Placid Chang'an

Su Cen was summoned into the palace overnight. In the Zichen Palace, the left minister Wenxiu, the right minister Liu Zhen, the six ministers, and the servant Huang Ting had all arrived. The strange thing was that Cui Hao was also there, but Su Cen had no other intentions at that time. What? I can't care less.

From receiving the news to entering the palace, within half an hour, Su Cen felt that he had exhausted all his life's stamina. He wished he could run over all the way, but he really stood here, but his legs felt weak again.

"Where's your lord?"

Su Cen broke the silence with one word, and he was indeed a villain in the face of big right and wrong, no matter what the world is like, no matter what kind of common people, at this moment, only that one person entered his heart.

Liu Zhen frowned and glanced at him. Apart from Cui Hao, Su Cen was the one who had the lowest status standing here. At this time, the little emperor hadn't spoken yet, so how could it be his turn to speak?

But that person seemed to have lost his soul, lost his charm, and stared blankly at the crowd waiting for an answer.

Wen Xiu pondered for a moment, before saying: "The whereabouts are unknown, life and death are uncertain."

Su Cen's heart sank suddenly, as if he had exhausted his last breath of support, and his face was so pale that he seemed to faint in the next moment.

"It's not necessarily bad news. The dam burst, and many people were washed away. Maybe they just lost contact for a while." Left Prime Minister Wen Xiu is the eldest son of former Prime Minister Wen Tingyan. These years, I have been standing with Wen Tingyan and the old courtiers on Li Shi's side. Naturally, I don't want anything to happen to this pillar in my heart, so I continued to comfort him: "My lord is so blessed, he has been able to save himself from danger many times, so he must be hiding somewhere this time." It's been a while, but it hasn't been found."

"The prince will not leave until the last commoner escapes." Su Cen said softly.

Wen Xiu: "..." Is this person on Li Shi's side? Why does he want others to destroy his prestige?

Liu Yu said: "Send a report to Xuzhou again, so that the governor must find the prince no matter what method he uses, sir..." He waved his hand, "Go."

To live is to see people, and to die is to see corpses—although he swallowed the words at the end, everyone understands the meaning of the words. It is important for Prince Ning to live, but it is more important to confirm life and death—Li Shi is alive, they have There is a way to deal with being alive, and there is naturally a way to die when you are dead. The most fearful thing is that life and death are unknown, and you are bound to do anything, groping in the dark in vain, without seeing a way out.

"Is the emperor's uncle okay?" The little emperor asked timidly, "If the emperor's uncle has something to do, then I..." The little emperor pursed his mouth and was about to cry.He also knows that although the emperor's uncle is strict with him, it is all thanks to the emperor's uncle that he has served the guests all over the world and coordinated internally and externally all these years.If something happened to Li Shi, not to mention whether the Yi tribe outside the pass would make any moves, just these people with their own thoughts standing in the court could swallow him alive.

Liu Yu and Wen Xiu glanced at each other, and they could clearly see what their respective plans were.

Everyone hadn't decided how to speak, they only heard the sound of langlang slowly resounding from the hall, neither humble nor overbearing, and the words were clear: "whether the prince is here or not, your majesty is the emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and we are all his majesty's subjects. Your majesty has orders. If anyone dares to disobey, they will be punished as treason. The prince has already taught His Majesty to be independent, to distinguish right from wrong, to pick up right from wrong, and not to listen to one side. Although His Majesty has not personally governed, he is extremely intelligent. The prince is only a moment now. If you haven’t come back, His Majesty should have done a good job for the prince to see, I hope His Majesty will put the people first, guard against arrogance and impetuosity, and be in charge of the court, I believe that His Majesty can do a good job, and His Majesty also has confidence in himself.”

"Su Qing..." The little emperor looked at the people standing upright in the court, and suddenly remembered why these words sounded so familiar.On the night of the New Year's Eve, he said that he wanted to be an emperor like the emperor's uncle, and he wanted to apply benevolent government widely and make people all over the world obey him.At that time, Su Cen asked him a question, what should he do if someone spoke ill of Li Shi, he said that he would distinguish right from wrong, picket right from wrong, and would not listen to one-sided words.Although no one speaks ill of the emperor's uncle nowadays, there are people who are eyeing the emperor's uncle's seat. The emperor's uncle has protected him so many times, it's time for him to protect the emperor's uncle again.

Liu Yu frowned, and said: "Your Majesty is still young, how can you let him..."

"I'm not young anymore." The little emperor said, "I'm ten years old, I understand what is right and what is wrong, and I know who treats me well and who treats me badly."

Liu Yu felt a chill in his heart.

Cui Hao, who had been silent all this time, hastily stepped forward, "Your Majesty, Prime Minister Liu didn't mean that. He just cared about His Majesty's dragon body and wanted to take some pressure on His Majesty."

"I don't mean to blame Liu Xiang, Cui Qing is too worried." The little emperor looked down at the court with a calm expression.Liu Zhen was suddenly surprised to find that this person suddenly didn't look like the puppet in the court hall at the mercy of others at this moment, and he had learned to hide his emotions and anger.

Su Cen smiled weakly. Li Shi was not around, but he couldn't just watch Li Shi's painstaking efforts over the years be ruined. When Li Shi was there, he firmly opposed the little emperor's personal government. The emperor can't calmly take over, but now is a special period, he is not at ease whoever sits in Li Shi's seat... and he is not willing, so it is better to let the little emperor take over the government in advance. It won't be any worse.

I just don't know if what he did was right or not, will Li Shi blame him when he comes back?

"Su Qing," the little emperor pointed, "in your opinion, what should we do next?"

Su Cen's eyes turned hard suddenly, "I want to ask Mr. Huang, the servant of the household department, didn't you say that there will be no problems with the dam? Why did it still collapse?!"

Every word is sonorous and aggressive.

Huang Tingdong fell to his knees, shaking like chaff, "I... I did allocate 50 taels for river repair in Xuzhou last year. I don't know why the dam collapsed." .”

After all, he was from his own side, Liu Zhen helped to speak, "Maybe it's because the project hasn't been completed yet, and it's raining once in a hundred years, so something went wrong."

"The funds allocated in September last year have not yet been completed in July. How long is the Xuzhou embankment? Even if it was built from Chang'an City, it should be completed by now!" Liu Xiang of Renchen, "What else is this once in a hundred years? Xuzhou is surrounded by water on three sides, and it is also a place where three rivers meet. It rains heavily every year. How could this situation not be considered when repairing?!"

Liu Zhen's face turned pale with anger, the old one left, and the young one didn't stop, and said angrily: "The river repair fund has allocated layers of barriers, and the problem may not necessarily come from Huang Ting."

"It's not here, it's in Xuzhou." Su Cen lowered his eyebrows and cupped his hands and said, "I request to go to Xuzhou to investigate the river repair funds and the dam construction."

Everyone was shocked!

No one knows what's going on in Xuzhou now. Others are avoiding it like fire and water at this time, and there are still people asking for orders to go there?

"Su Qing, you..." The little emperor couldn't close his mouth in shock, "Aren't you staying in the capital to help me?"

Su Cen lowered his head and continued: "Your Majesty is wise and powerful, and has countless capable officers under his command. If you don't understand government affairs, it's useless to stay."

"I won't allow you to leave!" How could the little emperor easily let go of this newly brought right-hand man, "You can't leave, you have to help me govern!"

"If that's the case," Su Cen raised his eyes, "I request you to resign and leave the capital, and please allow your majesty."

Everyone: "!"

"Maybe Master Su forgot," Liu Yu sneered, "You yourself just said that if you dare not follow His Majesty's order, you will be punished as treason."

Su Cen ignored it, and kowtowed on his own: "Please Your Majesty for your permission."

The little emperor understood, "In Su Qing's opinion, is the emperor's uncle more important than me?"

Su Cen straightened up: "Is there any king in the world? The people of Xuzhou are also His Majesty's people. Now that they are suffering from unreasonable disasters, someone must seek justice for them. What I do in the Dali Temple is to pursue the truth and follow the law." , As for other things, I really don’t understand, and I’m not good at it, staying in Chang’an City is of no benefit to His Majesty, I hope His Majesty will learn from you.”

The court fell silent, a needle could be heard, some admired it, and some ridiculed it, but they were all hidden in their hearts, quietly waiting to see how the little emperor's first matter since taking office would be judged.

After a long while, the little emperor waved his hand, "Promote Su Cen, Shaoqing of Dali, as the imperial envoy of the Henan Province, patrol hunting on behalf of the sky, and thoroughly investigate the matter of Xuzhou's river repair funds, so as to uphold Tianwei."

When Su Cen returned, he and Qu Ling'er packed their bags overnight, and brought two officials from Xuzhou from below to accompany them, and rushed to Xuzhou as soon as the city gate opened the next day.

Along the way, horses were used instead of walking, except for eating and sleeping, almost non-stop around the clock.Su Cen has never ridden a horse for such a long time, and every time she gets off the horse, she can hardly walk. The blood on the inner side of her thigh is stained with blood, and she is as anxious as Qu Linger, and she does not want to find a home. The inn asked Su Cen to take a good rest, but Su Cen didn't even want to go in for a meal, bought dry food from the roadside, and then got on the horse and drove on the road.

Three days later, they finally entered the boundary of Henan Road, and several people got off their horses to rest for a while—they could still hold on, but the horse had been running all night, and now it showed signs of foaming.

It was raining continuously, and there was still no intention of stopping. A few people hid under the tree and ate dry food soaked in water. Su Cen asked the two officials, "How long will it take to get to Xuzhou?"

"It will take another two days to arrive along the official road," the official frowned and gnawed on the rotten dry food.This kind of corruption investigation job has been a fat job since ancient times. I thought this trip would be easy. I never thought that the imperial envoy, who looked weak in writing, could be so hard-working. The two of them were too strong. How can this man be so energetic?

Su Cen finished the meal in spite of the rain, got up and urged: "Hurry up, we will try to arrive in a day and a half."

The two officials thought to themselves that it would be another two days without sleep, and they could only swallow the bitterness in their stomachs, and stood up quickly after eating in two or three bites.

Getting on his horse, and about to leave, Su Cen suddenly pointed to another small road beside the official road and asked, "Where does this road lead to?"

Another official replied: "This road can also reach Xuzhou, it is a mountain road, and the road is not easy to walk."

Su Cen's eyes brightened: "The mountain road can pass through this mountain directly, without detours?"

"That's right..." The official frowned, "But the mountain road is rugged, there are several dangerous places, and now it's raining for so many days..."

Su Cen turned a deaf ear, "When can I get to Xuzhou from here?"

"...If the road conditions are good, we can arrive before evening, but..."

Su Cen finally showed his first smile these days, "Let's go this way."