Li Zhi slowly took two steps back, stared at the back of Li Hong who was still talking, and suddenly asked: "Has the murderer of Liang Jianfang been found?"
Li Hong turned around and looked at Li Zhi, with a smile on his face. Under the illumination of the palace lantern, his face glowed: "Found it."
"Can you survive?" Li Zhi asked for no reason.
Li Hong glanced at several people not far from their father and son, walked up to Li Zhi and said, "Father, what would you do if it were you?"
Li Zhi sighed and said: "Yes, as a prince, if you can't even take care of your servants, how can you expect them to work for you? There are rewards and punishments, and punishments must be punished. Seeing that you have followed your father for ten years. For the sake of a few years, you have to be careful, okay?”
Li Hong was thinking in his heart: How could his father be so generous? If he allowed himself to punish the murderer, wouldn't that also chill people's hearts? Or is my father having some crooked idea
"Myth" failed in tracking down Liang Jianfang's perpetrator. The real perpetrator was found, but it was unable to punish him in accordance with the law.
"Yes, Father." No matter what his father's idea was, Li Hong knew that he could only compromise.
"Okay. Father, I believe in you!" After Li Zhi finished speaking, he slowly walked forward alone. The personal eunuch Yang Que, Xia Zhi and others stood there motionless, as if they did not see Li Zhi's almost disappearing body. shape.
"My slave, I apologize to Your Highness." Yang Wu walked to Li Hong and knelt down and said.
"Get up first. You heard what my father just said. Death penalty can be avoided, but living crime cannot be escaped. You could have killed Liang Jianfang without being held accountable, but you were too ruthless. No one knows Liang Jianfang's miserable appearance better than you, right?" Li Hong said looking at Yang Wu who could hinder "Myth".
"I know that I am guilty, and I am willing to sacrifice my life for my life without any complaints." Yang Wu kowtowed to Li Hong and said.
These are the victims of political struggle, whether it is Liang Jianfang who died in vain or Yang Wu who is kneeling in front of him now. To put it bluntly, it is just a bargaining chip between the superiors. Often, in the end, it is the people closest to the superior who suffer.
The superiors can compromise and give in to each other in the struggle, and they are the mediators who can sacrifice and balance the struggle between the two parties in the interests of the superiors.
Li Hong looked at the Qianniu Guards in the palace, beckoned one of the guards over, looked at the Heng Dao at his waist, then reached out and slowly pulled the Heng Dao out of its sheath.
"I have defrauded you of a lot of money over the years when I was in the palace. This can offset some of the charges. Yang Wu, let me ask you something. Are you left-handed or right-handed?" Li Hong held a horizontal knife on the bluestone slab. Swiping back and forth, the tip of the knife rubbed against the bluestone, making a tooth-aching sound.
"My slave can use both his left and right hands flexibly. There is no inconvenience for either hand." Yang Wu spoke calmly and looked calm. Looking at the bright white sword in Li Hong's hand, the blade flashed with a chilling air.
"You are my father's slave. If I really kill you, my father will definitely find an opportunity to deal with me. I'm afraid I will get slapped on the back. How about this, chop off one of your fingers, so that I can talk to Liang Jianfang. I have an explanation. How about it?" Li Hong handed the horizontal knife to Yang Wu generously, and took a silk handkerchief as white as snow from Xia Zhi and handed it to Yang Wu.
Yang Wu took the Hengdao with respectful hands, carefully placed it on his knees, and then took the silk handkerchief handed over by Li Hong again.
He gently wiped the blade with a silk handkerchief. After wiping it back and forth several times, he used the silk handkerchief to wrap the four fingers of his left hand except the thumb. He kowtowed to Li Hong and said, "Thank you, Your Highness, for not killing me!"
The blade slowly cut across the four fingers covered with silk handkerchief, and the blood slowly seeped out on the white silk handkerchief like plum blossoms blooming in the snow in the dark night.
Li Hong turned around and said without looking at Yang Wu: "Wrap it in silk handkerchief and bury it together with Liang Jianfang's body. This can be regarded as an explanation for him and his family."
Yang Wu looked at the prince and others leaving. He held a new silk handkerchief handed to him by Xia Zhi in his right hand and tightly covered the little finger of his left hand. The pain on his fingers and his heart still made the expression on Yang Wu's face look a little distorted. .
He hurriedly took out the good gold medicine in his arms and bandaged the wound with the help of the Qianniu Guards. Yangwu hurried to Li Zhi's study.
"To my surprise, that vengeful boy didn't kill you. Did you say anything?" Li Zhi asked, looking at Yang Wu who was standing respectfully in front of the desk, with a silk handkerchief bandaged on his left hand.
"Back to Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said that if he takes the life of this slave, I'm afraid Your Majesty will find an opportunity to deal with him, for fear that you will hit him." Yang Wu replied truthfully.
Li Zhi chuckled twice: "He had a good idea. He used my people to help him win over his confidants, and he was afraid that I would beat him up! He can take advantage of all the good things in the world! He will take the lead in meeting Du Zhenglun tomorrow morning. , Cui Zhiwen and Gao Zhizhou, the official of Yushitai, jointly submitted the memorial and appointed Prince Li Hong as Minister of Household Affairs. "
"My slave obeys the order." Yang Wu said respectfully.
"Also, starting from tomorrow, let Jingzhe and Cheetah return to the East Palace. They don't have to wander outside Chang'an City all the time, or serve as servants for the Ministry of Internal Affairs." Li Zhi continued.
"Then... what happens after Li Jing's family..."
"Your Majesty, they will assist you. When those two people return to the East Palace, the prince will naturally understand." Li Zhi waved his hand to signal him to step aside. He must carefully consider what the courtiers will do when Li Hong is appointed as the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue tomorrow. What is reflected.
Li Zhi was very satisfied with Yang Wu's performance. He was not surprised when he heard that he had appointed Li Hong as the Minister of Household Affairs. He was indifferent to the affairs of the court. This was probably due to the fact that Li Hong had been strict with these eunuchs in the palace in recent years. Results of discipline.
"Your Highness, Your Highness, Your Highness..." Xiaoxue ran in from outside happily like a little bird. Li Hong, who was practicing calligraphy, was unsteady and could not write a word like that.
Listening to Xiaoxue's bird-like voice, he glared dissatisfied at Xia Zhi, who was covering his mouth and laughing, and snorted: "Why is Xiaoxue so surprised? Keep deducting half a month's salary from her like this."
Xiaoxue ran in without any idea, looked at Li Hong in surprise and said, "Your Highness, His Majesty has appointed you as the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. You are a third-rank official."
"Pfft..." Li Hong had just received the tea sent by Xia Zhi, and without wasting any of it, Li Hong squirted it all on the rice paper with written words on the table.
Li Hong threw down the tea cup helplessly and stared at Xiaoxue, who still looked happy: "I'm sorry for these words! Do you know that I have been writing all morning, and I am in such good condition today, but you ruined it for me!"
"Your Highness has redeemed himself. This slave is so happy." Xiaoxue timidly stopped and said.
"You're so happy, are you happy?" Li Hong didn't behave like a prince at all, and he began to blurt out business talk again.
There is really nothing you can't think of and nothing you can't do. Father is warning himself not to stretch his hands too far in the future. This is binding himself to the business path and not allowing himself to interfere in other matters.
The job of the Minister of the Ministry of Finance is to tell yourself, just take care of your East Palace affairs. If you have any ideas, I will give you a Minister of the Ministry of Finance for you to play with. Anyway, no matter how much you do in the future, you will not be able to leave. He drew this circle for you.
In today's era of focusing on agriculture and neglecting business, those in power often regard agriculture, silkworms and other people's livelihoods as more important. They only care about whether the people can have enough food and clothing, and whether they can develop agriculture so that they will not starve to death in the year of natural disasters. some common people.
For businessmen whose status is still very low in this era, those in power often don't take it too seriously, and they are being liberal without deliberately suppressing them.
Of course, Li Zhi gave him the position of Minister of Household Affairs, not just to suppress and restrain him, but also because of the huge wealth of Taiyi City, which made Li Zhi feel the sweetness of business.
Looking back at the Daming Palace, Li Zhi knew that if it weren't for the huge economic power of Taiyi City, the Daming Palace would have needed a lot of money from the treasury if it wanted to meet the conditions of luxury and splendor and build it into the dream.
Moreover, the palace in Dongdu is in urgent need of repairs. In recent years, the queen has been yearning for Dongdu. Therefore, if the palace in Dongdu still maintains the appearance of her father's time, it will obviously be a little dilapidated.
Li Hong knew that his father was a little dissatisfied with him yesterday when he tested him on the war between Tuyuhun and Tubo. As a prince, when my father was taking the school exam, my subjective consciousness was a little too strong. This obviously made my father dissatisfied.
The conversation with my father in the palace garden last night was probably the main reason why my father had the idea to appoint himself as the Minister of Household Affairs.
I unfolded a grand plan with commercial and economic vitality in front of him, which probably made him feel the importance of commerce.
Li Hong waved his hand and said: "Hua Meng went to the Ministry of Punishment to ask for people to bring Master Xu Yu back, and Mang Zhong went to Dali Temple to get Li Yifu out. By the way, Xiaoxue, don't you like to run? Go and get Shangguan Yi, Xu Jingzong, Guo Yu, Yang Sijian and Shangguan Yi please come over."
Xiaoxue glanced at Li Hong aggrievedly, said "Oh" in her mouth, and ran out happily again, completely different from her reserved and shy appearance in previous years.
After saying this, Li Hong thought for a while and found that Bai Chun was not as good at this matter, so he asked Bai Chun, who had been in Prince Pu's Mansion in Xia Zhixuan, to enter the palace.
Since his father is not afraid of causing a big mess, and since he trusts him in entrusting the position of Minister of Household Affairs to him, if he doesn't go through a lot of troubles, he would be really sorry for his father's wishes.
The Ministry of Households is in charge of the world's land, money and grain administration, tribute differences, household registration, taxation and other powers. Yes, and the most important thing! When Li Hong thought of this, he couldn't help but want to look up to the sky and laugh a hundred times. He wished he could hug his father and kiss him for a few times.
In Li Hong's view, the most important item of the Ministry of Household Affairs is what interests him the most: the payment of salaries to court officials! Is there anything that could make him happier than this? Thinking of the officials' expressions eagerly anticipating their salaries at the end of the month, Li Hong was about to jump for joy.
Household Department: one official of the third rank, minister, two ministers of the fourth rank, two inspectors, four principals, etc. The Hubu Department also has four divisions: Hubu Department, Duzhi Department, Jinbu Department, and Cangbu Department, each led by a Zhonglang, and their ranks are all from the fifth grade.
(End of chapter)