Ruins of the past

While the various forces in Qingyang County have been fighting fiercely in the past few months, the Han Dynasty's Shenjing has been experiencing constant disputes in the court and undercurrents below.

Located in the Changsheng Palace to the west of the imperial palace, the entire palace is made of white jade, with carved exterior walls and purple ceramic tiles on the interior walls, which are covered with densely carved strange characters.

The iron pillars in the hall are tattooed with images of ancient immortals cultivating, ascending, and transcending.

There is also a screen wall made of crystal, with living water flowing in it, and goldfish can be seen swimming around inside.

The entire Changsheng Palace can be said to be a masterpiece of craftsmanship and prosperity. It was built by the current Emperor Yong'an at a cost of tens of millions. It is said that in order to complete the project on time, disaster relief funds from the northwest were even diverted, which caused the officials to express their impeachment like snowflakes.

Since the establishment of the Changsheng Palace, Emperor Yong'an has been practicing here in seclusion all year round. From Yong'an 2 to now Yong'an 15, he has not stepped outside the palace for 13 years, let alone went to court. Cabinet ministers, six ministries and nine The ministers also met with the emperor in the Changsheng Palace.

At this moment, in a side hall of the Changsheng Palace, it was obviously a hot day in August, but the hall was cool.

Wu Siqi sat aside. The new chief minister of the Han Dynasty had a thin and simple face. His eyes were slightly lowered at the moment, as if he was sleeping but not sleeping, as if he had fallen into some kind of deep meditation.

At this moment, a eunuch wearing a red robe walked out with a smile: "Mr. Ge, the emperor has summoned you."

Wu Siqi then opened his eyes, looked at the eunuch and said, "Eunuch Chen, what did the emperor say?"

The eunuch in front of him, Chen Zhongnai, was Eunuch Bingbi, the eunuch responsible for rituals. He was the most powerful eunuch and the most favored eunuch by Emperor Yong'an.

Wu Siqi has always had a good relationship with Chen Zhong, and they even formed an alliance in the past to jointly resist the pressure of the former chief assistant Fei Yi.

Wu Siqi was responsible for confronting Fei Yi in the court, while Chen Zhong kept giving Fei Yi eye drops in front of the emperor.

Hearing Wu Siqi's question at this moment, Chen Zhong chuckled and said: "Your Majesty is most concerned about the Qingyang County Spiritual Vein matter. The Ding family would not regret death, but ruining your Majesty's cultivation will be a crime."

This time, Wu Siqi did not follow the formal procedures for the various letters and account books sent by Wu Wei's people, because Fei Yi would definitely suppress them and never reach the emperor's hands.

So this time he sent the memorial and evidence together through Chen Zhong.

But Chen Zhong has been trying to figure out the Holy Will for many years, and he knows when he looks at these things...Those things such as the Ding family colluding with demons, the border troops befriending ministers of the DPRK, and even selling military rations, ordnance, etc., are not the most important.

There are two things that are easiest for the emperor to keep an eye on. One is how much money the Ding family, the border troops, and the ministers of the DPRK and the DPRK make each year through smuggling.

The other is that the Ding family destroyed the spiritual veins, which weakened the power of Shenjing's Feng Shui array and damaged the emperor's practice.

Money and strength, these are what people value most today.

So he first presented the account books and the amount of coal mined in Meishan, which indeed made Long Yan furious.

At this moment, Wu Siqi listened to Eunuch Chen's warning, nodded clearly, and followed the eunuch beside him to meet the saint.

All the way to the Shengxian Hall, the deepest part of the Changsheng Palace, I saw a young man wearing a Taoist robe and a face like a crown of jade, sitting cross-legged among a golden lotus.

Wu Siqi knelt down quickly, but saw the young man wave his long sleeves and said: "Stop kneeling, I didn't let you kneel down to let you in, I asked you something."

Wu Siqi stood up, lowered his head and said, "Excuse me, Your Majesty."

Emperor Yong'an said: "I heard that the second son of your Wu family now owns nearly 200,000 acres of land in the county?"

Wu Siqi immediately knelt down again: "I asked him to retreat immediately."

Emperor Yong'an did not speak, but the entire hall fell silent. The air was as thick as water, and traces of cold sweat continued to fall from Wu Siqi's head.

Although Wu Siqi has been practicing martial arts for many years and is already a strong man in martial arts, the Emperor Yong'an in front of him is a strong man who has broken through to the realm of Taoism through Taoism. The "Five Songs of Earth Yuan" he practiced is combined with the Feng Shui formation of Shenjing City. Known as invincible in the city.

Moreover, he has practiced in seclusion for many years, pursuing a realm above Taoism, and his strength has become more and more unfathomable year by year.

Standing in front of the emperor, Wu Siqi, a powerful Taoist, still had to bear the pressure of having his life controlled by others. No matter what we talk about, our momentum must first be weakened by three points.

As Emperor Yong'an chuckled, the atmosphere in the palace seemed to relax again: "Get up, stop kneeling. Take good care of your son. There are almost one person in the memorial to impeach you, and everyone outside is talking about me. I favor you, a treacherous minister."

Wu Siqi couldn't get up from his knees, and said with shame, "I... I don't know how to teach my son."

Emperor Yong'an stood up, helped the kneeling Wu Siqi up, and then said: "How can a son in this world make his father the fault? You are now the head of the cabinet, my steward, don't kneel down easily. .”

After saying that, Emperor Yong'an turned around and took a few steps, and suddenly asked: "The small Ding family can earn 200,000 taels of silver from smuggling every year. How much silver can the court earn each year if there is a mutual market?"

Wu Siqi said: "There are different opinions depending on the goods. For example, the climate in the south of the Yangtze River is pleasant, and they are good at raising silkworms and weaving silk. The demon tribe in the north is not good at farming and weaving, but they have a lot of silver mines. A piece of high-quality silk can be sold for six in the mainland. Two taels of silver, if the mutual market is opened up, can be sold for more than fifteen taels of silver on the northern grasslands.

The Jiangnan Weaving Bureau has a total of fifteen thousand looms. Now that the Dragon Clan is disrupting the Jiangnan coast, silk cannot be sold overseas. Most of the looms have stopped working. If the silk can be transported to the north and sold to the Monster Clan, it can be sold that year. 100,000 horses, which alone is 1.5 million taels of silver. "

Emperor Yong'an nodded and said: "The key is peace talks and mutual trade. Nowadays, people outside are calling you a traitor and asking you to surrender to the prime minister. The people in Jiubian Military Town are not convinced by you, so I have blocked it for you. , but what are you going to do next?”

Wu Siqi said solemnly: "Withdraw troops from the town and set up government and county offices."

Emperor Yong'an looked at Wu Siqi deeply and said, "There are millions of soldiers and civilians in Jiubian Army Town. Are you going to evacuate if you say you want to?"

Wu Siqi said: "The northern military towns are like human abscesses, which cannot be cured without removing the bones and removing the flesh. The longer it is delayed, the deeper the poison will be."

Emperor Yong'an nodded: "Go on."

After a long time, the monarch and his ministers finished their discussion and chatted for a while. Emperor Yong'an suddenly smiled and said: "This time, the Ding family's account books and coal mining volume were obtained by a boy named Chu Qiguang?"

Wu Siqi nodded and said, "Exactly."

Emperor Yong'an asked again: "Does this person have any fame?"

Wu Siqi knew that the emperor was interested in Chu Qiguang, and said quickly: "I don't have any fame yet, but I heard that I plan to pass the martial arts exam and serve the country."

Emperor Yong'an laughed and said: "This man is quite talented. He can stir up troubles in Qingyang County at a young age. He is especially proficient in writing documents and arithmetic. He is a practical person and will probably become an official in the future. If he enters the palace examination in the future, I will give him an honorable mention."

Wu Siqi knew that Chu Qiguang's name was remembered by the emperor. With the emperor's level of cultivation and photographic memory being a basic ability, Chu Qiguang's good impression of the emperor would be a very useful thing in the future when Chu Qiguang enters officialdom.

But everything has pros and cons, and Wu Siqi also knew that someone was deliberately releasing Chu Qiguang's name.

Chu Qiguang not only showed his prominence in front of the emperor, but also showed his face in front of conservative officials. He was also branded as a member of Wu Gelao's faction. I am afraid that he will soon be regarded as a thorn in the side of some people.

Wu Siqi originally wanted to protect Chu Qiguang and suppress his name.

‘At such a young age, I don’t know if he can withstand this kind of pressure. ’

…

On the other side of Qingyang County, Chu Qiguang didn't know that his name had been remembered by the emperor. In order to make more money, he was recalling several photos from his previous life and turning the water-powered spinning machine , draw the appearance of the water conservancy loom bit by bit.

But after painting for a long time, there was still only a superficial appearance, and many of the details were completely unknown.

Chu Qiguang thought angrily: 'Why didn't I study these things carefully in my previous life? ’