For Zhang Qi and Zhang Ji, there is the eldest brother Shouwang Zhang Chi, the old Jiulu King Zhang Qi, and the other old Thirteen Gong Wang Zhang Qi is still young, less than ten years old, so there is no need to think about it for the time being, it can be said that the pressure is huge for both of them.

The eldest brother Shouwang has the support of the imperial concubine Xu, who now occupies the advantage of ruling the six palaces, and he is the eldest son, and his character and talent are not bad in all aspects.

The advantage of the two brothers Zhang Qi and Zhang Ji is that they are born from the same mother and support each other, and the two have secretly agreed that no matter who the final position of Dabao belongs to, at least the common enemy must be solved first.

Although the old nine Zhang Qi has just turned fourteen years old, but he is talented, he has learned people, his mother Concubine Mei is the daughter of a large family in Shaanxi Mizhi, Emperor Yonglong is still loyal to the king of filial piety when he was in Shaanxi to do things, he saw it by chance, shocked by heaven, and included it in his own Houfu, this Mei Concubine looks like a fragrant country, and the palace is more rumored to have the art of inner charm, otherwise Emperor Yonglong will risk the world's disapproval to include it in the Houfu, and according to the reason that Emperor Yonglong is not allowed to do private acts in the office, and later was punished by Emperor Yuanxi.

This Concubine Mei was very favored by Emperor Yonglong back then, and it was also in recent years that Emperor Yonglong began to concentrate on self-cultivation and stay away from women, which slowly faded away.

"Fourth brother, you said that my father didn't like us to ask about court affairs before, and even the eldest brother rarely got the permission of my father to handle one or two, now if we take the initiative to ask about court affairs, will it ......?" Zhang Qi stroked his chin with his hand and pondered.

"Second brother, times have changed, my father's health was quite healthy in the first two years, but have you noticed that my father's health has not been as good as before for more than a year, and even the frequency of the previous dynasty has decreased a lot? Now let's bring it up again? may not be reprimanded by my father, are we also dedicated to sharing our father's worries? And the affairs of the court have always been controlled by the six ministries of the cabinet? Are we just assistants? Just study, and? You can also test your father's mind here. Zhang Ji groaned: "Although the eldest brother didn't move some time ago, I guess he should be observing the situation?" Maybe there will be a move soon. ”

Zhang Ji's words shocked Zhang Qi? Only then did he realize that his brother seemed to be more long-term and meticulous than him, and although he didn't show it on the surface, he had so much thought on the inside.

Although the two had a gentleman's agreement before, even Zhang Qi himself felt that this agreement at that time was a bit of a joke? After all, that was three or four years ago? Neither they nor the other party expected that their father's relatively healthy health would become so bad in just two or three years, and they were more worried about the emperor's grandfather and the uncle, which even the father had never denied.

But now, the confusing situation makes Zhang Qi himself a little dazzled? Imperial grandfather and uncle, father? King Shou, King Lu? And his brother, Zhang Qi was a little upset for a while? He doesn't know who he can trust and who he depends on? I don't know what I should do to best suit the current situation.

Zhang Ji noticed that his brother's face was changing? Tentatively asked, "Second brother, what do you think of my suggestion?" ”

Zhang Qi restrained his thoughts, stabilized his mind, and asked in a deep voice, "Then where do you think our brothers should start?" ”

Zhang Ji pondered for a while, and then said: "Lao Jiu went to Qingtan Academy is nothing more than making friends and cultivating contacts, Qi Yongtai and Guan Yingzhen, one is the leader of the Beidi scholars, and the other is the leader of the Huguang scholars, both of whom have a lot to do with the Qingtan Academy, we have to participate in court affairs, but we are just learning to do things, in a sense, in fact, it is to get to know officials, get closer to each other, or to enhance mutual understanding, and to understand some of the basic rules and mysteries of government affairs, it is not bad, It is more important to identify, familiarize, and discover those who will be able to do things in the future,......"

As soon as the words came out, Zhang Ji realized that he had said this a little too thoroughly, and he didn't know what his brother would think after hearing it?

Quietly glanced at the other party, but saw that the other party was only contemplating and contemplating, and did not seem to realize the meaning of his previous words, and his heart was slightly relieved.

In fact, how did he know that Zhang Qi had been shocked by his brother's words in his heart, but he had developed a long-term habit of hiding his true side, so he couldn't see anything on the surface, but thinking that his brother was already planning how to use things to make friends with officials, close relationships, and even discover people's talents for his own use in the future, he was even more jealous of his fellow brother.

"Second brother?"

"Well, fourth brother, I'm thinking that since we want to learn to do things, we should also have a direction, officials, households, rituals, soldiers, criminals, workers, officials and households are not our turn, the Ministry of Rites is the most appropriate, but it is still difficult to see any results, the Ministry of War is the most effective, didn't the father and the ninth uncle rely on their experience in military affairs to stand out from many uncles and uncles, so that the emperor and grandfather can value it? But now the military situation in the border areas is a little different, whether it is the Mongols or the Jurchens, it is very tricky,......"

Zhang Qi sighed, "The rest are the Criminal Department and the Ministry of Industry, these two pieces are not bad, but the Criminal Department has to have a certain amount of luck, and it can be brilliant when it encounters major cases, and if it is not lucky, it can only run around for a year and a half, but no one knows, the Ministry of Industry has a lot of things to do, but it is trivial and complicated, and it may not be suitable for your brother's current state of mind." ”

Zhang Ji was also shocked in his heart, he had long known that his brother was by no means as lustful as he seemed on the surface, just because of this contact with his brother in the future, it could be seen that Ya had also put some thought into it, but this is okay, at least now the two brothers are not calculating each other.

"Then has the second brother considered the Metropolitan Procuratorate?" Zhang Ji asked rhetorically.

"Metropolitan Procuratorate?!" Zhang Qi glanced at the other party deeply, "What does the fourth brother think?" ”

"Not yet, for the time being, but I think what the second brother said just now is very reasonable, but the Metropolitan Procuratorate has also made a lot of outstanding achievements in the past two years, such as the Shaanxi Governor Yunguang and the Gongshi family of the State of Xiguo were taken down, like the big hole poked out by the Yanzheng in Zhejiang, which not only established its authority, but also recovered a lot of silver for the imperial court. Otherwise, why did Feng Ziying go straight to the Hanlin Academy for revision? More proud than the list of first-class jinshi. ”

Zhang Ji's words made Zhang Qi deeply convinced.

"Well said, if you can start from the side of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, even if it is to learn to do things, when the time comes, the imperial historians will always have to share the credit with us, no matter how bad it is, you can also get familiar with it in the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and you can also have a ,...... in the future" Zhang Qi nodded again and again.

*******

Xing Xiuyan and Miaoyu didn't think about it that much.

In the past few years, there have been a lot of disciples everywhere, although Xing Xiuyan also felt that most of the people who dared to block the road in front of the Muni Courtyard in Jingshi City had some background and followers, but when the two of them left, the person did not follow to stop them, and Xing Xiuyan's heart became much more steady.

This Jingshi City is not as good as Suzhou City, in Suzhou, the prefect is the sky, but in Jingshi City, a four-grade prefect is not worth mentioning at all, it can be said that there are many clans like dogs, and the four products are everywhere.

After coming to Jingshi City for so long, Xing Xiuyan also deeply felt many differences.

When I was in Suzhou, I heard my father talk about the Jia family that my aunt married, which was a double kingdom, which could be described as prominent, and it was also very glorious when I went to the capital city to see the grandeur of the Rongning Second Mansion, and it was indeed difficult to find one or two in Suzhou City, and the eldest girl of the second master's family entered the palace as a concubine, and the identity and status of Rongguofu once made her a little admired.

This provincial garden is even more breathtaking, I heard that it cost four or five hundred thousand taels of silver, Rao is Xing Xiuyan is a plain character, and he doesn't value money, but he was still shocked.

But as he stayed in Rongguo Mansion for a longer time and understood the situation in Jingshi City, Xing Xiuyan himself was very sensible and sensible very early, and he could see the sophistication of people quite clearly, and he gradually saw that the two Rongning families seemed to be glamorous on the surface, but they had begun to decline inside, especially when they repaired the garden, they almost emptied the family foundation, but they couldn't afford to go outside, so they were trying their best to support it.

And the Jia family is not only difficult to support in terms of livelihood, but more importantly, there is almost no one in the Jia family who can really afford the scene, and even Jia Lian, who can barely be regarded as a character, has put on a posture of wanting to get out of the door and stand on his own, and even reconciled with the second sister-in-law who was once exemplary in Xing Xiuyan's mind, which subverted Xing Xiuyan's cognition.

The gloom of Rongning's second mansion also made Xing Xiuyan realize that he originally thought that his aunt's house should be the most enviable, but now it seems that every family has a scripture that is difficult to read, even if it is a double kingdom, it is nothing in the Jingshi City, especially in this family, there is no decent role who can carry the role of the pillar of the family, and this kind of quality will be greatly reduced.

So although she was straightforward and unceremonious in her words before, she was still quite worried in her heart, afraid that the other party would be stubborn, if some of these followers did not forgive, no matter who was right or wrong, it was always a matter, and Xing Xiuyan was not willing to provoke right and wrong for the house because of herself.

After seeing that the other party didn't seem to come to stop the entanglement, she also let go of most of her heart, and hurriedly pulled Miaoyu all the way.

It's just that when she came out, it was not good to ask the government to send a carriage, so she could only come on foot all the way, and this trip back would take more than half an hour before she could be regarded as walking back to Rongguo Mansion.

Fortunately, Miaoyu is also used to walking outside with Master Jingyuan, so she can bear it, but she still walks with sweat.