Chapter 223: Are we going to fight a national war?
“Ohhhh~”
When the first ray of sunlight in the early morning pierced through the morning mist of early spring and the distant and familiar sound of roosters crowing rang out, Wei Changtian had already dressed and walked out of the room. He stood at the door and stretched lazily with a sleepy look on his face.
It was a pity that Li Huaizhong’s sudden appearance yesterday interrupted his original “exercise” plan.
Looking at Yuan'er who was watering the flowers in the yard with a small scoop, he was wondering whether to do some "morning exercises". However, before he could make a decision, Xu Qingwan, who was dressed neatly, came out of the house.
"Changtian, what time did you come back last night?"
The red string tied to his hair swayed in the wind. Comrade Xiao Xu walked through the courtyard, taking over Yuan'er's job and fetching a basin of water for washing his face. He whispered to himself, "I fell asleep and didn't hear anything."
“Crash~”
Scooping up a handful of warm water and splashing it on his face, Wei Changtian lowered his head and replied vaguely, "I came back at the end of midnight."
"oh"
Xu Qingwan stood beside him, holding a long handkerchief, nodded and asked, "Are you still going to the state government office today?"
"Yes, I will."
Wei Changtian shook off the water droplets on his hands: "There have been a lot of things going on these days. There will be a war in Jizhou soon, so we should make some arrangements early."
"Don't be too tired."
Seeing Wei Changtian finished washing his face, Xu Qingwan quickly handed him a long handkerchief, with a worried look on her face: "How is the situation in the capital recently? Are your uncle, aunt, and Miss Lu all okay?"
"Nothing is happening for now. After all, we are in the capital. The Liu family doesn't dare to act too recklessly. At most, they will just fight in the court."
Wei Changtian didn't want Xu Qingwan to get involved in these matters, so he answered calmly and suddenly remembered something, and said casually: "By the way, your parents are being guarded by someone at the Xuanjing Division, so you don't have to worry about their safety."
"Yes, they mentioned it in their letter."
Xu Qingwan took the long handkerchief back and washed it carefully in the copper basin. She apologized in a low voice with some guilt, "The Xu family has no power or influence. Not only can we not help you and your uncle, but we also have to trouble you to send someone to look after him."
"We are all family, why are you saying these things?"
Wei Changtian burst out laughing and couldn't help pinching Xu Qingwan's cheek.
Comrade Xiao Xu's face turned red immediately and his head almost lowered into the copper basin.
"We are not a family yet."
"Hahaha, it will be soon."
Wei Changtian proudly let go of his hand and asked casually, "You look so neatly dressed, what's going on? Do you have a mission at the Xuanjing Division today?"
"No, I want to go to Jiuding Mountain to see Miss You."
Xu Qingwan answered truthfully: "I haven't been there for several days. She must be very bored by herself."
“.”
She is not bored now. She is probably planning how to kill me.
Wei Changtian complained in his heart and nodded calmly.
"Well, let Liu Shi go with you. You two can play cards together or something."
"I see."
Xu Qingwan responded, then looked at Wei Changtian hesitantly, her face looking a little embarrassed.
Wei Changtian was puzzled: "What's wrong?"
"Long, long sky."
Comrade Xiao Xu encouraged himself and asked quietly, "Can I ask you something?"
"What's the matter? Just ask."
"Then, then let me ask you, do you like Miss You?"
"Well"
Wei Changtian didn't expect Xu Qingwan to ask this, and was speechless for a moment.
The answer to the question is of course no, but the state I have been showing in the past few days seems to be affirmative.
But I couldn't tell Xu Qingwan that I was approaching Youjia just to use her, right? Only Yang Liushi knew that Youjia was Longque, not even Qin Zhengqiu knew about it.
The reason for doing this is of course to avoid exposing flaws.
Especially for someone as simple-minded as Xu Qingwan, once she learns about this, she will definitely not be able to hide it on her face when facing You Jia in the future.
So. Wei Changtian didn't know how to answer for a moment. Fortunately, Zhang San, who suddenly ran in from the gate, rescued him.
"Miss Xu."
After walking a few steps to the two of them, Zhang San first greeted Xu Qingwan.
Seeing this, the latter knew that something big was happening, so he stopped dwelling on such a trivial matter of love. He nodded to Zhang San and turned away.
After she walked away, Wei Changtian asked, "Why are you so anxious?"
"Young Master."
Zhang San immediately leaned close to Wei Changtian's ear and said in a low voice, "Just received news, the envoy of Dafeng entered the capital yesterday and demanded that Daning return the two states of Yuan and Xi."
"What?!"
Wei Changtian looked up suddenly, greatly surprised by this sudden situation.
Dafeng is adjacent to the western border of Daning, and the two countries have always had a bad relationship. Two hundred years ago, a national war even broke out.
The final result was that Daning won with a slight advantage.
As for Yuanzhou and Xizhou mentioned by Zhang San, these should be regarded as the long-standing "disputed territories" between the two countries.
It is difficult to trace who these two states originally belonged to. Anyway, the two states have changed hands several times in the past thousand years, making the local people numb to the issue of "changing nationality".
After winning the last war, Daning took back these two states. Now, Dafeng must be seeing the chaos in Daning and wants to take this opportunity to take them back.
"Then what?"
After thinking for a while, Wei Changtian frowned and asked, "What did Ning Yongnian say?"
“I don’t know about this yet, but”
Zhang San replied in a low voice: "However, after the Dafeng envoy entered the palace, he never came out again."
Beijing, Sanpinxuan.
Tasting tea, appreciating people, appreciating the world, Sanpinxuan is considered to be a well-known teahouse in the capital. On weekdays, there are many tea drinkers. Whether it is the lobby or the private rooms, they are basically filled with guests who come to taste tea and chat all day long.
And today, Sanpinxuan seems to be several times more lively than usual.
". Yuan and Xizhou have been our territory since ancient times. Dafeng's despicable behavior of taking advantage of others' misfortune and adding insult to injury will surely be ridiculed by the world."
"This newspaper's short review, the author, Mr. Er Ri, believes that although our country, Da Ning, is in a turbulent time, we must never show weakness to foreign enemies."
“.”
The white-haired old man was full of energy, holding a large piece of paper in his hand. There were no words on the back, but one could vaguely see the fine ink marks coming through from the front.
It was the "Beijing News" that Chunshen Bookstore grandly launched two months ago.
As soon as the newspaper came out, it caused quite a stir in the capital. Not only could people learn about current affairs, but it also had a lot of popular sections such as anecdotes and serialized stories. Almost everyone could find content that interested them on it.
However, there were not many people who could read in those days, so most people could only ask literate people to read the newspapers to them, which gave rise to a new profession - "newspaper reader".
This old man is one of them. His daily job is to read newspapers in various teahouses. If someone finds what he hears interesting or useful, they will give him some tips. He makes quite a bit of money on weekdays.
But he is bound to gain nothing today.
"What?! How can this Dafeng be so shameless?!"
"Bah! You are just a defeated general, yet you dare to challenge me, Daning? You really don't know how to write the word death!"
"Fight! If they really dare to attack, I will be the first to go to the border and kill them!"
"Alas, our Daning is in chaos right now. If we really fight with Dafeng, I'm afraid we will be the ones who suffer!"
"Humph, didn't the newspaper say it? They are clearly taking advantage of others' misfortune!"
"I hope the emperor can put down the Xu family's rebellion as soon as possible!"
"As for the Liu and Wei families, they must not continue fighting at this time!"
"What's the point of you talking here? If you have the guts, go shout at the gates of Liu's and Wei's mansions!"
"Every man has a share of responsibility for the fate of his country! Why can't I say anything?!"
“.”
Before the old man finished reading the newspaper, the hall was in chaos.
The shouts, based on anger and mixed with many other emotions such as worry, passion, fear, etc., became louder and louder, and soon completely drowned out the sound of the old man reading the newspaper.
This situation is normal.
After all, although the war has not really started yet, the explosiveness of this news is no less than the Xu family's rebellion a few days ago.
“.”
Hearing the deafening noise, the old man reading the newspaper felt that no one would listen even if he continued reading, so he closed the newspaper in his hand, shook his sleeves and prepared to rush to the next place.
Just as he stepped out of Sanpinxuan, Li Kan was sitting opposite a man in the Dali Temple a few streets away.
The latter was wearing the official robe of the Ministry of Justice and had a calm and composed expression.
Li Kan looked at the two letters in his hands with a complicated expression. After a long while, he put the letters down, stood up, closed the wooden window in the room, then turned back to look at the man and asked softly:
"What does Master Wei want me to do?"
Ever since he won over Li Kan and promoted him to the high position of Dali Temple Minister, Wei Changtian had always asked him to remain neutral between the Liu and Wei families and never took the initiative to ask him to do anything.
Including the intelligence that was usually transmitted from the Dali Temple to Shuzhou, they were all Li Kan's spontaneous actions.
For Li Kan, this situation is certainly good.
Especially in the current situation of chaos across the country, the few "neutralists" in the court are very popular.
But he also knew in his heart that such beautiful days could not last forever.
It takes a thousand days to raise an army and only a moment to deploy it. Sooner or later, Wei Changtian will need me one day.
Li Kan just didn't expect it to happen this way today.
"Master Li, Master Wei would like you to take this pill."
The man sitting opposite smiled, took out a small wooden box from his arms, and opened it to reveal a black pill the size of a fingertip.
Li Kan frowned and asked subconsciously: "What is this?"
"Master Li, there is no need to ask any more questions. Anyway, it is not poison."
The man pushed the wooden box forward, his calm eyes seeming to contain some threat.
“.”
Li Kan had already confirmed the identity of the person who had come here, so he did not doubt that this was Wei Changtian's intention.
However, anyone would be worried if they were suddenly forced to take a pill of unknown effect.
"Mr. Li"
As if he noticed Li Kan's hesitation, the man suddenly asked, "Don't you believe in Master Wei?"
"Of course not."
Li Kan shook his head gently: "But you should first tell me what the effect of this medicine is, right?"
"I have already said that this pill is not poisonous. It will not only do no harm to you, but it will even be of great benefit to you."
The man narrowed his eyes and added, "Unless Lord Li betrays you in the future."
Huge benefits.
The man was vague and didn't explain clearly, so Li Kan certainly didn't know what the benefit was.
But now that things have come to this, if he doesn't eat, it will inevitably give people the impression that he is ready to betray Wei Changtian at any time.
"Okay, I'll eat it."
After gritting his teeth, Li Kan finally made a decision.
From any angle, Wei Changtian had no reason to kill himself, so this pill was at most a special poison that required an antidote regularly.
He reached out and took out the black pill, paused for a moment, then put it into his mouth and swallowed it.
The next second, it seemed as if a chill rose from the abdomen and rushed straight to the top of the head, but before Li Kan could react, the chill disappeared instantly.
“.”
A moment later.
Realizing that there was nothing wrong with his body, Li Kan breathed a sigh of relief.
He wanted to ask something else, but when he looked up and saw the man opposite him again, he was stunned.
Because he suddenly felt a very mysterious aura from the other person.
The aura was not very strong, but Li Kan knew that it was not his illusion, but a real aura that seemed to be conveying some information.
"this"
Li Kan stared blankly at the man opposite him with a smile on his face, and suddenly a somewhat absurd but very appropriate idea popped up in his mind.
This is the smell of "the same kind".
Half an hour later, the man in the robes of the Ministry of Justice had left the Dali Temple.
In front of Li Kan there was an extra piece of mother-and-child jade and a copper coin engraved with the words "Tongzhou".
The Tongzhouhui, the magical pill that can detect the presence of "companions" within the visual range, and what he will do in the future. After learning these secrets, Li Kan felt quite complicated, but he did not have too much resistance.
After all, he had already boarded the Wei family's "pirate ship", and the reason why he could sit on the position of Chief Justice of the Dali Temple was because of Wei Changtian.
If I have to say what the difference is between now and before, perhaps it is that there is no possibility for me to "get off the boat" anymore.
He shook his head, put the jade and copper coins on the table close to his body, put on his official hat, straightened his clothes, and got into the official sedan that had been waiting at the door.
The sedan chair swayed all the way into the palace and soon stopped at the foot of the long steps in front of the Golden Throne Hall.
Ever since the Xu family rebelled, the time of the morning court session has been uncertain and often postponed.
This is what happened today, but the reason is probably not because of the Xu family, but because of the Dafeng envoy from yesterday.
"Lord Meng."
"Lord Wang."
"Have you heard about what happened yesterday?"
"Why, that's natural."
"What do you think the Emperor is thinking?"
"The divine will is unpredictable"
Groups of court officials walked up the long steps toward the Golden Throne Hall, whispering to each other.
Li Kan did the same and soon walked into the majestic hall.
At this time, there was still about an incense stick of time left before the morning court session, and most of the court officials had already arrived.
There were about a hundred people, standing neatly in more than a dozen rows, with many seats left empty.
These vacant seats were once occupied by Xu's faction of Beijing officials, but now there is not a single one left.
Sitting in the middle of the second row, several people around Li Kan were discussing Dafeng's request to return the original and western states. Only he was still thinking about the Tongzhou Meeting, so he was somewhat silent.
But after a moment, Li Kan suddenly seemed to sense something and slowly turned his head to look in one direction. Then the second, third, and fourth person came over. A total of sixteen eyes turned back and nodded to Li Kan calmly.
Fourteen people stood behind him, one stood in the same row, and one stood in front of him.
(ps: two chapters in one)
(End of this chapter)
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