girl let me check

Chapter 399 Picking Wei
In the winter of the 15th year of the Xianming reign of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Emperor Fang Zun changed the reign title to Taikang and announced it to the world.

On the tenth day of the first lunar month in the first year of Taikang, Fang Zun announced that he would lead the Northern Court’s imperial guards and the six guards of Shenzhao Longwu and Shenwu to tour the east. The Minister of the Central Secretariat Wang Tun, the Minister of the Shangshu Xie Mingren and more than half of the important officials in the court accompanied him. Princess Changming Fang Tang was the regent, and Prince Guangling Fang Weihan stayed behind to guard the Eastern Palace. The two worked together to guard Changming.

Today is the day when the army sets out. The streets are empty and people flock to the East Gate to see them off.

Five miles outside the east gate of Changming, flags covered the sky, and the yellow military formation surged across the Langgan plain like lightning rising towards the sun.

It snowed yesterday, and the weather today is exceptionally cold. Even though he was wearing a thick cotton coat, Fang Zun still felt a bit chilly.

His cultivation was not very high, he was only at the third level of Mingwu, and it was difficult for him to rely on his blood and energy to resist the severe cold.

Fang Zun sat on the dragon chariot, looking at the neatly-organized imperial guards of the Great Zhou Dynasty below the high platform, his eagle-like sharp eyes reflecting the waves of the past.

Emperor Yuan of Zhou Fangtu had a total of nine princes, and he was the fourth. Before he became the crown prince, he was always respectfully called His Royal Highness the Fourth Prince by the people of Changming.

Although he was the fourth child, the succession order of the Fang family was not based on the eldest son, but on the concentration of dragon energy and royal blood. Among the nine princes, the concentration of royal blood of the fourth prince Fang Zun and the seventh prince Fang Yue was the most prominent.

Fang Yue was the legitimate son of Emperor Yuan. His mother, Concubine Zhang, was deeply loved by Emperor Yuan. He was the most favored of the nine sons. Everyone thought that Fang Yue would be the next emperor of the Great Zhou.

Spears and armors clashed and flags fluttered in the strong wind.

Twenty years later, Fang Yue has turned into a handful of earth, and the throne of emperor is destined not to belong to him.

The world is illuminated by the sun and the moon, so how are the eyes of the world different from fireflies? One more of them is not much, and one less of them is not much.

Fang Zun sneered.

Shortly after Fang Yue's death, the eunuchs in the palace who were bribed by him told him that his father, Emperor Yuan of Zhou Fang Tu, was planning to kill him.

Fang Zun had known for a long time that his father wanted to kill him. He had killed his favorite son, so he deserved it. Moreover, Wang Shi of Shangyuan did not want to see a capable emperor ascend the throne.

He didn't blame his father, he just felt a little sad.

Why, as emperors, cannot seek benefits for the people, cannot add an inch of land to the empire, cannot remove the gray hair of generals, wipe away the tears of soldiers, but can only obey the wishes of the aristocratic families and live like puppets?
This is the Great Zhou, the country founded by Emperor Wu Fang Qianyi. He is fed up with compromise and tolerance. The Fang family has compromised for a whole thousand years and compromised with hundreds of emperors. Fang Zun feels that he must do something for his family and country.

In the 19th year of Ruiping, he sent his father away and ascended the throne.

He personally stabbed the dagger into Fang Tu's heart and watched his face turn from a last bit of red to a dead gray.

Fang Tu's bony fingers tightly gripped his throat, and finally he was unable to let go.

"I... am not as good as you." This was the last words he left in the world.

Fang Zun remembered the ballad his mother had sung softly for him.

"When I went there, the willow trees were swaying."

It was a spring day, and it started snowing in Changming. The snow fell on the branches of the weeping willows beside the palace's liquid pool, turning the willows white.

Outside the Yuanhui Hall, the soldiers of Qimen stood in silence, their loyalty remaining the same, like the solemn iron wall of Changyuan that had stood for a thousand years.

Fang Zun walked up to the Yingtian Temple holding the blood-stained edict and announced that he was crowned the ruler of the empire.

"Today I come to think, it is raining and snowing."

Fifteen years have passed since then.

For fifteen years, the stars moved, the sun and the moon changed, and he grew from young to old. His hair turned gray instead of jet black, but his figure remained as straight as a pine tree.

The flying snow brushed across his face through the car window, chilling him to the bone.

"I walked slowly, thirsty and hungry."

The dragon chariot faced north, and Fang Zun looked at the distant skyline. Through countless peaks, his gaze was cast towards the endless Yanyun.

Northerners are good at fighting, and since ancient times, the threat to the empire has always been in the north, whether it is the Shangyuan Wang family entrenched in Bingzhou, or the mortal enemy foreign tribes on the grasslands outside the Great Wall.

He tried his best, using conspiracy as a knife and cold-bloodedness as a blade, going through curses and insults, and spending most of his life, only to bring about the current situation of a barely stable situation.

Human power has its limits, and he is already very content.

"My heart is sad, no one knows my sorrow."

The emperor of the empire laughed at himself, and the memories turned into a turbulent stream, unable to shine into the light of the future.

"Your Majesty." Eunuch Xue's voice sounded respectfully.

Fang Zun took one last look at the towering city behind him.

He turned and walked into the snowstorm.

In the first year of Taikang, Emperor Fangzun of Zhou led 120,000 imperial troops on an eastern tour, accompanied by hundreds of civil and military officials.

……

……

Changming, Eastern Palace.

"Your Highness, these are the documents and memorials that need to be dealt with urgently today." Feihong brought a few maids and neatly piled the half-person-high memorials in a corner of the table.

"Leave it there. I'll take a look at it later." Fang Tang replied without raising his head.

Feihong responded and led the group out of the main hall. The only sound left in the empty space was the rustling of the pen tip against the paper.

Fang Zun left, taking with him half of the senior officials in the court, leaving only grassroots officials to maintain the daily operation of the court. In the past, all the memorials that were rejected by the Zhongshu and Shangshu Yamen were now sent to Fang Tang due to the absence of the chief official.

Her workload suddenly increased several times.

Fang Zun granted her almost all the power of an emperor. It is no exaggeration to say that Fang Tang is now the second emperor of the empire.

Fang Tang knew that Fang Zun did this on purpose in order to train her ability to handle government affairs. She would not be lazy or slack off, but chose to do it herself, working wholeheartedly at her desk, almost forgetting the passage of time.

The excited blood surged in her chest. The taste of power she had desired made her so hungry that she didn't feel tired at all.

Fang Tang finished approving a letter regarding the handling opinions on the repair of the Hanzhong plank road, sealed it with lacquer, pushed it aside, and picked up the next memorial.

The girl unfolded the letter and her eyes suddenly focused.

This was an impeachment memorial sent from the Censorate and signed by Meng Ou, the Palace Attending Censor.

Meng Ou impeached Zhongshu Sheren Xie Han and Yezhe Pushe Xie Bao for openly accepting bribes, occupying government land, selling official positions and titles, and their illegal gains involved many people, totaling more than one million taels of silver.

Xie Han and Xie Bao are both powerful figures in the Chenjun Xie family. They are cousins. Their fathers are cousins ​​of Xie Mingren and are nominally uncles of Xie Lingwan.

In addition, Fang Tang knew a more important piece of news: these two people were not on good terms with Xie Lingwan.

In fact, with Xie Lingwan's skills and abilities, replacing the incompetent Xie Lue and Xie Tao to take charge of the Chenjun Xie family was what the whole family wanted. When Xie Mingren named Xie Han and Xie Bao, they did not raise any objections, but instead gave Xie Lingwan a lot of help.

Their disagreement arose from an incident that happened a few days ago.

Most of the officials of the Xie family in Chen County were both officials and businessmen. Xie Han and Xie Bao in particular had a lot of business resources in their hands, and most of them were distributed in Liangzhou and Jizhou.

In order to cooperate with Fang Weihan's actions and recruit manpower for the dredging work of the southern section of the Grand Canal, Xie Lingwan exchanged the monopoly of the population trade of the Great Zhou from the eight surnames at the cost of the operating rights of Shanggu Market and Northwest Trade Road. Most of the business profits of Xie Han and Xie Bao were related to these two places. Without any explanation, Xie Lingwan directly colluded with Xie Mingren to take away the bulk of their profits, which made Xie Han and Xie Bao extremely dissatisfied.

But even though they were dissatisfied, they didn't dare to do anything to Xie Lingwan. After all, the power she held was already the only one in the family, and with Xie Mingren's tacit support behind her, it was impossible for them to shake Xie Lingwan's position.

Xie Han and Xie Bao had no choice but to suffer this loss in silence.

Then this memorial...

Fang Tang looked thoughtfully at the name in the signature column.

Meng Ou was born in a poor family, his parents were both peasant tenants. However, Meng Ou was very hardworking, and was recommended for both Xiaolian and Mingjing, and was admitted to Qinghuo Academy as an exception. After three years, he was promoted all the way, and was appreciated by Shi Dangliu, and was promoted to the Palace Censor, responsible for supervising all officials in the court.

Fang Tang had come into contact with officials from poor families in the court not long ago, and naturally had a deep impression of Meng Ou. This man was upright and honest, and was good at giving advice. Because of his tough character, he made many enemies in the court, and once cursed the aristocratic families for their stupidity. The aristocratic families were concerned about Shi Dangliu behind him, so they did not do anything to him, but ordered the Secretariat to intercept all his memorials and not send them out, and they have been enduring until now.

When Wang Boguang returned to Shangyuan, he took away a large number of officials from the Shangyuan Wang family. This time, Fang Zun took away another group of officials in person. The Secretariat was short-staffed and actually forgot about this matter, which led to Meng Ou's memorial being placed on her desk.

It seems that this impeachment has nothing to do with Xie Lingwan.

Fang Tang took the memorial, stood up, walked to the window, and pondered for a long time.

She gradually realized that this seemed to be a great opportunity.

Fang Tang walked quickly back to the shore and pulled out a few memorials with obvious corners folded from the pile of memorials that had already been approved.

The first letter was a report from the Ministry of Five Armies, describing the story of the Changyuan Iron Guards of Jingzhou setting off to return to Changyuan.

The second letter was a report from the Jingzhou prefecture government, which stated that the bandit problem in Jingzhou had been effectively controlled under the attack of the Changyuan Iron Guards, but had recently shown signs of resurgence.

The rest were impeachment memorials, and the targets of impeachment were all, without exception, the Uehara Wang family or the aristocratic officials who had cooperated with the Uehara Wang family.

"Bilong." Fang Tang said.

"I'm here." Bilong walked out quickly from behind the screen and bowed.

"Help me draft three imperial edicts and send them out in the name of the Eastern Palace."

"The first edict was sent to the Shangshu Mansion, ordering them to investigate whether Xie Han, the Secretary of the Central Secretariat, Xie Bao, the Minister of Usage, and all the officials involved in this memorial and related to the Wang family of Shangyuan had committed any dereliction of duty or any illegal acts. At the same time, the Jinwu Guard General Office was ordered to assist in the investigation."

"..." Bilong took note silently and continued to wait.

"The second letter was sent to Meng Ou, the Imperial Censor of the Palace, promoting him to the position of Imperial Censor of the Imperial Censorate and granting him a thousand taels of silver and a hundred rolls of silk to commend his merits."

Bilong took the memorial handed over by Fang Tang and took careful notes again.

Seeing Fang Tang didn't say anything for a long time, Bilong felt a little confused.

Isn't there another one? Why is His Highness silent?

"The third edict..." Fang Tang's voice was a little hesitant, as if he was in a state of indecision and anxiety.

She took a deep breath and finally made up her mind.

"The third edict was sent to Guangling Prince Fang Weihan, granting him the authority to command all military affairs in Jingzhou and adding him the title of Jiedushi of Jingnan. He was ordered to lead his troops to go out immediately to quell the rebellion of the remaining members of the Jingzhou Demon Cult."

Bilong's pupils suddenly shrank.

She thought about it and tentatively put forward her opinion:

"Your Highness, the Eastern Palace Guards just returned from Shangjun not long ago. Is it inappropriate to send them out to fight now?"

"..."

Fang Tang opened his mouth, and his voice turned cold and hard:
"I have my own decision."

"In addition, the third edict must be sent out one day earlier than the first two."

"Yes." Bilong had no choice but to agree.

She had a premonition that once these imperial edicts were issued, the current relationship between His Highness and His Highness Prince Guangling might become irreversible.

But since Fang Tang had already made up his mind, Bilong couldn't do anything to stop him.

She only hoped that Her Royal Highness the Princess had already thought about the possible consequences of this matter.

After Bilong left, Fang Tang stood alone by the window, with a hint of confusion in his clear eyes.

She thought about this decision more than once in her mind, just to make sure there was nothing wrong with it.

Xie Han and Xie Bao would lose much of their power under her pressure, and they might even resign. On the surface, he was undoubtedly helping Xie Lingwan by killing two potential threats to her.

But Fang Tang believed that Xie Lingwan should understand what he meant. Her behavior this time would probably bring her some trouble.

But this is exactly what Fang Tang wants to see.

In the current court, the power of the Heshuo faction has been greatly reduced, and the power of the Yunan faction has risen. In order to maintain stability, Fang Tang must appropriately strike at the power of the Yunan family, while directing everyone's hatred towards the Heshuo family.

This time, by taking advantage of the aftermath of the Uehara Wang incident, we can accomplish these two things at the same time, achieving the effect of killing two birds with one stone.

Promoting Meng Ou is the top priority of this plan.

But... there is still a pain in Fang Tang's heart that he absolutely cannot let go of.

Fang Weihan, her so-called ninth brother.

Given his relationship with Xie Lingwan, he absolutely could not tolerate this happening. He would definitely ask for an audience and persuade her to take back her decision.

For some reason, Fang Tang didn't want to argue with him.

Fang Tang's heart trembled when he thought of the expression he might have when facing her.

She had to transfer Fang Weihan away first. Even if she couldn't keep him in the dark completely, she had to delay the news about him and not give him the chance to come to the East Palace.

Coincidentally, the banditry that emerged in Jingzhou after the withdrawal of the Changyuan Iron Guards was a clever opportunity.

Fang Tang had planned everything, but she still felt a little scared and uneasy.

It was as if...something hugely wrong was about to be done.

The girl took out the sword tassel from her lapel, and the necklace on the tassel sparkled in the sunlight.

The mysterious sword tassel is her only connection to the past, and she has no memory of it.

She only knew that it was important to her, even more important than life.

"No matter what, you... will always be with me, right?" she said softly.

She tightly grasped the sword tassel, and a hint of determination flashed in her eyes.

(End of this chapter)