"Xing Shangshu!"

"Scholar Li!"

"Didn't expect it was you?"

"That's right, it's me."

…

The two people were having a conversation that seemed like they were having a conversation, and everyone around them was confused. Only Li Kui and Xing Shu understood it.

Li Kui didn't have many enemies, at least not in the court. But there were many people who wanted to restrict Li Kui's continued growth. Even when he was in the capital, Li Kui couldn't figure out who was behind him. This was not against the court.

The news is delayed and cannot be guarded against.

It's because he was promoted too quickly and there were too many people who were jealous of him.

He is a mediocre person who doesn't attract people's attention. Li Kui doesn't want to stand out, but he can't do it by pretending to be mediocre.

As for the many people who want to suppress him, it is normal. For example, in today's court, most of the officials of third rank and above were Jinshi during the Jiayou period, especially those in the second and fourth years of Jiayou, who were all middle Jinshi.

Ministers who have been in office for more than 30 years, such as Zhang Dun, Lin Xi, Zeng Bu, Li Qingchen and others; followed by ministers who were Jinshi in the early years of Yingzong and Shenzong, and who have been officials for more than 25 years, such as brothers Yang Wei and Cai Bian

, Xing Shu.

It is indeed impossible to enter the central government without thirty years of ups and downs in officialdom.

And what about Li Kui?

In the first year of Shaosheng's reign, he was admitted as a Jinshi only for seven or eight years, not even ten years.

Although Li Kui was the face of Shaosheng's first year, it also shows that Li Kui had no hardcore allies in the court.

Suo Feng is not included. Besides, Suo Feng was also a Jinshi during the Yuanfeng period. He has been an official for almost twenty years and is much older than him.

As for Li Kui's contemporaries, those who do well are just general judges, not even magistrates, let alone senior officials such as ministers in the imperial court. It is simply unrealistic. Most of them are even still working in the county government.

.

This also declared that Li Kui was an isolated person in the court. Because he was too good, he was promoted too quickly. After entering the court, he found that there were no colleagues around him who could be allies. Not even the same year to help.

The officials who have the right to speak in the court are all seniors. And the seniors, even the seniors who have a good relationship with Li Kui, are not happy that Li Kui, who is only in his twenties, can sit on an equal footing with them.

This is not jealousy, but dissatisfaction with the destruction of the system. Seniority is also a kind of capital. Everyone has survived step by step. Why is Li Kui, who is younger than their sons, sitting in front of them so easily and having the same qualifications as them?

that power?

They were promoted step by step from junior officials of the seventh and eighth grades. Li Kui's official career seemed to tell them that all the hardships they endured back then were in vain.

As for Xing Shu's arrival, Li Kui had already guessed something, but he just needed to confirm it. When he tried to test, he got Xing Shu's response.

No one forced him, he said it himself.

This is enough. If there is an injustice, there is a debtor. Li Kui can just go to Xing Shu.

In fact, Xing Shu was appointed as the imperial envoy to declare the imperial decree, but was abandoned by Emperor Zhao Xu. The moment the imperial court decided to send Xing Shu to appease Li Kui, Xing Shu's life and death no longer mattered to anyone.

But Xing Shu has not yet felt the sadness of being abandoned. He even thought that it might be the emperor's compensation for him. After all, Li Kui had humiliated him many times before, and now that he came with the emperor's will, Li Kui would be a big man.

You have to endure your grievances. Besides, does Li Kui dare to kill anyone?

Do you dare to kill the imperial official?

Even if he doesn't have the guts to do so.

Xing Shu thought with certainty that he didn't even notice that Li Kui's dark face had gotten darker. Instead, he stood arrogantly like a big rooster patrolling his own territory. He stood in front of Li Kui and said arrogantly: "Renjie, you are a talent. It's a pity that you don't."

Do you understand the way of being an official and know what mistakes you have made?"

"I have made many mistakes. What time are you talking about?"

Li Kui sneered. What he said was absolutely true. The problem was that often even he didn't know who he had offended. Before leaving the capital, he was the most popular hottie in the court, a direct bachelor of Tianzhang Pavilion, and a third-grade civil servant. He

Is it necessary to care?

After leaving the capital... everything went smoothly after I let myself go, and I was much happier than when I was an official. The officialdom is like a prison, and the edges of the character of those trapped in it are smoothed all the time.

After being released from prison, Li Kui can really do whatever he wants.

Now he doesn't care about making mistakes, or accidentally offending others.

Anyway, there are people he can't afford to offend, but they are definitely not on Jingdong East Road. On Jingdong East Road, no one can say anything, and he is the person in charge of this area.

Xing Shu looked at Li Kui in astonishment. He spoke to Li Kui in an almost preaching tone, but Li Kui's unrepentant look really made him angry. He couldn't help but raise his tone and said sharply: "Li Kui, you are no longer in front of the emperor.

A famous man, there is no longer a place for you in the court, don’t you know how to restrain yourself?”

"Why are you holding back? Are you just begging for help?"

Li Kui suddenly laughed: "Xing Shu, since I first saw you in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment, I know that you don't understand the situation, you are treacherous and despicable, but you can't see through the general trend. Do you think you are here to board?

Did the emperor give you a fat job as a reward? You are an abandoned son. Although you are as despicable as Yang Wei, your vision is better than yours and your plans are better than yours. On the contrary, you are like a clown.

You're just a pitiful creature. Don't think that you are a second-grade official. Damn, I am also a marquis in purple robes. Put away your pitiful inferiority complex. This is Dengzhou, not the capital. In Dengzhou, the king of heaven is here.

You have to listen to my arrangements."

Maybe he was stimulated by Li Kui's words, or maybe he didn't take Li Kui seriously at all. Otherwise, Xing Shu wouldn't have deliberately provoked Li Kui after he got off the ship.

This kind of thinking, if it is an ordinary situation and ordinary people, there is no need to worry.

Xing Shu was the minister who announced the decree, or more appropriately, the minister of imperial envoy.

However, as an imperial envoy, his powers are relatively small. He cannot punish corrupt officials, nor can he mobilize local treasury. It is the kind of errand work that is dedicated to special tasks.

Even the imperial envoy with the least authority and responsibility is still an imperial envoy. Xing Shu regarded himself as a real imperial envoy, reaching the third level of officialdom.

When he met Li Kui, who was ignorant, he became even more furious. He pointed at Li Kui and said angrily: "Li Kui, you have fallen into such a downfall, do you still have the demeanor of a court minister? You are so bold that you dare to offend me. I tell you, I am

The imperial envoy came to announce the decree. Li Kui listened to the decree——"

Li Kui did not move. The Song Dynasty read out the imperial edict without kneeling down, and there was no need to do so when seeing the emperor.

This rule started in the Yuan Dynasty, and there was no such rule in the Song Dynasty.

It is true not to kneel down, but at least respect is required. At least when listening to the imperial edict, you must bend down and listen. You cannot stand stupidly like Li Kui.

"Li Kui, you dare to despise the imperial court and the Holy Emperor——"

Seeing that Li Kui had no reaction, he sneered at him. Xing Shu raised his voice again and said, "Li Kui, do you dare to rebel?"

While talking, Li Kui snatched the imperial edict from Xing Shu's hand and threw it to Gongsun Sheng behind him without looking at it. It's strange to say that Gongsun Sheng was a good Taoist official in the Taoist palace, but when he heard that Li Kui was recruiting

After Liangshan, he didn't even want to be an official and followed him to Dengzhou. I don't know what this guy was thinking.

The moment Li Kui took away the imperial edict, it really shocked people.

If others don’t know, how can Li Kui not know?

If the court really has a way to deal with him, can it still send Xing Shu? I'm afraid the one who comes is a hundred thousand troops, not a helpless civil servant.

He was sure that no word in the imperial edict would be detrimental to him. In that case, what was there to worry about? He just grabbed it. Besides, he resigned from office and even made the worst plan of breaking up with the court.

, has long stopped taking rules seriously. Today's rules, Xing Shu has to protect them, Zhang Dun has to protect them, but Li Kui doesn't need to care about them at all.

After Gongsun Sheng read the imperial edict, he whispered to Li Kui: "This is your imperial edict to give the old lady a memorial arch. Will you accept it, proprietor?"

"Yes, why not?"

Even for this reason, Li Kui had no intention of completely breaking away from the court. He was not afraid of the imperial army, but he had an arrangement in his heart and was not afraid of the court's subsequent suppression of him.

It’s already like this, and you’re still afraid of a ball!

When he heard that Li Kui had accepted the imperial edict, even though Li Kui had snatched the imperial edict in the process, Xing Shu immediately understood what Li Kui was thinking, and he did not dare to rebel against the Song Dynasty.

This made Xing Shu feel more confident again, pointing at Li Kui and shouting: "Li Kui, even if you know that I framed you, what can you do? What can you do to me?"

The Dengzhou magistrate behind Xing Shu was so frightened that he wiped his sweat. He wanted to tell Xing Shu that it was great to be arrogant, but the problem was that the power of the imperial court in the state was out of control. Xing Shu was actually a courageous bandit. If he went

In the Liao Kingdom, he could hold his tail between his legs and even wag his tail as a beggar. But facing Li Kui, who was also from the Song Dynasty and had been his colleague before, he was not afraid at all, but became more and more courageous the more frustrated he became.

Behind him, Dengzhou Zhizhou turned pale with fright and kept wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. Even the yamen servants in the yamen were replaced by people whom Li Kui trusted. It can be said that once Li Kui has murderous intentions towards Xing Shu, no one can protect him.

.

And what Xing Shu did seemed to be another big step towards committing suicide.

Li Kui glanced at Xing Shu and suddenly laughed: "Xing Shu, do you think I really don't dare to kill you?"

"you--"

Xing Shu's eyes widened and he looked at Li Kui in surprise.

I saw Li Kui saying calmly: "Even if I let you go back, as long as you are robbed and killed by strong men on the road, let alone the territory of East and West Road in Beijing, you will not survive. It would be better if you take a boat, and the road will encounter water.

Bandits, dead without a burial place, wouldn't it be settled once and for all? These are all murders in secret. I, Li Kui, do things like this. I don't even bother to do this. I will chop you off with a knife and label you as a traitor. I, Li Kui, am also a loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty.

"

"Just ask all the people in the world, who is better, your Xing Shu, or my Li Kui?"

There is no need to ask this question. Xing Shu was promoted repeatedly by flattering the emperor and took refuge with Wang Anshi, Zhang Dun, and Lu Huiqing. Even if he was a member of the reform faction, few people thought highly of him. On the contrary, Li Kui, the leader of the capital,

Everyone knows that Li Kui was the God of War in the Song Dynasty, a versatile man in both civil and military affairs, and made countless meritorious deeds.
To be continued...