Chang'an is good

"Your Majesty just woke up, beware of the cold spring..." The young man spoke softly and respectfully.

The Holy Book Emperor nodded slightly.

This person was presented by a vassal king of a different surname with a strong style. He was born in a declining noble family and had served her by her side for several years.

She is not a person who lingers on male sex, but just like the emperors have set up Sangongs and Six Courts throughout the ages, in addition to extending their descendants, they also have their own meanings and uses of existence.

The emperor has no real private affairs. The so-called imperial court refers to the former court and the later court, and the two have always been closely linked.

As a woman with a foreign surname, it is more difficult for her to hold the imperial power than any other emperor. Therefore, she will do everything that is helpful for her to take power.

As long as it is available, she will use it, no matter what means, no matter what outsiders say.

Along the way, if she cared about those unsightly and ulterior words, she would not have the opportunity to sit here, at least, no one would dare to let her hear those disrespectful words on the surface.

No matter what those people think of her, they still have to show respect and be used by her, that's enough.

Emperor Shengji sat up straight, took the teacup from Gong'e, looked towards the direction of the outer hall, and asked, "But is there someone waiting outside the hall?"

The young man replied: "Yes, Ma Xiang, Wei Shilang and other lords are waiting outside the hall... I saw that His Majesty was sleeping soundly, so I did not disturb His Majesty."

They also have official positions, most of them serve as internal officials.

Emperor Shengji couldn't see any joy or anger, and only said in a low voice: "If there are ministers who want to see you again, no matter when, you must report to me in time."

The young man knelt down with some fear, leaned over and said, "Yes, I have recorded it."

With the help of Gong'e, Emperor Shengchi got up, adjusted his appearance, and walked to the outer hall.

Ma Xingzhou, Wei Shuyi, and several officials from Shangshu Province were soon announced into the palace.

Xu Zhengye is dead, but the country has not settled overnight because of this, and there are still countless complicated affairs that need to be taken care of.

A few days ago, there was an urgent report to the capital that the people in Daozhou had revolted, and those rebellious troops had captured Hengzhou.

This uprising started from the severe drought in Daozhou last year. At that time, the imperial court did not do enough to relieve the disaster. There were even refugees who flooded into the capital. They come from Daozhou.

Now, those rebels who revolted in Daozhou, starting from more than a thousand people at the beginning, have been responding successively from all over the place, and the fire has been kept alive for a long time in nearby counties and counties. At present, more than seventy to eighty thousand people have even been gathered. .

At this point, it is imminent to send troops to encircle and suppress.

After discussing all matters, Emperor Shengji left Zhongshu alone to order Ma Xingzhou.

"Ma Xiang, sit down and talk with me." The emperor asked to give a seat.

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

After the two monarchs and ministers talked about the previous affairs, Emperor Shengji mentioned the assassination of Cui Jing: "If Cui Qing's assassination is true, it can be seen that the hidden thorns hidden in my side have not been completely removed."

She has thoroughly investigated and cleaned it over and over again, but it seems that she still can't get rid of it.

She is very clear that if she wants to employ someone, it is impossible to really avoid being prying, but what she cares most about now is: "According to the horse, who is it that is trying so hard to put Cui Jing to death again and again? Cui's enemy, or mine?"

"Or... for the military power in the hands of Governor Cui." Ma Xingzhou considered.

Emperor Shengji was noncommittal, and only said: "Xuance Army's sharp sword, there are not a few people who covet it."

Ma Xingzhou tried to ask: "Does the sage have any doubts?"

"Nowadays, people from all walks of life and those vassal kings are all ready to move. There are too many people worthy of my suspicion."

After saying this for a while, Emperor Shengji asked about the news of King Rong's Mansion in Yizhou.

Ma Xingzhou: "The recent family letter sent back by my granddaughter contains hints that she has not noticed any changes in the Rong Palace..."

Mentioning this, Ma Xingzhou couldn't help saying: "Speaking of which, King Rong has been stationed in Yizhou for these years, and guarding the western border with Jiannan Jiedushi. ..."

"That's why." Emperor Shengji said: "Because he is different from those vassal kings who show their ambitions, and he never makes a mistake in his words or deeds, so I have to be extra vigilant against him."

"Ma Xiang should also know that over the years, he has been known as benevolent and virtuous in Jiannan. , who knows?"

While Ma Xingzhou was thinking about it, he heard that the emperor of the holy book seemed to be talking about family affairs, and talked about King Rong's youth.

At that time, King Rong was among the princes headed by the former emperor, because his biological mother was just a maidservant in the palace and had no support from his mother's family. When the princes were fighting, he never formed a party, and he did not interfere with the government. As for the matter, he is said to be a prince, but he is more like an unrestrained and unrestrained child of an ordinary clan.

Later, the first emperor died, and the prince Li Xiao also passed away. The seventh son of the emperor, Li Bing, succeeded to the throne and was deposed after three years in office. Then she became emperor and adopted the prince.

In this important event, there are countless people stepping forward, opposing, fighting, and fighting for power... But among these voices, there has never been a King Rong.

He always stands on the outside, uncontaminated.

If he was asked to guard the western border, he would go, and if he was asked to keep his only son Li Lu in the capital as a hostage, he would also stay for many years.It was not until this time that Li Lu was recalled because Princess Rong was seriously ill.

"Even though he had the same intentions in the past, but the current situation has changed, and his reputation has been established now, how can he know that there will be no such thing at this time or in the future..." Emperor Shengji said: "He does everything smoothly, but if he has a different intention, it is impossible. There's really no trace."

Ma Xingzhou understood, and after a moment, he lowered his head and said: "I understand, I will write to you, so Wan'er should pay more attention."

If it is said that it was only seen passively in the past, in the future... it is necessary to actively explore deeper.

This move also means that Ma Wan will be in greater danger, and the consequences of a little carelessness will be disastrous.

"I am ashamed of the horse." Emperor Shengji said with shame: "However, there are internal and external troubles, and I dare not treat them carelessly."

"Your Majesty understands." Ma Xingzhou said: "The current situation is such that as a subject, I should share the worries for Your Majesty."

The emperor of the holy book sighed: "I can fully believe in it now, and the only one is Maxiang."

"The reform of the imperial examination system has just been completed. From now on, Your Majesty will definitely have no shortage of available people." Ma Xingzhou thought of those Jinshi from humble backgrounds who were about to accept the imperial examination. Seven out of ten of the new Jinshi this year came from poor families. This is his greatest comfort since he became an official.

The Emperor Shengji looked at the poor family prime minister whom she single-handedly picked up, and talked about where he planned to use these poor family scholars after the palace examination.

Ma Xingzhou was surprised when he heard the words: "...the sage doesn't intend to enroll them in the Hanlin Academy first?"

Instead, it is directly distributed to various ministries and provinces?
Emperor Shengji shook his head: "The current situation is special, I can't wait now."

Ma Xingzhou hesitated to speak.

But in this way, when these new Jinshi first entered the officialdom, they had to face the battle with the nobles... This battle was too urgent, and it was almost cruel to these poor Jinshi who had no support.

People will grow quickly in cruelty, but they will also be crushed and dissipated quickly.

Leaving aside the ability to fight for power, in all fairness, it has only been a matter of a hundred years since the poor family really had books to read, but those important books and rare books for real governance are still monopolized by the major gentry clans, and they monopolize everything from the root.

What's more, the children of the gentry and official families, what they have heard and seen since childhood also determines that their vision and knowledge are much higher than that of ordinary children from poor families.

Therefore, when it comes to the way of being an official, these humble children who started too low still need to learn too much, and now they are suddenly placed in an important position...

No matter from which point of view, this move is risky and radical.

But at the same time, Ma Xingzhou is also very clear that in the history of real power struggles and changes, it has never been possible to take it easy. This storm that has been brewing for too long will always experience a period of violent and chaotic turmoil.

In this upheaval, blood is bound to be shed.

But if they can win, from now on...the door of justice will be opened for the children of poor families in the world, and this door will never be closed easily again!
Isn't this his original intention when he entered the court as an official?

Ma Xingzhou knew that he could not persuade the emperor, and he had no position to persuade the emperor to postpone the move. He could only stand up and solemnly bow down for those poor families whose future was unknown.

……

On the morning of the next day, Xu Zhengye's head was finally presented to the imperial court.

The Emperor Shengji signaled to his servants, holding the head in the box, walked past all the officials, and let all the officials "look at it" together.

The head exuded a rotten smell, and the skin and eyeballs on it had begun to fester. It was extremely terrifying. Most of the officials were pale, and some civil servants of the gentry could not help but retch.

"The Xu family originally came from an aristocratic family, Xu Zhengye has always been able to lead the army, and has a high prestige among the family..." The voice of the empress spread in the silent hall: "However, it still ended up like this."

"It can be seen from this that the world will punish those who disturb my heart, and God will also punish them!"

All the officials had different expressions when they heard the words. Ma Xingzhou and others came out first, and they all bowed down the mountain and shouted "Long live the great prosperity and Yongchang".

After deterrence, it is natural to reward meritorious service.

"When the battle of Jiangdu is over, I must reward General Xiao, General Chang and the meritorious soldiers."

"As for General Ning Yuan, who deserves the most credit—" the empress said with a smile, "I will personally ask her what kind of reward she wants."

What she wanted to ask was General Ning Yuan, but it was also Ah Shang.

She wanted to hear what her Ah Shang really wanted.

……

After the morning court was over, Wei Shuyi was summoned to discuss matters in front of the imperial court, and the discussion was the follow-up of Xu Zhengye's rebellion.

Jiangdu and all the cities occupied by the remnants of Xu Jun or Xu Jun's party must be recovered one by one. This is one of them.

The second is the gentry in Luoyang who colluded with Xu Zhengye...

The empress ordered Li Xian to thoroughly investigate and deal with the matter, and mentioned that Cui Jing would temporarily stay in Luoyang and lead the Xuan Ce army to suppress the possible counterattack in the future.

If it was really just the Luoyang gentry who were involved, then the saint's order was understandable, but as far as he knew... what the sage really wanted to get rid of this time was not just the Luoyang gentry.

Or Cui Ling'an's maternal ancestral home, the Zheng family in Xingyang...

Is this an act of asking Cui Ling'an to make a knife and kill Zheng's family?

Is this a test, or is it going to force Cui Ling'an to become a "lonely man" who is truly betrayed and cast aside by the nobles all over the world?
Wei Shuyi sighed in his heart.

At the beginning, it seemed that he shouldn't have suggested that Cui Ling'an should go to Luoyang, which put Cui Ling'an into such a situation.

But since the sage became suspicious, there would be other "tests" without this incident.

Facing the righteousness of the monarch and his ministers, and the relationship between the gentry...how will Cui Ling'an choose?
Wei Shuyi had mixed thoughts all the way, he wanted to help Cui Jing out of trouble, but in this, how can there be two ways?

After returning to Zheng Guogong's mansion, Wei Shuyi changed his clothes, followed the recent habit, went to the Buddhist hall, burned incense and worshiped.

When he was about to leave the Buddhist hall, Mrs. Duan hurried to find him and pushed her son back into the Buddhist hall.

In front of the Bodhisattva, Duan clutched her son's arm tightly, said with trembling eyes: "...Zi Gu, I have been [-]% sure that Suining's current body is probably His Highness's. Core!"

She tossed and turned and thought about this every day, and the Bian Shui victory was poured into her mind like a strong medicine.

"..." Wei Shuyi turned his head a little stiffly, looking at the three sticks of green incense that hadn't been burned yet.

It seems that he needs to burn incense once a day instead of twice.

……

Qiao Yumian was also burning incense.

Qiao Yumian, who was deeply influenced by her mother's habit of "worshiping when there is nothing to do", came to Xingningfang Changfu today to have Dr. Sun's eyes checked again, so she stopped by to pay respects in the Buddhist hall of Changfu.

After leaving the Buddhist hall, Qiao Yumian went to look for Dr. Sun.

It was raining lightly at the moment, Xiaoqiu supported Qiao Yumian with an umbrella, and walked slowly all the way.

Arriving at Dr. Sun's residence, he went up the stone steps to the porch. Qiao Yumian sniffed lightly, and asked with a smile when Dr. Sun came out, "Does Dr. Sun dry Atractylodes and Cangzhu?"

Dr. Sun was stunned for a moment, then nodded: "Exactly."

He dried more than these two kinds of medicinal herbs, because there were more than one, the smells were mixed together, but she was able to distinguish these two kinds of smells, which was even more surprising.Besides, it was raining at the moment, and the rain would also disturb the medicinal energy.

Dr. Sun suddenly remembered what she had heard this little lady say jokingly - a long illness makes a good doctor.

Walking into the hall together with Qiao Yumian, Dr. Sun was thoughtful for a moment.

At this moment, Bianzhou, which is nearly a thousand miles away, is also drizzling.

When Chang Suining brought A Dian shepherd's purse, He Wuhu and others back to Bianzhou Governor's Mansion from the military camp outside the city, he happened to meet Cui Jing who took the initiative to bring craftsmen to supervise the warship yesterday.

Cui Jing took Yuan Xiang and dismounted outside the Governor's Mansion.

He Wuhu and others hurriedly saluted Cui Jing: "Governor Cui!"

They all went to the mansion together.

"Thank you for your hard work." Chang Suining walked with his hands behind his back, thanking Cui Jing who was walking beside her.

Supervising warships was originally her job, and had nothing to do with Xuan Ce's mansion, but Cui Jing saw too much work, and did a lot of things for her back and forth, so that she had enough spare energy to deal with the affairs of the barracks.

"It's not hard."

Not hard.

In the drizzle, Chang Suining lightly tapped twice with his fingers behind his back, turned to look at him, and asked in a reminding tone: "Is it three days?"

"Well, it's here." Cui Jing looked ahead without squinting, and said, "After the evening celebration banquet is over."

"..." Chang Suining paused, and clenched his hands behind his back into fists.

What the hell is this guy selling?
She couldn't help holding her breath, and looked at Cui Jing.

Cui Jing also turned to look at her and asked, "Have you ever seen a puffer fish?"

"Of course." Chang Sui Ning frowned slightly, and looked at him suspiciously: "Why mention puffer fish?"

Cui Jing looked forward again, with a smile in his deep and clear eyes: "You are very similar at the moment."

Chang Suining: "...?!"

He Wuhu who was following behind couldn't help asking in a low voice: "What do you mean?"

"I know!" Ah Dian immediately raised his hand.

Chang Suining, who always wanted to save face, immediately turned his head and looked at A Dian warily.

But it still couldn't stop Ah Dian's big mouth eagerly rushing to answer.

Good night everyone~