"What?" Lu Boqi's eyes widened suddenly, he had expected Liu Cheng's answer, but he didn't expect the other party to dare to say it so frankly. Many things in politics cannot be explained thoroughly, and there are only two possibilities like Liu Cheng: 1. He is a fool; 2. It has reached the point where the poor dagger can see it, there is no need to cover it up, and it can't be covered up anymore.

"Liu Cheng, you, you——! Are you going to do the opposite? Lu Boqi pointed at Liu Cheng's face, angry and frightened, he stayed in the same tent with a battle-hardened warrior, unarmed, and outside the tent were dozens of Tartar guards armed to the teeth, these guards didn't even understand Chinese, could it be that today next year would be his death day?

"Brother Birch!" Liu Cheng stretched out his hand and pressed Lu Boqi's finger pointing at the tip of his nose, and affectionately pulled him to the throne and sat down side by side: "Don't say it so ugly, what is the opposite, am I self-reliant as a king, or am I robbing officials and besieging the state and county?" You also watched me rise from a small capital, and you won't watch me end up in a bad situation! ”

Lu Boqi was a little unable to get off the stage by Liu Cheng's soft and hard kung fu, he shook off the other party's hand and stood up from the throne: "Liu Cheng, don't come to this set with me, privately transfer troops and horses, and have no superiors, isn't this a rebellion?" I won't talk about your agreements with the Dzungars, the Heshutes, and the messy Yidi, don't tell me that you are all here to make money, and that you have so many Mongol cavalry under your command, and your daughter-in-law of the Tartar princess. That is, I, if I changed a few people, I would have already gone to the court and taken you down! ”

"What Brother Birch said is, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been able to do such a big career today!" Faced with the truth, Liu Cheng's face showed no discoloration: "You are the most knowledgeable civil official I have ever met, so when Lord Hong sent me to relieve the siege of Ningxia, my first condition was for you to come to patrol Ningxia and coordinate the various armies." To be able to defeat Lin Dan Khan and relieve the siege of Ningxia has half of the credit for me and half of yours. ”

Lu Boqi arched his hand angrily: "Don't dare to be, it's all your credit for defeating Lin Dan Khan, I just became an empty official there, and you are the one who deploys troops and horses and commands the battle." ”

"That can't be said, don't we suffer less in the disharmony between civil and military? Birch, your willingness to hide and not reach out indiscriminately is the greatest benefit. Even if someone else is replaced, in terms of governing the army and fighting, who else can compare to me? ”

Lu Boqi snorted coldly, Liu Chengfang's words were exhaustive, which can be described as extremely arrogant, judging from his experience all the way, he was partial and confident. A person like this praised himself several times, and Lu Boqi couldn't help but feel a little fluttering in his heart, but he still looked disapprehensive on the surface: "Lord Liu, I can let you come nonsense, but if the imperial court transfers me away one day and someone else comes, you are still so messy?" ”

"Huh!" When Liu Cheng heard Lu Boqi say this, he suddenly laughed: "Brother Birch, you and I are grasshoppers on the same thread, how can you separate?" ”

"A grasshopper on a thread? This is strange, I am a civil official, you are a military general, how did you become a grasshopper on a line, maybe one day I will be transferred to Beijing, could it be that you will also go to Beijing? ”

"Brother Birch, Brother Birch, you think things are too simple!" Liu Cheng smiled: "You have also gained a lot of benefits from being with me in the past few years, right?" ”

"What do you mean by that?" Lu Boqi's eyebrows suddenly furrowed.

"It's not interesting!" Liu Cheng sneered: "Lord Lu, I'll give you a rough calculation, you have more than a thousand hectares of river beach land over there in Dunzhou; Mr. Zhao gave you two more Zhuangzi on this side of the Hetao, a total of 1,500 hectares of river beach land and 1,000 hectares of pasture; Po Lin Dan Khan, Bu Lost Rabbit Khan, and Heshute Khan negotiated peace with Heshute Khan, and gave you three hundred horses, one thousand cattle, five hundred camels, and miscellaneous animals; In addition, the salt pond, tea, jewelry, and fur are also shared with you, and the others are not counted. Speaking of this, Liu Cheng stretched out his right hand and opened his five fingers, and flipped it twice. Listening to Liu Cheng rummaging through his detailed accounts, Lu Boqi's face became more and more pale, and finally he held back a sentence: "Lord Liu, I don't take these benefits alone." ”

"Master Lu, you misunderstood what I meant!" Liu Cheng said with a smile: "Without you, I can't do any of these things, and it is only natural for you to take these benefits." But the problem is that if I think so, it doesn't mean that others think so, and it doesn't mean that the court bigwigs and the emperor also think so. Master Lu, you are a well-born person, and you were only in the state and county for the first half of your life, and you did not have a powerful year or a powerful teacher. If you are with me, even if there are some blind impeachments against you, the court will suppress those things for the sake of side affairs; But if you leave me, whether I am forced to rebel, or I cooperate happily with the next person, you will be of no use to the court, and if someone uses your family property as a reason to impeach you, what do you think will be the result? ”

Liu Cheng's words made Lu Boqi sweat. Thanks to the developed media in modern society, in the eyes of many people, the end of the Ming Dynasty was an era in which officials ruled corruption and officials made money became an unspoken rule, and there was no need to worry about being punished. Of course, it cannot be said that this is nonsense, but there is still a certain gap with the facts. It is true that the vast majority of officials in the late Ming Dynasty had some income more or less outside the rules of the law, but it does not mean that they could exploit the people without scruples to enrich themselves. After all, the Ming Dynasty has been founded for almost 300 years, and the huge ruling class has reached a delicate balance in the internal games and struggles among themselves, and it is unlikely that there will be a situation where someone eats alone. Generally speaking, each official according to his position, the power in his hands, and the background of the imperial examination, there is a roughly determined amount of fertilizer that he can get every year, and if it does not exceed this amount, everyone will generally regard it as legitimate. But if it exceeds this amount, unless there are very powerful contemporaries, masters and other superiors to protect you, it is easy to end up with no personal wealth. Lu Boqi naturally knows this, since he knew Liu Cheng, the speed of promotion is certainly breathtaking, and the speed of making a fortune is even more appalling, he is just a lifter, not even a fellow Jinshi, at the end of the chain of contempt in the Ming officialdom, if there is no relationship between Liu Cheng and him, sooner or later he will be poked to death by the pen tip of the old man. Thinking of this, Lu Boqi sat on the throne like a deflated ball. Liu Cheng patted him on the shoulder with a smile: "Brother Birch, don't pay too much attention to what I said just now, as long as you and I cooperate as well as in the past, I will guarantee you the prince Wandai and have prosperous fortune!" ”

"Lord Liu!" Lu Boqi raised his head, and asked with pleading in his words: "No, your fame and wealth are all given by the Ming Dynasty, think about Mao Wenlong's fate, don't do it!" ”

"Brother Birch——!" Liu Cheng was made angry and funny by Lu Boqi's appearance: "I am a dignified Ningxia general soldier, why do you want to rebel?" Besides, if Yuan Chonghuan didn't mess around, how could Mao Wenlong end up like that, you don't want to be my Yuan Chonghuan, right? ”

"No, no, no!" Lu Boqi's head shook like a rattle: "How can I be Yuan Chonghuan?" Hehe! ”

"That's it!" Liu Cheng hugged Lu Boqi's shoulders affectionately, and said in a low voice: "I went to Mobei this time and got a few blonde dancing girls, which are quite exotic, tomorrow night I will let the flag wave the flag and send two to the old brother's house, it is better to be happy alone than to be happy!" ”

"This, this isn't good!" Lu Boqi looked yearning and scared. Liu Cheng had a smile on his face that all men understood: "Mrs. Sister-in-law, is it not easy?" This is easy to say, Ahmat and I went to Saibei this time, and I also got a lot of benefits, so I asked him to pick out a few high-quality jewelry and give them to his sister-in-law. Women, with jewelry, naturally don't have the heart to mess with you, don't you say? ”

In this way, Lu Boqi walked out of the tent in a daze, and the determination and momentum when he came had already turned into inexplicable and frustration. But when he calmed down and thought about it carefully, he had nothing to lose, but instead earned two exotic singers and jewelry. Ahmat has also dealt with him, and knows that this merchant has a monopoly on the jewelry trade in the northwest, and even several large brands in the Beijing division often buy goods from him, and his hands are very large. As long as Liu Cheng opened his mouth, the things sent over were definitely worth a lot. Thinking of this, the frustration in Lu Boqi's heart gradually turned into excitement and expectation, he looked back at the obviously illegal golden tent, and scolded: "Fuck it, anyway, be a monk for a day and hit the clock for a day, I can still perfunctory this situation, who can change someone else?" Daddy and mother are not as good as the silver in their pockets! ”

After bidding farewell to Lu Boqi, Liu Cheng returned to the throne and sighed for a long time, his face was full of exhaustion, and he had no confidence at all.

"My lord, you left this guy perfunctory!" A voice came from behind the screen, where the toilet was supposed to be used by the owner.

"Well, Jiansheng, come out, don't keep hiding there, don't stink!"

"Adults mingle with these turbidities all day long, and they don't smell like it, so how dare they dislike it?" Zhao Wende walked out from behind the screen, with a narrow smile on his face, he bowed to Liu Cheng: "My lord, you have passed this level, but it is not a way to go on like this, the court is not without discerning people, I estimate that at most next year, someone will take the adult knife." ”

"Take me under the knife, I'm a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty, why do you want to cut me?"

"Your Excellency is naturally a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty!" Zhao Wende said with a smile: "But if there is a traitor by the side of the Son of Heaven, the loyal minister will be unlucky." ”

"Hehe, this is the master, even if there are a few traitors, they will not embarrass the border soldiers."

"yes, I don't think so!"

"So what do you say you should do?" Liu Cheng said with a smile.

"What did Emperor Wen (Zhu Di) do?" Zhao Wende said with a smile: "Whether it's the side of Qingjun or Jingnan, anyway, it's not far from Naturalization City to Jingshi." ”

Liu Cheng looked at Zhao Wende's face, and Zhao Wende kept a faint smile, and after about half a sound, Liu Cheng suddenly laughed and said: "Lu Boqi took me as a thief to watch out, but I didn't expect that the real thief was you." ”

"My lord said and laughed, there are traitors in the court, and we and other loyal ministers and righteous men are punished by everyone, how can we say that they are anti-thieves? Emperor Wen is a thief, who is enshrined in that temple? ”

Liu Cheng smiled, he didn't continue, he knew very well that this subordinate was originally Yang He's staff, Yang He sacrificed his life for the country, regardless of personal gains and losses, and tried to calm the chaos in the northwest by means of appeasement, but he didn't want to end up being convicted and imprisoned for violating the interests of some of the people in power in the court. Since then, Zhao Wende has become a big Ming black, a \ door \ heart \ thinking to make Liu Cheng stand on his own and dig the corner of the Ming Dynasty. Liu Cheng knew his thoughts, but he didn't care too much, the reason was very simple, in Liu Cheng's opinion, Daming was just a candle in the wind, whether he was against it or not, it would be over sooner or later, so why bother to get his hands dirty?

Zhao Wende looked at Liu Cheng's moody face, but his eyes became more and more intense, in the long history of ancient China, every time the dynasty ended, a group of unambitious scholars would emerge, they were like a group of crows with a keen sense of smell, looking for the smell of blood, making ominous croaking sounds, Zhao Wende is a typical example. Liu Cheng was a little uncomfortable stared at by his gaze, and asked, "Jiansheng, I just came back from Mobei, how is the situation now?" ”

"Just as I was about to tell my lordship, Madame's side had just defeated the pursuers of the Eastern Captives, and captured alive Haoge, the son of the captive chieftain Taiji, and had retreated into the side wall and joined General Lao Du."

"What? Defeated the pursuers of the Eastern Captives? Liu Cheng was stunned when he heard this, and asked: "Didn't I let my wife lead the two tribes of Tumut and Chahar to retreat to the west as soon as I heard the news of the Dongyu, how could I fight with the Dongyu?" ”

"My lord, the speed of the eastern captives is much faster than we thought, and it took seven or eight more days to scatter the grazing in all parts, so it was-"

"Damn it!" Liu Cheng scolded, he knew that Min Min already had a body before he left, and he thought that there would be no risk of fighting Hou Jin at all, but he didn't expect things to change: "Then there is nothing wrong with the lady, right?" “

"Your Excellency, please rest assured, Madame is all right!" Zhao Wende said with a smile: "The letter said that the lady personally supervised the armies, commanded Ruoding, and personally shot the Eastern Captives, and even the son of the captive chief was captured by our army, which is a great joy!" ”

"Damn, show me the letter!" Liu Chengyi snatched the letter from Zhao Wende's hand, read it carefully from beginning to end, closed his eyes and prayed, and said in a firm tone: "You immediately send someone to take Minmin here!" (To be continued.) )