Zhang Xiaozu and three others followed Dong Yifeng out of Taiping College and got on the carriage of the Ministry of Rites.
Fearing that the three of them would regret and run away, the coachman whipped his horsewhip so loudly that the carriage sped along at lightning speed and arrived in front of the etiquette department in just one stick of incense.
When Zhang Xiaozu got off the carriage, he had already forgotten Ye Mingyue's reminder.
It wasn't that he was too arrogant, but that Ye Mingyue's reminder was too out of tune.
Previously at Taiping College, Ye Mingyue caught up with him and asked him to be careful about the uncle.
He asked in confusion: "Who is the master?"
Ye Mingyue glared and said, "Your uncle!"
He suspected that Ye Mingyue was scolding him, so he muttered back: "Your uncle."
Ye Mingyue turned against him on the spot and wanted to fight him for eyeballs. Fortunately, he ran fast.
Therefore, Ye Mingyue's mindless reminder did not make Zhang Xiaozu aware of the danger at all.
After entering the gate of the Ministry of Etiquette, Dong Yifeng led the three of them straight to the performance hall.
The performance hall was very lively, and there were thirty or forty people gathered in the spacious lobby. They were all young talents summoned by Emperor Su Hanlin's order and came from the East China Sea, the Western Regions, the Northern Xinjiang, and the Southern Border.
Ye Shisan, Nian Lifu and others have arrived.
"Come Zhou Jian!"
Zhou Jianlai was recognized as soon as he entered the performance hall.
The lobby, which was originally filled with laughter and lively conversations, suddenly became quiet, and everyone looked at Zhou Jianlai.
Some people don't know Zhou Jianlai, but they will recognize him when they see his one-armed sword box.
"You're finally here." Yuan Taiping walked out of the crowd and greeted him happily.
He had been trapped in the Wuwei camp for the past few days. Hearing the news about Zhou Jianlai, Zhang Xiaozu and Niu Dawa, he was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot.
If it weren't for the efforts of the Taishushan people to dissuade him, he would have almost fought out of the Wuwei camp with a knife.
At this time, seeing Zhang Xiaozu and the other three appearing in front of him safe and sound, he finally let go of his worries.
"Weren't you invited to drink tea by His Highness the Crown Prince? Why are you here?" Zhang Xiaozhu was quite surprised to see Taiyuan Taiping and Shushan all here.
Because according to what Su Hui said, he was going to escort Yuan Taiping and others to the palace today to recover.
Yuan Taiping replied: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince wanted to escort us into the palace to resume our lives, but when we walked to the entrance of the palace, we were stopped by people from the Ministry of Rites, and then they brought us here."
The game between Su Hanlin and Su Hui is over, and their tools are naturally useless.
"Brother Zhou, are you okay?" Yuan Taiping looked at Zhou Jianlai worriedly and asked.
He felt a dead silence in Zhou Jianlai's body, and immediately knew that the news he heard in the Wuwei camp was true, and Zhou Jianlai's cultivation was really ruined.
"I'm fine, you don't need to worry." Zhou Jianlai smiled and reassured.
Someone heard this and sneered: "Come Zhou Jian, your cultivation has been ruined and you are not worthy of possessing the Sword of Light. You should be self-aware and give it up voluntarily."
When it comes to the Sword of Light, many people's eyes can't help but heat up.
Zhou Jianlai looked around, met the greedy eyes, and said calmly: "I got the Sword of Light based on my ability. If you want it, you can get it based on your ability."
"Well said, Han wants to ask you for advice." Someone strode out of the crowd, eager to compete with Zhou Jianlai.
This man's name is Han Zuo, and he comes from the Western Regions.
"If you want Brother Zhou to draw the sword, you must first ask Yuan about the sword in his hand." Yuan Taiping took a step across and stood in front of Zhou Jianlai.
"The crippled Luo Guo jumped out of nowhere. Get out of the way wisely, otherwise I will smash your pot lid with a punch." Han Zuo curled his lips and sneered, not taking Yuan Taiping seriously at all.
Yuan Taiping raised his knife and sneered, unwilling to start a verbal argument with him.
"Li also wants to ask Brother Zhou for advice." A man surnamed Li walked out of the crowd. He came from northern Xinjiang.
"Have you finished writing your suicide note?" Niu Dawa took a step forward and greeted her.
"What a shame!" The man surnamed Li was furious when he heard this.
"Ye is determined to win the Sword of Light!" Ye Shisan walked out of the crowd.
"Have you asked me?" Zhang Xiaozhu asked with a sneer.
"Haha, it's really lively." Nian Lifu jumped out and said to Zhang Xiaozu: "Zhang Xiaozu, give me your knife, and I will help you deal with Ye Shisan."
"No need to trouble yourself." Zhang Xiaozu refused.
"Then I can only join forces with Ye Shisan to kill you. He grabs the sword, and I grab the knife." Nian Lifu said with a malicious smile.
"You just need to join forces, why is Zhang afraid?" Zhang Xiaozhu didn't take it seriously.
"Hmph! Just the three of you, I'm afraid I can't protect Zhou Jianlai and the Guangming Sword." Another person walked out of the crowd, planning to bully the few.
"I won't interfere with you trying to steal the Light Sword, but you are bullying me because there are few people in the southern border. I'm sorry Bi can't agree." Bi Shuang stood up unhappily.
Taishu Mountain, Xu You, Peng Fugui also took a step forward without any fear.
"Troublemaker!" Although Yan Qinyin frowned and complained, her steps did not stop.
"If you want to fight, the people from Donghai are always with you!" Standing behind Ye Shisan, a group of people from Donghai stood up with a cheer.
After hearing what the people from the East China Sea said, people from the Northern Xinjiang and Western Regions also stood up.
They looked at each other angrily, and no one was convinced by the other.
They are both in their prime of life, and they are all outstanding people. When they meet together, no one wants to lose their momentum.
Especially when the honor of the four parties was involved, he refused to give in even an inch.
The atmosphere in the performance hall suddenly became tense.
Dong Yifeng broke into a cold sweat and quickly spoke out to calm down the atmosphere. He said with a smile: "You young heroes, today we are here to perform a ceremony. Please put aside your grudges for the time being and focus on the performance. Tomorrow is the award ceremony.
, if you are negligent and do not learn from it today, and you will be disrespectful in front of the Holy One tomorrow, it will be bad."
"Huh! We've been waiting here for a long time, why don't we see anyone coming to teach us?" someone asked dissatisfiedly.
"Officer of Ceremony, Officer of Ceremony, come and teach all the young knights the great etiquette of meeting the Holy Spirit." Dong Yifeng shouted quickly.
After Dong Yifeng interrupted, the tense atmosphere did ease down, because everyone knew in their hearts that this was not a place for fighting.
…
Imperial Palace, Imperial Study Room.
Su Hui knelt in front of Su Hanlin, sweat dripping from his forehead.
On the ground in front of him was a copy of the secret record recording Zhang Xiaopeng and three people's seizure of grain. Su Hanlin asked him to review it again, but he held his neck and said that his review was correct, which made Su Hanlin furious.
Su Hanlin stared at Su Hui with cold eyes, like a knife, and asked again: "I will ask you one last time, are you wrong?!"
A heavy cold sweat slid down Su Hui's cheeks.
Again and again, not again and again.
This is the third time Su Hanlin asked him.
He knew that if his answer did not satisfy his father, the consequences would be very serious.
"Reply to my father, I am not wrong." Su Hui still replied bravely.
Wrong or not?
wrong.
But he remembered what his father once said: "To be a king, you can't make mistakes, and it's not bad to be wrong. If you do the opposite, it's good or wrong."
The general rule is that as a king, you cannot admit your mistakes even if you are wrong, as long as you know in your heart that you will not make the same mistakes again in the future.
However, if you make a mistake and then admit it to your ministers, there will be two for one, and three for two. Over time, the king's power will no longer exist, and his opinion will be completely lost. It is true but also wrong.
Therefore, Su Hui had never seen his father admit his mistakes to the ministers, even if he was extremely wrong.
Su Hui felt that he should do the same.
He is the future king of the empire, and he must do even better than his father.
This was also the reason why he refused to bow his head to Zhang Xiaopou and admit his mistake.
Su Hanlin looked at Su Hui's refusal to admit his mistake, and the angry expression on his face gradually dissipated, and then a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, and he praised happily: "You did a good job, a king must not make mistakes."
Su Hui secretly breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that he made the right bet.
"Get up." Su Hanlin sat back in front of the dragon case and said: "You must remember that you are the king of princes, generals, ministers, officials and dignitaries, and more importantly, the king of the people of the world. The cinnabar red pen in your hand, every word you write will
You should think about your people first. Remember, all princes, generals and ministers can die, but you must not lose the people's heart. If you lose the people's heart, the country will no longer be yours."
"My son, please keep this in mind," Su Hui said.
Su Hanlin picked up a vermilion-covered booklet from the Dragon Case and asked Su Hui while flipping through it: "Do you think your three thousand soldiers of the Wuwei camp, in conjunction with your snare intelligence, can use all their strength without interference from other forces?"
With all our strength, how many days will it take to capture nine of Zhang Xiaopawn’s men?”
"Three days is enough." Su Hui replied after thinking carefully for a while.
He felt that the reason why it was difficult to arrest this time was that although it was undeniable that the nine Zhang Xiaozhus were indeed capable, the main reason was the interference from the Second Prince and other forces.
Su Hanlin shook his head, closed the folder in his hand, handed it to Su Hui and said: "I have specially summoned some young warriors from the East China Sea, the South Border, the Western Region and the Northern Border for you. There are thirty-five people in total. Here are them
Please take it back and take a look at the detailed information."
"Thank you, father!" Su Hui was overjoyed.
"Don't be too happy too early." Su Hanlin waved his hand and said: "Strong soldiers are like fierce horses and need to be surrendered. It is not certain whether you can surrender them and make them loyal to you."
"My son, I have confidence." Su Hui said confidently.
Su Hanlin said: "I will teach you another truth: a king should not be jealous of his abilities."
"My dear sir, please remember this," Su Hui responded.
"Okay, let's go back and prepare for tomorrow's award ceremony."
"My son, please retire."
As soon as he walked out of the imperial study room, Su Hui couldn't wait to open the book in his hand and read it as he walked.
However, after only reading the first page, his expression became very solemn.
He stood still, rummaged back, and found Zhang Xiaozu's name on the last few pages.
After he read Zhang Xiaozu's information attentively, he felt that it was unreal, like he was reading a mysterious story.
With a sense of unreality, he read through the information of Zhou Jianlai, Niu Dawa and other eight people one by one in one breath.
Only then did I understand why my father shook his head when he heard him say that it would take three days to catch the nine Zhang Xiaozu.
He really underestimated the strength of the nine Zhang Xiaopawns.
Not talking about hiding, reconnaissance, battle formation arrangement and other abilities, just talking about the ability to fight to the death on the battlefield, his three thousand soldiers in the military guard camp may not be able to defeat these nine people.
Su Hui quickly scanned the information of other people and found that all of them were one-in-a-million heroes.
Snapped!
He closed the folder excitedly, his cheeks swollen and red from excessive excitement, and felt that if he could surrender all the thirty-five people on the folder, his country would be safe.
But thinking about the conflict with Zhang Xiaozu, he couldn't help but have a headache.
…
The performance is undoubtedly boring.
Kneel down and worship, which makes people very irritable.
Even having lunch is difficult. There are strict rules and etiquette on how to sit, how to hold chopsticks, how to pick up food, how to raise a glass to drink, etc.
For Ye Shisan and other people who have received aristocratic etiquette education since childhood, they will not feel too irritated, and they will get used to it after reading it once.
But for Zhang Xiaozhu, Niu Dawa, Nian Lifu and other people who have been accustomed to idleness since childhood, it is completely painful.
If it weren't for the benefits he would get at tomorrow's reward ceremony, Niu Dawa would have given up the job long ago due to his bad temper.
Fortunately, they only needed to learn a few etiquettes, so after having lunch specially prepared by the Etiquette Department and reviewing the etiquette they learned in the morning, the performance was finally over.
Niu Dawa and other people who were almost going crazy from holding back their emotions ran out of the performance hall howling as if they were freed from their cages.
The little aristocratic temperament that he had finally cultivated in his body disappeared in an instant, making the etiquette officials shake their heads in anger.
Perhaps it was because he was going to meet the Holy Spirit tomorrow, so after leaving the gate of the Ministry of Rites, no one mentioned the Sword of Light again, and they all went back to their homes.
Zhang Xiaozhu and the other four returned to Taiping Academy, preparing to say goodbye to Su Jin, and then go to the agreed restaurant and inn to meet up with the five from Taishu Mountain, and then wait for someone from the Ministry of Etiquette to pick them up early tomorrow morning to take them to the palace.
After entering the gate of Taiping College, Yuan Taiping hid all the way, fearing that he would meet Mr. Xun who asked him to go home and invite his parents.
"Fourth, what bad thing did you do that day to get kicked out of the college by Master Xun?" Zhang Xiaozhu remembered that Yuan Taiping was kicked out of the college, and couldn't help but be very curious about what he did.
After finishing speaking, he added another sentence and said with a smile: "Big boy, you have to be careful. When the fourth boy was caught doing bad things that day, the old master reported your name."
"Your uncle!" Niu Dawa became angry when he heard this.
Yuan Taiping quickly admitted his mistake and said: "Second brother, I didn't mean it. I originally reported the name of the pawn, but the old master didn't believe it!"
"——" The smile on Zhang Xiaozu's face suddenly stiffened.