Chapter 193 Report to the Old Supervisor

Chapter 193 Report to the Old Supervisor

Chapter 193 Report to the Old Supervisor

"Ah, Master, why are you all wet?"

On the other side, Xu Mingyuan returned home and the servant who opened the door was shocked.

"I drank too much and accidentally stepped into the water. It's okay." Xu Mingyuan looked calm and stopped the servant from calling other people. He then asked, "Did anyone come to our house today?"

The servant led him in and said:
"The servant of Grand Secretary Chen sent someone to come here with a message."

"Oh?" Xu Mingyuan raised his eyebrows, looking forward to it. "What did the teacher say?"

The servant said, "I urge you to study harder and drink less with others."

"Nothing else?"

"……Gone."

Xu Mingyuan was silent for a moment, then smiled, but there was a hint of amusement, sadness, and viciousness in this smile, but the servants could not see it.

"I understand. I will go to pay my respects to the teacher tomorrow and will not drink." Xu Mingyuan said.

Then he returned to the room, washed his body and changed into dry clothes.

Sitting alone at the table, staring at the face in the bronze mirror, which belonged to me but looked like a clown, I whispered:
"You forced me to do this."

Xu Mingyuan took out the paper and spread it flat on the table.

I began to recall what I knew about the bad things that happened to the scholars in the Li Party.

Including today, all the "good friends" who cursed Zhao Duan with him in the box were also recorded.

Finally, he exerted force with his wrist and wrote the three words "Chen Zhengru". The face in the bronze mirror looked a little hideous.

"Since there is no turning back for me, please help me one last time and show your loyalty to me."

He planned to hand over all the evidence he had about his teachers and classmates to Zhao Duan, asking for his support.

……

……

Silent all night.

The next day, the sky was bright and sunny, and the air was not so hot after the dog days of summer.

Zhao Duan took a car early in the morning and asked Xiao Wang to drive him. He first went to buy food slowly, and then dawdled until noon before arriving at Baima Prison.

Houya.

"Why are you here again, kid?"

The old eunuch, who was wearing a loose official robe, had gray hair on his temples and deep eye sockets, frowned with a look of disgust.

Zhao Duan laughed and said:
"I have nothing to do recently, so I want to have a drink with you. After all, I am still the envoy of our White Horse Prison."

Sun Lianying said disdainfully:

"It's more like looking for us to drink some wine."

Every time, Zhao Duan would only bring dishes and drink his osmanthus wine. Originally, he would pour a jar of wine by himself and could drink it slowly for a month.

As a result, every time Zhao Duan came, he would finish at least two jars.

"These are all gifts from the emperor..." The old supervisor muttered reluctantly, but still turned around to take them.

Zhao Duan smiled and said:
"At most, next time I make a contribution and ask His Majesty for a reward, I won't ask for anything else but wine. I'll make it up to you."

The old supervisor came back with the wine jar and sat down at the stone table in the courtyard as usual. Zhao Duan had already laid out the delicacies brought from the restaurant and muttered:

"Achieve merit? I see you've been living a leisurely life these days, but you don't have the slightest intention of achieving merit. Why? Weren't you eager to achieve merit before? Now you're not in a hurry?"

Zhao Duan personally filled his glass and pointed to the sky with a smile:
"Now the gods are fighting in the court, am I not avoiding their attention?"

The old supervisor snorted softly:

"That's good to know. The new policy is related to you. If you get involved, once you are pushed to the forefront, even gods can't save you."

Zhao Duan nodded in response, and asked about the current situation in the court while eating.

Sun Lianying shook her head and said:

"Not optimistic. Your Majesty has only been on the throne for a short time. Among your new policies, the one about opening the market is better. At least it is a soft knife. People outside haven't grasped the essence yet. It's basically done.

But the performance evaluation system and the land tax distribution system were fraught with difficulties...

You, too many interests are touched this time. Many officials in the court have local tycoons behind them. Those who are less powerful are also from gentry or official families...How many of them are from poor and impoverished families like Han Zhou?

The bigger the powerful family, the more resistance there is. Although Your Majesty has gained the support of some people now, it is ultimately beyond the ability of the "Imperial Party" to compete with the civil and military officials in the court.

In our opinion, if Your Majesty orders it, it will definitely be implemented. The ministers will never disobey orders openly, but whether it can be "implemented" and to what extent it can be "implemented" is hard to say. "

Although he had been in the palace for many years, the old eunuch, whose wisdom was greatly underestimated, sighed:

"No matter how good the method is, it still needs people to use it. No matter how strong your majesty's authority is, outside the capital, you still have to rely on officials of all sizes to do things... As the saying goes, the current official is not as good as the current manager.

In the final analysis, if those officials who come from aristocratic families and hold important positions do not agree, even if the policy is implemented, it will be lip service and full of mistakes. Your Majesty must have a hard time these days. "

Zhao Duan listened in silence.

He was not surprised by today's situation.

As Sun Lianying said, this game is not easy to play.

In the history he was familiar with, every change was met with internal resistance.

Even if it is a centralized emperor who holds great power and no one dares to disobey him, he will most likely fail once the interests of his subjects are touched.

What about the empress?

"Hey, why are you so silent this time? No, you don't want to cause trouble to our family." The old supervisor narrowed his eyes and sensed something.

Zhao Duan said with a smile:
"I don't have anything important to do, I just want to inquire about something. Well, you must be very familiar with the affairs of the palace... Are you familiar with Concubine Yuan's background?"

Concubine Yuan?
The old supervisor was half sober, sat up slightly, and stared at him:
"what do you want to say in the end?"

Sun Lianying sensed a familiar feeling from the smile on Zhao Duan's face.

Every time the other party wanted to plot against someone and came to him for help, it was like this.

"Who do you want to deal with now?" the old supervisor asked in a deep voice, his cloudy eyes looked very sharp:
"It actually involves the imperial palace?"

In the past, whatever Zhao Duan did was always done outside the palace.

But this time, it involves the imperial concubine...the nature of the matter is very different.

Zhao Duan was silent for a moment, then uttered a name: "Li Yinglong."

The old supervisor's pupils contracted, and he sobered up from the remaining half of the alcohol:
"Are you crazy?! Does His Majesty know?"

Halfway through his speech, the old eunuch who was a close confidant of the empress shook his head and said:

"No! His Majesty will never let you deal with him, especially at this time. Are you acting on your own? Because he has offended you? Wait... do you already have some evidence against him? Is it related to Concubine Yuan?"

The more the old eunuch spoke, the more solemn his expression became, with awe and surprise:
"What is the connection between Princess Yuan and Li Yinglong?"

This was information that he had never known.

Zhao Duan's hands were greasy. He slowly tore open a roast duck, handed half to the old supervisor, and tore off another piece of meat to eat. He said calmly:

"Are you sure you want to listen, my Lord?"

The old supervisor was silent.

Then, he slowly leaned back in his chair and narrowed his eyes.

After a moment, he said:

"In short, don't think about bringing down Li Yinglong at this time. Even if you can get enough evidence to send him to prison, you can't use it."

As she spoke, perhaps fearing that he would not listen, she earnestly advised:
“I’m not asking you to be tolerant, but a little impatience can ruin a big plan.

Behind Li Yinglong is Li Yanfu and the entire Li Party. Your Majesty is now promoting a new policy, and this is definitely not the time to go to war with the Li Party.

If you take action against Li Yinglong, it will be tantamount to forcing the emperor and his subjects to fight. At that time, there will be a turmoil that will shake the nine provinces and eighteen prefectures of Dayu. The court cannot withstand such a turmoil! The new policy cannot withstand it either!
Do you think Your Majesty doesn't want to move him? It's not that you can't move him, but you have to consider the cost! You have to consider the timing! When to move and when not to move! "

Zhao Duan ate the roast duck calmly, and even took the time to pour a glass of wine for the old supervisor who was talking so dryly, and then smiled and said:

"That's what you said."

Sun Lianying was stunned for a moment, then suddenly calmed down when she saw his calm attitude:
"Aren't you prepared for this to bring down Li Yinglong?"

Zhao Duan smiled and said:

"Do you think I'm a reckless person?"

Of course not... Although Zhao Duan always gave people the impression of being arrogant and domineering, and dared to offend anyone, Sun Lianying knew very well that this was all a disguise.

The boy in front of him was obviously young, but he had the sense of smell and calmness of an old fox in the court.

Any seemingly reckless behavior has been weighed against the pros and cons in the mind, and even itself is considered as part of the whole game.

A natural born chess player - this is how Yuan Li described him.

"What exactly do you want to do?"

Sun Lianying was a little confused.

Although he didn't want to admit it, with his half-life in officialdom, he couldn't guess the boy's true intentions.

Zhao Duan picked up the handkerchief, wiped his hands slowly, and said:

“It’s not certain yet. Some ideas are only in my mind and exist only as hypotheses. They need to be verified step by step.

I have no way of judging whether it will succeed or what the chances are.

But in the end, you just need to know that I am loyal to Your Majesty, and everything I do is to relieve your worries."

Sun Lianying fell silent again for a long time, then said:
"We can trust you, right?"

Zhao Duan showed his white teeth and smiled:
"of course."

"Okay." Sun Lianying seemed to have made a decision. He narrowed his eyes and said:
"I won't ask you what you are thinking. I don't know much about the situation of Concubine Yuan. Most of it is superficial. You can also know it.

If there is anything else, it is that she has been unhappy since entering the palace, and never competes for favor with other concubines. Other concubines all want to give birth to a prince, but Concubine Yuan rarely pleases the late emperor. "

Zhao Duan said:
"Will Concubine Yuan leave the palace in the near future?"

Sun Lianying looked at him:
"When the previous emperor was still alive, concubines rarely had the opportunity to leave the palace. But now it is different. After Your Majesty ascended the throne, the concubines in the harem are in harmony, and Your Majesty is much more lenient towards them.

Concubines often have the opportunity to go home to visit their families, which is arranged by the Palace Clerk.”

After the empress ascended the throne, the three thousand beauties in the harem suddenly had no one to compete for favor.

A group of female creatures were in a harmonious group, leaving only boredom and loneliness.

Perhaps because she was also a woman, the empress was very open-minded about concubines leaving the palace.

Zhao Duan asked again:
"So, will Concubine Yuan leave the palace in the near future?"

Sun Lianying was silent for a moment, then said:

"When do you need her to leave the palace?"

Zhao Duan: "Not sure yet, but if everything goes well, it will probably be within this month."

Sun Lianying: "We have been in the palace for many years. Although the White Horse Prison has come, we can still have a say in such trivial matters."

Zhao Duan: "Will it alarm some people?"

Sun Lianying: "Things must be done in secrecy. If you need it, even Mo Zhaorong, who is in charge of the Six Shangs, won't be able to detect anything unusual."

This old man’s control over the harem is so terrifying?
He has been out of the palace for two years, and he still has the confidence to say that as long as he intervenes, even Mo Chou will not be able to detect the affairs of the harem...

Zhao Duan took a deep breath and felt that his "old leader" was becoming more and more unfathomable:
"In this case, I would like to offer a toast to you, sir."

The old supervisor laughed and scolded:

"Don't forget to ask His Majesty for some wine for us after you've done a great deed this time."

"It's a word."

"A thousand gold coins will not move."

(End of this chapter)