Yang Ziqi finally regained his freedom.

The reason why he was able to survive this time was not because anyone in the court went to Zhu Houzhao to talk about it, but because Liu Jin's advice and Zhu Houzhao's "gives his kindness beyond the law."

Yang Ziqi is a chess piece that Zhu Houzhao competed for control of the court with the civil servant group.

This piece was abandoned by Liu Jian and Li Dongyang, but Zhu Houzhao did not eat the piece, nor did he attract him, so he just put it back. As a result, the court officials praised Zhu Houzhao a lot, and it seemed that the matter of jailing Yang Ziqi was nothing.

Before, the government and the people were pitiful of Yang Ziqi, but now they say that Yang Ziqi is causing trouble out of nothing. If it weren't for the new emperor's mercy, he would have lost his life.

Can you, a small head of the Ministry of Personnel, take care of the matter of the imperial tomb? You are overestimating yourself. Now Your Majesty is a great blessing to forgive you. This is because Your Majesty let you go because of the face of the Queen Mother and the Queen Mother talking to you. You must repay you with gratitude in the future!

Zhu Houzhao did something beautiful and was very happy.

Zhu Houzhao clearly distinguished rewards and punishments. Since Liu Jin can do things, arranges him to eat, drink and have fun, and can also come up with ideas to solve problems around him, he naturally has more favors to Liu Jin and promoted Liu Jin to the eunuch supervisor of the Imperial Horse Supervision.

Although this position is only the second-in-commander of the Imperial Horse Prison, Liu Jin's status in the palace was instantly different. The eunuchs and palace maids in the palace were respectful when they saw Liu Jin, and even Xiao Jing was no exception.

"Eunuch Liu, this matter has come to an end. You have made great contributions and rewarded them. I hope you will do the job I have assigned you in the future. Now there is one thing left to you. It is said that the Xuan Palace of the Imperial Mausoleum has been completed, and the First Emperor can finally be buried... I will give you the important task of escorting the First Emperor's coffin. You must do the work well!" Zhu Houzhao ordered.

Liu Jin's eyes lit up. This was clearly another good opportunity to make contributions.

When the late emperor was buried, the emperor would definitely go on a tour to the imperial tomb and attend the funeral in person. Even the Queen Mother Feng Jia would go with him. After all, the Tailing is also the tomb of the future Queen Mother Zhang, so it is natural to accompany his son to attend the funeral. The errand of escorting the coffin is the most important errand during this tour. It can be said that the arrangement of the funeral and the communication between the royal family and the ministers will be carried out by the eunuchs in charge.

Liu Jin quickly refused: "Your Majesty, this is the job... I am not competent, so Your Majesty should ask Eunuch Xiao to command the commander!"

The reason why Liu Jin refused was that he knew that according to the rules, the eunuch in charge of the seal should be borne by the eunuch in charge of the seal of the Sili Supervisor. Even if he is favored now and has been promoted to the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Horse Supervisor, he is still not qualified to be responsible for this position. Even if the emperor gives the favor to the Imperial Horse Supervisor, it should be the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Horse Supervisor, rather than the second-in-command of the Imperial Horse Supervisor.

Zhu Houzhao frowned and said, "Eunuch Xiao is old and weak, and he is not good at doing things well. I understand him and just let him accompany Luan Jia and Feng Jia. As for the important task of escorting the coffin, if his body cannot be held up, it is better for a young eunuch like you to take on the responsibility!"

Liu Jin then knelt down: "I am grateful to Your Majesty for your trust. I will do my job well and live up to Your Majesty's expectations!"

Zhu Houzhao nodded with satisfaction and personally helped Liu Jin up, showing a scene of a relationship between the king and the minister. This made Zhang Yuan very angry. His heart was full of resentment, and he thought to himself:

"What kind of ability does Liu Jin have? He can actually be the eunuch in charge of the horse supervision shortly after returning to the palace, and he has gained the trust of His Majesty. Especially now, the responsibilities he is supposed to be done by Eunuch Xiao, so why don't I react to Eunuch Xiao and suppress Liu Jin's arrogance?"

Zhang Yuan is a petty citizen. Although he understands the importance of forming cliques, he is neither capable nor foresighted, so he cannot handle his relationship with the emperor and colleagues.

What Zhu Houzhao lacks is people who can help him do things now. Even if Zhang Yuan takes care of Zhu Houzhao, as long as he cannot meet this basic requirement, he will lose favor at any time. Zhu Houzhao has never been an emotional person, and now he pays more attention to the abilities of the people around him.

...

...

Zhang Yuan didn't understand how Liu Jin was favored, but one thing was clear that he had to use all the relationships in his hands to suppress Liu Jin.

The first thing he thought of was Xiao Jing, and Xiao Jing obviously would not help him, because this good man never wanted to be involved in court struggles. Then Zhang Yuan thought of his backer, the brothers Zhang Heling, Hou of Shouning and Zhang Yanling, Hou of Jianchang, who had always had a gap with Liu Jin.

Zhang Yuan wrote a letter to Zhang Yanling explaining the situation in the palace and showing that his position with the emperor was about to be stolen by Liu Jin.

Zhang Yanling took advantage of the opportunity to enter the palace to pay tribute to Empress Dowager Zhang. When he passed by Wenhua Hall, he saw Zhang Yuan who was eager to get the favor in the side hall.

When Zhang Yanling heard Zhang Yuan's almost crying words, he shouted annoyedly: "...You useless thing, don't think about your identity. You are the regular attendant of the Eastern Palace and the most favored eunuch around His Majesty. How could you not be as good as an old eunuch who had just returned to the palace?"

"What about the things I taught you before? Did you not please Your Majesty and take Your Majesty out of the palace for fun?"

Zhang Yuan's face was full of embarrassment: "Mr. Marquis, I want to help Your Majesty, but after leaving the palace gate, I was in the dark and had no idea where to go to find girls, opera troupes, and find delicious and fun things for Your Majesty? Marquis wants to help me!"

Zhang Yanling looked at Zhang Yuan and said angrily: "You have to rely on me for everything, right? You have never thought about why the person with the surname Liu is so clear about what you don't know?"

Zhang Yuan thought for a while and replied: "Eunuch Liu has been working in the palace for many years. Even if he lost power before, he knew a lot of people. He first worked in multiple departments of the internal supervision department and then worked as a garrison eunuch in the local area. The network of relationships is very deep, and... he has money on hand, and he can handle all aspects..."

"Mr. Marquis, if you don't help me, how can I get the favor of Your Majesty as you said and help you with your work in the future?"

Zhang Yanling almost slapped Zhang Yuan in the face and said angrily: "Why are you always asking me for trouble? Let me tell you this. What you want to get is only a way to find a way to get the holy favor, and you have to rely on your true skills... No matter how much your Majesty trusts the Liu surnamed, he has just returned to the palace. If you have been in the palace for so many years, you will not even have the ability to frame, right?"

"Liu Jin is like a divine helper in his work, but it is easy to avoid hidden arrows and is difficult to prevent. You can stumbling behind him! That's all this Hou can remind you!"

Only then did Zhang Yuan realize that Zhang Yanling was his backer in name, but he couldn't count on anything he encountered, so he could only rely on himself to deal with it flexibly.

On the way back to Qianqing Palace, Zhang Yuan thought about this question carefully: "...Mr. Jianchang is obviously a rooster who is indifferent to him. I would rather rely on him than rely on himself!"

"But now I have no power outside the palace. There are powerful eunuchs in the internal supervision office in the palace. Who doesn't have three or five adopted sons or even a bunch of kids? I have no foundation, only one nephew is still outside, so I can't help at all..."

"However, I can write a letter to my nephew and see what he says."

Thinking of Chen Xi, Zhang Yuan suddenly felt confident... His helper outside was a rank-level official, and he was deeply trusted by His Majesty the Emperor. Now he can be said to be a great man in the court, which is much greater than Liu Jin's help outside the palace.

"...Don't my nephew want to return to Beijing and become a Grand Secretary earlier? If I could join the Chief Secretary, it would definitely be of great help to him. No, no, I will write him now and ask him to provide me with some staff. But... this long and far-reaching mountain will take several months to communicate information."

"I can't rely solely on my nephew. I have to cultivate some forces outside the palace to recognize a few godsons. Even if I don't have any opportunities, I can ask for help. It's better to find some wealthy and powerful people to help. As my attendant of the Eastern Palace, it should be no problem to recognize a few godsons!"

It was only then that Zhang Yuan realized that he should cultivate his power, but in fact, when he was the Eastern Palace attendant, someone had already curled up with him. Unfortunately, he didn't have the courage to contact him at that time, for fear of getting into trouble.

The situation is different now. After Liu Jin came back, Zhang Yuan's status with the emperor was drastically reduced. It would not be so easy to seek someone to take the initiative to surrender.

Moreover, Zhang Yuan didn't understand one thing. Even if he cultivated forces outside the palace, it might not work. If he didn't understand Zhu Houzhao's preferences, his weaknesses in mind and knowledge were not solved, he would never be able to surpass Liu Jin.

The most important thing to stand out in the palace is to have a brain. In fact, it is the same in the court. Even if you want to flatter, you have to pat the right person and the right place. If you make mistakes, you will never be able to get rid of it.

Liu Jin, who has experienced ups and downs, has a more perfect personality, and is even more mature than Liu Jin in history, and has become more sophisticated in his behavior. In addition, his mind is far beyond ordinary people, so it is very difficult to deal with him.

...

...

Just when Zhang Yuan was trying to recognize his godson, the date of Xiaozong's funeral was officially confirmed.

June 26th, noon.

The imperial carriage and Fengjia and his party were about to leave on the morning of June 25th to go to Tailing to attend the funeral... In fact, the weather is hot now, and the funeral can be placed after the completion of Tailing. At that time, autumn was almost over, and the weather was cool, so travel would be much more convenient and comfortable.

However, it is not wrong for Zhu Houzhao to make such arrangements. According to the previous rules, the coffin was buried after the Xuan Palace was completed. Zhu Houzhao wanted to go out to the palace to visit, and took advantage of the opportunity of his father's burial to go to Tailing to see the scenery, and enjoy the funeral program arranged by the people below, so the date was set very early.

As the date of the funeral was determined, the cabinet and the Ministry of Rites made arrangements, and the main civil officials in the court stayed behind. Except for the Minister of Rites Zhang Sheng, the other departments, as well as temples and yamen, were basically the second-in-command.

Xie Qian was the only one who went there with the cabinet.
Chapter completed!