When Li Xi was scaring Yanxin in Hengzhou, Xiao Sheng was also in the sea of Guleitou and was fighting with the Dutch fleet, this day was March 18, and neither of them felt that this day had any special significance.

Li Shi was waiting for Yanxin to break his courage and escape, but Xiao Sheng was jumping for the old Shangguan Shi Shibi to flee without a fight again, and he was powerless to chase it. Although the Dutch fleet was defeated, its own fleet was also scarred. Except for the two Sea Shark class, the other ships were damaged to varying degrees, and two Sea Carp class ships were seriously damaged, and nearly 100 naval officers and sailors were killed or wounded, and they urgently needed to be repaired.

Xiao Sheng didn't want to chase it, there was no need, he defeated the Dutch, and this sea was the world of the Anglo-Chinese Navy. Unless Shi Shibiao hooked up with other foreigners, he would no longer dare to gather a large fleet to go to sea to fight. If you can't go to sea, there's no point in fighting.

After cleaning up the Dutch, Xiao Sheng led his division back to South Australia, and then he was entangled in the of how to distribute the bounty fairly and justly. It wasn't until the next day, March 19, that Xiao Sheng came back to his senses, March 18...... Isn't it Kang Mazi's birth, the Qing court's longevity?

On the Hengzhou side, the Yanxin army was sent away, and Li Xi remembered this incident. Upon receiving the good news of Xiao Sheng's defeat of the Dutch fleet at Gulei, Li Shi was very happy and approved Xiao Sheng's new plan to build a sea carp-class warship with hard sails in Guangdong and Fujian, so as to expand his sea power quickly and cheaply. While drawing circles, I thought to myself, this year's Halloween, Kang Mazi must be sitting on pins and needles, and it is extremely uncomfortable.

Li Shi's prediction was half accurate, half disappointed.

Although this year's Wanshou Festival is not as lively as Kangxi's 52nd year and the celebration of his 60th birthday, it is not much worse than that time, far better than the ordinary Wanshou Festival. All the way from the Forbidden City to the Changchun Garden, the colorful silk not only fills the shed, but also flutters on the trees on both sides of the road, and the eyes of the people in the capital are twitching, how much silver does it cost.

At the Wanshou Festival, Kangxi's face was red and smiling, and he was even more energetic than when he was 60th birthday. In the evening, when someone was summoned to see His Majesty alone, his face had turned cloudy.

"Li Xu, you are now arrogant, not only have you made up for the arrears, but this time for the Birthday Festival, you have also presented so many colorful silks to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, so that I have a particularly beautiful birthday this birthday, I ...... How can I reward you? ”

Kangxi's tone of words was leisurely, and Li Xu didn't hear it much, but he felt that his master was very happy and was joking with himself.

"The master is concerned about state affairs, and the slave can only help the master share his worries in these small things. Don't dare to be shy and ask for rewards from the master. ”

Li Xu babbled boldly, then moved the corners of his mouth, and when Kangxi chuckled, he also laughed out loud.

"Don't dare!? Li Xu, do you still have skin when you touch your face? You should have left your face in Suzhou and locked it in the big iron box of Jiangnan Ticket House, right? ”

Kangxi still spoke in a light tone, but his words shocked Li Xu's heartstrings, he was kneeling, and he was almost paralyzed to the ground, lying straight on the ground.

It's over, my deal with Li Shi, the emperor knows everything!

Li Xu exclaimed in his heart, and in an instant, his back was soaked through his clothes with cold sweat.

No...... The emperor should have known about it a long time ago, and my deal with Li Shi was not just for selfishness.

His mind was crumbling, and the thought held his mind back.

Li Xu's Suzhou weaving is now rich. Last year, he paid off more than 100,000 taels of silver owed to the household department, and the amount left in his hands was even more than that.

He has been cooperating with Li Shi for several years, relying on the iron loom sold by Li Shi, not only the output of the government-run weaving workshop under his jurisdiction is twice as high as before, but also several private workshops have been built. Relying on the identity of the integration of government and business, it has squeezed through many large weaving mills in the south of the Yangtze River, occupied the Jiangnan market, and transported a large amount of silk to Guangdong. Even after Li Shi's rebellion, this business has not been broken.

Since Li Shi borrowed the technical threshold of the iron loom and threatened him fiercely, he has never competed with Li Shi, and honestly acted as Li Shi's business partner. He also fooled Zhang Boxing, the governor of Liangjiang, from the official face, and helped Li Shi rebuild the ticket house in Suzhou under his feet. depositing more than 100,000 taels of his own generous silver into the Jiangnan ticket house is not only for the safety of the silver, but also to express to Li Shi that our business will be long-lasting.

Kangxi is naturally very clear about this movement, not only Zhang Boxing has made a small report, but even the prefect of Suzhou, who Li Xu regards as a dog, most of them have secretly communicated with Kangxi through their own connections, so as not to liquidate themselves in the future and their own family will also be implicated. After all, this is dealing with a thief, and if it is light, it is an enemy, and if it is serious, it is a rebellion.

But Kangxi has been turning a blind eye to this, why?

Because Li Xu has been serving the internal affairs office more and more money in the past few years, and he has also contracted a lot of miscellaneous things that Kangxi has a headache for. For example, the two Huai floods, the drought in Shanxi, and even the replacement of the flag camp with tap muskets, Li Xu has achieved great results. This silver was earned by Li Xu from Li Xian, which is really ridiculous to say. But as the king of a country, even if some things are ridiculous, for the sake of national stability and peace, you have to pinch your nose and admit it.

Before Kangxi cleaned up the "Cantonese Party" in the court, he didn't mention half a word about Li Xu's collusion with the "anti-thief", but today Kangxi suddenly mentioned this matter, which made Li Xu, who came back to his senses, very puzzled, what happened to the master?

"That's it, thinking that you are also dedicated to the country, I won't delve into it. Just remember, don't do things like that! If someone uses this article to attack, I can't protect you too tightly! ”

Seeing Li Xu's devastated appearance, Kangxi's face softened, but his mouth was sternly admonished.

Out of the gate of Changchun Garden, Li Xu seemed to crawl out of hell, eager to kneel on the ground, kiss the soil under his feet, and had a thought in his heart, he had to go back to Suzhou to wipe his buttocks, and it was best to pull the Cao family in. When something really happens, at least you can't let your family top the tank.

"Zhao Chang, you say...... After I return to heaven, what will the world say about me!? ”

In the study, Kangxi looked at the thick folds on the bookcase, and was silent for a long time, when he suddenly said this, and scared the guard Zhao Chang who was standing in the corner.

"The Emperor...... The emperor's longevity and Tianqi, why do you say this!? ”

Kangxi smiled, shook his head and smiled bitterly.

"Shou and Tianqi? Then it's not the emperor, it's a monster. ”

This look, such a tone, made Zhao Chang subconsciously think of the previous paragraph, Kangxi frequently summoned his children, and the concubines who had children also added more rewards, and also cared about literary matters like "Kangxi Dictionary", but he didn't pay much attention to the southern military.

Did the emperor feel that he didn't have much time to talk about and started to take care of the aftermath?

This terrible thought flashed through Zhao Chang's mind, and he desperately shook it off. No, the master he is familiar with, wise and powerful, majestic in the world, will never admit defeat, even if it is God, the master will not bow his head, and once smiled and said that he would live for another five hundred years.

Zhao Chang was thinking nonsense, Kangxi sighed deeply, the study was silent, and his voice echoed, as if coming from the netherworld.

"I ...... I once had a dream that the heavens were spitting at me, but ......"

Kangxi confided in his heart, but he still avoided the details that frightened him.

"Since then, I've been wondering what kind of assessment I'm going to make in the end. In my life, I only want to do three things, the family is peaceful, the country is peaceful, and my Qing Dynasty is extended. Now it seems that the last two are crumbling, and I am old, and I don't have time to do it thoroughly. And the first one, I can't give up ......"

It was not a good thing to listen to the king's heart, but Zhao Chang didn't have the courage to stop Kangxi, so he had to kneel on the ground, curled up all over, desperately suppressing the urge to shout.

"For the sake of this first one, I can't give up. How can there be a home without a country? The Qing Dynasty is shaky, how can I be at peace if I love Xinjue Luo? The sons have to be lively, it's me who has failed to do my duty, and I can't give up! ”

Kangxi said to himself, Zhao Chang thought to himself, the brothers have really been in a mess recently.

Before the Wanshou Festival, there was news from Nanban, saying that Sanjiang Investment would repay the capital of three years ago, and he was contacting the princes and ministers of Beijing to find someone to get it. Because of this, there was chaos among the brothers. The eldest brother and the third elder brother accused the three elder brothers of **ten actually investing money, and everyone generally wondered if there was a fourth elder brother behind this matter. The eighth elder brother justified that Li Shi was not a thief in three years, and now, although Li Shi has become a thief, whose disciples have also become Li Shi's subordinates.

Everyone knows that the eighth elder brother is talking about the fourth elder brother, and several of his disciples are in the hands of Li Xian. Monk Jia Lingyin is now the chief priest of Catholicism set up by Li Shi, and often makes public appearances in Guangzhou. Although Hu Qiheng is Nian Qianyao's staff, he is also a person of Yinzhen, and now he has become the Hunan military preparation road of Nanban. There is also that Li Wei, whose whereabouts are unknown, and most of them are also working for Li Wei in secret.

But when these words came out, the first one to get angry was Kangxi, and he told the eighth elder brother to get out of here on the spot. Only then did everyone wake up, isn't this even more sarcastic about the emperor? A large number of civil and military officials of the Qing court switched to Li Shi, even including high-ranking officials in the court like Tang Youzeng.

"I don't think it's the Southern Barbarians who are in turmoil, it's the people on my side who are in turmoil!"

At that time, Kangxi roared like this, it sounded angry, and he didn't have anything to do with the eighth elder brother, everyone didn't think about it deeply, they were just depressed. Because judging from the news gathered from all sides, the rebellion in the hearts of the people in the Nanban is not as powerful as originally imagined, with the spread of Li Shixiaojin Mingchi's speech, now the situation in the Nanban has been calm, and there is no chance to start from the people's hearts.

"I asked Kong Shangren to go to Nanban in order to appease, so didn't Li Xian keep saying that it was for the well-being of all the people? I promise him a prince! Allow him to live happily in Guangdong, give him the iron scroll Danshu, and give him a gold medal for avoiding death, is this enough? How can he give me back a face, so that the face of the Great Qing Kingdom can be preserved until I die......"

"I'm old, life is rare for seventy years, I can live past seventy, after the first emperor, no emperor can match, it's enough. I will make peace with that Li Xian, let me live in peace, protect my family, protect the country, and leave a good death, he should always agree!? As for how the Qing Dynasty should be tossed after I return to heaven, it depends on whether the son I chose can bear this drudgery. ”

Kangxi continued to nag, Zhao Chang was already cold in his heart when he heard it, and he wanted to die on the corner of the wall, was this what he could hear? The master was afraid of Li Shi and wanted to make peace with Li Shi, just to leave a good reputation after his death and prevent the country from continuing to be chaotic while he was alive.

"But!"

Kangxi's tone suddenly became cold.

"I'm not begging him! I'm going to win the battle first! Just one battle! With the power of this victory, I am not begging him to talk about this matter again! ”

Zhao Chang's tears were like rain, dripping on the ground, and he shouted wildly in his heart, Master, please don't say it again!

As soon as the voice of his heart poured out, Kangxi was silent, and in the study, he only heard Zhao Chang's snorting and panting.

"Kneel down ......"

After a long time, Kangxi said lightly, Zhao Chang knocked his head, and when he left the study, he only felt that his head was dizzy, and his forehead was hot and moist, and he actually knocked his head......

(To be continued)