The pear orchard is like a fairyland.

After many days, Xue Bai finally stood in front of Li Longji again, and their feelings were different from the past.

"I heard you slandering me in private."

"I didn't." Xue Bai said: "I met a saint at a young age, and I became the champion as a humble ant. Jun's grace is so deep, and the grace is recreated, I regard the saint as my closest elder, if this heart is not sincere, heaven and earth will be destroyed......"

"That's enough."

Li Longji listened too much to flattery, and he didn't have the patience to listen for too long.

But he also knew that what Xue Bai said was the truth, and he had the feeling that this was a courtier who he watched grow up.

He looked at Xue Bai a little more pleasing to the eye, and he was a little emotional.

"Among my courtiers, only you and Hu'er are the most humble. I am also the most dedicated to me, always thinking about me when there is good food and fun, and I have received the most attacks. ”

"Indeed, I am grateful."

Xue Bai was actually unhappy in his heart.

Remember https://m in a second.

Originally, it was a good opening of the monarch and the minister, but Li Longji had to talk about him and An Lushan.

But in Li Longji's heart, he really felt that classifying these two people today was a recognition of Xue Bai's ability. After all, An Lushan's loyal, capable and considerate courtiers are his favorite.

"However, the saint treats me like this, but I hide my life experience from the saint." Xue Bai said: "I can't be on the same page as An Lu"

"You still know?!"

Li Long was basically moody, but since he had an outlet to vent his anger, he didn't have to hold it in front of Xue Baixiao'er and scold a few words.

"Give you recognition of your relatives, you change it without authorization, conspire to layout, and disobey me in public. In your eyes, is your status as the champion more important than the face of the Son of Heaven?! This is what you call gratitude and gratitude?! ”

"I was wrong." Xue Bai said: "The reason why I did this is because those people know my background, but they pretend, and I can't get used to it." ”

"Dare to quibble?"

"Returning to the saints, not quibbles. From the moment Cui Qiao came up with that topic, he was teasing me, knowing that I was in the world, he wanted to come up with a 'Xiangling Drummer' to see if I was guilty or admit that I was a slave who was a traitor. I am a bully, and even if I am killed, I am willing, and this is what I deserve. But what is he, playing tricks on me?

Gao Lishi had to shout: "Presumptuous, how can you talk in front of the emperor?!" ”

Li Longji shook his head and said, "Go on."

"Cui Qiao, old thief, said that I was a bully, what is not clear in my heart? In the end, put on the demeanor of a famous family, saying that he had tolerated me enough, I am a rebellious slave, why did I become famous in Chang'an, and why did I become a champion in high school? I don't know what to do, I only care about writing stories for the saint, and I forgot to give him a poem and a scroll of poetry and writing, and refuse his kindness to marry my granddaughter!

"What a sharp tooth and sharp mouth, your crime of bullying the king, in the end, became framed by others."

"Back to the saint, I didn't think about overturning the case, I just thought about taking Cui Qiao to finish it together. In fact, I also know that he is not the only one who has hurt me. There are also people who use Cui Qiao behind their backs, and they want to get involved in the two errands of salt and papermaking that Uncle Guo is supervising. I can't help it, this time I made trouble, what I asked for was not to keep the champion, but to slap them in the face. ”

Xue Bai said, thought about it, and added another sentence.

"I have one more sin, which I have always hidden from the saints. In fact, I asked the teacher and Dr. Zheng to help me gather the scholars, and I used some unsavory means. The right minister's previous accusation was not wrong, I was scheming and vicious. ”

"Huh."

Li Longji couldn't help but laugh.

When Colliers saw the saint smiling, he couldn't help but laugh too.

"Vicious?"

Li Longji felt more and more funny, raised his hand and pointed to the palace, and said a digression.

"Taizhen has a Haizhou cat, which is quite interesting and looks innocent. But whenever it goes out, and catches birds and mice without anyone else seeing them, it kills them with its claws, and tortures these little things to death, and takes pleasure in it. You say, don't I really know what it did? Vicious means? Just the two of you. ”

Xue Bai said: "Everything I do can't hide from the eyes of the saints. The saint looked at me like a cat, like a god in the sky looking at people on earth. ”

"Enough, it's useless to say good and obedient."

"I want to say, blame me for hiding from the saint, I'm not actually a Haizhou cat, just a raccoon cat."

"I don't care what kind of cat you are." Li Longji sighed and asked casually: "Since you feel that you have been bullied, why don't you intercede with your sister-in-law and brothers, because you think I can't cure them?"

"This ...... I am ashamed of the saints, and I have no shame to speak. Xue Bai said: "I'm also afraid of causing trouble for the saint." ”

"Do you have this faith?

"Yes, the poor students are dissatisfied with the family's control of the imperial examination for a long time, and we took the opportunity to create a momentum to frustrate their spirit

It's good. There is no need to alarm the saints with everything. ”

Li Longji was a little surprised that he had this intention.

Of course, this matter is indeed different from the previous intrigues, and there are very few things that the Son of Heaven can change.

"Speak wildly, according to what I can see, your momentum is going to be thwarted by them, what are you going to do?"

"Don't be afraid." Xue Bai said: "They operated the paper mill that will be supervised, but they can't block the papermaking process. I have given the latest papermaking technology to all like-minded people who have left Chang'an. Although they do not have a mature workshop, one day, they will definitely be able to bring down the price of paper. We also want to spread the deeds of the children of the poor family and my teacher's articles. ”

"Can it be passed on?

"We had an idea called 'movable type printing', which is different from block printing in that it is a separate piece for each word, which can be arranged freely. Being able to print new articles very flexibly and quickly, it is difficult for the children of the family to block our voices. ”

This principle is simple, Li Longji understood it as soon as he heard it, and said: "Manipulating public opinion, how dare you do it?" How many sets of movable type can you make, and where can you find so many literate craftsmen? This is not a craft that the common people can have, but it is done by the imperial court. ”

"Sage Mingjian, it's me who didn't think about it." Xue Bai said: "This matter is difficult to achieve, but the children of the poor family are willing to spend decades to compete for a place in the science field, I am from a humble background, and I am willing to do my part for them." ”

This is not something that can be achieved overnight, Li Longji wants to change, but he also doesn't want to really touch the interests of the family and affect his enjoyment, Xue Bai's attitude is just right, there is a little way, take your time.

Xue Bai finally showed a little bit of the talent of a minister to govern the country, and he also learned to recommend talents.

"I did this, in addition to being angry, but also because it was too difficult to get ahead in Chang'an, so I could only go to the border town. In the same way as the principle of using Hu people as border towns as the right minister, these people are lonely and helpless, but loyal to the saints. For example, Gao Shi, although he wrote a poem like "Yan Ge Xing", he was dissatisfied that someone prevented him from serving the king, but in fact, he was more loyal to the king than others, and the saint knew it when he saw him....

"Cui Qiao, the secretary of the Ministry of Calling, came to see him.

"The minister has seen the saint, please the saint Chun'an."

Cui Qiao was a little haggard, he was not having a good time these days.

Although insiders understand that he was coerced, the fact is that his name has been used to advocate for more scholars from poor families in the imperial examination. Therefore, some family officials already think that if Cui Qiao is not punished, it will encourage the arrogance of those contemptible husbands...... It's ridiculous.

"Aiqing doesn't have to be polite, there is a seal that has been in the middle book, I call you to ask."

"Yes.

Li Longji bowed his head and drank.

Gao Lishi asked: "Dare to ask Cui Shangshu, the concubine Zhang Po admitted that he asked you to teach Xue Bai a lesson, but you made him guilty because of this?" ”

"It's the old minister who is confused."

"There is no one else in the pear garden, Cui Shangshu is not too unpleasant to speak, Your Majesty asks, you will answer."

"Yes, that's what Zhang Juma said."

"What does Zhang Juma want you to do?

Cui Qiao didn't dare to answer, but he still said: "He said that Xue Bai bullied the king, and he couldn't really give the champion, whether he gave up the exam or didn't make the list, in short, he couldn't let this son succeed."

In that case, why did you name him again?

"It was....ordered by the right minister." Cui Qiao said: "The right minister said that this is the meaning of the sage. ”

"In this way, Zhang Yuma is right, and the right phase is also right." Gao Lishi said: "You listen to Zhang Yuma first, and then listen to the right minister, you are not wrong." ”

"The old minister is guilty." Cui Qiao said: "The old minister is guilty. ”

Li Longji became interested and asked, "Where is your sin?"

"The old minister presided over the Spring Festival, and failed to handle these things properly, so please ask the saint to punish the crime."

Li Longji smiled.

Although he is the Son of Heaven, he really can't catch Cui Qiao's mistakes, if he is wrong, it is also the Son of Heaven's mistakes, after all, everything is done according to the will of the Son of Heaven.

"Give a seat."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace."

Li Longji said: "I heard that Aiqing is a scholar for the country, and he is a meritocracy, and he thinks that he should increase the number of people in the list of poor people, why haven't I seen the twists and turns?"

"Your Majesty has misunderstood, old minister...

"Aiqing is not as good as the previous one, and proposes to increase the number of Jinshi by ten more, focusing on the poor children of the three generations of ancestors who have not been officials."

Opportunity.

"Your Majesty, no, the country is the most important and fair, in this way, it is to give people with ulterior motives to cheat" Aiqing is unwilling to play a fold? ”

Cui Qiao didn't dare to sit anymore, so he quickly got up, bowed deeply, and said: "Perhaps these unruly acts wantonly make trouble, so that some officials in the court think that it is enough to blindly connive and appease them, but they don't know that they are resentful, greedy for power and love for wealth, once they become officials, they cannot be lenient to the people, and they cannot be loyal to the king, and they are definitely not good materials." ”

At this point, he became excited, and began to list the various statements that had been prepared for a long time.

"I don't know whether Xue Bai is the son of a gambler or a traitor. But presumably what he has learned since he was a child are some rogue techniques, even the art of rebellion. Whenever this son is not satisfied, he stirs up public opinion to fight against the imperial court, Tianbao has made trouble in the spring and cheated in the autumn, and now he is besieging the Ministry of Rites, holding the important ministers of the court hostage with a knife, so the ambition of the wolf son, it is no different from rebellion, no wonder it is similar to Xue Rust. ”

"The people gathered around Xue Bai are all people who have grievances against the court, Du Youlin is very good at drilling, first speculating in the East Palace, involving a major case of rebellion; His son Du Cheng is a villain who repeatedly commits major crimes, and Xue Bai uses his power to cover up; There is also Gao Shi, the poem of resentment is not written in one or two poems, and he has been dissatisfied with the court for a long time, these people incite public opinion, and it is not enough to set an example if they are not severely punished......"

Cui Qiao has evidence.

A crumpled piece of poetry was taken out and handed to the saint.

Li Longji looked at it with some surprise.

At first, he thought it was white rattan paper, but after a closer look, the material was different, so he looked at Gao Lishi and asked with his eyes, the bamboo paper process has been able to achieve such a degree of flexibility?

Gao Lishi nodded, and said in a low voice: "It's bamboo paper, after taking over the supervisor, the paper will be improved very quickly, the key is the soaking of pulp, it is said that some will be soaked for half a year, the old slave did not expect it." ”

Only then did Li Longji open it and look at the poem.

Cui Qiao didn't hear Gao Lishi's whisper, his eyes peeked over, and he saw that the saint frowned, and lost no time in making up a few words, "The poems written by Gao Shi in Jinke are also full of resentment, and the minister doesn't dare to show the saint.....

When Li Longji heard this, he was really displeased, and said, "Aiqing has been wronged, step down."

"The old minister retired.

Out of the palace, Cui Qiao breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to himself, first let the saint not get his mistakes, and then use those reckless scholars to divert the saint's anger, it should be dealt with.

He didn't ask for much, just an idle post left behind in the eastern capital.

When he returned home, two days later, Cui Qiao was in the study, and he heard the old servant at home preach: "Qilang, Da Lang and Erlang are here, and Du Gong has also arrived."

"I'll see you in the church."

Although Cui Qiao's official position is high, in this kind of big family, the official position that is promoted and degraded is not so important. The size of power is sometimes judged by the influence on the government and the opposition.

His elder brother's name is Cui Yuxi, who was promoted to the rank of scholar in the reign of Ruizong, and served as a scholar in the middle of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, judging the chapters, drafting edicts, and taking charge of confidential information, and his authority is not comparable to today's Ministry of Rites.

Now Cui Yuxi is old, gray-haired, and is sitting in the hall talking to Du Hope.

"Shichiro has been confused since he was a child, and my brother-in-law doesn't blame him. At that time, he also said that he wanted to recruit Xue Bai as his grandson-in-law, but this little Langjun didn't take a fancy to our Cui family, so he was helpless.

The Cui brothers' mother was born in Jingzhao Du and was Du Hope's cousin, so they called him "uncle".

Du Hope said with a smile: "The old man heard about this matter, and it was my nephew who failed to build a bridge and make a lot of trouble." ”

Cui Qiao listened to this conversation, knowing that Brother Ah was saying that Xue Bai didn't know the etiquette in front of the Du family, so he stepped forward with a smile and saluted.

"Uncle, brother.

"Here we are." Cui Yuxi pointed at Cui Qiao and said, "Today, in front of my uncle, I will teach this confused brother a lesson....... you don't have to be the secretary of the Ministry of Rites."

Cui Qiao thought to himself, it's finally here.

He was already ready to go to Luoyang, and his luggage was packed.

But I heard Cui Yuxi say: "Let's be demoted to the long history of Gangneung." ”

"What? Gangneung? ”

Cui Qiao was surprised and said in astonishment: "Brother is confused, how can I still go to Jiangling.......

Du Hope also hurriedly said: "Da Lang is too ruthless, and he has degraded too far." ”

"He deserves it, he just hopes that his uncle can come forward to help calm the situation." Cui Yuxi said: "After all, it is inevitable that some people gloat and take advantage of the fire to rob.

The whole thing has nothing to do with Du Hope, and this statement is not for Du Hope. Instead, the Cui family showed an attitude and asked Du to be a peacemaker, say hello to all parties, and settle the dispute.

"Okay, the old man will sell an old face and go a few more places."

Waiting for Du Hope to leave, Cui Qiao was stunned for a long time before reacting.

Brother, what's going on? How can you demote me to Gangneung?! ”

"Am I worthy of this? Just go and ask your brother. ”

Cui Qiao was surprised: "How can he belittle me? ”

"What else? You have displeased the saints. Cui Yuxi sighed, "I'll try my best to protect you, I've already asked my brother." You didn't do your errand well, but you put the blame on a few white people in front of the emperor, can they bear it? Gao shi? Suffering from an ant who can't enter the office, the saint doesn't degrade you, can't he belittle?

"On what charges can a saint belittle me? I didn't do anything wrong! ”

Cui Yuxi shook his head and said, "The saint can't get your crime, can't the brother slave get it?" Do you know how many people have exposed you for personal grievances to block Xue Bai Dengke?

"You guys like this?!"

Cui Qiao was shocked and angry, and reacted instantly.

He was sold.

The saint didn't need evidence to cure his crimes, so the brother Nu found a few families to discuss, and had to give in and degrade a person to vent his anger to the saint.

The first to abandon him were precisely these relatives and friends behind him, and the old in-laws.

This family said that it wanted a champion, that family said that it wanted a jinshi, this family said that it wanted bamboo paper, that family said that it wanted to publish a book, Zhang Po said that the sage regretted giving Xue Bai the champion, and Li Linfu said that he still had to give a champion...... He was in this vortex and got the benefits they wanted for all of them.

As a result, something happened, but he was the only one to bear it.

"You're treating me like that?!"

Cui Qiao trembled with anger, pointed at his brother, and didn't know what to say for a while.

Cui Yuxi slowly stood up with a cane and said, "Calm me down immediately, I'm dying of old age, for myself?" For the sake of this Cui family, including your five sons. ”

In a word, Cui Qiao could only suppress his anger.

He didn't even deserve to be angry.

The recital of the derogatory Cui Qiao came down quickly, and it took less than a day to send it to Cui's house in the evening.

Although he folded a secretary of the Ministry of Rites, Yu Cui's family was harmless.

Cui Qiao has seven brothers and five sons, and he alone has many talents, all of whom are the best in the Tang Dynasty, and they are only a small branch of the Qinghe Cui family's Nanzu Wushui House, and the Nanzu House is one of the six rooms.

He is just a drop in the bucket of the family, and if he is degraded, he will be degraded, there is nothing to be sorry for. Tianbao's eight-year imperial examination will not find a suitable examiner.

Without him, the situation of the Yu family's control of the science field and officialdom has not changed at all.

The initial change came from another news on this day - Cui Qiao's dismissal of the champion was rejected, and Xue Bai was still the champion of Tianbao's seven years.

Many people thought that this result was just because Cui Qiao guessed the holy will wrongly, and they didn't think about what this matter meant and what kind of changes it would bring.

On the day Cui Qiao left Chang'an, Xue Bai was sending Gao Shi to Hedong.

"Actually, there is another reason why the sage is angry with Cui Qiao, when he learned that the senior brother was not successful in his career, he switched to General Wang's curtain, and he most intuitively felt the brain drain."

Xue Bai finally reminded Gao Shi again, and said: "It can be seen that the sage appreciates the talent of the senior brother, and if he stays in Chang'an, he may be able to confer an official." ”

Gao Shi shook his head and said to Xue Bai in his ear.

"I don't want to stay, all the saints ask are vain, as if if I am given an official position, I can solve the disadvantages of entering the poor family. And General Wang needs me even more, so I will inquire about it practically. ”

Xue Bai felt that Gao Shi was stubborn a lot of the time, but occasionally he could be tactful, as if he hadn't fully learned the world after decades of study, maybe he would have to learn for a few years, maybe he would never be able to learn.

"What Brother Gao said, I hope it can be solved in your hands one day."

What Li Longji is unwilling to solve and can't solve, Xue Bai is willing to do it slowly......