The two sat opposite each other, the food and wine were served, and they began to eat and drink.
After a while, Zhu Zhanji raised his glass to his lips, swallowed the preserved eggs with the wine, and asked curiously: "Uncle Qing, how did you get Grandpa Huang to agree to lift the sea ban?"
"To learn with reason, to move with emotion." Li Qing put down his chopsticks, "Where's the gold?"
"I'll deliver it to you tomorrow." Zhu Zhanji said angrily, "You are really a money addict."
"As the saying goes, who doesn't love money?"
"But at your age, why do you need so much money? Can you spend it all?" Zhu Zhanji teased, "Uncle Qing, do you know what the most painful thing in life is?"
"What?"
"People died and the money was not spent."
"No, no, no," Li Qing shook his head, "When a person is alive, it will be more painful if the money is gone."
"With the money you have now, you won't be able to spend it all in a few lifetimes." Zhu Zhanji sneered.
Li Qing said with emotion: "You can't say that. As people grow up, there is no harm in leaving more money."
Zhu Zhanji was speechless, knowing that he wanted to learn two more tricks without spending money.
"I'll have the gold brought to you when I get back. You can teach me kung fu first!"
"One hand pays the money, and the other hand teaches the skills." Li Qing is very principled.
Zhu Zhanji completely lost his temper, picked up his chopsticks and continued eating and drinking, as if he wanted to get back the one hundred taels of gold.
After a while, Zhu Zhanji couldn't help but be curious and asked: "Can you tell me that Grandpa Huang always obeys your words?"
"Because what I said makes sense and is feasible." Li Qing said with a smile, "There are also things to pay attention to when doing things. For example: I want to teach you kung fu today, will you still send gold tomorrow?"
As for you talking about being a human being... Zhu Zhanji sneered and asked, "What's the specifics?"
"Guess what?"
Zhu Zhanji thought for a while and then hesitantly said, "Could it be...painting cakes?"
He often ate the cakes made by his grandfather, and over time, he also gained some understanding of them.
Li Qing nodded and said seriously: "Don't underestimate this. You must learn this from your grandfather. A monarch who cannot draw cakes is not a good emperor!"
"Is it so...evil?"
"Of course." Li Qingxin said: This is the traditional craft of Lao Zhu's family, and the inheritance cannot be cut off. Jianwen just suffered the disadvantage of not being able to draw cakes.
"How do you think Taizu won the kingdom?" Li Qing asked.
Zhu Zhanji was dumbfounded: "Isn't it right? You don't think that Taizu won the world by painting cakes, do you?"
"There is no doubt that Taizu was wise and powerful." Li Qing first affirmed Lao Zhu's ability, and then said, "However, it is difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without rice. At first, Taizu was poor. Even if he developed later, he was still one of the three forces.
The weakest among them is far from comparable to Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng;
But Xu Da, Tang He, Chang Yuchun and other veterans have been following them loyally, so what do they rely on?"
"Damn... painting cakes?" Zhu Zhanji said in a confused tone.
"Well, besides charisma, the biggest factor is the cake painting." Li Qing said with a smile, "This trick is timeless and will still be effective even after hundreds of years."
Next, Li Qing began to output his experience and skills in painting cakes...
When it comes to painting cakes, Li Qing is no weaker than Lao Zhu, or even Lao Si.
After a meal, Zhu Zhanji was a little doubtful about life.
I can't help but ponder: Could it be that my empire in the Ming Dynasty was created by painting cakes and paintings?
…
After a drink, Zhu Zhanji seemed to have opened the door to a new world.
Listening to your words is better than ten years of reading; nothing more than this!
He felt that he would definitely be a good emperor in the future because he was on the right track.
~
Before any clues could be found about Jiangnan's case, Zhu Di was the first to take the cake.
The effect was obvious. The originally agitated court quickly calmed down, and there were far fewer memorials to impeach Zhu Di.
Seeing this, Zhu Zhanji increasingly felt the importance and necessity of "painting cakes".
Li Qing no longer paid attention to the court situation, and he didn't even pay attention to the Jiangnan investigation. To him, these were trivial matters, and a big pie could minimize the impact.
In addition to his daily interactions with the three women, his energy was focused on the situation outside the customs.
In early September, reports came from outside the customs: The Tatars had assembled nearly 50,000 troops and attacked Oara with all their strength. Oara had taken precautions in advance and moved its camp in advance, so the losses were not big.
In early October, the Tatars attacked Oara again. This time Oara was caught off guard and suffered serious losses. Tens of thousands of women, children, cattle, sheep and livestock were robbed.
In early November, the tea-horse trade started. The Ming army sold tea, silk, porcelain... and other items; in exchange for yaks, camels, war horses, ginseng, mink... and other items.
The profits are as high as maritime trade.
In the twelfth lunar month, Tuohuan paid tribute in person, holding Zhu Di's thigh and crying, how the Tatars dehumanized and how cruel the world was...he had lots of snot and tears.
Of course, Zhu Di knew that Wala was living a miserable life, but... it was none of his business.
As long as Wala is not destroyed, it doesn't matter. It can still hold back the Tatars.
Sitting back and watching the internal strife among the grassland forces was Zhu Di's real purpose.
At present, Oara has not yet reached its end, and Zhu Di has no plans to send troops.
However, since he had accepted Wala as his younger brother, he could still save his face, so Zhu Di gave Tuohuan a generous reward.
And expressed sympathy for Wala's experience.
At the same time, it was guaranteed that when Varazhen's life and death were at stake, Ming Dynasty would definitely take action.
After a big meal of cake, Tuohuan left with great satisfaction. Before leaving, he solemnly promised that he would fight the Tatars until death!
Zhu Zhanji saw it in his eyes and remembered it in his heart: Uncle Qing, I will not deceive you if you are honest!
…
In a blink of an eye, it’s time to celebrate the New Year again.
On New Year's Eve, Yu Qian rushed back from Fujian and came to visit the Hou Mansion.
The two of them exchanged a few words and sat down in the living room.
The red charcoal pot is burning brightly, the hot pot is boiling, and the meat slices are tumbling. Snow is falling heavily outside, but the inside is as warm as spring.
"How was the harvest this time?" Li Qing picked up the warm wine pot and poured wine for Yu Qian.
Yu Qian held the cup, and after Li Qing finished pouring the wine, he took his hand away and said in a complex tone: "It's been a fruitful harvest!"
"Really?" Li Qing asked with a smile, "Have you found out about the bandits?"
"I understand." Yu Qian looked solemn, "It's just as Lord Shangshu said."
"Haha." Li Qing was not surprised, "Who was found?"
Yu Qian shook his head: "There are no officials directly involved."
The hot pot was boiling and white smoke rose, blurring Yu Qian's face, but his deeply frowning eyebrows were very clear.
Li Qing picked up the bowl and chopsticks, "Eat while it's hot and talk while eating."
"Let's talk about official business first!" Yu Qian was very principled.
"Hey? It's Chinese New Year today, and all the officials have taken a bath, so there's no need to be formal." Li Qing picked up a piece of mutton, blew it, and put it into his mouth with a satisfied look on his face, "It's perfect to eat hot pot on a snowy day, try it quickly.
It tastes very good.”
Yu Qian hesitated for a moment, then picked up a piece of meat with his chopsticks.
"How does it taste?"
"Very good." Yu Qian took another slice. He didn't even return to his residence. As soon as he returned to Beijing, he came to the Hou Mansion and hadn't eaten yet.
After eating a little bit, he was no longer so hungry. Yu Qian said: "There are officials who are indirectly involved."
Li Qing took a sip of warm wine and asked, "Is there anyone in the court?"
"Yes, Jin Youzi, a great scholar of Wenyuan Pavilion, and Yang Rong, a great scholar of Wenyuan Pavilion," said Yu Qian.
Li Qing put down his wine glass, "As far as I know, Yang Rong is from Fujian, and Jin Youzi is from Jiangxi. When you went to Fujian to investigate the case, how did you find Jin Youzi?"
"Because of the porcelain."
"Porcelain, Jiangxi... No wonder." Li Qing suddenly realized: When Zhu Di wanted to put an end to the chaos, these two people were the first to jump out. Now looking at it, it really happened for a reason.
"Eat, eat, eat, talk while you eat." Li Qing greeted him warmly.
Yu Qian looked at Li Qing in surprise, "Li Shangshu, are you not surprised at all?"
"What's so surprising?" Li Qing said amusedly, "Do you really think that officials are all upright and upright?
Okay, you're welcome, I won't have a bath today, you just treat me as a guest, you should eat, drink, and talk."
Yu Qian didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but he was indeed hungry, so he stopped being polite and picked up his chopsticks to eat.
After a while, Yu Qian put down his chopsticks, picked up the wine bottle and poured a glass for Li Qing, poured another glass for himself, drank the food in his mouth with the wine, and then said:
"In fact, there is no direct evidence to prove that the two were involved in smuggling, but the people who transported the smuggled goods have some relationship with the two."
Li Qing smiled and said: "They are both old ministers of Jianwen. They were still highly used in the Yongle Dynasty. Naturally, they are not ordinary people. They are die-hard supporters of the prince and will not make principled mistakes."
Speaking of this, Li Qing couldn't help but think of the day Zhu Di entered Nanjing.
It can be said that except for Qi Fanghuang, there is no one with strong bones.
Literary character?
have!
However, literati in the field of power...
hehe.
Li Qingdu suspected that if Qi Fanghuang had not been placed on the Qingjun side list by Zhu Di, most of the three would have surrendered to Zhu Di.
Of course, we cannot say that all civil servants are extremely evil. In fact, many people can still do things well.
However, most of them are self-interested people.
"Explain." Li Qing picked up the chopsticks and continued eating and drinking.
Yu Qian nodded: "The smuggling from Fujian and Fujian is mainly porcelain and silk, with 70% sold to Japan and 30% sold to North Korea."
"Among them, smuggling is the most rampant in Jian'an County, which is the hometown of Yang Rong, the cabinet minister." Yu Qian couldn't hide his anger. "The officials and bandits are collaborating together. If the magistrate of Jian'an goes to East Village, the bandits will go to West Village. If the magistrate of Jian'an goes to Nancun, the bandits will go to Beicun. They
They don’t even spend any money, they just rob them, and then resell them overseas.”
"Where is the Civil Reporter?" Li Qing stopped his chopsticks, "The magistrate of Jian'an County doesn't care?"
"No matter!" Yu Qian sneered, "But officials and bandits never meet each other. He is 'doing his duty'. Whenever a village is robbed, he rushes out in full force and takes the government officials to protect him in all directions, leaving other places for bandits to wreak havoc;
According to local people, this situation has been going on for a long time, and things got worse and worse. The magistrate of Jian'an could not suppress the bandits, so he came here."
"Does Yang Rong have anything to do with this county magistrate?" Li Qing asked.
"According to the investigation, no."
Li Qing asked again: "Is it true that thieves are pretending to be Japanese pirates?"
"Indeed, there are." Yu Qian nodded, "There are also real Japanese pirates."
"What a Japanese pirate!" Li Qing narrowed his eyes and sneered at the corner of his mouth, "Where is the county magistrate?"
"Dongchang arrested him on charges of dereliction of duty and is on his way to the capital." Yu Qian said, "I estimate he will be able to enter the capital in a few days."
After a pause, Yu Qian probed: "Li Shangshu, regarding the smuggling bandits in the south of the Yangtze River, what is the emperor's attitude...?"
Li Qing smiled and said one word: "Kill!"
"Your Majesty, your Majesty!" Yu Qian exhaled a breath of depression, his face full of excitement.