Just after the New Year's Festival, the new beginning of the year, Jinyang City has not yet broken free from the peaceful atmosphere, the pedestrians on the street are endless, the cars and horses are noisy, the children chase each other and play, and they are running around with each other, and a picture of a peaceful life is slowly opened in front of them......

But not everyone can experience this comfort and leisure, for a part of Jinyang City, no matter how festive the atmosphere can not dilute the clouds shrouded in their hearts, in a certain box of a restaurant near Jinyang Liufang, the fire in the stove is burning, the rolling heat wave will bake the snow on the window edge, and the water drops down the small wooden building, the layout of the pavilion is quite luxurious, the place is secluded, the bead curtain hangs down, the reason why this luxurious restaurant will open in such an inconspicuous area, It is entirely because it is not a profit per se, it is a meeting place run by a powerful family alone, everyone sits according to their own seats, there are women hidden behind the bead curtain to play the guqin, the vocal music is like gurgling water, but no one has the heart to watch it. Everyone has their own hearts and worries...... Everyone's face was gloomy and about to wring out water......

"That's enough, you guys go down first......" Duan Xiaoyan waved his hand and repelled the musician, these sounds made him feel distracted and upset, he took a sip of tea, the leaves gradually stretched out in the light brown water waves, there was no heat for a long time, the tea was full of bitterness, just like his mood at this moment, he paused for a long time, and then said: "...... Zu Ting's old dog, there is another move today, he has written a recital, which has been submitted to the cabinet for discussion, and suggests that His Majesty and the right minister should select the remaining officials according to the evaluation of the officials in previous years......"

Everyone was in an uproar, and one of the young men dressed as nobles in a shirt said in surprise: "Is the news true?" ”

Duan Xiaoyan nodded, and said with a somewhat gloomy expression: "The cabinet didn't plan to cover the news, it was confirmed early, I heard that the current gang of guys is deciding the vote, and there is a high probability of passing......

Some of these people here are happy and some are worried, and they naturally don't have to worry about good performance evaluations, but most of the people present are the children of the Six Towns Xunmen, and they don't know what level of their political achievements have reached. So some of them began to be indignant, and said angrily: "The surname Zu and the surname Zheng and the surname Zhao ...... These Confucian students, are they trying to force us to a dead end? I waited for my fathers and ancestors to work hard for the country, and this is why we have the shadow of today...... They want to control government affairs, then it's up to them, why do they have to kill everything, our family has also shed blood for the country! ”

In the past, the ministers of the Six Towns actually rarely took charge of the army in person now, most of them were in the name of generals, but in fact they took a relatively peaceful civilian road, and the further they pushed, the fewer people who could fight tough battles.

Even if it is a large-scale withdrawal to the civil service system, but the political level of the descendants of these lords is really worrying, most of them rely on the shadow of their ancestors to operate the official positions, hiding in various real power departments or Qingshui Yamen, before the rectification of the court situation, the operation of Daqi has been stirred by these people who do not understand government affairs, after the rectification, the lords gradually lost the right to speak in government affairs, but they still occupy a considerable proportion of the court situation, but now, they are even an empty shell is difficult to maintain……

has been forced to retreat to the river, thinking that the emperor will stop there, but no, the battle of Fenzhou has just ended, and before everyone can stop and take a breath, the cabinet has already turned the knife handle in a direction, to drive these people standing on the edge of the river into the river and drown! Yes, for some of the Lords, the Cabinet is driving them to a dead end!

These days, they are panicked, indignant, constantly shooting, mobilizing all relations to contain the cabinet, so that they suspend the arrangement, but to no avail, the high efficiency of the cabinet allows it to operate steadily even if it loses the support of more than half of the departments of the imperial court, and the officials under the six ministries are firmly held in the palm of their hands, and this institution is still as stable as Mount Tai even if it does not have the support of the emperor.

Of course, it's not that no one has ever had a crooked mind, but then they all dispelled it...... Jinyang is in the hands of the forbidden army camp, even if someone wants to riot, it is very likely that it will be suppressed before it is launched. Fu Fu and Murong Sanzang and Gao Yanzong are not good at stubble, for a long time in a stable life, the six towns have long lost the sharp spirit of licking blood from the knife edge and fighting a hundred battles, and the rebellion will not get a group response, and it is difficult to cry alone, and no one dares to risk this with their entire family's lives......

Of course, the emperor doesn't care about the feelings of the little nobles, but what about those high-ranking and powerful ministers? Could it be that if they come forward, His Majesty will also treat it as air and ignore their suggestions?

Everyone's eyes have moved to Duan Xiaoyan, now the most powerful Xunmen family in Northern Qi is none other than the Duan family and the Hu Lu family, Duan Xiaoyan is the younger brother of Duan Shao, the first monarch Qinfeng's Bacheng County Marquis, successively served as the Kaifu Yitong Three Divisions, Duzhi Shangshu, Ministry Shangshu, Qizhou Thorn History, Taichang Siqing, and Shizhong dignitaries, with a deep foundation, many party members, and backed by the big tree of the Duan family, he is the hardest in the background among all the people present.

This time, Duan Xiaoyan also suffered heavy losses in this power purge, except for the position of servant, all other positions of power were deprived of everything, up and down the country, hundreds of Kaifu Yi and the three divisions, all of them were deprived of local governance, how could he Duan Xiaoyan be an exception? Without the right to open the government and the loss of his position in the court, Duan Xiaoyan's political status plummeted, and he could no longer use it to reap enough benefits for himself.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

One person's eyes became brighter and brighter, and he felt that this was a good breakthrough, so he got up and bowed his hand to Duan Xiaoyan, and said:

"Dazai has been rumored to be unwell these days, can you introduce us to Dazai?"

"Ha, you want to persuade my eldest brother to help?" Duan Xiaoyan saw through his thoughts, shook his head, and said with a wry smile: "Don't bother thinking about it, now my eldest brother's house is closed, and he has already spoken, and no one has seen him...... How can you make an exception and let him look up to him? Big brother, he did this, and it was clear that he was telling everyone that he didn't want to go this way, and he couldn't get ......! ”

Everyone looked at each other, Duan Xiaoyan's tone implied resentment, it seemed that what he said was true, and some people immediately couldn't hide their disappointment, and said: "Zuo Xiang is not in the court, even if he is, he will not offend His Majesty for us at this time...... But, but Duan Dazai is the backbone of our six towns! For so many years, we have given soldiers to soldiers, and we have continued to give orders, even when the court could not afford to pay money, we have never complained about anything...... There are 300,000 Jinyang troops, have you caused chaos to him over the years? He...... How could he bear to sit idly by now? ”

Everyone was silent for a while, this person is a marginal figure of the Xunmen family, otherwise they wouldn't be unclear about these details, it is true that the six towns Xianbei claims to have hundreds of thousands of armor, but how many people are really willing to fight for the imperial court and have fought? Their essence is mercenaries, the Emperor of the Gao family raises them on weekdays, but it doesn't mean that they can be mobilized by transferring, they can't afford to pay money, and those generals will not be sent out if they are a soldier, if these armoured 300,000 troops can really be called at any time, how can Daqi be so embarrassed by the Zhou army?

If it weren't for this, when the Northern Zhou and Turkic armies joined forces to press the border, Hu Luguang and Gao Changgong would not only take 50,000 people south to resist the 200,000 troops of the Zhou army, seeing that Luoyang was about to fall into the hands of the enemy, Duan Shao would only take a thousand Xianbei Baibao to aid Hu Luguang, if it weren't for Duan Shao quickly seizing the occupation and commanding the Battle of Bishan, which turned the tide of the war in one fell swoop.

It is also ridiculous to say, when Gao Huan and Gao Yang were alive, every winter, the Zhou army desperately chiseled the ice on the surface of the Fen River to prevent the Qi army from stepping in.

Daqi, who has the essence of the world and hundreds of thousands of Xianbei warriors, how could he fall to this point and be beaten on the head by the weak west? In the past, everyone took the initiative to ignore the problem of avoidance, but now it inevitably comes to mind......

In the past, people felt that it was the first emperor Gao Zhan's preference for luxury, which made the world come to this point, and the country was in decline, but people with a heart only need to think about it, Wenxiang and Xiaozhao are not not committed to reform, but Daqi is still inevitably going downhill, a big stone is blocked there, hindering the wise Gao ancestors, and this big stone has been there since Gao Huan established the Eastern Wei Dynasty...... Wrong, is it the ...... of Six Towns?

Then what will Your Majesty do with the wrong affairs? Is it twisted...... Still is...... Radical eradication?

The sky shone in obliquely, there were no candles in the dark attic, and in this secluded street market, the snow on the side of the road was swept to both sides of the road, and there was no sign of melting, and there were children running giggling...... Everyone's hearts were wrapped in the fear of the unknown future, no one paid attention to these trivial things, in the dead silence, the table beside Duan Xiaoyan shook, the tea cup overturned, the tea soaked the sleeves, his expression was a little hideous, and he got up and said: "They can't be relied on, we have to rely on ourselves...... It's up to us...... Will we be less powerful? We are the Six Towns Lord! Your Majesty will not ignore our attitude, you will not ......"

He tried hard to convince himself, and suddenly raised his head and said, "Ants bite more elephants!" We all have clansmen, relatives and friends, and we will fight for all the people we can...... I don't believe it, can this Rausch's cabinet really withstand the pressure of so many people? We don't need to do anything specifically, but we have to build momentum in a short period of time, and the bigger the better! ”