In the middle of November of the first year of Yongchang, the Empress Wu returned to Chang'an from the eastern capital, and hundreds of officials followed him, and then issued an order, ordering the general of Zuowei, the official of the inspection school, Lang Wuyouji, and the princess of Shang Taiping, to complete the marriage within the year.

Wu Youji received the will in the mourning hall of the dead woman, and his expression was sluggish, like a walking corpse.

Quan Ce went to the spirit to sacrifice, relieved for a long time, and when his mood stabilized, he left to go to Honglu Temple, all the way restless, Princess Taiping was full of confidence to be tamed, Wu Youji was like death, lifeless, ice and fire marriage, I am afraid that it will be difficult to have a good result.

To the Honglu Temple, the right to put aside the happy matter, began to perform the duties of the Honglu Shaoqing, the Honglu Temple stalls are too open, the affairs are complicated, there are many guilds and merchant halls in various places, the envoys of the vassal countries are intertwined and complicated, there are many contradictions, some affairs within the vassal country need to be reported to the empire, all through the Honglu Temple, and what is more annoying is the trade disputes between merchants from various countries, which are also mediated by the Honglu Temple, which is really vast.

Quan Ce flipped through a few reports, and he had a splitting headache.

The Tang Dynasty poetry is flourishing, unprecedented, even more so above the court, everyone hates to export poetry, Quan Ce's friend, Cui Rong, a bachelor of Hanlin, has a family background and knowledge that is a colleague of the crown, but it is difficult to be promoted, the root of this is that he is not good at writing poetry. Poetry and elegance are beyond reproach, but this atmosphere appears in official business, which is a complete scourge, and the recital in the hand is four and six, rhyming for the battle, and the ability to do the most gorgeous rhetoric, pulling and pulling, quoting scriptures, writing a thousand words, and digressing thousands of miles, which makes people read for a long time.

Quan Ce endured a morning, after lunch, he discussed with Doulu Qinwang, convened a meeting of subordinate officials, and explicitly ordered the rectification of the official document style in the yamen, everything to clarify the facts as the main point, the number of words exceeded 800, the evaluation was demoted, and two solid and experienced scribes were selected, and they took up their posts in the main hall of Honglu Temple, and specialized in writing abridgements for the chief official, releasing a strong signal, and the subordinate official writing has not been in the eyes and ears of the chief official since then, and no one appreciates and promotes the writing no matter how bells and whistles it is.

As soon as this order came out, the backlash was quite large, not only Honglu Temple, but also the central yamen had people on the impeachment, some accused Quan Ce of blocking the way of speech, insulting Sven, some of the pain of the power of the Quan Ce to isolate the upper and lower levels, and dealing with things unfairly, and some even took the reply he made in the morning to say things, the whole article is one, two, three, giving orders, commanding and commanding, the writing is dry, and the corpse is vegetarian.

At the time of the court meeting, Empress Wu ordered Quan Ce to defend himself, of course he was not convinced, "The minister is the affairs officer, and the most important task is to deal with the general affairs, but he wants to know the causes and consequences of the affairs he is in charge of, and supervises and mentions the key points of action, and he believes that there is no defect"

"Fei Ye" Fan Lubing, the old prime minister who was born with a bachelor's degree in the north gate, retorted from class, "Words are the voice of the heart, books can be seen in the bones, and you can't just hand over general affairs for officials, but also know people and employ people, Shaoqing is too young after all"

Quan Ce immediately spoke, "The lower officials dare not agree, talent and virtue are not one, there is talent and no virtue, it is not uncommon in history, only to talk about heroes with writing and calligraphy, and it is the same as judging people by appearance, and there will be regrets of losing Ziyu"

"Dare to ask Shaoqing, apart from calligraphy articles, what else can be called a hero?" It was Su Wei who spoke out, although he repeatedly replied to protect the power policy, but on this issue, he did not agree.

Quan Ce was numb and bold, and simply stabbed it over, "The lower officials think that those who are officials should pay attention to virtue first, followed by the pattern of mind, then the strategic hills, and finally the poetry and articles, calligraphy is just a carrier, not enough to talk about people"

This time the pot was fried, and there were many high-ranking officials who were famous for their calligraphy in the court, and they came out to denounce angrily, and the anger became heavier and heavier.

"That's it" Empress Wu looked at the tongue of the battle group of Confucians, and finally spoke up, "What Quan Ce said, although it is not unreasonable, but the matter is big, the act is serious, and if there is a loss of official body, it will be fined for two years."

The court barely calmed down, but Fan Lubing and others were still indignant, and the queen of heaven punished the thief, but she did not deny the behavior of Honglu Temple.

This unconvincing atmosphere has not yet condensed, and the Empress Wu changed her words and got down to business, "Zhongqing, the Western Turkic Hu Sero Department intends to be attached, how should it be handled?" ”

Naturalization of the outer domain is the function of the Honglu Temple, but this kind of big policy, according to the rule, only the prime ministers can put their beaks, and the Honglu Temple can only listen to the order to carry out, speaking of the Western Turkic Hu Sero, it is a larger force in the Turks, but after Hu Sero ascended to the throne of the Khan, he was tortured indiscriminately, tyrannical and excessive, the people were afraid, scattered, the territory and grassland were shrinking more and more, and there were post-Turkic Mo Si Khan encroaching on the whale swallow, and the internal Turkic tribe was difficult to control, and in desperation, he remembered the Tang Dynasty, and the internal annex was like taking refuge.

For this reason, many ministers in the court have objections, but the arguments come and go, or accept the upper hand, after all, Huairou Yuanyi, all countries come to the court, which is the most itchy place in the emperor's heart.

Empress Wu ordered Hu Seluo to lead his troops to enter Beijing on the first day of the next year to pay tribute, and Honglu Temple made a trip and tributary etiquette.

After dispersing the court, Su Wei invited Quan Ce to go out of the palace with him, and persuaded him a few words bitterly, "The world is like this, it is not something that can be shaken by one's own strength, Shaoqing's new important position, it is better to be safe, and the light and dust are the same, and do not contradict the world."

Quan Ce did not respond, and changed the topic to talk about Fengyue, he had his own ideas in his heart, a hammer in the east and a stick in the west were officials in the Tang Dynasty, and he had no martial arts, either he was the chief official of the yamen, or he was a bachelor of Hanlin and a living man on his own.

The two of them don't speculate, Su Wei stopped at the Xuanzheng Gate, returned to the Feng Pavilion Council, and Quan Ce had to go out of the palace gate, Su Wei looked at his back, and was not displeased, but a little rewarded, when he was young, he also had a brave and diligent progress, but unfortunately, after a long time of ups and downs in the sea, he was already ambiguous.

After returning to the government office and sitting down, someone outside the official room asked to see him, "Shaoqing, Deng Huaiyu in the official business division, there is something important to report"

"Let's come in"

The people who come have gray hair, full of wind and frost, although the official uniform is neat, but it has faded, the crimson color has become gray and white, it is not easy to live in Chang'an, and the Beijing officials who have no family background are generally shabby, but those who are shabby to such a point are also rare.

"Shaoqing, the candle trade road goes out through Tubo, transit from Langqiong Zhao, Tuyuhun and other places, and enters Chang'an along the Western Regions trade road, and the joint defense and documents have been prepared, just organize a caravan to go" Deng Huaiyu opened his mouth to say, it was a public and private matter, and there was no wave on his face, but some disdain flashed in his eyes from time to time.

"If Lao Lang is hit, someone will receive the Guan Fang document tomorrow" Quan Ce nodded, and the little thought of bringing him to make a fortune had dissipated without a trace.

"Don't dare to be a magistrate, the next official will retire" Deng Huaiyu didn't have a word of superfluous gossip, and left after saying goodbye.

Quan Ce was stunned there, and immediately lost his laughter, this person's style and the atmosphere he advocated fit tightly.