Fengzhou Prefecture Yamen, second hall living room.

After seeing Wen Ming, Li Ling bent down respectfully and bowed: "Sir Li Ling has seen Master Wen, thank you for helping you before. If you didn't take action in time, I'm afraid I'd already died yesterday."

Wen Ming was not very uncomfortable with this low-profile performance. He smiled and walked up to help Li Ling up, but the assistant officials around him all looked strange and felt incredible. After all, Li Ling's current official position is not inferior to Wen Ming, and he is both a fourth-ranked rank. Moreover, as a key member of the court, he is still above the prefect. But whether he is acting or speaking, he can only have it when his subordinates meet his superiors.

"Haha, I am so gentle and sincere. You and I have a friendship with colleagues and friends. Since you know you are in danger, how can I not save you?" Wen Ming led the person aside with joy, and then the subordinate officials followed him up to meet Li Ling one by one, and he was very polite.

It was not until these false condoms were finished that Li Ling smiled and took a brocade box from Li Moyun and handed it to Wen Ming: "I know that Lord Wen likes to drink good tea, so I didn't have much preparations to come to Northern Xinjiang this time. I got two kilograms of tea from Jiangnan. I hope he won't dislike it."

The subordinates of the Zhongzhou Yaya looked at Li Ling with some strangeness because they had long experienced Master Wen's power. Since taking office, they have confiscated anyone's gifts and even blamed their subordinates for this. Now Li Ling suddenly gave gifts in person, isn't he asking for scolding?

But Wen Ming's performance was beyond everyone's expectations. He smiled even more happily and immediately took the brocade box: "You still remember this hobby. Yes, I have no other hobbies anymore, so I have to have tea. It was easy to deal with when I was an official in Jiangnan, but in the past two years, I have never been able to drink the tea that suits my wishes. Only the little tea you sent to someone every year can let me taste it." As he said that, he put the brocade box at hand, obviously he accepted it.

In the surprised eyes of everyone, Li Ling smiled again: "Is this true? It seems that you are really inconvenient in Northern Xinjiang, sir. After I go back, I will arrange it. I will send you some good tea every one or two months in the future."

"Then I'll be deeply grateful to you." Wen Ming replied with a smile again, without any intention of refusing, and even stunned his subordinates.

They don’t know how deep the relationship between Li Ling and Wen Ming is. Although they are nominally just colleagues and subordinates of the past, in fact, in addition to their friends, there is a deeper relationship between teachers and students. It can be said that Wen Ming is also half of Li Ling’s teacher.

After Li Ling embarked on the imperial examination, he had three teachers in detail. The first one was naturally the teacher Wei Liang, who was his guide. If Wei Liang had not led him into the imperial examination from the beginning, he might have been just a commoner now; the second one was the Confucian teacher Zhang Hefeng. Although the two had no masters and apprentices, they really had masters and apprentices. In the past two years, Li Ling had any questions about studying, he would still write to the elderly who were living in his hometown in Xuzhou for advice;

As for the third one, Wen Ming is in front of him. However, unlike the first two, what Wen Ming taught him was some progress and retreat in the officialdom, when should he be selfless, when should he be with the light, when should he insist on his own opinion, and when should he give in a little... These things are even more critical in the officialdom than reading and writing, so Li Ling respects him quite well.

What's more, this time there is a life-saving grace. Li Ling felt grateful and his posture was naturally very low at this time.

Next, the two of them talked about their farewell in front of everyone and talked about their own experiences in two or three years. When Li Ling mentioned all the things he had in the capital before and actually brought down King Yong, Wen Ming was amazed repeatedly, and the others were even more shocked.

This is too incredible. If they hadn't been able to speak nonsense about this, they would have questioned that Li Ling was bragging. It was because they understood the weight of it. Seeing that Li Ling was not punished, but his official career was successful, everyone's eyes changed again when they looked at him, and they wanted to accept their heads and bow their heads and hugged their thighs tightly.

With such thoughts, when Li Ling signaled that he wanted to talk to Wen Ming alone, they all stood up and left with cognitively. At the gate of the hall, Li Moyun was guarding the back in front of the door, so the conversation between the two was naturally not spreading to Liu Er.

"What you want to say is related to being almost killed yesterday? Is that person named Fang Wenbi, but King Yong?" At this time, Wen Ming no longer beat around the bush and asked directly.

"It is indeed related to him, but the lord was wrong. Fang Wenbi was not the one who belonged to King Yong, but was ordered by the prince to kill me."

"Hmm?" Even though he was prepared, Wen Ming was still slightly shocked after hearing this answer, "Is this true?"

"It was him who confessed himself, and I can tell that he has never lie."

"You took him down?"

"Not only took him down, but also gave him..." In front of the other side, Li Ling had no intention of hiding it, so he stroked his throat and made a murderous gesture.

This made Wen Ming raise his eyebrows again: "You are really brave. You know that he was ordered by the prince and there is a Dong Gongwang behind him, so you dare to kill him to vent your anger." Speaking of this, he smiled again, "But it is not wrong to do this. As long as your hands and feet are clean, no one dares to target you. It seems that you have made great progress in the past few years."

"Haha, the situation is like this. If it doesn't improve, I'm afraid that some people will be gnawed to the point where they don't even have bones left."

"So what else do you have to do? Do you want to discuss it with me?"

"As a result, I said it straightforwardly. As he told me, this matter was just the beginning. The prince had other arrangements in the northern border and wanted to kill me. And even if I could deal with this level, what about the next open and hidden arrows? I can't always be nervous about the calculations of some people. If this is the case, I can't do my job well."

Wen Ming frowned tightly: "There is such a thing? What kind of grudge does the prince have with you? He is willing to fight so hard?"

Li Ling then revealed his previous guess, and Wen Ming's expression became more and more serious. After a while, he said, "If you really infer, this matter would be very difficult. To be honest, the prince has long won a lot of people's hearts in the northern border for nearly three years. This is also the intention of the rule set by Taizu of our dynasty."

Li Ling nodded clearly. Indeed, since the time of Taizu, Dayue had rules that every prince would come to the northern border to guard for a period of time after he became an adult. This was not only a tempering of his body and mind, but also a way to prevent him from being born on the palace wall and growing up on the side of a woman, but also a consideration for the prince in the future.

After learning from the lessons of the former Song Dynasty, Dayue took the path of equal importance to civil and military affairs. Governing the country depends on civil officials, but the stability of the world depends on military personnel, especially the military generals on the frontier. Whether the emperor can hold a firm position also requires the joint support of these two forces.

It is natural to say that the civil servant group in the capital is a sure support for the new king, but what about the military generals who are thousands of miles away? They have hundreds of thousands of elite border troops in their hands. In a sense, their recognition and support are even more important than civil servants, so the prince has the arrangement to spend three years with them.

After all, warriors are much simpler than those scholars and value friendship. A noble prince is willing to eat and live with them for three years, and even experienced several battles with Guirong people. Such people will naturally truly support them if they ascend the throne in the future.

As long as the prince is not a fool, he can understand how important the border life in recent years is to him, and he will definitely try his best to win over the generals and officials. Even if he cannot use it for himself, he will at least leave a friendship. The current prince is obviously going further than this. He has even placed his confidants around him, so that he can influence and control the border generals through them.

Perhaps a border general like Dong Gongwang had known that there was a prince around him, but they still used people, which was obviously a statement to the prince.

Then now, in order to get rid of Li Ling, the prince actually used these people. Just think about it carefully, it would be enough to make the person involved feel worried and his scalp numb. After all, that is the future emperor.

Thinking of all this, Li Ling's smile became more and more bitter: "It seems that my situation is really a dead end?"

"That's not the case. After all, the only one that is going to be bad for you is the prince..." Wen Ming deliberately emphasized the word "prince", and the meaning is quite clear. "And you are here. No matter who you are, you dare not attack you on the surface. That's Fang Wenbi, who is simple and self-righteous, dares to do such a thing, but he still lost his life?"

Li Ling nodded: "What about the others? Do you think there are still people in the northern border who will attack me for the prince's order?"

"There should be quite a lot of this, especially those generals with not very high status. As long as they are given a chance, for the future and to please the prince, they are willing to take a gamble. Of course, their attacks on you should be more hidden next." A person who has been in the officialdom for decades, has analyzed the key to the problem in a few words. "But there is one thing you can rest assured that Gong Gong hopes that such a general in the northern border will not harm you, especially himself, and even the death of Fang Wenbi may not be investigated."

"Why is this?" Li Ling asked again. Although he killed Fang Wenbi, he was still a little worried.
Chapter completed!