——Since Li Longji called Xiao Jiangyuan a "general" in public, from the crown prince to the courtiers and soldiers, they have all found their own honorific title for Xiao Jiangyuan. In the Tang Dynasty, brother and brother also have the meaning of father, Xiao Jiangyuan is an elder who has been close to the prince and even the prince and princess since childhood, and he is also a celebrity around the monarch's father, the prince calls her "second brother", the prince and princess call her "Ah Weng", and the concubine directly calls her "Grandpa".

This title sounds intimate, but in fact it is more respectful than an honorific title, which greatly elevates Xiao Jiangyuan's actual status. Xiao Jiangyuan once thought that this was just a politeness for the sake of the face of the Son of Heaven, but when he heard it today, he heard a little bit of true feelings.

She suddenly felt a tightness in her chest, and her heart felt a slight pain as if she was being pulled by something.

This feeling was so strange that she was at a loss, and she was a little afraid of such an unknown, so she hurriedly took a deep breath and asked softly, "What about the saint?" ”

The crown prince Li Hong shook his head.

Xiao Jiangyuan asked Bian Lingcheng to come over, only to learn that Li Longji was actually at Concubine Wu Hui at the moment.

Feeling that the clothes were being slowly grasped by the crown prince Li Hong, Xiao Jiangyuan's heart sank slightly.

Even from today onwards, you can enjoy the treatment of all queens, as long as you can't fulfill the obligations and duties of the queen for a day, you can only be a concubine for a day. Concubine Wu Hui was uneasy after all, and she was so emotional that she fainted.

The imperial doctor has already gone to diagnose it, but I don't know what the result is.

Now that the dust has settled on Concubine Zhao Li's side, there is no need for him to be suspenseful.

Xiao Jiangyuan suddenly felt unwilling, and gently patted the crown prince Li Hong's shoulder: "Your Highness, the old slave will come when he goes." ”

When she arrived at Concubine Wu Hui, she found Wang Maozhong standing outside the palace. She bowed uprightly, and went straight to enter, but was stopped by Wang Maozhong with an outstretched arm: "Concubine Hui is pregnant, the saint is overjoyed, look at your plain clothes, you must have come from Concubine Zhao Li, right?" Then there is no need to go in, the saint doesn't want to hear everything about Concubine Zhao Li. ”

"Did the sage let Wang Kaifu stop Xiao here?"

At the foot of Mount Tai, Li Longji added a special entry to Wang Maozhong because of his meritorious work in raising horses, and opened the palace with the three divisions from a product. Li Longji only had four Kaifu in his dynasty, except for Yao Chong, Song Jing and Li Longji's father-in-law Wang Renjiao, Wang Maozhong.

"Not really." Wang Maozhong hugged his arms and said, "Coincidentally, I heard that the saint had set up three concubines, and I was going to come over to congratulate him, but just in time for the news of Concubine Zhao Li's death came out, so I changed my route to comfort the saint, and just in time for the saint to leave Concubine Zhao Li's mourning hall." When the saint saw that it was me, he asked me to accompany me, and I realized that General Xiao, you were not with the saint......"

Too lazy to listen to Wang Mao Zhong's chatter, Xiao Jiangyuan interrupted: "Since it is not the order of the saint, Wang Kaifu should not fake the holy decree." ”

After speaking, she ignored him, took a detour to continue entering the hall, and heard Wang Maozhong say behind her: "As soon as I saw the saint like that, I knew that he escaped from Concubine Zhao Li." ”

“…… Escape? Xiao Jiangyuan immediately stood on his feet.

"Not bad." Wang Maozhong smiled mockingly, "General Xiao has been accompanying the saint for many years, but he still doesn't know so much about the saint?" ”

"Naturally, it is not as good as Wang Kaifu's understanding."

"That's nature. I think that when I followed the saint back then, General Xiao was probably not even the face capital of Empress Zetian, right? ”

Xiao Jiangyuan thought about it seriously, and it seemed to be true. But she didn't say anything more, and walked through the temple with a smile in her eyes.

"You still dare to go in?" Wang Maozhong asked, "Don't blame me for not reminding you. ”

"When did Wang Kaifu have such kindness to Xiao? It's just for the sake of the saint, Xiao doesn't dare to accept such kindness. Xiao Jiangyuan took two steps and paused slightly, "Although Xiao is not as knowledgeable as Wang Kaifu about saints, Xiao must have more methods than Wang Kaifu." ”

Wang Maozhong wanted Xiao Jiangyuan to be deflated once, but he didn't want to make himself angry.

He really didn't have good intentions towards Xiao Jiangyuan, he just didn't want her to interfere with the saint's mood. Doesn't he understand the saint, when he has responsibility, life and death can be put aside, and when he doesn't have responsibility, he can protect himself better than anyone else, but he is the emperor, so he is naturally right.

was born with affection, and it is also considered to be affectionate, but he is too amorous to women. When people are dead, what is the use of feeling guilty? Could it be that if you flee from that place, without looking, mentioning, or thinking, the guilt will disappear into thin air? The things that made him feel guilty never happened at all?

She Xiao Jiangyuan would go if she wanted to, and it would be good to provoke the saint's anger.

is now active in the court and inside and outside the court, but only he and Xiao Jiangyuan are left. It's not as good as *, and see who can have the last laugh.

- Coincidentally, Xiao Jiangyuan also thinks so.

Over the years, Wang Maozhong has indeed been honest and diligent. Not to mention the birds and beasts used for fun in the stables, just talking about raising horses, the number of war horses in the country has doubled in the past ten years, which shows that he does have some ability. There are hundreds of thousands of war horses, and the expenses are very large, but Wang Maozhong is not only not corrupt himself, but his majesty is also extremely strict. He was also very good at management, saving a lot of money and grain for the treasury every year, and he could also make money from the horses that were lost every year, and he had 80,000 horses of silk a year.

Li Longji always appreciates those officials who can make money, such as Yu Wenrong, not to mention that war horses are related to military strength, Li Long basically plans to be martial arts after Wenzhi, so capable Wang Maozhong, how can he not let him be heavy?

In this way, not only did Li Longji's pimple with Wang Maozhong be roughly smoothed, but Wang Maozhong also became more and more favored because of his love for Li Longji since he was a child. If it's just that he has been tired of officials for many years and has been rewarded continuously, which favored minister is not like this, but he is not the same - Li Longji also gave him a wife.

Wang Maozhong originally had a wife, but the Tang Dynasty decree stipulates that a man can only have one wife, whether he takes a concubine as his wife or stops his wife and remarries, he is guilty. Li Longji made a special exception for him, and both wives were named Mrs. Guo, which is the only reward in the world.

After all, Xiao Jiangyuan is just a eunuch, and no matter how deep his foundation is, he is like duckweed on the water, and it is rare to be rich and noble. And Wang Maozhong is different, he can have children and grandchildren, and the descendants will form a family, if the descendants are angry, they can become a high-ranking family in a few generations, and Wang Maozhong is good friends, and it is very likely that they will last for a long time from generation to generation. Therefore, although Xiao Jiangyuan is respected by hundreds of officials, he is not as noble as Wang Maozhong and has a stable power.

The most important thing is that whether it is the 16 guards of the Southern Yafu in the past, or the Northern Ya Forbidden Army since the conscription system, Wang Maozhong is very open, as if he has become a force of his own. Even in the past, they also contributed to Li Longji, and now Ge Fushun and Chen Xuanli, who are responsible for leading the troops, are more inclined to Wang Maozhong between the two.

This is not Xiao Jiangyuan's private matter alone.

Although Li Longji trusts Wang Maozhong, and even trusts the soldiers who are good friends with Wang Maozhong, how can the loyalty of his courtiers be maintained only by feelings?

- Love, it is really the most unpredictable thing in this world.

Even Zhang Shuo was inevitably blinded by the merit and the favor of the Son of Heaven, and changed his previous caution and became public, how could Wang Mao Zhong avoid vulgarity? He thought that if he didn't embezzle, there would be no problem? He thought that he and Wan Cavalry had bullied men and women in recent years, didn't she know?

At present, Wang Maozhong dares to falsely preach the holy decree, and in the long run, if he changes his mind one day, Li Longji will be like being in a sea of swords and fires, and danger will arise.

Therefore, whether it is for public or private purposes, Xiao Jiangyuan must suppress Wang Maozhong, and if necessary, put him to death.

After all, if she wants to be a supreme minister, the courtiers may not get in the way, but Wang Maozhong must be a stumbling block.

After entering Concubine Wu Hui's bedroom, Xiao Jiangyuan saluted first, and then congratulated Concubine Wu Hui, without mentioning the matter of Concubine Zhao Li, only saying that the government was busy, the prime minister was initially decided, and there were many things waiting for Li Longji to deal with.

She didn't intend to mention it, because her plain clothes were better than all words.

How could Li Longji not understand what Xiao Jiangyuan meant, but he still said goodbye to Concubine Wu Hui and walked outside the hall with Xiao Jiangyuan, which surprised Wang Maozhong.

Xiao Jiangyuan led the way in front: "Do you know how much this hurts the prince's heart? ”

Li Longji snorted lightly: "If he is a filial son, he should understand his father's sentimentality, instead of asking me to do what he wishes - is it possible that he still expects me to posthumously crown his biological mother as the queen?" ”

Only when he is extremely weak in heart will Li Longji be so radical and anti-customer-oriented.

Even if he knew that these words were mostly angry words, Xiao Jiangyuan was still stopped by the coldness in it. As soon as she turned her head to look at Li Longji, she heard Wang Maozhong, who was following behind, say:

"Concubine Li passed away, and the saddest thing was the saint. And no matter that it should be the prince who came to comfort the saint at this time, General Xiao is the personal eunuch of the saint, why didn't he think about the saint too much, but spoke for the prince when he opened his mouth? ”

These words are heart-wrenching. Li Longji naturally knew the weight of his words, and hurriedly hugged Wang Maozhong's shoulders and said, "Ah Wang's words are very true. Obviously, I am the most sad person, the general does not pity me, but pities the prince, and those who don't know think that the prince is not right-hearted, and he dares to buy the personal eunuch of the monarch's father. The general should also pay more attention to his words and deeds, fortunately, I understand the general, if it is the suspicious emperor, the general is afraid that he is already a ghost at the moment. ”

- Is there anything you can't say in private?

Xiao Jiangyuan glanced at Wang Maozhong lightly and said no more.

She didn't lead Li Longji to Concubine Zhao Li. Wang Maozhong didn't want to bother Li Longji, so what did she think?

Seeing that Xiao Jiangyuan brought himself out, it was really just for state affairs, Li Longji couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. After the three of them entered the hall, Li Longji completely relaxed: "I heard that the lady I gave you recently gave birth to a son for you?" ”

Wang Maozhong said: "Exactly, three days later, it will be the full moon wine, and the slave originally wanted to invite Ah Lang to drink two glasses, but now it is inconvenient." ”

Li Longji nodded: "Although I can't get it, the ceremony will definitely arrive, but it will be a little late." After Concubine Li's funeral is over, your son will be a five-grade noble. ”

Li Longji procrastinated again and again, originally hoping to divert all the topics of Fang Cai, but he didn't want to say too many mistakes, so he still left himself a handle. After Wang Maozhong thanked him and left, Xiao Jiangyuan spoke: "Everyone, in the past, Zhang Youcheng's son-in-law Zheng Yi was not able to be a five-grade official, but now an ignorant child who has just landed can also be a five-grade official?" ”

Li Longji became much more confident in this matter: "Ah Wang is a house slave who has followed me a long time ago, and he is more trustworthy than others. Now that his war horses are very well raised, and the stables are well maintained, why not be rewarded for his merits? ”

"That being the case...... Xiao Jiangyuan thought for a while, and said shallowly, "The minister has followed everyone for many years, can he have an inch?" ”

Li Longji hurriedly said: "Why not stop an inch? You are the most deserved, and you are unsurpassed. ”

"Everyone just said that there is a reward for merit, but it still counts?"

"The Son of Heaven is a man of his word, and he naturally counts!" Li Longji suddenly had an ominous premonition in his heart, "...... What do you want? ”

Xiao Jiangyuan Shi Ran bowed down and arched his hand: "The minister wants to marry a wife." ”