Jiang Cheng was a little puzzled when he heard this, but he vaguely felt that he had touched a key point, and he quickly thought about it in his mind.
Pang Ban did not sell out, and continued: "The timing of previous battles with the barbarians was different from this one."
"Are you saying that this time we discovered it in advance and forced the barbarians to take action?"
"No, no, no, Jiang Cheng, we talked before about the situation in the imperial city, do you remember?"
"Sir, are you talking about the seven princes..."
"That's right. Your Majesty has been letting the princes go freely over the past two years. Now that each prince has his own power, what do you think your Majesty is doing by doing this?" Pang Ban woke him up directly.
"You mean that His Majesty will leave the implementation of the money and food tightening strategy to the prince? This..." Jiang Cheng wanted to say "This is inappropriate" but in the end he held it back.
Pang Ban did not explain the rationale to Jiang Cheng, let alone tell Jiang Cheng that the emperor had been taking extremely harmful and powerful drugs to replenish energy. Although there is no news, Pang Ban knows that the emperor's time is running out. This can also be supported by Pang Ban's perception of the chaotic aura and soul fluctuations in the emperor.
If you don’t live long, you will naturally be more anxious about doing things. And it just so happens that at such a critical moment, there is a military situation. A two-pronged approach, although risky, can test the most capable one.
After Pang Ban's reminder, Jiang Cheng finally understood, but he was not as sure as Pang Ban.
"You don't need to think too much about it. His Majesty's thoughts are not something we should think too much about. We should do our own thing well. Look more recently and move less. Keep your hands and mouth shut, and look at the cities under your rule. , don’t stare at the Imperial City. Our Xuanqing Guards can’t get involved in this kind of thing.”
"Sir, please rest assured that my subordinates will strictly abide by your teachings and will never get involved in these things."
Pang Dian nodded. He felt at ease with Jiang Cheng. He also trusted the governors of Jingdong and Jingbei, and they all followed him. Only Liao Chengfeng, the governor of Jingnan, Pang Ban, is becoming more and more unsure. Now he wants to take another look.
"But you still have to let them continue to spin on the Black Water side. The eyes on our faces here in the Imperial City are not suitable for staring, but we still need to pay close attention to the eyes in our hearts. Especially those officials, including the princes, Keep an eye on me as much as you can. But at the same time, you have to be careful not to expose me. Do you understand?"
"My subordinate understands."
Here Jiang Cheng took the order and left, but Pang Ban took out the document that Jiang Cheng reported just now and read it carefully.
Different from what he told Jiang Cheng just now, it was simple and clear. When Pang Ban saw the document in his hand, his heart was much more violent than what he had just shown in front of Jiang Cheng.
What is Bai Changqing afraid of? This is critical.
Bai Changqing is a minister, and his power and status can be said to be among the top people in the old Jing Dynasty. Besides the emperor, how many people can scare him?
He Pang Ban might be one, and Yang Yansi could be one if he was still in power. The rest... Ye Lansheng also counts, right? And it just so happened that this time Bai Changqing was clearly avoiding Ye Lansheng, a figure he had been following for many years.
Although Pang Ban rarely spoke in the temple for many years, his eyes were always open and his ears were always listening. He still remembered that Bai Changqing and the five ministries except the Ministry of War had been closely surrounding Ye Lansheng, and they were advancing and retreating together. This happened countless times, which allowed the civil servant group to remain strong in the temple for decades.
What happened that made Bai Changqing suddenly take the initiative to distance himself from Ye Lansheng? What matters require you to choose to protect yourself regardless of Ye Lansheng's reaction?
First of all, Pang Ban didn't believe that Ye Lansheng would take the initiative to harm Bai Changqing, because there was no quarrel between the two in terms of personal relationship or interests.
Secondly, Bai Changqing is not a fool. It is impossible for him to have such an extreme reaction just because of some vague things. He must be so eager because he is certain that something will happen.
It's definitely not a trivial matter, otherwise Bai Changqing wouldn't be like this. But...what could it be?
After thinking about it for a long time, Pang Ban couldn't think of any possible joints. In the end, he could only put it down temporarily and shouted out the door: "Call Bai Mian over."
There was a sound outside the door. Then not long after, there was a knock on the door and a middle-aged man in white shirt came in. It was the spy leader under Pang Ban who had arranged for people to keep an eye on Shen Hao before.
"Sir, are you looking for me?"
"Yes. Is there anything noteworthy about Ye Lansheng's side recently?" Pang Ban said while pushing the document submitted by Jiang Cheng in front of this person.
"Let me tell you, Ye Lansheng has not done anything special recently. He just moves around more frequently with the people below. They are all private meetings, and they all choose their respective mansions. The specific content is not yet known." He answered. While taking the document, he opened it and read quickly.
After reading it, the man whom Pang Ban called Bai Mian said in a deep voice: "Sir, Bai Changqing has indeed rarely interacted with the high-ranking officials in the temple recently. But that's it, there is no other behavior. But this The deduction is quite interesting.”
"Haha, don't worry about it. This channel will not be given to you. I am giving it to you to ask you to pay attention to this matter. Keep an eye on those civil servants, and don't let go of any trouble."
"My subordinate understands."
"Also, how are the conditions of those princes?"
In fact, Bai Mian's face is not white at all. On the contrary, his skin is dark, and he looks like a rough guy who often travels around. But "Baimian" was his old nickname, and now there are only a limited number of people who call him that.
"Back to your lord, the seven princes are restless now. After His Majesty determined the direction of the military campaign in the south, they have diverted most of their attention from the civil servants to the army. Now the four major fronts are related to the Governor's Mansion. You can see the figures of all the princes' guests in the yamen. However, it is not yet known how many people have been successfully lobbied by them.
In addition, several princes seemed to have secretly expanded their manpower, all working according to the standards of "internal guards". There were almost 500 people there. "
"Haha, none of them are fuel-efficient. Who looks relatively weak at the moment?"
"Comparatively speaking, the force recruited by the Seventh Prince Yang Shu is the weakest. However, he is the strongest in terms of money. According to our secret investigation, he has already controlled the "tea" in the Imperial Merchant."
Pang Ban shook his head: "Money alone is of no direct use. But being weak may not be a disadvantage. At least if His Majesty wants to balance this contest, he will first help to make up for the difference in strength between the princes to roughly the same level." level.”
Bai Jian asked tentatively: "You mean the Seventh Prince will get great benefits?"
"Yeah. It should be just recently."
