Yang Fan slowly walked into the backyard of the Princess Mansion. As far as his eyes could see, it was either verdant or lush green. Vines were entwined everywhere, and the vegetation was flourishing. Occasionally, a civet cat or squirrel came out of the grass. They were not afraid of people, and just stood by the roadside, staring at you with a pair of black eyes, full of wild interest.
This was a very strange phenomenon. Both A Nu and Xiao Man liked to take care of the courtyard in good order. Even if it was a bamboo tube or a flower, they wanted to arrange it according to their own design, so that the courtyard would be full of life. But Princess Taiping was the opposite, she liked to let things go.
Probably, this had something to do with their completely different living environment. Xiao Man and A Nu both lost their parents when they were young, and suffered the pain of wandering, so they cherished everything they got. As long as it belonged to her, she liked to take good care of it, and arrange it according to her wishes.
And Li Lingyue, as a noble princess, had been restricted in all aspects since she was young, so she especially longed for freedom, and longed to be unrestrained. Although Princess Taiping's temperament was like a raging fire, and Shanghai Wan 'er was like spring water, from this point of view, the two of them were actually the same.
Although Shanghai Wan 'er's boudoir in the palace was decorated in accordance with the rules, even if it was her boudoir, it was still in the palace, and she had to be restricted by the rules. And when she traveled the Dragon's Gate, she wandered alone between the mountains and rivers, and let go of her mood, revealing her true thoughts. She also longed for freedom, and longed for an unrestrained life.
Yang Fan did not know why, when he saw the wild scenery in the courtyard, he suddenly thought of comparing the differences of the four women. When he withdrew his gaze from a cluster of wild chrysanthemums, he saw a blooming gorgeous peony, slowly flying towards him.
The skirt dragged the water of the Xiang River, and jealousy killed the newly bloomed pomegranate flower!
The cotton brocade skirt fluttered up and down, and the white silk inside the skirt was light and soft, perfectly showing off a pair of straight and round long legs.
This was Taiping. Even some pretty girls from humble families paid attention to not showing their teeth when they smiled, and not swaying their skirts when they walked, but the rules were like bullshit to her, Princess Li Lingyue of the Tang dynasty.
There were maids and eunuchs in the courtyard, but they seemed to be used to their master's behavior and turned a blind eye to it. On the contrary, when Yang Fan saw this scene, it was as if he had become a thief. He hastily looked left and right. Those eunuchs and palace maids were very clever. As soon as they saw Yang Fan was embarrassed, they obediently turned around and quickly disappeared without a trace.
"Erlang!"
Taiping's long hair fluttered as she happily threw herself into Yang Fan's embrace. Yang Fan subconsciously hugged her soft body as her long hair slowly fell onto Yang Fan's arm.
Princess Taiping's long-cherished wish was fulfilled since the two of them talked about their matters in Tiemen Town. It was a pity that Yang Fan went south alone the next day, and the two of them did not have a chance to be intimate. Taiping could only suppress her yearning and suffer until today. Now that she saw Yang Fan, the yearning that she had suppressed for many days was like a flood bursting out of a dam.
Taiping tightly hugged Yang Fan's body and used all her strength. After a long time, she slowly let go of Yang Fan and opened her seductive eyebrows. Her starry eyes were full of lingering love, "Erlang, you are finally back!"
"Yes! I … am back … "
When Yang Fan saw her heartfelt joy and felt her deep affection, he couldn't help but feel inexplicably moved in his heart, causing him to be able to transform his usually eloquent tongue into a simple sentence in the end.
Princess Taiping's eyes also smiled and her eyebrows also curved. She gently held Yang Fan's big hand and sweetly said, "Come, quickly sit down in the room and rest for a while. We will talk again."
Yang Fan did not move and only laughed dryly, "Princess, Imperial Censor Hu and Physician Sun are still waiting in the front hall."
"Ah!"
Taiping suddenly understood and wrinkled her nose unhappily, "What are these two annoying fellows doing here?"
Yang Fan smiled bitterly. This kind of unreasonable words, what else could he do but smile bitterly?
Taiping immediately felt relieved and smiled brightly, "Then … you come with me. It is not good for me to see them like this."
Yang Fan hesitated and said, "It seems inconvenient for Princess to freshen up and change clothes … I will wait outside."
Taiping tilted her head and smiled at him, "I just want you to see, can't I?"
Yang Fan hesitated, "But you … you have a lot of people around you …"
Taiping giggled and looked at him with a pair of smiling eyes. She teased, "When there is no one by your side, you are more daring than anyone else. What's wrong? I have a maidservant waiting on me by my side. Are you afraid of me? "
She pulled Yang Fan's hand and walked back without saying anything, "Don't worry! They are all people who have served by my side since I was young. There is no need to avoid anything. "
This was the truth. In a large family, even if it was the master's private matters, there was no need to hide from the people around him. Those maids and maids had to serve tea and wet towels at the side. Sometimes, they also had to do some services to liven things up. The master had long been used to treating them as an object and not an independent person.
But how could Yang Fan get used to it? He was pulled into the room by her and felt uncomfortable all over.
Imperial Censor Hu and Physician Sun sat in the middle of the hall, pacing and waiting, chatting and waiting to relieve boredom, waiting and waiting …
The two of them had long heard about the affair between Yang Fan and Princess Taiping, so they felt that it was natural for Princess Taiping to summon Yang Fan to meet her in the backyard. Now that the two of them had not come out after waiting for so long, they still felt that it was natural. Thus, the two of them continued to wait, as if it was a matter of course …
…
The meeting in Shen Duke Fu was still continuing.
What they were discussing was the same news that Princess Taiping had just heard, "There will be a lot of vacancies in the imperial court!"
Strike a group of cruel officials of the Imperial Censorate?
Zhang Jianzhi's breadth of mind and ambition were far greater than this.
Zhang Jianzhi was also a descendant of an aristocratic family. He was the descendant of Marquis Liu, one of the three heroes of the early Han Dynasty, Zhang Liang.
During the Warring States Period, Zhang Liang's father had served as the Prime Minister of Han for five generations. After Zhang Liang made great contributions to the Han Dynasty, his sons inherited his father's legacy and grew stronger day by day. From the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, there were more than 20 Prime Ministers or officials equivalent to Prime Ministers among Zhang Liang's descendants. From the Warring States Period to the present, the Zhang Clan had always been a clan of prime ministers. As a result, among the descendants, there were ten branches that had the prestige of a county.
Zhang Jianzhi was born in the Zhang Clan of Xiangyang, one of the descendants of the ten branches that had the prestige of a county. Although Zhang Jianzhi made the harm of the cruel officials sound so serious, it was not a long-term solution to treat the problem. Therefore, Zhang Jianzhi's main purpose was not to punish this group of cruel officials.
Today, you spent so much effort to get rid of the Imperial Censorate. Tomorrow, as long as the Emperor felt that it was necessary, she could rebuild the Imperial Censorate overnight. The Emperor never lacked "talents". Whatever talents she needed, even if she had killed everyone in the imperial court, she could immediately find another batch from the people.
In the heart of Zhang Jianzhi, a firm official who protected the Li faction, Wu Zetian was a usurper. Under a guilty conscience, she only valued cruel officials. The harm of cruel officials could never be eliminated. If he wanted the world to be at peace, the only way was to return the power to the Li family. In order to realize his personal ambition, to become a top official, to leave his name in history, and to restore the reputation of his ancestors, he could only accomplish such a great feat as restoring the Li family.
The Imperial Censorate's intention to "raise bandits to gain self-respect", to create a rebellion in the south, and to stop Yang Fan. These things were not within their plans and expectations, but because they had long had ambitions, they thought of using the influence of this matter to expand the influence of this matter, and then achieve their own goals.
This plan was indeed successful.
After Wu Zetian seized the throne, for the sake of the stability of the country, she did not touch the guards of the border provinces that did not pose any threat to her. And those who were not touched by her were precisely those who were mediocre. For example, the truly prestigious and capable generals and officials like Black Tooth Chang Zhi were instead eliminated one by one as a precaution.
Now that her country had stabilized, and such a thing happened, Wu Zetian really wanted to take this opportunity to clean up these places, dismissing those mediocre officials who held their positions and did not participate in politics. And this was exactly what the aristocratic families wanted.
The influence of the aristocratic families was everywhere. In addition to the descendants of their own families, there were also people that they had roped into their own power through marriage, cultivation, support, and other means. These people were everywhere in the court, and as the Emperor, she could not possibly abandon all the great families in the world and not use them.
Although Wu Zetian suppressed the aristocratic families, even the Prime Ministers around her, if their ancestry was checked, sixty to seventy percent of them were descendants of aristocratic families, not to mention how many descendants of aristocratic families were in the lower levels of government. However, Wu Zetian's suppression policy was still effective. Those aristocratic families did not want to support a woman as the Emperor, and the consequence of opposing her was that it was difficult for them to infiltrate more power into the upper levels.
This incident gave them an excellent opportunity. Since there was little effect from the top down, they wanted to carry it out from the bottom up, infiltrate from the outside, and take a roundabout route. With their ubiquitous connections and relationships, as long as they could smoothly let their sons and nephews become officials, they were confident that within a few years, these sons and nephews who were officials in the border provinces would be promoted or transferred, gradually moving closer to the central government.
Once this huge plan succeeded, it would be much easier to achieve their goals and ideals. But the Shandong aristocratic families were not the only power in the world. If they had the power to control everything, they could have already decided the rise or fall of the Emperor. Why would they go through so much trouble?
The Wu Group led by Wu Chengsi and Wu Sansi, the Li Group led by Princess Taiping, Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong's gigolo groups, and even the Shandong aristocratic families, the Guanlong aristocratic families, and some powerful ministers also wanted to take this opportunity to expand their power.
Everyone wanted a piece of this big cake, so how could the Shandong aristocratic families get all the benefits?
This meeting was the dying struggle of the Guanlong aristocratic families, who were on the decline day by day.
The head of the Liu family, who had just used a crab as an analogy, finished speaking. Seeing that everyone was silent, he glanced at the handsome young man sitting in the sixth seat and asked, "What does Dugu think?"
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
