In the not spacious hall of Fang Chongyong's house, there is a table of dishes on the big table, and the meat and vegetable combinations are very rich.

The Hu cakes, chicken rice, pickles, steamed fish and seasonal fruits that the Tang people often eat are almost the same. This is the way of eating for rich and noble families, Wang Yunxiu is very good at housework, at least he didn't lose Fang Chongyong's face.

But at this moment, the hall was filled with an air of embarrassment.

Wang Yunxiu, who had been busy in the house, didn't know whether to leave or not, and Zheng Shuqing, who came uninvited, and Du Fu and Yuan Jie, who followed Fang Chongyong to the house as guests, felt like pins and needles, and couldn't stay for a moment!

It's just a pity that each of them has a reason to stay here.

Du Fu and Yuan Jie wanted to hug their thighs for the imperial examination, Zheng Shuqing was because he was for a major matter in his yamen, and Wang Yunxiu had a life-threatening matter and had to discuss urgently with Fang Chongyong.

"Two, let me introduce, this is Yin Zheng Shuqing of Jingzhao Mansion, this is Clumsy Jing."

Fang Chongyong introduced Du Fu and Yuan Jie.

When you go home and find that you already have guests at home, or you are a distinguished guest, it is a very embarrassing and easy thing to offend people. Why didn't Du Fu and Yuan Jie leave, in fact, Fang Chongyong also understood it in his heart.

It's a pity that Lao Zheng's matter must be more important. As soon as she heard the word "clumsy", Wang Yunxiu retreated into the bedroom with a blushing face, and never came out to disturb Fang Chongyong's so-called big event.

"I still have official business to discuss with Zheng Fuyin today, and I will go to the hotel tomorrow to have a drink with the two of you. Rest assured, so-and-so will definitely arrive. ”

Fang Chongyong said very politely to Du Fu and the others. These two people are also well-informed and knowledgeable people, and the "high-end bureau" where the four pins of assassination and Jingzhao Mansion Yin discuss major matters is not something that these two scholars who are preparing to participate in the imperial examination can intervene.

The more news you hear, the more risk you have.

The old mansion given by the emperor, the high-ranking officials and guests of the Zheng family in Xingyang, and the carload full of gifts at hand, married the daughter of the envoy of the Hedong Festival...... The various things I saw at Fang Chongyong's house today greatly stimulated Du Fu, and his worldview collapsed.

The social circles of the powerful are really full of power and high-end force! He personally felt how deep Fang Chongyong's background was!

This sense of powerlessness that was crushed in all directions made him not even jealous.

He's too far off. Whether Fang Chongyong struggled on his own or the shadow of his family no longer mattered. In short, Du Fu recognized his catties and two.

As for what Yuan Jie thinks, he doesn't know, the two also met on the road, and they are not friends who have known each other since childhood.

Du Fu only knew that Yuan Jie was a very pragmatic person.

After sending the two out of the door, Fang Chongyong took Zheng Shuqing to the study, and after the two sat down, he looked at Zheng Shuqing helplessly and asked: "Zheng Fuyin has nothing to do but go to the Three Treasures Palace, and he brought a car with gifts, so what's the matter?" ”

Etiquette is "heavy" and love is also "heavy"!

Zheng Shuqing sent Fang Chongyong a cart of salted fish, dried meat, rice, turbid wine and other things, the overall weight is very scary, but these things are not valuable!

There wasn't even a single item in it that was more than usual.

"There is indeed a big event, and those gifts are just a cover-up."

Zheng Shuqing said with a solemn face, then took out a bill from his cuff, and then sat quietly without speaking.

"It's ......"

Seeing this "bill", Fang Chongyong suddenly felt like a world away!

Isn't this stepping horse the thing on the west side of the river, which he named "pick-up coupons"! With the ticket, you can pick up the goods at the "Hexi Luxury Store" in the East Market! If you order something, you can get it according to the article number and cabinet number.

He made up the whole set of rules, can you not be familiar with it?

This store implements a "membership system", which only recognizes bills and does not recognize money, does not sell people other than members, and only sells futures and not spots, all of which adopt a "pre-sale system". If you don't make a reservation, don't pay a deposit, and don't pre-order in advance, you won't sell even the gold that comes in a wagon.

In Chang'an, it can be described as "reputable"!

The richest man in Chang'an, the Wang family, has a 60% stake, and all the forces in Shazhou, including the Hu merchants in the Western Regions who provide the source of goods, have a 40% stake, and they have nothing to do with Fang Chongyong. Now it is the largest store in Chang'an East City, and its customers are all dignitaries from all over the Tang Dynasty.

To sum up, it can be regarded as a membership store opened by Brother Ji and pre-sold luxury goods! The things sold are all not available in other shops in Chang'an, and they are even unique!

Brother Ji does not bear any risks, and forty percent of the shares of other parties are responsible for the risks along the way, so it can be said that the majority of this business was finally taken by Brother Ji.

Now the bill given by Lao Zheng is the "pick-up ticket" in the store in Dongshi, and you can receive a mysterious goods. What exactly it is, it will not be written on the bill, the shopkeeper will not say, and even the cabinet will not be opened in the store.

Only the person who made the reservation knew what it was, and the shopkeeper didn't know, because it wasn't the box they were packing.

The store in the East Market is only responsible for collecting money and shipping; And the goods are transported, loaded, and sold by different merchants and different people. There are not only reservations, but also auctions, blind box opening, door-to-door sales and so on.

For others, these things may be novel, but for Fang Chongyong, he has long been aesthetically fatigued.

"The final payment has been settled, and inside is a pair of gold masks inlaid with rubies. It is said that it was once owned by a nobleman on the side of Daqin, and it is very valuable, and it is priceless. ”

Uncle Zheng said indifferently, his heart was full of pride.

At this moment, he thought that Fang Chongyong should first be shocked, shocked, and convinced, and then begged himself to tell him how much this thing was.

After satisfying his vanity, he lightly exploded a number that made him feel super painful, and finally Fang Chongyong looked at it three times, shouting that the gift was heavy and could not be repaid, so he could only help him tide over the difficulties with all his might, leaving no stone unturned.

However, Fang Yanei just looked at the bill curiously, and then put it on the table lightly, his face calm.

This made Lao Zheng very unhappy, but he didn't understand what the problem was.

"No merit is not worthless.

I went to Xing's house before, purely to do you a little favor and solve a problem of your own by the way. The salted meat that Zheng Fuyin let the ox cart pull today is enough to compensate for this favor. ”

Fang Chongyong pushed the exquisite bill in front of Zheng Shuqing and said.

"If you have something to ask for, please be sure to help."

Zheng Shuqing pushed this "coupon" in front of Fang Chongyong again.

"Say something beforehand!"

Fang Chongyong didn't give an inch, and pushed the "coupon" back!

In the end, Lao Zheng was speechless and received the bill into the cuff.

Fang Chongyong has been in Hexi for a few years, and now he is not as easy to handle as before!

"That's right, tomorrow, the saint will invite all the princes to go hunting in Zhongnan Mountain! It is said that they will stay for a long time, even a month or two, and will not come back until their 60th birthday! ”

Zheng Shuqing sighed helplessly and said.

Now that the country is fine, it is not a day or two for Ji Ge to neglect his government. It's not once or twice that something like this is outrageous. It's just that Fang Chongyong is not in Chang'an and doesn't know.

"So it was the sage who let you, the Jingzhao Mansion Yin, accompany you, and then confirmed that someone was going to rebel?"

Fang Chongyong asked with a puzzled expression, a little confused which one Zheng Shuqing was singing.

"! Who dares to rebel now! What the hell are you thinking! ”

Zheng Shuqing couldn't help but scold loudly, and then lamented:

"Don't you really understand?

The sage knew that the left and right sides were fighting too much, so he took the princes to leave Chang'an for dozens of miles, and then at the foot of Zhongnan Mountain, while cultivating, he watched the vicious battle in the court!

This time it's the right prime minister! The left minister takes care of the daily life of the Chang'an Forbidden Army! ”

Zheng Shuqing said angrily.

Fang Chongyong nodded slightly, he had also heard something.

Since the defeat of the Tubo people back then, Zhang Shouqi has been favored by military merits, and has incorporated many marginal characters who were demolished by Li Linfu before, and there is a righteous son An Lushan in the local area to cooperate, and now his power is quite inflated!

In particular, he also incorporated Zhang Jiuling's former henchmen in the DPRK, who were already strong enough to wrestle with Li Linfu.

But there are two sides to the matter of the left and right fighting for power, because Datang is Ji Ge's after all, not the left and the right.

The left minister said what to do, and the right minister said that he couldn't do it, similar situations delay the right thing, and everything has to be decided by Brother Ji and even coordinate contradictions, which makes Brother Ji, who is lazy in government affairs, feel disgusted.

And this was the situation some time ago, Zhang Shouqi said that he wanted to open "Enke", that is, additional enrollment; But Li Linfu said that there was no need to open it, but it was useless to work hard and lose money.

The two fought for more than a month, and in the end, Li Linfu compromised, and opened the imperial examination after Brother Ji's birthday this year, and recruited a group of jinshi.

Du Fu and others went to Beijing to catch the exam, which came from this, otherwise the exam would have to wait until next spring.

This reminded Brother Ji of the past when Zhang Shuo fought to the death with Yu Wenrong in the early years of Kaiyuan. It doesn't matter if you fight hard, but it can't affect your daily life, and Brother Ji's government principles are very clear.

And now, Li Linfu, who is proficient in financial management (making money), is analogous to Yu Wenrong, a financial official back then; And Zhang Shouqi, who is proficient in military affairs and knows how to fight, is analogous to Zhang Shuo, who was quite effective in rectifying border towns back then.

A similar situation made Li Longji extremely annoyed.

Brother Kei got two dogs to be the "leader" so that they could run errands, manage the other dogs, and let each other check each other.

It was never for these two dogs to "walk" him as their owner with a pack of dogs!

So Brother Ji's method is also simple:

Don't you like to fight? OK, then I'll not be able to walk, let you have a good fight!

Let Li Linfu control the overall situation, but give a part of the power to Zhang Shouqi, and let the two of them team up to start a game! It can be called "evenly matched"!

Brother Ji is gone, and the two will definitely fight.

As long as it fights, there will always be a loss in the end, and then when Brother Ji comes back, he will come back to preside over the overall situation.

Those who should hit the board will be rewarded, and those who should be rewarded will be rewarded. When you are tired, you will be honest, at least for a while.

In all fairness, Brother Ji's plan is not bad, although it is a little lacking in morality.

After thinking about this stubble, Fang Chongyong couldn't help but sigh: Although Brother Ji is very bad, he is indeed a veteran and experienced in government affairs. Especially in the experience of fighting for power with the prime minister, it has a lot of advantages!

"So why did you give me such a generous gift?"

Fang Chongyong asked helplessly. Of course, he knew that the pair of golden masks could not be cheap, and according to the price on the Hexi side, it would be 10,000 pieces of fine silk silk to say the least.

This price refers to the kind of "lone book", the kind with only one piece.

Pairs of masks are usually one for men and one for women, and they are all made by the same craftsman.

The price is by no means 20,000 horses of silk!

This is the top art in West Asia, and it is hard to find. In the eyes of connoisseurs, it is impossible to estimate its price, it all depends on how much the person who wants to offer!

In the Western Regions and the Hexi Corridor, basically no one will buy this kind of thing. If you can't get it to Chang'an to sell, then you can do businessless trading, grab it is earned, and being killed by someone is not good at learning!

Hexi people with a pragmatic style, no one who is a big wrongdoer will engage in such a thing.

Fang Chongyong understands very well that courtesy must be demanded by others! Zheng Shuqing opened such a price, and the trouble he encountered must not be small.

There was no way he would have said yes.

"The right phase has been given definite news. On the left side, he is ready to avenge Xing's robbery! And the predicted breakthrough is the Jingzhao Mansion with the most problems! To be exact, so-and-so! ”

Zheng Shuqing also replied with a helpless sigh.

Jingzhao Mansion Yin is a position of "dog officials".

However, it is also an important weather vane for the central government!

Usually, which faction serves as the Yin of Jingzhao Mansion, then which faction will have the upper hand in the court. It's easy to say that Jingzhao Mansion itself is an institution that manages everything, but can't manage anything well.

Jingzhao Mansion is like a bell for early warning, although it cannot catch thieves, it is easy to see the state of Chang'an and the surrounding counties, as well as the operation of government affairs.

The most typical example is that in the past four years, the political situation has been relatively stable. Li Linfu's horse boy, that is, Zheng Shuqing, sits firmly in the position of Jingzhao Mansion Yin and does not move, which also symbolizes the balance of the political situation!

Brother Ji didn't change people, and he didn't know who was more suitable, and Li Linfu had always had a slight advantage in the power struggle!

Now, the political situation in Chang'an has also reached the critical point of "from stability to chaos". The left-wing faction headed by Zhang Shouqi wanted to break the balance of the political situation by getting rid of Jingzhao Mansion Yin, who belonged to Li Linfu's camp.

Zheng Shuqing is just the beginning, and it is also the first target of everyone on Zhang Shouqi's side! What are the follow-up plans, that is not a question that Fang Chongyong's identity should worry about.

All in all, if the forces of the left minister are allowed to blow up Zheng Shuqing, then at that time, it is estimated that it is time for Brother Ji to return to Chang'an and adjust the authority of the prime minister.

Zhang Shouqi became the right minister, and Li Linfu was demoted to the left minister, and then Brother Ji split the various powers in their hands and then regrouped them, which is actually very much in line with Li Longji's psychological expectations and the basic laws of political struggle.

It will not break the power structure that the Tang Dynasty has built for a long time.

In other words, Li Linfu may only be beaten with a stick in this battle, not to mention that he will hurt his muscles and bones; But Zheng Shuqing, as the party concerned, is very likely to be beaten to death with a stick!

What's more, Lao Zheng also took the lead in killing Xing Xuan, the Shaoqing of Honglu Temple on Zuo Xiang's side, and "accidentally" became the vanguard of the political struggle. Being the first to come out and be the first to die has always been an iron law applicable to all kinds of struggles.

If you really want to say it, it can be regarded as Fang Chongyong dragging Zheng Shuqing into the water!

If you want to use the beast chess as an analogy, then it is equivalent to the tiger (Zheng Shuqing) in Li Linfu's hand yesterday eating Zhang Shouqi's leopard (Xing Xuan).

Now the opponent has lost a chess piece first, but it has also changed from light to darkness, gaining the strategic initiative, and there is no natural loophole like Xing Xuan to hold back.

Whether it's a blessing or a curse, I really have to say two things.

On the contrary, Zheng Shuqing's Jingzhao Mansion Yamen had a backlog of more than 500 files during his tenure!

Although most of them are trivial things like stealing cattle and killing dogs, there are also some big and important cases!

Just one charge of laziness and slack government is enough to tear off Lao Zheng's official robe, but everyone pretended not to see it before.

It can be said that now the ass of the Yamen of Jingzhao Mansion is full of Xiang! Far away can attract a lot of flies.

If this is set on fire by a group of old court coins, Zheng Shuqing will not be able to keep his official position, and he may even be punished under the impetus of someone with a heart!

"There is a backlog of old cases in your yamen's account room, and it is estimated that many of them are ready to be released.

In less than two days, there will be a bitter lord who will come to Jingzhao Mansion to sue the official. It doesn't take much, as long as ten cases are sent in a day, you can't stand it at all! ”

Fang Chongyong said to Zheng Shuqing with a wicked smile.

If Lao Zheng doesn't do anything this time, he will definitely be beaten into a dog's head!

"These have been expected, but this kind of conspiracy belongs to Yang Mou, what else can I do?"

Zheng Shuqing asked with a wry smile.

"That's it, the right minister has a dinner tonight, ask him if he can pull you first."

Fang Chongyong spread his hands and said. This kind of thing that can only be seen and dismantled, what else can he do?

Seeing Zheng Shuqing's pitiful appearance of crying, Fang Chongyong casually said haha:

"What kind of virtue does the Jingzhao Mansion Yamen have, presumably the sage also knows that it is really useless, and it is normal for old cases to be unfinished.

If someone wants to fix you, then he will definitely not dwell on this matter, because entanglement may not be able to pull you down.

In terms of tactics in the art of war, this is just a matter of attacking the enemy, and they are probably just trying to use these old cases to make you tired. The real killer move should be something else! ”

Hearing this, Zheng Shuqing's eyes lit up, and then he asked rhetorically, "What is the matter?" ”

Fang Chongyong spread his hands and made a helpless gesture.

If you ask him about this kind of thing, he still wants to ask others.

When he came to Chang'an this time, Fang Chongyong felt that the political situation in Chang'an was a lot more chaotic.

Political infighting has gradually surfaced from below the surface of the water, showing a trend of becoming open. Brother Ji's attitude towards all kinds of contradictions has also changed from actively handling them to sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight to reap the benefits.

This Chang'an City seems to be about to enter an eventful season! Fang Chongyong couldn't help but sigh!

Transitional chapters, let's send it in advance. I'm leaving Xi'an tomorrow.

(End of chapter)