, please give it back to me!" Fei Jixiang looked embarrassed and trotted all the way with his skirt in hand, followed by the maid serving as a bookkeeper.

Fei Xiaoyu quickly said to Zhu Houcong: "Your Majesty, please help me return it to the fourth sister. I will leave first!" After saying this, he ran away.

Zhu Houcong looked at Fei Xiaoyu who had disappeared in a hurry, and said with amusement: "This wild girl is still the same as before..."

Fei Jixiang ran up to him out of breath. After a moment of hesitation, he recognized Zhu Houcong. He couldn't help being surprised. He quickly stood still and saluted: "Fei Jixiang is here to see the emperor!"

Zhu Houcong scratched his head and said in confusion: "Sister Jixiang, what kind of trouble are you making!"

Fei Jixiang looked a little shy. It turned out that she had painted this painting unknowingly while basking in the sun in the backyard. Fei Xiaoyu happened to see it. He took the painting away and teased her. Fei Jixiang wanted to take it back, but Fei Xiaoyu took it.

After finishing painting, he ran out of the courtyard and bumped into Houcong who was entering the door.

"No...it's nothing. Fifth sister just likes to have fun. Your Majesty, can you return the painting to me?" Fei Jixiang said with a blushing face.

Zhu Houcong handed the painting back to Fei Jixiang, who took the blessing and walked quickly through the Moon Gate with his head lowered.

Zhu Houcong scratched his head thoughtfully, stopped the servant who was passing by and asked: "Is Sister Xiaowan in the backyard?"

The servant replied cautiously: "Back to the emperor, Princess Yongxiu and our three girls are chatting about home affairs in the Chun Nuan Pavilion in the backyard!"

Zhu Houcong said "Oh" and walked towards the backyard.

In the Chun Nuan Pavilion in the backyard, the charcoal fire was blazing in the stove, and it was warm. Xie Xiaowan was sitting on a chair covered with wool blankets. She was becoming more and more plump, and her face was gently stroking her slightly bulging belly.

Di and Fei Ruyi chatted.

"Sister Ruyi, I heard that the war in Shandong has almost subsided. I wonder if my husband will be able to return to Beijing in time to celebrate the New Year!" Xie Xiaowan pouted her little mouth and said dullly.
Chapter completed!