The Empress's First Running Dog

Chapter 2 Xu Zhenguan

At noon, the rain stopped and the sky cleared up.

With the lifting of the "daytime ban", people in the capital city came out of their homes, rows of shops opened, and the criss-crossing stone roads in the city were crowded with people.

The shut-down city was like being wound up and regained its vitality.

"Drive! Drive!"

On Zhuque Street, a horse-drawn carriage was rushing around, the sound of its hooves was like thunder, and pedestrians along the way were frightened and scattered in all directions, trying to avoid it.

Inside the carriage, Zhao Duan leaned on the soft brocade cushion, looking out at the trembling curtains at the ancient city, and dispelled the last trace of doubt:
"It's not The Truman Show."

What supported his judgment was not only the overwhelming sense of reality, but more importantly, the completely different body and the messy and damaged memories in his mind.

In his previous life, he was born into a small town test-taker and worked hard to get to the top, earning a salary as a government official and working as a secretary. With luck and following the right people, he rose rapidly to the top and became the envy of others.

But beneath the bright appearance, people are actually very cautious and tread carefully.

His low-income background meant he had no confidence to squander his power, and he was willing to be a workhorse. He eventually died suddenly from working overtime late into the night.

Unexpectedly, when he opened his eyes again, he had found himself as a powerful official in ancient times, rising to the top overnight.

……

As for his current identity, it is a bit subtle.

The Dayu Dynasty unified the Central Plains and had been established for a long time. However, the previous emperor was incompetent and his descendants fought among themselves after his death, which led to the so-called "Xuanmen Coup".

The winner is the Third Princess, the current saint and a rare female emperor in ancient and modern times.

The original owner was a small soldier in the imperial guards. During the coup, he took advantage of the situation and bet on the empress, which led to her promotion. Because of his handsome appearance and excellent licking skills, he became more and more favored.

After the empress ascended the throne, she set up the "White Horse Prison" to handle her private affairs.

The original owner was among them, serving as an "envoy".

Because the White Horse Messenger worked for the saint, he was not under the jurisdiction of the six ministries of the imperial court. He could enter and leave the palace freely, and even temporarily mobilize a small group of imperial guards. He had considerable power.

Among the many envoys, the original owner was highly regarded by officials in the capital because of rumors that he was the empress's "face-to-face lover".

It is conceivable that once the imperial guards gain power, they will inevitably become unruly.

During the past year since the original owner came to power, he developed a domineering and arrogant character, indulged in sensual pleasures, acted recklessly, and lived an extravagant life. The people he associated with were all high-ranking officials and dignitaries. His behavior was shameful and he made many enemies.

Very bad reputation.

A typical villain succeeds.

But it is not without advantages.

The original owner knew very well that power came from the empress, so he did his best to please her.

After the "Xuanmen Coup", the Second Prince's followers fled and hid in the dark to deal with and confront the Empress, which became a great concern to the Empress. So the Empress ordered the "Zhao Yamen" in the capital, which was similar to the Jinyiwei, to arrest the rebels.

In order to win credit for the Empress, the original owner secretly bribed the informant in the Imperial Court and intercepted intelligence. A few days ago, he accidentally learned a clue:
There is a suspected rebel figure hiding in the capital.

After investigation, they did find something. In order to grab the credit, the original owner ignored the imperial court's arrangement of "playing the long game to catch the big fish" and urgently mobilized the imperial guards to rescue the person.

This was the scene before.

As for the truth behind the coup, the original owner, as an eyewitness, had a say. From what he saw, it was indeed the Second Prince who launched the coup, with brothers killing each other first, and the Empress trying to stop him later.

The old tutor's version of the story was a fabricated one that defamed the empress.

Zhao Duan didn't care about this, he only cared about his own situation.

He had only two words to describe the original owner's mysterious actions:

"madness!"

"Although Zhuang Xiaocheng is a wicked and lying scholar, he is right about one thing: he is too proud to be proud of himself and has the nature of a mean person. Even if what happened today hadn't happened, 'I' wouldn't be able to be so arrogant for much longer."

"That's not how the temple works."

"It would be fine if the person was caught. But he ran away, and the officials were maliciously intercepted by me. In order to prove their innocence, the imperial court must have tried its best to pin the blame on me..."

"I have offended so many people, it is inevitable that I will add insult to injury..."

Release the rebels privately!

If I am proven to have committed such a serious crime, I will be finished!

This is a capital crime.

Even if there is no evidence, but only suspicion, he can no longer wear this official robe.

Considering the original owner’s villainous character who had committed many evil deeds, if he lost his official position, he would be living a life worse than death.

This is a feudal ancient society, not a society ruled by law...

……

inside the carriage.

Zhao Duan's forehead was covered with sweat, and a chill ran down his spine. He was thinking hard about a solution:
"Escape? No, I can't escape from the capital..."

"Family help? This dynasty is not named Zhao, but Xu. Besides, the original owner is not from a big family..."

"Ask for help from the original owner's friends? Ha, you are such a bad friend. Be thankful that you don't backstab me."

"Selling your body, gaining the trust of the empress by pretending to be her male favorite or a concubine?"

This seemed to be the most reliable method, and it was also the purpose of the black-clad clerk suggesting that he enter the palace.

But Zhao Duan, who obtained the original owner's memory, knew that he had never touched the empress at all!

Even in the past year, the two have met privately very few times.

At most, there was some ambiguity, or to be more precise, the original owner always felt that the empress was interested in him!
This is not just wishful thinking. There are three pieces of evidence:
First, the original owner was handsome, and the empress praised him many times;

Second, the empress allowed the original owner to enter and leave the palace, and her attitude towards him was different from that of the other envoys of the White Horse Prison;
Thirdly, and most importantly, the rumor that the hero was the empress's lover had been circulating for a year. With the empress's eyes and ears, she must have known about it at the first opportunity.

But the empress never denied it!

Instead, they responded with tacit approval!

This is worth pondering.

Because of this, the original owner had the capital to be so rampant: as a female emperor, if she didn't acquiesce, how could she allow people to gossip about her and insult her innocence?
Therefore, the male protagonist has always believed that the reason why the empress has not allowed him to sleep with her is, firstly, that she is busy with official duties, and secondly, that she is observing him.

This was also the motivation for his eagerness to make achievements, trying to spread his feathers like a peacock and ascend the dragon bed early.

However, Zhao Duan's soul traveled through time and space, and he looked at the matter from his perspective, and he was keenly aware of the weirdness:

"No! This is weird..."

I always feel that it is not that simple.

But for a moment, he couldn't figure it out, so he shook his head, exhaled, and laughed at himself:
"There are also advantages. At least it is not easy to be exposed."

If the two of them really had physical contact, the empress would definitely realize that he was not "Zhao Duan".

fair enough.

But how to break the deadlock?

At this moment, the carriage suddenly slowed down, and the driver's voice came: "Sir, we are about to enter the imperial city!"

I can only improvise... Zhao Duan cut off his thoughts, regained his composure, took out the token from his waist, threw it into the carriage, and said to the guards:
"I have something important to report to the Saint. Please let him go immediately!"

……

……

The imperial palace was made up of two inner and outer cities. When a carriage drove into the imperial city, it could not go any further when it reached the palace gate.

Zhao Duan had no choice but to get off the car and walk, led by a young eunuch, towards the "Yangxin Hall" where the saint was.

Soon, a group of court servants appeared at the end of the corridor supported by red-painted wooden pillars.

"Stop," an elderly palace maid said when she saw the two people coming.

"Your Majesty is discussing state affairs with the Prime Minister. No one is allowed in."

Zhao Duan suddenly felt relieved, as if he was relieved that the exam was postponed. He immediately imitated the original owner's tone and smiled at the eunuch leading the way:

"In that case, please go and do your work, I will wait here."

As I recall, the original owner was domineering, but he knew how to judge people by their abilities.

He was always polite to the palace attendants.

After seeing off the young eunuch, Zhao Duan waited sideways in the corridor.

The remaining rainwater slid down the tiles, and the sunlight splashed down, cutting dazzling golden lines diagonally on the ground.

He suddenly lowered his head and quickly searched for memories about the "Prime Minister" in his mind.

His past life experience told him that any small matter related to leadership may contain important information. At this moment, he is like a drowning man and must seize every opportunity to survive.

Soon, he found the information he needed:

The Prime Minister of Dayu, Li Yanfu, was the most powerful minister during the previous emperor's reign. He once served as the chief minister of the cabinet, had great power in the court and the country, and was a gloomy and scheming person.

After the empress ascended the throne, in order to strengthen the imperial power and dissolve the cabinet, Li Yanfu was severely weakened, but he was still the de facto "Prime Minister of the Empire" and the leader of the "Li Party" composed mainly of Jiangnan gentry.

He has controlled the government for many years and his power is deeply rooted.

Together with the "Qingliu Party" headed by Yuan Li, the Imperial Censor of the Censorate, they are two major forces in the current court that check and balance each other.

In later times, he would be a big shot that could only be heard on the news broadcast...

Zhao Duan was in a trance for a short time, feeling as unreal as an ant stepping into a tiger mountain.

He took a deep breath, raised his eyes, and gestured to the older palace maid to go talk to the side.

"Is there anything wrong, Lord Zhao?"

The older palace maid was no stranger to him, and the two of them walked a few steps away and asked indifferently.

Zhao Duan smiled and said:

"It's nothing important. I'm just curious why the Prime Minister is so anxious. He came to the palace just after the rain stopped. Did something big happen?"

The older maid glanced at him and said, "How would we servants know?"

Zhao Duan smoothly handed over a roll of banknotes from his sleeve:

"Sister, I only pick out things that can be said, and it would be fine if I give you one or two pointers."

The older maid looked at him in surprise, then suddenly smiled and said:

"It's not a secret. With your connections, you can find out... Do you know about the issue of replacing rice with mulberry trees in the Huai River?"

I don’t know… Zhao Duan had a blank expression on his face. The original owner, this idiot, only knew about who could be bullied and who could not be offended in the court, and he knew nothing about political affairs.

A waste.

"Please tell me, sister." Zhao Duan asked without hesitation.

"..." The palace maid had to give a simple explanation. It turned out that the national treasury was empty during the reign of the previous emperor, and after a coup, the deficit was serious after the empress took over.

In order to ease financial difficulties, a faction led by Li Yanfu pushed for the conversion of some rice fields in the Huai River area in the south of the Yangtze River into mulberry fields to promote the silk trade. However, due to their haste for quick results, part of the farmland was destroyed, which almost caused a civil uprising.

"His Majesty was furious when he heard about this. These days, all the officials in the court have been arguing about this matter. The Prime Minister will enter the palace today, and maybe he will have a solution."

After the maid finished speaking, she turned around and returned to her original position. Zhao Duan's heart moved, knowing that the other party would not say anything more, so he shut up and lowered his head to wait.

……

The palace was flourishing with flowers, but the atmosphere was depressing and heavy.

Just when Zhao Duan's legs were aching from standing, the tightly closed door at the end of the corridor was pushed open.

Then, an old man wearing a scarlet official robe, a black gauze hat, sideburns like hedgehog skin, eyebrows like purple stone edges, and a fierce look walked over.

The court messengers stood on the left and right and made way.

Zhao Duan stood in the corridor and bowed, "Goodbye, Prime Minister."

The dignified old man looked straight ahead, as if he had not seen him at all, and strode away.

The palace maids around were laughing secretly. The whole capital knew that in the real powerful circle, people despised and mocked Zhao Duan, a pretty boy who used his beauty to please others.

As the Prime Minister, even looking at him for a second longer would be considered lowering one's status.

The Empress's concubine?

It seems glamorous, but in the eyes of real big shots, it is not as good as the courtesan who sells smiles in a brothel. Even ordinary people will respect them on the surface, but will spit on them in secret.

Zhao Duan felt even more deeply about the original owner's disgust and hatred for people.

Facing the meaningful looks from everyone, he remained calm and did not take it as an offense:

What does the original owner’s loss of face have to do with me?
The older palace maid went to report. After a long while, Fang Fu returned:

"Your Majesty has granted you permission to see him."

"Thank you for the message." Zhao Duan took a deep breath and walked forward through the crowd.

What is meant to come will eventually come.

He silently recalled the original owner's behavioral habits, one step, two steps, three steps... After taking seven steps, his entire demeanor, temperament, and manners were exactly the same as the original owner.

Politicians are born actors.

At this moment, Zhao Duan brought his acting skills to the fullest.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

Raise your hand and knock on the door.

A cold voice came from the tightly closed double-leaf wooden door with vermilion carvings:

"Enter."

Zhao Duan pushed open the heavy door with both hands. The sunlight passed by his body, spread over the threshold, and ignited the spacious room. The floor was covered with precious carpets tributed from the Western Regions.

Inside the priceless antique display cabinet, a nearly transparent porcelain vase with two handles and dragon pattern fired in the royal kiln shines brightly.

On a large desk, piles of old pens were piled up like a mountain, and the black water in the white inkstone had dried up.

A woman in white uniform was reviewing memorials at the desk.

She was about 28 or 29 years old, with cold features and long black hair falling down like a waterfall. With her head lowered, only half of her face was visible, yet she was still stunningly beautiful. She did not have any gold or silver jewelry on her body, but she gave off a graceful and elegant demeanor.

As he looked focused, his sleeves slipped down, revealing a wrist as white as jade. His fingers were as slender as green onions, and he held a thick golden wolf-hair brush with standard fingering.

The Queen of Dayu, Xu Zhenguan!

The moment Zhao Duan saw the empress, his brain went blank for a moment. In a trance, he seemed to recall the Xuanmen coup in the past, the day when the palace was covered with heavy snow.

At that time, the little imperial guards who were in the chaos of the army looked out at the palace gate and caught a glimpse of the Third Princess dressed in gorgeous attire:
Wearing a phoenix crown on his head, a bright red bridal robe on his body, and gold and jade hanging from his waist, he arrived in the wind and snow in full attire as if he was attending an official ceremony. With a jade dragon sword in his hand, he swept across, frightening away thousands of soldiers, looking noble and majestic.

Blood is boiling, heart is beating like a drum...

Zhao Duan bit the tip of his tongue lightly, forced himself to lower his eyes, and cursed in his heart, why did he end up like this after having been exposed to so many beauties?
I immediately realized that it was probably the remaining instincts of the original owner that were at work.

The young imperial guards at that time did not place their bets on one side at all. The reason they joined the Third Princess was purely because they were attracted by her beauty.

This pretty boy is greedy for women's bodies, what a despicable thing!
When Zhao Duan criticized himself, the empress beside the desk did not raise her head and said calmly:

"Grinding ink."

"Yes!"

Zhao Du'an was a little surprised, but still went around to the table and ground ink for the female emperor.

As the distance gets closer, there is a faint fragrance lingering around the nose, making people feel distracted.

The king and his minister, one was reviewing the papers while the other was grinding ink and writing. The room was silent and quiet with only the rustling sound of papers.

……

a long time.

Xu Zhenguan suddenly said without raising his head: "The Prime Minister came to see me just now, do you know why?"

Her voice was quite textured and slightly magnetic, reminding Zhao Duan of the voice actor in his previous life.

Zhao Duan paused while grinding ink, his expression normal:
"I am willing to ask you a question. I know a thing or two. Does the Prime Minister have any good suggestions for changing the rice industry?"

Relying on his experience in his previous life, he realized in a flash that the older palace maid might have reported his "bribery" to the empress truthfully.

At this time, it is absolutely not advisable to play dumb, and the correct approach is to answer honestly.

Xu Zhenguan said "yeah", and seemed quite satisfied with his answer. However, after hearing the second half of the sentence, he said with a little emotion:

"The Prime Minister came to see me and said that a talented person in the Hanlin Academy has proposed a plan to solve the problem of the destruction of farmland in the Huai River."

"Is there really a way to break the impasse? I wonder what the method is?" Zhao Duan pretended to be curious.

Xu Zhenguan let out a faint "huh" and uttered eight words with unclear meaning:
"By combining reform and relief, the dilemma will be resolved."

To reform and provide relief!

Thanks to his extensive knowledge as a chief secretary in his previous life, as well as his experience in watching costume historical dramas, Zhao Duan easily understood the meaning of this sentence.

The current situation is roughly as follows:
The imperial court tried to promote the replacement of rice with mulberry trees, but problems with the implementation resulted in the emergence of a large number of victims.

A talented person in the Hanlin Academy thought that since the disaster victims were starving, they could ask the local gentry to purchase the destroyed land with grain.

In this way, the victims would have food, and the gentry could also cooperate with the government to promote the mulberry planting, killing two birds with one stone, which is the so-called self-resolving of the dilemma.

At first glance, it seemed like a brilliant plan to kill two birds with one stone, but in Zhao Duan's eyes, it was a method that only a fool could come up with...

Wouldn't the Prime Minister be able to notice the problem with this method?

He never dared to underestimate the wisdom of the ancients, so why did Li Yanfu come to make a memorial?

Is it the lesser of two evils? Or is it...

Suddenly, Zhao Duan remembered a detail:
The "Li Party" to which Li Yanfu belonged was a group of Jiangnan gentry, and the Huai River was located in the Jiangnan area. If the local gentry benefited, the "Li Party" would benefit.

Moreover, after Xu Zhenguan ascended the throne, he continued to suppress the "Li Party".

It’s quite interesting.

Did the Empress see this? Not sure.

But this is an opportunity to show loyalty and win favor.

"Your Majesty, this method... I'm afraid it's not appropriate." Zhao Duan thought carefully and spoke.

Xu Zhenguan kept reviewing the memorials and said "Oh?" casually.

Zhao Duan said:

"Changing rice crops to mulberry crops is a good idea. If it is implemented slowly over three to five years, it may succeed. The current situation is already difficult. If we combine the change with relief, I'm afraid the situation will get worse."

He organized his words a little and continued:

"If the gentry provides relief, what price should they pay for the land? If they go by the market price, not only will the local wealthy households not be able to afford it, and there will be no profit, but the disaster victims will only need to sell a few acres of land to survive. In this case, it will still be difficult to implement the conversion of rice to mulberry."

"If we buy the land at a low price, the wealthy and powerful will certainly applaud, but the victims will be starving and have no way to survive, which will surely lead to civil unrest... In this case, the court will be caught in a dilemma. How can it solve this dilemma?"

He spoke lightly, as if he were just chatting.

However, when Xu Zhenguan heard this, the female emperor who ascended to the throne as a woman suddenly stopped reviewing the memorials!

Immediately.

The empress in white, who had kept her eyes lowered from beginning to end, slowly raised her head, turned her head to the side, revealing her entire face.

Her fair face was as flawless as if carved from ice crystal, her nose was straight, her lips were plump, her eyelashes were as thick as a brush, and at this moment, her beautiful eyes were dignified with a hint of surprise.

I was extremely surprised.

In her impression, the little guard who was her favorite male lover in the rumor in the capital had always been a "vase".

I had no other intention when I talked about government affairs just now. I was just feeling upset and wanted to find someone to talk to. I didn't expect the other person to give any response at all.

But the other party's eloquent speech, although all the words she had thought through and understood were nothing new, but coming from the mouth of "Zhao Duan", it was enough to surprise her.

This kind of insight and sharpness in criticizing current social ills is at least... better than that Hanlin.

"Is this what you thought?" Xu Zhenguan stared with his beautiful eyes.

Zhao Duan said calmly: "I am not as knowledgeable as you gentlemen in the court, but I am just speaking out of spite."

This behavior and demeanor is slightly different from the past.

Zhao Duan was gambling. He guessed that the empress didn't know that the old tutor had escaped, so he had to do his best to show his worth.

Improve favorability.

After all, a thought from the empress could determine his life or death.

If he could survive this disaster by licking, he wouldn't mind changing his name to Feiyangyang.

Xu Zhenguan lowered his eyes and stared at him, as if trying to determine whether he was real or fake. After a moment, he smiled and asked:
"Then how do you think we can solve this problem?"

Zhao Duan said frankly: "There is no solution."

The most arrogant thing about people is that they always think there is a solution to any problem. However, looking at the past and present, most problems have no solution.

Zhao Duan certainly wanted to propose a solution and be exempted from guilt by making meritorious contributions, but that was not realistic.

Xu Zhenguan was not surprised. He just looked at the handsome "guard" with sharp features and became more and more interested:
"I thought you would answer that I should ask the old Heavenly Master or the abbot Xuanyin to perform a heavenly magic to break this situation."

Old Heavenly Master? Mysterious Seal?

Zhao Duan vaguely learned from the original owner's memory that these two names seemed to be great figures like gods on land in the capital, and even in the entire Dayu territory.

It’s a pity that although the original owner was skilled in martial arts, he was still far from the realm of Xuanmen. To him, sorcerers were beings from another world.

Can magic solve the problem... Zhao Duan became curious, but after catching a glimpse of the empress's expression, his ability to "guess the emperor's intentions" from his previous life came into play again.

A blessing came to his mind, and the original text of the Tao Te Ching emerged in his mind, and he blurted out:
"Governing a large country is like cooking a small fish. If you rule the world with the Way, the ghosts will not be powerful."

blah blah blah!

A drop of ink splashed onto the paper from the end of the thick golden wolf hair brush in Xu Zhenguan's hand. The empress narrowed her eyes, revealing a strange color, and the look she gave Zhao Duan was truly different.

(End of this chapter)