The sun shines on the imperial garden, making it a riot of purple and red.
Female officers and guards were passing by, and there were quite a few girls with voluptuous figures among the beautiful flowers.
Since Li Qing came to the country, eunuchs have been very unpopular. There are fewer and fewer eunuchs entering the palace, and there are more and more female officials. Even among the imperial guards, there are more and more women practicing martial arts.
Su Lu was sitting in the pavilion near the lake, thinking about how to increase the number of cards in his hand.
Li Qing took several female officials into the waterside pavilion, and Chang Ning presented a memorial in his hand.
"This is an excerpt from Zhang Mo, the Third Law Commissioner. Qian Qianyi, the Minister of Rites, was imprisoned. The charges mentioned by Zhang Mo previously are still intact."
Li Qing said, a little disappointed in his tone.
Su Lu took Chang Ning's book, unfolded it, glanced at it, and put it aside.
"All the old ministers have passed away. Have you thought about who will take over the Ministry of Etiquette?"
Li Qing sat down in the waterside pavilion and said casually:
"I want Cao Hua to take charge of the Department of Etiquette. She is your disciple, she is loyal and reliable, and her abilities are excellent."
Su Lu shook his head:
"Cao Hua is not suitable. For the purpose of restraint, we cannot let Cao Hua take charge of the Ministry of Etiquette. She is one of the double ministers of the Ministry of War, which is already the limit. There are generals from the Jiangwutang line all over the army. If Cao Hua is the only one,
Being a minister is not a good thing for both the king and his ministers."
Li Qing sighed, did not say anything more about Li Qing, and turned to ask Su Lu:
"The search for special gold veins has been arranged. All the counties and armies have been summoned. The reward is so heavy. I know you have your considerations. But if too many veins are discovered, will the reward be too heavy?"
In the eyes of all the courtiers, searching for mineral veins was just a job done by coolie miners, so how could it be worthy of the imperial title and reward?
The miners in the Liaoxi mine also felt that this was their job of survival, so they were worthy of the imperial court's generous reward. A thousand silver reward was already a generous enough reward.
Su Lu looked at the flowers in the imperial garden and said lightly:
"If you think you can't do it, this is the reward."
Li Qing was delighted when he heard this:
"really?"
"Of course, seriously."
Su Lu said indifferently:
"Anyway, this country belongs to you Li Qing. Once it is ruined, it will also ruin your country Li Qing."
Li Qing was shocked when he heard this. Knowing that Su Lu had said something sarcastic, he sighed helplessly:
"I don't mean to refute what you said, but the courtiers are very opposed to it. Among the clan members, including Li Li, they have also come to see me many times to talk about the harm of this matter."
"So you backed off, thinking that maybe something was wrong with me."
Su Lu turned his head, looked at Li Qing and said, his tone reprimanding without hesitation.
Li Qing smiled bitterly and sat down a little depressed, his cheeks full of embarrassment.
Su Ge glanced at the female officials and guards around him, waved his hand hanging by his side, and the female officials quickly retreated. The guards widened the protective circle and stayed away from the waterside pavilion.
Su Lu stood up, looked at Sakon, sighed and said:
"Civil officials complain to you, and the clan complains to you, but do you hear the generals complaining to you?"
"Our dynasty has always valued the title of nobility. Those who have nobility, regardless of whether they have official duties or not, will not kneel when they are in office or when they meet the king. They will enjoy a certain number of unencumbered acres and have the right to have their children enter the Imperial Academy of the Military Academy."
"Without military merit, no one can be awarded a title. Naturally, civil servants have no hope. If you want to be awarded a title, you will not be awarded a title unless you fight before joining the army. This time, breaking the previous practice, naturally all civil servants and honorary officials will be awarded a title.
My dear friends are jealous."
"If you can't get it yourself, you will naturally try to find ways to make it impossible for others to get it. This bunch of civil servants and ministers have the heart to punish their relatives."
Li Qing's face looked a little ugly when she heard this. She had been annoyed by the ministers these days, and thought that it would not be a big deal if she could take back this unreasonable decree.
But Su Lu's words made her see a lot more clearly and think a lot more clearly.
"That's how it goes. Whoever gets the mine will be rewarded heavily and will be crowned."
…
Rouran Grassland, the land of the far north.
The grass here gradually becomes sparse and moss gradually becomes more abundant.
The number of cattle and sheep grazing gradually decreased, and as far as the eye could see to the north, sparse ice and snow could already be seen.
A horse team came slowly from the north, led by a gray mussel, carrying several bags of sacks with mouths on its back, followed by more than a dozen gray horses, also carrying such sacks.
The peasants driving the cavalry were a little tired and walked slowly and slowly.
The horse team walked an unknown distance and arrived at a camp. The camp was at the end of the official road. The gate was directly opposite the official road. On the high gate tower, several prairie men with bows were patrolling back and forth.
The gate of the camp was opened wide, and the horse team was let in. But a moment later, the horse team came out of the camp again. The horses had been replaced by brown horses, but the peasants driving the horses were still the same peasants.
Returning along the original road, the horse team traveled for more than an hour, and rugged stones began to appear on the side of the road. There were more and more stones, and the terrain became more and more uneven.
Snow begins to appear, and when you step on it, there is already a crunching sound.
The sound of the wind carrying the clanking sound came as the horse team turned around a mountain ridge, and a basin suddenly appeared in front of them. The basin was filled with black open-pit coal mines. Countless civilians squatted on the coal mines, clanging and clanking.
Chisel with an axe.
When the horse team entered the basin, people naturally came over to make deliveries, gave the horses water and grass, and then loaded bags full of coal onto the horses' backs. Everything started to get lively.
"Snapped"
A miner who was cutting away coal gangue was whipped, and his cotton-padded clothes were pulled away, revealing black cotton and a blood-stained back.
"It makes you chew your tongue like crazy."
"Papa pa pa"
The overseer's whip was swung so sharply that the miners were beaten, holding their heads and rolling on the ground, screaming.
After a while, the supervisor got tired and spat:
"You bitch, I'll let you go this time, but next time I'll beat you to death."
Cursing, the overseer walked aside.
The supervisor walked away, and then some miners dared to come over and help the beaten miner.
"Wang Gaoqiu, why did you get into trouble with the Living King of Hell again?"
He helped the miner who was beaten up and asked carefully.
Wang Gaoqiu spat out bloody spit and cursed:
"Why did I offend him? It's not because I'm from the same village as him. In my hometown, my eldest brother was a general in the army. My family had some reputation in the village. He, Huo Yan, was often bullied by people from my old Wang family.
, you are here to vent your anger on me."
The fellow miners laughed at him:
"Wang Gaoqiu, just be ridiculous. If someone in your family is a general in the Guards, he will come to this inhospitable place to mine."
Wang Gaoqiu's face darkened:
"I was deceived."
The miners were busy for a while. When the sky turned dark and they could not see the axes and chisels clearly, they were driven back by the supervisor.
Wang Gaoqiu inevitably received several more whips from Huo Yan. There were more whip marks on his body and more cotton was exposed on his cotton-padded clothes.
After queuing for a while, Wang Gaoqiu received a pot of rice that was as clear as soup and two steamed buns that were as hard as rocks. He casually walked to a place that was protected from the wind and squatted down to eat the only meal of the day.
.
Companions who had received their meals came over one after another and squatted down near Wang Gaoqiu, talking about what they had seen during the day.
The civilian man responsible for escorting the cavalry was the youngest and most knowledgeable. He could often hear some outside news from the camp ahead, and he was surrounded by miners eating corn.
"The imperial court has issued an imperial edict, and it is related to our miners."
The miners who had new information were proud and talked about what they had heard in the camp.
The surrounding miners became excited:
"But we have to kill these black coal kiln killers."
"How is it possible? These people have official backgrounds, otherwise they would be able to mine coal here."
"Han San, tell me quickly, what news is relevant to us?"
Han San took a bite of the hard steamed bun, sucked in a breath of cold air, spit out the steamed bun, and picked out a tooth from the middle.
"Grandma, this bun is so hard that my teeth have fallen out again."
"The imperial court has decreed that whoever can find a vein of special gold will be knighted."