Troubled Times Survival Raiders

Concubine Shu made a special trip to the palace shortly after the banquet.

This one is old, but her seniority has risen again, even the queen mother dare not easily work her into the palace.But this time, she came with a request.

Not long after Concubine Shu entered the palace, the Empress Dowager sent someone to invite the emperor.

After Wu Junyi succeeded to the throne, he maintained a respectful relationship with him, and there was never a lack of peace in the morning and evening.And the queen mother also gave him enough face, never intervening in government affairs, and restraining her family.

He was here for a big event: Wu Muhao chose a husband-in-law for Shouhe Princess, who is the eldest son of the Minister of Rites, Xinke Jinshi Guo Yi.

Guo Xu is cautious as an official, and he is a close friend with Deng Xian, and has always had a good reputation.Guo Yi is also a Jinshi of Xinke, with good facial features, he is the best candidate for a county horse.Therefore, after asking her daughter's opinion, Concubine Shu asked her daughter-in-law to accompany her into the palace, and went to ask the queen mother to issue a decree to marry her.

Wu Junyi also knew that after what happened at the banquet, King Chu was in a hurry to settle his sister's marriage.Once the rumors related to relatives spread.Xianbei people may not feel anything, but Princess Shouhe's reputation will be affected by rumors.

Therefore, Wu Junyi had no opinion on this marriage. After summoning Guo Xu and his son and asking their opinions, he directly issued an imperial decree to grant the marriage.

Guo Yi was very popular among Jinshi, and this was another great marriage. After the imperial decree was issued halfway, fellow students came to congratulate him one after another.Shen Yu was naturally among them.

Faced with the ridicule of his colleagues, Guo Yi scratched his head and said, "Okay, okay, I, you guys don't know that, except for my father's blessing, I won the Jinshi exam, but I didn't accomplish anything, and I don't know what Chu Wangye is. How do you like my..."

"Youzhi's words are wrong. If you fail to achieve anything, what about those who fail the Jinshi exam?" Shen Yu shook her head helplessly as she heard him talking more and more.

Guo Yi is good at everything else, but he doesn't know why, and he is always not very confident.In fact, he was a clerk in the official department. Although he was not very conspicuous, he was extraordinarily meticulous and steady.Moreover, he is also good-looking, even if he put aside his family background, there are probably many people who want to choose him as their son-in-law.

Yang Feng laughed and said: "Brother Guo is also wrong about one thing, it's not that the prince has taken a fancy to you, it's clearly the princess who has taken a fancy to you!"

"Brother Yang is so outrageous! You are also married and have children, how can you laugh at people like this!" Mentioning the princess, Guo Yi couldn't sit still, jumped up and wanted to beat him, Yang Feng hurriedly called for Chen Hongpeng to save He, a few people made a fuss.

Smiling and laughing, someone dragged the topic aside to Chen Hongpeng. "I didn't know Brother Chen had such good skills before."

Chen Hongpeng asked back: "You have been friends with me for a long time, do you not know where I am from?"

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, just because Chen Hongpeng's official language was so good that he didn't have a local accent at all, but he couldn't remember it for a while.It was Shen Yu who first remembered his hometown when the list was released that day: "Are you from Shanzhou?"

Chen Hongpeng nodded, with a look of emotion on his face. "My family is just south of Nanliang. Almost all the male members of the family have been sent to the border, and there are countless casualties. Our son Lang has been practicing martial arts since he was a child."

Guo Yi couldn't help but groaned, "That's why you volunteered to show off to the Xianbei people!"

"Exactly."

Everyone showed a look of admiration at the same time.One is that he admired him for being born in a border military family but devoted himself to learning, and the other is because he did not forget his original aspirations, and he still dared to stand up for the competition after being admitted to Jinshi, and he gave a sigh of relief for Daqi.

Of course, because of his performance that day, Qingliujian also complained quite a bit, saying that he was too eager to show off, that it was unseemly to wear a Confucian shirt, and he said anything, including many of them in the same year.But these people who have good friends with Guo Yi scoff at such pedantic prejudices.

For Chen Hongpeng who made great contributions at the banquet, Wu Junyi was not in a hurry to reward him.He has an idea brewing.

On the sixth day of September, the second election of the Ministry of Officials ended.Wu Junyi decreed to call ten new scholars into the palace to study with him, the top three and Guo Yi who had just been married were among them.

In the past, when the first emperors were still participating in the sutra banquet, they also had the custom of calling talented scholars into the palace to give lectures.Everyone didn't think anything about it, but the ministers who had high hopes for Emperor Xuan of the Ming Dynasty worried that he was obsessed with calligraphy and painting like his father, and did not care about political affairs, especially because the place where he studied was the Wuying Hall of the former imperial academy.

However, when these worried Xinke Jinshi entered the Hall of Martial Arts, what they saw were not poems, books, or paintings, but piles of memorials and a smiling Wu Junyi.

There are five chairs on each side of the Wuying Hall, separated by a small table in the middle, on which there are steaming tea and various snacks.

"I pay homage to Your Majesty, long live Your Majesty." Those who had doubts still lined up and bowed down in the order of Jinshi.Wu Junyi seemed to be in a good mood, waved his hands away, and told them all to sit down.

"Your Majesty, it's not reading—" Yang Feng's eyes widened, and he shut up halfway through the question.

"That's right, it's reading." Wu Junyi said, "I read history books at night, and I have a lot of emotions—you are all well-learned people, so I don't need me to read to you word by word with a book. Don't be nervous, just relax , drink tea, I just want to share with you my thoughts after reading."

For most people, their chances to face the emperor are limited. Except for the palace examination, when they are not so close to the emperor, it is difficult to even speak a word, let alone eat in front of the emperor.But Shen Yu took a closer look, there were several pieces of Longjing crisps.He was already thinking about whether he could ask for a grace to take the snack home later.

Wu Junyi suddenly stopped smiling, with a particularly serious expression. "The danger of Daqi now lies in money. The national treasury is empty, which is the top priority. What do you think can be done?"

Okay, this is not reading, but spot checks.

They also passed the test with written policy questions, and even if they were about to answer immediately, they could quickly piece together a set of words. Yang Feng replied: "The national treasury is empty. .Now that His Majesty bows to the utmost frugality and shows the wind to the four directions, he will soon be able to change the customs and push it to the four directions."

His set of words is based on the memorials that Emperor Xuan of the Ming Dynasty used to persuade Emperor Jianning when he was the prince.

Unexpectedly, Wu Junyi shook his head, not even recognizing what he wrote that day. "Throttling down is not the answer after all, we still need to think of some ways to increase revenue." He paused again, "I don't want to listen to these stereotypes, so say what you think in your heart."

This can be difficult.Jinshi like them have just entered the imperial court not long ago, they are used to talking less and watching more, and they are cautious in their words and deeds. For a while, no one wants to be the first one.

Shen Yu's words were astonishing: "I think that the two borders are peaceful and can be traded."

Not to mention earth-shattering, this remark is obviously very bold on this occasion.Guo Yi cast a worried look at Shen Yu.Wu Junyi raised his eyebrows. Some of the others frowned in thought, while some shook their heads slightly to express their disapproval.

No matter what other people's reactions are, Shen Yu is still calm and calm. Under Wu Junyi's deep gaze, he continued slowly: "I lived in Jinan County when I was young. The land was fertile back then. Gradually fall into disrepair."

"Jinan's military disaster cannot be solved overnight." Chen Hongpeng also understood what he meant, "But there is still an alliance with Xianbei, so it is better to take the opportunity to trade with each other. It can not only make the people recuperate, but also send resources to the grassland in exchange for good horses. The reason why they plundered the Central Plains was not just for the food and cloth, if there were other ways to get them, they could also avoid temporary disasters."

After listening to Chen Hongpeng's explanation, more people's eyes lit up.

But Yang Feng was much more cautious than the two of them: "But many things need to be strictly controlled, such as iron and salt."

Both iron and salt are war resources, so it is natural to control the output.Wu Junyi nodded again and again, while Li Qi was already recording quickly.

"Your Majesty, is this father-in-law literate?" Guo Yi was a little surprised.

Li Qi smiled and said: "The slave used to serve His Majesty to study, and His Majesty once gave some pointers, so he can read and write a few words. Lord Guo laughed at him."

The environment that had just warmed up fell silent for a moment.From the previous dynasties, all the servants serving in the palace were illiterate. On the one hand, it was because these people who entered the palace were of humble origins and it was difficult to read and write. On the other hand, it was also to prevent eunuchs from interfering in politics.

But Emperor Jianning liked poetry, calligraphy and painting, and the eunuchs in the palace often rushed to learn to read first in order to be arty.It's just that they didn't expect that His Majesty had already begun to deliberately teach the public around him to read.

"Li Qi, read the notebook handed over by the Ministry of Rites." Wu Junyi said.

Li Qi cleverly dug out the memorial and read it, it was about rewarding Xianbei, it turned out that officials from Honglu Temple and the Ministry of Rites were also discussing the mutual market, which coincided with Shen Yu's idea.Wu Junyi then asked everyone for their opinions.

These people also stayed in the Imperial Academy, the Ministry of Officials, and the Ministry of Rites for some time, and they each raised a few points.Although some of them are not mature enough, everyone brainstormed and revised them separately, and finally they came together to form a series of feasible government orders.

Because they are all in the same year, no one is afraid of anyone, and there is no pressure to refute disputes.Even Shen Yu, the No. [-] scholar, is a gentle and restrained young man who never overwhelms others with his ranking.When everyone was arguing occasionally and forgot the existence of the emperor, Shen Yu calmed down the anger with a soft word.

Tired of fighting, it's time to drink some tea and eat some snacks.

Wu Junyi felt a little relieved - he seemed to realize that the future prime minister, minister and other important ministers of Daqi had already sat together.

After this time, Wu Junyi recruited them into the Hall of Martial Arts from time to time, talked about government affairs, asked their opinions, and declared to the outside world that they were all studying.Wu Junyi was very measured. When selecting candidates, he tried his best to choose those who had no family background or were the sons of pure ministers. It was not the most important memorial for these Jinshi to look at.

Even so, it caused controversy among the courtiers—mainly because Li Qi and other young eunuchs went in and out with memorials all day long, and I heard that they could read and write. The emperor favored the eunuchs and alienated the ministers. good!

When Wu Junyi saw this impeachment memorial, he rolled his eyes and asked in a pulled voice: "Li Qi, do you think I love you?"

People kneel in the palace, and pots come from the sky.

Li Qi knelt down with a thud, and said in his mouth: "I dare not!" But he thought in his heart, maybe it was because these adults had never seen what His Majesty treated Shen Zhuangyuan.