In the fifth year of Taihe, October has been in October, and Hai is positive.

Chang'an, Wannian County, Sixteen Princes' Mansions.

"Having said that," Li Miao, the king of Zhang, said tentatively, as if remembering something, "but does the ninth brother really think that it is a good thing that General Wang is favored by this?" ”

Li Han raised his eyes slightly, smiled faintly, and said lightly: "As the saying goes, old clothes are close-fitting, and people are old...... is intimate, the sage favors General Wang, adds officials to the knighthood, and the general leader of the North Division, and General Wang also reciprocates the favor and is loyal to his duties, how is it not a good thing? ”

The so-called North Division should refer to the eunuchs' internal servants, and now the power of the forbidden army is held by the eunuchs. In the Shence military system, there are left and right Shence lieutenants, and there are privy envoys below the lieutenant. Wang Shoucheng led the left and right Shence armies alone, and one person was always in charge of military and political power. Of course, Li Han knew in his heart how powerful Wang Shoucheng was in the court, but he didn't want to talk about this kind of thing in such a crowded place, and he just wanted to end the topic quickly.

Helplessly, King Zhang didn't seem to be relentless, and the expression on his face was like a young man full of enthusiasm, as if the age of the two had been reversed, "Ninth brother, have you ever heard of Zheng Zhuqi?" ”

"That Zheng Zhu who sells official positions and recruits power and bribes?" King Ying didn't think twice. This person's real surname is Yu, and his surname is Zheng, and he is called "Yu Zheng" in private in Beijing, and because his notoriety is too great, he relies on Wang Shoucheng's power and openly accepts bribes in his mansion.

"Exactly, ninth brother, you can see for yourself, who are the people who are attached to General Wang, corrupting the dynasty." The more King Zhang spoke, the more excited he became, and sure enough, after drinking, Li Miao's gentle and elegant appearance on weekdays was like the two of them, "And today's Yansi Temple is strong, even if you don't ask about political affairs like the ninth brother, you will never know that the rebellious party of Emperor Xianzong and Emperor Jingzong is still under the influence of the saints; Among these people, General Wang is the most tyrannical, recruiting power and accepting bribes, and his henchmen are everywhere......"

Li Han hurriedly covered the mouth of the sixth brother, even though Wang Shoucheng had already left, but as King Zhang himself said, how could Wang Shoucheng, who was "full of party henchmen", forget to install eyeliner in the mansion of the sixteenth king?

"You don't want to die?!" Li Han glared at his sixth brother fiercely, and although the latter seemed to disagree, he was also silent, just drinking, and his eyes were lowered.

"Why don't you usually learn from Brother An? He's alert like a cat all day long," Li Han glanced at King An, who was chatting happily with his uncles: "Why did you start talking nonsense after drinking a little wine?" ”

"He's not a cat, he's a fox...... "King Zhang's face was burgundy, and his hand unconsciously touched his waist.

"Okay, no matter what it is......" Li Han paused, looked at King Zhang's waist, and found that King Zhang's white palm was caressing a piece of carved jade, Li Han remembered that this jade seemed to be a birthday gift from his grandfather Emperor Xianzong to King Zhang's horn when he was alive.

Li Han continued: "You put a little bit of your energy into writing poems and writings, and ......being a virtuous and famous person."

"Okay, okay," King Zhang was impatient with his younger brother's words, and he had drunk the sake in the bottle, so he beckoned to the maid who was serving not far behind him, poured the imperial wine, and said from the bottom of his heart: "Although I have read poetry and songs, and have been praised since I was young, I really envy the 'king' who doesn't care much about the government and politics, and has never been paid attention to, and just circles the alchemy furnace in your house every day." ”

Li Han smiled silently.

At the second moment, the wine passed the second round.

The melodious "Dragon Pond Music" came out from the Sixteen Princes' Mansion, and four palace maids dressed in hazy snow-white tulle, waist like a plain, charming and moving palace maids danced calmly to the music in the center of the banquet, and the beautiful dancing posture was leisurely and soft.

At this point, the royal wine that the Son of Heaven had given before the banquet began was drunk, and the princes ordered their subordinates to take wine from their own mansions to help the fun, and now it can be said that everyone, including Li Han, was slightly drunk, and some could be said to be drunk and fell asleep on the table, and the opposite King of Dun and King Qiong even began to draw fists. And Li Miao, the king of Zhang, was already immersed in the beautiful vocal music, and even got up from the banquet and danced with the palace maids, with elegant and skillful dance steps, which caused the princes present to applaud one by one.

"Brother Xiao," King An finished his toast, returned to his desk, leaned over to his side, and glanced at King Zhang, who was dancing vigorously. King An's face was red, but his voice was quieter, and he seemed to whisper more and more: "Stay is stay, it's better to talk more about it, in the future, the saint will be present, but there will be no such opportunity." ”

King Ying sipped the imperial wine, and guessed in his heart what King An, who had always been interested in political affairs in the court, was talking about, and was about to refuse, but Li Rong asked directly: "Although I know that the 'king' is not good at political affairs for my brother, does the ninth brother know who the new upstart of Nanya is now?" ”

Due to the fact that the south of Chang'an Palace City is full of provinces, Taiwanese, temples, and prisons, the Southern Ya is opposed to the Northern Division, referring to the ministers of the central court.

Li Han couldn't help but say in his heart, he was really afraid of something, it seems that his two eldest brothers today will not stop talking to him about the government and politics. After King Zhang finished chatting about Beisi, King An began to talk about Nanya again. Besides, now that the Bull Party is in power, the answer to this question can be guessed without thinking. Li Han was helpless, so he didn't talk and let King An talk to himself.

Because Fang Cai and his uncles toasted and drank too much, now King An was stunned, his eyes were blurred, and it was difficult to judge whether he was really drunk for a while, only to see him grab the wine bottle held by King Ying's left hand and touch it lightly with his own wine bottle, and then he raised his glass and drank it all, and his mouth was full of addiction, and he said the answer quietly: "...... Guangping Mu Qingchen. ”

Li Xiao looked surprised, because although he had heard of this name, but as far as he knew, this person was not a member of the Niu Party, "Are you talking about the new Shangshu Zuocheng?" ”

"Exactly." Seeing that King Ying had a reaction, King An's Li Rong looked proud.

"This Mu Qingchen ...... I only know that this person is bribed from all sides, and he doesn't accept any of them, but I don't know much about the rest. ”

"It's okay, brother, listen to me." Li Rong put the wine bottle on the table, and the maid next to him took the wine and poured it for King An, Li Rong took a sip, and then said: "The origin of this Mu Qingchen is unknown, anyway, it is not a high-ranking family, it seems to be a Jinshi ten years ago, Emperor Jingzong Baoli served as a bachelor of Hanlin, and the sage later let him serve as a scholar and a bachelor of Hanlin, and a month ago he was promoted to Shangshu Zuocheng, this person acted cautiously, and has been unknown so far, and he has just been in his own position......"

King Ying was puzzled, frowning slightly, "People who have been unknown all the time are far from the upstarts you said about Nanya." ”

"Why he is favored, to tell the truth, I don't know. But don't worry, Brother Wang, think about it carefully, what did the sage's oracle say? ”

Li Han carefully flipped back his memory, not knowing if it was the effect of alcohol, but he didn't find out the mystery in this simple dictation.

"On the auspicious day of the tenth holiday, I should have been fortunate in the sixteen houses, and I shared the old relationship between my uncle and nephew. However, due to events, it may be difficult to go to the banquet. You can allow this banquet to be held, and you will be given a special wine, so you must have fun! ”

By the way, why is it difficult to go to the banquet because of something? Li Han secretly thought to himself, if there was really an urgent matter, the Son of Heaven would never mention it in the oracle, just say that he could not go to the banquet, and he would not do anything more, which would only increase his suspicions. So if it's not a secret, why do you deliberately convey it in an oracle without going into details?

Could it be ......

King An's face Li Rong was intoxicating, and said with a leisurely smile: "'King' think about it again, who passed on the sage's oracle?" ”

Li Han was stunned, "You mean ......?"

King An nodded.

Li Han suddenly realized that in this edict, the word "because of things" was not said to the uncles, nephews, siblings, and kings who were waiting at the banquet, but to Wang Shoucheng! Because Wang Shoucheng often accompanies the Son of Heaven, the real purpose of letting Wang Shoucheng come to pass the oracle is to take Wang Shoucheng away, so there is this rather awkward word in the oracle that he can't go to the banquet because of things, which can also perfectly explain why Wang Shoucheng left the house in a hurry after passing the oracle.

The banquet was lit up, and Li Han only felt cold at this time.

King An saw King Ying's expression in his eyes, and he seemed to mention it casually, "Brother Qian, think about it again, today is the end of the day, where will the saint who loves literature be?" ”

Li Han already understood why King An would say that this ordinary scholar Zuo Cheng and Hanlin scholar Mu Qingchen, who had neither a party nor a prime minister, were very likely to be the most favored people in Nanya today, after all, there was naturally no court to participate in the auspicious day, and he had never heard of the news that the palace had summoned the Zai Zhi to open the Yanying Palace, and there would often be only one place where the Son of Heaven went.

“…… Hallym Academy? ”

At the beginning of the year, the banquet came to an end in a commotion. It was late, and after greeting each other, the kings of the clan went back to their homes to rest, surrounded by the eunuchs and maids in their houses. In this banquet where the Son of Heaven did not come, some people enjoyed themselves, some people made a play on the spot, and some people had a lot of trouble.

And Yingwang Li Han happens to be the one who has a lot of worries.

If you want to say that at this banquet, what really surprised Li Han was that in the sixth and eighth brothers who had not seen each other for a long time, for a moment, it seemed that between the three brothers who had been close in the past, there was a layer of light veil separating them, although this feeling may only add up to a breath of effort, is it an illusion?

That's it, Li Han sighed secretly in his heart, compared to these, the Mu Qingchen in the court made Li Han's heart difficult to calm down for a long time. Thinking of this, Li Han looked up at the moon, and couldn't help but think of an old man, and that person was probably far away in Xichuan.

"Ninth brother, I see that you seem to have something on your mind throughout the banquet, and you are depressed, and when you write poems later, you are also absent-minded," King Zhang smiled and walked side by side with Li Han on the way back to the house, "What, don't you miss the saint?" ”

"Why ......," Li Xiao smiled.

"Huh," King Zhang pulled Li Rong, the king of An who was following behind him, "You tell me honestly, did you say something to the ninth brother that shouldn't be said, making our 'king' unhappy?" Wasn't that the case when he was at the table? ”

Li Rong brushed King Zhang's hand away, looked dissatisfied, and snorted in his mouth: "Don't talk nonsense. ”

"Then why was it okay when I chatted with the ninth brother before, why did I go dancing and keep seeing you pestering him, and then the ninth brother was absent-minded?"

Li Han hurriedly explained, in order to avoid King Zhang's worry, he told a small lie: "It's just ...... Before the month, I didn't eat grains, sucked wind and drank dew, my spirit was melancholy, and I drank some wine, and it was even worse, and there was no big problem. ”

However, King Ying's ability to lie is not excellent, and this excuse naturally could not deceive his two brothers, but made the three fall into a short silence.

"Brother Wang's character, a certain person knows best," Wang An, who has always been observant of words and feelings, saw this, so he tried to break this subtle embarrassment, and joked: "Presumably it is just after the cultivation of the valley, this time there is a feast, and there is so much food on the ground, I'm afraid I can't adapt to it." ”

"Brother An understands me." Li Han smiled, how did he not know that this was the step, so he went down.

And Li Miao, the king of Zhang, although he was a little skeptical, he also laughed at it.

Unconsciously, the three of them and the maidservants who followed behind them had already walked to the front of King Ying's mansion, Li Han turned around and said goodbye to King Zhang and King An, and then watched his two brothers walk noisily in the direction of their respective mansions.

Not long after Li Han entered the palace courtyard, he heard a slender female voice: "The king is back?" ”