For Liu Yu, mooncakes are just decorations for boring life, and he doesn't want to have them alone. And Sui Yu's enthusiastic help always needs a little repayment.

After roughly telling Sui Yu about the recipe and listening to the opinions of those businessmen summarized by Sui Yu, Liu Yu entered the palace early in the morning to see the new emperor, and also gave two moon cakes by the way.

In the Yaqian Palace, Su Yan was tasting moon cakes, while Liu Yu was reading Yuan Bolang's recital about summoning the vassal king into Beijing. Although this matter was advocated by Liu Yu before, Yuan Bolang skipped him to deal with it at the last moment, and Liu Yue felt more and more that this right minister was going in the direction of fighting with him. The two sides gradually became inseparable.

"Master, it's delicious, how do you make it?" Su Yan ate one piece and wanted to eat the second piece, but he still wanted to keep it for Xiaoyu, and asked in a dilemma.

"There is no semicolon for the time being, I want to eat and send you some later." Liu Yu put down the notebook and looked at Su Yan, "How did the old man arrange the matter of choosing a concubine?" ”

Su Yan smiled bitterly and said, "How else can it be arranged?" This time he brought everyone to the palace to choose a concubine, saying that he was going to choose in the palace, and if it was suitable, he would stay and not have to leave, master, this time he got nearly 200 candidates at a time, isn't it...... Do you want to choose them all? ”

From the last twenty or thirty people to more than 100 people, it seems that it is profitable in the matter of the new emperor's concubines, and many officials and families went to Yuan Bolang to lobby for a piece of the pie, so Yuan Bolang began to mix water in order to win connections.

It is said that the new emperor befriended the ministers, but it is better to help Yuan Bolang contact the courtiers, and the candidates are also labeled as political parties, and the original purpose has changed. Liu Yuke didn't plan to make a wedding dress for others in this matter.

"Then you go and choose carefully, not very much to your liking. Choose three or two meanings, and the meaning will become. ”

Su Yan originally resisted the matter of the concubine. Mainly because of his relationship with Xiaoyu. In addition, Liu Yu said that he wanted to marry all of them. Now only three or two are accepted, which is very much in line with his wishes, after all, from more than a hundred young ladies, he can always choose a few beautiful ones that suit his heart.

"Master, come with me. Without you by my side, I don't have the bottom, so let's see if my choice is suitable. I'm afraid of choosing someone, and being told which family she came from, troublesome. ”

Su Yan also knew that this concubine was a political marriage. It doesn't matter who you choose, it's important which lady you choose. He was afraid of choosing the wrong person.

Liu Yuzheng wanted to suppress Yuan Bolang's arrogance in this matter, so he nodded and agreed.

Su Yan immediately found someone to send a decree to Yuan Bolang to advance the matter of choosing a concubine to the same day. When Yuan Bolang was still busy with Zhang Luo, Liu Yu first went to the weapons research institute of the Ministry of Industry, and after a few days of transformation, the rifling of the musket was added, but because of the caliber and swirl problems, the problem of jamming was very serious, and the craftsmen were still busy improving. And Zhou Lin, who patted his chest and said that he could do it. The most zealous in this matter, rifling was also done under the innovation of his craft.

"Not bad. Do a good job, now the main thing is to make the proportion of bullets and caliber rifling clear, mainly because the bullet cap is large and small, originally there was an empty tube inside, but now if there is rifling, it will be stuck if you don't pay attention. Liu Yu was still very satisfied with the progress of the research of the musket, and said to Zhou Lin with a somewhat encouraging tone.

Zhou Lin felt honored to be appreciated by the President of the Imperial Forest Army, and at the same time, he was also very hardworking, and after hearing Liu Yu's suggestions for improvement, he took action. At this time, a little eunuch came to inform Liu Yu, and the emperor summoned him to the palace to discuss the selection of concubines. It seems that Yuan Bolang is ready.

Originally, the emperor's choice of concubines was the emperor's own business, and outsiders should not interfere, but this time the choice of concubines had a different meaning. There is a newly married princess next to the new emperor, and even the title has not been added, as long as the woman can enter the palace and always accompany the emperor, it is possible to be a concubine or even a queen. The young age of the new lord has never appeared since the founding of the Great Shun Dynasty.

If it sounds good, it is called that the new emperor is young, and if it is bad, it is called that the country has no long monarch, and this is often the beginning of national turmoil.

When Liu Yu saw Su Yan, Su Yan was waiting anxiously in a side hall, and Yuan Bolang was nowhere to be seen. When I asked, I realized that Yuan Bolang had given him a list and wanted Su Yan to choose according to the people on the list. Su Yanden ran out of ideas.

Not only does Liu Yue want to control the new emperor's concubine, but Yuan Bolang also wants to intervene. Liu Yu looked at the list proposed by Yuan Bolang, which was basically the first batch of twenty or thirty candidates, and it seemed that these people should be close to Yuan Bolang or the family he wanted to woo. Later, the personnel of the candidates were expanded, but he did not want the courtiers to criticize him, thinking that he wanted to develop the power of his faction in the matter of taking concubines.

There is a conspiracy!

Yuan Bolang is upright and loyal, and this kind of political partisan struggle trick may not be from his original intention, which means that Yuan Bolang also has a think-tank-like figure around him. From the increase in the number of candidates alone, Liu Yu can perceive that the methods of this think tank are still very clever, and it has also fully mobilized the enthusiasm of some neutral forces.

Although the banner of neutrality is wavering, the three major forces of Chang'an City, Liu Yu, Yuan Bolang and Su Bi, all want to issue an olive branch to these people, just to see whose conditions are more attractive and whose power is more popular.

"Leave him alone, choose how you want. The main point is that you like it yourself. Liu Yu instructed Su Yan.

With Liu Yu's words, Su Yan's heart also settled down, and he nodded and wanted to go out, and at this time Yuan Bolang also walked in. Seeing Liu Yu, Yuan Bolang was obviously stunned, he probably didn't expect Liu Yu to appear here.

"Commander Liu, the new emperor and concubine, you should not interfere with the courtiers." Yuan Bolang said proudly.

Liu Yu nodded and smiled: "What the right minister said is, but you and I are ...... It's just each other. ”

The new emperor's concubine has become a game between Wenchen and the general, and the two are also secretly competing. However, Liu Yu is not worried about Yuan Bolang's influence, and on the issue of the new emperor's trust, Yuan Bolang is not on the same level as him, which Liu Yu has an absolute advantage.

What he had in mind was a more damaging trick.

More than 200 candidate princesses, dressed neatly and holding a handkerchief embroidered by themselves, stood in formation on a small platform. The sun is high, and although it has passed the Mid-Autumn Festival, it is still a little hot at noon. These candidates still have to stand upright, unlike last time, this time they already clearly know the purpose of Lu Dao's trip, and they also know that they are about to face His Majesty the new emperor, and in order to achieve the family's goal, they must leave the best intuitive impression on the new emperor.

Choosing a concubine, even a sentence may not be said to the emperor, the most important thing is appearance and demeanor, the handkerchief in the hand is a proof of its ingenuity, if you lose points in appearance and demeanor, the emperor has no heart to see how her embroidery is.

Liu Yu accompanied Su Yan out, and when he looked at it, it was a little different from the beauty pageant, but it seemed to be a group of freshmen standing on the playground, and all the young ladies were motionless like wooden stakes.

"Master, there are so many, how to choose?" Su Yan was dazzled when he saw twenty or thirty candidates in Yuan's house, and now he saw one or two hundred women, and he was even more like a bear breaking a stick, and he couldn't take care of one side but the other.

"Choose twice, if you don't like it too much the first time, watch it again and have a comparison." Liu Yudao.

Su Yan nodded again, so Su Yan went over and carefully selected one by one, accompanied by his close servant Wu Gonggong. After all, Liu Yu is a foreign minister, so it is not appropriate to get too close to these candidates for imperial concubines at this time, so as not to be criticized.

Su Yan's task today is to choose, and what Gonggong Wu is holding in his hand is a roster, which records the details of today's candidate princess, if the new emperor has some meaning to which one, he will explain it on the side, if Su Yan just looks at it and passes by, he will also be very knowledgeable and not say a word.

Liu Yu and Yuan Bolang each stood on the edge of the stage, and the two deliberately kept their distance. Anyway, waiting for others to be in the beauty pageant is also a very boring thing, Liu Yu approached Yuan Bolang and said hello with a smile. In the past few days, under the blowing of those ministers around him, Yuan Bolang has hated Liu Yue even more, and he just snorted coldly and did not speak.

"Yuan Xiangguo, you said that we are all courtiers of the new emperor, why do you care about gains and losses so much? Bad for being a friend? Liu Yu seemed to be very indifferent and kind when he spoke, and he seemed to be begging Yuan Bolang with a shy face to release his suspicions.

Yuan Bolang's momentum prevailed, and his arrogance was even heavier, and he said coldly: "You and I have nothing to worry about. ”

"I hope so." Liu Yu smiled, "I have something to inform you about Yuan Xiang, the emperor has recently had the intention of resetting the left minister." ”

Liu Yu was still angry in a low voice just now, and immediately gave Yuan Bolang a shot in the heart, if Yuan Bolang's heart is not good, he will definitely be angry with Liu Yu.

With the new emperor's attitude of doing nothing and everything is irrelevant, would he think of resetting the left phase? Most of them are tricks made by the kid in front of him, and the reset of the left minister is so big that he doesn't go through the court's discussion and doesn't greet the courtiers, but as far as he says, he wants to make the matter real. These are enough to make him angry, and the most important thing is that this kid actually gave him a vaccination in advance, obviously with bad intentions.

"Commander Liu, what do you mean?" Yuan Bolang squinted at Liu Yu with a cold gaze.

"I don't mean anything else, I just want to inform Yuan Xiang, lest the emperor say that you are not prepared, what about this matter, the emperor's meaning seems to be quite resolute, whether it is set up or not, whose question is it set up, Yuan Xiang does he want to go back and take a good look?"

Liu Yu's attitude towards speaking made Yuan Bolang even more unpredictable, after all, he was not a person who was good at tricks, a tendon, facing a man with a full stomach and intestines, it was like a martial artist who had only studied martial arts for a few days met a martial arts master, and there was no countermeasure at all.

However, Liu Yu also had another meaning in his words, let him go back and discuss, needless to say, he was ready to accept the offer, not to force him to accept it immediately. If Yuan Bolang wants to turn the tide, there is still a chance, after all, now the ministers are basically on his side, if he goes back to discuss with the ministers, he will be able to discuss a countermeasure.

"You wait, the old man has to look good!" Yuan Bolang blew his beard and glared at Liu Yudao. (To be continued......)