The side hall was quiet for a while, and Nie Zhongyou looked at Li Xia with eyes like that of an old father.
After all, it is a narrow escape, and we will meet again after separation.
Li Xia, however, said calmly, "I'm very happy that you are still alive."
Nie Zhongyou nodded, smiled sincerely, and said: "Don't worry, the Prime Minister will definitely rescue Lin Zi and Lao Liu. We..."
Li Xia suddenly asked: "How did you come back?"
Nie Zhongyou said: "I just told your right minister..."
"What you just said was too vague, but I know what happened in Longhu." Li Xia said, "If it were me, I wouldn't be able to escape with such a serious injury, so I'm curious how you escaped."
Nie Zhongyou didn't answer. He was silent for a long time and asked, "Do you believe me?"
"If you want me to believe you, you should tell the truth."
"To tell the truth, I will never betray the Song Dynasty, nor will I betray the Right Prime Minister and my brothers."
Li Xia said: "Don't want to say?"
Nie Zhongyou sighed, with some embarrassment in his eyes, but still said firmly: "I will never betray."
Li Xia said: "I only care about one thing. Do you want to fulfill my promise of martial arts?"
Nie Zhongyou said: "Don't worry, even though I'm back, the credit still belongs to you. It is far better for your right minister to want you to join the Imperial College than to join the army. You have committed a crime, so recommending you to the Imperial College is actually better than giving you a job."
The military position requires more effort, and the right prime minister really appreciates you so he arranged it like this. You are still young, and you can take the imperial examination and become an official in the future, why do you need to lick blood with the sword of a rough guy like me?"
"I don't want to take the imperial examination, I just want a local military position."
"You don't know how good Taixue is. If I and Lu Fengtai fight for the rest of their lives, it will only be like this. But you are different. You will have great potential as an official. Only civil servants can be in charge of the Privy Council, take charge of military and state affairs, and control the world's troops. If you
If you have ambitions, thirty or forty years from now..."
"Thirty or forty years." Li Xia chuckled lightly and asked, "Didn't you say you hate civil servants?"
Nie Zhongyou was silent.
He did remember saying this when he first met Li Xia.
"I just think that being a civil servant will make you different from those people."
"According to the terms we agreed on," Li Xia said.
Nie Zhongyou sighed and said: "Okay, as long as you don't feel it's a pity, it's just a matter of a word from the right minister to lead troops in Shu."
"Um."
The shared life and death in enemy territory and the joy of reunion seemed to have cooled down, and the atmosphere was somewhat silent.
If Lin Zi and Liu Jinsuo had not been arrested, now might be the time to have a good time over wine.
Nie Zhongyou said: "Your father is missing, let me help you find him."
He had told Li Xia about this matter before, but he brought it up again now, perhaps because he was thinking about doing something to help Li Xia.
"Okay, let's look for it." Li Xia nodded and asked, "Where is Mr. Han's son?"
"Don't worry, the right minister will send someone to resettle and take care of him. Once Lin Zi is rescued and Mr. Han is found, they will be reunited."
At this point, the pleasantries that should have been exchanged were finished, and Li Xia asked: "Who do you think captured Lin Zi and Liu Jinsuo, and who betrayed us?"
Nie Zhongyou thought for a moment and said, "Do you know Ding Daquan?"
"heard about it."
"It must be the work of Ding Daquan, a traitor to the party, because he has colluded with the north, intending to destroy evidence, or compete for credit and power."
Li Xia asked: "Why are you so sure?"
"The deputy envoy to Huaixi we met in Luzhou, Yuan Jie, was secretly in contact with the traitor Zhang family in the north. You and I have seen with our own eyes that this person is Ding Daquan's lackey."
After the court meeting, Cheng Yuanfeng walked to the public house where Mr. Zuo thanked Uncle Fang.
An imperial street is crowded with three provinces, six ministries and five government offices, as well as the Ancestral Temple, the Great Buddha Temple, various departments and alleys. Even the official apartment of the prime minister of the dynasty was not spacious.
Cheng Yuanfeng watched along the way and felt that there were too many officials in the court.
"Right Prime Minister."
"Right Prime Minister..."
Amid respectful calls, Cheng Yuanfeng arrived in front of the public house, and an official opened the door.
"Prime Minister Left, here comes Prime Minister Right."
Uncle Xie Fang was writing at his desk. He raised his head when he heard the noise, cupped his hands and said, "Mr. Nazhai, why are you here in person?"
He was fifty-five years old at the time, two years younger than Cheng Yuanfeng.
"Monkey Du, what are you doing..."
Uncle Xie Fang said: "Write your resignation."
Cheng Yuanfeng sighed and said, "Why is this necessary?"
Uncle Xie Fang shook his head, as if mentally and physically exhausted.
"In the sixth year of Chunyou, I petitioned to limit the name of the land to the people, so as to suppress the danger of mergers and acquisitions by the powerful, and I gained the trust of the officials. It has been ten years since. In the eleventh year of Chunyou, the officials awarded the gold seal and purple ribbon, worshiped the prime minister, and entrusted all the people in the world to Machine, it has been five years now..."
Cheng Yuanfeng said: "Yes, Duke Du is not afraid of the powerful and powerful, and he speaks out and gives advice." The imperial court has been stationed in Qiantang for more than 120 years. The land outside has become increasingly desolate, the population inside has become more and more prosperous, and powerful families have become more prosperous and annexed. The habits will grow day by day, the people will become poorer, the economic system will deteriorate, and the upper and lower levels will suffer. If there is an unstoppable trend!' Every word is sincere, and the words are still in my ears."
Uncle Xie Fang said: "But what can I do? I have limited the land for ten years and worshiped the prime minister for five years. However, the danger of mergers and acquisitions by powerful powers is still at its peak. The order to limit the land was taken care of by the court. Since I have done nothing, I might as well resign. It is the home of those who can change their abilities.”
Cheng Yuanfeng took a step forward, with sincerity in his eyes, and said, "That's not possible. Do you want to entrust the state affairs to Ding Daquan?"
"There is also Mr. Nezhai in the court..."
"If you resign, will they let me go?"
Uncle Xie Fang was surprised: "They started to frame you too?"
At this point, the two of them finally became more sincere and stopped using honorifics to each other. They sat closer to each other and lowered their voices to talk for a long time.
"Is it true that the inscription on the palace gate was not done by your subordinates without permission?"
Uncle Xie Fang said: "'The country will be destroyed when Yan Martin is in charge'. It seems to be scolding the treacherous party, but in fact it angers the officials so much that they put us on the fire. If I have such a stupid head, what else can I do wearing a black gauze hat?" .”
Cheng Yuanfeng said: "That was written by the traitor party himself? The four words 'the country is about to perish' refer directly to the official family. The drunkard's intention is not to drink."
"What a way to clear up an injustice." Uncle Xie Fang sighed: "Yesterday, the officials summoned me to the palace and talked about Wu Qian's incident..."
There is no need to thank Uncle Fang for telling this matter, Cheng Yuanfeng knows it.
In the eleventh year of Chunyou, Xie Fangshu was appointed as the left prime minister, and Wu Qian was appointed as the right prime minister. There was some conflict of power and responsibilities between the two, and they divided their friends to form a party, which angered the officials. In the first month of the first year of Xingchang, Wu Qian was dismissed from the prime minister.
After that, Dong Huai was appointed as the right prime minister. This man was upright and impeached Ding Daquan, but he was devoured by him and was expelled from Lin'an City. Cheng Yuanfeng became the right prime minister.
Yesterday the officials summoned Uncle Xie Fang, and the meaning was obvious.
You Xie Uncle Fang first had a party dispute with Wu Qian. I trusted you and changed my right prime minister for two consecutive terms, but you are not finished, right? You want to start a party fight with Ding Daquan again, and write an inscription on the palace gate to curse me as the king of subjugation? Force me ?
As expected, Uncle Xie Fang said another sentence next.
"The officials asked me if I wanted to be independent."
Cheng Yuanfeng shivered slightly and sighed: "That's too serious."
Uncle Xie Fang sighed: "Concubine Yan, Dong Songchen and others cry to the officials every day. I and other foreign officials can't explain themselves even if they have something to say..."
Cheng Yuanfeng pondered and said: "This is the end of the matter? Has the person who wrote the inscription been found?"
Uncle Xie Fang said: "I have ordered Lin'an Prefecture to conduct a strict investigation, but there is no clue."
"How can it be easy to investigate if you have the ability to write inscriptions on palace gates?"
"yes."
"It's better..."
Cheng Yuanfeng winked.
Uncle Xie Fang shook his head and said: "It's not appropriate. If the case is overturned after the case is finalized... it's not appropriate."
The two prime ministers let out another long sigh.
"I thought that as the prime minister, I could free my hands and feet to revitalize the country, but I didn't expect to be trapped in the feud between cliques and factions, and I couldn't extricate myself."
"What can be done about it? Who among the previous prime ministers is not like this?"
"Yes." Uncle Xie Fang said: "In the reign of the late emperor, in the third year of Kaixi, Shi Miyuan killed Han Yuzhou with a hammer; in the fourth year of Jiading, the officer of the Dianqian Division and the Infantry Division murdered Shi Miyuan, but failed; in the fourteenth year of Jiading, the officer of the Dianqian Division He tried to murder Shi Miyuan again, but failed again.
Today, Shi Miyuan came to the throne, and Shi Song's uncle and nephew took power one after another. A Duanping defeat made the situation worse. In the fourth year of Chunyou, Du Fan finally became prime minister and expelled Shi Song's party members. In just one year, Shi Songzhi The successive poisonings of Du Fan, the right minister, Xu Yuanjie of the Ministry of Industry, and Liu Hanbi, the prefect of Lin'an, are shocking!"
"Be careful." Cheng Yuanfeng said: "There is no conclusive evidence about the poisoning."
"Conclusive evidence?" Uncle Xie Fang said: "Shi Songzhi learned that Du Fan was addicted to books, so he smeared poison on the books and asked people to donate them. Du Fan read them day and night, and died from the poisonous gas. There are all human and material evidences. What more evidence do you need?!"
"It's an old case, let's forget it."
Uncle Xie Fang said: "But the fierceness of this phase struggle can be seen clearly."
Cheng Yuanfeng nodded.
Uncle Xie Fang said: "I only hope to make practical plans for the country. I have no intention of party struggle, and the position of Prime Minister is not what I want. At that time, the princes said that 'Prime ministers must use scholars', so I had no choice but to worship Zhao Kui."
"yes."
"Although Wu Qian and I have political differences, we have absolutely no personal grudges."
"yes."
"Dong Huai was persecuted by Ding Daquan, and I tried my best to protect him."
"I see."
"But in the eyes of the officials, I am always fighting with each other; in the eyes of the officials, I exclude dissidents and want to be the independent prime minister."
Cheng Yuanfeng advised: "It doesn't have to be like this, things may turn around..."
"We're not far away." Uncle Xie Fang sighed sadly.
After sighing, he pointed to the piles of official documents in the public room, which were all good strategies for governing the country that he had worked out with great pains.
"I am not worried about my personal future. The wars on the border continue, the fields are becoming increasingly desolate; the population in the country is increasing, and annexation is becoming more and more intense.
The concern is that for a powerful family with many fields, taxes and labor cannot be imposed; for those with few fields, there is nothing to worry about.
What worries me is that corpses of Huai and Huai are scattered in the wild, and bones of Western Shu are as white as mountains; in Lin'an, the only sound of orchestral bells and drums can be heard.
What I have planned is that if the officials do not waver in their original intention due to the words of noble people, and if the ministers do not abandon good plans due to personal grudges and fights, then the world will be happy.
However, if I can’t express my ambitions as a prime minister and spend my whole day just like a fly and a dog, it’s better to just go back.”
After Uncle Xie Fang spoke so long, Cheng Yuanfeng finally lost his patience and revealed the real purpose of coming here today.
"In April this year, Jia Shixian and I sent a group of people north to Kaifeng..."
Uncle Xie Fang was surprised and said: "For the information Zhao Kui said?"
"yes."
"You are confused! Confused! Once..."
"This matter is a matter of official approval..."
Uncle Xie Fang was furious and shouted: "If Duan Ping enters Luo again, can you afford it?!"
Cheng Yuanfeng said: "The information has been obtained, but the people who went north went through many hardships and came back, only to be captured by Ding Daquan."
"Got it? Caught?"
"I've confirmed that I got it. What Zhao Kui said is true. It's done. It's useless for you and me to argue anymore."
Uncle Xie Fang asked: "Ding Daquan wants to compete for credit?"
"Yes." Cheng Yuanfeng pondered, and then said: "This matter was originally planned by Jia Shixian and I. Now that the person has returned, Jia Shixian did not inform him. Instead, he sent people to keep an eye on my mansion and prevent them from contacting me."
"Jia Sidao...want to take all the credit?"
"Yes." Cheng Yuanfeng sighed: "Ding is very anxious and Jia is unreliable. I have no choice but to come to you."
Uncle Xie Fang was silent.
"Ding Daquan has colluded with the north." Cheng Yuanfeng reminded: "Huaiyou, Yuan Jie."
Uncle Xie Fang fully understood what Cheng Yuanfeng meant, and finally shouted: "Ding Daquan is so brave!"
"The top priority is to rescue the person. Adding in the intelligence, the evidence is irrefutable."
Speaking of this, Cheng Yuanfeng's face was serious and she said solemnly: "A loyal and righteous man returned from bloodshed, but was persecuted by the traitorous party. This matter has been brought to the imperial court, and I will fight with Ding Daquan to the end..."