In mid-March, several days of rain in Jinling made the city much less vibrant, except for the morning market, which was open as usual, and the night market and ordinary markets were suspended. In a few days, the court was also lifeless, Sima Yi was not a minister of the Qi Dynasty in the first place, although he was the staff and military advisor of the Huiwang Mansion, but he only walked between his mansion and the Huiwang Mansion every day, because of this rain, he did not have to go to the Huiwang Mansion for a few days.

Since King Hui seized the power of the Southern Dynasty, his relationship with Sima Yi has become cold, and Sima Yi also knows that he is in the way of his eyes everywhere and cannot let King Hui enjoy the joy of being overbearing with power in his hands. When King Hui began to wander around the famous banquets in Jinling City, and there were countless women around him, Sima Yi also felt that his days in the Southern Dynasty might also be over, and it was not far from the time when he returned to the north.

“…… Mr. Sima went to Fujian and Zhejiang to rectify military affairs this time, he must be aware of the local people's feelings, and the lower officials are not considered to have been officials for a long time in the Fujian and Zhejiang generation, if Mr. Sima does not dislike them, the lower officials will make points from it along the way, and if Mr. Sima has any other requirements, the lower officials should also be dedicated. ”

In Sima's palace, a local eunuch who came from Fujian and Zhejiang to Jinling to report on his work was paying homage to him. Knowing that Sima Yi was sent to southern Fujian to organize the army, this person immediately said to Xiao Ling, the king of Hui, and asked to go with Sima Yi, in addition to taking care of Sima Yi's residence and transportation as he said, and more importantly, by getting close to Sima Yi, King Hui's eyes appreciated. Sima sighed in his heart, he himself had fallen out of favor in front of King Hui, how could he help this guy who was attentive everywhere?

"When are you leaving?" Sima Yi was originally playing chess with himself, and when he heard Xu Ding's words of Li Fangwei, he couldn't help but ask.

Li Fangwei said with a smile: "King Hui once confessed, saying that he would set off as soon as the rain stopped. This trip is estimated to take two or three months, and if Mr. Sima finds it inconvenient, the lower officials will also prepare the best carriage to welcome Mr. Sima. ”

Sima Yu smiled and didn't answer. The rain outside was intermittent, but in fact it was similar to the situation in the entire Southern Dynasties. The power of the entire Southern Dynasty has fallen into a strange circle, and politics was originally determined by the military, but after Xiao Zhan ascended the throne, Xiao Zhan quickly used her power and tactics to encircle a large number of old ministers of the Southern Dynasty, most of whom were academics and did not rub shoulders with the military. Although these people could not help the emperor militarily, they started from the people's livelihood, which not only reduced the taxes of the common people and won the hearts of the people, but also made the gentry class have no complaints. However, it was the soldiers of the Southern Dynasty who suffered, and the imperial court won the hearts and minds of the people by reducing their income, but the soldiers could not get the privileges they once had and the high salaries that were not available in wartime, which made the middle and lower-level officers and soldiers who lived on military salaries complain.

At this time, it coincided with political changes in the north, and Yang Ruichan was located in Han Jian. made Sima's position in the Southern Dynasty even more embarrassing, and many people slandered in front of King Hui Xiao Ling, saying that Sima Yi might be a fine work sent by Han Jian to the Southern Dynasty, and King Hui Xiao Ling originally had a lot of opinions on Sima Yi, and the three of them became tigers, and there were more and more bad words, and the local army repeatedly made trouble because of the problem of food and salary, Xiao Ling simply sent Sima to borrow to rectify military affairs. After all, the soldiers and horses of the Fujian and Zhejiang generations. It is also the "backyard" left by Lao Huiwang to Xiao Ling, and now the soldiers of Fujian and Zhejiang are making trouble. There was a fire in the backyard, and Xiao Ling also felt in crisis. But he still didn't have the consciousness to sit on pins and needles.

Sima Yi looked at the sky outside, according to the last time he saw Li Shanye, he heard Li Shanye inadvertently say: "This rain is not more than a month or two, the sky is going to change!" Sima Yi sensed that Li Shanye had a premonition, just like Li Shanye's initial evaluation of Xiao Ling, the king of Hui. If King Hui can come out of the lessons of failure, he may become a generation of Ming Jun. But if he continues to indulge in pleasure, then perhaps he will only be a retainer for a while, and will eventually be replaced by a new retainer. After Xiao Zhan returned to ascend the throne, Li Shanye's prophecy became closer and closer. Now Xiao Zhan is nominally trying to use the power of her imperial uncle to stabilize the court, but in fact, she has started with Xiao Ling's most basic military affairs, but Xiao Ling hasn't realized it yet.

"Let's go tomorrow." Sima Yu suddenly turned around and said to Li Fangwei, who was drinking tea.

Li Fangwei was stunned and said, "Mr. Sima said tomorrow?" I'm afraid that...... There are so many things to prepare, and in between these hurried roads, the road is also southbound under the rain for days, so why not wait for the sunny day? ”

Sima sighed and said, "Maybe the sky will never be clear again?" ”

Li Fangwei was stunned again, and after thinking about it for a while, he felt that it might not be Sima Yi's other point, and said with a smile: "Mr. Sima is joking." ”

Sima borrowed back to the banquet where the incense burner was curling and picked up the chess pieces again, but he couldn't catch up with the chess move just now. He originally didn't like to play chess, because playing chess was too boring, and he had to use his brain, and it was also when he was imprisoned by Zhu Tongjing in the Southern Dynasty that he began to learn to play chess with his heart, at first it was used to kill boredom, but in the end it felt like sustenance. Because for him, as a caged bird, there is not much spiritual sustenance, and at the beginning, he was eager to travel the world to be a chivalrous hero, under that kind of psychological gap, he used chess pieces as sustenance, and finally made him settle down and make changes.

Sima put down the chess pieces and said, "Go back and prepare." I have to take care of Li Taishou a lot along the way. ”

Li Fangwei smiled bitterly, now he said to leave, his gift in the capital Jinling has not been delivered, he has been able to go to the Jinling court as an official as soon as possible in order to tie up the powerful, and he has also given a lot of gifts in the past few years, but they are like a stone sinking into the sea. Now who knows that the new emperor ascended the throne, and the once inconspicuous King Hui became the actual ruler of the imperial court, which made the gifts he had given a waste, and he had to give gifts to the rising upstarts.

When Li Fangwei walked out of Sima's mansion, he even felt that he shouldn't get acquainted with Sima Yi, because Sima Yi was too "indifferent", and Sima Yu had no official qualities in the court at all, even if he was the recognized first staff member under King Hui, but he also heard that Sima Yu had a disagreement with King Hui, and it was difficult to say that King Hui would kill Sima Yu in the future.

As soon as Li Fangwei returned to the post house where he was staying, he learned from some local officials who entered Jinling at the same time that it was said that the new emperor was preparing to re-establish the left and right sides, and the past when Prime Minister Xie Rumo monopolized power would be gone forever. Because it was just proposed by the empress at the court meeting, and the officials below had just learned about it like him, Li Fangwei couldn't help but hurry up and asked, he was very concerned about who the new Zuo Cheng and Right Cheng were, you must know that the Southern Dynasty was at the beginning of Xiao Zhan's succession because of Xie Rumo's dictatorship. There was a clear statement that the position of prime minister would not be established, but now that two prime ministers are suddenly set up at a time, the people below will naturally have some discussions.

"Brother Zhong Yi still needs to ask this, don't you have a good relationship with King Hui?" A colleague looked down on Li Fangwei a little, you must know that Li Fangwei's family has a big business, and his ancestors have been officials for several generations. And Li Fangwei himself is in the wealthy Xu Dingwei Taishou, even if he doesn't have to deliberately be greedy for ink, there will be a lot of filial piety in the local area every year. These people are also red-eyed Li Fangwei.

Li Fangwei is known for his good temper, and said with a smile: "King Hui will never be the prime minister, this is a well-known thing." Brother Lin Xian mentioned King Hui, but do you want to say that Your Majesty wants to set King Hui as Prime Minister? ”

The people present were speechless. This kind of thing is a forbidden word, and only Li Fangwei dares to say it, these people can talk about those officials of the imperial court, but they dare not say it to those in power. Especially the empress or King Hui, or even Zhu Tongjing in the Jiang and Jiangxi generation, it is a taboo in officialdom.

These people Li Fangwei said have nothing to say, and of course these people will not save face with Li Fangwei again. Li Fangwei also knew each other, first returned to the courtyard where he was staying, quickly called his subordinate officials, and instructed: "You go out to inquire and see which people in the court are most likely to be prime ministers." None of them are missing. Each family gives a generous gift, if there is a lack of anyone, only you ask. ”

The subordinate official is also Li Fangwei's "retainer". In Xu Ding's generation, Li Fangwei was like a prince who was sealed outside, and even the military and political affairs in the territory were in charge of him alone. After all, his family has been guarding the family business for Lao Hui for three generations, and he can be regarded as King Hui's "minister". What Li Fangwei hopes most is to get out of the mountain lump of Xuding and come to Jinling as an official as soon as possible.

Wait for the subordinate officer to go out and inquire, and come back in the evening. has already inquired about the news, and when Li Fangwei gets the candidates for the left and right ministers in the court, he can't help but have a headache, a long list of twenty or thirty people, if each family sends a "generous gift". This is also a significant expense.

"Isn't there anything more accurate? Let you do things, just do it like this? Li Fangwei was a little angry, thinking that in order not to be punished, the subordinate officials listed some irrelevant people on it.

The subordinate official said helplessly: "I am too guarded, and I don't dare to be perfunctory if I borrow a few guts from the lower officials." Since His Majesty's accession to the throne, there have been frequent changes of ministers in the six ministries, and all decrees have to be reviewed by the six ministries, and no Supreme House has drafted them, and all of them have been approved by His Majesty himself. In this way, there are only a handful of ministers in the court who can stand up, and His Majesty suddenly wants to set up two ministers, and even the court has a lot of discussions, and no one knows who His Majesty wants. This is only a list of people that His Majesty has reused, and if His Majesty uses some old ministers, it is not sure how many people will have to be found. ”

Li Fangwei also sighed, and now suddenly the imperial court wants to set up two princes, which is the best time for him to run in the capital. As long as he puts the firewood in the right place, he can keep up with the footsteps of these two upstarts, he does not seek to become prime minister in a few years, he only wants to be able to work under the hands of the two prime ministers, so that when the old and new are replaced, he will become the candidate for the next prime minister.

But at this moment, Sima Yi urged him to start again, which made him really headache. He was already thinking of an excuse to let Sima Yi set off first, and then he would leave when Jinling's matter about the prime minister was confirmed.

"Taishou, that ceremony ......"

Li Fang only sighed: "Don't send it yet." Now the court is not convinced, and it is not too late to give gifts when there is a rough settlement. ”

Li Fangwei was still a little annoyed when he said that, and now with his understanding of the court, he couldn't guess the intentions of the new emperor. At the beginning, he, like many officials in the court, looked down on Xiao Zhan, who was just the eldest princess, and thought that she was at most a puppet who was held up by King Hui. But now that Xiao Zhan has been on the throne for more than half a year, her ability is obvious to all, but King Hui, who is considered to be the driving force behind the scenes, is even more despised by others.

Li Fangwei didn't prepare to drive immediately, what he thought was that when he went to Sima Yuan's house the next day, he first found an excuse to excuse Sima Qi, and then took the rain and the road was muddy. Although it was also King Hui who asked him to take care of Sima Yi along the way, King Hui did not give an order to die, and at first he took the initiative to ask for his life, and Sima Yi did not say that he must go together in the past few days.

On the second day, Li Fangwei was anxious to Sima Mansion, and when he went to the door, he saw a carriage parked there, and a horseman cowered under the eaves to hide from the rain. The material worn by the groom is not the ordinary groom, it seems that the family is particularly luxurious, and even the coachman wears silk. What's more, Li Fangwei wanted to enter the door, but the man squatted on the side and didn't even bother to get up and salute.

Li Fangwei was strange in his heart, to say that he didn't come to Sima Qi's mansion once or twice, and some people came to see Sima Qi, but they were all subordinates in King Hui's army, and they came and went in a hurry, after all, Sima Qi was not a court official, and the lintel here was deserted, so no one would come to disturb him casually. There are still people who come to visit like him today, and he is quite disdainful in his heart.

When Li Fangwei arrived in the courtyard, he was about to enter the front hall to take shelter from the rain, but he saw a very handsome little maid standing at the door and stretched out her hand to stop him.

"My lord, Mr. Sima is entertaining distinguished guests inside, please wait outside." The little maid's voice is neither humble nor arrogant, but what she says is very unkind.

Li Fangwei said angrily: "It's raining outside, you let the official wait outside?" ”

As he was talking, Li Fangwei glanced inside, and sure enough, Sima Yi was entertaining the guests. The visitor had his back to the door, and there was sandalwood and a gauze tent, so he could only detect that it was a young man from the back. Li Fangwei said that this person is such a big shelf, and he is afraid that King Hui will come in person, but after all, King Hui is also familiar with him, and he can conclude from the back that he has seen it many times.

"This girl, the official went to the door to take shelter from the rain, and didn't go in to disturb, so it's okay, right?" Li Fangwei put away the official shelf and said in a consultative tone.

Li Fangwei has a good temper after all, the little maid saw that Li Fangwei was wet in the rain, and people talked to him like this, so she nodded and said, "Please stand by the door and don't go in and disturb." ”

"Okay." Li Fangwei entered the front hall, but he could only stand at the door, wiped the water on his face, and he couldn't help but look at the people inside. Because the conversation between the two was not loud, Li Fangwei couldn't hear what was being said clearly. It's just that Sima Yi blindly excused himself, as if he refused to agree to something, and the visitors kept lobbying.

In the end, Sima Yi was still unmoved. Li Fangwei laughed secretly in his heart, Sima had a strange temper, and even he couldn't open a breakthrough, let alone an ordinary person.

When the visitor got up, Sima Yu didn't even send him off in person. The man shook his head slightly, as if he was a little disappointed and came to the door, when he passed by Li Fangwei, Li Fangwei's eyes straightened, and the man just glanced at Li Fangwei and went out with the little maid.

Li Fangwei was stunned for a long time before he reacted, and a cool breath came out of his heart. He had seen this person, although he was dressed in men's clothes, but in previous years he came to Jinling to pay tribute, and he had also seen the eldest princess in the palace. The eldest princess in the past, isn't it also the emperor today?

"Mr. Sima, that's ......" Li Fangwei was still not sure, he didn't believe that the emperor would come to Sima Yuan's mansion in person, as if he was still persuading something, thinking of the matter of setting up two ministers in the court yesterday, could it be that the emperor came to persuade Sima to come out and serve as prime minister?

Sima Yi looked indifferent, looked at Li Fang's only look, and said, "It's just an old friend." (To be continued......)