Watch the sea

The nights in early spring are very long, especially when there is a cold wind.

In Jindu Rui's Mansion, the lights in the study room were not turned off. Rui Hesi read the letter in his hand word by word, crumpled and flattened the thin letter paper, and repeated this several times. Finally, his frowning eyebrows were stretched out in a long sigh. Slowly moved the letter to the side of the candlestick, the tongue of flame quickly wrapped around the ribbed paper, and burned to ashes under the flickering candlelight.

"Go and call Kai Ji."

The guard outside the door responded, and after half a cup of tea, the eldest son Rui Kaiji went straight in and saluted his father.

Rui Hesi waved to the guard, and said kindly: "I'm fine now, you go to rest, you don't need to keep watch, it's cold, and it's the New Year's Eve, I'll get some money from the check-in room, just treat it as a pot of hot water for you Warm up with wine, you have worked hard on weekdays."

The guard left thankfully, and Rui Hesi stood in front of the window and saw the figure disappear into the long night, the smile on his face faded away: "You did a good job! You still deliver the letter to Jiang Jincheng, do you feel that it is on your neck? Is your knife not sharp enough?"

Rui Kaiji smiled knowingly, and bowed again: "Father, calm down, I kept this matter a secret, and the person who delivered the letter was not someone from my family, so we won't find out about our Rui's residence."

Rui Hesi's chest rose and fell violently, obviously irritated, coughed twice, and pointed at the eldest son: "Are you looking good as the Shadow Guard of the Son of Heaven? Do you think Pei Yuande is here to take care of it? 'Do it cheaply' Do you need me to tell you what the four words mean? Su Lang called me 'Uncle Shi', do you think your father is really good enough to be called a brother and brother with Ying Guogong?"

Rui Kaiji hurriedly poured a cup of tea and handed it to his father, and warmly argued: "My son is like this, isn't it because you can really be called 'Uncle Shi'? You are a shepherd of a state, and you can't always be tied together like a soldier. The ruffian is suppressing us, and our Rui family is only one step away from becoming a first-class family in Kyushu."

Rui Hesi pushed away his son's hand abruptly, and the tea in the cup spilled all over the floor: "Aristocratic family? If our Rui family is in the situation you mentioned, would it be my turn to be the governor of Changzhou?"

"At that time, it is better to rule a city than a state shepherd who does not deserve the name."

Rui Hesi smiled wryly and shook his head: "At that time? Will there be that time? The water in Changzhou is deep and quiet, the Yinghai Su family and the Yuchun Han family are all the sons of heaven, although the Yichong Xiao family and the Guangling Ye family are considered family members, But they have always acted in a low-key manner. In recent years, the Dingkang Zhou family has frequently shown favor to the emperor. What kind of intentions do they have behind their backs? Don’t you know? In Changzhou, there are Han and Su families, and the state shepherd is just a vain job. It is true that nothing can be done, but nothing can happen if you stay honest! Lian Songcheng, he came from the Gu family of the Duke of Beijing Town, and he came to Changzhou to guard your father and me! Dude, do you think he really let the past go? Let me go to Changzhou for the sake of the late emperor, Empress Chengde, but you have to remember that the surname of Empress Chengde's mother is Rui, not the emperor's mother! Rui's family is safe It's all about splitting, if you dare to have thoughts that you shouldn't have again, don't want the emperor to do anything, the Gu family will be the first to cut Rui's mansion first!"

Rui Kaiji helped his father to sit down in the armchair, and said with a faint smile: "Father, everyone knows that the chaos of Kyushu is determined by the aristocratic family. The imperial examination itself went against the trend of the aristocratic family. It once existed in name only, but now His Majesty insists on reopening the imperial examination, will the Gu clan, the Han clan, and the Su clan really want to?"

"I don't want to? Emperor Lie promoted imperial examinations in his later years, and Emperor Lie lived a busy life. He has made great contributions to peace and prosperity for the people. How can he be called a 'Lie'? This posthumous title was not given by the imperial court, but by all the poor scholars in the world! The Gu family is the emperor. His mother's family is full of princes, who are in charge of the northern border; who is the old Han Guogong? Half of the civil and military people in the Manchu dynasty and most of the students in the world have to call him a teacher. Can the two of them use it? Yinghaisu family Wealthy as an enemy country, you know that your majesty was able to become a great treasure back then, and the Su family was behind the rebellion. The emperor traded Yinghai's eternal right to open the sea and trade. Don't want to take the imperial examination? The Su family was the mainstay of the aristocratic family. After Emperor Lie opened the imperial examination, the Su family turned. Do you know why? The imperial examination was difficult at the beginning of these years, but after another 50 years? Do you think the emperor alone can’t reverse the trend of the gentry, so let me ask you , can the gentry go against the general trend of the world?"

Rui Kaiji frowned slightly, and stopped arguing about the rise and fall of the imperial examination: "Father, my son also knows that the world is unstoppable, but it doesn't have to be the current one in the imperial capital. Jiang Jincheng is also a legitimate son of the first emperor! If we don't win once, our Rui family will be in trouble again." It's time for Kuangfu to revive. Are you willing to let the Rui family live in the bottom line for generations? King Jing can give more than just a Changzhou prefect with a name like Yinghai Su's. We can also compete with the flowers and brocades.”

Rui Hesi's fingers trembled suddenly, the furrow between his brows deepened, he clenched his teeth, his lips moved, as if making up his mind, but in the end he didn't say anything.

Rui Kaiji added further anger: "Father may not know that there is a Mahayana in Qianyong City in Gyeongju, and the Yanxi Zhong family, the mother family of King Jing and the mother's family of the Empress Dowager, is also in Gyeongju."

This fire finally ignited Rui Hesi's unrewarded ambitions and years of unwillingness buried deep in his heart, he was silent for a long time, and said in a hoarse voice: "But the emperor's shadow guard has already arrived in Changzhou, and the cheating in the state test can't be suppressed no matter what. "

Rui Kaiji said indifferently: "It's okay, father don't have to worry, someone will go up and take the blame. I'm afraid that this group of scholars will not make trouble, the more trouble the better, otherwise Kyushu will be in chaos. Duke Ying Su Que came back from the imperial capital for some reason last year. After leaving Yinghai, this old man is too shrewd. If the goods are not good, if more goods are imported from the coast of Changzhou, there will be less food in the waterway of Dingkanglan River, and the land route of Cangwu City in Yunzhou will take time. I don’t know why after the year in the imperial capital. It seems that I heard the rumors about the sixth Mahayana realm, and all of my attention was suddenly focused on the Mahayanas of Kyushu. At this time, if nothing happens in Changzhou, how can we cover Cangwu City in Yunzhou and divert the attention of the imperial capital?"

Rui Hesi pondered for a while, clenched his fists, and asked in a low voice: "Has the Dingkang Zhou family cleaned up everything? It's nothing to investigate the fraud case. It's hard to guarantee that they will investigate other things secretly. What if they find any clues?" , it will all be over by then!"

Since his father said that, he finally made up his mind, Rui Kaiji smiled uncontrollably: "Father, don't worry, we have already made arrangements, and I am not afraid of their investigation."

It was dark early in early spring, and the moon was on the branches. Su Lang called a porter, said that it was cold, and Xinghui was afraid of the cold, so he asked someone to send a basket of silver frost charcoal, and then boil a bucket of hot water.

The state government had ordered a long time ago that the adults living in the courtyard were adults from the imperial capital, and they must be served carefully.

Hearing the sound of footsteps outside the door fading away, Xinghui lay on the couch, turned over, and muttered something: "When will I ask for charcoal and water? In case I write down a small notebook in the future and ask me to return it, Creditors really know how to increase interest.”

Su Lang said with a smile: "What I want, it's all what I want, right?"

Satisfied, Xinghui turned over again and said in a low voice, "Well...then I want it too."

"Give it up, and then you can count it as a creditor, right?"

"It's more or less the same." The young master probably felt that the beauty's couch was not comfortable enough, and the young master sat up and asked in a low voice, "You actually have people in this garden?"

Su Lang nodded: "But after all, it's someone else's place, otherwise there would be no such troublesome sending this and that."

Not long after, a basket of silver frost charcoal, two barrels of hot water, a dry handkerchief, an incense burner and other other items were delivered. The concierge took a few servants to bring the things in. Su Lang thanked him warmly and gave the reward , let them go to rest.

Su Lang took a cotton cloth from the censer and unfolded it, suddenly squinting his eyes.

Seeing that his expression was wrong, Xing Hui got up and walked over: "What's the matter? Changzhou Jiucheng, who is involved?"

Su Lang handed the silk book in his hand to Xinghui: "It's not that anyone was involved, but none of them were involved. Those few literati are indeed the fish that slipped through the net that the Changzhou government didn't catch."

"But the autumn test happened last year, why did it come out now?"

"The rankings were released after the Double Ninth Festival in September. Nothing happened at that time. Later, at the beginning of winter, I don't know where the rumors spread, saying that the state test was fake. Therefore, the Guibang was a bit unexpected, and the incident became a big issue. The Changzhou state government investigated it, but its attitude was perfunctory. The results of the case failed to convince the public. I blamed a few leaders, and arrested a group of people who followed the trouble. But the strange thing is that the Changzhou government really didn't want the news to leak out. A few days after the first day, it gradually changed its attitude. Changzhou Murui Hesi proposed to release a group of troublemakers who were arrested, saying that it was the Chinese New Year, and that it was enough to teach them a lesson, and only claimed to the students that the state examination was fair."

Xinghui raised his eyebrows: "Justice?"

Su Lang sneered: "I'm afraid the cheating is not groundless. Only in the top ten of this time, six of them are from famous families. If the state government of Changzhou is really lenient and kind, it just wants to teach the students a lesson. alright."

I'm afraid it's not Changzhou that really has something to do.

The author says:

There are many aristocratic families in this chapter, so let’s sort it out for easy reading, just take a look, don’t worry too much about it.

【1.】Tianzi faction: Gu family in the north of Shuozhou (Zhen Guogong, Shuo'anhou, the emperor's mother family, the emperor's biological mother Empress Chengde's natal family, Empress Chengde's surname is Gu, her mother's surname is Rui); Changzhou Yu Chun Han's (Korean public); Changzhou Yinghai Su's (Ying Guogong).

【2.】Aristocratic family faction: Changzhou Yichong Xiao family (Yong'an Marquis); Changzhou Guangling Ye family (Guangde Marquis).

【3.】King king faction: Changzhou Dingkang Zhou family (Dingguogong); Gyeongju Yanxi Zhong family (the Queen Mother's natal family, the mother family of the late Qi Wang and Jiang Jincheng Jing Wang); Yunzhou Cangwu Fang family ( Mahayana Cangwu Wuzun Fang Hongzhen); Wanzhou Lianyan Jiang family (Uncle Anping, the son-in-law of Princess Qinghe).