Today's saints built a path along the east wall of Chang'an City to make it easier to visit Qujiang.

The road wall is the same height as the outer city wall, isolating the imperial road from the outside world. It starts from Daming Palace in the north, passes through Xingqing Palace, and ends at Furong Garden in the south.

Xue Bai and others were not qualified to see this royal road, so they had to bypass Qixia Gate from Shengpingfang and then turn towards Qujiang.

The carriage and horses moved slowly, with the female relatives behind.

Du Wulang ran away to nowhere, leaving Xue Bai and Du Younja to walk side by side, listening to his childish remarks about power.

"Wang Zhi regarded him as the censor Zhongcheng and also the household minister, and Pei Gong regarded him as the censor doctor and the household minister, and they all overpowered him. I was originally a fifth-rank praise man, but now he has been reinstated as a sixth-rank Yuanwailang. I think it must be Duke Pei's intention. Get rid of the king, let me be promoted to the fifth rank of doctor, and put on the red robe again..."

The cicadas were chirping in the distance, making a bit of noise.

Xue Bai sighed slightly in his heart and turned to look at Du Youlin. He saw that he was personable and friendly. In short, his character was trustworthy and he was not pedantic in his dealings.

After all, he is the one with the highest family background, qualifications and prospects among Xue Bai's core cronies at the moment, and the degree of mutual interest binding is far from what Yan Zhenqing and Yang Zhen can compare with.

In other words, Yang Zheng is only the leader of the Yang Party, and Du Youlin is his current face of the Xue Party. He should spend more effort to support and patiently train him.

"In my nephew's opinion, rank is the least important thing. Saints need to be given red robes, goldfish talismans only need a word, power and position are important."

"good."

Du Youlin nodded repeatedly, knowing that Xue could win the Holy Family by playing cards, and his vision must be different, so he was very convinced.

Xue Bai said: "The struggle for power is actually to ask the power giver to choose who to give power to after doing his job well. Then my uncle is appointed as the household department, so he should do his job."

"Can't I help Wang Fei?"

"Of course, the so-called 'Yuan Wai Lang' is a person who is added to the designated number to serve as an assistant to the Lang Guan. My uncle's duty is to assist the king. To advance in the officialdom, you should first do your job well. For example, although people in the world scold Ge Nu, in fact He never delays the sage's orders..."

Du Youlin was impressed by what he heard. He couldn't help but look at Xue Bai a few more times and sighed.

He used to live a noble life, waiting for his son-in-law to make the Du family prosperous, but as a result, his two daughters were useless and could not be counted on at all. It is better to ask for others than to ask for yourself, and you have to fight for it yourself.

From a false position to real power, there is a lot to learn. Without Xue Bai's help, I would always feel weak.

But how can we get closer to each other? It was originally a good idea to adopt an adopted son, but unfortunately, the bad temper of the daughter ruined the situation. In the blink of an eye, Xue Bai's reputation was good, and the opportunity had been missed.

"well."

Du Youlin sighed in his heart, turned around and saw a scene, and suddenly had an idea.

But he saw Du Wulang riding his horse beside Lu Fengniang's carriage and talking through the curtain. He was handing a wild flower in, and it was Xue Sanniang who stretched out his hand to pick it up...

~~

The scenery of Qujiang Pool is beautiful. On the east bank is the Royal Furong Garden, while ordinary people play on the west bank.

The sky is bright and clear in April, and the willow trees by the water are blown by the wind, and the catkins are floating like snow.

The group of people got off the carriage. Lu Fengniang and Liu Xiangjun sat down and watched several small children chasing each other. They continued to whisper about the topic just now, but saw Du Youlin waving to her.

"What's the matter, Mr. Lang?"

"What do you think about letting Wu Lang marry Sanniang of the Xue family?"

Even in the current situation, Du Youlin's first consideration was still family status. He pondered and said slowly: "Xue family from Hedong, the great-granddaughter of Pingyang County Duke, her family background is not bad."

Lu Fengniang was stunned for a moment and said: "Mr. Lang is confused. Xue Sanniang has a marriage contract. I said so."

"According to the law, if the man regrets the marriage and will not return the betrothal gift, let the Xue family take a step back, return the betrothal gift, and end the matter."

"Ms. Liu was just talking about this matter. Originally, the other party accused the Xue family of cheating the marriage and insisted on compensating the betrothal gift. Now she wants to return the betrothal gift, but the other party refuses to break off the engagement."

Du Youlin frowned. According to the law, if the woman regrets the marriage and demands sixty sticks, and continues to fulfill the engagement, there is nothing he can do.

Even if he or Xue Bai come forward to deal with this matter, I am afraid that Xue Ling will have to be brought back to deal with it.

But thinking about getting Xue Ling back, the thought of marriage suddenly faded away.

Du Youlin looked at Du Wulang again and saw his son and Xue Shiyilang playing in the water by the pool, looking silly.

He couldn't help but wonder, could it be that he had guessed wrong?

How could it be possible that no one else noticed it, but that I, who didn't care about housework at all, noticed it?

~~

Xue Bai and the Du sisters were walking by the Qujiang River.

Looking sideways, the wind blew their skirts, revealing their beautiful curves.

"I already have a rough idea about donating weapons," Xue Bai said. "I happen to know Wang Wei from the Treasury Department of the Ministry of War, and I got to know Li Hua, the director of the Ministry of Industry, through his division. In this way, the official article can be easily prepared.

.”

"A craftsman from the labor department?"

"I'm afraid it's not enough. A better choice would be the people who built Wang's new house. I'll ask about it later."

Du Jin said: "In this case, it can be done. If we can really build the huge stone cannon you want, can you just present it to the saint directly?"

"There is still a reason." Xue Bai said, "It can't be said that we collected the Longyou intelligence in the darkroom of Fengwei Building. Whoever reminded us to build the huge stone cannon is also a credit."

"Do you still want to share the credit with Wang Zhongsi?"

"Well, that's how we keep our friendship."

Du Wei said: "But this is very dangerous. Yan Gong has reminded you not to make friends with the generals."

Xue Bai turned his head and looked at Du Wei.

Her eyes were like autumn water, always filled with tenderness and concern; while when he looked at her, his eyes never looked like those of a boy with tied hair.

In his eyes, she was always a young girl in her twenties, but she had a very hard life.

Du Wei lowered her head at his gaze.

"I'm thinking," Xue Bai said, "Is there a way to make Wang Zhongsi miss me, but other people don't know that I have this friendship with Wang Zhongsi."

When Du Jin heard this, she immediately felt that his words were a double entendre. She refused to say anything more and just held Du Jin's hand and walked away.

She was dressed very plainly, without any makeup, and she always behaved according to the words and deeds of a little widow who did not interact with others.

"Do you have an idea?" Du Jin asked, helping his sister out.

Xue Bai said: "I heard that when your great uncle was in Longyou, he recommended Wang Zhongsi?"

"have."

Du Jin nodded and talked about the friendship between the two families.

…

When Du Hope was appointed as the military governor of Hexi Province, Wang Zhongsi was demoted, so Du Hope recruited him to Hexi Province as Zuowei Weilang General to capture Tubo Xinluo City.

It is said that Tubo also sent out a large army to retaliate. Wang Zhongsi rode into the enemy formation alone, galloped left and right, and killed hundreds of people on his own, causing chaos to the enemy army. Du Xiang attacked from the flank and the Tibetan army was defeated.

It was this recommendation that enabled Wang Zhongsi to achieve great military exploits again, and later became a powerful figure in the border areas...

~~

Anrenfang, the Du family mansion.

Du Wei heard that a visitor was coming and rushed to the front yard to greet him. He couldn't help laughing when he saw the visitor.

"Brother Gongfu, Wang Twelve Mothers, it's rare for them to come see me."

"I know you are going to be the prime minister's son-in-law soon, and the wedding banquet will be complicated, so I came here to see if there is anything I can help you with."

While talking, Yuan Zai presented a gift. The brocade box contained a pair of jade Ruyi, which was quite decent.

He is about thirty years old, with a handsome appearance, a handsome body, a fair and square face, bright eyes, a high and straight nose, two slanting eyebrows, a well-groomed beard, and a good appearance.

.

If anyone were to guess, they would think that he was a child of an aristocratic family, but they would never guess that he actually came from a poor family.

Also coming with Yuan Zai was his wife Wang Yunxiu.

Wang Yunxiu was twenty-two years old at the time. She was the twelfth daughter of Wang Zhongsi, the Jiedushi envoy of the Four Towns. She really had the demeanor of a tiger girl in a general's household.

She is tall and slender, not as fair and plump as the Chang'an women. The wind and sand from the northwest have made her skin slightly rough, and she has the heroic spirit of a heroine.

Before she came out of the cabinet, she was known as "violent". In fact, she had a strong temperament and some unruly habits.

Du Wei once lived in Hexi with his father and knew Wang Yunxiu very well. He knew that although she had a tough temper, she was as loyal and heroic as any man.

As a friend, Du Wei knew that Yuan Zai had received a lot of cold treatment from the Wang family and left a poem to say goodbye. Wang Yunxiu wrote a poem in return, sharing weal and woe with her husband and leaving together.

"The road sweeps away the traces of hunger and cold, and the sorrow of the sky makes people angry. Give up the tears of farewell, and join hands in the Western Qin Dynasty."

It was Wang Yunxiu's courage to run into the night that inspired Du Wei to marry the fourteenth mother of the Li family.

Therefore, he still calls her "Twelve Queens" to show his respect for her.

The three of them sat down and talked.

"I returned to Beijing to guard the election. I have gone to the Ministry of Civil Affairs to inquire about it, and there is a big official who can judge affairs." Yuan Zai said: "If I can find it, I can stay in Chang'an for a while."

"You have been sent out for two terms, so you should definitely seek an official position in the capital." Du Wei pondered.

He wanted to help his friend, but in order to do so, he would inevitably have to use his connections in the Prime Minister's Office, which was not what he wanted.
To be continued...