In the ninth year of Jian'an, another year of general elections,

It was cold spring, and a convoy of beautiful women from the southern states and counties arrived at the post station hundreds of miles away from Capital City. When they were about to check in, they were assigned ordinary rooms, while superior rooms had already been assigned to the coming noblesup.

The journey was exhausting, and it was not even convenient to wash. After finally arriving at a place to stay, listening to the explanation of the officials at the post station, some spoiled and pampered beautiful girls were unavoidably dissatisfied, "We are beautiful girls who are going to enter the palace, aren't we noble people? Or do you dare to despise us on purpose."

Yicheng wasn't annoyed, he just smiled and said, "It's not good for the officials to entertain the ladies, but this room is reserved for Pei Junhou, so it's not easy to change it at will."

As soon as the word "Pei Junhou" was uttered, not only the proud girl turned pale, but the other beautiful daughters even murmured, "It's actually that lord..."

Don't say that they are the daughters of officials participating in the draft, even if they have become concubines of the emperor and nobles in the palace, they dare not easily offend them. Afterwards, no one raised any objections to the arrangement of the inn, and they obediently moved in.

Because the rooms are limited, the show girls live together in twos and threes,

In one of the rooms, a young girl with a clear and beautiful appearance thought about it and asked, "Sister Zhou, do you think we will see Pei Junhou?"

Another gentle girl shook her head, "Xinrou, I know you are bold, but don't forget, we are showgirls, if we have any contact with outsiders before the draft, it will inevitably attract criticism."

But thinking that it was the world-renowned Pei Junhou, it would be a lie to say that he was not curious.

This person's experience can be called legendary. He was born in Pei's family, he was entrusted as a marquis as a young man, and he ascended to a high position, but he is not a dandy and incompetent.

The most admirable thing is that when he served as the governor of Jingzhou, he speculated that there might be a rare earth dragon in hundreds of years in Jingzhou based on geography and overseas western knowledge. Hundreds of thousands of officials and civilians in the entire nearby area were transferred to other flat and safe places, and even in order to suppress dissatisfaction and dissent, elite troops were used at all costs.

In the end, there was an earthquake, and overnight Jingzhou was full of houses collapsed, the land was cracked, and it was reduced to ruins. Even the strongest city wall in Jingzhou, a battleground for military strategists, was severely damaged.

Under such a terrible natural disaster, I am afraid that no one can survive, but Pei Junhou has saved hundreds of thousands of officials and people with his own efforts, and countless people are alive.

This matter was called a miracle, and the court was also shocked. If he was not too young, this merit would be enough to make him a Duke.

After the earthquake, Pei Junhou spent another three years leading the ar and the people to rebuild Jingzhou, manage people's livelihood, and develop economic and commercial routes. heard that Jingzhou is now more prosperous than ever before. In the eyes of the officials and the people, Pei Junhou can be regarded as the living Buddha of all families, and his longevity seat is enshrined in everyone's home.

It can be said that in the Jingchu area, whether it is officers, soldiers or common people, I am afraid that they respect Pei Junhou far more than the imperial court.

Zhou Xiunv only thinks of Han Xinrou as a young girl Mu Ai, and admires such a hero, but she doesn't know that her mind is more delicate and delicate.

Everyone in the entire Great Zhou Dynasty knew that Grand Master Pei had a high position and power. The emperor had not yet ruled in person and had no power in his hands. The hierarchy of the harem is strict, and concubines from noble families have already occupied high positions. It is difficult for others to get ahead. This deep palace is not a good place for the daughter of a small official like her. Instead of entering the palace to win the illusory wealth and glory, it is better to try to see if this Pei Junhou can see.

Han Xinrou seemed to be unreasonable, "I heard that Pei Junhou has not married yet."

Zhou Xiunv lowered her voice, "When my father was the censor of Jiangnan Dao, he met this Pei Junhou a few times. It seems that there are rumors... Pei Junhou is very masculine in private."

This sentence was like cold water, and quickly drowned out most of Han Xinrou's thoughts. She could not help but ask, "Is this true? It can't be slander by someone with a heart."

"There is an official next to Pei Junhou, who is very handsome. I heard that he is close to him, and when Pei Junhou was in the south of the Yangtze River, many high-ranking officials and dignitaries sent him beauties, but they were rejected."

Although good masculinity is not the right way that the world can accept, but for a big man with status and prestige like Pei Junhou, it is really not a stain. Both of Pei Junhou's parents died, and the only elder, Grand Master Pei, never scolded him because of such rumors, what else can others say?

Han Xinrou was depressed in her heart, but after noon, when she heard the movement outside, after Pei Junhou arrived, she still couldn't help but slowly opened a crack outside the window on the second floor, wanting to have a look at this Pei Junhou.

Looking from a distance, the team that stayed in front of the post station were all riding high-quality horses, which were truly mighty. The guards in armor stood around the carriage in the middle, and their aura was sharp and compelling. It was completely different from the officers and soldiers in the city that Han Xinrou had seen before. The killing aura rushing towards his face was like someone who had seen blood on the battlefield.

Yi Cheng also greeted him respectfully with a smile on his face, showing great respect. The chief official representing Pei Junhou was a blue-clothed young man with a handsome face and a pretty face like a woman. Could it be that the rumored man Pei Junhou liked? .

The young man in blue had a conversation with Yicheng, and then returned to the side of the car to report to the prince inside.

Afterwards, Pei Junhou's people only carried out some supplies at the post station, did not stay too long, and did not even get off the car. Not only was Han Xinrou slightly disappointed, but the other beautiful women were also talking about it in private, as if this gentleman was an unattainable figure.

Hearing from Nan Ge that there are beautiful girls staying here, even though the inn has already arranged rooms for them, Gu Ran still doesn't like trouble, and besides, it's only three hundred miles away from Capital City, so it's just a short journey.

Naturally, Nan Ge's decision was based on her wishes. After replenishing the troops, she set off again. But on the way, he also reported one thing in private,

"Mr. Lang, among this batch of show girls, there is a girl who looks somewhat similar to the queen, named Han Xinrou."

Gu Ran didn't care about appointing Nan Ge as an official, but Nan Ge always cared about her status as a criminal servant, and took the initiative to take over the work of collecting intelligence and training secretly, willing to be her shadow.

After only staying in the station for a while, Nan Ge knew about it, and it was also because there were people from them in the station. Maybe because he thought it would be of some value, he took the initiative to report it to Gu Ran.

Gu Ran knew who it was as soon as he heard it, and when he thought about it carefully, it was the story of the original heroine Han Xinrou entering the palace.

It's just that Empress Su, the white-moonlight/muse, is still around, and don't know if she will be as favored as in the original story track, Gu Ran thought with great interest.

She has no ill feeling toward the original heroine. Although it was Han Xinrou who found the evidence to reveal the truth, stepped on the corpse of the imperial concubine Pei Yunzhao to ascend to the queen's position, but the truth is that it was Pei's mother who committed a serious crime. The person is Li Jingling.

Even the original owner, Pei Yunzhao, didn't ask for revenge on Han Xinrou, and Gu Ran wouldn't embarrass a little show girl who hadn't done anything in advance just because she knew the plot.

Nan Ge took the initiative to propose to her. "Given the advantage of this Han Xiunv's appearance, I'm afraid it is very likely that she will be selected into the palace. Why don't we start in advance and let this girl be used by the Lord and become the eyes and ears in the palace."

In the past two years, Grand Master Pei's health has become worse and worse. The emperor in the palace has endured under the pressure of Grand Master Pei for so many years, and has always wanted to be in charge of the government. If Grand Master Pei went, the one who would fight head-on with the emperor for power would be his family's lord, and once the emperor took charge, he might attack him and Pei.

Nan Ge also wanted to make preparations for the prince in advance. Knowing oneself and the enemy is the only way to win victoriously. If the emperor has their people by his side, it will be much more convenient to do many things in the future.

As for whether Han Xinrou could be favored in the palace and become close to the emperor, Nan Ge was not worried about this at all. With their abilities and resources, it was not difficult to win a favored concubine in the harem.

Gu Ran shook his head, "There is no need to do so much, people's hearts are always fickle."

Let the original heroine be a pawn in her hands, Nan Ge's suggestion made Gu Ran a little surprised, but he would not do so. First of all, the original heroine must have a distinctive protagonist aura, and she can become the winner of the palace fight in the original story, and she will not be an ordinary character. If he wanted to use her as a pawn, he might suffer backlash.

Secondly, she doesn't need other people as a bridge buffer zone, which is a small strategy after all.

The real avenue is to be like Father Pei, who wields great power, and the Pei family cannot be moved even if the emperor wants to.

Over the years, Pei's father has successively received Pei's power and various resources into her hands.

Otherwise, when she was in Jingzhou, she would not have been able to move hundreds of thousands of officials and people away from Jingzhou without the permission of the imperial court, making it an empty city. The huge energy and contacts used and the blocking of interference from the court are all due to the backing of Grand Master Pei.

She was indeed the governor of Jingzhou at that time, and it was indeed she who asked Pei's father on her own initiative.

When conferring on her, Father Pei intentionally let her be in charge, and Gu Ran chose Jingzhou without hesitation, in order to save the natural disaster and earthquake that was deeply in the original owner's memory.

‘There were more than 350,000 deaths and injuries among officials and civilians in Jingchu, and countless people were unknown and not reported. '

Not only did Grand Master Pei work hard day and night for disaster relief, but even the emperor, who had not yet been in power, had to issue an edict of guilt.

Although Gu Ran had the idea of ​​gaining prestige and merit, but for any person, knowing that such a natural disaster that took so many innocent lives would happen, it would be impossible to ignore it.

For this matter, Gu Ran has been preparing for a long time, starting from the layout of the business in Jiang Nan, and the immediate relief and reconstruction after the disaster. Due to the inconvenient transportation and slow transmission of information in this era, the imperial court is of little help..

Gu Ran relied on his business name and property to deliver sufficient relief food and materials to the people of Jingchu, which quickly stabilized the hearts of the people. Later, he used the method of work for relief to encourage the people to participate in the post-disaster reconstruction by releasing relief food and money. , which allowed Jingzhou to restore its prosperity.

In the pavilion in the center of the lake, two people are playing chess.

Xie Yuanchen was a little absent-minded, frowned and said, "The grand master's illness is getting worse, and there have been voices in the court hall asking His Majesty to take charge."

Like Nan Ge, he was also worried that once Grand Master Pei passed away, the emperor would not hesitate to attack Pei's family once he was in charge. Xie Yuanchen is naturally very caring, not to mention that he is already a hardcore figure in the Pei Group, the emperor in the palace has nothing worthy of his respect and love.

Gu Ran raised his head, looked at him and smiled, "Are you afraid?"

Gu Ran also asked him this similar sentence, during the earthquake in Jingzhou.

The earthquake lasted for five full days, and aftershocks continued, which easily caused mudslides and tumbling rocks, so that many roads leading to Jingzhou were broken and collapsed, making it difficult to pass through. But Xie Yuanchen still pleaded for orders in the court without hesitation, and rushed to Jingzhou with relief money and more people.

When Gu Ran saw him, he was covered in dust and mud, and he almost lost his life on the way.

At that time Gu Ran asked him if he was afraid, Xie Yuanchen shook his head without hesitation.

It was also from that moment that Gu Ran truly regarded Xie Yuanchen as someone who could be trusted and entrusted to his back, and Xie Yuanchen's arrival also gave Gu Ran a lot of help in Jingzhou's disaster relief and reconstruction.

This time, Xie Yuanchen still said firmly, "Naturally, I have no fear."

………

At the end of the ninth year of Jian'an, Mrs. Pei passed away, and the whole country mourned.

At the same time, one hundred thousand urgent letters were reported on the border—the foreign races were invading southward.

The author has something to say:

Sorry for the late update today, and there is only one update

I have caught a cold for the past two days. The medicine took during the day may not be right. It didn't work after a day of drowsy sleep. Later, went to the doctor to buy medicine.

Try to make up for the few updates in the past few days