No, gentlemen also guard against

Chapter 511: I will refuse to obey the imperial edict.
The autumn wind rustled outside.

There are four auspicious beast heaters in the study, distributed in the four corners, making the entire study as warm as spring.

The atmosphere among Li Xian's family is also happy and harmonious.

The reason is naturally the upcoming Luoyang imperial edict.

While Ouyang Rong was drinking tea quietly, Li Xian explained the news in the secret letter in detail.

Empress Wei Zhao has already ordered that Li Xian still serve as the governor of Jiangnan and supervise the construction of the Donglin Buddha.

Jiang Governor Shi Ouyang Rong still serves as Lixian's deputy.

He was also given the official position of Jiangnan Supervisor Zuo Deputy Envoy, and he continued to have full power to "assist" Li Xian in building the new Donglin Buddha in Xingzifang.

As for Lin Cheng, he was named the right deputy envoy of Jiangnan Supervisor and jointly assisted in the construction of the new Donglin Buddha.

Therefore, apart from Li Xian, the nominal governor of Jiangnan, the real people in charge were Ouyang Rong and Lin Cheng.

However, in the Zhou Dynasty, the left side was larger than the right side, so Lin Cheng was lower than Ouyang Rong.

Belongs to Ouyang Rong's deputy.

In addition, Rong Zhen continued to serve as a supervisor to ensure the implementation of the empress' orders.

This is arranged.

No wonder Li Xian just sounded happy and happy.

It is indeed true that the power structure in Xunyang City has hardly moved, except for Lin Cheng, an almost insignificant deputy envoy who came in sideways.

Since the beginning of the year, Ouyang Rong and Li Xian have relied on this combination of punches to evade Wang Lengran's power as governor.

Of course, if you have to say, Lin Cheng's petition had some impact on the Donglin Giant Buddha, there must be some.

The Empress Wei still favored Lin Cheng's "perfect plan".

However, he tried his best not to destroy the power structure in Xunyang City.

It's a compromise.

Li Xian and others seemed to have no objections.

Ouyang Rong looked around the study, his eyes scanning the faces of Li Xian, Wei Mei and others one by one.

He didn't speak.

There was no official statement.

The atmosphere in the room, which was originally relaxed and relaxed, suddenly fell silent.

Li Xian's family all lost their voices, and Shun Bo on the side carefully observed the strange atmosphere between his master and Mr. Ouyang.

Li Xian asked gently:

"Do you have anything... to say, Tanlang?"

Ouyang Rong shook his head and stood up:

"I understand, Prince Xinxin and the people from Luoyang are here."

Ouyang Rong turned to Xie Lingjiang who was about to speak but hesitated and said:
"Teacher, he has worked hard too."

After saying that, he walked towards the door.

"Tanlang."

Li Xian couldn't help but call out.

"What else does the prince have to explain?"

Li Xian smiled awkwardly and said:

"In this case, when we welcome the Luoyang envoy the day after tomorrow... Tanlang will also be present. After all, there is an imperial edict announced."

Ouyang Rong was quiet for a while, nodded and left.

Watching his slender figure disappear at the corner of the corridor, everyone in the study was surprisingly silent.

The festive smile that had been on Li Xian's face slowly faded away.

Wei Mei also turned serious, reaching out to hold Li Xian's cold palm.

Li Dalang, who had been silent and sitting in the corner with his hand covering one eye, turned his head and looked at Li Bao'er with one eye:
"Mei, let's calm down the atmosphere as you said. It doesn't seem to be of any use. Tanlang still seems unhappy. His state makes me panic. The last time I saw him was in Longcheng."

Li Xian and Wei Mei, who had been extremely optimistic not long ago, both turned their heads and looked at Li Guo'er who had come up with the idea.

Xie Lingjiang pursed his lips and said:

"I'm just saying that Senior Brother doesn't accept this trick. There's no use in comforting oneself. Senior Brother values ​​​​the most practical things. The official position of Jiangnan Supervisor Zuo Deputy Envoy is nothing in the eyes of Senior Brother."

Li Xian rubbed his eyebrows:
"Then what else can we do? At least the Queen Mother's attitude towards us is not bad. It's already a blessing among misfortunes, but we must not end up in the situation that Guo'er mentioned last time... Xianniece, Tanlang's side , you have to comfort me well, well, it doesn’t seem to work for me to talk to Mei Niang..."

Xie Lingjiang shook his head: "Try your best, but in fact, the last thing senior brother needs is comfort."

Everyone sighed for a while.

Li Guoer and Wei Mei turned their heads almost at the same time and told Li Dalang:

"You also go over and give me some advice."

"it is good."

Li Dalang is as troublesome as garlic...

The next day.

The holiday was over and Ouyang Rong went out on duty as usual.

When passing by Dongshi, Ali stopped his horse again and asked about the price of pork in Dongshi.

When he arrived at the Jiangzhou lobby, he met Lin Cheng, whom he hadn't seen for many days, standing next to Wang Lengran.

The two looked at each other in the air.

Lin Cheng did not forget to say hello to Ouyang Rong, but the latter ignored him and walked past him. Lin Cheng's expression did not change.

The reappearance of this person can already explain a lot of things.

The day passed quickly, and when duty was about to end in the afternoon, Ouyang Rong, who was passing by the officials' quarters, clearly felt that the officials at all levels in the Jiangzhou lobby began to whisper among themselves.

Yan Liulang looked solemn and came to report some news.

Sure enough, some rumors about the empress' change of heart and the impending relocation and reconstruction of the Donglin Buddha are spreading rapidly.

Many officials had a heated discussion in private, which made people panic for a while. Some people were solemn, some watched the excitement, and some just watched from the sidelines.

Ouyang Rong walked out of the door silently and went home after his shift.

I met Li Dalang on the road.

"Is Your Majesty Tan Lang on duty? Come on, let's go to Yunshui Pavilion for a cup of tea."

"Are you going to Yunshui Pavilion for tea?"

Ouyang Rong turned around and asked.

Without waiting for Dalang to speak, he asked softly:
"What's wrong with your eyes?"

Li Dalang was a little embarrassed and covered his right eye, which was circled with green and purple circles, and coughed hard, but the stretched black eyelids could not hide the critical blow he had received.

"Don't ask, Tanlang. I fell down accidentally."

Ouyang Rong was silent for a while, then pursed his lips and said, "You deserve it. Will you go to the Xingzifang porridge shed in the future?"

"..."

Li Dalang felt embarrassed for a while.

However, he had no grudge at being teased by his friends, especially at this juncture, and was even ecstatic.

"Tan Lang, my father asked me to ask about meeting the Luoyang envoy tomorrow. How about we meet at the palace together in the morning..."

Ouyang Rong was noncommittal.

Li Dalang talked for a long time, and when he was about to get off the car at Huaiye Lane, Ouyang Rong nodded gently under Li Dalang's eager gaze.

"Okay." Before getting off the car, he added another sentence: "Take ice cubes from the ice cellar and put it on your eyes."

"oh oh."

Li Dalang looked at his leaving figure and breathed a sigh of relief.

……

That night.

Ouyang Rong fell asleep in his clothes.

The autumn wind blew against the window. At a certain moment, he hugged the quilt in his arms on the bed, straightened up, and looked around in the darkness.

After a while, Ouyang Rong got dressed and went out.

He took advantage of the darkness and left the city overnight.

At five o'clock in the morning, Ouyang Rong came to the Xunyang Grottoes at the top of the twin peaks.

But I saw that the camp at the foot of the Buddha was still in full swing.

Workers are building a giant stone Buddha on the cliff.

There is already a process in Xunyang Grottoes, and Ouyang Rong does not need to keep an eye on it. However, there is no need to work in the middle of the night. It is usually rest, and it is not yet the morning to start construction.

Ouyang Rong saw a familiar figure among them.

Ouyang Rong stopped Huang Feihong and his fellow workers:
"Brother Huang, is the project urgent? Why aren't you allowed to go back to sleep so late at night?"

He frowned, ready to blame the foreman in charge tonight.

Huang Feihong waved his hands anxiously:
"Sir, we took the initiative to work overtime."

"Why?"

Huang Feihong's face was confused:
"Young Master, we have heard in the past two days...I heard that the imperial court may cancel the construction of the Xunyang Grottoes. We are worried that the treatment given to us by the young master was too good before. The imperial court is losing money, and we seem to have postponed it. Come on, it won’t be completed as scheduled. If that’s the case, no wonder the princes of the imperial court have to change places every few years... We were wondering if we could work harder and build it sooner..."

Some workers around him lowered their heads.

Ouyang Rong was silent.

Huang Feihong seemed to notice something and asked cautiously:
"Sir, so these news are all true, right?"

Ouyang Rong said nothing, stepped forward, gave them a hand, and together they worked hard to carry the stones.

Huang Feihong and others were flattered.

Seeing that he was silent and focused on helping, I didn't ask any more questions.

It was close to dawn. During the break, Ouyang Rong was about to say goodbye and leave the camp. Huang Feihong handed him a water bag.

Ouyang Rong took a sip of water and suddenly smiled and said:
"Actually, it's not a big deal to change the place to make the statue. How about we go there together? There are some there now, and there will be some there too. There will be no shortage of them."

"Really?!"

Huang Feihong was surprised and asked: "Is the young master still in charge?"

"That's it."

"Really? Then..." Huang Feihong immediately asked curiously: "Then...where does the court want to change?"

Ouyang Rong looked away, looked up at the stone Buddha that was about to be abandoned by the court, pursed his lips and said:

"Maybe it's near Chengtian Temple in Xingzifang."

Huang Feihong's curious expression gradually turned into a frown of confusion:
"Why is it built in the city? I remember the young master told me at the dinner table that the Shuangfeng Peak, which can also control floods, was built in order not to affect the people's livelihood in Xunyang... Now it is built back into Xingzifang. It is so crowded, how can we pretend Come on, aren’t the houses going to be demolished? Wait, no wonder I saw that Mrs. Pei walking around with a smile in Xingzifang yesterday...Does the young master know about this? "

"I……"

Before Ouyang Rong could speak, Huang Feihong's face showed a look of indignation, and his tone was unbearable:
"Of course the young master knows. How could the young master know it later than me? Does the young master not want to move and is forced to do so? But, does he want to continue to fight for benefits for us so that we will not be laid off and unemployed by the new chief?"

Ouyang Rong never expected that Huang Feihong was so rough and detailed. He didn't know how to answer a series of words.

"Sir, I can't make decisions about other people, but I won't go!"

Ouyang Rong saw that the bearded man in front of him, who only knew how to eat, sleep and do hard work, had a surprisingly serious face:

"Mr. Ouyang, do you know what Xiaoxuan said to me when we, father and daughter, were invited by Mrs. Pei to Xunyang Tower to toast you in public, but Xiaoxuan refused?"

"What did she say?" he asked blankly.

"Xiaoxuan said that our happiness cannot be based on the suffering of others. If I agree to Mrs. Pei's conditions, she will look down on me for the rest of my life. So we rejected the mansion given by Mrs. Pei, even if we do it again."

After saying this, Huang Feihong lowered his head and wiped the red corners of his eyes, and hurriedly took out a letter from his arms:
"This is what Xiaoxuan sent yesterday. It should be to sincerely ask you for some advice about studying... Young Master, Xiaoxuan admires you the most."

After Huang Feihong finished speaking, he turned and left.

Ouyang Rong was left holding the envelope in his hand, standing silently until a beam of golden light broke through the black curtain in the sky. He lowered his head and looked at Juanxiu's stubborn handwriting on the envelope...

early morning.

As the sky brightened, Ouyang Rong rode back to Xunyang City.

He found that today was a nice and crisp autumn weather.

The sky is blue.

"Erya·Shiniao" says: Qiu Hu steals the blue.

That is, the bit of blue in the clear autumn sky is in sharp contrast with the gray and yellow earth in late autumn, leaving no trace of green and bright colors. It instantly outlines the charm of the autumn sun and clear sky.

It is precisely because, when the earth fell into a state of darkness and desolation, this point of blue between the sky and the earth was so impressive and arousing that it was recorded in "Erya" by the ancient sages.

Ouyang Rong was riding on his horse, looking away from the stolen blue above his head. He returned to Huaiye Lane and prepared to change into his official uniform.

"Why did Tanlang come back just now! Where did he go last night?"

At the Huaiye Lane residence, Li Dalang, who was waiting anxiously, shouted in surprise and immediately stepped forward, pulling him out to go to Xunyang Ferry.

"Tan Lang, the Luoyang envoy is coming soon. Father and the others have gone over first and asked Tan Lang to hurry up and greet him.

"Eunuch Hu said that the eunuch who is going to announce the imperial edict this time is an old eunuch with a long career and a bad temper. We'd better not be late. There are many people here today, so we dare not neglect them..."

"Okay, wait a minute."

Ouyang Rong nodded and went back to the study first.

He took out a crumpled letter from a girl from his arms that he had never opened and read, and pressed it under the pillow.

Then he put on his neat crimson official uniform and turned around to go out.

As soon as he boarded the carriage, Ouyang Rong took the initiative and asked:

"Did your sister ask you to come here to persuade me not to be impulsive?"

Li Dalang scratched his head and said sheepishly: "My sister told me to tell Tan Lang to calm down..."

"I see."

Ouyang Rong nodded vigorously.

Now early in the morning, he broke away from his usual distracted state and took the initiative to talk, which made Li Dalang happy. At least there was no weird calmness like the previous few days where he would not die in silence, but break out in silence.

At this time, Ouyang Rong reached out and patted Li Dalang on the shoulder:

"Stop following me, Dalang. You go back and keep an eye on the prince later. Don't let him do something stupid impulsively, do you understand?"

Li Dalang was stunned: "Ah?"

He was very puzzled, but before he could ask any more questions, the carriage had already arrived.

Ouyang Rong and Li Dalang got off the carriage together and came to the bustling and overcrowded Xunyang Ferry.

Lixian, King of Xunyang, Shi Rongzhen, the daughter of Caishang, Hu Fu, Xie Lingjiang, and Liulang Yan;

There were also carriages from Lin Cheng, Wang Lengran, Wei Shaoqi, etc... all appeared at this bustling ferry.

Half an hour later, under a rare blue sky in autumn, Ouyang Rong, in front of everyone at the ferry, calmly faced the gray-haired eunuch who had finished reciting the empress's decree with arrogance and lowered his eyelids, waiting for him to kneel down to thank him and accept the decree. explain:

"Thank you Lord for your kindness, I will refuse to obey the imperial edict until you die."

The entire Xunyang Ferry suddenly fell into a dead silence.

(End of this chapter)