Zhu Yunwen took a deep look at Li Qing and said in his heart: "He is indeed someone who is valued as much as Grandpa Huang. He is indeed extraordinary. He will be used even more in the future."
Thinking of this, he smiled and said, "The tea has gone cold. Gentlemen, take a sip of tea first."
"Emperor..."
"Brother Li." Li Jinglong tugged at Li Qing's sleeve and whispered, "The holy will is so obvious, so don't try to get into trouble. Even if you really want to persuade him, you can't stop him at this juncture in front of these people.
tower."
Li Qing smiled bitterly and nodded, feeling helpless.
After what they said just now, Qi, Fang, and Huang's impression of Li Qing has greatly changed, and their words are no longer tit-for-tat. They can be described as being in harmony.
But Li Qing was not happy. He didn't want Zhu Yunwen to cut down the vassal. He had already experienced how cruel the war was, let alone when his own people beat his own people.
Moreover, the situation outside the customs continues to deteriorate. If we start a war at this time, wouldn't we take the initiative to give the Yuan people an opportunity to grow bigger?
Even if there is a war, we have to fight against the Yuan people and fight in the nest... Damn, what is this?
Li Qing had frequent interactions with Zhu Di. He knew that Zhu Di had ambitions, but did not want to usurp power. Zhu Di wanted to be emperor, but did not want to rebel.
Zhu Di wanted to inherit the throne in a legitimate and legitimate manner, not to snatch the throne.
As long as Zhu Yunwen does not cut down the feudal vassal, Zhu Di will never rebel.
A quarter of an hour later, Huang Zicheng took the lead in entering the state and said with great enthusiasm, "Your Majesty, I suggest that we start with the King of Zhou."
He explained, "King Zhou is the half-brother of King Yan. Killing him is equivalent to killing King Yan's wings, and he is easy to bully... ahem, he has a lot of power."
"Okay, let's do it!" Zhu Yunwen agreed almost instantly, without even giving everyone a chance to express their opinions.
Li Qing frowned slightly. Previously, he was responsible for monitoring the vassal kings. Among the several vassal kings, Zhou Wang Zhu Cui had the best reputation. He was willing to do good and charity. He also collaborated with famous doctors in the vassal area to write medical books;
Although he did not achieve great military exploits, he was indeed a good vassal king.
Is it because he doesn't have many soldiers in hand that he should be attacked first?
Looking at Qi Fanghuang, Li Qing suddenly felt disgusted. He only acted based on interests, regardless of right or wrong. What's the use of being loyal to the emperor?
"Your Majesty, think twice." Li Jinglong couldn't stand it anymore. They were all his cousins, and he didn't want Zhu Yunzhen to cut down the vassal vassal. "The King of Zhou has always been wise. I hope Your Majesty..."
"Cao Guogong, please pay attention to your words." Qi Tai frowned and said, "Can the vassal king use the word wise?"
"You...!" Li Jinglong didn't tolerate him, "What's the reason for touching King Zhou?"
"As long as you check, there will always be some." Huang Zicheng continued, "How many of the vassal kings abide by the law?"
Seeing that the two of them were about to quarrel, Zhu Yunwen stood up and said: "Okay, I have made up my mind, let's start with King Zhou."
Seeing that Li Jinglong seemed to want to refute again, he said: "That's it for today, everyone has dispersed!"
"I'll take my leave."
…
Li Qing's face was as dark as water, and Li Jinglong's face was not very good either. Seeing that Li Qing was about to go home after leaving the palace, he persuaded him: "Brother Li, stay here."
"What's the matter?"
"Let us persuade the emperor again!"
"It's useless." Li Qing smiled bitterly, "No one can persuade him or me. He will only listen to suggestions that suit his needs."
Li Jinglong said unwillingly: "Then just watch helplessly?"
Li Qing was silent for a while and said something that Li Jinglong couldn't understand: "History will eventually repeat itself, so there's no need to be persistent. Let's just go back and enjoy life!"
After that, he said nothing more and walked away.
The next day, Li Qing fell ill.
Zhu Yunwen came down from the afternoon court in person and brought the imperial doctor to diagnose and treat Li Qing.
As a result, the imperial doctor checked the Tianmai pulse for a long time, but could not find out the cause of the disease. He just said: Yongqinghou suffered from a miscellaneous disease and needed to rest.
Zhu Yunwen was a little skeptical, but seeing Li Qing's pale face, he had to believe it. In addition, the imperial doctor said so, so he couldn't force Li Qing to go to court.
So I said some heart-warming words and went back.
In the following days, Li Qing took sick leave.
A few days later, Li Jinglong came to visit, looking ugly.
"Brother Li, are you feeling better?"
"If the imperial doctors can't diagnose and cure you, how can you get better?" Li Qing looked weak, "You don't look very good either!"
Li Jinglong was silent, "I'm going to capture King Zhou."
Li Qing nodded slightly: "Well, have a nice journey."
"Brother Li...sigh." Li Jinglong didn't say anything more, but said with concern, "You are a doctor, it shouldn't be a problem, right?"
"It's hard for a doctor to heal himself!" Li Qing smiled, "But he probably won't die."
Seeing that he was still in the mood to joke and joke, Li Jinglong felt bitter and stayed for a while before standing up to leave.
A month and a half later, the King of Zhou and his family were escorted to the capital. Since no charges were found, they were charged with treason.
Of course, it was not a fabrication out of thin air, but someone reported it, and the person who reported it was none other than the ten-year-old second son of King Zhou.
Zhu Yunwen did not kill him, but gave his uncle a heartbreaking reprimand, and then mercifully exempted him from the death penalty, demoted him to a commoner, and then ordered him to move to Yunnan...
The title of King Zhou was reduced, which caused a lot of turmoil. In fact, King Zhou was very charitable and had an excellent reputation. The crime convicted by the court was difficult to convince the public.
After all, King Zhou's power was too small. The three guards in his hands totaled more than 10,000 people. No one believed that he would rebel.
Unfortunately, the informer was just a ten-year-old child, and even a blind person could see that this was an attempt to inflict a crime.
Although the nobles are not as smart as the civil servants, they are not fools. Even the king of Zhou was punished. Can the other vassal kings be cured?
The civil servants became increasingly domineering, which made it even more difficult for the nobles to accept it. As a result, the nobles and vassal kings who were supposed to check and balance each other stopped doing so.
On the second day after the King of Zhou moved to Yunnan, the Chang family, the Xu family, Lan Yu... all the nobles went to court to intercede for the King of Zhou, and at the same time impeached Qi Fang and Huang.
Zhu Yunwen appeased and then dismissed the petitions of the nobles.
But he soon realized the consequences of disturbing the vassal king. He underestimated the influence of these nobles. Not only did the civil servants and nobles in the court become more antagonistic, but the army also began to feel uneasy.
A month later, the King of Liao, King Yan, King Ning, King Gu, King Dai, King Qing... all wrote petitions, demanding a re-investigation of the Zhou King's rebellion. At the same time, they impeached Qi Fanghuang. Compared with Xungui, they were more interested in
He was so domineering that he directly asked Zhu Yunwen to chop three people into pieces.
Zhu Yunwen had never seen such a posture before, and he immediately gave up. But the emperor had only left so few people for him, so how could he be willing to kill three of them at once?
So, he issued an edict to sin against himself.
However, he did not admit that King Zhou was not guilty, but said that the punishment was a little strict, and then sent people to Yunnan to give King Zhou a home, and that was it.
Zhu Yunwen acted calmly, but he was panicking inside. His sense of security, which was not much in the first place, was even more severely lacking.
At the same time, he became more determined to reduce the vassal status.
…
In the blink of an eye, winter turns to spring.
In April of the first year of Jianwen, Zhu Yunwen, who had been silent for a long time, once again launched an attack. This time he interpreted his vigorous and resolute behavior to the extreme.
Within one month, three kings were killed in a row!
The three vassal kings of Qi, Hunan and Dai were all demoted to common people, causing an uproar in the government and the public.
Among them, Zhu Bai, King of Xiang, was the most tragic. He was accused of treason, counterfeiting treasures, and murder without mercy. He could not be defended.
He had a strong personality and chose to self-immolate!
King Xiang, Princess Xiang, and the rest of their family members, including the royal family members, all committed suicide in the fire.
This time, it really shattered the sky.
The nephew killed his uncle. How could he bear the crime? But the matter was a foregone conclusion, so what could he do?
At the suggestion of Qi Fanghuang, in order to preserve the dignity of the court, he said that King Xiang committed suicide out of fear of crime. At the same time, to show that the court was politically correct, he also gave him an evil posthumous title: Ru.
Li Qing sighed secretly. He knew that Zhu Di was going to rebel. If it were him, he would rebel too.
Zhu Yunwen doesn’t give people a way to survive at all!
However, Zhu Bai's death also brought great pain to Zhu Yunwen, and he could not wash away the crime of harming his blood relatives no matter what.
On this day, Zhu Yunwen came to Yongqinghou Mansion with scarlet eyes.
Let’s get straight to the point: “It’s been more than half a year, and all diseases should be cured!”
Li Qing smiled and asked: "Your Majesty, if Emperor Taizu knew about Quanxia, what do you think he would do?"
Zhu Yunzhen's face turned pale and he said harshly: "Grandpa Huang said that being an emperor must be ruthless. For the sake of the great Ming Dynasty, he dares to bear the reputation of killing heroes, and I also dare to bear the responsibility of killing...killing..."
He finally felt a little weak and snorted coldly: "I am also doing it for the country and the country of the Ming Dynasty!"
"Then how many practical things has the emperor done for the Ming Dynasty?" Li Qing asked.
Zhu Yunwen said, "Since I came to the throne, I have not dared to slack off for a moment. I often reviewed the memorials until midnight, and did not miss the morning and noon meetings. Isn't it enough to reduce taxes for the people of the Ming Dynasty twice in a row?"
Li Qing said quietly, "Is reducing taxes a wise ruler?
Diligence does not mean success!
I believe that the emperor is determined to be a good emperor and has been working hard for this, but the emperor... do you think you have done a good job?"
"I……"
Zhu Yunwen instinctively wanted to affirm it, but he really couldn't find the reason for his political achievements, and his face felt hot for a while.
Li Qing breathed a sigh of relief and asked again: "Does your Majesty think it is happy to be the Emperor?"
Zhu Yunwen was silent for a long time, slowly shaking his head, looking a little confused: "I don't know what to do, Li Qing, I know you are capable, can you help me?"