Under the current situation, that group of people has obviously given up completely.
They dared to commit murder openly and honestly. What did Wang Zhen, the Superintendent of Ceremonies and the eunuch in charge, have to worry about when he was a seventh-rank official?
Li Qing is self-aware, and those people hate him to the core.
If you can't solve the problem, solve the problem. It's simple, crude and effective.
Li Qingxin said: "How about... burying them all?"
After a second thought, I gave up again.
It's not that he has good intentions, but doing so is meaningless except making the situation more chaotic.
Those people can solve him, the 'problem' person, but he cannot solve those 'problem' people.
Because there are too many people with problems, even if they are all solved, the people coming up below will still have problems, and they can only solve the problem itself.
"My lord, my lord..."
"Ah? Oh." Li Qing asked, "Is the Emperor in a hurry?"
"It's urgent." The little eunuch nodded, "The boat is ready. Please come with us back to Beijing immediately to meet the emperor."
Li Qing frowned slightly: "How about we take the land route?"
He felt that there might be an ambush on the waterway, and there were thousands of land routes. Even if the other party wanted to ambush, the chance of encountering him was very slim.
"The land route is too time-consuming, so we should take the water route." The young eunuch said, "The emperor will not let us go lightly if we delay an important event. Please understand."
Li Qing had no choice but to speak bluntly: "Father, they dare to kill even the eunuchs with palm prints. Do you think they will...?"
The young eunuch was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and said: "My lord, you can rest assured. Our family has hundreds of guards in uniform. Besides, you and I are both imperial envoys. Anyone with a normal mind would never do anything to us."
Everyone has said so, and Li Qing can’t persuade him anymore.
Anyway, he has nothing to fear. Even if there is an ambush, he can keep himself safe.
"Sure, give me an hour and I'll make arrangements."
The little eunuch reluctantly said, "My lord, please hurry up."
"rest assured."
~
Li Qing spoke with Xiao Liuzi and Mr. Liu, and then went to say goodbye to his master, Zhu Yunwen, and Li Jinglong. After returning, he returned to the capital with the eunuch who passed the order.
The waterway was fast and comfortable, and the journey was uneventful.
More than ten days later, Li Qing and his party arrived in the capital without any incident.
There are various signs that Li Qing is overthinking it.
Li Qing did not go home, but went directly to the palace with the eunuch to see Zhu Qizhen.
…
"Long live my humble minister Li Qing, long live my emperor..." As soon as he entered the Qianqing Palace, Li Qing started to express himself in a loud voice.
As expected, before he even lifted his robe, he heard the little emperor's "no courtesy".
"Sir, you've had a hard journey." Zhu Qizhen came forward and said affectionately, "Sir, please sit down. Come and serve tea."
Li Qing was not polite, sat down on the chair, and said to Zhu Qizhen, "The emperor is so anxious to summon me back, but there is something big going on in the capital?"
"There is something wrong." Zhu Qizhen nodded, "Let's not talk about it in a hurry. How is Jinling?"
"The effect is very good. Jinling alone will contribute more than one million taels of commercial tax next year. After stabilizing in two years, the annual commercial tax will be stable at more than two million taels." Li Qing said, " If Suzhou and Hangzhou are also included, the annual commercial tax in these three places will not be less than five million taels."
"So high?" Zhu Qizhen was shocked.
Li Qing smiled and nodded: "In fact, since maritime trade came to the people, business taxes have always been considerable, but they were all evaded by the rich gentry."
Zhu Qizhen nodded slowly, and then added: "But we can't let the benefits go to our head. Once it gets bigger, the disaster will be huge."
"The Emperor's concerns are very true." Li Qing secretly sighed: Sure enough, in Zhu Qizhen's eyes, imperial power always comes first. It seems that complete industrialization is unlikely and can only be semi-industrialized.
In fact, it cannot be said that Zhu Qi was wrong. Capital is too strong, which will not only force the imperial power, but also exploit the people. Li Qing understands this truth.
He just wanted to find a balance between the two and make Ming Dynasty prosperous as much as possible.
Li Qing knew the truth and asked: "Your Majesty, are the ministers forcing the palace again?"
"It's not just about forcing the palace, it's also about rebellion." Zhu Qizhen was furious, but he was helpless, "Sir, when do you think this will end!?"
Li Qing took a sip of tea and said: "We can only rely on time to grind down their character bit by bit until they adapt."
After a pause, "Actually, there is nothing to worry about. I have read the records of Taizu and Taizong. They also came here like this. Not only my Ming Dynasty, there are not many examples of harmony between emperors and ministers in all dynasties.
Your Majesty, you are not an exception! "
"There is nothing you can do, sir?" Zhu Qizhen was a little disappointed.
Li Qing smiled bitterly and said: "What can be done about this? The emperor and his ministers have different positions and pursue different goals, so of course they cannot be harmonious;
The emperor pursues the emperor's power and interests, while the ministers pursue personal power and interests. This is inherently contradictory. "
Li Qing put down his teacup with peace of mind and sighed: "In their eyes, the emperor should treat the virtuous and corporal, rule the world with them, and delegate power to them. It is best not to have your own ideas and let everyone make decisions together;
In your eyes, the emperor, they are just people who work for you. If you give them a salary, they should do their job well and don't have other ideas.
The best thing is to be clean-minded, serve the public health wholeheartedly, not engage in corruption or bribery, not form cliques for personal gain, and not do anything detrimental to the country, the country, or the country. "
Li Qing leaned forward and asked, "Your Majesty, do you think this is true?"
Zhu Qizhen was silent for a long time and nodded slowly: "That's true."
"So, don't feel tired. In fact, no king who has made a difference has it easy." Li Qing took a sip of tea and joked: "Being an emperor, how can you not be tired?"
A smile appeared on Zhu Qizhen's lips, and his depressed mood suddenly became cheerful.
: Yes, how can there be no tired person who is called a loner?
The gloomy mood was swept away, and Zhu Qizhen smiled and said: "Sir, I feel much better when you say this."
Li Qing smiled, sipping tea leisurely, waiting for Zhu Qizhen to start the topic.
Zhu Qizhen said: "For now, we have the absolute upper hand. Judging from their brute force against Wang Zhen, they have no other way."óΠъ.oяＧ
"Indeed." Li Qing nodded, "But the emperor should not be careless. This does not mean that they will never be able to do anything. They should be more cautious."
"Of course." Zhu Qizhen nodded, "I'm not worried about anything, I'm mainly worried about you sir."
"Is the Emperor worried that they will deal with me like they dealt with Wang Zhen?"
"Well." Zhu Qizhen frowned and said, "They are now all banned from working at home, but this cannot always be the case. The court meeting must still continue."
Li Qing smiled and said: "It's okay, I'll just go back to Jinling. There happens to be a lot of things happening there, so don't worry about it, Your Majesty."
"Sir, are you just going to keep running away like this?" Zhu Qizhen teased. He didn't want Li Qing to leave. Although Jinling was important, the capital was more important.
Even though he now had the upper hand, he still wanted to keep Lee Sin by his side.
This way he will feel more at ease.
Zhu Qizhen knew that this was a kind of dependence, which was not a good habit for an emperor, but he couldn't help thinking this way.
When he was thirteen years old, Li Qing entered the court to help him bring order to things. Over the years, his feelings for Li Qing have surpassed that of a monarch or a minister.
In addition, Li Qing was a talent left to him by the late emperor, and Zhu Qizhen already regarded Li Qing as a relative and elder.
Of course, rationally, he still regards Li Qing as a courtier, but reason often cannot suppress emotions.
Emotions are unreasonable.
"The problem is that it won't be of much use if I stay here!" Li Qing spread his hands, "Now, Your Majesty, you have the absolute advantage, at least now they have nothing to do."
After a pause, "The worst-case scenario is just repeating the same tricks to cause chaos, but this is unlikely. After all, they all failed under unexpected circumstances."
"The situation in the grasslands is not good," Zhu Qizhen said.
Li Qing was startled and frowned: "How...how do you say this?"
Zhu Qizhen repeated to Li Qing what Yu Qian said that day.
Li Qing's brows furrowed deeper and deeper, finally condensing into the character "Chuan".
"Your Majesty, what are you going to do?"
"I want Zhang Fu to take a trip, in the name of inspecting the border troops on my behalf." Zhu Qizhen said.
Li Qing shook his head: "This is just a useless effort."
"Zhang Fu is still very capable. There will definitely be no problems if he goes."
"I know this, but the border troops will not attack themselves. What I mean is..." Li Qing muttered: "If you want to know how the border troops are doing, it would be more direct and efficient to ask Wala directly;
Whether the border troops were smuggling to the Tatars, Wala, as the Tatar opponent, must know best. "
Zhu Qizhen's eyes lit up, "Sir, you are right, um... ok, I will send someone to Wala later and ask Boyan Timur to come in person."
"It's more reasonable to let him come in the name of paying tribute." Li Qing added.
"Okay, then I'll follow what you said."
…
