Chapter 66 The empress is worried, and the minister extends the invitation
When Zhao Duan and Pei Siniang reached a cooperation and completed the first step of the plan.
royal palace.
In the imperial study room, a conversation was also going on.
"...The above is the trend of the various ministries and yamen after today's morning meeting."
Wearing a female official's robe and a wingless black veil on her head, the androgynous "female prime minister" Mo Zhaorong closed the book in her hand.
He raised his head and looked at the fairy-like figure standing by the window with his back to her.
There was no hiding in her eyes that she was both a woman and admired the beauty of the empress.
Empress Dayu placed her hands gently on the window sill and looked at a lake in the distance. Her white clothes were whiter than the snow, and the scenery of the lake and mountains was reflected in her eyes.
He never looked back, only lightly opened his red lips:
"How is the Privy Council?"
"Everyone is already in danger. I'm afraid that with such a huge momentum, it will be harder to catch the mole."
In the past two days, the empress made a big fuss about the case of the firearms craftsman, and the court was in turmoil.
Not only the Privy Council, but also the civil and military officials of the entire dynasty kept a low profile and kept their tails between their legs, for fear of offending the empress at this juncture.
Xu Zhenguan shook his head and sighed: "When those people from Prince Jing's Mansion were arrested, the ghosts in the court had already shrunk their hands and feet and hid under the water. I had no hope of uncovering them."
Just like what the empress and Yuan Li discussed when they were playing chess in the garden that day.
In the current situation, Xu Zhenguan focuses on "defending" rather than "offending". It is not easy to seize a thread and pull out a large group of internal thieves.
Besides, is such a crude method really the best solution?
not necessarily!
As an emperor, you must not only keep the sand out of your eyes, but also learn to turn a blind eye and close one...
This is what she learned from reading Taizu's daily life records.
It is unrealistic to expect all officials to be loyal.
The correct way to control is to allow the people below to have different intentions.
Killing a chicken to scare the monkey from time to time is just some kind of unspoken tacit understanding between the monarch and his ministers.
Therefore, when everyone in the civil and military dynasties thought that Xu Zhenguan was trying his best to screen for moths.
Little did he know that the empress's true purpose was to frighten the officials and make the "ghosts" completely dormant and quiet for a period of time.
And she teamed up with Yuan Li to weave the large strangulation net, and quietly spread it out under the cover of this monstrous storm.
The plank road is built openly and the warehouse is secretly built.
Mochou said with a smile: "Your Majesty's move will far exceed many people's expectations."
Xu Zhenguan is not optimistic:
"Have you received any news from Mr. Yuan? How is the progress?"
Mochou said hesitantly: "We have never seen that Minister Pei has deep roots in the court. It is not easy with Yuan Gong's ability to move him. However, after planning for so long, there must be only one 'opportunity' missing. "
The opportunity... Xu Zhenguan's beautiful eyes flashed helplessly.
As the mainstay of the "Li Party", Mr. Pei has been in business for many years. How can he find a breakthrough so easily?
If her power is stable, she can use her position as emperor to kill people in the name of "unnecessary", but her foothold is not stable...
Even monks in the heavenly realm are helpless in the face of the court situation. This is not a game that can be played with violence.
Xu Zhenguan suddenly had a sudden impulse:
"Tell me, if Zhao Duan comes to bite, can he create a gap?"
Mochou said helplessly: "Your Majesty, you may not think too highly of this person! How can a petty fight with the Zhang brothers compare with the bloody battles in the temple?"
She felt that the empress had been fed ecstasy again, and her impression of Zhao Duan became even worse.
"I'm just talking casually." Xu Zhenguan said with a smile in her beautiful eyes.
"I just thought you had a bad impression of him, so I just teased you. How could I not know that he, a little ant, is not capable of participating in such a big event?"
Although Zhao Duan performed twice in succession, the empress was impressed.
But in the final analysis, they are all still clever and cannot be put on the stage.
He pretended to be powerful, deceiving a small boss to please her... and dealing with the two Zhang brothers were just "interesting talks".
Being implicated in the "Prince Jing's Mansion" case was purely accidental.
Of course she would not be confused, thinking that Zhao Duan, who was a little clever, really had the ability to participate in the storm that strangled Pei Shilang.
Yuan Li would not even know how to tell the empress about his unintentional move.
"This slave is just making an objective assessment," Mochou breathed a sigh of relief and said coldly:
"He is definitely not a good person. Your Majesty, please don't let his appearance deceive you."
Xu Zhenguan smiled.
At this moment, the breeze was blowing outside the window, and three thousand black hairs were fluttering. The empress narrowed her eyes:
"Is the wind blowing?"...
White Horse Prison belongs to Zhao Duan's duty room.
"He's not in now?"
The old eunuch with gray temples and sunken eyes suddenly visited, alarming the white servants who stayed behind.
A servant said: "My envoy went out in the morning."
Sun Lianying frowned: "Where have you been?"
Although the White Horse Supervisor is not an official on duty, he is more flexible when going out.
However, you cannot skip work at will, and you must keep a record of your whereabouts when you go out.
The servant trembled and held out a blank registration booklet:
"Your Majesty never likes to write these things."
"Hmph," Sun Lianying looked slightly displeased and asked, "Did he say what he was going to do or who he was going to meet that morning?"
The servant said: "Your friend Qin Qiu came to your door this morning..."
What follows is a detailed description.
And Sun Lianying's face became uglier and uglier as she listened.
In the end, he walked away without saying a word.
The old eunuch originally learned about Zhao Duan's meritorious service, and his impression of him changed even more.
He thought that after going through the "Zhuang Xiaocheng" case, he had a profound enlightenment and the prodigal son turned back.
Therefore, I came here in a good mood and wanted to give him a few words.
This was to prevent Zhao Duan from being too young and ignorant of some of the unspoken rules in official circles, and thereby stepping into a trap.
But after learning that he was once again hanging out with Qin Qiu, a dandy he despised, they even hooked up and called each other brothers, and even openly skipped work to go out and have fun.
The impression that had been reversed became worse again.
On Sun Lianying's weathered face, there was disappointment hidden in her old eyes.
"The prodigal son returns? Is it just a flash in the pan?"
"Or is there another reason?"
Not sure...then, let's have another look.
He shook his head and walked back to the back office, pretending that he had not been here today.
…
…
The next few days were uneventful.
Zhao Duan occasionally hangs out with Qin Qiu, with the purpose of paralyzing people who may be spying on him secretly.
The dude character cannot be destroyed, it must be maintained.
Only in this way can people be sure that there is no way that a villain like him would join forces with Yuan Li to work for the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
There has been no news from Pei Siniang, and she has not appeared in the theater again.
In terms of practice, I have been trekking in the desert, which is boring.
Until another morning.
Zhao Duan pushed open the bedroom door and felt refreshed by the cold and wet wind outside the window.
Dark clouds came last night, and today it is drizzling, and it rains lightly again in Beijing.
Eugene Hua hurriedly walked through the courtyard in the rain. The beautiful woman who still had charm was holding an oil-paper umbrella. She had changed into a skirt made of Sichuan brocade, and her beauty became more and more beautiful.
Due to the wind blowing on the umbrella surface, half of the body was slightly wet.
"Why are aunties here?"
Zhao Duan raised his eyebrows, raised his hands to put on his inner coat, and slowly buttoned up the buttons one by one.
Eugene stopped outside the door, turned sideways to avoid looking at her stepson, and took out a dry letter from her arms with one hand: "Just now someone knocked on the door and handed over this letter. I want you to open it. My aunt is worried. It's an important matter, and my servants are delaying me, so..."
"knew."
Zhao Duan took it, tore it open and scanned it, with a flash of light in his eyes, he said to Eugene Hanamichi, who was waiting under the porch: "I didn't eat breakfast at home, put some meat buns on it for me, I'll have it soon." Go out."
The letter was sent by Pei Siniang.
Speaking of his father, Minister Pei has agreed to meet him.
But he was asked to go there alone and in a low-key manner, and a time and place were given, just this morning.
“Rainy days are good for fishing…”
Zhao Duan took a deep breath and clenched his fists:
"After waiting for so many days, the big fish finally took the bait."
(End of chapter)