Princess, please respect yourself!

Chapter 82 Substitution
The Palace of Changming Mingtang.

"Your Majesty, Duke Cheng is asking to see you outside the hall!" Qixi walked in on tiptoe, stood about three meters behind Emperor Yongxi, and said bent down.

"He picked a good time." Emperor Yongxi who was meditating slowly opened his eyes and ordered, "Please come in."

"Yes."

Qixi nodded and quickly backed out.

"Chen Chen Zhuang sees Your Majesty, Your Majesty is blessed." After Shen Zhuang came in, he knelt down in front of Emperor Yongxi and said loudly.

"Brother Shen, why is this necessary? Although we are monarchs and ministers, we have been friends for many years, and we are not in the Dazheng Palace, so there is no need for this salute." Emperor Yongxi stood up, lifted Shen Zhuang up, spoke softly, and at the same time ordered Qixi General The brocade stool was delivered.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

"I know that you recently lost your beloved son, and you have ordered the Nan Ya to thoroughly investigate the murderer. The deceased is gone, and the living still need to mourn. Don't ruin yourself because of this." Emperor Yongxi said like a spring breeze, "By the way, is the old lady okay?"

"Your Majesty is concerned. My mother is very sad because of her grandson, and she hasn't gotten out of bed for several days."

"Then let Xia Yuanli come over to have a look?"

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your compassion. My mother just misses her grandson and doesn't want to eat or drink. It's not a serious problem. There's no need to work on Mrs. Xia." Shen Zhuang declined.

"Let's take a look. After all, the old lady is old. I will give you two 300-year-old ginseng plants to supplement the old man?"

Shen Zhuang thank you again.

"Your Majesty, I heard that you want to borrow 1000 million taels of silver from the 'Huitong' bank with next year's salt tax as collateral?" Shen Zhuang stepped forward and asked.

"I have such an idea, but it's not the salt tax of the whole Zhou Dynasty, but the salt tax of Yangzhou, Suzhou and Ningzhou." Emperor Yongxi bowed his head slightly and said slowly.

"Your Majesty, the combined salt tax of these three states is less than 200 million taels a year. Now that the three states are still at war, next year's salt tax will not be collected at all. You only use one year's salt tax as collateral to take away 1000 million taels." Is the two silver too much, you might as well go to 'Huitong' to get the money directly." Shen Zhuang said, although the "Huitong" bank is managed by his Shen family, he is not alone, the royal family also has Shares also pay dividends every year.

"The three states in the southeast are important salt-producing towns. When the salt tax was the highest, it could reach 600 million taels of silver per year. In recent years, the imperial court has cracked down on illegal salt. The harder the crackdown, the more rampant the illegal salt dealers, and the salt tax is also falling every year. However, the production of salt keeps increasing every year, brother Shen, do you know why?"

"Your Majesty, salt and iron is a monopoly of the imperial court, and the Shen family is only responsible for collecting taxes. You should ask the tax supervisor and mine supervisor, they are directly in charge."

"Ningzhou Yantie envoy Liu Qian is the younger brother of your concubine Liu Zhimei, right?" Emperor Yongxi said, "And Suzhou Yanke Si Tang Zhe is also from your family, right?"

When Shen Zhuang heard this, a thin layer of sweat suddenly appeared on his forehead.

"If I decreed to raid their homes, how could it be more than this?" Emperor Yongxi walked over and slowly bent down.

"Your Majesty is magnanimous, I understand." Shen Zhuang quickly got up and knelt down on the ground, not daring to raise his head.

"Of the 1000 million taels, 600 million taels were loaned to you by mortgage of the salt tax, and the other 400 million taels were donated to the imperial court voluntarily by you," Emperor Yongxi said.

"I understand." Shen Zhuang understands why Emperor Yongxi did this. The salt tax in the three southeastern states is at most 600 million taels per year, and the tax money in the future cannot be lower than this amount. As for the 400 million taels, it is said to be a donation. In fact, it is confiscated.

Otherwise, if Emperor Yongxi tore his face on the spot, it would not be such a small amount of money.

"I heard that Nanya requested to open the coffin for an autopsy on the Fourth Young Master, do you disagree?"

"Yes, the deceased is already dead, why bother to disturb the peace of the child, besides, the inspection department has inspected it, and the minister has also carefully looked at the wound of the child, it is the secret murder technique of Xirong Puppet Shadow Hall' You Hong 'What is there to doubt?" Shen Zhuang straightened his waist slightly and said.

"I believe Brother Shen is not mistaken, but the external wound caused by 'You Hong' can be faked. If you want to be absolutely sure that it was injured by 'You Hong', you must conduct a comprehensive autopsy on the corpse."

"Your Majesty, you want to disembowel my child?" Shen Zhuang was a little displeased, because he couldn't even save his son's body, so could he be considered a father?

"If it is helpful to find out who did it, it can be done when necessary." Emperor Yongxi said, "Don't brother Shen also want to know who bought the killer of Qixing Pavilion to kill Fourth Young Master Shen?"

"I just need to know that it is the killer of Xirong Puppet Shadow Hall!"

"So you launched revenge on Luo Jing's stronghold in Xirong Puppet Shadow Hall, and blamed Zhenwu Academy?" Emperor Yongxi asked.

"I didn't, and I didn't dare to do that." Shen Zhuang directly denied it.

"Well, I won't ask any more, but the whole matter has already related to the relationship between the imperial court and Xirong. The stronghold of Xirong Puppet Shadow Hall is semi-public. If we don't give Xirong an explanation, then we will be in Xirong's royal court. People will suffer in the same way. Also, your son was assassinated, and the court will give an investigation result. Dazhou is now in trouble at home and abroad, and cannot fight on two fronts. What do you want me to do? For you, I will tear myself apart with Xi Rong. The border between the two countries is fighting again, regardless of the demands of the Xirong people, they are perfunctory, and the Xirong side will retaliate on an equal basis, and the contradictions and conflicts will further escalate?" Emperor Yongxi asked, "Brother Shen, how do you choose your position in my position?"

"Does Your Majesty believe that someone is secretly sowing discord?"

"What do you say?"

After Shen Zhuang was silent for a while, he finally said: "Your Majesty, I can agree to open the coffin for an autopsy, but this matter cannot be conducted in public, and Princess Liuli is not allowed to participate."

"Do you think Liuli is suspicious?"

"I dare not, but Your Majesty entrusts such an important case to someone who has no experience in investigating cases, is it a bit of a joke?" Shen Zhuang said.

"Marquis Wu Ning arranged for Liuli to have experienced assistants. Besides, Liuli is a princess of the royal family. I arranged for her to go to Nanya for training. I didn't ask her to go through the motions."

"Your Majesty wants to train Princess Liuli. I naturally have no objection, but training needs to start from the grassroots. Princess Liuli doesn't have any experience in handling cases. Even if she arranges someone to assist her, can she handle such a big case? I suggest choosing someone from Nanya. An experienced and prudent person will take charge of this case." Shen Zhuang said.

"So what if it's another person, must it be better than Liuli?"

"I believe it will be more fair to replace someone."

"Did you hear some rumors, or do you think that Liuli will use this case to destroy the relationship between the imperial court and Xirong, and then destroy the marriage between Xirong Wolf Lord and her?"

"Isn't it? Princess Liuli is the true biography of the Tianlan Sect. Her original aspirations are not in the imperial court, and she doesn't want to marry Xirong at all. It is His Majesty who used righteousness to make her agree to this marriage, but has Your Majesty ever thought about it? The marriage is done, it may not be a good thing for Da Zhou." After Shen Zhuang understood the bottom line of Emperor Yongxi, he naturally spoke a lot harder.

Emperor Yongxi didn't know that he forced Ye Liuli to agree to the marriage because of the need of reality, and he never thought of marrying Ye Liuli to Xirong.

Therefore, Ye Liuli is happy to see the three conditions that Ye Liuli put forward to the wolf master of Xirong.

The development of things is constantly changing. With the stability of the war in the southeast, he has more confidence in Xirong, but he has no intention of completely turning off the option of "marriage". .

Shen Zhuang keenly grasped the thoughts in Emperor Yongxi's heart at this moment. He neither wanted to completely close the door of marriage with Xirong, nor did he really want to marry Ye Liuli to Xirong Wolf Lord. At the same time, he also wanted to delay until the beginning of next spring. , The situation in the southeast war is completely settled.

If the situation in the Southeast War cannot be reversed, even if it is drinking poison to quench thirst, it will also promote the marriage with Xirong. If the Great Zhou wins, then the choice will be easy.

"Okay, I promise you, replace Liuli." Emperor Yongxi thought about it carefully, and nodded in agreement with Shen Zhuang's suggestion.

He was also afraid that Ye Liuli would escalate the matter for his own benefit, to the point where he could not control it.

He was always on guard against Tianlanzong.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Shen Zhuang breathed a sigh of relief, and finally convinced Emperor Yongxi that if Ye Liuli was really asked to continue the investigation, there might be real trouble.

Ye Liuli has already found Ding Xian, and Ding Xian is his man. If Ding Xian is arrested, many secrets in the three southeastern states will be exposed...

……

"What do you think?" Shen Zhuang left, and a figure in gray robes came in from the back of the hall, and came to Emperor Yongxi.

"He compromised, maybe he was confusing you." Jiang Daozong said slowly.

"You said, I've forced him so much, would he have known it was me?" Emperor Yongxi clasped his hands together, looking outside the main hall door, and asked the black spot that had gone away.

"Your Majesty, Shen Zhuang doesn't seem like the kind of ambitious person. Could you have misjudged someone?" Jiang Daozong hesitated for a while, then said.

"He may not have such an idea, but when he reaches that position, it is no longer possible to stop. Will the people behind him agree?" Emperor Yongxi said.

Jiang Daozong fell silent, the topic was too sensitive, and he was a close minister of the emperor, so there were some things he could say, but some things he couldn't say.

"He insisted that I replace Liuli. It should be because Liuli found out about his painful feet. Otherwise, with his heart, he wouldn't care about Liuli, a little girl who just entered the world." Emperor Yongxi said, "Nan Ya There should be something found there."

"Your Majesty summoned Marquis Wu Ning into the palace, and you will know if you ask?"

"My uncle is not involved in the three things. He will not be involved in court party disputes, the army, or the throne. He is very clear about what he can do and what he can't do. He will always abide by his duty and keep his sense of propriety."

"If Marquis Wu Ning couldn't do this, how could the late emperor and His Majesty place him in Nan Ya for so many years?" Jiang Daozong said.

"Wu Ninghou is getting old, he has submitted his resignation letter to me, and wants to resign from the position of governor of Nanya, and return to the countryside, but Nanya cannot be left alone for a day. If he leaves, who can take charge of Nanya for me? ?” Emperor Yongxi said with a headache.

"Your Majesty promised Wu Ninghou to go back to hermit?" Jiang Daozong was surprised.

"Not really, but there will be a day, I can't let him work in Nan Ya for the rest of his life?" Emperor Yongxi said.

　Ask for collection!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)