Looking at the mountains and rivers

"Bold!" After a short shout, several inner eunuchs walked quickly among the shadows of the lights, and the old inner eunuch at the head said aggressively, "Who are you, how dare you be rude to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

"Prince?" Dugu Hong froze for a moment, he only had time to look at the child in the confusion just now, and saw his eyes were red from crying, his small face was as delicate as a girl's, he never thought it was the prince.

"This father-in-law," facing the old eunuch's stern words, Tang An walked forward calmly and said, "My prince did not intend to offend."

"No offense..." The old inner eunuch sneered and was about to speak, but his face froze suddenly. He just clearly heard the word "Prince", and his heart skipped a beat.He has been in office for many years, and he is very familiar with several princes in the court, but there is only one such young one today.

As if in an instant, Dugu Hong was surprised to see the old man's ashen face suddenly soften, the wrinkles on his face piled up together, and he managed to squeeze out an ugly smile: "Old servant, is this His Highness Mu Wang? "

Hearing this trembling question, Yang Yan only nodded slightly: "It's the king."

The old inner eunuch hurriedly knelt down: "This old slave should be damned, he bumped into His Highness."

Regarding his apology, Yang Yan didn't seem to hear it, he bent down and touched the face of the child beside him: "This is the prince?"

"Yes." The old inner eunuch hurriedly replied, he was a little panicked, the news from the palace moved quickly, and they all knew what kind of person this highness in front of him was.How powerful and illustrious was Taiwei Xie, who was formerly worshiped as Xiangguo, but in the blink of an eye, he died quietly at the Shangyuan Festival banquet in Prince Mu's mansion.I heard that when Prime Minister Xie was sent back to the mansion, his mouth and nose were full of black blood, and he was already stiff, but the people from Prince Mu's mansion walked away.This alone is enough to make people shudder.

Seeing how frightened he was, the little prince couldn't help but also feel afraid of King Mu in front of him, and unconsciously took two steps back.

"His Royal Highness," the old eunuch looked at his master worriedly, "this is King Mu, Your Highness should call him Uncle Huang."

Dugu Hong suddenly remembered the scene when he was forced to kneel in front of Yang Yan and call him uncle. He touched the back of his head embarrassingly, wondering if the little prince would be more stubborn, but the little prince just lowered his head silently, and said very well: " Sinu has seen the emperor's uncle."

Yang Yan smiled lowly: "So your name is Sinu."

"There is an allusion to this name," the old eunuch wiped the sweat from his forehead and smiled, "When the former queen was pregnant, she dreamed of a one-horned bull standing on a high cliff. After waking up, she asked Ji Xian University scholar, learned that this cow is an ancient beast named Si, so the prince's baby name is Si Nu."

Yang Yan nodded indifferently, and asked, "Why were you crying just now?"

The little prince raised his head with tears in his eyes, and met the uncle's eyes, his flustered heart suddenly settled down, he had never seen such calm eyes, like the sky high and cloudless in autumn, far away and out of reach.

"Because, because the third brother robbed my things." When he talked about this, he seemed to feel wronged, and then shed a few more tears.

Yang Yan knows a thing or two about the princes of Emperor Yong'an. The prince's biological mother, Empress Wensi, died of dystocia in her early years, and the empress's mother's family has long since fallen. The third prince born to Concubine Lu and the sixth prince born to Concubine Lu.

"Oh, why did he rob you?" Yang Yan seemed to want to ask the end.

The old eunuch who was kneeling beside him hurriedly smiled and said, "His Royal Highness Mu, the princes are just playing around, so why should His Highness bother with these children's affairs?"

Yang Yan suddenly turned his head, with no expression of joy or anger on his face, he just sneered: "Why, do you have a role to interrupt when this king talks to the crown prince?"

The old eunuch was startled, cold sweat rolled down his forehead: "This old servant is talking too much, I hope His Highness forgive me!"

Yang Yan frowned slightly, did not speak, only raised his hand to hold the prince, and walked along the corridor to the garden with mottled trees.The old eunuch tried to stop him in a hurry, but was stopped by Tang An, who smiled and said: "Eunuch, don't worry, the prince thinks that he has a good relationship with the prince, and it's just a few commonplace gossips."

Yang Yan led the prince along the path, the moonlight was very good this night, clearly reflecting two shadows, one big and one small, and Dugu Hong always remembered his duty of guard and followed them obediently.

"You just said that your third brother robbed you of something?"

"A gilt cart." The little prince said, sobbing, "He stole a lot of things from me, and I let him go, but that gilt cart was rewarded by my father, and I haven't even played with it yet..."

Dugu Hong almost laughed out loud when he heard this, he knew that these clay carts and tile dogs were just children's toys, even if they were bestowed by the emperor himself, at most they would be pasted with gold foil paintings to make them look good.In his opinion, it is too useless to fight and snatch this kind of thing.

"Since you are not willing, why don't you just grab it back?" He couldn't help asking.

The little prince seemed taken aback, and looked back at him: "Master said, as the crown prince, I should restrain myself and make concessions, how can I compete with my brothers?" He tried his best to hold back his tears, and said restrainedly, " Since the third brother likes it, I'll let him go, it's no big deal."

"If he likes your things, you will give them to him. Then in the future, if he likes your throne, will you also give it to him?" Yang Yan, who was silent at the side, suddenly asked.

"I...I..." The little prince seemed to be dumbfounded by the question, he was tongue-tied and didn't know what to do.

"Maybe the throne can be given to him," Yang Yan whispered, "But in case, he likes your head more, do you want to give it to him?"

This sentence was even more shocking than the one just now, the little prince stared at him with wide eyes, he had never heard such words before, he felt a turmoil in his little heart, he didn't know what to do.

"Slave," Yang Yan called him softly, "As a prince, what you have to learn is not self-denial and humility. You must know that if you take a step back, others will take a step forward, and if you take a step back, others will advance again. In the end, you have no way to retreat, and you are a dead end."

"Uncle..." Dugu Hong saw the child's face slowly turning pale, and couldn't help saying, "You seem to have scared him."

The little prince shook his head with a pale face, looked at Yang Yan, and whispered in despair: "Uncle, what should I do?"

"Altai is right, you should grab what you want," Yang Yan said in a low voice, "but if you want to grab it, that's a bad idea."

"Don't grab it, are you waiting for someone to deliver it to you?" Dugu Hong said disapprovingly.

"That's right, it's the best policy to wait for others to give it to you, but you still don't want it, and wait for others to ask you to accept it again and again." Yang Yan said with a low smile.

Dugu Hong became more and more confused: "Others are not fools, how could such a thing happen?"

Yang Yan was noncommittal to his words, just smiled, and that smile was almost elusive.

The little prince also pursed his lips, and nodded after Dugu Hong: "Like the third brother, he has a very stubborn temper and doesn't listen to anyone. I'm afraid even if he is killed, he won't give things to others."

Yang Yan smiled lightly, but his words were ruthless: "Then why not just kill him."

Yang Yan smiled lightly, but his words were ruthless: "Then why not just kill him."

Dugu Hong was also stunned at this moment. Although Yang Yan couldn't see it, he could still feel the sluggishness of the two juniors in the sudden silence.The smile on his face revealed a vague sense of depression, he raised his hand and waved to the child: "Go, the people under you should wait."

After the little prince left surrounded by all the eunuchs, Dugu Hong approached Yang Yan and said in a low voice: "Uncle, why did you say those things to a child, he looks quite frightened."

"You think I'm wrong?" Yang Yan raised his eyebrows.

"Maybe what you said is right, but how could the little prince understand it? He looks like he is only seven or eight years old, and..." Dugu Hong said with some disdain, "You didn't see his appearance, he is timid and arrogant. Cowardly, you will cry if you say a few words, how can you look like a prince."

"Cowardly and crying," Yang Yan repeated softly, then raised his eyes and smiled slightly, "How similar to me."

Dugu Hong was startled, he didn't know how to answer, but saw that his uncle had turned and left.

On the tenth day of October, Prince Mu's Mansion.

A few days ago, Jian'an had just had a first snowfall. On the pasture in the back garden of the palace, two horses were running fast one after the other.On the way of galloping, the two men on horseback drew their bows at the same time, only to hear the sound of breaking the wind twice in succession, and Hui Yu's arrow firmly hit the grass target standing on the side of the field.

"Okay! We've all won!" The scribes in Tsing Yi standing in the snow garden cheered loudly.

"I'm afraid that the outcome of this competition will be hard to tell. Yushan, why don't you come over and drink two cups of hot wine to warm your stomach." He was greeted by Liu Shitong who was sitting in the snow garden. He and Wen Zhi were surrounding the small room. The tables were sitting opposite each other, and a red clay stove was set on the desk table, and a pot of fine rice wine was warmed over the stove.Now that the heat has arrived, the aroma of the wine is overflowing, making people feel warm all over when they smell it.

"It is said that since the day before yesterday, the emperor has not been in court for three days, is he sick?" Liu Shitong sipped his wine and tilted his head.

Wen Zhi nodded: "I heard that it's because of the wind and cold."

Li Yushan, who was originally looking outside the corridor, turned around suddenly after hearing this, and said with a sneer, "What kind of cold is it? It's just that I was playing around in the snow with my favorite concubines, and I got cold."

When everyone heard it, it was indeed Emperor Yong'an's usual behavior. They all looked at each other, shook their heads and smiled wryly, drinking with their heads silently.

On the soft couch on the east side of the snow court, Yang Yan was reclining there alone, flipping through a volume of documents in his hand in boredom.A few faint laughter came from the other side of the pasture, it seemed that Dugu Hong was playing tricks on someone, he listened intently, with a faint smile on his lips.

Wen Zhi drank a few sips of wine, looked up at Yang Yan, and saw that he was holding a memorial in a dark ocher cover in his hand, and couldn't help saying, "Your Highness used to be in charge of many affairs of the Ministry of Households and the Ministry of Industry. He wants to be in charge of the Ministry of War, so why are the memorials from the Ministry of Rites here now?"

"It's just some trivial matters of the sacrificial ceremony in La Ri. Because the emperor is ill, it was pushed to me." Yang Yan said, yawning softly.

Seeing that he seemed to be very sleepy, Wen Zhi smiled helplessly: "We were still talking about the emperor's illness yesterday, and the Prince Mu's Mansion has become lively." His words were not false. The matter was waiting to be decided, and all the ministers and workers could not find the emperor, so they could only look for King Mu.In the past two days, there was an endless stream of people coming and going outside the gate of the Wangfu, and it was not until today's ten-day holiday that there was a moment of leisure.

"Even so, we still have to beware of other people's words," Li Yushan said in a low voice, "For two consecutive days, the officials of the court and the central government have all presented matters to His Highness in Qing'an Hall, and some people even said that Prince Mu's Mansion has established a small court of its own."

"What Yushan said is not unreasonable," Liu Shitong nodded deeply, "Nowadays, the power of the husbands and lords in the court is not as great as before, but after all, the centipedes are not dead, and they still have eyes and ears. Your Highness must not be involved in this matter. Give someone a reason to talk."

Yang Yan smiled softly and said: "As soon as the news of the emperor's dragon's illness came, Mr. Han told me that this matter is an opportunity, but it is also a problem." He paused, "Lan Yu, what do you think? ?”

"Mr. Han is right. Now all important matters in the court depend on His Highness to make decisions. This is undoubtedly an opportunity. As for this problem..." Wen Zhi pondered for a moment, "I think that His Highness is in the palace to receive officials or deal with state affairs There are indeed many inconveniences, not only others will use this to tell tales, but the emperor may feel resentful if he finds out about it. It would be better if His Highness moved him to the palace to take charge of the matter, it would be justifiable to share the worries of the emperor."

As soon as these words came out, Liu Shitong immediately echoed, "That's right, the Wenhua Pavilion behind Tai'an Palace has always been the place to deal with important affairs, and the secrets of the two provinces are close by, so it is appropriate for His Highness to move here."

Wenhua Pavilion used to be the council member of Zhongshu Province when the aristocratic clan controlled the government.Before that, it was King Yong who handled government affairs here, and before that, it was King Yang Ye, who had monopolized Wenhua Pavilion for decades.

While they were talking, the sound of horseshoes outside was approaching rapidly again, as if the competition had reached a critical juncture, Li Yushan was the first to stand up and look outside.

Liu Shitong saw that he was only focusing on riding and shooting on the pasture, and neglected to discuss important matters, so he couldn't help shaking his head and smiling wryly: "Although Yushan is a man of literature, his heart is probably more towards martial arts."

Yang Yan didn't mind, he just raised his eyebrows and asked, "Li Yushan, how did their competition go?"

"It's the last lap, Mr. Dugu's horse seems to be a little tired, but General Wei is fine."

Yang Yan smiled faintly, and turned to Wen Zhi and the others again: "Forget it, let me consider the matter of moving to Wenhua Pavilion." He paused, and then asked, "Speaking of which, how is the grain harvest in Jizhou? ?”

"[-]% to [-]% have been harvested, and they are all stored in Hekou Warehouse."

Wen Zhi's voice was quickly interrupted by repeated applause from outside the Xueting court, but it was Dugu Hong who took the lead, and the arrow left the string and hit the straw target, only half an inch away from the red heart.And Wei Changxuan behind him paused for a moment before releasing his arrow. The arrow was terrific, but when it hit the target, it missed the target by an inch.

Li Yushan clapped his palms and laughed loudly: "The winner will be decided."

After winning, Dugu Hong was full of joy, strode into the snow garden, and said loudly: "Uncle, I won!"

Yang Yan was not surprised, but raised his lips and smiled: "It really is Donghu's number one magic arrow, and even Wu Jisur lost to you."

It is rare for Dugu Hong to hear him praise himself, and he is even more proud.He squeezed to the table, leaned over to smell the warm wine on the stove, and immediately shook his head: "No, no, change the pot of wine, I want the shochu from the Northland!"

Fang Ming had no choice but to respond to this young master, "Okay, let's go get the shochu."

"Set up another big pot and cook the mutton with good quality," Dugu Hong said enthusiastically, "By the way, the spicy ingredients can't be spared!"

Fang Ming's face almost stiffened with laughter, but he could only follow the sound.

Yang Yan turned his face away and looked in Wen Zhi's direction with a serious expression: "You just said that the grain is stored in the Hekou warehouse, but the Hekou warehouse is too far away from Chenzhou."

"Yes, it's just that it's winter now, and the river water is frozen and it's not easy to transport. We have to wait for the spring of the next year before we can transport the grain to Chenzhou along the waterway."

"It's fine, why do you need to adjust the grain?" The voice of this question was clear and clear, it was Wei Changxuan who had just walked into Xueting.

Hearing his voice, Wen Zhi hurriedly turned around and smiled: "It's not a big deal. The area around Chenzhou was drought the year before last, and it was flooded last year, so the granary was empty. According to His Highness, some grain should be sent to store here. It's just peace of mind."

Wei Changxuan shook his head and smiled: "Your Highness, you didn't even know what the rice looks like in the past, but since you went to the court to discuss politics, you have become proficient in measuring land, regulating water and farming. Listening to him now, you don't look like a palace. Young master, he is simply an old farmer."

The crowd burst into laughter.

Xu was a horse that had been running for too long just now. Wei Changxuan's head and face were covered with hot sweat. He took the handkerchief handed over by the servant and wiped it casually twice, then walked straight to Yang Yan's side, and squeezed together on the soft couch with him. .

"For a long time, you just sat here and read these boring memorials?" Wei Changxuan said, holding his hand, "Well, your hands are cold."

When Yang Yan was caught by him, he felt his palms were hot, which made his fingers feel colder. He put aside the documents beside him, and asked in a low voice, "Why did you let Altai go?"

"How could I let him?" Wei Changxuan raised his eyebrows funny, and after a while, he lowered his voice and said, "If you really let him lose the competition with such a high-spirited young man, he will definitely be depressed for several days, you Can't bear to see you?"

Yang Yan frowned slightly, obviously not agreeing: "Sometimes I don't know whether I am his uncle or you are his uncle."

At this moment, the young man squatting beside the cauldron was sucking the mutton soup hissingly, completely immersed in the joy of defeating General Wei, and didn't know anything about the whispers of the two behind him.