Li Shimin rested here last night and was planning to go to court after breakfast. Suddenly, Eunuch Gao came from the entrance of the palace, came to Li Shimin, bowed and said: "Your Majesty, Queen, the Marquis Zhulu is waiting outside the palace."
Since Li Mu became the Minister-in-Chief of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he has the right to enter and leave the palace at will. This kind of power is even more privileged than that of Changsun Wuji, the uncle of the country. Changsun Wuji must be notified first when he comes to the harem, and
Li Mu skipped this step and just went straight outside the palace to wait.
"Let him come in." Li Shimin said, pointing to the table again: "Bring another pair of bowls and chopsticks."
"No," Eunuch Gao responded, feeling very envious in his heart. How do you describe this holy family? Does His Majesty look at you as a holy family in the court? In the eyes of Eunuch Gao, who has followed Li Shimin for more than 20 years, this is not considered a holy family.
There is no such thing as a holy family, at most it is just an imperial family. A real holy family is someone like Li Mu who does not treat you as an outsider at all. This is something that even one cannot envy.
Eunuch Gao turned around and went out. Li Mu came in with a smile. When he saw Li Shimin eating, he rubbed his hands and came over. The meaning couldn't be more obvious, so he just had to do it directly. Li Shimin pointed to the Jin Dun that the palace maid had moved for him, and Li Mu also
You're welcome, I thanked you and sat down.
"Why did you come to the palace so early?"
"In reply to Your Majesty," Li Mu tore open a steamed bun, stuffed it into his mouth and half-pull it, and said vaguely: "I came here specially to decorate it for Your Majesty...here I am."
Li Shimin didn't understand and said, "What do you mean? What kind of decoration?"
Li Mu swallowed the steamed bun and said, "Don't your Majesty envy the glazed windows in my house? I'll keep it in mind. I've had nothing to do these days, so I worked hard all night and finally made a batch of glazed windows. It's not enough to replace all the glazed windows in the palace.
But changing to another palace is still barely enough. The workers have already been brought and are waiting outside the palace. Your Majesty, please tell me which palace to change. Start the work now and it will be almost completed by the time the palace is closed in the evening."
Li Shimin and Empress Changsun were both surprised and looked at Li Mu strangely. The last time they mentioned this matter, if I remember correctly, Li Mu deliberately changed the topic and talked about unfair distribution and so on. He didn't want to give anything.
It's Liuli, why are you here in such a hurry today?
Li Shimin frowned and said, "What's your plan? If you don't explain it clearly, I won't accept your bribe."
Li Mu chuckled and said: "Your Majesty, nothing can be hidden from your eyes. I won't hide it anymore. In fact, this is the case. Remember the incident of the Zhenla Mission. The tribute from the Zhenla Kingdom is not a tribute to me."
Has it been detained?" Seeing Empress Changsun's expression of confusion, Li Mu quickly explained: "Your Majesty knows about this, we have agreed."
Li Shimin nodded and said: "It is true. The elephants in the valley are Zhenla's tribute. I have made an agreement with Li Mu and they will all belong to him."
Queen Changsun smiled and said nothing.
Li Mu continued: "In addition to elephants and rhinoceroses, there are also some things, such as agarwood, yellow wax, etc. It was useless for me to keep them, so I took them to the East Market to sell them, and sold them for more than 100,000 yuan..."
Li Shimin's eyes widened and he said, "What did you say? One hundred thousand coins?"
"More than 100,000 guan," Li Mu corrected.
Li Shimin's face suddenly turned red and he was about to regret it. Empress Changsun quickly stopped him and signaled him to pay attention to her dignity. The emperor followed his words, so how could he deny what he said? If he broke his promise for hundreds of thousands of gold, would he still have prestige?
Li Mu explained: "I didn't know it was so valuable. I asked the merchant who bought it, and he said that Zhenla is far away. We in the Tang Dynasty don't have the things they have there. This thing is rare and expensive, so the price is high. I thought about it
Ah, this money is a bit hot."
Li Shimin hummed: "It's good that you know!"
"...Those dog censors will definitely not let me go. Instead of being impeached by them, it would be better to burn me! Let's break up and let no one spend money!"
"Burn?" Li Shimin didn't understand and said, "How to burn money? Can copper also be burned?"
Li Mu smiled and said: "I exchanged all the proceeds for silver, and then used the silver to make colored glaze. Didn't I tell your majesty that silver is needed to make colored glaze? I exchanged all the proceeds for silver, and then burned them all into colored glaze.
, I’ll give it to His Majesty and let’s see what else those dog censors can say!”
"More than 100,000 swords, and you burned them into colored glaze?!" Li Shimin suddenly felt his heart hurt. He subconsciously covered it, stared into Li Mu's eyes, and said, "You prodigal son!"
Li Mu shrugged and said: "Your Majesty, it's just some money anyway, so just burn it. If you didn't have this money, Your Majesty wouldn't have a glazed window, right? As the emperor of the great Tang Dynasty, how can you not live in peace?
What about a palace with glazed windows? This is unjustifiable. Your Majesty, don’t be too hard on yourself. You have to enjoy what you deserve.”
"I..." Li Shimin covered his chest and sighed: "I would rather switch to swords, guns and horses, I..."
The deal is done, and the silver that has been changed into glazed glass cannot be changed back. Empress Changsun had no choice but to persuade her, saying: "Your Majesty, I think Li Mu's words are reasonable. If it weren't for the money that you got, your Majesty would probably never get the money from within."
If you use the money to make glazed windows, since Li Mu has already done it, Your Majesty, don’t feel bad about it, just enjoy it when it’s time to enjoy it.”
"Alas..." Li Shimin sighed, looked at Li Mu, and said, "Are we going to make a total of one palace?"
"Actually, it's the size of two palaces, but...the Supreme Emperor saw it and went to half of it to decorate the heaven and earth."
"Ouch..." Li Shimin felt a little distressed again. If there were two halls, Taiji Hall and Li Zheng Hall could be renovated together. But now there is only one hall left. Li Shimin hesitated and said: "Queen, it is better to decorate Li Zheng Hall."
Let’s go to the Zhengdian Palace. I’ll wait until we have more money.”
Empress Changsun said hurriedly: "Your Majesty, few outsiders come to the Li Zheng Hall, so it doesn't matter at all. Let's decorate the Tai Chi Hall."
"It's better to establish the Zhengdian Palace."
"Your Majesty, the one who listens to your concubines is Tai Chi Hall."
The couple showed humility to each other, and Li Mu felt a little uncomfortable. If these two people knew that the glass was made of sand, he might kill himself.
"Your Majesty, Queen, stop arguing and listen to what I have to say."
Li Shimin looked at Li Mu: "What else are you talking about?"
"Your Majesty, I am thinking about it, how about... Liangyi Palace?"
"Liang Yi Palace?"
"Yes!" Li Mu pointed to the direction of Liangyi Palace and said: "Your Majesty, Liangyi Palace is the place where you go to court. Hundreds of officials go there to meet Your Majesty, and envoys from foreign countries meet there. This is the face of the Tang Dynasty.
Where is it? Just imagine, if the envoys from other countries see that all the windows in the palaces of the Tang Dynasty are made of colored glaze, haha, wouldn’t you scare them to death?”
"This..." Li Shimin looked at Queen Changsun and asked, "What does the Queen think?"