dognovel Chapter 114 A great achievement
Chapter 114 A great achievement
"Go to bed early!" Chu Mingzheng laughed at himself, touched her flushed cheeks, and disappeared into the endless darkness, alone.
As the sky brightened, the red plaque with gold characters faintly appeared on the Ningyuan Palace. A man in a blue Confucian robe, holding a scroll, stood outside the palace gate, pacing back and forth.
Chu Mingzheng stood in the distance and watched for a long time. The man finally changed direction, climbed the stairs and knocked on the door.
"Looking for this king?"
Hearing the voice, Shen Yan withdrew his hand from the door, turned around and saluted, "Your humble servant, Shen Yan, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Justice, pays homage to His Highness."
Chu Mingzheng stood with his hands behind his back and said with a smile, "Promotion!"
After the Minister of Justice reported the death of the Earl of Zhongxin to the Emperor, the Emperor not only did not ask him to investigate, but also commended him. Coincidentally, there was a vacancy for the position of Deputy Director of the Ministry of Justice, and the Minister of Justice was pleased and promoted Shen Yan.
It was supposed to be a happy event, but Shen Yan felt uncomfortable every time he thought about it, "Your Highness, there are still doubts in the case, and I feel guilty for taking on this responsibility."
Chu Mingzheng frowned and teased, "No matter how much you investigate, it won't do any good."
"Your Highness, do you think that I am investigating this case for personal gain?"
"I don't care what kind of person you are." Chu Mingzheng raised his hand slightly and asked impatiently, "What do you want from me?"
Shen Yan suppressed his anger and presented the scroll, saying, "Yingchuan has been suffering from drought for a long time. The Imperial Astronomical Observatory has observed that there will be little rain this spring and summer. This is a map of Yingchuan. As long as we dig ditches and build canals according to the official markings, we can divert water from the Luo River."
Seeing that Prince Ningyuan didn't accept, he opened the map and pointed to the three marked places and said, "As long as we start construction on these three places at the same time, it can be completed in two months, or at most two and a half months, which will not delay this year's farming season."
Chu Mingzheng glanced at it and said calmly, "Since you have a solution, it should be sent to the Ministry of Works."
Shen Yan explained: "No one in the Ministry of Industry is willing to take charge."
"Really? That has nothing to do with me." Chu Mingzheng walked around the people blocking his way and entered the mansion.
Shen Yan said anxiously: "The princess was imprisoned to save His Highness. Could it be that His Highness, as a man, is not as responsible as a woman?"
"How dare you!" Chu Mingzheng turned around and shouted angrily.
Shen Yan stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, please believe me. As long as Your Highness asks His Majesty for this mission, the princess's siege can be lifted. Your Highness will also have done a great deed."
Chu Mingzheng asked back: "What do you want?"
Shen Yan said: "I want the hope for the survival of the 100,000 people in Yingchuan."
Chu Mingzheng sneered: "Sir, do you believe what you said?"
Shen Yan asked in confusion: "Why don't you believe it?"
What a dull-witted scholar. Chu Mingzheng raised his hand, patted his frail frame, and kindly reminded him, "The news that I've just recovered from my illness has spread, and you've come to show your goodwill to me. Aren't you afraid that it will affect your career if it gets out?"
After that, he pushed the door open and entered.
Shen Yan was stunned. He had not expected that King Ningyuan meant this. Seeing the man walking further and further away, he said loudly, "Your Highness, I am open and honest and have no fear of what others say."
Chu Mingzheng turned around: "If you are not afraid, come in!"
"Yes!" Shen Yan picked up the scroll and quickly caught up. After walking a short distance, he asked curiously, "Your Highness, why is there no one in your palace?"
Even though it was early in the morning, it was incredibly quiet. Not only was the palace gate unattended, but it wasn't even bolted. I didn't see a single servant along the way.
"There were only a few people, so there were only two people in the front yard, and the rest were in the back yard."
There were so few people that only two people were left in the front yard. Shen Yan guessed, "Your Highness's residence doesn't only have the thirty palace servants provided by the Imperial Household Department, right?"
"You know a lot!"
According to regulations, the Imperial Household Department only provided thirty people to the prince's residence. Chu Mingzheng only found out about this after Qin Miao led the people into the residence.
I didn't expect it to be true. But the palace granted it, not that it could only have so many people. Compared to the huge palace, this number of people was not even enough to clean. Shen Yan had been to the homes of several colleagues and superiors, but they were only of the fifth or sixth rank, and he had never seen such a poor mansion.
"Your Highness, don't you want to buy some?" he asked.
Chu Mingzheng said casually: "The rest will be done after the princess enters the mansion. She is soft-hearted and can't bear to leave the old people in Chengyang Marquis Mansion."
Shen Yan turned his head to look over and saw that King Ningyuan, who had just spoken harshly, now had a gentle look in his eyes.
Could it be that the rumor that Prince Ningyuan doesn't like the princess and prefers his concubine is not true?
After entering the study, Chu Mingzheng personally heated up the tea and made tea for Shen Yan.
"Your Highness, let me come!"
"Then you are!"
Chu Mingzheng was impatient with these things, so he tossed the teaspoon to him and opened the scroll to read. The map was very detailed, with annotations on the side, explaining the topography, soil quality, the expected working hours for each section of the ditch, and even which local river workers were available.
After a sleepless night, he felt a little tired. Chu Mingzheng watched, picked up the teacup, and took a sip.
The taste is a bit strange, the tea fragrance is gone, and it is bitter without any sweetness.
He looked at Shen Yan who was brewing tea seriously and gossiped, "I heard that Master Shen's family is poor, but he has high standards, so he has not yet married."
Shen Yan denied it: "My family is quite wealthy and has no worries about food and clothing."
Chu Mingzheng pointed at the teapot and said, "You can't even afford a pot of good tea?"
Shen Yan was just refilling his tea when the teapot froze in mid-air. "Did your subordinate make the wrong brew?"
"That's right, it has a unique flavor!" Chu Mingzheng tapped the tea table lightly, indicating that he should add more tea.
Shen Yan poured some tea, put down the teapot, and continued, "My family still has fifty acres of thin land and half an acre of fish pond. During the busy farming season, we need to hire people to help. Although we can't compare with Your Highness, we are certainly not poor."
"Lord Shen's definition of poverty is different from others."
Every high school student claims to be poor, as if they've struggled mightily to earn their living. But if you look closely at their families, they're at least local gentry. I've never seen anyone with only fifty acres of meager farmland.
Shen Yan said seriously, "I am telling the truth. If I were truly poor, I wouldn't be able to afford education. When I was young, I had a classmate who only needed to read once while I had to read three times to memorize an article. However, due to lack of money, he stopped studying at the age of ten."
“What a pity!”
"It's not a pity!" Shen Yan made a rare joke, "There are so many people like that in the world. If they could all afford to study, I wouldn't have the chance to sit across from His Highness today."
Chu Mingzheng took over and said, "What Lord Shen wants to say is that if you were taught by a famous teacher, you would probably be more than just the 17th place in the second class!"
Shen Yan was slightly startled, then lowered his head and said, "Your humble servant is ashamed."
Chu Mingzheng stopped chatting with him and pointed at the map in his hand and asked, "Since no one in the Ministry of Industry is willing to use it, this job must be difficult to handle!"
"Yes!" Shen Yan began to explain.
"First, diverting water would be extremely expensive, and Your Majesty feels that disaster relief would be more cost-effective. However, the relief grain is stripped from the various levels of government, and only one tenth of it reaches the victims."
"Secondly, the officials and gentry were colluding. They didn't want the disaster victims' fertile fields to be saved, as this would hinder their efforts to annex land. Therefore, providing disaster relief grain was their most desired outcome. Everyone benefited except the disaster victims."