After a long time, Twelve followed the guards into the palace and arrived at the Qiankun Palace. In the Qiankun Palace, Emperor Xuanyu was sitting on the table, reviewing the chapters. Standing at the table were two elderly officials in official uniforms, one of whom was relatively tall and the other was very short. Two guards saluted, and one of the guards said, "Your Majesty, the twelfth is here." ”

Xuanyu nodded and said, "Okay, I know, you guys should retreat first." ”

After speaking, the two guards saluted the emperor again and retreated together.

When Twelve saw the emperor, he immediately knelt on the ground, bowed his head and said: "Twelve to meet the emperor, I don't know what happened when the emperor summoned me to the palace?" ”

Xuan Yu's face changed, and he said angrily: "I don't want to say it now, you kneel on the ground first, I have something to ask you!" ”

When Twelve heard this, he suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, and somehow angered Long Yan, the emperor would be so angry, he immediately kowtowed and said, "I don't know what Your Majesty wants to ask?" ”

Xuan Yu glanced at Twelve and continued, "I ask you, have you ever been to Pinghe City and Luyang City? Are you in league with the two candidates who wanted to assassinate me! ”

When Twelve heard this, his back felt cold, and he hurriedly replied: "Wronged, Your Majesty, I have never been to Pinghe City and Luyang City, and I didn't know those two assassin candidates before......"

Xuan Yu walked to his side and shouted: "You and those two assassins are brothers, and you dare to say that you don't know each other, are you still plotting with them how to assassinate me?" ”

Twelve bowed his head to the ground and said in fear: "How dare the little one conspire with them to assassinate His Majesty, even if it is to borrow a hundred small dares, I don't dare, I don't know whose slander Your Majesty has listened to, and even said that the little one also wants to assassinate His Majesty, and the little one is really wronged......"

When Xuan Yu heard this, he suddenly laughed and said, "Hurry up, I was joking with you just now, and I have investigated your life history." I called you here because I have something for you to do. ”

Twelve was already sweating to the end of his heels, and when he heard the emperor let him calm down again, he didn't know what the emperor meant for a while, and he scolded him angrily just now, why did he suddenly laugh again. He hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed, "Don't dare! Your Majesty has something to do for the little ones, please let me know. ”

Xuan Yu smiled: "Don't be afraid, I let you calm down, stand up and talk back!" ”

Twelve stood up nervously and said, "Yes! ”

Xuan Yu said solemnly: "Yesterday, the guards I sent to inspect the Horse Mansion overnight, but Wan Yan ran away. Now Wan Yan colluded with the city lord of Pinghe City, Yao Fuji, and also pulled in the city lord of Luyang City. The defense of the northern part of the empire is now a great threat because of them, and if they unite to rebel, it will put the empire in danger. Last night, I discussed with Zhengqi and Liangyu, the two prime ministers, for a whole night, and decided to assign a deputy general appointed by the imperial court in each of the two cities of Pinghe City and Luyang City. ”

When Twelve heard the emperor's words, he was puzzled again, and hurriedly asked: "I don't know why Your Majesty chose me, those two assassin candidates from Pinghe City have seen me, will this be ......?"

"Those two assassin candidates have been arrested and are now being interrogated in a prison!" Xuan Yu interrupted Twelve's words.

Twelve nodded helplessly, and arched his hand: "Your Majesty is still wise, and he thinks about things more thoughtfully." He continued to ask the emperor: "I still want to know why Your Majesty chose me, and what kind of official position is this deputy general guarding the city?" ”

Xuan Yu sighed and said: "Actually, this matter is a long story, because yesterday, your words made me feel your loyalty and your wit, you are not afraid of your life to save Princess Sanya, it can be seen that you are very brave, for the interests of the empire, you are not afraid of offending the traitor, tell me everything, you are not afraid of being killed, which is also appreciated by me." And this time the deputy general assigned to defend the city cannot choose the current officials of the imperial court, but can only choose those who have not been officials and are worthy of the trust of the imperial court, although I only met you yesterday, but I can see your future, and you can serve the imperial court. Regarding the official position of this deputy general guarding the city, this official position is very important in every city, in the Eastern Empire, the army and the people of each city live together, the city lord is responsible for presiding over the administrative work of the whole city, and more tasks are still in the affairs of the people. The general defending the city is responsible for the military affairs of the whole city, and the deputy general is responsible for assisting the general defending the city. However, in terms of official rank, the general and deputy general of the city are lower than the city lord. Because the deputy general guarding the city is the third-in-command of a city, this official position is very important. ”

"I see." At this time, Twelve thought that there was a city lord in his hometown Shizhu City, and there was another Lord Miao Qi, and Lord Miao Qi was not a general who defended the city, he should be the deputy general of the city guard. Twelve asked the emperor again: "The city lord of Pinghe City and the city lord of Luyang City both have the intention of rebellion, why don't you just arrest them or demote them to civilians?" ”

Xuan Yu replied: "Pinghe City and Luyang City are both located in the north of the empire, and their geographical location is very important, but these two cities are cities where ethnic minorities gather people, and they used to be managed by vassal states, and then all the vassal states were canceled, but during the period under the jurisdiction of the vassal states, some city officials were not appointed by the imperial court, but were elected by the local people. In particular, for the sake of the stability of the country, cities such as Pinghe City and Luyang City, where ethnic minorities live in large numbers, have reserved the right to elect officials in their own cities. Because their city lords were elected by the local people, I could not remove them at will, and I had no direct evidence of their rebellion. The first thing you will do this time is to investigate how many soldiers and horses there are in Pinghe City, including officers and soldiers and militia. The second thing is: I want you to use your ingenuity to take charge of the soldiers and horses of Pinghe City. The lord of Pinghe City, Yao Fuji, and the general of Pinghe City, Da Shunqu, have a very strong prestige in Pinghe City, but I heard that Da Shunqu has recently suffered from a recurrence of old injuries on his body and has been lying in bed all day long and cannot walk on the ground, Pinghe City is preparing to re-elect a new general to defend the city, Pinghe City now has a deputy general to defend the city, after you go, you must rely on your own ability, gain the trust of the people of Pinghe City, and strive to sit in the position of the general of the city. ”

Twelve listened, surprised, although there are only two tasks, but he is still just a fledgling teenager, these two tasks can be said to be as heavy as Mount Tai, how can he do it. Hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed, "This task is too heavy, I think...... I'm afraid that I won't be able to complete it, so I ask Your Majesty to withdraw your order and make another plan. ”

Xuanyu heard Twelve say this, and said sharply: "You stand up and talk back, the decision I made will not be changed, you can only accept it!" I believe you can do it, don't say anything more about shirking! ”

"But it's too difficult! What should I do if there is really no way? Twelve looked anxious.

Seeing this, Xuan Yu frowned, pondered for a moment, and said to Twelve: "I appreciate your extraordinary courage and witty mind. I'm sure you'll be able to complete the task, so I'm on my feet, I don't want to hear half a word about disobeying orders!" ”

Twelve had no choice but to stand up, and suddenly felt a thousand pounds of weight on his body, he knew that the emperor's order could not be violated, and he could no longer shirk, but he didn't know how to prepare. Then he asked the emperor: "Since Your Majesty believes in the little one so much, then Twelve can no longer shirk it, so may I ask Your Majesty...... When do I depart? ”

Xuan Yu sighed softly and continued: "Although I am a deputy general of Shoucheng, this time I will ask you to bring four helpers, and you can find these four helpers yourself, or I can choose them for you." There is no need to rush to leave now, half a month later, at Taijimen, I will personally see you off. ”

Twelve thought to himself: It must be very dangerous to go to Pinghe City, and I really can't go, but the emperor is so determined to let me go, what should I do?

At that moment, Twelve was bold and said, "Your Majesty, I still want to say...... I'm shallow...... I still don't feel like I can take on this big responsibility......"

Xuanyu ignored his re-shirk and said: "These two next to you are the prime ministers of the dynasty, Zhengqi and Liangyu, in the past half a month, you can choose one of them and follow him to learn to deal with military affairs, government affairs, and write official documents." ”

The two prime ministers each identified themselves to Twelve, the tall prime minister was called Zhengqi, and the short prime minister was called Liang Yu. Twelve chose to learn from Prime Minister Liang Yu because Liang Yu had an amiable face.

Xuan Yu pondered for a long time and said: "Your name is too simple, I decided to give you a new name, which can be used in officialdom, I thought about it, and gave you the name 'Tai Hao', 'Tai' is the meaning of greatness, and 'Hao' is the meaning of the sunrise." What do you think? ”

Twelve heard the name given to him by the emperor, although he didn't know what the meaning of the word "Taihao" was put together, but he felt that his name "Twelve" sounded much better, so he knelt down and thanked: "Thank you for the emperor's name!" ”

The emperor summoned the secretary of the Shangfu Bureau to tailor a white round-necked shirt and robe for Taihao, as well as a black hood, leather belt, and long boots. The Shangfu Bureau is specially designed for the emperor to make clothes, and the emperor can let the Shangfu Bureau make clothes for Taihao, which shows that the emperor attaches great importance to Taihao.

After the two prime ministers Zhengqi and Liang Yu and Tai Hao said goodbye to the emperor, Liang Yu immediately took Tai Hao to the political hall. Although the emperor gave twelve new names, it was a little unaccustomed at first. In the political affairs hall, Liang Yu asked Tai Hao, "Lord Tai Hao, I don't know how many years you have been reading?" ”

When Tai Hao heard his question, he still looked casual, thinking that he was not asking himself, but suddenly remembered that Tai Hao was himself, and hurriedly replied: "I don't hide it, I only know...... More than a hundred words, very little read. ”

Liang Yu was a little skeptical when he heard this, picked up a book from the table and gave it to Tai Hao, asking him to read the article on it. Taihao took the book and saw that he didn't know more than half of the words on it, but he still stumbled and read it, and Liang Yu believed that he really only knew more than a hundred words.