In the deep winter of the tenth year of Qingli, the Green Province victory arrived. Great General Li Hongcheng, successful across the land, was summoned back to the capital. At the age of thirty, he was appointed Deputy Minister of the Department of Military Affairs, an unparalleled honor. However, those in the capital who sang praises of the great Qing Dynasty knew very well that the position of Deputy Minister of the Department of Military Affairs was actually just a sinecure. Under Ye Zhong's suppression, the Prince Li Hongcheng could no longer possess the military power entirely of his own, as he had in Dingzhou City. And no one forgot that the previous occupant of such a high position at such a young age was Qin Heng, and his ending was not glorious.

After returning to the capital, Li Hongcheng naturally entered the palace to meet the Emperor at the first opportunity. In the Imperial Study, His Majesty did not vent a trace of anger upon him, but calmly discussed the scenery of Western Liang. However, the Prince's mood sank to the bottom when he saw Fan Ruoruo beside the Emperor. After leaving the palace and handing over his duties at the Department of Military Affairs, setting a date for his return, Li Hongcheng returned to the Royal Palace. He saw Prince Jing, who had been under house arrest in the palace for many days and had just been released, and his own weak and pitiful younger sister. The three members of the family sat together in silence. The old Prince sighed repeatedly, patted Li Hongcheng on the shoulder, and said, "Fortunately, nothing went wrong. You were able to hold out until today before returning to the capital, which can be considered an explanation to that side."

Despite the words, Li Hongcheng still made a trip to the Fan residence that night. He knew how deeply Fan Xian had hoped for him. Although he had stubbornly resisted His Majesty's decree and Gong Dian's pressure in Dingzhou, forcibly delaying the matter for a few more days, he had ultimately been summoned back in a rather sorry state. He always had to give Fan Xian an explanation in person.

No one knew what the two friends talked about in the study in the back garden of the Fan residence. Presumably, it was just an exchange of apologies. The palace did not seem very interested in this conversation, as no one stopped the Prince Hongcheng from entering the residence.

"I never thought things would develop like this," Fan Xian said with a wry smile, standing up, embracing him, gently patting his back, and sending him out of the study.

Before leaving the study, Li Hongcheng turned around and looked at him with concern, saying, "Deng Ziyue should have escaped. However, several members of your Qi Nian Group probably died on the West Liang Road. After all, this is an internal matter of your Department. I don't know the details. I hope you can control your emotions."

"I don't know who the traitor is. Maybe it was just that one of the three meetings was discovered by someone in the Department. After all... Yan Bingyun personally went to oversee this time. Faced with this person, I don't have much confidence," Fan Xian's expression was somewhat gloomy, saying, "But don't worry, I'm not very interested in revenge. I'm just feeling a little flustered."

"If even you are feeling flustered, then I advise you to be honest recently," Li Hongcheng shook his head, refusing Fan Xian's offer to see him out of the residence. Like a father comforting his son, he patted him hard on the shoulder, straightened his robes, and walked out of the residence.

...

...

Watching Li Hongcheng's slightly lonely figure disappear into the winter garden, Fan Xian remained silent for a long time before turning back and sitting down again in the armchair in the study. Hongcheng had relayed Gong Dian's assessment of him earlier. That assessment made Fan Xian couldn't help but feel a touch of bitterness in his mouth. Relying on the barbarians to inflate one's importance? If one were to delve deeply, Fan Xian's arrangements in Dongyi City and Western Liang did indeed have some of this meaning, and this meaning was undoubtedly untenable on a moral level.

A man should seek pleasure and revenge, how could he use the blood and lives of soldiers as bargaining chips! Yet who could truly understand what Fan Xian was thinking and planning? He simply did not want too many innocent people to lose their lives because of the war between himself and His Majesty, so he had chosen the current arrangement.

The Green Province victory was a perfect manifestation of His Majesty's profound foresight. Whether it was Hu Ge's feigned attack or the Chanyu's reaction, all of this was a foundation that the Supervisory Council, or rather Fan Xian, had spent a great deal of effort to lay. And this foundation was ruthlessly and calmly used by His Majesty.

Fan Xian had no feeling of closeness towards the Hu people on the grasslands. The corpses in the West Liang Road reclamation and the burned houses would only make him applaud the Green Province victory. The problem was that this victory easily tore up all of Fan Xian's arrangements in the West Liang Road. In this situation, if Li Hongcheng still wanted to delay his return to the capital, it would be tantamount to courting death.

Fan Xian felt deeply chilled and admired by His Majesty's methods and abilities. A feeling of irresistible timidity arose in his heart.

"You all heard it. This matter has nothing to do with me," Fan Xian said, pressing his hands on the desk and closing his eyes wearily.

Haitang Duoduo, who had returned to the Central Plains and put on her floral-print cotton jacket again, appeared behind him. After the Red Mountain Pass battle, she and the group from Dingzhou City had set off at about the same time. Li Hongcheng returned to the capital extremely quickly, but was still one day later than her. Nowadays, the palace's surveillance of the Fan residence had relaxed a lot, so how could it possibly stop the Saintess of Northern Qi from quietly entering the residence.

It had been a year since they last met. Haitang silently looked at the young man in the armchair, thinking that although the other party was not very old, why did he now look so old and tired, with a trace of weariness that could not be brushed away? Thinking of the events that had happened in Southern Qing these days, and thinking of the dead Director of the Supervisory Council, Haitang suddenly understood why Fan Xian seemed so tired.

"But because of the words you asked Hong Yiqing to bring to me, many people died on the grasslands," Haitang said.

Fan Xian opened his eyes and said with a sneer, "I only asked the Royal Court to agree to Hu Ge's dispatch of troops, but I didn't expect that Chanyu to want to take advantage of the situation."

Haitang was slightly stunned, and without explaining that she had once tried to suppress Subida's ambition, she said faintly, "But in the end, it was still your Southern Qing who benefited the most."

Fan Xian was silent. After a long while, he said, "You don't need to worry about how the news was leaked. I sent two people to the West Liang Road. Hong Yiqing has not been able to gather the manpower of the original Fourth Bureau. It is obvious that Ziyue was targeted by the Department during the handover..."

Speaking of this, he took a deep breath, and suddenly thought of the young general of the Ye family mentioned in the intelligence. It was said that the young general was now leading four thousand light cavalry to kill into the grasslands to pursue the remnants of the Chanyu Royal Court. Fan Xian couldn't help but admire this person's courage, but thinking of the cold winter and the deep grasslands, he was afraid that these four thousand cavalry would never return alive.

"Those barbarian cavalry who migrated from the north to the grasslands... do they still listen to your orders?" He raised his head and glanced at Haitang, saying, "After all, you are the Snowfield Princess, and you are respected by the Chanyu on the grasslands, and your status is high. I believe you can have some power."

Haitang frowned slightly, and a trace of anger flashed across her bright eyes like the North Sea. She said coldly, "At this time, are you still worried about the lives of the four thousand light cavalry? You are truly a powerful minister of the Southern Qing Dynasty... Why don't you think about those tribes on the grasslands who have lost all their young and strong men and have no power to resist?"

"I am a Qing person, then I am a Central Plains person, and finally I am a person," Fan Xian replied, lowering his head, "As you said, Subida's ambition this time is too great, and he has taken away a large number of young and strong men from all the tribes. The power on the grasslands is already empty. After the Green Province victory, four thousand light cavalry will kill into the grasslands. As long as those Snowfield barbarian cavalry who remain in the western part of the grasslands keep their distance from them, maybe they can really come back."

"The Western Hu are finished. If the timing is right, those clansmen you migrated from the north to the grasslands may be able to rise with the trend," Fan Xian faintly seduced Haitang, "You must accept this reality, and then use this reality."

"I am different from you. There are many things that I know are in line with my interests, but they are inconsistent with the principles in my heart, so I cannot do them." Haitang lowered her eyes slightly and replied softly, "But your words at this time really surprised me. You are obviously a ruthless person who relies on the barbarians to inflate his importance and does not prioritize the interests of the Qing Kingdom, so why do you have such a request?"

"If I really didn't consider the interests of the Qing Kingdom and even the entire world, why would I still be here in this residence? Whether it was to shed blood or to hide in the world, I would have done it long ago."

"When did you become a saint?"

"I am not a saint, but when life reaches a certain stage, when the highest level of desire, power, has been satisfied, I will pay more attention to spiritual considerations... And I don't like to be seen as a cold-blooded and ruthless person who only knows how to use the blood of soldiers."

"In the end, you are still a hypocritical and selfish person." Haitang looked at him and said, then placed the small knife in her arms in front of him.

Fan Xian said expressionlessly, "If this is considered hypocrisy and selfishness, I think the people of the world will thank my vanity... I know that your Emperor is a woman, so even if I want to threaten you."

Haitang's body trembled slightly, looking at him for a long time without speaking.

Fan Xian also kept silent, and the entire study was immersed in a repressed atmosphere. After a long time, he opened his mouth somewhat sadly and asked, "In fact, there are many times when I need someone to help me with some advice. Originally, Yan Bingyun and Wang Qinian played this role. Now, Yan Bingyun has gone to be his pure official, and Old Wang has been arranged by me to leave. There is nowhere to ask... I am not a god, and I don't have a trace of confidence when facing him, and there is no one to help me. I am really a little helpless."

"Is this pretending to be pitiful in front of me?" Haitang retorted, but was slightly stunned. After sighing, she said, "What do you want to ask?"

Fan Xian gently clapped his hands, earnestly invited Haitang to sit down at the desk, and then drank a mouthful of cold tea to moisten his throat. He stuck out his tongue and licked his lips, and said seriously, "My own sister is in the palace, my family is in the capital, and those loyal subordinates who depend on me and believe in me are in the shadows of this country. I have power but it is difficult to shake the foundation of this court, and I don't want to shake this foundation, so that all the moss ants and sun-bathing rabbits on it will fall to their deaths. But my opponent has powerful power, cold rationality, and extraordinary planning ability. He has the loyalty of the vast majority of people on this land... The most important thing is that, although I know from the slight news that came out of the palace after that rain in early autumn that he has gradually come down from the altar and gradually become like a mortal, leaving some emotional openings, I still believe that his blood is cold enough and his heart is strong enough. Once I really make a move, those people I want to protect will really... cease to exist."

"I used to be very afraid of death, but now I'm not so afraid of death," Fan Xian continued to seriously summarize after saying a long paragraph, "But I am very afraid of the death of the people I love and the people I protect. Can you help me solve this problem?"

Haitang did not remain silent for too long, and said very directly, "No."

Fan Xian spread his hands and sighed a long breath, saying, "See, there is originally no one in this world who can help me solve this problem."

"What do you mean by him coming down from the altar?" Haitang was obviously very interested in this matter. She didn't know where Fan Xian's judgment of Emperor Qing came from.

Fan Xian gently placed his right hand on the position of his heart, and said with a smile but not a smile, "After all, fathers and sons are connected at heart. You can't detect some small changes, but I can detect them... He let me stay in the residence to do these tricks, and then crushed them one by one for me to see. Although he showed the power of a monarch, don't you think it's actually very troublesome? He has too many ways to make all this disappear into thin air, but he didn't do it. He... is sulking with me, sulking with Chen Pingping, and sulking with my mother."

"A person who was originally without meridians, without emotion, and without justice has now learned to sulk. Don't you think he is becoming more and more like a normal person?" Fan Xian shook his head and smiled bitterly, "Presumably this is also the consequence that Old Cripple wanted to achieve by going to his death."

"But you still can't change this trend." Haitang sat on the chair, lowering her head slightly, "You have been sitting in Kyoto for the past few months, but you have thrown the chaos to all directions in the world. Your idea is actually very simple."

She raised her head and stared at Fan Xian's bloodshot eyes with bright eyes, and said heavily, "Presumably this is also Chen Pingping's revenge plan. First, he will make the world shaky, force the palace in the chaos, and then make a thunderous strike... It's just that you haven't gained Emperor Qing's trust as he had imagined. This is your pitiful vanity at work, and at the same time, you can't really do anything ruthless to this world. This is your pitiful hypocrisy at work."

"You should understand very well that your temperament seems fierce, but in fact you are not a grand and heroic figure after all. There are many things you can't do." Haitang blinked slightly,敛了 the chilling light in her eyes, and said calmly, "In that case, everything you are doing now, besides being naive and childish, there is no other word to describe it, because in the end... you still don't have the confidence to confront him head-on."

Fan Xian remained silent for a moment and said, "Who can have this confidence? In the past few months, I have just been beating around the bush, trying to warn him, so as to maintain a situation that may collapse at any time, and to protect the people around me as much as possible... If it weren't for His Majesty considering that I didn't break the pot and smash it, and didn't let half of the Qing Kingdom fall into turmoil, do you think Yang Wanli, Cheng Jialin, and those people in the First Bureau would have survived?"

He raised his head and stared at Haitang and said, "I must prove my strength in order to save the lives of these people. Yes, at the final moment, I still have to compete with His Majesty face-to-face. I don't have that confidence... so I have been waiting for someone to come back."

"Master Xia." Haitang didn't ask, but directly said this seemingly magical name.

"You can't always place your hope on these predecessors who once supported you to grow up, whether it is your mother, or Chen Pingping, or Lord Fan Shangshu, they have done too much for you." Haitang looked at Fan Xian, and a trace of pity suddenly arose in her heart, "Have you ever thought about it, if Master Xia doesn't come back, what is the point of you enduring in this capital?"

Haitang earnestly advised Fan Xian, "Many things always have to be done by yourself. Whether you have this confidence or not, the situation has forced you to this point. Since you can't be indifferent to the deaths of your mother and Chen Pingping, then you can never play the role of his good official and good son again."

Fan Xian suddenly felt that these words were very harsh. He frowned, raised his hand, stopped Haitang from speaking, and said in a low voice, "You have not personally experienced his power, so you can easily say the word confidence."

Haitang sighed and said, "But how long can you wait? The movement you and His Majesty made in Cangzhou City, he didn't even consider it, but directly sent troops to the west, easily wiping out all the hidden dangers there. Then there is Jiangnan, and then there is Dongyi City... No, maybe he won't even pay attention to Dongyi City, but will directly advance north. Once the situation develops to that day, all your power will be removed, except for being like a idle person in Kyoto, watching him step by step towards the pinnacle, watching him sneer at the souls of your elders, what else can you do?"

"He can't move Jiangnan. If he moves that place, I have to move, and if I move, the entire Qing Kingdom, including him, will feel pain."

"I don't know what tricks you have done in the Inner Treasury, but I believe that Emperor Qing, for the sake of the obsession in his heart, will not care about any losses," Haitang said.

At this time, a voice sounded from the shadows of the study, extremely cold: "The Emperor is a bastard, not a human, where does he know the feeling of pain."

It was Shadow who spoke, Shadow who had been floating in Kyoto like a shadow for the past few months. Then another direct and stable voice rang out, seemingly also wanting to persuade Fan Xian: "I don't understand much about the matter of confidence, but if it is really necessary to draw a sword... I will tell myself that I must be confident."

These words were spoken by Wang Shisanlang, the closed disciple of the Sword Hut with a firm sword heart. Even when facing Emperor Qing, the unfathomable Grandmaster, he was still so calm and so persistent.

As Fan Xian had analyzed before, the biggest weakness of His Majesty the Emperor, or rather the Qing Kingdom, lay in the extreme lack of high-end personal martial power. Those who were once powerful had died one by one in the internal friction of the Qing Kingdom. Today, more than half of the Ninth Grade experts in the world are standing in Fan Xian's camp. Even Emperor Qing would not dare to underestimate this strength.

If Grandpa Hong, Father and Son Qin, and Yan Xiaoyi were still alive, then today's Qing Kingdom could truly be called an iron camp.

Fan Xian remained silent for a long time, without directly answering the persuasion of these three top experts in the study, but frowned and said, "I don't want you all to die in his hands... and, this is ultimately my business."

...

...

Fan Xian in the deep winter of the tenth year of Qingli was like a beast trapped in a blizzard, anxious, gloomy, and uneasy. He watched as the powerful Emperor used far more scheming than he himself to cut off his left and right arms one by one, and watched as the Qing Dynasty steadily moved towards the unification of the continent, but was unable to do anything.

In front of Emperor Qing, Fan Xian, who had always been good at disguising himself, finally became unconfident for the first time. He didn't know how to defeat such a powerful figure. So he was waiting, but he didn't know if the person he was waiting for would come back. And in order to ensure the safety of himself and the people around him during the waiting time, he was trying hard to do something.

However, Kyoto was unexpectedly calm. According to the information obtained by Baoyuelou with great difficulty, Fan Wujiu, the former advisor to the Second Prince in the He University scholar's residence, was injured in a sudden attack and has been missing since then, but He Zongwei was not implicated in this matter. While slightly disappointed, Fan Xian finally understood that the old fox of Hu University scholar was not so easy to use.

What made Fan Xian even more frustrated was that news finally came from Jiangnan, bad news.

The transmission of information in this era was always so slow, so slow that it was infuriating. The news that Fan Xian received in December was actually a month old.

The Inner Treasury Transport Division received a secret decree from the palace, and began preparations for the bidding for the opening of the treasury next spring according to the plan. However, this year's Inner Treasury bidding process had a earth-shattering change - changing from preparing silver to bidding for the price to the court evaluating the report bidding - this change directly changed the power of the Inner Treasury to attract merchants from negotiation between the court and the merchants to the arrangement of the court alone. In other words, when the Inner Treasury opens bidding next year, whichever company the court wants to win the bid will win the bid.

As a result, even if the Ming family, presided over by Xia Xifei, had the secret support of the Zhaoshang Bank and the Taiping Bank, they might not be able to continue their past glory, which was undoubtedly a heavy blow to the Fan faction's strength.

The rules for Inner Treasury bidding have been fixed since the establishment of the three major workshops in those years. Whether it was the old Ye family or the later Inner Treasury, no one dared to move this rule lightly. And the change this winter was undoubtedly a humiliating regression. Everyone knew that His Majesty's decree would have an incalculable and adverse impact on the entire Jiangnan's commercial activities.

However, to the surprise of many people, the Jiangnan giants did not band together to resist this fatuous decree. On the contrary, the Xiong family in Lingnan and the Sun family in Quanzhou remained silent, and several salt merchants began to be eager to try - as everyone knows, several of the salt merchants' children died in the hands of the Young Master Fan in the spring examination case of that year.

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(Starting tomorrow, I will start to tear my face. I am a little unconfident, just like Fan Xian, but I will try my best... Please vote for monthly tickets to support me, and calm my heart, thank you, thank you.)