Ciyuan Hall is located in the depths of the forbidden center, although the Empress Dowager often summons important ministers here due to her old age, but most of the time it is daylight. At the bottom is the inner courtyard of the deep palace, although when this year is young and has not yet married, there are still many concubines left by the first emperor in the palace, so it is very taboo to have courtiers staying in the palace at this moment.

But today is also an accident, originally Xie thought it was just a trivial matter, and it would be over in a while and a half, who knew that it would be dragged around and finally at this time. Seeing that the sky was completely dark, and several of the ministers in the hall had not yet had dinner, Xie Shi herself was nothing, she was used to eating less and more often, and she would not feel anything after a while, but the two old ministers in the hall were very old, and her spirit was a little excited, she was afraid that anyone would fall down if she was not careful.

"Let's get here first, it seems that a few ministers have never eaten in the palace, why don't you take advantage of today to eat with the old man?" Although it was in a consultative tone, none of the courtiers would refuse at this time, so the three of them raised their hands in thanks, and sat down behind the case arranged by the palace maid.

It was a complete coincidence that Chen Yizhong arrived here, he didn't know about the king and the two of them entering the palace together, let alone what they were doing. From this point of view, it is also unusual, which shows that the differences of opinion of several family members in the political affairs hall have become clear, and if they encounter an ordinary emperor, they must at least ostensibly persuade peace, because this kind of dispute is very unfavorable to the implementation of political affairs, and it is more likely to provoke party disputes.

The Empress Dowager Xie was not good at this, and when the dispute was at its most intense, she had no choice but to stand by and watch, because in her opinion, what both sides said made sense, and there was no position at all that was biased towards either side. That feeling of powerlessness came to my heart, and I felt that compared to the so-called palace fights when I first entered the palace, it was like a child's home.

Disputes are disputes, there is still a basic cultivation of "eating without saying a word", Chen Yizhong often does not eat on time, there are some problems with his stomach and intestines, and he can no longer eat as fast as when he was young, and the other two are even more deeply familiar with the way of health preservation, paying attention to chewing and swallowing slowly, for a while, only a very light sound of swallowing and chewing was heard in the hall, as if the fierce dispute just now had never happened at all.

Xie Shi ate more slowly than them, her mouth was a little poor, she could only eat some liquid food, a bowl of Yutian terrier rice porridge was put into her mouth by a small spoonful, and then swallowed little by little. In addition, there are only some vegetarian dishes in front of her case, such pomp, not to mention the palace inside, even the ordinary rich families in Lin'an City are far inferior.

"The old man has thin teeth, this mutton is a little sticky and can't be eaten, and the right, you are still young, why don't you use it." Liu Mengyan took a small bowl and handed it to Chen Yizhong's case, he knew that Chen Yizhong was good at eating meat, but just now everyone was exactly the same meat, one vegetable and one soup, and it didn't take long for Chen Yizhong's bowl to see the bottom, so he made this move.

"Thank you for staying in the court, then it's disrespectful, don't hide it from you, it's just a bite, and the practice in this palace is different from that in the market, it has a different taste." It can be seen that Chen Yizhong really likes it, so he took a bite and stuffed it into his mouth, and ate it with relish.

"Go to the imperial kitchen and ask who made this mutton, ask that person to write a recipe, and hand it over to Chen Xianggong in a while." Xie smiled and ordered the female official of his cronies, and the female official left in response, and Chen Yizhong had no choice but to stand up again and thank him. Wang Entropy on the other side looked at him expressionlessly, slowly swallowed the food in his mouth, picked up the tea on the side and coughed.

"The old man has grown up in the official family since he was a child, although he is not rich and expensive, he can be regarded as worry-free about food and clothing. I remember that it was still the time of the first emperor, my grandmother was more than 60 years old, and there were more than 20 meat and vegetarian dishes every day, and when it came to the old man's generation, if I went back to the house today, there would be no less than ten kinds of dishes at home, but look at what the Queen Mother ate, what you and I ate, the old man dared to say, this mutton is specially made for us, right? ”

Chen Yizhong sighed and put it down, scolding this old thief in his heart, you have finished eating, you just can't see me well, it's just a bowl of mutton, can you use it. Liu Mengyan listened to Wang Entropy's words, looked at his desk, and then looked at the table above the Empress Dowager, and was silent thoughtfully.

"Wang Xiangyan is serious, there are no eldest men in the palace, they are all widowed women, and the degree is naturally not high, the old man is usually a vegetarian, and he is often alone, who will put those pomp and circumstance. Besides, the state affairs are so difficult, the people are looking at the palace, where can it still be like the first emperor. Xie didn't know what he remembered, and he was stunned with the bowl.

"The Empress Dowager is right, the state affairs are difficult, the Ji Si is unable to make ends meet every year, the court eats grain, the original tax heavy Shuzhong has long been in tatters, and every year from the south of the Yangtze River to support. Jinghu has lost most of it, and Jianghuai is now also broken, seeing that this year's tax revenue is hopeless, and the state capital along the river has also exempted money and grain for three years, no matter how you calculate it, this year's annual income is less than three-quarters of last year's year. Chen Xianggong, for the sake of the court and the people, why don't you agree to make peace with the Yuan people? ”

Just now, he only cared about opposition, Chen Yizhong suddenly remembered that he still had something important to play, and he was not opposed for the sake of opposition, it was a matter of time before he negotiated peace with the Yuan people, and now that his side had the upper hand, he could take the initiative no matter how he talked. But now that this matter comes out, it will be difficult to talk about it calmly, but I am afraid that those officials in the court will not agree in the first place, and if it is not good, it will be impeached, he shook his head and did not speak, took out a document from his sleeve cage, and handed it to Wang Entropy.

Wang Entropy saw that he was speechless, and was thinking about pursuing while he was victorious, when he saw that he suddenly handed over a document, he took it puzzled, opened it, and felt that his hands and feet were cold. Seeing him like this, Liu Mengyan knew that something big had happened, so he quickly took the document from his hand, and sighed after just looking at it, so he still remembered where he was, and glanced at the direction of the Empress Dowager, Xie had already noticed their actions.

"What's wrong? The old body has finished eating, so bring it up. Xie Shi gestured with his eyes, and a female official walked down the hall, took the paperwork from Liu Mengyan, and did not open it, but walked straight back and showed it to Xie Shi.

"When will this be? How so. Xie Shi was shocked after only reading a few lines, the document was written by Li Tingzhi, and it was sent by the highest level of military delivery of six hundred li expedited, and the whole document had only one meaning, the original Huaixi system made Xia Gui assassinated by the Tartars in the city, and at the same time, the Tartar army had already attacked the Huaixi border.

"The minister just arrived at the cardinal's office and entered the city, the matter is urgent, the minister does not dare to be specialized, and he does not see the two ministers in the political affairs hall, only to know that they are all here with the queen mother, so the minister rushed over." Chen Yizhong briefly said the reason for his coming, Wang Liu and the two glanced at each other, in the face of this kind of military affairs, everything else is dispensable, Chen Yizhong is really lucky.

"Don't worry, sage, Li Tingzhi must already be in Luzhou, with him in charge, Huaixi will be in no big trouble. In this book, he only reported the matter to the court, and did not ask for reinforcements, and he should have a plan to retreat from the enemy, so we might as well calm down and see how things will become. ”

Seeing that Xie Shi was shocked and changed color, Chen Yizhong said comforting unhurriedly, at this moment, the other two ministers also saw the meaning behind the document, and saw Xie Shi inquiring with his eyes, and nodded in agreement.

"Empress Dowager, this book should only go first, and the detailed confessions and other things should arrive later, before this matter is clarified, not only can we not consult with the Tartar envoys, but we should also restrict their travel, in case they have other conspiracies, if it is found out that they have nothing to do with this matter, then make plans."

After Chen Yizhong finished speaking, he glanced at Wang and Liu, his measures were very appropriate, tepid, rather than waiting until the incident made the court and the central government in an uproar, and the imperial history was out of control, it was better to control the situation first, the two of them had nothing to say, and they both nodded and seconded.

"Moreover, there is no commander in Huaixi, this is an important place for the imperial court, a national barrier, and a suitable person must be sent to the town immediately. If there is a suitable candidate, you might as well put it forward now, so as not to waste time by discussing it again without making a decision. ”

Wang Entropy lamented in his heart, Chen Yizhong was caught off guard, on the surface, it seems that he was selfless, but at this moment, where will he find such a person. He knew that if he couldn't mention it, he could only agree to Chen Yizhong's candidate, otherwise it would be deliberate, this was still in front of the Empress Dowager, this move was too ruthless.

"Chen Xiang said this, he already has a candidate in his heart, he might as well put it forward for detailed reference first, everyone is a colleague, if there is anything wrong, it can be remedied in time." Liu Mengyan arched his hand towards the Xie family, but his eyes looked at Chen Yizhong and said.

"Huaixi is on the front line, this person must be in the military, and the qualifications and positions must be comparable to serve the public. I thought that Zhang Yanke, the commander of the front division of the palace, was in this position, he was in the area along the river at the moment, and he had quite a lot of military exploits in the battle of Jiankang, and the promotion of rewards was also the meaning of the question, so he only needed to send an envoy to tell him and let him transfer to Luzhou on the spot. ”

I have to say that the person proposed by Chen Yizhong is indeed very suitable, with Zhang Yan's grade, he has already rubbed over this position, and if he really wants to be transferred, he has to be added to the official position like Xia Gui. As if he had known that he would bring up this person, Liu Mengyan smiled unsurprisingly.

"Since Chen Xiang proposed a candidate, the old man said, you are right, Huaixi is an important land, and the people who go must not only have qualifications, but also talents. If you talk about Zhang Yan, it's not impossible, but after all, he is the head of the front of the palace, even if he goes out of Beijing to serve, it is not like this. Seeing that Chen Yizhong was about to refute immediately, Liu Mengyan made a gesture, meaning to listen to me first, and then turn to face Xie.

"Chen Xiang probably forgot that the imperial court had issued an edict before, and Zhu Huan, the deputy envoy of Huaidong, was sent out of Huaixi to let Xia Gui transfer to Huaidong, and now it seems that this discussion is difficult." He was referring to what Li Tingzhi said in the document that Zhu Huan was not accepted by Xia Gui's old department, and he was afraid that his forcible appointment would cause chaos, and after a pause, he continued.

"However, it is not that there is no more suitable person to go to, so that the saint knows that now that the military generals are appointed as road ministers, they often have the behavior of domineering, and they will not be able to lose their tails after a long time." Everyone understands the person he said very well, there is Fan Wenhu in the front, and in the back, of course, it is Xia Gui who has just passed the news of his death.

"The old minister is not talented, and one person is recommended here, and he can be appointed as the envoy of Huaixi and the governor of Luzhou." He shook his clothes, bowed his hand to Xie, and said loudly.

"Who?" The three voices asked at the same time, Chen Yizhong and Wang Entropy saw that they had robbed the Empress Dowager's words, and they knew that they had lost their manners, so they hurriedly apologized.

"We have all seen this person, the second in the battle of Jiankang, Liu Yu and Liu Ziqing. Previously, there were Wang Taifu and Li Tingzhi on the table to protect, and now the old minister also recommended this person and asked the Empress Dowager to make a holy judgment. ”

I didn't expect Liu Mengyan to suddenly propose this person, Wang Entropy's eyes lit up after hearing this, yes, how could you forget him, this is the most suitable person, Chen Yizhong couldn't say anything. When Xie Shi heard this name again, he couldn't help but smile slightly, people haven't seen it yet, there are already so many people who have been promoted, what is this young man's ability? She wanted to see it with her own eyes. R1058