Nourishing Heart Palace, in the East Warm Pavilion.

Seeing Qi Chunnian with this iconic cockscomb hairstyle again, Chongzhen was angry, how to look at it and feel unpleasant, and he couldn't wait to have an extra pair of scissors in his hand and cut him Kaka a few times until it was pleasing to the eye.

"Your Majesty, I don't have anything on my face, why are you looking at me like this?" Sitting on the soft chair, Qi Chunnian asked a little strangely.

"Bold!"

Zhu Youzhen was furious, slapped the back of the chair hard, pointed to Qi Chunnian's nose and said, "I want to ask you what Xujiazhuang wants to do?" The imperial army went to encircle and suppress the Liukou, but Xu Jiazhuang followed up to pick up the cheap, bewitched the officials and soldiers to fall, and plundered more than 500,000 people. ”

In the face of the emperor's thunderous anger, ordinary people were afraid that they were already sifting chaff and knelt down to beg for mercy.

Qi Chunnian said surgingly: "Xujiazhuang spent tens of millions of silver dollars to buy so many homeless people to work in the mines, what bad intentions can there be, of course, it is to dig more mines, if Xujiazhuang invests tens of millions of funds for military expansion, that is something worthy of His Majesty's worries, now it is just a small move in business by Xujiazhuang, why should Your Majesty make a fuss?" ”

"You-"

Zhu Youzhen was shocked by this straightforward and shameless answer, and after thinking about it carefully, there was no problem with logic, but he immediately threw this idea out of his mind, and said with a gloomy face: "You colluded to lure the imperial army and plunder and enslave more than 500,000 people and people, this is actually just a small action, how far do you want to be reckless, I need to make a fuss?!" ”

Chongzhen's words were endlessly cold, it can be said that he has already moved his murderous intentions, if Qi Chunnian says something that makes him dissatisfied, then don't want to walk out of this palace intact.

"To be exact, there are more than 637,000 people, of which about one-third are young and strong, and the rest are old, weak, women and children."

Qi Chunnian changed his relaxed sitting posture: "Xujiazhuang does not treat them as consumables slaves, the work in the mine is harder, but the income is definitely much higher than farming, and the drought and flood are conservative, long-term stability, and the ability to resist risks is much higher than farming, Xujiazhuang has given them a more promising career, and it has put an end to the possibility of them becoming rogues again, Your Majesty, Xujiazhuang pays for himself to solve such a big hidden danger for the imperial court, and he can't get half a thank you, but in exchange for such suspicion, Xujiazhuang regards His Majesty as an important partner, The cooperation between the two sides has brought huge benefits, but His Majesty's move has made Xu Jiazhuang feel quite chilled. ”

"Shut up, don't be strong and quibble, and beat a rake!"

Zhu Youzhen's nose was almost crooked, and he glared at Qi Chunnian fiercely and said: "I will give you a month, you must repatriate all the people of Taihang Mountain, and you must not collude with the imperial generals in private in the future, if you ignore it, you will bear the consequences!" ”

Chongzhen said ruthlessly and issued an ultimatum, although this kind of tough ultimatum is not based on strength, but for the benefit of the Ming Dynasty, the face of the imperial power, no matter what, he cannot be weak and compromised.

Shake one’s head.

Qi Chunnian shook his head again and again, and said: "This is impossible, first, Xu Jiazhuang spent more than 10 million silver dollars to recruit these displaced people, will anyone return this money?" Second, more than 600,000 people have all been repatriated, and there is no money and food to resettle them, and they will only become rogues who are destroying everywhere again. Your Majesty, this matter is irretrievable, it is better to turn a blind eye and leave it behind. ”

He began to persuade the emperor to lie down again.

"Come on, drag this bold and rebellious man down and kill him with a rod!"

Zhu Youzhen stood up, his eyes red, and said something that was astonishing.

Immediately, several tall and burly Jin Wuwei walked in, and they were about to take down Qi Chunnian.

Angry.

Chongzhen is really angry, Qi Chunnian's life is in danger, if he quickly surrenders and begs for mercy now, and no longer says anything to stimulate the emperor, maybe there is still a glimmer of life.

"Your Majesty, Qi's little life is not worth mentioning, and he can be killed at any time, but please also ask Your Majesty to think about the gains and losses, is it worth it to teach Qi a lesson, this little person, to ruin the relationship with Xujiazhuang?"

Qi Chunnian still looks like a dead pig who is not afraid of boiling water, and he is not afraid at all.

Zhu Youzhen quickly calmed down and fell into a tangled hesitation.

Completely turned his face with Xu Jiazhuang and canceled all cooperation, and then he was an enemy who did not share the sky, can he bear the price brought by this?

The tax of nearly 2 million dollars of grain every year is gone.

Huangdian sells Xujiazhuang commercial goods, and the annual profit of millions of taels is gone.

There is also a collaboration on the Royal Farm Project.

The palace's dependence on Xujiazhuang in terms of medical care.

and the need for borrowing - Xu Jiazhuang is his big creditor.

And so on and so forth.

Just because of a momentary mood, there was a complete decoupling from Xujiazhuang, who would lose more?

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhen's face changed uncertainly, both a little regretful and a little annoyed, but it was impossible for him to open his mouth to retract what he had just said, otherwise where would he put the majesty of the emperor?

"Stop! Your Majesty is just talking angrily, how can he really do something to Representative Qi? ”

Fortunately, Fang Yizhi next to him spoke in time, helped find a step, and stopped the actions of several Jin Wuwei, Jin Wuwei looked at each other, and saw the emperor's tangled and depressed look, so he listened to Fang Yizhi's advice and temporarily retreated.

And after experiencing this thrilling Qi Chunnian, he realized that he was indeed a little embarrassed, and hurt the emperor's face, so he lowered his posture, walked in front of Chongzhen, and apologized: "Your Majesty, Qi has just lost his words, there is indeed something inappropriate and offensive, the crime is unforgivable, fortunately, Your Majesty is lenient, and you have picked up a small life, Qi has thanked Your Majesty!" ”

Facing this step, Zhu Youzhen's face finally eased and looked better, and he no longer dwelled on the episode just now.

It's just that the core contradiction between the two sides has not been resolved, and there is little room for compromise on both sides, just because of the entanglement of interests, Chongzhen doesn't dare to imagine the consequences of a complete fallout.

I sat down again and drank tea, and waited for the awkward atmosphere to basically dissipate.

Before Zhu Youzhen moved his mouth and was about to speak.

Qi Chunnian said in a similar tone: "Your Majesty, in fact, there is no contradiction and conflict between Xujiazhuang and Your Majesty, but there is a lot of room for cooperation, the biggest obstacle to cooperation, in fact, is those civil officials who smear and spread rumors about Xujiazhuang every day, they can't see us getting close to Your Majesty, they just want to find ways to separate our intimate relationship, this contradiction is also made by those civil officials, they themselves are not capable of exterminating the Liukou, nor can they manage the states and counties well, to avoid the generation of Liukou, but continue to create problems, The people who forced them to kill officials and rebelled, poked out a huge basket and threw it to Your Majesty, you have a headache, and there is corruption and increased taxes, but you can't pay much food......"

"It can be said that all the problems are caused by the civil officials, and if they have the ability to let the people live and work in peace and contentment, there will be no outcasts; If they had the ability to make the Ming military strong, it would not have caused Jiannu to sit big and lose the entire Liaodong; If they are loyal and reliable, have the ability to assist His Majesty, and handle all the things that His Majesty has explained, the world will not become so rotten and bad...... But as a result, they couldn't do anything, and they threw the blame on His Majesty. ”

"At this time, Xujiazhuang appeared, whether Your Majesty likes Xujiazhuang or not, at least after we appeared, Your Majesty's money and food began to increase, and the money in your hands became richer, but this violated the taboo of civil officials and embarrassed them; Now Xujiazhuang has solved the problem of rogue through economic means, which can never be solved by civil officials, which is not recognized at all, but is attacked by civil officials, and is jealous and hated by them, because the existence of Xujiazhuang shows their incompetence and redundancy, so they want to slander, suppress, make His Majesty suspect and suspect Xujiazhuang, and destroy the relationship between us. ”

"It can be seen that the source of the problem has always been civil officials, their ability to do things is zero, and their ability to do bad things is full of points, they are jealous of meritocracy and have a dark heart, which is the biggest obstacle to a good relationship between Xu Jiazhuang and His Majesty! Even if Xu Jiazhuang and the imperial family had established close cooperation in ten areas, the civil officials would have been able to come up with hundred, thousand, or ten thousand reasons and methods to sabotage this relationship and deepen the suspicion and anxiety in His Majesty's heart. ”

"I think the best solution is to legislate as soon as possible! Launched the "Friendship Law for Xujiazhuang", in the future, if any civil official dares to slander and smear Xujiazhuang, one will kill one, and ten will kill ten! As long as the civil officials of these bad things are killed, and the killing is afraid, His Majesty will not be able to hear those voices that disrupt the mood in the future, just like the great victory of Taihang Mountain this time, it is obviously a happy event worthy of joy, and Shengsheng was made like this by the civil officials, this is not the fault of the civil officials or whose fault is it? ”

"Your Majesty, don't be a civil official, don't be suspicious and suspicious of Xujiazhuang, the purpose of Xujiazhuang is just to make good money, just want to live a better life, because since ancient times, it is difficult to have both wealth and wealth, although Your Majesty is rich in the world, how much silver is in the inner money? Our owner is pursuing wealth rather than expensive, and with the strength of Xujiazhuang, is it difficult to establish a new dynasty? Is it difficult to swallow up the Ming Dynasty? It's not difficult, it's really not difficult at all, but it's meaningless, any dynasty that only serves a family and a surname, can't get out of the three-hundred-year historical cycle law, this kind of change of dynasty is meaningless, but the people are always in suffering, so the owner wants to build a society where everyone is rich and noble, and at the same time support the Ming Dynasty without conflict, so as to avoid too much sacrifice and harm to the people in the end of the dynasty. ”

"Your Majesty, these words are all said by the owner of the village himself, they are all sincere, but the wealth pursued by Xujiazhuang, the wealth that will bear reasonable obligations, although there is no damage to the imperial power, but it will inevitably hurt the interests of the civil officials and gentry, this is the reason why they frantically attack and slander Xujiazhuang, and I also hope that Your Majesty will distinguish between loyalty and treachery, and do not push potential allies to the opposite position, that is really the wish of the civil officials, and spoil the good situation in front of them."

"Devouring the Starry Sky: Signing in to Become a God"

After listening to Qi Chunnian's heart-wrenching words.

Chongzhen Zhu Youzhen's eyes narrowed slightly, and he fell into a state of contemplation.

In fact, Chongzhen's words in the first half of Qi Chun were listened to as bullshit, and the logic was too touching, just because the civil officials pointed out the problem, as long as the civil officials were killed, the problem would not exist, this is bullshit bastard logic.

As for what Qi Chun said in the second half of the year, the mysterious owner of Xu Jiazhuang, who only pursues the concept of wealth and not noble, has successfully attracted Chongzhen's attention, and it seems to make sense to listen carefully, and with the strength of Xu Jiazhuang, it is indeed not too difficult to take away his Daming country - although Zhu Youzhen is difficult to accept, but where is the reality.

And obviously has this kind of strength, Xu Jiazhuang only established more than 100 manors in Yangzhou, and did not expand vigorously for the time being, nor did he establish a ruling system of emperors and generals, which shows that Xu Jiazhuang may really not be interested in power in his pursuit.

But...... Who can say for sure this kind of thing, and who can guarantee it? The threat of Xu Jiazhuang lies not in its motives, but in its strength, as long as that strong strength is there, Zhu Youzhen will always feel uncomfortable.

Unless Xu Jiazhuang disarms himself and becomes a fat pig with only fat and no claws, then he can rest assured.

This is obviously not possible.

Noncommittal.

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen only nodded in agreement with everything Qi Chunnian said, and he was noncommittal in his heart, it was difficult for him to eliminate his fear of Xu Jiazhuang, and it was impossible for him to stay away from civil officials - even if Qi Chunnian's description was right, civil officials were incompetent and would only do bad things.

But after this exchange.

In fact, the effect is also there.

After repeated weighing, as well as Fang Yizhi's persuasion to let him endure for a few more years, Chongzhen finally made a pragmatic decision: no longer pursue the matter of Xu Jiazhuang luring the imperial army and buying the rogue population, anyway, most of the more than 600,000 people do belong to the rogues, and they can't let the tiger return to the mountain, it is better to let them mine and dig to death.

In addition, Yang, Wang, and Deng, the three chief soldiers of the imperial court who had an affair with Xujiazhuang, and Lu Xiangsheng, the prefect of the daimyo prefecture, will not be investigated and punished by the imperial court.

But don't think about the reward!

No matter how much credit they make, just because they have cooperated with Xu Jiazhuang, so don't want to get any rewards, and enter into a separate book that will never be reused or promoted, in order to warn those who come after them not to follow suit.