Linque

Yong'an Hou Mansion is located in the deepest part of the inner city of the imperial capital, next to the imperial city. Half an hour later, Yong'an Hou Xiao Wencong arrived at the Hall of Jingcheng.

Ling Qi, the leader of the emperor's shadow guard, accompanied him into the study to face the saint.

Today is not the sixteenth, Chu Heng did not deliberately avoid it, when Xiao Wencong came in, he was still writing, with lowered eyebrows, standing quietly by the desk under the window sill.

He didn't make any sound until the end of the conversation between Marquis Yong'an and the emperor, so Xiao Wencong didn't notice him at first.

Just before leaving, just as Chu Heng stopped writing, the Zizhu wolf hair fell on the pen holder, making a slight noise, which was especially clear in the quiet study room, Xiao Wencong subconsciously glanced sideways at him.

At the same time, Chu Heng just put down his pen and raised his head, meeting Xiao Wencong's gaze.

Xiao Wencong, Marquis of Yong'an, is an out-and-out "Lingqi-level" character, only a thin line away from the Mahayana realm.People like them who have reached the peak of martial arts often have an extremely keen intuition, which allows them to make a rough judgment on the depth of the opponent's strength in the first time when they face anyone.

Of course Xiao Wencong is no exception.

At this moment, looking at the silent imperial servant Mo in front of him, Xiao Hou frowned slightly, and a trace of surprise appeared in his eyes.

For a moment just now, he felt in a trance that he couldn't see through the young man in front of him, and Chu Heng gave him an unfathomable feeling inexplicably.

But it was only for a moment, when Chu Heng raised his head completely and Xiao Wencong looked at him carefully again, no matter how he looked at him, Chu Heng was a beginner in martial arts.There are a lot of people like this in the side branches of the aristocratic family, and it really doesn't deserve Xiao Hou's attention.

If someone else was standing here today, they would probably have laughed at the strange intuition at the first glance, just thinking that they were in a daze for a while, but Xiao Wencong was different.

As the next dean of Yishan Academy, facing tens of thousands of students from the academy every year, Xiao Hou is more accurate than the head of the shadow guard in terms of reading people's depth and talent, and has almost abnormal judgment. Intuition is almost always right.

Xiao Wencong took a deep look at Chu Heng, and out of the corner of his eyes, he caught sight of Ling Qi who was beside him, he slightly pulled his lips, and finally walked out without saying anything in person.

Ling Qi personally sent him out of the palace.

When he was about to reach the gate of the palace, Xiao Wencong said, "The young man in the study just now is His Majesty's new imperial servant Mo, right? I heard that he studied under Lishan and grew up in Yiye Gucheng. I just returned to the Chu family in the imperial capital."

Ling Qi nodded. The academy and Lishan are the most prestigious martial arts sects in Kyushu, one in the south and one in the north, and they are divided into two places. In recent years, the two have been quite interested in competing for each other.As the next dean of the academy, it is not surprising that Xiao Wencong would pay attention to the Lishan children, but——

"Then I think the commander-in-chief needs to pay more attention." Xiao Wencong said, "The matter of the Jingnan Silk Road will be finalized at the court meeting tomorrow, and Nanxi Guoshi Jing Xueli will come to the palace to meet His Majesty in the near future. The commander-in-chief should I have heard that Jingxueli and Junji Wuyue of Lishan Mountain once fought against each other in the Mingzheng Martial Arts Hall. It is rumored that the two had a serious personal enmity. And His Majesty's Imperial Attendant Mo was trained by Mrs. Mu of Lishan Mountain. The relationship with Dongjun is very close, and Dongjun came to the imperial capital a while ago to recuperate his meridians, I think the two brothers and sisters have a very strong friendship—”

"The commander-in-chief knows," Xiao Wencong said with a smile, "Even the Nanxi people themselves said that their national teachers are small-minded and never play cards according to common sense. When Jingxueli sees Chu Heng, it's hard to tell." Hate the house and Wu' to make things difficult for one or two, then the commander-in-chief must pay more attention."

Ling Qi's eyes moved slightly, and he was silent for a moment, then nodded in response.

Xiao Wencong smiled slightly, did not let him see him off, turned around and left the palace gate alone.

He obviously had something in his words, Ling Qi looked at Xiao Wencong's back, and frowned slightly.

After all, Jing Xueli is a master-level figure, even if there is any quarrel with Ji Wuyue, it is impossible to "hate the house and Wu" to embarrass a young junior in Jiuchongque and in front of Emperor Dayin.Moreover, Chu Heng is still a member of the imperial court, and Jing Xueli came to negotiate with Dayin on behalf of Nan Xi. As a national teacher of a country, she will not be unclear about the importance of public and private matters.

But Xiao Wencong would not talk nonsense for no reason, Ling Qi narrowed his eyes slightly, and recalled the conversation just now.

Marquis Yong'an said "Be careful", and said it twice.

The point of his words was not Jing Xueli, nor Ji Wuyue, but Chu Heng.

Xiao Wencong has a steelyard in his heart. For the time being, the Yichong Xiao family does not want to get involved in the disputes between the court and China, nor does he want to stand in line too early. He will only point out some words.

With Ling Qi's skills, if he had never had any doubts about Chu Heng, it would probably be impossible.

It's just that with more contact, the strangeness that I once felt at a certain moment will be covered up by the normality I see every day.After a long time, the vague doubts in the past will naturally be regarded as my own delusions.

Xiao Wencong still couldn't know if he was too sensitive today, he didn't have any basis, but he felt a vague sense of incongruity in Chu Heng's body based on his first instant intuition.He couldn't explain the reason for this weirdness, and he didn't even know if it was his own illusion, but after all, the person concerned was in front of the emperor, so it's always better to be cautious.

Jing Xueli got the advantage of the Jingnan Silk Road Road, Xiao Wencong and Ling Qi were not easy to draw conclusions, so it would not be difficult for this great master to take a look when he entered the palace.

However, no matter whether Chu Heng is tricky or not, it has nothing to do with the Yong'an Hou Mansion. Xiao Wencong just reminded him a little bit. What he needs to worry about now is another thing——

The emperor asked him to help stir up the muddy water.

Xiao Hou has a pivotal position in Dayin Kyushu, not only because he is the patriarch of the Yichong Xiao family, Xiao Wencong is an official in the middle of the book order, has the title of deputy prime minister, and also serves as the governor of the Privy Council. The Privy Council is in charge of the military affairs of Kyushu. Jun and Xiaohou's words carry weight.

On the tenth day of the next day, at the Xuanzheng Palace Grand Meeting, after the Jingnan Silk Road diversion to Nanxi was agreed upon, the aristocratic party members began to use Yunfei's incident of fighting and violating the law to label Yan Mao, accusing him of having a bad family style and losing the virtue of a gentleman .At the critical moment of selecting the chief examiner of Enke, Yan Dang certainly refused to let them be far-fetched, and immediately defended Yan Xiang.

The two sides have argued back and forth several times. Although members of the Yan Party can speak eloquently, but Yun Fei is indeed the main culprit of the fight and wounding. Jiayong Hou Xu Ao, the sufferer, is here now. , it is inevitable that other people in the court will feel a little pity in their hearts.What's more, Yan Xiang made many enemies in the court and had a few quarrels with His Majesty, but Jiazhao Xu's family is the prince's mother, so everyone in the court would naturally weigh the pros and cons in their hearts, and began to stand up one after another.

The Yan Party gradually lost the wind. Seeing that this court debate was about to be defeated by the Family Party, the Marquis of Yong'an, Xiao Wencong, who seldom expressed his opinion on party disputes, opened his mouth in a rare way——

"I know about this, but I'm ashamed to say it," Xiao Wencong glanced at Xu Ao apologetically, and said, "I've heard about the Xu family's eldest son being sick in bed, but the day before yesterday when Gao Min came back from Dali Temple, I asked Only then did he realize that he had a share of the 'credit' here. In truth, this kid has to be counted as the main culprit. I prepared an apology at home yesterday, and I'm planning to choose a day to come to apologize. I don't want you adults We talked about this matter today, so I will first apologize to Xu Hou on behalf of the dog. The young people lost their sense of proportion when they fought, and I hope Xu Hou will forgive them for their young and ignorant sake. In the next day, I will bring my dog ​​to Xuhou's mansion to plead guilty face to face."

As soon as Xiao Wencong finished speaking, the entire court fell silent, and everyone looked at Jiayonghou Xu Ao with a little embarrassment.

The eldest son of the Xu family is still lying at home with a bruised nose and a swollen face, unable to get out of bed, and the incident has reached Dali Temple. It is not clear that Jiayonghou has made a fuss out of a molehill.

Only the party who was beaten was tolerant and magnanimous, and took the initiative to downplay the matter, and didn't take it seriously before seeing someone who beat someone.Xiao Wencong's words are not very particular about the truth, and they are not very credible.

Who in the whole imperial capital city doesn't know that the eldest son of the Marquis of Yongan's family is the most unreasonable, and the eldest son of Xiao Shi has grown so old that he doesn't even know how to pronounce the three words "I'm sorry".

Not to mention Xu Shao, a few years ago, when the Empress Dowager came to the imperial court, Xiao Gaomin had a conflict with King Shenjun. According to the rules, Xiao Gaomin was supposed to salute him, but the other party was whipped by him. He got off his horse and almost broke his leg.Afterwards, Xiao Gaomin didn't apologize, he didn't even have the attitude of admitting his mistakes. In the end, the queen mother came forward to mediate and comforted her carefully, and then she reluctantly gave up.

Do you want Master Xiao to bow his head?It's no less difficult than getting the sun out of the west.

The family members never thought that Marquis Yong'an would intervene, let alone ask Xiao Gaomin to apologize.They wanted to take advantage of Yun Fei's crime to turn over Yan Mao's old account and label him as "immoral" so that he could get out of the competition for Enke's chief examiner. Out early.But now, the Marquis of Yong'an interfered with it, and it was not right for Xu Ao to answer or not to answer.

If he accepted it, there would be no reason to criticize Yan Mao.But if you don't answer it, it will appear that Xu Ao cares about every detail, and the young people's slapstick will also be on the line.What's more, Xiao Wencong himself said that his son, like Yun Fei, was also the principal offender. If the aristocratic party continued to point out Yun Fei's fight and violation of the law and accused Yan Xiang of having a bad family style, it would be tantamount to scolding Yi Chong Xiao.

Xu Ao was hesitant to ride a tiger, and he was hesitating when Su Que, Lord Ying, made another fire.

Su Que coughed lightly, and said apologetically, "Su Lang, the son of the Xu family, also participated in this matter. Let him and Gao Min come to the door to apologize to the eldest son some other day, and hope Xuhou Haihan."

Everyone in the court immediately looked at each other in blank dismay. When the Dali Temple court decided the case, Su Lang was not involved at all.If Ying Guogong didn't take the initiative to speak up, no one would have thought that Su Ergongzi, one of the Changzhou Shuangbi, would do such a thing.

Now Xu Ao had no choice but to answer, no matter how much the aristocratic party wanted to criticize Yan Xiang, it would be difficult to drag Yichong Xiao and Yinghai Su into the water together, so they had to ask for money to withdraw.

Fortunately, the Son of Heaven was fair and fair, so he ordered Gao Bandit: "Xuan Xiao, Gao Min, Su Lang, and Ye Shuli will meet me at the Hall of Respect and Sincere in the afternoon."

Under the imperial decree, it is not only necessary to personally order, but also to make a final decision.

Since it was just a momentary squabble of young people, there would no longer be accusations of lax parenting, family style, and moral conduct, and Yan Xiang naturally picked it up from the matter.

Mr. Han Han didn't speak, but before he could admit that Han Chengmiao also participated in the fight, Su Que and Xiao Wencong gave him winks, telling him not to speak.There are three most powerful contenders for Enke’s chief examiner—Korea Gong recommended by the pure ministers, Wen Xinhou, the representative of the Aristocratic Party, and Prime Minister Yan jointly recommended by Yan Dang and the poor family. Everyone in the family committed crimes, and Wen Xinhou naturally stood out from them.

——This is not what Chunchen and Yan Dang want to see, nor is it what the emperor on the throne wants.

After the Xuanzheng Hall's great court meeting ended, Marquis Xiao Wencong of Yong'an had an urgent matter to attend to, so he didn't stay in Taiwei City too long, and when he passed by Duanmen, he happened to have a face-to-face meeting with Yan Mao.

Yan Mao was going to Dali Temple, but he didn't go along the way with Marquis Yong'an, the two of them had no friendship at all, so they passed each other after a few words.

Xiao Wencong took a few steps, turned around and glanced at Yan Mao's back.

Bystanders are clear, as a rare neutral person in the court, Marquis Yong'an can always find a little wind direction that others can't perceive.

It is well known in Kyushu that Yan Mao has a sharp personality and is good at playing tricks, and he sometimes has quarrels with the emperor.But only a few people in the court can clearly see that there has always been a delicate balance between His Majesty and Yan Xiang. They seem to want to go further, but at the same time, when they face each other, they also They all keep a secret restraint. This restraint does not stem from being cautious in dealing with opponents, but a tacit understanding.

Yan Mao is talented, good at weighing the overall situation, and understands the pros and cons of the people's livelihood. He may be a good prime minister for Kyushu, but he is definitely not a good minister for the emperor-capable but not good, this kind of person meets Only when you know the master can you show it, otherwise it will be difficult to end well.

Throughout the past and present, few emperors would reuse Yan Mao as a rebellious minister. Emperors like courtiers who know how to obey, but in Yan Mao, the word "obedience" can hardly be seen.

But Emperor Xuanxi was very strange. Marquis Yong'an looked at Yan Mao's back, and he had a strange premonition that among the chief examiners of Enke, the person the emperor really paid attention to was Yan Xiang.

But now, Xiao Hou didn't have time to think about it carefully, the imperial decree must have passed to the mansion, he had to go and coax his son who was about to explode.