How to become a Taoist priest starting from a brothel

"Princess Duan'an... she is quite a talent." The current Prime Minister, Li, stroked his beard as he listened to his retainers' descriptions, his eyes flashing with a shrewd light, and said thoughtfully.

The Prime Minister Zhang had already been forced to resign by the emperor despite repeated attempts to persuade him.

This kind of thing happens to many officials, but most of them come from humble backgrounds and rely on aristocratic families for survival. Being suppressed and abandoned by the emperor is exactly what the aristocratic families want, so naturally no one speaks up for them, and no one becomes their patron.

Thus, in just four short years, these officials disappeared from the court one by one.

As a result, many newly supported individuals from aristocratic families rose to high positions. As for Prime Minister Zhang, although he came from an aristocratic family, he was remembered by the emperor for his repeated remonstrances against the emperor's increasingly absurd behavior, and thus he requested to leave the position.

Of course, it would be a joke to say that Prime Minister Zhang was initially acting for the people or for the emperor. As the prime minister, it was his duty to advise an emperor who was behaving improperly. Moreover, he did not offer advice for long, only three or four times, before the emperor remembered him.

In order to maintain the Zhang family's honor, Prime Minister Zhang, together with other aristocratic families, supported a talented person, who is now Prime Minister Li.

However, now that Prime Minister Li has ascended to a high position, he is already dissatisfied with being controlled by powerful families.

Previously, the emperor intended to support the fifth prince, but he also fell from power and even sent many things to Consort Xue of Anfu Palace.

Later, when the emperor took in two princes, he began to try to break free from the control of powerful families, but he couldn't come up with a good way. He secretly hoped that the emperor could have another prince.

I never expected that Duan'an would create such a big surprise on the frontier.

"What does Your Excellency mean...?" His retainer looked at him hesitantly.

Prime Minister Li slowly exhaled, thought for a moment, and then said, "A woman, a capable and intelligent woman, how wonderful."

The retainer naturally understood his meaning, and after thinking for a moment, he said, "Sir, since the other party has such abilities, what if they become uncontrollable?"

Prime Minister Li glanced at him, smiled sarcastically, and said, "So what? She's just a woman. Women are the most short-sighted and soft-hearted. Just bring two handsome young men and flaunt them in front of her. Her heart will be stirred, and she won't have any other thoughts."

Seeing his bluntness, the retainer indeed said nothing more, but he still vaguely felt that something was wrong.

This idea existed in the minds of many high-ranking members of aristocratic families, and even the emperor was quite interested in it.

Under these circumstances, everyone tacitly began to publicize Duan'an's military achievements.

For a time, from south to north, from east to west, everyone knew of Princess Duan'an's outstanding military achievements. Not only that, she also controlled seven cities in the northwest and governed them very well. The people lived in peace and prosperity, free from the oppression of powerful families. Even women could read and write and become pillars of the family.

As her fame spread, many oppressed people, poor students who were not doing well, and minor officials who did not want to rely on powerful families began to migrate to Yancheng little by little.

As they continued their actions, more and more people became interested, especially in the cities near the seven northwestern cities, which were gradually being eroded by Duan'an's forces.

Duan'an and the others were naturally delighted by this, but because the time was too short and they lacked people to manage the situation, they were so anxious that they couldn't get any rest every night.

That day, the army came to her to discuss provisions and pay, the Revenue Department came to her to discuss money, the Personnel Department came to her to discuss personnel issues, the Public Works Department came to her to discuss repairing the city walls, and so on.

Duan An was so busy that he was dizzy and didn't even get a good night's sleep.

Duan An felt a headache coming on. She had only slept for an hour or two and it was already dawn. The thought of having countless things to deal with as soon as she opened her eyes gave her a terrible headache.

"Knock knock knock!" The knocking finally interrupted her troubles.

She took a deep breath before speaking, "Who is it? Come in."

The maidservant who served her quickly entered and walked to her bedside, saying, "Your Highness, a group of people have come to request an audience."

Duan An rubbed his temples and asked, "What do you mean? Who is it?"

The maidservant hurriedly replied, "They claim to be disciples of the Hermit Master."

"Who?" Duan An immediately came to his senses.

The maid hesitated for a moment before replying blankly, "They called themselves..."

"I understand. Tell them to wait in the flower hall." Duan An raised his hand to interrupt her.

The maidservant accepted the order and left, followed by several other maidservants who entered carrying copper basins and other items.

Duan An got up, tidied himself up briefly, waved to everyone, and then walked to the flower hall.

Upon entering the flower hall, she saw about a dozen young men and women sitting on chairs, waiting for her.

Upon seeing her approach, they hurriedly stepped forward, cupped their hands in greeting, and said, "We greet Your Highness."

"Please rise quickly." Duan An strode to the seat of honor and waved to the crowd.

Mu Jiaxu, who was leading the group, stepped forward and said to Duan An, "I am Mu Jiaxu, and I have come to assist you on my teacher's orders."

"Good, good, good!" Duan An clapped his hands and laughed.

Mu Jiaxu hurriedly introduced, "These are all disciples that our teacher took in in the southwest. They were busy with farming and did not leave with our teacher at the time, but they came with me to help this time."

Looking closely at the dozen or so young people in front of him, Duan An was overjoyed to see that they all had upright features and showed no signs of timidity. He clapped his hands and said, "You've come at the perfect time. I'm short-handed right now."

Seeing that she showed no suspicion and instead looked happy, Mu Jiaxu breathed a sigh of relief.

Because he had never met Duan'an and did not know what kind of person he was, even though he had heard a lot about him along the way, he was still a little worried. Now he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Duan An understood his thoughts as soon as she saw his eyes, but she didn't say anything. She just smiled and asked the others, "Have you all had breakfast?"

Mu Jiaxu replied on behalf of everyone, "We have already had breakfast."

Hearing that they had finished eating, Duan An nodded and stood up, saying, "That's perfect. Come with me to the City Lord's Mansion and see what you're suited to do."

Seeing that she led everyone directly to the city lord's mansion without hesitation, everyone looked relaxed. Several of them even had a hint of goodwill towards Duan'an in their eyes, believing that they would definitely become Duan'an's loyal subjects in the future.

Upon arriving at the city lord's mansion, several officials quickly came forward and stuffed urgent matters into Duan An's arms.

Before Duan'an could say anything, they were about to leave quickly, but Duan'an called out, "Wait a moment."

The group of people all looked puzzled.

Duan An smiled and said, "I have brought many talented people with me today. Let your superiors come and select the best ones."

The officials initially thought that Duan An wanted to retire from his official duties and was therefore trying to leave quickly to avoid the work that might burden them. However, they were surprised to find that a new person had arrived. They all came to Mu Jiaxu and the others with delighted expressions.