Mingtang Palace, in the middle of the palace forbidden, 294 feet high, 300 feet in circumference, a total of three layers, the first layer is painted according to the color of the square, the east is blue, the north is black, the south is red, and the west is white. The second layer is divided into 12 sides according to the 12 hours, and the top is surrounded by 12 dragons, and the top is divided into 24 small faces according to the 24 solar terms, and the top is a huge iron phoenix about 3 zhang high, decorated with gold. When the holy queen usurped the throne, exhausted the people of Guanzhong to build this palace, with the prime minister as the governor, it was completed in one year. The golden phoenix at the top of the third layer is much higher than the twelve dragons on the second layer, which is the best footnote to the Holy Queen's ambition to control the world as the heroine.

Since the Holy Queen, after the three emperors, this Mingtang Palace has always been a place to summon ministers and hold court meetings. The first floor is where the court meetings are held, the second floor is the dormitory and the place where the henchmen and important officials are summoned, and the third floor is the place where the emperors play and have fun.

Now Li Xu is almost the emperor of clay sculptures, and he lives in the Qingliang Palace on weekdays, and the Mingtang Palace is occupied by the Empress Dowager Wen and has become her daily residence.

Today, Empress Dowager Wen came to Wen Yuanheng as usual, and she has never paid attention to local affairs. To her, the number of ditches that needed to be repaired in the locality, the selection of people to serve as county magistrates in the prefectures and counties, and the amount of grain and copper coins that could be exchanged for a piece of cloth were all worthless.

What she focuses on is to recruit more talents, recruit those young knights and the sects behind them, turn those ministers in important positions in the court into her own henchmen, and how to divide the eunuch forces and borrow the hands of other eunuchs to deal with Yufuguo.

As for other vulgar chores, there are naturally characters like Wen Yuanheng to take care of her.

"Queen Mother, this matter is very important, and I want to ask Han Linggong to select capable ministers and officials to handle it. Wen Yuanheng took out a copy of the pile of compromises in front of Empress Dowager Wen and put it aside. "Guanzhong is fertile for thousands of miles, mostly relying on Zhengguo Canal and Baiqu for irrigation, and with the power of these two canals, there is the foundation of Baiyujing. Since the founding of the country, time has changed, and Guanzhong has gradually been unable to supply Bai Yujing's needs, so every year it has to collect grain from Huainan and transfer it to Luoyang, the eastern capital, and then transfer it to Bai Yujing. ”

Wen Yuanheng looked at the impatient Empress Dowager Wen and sighed secretly, and then said: "Cao Yun has been transported for thousands of miles, although relying on water transportation consumes less people's and material resources, but it still costs a lot to supply Bai Yujing. That's why Emperor Ming moved to Luoyang, the eastern capital. After the most holy country, the imperial court hovered between the eastern capital and Bai Yujing. This is all due to the increasing poverty of the land in Guanzhong, the blockage of the channel, and the low yield per mu. ”

"Today's water department squire said that the blockage of Zhengguo Canal is becoming more and more serious, which is really a major matter to be solved at the moment. ”

Before Wen Yuanheng finished speaking, he was interrupted by Empress Dowager Wen's words.

"Okay, let's let Han Gang, the old traitor, bother with this. ”

The inspector had something to say, but the Queen Mother forcibly interrupted the topic. In Wen Yuanheng's view, these canals are the real national affairs, as for who will be the secretary of Dali Temple, who will enter the political hall as the prime minister next, and who can hold the troops around Bai Yujing, they are all trivial matters that are not worth mentioning compared to these two ditches.

Wen Yuanheng wanted to talk about how to select officials who know how to control the water and have a sense of responsibility to be responsible for drawing up the construction plan, how many conscripts should be levied by which prefectures and counties, what kind of officials should be sent to supervise the construction to ensure the speed and quality of construction, and at the same time, who should be sent to supervise the whole process to prevent state and county officials from exploiting the people, and how to manage these requisitioned people to prevent civil unrest.

However, Empress Dowager Wen didn't take these things to heart, these were all trivial things that could be explained in one sentence.

"The Emperor is now thirteen years old, and in a few years he will be an adult. Empress Dowager Wen clasped her hands, and her smooth face was placed on her plain white arms, "Yuan Heng, the mourning family is ready to choose a few passable girls to serve the emperor." ”

Wen Yuanheng frowned, he didn't understand the significance of the Queen Mother's move at all. The emperor has not yet reached adulthood, so what good is it to choose a folk woman to enter the palace in addition to ruining the emperor's reputation? Now that the imperial court is already in the midst of a storm, the reputation of orthodoxy is the greatest asset, and what good is such a dim appearance for cleaning up the world and working hard to prosper?

"The mourning family understands, that little maid is the emperor after all, if he is willing to stand on our side, what use can Yu Fuguo do even if he holds the forbidden army? As long as the Li family and our Wen family are of one mind, it will still be a country of copper and iron, can the eunuch of Yu Fuguo still send the forbidden army to kill the masters?"

Wen Yuanheng had nothing to say, he was indeed dissatisfied with those eunuchs, but he still couldn't connect sending women to his students with what kind of defeat the eunuchs were.

"Look at these girls, if they enter the palace. Empress Wen took out a booklet from his robe, Wen Yuanheng hurriedly stepped forward to take it with both hands, opened it and looked at it carefully.

"There are a few who are the pearls of the ministers of the court, and there are a few women I picked out from the people, and they all have backgrounds. ”

Wen Yuanheng swept it hastily, and there was really a feeling of inadequacy and conspiracy.

This queen mother, does she know what she should do?

Before Wen Yuanheng finished reading the roster, he saw a small yellow door running in in a panic.

"Too ...... Dowager...... Saburo he ......"

Wen Yuanheng raised his eyebrows and curled his eyebrows, recognizing that it was a delicate-looking little eunuch, who seemed to be called Miao Siyi, and was now loved by the Queen Mother. San Lang is the Empress Dowager Wen gave He Basong a nickname, Wen Yuanheng has always felt that it is really unwise for the Empress Dowager Wen to raise the face, after all, the current situation cannot be compared with the Holy Queen at that time, not to mention that the Holy Queen is a losing move. However, he didn't plan to advise anything, Wen Yuanheng's intelligence still knew that there were some things that could be mentioned and some things that could not be mentioned.

"What's wrong with San Lang?" Empress Dowager Wen took a sip of the teacup.

"Mr. Heba rode a horse and collided with the royal car and was taken by Cheng Qili and Han Rui, and the emperor ordered Dali Temple to discuss the crime. ”

Empress Dowager Wen was stunned when she heard this, and then her arm suddenly became sore, and the white porcelain teacup in her hand seemed to weigh a thousand pounds, and she rolled to the ground without losing her hand.

On the one hand, he is the queen mother's relatives, and on the other hand, he is the emperor's teacher, and the two identities are not only the guarantee of an invincible position, but also the cause of the destruction of the family.

"This...... He ......, "The Queen Mother is indeed very clear in some things," he rode on the clouds to find the emperor?"

How can the chamberlain who can gain a firm foothold beside the Queen Mother be ordinary people, Miao Siyi knew that the young man He Ba seemed to have lost the favor of the Queen Mother for some reason, otherwise the word emperor in the mouth of the Queen Mother would become a little maid, and now San Lang has become a dog.

"Yes, He Batsong rode a horse to find the emperor, and was planted by Cheng Qili to collide with the public opinion, with bad intentions with the blade, Cheng Qili was extremely ruthless, I heard that He Batsong was afraid that he would not be ......"

The Queen Mother looked at the white porcelain cup rolling on the carpet on the ground and snorted.

Then she took out a yellow cloth bag from her pocket and handed it to Miao Siyi.

"Take it to Dali Temple. ”

Miao Siyi trembled and took the yellow cloth bag given by the Queen Mother, then cautiously took a few steps back, then turned around and trotted away.

"Yuan Heng, I'm a little unwell, you can step back first. ”

Wen Yuanheng looked at the Queen Mother, and after reading the list of women who entered the palace proposed by the Queen Mother, he probably guessed the story in it, and he had something to say in his heart, but after all, there was no outlet, so after kneeling down and saluting, he turned around and left.

In the Mingtang Palace, only Empress Wen was left alone looking at the white porcelain cup on the big food carpet in a daze.