The shopkeeper took the money and hurriedly went down to arrange the wine and food, and the servant leaned close to the middle-aged man's ear and whispered: "Holy Lord, in this room, there are the three most talented and daring to speak among the students. These three people are very influential among the readers, and they are dissatisfied with the power of the family, and you listen to what they are saying now, aren't they arguing about the family? ”

This middle-aged man is Cao Ding, the emperor of the Great Yan Kingdom, and the servant next to him is Yi Kongting, the most trusted eunuch chief by Emperor Yan's side, but Yi Kongting has a fake beard on his mouth at the moment, so naturally he can't see his identity as a eunuch.

Emperor Yan squinted his eyes and listened intently to the sound coming from the room.

The courage of the three people in this room is very big, although it is an argument, the focus of the argument is not whether the power of the family is right or wrong, but how long the power of the family can be maintained.

"You have also seen it, my Dayan still had nine great families two years ago, how many are left now?" A hearty voice said, "This is the omen of the fall of the family." I, the emperors of the Great Yan Dynasty, actually have no good impression of the family. I can remember that when the first emperor was in power, he had already issued many decrees, just to suppress the family, if it wasn't for the Qingguo people who came over later and disrupted the national politics of the first emperor, those families would have ceased to exist. Today's saint Taoguang is obscure, and in silence, he has made the families fight with each other, and until now, five out of nine have gone, and the Xiao family has already existed in name only. This is the trend of the times, and the remaining major families, it will not be able to jump for a few days! ”

"Brother Ziwen, it's not easy to say this." A slightly hoarse voice said: "You see that the current dynasty is still in power. Although the Xiao family has declined, the Han family has jumped out now. Han Xuandao, the head of the household department, is now the head of the cabinet, and the Hu family and the Fan family are all the leaders of the horse, and the government and the opposition are all over the Han family. Brother Ziwen said that the family is declining day by day, but according to the younger brother's opinion, I Yan has been in the country for a hundred years, and the danger of the real family is just around the corner! ”

"Oh?" That Brother Wen immediately said: "Brother Hou said so, it must be reasonable, please advise?" ”

At this time, the shopkeeper had already sent the wine and food to Emperor Yan's table, and observed that Emperor Yan seemed to be listening to the conversation of the three people in the house, and his heart suddenly tightened.

He runs a tea shop, and he has seen a lot of people, and he has already seen that Emperor Yan's identity is not an ordinary person, and he may even be an official eunuch, and he has seen him listen carefully to the arguments of the three students in the house, how can he not be in a hurry?

Since the students entered Beijing, there have been some discussions in various wine shops and teahouses, and Zhang Ji Wine Store naturally cannot avoid it.

At the beginning, when those students talked about the court, the shopkeeper was really frightened and a little afraid, after all, if some taboo words were known by the government, they would inevitably cause a lot of trouble.

However, those students talk about the dynasty every day, but no one pursues it, and the shopkeeper's heart is gradually put down, but Su Ziwen and the three of them often comment on the characters, and they also comment on the emperors and generals of the Great Yan Kingdom in detail.

Such a noble person suddenly came tonight, and it seemed that he was deliberately listening to the remarks of Su Ziwen and others, and the shopkeeper only felt that something was wrong, so he wanted to quietly enter the room to remind him.

He put down the wine and food, and before he left, Yi Kongting seemed to know his thoughts, clasped the shopkeeper's wrist, and said in a low voice: "You go to rest by yourself, don't be nosy, it will be fine!" ”

The shopkeeper only felt that his wrist was like being held by an iron hoop, and nodded hurriedly, and Yi Kongting let go of his hand and let him go.

Emperor Yan naturally didn't care about this, just listened to the words coming from the back room.

"Brother Ziwen, Brother Fang, let me ask you, the nine great families are alive, which one is the strongest in the court?" Na Hou Kuan asked calmly.

Su Ziwen said: "Naturally, it's the Xiao family!" After a pause, he said, "But the Ye family doesn't seem to be weak." ”

Fang Li said: "I think the Su family has not been weak. The Su family has many protégés in the court. ”

"The Xiao family has Xiao Huaiyu's military power, and the Ye family occupied Bozhou County at that time, with deep wealth and the most money in their hands." Su Ziwen said: "What Brother Fang said is not unreasonable, the Su family has occupied the position of the official for several generations, and there are many protégés ......!" ”

Hou Kuan said with a smile: "What the two brothers said is right, when the nine great families are fighting, the Ye family, the Xiao family, and the Su family are not to be taken lightly, and the other major families are united and united to protect themselves. But because of this, the family has no real threat to my Dayan. ”

Su Ziwen came over and immediately said, "What Brother Hou meant, I understand." Brother Hou is saying that because each family has strength, they will be afraid of each other and check and balance each other, but there will not be too much storm! ”

Hou Kuan said: "That's right. Let's just say that the rebellion of the Ye and Wu families two years ago, they had a lot of money, food, soldiers and horses, and they thought that other families were fighting each other and could not form a cohesive force, so they assassinated the saint in Shanglin Yuan, and even rebelled in Bozhou. This is why the Ye and Wu families are too proud and have not seen through the balance of the two families. They only thought that the other families were fighting openly and secretly, and after the army was raised, it would be difficult for the other seven families to form a unity, and they could be divided and broken, but they didn't expect that when the day of the army was raised, the Xiao and Su families, who had fought for your life and death in the past, immediately joined forces, and even gathered other major families to form a family army, thus quelling Ye Wu's rebellion in one fell swoop. Speaking of this, he paused before saying: "They are arrogant and want to break the balance, and later they did break the balance of my Dayan family, but the price is that the two clans were defeated and punished, so throughout the ages, people who want to easily break the rules are often caught on fire." ”

Su Ziwen sighed: "It is precisely because of Ye Wu's rebellion that the balance of the court that I have maintained for nearly a hundred years has been broken, and it is really difficult to re-establish this balance. The Xiao and Su families later confronted each other, and the Holy Lord even promoted the Han family, and the Holy Will naturally wanted to return to the balance of the family, but the blood was imminent, and it was not easy to establish rules again. It is precisely because of the unstable balance that the subsequent Ximen, He, Su and other clans fell one by one, forming today's situation. ”

Hou Kuan said: "That's right. Hou Moufang just said that in the hundred years since the founding of my Dayan, the threat of the family is the most serious now, and the reason is this. He paused, and then lowered his voice and said: "Back then, the nine great families competed and feared each other, and none of them really dominated the court. But now it is very different, although it seems that there are still four major families left, but the Xiao family is also declining, maybe one day they will be found by the head of the Zhu clan. But the Hu family and the Fan family are grass on the wall, and now they have become the lackeys of the Han family, think about it carefully, since the founding of the country, which family is as powerful as the Han family today? Which minister's authority is as great as Han Xuandao today? ”

Fang Li sighed: "The ministers are in turmoil, and the country will be restless!" ”

Emperor Yan, who could hear the words inside, held the wine glass in his hand, couldn't help nodding slightly, and then drank all the wine in the cup.

"It's okay for the ministers to mess with the country, I'm worried that Han Xuandao's authority is too great, and it will endanger the Holy ......!" Speaking of this, Su Ziwen's voice softened, and he said softly: "I don't have a heart to be subordinate!" ”

Fang Li slapped the table and said sharply, "Does he want to be a rebel and thief?" The royal avenue, the heavenly system, if Han Xuandao wants to be a chaotic minister and thief, everyone in the world will be punished! ”

Hou Kuan immediately said: "Brother Fang, don't shout like this, be careful that the wall has ears!" ”

Fang Li sneered: "If I Fang Li dares to speak like this, I am not afraid of being heard." Although there are people in the Great Yan Kingdom who are greedy for life and afraid of death, there are also people who are not afraid of death. Those of us who read people are to educate and educate the etiquette system and maintain orthodoxy! ”

Hou Kuan got up and said in a deep voice: "Who do you say is greedy for life and afraid of death?" ”

Fang Li sneered: "Since you are not afraid of death, why are you afraid of others hearing about it!" ”

Hou Kuan also said coldly: "Afraid that people will hear? If these words can be useful, it is a fight for my life, and I dare to say it in public. I am afraid that if I say this, instead of having the slightest effect, I will be victimized by the traitor, and my useful body will be buried in vain. I, Hou Kuan, entered Beijing for the examination this time, not for anything else, but to be on the list and become an official in the court, and to do my part to protect the orthodox avenue, if I can enter the palace one day, I will definitely compete with the right party, and I implore the Holy Lord to eradicate the traitors in the court! ”

When Fang Li heard this, he was stunned at first, suddenly straightened his clothes, bowed deeply, and said, "Brother Hou, Fang Li has nothing to hide, please don't blame Brother Hou!" ”

Hou Kuan hurriedly held it and said, "Brother Fang is also upright, how dare Hou blame." I only hope that this time we can all be the first officials, and he can also work together to maintain orthodoxy and do his part for the saint! ”

The two shook hands, and Su Ziwen also got up with a smile and said, "A manly man, it should be like this." ”

At this moment, the three of them heard a voice and coldly reprimanded: "Three frivolous and ignorant students, dare to speak out here and talk about the government and politics, don't you want to live?" ”

The three of them were all taken aback, and looked at the voice, only to see that the door had been pushed open, and a middle-aged man in a purple robe was standing at the door with his hands behind his back.

The middle-aged man's face was solemn, and a pair of eyes were extremely sharp, sweeping over the faces of the three people.

The three students were only stunned for a moment, Hou Kuan had already thrown his sleeves and hands behind his back, looked at Emperor Yan with his chest straight, and said, "Your Excellency, I'm just afraid that I heard it wrong, when did the three of us discuss the government in vain?" If you want to add sin, we dare not worship it. ”

Emperor Yan sneered: "It turns out that it's just a small person who has the courage to say it but doesn't have the courage to admit it!" With a cold snort, he turned around and left.

"Stop." Fang Li shouted, "Don't dare to admit it? Okay, I'll admit it immediately, so what? You are from the government, the eagle dog of the Han family, right? I will stand upright and sit upright, Han Xuandao's power leans towards the government and the opposition, endangering the imperial power, is it still wrong? This is all my own opinion, if you want to arrest someone, you can just come and get me. "Take a step forward and be fearless.