Xue Shao now feels more and more that the sentence "If you don't go to Chang'an, you don't know the official" is the truth. When he was in Lantian, he could almost call the wind and rain. In the army, with a solid foundation and connections, after a period of hard work, it seems to have revealed some heads.

But once he returned to Chang'an again, Xue Shao found that he was still a powerless and lonely person. In the face of the political system of the Tang Dynasty, today's Xue Shao is still just a Zuo Fengwei Qianniu's back, and he has not even participated in a collective court meeting.

Perhaps in the eyes of outsiders, Xue Shao, as the emperor's nephew and concubine, will have many opportunities to have a direct dialogue with the two saints. But in fact, unless the Second Sage took the initiative to ask Xue Shao, Xue Shao had no right to talk about any national affairs in front of the Second Sage.

In the face of real power, bloodline, status, and fame are all illusory.

If you are not in your position, you will not do anything, and if you violate it, you will trespass, and this is a political taboo. Princess Taiping is favored by the two saints as the pearl of the palm, she is very cautious in this regard, and never dares to talk about any political affairs in front of Wu Zetian.

At the beginning, Princess Taiping had the courage to ask for a seven-rank idle official for Xue Shao, but she was deeply reprimanded by Wu Zetian. In normal times, Princess Taiping's behavior is also quite measured, and she does not dare to do anything politically arrogant. This time, someone bullied Xue Shao in Lantian, and Princess Taiping endured it all her life and did not make a move, an important reason was that she didn't want to interfere in politics and the law easily.

Nowadays, for a "relative of the royal family" like Xue Shao, interfering in the country's military and political affairs beyond his authority is even more taboo. Because at the beginning of today's son Li Zhi's succession, he suffered from the eldest grandson Wuji's "foreign relatives taking power". Since then, it has been difficult for Li Zhi to have real trust in the minister, and he is also very taboo about his relatives participating in politics and taking power. Previously, Wu Zetian's mother's family, Wu Chenghei and others were dismissed, and there was more or less Li Zhi's mentality in it.

"Am I just going to sit back and wait for my fate?" The more Xue Shao pondered, the more he felt a sense of crisis in his heart.

No, you must find a way to convey your thoughts to the ears of the two saints. The two saints are in charge of the world, relying on the management of the prime minister's important ministers and the center of the court. They live in the deep palace, and they don't know the real situation of the frontier and the northern grasslands more than the prime minister. If Pei Yan had selfish intentions to persuade the second saint to accept his proposition, it would most likely be a major disaster!

Suddenly, the image of a person appeared in Xue Shao's mind - Zhongshu Ling, Xue Yuanchao.

Xue Yuanchao is also one of the prime ministers, and he is older and more famous than Pei Yan. Now that Pei Yan is getting stronger and stronger, it is impossible for Xue Yuanchao to have no ideas in his heart. Regarding the aftermath of this Northern Expedition, Xue Yuanchao must also have his own opinions.

Xue Shao thought to himself, although I had some personal conflicts with him before, after all, I was a fellow clan with broken bones and tendons, and it was always worth getting close to Pei Yan, an outsider. Moreover, there are no eternal enemies and friends in the face of politics, only eternal interests. What if Xue Yuanchao and Pei Yan agree with each other, maybe they can help me?

It's better to act than to be moved, Xue Shao immediately moved to visit Xue Yuanchao's son and consult the doctor Xue Yao!

It was dusk, Xue Yao strictly followed his life trajectory as usual, and returned home after leaving the official family. When Xue Shao came to visit, he happened to be walking in the courtyard, admiring a garden of autumn chrysanthemums planted by himself.

Seeing Xue Shao's visit, Xue Yao was quite happy, and hurriedly invited Xue Shao to the flower garden and said: "Chengyu came just in time, you see how gorgeous this garden of autumn chrysanthemums is." I have heard of Chengyu for a long time, how can I write a poem on Jingfu, so that I can read and understand it? ”

Xue Shao smiled bitterly, "Brother, please forgive the younger brother for being rude." I'm afraid I'm not in the mood to recite poetry today. ”

"Oh?" Xue Yao blinked, "Chengyu is looking for me, is there something important?" ”

"Say it in the house!"

"Okay."

Xue Yao hurriedly invited Xue Shao into the study, and the two servants sat opposite each other.

"If you have something to say, you might as well say it."

Xue Shao said: "Don't hide it from my brother, I haven't settled down since I returned to the court, and I don't know what the court's attitude is towards the generals who returned from the Northern Expedition." In the past few days, there have been many people asking me about the movements of the imperial court, and it can be seen that the imperial court's delay in making a statement may affect the stability of the hearts of the generals in the army. So I couldn't hold it back, and I wanted to ask my brother if he had heard any rumors? ”

"Is that it?" Xue Yao's expression suddenly became serious.

As a counselor, Xue Yao did such errands as Emperor Kuangzheng's words and deeds, acupuncture the evils of the times, exposing ugliness and admonishing any unreasonable court decrees. What Xue Shao said can be regarded as a security hazard in the army, and if it is not handled properly, it is likely to cause turmoil in the army. This can just be counted as something within the scope of Xue Yao's work.

"Did my brother know the inside story?" Xue Shao asked with a snake and a stick, not forgetting to accentuate his tone, "Those soldiers who are on the same march with me are all hot-tempered. After winning the battle, he came back but did not see the court's reward for a long time, and he was about to be unable to hold it back. I didn't dare to inquire elsewhere, so I had no choice but to come to my brother for advice. I just want to get a letter or two to go back and appease those brothers. ”

"So that's ......" Xue Yao nodded solemnly and said, "It stands to reason that the imperial court should also issue a reward decree for the soldiers of the Northern Expeditionary Army, but I still think it's strange that there has been no movement today." However, since the affairs of the military state in this way have not been brought to the meeting of the court, it means that it is a military secret, and only the two saints and the prime minister of the cabinet have the right to know and decide. Although I am an official in the center, I do not have the right to participate in the politics and discussion of politics, so I have no way of knowing! ”

"Then Ling Zun Zhongshu Ling Xue Xianggong should know the Dao, right?" Xue Shao looked quite anxious and said, "Why don't you ask my brother to lead me to visit Lord Lingzun?" ”

"Hey! ......" Xue Yao sighed and smiled bitterly and said, "Chengyu has only returned to Chang'an not long ago, and many things may not be known yet, right?" ”

Xue Shao was slightly stunned, "What did my brother say?" ”

"My father said that he was sick at home as early as a month ago, and he didn't attend the court meeting and didn't care about political affairs, but he was just bedridden to recuperate." Xue Yao said, "Regarding the reward of the soldiers of the Northern Expeditionary Army, it happened recently, how could my father know the inside story? ”

As soon as Xue Shao heard this, he suddenly realized in his heart - Xue Yuanchao was definitely pretending to be sick!

The reason is very simple, with Xue Yao's typical Confucian doctor's character, if his father is really sick at home, where does he still have the mood and courage to enjoy flowers and poetry, he should be serving his father's sickbed day and night with tea and medicine.

Otherwise, it is unfilial!

So Xue Shao asked: "I don't know why Ling Zun Xue Xianggong is called sick?" ”

Xue Yao was slightly stunned, his expression was already tacitly telling Xue Shao that Xue Yuanchao had indeed temporarily left the political arena because of some special things, and he was definitely not really sick.

"This ...... It's hard to say! After all, Xue Yao was old and rigorous, and only said, "I have always known about some things about my father, and I don't dare to ask about them. If Chengyu has a heart, you might as well go directly to your father and ask, how about it? ”

"Just what I want." Xue Shao said, "I don't know when I will be able to meet Xue Xianggong?" ”

Xue Yao thought for a while and said, "It's getting late today, and tomorrow I have a lot of affairs in the palace." The day after tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, I will be able to go home a little more leisurely. The day after tomorrow, at noon, please invite Chengyu to come to my house, and you and my brothers will go to visit my father together, how about it? ”

"Very good." Xue Shaobai said, "Then bother my brother!" ”

After agreeing and chatting for a while, Xue Shao said goodbye and left.

This time, Xue Shao did not go back and arrest Xue Yao again like he did in the last time he offered calligraphy and painting. In fact, you don't need to guess Xue Shao to conclude that the reason why Xue Yao changed the date of the meeting to the day after tomorrow was also out of caution. He had to go to his father Xue Yuanchao for instructions first, and the father and son would definitely have to discuss it first, and they would not really agree to meet until they had the bottom of their hearts.

Xue Shao guessed in his heart that even the prime minister of a Chinese book like Xue Yuanchao couldn't claim to be sick, which shows that there is likely to be an undercurrent above the court today, and the bigger the official, the more cautious he is. What level of character can it be that can make Zhongshu Ling suffocate and retreat?

Emperor? Days? Pei Yan?

Or is it a powerful political bloc?

Thinking of this, Xue Shao let out a long sullen breath...... Compared to these people, I'm really an out-and-out little shrimp. It's just that I, a little shrimp, still don't worry about the military affairs related to the country and the nation.

How did a Northern Expedition link my personal fate with the fate of this dynasty and the nation?

What I'm doing now is I juggling public and private interests, or is it blindly stupid?

……

After returning home, it was already dark, and Xue Shao, who had been running around all day, felt a little tired, so he planned to rest early to recuperate, and tomorrow he would accompany Princess Taiping to visit the newly renovated mansion.

The moon slave came to wash Xue Shao's feet as usual and waited for the evening bed.

"Childe, I chatted with Ai Yan for a while. She said that she wanted to see her son. Yue Nu said while wiping Xue Shao's feet.

"What?"

"Like...... It's not a big deal. The moon slave was stunned, "Perhaps, she just wants to have a chat with her son?" ”

"I've been busy lately, and I don't have time to talk to him." Xue Shao threw this sentence out without thinking.

"Yes......" Yue Nu touched a nail and realized that Xue Shao's mood did not seem to be beautiful, so he didn't dare to talk nonsense anymore.

Xue Shao said again: "If you want to chat, you can go and accompany her." Tonight, you go and sleep with her! ”

"Yes......"

Yue Nu really wanted to slap his two mouths, and finally got a chance to get close to his son, didn't I take the initiative to be stupid?