Jiuxi

Chapter 356 Chapter 354 [Before the Storm Comes]

In the fourteenth year of Qi Jianwu's reign, it was May 17th.

This is a very ordinary and ordinary day. Mo Criticism, the highlight of the Mo Yuan Literary Society, could not create a greater momentum due to Lu Chen's absence. The people in the capital gradually subsided in discussions about the border victory. This prosperous and prosperous capital slowly returned to its former self. of peace and tranquility.

Datongfang, Beicheng, is a simple residence.

To the east of the Eight Immortals Table, a woman in red is sitting with a sword and a golden horse. Standing next to her are several men. They have a fierce temperament and a fierce look. You can tell at a glance that she is not a kind person.

In contrast, to the west sat a man in his thirties, with a gentle expression and a smile. The two elders behind him stood politely.

The man in his thirties spoke unhurriedly: "My master would be very grateful if I could help you, young lady."

The woman in red said indifferently: "Speaking of which, I still don't know the name of your master."

The man smiled and said: "Your Majesty also asked this question at the beginning. In fact, it is not important. If you bring out what my master needs, we will give you a generous reward. This is just a transaction and does not need to involve other issues."

The woman in red looked at him steadily, and then said to the tribesmen behind her: "Get it."

They seemed to be very familiar with Yongjia North City, and they didn't look like new arrivals at all. They quickly and quietly moved to another inconspicuous residential house. This was naturally the result of the twelfth uncle.

"Yes."

Someone next to him checked the banknote and then nodded to the woman in red.

When the woman in red saw this, she said, "This is the Cloud-Tangled Grass your master wants."

He opened the wooden box. The thirty-year-old man leaned forward slightly and saw the grass seeds safely stored in the box. He couldn't help but smile and nodded.

If you don't know the identity of the Yalong tribe, just by looking at their appearance, names and words, they are almost the same as the Qi people.

Just as the man was about to speak, the woman in red said again: "The price you originally set was three thousand taels, but I don't think this price is worth it. Herbaceous clouds are extremely rare and can only be found on the tops of several mountains in Dajinchuan. It's very difficult, we have to ask the old hunters of Jinchuan tribe to get it. It's not easy to get these dozens of grass seeds. I don't care what you do with them, but you have to give us enough reward."

The tribesman bowed his head in agreement, turned around, brought a wooden box, and placed it on the Eight Immortals' table.

The woman in red explained briefly, and then said to everyone: "The traces here have been exposed, we will move out immediately."

"Three thousand taels turned into six thousand taels, which is twice as much. This person pretended to be embarrassed, but in fact he didn't even blink. It can be seen that the cloud-winding grass is very important to them. In addition, these people have hidden I don’t even dare to mention my name, so of course we have to be careful.”

He took out a stack of banknotes from his arms, counted out 6,000 taels and put it on the table, saying, "Miss Luo, this is the 6,000 taels from Hengchang Bank. Please check it when you see the check."

The man hesitated and said, "Girl, please speak clearly."

The middle-aged man asked slightly puzzledly: "Young Master, why do we need to check the details of the buyer?"

The middle-aged man she called her twelfth uncle came closer and whispered: "Young Master, we have arranged for someone to keep an eye on him."

The woman in red said calmly: "Six thousand taels, not even a penny less."

After a while, the three men left this simple residence with the wooden box. The woman in red looked at their backs with a cold look in her eyes.

In fact, the Seven Divisions of Shazhou were not as barbaric and backward as ordinary Qi people imagined.

The woman in red nodded slightly.

Everyone responded in unison.

The man looked troubled, thought for a while and gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, I'll do what the girl said, six thousand taels."

As early as more than a hundred years ago, when Qi Taizu Li Zhongjing re-employed Shazhou native soldiers, the Seven Tribes had close exchanges with the heart of the Central Plains, especially the Yalong Tribe, the head of the Seven Tribes, to which the woman in red and the twelfth uncle belonged. Tribe, has a very in-depth understanding of Qi Dynasty culture and customs.

This twelfth uncle named Luo Yan lived in the Qi Dynasty all year round, secretly selling goods to and from the seven tribes of Shazhou.

Arriving at another stop, the woman in red asked, "Uncle Twelve, have you figured out Hou Yu's whereabouts?"

Luo Yan replied: "It has been roughly figured out. Hou Yu is now the general of Nanya of Qi State's Jingjun, and he is still living near the Nancheng Palace for the time being, because the official office of Nanya is there. Ordinarily he should be very cautious, but our brothers discovered that, These days, when he goes in and out of the palace, government offices and mansions, there are not many guards around him, sometimes only a dozen or so."

The woman in red sneered and said: "He is trying to lure us into taking the bait. There must be many people hiding in the dark. Let's wait for a while and ask the following brothers to be more careful and not to be caught by the other party."

Luo Yan nodded and said: "Don't worry, young master, I'm using people from Yongjia. They have lived here for a long time and will not expose their traces."

The woman in red thought for a moment and said slowly: "It's best to wait for an opportunity where there is a lot of excitement and chaos, and then take advantage of Hou Yu's lack of preparedness before taking action. Uncle Twelve, those six thousand taels of silver should be sent back to Chengzhou as soon as possible, in exchange for Transport back the supplies needed by the adults."

Luo Yan agreed, hesitating a little and said: "Young Master, Hou Yu is the general of Qi after all. Is this matter-"

Before he could finish speaking, the woman in red interrupted: "We Shazhou people must repay kindness and revenge. This beast Hou Yu killed so many of our tribesmen. He was hiding in the military camp before. We took He has no choice. Now he can't always have hundreds of sharp soldiers by his side, sooner or later his flaws will be revealed."

Luo Yan couldn't persuade him anymore, he lowered his head and said: "Okay, I will follow the young master's words."

The woman in red walked to the window, stared at the early summer scenery in the cramped courtyard, and said softly: "I'm not in a hurry, I have enough patience to wait until that day." ...

The Imperial Palace, the side hall of Wende Hall.

Recently, various government affairs of the imperial court have been carried out smoothly. The rewards for frontier soldiers, the establishment of government offices at all levels in Dingzhou, and the daily affairs of the thirteen states in Jiangnan are all in good order with the close cooperation of Zhongshu and the Privy Council.

Therefore, the emperor decided to hold a small court meeting attended only by important ministers, and everyone was in a stable mood.

But the standard of this Umrah meeting is not low at all.

The two prime ministers, the privy envoy, the general, the great general, the censor, the six ministers, etc. all came. Even the Hanlin bachelor and the Imperial College Jijiu, these noble civil servants, appeared in the side hall.

All the important ministers were basically familiar faces to each other. Only two of them had entered the hall for the first time and entered the inner circle of the court officials.

One of them is Hou Yu, the Marquis of Nan'an and the general in charge of the Sixth Army of Nanya.

The second one is Lu Chen, who was recently ennobled as Marquis of Shanyang and currently has no specific official position.

On the dragon chair, Li Duan looked around at the ministers and said to Lu Shizhou: "Give the left prime minister a seat."

Li Daoyan cupped his hands and said, "Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty. I dare not go beyond the rules of etiquette."

Li Duan looked at the old man who was nearly seventy years old, with some complicated emotions in his eyes, and said gently but unquestionably: "Prime Minister Zuo, I still need to rely on you to assist the government. For me, there is no red tape compared to yours. The body is more important."

Lu Shizhou brought a round stool and walked closer, then helped Li Daoyan sit down.

Li Daoyan trembled and sat down with emotion on his face.

The ministers watched this scene and suddenly realized a problem. The left prime minister was indeed old and frail, and the age spots on his face were becoming more and more obvious.

Although Li Daoyan is old, his spiritual platform is still clear and clear.

During the brief exchange just now, he could realize that the emperor's concern was not just a show of concern, but a genuine concern for his physical condition.

Looking back on the past, the old man couldn't help but feel a little sad.

After the Yuanjia Incident, the Qi Dynasty was on the verge of collapse. After all, the emperor, prince and many important officials died in Heluo City, and the entire court system was on the verge of collapse.

Li Duan fled all the way to Yongjia. Because of his identity as the seventh son of the emperor, he got the support of two important ministers, Li Daoyan and Han Lingfu, and hurriedly ascended the throne to continue the Great Qi Kingdom Zuo.

Over the next ten years, Han Lingfu retired from the court due to physical reasons, and the center became Li Daoyan's one-man show.

Generally speaking, the cooperation between Li Duan and Li Daoyan was quite tacit. Except for whether to support the Northern Expedition, there were basically no serious differences or conflicts in other aspects.

The monarch and his ministers walked together hand in hand for fifteen long years.

Now Li Daoyan clearly feels that his body is getting older and weaker. He no longer takes care of most government affairs and leaves them all to the right minister Xue Nanting and the six ministers, only deciding some key issues.

However, as long as he can still appear in the court with his mind clear, the ministers of the court must respect the old man's opinions.

This is the reason why Li Duan specially gave him a seat.

"My dear lords, I have called you into the palace today because there is something that has been brewing in my heart for a long time and I have never had a chance to express it."

After showing respect to Li Daoyan, Li Duan looked around at everyone and started talking slowly.

This sentence instantly cheered up all the important ministers.

It is said that the emperor is worried about the humiliation of the emperor and the death of his ministers. The emperor clearly expressed the word "suffering from depression". How can the officials dare to remain indifferent?

If it had been placed when Li Duan first ascended the throne, his words might not have had much weight, but now many ministers in the court have become Li Duan's confidants. Especially this year, when the border troops regained Dingzhou and attacked Heluo, forcing the powerful Jing Dynasty to sign an alliance, Li Duan's prestige soared to an unprecedented level.

After a group of important ministers expressed their loyalty, Li Duan glanced at Lu Chen who was standing behind Hou Yu without leaving any trace, and then said: "In recent years, there have been frequent reports of good news about the frontier soldiers. I am naturally very pleased, but I always insist that Daqi To recreate the grand scene of the past, we cannot rely solely on the soldiers of the frontier army.”

Privy Envoy Guo Congyi and General Wang Yan frowned slightly.

For these smart people who stand at the pinnacle of power, being obedient and listening is almost a necessary skill.

The emperor said that Da Qi could not rely solely on the frontier soldiers. This sentence was not intended to elevate the status of the Beijing army.

The next moment, Li Duan continued: "I have thought about it and considered it in every possible way, and finally feel that the current situation of the Beijing army does not meet the requirements of the imperial court. Therefore, I have an idea, and all the ministers will discuss it together today."

"I want to reorganize the Beijing army."

As soon as the words were spoken, the whole hall fell into silence.

(End of this chapter)