Within a few days, the news of Wanyan Agu's funeral spread throughout the government and the public. Song Huizong immediately sent envoys to express condolences and congratulate Wanyan Sheng on boarding the plane. Anyway, they just talked a lot of nonsense and had no constructive meaning. .
As for Wang Fu, Cai You and others, they were even more stupid. On the surface, they expressed deep sorrow, but there was a hint of gloating in their words, as if Wanyan Aguda passed away, which was God's blessing for the Song Dynasty.
After retreating from the court.
"Sir, just now in the court, Prime Minister Wang is obviously putting pressure on us to implement the land increase tax as soon as possible." Qin Hui said with a frown.
Li Qi asked: "Then how was his investigation going?"
Qin Hui said: "Your Excellency, you don't know something. We don't need to investigate this matter. The Prime Minister himself sent someone to deliver the land deed. However, it is only his land near the capital. The land he owns is much more than that. Tax money is nothing to him."
Li Qi smiled and said: "In this case, if we can't get out of the capital even if we die, this new law will be strangled in the cradle."
Qin Hui nodded and said: "But he never thought that your Excellency had secretly arranged to use economic construction to pave the way for increasing land taxes. However, he would definitely stop it in every possible way. Now that the king's power is overwhelming, he is more powerful than before. He got even more serious, and almost everyone who opposed him suffered a certain blow. Now most people in the court were angry with him and dared not speak out. Yesterday, your Excellency did not come to the court. Maybe you didn't know something. The king was demoted one after another. The prince's three capable generals were taken away, and even though the left prime minister and the prince personally came forward, they returned without success."
Li Qi snorted and asked with interest: "What is the dispute between him and the prince?"
Qin Hui said: "Actually, they didn't have any grudges before. It's just that the prince has always been very frugal, but the king is very extravagant. At the beginning, the prince had sent a memorial to impeach the king for being overjoyed, arrogant and extravagant. Since then, the king and the prince have been It's just that water and fire are incompatible. If Zuo Xiang and the others hadn't protected each other, I'm afraid the East Palace would have been unstable."
Li Qi narrowed his eyes and said, "You seem to have something in your words. Tell me. There are no outsiders here."
Qin Hui was also unambiguous and said seriously: "My lord, now our power in the court is weak and we are walking on thin ice. I think we can take the opportunity to join the East Palace and use the power of the East Palace to deal with the king. Moreover, the prince seems to have always valued important people. "The lower official knows that your Excellency has some friendship with King Yun, but the relationship between King Yun and the Prime Minister is very close. Your Excellency should take the overall situation into consideration."
The implication is nothing more than a hint to Li Qi that Wang Fu clearly wants to overthrow the East Palace and support Zhao Kai. Once Wang Fu succeeds, their life will be even more difficult.
But Qin Hui also knew that Li Qi always disliked him intervening in his affairs, so after he finished speaking, he felt very uneasy and secretly glanced at Li Qi.
However, instead of telling him this time, Li Qi smiled and said: "What you said makes sense, but if we go to the prince like this without merit and reward, it will make people think that we have no skills and are forced to do nothing." Those who seek refuge with the prince are like a lost dog. In that case, morale will be damaged, and ours will have no status at all."
Qin Hui frowned and said, "What you said makes sense, what should we do?"
Li Qi chuckled: "Let him come to us on his own initiative."
...
After lunch, Li Qi went to Taishi Academy. This time he went not to find the two beauties Feng and Ji, but to find Cai Jing. Since the Wuxiang Banquet, he had not met Cai Jing. Some things always required
To face.
Fortunately, Cai Jing happened to be in the academy, and there was another person, Zhu Meng, one of the six thieves.
"Li Qi has met the Grand Master, and Zhu Yushi is also here! Polite, polite." Li Qi smiled and cupped his hands towards the two of them, but thought in his heart, if Zhu Meng appeared here at this time, could it be that---
-, If this is the case, then I came at the right time.
He was not very familiar with Zhu Meng, but he knew that Zhu Meng was Cai Jing's most powerful helper in the court, and Zhu Meng had also helped him in the court. At first, he used small tricks to temporarily prevent Song Huizong from coming back from the south of the Yangtze River.
When transporting granite, Suzhou's Yingfeng Bureau was under the control of Zhu Meng, which cut off Zhu Meng's way of making money. However, Zhu Meng also blamed him, at least on the surface.
Li Qi also knew very well that he was doing this for Cai Jing's sake.
Zhu Meng stood up and held his hands to greet him and said: "The economic envoy is here." After the two exchanged a few words, Zhu Meng turned to Cai Jing and said: "Mr. En, I still have some things to deal with, so I will leave first."
Cai Jing raised his hand and said: "Well, you go ahead. Cai Yong, you send Master Zhu off for me."
"yes."
Zhu Meng smiled at Li Qi again and walked out.
After the two of them went out, Cai Jing pointed to the chair in front of him and said, "Sit down." His face looked particularly dull.
Although Cai Jing loves and values Li Qi very much, no matter what, Cai You is his son. You are both letting the dog out and the broom. This is undoubtedly an insult to the Cai family. You can't make Li Qi sit down.
That said, it's already a great honor.
Li Qi's heart felt like a mirror, he sat down and said humbly: "I'm sorry, I'm really too busy these days and can't spare time. I have to trouble the Grand Master to look after the academy. I really don't deserve the respect that the Grand Master has for me."
Cai Jing glared at him angrily and said, "You are probably too busy hanging out with Lady Feng."
Sweating! You don't need to be so direct. Li Qi laughed and said: "Master is joking, I don't have that skill now."
Cai Jing glanced sideways, sighed heavily, and said: "Now you have posed a difficult problem for me. I originally planned to introduce you to You'er, but I never thought that you would be more anxious than me, so you went to find it yourself.
Go up."
You can't blame me alone for this. That Feng Yinu is your subordinate after all. Your son behaves like this and shows that he doesn't give you face. He doesn't teach you. It's a father's fault. You should spank him and punish him by kneeling and rubbing.
The clothing board is the one. Li Qi said aggrievedly: "Grand Master, this matter---."
Cai Jing raised his hand and said: "Don't explain. It's useless to explain now. You and You'er are in such a quarrel. Even if I want to mediate, there's nothing I can do. You can figure it out yourself. But now, you
I’m afraid I don’t have the time to fight blindly with You’er.”
Li Qi had no intention of asking Cai Jing to help mediate. Seeing that he didn't blame himself too much, he burned incense. If even Cai Jing wanted to be his enemy, then he could really buy a piece of tofu and kill him. He shook his head with a wry smile.
Shaking his head, he said: "I really can't hide anything from the Grand Master. Now I am one of the first and two older."
"You deserve it. Who told you to offend the first person in the dynasty?" Cai Jing smiled happily and said, "However, I heard that some landowners are very supportive of you."
Hey, you don't have to go out, so you are better informed than the emperor. Li Qi smiled and said, "That's just a very small number of people."
Cai Jing said: "That's amazing. To tell you the truth, when I heard about the increase in land tax, I was really shocked. I was going to dig a hole to bury you. I still remember when I followed Wang Anshixian
During the Phase Transformation Law, the Fangtian Law was implemented less than a month ago. There were widespread complaints among the people. None of the bureaucrats and landlords supported it. Not only that, they also used all their strength to oppose the new law and did everything possible.
, I feel so terrible now just thinking about it, I almost lost my life. And this increase in land tax is even worse than the Fangtian Law. Although it has not been officially implemented yet, the news has already
When the news came out, I thought your reform might end here, but I never expected that the city and outside the capital would be very peaceful. Compared to that time, it was so much better. I think Wang Fu didn't expect that, in this regard,
Neither I nor Wang Anshi are as good as you."
"Grand Master, thank you." Li Qi's face turned red and he sighed: "So what, even if I escape this calamity by chance, there will be a second calamity and a third calamity waiting for me, Mr. Wang
Now that he is so powerful and has minions all over the government and the public, he can kill me with just a casual order. Oh, it makes me sad just thinking about it."
Cai Jing was stunned, his cloudy eyes suddenly revealed a glimmer of light, he squinted and said with a smile: "That's not entirely true. Didn't you get involved in Ying Feng's situation? This move is really cruel, beyond my expectation.
Haha, it’s really wonderful.”
Just kidding, could Xiao Qin's plan be bad? But now that I think about it, this move is really naughty. I can't help but cut off Wang Fu's financial path, and I can still monitor Wang Fu openly. Li Qi was very proud in his heart,
But he said lightly: "So what, compared to the difficulties I encountered, they are really not worth mentioning."
"Just be content." Cai Jing hated to see Li Qi's expression of being a good boy and said: "Since Wang Fu established the Yingfeng Bureau, no one else could squeeze in even an embroidery needle, but now you directly put it in
The entire Commerce Bureau is above the Yingfeng Bureau, what else do you want?"
Don't keep talking nonsense like this. I've already told you what I mean, and you should give me an answer! Li Qi smiled and didn't answer.
Cai Jing glanced sideways, coughed lightly, and said, "Don't expect me to help you with this matter. I'm still working as an official at home and don't have any power at all. Just ask for your blessings."
Li Qi smiled and said: "You can't say that. Grand Master, you have come here after all. I will definitely come to learn from you in the future. I am afraid that you will find me annoying."
"Let's talk about this later." Cai Jing responded lightly, and suddenly said: "By the way, I happen to have something I want to discuss with you."
"What's the matter?"
Cai Jing said seriously: "I have been walking around the college a lot recently and chatted with the teachers from time to time. I found that Chen Dong and Ouyang Che are talented people. Their knowledge and knowledge are far better than others. It would be too much to let them stay in the college.
It's a waste of talent, so I'm thinking about it and want them to recommend it to the emperor, what do you think?"
This old guy really can't sit still, but if you don't take any action, Wang Fu will wipe out all the chess pieces you have left in the court. Li Qi knew that this old guy really took the opportunity to express his position to himself, and he was immediately elated.
, said: "Of course this is a good thing, as long as they don't come to our Bureau of Commerce."
Cai Jing said in surprise: "Why is this?"
Li Qidao: "These two guys are smelly and tough. Although they are good at knowledge, they are even more capable of offending people. Today's Commerce Bureau has become a target in the eyes of many people. Even a small mistake cannot be tolerated."
, if these two people come, then I will do nothing else for the whole day, just follow them."
Cai Jing shook his head with a wry smile and said: "This is what I am worried about, so I plan to ask Sui'er to recommend the two of them to enter the Daolu Academy and practice it first. If they deal with historical records and classics all day long, they can still offend others.
, which proves that they are not suitable to be officials. You also help to look after them. You brought them both in, especially Chen Dong. He has always misunderstood me. Now I am repaying evil with kindness, and I am not
I hope he can repay kindness with kindness, as long as he doesn't repay kindness with kindness."
Li Qi nodded and said: "I will tell them this. If they really do anything to disgrace the Grand Master, I will let them taste the bitter consequences without you taking action, Grand Master."
What he said is really not a joke. Cai Jing is very important to him now. If Chen Dong really dares to go against Cai Jing, he will never show mercy. He will really do the same thing as picking up sesame seeds and throwing away watermelons.
Not coming out.
“So best.”
Cai Jing nodded, stood up, patted his old legs, and said with a pun: "Oh, I've been sitting for too long, it's time to get up and move."
Li Qi smiled and said: "Butler Cai hasn't come yet, so I'll accompany the Grand Master around."
This guy is so considerate. Cai Jing laughed and said, "Then I'll help you." To be continued.)