February 16th, Weisheng, Qinggong.

The official duties pile up every day.

The weather was still cold, but the peach blossoms covered with snow in the yard were in bloom. Lou Shuwan took the time to correct the mountains of papers on the table, only occasionally raising her head to relax her mind briefly. The blooming peach blossoms would make her

I think of Jiangnan, which has become a bit blurry, and the irresponsible life back then. It was so happy.

At a certain moment in the middle, I asked my maid Xiaoqiu to close the window and muttered something: "It's getting colder."

He rubbed his hands and continued to bury his head in the document.

A woman's body is always particularly afraid of the cold. Although in recent years, under the guidance of masters such as Shi Jin and Wang Juyun, she has also tried to practice some Qigong for physical fitness, her mind is too active and trivial, and it is difficult for her to become calm.

, although her body is now better than that of ordinary women after practicing, she still feels that the progress is too slow.

Is the gap between people so big? Who is that bastard Ning from the southwest? How did he train?

Although Shi Jin, Wang Juyun and others have carefully said that the martial arts of the southwest man may not be as high as the rumors, but when Lou Shuwan comes to think about it, the other party still has at least first-class skills in the arena, otherwise he was in Luliang Mountain back then.

, how dare he yell at Lin Zongwu like that. He has an active mind, so doesn’t he...why!

The world treats people unfairly.

Occasionally cursing the thief God and scolding the dog bastard Ning in the southwest is one of the ways to entertain herself, and it can also be regarded as the source of coordinates for her work over the years. Although she is puzzled by the progress of martial arts, she has

You can figure it out in one day:

Dog bastard Ning He has probably been working day and night like himself for so many years, reviewing papers, reading news, going to meetings and games one after another, moving forward cautiously, and thinking about who he is every moment.

I'm lying to myself, maybe there are some clues hidden in some messages that I missed...

There will be no other way.

Compared with the gloomy and breathless situation and pressure of the past few years, the discouraging things and the seemingly endless bad news, now at least many things have gone smoothly for the time being, which is gratifying.

With the development of the book, the information recorded in each booklet flows before my eyes every day like a rushing river. There are still many problems, but the knots one by one are gradually unraveling.

The level of boredom is always less than in previous years.

The time that can be allocated to review these papers is not long every day. In other times, there are still meetings and meetings to be held. For many representatives of powerful families or forces, she needs to meet in person to win over them.

She made a decision on the general direction, but for many specific matters, she had to hold meetings with several ministers of the Shanxi cabinet to discuss progress and arrange the next steps. Sometimes she had to win over or suppress them respectively.

Although the current power basically belongs to her, in fact, her personal friendship with many civil servants in the court is not very deep, and she maintains a distant and business-like attitude with many people. Even for the staff around her, her

Management is still based on political balance rather than personal friendship.

Women in power now have a natural disadvantage in terms of status. If you are too close to others, it is easy for others to deceive and manipulate you. This is a painful lesson accumulated from the Tian Hu era.

For this reason, in addition to having a relatively cordial trust in some figures such as Yu Lin and Shi Jin, Lou Shuwan always showed public concern rather than personal friendship when facing most officials. This ensured that the governance of Jin was stable in some aspects.

Integrity and insight have also made the female prime minister's governing foundation somewhat fragile in other aspects.

According to the biting sarcasm that the dog bastard Ning He said to her in the letter, this can only be regarded as a kind of "feudal incorruptibility". It is like walking a tightrope. Although it can be maintained for a short time, it may not last long.

If she can establish a more usable team of disciples and staff like Southwest, her path should be more stable. But there is no way, she is not very good at educating her disciples, and it is difficult for her to form a Ning Yi-like influence on the people below her.

With her "monarch"-like authority, most of the time, people who understand the situation in Jin will express respect for her "public spirit" and "selflessness", but such respect can easily fall apart in the face of more clear rights.

Knights like Shi Jin, who have their own unwavering "Tao", are too rare, and even if Shi Jin's loyalty deserves her unconditional trust, she rarely allows Shi Jin to serve in other positions besides personal bodyguards.

, such as the collection of intelligence, such as his views on certain things, even if he occasionally asks, the knight's perspective will be biased. Lou Shuwan cherishes it very much and does not want him to get involved in more worldly affairs.

In dramas, it is always thought that the reason why a certain lord is stupid is that he cannot appoint talents to their best interests, but in fact, the most painful thing for people at the core of power is that they do not know what information is true and what information is false. Most of them

The balance of power at that time also hoped that three or more people could express their opinions from several different angles in order to find the truth from the collision of opinions. Once the lower-level people formed an alliance, no matter how wise the monarch was, they could only

It was pitch black.

Correct information is the basis of everything.

It was already noon after reviewing the excerpts, so I invited several cabinet ministers to have lunch and discussed the progress of various affairs with them.

Cooperation negotiations with Zou Xu have been one of the key points in recent times. To the outside world, the news has spread that Jin is going to develop Taiyuan, Bianliang and Zou, and Dai Lili has immediately supported it and is preparing to participate.

Many disturbances have brought about positive interests, but the tug of war continues on the specific direction of negotiations.

"... Zou Xu has proposed several trading options today... As before, most of them are of course what we want to sell, but there are always a few that we can't accept... In the middle, it's about firearms

Yes, Master Yu and I discussed it. There are six to seven items. In the northwest, Xiaocang River is also one of them... And for several items related to firearms, Zou Xu has hinted that if we can

Take it out secretly, and the price they can give you is very high..."

"... Mr. Yu and I have discussed this matter. To be honest, the prices he gave are really tempting. Several plans for this year are bottomless... and Zou Xu said there that they are a grassroots company.

In the beginning, when dealing with all parties, reputation was the most important thing, so the secret transaction would not harm us, but of course, we refused at the time. But I think the Prime Minister should take a look at the prices above..."

The official negotiating with Zou Xu's team now belongs to the Ministry of Household Affairs of Shanxi Province, which is the department directly under the jurisdiction of Lou Shuwan. The other party's words were relatively relaxed. After explaining the process, he handed the notebook to Lou Shuwan. Lou Shuwan waved to the other party.

When I sat down to eat, I glanced at him and almost dropped my chopsticks.

"Oh, there are so many names with the surname Zou..."

"We made a rough estimate and found that Liu Guangshi, Yin Zong, Chen Shiquan and others have the property. It is not surprising that they can come up with these. After all, many of them are for delivery of goods, and we... do lack these."

"Sell me..."

"The Prime Minister is joking."

"I'm not joking. My nephew is really rich, and his price is generous. This means that young people have more money. It depends on their character." She held the chopsticks in one hand and the book in the other, stared at it, smiled, and then closed the book.

He stood up, instantly suppressed his smile and shook his head, "In the afternoon, please Master Cen, please throw these prices in the faces of the people opposite."

"...the matter of firearms and the ownership of Xiaocanghe are the bottom line of the Southwest. There is no need to talk about it, and we can't talk about it. Today's breath of relief in Jindi is because I went to Southwest to beg my grandfather and grandma to kneel back. Now

Our wings are not hard yet, leading us to bully our masters and destroy our ancestors, and slap people in the face. Ask them what Zou Xu wants to do! Does he really not understand this truth? He is still nagging his mother-in-law and mother-in-law all day long.

Follow us in circles."

"Yes." The official surnamed Cen nodded, and then asked, "...Did you really throw it away?"

"……ah?"

Lou Shuwan raised her head and looked at him with some confusion.

The other person also smiled after a moment.

"...I understand, the humble post will take care of it. But according to my opinion and that of Mr. Yu, the firearms and the Xiaocang River are probably Zou Xu's extortionate asking prices. If they really have to pay back the money, the interests of Guanzhong and Tongguan,

It seems that is their main concern..."

"...It is also the rightful meaning." Lou Shuwan said while eating, "The northwest is not only the barrier of Shanxi, but also connects the entire Central Plains. As long as he and Dai Mengwei are not blind, they will regard Guanzhong as their most important enemy. Now Tongguan,

Chang'an is considered to be in our hands. Not long after he and Lao Dai killed Liu Guangshi, they are still clearing old accounts. The foundation is not yet stable, so they can only negotiate with us. He mentioned this matter last time when he came... Actually, I haven't yet

Totally thought about it.”

There was a slight silence for a moment.

"...In any case, according to what Lao Ning said in his letter last month, Zou Xu is very capable of stalemate. When negotiating with him, you must be prepared to go around in circles. The ideas in the direction of Chang'an and Tongguan, stay with them until they

Take the initiative and see how much they think... In addition, if you really feel that something is wrong, throw it directly in their face, whether it is a book or a stool, and say that I am angry, and ask Zou Xu to come and apologize to me in person.

Otherwise, don’t talk anymore, they are not the only ones to win the Jin Dynasty.”

Hearing her talk about "Old Ning" like this, the person below looked slightly solemn and breathed a sigh of relief. Lou Shuwan glanced at it and changed the topic to other places.

The negotiation between Jindi and Zou Xu is now an important matter, but at least the publicity impact on Jindi's development of Taiyuan has begun to be discounted. Nowadays, various gentry and big merchants are gathering cooperation intentions, aiming at a large number of people from Taiyuan and the northwest.

Materials are being mobilized, and cooperation with the rebel divisions is being communicated and coordinated every day. These are all urgent matters, and every day's report will have an overview.

These messages came in turn, and after the conversation was over, almost an hour had passed. Lou Shuwan hurriedly finished eating a few mouthfuls of food that had gone cold, and then talked about two important things in the afternoon.

"...Lu Cheng has made preparations for the negotiation with the Jurchens. He will set off north tomorrow. Regardless of whether it has any effect or not, you will vigorously promote it. In addition, the envoys from the Chinese Army from Liangshan will meet in the afternoon.

When we arrived at Weisheng, there were not many people, but the gongs, drums, and firecrackers were ready at the east gate. The Chinese Army fully supports our reconstruction of Taiyuan. Please let go of this incident when you have time."

Everyone stood up and accepted the promise.

Shortly after the meal, Lu Cheng, the envoy who was going to the Jin Kingdom, led several deputies to see Lou Shuwan. This was a middle-aged official from Jin who had good eloquence and strong adaptability. He was going to be an envoy to the Jin Dynasty.

News about the country has been spreading around Weisheng for several days.

Going north to develop Taiyuan is a very enterprising and risky undertaking. Under normal circumstances, only the most radical speculators will choose to participate. In this context, Zou Xu's proactive overtures gave Jindi some publicity

At the same time, the female prime minister suddenly made the decision to negotiate with the Kingdom of Jin, which gave everyone a more solid reassurance.

This is extremely mature political skill.

In the past, the Kingdom of Jin and the land of Jin had a deep hatred. The female prime minister also showed an extremely radical attitude in the process of resisting the Jin Dynasty. After she did something that burned her power to the ground, she had many ideas of appeasement that most people would not dare to say out loud first.

, but under the current situation, considering the rumors that the new Jurchen monarch came to power, the power struggle, and the Xifu's loss of power that have been circulating in the past month, many people believe that the Jin Dynasty has expressed peace intentions to the new Jurchen monarch Wanyan Dan at this time.

, it is very likely to get a positive result.

Even if a war is inevitable in a few years, at least the buffer period for the development of Taiyuan can be extended as long as possible.

Especially after the female prime minister showed such a broad mind and such natural strategizing skills, many people in Jin area even raised their awareness of her to a higher level. Within a few days after the news was released, several people in Washeng City

Representatives of the gentry and wealthy families who were still hesitating successively expressed their preliminary intention to cooperate with the development of Taiyuan to Lou Shuwan.

"...When you go to the Kingdom of Jin, your attitude is neither humble nor arrogant. Our Jin Kingdom today has shown its strength in the past wars, and is not the Wu Dynasty where they get what they want, so there is no need to grovel and lower your attitude. Wanyan Dan, the new king

Soon after taking power, if you want to touch powerful officials like Zong Han, as long as they are not pigs, they will be willing to raise their hands to Jin..."
To be continued...