Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 205 Who is Retracting Wings
On the flower seller's basket, I bought a branch ready to bloom.

The tears are stained lightly and evenly, but still have traces of the dawn dew.

I’m afraid that my lover will guess that my face is not as beautiful as that of a flower.

I wear my hair in a cloud-like style and wear a hairpin slantingly, just to let my lover compare them.

Li Qingzhao was undoubtedly a woman who was always young in mentality and full of youthful vitality.

After getting married, she and her husband still maintained the liveliness and shyness of their girlhood.

Li Shishi, like her cousin, is also a woman who is very young in mentality.

She would do whatever she thought of and live her life to the fullest.

She never uses her age or experience to restrict herself, nor does she care about other people's opinions.

For example, at this moment, Peng Tao and Yu Lin, who were sitting under the eaves, had strange looks on their faces, but what did it have to do with her?

When her lover came, she wanted to act like a spoiled child, just like a child who had fallen down. Only when she saw someone she could rely on would she raise her hands and cry in a baby voice, saying that his hand hurt...

She knows how to act coquettishly and cutely. She is charming and charming, making people fascinated and intoxicated. She is very flexible and able to control herself.

This is an interesting soul. An interesting soul plus a good-looking appearance makes a beauty.

Even though he had already learned from Luo Tingxia that Shishi was unharmed, Yang Yuan still couldn't help but feel distressed when he saw her in such a state.

He hurried forward, supported Shishi, and said softly, "I have heard about it, so I rushed to see you. What's wrong? Are you injured?"

Li Shishi shook her head: "I was not injured, I just used the stick with all my strength. Although I beat my opponent badly, my arms were also tired and sore."

This goblin!

Looking at Li Shishi's big watery eyes, Yang Yuan couldn't help feeling angry and amused.

"Come on, I'll help you to rest and listen to your detailed explanation!"

Yang Yuan didn't dare let her act like a spoiled child in public, so he quickly helped her leave.

When they arrived at Shishi's boudoir, as soon as the door was closed, Li Shishi, who looked timid and weak, became excited.

She grabbed Yang Yuan and said excitedly, "Erlang, do you know? I was really awesome yesterday!
I just used a whistle stick, and more than a dozen big men couldn't get close to me. That "Sleeping Dragon Skill" is so powerful, really so powerful!"

Yang Yuan smiled and said, "I have heard about it from the people in the Jisu Room. Since I have practiced this technique, I have also realized its magical properties. The person who taught you this technique must be very extraordinary."

Li Shishi nodded repeatedly: "The great hermit hides in the city. I was young and ignorant at the time, and I really mistook him for the real person."

Yang Yuan said: "However, you have never practiced martial arts. Did you really prevent more than a dozen big men from getting close to you yesterday?"

Li Shishi said seriously: "Really, many people saw it, Leng Zuoya was right next to me.

At the beginning, I really didn't know how to use my strength, and I knew nothing about stick techniques.

But since Leng Zuoya was using the stick, I followed his example and gradually gained some experience..."

Li Shishi told Yang Yuan in detail how she quickly mastered the stick technique and displayed her female power yesterday.

Yang Yuan was also very excited after hearing this.

He could understand Li Shishi's sudden change yesterday.

This is just like Zhang Wuji who has learned the Nine Yang Divine Art and then imitates his opponent's Shaolin Dragon Claw Hand by copying it, which is naturally easy.

What shocked him was that this Sleeping Dragon Technique had such miraculous effects.

It not only strengthens the body, keeps the youthful appearance, and builds internal strength, but also allows people to enjoy the pleasure of sex...

This is not the so-called Dormant Dragon Skill, it is simply a panacea magic skill.

The two excitedly exchanged their respective understandings and experiences of this technique.

Yang Yuan said, "Shishi, if you practice martial arts now, you can make rapid progress."

Li Shishi said cheerfully: "It's never a bad thing to have martial arts skills. Among the guards I hired, there is an excellent local martial artist.

Leng Zuoya will also be a good coach. I will ask them for advice on martial arts on weekdays."

Yang Yuan agreed greatly and nodded, saying, "As for the art of fighting, the moves are just the same, there aren't many secrets.

What is really difficult is actually the skill, which you have in abundance."

"So, it's easy for you to learn the moves and techniques. Leng Zuoya happens to be by your side, so you can ask her for advice and learn from her at any time.

Sparring is very important. Timing, timing, and experience all come from this."

Li Shishi nodded sweetly.

When she was a girl, she also had a dream of becoming a knight.

Fly high and high, galloping across the world.

Unexpectedly, this dream was realized by her at an age when she had gradually forgotten it.

At this time, Leng Yuchan's voice came from outside the door: "Is that you, Vice Minister Yang? Madam Li, Wadiye's people are here!"

Li Shishi raised her voice and said, "Got it, we'll be there right away!"

Yang Yuan lowered his voice and said to Li Shishi, "Let's go and meet them. From now on, you just need to act like a businessman in front of them.

Wait until Wadiye takes the bait, then I will strike. If I don’t move, it’s fine. But if I do, it will be a huge blow!”

Li Shishi giggled and asked in a friendly voice, "Really? Erlang is so powerful that he can do anything?"

She smiled at Yang Yuan, her almond eyes, red lips, eyebrows and eyes were all charming.

Yang Yuan glared at her in annoyance, slapped her slender waist and curvaceous buttocks, and scolded her, "Be serious and stop being so frivolous!"

"Oh!" Li Shishi obediently...made a cute sound.

This goblin!

The door opened. Leng Yuchan looked at Madam Li and Yang Yuan with serious expressions, but thought in her heart: There must be something going on between them!
……

The Arab merchant Wadiye sent a total of ten people this time, nine of whom were Arabs.

There were two team leaders, one of whom was a Arab, with a Song Dynasty name, Li Fei.

The other one was originally from Song Dynasty. He was an idle man from Lin'an who was recruited by Wadiye. His name was Zou Wen.

When the two men, accompanied by eight guards, were coming down the Lion Peak Mountain, they saw a large number of militiamen escorting a string of prisoners coming towards them.

When they arrived at the Shifeng Tea Plantation, they found out that those people were thugs gathered by two big tea merchants, who had ambushed Mrs. Li last night.

After Zou Wen learned the whole story from Deacon Yu, he immediately sent a guard back on horseback to report to Wadiye.

After hearing this, Wadiye naturally had no doubts about the identities of Madam Li and her group.

He already knew about the existence of Madam Li from Shifeng and had never doubted her identity.

What's more, if someone is pretending to be someone else, it would be impossible to gain his trust in this way, and it would be quite difficult to do so.

However, despite this, we still need to be cautious.

The ten guards sent to the tea plantation were divided into three teams, and they left people at the three important links: tea frying, boxing, and storage.

Make sure nothing goes wrong...

……

In the "Municipal Shipping Affairs", Liu Guojiu was still struggling.

Although it seemed that he never found out the case of collusion with the Jin people in smuggling, he did uncover many other cases.

He threw all these people into the Dali Temple, which made everyone in the temple very tired.

Kou Heiyi was also jumping around on the docks. Although his intention was to paralyze the enemy, he actually caused trouble for the Jin people.

When the Jin people learned that Wadiye and Pu Yama, who had cooperated with them, were planning to return to their country and settle in Quanzhou respectively, and that they would soon be of no use to them, they began to look for new partners.

But the problem is that the maritime trade market was basically monopolized by the Arabs.

Those people from the East and Southeast Asia who live in the Song Dynasty do not have much power. If you want to use them, you have to support them first.

There will be a long gap in between.

As for the Jin Dynasty, Wanyan Yong and others could not wait. They wanted to achieve something and needed money. It was impossible for them to talk about their ideals with empty words to the tribal chiefs and generals.

For this reason, the Jin people could only take advantage of the opportunity of these two foreign merchants leaving Lin'an and bring as many goods as possible out to sea to reduce the impact of the window period.

However, because of the disturbance caused by Liu Shangqiu and Kou Heiyi, the flow of goods that they had transported in batches from the Shanyin distribution center to Lin'an was seriously affected.

The one who had readily agreed to assist the Jin people in expanding the scale of smuggling was Qin Changjiao.

Now that the Jin people are in trouble, they naturally have to go to him.

Although Qin Hui claimed to be ill and could not go out at this time, he was actually very busy.

Previously, under his successive operations, many officials of the Qin faction were promoted and occupied more important positions.

For example, Cao Yong went from being a part-time assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue to officially becoming the Minister of Agriculture of the Ministry of Revenue, a full-time official.

And his original post of prefect of Lin'an fell into the hands of Qin Hui's confidants.

However, after Emperor Zhao met several old ministers who had retired for many years while watching the tide in Qiantang, he seemed to have regained his affection for them and began to rekindle them one by one.

Li Xianzhong responded to the imperial edict and was reinstated as the commander-in-chief of the front army of the Recruiting and Pacification Division, and was also appointed as the governor of Baoxin Army and deputy general manager of Zhejiang East.

Liu Qi, a veteran who had been retired for many years, was appointed by Emperor Zhao as the prefect of Tanzhou.

Zhang Yun, an all-round young player who was particularly good at financial management, also joined the Ministry of Revenue and took over Cao Yong's original position as Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

Qin Hui could still endure all these things.

First, although he and Zhao Gou seemed to be close to each other, in reality, intrigue and deception had long been the norm.

Every time Qin Hui secured an important position for his faction, Emperor Zhao would first politely give in, and then secretly start to throw sand in the wind. He would definitely try every means to arrange for someone who didn't get along with Qin Hui to serve as a deputy or key position, in order to check and balance him and contain Qin Hui.

The match between the emperor and the prime minister was like playing chess. The emperor and the prime minister already knew their opponent's chess playing style very well.

Therefore, Qin Hui did not care about Emperor Zhao's subtle actions.

It is normal for Emperor Zhao to have such a reaction. If Emperor Zhao did not do so, he would be in trouble.

Although these people were reinstated, Li Xianzhong was working in a local position, while Liu Qi not only worked in a local position, but was also a civil servant.

Although Zhang Yun was retained in the central government, his position was still below Cao Yong, so the advantage is on my side!

What Qin Hui really cared about was the three yamen imperial guards.

Something unexpected happened to the Three Ya Forbidden Guards as well.

That old guy Yang Cunzhong is obviously getting senile.

Before that, he actually flattered Qin Hui and ordered the imperial guards to find a cat for Qin Hui.

Unexpectedly, the flattery backfired. Qin Hui did not appreciate it, and the suspicious emperor became wary of him instead.

In order to regain the trust of the emperor, Yang Cun Zhong began to try his best to distance himself from Qin Hui.

Now seeing a group of pro-war officials being re-employed, Yang Cun Zhong did not know that this was the government's attempt to balance the court, but thought that the government's attitude towards the Jin Kingdom had changed.

So, he was smart enough to submit a memorial, saying that although the Song and Jin dynasties were still at peace at present, the Song Dynasty should not forget about fighting. He also presented ten strategies for preparing for the enemy and suggested that the court strengthen its defense against the Jin Dynasty.

Qin Hui's spies in the imperial court reported that the emperor was furious when he saw the memorial.

He denounced Yang Cun Zhong for being old and confused, and for presuming, as the commander-in-chief of the three yamen, that the Jin people had malicious intentions.

What would happen if such stupid behavior were to be heard by the Jin people and misunderstood by them?

Afterwards, Zhao Mi, the commander-in-chief of the four wings of the Dragon God Guard, obtained the government's response through some unknown channel and felt that the time had come to replace Yang Cun Zhong.

So he immediately submitted a memorial to the emperor, impeaching Yang Cun Zhong for seeking success and causing trouble, undermining the "Shaoxing Peace Agreement" and alienating the relationship between the two countries.

Qin Hui immediately seized this opportunity and instructed the censors under his control to submit a letter of impeachment.

Yang Cun Zhong had no choice but to submit a petition to apologize.

The emperor did not protect him this time. Emperor Zhao, who already had a grudge against Yang Cun Zhong, took the opportunity to strip him of his military power and promoted Zhao Mi to the commander of the Infantry.

Without Yang Cun Zhong, the only commander-in-chief in the history of the Song Dynasty who was in charge of the three yamen, the three yamen imperial guards, which had been united, were split from then on.

The three yamen imperial guards were led by the palace commander, the infantry commander, and the cavalry commander respectively, and they were directly under the emperor. There was no longer a general commander above them.

This made Qin Hui ecstatic.

Although he was unable to get a share of the profits, the collapse of the Three Yamen Imperial Guards was a good start for him.

In this way, his future operating space will be expanded.

After Yang Cun Zhong retired, the government built a manor for him in Huzhou and wrote a plaque for him with the words "Water Moon".

The government also promoted Yang Cunzhong's two sons from the deserted Qingshui government office to the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue.

This made Qin Hui even more convinced that Yang Cun Zhong had indeed lost the emperor's favor and had been unemployed from then on.

"Giving up military power over a cup of wine" and exchanging wealth for safety have always been the traditions passed down by the officials of the Song Dynasty.

If the government was not determined to kick Yang Cun Zhong out, it would not have given him such generous rewards and courtesies.

Seeing this, Qin Hui became restless and wanted to do something.

Qin Changjiao and Zhao Guanjia are a pair of bricklayers.

Qin Changjiao mixed sand into the mixture, and Zhao Guanjia added water, and they loved and hated each other for the rest of their lives.

However, although the dispersion of the three yamen created more opportunities for Qin Hui to interfere, it was not the case at the moment.

The emperor is keeping a close eye on the three yamen at this time, and Qin Hui will not touch the emperor's reverse scale at this critical moment.

So he thought of his relatives.

In the political arena, he now controls the biggest board;

Military power now rests with the Privy Council, and the Imperial Guard, the most powerful armed force, has no chance to intervene for the time being;
In the inner court, he and the great eunuch Zhang Qu each got what they needed and supported each other.

In addition, there is Wang Jixian, the "private health doctor" whom Emperor Zhao relies on the most. He asked his wife Wang to recognize him as her brother.

In the harem, it was Empress Dowager Wei who welcomed Feng back to the court after he negotiated with the Jin people.

For Empress Dowager Wei, this was a great favor that she could never repay.

It can be said that he has done everything he could to ensure that the Qin family will continue to prosper after his death.

However, the empress dowager was only the empress dowager after all, and Wei's family was in decline.

The one who will play a greater role in the palace from now on will definitely be Queen Wu.

It just so happened that Qin Jiayue had just celebrated her birthday and is now eleven years old.

During the Tang and Song dynasties, the legal age for marriage was 15 for men and 13 for women.

At present, only Lin'an has a developed entertainment industry. In addition, the imperial examination system began to flourish in the Song Dynasty, which led to some Lin'an people and some scholars getting married late, with men getting married at the age of 23 or 24 and women at the age of 16 or 17.

But most families, especially the royal family, still follow the traditional time for getting married.

For example, Emperor Renzong of Song married his empress who was twelve years old when he was fourteen years old.

The current Queen Wu also entered the palace as a concubine at the age of fourteen.

Therefore, Qin Hui considered arranging a marriage between Tong'er and Queen Wu's family.

In fact, in Qin Hui's mind, the most ideal choice was of course the emperor's adopted son.

It’s a pity that both of the emperor’s adopted sons already have princesses and children, so the only choice is Queen Wu.

Queen Wu would become Empress Dowager Wu in the future, and Zhao Ju, who had the greatest hope of becoming emperor, was raised by Queen Wu herself.

Empress Wu's younger brother is nineteen years old this year. Although the age difference is still a little big, he is already the most suitable candidate.

If he doesn't take action, I'm afraid that Uncle Wu will also get married in two years.

Tong'er is now eleven years old and can get married in two years.

Considering his status as a prime minister, marrying his daughter to the emperor's uncle's family would take at least a year to prepare for the wedding.

In addition, marrying into the family of the current queen is not just a matter for two children. It involves the balancing of interests of too many parties.

Therefore, it will take a long time to settle this matter.
If you think about it this way, time is running out to arrange a marriage for my granddaughter now.

As a result, the Jin people came again at this time.

Since reaching a cooperation with Qin Hui and expanding the scale of smuggling, the suppressed Wanyan Yong faction has obtained sufficient funds to do something.

Once it stagnates at this time, the strength that has just been restored will collapse again.

This is not a big deal, but what we are afraid of is that once the morale that has been boosted with great difficulty is dissipated, it will be extremely difficult to reunite next time.

Therefore, the Jin Kingdom urged very urgently.

We have done what you, Qin Hui, asked us to do.

We have successfully delivered to you the letter from Prince Guangping.

As for whether you succeed or not, that is none of our business.

But you must do what you promised us.

The person who rushed to Qin Xiangfu and asked Qin Hui to intervene in the matter was named Cui Xianyun.

Judging from his clothes and appearance alone, he was no different from ordinary people in the Song Dynasty.

But what he said to Qin Hui was full of the unique arrogance and condescension of the Jin people.

Qin Hui was helpless. He was currently planning for the court and the empire, and it was the time when he was devoting all his efforts to it. How could he have the time to care about the mess that the Jin people were doing by smuggling to make money?

Suddenly, Qin Hui's mind moved, and he thought of a person, Mu Si, the current head of "Guoxinso".

Mu Yaban had just paid a visit to Qin Hui's residence yesterday, and expressed to him in a roundabout way that he was willing to follow Prime Minister Qin's lead and serve him at his beck and call, just like Eunuch Li.

Qin Hui only gave a vague agreement to this kind of person who defected halfway, but he didn't really want to cultivate him.

But now the harassment from the Jin people is really annoying...

"He Li."

"The students are here."

A tall, scholarly-looking middle-aged man stepped forward and bowed to Qin Hui.

He was Qin Hui's aide and also served as the steward of Qin's residence. He was Qin Hui's confidant.

Qin Hui said: "Take Cui Xianyun to see Mu Si and let him handle this matter."

He Li thought for a moment and said, "Let's say that the Prime Minister is negotiating a marriage with the Wu family and has bought some things. It's inconvenient to publicize it, so he wants him to take care of it. How about this?"

Qin Hui nodded slightly: "Tell him that if this matter is done, he will be of great use. If it is not done, tell him to resign and leave."

"Here!"

He Li agreed, led Cui Xianyun, and walked out in a leisurely manner.

As the chief steward of the prime minister's residence, he led people there directly, so naturally he didn't want to leave any evidence.

If Mu Si fails to do this job well, removing the seal and leaving would be the best outcome.

There is a high probability that you will become a glorious "scapegoat"!

(End of this chapter)