The villain and the powerful official secretly read the diary and broke my plot every day

That night.

Imperial City, Royal Study.

Emperor Jianping had been angry all day and was reviewing memorials in a distracted state.

The chief eunuch suddenly came to the door of the imperial study and said anxiously, "Your Majesty, Prime Minister Gu... Prime Minister Gu requests an audience."

"Ah."

Emperor Jianping lowered his eyes, sneered, and said nothing.

The chief eunuch didn't dare to speak and just stood aside waiting.

Your Majesty is in a bad mood today, like... like a young wife who has been upset...

At this time, no one in the entire imperial city dared to say a word.

Everyone knows that His Majesty is very angry today, and no one can coax him except Prime Minister Gu.

"It seems that His Majesty is in a bad mood today."

Without waiting for the message, Gu Yanqing still walked into the imperial study with a swagger.

There is no way, the most powerful minister has this status.

Seeing Gu Yanqing come in, the chief eunuch breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly bent down and retreated.

I'll leave this battlefield to you two. I'm not worthy to stay here...

Bai Tan'er is the only one in the entire imperial city who dares to listen to these two concubines.

Everyone in the entire imperial city knows that Bai Tan'er has a special hobby, and... His Majesty seems to be particularly indulgent towards her.

"Isn't Prime Minister Gu ill?"

Emperor Jianping finally put down the imperial brush in his hand, raised his eyes and glanced at Gu Yanqing coldly: "I see that you are quite energetic!"

"Thanks to your majesty's blessing, my health has improved a lot."

Gu Yanqing answered casually, his voice neither hurried nor slow, very calm.

"you……"

Emperor Jianping stood up suddenly, walked around the desk, and went directly to Gu Yanqing: "Gu Yanqing, I can't stand it anymore! You must have been lazy and went out to play today! You went out to play without asking me to join you. I am very angry now, very angry, do you understand?"

Bai Tan'er, who was eavesdropping, said: ...

So, Your Majesty, what made you angry is that your good brother was lazy and went out to play without even calling you?

This... is difficult to comment on.

"Who said I was out having fun? I have serious things to do."

Facing Emperor Jianping, Gu Yanqing remained calm.

"What serious business?"

After hearing what Gu Yanqing said, Emperor Jianping's expression changed and his tone became serious.

In fact, the reason why Emperor Jianping was so angry today was not because of Gu Yanqing’s sudden absence.

He knew that Gu Yanqing was always very accountable in what he did. His absence from the court meeting meant that there must be something more important that he needed to do.

But...what exactly was that thing...

Gu Yanqing actually didn't inform Emperor Jianping in advance.

This feeling of being out of control is the real reason why Emperor Jianping is annoyed.

As the ruler of a country, Emperor Jianping naturally wanted to control everyone, including Gu Yanqing.

A minister who can be completely controlled by the king is a good minister.

The reason why Emperor Jianping hates Meng Xiang and others so much now is that those big families have long been out of the control of imperial power and can even compete with him.

This is what the emperor dislikes most.

But Gu Yanqing is different.

He was a powerful official, but also a lonely official. The only one he could rely on was Emperor Jianping.

only……

It was unknown when it began, but Emperor Jianping vaguely felt that Gu Yanqing seemed different from before. He seemed to have slowly deviated from his original trajectory and started to move forward on a completely new path in life...

This was a very strange feeling, and Emperor Jianping was not sure whether his feeling was correct.

"Your Majesty, this is a secret report from Yuzhou."

At this time, Gu Yanqing pulled out a secret memorial from his sleeve and handed it directly to Emperor Jianping.

Emperor Jianping opened it and took a few glances. His expression immediately darkened. "How dare they?"

"Yuzhou is located in the south of the Yangtze River and has always been prosperous. The Jiangnan families are wealthy and powerful, deeply rooted, and far away from the capital. The emperor is far away, so what are they afraid of?" Gu Yanqing spoke slowly from the side, his tone cold and stern.

Qingyun Country is vast, and while the whole world belongs to the king, His Majesty is in the capital, unable to reach out. Many decrees have already been completely distorted by the time they reach other prefectures thousands of miles away...

Take Yuzhou for example. It is the richest place in the entire Qingyun Kingdom and a place where wealthy businessmen and nobles gather.

The officials there colluded with each other and formed their own faction, and did not take officials from other places or even Emperor Jianping seriously at all.

"Yuzhou..."

Emperor Jianping's hands trembled slightly. This was one of his worries. The nobles in Yuzhou were even more numerous than those in the capital, but...

Yuzhou is a solid block. Many officials from Beijing will be defeated when they go there. Even a strong dragon cannot defeat a local snake!

"Could it be that this time... you are going to Yuzhou in person?"

Emperor Jianping seemed to have thought of something and suddenly looked up at Gu Yanqing.

"I do have this plan, but I need to arrange all my affairs in the capital before I leave."

Gu Yanqing continued, "The person I sent earlier has already obtained some preliminary evidence of corruption among Yuzhou officials. He has also contacted a wealthy businessman in Yuzhou. Unable to bear the oppression and intimidation of local officials, the businessman is willing to cooperate with me, but he doesn't trust others. He is only willing to discuss it in detail with me in person. If I don't go there, I'm afraid he won't produce the evidence."

"Then you should go, but...how easy is it to eradicate the forces in Yuzhou? Even that old bastard Meng Xiang has been unable to do anything about the factions in Yuzhou for many years." Emperor Jianping was still a little worried.

Since he ascended the throne, he had never seriously taken care of the affairs of Yuzhou because there were too many nobles and wealthy people there, and it was too far away from the capital, so there had never been a good way to eradicate them.

The Yuzhou officials' alliance was so solid that it made it difficult for him to find a precise entry point.

"We couldn't find their weaknesses before, but this time, it's a good opportunity."

As Gu Yanqing spoke, he suddenly smiled brightly, but there was no warmth in his smile, only cold murderous intent.

hiss.

Emperor Jianping now deeply understood the popular saying among the court and the public:

Gu Xiang smiled, life and death are unpredictable!

but……

This is a great thing for Emperor Jianping.

Thinking of this, Emperor Jianping's eyes were filled with excitement. He turned around, took a few steps, pulled out a long sword from the bookshelf not far behind him, and handed it to Gu Yanqing.

"This is my sword. Take it with you when you go to Yuzhou. If anything happens there, you can use it to protect yourself. This sword...if the emperor comes in person, you can kill first and report later!"

The sharp sword was emitting a faint cold light.

Gu Yanqing looked at the sword in Emperor Jianping's hand, then suddenly raised his eyes to look at him and asked with a half-smile, "Your Majesty, will this sword of yours ever be pointed at... my chest?"

Emperor Jianping was startled and gave Gu Yanqing a deep look. "Prime Minister Gu, you are confused. You are my loyal minister and my good brother. In my entire life... I will never turn my sword against you!"

"I'm confused."

Gu Yanqing smiled and took the sword.