"Were we wrong?" Zhu Yuanzhang didn't believe his ears.
What did he hear?
Liu Song, instead of admitting his mistakes, put the blame on him.
There is such a thing!
Zhu Yuanzhang almost gritted his teeth.
After being an emperor for so long, I have seen some who are greedy, some who are shameless, and some who are bold.
However, he is greedy, shameless and bold.
This is really the first time I’ve seen Lao Zhu.
If you commit corruption yourself, you can still blame him.
"Yes. It is indeed our fault. We should not have sent you, a pillar of the Ming Dynasty, to Yanjing to give you the opportunity to become corrupt."
"If you were still in Yingtian now, otherwise it would be impossible for you to commit such corruption and bribery. Are you right?"
When Liu Song heard this, he slowly shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, you have misunderstood. This is not what I meant."
"Then what do you mean?" Zhu Yuanzhang's voice was even colder than before.
It's as if a handful of scraping bones have just arrived, making people shudder.
Next to Liu Song, Liu Ji, who had been kneeling well, could not help but shudder.
He is almost crying now.
I originally brought Zhu Yuanzhang here because I thought Liu Song's good reputation might be able to calm Zhu Yuanzhang down and talk about the matter calmly.
Liu Ji believed that with Zhu Yuanzhang's wisdom, as long as he understood the causes and consequences, he would not be so angry.
But now it’s a crazy situation.
Liu Song, can you please stop being so brave and stop going against His Majesty?
Are you saying that Your Majesty is wrong?
If you have lived enough and feel that your life is not long enough, then you can eat arsenic by yourself, or hang yourself or jump into the river.
But don't bother him.
Although he was extremely anxious, Liu Ji did not dare to speak at this time.
Liu Song was not afraid of anything, but he was afraid of getting burned.
"Your Majesty!" Liu Song said loudly: "This matter was not decided by a single minister. It was proposed by His Royal Highness the King of England, and was officially decided after discussions between officials from all levels of Yanjing."
Zhu Yuanzhang sneered: "What? Do you think the law does not punish everyone, and as long as there are more people, we won't dare to do anything to you?"
"It doesn't matter. One by one, as long as there are officials involved in this matter, we can send them all down and reunite with you."
"You can definitely continue to enjoy the glory and wealth down there."
"If you think it's not enough, we can ask people to burn more paper money for you every year, as compensation for your hard work for the Ming Dynasty."
Liu Ji couldn't help but tremble again.
No matter how you say it, you are still going in the direction of death.
Liu Song, you guy, stop messing around and explain the matter clearly.
There was another thing that made Liu Ji extremely depressed.
Your Majesty, we don't want to play like this. It's obvious that he, Liu Song, has already said so.
This matter was all proposed by King Zhu Han of England.
Why is it that when it comes to His Majesty the King of England, your Majesty’s ears seem to be useless and you can’t hear at all?
Double standards can’t be so obvious, right?
Compared with Liu Ji, whose mood was like riding a roller coaster, up and down, Liu Song had no special changes from beginning to end.
"Your Majesty, I have no such intention."
"I just feel that this decree of His Royal Highness the King of England is beneficial to our country, Ming Dynasty, and will enable our country to last forever. That is why His Royal Highness the King of Ming Dynasty implements this decree."
"Regarding all the detailed regulations of this decree, His Royal Highness the King of England has written a memorial and sent it to Yingtian Mansion before going to Datong for disaster relief."
"It seems now that His Majesty has not received the memorial from His Royal Highness."
Zhu Yuanzhang, who was originally angry, was stunned when he heard this, and saw that Liu Song's face was expressionless and calm, and he didn't look like he was lying.
Lao Zhu hesitated for a moment.
He was sure that Liu Song was definitely not lying.
If that's the case...
Thinking of his brother, his imagination ran wild that day. If there really was a formal memorial, this thing might actually be true.
The anger in his heart calmed down a lot, but Zhu Yuanzhang still felt uncomfortable looking at Liu Ji and Liu Song.
These damn guys are taking the salary of their old Zhu family.
Now we have to provide them with houses, servants, and grooms and food.
All this money belongs to their old Zhu family.
Just when Zhu Yuanzhang was angry and dissatisfied, Liu Ji's words were like a basin of cold water, which instantly dissipated most of Zhu Yuanzhang's dissatisfaction.
"Your Majesty, in fact, according to what His Royal Highness the King said, these are only in the trial operation stage."
"Everything will only last until the construction of the Yanjing capital city is completed, and then automatically terminate."
"If the construction of Yanjing is completed and His Majesty feels that this is not good, just don't continue to implement it."
"Is there such a thing?" Zhu Yuanzhang's heart felt as if he suddenly saw the sun after having been raining for more than half a month.
Although I still feel sorry for the money, if it is temporary, it seems not so unacceptable.
After most of the anger finally dissipated, Zhu Yuanzhang gradually calmed down.
I was so angry that I forgot to ask what was going on.
What his brother did was definitely not for no reason.
Now Lao Zhu really believes that the purpose of Zhu Han's doing this is to maintain their rule in the Ming Dynasty and make the Ming Dynasty peaceful and stable for a long time.
"You two." Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at them with a stern face: "Get up."
When Liu Ji heard this, he breathed a long sigh of relief and suddenly felt the urge to cry.
Because he understood that this hurdle had finally passed.
The two of them had just stood up when they heard Dean Zhu's voice: "Tell me, what is going on."
Liu Ji did not speak in a hurry, but gave Liu Song a look that clearly meant: "You are the top leader in Yanjing. Reporting work to the leader will be left to you."
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! If it were just to talk about the current development situation of Yanjing, Liu Ji would never be polite to Liu Song.
After all, this is the time to grab the credit.
Of course he would not do that and directly praise his contribution to a level greater than that of Liu Song.
Many people think that they have great merit. As long as they achieve something by themselves, the credit must be theirs, and no one can share even half of it.
You can't say that such a person did something wrong, but in the officialdom, such a person often cannot go far.
Liu Ji, on the other hand, will only strive for the greatest benefit for himself within the scope of his responsibility.
As for the rest, he believed that Zhu Yuanzhang would definitely see it.
It doesn't matter if I didn't mention it for a while, it was definitely just because it wasn't time.
If Zhu Yuanzhang never mentioned this matter, there might be some special reason why he couldn't mention it.
As a minister, he had better keep all his achievements in his stomach.
As an emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang could not erase Shen Xia's achievements for no reason, otherwise there would not be so many people following him.
If you can't even understand this...
There is no need now, I am afraid that he has already left the center of power due to various reasons.
There are advantages to being strong, but Liu Ji is not sure what Zhu Yuanzhang thinks about what he said today.
If Lao Zhu agrees, then everything is easy to say. If it arouses Lao Zhu's anger, wouldn't it mean that the gain outweighs the loss?
Therefore, it is better to leave it to Liu Song, a tall man, who only needs to hide under the umbrella.
How could an upright person like Liu Song know the twists and turns in Liu Ji's belly?
He didn't think much and directly made a gesture of lifting the Wat board.
This thing is actually a kind of memo, used to record what to say when going to court.
But with his hands raised, Liu Song suddenly realized with some embarrassment that this was at his home, not a court meeting.
The wat plate was not worn on my body at all.
Liu Song cleared his throat in embarrassment: "Your Majesty, the imperial court has invested a huge amount of money in the construction of Yanjing."
"Although all official projects in Yanjing have been contracted to businessmen, large and small, there are also many businessmen who have seen opportunities and want to buy their own land and build their own projects."
Dean Zhu's brows almost knitted together: "Don't tell us what is available and what is not. What does this have to do with the house you live in now and the delicacies you eat?"
Liu Song said respectfully: "Your Majesty, all these affairs, big and small, are managed by our Yanjing officials."
"Before remote control, no matter what happened, my colleagues would still be busy."
"But now, the population of Yanjing City has almost doubled. Coupled with various things, many officials even have to do six or seven hours a day."
"Tell me the important point." Zhu Yuanzhang said coldly.
Liu Song quickly explained: "Your Majesty, the work these officials do is extremely hard, and they are exposed to a lot of money every day, which will inevitably give them some bad ideas."
Zhu Yuanzhang's murderous intent was clearly revealed: "Anyone who dares to embezzle money from the imperial court will be killed without mercy."
"Why, Liu Song, do you think these people shouldn't be killed?"
Liu Song slowly shook his head: "Your Majesty, the laws of the Ming Dynasty cannot be violated. This is what I think."
"It's just that the situation now is different from before."
"In the past, there were not so many things in the yamen. If an official had a problem, there would be no one in this position for three to five days, and it would not delay any major events."
"But Your Majesty, this is not possible in Yanjing."
"Many of our positions here are almost indispensable. Many people are familiar with a position, and suddenly being replaced by someone who doesn't know much about it will delay a lot of things."
"In some positions, as long as there is no one on duty for a day, it may affect the future development of Yanjing."
Zhu Yuanzhang's nose was neither a nose nor an eye and he said: "Then what do you mean, are you going to let them take bribes?"
Liu Song shook his head again: "Your Majesty, this is the brilliance of His Royal Highness."
"His Royal Highness thinks that instead of waiting for something to happen to them and then dealing with it, it is better to try to find a way from the beginning to prevent this kind of thing from happening?"
Zhu Yuanzhang sneered and asked: "Why, give you a big house, spend money to eat delicacies from the mountains and seas for you, and then you people can stop being corrupt?"
It was obvious that Lao Zhu was really unhappy, so he directly included Liu Ji and Liu Song in the "corrupt officials" system.
Liu Song saw that Lao Zhu was upset and explained with a wry smile: "Your Majesty, that's not all the case."
"In fact, apart from the meal standards provided by the imperial court, the rest of the food actually belongs to the imperial court and has nothing to do with us."
Zhu Yuanzhang's heart was moved. Things seemed to be completely different from what he imagined. He hurriedly asked: "Tell me, what is going on?"
Liu Song said calmly: "Back to Your Majesty, this is the so-called welfare protection plan proposed by His Royal Highness the King of England."
"Officials work for the court, and the court also provides officials with some conveniences to facilitate their lives."
As he spoke, Liu Song pointed to his residence: "For example, Wei Chen's house is actually equivalent to the one lent by the imperial court to Wei Chen."
"As long as Wei Chen remains in this position for one day, Wei Chen can use this house as he pleases."
"However, if the minister retires one day, the house will naturally be given to the officials who take over."
Zhu Yuanzhang breathed a sigh of relief at first. It turned out that this was the case. If it was just lent to officials for temporary residence, Lao Zhu thought there would be no problem.
But then, Zhu Yuanzhang thought of other problems.
"I'm afraid it would be a disgrace to the court to take back the things awarded by the imperial court after the officials take up their posts, right?"
Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang's face looked much better than before, Liu Ji suddenly became energetic and hurriedly added: "Returning to Your Majesty is not entirely a return."
"His Royal Highness the King of England gave these houses to me. In addition to the fact that I have no property in Yanjing and the accommodation is not convenient, one of the most important reasons is actually because it is relatively close to where I work.
"
"If the ministers are transferred, they will naturally be given corresponding residences elsewhere. These places are allocated according to the grade of the officials."
"If the minister becomes an official, the court will reward him with a house of equal size, but the location will be more remote."
"That's it." Zhu Yuanzhang's brows began to wrinkle again.
Although the value of remote houses is often not very high, it is still money after all.
Liu Song said excitedly: "Your Majesty, this move by His Royal Highness is really wise."
"It is not difficult for officials like me to find a place to live. Even if the house prices in Yanjing are getting more and more expensive, I can barely afford it."
"But for those young officials, this welfare house is their life-saving straw. For many of them, less than half of their salary is spent on housing and food."
"Now that these two problems are solved, the corruption situation will naturally be greatly reduced."
Seeing Liu Song's adoring look on his face, Lao Zhu began to feel unhappy again.
This old boy had the utmost respect for his younger brother, but he had never had the same respect for himself as the emperor.
Immediately he said unconvinced: "We don't believe it anymore, can we prevent corruption from happening?"
