Wei Lin didn't understand: "Miss Wen, do you need to do anything here?" ”

"Would you like to taste this wine first?" Wen Qingzhu did not talk directly about the matter.

Seeing her like this, Wei Lin didn't want to ask, drank two cups of Huadiao, and put down the cup.

"The taste is good, and people in the south love it, but I've always grown up in the north, and the wine isn't strong enough." Wei Lin replied truthfully.

Wen Qingzhu nodded, raised the cup in his hand, and shook it.

The aroma of the wine is overflowing, and it is not very intoxicating to drink.

She smiled: "But this Huadiao has a lot of stamina, I don't want our northern wine, you may get drunk after three bowls of belly, but you can drink ten bowls of wine in the south without getting drunk, but you may have to sleep for three days and three nights, do you think, which of these two wines is more powerful?" ”

"What does Miss Wen mean?" Wei Lin knew that Wen Qingzhu must have something important to come over to him, and after thinking about it for a long time, he still had no clue.

Wen Qingzhu took a booklet from the side, opened it, pointed to the three names and said: "The champion went to investigate the corruption of ink, you and Tanhua have accumulated political achievements on this side of the canal, but in the following lists, there are also many powerful people, half a year has passed, you take a look, which ones do you care about the most?" ”

Wei Lin Yiyan took the booklet, looked around carefully, and finally stopped at Zhang Ke's name.

"He, I feel like he's hiding it." Wei Lin stretched out his hand to fix Zhang Ke's name, and his expression became a little guarded.

"You're really fit for intrigue." Wen Qingzhu slapped his face.

Wei Lin frowned and asked suspiciously, "Miss Wen is very optimistic about him?" ”

Wen Qingzhu no longer concealed it, and his words were very direct: "Well, among you people, you are the most similar to him, and I also know that you are very ambitious, but if your background is twenty years earlier, your achievements will definitely be higher than him, but now the rise of the Hanmen is imperative, unless the Wei family helps you with all their might, I don't think you can fight him!" ”

"Really?" Wei Lin's expression didn't change much, but his slightly flickering gaze betrayed him.

Although he came from a low background, he was still very conceited in his heart.

After all, it is not a very simple thing to be appreciated by Lord Wei and Wei Feng.

Wen Qingzhu poured him a glass of wine again: "I know what you think in your heart, but you each have your own position, haven't you thought that one day, you will put all the tablets of your father and grandfather into the ancestral hall of the Wei family?" ”

In this era, the clan was the most powerful place outside of royalty.

The reason why Wei Lin tried his best to climb up was naturally to occupy a place in the Wei family tree for his own lineage.

Wen Qingzhu's words were originally one of his goals.

Seeing that Wei Lin didn't reply, Wen Qingzhu took back the wine jug and poured himself a glass.

Then he raised his glass: "The position you are in now is too low, there are some things you don't have an in-depth understanding, and when you reach a high position one day, you will understand what I mean, come!" I wish you a bright future in advance! ”

Wei Lin frowned, but still raised his wine glass and touched it lightly with Wen Qingzhu.

Both drank it all.

After putting down the cup, he looked at the girl in front of him who was younger than him, obviously only sixteen or seventeen years old, but she always gave him a kind of old spirit who had lived for many years.

This kind of temperament has been seen in both Mr. Wei and Mrs. Wei.

What surprised him even more was that in this temperament of controlling the overall situation, he even vaguely saw the power of a superior.

Wei Lin has seen the emperor, and he has seen various concubines and queens and other high-ranking people.

They are because of their identity, but where does this power on Wen Qingzhu come from?

Wei Lin knew that Wen Qingzhu was well hidden, but he also knew that he was an observant person.

He trusts his instincts.

"What do you want me to do?" Wei Lin suppressed the curiosity in his heart, and finally got to the point.

Wen Qingzhu felt that the flower carving was starting to work, and his slightly red cheeks showed a bit of drunkenness.

However, her head has always remained sober, and she looked at Wei Lin deeply: "Your opponent is not Scholar Fu, nor Pei Xiangye, but Zhang Ke, what you have to do is to protect the last position of the old family nobles in the general trend of the rise of the Hanmen." ”

Wei Lin's expression became serious.

In the capital, there are still many nobles of all the families.

It's all changing slowly, but that's the way it is.

The older generation of the Cui family, the He family, the Li family, the Fu family, the new representative, the Pei family, the Lei family, and the various scholars from the poor family who appeared in the imperial examination this time.

No one can guarantee that ten or twenty years from now, when they reach the center of power, they will bring prosperity to a new family.

Wen Qingzhu knew that Wei Lin understood what she meant, but she still wanted to say something.

Although Wei Lin is sophisticated and calm, he is only a young man in his early twenties, and he has not experienced the renewal of power, so he doesn't know that this is watered with blood.

"The Cui family does not have a new generation of juniors to support the court, and at present, it is only supported by Mr. Cui, but Cui Lao knows very well the cruelty of the change of the family, so he transferred his hope to the apprentice." All right

Wei Lin thought for a while and said a name: "Lei Xiushan." ”

"Hmm." Wen Qingzhu nodded, "Lei Xiushan is a distant relative of the Lei family, and the Lei family's own children are already good enough, and the resources cannot be tilted to the children of the side branches, so Lord Yushi pointed out a clear path to Lei Xiushan, and worshiped Cui Lao as his teacher, he has a calm temperament, if nothing goes wrong, it is enough to inherit most of the resources of the Cui family, and when the Cui family appears to be able to recover the children of the Cui family, with Lei Xiushan's temperament, he will definitely support him wholeheartedly." ”

Wei Lin fell into deep thought, being able to trust an outsider so wholeheartedly is not something that ordinary people can have.

Wen Qingzhu continued: "The He family married He Wenru to the King of Huai, this move is not a big mistake, it is better to marry with the Zheng family to preserve strength, the future of the He family is doomed to decline, if the Zheng family can maintain neutrality, it can last for decades." ”

"Then what's the problem with the Fu family and the Pei family?" Wei Lin directly asked his doubts.

This kind of thing at the level of the general trend, Master Wei has always felt that he has not experienced enough, so he did not tell him.

Now that Wen Qingzhu analyzed this, he was unconsciously fascinated.

I am eager to understand the current trend.

"The Fu family, the inside is already rotten, if it weren't for a Fu Yu, after this imperial examination, the Fu family would be greatly damaged." Wen Qingzhu couldn't help but sneer when he thought that the test paper was almost burned out.

Is this an enemy that they are already afraid of and have not yet grown?

Wei Lin thought about it carefully and vaguely understood what Wen Qingzhu meant.

In the past six months in the Hanlin Academy, he has seen how the Fu family controls everyone's promotion and decline.

Even so, the Fu family still couldn't control those poor scholars who were destined to be extraordinary.

He had already understood the rules of the Hanlin Academy, and he didn't want to stay any longer, so he left there.

However, he thought of someone: "Fu Shiyi and I have a similar background, Fu Yu has had a lot of contact with him before, didn't the Fu family recruit him?" ”

"This is the difference between the Fu family and the Wei family, Fu Xuan is stubborn and self-serving, and he doesn't even trust his own grandson, do you think he will trust a side branch?"

Wen Qingzhu shook his head again and again, and then said, "You don't have to worry too much about the Fu family, the Pei family is the most difficult to deal with." Pei Yu was single-handedly promoted by the emperor, and the Pei family became a family in the capital, but what do you think is the Pei family worse than the Fu family? ”

"Heritage." Wei Lin replied without hesitation, "The Pei family started with Pei Xiangye's promotion, it has only been more than twenty years, the Wei family is not as good as the Pei family on the surface, but the Wei family and the Fu family have always existed in the previous dynasty. ”

Wen Qingzhu was very relieved that Wei Lin really understood it.

Then the next thing about Zhang Ke, he should be able to accept it well.

"Well, that's right, the descendants of the Pei family are actually good, but Pei Xiangye has gone astray, which is destined to be a point for him to fail."

"Are you saying that Pei Xiangye values Pei Zhixuan but not Pei Yi?" Wei Lin immediately thought of what Elder Wei had told him before.

A bunch of grandchildren of the Pei family are extremely outstanding.

I don't know what Pei Yu thinks, I'd rather praise Pei Zhixuan than Pei Yi.

"Well, relatively speaking, the Pei family has no infighting, and to a certain extent, it is more difficult to deal with than the Fu family, but you can rest assured, Zhang Ke will replace Pei Yu."

Wen Qingzhu mentioned Zhang Ke again, and Wei Lin's expression changed slightly.

He took a deep breath: "You recruited Zhang Ke?" Or did you work with him? ”

Wen Qingzhu hesitated for a moment, and told the truth: "I'm trying to solicit it, but he doesn't want to, but when the matter on this side of the canal is decided, he may be forced to cooperate with me." ”

Wei Lin saw the smile on Wen Qingzhu's face, and felt a little unhappy in his heart.

This expression clearly means that he appreciates Zhang Ke more.

Where is he Weilin inferior to Zhang Ke?

Wen Qingzhu saw that he was hiding his resentment, and did not expose him, but talked about the matter of the canal: "I have already discussed with General Fu, and when the time comes, he will recommend the King of Chu to take full charge of the affairs of the canal, and even escort him." ”

"You chose the King of Chu?" Wei Lin straightened his face and felt that this was not a good choice.

Who knew that Wen Qingzhu shook his head: "The emperor is still in good health, at least in the past two years, the court has been stable, but I can also tell you in advance, even if we want to support one person to ascend the throne, that person will definitely not be the King of Chu!" ”

"Then you still ......" Wei Lin felt that if he had to change someone else in the future, wouldn't he be making trouble for himself.

Wen Qingzhu smiled softly, and said in a somewhat helpless tone: "This is also no way, King Huai is not successful, King Ning is too vicious, only King Chu can cooperate temporarily, when the time comes, cross the river and tear down the bridge, it depends on who runs faster." ”

Wei Lin was silent for a moment, and then asked, "Does General Wei know about this?" ”

"I don't know, you don't need the Wei family to participate in this matter, you just keep your own political achievements, if necessary, the Wei family may need to break away from the relationship in a short period of time in the future."

Wen Qingzhu took out a design drawing, put it on the table and handed it to him: "This is the next plan of the canal project, it should be eight or nine years old, what you have to do is to take Ning Xiu to stabilize your position, work hard to be promoted, and you must form a network force that only belongs to you." ”

Wei Lin didn't speak, but took the design and looked at it.

Wen Qingzhu raised his hand when he saw Lu Tao and signaled the time.

She said succinctly: "In short, in the next two years, you will manage your own forces well, I believe you understand what I mean, no matter who can cooperate because of interests, the King of Chu is the kind of person whose interests are paramount." ”