After Li Yilong left, Emperor Ren did not embarrass the courtiers kneeling on the ground too much.

"Let's discuss it here, I'll go to the imperial study and wait for your news." After saying this, Emperor Ren dragged his tired body and walked out of the hall.

Xiao Zheng looked at Emperor Ren's rickety back, quickly got up and held his arm, and left everyone's sight step by step.

When they arrived at the imperial study, Gonggong Fu drove away the eunuchs and palace maids who were waiting, and the father and son sat down relatively closely, and Emperor Ren also adjusted his mentality and showed a mysterious smile.

"Zheng'er, are you angry?"

Xiao Zheng looked at the smile in his eyes, a little puzzled, "Isn't my father angry?" ”

"Hehe~ Of course I'm angry, but I can't let myself be angry. Because there is a high probability that people will make mistakes when they are angry, they can make mistakes, but I can't. So I can't be angry! ”

Emperor Ren's words were very straightforward, and Xiao Zheng also understood what he meant. He nodded, but still had a hard time accepting it.

"Father, an official of a state, is so corrupt and perverts the law, his sons still can't laugh!"

Emperor Ren looked at Xiao Zheng's lost expression and knew that he thought too much about the previous court.

He slowly walked out of the imperial case, looked at the bright and sunny sky outside the imperial study, and stood with his hands in his hands.

"Rightly, what you're missing right now is an understanding of reality. Everyone has good wishes, but you have to understand the truth that 'when the water is clear, there are no fish'. ”

He turned to look at Xiao Zheng, who was sitting in a daze on the chair, "Do you know why they are afraid of me?" Do you know why they didn't dare to tell when my father was angry just now? ”

Xiao Zheng was also very puzzled, it was obvious that they were not the ones who made the mistake now, but now that Emperor Ren was going to punish them, they still didn't dare to complain, and they also asked for a confession, which he didn't expect.

"Hehe~ Because they are all unclean, and some people are even dirtier than those beasts in Liangzhou! So when I was angry, they felt the same way, and they didn't dare to refute it in the slightest. If any of them dare to refute it, I will take off his official hat first, and then raid his home, and he will not be able to shout wronged, believe it or not! ”

As a Ming monarch who had been on the throne for nearly forty years, Emperor Ren obviously knew his courtiers very well.

"But now I still won't punish them, do you know why?" Emperor Ren was testing him, and he was also telling him the way of the emperor.

Seeing that Xiao Zheng shook his head, Emperor Ren continued the topic just now.

"Because the court needs them to help me govern. No matter how wise I am, I can't handle everything, and only by relying on them can I manage the country of Kyushu in an orderly manner. And why would they help me deal with national affairs? It is because I can give them fame, give them profit, and satisfy the selfish and ugly desires of their human nature. ”

Emperor Ren walked back to Xiao Zheng's side and patted him on the shoulder.

"Only when they are satisfied, will they sink their hearts and contribute to the court!"

Xiao Zheng raised his head and looked at Emperor Ren, "Then what if they are not satisfied?" ”

Emperor Ren now liked Xiao Zheng's question.

"Hehe~ It depends on the emperor's control over the court. The so-called Ming Jun can always remind these people to stop in time, he can stretch out his hand within the scope of my permission, but once he exceeds the boundary set in my heart, then he must pay the price of blood! ”

Emperor Ren's expression gradually became serious again.

"This boundary is the horizontal line between life and death, above the horizontal line is pronounced 'life', and below the horizontal line is pronounced 'death'."

Emperor Ren seriously told Xiao Zheng about the foundation of Jiangshan Sheji.

"You have to remember that the foundation of Kyushu is those ordinary people who work hard and complain. Without them, the kingdom can no longer be called a country, and the home can no longer be called a home. What they need is simple, enough to eat, warm clothes, and the occasional hope to see, and that's enough. ”

As he spoke, Emperor Ren suddenly pointed to the bookshelf in the imperial study, "And these books are the hope that they can become human beings." So the other boundary of my life is the imperial examination. Anyone who dares to do anything in the imperial examination will be exterminated by me, because this is the last dignity I left to the people. It is precisely because of this decent existence that they will go to Beijing so desperately to take the exam, wanting to get ahead and glorify their ancestors! ”

After a pause, Emperor Ren also sighed helplessly, "Of course, as long as it is artificially selected, there will be things that bend the law for personal gain." But this is a hope after all, and what I can do is to magnify this hope infinitely, and then preach it to them, so that they know that the court has been thinking about them, and as long as they work hard enough, they can ascend to the sky in one step. ”

"At the same time, I am also reminding these officials of the current dynasty that there will be someone who can replace them at any time, and this fresh blood is their talisman."

Emperor Ren took the tea that Xiao Fu handed him and took a sip gently.

"Hehe~ They all say that the book business is angry, and only when these scholars are still angry, let them go down and do some practical things. When the power in their hands is held for a long time, that spirit will be exhausted, and only the ugliness of human nature will be exposed. Then there will be the next group of people to take their place. ”

Xiao Zheng seemed to understand what Emperor Ren meant, "This is a process of changing from a good person to a bad person, and then replacing a bad person with a good person, and repeating the cycle." ”

Emperor Ren was very satisfied with Xiao Zheng's comprehension, "Zheng'er is right, there is no obvious boundary between good people and bad people, the ugliness of human nature is the same, if you can always stay sober and remind yourself not to go too far, you are a 'good person'; if you are swayed by your thoughts by desire and can't control yourself, then you are a 'bad person'!" ”

"Zheng'er, you look at the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty, those who can appear in front of me from time to time have all achieved positive results, and they have long understood when to do something. And those who lost their officials or their lives early did not understand this truth. ”

Then Emperor Ren took out a piece of music from the imperial case and handed it to Xiao Zheng, "Look at this music piece, what do you think of?" ”

Xiao Zheng stood up and took the piece handed to him by Emperor Ren, which was a request from Jia Wensong, the pastor of Liangzhou, which described the disaster situation in Liangzhou and the hard work of county officials.

"How could he be so shameless?" Xiao Zheng still couldn't do it without getting angry in his heart.

"Hehe~" Emperor Ren has now completely eliminated his anger "This is a compulsory course for every feudal official, and now that he is exposed, you know his shamelessness, what if it is not exposed?" Do you want to give him credit? You're a classic hindsight. Do you remember what Lin Xiangguo said here that day? ”

Xiao Zheng tried hard to recall Lin Xiangguo's sophistication in handling Jia Wensong's request a few days ago, if he had not vigorously opposed the continued allocation of money and grain at that time, and proposed to investigate and secretly visit, how could there be today's criminal department to crack the corruption case in Liangzhou.

"It seems that Lin Xiang is still old~"

"Haha~" Emperor Ren laughed and patted Xiao Zheng's shoulder, "Zheng'er, you still have to listen and watch more!" Do you really think that others can't think of it? Do you think that the father emperor is casually asking Lin Qian's opinion? ”

Looking at Xiao Zheng's eyes full of questions, Emperor Ren gave the answer without letting him think too much.

"That's because Lin Qian and Jia Wensong have always been on good terms, and it is really clever to use the fight reasonably and let him say what he wants to say for you. I can't show distrust of the courtiers, but my heart is full of questions, what should I do? At this time, his opponent is the best litmus test. ”

Speaking of these, Emperor Ren himself is also full of self-satisfaction, and all this is under his control.

"Do you know why Lin Qian recommended Lu Qu to be the minister of the Qin mission just now, and go to Liangzhou first? Do you know why I agreed without the slightest hesitation? Do you know why I still let them discuss the replacement candidates in the Qianyuan Palace? ”

"Lu Qu is Lin Qian's person, he will definitely find out the matter, at least there will be no big concealment. And the father asked them to discuss in the Qianyuan Palace, which was to buy time for Lu Qu to rush to Liangzhou, so that no one in the court would spread the information, so that Jia Wensong could prepare in advance. Xiao Zheng did not disappoint Emperor Ren, and his analysis was very thorough.

Emperor Ren nodded with satisfaction, "That's right, only in this way will we get as close to the truth of the matter as possible." ”

After saying this, Emperor Ren sighed deeply, "Alas~ Actually, these are not what I am worried about, the only thing I am disappointed about is the Shadow Division!" ”

Xiao Zheng also suddenly remembered, thinking about everything that happened in the Qianyuan Hall just now, Emperor Ren didn't look at Li Yilong, but just let him listen to the beginning and end of the matter, and no blame is the biggest blame!

"In the past two years, I haven't received any information, it seems that the Shadow Division has made a big mistake!"

Emperor Ren looked at the outside of the hall expressionlessly, "It's time for Li Yilong to sober up, years of calm have made him full of conceit about the Shadow Division, this incident is a wake-up call, I hope it can reawaken his fighting spirit and no longer disappoint me." ”

Xiao Zheng's impression of Li Yilong is not bad, he does not doubt Li Yilong's loyalty to the court at all, "Li Yilong's loyalty to the court is undoubted, and the ministers are still very optimistic about him, I hope it didn't hit him this time, and the ministers will go to the Shadow Division to see him in a while"

Emperor Ren did not doubt the loyalty of the Shadow Division, "Li Yilong is not so easy to be hit, otherwise I would not have given him the Shadow Division with confidence." It's good for you to go and see him, and give him some encouragement. ”

"Yes. By the way, the father and the emperor, the son wants to go to Liangzhou secretly to see what happened! ”

Emperor Ren looked at Xiao Zheng's eyes full of anticipation, thought for a while, and did not refuse, "Then you can go, I heard Xiao Fu say that your martial arts, you should be able to protect yourself, and you should pay more attention to safety." Don't forget to say goodbye to your mother before leaving the palace. ”

"Yes, the sons will pay attention, and I will go to the concubine to say goodbye later." Xiao Zheng was really afraid that Emperor Ren would not agree to his request, after all, he had just come back, and he was inevitably reluctant to let him go out and run around again.