Chapter 80 The Great Emperor VS Shouzhe! Nearly Died
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Inside the Imperial Palace, Xiyuan Lake.
The overall shape of this lake is close to a circle. The lake surface is wide, with an average diameter of a hundred miles. Looking from a distance, it feels quite vast.
It is like a pearl embedded in Guilong City, but it is enclosed by the huge wall of the imperial palace and became the private "pond" of Emperor Longchang.
Within the palace, there are lakes and mountains, which shows its scale.
The aura of water within Xiyuan Lake is extremely abundant. When the aura gathers, it condenses into a spiritual mist visible to the naked eye. When the wind blows, pieces of fluttering smoke and mist are formed on the lake, like a puddle falling into the world.
It's like a fairy lake.
There are many water-friendly lofts built on the lakeside. The buildings are grand and grand, showing the royal style.
Such a huge building complex was actually named "Linhu Xiaozhu", which shows that Emperor Longchang's taste was not very good either.
In front of the waterfront loft.
Emperor Longchang, who was dressed in casual clothes, was playing with a delicate lure rod at the moment.
The long fishing line was cast far away, and he swung it skillfully, shaking the bait and twisting it. His swimming posture was awkward, as if he was saying to the carnivorous fish in the lake, "Hurry up."
Come and eat me~ Come and eat me.”
Full of bewitching meaning.
Suddenly.
The tip of the pole sank downwards.
"bingo!"
Emperor Longchang felt happy and pulled the pole suddenly, and he hit a big fish.
He immediately started to reel in the thread happily.
"Your Majesty." At this time, Lao Yao walked over with small steps and reported in a low voice, "Wang Shouzhe has been brought here and is waiting outside the small building. Do you want to announce..."
"Let him wait." Emperor Longchang didn't even raise his head, "I'm busy fishing."
Lao Yao secretly rolled his eyes.
Your Majesty, you wanted to see Wang Shouzhe so much that you even gave in all kinds of express hints. After failure, you even issued a special edict to call him over "immediately". But now that he is here, you just want to wait... This is not good.
"What? As a majestic emperor, I am so angry that I can't stand him for a long time?" Emperor Longchang snorted coldly, "Don't you look at what bad things he has done? How many troubles he has caused...
...Even the emperor’s son has been appointed for us. I really thank him!”
"Now that he has entered the palace, he is like this fat fish that bit the bait hook. It is my meal and cannot fly to the sky."
"Based on the things he did to me, I didn't ambush him with hundreds of swordsmen, so I already gave him a lot of face."
Emperor Longchang became more and more angry as he talked, and he tugged on the fishing rod. As a result, he used too much force, and with a "click", the fishing rod made of polished purple-ling bamboo tips and connected into sockets broke.
The big fish regained its freedom, and immediately jumped out of the water, "swooshed" and swam dozens of feet away, then grabbed the pole and dived to the bottom of the lake.
"This..." Lao Yao twitched the corner of his mouth and exclaimed, "Has your Majesty's cultivation level reached the point where he can 'follow the rules'?"
"Uh..." Emperor Longchang twitched the corner of his mouth, turned around and glared at Old Yao fiercely, "Old Yao, don't think you've served me for a thousand and hundreds of years. I can't bear to slap you, so I dare to do whatever I want.
It’s arrogant. Do you really think that I can’t hear that you are teasing me?”
After all, he didn't see any movement, but with a slight movement of his mind, he locked the spiritual fish that escaped hundreds of feet away.
Immediately afterwards, the emperor's spiritual thoughts moved, and the spiritual fish weighing hundreds of kilograms was supported by an invisible energy and flew down to the hydrophilic platform.
The big fish still had a fishing line in its mouth, and swung its tail "bah, bah, bah, bah", looking like a silly fish that said "who am I, where am I, and what am I doing?"
That look made the emperor angry.
With a slight movement of his mind, he took off the fishhook from its mouth, and then kicked it into the lake angrily.
As an experienced fisherman, I would naturally starve myself to death and not even bother to eat fish like this that I didn’t catch by myself.
"Old Yao, call Wang Shouzhe over." Emperor Longchang said angrily, "I want to ask why the quality of the lure rods produced by his family is so poor? It caused all my fish to run away."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Old Yao accepted the order and went to announce King Shouzhe with a smile in his heart.
Not long after, he led Wang Shouzhe and Prince An back with him.
Seeing the emperor standing by the lake with his hands behind his back without saying a word, with an attitude of "I didn't see you", he secretly smiled in his heart and couldn't help but wink at Wang Shouzhe secretly: "Wang Shouzhe, why don't you pay your respects to your majesty soon?"
"Your Majesty, Shouzhe, the head of the Wang family of the sixth rank in Changning, pays homage to Your Majesty." Wang Shouzhe clasped his hands together and bowed in a dignified manner.
Prince An on the side naturally bowed when he needed to.
Emperor Longchang then turned around and glanced at Wang Shouzhe.
I saw Wang Shouzhe dressed in a white robe, elegant and gentle as the spring breeze. If he stopped there, he would be an eye-catching sight.
In comparison, not to mention the children of the royal family, even the young people from the Wang family of Daqian who were famous in the capital for their appearance and bearing, were actually much inferior to him.
"Well, he looks pretty good, and his temperament is so-so. It's rare. No wonder he can give birth to outstanding children like Li Yao and Zong An." Emperor Longchang said against his will, "That is, he is a little inferior to me when I was young.
Raise money."
"Thank you for the compliment, Your Majesty. I am flattered." Wang Shouzhe looked calm and his expression was natural.
If he had known that His Majesty was not thin-skinned, he would not have been surprised by this.
He conveniently took out large and small bags of fruits and vegetables from the storage ring [Endless Abyss] and handed them to Lao Yao next to him: "I know that your Majesty is not short of anything, and I don't know what to give. These are
The melons and vegetables are all planted by Shouzhe in his spare time these days, so I should express my feelings to him."
Fruits and vegetables?
Emperor Longchang's old face trembled slightly.
When you give a gift to the emperor, you actually give me some fruits and vegetables? Not to mention that you planted them in your "free time".
Feelings: You traveled thousands of miles to come to Guilong City. Your main purpose was to grow vegetables, and then by the way, you turned Guilong City upside down and decided on the candidate for the emperor's son?
He almost couldn't hold it back and kicked Wang Shouzhe into the lake.
Fortunately, Emperor Longchang lived for more than three thousand years, and his qi-nurturing skills were pretty good. He quickly took a deep breath to suppress the urge to kick Wang Shouzhe, and kept hinting to remind himself.
Longchang, Longchang, you are the great emperor of the generation. You must be big-bodied and bold, so as not to make Wang Shouzhe look down upon you and then turn around and secretly "talk about" the great emperor behind your back.
"Okay, Lao Yao, please send someone to take it to the imperial dining room and process it. I will have a drink with Shouzhe later." Emperor Longchang said, "I am a great emperor and I won't argue with you."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Old Yao took the order.
"Come on, come on, Shouzhe, come and sit down." Emperor Longchang warmly greeted Wang Shouzhe and asked him to sit in front of a chess stall. He said kindly like an elder, "Shouzhe, you are thoughtful and full of wisdom. You must be good at chess."
It's also quite exquisite. Come on, let's learn from each other."
Wang Shouzhe's cheeks trembled and he thought to himself, Your Majesty, are you kidding me?
Wang Shouzhe has long been famous in Guilong City for his poor chess skills.
Why did Emperor Longchang want to spar with him? He was obviously full of resentment towards Wang Shouzhe, and wanted to vent his resentment, but there was no other way, so he found an excuse to play chess.
However, Wang Shouzhe couldn't refuse the emperor's invitation, so he immediately agreed: "Shouzhe accepts the order."
After saying that, he took a stance and started playing chess with Emperor Longchang.
Prince An on the side looked secretly amused.
Let’s not talk about Shouzhe’s chess skills. At least his posture is full and he looks like a peerless master.
It's a pity that the gold and jade are on the outside, but the lint is on the inside~~
Shouzhe is just a bad chess player.
as expected.
After half a stick of incense, Emperor Longchang used the posture of sweeping fallen leaves in the autumn wind to severely abuse Wang Shouzhe.
"Cool!"
Emperor Longchang felt as if he had drank a glass of ice-cold fairy wine on a hot summer day, feeling soothed and relaxed, and even the depressed feeling in his heart had dissipated a lot.
Furthermore, when he looked at Wang Shouzhe, he seemed to be less angry, and he was a little more pleasing to the eye inadvertently.
"Your Majesty has superb chess skills, and Shouzhe is willing to be defeated."
Wang Shouzhe didn't feel much about losing at chess. Anyway, he was used to losing. With his chess skills, he could usually abuse Wang Annan and the like.
"Shouzhe, please don't be humble. I think your chess skills are quite good. Come on, let's play another round of chess between you and me."
How could such a wonderful thing disappear once and for all?
Emperor Longchang's eyes were shining brightly.
Soon, the two started the second game again.
After testing Wang Shouzhe's chess prowess, the emperor played some new tricks in this game. He first pretended to be defeated, then lured the enemy deeper, and finally used a single move to kill Wang Shouzhe, who was stunned.
"Ouch~ Shouzhe, do you think you are careless? If you are not careful, you will lose everything. Come on, let's try again, I will give you a chance to make a comeback." Emperor Longchang's face was already glowing red, and he was very happy.
, also feels very high.
Naturally, I don't feel much if I torture other bad chess players, but if I torture Wang Shouzhe, it's completely different.
Emperor Longchang felt that even if he tortured Wang Shouzhe a thousand times again, he would never get tired of it.
An hour passed.
Two hours have passed...
Prince An was watching with great interest at first, but then he started to feel sleepy. Later, he simply went out for a long walk and came back. As a result, Emperor Longchang was still happily dragging Wang Shouzhe to play chess, torturing him.
he.
In desperation, King An had no choice but to go out for a long time.
It was not until evening that the imperial kitchen brought all kinds of delicacies, and Emperor Longchang, who had already tortured Wang Shouzhe dozens of times, stopped still.
He patted Wang Shouzhe on the shoulder: "Shouzhe, your chess skills are generally good, just a few points behind mine."
"Don't be discouraged, don't be discouraged. Come and discuss with me more to ensure that your chess skills will grow rapidly."
In order to leave a foreshadowing for another opportunity to abuse Wang Shouzhe in the future, Emperor Longchang praised his chess skills against his will.
Prince An looked at Wang Shouzhe sympathetically.
Speaking of which, Shouzhe also planned for him, which is why he offended His Majesty and suffered "retaliation". If there is a chance, he must compensate Shouzhe well.
Soon, the imperial chef and the guards prepared a home-cooked dinner on the water-friendly platform.
Emperor Longchang, who was so relieved by his abuse of King Shouzhe, immediately warmly invited Wang Shouzhe to have a drink and asked Prince An to accompany him.
Among the dishes served by the imperial kitchen, a small part are melons and vegetables brought by Wang Shouzhe, while most of them are delicacies carefully prepared by the imperial kitchen.
After all, it was Emperor Lingxu. Although the dishes on this table were "home-cooked", they were still full of flavours. Emperor Longchang also specially prepared a lot of delicious seventh-level ingredients for Wang Shouzhe to compensate for the dozens of rounds that Wang Shouzhe had been tortured just now.
"Shou Zhe's skill in growing vegetables is pretty good." Emperor Longchang ate two chopsticks of vegetables and suddenly raised his eyebrows slightly, a little surprised.
Although they are just ordinary spiritual vegetables, and the varieties are nothing special, the taste of these spiritual vegetables is a bit richer and the taste is more intense than ordinary spiritual vegetables.
"If Your Majesty likes it, Shouzhe can pay tribute to Your Majesty on a regular basis." Wang Shouzhe said modestly, "If we can brand it as a tribute, these fruits, vegetables and fruits will definitely sell well."
"Haha, that's settled." Emperor Longchang smiled and praised, "Shouzhe, you are indeed a famous god of wealth. You can make money when you seize the opportunity. Come on, this wine is also a tribute wine.
It is produced by a sixth-grade family in Tianfu County."
"Good wine, good wine."
Wang Shouzhe was not greedy for wine. He took a few sips, but he couldn't help but admire it.
It is indeed an extremely rare wine, much better than the wines currently sold by the Wang family.
Sure enough, this world cannot be underestimated. After all, human beings have thrived and developed in this world for such a long time. Over time, there have been many families with various secret methods.
"If Shouzhe likes it, take some back and drink it slowly." Emperor Longchang said enthusiastically.
At this time, he acted like an amiable "elder", as if he was not the one who brutally tortured Wang Shouzhe before.
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Wang Shouzhe did not refuse.
After three drinks.
As we chatted, the strangeness between the two parties dissipated a lot.
After drinking a few more glasses of wine, Emperor Longchang's face became even more rosy: "Shou Zhe, you can tell who is the truly outstanding emperor from Prince Kang and Prince An. This level of judgment is extremely impressive.
Gao. I drank some wine today and there are no outsiders here. Why don't you comment on me?"
When Lao Yao next to him heard this, he couldn't help but secretly rolled his eyes.
Your Majesty is indeed as petty as ever, he is ready to settle an old score.
He quietly winked at Wang Shouzhe and reminded him not to be fooled.
Wang Shouzhe was also a smart man. He immediately reacted and saluted sincerely: "Your Majesty is the great emperor. How can Shouzhe be so virtuous and capable as to dare to criticize your Majesty?"
snort!
Wang Shouzhe, you stinky brat, how many of you have made such unreasonable remarks about me in private?
Don't think that I don't know. When you were at Wei's hometown in Changning, you had a few glasses of wine with Long Wuji and didn't you give me a thorough review from beginning to end?
Emperor Longchang sneered in his heart and muttered to himself, but on the surface he pretended to be generous and said: "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, I have lived for thousands of years, I have never seen anything, and I have never heard anything?
You can just comment as you like, I won’t let you be punished for your words.”
"Could it be that you still have to wait for me to give you a special decree? Hahaha~~"
"this……"
The emperor had already talked about this, and Wang Shouzhe couldn't resist it.
He pondered for a moment and said: "If what I said was not good, will your Majesty really not blame you?"
"That's natural. I am a majestic emperor, and I must keep my word."
Emperor Longchang waved his hand, looking "sonorous and powerful" and "keeping his word", but he secretly added something in his heart.
Hehe~ Wang Shouzhe, you stinky boy, if it is true that what you said is not good, I will certainly not blame you.
But if you dare to talk nonsense, speak insincerely, and flatter me without any principles, then don't blame me for pulling your pigtails.
Huh~~ I remember all those things you said about me in private~~
"Since His Majesty has already opened his mouth, let Shouzhe have the audacity to say a few words." Wang Shouzhe pondered for a while and said, "Your Majesty is powerful in force, brave in battle, and is very good at managing the army. He has made outstanding military achievements throughout his life, and has repeatedly made achievements in battlefields outside the territory.
, one against two, and use the power of one country to contend with two empires at the same time."
"With such a talent, even if he were placed in the Shenwu Dynasty, he would definitely be a well-known legion commander, maybe even a generalissimo."
This sounds comfortable and quite reasonable.
Emperor Longchang was enjoying Wang Shouzhe's flattery, feeling very happy in his heart, but at the same time he was secretly laughing.
Wang Shouzhe, Wang Shouzhe~~ You are still a vulgar person. You only dare to talk about me behind my back, but you dare not say it to my face.
I'll listen to you flatter me first, and then I'll punish you for your lies after you get over it.
When the time comes, it will be up to me whether I make you round or flat.
Wang Shouzhe didn't know the emperor's thoughts, so he paused and continued: "Your Majesty is very good at pioneering. During his reign as king of the world, not only did the land area more than double, the population also increased a lot, which can be called
He is a rare pioneer."
"What you say makes sense, what you say makes sense~" Emperor Longchang said with a look of enjoyment on his face, "Shouzhe, you are really my confidant, you can say more."
"But..." Wang Shouzhe paused for a moment and continued, "Because His Majesty is good at war and enjoys great achievements, he has vigorously supported the military since he came to the throne. From army construction to military families, a complete military and military system has been formed."
"In order to obtain the support of His Majesty's policies, many aristocratic families have turned to join the army and become military families. The family members have been soldiers for generations."
"Huh?" Emperor Longchang's face froze, "What's wrong with this? Ordinary families help manage and develop local areas, while military families specialize in military affairs. They divide labor and cooperate with each other to complement each other."
"In terms of overall direction and strategy, there is indeed not much of a problem. However, most military and military families do not engage in production and rely solely on health tax, county tax, and national tax to support them. And His Majesty has always been generous to military and military families. Over time, the number of armies has changed.
The army became larger and more bloated. As a result, most of the health tax, county tax, and even national tax collected by various places had to be allocated to maintain military expenditures. Naturally, there was not much money left to govern and develop the local area.
That's right. Your Majesty's move is suspected of being 'military'."
Emperor Longchang's face turned dark. He was just about to say, "Wang Shouzhe, are you teaching me how to do things?", but then he thought, didn't he ask him to say this? He also guaranteed it in advance that he would not be punished for his words.
.
In desperation, he could only retort with a cold face: "Shou Zhe's words are wrong. Nowadays, there are many foreign enemies in Daqian, and there are foreign battlefields that need troops to guard. Without increasing military investment, how can we suppress the enemies?"
"Your Majesty, let's not mention that the battlefield outside the territory is the common responsibility of the human race. Let's just talk about the Western Jin Dynasty and the Southern Qin Dynasty. It seems that your Majesty is majestic with one against two, but why can't you fight one against the other? Even if it doesn't work, you must at least divide the cooperation of the other party.
.Other than that, what is your Majesty’s purpose in fighting the war?”
"Of course they want the other party to surrender to Da Qian." Emperor Longchang's temper gradually grew. "How can we conquer them without an iron-blooded army?"
"Your Majesty's words certainly make sense. However, raising an army and fighting a war all cost money. Without sufficient sources of money, how can we win the war?" Wang Shouzhe said eloquently, "Even Prince Kang knows that smuggling is the first thing to do.
Engage in corruption, make more money, and then go to fight in foreign battlefields. Only in this way can the soldiers be brave enough to serve for them and win battles again and again without fear of death."
"Wang Shouzhe, do you mean that I am not as good as Prince Kang?" Emperor Longchang's brows rose.
"That's not true. The Great Emperor is still stronger than Prince Kang..."
"Stronger?" The Emperor raised his eyebrows.
"The wars fought by the emperors were often due to some disputes of temper. For example, if the emperor of the Western Jin Dynasty disrespected the emperor in his words, he immediately sent an army to kill him. Until the other party issued a letter of credence to apologize, the emperor returned in a show of force..."
"I would like to ask, after our army gained the upper hand, why didn't we let the Western Jin Dynasty cede territory and pay compensation? Even if they don't agree, we must make them pay every year."
"In this way, the Western Jin Dynasty will lose a lot of resources and national power every year, and Daqian can earn military pay to support the army."
Emperor Longchang's face twitched and he said angrily: "You know what the hell, the areas bordering the Western Jin Dynasty and ours are poor places with neither fields nor mines. What is the use of these poor places? It is impossible to pay tribute every year. .The Western Jin Dynasty will fight us tooth and nail."
"Your Majesty, I'm just giving an example. In short, winning the war can't be without benefits, right?" Wang Shouzhe said "uprightly", "At least, we have to take advantage of trade tariffs, for example, we can make some special features The products are tax-free, and if you use this product to enter the Western Jin Dynasty, you can not only make money, but also squeeze your counterparts in the Western Jin Dynasty to death..."
"The words of profiteers." Emperor Longchang's eyelids trembled for a few times, and then he said truthfully, "We don't have any products that are better than others. Instead, we have to prevent them from doing something big and affecting and destroying our business system."
"This statement is enough to prove that your Majesty is good at war but not good at domestic affairs, and he is suspected of enjoying great achievements." Wang Shouzhe said truthfully.
What a great success!
This kid actually dared to say these four words in front of him...
Emperor Longchang finally spurted out a mouthful of old blood, pointed at him and said angrily: "You, you, you... how dare you talk to me like this?"
"Your Majesty... you asked Shouzhe to tell you. Shouzhe is not good at lying." Wang Shouzhe looked innocent, "If Your Majesty wants to stop, I, I just need to shut up."
"Don't...stop." Emperor Longchang panted heavily and said angrily, "Keep talking. I want to hear it. What else do you have to say?"
"Your Majesty's selection of people from military families to serve as city guards and county guards is suspected of not separating military and political affairs." Wang Shouzhe continued, "The development of a place must have full-time personnel responsible for management and governance. City guards and county guards The responsibility of guarding is more of a military responsibility to protect the place, rather than the city guard being the head of the first guard... I wonder how sincere the city guards can be since they all come from military families and are transferred every twenty or thirty years. Can you develop the local economy well if you have the ability and talent? This government structure is really ridiculous~"
"You, you, you, you mean I am the Hunjun?" Emperor Longchang's face turned white and red in a suppressed manner.
"It's not that your Majesty is a foolish king. It's just that Shouzhe believes that only when there is an economy can there be military strength. Your Majesty should spend some energy to see how to develop the local economy. For example, not long ago, Ankang, the governor of Longzuo County, took I came to His Majesty for development plans, but Your Majesty kept pushing back because of his own interests... This shows his contempt for the word 'economy'." Wang Shouzhe said seriously.
"Okay, okay~ What else is there?" Emperor Longchang's eyes were spitting fire, "Tell me! I order you to tell the truth!"
"Your Majesty was too majestic when you were young, but when you are old, you are too kind and soft-hearted, and you are not good at running a family." Wang Shouzhe said truthfully, "During this period, princes, county kings, and even ordinary royal family members have constantly exploded.
All kinds of ridiculous scandals have arisen. The main reason for this is that they are not upright, but after all, His Majesty is still responsible for the lax discipline..."
"besides……"
"Wait!" Emperor Longchang stretched out his hand to stop him with his face flushed.
"Your Majesty, do you want me to shut up? I can accept your order." Wang Shouzhe bowed respectfully.
"No, no, no, I just need to slow down and take a breath first." Emperor Longchang glared at Lao Yao angrily, "Old Yao, are you blind? Didn't you see that the trauma to my soul that I suffered when I was young happened?
Where is the soothing pill?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, please take a rest first."
Lao Yao reacted very quickly. He hurriedly took out a treasure pill and fed it to Emperor Longchang. Then he glared at Wang Shouzhe and said, "Shouzhe, you are too ignorant. You know that there is something left in your majesty's soul."
I feel hurt, but I don’t know how to restrain myself. That’s it for today’s review.”
What?
Is there a hidden wound in Your Majesty’s soul?
Wang Shouzhe looked confused.
He has never heard of this information?
"Okay, that's it for today." Wang Shouzhe cupped his hands.
Emperor Longchang breathed a sigh of relief and said to himself, if I ask you to scold me any more, I will die on the spot.
He immediately pretended to be weak and said weakly: "Thank you Shouzhe for your consideration. However, this does not mean that I don't listen to others. In fact, Shouzhe's words are quite thought-provoking and can be regarded as good advice.
It's a pity that my body today...sigh~"
"If your Majesty wants to hear it, I can write down everything I said today after I go back and compile it into a book. Your Majesty can keep it and read it slowly." Wang Shouzhe said with "sympathy and understanding", "If necessary, Shouzhe can also do it later.
I will go back to reunite with my wife and stay in Kyoto for a while. If your Majesty needs it, you can call Shouzhe to comment at any time."
I thank you!
Emperor Longchang almost spit out a mouthful of old blood.