Chapter 382
Zhongshuling suddenly changed his mind, and when the appointed date came, he came to see Chao Jing by himself, without bringing any gold, he sent a bunch of apologies.
"Originally, my colleagues in the yamen said that everyone should be able to collect a little gold, and everyone should be able to. Everyone also understands that there are many people close to the emperor, and General Chao has to pay for it. This gold may not be enough. But... alas, Zhongshusheng It's Qingshui Yamen. We are a bunch of poor officials. We really can't make enough money to sell iron. We can't even give up a family for a Zhongshu person, right? So, that's the only way, don't blame General Chao. General drink tea."
Zhongshuling handed over a small bag, Chao Jing took it, and after weighing it twice, he felt that it was a little heavy, so he put it back into Zhongshuling's hand, "No merit is not rewarded, I understand the principle... What if I want a little less? There are not many real cronies of the emperor, so pick and choose, and maybe you don't need everyone to take care of it."
Chao Jing's so-called "a little less" is of course not referring to the gold in his hand.
Zhongshuling didn't feel that the gold in his hand was too little, so he pushed back, "A little tea money is not a respect. No matter how much gold we can't get together, it's all my fault. I have some spare money in my hand, but I didn’t expect to be as poor as me.”
Chao Jing pushed back perfunctorily, neither of them picked up the small bag of gold, and neither of them let go.
"What about Nan Zhijin? Does Zhongshu Province leave him alone?"
"Offending Longyan is an unforgivable crime. Nan Zhijin asked for it by himself, and we can't blame others. What can we do? How does Your Majesty deal with it, we have nothing to say."
Chao Jing was completely confused, and subconsciously still pushed each other with Zhong Shuling, but he didn't know what to say.
"That..." Zhong Shuling looked very embarrassed, "That... General Chao, the previous box of gold..."
"What's wrong?" Chao Jing was immediately alert, and stopped pushing, firmly grasping the small bag of gold.
Zhongshuling was even more embarrassed, "I'm thinking... No, no, colleagues from Zhongshu Province entrusted me to ask, that the gold... is still in the hands of General Chao, right?"
After all, Chao Jing was young and not experienced enough, so he immediately said, "Of course it's still there, didn't I say, that box of gold is not enough for the eunuch."
Zhong Shuling breathed a sigh of relief, retracted his hands, and left the small bag of gold in General Chao's hands, "That's good, since Nan Zhijin doesn't need to be rescued, can the gold... can you return it to us? No hurry, no need. General Chao will do it himself, I will send someone, when will it be convenient? Can you do it tonight? Then tomorrow night, tomorrow, before the second watch, I will send someone. Well, I will go first, General Chao will stay, stay."
Zhongshuling left with a smile, leaving General Chao standing there dumbfounded.
When the guest walked out of the room, Chao Jing didn't react, and angrily threw the small bag of gold on the ground and ran out, not to catch the Shuling, but to see the emperor, he had already fallen into the fog, Can't figure out what happened.
After going out for a while, Chao Jing turned back, picked up a small bag of gold on the ground, and stuffed it into his arms. After all, this is money and cannot be thrown around.
Chao Jing's residence is a small cross-courtyard in Juanhou's mansion. It has a door to the outside and is connected to the mansion. However, for safety, the door inside was sealed, and Chao Jing had to go half a circle outside to enter the mansion.
While running on the road, Chao Jing saw Zhong Shuling's sedan chair and chased after him in a fit of anger. He kept walking without speaking, took out a small bag of gold and threw it in from the curtain.
There was a hoot inside the sedan chair, and when Zhong Shuling covered his forehead and looked out, General Chao had already run away, and the sedan chair driver was at a loss and did not dare to ask.
Chao Jing ran all the way to the gate of the Marquis Mansion, but was stopped by the guards.
"Hey, fifth brother, it's me, don't you recognize me?"
The guard refused to give way, "I know, that's fine, the order has just been issued, starting from today, everyone has to enter the residence with their badges, and no one is an exception."
"What waistband?"
"You are a soldier in our camp, go to General Cai."
Chao Jing could only go to the next mansion to find Cai Xinghai to get the waist card. As soon as Cai Xinghai saw him coming in, he handed over a jade waist card. Don't come to me."
Chao Jing took the waist card and put it away carefully, "What happened? I used to be able to enter the mansion with my face, but now I need to see the waist card."
"It's nothing, there's no harm in being cautious. Your Majesty's safety is more important than everything else."
Chao Jing nodded, remembering that he had something to see the emperor, he turned around and ran away, Cai Xinghai shook his head from behind.
Chao Jing was a little irritable, but he was not stupid. He quickly saw that it was not "nothing to do". The soldiers who were holding the waist cards formed a long queue. He was a special case just now. Team, and then led by officers out.
In normal times, Chao Jing would have to ask questions, but today he had no time, so he ran back to the Marquis Mansion all the way, panting and shaking his badge to the guards. Those guards looked at their faces first and then at their waist cards, all with serious expressions, as if they didn't know him.
There was no tension in the courtyard, and the familiar eunuchs were still guarding outside the hall. Apart from reminding Chao Jing not to run around, he didn't make any other indications, and he didn't even look at his waist badge.
It's afternoon, the emperor must be discussing business affairs with a group of people, Chao Jing is waiting outside, he can't stand like a eunuch for a few hours. The tall and tall locust tree suddenly felt a little cold, and suddenly I regretted that I should not throw the small bag of gold back to Zhongshuling.
The voice in the hall was high, and Chao Jing could hear it. The people inside were discussing enthusiastically. It is very likely that the emperor had found a suitable naval general.
"I should also learn something." Chao Jing murmured, and was immediately rejected for reading and writing. He preferred to be a general, and he was a general who commanded the entire army. "He hehe laughed twice, and he already had a "snatch" target in his mind.
Today's discussion ended relatively early, it was still dark, and the people in the hall were retiring one after another. Most Chao Jing recognized them, but they were still King Donghai and Cui Teng. Only a few generals were new faces, arguing as they walked, but They were all in high spirits, and they were all very proud. They were obviously very grateful to have received the grace of God.
Chao Jing watched them leave one by one, and nodded with a deep meaning.
When the eunuch announced that Chao Jing saw the car, Chao Jing jumped up immediately, trotted into the main hall, and the eunuch at the back called out, "Study, Your Majesty is in the study, what are you anxious about?"
"When did His Majesty go out? Why didn't I see it?" Chao Jing asked as he left the hall and ran to the back study.
The emperor was reading again, and Chao Jing was so impressed that he couldn't read a single line unless the knife was on his neck.
After reading a volume, Han Ruzi put down the book and said, "You saw those generals nodding frequently from time to time. You must think they are good?"
"Well, he is tall and strong, and his skin is darker than mine. At first glance, he looks like a general who can really fight, but I don't think Your Majesty is satisfied with them."
Han Ruzi smiled and said, "Can you guess what's on my mind?"
"I can't guess, but I know His Majesty's preferences. Those who can be generals like Chai Yue, Fang Daye, and Deng Cui are not full of self-confidence? No one said that they were elated when they met His Majesty. Those few, The posture is there, but it seems too happy, not calm enough, in His Majesty's mind, I am afraid that it is difficult to be called a general, at most... He is a person like General Fan, but he is not as tall and powerful as General Fan. "
Han Ruzi was really surprised, "You brat... You can sell it for a good price if you take it out."
"Your Majesty really knows how to joke, who bought this stuff?" Chao Jing smiled, not understanding the emperor's meaning at all.
Han Ruzi did not explain, and said, "No matter what, you must be strict with the outside world, and you must not leak anything about me at will."
"Of course, General Cai has reminded us long ago that even if they are people around His Majesty, they are not allowed to talk about His Majesty's affairs with each other, let alone outsiders. He said that this is the most basic rule. Chew your tongue, get fired immediately, and never get hired."
Cai Xinghai is a eunuch, who has been in the palace for a long time and knows a lot.
Han Ruzi nodded, "Is the gold from Zhongshu Province delivered to you?"
Only then did Chao Jing remember why he came in such a hurry, and slapped his forehead, "It's a strange thing, not only did Zhong Shuling not bring the gold, but he wanted to return the gold from the past, and he cried to me for poverty."
After listening to Chao Jing's narration, Han Ruzi fell into deep thought. Zhong Shusheng must have noticed something, so he suddenly stopped. In retrospect, he didn't do anything in the past few days. The only move that might reveal his thoughts was yesterday evening. Approval of the memorial.
Zhongshu Province sent a memorial through the Ministry of Personnel Minister, hoping to remove Nan Zhijin from his name. Han Ruzi made a reply at that time, and asked the prime minister to give advice on how to deal with it.
"Go and fetch today's memorials." Han Ruzi ordered. The afternoon chat was more lively, and he hadn't come to read many of the memorials.
Chao Jing moved quickly, and after a while, he and the two eunuchs brought several stacks of memorials, all of which were piled on the desk.
Han Ruzi checked one by one, and finally found the memorial at the lower level of the second stack of memorials. His approval was still there, and a piece of paper was attached to the back with the suggestion of Prime Minister Shen Mingzhi.
Shen Mingzhi severely reprimanded Nan Zhijin for his recklessness, believing that he was not worthy of being a zhongshuairen, but breaking the crystal bottle was not a serious crime after all, so there was no need to remove him. Watch the aftermath.
Han Ruzi put down the memorial. No one could discuss it. He could only meditate on his own. After a long time, he said: "Zhao Zhongshu Sheren Nan Zhi Jin."
This was the first time the emperor wanted to see Nan Zhijin since he was detained in the Marquis Mansion.
The eunuch went to pass the decree, Chao Jing couldn't help but ask: "Does your Majesty understand what's going on?"
Han Ruzi nodded, did not answer, and did not let Chao Jing leave.
After reading the prime minister's suggestion, Han Ruzi came to the conclusion that Shen Mingzhi knew nothing about Nan Zhijin, and it was only Nan Zhijin who made the officials of Zhongshu Province suddenly change their minds. The key to everything was this old official. body.