Chapter 41 Hooking Up

Perhaps it was because of a long talk with the prince that shattered some fantasy and he had an epiphany, and his level improved by leaps and bounds; Hai Gangfeng quickly reviewed the long-accumulated "broken morning reports" and put forward many feasible suggestions. Mu Qi carefully considered the suggestions and wrote down their proposals one by one on the memorial - oh, no, only the suggestions written by cabinet ministers for the emperor to consider can be called "piaoni". His suggestions were at best suggestions to cabinet ministers, which could only be called piaoni of piaoni, or piaoceifang for short.

Early the next morning, Mu Qi entered the palace with this pile of tickets and continued to experience his torturous life as a social animal - first he lit incense sticks to dispel the smell of steamed buns and meat patties in the room, then he and Master Gao sorted out the messy documents and waste papers on the floor and cleaned the room; he also had to check some sensitive information that was accidentally dropped for several important officials on duty (such as the special collector's edition of "The Western Garden is Locked Up with the Elders in Spring"), and worked hard to tidy up the duty room.

So, although there are rumors outside that the prince is domineering, in reality, he is still very well-behaved and dutiful. He honestly performs his duties as a social animal and is not sloppy or rough. He does not even follow the example of the ancient sages who slack off at public expense or read storybooks after eating snacks. With such diligence, who can not say that loyalty is beyond words?

You can't trust everything people say, that's generally the case.

At five quarters past the morning, Zhao Juqing, the Shangshu on duty, clocked in on time. Mu Qi stepped forward, bowed, and handed the memorial over respectfully. However, Minister Zhao only glanced over them briefly before marking them as "approved" and sending them back as they were. His quick and fluent movements actually shocked Mu Qi - to be honest, Minister Zhao was as smooth and cunning as Liulidan, and the Ministry of Justice, which he was in charge of, had never made the kind of big mistakes that happened in the Hanlin Academy; apart from some embarrassing past events in his early years, there were basically no loopholes to exploit. After all, the method of tearing each other apart and confronting each other head-on cannot last long. He was even forced to engage in an exchange of interests that he was not good at, but he did not expect that Minister Zhao would let go of the past and directly give the matter to him?

Is the Grand Secretary so reasonable?

...Obviously, as an important official of the current dynasty who is good at fawning on his superiors and whose moral level is similar to that of Master Feixuan, the word "reasonable" cannot exist in Zhao Juqing's dictionary. The reason why he made this rare concession was because he carefully checked the "literary gathering" mentioned by the prince after he came off duty yesterday, and then found a familiar and terrifying name on the list of the gathering.

——When Yu Zuoshunmen was crying and making remonstrations, this colleague should have been kneeling behind him and wailing, but he was a step slower and was caught up by the Jinyiwei, and then thrown into the prince's mansion by Master Feixuan to waste his time. After decades of separation, the two people's situations are now very different.

If the prince makes too much trouble at the literary gathering, there will be a sudden wave of controversy in the future, and maybe they can follow this clue to uncover Minister Zhao's hidden secrets for many years. For Minister Zhao, who is an expert at making smooth, non-stick pans, this is a risk he cannot tolerate. In order to avoid this terrible risk, what does it matter if we give in on small things?

Being an official means one must swallow one's pride and accept insults. On this point, Minister Zhao has always been good at self-regulation.

Therefore, after reviewing all the memorials, Zhao Juqing made his own small request:

"The state affairs are heavy and the world is full of troubles. It is time for the cabinet to take responsibility. It will be hard for the prince to work in the cabinet. Ordinary small meetings can be postponed if possible."

·

Perhaps it was because he had honed his willpower over the past few days that Gao Suqing remained quite calm even though he had witnessed with his own eyes the textbook-like private transfer of power and the corrupt officials' words and deeds. When the cabinet's business was over, he followed the prince of Duke Mu out of the duty room quite naturally, and at the same time greeted him quite naturally:

"There are many things to do today, and the prince has been very hard-working. These trivial matters are the most exhausting, and we need to work hard from time to time... My wife made some sour plum meatballs to relieve fatigue and stimulate the body's saliva. I wonder if the prince would be so kind as to try them?"

Hearing this, the Prince of Mu, who was sitting in the corridor to rest, was stunned for a moment, and looked at Gao Suqing in astonishment:

I never expected, I never expected, I never expected that you, Gao Suqing, a gentleman with thick eyebrows and big eyes, would actually learn the tricks of currying favor in official circles!

It is inevitable for officials to form cliques, but collusion and winning over political allies also require skills. It is impossible to just rush into the government's house and express admiration. With the current popular trend in officialdom, when both parties are testing the intention of cooperation, actively giving food is the best and most tactful hint. Those who eat other people's food will miss other people's food. As long as the prince eats these secret sour plum balls readily, it will be like Miss Duo drinking half a cup of Jia Lian's remaining wine. The two sides will inevitably have an affair.

No matter how noble and prominent the Mu Duke's Mansion is, they still understand the unspoken rules of the officialdom. Precisely because he understood the rules so well, Mu Qi was stunned for a moment before he suddenly felt an uncontrollable ecstasy:

——After spending a few years in the imperial court, I have finally made it to a position where talented people are willing to come to me! Mom, I am so successful!

The prince, who had a bright future, was extremely excited and felt a sense of euphoria. To be honest, with the influence of Duke Mu's Mansion, there are countless minor officials who want to curry favor with him. However, most SR-level talents like Gao Suqing, who are talented and have a promising future, still keep their distance and are unwilling to have too much contact with the unreasonable nobles. To have such a person express his kindness personally, the joy I felt while collecting the illustrated books was beyond words.

Of course, you have to have the intention to hook up, and your behavior has to be decent. So the prince suppressed his excitement, sat down quietly, and thanked Master Gao with a smile. Mr. Gao took out a wooden box from his arms. The box was lined with Hangzhou silk, and on the silk were five extremely delicate sour plum balls. However, this meatball is shining and golden all over, and it is actually wrapped in a thick layer of gold foil.

Although Gao Suqing had a successful career, noble status, and made rapid progress, his moral integrity was always reliable; even when he was promoted to the first rank in the cabinet in the future, he was always consistent and lived an honest life with his wife. Where did such an honest and self-respecting person get the Hangzhou silk and gold foil?

It is obvious that the plan to seduce the prince of Duke Mu was not the work of Master Gao alone, but was most likely the result of the common will of the Qingliu. This is certainly not surprising. After Lord Xu was placed under house arrest, the Qingliu suffered a great blow and of course had to try to find new helpers. Seeing that the Prince of Duke Mu actually had the ability to influence the central government by swaying votes, they naturally had to take action and test the waters, and lay an ambush in the Duke's Mansion first.

The wind from the Western Garden blows the clouds in the cabinet, and the clouds in the cabinet bring rain to the court. As soon as there is a slight change in the cabinet, the officials below will follow suit, fearing that they will be left behind.

It would be fine if it was just Mr. Gao alone, but if it was a collaboration with the entire Qingliu faction, then one really had to think twice, so as not to be tricked by these old men. Mu Qi did not take these glittering and luxurious meatballs, but smiled slightly:

"What a delicious meal! I don't want to receive anything without merit. What can I do for you, sir?"

Mr. Gao is very humble:

"How dare I pretend to be a prince? I only have some crude skills at home. However, I do have something to ask you, prince. Lord Xu has been in the palace for more than ten days. Although state affairs cannot be interfered with, my family is always worried about him. I want to ask if he is warm or cold, and also send two sets of clothes. The news of the Duke's Mansion is of course much more informed than those of us in the outer court, so I want to trouble you to ask for me."

——No wonder it is such a grand undertaking with gold foil and Hangzhou silk. The Xu family has hundreds of thousands of acres of irrigated fields, so they have plenty of oil and water!

According to official practice, one golden pill is equivalent to an ingot of pure gold. If Prince Mu has an appetite and eats all five pills, then five hundred taels of real gold will be brought into the palace tonight. Five hundred taels of gold just for a piece of information, this deal is really sincere.

Does the prince have this appetite? Considering the almost constant expenses in the Alchemy Mansion, Mu Qi really has a huge appetite for this. But this money is not collected for free. If the Xu family is willing to pay this price, they will definitely ask for a return that matches this price. It's not that he can't afford the reward, but why should he give it to that old Deng Xu Shaohu for free?

Gao Suqing and Zhang Taiyue are fine, but you don’t really think that Lord Xu has the moral appeal to move the prince, right?

No, you have to increase the price!

So the prince's eyes wandered, and after thinking for a moment, he suppressed his surging emotions and spoke calmly:

"Your Majesty is as kind as the heaven, and of course he will not embarrass the two ministers. There is nothing wrong with asking. But when it comes to things like passing on messages, the most important thing is the word 'trust'. Words are not enough, and a dead object cannot be used to make any sense. It is better to have a more reliable guarantee."

Master Gao easily understood the prince's intention to cover up his mistake, and then he decisively said:

"I wonder what kind of guarantee you want, Your Highness? As long as the amount is about the same, I can agree to it."

Anyway, he was not the one who paid the money. What did the Duke Mu's Mansion have to do with Mr. Xu's gold coins, an incorruptible scholar like him?

"The Duke Mu's Mansion is deeply favored by the Emperor, so why would they care about those few yellow and white things?" The prince forced his eyes away from the box of yellow and white things. "You may not know that last night, the young minister Yan Donglou sent someone to my mansion to hand over the profits of this tribute trade. At that time, I advised him that every penny from the trade is a favor from heaven and should be handed over to the court. We are able to have a salary, which is already due to the grace of the emperor..."

After Mu Qi entered the cabinet, he vigorously promoted the strategy he had previously drawn up with the young cabinet ministers, and the situation of the Yan party also eased. Yan Donglou was a straightforward person. That night he sent someone to deliver a silver note of 18,000 taels as a thank-you gift. Of course, the young cabinet minister was not stupid enough to give the money away without any respect. The 18,000 taels were nominally the legitimate profits from the tribute trade; they were the agreed share paid by the wealthy merchants who had contracted the reception of the envoys. According to the original rules, the Crown Prince and the Junior Minister would split the money 50-50, with each receiving 9,000 yuan; but now, in order to express gratitude to the Crown Prince for his help, they took the initiative to ask the Duke's Mansion to cover the entire 18,000 yuan.

Eighteen thousand taels could certainly solve the urgent problem of alchemy; but after thinking for a long time, Mu Qi sent someone to bring the silver notes back without missing a cent, and specifically asked the young elder to make other distributions - ten thousand taels of them would be presented to the small treasury of Master Fei Xuan in the name of tribute, and the other eight thousand taels would be deposited in the Taicang of the Ministry of Revenue, just to make up for the shortfall in this year's salary. With these eight thousand taels as a foundation, low-level civil servants no longer have to collect wages in paper money that is too hard to even wipe one's butt with, and can receive a salary that is actually worth the pound. The money is not much, but it is a bonus. The people below can immediately taste the benefits of foreign trade, so they will not oppose the policy in the future.

Respect the emperor and father, and care for all officials; although the prince has only been in the cabinet for a short time, he has already worked painstakingly and taken on the important task of harmonizing yin and yang.

Unfortunately, now that Yan Dang has breathed a sigh of relief, Qingliu will become nervous. In Master Gao's opinion, the other party's talking about his dealings with Yan Donglou in front of him, a pillar of the Qingliu, was undoubtedly a fence-sitter and a price-raiser. His mind raced, and he quickly raised the bottom line of the cooperation price. When he was carefully evaluating the bottom price, he heard the prince speak slowly again:

"So, I never like money. I'm really not interested in money." Mu Qi said righteously, hiding his vague heartache: "What I care about is always getting things done, not making money. But if you want to get things done for the emperor and the court, what's the first priority? You still need people."

people?

Gao Xueshi was a little confused: "I am stupid, please explain clearly, Your Highness."

Mu Qi coughed and tried hard to think of the right words to express his desire for "people". To be honest, he wanted to explain the conditions directly, but he was afraid that it would be too straightforward and frighten the unfamiliar scholar. However, beating around the bush and using the words of a civil servant, quoting from classics, would be too much of a test of his knowledge, so after racking his brains, he could only admit his weakness:

"I don't deserve it. It's just that I am not well educated, and I may make inappropriate references and fail to express my meaning..."

"Your Highness is too modest."

"Then I'll be frank." The prince said frankly: "If we want to trust each other, we still need reliable people to communicate in the middle, so as to reduce the cost of doing things. It just so happens that the cabinet has a lot of things to do recently, and I just happen to be in need of a helper."

Master Gao thought for a moment, "What did the prince say?"

"What I mean is that the Xu family can pick a trustworthy person to help me handle government affairs. In this way, mutual communication and trust will be easily achieved, right?" The prince enthusiastically explained his proposal to him, and quite implicitly threw out a few anecdotes he had just thought of, highlighting the unfinished meaning of the topic: "It's just like - just like the marriage of peace in the Han Dynasty and the marriage of Qin and Jin in the Spring and Autumn Period. Sending one's own people to communicate closely with the collaborator is the safest method..."

Mr. Gao:? ? ! !

He took back what he had just said. The prince is indeed not modest at all about his cultural level. Things like "marriage of peace" and "alliance of marriage" are all bullshit metaphors!

If you don't know how to use allusions, don't use them. If you're not good at it, just read more. Every word she says is scary. Even your blood pressure will rise a few inches after listening to her a few times. She uses two sets of silky little combos from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Western Han Dynasty. If you don't know, you would think that the Duke's Mansion is coveting Lord Xu's handsome son who is in his twenties!

If you know you are shallow, don't show off, especially in the cabinet. The cabinet has so many eyes and ears. If the prince's outrageous remarks were to be spread, it would be a disgrace to everyone from top to bottom. It would definitely be recorded in unofficial history and become an immortal anecdote!

In the past, Yan Fenyi and Li Jurong were good at writing Qingci, and people at that time called them the Qingci Cabinet; now that the prince has made violent remarks, how should future generations call them? Is it a marriage cabinet, a marriage cabinet, or a one-step, direct hook-up cabinet?

Mr. Gao was speechless and had no expression on his face. He tried his best not to roll his eyes. He was too lazy to think of any euphemistic and subtle words, so he just spoke directly:

"Who does the prince like?"

Tell me, which one of the Qingliu people do you want to marry?

——Of course, just sending money is fine, but if it really involves sending people to assist, Qingliu will have to think carefully. Taking the prince's so-called "marriage of peace" as an example, the Duke Mu's Mansion is certainly powerful, but when the cooperation is not yet in-depth, it will not be able to find a good candidate even if it seeks a marriage of peace. Officials with promising futures from the legitimate lineage, such as Mr. Gao, were legitimate princesses of noble birth who were worth a lot of money and could never be married to; minor officials of the fifth or sixth rank from side branches were at least daughters of princes with special status and could not be promised to anyone easily. I guess they just collected a few inconspicuous censors and their retainers, packaged them up and sent them off. When the Han emperor married palace maids to the northern desert, the situation was roughly the same.

But the prince just smiled shyly, trying his best to hide his expectations and hopes:

"I heard that Lord Xu has a very promising candidate, his name seems to be Zhang or something..."

Master Gao thought hard and finally remembered the scholar named Zhang Taiyue. This man was young and talented, and was indeed highly praised by Xu Shaohu, who also took him to participate in many literary gatherings of the elite. It seemed that he was very eager to make a name for him, and his intention to cultivate him was evident at a glance.

Of course, no matter how promising his cultivation is, Zhang Taiyue is now just an unknown juren who has not even passed the imperial examination; no matter how talented and gifted he is, he may not be able to demonstrate anything in the ever-changing officialdom. There is a huge difference between fame and status in the officialdom. A small character like this with no background can't even be considered a bastard among the clean officials. At best, he is just a chess piece with some potential. Since Master Gao is the head of the direct lineage, he can of course make the decision on behalf of Lord Xu and sell the items at will.

Therefore, Gao Suqing just flicked his sleeves and agreed without any concern:

"Then according to what you said, the Xu family can send the person here tomorrow morning. This is just a small matter, so what else do you want to ask?"

·

Li Zaifang was terrified and crawled on the ground, not daring to look directly at the unfathomable expression on his master's face.

After meditating in the quiet room of Qingliang Palace today, the emperor suddenly summoned the chief steward, and immediately put on his old face as if he had been deceived by the heavens. According to Li Zaifang's past experience, this was most likely because the emperor was dissatisfied and eager to vent, but was unable to speak out due to his personality, so he made such a donkey face to intimidate his servants. As the emperor's most intimate servant, he had to guess, had to think, had to figure out the dissatisfaction, resolve the dissatisfaction, and take the blame himself, so that he could hold power and continue to live a stable life.

...But the problem is, no matter how sharp your mind is or how well you understand the emperor's intentions, it is impossible to guess the emperor's intentions from his donkey face!

Your Majesty, you have to at least tell me a few riddles so that I can have some ideas!

After a moment of silence, perhaps feeling that the pressure was enough, Master Fei Xuan spoke in a sarcastic tone:

"Spring is here, and the Yang energy is rising. The flowers, plants, and trees in the palace are blooming and sprouting. The growth of plants and trees is God's will, and I have nothing to say. But now the weeds are so dense that they have even grown in the four corners of the palace! As the general manager, why don't you clean it up?"

Li Zaifang's heart skipped a beat and his brain started working rapidly - to the east of the palace was a large pond for drawing water, and to the south was a small door for palace servants to enter and exit, which would definitely not attract attention; only to the north was there a duty room for the cabinet - so the calculation showed that the emperor was going to take action against the cabinet!

How to start and what to do? Li Zaifang kowtowed immediately:

"I will send people to the north to weed! Your Majesty, please tell me what I should weed."

What to clean? This was the simplest and most common question, but when the emperor heard it, his expression suddenly became more pale!

His expression changed several times, and the muscles in his cheeks twitched from time to time. He gritted his teeth for a while, and finally said coldly:

"You are smart and know how to ask more questions! Then I will tell you clearly, pick a few illiterate and ignorant people to go, pick a few deaf and dumb people who won't ask more questions! If you leak it, I will expose your skin!"

Li Zaifang kowtowed to the ground, stunned for a moment:

……ah?