Chapter I

The sound of rain outside the window woke Zhang Yilou from his sleep, he opened his eyes, his gaze fell on the windowsill, the closed window did not let in the light, and the sky was not clear. He sat up in his cloak and went to the window and opened it, and the cold wind was blowing on his face, and the rain fell on the window.

A figure carrying a lantern walked briskly from the corridor, he looked up and saw Zhang Yilou in front of the window, and reminded respectfully: "My lord, the time is at the beginning." ”

Zhang Yilou nodded to know, he returned to the house, combed his long hair, put on a light green official robe for himself, wrapped a nine-fold silver belt around his waist, and tied a copper fish bag, and the whole person seemed to have changed his face, looking majestic and spiritual.

After washing, after eating some meals, the housekeeper handed him an oil-paper umbrella, Zhang Yilou took the umbrella, came to the courtyard gate, stopped slightly, looked up, saw that the sky was still pitch black, and the rain curtain in the light was like, sprinkled from the air, fell on the ground and splashed in all directions, and after a while, his official boots were wet.

"On March 19, the fourth year of Tiancheng, Gu Yu." Zhang Yilou silently recited in his heart, "Zhang Yilou, a member of the household department, Qipin." ”

Out of the door of the house, I met a lot of umbrella people in the square, all of them were officials who were going to the court, three or three twos, not very many, this place is not close to the palace city, and there are not many officials who live here, and some of them are mostly unofficial.

Out of the door, on the official court and the transmission of news on the royal road, there are more officials in the four directions, umbrella people from all directions gather on the royal road, carrying lanterns, in the heavy rain to the north, the rain on the street knocking and beating, pearls fall jade plate generally.

Horse-drawn carts and ox-carts also increased, but they all moved very slowly, so as to avoid splashing stagnant water on pedestrians by horses' hooves and wheels. They are also officials of the previous dynasty, and they are very respectful to each other and very peaceful.

Zhang Yilou remembered that when he first became an official, officials were not so orderly and polite when they went to court, and horse-drawn carriages and ox carts would not take care of pedestrians.

However, since one day when the King of Qin was in the last court, he ridiculed a high-ranking official in the third grade, saying that the other party's galloping carriage when he went to the court was more majestic than the war horse he was crisscrossing when he killed the enemy on the battlefield, no one dared to let go of the speed of the carriage when he was in the last court. Over time, there is the image of mutual respect for each other today.

Zhang Yilou is just an ordinary one among the hundreds of officials of the court, so small that he can't be smaller, even if he arrives in the Taiyi Palace, he can't enter the hall, he can only stand outside the hall.

The palace gate has not yet opened, many officials have gathered in front of the door, everyone gathered in groups of three or five, whispering greetings and talking, there is a row of houses in front of the palace gate, which is specially for the courtiers to wait here, tea and snacks will be prepared inside, and there is a charcoal fire in winter - but there are not many houses, which can only be supplied to the dignitaries of the three provinces and six departments, and petty officials like Zhang Yilou can only stand under a row of canopies next to the house.

Zhang Yilou came not early or late, a moment or two before the palace gate opened, he took the umbrella, went to the cloth, and stood under the canopy to shake off the rain on the clothes. Perhaps because of the rain, the sky had not yet shown light, Zhang Yilou glanced at the palace wall, the guards were wearing armor and halberds, and the rain hit them, outlining the outline of their figures.

"Master Zhang."

"Lord Su."

Su Yuqi, who was wearing a dark green official robe, greeted Zhang Yilou, and stood beside him and patted the rain on his body. The two of them are in the same year and first, and the relationship is not bad, but it can be seen from the color of the official robe that Su Yuqi is a six-grade, and in terms of promotion speed, in less than two years, it is two steps faster than Zhang Yilou, who is in the same year.

"Look, who is that?"

"Isn't that Shi Shuai? He is not in Shaanzhou, how did he enter the court? ”

"What else could it be? Aren't the big guys above thinking about that side? ”

"You mean"

"Silence! can't say it, the matter has not yet been decided, whoever discusses and spreads rumors in private, and is known by the above people, must take off his skin! ”

Listening to the discussion of his colleagues not far away, Zhang Yilou remained silent, and Su Yuqi had no intention of participating in the discussion. At this moment, another person came next to Su Yuji, put away the umbrella, and showed his face, it was not Su Fengji.

"Lord Zhang, Lord Su." Su Fengji, who was in a dark green official robe, saluted Zhang Yilou and Su Yuqi, and then said with a smile: "Everyone is talking about the affairs of the court, why are the two adults alone in the matter?" ”

Zhang Yilou returned the salute and didn't speak, but Su Yuqi said: "What is Master Su's opinion?" ”

The relationship between the "two Sus" is extraordinary, and Su Fengji is more exculpatory, so he does not hesitate to speak, intentionally or unintentionally looking at the military attaché's side, "Li Shuai, the envoy of the Hezhong Festival, and Shi Shuai, the Baoyi Army Jiedu, have entered the court one after another, what are the thoughts of the above people, haven't they already jumped on the paper?" Over the years, the empire has had a bumper harvest, the treasury has been full, and the forbidden army has expanded to 30,000. I heard that this year, the empire will reorganize the forbidden army of 20,000, and the time is not late autumn, but advanced to midsummer, what this means, it is self-evident. Moreover, the two big men over there are more and more unwilling to stop, the anger of the Son of Heaven has been released, how can they not shake Jiuzhou! ”

"The new formation of 20,000 forbidden troops is not a trivial matter, and it is not easy to advance to midsummer." Su Yuqi was secretly surprised in her heart.

Su Fengji laughed, "If there are 20,000 forbidden troops and 10,000 of them are selected from the Heyang Hundred Battles Army, will Lord Su still think it is difficult?" ”

Su Yuqi was speechless, if this was the case, there was indeed nothing impossible.

The two were talking, and suddenly saw a person walking in front of them, wearing a purple official robe, wearing a gold and jade belt of thirteen rings, with a goldfish bag, with a big belly and poop, with a smile on his face, Maitreya Buddha is the same, not Feng Dao but who is it.

"Feng Xiang." The three of them didn't know why Feng Dao would walk directly to the place where the three of them were standing, and hurriedly bowed and saluted.

"The two of you are talking happily, don't blame the old man for bothering." Feng Dao squinted his eyes and squeezed in to stand with the three of them, but he didn't look at the famous "Two Sus" in Luoyang, but faced Zhang Yilou, who had been "unknown", "The old man saw that the 'Two Sus' talked very tightly, but the foreigner didn't say a word, but why?" ”

Feng Dao did not leave the house for special purposes, but ran under the canopy, which immediately attracted the attention of many people, and all the officials were silent on the surface, but they all looked at this side with a third eye.

Zhang Yilou said in a warm voice: "What the two adults said, the lower officials don't know very well, so they don't say it,"

Feng Dao smiled noncommittally, and instead said: "The old man has discussed the improvement of household registration management with several prime ministers that Wailang said before, and he thinks it is good. ”

Zhang Yilou was solemn and bowed, "I don't dare to ask for ears." ”

Next to them, the "two Sus" both showed shocked looks.

This incident spread out in a hurry, and it immediately stirred up a thousand waves in the hearts of many officials.

This is a signal that could not be more obvious - the opportunity for Zhang Yilou has come.

As for how big this opportunity is, no one else knows at the moment.

"His Royal Highness King Qin has arrived!"

I don't know who shouted, and the officials outside the palace gate immediately stopped their respective topics, and stood up straight one after another, ready to salute.

The carriage stopped in front of the officials, a soldier stepped forward quickly, stretched out a large umbrella, and helped lift the curtain, and a young man in a coiled dragon robe walked out of the carriage and stopped in front of the carriage.

"I've seen His Royal Highness King Qin!"

Whether it is the big man in the house or the petty official under the canopy, they all bow down. Li Congke and Shi Jingjiao were in the crowd, no different.

"Excuse me." The huge umbrella cover kept the rain curtain out, and King Qin stretched out a hand to make a slight gesture.

At this moment, the bells and drums rang out in unison.

The palace door slowly opened.

"Hundreds of officials enter the court!" In front of the palace gate, a loud and long-lasting summons sounded.

King Qin walked in front of the hundred officials without hurrying or slowing, from the end to the head of the row, and walked into the palace gate.

Hundreds of officials followed, lined up according to the official products, and entered the stream.

Zhang Yilou glanced at the sky on the palace wall and saw that the sky was bright

In the hall of hundreds of officials, Li Siyuan sat on the throne, and at this time, the sky was already bright.

During the period of the dynasty, Li Siyuan wore a crown - there was a crown plate on the crown, which was eight inches wide and one foot six inches long, with twelve white beads hanging down, and the group was the tassel; Wearing a Xuanyi and a silk robe, there are 12 chapters of ornamentation: there are eight chapters on the clothes, such as the sun, the moon, the stars, the dragon, the mountain, the Chinese insect, the fire, and the Zongli, and the four chapters of algae and powdered rice; Wear white gauze inside, wear a leather belt at the waist, hang a large belt, and cover the knees; Peilulu jade with a sword.

The emperor is majestic, with clothes on the outside, and he is honest on the inside, and ordinary people dare not look at it directly.

After the hundred officials worshipped, as in the past, they each performed various things, and Li Siyuan gave instructions one by one, and the words were quite detailed, not just saying "may" and "cannot".

After everything was done, the hall was quiet, and the atmosphere became more and more solemn, and it was only at this time that today's court meeting could be regarded as entering the main topic.

He said: "Since Your Majesty has been in the world, the four seas have been peaceful, the country is flourishing, the officials know what they do, the army knows what they are fighting, and the people know what they are doing. Only in the land of two rivers, the mountains are endless, the roads are not quiet, there are many incidents, and the people suffer deeply, and they must not be ignored. Therefore, the minister thought that when he was in the land of the two rivers, he should set up a festival and send those who were able to tame him. ”

"Suizhou, Guozhou, Langzhou, Mianzhou, are all eventful places, and the ministers will set up a section of envoys in Suizhou, and another section of envoys will be set up in Guozhou and Langzhou, and another elite soldiers will be sent to Mianzhou, so that they can protect the peace of one party."

Divide Shu to weaken its momentum, and send more Shu officials to control its commander. This is the core meaning of Ahn Chongxue's words.

Li Siyuan was noncommittal, and in the surprised eyes of many officials, he looked at Li Congjing calmly, and said: "The King of Qin is the generalissimo of the world's soldiers and horses, and he knows the world's military affairs. ”

The King of Qin, who stood at the forefront of the ministers and was the head of the ministers, came out and said: "What the prime minister invited, it was the words of the old man to seek the country, and the ministers were ugly and thought it was okay to steal." ”

Li Siyuan expressed his understanding and asked the opinions of several other prime ministers.

Everyone was unanimous in their opinion, and they all agreed that An Chongzhu's words were feasible.

Li Siyuan asked the ministers three times, and no one said anything to the ministers.

Is it a coincidence that such a major event is unanimously agreed by the King of Qin and the prime ministers to be feasible?

Who doesn't know that the matter has already been decided, and it is just a matter of going through the procedures before taking it to the court.

Three days later, Li Siyuan issued an edict:

With Xia Ruqi as the envoy of the Wuxin Army, he went out of Suizhou; With Li Renju as the envoy of the Baoning Military Festival, he went out of Zhenguo and Lang Erzhou; With Wu Qianyu as the history of Mianzhou assassination, and increase the army.

The edict was issued, and the two rivers shook.

This move means that the pace of the empire to solve the affairs of the two rivers has entered the stage of real swords.