The carriage walked along the bustling streets of Tokyo, but there were fewer and fewer pedestrians on the streets, and finally came to a rather quiet residential area, and when the carriage stopped in front of a gate with a plaque of "Lu Fu", Li Zhang also stepped down from the car, only to see a long queue at the gate, although it was the tenth day today, but the prime minister's door was still full of people who came to see.

Looking at the crowd waiting to see in front of the door, Li Zhang also shook his head secretly, and then asked people to send his name post. After a while, I saw Lu Yijian personally go out to greet him, and when he saw Li Zhang, he also laughed and said: "Captain Li is here, which really makes the humble house shine!" ”

Those who were waiting to see saw Lu Yijian, who was the prime minister, went out to greet him in person, and they all showed surprised expressions, and when they heard that the person who came was Li Zhang, they all showed a natural expression, don't look at Li Zhang's position is not high, but in terms of power, he is not inferior to any minister, and even in terms of influence on His Majesty, no one can match.

"Lu Xiang is polite, if the dignified Prime Minister's Mansion is also a humble house, then my home can only be called a thatched house." Li Zhang was also joking at this time, he had a good relationship with Lu Yijian, and it didn't hurt to joke occasionally.

Sure enough, Lu Yijian laughed again after hearing this, and then affectionately pulled Li Zhang into the mansion, and the people outside the mansion who were waiting to see showed envious expressions, but they also knew that compared to a big man like Li Zhang, they really didn't deserve to be watched by Lu Yijian, even if they asked to see, they just went in to have a cup of tea, and few people could see Lu Yijian.

At that moment, Lu Yijian invited Li Zhang to sit in a small hall in the front yard, Li Zhang did not directly pick out the intention, but chatted with the other party for a few words, Lu Yijian also specially asked him about going to Luoyang to check the hat demon, although Li Zhang had already said it in the palace before, but it was only a general talk, and many details were not said at all, and Lu Yijian was also quite interested in this.

However, after chatting for a while, Li Zhang suddenly changed the topic and asked, "Lu Xiang, I heard that the candidate for the new queen this time is highly recommended by you?" ”

Lu Yijian was stunned when he heard Li Zhang suddenly ask about this, and then replied: "It can't be said that I recommended it, the back position in the palace has been vacant, and it is not a way after all, so it is necessary to choose the right woman, the best way is to choose from the current concubines, but His Majesty has a deep affection for Empress Zhang, and he has no special preference for other concubines, so it is better to re-select a virtuous and noble woman from outside the palace, which can also deepen the connection between the royal family and the nobles." ”

"Oh? I don't know why Lu Xiang recommended the woman of the Cao family? Li Zhang asked again at this time, and looked directly into Lu Yijian's eyes when he spoke, he couldn't understand one thing, that is, why did Lu Yijian have to recommend a second-married woman to Zhao Zhen, didn't he know that doing this was thankless at all?

"Li Duwei's words are wrong, not that I recommended the women of the Cao family, but among the various alternative women, the women of the Cao family performed the best, and they were also the most suitable to enter the palace to serve Your Majesty, and even the Queen Mother and the Concubine both agreed very much, and finally Your Majesty agreed, so the women of the Cao family are not highly recommended by me, but the result of everyone's agreement." Lu Yijian denied it at this time.

Li Zhang also kept staring at Lu Yijian at this time, but he didn't see anything abnormal from the other party's expression, but this is normal, as the prime minister of a country, Lu Yijian's city government is naturally not comparable to ordinary people, and the thoughts in his heart will never be revealed from his face, at least Li Zhang can't see whether Lu Yijian's words are true or false.

However, Li Zhang did not give up at this time, I saw that he was silent for a moment and suddenly stared at Lu Yijian again and said: "Since Lu Xiang, you all think that the woman of the Cao family is the most suitable to enter the palace, then you must have investigated her in advance and understood her situation very well?" ”

"Naturally!" Lu Yijian immediately nodded and said, he couldn't deny this, after all, as a candidate for the queen, he would definitely be strictly investigated, and he couldn't make a mistake.

"Then Lu Xiang should also know that this Cao family woman once got married?" Li Zhang stared at Lu Yijian's eyes at this time and asked again, originally Li Zhang was worried that his crossing might affect the fate of this Empress Cao, so he also sent someone to Yongcheng to inquire two days ago, and it was confirmed that the other party had been married once, and her husband was Li Zhi, the son of the famous minister Li Shiheng.

There are very few records of Li Shiheng in the history books, but there is a very famous story, when Li Shiheng was an envoy to Goryeo, and there was a military attache as his deputy, and when he came back, Goryeo gave the two envoys many gifts, and Li Shiheng handed over all the gifts to the military attache to deal with, so the military attache played a trick, he put Li Shiheng's gift below, and his own gift was on it, so that if the cabin was flooded, the soaked was Li Shiheng's gift.

But people are not as good as heaven, the mission's fleet encountered strong winds and waves at sea, and saw that the ship was about to sink if the draft was too deep, so the shipwright threw away the goods on the ship to reduce the burden on the ship, and as a result, all the gifts of the military attache were thrown away, and Li Shiheng's gifts were all preserved, but later after Li Shiheng found out, instead of blaming the military attaché, he also distributed his gifts to the other party.

It is not known whether the above story is true, but it has been widely circulated, because this story fully shows the high demeanor of civil officials, highlights the greed for money and stinginess of military officials, and in the overall atmosphere of the Song Dynasty's civil officials suppressing military generals, such a story is naturally the most in line with the minds of civil officials, so this story is recorded in many books.

Later, Wang Qinruo was autocratic, and Li Shiheng was also implicated, so he was demoted to Beijing, but he Li Shiheng was a person with a weak sense of fame and fortune.

Li Zhi, as the son of Li Shiheng, has been very intelligent since he was a child, and under the influence of his father, he also has a deep interest in Taoist thought, it is said that he was familiar with Taoism at the age of ten, and became a famous Taoist master at the age of twenty, which is very similar to Cao Tong, and the two also have a good relationship, it is estimated that it is precisely for this reason that Cao Tong's sister, that is, the future Empress Cao, married this Li Zhi, Li Zhang believes that Lu Yijian must know about it.

Sure enough, when he heard Li Zhang directly pick out the matter, Lu Yijian's face finally changed a little, but he quickly regained his previous composure, only to see him reach out and pick up the tea and smile calmly: "It turns out that Captain Li is here for this matter." ”