Chapter 42 Divine Pill

It was another sunny day, and the sun was red and bright in the early morning.

After seeing Princess Taiping in Zichen Hall, the court officials returned to the Political Affairs Hall and the various yamen to start a day's office work. Everything seemed not much different from usual, but it was obvious that Gao's rule of law behind the curtain had already declared that he had died in failure.

The tension within a few days also eased. From the King of Jin taking the initiative to ask for an order to transfer the Shen Ce army out of the capital, Princess Taiping went to the Princess to meet him in the Princess, and then this morning, the King of Jin also attended the meeting of Zichen Palace...

All the princes in the court saw the mother and son deepened their trust again.

Although everyone finds it a bit incredible, the matter is in front of them, perhaps because the emotional factors of their family played a great role and outsiders cannot figure it out for the moment.

As the sudden dilution of the binary political crisis in the court, the Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China gradually shifted to the reforms hosted by the first hand.

He was undoubtedly quite depressed. As a full-time juggernaut, he bears the greatest responsibility for a series of reforms. He is now in a difficult situation to stop most of the reform measures, just waiting to confirm Princess Taiping's attitude.

Under centralized politics, the attitude of the superiors determines the direction of major national policies...

Reform was Xue Chongxun's idea when he was in power. Now when Princess Taiping woke up, her authority undoubtedly surpassed Xue Chongxun, and she had to nod and shake her head to count.

It was Xue Chongxun who arranged it behind the scenes, but Zhang Shuo was pushed to the forefront. At this time, Zhang Shuo felt like he was taking the blame alone.

He wanted to attract some allies to overcome difficulties with him, and to look at the power of the dynasty, and finally he felt that Liu An, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was the most reliable.

Because the Ministry of Revenue's series of innovations led by Liu An, Liu An could not escape the relationship. In terms of reform, they were grasshoppers on the same rope.

So in the past few days, Zhang Shuo and Liu An have significantly more conversations, and their relationship seems to be getting closer and closer.

After several prime ministers arrived at the Political Affairs Hall, they had not finished talking about the topic along the way, and their relationship was very intense.

The location of the Zhengshi Hall was changed several times in the Tang Dynasty during the 100th century. Now it is in Menxia Province, and the official office is located in front of Xuanzheng Hall.

The row of corridors and city walls here connect the inner cemetery, and there are two palace gates on the left and right, Guangming Gate and Chongming Gate, which lead to the inner cemetery of the royal family.

It is considered relatively successful for people in the official career to get here. If they can go to the inner court from time to time, they can be called the backbone of the dynasty's ruling class.

Walking into the gate of the Political Affairs Hall, there is a spacious and bright hall with many desks, tables and chairs in it, and hundreds of officials are on duty here.

The busy and lively scene of writing and walking around conveying documents, and you can even hear the crackling sound of planning, probably because they are calculating the accounts of each government office.

This place can be regarded as the heart of the dynasty, and people with official ranks of Secretariat and Menxia Province work here, and is a decision-making body for major national affairs.

There are also some suites in the hall, including the offices of the officials who are in charge of the Central Secretariat, the Shizhong, and the officials who are in charge of the Central Secretariat, as well as rest rooms, dining rooms, etc.

After being promoted to the Secretariat of the Central Secretariat, Zhang Shuo resigned from his position as the Minister of War. He no longer went to the Secretariat Province for daily office work. Most of the time he was in the Political Affairs Hall, where there was a suite dedicated to him, and he had all the facilities for office, living and meals.

It was too noisy outside and couldn't hear clearly, so Mr. Liu followed me in and talked.Zhang said that he invited Liu An into his office.

The two then walked in and sat facing each other next to a tea table. The clerk here quickly served tea. He opened the tea cup and burst out with a refreshing fragrance. The tea made from the best tea leaves was really refreshing.

In a bright and comfortable office, the sun shines in through the gaps in the mullet windows and dances in the fragrance of tea; a high status, people's respectful attitude; a wealthy income, in addition to salary, and land benefits such as Yongye Field...

And the sense of accomplishment in the open and powerful position, the lives of the court officials are undoubtedly very superior.

No wonder the generals at the border were all warlike and were eager to establish great achievements in the court to gain both fame and fortune, and then return home in glory to glory to the ancestors.

However, the Zhengshitang is a place with many people and talkative people, and it is not a simple place. If there are many people, there will inevitably be small circles and closeness.

So Zhang Shuo and Liu An were cautious at first, and they chatted for a while. They didn't worry much after entering the house, because the decision-making bodies here and the ministers said that the local controls of the matter were relatively strict, and irrelevant people could not get close to avoid leaking state secrets.

Zhang said after taking a sip of tea, he mentioned the important matter: We need to sort out today and write a major event for the previous few months to submit it to the palace.

Liu An nodded and said: There were many things from September last year to April this year, including the Battle of Cijian after Li Longji's rebellion, the deterioration of relations after the Battle of Tang Tu Xiaobolu, the former prince murdered the lord and plotted against rebellion, and the Apocalypse reform...

When Mr. Liu said it, he really had to sprinkle tens of thousands of words before he could make it clear.

Zhang joked.

He looks older than Liu An, probably because Zhang Shuo has more beards on his mouth, and his long horse face looks a little old.

In comparison, Liu An is more elegant and has a literary style in his behavior and speech.

Zhang Shuo quickly stopped his smile, lowered his head and pondered something, and then sighed: The reform has been implemented for more than half, but he doesn’t know what Princess Taiping would view the recent national policy.In fact, the new policies of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue are in line with matters, and are a move that benefits the country and the people...

This matter depends on Your Highness’s attitude, and what is the relationship between mother and son with King Jin?

Liu An's expression also became solemn. He whispered, "A few days ago, I thought they had reached an incomparable point, but I didn't expect that the King of Jin was quite brave. After resolving the danger, the situation became better and better... But if this continues, will the court listen to His Highness or King of Jin?"Improper handling may lead to the situation during the period of Ruizong (Li Dan), and each party is not a blessing for the country.

Zhang Shuo also frowned and said: When Ruizong and Li Sanlang were in the court at the same time, the division of the two elements was clear: the prince was in charge of the country; the officials of the fifth rank and above and major national policies were decided by Ruizong.Therefore, it can be divided in a legitimate manner in clear text.Now, His Highness, Princess Taiping, is neither the Empress Dowager nor the Supreme Emperor, and the King of Jin, is also the prince of the opposite sex. Although the power is great, it cannot be justified in order to divide the authority. The confusion here will definitely bring chaos in the court. Alas...

Liu An said: The current situation cannot be divided so simply. In order to avoid other families from becoming bigger, the Taiping family naturally prefers to trust their own family.Xue Lang is both the eldest son she trusts most and the most talented among the four sons, so he will naturally be trusted by His Highness and be regarded as his left and right arms.If it were not for no exception, I think Your Highness is not willing to lose Xue Lang.After all, intra-fighting weakens one's own strength only makes the relatives feel sad and the enemy happy, and Your Highness will not not understand this.For example, when Li Longji raised an army last year, Xue Lang could obtain military power to deal with forces that threatened Chang'an. No one in the country is more suitable for doing such a thing than Xue Lang... So my opinion is that Princess Taiping and King Jin have a relationship of spear and shield, and the need for mutual dependence, which is far from fighting for power, otherwise the tension in the past few days would not be so easy to ease.What's more, they are mother and son, and their blood is thicker than water. They are very close to each other. We should not completely use the rules of political affairs to figure out the links. What does Zhang Xianggong think?

Family, country and world... Zhang Shuo raised his head and sighed halfway, just as the sunlight coming from the window to the east was shining on his face, and he couldn't help but squint his eyes.

After a while, Zhang Shuocai said thoughtfully: In this way, the memorial to be written today must be as hinted as possible to the benefits of reform, so that His Highness feels that King Jin is quite talented in governing the country and is a rare person who can be ceremonially defended, so that the situation in the court and the middle can be more stable and avoid unexpected turmoil.

The two hit it off. Liu An was originally Xue Chongxun's person, so he took it for granted that Xue Chongxun was so apt to be put into practice. So they had the same tone when they wrote memorials together.

In the afternoon, Liu An brought a few more paper money from the Ministry of Revenue Qian Store, and then put it together with Zhang Shuo as a sample to send it to Princess Taiping early tomorrow morning, so that it would be of great benefit to convince her to support the reform.

Zhang said that Liu An, two people who had not had deep personal relationships before, came together because of the same political views and cooperated quite smoothly.

...The next morning, when the ministers went to Zichen Hall to meet Princess Taiping, the minister Zhang Shuo presented the memorial and the banknote samples together.

Princess Taiping took the thing from Yu Liben slowly, looked through the green banknotes curiously, and then browsed the memorial.

The hall soon became very quiet. No one did anything practical during this period, but just waiting for the new policy.

Only by determining the direction of national policies in the temple can the following government offices have clear standards for their services.

Just like after the Jingyun coup broke up Li Dan and Li Longji and his son took power, Princess Taiping took power and established a national policy to calm the people's hearts and stabilize the regime, which made the political situation more stable in those two years.

Now that Princess Taiping is in power again, she has not participated in the reform before, so what kind of attitude she has towards the reform is crucial.

I saw that Princess Taiping looked very cautious. Although she was a woman, she had accumulated a lot of experience in interfering in the government affairs for half her life. After looking through Zhang Shuo's report, she could see the key points at a glance.

This matter not only affects the progress of the reform, but may also affect the distribution of power between mother and son. It is obviously not rash.

She put down the memorial and picked up two pieces of green banknotes and looked at them, and asked: Can this be used as money?

Zhang Shuo quickly winked and whispered: Mr. Liu is still standing there, saying, "You guys!"

After hearing this, Liu An quickly stepped out of the bureaucratic team, walked to the bottom of the platform and bowed: Report to Your Highness, this kind of banknote can indeed be used as a money service.In the early stage, subjects who received the banknotes were allowed to exchange gold, silver, copper coins or silk for circulating goods such as silk, so that they could gain credibility and allow the people to accept it for circulation.

Princess Taiping smiled and said: Just like you pay your salary, you will get the ticket first and then go to the warehouses everywhere to collect money and grain.

Someone below accidentally laughed out loud, but soon realized that Zhang Shuo and others were still stern, and the laughing person hurriedly stopped.

At first, as Your Highness said... Liu Andao, the various government agencies of the court used this kind of banknotes, and merchants and subjects could exchange them for money and grain after they received them.But as long as the banknotes are circulated for a while, and the banknotes can be used as taxes to obtain guarantees from the treasury, the people will soon know the benefits of banknotes, which are easy to carry, pay and measure. In addition, the circulating gold, silver and copper are reduced, and this thing can be unobstructed between the market, and people no longer need to rush to exchange them for physical objects.By then, as long as the national treasury has 10% of gold and silver, it will be able to issue 50% of paper money, which will have a great effect on the prosperous market, and the image of a prosperous era will be in front of you.

Princess Taiping nodded and said: Have you also thought of a way to prevent the public from forging private seals?

Liu Andao: The material of the Ministry of Revenue’s banknotes is special. The mulberry raffin is used as raw material and the ink of a specific formula is added. After controlling the origin, it can prevent large-scale forgery; it is issued a strict law to punish profiteers and punish those who are punished with serious crimes to warn those who try the law with their own hands; and the Ministry of Revenue’s banknotes have a number record when printing and issuing paper money. Once the same number is found, the source will be strictly investigated... There are other methods to prevent problems before they happen. I have repeatedly thought that it is appropriate and there are few mistakes.

He thought about it and said that most of these methods were thought of by the King of Jin, and his colleagues deeply believed that it was feasible.

Chongxun has a lot of ideas.Princess Taiping looked around and didn't see Xue Chongxun. He came yesterday.

Seeing that Princess Taiping did not show any disgust with the new law, Liu An took the opportunity to say: A few months ago, the reason was that the land annexation has become increasingly fierce in recent years, and the household registrations held by the Ministry of Revenue are decreasing, resulting in the financial and military sources being exhausted. If you sit still and watch, you will not come up with a solution to the situation, and the country is worried. Your Highness must observe it!

After the decline of the government troops, the border defense will become increasingly reliant on border troops and the cavalry of the governing states, causing a situation where the outside is more important than the inside. The reduction in the treasury harvest will increase the people's labor service and taxes, causing more households to devote themselves to high-ranking households and tenants to avoid corvee service, which will accelerate the deterioration of the local area. The rich are richer and poorer, which is not the benefit of the country.

Therefore, the reforms are guided by the times to clear and control blockages, and mainly achieve clearing and controlling in the military system and tax system, which is to strengthen the army and enrich the country.The money law, salt law, and grain law are all based on the principle of enriching the country and benefiting the people. I still have the two tax laws that have not been perfected and then proposed after waiting for the right time... There are fewer people in this reform for personal gain, and those who are public are the most important. Please check it out clearly.

After Liu An finished speaking, Princess Taiping said with a look: I understand, the reform involves a lot of things. I will first carefully review it before discussing it with my husband.You don’t need to worry, I will not object to the government’s decrees that are favorable to the country.

After hearing this, Zhang Shuo hurriedly took the lead and shouted: Your Highness is wise!All the ministers also agreed.

Princess Taiping clapped the memorial in her hand and said: That’s all for today. All the ministers will return to the yamen to rest assured about national affairs.

The ministers all bowed and said goodbye, and Princess Taiping stood up from the couch and left her seat, and everyone left.

Princess Taiping, who likes the fun, has not held a banquet recently and has gone straight back to the bedroom.

Because the current major event was not completely determined, even if we were to host the princes and ministers, everyone would not be interested, so Princess Taiping gave up.

She walked up from the flying bridge of Chengxiang Palace and came to her bedroom. After a while, Taoist Yuqing came and took a box containing elixirs to let Princess Taiping take the pill.

Because she was cured by Yuqing due to a terminal illness, Princess Taiping became more and more convinced of Taoism. This miraculous thing happened that forced her to believe that there were really mysterious things in the world. Under the persuasion of Taoist Yuqing, she took the alchemy and cultivated immortals together.

After the palace maid served Taiping and took the elixir, Yuqing also took the same elixir, and then the two sat face to face on the wide bamboo mat in a very strange position.

The palace maids also skillfully helped them remove the robes outside. The two women sat there with only underwear, white skin, which was very sexy, but the palace was full of women and no one watched.

This kind of immortal pill is called the Eight Mechanism Divine Pill. It has great medicinal properties and has great side effects. After taking it, Princess Taiping often feels hot and unbearable, and is very impulsive. Therefore, Yuqing said that she had to take off her clothes and meditate carefully before she could turn the external pill into the internal pill.

The knowledgeable Princess Taiping believes that there are aphrodisiacs in the elixir, but Yuqing refuses to admit it. Although Bai Qimei also said so at the beginning...

When Princess Taiping mentioned this last time, a female official wanted to curry favor with her and said she wanted to offer her a date (a male favorite).

This kind of thing was no big deal. Princess Taiping gave her male favorite to her mother Wu Zetian, but this time Princess Taiping refused.

She couldn't tell why. After thinking about it carefully, she seemed to think that if Xue Chongxun knew about this, he might be unhappy.

Since the Li Dan Dynasty, Princess Taiping felt that her eldest son was becoming more and more important in her mind, and that feeling of intimacy was slowly accumulating and increasing every day.

It seems that because Xue Chongxun has changed a lot when she grows up and is very close to her heart...

It’s not just because of the mother-son relationship, but in her heart, the other three sons are not as important as Xue Chongxun. Perhaps they are just favoring them.

Only she understands that she cannot be without Xue Chongxun, and she doesn’t know why this happens. Sometimes she imagines what will happen if she loses him one day?

Thinking of this would make her very uncomfortable, as if the whole world was dull and the pleasure of living was reduced.

At this time, Yuqing said slowly: Let go of the energy in the Dantian...

Princess Taiping exhaled as she said, trying to relax her body. In fact, Yuqing often talked about some mysterious methods, but she didn't understand much at all. Just take her slowly. Anyway, Yuqing's elixir is more powerful than the King of Hell. Princess Taiping even believes that she can live forever and stay young forever.

However, the side effects still could not be eliminated. She was soon distracted and was in a mess. Trying to calm down and cultivate her character was not very effective. Xue Chongxun's shadow and every word and deed followed one by one and abruptly entered her mind and could not be removed.

In a daze, the scene in the Prince's Kingdom flashed countless times that day, with a heart open for the closest person, and a hint of warmth appeared on the face of the closed eyes.