Chapter 163: Fame and infamy
When Yan Song returned home, his wife Ouyang asked him while helping him change his clothes: "Why did I hear someone whipping the prince at the city gate today?"
Yan Shifan was most afraid of his mother and wanted to escape, but when he heard this he said, "Mother, the one who was beaten was the prince's foster brother."
"Oh!" Ouyang took a step back and looked carefully at the clothes Yan Song had just changed. "I'm old, and my ears are not as sharp as before. I misheard what I was listening to..."
Yan Shifan was about to run away when Ouyang suddenly asked, "Didn't Donglou whip anyone?"
Yan Shifan was a little flattered to be praised for once, "Mom, a gentleman should use his mouth instead of his fists!"
"My son is a gentleman." After Yan Song sat down, Ouyang followed him and sat down. She looked at Yan Shifan and asked, "Has the man who did it been punished?"
Yan Shifan shook his head. "Jiang Qingzhi is your Majesty's cousin. He made great contributions during this trip to Shanxi. Mother, your Majesty is kind and generous, so he will not punish him."
"I've heard that people with straightforward personalities like to use their hands, while people with cunning minds like to use their mouths. Which type of person is my son?" Ouyang asked.
Yan Shifan was stunned, "Mom, why are you saying this?"
Ouyang sighed, "Jiang Qingzhi is your Majesty's cousin. If he wants to punish someone, is it necessary to whip him in public? Even I, an old woman who never goes out, know that this is for others to see."
In an instant, Yan Song and his son stood up suddenly.
"He is protecting his own people!" Yan Song blurted out.
"He is backing Prince Yu and Prince Jing." Yan Shifan's one eye showed a fierce look. "What a Jiang Qingzhi! Everyone has been fooled by his arrogance."
Ouyang looked at the two men closest to her in this world and said, "He did not act secretly, but acted openly. This is upright."
Seeing that Yan Song and his son still didn't understand, Ouyang shook her head and sighed, "I am in charge of the family. If someone behaves uprightly, even if he is a little reckless, I like him. If someone seems to be well-rounded, but always likes to stab others in the back and spread rumors, such a person should get as far away as possible."
Yan Shifan was very smart and knew that his mother was hinting that he and his father were not acting uprightly.
"Mother, the affairs of the court are not that simple. If we had acted uprightly, my father and I would have died without knowing how. Take Xia Yan for example. He acted recklessly and ended up like this. If he hadn't been lucky, the grass on his grave would be three feet high by now."
"But that Chang Wei Bo established himself through honest means, so why can't you?" Ouyang asked.
Yan Shifan stamped his feet, "Mom, women shouldn't get involved in such matters!"
"You crawled out of my belly and grew up drinking my milk. How dare you disobey me now?" Ouyang was annoyed. "Bring me the ruler."
A maid handed over the ruler with both hands and Ouyang took it.
Yan Shifan had not been beaten for many years. He smiled bitterly and said, "Mother, what are you doing?"
Snapped!
Ouyang hit him on the butt with a ruler. Yan Shifan screamed and turned and ran away.
“You still dare to run!” Ouyang chased after him.
"Mom, stop hitting me... Stop it, ah!"
Yan Song walked out and saw that Yan Shifan was not running fast and even had to help the staggering Ouyang from time to time. He felt relieved and asked, "What happened today?"
The steward said softly, "Today someone sent five thousand taels of silver and a few paintings from the previous dynasty, and he wanted us to help his son get rid of his crime."
"What did you do?" Five thousand taels of silver. The value of the calligraphy and paintings was even more difficult to estimate. This was considered a huge bribe.
"His son was a corrupt official. After being impeached and reported, he killed people to vent his anger. The man said that he only wanted to save his life. In addition, if he was exiled, could he let a few women accompany him..."
The steward smiled and said, "If you can leave some incense along the way, we will be very grateful."
But he sighed immediately, "After the madam found out, she had the man driven out with a big stick."
"Mom, if you hit me again...if you hit me again I will run away...that person walked into the wrong door."
"You rebellious son, you still dare to talk back. If you hadn't done so many bad things in the past, how could anyone come to your door and ask you to do such an evil thing? Rebellious son!"
"Ow!"
Yan Song knew that his wife was trying to save face for him.
The steward said softly: "That person is wandering nearby, Master, please take a look..."
Yan Song smiled as he watched his son supporting his old wife and twisting his body to avoid being hit by the ruler. He felt warm in his heart, "Tell him to come quietly later. Remember, stay away from the lady."
"Master, don't worry."
Yan Song said softly, "When water is too clear, there will be no fish; when a person is too cautious, there will be no followers. If I learn from Xia Yan's clean style, who will follow me? If no one follows, your majesty's enemies will tear me and my son to pieces."
His eyes were somewhat gloomy and unclear. "In the first half of my life, I just wanted to be a famous minister and go down in history. But now, I am the Prime Minister and I have to bow down to Your Majesty. Therefore, the scholars of the world despise me. I am afraid that my reputation after death... is gone. Since there is no hope of leaving a name in history, why not enjoy everything!"
He turned around, looked at several famous calligraphy and paintings in the hall, walked over slowly, and reached out to touch the strokes that were hundreds of years old.
"Since I can't be remembered for eternity, what's the harm in being remembered for eternity?"
……
The so-called home is actually a place where you can feel at ease.
early morning.
Jiang Qingzhi got up and felt something strange when he opened his eyes.
His chest felt a little stuffy, so Jiang Qingzhi reached out to touch it, but Duoduo's claws held his hand down.
Then Duoduo climbed up. Jiang Qingzhi smiled and teased it for a while before getting up.
Before I opened the door, I heard birds singing.
At this moment, the surroundings are extremely quiet, with the ethereal and melodious sounds of birds singing and the sound of drizzling rain.
When I opened the door, the courtyard was a little damp and the sky was foggy.
"Meow!" Duoduo got down from Jiang Qingzhi's shoulder and easily climbed onto the roof along the wooden pillar.
The roof was wet, and the tiles were soaked with moisture, giving off a deep and heavy smell.
A few drops of water dripped from the eaves, ticking and bouncing off and shattering in little pockets on the slate below.
Jiang Qingzhi stood under the eaves, watching the water dripping slowly. At this moment, his mind was empty, and he didn't think about anything.
"Master!"
The ethereal state of mind was broken.
"Master, get up."
In the whole family, only Sun Chonglou dared to shout like this so early in the morning.
"Sun Chonglou, you're not done yet, right?" Dou Jialan roared.
The female centurion had been feeling unwell in recent days, so Jiang Qingzhi gave her a few days off.
Dou Jialan, who didn't get a good sleep, had a gloomy face and chased Sun Chonglou out of the house before returning.
After Jiang Qingzhi washed up, Hu Zongxian came.
"Your Excellency went to bed early yesterday. I suppressed a matter. The Ministry of War asked you to go there today. They said they had long admired your military prowess. Today, the Ministry of War gathered some people and asked you to go and tell them about the situation on the border."
"Wang Yiqi is trying to show goodwill." Jiang Qingzhi smiled, "Isn't he afraid of being criticized by those scholars?"
"Being criticized by the scholars is a matter for the future. For now, as the Minister of War, he has no choice but to get close to Lord Bo." Hu Zongxian was in high spirits, proud of it. "Although Zeng Xu's proposal to restore the Hetao was rejected, the foreign tribes in the Hetao area frequently harassed the Ming Dynasty. Wang Yiqi was extremely worried, but he could not find anyone to discuss it with."
The Minister of War had to go to the border when necessary. Zeng Xin's proposal to regain Hetao died with his death, but the enemies in Hetao became more rampant because of this, and Wang Yiqi was worried about it.
"Your Excellency defeated Altan Khan's troops twice and used military tactics like a god. Even if Wang Yiqi is dissatisfied with Your Excellency, he has to keep it to himself." Hu Zongxian said with a smile.
"Even if you get beaten, you still have to turn the other cheek and let the young master slap you?" Sun Chonglou came back. He was being chased out of the house, and he bought some fried glutinous rice cake from somewhere. He was eating it with his mouth full of oil.
"Shi Tou is right." Hu Zongxian was quite optimistic about Sun Chonglou. He knew that if everything went well, this young man who looked like a servant might be able to become an official in the future.
"Then I'll help you beat him." Sun Chonglou raised his right hand. The thick palm made Hu Zongxian shudder. "I'm afraid someone will die."
"Tear off half." Jiang Qingzhi pointed at the glutinous rice cake. Sun Chonglou said "oh" and tore off half of the part he had not eaten and gave it to the young master.
There is meat filling inside the glutinous rice cake. When you take a bite, you can taste the soft and glutinous rice cake and the rich aroma of oil, followed by the delicious meat filling.
"Make glutinous rice cake for breakfast!" Jiang Qingzhi was greedy.
After breakfast, the little girl came.
"Uncle, where is Duoduo?" Zhu Shou'an said Duoduo but kept looking at her uncle.
"Are you looking forward to your cousin's gift?" Jiang Qingzhi knew that the little girl was shy, so he asked someone to take out the gift he brought.
"This is a doll from the northwest. Look, it has a small table, a small stool, and small bowls and chopsticks. You can take it home and assemble it yourself..."
Zhu Shou's eyes sparkled, "Thank you, uncle."
"As long as you like it." Jiang Qing was not married and had no children in his previous life. He did have quite a few children in his relatives' families, but most of them were naughty kids.
"Cousin."
The two brothers of Prince Yu are here.
"Just right." Jiang Qingzhi asked someone to bring the gifts. "You two can take the gifts back. Oh, and take His Majesty's gifts back as well."
"Is there any for our father?" Prince Yu asked.
"He's my cousin. Why do you think you can't give it to him?"
"Yes!" Prince Yu scratched his head, "It's just... it seems that no one has ever given gifts to my father."
When Emperor Jiajing received Jiang Qingzhi's gift, he felt a long-lost feeling.
It feels like going back many years.
At that time, he was still a child, and his close friends would occasionally go on a long journey and bring him something when they came back. But that was not a gift, but an offering.
Different words mean different things.
Jiang Qingzhi gave gifts just like visiting relatives, very casually.
Looking at the local specialties of the northwest, Emperor Jiajing asked, "How are things in various places after Qingzhi's return?"
Huang Jin said: "It is said that some people vented their anger after drinking and said that Altan was incompetent and could not get rid of the scourge of Chang Wei Bo."
Emperor Jiajing did not comment, but his eyes were cold.
"Also, Wang Yiqi from the Ministry of War has asked Chang Wei Bo to go to the Ministry of War today."
"What is Wang Yiqi going to do?" Emperor Jiajing thought for a moment, "The Ministry of War has no generals available, and Wang Yiqi's vision is not broad enough. Facing the situation in the nine borders, he has no idea what to do, so he can only follow the rules. He invited Qingzhi to go to seek advice."
If Jiang Qingzhi heard these words, he would definitely say that his cousin had guessed Wang Yiqi's thoughts exactly.
Ministry of War.
When Jiang Qingzhi arrived outside the gate, the doorman smiled like a brothel owner seeing a wealthy customer.
"Long Wilbur!"
With hearty laughter, Wang Yiqi came out to greet them with several officials.
The Minister of War came out to greet him in person and made such a big scene.
The officials passing by looked at him sideways.
"Is Wang Yiqi crazy?"
Wang Yiqi was not crazy. He saluted and said, "Changwei Bo defeated Altan Khan's army twice. I have always been curious. This Changwei Bo, who is as good at using troops as a god, is said to be still a teenager. Is there really a military genius like Guanjun Hou in the world?"
He took a few steps back and looked at Jiang Qingzhi carefully.
"I saw Long Wilbur today, and I believe it."
(End of this chapter)
