Jin Sangxian, who was kneeling on the ground, immediately knew that he had been tricked when he heard what Li Zhu said.

No matter whether it was the king, Li Zhu, or his old friend, the former leader Yizheng Jin Liu, or the current leader Yizheng Hong Ruifeng, they did not place their hopes on him. He was just being used again.

After Jin Sangxian realized this, an inexplicable sadness suddenly rose in his heart.

"Your Majesty, according to Mr. Jin, the Southern Dynasty's general who conquered the east, Zuo Dudu Yang Zhen, only gave your Majesty two days to make a decision. If there is no reply within two days, he will send troops to attack Hanyang.

city."

Suddenly, a minister in his fifties with luxuriant beard and hair sitting on his knees at the back of the hall straightened up and told Li Zhu about the time limit given by Yang Zhen, and then said:

"From Ganghwa Island to Hanyang City, both water and land routes are accessible. Your Majesty knows the distance between the two places. As for the Qing general Rausa, I know that he is indeed very brave in battle, but he can also

How about, can he come back with the Qing soldiers within two days?"

Having said this, the minister looked at Li Zhu, who had an unhappy expression, and then at the other ministers who were kneeling on the floor in front of Li Zhu's couch. Then he laughed, stretched out two fingers, and asked himself:

"In two days, can Lausa come back with the Qing troops within two days? My answer is, it is absolutely impossible!"

"Shen Qiyuan, what do you mean by this?!"

It turned out that the minister, who was about fifty years old and with thick hair and beard, was Shen Jiyuan, Shen Jicheng's eldest brother, the chief military envoy of Gyeonggi Province and the defense envoy of Namhan Mountain Fortress.

The person who scolded Shen Qiyuan at this time was completely different from Shen Qiyuan in terms of appearance. He had a sparse beard, few eyebrows, mung bean eyes, a long face, and a sinister appearance.

Faced with this man's sudden scolding, Shen Qiyuan obviously didn't care much. He just glanced at him, smiled contemptuously, then raised his face and said to him:

"Nothing else, I'm just telling the truth! What? Are you, the right minister, not allowing me, Shen Qiyuan, to tell the truth in front of the king?!"

"you--"

The minister whom Shen Qiyuan called Mr. Right Prime Minister was another of Li Zhu's confidants, You Yizheng Jin Zidian.

But when Jin Zidian saw that Shen Qiyuan didn't take him seriously as a right-wing politician, and showed contempt for him in front of so many important ministers, his anger suddenly rose, his face turned red, and he was about to

To explode.

"That's enough! You are all important officials of the imperial court. How can you argue in front of me like this?"

Li Zhu's appearance is fairly decent, with a Chinese-character face, thick eyebrows and narrow eyebrows, a carefully trimmed mustache on his upper lip, and a sparse goatee on his chin. His complexion is fair, and he looks like a scholar.

At this time, Li Zhu was wearing a black gauze winged crown and a red python robe. He had been named king for more than ten years, and he had an air of majesty.

When he got angry, all the ministers kneeling in the palace, including his favorite Jin Zidian, all shut up for a moment, and no one spoke anymore.

After a while, Li Zhu saw that no one spoke in the palace. After scanning the crowd, his eyes fell on a fat minister with gray beard in the front. Wen Yan said to him:

"Hong Qing, you are the leader of the government, please tell me your opinion!"

The fat old man whom Li Zhu called Hong Qing was none other than Hong Ruifeng, the current leader of the parliamentary government of the Li Dynasty.

Hong Ruifeng is very handsome. Although he is not young, he is about the same age as Kim Sang-heon, almost seventy, if not seventy. However, there are no wrinkles on his fat face, and he has the appearance of a young boy.

"Your Majesty, I believe that what Mr. Shen just said is not unreasonable. Although the Qing soldiers are good at fighting, the Ming army is certainly no match. But at the moment, after all, the Qing soldiers cannot save the fire from afar.

"That Yang Zhen is now on Jianghua Island. If the king angers him, he is afraid that he will become violent. In this case, the king's palace and treasury in Jiangdu will be destroyed."

After all, Hong Ruifeng was in charge of political affairs and was an important figure who supported Li Zhu after he launched the palace coup. His opinions still had some influence on Li Zhu.

Hong Ruifeng himself obviously knew this, so he only presented the facts but did not express his suggestions. He just waited to see Li Zhu's reaction before making a response.

Sure enough, after Hong Ruifeng finished speaking, Li Zhu nodded slightly, and then continued to question him expressionlessly: "Then, in Hong Qing's opinion, what should I do to ensure that Jiangdu's palace and treasury are not destroyed?" ?”

"It's better to continue negotiating."

"Continue negotiating?"

"Exactly. In the opinion of the veteran, since Yang Zhen has spoken to Mr. Qingyin and put forward the conditions for him to withdraw his troops, then the king has room to send people to negotiate with him. If he can ask for a high price, the king can naturally Pay back the money when you land."

“How to pay back the money after landing?”

Li Zhu was obviously a little interested in what Hong Ruifeng said, and was about to continue asking. At this time, he saw a skinny minister kneeling not far behind Hong Ruifeng suddenly straightened up and said:

"Your Majesty! How can you, your majesty, the king of a country, be like a merchant and pay back money?! Moreover, the prime minister's proposal to negotiate with Yang Zhen is just for his own selfish interests!"

The minister suddenly said this, and all the ministers in the palace were in an uproar.

"Li Shengqiu! Stop spewing blood!"

Before Li Zhu could speak, Hong Ruifeng had already called out the minister's name without looking back, and immediately rebutted him angrily.

Li Shengqiu, the Zuo Yinzheng of the parliamentary government, commonly known as the Left Prime Minister, had always been at odds with Hong Ruifeng. He could not understand Hong Ruifeng's behavior, nor could he understand Li Zhu's favor towards Hong Ruifeng and his son. He often opposed Hong Ruifeng in front of Li Zhu.

Under normal circumstances, if there is no harmony among the three officials in the Uijeongbu government, many things cannot be handled quickly because they will always get caught up in various political and party disputes, causing everything to run aground.

However, when Li Zhuang considered the problem, he did not start from the perspective of whether the national affairs were smooth and effective. One of the things he was best at was to keep the DPRK and China in constant conflict with each other, prevent any one faction from getting bigger, and let each faction always be at odds with each other. in the midst of controversy.

No matter what happens, in the end, it will be decided by him.

Li Zhu's technique of confusing different opinions was certainly very useful in preserving his throne. Relying on this, he remained the king for more than 20 years until his death.

However, this method of stirring up different opinions also caused the Li Dynasty's small court to always be in party and political disputes during Li Zhu's reign, and there was no way to concentrate on doing any major things.

Li Shengqiu, the left prime minister, had obviously seen through Li Jie's mind a long time ago, so he had no fear of Hong Ruifeng, the leader of the government. At this time, he saw that Hong Ruifeng was a little frustrated and wanted to shut up, and then he laughed and continued:

"Haha, what the prime minister is worried about is probably not the treasures in the palace and treasury on Jianghua Island, but the prime minister's own son, Hong Mingyi, who is left behind by Jianghua."

After saying this, the left prime minister Li Shengguo suddenly kowtowed to Li Jian, and then said loudly: "Your Majesty, once the important land of Ganghwa Island was lost, the treasures in the Jiangdu palace and treasury fell into the hands of Yang Zhen, and Hong Ming stayed behind to guard Ganghua. He is to blame, and since Prime Minister Hong is the father of Hong Mingyi, he should also be held accountable. How can we ask him for countermeasures?!"

At this point, the left prime minister Li Shenggu pointed at Shen Jiyuan who was kneeling in the distance and said loudly: "There is also Shen Jiyuan, the commander-in-chief of Gyeonggi Province. His younger brother is Shen Jisheng, the deputy envoy of Ganghua Remaining Mansion. His younger brother is also responsible for the fall of the government. How can Shen Qiyuan be allowed to serve as the commander-in-chief again, and how can he be asked to participate in important military tasks again?!"

The left prime minister Li Shenggu actually criticized two important ministers in one breath, and held them accountable as soon as he opened his mouth, almost expelling them from the court.

If he came one by one, it might still be possible, but if he simultaneously demanded punishment for the Prime Minister Hong Seobong and the Chief Military Envoy of Gyeonggi Province and the Defense Envoy of Namhansanseong Fortress Shen Jiyuan, it would be a bit overestimating his capabilities.

Hong Ruifeng can sit in his current position. Is he actually an ordinary person?

And Shen Qiyuan was able to occupy the position of the commander-in-chief of Gyeonggi Province and the defense envoy of Namhan Mountain Fortress, so he was not an ordinary person.

Without the trust of King Li Zhu, they would not be in their current position.

Because of this, after Li Shengqiu said these words, the hall fell silent, as if everyone was waiting for Li Zhu to come out and say a word.

At this time, Li Zhu had a pulled face and a gloomy expression. He thought for a long time, and seeing that no one spoke anymore, he looked at an old minister who was kneeling near his couch with his eyes closed and said:

"Jin Gong, what do you think of this matter?"

This old man, whom Li Shuzun calls Jin Gong, is none other than Jin Liu, an old minister who had been in charge of political affairs for a long time before Bingzi's chaos.

Jin Liu was also in his seventies. Although his beard and hair were gray, his complexion was still good. Hearing this, he suddenly opened his drooped eyelids, raised his hand to Li Zhu, and said with great energy:

"Your Majesty, this is an urgent time. The matter of accountability should be discussed later. Besides, Prime Minister Hong is Prime Minister Hong, and Hong Mingyi is Hong Mingyi. Only sons have taken the place of father, and I have never heard of fathers taking the place of son. of.

"The same is true for Mr. Shen. This is the time when the country is employing people. How can we punish our elder brother because of his fault? If so, who else in the world can we use?!"

Jin Liu's own son was ordered to stay in Jianghua during Bingzi's rebellion, but he neglected his duty and failed to save Jianghua Island, resulting in a large number of harem concubines and ministers' female relatives being kidnapped. Bingzi's son was executed after Bingzi's rebellion.

As a result, Jin Liu himself was dismissed from office and lost his position as leader of political affairs.

Although Li Zhu still respected him and asked his opinion on everything, he has not been able to truly recover because of his son's incident.

So when he heard Li Shengqiu's confession, he instinctively felt disgusted, and when Li Zhu asked him his opinion, he immediately said what he was thinking.

Words mixed with true feelings are naturally confident and straightforward and speak directly to people's hearts.
Chapter completed!