Zhao Hao could not have expected that while he was pondering by the fire, Emperor Longqing and his idol Zhang were also having a secret conversation in the Qianqing Palace.

Zhang Juzheng was a lecturer in Prince Yu's residence and had a close relationship with Emperor Longqing.

If Longqing regarded Gao Gong as his father, then Zhang Juzheng was like an elder brother in the emperor's heart.

It was these two people who accompanied Emperor Longqing in the Yu Residence and went through the most difficult years.

Now that Gao Gong is gone, the emperor can only speak his mind to Zhang Juzheng.

"Master Zhang, look." Longqing's face was full of grievance. He handed a memorial to Zhang Juzheng and said, "Those censors are getting more and more outrageous."

Zhang Juzheng sat upright on a brocade cushion. Upon hearing what was said, he took the memorial with both hands and unfolded it. It turned out to be a memorial from a Nanjing censor named Zhong.

Because the Ministry of Public Administration had to send memorials to the emperor first and then transfer them to the cabinet for drafting, this memorial that was kept by the emperor and not sent out was naturally the first time that Zhang Juzheng saw it.

The memorial reported a series of strange events that occurred in Huzhou, South Zhili during the first month of the year.

First, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, a strong wind suddenly blew up from the flat ground. For some reason, a government ship moored at the new dock in Huzhou caught fire. The wind helped fuel the fire, and the fire took advantage of the wind to "burn more than 2,000 houses and 300 to 400 government and civilian boats." More than 40 people were killed.

Because there is a children's proverb in Huzhou that goes, "If there is a messy wind on the first day of the first lunar month, the big and small daughters will marry husbands." At this time, it was actually falsely reported that the emperor was going to send eunuchs to select concubines.

The whole of Huzhou was in an uproar, and a fierce "battle for grooms" began. All families with unmarried daughters over 12 years old were eager to get married. They asked around to find men to marry. They all thought it was a great blessing to find a groom.

At that time, all unmarried men, regardless of age, beauty, poverty or wealth, in the city or in the countryside, all got married. Those with better conditions even married two or three women...

In his memorial, Censor Zhong gave an example of a wealthy family who hired a tinsmith to make pewterware. In the middle of the night, the tinsmith was sleeping soundly in his shack when he was suddenly woken up by his master. He rubbed his eyes and went into the house. He saw that the lights in the hall were bright and the master's daughter was dressed up and waiting to be engaged!

There was also a poor tofu-grinding boy who got up early to sell tofu in an alley. Because he was handsome, he attracted customers to fight for him. In the end, he had no choice but to marry the two daughters together and lived a shameless life as a threesome...

The beginning of this farce happened to be when another general arrived at the North Gate of Huzhou to take up his post.

According to the rules, three cannon shots were fired at the North Gate to welcome the guests, but the whole city was in an uproar when they heard the noise. People screamed, "The eunuchs from the imperial court have arrived." Unmarried daughters should run quickly, or they will be captured and taken to the palace!

Those families whose daughters had not yet been married off immediately fled in panic. In a blink of an eye, one-third of the city's population was gone...

The prefect of Huzhou then realized that he could no longer ignore the situation, so he issued a notice on the 13th day of the first lunar month, strictly prohibiting the spread of rumors.

But the common people's distrust of the government was ingrained in their bones. As a result, the more they tried to dispel the rumor, the more outrageous it became, saying that this time Emperor Longqing not only wanted the eldest daughter, but also "selected widows to accompany him to the capital."

He even wants widows!

All of a sudden, widows took the opportunity to remarry, and many of those who had remained chaste for 10 or 20 years and had even been honored with a chaste tree also hastily remarried.

By the end of the month, when the rumors died down, nearly 10,000 families in Huzhou could no longer go back to the past, so "the sound of regret and sighing filled the house", and it was too late for all of them to regret...

~~

Such an absurd farce took place in the Jiangnan region, the most prosperous and culturally rich area of ​​the Ming Dynasty. Naturally, it caused great damage to the reputation of Emperor Longqing.

Zhang Juzheng hurriedly advised, "Your Majesty, this is implicated by Emperor Wuzong. When he was in power, he held beauty pageants in Jiangnan several times, and he particularly liked widows... The people could not bear the disturbance and were still afraid, which gave the conditions for the spread of rumors."

In fact, Longqing's father had done the same thing, but he changed his mind after the Renyin Palace Incident. However, since he didn't scold his father in front of his son, Zhang Juzheng naturally only blamed the poor man who had no son.

Unexpectedly, Emperor Longqing leaned on the couch and said gloomily: "Master, I am not angry about this, please continue reading."

"Yes." Zhang Juzheng hurriedly continued to look through the memorial, and saw that the censor behind him suddenly changed the subject and actually directed his criticism at Emperor Longqing.

Censor Zhong said that although this was a rumor, there was no smoke without fire. It was because Your Majesty spent all day in the flower garden and did not attend court for months that the rumors about you spread among the people. The people even nicknamed you "Little Bee", so they took the rumors seriously. Your Majesty, you should reflect on yourself and be an abstinent emperor in the future. You should attend court on time, and the rumors will be broken by themselves..."

Zhang Juzheng slowly raised the memorial to cover his face.

Although he has specially trained his facial expressions and can basically keep his face calm even when facing a mountain collapse, this is too funny, isn't it?!

In the past two thousand years, this is the first time I’ve heard such a cute nickname as “Little Bee”!

The little bees, buzzing, fly to the flowers to collect nectar.

Who the hell came up with this nickname? Isn't it so talented?!

Mr. Zhang silently started complaining and tried his best to hold back his smile.

"Laugh if you want to." Emperor Longqing himself laughed bitterly: "It's just a bee, but adding a 'small' is too bullying, isn't it?"

Zhang Juzheng finally couldn't help but burst out laughing.

But he immediately reached out and touched his face, regaining his cool expression and said:

"Your Majesty, please issue an order to punish Zhong Jiong immediately for the crime of slandering the monarch!"

"Forget it. If this gets out of hand, won't this nickname become known to everyone?"

Long Qing shook his head in frustration and said, "But I think this nickname was not given by the common people, but by those unscrupulous censors."

Zhang Juzheng nodded silently. The censors relied on their words to control people all day long, so they naturally had a bad record when it came to giving nicknames to important figures.

For example, the cabinet ministers of the previous dynasty were collectively called "Qingci Prime Minister".

Among them, Yan Song's exclusive nickname is "Daotong", Xu Jie's is "Licorice"... Of course, this title now belongs to Li Xianggong.

As for another prime minister, Yuan Wei, he was even mocked as "Duke Wen Gong", which sounds like "Duke Wen Gong"...

Thinking of this, Zhang Juzheng couldn't help but feel secretly proud. At least those mischievous guys didn't dare to give Bu Gu a random nickname.

~~

"But I can't swallow this." Longqing spared Censor Zhong, but he felt wronged.

"I am almost being bullied to death by those censors. They won't let me leave the palace, and now they even control what I do in the palace. It's so boring for me to be an emperor."

"The censors have indeed gone too far." Zhang Juzheng said calmly, "The Prime Minister has indulged them a little."

Long Qing's eyes lit up immediately, and he stared at Zhang Juzheng and asked, "Master, are you serious?"

All along, the emperor was not as close to him as Gao Gong because Zhang Juzheng was Xu Jie's student.

Emperor Longqing didn't expect that his few complaints would be heard as dissatisfaction with the censors and even Xu Jie. His heart began to pound.

Then he heard Prime Minister Zhang say in a serious tone: "The reason why I was able to be promoted is because I am an old friend of Your Majesty's palace."

"Ah, Master Zhang!" Emperor Longqing was so happy that he almost fainted. He grabbed Zhang Juzheng's hand and asked excitedly, "Is that what you think?"

ps. The fourth update, 9500 votes plus more, little bees buzzing, asking for monthly votes, recommendation votes~~