Troubled times: Start practicing spiritual practice by taking care of your sister-in-law.

Chapter 626

Luonan, the Imperial Palace.

Emperor Yong'an looked at the still sparsely populated hall and felt a little more at ease. Three days had passed since Chen Mo came to the throne. Although he was still a puppet emperor, it was much better than when Lu Sheng was in power.

In the palace, he also has absolute freedom, and Chen Mo does not participate in his internal affairs. You should know that the reason why his position as queen is still vacant is because Lu Sheng intervened and wanted to learn from Duke Xu who married his daughter to the deposed emperor and make his daughter the queen.

But because Lu Sheng's daughter was not even ten years old, the marriage was kept delayed.

Chen Mo did not interfere in this matter. Even when Emperor Yong'an proposed to make Concubine Jing the queen, Chen Mo said, "This is Your Majesty's family affair."

Thus, the promotion of Concubine Jing to Queen was decided, and the enthronement ceremony would be held after arriving in Tianchuan.

Concubine Jing was the wife of Prince Yong'an when he was still a prince.

Gradually, Emperor Yong'an dared to ask some questions on his own initiative, saying: "Prince Wei, there are so few ministers in the court now, it is difficult to show that our Song Dynasty is full of talents. Is this a good idea?"

Chen Mo stood up. Ever since he was promoted to King of Wei and enjoyed the treatment of the emperor, he could sit down during the morning court session. He cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, when the traitor Lu Sheng was still around, he killed many ministers, which is why the court is so deserted. But please rest assured, the previous imperial examinations have selected a group of talents for our dynasty. Everything will be fine once Your Majesty arrives in Tianchuan."

Although the decision to move the capital to Tianchuan has been made, it will not happen immediately. Preparations must be made before the move.

Emperor Yong'an nodded and said, "With the King of Wei here, I have nothing to worry about."

……

Hanyuan Hall.

It was the place where ministers met after the morning court session, and it was also the place where the emperor met with his ministers and listened to government affairs on a daily basis.

Luo Yong stepped forward, bowed to Chen Mo and the others one by one, and said, "Your Highness, a letter came from Xiangyang, delivering the list of top-ranked candidates for the provincial examination. In addition, Lord Chen Xiu asked if Your Highness could come back as the examination is imminent."

Chen Mo took the letter and started reading it. The date on it was more than a month ago, when Chen Mo had just taken over Chongzhou.

After some consideration, Chen Mo said, "I plan to postpone the date of the imperial examination and set the location of the examination in Tianchuan. Then the new champion of the imperial examination can be selected by His Majesty, which will be more legitimate. What do you think?"

Chen Mo looked at Wu Yanqing and the others.

Sun Meng nodded repeatedly.

Diwu Fusheng said, "Your Highness, I'm afraid it's too late. The examination is usually held in mid-February or early March. It's already mid-February. By the time your letter reaches Linzhou, the examination will probably have ended."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone nodded. However, Tianchuan had a very good intention in holding the joint examination. Not only would it be legitimate, it would also increase the value of the imperial examination. The only problem was that there was not enough time.

In addition, after Linzhou receives the message, it will also have to announce the postponement of the examination so that the candidates who have passed the provincial examination can be informed. This will take a certain amount of time. After the candidates know about it, it will take time for them to rush to Xiangyang.

Moreover, although Chen Mo has now pacified the likes of King Huai, King Chong, and Lu Sheng, the world is not at peace and bandits still exist in various places.

These bandits roam around everywhere. Although they do not pose too much of a threat, it is relatively difficult to clear them out. If these candidates are accidentally robbed by bandits on their way to Tianchuan, it would be fine if they lose their property, but it would be troublesome if they accidentally lose their lives.

After understanding the time issues and risks, Chen Mo had no choice but to give up.

There is still some way to go before the world can be at peace.

"We can't rush back. Send a message to Geng Songfu, Zuo Lianglun and others, and ask them to arrange the affairs under their jurisdiction and go to Tianchuan to take up their posts." After Chen Mo finished his instructions, he looked at Xia Zhining and asked, "What's the situation with Xiao Jing?"

Before going to the capital to defend the king that day, Chen Mo sent Xiao Jing to lead a troop to ambush at the place that Luonan must pass through to Tianchuan for future use.

"General Xiao wrote to say that they have gathered more than 3,000 imperial guards who escaped from Luonan in Jingshan and are escorting them back to Luonan, but they have not found any trace of Lu Sheng's family." Xia Zhining replied.

Chen Mo frowned and said, "Reply quickly and tell them not to come to Luonan, but to go directly to Tianchuan, and eliminate any bandits that may appear on the way. Leave people as sentries at the post stations along the way to eliminate risks for the relocation of the capital."

Xia Zhining nodded and hurried downstairs to reply.

After Xia Zhining left, Sun Meng immediately stepped forward to report on the house search.

"Why is it only this much?" Upon learning that it was only more than three million taels, Chen Mo immediately felt that the number was wrong.

You know, the dowry of Liang Xue and Xiao Ya was more than one million taels each, almost two million taels. Even if the Lu family was not a prominent family, as the previous ruler of Luonan area, they held the emperor hostage and had tens of thousands of soldiers. How could they have only this much?

The most important thing is that the more than three million taels obtained from the confiscation of property also included the Luo family.

The Luo family is one of the seven prestigious families.

Sun Meng immediately broke out in a cold sweat, fearing that Chen Mo would misunderstand that he had embezzled money, so he quickly explained: "According to the servants of the Prime Minister's Mansion, when Lu Sheng moved his family, he helped to move the luggage, and accidentally discovered that the luggage was full of gold, silver and treasures, there were several large boxes. Therefore, I suspect that when Lu Sheng moved his family, he also moved his property.

The same is true for the Luo family, and the Luo family is even faster than Lu Sheng. When we just entered Chongzhou, someone saw a large number of Luo family carriages leaving Luonan. "

"Your Highness, this may be good news for us." Liu Ji interjected after thinking for a moment.

Chen Mo: "???"

"Your Highness, you see, gold, silver and treasures are different from people. They are dead and cannot move by themselves. They need people to transport them and protect their safety. When the number increases, there will be more people transporting them, and the scale must be huge. Someone must have seen them. As long as we follow this line to investigate, we will definitely find them." Liu Ji said.

Chen Mo understood what Liu Ji meant. The scale was so large that no matter how secret the transfer was, it would be impossible to hide from everyone's eyes and ears, and there would definitely be clues left behind.

"Did you hear that? Follow this line to investigate." Chen Mo ordered. As for the more than three million taels, they should be added to the national treasury to compensate the people for the cost of migration and travel expenses.

Sun Meng nodded, but did not leave immediately. Instead, he asked tentatively, "What about the Liang family?"

Logically speaking, the Liang family is an accomplice of the traitor, but up to now, the court has not sentenced Liang Mu to death, and Liang Ji is still the empress dowager, so Sun Meng has not ordered anyone to raid the Liang family.

In addition, according to Sun Meng's understanding of Chen Mo, Chen Mo wanted to use this to control Liang Ji and win her heart.

But no matter what, Sun Meng didn't dare to rob the Liang family unless Chen Mo made his intention clear.

At this moment, a eunuch came in with a bowed back and small steps, saying, "Your Highness, the Queen Mother's decree."

Chen Mo frowned and asked, "What's the matter?"

The eunuch glanced at Sun Meng and the others, then whispered, "King Wei, please move."

Chen Mo and the eunuch came to the side alone.

The eunuch said, "The Queen Mother has something important to discuss with the Prince. Please come to Shoukang Palace to see her."

After saying that, he took out the imperial edict from his sleeve and showed it to Chen Mo.

You know, there is a difference between oral instructions and imperial decrees.

Oral orders are verbal and are more of instructions. They can even be disowned later and have no "legal effect."

The imperial edict is different. It is written and is an order issued by the empress dowager. As a subject, you must obey it.

Chen Mo's expression froze for a moment. At this moment, he saw Xia Zhining coming over from the corner of his eye. He hurriedly said in a cold voice: "If you haven't seen me, please deal with state affairs. I will come over after I have dealt with the matter."

The imperial edict did not tell him to go there immediately, but only invited him to meet him at Shoukang Palace.

Then you can go anytime.

Apparently, Chen Mo took advantage of this "textual loophole".

Of course, this is ultimately a situation where the imperial power is weak.

If Chen Mo had received this imperial decree when he was at the peak of his imperial power, he would not have dared to hesitate for a moment and would have rushed over immediately.

"Yes." The eunuch didn't dare to ask Chen Mo when he would finish dealing with the matter. After saying yes, he retreated to report.

Chen Mo put away the imperial edict, looked at Xia Zhining, and spoke first: "Zhi Ning, didn't you go to reply to the letter?"

"I just received a report from the Supervisory Guard that Yang Qingqing from Shu Prefecture has arrived in Xiangyang. Also, Liang Mu, whom you wanted, has also arrived at Tianjia Pass. It won't take a few days for him to reach Luonan." After Xia Zhining finished speaking, she asked, "What were you doing just now?"

Because of the "Immortal Powder" matter, Chen Mo promised Nalan Yiren, so he sent a message to have Liang Mu brought back. Now, there is finally news.

Chen Mo said, "That's great. I finally have an explanation with Miss Nalan. She has urged me several times. When you reply to the letter, tell her the news."

Chen Mo did not answer Xia Zhining's question, intending to get the matter over with.

But Xia Zhining seemed to be able to read his mind: "Liang Ji is looking for you again?"

They no longer called her the Queen Mother, but just called her Liang Ji by her name.

Seeing that he couldn't escape, Chen Mo had to tell the truth: "She must be here to plead for her father and the Liang family."

Xia Zhining looked at Chen Mo deeply, then sighed and said, "Forget it, I'm too lazy to say anything to you. I just want to remind you that she is the empress dowager after all, and she is different from Xiao Yunxi and Xu Ying. If you really want to do that, you'd better be careful and don't let it get out."

Chen Mo: "..."

"Zhi Ning, you think too much, actually."

Chen Mo was about to explain when Xia Zhining interrupted him: "I can't control you anyway. You'll get annoyed if I talk too much. Just be careful."

After saying that, Xia Zhining left.

……

On the other side, Shoukang Palace.

Liang Ji, who had already bathed and dressed up, felt extremely humiliated when she learned that she was "rejected" again.

A widowed empress dowager inviting a man with a bad "private reputation" to her bedroom would inevitably cause gossip. Liang Ji was prepared for the rumors, and at worst she would give up her reputation.

But even so, she was rejected twice in a row, which was unacceptable for her who held a high position.

At the same time, he was quite worried. The more Chen Mo refused, the more it showed that he was going to take action against the Liang family.

(End of this chapter)