Chapter 136 – Kyoto in Late Spring

Rain, has been falling, the flowers in the gardens in all parts of Kyoto, has long been in full bloom, gradually falling, into the mud.

On the matter of clearing the Ministry of households, the palace is still waiting for a result, which will suffer the officials in the court, to the present day, the officials naturally know clearly, who wants to bring down the Ministry of households, they must first fall. There is no turn for the young Lord Fan, who is far away in Jiangnan, to speak out, and the old Lord Fan in the capital has shown more than enough cards.

Investigating and investigating, it’s always not going to be on yourself, who would want to do such an idiotic thing? –What’s more, the Crown Prince has idiotically made a good demonstration.

In the officialdom, the biggest is the emperor’s golden words, the second biggest, is the so-called unspoken rules, and now the Ministry of households in these two matters shaking around, but no matter how to shake, it is hard to hold on and refused to fall down.

Fan Jian is refused to resign to end the matter, even if the palace rumors, his majesty is ready to make up for the rare thick knighthood, the Fan family is still holding out, for a time, the capital of the hundred officials in the depths of their hearts can not help but admire the bottom of the Fan Jian.

In fact, Fan Jian did not hard, when the Ministry of households has involved enough officials, when the Prince began to turn his attention to other aspects: such as self-preservation, such as dragging their own several brothers under the water after the matter, the Ministry of households Shangshu did not return to the Ministry of households Yamen, but began to be more leisurely in the House of tea, go to the village to see the landscape, and occasionally go to the friendship of the House of the two times to bother.

Other mansions, he is not convenient to go at this time, because in the clearance of the Ministry of households at the juncture, he does not want to give others trouble, others also dare not get too close to him.

But King Jing’s mansion was an exception.

King Jing is the empress dowager’s own son, the younger son, the emperor’s own brother, so many years has been silent, honest, doing flowers and plants, the palace all know that this kind of attitude of his indicates what, so always also not much care about him.

Fan Jian and Prince Jing has always been good friends, to go to his house is a very normal thing, on the other hand to Prince Jing’s character, he is not afraid of anything at all.

Then one day, Fan Jian went to the palace and had a deep and earnest conversation with His Majesty in the imperial study for a night, and very sincerely confessed his thoughts to His Majesty.

He analyzed all aspects and thought that it would be more appropriate for him to continue to serve as the Minister of the Household. On this issue, he did not have a trace of concealment from the emperor, the so-called love affair, not love affair, in the middle of such a seemingly peaceful, but actually complicated situation, Fan Jian dissected himself and the court with a stroke of a pen, and advised his majesty that he should withdraw the decree of investigating the ministry of households, and only in this way, for the state of qingguo, it is the best choice.

This is to take the path of the bright and righteous, so to raise the virtuous not to avoid oneself, so bright and open, even the emperor also felt a trace of surprise.

The next day, I heard that Prince Jing also entered the palace, in the rumor, this absurd prince in the empress dowager’s Hall of Containing Light muttered for a long half day, and finally even quarreled with the empress dowager’s old ancestor, as for the content of the quarrel, but no one knows.

That night, the empress dowager and his majesty watched a folded opera together, in the free time of getting high, the empress dowager told the emperor about King Jing’s entry into the palace, the emperor laughed and did not say anything.

The meaning of the Empress Dowager is very clear, and Fan Xian’s attitude when he first entered Kyoto is still the same, the old Fan family did so many things for the old Li family, always can not be too much of a loss, and then let the youngest into the palace every day to make noise, the appearance is also not very good to look at……. The most critical thing is that the Empress Dowager, the old ancestor, know that their own grandson of several grandchildren are afraid that the Ministry of households are not very good things. Good-looking, check the Ministry of households to check the royal family, the face of the royal family to where to rest?

Fan Shangshu always thought that the emperor will always be more than the subjects to care about face some, but did not think, the first feel unable to hang face, but the empress dowager.

But the effect is almost the same.

The next day, the decree came down, although in order to maintain the court’s decency, and did not explicitly withdraw the Qing dynasty Ministry of households of the imperial decree, but under the pretext of the court affairs, the emperor will be the joint investigation team of most of the ministers were transferred back to the original ministry of the office, there is no doubt that the Ministry of households of the Qing dynasty of the strength will be weakened by a lot of.

The officials all breathed a sigh of relief, the so-called good for you, good for me, good for everyone, but it’s just a peace and mud court, why do we have to get to the point where you die and I live?

All of them also knew in their hearts that the reason why the palace’s efforts to clear the Ministry of Accounts had weakened was definitely related to that big fuss that Prince Jing had made in the palace. Thinking about this matter, the ministers’ hearts could not help but be flooded with a few strange flavors.

The Fan family and the King of Jing’s family had been friends for generations, this was something the world knew, but times were different now, since last fall, there seemed to be a lot of problems between the two families, first, Fan Xian’s war with the second prince involved the King of Jing’s son, Li Hongcheng, and then the Fan family’s young lady shocked the world by being taken in by the Northern Qi’s national master, Bitter Lotus, as a closed disciple, and the marriage between the two families also ended… …

But King Jing is in the palace? Has the relationship between the two families been restored to normal? The civil and military officials sighed, feeling more and more that Fan Jian was a somewhat unpredictable person.

However, during the same time, the emperor issued a rather elusive personnel appointment – He Zongwei, the imperial inspector general of the Academy, was promoted to the left imperial inspector general, joining the team that investigated the Ministry of Revenue.

He Zongwei this person, that year is with the four sons of Fanmen Hou Jichang in the famous Kyoto talent, because has been friends with Guo Baokun, the relationship between the Ministry of Rites, in order to avoid the matter of discussion, delayed the footsteps of the civil service, wait until the Qingli five years of the spring exams of the opportunity, but because of the death of a relative at home, was forced to abstain from taking the examination.

So this famous talent, actually has not participated in the examination, in people’s hearts, is indeed a bad luck to the extreme character.

But on the other hand, He Zongwei’s luck and extremely good, when the friendship with the Guo family, know the Prince, in the Beijing reputation, and later Qingli five years in the spring and “coincidentally” involved in the former phase of the downfall of the incident, and finally was His Majesty’s eyes, jumped through the layers of procedures, direct orders for the imperial inspectorate.

In fact, people are clear, this is just He Zongwei this person is good at swinging, stand in line to stand extremely well, a moment to stand in the side of the Prince, a moment to stand in the side of the Xinyang …… but now even became the left royal inspectorate!

Such a young character, actually achieved such an official position, people can not help but be a little jaw-dropping, why does His Majesty appreciate this person?

In fact, this kind of precedent is not without existence, for example, Fan Xian …… Little Lord Fan was younger than He Zongwei, did more official work, had more power in his hands, and had a greater reputation.

But the problem is that today the world knows that the little Fan Lord is a bit of the shadowy Prince, and the name of the civil and military is known throughout the world, can have today’s position, not surprising, but this He Zongwei and what is going on?

Some gossipy officials can’t help but secretly laugh and think, could it be that His Majesty has found another illegitimate child?

Regardless of how the officials and people speculate, but in short, this has been hidden in the second prince’s carriage, the Princess’s mansion, the Academy’s study in the year of the Kyoto talent, finally officially on the stage of history, and in the future a number of years will be non-stop light and heat.

Young, handsome, talented, position, have his majesty’s appreciation, at this time the left imperial historian He Zongwei is like a round of rising sun general eye-catching.

And far away in Jiangnan, Fan Xian …… is only afraid of the black hole that will swallow the sun. I’m afraid no one would believe that last year, Fan Xian had used his black fist to beat this now-celebrated man of the court into a pig’s head.

This was a lifelong shame for He Zongwei, for he knew that that little Lord Fan, who was far away in Jiangnan, despised himself from the bottom of his bones, but now that His Majesty looked up to him, then he had to do something for His Majesty.

The situation that had caused His Highness the Crown Prince to be anxious was finally relieved, but the 400,000 taels of silver still had to be wiped out somehow. Last night the Empress Dowager scolded her own first grandson in the Hall of Containing Light before telling him that His Majesty was in a bad mood, and that just because Imperial Grandmother was able to hold it off for you this time, it doesn’t mean that she will be able to hold it off for you in the future.

Prince some regret, in fact, these two years after Fan Xian into the capital, he has been doing quite good, honest, peaceful, even women are rarely play, just two years ago, he is indeed a little ridiculous, left so many tails, so that a person is a big catch.

When he thought of this, he began to hold a grudge against the Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior who had grabbed his tail tightly and made his tail incomparably painful.

Fan family!

Comparing with the second prince who made himself incomparably resentful in previous years, the crown prince finally determined at this time that in the next few years, his biggest enemy is undoubtedly the Fan family, no matter whether it’s that old one or that young one.

The matter of inventorying the Ministry of households, has already made the East Palace and the Fan family short, and this time it is the Fan family that has the upper hand, regardless of whether the Crown Prince is willing to peacefully resolve this matter, to Fan Jian’s intelligence, naturally also know that if the Crown Prince ascends to the throne, the Fan family won’t have too much good fruit to eat.

The Crown Prince was not an emperor, and had no feelings for that old woman who was far away in Tanyu.

As for Fan, because of the Ye family’s affair back then, which was an undying hatred, the Crown Prince simply couldn’t expect Fan Xian to be on his side, or even expect the other party to not oppose him on the issue of succeeding the throne.

Now that the main conflict had been established, the rest of the conflicts were secondary, and all the past unpleasantness was something that could be waved away with his hand.

So when his own close friend passed on the proposal of the Second Prince to invite him to a gathering on the Flowing Crystal River, the Crown Prince agreed to the proposal after a little contemplation.

He smiled coldly, knowing that that second brother of his was also aware that if he wanted to deal with Fan Xian, relying on his own strength alone was far from enough. There was only one chair, whether it was the Crown Prince’s or the second brother’s, we could all show our daggers afterward and grab it again, but at the moment, at least we had to make sure that the chair wouldn’t fall under the oldest brother’s ass.

In the current situation, these two sons of the emperor must abandon their former grudges, unite, unite all the forces that can be united, in order to defeat that perverted wild seed far away in Jiangnan.

On the Liujing River, spring is as thick as a woman’s eyes, getting warmer and warmer, it seems that summer is coming.

On top of a flower boat, the crown prince and the second highness of the wine, enjoy the scenery to appreciate the beauty, it seems that over the years, there is no unpleasantness at all between the two people.

The second prince took the initiative to extend his hand, naturally, he had to make a statement first, he first apologized for that dishonorable fall of Yan Xingshu, the Minister of Justice, in the matter of clearing out the Ministry of Revenue.

Of course, will not be very clear to say, although the crown prince sometimes will be more idiotic, but most of the time is still considered a smart person, just a little bit.

The Crown Prince also sighed and said that after Fan Xian entered the capital, he had suppressed him a little less.

The two brothers glanced at each other, both seeing the hidden worry and a hint of helplessness in each other’s hearts.

The power in Fan Xian’s hands was too great, and the old men standing behind him were also too powerful, and more critically, it seemed that there were some people in the palace who were now falling to his side.

Li Chengping, Junior had been following Fan Xian’s side, what exactly did Father mean by this arrangement?

The crown prince and the second prince fell into silence at the same time.

Finally still the second prince slowly opened his mouth, softly laughed: “Your Highness the crown prince, I heard that Fan Xian opened a branch of Holding the Moon House in Suzhou, there are two girls in it who are very famous, one is the little girl who snatched from Hongcheng’s hands, and the other one is a bit interesting, and I heard that it is …… a slave girl from the big royal brother’s mansion. ”

The crown prince lowered his eyes, gritted his teeth, and said with a cold hum, “That big brother of ours, that day in the imperial study, wasn’t he also speaking for Fan Xian? It seems that he is really a little afraid of that big princess …… from Northern Qi Second brother ah, you and your big brother have been friends since childhood, how can you not see that he is a poop ear?”

The second prince raised his eyebrows and smiled, huh two sounds, did not continue to say anything.

At that time on the river warm wind blowing gently, the flower boat slowly swim, the bank willow branches intolerable gradually hot weather, looking forward to the morning on the stop that rain to fall down again.

Boat window side of the two expression gentle, in fact, each harboring a ghost, just have no choice but to sit together to discuss.

“He Zongwei, will continue to check the household department down.” The second prince smiled and said, “Please don’t worry, he has his measure.”

The crown prince snorted coldly. Including the Ministry of Rites, including He Zongwei, all of these people were actually close to the Eastern Palace initially, but then they were all pulled over by the Eldest Princess and the Second Prince, and now that He Zongwei had already gained a foothold in the dynasty, how could he tell the Crown Prince not to hate him?

He coldly said: “Don’t forget, He Zongwei this person is hot in the merit, is the authentic three surnames of the family slaves, this time he stood on your side, who knows how he will stand in the future?”

The second prince looked out of his mind at the deep spring scenery outside the ship and sighed, “Don’t worry, he won’t throw himself on Fan Xian’s side.”

The Crown Prince said, “But with his position today, there seems to be no need for him to remain under your door ……,” he scoffed, “In the end, this position was given to him by Father Emperor.”

The Second Prince was slightly stunned, knowing that the Crown Prince’s words had a flavor, but he didn’t bother to refute them, and said with a smile, “It is inconvenient for him to come today precisely because of the very reason you mentioned, and since he is already a courtier, of course he should take care to keep his distance from us.”

“However,” the second prince turned to look at the crown prince, his face was still a harmless gentle smile, but in his heart, a few threads of loathing were born, for this guy that he had always despised, now he was forced to join hands, his heart was also a little bit uncomfortable, “Today, your highness was invited to come, it is someone who wants to see you .”

The crown prince froze, frowned and said, “Who is so big and actually dares to shout for this palace to come and see him.”

“Couldn’t I do the same?”

A gentle and clear attractive and wonderful woman’s voice came from the back compartment, and when this voice came out, it seemed to immediately cover up the wonderful natural sound of the wind blowing the river willows and the birds gently flying, making it seem incomparably melodious.

The crown prince’s face changed, a flash of complex emotions in his eyes, frozen as if he were a wooden chicken, only after a long time did he slowly stand up, made a salute to the rear compartment, and laughed at himself, “After aunt entered the palace, she has not seen Chengqian, and Chengqian thought that aunt was not happy to see me.”

Eldest Princess Li Yunrui lifted the beaded curtain and slowly walked out, looking at the Crown Prince with a smile or not.

The Crown Prince had an unexplained pang of nervousness, and actually didn’t dare to look directly at that beautiful, unlike mortal face.

“This time, the matter of the Ministry of Household, it seems that we have all fallen for it.” The eldest princess Li Yunrui face slightly appear tired color, but can not hide her luster, suddenly she puffed a laugh, said: “my son-in-law, is really interesting, set up a bureau to let us drill, fortunately Prince Jing made a scene, otherwise things have gone terribly wrong, we can’t catch the Ministry of households to Jiangnan stealing loss of evidence of state funds, it is really not good to the full court to account. ”

Household silver in Jiangnan turned around, has been back, naturally, can not find anything, although some silver remains in Jiangnan money bank, but that number is not large, in order to Fan Jian’s means of natural cover up no loopholes.

Prince eyes watch the nose, nose watch the heart, said softly: “also please aunt point.”

“Today just come to drink tea.” The eldest princess smiled and said, “After all, you are …… blood brothers, anything can be spread out, do not let outsiders see the joke.”

She said to pro brother three words, focusing on the word pro biting the tip of the tongue to aggravate the tone, although it is a point of view, but by no means through a hint of temptation.

Prince trembling voice said, “But if the Ministry of households can not catch the handle, Fan Xian this person …… has no loopholes to catch, can only wait for him to cultivate feathers in Jiangnan, later if he returned to the capital?”

“The Ministry of Households is naturally going to investigate.” The Rapunzel’s watery eyes stared at the Crown Prince’s face and said with a smile, “The Emperor’s brother will take a step back for now, and will definitely take a big step forward in the future, this Your Highness doesn’t need to worry. As for my son-in-law, you don’t have to worry even more …… about Anzhi this person ah, seemingly oil and salt, in fact …… dealing with him is very easy miles.”

The crown prince and the second prince both froze, thinking where did this come from? People like Fan Xian, it’s not easy to stink him up, it’s even harder to get rid of him, it’s impossible to eliminate him mentally, it’s even harder to eliminate him physically, so why did the eldest princess say it in such a light and uninteresting way?

“My son-in-law,” said the Elder Princess tenderly, “seems to be ruthless, but in fact …… Dao is ruthless but sentimental ah.”

After the secret meeting on the River of Flowing Crystals was over, the Second Prince boarded a carriage under the escort of the Eight Family Generals and returned directly to his residence in the northern city of Kyoto. Nowadays, the eight generals had been killed by Fan Xian, and Fan Wu Sheng had also been scared by the swordmen of the six divisions and returned to his hometown, so there were only six people left, and it looked like they had long since lost the same might as back then.

The second prince has been crowned king for a few years, and now that he has been married for a few months, his relationship with the royal consort has been extremely good, and there have been no rumors of any bad rumors.

Wangfei surname Ye Ling’er.

In the bedroom, Ye Ling’er to his husband draped a thin sky green color goblin, in the past is a cheerful face, floating with a faint sadness.

The second prince looked back, his heart apologized slightly, cupped her slightly cold hands, comfortingly said, “What are you thinking about?”

“Today ……” Ye Ling’er bit her lower lip, the pair of bright as jade eyes flashed a struggle, finally still mustered the courage to open his mouth and said, “Where did it go?”

The second prince lowered his head to be silent for a moment, and answered very directly, “To the Flowing Crystal River to meet with auntie and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.”

Ye Ling’er’s heart surged with warmth. It seemed like such a big thing, since the second prince did not hide it from himself, it was really treating himself as a person close to his heart, he could not help but advise, “Why bother? Let’s just live a peaceful life is not good?”

Married for a few months, the second prince was gentle and considerate, and did not have the kind of overbearing and shameless aspects of the royal family flowing out, this was partly because the background behind Ye Ling’er was also incomparably deep, and on the other hand it was indeed also because he had a few feelings for Ye Ling’er in.

The young generation of the Qing Kingdom, in fact, had all grown up in one place since their childhood, such as Wan’er, such as these several emperors, such as Ye Ling’er and Miss Fan, and the division between the royal family and the several heartland families was not obvious.

The second prince knew that his wife was thinking of herself, and couldn’t help but sigh and say, “There are many things that we can’t help but do.”

Ye Ling’er stared at him in a daze and suddenly spoke, “In the past, it was His Majesty who pushed you out, but now …… Master, Fan Xian has already taken over your role, so why do you still need to get involved?”

The Second Prince sighed again, and said after a long time of calm, “If it’s really as you say, my historical mission has been accomplished, and I really should stay out of these things, but you mustn’t forget.”

He said with a slight sneer, “The master you said in your mouth, the most famous Little Lord Fan of our Daqing Dynasty, is actually …… a most vindictive character.”

Ye Ling’er frowned slightly and said sadly, “What hatred can’t be melted? Do you want me to talk about it?”

Although the second prince secretly laughed at his wife’s childishness, he was also faintly touched, and wrapped her into his arms, comforting her, “There are many hatreds between men that can’t be solved by the friendship between boudoirs that is.”

He didn’t explain in detail, but he knew that his hatred with Fan Xian was hard to unravel, the guards who died on the Oxen Street, the matter of Holding the Moon House, those dead prostitutes, and many, many more, Fan Xian had put the account on his own body. In fact, this was one of the things that the second prince was puzzled about, obviously only some unimportant subordinates had died, why did Fan Xian have such a great hatred for himself?

In order to protect himself, he had to have power. Of course, in fact, the most crucial reason is …… the second prince to this day, still not willing.

All of them were unwilling, but not many of them knew the good intentions of Fan Xian, who was far away in Jiangnan.