The hooves of the horses clattered, and the sound of the carts rattled.

At three o'clock in the third day of the first month of the thirteenth year of Tianbao (around 20:30 in the evening), Yuan Zai, the judge of the North Court, wore heavy armor with difficulty, pretended to be a soldier of the Dragon Army, followed the car of the chamberlain of the East Palace, and drove his horse to gallop on the long street after the curfew in Chang'an City.

Yuan Zai, who was born in a humble background, is not afraid of hardship, but since he was a child, he is quite weak in physique, and he is not good at horseback riding and archery, which is quite inconsistent with the martial arts of the Tang Dynasty, and has been ridiculed by many people.

Everyone has a sense of self-esteem, especially for those who are thoughtful readers. Moreover, Won Jae knows very well that the culprit of his thin body is not laziness, but poverty. Yuan Zai didn't want to be like a child of a wealthy family, who was dressed in fresh clothes and angry horses, calling eagles and chasing rabbits, but an old horse cost more than a dozen yuan, and his family couldn't afford it.

Born in Gyeonggi Giju, Yuan Jaeben is not surnamed Yuan, he lost his father since he was a child, and his family is surrounded by four walls. After his mother remarried, his life changed slightly, but his stepfather Jingsheng was lazy and lazy, and his family was still poor.

In Yuan Zai's eyes, his stepfather only did one thing in his life that was quite discerning, that is, in order to befriend a distant relative of the Yuan family who became a princess, he did not hesitate to change his surname and religion, from Jingsheng to Yuansheng, so as to obtain the position of a foreign official, barely able to provide for his own study. But his stepfather is greedy for a cup of good wine, and the family doesn't have much savings, and Yuan Zai's life is still bitter haha.

Poverty endowed Wonjae not only with a weak body, sensitive self-esteem, but also profound knowledge. Because of poverty, Yuan Zai could afford to go to school but could not afford to buy books, so he had to borrow books from his classmates, temples or Taoist temples. In order to avoid being blinded, Yuan Zai used more than 100 bald brushes to make poor brushes, and copied countless Confucian classics and Taoist classics, so that his knowledge became more and more sophisticated. He especially likes the learning of Lao Zhuang, and "Tao Te Ching" and "Nanhua Jing" are memorized backwards.

But Yuan Jae didn't know at that time that knowledge might not be able to be transformed into power. He went to the state capital to participate in the township test many times, but he repeatedly failed the list. It was not until the first year of Tianbao (742) that the sage who worshiped Taoism held a strategy to collect the talents of the Jingdao family doctrine, and Yuan Zai, who had worked hard, stood out and became a high school jinshi.

After entering the official career, Yuan Zai, who was eager for fame and fortune, attached himself to the Yuan family, the wife of Li Jingzhong, the servant of the East Palace, in the name of his clan, and was fortunate to get acquainted with Wang Zhonghe, a general who was famous in the frontier, and other important ministers of the court. Wang Zhonghe, who has been in the horse for half his life, does not look down on Yuan Zai, who knows that his brutal and rebellious daughter Wang Yunxiu is used to seeing the border soldiers who gallop on horses and hold bows like the moon, but they fall in love with the weak and elegant Yuan Zai at first sight.

Although Wang Zhongji felt that Wang Yunxiu's choice of son-in-law was not satisfactory, he doted on his daughter very much, and Yuan Zai's tragic experience of losing his life since childhood also made him feel pity, so he acquiesced to this marriage.

On the night of the candles in the cave room, Yuan Zai, who has always been overwhelmed by alcohol, was drunk and cried with joy. What he likes is not the delicate bride, but he is glad that he finally has a backer who is proud of his colleagues, and winning glory and wealth will be like a bag.

Who knew that disaster fell from the sky, Yuan Zai had just been in Hedong Province for two years, Wang Zhongsi angered the saint because of the stone castle incident, and was denounced as Hanyang Taishou, and Yuan Zai's dream of Qingyun came to an abrupt end.

Although he didn't say it, Yuan Zai had a lot of resentment against Wang Zhonghei in his chest: "The saint wants to attack the stone castle, why does the father-in-law want to stop it?!" What's the matter if many people die, fame and fortune are all given by saints, and lowly people

(This chapter is not finished, please turn the page) What is the relationship between pawns? It is unwise to lose a big one because of a small one! ”

In Yuan Zai's heart, only people like his father-in-law, who grew up in the court since childhood and have never been tortured by poverty, hunger and cold, will regard their beliefs and aspirations more seriously than Juelu. But if they had endured the hardships of poverty, they would not have acted so willingly.

Complaining is complaining, but it doesn't change anything. Won Jae was bored and embarrassed to stay in the position of the county leader, enduring cynicism from all sides. Fortunately, he experienced too many cold words when he was a teenager, but he was able to settle down.

What Wonjae didn't expect was that the turning point would appear after his father-in-law died of illness. In the eighth year of Tianbao (749 years), the two towns of Beiting and Anxi broke the stone country, won the black clothes and food, and the Longyou army captured the stone fort after the bloody battle, and when the government and the opposition celebrated, Wang Zhongsi suddenly died in the post of Taishou in Handong County.

The bad news came, because his wife and brother Wang Zhen did not change things, Yuan Zai went to Handong County alone to take care of the aftermath, and with the assistance of his father-in-law Li Sheng, he returned to the north. The prince remembered the old relationship, and recommended Yuan Zaiguan to be promoted to two levels and appointed as the judge of the North Court, and the North Court Protector Wang Zhengjian was the brother of his father-in-law.

Not only that, before the westward journey, Yuan Zai was also brought into the East Palace by Li Jingzhong to meet the prince. Yuan Zai originally thought that Li Heng would encourage him to be diligent in government and serve the country, and at most mention two sentences of loyalty to the East Palace, but Li Heng actually confessed to him secretly spying on Wang Zhengjian.

"What's going on?!" Yuan Zai suddenly felt like a numb heart: "Aren't Wang Duhu and his father-in-law both confidants of the East Palace?" ”

After Li Jingzhong's slow persuasion, Yuan Zai learned that after his father-in-law was demoted, Wang Zhengjian, who saw the wind and steered the rudder, had already become a grass on the wall, and sent his eldest son Wang Qi to serve in the East Palace, but he hooked up with Li Linfu. In order to completely control Wang Zhengjian, the prince chose thousands of choices before he decided to let Yuan Zai shoulder this important responsibility.

Li Heng even made a clear promise that after ascending the throne, the six ministries and nine secretaries would be selected by Yuanzai.

Before meeting the crown prince, Yuan Zai's biggest ambition was nothing more than the history of the North Court. And when he left from the East Palace, what Yuan Zai was looking forward to was Xuan Ma's worship of the prime minister and a very popular minister!

With both apprehension and excitement, Yuan Zai took his family on the long road to the west. When reclining in the carriage or staying at the post station overnight, Yuan Zai often recalled Li Jingzhong's advice: "You are a sharp weapon for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to balance Wang Zhengjian, and it must not be easily exposed, and you don't need to bother with trivial matters." Your Highness, but if you have troubles, someone will come to the king's door. ”

When he arrived in Tingzhou, Wang Zhengjian's extraordinary enthusiasm made Yuan Zai both moved and ashamed; The clear and sharp eyes of Shi Duhuan, the president of the North Court, made Won Jae both envious and vigilant; Wang Jue, Wang Fei and Wang Fei's Yongrong and elegant demeanor made Yuan Zai both love and jealous.

Yuan Zai, who had mixed tastes, did not pay special attention to Wang Fei, who was becoming famous, because he was thinking too much, but his wife Wang Yunxiu was a little concerned about Wang Zhengjian's concubine. But when Yuan Zai asked his wife Wang Fei what was strange, Wang Yunxiu, who had always been crisp and sharp, hesitated for a long time before muttering: "Without him, I just think Fei Langjun is very familiar, as if I have seen it somewhere before." ”

As the assistant of the capital protector, the judge of the North Court has extremely complicated affairs, which is far from being comparable to a county. Even with Du Huan's hand-in-hand teaching, Yuan Zai still felt a little difficult. Filled with worries and eager to make a name for himself, he soon devoted himself to trivial official duties and did not take his wife's words to heart. Later, when he and his wife visited Wang Zhengjian several times, they were rare

(This chapter is not finished, please turn the page) to see Wang Qi and Wang Fei brothers.

In the more than a year that Yuan Zai served as the judge of the North Court, Wang Qi and Wang Fei successively went to Beijing to take the exam and stayed in Chang'an to serve, and he gradually left Wang Zhengjian's two sons behind, after all, the main purpose of his coming to the North Court was to monitor Wang Zhengjian, not to pay attention to the children of the Wang family.

After serving in Beiting for a long time, Yuan Zai deeply felt the faint alienation between Wang Zhengjian and the crown prince. Especially on the matter of entering and exiting the prime minister, Wang Zhengjian actually took the lead in responding to Li Linfu's recital, which made Yuan Zai deeply shocked and disappointed.

A few months later, Wang Zhengjian and his family went to Chang'an to participate in the Winter Solstice Dynasty Meeting. At this time, the shopkeeper Liu of the Ruyi Juting Prefecture branch came to Yuan Zai's house in the name of giving gifts and brought a secret letter from Chang'an. After reading it alone, the frightened Yuan Zai hurriedly burned the secret letter.

Taking advantage of Du Huan's arrival in the western suburbs of the military village, Yuan Zai quietly came to Ruyiju and met two guests from Chang'an in the secret room. Headed by a smiling young man, playing with a folding fan that had just become popular in the capital, it is said that this was also made by Wang Zhengjian's concubine Wang Fei. Her entourage was a lady wearing a dark green hat, and although her face could not be seen clearly, the long sword at her waist exuded a terrifying murderous aura.

After the young man Langjun showed the prince's handwriting, he immediately asked Yuan Zai in an ordered tone to find out the garrison of the garrison of the military village in the western suburbs as soon as possible. When Yuan Zai asked about the purpose of doing this, the reply he received was only a cold sentence: "Yuan Judge, don't ask what you shouldn't ask, don't say what you shouldn't say, otherwise it will lead to death." ”

Yuan Zai was resentful, but for the sake of his future, he didn't dare to offend the young man Langjun who was under the prince's secret order. In order to complete the task as soon as possible, in the name of submitting official documents and asking for advice on government affairs, he frequently went in and out of the military village in the western suburbs, and secretly wrote down the location of the watchtower and the route of the sentry patrol with his unforgettable ability.

I don't know if it's because of his weak heart, when he went there more times, Yuan Zai felt that Du Huan's eyes were quite playful for no reason. And when Cheng Duyou of Jinman County was transferred to the Metropolitan Protectorate to contact the city and the military village, Yuan Zai immediately guessed that Du Huan was suspicious. Fortunately, he had already drawn a detailed map of the military village in the western suburbs and handed it over to the young man Langjun by hand. In order to avoid exposure, Yuan Zai slowly reduced the number of times he went to the military village in the western suburbs, and gradually handed over all the things that were running at both ends to Du You.

In the following days, the anxious Yuan Zai inquired about the news in the Metropolitan Protectorate without missing a trace, in addition to confirming whether he was safe, he also had a trace of luck to see if he could deduce the intentions of the young Langjun and Du Huan's reaction from the clues.

What disappointed Yuan Zai was that although he was vaguely aware that the inside and outside of Tingzhou City were not calm, and the Beiting Ya soldiers under the command of Ma Lan and the Su Ye Dart Master led by Luo Puli were loose on the outside and tight on the inside, but Yuan Zai was like a visitor who was turned away from the door in Pingkangfang, knowing that the lights inside the Qinglou were bright and exciting, but he was not allowed to enter.

"The yellow bell was destroyed, and the clay kettle thundered. Du Huan's villain's face is really hateful, once the prince ascends the throne, see how long you can laugh! The indignant Yuan Zai vented his anger on Du Huan. Because he suddenly realized that Wang Zhengjian seemed to attach importance to himself, but he did not regard him as a cronie to rely on, and the pretentious Du Huan was Wang Zhengjian's real confidant.

(End of chapter)