Chai Zongjian nodded and said, "Then I will go and rest for a while."

He turned around and went to the apse, which was also the place where the emperor worked daily, and all kinds of furnishings were available.

When he arrived at the bamboo collapse and was about to lie down with his clothes on, the back door suddenly opened, and Fu Liying came in with palace attendants. She stood up and asked, "Why hasn't the Queen Mother settled down to sleep yet?"

Fu Liying replied: "Your Majesty has not rested yet, how can I sleep?"

"I'm just about to rest. Lieutenant Zhao and Yu Fengchang are guarding the front hall for me. They will call me when it's time to burn paper."

"The Ai family asked people to prepare some food. Your Majesty, you should eat some and sleep."

Chai Zongjian touched his belly and said, "Okay, Queen Mother, if you don't say anything, I forgot that I haven't eaten anything all day. Please serve it to me quickly."

He sat behind the table. Fu Liying immediately asked the palace servants to bring the food, which was some appetizing porridge and side dishes. Chai Zongxun took a big sip from the porridge bowl and asked: "Your Majesty, can you eat with me after dinner?"

."

Fu Liying replied: "The Ai family has already used it, so your majesty can use it for himself."

Chai Zongjian said to Li Tingfang: "Bring these to Lieutenant Zhao and Yu Fengchang."

Fu Liying frowned and asked: "It's not just Zhao Taiwei and Yu Fengchang who are accompanying His Majesty in the vigil, why are they only given to them?"

Chai Zongjian said seriously: "Actually, I just want to give it to Captain Zhao. It's hard not to give it to him while Yu Fengchang is awake."

Fu Liying's beautiful eyebrows knitted together, "Why did Your Majesty only reward Taiwei Zhao with meals?"

Chai Zongjian replied: "It's because Captain Zhao is more loyal than others."

"Ah! Why does Your Majesty think that Captain Zhao is the most loyal?"

Chai Zongjian replied: "Today, all the ministers took turns to express their condolences to Emperor Daxing, and Taiwei Zhao cried the most sadly. Everyone watching at the vigil at night was soundly asleep, but Taiwei Zhao still insisted on accompanying me after he had come back from thousands of miles away.

Just now he advised me to rest early so as not to delay tomorrow's important events, isn't he still loyal?"

Fu Liying advised: "The Ai family are just women from the harem, and they should not interfere in the affairs of the previous dynasty. However, Your Majesty is still young and ignorant of world affairs, so the Ai family must say a few words."

Chai Zongjian immediately raised his hands and replied: "Please give me a lesson from the Queen Mother."

"Your Majesty does not know that the world is treacherous. Emperor Daxing could not tell whether the ministers of the previous dynasty were loyal or treacherous, and he could tell clearly. The capriciousness of the human heart is the most unreliable thing in the world.

Your Majesty did not dare to fully trust Captain Zhao, whom you said was the most loyal. Although he was given an official title, he did not dare to hand over all military power to him.

Your Majesty has not yet taken charge of the government, and you must not be partial when treating your ministers. Does your Majesty think that others are really asleep? Today, you gave Captain Zhao food but not others. Tomorrow, it will be known to everyone in the court, and the courtiers will think that Your Majesty favors Mrs. Zhao.

Lieutenant, you should not be able to steer the ship according to the wind. As time goes by, it will strengthen its momentum and destroy the balance in the court."

If the new emperor is just an ignorant child of six or seven years old, he can be manipulated by his ministers. However, a ten-year-old emperor is different. He has gone from ignorance to sensible age, and will have to go through the rebellion of adolescence in two years.

, but I just want to try everything, and it’s definitely not easy to serve.

"Thank you, Queen Mother, for your teaching. I won't send meals to Lieutenant Zhao."

Fu Liying smiled and said: "The Ai family is not asking His Majesty not to reward Captain Zhao, but to reward them all."

"I understand. Then ask the dining room to prepare a meal like this for each of the ministers who are keeping watch."

Fu Liying praised: "Your Majesty is wise. The art of the emperor is actually a way of checks and balances. Even if your Majesty is partial, it should not be too obvious."

"Well, the Queen Mother is a deep palace woman, so why does she know this? Can you teach me?"

"The Ai family can only talk about military affairs on paper. As long as they have more books? Especially if they read more history books, they will understand these principles. They will be useful when His Majesty takes charge."

Old Mutou nodded and said: "The Queen Mother is indeed from a wealthy family, and she knows a lot of principles. In fact, I also have some suggestions for Your Majesty? I don't know if I should say it or not."

"Just say it!"

"Although your Majesty cannot manage politics, you must not say a word in court in the future. No matter what you say, you must say a few words. Even if you say the wrong words, it doesn't matter. You must also remember the names of the ministers, especially the generals.

, it’s best to tell them their origins and achievements.”

Chai Zongjian said in surprise: "Why do you say the same thing as Emperor Daxing? What's the truth in it?"

Old Mu replied: "It doesn't make sense? If Your Majesty doesn't say a word in the court, over time, the ministers will try their best to treat Your Majesty as a clay puppet, and even loyal ministers will turn into traitors and bully Your Majesty."

Chai Zongjian nodded heavily and said: "It seems reasonable? Then why do you need to remember the minister's name and achievements?"

"I can't explain this in one or two sentences, but it will make them more loyal!"

Fu Liying said: "Old Mu is worthy of having stayed with Taizu and Emperor Daxing. Your Majesty will ask him for advice more in the future."

"I don't understand the principles of governing the country? It's just some small tricks of human affairs, which are really not worth mentioning... The Great Zhou Dynasty was not only as big as the imperial court, but also had many vassal towns. Zhang Yongde, Li Chongjin, and Xu Xian were all once Dahang emperors.

Your Majesty’s close ministers, as well as the King of Wei, are your Majesty’s grandfather. Your Majesty can often ask them to report on their duties or come to the court to see you.”

Zhang Yongde and Li Chongjin were suspected of being princes, and Xu Xian had many enemies who were hated by the ministers. Together with Fu Yanqing, who was treacherous but not courageous, they led the army with great power outside, so they were not a weight to check and balance the imperial court.

What Old Mu Tou said was actually Chai Rong's original intention, but Chai Zong admonished him and said, "Xu Xian can't do it. He cannibalizes people. I would never dare to call him back to Tokyo!"

Fu Liying's face darkened and she couldn't help asking: "Where did your majesty hear this?"

Old Mutou also asked seriously: "Who told your Majesty these words?"

Seeing that the two of them were so serious, Chai Zongjian couldn't help but hesitated a little nervously: "It's... Zhang Dejun!"

————————————————————

"Who told you that I cannibalize people?" Xu Xian suppressed the anger in his heart and tried to use a calm tone to ask the crying man on the ground.

The man raised his head with a grimace and said, "I heard from the neighbors when I was searching the streets just now. They said that the general is good at this."

Early in the morning, soldiers came to report that someone was kneeling in front of the military office and howling loudly. Xu Xian originally thought that he had a grievance and was about to become the master of Qingtian. Unexpectedly, the man insisted that Xu Xian had captured his treasure.

The son was going to steam it to eat, but Xu Xian was very angry.

"Now I solemnly tell you that I do not eat people!"

When the man heard this, he said happily: "Since the general doesn't eat people, let's let the child go. The child was so skinny that he had only a few ounces of meat." He said, patting a fat goat beside him, "I bought this specially to honor the general.

Yeah, human meat is so sour and not as tasty as mutton."

Xu Xian asked, "Have you ever eaten human flesh?"

The man waved his hands repeatedly, "General, you can't accuse a villain unjustly. The villain has never eaten anyone, he just listened to what others said."

"In short, your son is not here with me. No matter who told you, you can go find him. If you dare to slander me again, I will be rude to you."

The man kowtowed and begged: "You are not talking nonsense. Several children have been lost in Waqiao Pass in the past few days. The neighbors are saying that the general ate them. The child is the only child in the family. Please give him a way to survive."

If you want to eat, just eat me."

Xu Xian's expression changed slightly, "Are there such rumors in the city?"

The man nodded and said: "Yes, there have been such rumors since three days ago, and a child is lost every day, but they don't dare to come to the general to ask for it. The younger one also bought a fat sheep to keep him, so he dared to come to the general.

of."

There is a conspiracy! This was the first thought in Xu Xian's mind. Rumors about children disappearing have been spreading for a long time, and they may trigger a civil uprising. If there is someone else cooperating from the outside, Waqiao Pass may not be safe.

It was easily breached.

"Xiao Siwen, Xiao Siwen, I really didn't realize that you would do such a dirty trick."

Xu Xian first thought of Xiao Siwen on the other side of the Yongding River. He was captured alive by the enemy and his camp was breached. In the end, he was extorted from a total of 800,000 yuan. He couldn't swallow this bad breath. Before Waqiao Pass

Belonging to the Liao Kingdom, there must be many Liao Kingdom craftsmen among them, so it is not difficult to do such a thing.

Li Mobai whispered in Xu Xian's ear: "Your Majesty, there is something fishy!"

Although he was stripped of his honorary title, the title "Ling Gong" was usually not so strict, and his subordinates still called Xu Xian this way.

"You can tell there's something fishy but I can't. The key is how to break it."

"Waqiaoguan is not big or small, but if you intend to hide people, going door to door will be useless."

Xu Xian said impatiently: "Then you can say something useful!"

"Your Majesty, don't be anxious, there is nothing better than money. These bastards who do dirty things secretly cannot resist the temptation of money. As long as your Majesty offers a high reward to find the person, they will always be able to get clues."

"Then why don't you do it!"

"Here!" Li Mobai handed over his hands and left. He immediately asked people to post notices all over the city, offering a reward of 20,000 yuan to find the person.

I originally thought it would take three to five days for the effect to be effective, but unexpectedly, in the afternoon of the same day, a few green-skinned gangsters came with a few children to receive the reward, saying that they had found it in the Earth Temple.

Li Mobai handed over the money with one hand and the people with the other. Xu Xian didn't believe what they said, so he asked the gangster to follow them secretly. In the evening, they were captured together with their accomplices in a residence and sent to the military government office.

The gangster kowtows like he's pounding garlic, "General, spare your life. I'm just greedy for money and didn't kidnap anyone. I was just ordered by these people to go to the Yamen to receive the reward."

There were several people tied up next to him, except for a few strong men and a thin black scholar. Seeing that they were all dressed as Han people, Xu Xian couldn't help but angrily yelled: "How can you, as Han people, be willing to work for the Khitan people? It's really shameful and hateful. Even if you pull them out,

Cut me in half."

Unexpectedly, the scribe shouted: "Shameless man, we are about to die, and you still throw dirty water. We are not the spies of the Liao Kingdom, but the staff and soldiers of Han Linggong!"

"Are you going to avenge Han Lingkun?" Xu Xian said in surprise: "I never expected that someone like Han Lingkun would have loyal subordinates."

The scribe snorted coldly: "A ruthless person like you has several loyal dogs. Why doesn't Han Linggong not have one since he is a loyal minister and a filial son?"

"Haha... If Han Lingkun was a loyal minister, he would not betray the Red Scarf Capital to the Liao people. If he was a filial son, he would not have to let his father steal it for him to squander, and then be killed by the mob."

The scribe blushed when he heard this, but said: "You are slandering!"

"You know best whether it is true or not! Even you are not a kind person. If you want to avenge Han Lingkun, you can come and assassinate me. Why bother hurting innocent children?"
To be continued...