Li Si's eyes were slightly condensed.

He pondered for a moment and chuckled, "The minister thinks that His Highness has considered it very well and dealt with it very decently. ”

"The relationship between the court and the Xiongnu was indeed mutual enmity in the past, but in terms of national interests, there was no real friend or foe, as the document sent by the court said, the relationship between the Xiongnu and the court was actually similar to the relationship between the princes in the past."

"You can be a friend, you can be an enemy."

"Everything has to be based on the interests of the country."

"As long as it is beneficial to Daqin, even if you let go of your prejudices and hatred, it is not unavoidable, and when the interests of the two sides conflict, it is inevitable that you will start fighting again, and there will never be absolute allies between countries, nor will there be absolute enemies."

"The relaxation between the imperial court and the Xiongnu can win a lot of room for maneuver for the imperial court."

"This move will indeed cause dissatisfaction among the people of the Northland, and it will also cause dissatisfaction among the soldiers of the Northern Plains Army, but on the whole, the benefits to the imperial court outweigh the disadvantages, as long as it is beneficial, it is profitable."

"As for His Highness's other thoughts."

"There are also merits."

"Whether it is the construction of a transit warehouse in Kanto to reduce the loss of money and grain on the road, or the return of the twelve gold people to the furnace for smelting, it can save a lot of money and grain for the imperial court."

"Back then, Shang Jun Ximu Lixin."

"What really makes people believe is that Shang Jun really gave Jin."

"The amount of money and food determines the degree of 'public trust', if the imperial court can fully fulfill the decrees announced, how can the people of the world not be convinced?"

"Therefore, His Highness starts with money and food."

"It's the perfect fit."

Regarding Li Si's answer, Ying Zheng was noncommittal.

He asked again, "Then what do you think of the current Fusu?" ”

Hear the words.

Li Si's complexion changed slightly.

He glanced at the First Emperor suspiciously, thought for a moment in his heart, and said with an uncertain expression: "Your Highness has begun to take on the image of an emperor, but there are many aspects such as the way of doing things, compared to Your Majesty, there are still great shortcomings, but it has begun to show the demeanor of a king." ”

"Congratulations to Your Majesty."

"The minister is the Great Qin He."

Listening to Li Si's compliment, Ying Zheng smiled indifferently and said coldly: "Li Si, do you know why I trust you so much? ”

Li Si's body trembled, lowered his head and said, "I don't know." ”

Ying Zheng sneered: "You actually know, and you know it." ”

Ying Zheng slowly stood up, looked at Li Si who was trembling below, a touch of anger flashed in his eyes, and said in a deep voice: "You Li Si has been in business for more than twenty or thirty years, but you have always maintained an amazing consistency with me. ”

"I've been thinking about it lately."

"I really didn't expect you Li Si and me to have any big differences."

"I was very pleased with this."

"I think this is the same as the ancestors filial piety and Shang Jun's confidantes."

"So over the years, your Li Si family has formed multiple marriages with many children of the royal family, which I have seen in my eyes, and it can also be said that I deliberately contributed to it."

"If it weren't for the gratitude of the people."

"How could I do so much?"

"I've never disdained to consolidate power through marriage alliances."

"I have never brought this kind of private discussion of monarchs and ministers into national politics, but you Li Si can fit with me every time there is a major event, and sometimes you are like a person."

"Among the entire imperial courtiers, only you Li Si have done it."

"No one else can do it!"

Hear the words.

Li Si's face changed drastically.

Then he knelt directly on the ground.

Li Si's face was shocked, sweat was pouring from his forehead, and the whole person was terrified to the extreme.

Ying Zheng walked down step by step from the high platform, approaching Li Si, he continued: "From the old ministers of the year, Wang Juan, Wang Qian, Wei Yi, Dun Weak, Zheng Guo, Meng Wu, Yao Jia, Wang Ben, Feng Quji, Li Xin, etc., who of these courtiers has not had a political dispute with me? ”

"You're the only one Li Si doesn't!"

"I used to think it was the king's and ministers' cooperation."

"But even the ancestor Xiaogong and Shang Jun also had differences back then."

"Could it be that the fit between me and you has surpassed that of the ancestor Xiaogong and Shang Jun?"

"Is this really possible?"

"Can you really do it between kings and ministers?"

Ying Zheng's voice gradually became louder.

Li Si's body trembled even more, trembling like chaff, and his face was even pale.

Ying Zheng said again: "Someone once said a word to me in the past, and that person commented on you like this, Prime Minister Li Si, the heart of mediation is too heavy, and the heart of oneself is too much. ”

"I didn't care about it in the past."

"Now I'm getting worse and worse."

"I often think about all kinds of things in the past."

"This makes me wonder, you Li Si has been so amazingly consistent with your own monarch for more than twenty or thirty years, maybe it was deliberate?"

Hear the words.

Li Si's complexion changed drastically.

His lips were already dark.

Ying Zheng chuckled and said: "It's just that I don't think so, if that's the case, the mystery of this power scheme is really incredible, but think about it from another angle, you Li Si may not be a scheming, just afraid of me, the unpredictable monarch, deliberately cautious?" ”

"After all."

"You, Li Si, have never been associated with my obvious mistakes, nor have you been associated with some not-so-glorious incidents."

"For example, using Li Xin as the general to destroy Chu back then was obviously a mistake, and you Li Si did not echo it, and the empress dowager was placed under house arrest back then, and after the destruction of Zhao, he also acquiesced in Zhao Gao's slaughter of all the grudges in Handan in the past."

"And so much more."

"You Li Si have never agreed."

"The only real objection to your Li Si is that expulsion of the guest book."

"At that time, you were only a river canal commander in Xianyang, and you never ascended to the court, let alone entered the center, just to stay in the Qin State."

"The monarch and the minister are so unanimous, what can the husband say?"

"Minister." Li Si opened his mouth, but he couldn't say anything.

Ying Zheng walked up to Li Si, looked at the gray-haired, lean old man, and let out a long sigh.

He turned and walked towards the throne.

He said softly: "Li Si, do you know why I don't like you?" ”

"The ministers don't know." Li Si trembled.

Ying Zheng sat back on his throne, swept his eyes downward, and said indifferently: "Because you sometimes disappoint me." ”

"It's the minister's incompetence." Li Sidao.

Ying Zheng shook his head: "When did you Li Si fail to pass?" If the prime ministers of Great Qin are all incompetent people, how many capable people are there in the world? You Li Si has never lacked talent, let alone the sharpness of judging the situation, otherwise how could you sit in the high position of the prime minister of the empire, and reach the ultimate in the people, and you Li Si has never lived up to this high position. ”

"You, Li Si, are not a corpse vegetarian person."

"In the reign of the court, they have also done their duty and dedication."

"The world is obvious to all."

"But there's one thing about you that hasn't changed in the last thirty years, or even longer."

"Dare to ask Your Majesty, what is that?" Li Si looked puzzled.

Ying Zheng said indifferently: "Do you remember what you said when you laughed at yourself in your early years. ”

Li Si was stunned for a moment.

He thought about it carefully, and a small smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

He said in a deep voice: "The minister remembers. ”

"When I was young, the minister was a county official, and I was frightened when I saw that the rats in the toilet of the official's house were not eaten, and the neighbors were dogs. Si into the warehouse, watching the rats in the warehouse, eating the accumulated millet, living under the big house, not seeing the worries of people and dogs. ”

"At that time, the minister said: 'The virtuous man is like a mouse, and he is in his own ears!' ”

"The follow-up minister resigned and went to study under Xunzi."

Mention the past.

Li Si also looked angry.

Forty or fifty years have passed.

He also changed from a teenager at that time to an old man.

Time flies, and I can't help but sigh.

Forthwith.

Li Si frowned.

He wondered why His Majesty would mention this?

He looked at the First Emperor suspiciously, only to see Ying Zheng looking at him calmly, as if waiting for Li Si's answer.

It seems to be using what Li Si said back then to test whether the monarch and the minister are really so compatible.

Come to think of this.

Lis's heart chuckled.

There was a deep panic and uneasiness in his eyes.

If what you say is different from what Your Majesty thinks, then it proves that you have indeed been deliberately cautious in the past, and you have always been good at speculating on Your Majesty's thoughts.

But this time was different.

His Majesty did not reveal any information.

just let him tell himself about this past experience, and let him speculate on the current situation.

There is nothing to be reminded of, and there is nothing to speculate.

Because it's all about yourself from beginning to end.

It is impossible to speculate on the current thoughts of the First Emperor through what he has said in the past.

Li Si looked bitter.

His cheeks were even more red and hot at the moment, and his heart was beating suddenly.

He couldn't tell.

I don't dare to say it.

I was even more scared in my heart.

Once you say it, and you don't agree with Your Majesty's mind, then you will be finished, but if you don't say it, you will also have answered.

Lees's lips moved, and finally nothing was spoken.

Looked at.

Ying Zheng said indifferently: "Li Si, you don't know what I think now?" ”

"The minister didn't dare to figure it out." Li Si said in a trembling voice.

Ying Zheng sneered: "You don't have to figure out what I am, you just talk about yourself, after so many years, there is always something different, I want to hear your thoughts now." ”

Li Si's lips were dry.

After a few thoughts, he hung his head weakly.

"The minister's mind is empty now."

"Your Majesty, please condemn you."

"If you have said it yourself, how can I punish it? What sin are you? "Ying Zhengdao.

Li Si was silent.

He really didn't dare to speak again.

There has never been a moment that made Li Si feel so desperate, so helpless, so powerless.

There is no chance of any struggle.

Ying Zheng shook his head, sighed lightly, and said slowly: "This is what I don't like about you, you are indeed too heavy in mediation, and too much in your own heart." ”

"The minister is guilty." Li Si's face was like ashes, and he had no heart to defend himself.

Ying Zheng calmed down, looked at Li Si below, and said coldly: "Rats in the toilet, rats in the hamster, after all, they are just rats." ”

Hear the words.

Li Si was stunned.

There was a hint of abruptness and bitterness in his eyes.

"Whether it's a rat in the toilet or a rat in the hamster, it's just that bite of food, but only that bite of food, and what is the difference between you Li Si and these rats over the years? From the small officials of the Wei State to the prime minister of the Great Qin, they are also only staring at one thing, and now there is only this one thing left in your eyes. ”

"Lis, Lis."

"You've let me down after all."

"My prime minister, the prime minister of Great Qin, ambition can't be a mouse."

"You can't just have that bite in your eyes!"

Hearing Ying Zheng's words, Li Siru was struck by lightning, and his face turned pale.

His lips trembled.

But nothing came out.

He Li Si, who used to be a small official in Shangcai, laughed at himself as a rat in the toilet that roamed around the latrine.

Now, with the help of fate, talent, will, etc., he has finally pushed himself to the high position of power of the prime minister of the empire.

But.

He's still the 'toilet rat'.

It's just that it's moved from the old side to the warehouse.

The rat is still the same mouse.

He's still him!

The environment has changed, but the people have not.

He Liss had always been just a mouse.

At that time, I laughed at myself and wanted to change, but after decades, nothing has changed.

When he was a small official, he was obsessed with power, and later studied under Xunzi, learned the art of the emperor, and sold it to the emperor's family, also for power, and now he is a very popular minister, but he still only has power in his eyes.

How is he different from the mouse?

What I want all my life is still to eat.

"Your Majesty has been disappointed."

"The virtuous of a man is like a mouse, and he is in his own ears."

"However, if a person always treats himself as a mouse, even if he changes more environments and his heart remains the same, he will still see himself as a mouse."

"Lees was wrong."

"Big mistake."

"The minister used to wonder why Han Fei was more liked by Xunzi than the minister, and his majesty appreciated it more, and the minister thought that his knowledge of calligraphy was far better than Han Fei, and he was far superior to Han Fei in governing the country, why the world admired Han Fei more."

"So that's it."

"Chen Li Si is indeed inferior to Han Fei."

Li Si closed his eyes and sighed faintly, looking extremely lonely.

He never thought about it.

In his life, in fact, when he was a small official, he had already made his life clear, he thought that if he changed the environment, he would change, but in the end, no, he still walked back to the old way.

Nothing has changed.

This moment.

Li Si's already old face looked more and more vicissitudes of age.

He didn't know how to leave the palace.

By the time Li Si came to his senses, he was already standing outside the palace.

A light rain had fallen in the sky.

His cheeks trembled as he looked at the light rain falling from the sky and felt the touch of the rain lapping on his face.

"Rats in the toilet, rats in the barns, rats in the end."

"I Lis"

"After all, I became a rat."

"Huh."

Lees stepped away.

When His Royal Highness said the rat in the toilet and the rat in the hamster, Li Si already understood His Majesty's thoughts.

Daqin doesn't need a prime minister from the rat generation.

And he

After all, it's time to leave.

For retreating, Li Si was very resistant in the past, and he tried his best to avoid it, but this time after talking to His Majesty, Li Si already knew that he had no reason to insist.

He's not suitable anymore.

It's just that compared to the past, if he was persuaded to retreat for His Majesty, he would be very resistant in his heart, and he would try to stop it, but now, he can face it very calmly.

He knows.

Its own time has passed.

Next came Fusu, the era of Qin II.

These old ministers are going to leave.

(End of chapter)