At night, Yang Yuanqing finished washing himself, put on a loose Zen suit, and walked into the inner room. In the inner room, Pei Minqiu was sitting in front of the bronze mirror, removing makeup, and carefully removing the flower patch on his forehead.
Yang Yuanqing stepped forward, held his wife's thin shoulders, smiled and pulled out the jade hairpin from her hair, put it in front of her nose and smelled it. Pei Minqiu turned around and smiled, "Did you smell something, husband?"
"It seems to smell like osmanthus oil."
Pei Minqiu pretended to be surprised and asked: "Why has my husband improved his scent? Is it because he smelled too much Korean osmanthus oil?"
There was a trace of teasing in her eyes, and she looked at her husband with anger but not anger, her eyes were wandering, and she was actually asking her husband if he had brought back a Korean concubine?
In public, Pei Minqiu was the Princess of Chu, with a broad mind and tried her best to show her motherly demeanor. However, when the couple were alone at night, she would also have the thoughts of an ordinary woman and worry about whether her husband was flirting with women outside.
Yang Yuanqing heard the sourness in his wife's tone and smiled, "With such a charming princess like you at home, how can I like the women of Goryeo?"
"Pfft!" Pei Minqiu rarely heard her husband praise her beauty. She was happy in her heart, but she pretended to be coquettish and said: "It seems that you have stayed with that smooth-talking Cheng Yaojin for a long time and have become like him. I don't want to
like."
After a pause, she asked with a smile: "Don't change the subject, tell me first, how many Korean osmanthus oil heads have you smelled?"
Yang Yuanqing sat down on Xiudun next to his wife and yawned, "Didn't I tell you? I have a lovely wife at home, how can a woman from Goryeo like her?"
"Hey!" Pei Minqiu let out a long sigh, "Forget it, you won't admit it even if I ask. Anyway, as long as you don't bring it back, I'll pretend I don't know anything."
Pei Minqiu put her black waterfall-like hair on her shoulders and smiled sweetly. She stood up and took her husband's hand and walked to the inner room. The door curtain was lowered. A maid quietly entered the room and blew out the lamp in the outer room, but there was a faint sound of low sound in the inner room.
The laughter frightened the maid into retreating quickly and closing the door.
The night is getting deeper, and a bright moon hangs in the sky, spreading its brilliance to the world.
...
Early the next morning, Yang Yuanqing sat in front of the bronze mirror while Pei Minqiu carefully combed her husband's hair. After a night of love, Pei Minqiu's eyes were filled with endless love and tenderness for her husband.
"My husband has been away from Taiyuan for more than a month, and a lot of things have accumulated!"
"Yeah!" Yang Yuanqing agreed casually, "I guess a lot of headaches are waiting for me. To be honest, I really don't want to go to court today."
"Then rest at home! You just came back yesterday, so it's normal to rest for two or three days." Pei Minqiu persuaded her husband in a low voice.
Yang Yuanqing gave a wry smile. He wanted to rest, but with all the worries in the court, how could he stop?
When Pei Minqiu saw that her husband had stopped talking, she did not try to persuade her. At this time, she remembered something and said quickly: "I remember that my husband told me to remind you before the autumn examination. It seems that someone is going to take the imperial examination."
One sentence reminded Yang Yuanqing that he had promised Huangfu Xu to give his son a future, and he should take the imperial examination this autumn.
"If you didn't tell me, I would have forgotten about it. Thank you, good wife, for reminding me."
Yang Yuanqing smiled and patted his wife's hand to express his gratitude, and then asked: "How much is the price of rice now in Taiyuan?"
Pei Minqiu wanted to ask who was coming to take part in the imperial examination, but Yang Yuanqing interrupted her. She dropped the matter and said, "I asked the housekeeper the day before yesterday, and he said that it was raised to 90 yuan per dou of rice some time ago. But these days
The price has dropped to sixty cents per bucket of rice, which is not outrageously expensive."
Yang Yuanqing remembered that when he left, it was 40 yen per dou of rice. Now it is 60 yen per dou, an increase of 50%. This price was still acceptable during the disaster years. This shows that the disaster relief has had a very obvious effect. The key is food. As long as
With food in hand, he can control the situation in Sui Dynasty.
.......
Half an hour later, Yang Yuanqing walked into Ziwei Pavilion. As soon as he entered the door, he had a strange feeling. He felt that Ziwei Pavilion was extremely quiet. The servants running to the sun to deliver documents disappeared. Both sides of the corridor were deserted.
This gave Yang Yuanqing the illusion that today was Xiu Chao's day, but today was obviously not Xiu Chao's day. Could it be that he came early today?
Yang Yuanqing walked up to the second floor and happened to meet a manager holding a stack of documents at the entrance of the stairs. The manager was startled and quickly bowed and saluted, "Your Highness!"
"Yes!" Yang Yuanqing agreed and then asked: "Have all the prime ministers arrived?"
"Only Mr. Su Ge is here. The other prime ministers went to inspect the construction of farmland and water conservancy. Prime Minister Lu and Cui Zhanshi took sick leave today."
Cui Zhanshi is the prince Zhanshi Cui Hongyuan. The prince Zhanshi has nothing to do, just a sinecure, and Lu Yu is the minister of the Ministry of punishment. When Yang Yuanqing heard that the two of them had asked for sick leave at the same time, he couldn't help but sneered. This was really a coincidence. He
When they first came to court, they fell ill. Who were they giving eye drops to?
Yang Yuanqing walked up to the third floor with a sullen face and walked directly into his official room. Pei Qingsong, a member of the army in the recording office, quickly stepped forward and saluted, "See you, Your Highness!"
At present, his record-keeping officers are Pei Qingsong and Zhang Liang, and the former record-keeping officer Xiao Jing is appointed as the prefect of Liang County, in charge of one of the most important counties in the Central Plains. Yang Yuanqing nodded, and seeing that Zhang Liang's seat was vacant, he asked:
"Where is Zhang Canjun?"
"Zhang Canjun went to the Ministry of War to get documents and will be back soon."
Yang Yuanqing nodded and walked into the room. Pei Qingsong followed. He looked a little nervous and stopped talking. Yang Yuanqing glanced at him and asked, "What's the matter?"
Pei Qingqing pointed to the desk in the room and said, "Your Highness, there are two documents on the desk, which are more important. Your Highness should take a look first!"
He bowed and retreated. Yang Yuanqing walked to the table and sat down. Seeing two memorials side by side in front of the table, he picked up one and was stunned. It turned out to be Yang Shidao's resignation letter. He opened it again
The other one, his expression suddenly changed, it turned out to be Cui Junsu's resignation letter.
Yang Yuanqing heard Du Ruhui say yesterday that Yang Shidao intended to resign. He originally wanted to talk to him today, but he did not expect that Cui Junsu would also resign. Cui Junsu had followed him for many years and was Yang Yuanqing's confidant second only to Du Ruhui. He also wanted to resign.
This made Yang Yuanqing a little anxious.
He opened Cui Junsu's resignation memorandum and wrote at the beginning: "The county magistrate has committed corruption and committed a heinous crime. He should be governed by the laws of the country. If the law is not enough to punish the evil, he can be punished severely and not punished outside the law. A small evil in a county can be punished by law.
In view of the dignity of the country, there is nothing wrong with killing him. However, if you do not kill him, you can leave a good name in history and make future generations of descendants self-conscious. Your Highness is the founder of the country. You should think about the inheritance of the eternal generations. Every word and deed should be imitated by future generations.
, If Your Highness obeys the law, your descendants will not dare to disobey it. If Your Highness is unruly, your descendants will follow suit tenfold. No matter how big or small it is, I hope Your Highness will think deeply about it."
Yang Yuanqing sighed and opened Yang Shidao's memorial again, "The king has the power of the king, and the prime minister has the power of the prime minister. The king handles major events, and the prime minister handles minor matters. The king controls the world, and the prime minister interrogates all officials. If a county does evil, the eunuch should ask about it."
There are censors to investigate, there are criminals to arrest, there are Dali to judge, there are crimes to be judged by the prime minister, and then they are reported to the king, and he can be killed or demoted, and the king will deal with it himself. This is the normal principle of the operation of the court..."
Yang Yuanqing closed the memorial, walked slowly to the window with his hands behind his back, and stared at the white clouds floating in the sky. Cui Junsu and Yang Shidao's persuasion sounded like two bells in Yang Yuanqing's heart.
Concerning the same small matter, Cui Junsu expressed his opinions and Yang Shidao said that power should be decentralized. Although the matter is small, it has a significant impact.
Yang Yuanqing is good at killing county magistrates today. A hundred years later, his descendants will imitate him and kill prefects and even prime ministers. If the country's laws are empty, the powerful will not be able to restrain them. This is the root of the country's downfall.
Of course, Yang Yuanqing was also very aware of the root cause of the Sui Dynasty's defeat. In the final analysis, it was caused by Yang Guang's du cai. Without the restraint of power, people would become crazy. He understood this well.
That's why he was committed to dividing power between the king and the prime minister, and using the power of the prime minister to check and balance the king's power. This was not only for himself, but also for the long-term stability of the dynasty he created.
He must not lose Cui Junsu and Yang Shidao, two loyal ministers.
At this time, Pei Qingsong reported outside the door, "Your Highness, Prime Minister Su wants to see you."
He arrived just in time, Yang Yuanqing was also planning to find him, so he nodded and said, "Order him to come in."
The door opened and Su Wei walked in, bowed and gave a long salute, "Old minister, I see His Highness the King of Chu."
"Forgive me, Mr. Su Ge, please sit down!"
"Thank you, Your Highness King Chu."
Su Wei sat down, and Yang Yuanqing ordered the tea boy to serve tea again. Su Wei picked up the tea cup and then said with a smile: "I heard that His Highness did a good business in Goryeo. How exciting!"
Yang Yuanqing chuckled, "What Xiang Guo said is really interesting. What does it mean to do a good business? Could it be that what we are doing is a business without capital?"
The two of them laughed tacitly. At this time, Su Wei saw the two memorials on the table, and the smile on his face disappeared. After pondering for a moment, he sighed and said: "A small thing caused a storm in Ziwei Pavilion.
It is surprising that four prime ministers are resigning, which is even more surprising."
"These are actually two things, I'm right!" Yang Yuanqing looked very calm and said calmly.
"It's really two things. One is that Yang Shidao and Cui Junsu are angry because His Highness killed the county magistrate without permission. The other is that Lu Yu and Cui Hongyuan are dissatisfied with His Highness's desire to track down the Yicang grain. One thing is fair and admirable, and the other thing is that His Highness wants to trace the Yicang grain.
It is disgraceful to do one thing for personal gain.”
Su Wei is a cunning old man. He seized the opportunity of the resignation of the four prime ministers and severely stepped on Lu and Cui. He wished that they could be dismissed directly.
The reason why Yang Yuanqing wanted to find Su Wei was because he wanted Su Wei to help him think of a way to deal with Lu and Cui. Lu and Cui dared to threaten him with resignation. Yang Yuanqing was extremely dissatisfied, but Yang Yuanqing also knew that he was still
It is necessary to rely on famous families to maintain the stability of Hebei.
He thought for a moment and then said: "At this time, Hebei has just been settled, and it is not possible to carry out large-scale cleansing of Hebei's officialdom. However, if left unchecked, the interest entanglements in Hebei's officialdom will become more entrenched. I wonder if Mr. Su Ge has any good suggestions. I don't need to.
How can we straighten out the officialdom in Hebei even if we have to strain our muscles and bones?"