It is said that Fu Liangbi arrived in Xinzhou, and the imperial court finally served the affidavit. Fu Liangbi lined up the three affidavits in front of the desk, and the tea stove next to the desk was boiling water.

Lao Chen was eating a large bowl of glutinous noodle soup with a coarse porcelain bowl on the side, snoring and snoring.

The tea stove was boiling, and Fu Liangbi waited for a long time, picked up an oath, and fumigated its seal repeatedly in the clouds of mist raised by the boiling water.

Seeing this, Lao Chen hurriedly said: "The envoy has no right to open the oath privately, you still don't put it away, and what are you doing with steaming it." ”

Fu Liangbi fumigated and said, "Since the attack on that dungeon, Yanbo broke off contact with you, how have you lived?" ”

Lao Chen smiled and said, "Go back to your old job, bounty hunter." He ate another chopstick and said, "You guys, you're still too young, and when you're my age, no matter what men love women, what flounder loves, you don't have a mouthful of meat or a mouthful of wine." ”

Fu Liangbi smiled and said: "Yanbo treats you sincerely, although you follow him, but in private you obey his grandfather and mother, in the end, he failed his friendship, he no longer trusts you, so he let you go." ”

Lao Chen smiled: "Come on, he is just angry with me for making trouble, in fact, your rich Mr. went deep into the dungeon, didn't save the girl, but almost ruined his own life." ”

Fu Liangbi sighed: "How can it be the same. He looked at Lao Chen and said, "At least I have fought for her, and I have no regrets." And Yanbo, this regret will become a shadow for his whole life and linger. ”

Lao Chen took a sip of wine and said: "If you do what we do, you can't think too much. ”

Fu Liangbi estimated that the climate was gradually coming, took a knife, and gently picked it at the seal of the letterhead, and completely opened the outer cover of the affidavit.

Lao Chen said: "Opening the oath without permission is a capital crime!" ”

Fu Liangbi said: "If there is a problem with the content of the affidavit, it will involve more than my life. As he spoke, he opened the affidavit, read it again, and frowned, so he went to fumigate the second affidavit.

Lao Chen observed his words and said, "Is there really a problem?" ”

Fu Liangbi said: "When I went to Liao, I promised His Majesty the Emperor of Liao that the border would not expand the reservoir, the two countries would not increase troops on the border for no reason, and the two countries would not take in each other's fugitives, which would also be included in the affidavit as a clause, but it was not. He read the second letter, paused, and said, "Lu Yijian, this is to trap me in injustice." ”

Lao Chen put the third oath on the mist and fumigated, and said to Fu Liangbi: "Then what are you going to do?" ”

Fu Liangbi pondered for a long time and said, "This oath is neither early nor late, but I sent it when I entered the territory of Liao. Now that the Liao court knows my whereabouts, I am afraid that the Liao side will be suspicious if I rush back to Beijing, and I must not return to Beijing. It's really hard to do. ”

Lao Chen didn't say anything, just quietly waited for Fu Liangbi to weigh it, and after about half a cup of tea, he overheard him say: "I am negotiating peace with Xixia, and I don't know how many years of coins and silk silk will be added at that time." 200,000 yuan is already a huge burden, not what I want, if this makes Liao Ting seize the handle and take the opportunity to open his mouth again, the consequences will be unimaginable. ”

He said to Lao Chen again: "Mr. Chen, come back to Beijing with me." ”

Lao Chen nodded, Fu Liangbi collected the three affidavites, and the two of them set off immediately, and they were going to Bianjing City overnight.

After staying in the saddle, he galloped for a mile, and suddenly saw the fire in the distance, most of the sky was reflected red, and the people were in a hurry with a soft look, and ran away indiscriminately. Fu Liangbi was surprised, so he ordered Lao Chen to ask, Lao Chen slipped off the saddle, stopped a person to ask, only to hear the man tremble all over, and said: "The fight has started, and many people have died!" ”

Lao Chen asked again: "Who fought with whom?" ”

The man said, "Run! Run, it's too late! "After all, the madness seems to be running away.

Lao Chen had to stop another person, he was also panicked, and his words were incomplete, and he asked about two or three people, but he couldn't ask what was going on, so he had to say to Fu Liangbi: "Sir, I only asked about the river meander, and I couldn't ask anything about it." ”

Fu Liangbi looked solemn, looked at the place, and said, "Let's go back to Beijing first, I can't care so much at the moment!" ”

After hearing this, Lao Chen should have been, and hurriedly got on the horse.

said that Lu Yijian was pruning bonsai in the flower garden, and his youngest son Lu Gongbi was on the side. He loves peonies, so he planted all kinds of peony flowers in the courtyard, pink and white, red and purple lingering, and the flowers are fragrant and fragrant.

Trimming the top of the main stem slightly, he says, "Proper topping can stimulate a large number of lateral branches and inhibit branch growth." He also selected long branches, diseased branches, dead branches, yellow leaves, diseased leaves, and dead leaves, and cut them off one by one with golden scissors, and then said: "Only by getting rid of the monopoly, disease, old and other expenses can we maintain the permeability and light transmittance of the whole plant, promote the plant to be more healthy and lush, and reduce the breeding of pests." ”

He looked at Lu Gongbi again and asked, "Do you understand?" ”

Lu Gongbi was looking away with his eyes, and when he heard this, he hurriedly came back to his senses - just for a moment, after a pause of about a sentence or two, he nodded and said, "Understood." ”

Lu Yijian knew that his youngest son was a loose person who was unwilling to endure hardships, so he glanced at him and asked, "What did I just say?" ”

Lu Gongbi said: "Father, what my father means is to use the metaphor of pruning potted plants to manage the way, and my son must keep it in mind." ”

Lu Yijian was a little surprised, he looked at his son for a long time, nodded, and said, "In that case, you can explain my words." ”

Lu Gongbi saw that his father was going to test himself, he panicked, he hesitated for a long time, and said: "Properly suppressing the top people can stifle his family's dominance, and can give the rest of the talented people a chance to grow." ”

Lu Yijian listened to it in his heart, felt that it was quite useful, and asked again: "What else?" ”

Lu Gongbi opened his mouth and hesitated and said: "Father, the deep meaning of the father, the son understands, but he said that he wants the son to interpret it, and he feels that he can't do it. ”

Lu Yijian put the golden scissors in the tray that the girl was serving, took a rag to wipe her hands, and said, "It can be seen that you just know it but don't know why." ”

Lu Gongbi had no choice but to say, "Please also ask my father to make it clear." ”

Lu Yijian was about to speak, but he listened to the steward and said, "Official, Your Majesty is in a hurry." "When he didn't have a word, he changed his court clothes and rushed to the palace, and even the Chongzheng Palace, and sure enough, he gathered a group of old people, and suddenly saw that above the Danqi, there was a figure behind the big screen of the golden chair that moved slightly, and he had guessed who it was.

But listening to the immature and pretended deep voice of the little Tianzi sitting on the golden chair in the hall, he said: "Fan Guanren's self-identification book has arrived, all officials, let's take a look." ”

After the words were about a sentence or two, an internal attendant presented a letter to all of you to look at them one by one.

Zhao Zhen's eyes slipped, as if he thought of something, and unconsciously glanced back, and said: "Fan Guanren self-identification, Daoxi Xia's letter, the content is arrogant, and it also insults the imperial court, and it must not humiliate me, so he did not put the letterhead on the court, but tore it up on the spot, in order to show his uncompromising position, and sent a special envoy to Xingzhou to Xuanwei.

Everything he did was to maintain the prestige of the country and to protect my face. ”

Song Xian closed Fan Zhongyan's book and said, "Your Majesty! He paused again and said, "As a courtier and a foreigner, who does not value the prestige of the country and the face of His Majesty. Fan Zhongyan acted arbitrarily, disrespectfully, and despised the central power, which is actually the greatest disrespect to the majesty of the country and the face of His Majesty. ”

Zhao Zhen opened his mouth and said, "That's not ......."

But I heard Song Xian say again: "Your Majesty! His hands trembled, his eyes were full of tears, and he said earnestly: "Your Majesty, you must not be benevolent for a while, and cultivate such a scourge, and the Emperor of Heaven cannot play with it......

Before he finished his words, Du Xing shouted: "Your Majesty! Sheng Sheng interrupted Song Xian, he choked on half a sentence, and his body swayed.

Du Xing strode up and said, "Your Majesty, the court must not do without Fan Zhongyan!" He was born in Ningming, a noble gentleman who died silently, with both ability and political integrity and loyalty to the monarch and love the people, he personally trained the army, repaired military discipline, knew people well, and promoted countless talents, he held Yanzhou in the early days, his eldest son Fan Chunren braved the threat of attacks by the Western Xia army anytime and anywhere, rushed to repair the fortress, day and night, it only took seven days. So that Yuan Hao has no chance to take advantage of it! ”

Song Xian was about to refute, but Du Xing didn't give him a chance to speak, he continued: "There is also that Qingjian City, Zhong Shiheng has written several times to implore the construction of the Kuanzhou ruins, but they have all been rejected by some ministers of the humerus who have rejected the so-called useless argument that the people are working hard and hurting money. ”

When this matter was mentioned, Song Xian was angry, and he opened his mouth to defend again, but Du Xing shouted lightly: "Your Majesty, Fan Guanren, there is indeed a mistake this time, but it has not reached the point where the crime is unforgivable!" At present, the Western Xia is undecided, and the Liao State is ready to move. Such a gentleman, don't chill him, Your Majesty! "After that, kneel down with a bang, and bow down. Several other officials strongly agreed.

Song Xian saw that the situation was on one side, and he didn't feel a little panicked, and hurriedly said: "According to what Du's privy envoy said, even if it is murder and arson, doing things that are contrary to morality and have no king's law, it can also be seen in the merits of the past, and it will be exempted." ”

Du Xing ignored him, and said to the Son of Heaven on the golden chair: "Your Majesty, Fan Zhongyan is guilty, and the crime will not lead to death!" ”

Song Xian was furious and argued with Du Xing again. Su Changchun and others argued on the basis of reason, but Song Xian's faction did not give up, and there was a lot of trouble for a while, and the people were boiling.

Zhao Zhen was dizzy when he heard this, so he had to stop drinking, it took half a day for Chongzheng Hall to regain quiet, Zhao Zhen sighed, he was very conflicted, he was reluctant to punish Fan Zhongyan severely, and he really couldn't set this precedent, so he turned his eyes to Lu Yijian for help, and said, "What does Lu Gong think?" ”

Du Xing and the others trembled in their hearts, while Song Xian and the others showed a slight look of joy, and everyone shot their eyes over for a while.

But listening to Lu Yijian, he said slowly: "The minister thinks that Fan Zhongyan is loyal and patriotic, even if he is wrong, a little punishment is enough." He laughed again and said, "No." ”

Song Xian was stunned, he was hesitant for a long time, but he couldn't speak.

Zhao Zhen patted the golden chair and said: "Okay, Danshu edict, Fan Zhongyan is good at advocating personal relations with the rebels, and my aunt remembers him for the country, and temporarily demotes him to the governor of Yaozhou." As for Yanzhou, it was garrisoned by Xia Song's officials. ”

Zhao Zhen heard Song Xian shouting the word "Your Majesty" again, only to feel that his scalp was numb, and he immediately frowned.

Lu Yijian said with a smile: "Song Gong, as the old saying goes, if the water overflows, it will be full, and if the moon is profitable, it will be lost." As you know, everything needs to be judged and sized, and you can accept it when you see it. ”

Song Xiankong opened his mouth, stared at Lu Yijian, pointed at him with a finger trembling slightly, and suddenly heard the Danqi above, the Son of Heaven said loudly: "I originally thought that Song Gong was an old minister, calm and serious, and now it seems that it is better to retire to Yangzhou to retire." He stood up again and said, "The time is coming, and I invite all the ministers to go to the imperial kitchen to eat and then come back." ”

After that, he categorically ignored Song Xian's pleas and left.

Su Ri and Song Xian were not on good terms, and when they heard the news, they all sneered, and the important ministers dispersed in twos and threes, and Song Xian caught up with Lu Yijian and asked: "Lu Gong, Lu Gong, this shouldn't be, you made me ......"

Lu Yijian belched for a long time, looked at Song Xian and said, "What do I let you do?" Song Gong's words have to be understood. ”

Song Xian paused, and hurriedly said softly: "You said that this Fan Zhongyan has a private relationship with foreign enemies......"

Lu Yijian said: "Well, I did say that how could a talent like Fan Guanren make such a low-level mistake, but after reading his self-defense book today, pushing himself to others, in that case, it is also helpless." He made a bitter face and said, "I have repeatedly made eye contact with you, but you have only cared to argue with the envoy of Nadu, and you have not even swept my eyes." In the end, I saw that it was really not possible, so I had to stop it. ”

Song Xian hurriedly said: "Where did I think that Your Majesty could ignore the emperor's prestige and protect Fan Zhongyan!" ”

Lu Yijian sneered: "Now that the Western Xia is undecided, and the Liao State is eyeing it, compared to you, Your Majesty can't do without Fan Zhongyan, you can't even think through it, and you have to repeatedly admonish directly." Think about it again, who is Fan Zhongyan? ”

Song Xian was puzzled and asked, "What ......?"

Lu Yijian said: "Linzi Gong's protégé! He paused and said, "His daughter was inexplicably named a princess, and she appeared in the Chongzheng Hall and the Zichen Hall several times. What does Your Majesty mean by this, Your Majesty let her contact Chaogang and then marry to Western Xia.

This clearly wants her to be the Empress Dowager Liu of Western Xia, Empress Dowager Xiao!

Look at it, the characters that Linzi Gong likes and her relatives will be reused by His Majesty in the future to balance her. ”

He glanced at Song Xian, who was stunned, and said: "But those characters, one is more useful than the other, our little emperor seems to be weak, but his mind is far-reaching, he will become a great weapon one day, and the rising stars are lined up one after another, it can be seen that my Great Song Dynasty is blessed." ”

said, and sighed: "I'm also old, and I can toss for a few years, so I hope that it would be good to be able to get out of the way." It's a good thing that you can leave this field early. ”

Song Xian suddenly came to his senses, he knew that he had stepped into Lu Yijian's trap, and risked his life for him, so that he could find out the situation and His Majesty's thoughts. I didn't feel angry and anxious, hateful and regretful.