Chapter 61: The black umbrella in the Imperial Academy and the light on the bridge of the nose

The black carriage passed the intersection of Dongchuan Road. Fan Xian had just retracted his gaze that he had thrown towards his bookstore and clinic. When he turned his head, he saw the ancient gate of the Imperial Academy.

The Taixue is a relatively scattered complex. There are no buildings like yamen halls or high courtyard walls on the street. Even the gate has never been closed before. The green trees inside have been explored, and the sound of reading everywhere has also been revealed, which is full of the Confucian style of quiet thinking.

Just as the Privy Council once called the Military Academy and the Old Military Office, it is still unclear with the Ministry of War among the Six Ministry. The new policies that the Qing Kingdom had played in the past few decades have also changed the name of the Imperial Academy again and again. Tongwenguan and Education Institute, no matter how difficult it is to express it, His Majesty changed it randomly.

However, scholars from all over the world still used to call this area the Imperial Academy, and later the imperial court's official documents naturally recognized this point. The scholars selected by various prefectures and counties, as well as the excellent children introduced by the powerful mansions of Kyoto, were concentrated in this building complex to learn classics and history and govern the world.

This is the highest institution of learning in Qing State, and the teacher he invited is naturally the top one. For example, Mr. Pan Ling and Pan, who has become a master of calligraphy in the imperial court, Zeng Wenxiang, the teacher of He Zongwei, the senior secretary of the Central Secretariat of the dynasty, and a few years ago, Grand Secretary Shu was also a professor of the Imperial Academy, and now the first Chinese official in the court, Grand Secretary Hu, also often comes to the Imperial Academy to teach these scholars.

With so many awesome teachers, and the special status of the Imperial Academy, the students inside have excellent prospects, so the students in the Imperial Academy are also a little awesome. Ordinary government offices are unwilling to deal with the Imperial Academy at all, and the slightly enlightened academic style of Qingguo made ordinary ministers unwilling to go in casually - they were afraid of being questioned by these students and finally fled in a panic.

However, Fan Xian never had such concerns. He had always had a good relationship with students from the Imperial Academy. Especially after the fourth year of Qingli, he worked in the Imperial Academy and served as the deputy of the Imperial Academy. In addition, Fan Xian was shocked and later, he dragged a cart of books from Zhuangmao to the Imperial Academy from Northern Qi. His status in the Imperial Academy became extremely noble and deeply admired by students.

The carriage was quietly parked at the gate of the Imperial College, and a school official had already come up to pick him up. Fan Xian got off the carriage. He looked up at the gate that had not been seen for half a year and smiled. This ancient gate was actually a newly built land later. He forced some ancient ideas into it. He spent so much money. In fact, it was just Nan Qing who always felt a deep sense of inferiority from the bottom of his heart in terms of knowledge, especially in some corners related to the taste of history.

It suddenly started to rain. Although it was not heavy, the scattered raindrops hit the dark-colored wooden door of the Taixue School and became particularly eye-catching, gradually becoming more and more smudged, and the stone slabs on the ground were about to accumulate water.

An official from the Qi Nian group took out the lotus clothes from the car in silence and wanted to put them on for him. Fan Xian shook his head. Although he liked to wear black lotus clothes and lined up in a shape of a font with his closest subordinates. He traveled like a ghost on a quiet autumn night in Kyoto, but today he was in the Imperial Academy. He didn't want to look too special, and shocked the passionate and pure students.

Mu Feng'er held up an umbrella and sent him into the gate of the Imperial Academy.

It was already afternoon, and the sun had already moved westward, but was covered by clouds and swept by rain. The light became darker, and the whole vast courtyard was full of quietness. Walking under the green trees, there was no one looking at him, and it was extremely quiet.

Thousands of Imperial College students were still in class at this time. As an Imperial College professor, Fan Xian calculated clearly, but just frowned and thought, why did the sound of reading stop so neatly?

It was like a bee suddenly acting collectively. It was like a mountain wind pouring into a narrow natural stone pot. A buzzing sound suddenly sounded in the quiet courtyard in the Imperial Academy, and the sound was getting closer and closer. It turned out that the sound of countless people talking and laughing were mixed together.

After class, hundreds of young scholars walked out of the various courtyards of the Imperial Academy at the same time and walked onto the wide street in the middle, densely packed, crowded together, and a fresh vitality immediately filled the entire space.

Some young people forgot to bring an umbrella, shouted loudly, jumped on the wet bluestone pavement, hitting the layers of raindrops, and ran towards their school hall. More students were leisurely and opened the umbrella around them with a calm smile. For a time, countless umbrella flowers of different colors bloomed in the entire courtyard, but there were no bright colors, mostly blue-gray and light.

So Fan Xian, who didn't want to be conspicuous, turned into a strange plant in the sea of ​​plain umbrella because of the large black cloth umbrella above his head, which immediately attracted everyone's attention.

"Mr. Xiao Fan!"

"teacher!"

"gentlemen!"

The students surrounded Fan Xian in surprise. Most of the students had only seen him from afar, while some were fortunate to follow him to edit and edit the classics and history of Zhuangmao, so they shouted with great force.

Fortunately, there was no congestion. Perhaps these students also knew that Fan Xian was busy in the court Zhonggong and was also busy with the major events in Dongyi City recently, so they all suppressed their joy. After giving courtesy and asking for peace, they made way out.

Fan Xian nodded with a smile, then said a few gossips to the familiar student teachers, looked up at the sky, and did not dare to delay any more. He complained and went to Jingsi Courtyard deep in the deep.

Behind him and the officials of the Supervisory Office, the students of the Imperial Academy were still excited and whispered curiously, all guessing why Lord Xiao Fan came to the Imperial Academy today? Is it just a matter of Dongyi City? Your Majesty will return Lord Xiao Fan to the Imperial Academy? Let him continue to give lectures?

He put the black umbrella and placed it by the door. A cool ray of rain flowed down the tip of the umbrella, writing a big word, wetting the high wooden threshold. Fan Xian took the towel taken by the instructor, wiped the wet hair randomly, and then entered the inner room, bowed to the grand senator behind the case, and said with a smile: "Let's see you come."

Grand Secretary Hu took off his glasses from his nose, looked at him suspiciously for a while, and then recognized him, and said with a smile: "It's rare that I don't have to stay in the corner room today. Just as I was about to hide from the quiet, can't you let me slow down?"

Now the disciple's minister is headed by Grand Secretary Hu. His Majesty is gradually getting older and his energy is always less than when he was in his prime. Moreover, the king seems to have been much more open-minded and thrown many political affairs to Grand Secretary Hu, and no longer takes everything personally. In this way, the Secretary's minister's power has become more powerful. However, the affairs are extremely busy. In the private words of some sharp-eyed officials, the Secretary of the Disciple of the Disciple of the current disciple has gradually become the prime minister's mansion of the past, and the authority in the hands of the leader Grand Secretary Hu seems to be moving closer to Lin Ruofu of the past day.

Fan Xian didn't believe this. Since the emperor went through great pains to take down his grandmother, he naturally would not allow another Lin Ruofu to appear. But he also knew that Grand Secretary Hu worked hard all day long and did work hard. He smiled and bowed again, saying, "If it weren't for the serious business, I wouldn't dare to bother you."

Mr. Hu had a very good relationship with him. On the one hand, the two had a very consistent position in the debate on the ancient and new words. Both sides appreciated each other's temperament, so they had a good personal relationship. On the other hand, it was because Mr. Hu helped Fan Xian a lot during the Kyoto rebellion, and Fan Xian was the first to save his life.

"Tell me." Grand Secretary Hu put his glasses on the table and made a soft sound. After a slight pause, he sighed and said, "It's probably not a good thing to ask you to do it yourself."

Fan Xian smiled and looked at the glasses on the table. However, he did not express his intention immediately, but said, "Is this crystal mirror easy to use?"

As in previous years, Grand Secretary Hu had a young face that was completely inconsistent with his age, but Fan Xian knew that the civil servant leader had some small problems in his eyes. When he chatted about it once every two years ago, Fan Xian kept it in mind and asked the inner treasury to think about it for a long time. In the end, he found a foreign crystal from Dongyi City and paired it with a pair of unique glasses for him.

Grand Secretary Hu has always been very grateful for this matter because he has worked day and night for government affairs. If he reviews memorials and looks bad, he will have big problems.

It’s just that he grinded manually and did not have an optometry machine, so Fan Xian only knew that Grand Secretary Hu was presbyopia, but he didn’t know how helpful it would be.

"It's great, it's great." Grand Secretary Hu said with a smile: "Okay, with the affection of these glasses, I will do whatever you want to do for you. Anyway, the young master will not let me do anything that violates the law and resists the order."

As soon as these words were said, Fan Xian was stunned and almost laughed. He thought that the Grand Secretary seemed righteous, but he didn't expect that he was still so cautious and cunning. The two knew that with Fan Xian's ability, the problem that could not be handled by themselves must be an internal problem in the court. Grand Secretary Hu's words were extremely cunning.

Fan Xian shook his head with a smile. Just when Grand Secretary Hu thought he was not easy to speak and stroked his beard and comforted himself, he suddenly squinted his eyes and said, "Kyoto Prefecture Sun Jingxiu, he is a good local official..."

Grand Secretary Hu tightened his fingers and almost pulled his beard off and coughed twice. He really didn't expect Fan Xian to speak so directly. As the position of the prefect of Kyoto, as the leader of the civil servant, he certainly knew why the current situation was caused. His Majesty was helping He Zongwei to take office, so Grand Secretary he had to remain silent.

He looked at Fan Xian tentatively and said, "Mr. Sun... Didn't the rumors in the past be suppressed by the young master himself?"

Fan Xian was too lazy to turn these corners with him, so he sat directly beside him, leaned against his ear and said, "I have nothing to do with his daughter, but I really want to save this Lord Sun."

"This is what Your Majesty meant." Grand Secretary Hu didn't care about anything in front of him, and directly moved the emperor out.

Fan Xian sneered: "It's just that He Zongwei's youthful and charming dance there, what does it have to do with His Majesty."

Grand Secretary Hu laughed, knowing that this kid would not admit that in front of anyone, the problem with Kyoto Prefecture was His Majesty’s intention, otherwise he would just be fighting with His Majesty openly.

Fan Xian continued, "I will just ask one question, what is Sun Jingxiu's performance in the past three years?"

"This..." Grand Secretary Hu stroked his short beard lightly, and after a moment of silence, he said: "After two years, more than one year, it's just mediocre."

Kyoto Prefecture is indeed an important position, so Mr. Hu kept it firmly in his heart about the performance of the past three years and blurted out. Fan Xian sneered and said, "Don't say these gossips that cover the eyes. The Grand Secretary knew in his heart that the position of the prefecture of Kyoto was not done by humans. He either offends this or offends the office. He had a performance of the performance of the year and failed every year."

"Mei Zhili was at most a peaceful man back then." Fan Xian rubbed his wrist and said, "Sun Jingxiu has been in the middle of two years and is already an extraordinary capable official. In addition, this person is not good at forming private parties and fraud, so it is rare to have such comments."

Grand Secretary Hu was silent for a moment, but he could not defeat his own conscience after all. He nodded gently. He also knew that the position of Kyoto Prefecture was difficult. Sun Jingxiu was really a rare subordinate. If he was still in charge of Kyoto Prefecture, he would be much easier to handle as a Grand Secretary.

"If he really takes him, who will take him?" Fan Xian said seriously: "I am here today, not for personal affair or fighting. I just want to ask. Could it be that the Grand Secretary wants to change five prefectures in the next three years, and in the end, no one dares to be the one, and even uses the trick of swallowing charcoal and getting sick?"

Grand Secretary Hu sighed and said in embarrassment: "I don't want Lord Sun to leave his post either. I just haven't figured out why this news came out in the palace."

He stared at Fan Xian's eyes and asked softly: "Did you have a quarrel with that person again?"

Fan Xian is the only one in the world who dares to quarrel with His Majesty the Emperor. Fan Xian smiled self-deprecatingly and said, "It has nothing to do with quarrel. In fact, you should also see clearly. Your Majesty is using this matter to establish authority for He Zongwei. Don't say that Sun Jingxiu is now mine. So he said he is an idiot, and I want to protect him."

"I said before that regardless of my personal relationship, I will become your person again." Grand Secretary Hu shook his head with a wry smile and said, "What do you want me to do? If I come forward, Your Majesty will definitely guess that it was your entrusted... Lord He is also a very talented person, why do you want to be so angry with him?"

After a long time of silence, Fan Xian said softly: "This air must be ground. This world. Either the east wind overwhelms the west wind or the west wind overwhelms the east wind. I will not give He Zongwei a glimmer of hope. A glimmer of possibility, a glimmer of luck, a history of success."

"Why?" Grand Secretary Hu was slightly shocked when he saw his seriousness and asked in doubt.

Fan Xian did not answer this question because it was about him who wanted to hold the power at hand under the oppression of the emperor and make a declaration. He slowly stood up and said, "I will go to the palace tonight to quarrel and force Your Majesty to not issue an order. In this way, the problem of Kyoto Prefecture is the pressure of the subordinate Session of the Secretariat, and I need the Grand Secretary to help me resist it."

Mr. Hu did not respond, as if waiting for his next explanation.

Fan Xian smiled and said, "Sun Jingxiu is a good official and shouldn't have disappeared from the boring power struggle just like this. The reason is actually that simple."

Before Grand Secretary Hu spoke, he said quietly: "This Imperial Academy is a good place, with youthful youth. These students will all enter the court to become officials in the future. As gentlemen, we should not only teach them anything, but also use the real situation in the court to help them build some confidence."

"A official can be safe and sound as long as he is willing to do things." Fan Xian stared at Grand Secretary Hu's eyes, "If Sun Jingxiu collapses like this, what are you going to teach these students? What is the purpose of the rules mentioned in Grand Secretary's book?"

Forced into the corner by Fan Xian, Grand Secretary Hu was silent for a long time, knowing that this young master was a person who could do it. If he didn't agree, maybe he would really use his prestige in the Imperial Academy to incite the students to do something. He couldn't help but sigh and said, "Okay, as long as Your Majesty doesn't invent the order, I will protect Master Sun."

Hearing this sentence, Fan Xian finally laughed happily, bowed his hand, said nothing more, and wanted to say goodbye.

Grand Secretary Hu picked up the crystal glasses on the table and said with a smile: "Even if you give your love to the glasses... But don't you think I'm getting more affection?"

Fan Xian was in a very good mood and said, "At worst, let the inner treasury make a few more pairs and give each of your young and old men a pre-order."

Mr. Hu was secretly mocked Wu Chai and scolded him with a smile: "I mean, Master Xuezheng said a few days ago that when will you finish your work in Dongyi City, you have to go back to the Imperial Academy to teach the students."

Fan Xian replied with a smile: "If you don't tell me this, I'm going to do it too." This is the truth. Today, when I entered the Imperial Academy, Fan Xian was in a good mood, and seemed to think of the situation when he was in school in his previous life. He also knew that these students would definitely be the pillars and beams of Qingguo in the future. If he could influence them in advance, at some moments, perhaps this would be his life-saving weapon.

Fan Xian said goodbye and left. Grand Secretary Hu continued his affairs alone, accompanied by the dim light. I don’t know how long it took, and when it was not completely dark, an official walked in gently and said something in his ear.

Grand Secretary Hu was silent for a long time, and a bitter smile appeared on the corner of his lips, and he said softly: "It turns out that there was such a fuss at the Sun Mansion Banquet today. I really don't know what this young master thought. The fuss was so exaggerated that it was completely inconsistent with his previous secret attitude."

The official was naturally a confidant of Grand Secretary Hu, and there were many confusion on his face and said in confusion: "And this matter is strange. I know it is the meaning of the palace, so Lord Xiao Fan still has to resist and even come to ask for the teacher. Is it worth it for a mere Sun Jingxiu?"

"It's not just Sun Jingxiu." Grand Secretary Hu sighed again, waved his hand to let the official go down, and reminded him: "No need to mention this matter. As long as Your Majesty does not issue an order, I will protect my personal life for Lord Xiao Fan, and it should be okay."

The official responded in a deep voice and said goodbye and left.

Mr. Hu's still young face changed his expression under the dim light. He was thinking about Fan Xian's previous words and guessing Fan Xian's true intentions. Dongfeng and Xifeng? He rubbed his furrowed eyebrows and couldn't help but smile bitterly. Lord He was afraid he was not qualified to be Dongfeng. Lord Fan was fighting with His Majesty!

But why did you fight? Could it be that you were resentful of Your Majesty's depriving power, so you vented it here? Grand Secretary Hu fell into deep thought and always felt that this was not the case. It has been three years since Your Majesty's depriving power of the Supervision Bureau has been moving forward, and Fan Xian has always taken a step forward filially before going further in the palace, and he looked back and retreated without any unhappiness.

Why doesn’t Fan Xian retreat? Is he worried that he would retreat too much and would not have anything in his hands in the future and could compete with others? But who do you need to compete with except Your Majesty?

Grand Secretary Hu frowned very tightly, but he couldn't figure it out. Suddenly, his fingers stroked his wrinkles, and was slightly surprised. He quickly slowly spread the wrinkles with his fingers, and quietly took out a small porcelain bottle from under the table, picked a little emulsion from the bottle, applied it to his face, and after slowly slapped it, his cheeks became smoother, and a few wrinkles seemed inconspicuous.

Grand Secretary Hu put the porcelain bottle into the table and hid it, and smiled self-deprecatingly. Why do you have to think so much about the matter between His Majesty and His Son? They can't really turn against each other - but in his face, Grand Secretary Hu's self-deprecating intentions on the corners of his lips became stronger and stronger, and even a little sad.

He is not young anymore, so he pays special attention to facial care, because he knows that his historical mission is to become the center of His Majesty's court a hundred years later, so he must not look old. If His Majesty thinks he is old, he will definitely have some other ideas to leave a younger minister to his son.
Chapter completed!