Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

"Let's do this!" Wang Wenzuo smiled and pointed to the letters on several cases: "Although I am the ambassador to Hebei Province, the appointment of governors in more than a dozen states is not decided by me. I have to write to the court to recommend first. After deliberation among all the ministers in the political affairs hall, it was finally reported to the emperor. Only after the emperor approves can the decision be made. Mr. Lu should understand this!"

"That's natural, that's natural!" Lu Renji said with a smile: "But with the general's prestige and holy family, I believe Chang'an will not veto the person you recommend!"

"I don't dare to say, I don't dare to say!" Wang Wenzuo smiled and waved his hand: "Hebei is the Hebei of the Tang Dynasty, not my Wang Wenzuo's Hebei. The governor is the parent of the people of the state, not a lowly official, the Holy Emperor and the ministers of the court. Whether you agree or reject it, it is all a great favor from the imperial court, and we all have no choice but to obey the orders of the leader, are you right?"

"That's natural. The general's achievements are all over the world without taking any credit. This old man really admires his humility and self-restraint!" Lu Renji said with a smile.

"If we, the ministers, don't even understand this truth, we are not far from death!" Wang Wenzuo smiled: "Mr. Lu, please leave the candidates that each family intends to recommend and let me go through them first. Now, let’s report it to the imperial court!”

"I obey!" Luzhenji carefully took out a list that had been prepared from his sleeve, presented it with both hands, and bowed again before exiting the room. After leaving the room, Luzhenji felt that his back was cold and covered with cold sweat, and he sighed secretly. : "The ancients said that being with a king is like being with a tiger. Only now do I know what it means!"

Wang Wenzuo in the room looked at the list and shouted: "Is Li Bo out there? A certain family has something to tell him!"

"My subordinates pay their respects to the general!"

"Well!" Wang Wenzuo picked up the list: "Take this list and check all the people on it. If there are any violations in daily life, write them down and report them to me!"

"I understand!" Li Bo took the list and was about to leave, but was stopped by Wang Wenzuo.

"Remember, you are only allowed to conduct secret inspections, and are not allowed to leak out. If I hear the news, I will question you!"

"General, please rest assured, my subordinates will remember it!" Li Bo said.

"Go!"

After Li Bo retreated, Wang Wenzuo fell into deep thought. After a while, he picked up the pen and wrote a letter quickly, saying: "Someone, please send this letter to Murong Mu in Chang'an!"

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Chang'an, Murong Miao's residence.

Murong Miao was dressed in a scarlet robe and sat motionless at the head, just like a statue. He put down the letter in his hand: "Go back and report, saying that I understand the meaning of the letter, and I will act as ordered! In order to avoid leaks. If there is news, I won’t write a reply!”

"Understood!" The messenger bowed and exited the study. Murong Miao brought the finished letter to the candle. The candle flame licked the letter and it soon burned. He held the corners of the letter and did not let go until the flame was about to reach the letter.

"Your Majesty wrote to me instead of the people in the Political Affairs Hall, probably because he didn't want any accidents to happen!" Murong Moo thought for a while: "Then who should I approach? Zhang Wenguan? Since the last time the Lord's troops arrived in Chang'an, , His attitude seems to have changed a bit, Dai Zhide? He is old and rarely speaks in the court; Liu Rengui? This man is too deep in the city and has a deep relationship with his master, so it is better not to look for him. ; Pei Yan? This one also belongs to the Pei family in Hedong, so don’t look for him anymore? Yang Xingjian? This one is too conspicuous, so let’s forget it; Liu Jingxian? I don’t have much friendship with this one on weekdays, so this kind of thing is really inconvenient! "

Murong Mu thought about it and finally settled on Liu Peiji, the Minister of Household Affairs. Although he did not openly join Wang Wenzuo's staff, he cooperated well with Wang Wenzuo's people from reforming water transportation to developing transshipment envoys; and he held an important position in the Household Department. , As an official, he is surrounded by many people, so it is not easy for him to do anything that affects the whole body. Thinking of this, Murong Miao called his servant: "You will take my famous thorn later and go to the house of Minister Liu of the Ministry of Revenue. Tell him to invite him to have a few drinks at Toad Tomb tomorrow night. Go and come back as soon as possible!"

"The villain understands!"

Liu Peiji's Mansion, study room.

"Murong Mu invites me to go to Toad Tomb tomorrow night?" Liu Peiji looked at the famous thorn on his hand and asked.

"Not bad!" the butler replied carefully.

"Can you tell me why?" Liu Peiji asked.

"The person who came here didn't say anything!" The butler smiled bitterly and said: "The villain also asked before. He only said that his master has admired you for a long time and just wanted to have a few drinks together to get close! If he asked about anything else, he wouldn't say anything. There’s no invitation or anything!”

"Well, please step back!" Liu Peiji waved his hand, signaling the butler to step back. According to the customs of upper-class society in Chang'an, Murong Mu's invitation was crude to the point of being rude. But the difference between Murong Mu and Wang Wenzuo's other officers is that he is from an old Chang'an clan and has served as a general for generations. He naturally understands the red tape of Chang'an's upper-class society. There is only one reason for him to do this. He does not want his meeting with Liu Peiji to be revealed. The third party noticed, so he casually sent a subordinate to Liu Peiji with a famous assassin. There was no letterhead, only a few oral messages. The meeting place was under the Toad Tomb where there was frequent movement of people and the nobles of Chang'an often haunted. Even if someone encounters two people, it can be explained that they happened to go to the Toad Tomb at the same time to have fun. This is much more concealed than Murong Mu coming to the door, or inviting Liu Peiji to the door. So now there is only one question: why did Murong Mu ask for a secret meeting with him?

Since the last time the emperor visited Shaanxi Province and met Wang Wenzuo, Wang Wenzuo did not go to Chang'an, but returned to Hebei. The imperial court appointed Wang Wenzuo as the deputy marshal of the march of Liaodong Province, the marching commander of the Andong Protectorate, the visiting ambassador of Hebei Province, and the governor Song. After the military affairs of Mo, Liaodong, Jilin, Xiongjin, and Fusang, after Xu Guogong, the existence of Wang Wenzuo in Chang'an City was in a state of "everyone knows it, but everyone tries not to mention it." Although Wang Wenzuo's son was preparing for the emperor, Wang Wenzuo's minions were in the court. Every day, waterwheels, four-wheeled carriages invented by Wang Wenzuo, and canals and official roads built by Wang Wenzuo were loaded with large quantities of goods. Grain was transported into Chang'an, but everyone from the emperor to the common people tried their best not to mention that person's name in public, as if he had never existed.

The reason for this strange state is very simple. Wang Wenzuo refused the emperor's invitation and returned to Chang'an. This actually tore the thin veil between the emperor and his ministers. After that, the long list of official positions in the imperial court actually The above is a posthumous recognition of everything Wang Wenzuo did. In other words, the court recognized the existing weird relationship between Wang Wenzuo and Chang'an of "the king is not the king, the minister is not the minister". Of course the people of Chang'an should ignore things that are indecent like this as much as possible.

Going back to the original question, Murong Miao wanted to see him because of Wang Wenzuo's instructions. So what did Wang Wenzuo want to do? It is definitely impossible to get an official position or title. The imperial court has already given him everything it can give him. And based on past contacts, Wang Wenzuo is a person with little vanity, even to the point of indifference. He will never pay for the top of his head. He wears an official hat and spends all his time sending people to contact him. And what for? Is it to send troops to Chang'an again and make himself the internal correspondent?
Liu Peiji felt horrified. The war thousands of miles away and the war happening around him were completely different things. In the city of Chang'an, people were fighting for thousands of dollars, and the people were losing their homes and even selling their wives and children just for a mouthful of food. The incident was still vivid in his mind. Theoretically speaking, Chang'an did not encounter that war at all, it was just affected. Just that, it was a hell on earth. He could not imagine what it would be like if Wang Wenzuo's army really approached the city of Chang'an and was besieged on all sides.

"Probably not, probably not! He has got everything now, so why bother to fight? To seize the throne? He didn't take it last time, and he certainly won't do it this time. I'm overthinking it!" I don't know if it's because I'm thinking calmly or because of it. Comforting himself, Liu Peiji quickly eliminated the option that he hated and feared, but he still decided to accept Murong Mu's invitation. After all, it would not hurt to have known Wang Wenzuo's intentions.

The next night, under Toad Tomb.

Liu Peiji changed into a green shirt commonly worn by scholars, took a personal servant with him, got on the donkey cart, and headed all the way to the foot of Toad Tomb. When he arrived at a nearby place, he got out of the car, asked the donkey cart to find a place to wait, and then walked to the agreed place with his servant. There were tens of thousands of scholars dressed like him in Chang'an, but he used Don't worry about attracting attention.

When he arrived at the agreed place, which was a secluded small courtyard, he asked his servant to knock on the door. The person who opened the door was a pretty maid. She looked outside and asked, "You are the guests as promised. Do you have the credentials?"

"Certificate?" Liu Peiji was stunned, and then he remembered the famous assassin sent by Murong Miao's envoy, but he didn't bring it with him. He had to take off a jade pendant from his waist and handed it to the maid: "Bring this to the master here. Understood!"

The maid looked at the jade pendant, then at the master and servant Liu Peiji, and said, "Okay, I'll go in and ask if you can take the opportunity to run in!"

Liu Peiji was both angry and amused by this little maid: "Don't worry, I won't even step foot in this door without your master's permission!"

"Okay!" The little maid ran in quickly and came back after a while, returning the jade pendant with both hands: "Mr. Sir, please come in. The master is waiting in the back room!"

Liu Peiji took back the jade pendant and followed the little maid in. He saw twists and turns in the courtyard, with flowers and trees standing there, as well as pools and strange rocks, which gave the half-acre courtyard the feeling of winding paths. He knew that there must be a master of gardening here. Design, smiled and said: "The owner here is really interesting. He built a fairy cave in Chang'an City!"

"Immortal?" Liu Peiji smiled. He had been an official in Chang'an for many years and had seen it in the entertainment scene. Naturally, he knew that this was just a way to raise his own self-esteem. On normal days, he wouldn't care about making excuses. But today he was not in the mood and just walked forward.

The little maid led Liu Peiji through the courtyard, through the main hall, and to the flower hall. Murong Miao had been standing in front of the hall for a long time, and he stood with his hands cupped: "I invited you rashly, and I was not welcomed. Please forgive me, Mr. Liu!"

"It doesn't matter!" Liu Peiji said with a smile: "Brother Murong can think of Liu now because he thinks highly of me. Although Liu is stupid, how can he be ignorant?"

Murong Miao was stunned when he heard this, and couldn't help but secretly admire Liu Peiji's cleverness. He smiled and said, "Mr. Liu has already seen everything before he arrived. It shows that I didn't find the wrong person this time!" After saying that, he reached out to hold Liu Peiji's arm, walked into the flower hall, and said goodbye. Sitting down on the left and right, the servants and maids have all retired, leaving only a woman dressed up making tea.

"Madam Li, please retreat when the water boils! Only Mr. Liu and I will be left here!"

"Yes!" The dressed-up woman responded, and with the flames of the charcoal stove and the teapot making a flapping sound, she bowed to the two of them and retreated out of the hall.

"A letter came from Hebei a few days ago!" Murong Mu opened the tea cup and said: "The letter was written by the general himself. You also worked with the general in the political hall, so you should know that his writing is ordinary. , so most of the letters were written by the records office around him, and he just dictated them. This is the first time I have received such a handwritten letter!"

"It must be a very confidential matter, so the general would write it in his own hand!" Liu Peiji said.

"Yes!" Murong Miao nodded. He picked up the teapot and filled Liu Peiji's cup first, and then his own: "In half a month, the general will write to the court and recommend a group of Hebei scholars to serve as local officials. Governor!"

"Just for this?" Liu Peiji was stunned when he heard this, and then smiled: "The general is too cautious, right? The imperial court has appointed him to search for ambassadors for Hebei Province, so it is within his authority to recommend local officials. Even if the matter is reported to the imperial court, it has just gone through the process. There should be no one in the political hall who is so shameless and would be in trouble with the general on this kind of matter!"

"No, the general doesn't want his recommendation to pass!" Murong Miao said.

"Don't you want his recommendation to pass? What do you mean?" Liu Peiji was confused.

"The general hopes that the imperial court can reject this recommendation, or at least reject a large number of them!" Murong Miao said.

"Why is this?" Liu Peiji asked: "If the general is dissatisfied with the candidate, he can just not include him in the list. Why bother?"

"Because there are some things that even the general himself cannot refuse!" Murong Miao took a sip of tea.

"What do you mean?" Liu Peiji asked with a frown.

"It's meaningless!" Murong Miao shook his head: "Liu Shilang, can you take the lead in impeachment? I will give you the information on these people later, so that you can be targeted!"