At Yangzhou Pier, Li Hong waved to Li Jingye and others who came to see them off, and then took Bai Chun and boarded the ship to Hangzhou again, escorted by Mang Zhong and Cheetah.
The river breeze was blowing slowly, and Li Jingye and others looked at the Wuya battleship gradually leaving the shore with reluctant eyes. They first saluted across the river, and then waved vigorously. This made Li Hong, who was standing on the deck enjoying the morning breeze, couldn't help but He laughed at himself: "It feels like they breathed a sigh of relief after I left. This wave doesn't feel like farewell."
As Li Hong turned around and walked towards the cabin, Bai Chun's voice sounded behind him: "What is that?"
"Don't you think you want me to leave quickly?" Li Hong said without looking back.
Bai Chun turned his head, and the officials on the pier gradually turned into small black figures. Under the leadership of Li Jingye, they began to move into Yangzhou City in an orderly manner.
"Your Majesty, Your Highness has never asked you about Chen Jingzhi. From this point of view, can we continue to pressurize Chen Jingzhi as planned until he agrees?" Du Qiuren said. He was riding a horse, following Li Jingye's carriage, lying on the horse's back and whispering.
"So what? The person you sent obviously didn't ask Chen Jingzhi to agree to sign and deposit it?" Li Jingye's face was as dark as the bottom of a pot. The look of the spring breeze bringing warmth and farewell to His Royal Highness just now had disappeared long ago. Gone, and even compared to before, he looked completely different.
Du Qiuren looked at Li Jingye with some awe, swallowed his words again, but wanted to speak again, but looking at that black face, Du Qiuren didn't know how to speak to defend his people, so he had to ask: " Mr. British, are the signatures and stamps so important? Since you have bribed people in the Ministry of Civil Affairs, although Liu Dewei, the supervisor of Dali Temple, is dead now, he cannot forge evidence, testimony, or documents from the execution site of officials above the fifth rank for us, but Pei king… ."
"Du Qiuren, do you know too much?" Li Jingye glanced sideways at Du Qiuren, then sighed and said, "If Chang'an officialdom is as simple as you think, I don't have to worry about it."
"What did the British Duke say...how...how did you say this?" Du Qiuren pricked up his ears and asked gossiping.
The officialdom of Chang'an is a place that any local official yearns for. As long as he wants to continue his official career, rise to the top, and be promoted to a higher position, there is no place where officials can be promoted faster than Chang'an and Luoyang.
Therefore, naturally, in the hearts of local officials, Chang'an and Luoyang are like the holy places for every official after entering the official career. In their "simple" thoughts, they even think that as long as the officials can adjust themselves If you enter Chang'an or Luoyang, you will be promoted every three years and promoted to a noble rank every nine years. It is absolutely a sure thing.
If you are more flexible in your mind, more tactful in your dealings with others, your family is more prosperous, and you have some relationship with the Five Surnames and Seven Hopes, that would be even better. Basically, you should be a third-rank official in this life. There is no problem.
But how did he know that Li Jingye, who had grown up in Chang'an with his grandfather Li Ji, the British prince, was deeply touched by the intrigues in Chang'an's officialdom? How did he know that in Chang'an, not only the fifth-rank officials, but also the fourth-rank officials , from the third rank of officials, there are a lot of them in Chang'an and Luoyang.
In addition to the noble and wealthy families, those who pick up the slack, the civil and military officials, etc., in Chang'an, a fourth-grade official, even an official from the third grade, is nothing. Who knows if you will run into it if you wander around Chang'an. They are relatives of the emperor, people of noble families.
Li Jingye brought his thoughts back from Chang'an earlier, sighed again, and said in a low voice: "Chang'an and Luoyang are nightmare places for local officials like us. We would rather have the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix. This is it." I mean, can a good official from one side be inferior to an official from Chang'an or Luoyang?"
Du Qiuren heard something specious, blinked his eyes, and listened attentively to Li Jingye's continued words: "Nowadays, there are no longer as many loopholes to exploit in the Chang'an court as before. Dali Temple, Yushitai, and the Ministry of Punishment, Now that both are indispensable, it was extremely difficult for Liu Dewei to unseat Chen Jingzhi before he died, not to mention that most of it was Pei Yan's fault. As for King Pei... Huh, I'm afraid... Now because of the suppression by His Royal Highness, I'm trembling in Chang'an City right now, I'm afraid I don't have the guts to reach out to other officials in the court."
"Young Lord, even King Pei doesn't dare to reach out to the court, but... But the relationship between King Pei and Qi Wang of the Five Surnames has always been very close. This is not something that His Royal Highness can match." Du Qiuren saw that Li Jingye was silent, so he continued: "The lower official thought that by contacting the Five Surnames and Qiwang through King Pei, we might be able to find suitable candidates for us from the Ministry of Punishment, the Ministry of Personnel, and Dali Temple. But that's strange, you It is said that the influence of the Five Surnames and Qiwang is so great in our Tang Dynasty. Why didn't His Royal Highness the Crown Prince see this? He insists on getting into a tense and inconsistent situation with the Five Surnames and Qiwang. This is not for nothing. Did Wang pick it up ready-made?"
"Du Qiuren, I think you are very suitable to be an adviser to His Highness the Crown Prince. Yangzhou seems a little small and cannot accommodate a giant Buddha like you." Li Jingye said suddenly and calmly, and then threw down the car curtain. He stopped and signaled the carriage to speed away.
If even you, Du Qiuren, could understand the political struggle in the court, then those third-rank officials in Chang'an would not have to live anymore, and they would just hit the wall and die!
Why His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is at odds with Qi Wang, a member of the fifth surname, is not a secret among nobles and wealthy families.
Everyone knows that since His Majesty Li Zhi and Empress Wu Mei disintegrated the Guanlong Group headed by Changsun Wuji, the Crown Prince reached out to the five surnames and Qi Wang to divide and disintegrate their power, not only the emperor, the queen, and the prince are joining forces to strengthen their royal rights over the court.
What's more, His Highness the Crown Prince is now the Minister of Order and has control over all six ministries. It is even more difficult for the forces of the Five Surnames and Seven Hopes to insert themselves.
Moreover, with Pei Yan gone, the post of Zhongshu Ling has been taken over by Pei Xingjian, who has followed His Highness the Crown Prince for many years. Half of the court is now in the hands of His Highness the Crown Prince.
The remaining half is either in the hands of His Majesty or the Queen, and the space available to Qi Wang and King Pei of the Five Surnames is getting smaller and smaller, and they are about to be squeezed out of the court.
Therefore, if Du Qiuren's plan is followed, asking King Pei for help at this time is tantamount to digging his own grave. Not only is he seeking death, but he may also bring everything that Yangzhou has managed over the years with him.
Du Qiuren is a idiot. He can't even see this. It's obvious that he can only be a long-term official. If he goes up to the next level, I'm afraid he won't even know how he died.
Du Qiuren watched the carriage suddenly speed away and thought about what he had just said. Suddenly he realized that he seemed to have inadvertently mentioned a secret that His Highness the Crown Prince had not seen, which was the fight for the Five Surnames and Seven Hopes.
Sigh... No wonder the British public threw the curtain and left. If his words were heard by the prince's cronies, wouldn't this be an obvious reminder to His Highness
In the future, if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince establishes a good relationship with Qiwang of the fifth surname, wouldn't it mean that the British Duke's great cause will be destroyed in one fell swoop
Du Qiuren looked at the carriage and couldn't help but give himself a gentle slap: "I don't want you to talk too much in the future. A smart person sees it but doesn't say it. You are a smart person, but if you say it, you are not a smart person! You have to pay attention in the future. "
The Wuya warship gradually sailed towards the waterway. When Li Hong was still in Manjiang Garden this morning, he had already learned from Lawless the news that they had heard last night. At this time, he called Lawless to the front again and told the details about what happened last night. Asked again.
Including the city defenses inside and outside Yangzhou city, how many Zhechong captains of Zhechong Mansion were in Yangzhou, etc., they were all asked.
After all, if Li Jingye really planned to harm himself, the captain of Zhechong Mansion would definitely not let him find out.
Because Pei Yan and Princess Wencheng were in Chang'an, it delayed Li Hong's placement of Jingwei people here. Therefore, after arriving in Jiangnan, Li Hong can't be said to have a black eye, but he can be regarded as a one-eyed dragon who cannot be completely clear and understand. He could clearly see the situation inside and outside Yangzhou.
Fortunately, he went to Hangzhou to name the five giant ships, and stayed in Hangzhou for a while, which was enough to buy Bai Chun's Jingwei a lot of time to hibernate in Yangzhou.
"Why didn't you secretly warn Li Jingye today? Aren't you afraid that Li Jingzhi will bring Chen Jingzhi to justice after you leave?" Bai Chun sat down in front of Li Hong dignifiedly and said.
After a night's rest, if he hadn't been able to sleep with Li Hong in his arms, Bai Chun would have felt that his body was shaking involuntarily on the bed when he went to bed at night, just like he was on the boat these days.
But when I boarded the ship today, my feeling has changed. I am walking much more steadily than before. I don’t even feel that taking the ship is a torture. Now I can feel in the mood to see the scenery on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
"Whether you warn Li Jingye openly or covertly, it will only make Chen Jingzhi die faster, and... Obviously Li Jingye has been operating in Yangzhou for many years and has become very powerful, so let him face When Chen Jingzhi is a hard-nosed person and faced with a fight to the death, he is too powerful and wants to protect the results of his many years of business. He does not dare to break the pot like Chen Jingzhi... "
"What does it mean to break a jar and break a jar? To put it so unpleasantly, it's better to have a broken jade than to make it whole." Bai Chun frowned and corrected.
Li Hong smiled and looked at Bai Chun, who was correcting his wording, until Bai Chun was a little flustered. He thought the river wind had messed up his clothes, so he lowered his head and looked at his clothes. They were all neat. Why is he like this? Looking at yourself
Li Hong then said: "Aren't you just worried that Chen Jingzhi's daughter will be sent to a flower shop by Li Jingye or used as a prostitute? Let me see..."
"Hmph, I have informed Jingwei. After arriving in Yangzhou, I will find the whereabouts of his daughter as soon as possible and rescue her. I will never let Li Jingye succeed." Bai Chun said coldly.
Li Hong shook his head helplessly. Bai Chun thought of herself again because of Chen Jingzhi's incident. Otherwise, she would never care so much about Chen Jingzhi's daughter.
(End of chapter)