"Lin Jue, the etiquette for meeting the emperor is to bow down. You are rude." Guo Kun said coldly.
Lin Jue stood there with his hands clasped and bowing slightly, frowning, and said in a deep voice: "Above the temple, on the throne, one should perform a great ceremony. Outside the temple, one should practice common courtesy. This is the etiquette prescribed by the Ministry of Rites. Minister
No disrespect. Of course, if the emperor needs a bow at this moment, of course I can satisfy you. Does the emperor...need it?"
Lin Jue's words were as calm as ice, and there was hidden murderous intent in his words. Even in the hot summer, Guo Kun still felt chilly when he heard it. The implication was, I can kowtow to you, but can you bear it?
?
Guo Kun stared at Lin Jue for a long time, and finally sighed and said softly: "I don't need it, I don't need anything."
Lin Jue straightened up and approached slowly. Only then did he see Guo Kun's face, which was slumped and pale, and his hair was messy, as if he had aged ten years. The brocade robe on his body was full of stains, accompanied by a pungent smell.
Comes lightly.
The two were several steps apart, and for a moment they were speechless. They just stood facing each other. One stared at the other fiercely, and the other stood with his hands behind his hands and stared at him proudly, without giving in. It was like two beasts meeting each other on a narrow road.
Generally, the situation is tense and a battle seems to break out at any time.
On the tall trees around the lotus pond, the hoarse screams of summer cicadas are like the last screams of a thirsty person, which is heartbreaking. The wind blows, and the lotus leaves all over the pond rustle and make a noise. The distant scenery
On the horizon, there are black clouds rising up like splashing ink, rolling and expanding. It is a storm that is brewing in the summer afternoon.
Finally, Guo Kun sighed slowly, turned around and sat on the stone bench, looking at the lotus leaves rolling in the lotus pond, and said in a deep voice: "Lin Jue, is there no room for reconciliation between you and me? You just
Do you have to put me to death if you don’t miss your old feelings at all?”
Lin Jue also slowly sat on the stone bench opposite him, his eyes following a pair of black swifts flying in the wind, and replied in a deep voice: "I did not put you to death, although I have thousands of reasons.
Do that. You must also know what I am going to do. I have not broken my promise to you. I have no interest in becoming emperor, so you can rest assured."
"But... what is the difference between you and killing me? I, the emperor, am just a name, just a puppet. Is this how you treat me? My father and I treated you very well. Back then we...
..." Guo Kun turned his head and shouted angrily.
Lin Jue waved his hand to stop him and said in a deep voice: "Don't go over old scores, it's meaningless. You just want to say that you and the old prince are kind to me and married Caiwei to me. One code will be the same, if
If you insist on treating these things as a favor to me, I can tell you many things to repay Prince Liang's house. Including taking back the Queen Mother's birthday gift, annihilating the pirates, quelling Prince Liang's drowning of Kang Zizhen, and even later
You all rescued the capital and eventually helped you ascend to the throne. Everything I did was worthy of the way you treated me. Do you see that I talk about these things every day? The biggest difference between you and me is
That is, you, father and son, have always thought that it is natural for me to serve the prince. If you receive a favor, you want me to keep it in mind for fear that I will forget it. To put it bluntly, you are aloof and think that others should serve you and that others are supported by you.
The dog. And I regard the palace as a cooperative partner and an ally who will help each other in times of trouble. The relationship between us cannot be measured by kindness, but a relationship of both prosperity and loss. Therefore, I will not account for what I have done for you.
I won't ask for anything in return from you. This is the difference between you and me. It's ridiculous that you regard my marriage with Caiwei as a gift."
Guo Kun said angrily: "What's so funny? I could have killed you when you deceived Caiwei."
.Not only did we not kill you, but we also married Caiwei to you in the end. Isn’t this kindness?"
Lin Jue sneered and said: "Then I would like to thank you for not killing me. You asked Caiwei to marry me, just to win over me. If I didn't win the top prize, if my teacher Mr. Fang hadn't been in charge at that time,
Ordinance Department, will you still marry Caiwei to me? You just want to further control me. In addition to placing spies around me, you can even use Wei'er's marriage. I actually
I knew this earlier, but Wei'er and I are in love, so I don't mind if you do this. If you insist on saying that this is a favor, that's up to you."
Guo Kun blushed and said: "You know the ambition of my father and son. We could have married Wei'er to someone else to win better allies. Did you know that Yang Jun's son was interested in Caiwei at the beginning? We could even marry Wei'er to someone else."
Marry Lu Tianci, that way we will get greater benefits. What are you capable of? We will hold on to you."
Lin Jue laughed loudly and said: "Have you not seen what I am capable of? Do you want me to show off to myself? It's not that you don't want to marry Yang Jun, Lu Zhongtian or anyone else, you are afraid that you will lose the rice if you steal the chicken.
Wei'er is devoted to me and has a fierce temper. You are afraid that it will cause a lot of trouble in the end. Your Majesty, you want to see me today just to settle these old scores with me? Don't you think it's meaningless? If it's just for the sake of
I don’t think we need to talk about these things anymore. I still have a lot of things to do. Time is precious and you only need to seize the day. I don’t want to waste my time on these meaningless arguments.”
Guo Kun sneered and said: "You are so powerful. This world still belongs to my Guo family, and you are still a minister of the Guo family, so you are talking to me like this. Sure enough, rebellious ministers and traitors are all the same, arrogant, domineering, and arrogant."
Lin Jue said in a deep voice: "You can think whatever you want, I don't care. Even if the emperor scolds me, I have to leave. You can scold me here for three days and three nights."
Lin Jue stood up with a sullen face, preparing to leave.
Guo Kun stood up and shouted loudly: "Lin Jue, you don't care about the old friendship at all, don't care about our origins, and you have to put me to death?"
Lin Jue shouted coldly: "I didn't want to put you to death, it was you who pushed yourself to a dead end. Of course I wanted to take back the throne at first and help you ascend the throne. However, what you did is chilling. Your magnanimity
Being so small is something I have never thought about. I think it may be what Prince Liang said to you when he was dying that made you dizzy. I am not disrespectful to you and your son, because you and your son are people with great ambition and talent, but they insist on being self-righteous.
He also wants to act like a wise king who treats the virtuous and corporal, but he has no tolerance for others. He has no strategic skills, but he likes to work secretly. He has a thief's heart but no thief's courage. He can only think that he has some good plans.
In fact, it’s completely useless.”
Guo Kun said angrily: "You...how can you slander me and my father like this?"
Lin Jue shook his head and said: "I am not slandering, I am just saying what I think in my heart. Isn't it? You and your son have lived in Hangzhou in seclusion for twenty years. If you have the ambition to compete for supremacy in a prosperous place like Hangzhou, I am afraid that you will have already died.
We have prepared money, food, and all the necessary things, and we have made preparations secretly. But you dare not take action at all, so you can only deceive yourself. If I were you, the pirates on the islands in eastern Zhejiang would have been conquered for your own use. Back then,
I thought that the pirates in eastern Zhejiang were raised by you, so they couldn't be eradicated in just twenty years, but it turned out that you were simply incapable of eradicating them. The island was such a unique place to station troops, and it was just disguised in the name of the pirates. However,
You didn't even think of this. Isn't this incompetence?"
Guo Kun was shocked and speechless. He and his father did have such an idea at first, but they did not dare to do it after all. In fact, his father was already there
There are many operations on the Liangzhe Road, just to make some preparations. But in the end, they did not dare to take the step of contacting and recruiting pirates, and secretly stationing troops to prepare for a big fight. After all, they were not courageous enough to make a desperate move.
"Also, what's even more ridiculous is that the package swap plan devised by your father and the others is simply ridiculous. The prince may have thought that it was a far-sighted and difficult move, but little did he know that seizing the throne through that method would be as good as ascending to the sky.
The third prince who slipped the contract will definitely be able to ascend the throne? That is the third prince, and there is Guo Mian and Guo Xu in front of him. How can he be certain to ascend the throne? With the late emperor’s love for Concubine Rong? Is this thing reliable? Lu Zhongtian and the others are just decorations.
?How did Guo Xu seize the throne? Could it be that he relied on the late emperor's favor? It's a joke. Not to mention these, even if the third prince who had been tricked got the throne, wouldn't he be afraid of turning his back on him? After the prince revealed his origin, he would not be afraid of backlash.
What's even more outrageous about this plan is that the prince actually risked the throne falling into the hands of people who had nothing to do with the Guo family. As a member of the royal family of the Zhou Dynasty, he actually risked the country changing its banner to do such a thing.
It is simply incomprehensible. This can only mean that the prince has no idea of the state of Zhou Dynasty at all, only his personal interests. Of course, on this point, you and your son are of the same strain. Isn’t that what you do? And what you do
It's even worse. You risked losing the Great Zhou Dynasty to the barbarians and stabbed the soldiers in the back. Your behavior is even worse and even more heinous." Lin Jue said coldly.
Guo Kun's face turned pale and he felt unhappy. Lin Juezhi said that there was no room for refutation. His father's plan seemed brilliant, but in fact it was just self-deception. Even Guo Kun could see that the probability of success of that plan was extremely slim. Father
The king was so complacent that he thought he had really devised some clever plan to seize the throne. In fact, he was just deceiving himself and comforting himself.
"I...I won't allow you to slander my father like this. Just shut up." Guo Kun shouted angrily.
"I don't want to say this either. In fact, I don't want to mention these things at all. I don't even want to get involved in what your father and son did. If I didn't have to get on a big ship with you, I wouldn't want to do anything about your father and son's behavior at all.
Any judgment. But... nature is like this, destiny dictates, we are on the same boat, there is nothing we can do. I think I have done everything I can, and I think I can live up to you and my son. But in the end I still didn’t expect
, the big ship did not capsize in the wind and waves, but the people on the ship started fighting among themselves. I never expected that you were so suspicious of me and even wanted to kill me. I never expected that you
To be so confused, to put the country and the country outside of personal desires, and to behave like that. Your Majesty, do you know how sad I felt when I found out that you contacted Shen Fang, Liu Sheng and the others?
It's even more uncomfortable than that day when you ambush people under the trestle and try to kill me. If you want to kill me, I can also understand that it's because I am so powerful that you are worried about my dominance. At least it makes sense. But you took advantage of it.
I was shocked by the despicable behavior and short-sightedness of Luo Yanjun's behind-the-scenes actions when fighting the Jurchens. How I wish that hadn't happened. How I wish that all the arrangements I asked Shen Tan to make were used.
If not, you can rein in the situation. At least you will let me know that you are an emperor who cares about the overall situation of the world and the safety of the country. But you didn't. When I received the news, do you know how disappointed I was?
Lin Jue said in a deep voice.
Guo Kun stood there blankly, speechless. The wind suddenly picked up, carrying the smell of moist heavy rain. The dark clouds in the distance had covered half of the sky, and there were already electric lights flashing in the dark clouds.
The fierce wind blew the lotus leaves all over the pond, causing Guo Kun's bun to scatter and dance wildly.
