What Han Du said just now certainly had a purpose. He just wanted the princess to stay here and wait, so that he could take a closer look.
This princess looks so much like his former wife, not only does she look similar, but she also looks very similar when she acts silly.
Han Du fell into a trance and fell into the memories of his wife.
'Well, since I married you, I suddenly regretted that I didn't study hard in school.'
'Why?'
'Hmph, if I had studied hard in school, how could I have a master's degree now? How could I still be interested in you?'
'That's right, with my wife's intelligence and talent, let alone a master's degree, even a doctorate is not much. If I were in front of you at that time, you would definitely raise your neck, hetui, and spray me with water from a distance.
'
'That's not the case. However, if I were a master's degree, then I would definitely be in charge of our family's money.'
'Well, my wife, what you said makes sense. It's like you have no control over the money now. It's so reasonable.'
'roll!'
'Why!'
Han Du smiled foolishly, tears streaming from the corners of his eyes.
Old Zhu Gao sat on the dragon chair and watched Zhu Biao come in.
"The prince is here."
"My son, I pay homage to my father." Zhu Biao saluted.
Lao Zhu put down the pen in his hand and stretched out his hand to signal, "Get up. Sit down. Watching you bend over is more tiring than bending down by ourselves."
"My son," Zhu Biao was suddenly embarrassed. He didn't know what the problem was with his obesity. The imperial doctor also looked at it and couldn't see anything. Zhu Biao also knew how to fight in the army and did a lot of physical exercise, but he just couldn't lose weight.
Come down.
"Okay," Lao Zhu didn't dwell on this issue. He just said it casually. "If you come to see us for anything, tell us."
"My son would like to ask my father to give me a portrait."
Hearing this, Lao Zhu raised his eyes and looked at Zhu Biao.
"Han Du went to see you?" There was no fluctuation in his tone.
"Back to my father, yes." Zhu Biao answered honestly.
Lao Zhu paused for a moment, then smiled and said: "Everyone says that the prince is easy to talk to, and it seems so. I didn't expect that even Han Du knew this. Haha, he just hit a wall here and left the palace.
I’m going to find you, Prince. Should we praise you for your kindness? Or should we praise Handu Na for his cleverness?”
When the old eunuch heard this, his eyebrows twitched, and he couldn't help but clenched the Buddha Chen in his hand, sweating for the prince.
"Father, son and minister..."
Before Zhu Biao could explain, Lao Zhu waved his hand and interrupted impatiently, "You should know why we prohibit the portrait from being revealed."
"I know, I even told Han Du." Zhu Biao bowed his head and replied.
"Oh?" Old Zhu was surprised. If Zhu Biao came to ask for the portrait without telling Han Du, then Old Zhu would definitely be angry. Because Zhu Biao is the king and Han Du is the minister. No matter when the king is,
None of them can be influenced by their ministers.
Since Zhu Biao has told Han Du the reason, it means that Zhu Biao initially thought that he could not give the portrait to Han Du. But now that Zhu Biao has come again, there can only be one reason, "Han Du convinced him."
"
"What exactly did Han Du say to you that made you think we should give him the portrait? Tell us."
"Yes." Zhu Biao raised his head and told Zhu Yuanzhang what Han Du said.
"Han Du believes that my father's private visit incognito is not very effective. It is just a drop in the bucket and has no impact on the overall situation..."
Lao Zhu has always been very proud of his ability to visit incognito and punish corrupt officials. In fact, this is a common problem among people, as if everyone has a chivalrous and righteous person in his heart. Everyone feels that he
He is a hero who upholds justice and can eliminate violence and bring peace to the people.
But the ideal is plump, and the reality is skinny.
People only saw a hero punching and kicking a rogue in a tavern who drank a bottle of wine without paying him, and gave the rogue a lesson, but they did not see that the bottle of wine the rogue took was only ten dollars.
They only had a few pennies, but the tables, chairs and benches that were smashed by the hero cost the same amount of money. The hero, who was full of justice, naturally waved his hands and walked away gracefully, leaving behind the young couple who opened the tavern, hugging each other and crying without tears.
The same goes for Lao Zhu's private visit incognito, but he was just trying to achieve his own short-term pleasure. It is not clear that it would have much effect on corrupt officials, and it could not even intimidate corrupt officials.
Because all senior officials know that the emperor almost never has time to leave the palace.
"Is this what he said about us?" Lao Zhu's face turned red. He didn't know whether he was angry or embarrassed.
When Zhu Biao saw his father's unhappy expression, he sighed inwardly. He said Han Du's words directly, causing his father's displeasure.
So, he quickly explained: "Father, Han Du didn't mean that."
Bang!
Lao Zhu slapped his palm on the table and said sternly: "Then what does he mean?"
The more Lao Zhu thought about it, the angrier he became. He stood up and walked back and forth. My private visit incognito was to investigate and punish corrupt officials, and I have always been proud of it. I thought that I knew the sufferings of the people better than previous kings and could make decisions for the people most directly.
Unexpectedly, in Han Du's eyes, it became dispensable.
And he also said, 'If punishing corrupt officials requires private visits incognito, all officials in the world will laugh out loud.'
What are these words? Is this what a minister should say?
"Dad, kid, please calm down." Seeing something was wrong, Zhu Biao quickly knelt down, "My kid, go teach Han Du a lesson so that he will never dare to talk nonsense again."
Zhu Biao knelt on the ground with sweat on his forehead.
Lao Zhu turned around a few times, but suddenly sat back.
Zhu Biao was confused by Lao Zhu's actions. He hesitated before asking tentatively: "Dad?"
"Humph! We are not confused yet. Although what Han Du said is not pleasant to listen to, he is telling the truth." Lao Zhu glanced sideways at Zhu Biao, "When have you ever seen me punish a minister just because he told the truth?
"
After he finished speaking, he glanced at Zhu Biao and said, "Get up. It's very painful for your body to kneel on the ground."
"Yes." After hearing this, Zhu Biao slowly got up from the ground and sat down.
Lao Zhu's expression had returned to normal at this moment, and he looked at Zhu Biao calmly and said: "You seem to value Han Du very much, so that you can kneel down to plead for him. We remember that the last time you knelt down to plead, it was because of your teacher Song Lian.
.”
Because Song Lian was implicated in the Hu Weiyong case, Lao Zhu originally wanted to execute him simultaneously. However, Queen Ma and Zhu Biao interceded, and Lao Zhu spared Song Lian's death penalty and sent him to Maozhou instead.
"Yes." Zhu Biao nodded and admitted, "The kid thinks that although Han Du is young, he can think about things that ordinary people don't think about, and he is a rare talent. Isn't it normal for a kid to love talents?
?”
Lao Zhu pursed his lips and paused for a moment before saying, "What? What did he say to you again that touched you deeply?"
"Dad, did you promise the child?" Zhu Biao raised his eyes and looked at his father with surprise on his face.
"I agreed." Lao Zhu sighed, "So what if I don't agree? Just like Han Du said, even if we are doing a private visit incognito, it is too small for the whole world. Even if we have a hundred pairs
Even if you have eyes, you can't see it; even if you have a thousand hands, you can't grasp it."
"And now look at this, look at these," Lao Zhu was angry and pointed at the memorial on the imperial case for Zhu Biao to see. "Even if we review it from morning to night, we can't finish it. Today we will review it.
It’s over. When I open my eyes tomorrow morning, it will be piled up again. If there is still a chance, go and have a private visit in private."
"Since Han Du said that our portrait is important, let's just believe him and give it to him."
After Lao Zhu finished speaking, he waved his finger at the old eunuch beside him.
The old eunuch received the order, quickly leaned over and obeyed, turned around and went to the back.
Soon the old eunuch came back with a brocade box and handed it to Zhu Biao according to the emperor's instructions.
"My dear, thank you dad." Zhu Biao hugged the brocade box and thanked his father.
"How can we thank you?" Lao Zhu snorted softly in his nose, "Tell me, what did you talk about to help him like this?"
Zhu Biao put the brocade box on the low table next to him, and then told his father about the conversation between Han Du and him.
"The boy asked Han Du how he viewed the rise and fall of the past dynasties."
"Oh?" Lao Zhu was a little surprised. He didn't expect that they would be talking about this for two days. He originally thought that the two of them were talking about ordinary things, but he didn't expect that it would be such a heavy topic.
The rise and fall of past dynasties is a heavy topic, especially for the royal family.
Because every royal family hopes that their dynasty will last forever.
But judging from historical experience, this is simply impossible. Since the Han Dynasty, there has not even been a dynasty that lasted four hundred years, let alone one that lasted forever.
Zhu Yuanzhang established the world and established the Ming Dynasty. He naturally hoped that the Ming Dynasty could survive for thousands of generations. But he himself also understood that this was impossible. It would be good if he could last for three hundred years like the prosperous Tang Dynasty. If he could be like a strong man
That it lasted for more than four hundred years was truly a blessing from heaven.
The rise and fall of the dynasty aroused Zhu Yuanzhang's interest, and he was somewhat eager to know what Han Du thought of this matter.
The topic of the rise and fall of dynasties is too grand and broad. Countless heroes throughout history have their own opinions on this. To sum up, generally speaking, the world believes that the decline of dynasties is due to the ignorance of emperors and rampant corruption. The idea is that dynasties thrive.
It means that the emperor is wise and the officials govern clearly.
Even Zhu Yuanzhang thought so, so when he taught Zhu Biao, he taught him benevolence, wisdom, diligence, and judgment, hoping that Zhu Biao could be a wise king. In terms of official administration, corruption was severely punished.
The use of cruel criminal laws to deal with corrupt officials, including "peeling the skin and pulling off the grass," picking tendons, amputating fingers, hands, and cutting off knees, etc., has greatly frightened a group of officials and caused them to greatly restrain their behavior.
The reason why Zhu Yuanzhang was curious was that he had a hunch that Han Du's answer might be unexpected. In addition, Zhu Biao's expression confirmed his guess.