Chapter 73
◎Two chapters in one◎
Xie Jiuyi was indeed unable to hold on any longer. Concubine Xu was very popular back then. Her brother claimed to have a personal letter from the King of Wei to support the King of Wei's second son, Li Zhi. At that time, some people who were unhappy with Xie Jiuyi and did not get any benefits naturally turned to the Xu brothers and sisters. would be the heir in the future.
Ordinary people think that such people are unlikely, but once they have achieved power, there are many people who would take risks.
This is also the reason why Xie Jiuyi lost this battle.
There are too many traits!
Yin Liyi was helping Xie Jiuyi apply medicine, and she was very anxious: "What a bunch of people who can't tell good from bad. They thought they could benefit from joining Wei Duo, but they didn't know that he was deliberately using them."
"Why are you angry, Liyi? I have an idea. Why don't you go to Yangzhou with Prince Yuzhang and the others? That way, if Jianye falls, we can still go to Yangzhou." Xie Jiuyi had already started planning.
Yin Liyi shook her head when she heard this: "I won't go. I'll be wherever you are."
She really didn't want to leave her husband, but Xie Jiuyi said, "Have you forgotten that you were arrested last time? What if someone arrested you and threatened me?"
"No, it was an accident last time. I will be very careful this time." Yin Liyi pleaded.
Xie Jiuyi finally couldn't bear it: "Okay, but Prince Yuzhang and your sister have to leave."
Yin Liyi nodded: "I'll go over and persuade him right away."
She told Yin Lifang what Xie Jiuyi said. Although Yin Lifang hesitated for a moment, she still agreed and said to Yin Liyi, "You should come with me, too. Let's go together."
"Sister, what are you talking about? I want to stay with my husband and leave my children to you." Yin Liyi always knew that she was not very smart, but if Wei Duo really called, she would stay and accompany him.
Yin Lifang looked at her in disbelief: "You were arrested last time, are you crazy now? You don't know how to fight, aren't you just adding to the chaos? Come with us."
Yin Liyi still shook her head: "Sister, I have never been as smart as you. It would be a waste of time for me to go to Yangzhou with you. It is better for me to stay in Jianye. My husband has also promised me to find someone who is about the same age as Jing'er and let me live in the Prince of Wei's mansion with that child. In this way, no one will know that you have left."
"You..." Only then did she understand her sister's painstaking efforts and she was instantly deeply moved.
"How about we all stay here?" Yin Lifang felt bad.
Yin Liyi shook her head firmly: "Sister, you used to take care of me, an ignorant sister, and now it's my turn to take care of you."
That night, Yin Lifang took her son down to Yangzhou.
Xie Jiuyi continued to fight, and the people around him just watched.
After Li Cheng came back, he was not relaxed either, because his territory was bigger, so he could not do everything by himself as before, but had to consider the overall situation. He should reward meritorious service and punish crime, but he could not let the meritorious officials down because of some minor flaws, so he was busy.
He also recruited a group of staff to handle affairs, and the young master Liu who was introduced to Miss Cao before was also recruited to work under Li Cheng.
These aids were paid solely by Li Cheng, and he was discussing with Huiyin how much to give to the external accounts.
"Please make a list of these, including the amount of food and supplies, and I will deliver them at all times of the year," Huiyin said.
Li Cheng nodded: "I actually want to follow the example of the imperial court and use three provinces and six ministries to manage this place. Otherwise, if I go on an expedition, I have to be able to deal with it here."
Huiyin agreed: "That's right. The three provinces and six ministries check and balance each other. In this way, even if you are not here, there are people to do the work."
However, talented people are hard to find, so Li Cheng prepared the literary and martial arts himself and did not accept any requests.
These people knew that Li Cheng was difficult to talk to, so they all came to Huiyin. Madam Miao had always had a good relationship with Huiyin, and the person she came to recommend was her youngest son Miao Nian.
"Originally I said I would not come, but they insisted that I come and talk to the princess. My little son is a stubborn person and is extremely loyal."
Huiyin had to maintain a high degree of agreement with Li Cheng on this matter. She said, "I have long heard that Miao Xiaolang is quite talented. This time the prince has adopted the anonymous system, so he will definitely be able to select people based on their talents."
Mrs. Miao didn't dare to blame Huiyin for not helping to speak up. The prince's territory was getting bigger and bigger, and many people were blocked at the door, so at least she could meet him.
So, she quickly said, "Yes, you are right."
Huiyin said, "Don't come over these days. It's just a waste of time. Even if your son is really talented, others will think you are here to speak up."
Ever since Huiyin closed the door and refused to see visitors, she even told the people from the Zheng family that things were going badly these days and they would see each other later.
There were also people from Gaoyang who came here from Ji's family, Xin's family, and Cui's family. Especially the Cui family was Li Cheng's maternal uncle's family. They all thought that they could get high positions and generous salaries if they came here, but they didn't expect that Li Cheng would need to take an exam.
Some people think highly of themselves and feel that Li Cheng insults them.
Xin's uncle thought: "I am already a famous scholar in Jizhou, but I still have to take the exam with the younger generation. That is really too much of a challenge."
Pei Shuo had to persuade him, "I have already told the prince about my uncle's name. Just wait. The prince is talented and will surely be able to recruit him."
"I feel relieved when you say this." Xin Daru also hoped that he would meet a famous master.
However, Pei Shuo added: "But I can't guarantee it completely. The prince seems to value law-abiding officials more than those high-brow things. Uncle must be careful in front of the prince."
It was not easy for the younger generation to criticize the elders, so Pei Shuo first affirmed Xin Daru, and then immediately told him about Li Cheng, which indirectly told him that Li Cheng was different from Zheng Fang. Zheng Fang was a child from a poor family, and although he was talented, he was not so smart, his principles were not so strong, and he liked to do things according to his own wishes.
Pei Shuo was able to appease his uncle Xin. Cui Yuehuan's eldest brother went to Wei Duo, and the second brother came directly. He was a member of the Cui family and was well educated. He prepared directly at home. Because Zheng Wuheng was in the army and he was young, he was sent directly to the navy by Li Cheng to learn naval warfare.
Cui Yuehuan was worried, but she couldn't say anything to her second brother. However, Ji Shi seemed to understand what she was thinking and couldn't help but say, "Your second brother is also a famous talent. The prince is not meeting him in private. If he can stand out, it will prove that he is really talented."
Although the Cui family and Li Cheng have a close relationship, Li Cheng is indifferent to the Cui family, and Cui Yuehuan is unsure.
"Mother, I want to go to the princess—"
Ji smacked her lips and said, "You don't understand the princess's personality. She is a very ruthless person. She originally had two wet nurses. One of them loved to touch me secretly. Later, she went too far and was directly kicked out by her. No matter what anyone said, it was useless. Sometimes, she even forced me, her mother, to apologize, but she would not listen to me."
The daughter has had a bad temper since she was young, completely different from Deyin. When Deyin was young, she enjoyed going out to visit relatives and friends with Madam Xu, but Huiyin was unwilling to go to anyone's house, and would not even leave if a horse-drawn carriage was pulled. She was determined and would stick to her own way even if others said she was weird.
Later, after her daughter started to study, her views on things were far superior to theirs, and she had to listen to her daughter.
Cui Yuehuan had no choice but to shut up and went back to talk to Nanny Rong about it. She was also very worried.
On the contrary, Rong Mama advised her, "Second Madam, why worry? Even if our Second Uncle fails the exam this time, with our relationship, he will definitely be able to please the Prince in the future. As the saying goes, brothers fight together to fight tigers, and fathers and fight sons together in battle. No matter how talented the outsiders are, they are not as useful as relatives."
"That's the truth." Cui Yuehuan breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this.
The Cui and Xin families were quiet, and the Xu family came to Madam Xu for help. Xu's brother originally worked for the King of Wei, but when the King of Wei passed away, he returned to his hometown. The Donghai Xu family was also a big family, so naturally they wanted to be promoted.
Mrs. Xu didn't understand the situation outside, and she still agreed: "I'll tell the Marquis."
She had actually told Zheng Fang about it, but Zheng Fang just ignored it and forgot about it after he left. The prince's son-in-law had sent him to Yuzhou and Yanzhou as an official. His daughter had quietly told him that if there was anything wrong with the governors there, he should come back and tell the prince. If he did a good job, the prince would give him the 2,000-stone fief of Jizhou. How could he remember other people's affairs?
Zheng Fang dressed up, said goodbye to Li Cheng, and went to Yuzhou and Yanzhou.
As soon as he left, Huiyin punched Li Cheng: "You are so mean. You sent my father there. It's like a rat entering a rice jar. When he is treated with good wine and beautiful women, how can he remember what he is doing there?"
"That's exactly the effect I want. If I really send someone who is upright, then no one can escape the connection. Your father's family gave me such a large piece of land, and I originally wanted to give them fiefdom. If one day I really rule the world, naturally I will get more." Li Cheng actually felt that it was still a little too little.
If the fiefdom has more than 1,000 households, the amount of grain to be paid is also determined by God. If there is a disaster year and there is no harvest, there may be no grain at all. Now the Zheng family came and directly gave them food. The same is true for the governor of the same state. Zheng Fang is now doing a leisurely job, which is not a big deal. It is really thoughtful.
Huiyin held his hand and said, "Let's take it step by step. By the way, will you let me go with you tomorrow? That would be bad."
Tomorrow is the first time that the so-called talent selection ceremony will be held on Li Cheng's territory. No women have ever participated in such events in the past, and she is afraid of breaking the rules.
Li Cheng said, "Wife means Qi. Huiyin, if you hadn't sent us food last time, our battle wouldn't have been so successful. How could you not participate in such a grand event? If you don't participate, it will lose a lot of glory."
Huiyin was delighted and looked at him and said, "I will obey your order, Your Majesty."
For the first exam, Li Cheng prepared the questions on the spot. He did not reveal them to anyone. Instead, he waited for the candidates to enter the exam room, randomly called on a candidate, and then used the questions as the questions.
Huiyin, who was sitting next to Li Cheng, was meeting her husband outside her home for the first time. He was not only a martial arts expert, but also a scholar. Although she had read books, she felt that she had too little knowledge when she heard her husband quoting from classics. She still needed to study hard.
All the people standing below were talented candidates for this exam. They all bowed their heads and listened to the instructions. These people came to Li Cheng with the intention of assisting the future emperor. In today's world, the Prince of Yuzhang is young and the Crown Prince is weak. However, the Crown Prince who went to the capital cannot control the overall situation at all. Instead, the Prince of Huaiyin is more powerful.
After listening to Li Cheng's words, these people were led by the officials to their respective examination rooms. It was the first time that Huiyin appeared in front of so many men. As a woman's usual reaction, she was a little shy, but she also felt embarrassed, so she cheered up.
"Don't be afraid."
She heard Li Cheng say this to her, and Huiyin nodded seriously.
If a man loves you, it doesn't mean he just says a few sweet words to you or gives you some gifts. It means he really loves you and is willing to share power with you.
I don’t know why Li Cheng made such a decision, but after a little panic, she became excited.
This was different from her previous life. Even though she was the queen mother in her previous life, her father still had the final say on matters outside. There were even enemies like David, and even her father might not be able to do anything about it.
Li Cheng was sipping tea. With the beauty by his side, he didn't feel tired at all. He even wanted to show off all his talents and make it look like nothing happened.
Unfortunately, Huiyin didn't know what he was thinking.
In contrast, Deyin's situation had been extremely difficult since her father and brothers all defected to Li Cheng. One day, she was even stripped naked while serving the prince in bed and was whipped several times with a horsewhip by the prince.
Wei Liangdi mocked her, but Yunzhi came and personally brought her hot soup.
"Liang Di, luckily your title hasn't been taken away yet. Come and drink some hot soup and rest for a few more days. " In Yunzhi's opinion, as long as her title wasn't taken away and she kept a low profile in the future, saving her life was better than anything else.
Deyin looked at the ginseng soup she brought and couldn't help thinking about how Yunzhi used to let him drive her. Lu Xiao had to avoid her sharp edge, but now he had to let the former maid save him. But she didn't show it on her face and said, "I treated you wrongly in the past."
Yunzhi shook her head: "What are you talking about, Liang Di? I was wrong in the past and shouldn't have betrayed my master. But we have entered this palace to live and live well. I came here secretly and I will go back now. Take care, Liang Di."
"Oh, okay, thank you." Deyin glanced at her.
Yunzhi walked out quickly. The maidservant beside her said, "Why did you come here? You are pregnant. Now everyone in the palace dislikes her. You should run away."
"No nonsense."
After hearing these good words, I couldn't help but blame my father. Why did they all help Li Cheng, and even rely on Li Cheng and give away the entire piece of land? Why were they so biased?
Since she was a child, she has always been better than her younger sister Huiyin in every way, but her family is partial to her. She doesn't know what kind of torture is waiting for her in the future. For the first time, she hates her family so much.
The examination ended after nine days. Some candidates with weak bodies were directly carried out, some went to Qinlou and Chuguan to relax during the tense examination, and some people worshipped Buddha madly. The temples and Taoist temples near Xuzhou were filled with incense.
Cui Erlangrao was born into a noble family and was a little worried because Li Cheng adopted the system of anonymous names and asked one person to write down the answer personally. No one knew who was who. For those of them who had entered the government through favor or recommendation in the past, it would be really embarrassing if they failed the exam.
As a result, even the concubines were not favored much.
Zheng Wuheng happened to come back. Seeing his uncle like this, he comforted him and said, "Brother, why worry about nothing?"
"I'm not worrying for no reason. This exam is unusually strict. The prince and princess are supervising it personally, and they even follow them when they go to the toilet. My seat is relatively good. Some people sit next to the stinky horn, which is really terrible." Cui Erlang knew very well that this time, almost all the elites in the Huaiyin prince's territory would gather together.
Yuzhou Governor Guo Zhao was the most ruthless. He first invited great scholars in his own province to take an examination and selected fifty people to take the examination. Xuzhou was even more strict, and so were Yanzhou and Qingzhou. Jizhou, which they had just merged into, had not seen such a big battle yet. Cui Erlang was very happy, but he didn't expect to see his brother-in-law from the Zhang family of Jizhou also come.
At the time, both of them expressed their disdain to take the exam at the dinner table, but it was extremely awkward to meet in front of the examination hall.
The most embarrassing thing would be if Brother-in-law Zhang won and I didn’t, that would be even worse.
Fortunately, neither he nor his brother-in-law Zhang won. He looked up and saw Li Cheng personally reading out the fifty people who won. Someone beside him shouted, "I feel like you haven't finished reading yet. Please read it again, Master..."
These people even ran to Li Cheng and knelt down, but Li Cheng just shook his head silently. Sometimes it was so cruel that even the slightest mistake could lead to a huge error.
Cui Erlang would naturally not lose his status, but seeing many scholars crying, he felt uncomfortable.
It took him more than a month to recover from the failure of the examination. He even stayed at Zheng's house. He saw Zheng Fang, who had just returned from outside, looking very happy. He heard that Zheng was treated to a good meal by the governor of Yuzhou and the governor of Yanzhou, and was awarded a fief of 2,000 dan by the prince. He felt deeply that people are different.
Zheng Fang was still unaware and said, "My dear nephew, I brought back a lot of special products. You must share them with me."
After saying that, he patted Cui Erlang on the shoulder, which made Cui Erlang almost take a few steps back.
Regardless of whether Zheng Fang and Cui Erlang were drinking or silent, Huiyin just received a note saying that Yin Lifang and her party had arrived in Yangzhou. She immediately handed the note to Li Cheng.
Li Cheng was somewhat surprised and asked, "How did you know this? Who told you this?"
Huiyin originally wanted to keep this a secret, because one always has to be on guard. But now she really feels that Li Cheng is willing to share power with her. Rather than being discovered by Li Cheng in the future and being thought that she has hidden something, it is better to take this opportunity to tell him.
"I knew you loved the ramen I made, so I thought about opening a ramen shop so that people who wanted to eat ramen would have a place to go. Later, I planned to use Zhang Laosan Ramen Shop to hide food, so that no one would find out when I transported food to you. Later, didn't we become independent in Xuzhou? So if there is any news occasionally, they can help me to find out." Huiyin pursed her lips.
Li Cheng coughed twice: "You are really much more powerful than I thought."
In fact, he was already very shocked. Last time Huiyin asked people to transport grain, she went to negotiate with the grain merchants in person and asked people to transport it. She didn't frown during the whole process of taking out 500,000 taels. You have to know that the couple didn't actually talk about being the richest in the world. She never thought about failure and was very clear-headed about major issues.
"But, if it's just an ordinary noodle shop, how could it know such a confidential matter?"
Huiyin laughed and said, "Don't think that the lower class doesn't know anything. They went to Yangzhou, so they had to hire people. Our Zhang Laosan's ramen shop is often in the busiest streets, and there are shops in every corner. Those places where all kinds of people gather, the gossip girls and the old ladies, are well-informed."
"I've learned something." Li Cheng thought he was very great, but now when he looked at Huiyin, he felt that she was very patient and had her own wisdom.
She is not a pedantic person, but she always has her own clever ways.
Seeing how serious he was, Huiyin couldn't help but say, "We usually laugh and joke together, but now you seem to be being polite when you talk like this."
"Hey, do you think Xie Jiuyi has no confidence in himself?" Li Cheng said.
"I think so. Actually, you only asked for Wu County. You didn't occupy other territories of the King of Wei. It's just a small piece of land. Zhao Hong, who originally fought with Xie Jiuyi to seize Jingzhou, died suddenly. He should be very proud of himself." Huiyin couldn't understand.
Li Chengze said: "It depends on the situation. I heard that the emperor in the palace is in poor health."
In fact, the emperor in the previous life had already died, and it was really strange that the emperor in this life was still dragging on. But Huiyin thought that even though she had killed Li Heng in her previous life, the world was still not at peace.
Now I take it step by step, more steadily.
"Husband, even if he becomes the emperor, will people obey his orders?" Huiyin said.
Li Cheng said, "It's okay. I heard that Wei Liangdi gave birth to a son. Wei Duo must want to use the emperor to control the princes. He will not let Li Heng live like this."
"That being said, how can we make Wei Duo make up his mind?" Huiyin didn't understand.
Li Cheng smiled and said, "In the past, Su Qin and Zhang Yi persuaded the King of Chu with their eloquent words. Don't I have my own lobbyists? Don't worry, I know what I am doing."
"So you had already made arrangements, but Wei Duo is now fighting with Xie Jiuyi?" Huiyin always felt that she couldn't see through this matter.
Although Huiyin had read the Zuo Zhuan about the strategies used by the various nations to gain dominance, she still couldn't quite understand some of them.
Li Cheng taught her step by step: "If I go against Li Heng directly, Li Heng has the legal right, and I will be easily targeted by others, saying that I am a usurper. Even a thousand years later, the history books will write it this way. Even if I, Li Cheng, have done a lot of achievements, I will still be cursed like this and will be attacked by everyone. But if I let Wei Duo take the lead, I will have no choice but to deal with Wei Duo."
"What if Jiuyi becomes too powerful?" Huiyin said.
Li Cheng shook his head: "That will be very difficult. Wei is no longer the place where the King of Wei is. Concubine Xu and others rebelled and the country is already in disarray. Now I see them fighting among themselves. I need to rest and recuperate. After all, Jizhou has just been taken back. It will be easy for me to go to the capital from Jizhou."
Huiyin seemed to understand what he said, but not quite, so she thought about it privately.
Ten days later, Li Cheng came back and said that Wei Duo had sent people to capture Yin Liyi and asked Xie Jiuyi to withdraw his troops...
Huiyin was completely speechless. Yin Liyi didn't know how to fight, so why did she follow her to the front line? It turned out that she was using the same old tricks again this time.
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