Minglan is reborn, this time with no regrets!

On the second day, Gu Tingye went to the palace to meet the emperor.

As soon as he saw Zhao Zongquan, he knelt down and cried: "Your Majesty! Someone wants to kill me! Please help me!!!"

The sound was so loud that the birds in the pine trees in front of the temple were startled and flew away.

Zhao Zongquan: "What? Who is so bold?"

Li Dequan, who was standing next to the throne, felt his heart pounding: Here it comes, come and sue me, come and sue me!

The reason why the Queen Mother specifically told the Wang family that Fengxian was Li Dequan's niece was to set up a trap for today's scene. In fact, Fengxian had never even seen Li Neiguan. If Gu Tingye reported him and put him in jail, and then found out that he had no connection with Fengxian, Gu Tingye would be charged with false accusation, and perhaps even sow the seeds of suspicion between the monarch and his subjects.

Gu Tingye pointed at Li Dequan and said, "It was him! The assassin said she was his niece and tricked my wife's maternal family into adopting her as their adopted daughter, and also tricked my father into taking her as my concubine. If that woman hadn't been careless and exposed her true identity, I'm afraid I wouldn't even know how I died!"

Li Neiguan knelt down hurriedly and said, "Your Majesty! This is unjust! All my relatives died long ago, so how could there be a niece? Lord Gu is framing me and slandering me!"

Gu Tingye: "We will know if it is slander or not once we investigate! Your Excellency, quickly drag this villain down and punish him severely!"

Zhao Zongquan frowned, "What nonsense are you talking about? He is the chief eunuch left to me by the late emperor. How can you torture him at will?"

Gu Tingye: "He is so bold because he served the late emperor and sent people to my house to kill me!"

Zhao Zongquan: "Gu Tingye! Watch your words!"

Gu Tingye: "Your Majesty, my life is in danger, how can I care about what others say? Your Majesty, if you don't try him, I... I don't want to be an official anymore!"

Zhao Zongquan buried his forehead in his hands, so his expression could not be seen clearly, but the bulging veins on his neck revealed his rage.

After enduring for a while, Zhao Zongquan turned to Li Dequan and said, "You just go to Kaifeng Prefecture by yourself and tell us everything you know. Come back after you're done."

Li Dequan cried, "Your Majesty! I am really not a slave!"

Zhao Zongquan patted his shoulder and said, "I know. Just think of it as you are suffering for me. After you come back, I will give you three days off so you can have some rest."

Li Dequan: "I don't want it. I just want to stay by your side all the time!"

Zhao Zongquan: "I know you are loyal. Don't cry, come back quickly after you leave, I can't leave you."

Li Dequan accepted the order crying and walked out of the door.

Zhao Zongquan shouted at Gu Tingye: "Are you satisfied now?"

Gu Tingye answered loudly: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace!"

Since Li Dequan was not there, Qingyun took over. Zhao Zongquan gave him a look, and Qingyun immediately dismissed all the servants in the room.

When they were about to leave the house, a young maid asked, "Why don't you let us serve inside?"

Qingyun: "Didn't you see that the emperor's face turned green with anger? He will definitely give Marquis Gu a good scolding next. If we are to listen to Marquis Gu's jokes, won't he remember it later?"

The little palace maid shrank her neck.

Qingyun raised his voice and said, "Tell the people around you not to come near the imperial study at this time." After that, he patrolled around the imperial study.

Sure enough, after a while, the sound of things being smashed was heard from inside, followed by the emperor's angry curses, but because they were far away, the palace people could not hear clearly what he was cursing.

After performing for a while, Zhao Zongquan wiped the sweat from his forehead and whispered, "It should be about time now."

Gu Tingye also whispered: "Thank you for your hard work, sir."

Zhao Zongquan: "Pour me a glass of water. I am thirsty from your scolding."

Gu Tingye cheerfully served tea and water to the emperor, saying, "Your Majesty, I thought about it carefully yesterday and felt that we need to change our strategy."

Then, he roughly repeated what Minglan said yesterday, only omitting the part about "raising grace and giving birth to grace".

Zhao Zongquan remained silent.

He wanted to discuss the status of my father, and apart from wanting to gain power, he did have selfish motives.

He had a very good relationship with his biological father, and the loving father and filial son made many people envious. In the beginning, he did not want the throne, partly because he did not want to be adopted by someone else.

Unfortunately, fate played a trick on him and he was pushed and driven to become the emperor.

It was a very painful thing for him that he could no longer call his biological father father.

Gu Tingye understood Zhao Zongquan's feelings and whispered, "Now, the emperor still has the queen mother to deal with. If we bring up the issue of status for the former prince Shu at this time, it is very likely that the former prince Shu will be criticized."

Zhao Zongquan's eyes suddenly widened.

Gu Tingye: "Those censors are the most stubborn and the most capable of cursing without using any dirty words. Once this plan is put forward, they will definitely spit on Prince Xianshu."

Zhao Zongquan frowned to form the shape of the Chinese character "川".

Gu Tingye: "My mother was a merchant who married into a noble family. After her death, she was mocked by the Gu family for more than ten years. I feel sad every time I think of it. I think of your Majesty and how close you are to the former Prince Shu. You would definitely not want someone to blatantly discredit the former Prince Shu's reputation after his death."

Zhao Zongquan: "But do I have to call my biological father my uncle for the rest of my life? How can I meet my father when I die..." His eyes were gradually filled with bloodshot and tears.

Gu Tingye: "No, it won't happen. It's just that there is no rush at this moment. When the emperor's throne is stable, you can propose that the first prince Shu be the emperor's father. There won't be such a big objection in the court."

Zhao Zongquan closed his eyes and stopped talking.

Gu Tingye knew that he was going to think about it more, so he bowed and said, "I will take my leave first."

Zhao Zongquan stopped him and said, "Please help me to test Han Qi's opinion. As for Wang Anshi...what do you think about letting him be the governor of Jiangning? That is his hometown, and he can take care of both family affairs and government affairs. Although it is generally advisable to avoid court officials from taking posts in their hometowns, didn't the late emperor also let Fan Zhongyan be the governor of Suzhou? He should not refuse such a courtesy, right?"

Gu Tingye: "There should be more talents like Mr. Wang. Why doesn't the government set up a college just for him?"

Zhao Zongquan's eyes lit up.

Gu Tingye: "Just set it up in Jiangning, let Mr. Wang be the dean, and let him train more upright and honest young people like him for Your Majesty to enrich the court. You can even give this academy the same treatment as the Imperial Academy, and send all the children in the court who are to be appointed to official positions to him for education. If there are any capable ones, they can naturally become teachers; if there are no talents, there is no need to serve as officials in the court and waste food and money."

He had long wanted to suggest that the emperor abolish the system of hereditary titles. Many of the children of officials were uneducated and unskilled, because they knew that they could rely on their ancestors to obtain official titles in the future. Since they could become officials anyway, there was no need to force themselves to study hard and make progress.

After entering the court, these people are not only incompetent, but may also form cliques and engage in private activities in order to expand their family power. This will not only bring huge pressure to the national treasury, but will also promote unhealthy trends in the court.

However, directly canceling the title would affect the interests of many people. If the title was changed to the qualification for admission to the Imperial College, the backlash from the court officials would not be so great, because at least there was a glimmer of hope. Moreover, those who graduated from the Imperial College could directly obtain the status of Jinshi, which was more respectable than obtaining an official title through title. Although this method would also cause dissatisfaction, it would be much safer if the dean was the prestigious Wang Linchuan.

Because Mr. Linchuan is very stubborn!

The more Zhao Zongquan thought about it, the more he thought it was feasible. He immediately wrote a secret decree and gave it to Gu Tingye: "Take it to Jiangning for me and give it to him in person. Tell him in detail what you just said to me, and be sure to help me convince him to serve as the dean!"

Gu Tingye: "I accept your order. However, there is one more thing. If Mr. Wang agrees, where will the money for running the academy come from?"

Zhao Zongquan said without hesitation: "Neiku." Neiku was the private treasury of the Song Dynasty emperors. Its main source of funds was silk, salt, iron, tea and other official businesses, and it was only under the control of the emperor. Now that he had the imperial seal in his hand, Zhao Zongquan could indeed use the money.

Gu Tingye: "Sir, this is your private money. You... don't you want to keep it for yourself?"

Zhao Zongquan squinted at him and said, "I know what you are up to. I'll keep this money in reserve so that if I start another rebellion, I won't be hindered by the three divisions. But I can't wait any longer. I need people. I need people who can serve me!"

Gu Tingye said nothing more, bowed and said: "As you wish!"

When Gu Tingye went out, the emperor specially smashed the incense burner. Amid the sound of ding-dong, Gu Tingye strode away, looking like a scene of discord between the emperor and his subjects.

The Queen Mother finally smiled when she heard the report: "After being defeated by them so many times, one of my tricks finally worked."

Zhu Neiguan: "The Queen Mother has a plan that leaves nothing to chance."