Rebirth of the High Gate Mistress

Chapter 637 Jealousy

Li Ling surrendered the Gaoshan Kingdom, renamed it Yuzhou, and divided its forty-eight counties and seventy-two cities into surrounding prefectures and counties. The construction of new territorial control required time and manpower, so Li Ling selected a group of ministers from the capital to divide them. Went there.

Pei Yunqian was among this group of ministers.

On the day when the troops and horses were moving, Li Xiang accompanied Pingyang to see off Pei Yunqian. Pingyang said very little, but Li Xiang, on the other hand, kept talking since meeting Pei Yunqian. Pei Yunqian only exchanged greetings with Li Xiang and only got on his horse. When he came, he glanced at Pingyang, then turned to Sister Qing who was standing beside Pingyang and said, "Take good care of your mother."

When Pei Yunqian first came to Beijing, Sister Qing was still a child. Pei Yunqian often took her to play and hunt, and he loved her very much. Therefore, Sister Qing had a deep affection for this uncle. Now that he was leaving, Sister Qing Couldn't help wiping away tears.

Pingyang wiped away her daughter's tears and said angrily: "Don't cry. If you do this, my cousin will feel sad."

Pei Yunqian looked at Sister Qing, smiled, and replied, "When you get married, your cousin will come back to marry you."

Pingyang held his daughter in his arms and smiled brightly at Pei Yunqian: "Don't pay attention to the children's emotions at home. It's okay. Just wait for me to calm him down."

 Actually, Pingyang wanted to say "take care" to Pei Yunqian, but the words were stuck in his throat and it was difficult to say them out.

The group of people started slowly. Pingyang stood there and looked at Pei Yunqian until his back gradually disappeared from sight. She couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

Dong Qing also wanted to go to Yuzhou with this group of people. She said goodbye to everyone in the palace. After getting on the carriage and horse, Xu Wanning was still worried about her daughter-in-law. She gave her many instructions and instructions until the carriage started and Dong Qing returned. Looking at her mother-in-law who was still looking at her reluctantly, her eyes became sore and she shed tears.

Dong Qing rarely sheds tears, and even her personal maid has never seen her cry. When the maidservant saw this, she was really surprised and hurriedly advised: "Young lady, don't be sad, we are not helpless. came back."

Dong Qing was silent for a while, then shook his head with a wry smile and murmured to himself: "Servant Secretary, do you think I am a ungrateful person?"

“Young Madam, why do you say that?” The servant said slowly, “Young Madam is well-educated and sensible. Since you married into the Duke’s family, everyone in the family has not praised you.”

Dong Qing smiled bitterly and replied: "I used to think that to marry into a high-ranking family like the public house, as long as I can work hard to get the approval of the superiors, it would be enough. But now I finally understand that if I don't get the approval of my husband, I will It’s just that everyone is satisfied, so what?”

As she spoke, her eyes became moist again: "Since my husband left, I found that my heart became empty."

The servant hurriedly advised: "Don't be anxious, young lady. Are we going to look for the eldest son soon?"

Dong Qing turned to look out the window blankly and murmured: "Yeah, I'm going to look for him now. I just don't know if he can still look back at me."

After seeing off the troops who had gone to Yuzhou, it was already noon when Li Ling returned to the Qinzheng Hall. Several important ministers had been waiting here to report the scientific examination matters to the emperor.

The Gaoshan Kingdom was newly recovered. At this time, Daqi was in urgent need of more talents to fill the talent vacancies in the new territory, so Li Ling changed the civil and military imperial examinations that were originally held every three years to every two years, and abolished the rule that merchants in previous dynasties could not participate in the imperial examinations. The old rules are just to select more available people and govern Yuzhou as soon as possible. Li Ling sat down in the imperial study, and several courtiers entered. After a brief greeting, Cai Lun, then the Minister of Rites, reported: "Since your Majesty broke the old rules, the number of people taking the imperial examination this year has increased by about 20% compared with before. This is why Please ask Your Majesty to take a look at the list of those who passed the examination for the first time."

Li Ling took the directory, glanced at it briefly, and frowned slightly. He moved his gaze from the directory to Cai Lun and asked, "Is the Liu Yunzhi on the directory the same person who once served in the official school? ?”

Cai Lun hurriedly replied: "This is the man." As he said that, he explained: "Mr. Liu was famous all over the world when he was still a young man. Unfortunately, his ancestors were merchants, so he never had the opportunity to become an official. I admired his talent and learning, so when I was on duty at the Imperial College, I invited Mr. Liu to teach. Therefore, Mr. Liu only had a salary in the official school at that time and had no official position."

Li Ling snorted coldly and replied: "That's it."

Cai Lun and Liu Yunzhi were good friends. He saw that Li Ling's face seemed unhappy when he mentioned his friend, so he couldn't help but say on his friend's behalf: "Mr. Liu is very talented and became famous at a young age. He also has the heart to serve the country. Now, Your Majesty Breaking the old rule of imperial examination can be regarded as fulfilling Mr. Liu's desire to serve the country."

After listening to Cai Lun's words, Li Ling's expression became even more solemn, and he replied coldly: "I remember that when he was in Beijing, he once said something arrogant, saying, 'I will endure the fame and sing in a low voice instead of a shallow cup of wine."

Li Ling sneered: "How can such superficial people have the heart to serve the country?"

How did Cai Lun know about the past relationship between Li Ling and Liu Yunzhi? He and Li Ling were classmates and good friends. Therefore, although Li Ling has become an emperor and the two have become monarchs and ministers, Li Ling naturally treats Cai Lun differently from ordinary ministers.

When Cai Lun heard Li Ling talking about this, he couldn't help laughing and replied: "This was indeed said by Mr. Liu when he was teaching at the official school. He was only in his early twenties at that time. He was full of ambitions but unable to implement them, so I made such wild remarks to some literary friends once when I was drunk."

As he spoke, Cai Lun looked at Li Ling doubtfully: "After so many years, even a minor official can't remember such a trivial matter. How could your Majesty remember it so clearly?"

Liu Yunzhixiao thought about Jingshu, and he showed his kindness to Jingshu several times without knowing the importance of it. Li Ling naturally remembered this person freshly.

In front of Cai Lun, Li Ling naturally would not reveal this. He cleared his throat and replied perfunctorily: "This person is too arrogant and has done many outrageous things in the years in Beijing, so I am deeply impressed. .”

As he said that, he simply raised his pen to cross out Liu Yunzhi's name from the list, and said: "For such a person, it is better to 'sing in a low voice'."

"Your Majesty, wait a minute." Seeing this, Cai Lun hurriedly stopped Li Ling and said, "This time your Majesty breaks the old rules and allows merchants to participate in the imperial examination. This is a great opportunity to regain the hearts of those scholars who had no way to serve the country. Mr. Liu is famous all over the world, and he can do it for us." Why would Your Majesty, these models of scholars, stop his career as an official because of a casual remark he made when he was young? With all due respect, Your Majesty, if you do this, you will definitely chill the hearts of those merchants and scholars."

Although Li Ling was tough in governing, he was an out-and-out wise king, and he was not one of those kings who couldn't listen to the advice of his ministers.

Cai Lun thought that his sensible words would definitely make Li Ling change his mind, but Li Ling still resolutely crossed out Liu Yunzhi's name from the list, and only replied to Cai Lun lightly: "I just don't like him."

 (End of this chapter)