Placid Chang'an

The official ship arrived in Luoyang in the middle of winter, and the group stopped the ship and went ashore. Although it was inconvenient for the little emperor to go out of Beijing to pick him up in person, he still specially sent a guard of honor from the Ministry of Rites to pick up the emperor's uncle back to Beijing.

It was still a day's journey from Luoyang to Chang'an, and Li Shi didn't rest after landing, so Luoyang officials had been preparing for the Zhoushan Palace for half a month, and Prince Ning directly got into the carriage of the Ministry of Rites without even looking at it.

There were half of the older boys who got into the car together. They looked only eleven or twelve years old, but they were dressed in black clothes. Their faces were immature, but their behavior was rigid. Their cold face looked like Qi Lin's illegitimate child, which made people An indescribable sense of incongruity.

When Li Shi settled down and sat down, he nodded at the young man, and the young man opened his mouth and said, "There are 28 officials in Chang'an who have accepted bribes from salt merchants, and the eyeliners who have been placed in various mansions have already obtained criminal evidence. Minister Li Qiong and Minister Sun Yang are the leaders, so they are also the ones who jumped the wall this time. They gathered all the officials and wrote a joint memorial to impeach you for violating the ancestral system and abolishing the salt order by violence. Chao Gang, he threatened that if you don't leave, they will resign and return home, so the little emperor hastily called you back to Beijing, I'm afraid there is really no other way."

If hundreds of officials resign collectively, the government will inevitably fall into chaos, the government will be delegated but no one will do the work, and the people at the bottom will not be able to reach the heavens.In a small way, it means changing a courtier, re-selecting, running in, and familiarizing with government affairs. In a big way, it means shaking the foundation of the society. If it is not handled properly, it will cause public resentment, and it may even overturn the country.

"Hmph, struggling to die," Li Shi smiled coldly, but he didn't seem to care much about it, and then asked, "Where's Liu Yu? Wasn't he involved?"

The young man said: "Liu Xiang didn't follow me this time, but helped to appease the officials. It seems that he didn't know about the bribery."

"He knows how to do business." Li Shi tapped his finger on the window coffin lightly, "Those people would not dare to leave even if they gave them a hundred chances, and they would say that they stayed because of Liu Zhen's persuasive persuasion." Come down, the bad guy will let me do it anyway, he has earned enough favors and won the holy family with his mouth, maybe he can get another share of the official salt, why not do it?"

The young man nodded, and continued: "There is also..."

Before he finished speaking, he deliberately glanced at Su Cen.

Su Cen raised his head, met the boy's eyes, and instantly understood the meaning of these words.

Not to mention that he left the capital without authorization and was absent from the court meeting for no reason. Just because he dragged Xue Zhi and others into the water, he offended many people. He was also the presiding judge in the Yangzhou case. Still more than enough.

Li Shi frowned, looked at Su Cen and said, "Zi Xu was wronged a bit, and I will make it up for you later."

Su Cen nodded. He was not afraid of being wronged. He was worried that there would be turmoil in Beijing, and someone would use him to make a fuss about threatening Li Shi, but now he was relieved.

Li Shi asked if there was anything else?

The young man shook his head.

Li Shi leaned lightly on the back of the brocade quilt, "Then tell them to close the Internet cafe. Li Qiong doesn't move. It's still useful for me to keep it. I want all the civil and military officials to have a copy of the other people's evidence before going to court tomorrow morning."

The young man took the lead, stepped out of the window, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Su Cen looked at the falling curtains and hesitated to speak, Li Shi said directly: "What do you want to ask?"

Su Cen twitched the corner of her mouth, "...this kid is pretty good at it."

The implication is that you are a majestic prince who doesn't even let a child go!

"Child?" Li Shi smiled, "This kid is older than you."

Su Cen: "?"

Li Shi smiled and said: "If I remember correctly, he is two years older than Qi Lin, but he suffered from an illness when he was young, and he didn't grow tall, but his brains are not bad. He was the one who set up my dark lines in Beijing. This appearance fools those who don't have long-sighted eyes."

Su Cen: "..."

Well, he is the one with short eyes.

The guard of honor of Ying Ning King did not rest all night, and rushed to Mingde's gate before the city gate was about to open.Even if you give Chengmen Lang a hundred more guts, he would not dare to block King Ning's carriage outside the city gate, so the Mingde Gate opened half an hour earlier than usual, and the news of King Ning's return to the capital had already been announced before the sky was bright. It spread throughout the entire city of Chang'an.

Su Cen got off the car at Changlefang and went home first. As expected, Ah Fu cleaned up the front of the house in an orderly manner as ordered. It looks like the owner is not at home.

It's just that he is much more reliable than that guy Qu Ling'er, and he didn't know where he went in the blink of an eye after getting off the boat yesterday.

As soon as Su Cen opened the door and entered the yard, he saw the unreliable man sitting on the porch with his elbows in his arms and gnawed at him. He didn't forget to say hello to him: "Good morning, Brother Su, you are too Slow down, I came back last night and built a snowman for you at the door, do you like it?"

Su Cen: "..."

After Li Shi returned to the Xingqing Palace, he changed into a court dress, and went to the theater non-stop... No, go to the court, and when he arrived at the court hall, Prince Ning sat on a chair, squinted his eyes and quietly watched the group of people taking turns. Go into battle and sing a good show of dog biting dog.

A group of corrupt officials who took bribes fought with their backs, but they dragged a bunch of them who did not commit crimes as backs, and it would be uncomfortable for anyone else.So early this morning, the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty took the news from all directions, wishing to drown those who dragged them into the water with spittle stars, the officials were furious, and all the old sesame seeds and rotten millet were revealed.

These people are afraid that they have long forgotten that the object of their righteous indignation in the court hall a few days ago was this Prince Ning who was sitting upright in the hall, and now they all want to hug Prince Ning's thigh tightly to show that they are being deceived by traitors. Sincerely.

These people were all blushing and thick-necked, but Liu Yu and Li Qiong had the ugliest faces in this class.

It is not difficult for Liu Zhen to understand that the officials impeached Li Shi, and seeing that the building was about to collapse, he came to turn the tide, which not only hit Li Shi, but also won the hearts of the people. Wouldn't it be fun to kill two birds with one stone.As a result, Li Shi messed up the situation as soon as he came, he didn't win people's hearts, and he just watched these people become Li Shi's dogs.

Liu Yu shook his face as if someone had poked his ancestral grave, while Li Qiong looked pale as if he had seen the ancestor in the ancestral grave.

His heart was already cold when he received the list this morning. It contained a detailed list of officials who accepted bribes, followed by the date and the amount of stolen money, but he was the only one missing from the list.Of course, he wouldn't take chances. Someone accidentally missed him. The reason can only be that he has other uses, and he will end up worse than everyone else.

On the second day, Li Qiong accepted the paper for retiring from old age and returning home, but Li Shi beat him back before the day passed, and wrote a few big words: Qing is the pillar of the country, and he should stay in the court to assist the government.

Now that his life is not guaranteed, what kind of government will he serve?Just one letter was sent back and one was sent back. In the end, there was nothing to do. Since he couldn't return to the village, he said he was sick and couldn't go to court. As long as he could not face Li Shi, it would be fine.

Prince Ning was very considerate of this, and immediately sent someone to send bird's nest and ginseng to Li Qiong to replenish his body.

As a result, Master Shang Shu was assassinated at his own mansion that night. A bowl of calming soup given by his favored concubine, if the soup hadn’t been spilled and the dog licked it, it would have kicked his legs and buried it in the backyard It should be him.

Before dawn on the second day, a rare visitor stood in front of Xingqing Palace. Li Qiong hugged Li Shi’s thigh as soon as he came out of changing clothes. Lord Shang Shu lost his usual expression and burst into tears at Li Shi, “Your Majesty, save me.” , someone wants to kill me, my lord, you must save me!"

Li Shi helped him up calmly, "Your Majesty Li is an official of the imperial court and lives in the third rank. Who would dare to kill you?"

"My little concubine... my little concubine is going to kill me, someone must have ambushed her beside me... and my cook, my maid, they may all want to kill me," Li Qiong began incoherently Nonsense, "They must have been sent here... They thought I had defected to you, confessed the list, and wanted to kill me!"

Li Shi narrowed his eyes: "Who are they?"

"They..." Li Qiong was taken aback for a moment, and the whole person visibly flinched. After looking around for a while, he whispered tremblingly: "If I say so, can the prince save me?"

Li Shi raised his lips and smiled, "That depends on whether Master Li is worth saving for me."

The Ministry of Officials is at the head of the six ministries, and Li Qiong is also the Minister, who is in charge of the appointment, removal, promotion, and assessment of civil servants all over the world. As long as Li Qiong is bribed, it will be easy for him to arrange his own people in the officialdom of the Great Zhou. People, Li Qiong single-handedly pulled them up.

Now all the officials who took bribes in the Yangzhou case were implicated, those who were dismissed were dismissed, and those who were demoted were demoted.

Although the secret door may not believe that Li Qiong has really defected to Li Shi, the living do not have the peace of mind of a dead person after all.

It's just that they didn't expect that they were not the only ones who planted eyeliner in Li Qiong's house. After the fight, they pushed Li Qiong to Li Shi.

Li Qiong deserves to be the Minister of the Ministry of Officials who has worked for so many years. He kept all the things to save his life in his mind. He immediately memorized a list of officials who were secretly planted in the officialdom of the Great Zhou Dynasty and gave it to Li Shi. , Down to Bapin County Cheng, there is no omission.

Li Shi got the list and glanced at it, his gaze became icy cold, Li Qiong was afraid that this person would turn his back on him, so he hurriedly asked: "My lord, what about me?"

Li Shi didn't bother to look at him anymore, and said to Qi Lin: "Cut your job to serve the people, change your name and send him to Beijing, and you will never be an official."

Li Qiong sat slumped on the ground, no matter what he said, his life was saved.

The bloody storm in the capital lasted for nearly half a month before it seemed to stop. Before everyone breathed a sigh of relief, Prince Ning waved his hand and said that nothing had happened.

The so-called Beijing inspection is to conduct a review and appraisal of the achievements of officials across the country during their tenure. Lift.Originally, the Beijing inspection was held every six years, but now it has only been four years since the last Beijing inspection. I don't know why Prince Ning had a sudden whim, and the big guys who are still disturbed by the end of the year can't live in peace.

But since Jingcha means a change in the officialdom, no one finds it strange that a few people leave and then come. The officialdom in Dazhou has been silently cleaned under the gentle wind and drizzle.

When everything finally settled, everyone realized that it was the day of the year-end festival.

At the end of each year, the emperor and his officials first go to the southern suburbs to worship the sky, and then to the Taimiao to worship the ancestors. One is to pray for good weather and peace in the coming year, and the other is to comfort the ancestors and inspire future generations.Originally, the sacrificial ceremony was jointly handled by the Ministry of Rites and Taichang Temple, but now it seems a little stretched if the Beijing inspection is delayed, and the day will come when the preparations are almost completed.

On the day of the sacrificial ceremony, the Imperial Army of the Beiya opened the way, the little emperor Luan was in the center, Li Shi was on the left, the Empress Dowager Chu was on the right, followed by all the Beijing officials from the fifth rank and above, they left the palace through Chengtianmen and passed along Zhuque Street.

The purpose of the great sacrifice was to pray for the blessings of the people, and the streets where the guards of honor passed were not cleared, so the people should be given a chance to see the emperor.

Su Cen followed the team unhurriedly and walked at the end. Li Shi said that he might be wronged, but he couldn't say how wronged he was.The official position fell back to the previous Dali Temple, but Dali Shaoqing was only a temporary replacement, mainly because Xue Zhi was the governor of Shangzhou, and adding a false title to him would not be too inferior.Afterwards, it seems that Li Shi knew that he was going to be demoted, and he added it specially before.There is also a half-year salary penalty, Mr. Su is rich and powerful, so he doesn't take it seriously.

Su Cen has seen several impeachment papers from Li Shi, and they all want to demote him again and again, drive him out of Beijing and never hire him. Li Shi can turn big things into small things. It must have worked hard.

However, most of the documents for impeaching him came from Li Shi's father-in-law—a few old people under Wen Tingyan's sect. Su Cen couldn't figure out how he provoked this big man, and he looked like he wanted to kill him to avoid future troubles. .

In any case, it has become a general trend for the official salt to replace the questioning salt order, and he is safe and sound, and everything is happy.

Although Su Cen was at the end of the team, he was not forgotten because of this. Firstly, he was this year's new champion, and he solved several big cases in Beijing. The lord is young and has an outstanding appearance, with black hair and high crown, a jade complexion, and a cold demeanor standing out from the crowd of bad old men, standing out from the crowd, causing quite a stir.A few girls even followed the tail of the team for several miles, just to catch a glimpse of Mr. Su's demeanor.

However, Lord Su held his head high and his chest high, without looking sideways, except that when his eyes fell on King Ning's sedan chair in front of him, he was lost in thought for a moment.

The guard of honor traveled smoothly all the way to the halfway point, but the team suddenly stagnated.

There seemed to be some commotion at the front. Su Cen was at the end of the line and could only hear the discussions around, but the front couldn't see clearly.

There was a sudden scream from the crowd, and the crowd in front fled in all directions. The Habayashi soldiers in the front row unsheathed their swords one by one, and someone shouted urgently: "There are assassins, escort!"

Immediately afterwards, Su Cen also saw it, and saw something happened in front of the team. Suddenly, thick smoke billowed and flames shot into the sky.

If you look more carefully, you will find that the burning thing seems to be a person.