"What else do you want?" Li Longji didn't care about the conflict between Zhang Zhong and Wang Ke, as long as it didn't affect the work of each department. He believed that Xiao Bao had thought of this when he was maintaining the new group's balance. He didn't want to make money or lose money. Losing money had a great impact on one's mood.
The officials looked at each other and didn't say anything. It was the end of the year, and everything had been arranged. Today was the last court meeting of the year. After the meeting, they would go back to their places to tidy up. After work, they would participate in various activities during the holidays.
"Since there's nothing else, can the New Year's benefits be distributed?" Li Longji looked at Wang Ke. The Ministry of Revenue had allocated money. Of course, each department also had extra benefits.
Wang Hua, who had been quarreling with Zhang Zhong, quickly replied, "Your Majesty, from the day before yesterday until today, there have been all kinds of daily necessities sent from the supermarket. Tomorrow and the next two days, on the 28th and 29th of the twelfth lunar month, there will also be mountain and sea dry goods sent from the northern part of Hebei Province, including pine nuts and other snacks. The Ministry of Revenue has given each official an extra ten to a hundred strings of cash."
Speaking of this, the officials looked much better, and so did Wang Ke. His family had received more than 2,000 strings of cash from the day before yesterday. It wasn't that the quantity was large, but that the quality of the goods was good.
Li Bai, who was standing below, had received more than 300 strings of cash. Hearing Wang Ke take the credit for it, he muttered angrily, "What does the supermarket and Hebei Province have to do with the Ministry of Revenue? If it were me, I would even stop the New Year's gifts. You ungrateful wretch."
"The Ministry of Works and the Sitong Temple should also distribute something." Li Longji looked at Zhang Zhong.
"Yes." Zhang Zhong agreed without hesitation. He was thinking about what the Ministry of Works could offer. Of course, he had to consider the light industrial products. What the Western Agriculture Temple could offer was nothing more than various crops, such as popcorn. Not all fruits could be turned into seeds, and those that couldn't could only be eaten.
Li Longji didn't say anything else and waved his hand. Gao Lishi called for the court to be dismissed, and all the officials retreated. Li Longji, on the other hand, continued to sit there without moving. Originally, he should have left first, but today, he was too lazy to move. Listening to the whistling of the north wind, he didn't feel cold at all. He sat there looking at the sky, and no one could guess what he was thinking.
When all the officials had left, Gao Lishi asked softly, "Your Majesty?"
"Ah? Oh, how has Hong 'er been recently? "Li Longji withdrew his gaze from the sky and asked.
He was asking about Li Hong, the current Crown Prince.
"His Highness should be studying in the Chong Wen Library. In the past year, His Highness likes to read miscellaneous books and has basically put down history books. When His Majesty entered the capital, the Eastern Palace sent word that His Majesty was studying 'Political Economy' before the Crown Prince came to welcome him. There are also 'Functions of Local Officials in Economic Macro-Control' and 'Principles for the Ideological Construction of the Army' that Cuckoo specially wrote for His Highness. There are also 'The Relationship between the Adjustment of Bank Interest, the Increase and Decrease of Reserve Rate, and the Contradiction between Expenditure of Infrastructure and Financial Revenue' that Xiao Bao specially wrote for His Highness."
Gao Lishi's reply was very straightforward. It looked like he usually paid a lot of attention to the Eastern Palace.
"Hm?" Li Longji was confused. When he heard Gao Lishi say that Hong 'er didn't read history books, he thought that it was because his son, the Crown Prince, didn't want to be Emperor. Only history books could understand the rise and fall of dynasties.
However, when he heard the latter part, Li Longji realized that something was wrong. His son had gone to read 'Political Economy' and then there were the four books that Cuckoo and Xiao Bao had specially written for him. Hearing the names of the books, it seemed to be related to the things that the two of them usually told him when he interacted with them. What did they mean?
Gao Lishi knew why the Emperor was surprised, but he couldn't do anything about it. He couldn't see through what his godson and daughter-in-law were thinking. The two of them always gave others the feeling that they were looking at flowers in the fog and the moon in the water. They clearly existed, but they were so unrealistic.
The two of them didn't seem to care about anything, but they also cared about everything. The two of them would occasionally be angry about domestic and foreign matters, but they had never been in a helpless situation where they couldn't think of a solution. The two of them were inseparable and had always been so happy.
It could be said that it was a miracle in the world. Did it really have to be seen as that thing said? It was that everything was possible, but it was like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, and a shadow. It was like fog and lightning. It should be seen as it was.
It gave others the feeling that it wasn't real. Now, he was teaching the Crown Prince.
"I'll summon the two of them to come over and ask." Gao Lishi planned to call Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan over to see what they were planning to do.
"Forget it, forget it. Let's not talk about this during the New Year." Li Longji was still unconvinced. He wanted to guess and wait until he really couldn't guess.
Li Longji rose. He didn't sit in his carriage and strolled inside.
As he walked, a young eunuch hurried over. It was Luo Bin. He ran to Gao Lishi's ear and whispered.
As Luo Bin spoke, Gao Lishi's expression became more and more interesting. When Luo Bin finished, Gao Lishi met Li Longji's questioning gaze and didn't know what to say.
"What's wrong?" Li Longji took the initiative to speak.
Gao Lishi took two steps forward and moved closer to Li Longji. He whispered, "Apart from His Highness the Crown Prince, who's reading the book that Xiao Bao and Cuckoo wrote for him, the other princes are reading it as well. Some of them are studying natural science and architecture.
Even the princesses have many things to do. For example, they're studying fashion design, proofreading newspaper articles, and studying education in Great Tang.
It's no wonder Xiao Bao and Cuckoo are so busy every day when they're in Lu Zhou. As it turns out, they're secretly writing. "
"Huh?" Li Longji blinked. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know. Also, when we're in Lu Zhou, they're in contact with the foreign officials from time to time. They're holding tea parties, lectures, and so on." Gao Lishi continued to talk about what Luo Bin had mentioned earlier.
Li Longji's expression turned interesting as well. He asked, "Why didn't anyone from the Censorate mention this?"
"That's because the people from the Censorate are involved as well. It's the Anti-Corruption and Incorruptible Cooperation Association organized by Princess Tang Chang. During the meeting, she emphasized that we can't relax in investigating corruption under the current circumstances. In the end, she treated the people from the Censorate to a meal of fried paste noodles."
Gao Lishi continued to tell Li Longji what he had heard.
"Princess Tang Chang is a girl. Why is she in charge of the Censorate? Isn't she married to Xue Xiu? Why isn't she at home taking care of her husband and children? Did the officials from the Censorate go to her just because she looked for them? "Li Longji's expression darkened.
Gao Lishi waved at Luo Bin. He waited for Luo Bin to come over before he repeated what he had said. Luo Bin hastily replied, "She didn't recruit them. She tricked them into going. The princess sent someone to look for an official from the Censorate. He said that the princess has information on many officials' corruption. She also reprimanded the Censorate for being incompetent and ordered them to investigate it."
"Did they find anything after they went there?" Li Longji asked.
"Yes. The information was provided by the former Minister of Revenue, Lord Bi, and the others. It's all trivial matters," Luo Bin replied.
"This bunch of old officials. Taking advantage of the fact that I can't do anything, they are getting more and more overboard. What kind of intelligence personnel are they forming? Are they trying to rebel? Lishi, I've been away for less than a year. Why do I feel that everything is in a mess when I come back? "
Li Longji realized that things were getting out of his control. What were his sons and daughters trying to achieve by jumping up and down? There were also old fellows who had already retired. They were making him restless.
Luo Bin listened and thought for a while before he said, "Your Majesty, Lord Bi and the others aren't spying on the Tang Empire's officials. They are collecting information on the Tang Empire's economy. For example, the prices of various places, which crops have increased in yield this year, where there are new pests and diseases in the wheat, how to prevent maggots from forming when the paste is being made, and so on.
I've learned that it was Xiao Bao's idea. He said that their intelligence system is too poor and is not suitable for spying on the military and politics. It's better for them to do economic work. Once the information is collected, they can do business or sell it to merchants and earn money to support their families.
In the end, when they were collecting economic information, some local officials were actually blindly directing the planting of crops, so they collected the information along the way. At that time, Your Majesty wasn't in the capital, so they handed it over to the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince saw that they were all small officials and didn't have any major problems, so he casually threw them aside. I don't know how they ended up in Princess Tang Chang's hands. It might have been sent out by a palace maid or eunuch under someone's orders. "
Luo Bin didn't directly point it out, but hinted that only Cuckoo seemed to be able to direct people in the palace without being exposed.
Li Longji exhaled a white breath and stood there pondering. After a while, he said, "In other words, all my children, as long as they are not too young, are in contact with foreign officials and looking for various reasons to hold meetings? Xiao Bao and Cuckoo are behind this. Why didn't the two of them tell me first? "
"I thought they wanted to give Your Majesty a surprise." Gao Lishi helped to speak.
"Right now, I'm not surprised, I'm frightened. Good fellow, it's not enough to keep them busy. All the princesses and princes who find foreign officials will be fined half a year's allowance. Tell them to ask whoever ordered them."
Li Longji appeared very depressed. Luo Bin was very afraid. He wasn't sure if there was going to be another big purge in the palace.
Gao Lishi wasn't worried. He knew that the Emperor had too many clues and couldn't guess Xiao Bao and Cuckoo's goal. He was afraid of losing again. If they kept losing, no one would be happy.
"Your Majesty, I think it would be better to take advantage of the New Year to gather all the princes and princesses and ask them one by one to see what they've done. After that, we can test them. Perhaps we can guess the truth behind some things."
Gao Lishi suggested, reminding the Emperor that he could use this method to figure out Xiao Bao and Cuckoo's thoughts and make targeted responses to win.
Li Longji looked up at the sky and rolled his eyes. "Don't be in a hurry to find them all. Send someone down to find out what meetings they've held and what departments they've invited. If we don't check, they'll talk nonsense and fool us."
"Your Majesty is wise. Go quickly." Gao Lishi habitually cupped his hands and turned his head to order Luo Bin. Luo Bin ran off. He had no choice. The ground was terrazzo and too slippery. It was mainly because his skills had improved. If he wanted to pave the courtyard, he didn't need to use marble. Marble was very expensive.
After Luo Bin's figure disappeared, Li Longji rubbed his face that was cold from the north wind and ordered, "Prepare the carriage and go to Zhang Wang's manor. Call the Crown Prince to me first. I'm not in the capital, but the capital has been messed up by him. If he doesn't give me an explanation, I'll give him one."
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
