Time flies, three years have passed, the Shangyuan Festival of the eighth year of Tianbao has just ended, it is a cold night, the sky is clear, the dark blue curtain is opened in the sky, countless stars are embellished on the curtain, flashing and blinking, a narrow jade river crosses the sky, which is sprinkled with countless shiny fragments.

"Daddy, is that the galaxy?"

In the courtyard, Li Tingyue raised her pink little face, carefully looking for the legendary Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, although the cold air at night froze her hands and feet purple, she still refused to give up.

"You will see it on the seventh day of the seventh month."

Li Qing walked over with a smile, he is thirty-two years old this year, the years have made the contours of his face more profound, there are three short strands of black beard on his chin, his eyes are clear, and he contains a smile, he picked up his daughter and carried it around his neck, "It's cold in the courtyard, let's go back to the house." ”

Li Tingyue's little hand held her father's head, still looking up at the sky without giving up, and muttered in her mouth: "On the seventh day of the seventh month, is the cowherd going to step on the magpie to cross the Milky Way?" The magpies died of pity. ”

The room was unusually warm, a huge and heavy sour jujube wood Luohan bed occupied almost half of the room, and the pregnant Zhao Curtain (the full name of the curtain) leaned on the cushion, busy sewing small clothes, although she was only three months pregnant, but the experienced midwife had already concluded that she was a boy, so Zhao Lai, who wanted to leave the Li family, was busy early.

At her feet, Xiaoyu lay on the small table and checked the accounts intently. She is the financial director of Li Fudi, and all the large amounts of money and goods in the house and the store must be reviewed by her, and next to her is Li Jingyan, who is reading a book, she is Li Qing's wife, but she has no public identity, her public identity is the nun of Ganye Temple, maybe with the passage of time, she will eventually disappear in people's memory.

"Who of you knows what the Weaver Girl looks like?"

As soon as you enter the door. Li Tingyue shouted, and the quiet room immediately became lively, "And the cowherd, do you know how heavy he is?" ”

"This question is for your father."

Zhao Curtain didn't raise his eyelids, "Your father is a cowherd, and the Weaver Girl is in Nanzhao!" ”

Li Tingyue blinked her eyes. Suddenly clapped his hands and laughed: "That's right! Isn't Aunt Wan's mother the queen mother? She took the chopsticks and stroked, woo~! It's a big one

"It's a hairpin, not chopsticks!"

Li Yan put down the book, got up and hugged Xiao Tingyue from Li Qing's neck, and said with a smile: "Little clever ghost, sleep with Sanniang tonight, okay?" ”

"Sister Shocking Goose, you're not tonight.

Xiaoyu, who was burying her head in the account, suddenly raised her head and asked Li Jingyan in surprise.

"Who is rare about him, his hair has not been washed for three days. Greasy and greasy, uncomfortable to death. ”

Li Jingyan glanced at Li Qing. Leaned into Xiaoyu's ear and whispered: "My good thing is coming, it's cheap for you!" ”

Xiaoyu's face turned crimson. pushed Li Jingyan away, "You guy, you're getting more and more improper." ”

"I'll hear what you're whispering." A little head suddenly popped up, Li Tingyue put her ear on Li Jingyan's mouth, and when she saw that Li Jingyan didn't say anything, she was so anxious that she shouted: "Sanniang said something good just now, I heard it!" ”

Li Jingyan was embarrassed. She secretly glanced at Li Qing and saw a weird smile on his face. couldn't help but hug Li Tingyue on his lap with hatred, "Don't ask, where are the men here?" There are some words that only we women can hear, come! Sanniang will tell you a story. ”

"This is our woman's business, what are you listening to?" Li Tingyue learned from her mother's impatience, waved her hand to Li Qing, and said in a milky voice: "Go!" Go! Go! Go to your study and don't eavesdrop here. ”

"Tell me to go to the study? You unconscionable little devil! ”

Li Qing gritted his teeth and grimaced at his daughter, and in the end, he couldn't help laughing, laughed, and walked away with his hands behind his back.

In the eighth year of Tianbao, Li Qing has served as the head of the household for some years, according to the normal promotion system of the Tang Dynasty, every four years, either promoted or leveled; In the past few years, his evaluation has been up, it stands to reason that he should be promoted to a level, or to a shorter level, he can be transferred back to the dynasty as a scholar, of course, it is relatively easy to promote local officials, the more upward the more difficult, there are many officials, all their lives stay in the fame of the recommended officials or shadow officials, most of them can only do the quality.

In recent years, the new salt administration has been completely on the right path, not only salt, from the previous year, the iron has also implemented a monopoly system, the headquarters of the salt and iron prison has then moved to the rich Yangzhou, and the tax revenue of the salt and iron prison has gradually become the main source of income for the imperial court.

The salt tax alone brought millions of yuan of financial revenue to the imperial court last year, completely reversing the embarrassment of the state treasury not being able to make ends meet.

However, Li Qing's other reforms, namely the establishment of the central bank and the establishment of the government cabinet, have always met with great opposition and resistance from the local government, and the pilot project has not been fully rolled out for three years, and even Li Longji, who supported him at the beginning, has gradually become ambiguous because of the abundant treasury.

The personnel changes are basically not big, Li and Zhang still control the government, but there are subtle changes, mainly Yang Guozhong and Pei Party alliance, he was appointed as Jing Zhao Yin again, the original Jing Zhao Yin Pei Shiyan transferred to the state supervisor to sacrifice wine, Pei Party power has risen sharply, has been faintly able to compete with the Xiang Guo Party and Zhang Qiu Party.

Li Qing walked through the door quickly, he did have something, the income and expenditure accounts of various places have been sent to the imperial court one after another, and the household department has been busy with the work of statistics and auditing, although Li Qing does not have specific practical operations, but he also holds the post of Taifu Siqing, which is a pragmatic position, and a large number of expenditure applications need to be signed and approved by him before they can be executed.

In front of him was the study, Li Qing turned a corner, but saw that the porter was almost crawling to the ground, "Master, Zhang Qiu Xiangguo is here, I have something important to find the master." ”

Li Qing was slightly stunned, it was already late at night, Zhang Qiu and Qiong were looking for him at this time, what would happen, he immediately thought of the recent changes in the dynasty, Li Longji publicly said at the New Year's banquet that he had the idea of abdicating to be the emperor, and then Li Heng's market was immediately bullish, and the East Palace, which had already been closed, became lively again.

Many ministers think that Li Longji is not disease-free**, in fact, his health is getting worse and worse, and the time to meet with courtiers is getting less and less, and there is even news that Li Longji fainted in the imperial study, so it is reasonable for him to publicly say that he has the idea of abdicating.

But Li Qing didn't think so, Tianbao five years of Shangyuan Festival, he single-handedly planned the situation of Baotai, and in the end, although he was sad

, but he knew very well in his own heart that the fundamental reason was Li Longji's temporary intention, and something unexpected must have happened here.

Li Qing couldn't guess what the specific thing was, and he smiled and didn't answer when he asked Gao Lishi about his tone several times, but one thing he was sure of was that the danger of being too far had not passed, but it was just covered up by Li Longji's singing and dancing.

Time did not allow Li Qing to think about it, he hurriedly greeted him out of the mansion, and bowed to Zhang Qiu and Qiong, who was standing in his hands, and said: "The student is late to greet him, and I hope that the teacher will forgive his sins!" ”

Li Qing's official is no longer small, but for so many years, he has maintained a low-key and humble attitude towards Zhang Qiu and Qiong, which makes him very satisfied, and he has always regarded Li Qing as his right-hand man.

"Huh! Disturbing Yangming's rest late at night, it's me who should apologize. ”

Zhang Qiu and Qiong patted Li Qing's back affectionately, "Let's go!" Go to your study, say a few words and I'll leave, I'm really sleepy. ”

Li Qing invited him into his study, and told the guards to strictly inspect and not allow anyone to approach the study, he carefully closed the door, and when he turned around, he saw Zhang Qiu and Qiong's face overflowing with joy, he took out a fold from his arms and handed it to Li Qing, and said excitedly: "Xianning assassinated Shi Zhao Fengzhang to impeach Li Linfu for forcibly occupying nearly 10,000 acres of land in Xianning, which provoked local civil uprisings, and many people have been killed and injured. ”

"The teacher means.

Li Qing took the fold and flipped through it, but there was not a single batch on it, and he suddenly realized. Zhao Fengzhang's impeachment of Li Linfu is probably also on orders, he quickly glanced at Zhang Qiu and Qiong, and saw that his eyes were faintly proud, and he couldn't help but shake his head secretly, Zhang Qiu and Qiong did it at this time, the timing did not seem to be appropriate, and the land issue was sensitive. Taking the land issue as a breakthrough, then I'm afraid no one can be left alone, thinking of this, Li Qing's heart moved, could it be that the real purpose of Zhang Qiu and Qiongdi is that land reform is not successful? It is highly likely that solving the land issue has always been the political goal of Zhang Qiu and Qiong.

He asked silently: "The emperor proposed to abdicate more than ten days ago. What does the teacher think? ”

Zhang Qiu and Qiong smiled slightly, he sat down first, he casually picked up the jasper paperweight on Li Qing's table, and played with it carefully for a long time before he sighed: "This is the paperweight given to you by the emperor!" I saw it when I was summoned by the emperor for the first time more than ten years ago, and the emperor gave it to you, what a grace, but you put it on the table at will, underestimating the emperor's intentions. ”

He raised his gaze and shot directly at Li Qing. said without concealment: "Yes, Zhao Fengzhang did it on my orders." Of course, I know that the emperor's abdication is just a temptation, and he does not really have the intention to abdicate. It is precisely because of this that I want to take advantage of the opportunity when the emperor wants to do something to bring down Li Linfu. ”

"Does the teacher think that what the emperor wants to do is to target Li Linfu?"

Zhang Qiu and Qiongdi's eyes gradually narrowed, and a sneer appeared on his fat cheeks, "The emperor has started to lay out since Tianbao supported Pei Dang for five years, weakening Li Linfu step by step, and then Yang Guozhong retreated first and then advanced. Pei Kuan served as the secretary of the ministry, and arranged an alliance between the two. Isn't this an attempt for the Pei Party to replace the Xiangguo Party? The emperor has been holding back for three years, and this year he suddenly spoke, and he was too deep and simple, and he was invulnerable at all, so he nominally referred to the position of the unification, but in fact, what he wanted to do was Li Linfu. ”

Li Qing smiled faintly and said, "So the teacher wants to sacrifice Zhao Fengzhang, and when Li Linfu is arrogant enough, will he take off the ladder he came down?" ”

Zhang Qiu and Qiong's eyes flashed with a hint of surprise, and he sighed: "I didn't expect that after all these years, you have seen the problem more and more thoroughly, and you can actually see the old man's back, it's not simple!" Then you might as well guess again, what is the other purpose of my land? ”

Li Qing didn't answer, he got up and walked to the window, gently pushed open the window, a cold wind blew in his face, the wind was faintly mixed with Li Tingyue's cheerful and carefree laughter, he knew in his heart that Zhang Qiu and Qiong were referring to land reform, but he also had plans this year, he wanted to take advantage of the abundant treasury to gradually change the tax payment method of Datang farmers from physical to currency, which would be an epoch-making event for the development of Datang's commodity economy, but at this juncture, Zhang Qiu and Qiong suddenly wanted to move the knife on the land.

Zhang Qiu and Qiong saw that he was silent, so he slowly walked to his side and said with emotion: "The old man is almost ten, as soon as Li Linfu falls, I should also be promoted to the Taishi Fu at home, but the old man has been the left minister for all these years, but he has not achieved anything, he is really unwilling!" ”

He turned his head and stared at Li Qing with blazing eyes, and said in an unusually firm tone: "Yangming, now the treasury has nearly eight million yuan in savings, but the silk valley is thin, this is because the peasants' loss of land has reached the limit, if we don't stop the wind of land annexation and slave storage, I am afraid that the foundation of my Datang is in danger!" “

"What is the teacher going to do?"

Seeing that he did not object, Zhang Qiu and Qiong couldn't help but lift his spirits and said: "If Li Linfu is brought down by the land matter, then I can take advantage of this east wind to do a few more big cases to shock hundreds of officials, and then re-check the acres of land, and use the method of clearing or redeeming the land to restore the peasants' possession of the land to the level of the 21st year of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, of course, things are not so simple, I have to get the emperor's support first." ”

Li Qingxin shook his head secretly, how can a hundred years of malpractice be treated with fierce medicine, how many people's vital interests are involved, especially Li Longji indulges in singing and dancing every day, and the spirit of reform has long been lost, although he will use this matter to bring down Li Linfu, but if he really uses the knife on the land, it is extremely difficult, and the best time to solve this matter is when the new emperor ascends the throne, but.

Li Qingluo glanced at Zhang Qiu and Qiong's silver hair and determination without hesitation, and understood his eagerness to do something big, he sighed and said euphemistically: "Teacher, this matter is too risky, it is better for me to come forward, and the teacher will command in the back." ”

Zhang Qiu and Qiong's waist straightened, his chest burned with pride, he patted Li Qing's shoulder, and said with relief: "I understand your kindness, but it is precisely because the risk is too great that I am determined to go out in person, if I fail, I will go home to retire, and you will continue to do it for me, life in the world, if you can't do something big vigorously, how can you be blind under the spring!" ”

After Zhang Qiu and Qiong finished speaking, he laughed with his hands behind his back, and then said goodbye and left, the street was empty, the cold wind was cold, and the bare branches were shivering in the wind, Li Qing kept sending Zhang Qiu and Qiong out of the gate, watching his carriage gradually disappear into the darkness, and his brows slowly twisted into a ball.