Chapter 193 Report to the Old Superintendent
"Ah, Master, why are you so wet?"
On the other side, Xu Mingyuan returned home, and the servant who opened the door was shocked.
"I drank too much and accidentally stepped into the water. It's okay." Xu Mingyuan looked calm, stopped the servant from calling others, and immediately asked, "Is anyone coming to the house today?"
The servant led him in and said, "Grand Scholar Chen's servant sent someone here with a message."
"Oh?" Xu Mingyuan raised his eyebrows with some anticipation, "What did the teacher say?"
The servant said: "I urge you, young master, to do more homework and less to drink and have fun with others."
"Nothing else?"
"...No more."
Xu Mingyuan was silent for a moment, and then smiled, but there was a bit of playfulness, a bit of sadness, and a bit of viciousness in the smile, but it was not something that the servant could see.
"I know, I will go to greet the teacher tomorrow, and I won't drink any wine." Xu Mingyuan said.
Then I returned to the room, scrubbed myself, and put on dry clothes.
Sitting alone at the table, staring at the face in the bronze mirror that belonged to me but looked like a clown, he whispered: "You forced me to do it."
Xu Mingyuan took out the paper and spread it flat on the table.
He began to recall the bad things he knew about those Li Dang scholars.
Including today, all the "friends" who cursed Zhao Duan in the box with him were also recorded.
Finally, he used his wrist force and wrote the words "Chen Zhengru". The face in the bronze mirror was a bit ferocious.
"Since there is no turning back for me, you can help me one last time and make a vote of my welcome."
He planned to hand over all the evidence against his teachers and classmates to Zhao Duan for help.
…
…
A night of silence.
The next day, the sky was bright and sunny, and after the dog days came out, the air was not that hot.
Zhao Duan took the car early in the morning and let Xiao Wang take him. He first went to buy some dishes slowly and then waited until noon before arriving at the White Horse Prison.
Houya.
"Why are you here again?"
The old eunuch, wearing a baggy official robe, with frost-white temples and sunken eye sockets, frowned with a look of disgust.
Zhao Duan laughed and said: "Isn't it true that I have been free recently and have nothing to do, so I come to you for a drink? After all, I am still the messenger of our White Horse Prison."
Sun Lianying said disdainfully:
"It's more like having a drink at our house."
Zhao Duan only brought vegetables every time, and then drank his osmanthus wine. Originally, he drank the wine by himself, and he could drink it slowly for a month.
As a result, Zhao Duan killed at least two altars every time he came.
"These are all given by the emperor..." The old supervisor muttered reluctantly, but he still turned to get it.
Zhao Duan smiled and said: "No matter what, next time I make a meritorious service and go to your majesty to ask for a reward, I don't want anything else but wine. I'll make up for it for you."
The old supervisor came back with the wine jar and sat down at the stone table in the courtyard as usual. Zhao Duan had already laid out the delicacies he had brought from the restaurant and muttered:
"Making meritorious service? I see that you have been living a leisurely life these days, but you have no intention of doing meritorious service at all. Why? You weren't hungry before, but now you're not in a hurry?"
Zhao Duan filled it up for him personally, and pointed to the sky with a smile: "Nowadays, gods are fighting in the court, am I not trying to avoid their edge?"
The old supervisor snorted softly:
"It's good to know. The New Deal has something to do with you. If you get involved, once you are pushed to the forefront, it will be difficult for gods to save you."
Zhao Duan nodded and asked about the current situation in the court while eating.
Sun Lianying shook her head and said:
"It's not optimistic. After all, Your Majesty has only been on the throne for a short period of time. In your new policy, the opening of the market is better. At least it is a soft knife. People outside have not yet understood the essence, but it is basically done.
However, it is very difficult to pass the law test and work as a co-worker...
You, there are too many interests that have been touched this time. Many of the officials in the DPRK and the Central Government are backed by local wealthy families. The worse ones are also gentry and came from official backgrounds... How many of them are from a poor family like Korean Congee?
The larger the wealthy family, the more resistant it is. Although His Majesty has gained the support of some people, it is ultimately beyond the power of the 'imperial party' to compete with the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty.
From what we can see, in the end, if His Majesty imposes his order, it will definitely be implemented. The ministers will never disobey the order openly, but it is difficult to say whether it can be "implemented" and how much it will be "implemented". "
Although he has been in the palace all year round, the old eunuch's wisdom is far underestimated and he sighed:
"No matter how good the method is, it still needs people to use it. No matter how strong your Majesty's authority is, outside the capital, you still have to rely on officials, large and small, to do things... As the saying goes, it is better to be an official than to be in charge.
In the final analysis, if those officials who come from wealthy families and hold important positions do not nod their heads, even if they continue to implement it, they will be acting contrary to their will and full of mistakes and omissions. Your Majesty must not be having a hard time these days. "
Zhao Duan listened silently.
He was not surprised by today's situation.
As Sun Lianying said, this game of chess is not easy to play.
In the history he was familiar with, every change was met with internal resistance.
Even if it is a centralized emperor, he has great power and dares not to disobey, but once the interests of his ministers are touched, they will mostly fail.
What's more, the Empress?
"Hey, why are you so taciturn this time? No, you're not looking for trouble with our family, are you?" The old supervisor narrowed his eyes and noticed the elements.
Zhao Duan said with a smile: "It's not a big deal in my humble position. I'm just asking about some things. Well, you must be very familiar with the affairs of the palace... Concubine Yuan Guifei, are you familiar with her origins?"
Concubine Yuan Gui?
The old supervisor was half awake from the wine. He sat up slightly and stared at him:
“What exactly do you want to say?”
Sun Lianying read a familiar flavor from the smile on Zhao Duan's face.
Every time the other party wanted to scheme against someone and came to him for help, it was like this.
"Who do you want to deal with?" the old supervisor asked in a deep voice, his cloudy eyes looking very sharp: "It actually involves the palace?"
In the past, Zhao Duan's troubles were all done outside the palace.
But this time, it actually involves a noble concubine...the nature is completely different.
Zhao Duan was silent for a moment and spit out a name: "Li Yinglong."
The old supervisor's pupils shrank, and he sobered up from the remaining half of the wine: "Are you crazy?! Did your Majesty know?"
Halfway through, the old eunuch who was the empress’s confidant shook his head and said:
"No! His Majesty cannot let you deal with him, especially at this time. Are you acting on your own initiative? Because he has offended you? Wait... Do you already have some information about him? Is it related to Concubine Yuan?"
The more the old eunuch spoke, the more solemn his face became, with awe and surprise:
"What is the connection between Concubine Yuan and Li Yinglong?"
This was information that he had never known.
Zhao Duan's hands were stained with oil. He slowly tore open a roast duck with his hands, handed half of it to the old supervisor, then tore open another piece of meat and ate it. He behaved calmly and said:
"Sir, are you sure you want to listen?"
The old supervisor was silent.
Then, he slowly sat back in the chair and narrowed his eyes.
After a while, he said:
"In short, don't think about bringing down Li Yinglong at this time. Even if you can get enough evidence to send him to prison, you can't use it."
As he said this, Xu was afraid that he wouldn't listen, so he tried to persuade him earnestly: "It's not that I want you to be patient, but that a little impatience will mess up the big plan.
Behind Li Yinglong is Li Yanfu and the entire Li Party. And His Majesty is now promoting the New Deal. At this time, it is definitely not the time to start a war with the Li Party.
If you attack Li Yinglong, it will be tantamount to forcing the emperor and his ministers to fight. When the time comes, there will be a turmoil that shakes the nine palaces and eighteen palaces of Yu Dynasty. The government cannot afford such a torment! The New Deal cannot afford it!
Do you think His Majesty doesn’t want to touch him? It’s not that you can’t move, but you have to consider the cost! Consider the timing! When to move and when not to move! "
Zhao Duan ate the roast duck calmly, and even took the time to pour a glass of wine for the parched old supervisor. Then he smiled and said:
"That's what you said."
Sun Lianying was stunned for a moment. Seeing his calm attitude, she suddenly calmed down:
"Are you not prepared to bring down Li Yinglong now?"
Zhao Duan smiled and said:
"Do you think I am reckless?"
Of course not... Although Zhao Duan always gave people a domineering appearance and dared to offend anyone, Sun Lianying knew very well that this was all disguise.
The boy in front of him was obviously young, but he had the sense of smell and calmness of an old fox in court.
Any seemingly reckless behavior has been weighed in the mind, and even treated as a part of the whole chess game.
A natural chess player - this is Yuan Li's evaluation of him.
"What exactly do you want to do?"
Sun Lianying actually couldn't understand.
Although he didn't want to admit it, with his eyesight for half his life as an official, he couldn't figure out this kid's true intention.
Zhao Duan picked up the handkerchief, wiped his hands slowly, and said:
“I’m not sure yet, some ideas only exist in my mind and only exist as hypotheses, and they need to be verified step by step.
Whether it will be successful or not, or what the chances are, I cannot tell.
But in the end, you just need to know that I am loyal to Your Majesty, and everything I do is to share your worries. "
Sun Lianying fell silent again for a long time and said:
"Our family can trust you, right?"
Zhao Duan showed his white teeth and smiled: "Of course."
"Okay." Sun Lianying seemed to have made a decision. He squinted his eyes and said:
"We don't ask you what your kid is hiding. We don't know much about Concubine Yuan. Most of them are superficial. On the surface, even your imperial office can know.
If anything else, she has been depressed since entering the palace and never competed with other concubines for favor. The other concubines all dreamed of giving birth to dragon sons, but Concubine Yuan rarely pleased the late emperor. "
Zhao Duan said:
"Will Concubine Yuan leave the palace soon?"
Sun Lianying looked at him: "When the late emperor was still here, the concubines rarely had the opportunity to leave the palace. But this time is different from the past. After His Majesty ascended the throne, the concubines in the harem were harmonious, and Your Majesty was much more relaxed towards them.
The concubines often had the opportunity to go home to visit their relatives, which was arranged by the ceremonial supervisor in the palace. "
After the empress ascended the throne, the three thousand beauties in the harem suddenly had no one to "compete for favor" with.
A group of female creatures lived in harmony, leaving only boredom and loneliness.
Perhaps the empress was also a woman and was very open-minded about concubines leaving the palace.
Zhao Duan asked again: "So, will Concubine Yuan leave the palace in the near future?"
Sun Lianying was silent for a moment and said:
"When do you need her to leave the palace?"
Zhao Duan: "Not sure yet, but if everything goes well, it will probably be within this month."
Sun Lianying: "Our family has been in the palace for many years. Even though we are now in the White Horse Prison, we can still talk about such trivial matters."
Zhao Duan: "Will it alarm some people?"
Sun Lianying: "Things are done in secret. If you need it, even Mo Zhaorong, who is in charge of the Sixth Shang, will not notice anything strange."
Does this old man have such terrifying control over the harem?
Having been out of the palace for two years, I still have the confidence to say that as long as he intervenes, not even Mochou will be able to notice what is going on in the harem...
Zhao Duan took a deep breath, feeling that his "old leader" was becoming more and more unfathomable: "In that case, I despise my position and I would like to toast you."
The old supervisor laughed and cursed:
"Don't borrow flowers to offer to the Buddha. Don't forget that this time you have performed a meritorious service and asked Your Majesty for a drink for our family."
"It's a deal."
“A thousand pieces of gold cannot be moved.”
(End of chapter)