Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan walked out of the palace together, Li Rong just remembered: "Aren't you going to the official office today?"
"I have something to discuss with you," Pei Wenxuan explained, "I just came here when I heard that you were in the palace."
"Oh?" Li Rong was a little surprised, "What made you come here in such a hurry?"
"Today's good news from the court, a great victory for the front line." When Pei Wenxuan spoke, Li Rong raised her brows, and then heard Pei Wenxuan's reply, "There is a dispute over the list of generals that Xiao Su reported to receive the reward."
Li Rong went through these words and immediately understood.
Xiao Su is the elder brother of Concubine Rou. He used to be a cold family. After reading for a few years, he was promoted all the way through Concubine Rou's relationship.
This time, Li Ming took the Yang family, and then sent Li Chuan to the battlefield. By manipulating Li Chuan, the family was forced to contribute. It took a lot of effort to stabilize the situation in the northwest. As a result, Li Ming slowed down Li Chuan on the eve of his meritorious service. , let Xiao Su forcibly change into the battlefield and become the main general, this anger is probably still pressing in the Shangguan family's heart.
The Shangguan family is a century-old family, and there are many in-laws in the court. This time against the Yang family, the big families in the court are afraid that they have put in a lot of effort.
And Xiao Sunai was born in a cold family, and is a sharp blade that Li Ming used to suppress these noble families. The list of awards he gave, even if it was not his, could never be a member of the noble family. The aristocratic family lost so much energy in the early stage, and now if they don’t get some money back, how can they let go
So now that the frontline has won a big victory, this list is sent back, and the family will immediately quarrel with Li Ming.
"Then what did they say?"
Li Rong turned the small fan in her hand and thought, "Xiao Su and the others can't move. Concubine Rou is being favored. If they could move, they would have already done it. They can also pick up soft persimmons and squeeze them."
As she spoke, Li Rong remembered and came: "Which generals did Xiao Su report to?"
"There are seventeen generals in total," Pei Wenxuan said, analyzing it, "basically, they are imperial examinations, poor families, or second-rate families."
"Qin Lin can be inside?"
Li Rong immediately pressed on, and Pei Wenxuan shook his head: "He's not here, but Qin Feng is there. I heard the battle report. It should be that Xiao Su was afraid that his qualifications were too low, and put his credit on his uncle. But it's all a family. , it doesn't matter."
Li Rong replied, Qin Lin is still too young, and it's not good to appear too early. But as long as the Qin family can gain a firm foothold in the northwest, it will be a matter of time before Qin Lin emerges.
"Then," Li Rong tapped on the table, "I am afraid that the noble family will make trouble with these ordinary generals. Your Majesty won't just watch it like that."
"Yes," Pei Wenxuan replied, "I called my second uncle over to His Majesty."
From the beginning of Pei Lizhi, the Pei family was the core of Li Ming's special support to fight against the nobility. After Pei Lizhi died of illness, Pei Lixian continued his path. Although his talent was not as good as Pei Lizhi's, he still occupied the position of the provincial government.
Although this position is not similar to Pei Lizhi's position in the year of the minister of ministers, Zuo Pushe, who generally governs the six departments and has the actual execution power, but also has the power to refute and deliberate, and is very close to the emperor.
Li Ming called Pei Lixian over, probably to discuss how to bite the big melon in the northwest border with the family.
Li Rong didn't speak. Pei Wenxuan sat aside and waited for a while before asking, "What do you think, Your Highness?"
"Today I had an argument with my mother."
Li Rong said calmly: "She wants Chuan'er to marry someone from the Shangguan family, especially Shangguanya. She was very angry about the palace banquet yesterday and reprimanded Chuan'er and me."
"What does Your Highness say?"
Pei Wenxuan knew that Li Rong couldn't just succumb to Shangguanyue, so he directly asked Li Rong's response, Li Rong said slowly: "I have made the pros and cons clear to my mother, Chuan'er is not necessary to marry Shangguanya, and instead brings disaster. ...but she didn't seem to listen."
"The maiden can't listen."
Pei Wenxuan took a sip of tea and said, "After all, Niangniang is the daughter of the Shangguan family, and she is inseparable from the Shangguan family. During the war in the northwest frontier, a lot of blood has been shed in the royal family. If the imperial concubine hadn't been used as a reward to appease the family. , Shangguan's heart is afraid of feeling injustice, and the empress needs to bear too much pressure."
Li Rong remained silent. Pei Wenxuan knew that Li Rong was thinking. After waiting for a while, he couldn't help but chuckle: "Why are you worried, Your Highness?"
Li Rong was quite puzzled. She raised her head and looked at Pei Wenxuan who was a little curious: "What?"
"Actually, this matter has nothing to do with His Royal Highness," Pei Wenxuan analyzed, "Let the noble family fight against His Majesty. If the noble family wins, they would have supported the Crown Prince, and there is nothing serious. If His Majesty wins, Xiao Su recommends it. In the list, part of it is our people, and the other part we will do something else, what is your Highness worried about?"
Li Rong pondered, and after a long time, she said slowly: "Do you really think that after the family arranged their people to the northwest border, their people are our people?"
Pei Wenxuan smiled without saying a word, lowered his head and poured the tea. Seeing that he had no desire to answer, Li Rong couldn't help but ask, "Why don't you speak?"
"Your Highness, I have to ask you, not me."
"What's the meaning?"
"His Royal Highness last life," Pei Wenxuan raised his eyes with a calm expression, "Isn't it a noble family?"
Since Li Rong became the eldest princess and Li Chuan ascended the throne, they were no longer together.
"Is the power in the hands of His Highness the last generation completely equivalent to the power of His Royal Highness?"
Li Rong was speechless.
Pei Wenxuan put his hands in his sleeves and smiled softly: "Only when I am alive, His Highness has someone who needs to be defeated and always needs His Royal Highness's help, so that I will always stand with His Royal Highness. If one day I am gone , When only the eldest princess is the only one in the court, the eldest princess' sharp blade may be referring to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."
Li Rong looked up at Pei Wenxuan. She looked at Pei Wenxuan quietly. After a long time, she finally said, "So, does your power belong to me again?"
"I don't know the future. But at least at this moment," Pei Wenxuan replied sincerely, "Even Pei Wenxuan belongs to His Royal Highness."
Li Rong was stunned for a moment. She looked into Pei Wenxuan's clear eyes, knowing that Pei Wenxuan was talking about political affairs, but she still couldn't help but her heart beat faster.
She glanced at her, looked out the window, rubbed the pattern on the golden fan, and continued: "You have contacted Qin Lin. Whatever help he needs will be sent to him. For the imperial court, I will let Tuoba Yan help. The Qin family manages secretly, but this matter will not be known to others. The relationship between the Qin family and me and the prince seems to be as far away as possible. "
"clear."
After Pei Wenxuan finished speaking, the two didn't talk much. After a while, Li Rong turned her head. She looked Pei Wenxuan up and down. After looking at it for a long time, she sighed, shook her head, and turned her head away.
Pei Wenxuan was dazed by Li Rong, and couldn't help but ask, "What do you mean by Your Highness?"
"Pei Wenxuan," Li Rong was rather helpless, "Why is your promotion so slow?"
Pei Wenxuan heard the choking man's words, gave Li Rong a fluttering glance, and said indifferently, "Your Highness, it seems that you are not favored enough, otherwise I should be promoted very quickly."
"Look at your little mouth," Li Rong tapped on Pei Wenxuan's hand with a fan, "it's really annoying."
Pei Wenxuan laughed, ignored Li Rong, took the book by himself, lowered his head and stopped talking.
In the next few days, Li Rong kept people's attention on the developments of all parties, and the court debated endlessly on the issue of rewards for the major generals at the border. The core was not about money, but about positions.
One radish and one pit, one place allows one person to get in, and the other person can't get in, and after the Yang family fell, everyone in the northwest wanted to get a piece of the pie. So every day they fought in the courtroom, and the family attacked the person elected by Xiao Su. Every time Li Ming asked for a reward, he said that there was something wrong with this person. The province ordered, and the province under the door rejected it again, saying that there was also a problem.
Li Ming was so angry that he smashed things in the palace all night. After the family put forward a list of reward plans, Li Ming tore it up directly, and refused to reject it.
The two sides were deadlocked for several days, arguing every day in the courtroom.
Pei Wenxuan is at the Censor's Desk. Although he is not a big official, he is the core force of Li Ming this time. After all, about the quarrel, Pei Wenxuan has no pressure with one dozen ten. So every day when Pei Wenxuan comes back, he is exhausted to death. Sleep on the bed.
Li Rong didn't want to disturb him, but every time she went back to bed, she would hear Pei Wenxuan asking in a daze, "Are you back?"
"What did you do today?"
Li Rong didn't know whether he was awake or not, but he answered her when he asked her. She slept well every day, she was in good spirits, and she had the strength to answer Pei Wenxuan's questions.
Her life is much more leisurely than Pei Wenxuan's. The thing she does the most every day is to walk around, get in touch with acquaintances, go to the teahouse to listen to the scholars talking about the grand event, and see if there are any talents who can be approached.
Her days may be too boring, just say a few words and Pei Wenxuan falls asleep.
Li Rong couldn't help but find it funny. She didn't know what kind of habit Pei Wenxuan had. She had to talk to her before she would fall asleep.
After five or six days of arguing in the blink of an eye, Li Rong called Shangguanya out and secretly inquired with her about the news, assuming that the aristocratic family would not be arguing any more, it should be real.
They couldn't do anything about Xiao Su, and they couldn't do anything about Li Ming, so they found one of these officials who were rewarded to kill the chickens and show the monkeys, and let them retreat in spite of the difficulties.
If you want to choose a person to scare, of course, you have to choose the hardest and the best position in this batch of soft persimmons.
Li Rong took the list and looked around, guessing that the people who these noble families planned to move should be the Shannan Jiang Clan that Xiao Su valued most, and no matter how bad it was, they should be other people who were close to Xiao Su.
When the family moved Xiao Su's people, it was the same as moving Li Ming's people. Li Ming would definitely not give up, and he was afraid that he would fight back fiercely. After going back and forth like this, when they were tired, Li Rong could come out and talk to each other in secret. Aristocratic family and Li Ming, choose a bunch of second-rate aristocratic families that are not related to fill their positions.
Li Rong had a good abacus. She even prepared the list of candidates. Who would have guessed that on the night of the eighth day, while she was falling asleep, there were hurried footsteps outside.
It was raining heavily that night, and the sound of the rain drowned out the sounds outside. Li Rong could only vaguely hear the interweaving of human voices and the sound of the rain. She was still in a daze, so someone raised her hand to cover her eyes and reminded her, "The lights are on."
Li Rong recovered, and Pei Wenxuan slowly let go of his hand, allowing Li Rong to adjust to the light, and stood up and said, "I'll go out and have a look."
Having said that, Pei Wenxuan put on his clothes and got up and went out.
When Li Rong saw Jinglan came in and lit the lamp, she knew something must have happened. She didn't panic, got up and put on her clothes. Just after she put on her coat, she saw Pei Wenxuan folded back.
His face was extremely ugly, he held a note in his hand, and said coldly, "The people from the Ministry of Punishment have sealed the Qin family."
Hearing this, Li Rong suddenly raised her head: "What?!"
"Yesterday afternoon, the excerpt submitted by the Censor's Office, the Qin family participated in the Yang family's case, colluded with the Yang family, and colluded with the enemy to sell the country. At this moment, people from the Chengnan Army have been dispatched to surround the Qin family."
"Then what are you doing standing there?!"
Li Rong shouted loudly, and said directly: "You enter the palace immediately and report to Your Majesty, and I will bring someone there."
"What did you bring people to do?" Pei Wenxuan grabbed her and said anxiously, "If you go there, the relationship between the Qin family and you and the prince will be exposed!"
"If I don't go there, they will have all the evidence after the search! I don't care if it is exposed or not!"
Li Rong stretched out her hand and pushed him away, and before she could even take the umbrella, she shouted and called out the manpower to drive him out.
Pei Wenxuan gritted his teeth, and finally asked for a horse, and rushed straight into the palace with the token.
Li Rong led the people all the way to the Qin mansion. When she arrived, she found that the Qin mansion was full of cries. The soldiers surrounded the Qin mansion. Li Rong did not dare to go out rashly. She stood in the dark and observed the situation. , thinking about countermeasures.
The heavy rain made the whole world foggy and couldn't see the surroundings at all. Li Rong stood in the rain, shocked and angry in her heart.
How did these people fall in love with the Qin family
Obviously, she had already secretly asked Tuoba Yan to take care of the deceased family members, and the Qin family was by no means as eye-catching as the Jiang family in Shannan. No matter what, the family should not start with the Qin family.
Li Rong took a deep breath and decided to ignore everything else and go up to delay the time. Just as soon as she moved, a hand suddenly stretched out and grabbed the corner of Li Rong's skirt. Li Rong turned around suddenly, and saw a hand sticking out from the bamboo basket next to her.
Li Rong overturned the bamboo basket and saw a teenage girl squatting inside. She was trembling and her face was pale. Li Rong instantly recognized that she was the maid next to Qin Zhenzhen. Li Rong squatted down and calmed down. Said: "I met Qin Lin, and I came to rescue you. Where is your lady?"
With trembling lips, the girl raised her hand, pointed to the north, and stammered: "Run... run..."
Li Rong immediately understood what the girl meant, stood up, and led someone to chase out in the direction she pointed.
Based on her understanding of Qin Zhenzhen, although Qin Zhenzhen is almost naive, she is not stupid. She ran out so desperately, she must know what happened and left with something.
Li Rong chased for a while, then saw a sword mark on the wall of the alley. Li Rong followed the sword mark and chased it out. After a while, she saw blood, which was quickly diluted by the rain. There are also traces of various fights in the sword marks.
These traces spread all the way to the end of the narrow alley. The end of the alley seems to be used by ordinary people to pile up debris. Those things are piled up half the wall, and everyone subconsciously chases behind the wall.
Li Rong didn't move. After scanning the surroundings, she focused her gaze on a wooden box in the center of the debris.
She hurried forward and lifted the lid of the wooden box. At that moment, the cold light cut through Ye Yu, and a blood-stained sword hit Li Rong's neck.
Li Rong looked at Qin Zhenzhen, who was covered in blood and pale, and the other party seemed to be seriously injured. She was panting lowly, and was only a stone's throw away from Li Rong.
Qin Zhenzhen looked at Li Rong, the sword in his hand was extremely steady.
Li Rong looked down at the girl who looked like a fighting beast in front of her. Her expression was calm. After a long time, she calmly said, "Take the sword away."
"I'm here to save you."
"How can I trust you?"
Qin Zhenzhen spoke hoarsely, and Li Rong looked at her quietly, without the slightest panic: "If you don't believe me, just kill me."
Qin Zhenzhen didn't speak, she squeezed the sword in her hand, and after a long time, she put away the sword in her hand, and stood up from the wooden box with difficulty.
Li Rong held her up, Qin Zhenzhen was wounded, and the wound began to bleed as soon as she touched it. She held down the blood on the wound and panted, "Go."