Lou Jian and Huangfu Rank joked with each other, the more they talked, the more filthy they became, and the servants of the Huangfu Rank occasionally interjected, not necessarily helping the master, and always attracting laughter from the two masters at the same time.

The building was red when I heard it on the side, but fortunately, it was dark and no one could see it.

There was a whistle in the distance, and the two men, who had just been mocking each other, immediately shut up and galloped in the pale moonlight, accurately recognizing every turn and undulation.

Lou Ji followed, he was not very good at horseback riding, and he followed more nervously, too close for fear of touching, too far for fear of being thrown off.

The road was not long and stopped quickly.

In front was a closed gate, and dozens of knights lined up on both sides of the road, with the master in front and the servant behind, and the building base obediently remained behind.

The building is hard and the Huangfu steps are next to each other, located in the middle position, and the status is neither high nor low.

No one was talking nonsense, except for the occasional neighing of the mount.

After waiting for half an hour, the gate rattled, and just half opened, several horses flashed out of it, and they rode away without stopping.

The knights waiting on both sides of the road followed in order, with the master in the center and the servants guarding both sides.

Lou Ji had no time to look around, and the horse controlled the horse and followed the third brother Lou Hard, and when he thought that the emperor was leading the team to gallop in front, he couldn't help but feel a little excited.

But he soon realized that he had made a mistake, and that there was no emperor among the few people who came out of the gate.

The procession stopped in an alley, and soon several horsemen galloped from the avenue, and all the knights dismounted and bowed, and the building realized that the emperor had come out of another gate.

A few people were talking at the corner of the street, and after a while, someone shouted, "Is the hard fat man there?" Come forward! ”

"In!" Lou Gong hurriedly answered, awkwardly got up, Lou Ji wanted to get up to help, but was stopped by Lou Jian with gestures, only he could step forward, Lou Ji still had to kneel on the ground and wait like everyone else.

Lou ran to the street panting, I don't know what to say, and the people behind him only heard him laugh a few times, and then screamed twice.

Someone shouted the order: "Get on the horse!" ”

The man who knelt on the ground immediately got up and got on his horse, and the building took care of the two horses, and waited for the third brother to run back and return the reins.

Lou Jian muttered as he got on the horse, "Okay, I've found the unlucky guy tonight." ”

"Who?" The Emperor Fu Order, who had already mounted the horse, asked in a low voice.

"Luo Yushi, who has a hard mouth, doesn't know what to do, he's afraid that he will be ...... tonight" The team moved forward, and Lou Hard's words were drowned out in the sound of horses' hooves.

The team was fast and slow, and during a short stop, Lou Ji asked in a low voice: "Is it Lord Shi Luo Zhengluo?" ”

Lou Qiang nodded, and then ordered in a low voice: "Shut up." ”

In this team, the status of the building belongs to the servant, and he is not qualified to speak at will.

When the procession reached its destination, an order was given in a loud voice, everyone dismounted, the servants stood to guard the horses, and the master ran to the front to listen to the order.

From beginning to end, the building did not recognize the road, nor did he see the emperor, only the shouts from ahead.

"Lord Luo, open the door! The Imperial Embassy invites you to go back and become an official. ”

The imperial envoy is not a big official, but Luo Zheng is very famous, he likes to find fault with the emperor the most, and he was sparse on the ground for three days, and was finally demoted to a commoner last year.

After such a long time, it is rare for the emperor to come to the minister's house for questioning, and it is even more unbelievable that he would even use tricks to deceive the other party to open the door.

The building base could not hear the reply from the house, but obviously refused to open the door, causing the outside to knock hard.

"Team Left, keep up!" Someone ordered.

The servants were divided into two teams, and the building base happened to belong to the left team, so they handed over the reins and ran with everyone to the door of Luo's mansion.

The emperor was probably prepared, and the team actually carried a wooden stick with a thick bowl, and more than a dozen servants slammed the door together, and the master shouted and cheered on both sides.

One, two...... Luo's house is not a deep mansion compound, the courtyard door can't withstand the impact, and finally the hole opens, and there are people screaming and some people rushing inside.

The servants who slammed the door got out of the way, and several people rushed in first, shouting and reprimanding, and then several people went in.

It was too dark, and everyone was dressed similarly, and the emperor could not be seen at the base of the building, but only this person was the emperor without a doubt.

A guard assigned servants, some went to guard the back door, some people patrolled around, and the building and a few people guarded the front door, just in time to be able to see the scene in the front yard.

Someone lit a lantern, found a chair and placed it under the corridor, the building was hard and waited for the chivalrous guards to be around, the emperor's position happened to be in the shadows, and only a vague image could be seen at the base of the building.

"I'm an official of the imperial court, which yamen are you from? Why ...... at night," an old man shouted, shaking off the man who had grabbed his arm.

Huangfu took two steps forward and said with a smile: "Luo Lao'er, open your dog's eyes wide and see who this is?" ”

"I don't know you! I am an official of the Imperial Historical Observatory, except for ......" Luo Zheng suddenly shut up, he stood relatively close, recognized the person in the shadows, and hurriedly knelt down, "Weichen is frightened, I don't know Your Majesty...... Your Majesty has arrived at ......"

Huangfu Jie sneered, "Luo Lao'er, you have been dismissed from office, and you are still a 'micro-minister'?" ”

"The grass people knock to see Your Majesty." Luo Zheng kowtowed respectfully.

Huangfu was about to speak, but was pushed away, and the emperor himself stepped forward and threw a stack of papers on the ground, "This is what you wrote?" ”

Lou Ji finally saw the emperor's general appearance, and could only glance at it quickly.

The emperor is in his thirties, of medium stature, his appearance is not special, his expression is more serious, he also wears narrow-sleeved civilian clothes, and a knife hanging from his waist, which is estimated to be a real knife.

Luo Zheng, who was kneeling on the ground, trembled with his hands, picked up the paper, looked at it by the light for a while, looked up and said in confusion: "It is indeed Weichen...... The handwriting of the grass people, this is ...... This is a recital written by the grass people last year, so he was convicted and was idle at home......"

"You said I was not sympathetic to the people, and I want to make it clear to you tonight." Although the emperor's tone was calm, he did not call himself "I", and his heart was obviously angry.

"Huh?" Luo Zheng was confused, and the people around him were also confused, but no one dared to ask.

"Let me ask you, what is the household registration of this dynasty? How much money and food do you receive each year? How many of them are in the army? How many people serve? How much money and food are consumed? ”

"The grass people don't know, this kind of thing should be asked to the household department ......"

"Phew, since you don't know, why do you dare to say that I have built palaces and conquered excessively?"

"The grass people thought ...... Generally speaking...... There is a lesson from ancient history, the construction of palaces, the transfer of troops and conscriptions, these things will always occupy a lot of people's power, and the people's power is limited, and since it is used for official affairs, it is natural that there is no time to farm land and raise silkworms......"

"As the old story goes, when you read ancient books, why don't you go to the people to visit?"

"The grass people are old, the grass people are ......"

"If you are old and don't die, you just won't open your eyes and see. I am a man with tens of millions of households and more than four times the population, so I can't use so much people's power to farm land and raise silkworms, what do the rest of the people do? Are they all idle? The reason why Qinzhou is in turmoil is not because there are too many idlers, as soon as there are demons to provoke, they will raise the flag to rebel. Why is Luoyang peaceful, because there are no idlers, the officials perform their duties, and the people have their own livelihoods......"

The emperor talked endlessly, it sounded very reasonable, and the building standing at the gate of the courtyard couldn't immediately come up with a rebuttal, Luo Zheng, who had already been frightened, could only kowtow vigorously, and even called "the grass people are ignorant" and "Your Majesty forgives the sin".

The emperor spoke for half an hour, and his tone finally softened, "Luo Zheng, as a Taiwan official, you can find fault with me, but you can't pick on it." There are lessons from ancient history - there are many things recorded in ancient history, and everything can be used in the Tiancheng Dynasty? You don't even know the number of households in the world, and you don't know how many people are engaged in agriculture and how many people are serving, so you dare to say that I am not considerate of the people's power? ”

Luo Zheng's forehead was bleeding, "The grass people were confused for a while, they violated Tianwei, the crime was extremely evil, and ten thousand deaths were not enough to redeem it, so I beg Your Majesty to surrender the crime." ”

"Well, it's good that you can know what to do. What will you say when you talk to someone about it in the future? ”

Although Luo Zheng was old, he was not really confused, and immediately said: "Since the dismissal last year, the grass people have been thinking about it behind closed doors and put an end to all contacts. Today, thanks to His Majesty's personal explanation, my heart suddenly cleared, in the future, I can only continue to think about it, know everything, if I don't know, I should see more, listen more, learn more, and dare not talk about it again. ”

"That's just like that, when I dreamed of you yesterday, you weren't like this, and you had to argue with me."

Everyone suddenly realized that the emperor came to Luo's house to ask for the guilt, just because he had a bad dream yesterday.

Luo Zheng breathed a sigh of relief, but still didn't dare to get up, "Yesterday, the servant at home accidentally broke an ancient bottle, and the grass people were angry for a while, thinking that they were angry and inadvertently entered the palace to disturb His Majesty's dreams. ”

"Hey, I'm going to believe that? But if you are willing to admit your mistake, I can't hold on to it, and I will spare you for the time being. The emperor strode out, stopped in front of the building, and added without looking back: "Spare him the death penalty, and beat him twenty times." ”

The guards were ready early, and stepped forward to torture with sticks, and Luo Zheng screamed and shouted "Long live".

The emperor stood at the gate of the courtyard, looked up at the sky, and suddenly sighed, "I know the people of the world, but the people of the world do not know me." The country is picturesque, and it should be carefully depicted, not to mention that years of war have already made the world ruined, if I don't clean it up again, when will the world decay and wither? ”

The Emperor looked sternly at the servants at the door, but he didn't want to get an answer from them, and then he looked up again, this time silent, and his expression was even more resolute and unyielding.

The foundation of the building was only three or five steps away from the emperor, and although the night was dark, he could still see clearly.

The stabbing seemed to be easy, and Lou Ji almost had to touch the knife.

But he is not a swordsman, and immediately dismissed this ridiculous nod, don't say that the knife is a wooden knife, even if it is a real knife, with his ability, he may not be able to kill with one blow, not to mention that his purpose has never been just to assassinate, or even just to escape the confinement of the body......

The beating of sticks stopped, the screams gradually stopped, and no one in the Locke family dared to come out to plead, and they all hid in the house, lest they get into trouble.

Huangfu stepped out and wiped the sweat on his face, "Half to death, the old man's bones are quite hard, but his attitude is good, and he is willing to admit his mistakes." ”

"Was it wrong for me to build Luoyang?"

Huangfu said with a smile: "This is not called construction, it is called restoration, the imperial capital of several dynasties in Luoyang, how prosperous was it at the beginning?" The Tiancheng Dynasty dominates the world, of course, if you want to restore the glory of the past, it can't be worse than the small country of the previous dynasty, right? What's more, someone in Luoyang will repair it sooner or later, and today's repair can save the cost of the next day. ”

The emperor's tone softened again, "That's a nice word, you can only be a courtier like this." ”

"It doesn't matter what the ministers are, as long as Your Majesty is happy, I will be happy."

The emperor snorted disdainfully, "The population of the world is tens of millions, and I only use two or three million, half of which is used to defend the border, and half is used to control rivers and build roads, which one is not for the sake of more people?" Just leave a few people to build the palace, and they are not happy. ”

"The people are happy, but a few old fools stick to the classics and don't understand Your Majesty's hard work." The Emperor tried to defuse the Emperor's anger.

This time he didn't make it.

The Emperor drew his sword from its sheath—it was a real sword—and turned and walked toward the courtyard, his teeth rattling, "He doesn't understand my painstaking heart, but I want to see if his heart is bitter or salty." ”