"Not much, maybe three to five hundred..."

"How about this," Zhao Jiu said slowly. "Since the two saints have been hunted in the north, and they are innocent, and many of the ministers and officers who escaped from Dongjing City, Hebei, and Hedong have their families separated, we can give them palace maids...find the older, more virtuous ones...it can be considered the best of both worlds."

This time, Kang Lu still bowed his head and remained silent.

"What do you mean?" Zhao Ji was too lazy to play dumb with this person. "If there's anything I don't know, just tell me directly."

"Among them, there are about 100 to 200 people. They are the 'laundresses' that the emperor sent people to Tokyo and Nanjing to look for after he ascended the throne..."

"I... Zhao Jiu... am I such a scumbag?" When the other party was halfway through saying this, Zhao Jiu suddenly realized what was going on and exclaimed in surprise.

After ascending the throne, which was a few months ago, the Jingkang Shame had just ended. Where did Zhao Laojiu get his sexual interest from? !

"That's all because Chen Dong and his people are slandering His Majesty!" Although Kang Lu didn't know what scum meant, he seemed to have figured out some of the emperor's ways and immediately explained. "How can the emperor ascend the throne without palace maids? Apart from anything else, who will serve Madam Pan and the heir?"

"Did Chen Dong die because of saying this?" Zhao Jiu suddenly realized what was going on under the lamp, but then he was speechless. "Forget it... leave twenty people to take care of Madam Pan and the heir, and keep some older and homeless people to do laundry in the palace, and pick out the rest of the young and good-looking ones and give them to the young officers who have left their families... but they can only stay here and cannot go out with the army, let alone follow them in the army."

"The emperor is wise!" Kang Lu nodded repeatedly, finally he had learned his lesson.

However, after agreeing to these, seeing that Emperor Zhao was about to continue reading the memorials, this senior official Kang slightly adjusted his mindset and finally returned to the main topic he originally wanted to talk about:

"Come to think of it, the emperor may not remember that the one who wanted to kill Zhang Bangchang the most that day was none other than Li Xianggong!"

"What do you mean?" Zhao Jiu put down the memorial from Lu Haowen, a scholar of the Zi Zheng Hall, and opened a memorial from some censor. As soon as he saw it, he couldn't help but frowned slightly.

"There are some rumors... One is that Li Xianggong hates evil and is extremely angry at those who cannot keep their chastity, and he must kill them as soon as possible!"

"What about the second one?"

"Secondly, some people said that Li Xianggong had a personal grudge against Zhang Bangchang. At that time, the court was newly established, and they wanted to kill him to establish their authority and stabilize the situation."

"Three?"

"have……"

"Tell me."

"Third, it is said that although Li Xianggong helped Your Majesty rebuild the court, his contribution was great, but it cannot be said that this person disrespects Your Majesty and intends to use this to seize power and control the court."

The lights flickered, and Kang Lu, standing between the lights and shadows, spoke slowly. "So, he had two major proposals in the court that day. One was to go to Nanyang. On the surface, it was naturally said that Nanyang could connect with Guanzhong to calm the hearts of the people in the northwest. In fact, no one could say whether it was to suppress the original intention of your Majesty's confidants in the former Grand Marshal's Office. Because Huang Xianggong and his men had agreed to go to Yangzhou long before Li Xianggong came. Even Liang Shizhi had gone to the southeast to raise funds early... Your Majesty, it's not that we old people in the Marshal's Office don't want to fight against the Jin, but there is really no strategic location in the Central Plains, and we have already made preparations in Yangzhou, so it's not easy to go back. Even the emperor himself had this idea that day, so he dismissed Li Xianggong."

"So that's how it is... then what? Where is Zhang Bangchang?" Zhao Jiu continued to read the memorial in his hand without raising his head.

"Zhang Bangchang... Actually, according to the previous Nanyang-Yangzhou discussion, this Prime Minister Li insisted on killing Zhang Bangchang. Some people also said that he was secretly trying to get rid of the old officials in Tokyo. This way, he could take advantage of his position as the sole prime minister to fill the court with his own people and gain control of the government."

Zhao Jiu looked at the note in his hand and suddenly laughed.

"Your Majesty, don't believe it?" Kang Lu was not anxious but happy when he saw this. "In that case, why not summon a few of the old officials in Tokyo to ask? Doesn't the Majesty want to meet the officials in the imperial court to inquire about the defense of the Central Plains?"

"Who are these old officials from Tokyo?" Zhao Jiu turned his head and asked with a smile.

"Lü Haowen, a scholar in the Advisory Palace, is a famous Taoist scholar. He originally resigned from the position of Shangshu Youcheng long ago and went to Xuanzhou, but the road was not safe and he was worried about your Majesty's health, so he didn't have time to leave; Zhang Jun, the Imperial Censor in the Palace, is always upright... These two are recognized as moral figures, and they both escaped from Tokyo. Why don't you meet them?" Kang Lu quickly pointed at the memorial in Emperor Zhao's hand and said with a smile. "Besides, aren't these two people's memorials the two that the Emperor has read the longest tonight?"

"Since it was recommended by Senior Official Kang, let's meet these two people tomorrow!" Zhao Jiu touched the memorial of Zhang Jun, the Imperial Censor in the Palace, in his hand, and laughed even more, as if he was still confident.

PS: I would like to thank my book friends Huang Laojiu and Shangmeng who despises himself for being poor and ugly, and I would also like to thank many other friends who gave me rewards and recommendation votes... Thank you all for coming back.