Section IX

The rain has been falling finely and densely, and Nanning is already rainy in winter. Every day, the day is colder.

A gust of cold wind came, and the Queen Mother sitting on the red sandalwood carved chair couldn't help but shiver, she held a book in her left hand, tightened her thick fur brocade jacket with her right hand, her slender eyebrows wrinkled like a blade, and she looked at Emperor Han Fu opposite with a frosty face.

With her gaze, Emperor Fu of Han, who was in a brocade robe and black crown, shook it, looked at the Queen Mother like a thief, and immediately lowered his little head, held his hands behind his back, and continued to sit respectfully on the small brocade pier. His mouth opened and closed, and the jerky "Thousand Character Text" popped out of his mouth one by one, like a copper plate, and fell to the ground intermittently. It also seemed to be contaminated with the rain outside, and it became sluggish and hard: "God...... Earth...... Xuanhuang, the universe... Flood... Uncultivated. Livelihood...... Yinghan, Chen...... Lodge...... Column...... Sheet...... Love...... Educate...... Li Shou, Minister...... Fujon ...... Qiang. Ministers Fu Rong Qiang, ministers Fu Rong Qiang ......"

Back here, Emperor Han Fu was stuck, he turned over and over, and several "ministers and ministers" were gone. The Queen Mother jumped her eyebrows, closed the book with a "whew", and said angrily: "What else? ”

was drunk by the queen mother, and Emperor Han Fu pursed his lips, as if he was about to cry. But as soon as he saw the queen mother's face, which was colder than the winter rain, he hurriedly lowered his head and said, "The queen mother, son, son, I really don't remember." ”

Tao Yu was furious, stood up from the chair suddenly, and said angrily: "It's 'one in one, leading the guests back to the king.'" 'Under the whole world, it is not the king's land. On the shore of the land, it is not the king's minister. You are the Son of Heaven, and you always forget this, which really disappointed the queen mother and made her angry to death. ”

"I'm angry with this palace, I'm angry with this palace......"

Under the red lacquered vermilion beam, a round wren cage swayed endlessly, and the parrot with green feathers and red beaks inside was jumping around to learn the tongue, screaming very happily. The Queen Mother was angry, so she copied the "Thousand Character Text" in her hand, smashed it towards the birdcage with her head and face, and scolded: "Beast, you have a lot of mouth." ”

The book was like a flying feathered crane, smashing on the wren's cage, and it suddenly shook even more. The parrot inside knew the master's mood at this time, and only said that he had not learned well enough, so he was scolded by the master. It jumped and screamed in the wren cage, and worked harder: "Just you have more mouths, just you have more mouths......" In the middle of the fight, a little eunuch with clear eyebrows and beautiful eyes whispered outside the study: "Niangniang, Lord Tang, the servant of the Ministry of Officials, asks to see you." ”

The Queen Mother was full of anger, and said with a straight face: "Lord Xuantang come in." ”

As we all know, Liu Shijie, the secretary of the Southern Han Dynasty, was a vegetarian meal, and the power was lost, and almost all the money and grain in the Southern Han treasury were in the hands of Tang Xuan, the household servant. And Tang Xuan is also the dean of Nanning College, the right-hand man of the Queen Mother, and the backbone of their faction. For this humerus minister, even if the queen mother is angry, it is inconvenient to look at the color. She calmed down and said to Emperor Han Fu: "Study well, be sure to be extremely familiar and fluent, and not miss a word." If you can't memorize it completely, you are not allowed to eat at night, and when you can memorize it, you can eat. ”

Emperor Fu of the Han Dynasty was full of calculations, and he was in his early five years. For five-year-olds, it is not painful to use other methods to intimidate, but it is just right to threaten each other with one meal at a time. Hearing the Queen Mother's scolding, Emperor Han Fu dared to say more, and nodded again and again in fright: "Yes, yes." The sons must work hard not to make the queen mother angry. ”

While the two were talking, Tang Xuan, under the guidance of the eunuch, entered the study, knelt on the ground first, and bowed to the courtesy: "Minister Tang Xuan has seen the emperor and the mother." ”

The Queen Mother had already sat back on the chair and stretched out her hand to help: "Tang Aiqing, please get up." Seeing that Tang Xuan was up, she looked at it for a long time, and suddenly said: "Tang Qing, please take care of your body, this court needs you." She glanced at Emperor Han Fu who was sitting next to her, and sighed again: "We also need you." Under the rush and hard work, Tang Xuan looked even older, his gray hair was almost completely white, and the person was also shaped like a skeleton. Hearing Tao Yu say this, he coughed and gave another salute: "Thank you for the care of the Empress Dowager." ”

The Queen Mother nodded, and said to the little eunuch just now: "Little pillar, show Lord Tang a seat." ”

Xiao Zhuzi agreed, and moved a chair nearby to rest on the side of the Queen Mother, Tang Xuan sat down cautiously, and then the Queen Mother said: "Say Tang Qing, what is the matter with looking for the palace today?" ”

Tang Xuan had already prepared, took out a booklet from his arms, respectfully handed it to the Empress Dowager, and said in his mouth: "The new imperial examiner of Nanning Academy has come out, and there are ninety-three people in the Chinese subject and eight in the martial arts subject. ”

The Queen Mother let out a light "um", stretched out her right hand to take it, and quickly flipped through it. Her face was already bad, but at this time it was even more like a mask frost. The booklet was not thick, only a few pages, and the Queen Mother finished it in a few clicks, she closed the book, and sneered: "There are ninety-three people in the liberal arts, of which forty are officials and ministers, and there are twenty-one people who are children of the four families. Prime Minister: What is this going to do? Dominate the entire court? Do you want the whole country to become his family? ”

The four major families in Jiangnan are the Zhu family, the Lang family, the Liu family and the Chu family. Due to the relationship between Zhu Huai, the other three families are all looking forward to the Zhu family. Chu Yiquan, the secretary of the ministry, naturally also listens to the prime minister. Therefore, whether it is the official department or the children of the four major families, they are all people on the side of the prime minister. As we all know, the new imperial examination is the new blood of the country, and it is the future pillar of the imperial court. But the ninety-three places, the prime minister's faction divided them, and only thirty-two were left for the queen mother, and she couldn't help but be angry.

This Empress Dowager Xianzhuang is becoming more and more authoritative, and she has been dominating the court with a strong iron face, and after a few years of tempering, her personality is more like a sword out of the sheath, and a little unsatisfactory is a thunderstorm. Knowing that she was on the fire, although Tang Xuan was straight, he didn't dare to touch the tail of the wind a little. He bowed slightly, lowered his voice and said: "Last year, there were eighty-three people, and only eleven of them were on our side......

Two months ago, the prime minister asked the queen mother to promote his son Zhu Yuhu to be the head of the Xuanwu team on the grounds of taking care of the little Tianzi. This is very powerful, if the Queen Mother agrees, it is equivalent to putting her life in the hands of the Prime Minister, but to everyone's surprise, the Queen Mother actually agreed, and in return, that is, Tao Ziqian was transferred to the Ministry of Officials.

In exchange for a servant of the Ministry of Officials, in terms of official position, it is naturally cost-effective to exchange for a squire of the Ministry of Guards. But the guard battalion is the guard of the Son of Heaven, and it is a large combat force in Nanning, and its influence should not be underestimated. It's really hard to say which of these exchanges is better or worse.

Although Tang Xuan's words were only half spoken, the meaning could not be clearer. The Queen Mother sneered, held the booklet and continued: "Lord Tang, if you say this, we still have progress. But we represent the Son of Heaven, and if he wishes Huai to do this, it is a rude offense and a beheading......"

Speaking of this, she suddenly changed her words: "By the way, there are thirty-two people left, of which twenty-six have been used by me, and what about six others?" Is it indifferent? ”

"This, this." Facing the Queen Mother's questioning, Tang Xuan was also a little hesitant, but thinking that this matter could not be hidden after all, he said with a heart: "There are still six people, they want to go to China and the West for development." ”

The Queen Mother was stunned: "Go to China and the West!" The bitter cold land of China and the West, and the prosperity of the south of the Yangtze River, there are people who are willing to go? ”

"These six people are all students of Zhou Zihong, a Confucian in Chengdu, most of them were born in China and the West, and they have achieved success in their studies, and it is normal for them to want to go home to benefit their hometown."

In the past few years, the Southern Han Dynasty has fought in the south and the north, and has won successive battles, which seems to be infinitely beautiful, but in fact, it is also known by itself. The fledgling empire, with Kyoto in the north and Genai hawks in the south, had an alliance with Persia in the west, but was not very strong, and Shimayi harassed the eastern coastal frontier from time to time. Under this pressure, although the prime minister and the queen mother are constantly filthy, they all take the overall situation into account and do not make any out-of-the-ordinary moves. The two sides frantically expanded their power and attracted talents. In this way, it is quite a bit of a search for rocks and dry, and the appearance of seeking talents. After China and the West were included in the territory of the Southern Han Dynasty, the imperial court's edict for seeking scholars was also issued to the three central and western provinces before the autumn test this year. However, after the war in the three provinces, only a handful of students came to take the exam, but what I didn't expect was that among the few students, there were as many as six students.

This was beyond the expectations of the Queen Mother. She thought for a while and said busily: "Zhou Zihong, but the former Kyoto Taixue Master Bo Zhou Zihong?" ”

Tang Xuan nodded and said, "Exactly, Mr. Zhou is erudite and talented, has lofty ambitions, and has a good relationship with his late father, but he is a bit old-fashioned. In the third year of Darong, he was not angry with Li Tie for his unauthorized power, and wrote a letter to criticize the Taiwei, but Li Tie hated him and found a reason to frame him. After this incident, Mr. Zhou was discouraged, returned to his hometown, lived in seclusion in Chengzhou, and opened Taizheng Academy to teach and educate people. ”

Hearing Tang Xuan mention her biological father, the Queen Mother's face softened a lot, and she sighed and said, "I have also heard a little about Mr. Zhou. His high style and bright festival are admired by the world, and he has the meaning of colleagues with his ancestors. Such loyal and courageous people, Lord Tang, why didn't you recommend it earlier. ”

Tang Xuan smiled bitterly and said: "Niangniang has the intention of being virtuous and recommending, how can Weichen not know?" But Mr. Zhou has long been indifferent to Mingzhi, and Weichen has written several times, but he has rejected it, and then he simply ignored me, so what can I do? ”

The Queen Mother sighed in her heart, a great pity. This week, Zihong not only has an old relationship with his father Tao Ren, but also the backbone of the royalist faction, if he can be pulled under the account, not to mention anything else, his prestige and influence alone will be a big help. She glanced at Emperor Fu of Han, who was sitting precariously, and said suddenly: "Lord Tang, write a letter to Mr. Zhou, and say that if you go to Nanning, this palace is willing to treat him as a Taifu and solve his confusion for the Son of Heaven." ”

Taifu is in charge of the formulation and promulgation of the ritual law, which is a positive product, although there is not much real power, but the status is respected. If Zhou Zihong can really accept this position, it can be said that he has reached the sky in one step.