Taiping Inn

After offending the ship owner, Li Xuandu was immediately punished.

When Li Xuandu returned to Taiping Inn, he found that he was only given the most remote guest room, which had no fire and was extremely cold. Li Xuandu did not say much about it, nor did he raise any objections.

After all, at such a level, being immune to cold and heat is just normal, and having or not having charcoal fire is not necessary. Li Xuandu sat cross-legged on the bed, replacing sleep with breathing meditation to recover from the injuries he suffered in today's battle.

In another Tianzihao Class A wing room, Qian Yurong and the old man surnamed Zhang sat opposite each other.

The steward surnamed Zhang said worriedly: "I just spent some money to inquire with the owner of this inn. The lame gentleman in green shirt we met seems to be of great origin. Some people saw him walking with the Qingluan Guards, and those Qingluan Guards were very respectful to this lame gentleman."

This was not the first time that the old man surnamed Zhang had been to Qizhou, nor was it the first time that he had stayed in this Taiping Inn. Naturally, he was very familiar with the innkeeper and knew a thing or two about some unknown businesses of the inn.

Qian Yurong was slightly startled: "Qingluan Guard?"

The old man surnamed Zhang had a serious expression on his face. He glanced at the door behind him and said softly: "The official clothes and Wenluan sword on his body cannot be fake. This reminds me of a big man in Qizhou."

Qian Yurong asked: "Who?"

The old man deliberately lowered his voice: "This person is the chief staff of the Governor of Qizhou. He is called 'Mr. Chu' or 'Master Chu'. The Governor of Qizhou obeys him and is also called the Shadow Governor. He is very powerful. Many people want to go through his way. I don't know why he appeared in Guide Mansion."

Qian Yurong frowned and said: "How could the accountant surnamed Li recognize this person?"

"I don't know about that." The old man shook his head and said: "But since this person is from the same family, it is hard to say what relationship he has with the Governor's Office of Qizhou."

Qian Yurong sighed lightly, his eyes dim.

When Li Xuandu entered into meditation, he was also thinking about Chu Yunshen and the Governor of Qizhou.

Although the court is high and the rivers and lakes are far away, the court cannot ignore the rivers and lakes, and the rivers and lakes cannot avoid the court. How did the Qingluan Guard come about? It is because the people of the rivers and lakes are attached to the court and are willing to serve as the court's hawks and dogs. There are even rivers and lakes sects that will take the initiative to cooperate with the court and send their disciples to serve the court. Today's court is weak, and the Qingluan Guard is no longer what it used to be. When the court was at its peak, the thirteen guardians of the Qingluan Guard could dominate the rivers and lakes. Today, there is a huge gap between the upper and lower levels of the rivers and lakes. The upper-level people in the rivers and lakes are all local tyrants. They have money, people, swords and guns, and fame. They can start a rebellion with a call from a high place. Therefore, when the central government of the court is weak, they either dominate one side, such as the five sects in the northwest, or point fingers at the court, such as the righteous sects headed by the Zhengyi Sect and the Qingwei Sect. The lower classes and the scattered people in the Jianghu, either for the sake of wealth and glory or for self-protection, all attached themselves to the frontier officials of the court, so that there were many talented people under the governors and governors in various places, and they became more powerful.

The court did not want to change this situation, but with the death of four ministers on almost unfounded charges in the second year of Tianbao, people's hearts had been scattered, and the governors and governors in various places were sleeping in the same bed with the central government of the court, but they were dreaming differently. It seemed that the dragons and snakes in various places began to raise their heads and spy on the real dragon of the Wei court, which was already scarred. The ambitious people such as the five sects in the northwest were like an evil dragon, wanting to take away the purple and red.

In such a situation, the boundary between the Jianghu and the court was not as clear as in the past.

This is why Li Xuandu said that the Queen Mother Xie exchanged national power for power.

Since the establishment of the Wei Dynasty, there was Emperor Shizong, who came to the throne as a foreign vassal. He was extremely intelligent and skilled in power tactics, and could be called the best emperor of the Wei Dynasty. At the age of only 20, he defeated the three-dynasty elders. After that, he consolidated power and broke the triangle pattern of officials, eunuchs, and emperors since Emperor Yingzong. He strictly implemented the rule of one emperor alone, treated the cabinet as servants, treated officials as enemies, and beat them when he wanted to, and killed them when he wanted to. He gave power to eunuchs and used domestic slaves to rule the world. He regarded the two capitals and 19 states of the Great Wei as the private property of the Xu family.

In the following 20 years, Emperor Shizong favored the Shenxiao Sect and suppressed the Zhengyi Sect. He did not attend court for more than 20 years. He was called Xuanxiu, but secretly ruled alone. He used flatterers outside and eunuchs inside, and was intent on plundering the wealth of the people. The Great Wei began to decline.

Therefore, some people said that if the Great Wei was to fall, it would start with Shizong, but actually with Shenzong.

When the previous emperor ascended the throne, he reused the four ministers headed by Zhang Suqing, and was determined to make progress and eliminate the accumulated problems. First, the government was reformed, then the new policy was implemented, and then the foreign invaders were driven out. There was already a sense of revival. However, with the death of the previous emperor in Yanbo Palace, the four ministers were executed, and the royal family dignitaries headed by Empress Dowager Xie and Prince Jin did the opposite. Not only did the new policy fail, but Liangzhou, Qinzhou, Shuzhou and other places fell into the hands of the enemy. Moreover, the court fell into party struggles again, putting party struggles above state affairs, making the court situation worse than during the reigns of Emperor Shizong and Emperor Shenzong.

If it is said that during the reign of Emperor Shizong, it was just the empty treasury and endless party struggles. Now, there are also a lot of vassal towns and foreign enemies. Although the governors of various places are not vassal kings in name, they are vassal kings in reality. They are linked together to protect themselves. Even the court dare not move lightly, and it is powerless.

Such a court and such a world are really the world that Li Xuan does not want to see.

On the second day, the group still rested in Guide Prefecture. Li Xuandu did not leave the inn, but continued to recuperate. It was not until the third day that the group left the inn and set off for Qizhou.

After Li Xuandu boarded the ship, he did not continue to stay in the cabin, but stood on the bow and looked at the scenery along the way.

Qizhou was named after the Qi State in ancient times. Located on the eastern coast of Jiangbei, it is located in the lower reaches of the Changhe River and the central and northern sections of the Grand Canal. It borders Zhili, Yanzhou, Zhongzhou, Luzhou, Chuzhou and other places from north to south. The famous Dongyue is in Qizhou. , it is also the highest peak in Qizhou. The east of Qizhou is the East China Sea, facing Liaozhou to the north, and facing Fenglinzhou to the east, facing Fenglinzhou to the overseas.

Qizhou is also the birthplace of Confucianism. Confucian sages and sub-sages were both born in Qizhou, so there is also a Confucian academic palace in Qizhou called "Sheji Academy", which is the Wanxiang Academy in Zhongzhou and the Tianxin in Xiaozhou. The academies are ranked equally well. In addition to the three university palaces, there are four major academies, all of which are world-famous. However, among these seven schools, because the Sheji Academy occupies the landmark of the hometowns of the saints and the sub-saints, it is known as the ancestral home of Confucianism, but the other schools cannot compare with it.

Because of this, the situation in Qizhou is becoming more and more complicated. There is the Governor's Office, the Donghua Sect, the Sheji Academy, and the Hongyang General Hall of the Qingyang Sect. In addition, the giant Qingwei Sect is a huge Although it is not in Qizhou, it is above the East China Sea and is only half a step away from Qizhou. So many forces are intertwined, you can imagine how chaotic Qizhou is now.

The destination of the Qian family caravan is Dongchang Prefecture. After Li Xuandu gets off the ship in Dongchang Prefecture, he has to pass through the six palaces to reach Donghua Sect. This journey is probably not easy to walk.

Because these six prefectures are the most fierce battle between Qingyang Cult and the Governor of Qizhou, the three major Qingyang Cult are now entrenched in Qizhou, Chuzhou, Zhongzhou, Luzhou, Jinzhou, Qinzhou and other places. The other states can still be safe because they are far away from the imperial capital, and Qizhou is already under the eyes of the imperial capital, so they have to be suppressed, which is why the current war in Qizhou is in existence.

However, there are rumors that the Qingyang Cult has connections with the Great Zhou in the northwest, and the more deserted it is, the more displaced people there are, and the more people they enter the church. As the saying goes, "Those who live for the people, and those who leave for the bandits" Therefore, the governor of Qizhou was unable to defeat the suppression. He surrendered immediately. Once the army passed, he rebelled immediately. The reason for this was that the people had no food and did not rebel, and they would starve to death. The rebellion might have a line. vitality. But what the imperial court lacks most is money and grain. It is necessary to collect the power of several states to move them together, and there is no surplus grain to provide relief to the disaster victims.

The court has no money and the people have no money. Where did the money go? Of course, in the hands of all powerful people and local tyrants, the people rebelled to snatch money and food from them to survive. But does the court dare to extend his hand to these powerful people? In today's court, if a person who has not been ill for a long time, he may be able to survive again if he does not reach out. Once he reaches out, he may be in a state of upsetting his hand.

This is the biggest problem nowadays.