It should be said that when he first came to Jingshi, Lu Boqi was still looking forward to his future life. After all, for the readers of the Ming Dynasty, entering the pavilion to worship the prime minister can be said to be the pinnacle of life.www.biquge.info Especially with Lu Boqi's humble background, but he can enter the cabinet to worship the prime minister, and he is a very popular minister, and the Ming Dynasty will not exceed one palm in three hundred years. Therefore, on the way to Beijing, Lu Boqi was still thinking about how to make use of the methods he stole from Liu Cheng, make meritorious contributions, and leave a name in history. But it soon became clear to Lubber that this was nothing more than his own fantasy, and that he had no strong contemporaries to rely on because of his provenance; did not go out to be an examiner, and did not accept a group of students; I haven't stayed in the Jingshi Yushitai, Hanlin Academy and other places where I am looking for, and I know the operation of the imperial court center well, and I am familiar with all kinds of contacts. If you use an analogy, he is like a third-rate actor who has only run through the tricks, but he is thrown on the stage of the Grand Theater, which represents the highest level of art, and in the face of the hostile critical eyes of the audience, it is good to be able to finish the lines completely.

It may be said that it is a kind of luck, Lu Boqi soon found that he did not have any sense of existence in the cabinet, the first assistant Yang Sichang is undoubtedly the one with the most right to speak, Wen Tiren rarely speaks, but no one dares to ignore his attitude, Chen Xinjia, who entered the cabinet with him, is only Yang Sichang's horse head is Zhan, and although Hou Sui has just entered the cabinet, but regardless of seniority and power in the court, he is far superior to himself, and he can faintly compete with Yang Sichang, only he is alone, and no one can support him, and no one can support him, Both Yang Sichang and Hou Sui regard themselves as transparent people. This kind of taste is naturally uncomfortable, recalling when he partnered with Liu Cheng, although Liu Cheng always had the sole power when he was fighting, he respected himself very much on weekdays, and no matter what the merits and benefits were indispensable, he naturally felt even more unhappy when he compared the two sides.

"Sir!" With the voice of the fifth aunt, a hot bag was stuffed into Lu Boqi's hand: "This is a freshly heated Hu cake, you will pad it first!" ”

"Hmm!" Looking at the delicate face of his concubine, Lu Boqi's heart was hot, his fourth aunt passed away a few months ago, and there was no one to take care of him, Liu Cheng, who was far away in Shengjing, quietly asked people to buy a woman in Yangzhou for him, not only young and beautiful, but also gentle and considerate, making good dishes, taking care of himself comfortably, even preparing breakfast too early in the morning, obviously Liu Cheng did not spend less money and thought on this woman. Maybe Liu Cheng did this with other intentions, but anyway, this intention is really moving.

Lu Boqi sat in the warm sedan chair, eating hot cakes while thinking about his thoughts. Unconsciously, he had arrived outside the palace gate, and when he heard the reminder of the housekeeper outside, Lu Boqi hurriedly brushed his beard and cleaned up the sesame seeds and cake crumbs that might be stained on it, otherwise he would let Yushi see that he couldn't bear it if he buttoned down a hat that was out of order.

Lu Boqi finished tidying up his appearance and got out of the sedan chair, at this time the sky was still dark, and the ministers who were waiting for the drums of the court stood in the corridor outside the door in twos and threes, gossiping one after another. Almost at the same time as he got out of the sedan chair, Lu Boqi immediately felt dozens of eyes focused on his body at once, making him almost feel a burning feeling.

"Did something happen?" Lu Boqi immediately felt it, he instinctively felt that something related to him was happening, but when he traced his gaze to the source, he found that people had lowered their heads and avoided their gaze as if nothing had happened, and continued their conversation as if nothing had happened.

"Something important must have happened to me, and it's mostly bad!" With years of experience in officialdom, Lu Boqi immediately made an accurate judgment, and the victim was always the last person to know everything. Just as he was thinking about how to extract useful information from his colleagues, the rumbling drums came from the Wufeng Tower not far away, and the ministers hurriedly lined up according to their shifts--the time of the court had come.

Lu Boqi stood in the ranks with a nervous mood, thinking about his thoughts, when suddenly he felt a gentle touch on his waist, and then heard a deep voice: "Brother Birch! ”

Lu Boqi was about to turn around to see who was behind him, but he heard Fang Cai's voice and whispered: "Don't look back, otherwise people will see that you are talking to me!" ”

Lu Boqi's movements stopped, he covered his mouth with his sleeve, pretended to be coughing, and whispered to the man behind him, "Is there something wrong?" ”

"Brother Birch, you're in trouble!" The deep voice behind him said: "There is a Tang newspaper from Datong, Lu Xiangsheng has clashed with the captive cavalry, beheaded dozens of levels, and captured hundreds of livestock and horses!" ”

"How can there be a conflict?" Lu Boqi's reaction was very fast, and he immediately understood what the person behind him didn't say: "The Mongols in Mo Nan have all been subdued by Liu Guogong!" ”

"Huh!" A low laugh came from behind: "Lu Xiangsheng is just acting according to Yang Wenqiao's orders, this guy is greedy for power, obviously the Eastern Captives and the thieves have been pacified, but he still refuses to stop collecting salaries." He was playing with fire, using the heads of the Mongols as a reason to prove to the Son of Heaven that armaments should be strengthened! ”

"Ahh Lu Boqi exclaimed in a low voice, I am afraid that he is the person who has the most say in Liu Cheng's strength and ambition in the Ming Dynasty, and the same thing can be concluded in his ears completely different-it is that Yang Wenqiao has discovered Liu Cheng's ambition and wants to strengthen his armament to deal with him.

When the man behind him saw Lu Boqi's reaction, he was secretly happy in his heart, so he laughed in a low voice: "Brother Birch, before you entered Beijing, you were Xuanda Inspector, Yang Wenqiao and Lu Xiangsheng are obviously here for you. If you join together, you will benefit both, and if you divide it, you will hurt both, so why don't you and I join forces to deal with him? ”

When Lu Boqi heard this, he couldn't help but be taken aback, he turned his head slightly carefully, and saw a familiar face in the corner of his eye, but it was a colleague in the cabinet, Hou Sui, only to see the other party smiling and nodding to himself, but the voice that spoke just now was completely different from usual?

"It's just a little trick!" Hou Sui smiled, and his voice was no different from his usual voice at this time: "Brother Birch, what do you think of my proposal?" ”

Lu Boqi hesitated, weighed the pros and cons, and nodded slightly.

From the middle of the Ming Dynasty onwards, except in some special circumstances, the Zhengchao had become more and more a symbolic ritual, and it was not the majestic Zhengchao that really dealt with government affairs, but a small meeting between the Son of Heaven and a handful of high-ranking bureaucrats who had his trust. These small-scale meetings are much more efficient than bloated and lengthy courts. Therefore, no matter how strong Chongzhen's desire to become the master of Zhongxing was, he had to hand over most of the important work to the cabinet members and the celebrants, otherwise the huge machine of the Ming Empire would not be able to operate.

"Mr. Yang! What do you think of the news from Datong? Chongzhen clicked on a few documents on the case and asked Yang Sichang, compared to more than a year ago, his face looked a lot better, and the vitality unique to young people began to appear on his fair face, obviously the demise of Houjin made his quality of life greatly improved.

"Your Majesty!" Before Yang Sichang could speak, Hou Sui took a step forward and took it: "Weichen thinks that there is another person in this matter who is more qualified to express his opinion than Yang Shoufu!" ”

"Oh?" Chongzhen looked at Hou Sui in surprise: "Mr. Hou, who are you talking about?" ”

"Naturally, it's Lord Lu!" Hou Sui stepped out of the way, revealing Lu Boqi standing behind: "First, Lord Lu is the secretary of the military department, and this is his purview; Second, he was already supervising there before he entered the cabinet, and he must be much more familiar with the local situation than we are! ”

"Well, what Mr. Hou said is very true!" Chongzhen nodded with satisfaction, and he turned his gaze to Lu Boqi: "Mr. Lu, what do you think of the truth?" ”

Lu Boqi immediately felt that several eyes suddenly gathered on him, if Chongzhen's gaze still carried the kind of expectation unique to young people, while Yang Sichang's gaze was full of surprise and anger, and even a little hostile. At this time, he couldn't think about it anymore, Lu Boqi knelt down and kowtowed, and said in a deep voice: "The minister thinks that things should not be as simple as the Tang newspaper said!" ”

"Oh?" Chongzhen frowned, Lu Boqi's words were very euphemistic, but the nature was very serious, if it was really as he said, then Lu Xiangsheng's report was probably a bully: "Mr. Lu, please speak up!" ”

"Shengshang, as far as Weichen knows, when Liu Cheng, the Duke of Yueguo, was appointed as the chief soldier of Datong, he had already pacified all the departments of Monan, either conscripted or appeased. It was also with these captives that he was able to break through the Eastern Captives and restore Liaodong. However, Lord Lu said in the Tang newspaper that there were captives and cavalry criminals, so he repelled them and beheaded them dozens of levels, which is probably a bit untrue! ”

"Lord Lu, you can't say that!" Yang Sichang's face suddenly became gloomy, he didn't expect that it was not that Hou Sui who jumped out to contradict him today, but Lu Boqi. If Chongzhen is made to believe him, I am afraid that his next plan will not be able to be implemented: "When Liu Cheng was there, the captives were afraid of his prestige and naturally tamed, but now that he is in Shengjing, the captives are capricious, and what is strange about raising troops to harass him?" ”

"Lord Yang, you have not been at the border for a long time, but you don't know the situation in the captivity. At this time, the captives must have had no food and clothing for the winter, and they wanted to loot a batch of food and clothing to survive. But according to what was said in the Tang newspaper, Lord Lu beheaded dozens of levels, but he got hundreds of horses, nearly 1,000 miscellaneous animals, and hundreds of raw mouths. Since there are hundreds of horses and nearly a thousand miscellaneous animals, how can they have no food and clothing? With so many animals feeding so many people every day, why risk their lives to come south in the winter to plunder? ”

"This-" Yang Sichang was speechless by Lu Boqi's words, just as Lu Boqi said, it is still winter outside the mouth, and in ancient times when there were no antibiotics, any cold could turn into a fatal pneumonia, unless he was about to starve to death, no one would run out to loot this season. But in the Tang newspaper, Lu Xiangsheng also said that he had captured so many livestock and horses, and it was obvious that the enemy was not short of food and clothing at all, so how could he act recklessly in the winter?

"Mr. Lu is right!" Chongzhen nodded with satisfaction and turned to Yang Sichang: "Mr. Yang, this matter is not trivial, it must be strictly investigated!" ”

Yang Sichang was helpless, so he had to kneel down and say, "The minister obeys the order!" ”

After this incident, Chongzhen's impression of Lu Boqi was much better, and Yang Sichang's face became more and more difficult to look at. When everything was done and everyone retreated from the palace, Yang Sichang's face was already iron-blue, and Lu Boqi didn't dare to talk to him, so he carefully kept his distance. In addition to Miyagi, Yang Sichang came up to his sedan chair without saying a word and left directly. Looking at the back of the sedan chair in the distance, Lu Boqi suddenly heard Hou Sui's voice from behind: "Master Lu, thank you for the matter!" ”

"Don't dare!" Lu Boqi hurriedly bowed down and said, "I'm just telling the truth!" ”

"To tell the truth, it's already a big favor!" Hou Sui smiled, his stature was not high, but he was very well-proportioned, coupled with a fair face and bright eyes, it was obvious that when he was young, this person must have been a dignified nobleman. He stood side by side with Lu Boqi, who was smiling, and said with a smile: "Yang Wenqiao always relies on his own knowledge of soldiers, so he acts arbitrarily in the court and deceives the saint. With Master Lu, he won't be able to be so arrogant in the future! ”

"Hey!" A wry smile appeared on Lu Boqi's face, and he didn't want to make enemies with Yang Sichang if possible: "Today is considered to have offended Yang Wenweak to death!" ”

"Hehe, it's not that you offended him to death, but that he treats you like nothing and forces you to be helpless!" Hou Sui smiled and said: "Lord Lu, think about it, if you don't speak today, what will the Son of Heaven think when he reads this Tang newspaper?" You just left Datong, and Hu Qi is so rampant? Why didn't you have a few heads over there for so long? Were you the one who deceived before? ”

"This-" Lu Boqi was speechless for a moment, as the other party said, with Chongzhen's suspicious temperament, he would definitely think so, maybe not in a short time, but over time, it would definitely bring endless disasters to Lu Boqi.

"Lord Lu, it's not that we have to deliberately embarrass him Yang Wen, but this guy is too much. For the sake of his own power, he wants to use us as his stepping stones! Hou Sui said this, and became more and more indignant: "Today, I have to let that guy take a look, even if you are the first assistant, you can't act arbitrarily in the court!" Speaking of this, Hou Sui suddenly grabbed Lu Boqi's right hand and said earnestly: "Lord Lu, cooperation is two benefits, and division is two harms, as long as you and I stand together, even if Yang Wenqiao is the first assistant, you must be afraid of us for three points!" ”