"Your Majesty, Your Majesty...... Minister...... We must do our best to lobby the Marquis of Qinchuan and live up to our hopes. ”

"Okay, then there is Lao Qu Aiqing...... I'm tired today, and all Aiqing have also worked hard, so let's disperse. ”

Qu Shiyun is not stupid, how could he not see the trick of this pair of monarchs and ministers and apprentices, and suddenly felt cold when he saw this, what else could he say?

After doing it for a long time, they still felt that the threat was the greatest, and it was Lin Xiao who really needed to be checked and balanced!

But this matter is indeed his responsibility, and he can't shirk it, so he has to respond vaguely, I can only try, and it has nothing to do with me whether it succeeds or not.

Are you kidding! With Lin Xiao's strength, they can completely throw off their arms and work alone, and now people have so much respect for the imperial court, not only do they try to prevent the Qing army from defending the capital, but they also give a steady stream of food and silver, how can they say that they are all benevolent and righteous, right?

In the end, you come to exchange ore for firearms, let people make guns and cannons for free, and let the soldiers you recruit yourself go into battle with broadswords?

If you want the horses to run again, and you want the horses not to eat grass, is there such a use of people? Doesn't that push people out?

How many good things in history are bad in the hands of a group of crooked-mouthed monks!

Thinking of this, Qu Shiyun sighed in his heart and turned away silently.

……

Early the next morning, Lin Xiao and Zheng Guo entered the palace to thank him, and when Lin Xiao took Yu Cheng and other guards to push a few carts of fine wine out of the palace, they happened to meet Qu Shiyun coming out.

Lin Xiao asked Yu Cheng and Situ Zheng to take the guards back to the camp first, and he led the horse to accompany Qu Shiyun for a while and sent him back to his home.

Sent to the door of the small courtyard, Qu Shiyun invited him in to sit down, and Lin Xiao was not too polite, so he followed Qu Shiyun into the door.

It was really a small courtyard, and when you entered the door, you were greeted by a three-bay tiled house, with a pony pen on the right hand side of the tiled house, and a kitchen and servant's quarters on the left.

As soon as he entered the door, he sat down, but saw a middle-aged man in his forties come forward to serve tea, tall and thin, looking quite like a younger Qu Shiyun, it turned out that he was the second son Qu Xuanpin, knowing that the guest who came was the father who rescued him, so he personally served tea and took the opportunity to express his gratitude.

Qu Shiyun smiled and said to his son; "Pin'er, why don't you come and see Engong?"

Qu Xuanpin immediately stepped forward to greet him, but Lin Xiao panicked and clasped his hands, not even daring to say it.

After Lin Xiao learned that Qu Shiyun was originally an official eunuch, his grandfather served as the left attendant of the Ministry of Rites in the Yongle Dynasty, and his father also did Hunan Xuezheng, which can be said to be a family of eunuchs.

Qu Shiyun himself has three sons, the eldest son Qu Xuanxi runs the ancestral land at home and is considered a landlord; The second son is the one in front of him, mainly engaged in business, doing some business of dry goods and grain in the north and south, and went home to live after the fall of Nanjing; The younger third son, Qu Songjin, is determined to take the imperial examination and is a showman.

This year was Qu Shiyun's 60th birthday, because the old father was far away in Guilin as an official, so the second son brought two servants all the way to visit, intending to celebrate the birthday of the old father, but they did not expect that they had not yet arrived, the old father was defeated and captured, so he stayed in Nanning in order to turn around.

At that moment, Qu Xuanpin thanked him again and again, which made Lin Xiao very embarrassed.

When Qu Shiyun mentioned that Lin Xiao's ancestral home is also Changshu, but in fact he is a fellow countryman, Qu Xuanpin was even more pleasantly surprised, and what he said was obviously a lot more affectionate, saying that if he had the opportunity to return to his hometown in the future, he would definitely invite him to be a guest at home, so that he could do his best to be a landlord.

Seeing that it was almost noon, it was lunch time, and Qu Shiyun stayed with Lin Xiao to eat.

Before the meal, Qu Shiyun entered the inner room to change clothes and changed into casual clothes at home, Lin Xiao also wanted to take off this awkward official uniform, but unfortunately he didn't bring any clothes to change.

Qu Shiyun looked at Lin Xiao for a moment, and then said to his son; "Do you have clean clothes at home? Let's ask General Shuangmu to change his clothes. ”

Qu Xuanpin responded with a smile: "It just so happened that before my son left, your granddaughter and her mother sewed an autumn coat overnight, and they haven't worn it yet, so I don't know if Lord Lin is suitable for wearing it." ”

Qu Shiyun waved his hand and said, "Just let General Lin take a moment, it's better than this official uniform." ”

Lin Xiao was not polite when he heard this, and immediately changed his clothes with him into the inner room, but he changed into a cyan cotton robe, except for the slightly tighter shoulders, it fit quite well, Lin Xiao stretched his waist, and felt much more comfortable than the official uniform.

Because Qu Xuanpin has no fame, he generally does not wear a hat, so Qu Xuanpin gave Lin Xiao a black net scarf, and Lin Xiao felt relaxed when he wore a net scarf.

Lin Xiao wrapped the official uniform and black gauze hat he had taken off, and returned to the living room to sit down.

At that moment, Qu Xuanpin ordered the servants to serve wine and food, Qu Shiyun and Lin Xiao began to sit and drink opposite each other, but Qu Xuanpin stood at the table to serve, where could there be his seat in front of the old father, Qu Shiyun saw this and asked him to go down, Qu Xuanpin went back to the kitchen to eat, and dealt with the servant together.

In addition to a pot of warm rice wine, there are not many snacks, and there are only four dishes on the table, a plate of salted dried fish, a plate of braised pork head, a scrambled egg with leeks, and a sliced pork with winter bamboo shoots.

These dishes were bought by Qu Xuanpin with a lot of effort, and it was not easy to get them together, especially this winter bamboo shoot, but it was brought by Qu Xuanpin from his hometown, the authentic hometown flavor, Lin Xiao couldn't help but pinch a few chopsticks, I haven't eaten it for a long time, it's so fresh!

……

After a few times of light wine, Lin Xiao chatted with Qu Shiyun.

"My lord, you are the overseer, why did you only give an uncle, but a marquis?"

Lin Xiao knew that the title of the marquis was one level higher than that of the uncle, in addition to the prince, the prince and the prince of the male fifth-level title, the Ming Dynasty only sealed the first three levels, and the uncle was the lowest level.

"The practice of this dynasty is that no knighthood is given without military merits, so only military generals who have made meritorious contributions can be knighted, and civil officials are not knighted...... Today, the emperor has given the old man a favor, which is already extraordinarily gracious. ”

Qu Shiyun bowed in the direction of the palace for a while, and then said with a little self-deprecation,

"However, with the current situation, all the titles are not available for food, it's just a meaning."

Lin Xiao was stunned when he heard this.

No wonder Emperor Yongli sealed a lot of princes and princes, except for the indiscriminate promises to go to the doctor in a hurry, in fact, there is no fief to pay at all, just a blank check.

……

Lin Xiaozheng was silent, but Qu Shiyun changed his words:

"Li Ruyue, the imperial historian of that day, is Lord Yan's person, you don't have to worry, all the fetters in the court have their own old husband."

Lin Xiao pretended to know a little, and took the opportunity to inquire about the situation of the courtiers, it turned out that the scholars Wu Zhenyu and Yan Qiheng were still loyal ministers, especially when they resisted Sun Kewang's coercion, they showed noble integrity.

However, the Ming court has continued to the present, and the bad atmosphere of officials at all levels has accumulated and it is difficult to return, in addition to widespread corruption, competition for power and profit among themselves, and suspicion and jealousy have become commonplace.

Every important minister must have a small hill, and the rest of the ministers, whether loyal or treacherous, must stand in line, and it seems to have become a habit to fight and attack each other in advance, and the low efficiency of work can be said to be shocking.

And Qu Shiyun is naturally not exempt from vulgarity, and he also has a lot of supporters under him, especially Zhang Tongchang, Jiao Lian and others are his henchmen, if you want to really do something in this environment, it is not possible to pretend to be the commander of the light pole.

Of course, because Emperor Yongli was originally supported by Qu Shiyun and Ding Kuichu, the governor of Liangguang, he was actually more loyal than anyone else in the court, and he was also more honest as an official.

"Then thank you, my lord, I have an adult to maneuver around in the middle, and I can rest assured in the next."

Lin Xiao also said politely, because he was not afraid of anyone, what he was most afraid of was to bow down and kowtow to the court, and if there was no major event in the future, he would not be happy to enter Beijing.

……

(PS: Thank you to the third leader of this book, love is an eternal topic of great reward!) Thank you! Thank you to all the friends who supported this book, I feel very happy to have you with me all the way, thank you! ）