Chapter 133 Wu He [VIP]
Outside Luoyang City.
The wide bluestone road was clean and tidy, without a trace of snow.
A long queue formed outside the towering city gate. When it was Li Menghong and his group's turn to enter the city, the soldiers guarding the gate suddenly stopped them.
"Sir Li, the Prime Minister invites you to come with us."
Not to mention that they don't get along with Prime Minister Wang, even if they just listen to his orders, one can tell from the expressions of these soldiers that nothing good is going to happen.
Li Menghong's position was low, his words were not taken seriously, and he had already been clashing with Prime Minister Wang. He could only bow and apologize, "Please tell Prime Minister Wang that I have important matters to attend to and will not accept your invitation. Once I have finished my current affairs, I will personally come and apologize to Prime Minister Wang."
Seeing that he was unwilling to give them face, the soldiers immediately stepped forward with their colleagues and tried to take them away by force.
The old official beside Li Menghong immediately tried to stop them: "What are you trying to do? How dare you detain an imperial official without permission?"
The yamen runners who came with Li Menghong rushed forward to protect everyone and prevent the soldiers in the city from taking them away.
Suddenly the city gate became noisy.
Chen Yao was sitting in the carriage and felt a little uneasy when she heard the quarrel outside. She was just an ordinary person. Not only did she encounter an assassination attempt on the way, but she was also suddenly taken away by her enemies when she arrived in the capital. How could she not be afraid?
"Zi'an, we're going to be fine, right?"
Yang Jizong held her hand and said soothingly, "Don't be afraid. We are under the Emperor's feet. No matter what happens, His Majesty will know. We will be fine."
Sure enough, within half an incense stick of time, everyone saw a regular imperial guard separating the crowd, carrying the emperor's oral order, and summoning Li Menghong and others to the palace for an audience.
Even if the soldiers had great courage, they would not dare to go against the saint. They could only watch the prison van and the men in black being taken away.
"What are you still standing there for? Hurry back and report to Prime Minister Wang and Lord Song."
At the same time, Tian Baolai drove the carriage and followed behind the team, his palms sweating. Not only was Chen Yao afraid, he was also afraid. However, as an older brother, he should do his best to protect his relatives when they were away from home.
The spring breeze in February turns the willow trees in the city green. The scenery in Luoyang City is pleasant, and prosperity is displayed everywhere. Green ribbons sway on both sides of the official road.
Li Menghong sat in the carriage and changed into his official hat and court robes with the help of an old official. However, he was still worried, so he asked the old official to go to the carriage behind to remind Yang Jizong to make sure Tian Baolai and Shen Yao looked decent.
What does it mean to look decent?
Tian Baolai and Shen Yao looked at each other in bewilderment. They had traveled all the way to the capital and had no chance to take a shower or change clothes.
When the team approached the palace gate, the leading royal guard asked everyone to get off the carriage and walk into the palace.
On the way, Yang Jizong told Chen Yao and Tian Baolai about the etiquette and rules after entering the palace, so when the brother and sister followed the crowd through the tall and wide vermilion palace gate, they kept their heads down and stared at the road under their feet.
After passing through countless palace gates, everyone was separated and the royal guards took them to a side hall to stay.
"Excuse me, Commander, has the emperor said when he will summon us?" Li Menghong asked with a shameless face the moment the palace gate was closed.
He was answered by the creaking sound of the palace gate closing.
Although it is a side hall, it is magnificent with carved beams and painted rafters. The porcelain standing on both sides is as tall as a person, and the pillars in the main hall are wrapped with flowing silk.
Tian Baolai looked up and around, his heart was so shocked that he couldn't calm down for a long time. He whispered to his cousin Cricket: "It's worthy of being the place where the royal family lives. It's a hundred times more luxurious than ours."
Li Menghong rolled his eyes when he heard this. How could His Majesty live in this side hall? This side hall is used to imprison...
Li Menghong suddenly thought of something and immediately approached Yang Jizong. "What do you think the emperor meant by separating us? Is he suspicious of us?"
It would have been fine if the prisoners in the prison van and the men in black who were assassinating them on the road were separated from them, but the emperor also separated Xing Fang and others from them. What does this mean?
After entering the palace, Yang Jizong seemed to have changed into a different person. He sneered and said, "Master Li, what are you afraid of? Since His Majesty wants to see you, we will just wait here."
Li Menghong was confused by his attitude and still felt a little worried. As a small official, he took the risk of bringing Yang Jizong to Beijing to meet the emperor in advance. Was this a wrong move?
Xing Fang was the first person summoned by the saint.
In the imperial study.
The saint's majesty was so great that no one dared to look directly at him. The hall was so quiet that only the rustling sound of memorials being turned behind the imperial desk could be heard.
Xing Fang knelt for a full hour, his knees numb from the freezing white marble, and his passionate blood felt as if it had fallen into an ice cellar.
"I have received your memorial. You said that a new kind of grain was discovered outside Fengyu Pass, which can produce one stone per mu. Is that true?" The saint's voice came from behind the bead curtain.
Xing Fang knelt on the ground and said, "If I have lied in the slightest, I will leave it to the Saint to deal with."
Fengyu Pass is plagued by constant wind and sand with no rain all year round, and ordinary crops simply cannot survive. It goes without saying that the conditions there are very difficult.
Xing Fang was originally assigned to guard Fengyu Pass. Ostensibly it was a punishment, but in reality, they wanted him and his team to take cassava and millet and teach the border people how to grow them.
And these people did not disappoint. Cassava and finger millet solved the problem of food and clothing for the people and soldiers in the border areas.
Years ago, I received his secret letter, saying that after being cultivated and modified by Mrs. Shen, this new crop can not only satisfy people's hunger, but also be used to make paper. He praised this crop as miraculous.
"Your Majesty, I have brought a bag of black wheat from Fengyu Pass to present to you." Xing Fang took off the cloth bag from his waist and presented it with both hands.
He stood in front and took it, checked it and put it on the imperial desk after confirming that there was no doubt about it.
The saint took out the black grass from the cloth bag, held it in his hand and observed it carefully.
The palace maids nearby had no time to stop him before he had already swallowed it. The frightened maids immediately prostrated themselves on the ground.
"This grain tastes sweet but has a hard texture. It seems even harder to swallow than chicken feet and cassava. How can the people eat it?"
Xing Fang was shocked. He hadn't expected the sage to personally taste it. He immediately replied respectfully, "This black wheat is also known as red sorghum by the people. It's sown in May and matures in late October. It can be steamed directly, ground into flour and made into pancakes, which are golden and crispy. It can also be made into steamed bread, which is thick and filling."
The saint was born in the countryside, and after sitting on the throne, he worked diligently and did not dare to slack off in the slightest. However, the intrigues among the aristocratic families in the court had long obliterated his original innocent heart, and it had been a long time since he had heard such simple and down-to-earth words.
Very filling!
This is all the people want.
The bag of black grass was put away by the saint, and Xing Fang was asked a few more questions. Why did he go to Beijing with Yang Jizong, and what were those men in black about?
Xing Fang, of course, wouldn't reveal the identities of these men in black. He simply replied, "I was hunting with my brothers in the woods when I heard a woman crying for help. I rushed out and discovered that it was Lord Li and the others being attacked by the men in black."
"Okay, you can go down first." With these words from the saint, Xing Fang was led out of the imperial study.
Xing Fang was brought back to the side hall. After the palace servants left, his brothers hurried forward and pulled him to sit down.
Xing Fang looked at the table full of food and the happy expressions on his brothers' faces, and instantly let out a breath of foul air. Only later did he realize that the back of his clothes was wet with sweat.
Just based on the delicious food on the table, he shouldn't have messed up.
Next, the saint summoned Li Menghong and Tian Baolai one by one, and Chen Yao was taken to the harem to meet the queen in the palace.
The Queen Mother looked at her attire and not only did she not show any disdain, she even asked her personal maid to bring her a soft stool so that she could sit down and talk.
Chen Yao was under tremendous pressure and kept thinking in her heart that she had to think carefully before answering what the nobleman would ask. But she never expected that the Queen would actually ask her how to farm.
Chen Yao couldn't help but raised her head and faced the noble man's face.
The maid's bold cry frightened her so much that she immediately fell off the soft stool and sat on the ground. She stammered and could not utter a word to beg for mercy.
"Why scare her? Go and help her up." The person sitting at the top spoke calmly without any blame.
After being helped back onto the soft stool, Chen Yao kept cheering herself up. Only after her body stopped shaking did she dare to reply, "Empress, everything has its time, and every place has its advantages. Farming requires human effort combined with the right time and place to achieve a good harvest."
"Have you ever been to school?"
"My family was poor and I had never been to school. Later, Yang Jizong was married into our family. He taught me how to read, write, and do math."
"Can you do math?"
"yes."
In order to prove that what she said was true, the Queen Mother instructed the palace maids to prepare the files and assigned a few questions for Chen Yao and the palace maids to answer together.
Chen Yao looked at the long desk in front of her and the writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone on the table, her brows slightly furrowed.
Her action did not escape the notice of those present. The palace attendant immediately rebuked her, "You should know that deceiving the Empress will be punished."
"No, no, it's me. My calligraphy is not good enough. Can I use the charcoal I brought with me?" Chen Yao took out her booklet and bamboo charcoal from her arms.
Unexpectedly, the queen was so curious that she wanted to take a look.
Although Chen Yao was not happy about it, she had no choice but to hand over the booklet and pen.
The charcoal pencil was nothing special and was quickly returned by the palace maid. The noble lady sitting above her could be heard flipping through her book and signaling for the competition to begin.
Chen Yao gritted her teeth and deliberately slowed down her pace. She glanced at the file, wrote down all the poems she knew, and left the ones she didn't know blank. When it was her turn to do math, she paused for a moment. Seeing that the palace maids beside her were fiddling with abacus, she began to calculate.
"Empress, I've finished writing." Chen Yao was a little anxious and raised her hand to indicate.
The nobleman who was still reading her booklet said "oh".
Chen Yao bit her lip and shouted again, "Empress, I, I want to..."
The palace maid knew what she wanted to do by looking at her expression, and felt that this woman was extremely vulgar. She whispered something to the queen and took Chen Yao to the side hall outside to change clothes.
After Chen Yao left, the Queen signaled for her files to be brought over for inspection.
Looking at the tiny handwriting above, the writing was neat and the file was clean. Although most of the poems and songs were empty, all the answers were accurate. Even for mathematics, she could only be sure that Chen Yao had answered correctly after she knew the answers.
Her gaze fell on the palace maids in the hall again. These maids around her were not talented, but their literacy and abacus skills were beyond the reach of even the daughters of court ministers.
But now they are outdone by a peasant girl. Others have figured out the correct answer, but they are still fiddling with counting rods.
"Okay, everyone go down." The queen obviously lost interest and walked towards the imperial study with Chen Yao's booklet in her pocket and her gorgeous skirt dragging behind her.
The tables were removed and the palace maids who were competing also retreated.
After Chen Yao changed her clothes and washed her hands, she felt much calmer. When she came out from behind the screen, she was taken back to the side hall by a palace maid.
"Cousin, you are finally back. Are you okay? Did they give you any trouble?" Tian Baolai asked loudly without even looking at the expression of the palace maid next to him. He had to support his cousin. If anyone dared to bully her, he would fight to the death to avenge her.
"Cousin, I'm fine. The Queen treated me very kindly." Chen Yao thanked the palace maid who sent her back.
The palace maid snorted coldly and ordered the two men to wait here and not move around. Someone would bring them food and clean clothes soon.
When Chen Yao heard this, she knew she had passed this test, so she bravely asked, "Excuse me, when can I have my booklet returned to me?"
The palace maid ignored them and left the side hall arrogantly, looking down on the cousins of humble origin from beginning to end.
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