Li Zhi slowly took two steps back, staring at the back of Li Hong who was still talking nonstop, and suddenly asked, "Has the murderer of Liang Jianfang been found?"
Li Hong turned around and looked at Li Zhi, his cheeks full of smiles. Under the illumination of the palace lanterns, his face was shining: "Found it."
"Can he survive?" Li Zhi asked for no reason.
Li Hong glanced at the few people not far from them, walked up to Li Zhi and said, "Father, if it were you, what would you do?"
Li Zhi sighed and said, "Yes, as a prince, if you can't even take good care of your own servants, how can you expect them to work hard for you? There is a limit to rewards and punishments, and punishments must be imposed. Considering that you have followed my father for more than ten years, you must find the right limit, how do you think?"
Li Hong was thinking: How could the emperor be so magnanimous? If he allowed me to punish the murderer, wouldn't that also chill the hearts of others? Or was the emperor up to something else?
"Shānhu" failed in tracking down the perpetrator of Liang Jianfang's crime. The real perpetrator was found, but he could not be punished according to the law.
"Yes, father." No matter what his father planned, Li Hong knew that he could only compromise.
"Okay. Father believes you!" After Li Zhi finished speaking, he walked forward slowly alone. However, his personal eunuch Yang and Xia Zhi and others stood there motionless, as if they did not see Li Zhi's figure that was about to disappear.
...
...
"Your Highness, I apologize for your crime." Yang Wu walked up to Li Hong, knelt down and said.
"Get up first. You heard what your father said just now. You can escape the death penalty, but you can't escape the living punishment. You could have let on for killing Liang Jianfang, but you were too cruel. No one knows Liang Jianfang's miserable appearance better than you, right?" Li Hong said to Yang Wu, who could hinder the "myth".
"I know my crime. I am willing to pay it back with my life. I have no complaints." Yang Wu kowtowed to Li Hong.
These are the victims of political struggles, whether it is Liang Jianfang who sacrificed himself in vain, or Yang Wu who is now kneeling in front of him. To put it bluntly, they are just game chips between the superiors, and often in the end, the ones who suffer are the people closest to the superiors.
The superiors can compromise and give in to each other in the struggle, and they are the mediators that can be used to sacrifice and balance the struggle between the two sides in the interests of the superiors.
Li Hong looked at the guards of the Imperial Palace, waved to call a guard over, looked at the sword at his waist, then reached out and slowly pulled the sword out of the scabbard.
"I have cheated you out of a lot of money over the years in the palace. This can offset some of the charges. Yangwu, let me ask you something. Are you left-handed or right-handed?" Li Hong held the horizontal knife and scratched it back and forth on the bluestone slab. The tip of the knife rubbed against the bluestone slab, making a sound that made people's teeth sore.
"I can use both hands flexibly, so there is no question of which hand is more convenient or less convenient." Yang Wu said calmly, looking at the white and shiny horizontal sword in Li Hong's hand, the blade flashing with an intimidating coldness.
"You are my father's servant. If I really kill you, my father will definitely find an opportunity to deal with me, and I will be beaten with a stick. How about this, you cut off one of your fingers, so that I can give an explanation to Liang Jianfang. How about it?" Li Hong handed the sword in his hand to Yang Wu generously, and took a snow-white silk handkerchief from Xia Zhi and handed it to Yang Wu.
Yang Wu took the sword with both hands respectfully, placed it carefully on his knees, and then took the silk handkerchief handed to him by Li Hong again.
She wiped the blade with a silk handkerchief several times, then wrapped the four fingers of her left hand except the thumb with the handkerchief, kowtowed to Li Hong and said, "Thank you, Your Highness, for not killing me!"
The blade slowly scratched across the four fingers covered with the silk scarf, and blood slowly seeped out on the snow-white silk scarf like plum blossoms blooming in the snow in the dark night.
Li Hong turned around without even looking at Yang Wu and said, "Wrap it with a silk handkerchief and bury it together with Liang Jianfang's body. This will be my explanation to him and his family."
Yang Wu looked at the prince and his companions as they left. He held the new silk handkerchief handed to him by Xia Zhi in his right hand and tightly covered his left little finger with it. The pain that spread from his ten fingers to his heart still made the expression on Yang Wu's face look a little distorted.
He hurriedly took out the best golden medicine in his arms, bandaged the wound with the help of the Qianniu Guards, and then hurried to Li Zhi's study.
"To my surprise, that vengeful kid didn't take your life. Did you say anything?" Li Zhi asked as he looked at Yang Wu, who was standing respectfully in front of the desk with a silk handkerchief wrapped around his left hand.
"Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said that if he wanted to kill me, Your Majesty would find an opportunity to punish him. I'm afraid you would beat him with a stick." Yang Wu answered truthfully.
Li Zhi chuckled twice, "He has a good idea. He uses my people to help him win over his confidants, and he is afraid that I will beat him! How can he take all the good things in the world! At the morning court tomorrow, I will lead Du Zhenglun, Cui Zhiwen and the Imperial Censor Gao Zhizhou to jointly submit a memorial to appoint Crown Prince Li Hong as the Minister of Revenue."
"I obey your command." Yang Wu said respectfully.
"Also, starting tomorrow, let Jingzhe and Liebao return to the Eastern Palace. They don't have to wander around outside Chang'an all the time, or do errands in the Ministry of Internal Affairs." Li Zhi continued.
"Then...what will happen to Li Jingmen in the future..."
"Let them assist you. When they return to the East Palace, the prince will naturally understand." Li Zhi waved his hand to signal him to leave. He had to think carefully about how the court officials would react when he conferred the title of Minister of Revenue to Li Hong tomorrow.
Li Zhi was very satisfied with Yang Wu's performance. He was not surprised to hear that he had appointed Li Hong as the Minister of Revenue, and was indifferent to court affairs. This was probably due to the fact that Li Hong had strictly disciplined these eunuchs in the palace in recent years.
"Your Highness, Your Highness, Your Highness..." Xiaoxue ran in happily like a little bird. Li Hong, who was practicing calligraphy, became restless and ruined a word.
Listening to Xiaoxue's bird-like voice, he glared at Xia Zhi who was laughing with her hands covering her mouth beside him, and snorted, "Why is Xiaoxue so startled? If she continues like this, I'll deduct half a month's salary from her."
Xiaoxue ran in without noticing anything, looked at Li Hong with surprise and said, "Your Highness, His Majesty has appointed you as the Minister of Revenue. A third-rank official."
"Puff..." Li Hong had just taken the tea brought by Xia Zhi and without wasting any of it, he sprayed it all on the rice paper with words written on the table.
Li Hong threw down his teacup helplessly and glared at Xiaoxue who was still full of joy: "Compensate me for these words! Do you know that I wrote for the whole morning? I was in such a good mood today, but you ruined it all!"
"I am so happy that Your Highness has forgiven me." Xiaoxue stopped hurriedly and said timidly.
"You're not happy at all. Is this something to be happy about?" Li Hong did not behave like a prince at all, and began to speak in common parlance.
There is nothing that cannot be done. Father is warning me not to stretch my hands too far in the future. This is to restrict myself to the business path and not let me interfere in other matters.
The position of the Minister of Revenue tells yourself that you just need to take care of the affairs of the Eastern Palace. You can have any ideas you want. You are given the position of the Minister of Revenue and you can do whatever you want. Anyway, no matter how hard you try in the future, you can't escape the circle he has drawn for you.
In this era that emphasizes agriculture over commerce, those in power often attach more importance to agriculture, silkworms and other people's livelihood issues. They only care about whether the people can have enough food and clothing, and whether they can develop agriculture to prevent fewer people from starving to death in years of natural disasters.
As for businessmen, whose status is still very low in this era, those in power often do not take them too seriously, and not deliberately suppressing them is already a leniency.
Of course, Li Zhi gave him the position of Minister of Revenue not entirely to suppress and restrain him, but also because the huge wealth of Taiyi City made Li Zhi feel the sweetness of business.
Looking back at the Daming Palace, Li Zhi realized that if it were not for the huge economic power of Taiyi City, if the Daming Palace wanted to meet the conditions of luxury and splendor and be built into its dream appearance, it would require a huge amount of money from the national treasury.
Moreover, the palace in Dongdu is in urgent need of repair. The queen has been longing for Dongdu in recent years, so if the palace in Dongdu still maintains the appearance it had when her father was alive, it would obviously be a bit dilapidated.
Li Hong knew that his father was somewhat dissatisfied with him because of the fact that he had been tested by his father yesterday on the war between Tuyuhun and Tubo. As a crown prince, he had been too subjective when he was tested by his father, which obviously made his father dissatisfied.
The conversation I had with my father in the imperial palace garden last night was probably the main reason why my father decided to appoint me as the Minister of Revenue.
A corner of a grand blueprint with commercial and economic vitality was unfolded in front of him, which probably made him feel the importance of business to some extent.
Li Hong waved his hand and said, "Hua Meng, go to the Ministry of Justice to get people and bring back Xu Yushi. Mangzhong, go to the Dali Temple and get Li Yifu out. By the way, Xiaoxue, don't you like running? Go and invite Shangguan Yi, Xu Jingzong, Guo Yu, Yang Sijian, and Shangguan Yi over."
Xiaoxue looked at Li Hong aggrievedly, said "oh", and ran out happily again, completely different from the introverted and shy person in previous years.
After saying all this, Li Hong thought about it and decided that Bai Chun was not capable of handling this matter, so he asked Xia Zhixuan to invite Bai Chun, who had been in Prince Pu's Mansion, to the palace.
Since my father is not afraid of me causing trouble, and since he trusts me so much and has given me the position of Minister of Revenue, I would be really unworthy of my father's kindness if I don't try my best.
The Ministry of Revenue is responsible for managing the land, money and grain, tribute, household registration, and taxes. Yes, there is one more important item! When Li Hong thought of this, he couldn't help but laugh a hundred times and wanted to hug his father and kiss him.
In Li Hong's opinion, the most important thing in the Ministry of Revenue is to distribute salaries to officials in the court! Is there anything that makes him happier than this? When he imagines the expressions of officials eagerly looking forward to their salaries at the end of the month, Li Hong is so happy that he wants to jump up.
Ministry of Revenue: one Shangshu of the third rank, two assistant ministers of the fourth rank, two inspectors, four principals, etc. The Ministry of Revenue has four departments under its jurisdiction: the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Warehouses, each led by a Zhonglang, and all of them are of the fifth rank.
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