On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Gu Yun secretly sent envoys to visit Japan and the South Pacific Islands. Up to this point, the front line had been stalemate for more than three months. The existing battle line had been lengthened and expanded due to the constant tug-of-war between the two sides. The war had spread from the south and north of the Yangtze River to the thirteen counties in the south of the Yangtze River, and even affected Guangdong and Guangxi.

A large number of residents who were trapped in their homeland and refused to cross the river began to form their own militia. Although the civilian long-arm divisions scattered around the country did not have purple gold, they found ways to use coal and earth explosives instead, and also used various methods to forge a group of not-so-fancy civilian armed forces.

To this end, Lingshu Academy announced the establishment of branches in various places to exchange and teach technologies other than highly confidential military technology.

The more far-reaching impacts of the war are gradually coming to light.

Fang Qin never expected that it was not the Yan Wang Party that broke the peace in the court, but the clean streams of the two houses.

This year was the Daliang Dynasty's three-yearly autumn examination, which was interrupted due to the war and then delayed for a long time. The list of top scorers was not released until the twelfth lunar month, and it became a "plum list" that was jokingly called the "moldy list" by scholars from all over the country.

Less than three days after the announcement of the results, a scholar in Shaanxi Prefecture committed suicide under mysterious circumstances. The officials below did not dare to cause trouble at this critical juncture and tried their best not to report it. However, within a few days, when the grand court meeting was adjourned, someone stopped at the door of the Censorate and filed a complaint to the emperor.

The story behind this is a long one.

Prince Yan made two trips to the south of the Yangtze River, chopped off countless heads, and introduced the most severe civil service system, which temporarily curbed the corruption that had been getting worse in Daliang since the Yuanhe period. In the following years of war, even the imperial palace had to tighten its spending, and official salaries had to be reduced again and again. The beacon tickets did not make the situation any worse, as they were closely linked to the assessment of civil service... It was like closing the source and opening the flow again. Officials in Daliang had never had such a hard time in the past hundred years.

It is said that it is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality. When it comes to a huge fortune, no one will think that "every citizen is responsible for the rise and fall of a country."

But there was nothing that could be done even though life was difficult - no one dared to accept gifts, as everyone knew that behind the rich businessmen was the King of Yan, and a wrong gift might be a death warrant. No one dared to touch military spending, as it could not be touched for a while after the tax reform, not to mention disaster relief funds. The heads of Yang Ronggui and others might not have rotted into bones yet.

It happened that the Autumn Examination was not taken seriously this time, and the whole country was busy fighting wars and making money. No one cared about this group of useless scholars, so someone immediately had evil thoughts about it.

As a result, the incident led to a major fraud case involving nine provinces, shocking the whole country.

Fang Qin had finally suppressed the many troublemakers around him, but after just two days of peace, he was bombarded with memorials from the two academies.

The special people of the two houses are different from the Yanwang party. The Yanwang party has always been pragmatic, and everything they do must have a purpose. They fight for power in an orderly manner, and many of their behaviors can be predicted. But this group of people who are too arrogant and regard fame and fortune as dung often "participate for the sake of participating" - that's what they do, and their personal reputation is closely related to how many people they have brought down.

Young masters from prominent families rarely enter the two academies, so most of these freaks are from humble backgrounds, and cheating in the imperial examinations touches upon the interests of humble backgrounds.

The mad dogs of the two institutes, which had not bitten anyone for a long time, seemed to have their tails stepped on collectively. They started barking wildly with their fur standing on end, yelling and cursing in different ways every day, forcing Li Feng to conduct a strict investigation. They were ready to knock themselves to death on the Panlong pillars in the main hall if he was not satisfied with the investigation.

The brief and false peace was broken.

The officials of the nine provinces were involved in countless complicated relationships, even including Fang Qin's incompetent younger brother.

The youngest son and the eldest grandson are the lifeblood of the old man. Even the Grand Secretary Fang, who has not been concerned with worldly affairs for a long time, was alarmed. Fang Qin can be hypocritical to everyone but not to his own father. He is overwhelmed.

But before Fang Qin could come up with a solution, the emperor, whether intentionally or not, directly skipped the Dali Temple and the Inspectorate and handed the case over to the Grand Council. Jiang Chong led the investigation, and the others just cooperated.

It seems that the truth cannot be hidden anymore.

Although Fang Qin came from a wealthy family, he always had an idea of ​​making a name for himself and refused to go along with the corrupt people shamelessly. For this reason, he first abandoned Lu Chang who dared to threaten him, and then abandoned the pure idiot Wang Guo. Now he has finally reached the point where he can no longer abandon others - his own mother is still ill in the next yard.

After Master Fang appeased this person, he had to give instructions to that person. When he left the house, there were still a group of people waiting for him to make a decision. He was so anxious that he had two blood blisters on the corners of his mouth. Fang Qin had just cried with his old mother when he heard that someone else came to the door. He rubbed his eyebrows with a gloomy face and coldly ordered: "Just say I'm not at home and send him away."

The servant left in silence. An aide came up quietly and whispered to Fang Qin, "Are you worried, sir?"

Fang Qin glanced at him unhappily, but fortunately he was very good at cultivating his Qi, so he quickly put away his gloomy expression and said slowly, "It took the scholar three years to rebel, but this time, from the incident to the filing of the complaint in the capital, it was too fast, as if someone was escorting him... Li Minming put on a bright and cheerful face, but he only dared to stab people under the table. This kind of person with a black heart can only deceive the emperor."

The staff asked again: "Does your Excellency have a rule in mind?"

Fang Qin was completely caught up in a lawsuit - if he had known about it in advance, even just one day in advance, he would have had some room for maneuver, but the incident broke out too quickly, and the emperor knew about it earlier than he did, which put Fang Qin in a very embarrassing situation.

Fang Qin sighed: "It's difficult. King Yan is a tiger and wolf. Once he grabs the neck of his prey, he will never let go."

The aide smiled and said, "Sir, I heard that His Royal Highness Prince Yan's reforms have not been completely completed, and there are still hundreds of controversial issues in the court. I think he is too impatient. This move is a clever move that backfired."

Fang Qin stopped and heard that the person next to him was deliberately keeping him in suspense. The Fang family had many staff members, but most of them just accompanied the old man Fang Daxueshi to play chess and chat. There were not many who could speak in front of Fang Qin, so of course they would take the opportunity to stand out.

Fang Qin reached out and touched his beard: "What do you mean?"

Seeing the opportunity, the aide quickly blurted out his prepared words: "Now that things have come to this, there is probably no chance of overturning the verdict. Why not cut off the source of the trouble? Just find a way to abolish the new official law of King Yan?"

Fang Qin thought he had some brilliant ideas, but he quickly cut off his hope and said coldly, "Cheating in the imperial examinations has been a serious crime punishable by death or exile in every dynasty. What does it have to do with the new or old civil service laws?"

The staff member smiled calmly and said, "Sir, one person's embezzlement is embezzlement, one person's fraud is fraud, but now nine provinces are implicated, and countless important officials are deeply implicated. Is this a coincidence? The emperor will also think that there must be a reason behind it. Why are these important officials in the court so cruel? Because the past two years have been really difficult. We dare not fail to settle the refugees, dare not fail to pay the exorbitant taxes, dare not fail to share the military expenses, and dare not fail to meet the beacon ticket targets."

Fang Qin's eyebrows moved slightly: "The circulation of beacon tickets is equivalent to gold and silver. This was a clear regulation after the incident in Jiangnan. What do you think?"

"Circulation can be equal to gold and silver, but it does not mean that gold and silver can be handed over to the court," the staff shook his head and said, "Besides, many wealthy merchants in Jiangbei came from the south, and the customs of the people were civilized earlier. The Central Plains and even the northwest are different. If they don't recognize it, they just don't recognize it. If the government forces it, the people will cry, make a fuss, and even hang themselves. If something goes wrong, the court will hold them accountable. Who is always blamed and walking on ice? Think about it, sir. If you really risk it, there may be room for this matter to turn around. Even if the third master is convicted and dismissed, as long as the Fang family's power is still there, it may not be impossible for him to make a comeback in the future."

After hearing this, Fang Qin remained silent.

The staff member whispered, "Sir, the world is unpredictable. We are looking forward to revisiting old scores after the battle. King Yan will certainly not be surprised. At this time, don't talk about 'not fighting is fighting'. If you don't take the initiative to move, you will only be forced to death by them. I have talked too much today, please don't mind, sir. I will leave."

On the 16th day of the twelfth lunar month, when the governor of Shaanxi Prefecture, one of the masterminds involved in the case, was on trial, he burst into tears in court, crying that the area under his jurisdiction was poor and weak, and it was difficult to promote the beacon tickets, so the local government had to buy them themselves. The higher-ups had also set three batches of targets in succession, which they could not meet, so they could only borrow money from everywhere, but they had no income at all, and they were so miserable that they had to resort to this desperate measure.

As soon as these words came out, it was like a stone stirring up a thousand waves. The guilty ministers spoke in unison, dragging down the Yan Wang party who were watching from the sidelines. Some even said, "You say that cheating in the imperial examination is an indirect way of buying and selling official positions. Then what is the difference between linking the civil service examination with beacon tickets and selling official positions and titles?"

This year's farewell to the old and welcome to the new passed in chaos, and no one could eat a bite of dumplings in peace.

In the end, the Grand Council had to write a letter of apology and formally announced the abolition of the clause in the new official law that was linked to beacon tickets, and at the same time suspended the sale of beacon tickets.

However, the war was in full swing, and in order to avoid the court being out of money again, the Grand Council took the opportunity to propose stopping the official minting of silver. It imitated the policies of Westerners in the occupied territories and the "Jiaozi" of the previous dynasty. Special "substitute silver" was issued by Long'an Silver Shops in various places to replace gold and silver coins, and a series of new regulations were drafted and submitted together with a letter of apology.

Long'an Silver Shop is under the jurisdiction of the Grand Council and is also under the jurisdiction of the Grand Council. As long as the new regulations are feasible, no one will have any objection to "iron Jiaozi" or "paper Tongbao", but it must not be controlled by the Grand Council.

As expected, at this time, the steam rails that were about to be completed had problems.

The north and south sections have been basically connected, with only the middle section left. Once connected, the task would be complete, but the last section has been delayed for more than a month and construction has not started. The problem lies with the land.

Most of the land along the route had already been reserved, but it was impossible for all the land along such a long section to be unowned. Those that originally belonged to private individuals would be purchased by the Canal Office from the original owners at market prices, and at the same time given some other subsidies - such as tax exemptions and reductions, etc. For those who were unwilling to sell their ancestral property, the court would rent it instead of levying taxes, write up leases, and pay rent every year.

Since the Yuanhe period, the Daliang court has emphasized benevolent governance and was strict with civil and military officials, but very polite to civilian gentry. It was precisely because of such politeness that there was a fatal omission in this lease - it only stated the lease term, but did not say what would happen if the original owner did not want to rent it anymore.

Probably he didn't expect that someone would break the court's promise.

The remaining section of the road happened to be a large piece of rented land. The original owner was a big landlord and his family had other businesses. The negotiations were going well, and although the road was not built to this point, the rent had been paid. Unexpectedly, this person suddenly changed his mind and returned the rent in full. Although this person had no official position, he had a strong background and was related to the family of Duke Zhao. After he retreated, no one around dared to offend him. Everyone avoided seeing the people from the Canal Office, so it was too late to change the route of the steam railway, and it had to go around a big circle to change the route.

Because the steam railway was stagnant, Gu Yun wrote several letters in succession to inquire about the completion date. In the end, he directly submitted a memorial to Li Feng, saying that the supplies on the front line could not keep up. If this continued, he would be forced to shrink the front line.

Fang Qin's younger brother had not yet cleared himself. At this time, Academician Fang finally expressed his clear dissatisfaction with his son's "hesitation" and "lack of skill" and took action himself.

This former half-chairman did two things at the same time.

First, he secretly met with the court's foreign affairs official who was in charge of contacting Western envoys, and subtly hinted that Daliang's national strength at this time might not be enough to support a protracted war with the Westerners. Such a war would be a waste of money and manpower and would result in losses for both sides. The ones who would make great contributions would not be the butchers who fought the war, but the people who could finally facilitate peace talks and restore peace to the country.

The foreign affairs officer was once a student of Mr. Fang, and he asked cautiously, "Teacher, if the emperor is determined to fight, how can we, as his subjects, facilitate it?"

"That depends on how you talk to the Westerners." The Taoist Fang said meaningfully, "What they want is nothing more than profit. Do you think they are willing to continue to fight to the death with Gu Yun, or are they willing to take a step back and cooperate with the peace-loving faction in our court to stop the war and establish friendship as soon as possible? The emperor and the court want to save face. If the foreigners are really sincere and give up their face, we will not be stingy with the inside, don't you think? Without the war on the front line as an excuse, I don't believe the emperor will let Prince Yan and his men continue to make trouble."

After sending away the foreign affairs official who had just woken up from a dream, Grand Secretary Fang asked his wife to invite another person - the wet nurse of Emperor Long'an, who had once been well taken care of by Madam Fang after she left the palace for retirement in her early years.

Li Feng had deep feelings for his wet nurse. He was originally discussing serious matters with Chang Geng when he heard the wet nurse handing in a sign to visit the long-ill queen in the palace. He hurriedly gave instructions to Chang Geng and rushed to the harem.

Chang Geng slowly walked out of the palace. The entire palace was shrouded in twilight. The golden light of the millions of glazed tiles disappeared, and there were still some barely noticeable broken ice chips hanging on the edges, which seemed extremely inhumane.

The weather is so cold, and Beijing is so hot.

The situation on the front line has become increasingly tense in recent days, and Gu Yun's letters have also decreased. Endless chats are basically no longer seen, and the occasional private letters are just a few words.

Chang Geng exhaled slowly, and stood blankly for a while under the high red wall, thinking to himself: "The day after tomorrow will be the sixteenth day of the first lunar month."

But the fog shrouding the country has not yet cleared.

Although the result was getting closer and closer as he planned step by step, he still felt anxious from time to time.

At this time, a group of guards passed by, and when they saw him, they hurried forward to greet him and said, "Your Majesty."

Chang Geng didn't say anything. He stared at the two guards for a moment, then suddenly ran away as if possessed.

"I want to see Gu Zixi," he thought, "right away."