When Han Du saw the steam rising from the tea cup on the table, he understood that what Zhang Lei said must be true.
"Sit down, why are you standing?" Han Du gestured toward the chair.
"Uncle Xie." Zhang Lei smiled and sat down carefully.
Zhang Lei couldn't help but feel embarrassed, thinking that when he was in the Jiaofang Division, he still scolded Han Du angrily. But now in such a short period of time, Han Du has transformed from the original fifth-rank official to a Ming Dynasty official.
The earl has become a nobleman. But he is still the same as before. .??.
Even the man he regarded as Gao Shan's father had not yet received a title.
"What's the matter with you coming to see me?" Han Du had no choice but to ask when he saw Zhang Lei sitting in front of him tremblingly, with his head lowered and not saying anything.
"Ah? Oh." Zhang Lei suddenly came to his senses and stood up again.
He bowed to Han Du and said awkwardly: "My nephew rudely contradicted my uncle before, please punish me."
"You called me uncle?" Han Du suddenly widened his eyes and raised his voice an octave.
Zhang Lei was also embarrassed and his face was hot. He didn't want to call Han Du uncle. Han Du was about the same age as him. It was really hard for him to call him uncle by calling him such a name among his peers. But he couldn't do it without calling him.
Dad said that he should be friends with Han Du's peers. As Zhang Yi's son, he is naturally a generation younger than Han Du.
Even if he doesn't scream, he has to scream. Otherwise, Zhang Yi said, his legs will be broken.
"Father, I told you," Zhang Lei tried to explain intermittently.
Before he finished speaking, Han Du understood what was going on.
He smiled and said: "You should call me Han Du, or uncle. Your father and I are one thing, but you are another thing. If you call me uncle, I won't be used to it."
"
Just kidding, I don’t even have a son. What’s going on if I just become someone else’s uncle?
"Then I'll thank you uncle." Zhang Lei felt relieved. He originally wanted to call Han Du, but thinking of his father's face, he immediately changed his name to uncle.
Han Du smiled, nodded, and asked, "Is this what you came here for today?"
"Yes." Zhang Lei replied with a smile.
"Well, since the matter is over now, you can go back."
"Okay." Zhang Lei nodded subconsciously, and then walked outside.
But after taking two steps, he suddenly stopped, turned around and said to Han Du: "Uncle, if I go back like this, I'm afraid my father will think that I have never been here and just wandered around outside to deceive him.
.How about I go back later?"
"That's fine." Han Du didn't expect that Zhang Lei, who acted like a playboy, could be so thoughtful.
After thinking for a while, Han Du simply said: "How about this? You eat at my place and I will accompany you back. What do you think?"
Seeing that it was almost noon, Han Du happened to have slept in the morning and didn't even eat, so he was already a little hungry. Moreover, Han Du didn't plan to go for a walk in the afternoon, so he could go and see Zhang Yi.
Zhang Lei didn't expect Han Du to be so easy to talk to, so he quickly said: "Thank you, uncle."
Two days later, Zhu Shou, the newly minted governor, was about to take office. Lan Yu, Han Du and others came to see him off at the riverside dock outside Dinghuai Gate.
Ten big lucky boats docked at the riverside,
Two thousand soldiers have already boarded the ship. Zhu Shou's family and the things he planned to bring are slowly boarding the ship.
When Han Du saw that Zhu Shou's people had even brought pots and pans with them, he couldn't help but joked: "Master Hou, are you going to take office or are you moving? Why do you even need to bring these things?"
Zhu Shou laughed and said nonchalantly: "It will only take us five years to leave our hometown. If we don't take these things with us after five years of leaving our hometown, what if we don't even have a bite of food from our hometown?
Driving us crazy? To tell you the truth, not only did we bring these things, we also brought a cook."
"The Marquis is still thoughtful." Han Du gave a thumbs up in salute.
"My dear brother," Lan Yu sighed and warned, "Although Java is weak, you still have to be careful when going here."
"My little brother saved me." Zhu Shou solemnly nodded, "Please stay and don't send me off!"
Then, he boarded the big fortune boat without looking back.
The warriors were used to farewells, and they didn't attach much importance to farewells. If Han Du had brought Lan Yu and others here today, Zhu Shou might have left without anyone to see him off.
Moreover, even so, Zhu Shou would not find anything difficult to let go of.
The Dafu boat broke free from the ropes, raised its sails and sailed down the river, quickly disappearing from the eyes of a few people.
Golden autumn and August are the harvest season.
This year's drought has led to varying degrees of grain harvest failure throughout the Ming Dynasty. Specifically, the harvest failure in the Central Plains and northwest regions is more serious. However, in places such as Jiangnan and Sichuan's Land of Abundance, the harvest failure is only about 10%.
Although the grain harvest was poor, the people still harvested the grain happily. Although there was less grain than in previous years, it was better than nothing.
After the grain is harvested, the next step is to pay taxes. Since the emperor has issued a decree to reduce taxes in many places this year, the grain left in the hands of the people after paying taxes is similar to previous years.
This stabilized the people's hearts and began to be full of hope for the coming year.
In the Jinshen Hall, Lao Zhu was holding several memorials and comparing them carefully. After that, he was in a daze and sat there without saying a word. The Zhu batch in his hand seemed to be frozen, and he did not write down the pen for a long time.
Finally, Lao Zhu put down his writing brush and placed several memorials in front of him one by one.
Suddenly shouted: "Mao Xiang."
"I am here, please give your orders, Your Majesty."
There was another moment of silence, and Mao Xiang knelt in front of Lao Zhu, not daring to move at all.
"Go and check for me. Beiping Chengxuan Envoy Li Yu, Procuratorate Envoy Zhao Quande, and Minister of Household Affairs Guo Huan. Find out if there is any connection between these three people."
"According to the order!" Mao Xiang replied immediately. A burst of ecstasy suddenly emerged in his heart, the emperor was finally going to use him.
Mao Xiang was also a person who was singled out by Lao Zhu. He was also an old man who followed Lao Zhu and won Lao Zhu's trust. Mao Xiang was also a human being, and he also wanted to be named a marquis and honor his ancestors.
However, the Ming Dynasty had already established an iron rule that no one could be granted a title without military merit.
And Mao Xiang stayed by the emperor's side all the time. How could he have the opportunity to achieve military merit? Therefore, if Mao Xiang wanted to be granted the title of marquis, he needed to make merit in front of the emperor, enough to offset the merits that could not be granted the title of marquis except for military merit.
But the events that happened one after another made Mao Xiang embarrassed in front of the emperor. The emperor's grandson died, and the cause of death could not be found, and the murderer could not be caught. Han Du saw the teacup on the table, and there was a lot of money.
With Miao Miao's heat, he understood that what Zhang Lei said must be true.
"Sit down, why are you standing?" Han Du gestured toward the chair.
"Uncle Xie." Zhang Lei smiled and sat down carefully.
Zhang Lei couldn't help but feel embarrassed, thinking that when he was in the Jiaofang Division, he still scolded Han Du angrily. But now in such a short period of time, Han Du has transformed from the original fifth-rank official to a Ming Dynasty official.
The earl has become a nobleman. But he is still the same as before.
Even the man he regarded as Gao Shan's father had not yet received a title.
"What's the matter with you coming to see me?" Han Du had no choice but to ask when he saw Zhang Lei sitting in front of him tremblingly, with his head lowered and not saying anything.
"Ah? Oh." Zhang Lei suddenly came to his senses and stood up again.
He bowed to Han Du and said awkwardly: "My nephew rudely contradicted my uncle before, please punish me."
"You called me uncle?" Han Du suddenly widened his eyes and raised his voice an octave.
Zhang Lei was also embarrassed and his face was hot. He didn't want to call Han Du uncle. Han Du was about the same age as him. It was really hard for him to call him uncle by calling him such a name among his peers. But he couldn't do it without calling him.
Dad said that he should be friends with Han Du's peers. As Zhang Yi's son, he is naturally a generation younger than Han Du.
Even if he doesn't scream, he has to scream. Otherwise, Zhang Yi said, his legs will be broken.
"Father, I told you," Zhang Lei tried to explain intermittently.
Before he finished speaking, Han Du understood what was going on.
He smiled and said: "You should call me Han Du, or uncle. Your father and I are one thing, but you are another thing. If you call me uncle, I won't be used to it."
"
Just kidding, I don’t even have a son. What’s going on if I just become someone else’s uncle?
"Then I'll thank you uncle." Zhang Lei felt relieved. He originally wanted to call Han Du, but thinking of his father's face, he immediately changed his name to uncle.
Han Du smiled, nodded, and asked, "Is this what you came here for today?"
"Yes." Zhang Lei replied with a smile.
"Well, since the matter is over now, you can go back."
"Okay." Zhang Lei nodded subconsciously, and then walked outside.
But after taking two steps, he suddenly stopped, turned around and said to Han Du: "Uncle, if I go back like this, I'm afraid my father will think that I have never been here and just wandered around outside to deceive him.
.How about I go back later?"
"That's fine." Han Du didn't expect that Zhang Lei, who acted like a playboy, could be so thoughtful.
After thinking for a while, Han Du simply said: "How about this? You eat at my place and I will accompany you back. What do you think?"
Seeing that it was almost noon, Han Du happened to have slept in the morning and didn't even eat, so he was already a little hungry. Moreover, Han Du didn't plan to go for a walk in the afternoon, so he could go and see Zhang Yi.
Zhang Lei didn't expect Han Du to be so easy to talk to, so he quickly said: "Thank you, uncle."
Two days later, Zhu Shou, the newly minted governor, was about to take office. Lan Yu, Han Du and others came to see him off at the riverside dock outside Dinghuai Gate.
Ten big lucky boats docked at the riverside,
Two thousand soldiers have already boarded the ship. Zhu Shou's family and the things he planned to bring are slowly boarding the ship.
When Han Du saw that Zhu Shou's people had even brought pots and pans with them, he couldn't help but joked: "Master Hou, are you going to take office or are you moving? Why do you even need to bring these things?"
Zhu Shou laughed and said nonchalantly: "It will only take us five years to leave our hometown. If we don't take these things with us after five years of leaving our hometown, what if we don't even have a bite of food from our hometown?
Driving us crazy? To tell you the truth, not only did we bring these things, we also brought a cook."
"The Marquis is still thoughtful." Han Du gave a thumbs up in salute.
"My dear brother," Lan Yu sighed and warned, "Although Java is weak, you still have to be careful when going here."
"My little brother saved me." Zhu Shou solemnly nodded, "Please stay and don't send me off!"
Then, he boarded the big fortune boat without looking back.
The warriors were used to farewells, and they didn't attach much importance to farewells. If Han Du had brought Lan Yu and others here today, Zhu Shou might have left without anyone to see him off.
Moreover, even so, Zhu Shou would not find anything difficult to let go of.
The Dafu boat broke free from the ropes, raised its sails and sailed down the river, quickly disappearing from the eyes of a few people.
Golden autumn and August are the harvest season.
This year's drought has led to varying degrees of grain harvest failure throughout the Ming Dynasty. Specifically, the harvest failure in the Central Plains and northwest regions is more serious. However, in places such as Jiangnan and Sichuan's Land of Abundance, the harvest failure is only about 10%.
Although the grain harvest was poor, the people still harvested the grain happily. Although there was less grain than in previous years, it was better than nothing.
After the grain is harvested, the next step is to pay taxes. Since the emperor has issued a decree to reduce taxes in many places this year, the grain left in the hands of the people after paying taxes is similar to previous years.
This stabilized the people's hearts and began to be full of hope for the coming year.
In the Jinshen Hall, Lao Zhu was holding several memorials and comparing them carefully. After that, he was in a daze and sat there without saying a word. The Zhu batch in his hand seemed to be frozen, and he did not write down the pen for a long time.
Finally, Lao Zhu put down his writing brush and placed several memorials in front of him one by one.
Suddenly shouted: "Mao Xiang."
"I am here, please give your orders, Your Majesty."
There was another moment of silence, and Mao Xiang knelt in front of Lao Zhu, not daring to move at all.
"Go and check for me. Beiping Chengxuan Envoy Li Yu, Procuratorate Envoy Zhao Quande, and Minister of Household Affairs Guo Huan. Find out if there is any connection between these three people."
"According to the order!" Mao Xiang replied immediately. A burst of ecstasy suddenly emerged in his heart, the emperor was finally going to use him.
Mao Xiang was also a person who was singled out by Lao Zhu. He was also an old man who followed Lao Zhu and won Lao Zhu's trust. Mao Xiang was also a human being, and he also wanted to be named a marquis and honor his ancestors.
However, the Ming Dynasty had already established an iron rule that no one could be granted a title without military merit.
And Mao Xiang stayed by the emperor's side all the time. How could he have the opportunity to achieve military merit? Therefore, if Mao Xiang wanted to be granted the title of marquis, he needed to make merit in front of the emperor, enough to offset the merits that could not be granted the title of marquis except for military merit.
However, Mao Xiang was completely embarrassed in front of the emperor because of the events that happened one after another. The emperor's grandson died, but no cause of death could be found and the murderer could not be caught.