In an elegant house in the forest, two old men sat opposite each other and ate crabs. The older man had snow-white hair and a lazy white cat sat on the corner of the table beside him. The autumn wind made crabs itch, but it was still twenty years away from the best time to eat crabs. However, as the capital of Liyang City, Great Peace City received countless tributes. Gluttons with backgrounds and connections naturally had their own ways. Fen Spring Lake in Yangzhou produced Purple Whiskered Yellow Crabs. Because the Taoist ancestral court, Dragon Tiger Mountain, had many noble people, someone gave it the nickname Dragon Tiger Crab, which had been used to this day. Compared to other lake and river crabs, this kind of crab matured twenty years earlier. It was only autumn, but the female crabs were already yellow and full of meat. The snow-white old man had a kind face. There were porcelain plates on the table with eight delicately made crabs. The old man was very particular about eating crabs. From time to time, he would pick up a piece of ginger and put it into his mouth to get rid of the crab chill. There was also a pretty maidservant carrying a plate with a bunch of chrysanthemums that were picked from somewhere to wipe his hands and get rid of the smell. This old man ate the crabs in an orderly manner. He was clearly an old glutton who knew how to eat crabs. The person opposite him was not young either. Compared to the old man who raised the precious "Snowy Lionet", he was still half a generation younger. When he ate the crabs, he obviously had to wolf them down. He ate sloppily and did not have the trivial crabs. He ate until his ten fingers were golden and greasy. He did not forget to put them into his mouth and lick them off. Seeing this, the maidservant of the white-browed old man felt her scalp tingle. However, she did not dare to show any disdain. One had to know that this old man was the world-famous Tantanon, the head official of the Liyang Dynasty's Menxia Province. If he did not change sides at the last minute, no one in the imperial court would dare to confront Grand Secretary Zhang Julu. However, the old man that she had carefully served for several years was not an ordinary person. He was the ancestor of the Yu family in Jiang Xin, Yu Jiankang. Strictly speaking, even Tantanon should call him Martial Uncle. The maidservant felt somewhat helpless in her heart. The Old Ancestor had originally invited Sword Immortal Tang Xi to this banquet to put in a few good words. Unexpectedly, the Minister of War, Lu Baijie, was temporarily tied up with military affairs, and Old Master Huan was unwilling to wait. The Yu Clan's Old Ancestor also couldn't say anything.
Yu Jiankang was precisely the dignified old man who was able to force Daoist Nun Huang Guan to throw herself at Beiliang's heir apparent in the mountains behind Gangnam-do's Baoguo Temple. It was also precisely because of him that Sword Immortal Tang Xi, a junior, was able to enter the capital and become an official, allowing Linlang's Lu Clan to have its current flourishing atmosphere. After the old man finishes eating the crab, he rinses his mouth and wipes his hands. He exhales softly, and the servant girl who has taught him cleverly leaves. Yu Jiankang reached out to pet the white cat's head. He looked at Tantanon, who was casually wiping the grease on his clothes. He laughed softly and said, "Sir Pushe, when do you have time to go to Jiangnan? Let this old man do his duty as a host. "
Tantanon smiled and said, "Elder Yu, our relationship hasn't reached that point yet, so let's not blindly exchange pleasantries. To tell the truth, there are still a few old debts that haven't been settled yet. However, no matter how I calculate them, they're all muddled up. I, Huan Wen, have been able to deceive myself these past few years, but Elder Yu shouldn't continue to deceive others. "
Yu Jiankang deeply looked at Tantanon, whom he hadn't seen for over twenty years. He suppressed the gloomy feeling in his heart, like a small lotus that had just revealed its tip, and said self-mockingly, "Back then, this old man truly underestimated you and broke up a pair of mandarin ducks. This is also one of this old man's greatest regrets."
Huan Wen shook his arm and got straight to the point. "Don't worry. Elder Yu is Elder Yu, Yu Lian is Yu Lian, and Lu Baijie is even more so Lu Baijie. I, Huan Wen, am not so petty as to take my anger out on others. It's just that Huan Wen can't become the Minister of Personnel who has entered the palace three times. He can't compete with Zhang Lu's disciple, Zhao Youling. I, Huan Wen, am indeed one of the obstacles, but it's not because of personal grudges. It's just that Yu Lian, this wooden pillar, can't support the Ministry of Personnel. If it were a yamen like the Ministry of Revenue or the Ministry of Works, Huan Wen could still turn a blind eye to it. However, if he wants to take control of the Ministry of Personnel, which is about to be raised in rank, then he, Yu Lian, will have to pray that thick smoke will rise from his ancestors' graves. "
The elderly head of the Yu family, who had been indirectly scolded, smiled. He didn't get angry, and it wasn't that he was deliberately concealing his anger. It was just that the old man with snow-white eyebrows really wasn't angry.
Huan Wen continued bluntly, "The Ministry of War was incompetent and made the Guangling Road a mess, giving Cao Changqing an opportunity to easily wipe them out. I, Huan Wen, have a bit of resentment in my heart. If I don't scold the Minister of War, Lu Baijie, who else can I scold? If you want to blame someone, blame him for sitting in that position. If it were Gu Jiantang or Chen Zhibao, I'd scold them all the same. Of course, Lu Baijie hasn't been an assistant minister for long, and he hasn't even warmed up from the position of minister yet. He's been scolded quite wrongly this time. "
Even Yu Jiankang didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He said helplessly, "You don't just scold people with your mouth. You also hit people. Right now, the entire world knows that Sword Immortal Tangxi was almost kicked in the chest by you, Lord Pushe."
Huan Wen slapped the table and said angrily, "I'm just a bag of old bones, and I almost sprained my ankle. Who am I supposed to judge?"
Yu Jiankang sighed. He didn't plan on tangling with this scoundrel over this matter. Everyone in the court knew that it wasn't important whether or not Tantanon kicked Minister Lu. What was important was that the Left Pushe of the Provincial Governor was furious at the newly appointed Ministry of War. This would affect the entire situation. Even if Lu Baijie was highly regarded by the emperor, if he gave off a terrible impression of being hated by Tantanon, then Lu Baijie's ambitions would be hindered in many ways. Even if he could succeed, it would be greatly reduced. The hearts of the people in the Ministry of War were already wavering, and the Ministry of Appointments, which had been suppressed for a long time, showed signs of rising again. As the new leader of the Jiangnan scholar group, Lu Baijie, who had a clear reputation, originally even had hopes of reaching greater heights and not being constrained by the Ministry of War. In the end, he was kicked by Huan Wen, and everything changed. Among the Jiangnan scholars, there was Yu Jiankang, who had once been evaluated, but weren't there just a few old fellows hiding behind the scenes in Jiangnan?
Yu Jiankang could pick up and let go. He asked, "Then what about Xu Gong?"
Huan Wen glanced at Yu Jiankang and said unhappily, "I'm not a green-eyed child. It's not difficult for me to hinder someone's future, but I can't and don't want to do the work of promoting someone else. Elder Yu has picked up the wrong pig head and entered the wrong temple. Besides, with Elder Yu's decades of friendship, it doesn't seem like he needs to burn incense to anyone. "
In the past, the Gumu Xu family was propped up by two pillars. The outstanding Dragon General Xu Gong was outside, and Xu Shufei was inside. Unfortunately, because the latter was Xu Xiao's eldest daughter, she was caught by the empress and thrown into the cold palace. She probably wouldn't be able to see the light of day for the rest of her life. When she went to Changchun Palace, not only did the Gumu Xu family suffer a great blow, the entire Jiangnan scholar group was seriously affected. Aristocratic families were bound together for good or ill. This had been the case since ancient times. At the time, Xu Shufei had just fallen out of favor. Very quickly, a few famous Jiangnan officials with bright futures were forced back to their original positions by Zhao Youling's Ministry of Appointments. In officialdom, laughing at others and being laughed at often happened in a single night. There was no such thing as thirty years in the east and thirty years in the west. If it wasn't for Lu Baijie's meteoric rise in Great Peace City, the scholars in Jiangnan would have had an even harder time. Disregarding everything else, the day Lu Baijie was promoted to Minister of War, the number of people in the guildhalls in the various provinces of Jiangnan doubled. Later, after Tantanon scolded the Ministry of War, another thirty percent of them silently left.
Yu Jiankang gently stroked the white cat's back. He shook his head and sighed, "The difference between being in the palace and not being in it is like the difference between heaven and earth. Inside, if you ask someone to do something, they should be deeply grateful. Outside, asking someone to do something isn't very effective. "
Yu Jiankang used the pretense of interceding for Lu Baijie, but in reality, he was plotting for Xu Gong's future. Because the two old men were very clear about the situation, Lu Baijie's temporary rise and fall on the stage couldn't stop the trend of this favored person. However, Dragon General Xu Gong was different. The court already had an undercurrent that suppressed generals. The Ministry of Appointments promoted him higher than the Ministry of War. Gu Jiantang was confined to the northern border by a gaudy title of Pillar of the Country. Why were Yang Shenxing, Yan Zhenchun, and the other military veterans in such a hurry to go down south? Wasn't it because they could see that there wouldn't be such a shop after this village? They were all trying to accumulate as much merit as possible for their descendants. If Xu Gong missed this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, it would be even harder for him to stand out in the future.
In the entire Spring and Autumn Period, there was only Xu Xiao the Butcher who could create his own momentum.
Gu Jiantang could only be considered half a person. As for the others, even someone as ambitious and ruthless as Lu Shengxiang, no matter how talented they were, was just borrowing power.
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