I write novels in the East Palace

This is the first time that Zhou Chengyi has listened to politics in a serious manner since he came here. Although he was not in the Jinluan Palace with all the officials, the combined weight of less than twenty ministers in the Qianyuan Palace Tingzheng Hall is enough .

Among them, Zhou Chengyi was familiar with them, including Prime Minister Fang, Taishi Shen, Zheng Yushi, General Pei, etc., who played an important role in the court. Fang Guanyan was also among them, but it was not very eye-catching at the bottom.

At this time, the atmosphere in the hall was not good.

"To be honest, the ships of my country Xiao are strictly forbidden to enter the sea boundary, even if they stop for a short time?" Grand Master Shen confirmed.

Yu Zhongling, head of the envoy, nodded with a rather ugly face, and replayed the scene again, "We avoided the southeast territory occupied by the red-haired barbarians according to the route map, and headed for the Eritrean Sea marked on it, but here The Red Sea basin was driven by the South Turkic Kingdom, and they strictly forbid the Eastern fleet to enter, and we have repeatedly emphasized that we will be rejected even if we stop temporarily for supplies.”

"After being surrounded by their navy for several days, the supplies on board were exhausted, so we had no choice but to return."

Grand Master Shen asked again: "Are the fleets of other countries accessible?"

"It works. We met Dongyang people and merchants from Goguryeo at sea, and they all gave way." After Yu Zhongling answered, he added, "I asked the fishermen at the pier, and they thought we were merchants. He told Me, only ships with the Xiao flag flag are not allowed to pass."

Zhou Chengyi knew that since the number of pirates in the East Ocean increased, although the Xiao Kingdom did not explicitly prohibit maritime trade, it has strictly controlled the coastal ports and set high taxes. Under this policy, maritime merchants are naturally sharp. reduce.

However, there are policies and countermeasures, and even private ports are set up to avoid taxes.

"That is to say, what they said is that the Eastern Fleet is not allowed to enter, and it is specifically aimed at our country of Xiao? It is really unreasonable!" Zheng Yushi scolded angrily, and immediately cupped his hands at his superior, "Your Majesty, I invite you to send an envoy to the Southern Turks. Seek justice!"

Another censor said, "Such an insult should be shocked by force!"

Zheng Yushi frowned, "Peace is the most important thing in the world. How can we start a war and conquer at every turn? I am a country of Chinese etiquette. Such a reckless move does not have the demeanor of a big country. Your Majesty, I think you should send envoys." Negotiating with ministers, countries make friends rather than enemies."

Those who opposed it also said, "If someone respects me a foot, I will return another foot. If someone offends me, how can I swallow my anger? And the envoys are on board, you can think of negotiating things, can't he think of it? It can be seen There is no need to talk about it!"

"No!" Zheng Yushi waved his hand.

"Your method is useless!" Another censor confronted each other.

The two parties automatically divided into two groups, only Taishi Shen and Prime Minister Fang stood in the middle without moving, but they also listened carefully to the debate behind them with their ears pricked up.

At the beginning, I still obeyed the rules of the debate contest, so it was lively, but seeing that neither of them could convince the other, I was in a hurry after all. Almost flipped over.

In the end, the emperor called to stop. He rubbed the center of his brows, "Shut up, I have a headache because of the arguing. What do the prime minister and the grand master think?"

Prime Minister Fang said, "Reporting to Your Majesty, do I personally think that the method of sending envoys to negotiate peace is too gentle? The Six Kingdoms are to Qin, and Song is to Jin and Liao. They are all lessons learned from the past. Even though our Xiao State is not as weak as Song State, it is so and so. Wouldn't it make people look down on you if you handle it with care?"

Grand Master Shen paused his bearded hands, raised his eyes and squinted, "Your Majesty, the old minister thinks that forceful suppression is too tough, let's not talk about the cost of the sea expedition, let's say that we are here to go to the West by way, so we shouldn't make trouble for nothing."

"Don't take the initiative to provoke right and wrong, but there is no reason to retreat when right and wrong come." Prime Minister Fang suddenly showed two furrows between his brows, obviously not agreeing.

"Why do things that can be simplified become more difficult and time-consuming for nothing." Grand Master Shen groaned heavily, and his beard blew up.

emperor:"……"

The two old ministers took the lead in arguing, and the Tingzheng Hall, which had been quiet for a short while, became noisy again. The emperor only felt his ears buzzing, and he pinched the bridge of his nose much harder, leaving a red mark.

"Prince! Tell me." The emperor raised his voice and directly pointed out Zhou Chengyi.

The Tingzheng Palace suddenly lost its voice, and all eyes fell to the side. I don't know if they are immersed in their own thoughts, or Zhou Chengyi who is wandering in the sky.

Wang He hesitated and took small steps forward, reminding him in a low voice, "Your Highness..."

Zhou Chengyi made a stop gesture, touched his chin and turned his head quickly, and muttered without raising his head, "I think Grand Master Shen is right. The expedition takes time. We need to get the things as soon as possible. We should spend more time here, and should we fight one by one if the ports are not open? It is too overbearing and unreasonable."

"But what Prime Minister Fang said is not unreasonable." Zhou Chengyi suddenly changed the subject, "I was slapped by someone inexplicably, but I still smiled and apologized. , self-examination with the style of a great country, but acting like this is more like fear of trouble, which makes people look down upon it."

General Pei's description of him was very good, and they all responded, "Your Highness is right, we are not against the mission, but against the vague peace talks!"

"I, Xiao Guo, am I afraid of being a rat, how can he stop insulting him like this!"

Zhou Chengyi made a pressing gesture, "Father, since both have advantages and disadvantages, why not use the strengths of both sides to find a method that can not only calm the situation, but also demonstrate the majesty of the country."

"Oh? What's the way to take advantage of both parties? The prince might as well say something." The emperor said.

Zhou Chengyi smiled, "Actually, there are two ways to compromise, military exercises or military parades. There are two types of military exercises. They are used to train troops internally, or they are used to warn and deter the enemy at the front line. They are used in battle and provoked." Therefore, it is most appropriate to use a military parade for this matter."

""Zuo Zhuan" once recorded that "watching soldiers to prestige princes", so I know the meaning of the word "military parade", but what is military exercise?" Taishi Shen said the doubts of everyone.

Zhou Chengyi combined his knowledge with that of the original owner to explain the word, "A military exercise is a military exercise, that is, training soldiers."

In fact, military exercises and military parades were very popular in Xiao Guo's army, especially after Zhou Chengyi's uncle Zhong Liyue, whom he had not met formally, took the stage.

Zhongliyue's army has strict discipline, and is also very strict about the appearance of the soldiers. There are no prostitutes in the army, and the soldiers are not allowed to visit flower houses.In the original owner's memory, his uncle would conduct surprise inspections every now and then, and those who failed would be directly demoted, forcibly suppressing the sloppy habits of the army.

"Is this method really useful?" Most civil servants had reservations.

General Pei said "Hey" and immediately rolled up his sleeves, "I'll let you see if it works in seven days!" He took the initiative to take over the matter.

He laughed twice again, and said without winking, "Actually, this is the marshal's forte. The one hundred thousand armored troops under him are all capable of conscripting and fighting, and one is as good as ten elite soldiers. The fierce spirit, just standing there, can make people feel timid."

The atmosphere in the Tingzheng Hall was suddenly cold and quiet, and the quiet needle drop could be heard. Zheng Yushi, who was winking at him desperately, almost had cramps in his eyes, but Pei Shengyi rubbed the back of his head, and smiled silly with his "black as black" face.

Zhou Chengyi couldn't help but glance over, seriously suspecting that General Pei did it on purpose.

In fact, it was intentional.

The emperor saw through his tricks at a glance, and it was probably the solution to the problem, so his mood became clearer, and he didn't blame him too much. When you left Beijing, you promised not to break the North Huo, so instead of using your brain to ponder these things, you should think about how to send the fleet out of the Eritrean Sea as soon as possible."

All the ministers looked at each other in an uproar, and General Pei responded happily, "Your Majesty, we will wait and see."

Seven days later, a "dress rehearsal" for the military parade was organized, but Zhou Chengyi didn't go to see it.

The reason is that Fu Qian was finally able to write letters to urge the manuscript again.

Fu Qian first talked about the current sales situation of "Fox Dream", which can be said to be quite gratifying. Some merchants who have taken relatively small quantities have begun to return to Beijing, and other merchants have also sent new orders. Local bookstores took the initiative to come to the door.

Today, the postman has to go to Chang'an Bookstore every day, bringing a bunch of letters from readers from other places.Many non-local readers who heard that "Fox Dream" is currently preparing a play want to buy a ticket at a high price, but there is no price at all.

Speaking of this, I have to mention Fu Qian's sales method, which is free trial reading.

Fu Qian asked someone to print the first [-] words of "Fox Dream" into a palm-sized booklet, and each merchant only had a hundred small copies in his hands. When the merchants went to a place and yelled that it was a popular book in Chang'an, there were naturally people Come together, if someone sees the price hesitation, the merchant will attract it with a free trial.

It's free and doesn't lose a piece of meat. Naturally, some people want to see it one or two, and spread the reputation all at once.But there are only so many free things in total, what should I do if I want to continue reading?Of course it is to pay for it!

Naturally, some people think that "Fox Dream" is too expensive to complete, so the merchant took out what Fu Qian taught him, "If you have connections, you can collect "Chang'an" magazine. It is your ability to collect it. After all, Chang'an The books published by the bookstore are basically not reprinted."

If it won't be reprinted, isn't it out of print? ——Actually, this is not a lie. Fu Qian always stops when he earns enough, leaving room for him to bounce. The only thing he didn’t say is that the base of this out-of-print is quite large, with 50 copies.

This "out-of-print argument" will naturally increase as soon as the purchasing power comes out.

Of course, there are those who don’t believe it. If you write to ask relatives and friends in Chang’an, you will get an affirmative answer. If you rush to buy the book, you will basically get an answer that it is sold out.

"Don't worry, our group of merchants are all randomly looking for places to go, maybe someone will come here again, just wait and see." The merchant spoke with many uncertain words , It caused those people to feel a chill in their hearts, thinking why did they hesitate at the beginning.

50 volumes of books are allocated to various places, which is actually not a lot, as there is a market for where there is demand.Chang'an Bookstore is not interested in this interest, but others are.

Gradually there are various pirated editions on the market. Some people are shameless and set the price the same or higher, but the printing is full of errors and omissions, and there are even missing pages and even continuations.

Fu Qian didn't know that there was such a thing until someone brought a pirated book to Shangshufang and asked for a refund.

However, these are follow-up matters, so I will not list them for the time being.

Half of Fu Qian's letter is about rainbow farts, and the other half is full of tricks to urge manuscripts. This kind of serious business is squeezed in the middle, and it is covered in a short sentence or two, at most one or two paragraphs.

Take people with short hands and eat people with short mouths, and listen to rainbow farts with soft ears.

Zhou Chengyi really couldn't just let it go, and finally started to write the manuscript vigorously. Although the progress was still very slow, there was still hope for the accumulation of little things.

Although Zhou Chengyi didn't go to see it, he still paid attention to it, but judging by the way General Pei walked with the wind afterwards, he should have not lost the chain.

Later, Zhou Chengyi went to the Tingzheng Hall again, but finally learned the big secret about Fang Guanyan.

The emperor sent another mission, this time with the goal of going to many countries near the Eritrean Sea, including Southern Turks, and invited them to watch this grand military parade.

When he was stranded at sea, Fang Guanyan showed his talent for languages, so Yu Zhongling personally reported the candidates for the envoy this time, which caused quite a stir.

"Your Majesty, absolutely not!" Someone advised, "This is raising tigers to cause trouble!"

Yu Zhongling was delighted when he saw it, and he protected his weaknesses. After finally meeting a good seedling, it was impossible for him to let him go again.He glanced at the past coldly, "Then it's too late for you to say this, Guan Yan has already gone with me once, so it doesn't matter if you go again."

"Fuck! You know who he is but you still act like this. His heart can be punished!" The man pointed at his nose and scolded, asking, "What is your intention?!"

Yu Zhongling was neither humble nor overbearing, he didn't even move his brows, "Naturally, it's a meritocracy, sharing worries for His Majesty."

"It's Fang Guanyan recommended by Gu." Zhou Chengyi didn't tell Yu Zhongling to be blamed, so he couldn't help frowning.

He guessed that there must be some opposition in the court, but he didn't expect the opposition to be so strong. He said again what he had persuaded the emperor before, and then asked, "Could it be possible that the ministers can find a second such outstanding talent to replace him?"

Everyone dare not answer.

Naturally, it is difficult to find out for a while.

Zhou Chengyi asked again, "Gu feels strange. When Gu recommended Fang Guanyan to the Imperial Academy to compile a book, although the Qing family also had opponents, they were not so passionate. The Qing family responded with consent. Why is it so heroic today? situation?"

"This is different..." Zheng Yushi tried to explain the importance of the envoy.

Zhou Chengyi didn't give him a chance to speak, and said directly, "From the three lords and the nine ministers, down to the nine-rank county magistrate, they are all the pillars of my Xiao Kingdom, and everything they do is for the construction of my Xiao Kingdom! Could it be that the Hanlin Academy compiled books? Restructuring education is not important?"

"If that's the case, what's the difference!" His words were so loud that no one dared to look at him for a moment.

Fang Guanyan's heart was deeply shocked when he heard this. He originally thought that this matter might be over again, but he was already disappointed in his heart, so he could only passively resist the injustice with silence.

But he didn't want someone to fight with the ministers in order to defend him, without retreating.

The previous one was his father.

The extinguished fire in Fang Guanyan's heart finally flickered again. He let out a long breath and walked forward. He bowed silently to Zhou Chengyi first, and then he straightened up after a long time.

Then he bowed to the emperor and said: "Your Majesty, Fang Guanyan was born and raised in Xiao Country, he is a native of Xiao Country."

"But you have the blood of the former royal family on your body."

The author has something to say: 22 will be caught, so tomorrow's update will be postponed until evening, and I just went to get a new crown vaccine (after a long time, I finally got the appointment, it was not easy).

The next chapter of Farming Articles will be published.