Between the vast sea of ​​clouds

At night, the snow fell hard and fast, and the sound of crackling could be faintly heard at night. It was the snow breaking the branches outside the house.The servants of the Xu Mansion heard the knock on the door and held a lantern and said to the outside: "Here it is, it's late at night, who is this?"

The door opened a crack, and there was a young woman standing outside. The servant carefully lifted the lantern and said, "Are you...?"

The hazy light outlined the person's clear eyebrows and eyes, reflecting the transparent eyes, her cloak was covered with snow, she reached out to brush it away, took out a greeting card from her bosom, and said, "Say something to Mr. Xu." , Li Qingping came to pay a visit."

But after a while, the Xu Mansion lit up the lanterns in the quiet night, Xu Haicheng came out of the house to meet the snow, strode to the door, personally invited people to the study to sit down, and told the servants not to allow anyone to approach this place without a notification.

Then she went back to the study and closed the door.

There is a heater in the study, Qingping breathed a sigh of relief, and said to the person sitting in front of him: "Master Xu, it is actually because of one thing to bother you late at night."

Xu Haicheng was a little confused, so she and Qingping had never had much contact with each other, so she was also at a loss at this time, and said, "Master Li, it doesn't matter if you speak directly."

Qing Ping said: "Who is He Yan to you?"

Xu Haicheng suddenly understood, and said with a smile: "It turned out that it was because of this matter. I really convinced the teacher. She wrote to me a few days ago and talked about this matter with me, saying that if you come to ask, you will give this letter to you." ; If you don't come, then wait until the first month is over, and then forward the letter to you."

The charcoal fire made a burning sound, and she said again: "At that time, I didn't believe it. I didn't expect that you would come here before this month had passed."

Qingping clenched her sleeves tightly, but her face relaxed a lot, she said: "Mr. He is well now, goodbye to Anping, where is she now?"

Xu Haicheng smiled and said, "You are not surprised at all."

Qingping recalled the He Yan he had met when he and Zhang Wei went to the temple to offer incense before, and he already had a conclusion in his heart. At this time, he was just asking about a result, and said: "It's nothing strange. When I was in Yunzhou, I used to With her erudite knowledge, I had long thought that she would not be as simple as a counselor by Sun Congshan's side."

Xu Haicheng said: "Of course not, the teacher and Sun Congshan are classmates and friends, and it was Sun Dali who invited her to help when he went to Yunzhou."

Qingping nodded, and at the same time, she also thought of one thing, but she couldn't say it to Xu Haicheng. After thinking for a moment, she said: "Then ask Mr. Xu to give me the letter."

Xu Haicheng said in a serious way: "Although the teacher has concealed something from you, she has taught you for several years, and she has always regarded you as a disciple. After you returned to Beijing, she even wrote a letter to ask me to take care of you. One To be a teacher every day, to be a teacher for life, I understand her thoughts, she said that you don't need to recognize her as a teacher, but she still hopes that you can recognize her as a teacher. Master Li, do you understand what I mean?"

Qingping replied: "I understand what you mean."

Xu Haicheng walked into the room and took out a letter.Qingping lifted up his robe and knelt down, said: "I have benefited a lot from my master's teachings. My master doesn't despise me as a stupid and clumsy student. He is willing to accept me as a disciple. How dare you have excuses?"

Xu Haicheng helped her up, and said with a smile, "Since that's the case, then I'll call you junior sister with a shy face."

The two of them sat down again, Xu Haicheng looked at her and said, "I will write a letter to the teacher. Of course, if you want to say something to her, you can also send the letter to me and send it to me on the first day of the month."

Qingping put the letter away and said, "Yes, I understand."

Xu Haicheng is much older than her, even being her teacher is enough, Qingping never thought that there would be such a day, facing Xu Haicheng's face for a long time before calling her senior sister.Master Xu over there was also full of emotion, looked up and down the junior sister, pondered for a moment, and had to praise the teacher's vision.But she is someone who has experienced it. Before the teacher said that he entrusted her junior sister to her, he actually asked her to teach on her behalf.She and Qingping have also met several times, but never revealed it, and she also has the intention of taking the school exam.Not so much a junior sister, but a half-disciple.

Seeing that Qingping was neither arrogant nor impetuous, she was very satisfied, and she had already agreed in her heart that she should be the teacher on behalf of the teacher, and she spoke very gently when she spoke again: "When will the old Shangshu of your Ministry of Rites leave his post?"

Qing Ping cupped his hands and said: "She said that after the year, the decree has already been made, His Majesty is very considerate and wants to keep her for a little longer."

Xu Haicheng asked: "You are about to take over the post of Shangshu, do you know why you were chosen in the end?"

Qing Ping replied: "Elder Yan Ge has already said it before, but I don't think so. Chen Kaiyi and Mr. Chen have served in the Ministry of Rites for many years. The Chen family is a rich family in Hengzhou and is quite famous; but Fei Ke is an important minister of Qingliu. You can't be contemptuous, no matter who this position is given to, but if it's given to someone who doesn't matter, then there's no problem."

Xu Haicheng didn't expect that she could comprehend such a level of meaning, and suddenly found it interesting, and motioned for her to continue.Qingping thought that she was asking questions on behalf of He Pu, so he conjectured in his mind: "Why did Mr. Yan Ge suddenly recommend me? I am not related to her, and I haven't even met her a few times. Are you just following the crowd? I don't believe this. Mrs. Wen, who is one round younger than her, has retired. Why is she still refusing to leave the position of chief assistant in the cabinet? Is it because she doesn't want to leave, or His Majesty wants to keep her and not let her Go? There is no need to say more about the former, but the latter needs to think carefully, why does His Majesty keep her?"

Xu Haicheng was taken aback. If she thought she could teach this junior sister just now, she is a little uncertain now.This was what she discussed with Yan Minghua during her private interview with Yan Mansion that night. At that time, only the two of them were there, and no third person would know.That being the case, it was not easy for Qingping to guess roughly. She put aside her joking attitude and asked solemnly: "What do you think it will be?"

"New law." Qingping spit out these two words, feeling that the room suddenly became cold.

Xu Haicheng was dumb, and rubbed his hands together, not knowing what to say.

"Your Majesty wants to cut down the feudal clan, settle the taxes owed to the imperial court by the aristocratic family for many years, and weigh the land..." Qingping said calmly, "Naturally, there are more than that. Senior sister should have read the draft of the teacher and Mr. Sun Congshan, right?"

Master Xu, who has always been shrewd, nodded a little at a loss, and it was the first time he realized what it means to have someone beyond someone else.Qingping lowered his eyes, looked at the envelope protruding from his sleeve, and said calmly: "I participated in the whole process of the draft, and some of it was proposed by me, but Mr. Sun took full responsibility and submitted it to Mr. State Shepherd. The state retreated first, but it was because the Yunzhou family could not intervene. I thought it would be implemented slowly in the future, first a county, then a prefecture, and if this continues, maybe one day I can reach Chang'an, but I can't see it."

Xu Haicheng couldn't help staring and said: "What are you talking about, why can't you see it?"

Qing Ping exchanged the tea he didn't drink for her, raised his head and said, "Why can't I see you, senior sister, don't you know? Your Majesty wants to keep Mr. Yan Ge as a shield so that some people's mouths can be blocked, so who will do this?" What about the sword? To rectify Chenzhou, this person can't be no one in the court, a complete outsider; but it is not enough, she must have enough merits to be in this position. Looking at the court Up and down, those who are good enough for this position have already stood up in the team, but the merits that qualify them are not enough, and they cannot be promoted."

She took out the letter, tore open the seal and unfolded the letter paper, calmly scanned the writing on it, raised her hand and lit a candle on it: "This person is me, right?" ? That’s all what Mr. Yan Ge meant, to make innovations and get rid of the old.”

Xu Haicheng watched her movements with his mouth gaping, and said, "You, this letter..."

She wanted to ask what was written in the letter, but she was confused, and she couldn't make it clear after talking for a long time.

Qing Ping smiled at her and said, "It's just some small things, it doesn't matter."

With a slumped hand, Master Xu felt so tired for the first time, and said exhaustedly: "Since this is the case, I have nothing to say. You already know the matter, and you have a preparation in mind. The teacher is waiting for you in Chenzhou. Remember to arrive It's time to visit her, you know?"

Qing Ping nodded with a smile, and said: "After the performance evaluation of the Ministry of Officials in the next year, the court should also replace some new people, otherwise the matter of Chenzhou will never be so easy to settle."

It was late at night when we left Xu's mansion, and the snow was not as heavy as when we came.Qingping's feet stepped into the snow, making a creaking sound, which reminded her of many years ago, when she first arrived in Anping, the snow there could bury the roof for a few days.The first thing to do every day is to shovel snow to prevent the door from being frozen and unable to get out.

Trekking in this snowy night, she couldn't help but think of the past, but what she thought more about was He Bang's letter just now.According to what Mr. He said, since the implementation of the new law in Yunzhou, a bureau has been laid out. Its original intention was just to introduce the family and vassal kings into it, but he did not expect the situation to get so out of control in the end, and it turned into a national war with Xirong , and even almost led to the destruction of Yunzhou.

But this also made the hidden forces finally emerge. They continued to intensify the conflict between the family and the court, and at the same time incited the common people to be hostile to the court, trying to evade the imperial power, making the cabinet a place where the family discussed and held power, overriding the court, and even Hijack the emperor in order to achieve their goals.

Mr. He did not elaborate on this in his letter, but Qingping knows that this refers to the group of people who hibernated in the Dai Kingdom after the National War 300 years ago. Over the long years, they have constantly adapted to the laws and regulations of this country. , customs and etiquette, thus deriving new forces.This force is inextricably related to the Golden Tent, but among them, there must be some people who are gradually unwilling to be controlled by the Golden Tent, driven by it, and even want to destroy Xirong and regain their own dominance. Then be controlled by others.Although they grew up in this land, they did not recognize their identity as the generation in their hearts. From their point of view, imperial power is like a golden account, and its purpose is to control.If you want not to be swayed and prostrate on the ground, you must become the new master.

In this way, it all could not be more clear.The battle of Yunzhou and the fall of Anping were all victims of fighting between forces.

"...Sun Congshan also knew the whole story, he let thirty million people flee without permission, and went to the disaster when the back city was destroyed; the situation has reached this point, it is beyond human power to stop, relying on your majesty to deal with the court and fight against all opinions Recover Zhou Shuai, reinforce the rear, and Yunzhou can be preserved. Before leaving Anping, I received an urgent mail and attached it. I don’t know who sent it..."

Standing on the steps, Qingping pulled out a letter from the envelope with trembling hands, opened the seal, and faced only a piece of paper, but it was not a common letter paper, but it seemed to be torn from somewhere hastily.

She was holding a corner of the paper, her whole body was shaking violently, she seemed to have guessed the content of the letter, but for some reason, she didn't dare to read it.

In the end, she unfolded the letter paper, and there was only one line of writing on it, which seemed to be written in a hurry——

"Don't go, wait for me to come back."

There is only a small seal that has been blurred at the place where the signature is signed, and the word Chen Jun can be vaguely discerned.

Qingping put this late letter in her arms, she had already missed the time to receive it.Fortunately, it wasn't too late, after a long time of tossing and turning, it finally came into her hands.