The summer heat has just passed, and autumn is getting stronger in the Northland under the small glacier climate. It is actually a little chilly in the middle of the night.
On the day of Chinese Valentine's Day, a sumptuous banquet was held at the Duke Protector's Mansion. Yang Qing'er, Jin Yuji and Zhang Yan were all present. Yang Hao, Kang Yingqian, Qiao Yiqi, Pei Dahu, Lin Yu, Wu Xiao, Shen Nian, Liu Xingzuo and others were also entertained that night.
Liu Zhaosun told everyone not to stick to etiquette and just have fun.
At first, a group of close men were still quite reserved.
After all, the Duke Protector and the three imperial wives were all there. It was not until Liu Zhaosun carried a teapot and toasted everyone one by one. After three rounds of drinking, Lin Yu and Wu Xiao were already blushing, and the atmosphere gradually became warm.
Liu Zhaosun grabbed a piece of steamed cake and stuffed the tender venison breast meat into his mouth. He chewed it without caring about his own image, looking like a starving man.
Before finishing eating the steamed cake, he took the duck leg from Jin Yuji and pulled off half of it in one bite. Suddenly he remembered something and asked Xie Yang, the Civil Affairs Secretary who was sitting diagonally across from him.
"Director Xie, are Yang Tong, Liu Yuer and the others getting married soon?"
Xie Guangkun stood up unsteadily. Like Liu Zhaosun, he had allergies and would pour three glasses of wine.
Although Kaiyuan did not pay attention to seniority, and Liu Zhaosun was approachable towards his subordinates, the hierarchy still existed.
Especially on an occasion like today, when the Lord Protector hosted a family banquet, no one except Zhang Yan, who was pregnant, dared to say that they couldn't drink.
"Master Liu, the date is set for the thirtieth of this month. At that time, the civil affairs officials will go to Yang Qian's house to celebrate. Master Liu and all the generals are also invited to come."
After hearing this, Deng Changxiong, Wang Erhu, Qi Jin and other military and political leaders put down their chopsticks, nodded and said with a smile:
"Yang Qian is very happy, we will be there on the spot!"
The Lord Protector waved his hand and recalled the tragic incident three years ago that he would never forget:
"Yang Tong is our hero in Kaiyuan. Xu Xianchun, the eldest son of our ancestor in the first year of Chongzhen, sent people to harm Kaiyuan. Thanks to him and Liu Yuer's timely discovery, otherwise we don't know how many people would have died!"
Everyone unanimously remembered the disaster that happened that year and began to add various details they knew.
Liu Zhaosun suddenly remembered Song Yingxing, who was sent to Qinghe, and wondered how he was doing now.
"What is Song Yingxing doing in Qinghe now?"
Zhang Dong stood up quickly and said:
"I was assigned to work as a copywriter in the military camp, writing letters home to the soldiers, and assisting the training officer in writing manuscripts."
Back then, Song Yingxing was completely implicated by his two brothers, and became the sinner of Kaiyuan inexplicably. Liu Zhaosun imagined the humiliation this scientific genius suffered in Qinghe, and suddenly sympathized with Song Yingxing.
"Recall him back to Beijing. I want to see him. The Sakhalin expedition team is back. They need more people this time."
When the Protector was speaking, Kang Yingqian took the teapot from him and continued to pour wine to his colleagues around him, acting as the first confidant under the Protector.
Everyone was reluctant to refute Kang Yingqian's face, so they had to continue drinking. When it was Yang Hao's turn, the father-in-law of the Protector of the Country insisted on using the excuse that he was too drunk and stopped raising a glass, which made Kang Yingqian very embarrassed.
Seeing this, Qiao Yiqi quickly took Lao Kang's wine glass and drank for his old partner. He patted his shoulder and asked Kang Supervisor to sit down. The scene was quite embarrassing for a while.
Liu Zhaosun knew that there had always been a gap between the two people, and he was very interested in the Japanese demon monk who was said to have lived for four hundred years on the Ichigo volcano, so he asked them what they had experienced in Kaga Domain at that time.
The Protector intends to expand the power of the cabinet to help him handle government affairs.
There is currently only one vacancy in the cabinet, which is the position of second assistant, and one needs to be selected from Kang Yingqian and Yang Hao.
As Zhang Yan gained favor, Kang Yingqian's faction gained more and more obvious advantages in the Kaiyuan system. Yang Hao obviously could not tolerate this former subordinate weighing on him.
The struggle for power between the two old men has gradually heated up.
~~~~~~~
That night, Liu Zhaosun woke up from a nightmare.
He dreamed that the West was full of bones, and the crows that blocked the sky swooped down and submerged the bones, leaving only the gnawed bark on the ground.
When he woke up, his back was dripping with sweat. Looking at Yang Qinger's body lying next to him, she was snoring evenly and deeply. He quickly covered his wife with a thin quilt.
After half a month of conditioning, Hu Guogong's body fully recovered.
On July 23, Duke Protector petitioned the emperor and suggested that Yang Hao, the former Liaodong administrator, be summoned to the cabinet and serve as a second assistant.
The imperial censors and officials praised him one after another: the Protector of the Country "did not avoid relatives when he was promoted internally, and did not avoid resentment when he was promoted externally." He had the style of an ancient gentleman.
Liu Zhaosun chuckled:
He just wanted to further evade the power of the cabinet, and also wanted his father-in-law to help him correct some of the memorials.
In the six-person cabinet, except for Yang Hao and Huang Liji, the chief minister, who had clearly defected to Kaiyuan, the other four ministers also consciously kept a distance from Emperor Tianqi, for fear of losing their lives in the next "Jingnan" battle of the Protector. .
For Yang Hao, these four years of officialdom have been more ups and downs than he has experienced in the past fifty years.
He was transferred to Tianjin Guards to work as a coastal defense official as a criminal in the Saarhu War. After entering the customs with his son-in-law, he was promoted to the cabinet.
This is something Yang Hao never dared to think about before.
In the following period, Emperor Tianqi "voluntarily gave up" memorial review, ceremony hosting and other activities, which were subcontracted by the Protector to his old father-in-law Yang Hao.
And he set out to do something more meaningful.
At the end of July, Lord Protector attended the wedding of his subordinates Yang Tong and Liu Yue'er. At the banquet, he met the Fujiwara brother and sister, who were of mixed race from Japan.
After Zhang Dong was transferred to the Feiyi Guards, the position of chief officer of the Zhenfu Army was vacant, so Liu Zhaosun asked Yang Tong to take the position.
Ever since Liu Zhaosun encouraged the one-armed sharpshooter and told him that Emperor Zhenwu only had one hand, Yang Tong had made many meritorious deeds in the past two years, uncovering a number of major cases in Kaiyuan one after another and capturing a large number of spies sent by the imperial court.
At dusk on July 30th, Liu Zhaosun, wearing a first-grade crane patchwork robe, sat at the top of the east side of Yang Tong's courtyard. Looking at Yang Tong and his wife who were toasting the guests, he couldn't help but sigh:
"What a good intelligence expert who was delayed by the shooting project."
Yang Tong is now the chief officer of the Zhenfu Army and concurrently serves as the commander of the Five Cities Military and Horse Division. He belongs to the fourth rank. Liu Zhaosun intends to train him to be the chief officer of the capital police system.
The newlyweds soon came to the seat of the Protector of the Country and toasted to the superior officer. Liu Zhaosun took two glasses of sake and was about to drink them all when Kang Yingqian coughed lightly.
The Protector smiled and said:
"Today is a happy day for Shopkeeper Yang Qianshi Liu, so it doesn't hurt to have a couple of drinks."
As he spoke, he raised his wine to bless the two of them and said:
"Today Yang Qianshi and Shopkeeper Liu are getting married. Lovers finally get married. Yang Qianshi has made great contributions to Kaiyuan in the past two years. Shopkeeper Liu has assisted the Chamber of Commerce in trading and his contribution is not small. It is precisely you who are like you in Kaiyuan. With such people, my career will flourish. I usually don't drink at all, and I have just recovered from a serious illness. Today I made an exception and drank the wedding wine for you two. "
After saying that, Liu Zhaosun raised his wine glass and drank two glasses of sake in one go.
A burst of cheers erupted from the surroundings. Yang Tong's face was red and he thanked him repeatedly:
"The Lord Protector's words are serious. If it weren't for Mr. Liu's encouragement and support that day at the Seven Stars Tower, Xiaguan would be just a cripple with a broken arm now. He was able to get married to Yue'er because of the help of the Lord Protector."
