For Liu Yu, mooncakes are just embellishments for boring life and he doesn't want to enjoy them alone. Sui Yu's enthusiastic help always requires a little reward.

After roughly talking about the recipe to Sui Yu, and listening to the opinions of the merchants summed up by Sui Yu, Liu Yu went to the palace to meet the new emperor early in the morning and also gave him two moon cakes.

In the Yaqian Hall, Su Yan was tasting moon cakes, while Liu Yu was reading Yuan Bolang's memorial on summoning the vassal kings to Beijing. Although this matter was advocated by Liu Yu before, Yuan Bolang skipped him and handled it himself at the last moment. Liu Yu felt more and more that the right prime minister was moving in the direction of his evil spirit. The two sides gradually became in power.

"Master, it's so delicious, how did you make it?" Su Yan ate one piece and wanted to eat the second piece, but he still wanted to keep it for Xiaoyu, and asked in a dilemma.

"There is no semicolon for the time being. I want to go back and send some to you." Liu Yu put down the memorial book and looked at Su Yan, "How did the stubborn old man arrange the matter of choosing a concubine?"

Su Yan smiled bitterly and said, "What else can I make arrangements? This time he chose the concubine, and he said he wanted to choose the palace. He would stay in the palace and would not have to leave. Master, this time he got nearly 200 alternatives at a time. Do you... also choose all of them?"

From the last time, the number of people expanded to over 100, it seems that it is profitable for the new emperor to accept a concubine. Many officials and families went to Yuan Bolang to lobby for a share of the pie, so Yuan Bolang began to add water in order to win over the connections.

It is better to say that the new emperor made friends with ministers, but it is better to help Yuan Bolang contact the court officials. The candidates are labeled as political parties, and their original purpose has changed. Liu Yu did not intend to make wedding dresses for others in this matter.

"Then you choose carefully. It's not that you can't accept it very much. Just choose three or two.

Su Yan was originally resistant to the matter of taking concubines, mainly because of his relationship with Xiaoyu, and Liu Yu said that he wanted to marry Quanna. Now he only took three or two, which was very in line with his wishes. After all, he could always choose a few beautiful ones from more than a hundred ladies who were in line with his wishes.

"Master, please accompany me. I have no idea if you are by my side. I can see if I choose the right person. I am afraid that someone will choose, and I will be told which one she came from. I will be troublesome."

Su Yan also knew that this time, the appointment of concubines was a political marriage, and it was not important who to choose, and which lady the family they chose was the most important. He was afraid of choosing the wrong person.

Liu Yu was about to suppress Yuan Bolang's arrogance in this matter, so he nodded and agreed.

Su Yan immediately asked someone to issue an order to Yuan Bolang, and the election of the concubine was held in advance on the same day. While Yuan Bolang was still busy organizing, Liu Yu went to the Weapon Research Institute of the Ministry of Works first. After the renovation of these days, the rifle of the musket was added. However, due to the caliber and rotary pattern problems, the problem of stuck was very serious, and the craftsmen were still busy improving. Zhou Lin, who had patted his chest and said that he could handle it, was the most enthusiastic about this matter, and the rifle was also completed under his craft innovation.

"Good, do it well. Now I mainly clear the ratio of the bullet and caliber rifle, mainly because the bullet cap is big and small. It was originally a hollow tube inside, but now if there is rifle, it will get stuck if you don't pay attention." Liu Yu was still very satisfied with the progress of the musket research and said to Zhou Lin with a bit of encouragement.

Zhou Lin felt honored to be appreciated by the Imperial Army President, and at the same time worked very hard. After hearing Liu Yu's suggestions for improvement, he took action. At this time, a young eunuch came to inform Liu Yu, and the emperor summoned him to the palace to discuss the election of the concubine. It seemed that Yuan Bolang was ready.

Originally, the emperor's choice of concubines was the emperor's own business, and outsiders should not interfere, but this time the choice of concubines was different. The new emperor had a newly married princess who had not even added a title. As long as a woman could enter the palace and always be with the emperor, it was possible to be a concubine or even a queen. The situation of the new emperor's young man has never happened since the founding of the Dashun Dynasty.

To put it nicely, it is called the new emperor's young age, but to put it badly, it is called the country without a long king. This is often the beginning of national turmoil.

When Liu Yu saw Su Yan, Su Yan was waiting anxiously in a side hall, but did not see Yuan Bolang. After asking, he found out that Yuan Bolang had given him a list and wanted Su Yan to choose according to the people on the list. Su Yan immediately lost his mind.

Not only did Liu Yu want to influence the new emperor to accept the concubine, Yuan Bolang also wanted to get into a thirty-year-old. Liu Yu looked at the list proposed by Yuan Bolang, which was basically the first batch of twenty or thirty candidates. It seemed that these people should be considered close to Yuan Bolang or the family he wanted to win over. Later, the candidates were expanded, but they just didn't want the court officials to criticize him, thinking that he wanted to develop his own factional power in the matter of accepting concubines.

There is a conspiracy!

Yuan Bolang is honest and loyal. This kind of trick in political party struggles may not be his original intention, which means that Yuan Bolang also has figures like think tanks around him. Just from the increase in the number of candidates, Liu Yu could realize that the means of this think tank is still very clever and has fully mobilized the enthusiasm of some neutral forces.

Although the neutral forces are swaying, the three major forces in Chang'an City, Liu Yu, Yuan Bolang and Su Bi, all want to issue olive branches to these people, depending on who has the more attractive conditions and whose power is more popular.

"Don't worry about him, choose whatever you should choose. The main point is that you like it yourself." Liu Yu instructed Su Yan.

With Liu Yu's words, Su Yan calmed down and nodded and wanted to go out. At this time, Yuan Bolang also walked in. When he saw Liu Yu, Yuan Bolang was obviously stunned. He probably didn't expect Liu Yu to appear here.

"General Liu, the new emperor accepts a concubine, you, a court official, should not interfere." Yuan Bolang said arrogantly.

Liu Yu nodded and smiled, "What the right prime minister said is, but you and I are... just each other."

The new emperor's concubine became a game between civil officials and military generals, and the two were also competing secretly. However, Liu Yu was not worried about Yuan Bolang's influence. In terms of the new emperor's trust, Yuan Bolang and him were not on the same level, so Liu Yu had an absolute advantage.

What he was thinking about was a more insidious trick.

More than 200 candidate imperial concubines were dressed neatly and each of them was embroidered with a handkerchief in their hands, standing in formation on a small platform. The sun was high, and although the Mid-Autumn Festival was over, it was still a little hot at noon. These candidates still had to stand straight, unlike last time. This time they already knew the purpose of this trip, and they also knew that they were about to face His Majesty the New Emperor. In order to achieve the family goals, they must leave the best intuitive impression on the New Emperor.

When choosing a concubine, even the words may not be what the emperor said. The most important thing is appearance and demeanor. The handkerchief on her hand is a proof of her skill. If she loses points in appearance and demeanor, the emperor will not have the heart to see how her embroidery worker is.

Liu Yu accompanied Su Yan out and looked around. It was a bit different from the beauty pageant. It seemed like a group of freshmen were standing on the playground, and the ladies were motionless like wooden stakes.

"Master, how do you choose so many?" Su Yan saw twenty or thirty candidates in the Yuan family and was confused. Now he saw one or two hundred women, and he looked like a bear who was able to take care of one side and couldn't take care of the other side.

"Please choose twice. If you don't like the first time, read it again and have a comparison." Liu Yu said.

Su Yan nodded again, so Su Yan went over and took a closer look at the choice one by one, accompanied by the close servant Eunuch Wu. After all, Liu Yu is a foreign minister, so it is not advisable to get too close to these imperial concubines at this time to avoid criticism.

Su Yan's task today is to choose, and Eunuch Wu is holding a roster, which records the detailed information of today's candidate imperial concubine. If the new emperor has some meaning to which one, he will explain it from the side. If Su Yan just checks and passes by, he will not say a word of tact.

Liu Yu and Yuan Bolang each stood on the edge of the platform, and the two deliberately kept a distance. Anyway, waiting for others to page beauty is also a boring thing. Liu Yu approached Yuan Bolang and greeted him with a smile. Yuan Bolang hated Liu Yu even more under the blows of the ministers around him these days, and he just snorted coldly and said nothing.

"Prime Minister Yuan, you said we are all ministers of the new emperor, why bother to care about gains and losses? It's not good to be a friend?" Liu Yu seemed very calm and kind when he spoke, and seemed to be asking Yuan Bolang to let go of his past grudges with a shy face.

Yuan Bolang had the upper hand in his momentum, and his arrogance became stronger. He said coldly: "You and I have nothing to worry about."

"I hope so." Liu Yu smiled, "I have something to tell Yuan Xiang, you said, "The emperor has recently been intent on replacing the left prime minister."

Liu Yu was still humble just now and immediately gave Yuan Bolang a heart attack. If Yuan Bolang had a bad heart, he would definitely get sick by Liu Yu.

With the attitude of the new emperor doing nothing, he would think of resetting the left prime minister? It was probably the tricks made by the boy in front of him. The matter was so big that he did not say hello to the court officials without consulting the court officials, but just one sentence of his words wanted to confirm the matter. These were enough to make him angry. The most important thing was that this boy actually gave him a vaccination in advance, which was obviously a bad intention.

"Commander Liu, what do you mean?" Yuan Bolang looked at Liu Yu with a cold look.

"There is nothing else. I just want to know what the emperor wants to do, so that you are not prepared. In this matter, the emperor seems to be quite determined. Whether to set it up or not, who will set it up? Why don't Yuan Xiang go back and take a closer look?"

Liu Yu's attitude of speaking made Yuan Bolang even more unpredictable. After all, he was not a good person who was good at using tricks. He was stubborn and faced with a colorful man, just like a martial artist who had only been studying martial arts for a few days and had no countermeasures at all.

However, Liu Yu also had another meaning in his words, asking him to go back and discuss it. Needless to say, he was preparing to take the call, not forcing him to accept it immediately. If Yuan Bolang wanted to turn the tide, there would be a chance. After all, civil officials are basically on his side now. If he goes back and discusses with the ministers, he will definitely be able to discuss and come up with a countermeasure.
Chapter completed!