outside the imperial city

The city guard stopped a carriage.

"Offended, the emperor is missing, and irrelevant people are not allowed to enter the city."

Cao Zhong raised the curtain of the car: "I'm not an unrelated person."

The servant who was sitting in front and driving the horse turned his head and shouted: "You don't know the former Prime Minister Cao Zhongcao, Mr. Cao?"

His voice was thick and resonant, and as soon as he spoke, his momentum came out.The guard was terrified: "I really don't know each other. Even if you say so, I can't just let you in."

Cao Zhong sighed: "Let your guard captain come."

The servant driving the horse is Yao Fanglan.Seeing the guards running up the city wall, he turned his eyes back and looked around.

Above and below the city wall, there are unprecedentedly many troops stationed.Looking down, Yao Fanglan couldn't help but slightly raised the corners of his mouth, pulled Jing Junxi's clothes corner, and asked him to look at the city wall.

There are three arrest warrants posted on the city wall, you don't need to look to know who it is.

Jing Junxi's eyes stared straight: "What?"

Under heavy surveillance, he didn't dare to talk nonsense, he only thought to himself, fortunately Yao Fanglan also changed his face.After such a convenient skill, you must learn from him.

"Lord Cao, I'm really sorry." As soon as the captain of the guard arrived, he apologized to Cao Zhong, "This subordinate has no eyes."

Cao Zhong smiled and said, "It's okay, he's just doing business."

The captain of the guard smiled apologetically, and said, "It would be the best if Mr. Cao could understand. Now is really an extraordinary time..."

Cao Zhong's face was pulled down: "What? You mean, I can't enter this imperial city either?"

The captain's waist became more and more bent, but he didn't intend to give in: "I also understand Mr. Cao's concern for the government, but with us juniors around, you can take care of yourself for the elderly, right?"

"So, does the captain of the guard think we are old? Useless in the government?" Another voice came from the carriage, and the captain of the guard heard it familiarly, so he took a few steps back involuntarily.

Gongsun Liu got off the carriage and smiled "gently".

Most of the people who served as the imperial guards in the imperial city were people who had experienced life and death on the battlefield.Now that he has been on the battlefield, it is impossible not to recognize the person in front of him.

Yao Fanglan also felt fortunate that such a big man was bumped into by him.

"General, general."

Gongsun Liu has been fighting and killing all his life, and he can't change Mao Mao's temper when he grows old: "Who is the general! There is only one old thing here! It's old, it's useless!"

"General, General, I didn't know you were here," the captain of the guard almost pressed his face to the ground, "I'll let you go there right away, no, I'll send you into the city right away."

Gongsun Liu pursed his lips and let out a "hum", and got into the carriage aggressively.Yao Fanglan waved the reins, and the group passed through the city gate smoothly.

"See, thanks to me for coming." Gongsun Liu raised one leg proudly.

Yao Zanglan covered her chest, and said silently: "I hope your place will be just as smooth."

Because of a reminder from Gongsun Liu, the four of them did not take the official road between Bailu and Jingyang, but detoured to Mengsheng.Meng Sheng is an important city that provides supplies to Jingyang, so this gate has the largest flow of traffic, and the investigation is relatively loose.It's been smooth so far, but it's unknown what happened to Jing Lingshuo and Beiqianling.Convincing the leader of the Red Horses in advance that it was indeed a correct decision to let him follow Jing Shuo.

The carriage stopped in front of Prince Li's Mansion.

It wasn't intentional to stop here, but when I saw it, my hand stopped automatically.

The gate was vandalized wantonly, the seal split in two down the middle.From between the two doors, one can get a glimpse of the inside of the mansion.No one is there, the depression is not like the palace.Furniture, collections of books, and decorations were thrown from the house into the courtyard, and there were wreckage all over the place.

This is not blocked, it is clearly copied!

Cao Zhong's voice came out from behind the curtain: "Young man, what are you doing?"

Yeah, what is this doing?If the spies saw it, Cao Zhong's purpose in coming to Jingyang would be suspected.Not to mention the impact on future plans, it will also affect Cao Zhong and Gongsun Liu.

Yao Fanglan waved his hand, and the carriage moved again.

"My lord," Jing Junxi whispered, "is that your home?"

Yao Fanglan smiled: "You can say that, but it's not entirely true."

Jing Junxi blinked in confusion, but didn't ask again.

The wheels spun for weeks, then stopped again.Yao Fanglan got out of the car and said towards the direction of the car curtain: "Lord Cao, the prime minister's residence is here."

Cao Zhong and Gongsun Liu lifted the curtain of the car.Yao Fanglan pressed Jing Junxi's shoulder and turned him in another direction.

"That is, Prince Jinyuan's Mansion."

The door of the prime minister's house was opened, and several servants came out.After Cao Zhong talked to them a few words, he went in alone to invite Ye Chengwei.

"Teacher," Ye Chengwei was not surprised, "Why are you here? And Lord Gongsun?"

Gongsun Liu turned his face away, unwilling to talk to him.Cao Zhong smiled and said, "Come and see my students, can't you?"

"Where is it?" Ye Chengwei hurriedly apologized, "Teacher, Mr. Gongsun, please come inside."

He supported Cao Zhong to go forward, and just stepped over the threshold, he took it back again, took a deep look at Yao Fanglan and Jing Junxi, and said in a deep voice: "You two, follow in."

Jing Junxi tugged at the corner of Yao Fanglan's clothes: "He found out?"

"He's not a fool." Yao Zanglan put his hand on his head, telling him not to panic, "Have you forgotten? He met you when he was in Anliang. Although your appearance has changed, your height and shape are much higher than those at that time." Not much has changed. In these extraordinary times, with his intellect, it should be easy to guess who we are."

Ye Chengwei asked Cao Zhong and Gongsun Liu to finish tea and sent them down.The three sat around the tea table, Yao Fanglan and Jing Junxi knelt behind Cao Zhong.

Ye Chengwei got straight to the point: "Teacher, you came here today to criticize me, right?"

"You still have some self-knowledge." Gongsun Liu interjected, "If someone really came to accuse you, what would you do?"

"I'm irrefutable." Ye Chengwei leaned against the tea table and lowered his head.

"Chengwei," Cao Zhong said without any anger in his voice, "I didn't come to accuse you. I just came to ask you why."

"There's no reason." Ye Chengwei didn't intend to tell the truth.

Cao Zhong was still not angry: "You are not a person who will be deceived by the things in front of you, so, do you really think it would be better for this country to be handed over to the queen?"

Ye Chengwei was noncommittal.

Cao Zhong looked at him and continued to guess: "Is it family pressure? Or... because of King Jinyuan?"

The eyes of Ye Chengwei and Yao Fanglan flickered at the same time.

"What does this have to do with King Jinyuan?" Ye Chengwei thought it was a little funny, "Teacher, do you think that if I mention that name, I will tell the truth?"

Cao Zhongdao: "I'm afraid you're acting on your own will. Jingyang knows that King Jinyuan is the best. Do you want to support the queen to help the current Lord Qin take the throne, or do you want to stand in a completely different team and oppose him?" ?”

"So in the teacher's mind, am I such a person who is easily influenced by emotions? Unfortunately, no matter whether I am such a person or not, your statement is not valid. That person has indeed surpassed me to a certain extent, but I am both I don't hate him, and I don't have any undue feelings for him like those rumors say. So I support the queen and have nothing to do with him." Ye Chengwei sighed.

"Then, what is the reason?" Cao Zhong persisted.

Ye Chengwei smiled and said, "Okay, since the teacher wants to know so much, I'll tell you."

"I will help the queen, all out of my own will." Ye Chengwei understated, "Even if I don't help, there will be other people to help. This is an inevitable trend. Teacher, you left me a mess, I When I received it, more than half of the officials in the court, including the Qin Wang Party, had turned to the queen. Sooner or later, they will be able to support someone like me now."

"That's also—"

Ye Chengwei smiled decisively: "The teacher wants to say that it is better than me as a prime minister facing her? Do you think that I am so young, why can I become a prime minister? How long do you think it will take for sixty to seventy percent of the important court officials to change their prime minister?" In particular, our emperor has always been known for his advice and advice?"

After Ye Chengwei finished speaking, no one spoke.There was a dead silence, and even the sound of snowflakes falling to the ground could be heard.

Gongsun Liu broke the silence first: "Boy, do you think you are justified? In my opinion, you are just avoiding. If you don't do it, someone else will do it, so you just do it? Do you know that if If you don't do this, there will be one more person in the court who opposes the queen?"

Ye Chengwei smiled wryly: "Master Gongsun is a general, so naturally he doesn't know the difficulties of our civil servants. Many things are not so simple."

Cao Zhong continued, "Chengwei, do you know where the Emperor is now?"

Ye Chengwei shook his head.

Cao Zhong stared at him, as if judging the truth.Then, he stood up and said, "The way is different, so we don't conspire with each other. I'll just pretend I don't have you as a student."

Ye Chengwei gritted his teeth and said nothing.

"Master Cao." Yao Fanglan stopped Cao Zhong, "If possible, can you two wait for me outside? I have something to say to this Lord Ye."

Cao Zhong nodded and signaled Gongsun Liu to go out with him.

"Teacher, Lord Gongsun," Ye Chengwei added, "please don't leave this courtyard, it's very dangerous."

Because Jing Junxi was not named, he obediently stayed by Yao Fanglan's side.But he didn't know what Yao Fanglan left him for, so he could only stare at Ye Chengwei.

"What do you want to tell me?" Ye Chengwei looked at Yao Fanglan.Yao Fanglan didn't change her position, she still knelt and sat on the edge of the wall, there was quite a long distance between them.

"If you want to talk about things related to... King Jinyuan, then you can skip it."

"He told me, this child, and Prince Li," Yao Zanglan said slowly, "You are upright, talented, knowledgeable about the past and the present, and have your own insights."

Ye Chengwei was shaken for the first time, but quickly calmed down: "Are you telling me this, are you trying to be a cliché, or are you trying to show off that your relationship with him is extraordinary?"

"Not at all. But no matter how you cover it up, the fact that you care about him is there." Yao Fanglan said, "So I think I should tell you this."

"If I stood in your position, I would probably make the same choice." Yao Fanglan pulled Jing Junxi up, "However, your approach is still wrong. Of course, at this point in development, each of us It’s all to blame.”

"Wait." Ye Chengwei said to the backs of the two, "I really don't know where the emperor is."

"Yeah." Yao Fanglan looked back, "It's okay, I already have some clues."

Ye Chengwei opened his eyes wide.He laughed at himself, and said again: "By the way, I will send you another message. In three days, the emperor will be missing for a full month. The queen and the officials who supported her will be on that day. As the new emperor. Because the King of Qin is extravagant and dissipated, the empress will be in charge of the country, and from then on...he will listen to the government behind the curtain."