The King of Yue is a member of the royal family and His Majesty's younger brother. Even if Zhongshu Prime Minister sees him, he must respectfully address him as His Highness.
In the court, there were not many people who could call him a child, and even fewer who could directly call him an unlucky child.
The Prince Jin in front of me is one.
However, he could shout like this, but Shen Yi couldn't answer like this. After all, there was a huge difference in status. If those bad censors next to him heard what he said, they might have to sue Mr. Shen.
He smiled politely at Prince Jin and did not answer. Instead, he asked: "Your Majesty, I have been busy these days and have not had time to visit Prince Jin's Mansion. I wonder if the prince will come back to celebrate the New Year. If he comes back, what will happen next year?"
I'll go find him in two days and treat him to a meal."
Hearing Shen Yi mention Li Mu, Prince Jin's face became a little unhappy. He lowered his head and took a sip of wine and said in a low voice: "I'm not back."
"His mother wrote him countless letters, but she just said that she had some official duties and couldn't come back, so as not to be blamed by the court."
Having said this, Prince Jin snorted.
"It's an empty post, and I don't know what he's doing there."
Li Mu, the crown prince of the Jin Dynasty, is still serving as the capital commander in Fuzhou Dusi Yamen.
According to the establishment of the imperial court, Li Mu is the highest commander of the Huai'an garrison today. Now, 80% of his subordinates have arrived in Huai'an and are guarding Huaihe with Shen Yi. Only he, the polished commander, is left with 5,000 men guarding the southeast.
Five municipal shipping departments.
Hearing what Prince Jin said, Shen Yi knew that this "uncle emperor" was somewhat dissatisfied. After Lord Shen lowered his head and took a sip of wine, he said: "Your Majesty, there are five shipping companies in the southeast, and five more.
Although there are not many people in the capital's guardhouse, the government office is still there after all, and maybe the prince is also busy with official duties..."
"What official duties are involved?"
Prince Jin curled his lips and said, "I sent someone to Fuzhou, but he may not be able to go to the Yamen for even one day in ten days. He is messing around there, marrying three concubines, and two of them are pregnant."
Prince Jin narrowed his eyes and said in a low voice: "When spring comes after the New Year, if he doesn't come back, I will personally go south and capture him."
Good guy!
Hearing this, Shen Yi was also a little stunned.
He hasn't paid attention to the news in Fuzhou for a long time. He only communicates with Ye Chan occasionally. It seems that he hasn't seen him for more than a year. The prince is living a very happy life in Fuzhou and is quite "not homesick".
It tastes good.
Seeing that Prince Jin was a little angry, Shen Yi could only smile and look back at the young man not far away from time to time.
The young man seemed to be a little afraid of Prince Jin. After hesitating for a long time, he still did not dare to approach and retreated to his seat in frustration.
Master Shen breathed a sigh of relief, raised his hands to Prince Jin and said, "Thank you for your protection, I will go back to my place first."
Prince Jin nodded silently, and glanced at Yue Wang Li Yu, who was sitting not far away from him, and said slowly: "That child has a misunderstanding. You can't help him. The only person who can really help him is himself, and..."
At this point, he did not continue, but just waved his hand and asked Shen Yi to leave.
Shen Yi quickly walked back to his seat. It was already evening and the dinner was about to begin. Shen Yi glanced at Li Yu. His Royal Highness the King of Yue sat down in his seat obediently and did not get up again.
mean.
Shen Yi felt relieved.
As the sky darkened, the dinner party soon began.
After His Majesty the Emperor arrived, all the civil and military officials stood up and saluted, and then presented New Year's greetings to the Emperor. After His Majesty accepted the greetings, he smiled and ordered the ministers to take their seats.
The young Emperor, sitting on the throne, glanced at the ministers below, then slowly stood up and raised his wine glass.
Naturally, the civil and military officials did not dare to neglect, and stood up one after another to toast the emperor.
After the king and his ministers drank a glass of wine, His Majesty the Emperor put the wine glasses down. He looked at the ministers again and said slowly: "I just heard that many dear friends are talking about the Minister of Engineering of the Ministry of Engineering."
"There is also a prime minister in Zhongshu who mentioned to me that my punishment for Shi Lang Cheng was too severe and too harsh."
The emperor narrowed his eyes and continued: "Cheng Bin, from the eighth year of Hongde to the eleventh year of Hongde, in three years, he was in charge of renovating three main halls in the palace. Among them, Chongming Hall,
It was Hongde that caught fire five years ago, and it wasn’t until last year that we started rebuilding it.”
"For these three halls, the Ministry of Industry reported 500 taels of silver to the Ministry of Revenue, and the payment was divided into three years. In July this year, the Ministry of Revenue gave all 5 million taels of silver to the Ministry of Works."
"At the end of the year, someone reported that Mr. Cheng was engaging in corruption. I asked someone to investigate, and the result..."
The emperor said sadly: "Shocking!"
"Cheng Bin has been in the Ministry of Industry for many years. I am too lazy to investigate what he did in the past. But for these three palaces and five million taels of silver, he has embezzled more than 1.4 million taels!"
"This is just him."
"There are countless officials and petty officials who handle the work at the Ministry of Works!"
"I just wanted to know how much the five million taels that the imperial court paid were actually used in the end."
"Half of it?"
The emperor shook his head and said slowly: "I'm afraid not."
"The government is corrupt, even worse than that!"
"I know in my heart that whenever someone tries to combat corruption or improve integrity, a large number of people will be offended."
"But now, I have to mention it."
"It's Chinese New Year. I didn't want to say these things to spoil the mood of all my dear friends, but there are some words that I still don't feel comfortable saying."
"I hope you, gentlemen, can take Cheng Bin as a warning."
At this point, the emperor seemed to feel that it was not appropriate to say this during the Chinese New Year. He raised his glass again and said with a smile: "Okay, I will talk about the rest after the Chinese New Year. Today is New Year's Eve.
Let me have fun with you all."
"We, monarchs and ministers, drink this cup together."
All civil and military officials stood up again, toasted to the emperor, and shouted long live the emperor.
After this round of toasts, the eunuch Gao Ming began to arrange the dishes.
On the civil servants' side, the husbands and ministers naturally sat in the first row, followed closely by the six ministers and nine ministers. Fourth-rank officials like Shen Yi were in the third and fourth echelons.
Shen Yi knew many people among the Prime Minister and the Nine Ministers, but he was not very familiar with the fourth and fifth-grade officials of the same rank, so Mr. Shen did not change cups like other ministers, but just sat there honestly.
Stay in your seat and eat.
The food was served very quickly, and Mr. Shen ate very quickly. In a short time, he was 70% to 80% full. During this period, he stood up several times and joined other officials in toasting to His Majesty the Emperor.
Master Shen had just finished eating, and when he was picking his teeth, a young eunuch walked over cautiously, lowered his head to Shen Yi and said, "Is this Master Shen from the Ministry of War?"
Shen Yi nodded, looked at the little eunuch who was only fourteen or fifteen years old in front of him, and asked with a smile: "What's the matter, little father-in-law?"
"Your Majesty summons you to the apse."
Shen Yi then raised his head and glanced at the throne, only to see that His Majesty the Emperor had left the table at some point and was no longer in the hall.
Shen Yi was thoughtful and said, "Little father-in-law, can you take me to some inconspicuous place to the back hall?"
The little eunuch thought for a while, nodded and said, "I'm afraid we have to take some detours."
Just take a detour, it's better than being stared at by so many people!
Shen Yi nodded and followed the little eunuch, first leaving the main hall, then taking a detour and entering the back hall of Deqing Palace from the side door. In the back hall, he saw His Majesty the Emperor who was drinking tea.
After the emperor saw Shen Yi, he asked him to sit down and asked with a smile: "Shen Qing, what did you think of what I just said?"
Shen Yi smiled, nodded, and said, "Your Majesty is wise and wise, and what he said is naturally excellent."
The emperor frowned: "Tell the truth."
Shen Yi thought for a while, lowered his head and said: "Your Majesty, if I am telling the truth, I think I am a little anxious..."
"Next year, the court may have to fight a big war. At this time, the top and bottom need to be twisted into a rope. At this time, large-scale punishment of corrupt officials may make some people dissatisfied and undermine..."
When the emperor heard this, he chuckled.
"So I'm just scaring them, and I'm not planning to actually take action. This matter will only be dealt with by Cheng Bin for the time being."
Shen Yi was a little confused.
The emperor waved to Gao Ming, and Eunuch Gao immediately understood, held up a wooden box, and opened it in front of Shen Yi.
Inside is the land deed.
The emperor looked calm and said with a smile: "If you don't find a reason, when the Cheng family's house is given to you, those greedy men in the court will regard you as lost to everyone."
Shen Yi was stunned for a moment, then looked at the title deed in the box, feeling a little confused.
"His Majesty…"
"It's time for your family to find another place to live."
The emperor is smiling.
"This house has been carefully scouted for a long time..."