There is no doubt that the emperor and Yang Zhitong belong to the ranks of the world's strongmen, and they have never been easy to get along with. The mutual use of value for money is the basis for cooperation between the two of them.

In this chaotic world of strife and chaos, Yang Zhi only wants to seek a strong guarantee for himself and his family to have a peaceful life, and he does not have the delusional spirit of being the king and the emperor and dominating the world. The emperor frankly admitted that he intended to support him to become a force of his own, not only clearly recognized his division of the Qin family's grain business, but also entrusted the entire Great Xia Customs to him and made a five-year contract. He's an emperor anyway, what do you want him to do?

Yang Zhi asked himself, the emperor's first two conditions were reasonable, and even the expected reserve price in his mind was not too harsh. He vaguely said that Jiangsu and Zhejiang were more advantageous, and originally he just wanted to explore the emperor's tone. I don't want the emperor to have a long-term vision, and he is very forward-looking, and he does have the style of "employing people without suspicion, and suspecting people without suspicion", so he responded with a refreshing mouthful. Nowadays, the overseas trade of Great Xia is basically a laissez-faire anarchy, and the emperor is equivalent to handing over the country of Shandong and Jiangsu and Zhejiang to Yang Zhi. You are the one who sets up the government office to collect taxes, and you are also the biggest bandit leader who controls the sea passages. The soldier is you, and the thief is also you, if you can't earn six million taels of silver a year, then do you still need to mix in this world? It's better to go back to your hometown and pick up the baby as soon as possible!

As for returning the customs to the Great Xia court after five years, it is not a problem at all. First, whether the emperor can have five years of life, it is not yet known, as the saying goes, which mountain sings which song, and then we will talk about it. Second, as the emperor said, it should be enough for Yang Zhi to toss for five years, and he didn't want to be the customs governor for the rest of his life.

The first two conditions are not difficult to accept, but what is the third clause that the emperor keeps saying "the most important"?

Yang Zhi was speculating and only listening to the emperor. With a gloomy face, he said: "I don't talk about this third article, in fact, it is not a condition, I can only say that I will give you a few pieces of advice." I have treated the Duke of Qin and his ministers, and I have been at peace for decades. From now on, I will treat you like the Duke of Qin, but you must always remember to be a minister of Great Xia! ”

"The world has passed down from generation to generation, and accompanying you is like accompanying a tiger. All said. Friendship with ordinary people, easy to share happiness and difficult to share hardship. Friendship with the Son of Heaven is the opposite, sharing hardships and hardships and sharing happiness. I am not a narrow-minded master, and if I don't have to do it, I will definitely not do that kind of cold thing! I can give you a stage to sway freely, but you have to understand that this stage is by no means boundless. I told you to always remember that you are Xia Chen, you just want to say ugly things ahead, don't force me! Don't force me to destroy you one day, even if I don't hesitate to pour out the power of the whole country in Great Xia! ”

The emperor's concern was completely understandable. Zhi was not frightened by his gloomy words, and said neither humbly nor arrogantly: "Emperor, you have read countless people for many years, but you still haven't been able to see through my thoughts. If I have two ambitions, the most time-saving and labor-saving way is to borrow chickens to lay eggs. Nowadays, as long as I choose a small country under the rule of a mediocre ruler to take refuge in it, it will not be difficult for me to seize power and stand on my own feet in time. Even as Xia Chen, I have a variety of options. Or you can enter the DPRK to participate in politics and try to get a high position, or you can join the army to be a commander and general, or you can pretend to be crazy and stupid and don't care about the world, but you don't have to live like I used to. In a peaceful and prosperous world, I can guarantee that I am definitely a good person who is harmless to humans and animals. If it weren't for the fact that I had to have the strength to back up to keep safe in troubled times, I wouldn't have to ask for trouble and rely on others. What does the emperor think? I think you're overthinking. ”

"I'm afraid not necessarily." The emperor simply discarded the wine cup and took it for himself. The jade wine pot poured a few big sips, turned around and sneered: "At your age, I am only the son of the former Jincheng Domain's envoy, how could I have thought that I would ascend to the throne of Great Xia?" Have you ever thought that you would spend your whole life to complete the hegemony of dominating the world? The times are different and the situation is different, the situation is different, the heart is different, people will change! ”

"As the saying goes: greed is like water, and if it is not contained, it will be monstrous. Lust is like fire, uncontained. Burn. If you were one who does not know how to advance or retreat, how will I allow you to stay to this day? The customs of Shandong and Jiangsu and Zhejiang should be left to your own discretion, how can I not know what the weight is? It is equivalent to handing over a gold mine to you, and you can mine it! I remember you said that water can carry a boat, and it can also capsize a boat. In the same way, what I have handed over to you now is a double-edged sword! I've been an emperor for decades, what's wrong with it? Do you know what is written on one of the screens in front of my bed? ”

The emperor said that what he was entangled in was nothing more than a sentence. That's the end of it: I want to use you, but I am very uncomfortable with you.

Yang Zhi is only in Chongyang. On that day, I drank once in the outer hall of the emperor's dormitory, but I did not go to the inner room of the emperor's daily life. He said: "I have already said that whether the customs governor does it or not, I am indeed in the middle of it." I beg the Emperor's attention. I have never had the pleasure of setting foot in the imperial dormitory, and the words on the screen before the dragon couch naturally have no chance to know. ”

The Emperor retorted bluntly: "If everyone has the ability to do the work of the Governor of Customs empty-handed, why should I ask you to do it? Why bother talking to you here? Today I am here to remind you that there is nothing else. Listen more attentively, it will only be good for you! You don't have to feel impatient. In order to remind myself every day, I must keep in mind the lessons of the previous dynasty's demise, and one of the screens in front of the bed reads: luxury and greed go hand in hand, desire and lust go hand in hand, corruption and corruption coexist, and can live with adversity. With your talent, don't you need to explain more? I also send you these words of warning. ”

When Yang Zhi heard this, he didn't care about being disgusted for a while, and couldn't help but sigh secretly: There are few emperors who can always keep a clear mind and be prepared for danger in times of peace, so as to start and finish well. No wonder the Great Xia kingdom is getting stronger and stronger, no wonder the emperor is invincible!

The emperor said coldly: "I have given you five years, not only to use your talents to lend your hands to set up a customs agency for Great Xia to handle trade matters, but also to let you fill your wings, but it is not that there are no constraints on you. First, after leaving Beijing to take up his post in the future, no matter what the progress is, he must report to me on a monthly basis and must not conceal anything. Second, in order to exterminate pirates and ensure the smooth flow of waterways, or to rectify the order of officialdom and business circles in Shandong, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, troops cannot be easily transferred when it is not necessary, and the number of troops can only be limited to 5,000 at a time. In order to make things easier for you to do things normally, I have allowed you to set up a personal guard in each of the two places, but each of them must not exceed two hundred. And after five years, it must be handed over to the Great Xia Imperial Court and used as a customs official on the spot. Neither of these points has much value to talk about, but if there is a violation, I will be regarded as a conspiracy. ”

To put it bluntly, the emperor allowed Yang Zhi to transfer troops and use troops, but strictly forbade him to raise troops and support troops. Even if the troops are deployed, the number of people is strictly limited. A person who holds the royal gold medal and holds the power of life and death, and is so rich that he has a lot of money and is terrifying, if he has the opportunity to raise troops and support the army, it is inevitable that a pig will have a non-dividing thought. As long as this section is strictly controlled, even if Yang Zhi has great ability, the emperor thinks that he can't make any big waves. The Qin clan went from an ordinary merchant to a rich and rival country, and the reason why the emperor and the Duke of Qin had been in peace for decades was not because he decided that the Qin clan was vulnerable in front of the army of the Great Xia Tiger and Wolf? Even so, the emperor was still suspicious of the Qin family, not only was he unwilling to give the Qin family's children an upright official status, but also openly connived at Yang Zhi, taking the opportunity to divide and dismember the Qin family's property.

Xu Wenhan once said that the emperor's heart has always been very abnormal. All the joys of life in the minds of ordinary people, the poor fat old man in front of him may not have enjoyed it for a day. You have been living so tired for decades, can you live a long life? Deserve.

Yang Zhi knew that according to the emperor's wishful thinking, Qin's today would be his tomorrow. He really needed time and opportunity to fill his wings, and he admired and admired the scheming Qin Gong's methods of secretly hiding gold to control the economic lifeline of Great Xia and conceal his power in the market. If you don't have the ambition to be the king and the emperor, why make the emperor and yourself uncomfortable? The emperor claimed that there was no price to talk about, so it was better not to talk about it.

But there is one section of Yang Zhi secretly thinking to himself: listening to the emperor's tone, it seems that he does not know that he has raised an elite fleet of ships that can be worthy of a country's sailors off the coast of Shandong. Looking back carefully, even if the emperor smelled the wind, it was extremely rare to confirm it. The emperor's virtue is actually no different from the logic of the robbers, as long as he sees everything, he thinks that everything is his. Maybe one day, as soon as his old man's Chrysostom opens, the powerful fleet he has carefully built will be assigned to the Great Xia Sailors! In order to prevent this hand, I have to be more mindful now, and I must desperately deny it no matter what the circumstances. Whether it's a pirate or a "folk righteous man", as long as you have the surname Yang in your bones! If you want to clean up your old bottom and seek a future, you are afraid that the customs of the two places will lose their positions in the future?

How could the emperor have thought that Yang Zhi had countless thoughts in his mind at this moment? Seeing that he was silent for a long time, his face was cloudy, and his eyes were even more gloomy and asked, "What?" Do you think I don't like what I say? ”

"Huh? …… Oh no! Listen, listen! ”

"That's good." The Emperor let out a long breath: "This is the first important matter I have to discuss with you today. Actually, I'm not talking to you about anything else, just to negotiate a price that everyone can accept. The second important matter for you to discuss is what I should do with the crown prince and his henchmen after I am reinstated tomorrow. You're thoughtful and far-sighted, and I want to hear what you have to say. ”

What should be wasted, what should be caught, what should be closed, what should be killed, what else can be disposed of? After Yang Zhi came after answering the call, he chatted with the worried emperor for half a night, and at this time, the copper kettle was missing and engraved at the end of the hour. No matter how the emperor disposes of the crown prince and his henchmen, it is the number one earth-shattering case in Great Xia since the founding of the country, and it is bound to cause an earthquake under the government and the opposition. If you are not careful, there will undoubtedly be people who will fall to the ground because of this.

On the one hand, Yang Zhi asked himself how to deal with it, it was none of his business, and he didn't need to show how smart he was. On the other hand, he really couldn't spare time in his mind, and he hadn't figured out how to save Wei Su and Shenzhong's lives.

It was an exaggerated yawn and said perfunctorily: "Emperor, I dare to say something you don't like to hear, aren't you just because you underestimated the prince that you almost fell in his way this time?" What to do, I think you should wait until tomorrow to restore the throne safely! You said that you plan to show up at the end of the day, and now the time is not far away, and you will be busy tomorrow, why not sleep for a while, and raise your spirit? ”

The emperor lost his mind and said, "I am not sleepy. Gong Qin has reserved a room next door for you, so you can go and rest for a while before waiting for the summons. ”

Yang Zhi chatted with him so much that his saliva was almost dry, and he suddenly felt like he had been pardoned, and hurriedly got up and responded: "Okay! Then please forgive me for missing me! ”

Unexpectedly, before he reached the door, his ass was kicked coldly, only to hear the emperor scolding behind him: "You don't know how to kill a talent!" When you talk to me about business, you're full of energy! I have been talking to you for a long time, and I have woken you up several times, but you have not been moved at all. Do you have to call the child born by Changxiu to grandpa, are you willing to open your mouth to call me father? ”