Li Yuanzhao's face was serious as he slowly walked to Yan Guoan's side.
He said in a deep voice: "Master Yan, do you really have to target Lao Fang like this?"
Upon hearing this, Yan Guoan immediately said angrily: "Prince, be careful with your words! Fang Zhengyi is a court official, how can you call him Old Fang?"
"Okay! Then I'll call him Master Fang."
“..............”
Emperor Jing followed Li Yuanzhao's gaze. He didn't expect the prince to be so abnormal today and even take the initiative to speak up for Fang Zhengyi.
Li Yuanzhao's eyes met Emperor Jing's.
"Father, Master Yan's words are a bit biased. During the time Master Fang taught me, I never fell behind in my studies."
"If you don't believe me, I can recite it to you."
After saying that, Li Yuanzhao started to recite it by himself.
"Nature is the mandate of heaven, following nature is the way, and cultivating the way is teaching. The way cannot be separated for even a moment..."
"The way of a gentleman is difficult and hidden. Even the foolishness of a husband and wife can be understood by others. When it comes to the extreme..."
“..........”
After reciting more than twenty articles in a row, Li Yuanzhao finally stopped. Everyone just listened and were shocked.
The prince actually changed his temper and was able to concentrate on memorizing the book? And he memorized so much in one breath without stopping!
Li Yuanzhao looked at Fang Zheng proudly and said, "I owe you thirty articles. I'll recite them to you right away. How do you think?"
Awesome! Fang Zheng grinned and secretly gave a thumbs up.
As Emperor Jing listened, a smile appeared on his lips: "If you just recite the book without thinking, you will not pass. Let me ask you, a gentleman acts according to his position and does not want to go beyond it. If you are rich, you should act in a rich and noble way; how do you explain being poor?"
Li Yuanzhao answered without hesitation: "This sentence means that a gentleman should be content with his current position and do what he should do, without having any unreasonable expectations."
Emperor Jing's eyes lit up and he asked a few more questions, which Li Yuanzhao answered one by one.
.................
Finally, after asking all the questions, Emperor Jing was very excited: "Did Fang Zhengyi teach you all this?"
"That's right! Master Fang taught me all of this!"
Emperor Jing looked at Fang Zhengyi, his eyes full of satisfaction: "Fang Qing, you did a great job, far exceeding my expectations!"
Fang Zhengyi almost laughed out loud, but quickly put on a serious face: "No, no, this is all my job!"
Damn it, the prince is a great assist, let’s go back and give him a chicken drumstick!
There was surprise in the eyes of all the ministers. It was really gratifying that the prince had such a huge transformation today.
There is only one prince in the current dynasty, which is already a headache for everyone.
I didn't expect that his personality would change after being with Fang Zhengyi?
Two stink bugs together can make something fragrant, is this the legendary extreme of things leading to the opposite? !
Li Yuanzhao raised his hand and continued, "Father, please don't worry! I haven't finished speaking yet. Reading and writing are just trivial matters, not worth mentioning."
Ministers: “………”
Fang Zheng looked pulled down.
We just want to say, is it necessary to add this sentence?
"Master Yan just said that Master Fang and I beat up Doctor Hu. I'm afraid that your father's explanation will not satisfy Master Yan."
"Then I will tell you why I beat Doctor Hu!"
"I will not say much about Doctor Hu, a mediocre doctor. Just a few days ago, Doctor Hu brought something called a rare ginseng from overseas to the princess as a tonic. Father, do you know how much that ginseng cost?"
"You will never guess, it's a full two thousand taels!! But later I found out through asking the purchaser that the real price of this item is only a mere two taels!"
"The difference is a thousand times! I'm just beating up an old, blind, quack."
Fang Zhengyi was full of praise. The prince could make up lies without blinking an eye. He was worthy of being the dragon's son!
Li Yuanzhao's face was full of seriousness: "After I learned about this, I felt that there were many shady things going on in the palace's procurement! Perhaps it's not just the Imperial Hospital, even the Imperial Kitchen has such exaggerated and concealed reports."
"So I sent Liu Jin out of the palace secretly to find out the prices in the market."
"It would have been fine if I hadn't inquired. Now that I have inquired, it has really opened my eyes!"
"Ordinary cabbage, eggs, rice and other food materials in the countryside only cost a few coins per pound, but in the palace, the price difference is often several to dozens of times higher!"
"Take eggs as an example. An egg in the palace costs 10 taels, while an egg in the common people costs only 5 coins at most."
"Also, I once asked the imperial kitchen in the palace to make a pie, and the cost was dozens of taels, while it only cost a few coins outside the palace. Where did the difference go?"
"Then someone will definitely say that the food in the palace is different from the food outside the palace. The food in the palace must be carefully selected and far superior to that in the common people."
"Is that really the case? I used my own money to buy all kinds of ingredients from the common people. After I brought them back and compared them with those in the palace, I found that there was no difference! The food they made was equally unpalatable!"
"I once asked the internal affairs department. Last year, the palace spent 80,000 taels on food and drink. So, the actual expenditure of the palace is less than 8,000 taels."
"There is a difference of more than 72,000 taels. May I ask who got such a huge amount of silver? I'm afraid someone must have taken advantage of it at every stage!"
"In addition, during the time when I sent Liu Jin out of the palace, I also asked him to find out about the living conditions of the people. How many people are struggling for a meal? Seeing this situation, I gave him all my money, but it was still a drop in the bucket."
"If the palace could purchase goods truthfully and live frugally, the people wouldn't have to live in such a difficult situation! Please understand, Father!"
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