Yan Chiji finally wiped his tears and stood up.
When Yan Chiji was about to bow and express his gratitude, Chen Wang shook his head and said, "Forget it, forget it. Lu Xu has already done the same thing in front of His Majesty today. If you do it again, where will His Majesty put his face? Once the label of forming a clique for personal gain is put on me, I can forget about continuing to be promoted."
Yan Chiji said calmly, "Gentlemen are a group, not a clique."
Chen Wang was stunned for a moment, then he turned around and began to climb the ladder. He muttered softly, "What a waste of my effort. That's good, I don't have to waste money to treat you to a drink. "
Yan Chiji, who had flattered the wrong person, was immediately embarrassed.
Song Tanglu, who had been ignoring their conversation, secretly raised the corner of his mouth.
On the roof of the main hall, Chen Wang, who was originally sitting next to the young emperor, moved his seat. Yan Chiji could only bite the bullet and sit between the emperor and Chen Wang.
Zhao Zhuan said coldly, "Aren't you going to learn from those famous officials who remonstrated with the emperor?"
Yan Chiji lowered his head and his expression couldn't be seen clearly. He said softly, "Sir Chen is right, as an official, one has to think about being promoted. This is human nature."
Chen Wang, who was immediately retorted, didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Scholars were not good people.
On the other side, Blind Lu Xu smiled playfully.
Zhao Zhuan was a little self-deprecating. He sighed and said, "You're right, you and Hsu Fengnian are good brothers who grew up together. That's why you're kneeling and pleading for him today. If you, Yan Chiji, were only an official of Li Yang, I, as the emperor, might be angry on the surface and even throw you into the cold bench for a few years. However, deep down, I'm not angry. If I say that I'm not angry at all, I'd be lying. However, you're not only Hsu Fengnian's friend, I'm also not only the emperor of Li Yang. You and I are not only monarch and minister, but also family. In the future, I might choose more concubines and there will be more than one. At that time, there will be more imperial fathers-in-law and imperial uncles. However, I'm not lying to you, you're first the fourth prince's brother-in-law, then the imperial uncle of the current emperor. "
Yan Chiji was stunned.
Zhao Zhuan put his arm around Yan Chiji's shoulder and laughed. He pointed into the distance, "Look! The wind and clouds were surging! I hope that one day, the four of us will be able to sit here together and enjoy the scenery! "
Chen Wang's expression was solemn as he sat upright.
Blind Lu Xu 'raised his eyes' and looked into the distance, his hands casually supporting himself on the roof.
— —
Great Peace City was the most virtuous city. There were many people, and naturally there were many rules. Even the residences of the officials were divided into three, six, and nine levels. They were mostly divided into the rich and powerful. For example, the group of residences where the Duke of Yan and the Marquis of Huaiyang resided were mostly of great birth. Dukes, marquises, and counts were piled together. For a new face like Chen Wang, if he had not relied on his relationship with the junwang to become a son-in-law, even if Chen Wang had become a regular attendant of the scattered cavalry of the province, he would not have been able to get a residence there. Most of the people in Jing came from the Hanlin Academy, the Imperial College, and the Imperial Censorate. They were officials of Li Yang, and also scholars that were renowned in the scholarly circles. Living next to each other saved them the effort of calling for friends. In Great Peace City, there were also poor officials. For example, the earliest Ministry of Rites was a typical government office. Many of the officials of the Ministry of Rites who did not have a high rank and were not the top officials even had to rely on money to survive. They passed their days in poverty. They were called clean sleeves, and their bitterness was not known to outsiders.
The rich people, like Song Tianbao, who was brothers with the son of the former Minister of Revenue, Wang Yuanran, and the grandson of the old general Yan Zhenchun, Yan Tongshu, even though he had a rich father, it was still very awkward for him to buy a residence in Great Peace City. The residences of the dukes, marquises, and counts were people that he could not get in. There was no point in going to the residences of the poor officials. The feeling of being looked down upon all day was not good. Fortunately, there was another choice. That was to buy a large residence in the middle of the residences of the officials with power and the rich. During the day, he would go to the residences of the officials in Jing and pretend to be their sons and grandsons. At night, he would make up for it from people who had money but had less money than him.
Some busybodies had studied the group of officials in Jing who had made a name for themselves at the end of Yong Hui. They had probably "made a name for themselves" in the poor area to the south of Great Peace City where scholars and scholars gathered. Then they quickly rose to the ranks of the nobility in the northeast of the city. In the end, they went to the east to buy a grand residence. If one day they could move to the west of Jing like Chen Wang and Chen Shaobao, then their lives would be complete. Not only would they not have any regrets, they would also be able to answer to their ancestors and descendants.
With the Peng Family at the head, the large and small landowning clans in the north suddenly flooded into the northeast of Great Peace City in the second year of the Auspicious Talisman. As a result, the residences in this area, which were already worth an inch of gold, became even more in demand. This caused many mid-level officials who had saved up some silver with great difficulty and wanted to finally be able to no longer rent houses to live their days, to the point that they couldn't help but curse the Liaodong barbarians in private, saying that other than being rich, they weren't anything good at all! As the most important old power in the northeast of the capital, the officials of the Six Ministries of the Shangshu Province didn't have a good attitude toward this either. Their relationship with the new landowning households that moved in was rather estranged. This was also very normal. In the past twenty years, especially after the old Grand Secretary Bi Yan 'er personally presided over the imperial examinations, Liyang no longer deliberately supported the scholars of the Northern Lands in the imperial examinations. As a result, in the previous examinations, the scholars of the Southern Lands occupied at least seventy percent of the seats with an overwhelming advantage, forming an extremely clear structure of Northern Generals and Southern Ministers. However, in the ten years after Yong Hui's death before the auspicious talisman, there was no war in the world. Where did the new generals come from? Naturally, there were more and more southern officials in the imperial court. The Green Party, which was known for its unity, was one of the most striking examples. As the Great Generals of the Four Campaigns, Four Equalities, and Four Towns, who were mostly from the North, died of old age, the northeast of Great Peace City became less and less a place for the northern scholars to speak with their backs straight. If it wasn't for the fact that there was still General of the North, Ma Lulang, left to hold up the facade, and the officials from the South didn't kill him to the last one, the northern officials would have been pushed aside to the point of wanting to die.
Thus, the first thing the Peng family did after buying a new residence was to grandly pay a visit to the manor of General of the North. Although it was said that they didn't even see the sickly Ma Lulang, after all, they were personally received by the eldest son of the Ma family, General of Andong, Ma Zhongxian.
With the Peng family leading the way, the collective migration of the two wealthy families of Liao was quite smooth. The Minister of War, Lu Baijie, had left the capital, and the backbone of the Green Party, Hong Lingshu, had entered the capital. It looked like the Jiangnan powers had entered and left the imperial court without any losses, but in reality, it was clear that they had greatly damaged their vitality. Thus, the large scale movement of the northern scholars into the capital was very interesting.
The doors of the official mansions were higher than the street level. This was a rule that had been followed for hundreds of years. The so-called steps in the officialdom were actually the steps in front of the door. The number of steps was very particular. According to the laws of Liyang, first, one had to be of the flowing class. Only then could the number of steps be determined by the rank of an official. A sixth-level official could only build three steps, and a fourth-level official could build four steps. This meant that this was the case for local governors and ordinary generals with real power. Next, most of the Assistant Ministers of the Six Ministries, if not specially bestowed, could only build five steps. The Ministers of the Six Ministries had six steps, and very few could build seven steps. For example, the former Minister of Personnel, Zhao Youling, and the current Minister of Rites, Sima Puhua, had also received this honor. It was said that on the day the Sima family mobilized a large number of people to build more steps for their mansions, the old Minister cried on the spot.
What was interesting was that the rare seven steps in the northeast were rare in the area where Chen Shaobao and Chen Wang lived. If you didn't have six steps, you wouldn't have the face to greet people when you left the house. Seven steps were also very common. Chen Wang's father-in-law was at the seventh step. Even someone like Duke Yan, Gao Shizhi, who was at the eighth step, was not rare. However, all of the officials in the capital knew that the steps in the west of the city were all fake. They relied on the ancestral shadow and the surname of the Zhao family to decorate the face of the court. However, the steps in the northeast were truly exchanged for by the official hats of the two recent generations. The saying, "West Seven is not as rare as North Five" was precisely the reason. In the northeast of the capital, there was another saying, "Ma Eight, Yan Seven, Minister Six". It said that most of the official mansions here were only at the sixth step, but the Yan Manor was at the seventh step. The Ma Manor had the same standard of eight steps as the vassal states and dukes.
Recently, not only did the eldest son of the Ma family, Ma Zhongxian, often rush back to the manor in the inner city from the Jingji East Army, even the eldest grandson, who often didn't return home at night and smelled of cosmetics, stayed at home obediently and declined visitors.
It was probably because they had heard too many rumors of the Ma family's old master finally dying. In the end, he was still able to do it every time. As for the strange behavior of Ma Zhongxian and his son, not many people took it seriously.
However, whether it was the son, Ma Zhongxian, or the grandson, Ma Wenhou, they all knew that the old master might not be able to make it this time.
This was because the old master, who had been bedridden for many years, was not only no longer muddle-headed, but also had a sense of vitality. He could even sit up and eat a few mouthfuls of plain porridge. His eyes were much clearer.
This was called the final radiance of the setting sun.
Some old people knew that they were nearing the end of their lifespan, so they didn't mind letting the wind extinguish the last bit of their candle flame.
When the old master of the Ma family heard from his son, Ma Zhongxian, that Beiliang had defeated Beimang, he only opened his turbid eyes and asked shakily, "How many … died …"
Ma Zhongxian truthfully reported the general situation of the battle, which was still very vague. However, compared to the officials of the Ministry of War, he was already closer to the truth.
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