Chapter 596: You want to use them as money bags? Dream on!
Xiao Yan hugged Tang Ning, and seeing her blushing cheeks and shy look, he didn't make fun of her, but just held her and talked as if chatting.
"I went to the Fu family today and encountered something interesting. Do you still remember Fu Jinrou, who was staying at the Fu family?"
Tang Ning looked up in surprise. Of course she remembered. After all, Fu Jinrou had secretly ridiculed her in front of many people. She was also a little confused about that person.
Xiao Yan seemed to know what she wanted to ask: "When Cao Gong and I went to the Fu family today, we met her. She was secretly slandering Madam Fu and a cousin of the Fu family in front of Fu Laiqing..."
He roughly recounted Fu Jinrou's story, then suppressed a laugh: "It's a pity that Fu Laiqing is such a fool. Not only did he not understand a word, he also kept thinking about getting a doctor for her."
Tang Ning burst out laughing, overjoyed: "What happened next?"
"Later, when I left the Fu family, she stopped me."
Xiao Yan told him everything that Fu Jinrou did after she stopped him, as well as the Queen Mother's intention to invite Miss Xu into the palace. After he finished, he said:
"That girl is very ambitious. Didn't you want someone to investigate the Chai family before? Now there's no need for you to intervene. I'm afraid the Fu family will investigate on their own."
Tang Ning listened to Fu Jinrou's pretentious attempt to seduce Xiao Yan and immediately showed disgust on his face: "Brother, do you think she will try to steal Miss Xu's entry into the palace?"
Xiao Yan said, "Eighty to ninety percent."
Tang Ning said, "Although this helped Madam Xu out of her predicament, Fu Jinrou's personality doesn't allow her to enter the palace. If she were to get involved with Emperor An, I'm afraid she wouldn't be able to live in peace."
"Don't worry, she can't enter the palace."
Xiao Yan looked determined.
It would be fine if Fu Jinrou just kept to herself, but if she really dared to interfere in the affairs of Miss Xu and revealed her ambition, Cao Dejiang would definitely not let this disaster enter the harem.
…
Neither of them cared much about Fu Jinrou's affairs, but they also knew that with Cao Dejiang's ability, he could detect Fu Jinrou's thoughts and would not let it go.
Tang Ning nestled in Xiao Yan's arms and talked about other things: "After my brother left the house, Feng Qiuli sent someone to deliver a message. Since you were not in the house, I sent someone in first."
Xiao Yan held her in his arms and asked casually, "What did you say?"
Tang Ning said, "It's Liang Guangyi. After you left the palace yesterday, Liang Guangyi was called back to the palace by Emperor An. After he returned from the palace, he went to find Feng Qiuli."
"Feng Qiuli said that Emperor An seemed to have noticed the affairs between us and the aristocratic families and wanted to instigate Liang Guangyi to tamper with the army heading south. He also said that he and General Yin were both veteran officials in the court and would definitely not be on guard against him. He hinted that Liang Guangyi should use some secret aristocratic family medicine to ruin General Yin's health before he and his men led the troops out of the capital."
"Emperor An promised that if the plan succeeded, he would give half of the military power to the noble families, and that the court would remain as before, with Liang Guangyi nominating someone to succeed the Grand Tutor. He also said that if the noble families were willing to help him, after capturing my brother, he would hand you over to Liang Guangyi and his men for disposal."
Xiao Yan sneered, "That seems like something a tyrant emperor would do. How would Liang Guangyi react?"
Tang Ning suppressed a laugh and said, "I heard that he started cursing loudly after returning, and his saliva almost drowned Feng Qiuli."
Feng Qiuli is now Liang Guangyi's most trusted "young man". She is also the one he chose after careful selection since Lu Chongyuan. She can inherit his position and become the "leader" who will protect the family in the future.
When he was away, he could still maintain some dignity as the Grand Tutor. Even if he was angry, he would suppress his emotions without showing them. But after returning and seeing Feng Qiuli, the anger he had suppressed in the palace burst out, and he left no room for mercy when he scolded Emperor An.
Perhaps it was because Xiao Yan had laid too deep a trap in advance, or perhaps it was Wang Huailu's reminder that made Liang Guangyi prejudiced against Emperor An.
All the words of Emperor An fell into Liang Guangyi's ears as empty promises. Unable to keep the Ministry of Revenue from running out of money, he promised to restore the power of the aristocratic families in order to win them over. When the army heading south could not provide military supplies and food, Emperor An used the excuse of promising the aristocratic families military power and took advantage of his hatred for Xiao Yan to let him take action against General Yin.
Once he gets involved, and the people from the aristocratic families become generals, how can they sit idly by and watch the war go to waste?
If there is a shortage of military supplies, they will provide them.
The treasury is empty, they fill it.
After taking action against Xiao Yan, they will be completely tied to Emperor An. No matter what Emperor An does, they will have to rely on these major families to cover him.
Liang Guangyi was so angry about Emperor An's "ill intentions" that he exploded.
He cursed Emperor An for being shameless, actually trying to scheme against the noble families to cheat them out of their money, and scolded him for being shameless for wanting to use the noble families' wealth to fill the hole in the national treasury. He said that Emperor An wanted to use the noble families as a money bag, which was simply a dream...
Tang Ning couldn't help laughing when he thought of the way the man sent by Feng Qiuli spoke:
"I heard that Liang Guangyi rejected Emperor An on the spot, saying that officials from aristocratic families who chose the path of civil service were all weak and incapable of gaining military power, and asked Emperor An to find someone else."
"Liang Guangyi also repeatedly told Feng Qiuli and the others to be careful with Emperor An and not to agree to anything he said."
A laugh escaped Xiao Yan's throat. Just thinking about it, he could imagine Emperor An's face after Liang Guangyi rejected him. He probably still felt that Liang Guangyi was ungrateful, and the things in the Imperial Dragon Platform would probably be smashed by him again.
Thinking about the porcelain fragments and smashed ornaments that were frequently sent out from the Yulong Terrace during this period.
Xiao Yan pondered, maybe he could go back and replace Emperor An's with a wooden one...
"Oh right." After Tang Ning finished smiling at Emperor An, he remembered something else: "Dean Shi said that he contacted someone in Beiling."
Xiao Yan's expression straightened: "Any news?"
Tang Ning shook his head. "No, Dean Shi said that Beiling's spies in the Wei Dynasty are too deeply embedded. Every message sent back from the Wei Dynasty is a single-line communication. Even the spies in the Changfeng Hall of Beiling don't know where the information comes from. They only know that every once in a while, detailed information about the Wei Dynasty court is transmitted back to Beiling."
"Two of his men were killed in the attempt to find out the source of this information, and the rest dared not move."
Xiao Yan frowned slightly. Shi Chang'an had been in Beiling for so many years. He was able to escape under such circumstances back then and even turned Beiling upside down. Naturally, he had means that others did not have.
Xiao Yan had discussed this matter in detail with Shi Changan before, and knew that he had left spies in Changfeng Hall, which was responsible for espionage and assassination in Beiling. In addition, most of the spies sent by Beiling to various countries to gather information were from Changfeng Hall.
Xiao Yan originally wanted to use this to see if he could find the person, but he didn't expect that even the people inside couldn't find out who the spy was in the Wei court.
Tang Ning looked up: "Brother, do you want to continue?"
Xiao Yan shook his head. "No need. The previous rounds of investigations have probably already alerted them. With the recent upheavals in the court, there has been no further news. They've probably all gone dormant."
"I don't know when Beiling will go south. The people from Changfeng Hall have other uses. There's no need to waste them on this."
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