Jiuxi

Chapter 346 Chapter 344 [Enemy or Friend]

Yongjia Nancheng, Yonghuafang.

This place is located to the northwest of the palace, and the people living in the square are basically Wu Xun generals, such as the current General Wang Yan and Nanya General Liu Shouguang, as well as Jing Guogong Han Lingfu who was granted the imperial title after Li Duan ascended the throne.

On Ningding Street, there is a mansion with three rooms at the front door, with a pair of golden lacquered animal-faced tin rings nailed to the door. There are a pair of Ruyi holding drum stones on both sides of the gate. The drum base has a peony relief with curly grass pattern, and the drum surface has a pattern of five lion guardrails, showing the majesty of the wealthy family.

On the gate tower, there are four characters written by Yu personally: Shanyang Hou Di.

This is the Hou Mansion given to Lu Chen by the emperor.

Lu Chen stood under the steps, slightly raising his head and looking up at the imperial pen on the gate tower. Dozens of soldiers stood at the steps on both sides.

A young official in his thirties stood beside Lu Chen and said respectfully: "Marquis Lu, the mansion has been tidied up and relocated according to your Majesty's will. If Marquis Lu needs it, I can arrange for someone to make changes. If you want, The official will also complete the purchase of furnishings and furniture as soon as possible."

This man's name is Yu Shouwen, and he is now the general secretary of the Privy Council. He can be regarded as an official of Guo Congyi, the Privy Council envoy.

Lu Chen said calmly: "Since it is His Majesty's arrangement, there is definitely no need to make any adjustments. Furthermore, I have lived in the military camp for a long time, and I don't pay much attention to food, clothing, housing and transportation. Everything is based on simplicity. Everything is complicated, and there are labors to make things easier. Thank you very much for your trouble."

"Marquis Lu's words are serious. This is the official's duty. It is my honor to serve Marquis Lu."

Yu Shouwen had a humble smile on his face.

Naturally, Lu Chen would not take his words seriously. The words "Guo's confidant" were written directly on this man's face.

Yu Shouwen added: "Because I don't know Marquis Lu's preferences, I don't dare to make my own decisions. Therefore, there is only one housekeeper, more than ten servants, and six maids in the house, all of whom are innocent servants."

He knew that the young prince next to him had a rich family and could afford several times more servants, not to mention twenty servants, but he just didn't want to arouse his resentment.

Lu Chen shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, Tongshi Yu, but I'm not used to strangers being around me. Could you please take them all away?"

Do the people in the Privy Council really regard him as a child who knows nothing about other things?

The embarrassment on Yu Shouwen's face flashed away, and he nodded immediately and said: "I will obey the order of Marquis Lu."

Lu Chen did not invite him into the mansion for a chat, and Yu Shouwen took the initiative to say goodbye in a sensible manner. Of course, he did not forget to take the people in the mansion away before leaving.

This Shanyang Marquis Mansion is a house with brick and wood structure. It adopts the traditional north-south layout, and the overall layout is symmetrical along the central axis.

After entering the main entrance, there is no rockery in front of the wall, but two wide inner flats on the left and right, with wing rooms on both sides. Further to the right is the stable, and to the left is the outer study room and the back room where the generals and guards live.

Passing through the vestibule is the sedan hall, the four-sided hall, and the main hall. Going back through the Yimen is the back house area.

Generally speaking, the area of ​​the Hou Mansion is about double that of the Guangling Lu Family.

Lu Chen took a rough walk around the house. His soldiers had already explored the inside and outside, and at the same time arranged the light and dark sentries in an orderly manner.

About half an hour later, four carriages and more than 20 servants arrived at the Hou Mansion. The leader was Chen Shu, the general manager of the Lu family business in Yongjia City.

The year before last, when Lu Chen came to Beijing for the first time, Chen Shuan was very attentive. After Lu Chen left Beijing, he took charge of the Lu family's business in the capital.

"The villain pays homage to the Marquis, and congratulates the Marquis for his further achievements and the title of Marquis!"

Chen Shu, who was over forty years old, was extremely excited. As he spoke, he knelt down and kowtowed to Lu Chen.

Lu Chen held his arm and said with a smile, "My family doesn't have to be like this."

Chen Shu said with emotion: "The villain has missed the Marquis very much in the past two years in the capital. Every time he hears the news that the Marquis has won a battle, the villain is very happy, but he is also worried about the safety of the Marquis and prays for the Marquis every day. "

Lu Chen did not deliberately change his title. After all, this was an era when national etiquette was greater than family etiquette. Even when he was just a boy from Shanyang County, the servants in the mansion should address him by his title instead of still calling him young master all day long.

Lu Chen couldn't help but feel something when he heard this middle-aged man's sincere statement.

For the elderly at home like Chen Shu, Lu Chen is Lu Tong's only son, and that is the only person they will be loyal to in the future. They naturally want to see him prosper, but at the same time they will inevitably worry about whether his career is safe.

After all, the future of the Lu family depends on him alone.

Looking at the mixture of pride and concern on Chen Shu's face, Lu Chen said warmly: "Uncle Chen is determined. From now on, this Marquis Mansion will be the residence of our Lu family in the capital, but the two houses in the East City will continue to stay. Please remember to send someone to clean it from time to time."

"Don't worry, Lord Marquis, I will remember this."

Chen Shu said with a smile: "I have received the letter from the master and the Marquis. I have finished sorting it and brought all the servants here. Many of them were met by the Marquis when he came to Beijing the year before last. They are all from our Lu family. He is an old man, his hands and feet are clean and nimble, and his mouth is tight, so Mr. Marquis can use it with confidence."

Lu Chen nodded and said, "Okay, I'll leave the family affairs to you to take care of. Go ahead and get busy."

Chen Shu respectfully agreed, and then took up the responsibility of the chief steward of the Hou Mansion, arranging various affairs in an orderly manner. The first thing he did was to transfer a few maids to Lu Chen to be responsible for personal attendance. After lunch, Lu Chen went to the flower hall to meditate alone. Two maids stood obediently outside the door, thinking curiously and admiringly about the young master in the hall.

Lu Chen was a little tired.

He entered the capital again today. From the time he arrived in the northern suburbs until now, he had witnessed all kinds of undercurrents in just half a day. The wealth of information almost filled his brain.

The three princes showed their temperaments one after another. Regardless of how many layers of disguise they wore in their performances in front of Lu Chen, compared with the last time Lu Chen came to the capital, when almost no one cared about him, he has obviously become a hot celebrity in the court.

The eldest prince and the second prince expressed their intention to win over Lu Chen in different ways, but the third prince Li Zongjian was the one Lu Chen paid most attention to.

According to his understanding of the third prince, he had been doted on by Empress Xu since he was a child, and his character was extremely bad, which is why he had a bad rapport with Li Sanlang in Zuo Xiang's house.

Even if such a person did not dare to speak out loud due to today's special occasion, he would not bow his head in front of Lu Chen.

"The Marquis of Shanyang is a person who has made great contributions to the country, and I will naturally respect him."

This is what Li Zongjian said before, and Lu Chen remembers it exactly word for word. From this sentence, he can tell that Li Zongjian is hiding something in his heart. Otherwise, he can completely ignore Lu Chen and there is no need to go against his heart and ease the atmosphere.

Of course, Lu Chen was not a god. He couldn't tell Li Zongjian's true thoughts from his attitude. He just vaguely felt that something was not right.

The princes each have their own secrets, and the emperor in the palace seems to be preoccupied as well.

At this moment, sitting alone and meditating, Lu Chen gradually understood the context of some things.

After the Yuanjia Incident, Li Duan was spared because he happened to be away from Heluo City. Later, he traveled south to Yongjia and ascended the throne with the support of the Jiangnan family headed by Li Daoyan. At that time, it was undoubtedly the weakest stage of the Li royal family. Fortunately, Li Daoyan, Qin Zheng and others were loyal enough to let Li Duan survive that period. Tough times.

But this also led to the existence of some historical problems, which was the internal structure of the Beijing Army.

The military power in the Qi capital area can be divided into several parts. The first is the imperial army that guards the palace. They are elite but small in number, with only 8,000 people in full force. After more than ten years of hard work, the emperor now has this power in his hands.

Then there are the Sixth Army of Beiya guarding the capital. They are ostensibly commanded by General Wang Yan. In fact, the six commanders have their own backgrounds. They are inextricably related to the Jiangnan nobles and can be regarded as Wang Yan's confidants. There are only one or two people at most.

Nanya's 12th Army was responsible for guarding various parts of the capital, and was divided between two generals. With Li Jingda taking Zhenwei Army to Dingzhou, Nanya actually only had 11th Army.

Taking advantage of the opportunity when Xu Wen, the original commander of the Dingwei Army, was investigated and punished for treason and twelve frontier generals entered the capital, Li Duan asked Chen Lanyu to take over the Dingwei Army, which opened a gap in the Beijing army system, but that was all. That’s all.

In other words, as the emperor of Qi Dynasty, Li Duan had very weak control over the Beijing army. Although both Beiya and Nanya seemed to be very loyal to the emperor at present, which emperor did not want the troops around him to be controlled by Own people in control?

Even if he could only master one of the two, Li Duan could sleep more peacefully. This was the important reason why he wanted to keep Lu Chen in the capital.

Taking advantage of Lu Chen's illustrious military exploits in the past two years and the support from the border troops, as well as the fact that Lu Chen has not yet been assigned a suitable military position, Li Duan obviously intends to let Lu Chen tear open the gap.

Thinking of this, Lu Chen couldn't help but sigh.

This kind of power struggle is not a battlefield, but it is more dangerous than a battlefield because you cannot be sure who is your comrade and who is your enemy.

"Master Hou."

Chen Shu's voice sounded outside the door, pulling Lu Chen out of his thoughts. He turned around and asked, "What's the matter?"

Chen Shu walked into the flower hall, holding a greeting card in both hands, bowing his head and saying: "Your Majesty, the eldest son of the Right Prime Minister has come to visit and is waiting in the concierge now."

Right Prime Minister? Eldest son?

Lu Chen didn't react for a while.

When Chen Shu saw this, he said: "Master Hou, this eldest son's name is Xue Ruogu, and he is currently the editor of the Hanlin Academy."

Lu Chen glanced at him thoughtfully and said with a smile: "It seems that my father asked you to manage the business in the capital, and also gave you the task of inquiring about information."

Chen Shuyi smiled and said: "The master said that everyone in the family must work for the Marquis with all their heart, without any slack."

"it is good."

Lu Chen responded, immediately stood up and said, "Then go and see who this eldest son of the Prime Minister's Mansion is, and ask him to meet you in the main hall."

"Yes, Lord Marquis."

Chen Shu immediately took the order and left.

Because of his relationship with the old genius doctor Xue Huaiyi and the central government's support for the border troops in the past two years, Lu Chen had a good impression of his right minister Xue Nanting, so he naturally did not suspect that the other party had evil intentions.

It's just... I have just arrived in the capital. From the emperor to the right prime minister, why do all these important figures in the city seem a little out of sorts?

He slowly walked out of the flower hall, his eyes becoming deeper and more serious.

(End of this chapter)