"With your Majesty's dragon beard as medicine, I will be cured of this heart disease!"
Xu Fenglei held the handful of "dragon whiskers" and said with great reverence,
"Your Majesty does not care about my faults and repays evil with kindness. I am so grateful that I will burst into tears! After I recover, I will dedicate myself to your Majesty and the country until my death!"
The beautiful words came out of his mouth like bullets.
When it's time to flatter someone, you have to flatter them harder, since you won't lose a piece of meat anyway.
"Have I ever said that I don't care about your faults?"
Li Shimin snorted coldly,
"What I just said is that you should be punished even if you do something unintentionally! But because you wake up in time, realize your mistake, and have a heart attack, it can be considered a crime, so I won't punish you severely."
"Xuanling——"
He looked at Fang Xuanling.
"Xu Guogong accepted the order."
Fang Xuanling took out an imperial edict from his arms and opened it.
Xu Fenglei looked humble and bowed his head to accept the order.
Fang Xuanling said loudly:
"Edict:"
"The prince's grand master, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, and Xu Guogong Fenglei behaved in a careless manner, were ill-informed, and ignored the overall situation. As a result, there was no peace in the palace, and scandals in the court spread throughout the world. This is a crime."
"He was negligent, careless and lazy. As the minister of the Ministry of Industry, he rarely worked in the Ministry of Industry and ignored everything! This eventually led to the biggest corruption case since the founding of the Tang Dynasty! This is the second crime!"
"The two crimes will be punished together. I will temporarily remove Xu Fenglei from the title of Crown Prince, Grand Master, and Minister of the Ministry of Industry. I will fine you a salary for half a year. I will think about my mistakes carefully and see the consequences!"
After hearing this imperial edict, Xu Fenglei couldn't help but mutter:
"What is the biggest corruption case? It was just covered up and not exposed before..."
"Did I make an oversight? Did you really indulge in an oversight..."
Judging from the tone of this imperial edict, it was probably written by Li Er himself, so naturally he wanted to make some arguments——
It's obvious that Baiqisi has investigated Hou Junji thoroughly. Where is your old man? Not even asking, not even bothering to beat, this is the root cause of this shocking corruption case.
When it comes to dividing the pot, you, Li Er, have to shoulder the big pot!
"What did you say?"
Li Shimin raised his eyebrows.
"Nothing, nothing..."
Xu Fenglei waved his hands repeatedly and said happily,
"Thank you, thank you."
"If you don't have an official, you will be light. If you don't have an official, you will be light... I would like to relieve you of these heavy burdens and let capable people carry them."
"Whether it's a corrupt official like Hou Junji or a minister like me who has nothing to do with his body, we should clear out the ranks of ministers!"
"Your Majesty is wise!"
In fact, he has long wanted to show off! With the title of Lord Xu Guogong, coupled with the huge dividends from Fenglei Bank every year, you can already enjoy endless glory and wealth!
Still struggling?
What a struggle! Enjoy it for a few years first!
"Why, hearing your tone...are you not convinced?"
Li Shimin sneered and said,
"You think I punished you too harshly? Are you dissatisfied?"
"Follow me in this strange situation!"
"No, no, no, Your Majesty, you have misunderstood, you really have misunderstood!" Xu Fenglei shook his head repeatedly and said with great sincerity, "I really think so, and there is absolutely no yin and yang intention! I plead guilty and accept the punishment. I will wait until I recover. , just shut yourself up and think about your mistakes!”
Li Shimin shook his fist.
Suddenly he felt angry again.
This kid...it seems that dismissal and salary are not painful to him!
"It seems that you are quite indifferent to fame and fortune."
Li Shimin crossed his arms and sneered,
"I'm telling you! My imperial edict said that I am only temporarily removing you from the title of Crown Prince, Grand Master, and Minister of the Ministry of Industry, but you still have to perform your duties, but you just don't have a salary!"
"Prince, you still have to teach; you still have to deal with the Ministry of Works matters!"
"Don't think about being lazy at home, do you understand?"
Xu Fenglei: "???"
"You want me to work for nothing?" He glared.
No wages are paid, but you still have to work?
The capitalists of later generations will cry when they hear this...
"Didn't you say that you were willing to devote yourself to me and the country of the Tang Dynasty, even to the death?"
Li Shimin raised his eyebrows and said,
"What? Are you unhappy now?"
"Then what you said just now were all lies to me?"
Xu Fenglei: "#@￥%...&#@"
"Yes, yes..." He lowered his head with a bitter look on his face.
Li Shimin finally felt a little relieved when he saw this shriveled face.
Baby, I can’t cure you?
"Okay, have a good rest!"
Li Shimin personally tucked Xu Fenglei's quilt and said with a smile,
"When you recover, I still have something for you to do..."
"I'm leaving first."
After saying that, he turned away and opened his legs.
"Farewell to Your Majesty."
Xu Fenglei cupped his hands slightly on the bed and watched Li Shimin and Fang Xuanling leave.
From beginning to end, he never asked about Hou Junji's treatment, nor did Li Shimin mention it.
The two of them maintained a certain tacit understanding - today, they would only resolve the "grievances" between their monarch and his ministers.
Squeak.
The door opened, and Zi Maid patted her chest and walked in. When she saw Xu Fenglei lying on the bed, stars almost appeared in her eyes.
"Sir, you are amazing! You are the real one!"
She gestured with her thumbs and said with reverence,
"His Majesty has been fooled!"
While praising, she thoughtfully lifted off the cotton towel on Xu Fenglei's forehead.
The inside of the snow-white cotton towel was contaminated by charcoal ash and turned into a gray look, but the forehead covered by the cotton towel was as smooth as new! It was in sharp contrast to the gloomy complexion.
"ah!"
Zi Maid exclaimed,
"Fortunately, sir, you didn't change the cotton towel, otherwise the secret would have been exposed!"
Xu Fenglei smiled slightly.
"Don't be so surprised. Do you really think the emperor is so confused? What I am doing today is just to make him submissive and make amends to him."
As he spoke, he took the dark cotton towel and wiped his face with the clean back side.
It's okay if I don't wipe it off, but once I wipe it off, my whole face turns black and I can't even look at it.
"Giggle... Sir, your appearance is somewhat similar to that of the Kunlun slave."
Zi Maiden covered her mouth and smiled, and continued,
"Slave, go and prepare some water for Sir."
She left quickly, and after a while, the purple maid and the red maid came forward to wipe Xu Fenglei with water.
"Xiao Hong'er, have you understood clearly what I asked you to inquire about?"
Xu Fenglei enjoyed the massage from two pairs of bare hands and asked with his eyes closed,
"How did the emperor deal with Hou Junji in the end?"
The red maid wrung the towel dry and said softly:
"Sir, I have already inquired clearly."
"Hou Junji was finally convicted and executed, and His Majesty issued an order to be executed in the autumn. In addition, all his family property was confiscated to cover the embezzlement, and the rest was transferred to the national treasury."
"However, Hou Junji's family has been preserved and still enjoys the shadow of the Duke of Lu. Your Majesty's move can be said to be extremely merciful."
"Oh, by the way, the other corrupt officials involved in the case, such as Zhao Yi, Zhang Cong, etc., will all be sentenced to death. They will be executed in three days. All officials will have to watch."
When Xu Fenglei heard this, he couldn't help but sigh.
"Others are reasonable, but what's the point of Qiu Hou's questioning?"
he asked,
"For Hou Junji's crime, he should be executed immediately just like Zhao Yi and others!"
"Don't Dai Zhou and the others argue with reason?"
The red maid shook her head.
"I don't know much about this slave. It seems that His Majesty wants to treat Hou Junji specially."
She said,
"However, autumn is only three or four months away now. Time flies and it will be here soon."
Xu Fenglei finally took off his "makeup" under the service of his maid.
He straightened up and got out of bed and whispered:
"It's not that simple..."
"There are many dreams in the night, and changes will happen later. If you can't cut through the mess quickly, kill him now. If you want to kill him in the future, it will be very difficult..."
"When the time comes, the emperor will find any excuse to delay it, and this death sentence will be postponed to life imprisonment. Do you believe it or not?"
After all, Li Shimin still couldn't do this...
"so what should I do now?"
Zi Maid said with a worried look,
"If Your Majesty releases him in the future, won't he want to take revenge on you sir?"
Ever since this incident started, the two of them have become mortal enemies!
If one party cannot kill the other party, then the other party will definitely kill it as long as it has the chance! The kind who would risk his life to take a bite of meat!
"Haha... Then you don't have to worry about that."
Xu Fenglei waved his hand and smiled nonchalantly,
"He may not die, but the cell must be penetrated. As long as I am here, he will never see the light of day!"
"Even if I lose power and be hated by the emperor in the future, the other ministers will never allow Hou Junji to come out and play around again."
Although the preset outcome was that Hou Junji would die, the final outcome was quite acceptable and barely acceptable.
After this battle, no one should dare to extend their black hands to their own territory, right?
"Come on, don't think about it anymore, this matter is over, come on -"
Xu Fenglei handed the handful of Li Shimin's beard to Zi Maid's hand and said with a smile,
"This is His Majesty's 'Dragon Beard'. If you keep it well, it may have unexpected uses in the future."
Hearing this, Zi Maid immediately came up curiously.
"Is this His Majesty's dragon beard? It doesn't look like anything special..."
She looked at it carefully for a while, then tapped Xu Fenglei's beard and chuckled,
"It's almost the same as Mr.'s."
Xu Fenglei rolled his eyes.
"Of course it's almost the same! Otherwise, do you really think that this is a dragon's beard and eating it can prolong your life?"
He said angrily,
"Stop joking, go and collect it quickly. This thing, like Shang Fang's horse-killing sword, can be used as a house treasure!"
Being able to get the emperor's beard is also a symbol of the ultimate honor!
"As you command!"
Zi Maid nodded obediently and left holding the "Dragon Beard".
"Xiao Hong'er, please tell me, starting from tomorrow, everything will return to normal, and we will open the house to see guests!"
Xu Fenglei ordered again,
"Spread the word, I obeyed His Majesty's dragon beard, and my heart disease has been cured!"
…
On Chang'an Street, Li Shimin, escorted by the Forbidden Army, returned to the palace.
inside the carriage.
"Xuanling, what happened today...what do you think?"
Li Shimin asked casually while playing with the walnuts in his hand.
"I originally thought that the Grand Master was asking for illness, but I found out after seeing him today... that the Grand Master is indeed seriously ill."
Fang Xuanling pondered for a moment and sighed softly,
"I never thought that there could be such a strange disease in this world...heart disease."
"Fortunately, His Majesty Longxu made the medicine. If ordinary people got this disease, how could they survive? I'm afraid they would die in depression..."
Li Shimin couldn't help but smile when he heard this.
"Haha... Do you really think my beard is a dragon's beard and can be used as a panacea?"
He patted Fang Xuanling on the shoulder and said with emotion,
"Xuanling, you do have a pure heart!"
Fang Xuanling was stunned.
"Your Majesty is the True Dragon Emperor, so it's not unusual for his beard to be used as medicine."
He analyzed,
"The Grand Master's heart disease is caused by his fear of being blamed by His Majesty. Now Your Majesty has even given him important beards and hair to show that he still favors him. The Grand Master took the "Heart Medicine" of Dragon Beard, and naturally he was afraid of everyone. Go away, and the heart disease will go away."
"I think this treatment is right..."
Li Shimin's face looked a little strange.
Don't even say it, it really sounds like that!
Crunch.
He was about to say more, but Yu Jia stopped.
"Your Majesty, you have arrived at the palace."
The guard driving the car said respectfully.
"We have reached the ban, and I dare not ride in the same carriage with His Majesty anymore."
Fang Xuanling hurriedly stood up and saluted, saying,
"I have returned to Shangshu Province."
"Okay, let's go." Li Shimin waved his hand and immediately ordered the coachman, "Go to the Queen."
Thump thump thump.
Fang Xuanling got out of the car, looked at the Emperor's carriage rolling away, and the corners of his mouth began to rise.
"Heart disease, heart medicine? Hahaha..."
He turned around with a puff of sleeves, shook his head and smiled,
"Grand Master, Grand Master, if I really have you, you can still do this."
"I admire it, I really admire it..."
"Hahaha……"
Fang Xuanling laughed twice. When he saw a group of guards patrolling in front of him, he immediately stopped laughing, straightened his posture, and stood up slowly.
…
Harem.
"What? Is he really sick? What kind of disease is it? Is it serious?"
Changsun Wugou's expression changed, and he even stopped pouring tea for Li Shimin, and said with concern,
"Say it quickly!"
Among the courtiers, the ones with the best relationship with her, apart from Changsun Wuji, who had a blood relationship, were Xu Fenglei and Fang Xuanling.
Regardless of blood relationship or just closeness, Xu Fenglei is still above these two people.
If something happens to this kid, she will naturally be worried.
"Ha... It's some kind of heart disease. I was afraid that I would misunderstand him and blame him. When I saw him, his face turned as dark as a Kunlun slave! He looked as if he was about to die."
Li Shimin poured himself a cup of tea and sneered,
"I had to wait until I said I didn't blame him, then he regained his energy and started jumping around again."
Changsun Wugao's eyes showed surprise.
"Heart disease? Is there still such a disease?"
She blinked and muttered,
"I seem to have seen it in books. In the past, some people died of fear, and some committed suicide out of fear of crime... Maybe this is a mental illness?"
Li Shimin chuckled. "No, why are you so innocent? Can you believe this?"
He rolled his eyes and spat,
"What kind of heart disease? Even if there is one, it is definitely not something this brave boy will have! Can he die of fear? You won't even believe it!"
"This kid knows that he has done something wrong, so he pretends to be soft and wants me to spare him!"
"Damn, he's really good at acting. He insists on earning a beard from me. He talks about using dragon's beard as medicine...my beautiful beard..."
Li Shimin touched his beard, which was several inches shorter, and howled.
(End of chapter)
