September 17, the 26th year of Chengping!
Emperor Chengping’s 60th birthday.
Celebrate together.
Fireworks were set off all over the city.
The entire Shengjing City was shrouded in jubilation.
In the newly built stone garden.
Local officials presented birthday gifts one after another.
"Governor Lu Ding of Dongning presents a pair of East China Sea pearls to Your Majesty. May Your Majesty be blessed with long-lasting blessings and a long life!"
A pair of beads as big as a bowl were carried in front of the crowd by two young eunuchs on a tray.
"Tiannan Governor Ye Bingkun presents a Jade Mountain to Your Majesty. May Your Majesty be blessed as vast as the East Sea and live as long as the Southern Mountains!"
A jade mountain as big as a millstone was carried over by several eunuchs. It was crystal clear and carved with mountains, rivers, flowers, birds, insects and fish.
"Gu Jingde, the Governor of the Three Borders, presents a Ferghana horse. May Your Majesty be in good health and your country prosper!"
A majestic horse, completely blood red without a trace of other colors, came over, led by a eunuch.
"Governor of the Northwest..."
As the eunuch's shrill voice sounded from time to time, valuable gifts were brought up one after another.
Emperor Chengping nodded with satisfaction.
These gifts are very rare, and it is obvious that a lot of effort has gone into collecting them.
There was a lot of discussion below.
"It's a waste of time and money! It's a waste of time and money!" Fu Chengwang said, twirling his beard.
The Minister of Rites, Bai Hongbin, whispered, "Master Fu, please don't say anything that will spoil His Majesty's mood at this time."
Fu Chengwang said dissatisfiedly, "Even if it spoils the fun, I have to tell you. Lord Bai, do you know where these things came from?"
Bai Hongbin laughed dryly twice.
how come?
It's impossible that these officials bought it with money.
Then naturally, plundering and robbery are inevitable.
All the officials knew about this, and Emperor Chengping also knew about it.
But no one cares.
Anyway, no one took advantage of them.
Fu Chengwang angrily said, "These things are magnificent, but who knows how much blood has been stained on them, and how much money and grain has been wasted. If they were used on the people, how many people would be saved from starvation and disaster?"
Bai Hongbin didn't say anything.
The Minister of Revenue, Jiang Fengyuan, who was standing nearby, said, "What's the point of complaining here, Master Fu? Why don't you step forward and admonish His Majesty?"
Fu Chengwang said calmly, "I will naturally step forward and advise Your Majesty to use these things for the benefit of the people, but not now."
No matter what, we must not disturb Emperor Chengping’s 60th birthday banquet.
Even the birthday banquets of ordinary people have to be taken into consideration, let alone the emperor.
The big guys around nodded.
Apart from anything else, everyone admires Fu Chengwang for his honesty.
"I wonder what gift Lord Zhao presented to Your Majesty?" asked Minister of War Bian Anren.
The place where Zhao Lin was sitting was only for high-ranking officials of the imperial court, real high-ranking officials, and high-ranking officials of the first or second rank.
The people around him were either the Shangshu Governor-General or the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet.
They are all old men, and the youngest, like Fu Wenqi, is nearly forty years old.
There was only Zhao Lin, a young man under 20 years old.
When they heard Bian Anren's question, many people looked strange.
Everyone knew that Zhao Lin brought sixty boatloads of rice as a gift to the emperor.
However, if sixty ships of rice were really to be sent, Zhao Lin, the newly appointed Governor of the National Rivers, would probably be fired.
The emperor doesn't care about that. If you dare to send only rice, it means you look down on him.
Not to mention the emperor, even for the ministers present here, if someone only gave them rice on their birthdays, it would be useless no matter how good the intention was.
Worthless means worthless.
Zhao Lin smiled slightly and said, "Master Bian, please wait a moment. I will be here soon."
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhao Lin arrived.
"Head of the River, Zhao Lin, sent sixty boatloads of... rice."
The young eunuch reading the gift list was stunned for a moment, then quickly continued, "These rice grains were planted by Zhao Lin and his men personally. Under Your Majesty's divine grace, the weather was favorable and the crops grew smoothly. We would like to express our congratulations to Your Majesty on his thousandth birthday. May you live forever!"
Emperor Chengping's originally happy expression suddenly turned gloomy.
Everyone can see it clearly.
Immediately, many people began to gloat over the other person's misfortune.
"Zhao Lin is really brave. I thought he was just talking."
"Oh, even ordinary people wouldn't be happy about giving rice as a birthday gift, right?"
"Now let's see how this new river governor ends up."
"How about a gamble and see how long he can hold on as the River Governor..."
Many people were talking about it.
In their view, Zhao Lin, despite being so young, had been promoted four times in two years and had risen to become a first-rank official on par with the six ministers, all thanks to the favor of Emperor Chengping.
As long as Emperor Chengping loses his favor, it will only take a few minutes to return to his original state.
“How do you really deliver rice?”
Bai Hongbin was surprised and said, "Giving rice as a gift has a good meaning, but you have to give what you need. Rice is just a gift."
Fu Chengwang frowned slightly, but said nothing.
He is also very conflicted.
On the one hand, he admired Zhao Lin for not wasting people's money and time, but on the other hand, he was worried that he would offend the emperor and be dismissed and investigated.
Zhao Lin smiled and said, "Master Bai, just wait and see."
Emperor Chengping immediately became furious: "Zhu Zhongyan, is this the mysterious gift you told me about?"
Zhu Zhongyan quickly said, "Your Majesty, please calm down. Zhao Lin wouldn't be so foolish. Let's wait and see."
Emperor Chengping snorted coldly, "If it were just rice, I would chop you, the dog slave, and Zhao Lin together."
Zhu Zhongyan laughed and said, "Your Majesty might chop off my head, but he will never chop off Lord Zhao's head."
"Oh? It seems you are very confident about his gift. Well, I'll just wait and see."
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