The First Lackey Under The Empress

Understood!

Inside the private room, Han Zhou heavily slammed the wine cup onto the table, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

Before this, he had never imagined that he would actually be persuaded by Zhao Du'an.

No.

It wasn't persuasion, but a forceful rebuttal that left him powerless, like a head-on blow from a Buddhist monk.

Just as Zhao Du'an had guessed, his purpose today was to use the guise of "seeking advice" to try to persuade Zhao Du'an and bring him into his own camp to assist in promoting the "Ten Policies."

But who could have expected that the end result would be that he himself would be persuaded instead?

Ten Policies? Worthless!

Accompanying this was a series of doubts.

How could a military officer possess such profound insights in this area?

Such profound arguments, even other scholars, including Grand Tutor Dong, had not been able to articulate.

Yet they appeared from the mouth of an "unlearned" military man, which was unbelievable.

"Your Excellency's words today are a wake-up call, prompting deep reflection. Now it seems that Han has indeed been separated from the mundane world for too long…"

Han Zhou smiled wryly, respectfully cupping his hands and bowing to him.

After that, he finally couldn't resist his doubts and asked:

"But I don't know, how did Your Excellency come up with these ideas?"

Zhao Du'an was calm and composed, accepting the other party's salute with ease. Hearing this, he was silent for a moment before saying:

"Perhaps it's because I've seen too much."

Han Zhou was stunned, subconsciously thinking that this meant Zhao Du'an had risen to prominence in a short period of time.

A little over a year ago, he was just an infantryman in the Imperial Guards and had not yet escaped the bottom rungs of society.

His feelings were naturally deeper.

In addition, compared to these noble members of the Hanlin Academy, Zhao Du'an was also a person who "did practical things."

He was accustomed to seeing petty squabbles and the wickedness of people's hearts…

Uh, considering his reputation, he himself could also be considered a wicked person…

However, only Zhao Du'an himself knew that the true meaning of his sigh was that he had read about it too many times in history books.

"Is that so," Han Zhou nodded, then his expression became dejected:

"As Your Excellency said, the imperial court's predicament is indeed unsolvable."

Zhao Du'an didn't say anything, was it unsolvable?

Of course not.

Not to mention that Zhang Juzheng's reform method was more suitable, just the word "money." Does the imperial court need money, is plundering from others the only way?

A little bit of economics, please?

Wealth is not only about "distribution," it can also be "created."

However, there was no need to tell Han Zhou this.

Zhao Du'an himself also needed time to think.

After all, although Zhang Juzheng's plan was better, in reality, it was equally difficult to implement and had just as many drawbacks.

He had an idea to add some economic tricks to this plan.

Since it was a matter of money, the most direct solution was, of course, to make money.

Inside the elegant room.

Seeing that Zhao Du'an was silent, Han Zhou's bitterness deepened, and he didn't expect Zhao Du'an to come up with any good solutions.

It was easy to criticize and find faults, but difficult to construct and create.

In the final analysis, they still had to rely on these scholars to come up with ideas.

Thinking of this, he cheered up again. If the Ten Policies were not suitable, then he would rethink them. There was always a way out.

At this moment, suddenly, footsteps came from outside the private room, followed by a knock on the door.

The two of them turned their heads at the same time. Han Zhou asked in confusion to come in.

The door opened, and standing outside was unexpectedly another acquaintance.

"Wang You? What are you doing here?" Han Zhou was taken aback.

At the door stood a scholar who was about twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old, dressed in luxurious clothes, with fair skin and the appearance of a nobleman.

It was unexpectedly Wang You, who ranked second among the scholars of the Xiwen Pavilion, the son of the current Minister of Rites, and also a member of a prominent family.

Zhao Du'an's impression of him was his casual and relaxed attitude during the discussions in the pavilion, as well as what Mo Chou's information said about him being arrogant.

"Heh, why can't I be here?"

Wang You's expression was arrogant, and his gaze swept across the room, smiling mockingly:

"I was wondering why you drove after His Majesty's carriage as soon as you came out of the pavilion. I thought you were going to stop His Majesty halfway to say something, but I didn't expect you were secretly forming factions."

Han Zhou's face was embarrassed, and he stood up and said:

"My relationship with Zhao is…"

"No need to explain," Wang You waved his hand, interrupting him, and said:

"Do you want His Majesty to adopt your strategy? Are you worried that we will obstruct you, so you come to find outside help? No need to explain, heh, I underestimated you, Han Banshan. Forget it, I'm just passing by to see what's going on. You can continue."

After saying that, this son of the Minister of Rites, this noble young master, actually turned around and left downstairs.

It was as if he had come just to confirm the situation.

"Your Excellency, don't bother with him."

Seeing this, Han Zhou stepped forward, closed the door, turned around, and said:

"I didn't know he would follow us."

"It's okay," Zhao Du'an said casually, smiling:

"This Wang You… is indeed as arrogant as the rumors say."

Just now, apart from glancing at him at the beginning, the other party only talked to Han Zhou and didn't look at him at all.

There was no targeting, or rather, he didn't bother to target him, but completely ignored him.

Han Zhou sighed:

"Wang You is indeed arrogant, and he has a strong sense of family status. When I first met him, he didn't even look at me."

Later, because of his outstanding talent, he was recognized by Wang You and barely caught his eye… But it was not good to say this directly.

Zhao Du'an smiled and said nothing.

It was obvious that in the eyes of this son of the Minister of Rites, he was not worthy of being treated as an equal.

"The arrogance of scholars…"

Zhao Du'an shook his head and got up to say goodbye:

"I'm full and satisfied, thank you for your hospitality, I'll take my leave now."

He was still busy thinking about improving the new policy.

Han Zhou personally sent him downstairs, and after watching him leave, Han Zhou stood at the bottom of the restaurant and sighed softly before turning around and getting into the carriage:

"Return to the Xiwen Pavilion!"

…

When the carriage returned to the outside of the north gate of the capital again.

Han Zhou skillfully stepped over the threshold and entered the empty "office." As expected, he saw that Grand Tutor Dong had not yet left.

He was still flipping through the thick memorials in front of him.

"Han Zhou?"

The old man, who was in his eighties, with a face like a red date and wearing the official robe of a Grand Scholar, looked at him in surprise:

"What's the matter?"

The gentlemanly Han Scholar suddenly bowed and said:

"This student has come to request to take back the 'Ten Policies' for further modification."

Grand Tutor Dong was taken aback and asked in confusion:

"What happened?"

He had already read the Ten Policies, and although some of the content was indeed radical, it was still an effective way to save the current crisis.

Not long ago, he had spoken passionately about it, but after only an hour, he wanted to take it back, there must be something wrong.

Han Zhou said with shame:

"This student is ashamed, I did not consider it carefully before. Just now, I was awakened by Zhao, only to realize that this method is inappropriate."

"Are you talking about… Zhao Du'an?" Grand Tutor Dong was stunned and pointed to the chair:

"Please sit down and tell me in detail."

"Yes." Han Zhou sat down, and there was nothing to hide, so he immediately recounted how he had tried to win over Zhao Du'an and how he had been refuted one by one.

In the end, he said:

"Zhao's words are thought-provoking, and this student has the audacity to ask for the Ten Policies to be taken back for further modification."

Across from him, the old man sitting in the mahogany chair was staring blankly into space.

His gaze could not help but fall on the stack of "manuscripts" left by Zhao Du'an, which contained many scattered sentences.

He seemed to be lost in thought.

…

…

"Sir, you're here?"

At Pear Blossom Hall, the subordinates who were sitting around eating pears in the hall all stood up when Zhao Du'an arrived.

The confidential secretary Qian Kerou held up the sliced pears soaked in ice water like a treasure:

"Please, sir, the price of ice in the capital has plummeted recently, so we bought some to eat chilled pears."

"Well, not bad." Zhao Du'an opened his mouth, and the cool entrance relieved the heat.

"Sir, is the Xiwen Pavilion interesting? What did they talk about?"

Shen Juan came over and asked with a cheeky smile, Hou Renmeng and Zheng Laotou also pricked up their ears.

They all knew that their sir had gone to the Xiwen Pavilion today.

"Heh, they're all a bunch of scholars, discussing things like governing the country, which can't be said."

Zhao Du'an kept his mouth shut, abiding by the confidentiality regulations.

Although in his opinion, those discussions in the morning were worthless…

The crowd listened as if they understood, but they didn't care. In their opinion, the things studied by those scholars were strange and bizarre.

Even if they, these military men, listened, they wouldn't understand.

As for the sir, he probably didn't understand much either, he just went to join in the fun.

Civil officials and military generals are ultimately not the same people.

After the crowd dispersed, Zhao Du'an sat alone in the hall, eating chilled pears while holding a writing brush and drawing.

Entering a state of contemplation, time passed little by little, and his thoughts on the new policy became clearer and clearer.

…

At night, the Zhao family.

At the dining table, a family of three was eating.

"Is Dalang tired today?"

You Jinhua observed his expression and was considerate, "I'll ask the concubine to fetch water for you later, so you can take a bath."

"It's nothing, I'm just thinking about some things," Zhao Du'an said casually.

Beside him, Zhao Pan spoke as if trying to get attention:

"Brother, I heard that the Xiwen Pavilion was convened today? Did you know?"

The women in the family didn't know that Zhao Du'an had gone to the Xiwen Pavilion today—Zhao Du'an didn't tell them about work matters.

"You know about the Xiwen Pavilion too?" Zhao Du'an asked with a smile.

The girl puffed out her cheeks and said calmly:

"Now the scholars in the capital are all talking about it. The servants who go out to buy groceries can hear it, saying that it's the future cabinet, and those who can enter it will be amazing in the future, such as that talented scholar in the capital, surnamed Han.

But brother, you have always disliked those scholars, so you probably don't know him."

I didn't know him before, but I met him at noon… Zhao Du'an thought to himself.

You Jinhua said:

"What's so good about scholars? The ungrateful are always scholars. Dalang, who is so skilled in martial arts, is a good man."

The beautiful stepmother was biased. Zhao Du'an didn't like scholars, so she also hated them.

Zhao Du'an smiled and put down his chopsticks:

"It's hot, I can't eat, I'll go to the courtyard to cool off."

The stepmother then instructed the servants to bring him iced watermelon, and then looked at her daughter and asked strangely:

"It's almost dark, why are you wearing that heavy hairpin? It'll break if you wear it again."

You Jinhua wasn't wearing a hairpin tonight.

"Mother, you wear it every day too…"

Zhao Pan's expression froze, she silently turned her head away, and angrily took off the golden hairpin called "Jade Leaf."

She wore it this time, but her brother didn't seem to notice at all.

Zhao Du'an had just walked to the courtyard and was about to sit down when suddenly the doorkeeper ran in in a hurry:

"Dalang, someone is looking for you outside."

Eh? Zhao Du'an raised his eyebrows, not knowing why.

He walked to the door, only to see a carriage parked outside the courtyard gate.

Beside it was a servant who looked a little familiar.

After thinking carefully, it seemed to be the person who had asked him to go over when he met Grand Tutor Dong at the palace gate.

Grand Tutor Dong's man?

Zhao Du'an's heart stirred, and he had a vague guess.

He saw the man respectfully cupping his hands:

"Master Zhao, the Grand Tutor invites you to the Xiwen Pavilion to discuss matters with the scholars."