In the afternoon, Yang Mi came to the leather shop of Liren City, which is equivalent to the West Market of Chang'an, which is specialized in wholesale circulation of bulk goods and goods related to the livelihood of the people, such as grain, cloth, meat, oil, tea cakes, etc., it is a barometer of the city's economy, business is hot, and the volume is high, which means that the city's economy is prosperous, and the people's living standards are good, and vice versa.

Today's weather is good, and it's the prime time of the afternoon, but the business in Liren City can only be described as 'bleak and deserted', which is not the only way it has become so, it has been like this for the past few years, and every store is suffering from bankruptcy on the line of life and death.

In the whole of Luoyang, except for brothels, song and dance halls and other places of sound and sex, as well as high-end restaurants and luxury stores, other businesses are still in mourning.

Looking at the deserted Liren City, Yang Mi shook his head secretly, the Zhu Dynasty was terminally ill, and the high-level was still engaged in a life-and-death power struggle, and there was really no help.

He urged the donkey to speed up to the leather goods store, the business of the leather goods store was just as bleak, only in winter there was a little business, most of the shops were closed, only a few three or four shops were still open, Hexi leather store was one of them.

Hexi leather shop is naturally the intelligence base of Jinwei Mansion in Luoyang, and the intelligence leader Jiang Min is the proprietor of this shop, and several guys who were chatting saw Yang Mi, and they all stood up and smiled: "Mr. Yang is here!" ”

"You little monkey cubs, you are hiding here and lazy when the shopkeeper is not there."

"How can there be! There's no business in the store, so we're sitting here waiting for customers! Why don't Mr. Yang buy a few sheepskins? ”

"Mr. Yang buys sheepskins? Your skin is itchy, dare to scold me around the bend, I tell you to go to the shopkeeper. ”

At this time, Jiang Min came out of it and asked with a smile, "What are you talking about?" It's so lively, yo! Mr. Yang is here, I seem to have heard something about sheepskin just now, is Mr. here to buy sheepskin? ”

The guys laughed, and Yang Mi said angrily: "The upper beam is not correct and the lower beam is crooked, I know where the root is?" ”

Jiang Min knew that he must have something important to come, so he smiled and said, "Go to the backyard!" ”

Yang Mi handed over the donkey to the guy and followed Jiang Min to the backyard, the two walked into the room, Yang Mi smiled and asked, "Does proprietor Jiang know why I came?" ”

Jiang Min thought for a moment and said, "Does it have anything to do with Zhu Jun getting a son?" ”

Yang Mi stroked his palms and laughed, "The proprietor is really powerful, and he can guess it." ”

Jiang Min smiled slightly: "Concubine Xiao Shu gave birth to a son, Liu Feng should be under a lot of pressure!" ”

Yang Mi nodded, "The pressure is not ordinary, Liu Feng first heard the news that Zhu Zhu wanted to make King Zhao the crown prince, and this morning the concubine wrote to Liu Feng again, saying that Zhu Zhu might want to make Concubine Xiao Shu the queen, which made Zhu Zhu very frightened, at noon, Zhu Sui came to visit, and the two hit it off and decided to join forces to deal with the increasingly powerful Xiao family. ”

Jiang Min pondered for a moment and said, "Zhu Jun wants to set up a new emperor's heir, is this news accurate?" ”

"There's no definite news, but I don't think it's groundless, there are already clear signs."

"What signs?" Jiang Min asked.

"One sign is that Xiao Wanding was promoted from the general of the left guard to the general of the tiger Benwei, the king of Xingyang County, and mastered Zhu Zhu's 100,000 imperial forest army, and the other sign is that Xiao Di served as the inner library of the Zhilang, in fact, he mastered the financial power of the inner treasury, if Zhu Zhu did not want to establish a new prince, he would not raise the Xiao family like this, you must know that even Liu Feng only named the Duke of Song, not the king of the county, this is not equal to Liu Guifei, only can show that Zhu Zhu wants to canonize Xiao Shufei as the queen, and then set up King Zhao as the prince, of course, to abolish Zhu Sui first."

Jiang Min also felt that Yang Mi was reasonable, and he pondered and asked, "What if I find out that King Zhao is not Zhu Zhu's son?" ”

Yang Mi shook his head, "It is certain that Zhao Wen is Zhu Jun's son, the Liu brothers and sisters tried every means to find clues about Xiao Shufei and other men's affairs, and even the imperial doctor checked it, but they didn't find any handle, the only man who diagnosed Concubine Xiao Shu's pulse was the old imperial doctor Zhang Xiaoqiu, he was sixty years old, and when he diagnosed the pulse, several palace maids were present at the same time, and he diagnosed the happy pulse."

All the evidence proves that King Zhao is Zhu Jun's son, and even Wang Xianzhong, the inner chamberlain who has always curried favor with Liu Guifei, also proved Xiao Shufei's innocence to Zhu Zhu.

This is when Wang Xianzhong can't find any evidence, he turned around and was loyal to Concubine Xiao Shu, he is the vane of the inner palace, which means that the position of Concubine Xiao Shufei's mother and son is stable. ”

Jiang Min walked a few steps and asked again, "Then what are you looking for me to do?" Is that to tell me these things? ”

"Today, Zhu Zhu is a bit of a six-god master, and if he wants me to help him get an idea, I can't think of what to do? I hope to get instructions from His Royal Highness King Jin. ”

Jiang Min nodded, "Then you tell Zhu Jun that you have to think about it for a while, and I will send an eagle letter to Chang'an immediately!" I'll be able to get back to you in three days! ”

Yang Mi suddenly remembered something again, and hurriedly added: "I heard that Liu Sigu and Xiao Wanding are very close, and they may have to join forces to deal with Liu Feng." ”

"I know, I'll write right away!"

...........

Xiao Wanding is about fifty years old, burly and strong, dignified, he is a military family, his ancestral home is Xingyang, his grandfather was a general, and his hopes for him are extremely high, and he gave him a very atmospheric name, Xiao Wanding.

At the age of 30, Xiao Wanding inherited his father's official position and continued to serve as the left deputy envoy of Zhengzhou regimental training.

There are 1,000 militia soldiers in Zhengzhou, Xiao Wanding commands 500 militia soldiers, responsible for maintaining law and order, exterminating bandits, Xiao Wanding's term is 20 years, he has no chance to climb up at all, they are all contemptuous of the regular army from the bones, they all say that the literati are light, and the military is just as serious.

If nothing else, in a few years, his eldest son will inherit his position as deputy envoy of regimental training, and he himself will disappear.

Three years ago, when his daughter Xiao Wuniang was seventeen years old, it happened that the palace was recruiting palace maids in various places, and according to the convention, the daughters of the middle and lower classes in all states and counties had to go to the draft, Xiao Wanding made a major decision, he spent three hundred taels of silver to bribe the draft officer and selected his daughter into the palace.

Xiao Wanding really had no choice, and he was unwilling to disappear in obscurity, so he hit his daughter's idea, hoping that his daughter could make him get ahead, but he also knew that his daughter's appearance was too ordinary, and the possibility of being favored by the Son of Heaven was very small, and this was three years into the palace, and there was no news at all, just when Xiao Wanding was about to despair, he was suddenly hit by the hydrangea thrown by the god of fate.

His daughter was actually pregnant with the dragon species of the Son of Heaven, and it was the only dragon species, the daughter had to be named the concubine, the Xiao family immediately ascended to heaven, Xiao Wanding and his wife and two sons were called into the capital, Xiao Wanding was named the general of the left guard, Zheng Guogong, his wife was named Mrs. Zheng Guo, and the two sons were named Hu Benlang generals, each commanding 5,000 troops.

His brother Xiao Wance was promoted from the master of Xingyang County to the assassin of Zhengzhou, and even his nephew Xiao Di, who repeatedly failed in the imperial examination, was also named Hubu Langzhong.

The god of fate obviously did not stop caring for their Xiao family, and his daughter finally gave birth to a son as she wished, which was the only son of the Son of Heaven.

In just half a year, Xiao Wanding has gone from an unknown local petty official to one of the top two court magnates, with great ups and downs and bizarre encounters, Xiao Wanding always feels like a dream.

But Xiao Wanding soon knew that their Xiao family had violated the interests of the Liu family, the first powerful person in the dynasty, and the Liu family had already regarded their family as a thorn in the side and a thorn in the flesh, which made Xiao Wanding, who was not deeply rooted, really a little uneasy.

But at this moment, his allies also appeared, and the military advisor Liu Sigu took the initiative to visit him, and implicitly said that he was willing to help him deal with the pressure of the Liu family.

After Zhang Guangsheng's death, under Liu Sigu's repeated pleas, Zhu Jun spared Zhang Guangsheng's two sons and allowed them to take their mother's coffin back to Wanqiu County, Chenzhou for burial.

Now this mansion is rewarded to Xiao Wanding as the palace of Xingyang County, the so-called iron-beaten battalion and flowing soldiers, who knows who will belong to this mansion of Wu Sansi in a few years?

In the evening, Xiao Wanding's county palace came to a distinguished guest, Wang Xianzhong, the inner chamberlain from the palace, Wang Xianzhong was responsible for reviewing and folding for Zhu Jun in the inner palace, and the power leaned towards the government and the opposition, and was called the minister of the interior, and was called the prince by the hundred officials of the imperial court, a bit like the role of Gao Lishi back then.

Wang Xianzhong was originally just an ordinary eunuch in Chang'an Xingqing Palace, and Zhu Zhu lived in Xingqing Palace before usurping the throne.

Coming to Luoyang from Chang'an, he became the head of the inner house, loyal to Zhu Zhu, and very good at doing things, won Zhu Zhu's trust, and his power is getting bigger and bigger.

Xiao Wanding invited Wang Xianzhong into the inner hall and asked the maid to serve tea.

Wang Xianzhong smiled and said: "Our family came this time to talk to the general by the mouth of the Son of Heaven, and I want to congratulate the general!" ”

Xiao Wanding asked in a trembling voice, "Where does the joy come from?" ”

"The saint has initially considered and decided to canonize Concubine Xiao Shu as the queen, this is a big deal, since the death of his wife twenty years ago, the saint has never renewed the string, established a dynasty, and the position of the queen of the main palace has been empty, and now he is close to the age of six, and finally decided to establish the queen, this is the great blessing of the Xiao family!"

Xiao Wanding had actually heard about it a long time ago, but it was just a rumor at that time, but now the rumor has become true, which suddenly made him very excited, he held back his inner excitement, and hurriedly said: "Mother is more expensive than son!" It is the son of the Holy Destiny that makes our Xiao family rich today, and it should be said that our Xiao family has been blessed by the Holy One. ”

Xiao Wanding is very good at talking, and his blessing of being stained with his daughter suddenly became his blessing of being stained with the Son of Heaven, which made Wang Xianzhong smile and squint, and secretly thought in his heart, "It is said that the Xiao family is a dumpling, but now it seems that this is not the case, this Xiao Wanding can make good friends." ’

He said to Xiao Wanding again: "Of course, the canonization of the queen is not so fast, at least it takes a few months to prepare, but the general must understand that Xiao Shufei becoming the queen is just a starting point, and the real purpose of the saint is to canonize King Zhao as the prince, and everyone around the saint knows it, and I hope the general will have a plan in his heart." ”

Xiao Wanding nodded again and again, he had heard Liu Sigu say that if the saint had a son in his old age, he would definitely pass on the throne to his own son, and would not give it to his nephew, and the Zhu family was thin, and the role of the Xiao family was to take care of the new prince's growth and accession to the throne, which was the fundamental reason why he was named the general of the Tiger Benwei.

Wang Xianzhong said again: "The above is the message that the Son of Heaven asked me to convey to the general, and then our family also wants to say a few words to the general." ”

Xiao Wanding straightened his waist and said, "Please speak up!" ”

Wang Xianzhong said slowly: "The canonization of the crown prince has been a major event of the country since ancient times, involving the interests of too many people, our family believes that some people will hate Concubine Xiao to the core, and some people will want to poison Zhao Wen, and there will also be people who gnash their teeth on the Xiao family, who are they, our family will not name them, and the general should be very clear." ”

Xiao Wanding nodded silently, "I know!" ”

"It's good that the general knows, in fact, there is a Son of Heaven in the inner palace, and our family is watching, so there won't be any chaos, so I'm afraid that ....... outside."

Speaking of this, Wang Xianzhong leaned forward slightly, lowered his voice and said: "People's hearts are complicated, until the last moment, you don't know which side he is on?" Our family is afraid that the dog will jump off the wall in a hurry, and someone will launch a mutiny, so the general should not live in the palace at this critical moment, but should stay in the barracks, does the general understand what I mean? ”

Xiao Wanding's back suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, and he hurriedly got up and hugged his fists and said, "Thank you for the reminder, I was indeed negligent." ”

"Our family is just a reminder, the Holy Lord has a deep meaning to let the general's father and son take charge of the military, and the time is not early, our family has resigned."

Xiao Wanding's son came over with a box, Xiao Wanding hurriedly handed the box to Wang Xianzhong, "This is a little bit of my heart, please don't think it's shabby, be sure to accept it!" ”

Wang Xianzhong looked at the rosewood box, and knew what it was, a very precious pearl that the Son of Heaven rewarded Concubine Xiao, he smiled and said: "Although we have a reputation for good money, we still have a clear distinction between the importance and the weight, and in the future, our family will give gifts to the general." ”

Xiao Wanding has always been very proficient in the way of gift-giving, he pretended to be a straight face and said: "This is not a gift, this is a little bit of my heart to the public, it is affection, and if the public is not accepted, that is, I will not receive Xiao Wanding's love!" ”

Wang Xianzhong laughed, "Okay! Good! Good! I'll just take it. ”

He accepted the box, then said goodbye and left, Xiao Wanding sent it all the way to the gate, watched him get into the carriage, and watched the carriage go away.

The pearl was given to her nephew by Concubine Xiao, but it was given to Wang Xianzhong by her father, and the eldest son Xiao Tan was really a little dissatisfied: "Wang Xiangong really dares to accept that pearl, he is not afraid of burning his hands?" ”

Xiao Wanding squinted his eyes and smiled: "Don't worry! Since he came to our house to burn incense, he would never ask for that bead, and he would definitely return the gift twice as much in two days. ”

...........

The news that Zhu Jun gave birth to a son also spread to Chang'an, and the imperial court was busy with the imperial examination at this time, and the political hall was not very concerned about this matter, but with the arrival of an eagle letter from Jiang Min of the Luoyang Intelligence Station, it finally attracted the attention of the high-level of Chang'an.

Pan Liao, the right minister, Du You, the left minister, and Zhang Qiu'an, the secretary of the military department, all hurriedly came to the official residence of the king of Jin.

Guo Song waved his hand and smiled: "Everyone, please take a seat!" ”

The three of them sat down, and Guo Song asked Du You first: "How is the situation of the official examination?" ”

"On the whole, it's not bad, it's a little stronger than last year, the jinshi are more confident in their conversation, and they generally hope to go to the local government to make contributions, and there are more than 20 people who want to go to the army as civilian officials."

The officials of the Ministry of Officials are all elites, and they are very accurate in looking at people, whether they are boastful, or down-to-earth, or more able to bear hardships and stand hard work, or more eager for quick success, through an interview, they can basically see the character of each new branch jinshi, and then comprehensively evaluate according to their respective conditions, and then award officials.

There is a last-place elimination system in this, if the conditions are too poor, it may not be well distributed, this is actually the tradition of Tang Dynasty officialdom, Tang Dynasty officialdom attaches great importance to the appearance of the family background, if the family background is good, and the appearance is tall and handsome, the appearance is dignified, generally it will mix well, if the family background is poor, short and ugly, it is difficult to mix well.

Although Guo Song repeatedly asked the officials not to look at their family background and appearance, but to pay attention to their character, in fact, this kind of background theory and appearance discrimination chain is still everywhere.

If your family background is not good or your appearance is too bad, you may go to work as a librarian, or go to the state to learn and teach, in short, you will go to the Qingshui Yamen, which is not valued.

The family background here is not good, it does not mean that the family is poor, but that there is no social status, such as merchants, officials or ordinary people, it is useless to have money, under the same conditions, of course, the interests of the family must be considered first, and then the issue of fairness will be considered after the world is stable.

Guo Song nodded and said, "Arrange it as soon as possible!" In addition, I will have a few lists for the Ministry of Officials, and I will make special arrangements. ”

Du You nodded and agreed, and Guo Song continued: "I came to you to talk about Luoyang, I just got the news that Zhu Zhu may be re-established as a prince." ”