If Bian Guang knew what His Highness Seventh Prince was thinking, he would definitely say that it is great to be young.
He let Kong Wenwen go because of Lu Hanjiang's order. After all, His Majesty's birthday banquet was just around the corner, and His Majesty's face would not look good if it caused trouble, so it was impossible to arrest him just because he wanted to.
This was just a cutscene, used by Lu Hanjiang on the other side to confuse the Crown Princess. As for his respect for His Majesty Seventh Prince, it was purely a matter of habit. He had been in Jinyiwei for a long time, and it was instinctive to talk about ghosts and people. , you can easily catch people telling lies.
Bian Guang shook his head and stopped thinking about these useless things. He summoned the guard and asked, "Where is Cui Baihu?"
The guard looked at Bian Guang in surprise and replied: "Sir, Cui Baihu was ordered to go south."
Bian Guang then remembered that Cui Yixiao had been assigned by Mr. Lu to work in Miao territory. He thought to himself that maybe it was time to recruit some talents.
Not only Bian Guang was aware of the problem of Jin Yiwei's declining talents, but Lu Hanjiang was also worried about it.
It is actually an exaggeration to say that talent is withering. It should be due to insufficient manpower, mainly due to the shortage of middle-level forces who can carry the banner.
After all, nearly half of the thousand households were suddenly reduced, and anyone else would feel that there was not enough manpower.
In the past, Lu Hanjiang worked for Qianhu, and he had two capable Baihu, Bian Guang, Jiangxian, and based on them, it was enough to develop a group of powerful subordinates.
But now that he is already the governor of the town, among other things, he must find a way to fill the vacant positions of thousands of households.
Naturally, all his direct subordinates have to keep their positions, so the remaining one, Beizhen Fusi, originally had two deputy Qianhu, Ying Wushang and Liu Yishou.
When Lu Hanjiang took up his pen and wrote down the names of these two people on the roster, he always had a subtle feeling. A person can be lucky for a while, but he will not be lucky for a lifetime.
After hesitating for a moment, he still wrote down the names of the two people, and then handed the list to his subordinates. This thing will be circulated all the way to Meng Yuan. When the commander nods, he can start arranging the assessment and promotion matters. .
After dealing with this matter, Lu Hanjiang stretched, cleared his desk and prepared to go home. He had worked too hard recently and rewarded himself with a half-day holiday.
...
"Junior brother, what are you talking about? Senior Brother Kong, he, he actually colluded with Jin Yiwei to use the secrets of the Xiaoyao Sect for his own benefit?!"
In the teahouse, Xi Qiu, who was dressed in disguise, got surprising news from "Qiao Cunsi".
Under normal circumstances, Lu Hanjiang was not interested in boring messages, so this time it was Huangfu Xiaoyuan who came to see Xi Qiu after her disguise. She sighed and imitated Lu Hanjiang's tone and said: "Senior sister, this happened with my own eyes today. What you see will not be false.”
"This this......."
Xi Qiu was a little panicked for a moment. It was taboo to engage in political affairs in the capital, not to mention that what the Xiaoyao Sect was seeking was huge. Once discovered, the consequences would be disastrous.
Once the secret of the jade is exposed, not to mention how many people will covet it, His Majesty the Emperor alone will never let them go, disciples of the Xiaoyao Sect.
"Senior sister, you should make a decision quickly." Huangfu Xiaoyuan urged inadvertently, interrupting Xi Qiu's thinking.
"The matter is very important. If he really betrays the Xiaoyao Sect, I'm afraid he will have to strike first to gain advantage." Xi Qiu may still have some expectations for Kong Wen, but he didn't say anything.
Huangfu Xiaoyuan advised, "Sister, His Majesty the Emperor's birthday is coming soon. If we take action at this time, I'm afraid it will cause a lot of unnecessary trouble."
"What you're saying is...what should we do?"
Xi Qiu was restless. Even though she had the peerless martial arts skills of the Xiaoyao Sect, once she lost her backbone, it would only take a moment for her to get into chaos.
"Why don't you tell Senior Brother Chu about this and ask him what he thinks?"
While Huangfu Xiaoyuan was guiding him, he said, "Senior sister, that man's words and deeds are inconsistent with his appearance. He is really not worthy of trust. We can no longer trust him."
"But," Xi Qiu was confused: "The secret can only be solved by collecting the seven jade stones in the hands of each highness. If Senior Brother Kong is unwilling to help..."
"Senior Sister, Junior Brother Rong, to be honest, the secret of jade does require the tokens in the hands of all His Highnesses, but it does not require the concerted efforts of seven people."
Huangfu Xiaoyuan spoke in a cryptic manner. In desperation, Xi Qiu did not understand her meaning for a moment, but just said: "Junior brother, please speak out if you have anything to say."
"Senior sister, it's impossible to escape unscathed now, so why don't we take another step forward?"
Ignoring Xi Qiu's changed expression, Huangfu Xiaoyuan said bluntly: "We can pretend to cooperate with Senior Brother Kong and do some tricks in secret."
After Xi Qiu was silent for a long time, he looked at Huangfu Xiaoyuan and asked: "...Junior brother, actually you also want to win the power of Conglong, right?"
“Who in the world doesn’t want to reach the sky in one step?”
Huangfu Xiaoyuan sighed and said: "Senior sister, we have no way out. If we don't want to become a dead soul under the sword of Jin Yiwei, we can only fight with all our strength."
"...Junior brother, let me know if you have any ideas." Xi Qiu finally gave in.
Huangfu Xiaoyuan said calmly: "The day after tomorrow is His Majesty's birthday banquet, we need to use our strength to push the person out before Senior Brother Kong."
Xi Qiu sighed and said, "I will convince the Fourth Highness."
"Senior sister is wrong. It's not His Highness the Fourth, but His Highness the Seventh."
Huangfu Xiaoyuan's eyes were sly, and she said: "I remember that although His Royal Highness has lost power, he still has some influence in the court, and there are also a few courtiers under his command who have not been exposed, right?"
"Not bad." Xi Qiu nodded. Although the fourth prince was not smart, he had a good family background. Even if he was defeated several times, he still had some leftover.
Huangfu Xiaoyuan's words were astonishing: "Sister, please persuade the Fourth Highness to greet the courtiers and jointly invite the Seventh Highness to be the crown prince at the birthday banquet."
"Junior brother, do you want to——" Xi Qiu was startled and seemed to understand what the other party meant.
"Since Senior Brother Kong is unkind, you can't blame us for being unjust. Besides, originally they planned to push one of His Highnesses out to test him. Now that the Fourth Highness has been replaced by the Seventh Highness, we can still see His Majesty's attitude."
Xi Qiu looked at the confident Huangfu Xiaoyuan and chose to agree to the matter without hesitation.
After returning to the Lu family, Huangfu Xiaoyuan told Lu Hanjiang the incident.
"Senior Sister Xi Qiu is a very controllable person. You did a good job." Lu Hanjiang praised her.
Huangfu Xiaoyuan's face was dull, thinking that Xi Qiu was indeed consistent with Lu Hanjiang's evaluation.
Although Senior Sister Xi Qiu is talented in martial arts, she lacks independent opinions in dealing with people and has a somewhat lonely temperament. If someone close to her says something, it can easily influence her.
This time Lu Hanjiang did not set a script for Huangfu Xiaoyuan, so she did everything on her own initiative. She had only one request, which was to split the Xiaoyao faction.
Huangfu Xiaoyuan didn't know if she had completed her mission, but no matter how many times she used lies and traps to plot others, it was hard for her to adapt.
Rather than laboriously leading the other party step by step into the trap created by her meditation, she would rather slap the other party to death with one palm.
The closer she got, the more Huangfu Xiaoyuan couldn't understand Lu Hanjiang, nor did she understand the reason why the other party had to personally participate in these things. He appreciated the suffering of others and took pleasure in it, even for him. It was all just child's play, and he still enjoyed it.
The resistance in her heart was accompanied by tangled pain, and the astringency spread in her mouth. Huangfu Xiaoyuan subconsciously covered her mouth and nose, and her delicate brows knitted together gently.
After noticing Huangfu Xiaoyuan's strangeness, Lu Hanjiang handed him a glass of water, and he smiled happily.
