Chapter 46 Dancing
Now that things have come to this, it would be rude to be shy about it. Yan Donglou was so excited that he thought about it carefully, then sent his servants away and wrote a list by himself and handed it to the prince. These were the people that the Yan family had worked hard to recruit in the Ministry of Rites over the years. Now that he had revealed all of them, it was an expression of his utmost sincerity.
These manpower may not be enough to reverse the Ministry of Rites' established agenda, but it is very convenient to secretly embezzle certain funds and manpower. The Quotations of Emperor Yingzong has been a huge unfinished project that has been languishing for more than 80 years. It has been so delayed that the officials in the Ministry of Rites have probably forgotten about this assignment. They could have just covered it up and used this banner to do their own things.
Of course, in order to return the favor and talk business over tea, Prince Mu was willing to explain this brilliant idea to him. On the one hand, it was because of their past cooperation; on the other hand, he also wanted to borrow the power of the Yan family in the Ministry of Rites to do something convenient for himself. The young minister certainly understood this principle, so he took the initiative to ask:
"To do something like this, you must have your own talents and trust them so that the news won't leak out. Does the prince have any candidates among his entourage? I can make arrangements as soon as possible."
The prince smiled and said, "What kind of relationship can the Duke's Mansion have with civil officials? I really can't find anyone at the moment... However, in the past, the compilation of such quotations should be presided over by the Hanlin Academy. Now that the Hanlin Academy is busy, why not wait until after the imperial examination?"
The young cabinet minister understood immediately, knowing that the prince was planning to send people to the Hanlin Academy after the imperial examination, so he agreed without hesitation.
The fancy sedan is carried by many people. At worst, we can use all our strength to support the new person that the prince has brought in. What influence can an unknown new scholar have? Just let the Yan party in the Ministry of Rites be patient.
The transaction was so pleasant that the prince shook the young elder's hand to show his affection when he left, and reminded him: "Let Brother Yan know that what we discussed today should be kept secret!"
Such an idea is indeed ingenious, but it just has the word "strange" in it, and it seizes an unexpected opportunity for others. But if it leaks out and causes a dispute, the effect will be greatly reduced.
There is always no shortage of bootlickers of the emperor in the imperial court. As two of the most outstanding bootlickers of this era, the Crown Prince and the Young Minister fully understand this point.
·
The Yan family has always been the most tight-lipped, and their private communications have always been kept out of the public eye. But no matter how careful you are, there are some eyes that you can't avoid. That afternoon, the spy planted in Yan Mansion passed on the news of the secret meeting between the Crown Prince and Yan Donglou, and after being reviewed by Li Zaifang, it was directly handed over to Master Feixuan. Zhenjun's reaction was as expected. After carefully reading the prince's brilliant idea, he finally smiled the happiest smile in the past ten days.
Feeling happy, Master Fei Xuan only said three words:
"Okay, okay, okay!"
Li Zaifang breathed a sigh of relief and immediately bowed down:
"Your Majesty is so loyal to his emperor and father that I am ashamed of myself. This is because the emperor has a sharp eye and great magical powers, so he can see the loyalty of the prince at a glance. The emperor is really a god from heaven, and the rest of us ordinary people don't have such ability!"
The True Lord looked pleased, and his tone was unusually gentle: "You, a servant, can actually speak."
"How can I deserve such praise from the emperor!" The chief eunuch said respectfully, "I heard that Jiang Taigong was just a fisherman, but King Wen of Zhou saw his talent at first sight; Zhuge Liang was just a farmer in Nanyang, but Emperor Zhaolie visited him three times. It can be seen that only wise kings and saints can find loyal and virtuous ministers from the grass roots. A dull and stupid person like me will never be able to see the reason in my lifetime. If this is not the emperor's discerning eye, what else can it be?"
To be honest, it is a bit shameless to compare the Prince of Duke Mu to Jiang Taigong and Prime Minister Zhuge Liang. Only the eunuchs are shameless enough to touch the emperor's itch so accurately.
Hearing this, Master Feixuan's smile became more obvious, and his expression revealed a satisfied reserve; obviously, in addition to enjoying the flattery of the genius prince, Master Feixuan was also very pleased with his own vision. Being able to discover this loyalty as pure as gold in the Crazy Lord who was criticized by millions of people, doesn't it prove that Lord Feixuan and Emperor Wanshou are a wise king who is good at identifying and employing people? The Supreme One has a keen eye for identifying a hero. Isn’t this a story that will go down in history?
...Okay, the Prince of Duke Mu might indeed be a little far from the standard of a "hero"; but this does not prevent Zhenjun from appreciating his ability to judge people.
So, he stood up gracefully, his long sleeves fluttering in the wind, and picked up the golden hammer beside the hexagram table, intending to add some color to this auspicious conversation between the monarch and his subjects:
"From what it says, it seems that the Mu family is planning to add a few people to the Hanlin Academy. Tell everyone below not to make things difficult for the people he recommended. It's okay to bear a little more."
No matter who the prince recommends, he would not be so bold as to put private material insulting our ancestors into the compiled books. He feels very confident working with such a person.
Li Zaifang kowtowed and accepted the order, and kept it in mind. Perhaps because he saw that His Majesty was in a very relaxed and happy mood, he boldly said:
"This time, from Yan Donglou of the Yan family to the prince of Mu, they are all loyal to the emperor."
Master Fei Xuan was playing with the golden loom and slightly raised his eyebrows to glance at Li Zaifang. The master and servant have been together for decades and know each other's temperament well. Just by listening to the flattery of the chief steward, one can already know his hidden advice. There is no doubt that after the two important ministers disappeared for dozens of days without reason, even the inner court officials could no longer withstand the pressure from the outer court and had to ask His Majesty to show mercy - or at least to give the outer court a clear explanation by executing them according to the law.
To be honest, the fact that the officials in the court could endure for several dozen days before putting pressure on the eunuch already showed that Lao Deng was good at governing his people and had great authority. If it were seventy or eighty years ago when the bureaucrats were at their most arrogant, they would probably have grabbed the Jinyiwei and the director of the Eastern Depot during court and scolded them for being corrupt and treasonous, or even dared to attack them openly with fists and feet, forcing the masters of the Jinyiwei and the Eastern Depot to judge the skills of the civil servants.
The imperial court is a big stage, come if you have a dream. The civil servants of Da'an are not only good at talking, but they are also the best in the world at fighting and besieging each other. When Emperor Jingtai was in power, the Shangshu Ge Lao in the court once killed the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Ma Shun, outside the palace gate. Is he still afraid of this old man Li Zaifang?
Considering the risk of being put in a sack when he got home from get off work, Eunuch Li respectfully stuck his butt out and sincerely showed his pressure to His Majesty.
The emperor snorted. He didn't show any extreme anger. Yan Fenyi and Xu Shaohu have been under house arrest for such a long time, and people have been sent to search their residences thoroughly, but so far no evidence has been found. Considering that the leakage of the Heavenly Book is indeed beyond human control (Zhenjun naturally ignored his own mistakes), there is no point in blaming him further; not to mention, if the two orange-peel old guys are imprisoned for too long and die, there will be additional considerable trouble.
He brushed off his sleeves and spoke lightly:
"Since he is loyal, give him something secretly. Yan Fenyi and Xu Shaohu have been in Xiyuan for so long, ask their families to send two sets of clothes for replacement."
Allowing family members to send clothes means allowing them to communicate some information with their families, which can also alleviate a lot of the doubts of civil servants in the outer court. Li Zaifang was overjoyed, kowtowed and accepted the order, then went out noddingly.
·
After his most trusted eunuch left the quiet room, the emperor, who was alone, finally unloaded his last burden. He struck the sides of the bronze chime with a golden hammer, and instantly the jade sound clanged and the vibrating bronze chime triggered a mechanism, and the gilded wind chimes set up on the four sides of the altar began to shake at the same time; the crisp sound was like the chirping of hundreds of birds, echoing and resonating among the ingeniously designed architectural structures, and fragmented notes came from all directions, like stars surrounding the moon and hundreds of birds paying homage to the phoenix, rising and falling around True Lord Feixuan in fluttering white clothes.
When the resonance of the notes reached a certain peak, the True Lord dropped the golden hammer, waved his sleeves, and circled like a big moth. His wide robe sleeves fluttered as he circled around the hexagram platform again and again.
——Yes, Lao Deng has gone crazy again!
Oh no, just calling it crazy is too insulting. In fact, this is a secret technique in Taoism, an exquisite step method that combines Nuo dance and Yu step. The movements were difficult and the postures were complicated, making it hard for ordinary Taoists to comprehend. Even if they managed to learn it, it would probably just be like an epileptic seizure when they danced it. Perhaps only someone with the appearance, figure, and taste in clothing of Master Fei Xuan could easily control this mysterious and profound dance, dancing it so gracefully and with a unique charm that even someone as resentful as Mu Qi could not insult him against his conscience.
However, such a difficult and complicated dance of prayer was only performed occasionally by Master Feixuan when he was taking a lot of elixirs and got high. He would dance gracefully under the influence of the elixirs, and his posture was particularly free and easy. His mentality has changed drastically in recent days, and he can't muster the energy to dance or pray. Now that he is using his special skills again, there must be a bigger plan.
Sure enough, after he finished stepping on the sixty-four hexagrams with the Yu Step, the heavenly book placed in the center of the altar dripped, and the voice that the True Lord had been waiting for for a long time came:
[Your live video has been uploaded and it has received a lot of likes! The system will temporarily enable new features for you. 】
That’s right, this is the new function that Zhenjun accidentally discovered after studying the Heavenly Book for many days. Because he was bored at that time, he happened to recite poetry in front of the Heavenly Book; he didn't know what touched him, but when he recited the poem "I come to ask Wu Yu's answer, the clouds are in the blue sky and the water is in the bottle" by Li Ao of the Tang Dynasty, the Heavenly Book made a ding-dong sound, reminding him that he had uploaded a very popular "live video" and could "get new experience".
To be honest, Master Feixuan did not understand a single word of what was meant by "live video"; but he did not need to think about it, for he knew that his sincerity and perseverance in pursuing the Tao must have moved the Heaven, and his long-term hard work in the Tao was not in vain, and he could finally condense his magic power to command the Heavenly Book; this sudden noise and inexplicable new function was the Heavenly Book responding to the profound and wonderful Yuanyang Zhengong of Master Feixuan, Emperor Wanshou, Emperor Qingmiao, and a little bit of magical power that was revealed.
In short, Dao Ye finally succeeded!
The facts were indeed as he expected. The new function provided by the Heavenly Book was "loyalty detection". It randomly selected 100 people within a radius of 100 miles and tested their loyalty values. Although due to "privacy protection" only the surname was displayed and the full name was blurred, Master Feixuan half guessed and still managed to sort out quite a few names, and most of them were in line with his expectations. For example, [Mu] has a loyalty value of 120, which is quite impressive. The reason why Master Feixuan clearly revealed his trust in the Prince of Mu in front of his confidants may also be due to the protection of the Heavenly Book.
However, apart from the Crown Prince, the one who topped the loyalty value list was actually an unknown young man named [Hai Moumou], with a value of almost three hundred. The surname of this Hai was really unfamiliar to the eyes. Zhenjun tried to figure it out for a long time but still couldn't get the point. However, he couldn't help but feel excited in his heart - one hundred and twenty were already so many, so the number of more than three hundred must be soaring, right?
Therefore, he deliberately wrote Hai Moumou's name on his sleeve, preparing to investigate carefully in the future and add strength to his team of loyal and trusted ministers - the prince of Duke Mu is of course loyal, but sometimes he is too crazy and it is really difficult to reuse him; this Hai Moumou could be chosen by the Heavenly Book, maybe he can even give himself another surprise?
After tasting this little sweetness, Master Feixuan developed a great interest and worked hard to study the "live videos" in the Heavenly Book, hoping to display his magical powers once again. Unfortunately, the mysterious magic spells did not seem to be easily obtained, and then the Heavenly Book fell silent again, as if it was not enough. No matter how he chanted spells, performed hand gestures, or fasted and offered sacrifices, it basically did not give any positive response. It was not until a few days ago when he got restless from practicing martial arts and stood up to practice the Yu Step that the Heavenly Book finally jingled and praised him for things like [Grand reproduction of famous scenes], [Click to see: Master Feixuan made a big jump in Subject Three], and also exchanged a small function for him, which could change his ringtone with one click.
This function was of course useless, but it allowed Master Feixuan to discover some patterns. So today he made careful plans and specially changed into his favorite Taoist robe. After summoning the eunuchs to take care of the trivial matters in and outside the palace, he quietly danced a Nuo dance of prayer and sacrifice.
There was an item in the court etiquette called "dust-raising dance", in which officials who were promoted would dance to express their gratitude to the emperor, and they had to raise dust. It is natural and nothing embarrassing for the emperor to do this to express his gratitude to God.
Obviously, God is very satisfied with his dedication. In today's "lively video", there is an extra sentence "overwhelmed with likes" - if you don't understand what "overwhelmed" means, can't you understand the word "like"?
So, what kind of reward will the heaven, who has expressed his admiration, give to Master Feixuan?
Zhenjun couldn't wait to step forward, wash his hands in the clear water beside the altar, and respectfully open the heavenly book. Sure enough, the page of the heavenly book had been updated, and a row of small characters were arranged horizontally and vertically on it:
Symptoms and prevention of common heavy metal poisoning
Master Feixuan:? !
He flipped through the book in a daze, feeling a little dizzy at the series of strange symbols on it, not to mention the long string of strange numbers and the lengthy, tedious and incomprehensible calculations, which made people feel awe and confusion for some reason. After reading it several times without getting the point, he simply flipped through the pages - finally, he saw something he could understand, a picture labeled [Symptoms of Lead and Mercury Compound Poisoning].
Master Fei Xuan still had no idea what lead-mercury compounds were, but he understood the word poisoning very clearly. Below the title is an extremely clear picture of a snow-white thigh. It is lifelike, with clear textures, and is indistinguishable from the real thing.
It is also because of this that Master Feixuan can see the abnormality in the picture effortlessly. The snow-white thighs were covered with goose skin and occasional bright red lumps that looked like mushroom spots.
Master Feixuan frowned and finally reached for his belt. After a moment, he lifted up his Taoist robe, revealing two slender pale legs, which were also covered with chicken skin and bright red spots.
True Lord: …………
He took a deep breath and carefully read the introduction about poisoning under the picture. He read the words "numbness, itching and burning pain" and "constant feeling of irritability" several times, memorized them carefully, and then turned to the next page.
The next page still shows pictures of lead and mercury compound poisoning, but the degree of poisoning is obviously more serious. The tiny spots have spread into lumps, which are frighteningly red. Some spots have become swollen and the skin is so stretched that it is almost transparent.
On the next page, the rapidly progressing lump had begun to fester and ulcerate. The red rotten flesh was turning outward, and a lot of yellow fluid was flowing out of the ulcerated area.
On the next page, the ulcer had spread on a large scale. Not only was there a mass of white rotten flesh and dead skin, but there was even a little bit of yellow tissue fluid leaking out...
Master Feixuan suddenly closed the book. His old face turned pale and blue several times, but he could not endure it any longer and rushed to the basin of clear water outside the altar.
And then - and then a loud retching sound was heard in the quiet room!
The retching continued for a moment, followed by a gargling sound. Finally the sound of water stopped, and immediately there was a loud shout with full energy:
"Someone come!"
·
That night, Li Zaifang called the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Kitchen and conveyed his order:
"According to His Majesty's order, you are to do two things quietly and not let the news leak out."
The eunuch kowtowed quickly and said, "Grandfather, please give me your instructions."
"It's no big deal." Li Zaifang said, "The first thing is to let the Imperial Hospital come forward and try to find Li Shizhen. But we can't let people outside the court know, otherwise they will think that the emperor is begging him, Li Shizhen, for something! This must be done carefully."
He hesitated for a moment and then said:
"The second thing...are there any cows left on the imperial farm in the capital?"
The eunuch was stunned: "What does the ancestor want a cow for?"
"If there are any cows that have given birth, quietly send ten strong ones to the palace, and milk them every day and give them to me." Li Zaifang said, "Also, in the future, His Majesty's meals should use more eggs and beans, soy milk, tofu, steamed eggs, stewed eggs, etc., all fine. Five pounds of beans must be sent in every day, not one pound less. Do you understand?"
The chief of the Imperial Kitchen was immediately stunned: Five kilograms of beans and soy milk and tofu every day? Not to mention how strange the taste is, even if only half of the five pounds of beans are eaten, once bloating occurs, the stomach and intestines will probably...
Of course, no one dared to say anything about the emperor's solemn edict. The eunuch in charge of the seal nodded and said yes, and said no more.
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