New Shun 1730

In the middle of spring in 1744.

The chill had not yet completely dissipated, and there were always strong winds in the capital in spring. This year, as always, it came from the west.

Along with the dust, there were also several fast horses from the west, which galloped to the capital and brought back the news that Liu Yu would return to the capital that day.

In addition to this brief news, there was also a not-too-thick summary of the major events of the European trip.

In the Forbidden City, after the court was dismissed, the emperor was in the study, flipping through the summary report sent back by Liu Yu.

Sometimes he nodded and smiled, sometimes he picked up a pen to reply and complain, sometimes he frowned and thought, and sometimes he wrote on a new piece of paper to take it as a warning.

For a whole day, the emperor did not reply to the rest of the memorials. He lit the lights at night and read until midnight.

At the morning court the next day, the emperor casually mentioned the news that Liu Yu had returned, but did not say a word about welcoming him.

After the court session, he ordered people to prepare the carriages and horses, and left the forbidden city to go to the Academy of Sciences, which was about to be completed and built on the basis of the Qinghua Garden of the previous Wuqing Marquis.

When the imperial carriage arrived, the officials and civilians who were busy here kowtowed one after another. The emperor exempted them from the ceremony and stood in front of the gate of the Academy of Sciences, with a thoughtful look, dazed.

The attendants, honor guards, and eunuchs did not know what the emperor was thinking, but from this action, they could see that the emperor's favor to the Marquis of Jinghai had not diminished.

Everyone in the court knew that this Academy of Sciences, which used many Western architectural techniques and styles, was pushed forward by Liu Yu. Yesterday, the emperor received the news that the Marquis of Jinghai was about to return to Beijing, and today he came to the Academy of Sciences to stop, which shows how deep the emperor's favor was.

However, no one thought that what Emperor Li Gan was thinking at this time was a creepy sentence.

"If you take charge of the Nanyang affairs, you will succeed. You are less than 40 years old, and you have almost no more titles and rewards. You are also a scholar and know history. Don't you know what this means?"

Li Gan, standing in front of the Academy of Sciences, couldn't say what he was thinking.

If the sentence "less than 40 years old, there is no more title and reward", was really said, it would be a prelude to a tragedy of confiscation and extermination of the family.

The emperor stayed there for a long time, silently stretched out his two hands, looked down at his palms, and couldn't help but think of the two words Liu Yu said before.

The gun.

The purse.

Just like the two hands of a person, the gun and the purse are the two hands of the court.

Because of the construction of the navy, the gun and the purse have never been so close. The prosperous Jiangnan originally had only one Grand Canal to control, but now there is a navy that sets sail from Tianjin Port and can reach the bombardment in less than ten days.

The Privy Council and military reform, trade companies and pilot projects, everything is thriving.

Even if the person who promoted these things seemed to be trying to downplay his influence, he could not erase those traces.

In the past few years of Dashun, the army has become stronger, the treasury has become more abundant, and the tax payments in several places where the new policies were tried have gradually increased. Trade with Japan has been launched, pirates in Vietnam have been eliminated, the military reform of the elite field troops has been basically completed, and the fleet has been expanded...

Everything is good, whether it is the gun or the purse.

The emperor silently clenched both hands into fists, and suddenly asked a strange question to the attendant beside him.

"How old is the Marquis of Jing this year?"

Although this question was a bit strange, the attendant beside the emperor blurted out: "Your Majesty, I remember that the Marquis of Jing was born in the year of Xinmao, and he is a rabbit. He is thirty-four this year."

"Oh... he is thirty-four. Why do I feel that he still looks like when he was playing with hot air balloons in the past. Thirty-four? Well. Thirty-four is good."

After saying this without thinking, the attendant was puzzled, thinking, I don't know what's good about thirty-four? Your Majesty asked strangely, and what he said was also strange.

While he was wondering, the emperor said again: "Bring paper and pen. I want to write the name of the Academy of Sciences myself."

The paper and pen were brought, and several large characters with flying dragons and phoenixes appeared on the white paper soon. Since it was a nomination, these words would of course be turned into a plaque and hung on the main gate in the future.

After writing these words, the emperor thought, thirty-four, well, thirty-four is indeed good.

If you try your best and die before me, you will be honored and buried with me in the imperial mausoleum.

But if you die after me, you will be less than 40, and you will have no more titles to be given. You will be the highest official in the country, and you will have the title of Duke, but you will have no more rewards to be given. After my death, who will dare to use you? Who can use you?

Fortunately, you are already 34 years old, not much younger than me.

The battle in Nanyang is related to the century-old plan of the country and the people. It is not a lie to say that the remaining influence will last for hundreds of years. Since you have volunteered, it must be you.

If you are only 17 or 18 this year, and you start to make trouble and stand out this year, I am willing to leave you to my son and be his gun.

But now you are going to be a Duke...

If you want to learn from Li Weigong to stay at home and live in the Academy of Sciences, and never ask about political affairs after going to Nanyang, then I will make no one dare to touch this Academy of Sciences.

But I don’t want to do this. I am not old and blind yet.

I still have great ambitions, and now I know about Europe. Which one of them is not a powerful country? I am about to follow the example of Qi Huan and Jin Wen in this era of great contention. I have not yet known the will of heaven, and you are just about to come to power. Anyway, you have come to this point. To use the slang you often say, you might as well break the jar and throw it away.

Others can't use you, but I can use you, and I can control and suppress you.

If I were still alive and kicking before my death, I would have found a way to make you be buried with me in the imperial mausoleum with unlimited grace and honor, so that I would not have to wait until my death to accuse you of a crime, which would make our Li family look sorry for you.

The emperor was not abnormal.

The emperor even thought that if Liu Yu knew his thoughts, he would be moved to tears.

It was just that under the distortion of the times, his thoughts were simply abnormal to the point of being unable to be more abnormal in Liu Yu's eyes. According to the emperor's thoughts, Liu Yu should be grateful to Liu Yu if Liu Yu was killed before the emperor died.

Because in that case, Liu Yu's reputation, family, and honor could be protected. Unlimited grace and honor, even the emperor stopped court for several days to show mourning, and you can be buried with me in the imperial mausoleum in the future.

If the voyage to Southeast Asia is successful, he will definitely be made a duke. He is less than 40 years old, and there is no more title or reward for him. He can grab the money bag and the gun barrel. The emperor is confident that he dare not use his son who is made the crown prince, and he cannot use him.

By then, I'm afraid that some troubles will inevitably occur. It's easy to find excuses to accuse someone. If he lives two more years, his reputation will be ruined, his family will be destroyed, and his honor will be tarnished. The emperor felt that he was very good to Liu Yu, so he really couldn't bear to see such a situation.

This of course leads to a conclusion: before his death, making Liu Yu die of illness and having a grand funeral is the greatest favor to Liu Yu.

Liu Yu is only in his thirties this year, and the emperor himself is not even fifty, so it's not certain who will be ahead of whom. So many years have passed, who still believes in immortality, practicing Taoism and alchemy.

The emperor felt that Liu Yu was tempered in the white mountains and black waters when he was sixteen or seventeen years old, went to the Western Regions and went to Southeast Asia, and was bitten by mosquitoes and tired by the carriages and horses. There is a high probability that he will die before him.

If he really dies before him, it will be a happy ending for everyone.

But if he really can't die before him, he can only help and send him off.

Is Liu Yu a loyal minister?

Li Gan had never doubted this. Although he talked a lot about Huaxia in his methods, he was the emperor of Huaxia. He was loyal to Huaxia, so he was naturally loyal to himself, as long as he was not like Song Gaomingying. And if he asked himself, Li Gan felt that he was much stronger than Zhao Gou and Zhu Qizhen.

But Liu Yu's trip to Europe this time seemed to be very glorious, like the majestic Ban Dingyuan in the past. But it also made the emperor a little uncomfortable.

Luosha was also a big country, but Liu Yu escaped from the coup. This Luosha country was not Shanshan or Loulan. Dashun had almost no influence there, and it was difficult for the military to reach it.

The Netherlands was a small but powerful country, thousands of miles away from the ocean, and it was played by him. He used the power to fight the power and took advantage of the situation, and easily changed the head of the Netherlands.

These were all merits, great merits for Dashun. But behind these merits, the emperor also felt worried.

The Luocha coup relied on force.

The Dutch coup relied on strategy.

It can defeat cleverness with force when the tsar, nobles, old emperors die and the new emperor is just established.

It can also maneuver among the parliament, the people, the speaker, and the businessmen to incite the people.

Although Dashun is different from both countries, Dashun has its own basic small nobles and a bureaucratic system of the imperial examination system. The power structure is different from Luocha and the Netherlands.

But it still shows one thing: once they leave the restraint and restriction, such people are like fish leaping in the sea and birds flying in the sky.

Li Gan is confident that he can suppress and control Liu Yu. But what about after his death?

Liu Yu and the prince are not familiar with each other, and there is not much intersection.

As Li Gan thought, if Liu Yu was only seventeen or eighteen now, Li Gan would be happy to leave Liu Yu to the prince as a future gun and money bag.

But Liu Yu is about to be promoted to the highest position, and he is very capable. Of course, it is impossible for such a person to get closer to the prince. Even a minister with a little political sense should know that important ministers must not get close to the prince.

If Jinghaihou, who can train troops, make money, fight wars, and stage two coups in Europe, gets too close to the prince, the emperor himself should be uneasy.

But now the situation is like this. Even if Liu Yu is loyal and wants a good end, if he dies in the future, the prince and Liu Yu are not too close, Liu Yu may find it difficult to have a good end.

Moreover, Liu Yu is loyal, but if the prince really wants him to die in the future, can he sit and wait for death?

Escape? Don’t look at what the Japanese said about the cunning rabbit having three burrows, but now Dashun has once again become the Celestial Empire in Asia. From Afghanistan to Japan, from Myanmar to Java, I’m afraid no one dares to take him in.

Besides, such a person, if he is like Shang Yang. If you want to use him, use him. If you don't want to use him, kill him. The emperor had thought about it before. If Liu Yu wanted to sail a small boat on the sea one day, he would just turn a blind eye. But the prince and Liu Yu didn't have such a close relationship, nor did they have deep feelings.

Even if he didn't consider anything else, and only considered his own reputation after death, as long as Liu Yu didn't shut himself up after the battle in Nanyang, as long as he still wanted to use Liu Yu to do things and rely on Western trade to get the royal treasury, the prince would definitely move Liu Yu when he succeeded to the throne in the future.

Throwing dirty water and finding charges were inevitable routines. If Liu Yu rebelled, it would be bad; if he escaped, it would be bad; if he didn't rebel or escape and just died, what about his reputation? Is the minister who was favored and trusted a sinner? What about himself?

Looking to the future, Li Gan felt mixed emotions.

He really hadn't thought about the moment when he knew that Liu Yu had accomplished great things in Europe, the conditions for going to Southeast Asia were ripe, Dashun was really going to participate in the world hegemony, and Liu Yu was about to return from Europe.

What he hoped most at this moment was that Liu Yu would die before him in the future, fulfilling the loyalty between the monarch and his subjects and becoming a good story of the Tang Dynasty.