The sharp sound of grinding teeth immediately attracted Zhu Gaoxu's attention, "What is the sound?"
"It's nothing, maybe the mouse is making trouble." Li Qing glanced at the screen, coughed twice, and the sound of grinding his teeth suddenly stopped.
Zhu Gaoxu didn't think too much and continued, "He's so bear-like and doesn't even look in the mirror. How can he be anything..."
"Crunch..."
The sharp grinding sound sounded again, and Zhu Gaoxu frowned and said, "Sir, are the rats in your house too rampant?"
"Uh-huh... I guess it was because I was away from home for a long time and my servants were slacking off, that's why there was a problem." Li Qing smiled and said, "Let's continue. I'll have someone clean it up later."
"These servants are really..." Zhu Gaoxu snorted, "You need to train them more. I will send some servants from the house later."
"Forget it, I'm not good at that." Li Qing waved his hand.
Zhu Gaoxu was startled for a moment, then realized what he was doing. He reached into his arms and took out a cloth bag. It was heavy and hit the table with great weight.
Judging from the sound of the golden beans hitting each other, it was no less than a hundred taels.
"Sir, a trifle is not disrespectful."
"Ah haha... The King of Han is so polite." Li Qing accepted it with a smile, "Come and have a drink."
"Haha... drink."
Zhu Gaoxu was quite happy and drank several glasses of wine in succession. Seeing that Li Qing showed no expression, he couldn't sit still. After all, Li Qing's nature...
"Sir, what do you think of me?"
"The King of Han is brave and good at fighting, he is a hero." Li Qing said with a smile.
Hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu was even more delighted, and was about to take a step further, but at this moment, the eunuch's distinctive sharp voice sounded: "Is Marquis Yongqing at home? The emperor is here."
"At home!" Li Qing shouted loudly and said with a smile, "King Han, wait a moment, I will go to greet the emperor."
"Father is here?" Zhu Gaoxu's heart suddenly suddenly stopped, and he quickly grabbed Li Qing, "Sir, I haven't been here today."
As he said that, he quickly put away his wine glass and chopsticks and ran towards the screen.
"King of Han..."
"Shhh, keep your voice down." Zhu Gaoxu turned his head and said anxiously, "It will do no good to you or me to let your father know that I am here, sir. I will hide for a while, so don't reveal your secret to me."
Li Qing wanted to say something more, but Zhu Gaoxu had already gone behind the screen.
Seeing this, he had no choice but to go to meet Zhu Di first.
~
Zhu Gaoxu quickly ran behind the screen, and as soon as he stood still, he saw a big black mouse.
(??｀??Д????)!! "Big, big..."
"Shh, keep your voice down, grandpa will come in soon." Zhu Zhanji covered his second uncle's mouth, not caring about insulting his father, "Second uncle, you don't want to be discovered by grandpa, right?"
Zhu Gaoxu turned away, but his voice was very low, "When did your kid come?"
"It was long before you."
"Then..." Zhu Gaoxu said sarcastically, "Did you hear everything?"
Hanhan felt somewhat guilty when he scolded me in front of his son.
"I heard it all. My second uncle is very good at gossiping." Zhu Zhanji snorted coldly, "My dad is a little fat, but..."
"Is that a little fatter?" Seeing his nephew's rude remarks, Zhu Gaoxu immediately retorted, "Is there anyone fatter than him in the entire palace?"
"You..." Zhu Zhanji forcibly regained his respect, "That's called stability. It's better than a fool like you who only knows how to kill."
Zhu Gaoxu was furious: "Good boy, no matter how bad I am, I will still be your second uncle. You are so presumptuous..."
"Hmm..."
"Shut up, please." Zhu Zhanji covered his mouth and closed his ear canal, "Grandpa is coming in. If you don't want to be discovered, just be honest, or we'll finish playing together."
Zhu Gaoxu was very angry, but when he heard the footsteps getting closer and closer, he did not dare to refute loudly. He reluctantly pulled his hand away from his mouth and listened attentively.
~
"You are living a good life as a child." Zhu Di said, "You are much better than me."
Li Qing was helpless, "Your Majesty, I will go to the Printing Bureau tomorrow to increase efforts in publishing the ceremony."
"Ang, this man can't be too idle." Zhu Di looked much better and came to the table to sit down. "The ceremony should be published as soon as possible. The national treasury is so poor that I don't even have the money to reward the soldiers."
Don't you have any idea why you don't have money? Li Qing rolled his eyes and said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty, I will work hard and strive to resolve the Ming Dynasty's financial crisis as soon as possible."
Zhu Di nodded. He was not in the mood to digest the pie now. He sighed softly: "Civil officials are getting harder and harder to manage!"
"Since ancient times, the imperial power has not been sent to the countryside." Li Qing said with a helpless tone, "In all dynasties, there have been no pure merchants. Most of the merchants are wealthy gentry. Counting up the local wealthy gentry, their ancestors have all produced high-ranking officials, including the current Ming Dynasty.
;
Most of the officials come from wealthy gentry families, and they will naturally work for the welfare of their families."
This is an unsolvable crux. In the past dynasties, they all ruled together with the scholar-bureaucrats. The emperors of all dynasties also followed the strategy of eating meat for themselves and drinking soup for their ministers. However, it was different in the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Yuanzhang's emphasis on agriculture and suppression of business was not only to quickly restore production, but also to weaken the financial resources of the wealthy gentry to a certain extent.
Although Lao Zhu has little knowledge, the Song Dynasty had developed commerce and was extremely wealthy. These are things everyone knows. How could he not understand the benefits of commerce?
It’s just to restrict the wealthy gentry!
But although Lao Zhu killed many people, his methods of restricting the rich gentry were relatively mild.
But Lao Si is different. He monopolizes silk, tea, porcelain... these huge profit industries. It's strange that the wealthy gentry doesn't resist.
"Do you have any idea?" Zhu Di asked.
Li Qing pondered for a moment and said: "Give them some benefits."
"Haha." Zhu Di sneered, "Today I will take one step back, and tomorrow they will want me to take ten steps back. It's just drinking poison to quench my thirst."
Li Qing smiled bitterly, "Your Majesty, not every emperor is like you or like Taizu. If the attack cannot be suppressed, there will be a concentrated explosion, and the Ming Dynasty will surely experience labor pains!"
"It seems that there is nothing you can do." Zhu Di looked disappointed and hummed: "I will never give in. Even if I give in, it will be a matter for the successor. In the Yongle Dynasty, the officials and gentry will not want to rise."
Zhu Di and Zhu Yuanzhang were both stubborn. Li Qing knew that it would be useless to persuade him, so he did not discuss this topic in depth.
"Your Majesty, is there something wrong when you come here?"
"Well, the post of Minister of the Ministry of War is now vacant. I don't want to choose among civil servants. You can take it!"
Li Qingdun felt very confused, "Isn't it possible to choose one from among the nobles?"
"Stop talking nonsense, just do it if I ask you to do it." Zhu Di said angrily, "The capable nobles are either dead or too old. None of the three generations of nobles can fight. Apart from you, I can't find anyone else.
people."
"What does the emperor think of Zhang Fu?" Li Qing asked.
"He is already the Duke of the State." Zhu Di said, "The Emperor Ming Dynasty taught that the Duke of the State is not allowed to hold any official position with real power in the court to prevent one family from becoming dominant. Now that Zhang Fu's influence is great enough, I don't want to make an exception.
"
Li Qing reluctantly nodded in agreement, "Speaking of which, the emperor's methods... have gone a bit too far this time."
"You mean to depose the Minister of War and kill the Minister?"
"Yeah." Li Qing smiled bitterly, "This is not a major military delay. He will be punished according to crime. He is just a small salary penalty and demotion. However, the emperor directly dismissed the person from office and executed him. It is unreasonable!"
Zhu Di snorted coldly: "I just want them to know the price of testing me."
"..." Li Qing shook his head, "Everyone follows the rules and works within the rules. Civil servants use the rules to test, and the emperor can also use the rules to counterattack;
But the emperor has repeatedly broken the rules, and if this continues, it will make people anxious, and they may not stop breaking the rules."
Li Qing sighed: "When everyone ignores the rules, it will cause chaos. I hope the emperor will think twice before he acts. It's not that you can't kill people, but you can't kill them so obviously and unreasonably."
Zhu Di was silent for a while and nodded slightly: "What you said makes sense. I will pay attention to this in the future."
Seeing that the fourth son listened to the advice, Li Qing struck while the iron was hot: "This time the princeling party has suffered a serious blow, and the King of Han's party has become more powerful. Does the emperor intend to support the King of Han?"
Behind the screen, upon hearing this, the uncle and nephew immediately put aside their grudges and listened.
"King of Han?" Zhu Di said disdainfully, "Look at his sharp mouth and monkey cheeks. How can he have any imperial air at all?"
"Crunch..."
A sharp grinding sound was heard.
Zhu Di was stunned and glanced at the screen.
"I have been away from home for a long time and have been making trouble." Li Qing explained quickly.
"Rat trouble..." Zhu Di shook his head and laughed, "Get a pack of rat poison, one pack will kill the whole litter."
Li Qing: "..."
He changed the subject: "Then the emperor means... to continue to support the prince?"
"Support him?" Zhu Di snorted coldly, "He's like a bear, fat and cowardly..."
"Crunch..."
There was another sound of grinding teeth.
Zhu Di scratched his head and said, "Li Qing, your family is in a rat's nest!?"