Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather.

Chapter 612: Chaos in the Court
"Your Majesty, the court officials are already waiting outside the palace!" Li Shangxi came before the emperor and said softly.

Chen Zhaojun stood up slowly, but suddenly he staggered and almost fell to the ground.

Li Shangxi hurried forward to support him.

"Cough cough~~" Chen Zhaojun started coughing violently, his face turning red.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty! What are you still standing there for? Bring me some water!" Li Shangxi shouted angrily to the young eunuch beside him.

After drinking a cup of tea, Chen Zhaojun felt much better.

"Help me into the palace!" Chen Zhaojun's voice was a little hoarse.

"Your Majesty, you should put the dragon's body first!" Li Shangxi advised.

"Help me into the palace!" Chen Zhaojun stared at Li Shangxi with red eyes.

Li Shangxi had no choice but to help him into the hall.

After he sat on the dragon throne, all the officials outside the hall came in to meet him.

Before all the officials finished their greetings, Chen Zhaojun said hoarsely: "Okay, let's talk about the King of Dai first!"

"Your Majesty, I impeach the General of Beiyuan Town, Zhou Lan, for holding his troops in his hands and being arrogant, fearing the enemy and not advancing, wasting the court's money and food without any military achievements!"

"Daizhou City was destroyed, King Dai died, Zhou Lan should bear the main responsibility!"

An imperial censor stood up and spoke loudly.

Does the fall of Daizhou City have anything to do with Zhou Lan?
It cannot be said that there is no relationship, but only that there is no direct relationship.

The armies of Beiyuan Town, Longbei Town and Suzhou Town entered Longyuan to suppress the bandits. Longbei Town and Suzhou Town had won battle after battle, killing the enemy thousands of miles away. Suzhou Town had already entered Longyuan from Longxi, and Longbei Town had also penetrated Longyuan and was about to enter Longnan. Only Zhou Lan was still trapped in the northern part of Longyuan.

If Zhou Lan had ignored the lives of the refugees and continued to wipe out the bandits along the way, she might have already entered Longnan by now.

This might help resolve the siege of Daizhou.

But can this be blamed on Zhou Lan?
Chen Zhaojun remained silent.

He didn't know the situation Zhou Lan was facing, nor was he clear about the situation of the bandits in Longyuan.

He seemed to have lost control of things outside of Kyoto.

Because the Secret Guard was abolished.

After Wang Zhongzhi passed away, most of the Secret Guards were disbanded.

Lu Hua also left the Secret Guard. As for the reason, it was because every emperor has his own ministers. After Chen Zhaojun ascended the throne, he placed many of his own people in the Secret Guard, which resulted in many old members of the Secret Guard being squeezed out.

Chen Zhaojun was different from Emperor Yanping. Emperor Yanping had only been the crown prince for a few months before he ascended the throne and did not have much power of his own.

Chen Zhaojun had been the crown prince for twenty years, and he had a large number of old ministers living in his Eastern Palace.

It was not actually wrong for him to place his own people in the Secret Guards, but he was too impatient and eager to have his own people take control of the Secret Guards.

But the Secret Guard was not an organization that could be controlled in a short period of time.

What’s more, they are a group of people who are unfamiliar with the affairs of the Secret Guard. They make the already dilapidated Secret Guard even more dilapidated.

The decline of the Secret Guard left Chen Zhaojun without eyes and ears, and he did not have a clear understanding of many things outside the court.

At the same time, civil and military officials were also suppressing the Secret Guard. Originally, the Secret Guard's spies were spread all over the world, but now even the Kyoto has become a sieve.

Chen Zhaojun thought this was a normal situation, but in fact it was not normal.

"I second the proposal!"

"I second the proposal!"

More than a dozen civil servants stood up and followed suit to impeach Zhou Lan.

However, no one in the Military Merit Corps spoke up to defend Zhou Lan.

The morale of the noble group was broken and their spirits were in disarray.

Chen Zhaojun felt very suffocated when listening to the noisy civil servants.

"Shut up, everyone!"

He let out a hoarse roar.

All officials were silent.

Chen Zhaojun looked at all the civil and military officials in the court with gloomy eyes.

"Prime Minister, you speak!"

The Prime Minister Wang Chonggu stepped out and said, "Your Majesty, I think the most urgent task is to mobilize a large army to encircle and suppress the bandits in Longnan!"

Wang Chonggu, the second place in the first class of the imperial examination in the 30th year of Chengping, yes, he and Lu Wenyuan were from the same year. Back then, Lu Wenyuan was the third place in the imperial examination and he was the second place. But now he is the chief minister of the cabinet, the minister of Zhongji Palace, the prince's tutor, while Lu Wenyuan is only the governor of Liaoyuan.

The reason!
Lu Wenyuan is from the Liaodong school, while Wang Chonggu is from the Jiangnan school.

Wang Chonggu's official career was extremely smooth. He first stayed in the Hanlin Academy for three years, and then moved around in the six ministries for twelve years. He then became the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, the Minister of Rites, and entered the cabinet.

In just twenty years he entered the cabinet, and in less than thirty years he became the prime minister.

His contemporary, the top scholar Liu Shiyan was dismissed from office ten years ago because of a court struggle, and the third scholar Lu Wenyuan had been wandering around Liaodong, but he was the only one who was promoted step by step.

"What do you suggest?" Chen Zhaojun asked.

"I think we should establish a governor of Longyuan to be in charge of the military and political affairs of the three provinces of Longyuan, Longxi and Longnan. We can mobilize troops from Beiyuan Town, Longbei Town and Suzhou Town to encircle and suppress the bandits and resettle the refugees!" said Wang Chonggu.

Chen Zhaojun nodded slightly. He finally heard a relatively reliable proposal.

"Who is suitable to be the Governor of Longyuan?"

Wang Chonggu said in a deep voice: "I think the Minister of War Du Hesheng can take on this important task!"

Du Hesheng, the third place in the imperial examination in the third year of Yanping, had a smoother official career than Wang Chonggu.

A person who has never led troops was appointed as the Minister of War, and a person who has never been to the battlefield was appointed as the governor of the three towns to encircle and suppress bandits. No one knows what Wang Chonggu was thinking.

However, Chen Zhaojun actually agreed to Wang Chonggu's proposal.

Since Chen Zhaojun had never led troops or fought on the battlefield, he felt that as the governor of the three towns, he only needed to coordinate all matters and did not need to lead troops and fight on the battlefield himself.

Therefore, it is appropriate to let the Minister of War to govern the troops of the three towns.

"allow!"

"The Minister of War Du Hesheng is promoted to Right Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, and is granted a royal flag and banner. He is in charge of the military and political affairs of Longyuan, Longxi, and Longnan, and is the governor of the troops of Beiyuan Town, Longbei Town, and Suzhou Town!"

"I obey your order!" Du Hesheng stepped out with a happy face to receive the order.

Chen Zhaojun thought for a moment, and then said, "Transfer Liaoyuan Provincial Governor Lu Wenyuan to be the Minister of War, in charge of military affairs, and promote Ningyuan Prefect Lin Zhan to be the Minister of Liaoyuan Provincial Government!"

He finally planned to use the good ministers left to him by Emperor Yanping, but he only transferred Lu Wenyuan to the capital and did not allow Lin Zhan to come to the capital.

The most speechless thing is that he actually let Lu Wenyuan be the Minister of War. Lu Wenyuan was powerful, but he had never led troops, never been on the battlefield, and he had not even been a governor of a border town.

Moreover, it was Lu Wenyuan who came to the capital on his own. Given the current situation in the court, Lu Wenyuan would probably be unable to handle the situation alone in Kyoto.

Perhaps Chen Zhaojun thought too highly of Lu Wenyuan and felt that Lu Wenyuan could resolve the current situation in the court.

……

The turmoil caused by Chen Zhaoxuan's death went far beyond this. In mid-June, Zhou Lan received simultaneous reprimands from the Cabinet, the Ministry of War, and the Governor's Office in Yijun Prefecture, expressing serious dissatisfaction with her inaction.

At the same time, Du Hesheng, the governor of the three towns and three provinces, gave orders to Zhou Lan before he arrived in Longyuan, ordering Zhou Lan to immediately lead the army south to encircle and suppress the bandits.

However, at this time Zhou Lan had just resettled 300,000 refugees in Longyang Prefecture and Yijun Prefecture, and her soldiers were helping the refugees dig wells or dredge irrigation canals.

If we leave at this time, let's not talk about whether these 300,000 refugees can grow food. What will happen if bandits enter Longyang Prefecture and Yijun Prefecture after the army leaves?

Once the bandits enter these two prefectures again, the refugees will definitely not be able to farm in peace and may be taken away by the bandits again.

In this way, Zhou Lan's three and a half months of hard work would be in vain, and the food she had mobilized from Beiyuan Town and Chongshan Town would all be wasted. Without fundamentally solving the problem of refugees, even if more food was given to the refugees, it would be wasted.

Only when the refugees are settled down and grow food can these 300,000 refugees live in peace.

Moreover, God in Longyang Prefecture and Yijun Prefecture was kind this year, with several moderate rains falling within two months. Although the drought was not completely solved, it greatly alleviated the drought in the two prefectures.

Zhou Lan naturally didn't want to miss such a rare opportunity.

And she was not idle during this short period of time. Although she did not go to encircle and suppress the bandits, she had been gathering refugees.

At present, she has resettled refugees from several counties in the south in Yijun Prefecture.

However, at this time, Zhou Lan was a little overwhelmed by the rebukes and orders from various court departments and the governor.

Suddenly, she seemed to have become the target of public criticism.

In the study of Yijun Prefecture government office.

Zhou Lan sat at the desk, looking at the documents and transfer orders in her hands, her expression becoming increasingly ugly.

Her temples had turned white at some point, and deep wrinkles appeared at the corners of her eyes.

Time is like a knife, leaving deep grooves on her face.

"General, should we send troops?" Wang Yunqiao stood behind Zhou Lan, looking at the order issued by the governor, and asked softly.

"How do we send out troops? Do we have any soldiers available now?" Zhou Lan asked.

Wang Yunqiao asked, "But if we don't send troops, will the governor have any objections?"

Zhou Lan took a deep breath. She also wanted to send troops, but she really had no soldiers available. Now the soldiers were busy resettling the refugees and could not spare any troops to continue the encirclement and suppression of the bandits.

And she didn't have enough food.

Again, what she wanted was not only to wipe out those bandits, but also to make the refugees settle down.

"Send a document to the governor and ask him to allocate money and food to us. How can we send troops without money and food?" Zhou Lan said coldly.

It has been more than three months, and the court has not given her a penny of money or food.

Just asking her to suppress the bandits but not giving her any money or food, isn't this bullshit?

"I'm afraid this will anger the governor!" Wang Yunqiao said worriedly.

"Let him be angry, what can he do to me?" Zhou Lan was not afraid at all.

Wang Yunqiao nodded, "Okay then, I'll arrange for someone to ask the Governor for food and fodder!"

Zhou Lan suddenly said, "Wait, send someone to find out about the King of Dai!"

Wang Yunqiao said calmly: "I know!"

Speaking of which, Chen Zhaoxuan is Wang Yunqiao's junior brother, but she doesn't have much affection for this junior brother because she has never met Chen Zhaoxuan.

Rather than worrying about Chen Zhaoxuan's life or death, Wang Yunqiao was actually more worried about whether Yang Zhengshan would be sad after learning about this.

However, her worry only lasted for a short while. After all, she had a lot of things on hand and could not take care of other things.

……

In Chongshan Town, Yang Chengye also received the news that Chen Zhaoxuan had died in battle.

Compared to Wang Yunqiao, Yang Chengye and Chen Zhaoxuan are much more familiar.

When the two were in Kyoto, they often went to the Yang family's guard camp for training together.

Yang Chengye was in a bad mood when he suddenly heard that Chen Zhaoxuan had died in battle.

"Even my uncle was killed by the bandits!"

In the camp of Zhenbiaoying, Yang Chengye said sadly.

"My Lord, do you want to send a message to the old master about this?" Yang Dafu asked softly.

Yang Chengye was silent for a while, then said, "Send a message, but Grandpa should not be on Xingyue Island anymore."

After all, Chen Zhaoxuan is Yang Zhengshan's apprentice, and the relationship between master and apprentice is still very strong.

Yang Chengye didn't know how Yang Zhengshan would view this matter, but he thought it would be better not to hide it.

At this moment, a personal attendant ran into the hall and reported: "My Lord, someone outside the camp handed over a visiting card!"

"A visiting card!"

Yang Chengye took the visiting card, opened it and took a look.

"Uncle An? Why is he here?"

The person who came was none other than An Chenhui.

Although he didn't know why An Chenhui came, Yang Chengye immediately went outside the camp to greet An Chenhui.

"I've met Uncle Master!"

"I've met my brother!"

The two men greeted each other and then smiled.

An Chenhui is Yang Zhengshan's apprentice, so in terms of seniority he is naturally Yang Chengye's uncle.

But An Chenhui is Jiang Miao's husband, so it's not a disadvantage for him to call Yang Chengye "big brother".

The two of them laughed and then went into the camp together.

"Why is Uncle Master here?"

"My great-grandfather asked me to come!"

"Senior An? Does he have any instructions?"

An Chenhui looked a little solemn. He handed a letter to Yang Chengye and said, "This is a letter from my great-grandfather!"

"For me?" Yang Chengye was a little surprised.

"Well, it's for you!"

Yang Chengye opened the letter full of doubts. He was very puzzled that An Yuxing would write to him.

However, after reading the letter, his confusion turned into shock.

"Has the situation in Kyoto become so bad?"

An Yuxing didn't write much in the letter, but he made one thing clear, which is that the Dayong Dynasty might be in danger of extinction.

Don't think that just because An Yuxing doesn't worry about state affairs, he doesn't know what's going on in the court. These old antiques all know it clearly.

"Oh, I don't know either, but my great-grandfather's guess should not be nonsense!" said An Chenhui.

Yang Chengye nodded and put away the letter. "Is cousin Miao'er here?"

"They are all here, inside the city wall. I came here only to settle them down!" said An Chenhui.

They came to Chongshan Pass to seek refuge.

Chen Zhaoxuan’s death served as a wake-up call to An Yuxing, so he sent An Chenhui and his family to Chongshan Town.

An Yuxing himself was not afraid. Even if Kyoto was in chaos, it would be easy for him to save his life with his abilities. However, the same could not be said for An Chenhui's family.

Now An Chenhui also has a son and two daughters. An Yuxing attaches great importance to his children and is afraid that An Chenhui's children will be harmed because of the chaotic situation.

Yang Chengye thought about it and felt that he could not interfere in the affairs of the court, so he could only say: "Let's go, let's go back to the city first. Cousin Miao'er is here, and as her brother, I naturally have to entertain her well!"

(End of this chapter)