Jiuxi

Chapter 831 829 [Insight]

Zhongshu Province, the office of the right prime minister.

The attendant served two cups of fragrant tea and then respectfully took his leave, not daring to disturb the first meeting between the two prime ministers.

"Brother Zhang Xian, why are you so anxious to transfer me to Beijing?"

Xu Zuo's eyes were sharp and he went straight to the point.

Xue Nanting said with a smile, "The position of Right Prime Minister has been vacant for half a year, and all the affairs of the Secretariat are placed on me alone. I am not a genius, so how can I take care of everything? Looking at the court and the public, who else is more talented than you, Xu Yanbi? His Majesty originally wanted Li Shizhi, but you are obviously more qualified than him. In addition, he took the initiative to recommend you that day, and I echoed his words, so His Majesty changed his mind."

“That’s what I don’t understand.”

Xu Zuo's eyes were no longer sharp, and he said slowly, "Li Shizhi went to great lengths to overthrow Zhong Cheng, but faced with the position of right prime minister within his grasp, he instead played a trick of humility and courtesy. If it was you who brought up the matter and Your Majesty was forced to give in, that would make sense. But Li Shizhi spoke before you, and he went to such great lengths to make wedding dresses for me. What was his purpose?"

Xue Nanting said frankly: "Don't you really know the reason? Although this matter was proposed by Li Shizhi, he was just trying to figure out the intention."

"Transfer me back to the capital and let Ding Hui go to Dingzhou to contain Lu Chen?"

Xu Zuo shook his head and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty is too suspicious of Lu Chen."

Xue Nanting took a sip of tea and continued, "I also have some selfish motives for this matter. If you don't return to Beijing, no one can suppress Li Shizhi, and he will definitely become the right prime minister."

"I don't think it's that simple. If His Majesty simply wants to change the governor of Dingzhou, he can directly transfer me back to the capital to continue to be in charge of the Censorate, let Ding Hui or someone else take over as the governor of Dingzhou, and Li Shizhi can be promoted to the right prime minister."

Xu Zuo was more direct in front of him. After all, when the late emperor was alive, the two of them had worked together in perfect harmony and had already developed enough trust in each other.

Xue Nanting frowned slightly and said, "Are you trying to say that letting you join the Secretariat was not His Majesty's original plan?"

Xu Zuo said slowly, "Your Majesty wants to change a new governor of Dingzhou, and Li Shizhi has other intentions in pushing me to the position. Even if you are firmly opposed to his appointment as prime minister, he doesn't need to give it to me on purpose. As long as you shamelessly waste some time, you will have to give in in the end. I thought about it for a long time on the way back to Beijing, but I still can't figure out his purpose for doing this."

Xue Nanting suddenly realized, "So you attacked him as soon as you came back."

Xu Zuo said calmly: "I just wanted to see what he was up to, but this Minister Li is worthy of being the eldest son of the old prime minister, and he still didn't reveal any flaws."

Hearing this, Xue Nanting suddenly smiled and said meaningfully: "I think Li Shizhi made a wrong calculation this time."

Xu Zuo looked at him in confusion.

Xue Nanting sighed, "No matter what he wants to do, he will definitely go after the power of the Secretariat in the end. He tried his best to overthrow Zhong Cheng, but he never thought that you are more difficult to deal with than Zhong Cheng."

"I'm not worried about him pointing the finger at me."

Xu Zuo brushed it off, then looked at Xue Nanting and said, "Brother Zhang Xian, the safety of the border troops is related to the safety of the country. As subjects, we should advise the king not to repeat the mistakes of the past."

Xue Nanting understood the deep meaning of his words. Looking at the other party's extremely serious expression, he nodded and said, "From now on, you and I will shoulder the responsibilities of the prime minister together."

Xu Zuo bowed.

Xue Nanting stood up and returned the greeting.

……

In the northern suburbs of the capital, on the official road.

Three hundred riders stood solemnly by the road, with Lu Chen at the front.

A team gradually came into his sight in the distance, with more than a hundred knights guarding more than ten carriages.

A smile appeared on Lu Chen's face, and he whipped the horse forward.

The motorcade slowly came to a stop.

The knights bowed in unison and said, "Greetings, Duke!"

Lu Chen nodded along the way, walked straight to the middle carriage, and said loudly: "Greetings to father."

The car curtain opened, revealing Lu Tong's slightly plump face.

He looked Lu Chen up and down and said with a smile, "Didn't I ask someone to tell you in advance that you don't have to go out of town to greet me in person?"

Lu Chen seemed to be in an especially relaxed mood today, and said leisurely, "How can that be? My father has traveled through mountains and rivers to come to the capital, and if my son doesn't go out of the city to greet him, won't he be criticized by people all over the world?"

"It's hard for you to be so filial."

Lu Tong was very pleased and joked, "You've made such a scene. When you enter the city later, there will definitely be a lot of people watching. It's better for me to stay in the carriage."

"It turns out that my dad is also shy."

Lu Chen smiled slyly, and then said to the people around him: "Let's set off."

"Yes, sir!" The two groups of knights joined together and marched towards the capital in a mighty force.

Just as Lu Tong said, from the moment they approached the north gate of the capital, this team attracted countless gazes. The usually leisurely North Gate Captain even followed Lu Chen's mount and asked him about his well-being in front of a large group of people.

By the time they passed through the prosperous North City, the news that Duke Qin's father had entered the capital had spread throughout the city, and there was no shortage of discussions even in the palace.

When we arrived at the Duke's Mansion in Yonghuafang, South City, the surroundings became completely quiet.

This time, Lu Tong did not go to Beijing alone. In addition to him, there was a large group of Lu family members, including Lu Tong's cousin Lu Mingxuan.

This man is an honest man, and he runs a cloth shop in Shanyang County, Guangling Prefecture. Because he has no children, he is fortunate to have an heir to the title of Duke - in the future, Lu Chen will inherit his cloth shop, and then he can marry Li Bingxue in the name of concurrent succession.

In other words, Li Bingxue is not Lu Tong's daughter-in-law, but Lu Mingxuan's daughter-in-law.

Of course, this is just an external statement. In reality, even if Lu Mingxuan had ten times the courage, he would not dare to call himself Li Bingxue's father-in-law, let alone take advantage of his seniority in front of Lu Chen.

After a brief greeting, Lu Mingxuan and other members of the Lu family moved into the house that Lu Chen had prepared in advance, waiting patiently for the wedding ceremony in half a month.

Lu Tong lived in an independent courtyard in the Duke's Mansion. He looked at the exquisite and elegant furnishings in the house and smiled, "Chen Shu is thoughtful."

"The Duke specifically instructed that the master's residence should be decorated according to the highest standards. How dare I not pay attention to it?"

The butler Chen Shu smiled with wrinkles all over his face.

Lu Tong nodded and said, "It has not been easy for you these past few years, managing the internal and external affairs of the capital by yourself. I will tell the general managers of the business later that your youngest son should be promoted."

Chen Shu was getting happier and said quickly, "Thank you, Master! I won't disturb you from talking to the Duke. I'll take my leave."

Looking at his departing figure, Lu Tong picked up the teacup and took a sip, then turned his head to look at Lu Chen's face and asked with concern: "The ancients said that it is not easy to live in Kyoto. I think you are deeply touched this time. I vaguely heard that you encountered a lot of troubles?"

"There is no such thing."

Lu Chen denied it, and then said: "Father, don't you know that your son is now a powerful duke with outstanding achievements. He can make the capital tremble with just a stomp of his feet. Who dares to act pretentiously in front of me? Don't worry, your son is the only one who can bully others, and he will never be bullied by others."

"is it?"

Lu Tong looked at him with interest.

Lu Chen said seriously, "Dad, don't believe those rumors. After my wedding with Miss Li is over at the end of the month, we will go back to Jiangbei together."

Lu Tong smiled but said nothing.

Seeing this, Lu Chen changed the subject and asked, "Dad, is this your first time in Beijing?"

Lu Tong did not expose his little trick and replied, "No. I came here more than ten years ago. At that time, I planned to expand my business in Jiangnan. After a visit, I gave up this unrealistic idea and only asked people to buy a few stores, mainly to know the movements of the court in time."

Lu Chen certainly understood why this idea was unrealistic.

Although there were endless fights among the aristocratic families in Jiangnan, they were very united in the issue of xenophobia. If the Lu family business wanted to gain a foothold in Jiangnan, it would inevitably face overwhelming suppression and encirclement.

Lu Tong added: "It seems that after more than a decade, the situation has not changed much."

There was no need to explain Lu Chen's trust in the old man. The two of them had long been able to talk about anything. The reason why he deliberately deviated from the topic today was because he saw signs of aging on Lu Tong's face. The old man was over 50 years old, and in this era he was considered an elderly person. He should be enjoying his grandchildren instead of being worried all day long.

Lu Chen didn't want him to be like Li Daoyan, who had to plan for his descendants and family when he was old and gray, and had a rare leisure time in his life.

Thinking of this, he said frankly: "These aristocratic families are the foundation of the court after the late emperor fled south, and they are also parasites clinging to the big tree of Da Qi. It is difficult to completely eliminate them. The late emperor cut a few times before leaving, and although it frightened some of the scoundrels, it had to stop there. Take the officials in the court for example, even if a minister or a minister is replaced, the replacement is still from aristocratic family."

"The time is still too short."

Lu Tong said with emotion: "It has only been ten years since the last emperor came to power, which is not enough for a generation of officials to grow up to be competent for high-ranking officials in the ministry. However, as long as the current emperor knows how to balance the forces of all parties and gradually promote those officials from humble backgrounds, it will only take fifteen years at most to completely change this situation."

Lu Chen said calmly, "I hope so."

Lu Tong looked at him steadily.

After a moment, he said softly, "Since you came to Beijing, first you and the emperor had a quarrel over whether to reinstate Han Zhongjie, and Old Xiao had to speak up for you. Then there was a storm involving dozens of officials. I thought you would confide in me, but you always avoided talking about it. It seems that the situation is more serious than I expected, otherwise you wouldn't be so cautious, afraid of making me worry."

"Today, there are not many things that can make you so cautious, and it is definitely not that the emperor wants to suppress you. After all, this is an open matter."

"Chen'er, what did the emperor do?"

The middle-aged man looked at his son, who made him so proud. Suddenly, something moved in his heart. His expression became serious and he continued to ask, "Could it be that he is really so cruel as to kill the king and his father?"

Lu was silent, a cold look appeared on his face, and finally he slowly opened his mouth.

"That evening……"

(End of this chapter)