Han Xingyan said quietly, "It sounds like this new Prince Liang's future days are going to be quite miserable?"
Yin Changgeng laughed coldly and said, "It is indeed extremely miserable."
Yuan Guo left the small couch, his body swaying as he said, "I'm drunk, I'm drunk. Go find your father to drink some hangover tea."
Yuan Guo's hands rubbed his earlobes out of habit, swaying as he walked out of the room. Right now, the spring breeze still carried cold air. When the wind blew, he shivered. He turned around and saw Zhang Gaoxia following behind him. He slowed down his steps, saying in self-mockery, "I, Yuan Guo, am the most useless of the 'Eternal Hui Spring'. During those years, Elder Huan scolded me the most and fiercely, and I have also disappointed Grand Secretary great sir."
Zhang Gaoxia said this coldly, and then turned around to head towards Yin Changgeng and Han Xingyan.
"You are indeed the most disappointed!"
It was as if Yuan Guo didn't hear anything, continuing to walk forward, his steps unsteady.
This muddle-headed Prime Minister second in the Ministry of Works walked up to a giant Spring God Lake boulder that was two people tall, stopping in front of it, laughing to his heart's content.
— —
Speaking of which, in such a large family, Grand Secretary Zhang Julu wasn't some strict father, nor was he some kind of loving father. He never interfered with family matters, and when he treated his children, he always carried a cold attitude of letting them live or die on their own. The eldest son didn't seem to have inherited the Grand Secretary father's knowledge and talent, mediocre and unaccomplished. He served as a county magistrate in a lower county with less than three thousand families on the outskirts of the capital. After six whole years, he still couldn't take a single step forward. In reality, even now, that county's officials still didn't know that this person was the Grand Secretary great sir's son. The second son was only a bookworm, unable to rely on the family's good fortune to enter Hanlin Academy and become a Yellow Door Scholar, remaining a nobody. The younger son could only be considered idle and idle, not even having half the guts to do evil. As time passed, even though he was Grand Secretary Zhang's young master, Wang Yuanran and the other capital's hedonistic young masters whose family backgrounds were clearly much lower than his didn't like to bring him out to play anymore, feeling like this fella was too useless, bringing him out was just too shameful. Grand Secretary Zhang's daughters also married into mediocre families. Every time they returned to their mother's home, they wouldn't even be able to see their father's face. Even if Zhang Julu had nothing to do at home, he would still remain in his study, never showing his face. His daughters only dared to bring their husbands who couldn't even stand steadily in front of their Grand Secretary father-in-law to the study entrance, timidly greeting him with a few words through the door. Grand Secretary Zhang would at most respond with a neither light nor heavy 'en' sound, many times completely ignoring them.
Only when Grand Secretary Zhang occasionally saw his grandson who had just learned how to walk would he reveal a faint smile. That was why in this manor, the only one who could exchange a few words with this father whose power could overturn all levels of society was the only one left, the still unmarried Zhang Gaoxia.
The purple bearded, blue eyed Grand Secretary sat alone in the dimly lit study. This study was precisely Zhang Manor's thunder pool, not even his daughter Zhang Gaoxia could enter. After all these years, the number of people who could sit here could naturally be counted on one's fingers. Huan Wen was one of them, because there was only one chair in this room. Whoever sat down, it meant that the Grand Secretary had to stand.
Zhang Julu never had any interest in fine wine or fine food, nor did he take any concubines. His wife was the daughter of his respected teacher, the old Grand Secretary. When that old woman married Zhang Julu, there was already a saying in the capital that the daughter of the Grand Secretary was the wife of the number one scholar. When her husband also became the Grand Secretary, her appearance became even more revered, even the current empress Zhao Zhi having to treat her with respect. Only, the two's feelings were as indifferent as water, not exchanging many words throughout the year, treating each other with respect like a guest, even more so like ice. Zhang Julu also didn't have any interest in the Nineteen Paths, but he was rather obsessed with the Chinese chess that Huang Longshi pioneered. Only, apart from Huan Wen, this old friend, he rarely fought with others on the chessboard. Most of the time, he just played with himself. Even after playing for more than twenty years, he still didn't get tired of it. Right now, Zhang Julu was moving the red and black chess pieces separately on the chessboard. This set of chess pieces and chessboard was completely carved from ivory. This expensive Chinese chess was sent over by Yuan Guo back in the day. There were top scholars, second scholars, and third scholars every year, but the group of "young talents" who entered the court's field of vision during the short four years of the Spring of Yonghui were now famous officials who held great power in the court. As a result, they were destined to leave behind rich and colorful pages of praise in the annals of history. Of these nobles who were no longer young, Yuan Guo was the most "interesting" one. He was publicly acknowledged to be the most talented, but his reputation was the least prominent. His temperament was the most lively, and he was the most dissolute and unscrupulous. If this happened to an ordinary civil official, this would be called a distinguished scholar, but for an official who wanted to become a cabinet official, this kind of image was very fatal. Thus, at the time, no one would have thought of Assistant Minister Yuan, who was hanging around in the Ministry of Works. Not to mention Zhao Youling, Wang Xionggui, and Yin Maochun, even the Ministry of Justice's Han Lin, who had a similar rank, was more outstanding than Yuan Guo. It was hard to imagine that Yuan Guo was the first of these five people to cross the threshold of the fourth level. Unfortunately, just having a good first move was not beneficial to the overall situation. The officialdom was a place that emphasized gradual progress, and later strength became more and more important. Otherwise, there would only be a miserable end of a strong start but a weak finish.
Zhang Julu held a chess piece between two fingers and gently tapped the pile of "dead" chess pieces stacked up on the side of the chessboard. He muttered to himself, "The chess is good, but it lacks maturity. It can't be called a wonderful chess piece that can be used freely. At this time, it is too close together. Next, I can only either not use it or use it too much. But this is also human nature. After losing for so many years, if I don't make a comeback, I won't even have a chance to win against him in the future. "
This Grand Secretary glanced at the disorderly chessboard and lost interest. He stood up and walked to the window. The green willows in the courtyard were only half yellow and half unevenly distributed. It was indeed spring.
Zhang Julu sank into deep thought. He turned around and picked up a red chess piece from the chessboard, engraved with the character "Xiang".
Zhang Julu smiled.
"Take advantage of the fact that Yuan Benxi's scheme has not succeeded. One item for one item. It's time to hand it over to you. "
— —
Just as the imperial edict was about to reach the border of Beiliang, a rider quietly left the city early in the morning.
This white-clothed man, carrying a flagon of plum wine, followed the imperial road and left the capital directly.
That day, in the morning court session, amidst the muffled sound of spring thunder outside the hall, the head eunuch of the Ceremony Directorate, Song Tanglu, read out three imperial edicts: The Minister of Rites, Lu Daolin, resigned from his official position and retired to his hometown. He will be replaced by Assistant Minister Yuan Guo of the Ministry of Works.
Chen Zhibao will resign from his official position and will be enfeoffed as the vassal state of Xi Shu. The Minister of War will be Assistant Minister Lu Baijie.
The capital was shaken.
Rumor had it that numerous old officials stumbled out of the ranks and knelt on the ground, sobbing. They directly admonished the Son of Heaven in court. They did not care about being reserved in their words and directly said that Chen Zhibao should not be allowed to return the tiger to the mountain. They also said that Beiliang was an example of that. It was fine to let a tiger live once, but how could they allow Chen Zhibao to gain power again?
The Emperor replied with "court is dismissed if there is nothing to do."
Due to this, the two new ministers, Yuan Guo and Lu Baijie, who had both been promoted, did not have many words of congratulations.
In the twilight, a middle-aged monk in white robes very absurdly entered the city with a woman by his side. Everyone knew that the court was wantonly destroying Buddhas. The armored soldiers at the city gates all stared at this man and woman in disbelief. Did this monk come to Great Peace City to seek death? The people of the capital, who were used to seeing grand scenes, all looked over like they were looking at a monster.
。
The woman with ordinary looks joked, "In the past, when I wanted to see you, I couldn't see you even if I stood on my tiptoes. I had to jump and jump."
The white-clothed monk rubbed his bald head and smiled warmly. "At that time, I felt that the daughter of some family had really good legs. I jumped a few li."
The woman pinched him and snorted. "When you come to the capital, don't flirt with foxes!"
"How could I?"
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