Inside the emperor's camp in Tumubao, more than a dozen stoves were burning brightly.
The blue flames warmed the entire hall like spring, without feeling the slightest chill.
However, Lin Shangli's heart skipped a beat, and he felt something was wrong.
As a legendary emperor, he actually asked the old eunuchs around him to put down their affairs and return to the palace to accompany him. Is this really because people are getting older and starting to feel lonely in their hearts?
"Your Majesty, the affairs of the East Factory cannot be said to be busy, but I have to keep an eye on everything. If we move back to the palace, many things will not be handled in time, which will affect the normal operation of the East Factory." He bowed his body.
, Lin Shangli said with a smile on his face.
Among other things, the eunuchs sent by Dongchang to various ministries of the imperial court are required to report on the status of each ministry every five days. I have to sort out all of these situations and select some important ones to report to the emperor.
If we live in the palace, who will sort out these situations? The entire affairs of Dongchang will be paralyzed.
"What you said is true, Dongchang's affairs still come first. Otherwise, whenever you have time in the future, you can come back to the palace to see me." Ming Chengzu said a little disappointed.
Lin Shangli was a little dumbfounded.
The important information Dongchang obtained, he had to report to the palace every two or three days. The attendance rate was not low anymore. The emperor also said that he would return to the palace when he was free. It seemed that the emperor had something on his mind recently and always wanted to find someone to talk to.
"Your Majesty, whenever I am free, I will return to the palace to accompany you. However, when I am not here, you must listen to Xiaosi. Just like just now, the red date and wolfberry tea really warms the stomach. You have been cold all the way, so drink it first to warm your stomach.
Tea and other drinks are fine." Looking at Ming Chengzu, Lin Shangli said with concern.
"Okay, okay, but I'm used to drinking West Lake Longjing these days. I just don't want to drink other teas." Ming Chengzu chuckled and agreed.
While chatting and laughing, Wang Xiaosi came up with the brewed West Lake Longjing tea. He bowed respectfully, put the tea bowl on the table, and was about to leave.
"Xiaosi." Lin Shangli stopped him.
"Eunuch Lin, please give me your instructions." Turning around, Wang Xiaosi bowed and said.
"Starting from tomorrow, make a bowl of red date and wolfberry tea for the emperor every day. After drinking it, make other teas to drink." Lin Shangli ordered.
Wang Xiaosi was startled and looked at Ming Chengzu with some suspicion.
Just now, the emperor was very angry because of the red date and wolfberry tea. From tomorrow on, if he drinks like this every day, the emperor will not scold himself to death.
Unexpectedly, the emperor nodded and said with a smile: "Do as Xiao Linzi said."
"Yes." In response, Wang Xiaosi bowed and stepped back.
Picking up the tea bowl, Ming Chengzu closed his eyes and sniffed it for a few times, then opened his eyes again and took a sip.
"The Hangzhou Prefecture paid a lot of tribute to this West Lake Longjing, but the ones I drank before didn't have this taste."
"Did Xiao Chen bring this tea back?" Lin Shangli asked with a smile.
"Yes." Ming Chengzu took another sip of tea, "Don't tell me, Xiao Chen is quite considerate of me."
Hearing Ming Chengzu say this, Lin Shangli felt a little relieved.
Lin Shangli had already felt a little pressure because of the rejection of the Rakshasa Kingdom's envoy. He always believed that because of the incident involving the King of Han, the emperor had already developed a barrier to Xiao Chen in his heart.
However, judging from such a small matter as drinking tea, it seems that the emperor did not have much objection to Xiao Chen because of this matter.
"These tea leaves should be the best tea leaves that Xiao Chen encountered when he was working on a case in Hangzhou. It was also because of the good reasons that Xiao Chen brought them back to the emperor." Lin Shangli lost no time in saying good things about Xiao Chen.
Xiao Chen also gave himself a bag of this kind of tea. You can distinguish it from the aroma of tea wafting from the tea bowl.
But how could Lin Shangli dare to say this?
Let the emperor enjoy this feeling alone.
"By the way, Dongchang is responsible for the internal security of the Tumu Fort. You should also live in the Tumu Fort. Why haven't I seen Xiao Chen after so long since I came back?" Ming Chengzu asked, holding a tea bowl.
"Back to the Emperor, Dongchang is responsible for guarding the inside of the Tumu Fort, while the Jinyi Guards are responsible for guarding the outside of the wall. Xiao Chen is not worried, and he is patrolling outside the wall with several Dongchang captains."
"Policing on your own? Isn't this overkill? Send Xiao Chen here, I have something to do with him."
Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty did not forget the conspiracy hidden behind the official document submitted by the magistrate of Daxing County before leaving.
"Yes, I'll go right away." Lin Shangli bowed with his hands clasped and walked out of the hall.
Outside the wall of the earthen fort is an empty sandy land.
Before, some crops were planted on these sandy lands. There were also sparse crop poles standing upright in the sandy land.
Now, this piece of sand has been trampled to the point where it is almost like a square. About one foot away, stands a military captain in golden uniform.
From time to time, a team of more than a dozen people would shuttle back and forth, patrolling the sand.
Xiao Chen, dressed in bright purple clothes, led several Dongchang captains with his hands on his back and shuttled through the sand in the wind.
Xiao Chen was not worried about the Jin Yiwei. It was because the emperor lived in the earthen fort. This vigilance made him unable to stay quietly in the earthen fort and placed the security of the entire perimeter on the Jinyiwei.
For this warning, Jin Yiwei arranged for two Qianhu to come over.
One of them was Liu Rufeng, the fifth thousand member of Jinyiwei. He was the one who came to Zhang Youde's door to ask for an explanation, but was beaten up by Xiao Chen. Jinyiwei commander Xu Kaiying took him back.
Because he was dressed in purple, every few steps he took, the imperial guard standing in the sand would nod and say hello.
As for Xiao Chen, he couldn't ignore other people's etiquette and could only return the favor one by one, which doubled the time of patrolling.
Seeing that this patrol was about to end, a patrol of Jin Yiwei came towards them from a distance.
The one at the front is a Senhu. The bright Qianhu uniform is in sharp contrast with the uniform of the captain behind him.
When they saw Xiao Chen, Qianhu knelt down on one knee, which was a standard military etiquette: "I have seen Lord Ziyi."
"Get up, get up." Xiao Chen waved his hand, "The main thing is to be vigilant. From now on, we can avoid such cumbersome etiquette."
"Yes." Qianhu responded, stood up, and looked up at Xiao Chen with a smile on his face.
"Liu Qianhu?" Xiao Chen said a little surprised, looking at the other person's face carefully, as if he was afraid that he had made a mistake.
"Master Ziyi." Liu Rufeng smiled awkwardly, "I hope Master Ziyi will not take it to heart about the previous misunderstanding."
In the past, Xiao Chen was just a captain of the Dongchang School. Liu Rufeng looked at him with a condescending look.
Although Xiao Chen and Duan Tianming locked him up in the yard and beat him up, it was only because of Xiao Chen's force that he had no choice but to give in.
But now, he is dressed in purple, the uncrowned king who is inferior to one person and superior to ten thousand people. What else can he do besides putting on a respectful smile?
