Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 1019: Entering a Dangerous Place
"Mr. Zhuangyuan, please go here."

Led by a eunuch, "Fan Huai" and a group of successful candidates were dressed in red robes and brought into the royal palace of Annan.

Today was the last procedure he had to go through after winning the title of top scholar: a banquet given by the emperor.

The emperor here naturally refers to the "Son of Heaven" of Annan. Although the scale of the imperial examination in Annan is far smaller than that of China, and over the years, it has long been reduced to the private domain of the gentry. However, the necessary regulations and pomp must be followed.

Walking on the "Imperial Road" in the Annan Palace, Huang Huai was secretly shocked.

Huang Huai had been studying at home for many years and had never been to Yingtian Prefecture. However, he had heard about the deeds of the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming Dynasty who worked hard for the people.

In the early years, when the Ming Dynasty's finances were not yet abundant, Emperor Hongwu took several years to build a palace. He would often stop construction and divert the funds to government and military affairs.

The Ministry of Works decorated the imperial carriage with carved gold ornaments, which was angrily rebuked by the emperor; the late Empress Ma spun silk and wove cloth in the palace, and her long skirt was so short that it could not cover her feet, thus leaving behind the allusion of "exposing the horse's feet"; the emperor and the empress even farmed their own crops in the palace, and the food they ate was not as good as that of ordinary gentry and common people... Huang Huai was familiar with these stories.

He had never met the Hongwu Emperor, so he didn't know if these things were true. But from the perspective of his master, His Royal Highness the King of Zhou, although His Royal Highness was sometimes lazy, his daily three meals were no different from those of ordinary people, and he never pursued silk, satin, or luxury cars. If there was any leftover from a meal, he would always ask for less for the next meal. Although it was not simple, there was no waste at all.

A glimpse of the whole picture shows that the rumors about the diligence and thriftiness of His Majesty the Great Ming Dynasty are not groundless.

But now, seeing the Annan Palace, Huang Huai felt a little shocked.

Silk and satin hung from the trees, gold bricks paved the way, and the huge palace was magnificent with painted buildings and carved beams. The palace maids were dressed in colorful clothes, and their graceful figures passed by. The powder was fragrant, and there were countless exotic flowers and plants, rare animals, to show off their luxury.

Seeing Huang Huai's surprised expression, the eunuch who led the way showed some contempt in his eyes and raised his neck and said, "Mr. Zhuangyuan, please look carefully at the road."

"Everything in this garden is a rare treasure. If anything gets bumped or damaged, I won't be able to explain to His Majesty the Emperor."

Huang Huai didn't say anything, but just lowered his head in a frightened manner.

Soon they arrived at a courtyard. In the courtyard, the former emperor Chen Yizong was sitting at the head of the table. The young Chen Shunzong, like a clay sculpture or wooden statue, was sitting in the second seat, a little stiff. Next was Hu Jinyi, the powerful official who had been promoted to the position of Prime Minister and Assistant Grand Master, and who almost had the final say in the court. When he saw "Fan Huai" coming in, he nodded to "Fan Huai" with a kind face.

"You are the top scholar of this exam, Fan Huai?" Chen Yizong held the dragon throne and looked down at Huang Huai. It was very strange. Being looked down upon by someone from such a high position should have made him feel a little pressured. However, Huang Huai looked at this "emperor" who pretended to be majestic, and felt only disdain in his heart.

For some reason, looking at this old man with sunken eye sockets and gray hair, but still insisting on wearing a heavy crown and a "dragon robe" woven with luxurious gold thread, Huang Huai only thought of one word.

Mu monkey and crown.

"Your Majesty, the Emperor of Dai Viet, may you live long and may your Majesty be blessed with good health."

He buried his head deeply in the ground, and Chen Yizong could not see his facial expression. But his prostrating posture was interpreted by Chen Yizong as submission. The old man laughed and said, "Well, what a romantic man, you are worthy of being the number one scholar of Great Yue selected by Hu Qing himself!"

"Mr. Hu, I have seen all the successful candidates this year. Please ask the kitchen to serve the food!"

"You all stand up. Take your seats, everyone, and follow me to enjoy the singing and dancing to show our respect for the peace of Great Yue." Chen Yizong said.

After the emperor said this, he seemed to have accomplished some kind of mission. He could not wait to call for the singers and dancers and entrusted the task of entertaining the scholars to Hu Jinli. Hu Jinli did not refuse and turned around to greet the scholars, saying, "Please sit down."

"Come here, serve the food and pour wine for the scholars."

The scholars hurriedly thanked the emperor and took their seats under the guidance of the eunuchs. After all, it was a so-called "banquet given by the emperor", and the emperor and his majesty were at the top. The scholars were also very reserved. Although the wine and food were all served, they did not dare to move. The emperor just watched the women singing and dancing, and occasionally said a few words to Hu Jinyi, and ignored the scholars. The scholars had to sit there, just like Chen Shunzong, who was actually just a puppet, like a wooden sculpture without emotion.

Perhaps it was the song and dance at a certain moment that aroused the interest of the old emperor. Chen Yizong suddenly turned his head to look at Huang Huai and asked with interest: "My number one scholar, what do you think of the song and dance in my palace?"

"Why don't you recite a poem to help you get drunk?"

The air suddenly stagnated, and everyone's eyes followed Chen Yizon, who had a sudden idea, to look at "Fan Huai" who was sitting upright and not looking away.

"Fan Huai" was shocked, as if he had not expected Chen Yizong to mention him at this time. He slowly stood up, bowed to Chen Yizong, thought about it, and had a poem in his mind.

... He was so talented that he could compose poems. But he turned his eyes and caught a glimpse of the face of Hu Jili, who was sitting below Chen Yizong, and then a bold idea suddenly came to his mind.

"Your Majesty." "Fan Huai" bowed to the ground and said stiffly: "I am of humble origin and have little knowledge. I only know how to write articles on morality and people's livelihood."

"I really can't understand this beautiful song and dance, nor can I write any beautiful poetry."

As soon as these words came out, the other Jinshi who were originally envious of him for being able to display his talent in front of Chen Yizong were all shocked. Chen Yizong's face also froze, and then changed color and said: "How dare you!"

He was not really a fool, so how could he not hear that this year's top scorer was mocking him with hidden meaning in his words?

Chen Yizong was used to being willful, so how could he tolerate someone disobeying him like this? He immediately stood up and said, "Someone come! Someone come quickly!"

"Drag this beast out, give him thirty lashes, and send him to prison!"

The dancers panicked, and when they saw the soldiers outside coming in, they hurriedly retreated. The scholars were also terrified, surprised that this champion had such courage. Some people also reacted and cheered loudly in their hearts. If this champion from a poor family was unlucky, it would just relieve their anger.

It seemed that this visit of the newly-minted Jinshi to the emperor was about to turn into a farce.

At the critical moment, Hu Jilin stood up and calmed down the still angry Chen Yizong: "Your Majesty, no."

"Poetry is a minor art. It is understandable that the champion has never been exposed to poetry because of his humble background. Moreover, today is the day for the newly-appointed Jinshi to meet the emperor. If the champion is punished, where will the dignity of the court be?"

"What's more, His Royal Highness King Zhou also..."

Thinking of Zhou Wang Zhu Su behind "Fan Huai", Chen Yizong snorted angrily. If there was anything that could make him, the "Emperor", fear like a tiger, the Ming Dynasty would definitely be the first one. Seeing the Emperor waved his hand, the soldiers who had entered all retreated, and the dancers also returned to the middle with a frightened look and began to sing and dance.

"Forget it. Let's go back to the harem!" Chen Yizong said angrily. He threw away the heavy dragon robe and turned to the back hall angrily.

The puppet-like Chen Shunzong immediately stood up and helped the old and willful emperor to the harem. Hu Jinluo walked on the other side. Before leaving, he glanced at Huang Huai, who was still kneeling on the ground to plead guilty, with an unclear look.

The "Son of Heaven" gave a banquet, but the banquet ended in displeasure.

"Crazy!"

"Invite you to buy your name!"

"As expected of a person of low birth, he lacks training and education."

"He actually angered the emperor. He is such an ignorant fellow."

"Those who do not know loyalty and filial piety,"...

Huang Huai heard the accusations from the Jinshi scholars, some of whom were gloating. Huang Huai knew that these "Jinshi scholars" were mocking his future "official career" which would be even more difficult, but he pretended not to hear them and left the palace amid the whispers of the crowd.

……

"How is it? Is the Annan Palace majestic?" Outside the palace, waiting in the carriage was his friend Huang Guan, who recommended him to Annan and was responsible for accompanying him to Thang Long City to participate in the Annan imperial examination. Huang Huai got into the carriage and saw that the curtain had been lowered. Hearing Huang Guan's question, he finally stopped hiding his disdain and smiled, "It's so vulgar, it's all the people's blood and sweat."

"What dignity is there?"

He had been holding back on saying this for a long time, ever since he entered the "palace". Now that he was in this "private room", he could finally speak freely. His face showed his disdain for what he had seen and heard today.

"Oh? What do you mean?" Huang Guan looked quite interested.

Huang Huai was no longer in a reserved silence. He described everything he had seen and heard in the "palace" to Huang Guan. Then he said, "As we traveled along the way, many people in Annan were poorly clothed and had no means of survival."

"And Chen Yizong, as the king, was extremely extravagant and lived a life of luxury. He even had the nerve to ask me to write a poem for him, praising his merits."

"At that time, I had a sentence from my ancestors in my heart."

"In the rich and powerful houses, people watch singing and dancing, but they still fear that the spring clouds will dampen the strings!"

"Hahahaha, very apt, very apt!" Huang Guan clapped his hands and laughed. "The current situation in Annan is even more exaggerated than this poem."

"If only the rich were like this, it would be fine. But if the 'Emperor' takes the lead, then there is really no one to cure it, no medicine to treat it."

"Oh, alas, you are the ruler of a small country, with no talent or virtue, yet you dare to claim the title of emperor. You don't know what the word death means!" Huang Huai said.

"Your Highness is right. This place should be restored to China. Only in this way can the people live in peace. This is the greatest justice."

"Zong Yu's words are very good! This should be our life's work!" Huang Guan said. "However, Zong Yu angered Chen Yizong in the palace and put himself in danger."

"What's the point of this?"

"It's just that your official career has been damaged, it's not a dangerous place." Huang Huai said with a smile. "I thought of your previous analysis that Hu Jinyi has unified the Annan court."

"Ruan Duofang was sent far north by us, and is no longer a threat to the Hu family."

"Then, the biggest obstacle for the Hu family in the next step is Chen Yizong himself."

"You want to..." Huang Guan was not as politically savvy as Huang Huai, but he understood everything immediately. Hearing this, he suddenly realized, "You want to use this opportunity to show your goodwill to Hu Jilin?"

"Yes." Huang Huai nodded. "His Highness instructed me to wait for an opportunity and try to become Hu's trusted adviser."

"And for Hu Jilin in the future, no one can gain his trust more than someone who can be loyal to him and help him plot against Chen Yizong."

"If he is really smart, he will try every possible means to win you over. If this matter spreads, it will make you more famous among the poor people... What a good plan." Huang Guan also nodded in approval.

Anyway, Huang Huai never thought about having a smooth career in Annan... If he offended Chen Yizong or something, it would be like the sky falling in the eyes of others, but in their eyes, it was just a small matter.

The arrogant ruler of a small country dares to call himself the emperor. He does not know how high the heaven is and how vast the earth is. He will destroy himself soon. What is there to be afraid of?

Not worth a second.

They always have only one Majesty.

"Having said that, Hu Jinyao has just unified the court officials, and there are still many noble families in the Annan court who have not been conquered by Hu Jinyao." Huang Guan continued to analyze.

"Even if Hu Jilin wants to sideline Chen Yizong, I'm afraid it will take some time."

"You have to be careful. Don't let Chen Yizong harm you before Hu Jilin recruits you."

"Chen Yizong is a hedonistic man, he shouldn't have the guts to risk offending His Highness and come to harm me." Huang Huai said. "At worst, I'll resign from my post and live among the people in the mountains." Huang Huai imitated Zhu Su's usual behavior and spread his hands.

"...You are not even twenty yet, and you want to retire and live out your life? Hahaha." Huang Guan was amused by Huang Huai's pretentious humorous behavior, but he did not think that Huang Huai's behavior was wrong.

For them, the name of the top scholar "Fan Huai" has already been made known, and "Fan Huai" has become a benchmark for the poor people in Annan.

Next, what they had to do was to continuously boost the reputation of "Fan Huai" and at the same time, gain Hu Jilin's trust, so that they could hide in the dark and give Hu Jilin advice and control the progress of Hu Jilin's usurpation of power.

Then, when the time is right, there will be a "gorgeous farewell", triggering the conflict between the poor and the nobles in Annan.

That's it.

Whether or not he was an official was actually irrelevant. No one wanted to be a mediocre official in the small Annan court.

Huang Huai was prepared to be idle for a while, or even to be used as a warning by Chen Yizong, and was also prepared to be silent for a while and not be able to get close to Hu Jilin. However, what he and Huang Guan did not expect was that Hu Jilin was even more impatient than they expected. On the third day after the palace banquet, Hu Jilin came in disguise.

"Mingsir, what are you doing?" Huang Huai showed just the right expression of surprise when he saw Hu Jinlei, dressed in a clerk's robe, getting out of an inconspicuous carriage.

"My dear Fan, please don't stay here... go in, let's talk inside!" Hu Jinyi quickly glanced around, then pulled "Fan Huai" and went into the house.

(End of this chapter)