After lunch, the three girls put on a little makeup, and Li Qing, dressed in the attire of a rich man, rushed to Jiming Temple unhurriedly.
The temple is not far away. In the prime location of Jinling City, the family arrived at the gate of the temple in only two quarters of an hour.
Today there are many people coming to pray for incense and worship Buddha. Even though it is already afternoon, it is still crowded.
The temple is filled with the smell of incense and candles. It is not very good, but it is not pungent. The temple is still expanding. Only the central area is for pilgrims to offer incense and worship Buddha. All around, craftsmen are busy building.
Li Qing glanced around and said with a smile: "Let's go to the main temple."
The three women nodded, each bought three sticks of high-quality incense, and followed Li Qing to the main temple. Unexpectedly, they were stopped by two strong men just as they reached the door.
"Stop."
Before Li Qing could speak, an arrogant voice came.
"presumptuous!"
Then, Zhu Gaosui popped up and grinned: "What a coincidence, sir, please come in."
Li Qing nodded, but did not reveal his identity. He was relaxing today and he did not want to spoil the three girls' happiness.
As soon as I entered the temple gate, I saw the remaining Xiaopang and Hanhan.
The two brothers were pacing back and forth boredly. Seeing him come in, Hanhan wanted to come up and talk to him, but was stopped by Xiaopang.
The three brothers are all here, which means that the fourth brother is also here, but Li Qing does not want to see Zhu Di.
Unexpectedly, he didn't want to see the fourth child, but the fourth child wanted to see him.
Sanbao came and invited him to go to the side hall to talk.
When the three girls saw the Three Treasures, they realized that there was a big shot in the temple, and said obediently: "Sir, go and do your work, we can just walk around."
Li Qing nodded helplessly and gave a few instructions to go see Zhu Di.
…
Zhu Di and Dao Yan sat opposite each other on futons. There was a golden Buddha statue in the center of the hall. The room was filled with a faint scent of incense and candles, making it quiet and peaceful.
Li Qing touched his nose and thought to himself: "Is it possible that the Fourth Brother truly believes in Buddhism?"
When he came to the two of them, he didn't even salute. He took the futon handed over by Sanbao and sat down with a golden sword.
It was rare for Zhu Di to pay a private visit incognito. Li Qing didn't want to reveal his identity, so he simply didn't address him, "Do you have a problem with me?"
Zhu Di rolled his eyes and said to Sanbao, "Go and chase those three bastards away. No one is allowed to enter this room."
Sanbao accepted the offer and turned around to leave.
There were only three people in the room, and there was a Buddha statue that couldn't speak, so it was very quiet.
The three of them were very calm, Li Qing meditated, and Dao Yan meditated and chanted the Buddha's name. In the end, Zhu Di was the first to break the silence.
"Li Qing, are those three bastards looking for you today?"
Li Qing nodded.
"What do you think of them?"
"A dragon among men."
"..." Zhu Di was obviously not satisfied with this answer, "Old monk, what do you think?"
Dao Yan plagiarized Li Qing's idea, "The Dragon Among Men."
Zhu Di said helplessly: "Is it so difficult to hear the truth?"
"There is no better way to know a son than a father." Li Qing smiled and said, "Don't you know?"
"I..." Zhu Di choked and sighed: "They entered the palace last night, and this morning the ministers started clamoring for the crown prince."
After a pause, "Who do you think is more suitable to be the prince?"
Li Qing and Dao Yan looked at each other with puzzled expressions on their faces. Do you still need to think about this?
"Except the eldest son, who is more suitable?" Zhu Di added additional conditions.
The two of them were speechless: "Can you leave it alone?"
"Are you looking for trouble?" Zhu Di looked unhappy, even a little angry.
The two of them were helpless. Dao Yan pondered for a moment and said, "The poor monk thinks that the two kings are more suitable."
Zhu Di looked happy and looked at Li Qing, "What do you think?"
Li Qing frowned and thought for a long time, making various evaluations in his mind, comparing the two brothers in all aspects, and finally said helplessly: "The two kings are more suitable."
The second child is not as good as the eldest brother in everything, but there is one thing that the eldest brother cannot achieve no matter what, and that is the heart of a military commander.
If Zhu Gaoxu ascends the throne in the future, he can still continue the strategy of using force to control civil society, but Xiaopang... he can't control the generals at all.
Zhu Di is only forty, and he still has a lot of time to spend on training, so he might not be able to train Zhu Gaoxu well.
"So, what do you think..."
"Establish a direct line of succession!"
The two spoke in unison without thinking.
Zhu Di: "..."
He breathed a sigh of relief and added: "Just after the morning court today, the third child asked me for an official position. It shows that his heart is no longer honest. It's no wonder. After all, I have changed from a vassal to an emperor. It's normal to want to show off my authority. ;
As for the second child, he doesn't want an official position, but... I know what he is thinking;
As for the eldest brother... I became the emperor, but he didn't seem happy at all. The second and third eldest children were so excited that they stayed up half the night, but he slept like a dead pig. Is this reasonable? "
Zhu Di shook his head and said: "I have been his father for more than 20 years, and suddenly I found that I can't see through him."
"...Is there a possibility that he is him and you think too much?" Li Qing asked.
"Impossible, absolutely impossible." Zhu Di said flatly, "It is impossible for anyone to be indifferent to the throne."
Li Qing thought for a while and said, "What are you worried about?"
Zhu Di frowned and said, "I can't see through him. How can I safely let him be the prince and inherit the throne?"
"Then take a closer look." Dao Yan said with a smile, "There is plenty of time, so the Crown Prince is not in a hurry."
"I think dick..."
"Establish a direct line of succession." The two of them spoke at the same time.
"..." Zhu Di rolled up his sleeves and stood up, walking away.
Li Qing glanced at Dao Yan and asked with a smile: "Who does the master think he will establish?"
"Establish a direct descendant." Dao Yan said with a smile: "No matter how much he likes the second child, he can only establish the eldest child."
After a pause, "The Emperor asked me to return to secular life and join the imperial court to participate in politics. I gave myself a secular name. Let me introduce you. My name is Yao Guangxiao."
Li Qing had a complex expression on his face and felt very tired, "Why do you need to use this name?"
"Look now, it was me you wanted to kill at the beginning, and I just followed the trend!"
"Follow the trend." Li Qing smiled bitterly, took a breath, and asked, "Why was the master so sure in the past that King Yan would definitely succeed?"
Dao Yan was silent for a long time and then said: "I believe in him, and I believe in me even more."
…
When Li Qing came out, the three women had already finished worshiping the Buddha and left the main temple.
Driven by curiosity, he read the wishes they had written.
There is only one sentence: "May your husband be safe and happy for the rest of his life."
Li Qing was deeply touched and felt more and more that time was not forgiving.
Unknowingly, so long has passed, very quickly, but also very slowly.
And...more than six hundred years.
After leaving the temple gate, Li Qing found the three women and took them to stroll and shop in the shops in the capital until evening. The four of them returned home happily.
After resting at home for several days, Li Qing was completely exhausted and could not even go to the noon court.
Seeing that he was not working with his salary, Zhu Di asked him to immediately set up the Jinyiwei and appointed several key personnel for him to take.
The news of the establishment of the Jin Yiwei spread quickly in the court. At this time, the officials could not sit still, especially the civil servants, who kept crying and admonishing.
They are fully aware of the evil of Jin Yiwei. Countless seniors have died in this organization, so they are naturally opposed to it.
So, everyone took out their ancestral system and used the throne of Taizu to suppress Zhu Di.
The Imperial Guards will never be established again, these are Zhu Yuanzhang’s original words.
It was not easy for Zhu Di to punish the officials who opposed him, but he could be shameless and said he would consider it carefully while urging Li Qing to seize the time to form it.
In this way, in only half a month, Jinyiwei was established.
Although there are only a thousand people, once it is established, it is too easy to develop later.
When the officials saw this, they could only sigh and lament.
Meeting such a shameless emperor, what they could say was that they were unlucky.
On this day, Li Qing and Zhu Di were discussing the matter of the Weaving Bureau, and Zhu Gaosui came in with a happy face to show off.
Wearing a flying fish suit, he looked particularly energetic. The third child was very satisfied with his appearance and said with a smile: "Father, what do you think of me?"
Zhu Di said calmly: "Well, yes, he has the qualifications of a prince."
"Ah? This..." Zhu Gaosui looked shocked, "Father, is this inappropriate?"
"Suitable, so suitable." Zhu Di stepped forward with a smile.
As he said that, he punched Lao San in the stomach with a 'bang', and while he was bending over, he hit him with an elbow, causing Lao San to fall down directly.
Zhu Di's face was gloomy, "You are a vassal king, why do you want to join the Imperial Guard?
Do you want to secretly kill me so that you can gain power?
Damn...! "
Zhu Di scolded and kicked him, just like beating a dog, beating him to death.
"Ah...Father...No, you promised it!" Zhu Gaosui was filled with grief and anger.
"I asked you to be the emperor, do you accept it or not?" Zhu Di increased his strength, "You are really ignorant!"
Zhu Gaosui was in agony and begged for mercy again and again, "I was wrong. My son was wrong. Father, please forgive me this time!"
But at this moment, a beautiful woman came in. When she saw this situation, she immediately became angry: "Zhu... Your Majesty, why are you like this?"
When Li Qing saw the tigress coming, he hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I feel uncomfortable in my stomach. Please leave."
"Stop for me." Zhu Di turned around and yelled, then laughed dryly and said, "The Queen is here, why didn't you tell me in advance?"
After saying that, he glared at Sanbao fiercely. Sanbao was speechless and said in his heart: You are afraid of her, how can I stop you.
Zhu Di quickly bent down to help his son up. He looked like a loving father and said in a reading voice: "Suier, are you okay?"
"My son...it's okay." Zhu Gaosui said with difficulty.
"Don't blame Father, Father is also doing it for your own good." Zhu Di said dotingly, "Jinyiwei is responsible for supervising all officials. How can you enter such an institution that offends the civil and military ministers?
If your father is gone in the future, and you become a vassal, and they secretly give you little shoes to wear, then your father will not close his eyes to death...! "
"Yes, yes, my father said yes." Zhu Gaosui nodded hurriedly, then bowed tremblingly and fled.
After his son left, Zhu Di asked, "Queen, you came here uninvited. Is there something wrong?"
In front of Li Qing, Xu Miaoyun didn't want to be too presumptuous, and said coldly: "It's my concubine's fault to come rashly without being summoned."
"I forgive you." Zhu Di was quite generous and laughed loudly, "Li Qing and I have state affairs to discuss. Look at this..."
"My concubine has something to do." Xu Miaoyun gritted her teeth and looked at Li Qing, "Don't Li Qing's family have a stomachache?"
"Ah, right, right." Li Qing didn't want to get involved in the fourth child's family affairs, so he immediately left.
"You can't leave. Is national affairs more important or personal matters?" Zhu Di grabbed Li Qing, then smiled at his wife and said, "Queen, Li Aiqing is not an outsider. If you have anything to say, you can tell me."
If Li Qing didn't leave, Xu Miaoyun couldn't hold back her anger and said, "I would like to ask, when will the emperor appoint the crown prince?"
"You don't have to worry about this." Zhu Di said with a displeased look on his face, "The harem is not allowed to interfere in politics."
Perhaps because Li Qing was emboldened, the fourth child was a little arrogant and added: "Queen, don't be arrogant because of your favor!"
Li Qing looked at Zhu Di in astonishment and whispered: "How dare you?"
Zhu Di also realized that he had gone too far, and added: "Li Qing and I still have state affairs to discuss. The queen should go back first. If anything happens, we will talk about it later."
"Yes, I obey the order." Xu Miaoyun bowed with respect, "State affairs are important, I will just wait outside the door."
…
In the palace, the monarch and his ministers were discussing state affairs, and someone looked at them at the door of the palace.
How could the two of them be in the mood to talk about state affairs? Li Qing was a little confused. He wanted to leave, but Zhu Di refused to let him go.
"It will be fine if you don't look at her." Zhu Di muttered, adjusted his mood, and said seriously: "Li Qing, I want to cut off the vassal!"
