offended the owner of the ship, and Li Xuandu was immediately put on small shoes.

When Li Xuandu returned to the Taiping Inn, he found that he had only been left with the most remote guest room, which had no fire and was extremely cold. Li Xuandu didn't say anything about this, let alone raise any objections.

After all, at such a level, it is just common for cold and heat not to invade, and there is no need for charcoal fire. Li Xuandu sat directly cross-legged on the bed, replacing sleep with pranayama and recovering from the injuries he suffered in today's war.

In the other first-class room, Qian Yurong and the old man surnamed Zhang sat opposite each other.

The steward surnamed Zhang was worried Zhong Zhong said: "I just made some money and asked the owner of this inn, the lame Mr. Qingyi we met, it seems that the origin is not small, some people saw him walking with Qingluanwei's people, and those Qingluanwei are very respectful to this lame gentleman." ”

It is not the first time for the old man surnamed Zhang to go to Qizhou, and it is not the first time to settle in this Taiping Inn, so he is naturally very familiar with the shopkeeper of the inn, and he also knows a little about some unknown transactions of the inn.

Qian Yurong was slightly surprised: "Qingluanwei?"

The old man surnamed Zhang had a solemn face, glanced at the door behind him, and said softly: "The official clothes and Wenluan knife on the body can't be faked, which reminds the old man of a big man in Qizhou." ”

Qian Yurong asked, "Who?"

The old man deliberately lowered his voice: "This person is the chief staff of the governor of Qizhou, known as 'Mr. Chu' or 'Master Chu', the governor of Qizhou obeys his words, and is also known as the shadow governor, who is extremely powerful, and many people have to follow his path, but for some reason he will appear in the Guide Mansion." ”

Qian Yurong frowned and said, "How could that bookkeeper surnamed Li recognize this person?"

"I don't know. The old man shook his head and said, "But since this person is from his own family, he can't say what it has to do with the Qizhou Governor's Mansion." ”

Qian Yurong sighed lightly, her eyes darkened.

When Li Xuandu was settled, he was also thinking about Chu Yunshen and the governor of Qizhou.

Although the temple is high and the rivers and lakes are far away, the temple cannot ignore the rivers and lakes, and the rivers and lakes cannot bypass the temple, how did Qingluanwei come about? It is not that the people of the rivers and lakes are attached to the imperial court and are willing to act as eagle dogs of the imperial court, and there are even Jianghu sects that will take the initiative to cooperate with the imperial court and send their disciples to serve the imperial court. Today's imperial court is weak, and Qingluanwei is no longer what it used to be, and when the imperial court was at its peak, Qingluanwei's thirteen Taibao were able to overwhelm the rivers and lakes. Nowadays, the gap between the upper and lower levels of the rivers and lakes is huge, and the people in the upper echelons of the rivers and lakes are all strong and powerful, they want money and money, they want people, they want knives and guns, they want to be famous, and they will be able to get into trouble when they ascend to the top and shout, so when the center of the court is weak, they are either divided into one side and dominated, such as the five sects in the northwest, or they are pointing fingers at the court, such as the Zhengyi sect and the Qingwei sect headed by the righteous sects. And the bottom of the rivers and lakes and the scattered people in the rivers and lakes, either for glory and wealth, or for self-preservation, have attached to the nearby feudal officials of the imperial court, so that there is no shortage of capable people under the governors of various places, and they are becoming more and more powerful.

It's not that the imperial court doesn't want to change this situation, but with the death of the four ministers in the second year of Tianbao on almost trumped-up charges, the hearts of the people have been dispersed, and the governors and governors of various places have different dreams in the same bed with the center of the imperial court, as if the dragons and snakes from all over the country began to raise their heads, watching the real dragon that has been scarred by the Great Wei court, and the ambitious people such as the five sects in the northwest are like an evil Jiao, wanting to take the Zhu with evil purple.

Under such circumstances, the boundaries between the rivers and lakes and the imperial court are not as clear as in the past.

This is why Li Xuandu said that the Empress Dowager Xie exchanged power for power.

Since the establishment of the Great Wei Dynasty, there has been Emperor Shizong, who has entered the Great Unification as a foreign vassal, is brilliant and proficient in power skills, and can be called the most emperor of the Great Wei Dynasty. However, at the age of 20, he overthrew the elders of the three dynasties, and then gathered his authority, breaking the triangular pattern of hundreds of officials, eunuchs, and emperors since Emperor Yingzong. Authorize the authority of the eunuchs, and rule the world with domestic slaves. The two capitals and 19 prefectures of the Great Wei Dynasty are regarded as the private property of the Xu family.

For more than 20 years thereafter, Emperor Sejong favored Shenxiao Sect, suppressed Zhengyizong, and did not go to court for more than 20 years. Externally used courtiers, internal eunuchs and slaves, bent on looting the world's people's wealth. As a result, the power of the Great Wei began to turn from prosperity to decline.

Therefore, some people say that if the Great Wei dies, it began with Sejong, and it is actually from Shenzong.

When the first emperor ascended the throne, he reused the four ministers headed by Zhang Suqing, forged ahead, and swept away the accumulated shortcomings. First of all, the reform of the rule of officials, and then the implementation of the new policy, and then the expulsion of the captives, there is already a bit of a zhongxing atmosphere, but with the death of the first emperor in the Yanbo Palace, the four ministers were executed, and the clan magnates headed by the Empress Dowager Xie and the King of Jin acted perversely, not only the new deal was ruined, Liangzhou, Qinzhou, Shuzhou and other places fell into the hands of the enemy, and the court fell into the party struggle again, putting the party dispute above the state affairs, making the situation of the court worse, even worse than during the years of Sejong and Shenzong.

If it is said that during the reign of King Sejong, it was only the emptiness of the treasury and the continuous struggle of the party, but now, it is necessary to add a feudal town and foreign enemies to suppress the territory, although the governors of various places do not have the name of the feudal king, but they have the reality of the feudal king, and they are connected to protect themselves, even the imperial court does not dare to move lightly, and it is even more powerless.

Such a court, such a river and lake, are really rivers and lakes that Li Xuan does not want to see.

On the second day, the group was still resting in Guide Mansion, Li Xuan did not leave the inn, but continued to recuperate, until the third day, the group left the inn and set off for Qizhou.

After Li Xuandu got on the boat, he did not continue to nest in the cabin, standing on the bow of the boat, looking at the scenery along the way.

Qizhou was named because of the ancient Qi country. It is located in the eastern coastal area of Jiangbei, located in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the central and northern section of the Grand Canal, and the west is bordered by Zhili, Yanzhou, Zhongzhou, Luzhou, Chuzhou and other places from north to south. The east of Qizhou is the East China Sea, opposite Liaozhou across the sea to the north, and Fenglan Prefecture overseas across the sea to the east.

Qizhou is also the birthplace of Confucianism, Confucian saints, Yasheng were born in Qizhou, so there is also a Confucian school palace in Qizhou, called "Sheji School Palace", and Zhongzhou's Vientiane School Palace, Xiaozhou's Tianxin School Palace is listed side by side, in addition to the three university palaces, there are four major academies, all of which are world-famous. However, among these seven families, because the Sheji School Palace occupies the geographical advantage of the hometown of the saint and the sub-saint, it is known as the ancestral court of Confucianism, but it cannot be compared with the others.

Because of this, the situation in Qizhou is becoming more and more complicated, there is the Governor's Mansion of Qizhou, there is Donghuazong, there is Sheji Xue Palace, and there is the Hongyang General Altar of Qingyang Sect, in addition, although the behemoth of Qingweizong is not in Qizhou, but it is located on the East China Sea, and Qizhou is only half a step away, so many forces are intertwined, you can imagine how chaotic Qizhou is today.

The destination of the Qian family's caravan is Dongchang Mansion, and after Li Xuandu gets off the ship in Dongchang Mansion, he has to pass through the land of Liufu to reach Donghuazong, which is probably not easy to walk.

Because the land of these six prefectures is where the battle between the Qingyang Sect and the governor of Qizhou is the most intense, and now the three main altars of the Qingyang Sect are entrenched in Qizhou, Chuzhou, Zhongzhou, Luzhou, Jinzhou, Qinzhou and other places, and other states can still be safe and sound, because it is still far away from the imperial capital, and Qizhou is already under the nose of the imperial capital, and has to be suppressed, which is why there is today's Qizhou war.

However, there are rumors that the Qingyang Sect and the Great Zhou in the northwest have contact with each other, and the more famine years, the more displaced people, the more people who join the religion, the so-called "residents are for the people, and those who come out are bandits", so the governor of Qizhou is also invincible, and the army will immediately rebel as soon as it passes, and the reason why this is so is because the people have no food, and if they do not rebel as thieves, they will be starved to death, and the rebellion may have a glimmer of life. But now what the imperial court lacks most is money and grain, and the supply of military food in Qizhou and one state still needs to gather the strength of several states, and there is no surplus grain to use to help the victims.

The court has no money, and the people have no money, so where does the money go? Naturally, in the hands of the powerful people from all walks of life and the powerful people in various localities, the people rebel in order to snatch money and food from their hands to survive, but does the imperial court dare to stretch out its hand to these powerful people? As far as the court is concerned, if a person who has been ill for a long time does not stretch out his hand, he may be able to survive for a long time, and as soon as he stretches out his hand, I am afraid that the world will be turned upside down immediately.

That's the biggest problem today.