lady, please calm down

Throughout early August, Lin'an seemed calm, but in fact there were undercurrents.

Ever since Chen Chu's statement on the sixth day, "We, the emperor and his subjects, are a couple who got married halfway through life," spread, some officials who had taken sick leave recovered and returned to court the next day, but the hardliners led by Xie Kuo and Zhou Wei still held on.

There are still nearly half vacancies among court officials, and the court can only maintain the most basic operations, with a large amount of official business piling up.

In this atmosphere, when the news that Xin Qiji and Han Shizhong's armies had won a small victory in the western part of Fujian Road in late July, killing 2,000 Zhou soldiers in battle and capturing 400 family members of the soldiers reached Lin'an, it was not so eye-catching.

On August 15, the day of mid-autumn, Cai Yuan and his entourage entered Lin'an in a low-key manner.

Gou and Ximen had selected 300 capable officials from various departments. They had no idea of ​​their specific tasks when they set out from Huaibei. After entering Lin'an, they directly moved into the imperial army camp close to the imperial city, so that the entire Jiangnan officialdom was completely unaware of Lao Cai's arrival.

In the afternoon of that day, Cai Yuan entered the palace.

Cai Huan had just learned from Chen Chu a few days ago that her father was coming to Lin'an. With Cai Huan's intelligence, she could naturally guess what her father was going to do in Lin'an this time.

As soon as the father and daughter met, Cai Huan took a feather duster and helped her father to sweep away the dust on his body. She said in a slightly resentful tone: "The Chen Jing'an and his son are in Lin'an now. Your Majesty has other people to use, but you insisted on summoning Dad from thousands of miles away."

Although Old Cai is nearly sixty years old, he is still in good health. The reason why Cai Huan is unhappy is naturally not because of "coming all the way here", but because her father came to Lin'an this time, obviously to cooperate with Chen Chu to take action against the officials and gentry in Jiangnan.

There is no need to think about it. Since Old Cai helped Chen Chu do this, he will definitely be portrayed as a treacherous minister in the writings of literati in the future.

In the future, the relationship with the officials and gentry in Jiangnan will inevitably be like fire and water, and it will be an extremely offensive job.

Cai Yuan couldn't help but laugh when he saw this. Ever since his daughter started hanging out with Chen Chu in Tongshan, she has been planning everything for her man.

But today, I can still hear from her words that the daughter still feels sorry for her father after all.

"No problem." Cai Yuan sat on the soft chair and slowly looked at the luxurious furnishings in Cai Huan's bedroom. He couldn't help but criticize like a father, "Huan'er, it's true that His Majesty dotes on you, but you should also have some sense of propriety. Look at the furnishings in your bedroom. Some things are a bit over the top. If the Queen makes a fuss, it won't be good in the end."

Cai Huan was worried, but she didn't expect her father to lecture her first. She sat down on the phoenix chair and said angrily, "Dad! Do you really not understand or are you pretending to be confused? I offended the soldiers in Tokyo as early as the eleventh year of Fuchang. If you get a bad reputation again this time, my family will be in big trouble after my daughter passes away."

This is true. Scholars are the most vindictive. Otherwise, how could there be the saying "A gentleman's vengeance can be avenged in ten generations?"

Although the Cai family is prosperous now, its foundation is actually unstable. Due to their limited talents, Cai Yun and Cai Kun have limited potential. Now their wealth and prosperity depend entirely on Cai Yuan and his daughter.

If they wait until the father and daughter pass away, they may not be able to withstand the counterattack of the gentry.

Cai Yuan saw that his daughter was really thinking about the descendants of her mother's family, and couldn't help but smile with relief, "Descendants will have their own blessings, don't worry, Huan'er, I came here with not only Ximen Fa, the third brother of Governor Ximen, but also recruited Xu Zhiyuan when passing through Anfeng. Didn't you say that Chen Jing'an and his son are also in Lin'an? I have heard for a long time that Mr. Liuchuan's only son Chen Yinglang is capable and decisive in handling matters. This time, of course, we must make the best use of his talents. It is said that the Queen's sister, Miss Zhao, has great ambitions and is as capable as men."

Before Cai Yuan finished speaking, Cai Hua was already grinning, blurting out: "Hahaha, it turns out that Daddy, this old fox, has been prepared for this."

"!" Cai Yuan's face darkened, "You have no respect for your elders!"

Indeed, her Cai family might still worry about revenge against their descendants, but what if all five families of Tongshan come out together?

Ximen Gong's brothers, Xu Bang and Chen Jing'an's sons, and the queen's sister. If someone from each family participated in the liquidation of the Jiangnan officials and gentry, it would be equivalent to binding them together again. Not to mention the revenge of the Jiangnan officials and gentry in the future, even if all the scholars in the world came together, they would not be able to touch them.

"Yes, Commander Peng and General Wu's sons are also in Lin'an. Daddy, why don't we just go and conquer them together!"

Once Cai Huan's mind opened up, she immediately made a suggestion.

Well, if the descendants of my mother's family have the protection of a military background, I will have nothing to fear.

As for the possibility of refusing the recruitment, there is almost no such thing. Take Chen Yinglang as an example. Lin'an has been in turmoil for more than a month. Although Chen Jing'an has been giving advice to Chen Chu in private, he has never openly clashed with the officials and gentry in Jiangnan.

It is precisely because Chen Jing'an himself is a scholar that he understands the power contained in the gentry.

But once Cai Yuan recruits Chen Yinglang, the Chen family will no longer be able to protect themselves. Everyone knows who Old Cai is working for. If the Chen family lets Chen Yinglang find reasons to refuse the recruitment, it will be a slap in the face of His Majesty!

Not only will it cause the Chen family's status in Chen Chu's heart to plummet, it will also ruin Chen Yinglang's future.
Chen Jing'an should be able to figure out what to do about this matter.

Hearing his daughter's suggestion, Cai Yuan said calmly: "You are the one who is going to teach me this?"

Old Cai pretended to be cool, and Cai Hua couldn't help but smile, then said: "Where are you going to start, Dad? The case of the haunted Funing Palace must have involved a lot of people, and the other party must have been prepared. It must be extremely difficult to find any clues or evidence."

Cai Huan was extremely conceited, but even she knew that it would be very difficult to find the mastermind behind the Funing Palace incident, so she wanted to hear what clever ideas her father had.

Cai Yuan coughed twice and said in a pretentious tone, "I have been here for a long time and my mouth is dry. You won't even give me a cup of tea?"

"Yuerong, Yuerong, take out the pre-rain Longjing tea that His Majesty gave you and make a cup for the Duke. Pack the rest for the Duke to take away later."

“Haha, that’s more like it.”

After extorting his daughter's good tea and whetting her appetite, Cai Yuan stroked his beard and said, "There is no clue to the haunted case. There is no way to investigate it at all."

"Ah? There's no way to check?"

After waiting for a long time and listening to nothing, Cai Huan looked dazed.

"Well, there's no way to check!"

But Mr. Cai sounded confident when answering.

"."

Just then, Yue Rong walked into the palace with the imperially bestowed Longjing tea. Cai Hua immediately said angrily, "Take it back, take it back. Duke Hanguo is old, and his five senses have deteriorated. How can he still appreciate the beauty of good tea? Let him drink it, it's a waste. Take it back and keep it for His Majesty!"

"."

Ouch, the Korean man’s little cotton jacket is leaking again!

This made Yuerong feel awkward and unable to move forward or backward.

Cai Yuan was so angry that he blew his beard and glared. He waved to Yue Rong to bring the tea to him, and then said, "I used to think you were the smartest among the three of you brothers and sisters, but why are you not smart now? Why did His Majesty wait until now to summon me to Lin'an?"

"Why?" Cai Huan answered while staring at the bag of Yuqian Longjing tea with a painful look.

Seeing this, Cai Yuan hugged the tea leaves into his arms and said, "It's because Generals Han and Xin won a small victory in Fujian Road last month and captured the family members of Zhou's army!"

Recently, Cai Huan has been busy helping Tiedan dismiss the palace servants, and indeed did not pay much attention to this seemingly insignificant piece of news.

But when he heard his father suddenly mention this matter, he couldn't help but become a little serious, "Daddy, tell me in detail."

"Among the captured family members, there is the housekeeper of the Qian family in East Zhejiang, and the children of the Lu Zhang family in Jiangnan!"

The news from Fujian Road only mentioned that more than 400 people were captured, but did not mention who they were specifically captured.

In early June, Emperor Zhou abandoned Lin'an and fled south at the instigation of Qin Huizhi.

The only guards accompanying the emperor were Zhang Kui's imperial guards of more than 10,000 people, but on the way to the south, some big families in eastern Zhejiang, such as the Qian family, the Zhang family in the south of the Yangtze River, and the Cui family in Jinghu Road, who could no longer turn back, led their children and farmhands to seek refuge with him.

By the time they had gained a foothold at the junction of Jiangnan West Road and Fujian Road, they already had an army of 50,000 to 60,000 people.

The Chu army's southward vanguards Han and Xin were short of manpower and were still waiting for Peng Er's central army in the rear and Jiang Huaixiong's main force which was setting out from Jinghu Road.

Han and Xin only launched a few exploratory attacks. So this small victory seemed insignificant, but Cai Yuan's emphasis was on "capturing the Qian family's housekeeper and the Zhang family's children."

Cai Huan thought about it for a moment, vaguely guessed something, and subconsciously said, "Dad, are you saying that there is something wrong between the Qian family's housekeeper and the Zhang family's children?"

"You have been in the backyard for too long, and you only care about trivial matters."

Cai Yuan took the opportunity to comment on his daughter, and then said: "Your Majesty wants nothing more than a reason to purge the officials and gentry in Jiangnan. Does it matter what the reason is? You need to jump out of the harem and look at the world, then you will see the light at the end of the tunnel."

Cai Hua was slightly annoyed after being repeatedly hit by her father today. "Dad, please stop keeping me in suspense!"

"Haha." Cai Yuan stroked his beard calmly and said, "The Qian family and the Zhang family are both powerful families in Jiangnan with hundreds of years of history. Their relatives and friends are all over the court. This time, because they participated in the assassination attempt on His Majesty at the Daxiangguo Temple in Tokyo, they have no way out and can only go all the way with Emperor Zhou. But most of their old friends are still in the court of Lin'an!"

Cai Hua heard this, and her narrow eyes suddenly lit up. Dad's meaning at this time was very clear. The case of the ghost in Funing Palace was difficult to investigate, so he didn't investigate it! He came here to investigate the people who were "colluding with the traitors" in the Lin'an court!
"Your Majesty, have you found any evidence from the captured relatives of the noble families?"

"Evidence? With the Qian family's butler here, why don't they confess the truth after a little torture? And if we can find a few letters between officials and gentry in Jiangnan and the Qian and Zhang families, wouldn't it be easy?"

This is true. Officials and gentry are one, and finding evidence of the interactions between Lin'an officials and a few families is indeed much easier than investigating ghosts.

Even if the letter doesn't exist, Lao Cai can still create it out of thin air!
Anyway, the goal of cleansing the Jiangnan officialdom can be achieved.

That night was mid-autumn.

After Chen Chu finished his work in the front court, he took Cai Huan, Tie Dan and Cai Yuan to have a family dinner.

After dinner, Cai Huan, who was quite interested, took Tiedan to watch the moon in the West Garden, while Chen Chu and Cai Yuan discussed matters in the study until late at night.

During the festive season of family reunion, a shocking case sweeping across the south of the Yangtze River is brewing.

August 17th, the first court meeting after the two-day mid-autumn holiday.

At the hour of Yin, on his way to court, Chen Bokang met the Minister of War Luo Ruoji. Although Chen Bokang looked down on Luo Ruoji's character, as there were undercurrents in Lin'an recently, Chen Bokang still invited Luo Ruoji to ride in the same car with him.

As soon as Luo Ruji got in the car, Chen Bokang asked, "Has Lord Luo seen Lords Xie and Zhou in the past two days?"

Luo Ruji shook his head repeatedly, looking aggrieved, "Prime Minister Chen, let alone meeting him, yesterday I went to visit Lord Xie's residence, but he didn't even let me in."

"Oh" Chen Bokang couldn't help but sigh.

Luo Ruji continued, "From my humble opinion, since they insist on competing with Your Majesty, Prime Minister Chen should just let them do what they want."

Chen Bokang sighed again and said, "There is one court in Tokyo and one in Lin'an now. The reason for this situation is that Your Majesty has just arrived in Jiangnan and has not yet found the time to merge the two courts. At this time, all colleagues should be of one mind and try their best to fight for the benefits of Jiangnan when the two courts are merged in the future. However, they chose to stay away from court due to illness at this time, embarrassing Your Majesty. It is really unwise!"

There was a hint of anger in his words, and Luo Ruji said helplessly: "Those gentlemen are unwilling to admit defeat just for the sake of their pride. Fortunately, Your Majesty is merciful and did not bother with them."

After Luo Ruji finished speaking, Chen Bokang was silent for a while, then suddenly shook his head and lowered his voice involuntarily, "The matter of Funing Palace is quite strange. Your Majesty's personality is far from being as easy to talk to as you think."

Chen Bokang paused for a moment when he spoke here, and the incident of the Luo family in Shouchun County, Huainan suddenly emerged in his mind. At that time, Your Majesty was already a duke, but he dared to personally lead people deep into the Zhou Kingdom and kill the entire Luo family.

The image of a man in short brown clothes killing people with a knife is still deeply engraved in Chen Bokang's mind.

"Your Majesty started from humble beginnings and has come a long way to where he is today, with mountains of corpses and seas of blood under his feet! Your Majesty has become a little gentler in recent years, but that's because he is in a high position and doesn't want to break the rules at will. If there really is someone behind the Funing Palace incident, Your Majesty will never swallow this anger."

After listening to Chen Bokang's analysis of Chen Chu, Luo Ruji was silent for a few breaths before forcing out a smile, "Prime Minister Chen, we have a clear conscience. Besides, it has been more than ten days since the incident, and His Majesty and Concubine Cai are very calm."

"That's exactly what I was worried about!"

If Chen Chu endured it this time, there was still a slight possibility, but Cai Huan's notoriety and her vindictiveness were beyond description. How could she stay quietly in the palace for more than ten days without making any movement?
Will the anger be relieved by just dismissing the palace maids?
It's really not like her temperament.

"I have a bad feeling."

While Chen Bokang was speaking, the carriage had already arrived outside the palace gate.

The two of them stopped talking, lifted the curtain and got out of the car.

The formation outside the palace remained the same: on one side were old ministers such as Mei Rupin and Zheng Hongzu, and on the other side were new nobles from Huaibei such as Chen Jing'an and Xu Bang.

The former obviously has far more people than the latter.

Zheng Hongzu stood in the crowd, still discussing loudly today's morning court, and asked His Majesty to release Zuo Shao, the Right Assistant Censor of the Court of Censors, who had been imprisoned in the Dali Temple more than ten days ago.

Zheng Hongzu himself was demoted for his misbehavior in front of the emperor that day, but at this moment he looked complacent and even somewhat honored.

Chen Bokang frowned slightly, but he was the head of the officials in Jiangnan after all, so he had to stand on that side.

However, before taking a step, Chen Bokang habitually bowed to Chen Jingyan, Xu Bang and others.

Then he realized something was wrong.

Among the court officials, there are only a few who are qualified to wear purple robes.

But at this moment, an old man in purple robe was standing in front of Xu Bang, who bowed slightly, his attitude was both polite and friendly.

The palace lanterns outside the Lizheng Gate were dozens of steps away, and the light was dim, so Chen Bokang couldn't see who the man was for a moment.

Out of curiosity, I took the initiative to walk forward.

The purple-robed old man who was talking to Xu Bang also noticed Chen Bokang, so he stopped talking and looked over with a smile.

When the two were only ten steps away from each other, Chen Bokang felt that the man looked familiar, but he couldn't remember who he was for a moment.

At this moment, the purple-robed old man stroked his beard and said with a smile: "Mr. Chen, I am Cai Yuan from Tongshan. I haven't seen you for several months. Don't you recognize me?"

"."

Chen Bokang was stunned where he stood.

Although the Great Chu now has two courts, Tokyo and Lin'an, in terms of official positions, Cai Yuan, the Minister of the Secretariat, is the real prime minister of the Great Chu!

Chen Bokang, the financial minister of Lin'an, is half a level lower than Cai Yuan no matter how you look at it.

But such a distinguished and important official of the country actually showed up at the morning court in Lin'an without anyone noticing? ? ?

"It turns out to be the Duke of Korea! I am sorry for your disrespect."

After Chen Bokang, who was still shocked, came to his senses, he quickly made up for the gift.

"At 2:00 pm, open"

Chen Bokang wanted to say something to Cai Yuan, but suddenly a long shout was heard from the front, and then the palace gate opened.

The officials straightened their robes and filed into the palace. (End of this chapter)