The Yongchang Marquis Mansion occupies most of the alley of Sishui Lane and is one of the most prosperous houses in Jiangning. At the end of the alley is the back garden of the Marquis Mansion, with a small door opened. Fan Ding climbed down from the carriage, and the attendant took a lantern to illuminate the paving stones under his feet.
Walking down the alleyway, I walked to the small gate of the back garden and knocked a few times "bang bang bang".
"Who is it?" a slightly hoarse voice asked from the door.
"I," Fan Ding asked softly, "is the Marquis in the garden?"
With a sound of "Yeah", the door opened from the inside, and a bearded man poked his head out: "Master Fan, come here. The Marquis is enjoying the cool air in the garden. I didn't know you were rushing over here at night..." Will Fan Ding
The servant took the lantern in his hand, bolted the door from the inside, and led Fan Ding into the garden.
The moonlight is light and the shadows of the branches are slanting. In the west corner of the garden, there is a carved wooden pavilion standing by the water. Yuan Guizheng is standing in the pavilion, looking at the direction where Fan Ding is coming. A man wearing a yellow half-length coat
, a beautiful woman wearing a moonlight skirt stood beside him. The beautiful woman watched Fan Ding coming, and left with the accompanying maid and woman, leaving the pavilion for their men to discuss matters.
"You rushed to the city in the middle of the night. What's the urgent matter?" Yuan Guizheng sat on the stone bench and looked calmly into Fan Ding's eyes.
"The person from the Duke's Mansion met with Lin Fu today," Fan Ding stood aside respectfully and told Yuan Gui about the prince's banquet with Lin Fu in the small fan building at night and the fact that Mu Guogong Zeng Mingxin came uninvited.
Zheng Ting said, "After the banquet, the man from the Duke's Mansion directly took Lin Fu to Su Mei's house to drink tea. He sat there for half an hour before coming out first. I hurried into the city and had no time to stare at the river mouth for fear of
It's Lin Fu who hasn't left Su Mei's house yet..."
"There is only one bait, whoever likes to bite it will be bitten by whom?" Yuan Guizheng grabbed a sugar-roasted chestnut from the table, peeled the shell and stuffed it into his mouth to chew.
"The person in the Duke's Mansion might unveil the old case from twelve years ago tonight, otherwise it would be impossible to meet Lin Fu in a hurry when he returns to Jiangning..." Fan Ding analyzed.
"If you care, you will be in chaos," Yuan Guizheng said calmly, "If you want to uncover the old case thirteen years ago and bring it up again, when can't Su Mei do it? Why can't Old Man Zeng do it today?
Even if Lin Fu knows about the old case thirteen years ago, what can he do? Do you think that in the whole world, besides the Queen Mother, who else can clear the wrongs of the Su family? But I have to say it again, you, I have
I really underestimated this pigherder. Who would have thought that in order to earn money for raising soldiers, he would dare to privately trade military merits with that dead eunuch Hao Zongcheng. Because of his enthusiasm, maybe it is worth putting the chips on him."
"I'm afraid he may not be easy to deal with," Fan Ding said with a slight frown, "Before Jiangdong Zuojun became famous in the north and south, who would have thought that he would have been secretly communicating with Li Zhuo?"
"Only those who are not easy to deal with are worth dealing with." Yuan Guizheng raised his eyebrows and cast his gaze on the flower stream dimly illuminated by the moonlight. "Tell me, who is the person between the pigherder and the Chu barbarian?"
More worth dealing with?”
Fan Ding knew that the "Chu Manzi" mentioned by the Marquis referred to Yue Lengqiu. Yue Lengqiu's Mandarin had a strong local accent. In private, everyone called him "Chu Manzi". Yue Lengqiu regarded himself as a Chu Party member.
He didn't take it seriously when he heard others calling him his nickname.
For now, Yue Lengqiu is certainly more worth dealing with.
Yue Lengqiu served as the governor of the Jianghuai River, commanded the Changhuai Army, controlled the towns, and was so powerful that he could be said to be a real feudal official. He was expected to enter the cabinet and pay homage to the prime minister. Stamping his feet could make the government and the public tremble.
Although Lin Fu has gained fame and power in a small county in Chongzhou, compared with Yue Lengqiu, he is as small as a witch, and Tang Haoxin and Gu Wuchen, who he relies on, are far above the temples.
He couldn't compete with Zhang Xie, who was the second prime minister.
However, once the capital is moved, Yue Lengqiu, as the governor of Jianghuai, will become an important minister in the court, and it is expected that he will join the cabinet and become the prime minister. What great benefits are there to tempt him to win over?
From this point of view, Chu Manzi has no value in dealing with him.
Speaking of being unruly and rebellious, which of the most arrogant people in this world can be easily manipulated?
When Lin Fu first arrived in Jiangning, he took advantage of the feudal family to establish his power. Fan Ding did not mind the various unpleasantness that had happened in the past, and he was not qualified to mind for the time being. He was glad that both sides had saved some last dignity.
tear.
Fan Ding knew what the Marquis wanted to say, so he patiently said: "Fan Ding is stupid, please give me some advice from the Marquis."
"Pig shepherds are young, impulsive and lustful. They look forward to drastic or even earth-shaking changes more than mature and prudent people, so that they can find greater opportunities," Yuan Guizheng said with a smile, "Set a trap to lure the Qu family into your trap, and defeat it in one fell swoop. You
Do you think Gu Wuchen and Zhao Qinmin have the guts to play with such a dangerous plan? They gathered 400 armored soldiers in the city to fight against the East China Sea bandits ten times their own strength, and fought a bloody battle in Jiyang. How many people in the world do you think are so strong that they can kill every fish in the net? Tell me about it.
Look, how many people in the world have the guts to recruit 3,000 refugees and then directly drag them out to fight with the Donglu cavalry? They say that you need to be proud early, and you need to be young to become famous. Don’t you think this guy has the style of Su Hu at that time?
Since Su Hu came, this son's fame is not a good story about the fate of the emperor and his ministers..."
"Just be afraid, it will be difficult to control in the future." Fan Ding said worriedly.
"Then we can control it now?" Yuan Guizheng asked rhetorically.
"..." Fan Ding was slightly startled. Apart from his noble title, the Yongchang Marquis Mansion really had nothing to compare with Lin Fu, who held the real power of Jiangdong's left army.
"You, the meat in the pot has not yet reached your bowl, so you are worried about others coming to snatch the meat in your bowl." Yuan Guizheng pointed at Fan Ding's face and shook his head with a smile, "Rather than worry about who knows how long it will take
It’s better to think more about how to transfer the meat from the pot to the bowl.”
"I am too worried," Fan Ding said.
At this time, Yuan Jinqiu ran into the back garden smelling of alcohol. He saw Fan Ding and his father standing in the pavilion. He thought that he moved very quickly. He came here earlier than himself to convey the news.
Jin Qiu turned around and walked back and forth, wanting to avoid Fan Ding and his father.
"Stop," Yuan Guizheng shouted to his eldest son Yuan Jinqiu in a deep voice, and lectured him, "Are you as rude as you, who can just turn around and leave without saying a word?"
"I don't dare to worry about my father's affairs." Yuan Jinqiu said in a low voice, and bowed hastily. Without waiting for Yuan Guizheng to speak, he turned around and got into the moon gate and left the back garden.
Yuan Guizheng's face was as dark as frost. He wanted to teach someone a lesson so he ran away. He was so angry that he threw his hand on the corner of the stone table. His muscles and bones were bruised and he breathed in pain. Fan Ding pretended not to see it and only said: "The prince and the
The swineherd is quite friendly, and it's not like he's being polite..."
"Oh, really?" Yuan Guizheng asked with a gloomy expression, "Let him help with the birthday gifts for the Queen Mother's 60th birthday. We can't just idle around and do nothing all day long..."
************
Early the next day, Lin Fu first sent someone to pay his respects to the Marquis of Yongchang Mansion. He himself rushed to the Yamen of the Inspectorate to formally discuss with Xiao Xuanchou, who had just been promoted to deputy envoy, to dismantle the prison island and select a site to build the prison at the mouth of the Chongzhou River.
Many matters in the city.
Xiao Xuanchou was completely won over by Yue Lengqiu, but Gu Wuchen was not the Jia Pengyu of that time, and Xiao Xuanchou was not the Gu Wuchen of that time. Xiao Xuanchou wanted to contain Gu Wuchen within the Inspectorate, but he still lacked a lot of enthusiasm.
Lin Fu served as the Jinghai Capital Supervisor, and was only controlled by the Inspector General, but not under any control. In the past, Xiao Xuanchou was nominally Lin Fu's immediate boss, but now even this layer of fame has been stripped away. But now
The construction of a prison city at the mouth of the Chongzhou River was subject to the restrictions of Xiao Xuanchou, especially when they played tricks in the transfer of money, which made Lin Fu quite helpless.
The Dongyang Township Party pooled together 100,000 taels of silver to take over the Prison Island, and the money was to be uniformly paid by the Xuanfu Envoys. The Xuanfu Envoys finally gave in and agreed to allocate 60,000 taels of silver to the selection of a site for the prison city at the mouth of the Chongzhou River.
, but this amount of money requires Xiao Xuanchou's signature before it can be withdrawn in batches from the bank treasury of the Xuanfu Envoy Department.
In this way, Lin Fu could not bypass Xiao Xuanchou when building a prison city in Chongzhou, unless he was willing to part with the 60,000 taels of silver; or he could seize the 60,000 taels of silver from the Xuanfu envoy from other places to offset it.
During the meeting, Gu Wuchen was the deputy envoy, Xiao Xuanchou was the deputy envoy, and there were three ministers of the fifth rank, and Lin Fu was the sixth rank. However, he had already been ranked as the fifth rank and had been awarded a title. Since he had given up
Not to mention the factors of opening Jiangdong Zuojun, his actual status is no lower than that of a fifth-rank official.
In today's bureaucracy, which is dominated by middle-aged and elderly people, Lin Fu is an extremely rare young man at the right time.
Even though Xiao Xuanchou was completely won over by Yue Lengqiu, his fear of Gu Wuchen was not that strong in his heart, and he still did not dare to offend Lin Fu to death.
Even if Zhang Xie and Yue Lengqiu did not make the wrong steps at all, they would be dead wood in another twenty years, with half of their bodies buried in the ground, far away from the center of power. However, in another twenty years, Lin Fu would be in a high position and be useful.
In the prime of life, there is no need for manpower to fight. Just comparing the years, Lin Fu defeated Zhang Yue and abandoned his armor, and was defeated. By then, Xiao Xuanchou himself may have retired and returned to his hometown to retire, but there is no guarantee that his descendants will fall into Lin Fu's hands and be destroyed.
.
After drafting a charter of more than 2,000 words on the selection of a site to build a prison city at the mouth of the Chongzhou River, Lin Fu's mission to return to Chongzhou was concluded.
The guards sent to Yongchang Hou's Mansion in the morning to send greetings also rushed back with a reply from Yongchang Hou Yuan. When Yuan returned to power, he held a banquet in the mansion at noon and invited Lin Fu to come and get together.
In order to truly uncover the truth behind Akino's conspiracy, Yuan Guizheng must come into contact with it.
Hao Zongcheng represents the current emperor abroad; according to what the Duke of Guo said, Yuan Guizheng has a close relationship with the Empress Dowager Liang and her relatives, the wealthy Liang family. In his early years, Yuan Jinsheng eagerly rushed to Beijing thousands of miles away to enroll in the Imperial College, without knowing it.
Is there such a factor in it?
Emperor Qingyu had no heirs. After his assassination, he passed the throne to his nephew King Jin, who succeeded him as Emperor Delong. Although Emperor Delong had an heir, before he died of a sudden illness, the aftermath of the Akino case was still in the royal family.
There was no past and turmoil. Emperor Delong did not pass the throne to his two young sons, but passed the throne to his younger brother who was in his weak years and had great talents and strategies, that is, the current emperor Chongguan--
--Unfortunately, after the legitimate son of the current Emperor Chongguan broke his neck while riding a wooden horse six years ago, none of the hundreds of beauties in the harem gave him a son or a half, and he had no heirs to inherit the throne.
Not only could the sons of Emperor Delong be adopted as crown princes and inherit the great treasure, but also from the bloodline of Emperor Qingyu, the descendants of King Qin and King of Lu could also be crowned as adoptive crown princes, which inevitably makes people wonder about history.
The fantasy of reenactment. However, the current Holy Emperor is only in his thirties, in the prime of life, and has given birth to a son before. The government and the public are not particularly worried about this. They think that as long as he can work hard to cultivate the harem in the future, he will have a son and a half.
After the birth of a son, any doubts about the legitimate heir will naturally disappear.
In any case, the Empress Dowager Liang, who had relatives in the Liang family to rely on, used Emperor Qingyu's secret edict to summon the ministers to support Emperor Delong. Emperor Delong died of a sudden illness, and it was she who summoned the ministers to support the current emperor.
A shadowy figure who leaned over to cover up half of the palace. The truth behind the Akino case may have fallen on this woman.