Seeing Li Qingzhao sighing suddenly, Cao Bin picked up the tea bowl and sipped the tea leisurely:
"So, the next thing I have to do is pretend to be sick and ask for leave."
Hearing this, Li Qingzhao couldn't help rolling his eyes.
You said this as if you were reluctant. I'm afraid you may not be taking the opportunity to be lazy.
But after she understood Cao Bin's plan, she also knew the necessity of doing so.
Since Wang Fu, the head of the Duzhi Division, was sent to see Cai Jing, Cao Bin personally took charge of the affairs of the Duzhi Division. The Hubu Division was also the old department of his father-in-law, Grand Master Pang.
The three departments that supervise each department are temporarily in charge of Zhang Dun.
Now there is only one person left in the Salt and Iron Department, Han Jiang, who is considered Prime Minister Wang Yanling. If Cao Bin pretends to be ill, the Jianghuai Salt Case will fall on this person.
What Cao Bin was waiting for was when Han Jiang, Wang Yanling and others were helpless and asked him for help.
At that time, he was the one who was expected to change the political situation.
At that time, as the head of the Salt and Iron Department, it was not impossible for him to plan something, which could be said to kill two birds with one stone.
Thinking of this, Li Qingzhao couldn't help but fell into deep thought.
Things in the imperial court have always been complicated, and can never be completely summed up by the words loyalty and traitor. Especially the reform and restructuring, it affects the whole body and is full of resistance.
Sometimes, those so-called loyal and honest people can also be the biggest obstacle to change.
Whether this Marquis Cao's behavior was to keep his power or had good intentions for the Song Dynasty, she couldn't understand it.
But he did solve the court's crisis in a calm and clear way, and he also had far-reaching plans.
For a moment, she felt quite moved in her heart, thinking that this is what a real man should be.
With this in mind, she was about to apologize for her disrespect some time ago, when she heard Cao Bin say very seriously:
"Ms. Li, for the next period of time, because I cannot go to the Third Division to perform my duties, I need you to handle daily official duties on my behalf."
"Don't stop sleeping!"
Hearing this, Li Qingzhao's heart suddenly disappeared. He looked at Cao Bin speechlessly and reminded:
"Does the daily official work in the Third Division require the Marquis to keep an eye on it all day?"
On weekdays, I see you fishing in troubled waters, cheating and cheating, not doing anything serious all day long, and getting more rest than anyone else.
Now you want to use your absence as an excuse to deprive me of my rest time. Are you embarrassed?
Cao Bin coughed awkwardly and said seriously:
"Ms. Li, you are young and have just entered the officialdom. It is the time when you are working hard to make progress. Are you willing to just be a ninth-grade official?"
"You are a talent that I personally recruited. I guarantee you that as long as you make some achievements, you will definitely achieve great things in the future. If you can become the first female prime minister in this dynasty..."
Several buckets of chicken soup were poured down, and even though Li Qingzhao was always sober, he was still drunk and did not react until he left the Hou Mansion.
She was so full of resentment that she looked back at the Zhongjing Hou Mansion, feeling very depressed.
Not to mention her as a woman, there have been many men with talents throughout the dynasties, but how many of them can achieve the position of prime minister?
This was clearly Cao Bin deceiving himself.
Seeing her leaving, Cao Bin smiled proudly and thought of something again. He gave the concierge careful instructions before returning to the backyard with satisfaction.
A few days passed by and it was morning.
Queen Mother Pan was sitting behind the beaded curtain in the palace. Seeing that Cao Bin's seat was empty, she frowned and asked:
"Has Zhong Jinghou's body not recovered yet?"
She actually didn't believe that Cao Bin would get sick. After all, there was a precedent, but she didn't know what he was planning.
However, after several discussions about the Jianghuai Salt Farm, she could not come up with a perfect solution, which made her very anxious and waited for Cao Bin to come up with an idea.
Seeing that he didn't show up again today, I couldn't help but feel a little angry.
Prime Minister Wang Yanling said with a bitter face:
"Zhongjing Hou sent someone to ask for sick leave last night..."
Before he could finish speaking, an imperial envoy came out and said:
"The Queen Mother, the minister wants to impeach Marquis Zhongjing."
"Yesterday morning, my servants saw with their own eyes that Zhongjinghou took his family out of the city for a spring outing."
"He is simply pretending to be ill..."
Hearing this, Wang Yanling was speechless.
When this bastard handed over the leave note, he wrote it in a miserable way, but in private he didn't even pretend to be. How disrespectful was he that he was a bastard?
In fact, Cao Bin had concealed his identity, and the servants of the Imperial Envoy's family did not see him in person.
It's just that the imperial emissary heard what was said, so it's not uncommon for him to speculate out of thin air.
If Cao Bin was really sick, how could his wife and concubines be interested in going on a spring outing? Therefore, the imperial envoy had every reason to suspect that Cao Bin was pretending to be ill.
Sima Guang hated Cao Bin very much. At this time, he couldn't help but walked out of the court and said angrily:
"Such a big thing happened in Yandao, but as the director of the third department, he ignored it. This is a mistake for national affairs, and the corpse is left alone."
"In my opinion, the imperial court should remove Zhongjing Hou from his position as deputy envoy of the Third Division."
"Negotiations with Xixia should not continue to be handled by him."
After hearing the imperial envoy's impeachment, even Bao Zheng frowned.
In the past, although he couldn't stand Cao Bin's arrogance, at least it didn't delay the important affairs of the court, and he could ignore it, but this time Cao Bin went too far.
So he also went out to the class and said:
"The Queen Mother, you can send the imperial doctor to the Marquis Mansion to check, so as not to unjustly accuse Marquis Zhongjing."
Queen Mother Pan did not respond. Instead, she looked at the members of the Third Division and asked:
"Zhong Jinghou has asked for leave for a few days. Who is on duty in the third department now?"
Han Jiang, the head of Yantie, couldn’t wait any longer and said angrily:
"It's a female yamen invited by Mr. Cao Hou. These days, she has been in charge of Mr. Cao's seal."
As he spoke, he added:
"This girl is just a harem woman. As soon as she entered the officialdom, she was assigned a formal official position by Lord Cao."
When the ministers heard this, they immediately became uproar, and Kou Zhun couldn't help but said:
"It's just nonsense."
After speaking, he pointed at Wang Yanling and asked:
"Prime Minister Wang, is your political office selection such a child's play?"
Wang Yanling was extremely helpless. How could he, a dignified prime minister, pay attention to a low-ranking official from the ninth rank.
What's more, that's Cao Bin's staff, and it's normal for him to have a staff. It's all up to him, so what does it have to do with me?
I didn't expect that I would be implicated by Cao Bin one day, and I just felt extremely depressed.
At this time, Li's father, who was standing in the class of ministers, was so frightened that his legs were weak. Because of Cao Bin's help, he was not sent out and was promoted, barely qualified to participate in the Chang Dynasty.
I thought that the court was discussing important matters and I was not qualified to speak. Unexpectedly, my daughter was pushed to the forefront.
Now he wants to slap himself twice, why did he agree to his daughter becoming an official in the first place?
He knew that he would not be safe. The girl had only been in glory for a few days, and something happened.
Cao Bin has a high position and has many ways to escape punishment, but his daughter is unlucky.
Seeing that Han Jiang's words were true and full of anger, Queen Mother Pan pondered for a moment and then directly ordered:
"Come here, tell the girl to go to the palace. The Ai family needs to ask about Cao Bin's situation first."
After saying that, he added:
"After the court meeting is over, the Ai family will personally test her talents."
Before Queen Mother Pan finished speaking, she heard a commotion below, and someone played:
"Queen Mother, Li Zhigao fainted..."
