Between the vast sea of ​​clouds

After Yun Po's sunrise, seeing the sky gradually darken, the two knew the parting and didn't know when they would see each other again, each of them felt a little sad.When the hot tea on the table was already cold, Shao Ming said softly: "The Shao family's caravan will go out to sea in November, and the sea routes to the countries in the South China Sea are almost open, so we have to go this time. Go further and see the world beyond the South China Sea."

The time to go to sea can be as short as a year or as long as decades. Qingping suddenly understands why he chose to meet him at this time. When the preparations for going to sea are made, it may be difficult to have a chance to meet him again.

Go out to sea to explore the way and do business with other countries.The Shao family made their fortune through this, which was also supported by the royal family, to promote the prestige of the country and to have friendly exchanges with other countries.Qingping had mixed feelings in her heart. Although she and Shao Ming were not close friends, they had known each other for so many years, and there was a friendship in it.She knew that in terms of the current situation of the Shao family, it is better not to fight than to fight, but seeing that her friend was about to go on a long journey, and the return date was far away, she didn't know whether she was happy or sad for him, so she could only pretend to be brisk and said: "That's fine, go out and have a look." , to know how big the world is.”

A strange light flashed in Shao Ming's eyes, and he said in a low voice: "I'm just a man after all, no one thinks well of me leading the team out to sea this time, if you want to comfort me, you don't have to be so reluctant."

Qingping shook his head with a smile, and said: "I don't have as much as you think. Everyone calls the six states big, but this world is definitely not the only land in the world. The vastness of the world is far bigger than what the world thinks. Vast. I envy you that you can travel so far and see many scenery that people here have never seen before."

Shao Ming was speechless, but only smiled slightly, and said: "Then I will accept your good words."

"What's on the other side of the sea, only those who have been there are qualified to say." Qingping picked up the teacup, touched the cup in front of him lightly, and it was right to replace wine with tea, "I always thought that men also Whether it's a good woman or not, it doesn't make any difference."

"If someone else said this, I wouldn't believe it at all." Shao Ming drank a cup of cold tea, used this movement to hide the slight water marks in his eyes, and said, "But it is very convincing for an adult. "

He also said: "There was a lot of trouble about the marriage contract before. I don't know if your lord's sweetheart has heard about it. My lord should explain it as soon as possible to avoid any misunderstanding. If he refuses to believe it, I can write a letter to explain the matter." understand."

Qingping was slightly taken aback, thinking of the sweetheart he mentioned, he suddenly felt a headache, and hurriedly said: "No need..." She wanted to explain, but she was worried that the description would become darker, so she said something vaguely, and she felt like saying No way.

Fortunately, Shao Ming didn't get to the bottom of it. He just stood up and looked at the golden rippling water outside the window. The seabirds flocked and flew down. When the waves hit, they flew up again, and the boat gradually returned to the shore. If there is a fate in the future, we will definitely see you again.”

Qingping bowed to him and saluted: "Good luck."

Halfway down the stairs, Shao Ming suddenly turned around and said, "Is the wooden boat I gave you still there?"

Qingping didn't know why he said this, subconsciously replied: "Yes."

Shao Ming smiled slightly: "You must have already disassembled it. Now that you know the mystery, I won't say more." After saying that, he turned and left.

Qingping stood still in the twilight, carefully recalling the conversation between the two just now.She watched the night soak into the sea, and everything finally turned dark.

After the heavy rain, the sky cleared up for a brief day, and then fell into a long period of rain.The carriage shook violently, she reached out to catch some scattered rain, gently lowered the curtain, and asked aloud: "Master Yuan's secret investigation in Minzhou must have been completed, right?"

A person outside the car replied: "Responding to my lord's words, someone from Mr. Yuan's subordinates came to report yesterday, saying that Mr. Yuan was assassinated a few days ago, and rushed back early this morning."

Qingping was startled when she heard the words, a chill ran up her spine, she opened the curtain and asked, "How is Mr. Yuan?"

The man said: "Your Excellency is fine, you don't have to worry. The Hezhou government is also looking for the murderer. Such villains will definitely be brought to justice..."

She couldn't listen to what the man said next, but what appeared in her mind was the scene of Yan Jinghan's death. She had obviously never seen it before, but it seemed as if she had experienced it herself.

The Xie family is the one who is most suspected of what happened on the border of Hezhou.Qing Ping recalled the hasty and brief meetings with Xie Qi, but she didn't know much about Xie Qi because of their different job titles.

As Shao Ming said, the backing behind Xie's family is too strong, how could it be easily brought down.Looking at how the Xie family dared to let Bi Shu enter Chenzhou, and was able to intervene in the affairs of the Shao family, and now they are even using the Chenzhou family to try to make Li Daitao stiff, which shows the arrogance of their actions.

They seem to insist that no one can do anything to them, so they dare to act so boldly.Qingping thought to himself, could it be that Chu Jun didn't know what the Xie family had done, and just let them do whatever they wanted?But at the same time, she also had to face another kind of conjecture. Chu Jun knew all of this, and she did it on purpose.

Maybe it was because she was in the middle of the game, she couldn't see clearly or figure it out, so she could only still have complicated things on her mind, but she was still helpless.

helpless.These four words seem to be the commentary of her life, and they are written in a few strokes.The light and shadow of the old days appeared in front of her eyes, and the endless ringtones reverberated amidst the rain, like a repeating music, covering all the joys and sorrows in the world, gradually fading away in the twilight rain.

Mostly everything in this world will slowly wear away in the years, whether it is people or things, it seems that nothing lasts forever.Even the heart is the same, maybe it's just a look, and it's been separated by mountains and seas ever since.She lowered her head, and a beam of light passed through the gap in the curtain and fell into the small and dark compartment.She silently stretched out her hand to take it, but the light easily leaked from between her fingers, and disappeared before she closed her fingers together.

The porcelain bowl is crystal clear, and seems to be full of brilliance in the light. When the palace attendants approach with the lamp, they can see the crystal powder reflected on the thin porcelain wall. The palace is different from gold and jade, lonely and noble.This porcelain is obviously made of clay and has been fired in the kiln, so it is not contaminated with the smell of fireworks in the world. When you tap the porcelain body lightly, the sound is like knocking ice and jade, which is extraordinary.

The palace man presented the bowl, Chu Jun casually reached out to take it, put it on the table, poured some water from the brush washer and brushed it.

The people in the palace looked terrified, but Chu Jun didn't care. He took the incomparably precious porcelain bowl and washed the vermilion pen used to wash the memorials, and then said: "Go back and tell King Xinyang that I am very satisfied with what she sent. , have already used it."

She poured out the water in the bowl, raised her hand and threw it, smashing the porcelain bowl to the ground.

The palace man's knees softened and he knelt down directly.Chu Jun wiped his hands slowly, his eyes were full of cold light: "Pick up the things and send them to King Xinyang."

Not long after, Liu Zhen came into the hall, saluted and said, "Your Majesty has been busy for several nights, do you want to take a rest?"

Chu Jun's tired face could not be concealed, but he said without doubt: "No, the court meeting is about to start, go to the cabinet after changing clothes."

Today, dark clouds overwhelmed the city, it was hot and irritating, and there was not even a breath of wind.The courtiers gathered in the cabinet. Although the courtiers brought ice basins, their temples were still wet and their backs were smudged with sweat.

"The matter of Chenzhou has been discussed for more than half a month. I think you are bothered, so I won't talk about it today." Chu Jun turned over and said, "Now that King Xinyang is going to Beijing to worship the late emperor in Shunling, I thought it was a rumor It should be self-defeating, but why is there a new one?"

No one answered for a while, Chu Jun raised his eyes slightly: "What about Xu Chengye, Gao Ying, and Lin Song who were sent to Chenzhou earlier, why is there no news at all, what are you all doing?"

When it came to the Six Departments, ministers from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Household Affairs all came out to plead guilty. Chu Jun said: "What's the use of pleading guilty? If everyone is like this, then I don't need to be an emperor anymore. How about giving way to the sages?"

The hidden meaning of these words is very strong, pointing at the collusion between the courtiers and the vassal king, the ministers knelt down one after another, saying that they did not dare.Chu Jun had a fit, took out the booklets and threw them on the ground, the papers were made of strong silk cloth wrapped around wooden boards, hitting the gold bricks made a dull sound, and fell on the hearts of all the officials one after another. Thunder strikes are no different.

Then the emperor sat back on the throne expressionlessly, his face a little ugly.

Then a bold courtier looked at the emperor's face and said: "If your majesty is worried about folk rumors and hurts the friendship of the heavenly family, you can stay with the king of Xinyang for a few more days."

Chu Jun was playing with a piece of jade pendant in his hand, and the tassel was flicking between his slender fingers. Hearing this, he said: "There are more, why don't you dare to say it?"

One is a powerful vassal king, and the other is an emperor who has just ascended the throne. It seems that the answer is already known.The ministers did not want to offend any party, so they all chose to remain silent.

The emperor on the throne failed to get the answer he imagined, and seemed a little anxious.This scene fell in the eyes of many ministers, and they unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. The emperor is too young. If the king of Qi and Yue, who had a deep foundation, were to ascend the throne, it would not be this situation where no one answered. For some veteran officials, the young emperor means that the power is unstable, and there will not be so many people gathered around the emperor. After all, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

Although Chu Jun had a youthful and impatient look on his face, he was very calm in his heart. She didn't expect this group of people to do anything. In her opinion, most of the courtiers in the palace were useless.Once the Emperor had fattened their courage, the excessive power also made the courtiers entangled with the aristocratic family, and even began to turn to the outside world. If the party struggle could not be squeezed in, they turned to the vassal king. She knew that this would not be cured overnight. The shortcoming is that the more urgent the slower, the luckier she is still young, even if she occasionally makes aggressive moves, it is reasonable and reasonable, if she always shows her maturity and prudence, it will be very inconvenient.

It is well known that the conflict with the vassal king has been foreshadowed before the emperor's spirit.However, it is often rumored among the people that King Xinyang has a heart of disobedience, and the amount of troops he raises exceeds the establishment required by the vassal king.

But these are just rumors after all, no one dares to mention them and no one can mention them.Chu Jun looked at the kneeling ministers with a bit of boredom. Some of them had fought openly and secretly with her in their previous lives.But no matter how much she can bear it, there is still an end. She is thinking about how to use her hands and feet in private. It doesn't matter whether it is life or death when the vassal king puts out the fire, it just kills two birds with one stone.

After all, it was still too early for her to ascend the throne. Many of the courtiers who used to be easy to use in the past have not yet made their mark, and they have neither merit nor promotion at will.She can only wait patiently, time is a good medicine to her, but if she wants the medicine to be cured, there must be someone to push her.

She thought of Li Yan, Hu Zhuo and other officials. Many people may not understand why the emperor promoted these mediocre people, but Chu Jun knew very well in his heart that these people have their own uses, and their ability is no less than two years of experience. The ministers of the court are just inexperienced and lack some polishing.Relying entirely on the merits of the late emperor, he did not go to the court for decades but did not ask about the affairs of the court. As a result, the aristocratic family in the court is so intricate that no one can use it. Chu Jun had no choice but to mention some people to come up. In the eyes of the veterans, this is the emperor. Because of the weak foundation, it is impossible to win over important ministers, and only newcomers can be appointed.

But no one dared to despise the emperor because of this. Shen Mingshan, the former deputy of the cabinet, was defeated for no reason, and Yan Minghua, the first assistant, also became a faint existence.These two important ministers who fought against each other in the late emperor's time faded away silently, and no one knew whether there was any handwriting of the emperor in it.Coupled with the fact that the emperor's holy body was ill before, the fact that the courtiers agreed with Shen Mingshan to force the establishment of the princess was like a mountain on their hearts, and they only waited for the emperor to explode.The aristocratic family was even more self-confident, thinking that the emperor was going to be bad at that time, and wanted to quickly establish a princess and divide the power from the young master, but now it is impossible to repent.

A princess whose biological father came from a humble background was not at all close to the aristocratic family, and almost cut off the old habit of the emperor from the aristocratic family since the Five Dynasties.But this princess, who has no blood relationship with the family, was supported by them alone, and the imperial decree has been announced to the world, and she cannot be reincarnated.

But although the emperor is young, his mind is not in the harem, and none of the servants from the palace full of aristocratic families can keep her. This kind of symptom has been highlighted, but only a few people have noticed it.The courtiers only thought that the emperor was diligent in his work, and at the same time flaunted his filial piety. He threatened to be like the common people, and kept his filial piety for the late emperor for three years. no intention.

An old voice sounded, and everyone pricked up their ears, waiting for Shoufu's answer.Yan Minghua stood up from the soft stool, and said: "Your Majesty, I thought that I wanted to dispel the rumors and restore King Yang's innocence. Why don't you send officials to her fief to see what happened?"

Immediately, a minister objected: "The late emperor has not acted like this yet, is Mr. Ge saying such words to make your majesty go against the late emperor's orders?"

For a while, some courtiers supported it, and some opposed it, and a minister said: "If you want to look at it, you can't just look at one vassal king. If you act like this, I am afraid that it will cause a gap in the hearts of King Xinyang. It is better to put all the vassal kings together." They inspected the fiefs together, which also shows the justice of the court."

Chu Jun raised her hand, the discussion stopped, she said indifferently: "According to elder Ge's opinion, who should we send?"

Yan Minghua looked around. Wherever her eyes passed, the courtiers avoided them slightly, and they were unwilling to accept such a thankless task.She looked around and saluted and said: "The old minister thought that it would be better to let the three servants from the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Household Affairs go and have a look. The ancestors are uneasy."

There were no clan ministers at the court meeting this time. Don't the ministers know what the emperor means? But since Yan Shoufu said so, several ministers who followed her lead offered their help one after another. Chu Jun looked at the messy memorial that fell on the ground. He flicked his sleeves and said, "Leave the six ministers of the cabinet, and leave the rest."

The ministers left in an orderly manner, leaving only a few people in the cabinet.Chu Jun ordered the palace people to sit down and serve herbal tea. All the ministers present knew that there might be some important matters to be discussed. Judging by the emperor's expression this time, he would not stop until the goal was achieved.

Sure enough, after the palace servants cleaned up the papers on the ground, Chu Jun said leisurely: "The late Emperor had a lot of trust in King Xinyang when he was here. Because he came from the same clan, they were cousins ​​and sisters. The relationship is unusual. If there is no mistake, I don't want to Against the will of the late emperor."

Once the words come out, those who don't understand are fools.Neither the six ministries nor the cabinet spoke up just now, because they had expected such an incident later.Since the emperor allowed King Xinyang to enter the capital, he probably didn't want her to leave. The Minister of the Ministry of War said: "Your Majesty, since the year of Chengwu, the imperial court has set up a Zhenwei Division in the feudal king's fiefdom to inspect the feudal king's fiefdom on behalf of His Majesty and the court. Listen to the people's sentiments, and accept the grace of heaven, this is a long-standing rule."

Patrol is probably a euphemism, but rather surveillance.The Minister of the Household Department also said: "The national treasury is empty. Your Majesty has always been diligent and thrifty and loved the people. The clan should be like this. It's just that there are rumors that the king of Xinyang likes extravagance and refuses to use anything other than gold and jade. There are even thousands of kilns in the palace. It would be too wasteful to say it in one bottle. If it is a rumor, the rumor maker has ulterior motives to drive a wedge between the imperial court and the vassal, His Majesty and the clan, and it should be thoroughly investigated."

Chu Jun said: "Oh, there is such a saying. Among the tributes presented by King Xinyang, there is such a bowl. The porcelain is like fresh snow, and it is better than Qinghui. It must be the best product in the thousand kilns." She said His eyes stopped on the pen holder on the table, and he said coldly: "It seems that this is a utensil that King Xinyang is used to at home. I have enjoyed the blessing of this imperial aunt."

No one could answer these words, and all the officials watched the emperor kick the ball back, but they didn't know how to express their opinion.

Now at this time, Yan Minghua looked at the emperor's expression and behavior, and for some reason he thought of the late emperor.When the first emperor was still in the court, he was just an unknown official in the court, but he had also seen the aura of the majestic power of heaven and the universe in his hands.Because of this, the courtiers were in awe of this majesty and power. Even after the late emperor stopped going to court, this kind of momentum still made the courtiers fearful and did not dare to make mistakes.Now, she once again saw this similar majesty on the emperor, and she couldn't help but suddenly realized.Just as a tiger is a beast that devours people whether it is awake or asleep, the emperor may retreat temporarily due to the coercion of his subjects, but she is always the emperor.Based on this point alone, she understood thoroughly that no one could stop what the emperor wanted to do, and she had made up her mind.And this majesty is better than her predecessors, and her reputation seems to be a trivial matter not worth mentioning to her. Her eyes are more often set on the unfinished country.

As the saying goes, "If you don't have desires, you can be strong." Yan Minghua has been paying attention for a long time. Why did the emperor abandon Shen Mingshan but keep her? If he was afraid of not honoring the previous emperor, it would violate the reputation of filial piety and wantonly depose veterans, but it doesn't look alike.The matter in Chenzhou is just an introduction, the aristocratic family, the vassal king, the restructuring, the new law, these may be the highlight.Many people thought that the matter in Chenzhou was big enough, but they didn't know that it was just the beginning.As soon as she thought of it, she met the emperor's gaze, and she felt even more determined in her heart.He came out and said: "Your Majesty, I ask you to allow the restoration of Zhenwei Division and send officials to Chenzhou for inspection."

Chu Jun admired in her heart, after all, Jiang is still old and spicy. She paid attention to the expressions of other people, and said slowly: "What do you loves think about the fact that the Chenzhou family invaded the field?"

Yan Minghua answered the vassal king, but the emperor asked about Chenzhou again. It seemed that the bull's head was wrong, but he was expressly telling his subjects.Immediately someone replied: "Your Majesty, Chenzhou is a place with heavy taxes, and if such a disturbance occurs, it should be thoroughly investigated."

Hubu Shangshu replied loudly: "Whether it is a family or a vassal king, they have never paid taxes! Where are the taxes? They are all on the common people, resulting in heavy taxes. The people have a lot of resentment towards the court, so they can only return to the land. Yu family, in order to evade taxes. The state treasury is so empty, it has nothing to do with it! The officials of the Chenzhou government have also seen it. Although it is a long-standing custom in a state, the power of the gods sometimes Overlord the government! The common people rely on it, relying on it. This is because the common people are alienated from the imperial court because of heavy taxes, and they don't hear about your majesty's kindness!"

"Judging from the letter from the Ministry of Criminal Justice, this temple has a long history with the aristocratic family. The Biluo City in the mountains is really unimaginable. It was called the country in the mountains during the Hongbo Rebellion a hundred years ago. It adapted to local conditions and resisted the imperial court! Collusion, bullying Keep it secret, and now, in the name of sending gods, they hide gun|powder in the statues of gods, trying to blow up the embankment in vain, it is simply appalling..."

After the cabinet ministers dispersed, Chu Jun did not return to the Qinzheng Palace, but went to a remote palace in the palace.

Because it is summer, the outside of the palace is luxuriantly green, almost covering the palace gate. It seems that no one takes care of it. The red pillars and gold paint have peeled off, and even the glazed tiles are incomplete. The portraits carved with bamboo branches on the gate have been blurred. In the Qing Dynasty, it vaguely tells the story of the ancients looking for immortal mountains to seek longevity.The palace people pushed open the door silently, and Chu Jun entered the inner hall, only to see the word Qingjing written on the plaque, and there was one person sitting at the table in the hall. His face was haggard, and he didn't see the prestige at that time.Seeing this, the palace people retreated one after another and closed the door.

Chu Jun smiled slightly: "There are no gold wares in this palace, and there is no bottle of thousands of kilns. I think I have neglected my aunt. However, my aunt has a deep relationship with her mother and sister. This palace is the place where she often comes to clean up. I miss my old friend. I don’t know if my aunt lives here, has she ever dreamed about her mother?”

King Xinyang said coldly: "Aren't you afraid of being scolded by the world if you act so boldly and imprison your clan relatives?"

Chu Jun smiled gently and said: "People in the world will only curse the rebellious ministers and thieves."

King Xinyang suddenly stood up, instead of being angry, he smiled: "Rebellious officials and thieves, you still dare to accuse me?" She sneered, "Do you really think you have nothing to say!"

Chu Jun glanced at her in surprise: "The handle?"

King Xinyang looked coldly and said: "There are many vassal kings in Chenzhou, even if Xiaozong joins Dazong, it may not be the first emperor. Why did such a good thing happen to her in the end, among them..."

"The reason for this is to start from the missionary work in Zhongzhou hundreds of years ago, and then to the seminary later, and even to the eight wildernesses. For example, these are the causes of the past and the results of today. What my aunt wants to say is Isn't it this?" Chu Jun took out the roster from his sleeve, and turned to the last page, there should have been a page there, but there were only torn marks left.

Touching the incomplete paper, she felt a little complicated, not knowing what Qingping was thinking at that time.She collected her expression and said: "Auntie and Xie's family must have cooperated for this reason. This book contains the seal and signature of the ancestor Pingnan King. With this alone, the family can use the name of the ancestor to collude with foreign enemies to establish a new one." Emperor, the candidate for the new emperor must be my aunt."

King Xinyang sneered when he saw this roster: "Well, well, it still fell into your hands! You also know what your ancestor King Pingnan was. He colluded with foreign enemies and stood upright. Who knows if he has tarnished his blood? You are qualified to aspire to the throne! If you don’t rely on external force, how could it be your mother’s turn! If you still have a little self-knowledge, you should abdicate and make way for the worthy!”

Chu Jun's mind was a little erratic, and he played with the white jade pendant unconsciously, and said after a long while: "Auntie knows herself, you have worked so hard to win this roster, just to threaten the Chenzhou family. But you and Jin Colluding with each other and secretly sending envoys from Xirong to assassinate the governor of Chenzhou, is this something virtuous?"

King Xinyang stared, and said angrily: "The cause of Liang Pu's death is not my fault, it is clearly someone else's fault!"

Chu Jun sighed softly, and said relaxedly: "Shen Mingshan later took refuge in Auntie, so she is considered Auntie's person. But Auntie didn't know, she hooked up with Xie's family again, after all, it was Auntie's person who did it. What's the difference?"

King Xinyang is already a strong bow, and he still has to hold on: "You are too complacent, do you really think that everything is under control? Gu tells you, if something happens to Gu in Chang'an, not only Chenzhou will have to Chaos, the world is also in chaos!"

Chu Jun held the jade pendant in her palm, and the white jade was as clean as new. She replied: "Auntie is talking about the tens of thousands of troops in your fiefdom. I am waiting for your eldest daughter to fight first."