Minister Lu's back was covered in cold sweat and he was completely confused.

Fang Qin sighed inwardly, "This is a hopeless thing." He stepped forward and said slowly, "Your Majesty, please calm down. I don't think this matter is as serious as Master Liangran said. Jiangbei is hot and humid, and the summer is unbearable. The refugees are weak and sickly. I think a few fevers are not uncommon. It may not be an epidemic. Your Majesty, if there is really someone who can cover the sky with one hand, why can others stop him, but can't stop Master Liangran from sending the letter back to Beijing?"

Chang Geng listened without raising his head. After hearing this, he chuckled and said, "Master Fang, I don't understand what you said. Are you saying that Master Ran can't tell the difference between an 'epidemic' and a 'fever'? Or that the monk is so bold that he framed an important official? Or is it that I am just looking for trouble and fabricated some evidence to exclude dissidents?"

Fang Qin took a step back and said, "Your Majesty, I dare not do that."

Li Feng just frowned, and Chang Geng immediately bowed his hands and said, "I am young and inexperienced, and I speak my mind. Lord Fang, please don't take it to heart. Master Liaoran burns incense and prays for blessings on the first and fifteenth day of every month. He will hand-paint a peace amulet and seal it in a brocade bag and ask the post station to send it to me, promising me some wishes such as prosperity of the country and health of my royal brother. After the amulet is sealed, it is not convenient to open it casually. My royal brother also knows it. However, several peace amulets I received recently showed signs of being opened and put back together. I don't know who can't stand this little private wish of mine..."

Fang Qin was choked by him.

Chang Geng took something out of his bosom. It was not the letter that Gu Yun had seen the night before, but a bunch of old, who knows how long they had been saved. They were as wide as a fingertip and had been glued together again. Each piece of paper had a string of incomprehensible ink marks on it. However, when they were put together with the notes next to them, a complete text could be seen under the complicated patterns. Put them together and it read: "The epidemic in Jiangbei is serious, with deaths everywhere. The post stations and roads are closed. Make plans to go to the court early."

Chang Geng: "I divided a line of words into four pieces of paper and sent them to you in a random order, and covered them with Sanskrit and totem patterns."

Emperor Longan recognized the handwriting.

Fang Qin was about to speak, but Chang Geng interrupted him before he could finish his words.

Chang Geng: "But as Lord Fang said, this thing was not obtained through legitimate channels after all, and its authenticity is still in doubt, so I did not report it immediately. I wanted to ask the emperor today to allow me to go to Jiangbei to check on the refugees so that they can be settled, and to verify whether this matter is true. But Lord Jiang was in a hurry and said it out loud."

Jiang Chong kowtowed and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me."

As soon as these words were spoken, the hidden meaning of Prince Yan gave goose bumps to everyone present. Fang Qin was confused - Prince Yan was going south again!

"The law does not hold everyone responsible" is meaningless to Prince Yan. The last time he traveled from south to north, killing people along the way is still vivid in people's minds. He doesn't seem to be afraid of having no one to work in the court, and he doesn't care about making thousands of enemies. He kills people without hesitation, regardless of whether he belongs to a group or a party, and he doesn't give face to anyone - after all, he is the emperor's younger brother, and no one can touch him as long as he doesn't rebel.

The Fang family once wanted to show goodwill to King Yan, but they were rejected by him each time.

Anyone who wanted to give a gift to Prince Yan could send it over the day before, and the next day they would receive a beacon ticket printed with the special anti-counterfeiting stamp made by Lingshuyuan. He was not interested in money or beautiful women, and some people had given him beautiful women, but they would return them the next day. If they really couldn't return them, they would just throw them to Prince Yan's Mansion and ask them to clean the yard - Prince Yan's Mansion was just an empty shell, and Prince Yan had never gone back to spend a night since it was built.

The legitimate daughter of the Fang family, who was so popular that everyone came to visit, was nothing in his eyes. At first, some people coveted the vacant position of Prince Yan's principal wife and tried their best to get into the harem. But later, the emperor didn't know what was wrong with him, because even the empress got angry about this matter. The original words were, "Ignorant woman, don't extend your hands to the former dynasty" - he was simply condoning his younger brother to live out his life in loneliness, and no one dared to mention this matter for a while.

Fang Qin saw the opportunity very quickly, and immediately changed the subject, saying: "Your Majesty, I heard that many bad guys are mixed in with the refugees in Jiangbei, causing trouble every day. That place is close to the front line, and there are foreigners eyeing it covetously. Your Majesty's status is precious, and the Military Affairs Office cannot be separated from your Majesty for a day. It is probably too risky for Bai Longyu to go to that chaotic place."

Li Feng frowned, turned to Chang Geng and said, "Just ask someone to investigate. It's ridiculous that you have to do everything yourself."

On the one hand, he admired Chang Geng's arrogance of not letting go of any goal and not caring about anyone else. He felt that this person was useful but not too cunning, making people feel insecure. Besides, Chang Geng was his only brother, even though they did not grow up together and had no feelings for each other, at this time when the country was destroyed and the family was ruined, Li Feng had no choice but to reluctantly place his little affection on Chang Geng.

However, while Emperor Long'an was relieved, he couldn't help feeling a bit of a headache. Normally, Prince Yan was gentle, considerate and humble to others, but that was not the case when it came to doing things. When the enemy was at the gates, he dared to throw back his imperial sword. Now that he was in charge of the Grand Council, no matter who fell into his hands, he would not recognize anyone as his own.

Li Feng: "There's no need to talk about this."

Chang Geng: "Brother, there are many refugees in Jiangbei, from all directions. We don't know what the situation is. We haven't even taken a look at them, but we are just talking about how to settle them in the court. Isn't it just talk? Now that everyone has their own reasons and no one can come up with a plan, why don't I go there and report to you when I come back."

Li Feng's eyes twitched. At this moment, Gu Yun, who had always been a wallflower, suddenly stepped out slowly and said, "Since Prince Yan has this intention, Your Majesty might as well fulfill it. If corrupt officials are rampant in Jiangbei, others may not be able to suppress them. If you are worried, I can escort them along the way. They are just some refugees and bandits. Don't take them seriously."

Chang Geng was stunned. He didn't expect him to show up suddenly. This was not planned.

Shen Yi secretly glanced at Gu Yun, who glanced at him while lowering his head. He looked so frivolous no matter how he looked at him. Shen Yi turned his face away as if he had a toothache, feeling that the adulterer in the storybook would probably have this kind of expression.

No matter who said it, it would seem arrogant and unreliable, but when it came out of Gu Yun's mouth, it was extremely decisive.

Then Gu Yun thought about it, and added a ready-made excuse: "The land of Jiangnan will be taken back eventually. I just want to investigate the situation on the front line. I wanted to submit a memorial to ask for permission these two days. It happened that I sent His Royal Highness Prince Yan over there. I promise to bring the person back to you safely."

Once Marquis Anding showed up, no one had to fight anymore.

The next day, Li Feng issued an edict, appointing Prince Yan as the chief imperial envoy and Xu Ling, the right deputy inspector of the Inspectorate, as his deputy, to thoroughly investigate the case of concealing the epidemic in Jiangbei. Marquis Anding escorted them along the way, and brought Ge Chen from the Lingshu Academy to accompany them to investigate the combat readiness of the Western Army in Jiangnan.

After coming down from the court meeting, Fang Qin was actually furious, but he was too cunning to show it in front of others, so he had to sit in the carriage with a gloomy face. He was a man of great literary talent, who had been praised by the late emperor. He had outstanding skills, and was able to take up the responsibility of the Fang family, a prominent family, despite not being the eldest son. He was popular in the court, and had made outstanding achievements since taking over the Ministry of Revenue. Even the thorny Prince Yan in the Grand Council was friendly to him when he saw him, and praised him in front of and behind people... But he had to associate with villains like Lu Chang all day long.

People say “a gentleman does not form factions”, but they also say that the two words “power” and “influence” are inseparable. Without power, there is no influence, and without influence, how can there be power?

Since he was a disciple of a saint and entered the emperor's hall, he was naturally different from those good-for-nothings who lived by donating their family background to get an official position. Who wouldn't want to make achievements and leave a good story? If his surname was not Fang, he would have joined the King of Yan and cleaned up this messy and shabby court.

Unfortunately, people cannot choose their own birth. In the first thirty years, they live in luxury, protected by their family and have everything they want. In the next thirty years, they must devote themselves to the family and be imprisoned until death.

Suddenly, the carriage stopped abruptly, and the family member outside whispered, "Master, Lord Lu stopped the carriage and said he wanted to say something to you."

Fang Qin's face turned cold, and he wished that Lu would die. He sat there expressionless for a moment. Minister Fang turned his face back to a friendly one, lifted the curtain and half-seriously scolded, "Dog slave, do you know what's going on? Why don't you come up? What do you want to report?"

The servants in the family were used to taking the blame for their master, so they pretended to be very fearful and invited Lu Chang, who was involved in a lawsuit, to get in the carriage and drove to Minister Lu's residence.

Lü Chang was covered in cold sweat and bowed as soon as he entered the room: "Minister Fang, save my life!"

Fang Qin sneered in his heart, but he helped him up with a look of shock on his face, pretending to be dumbfounded and asked, "Brother Yannian, what are you doing?"

Of course, Lu Chang also knew that Fang was pretending to be ignorant, but when the time came, he had to grab the savior tightly and could not care about his attitude. He hurriedly told Fang Qin about his brother-in-law, Yang Ronggui, the current Governor of Liangjiang, who was so audacious as to conceal the epidemic in Jiangbei, purge local forces, jail all the "dissidents" who dared to be disloyal and disobey the rules, and sent people to seal off the post station. He assassinated eighteen scholars who went to Beijing to file a complaint on the way, and forged them into vagrants and bandits who were tempted by money. Fang Qin was so excited after hearing all these things that he learned a lot.

Lu Chang cried, "Minister Fang, I concealed the news not for my relatives, but for our great plan. You see, the emperor was desperate and tried all means to get help, even issuing beacon tickets, which are shameful to the ancestors. If he knew that Jiangbei had reached this point, and the Military Affairs Office fanned the flames, he might really agree with the intentions of those cheap merchants and let them build factories!"

Fang Qin looked at Minister Lu crying and felt disgusted. He thought, "Bullshit!"

But he just sighed with worry on his face, "You are confused, Yannian. Do you still remember that Zhang Fenghan from Lingshuyuan went crazy and asked the emperor to lift the ban on the sale of purple gold by the people, but was rejected by Prince Yan? Prince Yan always hangs out with that group of sour scholars. Have you forgotten his last name? His last name is Li. No matter what the Li family is like, can they allow a group of private merchants to resell purple gold? Prince Yan didn't want to do anything with those merchants. He clearly knew what your brother-in-law did, and used this as a lead to attack us."

Minister Lu was speechless and could only cry. He had no color to begin with, and now he looked even more disgusting. He ignored Fang Qin's attempts to stop him, knelt down again, kowtowed and repeatedly said, "Sir, help me."

Fang Qin didn't want to save his life, so he wanted him to die sooner, so he evaded the request and said, "Prince Yan has Lord Gu by his side. Lord Anding can mobilize General Zhong's frontline troops in Jiangbei with just one word. Can't he clean up a few government offices? Yannian, it's not that I don't want to save him, but I'm just too far away to do anything!"

After saying this, he seemed to be overwhelmed with sorrow, and then he covered his face with his sleeves, sobbing sadly: "When I think of the time when Yang Gong and I passed the imperial examination together, we were classmates, and we had a lot of fun going outings and boating on the lake together. Now we are officials in different places. If he gets into trouble, don't I want to save him?"

Lu Chang: “…”

It was really strange that he came to ask for help but ended up making the person cry. Fang Qin was indeed the most cruel and ruthless person in the Fang family.

Lu Chang gritted his teeth in his heart and said sadly, "Master Fang, if this matter gets too serious, it will be a heinous crime punishable by the execution of all nine generations of our clan. You and I have been friends for generations, and even if we break bones, we are still connected. You can't just ignore it."

Fang Qin's cheek twitched violently. Lu Chang's words hit his soft spot.

Fang Qin had a half-sister who was born to a concubine and was not favored. She had hardly spoken to her brothers until she was in her teens. But this Miss Fang played a big trick when she was young and naive - she attempted to elope with someone but failed.

In fact, rituals and music had been in disarray for many years after the opening of sea transportation. If this happened in the eastern coastal areas where people are more open-minded, it would not be considered a shocking event at all. It would just be a few comments from idle women and perverts, and someone might even praise the woman for being very courageous at such a young age - there are so many foreign women walking on the streets with their backs exposed and no one in their families has any objection.

But it happened to be the Fang family.

Since the Yuanhe period, a trend has gradually formed in the court: the more open-minded the people are, the more conservative the aristocratic families become, as if they could not embody their noble character otherwise. The Fang family was really embarrassed by this incident, and they wanted to lock her up for a few years and send her to a temple to become a monk. However, the Lu family happened to be interested in currying favor with them, so they were secretly delighted to see this opportunity and rushed to it like a fly upon dung. In the end, Lu Chang's cousin who had donated money to become an official married Miss Fang.

There are only a few prominent families in the capital city. They marry off each other and are related to each other. They prosper together and suffer together.

Lu Chang's words were both a reminder and a threat.

Fang Qin stopped crying, slowly straightened up, looked at Lu Chang for a moment, and thought to himself: "He is just a small minister, and he dares to threaten me. This person cannot be kept."

"Please stand up, Lord Lu," Fang Qin pondered for a moment and said slowly, "I still say the same thing. It's useless to ask anyone for help. If you want to make a difference, you have to start with His Royal Highness Prince Yan."

When Lu Chang heard this, he took it back and said with a bitter face: "But then..."

Fang Qin raised a hand to stop him from speaking, poured some water from the teapot on the small table, and said in a low voice: "What kind of person is Prince Yan? The entire national treasury has passed through his hands. Would he be interested in your meager tribute? Besides, some men are naturally clean and don't want those strangers to get close to them. It's not uncommon for them not to pursue women. Those mediocre women you have collected are not stunning beauties. I don't like them, let alone Prince Yan?"

Lu Chang was stunned: "Then..."

Fang Qin dipped his hand in tea and slowly wrote the four words "Yellow robe added to body" on the table. Then he looked at the stunned Lu Chang meaningfully and reached out to wipe the words off the table.

Lu Chang was dumbfounded for a long time, then sat down beside him, his lips trembling a few times: "Master Fang, this is... this is..."

Fang Qin sneered, "But what? What do you think? Are you going to kill Prince Yan on the way like you killed those poor scholars who were powerless? Do you think that Marquis Anding is just pretending to be silent at the court all day long? Or do you really think that your brother-in-law can cover up everything in Jiangbei and make the imperial envoy return empty-handed? If that's the case, how did the evil monk's letter reach the Military Affairs Office? The current emperor doesn't tolerate any injustice. When he turned against us, he even imprisoned Marquis Anding. Do you really think he will have feelings for the Lu family - for us?"

After an incense stick of time, Lu Chang got off Fang Qin's carriage in a daze and walked into the Lu Mansion like a wandering soul.

Fang Qin ordered the driver, "Go back home."

He indifferently lit incense in the car, as if he wanted to isolate all the smell of Lu Chang - some people should be made to understand that just because they have common interests in the world, they cannot manipulate others at will.

The carriage was filled with smoke. Fang Qin sat with his eyes closed, thinking, "If I can drag King Yan into the water, it would be like killing two birds with one stone."

Even if the Prince of Yan is truly selfless and has no distractions, and doesn't even care about the Imperial Seal, if he fails to be overthrown this time, he still has a trump card in his hand.

Prince Yan is ruthless and unyielding. At the moment, he keeps a low profile and seems to be just a loyal minister. However, if you think about it carefully, his shadow can be seen behind every step of Daliang's journey to this point.

If such people cannot stand shoulder to shoulder, they will become strong enemies, even if they are princes, they will not be able to do without them...