Chapter 274: What Imperial Edict, What Tiger Talisman?

It was eight or nine o'clock at night.

Lin Fusheng's group, who had drunk too much, were still preparing to keep drinking, but in the end, each of their wives persuaded them to go home.

After all, there was still a pregnant woman in the household.

These gentlemen were making a racket here; how could anyone else rest?

Besides, Lu Yuan had just come back the first day, so he also needed to rest.

That said, Lin Fusheng's bunch had indeed drunk too much, but they hadn't forgotten the matter at hand.

Just before leaving, they pulled Lu Yuan into the courtyard.

They surrounded Lu Yuan and gave him a round of scolding.

In short, it's about this Chang Liang matter.

These drunkards were talkative, and they were all close elders; Lu Yuan could only hum and hum to get by.

In the end, the aunties couldn't stand it anymore and dragged their own husbands away.

After waiting for the outsiders to leave, Lu Yuan then went back inside.

The room had already been tidied up by his mother-in-law and Yulan; now only Gu Qingwan was in the room, running bathwater.

Seeing her husband return, Gu Qingwan, while testing the water temperature, turned her head and smiled at him, saying:

"What did they say, taking you so long to come back?"

Lu Yuan walked over with a chuckle to his second sister-in-law, then reached out and slapped her ample butt with a smack.

This made Gu Qingwan let out a shy cry, her body trembling slightly.

Although Gu Qingwan's temperament wasn't like Su Liyan's shy maiden type, even so, such a sudden embarrassing act still left her, after coming to her senses, flushed red.

Feeling the tingling on her buttocks, Gu Qingwan, face red, looked at her man and coquettishly said:

"What are you doing~~!"

"I've discovered that this little thing of yours is getting worse and worse; sister just wants to ask you—if you don't want to say, you don't have to—but you come right out with a slap!"

Lu Yuan, meanwhile, raised his eyebrows with a grin and said:

"What's there not to say? I already told you—they just had me do this."

Huh?

Having come to her senses, Gu Qingwan, her face full of rosy blush, said in a coquettish voice:

"They just had you come hit sister!"

Lu Yuan, while going to close the doors, windows, and draw the curtains, said with a laugh:

"No, they said Chang Liang rose so quickly because someone in the Ministry of Personnel wants to curry favor with me, telling me to watch this person—he's definitely no good."

"The present emperor, he hates factionalism the most; if this person gets into trouble later, it'll surely implicate me, so I need to be careful."

Uncle Wang Ping finally added, "Next time I see this person, I'll beat him up."

Having said that, Lu Yuan turned his head to look at Gu Qingwan, who stood by the tub looking somewhat startled, and said with a chuckle:

"Sister-in-law, who do you say this person is?"

Having come to her senses, Gu Qingwan gave Lu Yuan an exceedingly charming white-eye and said:

"It really hurts~"

Lu Yuan bared his teeth in a smile and said:

"I'll give you a good rub later~"

Gu Qingwan is ultimately not Su Liyan; if she were Su Liyan, at this moment she would be too shy to speak.

Meanwhile, Gu Qingwan, having recovered, turned her body over with great charm and lay herself on the table behind her.

While gently swaying her incredibly alluring hips, she turned her head back to look at Lu Yuan with an irresistibly tempting gaze and said:

"Come on~"

……

The next day, early morning.

It was past nine in the morning.

Familiar time, familiar place; after getting out of bed, he stretched.

He let out an earth-shaking yawn.

One word: refreshing.

This kind of life is truly great.

As usual, Lu Yuan grabbed a towel, flung it over his shoulder, left hand holding toothpaste and cup, right hand carrying a basin, and went out to wash up.

Today the courtyard was especially quiet, nobody around.

Nowadays, basically anyone who can move has gone to work.

Even someone as lazy as Gao Xushi has gone.

Mainly because the wages given are indeed high, the same as the previous artisans' treatment.

They wouldn't say, "Because there are more people, we'll cut wages."

After Lu Yuan finished washing up, he went to the kitchen; the pot still had warm rice in it.

One bite and you knew it was his mother-in-law's cooking.

After eating, Lu Yuan didn't tidy up; he grabbed the car keys, left the hutong, and drove his little Bebebeen to the Imperial Palace.

Today he went to the Cabinet to talk about the Gilded Dynasty.

Autumn was just around the corner.

The Gilded Dynasty was also about to launch an attack on Grass Valley.

When Lu Yuan arrived at the Cabinet, he saw everyone inside busy as could be.

The other day, Lu Yuan had Kang Linfei come back, and Kang Linfei also knew what he needed to do.

Although he had not yet taken office, waiting for the imperial edict, Kang Linfei in the Cabinet also began to repeat what Lu Yuan had said to Gu Qingwan at that time.

It was just things like the Jiaonan Dynasty being excessive, stealing stuff and such.

The people in the Cabinet aren't fools; fools couldn't get into such a place.

Kang Linfei only said a bit, and everyone in the Cabinet knew what it meant.

This is about to go to war with the Jiaonan Dynasty.

Although said, some in the Cabinet were dazed; the war with the Liujin Dynasty hasn't even started yet, so why are they already thinking about the Jiaonan Dynasty?

But nobody dared to ask further.

Kang Linfei came with Lu Yuan, and Kang Linfei saying all this means it's probably Lu Yuan's intention.

And Lu Yuan's intention is the Emperor's intention.

The Cabinet nowadays is no longer what it was; it has long lost the ability to oppose the Emperor.

Whatever the higher-ups say, that's what we do.

Now, the Cabinet people have started to check the situation at the Xinan border—troops, provisions, and weapon equipment.

These things will be needed; once the higher-ups demand them, the Cabinet side must get ready immediately.

The Xinan side has always been peaceful; any trouble was just some tribal chiefs causing disorder before, and now with the railway smooth, the tribal chief post can basically be abolished.

Some ethnic minorities are to formally merge with the Great Zhou Dynasty.

As for border matters, they're really not detailed; we need to check with the Ministry of War, whose records are also from long ago, needing the Cabinet to organize.

This is really busy as hell.

Lu Yuan quickly found Kang Linfei in this busy Cabinet.

Hey, don't even mention it—today's Kang Linfei is really different from yesterday's.

Today's Kang Linfei compared to yesterday is just a change of clothes.

But, one feels that today's Kang Linfei looks full of vigor, his face glowing red.

As for how yesterday's Kang Linfei looked, well, he was listless.

Just like an ordinary, unremarkable retired old man.

But now, look at Kang Linfei's commanding, imposing manner.

Indeed.

Indeed, someone who once held the highest ministerial post could never accept ending up just writing books.

Now Kang Linfei, to Lu Yuan, seems like he's come back to life.

At this moment, Kang Linfei is extremely proud.

This morning at eight o'clock, while Kang Linfei was anxiously pacing at home, the imperial edict arrived.

Without any surprise, Kang Linfei was reinstated.

He put on the court robes he had set aside, thinking he would never wear them again in this life.

Kang Linfei rode in the special carriage prepared for him by the Imperial Court and went to work.

After arriving, Kang Linfei felt, 'I'm back, everything's back.'

This feeling is really great.

Kang Linfei had said before that, regarding writing books at the Hanlin Academy, he was fairly content.

But now let Kang Linfei say.

Content?

Content my ass!!

If Kang Linfei were to choose now, he would rather die in this assistant position.

This is where I should be.

After giving an order, the energetic Kang Linfei rose to prepare for other matters, but suddenly he saw Lu Yuan standing nearby, smiling.

Despite his vigor, seeing this living Yama, Kang Linfei's heart still trembled a little.

Before Kang Linfei could say anything, Lu Yuan found a chair, sat down, and then said:

"Grand Secretary, well, getting back to your old trade, this is different."

Kang Linfei startled, then quickly waved his hands with an embarrassed smile, saying:

"Where would I be? I still owe a lot to Lord Lu……"

Lu Yuan wasn't talking about that; instead he raised his eyebrows and said:

"However, Grand Secretary, you shouldn't be doing this now; you should help me talk about the Jiaonan Dynasty affairs."

Lu Yuan summoned Kang Linfei back not to handle these Cabinet affairs.

These Cabinet matters—adding or losing Kang Linfei makes no difference.

Lu Yuan wants Kang Linfei to go beg before the civil and military officials!

It's just that he took a liking to Kang Linfei's status, having him lobby.

That way, later when discussing the Jiaonan Dynasty in the imperial court, there won't be the hassle of the civil and military officials arguing back and forth.

So this is the important task Kang Linfei must do now.

After Kang Linfei was stunned, he then quickly said:

"Lord Lu, after you finish listening, regarding the Jiaonan Dynasty affairs, I've already said everything on the Cabinet side."

"As for those other high officials, we also need to wait a bit, Lord Lu, you see, I think we should wait until after the grand court assembly in a few days ends, then gather everyone and talk again."

"Otherwise, you say, me going door to door one by one would really be improper."

Lu Yuan pondered, and indeed that's true.

Going one by one like that is too deliberate.

Besides, if we go one by one, Kang Linfei would have to repeat those words dozens of times, which is indeed quite a burden.

That's fine; we have plenty of days.

Lu Yuan immediately nodded and said:

"Fine, as long as we get this done within a month."

One month?

Kang Linfei looked at Lu Yuan and blinked; the war with the Liujin Dynasty is also approaching, he estimated it would start in the next one or two months.

If that's the case…

Then the Great Zhou Dynasty really will have to fight on two fronts…

After some thought, Kang Linfei didn't say much more, just nodded.

But Kang Linfei suddenly remembered something, looked at Lu Yuan and hurriedly said:

"Lord Lu, have you just gotten up?"

Lu Yuan had wanted to talk about the Liujin Dynasty, but seeing Kang Linfei ask, he also nodded and said:

"Yes, I just got up, just left home."

Hearing Lu Yuan's words, Kang Linfei gave him a strange look and said:

"If that's the case… when did you ask His Majesty for permission to let me return to the Cabinet?"

Hmm…

Lu Yuan startled, this…

He couldn't possibly say he told his wife that last night in bed, could he?

The startled Lu Yuan immediately said:

"Um… last night… last night, after I remembered, I deliberately went to ask His Majesty for an edict."

Hearing Lu Yuan's words, Kang Linfei let out a slight sigh.

Indeed so.

The edict came at eight this morning; Kang Linfei guessed Lu Yuan had handled it last night.

His Majesty truly favors Lu Yuan; for such a big matter, Lu Yuan says do it and it gets done.

He spoke of it at night, and the edict was proclaimed at eight this morning.

But… it's still that problem…

After thinking, Kang Linfei looked at Lu Yuan and sighed, saying:

"Lord Lu, what I said yesterday, you really need to think it over carefully…

"How could you go see His Majesty at night? Don't you know His Majesty needs to rest at night? For such a small matter, couldn't you go during the day?"

"Going to see him at night disturbs His Majesty's rest; that's really not good."

As he spoke, Kang Linfei started again.

To be honest, today Lu Yuan has heard enough of these words.

Yesterday Kang Linfei gave Lu Yuan a lecture; after dinner tonight, Lu Yuan was again given a round of instruction by Lin Fusheng and his group.

Now Kang Linfei is starting again; Lu Yuan can hardly bear it.

Lu Yuan still has things to do.

How can one listen to these people nagging about this every day?

Lu Yuan quickly looked at Kang Linfei and said:

"Alright, alright, Grand Secretary, I understand; I will definitely think carefully about my future actions."

Never mind what Lu Yuan thinks inside; at least outwardly he is very sincere and honest.

Kang Linfei was very pleased to see this.

Eh~

That's right~

Lu Yuan, be a bit more honest, not so arrogant, not so jumpy, and His Majesty might favor you for a few more years.

If His Majesty favors you for a few more years, then I could live a couple more years comfortably, right?

Immediately, Kang Linfei said with great satisfaction:

"Eh~ that's right, Lord; from now on, for any matter we must first consider His Majesty, we must consider problems from His Majesty's perspective."

Lu Yuan felt a sense of contempt, thinking: when you factions formed in the Cabinet back then, why didn't you consider my wife's feelings?

Of course, though he felt contempt inside, Lu Yuan didn't show it on his face, merely saying:

"I understand, I understand, Grand Secretary; I still have an important matter here."

Hearing Lu Yuan say he understood, Kang Linfei's mood brightened, he looked at Lu Yuan more favorably, and immediately said:

"Lord Lu, what matter?"

Immediately, Lu Yuan said:

"We need to prepare for action against the Liujin Dynasty; have the Minister of War come over, we'll devise a plan together."

……

Cabinet, second floor.

In a meeting room, a row of people sat.

One Minister of War, two Vice Ministers of War, plus some attendants and such; in short, basically all the War Department officials, big and small, were present.

On the Cabinet's side, Kang Linfei led many Cabinet members in organizing the Liujin Dynasty's materials.

As for the Liujin Dynasty's materials, the Cabinet had long prepared them.

After all, everyone had long known about this battle against the Gilded Dynasty, and had long been prepared.

Now bring them out.

After everyone had gathered, Kang Linfei looked at Lu Yuan and said:

Lord, bring out the imperial edict and the tiger tally.

Huh?

Lu Yuan, looking confused, looked at Kang Linfei and said:

What imperial edict? What tiger tally?

Kang Linfei:????

Cabinet:????

Ministry of War:????

(End of chapter)