Jiuxi

Chapter 343 Chapter 341 [Yunhu Buyi]

Wende Hall, Dongnuan Pavilion.

Lu Chen stepped in and caught a glimpse of the bright yellow figure behind the imperial case. He immediately bowed and saluted: "Your Majesty, Lu Chen, see you!"

"Flat body."

The gentle voice of the emperor came to my ears.

Lu Chen straightened up, and then heard the emperor say: "Raise your head, my tiger general cannot lower his head and lower his eyebrows."

He raised his head and looked forward, only to see a slightly thin face half a foot away looking at him with a smile.

This face is quite handsome, but it has a lot of obscure meanings. Even though the emperor is smiling all over his face at this moment, the fatigue in his narrow eyes is still clearly visible.

Lu Chen couldn't help but remember that more than a year ago, in this Dongnuan Pavilion, the emperor in front of him expressed his full expectations and sincere wishes to him. It could be said that he was extremely favored.

Is this moment the same as that moment?

Lu Chen didn't know this, so he chose to get straight to the point and reported: "Your Majesty, the Northern Expedition lasted for half a year, and our army gained a lot. The Jingzhou Army attacked the Yanwu cities, and the main force of the Huaizhou Army recovered the entire territory of Dingzhou. Huaizhou West Route Army conquered Heluo, and later negotiated peace with Jingguo, and justifiably occupied Qingliu Pass in the west of Dingzhou. In addition, our army obtained more than 8,000 war horses from Jingguo by releasing prisoners of war, and distributed them to various armies. Except for the more than a thousand scouts and cavalry, the rest were all added to the Dingbei cavalry."

Li Duan smiled without saying a word and nodded repeatedly.

Lu Chen continued: "Our army also acquired 13,750,000 taels of silver from the wealthy households in Heluo City. In accordance with your Majesty's decree, we distributed 2 million taels to the Jingzhou Governor's Mansion and the Governor's Mansion, and to Huaihe The prefectural governor's office and the governor's office have 3.75 million taels, and the remaining 8 million taels have been taken back to the capital. The motorcade is now outside the palace, waiting for your majesty to send someone to inspect it."

Although he had known this happy news for a long time, Li Duan's breathing became rapid involuntarily when he heard eight million taels of snowflake silver placed outside the palace.

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

More importantly, this money does not need to go into the treasury of the Ministry of Household Affairs, but can be directly transferred to the palace treasury.

Although Li Duan gradually gained a group of forces loyal to him in the court after more than ten years of hard work, he still had an unspeakable difficulty.

That is poverty.

Perhaps it is difficult for Lu Chen to understand. It is said that the emperor is rich all over the world, and the whole world is not the king's land. How can he worry about money?

Don’t you see those prodigal emperors in the history books who were extravagant and lustful? Who would suffer from having no money to enjoy themselves?

However, the fact is that an emperor who wants to make a difference must take the overall situation into consideration and cannot enjoy the money in the treasury at will.

The emperors of the Qi Dynasty before Li Duan had a large treasury in the palace because the Tian family owned a large number of properties inside and outside Heluo City. However, he went to Yongjia alone to support the Qi Dynasty Guo Zuo, and his every move was under the surveillance of the Jiangnan family. , if you want to gain the support of more and more courtiers, you can only live a relatively poor life.

It's not that Li Duan is looking for enjoyment, it's just that as an emperor, he doesn't have much spare money, and it's hard to reward officials if he wants to, which is naturally a very distressing thing.

After calming down a little, Li Duan asked in a slower tone: "Lu Chen, what do you think I should do with this money?"

"what?"

Lu Chen's reaction at this moment was not a deliberate disguise. He really never thought that the emperor would ask such a question.

Li Duandao: "I want to hear your opinion, just speak freely."

Lu Chen shook his head honestly and said, "I don't know."

"really do not know?"

A smile appeared on Li Duan's lips, and he said with a bit of regret: "I have always heard that the Lu family in Guangling has been doing business for generations, and the business has grown bigger and bigger, and now it is among the best in Huaizhou. I wanted to take advantage of it Your Lu family's talents in merchant affairs have allowed this money to be put to a more appropriate use, rather than being left to mold in the palace treasury, but now...that's all, I'll go back and ask others."

Lu Chen finally came to his senses.

This is not to ask him to find a way to make money, but to go round and round to the rumors about his life experience.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but wonder if he was too gentle to Qingyu Huaijin in Heluo City?

Although the rumors she spun were not fatal, they pricked a thorn in Li Duan's heart, and they might penetrate deep into his flesh and blood at some point.

However, Lu Chen's expression remained calm. Before returning to the capital, he and Lu Tong had talked about this issue several times. He also knew that the emperor's intention of calling him back to the capital was to clarify the authenticity of the matter, so he had already To cope.

I just didn't expect the emperor to be so impatient, and seemed to want to solve this hidden worry immediately after they met.

Good fortune and bad fortune?

Lu Chen couldn't confirm, but he decided to follow his own ideas, so he said calmly: "Your Majesty, everyone has different talents. Maybe I didn't inherit the business ability of my elders in the Lu family, or maybe it's because I didn't. After the experience of being a merchant. In fact, my father never thought that he would become a big businessman in Huaizhou. At first, he only wanted to be a soldier who protects the country and the people."

Li Duan's heart moved and he said warmly: "Is there anything else?"

Lu Chen nodded and said, "Yes. That happened more than 20 years ago. My father joined the army with full enthusiasm. At first, he served as a sergeant in the Beijing camp, and later he was transferred to the Jinghe front line. Later, in the first year of Yuankang's reign, the late Emperor was captured. He was transferred to the Lingzhou Changshan Army. Eventually, he regretted quitting the army because of disagreements with his superiors in the army, and returned home to inherit his father's legacy. If there hadn't been those changes at that time, maybe my father would be a general in the army now."

The words Jingying, Jinghe Frontline, and the first year of Yuankang instantly formed a line in Li Duan's mind. He felt a sudden enlightenment. Looking at the increasingly serious faces of the young courtiers in the hall, he couldn't help but feel a little guilty.

Lu Chen seemed unaware and continued: "Your Majesty, I didn't know these things originally. When I returned from Heluo City this time, my father knew that I was going back to Beijing to meet the saint, so he told me the trivial matters of the year. It turns out that my father had He was a colleague of Governor Xiao, and later he got acquainted with Marshal Yang after being introduced by Governor Xiao. After retiring from the army, because the Lu family had family assets, my father helped Marshal Yang and Governor Xiao several times when the army on the Jinghe River was in difficulty. , this is the origin of that year.”

At this point, he raised his eyes and looked at the emperor, and said calmly: "To be honest with you, your majesty, my father originally just wanted me to guard the Lu family's property and live a peaceful life, so he did not rely on the friendship back then to go to Governor Xiao. Looking for an official position. The battle of Guangling happened suddenly, and I naturally joined the army because of my achievements in defending the city. Only then did Governor Xiao begin to spare no effort to support me."

As his words came out, there was silence in Dongnuan Pavilion.

After a while, Li Duan sighed and said: "Fate has its way with people."

Lu Chen knew from his tone that this matter could finally be concluded, so he smiled and said, "Yes, my father wanted to join the army but ended up in business. I was supposed to be in business but became a soldier of Da Qi."

Li Duandao said: "Although Huaizhou has lost a possible wealthy businessman, Daqi and I have gained a good general who can fight in all directions. This transaction is not a loss at all."

Lu Chen bowed his head humbly.

Perhaps in the eyes of others, it is too simple for this young man to resolve the issue of Lu Chen's life experience that has troubled the emperor for so long just because of a few words from this young man.

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

If it weren't for his upright temperament, Lu Chen would not have had conflicts with Li Yunyi and the third prince one after another when he came to Beijing last time. This young border army general seemed to be well-behaved and polite, but in fact he was as cold and rough as the early wind on the border. .

Coupled with the several sealed compromises Lu Chen gave him, his words were fair and aboveboard.

Hearing him explain the whole story in person today, his words were reasonable and consistent with the various intelligence secrets that Li Duan had previously sent people to collect, so he no longer had any doubts in his mind.

After the heartache was gone, the smile on Li Duan's face became gentler and he said slowly: "I heard Qin Zheng mentioned that when you were in Baotai Mountain in the north, you were engaged to the daughter of Lin Jie, the leader of the Seven Star Gang?"

Lu Chen remembered his father's judgment at that time, and couldn't help but say with a warm expression: "Your Majesty, yes."

"Seven Star Gang...can you control it?"

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

Lu Chen thought for a moment and then said concisely: "Yes."

Li Duan smiled slightly and asked again: "You have been to Heluo City. What do you think of the Zhai Lin Wang family?"

Lu Chen replied unhurriedly: "In my opinion, the Wang family is very determined to submit. In other words, they were forced to surrender to the Jingjun cavalry at first. This was a last resort and expedient. Otherwise, the Wang family would have thousands of people." It’s hard for people 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 understood the situation of the Wang family in Zhai Lin through the Weaving Department. Now that he and Lu Chen's words corroborated each other, he could naturally come up with a very accurate answer.

Lu Chen continued: "After I led the troops into Heluo, the Wang family did not rush to reveal their identity, and they followed up on my request. It can be seen that they knew that the process of changing their ways was relatively long, and they had to wait until our dynasty was able to return to the old ways. Only then can they see the light. Before that, they still need to make peace with the powerful people in Jingguo. Wang An’s ambition is very human. I believe that in the future Northern Expedition, the Wang family can still provide a strong support for our frontier army. Help.”

For this reason, Li Duan knew that he should make up his mind to free the young minister in front of him from the constraints of secular etiquette. However, before he offered the marriage, he asked the last doubt in his heart.

"Lu Chen, I heard vaguely that you and Li Tianrun's daughter seem to have a fate?"

If it comes to rumors about his life experience and marriage issues, Lu Chen had been mentally prepared before returning to the capital. The questions raised by the emperor at this moment were completely beyond his expectation.

Therefore, there was a look of confusion on his face, and he said in confusion: "Your Majesty, I and Lieutenant Li have killed the enemy side by side several times, so naturally they have a deep friendship."

Li Duan shook his head and said, "I'm not referring to the feelings of comrades."

Lu Chen then asked, "Then I don't understand. Please make it clear, Your Majesty."

Li Duan smiled and said: "The fate I am talking about is not friendship, but the love between a man and a woman, just like the fate between you and Lin Jie's daughter."

Lu Chen looked at the Emperor steadily, and after a long while he suppressed a slightly angry sentence: "Your Majesty, what bastard is talking nonsense, I want to impeach him!"

Li Duan was startled, and then he stopped laughing.

In the fourteen years since he ascended the throne, he has never seen any minister dare to angrily rebuke the word "bastard" in the palace, whether it is those unruly military officers or civil servants with the support of aristocratic families.

The strange thing is that Li Duan didn't mind.

Looking at the anger on Lu Chen's face, he couldn't help laughing and said, "Don't worry, you'll see that 'bastard' soon."

(End of this chapter)