The mountains and rivers are quiet and broad

A poet once described the capital with the poem "Hundreds of families are like a game of Go, and twelve streets are like a vegetable garden". This is a true portrayal of the neat and uniform chessboard pattern of the capital. It is as regular and unfathomable as a chess game, and he walks in it like a chess player, watching the chess pieces around him come and go.

It was still dark, the stars and the moon were hanging in the sky, revealing a faint white light, Yan Keqing headed up against the cool wind today.

The central axis of the capital is Zhuquemen Street, and the whole city is divided into east and west parts with Zhuquemen Street as the middle boundary.

The Taihe Palace, where the emperor listened to politics and lived, is located at the northern end of the central axis. The Shangshu Province, the Taipu Temple, Yushitai, Dali Temple, and the left and right Qianniuwei, where hundreds of officials work, are juxtaposed on the axis of Zhuquemen Street. Residential areas and Fangshi are also divided into two equal parts, east and west. This kind of planning and construction fully reflects the grandeur of the imperial city.

When Yan Keqing came to the capital ten years ago, it looked like this. Ten years later, everything seems to be the same.But it wasn't like this a hundred years ago, so it's not too early to say what it will look like a hundred years from now.

Everyone wants to add to the grand plan of Jiangshan.

"The situation on the western front is not optimistic. I implore Your Majesty to send another [-] troops."

"Mr. Yang Ge's words are probably inappropriate. Although the [-] troops are not many, they are still quite a lot. The situation in the west is unclear, but the Gongbaxi tribe in the north is already ready to move, so it should not be underestimated."

"My Majesty, according to what I have seen, there are alien races colluding with each other. There are wolves in the west and squirrels catching cicadas in the north. Today's Dachen is full of dangers. There are successive years of natural disasters, the harvest in the fields is not good, and the food and wages are probably insufficient. In order to maintain a long war, taxes cannot be increased."

"Reporting to the Emperor, how much the Demon Cult has been raging recently, the situation is much more serious than before..."

"Reporting to the emperor, King Ren should be ordered to investigate and arrest the Demon Sect, but so far, the results have been minimal. I think it should be investigated by the Ministry of Punishment."

"Lord Li may have misunderstood, King Ren..."

Chen Mao didn't say a word, but the courtiers under him were arguing with each other, which gave him a headache.The complicated government affairs entangled him, and he couldn't sleep well for several days, his face became darker and darker.

"Cao Aiqing, tell me." The Zhen Guo General Cao Gangbing also remained silent, so Chen Mao asked by name.

Cao Gangbing had been prepared for a long time, looked at each other with General Yuanwei Cao Liji, stood out of the queue and said: "Now that the fire is just starting, the situation is uncertain. On the surface, it looks like we lost a city first, but in fact we are advancing by retreating." A good move."

When Cao Gangbing said this, someone wanted to refute, but Cao Gangbing glared at him and held back. Cao Gangbing then continued: "Although the enemy is constantly increasing reinforcements, and our side is short of food and wages, those places outside the Great Wall that don't shit , where can they get more food and pay?"

"Cao Aiqing means that the war will end soon?"

"What the last general means is that this battle might as well be fought, and it will always frustrate their spirit. The frontier has long been undisturbed. The left and right are not the wars we provoked. In theory, we have nothing to stand on. , as for the negotiation..."

Cao Gangbing glared at the man just now again, "Hmph! I beg to differ."

The speech officer He Li, who was stared at, dared not speak out, and subconsciously raised her head to look at Yan Keqing, but found that Yan Keqing's eyes did not know where they fell, as if she was wandering.

Chen Mao also found out, but recently his behavior of deliberately ignoring Yan Keqing has become more and more obvious. In addition, the previous rectification has not ended, and people have been sacked one after another, and the relationship in the court has become delicate for a while.

But the differences between the parties gradually became apparent, such as the peace faction headed by Yan Keqing, and the war faction headed by Yang Zhuowen.

Chen Mao only felt exhausted, went down to court, and returned to the Hall of Supreme Harmony, but he didn't see Zhou Zhou.

"Where is the national teacher?"

"Let's go to Tianqi Building." It was Xiaotong who answered him.Although the national teacher has a specific residence in Qingxin Pavilion, because Zhou Zhou spends most of his time in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, after leaving Tianqi Tower, Xiaotong also lives in the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

"What are you going to do?" Doesn't it mean that the Tianji Stone is useless?Chen Mao was puzzled, and sat opposite the boy.

The little boy was kneeling on the couch at this moment, touching the words on the book, and remembering them carefully one by one.

The child was illiterate, and when Chen Mao found out, he arranged for the child's homework, and even ordered someone to hire a teacher for the child. At this moment, he was in court, and the child also had morning classes.

Chen Mao looked at the book, because of the child's eyes, the book has been specially treated for the blind to read.In Chen Mao's view, it was a scripture without words.

It's amazing to say that Xiao Tong can always relax Chen Mao's irritable mood and return to calm.Just looking at Xiaotong's clear eyes, Chen Mao couldn't help but feel a little regretful.

When his eyes fell on the little boy's hand, Chen Mao thought of the cold touch of the fingertips, cool and smooth - like jade.

This idea has been lingering since it came out of Chen Mao's mind, making Chen Mao feel a little cautious when dealing with the little boy.

"What's this word?" The boy asked suddenly.

"Huh?" Chen Mao stretched out his hand, and the little boy gestured in his palm.

"This is 'love'. "

"what is love?"

"It's a kind of emotion." Chen Mao was a little embarrassed and wanted to hide in government affairs, "Two people, treat each other well."

Chen Mao said it simply, but Xiao Tong waited for a while but didn't continue, shook his head and said: "I don't understand..."

"You'll understand when you grow up."

The little boy was taken aback, "Master Guoshi said I won't grow up."

Chen Mao was stunned for a moment, and secretly scolded Zhou Zhou, "Everyone grows up."

"Oh." The little boy responded, and re-wrote the word "love" stroke by stroke in the air, showing a pure smile: "This word is warm."

Chen Mao followed with a slight smile and patted the boy's head.

Eunuch Kang walked into the hall at this moment, seeing the two of them getting along warmly like father and son, his heart trembled, he hurriedly lowered his head and said respectfully: "My Majesty, King Ning is begging to see you."

"Xuan." Chen Mao said indifferently, got up and went to the side hall.

At this time, Zhou Zhou was not in Tianqi Tower, but in Qingxin Pavilion to meet guests.

Qingxin Pavilion is located in the corner of the imperial palace, just like Tianqi Tower, ordinary people are not allowed to get close to it, usually Qingxin Pavilion is not even seen by the national teacher, but today there are guests, which is surprising.

The guest of the national teacher is none other than Yan Keqing, the prime minister of the dynasty, Mr. Yan.

"Long time no see." Yan Keqing said.

"Oh?" Zhou Zhou frowned under the mask, "Why did Master Yan say that?" He had only met Yan Keqing a few times, but Yan Keqing spoke as if he had known him for a long time.

"Oh, Zhou Zhou, is that you?"

Yan Keqing bluntly mentioned Zhou Zhou's real name, which surprised Zhou Zhou, and then thought of the eunuch Ren who had disappeared for a long time, so he wanted to see what kind of tricks Yan Keqing was trying to play.

Zhou Zhou didn't speak, Yan Keqing smiled slightly, and lifted up the sleeve of his left hand until a section of his arm was exposed, allowing Zhou Zhou to see a black pattern on his elbow.

Zhou Zhou was obviously taken aback, "You are..."

Yan Keqing seemed to be very satisfied with Zhou Zhou's reaction, and put down his sleeves leisurely, "Didn't expect that? But I was also taken aback. It turns out that besides me, someone else traveled through time and space."

Zhou Zhou didn't respond, and still couldn't believe the identity of the person in front of him.

The Zhou family has an ancient origin. Hundreds of years ago, the Tianji Stone predicted a disaster, forcing their family to migrate to the south, and Zhou Zhou was the sorcerer at that time.

In the Tianji Stone, he saw the catastrophe of heaven and earth, and also saw the source of all this.

In the far southern border, in the depths of the dark forest, a young man used an evil secret technique, which caused the world to be in turmoil.

At that time, Zhou Zhou's ability was limited and he couldn't stay in the Tianji Stone for too long, but he could clearly see that the boy's elbow had the same mark as Yan Keqing.

Zhou Zhou is confident that he is not mistaken, even after so many years, he still remembers these vague "premonitions", because when his consciousness was about to slip out of the Tianji Stone, the boy raised his head and looked at him.

Since he saw the picture in the stone, how could he look at each other?

But Yan Keqing said to him: Long time no see.

Zhou Zhou immediately noticed what Yan Keqing said just now: "It turns out that besides me, there are people who travel through time and space." Does this mean that Yan Keqing, like him, also came from hundreds of years ago?Could it be that……

"Back then, I could only perceive that someone used an evil secret technique, and that person was you, right? And that secret technique was to travel through time and space."

"Exactly." Yan Keqing admitted without hesitation, "I was setting up the formation at that time, and suddenly felt someone looking at me. When I looked up, I saw you, but then you disappeared, which scared me One jump." Yan Keqing said this and smiled, as if old friends were meeting and gossiping.

"That's an art against the sky!" Zhou Zhou unconsciously emphasized his tone, "Do you know how many people died because of you? It was a huge catastrophe..."

"I don't know, and I'm not interested." Yan Keqing interrupted him, "I only know that I failed."

"What do you mean?"

"This is not where I want to be."

So you've been here for ten years?Zhou Zhou was about to refute, but suddenly stopped, he understood.

That secret technique is not easy to activate. Yan Keqing came to the capital hundreds of years ago ten years ago, but he failed to achieve his goal.

However, he was unable to shuttle back and forth again, so he stayed in the capital all the time. Later, he probably knew that the previous dynasty Zhou was the Zhou family, so he wanted to find the so-called secret treasure of the Zhou family, and wanted to use the secret stone to travel through time and space again.

"Since you also came here through time and space, it means that I found the right one."

"Do you think I will easily give you the Tianji Stone?"

"I went to that building to see, it's just a big rock." Yan Keqing shrugged, and said the scene of Eunuch Ren's bloody skin being "eaten" by the stone, "It should be because I don't know how to drive it, if it should be driven It is "the boulder hangs in the air, and the white light flashes". "

"Why should I help you?" The truth about Eunuch Ren's loss of skin and blood surprised Zhou Zhou, but Zhou Zhou deliberately concealed the truth that the Tianji Stone was useless, but Yan Keqing suppressed him everywhere during the conversation, which made Zhou Zhou furious.

Yan Keqing smiled again, showing a winning expression.

Zhou Zhou's tone sank, and his murderous look only increased: "What did you do?"

Yan Keqing was indifferent, watching Zhou Zhou's worry even though his mask couldn't cover it, he was very happy, and said leisurely: "Go back and have a look. See you in Tianqi Tower in three days."