Unparalleled Concubine

"Master Li is too humble."

A smile appeared on Zhang Qu's face: "You are a subject of the Taikang Dynasty, and you will stay in the court for many years."

"How many people are envious of a young man like Li Houye who is proud of himself."

Being proud of youth is the happiest thing in life. After all, when most people are young, they are at their weakest. I don’t know how many great people left regrets in their lives when they were seventeen or eighteen years old.

Just imagine, when Li Xin was seventeen or eighteen years old, how happy it would be to worship a general and become a marquis?

Li Xin shook his head and couldn't help laughing: "Mr. Haoran made fun of it. I also suffered a lot before."

The smile on Zhang Qu's face faded, he glanced at Li Xin, and said slowly: "The imperial court should approve the memorandum of the old man's official appointment soon, and then the old man will return home with his family."

"Before I leave, I want to ask Lord Hou... Where exactly does His Majesty want to fight?"

Lord Jing'an frowned slightly, didn't say much, just stood up from the chair, looked up to the north.

Chapter 672

Civil officials are a very strange group. When they were in politics, they sharpened their heads and climbed up, and they did everything they could to stand on the political arena. But when they really climbed to the top, sometimes they can let go of the power in their hands with ease. , turned around and went back to my hometown to farm.

Although most civil servants have seized a lot of wealth and social resources during their ten years as officials, there are really some people who can let go of this kind of power and leave their seals in a cool manner.

For example, the former Prime Minister Huan and the current Prime Minister Zhang.

Of course, their respective families have a lot of family business, especially a scholar like Zhang Qu, who may be more popular than in the capital after returning to his hometown, at least not because economic concerns.

It stands to reason that Zhang Qu has basically reached the pinnacle of being a minister in his life, and his reputation and status have reached the extreme. At this time, he is a chic official, and he can go back to his hometown to enjoy his old age with peace of mind. Zaifu is somewhat worried about the future direction of the court.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have invited Li Xin to the house.

Seeing Li Xin like this, Zhang Qu already knew it in his heart. He frowned and thought for a long time, and finally shook his head helplessly: "When Emperor Wu hit Jimen Pass, he stopped going north. In 19, I didn’t step out of Jimen Pass. Northern Xinjiang has always been on the defensive. Besides, the Yuwen tribes didn’t make any big moves to provoke my Great Jin. Why, Your Majesty...”

He only talked here, and he didn't go any further.

Li Xin stood up from his seat, cupped his hands to Zhang Qu and said, "If Mr. Haoran wants to leave Beijing, remember to inform Li Xin, and Li Xin will send you off to Mr. Haoran."

In this era, transportation is extremely backward, and Zhang Qu's hometown is relatively far away from the capital. If there is no accident, the parting this time is basically a farewell, and Li Xin naturally wants to send him off.

Zhang Qu nodded happily, and said, "We must inform Lord Li Hou when the time comes."

"The family still has a lot of military affairs to worry about. If Mr. Haoran has nothing else to do, Li Xin will leave first."

Zhang Qu nodded, and said, "This old man sends Marquis Li to you."

As they said that, the two of them walked towards the gate of Zhang Mansion together. While walking on the road, Zhang Qu confessed to Li Xin: "Master Li, you are the most useful person in the imperial court to speak with His Majesty. , this time the Northern Expedition is unstoppable, but if Lord Li realizes something is wrong, please ask Lord Li to stop His Majesty on behalf of the people of Jin Dynasty."

Li Xin looked serious.

"Don't worry, Mr. Haoran, I'll save it."

Zhang's mansion is far less big than Li Xin's Mansion of the Marquis of Jing'an, and the two of them had already reached the door in the time it took them to talk. Before parting, Li Xin took a cautious look at the left servant and said, "Mr. Haoran, you After you become an official, who will take over from your class...?"

Zhang Qu was stunned for a moment, then smiled wryly: "It all depends on the holy will, you and I should not speculate."

In fact, the candidate is still easy to guess. There are five ministers in three provinces, and there are four left after Zhang Qu is removed. It is said that the position vacated by Zhang Qu must be replaced by one of the four current prime ministers.

Maybe old man Zhang already has some points in his heart, but it's just not convenient to tell Li Xin.

Li Xin squinted his eyes, but he was not annoyed, but continued to ask: "Then who will fill the vacancy and enter the three provinces to worship?"

Zhang Qu blinked, smiled wryly and said, "The old man guesses that it should be the left servant of the Ministry of Rites."

The Shanyin Xie clan has produced many great Confucian scholars. A few years ago, a famous scholar Xie Qian moved to Beijing to become an official. Although he is only a side branch of the Shanyin Xie clan, he has already achieved the position of the left servant of the Ministry of Rites.

Li Xin's complexion changed slightly.

The Shanyin Xie Clan's influence in the court has become stronger and stronger. If there is another Xie family worshiping the prime minister, then the influence of this descendant family will already be unprecedentedly huge.

It can even be said to be the first descendant family since the founding of the Jin Dynasty.

Thinking of this, Li Xinxin murmured to some extent. He couldn't figure out what the purpose of today's emperor is to use Xie's family so much.

However, these matters are not something that he, a minister of the Ministry of War, should be involved in. Li Xin cupped his hands at Zhang Qu, and said in a deep voice: "Mr. Haoran stay, Li Xin will go back first."

Zhang Qu raised his hand to call Li Xin, and said with a smile: "Since I became an official, I have always heard of Ye Guogong's reputation, but I have never seen him. Li Houye is a disciple of Ye Guogong. Can you introduce him for me? I want to leave Beijing. Before, meet Ye Guogong."

Chen Guogong Ye Sheng can be said to be the national idol of Jin Dynasty.

40 years ago, when Ye Sheng returned from the Northern Zhou Dynasty triumphantly, Zhang Qu had just entered the official position as a Jinshi, and he never saw Ye Cheng at all. At that time, Zhang Qu was able to climb to the position of Liubu doctor, but he had no chance to see him.

Later, when this Duke Haoran succeeded in paying homage to his prime minister, Ye Cheng had closed his door to thank guests for many years, and without any special reason, he was not too embarrassed to see Ye Cheng.

Hearing this, Li Xin glanced at Zhang Qu's sincere face, and said in a low voice, "Mr. Haoran... my master is not feeling well, so I'm afraid it's inconvenient."

Zhang Qu looked solemn.

"Then it's more time to visit and visit."

"The old man is preparing for the past few days, so he brought some things to visit Ye Guogong. No matter what, he has to meet the old man."

The old man is still the chancellor to the left. If he wants to see Ye Cheng, in fact, he can go directly to Ye's house to hand in the greeting card, and most likely he can see him. The reason why he told Li Xin is purely out of politeness.

In desperation, Li Xin could only bow his head and say, "Mr. Haoran can do whatever he wants."

Finally, he left the Zhang residence.

While riding Mo Xiao's horse, Li Xinxin was still thinking about the influence of Zhang Qu's official career.

The departure of this Lord Haoran will free up a large area of ​​power for the civil servants in the court. Li Xin is powerless to fight for this area, but he must watch with wide eyes and remember everything in the heart.

When he returned to the Jing'an Hou Mansion, Zhao Jianzheng of the Military Weapons Supervision had been waiting for Li Xin in the study for a long time. When he saw Li Xin came back, he immediately stood up and clasped his fists deeply at Li Xin.

"The lower official has seen Lord Li Hou."

Li Xin glanced at him lightly.

"Have you settled the bill?"

"It's clear."

Zhao Jianzheng lowered his head and said, "There are a total of 130 armors in the warehouse, [-] standard long knives, and [-] arrows. According to the low base of the Military Weapons Supervisor, it costs [-] sticks."

Speaking of this, he handed out a list from his sleeve, and said respectfully: "This is a colleague of the Armament Superintendent. He didn't sleep last night and made the statistics. Please look at it, Mr. Li Hou."

Li Xin reached out to take the list, glanced at it lazily, then threw it aside casually, and said, "Let's do it this way. The military inspector is going to load the car, and hand it over to the Habayashi guards to escort Beijiang."

"In addition to these, so many more things have to be produced, and they will be escorted to northern Xinjiang batch by batch."