Lantian County.

Lu's Courtyard.

Lu Dafang sat alone in the courtyard, and autumn was almost coming. During this period of time, the sky was clear and the sky was high and the clouds were clear. Being between the sky and the earth seemed to make people cleanse their hearts.

But the former ruling minister Lu Dafang did not feel this way. Since the funeral of Empress Dowager Xuanren's coffin after the New Year, he left the court and returned to his hometown. It seemed that everyone had forgotten the former left prime minister. He was in his hometown of Lantian for tenure, but Lu Dafang knew that some things could not be avoided. If the imperial edict of exile came for a day, his heart would be hanging for a day.

Although Lu Dafang was the former prime minister, he was also the spirit-protecting minister of Empress Dowager Xuanren, and the Grand Secretary of Guanwen Hall. On the first day after the reformists entered the court, he knew that these old ministers were going to make room for Zhang Dun and the others. But people always had luck, and Lu Dafang also hoped that the emperor could take care of the face of these old ministers and give preferential treatment.

In the northwest, after the conservative banner Fan Chuncui was demoted, he no longer paid hope.

Fan Chuncui's brother Fan Chunren is still in the capital, and he cannot protect his family. Moreover, Lu Dafang's popularity is not as popular as Fan Chunren, so it will be a matter of time before he is demoted.

As old ministers were exiled, he also knew that the next one might be him.

He used excuses to delay for a while, but now the emperor's confidant Hao Sui came to Shaanxi. Lu Dafang was sure that Hao Sui must have brought the emperor's imperial edict to him.

But he is a great Grand Secretary, and it is not a big deal to sit in the old yard in a daze and make salted fish.

If everyone forgets it, it will be even more terrible for Lu Dafang than exile. Because even if it is unlucky in a short period of time, there will always be a chance to return to the court. But if it is forgotten, it means that his career has been useless for decades.

While he was thinking about everything, his son Lu Jingshan hurried over. Even though he was walking in a hurry, Lu Jingshan still showed a sense of rhythm, which seemed to be smooth and smooth.

Although the Lu family in Lantian is not as good as the Lu family in Laizhou, it is a first-class wealthy family in the northwest.

After several generations of official families, the family members were all in the manners and ability of noble sons in every move. Lu Jingshan was his son whom he valued, and he was also the son who followed him. The bureaucrats of the Song Dynasty, especially high-ranking officials, liked to bring their sons to listen to him, rather than trusted slaves. Perhaps this was related to the slave contract in the Song Dynasty, but speaking of it, who else in the world can be more trustworthy than his son?

"Father, the angel is here!"

Lu Jingshan bowed and stood beside Lu Dafang before speaking, his tone was calm without any panic. Those who didn't know thought Lu Dafang was still the prime minister now?

Lu Dafang looked up at the sky, as if he was restricted by the courtyard. The sky was square, and he could only see a small part. His mood suddenly became depressed: "A person's autumn hurts his god!"

"Open the middle door and welcome the angel."

"Father, don't you really want to go to the capital to discuss it with Uncle Su? Maybe your affairs will turn around at that time."

Lu Jingshan's words are not without reason. Su Che was amazing and was still in the position of deputy prime minister. Although the situation was not good, it was probably even worse that Zhang Dun, Cai Bian, Li Qingchen and others. Su Che was a thorn in their eyes and was wandering around all day long. This mood could be imagined and would not be smooth. As long as Lu Dafang was lucky, he might be able to stay. At that time, there would be no Su Che in the court, but the two major ministers of Yuanyou who were in charge of their destiny and traitors in the reform.

With the old Su Song and the Fan Chunren who is good at being a good person everywhere, perhaps the situation can be saved.

But Lu Dafang shook his head and said, "If you don't do futile contributions, your uncle Su will be unable to protect yourself. If you recruit Li Qingchen and others from the official family to the capital, we old ministers will have to stand aside. At this time, rushing up will only make the official family even more embarrassed, and even think that you are deliberately targeting him, which will anger the official family. I am low in ability, but I will not be the annoying person."

It has to be said that the generousness of the Northwest people was fully revealed in Lu Dafang. He did not become a vassal or did things that went against his wishes. He was unwilling to compromise on these two things and could only confront Zhang Dun and others.

It’s not scary to discuss the court. Besides, if Zhang Dun really wants to discuss the court, he will lose a lot.

The rebels are not the same. Wang Anshi, Cai Que, and Zhang Dun's record are all very defeated. But the problem is that the emperor did not open the court discussion at all, and they would not have any chance.

Now the emperor's attitude is blatant to support the reformists. Unless Lu Dafang turns to the reformists, he will even look down on him if he really does this.

Lantian Lu family welcomes the angel.

In the past, the Lü family would encounter such a thing once or twice a year. It was nothing more than the gifts of the ancestors of the Lü family and the holy lord. But this time it was completely different, and the entire Lü family was shrouded in a bleak cloud.

Lu Dafang's identity naturally has to be more swayed. He is not particularly enthusiastic, but he will not make mistakes.

"Hao Sui, you should be promoted now, right?"

Hao Sui's smile piled up solidified. He was promoted and was kicked to the northwest by the official. Such an experience was like being driven out of the palace in shame for the eunuchs. The eunuchs were also divided into inner court and outer court, and the inner court naturally followed the emperor and his masters in the capital of the palace. Although there were not many opportunities to make money, they had more opportunities to enjoy favors and their status was much more noble than that of the outer court.

The outer court was in trouble. There were many such as mine supervision, tax supervision, military supervision, etc.

Even eunuchs of the same level, eunuchs in the outer court always give them filial piety to eunuchs in the inner court during festivals, in order to win over relationships. You can know the difference between the inner and outer courts.

Hao's follower turned into a filial bully to the filial people. If he talked too much, his tears could make him fall out. Especially after leaving the capital, he met an unreliable Li Kui, who was still trying to seize power.

It would be impossible to change to a military supervisor.

But Li Kui is different. This guy is a civil servant, and he has a bigger card in front of the emperor than him. If you want to work hard and make contributions, Hao Sui is naturally the advantage, but the problem is that Li Kui is the emperor's brother-in-law. Let's learn about the pillow style of the fairy concubine. He not only can he argue against Li Kui but may also lose points in front of the emperor. It is not worth the loss. Hao Sui was angry and vomited blood, but he has no way to deal with Li Kui.

Thinking of all the troubles of his own, the angel Hao Sui, who was originally very proud, suddenly his back was hunched, his knees were sore, and he was so depressed.

Hao Sui smiled bitterly and said, "Mr. Lu, don't laugh at me anymore. I was arranged by His Majesty to the northwest, and I still need Lord Lu to take care of him in the future."

"I have been sent to Anlu, why dare you to take care of Eunuch Hao? But, Eunuch Hao is fine in the palace, why did he come back to the northwest? Is it going to start a war again?"

Lu Dafang was not opposed to war, and he was not as firm as Sima Guang in this regard. The main reason was that Sima Guang knew nothing about war, and he was already the prime minister at that time. If a war broke out, he, as the prime minister, would definitely coordinate the overall situation, and the probability of defeating the war was extremely high, and he might even lose his territory. It would be better to negotiate peace, and at least give the Song Dynasty a retardation period.

In addition, Lu Dafang was from Zhao in the West, and Lantian was also a county under Jingzhao. The war was not far away for Lu Dafang.

Although no alien race has threatened Jingzhao, the center of the northwest hinterland, it has been influenced by it since childhood and is not afraid of war.

Hao Sui said sadly: "Even if the Song Dynasty doesn't want to fight, it may be difficult. Now Xixia is very determined to go south. Obviously, she is not satisfied with the demarcation of annual monies and boundaries. It has been more than a day or two for the husbands to decide to start a war."

Lu Dafang was stunned for a moment, but shook his head and said, "It's not just this reason, right?"

The attack on the Western Xia generals Fan Chuncui and Zhang Feng were transferred away. How can I fight? Although Lu Huiqing has rich experience in governing and decisively, he can only be a political skill. If he really asked him to command the entire North and North Road operations, the consequences would be unpredictable. But Lu Dafang was a prime minister after all, and soon thought of a reason and sighed: "Zhang Zihou has such a big thought!"

"What did Lord Lu think of?"

"Hehuang, besides this place, who cares about Xixia? Compared with Xixia, Hehuang is more suitable for the Song Dynasty as a horse breeding land. Losing Hehuang before was indeed a great loss for the Song Dynasty. Junshi did not expect that the Qingtang people would become after the Song Dynasty showed goodwill and ignored it at all, and they were also sighing with regret. It is not easy to fight Hehuang. If Xixia was not defeated, the Song Dynasty would be unable to pacify Hehuang and would even be attacked from both sides. Fighting Hehuang, they would have to fight Xixia first. This is an inevitable situation." Lu Dafang's rule was not without regrets, but regrets could not be done.

There must be many mistakes in the governance of the conservatives, mainly in national strategies. As for the governance, the actions of the conservatives are actually better than those of the reformists.

The main reason for the redundant officials in the Song Dynasty was that it was too easy to be grateful to each other. The fourth-rank civil servants and third-rank military officers could be grateful to each other every year; the sixth-rank civil servants and fifth-rank military officers could be grateful to each other every three years. There are hundreds of civil servants above the fourth-rank in the court, and there are no less than this number. Adding the grace of low-rank officials every three years, this is definitely a huge number.

But in fact, most civil officials do not like their children. Those who come from Jinshi and wealthy families focus on their children's studies. Jinshi is the king's way. Those who come from Jinshi cannot be high-ranking officials, but only small officials, which is not very attractive to the children of officials. Children and grandchildren may be grateful, but officials who come from Xiangyin can only get smaller and smaller, and will be completely lost after the last three generations.

Therefore, there are only many officials at the bottom, and for the Song Dynasty, these officials will not shake their foundation.

Military changes are even more of a huge pit. Even if Zhang Dun is stubborn, he is not as good as Wang Anshi of the past. Even Wang Anshi can't do it. Is it possible that Zhang Dun can do it?

Therefore, the big ship of the Song Dynasty can only be repaired, not rebuilt, and the reformists think it is simple.

I got bad news from Lu Dafang, which made Hao Sui feel very bad. After fighting Xixia, he still had to fight Qingtang Tubo, so why is his life so hard!

Hao Suilai met Lu Dafang and had another purpose, and asked Lu Dafang for supplies.

After hearing Hao Sui's complaints, Lu Dafang was stunned. The military supervisor of the Northwest Army was actually seized by a ninth-rank sesame official. Can this be believed?

"Li Renjie, I seem to have some impression of this person."

Lu Dafang really has a little memory of Li Kui. Su Shi likes to write letters and often write letters to friends who don’t have them. After writing too much, others know Su Shi’s daily life well. Even friends he hasn’t met for several years can tell Su Shi’s current situation. Of course, Su Shi also likes to give gifts, buy his favorite dates to give to others, and also ginseng that he has always endorsed.

Anyway, my friend can receive greetings from Su Shi and supplements every now and then.

Hao Sui must have blamed Li Kui in his heart, and he didn't have a good face at this time. He supported the food case with both hands and said angrily: "He is Su Xueshi's disciple, Xianfei's brother-in-law, and the best son-in-law of the Grand Tutor of the current dynasty..."

Another thing I didn't say is the emperor's brother-in-law.

Lu Dafang then suddenly realized that Hao Sui was not seizure of power, but came to curry favor with Li Kui. As for Li Kui's unluckyness, Lu Dafang knew a little, and he also communicated with Su Che, so he naturally knew that Empress Dowager Xiang would have a hard time in the future. However, Lu Dafang did not care whether Li Kui's relationship was strong, but was very interested in Li Kui's talents. Su Shi liked to brag about his letters, and most of the time he was bragging about it. Li Kui was also a fun Su Shi bragged about, but he hadn't seen Su Shi boast about Li Kui's talent for a long time.

This made Lu Dafang very curious.

This question is not difficult to answer for Hao Sui. He thought for a while: "There are outstanding people as their name, and this word is given by Zhang Xiang. In this Jiaxu year competition, he was the third place in the Jinshi and the palace examination. We don't understand the scholars, so I believe Lord Lu knew it. Moreover, Li Kui is very brave and powerful, and ordinary generals may be difficult to resist."

"Can your Majesty also likes Li Renjie's civil and military affairs and wants him to take charge of the northwest?" Lu Dafang asked suddenly.

Hao Sui was stunned in surprise. He had not thought about this place yet, but when Lu Dafang reminded him, it was really possible. Although Li Kui was able to make contributions, this guy made contributions and caused trouble. It was Li Kui's contribution to the government's wish this time, but it was an indisputable fact that Empress Dowager Xiang was sick of anger.

Hao Sui touched his smooth and soft chin and nodded, "It's possible. But now he is just a county magistrate and is in charge of the northwest. Isn't it possible?"

"It's not something that can be conquered by Hehuang in one or two years, who would have expected it to be? But I can do the supply. As long as Eunuch Hao asks for a few treasury collections, Jingzhao Yin doesn't want to give it, so he can't help!"

Thinking of working with Li Kui in the future, Hao Sui was in a bad mood.

"Our family thanked Lord Lu!"

"Please be careful, please don't be polite."

...

Hao Sui found a lot of good things in Jingzhao, such as a lot of gunpowder, and various special weapons that are only available in the northwest. For example, a rifle gun. Waiting for Li Kui to come back with his men to seek credit for Li Kui.

Waiting around, but after more than half a month, there was still no news about Li Kui. This made Hao Sui spend every day in anxiety.

On this day, Lantian County Magistrate Chen Ai came to the Lu family mansion in panic. After paying homage to Lu Dafang, he panicked and said in panic: "No, Lord Lu, a defeated army entered Lantian territory and was heading straight for our Lantian County."

"How is that possible?"

Lantian is in the hinterland of the northwest, and neither the Qiang, Dangxiang, nor the Tubo people have ever been fought. But the emergence of the defeated soldiers means that these alien races have entered the hinterland of the Song Dynasty.

Under the policy of strengthening the walls and clearing the fields in the Song Dynasty, few people have been plundered by foreign races in recent years.

But Lantian in the hinterland of the northwest is different. Many people live outside the city, and they can't stop the iron hoofs of foreign races.
Chapter completed!