Wende Palace, East Warm Pavilion.

Lu Shen stepped in, caught a glimpse of the bright yellow figure behind the imperial case, and immediately bowed down and saluted: "Minister Lu Shen, see Your Majesty!" ”

"Flat."

The gentle voice of the Son of Heaven came to his ears.

Lu Shen straightened up, and then listened to the Son of Heaven say: "Raise your head, my tiger will not be able to lower his head and lower his eyebrows." ”

He looked up and saw a slightly thin face looking at him with a smile half a foot away.

This face is quite handsome, but it is quite obscure, even if the Son of Heaven is full of smiles at this moment, the tiredness in those narrow eyes is still visible.

Lu Shen couldn't help but think that more than a year ago, it was also in this Dongnuan Pavilion that the Son of Heaven in front of him was full of expectations for him, and it could be said that his favor was incomparable.

At this moment, at that moment?

Lu Shen didn't know, he chose to get straight to the point, and said: "Your Majesty, the battle of the Northern Expedition lasted for half a year, and our army gained a lot. The Jingzhou army attacked Yanwu Zhucheng, the main force of the Huaizhou army recovered the whole territory of Dingzhou, the Huaizhou West Route Army conquered Heluo, and then negotiated peace with Jingguo, and rightfully occupied the Qingliu Pass in the west of Dingzhou. In addition, by releasing prisoners of war, our army obtained more than 8,000 war horses from Jingguo, except for more than 1,000 horses that were assigned to various armies as scout rangers, the rest were all filled into the Dingbei cavalry. ”

Li Duan smiled and said nothing, and shook his head again and again.

Lu Shen continued: "Our army also collected 13,750,000 taels of silver from the giant households in Heluo City. According to His Majesty's will, 2 million taels were given to the Jingzhou Governor's Mansion and the Assassin's Mansion, and 3.75 million taels were distributed to the Huaizhou Governor's Mansion and the Assassin's Mansion, and the remaining 8 million taels were brought back to the capital. At present, the convoy is outside the palace, just waiting for His Majesty to send someone to accept it. ”

Rao had known this gratifying news for a long time, and at this moment, he heard with his own ears that there were eight million taels of snowflake silver outside the palace, and Li Duan's breathing was involuntarily short.

That's eight million taels, half of the imperial court's annual tax revenue!

What's more, this silver does not need to go into the treasury of the Ministry of Households, and can be directly pulled into the treasury of the palace.

Although Li Duan has gradually possessed a group of forces loyal to him in the court through more than ten years of painstaking and lonely maneuvers, he still has an unspeakable difficulty.

That's poverty.

Maybe Lu Shen is difficult to understand, they all say that the Son of Heaven is rich all over the world, and the whole world is not the king's land, how can he worry about silver?

If you don't see those poor and extravagant loser emperors in the history books, who will suffer from having no silver to enjoy?

However, the fact is that an emperor who wants to make a difference must take the overall situation into account, and it is impossible to enjoy the silver in the treasury at will.

The emperors of the Qi Dynasty before Li Duan, because the Heavenly Family owned a large number of industries inside and outside Heluo City, so the palace treasury was quite solid, but he entered Yongjia alone to support the Qi Dynasty Guozuo, and his every move was under the supervision of the Jiangnan clan, and if he wanted to gain the support of more and more courtiers, he could only live a relatively poor life.

It's not that Li Duan seeks enjoyment, it's just that as an emperor, he doesn't have too much idle silver in his hands, and if he wants to reward officials, he will be stretched, which is naturally a very distressing thing.

After calming down a little, Li Duan slowed down and asked, "Lu Shen, what do you think I should do with this silver?" ”

"Huh?"

Lu Shen's reaction at this moment was not deliberately disguised, he really didn't expect the Son of Heaven to ask like this.

Li Duan said: "I want to hear your opinion, just speak freely." ”

Lu Shen shook his head honestly and said, "The minister doesn't know. ”

"I really don't know?"

A smile appeared on Li Duan's lips, and he said with a little regret: "I have heard that the Lu family of Guangling has been engaged in business for several generations, and the business name is getting bigger and bigger, and now it is among the best in Huaizhou. I originally wanted to take advantage of your Lu family's talent in business to make this silver have a more appropriate use, instead of putting it in the palace treasury to become moldy, but now it is ...... I turned around and asked the others. ”

Lu Shen finally came back to his senses.

This is to ask him to find a way to make money, but to go around and around to the rumors of his life experience.

As soon as he thought of this, he couldn't help but wonder if he was too gentle with Qing Yu Huaijin when he was in Heluo City?

Although the rumors she weaved were not fatal, they pierced a thorn in Li Duan's heart, and she might sink deep into her flesh and blood at any point.

However, Lu Shen's expression was still calm, as early as before returning to Beijing, he and Lu Tong had chatted a few times about this issue, and he also knew that the Son of Heaven had the intention of clarifying the truth of this matter by calling him back to Beijing, so he had already dealt with it.

It's just that I didn't expect the Son of Heaven to be so impatient, and it seems that he really wants to solve this hidden worry immediately after they meet.

Blessings and misfortunes?

Lu Shen couldn't confirm it, but he decided to do it according to his own ideas, so he said quietly: "Your Majesty, everyone's talent is different, maybe the minister did not inherit the ability of the Lu family in business, or it may be because the minister has not been trained in business. In fact, Chen's father did not think that he would become a big businessman in Huaizhou, he only wanted to be a soldier who protected the territory and the people. ”

Li Duan's heart moved, and Wen Yan said: "There is still this matter? ”

Lu Shen bowed his head and said, "Yes." It was more than 20 years ago, my father joined the army with full of enthusiasm, first as an errand boy in Beijing, and later was transferred to the Jinghe front. Later, that is, in the first year of Yuankang of the first emperor Dynasty, he was transferred to the Changshan Army of Lingzhou, and finally because of disagreement with the officials in the army, he quit the army with regret and went home to inherit his father's inheritance. If there hadn't been those changes at that time, maybe my father would be a general in the army now. ”

Jingying, Jinghe Front, and the first year of Yuankang, these words instantly became a line in Li Duan's mind.

He had a feeling of sudden enlightenment, and he couldn't help but feel a little guilty when he looked at the increasingly calm faces of the young courtiers in the hall.

Lu Shen was unconscious and continued: "Your Majesty, the minister didn't know about these things. This time he returned from Heluo City, and his father knew that the minister was going to return to Beijing to face the saint, so he told him about the trivial matters of the year. It turned out that my father was a comrade with Governor Xiao at the beginning of his military career, and later he was recommended by Governor Xiao to meet Yang Dashuai. After quitting the army, because Lu Jiabo had family resources, when the Jinghe River army was in difficulty, his father provided several times to Yang Dashuai and Xiao Dudu, which was the origin of that year. ”

Speaking of this, he raised his eyes and looked at the Son of Heaven, and said unhurriedly: "Don't hide it from Your Majesty, my father originally just wanted his ministers to live in peace with the foundation of the Lu family, so he didn't rely on the love of the year to go to Xiao Dudu to seek a half-official position. The battle of Guangling happened suddenly, and the ministers naturally joined the army because of the merits of defending the city, and Xiao Dudu began to spare no effort to promote the ministers. ”

As he spoke, there was silence in the Dongnuan Pavilion.

After a while, Li Duan muttered: "Creation makes people." ”

Lu Shen knew that this matter could finally be finished when he heard his tone, so he smiled and said: "Yes, my father wanted to join the army but ended up in business, and the minister was supposed to be in business but became a soldier of Daqi. ”

Li Duan said: "Although Huaizhou has one less rich merchant who may be there, but I and Daqi have one more good general who will fight in all directions, and this deal will not be a loss no matter how you look at it." ”

Lu Shen bowed his head humbly.

Perhaps in the eyes of others, the problem of Lu Shen's life experience, which has plagued the Son of Heaven for so long, can be relieved of doubts just because this young man can say a few words, which is too simple.

But Li Duan didn't think so, because Lu Shen gave him the impression of being upright and honest.

If it weren't for his upright temperament, Lu Shen would not have clashed with Li Yunyi and the third prince when he entered Beijing last time, this young border army general seemed to be well-behaved, but in fact, he was like the wind in the frontier with a cold and rough atmosphere.

Coupled with the several secret compromises that Lu Shen gave him, the words were enough to be called above board.

Listening to him explain the reason in person today, his words were reasonable and in line with the various intelligence secrets that Li Duan had sent people to collect earlier, so he had no doubts in his heart.

Now that the heart disease is gone, the smile on Li Duan's face became more and more gentle, and he said slowly: "I heard Qin Zheng mention that when you were in the Baotai Mountain in the north before, you and the daughter of Lin Jie, the leader of the Seven Stars Gang, had already made a marriage?" ”

Lu Shen remembered his father's judgment at that time, and couldn't help but say with a warm face: "Back to Your Majesty, yes." ”

"Gang of Seven Stars...... Can you control it? ”

Li Duan did not directly turn to the topic of Lu Shen's marriage, but asked with a bit of solemnity.

Lu Shen thought for a moment, and then said succinctly: "Yes." ”

Li Duan smiled slightly, and asked again: "You have been to Heluo City, what do you think of the Zhai Lin Wang Clan?" ”

Lu Shen replied unhurriedly: "In the minister's opinion, the Wang family's heart to return to obedience is very firm, or at first they were forced to submit to the Jing Army's iron cavalry, this is an expedient measure of last resort, otherwise it will be difficult for the thousands of people of the Wang family to survive." This time, they took the initiative to cooperate, and there was no repetition in the process, which shows their sincerity. ”

Li Duan nodded, he had already learned about the situation of the Zhai Lin Wang clan through the Warp Weaving Division, and now that he and Lu Shen's words corroborated each other, he could naturally come up with a very accurate answer.

Lu Shen continued: "After the minister led the troops into Heluo, the Wang family did not wait to reveal their identity, and they could also act according to the minister's requirements in the future, which shows that they know very well that the process of changing course is relatively long, and they can only see the light when our dynasty has the ability to return to the old capital." Before that, they still need to deal with the magnates of Jingguo, Wang An's ambition is absolutely unusual, and the minister believes that in the future Northern Expedition, the Wang family can still provide a strong boost to our border army. ”

Speaking of which, Li Duan knew that he should make up his mind to free the young courtier in front of him from the shackles of secular etiquette, but before opening his mouth to give marriage, he asked the last doubt in his heart.

"Lu Shen, I heard in a trance, you and Li Tianrun's daughter seem to have a fate?"

If it is said that rumors of life history and marriage issues, these Lu Shen had been mentally prepared before returning to Beijing, and the question raised by the Son of Heaven at this moment can be said to be completely beyond his expectations.

Therefore, there was a blank look on his face, and he said puzzledly: "Your Majesty, the minister and Li Duwei have killed the enemy side by side several times, so they naturally have a deep friendship. ”

Li Duan shook his head and said, "I don't mean the love of comrades. ”

Lu Shen asked: "The minister doesn't understand, and I ask Your Majesty to make it clear." ”

Li Duan smiled and said: "The fate I am talking about is not friendship, but the relationship between men and women, just like the fate between you and Lin Jie's daughter." ”

Lu Shen looked at the Son of Heaven steadily, and it took a long time to hold back a slightly angry sentence: "Your Majesty, what kind of bastard is this bastard who is talking nonsense, and the minister wants to impeach him!" ”

Li Duan was stunned, and then laughed dumbly.

He has been on the throne for 14 years, and he has never seen a courtier dare to denounce the word "bastard" in the palace, whether it is those unruly martial arts or the civil servants with the support of the family behind them.

Strangely, Li Duan didn't mind.

Looking at the anger on Lu Shen's face, he couldn't help but laugh and said, "Don't worry, you will be able to see that 'bastard' in a while." ”

(End of chapter)