Tai Chi Palace.

It's almost the New Year, and I don't know what Li Shimin thinks this year, he actually gave his annual leave early for the first time, and after entering the lunar month, except for the main officials of the three provinces and six ministries, such as Shangshu and Shilang, the rest of the officials don't have to go to court, or do their own things every day, and they don't have to wait for time in the duty room, they can go home early.

This series of actions did have some effect. The hundred officials thought of Li Shimin's goodness, and gradually stopped gossiping behind the king's back, and the public opinion gradually calmed down, and the wind and waves calmed down again.

But Li Shimin was not worried at all, after Li Chengqian came back from leading the army, he seemed to have a hair in his heart, hiding in the East Palace to plan, wanting to go on the expedition again after the year, saying that he wanted to join Li Ji's army, even if he was willing to be a pawn. Fortunately, this word did not spread out of the palace gate, otherwise it would have caused a burst of public opinion among the people.

In addition, the accounts of the household department at the end of the year have been closed, and the data has come out one after another. The accounts of the Ministry of Internal Affairs amounted to one-third of the household department's inputs. And this is on the premise that it does not affect the income of the household department, that is to say, with the Ministry of Internal Affairs this year, Datang's income is one-third more.

That's a lot of money!

The Internal Affairs Office was founded by Li Mu, and the officials who served in it were all cultivated by Li Mu. I heard that these people rushed to Luoyang to ask Li Mu for peace on the first day of the holiday, can Li Shimin not taste it in his heart? Li Mu is so young, his influence is so great, there is a tendency to become his own faction, if he waits until he is a hundred years later, can there still be people in the court who restrict him?

Even if the eldest grandson Wuji was still alive at the time, with the attitudes of Li Chengqian and Li Tai towards Li Mu, Li Shimin did not dare to guarantee which side they would lean toward.

There is also the matter of the heir hall, and now Mrs. Lu has not expressed her position for a long time, and Li Shimin has lost the opportunity to do it. Although he knows now that the person is in Luoyang, it is impossible for Li Shimin to move the people to turn against Li Mu, if he does this, it is equivalent to forcing him to rebel, and the matter will be big, it will really affect the whole body.

Today, the Western Turks have reconciled with the Tang Dynasty because of Li Mu's relationship. King Gaochang had only one daughter, who was married to Li Mu. Dingxiang is the gateway of the Silk Road, and it is also Li Mu's righteous brother in charge.

There is also Li Mu's father-in-law Li Ji in the north, although Li Shimin expected that with Li Ji's character, he would not take any risks, but it was impossible for him to be treacherous to deal with Li Mu, even if he disarmed and returned to the field, it was impossible. Li Ji is in the prime of life, and he is the candidate of Li Shimin's heart to succeed Li Jing's next generation of Tang Dynasty military gods, and his importance is self-evident, so Li Ji can't move.

Besides, southern Xinjiang, Zhenla, and Linyi are all attached because of Li Mu. Southern Xinjiang is now governed by Li Mu's stepfather Tang Jian, Li Mu's trip to southern Xinjiang, the Miao people's hearts are all home, if Li Mu has an accident, Miao Jiang will definitely be in chaos.

These are external crises, and internal problems are also a whole bunch of them.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Luoyang Trading Market, Datang Salt, Datang Mining, Datang Construction, which of these affairs related to the economy has anything to do with Li Mu? Don't talk about it, let's just talk about Datang Daily, which is now a must-see content for the people of Chang'an City, if Li Mu has an accident, these things will be affected, Li Shimin himself can stand it, can the people of Datang stand it?

An indisputable fact is that Li Mu's influence on the Tang Dynasty has reached an irreplaceable level. Now even if Li Shimin wants to get rid of Li Mu, he will not dare to do it.

These are all from the perspective of official affairs, as well as from the perspective of private affairs, which also makes Li Shimin very troubled.

Li Mu, this kid, why didn't he go back to Chang'an to greet me for the New Year? It's the New Year, should I go to Luoyang to see him?

And there are no rules!

Thinking of how lively the Shangyuan Festival was when Li Mu was here last year, and looking at these things that these gentry and businessmen in Chang'an City did this year, it was a world of difference.

In the drama garden in Pingkangli, Dou E is almost tired of acting, and the plays written by others are not interesting at all, and it is disgusting to watch. Li Mu, this kid, doesn't say hurry up and update the new drama when he's free, is there anything serious?

At the end of the year, Li Shimin suddenly found that he missed Li Mu a little. Without this kid's year, it's really boring.

Li Shimin sighed again, Gonggong Gao stood beside him, counted in his heart, and said secretly: "This afternoon, I sighed more than 20 times, Your Majesty has something on your mind." ”

He could guess that it must have something to do with Li Mu, but he didn't dare to speak. Others don't know, Gonggong Gao knows very well in his heart, His Majesty has been feeling a little complicated about Li Mu recently.

"Newspaper,"

A voice interrupted Li Shimin's reverie, he raised his head and motioned for Gonggong Gao to take a look. Gonggong Gao came to the door of the hall, took a fold from the little eunuch's hand, looked at the seal on the fire paint, hurriedly came to Li Shimin, handed it over with both hands, and said, "Your Majesty, it's a letter from the Hou Ye." ”

"This kid still knows how to write letters!" Li Shimin snorted, a little apprehensive in his heart, and muttered: "Didn't you say that you can't go back to Chang'an for the New Year, if you don't go back, you won't go back, I want to see him very much?" ”

Having said that, Li Shimin still opened the fold, and after reading it, his face became a little complicated.

Gao Gonggong didn't know why: "Your Majesty——? ”

"Li Mu invited himself to go to Li Jijunzhong next year, and he would bring the whole family with him." Li Shimin threw the fold on the ground and said, "Is he so underestimating my measurements?" This kid really wants to be angry! ”

Gao Gonggong closed his mouth in recognition of it, and it was wrong to say anything at this time.

"I haven't decided yet, whether I want to go to war or not." Li Shimin sighed and muttered to himself: "Of course I know that the vitality of the country has not yet recovered, and this is not the time. However, Goguryeo is a problem sooner or later, and now Silla has changed, if you don't do it at this time, when Goguryeo annexes Baekje and Silla, the rear is stable, and you can attack and retreat, and then you want to attack Goguryeo, you will have to pay several times the price, I can't afford to wait! ”

Gao Gonggong knew that he had to speak, and if he didn't speak, Li Shimin would lose his temper again. This feeling is similar to that of a teasing person who has been talking for a long time and not saying a word of teasing, so that he doesn't even have time to ventilate, and there must be resentment in his heart.

"These words, Your Majesty can talk to Hou Ye, Your Majesty treats Hou Ye like a son, how can there be anything that cannot be solved between father and son?"

"I killed his father!" Li Shimin said this sentence tremblingly like tearing open a wound: "He doesn't want to see me, maybe it's not because of this reason!" This is something that cannot be made up, how do you tell me to believe that he will not hold a grudge? If he didn't know his identity, I would be happy to be confused, but now that he has recognized the Lu family, how can I pretend to be confused! ”

"Alas," said Grandpa Gao, but nevertheless; "Your Majesty, the old slave doesn't understand the big truth, but the old slave still thinks that there are some things that are better to find out than to be suspicious. If the Hou Ye has the opposite intentions, His Majesty will make a strong move as soon as possible. If Hou Ye can be relieved in his heart, then everyone will be happy, isn't it better? ”

Li Shimin's expression changed, how could he not have thought of Gao's father-in-law's words? If Li Mu was not so important to the Tang Dynasty, with Li Shimin's decisive character, he would have been eliminated long ago to prevent future troubles. He never thought that the son he had been looking for for many years would be Li Mu, and he would not hesitate to change anyone.

"Okay, that's it!" Finally, Li Shimin still made a decision: "You go to Luoyang and let him go back for the New Year." If he refuses, just-" Li Shimin didn't say the second half of the sentence, not because he didn't want to say it, and he suddenly thought that the bearded guest was in Luoyang, and with the skills of Gao Gonggong, he was afraid that he wanted to do something, but he couldn't do anything.

Gao Gonggong also thought of it, and answered with a wry smile; "If Master Hou doesn't want to go back to Chang'an, then the old slave will come back by himself."

"Alas—" Li Shimin sighed and said, "Go ahead!" ”

"No." Gonggong Gao responded and withdrew from the main hall. Li Shimin looked at the sunset outside the window and sighed again!

……

Li Mu woke up and found that something was wrong.

Yesterday received a group of people, and he felt very happy, after all, they were his own students, and they still had a conscience. It's a good thing for everyone to chat together, talk about things, and contribute to the country, and Li Mu also feels very happy.

But why is it again today, and it's still a bunch of old men. Does Lao Tzu know you? What year will I worship for the Chinese New Year?

Hearing that he was a member of the gate valve family, Li Mu was even more interested. He and these people have never been on the same road, and it is already good to meet without pinching, and it is not good to see them, so he does not plan to meet them.

But there is a saying that if you don't stretch out your hand and don't hit a smiling person, someone still has to receive you. Li Mu was about to let Ma Zhou go out to deal with it, but Mrs. Lu came out with her grandson in her arms, and when she heard that this was the case, she immediately took care of it and said, "These people are familiar to your mother, and your mother will see them for you." ”

"But," Li Muzheng was about to say, if they met like this, would they be suspicious of Li Shimin, but after thinking about it, if they didn't show up, wouldn't they be jealous? There should still be some, it's better to be generous. simply didn't say anything, nodded and agreed.

Mrs. Lu handed over her grandson to Qiaoqiao and went to the front hall, when someone came to report that a person came from the back door, claiming to be Wang Pu, and came to pay a New Year's greeting to Li Mu.

Li Mu was stunned for a moment, then remembered that he asked the steward to bring Wang Pu over and meet him in the backyard study.

After nearly a year of separation, Wang Pu has not changed much, but his skin is dark. The sun in Southeast Asia tanned Wang Pu and looked like a Kunlun slave in Chang'an City. Seeing Li Mu, Wang Pu burst into tears, and knelt on the ground with a plop.

Li Mu hurriedly helped him up and said, "What is this doing, what are you kneeling me for?" ”

"There is a negative Hou Ye's entrustment," Wang Pu said ashamedly: "Hou Ye recruited me back, but it coincided with the civil strife in Zhancheng, and I came back so late." ”

Li Mu glanced at him and said, "Occupy the civil strife in the city? What's going on? ”

Wang Pu tore off his shirt and showed Li Mu the wound: "Master Hou, I really didn't lie to you-"

"Huh?!" Li Mu hurriedly pulled on his clothes and said, "I didn't suspect you, what are you doing, I have a lot of family members here, are you here to play hooligans in my house?" ”

"Don't dare!" Wang Pu hurriedly put on his clothes, Li Mu also saw clearly, Wang Pu did have a knife wound on his body, it seems that what he said is true, Wang Pu sighed, and said eloquently: "Master Hou, I just received your letter, and I planned to come back with seeds, but as soon as I was about to leave, there was news of rebellion in Zhancheng, it turned out to be some powerful people in Linyi, unwilling to lose their status, and they rebelled." When the big man was there, they didn't dare to make a mistake because of the big man's might, but the big man was gone, and I was the only one left, and they didn't care. ”

"The lower officials are also afraid, and they also want to escape. But when I think about it, as an official of the Tang Dynasty, I have the responsibility of defending the territory, if I run away like this, I will have no face to live, so I made up my mind to fight them! ”

"Fortunately, the hearts of the people are for us. In the end, we won, and now the magnates in Zhenla and Linyi have been wiped out, and I rushed back after I finished taking care of things. Wang Pu said in a deep voice: "Live up to the trust of the Hou Ye, and bring back thirty carts of good seeds, which is enough for the 'test field' that the Hou Ye said in his heart." ”

"Okay, I'll give you a big credit." Li Mu patted Wang Pu on the shoulder and said, "It's really different, and now I'm also a character who can take charge on my own - I'm very pleased." ”

Wang Pu smiled embarrassedly and said, "It's not the cultivation of the Hou Ye," Wang Pu said with a straight face: "The Hou Ye is really a god, I stayed in Linyi Zhenla for a year, and I saw with my own eyes that the rice was three ripe, and the local people were tired of eating rice." Thinking about Datang again, the people are still mainly corn, and I feel even more that Hou Ye is really far-sighted. ”

"Say less flattery," Li Mu interrupted Wang Pu's words and said, "How long have you been back, do you know what happened recently?" ”

Wang Pu was stunned when asked, and said: "Master Hou, as soon as I came back, I went straight to Luoyang, and I haven't gone to Chang'an to report on my work." The news I know is all written by my brother to inform me, I don't know what the Hou Ye said? ”

"You Taiyuan Wang and Benhou, but it's a little wrong," Li Mu drooped his eyelids, meaning something, and said, "What do you think of this matter?" ”

"Master Hou," Wang Pu said, "I have heard some things about it, and I want to explain it to Master Hou." My Wang Pu was born in the Taiyuan Wang family, which is true. But I am not the eldest son and grandson, and secondly, I have always been involved in the affairs of the family, and I am an idler. So in my mind, those are two different things. And as far as I know, my brother has remorse in his heart, but he has no face to face Hou Ye, if Lord Hou forgives his brother in large quantities, the Taiyuan Wang family will take Hou Ye as the horse's head. ”

Li Mu smiled and said, "It seems that you are coming to make peace," Li Mu patted Wang Pu's shoulder and said, "Sure enough, it's different, there is something to say!" ”

Wang Pu knew that he couldn't hide it from Li Mu, and said, "My brother sent someone to deliver a letter halfway to Luoyang. ”