Stunning beauty

Li Yuan, the inner courtyard.

Li Ziye sat in front of the door with his back against the door, waiting for the result of the morning court.

No matter how smart and thoughtful a person is, it is impossible to calculate the complexity of people's hearts.

In the next room, Taotao got up early to check the accounts, and there were not too many disturbances on her beautiful face.

"Xiao Ziye, I want to go out for a while, do you want to go together?"

At this moment, Holy Master Yunying walked out of the room, saw someone sitting under the porch, and asked.

"Don't go."

Li Ziye refused flatly, "I'm busy today, so I don't have time."

"Okay then, I will go alone."

Lord Yunying responded, turned around and left from Li Yuan.

The Lord Yunying had just left, and Fu Tianxi also came out from the opposite room, and asked, "Brother Li, I'm going out for a walk, do you want to go together?"

"Are you going out too?"

Li Ziye was taken aback when he saw that the old otaku was going out. He quickly came back to his senses, shook his head and said, "No, I'm too busy."

What's the matter today, everyone has to go out.

"Then I'll go by myself."

Fu Tianxi heard the former's answer and left alone.

After the two left Li Yuan, only Li Ziye, Yu Qingxuan, and Taotao were left in the courtyard, and the atmosphere suddenly became a little weird.

Just when the sun was shining brightly, outside the courtyard, a young servant walked quickly to deliver the information.

Yu Qingxuan took the secret report, turned around and handed it to Li Ziye in front of the room.

"finally come."

Li Ziye opened the secret report and read it carefully.

Gradually, Li Ziye's face became colder and colder, and the disappointment in his eyes could not be concealed.

Sure enough, as expected.

"Take a look."

Soon after Li Ziye finished reading the secret report, he handed it to the woman in front of him, and said calmly, "Tell me what you think."

After reading the information, Yu Qingxuan looked condensed, and said, "The two cities return to aid, [-] soldiers, this is probably the compromise plan of the Emperor Shang after considering the situation in the court."

If the capital is really in danger of being destroyed, [-] reinforcements will not change anything.

"The golden mean of balance."

Li Ziye sighed softly, and said, "The ministers demanded the troops from the surrounding cities to rush to help, and the king of Donglin strongly demanded that the cities stand still and not send troops. Obviously, the Emperor Shang chose to balance the two sides and use the lives of [-] soldiers to quell this battle Court disputes."

It is a matter of their own safety, the courtiers do not believe in the ability of the King of Donglin to defend the city at all, and the Emperor Shang is unwilling to take the risk of offending the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty, so he defies all opinions and supports the King of Donglin. Aid seems to be the best option.

The lives of [-] soldiers are really cruel enough to give up as soon as they say they give up.

"Little boy."

At this moment, outside the courtyard, another young servant came quickly and saluted respectfully, "The empress is hosting a banquet at Prince Zhongwu's mansion, and I invite the young master to the banquet."

"Understood, let's go down first." Li Ziye recovered and replied.

"Yes!" The boy took the order, turned and left.

"Qingxuan, let's go, come with me to Prince Zhongwu's Mansion." Li Ziye ordered, got up and walked out of the courtyard.

Yu Qingxuan immediately followed and followed closely behind.

In the room behind, Tao Tao looked at the backs of the two leaving, with a strange look on her face.

The empress summoned the young master at this moment, probably at the order of that old fox, Emperor Shang.

With the enemy at hand, Emperor Shang wanted to make peace with the Li family.

I don't know how the little boy will respond.

Outside the mansion, Li Ziye and Yu Qingxuan got into the carriage one after another, and rushed towards Prince Zhongwu's mansion together.

Inside the carriage, Li Ziye looked at the people coming and going outside through the curtains on the carriage, his eyes narrowed.

Those [-] soldiers, sons, husbands, and fathers of many families, in the eyes of the court, even said they gave up and gave up directly.

The human heart is indeed more poisonous than the green bamboo snake.

Not long after, the carriage stopped in front of Prince Zhongwu's mansion, Li Ziye and Yu Qingxuan got off the carriage, and under the leadership of the servants of the mansion, they came to the main hall of the mansion together.

In the main hall, Empress Changsun was already waiting. Seeing the two of them coming, a kind smile appeared on her graceful and luxurious face.

She has always admired this extremely intelligent son of the Li family. Bai'er was able to get to the crown prince so smoothly, and this teacher Li contributed a lot.

"Grassman Li Ziye, I have met the Empress, Your Highness the Princess."

After the two entered the main hall, Li Ziye saluted respectfully, with a correct attitude, and the etiquette was considered comprehensive.

Except not kneeling.

National scholars, you can't kneel down, and Li Ziye has no interest in kneeling to people outside the high hall of his parents, so even if he is facing the empress of the Great Shang, he will not kneel down.

"Li Jiaoxi doesn't need to be too polite, sit down!"

On the main seat, Empress Changsun was not surprised by the behavior of the young man in front of her, and said calmly.

"Thank you Queen Empress."

Li Ziye responded, walked to the banquet and sat down.

Yu Qingxuan knelt and sat behind, not saying a word.

On both sides of Empress Changsun, Murong and Changsun Nanqiao sat there quietly, one on the left and one on the right, also without saying a word.

The eldest grandson of King Zhongwu, Fengyu, sat opposite Li Ziye, silently drinking the tea in his cup, much more stable than usual.

The atmosphere in the hall was very quiet, obviously much more formal than the previous few meetings.

"I came here today at the order of His Majesty."

On the main seat, Empress Changsun did not beat around the bush, and said bluntly, "Mobei dispatched troops, the frontline war is tense, and the national treasury has been unable to make ends meet due to successive years of wars. Your Majesty asked this palace to summon Li Jiaoxi and borrow some silver from the Li family to temporarily relieve the emptiness of the national treasury. Condition."

"How many?"

Li Ziye picked up the teacup, took a sip, and asked.

"1000 million taels." Empress Changsun replied.

Li Ziye narrowed his eyes slightly when he heard this number, and said, "This is not a small number, even the Li family won't be able to figure it out for a while."

"Li Jiaoxi can talk about his own requirements." Empress Changsun said seriously.

"My request is simple."

Li Ziye turned the teacup in his hand, and replied, "The imperial court, make the Li family an imperial merchant."

When Empress Changsun heard the words, her expression was slightly condensed, and she said, "Li Jiaoxi should know that the emperor and merchants are going to confer titles."

"know."

Li Ziye nodded, and replied, "The emperors and merchants of all dynasties, the patriarchs all have titles, but the grassroots are not talented, and they want to win a title for my father."

In fact, it doesn't matter whether you are a knight or not.

The important thing is that imperial merchants can get involved in many fields that private merchants cannot touch.

For example, mining, salt, and even the supply of grain and grass in the army.

Once the Li family set foot in these fields, if the royal family wanted to touch the Li family, it would really hurt their muscles and bones.

On the main seat, Empress Changsun stared at the young man in front of her, opened her mouth, but swallowed the words that came to her lips.

It is not so easy for the Li family to become an imperial merchant.

Your Majesty is very afraid of the Li family, so how could he lure wolves into the house and allow the Li family's power to continue to expand.

I really didn't expect that when the royal family took the initiative to express their goodwill and wanted to make peace, the Li family would make such a harsh request.

This time, it was His Majesty's turn to have a headache.