The prince's clear voice echoed in the warm pavilion, and the bright candlelight reflected on his handsome and angular face, which seemed to be particularly majestic. The fourteen-year-old crown prince Zhu Xiaoying has begun to take on the imperial momentum.

Emperor Jinghe, who had his eyes closed, listened to what he said, nodded slightly, "um", and asked, "What do the ministers say?"

The crown prince looked at the criticism below and said, "Lord Zhao means that Shandong itself is a restless place, and there are often rebellions. If there is a flood and the people are in distress, there must be people who gather in the mountains and forests, climb high and shout, gather the crowd and rebel, and then the rebellion will be born, and there will be no choice. This is a top priority, so the national treasury should allocate funds to repair the river and prevent it from happening. ”

Emperor Jinghe nodded lightly and asked, "How did Mr. Weizhong approve it?"

The crown prince continued to look at the following content, and said, "Mr. Weizhong agrees with Lord Zhao's previous statement, if the Shandong flood is not prevented in advance, there may be trouble. However, Mr. Weizhong saw it thoroughly, and said that now that the war with Spain has just ended, and the refugees gathered in the capital have just been properly settled, and the treasury is empty, at this time it is really impossible to allocate funds for repairs. ”

Emperor Jinghe sighed a little helplessly and said, "What about you?"

The prince thought for a while and said: "Erchen thinks that what Mr. Weizhong said is Lao Cheng's words to seek the country, and this method can be corrected. ”

Emperor Jinghe asked, "Then do you know how much Shandong's taxes are in a year?"

The prince said: "Three million four hundred and twenty thousand taels of tax silver." ”

Emperor Jinghe asked again: "Then do you know how much it takes to repair the river embankment?"

The prince said with some uncertainty: "It should be around one million taels." ”

Emperor Jinghe nodded slightly, gave the correct answer, and said, "Eight hundred and sixty thousand taels." However, after the apportionment is carried out, it is estimated that it can only be used for river repair, which is only four or five hundred thousand taels. So where did all the rest of the money go?"

The crown prince was speechless, where did the rest of the silver go? Does this need to be said? It was nothing more than being divided between the local officials, the powerful and the wealthy, and the martial arts sect.

Emperor Jinghe opened his eyes, dragged his two thin palms, and tried to sit up with great difficulty.

The prince hurriedly stepped forward to help, supporting his thin body, and a sorrow rose in his heart. The once majestic father and emperor have become like this at this moment. This is something he could never have imagined.

My nose was sore, and I almost burst into tears. I hurriedly took a breath and calmed down. A soft pillow was placed behind Emperor Jinghe's back, so that he could lean more comfortably.

Emperor Jinghe naturally saw his expression, and was very relieved in his heart, patted his hand lightly, and then said on the topic: "Zhao Jishan first asked for the treasury, doesn't he know that the treasury is now empty? Lin Weizhong proposed such a compromise method again, the two of them sang and drank, and held the government in their hands.

The crown prince nodded slightly, and listened quietly, if this is the accumulation of disadvantages of the great empire, he naturally knows it. It's just that at this moment, there is no way to solve it.

Emperor Jinghe continued: "Besides, who of the officials of this great merchant is not greedy? But I feel that it doesn't matter if they are greedy for money, lust, or power. As long as you are honest, you will tolerate their greed. ”

"But what I'm most afraid of are those who are greedy and incompetent, greedy and cruel. These people are the most terrible moths attached to the body of my Great Shang Empire. But now I can't do anything about them, there are many parties, they are involved with each other, and they affect the whole body. If we use thunderous means to eliminate all these insatiable people, I am afraid that my big business will be paralyzed immediately, and then rebel again and again, and there will be a disaster of destroying the country. ”

Speaking of this, Emperor Jinghe covered his heart and coughed vigorously.

The prince hurriedly rubbed his chest to help him calm down. Then he nodded and asked, "So, father, you know that Lin Weizhong is the number one greed in my big business, but you can still indulge him, just because he is honest?"

Emperor Jinghe nodded, which was affirmative, and did not have a deep discussion on this matter, but asked, "How do you think the matter in Shandong should be solved now?"

The prince gritted his teeth, and wanted to say that he had a way to raise two or three million taels of silver to fill the holes in Shandong, after all, to get rid of those greedy people and Jianghu sects. The land of Shandong is inhabited by his people. At that time, the flood will be together, and the people who will suffer and suffer will not be the ordinary people who support the royal family of the Great Shang?

Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin, once said: Water can carry a boat, or it can capsize a boat. That's it.

But in the end, he could only give up this idea, and said helplessly: "Erchen thinks that it is better to do it according to Mr. Weizhong's method." ”

Emperor Jinghe smiled with satisfaction, nodded and said, "Well, it's still some progress, I thought you would say that you have some floating wealth in your hands and can solve the affairs of Shandong." But you still didn't say it. I'm glad you can answer that. This proves that you now have a long-term vision. Well, yes, I approved it. ”

The prince nodded, picked up the red pen, wrote the word "quasi" on the letter, and put it aside. Then when he was about to go to get another note, he heard Jing and the emperor say: "Leave it down, you can rest too." You and I, father and son, talk at will. ”

The prince did as he said, put down the fold, and then sat down on the embroidered pier next to the bed. But his eyes kept glancing in the direction of the palace gate, and he seemed a little absent-minded.

But at this moment, the palace gate was opened. The prince's heart was jerked, but when he saw that it was Xiao Jing who walked in, he sighed lightly with a little forgetfulness.

Xiao Jing dragged a tray in his hand, walked to the front of the dragon couch, bowed slightly, and said to Emperor Jinghe: "Supreme Master, it's time to serve Dan." ”

Emperor Jinghe nodded, Xiao Jing put down the tray, took out a dragon's eye-sized Tonghong Pill from the medicine cup, handed it to Emperor Jinghe's mouth, and after the emperor completely chewed the pill, he handed over a glass of water so that he could swallow it.

The prince's face was unbearable, and after Xiao Jing finished serving, the prince said: "Father, Zhi'an said that these pills contain severe poison, why do you still ......?"

Emperor Jinghe waved his hand, interrupted the prince's words, and said: "There is a poison in the pill, how often do I not know? In the secret records of the history books, how can there be a small number of emperors who swallowed the pill to death? But I have already reached the end of my life, and swallowing these pills is just to have a little spirit, if this is a big empire, there are too many things to deal with, and I can't fall down now." ”

Not long after swallowing the pill, an unhealthy flush rose on his face, but his spirit was noticeably better. This proves that this elixir still has some effect.

When the prince heard this, he said: "My father is at the peak of the Spring and Autumn Period, so why bother ......"

Emperor Jinghe snorted and laughed: "Just say these words, the courtiers can say it, why do you say that." You know your own affairs, so why deceive yourself. But you, since you entered this Ten Brocade Palace today, you always seem to be restless, why bother? You must know that every time you are facing a major event, you should have calm. What kind of system do you have when you're so frizzy?"

The prince hurriedly bowed his head and said, "Erchen knows that he is wrong. ”

Emperor Jinghe said: "Knowing the mistake is not in the mouth, it should be put in the heart." How can the emperor of a country not even have a minimum city government? He, Li Zhi'an, can be willful at will, but you can't. Because he doesn't have a burden as heavy as you. What's more, you are the prince of a country, representing the face of this country. We must learn to be invisible in joy and anger, and show the dignity of the city. ”

The prince said: "The son has been taught. ”

Emperor Jinghe said again: "Qinghua will be easy to deal with, but the involvement behind it is too great, and it is inconvenient for me to come forward for you in this matter, I hope you can handle it well." ”

The prince nodded and said: "Erchen understands, Erchen and Zhi'an have a comprehensive plan, and if Yun Nuoyi is taken down today, the future will just be lifted from the ladder." ”

Emperor Jinghe nodded and said, "That's fine, if something doesn't happen, I can only push Li Zhi'an out and use it to protect you." ”

When the prince heard this, he clenched his fists violently, grabbed the placket of his clothes, and finally slowly let go helplessly, and said, "Erchen will take care of it." ”

Emperor Jinghe sighed and said, "There are no relatives and friends in the Emperor's Family, if you can understand, it is the best." You have a soft personality, and if I have other sons who have become a weapon, I will definitely not let you inherit the great treasure. You can also be an idle prince in peace, like my royal brother and the king of England. If I have a few years to live, I may be able to train you slowly, but it's a pity ......"

Speaking of this, Emperor Jinghe shook his head and didn't say any more, his disappointment beyond words.

So the atmosphere fell into a brief silence at this moment.

After a while, Emperor Jinghe changed the topic and said, "You must also know about Li Zhi'an and Yong'an. ”

The prince's pupils shrank slightly, and what he was worried about finally came. Since my father said it at this moment, it proves that he already knows everything, and it is useless to hide it at this time.

So he nodded and said, "Well, Erchen knows." But the father, the eldest sister of the emperor really likes Zhi'an, and Zhi'an also has the eldest sister of the emperor in his heart. Erchen felt that instead of letting the immortal Tao Zhiyan disappoint the eldest sister of the emperor, it was better to fulfill Zhi'an and her. ”

Emperor Jinghe said: "After all, it is a matter that damages the face of the royal family, but I don't want to worry about these things, and let them mess around." I just want to add one more card to your hand, the men of the Li family are all people who value love and righteousness, from Li Tuizhi to Li Da, to Li Er, Li San, all of them are this character. ”

"If your Xuanyi Guard can be successfully formed, it will definitely dominate the world in the future, Li Zhi'an is the first person under you, if you turn against him at that time, and you can't check and balance him, then Yong'an will definitely be a card to contain him, I hope you can make good use of it then. ”