I'm really not King Jing of Zhongshan

Chapter 103 What the hell is this Emperor Qi? (12)

Sitting silently in the imperial chariot, he looked at the furnishings in the carriage, but Liu Sheng's eyes never fell on his father Liu Qi who was on the opposite side.

Even with doubts about where to go and what to do, Liu Sheng had no intention of asking.

Liu Sheng was so calm, which naturally made the emperor Liu Qi a little annoyed;

But Liu Qi was not in a hurry to speak, but slowly stretched out his hand, closed his eyes slightly, and let the old doctor kneeling beside him take his pulse.

"Hey!"

"Old guy, you still know the truth of 'acting in a full set'..."

Glancing secretly at Liu Qi's tired face, and then at the old doctor's stern expression, Liu Sheng uttered a slander inwardly, which caused the emperor Liu Qi to suddenly open his eyes!
The sharp gaze that was looking straight at Liu Sheng seemed to have opened Liu Sheng's inside and outside in this moment...

"So sure, my illness is fake?"

Asking a question leisurely, it can be regarded as affirming Liu Sheng's guess;
——Emperor Liu Qi, who can read minds!

Disrupted by this sudden question, Liu Sheng immediately dodged his eyes;

If he hadn't known that Liu Qi wouldn't believe it, Liu Sheng wished he could have raised his head, pointed at the top of the roofed carriage, and shouted: Look!
UFO!

Seeing Liu Sheng's embarrassment, the emperor Liu Qi did not continue to press, but turned his head slowly;

After the imperial physician withdrew his hand with a serious expression, Liu Qicai shook his head at the old imperial physician, signaling the imperial physician to retreat outside the chariot for the time being.

But what was quite unexpected to Liu Sheng was that the old doctor did not immediately obey the emperor Liu Qi's eyes.

"His Majesty;"

"Old minister Rong, please stay by His Majesty's side?"

"In case something happens, the minister is by His Majesty's side, so I can make up for it..."

The worried words caused Liu Sheng's face to stagnate, and he looked at Liu Qi with a little surprise gradually!
But Liu Qi shook his head with a wry smile, and took another deep breath;

"I, I have something to say to Xiao Jiu;"

"Qing is waiting outside the chariot, nothing can go wrong."

He cheered up as much as he could, half persuading and half ordering to drive the old doctor out of the imperial chariot, when there were only father and son left in the carriage, the emperor Liu Qicai finally let out a long sigh, changed from sitting to lying down, and lay down on his side.

Seeing the exhaustion and weakness clearly written on his father's face, Liu Sheng couldn't help being a little puzzled while being startled.

"Isn't it pretending?"

"Didn't it be fine before..."

Unexpectedly, as soon as Liu Sheng raised a question in his heart, the emperor Liu Qi's eyes full of insight fell on Liu Sheng again.

"stomach disease;"

"Old stomach disease."

"Back then, when the father was still the king, he came out of hunger in the palace of the king."

"A few years ago, I was still young and could barely bear it."

"But in recent years..."

Said with a little self-mockery, Emperor Liu Qi couldn't help but shook his head with a wry smile, and simply stopped putting on airs, straightened his body, and lay down flat in the carriage.

——As the emperor's law, the biggest difference between the imperial chariot and the ordinary carriage is that it is big enough except for the bright yellow roof and the yak tail on the left side of the cart scale;
It is so big that it takes eight horses in parallel to pull it.

At this moment, Emperor Liu Qi stretched out his body, lay flat on the north side of the carriage, stared at the bright yellow roof with distracted eyes, and asked casually.

"I heard that someone is speaking ill of me behind my back?"

"Well;"

"What are you talking about, I am ruthless, disregarding human ethics..."

"—Even, even killed the siblings of the same mother?"

Pretending to be puzzled, the emperor Liu Qi did not look at Liu Sheng, instead he laughed and muttered as if pointing: "I don't know which bastard it is, but dare to say that I am not... "..."

"Just say it, you dare not say it in person, do you have to say it behind your back?"

Listening to Emperor Liu Qi's seemingly casual but in fact sarcasm, and recalling the emperor Liu Qi's "the most asshole, get in the car consciously" just now, Liu Sheng knew it all.

After thinking about it for a while, Liu Sheng simply stopped pretending to be dumb, and imitated Liu Qi's casual tone of chatting, and sighed to himself.

"My son feels that the emperor father has such a view because he is too narrow-minded."

"A few days ago, my son heard such a sentence;"

"—to say that if people are not free to point out a person's mistakes, then the praise that person receives is meaningless."

"Father is willing to accept the praise from the world, so he should humbly accept the "occasional" accusations. If there is something, he will correct it, and if there is nothing, he will encourage him."

"It's not so narrow-minded that it's hiding in the imperial chariot, carrying a gun with a stick and ministers, saying bad things about the 'loyal minister'..."

Replying in a calm tone, Liu Sheng lowered his head and patted the clothes on his body lightly, as if he wanted to dust off the dust that didn't exist.

On the opposite side of Liu Sheng, the Emperor Liu Qi who was lying flat in the imperial chariot, quietly suppressed the smile on his face.

"Mrs. Jia, she gave me a smart son..."

"This son is so smart that even if he sees through all my intentions, he will never pretend to be smart and never forget his identity..."

Liu Qiruo's pointing words made Liu Sheng nod his head without self-effacing.

"What the father said is;"

"Brother is indeed the smartest among the young masters."

"On weekdays, my elder brother always taught me: Never forget your identity, and you must put yourself where you should be."

"If it weren't for my elder brother's daily teachings, I don't know how many disasters I would have caused in these years..."

Seeing Liu Sheng pretending to be stupid, Emperor Liu Qi couldn't help turning his head slightly;
After seeing Liu Sheng's face, the guard and distrust that could not be clearly written on his forehead, Liu Qicai turned his head again, closed his eyes, and sighed leisurely...

"Is that why you're so afraid of me?"

"—I dare not."

"I won't eat you again..."

"—I don't believe it;"

"No matter how vicious a tiger is, it still doesn't eat its cubs?"

"—Which family's tiger dares to be compared with the emperor?"

In just three or two sentences, the father and son both expressed their respective attitudes, and they both understood what kind of image they were in each other's mind.

But what was quite unexpected to Liu Sheng was that his straightforward words did not arouse the dissatisfaction of the emperor Liu Qi;

The emperor took a deep breath, smiled wryly and shook his head, letting out a long sigh.

"With this kind of vigilance, it can be regarded as a bit promising..."

He let out an exclamation with a sigh of relief, and saw the emperor Liu Qi turned sideways, leaving Liu Sheng on the side with an extremely lonely back.

"I'm tired;"

"Sleep first..."

"Wait until you reach the place, then wake me up..."

·
Shanglin Court;
The imperial chariot that Liu Qi rode came to Shanglin Garden.

Arriving at the imperial garden which is nearly a hundred miles away from Chang'an, he woke up leisurely from the brief snoring, looked at the endless wilderness outside the carriage, and the emperor Liu Qi's complexion improved visibly with the naked eye!
When the imperial chariot slowly stopped outside a complex of buildings, the emperor Liu Qi's face could hardly see any signs of weakness.

Subconsciously supported by Liu Sheng, he got out of the car, waved his hand lightly, and signaled his eunuch Liu She to take the imperial chariot away, and the emperor Liu Qi walked towards the barren field outside the building complex.

It was winter in the twelfth lunar month, and the endless fields were covered by snow and ice at this moment.

But in this slack season, among the bare fields, many figures can still be seen, squatting among the fields, looking for something in the ice and snow.

Looking at the scene in front of him, the emperor Liu Qi couldn't help but put on a relaxed smile;

Walked several hundred steps along the field ridge, and came under an old tree, but saw several old men sitting around under the old tree, looking into the distance with smiles on their faces;

——There are children dressed in winter clothes and trouser legs covered with mud, regardless of their flushed cheeks, they are picking up straw and hay in the field.

A few old men were sitting around under the old tree, with their hands crossed into their sleeves, giggling silly, and chatting about their parents' gossip from time to time.

Seeing Liu Qi appearing, the elders did not panic, but stood up very naturally, bowed to Liu Qi, and sat back under the root of the tree with a smile.

When Liu Qi sat down without hesitation, there were still sincere smiles on the faces of the old men.

"Your Majesty, have you not been here for some time?"

"Yes?"

"Why do I look at it, this complexion is not quite right?"

The caring words like greetings from an old friend made the emperor Liu Qi smile even more, and he just waved his hands casually;

"Hi······"

"I'm getting older~"

"It's not like when I was young, even watching the memorial for three days and three nights, my face was not flushed, and I couldn't breathe;"

"Nowadays, if you look at three or two hours, you have to lie down and rest for a while."

"Sometimes, you have to take a nap..."

Speaking in a relaxed tone, Liu Qi did not forget to laugh at himself and shook his head, as if what he said was someone else's business;

Hearing Liu Qi's words, those old farmers didn't show any sad or worried expressions, they only joked with you and me.

"Many years ago, I persuaded His Majesty~"

"—This woman, that's a knife for scraping bones~"

"It's getting old, you still need to know how to be more restrained, and take care of yourself~"

It was clearly an indiscriminate joke, but it still failed to arouse the anger of Emperor Liu Qi;

Liu Qi shook his head with a wry smile, clenched his fist, and lightly punched the shoulder of the old farmer beside him.

"It's a good lie, but you, He Laoliu, told you all;"

"—Who told me back then that if you become the crown prince, you will have a son early, and how many more sons will you have?"

"It's a good thing now, I'm only in my early thirties, and I've started to persuade me to 'restrain'."

"Could it be that the boys in your family were born after asking for help?"

Hearing Liu Qi's words, several old farmers immediately burst into laughter, and even the old farmer He Laoliu who was ridiculed laughed and shook his head.

"We are uneducated, but we are not as good as His Majesty's eloquence;"

"Isn't it?"

"——In a few sentences, I will call those boys in my family into bastards!"

As soon as these words came out, several old peasants burst into laughter again, even the Emperor Liu Qi laughed backwards and forwards, seeing his teeth but not his eyes.

And at the side ignored by the few people, Liu Qi, the father who always had a stern face in his impression, was sitting under the root of this old tree at this moment, chatting with a few old farmers about nasty jokes without any taboo. On, only full of horror and bewilderment...
--This!

——Is this Tianzi Qi? ! !

wrong!

This old man must be acting again! !

It must be that these old farmers have something that Tianzi Qi wants! ! !

Thinking this way, Liu Sheng quickly raised his head again, only looked at him for a while, but frowned again in confusion.

Worn clothes, trouser legs full of patches;
Dark face, callused hands;
A simple smile, wrinkles all over the gullies...

This! !

"Eh?"

"This is······"

While Liu Sheng was thinking, those old farmers finally noticed Liu Sheng who was standing aside with a look of horror on his face, looking him up and down.

But seeing Liu Qi hearing the words, he waved at Liu Sheng nonchalantly;

After Liu Sheng stepped forward in a daze, he pulled Liu Sheng by his side again, and sat down on the cold field ridge, then turned his head again and looked at the old farmers with a smile.

"——My family's nine boys, the single name is called 'Sheng';"

"After staying in the palace for a long time, I know how to be naughty and mischievous all day long, and I can't be bothered."

"No, let's take a look at you old guys, and bring this bastard with you, and let's go out of the palace to have a look."

The short introduction immediately attracted the eyes of those old farmers to Liu Sheng's hasty face;

After looking up and down several times, He Laoliu smiled and nodded.

"Look, the boy isn't bad at all;"

"When I was a child with Your Majesty, I was carved out of the same mold."

He Laoliu's evaluation also provoked the rest of the old farmers to start talking, and you and I started to comment on Liu Shengpin.

"That's it."

"Look at those eyebrows, eyes, mouth and nose;"

"If it wasn't for His Majesty's words, I would have thought that I was dreaming about His Majesty's childhood!"

"—It's good to have a look outside the palace~"

"In order not to be fooled by those old masters in the palace who know how to shake their heads all day long, one day they will make a joke of 'meat eaters despicable'."

Listening to the old farmers talking about you and me, and criticizing themselves in front of their father, Liu Sheng's face only quietly showed a hint of embarrassment.

In the previous life, Liu Sheng was just an ordinary farm boy;

Every time during the holidays, when returning to his hometown, scenes like today will always appear on Liu Sheng.

In addition, when he was a child in the previous life, he almost spent his entire childhood beside his grandfather in the countryside, which made these old farmers feel a little closer to Liu Sheng in his heart.

It's just that apart from this closeness, Liu Sheng still hasn't been able to recover from the horror brought to him by the "other side" shown by the emperor Liu Qi today...
——Such Tian Ziqi really made Liu Sheng a little bit astonished...
Liu Sheng, some people don't recognize the emperor Kai...
"Hey, don't tell me!"

"The few in my family belong to this bastard, and they can't make that 'meat-eater despicable' joke!"

While thinking, the emperor Liu Qi's high-pitched voice sounded, causing Liu Sheng to turn his head quickly;
On weekdays, Liu Qi, who never forgot the words "the majesty of the Son of Heaven", now looked like an ordinary old farmer, with a proud smile, saying something to those old men.

Seeing that those old farmers didn't believe him, Liu Qi was not annoyed;
After thinking about it for a while, he turned sideways, his eyes turned to Liu Sheng beside him, but his fingers pointed to the children who were chasing and playing in the fields in the distance.

"Tell me;"

"—What are those kids doing?"

Asking loudly, Liu Sheng raised his head quickly, but saw the emperor Liu Qi's gaze, wishing he could write the words "I can't say it, I want you to look good"!

Seeing this, Liu Sheng no longer had doubts, sat up straight without even looking at the children, and bowed his hands to Liu Qi and the elders.

"At the time of Emperor Taizu Gao, the "Han Law" formulated by the Prime Minister Bingwen Zhonghou Xiaohe stipulated that in addition to the agricultural tax of 120 taxes and the oral tax of [-] yuan per household, farmers also had to pay '精稾 (chú gǎo) 'Tax;"

"Grass, talking about crop stalks and hay;"

"According to the regulations of Empress Dowager Lu's second year's law, for every [-] mu of land, you need to pay three stones each for straw and hay."

"But the land in Shangjun and Daijun is barren, and you only need to pay two stones each for straw and hay."

"If you can't make up straw and hay, or you don't want to collect it, you can also pay the government government the money you can buy for straw and hay at the market price. ···”

Said calmly, Liu Sheng finally turned sideways, stretched out his hand, and pointed at the children chasing and playing in the field.

"So these children are collecting hay in the field, which will be used as the grass tax for their families to pay to the government."

Hearing Liu Sheng's words, the old farmers were all surprised, and looked at Liu Sheng with a subconscious closeness.

As for the emperor Liu Qi, he didn't seem to have had enough of the addiction of 'showing how promising the child is', and without thinking about it, he pointed at the children who had played enough and started picking up hay again.

"Let's talk again, what is the purpose of collecting this rudimentary tax;"

"Also, why are these young children collecting hay instead of the grownups in the family?"

Hearing this question, Liu Sheng did not hesitate, pondered for a while, and then spoke again;
"The stalks and hay obtained from the taxation of the grass are used by the court to raise horses;"

"The horses bred are to be used to form cavalry and fight against the Huns."

"—As for the reason why the hay pickers are children, it is because Emperor Taizu Gao once set a rule: scholars cannot be recruited if they are not taught;"

"What I'm talking about is that soldiers who have not learned how to fight and have not been trained in combat skills must never go to the battlefield."

"So every winter, all young adults over the age of 14 and under the age of 17 will conduct winter training for a month under the organization of the local county."

"Young adults over the age of 17 and under the age of 30 will also take advantage of the winter slack to dredge the canals that irrigate the fields and repair the roads."

"And now, it's winter."

"All the young and old have gone to participate in winter training, and the adults have also gone to dredge channels and repair roads. Only the elderly, women and children are left at home."

"The elderly are old and in poor health; women have to take care of the house and cook for the elderly and children;"

"So, the only ones who gather hay in the fields can only be children..."

(End of this chapter)