On this day, when he heard that the messenger sent by Li Yan was already on his way back, Zhu Ling was also resting in the Nuan Pavilion. Suddenly, a sharp voice came from outside, with a hint of joy in the voice. No need to guess.
I knew it was Wang Chengen's voice, and it probably brought some happy news.
Just this sound, Zhu Ling heard it when he was in the capital.
He stood up slowly, and soon Wang Chengen entered the room with obvious joy on his face. He immediately said to Zhu Ling: "Your Majesty, this is great news! Go and have a look!"
"how?"
Hearing Wang Chenen's words, Zhu Ling didn't look very happy. He just said jokingly: "Did the intruder surrender? Or did Ma Shiying commit suicide?"
"Look what you said, this kind of good thing is rare." Wang Chengen was also helpless by Zhu Ling's joke, so he had to explain: "It's His Royal Highnesses Yong Wang and Ding Wang who are back!"
"Really?" After hearing this, Zhu Ling quickly stood up, his face immediately showed joy, and he quickly asked: "Where are my two children? Take me to see them quickly!"
In this way, under the guidance of Wang Chengen and the entourage behind him, Zhu Ling hurried to the place where King Yong and King Ding were resting temporarily. As soon as he entered, he saw the two highnesses sitting at a table, eating hungrily. One
One was holding a chicken leg in his hand and munching on it. The other was holding a bowl of food and stuffing it into his mouth.
Seeing the two people eating in such an exaggerated manner, Zhu Ling couldn't help but laugh. It seemed that these two children had suffered a lot on the road and couldn't even eat well. And if he looked carefully, he found that they had
He was dressed like an ordinary person, with coarse clothes and a dirty face, making him look like a child from a poor family.
I have to say that it is really difficult for two children who have lived in the royal family since childhood to experience such a thing.
"Who brought them all the way back?" Zhu Ling looked at the two children lovingly, and did not forget to ask about the escort.
"Your Majesty, they are the subordinates of Lu Zhenfei, the governor of Huai'an. There are ten of them in total. They picked up the two His Highnesses from the secret passage of the Nanjing Imperial Palace, and then went all the way to Yanzhou non-stop." Wang Chengen on the side replied immediately.
"Take me to see them, and let your two highnesses have a good meal first."
"According to the decree."
The group of people immediately came to the place where these ten people were resting. There was no so-called big meal here. Everyone just had a cup of tea in front of them, and they had already finished it. For them, no matter how good the tea is, it is not as good as a bowl.
Cold water. What’s more, a teacup is so small that it’s really not enough for them to drink.
Several of them did not see Zhu Ling standing not far away. Faced with such indifferent treatment, several of them immediately expressed their dissatisfaction: "We took the risk all the way to escort the two highnesses over and walked for three days.
For three nights, we hardly had any rest. We finally arrived at Yanzhou Mansion. Well, the two princes went to eat delicious food, leaving us here to drink tea! What's the point!"
After saying this, he immediately aroused everyone's approval.
"Yes! We brothers have paid a lot of money along the way. We have almost spent all the money. We have no choice but to steal, and we have to fight when we encounter pursuers along the way. Fortunately, our brothers are very lucky.
No one died. When we arrived in Yanzhou, we thought that His Majesty would definitely give us a reward. Even if he didn’t give us a reward, there would always be a full meal, right? Unexpectedly, there was no meal, and even only one cup of tea! We really thought we were living by drinking tea!"
"Yes, brothers are all wronged to death!"
Just when everyone was full of grumbles and complaints, the biggest official among them, Zongqi, immediately scolded: "As a minister of the Ming Dynasty, it is your duty to protect His Highness, what are you complaining about? And this tea is from the Lord.
Good Longjing, you didn’t underestimate us.”
After these words, several people present did not want to speak anymore and could only turn their heads to the side and sulked.
And it was at this moment that they saw Zhu Ling standing at the door. The bright yellow color immediately scared them into incoherence: "Yes... yes... Your Majesty!"
Everyone stood up immediately, and then knelt down facing Zhu Ling. Everyone was frightened and lowered their heads in silence. They were afraid that what they just said would be heard by His Majesty and be punished with beheading. After all, as long as what he just said was heard, it would be terrible.
It's a felony!
"Did you see His Majesty just now? When did His Majesty come?" One person lowered his head and asked the person next to him in a low voice.
"I didn't see it! You were just talking. Why are you looking at the door?" The man was also on the verge of crying. How could he say such words if he really saw His Majesty?
At this moment, a fat eunuch suddenly burst in from outside the door. Seeing His Majesty here, he quickly knelt down and said, "Slave, please see Your Majesty!"
"Who served the tea?" Zhu Ling asked coldly without moving his hands behind his back.
The fat eunuch just thought that His Majesty wanted to reward him, so he hurriedly said: "Back to Your Majesty, it was my slave who asked someone to give it to me. This is a fine Longjing. It can be considered to soothe their hearts."
"You let someone who has been running for three days drink tea? Just one cup?" Looking at the fat eunuch kneeling on the ground in front of him, Zhu Ling was really smoldering in his heart. This slave really felt that he was doing the right thing.
Why don't you give me a compliment when you serve tea?
Hearing that His Majesty seemed angry, the fat eunuch hurriedly explained: "This is the best tea. Ordinary people are already blessed after just one cup. How can they drink more?"
"Come here, fork it out for me! I'll punish you with eighty sticks!"
After hearing these words, Zhu Ling couldn't bear it anymore and had someone take it off on the spot. As soon as the fat eunuch heard that he would be punished with eighty sticks, his face turned pale and his eyes were dull. Then he cried loudly.
: "Your Majesty, I know I was wrong. Please spare my life! Your Majesty! I beg you!" Ordinary people know that eighty cane punishments are equivalent to being beaten to death.
Although the people who had been kneeling in the lobby did not know why His Majesty suddenly punished the eunuch, they were still trembling with fear from the eighty stick. It is estimated that the little eunuch was tortured like this because he gave them good tea.
.Then if they just said such treasonous words, wouldn’t they be executed?
Thinking of this, I couldn't help but break out in cold sweat.
Zhu Ling walked slowly, looking at the frightened and pale people, he couldn't help but smile and said: "Get up quickly, everyone, after running around for three days, your body can't stand up."
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
Now, even though he knew that he and others could not save their lives, he still stood up after hearing the words.
"I was a little sorry just now. They didn't do a good job. You were so tired from running around, but you just drank a cup of tea. I'm really ashamed." Zhu Ling sat on it and said apologetically.
After hearing His Majesty's words, everyone was relieved. It turned out that His Majesty did not have murderous intentions because of their complaints. But even so, they did not dare to say more: "Your Majesty, this tea is also good tea.
, we are so lucky to be able to drink it."
After hearing what Zong Qi said, Zhu Ling just smiled helplessly and said: "I'm not used to drinking tea, and I don't like it either. For me, water either quenches my thirst or is sweet, but tea is something else."
, I don’t like it. Do you like it? If so, I won’t let you eat and just give you a few kilograms of good tea.”
Seeing that the delicious food was about to disappear, everyone hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, give us food, we are not used to drinking tea. We are all rough people, let's give the tea to others."
"Really?"
Looking at the reactions of several people, Zhu Ling also chuckled a few times. Then he asked Wang Chengen to arrange a table of delicious meals for them to enjoy. He also added: They can eat as much as they want, and they can eat whatever they want.
!If it’s not enough, let the imperial chef cook for them again, and let them eat enough tonight.