"Oh oh oh~"
When the first ray of sunshine in the morning pierced the early spring mist and the distant and familiar cockcrow sounded, Wei Changtian had already dressed and walked out of the room, standing at the door and stretching with a sleepy face.
It was a pity that Li Huaizhong's sudden appearance yesterday interrupted his original "exercise" plan.
Looking at Yuan'er who was watering the flowers with a small ladle in the yard, he was thinking about whether to do a "morning exercise", but before he could make a decision, Xu Qingwan, who was neatly dressed, also came out of the house. .
"Changtian, when did you come back last night?"
The red rope tied in his hair swayed in the wind. Comrade Xiao Xu walked through the small courtyard. While taking over Yuan'er's work and fetching a basin of wash water, he whispered to himself: "I fell asleep and didn't hear any sound. .”
"Wow~"
Picking up a handful of warm water and splashing it on his face, Wei Changtian lowered his head and answered vaguely: "I just came back at the end of the year."
"oh......"
Xu Qingwan stood nearby holding a long handkerchief, nodded and asked, "Then are you going to the state government today?"
"Well, I have to go."
Wei Changtian shook off the water droplets on his hand: "There are a lot of things going on these days. There is going to be a war in Jizhou, so we should make some arrangements early."
"Don't be too tired..."
Seeing Wei Changtian wash his face, Xu Qingwan quickly handed over the long handkerchief with a sad look on her face: "How are things going in the capital recently? Are uncle, aunt, and Miss Lu all okay?"
"Nothing happens for now. After all, we are in the capital. The Liu family doesn't dare to be too presumptuous. At most, it's just a fight in the court."
Wei Changtian didn't want Xu Qingwan to get involved in these matters. After Yun Danfeng answered lightly, he suddenly remembered something and said casually: "By the way, there are people guarding your parents' side in the Xuanjing Division. You don't have to worry about their safety."
"Well, they talked about it in their letter."
Xu Qingwan took the long handkerchief back, put it in the copper basin and washed it carefully. She apologized in a low voice as if she was a little guilty:
"The Xu family is powerless. It can't help you and your uncle even if you don't say anything, and it will hinder you from sending people to take care of you..."
"We are all a family, why are you talking about this?"
Wei Changtian laughed dumbly and couldn't help pinching Xu Qingwan's cheek.
Comrade Xiao Xu immediately blushed, and his head almost dropped into the copper basin.
"Now, we're not a family yet..."
"Hahaha, it will be soon."
Wei Changtian let go of his hand triumphantly, and asked casually: "Looking at how neatly you are dressed, why is it that the Xuanjing Division has a mission today?"
"No, I want to go to Jiuding Mountain to see Miss You."
Xu Qingwan answered truthfully: "I haven't been there for several days. She must be bored and tight by herself."
"..."
She is not bored now, she is probably planning how to kill me at this time.
Wei Changtian complained in his heart and nodded calmly.
"Well, let Liu Shi go with you. It just so happens that you can play cards or something together."
"I understand."
Xu Qingwan responded, and then looked at Wei Changtian with hesitation, her face seemed a little embarrassed.
Wei Changtian was puzzled: "What's wrong?"
"Long, long days..."
Comrade Xiao Xu encouraged himself and asked in a low voice: "Can I ask you something?"
"What's the matter? Just ask."
"Then, let me ask you... do you like Miss You?"
"Well......"
Wei Changtian didn't expect that Xu Qingwan would ask this, and he was a little speechless.
The answer to the question is of course no, but the state he has shown in the past few days seems to be yes.
But I couldn't tell Xu Qingwan that I approached You Jia just to take advantage of her, right?
At present, only Yang Liushi knows that Youjia is a dragon bird, not even Qin Zhengqiu.
The reason for doing this is of course to avoid exposing flaws.
Especially for a simple-minded person like Xu Qingwan, once she learns about this, she will definitely not be able to hide it when she faces You Jia in the future.
so......
Wei Changtian didn't know how to answer for a while. Fortunately, Zhang San suddenly ran in from the gate and came to his rescue.
"Miss Xu."
After a few steps to the two of them, Zhang San first said hello to Xu Qingwan.
When the latter saw this, he knew that something big had happened, so he stopped worrying about such a trivial matter as the love between his children. He nodded to Zhang San and turned around and walked away.
After she walked away, Wei Changtian asked: "You are in a hurry, what's wrong?"
"Son..."
Zhang San immediately approached Wei Changtian's ear and lowered his voice and said:
"News just arrived, Da Feng's envoy came to Beijing yesterday and asked Daning to hand over the two prefectures of Huanyuan and Xizhou."
"What?!"
Wei Changtian suddenly raised his head, surprised by this unexpected situation.
Dafeng is close to the western border of Daning, and the relationship between the two countries has always been very bad. Two hundred years ago, a national war even broke out.
The final result was that Daning won by a narrow margin.
As for Yuanzhou and Xizhou mentioned in Zhang San's words...this should be regarded as the long-standing "disputed territory" between the two countries.
It is difficult to trace who originally belonged to these two states. Anyway, they have changed owners several times in the past thousand years, making the local people numb to the matter of "changing nationalities."
After winning the last war, Daning took back these two states, and now Da Feng must be seeing the chaos in Daning, so he wants to take this opportunity to take them back.
"Then what?"
After thinking for a long time, Wei Changtian frowned and continued to ask: "How did Ning Yongnian reply?"
"I don't know about this yet, but..."
Zhang San replied in a low voice:
"But after the envoy entered the palace, he never came out again."
...
...
Beijing, Sanpinxuan.
Tasting tea, appreciating people, appreciating world affairs, Sanpinxuan is a famous teahouse in the capital. There are many tea guests on weekdays. Whether it is the lobby or the private room, it can be filled with guests all day long who come to drink tea and talk about things.
Today, Sanpinxuan seems to be several times more lively than usual.
"...Yuan and Xizhou have been the territory of our country since ancient times. Da Feng's despicable act of taking advantage of others' danger and adding insult to injury will be ridiculed by the world..."
"In this newspaper's short commentary, the author Erri, a layman, believes that although we, Daning, are in troubled times, we must not show weakness to foreign enemies..."
"..."
The white-haired old man was full of energy. He was holding a large piece of paper in his hand. There was no writing on the back, but you could vaguely see the fine ink prints coming from the front.
It was the "Beijing News" grandly launched by Chunshen Bookstore two months ago.
Newspapers caused quite a stir in the capital as soon as they came out. Not only could they learn about current affairs, they also had many popular sections such as anecdotes and serialized stories. Almost everyone could find something of interest to them.
However, there are not many literate people these days, so most people can only hire literate people to read newspapers, which has given rise to a new profession - "newspaper readers".
This old man is one of them. His daily job is to read newspapers in various teahouses. Some people will lose a few rewards if they think the content they hear is interesting or useful to them, but they make a lot of money on weekdays.
But today it is bound to be difficult for him to gain anything.
"What?! This Da Feng is so shameless?!"
"Bah! I'm just a defeated general, but you still dare to challenge me, Daning. I really don't know how to write the word "death"!
"Fight! If they really dare to invade, I will be the first to go to the border to kill the enemy!"
"Oh, but my country, Daning, is in chaos right now. If we really fight with Da Feng, I'm afraid we will be the ones who suffer!"
"Hmph, didn't the newspaper say that! It's obvious that they are taking advantage of others' danger!"
"I hope the emperor can put an end to the chaos in the Xu family as soon as possible!"
"There are also the Liu and Wei families. We must not continue fighting at this time!"
"What's the point of talking here? If you have the ability, go to the gate of Liu Mansion and Wei Mansion and shout!"
"Everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the world! Why can't I say anything?!"
"..."
Before the old man finished reading the newspaper, the hall was already in chaos.
The shouts, based on anger and mixed with worries, passion, fear and many other emotions, became louder and louder, and soon completely drowned out the voice of the old man reading the newspaper.
This is normal.
After all, although the war has not really started yet, the news is no less explosive than the Xu family's rebellion a few days ago.
"..."
Listening to the deafening noise, the old man reading the newspaper felt that no one would listen even if he continued reading, so he closed the newspaper in his hand, shook his sleeves and prepared to rush to the next scene.
And just as he stepped out of Sanpinxuan, Li Quan was sitting opposite a man in the Yamen of Dali Temple a few streets away.
The latter was wearing the official robe of the Ministry of Justice and had a calm expression.
Li Qian looked at the two letters in his hand with a complicated expression. After a long while, he put the letters down, stood up and closed the wooden window in the house, then looked back at the man and asked softly:
"What does Mr. Wei want from me?"
...
...
Ever since he gathered Li Kan and raised him to the high position of Minister of Dali Temple, Wei Changtian had always asked him to remain neutral between the Liu and Wei families and never asked him to do anything.
Including the information that usually reaches Shuzhou from Dali Temple, it is also Li Magazine's spontaneous behavior.
For Li Magazine, this state is certainly good.
Especially in the current situation where the country is in chaos, the few "neutral factions" in the court are very popular.
But he also knew in his heart that such beautiful days could not last forever.
Raising troops for a thousand days and using them for a while, sooner or later Wei Changtian will need him.
Li Jian just didn't expect it to be the way it is today.
"Master Li, Mr. Wei would like to ask you to take this elixir."
The man sitting opposite smiled and took out a small wooden box from his arms. When he opened it, a black elixir the size of a fingertip was revealed.
Li Magazine frowned and asked subconsciously: "What is this?"
"Master Li, there's no need to ask more. In short, it's just poison."
The man pushed the wooden box forward, his calm eyes seemed threatening.
"..."
Li Jian had already determined the identity of the person who came here, so he didn't doubt that this was Wei Changtian's intention.
But... being suddenly forced to take a pill with unknown effects would make anyone else tremble.
"Master Li..."
Seemingly sensing Li Gan's hesitation, the man suddenly asked, "Don't you believe Mr. Wei?"
"Of course not."
Li Gan shook his head slightly: "But you have to tell me what the effect of this elixir is first, right?"
"I have already said that this elixir is not poison. Not only will it not do any harm to you, it will even have great benefits..."
The man narrowed his eyes and finally added: "Unless Mr. Li betrays the young master in the future."
Huge benefit.
The man was so confused that he couldn't explain clearly. Of course, Li Jian didn't know the benefit of this.
But since the words have come to this point, if he doesn't eat, he will inevitably give people the feeling that he is ready to betray Wei Changtian at any time.
"Okay, I'll eat."
Gritting his teeth, Li Magazine finally made a decision.
No matter from any angle, Wei Changtian had no reason to kill himself, so this pill was at best a special poison that required regular antidote.
He reached out and took out the black elixir, paused for a moment, then put it into his mouth and swallowed it.
The next second, there seemed to be a chill rising from his abdomen and going straight to the top of his head, but the chill disappeared in an instant before Li Qian could react.
"..."
After a while.
Realizing that there was nothing strange about his body, Li Chan breathed a sigh of relief.
He wanted to ask something more, but when he looked up and saw the man opposite him again, he was stunned.
Because he suddenly felt a very mysterious aura on the other party.
This breath was not very strong, but Li Qian knew that it was not his illusion, but a breath that really existed and seemed to be conveying some kind of message.
"this......"
Li Gan looked blankly at the smiling man opposite him, and a somewhat absurd, yet very appropriate idea suddenly popped into his mind.
It's the smell of... "the same kind".
...
Half an hour later, the man wearing the official robe of the Ministry of Justice had left Dali Temple.
In front of Li Kan, there was a piece of mother-in-law jade and a copper coin engraved with the word "Tongzhou".
The boat party, the magical elixir that can detect the presence of "companions" within sight, and what I have to do in the future...
After learning these secrets, Li Qian's mood was quite complicated, but he didn't have much resistance.
After all, he had already boarded the "thief ship" of the Wei family, and now he was able to sit on the position of Minister of Dali Temple because of Wei Changtian.
If there is any difference between now and before...perhaps it is that there is no longer any possibility for me to "get off the ship".
Shaking his head, he put the jade and copper coins on the table close to his body, put on his official hat, straightened his robes, and got into the official sedan waiting at the door.
The sedan swayed all the way to the palace and soon stopped at the foot of the long steps in front of the Jinluan Palace.
Ever since the Xu family rebelled, the time for the morning court had been uncertain and would often be postponed.
This is the case today, but the reason is probably not because of the Xu family, but because of the great envoy yesterday.
"Master Meng."
"Lord Wang."
"Have you heard about what happened yesterday?"
"Oh, that's natural."
"What do you think the emperor thinks?"
"The Holy Will is unpredictable..."
The court officials in small groups walked along the long steps to the Jinluan Hall while whispering in low voices.
The same goes for Li Can, who soon walked all the way into the majestic hall.
At this time, there was only about a stick of incense left before the morning court, and all the court officials had basically arrived.
There were about a hundred people, standing neatly in more than a dozen rows, with many empty seats among them.
These empty seats used to be occupied by officials from the Xu sect, but now there is no one left.
Sitting in the middle of the second row, several people around Li Kan were talking about Dafeng's request to return to the original and western states. He was the only one who was still thinking about the same boat meeting, so he was somewhat reticent.
But after a moment, Li Kan suddenly seemed to feel something, and slowly turned back to look in one direction, followed by the second, third, and fourth...
A total of sixteen glances looked back, and they all nodded calmly to Li Can.
Fourteen people stood behind him, one stood in the same row, and one stood in front of him.
(ps: two chapters in one)
