…
The next day, Qianqing Palace.
Li Qing read Shi Heng's letter and frowned in thought.
Zhu Jianshen asked: "What's wrong?"
"The letter said... Boyan Timur, the leader of Oara, is already very old and in poor health. I'm afraid it won't last long..." Li Qing frowned and said, "It's not good!"
Zhu Jianshen put down his tea cup, leaned forward and said, "Are you worried that after Boyan Timur's death, there will be chaos in Oara?"
"It's not a worry, this is almost bound to happen." Li Qing said solemnly.
"Hmm... I have also thought about this problem." Zhu Jian took a deep sip of tea and said: "For now, Wara is really in chaos, and the Tatars can't succeed, but there is no need to face a formidable enemy."
"That being said, it is not a good thing after all." Li Qing asked: "Your Majesty, are you planning to fight?"
Zhu Jianshen's face heated up and he said sarcastically: "If it really gets to the point where we can't survive without fighting, I will naturally send troops."
Li Qing sighed and said: "If you can avoid fighting, it's better not to fight. I know you want to increase your prestige and gain power through war, but if you want to gain power and launch a war regardless of the consequences... it is not the behavior of a wise king."
"Then what good plan do you have?" Zhu Jianshen asked.
"Once Wala is in turmoil, stop trading immediately." Li Qing said, "Then find the strongest team and continue to support it."
After a pause, "Of course, it would be best if we can help Wala prevent it from collapsing."
Zhu Jianshen shook his head slightly: "This is difficult. Judging from the current situation in Wala, whether it collapses or not can be decided in a matter of seconds. It is so far away that it is impossible to control their information in real time. Even if we can control it, we cannot respond immediately. It will take a lot of time. ;
And even if I issue an imperial edict in advance to reconcile, I'm afraid it won't be of much use. There will be chaos no matter what. "
Li Qing couldn't refute this, it was a fact.
"In short, we should try our best to go in the right direction and don't break the situation."
"Ang, I am the emperor, so naturally I won't do that." Zhu Jianshen said sullenly, "Speaking of which, why didn't you say a word in court today? Why didn't you support me?"
"I'm not good at words!"
"Let go..." Zhu Jian said with deep hatred: "You are not a military commander, why are you not good at words? I have set up the stage, but you don't sing. Do you know how embarrassed I was at that time?"
Li Qing shook his head slightly: "I don't know."
"You...you...then why are you going to court?" Zhu Jianshen shouted.
"Didn't you ask me to go to court?" Li Qing was speechless, "Then if you don't like it, I won't go to court."
"you……"
"Okay, don't be angry, I have something serious to tell you."
"……What's up?"
Li Qing took out the manuscript he wrote yesterday, "These are real events. I witnessed them with my own eyes. Take a look at them. If you have no objection, they will be included in Zhongzong's Records."
"That's it?"
"You take a look first." Li Qing handed it to him.
Zhu Jianshen took it and looked at it briefly, nodded and said: "Put it in."
"You stamp it."
"..." Zhu Jianshen covered it twice and asked, "What else is there?"
"I found two talents in the Hanlin Academy. One is Liu Jian and the other is Li Dongyang. These two people have outstanding talents and excellent character. The emperor can reuse them." Li Qing said.
Zhu Jianshen said in deep thought: "Liu Jianzhen was ready to reuse him, but... I have no impression of Li Dongyang. I will look back at his resume."
"Yes." Li Qing did not force it, and just said: "Your Majesty, you must not only think about fighting for power, but you must also take care of the country. You must not put the cart before the horse."
Zhu Jianshen nodded with a dark face: "You just stand and talk without hurting your back, and you are on the moral high ground. You are really stupid... I'm impressed by you."
Li Qing smiled, not sharing his common sense.
He stood up and said, "There's nothing else. When Shi Heng and the others come back, I will do the work."
~
"This bastard is really used to being lazy. It's all because of the late emperor..." Zhu Jianshen cursed and talked happily.
There was nothing I could do, it was too uncomfortable to hold it in, and I didn't dare to scold people in person, so I just scolded people behind their backs and vented my anger.
After getting angry, Zhu Jianshen was a little worried again. Today's Ming Dynasty is prosperous, but the embarrassing thing is that the national funds are very poor and he has been unable to save money.
He wanted to print treasure banknotes, but Li Qing refused to let him do it, and even asked him to replace it.
Zhu Jianshen was already extremely poor, so of course he was unwilling and couldn't do it. In the end, the two of them took a step back.
No treasure banknotes are printed or replaced.
However, the plight of the national treasury without silver has not been broken. The trade between the imperial court and Japan has not stopped. However, various expenditures have also continued.
Zhu Qiyu has been replacing his treasure banknotes, and he doesn't have much money left.
After Zhu Jianshen came to power, he first buried the late emperor, then ascended the throne, and then rewarded all ministers, granted amnesty to the world, and had a grand wedding... All this cost a huge amount of money, and the treasury plus internal funds were all emptied.
"Where can I get some money?" Zhu Jianshen frowned and said to himself.
There was no way, the emperor had no money and could not straighten his waist.
'Add business tax?
I tried it, but it doesn't work for the time being. It will only work after taking power. Those in Jiangnan... huh? '
Zhu Jianshen's eyes suddenly lit up: "If you can't do it in the south, you may not be able to do it in the north. It's said that Mr. Shen, the rich man, is not an ordinary rich man."
"Well, that's it. That guy is so fat, it doesn't matter if he kills him." Zhu Jianshen gave a crooked smile, "Shen, you'd better not let me catch you."
"Somebody come!"
…
Li Qing went to the next court and after understanding the situation on the grassland, he started to live a salty life again.
However, he was no longer so decadent. He often went out to visit the Hanlin Academy to see the progress of compilation of Zhongzong's records, or went to the theater to listen to plays, or to teahouses to listen to books, which was quite comfortable.
During this period, he searched around the Hanlin Academy, but could no longer find anyone who could compare with Li Dongyang.
Either he has the loyalty of a scholar, or his edges have been smoothed away before entering the temple. In short, it is difficult to satisfy Li Qing.
However, it would still be possible to settle for the second best and only focus on talents. Li Qing just made a note of it secretly and did not mention it to Zhu Jianshen.
Anyway, the imperial examination is held once every three years, and there will still be talents. There is no need to lower quality for the sake of quantity.
In the blink of an eye, summer passes and autumn comes.
The persimmons in the small courtyard turned from green to red, and the sweet-scented osmanthus trees also bloomed. When the wind blew, the fragrance of the flowers was rich and refreshing. ωＷω.ＧoＮЬ.οrＧ
Li Qing leaned on the recliner, breathing in the fragrance of flowers, sleeping soundly...
'Dang Dang Dang...' A knock on the door sounded, and then a strange old voice sounded: "Is Marquis Yongqing at home?"
Li Qing slowly opened his eyes, sat up and felt hysterical for a moment, then said: "Who is it?"
"The grassroots man is Shen Xin."
Shen Xin?
Li Qing was stunned for a moment and said loudly: "Here he comes."
Opening the door, Shen Xin's old face came into view. After not seeing him for several years, this guy was getting old too.
Li Qing glanced behind him and said, "Come in and let them go back."
"Yes," Shen Xin did not dare to disobey in the slightest, and quickly turned around and said, "Go back, everyone, don't be an eyesore here."
Li Qing waited for those people to leave, then closed the door, turned back and pointed at the stone table, "Sit down first."
"Hey." Shen Xin nodded, took two steps, but suddenly turned back and knelt down with a plop, "Sir, Lord Marquis, the common people are in trouble this time, please save me."
"Who did you mess with?"
"I, I...I provoked the emperor." Shen Xin cried.
Li Qing's face was full of surprise, and he stepped forward and said: "What are you doing... Forget it, get up first, sit down and talk."
"yes……"
Shen Xin stood up tremblingly, sat down on the stone table, and then said: "Actually... I don't know where I offended the emperor. I obviously paid taxes in full..."
"Speak directly."
"Hey, Jin Yiwei received a report saying that I evaded taxes, treated workers harshly, and defaulted on wages. The emperor fined me three million taels of silver. He also said that I had friends with powerful people and wanted to use business to disrupt government. He asked me to handle it myself. "
Li Qing frowned slightly: "Is it true?"
"Of course it's not true." Shen Xin exclaimed, "It's so pitiful that since I came to the north, the grassroots people have always abided by the law and never violated the rules. Of course, the local government... the grassroots people are somewhat filial, but the grassroots people are not I didn’t ask them to do anything!”
"Don't be nervous. The emperor didn't arrest you, which proves that he didn't want to do anything to you." Li Qing comforted.
Shen Xin smiled bitterly: "I know this too, but... I'm afraid I won't be able to hand in a satisfactory answer!"
"It has been less than five years since the grassroots came to the north. They have been spending money. They barely recovered the cost at the beginning of this year. Just when they were about to increase their scale, something like this happened..." Shen Xin did not dare to say that the emperor was not the emperor, but he just cried and said, " It must be that the young people are jealous of the grassroots, and the evildoers are complaining, and they still ask the Marquis to intercede for the grassroots!"
"Don't worry yet." Li Qing asked: "Can the supply of various industries keep up now?"
Shen Xin is anxious, but he has something to ask for, so he can only stay close to Li Qing first.
"It's starting to take shape, but it's definitely not comparable to Jinling. After all... I've only been here for five years, and most of my money is invested in industry. I really don't have much money left."
He was telling the truth. He had spent a lot of money in the past few years. He only started to get the money back last year. As a result, he was fined three million taels this year. Old Shen was worried about death.
"Master Hou, you know me. I really just want to do business. I have no other bad intentions!" Shen Xin cried and said, "I kneel down for you."
"Get up, stop crying." Li Qing said angrily, "You are so grown up, you are not ashamed."
"...Yes." Shen Xin held it in and said with a cry, "Master Marquis, can you help explain it to the emperor? The common people are really...unjust!"
"Hmm... How about I ask the emperor to come over and you can have a nice chat?"
"Ah?" Shen Xin's face turned green, "I don't dare, I don't dare..."
Li Qing said: "There's nothing you dare to do, it's settled."
He wanted to take the opportunity to let Zhu Jianshen understand business and give him some extra lessons.
"You wait here, I'll go into the palace!"
"Master Hou, listen to me..."
"boom!"
'Kaka...'
Shen Xin rushed forward quickly and looked at the big lock and Li Qing's retreating figure through the crack in the door, feeling regretful in his gut.
"My life is at stake!" Shen Xin couldn't help crying.
He was not stupid, he knew that he was being punished, it was the emperor who ordered him to kill him deliberately.
Originally, he wanted Li Qing to help intercede, but in the end, Li Qing directly called the person involved. What did he say?
To sue the emperor in front of the emperor, isn't this just seeking death?
