A makeup mirror and the makeup and jewelry box that Li Hong promised, especially the perfume and soap that Li Hong told Wu Mei would be delivered to the palace soon, made Wu Mei full of expectations.
As for punishing Xia Zhi, after being scolded for a few words, it was dismissed hastily. Although Wu Yuanshuang raised his injured wrist, and Wu Yuanqing and He Lan Minzhi knelt on the ground, begging Wu Mei to help their clan make the decision, Wu Mei ignored them.
She even warned the three of them in front of the prince. Wu Yuanshuang, Wu Yuanqing and her half-mother had already been dissatisfied with them.
Therefore, Wu Yuanshuang and Wu Yuanqing wanted to take this opportunity to let Wu Mei take back her life and send them to Lingnan Prefectures to serve as governors. Naturally, they failed to achieve their goal, and instead intensified their departure.
As for He Lan Minzhi, after being scolded by Li Zhi in front of Wu Mei, he left the palace in despair.
Among them, Li Zhi was also unhappy. After sitting here with him for a long time, he got nothing out of it. The makeup mirror and other messy things were all used by the little brat to please his mother. None of them were prepared for him.
But thinking of the perfume Li Hong mentioned, Li Zhi couldn't help but think of Wu Shun and Helan Minyue. He would have to keep a few bottles of this thing anyway and give it to their mother and daughter privately.
In the following period, every time when the Tai Chi Palace went to court, after the ministers entered, or even in the middle of the court meeting, they would see a figure on a skateboard, followed by panting palace maids and eunuchs, walking towards the Tai Chi Palace in embarrassment. In a hurry.
The East Palace and Tai Chi Palace are separated by a wall. There is a gate specially prepared for the emperor to go to the East Palace, but it will only be opened in person by the emperor.
When Li Hong was late once, he wanted to take a shortcut there, but he didn't want to be coldly rejected by Qian Niuwei. From then on, the Minister of Hubu had no choice but to continue running to Jiafu Gate, and then entered the palace through Chengtian Gate.
"Huhu... Huhu... My son is late, please punish me, father." Li Hong said intermittently, bending over and panting heavily.
All the court officials have long been accustomed to it. Every time Li Hong rushes in to a court meeting, his mouth and nose will be raised to the sky, as if what is happening in front of him has nothing to do with him on the censor's stage.
Otherwise, what can we do? The stack of articles to impeach him, Li Hong, can be higher than that of Li Hong, but none of them have been approved by His Majesty. If I continue to write articles in line with my duties, it is just a waste of paper and pen.
"The Minister of the Ministry of Finance came just in time." Li Zhi sat on the upper step, looked at it expressionlessly and said, "The Ministry of Rites and Honglu Temple jointly applied to repair the envoy's palace for the Japanese envoys sent to the Tang Dynasty. Why did the Ministry of Hubu make things difficult for them?"
"Back to my father... That's wrong, back to your majesty. Since I took charge of the household department, I have fulfilled my duties every day and checked all the accounts of the household department and the purpose and expenditure of various funds. Finally, I checked everything before going to court today. . The Ministry of Revenue currently has no extra funds to repair the envoys' palaces for Japan and other countries. I also believe that in the future, their own countries should pay for the repairs of the envoys' mansions, rather than the Tang Dynasty paying for them. "
Li Hong held a straight face and said righteously, without paying any attention to the black-faced Dai Zhide behind him, or the indignant expressions of the Minister of Honglu Temple.
"Your Majesty, I request you to order the Ministry of Household Affairs to immediately allocate funds to repair the ambassador's house for the Japanese country. Otherwise, our efforts to dignify and moralize the Tang Dynasty will be in vain overnight." Dai Zhide stepped forward and said.
Before Li Zhi could speak, Li Hong said two words lightly: "No money."
"Your Highness, by refusing to allocate funds, do you know that this will hurt the surrounding countries and become dissatisfied with us, the Tang Dynasty, because of your willful behavior? Not only do you not allocate funds for the renovation of the Envoy Mansion, but since you took office as the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Japanese government has You have ordered the students of the Tang Dynasty to stop paying their fees. As a minister of the Tang Dynasty, I just want to ask the prince, have you ever thought about the consequences that you will bring to the Tang Dynasty? "Dai Zhi Deman! His face was filled with sadness and anger, but he didn't know if anyone had an outright temper like Wei Zheng's. The emperor and the prince would not be able to step down together if they dared to cause trouble.
Li Zhi rubbed his aching head. The two of them seemed to be in a bad mood today. He had already shied away several times. If he shied away again, who knows what extraordinary behavior Dai Zhide would do in the court today. .
But the perpetrator had a calm expression. He turned around and looked at Dai Zhide quietly. It was not until Dai Zhide felt uncomfortable that he spoke slowly.
"Dai Shangshu, do you know how much money our Tang Dynasty has lost because of your outspokenness and remonstrance? Stop, please listen to what I have to say before you speak. Don't always say that I smell like copper. This is biased. Li Hong saw that Dai Zhide was about to refute, and hurriedly stretched out his hand to signal.
"Okay, I will listen to your high opinion from His Highness the Crown Prince today. In front of His Majesty and all the ministers and ministers, I hope His Highness the Crown Prince can give me a satisfactory answer. Otherwise, I will never give up today." Dai Zhide He also had a tough attitude.
A voice sounded in the hearts of all the ministers: 'It seems that these two people are going to fight to the death today. '
Li Hong thought for a moment and stopped talking about data. At this time, talking about data was unconvincing, and Dai Zhide was already confronting him with emotions at the moment. He had to make him ignore him no matter what, and then Let the data speak for itself.
So Li Hong collected his thoughts and said, "Dai Shangshu, let me ask you a question first, is it okay?"
"I know everything I know, and I will tell you everything." Dai Zhide looked righteous and awe-inspiring.
"Okay, then please tell me how many troops our Tang Dynasty currently has to defend Baekje? How many casualties were there in this year's battle?" Li Hong asked.
"This is a matter for the Ministry of War. The veteran is only responsible for the Ministry of Rites..."
"Both the left and right servants are in the court. They naturally have the answer, but I think there are many people in the court who know this answer. I can tell you that the Tang Dynasty sent a total of 100,000 soldiers to help defend Baekje, and no matter how big or small the battle was, There were more than 37,000 casualties, but... Do you know why the Tang Dynasty paid such a heavy price to deal with the small Baekje and Goryeo? That is because the Japanese were sent by King Fu Yufeng of Baekje? The envoys asked for help and brought Japanese troops to compete with the Tang and Silla companies. Otherwise, the Tang Dynasty would not have killed so many soldiers! The Japanese were so treacherous, and we, the Tang Dynasty, helped them build the envoy's house and helped them educate students for free. , but after they returned to the Japanese country, they used swords and guns to deal with my Tang Dynasty soldiers! Do you think I still need to pay him? No, the king of the Japanese country has already done his best, so why should he fund the repairs for them? "
Looking at Dai Zhide's dark face, Li Hong continued to speak slowly: "Liu Renyuan and Sun Renshuai returned to the court, but why did General Liu Rengui dare not come back? Because General Liu was deeply afraid that the land stained with the blood of our soldiers would be invaded again by Japan and Korea. , Baekje snatched away, then the lives of more than 37,000 of our soldiers will be sacrificed in vain!"
Li Hong glanced at the ministers in the court. He couldn't hold it in anymore. He could no longer act in such a cowardly manner. He had to speak out. Even with the current national policy of the Tang Dynasty, he was still unable to use diplomatic means skillfully. As a bargaining chip, he must sound the alarm for Datang's existing national policy at this time.
"Perhaps the ministers and ministers believe that there will be casualties in a war, so there is no need to make a fuss. If you want to have no casualties, then don't send troops. In this way, you will lose the purpose of establishing prestige for our Tang Dynasty and convincing the public with virtue. But colleagues, you know , if the Japanese did not participate in the war, how many soldiers could we lose? If these soldiers were placed in Tubo, Tuyuhun, and Dashi, our four towns in Anxi would not be lost, and our Tang Dynasty would not have to lose them again. The troops are overwhelmed, and the soldiers can have enough manpower and energy to continue farming when they are not sending troops, which will also prepare the Tang Dynasty for the years of famine... "
The ten-year-old boy stood in the middle of the silent court, but he said earnestly like an old scholar: "The chain reaction caused by a war is not something we can see at the moment, but it has time to ferment. Today's Shengping does not mean eternal peace. Today's decision may seem correct, but it may make us regret it ten years later. We can only hope that many colleagues in the court will use their years of experience, experience, and knowledge to help me. Datang comes up with plans to build a stable Datang!”
Li Hong still didn't tell what kind of chain reaction a "chaos theory" like the "butterfly effect" would have on the Tang Dynasty. He frowned and thought for a moment and said, "All of you are very knowledgeable and have read through the past and present. Here, I hope that everyone will study the "Lü Shi Chun Qiu. Cha Wei" chapter (The Battle of Chicken Father) after going to court. I think everyone knows what it is about. It is just a woman from the state of Chu and a woman from the state of Wu. While picking mulberry leaves on the border between the two countries, they accidentally injured the finger of a Chu woman while laughing and playing. However, Beiliang, a border town of Chu, brought people to argue with the Wu woman's family. The two parties couldn't argue, and the Chu people killed a member of the Wu woman's family. , and then left. When the people of Wu State learned about this, they went to Chu State and killed the woman's family. The doctor of Beiliang City in Chu State was furious: How dare you kill me, the people of Chu State, so he sent troops to attack Wu State and killed her. The whole village was filled with women. When the king of Wu heard this, he was furious and sent troops to invade Chu..."
Li Hongyue said in a lower voice. The court hall was no better than the Yuan Dynasty meeting. At this time, only officials of the fifth rank attended. I can't say that everyone knows this allusion, but at least everyone should have heard it.
Seeing everyone in silence, Li Hong whispered lonely: "Read history books, compile history books, read history books, and compile history books. Grandpa Huang once said: 'If you use copper as a mirror, you can dress properly. If you use people as a mirror, you can correct your clothes. Know the gains and losses. We can learn from history, but we have never studied that such a small thing will lead to a big change, even a big change of death for us! Courtiers, whether it is my father, me, a high-ranking official of the second or third rank, or an official of the eighth or ninth rank, when you make a decision, have you ever thought about taking responsibility for it instead of blaming others? ? Never thought that your words would be like what the Chu woman said to her family when she returned home, which would cause the two countries to go to war! This is why the Japanese sent troops to help, so , they must bear their consequences! Because no one knows if we are helping the Japanese people one day, the Japanese people will use the knowledge we taught them to bully us, can you guarantee it?"
(End of chapter)