The fox minister in the late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 174
"The gate of heaven has been opened, all officials will see you!"

The eunuch swung his fly whisk and raised his head to proclaim, in the distant sky, the golden light was breaking through the gaps in the clouds and spreading inch by inch along the city walls, buildings, and palaces. In the warm morning sun, the civil and military officials waiting to enter the court entered the palace one by one .

The Jiedu envoys of each town walked alone in the middle and entered the hall as usual. This was their last day of court today. After discussing political affairs, they took their soldiers back to guard the domain.

Everyone entered the hall and lined up on both sides. Looking at the emperor who came in from the side hall, everyone's faces were a little weird today. The emperor killed a concubine last night. I have heard about it in the early morning, but I haven't heard the news. Minister, when waiting to enter the court, I also heard from my colleagues that killing a concubine would not make them look weird, but what the talented man said made them look at the emperor with complicated eyes.

Being looked down upon by one's own woman is a bit of a failure.

Let alone the emperor.

Li Xuan pressed the dragon's head and seemed to notice the gazes of the crowd. He just coughed twice, glanced around, and asked everyone, civil and military, to discuss political affairs. There are hundreds of miles of uninhabited counties and towns, and it is necessary to fill in places with a surplus of population, so that the fields will not be barren and the tax revenue of the imperial court will be limited in the future.

This is a lucrative job, and the household department naturally accepted it, and the Jiedu envoy didn't have much opinion. It's just that the transferred population needs to be compensated in other ways, otherwise the domain will not suffer any loss.

After that, he also said that the drafting army slipped through the net, such as Huang Hao's generation, who entangled thousands of people. They claimed that the wandering army was causing trouble everywhere, and they also needed to be wiped out. Small groups of bandits were not easy to wipe out. The county can only barely protect itself, and when it comes and goes, the court begins to argue again.

The envoys of the various towns are unwilling to go, and they will work hard, and they will suffer casualties of soldiers, and the extermination of a group of bandits is their due responsibility, and the credit is too small; if they escape, they will be laughed at by their colleagues, not cost-effective.

The two sides argued at a stalemate, but Li Xuan was quite satisfied with the situation. The learning of emperors is always in balance. One of the military governors should not be too powerful, and the other military governors should not be too powerful. The words of the emperor.

His eyes swept around, and among the white and bearded faces, a dark face was silent in the crowd, which caught his attention.

Geng Qing
Thinking of this person, I immediately thought of Wang Surong yesterday. The words scolded by the woman that night were still fresh in my memory, and every word was heartbreaking. Arguing, looking at the conspicuous black face in the crowd, he twitched his chin.

"Geng Qing, all the ministers are discussing politics, but you are the only one who is silent, but you have a good plan in mind? Come on, come out and talk about it. When the yellow bandits are here, you must use your quick wits to deal with them, and you must have a way to deal with these gangsters. "

Everyone stopped talking, and looked at the young man standing in the queue of civil servants, at the end of the sixth part. The latter walked out slowly with his lips pursed, bowed his hands and saluted.

"Your Majesty, I don't understand military strategy, so I can't speak indiscriminately, but I have something on my mind, and I want to ask Your Majesty for permission."

Li Xuan frowned. Originally, he wanted to bring him up and ask him some political questions. He just wanted to use this to veto him and question his ability. Afterwards, it was a matter of course that he would be demoted to a lower level.

It's just that right now, it doesn't seem to be accepted.

"What does Geng Qing need my permission for? But it doesn't matter."

Geng Qing lowered his face, looked at the floor under his folded arms, his eyelashes fluttered slightly, and in the silence of the hall, he took a light breath.

"Chen's father was seriously ill yesterday. I'm afraid he won't have much time left. The feeling of homesickness in his heart is getting stronger and stronger. He wants to return to his roots. As a son, I can't let my parents go back to the north alone. I have to accompany my parents and serve them back home."

In the hall, only his voice echoed, his tone slightly choked.

"Your majesty's respect for a minister who is less than double tenth, and the head of the punishment department, is a great trust. However, since ancient times, loyalty and filial piety have been difficult to balance. If you can't see your father dying and remain indifferent, you will be a son of man. Now that the yellow thieves have been wiped out, the world is stable, and the minister However, an ignorant person, not a talent for governing the world, nor capable of commanding an army in battle, can no longer help His Majesty, and only relying on his merits to occupy a high position will only be looked down upon by talented people. Why don't you take this opportunity to ask Your Majesty There is no better way to show your heart.”

After saying that, Geng Qing straightened his waist, bowed heavily again, bowed down, and said in a clear and upright voice, "Your Majesty, please allow me to take my leave and accompany my father back home!"

It is really surprising to the civil and military officials at the upper echelons of the court to resign just one day after taking over the post of Minister of the Ministry of Justice. However, the meaning in the words also shows that it is for the sake of filial piety. It must be kept in front of the emperor.

The emperor on the imperial steps, Li Xuan laughed so hard that he almost didn't applaud. Yesterday he was thinking about how to drive this man away, but he came up to him before he thought about it. Naturally, he couldn't just agree so happily.

"Geng Qing respects filial piety, there is nothing wrong with it, but you have made great contributions to eliminating the yellow thieves, how can you not reward you for your merits? It is better to send your father back to his hometown for the time being, and then return to the court. The Secretary of the Ministry of Punishment will keep it for you."

"Your Majesty, I may have to keep my filial piety for three years"

"This..." Li Yan frowned, remained silent for a while, and nodded: "Indeed, for three years, how can the position of Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment be vacant, no matter what, but the credit will not be diminished. !Let Geng Qing return home in fine clothes!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your permission!"

The majestic Minister of the Ministry of Punishments, the official laws and regulations, and the financial audit, although they are not comparable to the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Officials, are also the departments that hold real power. Many people sighed in their hearts.

This morning, Geng Qing asked the emperor to resign from the position of minister, but Li Xuan rejected it, and then resigned, and he was approved by the official position of Doctor Guanglu.

The imperial court dispersed, civil and military officials walked out of the hall in twos and threes, looked at Geng Qing who was walking alone in front of him, shook his head and regretted that he reached a high position at such a young age, and after leaving like this, he didn't know when he would want to step into the imperial city again up.

Amid intertwined gazes, Geng Qing raised his face, the sun was rising above the clouds, he cupped his hands to Li Keyong, Zhu Wen and others who came to say hello, exchanged a few greetings, and glanced at a palace in the distance from the corner of his eye Under the eaves, the figure of the eunuch in the round collar and purple shirt stopped and watched, then strode out of the palace, got into the carriage and went back to Yong'an Square.

At the corner of the corridor eaves of the Taiji Hall, Li Yan looked at the figure walking out of the Chengtian Gate, snorted coldly, withdrew his hands behind his back, turned around and walked slowly in the corridor.

"This person can think about his thoughts. Wang Surong died last night, and he resigned today. It seems that there is really something between the two of them."

"Your Majesty, don't get angry over such trivial matters, it's just the concubines being imprisoned in Dali Temple."

The sun fell on his handsome face, Li Xuan squinted his eyes as he looked at the lotus leaves floating in the pool water in the distance.

"Poisoned."

Tian Lingzi was stunned for a moment, then lowered his head and said, 'Yes. ’ But he didn’t leave, his voice paused, and he said: “Then this Geng Qing servant wants to vent his anger on His Majesty, why not just stay outside the city and let him be robbed by strong men.”

At this time, Li Xuan has almost understood the whole story, but if he wants to be the king of Zhongxing, he can't be stained at this moment, "He is indeed talented, but there are so many talented people in the world. Big companion, Just do as you say."

The sky was cloudy, the bustling long street, the carriage passed by, and stopped outside the quiet courtyard, when Geng Qing returned home, all the packages, large and small, were ready.

Bai Yunxiang stood under the tree watching him wiping her tears, wanted to say something, but was interrupted by Geng Qing raising her hand, he pulled the woman to sit beside her.

"At the beginning, you and I were only driven by profit, but now, I want to leave and return to Feihu County. I know you don't want to go back, and I don't force you. My rewards over the years."

Geng Qing patted the back of the woman's hand, looked at the other people in the courtyard, such as Dou Wei and the others, and said with a smile: "If they want to follow you, they will follow. If they don't want to, send some money to let them go. It is also possible if you are willing to go back to the north with me."

Bai Yunxiang squeezed the man's hand tightly, bit her lips tightly, and tears rolled down her eyes.

She is used to enjoying life. When she followed Geng Qing, she also chose that the other party could protect herself. Later, she learned to manage the business by herself and gained a foothold. Now that the man chooses to leave, she can naturally live in Chang'an, just in her heart It is still unclear whether they like each other, and there is still a gap between the two of them as brother and sister-in-law
"Don't be sad, maybe I won't come back again, I hope my sister-in-law will look different again."

Under the tree, Geng Qing looked at the luggage loaded in the car, comforted the woman, then got up and called the gang to talk to them for a while, Qin Huaimian followed, pulled him aside, hesitant to speak.

"Brother Qin, you should be an official in the future, and don't get involved in this matter."

Geng Qing pressed his shoulder with a smile on his face.

After the sun covered the clouds, the barracks outside Chang'an was noisy. Li Keyong, who returned to the big tent, saw the wooden box in the hands of his adopted son Li Cunxiao, opened the lid, and saw the pickled head inside. He was slightly dazed.

"Who brought it?"

"My elder brother, Geng Qing." Li Cunxiao answered truthfully.

In the military camp on the eastern outskirts of the city, Zhu Wen stared at the opened wooden box with the same surprise on his face. He pressed the handle of the knife on his waist and looked out of the tent in a daze.

"How could he have the head of a yellow thief?"

"What do you mean by sending it to me?"

Chang'an Criminal Department.

"What is Mr. Geng going to do? Do you really want to follow suit?" Tu Shifei touched his brand-new official robes. In his eyes, Wang Feiying and Yang Huaixiong each held weapons, and dozens of people behind them rubbed against the front, showing fierceness.

"Mr.'s plan is never wrong. If you blindly believe in it, if the bet is right, the two of us, including Brother Tu, will not be able to go further."

Bah!
Yanyue's knife pillar was on the ground, Yang Huaixiong was tall and big, holding the knife and staring: "Dare you?"

"dare!"

The sun crossed the sky and set to the west, and the last ray of sunlight fell over the city. A group of dozens of masked people with knives quickly spread across the streets and alleys, heading towards Dali Temple.

The night wind swept across the long street, and a carriage drove out from Yong'an Square. Half an hour later, it stopped at Anfumen, and something was thrown from the curtain and fell into the hanging basket.

Soon, the spring rain fell, the city gate ahead opened, and the waiting cars drove in silently and slowly.

(End of this chapter)