After talking about the things about the north, the emperor kept Xu Minglang and talked about the old for a while, talking about the friendship and anecdotes between the two when the emperor was still in the East Palace.

The relationship between the monarch and the minister, in the laughter, seems to have been pulled in a lot.

Half an hour later, when Xu Minglang got up to leave, the emperor suddenly took his hand and said:

"I have just set up the Magistrate's Court, in order to purge the officialdom, supervise lawlessness, and give the people a clear future. Everything is ready now, but the newly established yamen does not have a significant principal.

"The student knew that Mr. was busy with political affairs, and he couldn't bear to let Mr. be too tired, but this yamen was handed over to someone else to manage, and I was not very relieved, so Mr. reluctantly put a name on him, how about taking charge of the Magistrate's Yuan?"

Xu Minglang was slightly stunned.

The yamen of the Magistrate's Yuan was newly established after Xiao Yan's incident and the collapse of the Pang Clan.

Although it is nominally for the purpose of supervising officials and playing the role of checking and filling in the gaps for the imperial history platform, after all, it has not really done anything, what the function is, and what the emperor wants to do with it, is still a mystery.

In this yamen, the current leading officials are not of high rank, and Tang Xing and Zhou Junchen, who were exceptionally promoted by the emperor, are the most statused existences.

Most of the officials in the magistrate's court were poor scholars, and in line with the principle of "power sharing", some big families put their children inside, and the emperor did not refuse.

At the moment, this seems to be a yamen with a low status, but not a lot of power, after all, the emperor attaches great importance to it. But letting the prime minister take care of it is still a big fuss.

What's more, Xu Minglang is just a "name".

That is to say, he does not care about specific affairs, and he may not even be able to manage it if he wants to, even if the Magistrate's Yuan has not been divided into six ministries, and it is very likely that he will be directly responsible to the emperor.

But the magistrate can rely on his authority, and if something goes wrong, he is also responsible.

"I would like to share your Majesty's worries. Xu Minglang did not refuse, the emperor was a "sir" and "student", and he had already received a lot of benefits tonight, so he couldn't refuse.

......

Zizhu Palace.

Zhao Yujie, who was a no-hand spoon, was deeply surprised when she heard the palace maid's report that the prime minister came to see her. Instructed the palace maid to let the prime minister in, put down the spoon and thought for a while, and then came to the main hall with a speculation in his heart.

After seeing the ceremony, the two sat down separately, and Zhao Yujie only left a henchman maid to serve, so that the other palace maids retreated.

"Why did the adults come to me?" Zhao Yujie personally served tea to Xu Minglang.

Taking the teacup, Xu Minglang smiled and said, "You have been in the palace for several months, why not come to visit the righteous daughter?"

Zhao Yujie smiled and said bluntly: "Of course the prime minister wants to come to Zizhu Palace, but if he can make it today, I'm afraid it was His Majesty who personally approved it, right?"

Xu Minglang was noncommittal, "Oh?"

"Zhao Qiyue is in charge of the harem, and the prime minister wants to come in, if he doesn't have His Majesty's permission, I'm afraid it's not so easy. ”

Xu Minglang nodded slightly, "That's true." As he spoke, he glanced at Zhao Yujie, "But do you know why His Majesty would agree to come over? If you can guess, the prime minister will really convince you." ”

Zhao Yujie took a sip of tea, put down the teacup, and said unhurriedly:

"Some time ago, although Your Majesty promoted me to the rank, he has not come to Zizhu Palace since then. Only in recent days, His Majesty has come frequently.

"If what I expected is correct, it should be the performance of the Zhao clan in the war in the north that makes His Majesty dissatisfied. ”

Xu Minglang wanted to speak and stopped, his face was embarrassed.

Zhao Yujie said with a smile: "Why should the prime minister be embarrassed? I can gain a firm foothold in this palace because of His Majesty's attitude towards the Zhao family."

"Your Majesty is close to the Zhao family, I will never come out, and I may even be unable to protect my life, only if Your Majesty is dissatisfied with the Zhao family, I can get his favor. ”

Xu Minglang sighed.

The emperor was able to let him come to see Zhao Yujie, which was an attitude in itself, expressing his closeness and favor, and his recognition of his behavior with Zhao Yujie to deal with Zhao's family.

Xu Minglang wanted to send Zhao Yujie, a "righteous daughter", into the palace, what his intentions were, how could the emperor not know. The emperor is willing to let Zhao Yujie enter the palace and further favor her, which is to let Xu Minglang let go of his hands and feet.

And in the eyes of the emperor, the queen, who is also backed by the family, is no different from Zhao Yujie.

Xu Minglang said with a solemn face: "After the Liu family and the Pang family fell one after another, and the Lu family and the Zheng family declined greatly, they were really disheartened for a while.

"Right now, Your Majesty asked me to let go of the Zhao clan and suppress Jiangmen again, although it is in line with what I think in my heart, I am not without doubts. ”

Speaking of this, he stopped and glanced at Zhao Yujie. At this point, if Zhao Yujie can understand what he means, he will continue to speak, if not, he will have no need to tell the other party.

Zhao Yujie's words made Xu Minglang stunned: "The prime minister is afraid that His Majesty will abandon you for the second time, right?"

"How do you know there's a first?"

"When I was in the Prime Minister's Mansion before, I didn't know anything. ”

"What?"

"The prime minister is already the first powerful minister of the dynasty, why does he still not know how to act without restraint, so he is not worried that His Majesty is jealous? ”

"Now you understand?"

"If it's not the stupidity of the prime minister, there is only one possibility. ”

"What is possible?"

"The prime minister will do whatever it takes to deal with Jiangmen, and it was His Majesty who instructed the prime minister!"

Xu Minglang opened his mouth, looking at Zhao Yujie's gaze was very complicated: "How do you know?"

The corners of Zhao Yujie's red mouth rose slightly, outlining a meaningful smile, bright and moving, highlighting the hills and valleys in her chest:

"If it weren't for this, how could the prime minister, who had been calling for wind and rain in the court for many years, languid because of a momentary setback, and didn't dare to act rashly again?

"The only thing that can make the prime minister tremble is to be betrayed by His Majesty and abandoned by His Majesty. ”

Xu Minglang looked at Zhao Yujie: "This conclusion is a bit arbitrary. ”

Zhao Yujie was not in a hurry, and said eloquently: "Over the years, Jiangmen has been suppressed so badly, losing the military department, losing many titles, losing countless official positions, and having an extra supervisor......

"The Zhao family is the first family of the Great Qi, and Zhao Xuanji is the governor of the capital, in the face of these major losses of vital interests, if it weren't for His Majesty's secret efforts, how could he have no way at all, how could he be completely unable to deal with it?

"Zhao Xuanji is not a soft persimmon, he is not a rice bucket, he is useless.

"The prime minister was able to suppress Zhao Xuanji so much that he couldn't raise his head, and he was able to smoothly implement a series of important policies, and get to the bottom of it, relying on His Majesty's support!"

Xu Minglang opened his mouth, but he couldn't speak for a while, looking at Zhao Yujie's eyes, there was both admiration and a trace of indelible jealousy, "How did you know this?"

Zhao Yujie gathered her sideburns and hair, still with that gentle and lovely, quiet and elegant appearance, as if she was not half aggressive:

"In the past few months, I haven't had much to do, not many places to go, and when my mind calms down, I will naturally think about a lot of things.

"In the process of the overturning of the Liu family and the Pang family, and the damage of the Zheng family and the Lu family, the reason why the Zhao family was able to be invincible was not that the people of the Zhao family suddenly became smart, nor how wise Zhao Ning's family was.

"Zhao Ning may indeed have some means, otherwise he wouldn't be able to find Xiao Yan, but these alone are not enough for him to subvert the overall situation of the power struggle at the upper level of the entire dynasty by himself!

"The Zhao family can defeat the prime minister during this time, so that the power of the family is greatly damaged, Zhao Xuanji can suppress the prime minister in the court, and the biggest reliance is His Majesty's secret support and help!

In this process, Zhao Ning can rise step by step, in the final analysis, it is just borrowing the east wind of the general trend. ”

Xu Minglang couldn't help but recall what the poor officials such as Tang Xing and Zhou Junchen did with Dali Temple in the Liu and Pang cases.

He actually didn't want to think about it, because it was these things that made him miserable and made him lose the majesty and weight of the first powerful minister of Great Qi.

He sighed: "If this is not the case, why would I tremble and be a man with my tail between my legs? It is this attitude of His Majesty that makes me afraid.

"You're right, since I became the prime minister, suppressing the gate and closing the military power is my core policy, and these are all instructed by Your Majesty!

"Your Majesty didn't say it explicitly, but that's what it meant.

"I am already the prime minister of the dynasty, the head of a hundred officials, without His Majesty's help, why should I spend so much energy to fight with the generals to the death, and be hated by so many generals?

"But the Liu, Pang and other cases began to make me think about whether His Majesty has changed his mind and no longer blindly suppresses Jiangmen, but in turn wants to take action against Mendi, so as to maintain the balance of the court. ”

Zhao Yujie removed the cold tea for Xu Minglang and replaced it for him: "The situation is stable, the civil and military balances are not static, but dynamic, the two sides have to fight each other, and the forces are eliminated."

"Since the incident in Shizhou last year, His Majesty's attitude has been biased towards Jiangmen, and he began to secretly support Jiangmen to counterattack Mendi.

"So His Majesty gave Zhao Ning 'Shooting the Condor' and 'Golden Silkworm Pill', and through a variety of hints, let the Zhao family, the leader of the gate, let go and fight back, and at the same time let the officials of the Hanmen cooperate with the Zhao family.

"And now, the power of the generals is too great, the Zhao family and the Yanmen army have made war exploits again, and all the generals are gearing up, preparing to counterattack the gate.

"Your Majesty reused the prime minister at this time, naturally seeing that the situation in the court was unbalanced, and was ready to suppress Jiangmen for the second time, so that the low-voiced and noisy men would stand up again.

"So I think the prime minister can do it right now. ”

Speaking of this, Zhao Yujie paused.

Last year's incident in Daizhou was a turning point in her fate, and she hadn't figured out how Zhao Ning had figured out their arrangements before.

Now she felt that she had figured it out, and it was all up to the emperor that the Zhao clan could do the impossible.

Xu Minglang took a sip of tea, pondered for a moment, and nodded.

Zhao Yujie continued: "If you want to move the officials of the family, you can't do it without a reason, before the door dealt with the generals, it was because the generals were in peacetime, the fighting spirit was lax, the army was not strict, and they were greedy and perverted the law, and their virtues were not cultivated.

"Jiangmen dealt with Mendi, relying on Mendi in the process of suppressing Jiangmen, becoming more and more arrogant, committing the mistake of framing Zhao, revealing many tricks, just giving them a chance to fight back.

"In addition, at present, the generals and the men have been cautious in their words and deeds, and there is no handle to grasp, at this time, if Your Majesty wants to deal with the generals again, a new breakthrough is needed. ”

Looking up at Xu Minglang, Zhao Yujie said: "If what I expected, the prime minister should have received a new errand, this errand is different from the previous errand." ”

Xu Minglang was stunned, thought about it carefully, and his eyes lit up, "There is indeed such an errand - the Magistrate's Court!"

"What is that for?" Zhao Yujie is now closed to news.

"It's not clear yet, but Your Majesty asked me to take care of it in the name of the person, but the person I use is a rising star from a poor family who is being valued by His Majesty right now. ”

Zhao Yujie showed a look of surprise, "It seems that the key to His Majesty's next deal with Jiangmen is on this magistrate's court, and the prime minister can use them with confidence." ”

Xu Minglang suddenly felt that Zhao Yujie's inference was not far from ten, no wonder the emperor wanted him to take charge of this yamen, which was not of high rank.

He looked at Zhao Yujie and shook his head, and said convincingly: "Shibei should be impressed for three days, your current intelligence is much higher than in the Prime Minister's Mansion." ”

"The prime minister doesn't have to praise me, if it weren't for the days when I was in the Prime Minister's Mansion, I would be just a singer now, where can I have the opportunity to come into contact with these, how can I understand these?" Zhao Yujie said humbly.

After finishing the matter, the two chatted for a while, and Xu Minglang got up to say goodbye.

When he walked out of the palace, Xu Minglang looked up at Qingtian and sighed.

He sighed a lot today.

He had to sigh.

The emperor first instigated him to deal with Jiangmen, and then secretly helped Jiangmen to fight back, and now let him suppress Jiangmen again, what is the purpose of this series of means?

It is to let the power of the family be consumed in the civil and military battles!