The First Lackey Under The Empress

After a long while.

On the first floor of Yunshui Tower, under the gaze of the Li family's servants, Zhao Du'an, who had been upstairs for a long time, stepped out.

"The Lord is out!"

Outside the building, Qian Kerou and the others, who were waiting by the carriage, perked up and hurriedly got up to greet him: "Lord..."

"Get in the car." Zhao Du'an waved his hand, stepped up, and climbed into the carriage.

Then, he finally let out a long breath, and his tense muscles relaxed.

The whole person faintly had a feeling of being exhausted.

Clearly, he had only discussed with Li Yanfu for a while, but the mental energy he spent seemed even more excessive than fighting with someone.

Just now in the building, from the outside, he seemed to be in control, even arrogantly threatening and luring him at one point, and finally forcing the other party to nod.

But in fact, Zhao Du'an was far from as relaxed as he appeared.

Some people can only feel that vague aura and pressure when they are close to them.

It is difficult to describe the experience to others in words.

Including the end, even if Li Yanfu succumbed and nodded in agreement to his request.

Zhao Du'an didn't feel much excitement.

He even faintly had a feeling...

That the other party might have been prepared to make concessions long ago, and the previous momentum was just...

A feeling of being 'acted' upon.

"It must be me overthinking, after all, he's just an old sheep, not a 'wolf' like the eight princes led by Prince Jing."

"Of course, I can't be careless, who knows if this old codger is deliberately showing weakness, how can someone who has been the chief minister of the cabinet for nearly twenty years have no fangs and claws?

Will there be no ruthless side? Damn it, wouldn't it be on purpose to make me underestimate the enemy..."

Zhao Du'an shook his head, suppressing the messy thoughts in his mind.

He knew that, in the final analysis, Li Yanfu's reputation was too great.

Even him, imperceptibly, had accumulated a lot of fear towards him.

Therefore, even though this strategy had set the other party up, he still didn't dare to really underestimate him.

"Never mind, the goal has been achieved anyway."

After reaching a basic intention, the two of them conducted consultations in the building on the specific content of the transaction.

Naturally, there was a lot of back-and-forth.

He also learned from Li Yanfu that Chen Zhengru was about to prepare to take action and launch a public opinion offensive, which made him break out in a cold sweat.

Returning the favor, Zhao Du'an generously sold Xu Hanlin out.

At the same time, he didn't forget to rescue Lin Niangzi and his wife, and Li Yanfu didn't refuse such a trivial matter.

As for Yuan Fei... since Li Yinglong was fine, naturally she wouldn't be implicated.

With the late emperor gone, the empress wouldn't be harsh on this "meritorious official."

Thus, a preliminary agreement was reached.

"Lord, where to next?"

Qian Kerou poked a round face into the carriage, what she really wanted to ask was, whether the matter had been accomplished.

But she didn't know what her lord had done...

"Where to next," Zhao Du'an slowly exhaled, rubbing his eyebrows, the corners of his mouth rising:

"Go to the North Gate and enter the palace."

Involving transactions of this level, Zhao Du'an was not qualified to negotiate with Li Yanfu in a personal capacity.

Therefore, he had to report to the empress, and the empress would issue some orders to complete this "exchange" between the monarch and her subject.

"Alas, this official also wants to hide his merits and fame, but the situation does not allow it."

Zhao Du'an said that it was definitely not that he wanted to ask for credit.

...

Yunshui Tower was closer to the North Gate of the Imperial City.

Zhao Du'an's first stop was the Xiuwen Pavilion.

Although he lost his temporary academician title in order to avoid the limelight, his position was still there.

The guarding imperial guards did not stop him in any way, and let him, an "outsider", into the Xiuwen Pavilion.

"Academician Zhao, you're here?"

Inside the pavilion, in the busy huge "office", a number of academicians gathered here.

One at the door said in surprise.

Suddenly, the academicians who were buried in their desks working raised their heads one after another and got up to salute.

Expressing that Academician Zhao hadn't come for a long time, and even missed him.

Guo Jieyuan, whose appearance was ordinary and whose name was a classical allusion, even had his eyes lit up, and went straight over to ask him for advice on several mathematical problems.

"The Grand Tutor isn't here? Mo Zhaorong isn't here either?"

Zhao Du'an used one hand to hold back the enthusiastic Guo Jieyuan and looked curiously at Han Zhou.

He originally wanted to ask why His Majesty wasn't here... wasn't it said that she was often here during this time...

The gentle and refined Han Banshan said:

"They were here not long ago, but they were summoned into the palace to discuss matters."

"Enter the palace to discuss matters?" Zhao Du'an asked in confusion.

Han Zhou "Mm"ed and said:

"This discussion is different from the past, it is His Majesty summoning many 'Royalist Party' ministers to meet, it is said that it is still for the matter of the New Deal, something has changed. We don't know the specifics."

Change?

Royalist Party bigwigs gather?

Zhao Du'an's heart skipped a beat, wondering what happened, could it be that the old fox Li Yanfu had dug a pit?

Not daring to delay, he immediately bid farewell and went straight into the palace, worried that there would be a mistake.

"Academician Zhao..." Guo Jieyuan held the notebook in frustration, his face full of regret, and asked curiously:

"Does he have something urgent?"

"I don't know, presumably he does." Han Zhou shook his head.

A room full of people were confused and couldn't guess the reason.

...

...

The gathering place of the Royalist Party was placed in the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

Zhao Du'an, by virtue of his identity as the White Horse Superintendent Envoy, entered the palace city, and led by the attendants, he skillfully arrived outside the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

"Lord, please wait a moment, this servant will report to His Majesty." The little eunuch was amiable.

Zhao Du'an waited patiently for a while before he saw someone return, and next to the little eunuch, there was another acquaintance.

Mo Chou was still dressed neutrally, the female official robes were brand new, under the wingless black gauze hat, the plum blossom makeup on her brow, together with a cold face, made people stay away.

"What are you doing here? We're discussing important matters inside."

Mo Zhaorong frowned and emphasized.

I also have important matters... Zhao Du'an was calm and didn't answer, but asked:

"Is His Majesty discussing matters with the Royalist Party? Has something changed with the New Deal?"

Mo Chou drooped her eyebrows and said:

"I heard that you have been very leisurely these days, eating, drinking, and wandering around all day, I didn't expect the news to be quite well-informed."

No, at this time, don't take the opportunity to satirize me... Zhao Du'an sighed, and was about to ask again.

But he saw Mo Chou turn around and say:

"Come with me, His Majesty said to let me take you over, it's good to let you familiarize yourself with the faces, as for what's going on, if it's not urgent, wait until we finish the discussion, then you can talk. If it's very urgent, tell me, and I'll report it."

I can also go in to listen?

Zhao Du'an's heart moved, and he said:

"It's not very urgent..."

Mo Chou was afraid that taking him would delay her time, and her pace was very fast.

After a while, the two arrived outside a side hall.

"Remember, don't talk nonsense later, talk less and watch more..."

Mo Chou habitually instructed, and then suddenly felt that this sentence was a bit "familiar."

Um...

It seemed that she had said it to him somewhere.

Mo Chou shook her head, throwing away the messy thoughts:

"Forget it, I don't need to teach you."

Saying that, she first gently knocked on the door, and then slowly pushed open the door.

"Squeak—"

At this moment, the setting sun had sunk below the horizon, and the dense dark clouds made the sky light somewhat dim.

In the room, there were no lights, and the light was a bit dark. This side hall was modeled after the Jinluan Hall.

But it was more "approachable".

The Great Yu Empress Xu Zhenguan was wearing casual clothes, without the solemn majesty of the court in the past, nor the usual fairy-like aloofness.

At this moment, she was expressionless, sitting upright on the bright yellow chair in the main seat.

On both sides below her, two rows of chairs were placed, and in the middle of the chairs, there were square tables.

At this time, a number of ministers in official robes were lined up on the left and right, and were fiercely discussing something, seemingly still arguing and refuting.

When the two entered, several gazes were cast over, with varying expressions.

Zhao Du'an lowered his eyebrows and entered the hall, instantly switching from the flamboyant and domineering "Zhao Jisi" to "Little Zhao".

He followed Mo Chou lightly, and after a scan, he first captured a few familiar faces.

Dong Xuan, the Grand Tutor of the Dynasty, who was in his twilight years, with a face like a heavy date.

Yuan Li, the elegant and handsome Imperial Censor, wearing a dark blue duijin robe.

The Minister of the Ministry of Justice, one of the presiding judges in the three-division joint trial at the Dali Temple.

Well, the cheap senior brother Ma Yan is not here.

It should be due to the special nature of the Zhao Yamen, there is really no need to appear in this kind of occasion.

In addition, there were several completely unfamiliar faces, with different identities.

Among them, one gaze was the most concerning to Zhao Du'an. When that gaze was cast, his mortal high-grade martial artist's pre-warning subconsciously responded.

His muscles tightened, his qi sea contracted, and all the hairs on his body stood up for a moment...

It was as if a person was in the wilderness, being stared at by a beast.

It was not hostility, but the instinctive response of a cultivator to a martial arts expert.

"Besides Zhenbao, there are martial arts experts here? That's right, a gathering of Royalist Party bigwigs, there are not only civil officials, but also military officers..."

Zhao Du'an followed that gaze.

In his eyes, he saw a middle-aged man wearing a military officer's robe, with a fair complexion and a short beard under his jaw.

The other party seemed to notice his tension, and that invisible pressure instantly receded like a tide, disappearing without a trace.

Xu Zhenguan glanced over here and said nothing.

Continuing to play the majestic emperor in front of people.

"You sit here."

Mo Chou pointed to a chair that was temporarily added at the very end and said softly.

Zhao Du'an nodded and sat down.

Inside the hall, the discussion that had been slightly suspended due to his entry resumed.

And after listening for a while, Zhao Du'an's expression became strange.

Because he found that what these Royalist Party bigwigs were urgently gathering to discuss was precisely the matter of Chen Zhengru preparing to launch a public opinion offensive and counterattack the New Deal.

...

First update then format