However, knowing it is clear. Whether it can be done is another matter. He has been used to using Li Mu's money, but suddenly he doesn't use it. Li Shimin always feels like he has lost his money.
Li Shimin frowned and thought for a while, and couldn't help but said: "Queen, you are right, but he can earn so much money, why don't I do anything at all? If I hadn't supported him, if I hadn't given him
support……"
"Your Majesty!" Empress Changsun interrupted Li Shimin and said: "If your Majesty's idea is to follow, who in the civil and military circles of the dynasty has not been favored by your Majesty? Is it possible that your Majesty used this as a basis to rob their family property? Li Mu makes money,
It's his ability. Your Majesty has given him favors, and he has repaid Your Majesty. If nothing else, the expenses in the palace this year are far better than last year. Isn't it the credit of Li Mu? Your Majesty still remembers that at this time last year, in order to save money,
Du, Your Majesty even skipped the banquet."
Li Shimin remained silent, as Queen Changsun's words reached his heart.
During the Chinese New Year, it was a routine matter for the royal family to hold a banquet. Last year, in order to prepare for the Turkic War, they saved everything they could. Li Shimin hesitated again and again and stopped all the banquets.
Some people may think that how much money can be saved by stopping a few banquets? The actual situation is that this amount of money is really quite a lot. But the joint does not appear on Li Shimin's body, but on his father Li Yuan's body.
At that time, Li Yuan led his army to invade Chang'an and established the Tang Dynasty. At the beginning of the founding of the country, when the four parties were not yet peaceful, Li Yuan began to indulge in pleasure and handed over state affairs to his two sons, Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin. This move also laid the foundation for the future feud between the brothers.
There was a hidden danger. So when Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin were running to put down the rebels from all directions, what did Li Yuan do in Chang'an City?
The answer is simple, create people.
After Li Yuan founded the country, he married countless concubines and gave birth to more than a dozen younger brothers and more than a dozen younger sisters to Li Shimin. Although Li Shimin killed two of them during the Xuanwu Gate Incident, there were still twenty or thirty left.
Li Yuan didn't care about these things. In his heart, the only children he really valued were the direct children. He couldn't even remember the names of the rest. Some of the children of unfavored concubines were not even named by him.
All of them are left to the people of Zongzheng Temple.
He is the father, so he can do this. But Li Shimin cannot do this. After he became the emperor, he had a bad background. If he scolded his brothers and sisters again, he would be criticized even more. So every New Year, Li Shimin would give a banquet.
Gather the brothers and sisters and have a meal together. After the meal is over, rewards will be given. If all twenty or thirty brothers and sisters are "gifted", it will cost at least tens of thousands of dollars.
In order to collect the money for the war last year, let alone tens of thousands of guan, it was thousands of guan, which was a lot of money in Li Shimin's eyes. In desperation, he had no choice but to waive the banquet. But for this money, he
At that time, Li Yuan was still having fun every night. I heard that he had saved the money for the banquet, so he asked people to come and ask for it. The money Li Shimin saved was basically lost to Li Yuan.
Li Shimin still remembers that he really felt like crying at that time. If it were not for the burden of his status as an emperor, he would really have to cry loudly to get rid of the grievances in his heart. People say that a penny can beat a hero.
Han. Li Shimin, who came from an outstanding family, had never felt this way before, but in the first month of last year, he really experienced it.
Later, in order to make up for the shortfall, Empress Changsun took the lead and took out all her gold and silver jewelry, melted them down, and added them to the military pay.
Thinking of the hardships he suffered last year, and looking at the table full of wine and meat now, Li Shimin suddenly realized that Li Mu was so important. It can be said that Li Mu's arrival greatly improved the quality of life in the palace.
Now everyone in the palace can get their monthly salary on time. The concubines all use silver mirrors and perfume. The ladies in the palace can't afford perfume, so they all use soap. Although Li Mu complains about poverty all day long, the expenses in the palace have never been higher.
Less than that. The food is getting better and better day by day. In the past, even if he was the emperor, he could only eat meat once every three to five days. But now, not only meat is available for every meal, the queen and the main concubines can also eat it.
If you can eat meat, your living standard will go up a notch.
Where does this money come from?
Li Shimin didn't know, but what he knew was that if it were another person, he would definitely not be able to do this. And the most rare thing is that Li Mu never took credit for this. It seemed that he should do this, even if he was attacked
, he never brought it up when he was harshly scolded.
After thinking about it, Li Shimin actually felt a little more guilty. He smiled bitterly and said, "What the queen said is that I was wrong. I actually coveted Li Mu's money. It's really ridiculous."
Empress Changsun smiled and said: "Your Majesty, you don't have to take it too seriously. I'll rely on my concubine's judgment. Although Li Mu is a little ridiculous from time to time, he is never confused about major matters. He is not pretending to pass on the imperial edict for his own selfish reasons.
, I just have differences in judgment with His Majesty, and he just wants to do what he wants. I think that if principles are not involved, talents like Li Mu should be treated with more convenience. Even if you are wrong, don't go too far.
Harsh criticism. Your Majesty needs talents, so what are talents? Only those who can do what Your Majesty cannot do can be called talents."
"If what Li Mu is thinking is within His Majesty's expectation, then would Your Majesty still think highly of him? But if what he is thinking is unexpected by Your Majesty and cannot judge right from wrong, then you might as well trust him.
, don’t worry too much.”
Li Shimin laughed dumbly and said: "My Queen, have you been bribed by that boy, how can you speak for him everywhere? I was originally angry and wanted to deal with him, but when you said this, it seemed that I
You have to apologize to him."
Empress Changsun smiled and said: "I am just discussing the matter. I do not advise Your Majesty to give any preferential treatment to Li Mu. I only hope that Your Majesty will think about it when you criticize Li Mu harshly. If this matter is placed on other people,
Will Your Majesty still be so decisive? For example, if the same thing happens to my concubine's brother, Wang Shizhong, Wei Gong, etc., will Your Majesty still be harsh on them?"
Li Shimin frowned and said, "You actually compare Li Mu with my Prime Minister?"
"Your Majesty, don't you regard Li Mu as your choice as prime minister and assistant?" Empress Changsun said sternly: "Your Majesty, please don't forget that Li Mu is now a marquis. He is ranked third in rank and is only one step away from being a minister in the sixth department! In the coming spring, if he
If he is truly the number one scholar in high school, Your Majesty will raise him to the third level, and he will be a real minister of the Prime Minister and Fu."
Li Shimin was stunned.
It's not that he didn't think of this, but that he had always ignored it. In his mind, Li Mu's official rank, whether it was the fourth rank or the third rank, was somewhat joking. The reason why he gave Li Mu this rank
The position of the third rank is, to a large extent, to facilitate the use of Li Mu as a chess piece to compete with the noble family represented by Wei Zheng, to balance the noble family represented by the king and the nobility represented by Changsun Wuji.
It wasn't until Empress Changsun mentioned it just now that Li Shimin realized that he had placed Li Mu in such a high position. Counting the civil and military personnel of the entire dynasty, there were about a hundred people. From the third rank and above, there were less than thirty people. Half of them were
A nominal sinecure, in other words, Li Mu's current status has quietly entered the top twenty in the court.
He is only seventeen years old!
Li Shimin's face changed slightly and he said: "Queen, have I promoted Li Mu too high? A tree that is as beautiful as the forest wind will destroy it. Will I harm him?"
"If it were anyone else, I would have warned Your Majesty a long time ago. But Li Mu is different. Your Majesty, Li Mu has been the Minister-in-Chief of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for such a long time. Is there one thing that would not make Your Majesty worry about it?"
Li Shimin suddenly became angry and said: "You should tell me that there is one thing that makes me worry-free. It will be fine for three days, but it will be early for the fifth day. When have I ever worried about him?"
"No, your Majesty is wrong again." Queen Changsun corrected: "It's because your Majesty pays attention to Li Mu that you know what happened and disturbed your thoughts. But if your Majesty didn't pay attention to Li Mu, your Majesty wouldn't know anything.
"
"Wouldn't that mean I'm blind? Deaf?"
"If something big happened, how could His Majesty not know about it? It's just because the matter didn't reach the point where anyone came to accuse His Majesty, so His Majesty didn't know about it. Didn't Your Majesty realize that although Li Mu was impulsive and arrogant, he also knew how to advance and retreat?
, he won’t offend those who can’t afford to offend him. Just like what happened with the Hejian County King a few days ago, didn’t he just bend down? "
"That's true." Li Shimin laughed when he thought of everything between Li Mu and Li Xiaogong. Li Xiaogong is currently the only person who has made Li Mu feel weak. Even Changsun Wuji, who is the uncle of the country, worshiped Li Mu as his disciple in Changsun Chong.
After that, he didn't take it seriously anymore.
"Okay, just pretend that I don't know about this and leave it alone." Li Shimin waved his hand and signaled Eunuch Gao to step back. A palace maid came over and wiped the soup on the table, and replaced Li Shimin with a new soup bowl.
As they continued to eat, Eunuch Gao breathed a long sigh of relief. He covered his heart and came out of the Zhengzheng Palace. He called a young eunuch and gave him a few instructions. The young eunuch ran away and left the palace to deliver the message.
…
Jingdong collection.
The marriage proposal team has come back, and of course it can't be a waste of errands. As soon as the team set off, the cook hired by Bai Naoer started to catch fire. When the team came back, the running water mat had been set up, winding for tens of meters, with no end in sight.
The whole market is full.
Not only people in the marriage proposal procession can eat it, but passers-by who are watching the excitement can also eat it if they find an empty seat after everyone in the marriage proposal procession has sat down, just saying auspicious words. Li Mu has already said that his brother's marriage is a great event.
, opened up to eat, and he paid for all the expenses alone.
Li Mu was drinking with his face flushed when a young eunuch suddenly came. Li Mu asked the others to wait for a while and followed the young eunuch to a secluded place.
"... Lord Marquis, this is what my adoptive father has told me. There is nothing else to say." The young eunuch repeated what Eunuch Gao said on his behalf and did not move. He looked at Li Mu expectantly. He is also one of Eunuch Gao's godsons.
, but because he has been serving in the Zhengdian Hall, he has much less oil and water than the godsons who serve in the Taiji Hall. However, he heard from the brothers in the Taiji Hall that among all the oily things, there is no more oily and oily things than running errands for Zhuluhou.
He's older. It's finally his turn today, and he's so excited that his heart is about to jump out of his chest.
Li Mu did not disappoint him. He retracted his hand into his sleeves, exchanged a silver ingot from the system, threw it to the young eunuch, and said: "Go back and tell Eunuch Gao that I have written down the favor, and I have prepared one for him."
As for the gift, when he is free to leave the palace, come to me and I will give it to him."
"I've written it down." The little eunuch took the silver ingot without looking at it. It felt heavy in his hand, and he already knew how much it was. He was immediately elated. Don't say anything else, even if he was asked to call him grandpa, he would be able to call him grandpa immediately.
exit.
The young eunuch returned to the palace, but Li Mu felt a little worried.
When he just exchanged silver ingots, he glanced at his balance and saw that there were only more than fifty taels in the system. Except when he was in Mayi and Dingxiang, now was the time when he had the least money.
The rumors among the people were spread by him, but they were not lies. On the contrary, they were all true. In order to collect these ten thousand taels of gold, Li Mu basically emptied his entire family fortune.
Now the whole family lives on Feng Qiuhuang's little living money.
When he discussed this matter with his wife and concubines last night, Li Zhien was firmly opposed to it. Even though Li Siwen helped him achieve good things, Li Zien was still not so generous in proposing marriage for Li Siwen despite "bankruptcy". Bai Qiaoqiao, as Li Mu,
Li Mu’s head wife didn’t say a word of objection. She just said that Li Mu had made the decision and she had no objections.
This left Li Mu confused. He had no opinion. Do you object or agree? Do you really have no opinion, or are you just saying something sarcastic out of anger?
"Brother!!"
"Coming!"
Li Siwen's voice came over, and Li Mu had no time to think about it, so he roared and returned to the table.
Li Siwen's face was as red as a monkey's butt, and he had clearly drunk too much. When he saw Li Mu coming over, he raised his glass of wine and threw it at Li Mu. Tears and snot ran down his face, and he cried: "Brother, brother, why are you so nice to me?"
Ah! How can a younger brother be worthy of the deep affection of an elder brother... Brother, I just heard someone say that in order to collect these ten thousand taels of gold for me, my family didn't even have money to buy rice. Ugh...
…My eldest brother, I will never let my eldest brother have no food to eat!”
As Li Siwen spoke, he put his hand into his arms and dug out, took out a money bag, stuffed it into Li Mu's hand, and said, "Brother, take it all!"
After saying that, he was stunned for a moment, and gave himself a slap: "Look at how confused I am, how can I do this? The elder brother can't repay his kindness, and the younger brother can only show his kindness..."
"Stop it!" Li Mu supported Li Siwen's chin with his hand to prevent him from getting closer, and said: "Stop being so sentimental! I am collecting this betrothal gift for you just because you are my brother. It's not just you, Xiaojiu, Da
Well, when they get married, the same goes for me, eldest brother."
When Dugu Jiu heard this, he couldn't help but glance over. He originally thought that Li Mu was just doing this to Li Siwen, but when he heard this, he felt relieved. As the sole heir of the Dugu Clan, Dugu Jiu is actually not short of this ten thousand taels of gold.
But if Li Mu only gave it to Li Siwen but not to him, he would still feel uncomfortable in his heart.
"I told you a long time ago that my brother regards money as dirt, do you believe it now? Come on, come on, drink!"