In order to ensure the concealment of the surprise attack on Liaodong, Chongzhen did not discuss this secret military plan again, but immediately convened the cabinet Wei Zaode and Chen Yan to secretly draft a decree in the name of the cabinet, which was approved by Chongzhen Zhu.

After Chongzhen drove out the first assistant Zhou Yanru and promoted Wei Zaode to the first assistant of the cabinet, he was already a cadre and an autocratic leader. Wei Zaode, the head of the cabinet who plays soy sauce, how dare he raise the slightest question about this kind of military plan. After he discussed with Chen Yan, he immediately drafted a decree, and after Chongzhen Zhu approved it, it was handed over to Fang Yuan.

The entire approval process was completed in less than a day.

Fang Yuan received the holy decree and immediately went to Tianjin Wei to mobilize warships and troop transports to Weihaiwei.

He delayed for three days in Tianjin, took the time to go to the Cao family's old house, and visited Cao Huachun, the eunuch who had a great favor for him when he first crossed over.

Today's Fang Yuan has long been famous in the world and is a very popular minister, but when he arrived at Cao Huachun's old house in the countryside, he still made the Jinyi Guard led by Hu Qi stop outside the old mansion and could not enter, disturbing the Cao family.

He entered the old mansion alone, this old mansion was also unrepaired, and it was as simple as Fang Yuan's previous courtyard, and it was simple to say that it was ugly. It seems that when Cao Huachun was the chief eunuch of the ceremonial eunuch, he really didn't get much silver, plus he spent a lot of money on treatment, otherwise he wouldn't have been so shabby.

Fang Yuan saw Cao Huachun in the courtyard, Cao Huachun was more radiant than when he parted before, and it seemed that his tuberculosis had improved.

Fang Yuan saluted respectfully at Cao Huachun and called out cordially, "Ah Weng, Fang Yuan has come to pay a visit!" ”

Cao Huachun has also been paying attention to Fang Yuan's movements at any time for the past two years, and seeing that he is still respectful and polite, he is very relieved, "Fang Yuan, as expected, you are already the pillar of the Ming Dynasty, Ah Weng, my previous hard work has not been in vain." ”

The two of them entered the house to exchange pleasantries, and Fang Yuan asked Cao Huachun's condition again, "Ah Weng, is your tuberculosis better?" ”

Cao Huachun said gratefully, "It's all thanks to the medicine you sent, and what kind of treatment device, I have less cough these days." ”

Fang Yuan immediately bought at least two years of medicine on Taobao again, as well as a brand new treatment device, a solar power bank.

He gave these packages to Cao Huachun, and instructed, "Ah Weng, the medicine for tuberculosis can't be stopped, these are enough for you to use for two years, and I will send someone to deliver them again." ”

Fang Yuan rarely had a few days off, and he was in a good mood, and at the invitation of Cao Huachun, he went to the back mountain together to visit the five acres of vegetables he planted.

A green patch in the vegetable field

Cao Huachun personally went down to the vegetable field, scooped up the water with a spoon, watered the vegetable field, and leaned over to pull out the weeds.

Fang Yuan was worried that he was getting old and flashing his waist, so he hurriedly said, "Ah Weng, I'll help you!" ”

Cao Huachun hurriedly stopped him and said, "I'm always old, I can still do this little farm work." These vegetables, from farming, to fertilizing, to catching insects and weeds, are all made by Ah Weng and me. I'm used to seeing you fighting for each other in the palace, but now that I'm in the company of these dishes, I realize that they are actually much cuter than people. Why don't you try it too? ”

Fang Yuan squatted beside Cao Huachun and pulled the grass with him. He had never done farm work, and Cao Huachun repeatedly corrected him on the sidelines about which weeds and which were vegetable leaves.

Fang Yuan smelled the smell of the earth, as well as the fragrance of vegetables, and suddenly felt a little envious of the farming life in front of him, if he didn't have such a heavy burden, it would be great to be able to live so leisurely.

While picking grass, he asked, "Ah Weng, I'll leave some silver for you, repair the old mansion, and buy a few hundred acres of land!" ”

Cao Huachun smiled and said, "Plant hundreds of acres of land? Do you want to exhaust me to death? If the children of the Cao family are willing to join the office, you can see if you can arrange some positions that they can be qualified for, whether it is an official or an official, it will be better. ”

His request was not excessive, and he did not ask for the official position of the specific arrangement, Fang Yuan was still a little effortless, and hurriedly agreed, "Ah Weng reported a list for me, if you are willing to go to Jiangnan with me, I will arrange it immediately." ”

Fang Yuan picked the dishes for a while, and suddenly remembered the family banquet in the palace, he didn't know anything about Queen Zhou's temperament, so it was better to take the opportunity to ask Cao Huachun about it, "Ah Weng, now I and Queen Zhou and the crown prince are on the same page, but Your Majesty is blindly making peace in the middle." Please advise, who is Queen Zhou, and is it possible to make peace? ”

Cao Huachun said lightly, "I am very familiar with Zhou Yatou, she has been a scheming woman since she entered the palace. At that time, I still remember the scene of His Majesty's selection of concubines, and the last three to enter the selection were Zhou Yatou, Tian Yatou, and Yuan Yatou. In the case that Empress Zhang Yan of Yi'an was not optimistic about her, she was able to choose Princess Xin in the end, what kind of powerful means did she use, Ah Weng I still can't figure it out! ”

"She is a stubborn person who does not admit defeat, and His Majesty does not control her much, but respects her very much. Usually, if the two quarrel, His Majesty will give in first, and there are more cases of admitting mistakes. ”

Cao Huachun looked at Fang Yuan and said, "Zhou Yatou will inevitably fight you to the end for the sake of the prince, so you still broke off the idea of reconciliation as soon as possible." The road to the pinnacle of power is a single-plank bridge that can neither be turned back nor shared. If you don't have the determination to destroy your opponent, you might as well learn from Ah Weng and me and go home to farm as soon as possible. ”

Fang Yuan nodded secretly when he heard this, Cao Huachun's words made him completely determined, he must bring down Queen Zhou and the crown prince, there is no second way!

Fang Yuan asked again, "However, Your Majesty gave me the daughter of Empress Zhou, Princess Kunxing. Ah Weng, what should I do with Princess Kunxing? ”

Cao Huachun looked at him and said, "The princess of the Ming Dynasty has been subjected to the strictest women's etiquette since she was a child, the so-called obedience to the father before marriage, marriage to the husband, and death from the husband, what are you worried about?" ”

Fang Yuan expressed the worry in his heart, "I'm worried about whether she will do something unfavorable to me for the sake of Empress Zhou, the crown prince." ”

Cao Huachun picked up a handful of leafy vegetables and handed them to Fang Yuan's hands, "Treat women like farming, you treat vegetables well, irrigate them often, treat them as relatives, and it will grow bright and beautiful to repay you." ”

"Fang Yuan, the target you are worried about is wrong, Zhou Yatou will never be stupid enough to instigate her own daughter to deal with you, do you want her mother's image in the world, how can she be a mother? Not to mention whether Kunxing really likes you, the education she has received since she was a child is the way of sages, and there is no content to please men with lust and make conspiracies harmful. After all, she is a princess who does not know the world, and she is expected to blush and heartbeat if she tells a lie, plus your deliberate embankment, what tricks can you make? ”

After Cao Huachun's analysis, Fang Yuan also realized that the embankment of Kunxing was indeed a bit of a rumor, and the grass and trees were all soldiers.

Cao Huachun continued, "Fang Yuan, what you should really guard against is the eunuch and palace maid who married with Princess Kunxing. These people have been in the palace for a long time, and they have long been accustomed to seeing people and talking about people. To get the beauty of marrying with the princess, it must be a person who is good at drilling camps and ruthless. I estimate that in order to deal with you, Zhou Yatou will definitely place henchmen in it, and may even arrange all her henchmen. ”

Fang Yuan suddenly realized that Cao Huachun had indeed seen the affairs of the palace very thoroughly, and the real danger did not come from the innocent Princess Kunxing, but the accompanying palace maids and eunuchs.

Marrying with the princess is definitely a beauty difference among the best. Needless to say, with absolute freedom, with the etiquette of the Ming Dynasty, the princess cannot eat and live with the horse, but must live alone. If you need to summon a horse to come to the dormitory, you must also get the approval of the accompanying palace maid. Therefore, the princesses and concubines of the Ming Dynasty often needed to spend money to bribe the accompanying palace maids in order to enjoy a normal sex life.

Those who can stand out from the tens of thousands of eunuchs and palace maids in the Forbidden City after brutal elimination will inevitably be much higher than ordinary people in terms of scheming and means, and ten or a hundred times more difficult to deal with than a Kunxing princess.

What shocked Fang Yuan the most was that these accompanying palace maids and eunuchs still nominally represented Chongzhen to exercise the right to supervise, similar to the prison army sent by Chongzhen. Not only can they not be expelled or reprimanded at will, but they can't even say a word of heavy words, they can only follow the rules of treating the prison guards.

In the future, Fang Yuan felt a headache when he thought about it, and hurriedly asked the eunuch leader Cao Huachun for advice, "Ah Weng, how to deal with these palace maids and eunuchs?" ”

Cao Huachun smiled and said, "Fang Yuan! If you can't think of how to deal with them, then ignore them. ”

Fang Yuan was stunned for a moment, and then understood what Cao Huachun was referring to, that is, he couldn't be provoked, could he still not hide?!

Cao Huachun saw that he was happy, and knew that he had thought of a countermeasure, so he memorized the food on his back, "Let's go!" Taste these freshest dishes for dinner, Ah Weng, my cooking skills will keep you to feast. ”

Fang Yuan also smiled and said, "I'll make a fire for Ah Weng!" ”