Seeing the servants of the Fang family coming forward to congratulate the gifts and opening them on the spot to check, Zhang Xingcheng's face turned black and he suppressed his anger and said, "Don't you think it's too rude for the Duke of Yue to do this?"
When guests come to your door, let alone prepare gifts. Even if they come empty-handed, it is still a favor. How can there be any reason to check the gifts on the spot? This is simply a slap in the face. Others in middle age have never encountered such humiliation.
.
Fang Jun squinted his eyes and smiled, without looking rude at all: "What you said is too much. You said it was a 'little gift' first, and then I followed the lead and said that I wanted to check it out. It was just a joke.
, is it possible that you really think that I am a miser, and you first check whether the gift is valuable or not? Even if you say this, no one will believe it! You are also an important minister in the court, but you can't even make such a joke? You are too generous.
It’s so narrow-minded.”
Zhang Xingcheng almost fainted with anger. Are you kidding me when you slap me in the face like this?
The servant over there finished checking the gifts and was about to report back, but was interrupted by Fang Jun, who waved his hand and shouted: "Idiots with no eyesight, I was just joking with Zhang Shangshu, but you actually went to check the gifts seriously. It's so rude."
How can you do this? Go and apologize to Zhang Shangshu. If Zhang Shangshu refuses to forgive, I will kill you and leave you in front of Zhang Shangshu's house to make amends!"
"...ho!"
Zhang Xingcheng laughed angrily, nodded, turned around and left: "Since the Duke of Yue does not want to welcome you, I won't bother you too much and I will leave now."
Fang Jun shouted hurriedly: "You are a guest when you come to the door. I have given you gifts and you have not even had a glass of wine. If you leave like this, won't the world make fun of my Fang Er for not knowing etiquette?"
After hearing this, Zhang Xingcheng, who had walked to the door, turned back and held the repackaged gift in his hand. He gritted his teeth and said, "Then I will take the gift away and treat it as if I have never been here before saying goodbye!"
He turned around and strode out of the front door.
Fang Jun: "..."
I didn’t expect this person to have a hot temper...
…
After returning to the main hall and taking a seat, Li Chengqian asked curiously: "Where is Zhang Shangshu?"
Fang Jun looked at the King of Wei and King Jin beside him, lowered his voice and said what he had just passed by...
Li Chengqian was surprised and said: "Zhang Shangshu has just taken office. It is a favor to come to congratulate him in person. How can you drive him away?"
Fang Jun spread his hands and said: "Wei Chen was just joking. Who knew that Zhang Shangshu didn't know how to be funny, so he actually got angry. Wei Chen regrets it too much. Please come and apologize some other time."
Li Chengqian glanced at him and remained silent.
Li Tai mocked: "This move is unnecessary. In any case, your Fang family and the Shandong family are deeply entangled, and it is impossible to completely separate them. Furthermore, Zhang Xingcheng's visit does not necessarily mean that he represents the Shandong family and wants you to join the family.
It's just that I have a good impression of you, so even if you invite him in, my father will definitely not be suspicious of you."
Besides taking the initiative to draw a clear line with the Shandong family, why would Fang Jun want to offend Zhang Xingcheng to the point of death?
However, he also had to admit that Fang Jun knew how to be an official. Generally speaking, connections in the officialdom were more important than ability. Everyone would help him when he needed help, and he would get twice the result with half the effort. But at a certain level, the meaning of "wide connections" was different.
It is often not a good thing. The emperor never cares if his ministers treat each other as enemies. Instead, he is most afraid that his ministers will get together and make friends with each other, so that they can be harmonious and share their interests equally...
If a situation of balance and restraint cannot be established among ministers, then the emperor may be completely ignored, which is extremely dangerous. For example, in the prosperous times in history, or in the Qingming Dynasty when officials ruled, most of them were pros and cons in the court.
, no matter how bad it is, the high-level people are at odds with their ideas and are tit-for-tat, and it is absolutely impossible for them to be harmonious, with the emperor being wise and the ministers being virtuous.
Relatively speaking, the historical confrontation between the Zhenguan Dynasty and the Zhenguan Dynasty has been extremely relaxed. After all, His Majesty Li Er's prestige among courtiers is rare in ancient and modern times...
Fang Jun shook his head. He held the pot and wanted to pour tea for everyone, but Cen Changqian, who was on the side with quick hands and feet, snatched the tea pot away...
"The Shandong aristocratic family has been away from the court for too long. Now that Guanlong has collapsed and the center is vacant, they can enter the court in large numbers. The children of the family are all placed in important positions. Their power has skyrocketed. It is inevitable that ambition will breed and they will act without scruples. And their ideas are rotten.
He knows the art of power and strategizing, but does not understand people's livelihood and economics. All his energy is focused on fighting for power and profit, which is not the ambition of a humble minister, and he disdains to be associated with him."
If you pursue power, you can comply with His Majesty Li Er's wishes and give up the crown prince to support the King of Jin. Not only will Li Er be extremely favored in the first time, but when the new king comes to the throne in the future, he will be equally powerful, so why bother to try so hard to protect Li Chengqian?
Power, wealth and honor are nothing more than passing clouds. Only by leaving one's own political legacy can one's visit to the Tang Dynasty be considered worthwhile.
To put it bluntly, he and the Shandong aristocratic family "have different paths and do not collude with each other."
Since we are strangers, why should we pretend to be ingratiating with Zhang Xingcheng? If there is no benefit at all, His Majesty Li Er will be jealous, so it is better to completely cut off from the Shandong family in this way...
Li Chengqian looked at Fang Jun's explanation calmly and felt very guilty. He confirmed that Fang Jun's abilities and merits would be enough to rule the world in the future, but because of his incompetence as a prince, he had to do it at the time of splendor.
Exit the hub.
The so-called "one general is incompetent and the three armies are exhausted" probably refers to him...
…
The banquet in Gujie/span was very sumptuous, which was quite a luxury for Chang'an, which was currently suffering from many disasters and was short of supplies. However, with Fang Jun's financial resources and the convenient water and land transportation at Fangjiawan Pier, it was not a difficult task.
*****
Cen Mansion.
In the flower hall, Cen Wenwen, who was dressed in regular clothes and looked a little haggard, was making tea to entertain Xiao Yu who came to visit.
Nowadays, most of the prominent families in the Tang Dynasty use glass to build a flower hall like the fire house house, plant some rare flowers and trees, supplement it with floor heating in winter, and even use iron pipes to circulate hot water to keep the hall warm, so that red flowers can be seen all year round.
Although green trees are expensive, they are enough to show status and provide extra enjoyment.
Among the flowers and trees, the atmosphere was cheerful, and the two court officials sat opposite each other, drinking tea, and chatting harmoniously.
Xiao Yu took a sip of tea and said with concern: "Your body seems to be in bad shape recently. You should take a rest and slowly recuperate. It seems that at this age, we cannot be careless."
Now Cen Wenwen and he are the most reliable allies. Not to mention the decades of comradeship, he does not want to see Cen Wenwen fall down due to illness just for political interests.
Now that Yi Chu is about to come, the court situation is in turmoil, and powerful families from Jiangnan and Shandong are slowly entering the court to take power. It is really difficult for Xiao Yu to support him alone...
Cen Wenwen sipped the tea and smiled faintly: "Birth, old age, illness and death are irreversible. Although I am a few years younger than you, my health has not been good. I have known my destiny for many years, but I don't know if I can return to my hometown before I die.
Wandering leisurely under the forest and spring, everything in the court has long been indifferent."
Xiao Yu smiled and said nothing.
If you really take it lightly, why don’t you stay in love? In the official world, no one can put aside the interests around them and truly take everything lightly...
Once Yichu is restored, the situation in the court will undergo an earth-shaking change, which will not only change the current power structure, but even affect the empire's policies for the next few decades. At their level, regardless of their own interests or political ambitions,
They were not allowed to retreat bravely and watched indifferently.
He picked up a piece of pastry from the plate with his fingers, took a bite, chewed it a few times, and asked: "Today, I have a banquet in my house, but I didn't even receive the invitation. That stick is so rude and unbecoming of a human being."
Cen Wenwen drank tea slowly, as if he hadn't heard anything.
Xiao Yu said again: "I heard that your Qianliju has gone?"
Cen Wenwen then said slowly: "Fang Jun is the secretary of Zhenguan Academy and Chang Qian's teacher. When the teacher holds a banquet, it is natural for students to go and help. Didn't we do the same in front of the master back then?"
Xiao Yu sat upright with a serious face: "Others should be like this, but Cen Changqian is your nephew and the heir of your political legacy. His words and deeds represent your Cen Wenwen's position. Do you know that if you do this, you will
How many people in the DPRK have their minds wandering?"
In the officialdom, there is never a separate position. Everyone and everything are tied together. Seemingly inadvertently, it has already affected the whole body.
It is conceivable that when Fang Jun hosted a banquet but did not invite many guests, only close friends came to congratulate him, but Cen Changqian appeared in Fang's house as a student, what kind of interpretation would be produced by the government and the public...
Cen Wenwen put down his tea cup, stretched, stood up, walked to a flower tree, leaned over with his hands behind his back, smelled the fragrance of the flowers, and said calmly: "Only when your mind is not firm and your position is uncertain, you will be disturbed by external things. I
I don’t have much nostalgia for this officialdom anymore, but I still want to remind you that soldiers are more valuable than more elites. Instead of gathering a group of rabble, which seems to be powerful, it is better to cultivate a loyal team, so that they can be unswervingly determined and able to use their arms.
refer to."
Xiao Yu was silent.
As Cen Wenwen said, as a leader of the Qing Dynasty and a famous official in the south of the Yangtze River, he, the Duke of Song Dynasty, has now become a leader respected by the families in the south of the Yangtze River and Shandong. He is so powerful that he is so powerful that he is so hostile to other forces and even feared by his majesty.
prepared.
But Cen Wenwen reminded him, among the officials who rely on him now and hope to use his power to advance to a higher level, how many of them can unswervingly support his political ideas? It may not be enough to succeed, but it is more than enough to fail.
He is afraid that if there is any slight disturbance, these people will abandon him and go to the new master...
He nodded and said: "I will take care of it, and I will definitely take care of it..."
Then the topic changed and he asked worriedly: "Fang Jun only entertained those who were close to him in the court, but he invited the three highnesses here... Do you think they will reach some kind of agreement under Fang Jun's collaboration?
?”
Even if it is easy to be crowned, the new crown prince will probably choose one of the kings of Wei and Jin. However, Fang Jun's relationship with the royal family is too close. Even the king of Jin has expressed his appreciation and wooing of Fang Jun more than once.
.
Once Fang Jun reaches an agreement with the three princes and the throne is handed over peacefully, he is likely to become the new prince's confidant, and he will be more powerful than anyone else.
The other forces can only become a foil after the new king takes the throne... Xiao Yu can't sit still.