son-in-law

Chapter 230 Fire Night (3)

Chapter 230 Fire Night ([-])

The houses are like a forest, with overlapping eaves and corners. In the night, the lights between the urban houses gather to form an extended stream of fire. In this late summer and early autumn night, they outline the scene of Bianjing city in a criss-cross pattern.

The time to eat has long passed. Even though the night is dark, the hustle and bustle in Bianjing City does not show any signs of abating. After nearly 200 years of inheritance, Bianjing City is the heart of the Wu Dynasty. It brings together merchants from all over the world. As a guest, you can reach all directions in the universe.Every day, there are countless travelers and merchants who pass through here to the north and south. Every year or a few years, the imperial examination brings together the world's talented talents. Here, a group of officials with the most powerful power in the whole world gathers, surrounded by the emperor's throne. Down, dominates the movement of the world.

Since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, commerce has gradually developed, and the curfew has been abolished. The city is basically never at night. Even in the quietest hour of the morning, there are a large area of ​​lights lit in the center. People in cities don't go to bed early.Along the road, in small courtyards, brothels, and teahouses, people are dotted in quiet or noisy places. In the heat, it is also a prosperous but peaceful scene.

The war in the north did not affect the pace of the city, and the more or less actions of the imperial court did not cause too much disturbance in the city.The mobilization of troops, the transfer of materials, everything was carried out quietly under a huge momentum, as if everyone could feel that kind of action, but not many people could really clearly understand the inside story.At most, it is just that in the mouths of some insiders, a lot of conversations that seem to be seen in person have been added, or the merchants who gather in Bianjing occasionally discuss the prospect of going north to do business, but there is not much tension or anxiety. The brothels, brothels, taverns and teahouses are as lively as ever, and the poems in the literati gatherings are also peaceful and passionate, and the sun is confident, which more or less proves this point.

A little bit in the center of the city, on the side of the imperial city, the plaque of the Right Prime Minister's Mansion has just been hung.This is a big house that has been around for some years. It doesn't look ostentatious, but it has a solemn layout and deep connotations.This is the property of the Qin family. Qin Yuyuan resigned eight years ago, and the house was sold. In the past eight years, it has changed hands twice, both in the hands of people with some connections with Qin Yuyuan. This time Qin Yuyuan came back and was promoted to the right. Well, when he returned to Beijing, he took advantage of the opportunity to buy it back. In fact, the layout of this mansion has not changed at all.

The Qin family was an official in the capital city before, and it has been in business for two generations. Qin Yuyuan left eight years ago and dismissed the servants in the mansion. When he came back this time, most of the servants in the family were recalled. fact.The collection of various scrolls in the mansion hadn't been moved back then, but there were more of them this time around, but Qin Yuyuan was not someone who cared about these things.Compared with the Qin Mansion back then, it seemed a bit empty at this time. For example, some relatives and family members who lived here at the beginning had not been able to come over after all. At this time, only Qin Yuyuan and him lived in the mansion. A wife and a concubine, and the rest, no matter how brightly the lights are lit, they are all servants after all.

These days, Qin Yuyuan is busy with official duties, and it is rare for him to be free every day.At this time, the two people with the highest status in the court, Li Gang's left minister, led the overall situation, while Qin Yuyuan's right minister was more inclined to do some practical things.

Speaking of which, he has not been in Bianjing for eight years, and even though there are still many old disciples, his influence and control here have also been greatly reduced.Especially for all kinds of practical things, I'm afraid I won't be able to take over all of a sudden.Li Gang is acquainted with him. Although he strongly supported him in becoming a prime minister, he also said at the beginning that he would share most of the things for him. However, Qin Yuyuan did not hand over too many things to the other party, but at the beginning of taking over. With one commitment, within a few days, the various things that need to be dealt with will be roughly planned and clear.

Li Gang has a generous temperament, relatively upright and fiery temper, and has an awe-inspiring air. He has been the biggest promoter of the calls for war in the past few years, but relatively speaking, this person strictly abides by Confucianism. Kind of humble.Of course, this is not to say that he is an old and corrupt scholar, but that his beliefs are more upright. If it is not for the need for an extremely firm person to lead the battle at this time, he may not be able to be the leftist prime minister.

Qin Yuyuan is also a great contemporary Confucianist, his essays are good, but his external character is more honest and refined, and he never speaks deadly.Sometimes when arguing with others, he is generous and loud, but he doesn't appear to be as angry as Li Gang.When doing things, the means are often correct and gentle.But in terms of results, it is always more effective. Overwhelming people with general momentum is like boiling a frog in warm water. When others discover the murderous intent, the situation is often settled and there is nowhere to go.

During the period when he was in Beijing, he took over various government affairs. The most important thing was to coordinate the military supplies first. Most people didn't even feel the chill in front of the station.In less than two months since he went to Beijing, he has already demonstrated his formidable courage and means, so that no one can underestimate the momentum suppressed by his eight years of seclusion.

Of course, all of this is based on high-intensity work. Even if he can do this, he has already done his best.He came out of the imperial city very late today, and just after eating two bites of food when he returned home, three former students came to visit, and he also received these three while eating.

At this time, among the three, the youngest was 38 years old. His name was Chen Kai, and his style name was Yantang.The second eldest is 42 years old, his surname is Zhao, his name is Dingchen, and his courtesy name is Chengzhi.The third person is 48 years old this year. His name is Feng Yuan. Water deserves a lot of attention.

Although it is a prime minister's mansion, what Qin Yuyuan ate at this time was just a simple bowl of fish and a bowl of green vegetables. Instead, he asked his servants to serve three bowls of iced mung bean soup, and each handed out a fan. Talking casually in the hall.Since it was a teacher-student relationship, and the three of them knew Qin Yuyuan's temperament before, at this time, they didn't have to speak submissively, and they all seemed casual.

In the eyes of others, Qin Yuyuan was lucky to be able to come back after eight years of absence.However, after being away for eight years, there are actually many things developing, which make him feel regretful and unable to grasp.

At the time of the Blackwater Alliance, Emperor Jinghan Zhou Zhe had just succeeded to the throne, and Qin Yuyuan was regarded as half an emperor's teacher at that time. Although he was actually an emperor's teacher in many things, at most he could only be said to be a minister of the humerus and had no emperor's teacher. The name.Although Emperor Jing Han was indecisive at that time, he also had a bit of a pioneering spirit. When the Liao army came to seek peace, he felt humiliated after that. Qin Yuyuan was disheartened at the time, but he couldn't help but did the craziest thing. Incited Emperor Jing Han to secretly prepare, sow and support all the anti-Liao forces, and comforted Zhou Zhe at this time, but for the time being, as long as he prepared for a few years, there would be a chance for a comeback. Although he had arranged a large number of things at that time With plans, but no confidence, who knows that it has become a reality at this time.

However, it was also this incident that caused the court to spend a lot of money. When Emperor Jinghan succeeded to the throne, he had listened to everyone's opinions and abolished the Huashi Gang of the previous dynasty. It was picked up again.

"I'm afraid Taiwei Gaoqiu and his gang have intervened a lot in these matters?"

"Reporting to Teacher, there are many people involved in this matter. At the beginning, His Majesty just said that he was poor, and then some people came up with various methods. Gao Taiwei is definitely one of them. At the beginning, Tang Shilang and others also supported him. At that time, the students argued that Hua Shi Gang should not be reopened, but thinking about it now, when the court was short of money, His Majesty wanted to find some subsidies. At first, it was only a small area, but after everyone tasted the sweetness, they let it go. At the end of the fourth year of the Han Dynasty, the money for building gardens, repairing palaces, and a series of money after that all came from this..."

Feng Yuan frowned and replied, the Tang servant he was talking about was Tang Ke, Tang Qinsou, who was the servant of the household department at the time, but now he has been promoted to the secretary of the household department. The main battle, and at this time Qin Hui is also the main battle faction, so Tang Ke is not pleasing to the eye.

Qin Yuyuan was just eating fish: "You are in Bianjing, and I am in Jiangning. They are both rich and prosperous places. I only heard about them, but I have not seen them personally. Hua Shigang's tyranny and extortionate taxes made the common people suffer, and the gang of officials became fat. His subordinates... Tang Qinsou is not a money-grubbing person, he just has a lot of mouths behind his back, but Li Bangyan and Wu Min, the family is powerful, and there are many officials... Well, now that I think about it, it's probably the same In this way, once you start, you can't stop... But what are those Taoist priests? Your Majesty was bewitched, and in the past six or seven years, no one dared to participate in the performance? Except for one Tang Kejian."

When Emperor Jinghan and Zhou Zhe believed in Daoxuan these years, he had favored Taoist priests, and it had already spread to political affairs. In recent years, no one dared to speak out, except for Tang Kejian, which Qin Yuyuan said, and even Qin Hui, the censor Zhongcheng, did not dare to speak out because of this. However, Tang Kejian was exiled two years ago and died on the road.Qin Yuyuan sighed as he thought about it, but after a while, he shook his chopsticks.

"Forget it, let's not talk about it today... Chengzhi, has the batch of military rations from Gunzhou arrived?"

"Although the students didn't participate, I heard that it was already here in the afternoon."

"That's good……"

At this time, I was simply talking about some trivial political matters, and after a while, I thought of a question, so I asked casually: "The day before yesterday, the Sitian Supervisor sent a message saying that there was an earthquake in the southeast. There is no definite news on this matter, do you know?"

The three of them had heard about it a little bit, and now Chen Yantang, who is in the Ministry of Industry, said: "At this moment, we won't get any definite information. The seismograph can at most determine the location of the earthquake, but it can't measure the distance or how severe the earthquake is. After all, the seismograph will not go away. If the distance is too far, even if there is a big earthquake, there will be few measurements here. However, the previous Si Tianjian, Yu Qi'an, had an idea. He discussed with our Ministry of Industry and said that he would make three The same seismograph is placed in three places separated by hundreds of miles or more. Once an earthquake occurs, its azimuth, distance, and intensity can be calculated earlier. However, the seismograph is a delicate thing, so it is impossible to say that the three are the same At that time, Master Yu also said that it is okay to set three different ones, as long as one value is made, and then the earthquake values ​​of several years or more than ten years are collected for comparison. Afterwards, it was not made, after all, the seismograph was worn out after being placed for many years..."

At this time, Chen Yantang regarded the matter of the seismograph as an interesting story, but seeing Qin Yuyuan's solemn expression, he said, "Teacher, there is no need to worry too much about it. My disciples have asked about it. There is no major earthquake in the southeast line on weekdays. The matter must not be too serious. The most important thing for the teacher at this time is to prepare for the big event, so don't worry too much about it."

Qin Yuyuan nodded: "I have already asked. It's just that there was an earthquake, and many people in the court were afraid that they would take the opportunity to make a fuss. Hey, this is a golden opportunity, but these people only know about the interests of the family, and they have to discuss it first." Fang La, first challenge Wang Qing, first challenge Tian Hu, and Song Jiang. I only thought that Jin Liao would start a war. We can take care of the internal troubles first, and wait for the external troubles to hurt both sides, and then reap the benefits. Alas, there are many tricks in the court. Well, in matters of state and war, it’s just a matter of excellent tactics..."

When he came to Bianjing, Qin Yuyuan encountered the most troublesome things, namely these things.It's not that most people don't support war—of course, there are people who are pure pacifists who think that a war will make life difficult for the people, but they are in the minority.Most people support the war, but question the timing of the war.

At the time of peace, for various interests of the family, these people could restart Huashigang, extort and extort a large number of interests, and also make the various interests involved huge.At this time, the people in many places are struggling to live, and there are uprisings everywhere. They first ask the court to use their accumulated power to quell the civil strife. From the human point of view, now that Jin and Liao are fighting together, these things can of course be done at any time, so that they can lose both sides, and I use people from both sides here... These people are superb at playing tricks in the court, and even in the national war. In fact, I just feel that power is enough, but I don't know that if you can't show your strength, no matter how much conspiracy you play, it will just be annoying.

But right now, he can only weigh with them all the way, hold on until he sends troops and wins, and then Qin Yuyuan can relax and deal with the people he wants to deal with.Thinking of this, I remembered some conversations with Ning Yi when I left Jiangning.

At that time, Ning Yi gave him a messy booklet, and there were some things on it that he didn't understand very well.Several of them are like this, probably based on the state's regulation of various businesses, so that most of the business, agriculture and war industries are linked, and the focus of various interests is directed to war. At that time, those who have various family interests , they will give up their original position and cry out for the country to go to war, because once the country goes to war, they can sell food and military supplies.But at that time Ning Yi was just talking casually.

"It will take a year or two for these things to be done, and the operation is very complicated if you want to balance the business chain intentionally. We will fight this year, so it probably won't be needed..."

He said it in a joking way at the time. The young man always has many thought-provoking ideas, but as he said, this method at this time is no longer useful.But there are still a few small tricks in that booklet, which he used in the mobilization of various military supplies, which produced results.

Thinking of Ning Yi, while the old man was talking, he compared the young man with the students in front of him. The conclusion was naturally difficult to come to a conclusion for a while. While chatting, the porter from outside ran in and reported the arrival of Mr. Li. Before Qin Yuyuan could answer, Li Gang and Li Wenji had entered the front yard without being informed, and they seemed to be still arranging their clothes.

At this time, the left prime minister, Li Gang, was over seventy years old. His appearance was thin, his beard and hair were white, but his spirit was strong and his body was good.His eyes were serious, his lips were tightly pursed, and he was already clasping his hands as he walked: "I came in without notification, Siyuan forgive me, it is really urgent, and I have read this official document..." He took out a bag from his sleeve. An official document came, "I must enter the palace immediately."

Several disciples got up to greet Li Gang, Li Gang just waved his hand, Qin Yuyuan took a few glances at the official document, and his expression changed: "How could this be... How many people have read this official document?"

"I'm afraid I can't hold it anymore. The knight who sent the letter stumbled and was injured. I'm afraid many people know about this urgent letter at eight hundred miles. At this time, someone may have brought Sitian Supervisor Cao Lingrou and the others into the palace..." Today's Cao Lingrou, the chief officer of Sitianjian, is Wu Min's student, one of the not-so-firm gangsters.

"Take my coat and hat." Qin Yuyuan said to one side of the eaves, and then stepped out, "Let's go quickly."

In the evening of the beginning of autumn, the ground cracked in the Suzhou-Hangzhou area, countless houses were damaged, and the casualties were hard to count. This announcement was sent from Suzhou. The Grand Canal may have been damaged. The Jiangnan area is the most prosperous area.As the carriage drove to the palace, Qin Yuyuan thought about this, and then thought of something, and murmured: "Hangzhou, Hangzhou..."

The announcement mainly refers to Suzhou, and Hangzhou must be affected, but the situation is still unclear.Li Gang frowned and asked, "How is Hangzhou?"

Qin Yuyuan sighed: "Oh, I just remembered a little friend, he happened to be over there, if..." He thought of Ning Yi's disaster relief booklet, if Ning Yi can take responsibility in Jiangnan at this time The general responsibility may be able to minimize the impact of things.Of course, this idea just flashed in his mind slightly. Ning Yi has no fame and no background, and it is impossible to intervene in it after all.Moreover, the brochure had already been distributed, and the officials in Suzhou and Hangzhou were not all incompetent idiots. At this time, I could only rely on them, and on my side, I had to resist the heavy pressure from the court.

With the imperial city approaching, he put aside some hypothetical thoughts and began to focus on all the practical problems that he would face next...

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Uh, I don't think it counts more...

(End of this chapter)