Liu De, the great Han Zongzheng, actually knelt down in front of Zhang Anshi's carriage without hesitation and solemnly bowed.

"Uncle Lu, why are you doing this?" Zhang Anshi said in a bit of a panic, so much so that he forgot to help the other party up.

For Liu De, Zhang Anshi has grievances, but he can't afford this big gift.

"I worship this time, one is to make amends for Ling Mei's matter, although I am out of public intentions, but I still feel ashamed of Ziru, the matter is urgent, and I hope Ziru will forgive my sins."

"If Ziru doesn't care about the past suspicions, then from tonight onwards, Sister Ling is a sister, no matter what kind of difficulties your Zhang family encounters in the palace, I, Liu De, will do my best to escort the Zhang family."

Liu De usually behaves in the court, Zhang Anshi understands - words must be done, and deeds must be fruitful.

This sect that even Huo Guang is not afraid of is a well-known hard bone, and he is willing to bow down to Zhang Anjun's matter at this moment, and he has already shown enough apologies and sincerity.

Plus the final "guarantee" for heavier portions.

The little resentment in Zhang Anshi's heart was actually not much, and when Liu De said this, the smoke quickly dissipated.

He let out a long sigh and said hesitantly: "Uncle Lu, you can get up, the previous misunderstanding between you and me has been written off, and it is easier for me to be seen by others like this." ”

Liu De finally stood up.

He took two steps forward before he continued, "There is a second purpose in this worship, which is to hope that Ziru will not forget what you said to me that day. ”

Zhang Anshi stood with his hands behind his back and looked at the lights looming in the distance.

On that day, I will never forget what I said in the study.

"So what Your Majesty said today, does Ziru think that someone wants to do something wrong, or someone instigates the Son of Heaven to shake the foundation of the Han Dynasty?"

Zhang Anshi knew what Liu De's intentions were - to remind him to be loyal to the Son of Heaven and not to be at both ends.

"Uncle Lu, you are a loyal minister of the Han Dynasty, and I am not a traitor of the Han Dynasty, I remember every word of what you said in the mansion that day." Zhang Anshi said.

"Ziru seriously?"

"If Uncle Lu continues to ask like this, I'm afraid you and I will really be strangers." Zhang Anshi replied, seemingly a little angry.

However, Zhang Anshi doesn't blame Liu De, who has always been cautious in the past few years, so that many people mistakenly think that he is also a member of the Huo Party.

"Okay, good, Ziru is righteous, but I have the heart of a villain to spend the belly of a gentleman, and I will make amends to Ziru again." Liu De hurriedly reassured.

Zhang Anshi let out a long sigh again and said, "Uncle Lu has doubts about me, and I won't say more. I will be able to see it in the next few days, and Uncle Lu will naturally see my heart at that time. ”

At this point, the two of them had nothing to say at the moment, and the drivers on both sides also came back, and after raising their hands and saluting, Zhang Anshi took the lead in getting into the car, escorted by the autumn wind, and drove in the direction of Qili.

Liu De stood in place, watching the other party gradually melt into the darkness, and even let the cold pass by his face.

He didn't cringe, but felt a sense of ease that he had never felt before.

In the past few months, the Son of Heaven has experienced a lot, why has a courtier like Liu De experienced less?

A few months ago, Liu De had to recommend Liu Xu, the king of Guangling, to inherit the unification, but now he has become the help of the "King of Changyi", and he has to participate in the "conspiracy" to cut Huo.

King Chu Yuan's lineage, will he continue to shine as a great man, or will he die and the clan will be wiped out.

That's it.

Although it is extremely dangerous, Liu De will never back down.

As long as the Han is still surnamed Liu, then the Liu clan naturally wants to safeguard the interests of the Son of Heaven - not only for the stability of the world and the peace of the people, but also for their own interests.

The Han is dead, and the relatives are still relatives, but the clan relatives are not clan relatives.

Today, the Son of Heaven and them are planning a major event in the greenhouse hall, and it is not enough for him to be the only one clan, and it is necessary for other clans to participate in it.

Each performs his own duties, and it naturally becomes his task to contact his clan relatives.

Fight hard, that's all.

"Let's go, go home immediately!" After Liu De got in the car, he immediately said.

"No!"

In the past few days, there are still a lot of things to do, there are many prestigious clansmen in Chang'an City, and Liu De wants to persuade them one by one to completely stand on the side of the Son of Heaven.

Of course, the Son of Heaven cannot be involved, but Liu De's own prestige is convincing enough.

In this way, the two carriages slowly drove out of the cramped official road and melted into the darkness.

On this huge chessboard of the Han Empire, the Son of Heaven made the offensive hand.

……

The night was long, but it would eventually pass, and two hours later, light and sunshine returned to Chang'an City.

Because of the autumn wind overnight, Chang'an City is much colder than the previous days, and the pace of winter is getting closer and closer.

In the greenhouse hall, Liu He, who had only slept for two hours, had already gotten up, he freshened up, and after breakfast, he immediately sent someone to call Wei Xuancheng from the temple.

Wei Xuancheng only left Weiyang Palace after midnight last night, and he came to Menxia Temple again today, so he almost didn't sleep all night, and his originally angular face was a little swollen due to overwork.

But it seems, the spirit seems to be not bad.

Last night, it was the first time he knew the thoughts of the Son of Heaven, and he was naturally in a little surging.

For him, from the moment he accepted the recruitment of the Son of Heaven and came to be the long history of this temple, there was no chance to choose to take sides—he had to stand with the Son of Heaven without reservation.

Outside the greenhouse hall, Wei Xuancheng saw what the Son of Heaven was writing on the case, so he didn't go in, but kept standing respectfully outside the door.

In the short time of waiting, Wei Xuancheng remembered the scene of talking with his father, Dahonglu Wei Xian, after returning home last night.

Yesterday afternoon, when Wei Xuancheng received the message sent by Dai Zong, he deliberately left the palace and went home, and told his father Wei Xian that the Son of Heaven had summoned him late at night.

Wei Xian didn't say anything, only said that after Wei Xuancheng came back, the father and son would talk deeply.

Unexpectedly, this wait was overnight.

When Wei Xuancheng returned home, the entire Wei Mansion had only heard the sound of chickens and dogs, and no one said anything anymore.

Webster's father and son met in the small study, sitting and talking to each other under a lone lamp.

Wei Xian is also a Confucian student, since he was a child, he followed the Great Confucian River School "Lu Poem", and later because Emperor Xiaozhao liked the "Book of Songs", Wei Xian was edicted by the Son of Heaven into the palace to talk about the meaning of the scriptures, so he was also respected as a teacher by the first emperor.

Wei Xian is an old man, so Wei Xuancheng is less than thirty-five, his younger brother Wei Hong is only thirty, and Wei Xian is already sixty-five this year.

"Father, the county magistrate sent me to wait tonight and discussed a big matter with us."

Wei Xuancheng didn't dare to show off his joints in front of his father, so without waiting for Wei Xian to ask, he told what happened in the greenhouse hall tonight, and he also told the bloody edict.

After hearing this, Wei Xian was silent, his cloudy eyes turned for a long time, and he said in a slightly desolate voice: "I never thought that the county official would have such great ambitions. ”

"Father, when I was in the Greenhouse Palace, I also wrote my name on the blood edict, and I didn't consult with my father, this is my son's recklessness." Wei Xuancheng said.

"Do you think I'm going to stop you, or will I let you go to the general?" Wei Xian asked.

Wei Xuancheng didn't speak, and expressed his attitude with silence.

Wei Xian was also not angry with Wei Xuancheng's attitude.

A person's choice does not represent the choice of a family - personal life and death are nothing compared to the continuation of the family.

"Then I'll ask you, if I were to go to the general tomorrow to report this matter to you, what choice would you make?" Wei Xian's eyes showed a rare hint of playfulness.

After a moment of silence, Wei Xuancheng said expressionlessly: "That son will do a big unfilial thing tonight, and after being loyal to the county official, he will apologize for his crimes." ”

Wei Xian was not angry, the solemnity on his face turned into relief, and then nodded slightly and smiled: "This is very good, you have this determination, you can rest assured as a father, you can just do it according to what you think in your heart, the Wei family will advance and retreat together with you, and advance and retreat together with the county officials." ”

"No!"

Just as Wei Xuancheng thought of this, the voice of the Son of Heaven brought his thoughts back.

"Wei Qing, come in."

"No!"

Liu He specially called Wei Xuancheng today because he had several things to do.

Before this young sect head Shi entered the hall, Liu He was writing a letter for Wei Xuancheng to send out immediately—this was also the most important thing today.

However, after Wei Xuancheng entered the palace, Liu He did not immediately take out the letter, but first asked Wei Xuancheng about the news of the Su Wu and Fu Jiezi missions that had left Chang'an for more than 40 days.

"Wei Qing, Su Wu, Fu Jiezi and others can have letters."

"Yes, according to our original plan, they will send a message back every five days, the last letter arrived five days ago, the day this letter was sent was September 15, and they were preparing to go from Dunhuang County to the Xiongnu."

From the Han Dynasty to the Xiongnu Shan Wang Ting, the most convenient and direct route is, of course, from Chang'an, all the way to the north, from Shuofang County into the Xiongnu territory.

However, the east-west border stretching for more than 1,000 miles between Shuofang and Dunhuang was the front line of the confrontation between the Han and the Xiongnu.

Although there have been many fewer wars in the past ten years, the turmoil has not completely subsided, and conflicts of all sizes have never stopped.

Otherwise, on the beacon of the Great Wall, it would be impossible to still guard so many hungry and cold-tolerant tunnel soldiers.

Therefore, we cannot naturally and persistently follow this path with open fire.

If you want to go from the Han Dynasty to the Xiongnu, you must go west through the Hexi Corridor, exit Dunhuang from Yumenguan, and then enter the Western Regions from Dunhuang, and after entering the Western Regions, you can turn back and move towards the northeast, and you can enter the territory of the Xiongnu.

The Western Regions was the object of contention between the Han and the Xiongnu, and it was also the buffer zone and communication bridge between the Han and the Xiongnu.

From a national point of view, although the Xiongnu and the Han have been feuding for hundreds of years.

But for ordinary people at the bottom of the two countries, sometimes the oppression from the top is more severe than the oppression of alien races.

Therefore, they will always have contacts in private, not to mention that in the Western Regions and its surroundings, there are many people who are descendants of the Han and Huns and the Han Huns, so it is naturally difficult to tell whether they are Han or Huns.

In addition to these mixed descendants, there is also a group of people who also maintain the private ties between Han and Hungary.

That is, a merchant who was born to seek profit - if he could not do business in Shuofang, Juyan and the Huns, then he could detour from the Western Regions.

In this way, the countries of the Western Regions can earn another median price.

Therefore, the Western Regions was not only the main transportation route of the Han Dynasty and the Great Qin and other countries in the west, but also the transportation artery of the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu.

At this time, Su Wu, Fu Jiezi and the others were able to enter the Western Regions smoothly, which meant that they had already walked a third of the way they had to go—and it had been a long time since the day of sending the letter, so they should have gone further.

"Did they encounter any difficulties along the way?"

"The letter sent back said that everything was fine with the mission, and the officials of Wuwei County, Zhangye County, Jiuquan County, and Dunhuang County all gave them great convenience, because there was no accident, so the lower officials took matters into their own hands and did not report the matter to Your Majesty."

Liu He nodded and affirmed this.

not only affirmed that the counties of the Han Empire in Menxia Temple had been recognized, but also affirmed that Wei Xuancheng handled things properly.

What Liu He wants is a long history who can assist him in handling the affairs of the Menxia Temple, not an echo worm who can only upload and distribute.

"Did they mention in their letter, when will they return?"

"If there are no other accidents on the road, according to Wei Chen's calculations, the mission will enter the territory of the Xiongnu from the Western Regions on September 20, and the Xiongnu royal court can be found on September 27, at this moment, I am afraid that I am ready to get up and return."

Although the Xiongnu royal court was not a city, it would not move at will when there was no war - so Liu He wanted to let the Han army set off as soon as possible before they set out on the expedition.

Now hearing this news, Liu He was a little surprised, he didn't expect that when he didn't realize it, the mission was already about to return.

It also means that the mission of the Su Fu mission has already had a result, but this result has not been transmitted back for the time being.

Liu He's heart was very anxious, and he wanted to know if Su Wu had taken back his family, whether the traitor Li Ling was willing to return to Han, and he wanted to know if Liu Aiji and Guo Kai, the two rangers, had any adventures.

However, no matter how anxious he was, Liu He could only wait quietly.

"The fastest time will I get news from them."

"I'm afraid it won't be until after the twenty-fifth of October that we will know what happened to them at the royal court."

That is, there are still twenty days, and Liu He can only wait.

Liu He put the matter behind him for the time being.

The Xiongnu are too far away, Chang'an is too close, and the current matter must be solved first.

"After going back last night, Wei Qingke talked to your father?" Liu He asked.

"Well, my father said that whether it is Da Honglu or the history of the temple chief, it is the history of the great Honglu of the Han Dynasty and the history of the temple under the door of the Han Dynasty." Wei Xuancheng said.

Liu He nodded very satisfied, which means that among the Jiuqing, Liu He has won another vote, and the odds of winning are naturally one more point.

"I asked you to come today to deliver a letter, and this letter is very important, so you must choose someone you can trust to deliver."

"No." Wei Xuancheng gave a simple answer.

"Wei Qing doesn't want to know, who is this letter addressed to?" Liu He asked with a smile.

"Since Your Majesty said that this letter is very important, then Wechen only needs to send someone trustworthy to deliver it, as for what is written in the letter, it doesn't matter, and it's not something Wechen should care about."

"This letter is to be sent to Zhao Chongguo, the general of Shui Heng Du Lieutenant who is leading the troops outside."

Wei Xuancheng's expression was grim, when he was in the greenhouse hall yesterday, the Son of Heaven had never mentioned Zhao Chongguo.

Today, the Son of Heaven wants to send him a letter, so many things are self-evident - this Zhao Chongguo seems to be the person that the Son of Heaven sees.

The Son of Heaven is now going to send a letter to Zhao Chongguo, which is naturally closely related to the matter of cutting Huo in the court.

"So who is Wei Qing going to send to deliver this letter?" Liu He asked.

"Brother Wei Hong, who is now a Langguan of Guanglu Temple, has traveled around the Western Regions for half a year, and Weichen feels that he can send him to deliver this letter."

Wei Hong, on the original historical line, will become the Taishou of the East China Sea, and naturally he is not an ordinary person.

Wei Xuancheng can let his own brother send this letter, which shows that what he said just now is true, and the entire Wei clan has stood firmly behind him.

Compared with Anle's wall grass, the judgment is high.

"Okay, I'll leave this matter to Wei Hong." After Liu He finished speaking, he handed the ink undried rice paper to Wei Xuancheng from his arms.

"Your Majesty, don't you need to seal it with a messenger?" Wei Xuancheng asked suspiciously.

"Just in case, bring the letter back, let Wei Hong memorize it, and then burn the letter."

Wei Xuancheng was a little surprised, but also a little moved.

This means that the Son of Heaven has absolute trust in Wei Xuancheng and Wei Hong.

"Weichen understands, and he will let his brother live up to his grace."

……

Wei Xuancheng was only the first person Liu He wanted to meet, and not long after he left the Greenhouse Palace, Dai Zong came to the outside of the hall with an old man.

This old man is none other than one of the Three Princes - Cai Yi, the Imperial Historian.

The Imperial Historian was originally the prime minister's deputy and the head of the imperial history, and he had a transcendent status in the court.

At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the Prime Minister's Mansion and the Imperial Historian's Mansion were collectively called the Second Mansion, and for a long time, the emperor, the Prime Minister, and the Imperial Historian jointly discussed and decided.

As the "head of a hundred officials", the prime minister actually has a natural contradiction with the Son of Heaven in terms of power, so the Imperial Doctor has become the glue between the two, so he is closer to the Son of Heaven.

In addition to assisting the prime minister in supervising and assessing hundreds of officials, the former Imperial Historian also had an important responsibility - the chapters of the common people's ministers to the Son of Heaven were sorted out by the Imperial Historian's Mansion on behalf of the Son of Heaven.

However, since Emperor Xiaowu, this responsibility of the Imperial Historian has been stripped away and incorporated into the powers and responsibilities of the Shangshu Administration.

This was originally a means for Emperor Xiaowu to recover the power of the dynasty - but now, it has become a tool of Huo Guang's arbitrary power.

If Liu He wants to weaken the power of Shang Shu and Huo Guang, then he must overthrow some of the things that Emperor Xiaowu did to consolidate the power of the monarch - Huo Guang is the "invisible son of heaven" of the Han Dynasty, and if he wants to reduce Huo Guang's power, he is actually reducing the power of the Son of Heaven himself.

And the best way to reduce the power of the Son of Heaven is to support the "relative power" and let the three princes and nine secretaries divide the power of the Shangshu Administration.

Among the three dukes, Prime Minister Ren Gong must be Huo Guang's hardcore henchman, and Liu He certainly can't hope for him, so only the imperial historian Cai Yi will be left.

The prime minister was weakened by Emperor Xiaowu and turned into a decoration, and the imperial historian was even more ornamental.

The matter of the officials and the people writing to the Son of Heaven was originally under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Doctor, so it was normal for him to bring up this matter again.

There are many loyal ministers in the Han Dynasty, and letting Cai Yilai be this pioneer is also to give him a chance to prove himself.

Give you a chance, it's up to you to see if you are useful.

I'm guilty, I want to add more every day, and I can't finish writing every day, so try to adjust and adjust again!

(End of chapter)