I dare not

Imperial Palace, Chengxuan Palace.

"Reporting to Your Highness," the guard knelt on one knee and reported to the Third Prince, "I met an assassin at Master Xiao Gu's house last night. I had already captured him with serious injuries, but the assassin bit the poison sac in his mouth and committed suicide."

"Well," the third prince Xiang Zenan nodded, "How is Gu Qiao?"

"Master Gu may have been frightened last night, so he went to Ouyang Mansion early this morning, and now he is packing things at home, and seems to be moving to Ouyang Mansion."

"That's okay, someone will take care of you when you go to the Ouyang Mansion," Xiang Zenan said, "You should watch carefully and don't attract the attention of the guards in the Prime Minister's Mansion."

The guard cupped his fists and replied, "Yes!"

After the guards left, Xiang Zenan frowned. This Gu Qiao looked serious, but who knew that he was so unreliable, and fell into his water tank in the middle of the night drunk.

It seems that I will have to tidy up in the future.

He changed into a goose-yellow python robe, and was about to go to the imperial study to discuss government affairs.

The various departments in central Beijing did not start their official business until the fifteenth day, and political affairs during this period were discussed in the Imperial Study Room.

When Xiang Zenan arrived, the second prince Xiang Zezhang, He Fangzhi, Ouyang Chigong and three other prime ministers had already arrived.

There are five prime ministers in Hao State, headed by Zuo Xiang He Fangzhi, the other four are Zhongshu Minister Ouyang Chigong, Menxia Provincial Minister Zhang Zhilin, and Shangshu Sheng's left and right servants She Wang Yundong and Zhou Mian.These five people are the chief think tank of the emperor, and all important policies and personnel appointments and dismissals of Hao Kingdom must be deliberated by them.

Today we will summarize the work reports of various local officials, and discuss the personnel transfer and local budget for the next year.

Before the emperor arrived, the second prince was already analyzing the government and financial revenue and expenditure of the officials in each state. He Fangzhi nodded again and again.

When the local officials reported on their duties, the third child hadn't returned to Beijing, so he couldn't speak at this time, and just stood quietly aside.

Not long after, the emperor arrived, and everyone knelt down and shouted long live.

When the emperor sat down, he glanced at Xiang Zenan. Xiang Zenan knelt on the ground in an orderly manner, a little behind the second prince.

"Be flat."

The emperor asked Xiang Zezhang to sort out the year-end summaries of each state, and pick out the distinctive ones to talk about. Xiang Zenan listened absent-mindedly, and seemed not interested.

All the prime ministers secretly observed the emperor's face and the performance of the two princes, each with their own thoughts.

The second prince talked about the situation in several places, and finally said: "This year, Lianzhou has outstanding achievements in government affairs. The return of the fields has enabled the farmers to earn a lot of work, and the problem of banditry has been solved accordingly; Merchants entered the channel, which lowered the price of grain in Lianzhou, and the grain problem was solved. Currently, we are negotiating with the Shaofu Supervisor about the employment of mine workers. The initial plan is to hire local laborers according to the original plan of one or two taels of silver per person per month. The specific matters are still under discussion. .”

When it came to the matter of Lianzhou, the third prince seemed to be interested, and raised his eyelids to look at the second prince.

All the people present are good people, and the second prince said that Sima, whose rank is lower than Chang Shi, was at the beginning, which was to test the meaning of the emperor.

The prime ministers have already known about the third prince's return from Lianzhou through various channels.Some people don't know the whole picture, but they also heard that the third prince and Gu Sima had a lot of intersections when they were in Lianzhou.

The emperor's opinion of Gu Qiao, to some extent, represented his closeness to the third prince.

This is today's highlight, and Xiang Zezhang has done so many preparations just for this one sentence.He stopped talking about Lianzhou, waiting to see the emperor's reaction.

The imperial study room was so quiet that a needle could be heard falling.

"Inspector of Lianzhou, who did you send?"

The emperor remembered the matter of the former governor, Huang Zhengxian, and the new governor was also handpicked by him, but he asked this question to deliberately raise the topic.

"Your Majesty," Zhou Mian stepped forward and replied, "The new governor of Lianzhou, Zhang Ming, is the former Shaoyin of Taiyuan Prefecture."

"Well," the emperor asked again after hearing this: "Sima Gu Qiao of Lianzhou, what do you guys think?"

coming!

The second prince said: "Father, my son thinks that Gu Sima is an upright official, sympathetic to the people, and dares to get rid of bad habits, so he is a useful talent."

The emperor said nothing, but said, "Third brother, what do you think?"

Xiang Zenan was called on, raised his head and replied: "I think what Brother Huang said makes sense."

The third child wanted to paddle, but the emperor didn't let him go, and asked again: "You are inspecting the flood in Lianzhou, what do you think of Gu Qiao's government?"

"Uh..." The third child showed a troubled expression, "I don't know how to govern, and I think... Gu Sima... is very good-looking."

Several prime ministers were secretly laughing when they heard him say this. The third prince heard that he had hurt his head. Seeing him like this, he is either really stupid or pretending to be a pig and eat a tiger.

The emperor laughed loudly, "That's right, my evaluation of Gu Sima is also pretty."

The second prince's expression turned ugly. He brought up this topic just to make the third child say that he wanted to keep Gu Qiao in Beijing, causing the emperor's dissatisfaction, but let him fool him like this.

Gu Qiao is very popular among the new generation of civil servants because he dared to criticize He Fangzhi's articles. In private, many young officials will collect his poems and articles, and he has the momentum of an opinion leader.

For a long time after the founding of Haoguo, officials were selected through the election system, and the imperial examination was implemented in the last ten years.The bureaucratic family headed by He Fangzhi suppressed the new generation of officials who passed the imperial examination. Almost all the important positions from the central government to the local government were members of the He family. situation.

Gu Qiao has a special status. He himself is the disciple of Ouyang Chigong, the Prime Minister of the He faction. At the same time, he can clearly speak for the officials of the new faction. He is the key figure for the officials of the new faction to seek a breakthrough.

Everyone present here is well aware of this truth.

If the emperor wants to balance the power of the court with his ministers, he needs to put Gu Qiao in a clever position.He looked at He Fangzhi, then at Ouyang Chigong, "Ouyang Shilang, Gu Qiao is your student, what do you think?"

"Returning to Your Majesty, I think that Gu Qiao's qualifications are still inexperienced, so she has more talents but lacks knowledge, and needs more training."

Xiang Zenan was amused when he heard this, this old fox, if he said it, he didn't say it.

Sure enough, the emperor was not very satisfied with this answer.

He Fangzhi saw that the time was almost up, and was about to stand up to speak, but the third prince took the lead and said: "Father, my son thinks what Lord Ouyang said is very true. Gu Qiao lacks qualifications, and it may be unfair to promote him. No If he is appointed as Zuo Shiyi, he will be at the same level as his current official rank, and he will be given a chance to study government affairs."

He Fangzhi almost vomited blood after hearing this!Xiang Zenan is just talking nonsense with his eyes open, Zuo Shiyi's official rank is less than the sixth rank!

Although the official rank is not high, Suiyi is a close minister of the emperor, and he can participate in the regular court every day, and he can even speak in the political affairs hall.Not only is political status important, but even senior officials are not inferior to senior officials in terms of status and etiquette in the court, and there is no need to avoid court officials below the prime minister when they meet on the road.

He Fangzhi's original intention was to throw Gu Qiao to a marginal department, so as not to make any big noises but also to facilitate his own supervision. Who knew that the third prince's move was a ruthless move. Judging by the emperor's appearance, he seemed to be very interested in this suggestion.

It was too late to object at this time, He Fangzhi glared at Ouyang Chigong, this trash didn't say anything just now, but instead gave the opportunity to the third prince!

"Well," the emperor said calmly after sitting on the high dragon chair and admiring everyone's expressions, "The third brother is right, let's do it like this!"

After Gu Qiao moved to Ouyang Mansion, he never encountered any strange things again, and the people from the bookstore did not dare to come to the Prime Minister's Mansion to urge manuscripts.

The only disadvantage is that every day the teacher has to test himself on political affairs.

Since they broke up that day, Ouyang Chigong didn't say anything to get him and the third prince closer.

After returning to Beijing, what he cared most about was investigating the Lianzhou gold mine. He searched all over the house but couldn't find the blueprints left by his father.

During the meal that day, he asked about the gold mine in an indirect manner. Ouyang Chigong was very kind to him recently, and patiently told him some things about the year, and then told him: "After the survey work of the Ministry of Industry is completed, They will all be handed over to the Ministry of Household Affairs, but the Lianzhou Gold Mine has been put under the supervision of the Shaofu, and all documents and files should also be handed over to the Shaofu Supervisor. There is nothing about the gold mine in your father's relics."

Gu Qiao nodded, "I see."

Ouyang Chigong asked seemingly unintentionally: "Why do you start caring about the gold mine again?"

"When I was in Lianzhou, I heard that many men went to the gold mines and were never seen again. I wonder if there was a mine disaster, and I was a little concerned about it."

"Hey," Ouyang Chigong sighed, "Qiaoer, it has been many years since your father's incident. He was indeed responsible for the collapse of the mine. Your father is the most kind-hearted and soft-hearted man, and he can't bear the blow... You don't have to. You are so sensitive to such matters, and now the imperial court has clearly ordered that mining accidents, big or small, must be reported, and the Shaofu supervisor dare not hide it, so don’t think too much about it.”

After hearing this, Gu Qiao was not comforted, but felt even more blocked.

Even if the father felt guilty about the mine accident and chose to commit suicide, which father would choose the day when his son came home from the academy to hang himself?

The eye sockets were a little sour, and I couldn't even eat for a while.

Ouyang Zhiwen patted him on the shoulder, "Don't keep thinking about things, since you're back, go out and have fun with me. After the fifteenth day, you'll have to leave early and return late. I'm so lonely by myself!"

"After the fifteenth?" Gu Qiao glanced at him, "There is no news yet, maybe I will return to Lianzhou after the fifteenth."

"I'm just going to tell you this," Ouyang Chigong said, "I'm already drafting a decree, and you will officially take office after fifteen. Congratulations, Gu Shiyi."

Gu Qiao was surprised: "Pick up lost things?!"

He had made a lot of ideas about how the emperor would assign him, but the only thing he didn't expect was to pick up relics.Isn't this derogation and promotion?Moreover, he was promoted a lot and directly became the emperor's close minister!

"This..." Gu Qiao couldn't believe it, "He Xiang...do you have any objections?"

"It's too late for Prime Minister He to have an opinion," Ouyang Chi said with a smile, "It was proposed by the third prince, and His Majesty agreed."

Seeing his father's happy face, Ouyang Zhiwen blurted out, "Dad, don't you have a good relationship with He Xiang? Will he be unhappy? Where are you standing now?"

Ouyang Chigong's face turned black immediately after hearing this, an idiot with faster mouth than brain!Isn't this exposing herself to be at both ends in front of Gu Qiao?

Gu Qiao buried her face in the bowl and tried her best to hold back her laughter. Ouyang Zhiwen is such a weirdo that one day he will piss his father to death.

Gu Qiao did not comment on his teacher's position. When he publicly offended He Fangzhi, although the teacher was angry, he still tried his best to deal with the aftermath for him.

Although Ouyang Chigong is a man with a lot of eyes, he is really kind to himself. With so many years of nurturing grace, he doesn't mind the fact that the teacher is not very prominent.

It's just that he didn't expect that the third prince would directly propose to let him pick up the relics, which would openly include Gu Qiao in the third highness's team.

Since that person wants to be a monarch and minister with himself, then everything in Lianzhou should be treated as never happened!