"Liu Mingzhi, do you hate me?"
As soon as Li Zheng sat on the dragon chair, he sat upright and stared at Liu Mingzhi who had just followed him into the hall with bright eyes!
Liu Mingzhi was stunned for a moment, glanced at Li Zheng's solemn expression and hurriedly knelt down on one knee, clasped his hands in his fists and leaned his neck forward slightly: "I don't dare!"
Liu Mingzhi's face showed an unprecedented sense of urgency. He could clearly feel the invisible and intangible pressure coming from Li Zheng, but he felt the imperial pressure very clearly!
Those who have been in high positions for a long time will naturally be domineering!
Li Zheng gently twirled the lever on his thumb and glanced at the chief steward beside him: "Old Zhou, you go down first, everyone will go down. Without my order, anyone who enters the palace will be killed without mercy!"
The chief steward looked at Liu Mingzhi hesitantly: "Your Majesty, it doesn't matter if the other eunuchs go down, we'd better accompany you. If your Majesty is thirsty, there will be a waiter to bring tea and water!"
Li Zheng raised his finger and pointed at Liu Mingzhi who was kneeling on one knee!
"Since Duke Ding is here, he can serve me tea and pour water. Liu Mingzhi, do you feel aggrieved that I ask you to serve tea and pour water?"
Liu Mingzhi shook his head slightly: "I am not aggrieved. It is natural for my father to ask my son to serve tea and pour water!"
"Old Zhou, you saw it, stand down!"
"Retreat" Li Zheng said softly, but the chief manager trembled and nodded hurriedly: "We obey the order!"
"You guys, please follow us and serve outside the palace!"
When Eunuch Fu and the other eunuchs saw the chief steward like this, they hurriedly bowed to Li Zheng and immediately followed the chief steward out!
After the general manager and others had left, Li Zheng stood up from the dragon chair, walked slowly to the dragon case, picked up the teapot and poured two cups of tea.
"Continue what you just said, do you hate me?"
"I don't dare!"
"Don't you dare?"
"Yes, I don't dare!"
"If you don't dare, then that's just right!"
Liu Mingzhi's face froze as he lowered his head. He never expected that Li Zheng's words today would be so sharp!
"The sons and ministers dare not, and have no intention of hating their father. First, the father is the king, and the sons and ministers are ministers. If the king trains his ministers, and the ministers are dissatisfied, it is disloyal; secondly, the father, the emperor, is the father, and the sons and ministers are the ministers. Son-in-law, if the father trains his son and the son-in-law becomes dissatisfied, it is unfilial!"
"My father understands that my son is an unfaithful and unfilial person!"
Li Zheng narrowed his eyes slightly and turned around Liu Mingzhi. He raised his head and looked at the roof of the palace: "Dong Guo, one of the five princes of the current dynasty!"
"This is all the favor of the Emperor Father. Whether it is the Duke of the country or the common people, all of them are in the Father's mind. For the king, he encompasses the four seas, takes over the world, and has the power of life and death!"
"Liu Mingzhi, half of my mentor and your mentor, said something to me twenty years ago. If you are in a high position, you must be superior to others. If you have been under others for a long time, you must have the intention to rebel!"
"You force me to rebel, and I have no choice but to rebel. If I treat you like this, do you have any intention of rebelling?"
Liu Mingzhi's body trembled, and layers of sweat could not help but form on his forehead, but he couldn't even think of wiping it off!
"You hesitated!"
"No, I have a poem that I want to share with my father!"
"explain!"
"There are several houses close to the mountains and rivers. It is safe to walk and sit still. One ox plows half an acre of field. The harvest depends on the sky, and the shortage depends on the sky."
"After the rain and the sky clear, I'm sailing in a small boat, with fish on one side and wine on the other. When I meet a stranger on the road, I'll ask him about some poems, some good ones and some bad ones."
"Cloth clothes are warmer than silk. They can be worn whether they are new or old. If you have three meals of simple tea and light food, they will be sweet in the morning and sweet in the evening."
"When I return home at night in front of my wife's talk lamp, I talk about today and the past. I sleep until midnight. I am not a god, but I am better than a god!"
Li Zheng's clenched fist suddenly loosened: "Not a god, but better than a god! Pick chrysanthemums and look at Nanshan leisurely. Is this the life you want?"
"Not entirely!"
Li Zheng's relaxed expression wrinkled slightly again: "Huh?"
"Erchen thought, it would be better to have tens of millions of taels of small money!"
"Haha...Hahahaha...Liu Mingzhi, Liu Mingzhi, I originally thought that your temper has changed, but you are still the same Liu Mingzhi who wants money! You come from a family of merchants. When can we change our family's habits? You are already a prince, and you still smell like copper. You are not afraid of being embarrassed, but I am afraid that you will lose the face of the court!"
Hearing Li Zheng's hearty laughter, Liu Mingzhi breathed a sigh of relief and his stiff body suddenly softened, holding himself up and not falling down!
Liu Mingzhi couldn't bear the slightest hint of rebellion in front of Li Zheng. Liu Mingzhi felt that even if he gave himself half a million elite soldiers, he might not be able to successfully rebel in Li Zheng's hands!
I don't know why I feel this way, maybe it's because of the inherent pressure.
"Father, money is used for everything, including food, clothing, housing and transportation. Not to mention that I am an ordinary person, even the gods who are above me have to enjoy the supply of incense!"
"I don't refute what you said. Everything in this world does require money. Money can help the gods. Money can make ghosts go around. It's not just talk. Get up and sit down!"
"Yes, thank you father!"
Liu Mingzhi sat on the chair tremblingly, not yet completely relaxed from the pressure of Li Zheng!
"Every bustle in the world is for profit, and all the hustle and bustle in the world is for profit. Even I am also a profiteer among thousands of people!"
"It is said that running a big country is like cooking small dishes. I think running a country is more like doing business. It means transferring the interests of the east family to the west family and transferring the interests of the south family to the north family!"
"And I don't have to do anything. I just need to sit in the middle and wave my hand, and I can take advantage of it!"
"What my father said is too complicated, so I can't understand it clearly!"
"It's okay if you don't understand. In life, there are always things you don't understand. It's rare to be confused!"
"Father said so!"
Li Zheng brought a cup of tea and placed it on the table next to Liu Mingzhi: "Do you know why I want to deprive you and Yingzhou Fuguo's general of military honors?"
"This...isn't it because I didn't inform my father that I was sorting out the Ministry of War records without permission?"
Li Zheng chuckled and shook his head, taking out a porcelain bottle from his arms with three words written on red paper and black ink on it.
Crane top is red!
Li Zheng slowly uncorked the bottle and poured it into Liu Mingzhi's teacup, then stirred it with his fingers!
"Frankly speaking, I am afraid that you will support your troops and respect yourself. Someone wrote to me that the governors of Yingzhou and Fuzhou have the power to take charge of all important military and political affairs in the two places. If you are also the Duke of Dingguo and the auxiliary of Yingzhou, With the military honors position of a second-grade general in the national army, he can easily take over the national protector Zhang Kuang and control the 200,000 dragon military guards stationed in Yingzhou!"
"You have an army of 200,000 in your hands and are defending the fortified city. Coupled with your reputation as a Confucian Commander in White and your god-like military skills in recruiting troops from the West, no one in the entire Great Dragon Army can be your opponent!"
"I read this report and pondered for a long time. Although I know that you will not rebel, I am afraid! I am not afraid that the Protector of the Country and the Six Guards General will rebel, because the power is in the hands of the current governor, but you are different. What I give you is General Yingzhou, who is in charge of military and political affairs!"
"Later, this minister gave me another tip, asking me to test whether you are still loyal to me. As for how to test, I added a bottle of Heding Red tea to the bowl next to you. After not sleeping for three days and three nights, I finally made up my mind and agreed to the minister’s petition.”
"Because I also want to know whether you are as loyal as before!"
"If you drink it, I will believe in your loyalty, but your loyalty will have to be exchanged for your life!"
"In exchange for the debt I owe you, in exchange for all your three sons being crowned princes in their weak years, regardless of age, they will all be hereditary and irreplaceable lords of the country. In exchange for all your three daughters being crowned princesses before they reach their prime years. Your Majesty, the fetus in the belly of your maidservant will be treated the same as the day it is born!"
"If you drink this tea, you will be loyal, and your descendants will be prosperous and wealthy for generations to come!"
"If you don't drink, you are disloyal. Today next year will be your death anniversary!"
Liu Mingzhi stared blankly at the tea cup on the table: "My father wants his subjects to discuss loyalty and traitors over tea!"
"Yes, I want to use tea to distinguish between loyal and traitorous people!"
