"Oh, go down a little, and that's right here." Ming Chengzu half-squinted his eyes and guided Lin Shangli's hands down a little.
"Your Majesty, you are overworked and your psoas muscles are damaged. From now on, you must rest on time and don't stay up late anymore!" Lin Shangli said in a soft voice while massaging Ming Chengzu's waist.
From the incense burner made of red copper, a faint fragrance of sandalwood wafted out. A trace of light blue smoke, under the sunlight, was like a soaring dragon, circling up and down in the imperial study room.
"Xiao Linzi, you entered the palace in the first year of Yongle, right?"
"Your Majesty is really caring. He even remembers the time when his servants entered the palace so clearly." Lin Shangli made fists with both hands and gently hit Ming Chengzu's lower back. Although he knew that the emperor could not see his expression, he still made a look.
A touching expression of tears of gratitude.
"After all, you have followed me for the nineteenth year. Tell me, in your heart, am I a qualified emperor?"
Ming Chengzu half-squinted his eyes and looked at the thick pile of official documents and memorials in front of him. He didn't know what he thought of.
Lin Shangli was stunned for a moment, and he quickly turned his brain around. The rhythm of beating his back with his hands did not dare to change at all.
The late emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, the great ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, was a very scheming person. After he conquered the world, he was always suspicious and wary of the founding fathers who had gone through life and death with him.
All civil and military ministers who have achieved great success and left their names in the world have been suppressed on trumped-up charges.
Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty was the fourth son of Taizu of the Ming Dynasty. Although he was honest and upright, who could guarantee that his suspicious temperament would not be inherited?
"The emperor's life has been a rough one, full of thorns all the way. If he hadn't been thinking about the great future for the people and being a vassal king who didn't care about worldly affairs, how could he have had so many troubles? How could he have become sick from overwork and lost his waist?
My back is sore. Seeing you working from dawn to dusk and working hard for the country, my heart aches, but I dare not open my mouth to persuade you."
As he spoke, Lin Shangli's eyes actually shed a few tears. One of the drops passed through Ming Chengzu's thin clothes and dripped onto his lower back.
Ming Chengzu didn't make a sound, he just let out a low sigh.
"The emperor did not have a name until he was seven years old. He left Taizu at the age of seventeen and returned to Fengyang, the central capital. He stayed there for another three or four years. At the age of twenty-seven, he conquered Yanjing and Peiping. During this period, he led the army twice
The army went on the Northern Expedition, surrendered Mongolian Gunai'er Buhua, and captured Suolin Timur of the Northern Yuan Dynasty alive. While others were still acting coquettishly in front of Taizu, the emperor had already led his troops to fight on the battlefield. In addition to Taizu, who else was the emperor of this dynasty?
It can be compared with your Majesty!"
"These are my father's arrangements. They are also my responsibilities as a vassal king. There is no place for me to show my merits."
Ming Chengzu simply pushed away the memorial on the desk and leaned his whole body on the desk.
"This is not a slave showing merit to the emperor. This is for everyone in the world to see. A slave is just saying that the people of the world recognize the emperor."
While tapping Ming Chengzu's back, Lin Shangli looked anxiously at the door of the imperial study.
This Wang Xiaosi asked you to go to the imperial kitchen to cook a bowl of white fungus and lotus seed soup. Did you go to Jiangnan to pick the lotus seeds yourself?
When the emperor was the King of Yan, everything was easy to talk about. After becoming the emperor, all the great achievements were at his fingertips, but Lin Shangli did not dare to mention the battle of Jingnan.
Although they raised troops to fight against the Jianwen Dynasty in Nanjing in the name of the Qing emperor, no one knew that there was no one on the emperor's throne who was not tall enough.
The door to the Royal Study finally creaked open again, and Wang Xiaosi slowly walked to the desk with a steaming bowl of Tremella Fungus and Lotus Seed Soup.
"Your Majesty, please have breakfast!"
"Yeah." Ming Chengzu stretched, twisted his head, and sat up straight.
"This little Linzi's back-beating feels so comfortable that it makes me sleepy. It seems that you will come to visit me often when you are not busy in the future."
Lin Shangli had already walked from behind Ming Chengzu to the right. He lifted up the wide sleeves of the blue python robe and wiped his forehead. He didn't know whether it was due to fatigue or nervous sweat.
He picked up the exquisite blue and white porcelain bowl on the table, held the spoon in his right hand, and stirred it a few times.
"Your Majesty, this servant has tried it. The temperature of this lotus seed soup is just right. Do you want to try it?"
With a smile on his face, Ming Chengzu reached out and took the bowl of lotus seed soup.
"I know you care about me, so I'll just eat it."
After a few spoons were down, the bowl of lotus seed soup was already empty.
"When I'm full, I'll start reviewing the memorial. You'll be right next to me, chatting with me."
With that said, he handed the small bowl in his hand to Lin Shangli.
Taking the small bowl, Lin Shangli hurriedly took out a white silk handkerchief from his waist, wiped it on Ming Chengzu's mouth, then turned around and handed the small bowl to Wang Xiaosi, who had been waiting beside him.
"I am here to serve the emperor today. You can go down first."
Lin Shangli, as the eunuch of the Chief of Ceremony, does not need to have high martial arts skills or much knowledge, but one thing is that he must have top-notch ability to observe words and emotions.
The emperor said that he should talk to himself. To put it bluntly, he just felt upset and wanted to find someone to talk to.
But who is the emperor? He is the supreme authority over millions of people.
How could that perfect image of being tall, mighty, talented, and powerful be ruined by a trace of sadness or annoyance?
Even the little eunuch who serves him closely is not qualified to know the troubles of a generation of emperors.
He picked up the memorial on the top and laid it flat on the table. Ming Chengzu pushed his sleeve back with his left hand, picked up the small wolf-hair pen, and was about to review it.
He seemed to have remembered something again, and after thinking for a moment, he placed the wolf brush on the table.
"Tell me, was it right or wrong for me to initiate this battle of Jingnan?"
"The emperor's grandson was young, and he listened to the words of the treacherous ministers Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng and killed the king of Zhou, the king of Dai, the king of Xiang, the king of Qi and others. How can the emperor's nephew kill the emperor's uncle in the grandeur of the world?"
The old and cunning Lin Shangli never dared to mention the word "Emperor Jianwen". But the protagonist of the Jingnan Campaign had to be mentioned, so he had to use the words "Emperor Taisun" instead, cleverly.
"Since the time of Taizu, filial piety has been regarded as the first priority in measuring a person's character. If the emperor had not come out to stop this unnatural act of killing the emperor's uncle, the entire Ming Dynasty would have been laughed at by the world for thousands of years."
"This battle of Jingnan is a battle of great justice. But for the emperor, it is very painful."
Lin Shangli said impassionedly.
"On one side, they are their brothers, and on the other side, they are Taizu's grandson. In this case, most people will choose to retreat. But if everyone chooses to retreat, then the filial piety advocated by Taizu will
, it becomes a kind of decoration.”
"The emperor resisted all the pressure, adhered to Taizu's policy, and eliminated the traitorous ministers with ulterior motives. There is no right or wrong in this battle of Jingnan, but it must be done!"
After hearing this, Ming Chengzu's hands actually trembled a little.
"The territory of the Ming Dynasty is so vast. The people of the Ming Dynasty are so numerous. But the only person who understands my heart is you, Xiao Linzi. How sad."
Looking at the sad face of Ming Chengzu, Lin Shangli slowly put the black mink velvet cloak on the chair on Ming Chengzu's body.
"The people of the Ming Dynasty can all see the emperor's painstaking efforts and understand the emperor's difficult choices. Those rumors are just deliberately created by some people with ulterior motives. And these people are the key targets of Dongchang.
.”
Lin Shangli brought the topic back.
He knew that the Dongchang had been established for some time. The accident of Jin Yiwei commander Ji Gang was also the biggest reason for the establishment of the Dongchang.
Although the Ji Gang has been eliminated, whether there are still hidden dangers in the lower ranks of Jinyiwei is a major concern of Ming Chengzu.
It is certain that Jin Yiwei is operating under his nose. If something happens, he will be unable to prevent it.
"Can Dongchang's affairs be on track?"
Leaning back on the slightly sloping huanghuali chair, Ming Chengzu looked forward and asked casually.
"Your Majesty, the affairs of the East Factory are operating smoothly, and all suspicious objects have been included in the surveillance scope."
"Any new discoveries?"
"Last night, when fireworks were set off in the capital, Dongchang had already captured the prefecture of Changping."
Lin Shangli bowed his body and said slowly.
"Zhizhou of Changping? What did you commit?"
"Colluded with Jinyi Guards and Yanqing Guards to create accidents to prevent Dongchang from issuing orders to subordinates."
After hearing this, Ming Chengzu was silent for a while and then stood up.
Throwing the mink velvet cloak on the back of the chair, he put his hands behind his back and walked to the spacious and bright window of the imperial study.
Outside the window, there are carefully laid out rockery vegetation, pavilions and pavilions.
"Xiao Linzi, come here. Look at that red plum tree, is it about to bloom?"
Lin Shangli hurriedly bowed forward and followed Ming Chengzu's gaze and looked out the window.
On a tree with a unique shape, there are three or two buds hanging in bud.
The purple-red color, reflected in the faint morning sunlight, exudes a sense of vitality even in this cold winter.
"The fragrance of plum blossoms comes from the bitter cold. When the plum blossoms bloom, it means that spring is coming. It also means the vitality of our Ming Dynasty."
"Well, I like this red plum."
A smile appeared on Ming Chengzu's face.
"This red plum was chosen and planted by my servant for the Emperor. The reason why I chose the red plum was because of its artistic conception and its qualification to enter the Emperor's sight."
Lin Shangli bowed and answered.
As mentioned earlier, the governor of Changping was arrested, and the Jinyi Guards and Yanqing Guards were implicated. According to common sense, the emperor should be angry and demand a strict investigation.
But why, as if nothing happened, ran to the window and started admiring the flowers?
Lin Shangli, who thought he was like a roundworm in the emperor's stomach, was a little confused for a moment.
Has the emperor changed, or have I never really understood him?
"But I don't like the wintersweet plant next to it."
Ming Chengzu had a smile on his face.
But this smile, in Lin Shangli's eyes, was a cold and murderous look without mercy.
A layer of sweat broke out on Lin Shangli's forehead.
My back also started to feel cold due to sweating.
"Back to the Emperor, this wintersweet was part of the overall design when the new capital was built. If the Emperor doesn't like it, I will order it to be removed."
Lin Shangli's mind suddenly moved and he said hurriedly.
"If I don't like something, I won't like it wherever I move it. I will destroy it."
In front of the window, Ming Chengzu's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Yes, my slave will order people to dig it up by the roots and destroy it."
Lin Shangli exited the room and gently closed the door to the royal study.
At this moment, his forehead was covered with large beads of sweat, and his face was even pale.
