The ten-mile long street, full of traffic, bustling, a prosperous scene.

"The country is getting stronger and stronger, and the emperor is a promising king, why do people still want to kill themselves?" Xu Zengshou looked at the crowd on the street through the glass of the car window, whether it was a wealthy businessman or a peddler's pawn, all with a smile on his face, coupled with the clothes on his body, Xu Zengshou could feel that these people were satisfied, as if the war that was taking place in the north had nothing to do with them.

Thinking of this, Xu Zengshou's face suddenly became gloomy, and he thought of his eldest brother who was unpredictable, the eldest brother who scolded him under Helin City, and the eldest brother who always used his broad shoulders to shield himself from the wind and rain......

Just when Xu Zengshou was stunned, the carriage turned left and began to drive towards the Wei Mansion in the direction of Sanfang Lane. There are not many pedestrians on this road, but there are still some officials who come and go, and they should be here to run the road, because most of the people living on this street are the founding princes, including the Wei Mansion, the Founding Mansion, the Ying Mansion, and the Yiguo Mansion. When these officials saw Xu Zengshou's car, they immediately avoided the roadside, because Xu Zengshou was riding in the carriage given by the emperor to Xu Huizu, the Duke of Wei, not to mention the luxurious decoration of the car, but more importantly, the carriage was embedded with steel plates, and there was also a sliding steel plate near the windows on both sides, which could effectively prevent the assassination of bows and arrows and even muskets; But this carriage also has a disadvantage, that is, it is too heavy and can only be driven on concrete roads. However, the carriage is a little ostentatious, Xu Huizu rarely uses it, Xu Yingxu never uses it, Xu Zengshou doesn't care about this, as long as he is in Beijing, he uses this car for travel, he prefers this carriage.

The mansion of Yiguo Ping'an is the mansion of Feng Sheng, the former Duke of Song Dynasty, which has been abandoned since Feng Sheng's rebellion, and when Ping An was sealed, Zhu Yunwen gave this house to Ping'an. Next to the Yiguo Mansion is the mansion of the original Liangguo Duke Lan Yu, this mansion is far better than the Song Guo Mansion next to it in terms of area and interior decoration, but since Lan Yu was killed, it has been deserted and uninhabited. It is said that when Ping An was enthroned, the emperor wanted to give Lan Yu's house to Ping An, but Ping An was unwilling to accept it, and then he gave up. However, this matter is not widely spread, because everyone thinks that this matter is unreliable, under the emperor's order, how dare Ping An disobey?

The Liangguo Mansion is just an empty house, there is no plaque, there is no gate, looking in from the door, you can see that it is overgrown with weeds, a desolate scene, some vines climb all over the walls, and even run out of the wall. Seeing all this, Xu Zengshou had mixed feelings, Lan Yu used to be his idol when he was young, but it is a pity that the hot minister has become a human skin, and the Guogong Mansion, which is full of friends and stars, has also become a habitat for snakes, insects, rats and ants.

At this moment, Xu Zengshou suddenly felt a palpitation, he subconsciously looked in the northwest direction, but found nothing. Xu Zengshou shook his head, feeling that he was nervous, he closed the curtain and sat back.

"Are you getting impatient?"

"No, my lord spares my life, my subordinates just didn't hold back for a while, and I hope that my lord will spare this time!"

"Bang!" A man in Tsing Yi was kicked to the ground heavily, and before he could get up, one foot stepped on his head, he didn't dare to struggle, just begged for mercy, and heard a voice above his head: "Don't forget your identity, your life is saved by the Lord, if you can't forget the hatred with Xu Zengshou, don't listen to orders, and ruin the Lord's major affairs, then you don't have to live." ”

Feeling the cold steel knife on his neck and the fierce killing intent coming from the top of his head, the man in Tsing Yi begged for mercy again and again: "Adult, the small one is wrong, the small one is wrong, and I will never dare to do it again in the future." ”

"Get out, go to the basement, don't come out and make trouble, or die!"

"Yes! Be! Thank you for not killing! ”

As if he had been pardoned, the man in Tsing Yi hurriedly kowtowed a few times, got up and ran out.

"I don't know what the Lord thinks, can it be done by relying on these people?"

The Mansion of the Duke of Wei.

Seeing Xu Zengshou's carriage coming, the porter hurriedly rushed over, opened the door flatteringly, and planned to help Xu Zengshou down. Xu Zengshou waved his hand, got out of the car by himself, and walked to the house.

At this moment, a male voice came: "Longevity, are you feeling better?" ”

"Well, second brother, I'm almost recovered, I went to the teahouse today to listen to the eldest brother's commentary, hehe, it's really funny."

"Haha, increase longevity, what do those people know, but I don't know what happened to the eldest brother? When will I be back? ”

"I don't know, I hope that Big Brother Ji is natural." Speaking of this topic, Xu Zengshou felt a little heavy.

"Well, increase your longevity, don't think too much, big brother will definitely be fine." Perhaps feeling that Xu Zengshou was in a bad mood, Xu Yingxu walked over, patted him lightly on the shoulder, and comforted.

"Well, I hope so, second brother, I'm a little tired and want to take a break."

"Okay," Xu Yingxu raised his hand, and was about to speak, but found that Xu Zengshou had already turned around, and couldn't help but shake his head, turned around and walked out of the house.

The Xu family has not been separated, so Xu Zengshou and Xu Yingxu are still living in the Wei State Mansion, but the relationship between Xu Zengshou and Xu Yingxu is average, although they don't look up and see each other, they are not close, the reason is very simple, Xu Yingxu is a concubine, her status is not high, and her ability is also very average, so she will only do things according to the rules. Xu Zengshou looked down on this second brother from the bottom of his heart, and felt that he was unproductive, he would only follow behind the eldest brother's ass, and he would do whatever the eldest brother did, and he had no opinion at all.

Xu Zengshou went straight back to the study, retreated from the servant, and fell into deep thought. There are only two possibilities for the man in Tsing Yi to appear so coincidentally, one is that there is a thief in his own family; The other is that someone has been watching their whereabouts, and it seems that it is better to be careful.

From the words of the people in Tsing Yi, Xu Zengshou came to a conclusion that there was a change in the court, but he didn't know who the main messenger was. Who are the possible candidates? Xu Zengshou stroked his forehead, it was easy to guess, either those second-generation vassal kings were not dead, or the emperor's brothers were ill-intentioned, but they could not be the emperor's opponents at all, and the emperor was already aware of this, they were just looking for death.

Thinking of this, Xu Zengshou breathed a sigh of relief, no matter what, anyway, he just listened to the emperor's wishes, and he couldn't stand on the wrong side this time.

Wenyuan Pavilion.

"Congratulations to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

Yu Xin and the others respectfully saluted and sent the crown prince Zhu Wenkui away, while the crown prince Fu Zhuojing, the crown prince and young Fu Changsheng, and the prince's guest Fang Xiaoru followed.

After the group left, everyone got up, but Yu Xin stumbled and almost fell, but fortunately, Qi Tai, the secretary of the military department on the side, was quick and held him up: "Lord Yu, what's wrong with you?" ”

"Alas," Yu Xin smiled bitterly: "Thank you, Master Qi, I have an old problem, in autumn and winter, my knees are uncomfortable, it doesn't matter, it's good to be active." ”

"Well, the weather has been a little wet and cold recently, Lord Yu should rest more, and don't stay up too late lately, pay more attention to your body."

"Hehe, there's no way, the old man is entrusted by the emperor, and he doesn't dare to slack off for a day."

While speaking, all the Shangshu walked out of Wenyuan Pavilion and walked outside the palace.

Everyone separated at the gate of the palace, each entering their own yamen, and Qi Tai continued to support Yu Xin to go to the household, Yu Xin may be physically exhausted, and did not refuse, but thanked him repeatedly.

"Master Qi, thank you, otherwise the old man will make a fool of himself this time!" After sitting down, Yu Xin smiled and thanked Qi Tai.

"My lord is serious, this is what should be done in the future." Qi Tai also responded with a smile, not looking distant, but not close either.

Seeing Qi Tai's expression, Yu Xin hesitated for a moment and said, "Lord Qi, what do you think of the situation in Beijing?" ”

"This," Qi Tai didn't expect Yu Xin to be so direct, he thought for a while and said, "Lord Yu, please forgive me for being blunt, now Jingzhong is calm on the surface, but secretly it is treacherous. ”

"Oh?" Yu Xin suddenly came to his senses: "I don't know why Lord Qi said this?" ”

"Hehe, is Lord Yu in the test?"

"Don't dare, don't dare, the old man is also a little worried, so I want to discuss it with Lord Qi." Yu Xin stroked his beard and said solemnly.

"That's it," Qi Tai thought for a while and said: "Since the Northeast and Korean Wars, the emperor went to Beijing to command nearby, and now that North Korea is basically calm, Li Fangyuan has been forced into the mountains, and he is just surviving; The Jurchens in the Northeast are at the end of their rope, and as long as Yi Guogong can defeat Mahamu and others, they can be done; In addition, the Duke of Wei attacked Helin and also won a complete victory, capturing the Mongol Great Khan. All these are immortal deeds. But I thought that the problem of the court was not external trouble, but internal trouble! ”

"For example?"

"Since the emperor introduced commercial taxes and customs duties, the imperial court's annual income has increased greatly, but it has also brought many problems, and the wind of corruption has soared.

"Hehe, yes, the old man has also heard of it, it is said that the common people feel that they are too benevolent today, if they follow the practice of the first emperor, there will definitely not be so many corrupt officials."

"This," Qi Tai hesitated for a moment and did not answer: "Moreover, since the Japanese entered the war, the tariff revenue has been greatly affected, and there have been more and more incidents of looting by the Japanese invaders. ”

"Yes," Yu Xin touched his nose and chuckled: "These courtiers are all worried about the problem of Yulu, and a large part of the commercial taxes and tariffs collected by the imperial court are used to issue Yulu and rewards for hundreds of officials, so they are naturally worried about tariffs, hehe, this is also human nature." ”

"But I thought that this was provoked, because the treasury was sufficient, and there would never be a problem with the officials; And how can I give in to the Japanese Empire? ”

"Yes," Yu Xin sighed: "I still want to be face-saving, but the emperor's conditions were not all agreed to, they only handed over Akamatsu Yoshinori and one million taels of silver, and the emperor's request was five million silver and Iwami Silver Mountain!" ”

"Yes, the second batch of envoys from the Wa Kingdom has arrived, there are more than 700 people in total, so many people have gathered in Beijing, and the official is worried that something will happen."

"The Japanese are all outlaws, they are not afraid of death, and the slightest carelessness will cause a big disaster, and the old man is also a little worried. But this is not what worries the old man the most. ”

"What is Lord Yu worried about?"

"Why does Lord Qi ask knowingly? First, the emperor left Beijing and only brought the prince Zhu Wengui, this matter is not in line with the etiquette system, the old man is worried that the emperor will favor the second son too much, and there will be a dispute between the concubines in the future; Second, now that the king of Taiwan Zhu Yunxi and the king of Ji Zhu Yunxi are in Beijing, the old man is worried that there will be changes. ”

"Yes, what Lord Yu said is very true, the emperor is too benevolent and filial, according to the ancestral family law, the vassal king is every three years, but the emperor allows his brothers to be exempt from this restriction because of the queen mother, as long as the queen mother misses them, they can enter the court at any time. In this way, isn't the three-year regulation useless? ”

"Yes, after a while, it will be the death day of the first emperor, and there will inevitably be vassal kings entering the dynasty, according to the regulations, this year is the king of Chu, the king of Qi, the king of Qin and the king of Jin and others entering the dynasty, I don't know how, the old man is a little worried!"

"Yes, I feel the same way, but the emperor doesn't let us ask him to return to Beijing, and we have nothing to do!"

"Lord Qi," as he spoke, Yu Xin suddenly stood up, bowed deeply, and said, "The old man is the Daming Sheji, and he asks Lord Qi to agree to it." ”

Qi Tai was shocked, hurriedly fought, supported Yu Xin, and said urgently: "Why did Lord Yu do this great gift? Please tell me if there is something. ”

"Now the court is unstable, all because the emperor is not in Beijing, Lord Qi is the emperor's former minister, the degree of closeness is not comparable to the old man, now Erlebok has arrived in Beijing, the old man intends to go to the emperor, please Lord Qi go north, escort Erlebok to Beijing, and at the same time persuade the emperor to explain the situation in Beijing in detail, please ask the emperor to focus on the country, be sure to return to Beijing as soon as possible, so as to avoid accidents."

"This," Qi Tai thought for a while and said, "Then it is better to be respectful than to obey your fate, and you are willing to go to Beijing!" ”

"Thank you, Lord Qi!" Seeing Qi Tai's promise, Yu Xin was overjoyed: "Lord Qi has worked hard!" ”