Chapter 2: The First Snow (Eight Times)

kicked out the rapping shopkeeper Zhu, Yang Guozhong still decided to go to Mrs. Qiu's mansion tonight. However, he finally listened to some of the suggestions of the shopkeeper Zhu, and deliberately sent two clever servants to the Lady of Qiu's courtyard in Qujiangfang in advance to report to the other courtyard of Mrs. Qiu, so as not to encounter any special circumstances at that time, which would make the brother and sister embarrassed each other.

Half an hour later, the little servant hurried back from the residence of Mrs. Qiuguo. reported to Yang Guangzhong, Mrs. Qiu Guo said that she was going to entertain distinguished guests tonight, and asked my brother to forgive me. If there is anything important, please go back tomorrow at noon.

When Yang Guozhong heard this, he immediately felt extremely uncomfortable in his heart, frowned, and asked in a deep voice: "What guest, have you seen whose carriage?" ”

"No, as soon as the little one arrived at the door, he was blocked by his wife's personal maid Xiangyin." The little servant Mo shook his head, and replied with a little grievance.

"Rubbish!" Yang Guozhong didn't have to think about it, he knew that Shi Mo had planted his head at his sister's personal maid Xiangyin, glared at him, and scolded in a low voice.

Shi Mo lowered his head, daring to look only at the tips of his shoes. Another little servant Qing Xiao was finally a little smarter, and when he saw Yang Guozhong's face sinking like water, he hurriedly stepped forward half a step forward and said with a smile: "Tell the master." The little one sneaked a few peeks inside the door. Lanterns are lit from the gate to the main hall, and it seems that a big man is supposed to entertain him. The small ones can smell the smell of beeswax from afar. ”

"Hmm!" Yang Guozhong groaned in a low voice, but his brows furrowed even tighter. Beeswax is a rare item sold from overseas, and the whole wax body is made of beeswax and whale oil, which is bright and slightly honey-scented, and is very popular in Kyoto. But the price of this item is also first-class in proportion to its taste and popularity. Most of the banquet guests of the rich family will only light a few in the hall, and like my sister, the lanterns at the gate will be lit all the way to the main room, and the entire Jingshi will not be able to find a few people. But the more this is the case, the more it shows the dignity of the guests. Thinking of the rumors in the market about several younger sisters sleeping in the same tent, he suddenly felt a pang in his heart, grabbed the tea cup on the table, and fell out heavily.

"The little one knows that he is wrong, please spare his life!" The two little guys were startled and quickly knelt down on their shoulders. They don't have the old qualifications of Zhu Qiye, and they can escape with a small life under Yang Guozhong's anger. If you don't hurry up and find a way to dissipate your anger, you will be dragged out and killed by the samurai who rushed in, and there won't even be a blister on the side of the yamen.

After a long time, I didn't hear Yang Guozhong shouting for the samurai to enter. The two clever little guys peeked and watched, only to see Yang Guozhong sitting on the Hu bed, gently rubbing his temples with both hands, and his face was black and purple.

"Your Excellency!" The little servant walked a few steps on his knees, put his face on Yang Guozhong's thigh, and whispered coquettishly.

"Forget it, it's not your fault!" Feeling the tenderness and fear coming from his legs, Yang Guozhong waved his hand and ordered the two little guys to retreat, "Inform Lao Zhao and let him unload the carriage." The accompanying samurai also went back to rest. I'll talk about going to the Lady of the Kingdom Mansion tomorrow afternoon! ”

"Yes, sir!" The two boys looked at each other, got up, and walked backwards. Squinting his eyes, looking at Shi Mo's back with a certain person and his similarity, Yang Guozhong's heart swelled up with an inexplicable hatred, "Tonight, I will spend all night in the study to review official documents." You two, go and serve me together when the time comes! ”

"Yes, sir!" The shoulders of the two little guys shrank violently, and then agreed with a bit of laziness.

"Go ahead, and by the way, call someone to pick up the pieces. A bunch of waste. Yang Guozhong grimaced and commanded from between his teeth.

Sister Yang Yuyao's glamorous name, he has long heard from the mouths of relevant people. But never mind so much as it does now. To be honest, if it weren't for this sister who was surrounded by dignitaries and dignitaries in the capital all day long, and plundered many powerful figures into ministers under his skirt, his position in the court would definitely not be as stable as it is now. To achieve Anruo Rock, it is far from enough to be a little sister Yuhuan who is a noble concubine and has the love of three thousand people in the harem. No matter how much His Majesty the Emperor loves Wu and Wu, he also needs to take into account the feelings of those ministers in the court. And with a steady stream of secret information from Mrs. Qiuguo, he firmly took the initiative in several power struggles.

What's even more rare is that her eldest sister is especially good at taking advantage of men's desire to protect. Anyone who has had dealings with her is very righteous to the Yang family. In addition to single-handing Li Linfu this time, in several other power struggles, including the last expulsion of Jingzhao Yin Xiaojiong, in the case of Li Linfu's unclear attitude, there are still many powerful ministers who are patient with the friendship of Mrs. Yu Guo and secretly help Yang Guozhong.

But my sister Yu Yao shouldn't, she shouldn't, the last thing she shouldn't do is to provoke the one in the palace. According to Lun's seniority, it was the husband of another sister, Yuhuan. As a brother-in-law, he slipped out of the palace in the middle of the night and climbed into his wife's sister's bed, which is not yet tolerated by public opinion among the people, and happened in the Li family, so what should the clan think? If there was a tacit understanding between sisters, it would be fine, but it made a gap between sisters. In case another woman in the harem takes the opportunity to snatch her sister Yuhuan's favor, how should this confused account be settled with Yuyao?

Of course, Yang Guozhong knows very well that the responsibility is not entirely on his sister Yuyao's side. The brother-in-law Li Longji, who lives in the palace and is nearly forty years older than his sister, is indeed not very good in terms of personal morality. When his sister Yuhuan was still his daughter-in-law, he was ordered by this father-in-law to become a Taoist priest, and then naturally accepted into the palace. Now that he has passed on the word to let Mrs. Yuguo sleep, does his sister Yuyao have the courage to refuse?

It was precisely because of his inability to change the reality that had happened, that when he heard the little servants report that Mrs. Qiu Guo might be entertaining an extremely distinguished guest tonight, Yang Guozhong hated it so much that his teeth itched. He can't drive the shameless Emperor His Majesty away from his eldest sister's house, nor can he enter the harem as a brother to administer justice to his little sister who is secretly weeping, the only thing he can do now is to find a little guy who looks similar to His Majesty the Emperor, and vent it on him to relieve the hatred in his heart. And don't tell anyone the reason, so as not to bring the disaster of extermination to your own family.

"My lord, I have a distinguished visit!" The sound of the porter's announcement sounded outside, interrupting Yang Guozhong's chaotic thoughts.

"Nope!" Yang Guozhong didn't think about it, and simply replied neatly. It's already past the end of the year, and those who come to visit at this time must be the waste who asks for official vacancies from themselves. Li Linfu's old thief's eyes were staring, no matter how much money someone came to pay, it was not worth risking being caught by Li Linfu and selling him a few fat shortages in his hand privately.

"Yes, it's Jiwen, Tobe Shiro Ji-sama!" The porter hesitated outside for a moment, and whispered the identity of the visitor.

"Hmm!" Yang Guozhong frowned and groaned. Geven, what is he doing at this very moment? Isn't he afraid of being retaliated against by Li Linfu? But thinking of Ji Wen's character, Yang Guozhong immediately put on a smile, "Please, invite him in quickly." Holding the lamp, I will personally go out to meet him! ”

The porter pinched the red envelope in his pocket and happily went to Jiwen on an errand. After a while, Yang Guozhong personally greeted the second gate and welcomed the household servant Lang Jiwen into the main hall. As soon as the two sides finished greetings, Ji Wen immediately bowed his hand deeply to Yang Guozhong, "Meet Lord Yang, observe the celestial phenomena tonight, and find that your old star position has a good omen." So I deliberately ran to the house to report the good news! ”

"Really? Master Ji really lives up to your last name! Yang Guozhong hurriedly turned sideways and returned the favor with an equal-level courtesy. Then he smiled and grabbed Geven's sleeve and walked to the window together.

The clever little guy immediately pushed open the window, and a cold night breeze blew in, cold and biting. The sky has changed, and the sky outside is full of clouds, and I can't even see the shadow of the moon.

The lie was pierced by the facts on the spot, but there was no trace of guilt on Ji Shilang's ugly face. Shaking his head, he said with a smile, "The sky was clear just now, and the clouds suddenly rose, and they could immediately cover the stars." However, many people have seen that auspicious omen, and it is estimated that they will congratulate the adults tomorrow! ”

He had already guessed that this guy Jiwen had another purpose, Yang Guozhong smiled, pretending not to see the slightest dark cloud, "Yes, if there is really a good omen, Yang will definitely not forget what your brother said today!" ”

Ordered the little servant to close the doors and windows, and the two returned to the table again and sat down to drink tea. After a few sips to moisten his throat, Ji Wen saw that Yang Guozhong refused to take the initiative to ask, so he had to lower his voice and said with a smile: "I went out to eat tonight, and I saw the old department under Gao Jiedu, and the car of Feng Changqing, the deputy envoy of the four towns of Anxi, was blocked at the crossroads. Fan Yang Jiedu asked his subordinates to take Li Guiren with a group of soldiers and ruffians, swaggering and rushing over, without paying attention to the honor guard given by the imperial court to Feng Changqing. ”

"So what?" Yang Guozhong's heart was shocked, and the two silkworm eyebrows were tightly locked.

Seeing that Yang Guozhong had been moved by his own words, Ji Wen was overjoyed, and asked with a smile: "Yang Gong knows that Li Xiang has been in power for fifteen years, even if he fights against the crown prince, he can still gain the upper hand, what is the basis?" ”

"It's nothing more than clever words, and he is good at pleasing His Majesty. Honey-mouthed sword, hit colleagues mercilessly! At this moment, the contradiction between him and Li Linfu is already well known, so Yang Guozhong did not hide the contempt in his heart, sneered a few times, and responded hatefully.

"No, no! Yang Gong's words seem to be reasonable, but they are actually ridiculous! The reason why Li Xiang has been able to hold power alone for more than ten years is not to please His Majesty, but to be good at taking advantage! Gwen shook his head, laughing in denial.

This attitude feels very arrogant, but Yang Guozhong is in urgent need of someone to help him make suggestions at the moment, and he is not angry with Ji Wen's arrogance, he got up and straightened his clothes, and stretched to the ground, "Yang is stupid, please give me advice!" ”

"Is it just Kichishiro?" Jiwen stood up, unceremoniously accepted Yang Guozhong's full salute, and then, looking up, he asked questions with his hands behind his back.

Although he had already heard of it, Ji Wen's shamelessness at this moment still made Yang Guozhong, a person who had been a gangster, have to secretly admire. smiled and promised in a low voice: "If this matter is successful, which position does Master Ji like, Yang will definitely find a way to do what you want." Why bother talking to death now? Li Linfu doesn't fall, even if Yang has the heart to help you, he can't pass his level! ”

"Therefore, the strategy in Ji's heart was sold to people who knew the goods!" When Li Linfu was mentioned, Ji Wen hated it so much that the roots of his teeth itched. He has given advice to Li Linfu for more than ten years and has made many miraculous achievements. But Li Linfu refused to give him any higher position than the squire because of his "Qingqi" appearance. also told people everywhere that Ji Shilang is good at power and scheming but short at hard work, and being a squire is already a duck on the shelf. If you have a bigger position than a squire, you will definitely get trouble everywhere.

Jiwen was not convinced, but he could only swallow his anger. After enduring it for so many years, today I finally saw someone who dared to stand up against Li Linfu, how could he not help him. So without waiting for Yang Guozhong to make more promises, he cleared his throat and said in a low voice: "The reason why the old thief's position in the court is as stable as Mount Tai is that he was indeed favored by His Majesty in the first five years. And after the first year of Tianbao, his power was so great that even His Majesty threw a rat at him. Yang Gong, please think about it carefully, now among the four border towns of the Tang Dynasty, there are several people who were promoted by Li Xiang. How many of them are the only ones who are Li Xiangma? ”

"This ......." Yang Guozhong's face instantly turned pale. is the so-called word to wake up the person in the dream, for so many years he has been intriguing with Li Linfu, and he has always felt that the other party is cunning and cunning, and there are countless minions in the court. Unexpectedly, its roots had already been rooted in the border town. Now in the four border towns of Fanyang, Shuofang, Anxi, and Longyou in the north of the Tang Dynasty, except for Shuofang, which is controlled by the descendants of the crown prince Li Heng, the jiedu envoys of the other three towns, An Lushan, Gao Xianzhi and Ge Shuhan, are all pulled by Li Linfu.

In this way, even if all the important generals in the border towns are loyal to the Tang Dynasty, if His Majesty the Emperor wants to change the prime minister, he must also consider the huge impact that Li Linfu will have on the border after he stepped down. In those places, the Tang people were scarce, and the imperial court relied on the army to deter Zhuhu. Any turmoil in the army may make the Saiwai Zhuhu have evil thoughts, and then raise troops to provoke the Tang Tianwei.

Thinking about this clearly, Yang Guozhong couldn't help but feel cold. He also has the false title of Jiannan Jiedu Envoy, but he, the Jiedu Envoy, does not master any force except for the more than 500 Ding in the mansion. And among the three border towns controlled by Li Linfu, any general can uproot the Yang family if he stretches out his hand.

Seeing Yang Guozhong's head dripping with cold sweat, Ji Wen knew that his goal had been achieved, laughed a few times, shook his head and said, "Yang Gong can rest assured. The three border towns will certainly not openly cause chaos in Beijing. Even if he was ordered by Li Xiang, he couldn't transfer many soldiers and horses. Besides, now that Gao Xianzhi is vacant, Ge Shuhan is sick, and what Li Xiang has in his hands is actually only An Lushan alone! The people and horses of An Lushan are used to being domineering in the Beijing Division, and today they insulted Feng Changqing in public, which is equivalent to digging Li Xiang's heels! ”

"What do you mean by that?" Yang Guozhong was overjoyed and smiled and asked for advice.

"Li has the grace of knowing Gao Xianzhi, but that Changqing letter was picked up by Gao Xianzhi. The relationship with Li Xiang is already one layer worse. And Feng Changqing came from a humble background, there were no other high-ranking officials in the family, and he didn't know how to form a party and build momentum, so in his heart, his loyalty to His Majesty must be more than a little higher than his loyalty to Li Xiang. He entered Beijing to offer prisoners on the order of Gao Xianzhi this year, and was summoned by His Majesty many times, and he was in the limelight. At this moment, he was suddenly insulted by An Lushan again, how could this evil breath be swallowed easily? If Li Xiang could forcibly suppress An Lushan's people afterwards and order them to go to Feng Changqing to ask for their guilt, things would have been fine. But Li Xiang is now using An Lushan's power to suppress you, how can he easily fall into An Lushan's face? In this way, after tonight, I am afraid that Feng Changqing will not be half grateful to Li Xiang in his heart! ”

"It makes sense, it makes sense, listen to your words, and the mouth is suddenly opened. According to Yang, Brother Ji is Yang's lucky star. Yang Guozhong clapped his hands vigorously and loudly applauded Ji Wen's analysis. He is good at scheming and asking questions, but most of his plans are shady tricks. Like Ji Wen, picking out the various intricacies under Li Linfu's command one by one, and discovering flaws in them, it is a height that he cannot reach.

After being praised by Yang Guozhong, Ji Wen was even more interested. The two triangular eyes narrowed, and the whole person was like a poisonous snake staring at its prey, "The day before yesterday, His Majesty wanted to borrow Feng Changqing to train the Flying Dragon Guard, but was stopped by Li Xiang on the grounds of "incompatibility with the system", and Feng Changqing was already centrifuged. If you can't judge impartially today, and seek justice for General Feng, I'm afraid it will make the other party even colder. Here, His Majesty is disgusted with Gao Xianzhi's killing of good and risky work, and wants to vigorously promote Feng Changqing to replace him, if Yang Gong can be a favor......"

He dragged out his voice and looked at Yang Guozhong with blazing eyes. The latter immediately understood, nodded, and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty's meaning is where our efforts for the courtiers lie. At the court meeting tomorrow morning, I will naturally contact a few courtiers and vigorously express support for General Feng. But after all, it is far water, and it will not become a climate for a while. And now Li Xiang and Wang are in cahoots with the dog thief......."

"Yang Gong, don't forget, back then, Li Xiang broke off the left and right arms of His Royal Highness the Prince!" Givin smiled and reminded in a low voice.

"But ......." Yang Guozhong was stunned for a moment, a little afraid to accept it. At that time, although Yang did not take the initiative to be an enemy of the prince, he also contributed a lot. ”

Yang Gong thought that now the prince was busy thinking about the former feud with Yang Gong. Or do you prefer to move Lee Sang? Ji Wen glanced at Yang Guozhong, and asked with some hatred.

"Of course, let's take down Li Xiang first!" The conclusion blurted out from Yang Guozhong's mouth. After finishing speaking, he realized what he was wrong, and gave Ji Wen a deep bow, "Thank you Brother Ji for teaching me." But when he succeeds, Yang will not forget today's promise! ”

"Ji also wants to get rid of traitors for the country!" Ji Wen put his hands behind his back, and suddenly his face was full of height, "Ji is greedy for power, just to show his ambitions, not for his own selfishness." Li Xiang is in charge of the government alone, cronyism, blocking the road to the promotion of talents, Ji naturally can't tolerate him. The big husband has something to do, and he doesn't do something, and after the thing is done, Ji will naturally ......."

"Yang will definitely remember the words of the adults today!" Yang Guozhong was so disgusted that he was about to vomit, but he had to accompany the smiling face and praise Ji Wen's high wind and bright festival. When he had finished praising him, he ordered a plate of gold to be fetched, put it in a bag, and put it in Giwen's chariot.

Sending off this uninvited guest, the troubles in Yang Guozhong's heart disappeared. He finally saw hope of victory, albeit very slim. But with the effort, who says that even a small hope can't turn into a bright light.

Raising his head, he exhaled softly into the gloomy sky. Just saw a few snowflakes slowly falling from the sky.

Chang'an City, the first snow of this year came really early.