378, team wiped out
378, team wiped out
That night, Li Qun returned to report to his master: "Master, we have found the whereabouts of those assassins."
"Don't leave any one alive!" Zhao Lang gave the order to kill them all.
"Yes, sir." Li Qun bowed and was about to leave when he was stopped by another adult.
"etc."
"What are your orders, sir?"
"You must be careful and don't get hurt. If you can win, fight. If you can't, run away and come back alive." In Lu Mingfei's heart, these guards have long been their brothers. He doesn't want anyone to be injured or die.
Li Qun paused, glanced at their master, then lowered his head and replied, "I obey your command."
"Go ahead and listen to Lord Lu," Zhao Lang said.
"Yes." Li Qun bowed. Seeing that his two masters had no other instructions, he turned and walked out.
Watching the guards leave, Lu Mingfei felt a little worried. He felt extremely guilty because several guards were injured and poisoned today because of him.
This also made him realize that he had to be more careful when traveling in the future, because the lives of countless brothers were at stake.
Zhao Lang raised his hand and placed it on the back of the young man's hand, saying, "Don't worry about them. They can handle it."
Lu Mingfei hummed, put his arms around Zhao Lang's waist, rested his head on the man's shoulder, and said with a sigh, "Sometimes, I miss the days in Li County."
"At least there aren't so many intrigues, calculations, or schemes over there."
"Do you regret coming back?" Zhao Lang raised his hand and placed it on the back of Lord Lu's neck, gently pinching the soft flesh on the back of Lord Lu's neck.
"No regrets, I want to be with you. Even if there are mountains of swords and seas of fire ahead, we will cross them together." Lu Mingfei raised his head and met Zhao Lang's eyes, and he smiled.
Zhao Lang looked at the young man steadily, kissed him on the forehead, and hugged the person in his arms even tighter, wishing he could rub this person into his body.
That night, the two of them did not sleep. They sat on the couch in the living room, playing chess while waiting for their brothers to come back.
It was almost dawn when Li Qun returned covered in blood to report to his two masters who were waiting for them.
"Fortunately, we have fulfilled our mission and have wiped out all the assassins kept by the Prime Minister's Mansion. Eighteen of the brothers who went there were injured, but all of them returned alive."
"Those who were injured should go find a doctor to treat their wounds, and the rest of you should go and rest." Zhao Lang said.
"Yes." Li Qun bowed and turned to leave.
Hearing that all his brothers had returned alive, Lu Mingfei finally put his mind at ease after being worried all night.
"Once we clip all of Prime Minister Wan's wings, he won't be able to cause any more trouble."
"Actually, based solely on this person's abilities, I quite approve of him. But this person, while possessing some abilities, spends his days doing nothing! If he were to focus on his work, he could bring a lot of benefits to the people."
"You are more capable than him. Once you have control over the six ministries, we will kick that old bastard out." In Zhao Lang's eyes, there is no one more capable than their Lord Lu.
"Thank you for your recognition of me." Lu Mingfei smiled.
After staying up all night, he felt dizzy and his head was spinning.
However, there was not much time left before the morning court session, so the two of them had to hurry out to the palace to attend the session.
"Let's go back to the house and change clothes. We'll go to the morning court together."
"If you are tired, just rest at home. You don't have to go to the palace this morning."
"No, I want to go. I want to see what Prime Minister Wan's expression looks like." After being hunted so many times, Lu Mingfei really wanted to see the expression of the assassins kept by Prime Minister Wan after they were wiped out by their people.
Zhao Lang smiled and did not stop Lord Lu who wanted to watch the fun.
The two men went back to the room to wash up simply. Without having time to eat breakfast, they changed into court robes and went out.
Fortunately, there were tea and snacks in their carriage.
On the way to the palace in the carriage, Lu Mingfei ate some snacks in the carriage and put a piece of snack into Zhao Lang's mouth, "Eat something, it will fill your stomach."
Zhao Lang opened his mouth as usual and ate the snack that was brought to his mouth. When he opened his mouth to eat, his lips "accidentally" touched Lord Lu's finger.
Lu Mingfei didn't notice anything about this. He withdrew his hand and continued eating, while not forgetting to feed the person next to him.
But to his disappointment, they did not see Prime Minister Wan at the morning court that day.
For the next two days, Prime Minister Wan did not show up. Upon asking, I found out that he had fallen ill.
He didn't know whether he was frightened by them or angry at them, but he felt the latter was more likely.
However, Prime Minister Wan's isolation at home also had a great benefit for them, that is, the court suddenly became much quieter. Without a leader, the officials who followed Prime Minister Wan's faction no longer dared to cause trouble in the court all day long.
After taking control of the Ministry of Revenue, he collaborated with merchants to establish numerous workshops and issued several policies conducive to the development of commerce. After arranging everything, Lu Mingfei turned his attention to the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works.
The reason why he chose to attack the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works first.
The reason is that in the Ministry of War, there are the fewest generals standing on the side of Prime Minister Wan, but it is also a place that must be controlled.
This is why, despite his ambition, Prime Minister Wan could never sit on the throne. He did not have military power. A minister without military power could only be an ambitious individual, unable to control the vast empire.
However, taking charge of the Ministry of War was not a difficult task for them.
Zhao Lang was the legitimate son of Prince Ding and the heir apparent of Prince Ding's palace. This status made him more recognized and approachable by the military commanders. Zhao Lang also had troops at his disposal, while Prince Ding commanded hundreds of thousands of soldiers from the Northern Guard. Even without the imperial court's troops, they still had no shortage of soldiers.
Not all military commanders were brainless brutes; they knew who to follow for their future. Compared to Prime Minister Wan, who valued scholars, it was natural for them to follow the Regent, who valued warriors. Only by following him could their descendants have a chance to rise to prominence.
Therefore, the reforms and rewards and punishments they proposed to the Ministry of War did not meet with resistance or displeasure from these military generals, and the decrees were issued very quickly.
Speaking of the Ministry of Works, it is the least prominent of the six ministries. It is clearly one of the six ministries, but it ranks last among them, with a status that is neither high nor low, which is very embarrassing.
However, in Lu Mingfei's opinion, the Ministry of Industry is the place that should be paid the most attention.
The ancients said: "If a craftsman wants to do his work well, he must first sharpen his tools." This means that if a craftsman wants to do his work well, he must first sharpen his tools. The same principle can be applied to a country: if a country wants to become strong, it must have powerful weapons.
This point was later proved by their homeland with actual actions. If the enemy's territory is within the range of their missiles, would the enemy dare to provoke us?
That is definitely not possible!
In this era of "scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans", artisans have always had little status. In order to control these artisans, the status of artisan is hereditary. If the grandfather is an artisan, the father is an artisan, and all the descendants can only be artisans.
The imperial court also had many restrictions on the registration of craftsmen.
So after taking control of the Ministry of Works, Lu Mingfei submitted a memorial to the Regent, proposing to abolish the craftsman registration system and restore the craftsmen's freedom; at the same time, he proposed to improve the treatment of all craftsmen affiliated with the government.
Taking advantage of the fact that Prime Minister Wan was ill and absent from court, Zhao Lang directly approved the proposal he submitted in the letter.
What they didn't know was that Prime Minister Wan, who was recuperating in bed at home, was so angry that he smashed the medicine bowl after learning of their actions.
***
On the third day, Prime Minister Wan climbed out of his sickbed before he had fully recovered, and appeared in the Golden Palace for the morning court session.
As soon as Prime Minister Wan came back, the officials who followed him seemed to have found a backbone, and they all straightened their backs.
Seeing Prime Minister Wan appear at the morning court, Lu Mingfei kindly came over to show concern for the old senior, "Hey, isn't this Prime Minister Wan? I heard you were ill these days? Are you feeling better now?"
"Well, if you ask me, when you get older, you should accept your age and not try to hold on even when you can't. You only have one life, and if you can't hold on, you're really gone."
"You! How dare you!"
Being told in front of so many people that he should accept his age, Prime Minister Wan almost choked out, "Ahem...Ahem..."
"Prime Minister!"
"How dare you, you little brat!"
The officials standing by saw that their prime minister was so angry with Lu Mingfei, and they all glared at Lu Mingfei. Some civil servants who couldn't help it stood up and pointed at Lu Mingfei's nose and cursed him.
However, just as the old official stretched out his finger and spoke, his finger was hit by a jade pendant, and he retracted his hand in pain.
Zhao Lang walked over to Lu Mingfei, looked coldly at the old man who was holding his finger and dared not continue to curse, and warned: "If you don't want this finger of yours, I don't mind cutting it off for you."
"Regent, I am an official appointed by the court. How dare you be so rude to me!" The old official did not expect that Zhao Lang would dare to attack him directly. He was so angry that he wanted to find Zhao Lang to argue with him.
"Oh, if he's not an official appointed by the court, then I don't think I can be rude to you?" Zhao Lang made a gesture, and two guards came forward. He directly ordered the two guards, "Take off his official hat and drag him away!"
"Regent, you can't..."
Before the old official could resist, he was held down, his official hat was taken off, and then he was dragged away by the guards.
"Prime Minister, Prime Minister, please save me..."
It’s a pity that their Prime Minister Wan is so angry that he can’t speak, let alone help him.
Seeing everyone looking at him, Zhao Lang looked towards the Minister of Justice and said, "Minister of Justice, after the morning court session, I will have someone send evidence of Zhang Shun's corruption to your Ministry of Justice. Zhang Shun's case will be handed over to your Ministry of Justice."
Zhang Shun was the official who was just dragged away.
"Yes, Regent." The Minister of Justice didn't expect that he had anything to do with this, so he could only bow and respond.
"Your Majesty has arrived—"
When the eunuchs called out that the emperor had arrived, everyone returned to their seats and stood up, beginning the morning court session.
Today's update.
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