The sun was three poles high in the sky. Zhao, the Sovereign, who had risen somewhat late today, disregarded the possibility of several high officials and important figures arriving at any moment to discuss matters. As always, he tightened his cuffs and went to the small grove to the left rear of the temporary palace to begin his daily archery practice.

Of course, the armored soldier from yesterday had not followed, and Eunuch Lan Gui and Feng Yi, among others, had been sent by the Sovereign to handle matters in the front hall and rear palace. At this moment, only Yang Yizhong and Liu Yan were leading the Imperial Guards in attendance… In fact, the entire palace had long been accustomed to this habit of the Sovereign, which had started at the Mingdao Palace.

"Speak!"

The Zhao Sovereign clearly hadn't forgotten some things. After shooting an arrow, he suddenly spoke, causing Liu Yan and the several Liaodong-born Imperial Guards in attendance to be confused.

"As Your Majesty commands." Yang Yizhong knew that the Sovereign wanted Liu Yan to hear it on purpose, but he didn't try to hide anything and reported directly. "The details of the military situation are clear and accurate, but it's impossible to determine whether there was a leak or if it was just a coincidence that it came to my attention. The thing is…"

The Zhao Sovereign listened as he shot arrows. After exhausting a quiver, he finally stopped drawing his bow and shook his head. "I think I understand. The key to this matter depends on Hu Hongxiu's ability… is that correct?"

"Yes," Yang Yizhong replied straightforwardly.

Zhao Jiu, while reloading his bow and aiming at the target, couldn't help but chuckle. "In short, if this man has no ability, then it means that his father, Wang Shuzhan, recommended an alchemist to me, and his son, Wang Ruohai, and his son-in-law, Hu Hongxiu, leaked military secrets. The whole family is a bunch of bastards. But if this Hu has ability, then it means that our Wang, the Grand Master of Ceremonies, is just a confused bastard because he recommended an alchemist to me and hid his son-in-law… Is that what you mean?"

The Sovereign forced an arrow off target, and Yang Yizhong could only nod reluctantly.

Seeing this, Zhao Jiu couldn't help but shake his head and laugh again.

In fact, how could the Zhao Sovereign not understand that the absurd matter of Wang Shuzhan recommending an alchemist showed that he was a foolish, mixed-up egghead who wanted to stand out?

Relatively speaking, his son-in-law, Hu Hongxiu, had a clear record… a former student of the Imperial Academy who abandoned his pen for the military, defended the Tokyo City, and wandered for more than a year, traveling from the Yellow River to the Yangtze River. He had read ten thousand books, traveled ten thousand miles, and personally been on the battlefield, with a clear stance. He was clearly a qualified staff officer in the making.

However, in the eyes of that Grand Master of Ceremonies Wang, such a person, and moreover a close relative, was not as useful as an alchemist.

In a word, Wang Shuzhan was simply stupid and not really bad.

However, the Sovereign was disgusted by the alchemist matter yesterday, so he deliberately wanted to teach Wang Shuzhan a lesson and forcibly shoot off target.

Of course, hearing this somewhat expected explanation, the Zhao Sovereign naturally put aside the previous 'leak of military secrets.' It was a good thing after all.

"There's one more thing," Zhao Jiu said, feeling slightly better. While continuing to draw his bow, he casually inquired, "Judging from Prime Minister Lü's confusion these past few days, I'm afraid it was also a confused account that day?"

"I have also thoroughly investigated this matter." Yang Yizhong hesitated slightly. "From what I can see now, Prime Minister Lü seems to have suffered an unwarranted disaster and was a collateral victim."

Zhao Jiu was slightly stunned, but he hit the bullseye with that arrow. He remained calm and composed as he spoke, "Was it Feng Yi who did it, targeting Lan Gui?"

"I dare not say for certain." Yang Yizhong knelt on one knee and explained with his head lowered. "I only found some sources of rumors, and tracked down a few people outside the palace who initially spread the rumors. They were all merchants and workshop owners who had procurement relationships with the palace, and they all said that they had heard it from the palace's procurement eunuchs… Since it involves eunuchs, I didn't dare ask further, but perhaps the eunuchs were just being gossipy."

"Whether it's true or not, Feng Yi is the most suspicious, and I already had my suspicions…" Zhao Jiu shook his head repeatedly. "Lan Gui was punished for this, so he is naturally the leading head eunuch, with the greatest motive. And that time, he seemed to have conveniently avoided the incident with us, but that seemed a bit too much. You must know that Lan Gui's proposal was initially discussed among the eunuchs. Without him speaking up, how would this have happened? Even bringing Lady Wu here was his own decision."

Yang Yizhong lowered his head and remained silent.

"However, Lan Gui has been with me longer, knows my temper, and whether he was watching coldly from the sidelines, staging a Zheng Bo overcame Duan at Yan, is another matter," Zhao Jiu's arrow completely missed the target, so he simply put down his arrows and turned around. "These things are inevitable, but I can't sit idly by, nor can I become a tool for these people… Go tell Feng Yi everything you've found and what I just said. Tell him that whether it's intentional or unintentional, if he dares to overstep his bounds again or even involve the outer court, I'll send him to Wuguo City to serve the Supreme Emperor."

Yang Yizhong hesitated, but could only obey the command. Liu Yan, who was standing nearby, had been completely confused from beginning to end.

However, after giving his instructions, the Zhao Sovereign seemed to no longer care about these matters. After shooting two quivers of arrows, he directly loosened his cuffs, summoned a eunuch to change into a brand new red robe, fastened a leather belt, and then put on a hard-winged turban. He led the fully armed Imperial Guards to the front hall to meet the high officials and important figures.

Meanwhile, after Liu Ji's departure to Xiangyang, the hall had once again become the rough structure of four high officials, two in the east and two in the west, and one censor-in-chief. However, things were different now than in the past. As more and more civil officials gathered, the vacancies in the central government were gradually filled. The Zhao Sovereign's close ministers were no longer as simple as a small bachelor of the Hanlin Academy and a few drafters on Mount Bagong back in the day. Nowadays, there were two imperial censors and a bunch of imperial drafters whom Zhao Jiu could name, and even the Hanlin bachelors had increased to three or four, not to mention the various subordinate clerks of the Privy Council and the Department of State Affairs (the name after the four provinces were merged)… even the so-called confidential secretary team could directly enter the hall, stand in the corner, and attend to the Sovereign and the high officials.

For example, Hu Hongxiu's brother-in-law, Wang Ruohai, was working in the Privy Council with the rank of Chengshilang, theoretically under the leadership of Wang Boyan and Yuwen Xuzhong, like Liu Ziyu.

"Have the matters I entrusted to you before I left been properly handled?" The Zhao Sovereign arrived at the hall, exchanged greetings with everyone, and his expression was normal, as if he hadn't heard those reports at all, and as if there hadn't been that embarrassing incident on the Bai River yesterday… One could only say that a happy occasion keeps a man in high spirits.

Hearing the Sovereign's inquiry, Lü Haowen took the lead but then became embarrassed, "I reported to Your Majesty that several matters are quite difficult…"

The Zhao Sovereign was taken aback but was not impatient. Instead, he smiled and said, "It doesn't matter, let's talk about them one by one, starting with the smallest one. Is Li Yanxian still being temperamental?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty," Lü Haowen, who was responsible for this matter, became even more embarrassed. "Li Yanxian has once again rejected the imperial decree and is unwilling to take the post of Pacification Commissioner."

Zhao Jiu shook his head with a smile, "Why exactly?"

"Your Majesty," Lü Haowen bowed in response. "I specifically asked clearly, and Li Yanxian's meaning is that he is loyal and upright, with a clean background. He asks that Your Majesty reward and promote him according to proper procedures. He would rather die than accept a position like Pacification Commissioner, which is specifically used to show favor to irregular troops, and put him on the same level as Yue Fei and Zhang Rong!"

The Sovereign sighed softly.

ps: Still that saying, don't wait, I will try my best to make up for it at night... I didn't get up until after seven o'clock.