In the twenty-first year of the Qing Dynasty, it was extremely cold.
The cold wind comes from the north, adding a touch of white to this year's Spring Festival. The sun has not been seen in the sky above Kyoto for a long time. The goose-feather-like snow has been falling for more than half a month, and thick layers of snow have accumulated on the eaves. snow.
The sound of firecrackers eliminates the year old, and the sound brings warmth to Tusu.
During the New Year season, every household in Kyoto is decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations. No matter what kind of life we have had in the past year, after the New Year it will be a completely new atmosphere. Lu Ze took this opportunity to take advantage of what Wan'er missed earlier. Make up for the wedding and honeymoon.
On the second day of the Lunar New Year, Lu Ze took Wan'er back to the Prime Minister's Mansion.
This was the first time that Wan'er was able to return to the Lin family openly during the Chinese New Year. She even had tears in her eyes.
"In the past, during the Chinese New Year, I listened to the sound of firecrackers in the capital at the Royal Garden, watched the fireworks that lasted for half a month, and thought to myself, would it be better if I could be born in an ordinary family? Every time I celebrate the Chinese New Year, I am counting down the days. How long do you have to live?"
In the car, Wan'er leaned on Lu Ze's shoulder and spoke to him softly.
The girl who looked soft and frail at first had her hair tied up, and Wan'er, who looked like a woman, became more graceful and gentle. Her fair and tender face was finally no longer so thin, and the depression between her eyebrows disappeared, and her whole body A kind of temperament called happiness exudes from top to bottom.
Lu Ze touched his wife's hand and said very gently: "In the future, you don't have to celebrate the New Year by yourself."
"If you feel bored in the mansion later, you can go to the prime minister's mansion more often, or I can take you down to Jiangnan later."
There was a bright light in Wan'er's eyes: "Is it... Nei Ku?"
Lu Ze nodded.
If he can go out openly and openly, he can only use the inner treasury as an excuse at this stage. Although the prince's status is luxurious, it also imposes great restrictions on Lu Ze to some extent, so Lu Ze desperately wants to have it. The ability to do as one pleases.
In the huge Kyoto, there are many seemingly powerful people.
Lin Ruofu, the prime minister who is less than one person but more than ten thousand people, Fan Jian, who just announced his promotion to the Minister of Household Affairs a year ago, Chen Pingping, who has the largest violent machine in the Qing Dynasty, and even the supreme royal family...
But there is only one truly powerful person.
The carriage drove through the thick white snow, leaving long ruts on the street from the East Palace to the Prime Minister's Mansion. Open the curtains and feel the cold wind coming in. From time to time, you can see snowmen piled up on the street. A smile appeared on Er's lips: "I'm going to build a snowman with my brother later."
Lu Ze looked at Wan'er's expression and sighed slightly in his heart.
Since the two got married, Wan'er in the mansion has always pretended to be the mistress of the East Palace. Although Lu Ze warned her many times, Wan'er has been very tough on this point, and until today It was only when she went to the Lin Mansion that she showed her inner girlish nature, so Lu Ze felt that people in this era did get married too early.
It was windy and snowy, but the carriage arrived at the door of Lin Mansion smoothly.
There were people waiting at the door of Lin Mansion early. Lu Ze helped Wan'er get out of the car and looked at the middle-aged man not far away who walked down several steps to salute him. Lu Ze smiled softly: "Master Yuan actually With such dedication, this Chinese New Year person is actually still in the Prime Minister’s Mansion?”
Yuan Hongdao replied respectfully: "I haven't been home for five years. I live in a remote place. It's really a waste of time to come and go."
Lu Ze and Wan'er quickly entered the house.
As soon as he entered the house, he saw the tightly wrapped uncle, with three layers inside and three outside. His head was already covered with a layer of white frost, and he looked like a big rice dumpling. Lu Ze couldn't help laughing.
When Lin Dabao saw Lu Ze and Wan'er, his eyes were full of excitement. He quickly stepped forward and pulled them, saying that he was taking them to see the snowman he had built.
Lu Ze and Wan'er went to visit Lin Ruofu first. Wan'er eagerly went to the back garden with Dabao. Lu Ze drank the hot tea that had just been served. Master Yuan had already left and was sitting under Lu Ze. The person sitting here is my second uncle, Lin Gong.
Lin Ruofu, who is sitting on the main seat, is dressed in black cedar and has a slightly white beard.
At first glance, it does seem a bit feminine.
Lu Ze chatted with his father-in-law for a while, and the two soon talked about the spring after the beginning of spring.
The people of Qing Kingdom all know that after several Northern Expeditions without success, the current emperor gradually began to focus on the governance of the country. He established Qing Kingdom as the largest country in the world on horseback. Understand that although the battlefield is on the front line, the place that determines victory or defeat is actually outside the battlefield.
Therefore, we attach great importance to the spring festival every year.
In the past few years, I even had the experience of privately visiting the examination center incognito, which made the officials in charge of Chunwei not dare to slack off.
"The scale of the Spring Festival this time is larger than in previous years."
"A lot of things happened in Kyoto last year, and many positions of real power were left vacant. At the moment, they only have the title of trustee. When this code is removed, it will naturally be the time for fresh blood to be injected into Qingguo."
"Your Highness, does he know who the Juzhonglang is this time?"
Lu Ze's father-in-law is a female minister.
Although his status among the civil servants has reached the top, he still needs to put people in the court at ordinary times, because this is basically what everyone in the Qing Dynasty court does.
The position of Juzhonglang is not high, and he is the person responsible for the order of the Chunwei examination room.
The power of Ju Zhonglang may not be great, but it is not small either.
Because the imperial examination rules of the Qing Dynasty were all inherited from the previous dynasty, in order to prevent fraud, the examination papers of the Chunwei students had to be transcribed again by officials from the Ministry of Rites and Taixue scholars. The most important step before transcribing the name of the lake was It is Ju Zhonglang who is in charge.
Lu Ze listened to his father-in-law's words and nodded silently.
He slowly said: "It's the illegitimate son of the Fan family."
Lu Ze only learned the news two days ago.
Originally, the position of Juzhong Lang was jointly recommended by all the forces in the court to represent He Xini, and the power he held was still given away. However, this time the position of Ju Zhonglang has not been secured, and Lu Ze is considered the first. Those who know.
Lin Ruofu frowned slightly: "Why did it fall on that Fan Xian?"
Before Lu Ze could speak, he only heard his father-in-law say to himself: "Hmm... Could it be that old fox Fan Jian wants to use this method to bring his son into officialdom?"
In fact, Lin Ruofu really hit the nail on the head.
After all, Emperor Qing had been swaying with Fan Jian in regard to Fan Xian's marriage, so he agreed to let Fan Xian serve as Chunwei Juzhonglang this time. He also wanted to see what Fan Xian's temper was like. After all, the Qing Kingdom's Supervisory Council was not Anyone can master it.
"This year."
"Still doing things the same way."
"The arrangement will be arranged."
Lu Ze just said this.
Lin Ruofu's brows furrowed even more tightly, but he soon relaxed and nodded silently.
The officialdom of the Qing Dynasty was like a huge and fat cake, and the share of it was naturally divided up by the big shots in the court early. This was very different from some situations in later generations.
At the moment, Lu Ze naturally has no plans to improve this bad atmosphere, but he estimates that his father is planning to rectify the atmosphere. The most important reason is that the princes of Kyoto are also meddling in this cake.
The corner of Lu Ze's mouth raised a bit of sarcasm.
Emperor Qing could tolerate the civil and military officials in the court exchanging their imperial examination quotas for wealth, favors, and disciples.
But he couldn't tolerate his sons' interference. Even if he could tolerate it for a while, he would soon think of it again and uncontrollably think of many things, so it was only a matter of time before the examination hall was renovated.
Lu Ze chatted with his father-in-law for a long time, but Lin Cong left voluntarily midway.
"How many years has Master Yuan been in the mansion?"
"He has been my friend since I first entered the capital. He has been working as a staff member in the government these years and his ability is very outstanding."
Lu Ze said oh and said no more.
Lin Ruofu was stunned for a moment, then turned his head and looked deeply
He glanced at Lu Ze.
.......
During the Chinese New Year, there were naturally many people who came to the East Palace to pay their respects, but most of them could not see Lu Ze's face.
Guo Baokun is naturally not in the forefront.
Everyone in the capital knows that Mr. Guo is the leading scoundrel in the East Palace. Although it is rare to see the prince leading Mr. Guo out in the past six months, Guo Baokun still regards himself as the prince's companion.
"Your Highness."
"This is a New Year's gift specially prepared for you by the house. I have also prepared some old ginseng that nourishes yin and nourishes the skin and..."
Lu Ze looked at Guo Baokun, who looked very cautious in front of him, with a faint smile on his face, and said casually: "Why are you so reserved? It's not your first time here. The servants in the East Palace all know you."
Guo Baokun smiled and nodded, finally breathing a sigh of relief.
During this period of time, he noticed that His Highness seemed to have no intention of having fun. Guo Baokun felt that most of his role had been reduced. Finally, he was able to come to the East Palace to pay homage during the Chinese New Year. Fortunately, His Highness had not forgotten his companion.
But Lu Ze's next words made Guo Baokun fall directly into the ice cellar as if he had not caught a trace in the middle of winter.
"Your Majesty feels that the Guo family has controlled the Ministry of Rites for long enough."
Guo Baokun's face was dripping with cold sweat.
"Your Highness...could you be...joking?"
Lu Ze said nothing.
Just looked at him with calm eyes.
His voice trembled uncontrollably, and he stammered: "Your Highness... Your Highness... you mean... me... my father?"
Lu Ze couldn't help but sigh.
It is really inconvenient for me to see Guo Youzhi at the moment. The most important thing is that Lu Ze does not want to reveal too much about his true identity. He looked at the pale Guo Baokun in front of him and said in a slightly cold voice: "If you I don’t want your family to die, so don’t show any abnormality when you go out later. When you get home, find your father, remember what I said verbatim, and pass my words to him exactly as they are. Do you hear me clearly?”
Guo Baokun nodded wildly as if he was stupid.
...
On the tenth day of February, spring begins.
The presiding official of the Spring Festival this time was Guo Youzhi, the Minister of Rites. Fan Xian, as the Zhonglang official of this conference, seemed to be an insignificant role, but the person who came to the Fan family to deliver gifts and notes during this time was actually Countless.
Guo Youzhi looked extremely normal as he watched these young scholars slowly leaping into the courtyard.
As the time came, Eunuch Hou, who came on behalf of the emperor, read out His Majesty's decree. Immediately afterwards, the incense eucalyptus was removed and the gate of the Gongyuan was closed tightly, announcing that the spring festival had officially begun.
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Along with this, there was also a piece of heavy news, which made Kyoto extremely uneasy. Many literati rushed to tell each other: "Chun Wei is cheating! Guo Youzhi, the Minister of Rites, has been deprived of his post and imprisoned!"
Things are developing exactly as Lu Ze thought.
Emperor Qing chose to turn a blind eye to the gray areas that had existed in the Qing court in recent years. However, Emperor Qing had a very bright eye on the ministers who the princes had befriended in the court. Guo Youzhi was just Qing's friend. The emperor's easy choice.
Lu Ze was not as sad as everyone in the capital imagined. On the contrary, he was very happy that Guo Youzhi was kicked out.
These things in the open are too easy for people to stare at. Lu Ze needs to gradually hide some forces in the dark. Guo Youzhi is a pretty good target, so Lu Ze chooses to get back a little before he gets into trouble.
But that old cripple Chen Pingping wanted to take advantage of Lu Ze's influence to make Fan Xian famous, but Lu Ze didn't agree.
A rumor began to circulate in Kyoto official circles. The reason why the Chunwei fraud could be solved so vigorously was because the Overwatch Council had a list in hand, and the person who submitted this list to the Overwatch Council was none other than Chunwei. Fan Xian, the Zhonglang officer.
For a time, Fan Xian's reputation was frantically being recited by the scholars in the capital who were waiting for the imperial list to be released.
Mr. Xiao Fan has been dissatisfied with the shortcomings of the Imperial Examination Center in Beijing for a long time. This time, despite all the difficulties and obstacles in the officialdom, he still wants to stand up for the poor people in the world. How can Mr. Fan be so wise and courageous?
Lu Ze smiled dumbly when he heard such rumors.
Soon, another even bigger rumor spread in Beijing, which was shocking!
"Master Xiao Fan is actually from the Overwatch Council?"
