Qi Ning didn't have any suspicion at first, but Mrs. Tian's reaction made him feel that something was fishy. He glanced sideways at the silk cloth, and suddenly reached out to pinch the silk cloth. Tian Xuerong lost her voice and said: "Master Hou, don't...!"
Before she finished speaking, Qining had already lifted the silk cloth, revealing what was underneath.
When Mrs. Tian saw him opening it, she turned around suddenly, turned her back to Qi Ning, raised her hands to hold her face, her body was trembling slightly, but Qi Ning could see clearly at this time that under the silk cloth, there was actually a chair.
Seeing Mrs. Tian's nervousness, Qi Ning thought there was something important covered underneath. When he saw it was a chair, he burst out laughing, thinking that this woman was really making a fuss. A chair could make her so nervous, but soon she I found that this chair was very special, very different from ordinary chairs.
His mind changed slightly and he went to see Mrs. Tian again. Mrs. Tian had already run away.
Qining suddenly felt a little embarrassed. He hurriedly covered it with silk cloth and walked out of the screen. He saw Tian Xuerong standing at the window. The window was slightly open, as if to let some air in. With his back to this side, Qining coughed deliberately and pretended to be okay. : "Madam, I... I still have something to do. I'll leave it to you to take care of things here."
Mrs. Tian just said "Yeah" and did not look back.
There was an extremely embarrassing atmosphere in the air. Qining knew that no matter what he said at this time, he would be embarrassed. He glanced at Mrs. Tian's back, then hurriedly went out. After walking for a while, he happened to turn to the road facing the window and looked back. At a glance, he happened to see Tian Xuerong looking here. The moment Qining turned around, Tian Xuerong's body was shocked and she closed the window as quickly as possible.
…
The administration of Chu State continued the system of the previous dynasty, but it was different.
In the previous dynasty, there were left and right prime ministers and six ministries. The left and right prime ministers were directly responsible to the emperor and commanded the six ministries.
However, although the Chu State continued the six-ministry system, it did not establish a left or right prime minister. At the beginning of the founding of the country, the four ministers who overrided the six-ministry actually had a consensus with the emperor as the core.
The so-called discussion among the four princes is naturally dominated by the emperor and the four princes. Because the north is not at peace and there is Qi State in the east, the Chu State has always placed itself in a wartime state. The emperor often summons the four princes to discuss national policies. Discuss with some close ministers first to determine the policies and strategies, and then make specific orders to the six departments.
The Four Hous discuss everything together. Although it is called the Four Hous, the members are not just the Four Hous. They will summon relevant ministers for discussion within a period of time based on the specific situation.
The four princes discussed together and formed the highest power center of the empire, which managed the national government affairs and oversaw the six ministries including the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Punishment, the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Industry.
In addition, there are the Yushi Yuan and the Supervisory Yuan, whose role is to supervise the six ministries.
However, as early as when the late emperor was still alive, the discussion among the four marquises was already different from the early years. The old marquis of Jindao Tantai was old and had been recuperating in his mansion all year round, while Qi Jing, the marquis of Jinyi, was leading the troops at the front. Therefore, only Sima Lan, who was still the Marquis of Zhongyi, and Wuxiang Marquis Su Zhen participated in the discussions of the Four Marquises. However, Su Zhen's talents were mediocre, and the Su family's influence in the court was deteriorating. This also led to the fact that although Su Zhen often participated in the discussions of the Four Marquises, he was not able to participate in the discussions. But he almost never expressed any opinions. Even if he said a few words, they were irrelevant to the overall situation.
During the Qinhuai War, the former emperor even made an exception and invited the King of Huainan to participate in the council when the four princes were debating. In fact, on the eve of the death of the former emperor, the four princes' deliberations were in name only. Whenever there was a major event in the dynasty, the former emperor would bring the six ministers to the meeting. All the ministers gathered together to discuss court affairs. In fact, it showed to the courtiers that the emperor and his ministers were of one mind and united when the country was in difficulty.
After the founding of the Chu State, it had actually been at war with the Han State, so the empire's policy had always been biased towards war. Among the four princes, except for Sima Lan, the loyal and righteous marquis, who was subordinate to the civil service, the other three princes were all on the battlefield. General, this also shows the emphasis of the empire.
All policies of the empire were aimed at the Northern Expedition. With the three hereditary marquis fighting abroad, the internal affairs of the empire could naturally only be managed by the loyal marquis Sima Lan in collaboration with the emperor. In fact, a court structure was formed with the Sima family as the general manager of logistics. , although the Sima family's influence in the military has always been very weak, because it is in charge of internal affairs, it has unique conditions in the appointment and removal of local officials.
In the early days of the meeting of the Four Marquises, the Sima family, who was responsible for internal affairs, had always kept a very low profile and was once at the bottom of the Four Marquiss. However, as the war continued all year round, the Zhongyi Marquis, who was responsible for logistics supply, became more and more important in the court. During the emperor's period, the Zhongyi Marquis of the Sima family and the Jinyi Marquis of the Qijia were both civil and military, becoming the two most important pillars of the empire.
The Sima family also firmly controlled the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Industry among the six ministries.
The Ministry of War has always been within the sphere of influence of the Jindao Tantai family, because the King of Huainan once entered the four princes to discuss politics together, and gradually won over the Ministry of Punishment.
The household department was once the sphere of influence of the Jinyi Qi family, but because Dou Kui had a grudge against Qi Jing, he surrendered to the power of the King of Huainan.
Among the various ministries, the Ministry of Rites is relatively clean, and over the years, the Ministry of Rites can be regarded as the Qingshui Yamen. Because of the perennial war with the Northern Han Dynasty, the two countries consumed huge amounts of manpower and material resources, which also led to the simplicity of many etiquette matters in Chu State.
The late emperor was a frugal person, and due to financial resources, there were very few large-scale ceremonial activities in recent years, and the status of the Ministry of Rites has always been modest.
In order to care about the dignity of the empire, the emperor's wedding was frugal as much as possible, but after all, it was still related to Dong Qi's face, so the court still prepared a large sum of money for this wedding. Yuan Lao Shangshu He is already old and knows that this is probably the last big thing he will do in office, so he does not care about his health and works day and night. In recent days, he has even made the Rites Yamen his home.
The yamen responsible for handling this matter are mainly the Department of Rites, with the Department of Husbandry and Honglu Temple assisting. After all, it is the emperor's wedding, and there are a lot of red tape involved, and every procedure cannot make the slightest mistake.
The emperor's wedding is bound to be celebrated by the whole world, and the people in the capital will naturally be crowded by the time. Therefore, Xue Lingfeng's Tiger God Camp and the Kyoto Prefecture Yamen have to start making arrangements early, and even the Ministry of Punishment has to start planning and preparations. After all, the emperor is the king In order to get married, it is inevitable to pardon the criminals, and naturally many files must be prepared.
As the wedding approaches, everything in the capital is busy, and all government offices are making intensive preparations.
Chu's proposal to Dong Qi was not prepared in advance. The emperor suddenly announced the decree, and things went extremely smoothly. The crown prince of Dong Qi personally led a team to escort Princess Tianxiang to Chu, leaving no time for Chu. There is not enough, so all the ministries and yamen can only prepare day and night.
Although Qi Ning is not as busy as the officials in the Ministry of Rites, he has been waiting for news from the Beggar Clan in the past few days.
It was no small matter that Gray Crow and a group of shadow rats infiltrated the capital, and the person who summoned them was actually Duan Qingchen, the former sex envoy of the Black Lotus Sect. Of course Qining knew that this was unusual.
The most important thing is that Gray Crow admitted that he would meet each other on the night of July 13th, and the emperor's wedding was scheduled for July 18th, which was only a few days apart. At this time, shadow rats gathered in the capital, Qining vaguely felt This conspiracy is likely to be related to the emperor's wedding.
If Duan Qingchen and his gang want to take advantage of the emperor's wedding to cause trouble in the capital this time, they must be on guard.
Although the capital was heavily guarded and the little emperor was even more closely protected, it was impossible for Shadow Mouse and his gang to get in touch with the little emperor, but Qining was worried that there were other more terrifying conspiracies. At least he would never I hope that anyone who conspires will harm the little emperor himself.
At the Jinyihou Mansion, because the emperor granted the marriage, the three old masters were actively negotiating with the Goddess. In fact, although Ximen Wuhen was a member of the officialdom, his temperament was more inclined to act like a man in the world, and he did not care about many red tapes. No matter what, it's just that the Third Old Master insists that all etiquette is indispensable. Qining considers that this is a big deal for him, so he doesn't object to the Third Old Master's attitude towards this matter.
As for the 10,000 taels of silver raised by members of the Qi clan, they were very happy to send it over. Everyone could see that Qi Ning was now highly valued by the emperor, and the person he was getting married to was the god of Ximen. Naturally, they didn't want to do it because of a few One hundred taels of silver was rejected by the Jinyihou Mansion.
Originally, Qi Ning won more than 20,000 taels of silver from the bet with Su Zhen and others. He had previously thought of using this money as the cost of getting married, but he thought that the Qi clan could handle 10,000 taels of silver, so he decided He happily sent the 20,000 taels of silver to Tian Mansion to invest in it.
According to the third old man, ten thousand taels of silver may not be enough to stop the marriage, but Qin Ning doesn't care. He has already sent a lot of silver to the Hou Mansion's treasury. Now that they are getting married, the Hou Mansion's treasury will naturally have to come up with the money. .
In fact, Qi Ning would like to find a chance to meet Ximen Zhanying, but according to the customs of the Chu State, once a marriage contract is made, the man and woman should not meet each other. On the day Longtai granted the marriage in public, the marriage was confirmed, although Qi Ning did not I was worried about the red tape and those taboos, but I knew that this was a sign of respect for the Ximen family after all, so I gave up the idea of going to see Ximen Zhanying.
But he knew in his heart that Ximen Zhanying would definitely go find the so-called old beggar afterwards, but the place where he taught her to walk freely was already deserted, so Ximen Zhanying could only keep wondering in his heart.
The imperial court is preparing for the emperor's wedding, and the Jinyihou Mansion is also preparing for Qining's wedding. The emperor's wedding is approaching, so everything is busy, but Qining has plenty of time and is still discussing the date of the wedding. So I'm not in a hurry.
On the night of July 13th, Qi Ning stayed up all night, waiting for news from the Beggar Clan, but no one came all night. In the early morning, he managed to fall asleep vaguely, but he was woken up by Qi Feng not long after he slept. , sent a letter, Qi Ning took the letter and glanced at it. There was just a simple symbol drawn on it. This was the signal Qi Ning had agreed with Bai Shenghao in advance. As soon as there was news, he would send the signal to agree to meet.
Since Qin Ning knew that there were people watching him both inside and outside Jinyihou Mansion, he naturally did not want to have direct contact with the Beggar Clan in public. Whenever he wanted to meet with the Beggar Clan, he would go there in person and after receiving the letter, he would first burn the letter. After leaving the house, he rode around in a circle to make sure that no one was following him, and then he arrived at the agreed place.
As soon as he entered the room, Bai Shenghao came up to him, cupped his hands and said: "Master Hou!"
Seeing his solemn expression, Qi Ning guessed that things would not go well and asked, "Is there any news about Gray Crow?"
Bai Shenghao explained: "Last night I personally brought two smart brothers to watch near the entrance of Temple West Street. At three quarters of the hour, the gray crow did arrive there as promised."
"Can the other party's contact person show up?" Qining asked immediately.