The Submissive Emperor

The house is very large, with the door facing east, and it is divided into inner and outer courtyards. The outer courtyard houses the village head and servant women. The inner courtyard can only be seen through the outer courtyard.

Lou Jing stretched out his hand and took His Royal Highness's hand, leading him directly towards the inner courtyard.

Passing through the hanging flower gate, and then bypassing a nine-curved corridor, at the end is a wide pavilion with tables, chairs, and soft couches. Under the water pavilion is a spring of running water, gurgling from the bottom of the pool paved with pebbles. The other end of the water pavilion is connected to the gate of the inner courtyard. It is an unsurprising moon gate. Inside the gate, a rockery is used instead of the screen. The green vine is covered in the gate, which is tightly shielded, making it impossible to see the situation in the courtyard.

"It's messy, let's sit here and wait for them to come over." Lou Jing pointed to the chair on the water pavilion. A servant woman had already placed a cushion.

Xiao Chengjun nodded slightly and sat down quietly. He clearly arrived in the inner courtyard, but said that it was messy and asked him to sit on the water pavilion. If he still couldn't see that there was a problem, his prince would just do it for nothing. "This Zhuangzi Is it your private property?"

"Yeah," Lou Jing let go of His Royal Highness's hand, waved her hand to let the young man go down, and made tea by hand and passed it over. "The Lou family has three farms in the suburbs of Beijing. So he assigned this Zhuangzi to me."

"During the Taizong period, could it be..." Xiao Chengjun looked around, "This is Youyun Village?"

In Taizong's reign, Anguo was still the founding father who followed Taizu to fight the world. Taizu died, and the old and strong Anguo continued to expand with Taizong.

Back then, the northern Youyun sixteen states were not a country, and the remnants of the former dynasty entangled there and invaded the border from time to time. It is said that An Guogong only brought a team of Qingqi, broke 16 cities in a row, chased the enemy for eight hundred miles in the starry night, and cut the only prince left from the previous dynasty. Taizong Longyan Dayue, this "Youyun Village" was one of the rewards at that time.

"I heard that Anguo only took 16 people back then." His Royal Highness took the tea made by the Princess herself, took a sip, and glanced at the still quiet moon gate.

"The story has been circulating for a hundred years, and it will inevitably be exaggerated," Lou Jing shook his head. "Youyun Sixteen Prefecture is the name of the previous dynasty. Although it is only sixteen counties, the terrain is dangerously easy to defend and difficult to attack. There are not tens of thousands of troops. Where can it be captured, but it is true that only 16 people chase the enemy for 800 miles."

As he said, Gao Yun walked out of the inner courtyard with a dozen men in black. They maintained a peculiar pace, with a bit of murderous in their lightness, like a bladed dagger coming through the air, unstoppable. .

Xiao Chengjun squeezed the cup and saucer in his hand and slowly put it on the table.

"This is what every generation of the Lou family will raise, Youyun Sixteen Guards," Lou Jing didn't seem to see the guard of His Royal Highness, and raised his hand to fill his cup with water. "On the battlefield, it is called Youyun Sixteen. ride."

Yesterday, Yunba came back after passing the news to Lou Jing. Now the one kneeling in front of them is intact. It has been passed down for more than 150 years, Youyun Sixteenth!

Xiao Chengjun quietly looked at the sixteen people who were kneeling in front of him. From appearing to kneeling and bowing, they did not make any sound from beginning to end. "Didn't the Lou's Sixteen Horsemen follow the old Anguo Gong to die on the battlefield?"

Lou Jing's eyes darkened, "Each generation of Sixteen Cavaliers was raised when the patriarch was young. Grandpa died in battle, so naturally his Sixteen Cavaliers will be buried with him."

Xiao Chengjun was stunned, and slowly clenched his hands in his sleeves. But it turned out that what Lou Jing wanted to show him was not the melons and fruits he planted by himself, but the dead men who cultivated him by himself. In this village, there are more than just these sixteen people. How many dead men can be raised in the huge inner courtyard? And this yard is only twenty miles away from the capital.

"Youyun sixteen riders are only loyal to the Patriarch of the Lou Family," Lou Jing slowly stretched out his hand, holding the hand of His Royal Highness hidden in his sleeve, "The monarch who is loyal to the Patriarch."

Xiao Chengjun slowly turned his head and looked straight at his princess. His princess was telling him that this power was not his threat, but his help. His Royal Highness suddenly realized that he had married Lou Jing. It seemed that he had made a lot of money!

It is rare to see His Royal Highness who was somewhat sluggish, Lou Jing couldn't help but leaned forward, deliberately rubbing a white ear, and whispered: "His Royal Highness, are you satisfied with the minister's dowry?"

The slightly cool thin lips pressed against his ears, and bursts of heat sprayed into his ears, and Xiao Chengjun couldn't help tightening his body.

"My son, there is a man outside of Zhuang who claims to be Yao to see me." Gao Yun lowered his head after hearing the report from the young man.

In this world, there is no shortage of people who are unlucky, such as Yao Zhu, Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites.

Lou Jing sat upright nonchalantly, waved his hand to make the sixteenth guard return to the inner courtyard, "Let him come in."

"Yao Zhu blocked Shen Lian's way because he was looking for a job for his younger brother." Xiao Chengjun picked up the cup again and took a sip without any haste.

Lou Jing chuckled. His Royal Highness is exchanging news with him. The cooperation between them is already a bit more trusting than before. "If Yao Zhu is really so afraid of him, go and make a complaint with Shen Lian. This is not the case. Did it pass?"

With the increasing power of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, wealth-greedy eunuchs occasionally buy and sell officials, but they have been doing the business of official positions below grade four, and the buyers are all people with fame. What a mess. Of course, this is also because Yang Youting, the ritual minister who manages the deployment of officials, is a very stubborn old man who controls the officials strictly. Therefore, the number of eunuchs who can buy and sell is relatively rare. Yao Zhu and Shen Lian grabbed it, it is easy to offend him, but it is not a big deal.

"There must be something else hidden in this." Xiao Chengjun sighed. Yao Zhu's younger brother was born in the two rankings and was originally the guard of Qingyang County. It was only because the river dam of Qinghe County under Qingyang County broke and was implicated. Dismissed. It is understandable that Yao Zhu ran around for his younger brother, but he offended the eunuch, which was considered an innocent disaster.

After Yao Zhu got down, he got on the sedan chair and walked west of the city, afraid of being seen by others, and deliberately changed the carriage behind a temple full of incense.

"Chen Yao Zhu see the prince and the prince." Yao Zhu brought only one book boy and was stopped by Gao Yun to the outer courtyard, so he came here alone, and when he saw the two people in the water pavilion, he knelt down and bowed to salute.

"Master Yao, please." Lou Jing smiled and accepted the gift, and Xiao Chengjun also raised his hand to let him get up.

"Your Majesty, the minister deserves death for blocking the car driving yesterday, but the minister is also desperate," Yao Zhu refused to be a small servant to give the newly added chair, but stood still. "When Geng Yushi was in prison, it was useless for anyone to write a letter. , Only His Royal Highness can persuade the emperor, and the ministers can only dare to ask His Royal Highness to save his life."

Lou Jing leaned his forehead with one hand, and looked at Yao Zhu with a smile but a smile, "Master Yao's words are not right. I can persuade the emperor to be there, and to control the prime minister, the maid, the maid, the father-in-law, and even the imperial concubine and empress. , Why don't adults go to them?"

"My father is arbitrarily arbitrarily determined, and my words alone are nothing more than a stubborn tree." Xiao Chengjun held the cup and slowly drove the tea powder with the lid, ignoring Yao Zhu's earnest plea.

Yao Zhu's forehead was leaking dense beads of sweat. Originally, he only thought about how to convince the prince, but he didn’t expect the prince to be so difficult, so he had to kneel down again, biting his scalp and going straight to the bottom. This matter is also implicated with His Royal Highness."

But it turned out that Yao Zhu's younger brother Yao Su worked as a county guard in Qingyang County for three years and was about to be promoted. Unexpectedly, in August, there was heavy rain and Qinghe burst its banks, almost flooding the fertile fields of Qinghe County. The central government sent people to check and found out that the county magistrate of Qinghe had secretly detained the silver coins used by the imperial court to build the dam, but Yao Su had previously given the magistrate of Qinghe an excellent comment on the evaluation of officials from the Ministry of officials.

"What's the matter with the prince?" Lou Jing looked at Yao Zhu, guessing that the county magistrate of Qinghe gave his brother a gift, or else such obvious cut corners, as the county governor, wouldn't he know?

"His Royal Highness doesn't know anything," Yao Zhu wiped the sweat from his head, gritted his teeth, and took a deep breath. "Someone in the court was impeached, saying that the silver used to build the dam was embezzled by His Royal Highness."

"What?" Xiao Chengjun suddenly raised his head and looked at Yao Zhu who was kneeling on the ground.

Lou Jing was also taken aback, embezzling the money for repairing the embankment is as serious a crime as embezzling money for disaster relief! Huo Ran got up, grabbed Yao Zhu who was kneeling on the ground, and said every word: "The adults must speak with a sense of measure."

"The minister is absolutely nothing," Yao Zhu was startled by Lou Jing, and said tremblingly, "In the courtroom today, we have already begun to discuss this matter!"