Between the vast sea of ​​clouds

After Chu Jun fed the fish carefully, the two moved to the front of the table. The palace servants wiped away the water stains on the ground and retreated. The green gauze in the hall danced with the wind, reminiscent of the new willows by the water in the early spring, like a hazy mist .The Duobao Pavilion was also replaced with new porcelain according to the occasion. The porcelain is better than the new snow, and it is beautiful and refined.

Chen Qi shifted his gaze to the porcelain vat, and said, "This is Shangyang porcelain from Hezhou?"

Chu Jun said: "The daughter of the world has good eyesight. The new batch fired by the Hezhou official kiln is thinner than the last one."

Chen Qi said: "So that's the case. When His Majesty mentioned Hezhou, I heard that His Majesty rejected the cabinet's list of Hezhou officials for promotion?"

Chu Jun chuckled lightly and said, "Why, did Shen Mingshan cry to the county king?"

Chen Qi couldn't help laughing, and said: "That's not true, but the cabinet is very dissatisfied, indeed the whole government and people know about it."

"Those are all human beings. They obviously have their own faults, but they still have to take the lead to make some sense." Chu Jun poured a cup of tea, took out this memorial and opened it, and said: "Forcing a smile in front of people, it seems like me. It’s as bad as them. If you are really dissatisfied, then go to the late emperor’s tomb and cry on your knees. They dare not. Hezhou’s officialdom should be cleaned up. The cabinet regards this place as a cornucopia and keeps sending people to collect money Sou Bao, why did you come to my place, no matter who they go, they can give thousands of reasons why they don't agree?"

Chen Qi said: "I'm afraid the cabinet will not delegate power so easily. Although Mr. Yan Ge has already stood on the same line with His Majesty, but he is forced so urgently, there is no guarantee that the people below will not..."

Chu Jun raised his hand and said, "Worried about them jumping over the wall? I'm just waiting for them to jump out. If they don't jump, how will I know how deep the water is here?"

"Shen Mingshan is a smart person. If she doesn't want to be a treacherous person, she can only cut her tail to protect herself; or she will fight against me and protect the people below her. Which one will she choose?"

Chen Qi got up and saluted, and said: "Mr. Shen Ge has always been very good at the court, and he loves his subordinates very much. This is how to gather the hearts of a group of people. Follow her to fight against Mr. Yan Ge. The ups and downs have come, and she always Can't you chill the hearts of the lower officials? I suspect that she will definitely fight with His Majesty over this matter."

Chu Jun said indifferently: "Shen Mingshan is round on the outside and round on the inside. He seems to be well-behaved, like a courtier of Qingliu, but in this court, who wants to be just a Qingliu? Fame is important, but promotion and fortune are not enough. At least, she will definitely use other things to blackmail me."

The corners of her mouth curled up, and a hint of sarcasm flashed in her eyes: "The matter of Chenzhou, isn't it exactly what she wants?"

After a while Liu Zhen came in with a bowl of medicine, Chu Jun declared that he had just recovered from a serious illness, and called the cabinet to discuss several matters one after another.But after receiving the news of the Hezhou case, he got into a rage and got into a dispute with the cabinet. He summoned the entire imperial hospital that night, and logically ended the morning court the next day.

Now that she is still in cultivation, her body is naturally getting worse every day.

She didn't touch the bowl of medicine, just let the medicine cool down and poured it into the potted plants casually. Chen Qi entered the palace this time because the emperor who was "recovering from illness" suddenly missed his uncle Wangjun Wei, so he summoned his daughter Chen Qi to enter the palace. Gong Shuhua.

Chu Jun glanced outside the palace door, and said, "Please go back and tell your mother, my daughter, and ask her to pay more attention. I always feel that there seems to be something else in this palace."

Chen Qi showed surprise, Chu Jun raised his hand to signal her to keep quiet, and then said: "There is a saying circulating inside and outside the palace, among the government and the public. It is said that I am not appointed by the destiny, because of the frequent wars in Yunzhou , Xirong invaded the frontiers; Chenzhou flooded suddenly, submerging two counties and 34 counties, this is a warning from heaven, I have lost my position, and I have lost my virtue, so the Taimiao was washed away, making the ancestors uneasy."

After thinking about it, Chen Qi replied: "Your Majesty is a minister, push me from the back?"

"That's right." Chu Jun pointedly pointed out: "The daughter of the world has practiced among the people for many years, so she should know where the rumors are most likely to start, so that they can shake people's hearts."

Chen Qi said: "Your Majesty, what you mean is that this rumor came from the monastery?"

The afternoon sun was just right, and Yuan Sui was sitting in the criminal punishment department looking through the files. The yamen servants removed all the things in the room that Mr. Yuan thought were useless, and set up several long tables. The dossiers, these dossiers were not only retrieved from the Chenzhou dossier library, but also some were urgently sent by the Yunzhou prefecture. Mr. Yuan and Shan Tixing ordered several civil servants to enter the room, and sent guards to arrest them. Surround the courtyard quickly, and anyone who enters or exits must be searched to prevent taking things out. Since those civil servants entered the criminal punishment department, Mr. Yuan opened another vacant room for them to live together, and no one was allowed to go home.A group of people just buried in the vast files day and night, not knowing what they were looking for.

Yuan Sui rubbed her wrists, and the attendant warmly offered a hot handkerchief, and she asked, "What about the punishment alone?"

The entourage said: "Just now someone came to the criminal department to find Mr. Shan, so she went out."

Yuan Sui nodded, removed the thick stack of files on the table, and took a new one to continue reading.After a while, Shan Le came in and said excitedly, "My lord, the files of Yunzhou have been sorted out."

Yuan Suidao: "It's just right, the files here in Chenzhou are almost done."

Shan Le looked haggard, but he was in good spirits. Hearing this, he fetched a stack of files and said, "My lord, please read it."

Yuan Sui took it and looked at it for a while, then let out a breath slowly, even though she was always so calm, she still couldn't help being startled.Shan Ledao: "As my lord speculated before, among the villages under Qinglu Mountain, only Yanjia Village and Cunjia Village existed long ago, and the rest of the villages were moved in from other places later. They are barbarians in the mountains of Chenzhou. Yanjia Village was first settled at the foot of Qinglu Mountain, which is recorded in the files of Qiannan County."

Yuan Sui hummed and said, "People from these two villages all moved from Yunzhou to Chenzhou."

Shan Le said: "That's right, the lower officials have sent to Chenzhou to check the household registration of these people in Yunzhou, and they all came from the same place, and they moved from Yunzhou to Chenzhou one after another in a hundred years!"

Yuan Sui nodded slightly, and said: "At that time, the state was vast and sparsely populated, and the land was uncultivated. The imperial court called on people from other states to move here, and there were many preferential treatment. It is not surprising that many people moved here at this time, and the procedures are very simple. It is not as cumbersome as it is today, so many people took advantage of the loopholes. Some big households bought land in Chenzhou to evade taxes, and they were discovered later. The Chenzhou government promulgated a new law, which clearly stipulates that if the fields have not been cultivated for three years , they will be confiscated and distributed by the government.”

Shan Le took another scroll and said: "My lord, now it seems that these people have planned a long time ago. Taking advantage of the convenience of the imperial court to transfer people to this place, they took the opportunity to mix in and obtain household registration in Chenzhou."

Yuan Sui looked at her and said, "If that's the case, then this case will be very involved."

Shan Le was startled, Yuan Sui got up from his seat, took a few steps in the middle hall, turned around and entered the back hall, Shan Le understood that she had something to say, so she followed.

Yuan Sui stood in front of the window, staring at an old tree outside the house and said: "It has been 370-300 years since these people entered Chenzhou during the reign of Emperor Wuchen. Just mentioning punishment, so in these [-] years, is it true?" Is there no one like you and me who can see what's wrong with it?"

"It's easy to hide something, but it's hard to hide it for 100, 200, or 300 years. From the county government to the county government and then to the state capital, the imperial court regularly checks the household registration. Such a big movement , just hide it so tightly, without revealing a trace of cheating?" Yuan Sui laughed, sighed and said, "Whoever believes this, will only think you and I are crazy. For more than three hundred years, through four dynasties , How many changes in the middle, these people have been lurking here early in the morning. If you look closely, the custom of worshiping the dragon god in Chenzhou almost started later. The connection between them has to be thought-provoking."

Shan Le was blown by the wind for a while, and slowly calmed down. Hearing this, he said: "The officials understand what your lord means. The fact that this group of people can settle in Chenzhou must mean that there are people from them in the officialdom of Chenzhou. If we want to thoroughly investigate, it will inevitably shake its foundation—"

"No, you are wrong." Yuan Sui interrupted her and said, "Those who can pass the scientific examination and be appointed by the imperial court have their net worth checked out by the officials, and the imperial court will not let people who are unclear After entering the court, every time he was promoted or relegated, the Ministry of Officials would thoroughly check the files, and no one could fake it."

Shan Le was disturbed by her thoughts, and said slowly: "My lord means..."

Yuan Sui thought about it: "In what name do they get involved with the officials of the DPRK? These people still have some status in Chenzhou, but outside this place, they are nothing. You say, they can't If you become an official in the court, you can only do activities among the people, scholars don't believe in ghosts and gods, and the temple is only useful in Chenzhou, so how will they do it?"

Shan Le hurriedly said: "My lord is saying that those might be spies sent by Xirong, so they only dare to develop their power among the people, and dare not set foot in the court—"

"Single punishment." Yuan Sui looked at her and said calmly, "What on earth do you want to say?"

Shan Le's heart skipped a beat, and in Yuan Sui's deep eyes, he said at a loss: "The lower official doesn't understand what your lord means..."

Yuan Sui looked directly into her eyes, and said word by word: "You have been leading the case to Yunzhou, using the hands of the headquarters to transfer files and tamper with the roster of villages at the foot of Qinglu Mountain. There are two villages, why do you say that there is only one Yanjia village, and there is another Fangcun village, why didn't you mention it? You have hinted to the headquarters many times that this case is related to the Xirong people, the temple, and the "Hongbo Incident" a hundred years ago It's about chaos, Lord Shan, what exactly do you want to say."

Shan Le was dripping with cold sweat, his lips moved, but he couldn't speak.Yuan Sui shook his head slightly, and said: "As the headquarters said, these people have been active among the people for a long time, and they have become a force of their own. Because of their status, they dare not enter the court. How did they hide the government's fake household registration? "

"In other words, how did they seduce officials like you and work for them?"

Shan Le's pupils narrowed, and she shook her head vigorously, seeming to find it ridiculous, and said: "My lord, I don't understand what you're talking about." She took a deep breath, and said: "The lower official's background is clean, and his family has been farming and studying for generations. There is absolutely no talk of collaborating with the enemy, if you don’t believe me, you can go and check it yourself, and you can resign from your post as an official and wait for your lord to find out!”

Yuan Sui took a few steps around the hall and said to himself: "How can a group of officials who are not well-known be able to gather a group of officials who are loyal to them? It must be before these people enter official positions. Still studying hard. Scholars, as long as they have something to eat and don’t starve to death, they can study hard. If the family is poor, it is difficult to sustain their livelihood. At this time, someone lends a helping hand to give money, but Don't ask for anything in return, presumably this kind of kindness is more impressive and will never be forgotten."

Shan Le froze, and Yuan Sui continued: "Which student in the world has no enterprising heart, full of enthusiasm, and youthful ambition. If you add grandiose words like family and country righteousness, and the world's community, it will be done."

Yuan Sui lowered his eyes and said, "Is what the department said right, Mr. Shan?"

The policeman appeared in the hall at some time, restrained Shan Le and knelt on the ground, Shan Le raised his head expressionlessly, and sneered, "I don't know what my lord means, my lord said earlier that this official will send this Where does the case lead to, what the lord says now is not to lead the subordinate officials to say something unnecessary, is the lord trying to fraudulently confess? Forgive me for not being able to!"

Yuan Sui looked at her with some sympathy, and said, "Lord Shan, you also came up from the county magistrate step by step. It has been so many years, don't you still not understand? You are so willing to be deceived." , don’t believe in the imperial court, but only believe in those lies that seem to be just and awe-inspiring, but are actually extremely hypocritical?”

Shan Le didn't speak, Yuan Sui said slowly: "From the moment you feel grateful, you have already stepped into this trap. How can there be such a good thing in this world? A group of people appear out of thin air to help you study and give you money , all your ambitions..."

She bent down and took out something from Shan Le's arms. Shan Le turned pale and looked at her in horror. Yuan Sui said in a low voice: "Bahuang, it was only in the rumors, and it only existed in the scriptures." One day, when you were at the end of your life and had nowhere to turn, you repeatedly extended a helping hand. Then when you entered the court as an official and embarked on an official career, Xiao used the theory of predicting the fate of the country to confuse people's hearts with righteous words. How many people are so deeply involved in it and still don't know it..."

When I get up in the morning and change my clothes, before I rinse my mouth with tea, a follower reports from outside the door, saying that there is something wrong in the hotel, the official can't decide, so I have to report it to the adults first.

Qing Ping asked her to wait in the outer hall, and only went out of the room after getting her clothes straightened. The official was standing in the hall, seeing her stammeringly said: "My lord, get up this morning, the row of banana trees in the hotel, They all died overnight."

This is really not a big deal, Qing Ping looked at her for a while, and then said: "Dead? Then just move it."

The official trembled, and said: "The lower official also sent someone to remove it, but when the banana tree moved a little, unexpectedly... blood flowed out."

Qingping said calmly: "That's right, the tree bleeds, I have never seen it before in this department. I don't know how the blood of this tree flows down?"

The attendant saw that the official was trembling and couldn't even utter a word, so he said, "My lord, it's like this. When I got up in the morning, the banana trees by the wall of the hotel died. Master Liu saw it and said it was unlucky, so I went to call for it." The gardener moved the dead books away, but as soon as the tree was touched, blood gushed out from the ground. The subordinates wanted to dig up these trees to see what was in the ground. But Mr. Liu If not, I must ask you to go and have a look.”

Qingping glanced at the official and said, "Is that so? Then go and have a look."

A few plantains by the corridor in the back garden were really withered and wilted, lifeless.Some people guarded here, and when they saw Qingping approaching, they saluted one after another. Qingping stood on the sidelines and watched, and his attendants inserted a wooden branch into the soil near the root of the plantain, and a dark red bubble emerged from the soil. The attendant said: "My lord, this does not seem to be blood."

The servants serving in the hotel have already avoided far away, pointing and talking in a low voice, looking at this place with some trepidation.Qing Ping stood on the side and looked at the row of trees for a while, then said: "Of course it can't be blood, just dig it up, just replace a few new ones and plant them."

She went back to the house and finished her breakfast, waited for a while, and reported that Master Yan had arrived at the hotel. Today, she and Yan Jinghan made an appointment to see a piece of land on the east side of Qinglu Mountain. The place is a bit far away and requires horseback riding go.

Qingping changed into normal clothes and came out, bringing a few guards as usual, when Yan Jinghan saw her, he bowed and said, "It's my fault for disturbing people's dreams early in the morning."

Qingping waved his hand, and suddenly saw a person behind her, it was Wei Taichang who was assigned by Pan Xiuwei to follow them.Wei Taichang looked very thin, with a part of his official robe hanging out, and when he saw Qingping, he saluted and said: "Master Li, the county chief ordered the subordinates to accompany you."

The guards brought a few horses, Qing Ping rolled over, Yan Jinghan came here on horses.It's just that Mrs. Wei doesn't seem to be able to ride a horse, and she couldn't get up a few times. A group of guards wanted to help her, but they didn't care about the face, so Mrs. Wei slipped off the horse panting, and even twisted her foot.

Yan Jinghan turned the horse's head and said: "Master Li, why don't we let Mrs. Wei rest in the hotel temporarily, she is not convenient to accompany her, so send someone to speak to Master Pan when the time comes."

Qing Ping nodded, and a follower helped her to the side.Wei Taichang also knew that his going was just a burden, so he had to confess to the two of them.

After the group left, Mrs. Wei sat in the guest room of the hotel.At this time, there was no one around, so she stood up and touched her sleeves, looked around indifferently, and quickly walked out of the house with her legs open.At this time, the guards brought by Qingping were digging up and removing the row of dead plantains, and there was no one in the hotel for the time being.She carefully avoided places where people came and went, walked close to the corner for a while, went up the stairs, and walked towards the room prepared by the host in the hotel familiarly.

Qinglu Mountain is located in the southeast of Qiannan County, where the Yuanjia and Guanyi rivers meet, encircling the green mountain like a beautiful jade belt.

When the group reached the foot of the mountain, Yan Jinghan pointed to the mountain and said, "This mountain looks like a tent from a distance, and there are several peaks around it, just like the bamboo poles used to build the tent, so it is named Qinglu."

Qingping raised his head and looked, only to see that the sun was bright, lingering around the mountain like purple air.Although Qinglu Mountain is high, its advantage is that the mountain is gentle and there are no depressions around it. It is said that a hundred years ago, there was a village that was submerged by floods, and the people had already moved away.Now that the Chenzhou river has been repaired several times, the water potential of the two rivers is deflected to the southwest, and there is no more flooding here.And it is close to the county town, which is convenient for jurisdiction. It is indeed a good place.

"If this mountain is delimited, it will be set aside for hundreds of miles and handed over to the state government alone for supervision." The follower took the map, Qing Ping glanced down, and said to Yan Jinghan: "Shouldn't there be anyone living in this area?"

Yan Jinghan reined in the reins and said, "No one lives here, only a field."

The eyes of the two people intertwined, and Qing Ping suddenly realized something, playing with the taste: "There are fields near this mountain?"

The author has something to say: I am hungry for writing, unexpectedly.