Every year since the beginning of autumn, the dark night of Youbei Third Road is extremely long. At this time, before the fifth watch, the Qinzheng Hall of the Fengjing Imperial Palace was already full of ministers above the fourth rank in the court in the order of Wendong and Wuxi.

As soon as the bell and drum of the fifth watch came from a distance, Emperor Xuande Yan Hunt yawned and stepped into the gate of the Qinzheng Palace, followed by Li Qing, the chief administrator of the inner court.

"The Zhongqing family came early today. If it weren't for the bell and drum, I would have thought I was too late. Since you have agreed to come early today, I'm afraid there is something important to play, right? ”

Emperor Xuande walked towards his throne and casually talked to the ministers who knelt on the ground to participate in the car. After he sat down, he first picked up the tea bowl and took a sip, then turned around and nodded at Li Qing.

"The royal ride is coming! Ladies and gentlemen, there is a morning music, and there is no retreat. ”

Li Qing shouted extremely casually, and his tone was not very pleasant. The voice fell to the ears of the others above the main hall, and everyone who heard it was stunned. This will make Li Qing a little unhappy, but it is very understandable. After all, in the early dynasty today, these people, as courtiers, did not kneel outside the palace to greet them, and they didn't know who they were instructed to do, so they dared to enter the palace one step ahead of the emperor, which was a suspicion of forcing the palace. It's just that Emperor Xuande at this time has no abnormality on his face, as if he has not seen it.

"Your Majesty, the ministers have their roots."

Among the ministers, a middle-aged man came out of the ranks, kneeling in front of the hall with an ivory wat board in his hand. This person is none other than the left waiter of the Youbei Household Department - Wan Changning.

"Oh? Is Changning today? Now that winter is about to begin, isn't the winter tax of your household end in early autumn? I remember that I personally checked with Li Xiang for three days. ”

"Your Majesty, what the minister is doing today is not related to the tax of the household department."

Wan Changning raised his head slightly, tilted his head sideways and looked at the side of the military attaché, with a hint of gloom in his eyes.

"Oh? That's a lot of fun. Then what do you say and listen to me, what is playing today? ”

"Back to Your Majesty, there are people who want to participate in the impeachment today."

As soon as Emperor Xuande heard that he wanted to join people, he felt awkward in his heart. This Wan Changning was originally the henchman of Li Deng, the prime minister of the dynasty, and he was also able to use the power of the Li family to be the servant of the Sanpin Household Department. Therefore, this Wan Changning is just a biting dog under Prime Minister Li Deng.

"Oh? The people who Changning is participating in today are corrupt officials or relatives of the emperor? If you encounter any injustice, just tell it directly in front of the ministers, and I will make the decision for you. ”

Wan Changning lowered his head, and snorted coldly at the corner of his mouth:

"Li Le'an, the daughter of Prime Minister Li Deng, and more than 100 guards, set off from Dongyou Dahuang City to Beijing, intending to reunite with her father. But unexpectedly, when the team traveled to the vicinity of Qingshan City on Zhongshan Road, they were openly plundered by Mobei horse thieves. Fortunately, the guards fought to the death, and finally fought to annihilate the whole army, so that Miss Le'an was able to retreat. ”

When Emperor Xuande heard this, he became even more angry: Okay, you are Wan Changning, it is just a pioneer for Li Deng in the court on weekdays, but now it is just a private matter in his family, and he actually put up such a big battle to hold me accountable, it seems that you are really on the big boat of Li Deng.

"Oh? Li Xiang's beloved daughter was robbed by a grassland horse thief? How's it going now? Is there a message that the Imperial Doctor will go to treat the young lady? Emperor Xuande said words of concern, but there was a faint sense of schadenfreude in his heart.

Li Deng just raised his eyelids slightly and made a salute when he came out of class:

"Don't dare to bother Your Majesty, the little girl relied on the sergeant's desperate protection to prevent her from falling into the hands of the horse thief. So I was just a little frightened, but my body was fine. After saying a word, he returned to the head of the civil service team and stopped talking.

Wan Changning, who was kneeling on the ground, took over the words again at this time:

Therefore, the minister first participated in Fu Ye, the governor of Zhongshan, and neglected his duties to raise his own respect, so that for a long time, the border was full of people and thieves; Again the king of Zhongshan Guo Yunsong knows no one and misunderstands the country. In this incident, these two people have an unshirkable responsibility, and I ask Your Majesty to severely punish them and correct the law! ”

After saying that, Wan Changning knocked his head three times in a row, kneeling down and waiting for Emperor Xuande's reply.

"Changning, since you like to participate in others so much, why don't you really do a royal history? Hahaha......" Emperor Xuande used a joke to faintly vent his dissatisfaction. But seeing that Wan Changning was still kneeling in place, he suddenly felt furious:

"I already know about this, you can write the whole thing in detail tomorrow on the notebook, and I will talk about it after I think it carefully."

Wan Changning frowned slightly after hearing this, but still spoke:

"Your Majesty, the transcript was presented yesterday, and besides, ......"

Wan Changning was halfway through speaking, when he suddenly faintly heard a slight cough. You don't need to look at it to know that this familiar voice must come from his benefactor, Prime Minister Li Deng, who is coughing and signaling himself not to ask any further.

"Yes, I understand."

Emperor Xuande also heard Li Deng's cough, suppressed the anger in his heart, and looked away from Wan Changning: "The rest of you, is there anything else to do?"

At this time, there was a person standing among the generals, he was slender and strong, with a dark complexion, and a heroic aura:

"Your Majesty, this matter of the prime minister's love for his daughter can be put aside for the time being. But the desert northern grassland has to be guarded against. Now that we are about to enter the winter famine, as soon as the first heavy snow has passed, this group of steppe wolves will come to rob the people of my Youbei Third Road again. Some of the food on weekdays have to be robbed, and this winter will come even earlier, but I am afraid that the scale of looting will be even greater than in previous years. ”

The military general who opened his mouth was none other than Yan Chongwu, the commander of the clan army of the Yan clan in Guanbei. This person is in charge of the 50,000 Flying Bear Army, which is the largest army in the entire Youbei Three Roads.

Emperor Xuande frowned, and his heart was full of dilemmas.

Just after the summer of this year, Beiyan sent more than 100,000 troops to the East Customs for some reason. Now that winter is about to begin, they neither invaded nor retreated, so they stationed troops in the pass without moving. In this way, in order to prevent being raided by the Northern Yan, he had to transfer the 50,000 Flying Bear Army led by Yan Chongwu to Jincheng to garrison and confront the Northern Yan army stationed in the Eastern Customs.

At this time, the Mobei grassland is also in danger of being invaded, but there is really no other army at the moment, so it can be sent to the north of Zhongshan Road to deploy defenses.

"Well, that's a big problem. This winter came so early, and those steppe wolves had no food to eat, which will definitely harm the people of my Youbei Third Road. How to prevent this matter, I have to think carefully again. After all, the army of Northern Yan is also eyeing the East Customs. ”

After the dispersal of the dynasty, the civil and military ministers all walked to the market street in front of the palace gate in twos and threes to have breakfast. Wan Changning followed behind Li Deng without saying a word and got into the car of the Prime Minister's Mansion. And Yan Chongwu, the commander of the Flying Bear Army, followed the clan mansion Zongzheng, who is also the current patriarch of the Yan clan, Yan Jiuning, to a wonton stall.

"Patriarch, what do you think of this outcome?"

Although Yan Chongwu is a little darker, his facial features are tough, and he always talks with a smile on weekdays. At this moment, two bowls of wontons were brought in his hand.

"It's too early to talk about the winner. You have to wait for Your Majesty to come up with a charter before you can weigh the gains and losses. It's just that this morning, someone is about to start to get lucky. ”

Yan Chongwu drank all the wontons and asked for another bowl, and bought a few meatloaf to eat. Hearing Zong Zheng's reply, he first thought about it carefully, and then chuckled:

"Lucky? You're talking about the Li family's watchdog? ”

"When can the watchdog only eat leftovers, what luck can he have?"

"Could it be that I'm lucky enough to be the Flying Bears?"

"According to the old man, the most you get this time is a small bargain in some money and food, and you can't talk about luck."

"And who are you talking about?"

Da Zongzheng smiled, stroked his long hair, lowered his head and gently blew the hot wonton soup, and then said in a low voice: "The one who is lucky this time should be my old buddy, Guo Yunsong, the king of Zhongshan." ”

After Yan Chongwu heard this name, he smiled disdainfully:

"He? A duck that has been plucked and disemboweled, what luck is there? Could it be that Your Majesty wants to reward him with a good executioner? ”