After greeting Chun'er's uncle, I gave him a betrothal gift, and my marriage with Chun'er was decided.

It was getting darker and Chun'er could not be seen in the boudoir, so she had to take people back home unhappily.

After getting married, Chen Ao's heart was also closed. The Imperial College was not in a hurry to go, but instead did some articles at home to learn something better. On the other hand, the King of Jin came to invite him several times, and they were asked to participate in Cuju Club training. Chen Ao refused. In fact, his training method was very simple. With Teacher Wu, he urged them to step up their physical exercise. When the tactics were pointed out during the competition, it would be okay.

After a few days, I saw February, the cold gradually dispelled a little, and the weather gradually warmed up. News came from the palace that Chen Ao entered the palace on duty, and the attendant scholars were originally working with the emperor to do some calligraphy and painting. This was Chen Ao's duty. When the emperor became interested, he would summon him.

This was the emperor's order, and he refused. He put on a breeze suit, winged hat, tied a silverfish bag, and immediately asked the groom to take him to the palace. As a result, he found out that the official was in Wansui Mountain, so he had to go around the moat and enter the palace to Dongwumen. The Dongwumen is the closest to Wansui Mountain. After the palace gate, the towering peaks are undulating and magnificent.

Bianjing City is located in an open land, with no famous mountains and rivers, and even earthen mounds are rare to see. This Wansui Mountain was an artificial mountain built by Zhao Ji's sudden idea and recruited civilians. Chen Ao had long heard of Wansui Mountain, but he didn't expect that this artificial mountain was so majestic that the emperor would really enjoy it.

After entering Dongwu Gate, I passed through several archways along the way, turned over a long corridor, passed through Yue Cave, and reached the foot of the mountain. I followed the stone steps at the foot of the mountain. There were eunuchs stations along the way. Chen Ao admired the beautiful scenery of the man-made mountain, and the strange strange stones and woods along the way. He felt a little surprised. It turned out that the flower stone sect was mainly supplied for use here.

When we arrived at the mountainside, there was a loft and a pavilion. It was still early and the fog had not yet dissipated. The mist enveloped the attic, as if it was in a fairyland. Yang Jian saw him from afar and greeted him with a smile: "Master Chen, come quickly, the official family is waiting for you."

Chen Ao went over to politely, but he didn't know what to call him good at for a while. He called him father-in-law? He couldn't say it, but he called him father-in-law, which seemed a bit rude.

While wandering, Yang Jian seemed to see his thoughts and said loudly: "I still call you Mr. Chen, just call me Eunuch Yang."

Chen Ao quickly called out: "Eunuch Yang."

Yang Jian led Chen Ao into the attic and went up to the second floor. The windowsill of the attic faced the foot of the mountain. From here, the scene at the foot of the mountain was spectacular, and the scenery was magnificent in the mist.

Zhao Ji was picking up his pen to paint. When he heard the movement behind him, he didn't look back and said, "Chen Ao, come and see how my paintings are?"

Chen Ao walked over and this was a landscape picture, depicting the smoke and mist among the mountains, and the mountains were filled with strange rockery stones. When you look at it, you will know that the scenery in the painting is Wansui Mountain.

Chen Ao smiled with a pursed lips. Zhao Ji's flower and bird paintings were enough to enter the top three in the world, but landscape paintings were much worse, especially the layout, which lacked a sense of sparseness and density. In fact, this was related to the environment in which Zhao Ji grew up. After all, there were no famous mountains in Bianjing. He spent his whole life in Bianjing. He had never seen any famous mountains and rivers. If he was not in the scene, how could he feel the strange scenery of thousands of miles and mountains?

Chen Ao coughed and said, "Does Brother Wang want to listen to the truth or the lies?"

Zhao Ji raised his chin and smiled: "I have to listen to the truth."

Chen Ao shook his head and said, "No, the official brushes are too delicate, and the style of the brush is in conflict with the painting scene. Instead of drawing the magnificence of the landscape, it seems a little petty."

Zhao Ji was not angry either. He laughed, put down his pen and said with a hint of regret: "Hey, I thought that with Wansui Mountain, this landscape work should have progress, but who knew it would be the same."

Chen Ao had an idea and said, "Your Majesty, Wansui Mountain is a rockery after all, and it looks like there are countless strange stones and strange woods stacked, but it is still a thousand miles away from the real Mingchuan!"

"Oh?" Zhao Ji couldn't help laughing and said, "This is the first time I have heard of these words that my Wansui Mountain has collected rare treasures from all over the world. Why is it not as good as the famous Sichuan Mountain?"

Chen Ao said: "What does Your Majesty think are the best scenery in this world?"

Zhao Ji stroked his beard and stumbled, but he couldn't answer for a while.

Chen Ao said: "The real beauty exists in nature. It was carefully carved by heaven over thousands of years. As for Wansui Mountain, although it has collected countless treasures, in Shen Ao's view, it is more like a woman with delicate and artificial rouge foundation. Although she has made all kinds of charm, she is still inferior in the end."

Zhao Ji pondered, thinking that Chen Ao's words made sense, and he couldn't help but feel annoyed. He asked someone to transport flower stones from various states to Bianjing, but it turned out that they were still not as good as those natural scenery. As he thought about it, he nodded and said, "Chen Ao said it well."

Zhao Ji went to clean his hands and sat down to talk to Chen Ao. Chen Ao knew the disadvantages of the flower and stone gang, and knew that he could not convince Zhao Ji for a while, so he simply talked about the scenery of famous rivers and mountains in various places. He had seen many famous mountains in his previous life, and tried his best to describe them, and he was eloquent.

Zhao Ji heard it very seriously and couldn't help but sigh: "If I have the chance, I would like to see such a beautiful scenery."

Chen Ao thought and couldn't help but say: "Your Majesty occasionally goes out to relax and it's good to travel around the world."

Zhao Ji shook his head and smiled bitterly: "The cost of traveling for a tour is too much. I am afraid that this transfer will disturb the people."

Chen Ao couldn't help but curse and disturb the people. Your flower stone gang is the real disturbance of the people. A stone was not worth a lot of money. When transported from Lingnan and other places, the expenses along the road would be thousands of coins, and the roads and rivers would be occupied. The food and drinks of the granaries were astonishing as they could. The strange stones in the Long Live Mountains were more than tens of millions. This expense alone would be enough to empty your treasury; you would be embarrassed to say the word disturbance of the people.

Instead of going to work on Huashigang, it is better to take the time to walk around, and the money may be less.

Chen Ao smiled slightly and stopped talking. Some words are not mature now, and rushing to achieve success will only backfire. Chen Ao is still very proficient in this kind of mental mastery.

Not long after, an eunuch came in and said, "Your Majesty, the memorial from the Ministry of Rites is here."

Zhao Ji frowned and said in annoyance: "Come on."

The eunuch handed over the memorial to Yang Jian, and Yang Jian handed over the memorial to Zhao Ji. Zhao Ji opened the memorial and looked at it, his face became even more dim and unclear. After reading the memorial, he couldn't help but say, "The Khitans are taking the opportunity to play, hum..."

Although he snorted coldly, he didn't continue talking.

Seeing that his face was not good, Chen Ao saw that he was just a bachelor's degree in the Academy of Calligraphy and Painting, and the country's government could not be concerned about it, so he stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I'm going to say goodbye."

Zhao Ji waved his hand and said, "You don't have to leave, just sit here." He seemed to think about it and handed the memorial to Chen Ao and said, "Come and take a look."

Chen Ao was a little excited for a moment. Logically, this is court affairs and politics. Zhao Ji showed him this important memorial, which was a trust in him. On the other hand, I am afraid that Zhao Ji also wanted to hear his opinions.

It turned out that the envoy of the Liao Kingdom had arrived in Bianjing four days ago and was discussing the annual monies with the Ministry of Rites. This annual monies was the product of the war between the Song and Liao Dynasty. In the early days, the Liao Kingdom repeatedly invaded the Central Plains. Emperor Zhenzong of Song took Kou Zhun as prime minister and tried his best to resist and won the battle of defense. Seeing that the Song Dynasty was difficult for a while, the Liao Kingdom simply chose to negotiate peace. The last time the peace talks out was this annual monies. At that time, it was stipulated that the Song Dynasty would give 200,000 pieces of silk and 100,000 silver to the Liao Kingdom every year in exchange for peace between the two countries.

Two hundred thousand silk and one hundred thousand silver were not much for the Song Dynasty at that time, and it was affordable every year. However, as soon as this precedent was opened, the Liao Kingdom had already spoken out loud, causing trouble every year, and demanding an increase in annual monies. Now, the annual monies have reached 800,000 silk and 600,000 silver. It would have been fine if this was still a peaceful and prosperous era, but now the imperial court has been encircled and suppressed Fang La in the past few years, and Zhao Ji was extremely extravagant, the national treasury was already very nervous; it was already quite difficult to take out this annual monies.

However, this time, the envoy of the Liao Kingdom had an accident last night. The envoy took his slaves to the Bian River flower boat and got on the boat. He happened to have a conflict with the Shanggao Marquis. The Shanggao Marquis was also a prominent figure in the city of Bianjing. He could not bear it. He beat people in anger. The envoy of the Liao Kingdom returned to the Wanguo Pavilion in a hurry and suffered some minor injuries. In addition, a slave who came with him was also beaten to death.

Such a thing happened. Early this morning, the envoy immediately went to the Ministry of Rites and asked the Song Dynasty to hand over the murderer who was beaten by the murderer, Shang Gaohou, to request an additional 800,000 silver silver coins to stop.

The family of Shanggao Hou is quite old, and his mother is the three daughters of Emperor Shenzong. With such a prominent identity, how can you hand over it? What's more, the envoy took this opportunity to ask for additional annual monies, and added 800,000 silver in vain, equivalent to 800,000 jin of money. Such a huge number is also unacceptable.

"Is this envoy inlaid with diamonds, and it will cost 800,000 yuan to be beaten?" Chen Ao secretly complained in his heart and continued to read the annotations of the Ministry of Rites. Generally, the memorials are divided into two parts, one part explaining the whole story, and the next part is the opinions of the ministry. In this way, the emperor can make a better decision after reading the opinions.

The Ministry of Rites means that it can be discussed with the envoys of the Liao Kingdom. The so-called slow-moving plan is to try to lower his requirements, such as not handing over the supreme Marquis, and then lowering the 800,000 silver to 300,000. Chen Ao put down the memorial and finally understood why Zhao Ji was embarrassed. When encountering such a stubborn thing, the emperor was too frustrated.

He looked up at Zhao Ji, and saw that he was angry and worried, and was embarrassed with a stern face, as if he was hesitating.

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Chapter completed!