Chapter 726

The family banquet was very happy. At the banquet, neither Cabinet Minister Xu nor Zhang Juzheng talked about any court matters; they were all just trivial family matters. Occasionally, they also talked about martial arts—Zhang Juzheng was from a military household, and his family also passed down some martial arts. "Sure enough, a capable person can do anything. Shuda has cultivated this true Qi quite well." Zhang Juzheng's hometown, Jiangling Jingzhou Guard, was not far from Mount Wudang, so this person actually cultivated a body of Taoist true Qi.

This true Qi was very pure. Coupled with the movements revealed by Zhang Juzheng's arms, waist, legs, and shoulders, Bai Lang saw at a glance that he had learned his body-strengthening boxing and kicking techniques quite well. With the addition of true Qi, as long as he continued to practice, living to 120 would be no problem—but if he was extravagant and worried too much, it would be good if he could live to half that age after breaking his cultivation. Zhang Juzheng had a heavy mind. Bai Lang believed that he would eventually break his cultivation. For a civil official to practice to this point was enough.

The polite words were that Shuda was capable of everything, but the truth was that in terms of martial arts, Zhang Juzheng was of average talent. As for Cabinet Minister Xu, this person should just practice the Five Animals Play. Practicing martial arts? Don't joke. Among the Ming Dynasty civil officials, none of those who could reach the path of cabinet minister in the Capital had high martial arts skills. However, among those who took the path of external officials, there were several who could be called high in martial arts, and the most famous and strongest among them was Bai Lang. This person had already been regarded as the natural candidate for the Governor who would patrol the Nine Borders and the Minister of War in the future.

If he didn't become the Minister of War, it was also possible to be the Minister of Justice—although it wouldn't be the case that the Minister would personally catch people, it was a good thing to have this expert guarding.

After Bai Lang finished eating and talked for a while, he wanted to leave, but he was arranged by Cabinet Minister Xu in the guest room of the mansion—how could a granddaughter's husband be allowed to go out and live? After Bai Lang left for the guest room, what Cabinet Minister Xu Jie and Zhang Juzheng, this Censor, said was not his concern. "They will probably talk about me, but so what?" Bai Lang lay high, preparing to have an audience with the Jiajing Emperor in a few days.

This could also be considered a small court meeting. The cabinet ministers and a small part of the Hanlin, plus the eunuchs of the inner court, and a Bai Lang entered the West Garden. The Jiajing Emperor was, as usual, wearing a Taoist robe and meditating on the cloud bed at the head. Others filed in, and Bai Lang stood at the very back. However, his figure was tall and his demeanor was fierce, making him the most conspicuous one. The matters to be reported were just those that needed urgent handling in the court. Bai Lang listened a little, "These things boil down to one thing—no money."

Money is hard to handle. He knew there were several million taels of silver in the treasury of the Court of Imperial Stud, but could that thing be moved at will? Many of them were for the Emperor to cultivate the Dao. Jiajing was cultivating a fart of a Dao. Bai Lang could perceive that the Emperor's vitality was depleted and his body was very bad. If he didn't cultivate the Dao, he could still live for more than ten years. If he cultivated the Dao, he would probably live for ten years at most. And besides him, the other Innate Expert eunuch didn't speak either. The loyalty of these inner eunuchs still had to be discounted.

As they talked, they talked about the problem of the Prince of Shunyi outside Xuan-Da. This person was not honest. Although border trade had been opened in recent years, small-scale looting had never stopped. This old thing, the Prince of Shunyi, had also never stopped arming his subordinates. If he broke through the pass again, it would not be a good thing. And at this time, this was the reason why the cabinet wanted Bai Lang to be the Datong Surveillance Commissioner, "Understood, let the minister lead his own patrol camp to attack outside the pass, and do more raiding, right? No problem."

In this Great Ming Dynasty, there were only two people who dared to say directly that I, your father, just wanted to go to the Prince of Shunyi's place to raid. One was a civil official named Bai Lang, and the other was a martial general named Ma Fang. Bai Lang was on the scene at this time. After just saying this, he straightened his body, and a sense of self-satisfaction burst out. It was just that he didn't stroke his tiger beard like GuanYu. The most arrogant person in the room was him. For a moment, even the Jiajing Emperor didn't want to talk.

This Emperor should be quite envious of Bai Lang. He didn't envy his high martial arts, but envied that after achieving the Innate realm, he could probably live to 120—the inner eunuchs' achievement of the Innate realm was also flawed and they couldn't live that long, and the previous civil and martial experts who achieved the Innate realm were not that young. After achieving it, their old injuries made them unable to be perfect and live that long. Only Bai Lang, the White Jade Pillar of his era, achieved the Innate realm in his youth and, without serious injury, could live to his natural lifespan.

This was also what those Taoists said, and this was not a lie—the so-called pursuit of the Heavenly Dao and becoming an immortal, achieving a flawless Innate realm was the first step. If this step could not be taken, continuing to practice was actually just playing around. Of course, those Taoists didn't dare to say the latter part of the sentence, but Jiajing was so smart that he thought of this point himself. So this Emperor envied Bai Lang and also secretly hated himself for why he couldn't achieve the Innate realm.

Bai Lang was a martial Innate, but Taoist cultivation of both nature and life was meant to break the Innate realm with a breath of true Qi, just with the addition of a divine sense. It didn't matter which came first; the two were mutually supportive.

In short, the Jiajing Emperor didn't speak. The ones who spoke for him were the great eunuchs of the Ceremonial Secretariat, who directly told the cabinet that Bai Huayin would definitely be able to do the work of the Datong Surveillance Commissioner well, and incidentally raise the rewards on him. It was directly stated that if Bai Lang could suppress the Prince of Shunyi so that he would no longer cause friction at the border, a python robe would definitely be his. Bai Lang cupped his fists, "It will be as the Emperor's holy will!" After saying this, he retreated to the side, waiting for the end of the meeting to go out with the cabinet ministers.

After that, nothing happened. Everyone hoped that he would go to Datong to take office quickly, but the Datong officials and gentry were like mourning parents. A few years ago, they finally managed to scrape together money to send this "White Yama" to be promoted and leave Datong. They hadn't lived a good life for long, and the land distributed to the poor military households hadn't been fully taken back. How did this Yama return as a Surveillance Commissioner? This was even more terrifying than a prefect—this was someone who could legitimately hold military power—of course, Bai Lang also had the title of Vice Minister of War.

Bai Lang waited for Bai Xu Shi and the others to arrive, and then arranged for her to live in her grandfather Cabinet Minister Xu's house—of course, Madam Xu was very happy; this was her own granddaughter, and Cabinet Minister Xu was also quite happy. And Ren Shenggu and Lan Fenghuang came over. Over the years, there was no longer a Holy Maiden, only a woman named Ren Yingying. As for Lan Fenghuang? She had long forgotten that she was still a person of the Five Poisons Cult. Now mentioning the Five Poisons Cult? It would only bring back "Bah! What kind of dog-like bumpkin!"

People didn't wear the original Miao-style decorations anymore—besides the word "poor," what else could be said about those clothes? Wasn't the brocade of Jiangnan good-looking?

In short, Bai Lang took his two concubines and rode his horse to take office just like that—no need for an escort, and no need for proof. There was no one in the world who could take the official seal from his hands. And when he arrived in Datong, it was still impossible for anyone to dare to question him. As for the patrol camp, Bai Lang said it would be selected after arriving in Datong.

【727-1】 Bai Lang entered Datong, and this time his arrogance was even more rampant—now he was the Datong Surveillance Commissioner, and the Datong Prefect and Datong Magistrate were below him. The most pitiful one was the Datong Magistrate; this guy hadn't been promoted and transferred yet. Last time, Bai Lang carried forward the tradition and ordered the magistrate around. This time, I'm afraid it would be even more level-by-level pressure, making the prefect and magistrate run around to clean up his mess. Bai Lang saw the dead faces of the prefect and magistrate and knew that they were likely to be worse off than dead.