Empress: Your Majesty, please respect yourself, I don't want to be promoted

Since the Empress last time resisted all opinions and allowed Lu Chen to change the course of the Ministry of Industry, for ten consecutive days, no major incidents occurred in the court.

During this period of time, the Empress was busy with government affairs every day, and Fu Wei, who was in charge of the Tiance Mansion, also began to work hard on the policy of supporting the clan. Gu Simiao spent most of her time training soldiers in the Forbidden Army Camp, and recently, for some reason, the Empress suddenly Many affairs were directly skipped to Xiao Yun, the chief assistant Yan Song, so that Xiao Yun was extremely busy with official duties every day.

She is obviously the second assistant, but the empress trusts her more than the first assistant Yan Song.

After everyone got busy, Lu Chen immediately became quieter.

Of course, he was actually busy too.

On the side of the Ministry of Industry, what he wants to manage is not just the Promise Palace project, but also large projects such as city defense construction, official road layout, repair and maintenance.

At the same time, he had to proceed with the establishment of the Tiangong Division Yamen, at least to set up a team first.

So he has been so busy recently that he hardly touches the ground.

On this day, as usual, Lu Chen, who had just come to court, was working in the office of the Ministry of Industry without distraction, focusing all his attention on the paperwork in front of him, and didn't care about the surroundings at all.

I don't know how long it has passed, and I don't know how many documents have been reviewed. Lu Chen suddenly felt his eyes a little sore, so he temporarily put down the documents, then stretched out his hand, rubbed his eyes, and then opened his hand habitually, ready to stretch waist.

"Aha."

However, at this moment——

"Well"

The left hand that was opened to the back suddenly touched something soft and soft.

Accompanied by a dull sound that seemed to be there, Lu Chen, who had withdrawn his attention from the official document, suddenly smelled a rather familiar fragrance.

Um?

The special touch made Lu Chen startled, and then subconsciously turned his head to look.

click

Only a light sound was heard, and the touch disappeared instantly.

After seeing the scene behind him clearly, Lu Chen's eyes suddenly twitched.

In the next second, he stood up abruptly, then bowed forward and saluted: "My humble servant sees Your Majesty."

However, she saw the empress dressed in a red dragon robe, who did not know when she came over, standing there gracefully.

"Cough cough."

The Empress coughed lightly, and continued:

"Lu Qing doesn't need to be too polite."

However, Lu Chen did not straighten up, but cupped his hands again, and said with a serious face: "I am so careless that I failed to notice His Majesty's arrival, and even offended the body of the dragon. Please punish me for disrespect."

Hearing this, the empress looked away inexplicably.

"It's because I didn't say hello beforehand and walked behind Lu Qing rashly. That's... this is my fault. It's fine if Lu Qing doesn't blame me for being abrupt. How can I blame Lu Qing for being rude?"

As she said that, she stepped up, walked to a chair not far away, and sat down with her clothes on her hem.

Lu Chen straightened up and thanked the Empress.

That's right, the feudal society is such nonsense. It is obvious that I am right, it is the emperor's problem, but the emperor is the supreme in the world, and the emperor cannot make mistakes, so no matter what, the fault can only be someone else.

Lu Chen asked seriously: "I don't know why your Majesty is here?"

Speaking of serious business, the empress immediately restrained her mind, then frowned slightly.

"Lu Qing, I just received some bad news."

Hearing this, Lu Chen couldn't help but look terrified.

"What bad news?"

The empress took a deep breath and said slowly: "Xue Yi, the right servant of the former Ministry of Industry, was attacked by bandits in the area of ​​Daze Township on his way home after retirement. Twenty-one members of his family were unfortunately killed."

Xue Yi?

The former right servant of the Ministry of Industry?

Hearing this news, Lu Chen couldn't help but startled.

In the next second, in his mind, the tricky things he found during the inspection of the warehouse when he was at the construction site of the Promise Palace, and the unreasonable loss of materials in the layout of the large formation.

And, where is the most critical waste.

According to Xu Sanping, Xue Yi dumped the waste privately, which is a personal act. In other words, this matter will probably not be recorded.

Thinking of this, his eyes narrowed quietly.

Bandits attack retired court officials and drive them all to death? interesting……

Lu Chen was deep in thought and remained silent. The Empress didn't make any noise to interrupt, but stayed quietly aside, silently watching Lu Chen's thoughtful appearance.

After a few breaths, Lu Chen's eyes recovered.

"Lu Qing."

The moment Lu Chen came back to his senses, the empress spoke slowly and asked, "What do you think about this matter?"

I, Li Yuanfang, just sit and watch!

Lu Chen shook his head and shook off the messy thoughts in his head, then frowned, and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, Xue Yi will not have an accident sooner or later, but I suspect that the so-called waste has something tricky Something happened."

"Besides, Xue Yi is from Taizhou. Luo Jing has a direct official route to Taizhou, and he is a high-ranking third-rank scholar. He can use the official route to return to his hometown. As long as his whereabouts are not exposed, how can he Will it be so easy to be cornered by bandits?"

"So, Weichen believes that there must be something strange about this matter."

The empress obviously thought so too. Hearing what Lu Chen said, there was no surprise on her face.

"Since this is the case, I will send Xuanjiwei to secretly..."

"There's no need to send Xuanjiwei to do this kind of thing."

Unexpectedly, Lu Chen shook his head when faced with the queen's natural decision

"The top priority now is to get rid of the thieves who dare to attack and kill the officials of the imperial court as soon as possible. No matter what, officials represent the imperial court to a certain extent. Killing officials maliciously is to provoke the majesty of our Great Xia Dynasty. This is a crime that cannot be punished." If these lawless thieves are not brought to justice as soon as possible, what will be the prestige of the Great Xia?"

After a pause, he continued: "Now that the Demon Empress has been in chaos for six years, the local armaments are slack, and it is difficult to make use of them. To suppress bandits, you have to rely on the power of the Xuanji Guards. Besides, the Xuanji Guards are currently short of manpower. There must be enough Xuanjiwei masters for His Majesty to drive, there are not many people who can be dispatched, and the limited power cannot be used on such obvious things, but now there are still many important matters that need to be solved by Xuanjiwei .”

Hearing this, the empress only thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Lu Qing's words are reasonable, but I didn't think carefully."

Seeing the empress obediently admitting her shortcomings, Lu Chen felt a slight sense of weirdness for no reason.

Is this...the so-called Lixian Corporal?

It doesn't feel right...

At this time, the empress suddenly reached out, picked up the teapot next to her, and poured two cups of tea.

"Lu Qing, let's have some tea first."

She said it with a natural face, but she directly picked up a bowl of tea and handed it to Lu Chen.

Lu Chen: "???"

Looking at the teacup in front of him, Lu Chen was stunned for a moment.

"Just like I said before."

Seeing Lu Chen standing there in a daze, the Empress looked calm and calm.

"Lu Qing, to me, you are not only a loyal minister who is unparalleled in loyalty, a virtuous minister who studies heaven and man, a minister with outstanding talents, a minister who has made great contributions to the court, and a minister who can entrust great things to you. You are also my good teacher and helpful friend. It’s a confidant, between you and me, you don’t need to care about the common etiquette of the monarch and his subjects, just get along as a confidant and friend.”

These words are like a certain magical right hand, constantly breaking all kinds of fantasies in Lu Chen's heart about becoming immortal by taking shortcuts.

Lu Chen reacted, feeling the almost unshakable trust in these words, but sighed inexplicably.

"Your Majesty, courtesy cannot be abandoned."

The Empress shook her head, noncommittal to Lu Chen's insistence.

She stood up, put the teacup in Lu Chen's hand, then sat down again, picked up another cup of tea, and took a sip.

"Okay, let's get on with the business."

Holding the teacup in his hands, Lu Chen couldn't help being speechless.

Your Majesty, even if you don't care about the difference between monarch and minister, you have to take into account the difference between men and women, right?

You have no sense of boundaries, it's easy to be misunderstood, okay?

There must be a lot of Xuanji guards around here secretly protecting them. They are all members of the Holy King Cangming, and the current power of the empress comes from the saintly power of the Holy King Cangming. Do you really think that the Empress seized power purely for the sake of helping the country?

Come on, how can there be a monarch in this world who devotes all of himself to other countries? What's more, Cangmingjing and Daxia have no subordination relationship in the actual sense at all, and they are supporting the shitty community.

This guy is 100% thinking about the Empress.

If the Holy King Cangming mistakenly thinks that he is awesome... well, then things will be a big deal.

Besides, the Holy King Cangming was the one who saved the Empress from her desperate situation, a true hero who saved the beauty. For the empress, a girl of twenty-eight years old, she met such a peerless hero at the age when her heart was most likely to germinate. , the result is simply self-evident.

And he, Lu Chen, was just an Ouhuang (non-Chief) who got lucky, said the most "correct" words at the most "correct" time, and made the "most correct" choice.

The empress was so unconscious, Lu Chen really wanted to ask her face to face: Are you not afraid that your future emperor will have opinions on you?

But if he asked this question, he would probably have to be invited to drink tea by Zhu Xiesi, and the system rewards would not even be considered.

Shaking his head, Lu Chen didn't bother to think about it.

Never mind him, whatever you like.

Lu Chen took a sip of tea, and then continued: "Your Majesty, the matter of Xue Yi must be investigated, but no matter what the results of the investigation are, whether there is evidence, or whether the truth can be revealed, we should not focus on the matter itself, but should focus on the matter itself. Focus on the problems reflected in this matter and the ways and means to solve them."

Hearing this, the Empress couldn't help but change her face.

"Lu Qing, what do you mean..."

Lu Chen pondered for a while, and then said seriously: "Your Majesty holds the important weapon of the country in his hand, and he can break it with strength. Why bother with the dark thieves on the battlefield they are familiar with? Rather than that, it is better to directly compare Xue Yi's murder with The waste matter is connected in series, and this is the reason for changing the system."

Hearing this, the empress immediately understood.

She opened her mouth and was about to say something more, but at this moment, there was a sudden sound of footsteps outside.

Then two figures in sixth-grade court clothes walked in.

But it was Wang Qi and Zhang Xuan who hadn't seen each other for a long time.

For some reason, there was an inexplicable sense of excitement and admiration on their faces, and a festive atmosphere permeated their whole people, and their steps were brisk.

"Master Lu, we have brought you good news!"

As soon as the two came in, Zhang Xuan couldn't wait to shout.

However, in the next second, after seeing the empress, the originally excited voice stopped abruptly, and then bowed heavily to the empress together with Wang Qi:

"My humble minister Wang Qi..."

"My humble minister Zhang Xuan..."

"Meet Your Majesty."

The moment the two of them entered the door, the softness and warmth on the empress's face disappeared almost instantly, replaced by the supreme majesty as the supreme being in the world, and the unparalleled domineering aura unique to the emperor who controls the world.

She turned her head slightly and looked at the two expressionlessly.

"Stay flat."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Zhang Xuan and Wang Qi got up at the same time.

The empress asked again: "Just now you said that you came to announce the good news to Lu Qing?"

"Return to His Majesty."

Wang Qi nodded calmly, and replied, "Exactly."

"oh?"

Lu Chen was a little baffled, but he showed a look of humiliation.

"Where does joy come from?"

Zhang Xuan chuckled, and then said in a rough voice, "Master, you are asking the question knowingly."

Lu Chen: "???"

Wang Qi on the side didn't have his guts, and said bluntly: "Master Lu, the two projects of the Wuji Palace have been completed today, and I'm here to ask your lord to order someone to verify the completion status."

As soon as these words came out, Lu Chen and the empress couldn't help being slightly surprised.

"Completed?"

Lu Chen asked with some uncertainty.

"Yes."

Wang Qi is as direct as ever.

"The Promise Palace has been completely repaired, and it is no different from before the Battle of Luojing. The various formations and facilities required for the New Yuan Ceremony have also been arranged and built. I have verified all of them with the new regulations according to your instructions, my lord. Once again, it has been ensured that it meets the engineering requirements and can be reported at any time."

After getting the confirmation, Lu Chen was a little confused.

What the hell, according to the previous progress, if the project of Wuji Palace is to be completed, no matter what, it will take more than ten days, right? Why is it that the completion time was brought forward after he moved his heart of compassion and formulated the regulations to take care of these laborers as much as possible?

What's the situation? This is it?

Logically speaking, even if he fills the stomachs of the laboring people, increases their physical strength, allocates work and rest time reasonably, and increases work efficiency, after this set up, at most, the work will be completed on time as the original schedule.

Why now...

A look of surprise flashed across the Empress' face.

"So fast?"

Zhang Xuan couldn't help laughing.

"Your Majesty, it's all thanks to Master Lu's strategizing. If Master Lu hadn't been pedantic about heaven and man, formulated the perfect new regulations with my incomprehensible knowledge, and pushed forward vigorously against all opinions, the project of the Promise Palace would have been able to achieve even greater success." Not being able to complete the project on time is a problem, how can it be like this, not only did not increase the additional expenditure, but it was completed ahead of schedule."

"Not only that, this time the people who were conscripted into the Promise Palace not only didn't have the slightest complaint against the imperial court, but they talked about the court's goodness everywhere. Every day, they chanted His Majesty's sages and praised Master Lu's benevolence."

Hearing this, a light flashed quietly in the eyes of the empress.

Then she suddenly thought of it, and before the two of them could speak again, she stood up suddenly.

"Lu Qing, hearing is believing, seeing is believing. Let me go to the Wuji Palace with you to have a look. Speaking of which, I haven't seen Lu Qing's name of benevolence with my own eyes."

Lu Chen: "."