When Yuan Wei saw King Jing's angry face, he sighed and advised: "Why are you doing this, Your Highness?"
King Jing said angrily: "I was clearly invited to give a speech for the competition, but before I gave my speech, I did such a bad thing. Anyone with a discerning eye can tell at a glance that this is a deliberate attempt to ruin my face!"
Yuan Wei said: "Always under the spotlight, Your Highness must learn to control his anger."
King Jing said: "Look what they did just now? Accepting the cheers of the crowd! Is this the way to be a minister? How can I control my anger?"
Yuan Wei said: "How can a Taoist monk think of himself as a minister? It's not like His Highness only knows this now."
King Jing asked: "In view of Yuan Xueshi's high opinion, what should I do if I am alone? Should I just tolerate it? Or should I report it to my father and know about it?"
Yuan Wei smiled and said: "Your Highness, please calm down because Zhao Zhiran is so popular with the people. Your Highness should put the people's support first."
After hearing this, King Jing was silent for a moment, waved his hand and said goodbye to Yuan Wei.
It didn't take long for him to return to Prince Jing's Mansion on the west side of the imperial city. After returning to the mansion, Prince Jing sat alone and meditated for a long time. He immediately wrote a letter and sent it to the mansion of Yang Yiqing, the Minister of Rites.
After Yang Yiqing received the letter, he thought for a moment, took out a post, and said to the housekeeper: "Go and invite Shangyuan County to your house."
The housekeeper went to Shangyuan County Yamen and was told that Magistrate Liang was at Xuantan Palace, so he rushed to Xuantanfang. He saw people coming and going at the palace gate, and various people came in and out. He was a little overwhelmed for a while.
Fortunately, I met Liang Yougao's confidant, the master, who asked: "Mr. Yang, is my proprietor in a hurry? If it is urgent, I will ask the proprietor to come over immediately. If not, I will ask the housekeeper to wait."
"Is Mr. Liang visiting any Taoist priest in Xuantan Palace?"
"That's not true. My boss is in court. Didn't he clear out thieves who stole paving stones a while ago? He arrested dozens of them in one go. As a result, the investigation led to several pieces of evidence about Jin Shilun, the big thief in the capital. Hehe,
The famous leader of the Liang Gang was finally arrested. This time the evidence was solid and he could no longer be evaded. It was really satisfying. I don’t know how many people clapped their hands and applauded, waiting for the result. My boss was here to try this case...
…”
The butler was a little confused, wondering why he came to the palace to investigate the case? However, he still abide by his duty, suppressed his curiosity, and just said: "Sir, please take a look. If the case is really important, I will go back and inform you."
Master, if it can be relieved for a while, I will wait here."
The master said: "Then let me go and have a look."
Not long after, Liang Yougao came out accompanied by his master and asked the housekeeper: "Teacher summoned the students, but there is something urgent?"
The butler replied: "You deserve to die, you little man. You delayed the county magistrate from handling the case. It's just that my master said to wait in the mansion..."
Liang Yougao asked his master to prepare the sedan chair and said to the housekeeper: "Master, since I have something urgent to call upon, I will go over now."
Yang Yiqing was the examiner when Liang Yougao passed the rural examination. Liang Yougao greeted him as his disciple after meeting him. Yang Yiqing was not polite and asked directly: "What does the civilized city evaluation mean?"
Liang Yougao then told the story and asked: "Teacher, is it possible that an acquaintance of his has been kidnapped? I will ask for permission and the student will go back and order his release."
Yang Yiqing shook his head and said: "What I want to ask is, since the first month of last year, the Taoist sect has transferred the power of general affairs to the imperial court, why do you want to interfere now? How come you are obeying orders again? If you can't control Xuantan Palace, why?
Don’t you report it to the government? Even if Wang Zongyi doesn’t dare to take care of it, the imperial court will make the decision for you!”
Liang Yougao thought for a while and said: "The Taoist sect does not interfere with general affairs and major affairs..."
Yang Yiqing said displeased: "You still say you didn't interfere? You're paving roads and building ditches, and you're building a civilized city, and you still say you didn't interfere?"
Liang Yougao explained: "Teacher, paving roads and building ditches is what Shifang Jungle is doing. Xuantan Palace takes the lead. Shangyuan and Jiangning counties only sent some government officials to help maintain order."
"Where does the money for paving roads and ditches come from? Where does the manpower come from? Isn't this a common job?"
"Teacher, I'm afraid there is some misunderstanding here. The money was not allocated by the imperial court, and Shangyuan County has not yet expropriated every household. The students used black gauze hats as guarantees. These are all made of real gold and silver from Xuantan Palace."
"Xuantan Palace takes silver?"
"Yes, I heard that it was specially sponsored by the Xiuxianqiu Lottery Charity Fund."
Yang Yiqing was stunned, and then asked: "What about the establishment of a civilized city?"
"This is also voluntary. Xuantan Palace has no intention of forcing people to sign up to participate in the evaluation."
"If it's voluntary, why are you so active?"
Liang Yougao smiled and said: "If it can be rated as a civilized city, Xuantan Palace agrees to give a county a reward of two thousand taels of silver..."
"A county rewards two thousand silver? That's not worth your enthusiasm, right?"
"Teacher, this is a capitation reward specially given to Taoist monasteries and government offices. It is not public money. As long as you get the title, you can get an average of ten taels per person within three months, which is almost equivalent to half a year's salary. What do you think if I
If you are not allowed to participate in the review, why don't you get scolded to death?"
Yang Yiqing frowned and asked: "Is this money also a charity donation?"
Liang Yougao said: "Exactly."
Yang Yiqing continued to ask: "Then the price of land along the river has soared. What do you mean?"
Liang Yougao's heart skipped a beat, and he secretly wondered what the teacher was doing? Was he ignorant of the truth, or was he going to confront Abbot Zhao head-on? He benefited greatly from it, so he didn't dare to say anything casually. In a sudden thought, he simply said
He pushed it back: "This matter seems to be related to the recent rumors about the construction of the bridge. Such a major matter is not something that students can freely comment on. Please forgive me, teacher."
Yang Yiqing thought for a while and no longer made it difficult for his protégé, so he let him go.
After thinking for a long time, he took another post and called the housekeeper: "Send it to Wang Shilang's house quickly."
The housekeeper took the post and asked: "Is this Wang Fuyin you are talking about?"
"That's right. Go now. Remember, you won't return home until you get the approval."
The housekeeper hurried away and waited until late at night before returning and reported to Yang Yiqing: "Wang Fuyin has been away busy for a day and will return at midnight. He said that he does not dare to come to the house in person as the master. He will come to visit tomorrow afternoon and ask the master for advice in person.
"
Yang Yiqing nodded. Wang Zongyi was very knowledgeable. He knew that he, the Minister of Rites, was an important official of Jian's heart in the emperor's heart. In the future, he would be promoted to the cabinet and he would be respectful in terms of etiquette. In this way, many things would be easier to handle tomorrow.
In the afternoon of the next day, Wang Zongyi came to the door obediently. According to their rank, the two were on the same floor, so Yang Yiqing opened the front door and invited Wang Zongyi into the mansion.
After a few words of greeting and two cups of fragrant tea, Yang Yiqing tentatively entered the topic: "I heard that land prices in the Linjiang area outside the city have skyrocketed recently, more than double what they were at the beginning of the year. Has Mr. Wang Fuyin heard about it?"
Wang Zongyi nodded and said: "Since February, the price of land along the river has been rising continuously. What's wrong? Does Yang Shilang also have this intention?"