Chapter 28: After answering the questions, Qingliu also calmed down and reached the second level of Qi training! "master." Lu Fang released the pigeon, took the note and looked at it. After Jiajing stopped writing at the table, he stepped forward and handed him the note. "News from Xuanyuan Palace." Jiajing took the note, glanced at it, and handed it to Lu Fang. He opened the window on the other side of the hall and looked at the vast Taiye Lake. "The wolf, who is always ferocious, lies down with his belly exposed. Interestingly, the cow, who is always known for being hardworking, has rarely raised his horns and exposed his 'fangs'..." Jiajing's words are quite meaningful. "Whether it's a wolf or a cow, they have to lie down in front of the master, the real dragon." Lu Fang understood his master's thoughts and agreed with a smile. Jiajing smiled and said nothing. In the next few days, it started snowing again in the capital.

In the court, whether it was the Yan Party or the Qingliu, they all seemed to have forgotten everything that had happened before and became extremely quiet. From Zhou Yunyi being beaten to death a few years ago, to His Majesty issuing an edict of repentance, to the auspicious snow falling, and then the Yan Party launching a national policy of replacing rice with mulberry trees in order to fill the deficit, which was nailed down by the seven auxiliary policies, it seemed that it was doomed to fail. Suddenly, His Majesty accepted the young imperial tutor sent into the palace by the Yan Party, and everything began to become confusing. The Qingliu faction, including Zhang Juzheng, has realized that His Majesty may not only target the Yan party, but also them. For a time, all the ministers in the court with a keen sense of smell began to be cautious, making this winter even more bleak. "News." After sending the eunuch away, Prince Yu turned and walked into the side hall, looking at Xu Jie and said, "Li Shizhen has detected that there is a problem with the elixir presented by Immortal Lan before." "Immortal Lan has been imprisoned!" Hearing this, Xu Jie's mind buzzed and his body shook unconsciously. "Lord Xu!" Zhang Juzheng exclaimed, and everyone gathered around him, their faces filled with worry. "Your Highness, is there any news coming out of the palace?" Xu Jie waved his hand to indicate that he was fine, then looked at Prince Yu. Prince Yu shook his head slightly and was about to answer when a young eunuch came in and reported, "Your Highness, Huang Jin, the eunuch from the Imperial Household Department, is here, and he has brought an oral order from the palace." Everyone was startled when they heard this. "Please come in!" Prince Yu said, walking towards the door. After Xu Jie and the others looked at each other, they silently followed Prince Yu, waiting for Huang Jin. Not long after, Huang Jin, wearing a red fur robe, walked in with two young eunuchs, holding a scroll in his hand. "Your Highness," Huang Jin said respectfully, and then looked at Prince Yu and smiled, "Your Majesty's order." As for Xu Jie and others behind Prince Yu, they pretended not to see anything. "Your son will obey your order." Upon hearing this, Prince Yu immediately stepped aside, motioned Huang Jin to stand in the main seat, and read out the oral order. He took the lead and knelt down.

"Oral order," Huang Jin said after everyone knelt down, "I heard that Prince Yu has been diligent in government affairs recently and cares about the people of the world. I am very pleased." "I specially grant you a copy of 'Along the River During the Qingming Festival'." After saying this, Huang Jin presented the scroll in his hand to Prince Yu with both hands. "Your Highness, the oral instructions and rewards have been delivered. I will go back first." Prince Yu was stunned for a moment after hearing this simple instruction, which was equivalent to giving you a painting, but there was no follow-up. However, he quickly reacted and said, "Come here, send Eunuch Huang." After Huang Jin left, the hall fell into silence. Prince Yu glanced at everyone and handed the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" in his hand to Zhang Juzheng and Zhao Zhenji. Zhao Zhenji and Zhang Juzheng opened the picture from the left and right. Looking at the vivid picture of the prosperity of Bianliang in the Northern Song Dynasty, everyone fell silent. At this moment, they had no intention of appreciating it at all. Everyone present was smart. Just as the news came out from the palace that Lan Daoxing was imprisoned, His Majesty sent a painting of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" to Prince Yu. The meaning was very clear. What is the biggest feature of Along the River During the Qingming Festival? Every detail has been carefully depicted. Everyone present understood that the emperor was telling everyone that he was well aware of every corner of the government, and any small move that was made to conceal the truth would not escape his insight. Subconsciously, everyone looked at Xu Jie. Especially Xu Jie, looking at "Along the River During the Qingming Festival", felt mixed emotions, knowing that this was a heavy warning. Everyone knows the profound meaning of this picture. Secondly, it was specifically aimed at Xu Jie! This painting "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" was collected by Yan Song. As an old rival, he knew this. But now the emperor used this painting to bestow it on Prince Yu in front of him. The emperor was telling him that when faced with the same question, Yan Song and he made completely different choices. The answer the emperor wants is their attitude! The emperor was very unhappy with his use of Lan Daoxing to test him, so the price of answering the question incorrectly was that Lan Daoxing was deposed. If there is a next time, he, Xu Jie, will become a thing of the past just like the once prosperous Bianliang. "It's time to tell them," Xu Jie thought, and then he winked at Zhang Juzheng and the others and said goodbye to Prince Yu, "It's getting late, so I'll take my leave first." After Prince Yu put away "Along the River During the Qingming Festival", he no longer forced the few people to stay. He felt a little uneasy at the moment. If my father criticizes Xu Jie, will I be implicated and become dissatisfied with him? The timid Prince Yu did not dare to keep these people any longer, so he agreed to it. He also felt that his father was playing a game of chess, so he should stay calm and not get involved easily, as the water was too deep. He is not qualified to play chess with his father. Everyone came out of Prince Yu's Mansion and walked to an open space. Zhang Juzheng, who still had room for cunning and strategy, spoke first, "Lord Xu, what does His Majesty mean?" "Your Majesty has given us and the Yan Party a multiple-choice question." Xu Jie looked towards the direction of the imperial palace.

Hearing this, everyone's hearts sank. The "multiple choice questions" in the officialdom are not as simple as choosing right or wrong. "Wrong?" Zhang Juzheng's heart tightened, knowing that he had asked a nonsense question, and asked again: "What is the answer?" "Attitude." As soon as Xu Jie finished speaking, Zhang Juzheng was stunned. Zhao Zhenji's face trembled. Gao Gong on the side opened his mouth, and after a while he let out an "Ah", which turned into a heavy sigh! In the study room of Yan Mansion. "Dad, why did His Majesty give the painting Along the River During the Qingming Festival to Prince Yu? Could this be some kind of signal?" Yan Shifan looked at Yan Song and asked, "Should I inform His Majesty?" "The test is over," Yan Song raised his head and glanced at Yan Shifan, "Shifan, go prepare some good wine and food and give him a good meal." "Dad? What questions are finished?" Yan Shifan was confused when he saw his father suddenly become so nice. "The exam is over, Dad, I'm the top scorer!" Yan Song showed a smug smile on his face, and then he began to explain to Yan Shifan without further ado, "Starting from the Imperial Finance Council..." After a while. Yan Shifan took a breath. For a moment, cold sweat broke out on my back. He didn't expect that he had been living in such a dangerous situation these past few days without realizing it. Looking at his smiling father, he swallowed his saliva. "Dad, does this mean that Qingliu will be ruined?" "Humph," Yan Song snorted and laughed, not making any comment. "Multiple choice questions, there are many options, any one of them is the answer." "But there is only one answer your majesty wants!" "I saw that His Majesty might attack us and Qingliu at the same time, so I chose to wait for death." "Xu Jie chose to send Lan Daoxing to test His Majesty's intentions." "His goal is to get more information and try to find the best position in an uncertain situation." "Then, he will answer the questions with peace of mind." Hearing this, Yan Shifan seemed to be thinking about something, and said, "But Dad, he should understand that His Majesty will not really touch Qingliu." "After all, we didn't move. In order to check and balance us, he would definitely not move him. Why would he do this?" "Grand Ceremony Discussion." Yan Song said these three words calmly. Yan Shifan was startled, opened his mouth, and then suddenly realized, and laughed, saying: "The king and his ministers are suspicious of each other!" After the Great Ceremony Controversy, suspicions between the emperor and his ministers grew more serious. Jiajing became increasingly distrustful of the traditional scholar-official class, fearing that they would unite against him. Although Xu Jie was a young official at the time and was not at the center of controversy, suspicion continued as he was a representative of the clean stream of the later era. Jiajing chose to reuse Yan Song, a eunuch, which led to growing distrust and suspicion among the traditional literati and scholars headed by Xu Jie and other upright people. Therefore, Xu Jie had no time to think about it.

"The Qingliu are not clean either. What they are worried about is that His Majesty may seem to want to attack us and the Qingliu together, but in fact he is still planning to attack them, the Qingliu!" "After all, we are treacherous ministers. His Majesty knows all our dirty deeds and can crush us to death at any time. There is no reason to go to such great lengths." "So, what he is worried about is that His Majesty's real purpose is to take action against the Qingliu people like them, but he is not sure. So Lan Daoxing went there to test the answer for him!" "Not bad," Yan Song gave him an approving look, and then said, "From a certain perspective, he got the answer." "It was His Majesty who told him personally, and the moment he got the answer, it also meant the end of the question." "In the eyes of His Majesty, the ideal 'answer' should be unconditional obedience and loyalty, that is, accepting any decision he makes, just as my Yan family has shown." "I choose to be killed as a sign of my absolute respect and obedience to Your Majesty, even if it means paying a heavy price..." "And Xu Jie's actions of sending people to test him show that he has a sense of self-protection and resistance." "But this will be seen by His Majesty as a challenge to the imperial power." "He gave Your Majesty the impression of being insufficiently loyal and obedient, which was contrary to the 'correct answer' Your Majesty expected." "Qingliu? It's an old problem!" Yan Shifan snorted coldly, "You eat the emperor's salary, but you are not loyal to your family or surname. Are you loyal to the people?" "What emperor could endure this?" "It would be fine if he really wanted to be loyal to the people, but he became a whore and put up a memorial archway for himself. Bah! He deserves what he has today!" "Then next, Qingliu will have to learn his lesson and wait to be stabbed. Your Majesty won't be too cruel, right?" Yan Shifan asked. He still didn't know what His Majesty would do to them. "Go, prepare the wine and food, bring up all the delicious food and drinks, and eat to your heart's content, eat to your heart's content..." Yan Song said loudly. Yan Shifan didn't get an answer, and seeing his father's expression, he just thought he was happy, so he smiled and turned around to prepare the food. "Hehe, hehe..." After Yan Shifan left, Yan Song, who was sitting on the couch in the study, suddenly burst into laughter. "Eat, it's delicious, eat a good meal..." Xiyuan, Yuxi Palace. "Huh!" The gauze curtain of the monastery fluttered and then suddenly became calm. Jiajing opened his eyes, a gleam of light flashed in his eyes, and a smile appeared on the corners of his mouth. "I have reached the second level of Qi training!" He looked down at the now empty bottle of spiritual essence and said to himself, "It's just as expected!" "The Yan Party and Qingliu have also behaved well." "It took almost half a month to collect the bills and arrange the military expenses." "The war to open up the world of immortal cultivation should also come to an end..." Everything is proceeding in an orderly manner according to plan. "..."

Everyone, it’s Monday. If you think it's okay, please give me some votes, thank you~   (End of this chapter)