casket of old days

Chapter 99
Just when the various forces in Qingyang County have been fighting fiercely in the past few months, the big man's Shenjing is full of disputes in the court and undercurrents are surging.

Located in the Longevity Palace to the west of the imperial palace, the entire palace is made of white jade, the outer wall is carved, and the inner wall is pasted with purple tiles, which are densely carved with strange characters.

The iron-cast pillars in the hall are engraved with portraits of ancient immortals practicing, ascending, and transcending.

There is also a screen wall made of crystal, in which there is running water, and goldfish can be seen swimming in it.

The entire Longevity Palace can be described as ingenious and prosperous. It was built by the current Emperor Yong'an at a huge cost. I heard that in order to complete the project on time, he even allocated disaster relief money from the Northwest.

Since the establishment of the Longevity Palace, Emperor Yong'an has practiced in seclusion here all year round. From the 2nd year of Yong'an to the 15th year of Yong'an, it has been 13 years without stepping outside the palace, let alone going to court too early. Cabinet ministers, six departments and nine The lords also met the emperor in the Longevity Palace.

At this moment, in a side hall of the Longevity Palace, it was clearly the hot weather in August, but the hall was completely cool.

Wu Siqi sat beside him. The new Chief Assistant of the Great Han Dynasty had a thin and simple face. At this moment, his eyes were slightly drooping, and he seemed to be asleep, as if he had fallen into some kind of deep meditation.

At this moment, an eunuch wearing a big red robe came out with a smile: "Master Ge, the emperor is calling you."

Wu Siqi opened his eyes, looked at the eunuch and said, "Eunuch Chen, what does the emperor say?"

The eunuch in front of him, Chen Zhong, was the eunuch who was in charge of ceremonies and Bingbi, the most powerful eunuch among the eunuchs, and the most favored eunuch by Emperor Yong'an.

Wu Siqi has always had a good relationship with Chen Zhong, and they even formed an alliance in the past to fight against the pressure of his former chief assistant, Fei Yi.

Wu Siqi was in charge of fighting against Fei Yi in the court, while Chen Zhong kept giving Fei Yi eye drops in front of the emperor.

Hearing Wu Siqi's question at this moment, Chen Zhong chuckled and said, "What His Majesty values ​​most is the matter of the Qingyang County Spirit Vein. The death of the Ding family is not a pity, but if His Majesty's practice is ruined, he will be a criminal."

Wu Siqi did not follow the formal procedures for the various letters and account books that Wu Wei ordered to pass on this time, because Fei Yi would definitely be suppressed and would not reach the emperor's hands at all.

So this time he sent the memorial and evidence through Chen Zhong.

But Chen Zhong has been pondering the holy will all the year round, and he can tell when he looks at these things... The Ding family's collusion with demons, the frontier army's friendship with the ministers of the court and China, and even the sale of military rations, ordnance, etc., are not the most important things.

There are only two things that are most likely to catch the emperor's attention. One is how much money the Ding family, the frontier army, and the ministers of the court and China make every year by smuggling.

The other is that the Ding family destroyed the spiritual veins, which weakened the power of Shenjing's feng shui formation and ruined the emperor's practice.

Money and power, this is the most important thing in today's world.

So he first submitted the account books and the amount of coal dug in Meishan, which really angered Long Yan.

At this moment Wu Siqi listened to Eunuch Chen's warning, nodded in understanding, and followed the eunuch beside him to face the saint.

All the way to the Immortal Hall in the deepest part of the Longevity Palace, I saw a young man in a Taoist robe with a face like a crown jade sitting cross-legged in a golden lotus.

Wu Siqi quickly knelt down, but saw the young man wave his long sleeves and said, "Stop kneeling, I didn't let you in to kneel, but to ask about your business."

Wu Siqi stood up, bowed his head and said, "Excuse me, Your Majesty."

Emperor Yong'an said: "I heard that the second child of your Wu family already has nearly 20 mu of land in the county?"

Wu Siqi immediately knelt down again: "The minister immediately asked him to retreat all the land."

Emperor Yong'an didn't speak, but the whole hall fell silent, the air was as sticky as water, and cold sweat kept dripping from Wu Siqi's head.

Although Wu Siqi has practiced martial arts for many years, he is already a strong person at the level of martial arts, but the Emperor Yong'an in front of him is a strong person who has broken through to the realm of Taoism. Known as invincible in the city.

Moreover, he has practiced in closed doors for many years, pursuing a realm above the Tao, and his strength has become more and more unfathomable year by year.

Standing in front of this emperor, Wu Siqi, a strong Taoist, still has to bear the pressure of his life being controlled by others.No matter what to talk about, the momentum will be weaker by three points.

Following a chuckle from Emperor Yong'an, the atmosphere in the hall seemed to relax again: "Get up, don't kneel down. Take good care of your son, the memorial to impeach you is almost as high as one person, everyone outside is talking about me Thank you for being a treacherous minister."

Wu Siqi couldn't get up from his knees, and said in shame: "I... have no way to teach my son."

Emperor Yong'an stood up, helped Wu Siqi who was kneeling, and then said: "Where in this world is there a son who is wrong, let the father take care of it? You are the head of the cabinet now, and I am the chief steward. Don't just kneel down every now and then. .”

After finishing speaking, Emperor Yong'an turned around and took a few steps, and suddenly asked: "A small Ding family can earn 20 taels of silver from smuggling every year. How much silver can the imperial court open up every year after the mutual market?"

Wu Siqi said: "According to the different products, there are different opinions. For example, the climate in the south of the Yangtze River is pleasant, and they are good at raising silkworms and weaving silk. The northern monsters are not good at farming and weaving, but they have a lot of silver mines. A piece of high-quality silk can sell for six in the mainland. Two taels of silver, if the mutual market is opened, it can be sold for more than 15 taels of silver on the northern grasslands.

The weaving bureau in the south of the Yangtze River has a total of 10 looms. Now that the dragon tribe is disturbing the coast of the south of the Yangtze River, the silk cannot be sold overseas. Most of the looms have stopped working. If the silk can be transported to the north and sold to the demon tribe, it can be sold in that year. 150 horses, this alone is [-] million taels of silver. "

Emperor Yong'an nodded and said: "The key is to have peace talks and mutual markets. Now those people outside call you a traitor and tell you to surrender to the prime minister, and the people in the Nine Frontiers Town refuse to accept you. I have blocked you for you." , but what are you going to do next?"

Wu Siqi said solemnly: "Withdraw the army from the town and set up the prefectural and county yamen."

Emperor Yong'an took a deep look at Wu Siqi and said, "There are millions of soldiers and civilians in the Nine Borders Army Town. If you say you want to withdraw, you will withdraw?"

Wu Siqi said: "Northern army towns are like human abscesses, which cannot be cured without deboning and cutting the flesh. The longer it drags on, the deeper the legacy will be."

Emperor Yong'an nodded: "Go ahead."

After a long time, the monarchs and ministers finished their discussions and chatted about homework for a while. Emperor Yong'an suddenly smiled and said, "This time, a boy named Chu Qiguang got the account books and coal mining volume of the Ding family?"

Wu Siqi nodded and said, "Exactly."

Emperor Yong'an asked again: "Does this person have fame?"

Wu Siqi knew that it was the emperor who was interested in Chu Qiguang, and quickly said: "I don't have any fame yet, but I heard that I plan to take the martial arts exam and serve the country."

Emperor Yong'an laughed and said: "This man is quite capable, he can stir up troubles in Qingyang County at a young age, especially proficient in copywriting and arithmetic, he is a practical talent, and he will most likely become an official in the future. If he enters the palace test in the future, I will definitely order him one by one."

Wu Siqi knew that Chu Qiguang's name was remembered by the emperor. With the emperor's Taoist cultivation base, a photographic memory is a basic ability, so in the future when Chu Qiguang enters the officialdom, the emperor's good impression will be a very useful thing.

But there are advantages and disadvantages in everything, and Wu Siqi also knew that someone was deliberately releasing Chu Qiguang's name.

Chu Qiguang not only showed his talents in front of the emperor, but also showed his face in front of conservative officials. He was also branded with Wu Gelao's faction. I am afraid that he will soon be regarded as a thorn in the side of some people.

But Wu Siqi originally wanted to protect Chu Qiguang and suppress his name.

'At such a young age, I don't know if he can bear this kind of pressure. '

……

In Qingyang County on the other side, Chu Qiguang didn’t know that his name had been remembered by the emperor. At this moment, in order to earn more money, he was recalling a few photos from his memory in his previous life. , Draw the appearance of the hydraulic loom bit by bit.

But after drawing for a long time, there is still only the superficial appearance, and many of the details are completely unknown.

Chu Qiguang thought a little annoyed: "Why didn't I study these things carefully in my previous life." '

(End of this chapter)