The soft morning sun sprinkles beautiful streamers between the halls of Daming Palace, and the classical buildings that stand tall and tall show a beautiful and luxurious temperament like a wonderful lady. With a cool breeze and the sun caressing people's faces like gentle hands, it was undoubtedly a good morning.

The needles that fell under the two "famous" pine trees outside the inner door added a little autumn melancholy and withering to this glorious scene. There were a total of nine people standing under the two trees, and because Du Xian was not in Chang'an, there was one less, and they were all dressed in purple clothes. Li Shouyi's brocade robe looks old, and the wrinkles of his clothes have not been ironed, but if you look closely, it is still the material of a large ball of flowers, which is a symbol of status. "I'm afraid I won't be able to see this again." He sighed, the people around him didn't talk, anyway, he couldn't see him if he couldn't see him.

Everyone was telling some inconsequential anecdotes of life, and some people were looking forward to the pine treetops, as if they were about to compose a poem. In the end, no poetry was sung, but these two trees were probably the most familiar to them, and probably people had never seen such two ordinary trees with no characteristics so often in their lives.

After waiting for a long time, I saw the eunuch Zhang Xiao coming from the stone road next to the main hall, and there were two eunuchs pushing a wheelbarrow behind him. The bored ministers were suddenly a little curious, what was in the car?

Zhang Xiao walked over and greeted the nine ministers with a smile. Everyone looked down on the eunuchs from the bottom of their hearts, but because Zhang Xiaoneng often appeared beside the emperor and was somewhat influential, everyone straightened up and hugged their fists to give some face. When the wheelbarrow was also pushed over, the ministers took a look and saw that there were two lead balls of different sizes inside, and Cheng Qianli, the secretary of the military department, said casually: "The small one seems to be a cannon pellet used in the cannon of Wugong County." ”

"Cheng Xiang is insightful." Zhang Xiao said with a smile, "The emperor decreed, let the two shot put balls be sent outside the Zichen Hall for the ministers to see, and let everyone guess: If you throw them down from the Big Wild Goose Pagoda together, which one will land first?" ”

"Haha, naturally it's a big ......" A minister just said half a sentence, and was suddenly pulled by Dou Huaizhen's sleeve, and when he turned around, he saw that the "chic" Dou Huaizhen was glancing at him, and he stopped the words that came to his mouth.

Dou Huaizhen's level of governance is not bad, and there is nothing outstanding about his political performance, but he has strengths, and he is very good at observing words and emotions to figure out the intentions of those in power, so he first voted for Queen Wei and later voted for Princess Taiping. At present, these ministers have been in the officialdom for a short time, and they obviously know Dou Huaizhen better.

Zhang said: "Send the shot put to the study of the political hall first, let's go back and think about it before replying to His Majesty." ”

"It's okay, the miscellaneous family remembered that when the emperor issued the decree, he didn't say that he wanted the princes to answer immediately. In this case, come and push the lead ball to the yamen of the political hall. Zhang Xiao waved his hand and shouted at the little eunuch behind him to work.

This shot put was given to the people of the two yamen, the cabinet and the political affairs hall, and the political affairs hall was on the side of the Xuanzheng Palace, why did they want to push it so far? Zhang Jiuling, Wang Changling and Su Jin were a little dissatisfied in their hearts, but they had already said that such a trivial matter was too lazy to fight with those old men. The three of them had to go to the government hall together.

The officials of the government hall had already begun to work, and they were curious when they saw the eunuch pushing two buckshot bullets in. Someone asked the prime minister, but the prime minister did not reveal it, and several people entered the study and closed the door to talk.

Zhang Shuo asked Dou Huaizhen: "What do you think is the intention of sending these two balls today?" ”

Dou Huaizhen didn't answer immediately, just gently stroked a handful of sideburns with the palm of his hand to ensure that there was no mess, and then put his hand on his chin in contemplation. The ministers looked at each other, and finally Li Shouyi couldn't help but say: "This one is big and small, one is heavy and one is light, and if you drop the Big Wild Goose Pagoda together, you must be heavy and land first." ”

Zhang Shuo and the others couldn't help but laugh when they saw Li Shouyi's serious appearance, and Zhang Shuo also said casually: "I think so too." But I really hadn't thought about this kind of thing before, and I didn't care about it, I'm afraid I only know if I try it. ”

"I'm afraid it means something to suddenly ask such a thing today, right?" Zhang Jiuling said thoughtfully, "It doesn't matter which lead shot lands first, what matters is what it means?" ”

Li Shouyi said angrily: "It's a big thing for the society, and you can't guess the riddle!" Didn't you ask about the shot put? Call two guards at the gate of the Xuanzheng Hall and drop them from the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, and the result will be played truthfully! ”

At this time, Dou Huaizhen suddenly raised his head and suddenly realized: "I know!" Everyone's eyes focused on him, and he smiled and looked at Cheng Qianli: "Didn't Cheng Xianggong just say that these two lead pills are cannon pellets?" What is the purpose of the artillery made in Wugong County, for war, so we have to think about military affairs...... There are some things that are inconvenient to say clearly, isn't this just a reminder to us? ”

The crowd was silent.

Dou Huaizhen glanced at the three people in the cabinet, and said calmly: "The matter that Your Majesty asked today, of course, there is a first and a last, and it is obvious. ”

He simply said a word of nonsense, but Zhang Shuo and the others didn't think it made a big sense, Zhang Shuo pulled a horse face, stroked his hand on the thick beard, and said very strictly: "Dou Xianggong can simply finish what he has to say, don't grind, just a few people now." ”

Only then did Dou Huaizhen say in a deep voice: "Didn't Du Xian last time go to the chapter to repair the city?" But neither the cabinet nor the government hall agreed, and as a result, the fold was pressed in the inner court and has not been approved until now, so it is not mentioned today. Before Du Xian left Beijing, he was summoned several times to discuss border affairs by Jinshang, and I am afraid that the strategy of repairing the city after taking Yingzhou has already been written in Jinshang's heart. Now we are opposing one by one, and we will not do it for a long time, and in the end there must be a compromise solution......

He also said that a local official in Hebei wrote a letter to impeach Du Xian for using tyranny in Yingzhou, burning, killing, and slaughtering, and the people's resentment was boiling. Our political affairs hall also believes that this is not a long-term peace and stability plan, and it is necessary to send another minister to take over the stall in Yingzhou to calm the situation. It just so happens that the city is going to be repaired today, and the ministers sent down can also preside over this matter. This Du Xian first went to the local level, and then the second minister was delegated, isn't this landing from the top of the tower one after the other? And this cannon pill is a metaphor for military affairs, which is exactly the meaning of border defense. This is a hint that His Majesty will transfer back Du Xian to make concessions in the governance of Yingzhou; We will make the same with him in the building of the city...... There is no holy decree to force it today, and we still respect the political opinions of our old ministers. Now that the matter has been given to the bottom of the stairs, what is the benefit of us still fighting against Jinshang? ”

As soon as the words came out, several ministers looked at him with wide eyes, like looking at monkeys, and almost gave a thumbs up and said: Bull nose! With two lead bumps, you can say such a big piece of mystery! Sure enough, it is worthy of being good at observing the will of the gods, "loyal" and bad.

However, after thinking about it, what Dou Huaizhen said is not unreasonable, otherwise the emperor inexplicably sent two lead bumps down for everyone to guess? Besides, if you can compromise like that, it is not unacceptable, one can satisfy those who are worried that Du Xian will stay in the Northeast for too long and sit on the strength of the strong, after all, Du Xian holds the elite army of the Northern Ya and the soldiers and horses of the three towns; Second, the matter of repairing the city can be replaced, and it is also possible to bargain and let the bureaucrats of the government hall go, and the cabinet cannot be too powerful in a short period of time.

When everyone was silently pondering in their hearts, only Li Shouyi blew his beard and glared at him very angrily: "How much will it cost to repair the city!" As soon as he was excited, he spat and flew, Dou Huaizhen hurriedly stood far away, glanced at Li Shouyi angrily, and said in his heart: "Yes, you old boy is a loyal minister, if you don't collect taxes, don't take it, go to farming by yourself, it's best to be a clean official while farming."

Zhang said that he already had a score in his heart, but he still said with a straight face: "It's far-fetched, what can be related to what Dou Xiang can also be involved." But after a while, he walked to the door again and called his confidant scribe: "You are responsible for calculating how much grain, people, and time it will take to repair the Great Wall in Hebei." ”

At this time, Liu An said: "The household department has already budgeted, and the cost is huge, but I am afraid that the treasury will be insufficient." ”

Li Shouyi: "You are in front of the household department, you only know that it is insufficient, but I haven't seen you say some obvious problems in the book: as soon as the taxes in the world are settled, the Internal Affairs Bureau and the treasury are not separated, the inner palace is arbitrary and unrestrained, and the treasury is insufficient; has been using soldiers for many years, and the gold and silver mountains are not enough to squander them so freely! Why can't the Imperial Internal Affairs Bureau and the Public Treasury be renovated and separated? ”

Liu An glanced at Li Shouyi and said, "Li Xiang, you really don't have a backache when you stand and talk." "He wanted to say, why don't you go to school? But Li Shouyi is in charge of Lile, and he really can't control the affairs of the household.

But how did Liu An get into the book? As Xue Chongxun's descendant, he went to accuse Princess Taiping of giving a big banquet and a small banquet to reward extravagance, luxury, lewdness, and ease? Didn't you see that the emperor himself tried his best to balance the relationship with Princess Taiping, if Liu An took care of Princess Taiping's affairs, he might be suspected of being instructed by Xue Chongxun, in short, there were many involved and very tricky ones.

"The household department has to further innovate the tax system, and the commercial and trade markets in several places in the south of the Yangtze River are prosperous, except for repairing the river embankment every year, it does not take much labor, and the military resources are also less recruited from the southeast, so it can reduce forced labor and increase the income of merchants and fields; At the same time, the major fortifications in various places were suspended, so that the people could easily be forced into labor with money and food; In Hebei, the levy of Ding and repair the city can reduce the land endowment and fund the food...... Anyway, I can still think of a way. Liu An talked eloquently, and he knew how to exploit the whole country.

Zhang Shuo nodded and said: "The world is safe, the national policy of lightly dispensing with meager endowments cannot be changed, even if we have difficulties, we must think more about the people and try our best to reduce the burden on the people." ”

Li Shouyi sneered: "That's a nice thing to say, it's really like what was said, we should fight on the basis of reason, and we can't build that city." ”

Zhang Shuo doesn't argue with this old boy head-on, as a member of the Zhongshu Order, if others dare to challenge the authority, he will always give a little color if he can't get over his face, but Li Shouyi is an exception...... All the officials know it. G