In the fifth year of Taihe, September Xinyou, Yin Zheng.

Jingzhao Mansion, Chang'an, Jing'an Fang, Li Xiangfu.

Today is the day of the morning pilgrimage. The so-called Chang Shen is not a formal court meeting in Beijing when the officials in Hanyuan Hall meet on the Shangsi Festival and the Winter Solstice; Nor is it a pilgrimage to the Xuanzheng Hall on the New Hope Day every month; It's just that the civil and military officials above the fifth grade in Beijing come to the Zichen Hall to discuss matters, and the ceremonies and etiquette can be simplified, which is a real administrative day.

Before dawn, Li Zongmin had already gotten up. It only took a stick of incense to complete the whole set of procedures of grooming, incense, and changing clothes under the service of the maids in the house.

Since he had to wait until after noon to have a simple lunch, the Xiangfu prepared a very hearty meal for Li Zongmin according to the preferences of the head of the family: a bowl of spicy soup with mutton bones boiled in the house, single-cage golden soufflé, Yujian buns, Jushengnu...... In addition, there are dry foods such as Hu Cakes, and so on.

However, Li Zongmin seemed to have something in his heart, so he only ate some Hu cakes, drank some Hu spicy soup and put down his chopsticks.

"Ah Lang, won't you eat it?" The housekeeper asked with concern.

Li Zongmin wiped his mouth with brocade silk, shook his head and said, "Let's wait for the rest to be hot for him to eat......

"Whoa!"

The fifth watch has arrived, under the drum signal on the upper floor of the main gate of the palace, the doors of the one hundred and eight squares of Chang'an are slowly opened, presumably at this time all the ministers are the same as Li Zongmin, get up and freshen up, ready to take a sedan chair to set off to Danfeng Gate. At that time, wait for the Danfeng Gate of Daming Palace to open, and then walk through the Hanyuan Hall and the Xuanzheng Hall to the inner court Zichen Hall to discuss the court.

Li Zongmin knows that today's Chang Shen will definitely be different from the past.

According to the inn's eyeliner, the 600 miles that Li Deyu sent to Chang'an Forbidden Middle School arrived in Chang'an, presumably the Son of Heaven had already seen it last night. At that time, how to present the revised confession of Li Zhi in a timely manner is extremely important to Li Zongmin.

Li Zongmin was thinking about it, and the maid in the house came from outside the main hall and bowed to the prime minister.

"Ah Lang, the envoy has come to see me, and the slave and maid have come to report."

The corners of Li Zongmin's mouth showed a smile that was under control. He had long expected that the lieutenant envoy would inevitably come, but he did not expect the lieutenant envoy to come so early, and it seemed that things were going far better than expected.

The so-called envoy is the eunuch who is forbidden in the middle and is sent by the Son of Heaven himself. Informing the courtiers, conveying the oracle, and issuing the holy decree were all delivered by the envoys.

Now before dawn, the door has just opened, and the envoy has arrived at the Prime Minister's Mansion, indicating that the Son of Heaven has already gotten up, and what he has done can only be the surrender of Victoria, which shows the importance that the Son of Heaven attaches to this matter. And when Li Zongmin knows the temperament of today's son, the more he attaches importance to this matter, the more effective the confession in Li Zongmin's hand will be.

"It is worthy of being the prince of Jing'an, I didn't expect Fang Cai to be honest, and he was already dressed neatly."

As soon as this voice came, Li Zongmin turned around and saw that the privy envoy Yu Hongzhi, wearing a hard scarf and a black gauze head, was wearing a round-necked narrow-sleeved purple robe of the inner servant, and the neck collar was embroidered with a small flower ornament of an inch size, and the black leather shoes on his feet were wiped cleanly, and he was inserting his hands into the sleeve cage, standing at the door of the main hall with a smile, followed by several low-level green-robed attendants, bowing respectfully to Li Zongmin.

"Fish Privy!" Although Li Zongmin already knew why the envoy came, he still put on a rather surprised expression, hurriedly crossed his hands and saluted, and then stretched out a palm in respect, pointing to the main seat in the main hall, "Please, please!" ”

Yu Hongzhi didn't mean to sit down, and Li Zongmin also knew that the privy envoy couldn't delay coming this time, so he was just putting on a show.

"Our family still needs to inform the Princess-in-Chief, and it is inconvenient to stay in the Minister's Mansion for a long time." Yu Hongzhi asked the entourage eunuch to wait outside the hall, and slowly walked into the main hall, Li Zongmin comprehended and ordered the entourage to close the outer door of the main hall, and only Yu Hongzhi and Li Zongmin were left in the whole room.

"The saint sent a privy envoy here, presumably there must be something urgent, I don't know what it is?" Li Zongmin asked knowingly.

"Today was supposed to be a pilgrimage, but the sage received an urgent report from Li Deyu, the envoy of the Xichuan Festival, last night, that there was a change in the border area, and the Tubo Victoria guard led the people to surrender. The important affairs of the military state took precedence, and the matter was handed over to the six ministries and hundreds of officials for discussion, and the court was postponed until the afternoon. Please also ask the minister to send someone to inform his colleagues, and then go straight to Shangshu Province to discuss matters. At the end of the words, Yu Hongzhi also whispered to Li Zongmin rather mysteriously: "The sage is ...... about this matter It seems that the attitude is quite ambiguous. ”

An ordinary sentence, if it comes out of the mouth of the envoy, needs to be carefully considered.

Ambiguous about the matter? Is it biased towards Li Deyu, or is it impartial, waiting for the hundred officials to discuss a result before making a plan? More importantly, what should be the word ambiguous?

Li Zongmin was about to ask in detail, but the lieutenant envoy did not seem to give the prime minister this opportunity. has already bowed his body and made a posture of saying goodbye.

"The matter is urgent, our family still needs to notify Niu Xianggong and leave first."

Li Zongmin didn't have a reason to ask, at least from the current point of view, everything is going smoothly, and the confession is presented to the Son of Heaven as originally planned. Thinking like this, he took advantage of the situation to make a "please" gesture, pushed open the door of the main hall, and sent Yu Hongzhi out of the house.

Out of courtesy, Li Zongmin walked a little behind Yu Hongzhi, followed by Yu Hongzhi's attendants, and the two walked on the road, side by side without a word.

After passing through the second gate, Yu Hongzhi suddenly stopped, turned to look at the prime minister, and motioned for Li Zongmin to go to the side of Yongdao. Li Zongmin was puzzled, Yu Hongzhi hesitated for a while, put on a look as if he had just remembered something, leaned on Li Zongmin's ear, and said softly: "Our family just remembered that before leaving the palace, General Wang ...... Let us bring a message to the father-in-law. ”

Of course, Li Zongmin knew that the general Wang in Yu Hongzhi's mouth was referring to Wang Shoucheng, who was a general of the first rank hussar, a lieutenant who led the left and right Shence Army, and a governor of the province.

is worthy of Li Zongmin, who has been through the storms of officialdom for a long time, hearing this name, Li Zongmin can do it without shock, but Yu Hongzhi doesn't know that Li Zongmin's heart has some ominous premonitions.

Yu Hongzhi seemed to be smiling, word by word, but there was a deliberate understatement in his tone, "In Xianggong's hand, I think he made a confession, and General Wang wanted Xianggong to burn it, so as not to ...... Hurt the peace. ”

Li Zongmin's heart trembled, and the shock that flashed on his face was forcibly suppressed by him, and then what was revealed to Yu Hongzhi was an unknown doubt, "Uh...... Recently, the three divisions have not heard of a very serious case on trial, so I don't know what the confession mentioned by the Chinese envoy is referring to. ”

When Yu Hongzhi heard this, he hurriedly covered his laughing expression with his sleeve, and he didn't know what he was laughing at.

"Our family words have also been brought, General Wang's meaning is very clear, Xianggong...... Don't play dumb riddles with us here......"

Li Zongmin has had a grudge with Li Deyu since Emperor Xianzong, and the two have been fighting each other for many years. Two years ago, Li Zongmin, then the servant of the Ministry of Officials, and Li Deyu, the then servant of the Ministry of War, were both expected to worship as prime ministers, but Li Zongmin had one more advantage than Li Deyu, that is, Li Zongmin bribed millions of dollars with Wang Shoucheng, so he was one step ahead of Li Deyu and became the prime minister, and then introduced Niu Sidian as the prime minister, and then demoted Li Deyu and the people who were friends with him from the court. For several years, Li Zongmin has secretly relied on Wang Shoucheng's forces, and has absolute self-confidence in the party struggle with Li Deyu.

However, many times, absolute self-confidence and absolute inferiority are often only one step away.

What made Li Zongmin feel even more desperate was that Yu Hongzhi also added an extra sentence with a smile on his face.

"The phase of the prime minister was given by General Wang at the beginning, and General Wang also said that if the prime minister is reluctant to do so, this phase will naturally ...... It can also be given to others. ”

No matter how good Li Zongmin is at being silent, it is difficult to hold back the panic in his heart at this moment, Yu Hongzhi saw Li Zongmin's expression, and knew that Li Zongmin had completely understood what he meant, so he put his hands back in his sleeves with satisfaction, and said quietly: "Xianggong will be sent here, the way out of the house, our family still remembers." ”

After watching Yu Hongzhi leave the house with a few eunuchs and get into the carriage, Li Zongmin only felt that his masseter muscles trembled, and he couldn't get out for a long time with a breath in his chest. The elderly housekeeper in the middle of the house, who had been standing on the side, hurriedly stepped forward when he saw this, and stroked Li Zongmin's back with concern, giving the head of the house a good breath.

"Moving hurts your body, moving hurts your body."

"What are you doing in a daze, why don't you move a chair quickly." The housekeeper turned his head and scolded angrily at a few maids in the house: "Are you going to let Xianggong stand all the time?" Have you been trained to dogs on weekdays? When the time comes, break your legs and sell you into slavery! ”

Li Zongmin waved his hand, signaling that it was not necessary.

"Ah Lang, the privy envoy just pulled you to say something, and the boy just saw Ah Lang, your face turned pale."

Li Zongmin's face was expressionless, he looked at the housekeeper helplessly, and whispered weakly: "Go, go back to the study and burn that Liulang's confession." ”

"Huh? Belch...... This burns? The butler was amazed for a moment.

"Tell you to go, and you will go!" Li Zongmin's tone was a little impatiently accentuated.

The temperament of the owner of his own house, the people in the house are clear, and he always has a signature smile on his face, but he is often ruthless to his own people. If there is a slight impatience in the tone, then it is really impatient. The housekeeper didn't dare to say more, so he hurriedly ordered the subordinates on the side to do the same.

"That'...... Ah Lang," the housekeeper carefully observed his words and looks, and after making sure that the head of the house was in a slightly calmer mood, he asked, "What should I do with Xichuan without a confession this time?" Is it really to sit back and watch Li Deyu take credit and regain lost ground? ”

Li Zongmin stroked his beard lightly, looked in the direction of the entrance of the mansion, and a sneer pulled out from the corner of his mouth.

After a while, he actually laughed, "Li Deyu thinks that if he relies on the hussar general to suppress a certain person, everything will be fine, and the chess will be high...... As everyone knows, he Li Deyu has made a lot of calculations, but he has forgotten one thing......"

"Ah Lang is ......"

"Although it is inconvenient for a certain person to make trouble on this matter, but now in this court, there is more than one prime minister."

"Then Yi Ah Lang," after listening to Li Zongmin's tone, he regained his former self-confidence, and the head of the family let out a long sigh, "Do you want to inform Xianggong Niu of this matter immediately?" ”

"No need," Li Zongmin shook his head, his face was pale and pale, "It seems that this time, nothing can be said to degrade Li Deyu's official, but if he Li Deyu can't do the surrender of Victoria, it will be enough to hand it over to Niu Xianggong." ”

After a while, Li Zongmin looked at the housekeeper with a sly smile and ordered: "Prepare the car and go to Shangshu Province." ”