Nowadays is an era of entertainment scarcity and rarity, but all kinds of gambling are extremely popular, and gambling is actually gambling.

This lingering fragrance garden is the favorite place for the children of the princes and princes to come to play on weekdays, in addition to the fact that you can juju, there are horse races, dog fights, archery competitions, and among the cool houses on both sides, there are also countless beautiful women with warblers and swallows for the rich and powerful dignitaries to play, accompanied by throwing pots, dice, fighting insects, six Bo and other games.

It has snowed heavily these days, so this Liuxiangyuan has become the best entertainment place for people who have nowhere to go, just like the Qinglou gambling house in later generations, and most people gather in these places to play and play.

In addition to this incense garden, there is also a liuzhen garden in the south of the city, but most of the people gathered there are idle Fang family warlocks, commonly known as cultural hooligans.

These places with the nature of Qinglou gambling houses are the places where there are many people and the news spreads the fastest.

Therefore, not long after Chen Xu and the three of them left Liuxiang Garden, what happened here quickly spread, and in less than an hour, almost the entire Xianyang knew about it.

Chen Xu, who had just been named the Marquis of Qinghe by the First Emperor, appeared in Liuxiangyuan in a high-profile manner, and beat Ma Teng, the grandson of Ma Lu, the servant of the former dynasty, to the blessed, completely ignoring his identity and status, and threatened sharply when he left.

Naturally, what happened to Ma Teng aroused the righteous indignation of many people.

Although the Ma family is in the middle of the road, there are many disciples in Xianyang who are now in the middle of the road, and Chen Xu, as an outsider, although he has the protection of the emperor, but he does not take the Manchu Dynasty civil and military ministers in his eyes too much, the so-called broken bones and tendons, although the Ma family is down, but Ma Teng's aunt and aunt still have so many officials in Xianyang, and they are not completely down-and-out to the point of civilians, otherwise Ma Teng would have been driven out of the entertainment group by this group of gentlemen.

This matter spread quickly, not only did the princes and princes and the scholars quickly know about it, but even there was a rumor in the palace.

Qin Shi Huang, who was watching the list of gods on the warm kang, listened to Xuanwuwei's proclamation, frowned and thought for a moment and said: "The Marquis of Qinghe is not a person who has nothing to do, he must have another purpose, and arrange for someone to carefully investigate the reason!" ”

"Whoa!" Xuanwu Wei took the order and left.

In Zhao Gao's mansion, in the warm living room, several people were gathering together with ugly faces.

Zhao Gao, who was sitting on the top of the warm kang, looked at Shang Tu in the left middle of the craftsman Shaofu with a displeased face, "Shang Zhonghou, the iron-making furnace collapsed in advance, and it will definitely arouse Chen Xu's suspicions later, and it will be more difficult to do it again, and how to find out the situation in the construction site?" ”

Shang Tu hurriedly nodded and said: "The incident happened suddenly, and Chen Xu quickly arranged for the forbidden army of the Weiwei Mansion to take over the construction site, but there is still news that the ironsmith is seriously injured and comatose when he wins the victory, and he may die!" ”

"Really?" Zhao Gao's face looked much better.

"I heard that Chen Xu was thunderous at the construction site yesterday, and the third son of the imperial doctor Ling Zhou Jiong was removed from the Academy of Sciences in the name of untimely treatment, so there is a chance that this matter will be nine times out of ten!" Shang Tu said.

"Okay, as long as the public loses and wins, Chen Xu will have one less chip in his hand, and if he does the same, we will destroy it until he loses his reputation and loses His Majesty's trust!" Zhao Gao smashed the desk with a little excitement.

"Tai Servant, I'm only worried about the second son Shang Qi, whether Chen Xu will find out about stealing the drawings!" Shang Tu said with a little worry.

"This heavy snow came suddenly, the iron-making furnace was built in only three or five days, and it is not impossible to be crushed by the snow, and now the craftsman who designed the iron-making furnace is unconscious, and Chen Xu does not necessarily know that the drawings of the iron-making furnace have been modified, not to mention that even if Chen Xu finds that the drawings have been replaced, he does not dare to investigate deeply, because there are too many people involved in this matter, so you don't need to worry, no matter whether the public wins or loses, dead or alive, this iron-making matter will inevitably be delayed for a long time!" Ling Aoping, a craftsman sitting next to him, said.

"So much the best!" Zhao Gao's face was slightly hideous, he reached out and touched his half-missing right ear, and said fiercely.

"Besides, Chen Xu's son is young after all, and he suddenly became a national candidate and has the trust of His Majesty, I am afraid that he is a little carried away, before he came to the palace of the servant, I heard that he took the servant to the Lingering Fragrance Garden with the son of Meng Yi, and beat the grandson of the former servant Ma Teng Ma Teng's nose and face to be swollen, and threatened to take his life if he did not pay back 500,000 yuan......" Ao Ping continued with what he had just said.

"I have just heard about this matter, since it is best for him not to investigate the collapse of the iron-making furnace, as long as he continues to be arrogant, I am afraid that he will become a thorn in the side of the princes and princes of the Manchu Dynasty in the near future, once His Majesty's grace is not there, it will inevitably end extremely miserable, and then we only need to watch from the wall!" Zhao Gao nodded.

"Shang Zhonghou, this Ma family is now powerless and powerless, and has such a deep hatred with Chen Xu, just enough to secretly envelop it, your son Shang Qi heard that he often plays in Liuxiang Garden, you can try to contact Ma Teng and take him as a confidant, if this matter is revealed, all the blame can be pushed on his head." Zhao Gao commanded.

"Don't worry, I'll tell the dog when I get home!" Shang Tu nodded repeatedly.

Mongfu.

After listening to his son Meng Yun tell the cause and effect of the incident, Meng Yi said silently for a while: "Qinghehou's trick to hide the sky and cross the sea is perfect, and Ma Teng is used as bait to set up a bitter plan, I'm afraid this matter will have a result in a few days!" ”

"The child also guessed that Shang Qi was the son of Shang Tu, who was the master of the Shaofu Zuozhong, once this matter was investigated, Shang Tu would probably be unable to escape the blame!" Meng Yun said with a little excitement on his face.

"Hmm!" Meng Yi nodded, and then glared at his son with some hatred, "Look at Qinghe Hou, you're only fifteen years old, you look at you again, you're still idle all day long at the age of twenty!" Otherwise, I wouldn't have strayed into the trap in the first place! ”

Meng Yun's handsome cheeks suddenly turned red with shame, and he said hesitantly: "Although the Marquis of Qinghe is young, he is extremely thoughtful and full of tricks, he doesn't look like a fifteen-year-old boy at all, the child is ashamed of himself, otherwise he wouldn't have been calculated by him in Qinghe Town!" ”

"Hmph, it's good to know, go ahead, don't make a noise until this matter is clear!" Meng Yi waved his hand.

"Leave the child!" Meng Yun saluted and left, Meng Yi picked up a pen and paper to write a letter, summoned the servants, "Send this letter to the palace of Yu Shi Cheng Gao Xiang as soon as possible!" ”

"Huh~" The servant took the letter and turned away.

"Ao Ping, you designed to harm my son at the beginning, and today you will eradicate your Ao family, and you are in charge of the craftsman as a young man, don't you know at all?" Meng Yi sneered a few times and continued to read.

Left Prime Minister Li Si on the house.

A small conservatory is covered with floor heating, and the room is as warm as spring, and Li Si and an old man in civilian clothes are sitting opposite each other drinking tea.

Although this old man is not an official in the court, it can be said that everyone knows it in Xianyang and even in the entire Great Qin, and he is very famous among the warlocks of the Fang family, and he is An Yuliang, the dean of Weihe Academy.

At the beginning, An Yuliang helped Jiang Chuyue bribe Li Si with a tube of purple cloud fairy tea, and finally achieved his goal of dissolving his marriage with Zhao Zhe, but it also caused a lot of messy things in the follow-up.

Even now, Li Si is still in the dark, not knowing that the Jiang family and Zhao Gao have hated him.

The two drank a cup of tea silently, no one spoke, and after pouring tea again, Li Si waved his hand and drove out a few maids in the room.

"Why does Senior Brother only drink tea and not speak?" Lees broke the silence.

"It's not that the junior brother didn't say it!" An Yuliang's face was flat, and he couldn't see any emotion.

Li Si smiled bitterly: "Senior brother, I know that you are dissatisfied with me, in fact, the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty are dissatisfied with me, but I have unspeakable hardships!" ”

"What are your troubles, now that the lord is on the left, the emperor is also very kind to you, I heard that as long as you play something, no matter how big or small, you will agree, which courtier in the whole world can do such a scenery as you, if you still have unspeakable hardships, those farmers who cultivate the fields, the merchants who drive goods and sell, and the servants who build roads and dig canals are all bitter and can't survive!"

An Yuliang took a sip of the tea in the teacup, and then couldn't help but sigh, "This real Ziyunxian tea is really different, the three flavors in the tea are vivid, and it is very different from ordinary tea." ”

"This tea is indeed good in color and aroma, but it doesn't feel as good as the half of the fairy tea last year!" Li Si said with a wrenched sigh.

"It's not that the tea is not beautiful, but your heart is restless, and today you suddenly invited your senior brother to drink tea, so you want to pour bitter water on me again!" An Yuliang drank tea contentedly.

"Yes, Si is a little depressed, and I want to ask my senior brother for advice!" Lees gave up.

"Wait, wait until I'm done with this tea!" An Yuliang continued to drink tea slowly, Li Si had to wait with a wry smile, An Yuliang drank a cup of tea, put down the teacup and said, "Say it, but in fact, it's useless for you to say it, you and I don't agree with each other, and I can't even drink tea if I talk too much!" ”

Reese:......

"Can Senior Brother Qinghehou hear about it?" After a long silence, Li Si asked in a low voice.

"Naturally, I have heard that the students in the academy are arguing and discussing Qinghe Hou every day, and many of them directly regard it as their lifelong goal, and want to learn from him to be the marquis and worship the prime minister, hehe, I know, it turned out that the junior brother suddenly felt the pressure from the Qinghe Hou, as soon as he came to Xianyang, he was named the prime minister of the country, received the golden seal and purple ribbon, and also named the marquis Shiyi, and you boasted that you made great contributions to the Great Qin sweeping Liuhe, but now you are still only the lord of Shangqing, so you are unwilling, and you are even more dissatisfied!" An Yuliang laughed heartily.

"Senior brother, why make fun of me, knowing that I won't be so shallow!" Li Si said embarrassedly.

"Haha, junior brother, junior brother, you are deceiving yourself, it's not that you don't have this kind of thought, but you don't want to admit it!" An Yuliang smiled, his face slowly sank, and he shook his head after being silent for a long time, "Senior brother, I don't want to participate in the affairs of the court, so no matter what you say, I can only listen to it, now whether it is the court or the people, there are undercurrents, senior brother only asks you, do you still remember the original intention?" ”

"Initial intention?" Li Si held the teacup for a long time.

"Yes, that's the original intention, senior brother still remembers that when you went to Qi to find a master, you wanted to learn the art of the emperor, saying that you don't want to be short-sighted like a hamster, and your ambition is to assist a king to rule the world and achieve the ambition of the prince! Do you remember these words? ”

"Of course!" Li Si nodded calmly.

"Now that these juniors have done it, do they feel that life is boring?"

"Yes!" Lees nodded again.

"It's a pity, although the younger brother has the ambition of the Taigong, but ignores the sage of the Taigong, the Taigong assists the king of Wu to achieve great causes, but he is not proud of his achievements, so he voluntarily set the fief in the land of Dongyi to help the king of Zhou stabilize the east, and trek thousands of miles to establish the country of Qi in Yingqiu, the original Qi land is still a wild land, the indigenous people of Dongyi are all barbaric, do not respect the king, do not listen to orders, do not know the etiquette law, Taigong in order to calm the people's hearts as soon as possible, he issued various decrees, and at the same time beheaded the demons and deceived the people of Sikou Yingtang and madness, Huashi brothers, so that the laws can be implemented smoothlyIn order to get the support of the local Yi people, he also implemented the enlightened policy of simplicity and etiquette because of its customs, and emphasized agriculture and commerce according to local conditions, and passed the goods of Qi through the world, so that Qi soon became the richest and most prosperous place among the princes of a hundred countries, resulting in a large number of princes around to come to worship, and in just a few years, Qi became the most powerful country among the princes, and Qi has also become the object of emulation by the princes. ”

"I wonder if my brother understands what I mean?" An Yuliang looked at Li Si while drinking tea to moisten his throat.

"Senior brother is saying that I should follow the example of Taigong to govern the country?" Li Si said suspiciously.

"Yes, you originally had lofty ambitions and wanted to assist Ming Jun to dominate the world, and now you have succeeded, but do you know that the world is easy, and it is difficult to govern the world, and now the Daqin family is alone, but the world is still chaotic, you only have the concept of Taigong magic, but not the concept of Taigong governing the country, Taigong governs the country, the law and etiquette are both important, and agriculture and commerce are equally important, this is the way to strengthen the country, and now Daqin, emphasizing the law and ignoring courtesy, emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business, this is like a person missing a leg, and a careless will fall."

"Shizun respects the prince very much, so he attaches great importance to benevolence and the rule of law, and promotes his own law and ritual learning in the Qi Guoji School Palace, hoping to find a way to make Qi strong governance, but unfortunately Qi Xuan Wang is not a ruler of the country, unwilling to adopt his strategy of governing the country, when the Qin State is recruiting wise men, the master also admired, although he praised the enlightenment of the Qin monarch, but the Qin State attaches great importance to the rule of criminal law, and despises the strategy of the benevolent gentleman. So he went to Zhao instead. You and Han Fei's junior brother both value fame and fortune and ignore benevolence and righteousness, law and etiquette and righteousness, agriculture and industry and commerce, and have not learned the emperor's art of the master, as soon as the master goes, you two can't wait to defect to the Qin State one after another, intending to govern the people of the world with the harsh laws of Shang Ying, but they don't know that they have gone astray from the beginning, and now that Daqin dominates the world, if you continue to implement strong laws and despise benevolence, morality, etiquette and righteousness, Daqin will only end up in your hands! ”

Li Si smiled bitterly after being silent for a long time: "Today, Si invited the senior brother to come because he wanted to pour some bitter water, but he didn't expect the senior brother to pour it out first, but the lesson of the senior brother is that in the past, Si didn't want to listen or speak, but a few days ago, when he heard the words of Hehou, he actually had a little throbbing, and after holding back these days, he couldn't help but invite the senior brother to come over to drink tea and talk!" ”

"Qinghe Hou, what did he say?" An Yuliang put down the teacup in surprise.

"At the emperor's dinner, he stopped a decree that His Majesty was about to implement, saying that it would rather not be able than evil, and one more decree would have one more shackle on the heads of all the people, so there would be more horror and more resentment in the heart!"

"Did he really say that?" An Yuliang's eyes lit up.

"Not bad!" Li Si nodded, "It is precisely because of this sentence that His Majesty gave up the decree of forcibly implementing deep ploughing and accumulating fertilizer, and this sentence also shocked me deeply, so I have been thinking about it again and again recently, could it be that some of my previous practices were wrong?" ”

"I said you were wrong before, but you just don't want to admit it, but why do you feel that you are wrong when Qinghe Hou says it!" An Yuliang asked.

Li Si shook his head slightly: "I don't know, maybe he is really a disciple of the immortal family, I am now confused and confused in my heart, I have seen the power of the Taiyi divine thunder descended from the sky in Wancheng, and I have also seen the book of tips in Bolangsha to let His Majesty escape the assassination process, if he is not a disciple of the immortal family, why would there be a strange power that these people can't understand, I, Li Si, diligently seek to assist a Ming monarch to rule the world, and also hope that the world will be stable, the country will be rich and the people will be strong, but really wait until Daqin dominates the world, I will start to get tired again, and I feel the difficulty of governing the country, Now many government decrees began to be unable to be strictly implemented as soon as Xianyang came out, and even many local officials had a heart of resistance, and the government decrees were not smooth and the chaos was reborn, and this year I accompanied His Majesty to the southeast, and saw that the people were full of rags, and they were disturbed by bandits several times along the way, is this the Daqin that I am proud of assisting? ”

An Yuliang said lightly: "Is it only you who know best in your heart?" Reflect on yourself, why do you ask me? Shizun pursued the rule of law by etiquette all his life, but he did not succeed, and Daqin was deeply benefited by the legal system, and it was not easy to change easily, but I only said that Shizun respected the two sages of Confucius and Mencius the most, and Shangren valued virtue and took into account etiquette and law, and you have always been a Confucian disciple, I don't want to ignore the merits and demerits, but after a hundred years and thousands of years, whether you are a good name or a bad name, future generations will give you the most authentic evaluation. After enough tea, my brother went back to the college! In the autumn, Senior Brother Feng came from Nanyang and handed over the quotations he compiled to my proofreader, hoping to finish it before the beginning of spring. ”

After An Yuliang finished speaking, he stood up, tidied up the crown of his clothes, picked up his thick winter clothes and put them on.

"Senior brother~" Li Si stood up and called to stop, ready to go out to settle the fish.

"Senior brother has anything else to say?" An Yuliang turned back.

"At the beginning...... I regret what happened to Senior Brother Han Fei at the beginning! I also know that because of this, all of you brothers and sisters resent me! Li Si hesitated for a long time but still spoke.

"Han Fei, everything is his own fault, his respect for the law of Wei Ying, the reiteration of the technique of not harming, the trend of prudence, quick success, emphasis on monarchy and light on people's livelihood, emphasis on criminal law and light on benevolence, without the slightest hint of the essence of the teacher's respect for the law of benevolence, even if you don't kill him, he will end up like Wei Ying."

An Yuliang walked out of the door, and a word came with the wind.

"Heaven is constant, not for Yao, not for death. If it should be treated, it will be auspicious, and if it should be chaotic, it will be vicious. Please also remember this sentence of the master! ”

……