This shadow guard is kinda nice

After the court rested for three days, Xiao Yichen's leisurely days came to an end, and he began to go to court.

To be honest, in the past few years, he has been to the court very few times, and most of the time he is eating soil in the frontier, so the ministers still feel a little uncomfortable seeing him in the court.

Especially Dong Qian, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, since King Xuan refused to marry a few months ago, he was fined to kneel and grounded, and the whole Jinling has been rumored to be ups and downs.His daughter was already stupid, and she couldn't marry a good family. After the matter between the emperor and King Xuan involved his daughter, his daughter's reputation was completely ruined.

But he is just an official minister, he can't do anything, he can only try his best to give his daughter a prosperous life, let her live a happier life, if she can't marry someone, she won't marry, he can afford it.

His only wish now is that she can live a carefree life without being disturbed by everything.

Now meeting King Xuan in the court hall, he is a little embarrassed, avoid as much as possible, and try not to contact him.

Xiao Yichen naturally understood Dong Qian's state of mind, he rejected his daughter's marriage, even if he had resentment in his heart, he should have done so, since he avoided him, then let him go.

"Your Majesty, I have something to do."

Someone stepped forward to play, Xiao Yichen collected his thoughts and looked up, it was Prime Minister Sun Baizhi.

"Zou." The emperor sat high on the dragon chair, looking down at the people below.

Sun Baizhi tried his best to keep his voice steady and said: "Your Majesty, recently, a strange disease suddenly occurred in Pingyao. Local officials came to report, and hundreds of people have been reported."

After Sun Baizhi finished speaking, there were gasps one after another in the court hall, and all the ministers looked at each other with unbelievable shock on their faces.

The emperor's face was calm, and he couldn't see anything. He asked in a calm voice, "What's wrong?"

Sun Baizhi lowered his head, as if he didn't dare to look directly at the emperor, "Return to Your Majesty, I haven't found out yet, I only said that the symptoms are very similar to wind-cold, accompanied by fever," Sun Baizhi changed his voice, "But it is extremely contagious, as long as it is in contact with If a sick person has contact, [-]% of them will get sick."

"The doctor couldn't find out what caused the illness." There was an uproar in the court, and Sun Baizhi still added the last sentence, which was also the most deadly sentence.

"And there is no cure."

As soon as this remark came out, a turbulent sea suddenly rolled up.

Some people shrunk their necks and started to sweat. This symptom, this, this is not...

The emperor glanced at the crowd coldly, and said without anger, "What's the point of being so noisy?" All the ministers below silenced their voices, and lowered their heads in fear.

"Why did you report it now?"

Sun Baizhi said respectfully: "Return to Your Majesty, because it is close to the New Year, I am afraid that it will cause unnecessary panic, and they will not report it until the New Year's Day is over..."

Before Sun Baizhi finished speaking, the emperor interrupted him coldly, "Confused."

The emperor was so angry that a bunch of idiots, the more they dragged on, the more they would cause panic.

"Such a big matter, why don't you hide it from the report, huh?" If it weren't for the lack of suitable objects at hand, the emperor would have wanted to smash it, a bunch of disgusting things.

There was a clatter of knees on the ground, "Your Majesty, calm down."

The emperor calmed down for a long time before he was able to suppress his anger.

"When was it first discovered?"

The prime minister raised his head, "Return to Your Majesty, there will be signs at the beginning of the twelfth lunar month."

"At first it was a cold, and after a few doses of medicine, it didn't work at all. It wasn't until high fever appeared later that I realized something was wrong. If it was serious, after a few days, the person would... be gone."

Panic spread in the hall, and the conjecture just now was confirmed. This symptom, nine out of ten, is the plague?

There was a plague in Daliang before. During the reign of Emperor Liang Ren, it was also the twelfth lunar month. A plague broke out in Jizhou. At first, he didn’t pay much attention to it. Until a town where [-]% of the population was infected with the plague, people panicked and died countless times. Jizhou couldn’t be suppressed. The prefect reported to the capital.

This is tantamount to making matters worse for Daliang, who is not already strong.

Emperor Liang Ren was furious, beheaded the prefect of Jizhou at that time, quickly blocked Jizhou, transferred officials from the capital, and sent a group of imperial doctors from the Imperial Hospital to Jizhou. After more than six months, until the arrival of summer in May of the following year, the plague finally came be controlled.

The emperor naturally knew how much loss that year had brought to Daliang. If it wasn't for the rich family property left by Emperor Wen, and the fact that Emperor Ren had recuperated in the early stage, vigorously developed, and saved a lot of money, he could have survived that battle. A sudden plague.

Otherwise, Daliang's country would be unstable.

Thinking of this, the emperor frowned, but he still said slowly: "Everyone, get up, and tell me what to do?"

Everyone stood up and looked at each other, no one wanted to be that early bird.

It wasn't until Grand Tutor Gao Bo came out that the silence of the room was broken.

"Your Majesty, I believe that Pingyao should be sealed off as soon as possible to prevent the plague from spreading to other places."

"Otherwise the consequences will be disastrous."

Wei Jun, Minister of the Ministry of Rites, disagreed. He stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I think this move is inappropriate. Pingyao is a place of prosperous trade and there are a lot of businessmen. If you block Pingyao without knowing the circumstances, it will cause dissatisfaction. The foundation may be affected."

Although the Taifu is over sixty years old, he is full of energy, standing upright and fighting for reason in the court, which is not the same as before.

"Your Majesty, as the Minister of Rites said, Pingyao has a large number of people coming and going, but if it is not blocked as soon as possible to cause more people to be infected, it will not be worth it."

Minister of Rites retorted angrily, "The current situation is not clear. Whether this disease is a plague or not is open to question. Rushing to block Pingyao will only bring panic."

Dong Qian, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, also said: "Your Majesty, I also think that Pingyao should not be blocked lightly."

The Taifu wanted to say something else, but his beard almost flew out of anger from the two people's arguments, and the emperor made a sound.

"Wei Jun and Dong Qian are right," he looked at Taifu, "Teacher, it is not that simple to block Pingyao." He paused, and continued: "It's not just a matter of lip service, saying that it will be closed." It can be sealed."

Taifu wanted to speak but stopped, he knew the emperor, he was his teacher when the emperor was still the prince, he watched him ascend the throne till now, knew that the emperor had made up his mind, so he backed away without saying a word.

The emperor eased his gaze, "Wei Jun, tell me what you think."

Wei Jun cleared his throat and said calmly: "Your Majesty, I think we should send someone to investigate the situation first. It is best to have the imperial physician from the Imperial Hospital accompany you. If it is really serious, it will not be too late to block Pingyao."

The emperor's face was very solemn, and the situation this time was not optimistic, but as Wei Jun said, he had to send someone to investigate the situation before he could make a decision.

So, who should we send?

The emperor thought about it for a while, and then he said, "Just do what Wei Jun said, then," the emperor extended the ending, "is there anyone from your family who wants to go voluntarily?"

This……

All the courtiers wished they could bury their faces in the ground, fearing that the emperor would send him to Pingyao at the first glance.

That place is currently suffering from the plague, if one is accidentally infected, not to mention the official luck is there, there may be life-threatening threats, and only those who have brain problems will automatically petition to Pingyao.

The emperor's eyes lingered on every courtier below, and wherever his eyes went, everyone trembled and did not dare to look at him.

He knew that none of these people wanted to go to Pingyao.

His eyes came to his sons, they were better than the group of courtiers, they all stood upright and didn't look away.

As the crown prince, the boss bears the important responsibility of the country and the country, so he can't take risks.He excluded Xiao Beining who stood at the top.

The fourth child has no ambitions and no means, so he must not be able to deal with the plague in Pingyao. He shook his head in his heart and rejected Xiao Yi'an.

His eyes came to Xiao Yichen, he was the only one, even if he didn't like this son, he still admitted that his ability was extremely strong, otherwise he wouldn't have built such an army in just four years.

Handling things like the plague, leaving it to him, should be the best choice.

If the plague is contained, it will be a good thing for Daliang as a whole. If it is not contained and it spreads, then...

He made up his mind, "Wei Jun,"

Wei Jun, who was named, came out, "The minister is here."

"Tell me, who should be the right person?"

Wei Jun seemed to have thought about it for a while. In this gap, many ministers were in danger, and they were deeply afraid of hearing their own names from Wei Jun's mouth.

"Your Majesty, I believe that His Royal Highness King Xuan should be sent there."

The ministers breathed a sigh of relief, and their hearts fell in mid-air.

"Oh? Why?" The emperor asked in a rather doubtful manner.

Wei Jun glanced at the straight back of King Xuan obliquely in front of him, and said loudly: "I think His Highness King Xuan is the most suitable candidate. First of all, His Highness King Xuan is the fifth prince, and he is a child of the royal family. His Highness King Xuan is the most suitable candidate. Going there will show Your Majesty how much you attach importance to Pingyao, and the people of Pingyao will feel relieved."

"Secondly, His Royal Highness King Xuan was stationed at the border in the early years, and he has seen a lot of knowledge. He should have experience in handling such matters."

Hearing this, King Cheng glanced at Xiao Yichen who was standing next to him, his eyes were full of playfulness, he wanted to see the expression on his fifth younger brother's face, but he was disappointed.

Xiao Yichen's face was calm without any disturbance, as if Wei Jun, Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, was not talking about him.

"Thirdly, the identity of His Royal Highness King Xuan is there to prevent some local officials from taking Joe, so as not to hinder the prevention and control of Pingyao's epidemic."

The emperor is satisfied, this time, two or three, all reasonable, people can't find a reason to refute him, but he is still a little vacillating, if the fifth child did a good job this time, then he tried his best to make this The balance maintained between the three sons is bound to be broken.

He didn't want to see such a situation that threatened his rights, but he really didn't seem to have any way to get the best of both worlds.

He was still undecided, but someone stood up at this moment.

The emperor frowned. It was Shen Yinan, Minister of the Ministry of Punishment.

Shen Yinan, who became the Secretary of the Ministry of Justice at a young age, was the number one scholar handpicked by the emperor back then. He made great progress all the way, and he is very likely to be the successor of the prime minister in the future. I envy others, but I just don't know what is going on in his mind. You have to go to the Ministry of Criminal Justice.

A fine and handsome young man who spends all day in a dirty place like a prison, but he is ruthless, no matter how hard his mouth is, Shen Yinan will always be able to pry out something.

Therefore, there is always a saying in Daliang that it is better to offend the King of Hades than to offend Shen Yinan.

After all, Hades wants you to die in the third watch, and Shen Yinan can torture you until the fifth watch.

"Your Majesty, I think it is inappropriate to send His Highness King Xuan down." Shen Yinan's cold voice resounded throughout the Qinzheng Hall.

Xiao Yi'an raised his eyebrows slightly, he used to only know that Shen Yinan was indifferent by nature and never got close to others, let alone who he stood on and spoke for whom like today.

Is this someone from King Xuan or just can't see them pushing Xiao Yichen out?

The emperor also had such doubts. Before this moment, he only thought that Shen Yinan was an extremely useful knife, but he didn't realize that it was a knife that was likely to have an owner.

"What's Shen Aiqing's opinion?"

Shen Yinan was neither humble nor overbearing, his thin figure stood in the huge hall, looking extremely weak.

"Returning to Your Majesty, I think that His Royal Highness King Xuan stays at the border all year round and is not very familiar with Pingyao." He raised his head, and looked straight at the emperor sitting on the dragon chair with a pair of cold eyes.

"And King Xuan has just been banned for three months by His Majesty, and now he is sent to Pingyao. I am afraid that the local officials in Pingyao will not be convinced. The strong dragon can't overwhelm the local snake. What do you think? Your Majesty."

The emperor pursed his lips, his expression gloomy.

Is this blaming him for grounding?What a Xiao Yichen, who hasn't been in the capital for a few years, but still has the ability to ask the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment to work for him and be the knife in his hand.

I really underestimated him.

Then Xiao Yichen had to go to Pingyao this time.

"Shen Aiqing is speaking for King Xuan?" The emperor didn't save any face, and said directly.

The emperor was still a little puzzled, Shen Yinan was too anxious, in order to prevent King Xuan from being in danger, he actually stood up so directly, which really didn't match his usual cautious and subtle style.

Shen Yinan's face turned pale suddenly, as if he tried to defend himself, "Your Majesty, I have not."

"Okay, step back." The emperor waved his hand impatiently, not wanting to listen to Shen Yinan anymore.

The emperor made a final decision, "This matter will be done according to Wei Jun's orders. Xuan Wang Xiao Yichen led several imperial doctors from the imperial hospital to Pingyao." His eyes were sharp, and he stared at the person who had never said a word , One word at a time: "Departure today."

The emperor opened his mouth, this is a certainty, and there is no possibility of change.

Everyone in the court was completely relieved, and for a moment, everyone's eyes were on Xiao Yichen, either sizing up, rejoicing, gloating, or a little more complicated.

This day's father and son, really can't be.

Xiao Yichen stood up and stood in the middle of the hall, ignoring those vague eyes, with a calm expression on his face, he answered yes.

Xiao Beining pursed his lips and smiled silently.