"My queen, may you be blessed!"
(The Song Dynasty also had the word "mother" once, but it was mostly due to the writing. Mothers were usually called empress or "嬢嬢". Wanfu here means many blessings.)
The moment he saw Liu E, Li Jie bowed slightly and bowed. (Similar to an action of cupping one’s hands)
"Brother Six is here."
Liu E nodded slightly and pointed across the table.
"Sit down and talk."
"Thank you, Madam."
As soon as he sat down, the aroma of food came from the tip of his nose. The shape of the food at Liu E's side was similar to that at Funing Palace.
Although the dishes are different, the overall format is not over the top.
After all, Liu E is now in power. Although she has ambitions, she will definitely not be as ambitious as she will be in the future.
The Tang Dynasty suffered the disaster of Wu Zhou, and the Song Dynasty inherited the Tang system. How could they not be on guard against it?
Even if Liu E wanted to do what Wu Zhou did, there was no soil for her to grow inside or outside the palace.
"Is Sixth Brother's health feeling better?"
Liu E was different from ordinary women. Even when she spoke words of concern, her face was solemn.
"It's already great."
Although he was new here, Li Jie already knew his body well. His physical foundation was very good. With a little exercise in the future, it would not be a problem to eliminate the remaining erysipelas from his body.
The 'original body' was in poor health. On the one hand, it was related to erysipelas, and on the other hand, it was due to excessive sadness.
"That's good. I'll send the imperial doctor to Funing Hall tomorrow and let the imperial doctor take a good look at you."
Speaking of this, Liu E paused slightly and changed the topic.
"By the way, I heard that you went to the medical hospital today, but did you go for a consultation?"
Li Jie shook his head and said, "No."
Immediately afterwards, he recounted what happened in the medical hospital. At the end, Li Jie stood up from his chair and bowed slightly.
"I ask the empress to be kind to all the people in the world, and allow me to establish the Imperial Medical Bureau and the Taiping Huimin Bureau."
(ps: The emperors of the Song Dynasty did not call themselves 'sons and ministers' to their parents, only ministers.)
"Sixth brother, why do you need to be like this?"
Liu E also stood up, walked up to Li Jie, helped him upright, and then helped him tidy up his clothes.
"This move will benefit all people in the world. Is there any reason why the queen shouldn't do it?"
"Well, when the funeral is over, I'll leave this matter to you."
"Thank you, Madam."
Although Li Jie had expected it, as long as it didn't happen, everything was possible.
There are only a few strokes in the history books, which cannot fully describe the events of that year, and the history books may not be entirely true.
This kind of thing has happened in all dynasties.
For example, Liu E, in the records of the Song Dynasty, Liu E's family was prominent, so this was taboo for the venerable.
"Sixth Brother Renxiao, it's not too late for me to be happy."
Sometimes, Liu E also feels that her nominal son is a bit too polite.
But compared to occasional troubles, being polite is more of a good thing.
Only by following the etiquette can she sit still. If Sixth Brother is really at odds with her, she may not be able to settle down even if there is an imperial edict.
She had already seen through what the ministers in the outer dynasty were like.
Kou Zhun, in particular, dared to instigate others to support the crown prince on the throne and respect the late emperor as the supreme emperor.
Later, Zhou Huaizheng was even more chilling. A servant dared to plot to assassinate the prime minister (Ding Wei), and even wanted to depose himself as the queen mother.
Fortunately, Lei Yungong and Yang Huaiyu heard the news and reported it to her immediately.
Otherwise, even if the imperial guards were Liu E's people, they would not be able to escape a military disaster.
"Sixth brother can have dinner. If you haven't eaten, let's eat with the eldest lady."
Liu E knew very well whether Li Jie had dinner or not, but this did not prevent her from inviting the little emperor to have dinner with him.
"I just ate, but now I'm a little hungry. I'll eat some with you."
Next, the two of them chatted about some household matters while eating dinner.
In the eyes of outsiders, the two of them may be a loving mother and a filial son, but probably only the two of them know what is going on inside.
Liu E tasted the sweetness of power and was reluctant to return power easily.
After a while, Li Jie looked troubled, hesitated for a while, and then spoke.
"What's bothering you, Madam?"
"well."
Liu E sighed, remained silent for a long time, and then shook her head silently.
"Nothing, I just thought of your daddy."
In fact, this sentence is just Liu E's excuse.
It was indeed a good feeling to be in charge of power, but she was not without her worries, and her worries were not just a little bit.
Now her biggest worry is money.
There is a shortage of money everywhere!
The emperor is the best person in the world, and of course he will be the best in the world after his death.
Although emperors of all dynasties emphasized simplicity in all affairs involving mountains and mausoleums before their death, the word "simple" in the edict does not count.
This morning, news came from the mountain mausoleum. At least 40,000 people have been recruited for the construction of the mausoleum.
At the same time, Sansi also came to Zhazi, begging for one million and one hundred thousand taels of money, two and a half million pieces of silk, and five hundred thousand taels of silver.
Some of these expenses are necessary expenses for repairing the tomb, and some are for rewards.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
According to the etiquette system, after the Daxing Emperor became an immortal, officials, princes, queen mothers, concubines, palace servants, chamberlains, and ministers from foreign dynasties all had to mourn for the Daxing Emperor.
Moreover, the mourning clothes for different identities and different time points are also different.
On average, each person has to make at least five pieces of clothing.
All of this money was spent by the palace.
And these are not even the biggest expenses.
The biggest expense is the rewards given to the armies. The Third Division made a rough calculation a few days ago and found that this alone cost nearly 10 million yuan.
In addition to the above, there are also "gifts of leftovers to close relatives of the clan", "various miscellaneous gifts", "expenditures for burial items", "expenditures for murder weapons", "expenditures for auxiliary buildings in the mountain mausoleum" and so on.
These expenses alone are not much, but taken together, they are probably no less than the rewards given to the armies.
As for the routine rewards, promotions, etc. after the construction of the mausoleum is completed, there is no detailed calculation at all now.
If you don't know how expensive firewood, rice, oil and salt are before you become a family, Liu E now knows how difficult it is to be a family in the Song Dynasty.
Money, where does it come from?
Although there is not a lot of money in the treasury now, after deducting the funeral expenses, there is not even 10 million yuan left.
Ten million may seem like a lot, but the family has a big business and a lot of expenses.
Liu E couldn't help but get a headache every time she thought about this matter. She even considered asking Zhulu for money.
(Lu is an administrative unit in the Song Dynasty, equivalent to a province)
The people are suffering, and Ding Wei is burdened by the infamy.
After all, Ding Wei is the real Shanling Envoy.
On the other side, Li Jie saw that Liu E didn't want to mention anything more, so he didn't ask any further questions.
Asking further is not in line with his current personality.
In fact, even without asking, Li Jie could have guessed that Liu E's troubles were most likely due to national affairs.
In terms of power, Liu E must be a top player, but in terms of governance ability, well, it's better not to make an evaluation.
