Volume 2: Residence in the Capital Chapter 91: Taizu inscribed a plaque and hid the secret scroll?
Zhang Shou had never even thought of listening to the emperor tell the story of Emperor Taizu in his own mouth.
Now he vaguely understood that what Zhu Ying often mentioned about Emperor Taizu might have been learned from her father, Duke Zhao Zhu Jing, or maybe from her mother-in-law, but there was another possible way of learning, that is, from the emperor himself!
Because while the emperor was walking , he kept saying "Emperor Taizu". It seemed that this emperor was not visiting the Imperial College for the first time. Whenever he came to a building, he would not pay much attention to the school officials or servants who were not polite, but would point and tell a story about Emperor Taizu.
"Emperor Taizu often said that kneeling is a great etiquette. A man's knees are made of gold, so how can he kowtow for no reason? In the Song Dynasty, not all people had to kneel when attending court. Since our dynasty has driven out the northern barbarians, we should restore the ancient etiquette and not let people kneel easily. So when he first ascended the throne, he only performed the kneeling ceremony during the three major court sessions each year, and kept the rest simple."
It was the first time that Zhang Shou heard these stories, so he enjoyed them very much. However, the others had no idea how many times they had listened to the stories of Emperor Taizu told by their masters, and they did not dare to show any signs of fatigue. It was really torture.
However, those who suffered more than them were undoubtedly Zhou Xun and other officials of the Imperial College who did not expect Chu Kuan to lie with his eyes open.
No one expected that the emperor would come so quickly!
When the emperor stood in front of each lecture hall and listened, not only were the doctors and teaching assistants so nervous that they began to stutter. The students who came in the morning panting, and the students gathered in the hall didn't even dare to breathe. They were almost suffocating!
If the emperor had not interrupted to ask questions, Luo Siye felt that his heart in his throat was about to jump out!
But even so, seeing Zhang Shou and that group of playboys following the emperor like guards, and Zhu Ying dragging Zhu Er to chatter beside them, he couldn't help but feel jealous, and wished that he was the one accompanying the emperor at this moment.
If one were to leap one step higher from the fourth rank, he would be a minister in one of the six ministries, and if he were to be in the cabinet, that would not be impossible... As long as Jian was in the emperor's favor, some people would be promoted in one step! Of course, it was true that if one entered the cabinet without being recommended by the court, he would be laughed at...
Therefore, Luo Siye could only follow the emperor from a distance with several minor officials from the Bookkeeping Office. He was very curious about why Zhou Xun, the chief academician of the Imperial College, was so patient and really handed everything over to Zhang Shou, and just stood by and watched, not even showing his face in front of the emperor. When he followed around and finally saw a building in the distance, he finally found Zhou Xun.
At the same time, he suddenly realized why the Lord Jijiu did not come out... Because he was accompanied by several servants carrying buckets and rags, and there was a long rectangular object wrapped in red cloth on the ground beside him. He was confronting a young boy of about sixteen or seventeen years old in front of Jiuzhang Hall!
Zhou Xun wanted to take people to quickly clean up Jiuzhang Hall and then hang up a plaque inscribed by Emperor Taizu himself, but he was stopped!
Although Zhou Xun's side had more than a dozen people, they were easily stopped when they rushed forward several times. A servant who rushed forward with a carrying pole had his "weapon" snatched away and was beaten so hard that he fled back in fear.
Faced with this scene of the majority bullying the minority but being bullied by the minority, Luo Siye somehow felt like laughing. However, when he saw the emperor coming forward with Zhang Shou and his party with great interest, he felt uneasy.
"Well done, Ah Liu!"
Zhu Ying's sudden shouting successfully awakened Zhou Xun, who was gritting his teeth but unable to break through the young man's five fingers. He slowly turned around, and when he found that the emperor had arrived, his face turned pale. He had planned it well before, and while Zhang Shou and others went to welcome the emperor, he solved the problem of Jiuzhang Hall in a lightning speed.
Even though there is nothing that can be done about the rotten floor, there is still time to replace other things!
But when he arranged for the doctoral teaching assistants who were to give lectures and the students who were to attend the lectures, and hurried over, he found that the servants who had been sent long ago were blocked by a young man. He went up to reprimand them but to no avail. Not only could the cleaning work not be carried out, the plaque he had specially brought out could not be hung either. But the emperor came as fast as lightning!
Therefore, Zhou Xun could only watch the emperor approaching closer and closer, and finally came straight to Ah Liu. Seeing the young man who had just stopped him silently took a step aside and then bowed deeply, he could not help but feel even more angry.
This ignorant mute actually recognized the emperor!
However, to the surprise of Zhou Xun and Zhang Shou, the emperor actually stopped and asked, "Are you Ah Liu?"
"Yes." Even in front of the emperor, A Shou was still very frugal with his words.
But Zhou Xun was furious. If you are not mute, why didn’t you say a word no matter what I said just now!
"Hua Qi said that on the night of August 14th, you fought bravely against the chaotic army and even deflected an arrow from the assassin. It's true that a good teacher produces good students."
Seeing that Ah Liu lowered his head and did not seem to react to such praise, the emperor did not take it as an offense. He turned his head to look at Zhou Xun and the servants, and asked calmly: "I want to know, what is going on?"
Zhang Shou stopped Lu Sanlang who was eager to try, and at the same time stopped Zhu Ying with a look. Since his goal seemed to have been achieved, there was no need to rush out to add insult to injury. If the Imperial College's chief priest lied, it would not be too late for him to step in.
"Your Majesty, this Jiuzhang Hall is where Emperor Taizu established the Department of Mathematics. However, because no students were willing to learn mathematics for many years, and no doctoral assistants were proficient in mathematics, it has been vacant for many years."
Zhou Xun made up his mind and told the truth: "The plaque written by Emperor Taizu himself is a precious item, so I ordered people to take it down and store it in the storehouse of the Imperial College to prevent it from being damaged by wind, sun and rain. As for the poor maintenance of the Jiuzhang Hall, which has caused spider webs, rotten floors and dusty furniture, I did fail to notice it. If Dr. Zhang hadn't brought Lu Zhu to clean it last night, I would not have noticed it."
After saying this, he knelt on the ground, looking as if he was sincerely asking for forgiveness.
Faced with this scene, Zhang Shou couldn't help but secretly sneer, thinking that if he couldn't get away with it, he would just confess the crime immediately. This was really decisive.
Who would have thought that at this moment, a clerk who had been bowing his head and hands beside the red cloth-wrapped plaque suddenly raised his head and shouted, "Your Majesty, the Grand Secretary is trying to avoid the important issue. He knows that the Taizu plaque is hollow and contains a hundred Taizu secret scrolls, so he took it down and hid it in the storehouse, racking his brains to get the secret scrolls out!"
After these words came out, not only Luo Siye who followed secretly behind was dumbfounded, but also a large group of young men were equally dumbfounded. However, the most surprised person was none other than Zhu Ying. She subconsciously pinched the second brother beside her, and only when she heard a scream did she glare at him fiercely. Zhu Er was like a chicken with its throat pinched, and hurriedly shut up.
After glaring at her brother, Zhu Ying couldn't help but mutter in a low voice: "I'm not dreaming... But how could there be a secret scroll of Taizu in this plaque? It's just like those legendary books in the bookstore!"
Zhou Xun, on the other hand, had cold sweat on his forehead. He opened his mouth but found that no sound came out. He panicked and subconsciously slammed his head heavily on the ground, and then he finally cried out in pain.
" Your Majesty , this is absolutely not the case!"
The emperor ignored Zhou Xun's defense. He stared at the plaque, suddenly strode forward, and pulled away the red cloth covering it. He saw the three words "Jiuzhangtang" written in a flamboyant style. He suddenly knocked on the center and edge of the plaque with his hands, listened carefully to the sound, and then he laughed.
"What do you think? Should I chop up this plaque and find the secret scroll of Taizu?"
