Wu Sangui's request for the withdrawal of the feudal domain and the return to Liaodong for retirement were sent to the capital three months later than Shang Kexi and Geng Jingzhong's withdrawal of the feudal domain. During this period, for the convenience of doing things, Kangxi ordered Xiong Cixu, Suo Etu and Mingzhu to temporarily live in the guard room in the west of the Qianqing Gate to assist in handling court affairs, from promoting the garrison army, inquiring about all aspects of the movement, to coordinating the supply of Zhang along the way of Geng Shang's two feudal domains, and stationing the customs defense,...... The officials of the six ministries held stacks of copywriting in front of the door during the day to report the matter, and took away the approved documents at night, and people came and went endlessly. The daily piles of military newspapers and copywriting were first compiled into abridged texts by the three of them and submitted to Kangxi, and after the ruling, they were distributed to all ministries to act according to the order.

"Wu Sangui finally understands the general situation." Xiong Cixu couldn't help but breathe a long sigh of relief, a trace of blood appeared on his face, and said with a smile: "Being able to withdraw the feudal domain safely without moving troops cannot but be said to be a blessing for the country and a blessing for the society!" ”

Suo Etu stroked the hair more than half an inch long in front of his forehead, looking a little melancholy, and after listening to Xiong Cixu's words, he said after a while: "Dongyuan, it's too early to be optimistic!" In Wu Sangui's excerpt, I saw that there was something in the words, and I complained a lot. When others arrive in Beijing, we can land with a stone! As he spoke, he turned his face to look at Mingzhu, who was pondering with his hand, and he smiled in agreement: "I think Suo Gong's words are right." Of course, Wu Sangui has to listen to his words, but more importantly, he has to watch his deeds. After his grandsons Wu Shiqiong and Geng Jimao had a secret discussion with Shang Zhixin, they suddenly asked for the withdrawal of the feudal domain, and it is difficult to say that there is no article here. I'm still old-tempered, I don't believe in being straight, and I have to guard against being benevolent. Tu Hai suggested that the troops in Luoyang should also set off on schedule - Mr. Wu once said that if you can't fight, you can't make peace! Suo Etu loosened his legs noncommittally, and said: "Fighting a war is not an easy task, as soon as the war starts, you will understand what it is like to fight, I have led soldiers!" ”

As he was talking, Kangxi came over wearing a stone blue satin medium-wool sheepskin coat, wearing a Baturu vest, and holding a stack of papers. Huang Jing, the newly elected head of the Internal Affairs Office of the Yang Xin Palace, took a few steps forward to raise the curtain, and said with a smile: "Ladies and gentlemen, the emperor is here, please take the driver." ”

"Excuse me!" Kangxi strode in, sat down on the chair in the center, shook the stack of papers with his hand and said, "What do you think?" Is Wu Sangui's excerpt credible? ”

Listening to Xiong Cilu briefly say the opinions of the three people, Kangxi didn't speak for a long time, while eating tea and pondering, he flipped back and forth and examined Wu Sangui's recital, and said after a long time: "What he said in this excerpt is indeed that there is a sound outside the strings, I have read it twice, and I have to deal with it carefully - Xiong Cixu, you read the place where I pinched with my fingernails again." ”

"Yes." Xiong Cilu took the fold with both hands, glanced at it, and read softly:

“…… Since the first year of Shunzhi, the minister has been empty from the dragon with an obscene body, attached to the dust, that is, he has received the grace of the first holy lord, entrusted with the task of being a special man, and has been appointed as a lord of the unnoble, sighing with grace, and tears are wet...... However, when the year of the dog and horse died today, loyal to the first emperor, should not spare his life, fear of the giant, but in recent years, exhausted, and suffering from eye disease, I am afraid that the old man of the minister, the mistaken saint on the Zhenlong governance of the big picture, there is a wound to the first emperor to know the wisdom of the people, then the minister can not be punished! Please resign from the position of the vassal state, retire to Liaodong, the court of the Shu Dynasty does not worry about the worries of the southwest, Sangui can avoid the scare of the bow, then the holy lord loves me deeply......

"What are the worries of the southwest, doesn't it mean that the court believes him?" Kangxi muttered, "This 'sorrow of the bow' sounds like self-blame and sighing, but in fact, it is also the private anger of the imperial court, saying that I crossed the river and demolished the bridge, unloaded the mill and killed the donkey-Suo Etu, what do you think about this?" ”

"The Lord sees very clearly," Suo Etu said, "but as long as Wu is willing to withdraw the domain, these words are all small sections, and the Holy One does not need to pay attention to them." ”

"Well, good!" Kangxi smiled, "He is willing to withdraw the domain, of course I can understand this idea, but I am afraid that what he said may not be the truth, so I came to discuss with you and see how this excerpt should be approved." ”

Mingzhu smiled when he heard this: "Please Xiong Gong draw up a draft, and the Lord will cut it." Xiong Ci twisted his beard and thought about it and said: "The minister thinks that it is enough to avoid Wu Sangui's paradoxical words and vaguely praise 'Wang Zhi is commendable, please follow it'." ”

Kangxi shook his head when he heard this, and when he saw Zhou Peigong coming in with a stack of papers, he smiled and said, "You go and pass the word and ask Li Guangdi to hand over the sign to come in!" Huang Jing hurriedly said: "Long live Lord, Li Guangdi Ding is worried, and he is handing over the envoy to prepare for the funeral on the starry night!" ”

"Oh, is it father, or mother?"

"Yes—father!"

Kangxi was silent, a newcomer like Li Guangdi to Hanlin, it is unreasonable to take love, he thought about it and smiled: "It's just Ding Wei, call him in, and then call his fellow Fujian villager Chen Menglei to come." ”

Zhou Peigong promised and was about to leave, but Kangxi stopped: "You don't need to go, let Huang Jing pass the decree." As he spoke, he turned around and instructed Huang Jing, "Tell them to come up, you go back to the Heart Cultivation Hall to polish more ink for me, and I have to go out for a walk after I finish writing, didn't you say that you want to take me to a few good places to play?" You don't have to wait here. He has no prejudice against Huang Jingben, and since the Ministry of Internal Affairs selected him to the Heart Cultivation Palace, it seems that he is not only honest and does not talk much, but also cares about Kangxi's dress, warmth and coldness. But Xiao Maozi once said that he seemed to have contact with Wu Yingxiong. There was a big matter being discussed here, and Kangxi had to take him away.

Huang Jing went for a while, and Li Guangdi and Chen Menglei walked in one after the other. Kangxi instructed Mu Zixu and the donkey who were guarding the door: "Rush away the officials and eunuchs who came to report the matter, and all the idle people will be exempted, I have something important." ”

"The minister humiliated the Holy Lord's summons with an ominous body, and I don't know what the holy oracle is?" Li Guangdi said as he bowed. Chen Menglei followed the salute without saying a word, speculating with his eyes about the intention of Kangxi's summons.

"This is Wu Sangui's excerpt to ask for the removal of the domain, you can take a look." Kangxi said, "Zhou Peigong, you can also talk about it, I will listen to the opinions of a few of your ministers today, how to reply to it." ”

Li Guangdi carefully read the folds and handed them to Chen Menglei, but Chen Menglei only carefully read the words that Kangxi pinched his fingerprints, and soon transferred them to Zhou Peigong.

"Long live," Li Guangdi said first, "the minister thinks that the emperor should appreciate the king of Pingxi's deep understanding of righteousness and grant him what he wants, and it seems that the radical words that are not in line with the minister's way should be vaguely covered." Chen Menglei disagreed, kowtowed, and said: "If the minister thinks that the rebellious words are not refuted, Wu will think that the court is weak and incompetent, but it will encourage him to be disobedient. ”

The two people had such opposing opinions, Kangxi couldn't help but be stunned. Thinking about it, it made sense, but it was difficult to make a decision for a while, so he turned his face and asked Zhou Peigong: "What do you think?" ”

"There seems to be no doubt that the emperor allowed the withdrawal of the feudal domain," Zhou Peigong hurriedly knelt down and replied, "but only talking about 'according to the promise' and not refuting the wild words does not show the sincerity of the imperial court's withdrawal of the feudal domain; The minister thought that the combination of grace and power was the best policy, not only to praise his invitation, but also to shock his heart. ”

This is exactly what Kangxi was also thinking, and he couldn't help but be overjoyed, and said with a smile: "Okay, you will draw up the purpose according to this meaning - who told you to say big things?" ”

"Wow!" Zhou Peigong stood up cautiously, went to the front of the kang, thought for a while, and wrote:

Wang Xin can be learned, Wang Zhi can be commendable, please agree. I have ordered Gan Wenkun to serve as the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, and he will be able to inherit the king's will and take care of Qiandian. The king and the country are resting together, the lord is in a high position, the merit is in the community, how can the country be willing to hide the bow for the rabbit, the king has many worries! Wang Ke let go of the braids to the north, swept the couch of a hundred flowers, and set up a liquor to treat each other.

After writing, I read it again, dried the ink, and held it to Kangxi with both hands.

"That's good." Kangxi sighed, "There is sarcasm and persuasion, and there is warning and warning." Wu Sangui also has too much heart, he has made such a great contribution and returned to Liaodong, who is willing to make it difficult for him, who can be difficult for him? What do you want to do with these useless things? After saying that, he hung his head and said nothing, and seemed to be very emotional.

Li Guangdi and Chen Menglei saw that Kangxi had nothing to say and were about to resign, but Kangxi suddenly asked, "Li Guangdi, I heard that you are worried?" Li Guangdi kowtowed again and again, "Yes." Kangxi sighed and said, "I see that you are full of face, but you must cherish yourself." When I am employing people in front of me, I want to retain them, what do you think? Li Guangdi listened to it and said hurriedly: "It is difficult for the minister to obey the edict!" The old father suddenly died, the white-haired old mother leaned on the Lu and looked at each other, and the ministers were in chaos, how could they plan and serve the country? After saying that, tears had already burst out of his eyes.

"Okay, loyal ministers are filial sons, I won't stop you." Kangxi was silent for a long time, and said, "You and Chen Menglei are both very important courtiers of mine, and the two of you have a good friendship, I want to simply fulfill you and let Chen Menglei go back with you, first, to help you take care of the funeral, and secondly, Chen Menglei can also go home to have a look, and make an errand for me - Chen Menglei, are you willing?" ”

The title of the gold list, returning to his hometown by order, which reader doesn't want to? It was so overwhelming. Chen Menglei was stunned at first, and hurriedly kowtowed and replied: "The minister is favored by the emperor, and he dares not to remember his heart, in order to repay the service!" - But I don't know how? ”

"At the moment, when the situation is changing, nothing is enough, and if there is something, it is not a trivial matter." Kangxi's pupils emitted a bright light, "Your Fujian is located in the corner of the sea, with Taiwan in the east and the three feudatories in the west, it is a land of right and wrong, I intend to let you go back to contribute to the imperial court, but what is wrong and how to do it, I can't say it for a while." ”

"Dare to ask the Holy Lord," Li Guangdi kowtowed, "In case things change in the world, can the ministers find an errand with Geng Fan?" ”

"Menglei can, you can't." Kangxi said, "You are a person who guards the system, an ominous body-you understand?" ”

"Minions understand!" Both of them replied busily.

Kangxi got up and walked to the side to pick up a few words and handed them to Chen Menglei, and said with a smile: "These silver let Fan Chengmo take it from the treasury, and said that it was given to Li Guangdi for funerals, if it is not enough, just ask for it again!" ”

"Three hundred thousand taels!" Chen Menglei glanced at the note, couldn't help but be surprised, gasped and asked, "With such a large amount, Master Fan is afraid that it may not be ......."

"He'll give it for sure!" Kangxi smiled, "If Fan Chengmo is a stupid person, I won't send him back to Fujian!" ”

After Li Guangdi and Chen Menglei retreated, Xiong Cixu, who had been puzzled, snorted for a moment and asked, "Holy Lord, the imperial court is short of silver salary, why don't you transfer this silver to fill the treasury?" ”

Kangxi suddenly laughed loudly: "You old master, you are too broad!" I expect that Fan Chengmo will definitely hand over all the silver to Li Guangdi! ”

"It's just that people's hearts are unpredictable! ......" Mingzhu had already understood what Kangxi meant, and said thoughtfully, "In case these two people forget their righteousness when they see profit......"

"What do you have to say before you understand?" Kangxi frowned and sighed, "If Fujian is safe, 10 million silver is worth it!" If Li Guangdi and they are villains, they will not be able to escape the law of the king of me; If Li Guangdi is a gentleman, wouldn't it be good to use this money to restrain Geng Jingzhong? Before the removal of the feudal domain, the more money they had there, the better! ”

This is a very thorough statement, it is not the money of the imperial court, and it is indeed a stone to count birds with one stone if you use his fist to smash his eye.

"We have too little money and too little food, too little." Kangxi looked overwhelmed with emotion. In dealing with a large number of military and government affairs these days, he feels most stretched in this regard: Grain and money must come from the people, but the grain-producing areas in the north, such as Zhili, Shandong, Shanxi, and Henan, are still small in the land and unable to cultivate. Kangxi thought about it, and muttered in his mouth: "The piano is out of tune, what can I do?" ”

Zhou Peigong, who was standing on the side, thought that Kangxi was asking himself, so he hurriedly bowed down and replied: "The piano is not tuned, when the strings are changed, then play again!" ”

"But the string is broken!" Kangxi's heart moved, and he spread his hands and said.

"Jiao Tong is still here, why worry about the clear sound of the continuous strings?"

"I'm in a hurry, there's no string to continue!" Kangxi smiled bitterly, and Mingzhu, Xiong Cilu and Suo Etu next to him couldn't help but be stunned when they saw the two of them suddenly talking Zen, and even Wei Dongting, who had just stepped into the door, stood aside inexplicably.

Zhou Peigong couldn't figure out what Kangxi meant for a while, and asked in surprise: "The phoenix tail is full of Xiaoxiang, why worry about the strings of the bamboo without silk?" ”

"It's difficult!" Kangxi breathed a sigh of relief, nodded and motioned for Wei Dongting to stand back, and said, "Our monarchs and ministers are well fed, do you know what the people are like?" Suo Etu said that the twelve pictures painted by Jiang Yi were to ridicule the imperial court, but I don't think so! There are refugees, prisons, children, floods, and droughts...... What's not true? I've seen some of them myself! Don't apologize, you can walk out of Gyeonggi and see that there are so many fields, how many people are there who cultivate? This cultivator is my silk and bamboo string! ”

I see! Zhou Peigong bit his lip and muttered for a long time, and said loudly: "The minister has a strategy, why not issue an edict to prohibit women from binding their feet, and the number of people working in the fields will soon increase by half!" ”

"Woman's foot?" Wei Dongting was listening and felt that his proposition was a bit unbelievable, and he couldn't help but say, "Isn't that contrary to the ancient precepts?" ”

"How can there be such an ancient precept!" Xiong Cilu sneered, "Women's foot binding is a late Tang Dynasty mysticism, and the fallacy has been passed down for thousands of years, and its harm is not shallow. At a time when there are many people in this field, if the Lord can issue an edict strictly prohibiting women's foot binding, it will not only be easy to implement, but also have great merit in future generations. ”

"Good!" Kangxi was very happy, this is just an edict, it doesn't cost a penny, it is not only beneficial to the present, but also can be praised for future generations, why not? Moreover, Manchu women have never bound their feet, and in the past few years of entering the customs, some of them have followed suit and wrapped their feet. Rather than even "sinicizing", it is better to force the Han woman to "Manhua" and block the mouth of the pro-noble father, lest they say that they are "towards the Han people". He couldn't help laughing: "I can't see that you Zhou Peigong still have such talent!" Okay, go down and draw up another edict for me to see. ”

"Wow!"

After saying it for so long, Kangxi felt a little tired, stood up and stretched his body, and said to Wei Dongting with a smile: "Are you on duty again today?" Seeing that Zhou Peigong was about to kneel down, he hurriedly said, "You don't have to rush back to Tuhai in the military department, I still have something to do." You and Xiao Weizi go out with me to relax. As he spoke, he paced out with his hands behind his back.

"I don't know where the emperor wants to relax?" In front of the Qianqing Gate, Wei Dongting took a few steps closer to Kangxi's back and asked. Kangxi stood still, turned around and asked, "Is Wu Yingxiong's home far from here?" Zhou Peigong, who was following behind, was shocked and stopped. Wei Dongting was startled, and hurriedly replied: "It's not far away, it's in Shihu Hutong in Xuanwu Gate—don't you want to go to his house?" ”

"That's when I think of his house." Kangxi laughed.

Zhou Peigong hurriedly stepped forward and said with a smile: "What is the emperor's will, even if you order the minions, the minions will pass on the decree......"

"Look at the two of you, what kind of thing is Wu Yingxiong, who worshiped such a big force at the beginning!" Kangxi laughed, "I and Xiao Weizi and four or five of them have also been to Aobai Mansion!" ”

Wei Dongting recalled that time to visit the Ao Mansion, shivered from the bottom of his heart, and then said, "I almost didn't scare the slave to death that time!" At that time, the long knife was found under his pillow, and the minion was covered in hair—but he couldn't turn his face! ”

"You minion has already turned his face, and he still asks people 'what do you mean', and now you will talk about it again!" Kangxi said with a smile, sighed again and said, "I am the king of all vehicles, why do I want to go into danger?" However, you must know that Wu Sangui's seal for the withdrawal of the feudal domain has arrived in Beijing, and he can't help but comfort him. Take Zhou Peigong to go, but also to let you see the descendants of this vassal king. ”

"Me?" Zhou Peigong said in surprise.

"You!" Kangxi nodded steadily, and lightly stomped his slightly chilled foot, "Aren't you going to be a 'good defeat' general?" Not knowing oneself and not knowing the other is not the way to victory! ”

Wei Dongting went to Qianqingmen to call the wolf who was on duty, and ordered Su Lun and other guards to follow the escort from afar, before stepping back to prepare the horse. A group of four horsemen came out of the Forbidden City from Xihua Gate, and let the horses go straight to Xuanwu Gate. It was the middle of winter, the sky was clear and cold, the dead trees were inserted into the sky, and the horse's hooves were rattling. Kangxi, who had not been out of the palace for a long time, took a deep breath of clear air and asked Zhou Peigong with a smile: "Why are the chopping blocks ringing in the two pedestrians on the same street?" ”

Zhou Peigong shook his head on the horse and said, "The slave doesn't know. ”

"Pei Gong is from the south, so naturally he doesn't know." Wei Dongting said with a smile, "Today's winter solstice, not big or small, is a solar term, 'don't eat dumplings on the winter solstice, freeze off the roots of your ears' - everyone is chopping meat filling!" ”

Kangxi couldn't help but smile: The common people can eat dumplings during the holidays, and they can't help but say that political affairs are gradually rising! When I came out at this time two years ago, this area was full of begging, interceding, playing lotus flowers, singing, and children with grass labels. It's only been more than two years, and there are meat shops, seafood and fresh fish shops, tea shops, wine shops, ready-to-wear shops, jade jewelry shops, paper shops, stationery shops, blacksmith shops...... Although the 36 lines are not complete, they are all coarse and large-scale, like a thriving faction. If there is no war in the south, the sword is forged into a plowshare, and the war is turned into a jade silk, and it will change again in a few years. He's only eighteen years old, so how much can he do! Kangxi couldn't help but feel hot when he thought about it, and was about to say something, when the wolf beside him raised his whip and said, "It's Wu Eyu's mansion ahead!" ”