September 12, 13th year of Liyang

Cloudy to overcast

Near noon, the county commander Hua Wenzheng suddenly sent someone to urgently summon Yan Kui to the county office, saying that there was an important matter to discuss, and the person who came said it was serious, Yan Kui did not dare to slack off, and Pegasus rushed to the county government from the militia camp.

As soon as he arrived at the gate of the county office, Yan Kui turned over and dismounted, and met Huang Dahu who was in a hurry.

Seeing Yan Kui, Huang Dahu's face changed slightly, and then he smiled: "Brother hasn't been to the county seat for a long time, my brother thinks you think so much, I will leave the county government in a while and go to my house for a drink." ”

Huang Dahu's sudden enthusiastic gesture made Yan Kui a little stunned, but he quickly reacted: "Okay, it's true that I haven't been to my eldest brother's house for a long time, I still remember my sister-in-law's eight-treasure meat, and I must feast on it today." ”

"Since my brother loves to eat that eight-treasure meat, I'll ask your sister-in-law to cook it for you when I get home." Huang Dahu laughed and said cheerfully.

The two talked and laughed, and entered the county office very intimately, if anyone saw it, they would never have thought that ten days ago, the two of them would have longed for each other to die in the wilderness.

………

County Yahou Hall

The county magistrate Hua Wenzheng and the county Cheng Menggong were already waiting here, and when they saw Huang Dahu and Yan Kui walking into the back hall together, their faces changed slightly.

Fortunately, neither of them is a Leng Touqing who has entered and exited the officialdom, and they have a certain understanding of this kind of situation where they can't wait for each other to die, but their faces are like glue and honey, and they are like brothers, and they quickly regained their composure, and smiled lightly at Huang and Yan, who came in together, to return the courtesy.

After this set of processes was completed, several people sat down, and Hua Wenzheng also began to talk about the reason why Yan Kui and the others were called county officials.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this official has just received the news, and I am afraid that the matter of suppressing bandits has changed."

Hua Wenzheng's face is very ugly, the reason why he was transferred to Qingyuan is to share some credit in the matter of suppressing bandits in the imperial court, and now seeing that Yan Kui has reported successes again and again, the situation of suppressing bandits is very good, but as a result, there has been an accident on the main side of the Fucheng bandit army, not to mention how bad it is in Hua Wenzheng's heart.

Not only Hua Wenzheng was upset, but Huang Dahu and Yan Kui, who were closely related to this matter, also had a sudden change in their faces when they heard this, and even Meng Gong, an "outsider", was also stunned.

After all, although Lao Mengtou is not greedy for any merit in suppressing bandits, he can't wait for Hua Wenzheng and Huang Dahu who are pressed on him to be transferred away because of merit, so he, as the only remaining county boss, can dominate Qingyuan beautifully, and maybe even he can follow the light and fill the vacancy left by Hua Wenzheng.

……

Huang, Yan, and Meng changed color, Hua Wenzheng had expected it, raised his hand to signal the three of them to calm down, and Hua Xian Ling said helplessly.

"Don't worry too much, according to the information that this official has received, although there have been changes in the suppression of bandits, it has not yet reached the level of canceling this campaign.

The letter sent by the Fucheng side is to suspend the mobilization of troops, and the official estimates that at most the spring will begin, and the army of bandits will be pulled back into the mountain. ”

Hua Wenzheng's words did not make Yan Kui's expressions relax too much, this has been rumored for more than half a year to change the matter of suppressing bandits, which shows the seriousness of this matter, Fucheng said that there is still hope, but who knows if it is true or false.

Yan Kui was silent for a moment with a gloomy face, then turned to look at Hua Wenzheng: "My lord, you have a wide range of contacts and many sources, can you know what the reason for this change in banditry, how to say it also makes the lower officials have a bottom in their hearts, and the province is thinking about it in a mess." ”

As soon as Yan Kui's words came out, Huang Dahu nodded in agreement, that is, whether the matter of suppressing bandits will be dead or alive in the future, there must be a charter above, everyone knows it, and it is easy to deal with it.

Hua Wenzheng lowered his head and muttered for a long time, seeing Yan Kui and the three of them looking at him with blank eyes, knowing that if he didn't show some of the inside story, he was afraid that the three of them would be dissatisfied in their hearts.

Anyway, in addition to Yan Kui, Huang and Meng also have their own connections, and it is not impossible to get the news if they really make every effort to inquire, so it is better to let yourself sell your favor today.

Thinking of this, Hua Wenzheng sent Master Xin to guard outside the door, glanced around at Yan Kui and the three of them, and slowly opened his mouth.

"This matter is also learned from old friends in Beijing, whether it is true or not, no one knows, today reading the feelings of colleagues, this official and a few adults gossip, out of this door, the official does not recognize anything."

Yan Kui and the three of them glanced at each other, and Huang Dahu said in a deep voice: "Don't worry, Lord County, today's words are out of your mouth and into our ears, and everyone forgets them when you go out, even if the news leaks in the future, it has nothing to do with you." ”

Hua Wenzheng smiled: "A few adults are serious, this matter is a little complicated, and listen to me slowly." ”

As the prince of the Hou Mansion, Hua Wenzheng is still quite familiar with some historical disputes in this dynasty and the inside story of the court, and under his eloquent story, Yan Kui and others also initially learned about the vast world outside Qingyuan, as well as the treacherous clouds above the temple.

…………

The Northern Jin Dynasty is the country with the longest standing of the three kingdoms today, and the Taizu Emperor Wulie founded the country as Jin and built the capital Shengjing, which has been 52 years ago.

At that time, the great grandfather of the northern land was prominent, fought in the south and the north, fought in the east and the west, and then rejuvenated the people's governance, resisted the Western Zhou in the west, and attacked the Southern Chu in the south, and built the Northern Jin Dynasty into the world's largest country, and died after reigning for 25 years.

Emperor Kanghua succeeded to the throne after Taizong, and reigned conscientiously for 14 years, although there was no great merit, nor did he make a big mistake, maintaining the hegemony of the Northern Jin Dynasty in the Three Kingdoms, but because of the rise of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Emperor Kanghua had some Jin and Zhou hegemony in the later period.

After the death of Emperor Kanghua, the current Shengshang Liyang Emperor, who was at the peak of the Spring and Autumn Period, succeeded to the throne, and the rise of the Western Zhou Dynasty was unstoppable.

Now, Emperor Liyang, who has been on the throne for thirteen years, is about to enter the year of knowing the destiny of heaven, and his aging body has made his energy and ambition decline, and he can no longer take the Northern Jin Dynasty to compete with the Western Zhou, so the matter of being the national prince has gradually become the top priority of the Northern Jin Dynasty.

Emperor Liyang has had five sons so far, of which the eldest son and the second son died early, and only three princes were left in the court.

The third prince, Duanwang, is twenty-five years old this year, with a benevolent and generous personality, filial piety and kindness, and is more loved by the old ministers and civil officials in the court, and is called a virtuous king by the ministers.

Due to the early death of his biological mother since childhood, Duanwang was raised by the harem Empress Dowager Kong, so Empress Dowager Kong is also an absolute supporter of Duanwang.

The fourth prince King Jing, 22 years old this year, has a bold and capable personality, is steady and spicy, and has quite a lot of political achievements in the court at a young age, so King Jing is very favored by military generals and young radical courtiers, and is known as a hundred officials in the name of King Neng.

King Jing's mother, Yu Guifei, is the first in the harem, and the queen is almost all set up by her.

The current situation of competing for the crown prince in the court is that the third prince Duan Wang is against the fourth prince King Jing.

As for the remaining five princes, King Fu, is only fifteen years old this year, he is too young, plus King Fu is obese, has a cowardly personality, and his mother is also low.

…………

Now because of the matter of establishing a prince, except for the neutral officials, the rest are divided into two parties, the Duanwang Party and the Jingwang Party.

It turned out that the soldier Lang Zhong who proposed to suppress the bandits before was a person from Duanwang, and Hong Guangbing, the general soldier of Tong'an, who was in charge of suppressing bandits, did not explicitly defect to Duanwang, but he was also inextricably linked with Duanwang's party.

It can be said that the impetus behind Chongshan's suppression of bandits is the Duanwang Party, and if the suppression of bandits succeeds in the future, Duanwang will also benefit from it.

And King Jing's party will definitely not watch King Duan succeed in a big success, so they have been blocking it, and the delay in the army of bandits entering the mountain is the power of King Jing's envoy.

Now King Jing suddenly got the support of the right minister for some reason, and his momentum soared, and he couldn't raise his head to suppress Duanwang, and the matter of Chongshan and bandits was suspended.

I heard that King Jing wanted to send his own people to replace Hong Guangbing, the main general of the bandit army, and King Duan naturally did not do it, the two sides contended, and almost made this matter bigger, and later under the mediation of Emperor Liyang, the matter ended temporarily on the grounds that "it is difficult to move troops in winter", and I am afraid that it will be finally known in the spring of the next year.

…………

After Hua Wenzheng finished speaking, Yan Kui and the three of them did not speak, quietly digesting the matter in their hearts.

They never imagined that one day they would be involved in the battle for the throne.

Of course, this is Yan Kui and their own gold on their faces, in fact, they don't even count a scrap in this matter, and even the chief soldier Hong Guangbing is just the cause of the attack of the two princes, if it weren't for Chongshan being under his jurisdiction normally, he may not be able to enter the eyes of the two princes with a small general soldier from the fourth grade.

But because of this, Yan Kui's hearts are much more relaxed, for no other reason, the level involved in this matter is too high, and it is useless for them to worry about it, but it is better to wait for the result.

Anyway, it's a winter time, and it's like a cat winter.

After figuring it out, Yan Kui and the others did not stay in the county office, and left one after another, Hua Wenzheng also knew the psychology of everyone, and after a little retention, he personally sent the three out of the room.

Outside the county office

The old Meng Tou greeted Yan Kui, didn't look at Huang Dahu, turned around and walked to his own sedan chair, several sedan chair drivers hurriedly put the old man in, shouted, and swayed back to Meng's mansion.

Huang Dahu spat at the sedan chair where Lao Mengtou left, and scolded: "Old things, now they don't take Lao Tzu seriously anymore, and sooner or later they want him to look good." ”

Yan Kui on the side heard this, and couldn't help touching his nose, the reason why Lao Meng is so arrogant to Huang Dahu now is because of the rise of Yan Kui, Huang Dahu's deterrence is not as good as before, if he puts aside the past, Old Man Meng will not be happy with Huang Dahu again, and his attitude will not be so unscrupulous.

Huang Dahu also knew the reason, but it was obvious that he couldn't point the finger at Yan Kui, on the contrary, remembering his wife's words that day, Huang Dahu's attitude towards Yan Kui was extremely affectionate, and he dragged Yan Kui to his house as a guest.

Yan Kui couldn't resist him, and he also wanted to ease the relationship with Huang Dahu, so he followed Huang Dahu to Huangfu as a guest.