"You've arrived?"
"Yes, I'm here."
"You seem very frustrated?"
"No, you're the one who should be frustrated; you didn't get the result you wanted."
"Although I am not entirely satisfied with the result, at least I feel that it meets my expectations, doesn't it?"
"Hehe, that's true."
He nodded, sat down directly opposite Li Si, and couldn't help but laugh as he looked at Li Si resting with his eyes closed.
"why are you laughing?"
"I'm laughing at myself for being so stupid. I didn't even realize you had set up this trap from the beginning. The famous and brilliant Prime Minister Li Si is a strategist who assisted an emperor who swept across the land. He would never be so foolish as to openly attack me. If he was, it must have been on purpose."
"Hahaha, thank you for the compliment, Prime Minister Li. I am just an old man over fifty years old. How could I be as powerful as you boast?"
"Li Si, don't be so modest. From the beginning, you realized that I am your biggest opponent, and His Majesty also greatly appreciates my new policies. So, to avoid the fate of Shang Yang, where a political enemy comes to power, you deliberately used trickery to get away from my attention, right?"
“Indeed, you are very intelligent and calm, and your grasp of the situation is extremely accurate in understanding His Majesty’s psychology. You are a rather formidable person. The last time I met someone like you was thirty years ago. Therefore, I have decided to avoid your sharp edge.”
"So, you ended up in the imperial prison?"
"No, no, no, I never expected to be imprisoned. I thought His Majesty would only dismiss me from my position as prime minister and leave me to live in seclusion at home. But I never imagined that His Majesty would value you to this extent!"
"I see."
Li Lin nodded and continued, "But even if you find out after you enter the Imperial Prison that staying there is actually the safest place, right?"
“That’s right. So, to prevent my family from being retaliated against by you, I made Yao’er and You’er commit extremely foolish mistakes and locked them up.”
Li Si opened his sharp eyes and carefully examined his old rival.
He suffered a great deal in trying to deal with him.
But the outcome at this moment gave him a feeling of bittersweet relief.
"So that's how it is. I really thought that without your supervision, their individual shortcomings became apparent. I never imagined that they were deliberately arranged by you."
"Yes, if I hadn't arranged things this way, you wouldn't have let your guard down so much, would you? Over the years, you've eliminated all my political enemies in one fell swoop. Tell me, how should I thank you?"
Aren't those people all your allies?
"Hmph, allies? Allies my ass! They are all obstacles on my path to power. They are the meritorious class that conquered the six kingdoms since His Majesty ascended the throne, and some of them have even existed since the time of King Zhaoxiang. Although I am the prime minister, my exercise of power has always been restricted by them. But you are different. You are supported by His Majesty and do not need to care about their feelings at all."
"So, you took advantage of that, letting me eliminate all these people in the foreground, and then you personally took action to kill me and return to power, right?"
He quickly realized the malice of Li Si.
What a patient and patient strategy this is! What great perseverance it demonstrates!
If you make a mistake in one step, then every step will be wrong.
He was indeed an extraordinary figure who assisted the greatest emperor in history. It seems that the wisdom of the ancients should not be underestimated. Anyone who underestimates them will surely suffer a great loss.
"Hahaha, Li Lin, let me tell you from the bottom of my heart, I deeply regret stopping you from dating Yao'er. There is only one person in my mind who can compare to you."
"who?"
"Lü Buwei!"
"This... Hahaha, I wish I were Lü Buwei. He's so smart, he would never fall for your tricks."
"No, Lü Buwei was also eliminated by His Majesty's scheme, and I was merely imitating His Majesty."
"What?"
His eyes widened as he recalled in his mind the entire process of how Lü Buwei's power was completely eradicated by the First Emperor.
It seems that the First Emperor did not use any strategies.
"Don't you understand yet?"
"not understand."
"Hahaha, Heaven will first make those it wishes to destroy go mad. The arrogance of the Lü clan and their lust for power—do you really think His Majesty's submissive attitude before assuming personal rule was a genuine willingness to submit to them?"
"Are you saying that His Majesty deliberately feigned weakness, which emboldened Lü Buwei and caused him to offend all the interest groups of the Ying clan, and in the end, His Majesty regained power by relying on those interest groups that he had offended?"
“Indeed, the historical records are only fragmentary; only those who experienced it firsthand know the most complete picture. Lü Buwei was too clever and too terrifying. There has never been anyone more composed than him. The only one who could truly bring him down politically was probably himself. And you, you are exactly like him, so I am very wary of you.”
"So, you're using the same methods His Majesty used on Lü Buwei to deal with me? I'm really doing you a disservice."
"No! You are more terrifying than Lü Buwei. A major reason for Lü Buwei's downfall was his old age, but you are different. You are only just turning twenty this year, aren't you? You are too young. Although youth has its downsides, such as youthful arrogance, overall, you are much more difficult to deal with than him!"
Li Si had barely spoken for more than half a year.
Today, he finally got to talk to Li Lin for most of the day, looking very pleased, as if he was enjoying the shocked expression on the loser's face.
Each time Li Lin was shocked, the smile on his face grew even wider.
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