Chang Geng had been living too smoothly during this period. First, he perfectly resolved the issues in Jiangbei and achieved all the set goals, which were concluded at a leisurely pace. On his way back, Gu Yun was by his side. Except for the days when he was young in Yanhui, Daliang had always been in war and chaos, and Gu Yun rarely had the opportunity to stay by his side for such a long time. Walking through it all the way, it gave people the illusion that they were going to be together forever, and they didn't feel the loneliness and coldness of the late autumn and early winter at all.

Chang Geng used to be extremely uneasy and cautious about everything around him. The slightest clue could alarm him. Although he was on edge all day long, he was indeed very careful and rarely made mistakes. But now, after being trapped in the land of gentleness for many days, after hearing Gu Yun's words, he realized that he had gotten carried away.

Chang Geng calmed his mind and silently recalled for a moment the scene when Li Feng summoned him to the palace. He sensed a different meaning - the current emperor was feeling suffocated in a room filled with the smell of medicine. The heavy palace and the silent palace people seemed so gloomy, and the whole room was filled with a bitter smell of impending death. Li Feng was in his prime, not really old and disillusioned with the world, so how would he feel?

Some people will become discouraged and give in when they realize they are powerless, but Li Feng is definitely not that kind of person. If he gave in so easily, he would not have stood out from the crowd in anger when the Beidaying mutiny occurred, nor would he have taken up the Red Headed Kite when the enemy was at the gates.

Gu Yun was indeed reminding him. Chang Geng shuddered, a little cold sweat seeped out of the back of his neck, and the excitement on his face calmed down.

Gu Yun knew that he had listened to him. This man was too smart. Sometimes one sentence was enough. There was no need to say more, so he reached out and touched Chang Geng's head.

Chang Geng grabbed his hand and pulled it down. Gu Yun waited calmly to listen to his self-reflection. He thought that he would at least ask him a question like "What would I do without you?" Unexpectedly, Chang Geng held him for a while, and not only did he not reflect on himself, he also said unreasonably: "It's all your fault. You made me dizzy."

Gu Yun: “…”

Less than half a day after arriving in the capital, he had already played two roles, "lecher" and "troublemaker". He was really busy.

His Royal Highness Prince Yan was so shy and introverted when he was young. Why does he become more shameless as he grows older?

Gu Yun pushed away Chang Geng, who was becoming more and more unreserved with him, and picked up the wine jug hanging on the side. Chang Geng jumped up in a well-trained manner and reached out to grab it: "It's so cold today, you are not allowed to drink cold wine!"

Gu Yun raised his hand and threw the wine pot from his left hand to his right hand, then caught it lightly. His free left hand just happened to embrace Chang Geng who had bumped into his arms. He quickly pinched his chin and kissed him. Before Chang Geng could react and fight back, he turned around, put on his coat and said with a smile: "I have to go to Beidaying. You can sleep by yourself tonight. Recite the sutras twice before going to bed to avoid getting dizzy again."

Chang Geng: “…”

What about the things I promised on the way?

The dignified Marquis of Anding actually went back on his word and gained wealth!

Although Gu Yun was teasing him, he really had something to do. He should have stayed in Beidaying directly because he was really worried about Chang Geng, so he returned to the Marquis' Mansion first and waited for him to come back for a meal. Now that he had a general idea of ​​the situation in the palace, he left home without stopping and rushed to Beidaying - Beidaying not only commanded the outer defense of the capital, but also served as a transit station for urgent military information from all over the country to be transmitted to the capital. The Northern Barbarian envoy came suddenly, and Gu Yun felt uneasy. It can be said that after worrying about family affairs, he began to worry about state affairs.

It was already late autumn in the capital. As soon as I went out, the smell of winter was already coming out, blowing eerily in my face. The little cold wind in the night had taken on a biting shape. When Gu Yun went out, he still wore a single layer of clothing, as he had done for many years.

But on this day, Gu Yun had already mounted his horse and had not yet set out when he suddenly felt that the wind inside the pass was a bit biting. He sighed secretly, turned back, hung the wine cooler in the stable, asked Huo Dan to get him a cloak to put on, and then left in a hurry.

Although Gu Yun had been tossed back and forth between the rebellion of Jiangbei mobs and the abdication by rebels in the capital, his connection with Cai Yin in the northern border had not been interrupted. If Jiangnan was already in a tragic state of "the tears of the survivors were shed in the dust of the barbarians", he knew what the situation was in the northern border without having to think too much.

The blood feud between the barbarians and the Central Plains may have to wait for a long hundred years to pass, and for these two or three generations to die, before it can be slightly alleviated.

Gu Yun had just arrived at Beidaying and hadn't even had time to drink a sip of water when Cai Yin's letter arrived.

The instructions in the letter were very simple, but there was a lot of information in these few words - the two armies had been confronting each other for so long, and each had scouts and spies for the other. Their people lurking in the enemy camp wrote to report that in the spring, Calais Mars seemed to have fallen seriously ill, and he had not been seen in public since then.

What is even more strange is that his eldest son disappeared all day in the name of filial piety, and all affairs were temporarily taken over by Calais' second son.

Jialai has three sons, all born to the same woman. Following the Han system, the eldest son is made the crown prince. When their father is seriously ill, it is not unusual for the sons to compete to show their filial piety. However, the crown prince is so filial that he ignores his proper duties and lets his younger brother do them for him. Is this appropriate?

Based on this description, the story of what happened on the barbarian side seems to be about to come out. The talented second son was unwilling to rely on his brothers to survive just because he was born a few years later. He used some method to imprison Calais and the prince and usurped the throne.

The current commander of the North Camp said, "General, in addition to the thirteen articles, the eighteen tribes have also agreed to send Calais' youngest son as a hostage to give us peace of mind for the next round of peace talks. I just received news from General Cai that the little barbarian's carriage is preparing to enter the pass and has submitted a document to Jingcheng, waiting for the court's approval. I was just planning to send someone to the Marquis' Mansion when you happened to come over."

As he spoke, he handed another memorial to Gu Yun.

The affairs of the northern barbarians involve frontier military affairs, so before submitting them to the Military Affairs Office, they can be reviewed by the commander-in-chief holding the black iron tiger talisman. The memorial submitted by the barbarians was indeed written very sincerely, and it carefully described who the third prince and his entourage were.

The third prince was only fifteen years old, and was said to be a weak and sickly child. He was accompanied by an envoy and an interpreter, ten young male and female slaves, and twelve escorting guards. Everyone's name and origin were clearly written, even the slaves' ages and their duties were clear. It strictly followed the customs clearance procedures of Daliang. Gu Yun read it over and over again three times from beginning to end, and did not see any violation of the rules.

Shen Yi folded his arms and said, "It seems to be true. The ambitious second prince imprisoned his father and brother, and wanted to kill his own brother and throw him as a hostage so that he could dominate the eighteen tribes."

"What's the benefit of dominating the eighteen tribes?" Gu Yun threw the letter aside. He sat by the stove in the tent for a long time, but he couldn't get warm. He kept rubbing his hands close to the heat source, "If we lose this time, the barbarians will have no power to fight back. They have nothing to eat or drink outside the pass every year, and they have to pay tribute for any purple gold they dig. They can't even protect the goddess and the daughter of the wolf king."

The feud between the barbarians and the Han people in the Central Plains is not a one-day thing. As early as several dynasties ago, the nomadic people in the north had the custom of going south to collect money when the harvest was bad. The north had the fierceness of all the people as soldiers, and the south had the backbone of famous generals. The two sides had been stuck between going south to plunder and fighting back. For a hundred years, no one really conquered the other - until Daliang took the lead in developing steam technology.

People today can only get a glimpse of the scenes in those years from historical materials. That was the golden age of the Long-Arm Division. The fertile Central Plains area was like an awakening giant beast. Layers of lighter steel armor emerged like mushrooms after a rain. Light furs, heavy armor, giant kites, flying eagles... steam was like a tide, iron golems were rampant in the capital, and the range of long and short cannons was changing with each passing day.

At the beginning, Daliang, who opened up the sea transportation and worked hard to develop lighter steel armor, was despised by the uncivilized barbarians as "a southerner who focuses on luxury and unorthodox practices". The wolf king of the north trusted his minions too much, and arrogantly missed the opportunity to ride on the thick cloud of purple gold rising to the sky. As a result, he was beaten by the people of the Central Plains for decades and had no power to turn over. The purple gold in the territory was forced to be paid as tribute, and he failed to have his own steel armor technology even after catching up. His equipment still relies on the support of Westerners.

The eighteen tribes could not ignore this bloody lesson. They could not just sit and watch factories spring up in Daliang, the lifting of the ban on the Palm Order, and the advent of a second peak in the development of the art of lighters and steel armor. If the current momentum continues, and Daliang is allowed to survive the cold winter and slowly recover, the northern barbarians might really have no room to survive.

"I don't dare to say what kind of person the Second Prince is," Gu Yun said, "but I know Calais Yinghuo. That old man would rather die than sit and wait for death. Let alone just sending a son, even if it's a biological father, we have to keep a hand - go get my seal."

That night, more than ten beacon orders were issued from Beidaying, the level of which was the same as when the foreign troops were approaching Dagu Port. All the post stations along the northwest to the capital city increased their troops as if they were facing a great enemy. Lingshuyuan also sent a group of people to the Northern Defense Army’s base to inspect the situation of lighters and armor, ready for a battle at any time.

Daliang entered winter amid impending storm, and was about to enter a new year, but the court was very calm.

Prince Yan holds the power of the Grand Council and is almost the center of the vortex. His return makes everyone in the court secretly pay attention to him, but Prince Yan exceeds everyone's expectations.

He did not, as Fang Qin had expected, start drastic reforms right after returning, but instead "cooked something new".

After returning to the capital, Prince Yan changed his previous busy state. He stayed at home for half a month before quietly appearing in the Grand Council. He rarely said a word in the court meetings, as if he had become the invisible man before the war again. He usually handled some daily affairs in the Grand Council, wrote summaries when necessary, and sent them to the palace when necessary. He completed his duties carefully and rigorously without letting people gossip, and was not considered to be slacking off. Apart from this, don't expect him to worry about anything unnecessary.

Anyway, judging from the quantity and quality of memorials Li Feng received in the palace, it would have basically no impact whether Prince Yan came back or not.

Among the people who used to stay up late every night in the Military Affairs Office, there was no longer the figure of King Yan. He came for a walk during the day and left at a certain time in the evening. He left court on time and took a rest on time. He did not see guests unless necessary. He also built a small garden in the suburbs of Beijing. When Gu Yun stayed in the North Camp and did not go home, he would stroll over to plant flowers and play with birds. In less than half a month, he had trained the cursed mynah bird he got from the Shen family to be as sweet as honey and praise it to everyone he met... But its tail was bald, and he asked the servants to make a shuttlecock with the feathers and sent it to the little prince to play with.

Li Feng's legs were almost strong enough to walk. After reviewing memorials every day, he would walk around the room with the help of the eunuchs. One day, he happened to think of it and went to the prince's study. The prince was very well-behaved and never slacked off in his studies. Li Feng did not disturb him. He stood at the back door for a while with the help of the eunuchs, but his eyes were attracted by a small ornament on the prince's desk.

It was not an ordinary clay embryo, but a metal frame with thin steam coming out of the tail. On the metal tracks on both sides there was an exquisite small carriage with a Western clock on the body. It was running back and forth around the tracks. In the middle was a small flower pot, which was empty and you could see the air holes specially reserved at the bottom. Perhaps the prince had not decided what to plant yet.

Li Feng walked over slowly and picked it up to take a closer look. The prince was startled and stood up to greet him politely, secretly glancing at his father, fearing that he would be scolded for "losing his ambition due to playing with things".

Li Feng was probably in a good mood, and he didn't look upset. He just asked, "The Ministry of Internal Affairs has been increasing revenue and reducing expenditure. Hasn't it been prohibiting them from buying these luxurious toys in recent years? Where did they come from?"

The prince did not dare to breathe a word, and replied cautiously: "Father, this was not bought by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It was given to me by my fourth uncle."

Li Feng frowned slightly: "I haven't seen Ah Min for a while, and he's busy with these things?"

The eunuch stepped forward and replied, "Your Majesty, didn't His Royal Highness Prince Yan ask you for a garden last time? He has been off duty recently, so he built a greenhouse in the garden and cultivated a lot of rare flowers and plants. He also studied a lot of pots with Ge Lingshu. Now that the New Year is coming soon, every family wants to display flowers. Your Royal Highness's fresh bonsai is worth a fortune. You see, there is water in this small carriage. It will irrigate it at a fixed time every day. If the light is good, it will run a few laps like this, and there will be small rainbows where the water drops pass by."

The prince whispered beside him, "The emperor's uncle said that what he bought were ordinary grass seeds and flower seeds, which he bought from the countryside for a penny a handful. He bought them and put them in pots, but just cut them into shapes, just to fool the rich people who pretend to be cultured."

Li Feng: "Nonsense, outrageous! Last time I told him to assist the Crown Prince, did that mean he should teach the Crown Prince how to fool people with tricks?"

As soon as he lowered his face, the prince was frightened and stood aside in silence.

Li Feng put the flower pot down heavily and asked with a stern face: "I asked you to learn the way of governing a country from King Yan. What did he teach you? Tell me."

The prince glanced at him quickly, feeling frightened, but he dared not neglect his words, and replied in a soft voice: "Reply...Reply to Your Majesty, the Fourth Uncle taught me that governing a great country does not mean working day and night and exhausting all your energy. The most important thing is to make the best use of things and people. Laws and systems are the foundation of the ruling of the superiors. As long as a perfect system and laws are established, and the civil and military officials are allowed to perform their duties, the national treasury will have a stable source of income, uh..."

Li Feng's expression relaxed slightly, and when he heard his son stumble, he couldn't help but ask, "How?"

The prince said with a stiff upper lip: "... so that I can get away with being lazy and earning money from the emperor once and for all."

Li Feng: “…”

The little prince pursed his lips tightly, fearing that his father would fly into a rage after hearing such rebellious nonsense. However, after waiting for a long time, the expected scolding and punishment did not fall on him. He raised his head tremblingly and glanced at Li Feng, but saw that the emperor who always kept his word had a calm face. He seemed to be thinking for a long time before he sighed: "He is right, Amin sees things more clearly than I do."

The prince looked at him in confusion, and felt that his father was in a good mood that day.

There were some short-sighted idiots in the court who thought that Prince Yan would remain silent, as they dared not take any action because Yang Ronggui had lost the emperor's favor due to his rebellion. So they boldly submitted a memorial to impeach Prince Yan, listing several crimes. Emperor Long'an, who seldom appeared in the court, had a tantrum in court, and his intention to protect Prince Yan was obvious from his words.

Not only that, the next day, the stingy emperor made an exception and approved an expenditure that exceeded the allowance for the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Li Feng was cheated at a high price and bought a bunch of exquisite and novel metal bonsai from Prince Yan's garden and sent them to various palaces. It could be said that Li Feng was paying out of his own pocket to give his younger brother a special treat.

The feng shui of the Grand Council is incomprehensible at first.

Fang Qin and his companions wrote and revised the impeachment memorial they had prepared, but they still had no chance to submit it until the Chinese New Year. Fang Qin couldn't help but wonder - is there really someone in the world who would resign after receiving a mission in a time of crisis, without any ambition at all?

This peaceful day lasted until the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, when the northern barbarian hostage arrived in the capital.