Sha Po Lang

On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Gu Yun secretly sent envoys to visit Dongying and the Nanyang islands. So far, the front line has been stalemate for more than three months. The existing front has been stretched and expanded under the constant tug-of-war between the two sides. The flames of war have spread from Jiangnan, Jiangbei to Jiangnan Thirteen counties, even spread to Guangdong and Guangxi.

A large number of residents who were trapped in their homeland and refused to cross the river began to form their own militias. Although the folk long-armed divisions living in various places did not have Ziliujin, they tried every means to replace them with coal and earthen explosives, and they also created a group of less fancy militias in various ways. Civilian armed forces.

For this reason, the Lingshu Academy announced the establishment of branches in various places to exchange and teach technologies other than highly confidential military industries.

And the far-reaching impact of the war has gradually surfaced.

Fang Qin never expected that it was not the King Yan Party that broke the peace in the court, but the Qing Dynasty of the two courts——

This year coincided with the three-year autumn of the Liang Dynasty, which was interrupted midway because of the war, and then delayed for a long time. The Guibang was not released until the twelfth lunar month. Scholars jokingly called it "Mold List".

Less than three days after the announcement of the list, a scholar in the Shaanxi government committed suicide bizarrely. The officials below did not dare to cause trouble at this juncture, and tried their best not to report it. At the gate of Shitai, an imperial court was filed.

The reason for this is a long story.

Prince Yan went to the south of the Yangtze River twice, beheaded countless heads, and introduced the most severe bureaucracy, which made the corruption that had been intensified in Daliang since the Yuanhe period temporarily subside. After a few years of war, even the palace was tightened Expenditure costs, official salaries had to be reduced again and again, and the beacon ticket made the situation worse, and was closely linked to the evaluation of officials... It was like closing the source and opening the flow again. The life of officials in Daliang has never been so sad in a hundred years .

There is a saying that it is easy to go from thrift to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality. When it comes to the wealth of a family, no one will feel that "everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the country".

But there is nothing to do when life is sad-no one dares to accept gifts, and everyone knows that behind the wealthy businessman is the king of geese. Maybe a wrong gift is a reminder. Needless to say, the heads of Yang Ronggui and others may not have rotted into bones yet.

It just so happened that Qiu Wei was not taken seriously this time, and the whole country was busy fighting for money, and no one cared about these useless scholars, so someone immediately moved their minds on it.

As a result, pulling out the radish and bringing it out of the mud involved a major fraud case involving nine provinces, which shocked the whole country.

Fang Qin managed to suppress the many shit-stirring sticks around him, and after two days of peace and stability, his face was covered in snowflakes from the two courtyards.

The special character Qingliu of the two houses is different from the Yanwang party. The Yanwang party has always been pragmatic, and everything must have a purpose. The struggle for power and power is done in an orderly manner, and many behaviors can be predicted.But this group of high-spirited people who regard fame and fortune as dung often "join for the sake of participation"-that's what they do, and their personal reputation is closely related to how many people participate.

Young princes from prominent families rarely enter the two courts, so most of these freaks are from poor families, and the cheating in the imperial examinations also touches the interests of poor families.

The mad dogs of the two houses, who hadn’t bitten anyone for a long time, seemed to have their tails trampled on collectively, barking furiously, yelling and cursing in different ways every day, forcing Li Feng to investigate strictly. Knocking to death on the Panlong pillar in the main hall.

The brief and false tranquility was broken.

I don't know how many intertwined relationships are involved in the officials of the nine provinces, including Fang Qin's ineffective younger brother.

The youngest son and eldest grandson are the lifeblood of the old man, and even the scholar Fang Daxue, who has not cared about the world for a long time, was shocked. Fang Qin can pretend to be a snake to anyone, but not to his own father, one head becomes two big.

But before Fang Qin could come up with a countermeasure, the emperor didn't know if it was intentional this time, he skipped the Dali Temple and the Inspectorate, and handed over the case to the Military Aircraft Division. Jiang Chong led the investigation, and the others only cooperated.

Seeing that the fire could not be contained in the paper.

Although Fang Qin was born in a beautiful family, he always had a little bit of the idea of ​​shining through the ages in the past, and he was unwilling to be shameless. For this reason, he first abandoned Lu Chang who dared to threaten him, and then abandoned the purebred idiot Wang Bao. It's reached the point where I can't give up anymore - my mother is still sick in the yard next door.

After Mr. Fang comforted this one, he had to explain to that one. There were a group of people waiting for him to make up his mind when he left the house.Just after crying with his old mother, Fang Qin heard that someone came to the door again. He rubbed the center of his brows with a sinking face, and said coldly, "Just say I'm not at home, and send it away."

The servant left silently, and an aide quietly approached, Fang Qin whispered: "Your Excellency, are you worried?"

Fang Qin glanced at him unhappily. Fortunately, he was very good at cultivating energy, so he quickly restrained his gloomy expression, and said slowly: "The scholar failed to rebel for three years, and this time the accident to the imperial court in the capital came too quickly. It's like someone is escorting him... Then Li Minming put on a bright face, only dare to stab people under the table, this kind of face and heart can only deceive the emperor."

The staff asked again: "Do you have a charter in your heart?"

Fang Qin is a complete lawsuit - as long as he can know in advance, even if it is only a day in advance, there is some room for maneuver, but the speed of this incident is too fast, the emperor knew it earlier than him, and directly let Fang Qin know. Chin was in an embarrassing situation.

Fang Qin sighed: "It's difficult, the king of geese is the generation of tigers and wolves. Once he grabs the neck of his prey, he will never let go."

The staff member smiled lightly and said: "My lord, I heard that His Highness King Yan's reforms have not been completely completed, and there are still hundreds of disputes in the court. I think he is too impatient. This step is smart but is smart." error."

Fang Qin stopped in his tracks, and heard that the person next to him was trying to trick him.The Fang Mansion has a lot of staff, but most of them just play chess with the old man Fang Dashi, and there are not many who can speak in front of Fang Qin. Of course, it is rare to seize an opportunity to stand out.

Fang Qin reached out and stroked his beard: "What do you say?"

Seeing that the opportunity came, the staff member hurriedly poured out the words he had prepared: "Now that the matter has come to this point, I am afraid there is no chance of overturning the case. Why don't you take the bottom line? Just try to abolish King Yan's new official law?"

Fang Qin thought he had some good ideas, and cut off his luck simply and neatly when he heard the words, and said coldly: "Corruption in imperial examinations has been a felony of decapitation in all dynasties. What does it have to do with the old and new official laws?"

The staff laughed calmly and said: "My lord, if one person is greedy for ink, he is greedy for ink, and if one person is cheating, he is cheating. But now nine provinces are involved, and countless important ministers are deeply involved. Is this accidental? The emperor will also think, there must be someone in the future." What is the reason? Why are these important court officials so vicious? Because the past two years have been really difficult, the refugees dare not settle down, the exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes are not allowed to be paid, the military expenditures are not allowed to be shared, and the beacon ticket quotas are not dared to be fulfilled."

Fang Qin's eyebrows twitched slightly: "The circulation of beacon tickets is equivalent to gold and silver. This was clearly stipulated after the accident in Jiangnan. What do you say?"

"Circulation can be equated to gold and silver, but it doesn't mean it can be equated to handing over gold and silver to the court," the staff member shook his head and said, "Furthermore, many of the Jiangbei are rich businessmen who came from the south, and the folk customs were civilized earlier, but the Central Plains and even the Northwest area are not In the same way, if people don't recognize it, they don't recognize it. If the government forces it, the unreasonable people will cry, make trouble, and hang themselves. Think about it, if you really fight it out, there may be room for reversal in this matter, even if the third master is convicted and dismissed, as long as the power of the Fang family is still there, it may not be impossible to make a comeback in the future."

Fang Qin fell silent after hearing this.

The staff said in a low voice: "My lord, the world is unpredictable. We are looking forward to overturning the old score after the battle. Naturally, King Yan will not be surprised. At this time, don't talk about 'no fight is fight'. If you don't take the initiative to play chess, you can only fight." Forced to death by them—students talk too much today, please don’t take offense, please leave.”

On the [-]th day of the twelfth lunar month, when the governor of Shaanxi Province, one of the masterminds involved in the case, was on trial, he really let out his grief in court, crying that the land under his jurisdiction was poor and weak, and that beacon tickets were difficult to promote, so the local government had to buy them. If you can't finish it, you can only borrow here and there, and you really have no income, and you are miserable, so you have to make this bad plan.

As soon as these words came out, like a stone stirring up a thousand layers of waves, the criminal officials all said one word, and completely dragged the Yanwang Party, who was watching the fire from the other side, into the water, and even the hob meat blatantly said: "To say that people cheated in the imperial examination is to indirectly buy officials. Selling an official, what is the difference between linking the evaluation of officials with the beacon ticket, and selling an official?"

This year's resignation of the old and welcome of the new has passed in a scuffle, and no one has eaten a reassuring dumpling.

At the end of the pinch, the Military Aircraft Department had to write a letter to plead guilty, officially announcing the abolition of the clauses linked to the beacon tickets in the new official law, and at the same time suspending the sale of beacon tickets.

However, the war is in full swing, and it is inevitable that the court will fall into a situation where there is no money to use again. The Military Aircraft Department took the opportunity to propose to stop the official silver casting of this dynasty, following the Westerners' policy in the occupied areas and the previous dynasty. Long'an Yinzhuang issued special "substitute silver" instead of gold and silver coins, and drafted a series of new regulations and handed them along with the confession.

The Longan Yinzhuang is linked to the Canal Office, which is also within the purview of the Military Aircraft Department. As long as the new regulations are feasible, no one has an opinion on whether it is "Tiejiaozi" or "Zhitongbao", but it must not be in the hands of the Military Aircraft Department.

So at this time, something went wrong with the steam rail that was about to take shape as expected.

The north and south sections have been basically connected, and only the middle section is left. If it is connected, it will be done, but the last section has been delayed for more than a month and dare not start construction. The problem lies in the land.

Most of the land along the route has already been reserved, but it is impossible for such a long section of land to be unowned. It was originally privately owned and would be bought by the Canal Office at market prices from the original landowners. , and at the same time give some other subsidies-such as tax reduction and exemption, etc., and those who are unwilling to sell their ancestral property, the imperial court will use rent instead of levy, write a lease contract, and pay rent every year.

Since the Yuanhe period, the Daliang court has been emphasizing benevolent government, being strict with civil and military officials, but very polite to the folk gentry. It is precisely because of being too polite that there is a fatal omission in this lease—only the lease period is mentioned, not What if the original owner doesn't want to rent it?

Probably did not expect that someone would break the contract with the imperial court.

And the last remaining section of the road happens to be a large piece of rented land. The original owner is a big landlord, and the family has other businesses. It was originally negotiated well. Although it has not been repaired here, the rent has been paid. The man suddenly repented and returned the rent in small amounts. Although this man has no official or position, he has a deep background and is related to Zhao Guogong's family. When he retreated like this, no one around him dared to slap him in the face. People from the Canal Office avoided seeing them, making it too late for the steam rail to change course, and had to make a big detour to change course.

Due to the stagnation of the steam rail, Gu Yun wrote several letters in succession to inquire about the completion date, and in the end he submitted the paperwork directly to Li Fengna, saying that the front-line supplies could not keep up, and if this continued, he would be forced to shrink the front line.

Fang Qin's youngest brother hadn't cleaned himself up yet. At this time, Grand Master Fang finally expressed his clear dissatisfaction with his son's "look forward and backward" and "insufficient wrist" and took action himself.

The former half court master did two things at the same time.

First of all, he secretly met with the foreign affairs officer of the imperial court who was in contact with the Western envoys, and euphemistically hinted that the national power of Daliang at this time may not be enough to support a protracted war with the Westerners. A butcher, but a person who can finally facilitate the peace talks and return the country to a clear and peaceful one.

The foreign affairs officer was a student of Fang Dashi, and asked cautiously: "Teacher, if the emperor is determined to fight, how can we facilitate it as courtiers?"

"That depends on how you tell the Westerners." The scholar Fang, who is full of immortality, said meaningfully, "What they want is nothing more than benefits. Do you think they are willing to continue to fight with Gu Yun, or are they willing to fight with Gu Yun?" Take a step back and cooperate with the peace faction in the middle of the court to cease the war and communicate with each other as soon as possible? The emperor and the court want face. If foreigners are sincere and give up face, we will not be stingy, don't you think? There is no front-line war. From the beginning, I don't believe that the emperor will let Yan Wang and the others go on messing around."

After dismissing the foreign affairs officer who had just woken up from a dream, Master Fang asked his wife to invite another person——Emperor Long'an's nanny, who was once under the care of Mrs. Fang after she was raised in the palace in her early years.

Li Feng has a lot of affection for his nanny, he was talking about business with Chang Geng, when he heard that the nanny handed the sign to the palace to visit the long-sick queen, he hastily explained to Chang Geng, and rushed to the harem.

Chang Geng slowly left the palace and walked out, the whole palace was shrouded in twilight, the golden light of thousands of glazed tiles was gone, and there were still some imperceptible shards of ice shards hanging on the edges, which seemed extremely unhuman.

It's so cold, and Beijing is so hot.

Recently, the front line has become more and more tense, and Gu Yun's letters have also decreased accordingly, and the rambling chats are basically invisible, and the occasional private letter is nothing more than a few words.

Chang Geng let out a breath slowly, stood blankly under the vermilion high wall for a while, and thought to himself: "The day after tomorrow will be the sixteenth day of the first lunar month."

But the mist that shrouded the mountains and rivers has not cleared the clouds yet.

Although in his step-by-step planning, the result was getting closer and closer, but he still couldn't help feeling panic from time to time.

At this time, a group of guards passed by, saw him, and hurriedly stepped forward to greet him and said, "My lord."

Chang Geng didn't say a word, stared at the two guards for a while, then suddenly walked away like a demon.

"I want to see Gu Zixi." He thought to himself, "Soon."