Just when Wu Mingdao was concentrating on cultivation in the Peach Blossom Immortal Mansion, Wu Xiangshan and his party were also taken to the capital by Zhang Chongwen.

Looking at the pedestrians coming and going and the commercial markets in the capital, Wu Mingli, Wu Nianci and the three children who changed their names to Wu Nianzhen on the way to Beijing all looked a little scared. "Daddy, Daddy." Wu Mingli shouted to Wu Xiangshan in Wu Xiangshan's arms, Wu Mingli, who was more than a year old, couldn't say much, but looking at Wu Mingli's eyes full of fear, Wu Xiangshan felt distressed for a while.

The two sisters, Wu Nianci and Wu Nianzhen, also hid timidly behind Liu. Wu Xiangshan looked at his son and daughter lovingly, and said comfortingly: "It's okay, you have an uncle who is an official in the capital, and my father will look for him later." ”

Zhang Chongwen on the side looked indifferently at Wu Xiangshan, who was comforting his children, and sneered: "Brother Wu, such trivial matters should be handled by this official, is it possible that Brother Wu still can't trust this official?" ”

Wu Xiangshan looked up with a gloomy face and looked at Zhang Chongwen, and after a few breaths, he couldn't help but bow his head and sigh, as a businessman, Jia Wu Xiangshan knew the truth that "people are under the eaves and have to bow their heads". In such a situation, the possibility of contacting Meng Song was very small, and he said that sentence just now, on the one hand, he wanted to comfort the frightened children, and on the other hand, he was just trying to be tempted.

In fact, the failure of the temptation is not something that Wu Xiangshan is worried about, as for Zhang Chongwen may deliberately say something unfavorable to Meng Song, Wu Xiangshan is not the most worried.

Wu Xiangshan is most worried about the role that Meng Song played in this matter. If the Wu Mansion was held hostage this time because the imperial court found out about Wu Mingdao and Qingyunzong, then at least there was one Meng Song in the capital who could rely on it to mediate one or two. But if this matter itself was Meng Song telling the emperor, and the emperor had this plan or added this link to the original plan, then Wu Mansion would really be helpless in this huge capital.

Zhang Chongwen first placed Wu Xiangshan's family in an inn in the capital, and sent some officers and soldiers to guard the door of the guest room where they lived and the door of the inn.

In the evening, there was a noise outside the guest room, Wu Xiangshan only thought that Zhang Chongwen had called Meng Song, and he was very nervous but still a little lucky.

However, no one came in for a while, and the noise outside the door gradually subsided. Wu Xiangshan was a little strange, opened the door and wanted to take a look, but as soon as the door opened, all the officers and soldiers outside the door became small officials dressed in straight bodies, and not far away there was a leader wearing a pointed hat, white leather boots, brown clothes, and a small silk tie sitting in the lobby under the stairs drinking tea.

Seeing that a small official came over, Wu Xiangshan hurriedly closed the door and wiped the cold sweat on his head. Seeing her husband like this, Liu was also shocked, and hurriedly stepped forward to ask, "But what's wrong?" What was the noise outside? ”

Wu Xiangshan settled down, looked at his son Wu Mingli, who was fiddling with gadgets on the bed, and his daughter who was playing with Wu Mingli, beckoned Liu to the corner of the room, and whispered: "It's a big deal!" I just looked outside, do you know who is guarding us? ”

Liu asked in horror, "Who is it?" ”

Wu Xiangshan said again: "It's Dongchang Fanzi!" ”

"Ahh Liu almost didn't stop hearing this, forcibly held back, and then the soles of his feet were weak and almost fell to the ground.

Wu Xiangshan hurriedly helped Liu, and when he saw that his children were playing in bed, he didn't notice this, so he quietly helped Liu to the table and sat on the stool.

The full name of the East Factory of the Great Zhou Dynasty is the East Investigation Factory, which arose in the third year of Emperor Wuchang of the Great Zhou Dynasty. It is said that when a strange knight with a white face and beard, Dongfang Sheng, broke into the palace at night, and no one on duty found out about it, so this person recommended himself in front of Taizu, and Emperor Taizu was surprised that he could promise his official position.

Later, this person presented the original exercise "Huayang Heart Sutra", and Emperor Taizu accepted this exercise as the basis for it, and founded the East Factory as the inner court arm, and only recruited eunuchs into it. However, later an official wrote, "Dongfang Sheng blasphemed the emperor's prestige, and the crime of trespassing into the palace is not punishable." Emperor Taizu was forced to order Dongchang to arrest Dongfang Sheng and behead him at noon. Later, Dongchang became a sharp weapon for supervising, arresting, and interrogating hundreds of officials, and the people laughed at it.

"Are we really going to die?" Liu's face was sad, and he choked up and said a sentence, and Wu Xiangshan couldn't speak for a long time.

"Meng Xianggong, I brought it to Jingshi, and now I am in an inn under the care of Dongchang." On the other side, Zhang Chongwen came to Meng's Mansion and was taken to the study by his subordinates, and saw Meng Song who was writing something.

At this time, Meng Song looked like an old man, not at all like an official in his fifties, with white hair and furrows on his face. The thick white eyebrows and two deep nasolabial folds all reflect the character characteristics of this person who does not rub sand in his eyes.

"Well, you did a good job." Meng Song said a word without saltiness, but he still buried his head in writing there, without glancing at Zhang Chongwen.

Zhang Chongwen didn't dare to move or speak, so he could only continue to bend down respectfully and wait. After a while, Meng Song finally put down his pen and said casually: "Why are you standing, sitting there." He pointed to the chair in the study.

Zhang Chongwen secretly rubbed his waist and sat on the chair, but before his ass could sit firmly, he heard "Chongwen!" He was startled again for a while, and continued to bend down and arch his hand: "The lower official is here." ”

Meng Song said again: "Just sit and talk." What do you think of the physical condition of Wu Xiangshan's family, and is there any problem because of the rush? ”

Zhang Chongwen replied respectfully: "Back to Xianggong, the Wu family is very strong, and even the three children don't cry or make trouble along the way. ”

Meng Song was happy in his heart, but his face was restrained, and he said in his heart: "Brother Wu is really a 'living dragon and a tiger', and he has only been with Nian Ci for a few years, and he has added two younger ones. Meng Song pretended to be silent for a long time, and said, "You must take care of the Wu family, otherwise it will affect Your Majesty's major affairs." "Zhang Chongwen can only be called yes." Okay, you step down, this errand is good, this official will help you with a little bit from the ministry. ”

Zhang Chongwen was overjoyed, and hurriedly saluted, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, today's great grace, Chongwen will inevitably be inscribed in the five." ”

Afterwards, Meng Song asked him to step back and meditate alone in the study. From the changes in Meng Song's appearance, it can be seen that he has not had a good time these years, and when it comes to this, I have to start with the little emperor of the Great Zhou.

The current emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty is named Ying Yuanlie, who ascended the throne at the age of ten, and did not pro-government until he was sixteen years old when he went to Qingyunzong to ask for his life for the people.

Now Ying Yuanlie is only twenty-five years old, and his heart is not yet mature, and in the face of a big mess in the country, he recalled Meng Song to the capital to deal with the problem of immortals. When Meng Song returned to the capital and saw that the twenty-year-old young emperor was so careless, he hurriedly advised, and finally agreed to his basic policy of "stabilizing internal affairs to ward off external troubles" after many persuasions.

Meng Song was not disappointed, and as soon as he arrived in the capital, he quickly began to purge the officialdom, crowding and excluding various interest groups, dividing and disintegrating, and it took three years to clarify the rule of officials. Subsequently, the government implemented a light levy and a small levy, clearly stipulating that the people should pay taxes, and not allowing officials to arbitrarily levy miscellaneous taxes and apportionment them at will, so as to gradually stabilize the turbulent domestic situation.

Later, the emperor summoned Meng Song again and talked about getting rid of the shackles and expelling the immortals, seeing Meng Song's face was embarrassed, Long Yuanlie was quite dissatisfied, "Didn't Mr. tell me about the plan to fight the immortals before returning to Beijing?" Why did you back down at the end of the day? ”

Meng Song said in a straight manner: "The disaster of the immortals is the freezing of three feet and not the cold of a day, if Your Majesty can't calm down and slowly figure it out, the ministers are shallow in their studies and can't take on this great responsibility." ”

In the end, after several consultations, the emperor and Meng Song decided on the strategy and policy of "reducing the gold and silver offerings year by year, drastically reducing the incense offerings on the grounds of the difficult state affairs, and then making plans to provoke the righteous and demonic rivalries with the outside world".

Most of the grasslands in Dameng, and the grassland people have believed in the grassland "immortality" since ancient times, but since the Peach Blossom Sect entered Dameng, killing millions of people and forcing the worship of the Peach Blossom Sect as the "state religion", since then the grassland people dare to be angry but dare not speak. It is also for this reason that Meng Song has been trying to communicate with Dameng, although Dameng was initially moved, but still did not agree, the reason is that although Dameng has been intensifying natural disasters over the years, he has relied on the strong soldiers to plunder the wealth of Da Zhou to feed himself.

So Meng Song actively prepared for war, sent brave and brave generals to garrison the border passes, several battles in Dameng did not get benefits, and because of the continuous natural disasters in the country led to the boiling of public resentment, the people were unwilling to continue to fight and the treasury was increasingly losing, the Emperor of Dameng and the upper nobles had no choice but to secretly negotiate with Da Zhou, and finally reached an agreement.

Meng Song thought he could breathe a sigh of relief, but one day when the emperor summoned him, he mentioned Wu Mingdao from Xiangfu County and asked Meng Song if he knew. Meng Song knew in his heart that this was the emperor's temptation of him, and the emperor must have sent Dongchang to find out the details and interpersonal contacts of the Wu family, so Meng Song could only answer the call.

Later, the emperor mentioned plotting against Wu Mingdao, and Meng Song had to say that he had tried unsuccessfully before returning to the capital alone. The emperor said with pity: "Could it be that with the identity of a little disciple of the Qingyun Sect, I can't invite his father." Meng Song was already overworked, and he fainted in a moment's urgency.

When Meng Song woke up, he found that the emperor had sent someone to Xiangfu County to put the Wu family under house arrest in the capital. Meng Song saw that the wood was already in the boat, so he had no choice but to write an urgent letter and send it to Zhang Chongwen, the current county magistrate of Xiangfu County, asking him to "act cautiously" and let him stay in the capital as an official.

Meng Song's heart is still a little guilty about Wu Xiangshan, when he left Xiangfu County, he promised Wu Xiangshan not to involve Wu Mingdao, but it backfired, although it didn't have much to do with him when things came to such a field, but it was inevitable that he would be a little uneasy. "I don't know if the two of us will be able to drink and talk happily again when Brother Wu sees me."

As everyone knows, what Meng Song thinks in his heart is actually what Wu Xiangshan thinks in the inn.