One second Zhu Yuanzhang was still praising Hu Weiyong with a smile on his face, but the next second he asked in a solemn tone:
"Hu Weiyong, do you know why we suppress you?"
When Hu Weiyong saw that the emperor brought up old matters again, he quickly knelt down and said with some fear:
"I guess it's Prince Xiao Ming's business."
Zhu Yuanzhang's face was expressionless and he still asked:
"what are you thinking?"
"What I originally thought was that if I have made great contributions to the Emperor, the Emperor will reward me."
Speaking of this, Hu Weiyong's head couldn't help but lowered.
"Later, I thought that the emperor would not only disobey me, but also exile me to the end of the world."
"In the end, kill me and cut off my head."
"Later, I thought again, no matter whether I kill you or reward you, I can only wait without any regrets."
Zhu Yuanzhang's expression finally changed a little, and he said doubtfully:
"Why?"
"Since I have chosen to follow the emperor, I must do so without hesitation. Regardless of life or death, honor or disgrace, this is my destiny."
Hu Weiyong finally said what was in his heart.
Zhu Yuanzhang had a cold smile on his lips and said:
"You are trying to guess our thoughts without permission and act smart."
"Do we need to kill Xiao Ming Wang? With our merits and power, we can completely let Xiao Ming Wang surrender to us."
"If you don't do things that are fair and aboveboard, you have to be smart and kill Xiao Ming for fun, so that we will bear this eternal infamy."
"Tell me, should we punish you?"
Hu Weiyong was so frightened that he hurriedly fell to the ground, his face full of panic, and he said with sincere fear:
"Your Majesty, I know I was wrong."
"In these years, every time Wei Chen thinks about this matter, he feels heartbroken."
"Now that Wei Chen has changed his mind, I beg the emperor to give Wei Chen a chance."
Zhu Yuanzhang narrowed his eyes slightly and did not answer Hu Weiyong. Instead, he changed the topic:
"You are a capable minister."
"But sometimes you can go too far!"
"What if you always try to figure out the emperor's thoughts, regard yourself as the emperor's intimate, and are good at life and death!"
Speaking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang paused, his tone became cold again, and asked:
"As time goes by, don't you think that your own thoughts are the emperor's thoughts?"
"At that time, tell me, are you the emperor, or are we the emperor?"
Hu Weiyong did not dare to raise his head, but kept shouting:
"I know that I have sinned. Please forgive me, Your Majesty."
Zhu Yuanzhang walked around Hu Weiyong, but the words coming out of his mouth frightened Hu Weiyong half to death.
"At first, we wanted to kill you directly to satisfy the hatred in our hearts!"
When Hu Weiyong heard this, he was instantly frightened out of his mind and did not dare to speak.
"But we can't bear to kill you!"
"Not only are we reluctant to part with you, but to tell you the truth, when we were considering the position of Prime Minister of Zhongshu Province, we also thought of you."
If the first half of the sentence made Hu Weiyong feel like he was falling into hell, then this sentence made Hu Weiyong fly from hell to heaven all at once.
Hu Weiyong suddenly raised his head, his eyes bursting with surprise, looking at Zhu Yuanzhang in disbelief.
"Hu Weiyong, we know your abilities. If you show all your abilities, you will definitely be smarter and more capable than Li Shanchang."
"We have high hopes for you, and I hope you won't let us down!"
"Do you understand what we mean?"
Zhu Yuanzhang did not hesitate to praise Hu Weiyong at all. Zhu Yuanzhang valued Hu Weiyong very much.
After all, he is an old brother who followed him in the Haozhou uprising, and he is really talented and hard-working. Now he should praise him more so that he can work for him wholeheartedly.
After hearing these compliments, Hu Weiyong was so excited that he couldn't help but feel excited even though his heart had gradually become cold over the past few years.
"Your Majesty, I will definitely go to pieces to repay the Emperor's kindness."
After saying that, he hit his head heavily on the hard city wall.
Zhu Yuanzhang grinned and smiled silently. No matter what, being able to win the heart of such a capable minister still made Zhu Yuanzhang very happy.
"Repair the city wall well. After you finish this, we have another important task."
After saying that, Zhu Yuanzhang turned around and left the city wall, returning to his study.
....
After being inspired by Zhu Yuanzhang, Hu Weiyong completed the estimated one-month work in less than half a month.
Zhu Yuanzhang was very excited and decided to let Hu Weiyong rest for a few days, and then let him take office in Zhongshu Province.
This time, the position Zhu Yuanzhang assigned to Hu Weiyong was to participate in politics in Zhongshu Province. Although the rank was not high, he could participate in the discussion of major national affairs, which was an important position.
After receiving the imperial edict, Hu Weiyong was even more grateful to Zhu Yuanzhang.
Now that Hu Weiyong is favored by the emperor, and coupled with the support of Li Shanchang, the top leader of Zhongshu Province, a broad road has appeared in front of him.
Next, he only needs to follow the steps and wait until Li Shanchang, the teacher, retires. Then the position of Prime Minister of Zhongshu Province will be in his pocket.
Hu Weiyong did not rest during these few days of rest.
He always remembered the tasks assigned to him by his teacher. On the first day of his break, he hired a carriage and headed to Shanghu County.
Hu Weiyong wanted to take advantage of these few days of rest to find out the situation in Shanghu County.
Although Li Shanchang was his teacher, Hu Weiyong still felt that Li Shanchang was exaggerating about the matter in Shanghai County.
It is possible that Shanghu County is indeed governed better, but it is definitely not as prosperous as Li Shanchang's servants described. It is possible that this servant has little knowledge and talks nonsense in front of Li Shanchang.
If it is true as the servant said, I am afraid that the magistrate of Shanghu County is not a human, but a monster. Otherwise, how could he create such a grand scene?
In his heart, Hu Weiyong had already made up his mind about Shanghu County. It was just the nonsense of the subordinates, and if he could believe it 100% of the time, he would be pretty good.
But when Hu Weiyong actually arrived in Shanghu County, he realized that he was wrong, and it was a big mistake, and it was so wrong.
When Hu Weiyong saw the flat and wide gray-white avenue, he knew that Shanghu County was definitely not as simple as he thought.
When he came to the county town and saw the clouds of shops, the crowds of people, and the tall buildings standing like a forest, Hu Weiyong felt that his values had been shattered by the impact.
Is there really such a prosperous city in this world?
Is there really a county where sweat can turn into rain and sleeves can turn into clouds? The magistrate of Shanghu County turned out to be so terrifying.
In order to find out the real situation in Shanghu County, Hu Weiyong stayed here for three full days.
In the past three days, he made a systematic statistics on Shanghu County in terms of the composition of the people in the city, the sources of commerce, and the cultivation of the land.
But this statistical result once again shattered Hu Weiyong's worldview.
The prosperity of Shanghu County comes from Li Jin, the magistrate of Shanghu County, and Li Jin has only been in office for less than five years and has made Shanghu County so prosperous.
Can one person do this?
You must know that the tax revenue of this city, if it is really collected, will far exceed that of Yingtian. Even Yingtianfu together may not be worth the entire county of Shanghu County!
Besides being a monster, Hu Weiyong didn't know how to describe this Li Jin.
Fortunately, Hu Weiyong knew that Li Jin was from Huaixi, so he planned to visit Li Jin.
But what happened next directly broke Hu Weiyong's understanding of Li Jin and once again refreshed Hu Weiyong's outlook on life.
