Reincarnation of the powerful minister

In March of the first year of Qinghe, Altan, the leader of the Oala tribe, personally led 12 fine cavalry to destroy the royal court of Tatar.

Altan annexed the Tatar tribes and announced the establishment of the Golden Court.So far, the disputed North Desert has ushered in the first unification in 200 years.

In the Daming Palace, in the Wenyuan Pavilion of the previous dynasty, the cabinet ministers are discussing a side report.

A side report came from the army of Qingshui Camp in Lingzhou, Shaanxi, saying that Beimo sent envoys to Qingshui Camp to request that the letter of credence of "Tiansheng Khan" be handed over to Emperor Daming.Joining the army did not dare to make decisions without authorization, and was worried that the important event would be delayed, so he hurriedly sent this letter of credence together with the border newspaper to the capital.

"Heavenly Khan? The word 'heaven'..." Chief Assistant Yang Ting frowned greatly, "It's not right!"

"It's more than inappropriate, it's an offense to my Chao Tianwei!" Yu Chezhi, the newly promoted Minister of the Ministry of War, is straightforward and straightforward, "Everyone in the world respects my Emperor Ming as the 'Emperor of Heaven'. It's been a long time. Now there is a 'Heavenly Sacred Khan' in Beimo, who clearly wants to fight against Daming, this Altan has a lot of ambitions!"

The second assistant, Shi Yan, stroked her long beard, and said, "Altan intends to hold a ceremony to sacrifice to the heavens in June, and officially raise the title of 'Holy Khan' to 'Heavenly Holy Khan', and ask our dynasty to send officials to the North Desert to observe and celebrate the ceremony. This is to force us to admit that he is equal to Emperor Ming, which is simply ridiculous. If you look carefully at this additional condition, it is even more absurd—”

Everyone looked carefully and found that the officials sent by Daming must be young officials about 20 years old who had worked in the Qingshui Camp two years ago and were related to the horse trade.

The conditions are set weirdly, it seems that the scope of the target is large, and after careful consideration, it seems to be directional, but you don't just name it, isn't it inexplicable?

Will you send someone there?If someone is sent there, and the majesty of the court is broken, what will the emperor's face be?If you don't send it, and then reprimand you with the charge of "losing the vassal etiquette", it is likely to anger the other party.

In the past, Daming clashed repeatedly with Tatar and Wala at the border. Later, Beimo was busy with the civil war, and the border dust subsided a lot. Later, the late emperor fell ill, the courtier Chi Yi, and the crown prince succeeded. No one cared about Beimo. things of desert.

It wasn't until the new king ascended the throne this year that the situation finally became a little more stable, only to find that Wala had grown up step by step and annexed Tatar.

Now that Altan has just unified the Northern Desert, he is in full swing. Could this letter of credence requiring officials from the Great Ming Sect to attend the ceremony be an excuse for him to provoke disputes?

All the cabinet ministers spoke to each other, but they heard a clear man's voice outside the palace gate: "It's so lively... sneeze! What are you adults talking about?"

The elders turned their heads and saw that it was their youngest colleague, Su Yan and Su Qinghe, who was wearing a stone blue cloak, turning in from the chilly verandah, and was beaten by the cold and heat as soon as he entered the warm hall. big sneeze.

After bowing their hands and saluting each other, Yang Ting handed over the border newspaper and Beimo's letter of credence to Su Yan.The more Su Yan looked at it, the more weird the wording seemed - "A young official in his twenties who worked in the Qingshui Camp two years ago and was related to the horse trade", who is it?

In this way, Altan still remembered him, but why didn't he directly name him, as if he only had these vague impressions of him.

"How does Master Su view this matter?" Yu Chezhi, the left servant of the Ministry of War, asked.

Su Yan liked Yu Chezhi very much. On the one hand, he knew in his previous life that he was a capable minister. He was born as a civil servant but could lead troops to fight, especially in quelling civil strife; , The first memorial I read was written by this old man.

He said to Yu Chezhi with a pleasant face: "I think Altan's move is to show his prestige. He just unified the northern desert by war and established a royal court. He needs to prove his ability and the legitimacy of his regime to the world. To whom should he prove it?" ? One is God, so he plans to hold a ceremony to sacrifice to heaven; the other is Da Ming, if even the "Emperor of Heaven" recognizes his new title, then the cornerstone of the Golden Royal Court will be more stable."

Yu Chezhi felt that it was reasonable, and asked again: "Then Master Su thinks, how to return the letter of credence? Should you send someone to attend the ceremony?"

Su Yan said with a smile: "Yang Shoufu and Xie Cifu are both here, you don't ask them first, but you ask me, a late learner."

Only then did Yu Chezhi feel that he was a little rude, and he complained to the two elders.

Yang Ting said: "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter whoever speaks first."

Xie Shiyan sat back and drank tea without making a sound.

Another cabinet minister, Jiang Chunnian, was originally a bachelor of the Imperial Academy. He was quick in writing and knowledgeable, but he had a stuttering problem.At this moment, he will not speak first.

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Su Yan said, "Then I'll throw a brick to attract others. In fact, my personal idea is very simple, just a few words—"

He paused for a moment, and then said with great anger: "My God, you are so big! Don't go!"

Ministers waiting for a serious answer: ...

Seeing the indescribable expressions on everyone's faces, Su Yan added: "The word 'heaven' must never be given. If you have to find approval, it's like giving to his father, Hu Kuoli, King Pingning, King Shunyi, etc. If he is willing to accept it, he can send officials to issue it before the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven; if he refuses to accept it, he will be dismissed."

Xie Shiyan said slowly: "Su Shilang said lightly, if Altan gets angry because of this, and once again sends troops to invade our Daming border—"

Su Yan withdrew his smile, and said seriously: "If Altan really wants to attack Da Ming, it will be for profit rather than venting anger. As for the matter of participating in the ceremony, he can use this to test our bottom line, and we can also use this to test our bottom line. Check out his depth."

In the end, the cabinet ministers had their own considerations, and their opinions did not reach a consensus, but it did not affect the drafting of the vote.

If the cabinet agrees, it will be simple. Prepare all the comments and answers for the emperor, and submit them at the back of the memorial.

If the cabinet ministers have different opinions, they should write their own handling opinions on the slips of paper, and submit them at the end of the memorial.

After reviewing and finalizing the case, the emperor tore off the other papers and kept the one he liked, and then wrote the adopted opinions in the playbook with a cinnabar pen as a formal reply, which was called Zhupi.

Therefore, the actual status of the cabinet ministers is not only reflected in the difference between the on-duty palace, the first assistant and the second assistant, but also the degree to which the "vote proposal" proposed by the cabinet ministers is adopted.

Facing the four pieces of paper presented by the cabinet (two people had the same opinion and co-wrote one), Zhu Helin thought for a moment and tore up the other three, leaving Su Yan's one behind.

Although this is a process, some cabinet ministers whose opinions were not accepted are inevitably frustrated. No matter how generous they are on the surface, the sour taste in their hearts will slowly disappear after several days.

As for Zhu Helin, after staring at the inexplicable qualifications of the official participating in the ceremony for a long time, he figured out some tailor-made flavors, so he began to ask Jin Yiwei to check-who met this requirement back then?

From the point of view of the two young servants of the Su family, their master became even busier after joining the cabinet, often saying that he would not go home for dinner, and occasionally he was late for a meeting, and would stay overnight in the value room of Wenyuan Pavilion.

Although they were happy that their lord had been promoted again, they also inevitably felt a little disappointed.

There are more and more servants in the house, Su Xiaojing is no longer busy, and starts to feel idle.His personality is more lively and active than Su Xiaobei's, and when he was fifteen or sixteen years old, he was the most playful, sometimes he would go to the street market or go to the cottage to play.

The number of times he left home, Su Xiaobei always wanted to say a few words about him, thinking that he was too flamboyant, not someone who could settle down and take care of things.

Su Xiaojing was still listening at first, and grinningly said, "Brother Bei, I was wrong." Later, he got impatient and avoided Su Xiaobei on purpose, and ran out when he had time.

Su Xiaobei couldn't persuade him several times, and was so angry that he hit him with a broom, so Su Xiaojing became angry, and he didn't talk to him for several days, and he didn't go home.

Su Xiaobei didn't want to bother the adults with the trivial matters of the servants, and tried his best to discipline them. At the same time, he also hoped that Xiao Jing was only rebellious for a while, and it would be fine after a while.

Su Xiaojing didn't care so much, he finally got rid of Xiao Bei who loves to control him, so he decided to find someone to play a few leaf cards to see his luck.

On this day, Xiao Jing was so lucky that he would win every bet. The other party lost to the point where he even took off his clothes. In the end, he had no choice but to take out a treasured private possession from his bosom as a bargaining chip—a long-lived gold inlaid gemstone lock. Although the Longevity Lock looks old because of the many people who have used it, and a few gemstones have fallen off, but if you look closely, you can still see the original gorgeous patterns and fine carving techniques.

When Su Xiaojing saw the longevity lock, he was stunned.

He felt that it seemed deja vu... No, not only deja vu, but familiar as something that was originally his... Su Xiaojing thought hard, and finally dug out this memory from the depths of his mind.

——Four or five years ago, he hadn't met Mr. Su yet, and he lived with his mother who had signed a contract of prostitution, and was in Ren Yazi's hands.His mother was dying of serious illness, so he gritted his teeth and pawned the longevity lock hung around his neck since he was born, and exchanged money to find a doctor and get medicine.

He didn't dare to tell his mother about this, because his mother had repeatedly instructed him not to lose the longevity lock, and the swaddle that had wrapped him up must not be soiled or damaged.

The swaddling baby was locked in a broken wooden box by his mother, and he always carried the longevity lock close to his body, but in order to save his mother's life, he had to pawn it secretly.

However, this little money did not save her mother's life, and she died in the end.After Xiaojing was heartbroken, she wanted to redeem the longevity lock as a thought, but she couldn't do it again and again, and finally gradually forgot about it.

A few years passed, and he almost completely forgot about it, until this thing suddenly appeared in front of his eyes, and the dusty memory was suddenly blown away.

Su Xiaojing suppressed his excitement, pretended to be picky, and said, "Which coffin board was dug out, who cares about it when it's so old?", while turning the longevity lock in his hand, it turned out that it was inside the hollowed-out lock body. , found an ambiguous word "letter".

—it was his lock!

After bargaining, Su Xiaojing won back the longevity lock.He hurried home immediately, went into his room and locked the door behind him, then found the swaddle with burnt edges from the depths of the closet, and spread it on the bed.

It is a large square piece of brocade, which has turned maroon over time, and it has become more and more mixed with the color of some words written on the inside.

Su Xiaojing didn't know a single big character at first, but after following Su Yan, he started to read and read, and now he can basically recognize all common characters.But the petite characters written in the swaddling clothes were so blurry that I couldn't read them clearly.

He recognized it for a while, and had to give up again.

Forget it, anyway, the Longevity Lock is back, and the swaddling baby of this ghost painting talisman will continue to be pressed at the bottom of the box, he thought so.

Until seven or eight days later, he was walking in a remote alley with two jars of newly bought bean paste, and passed by an old woman dressed as a servant of a rich family, and suddenly heard the old woman calling him from behind——

"Wait! Brother, turn around and let me see clearly!"

Su Xiaojing turned around inexplicably, staring at the old woman: "What's the matter?"

The old woman looked at him carefully from head to toe, and said with trembling lips: "Like! It's so similar...It's exactly the same..."

"Why, I'm sick." Su Xiaojing turned to leave, but was grabbed by the other party.

The old woman asked excitedly: "Little brother, do you have a golden longevity lock that you wear on your body from birth? It is inlaid with five-color gemstones?"

Su Xiaojing nodded subconsciously, and then remembered that the money was not in vain, so she shook her head quickly.

The old woman seemed to see something, and asked: "Don't be afraid, the old man sees that you look very much like the old master, so I asked a few more questions-is there a word engraved on the body of your longevity lock?"

old master?Are you talking about my mother?Su Xiaojing knew from an early age that she had a good background.I heard from my mother that the family collapsed overnight because it was involved in a big case more than ten years ago. At that time, he was bought out before he was born in the mother's womb.It is said that the case was ordered by the first emperor himself, so he has always been worried about the imperial power, and always talks about "accompanying the emperor is like accompanying a tiger".

Su Xiaojing asked tentatively: "Is it the word 'letter'?"

The old woman suddenly burst into tears, knelt on the ground and hugged Su Xiaojing's leg, and burst into tears: "It's the little master! It's the little master! The only seedling left by the prince was finally found by the old man! "