Come on, Your Highness

As soon as He Xichao stepped into Duke Wei's mansion, He Mingrui knew it.

As soon as He Xichao left, he walked into Sansong Hall.

"grandfather."

"sit down."

Wei Guogong sat behind the desk without moving, and the chair was still placed on the opposite side.

He Xichao had never liked to sit on the sidelines when discussing things with Wei Guogong, so the chair hadn't been put back against the wall.

But his cup of tea has been put away and replaced with a new one.

He Mingrui saluted and sat down.

Wei Guogong said: "Close up the line to the west and withdraw it."

He Mingrui's hand holding the tea paused for a moment, and then he took it back. He raised his head and looked at Wei Guogong: "I finally got through this road, and I asked my grandfather to help me to get on the line. What about our He clan? Don’t we just rely on these things to live in peace? Otherwise, like the Zhao family, using the name of the Duke’s Mansion to cause trouble outside and search for money, it will be troublesome!"

Wei Guogong rolled his eyelids: "Find some regular businessmen to do it for them."

He Mingrui sneered: "It's so easy, I'm used to idleness, and they won't be happy if you find it for them! My grandson knows why He Xichao broke up so cleanly. If I ,I also……"

"You too?" Wei Guogong laughed and looked at him with deep meaning, "Mingrui, but cross out a name, if you don't want it, it's not difficult."

He Mingrui darkened his eyes, stopped talking immediately, and stopped talking.

"If you can't learn to be decisive, don't learn to be so stubborn." Wei Guogong picked up the tea and took a sip.

He Mingrui bowed his head: "Grandfather taught me that."

Wei Guogong said: "His Royal Highness, who was promoted by the emperor himself as Minister of Honghe Temple, is fully supportive. I think this old man Mao will definitely carry it out. Get out as soon as possible and find another way out, otherwise you will be involved in this vortex."

"Heh..." He Mingrui laughed, and he looked at Wei Guogong with sarcasm in his eyes, "Grandfather, let grandson remind you that He Xichao has been expelled, what's the point of you still supporting him? Is it easy to implement? Not to mention the ministers of the court, the imperial family, the royal family, the palace of the princess, and even the Ministry of Internal Affairs has its own line! Can the border garrison be supported by the little salary allocated by the Ministry of Households every year? Isn't it just relying on the checkpoint money to subsidize the subsidy? As the Minister of the Ministry of War, you don't know it? He wants to promote border trade, who cares about him? The generals in the frontier will not agree!"

As the grandson of the Minister of the Household Department, He Mingrui is also the long history of Prince Li's mansion, so he is in charge of the money exchange.

The crown prince Xiao Hongnai was in a tight spot, and if Xiao Ming didn't have other financial resources to support him, he wouldn't be able to spend money like water.

The subordinates are filial, there are many hidden threads, in the final analysis, it is all ill-gotten gains.

Today's emperor works diligently for the people, and when something happened to the Lu family, he pays special attention to the locality, fearing that some local officials will deceive the people to collect money, so there are very few extortionate extortions, and even if there are, those rich princes would not dare to mess with them.

Only merchants buy and sell, even Emperor Tiangan's private treasury cannot be broken.

The fastest way to get money is border smuggling.

He Mingrui felt that He Xichao was born to restrain him. Once the border trade was promoted and the smuggling stopped, the Prince Li's Mansion would lose half of its financial resources. Even the Li family's connections would also cut off their financial resources.

So he hated border trade.

"No one will agree, he is whimsical!"

Wei Guogong wanted to get these things, not only him, Mr. Xie Ge, the crown prince is the Emperor of Heaven, he also wanted to get it.

"Princess Zhen Guo said she was married to the crown prince, and the Marquis of Yongning only listens to the emperor's orders. As long as the emperor gives an order, no caravans will be able to enter and exit the northwest frontier army." Wei Guogong looked indifferent.

"But so what? Grandfather, the national treasury is not rich, and the military pay is insufficient. The frontier soldiers will be the first to object. How can Zhenbei Wangfu and Yongning Houfu subsidize tens of thousands of troops by themselves? Otherwise, who will fill this hole? ?" He Mingrui asked.

Wei Guogong smiled slightly: "This is a question that the emperor should consider."

"But if the emperor can solve this problem, how can he stay until now?" He Mingrui asked rather unwillingly, "Do you trust him that much?"

Wei Guogong looked at him and said: "For so many years, there is nothing he wants to do that cannot be done. Mingrui, what do you think he will do?"

Naturally, He Mingrui thought and thought again and again, he dreamed of beating He Xichao once, but every time he fell into that person's hands, it became an obsession.

The matter of border trade is of great importance, even if the government has not handed over the official documents, which minister has not discussed it many times in private, who wants to stop He Xichao?

Can't guess!

No one from the prince's place could find out the news, and He Xichao kept his mouth shut, and there was no movement, which is really strange.

He Mingrui took a sip of tea and looked at Wei Guogong: "Grandfather, do you have any news? What did He Xichao say just now that made you believe him so much?"

"He said that sitting in that position, he has the determination to win."

"Oh, that's it?"

Wei Guogong nodded: "That's it."

"Don't you find it ridiculous?" He Mingrui asked in disbelief.

Wei Guogong shook his head: "It's not ridiculous. Let me tell you, Mingrui, I'm afraid I can't control what you want to do, but I still have the final say in Wei Guogong's mansion. Once Cen Yan died, the thread would have already been broken. It's time to protect yourself, don't care about it, and can't control it. It doesn't matter whether He Xi Chaocheng succeeds or not, there is a sentence that he said before he left. The old man protected too well before and raised a bunch of waste, so he can't continue, otherwise Sooner or later, the He family will be destroyed." He said and looked up at He Mingrui, "In the future, if you inherit the title, so as not to drag you down, I will take this opportunity to clean it up, what do you think?"

He Mingrui had no way to refute these words, so he could only say: "Grandfather is thoughtful, then the matter of my grandfather's entrustment..."

"He Xichao is the son of expulsion. What does it have to do with this old man? Speaking of which, he is also the grandson of the Li family. In terms of relatives, this old man is no match for Li Shangshu. This is of no help."

Prince Li's Mansion

Hearing the news, Li Shangshu smiled: "That old fox of Wei Guogong, the current crown prince is firmly seated, and he has just joined in that line. He can indeed abandon it, and there is no need to get involved."

"Even if it's expelled, it's still blood. Grandfather has always regretted it. Grandfather, what are you going to do?" He Mingrui asked.

"He Xichao didn't return the gift."

"The dynasty will be sealed soon, what is he trying to do? If he doesn't retreat, will he be sent directly to the prince's residence?" Xiao Ming asked.

"The crown prince won't accept it." Li Shangshu said, "over the years, if it wasn't for reciprocity, the crown prince would have tightened his belt, making people criticize him, and he would not accept money casually."

Xiao Ming was a little puzzled: "Brother is like this. The six important ministers in the imperial court pretended not to see them. After returning to the capital, they even went to court without paying attention. They didn't even come. He is not afraid of..."

"What is the prince afraid of? The emperor holds the power. No matter how you and the second highness win over the power, it is also under the emperor's control. As long as the favor is there, this position is invincible. The emperor can seize the power of the highness at any time. He, of course he is not good at forming a clique for personal gain and receiving benefits." Li Shangshu said, "It is very smart to do so."

"Then what are we busy with? Eldest brother is the emperor's favorite heir apparent. In the battle of the Northern Territory, with the military power in hand, no one can shake his position." Xiao Ming actually couldn't see through Xiao Hong. The older he got, This feeling is even worse when the monarch and ministers are separated between brothers.

It was as if his and Xiao Yi's little actions were noticed, but they couldn't attract the attention of the other party, because they didn't constitute a threat at all.

This feeling that he was not even an opponent made Xiao Ming breathe a sigh of relief: "It's better to just leave it at that..."

"Naturally, we are waiting for the opportunity." Li Shangshu suddenly said loudly, "Now the opportunity has come."

"What?" Xiao Ming looked at him in surprise.

"I'm afraid He Xichao is no longer valued by the prince as much as before."

"Father-in-law, what do you say?"

"Even if the border trade is carried out smoothly, you will have to leave the capital to go west for a while. These two people have always been inseparable. Even when they went north to fight against the enemy, the crown prince also brought him with him. But when they came back, He Xichao became the secretary of the Honglu Temple and replaced Xie San. Looking at Gao Sheng, he is actually far away from the prince, but Ming Jiang, the smoother it is, the more dangerous it is. In the past, would the prince be willing to do so? Isn’t it necessary to protect your life even if you risk your life?”

As soon as Li Shangshu's words came out, the two suddenly realized.

Xiao Ming nodded slowly and said: "In this way, it does make some sense. In the past, He Xichao was more important to the elder brother than us brothers, and he couldn't be more important. This time, he was willing to let him out to eat the wind and sand alone. strangeness."

He Mingrui's eyes lit up: "Xie San has spent so many years in the Western Regions scouting news, negotiating with various countries, and with the support of the Xie family behind him, he is the best candidate for this promotion. No matter how bad it is, Honglu Temple and other important ministers will do it Isn't it more appropriate? He Xichao is squatting in the Imperial Academy, why is he joining in the fun? That person is used to pretending, and such thankless things have always been avoided. If it wasn't for the prince's intention, how could he stand at the forefront of the storm? go?"

Xiao Hong wondered: "But why? What did he do to make Eldest Brother unhappy? By the way, during this period of time, he really rarely went to the Prince's Mansion, and he almost lived there before, not at home."

"As a courtier, you should remember the word duty. If you cross this line, you will lose the way to be a courtier."

Li Shangshu's words made Xiao Ming and He Mingrui silent.

He Mingrui raised his hand to salute Xiao Ming: "What my grandfather said is that a ruler is a ruler, and a minister is a minister. How can we mess up the dignity?"

Thinking about how He Xichao used to be taken care of by Xiao Hong calmly, even served him with tea and water, without any scruples in speaking, to this point, it is his own fault.

The corners of He Mingrui's mouth raised, revealing a sarcasm: "He Xichao is indeed smart. It is not an exaggeration to be as wise as a monster. The eldest prince can go to this day without his support. However, now that the crown prince has been restored, he has won the favor of the emperor." He is too arrogant to think that he used to be a prince who relied on him for everything, heh, you can't blame the prince for not being able to tolerate him."

"It can't be tolerated, but it's true to beat it. The border trade is implemented to collect tariffs and fill the treasury with the profits of smuggling. If this is done, he will be a truly capable minister. The emperor will definitely see it. After He Xichao was dismissed , is a lonely minister, if he wants to regain the crown prince's trustworthiness, he has to keep climbing, this is a shortcut."

Xiao Ming asked: "Do you think he is good?"

"I don't know if I can do it or not, but there are many difficulties, but it is true that there are many crises. And once the estrangement arises, it will no longer be so close, and there will be hope for the future."

"But this is my father-in-law's guess after all." Xiao Ming said.

"That's right, so I'll have to try him."

"What are you going to try?"

"The memorial day for Yuechan's mother will be the day after tomorrow. Fifty is a full life span, so it should be properly commemorated."

"Grandfather, is this too sudden?"

"It's okay, I just want to find a reason to meet him." At this point, Li Shangshu narrowed his eyes and exhaled lightly, "No matter what, smuggling cannot be banned, and he has to back down."

Xiao Ming said: "I still have to trouble my father-in-law, although the money should not be there, but if it is missing, it will always be troublesome to do things."

"Your Highness, don't worry, the old minister will do his best."

Li Shangshu held the treasury in and out, so naturally he had to nod for the money that would not go to the treasury.

When rumors of border trade arose, everyone was looking at him.

The letter of greeting from the Li family was finally delivered to the He residence.

He Xichao opened the letter, then threw it aside, peeled the orange and ate it.

Xia He and Ah Fu stood beside him and watched him, waiting for him to eat the second one before eating the third one. Xia He quickly took one end of the fruit plate.

"Master, Your Highness said that the weather is cold, you can eat at most two of these cold things, you can't eat more." Ah Fu persuaded.

He Xichao snorted coldly and said, "Since you can only eat two, what are you doing sending so many over here to covet me?"

"Isn't this still edible tomorrow? Why don't you tell His Highness to send two of them every day?" Ah Fu felt that this was too much, but the crown prince should follow suit.

"Don't you think it's not enough?" He Xichao glanced unhappily, "Take it away, I won't eat it tomorrow."

Xia He turned around and handed the fruit plate to the little girl to take it down, then came back and asked, "Master, what does the Li residence want to do?"

"Let's make a deal. The Minister of the Household Department knows the smuggling route and the huge profits best. Those gifts are just small things, and this is the right one." He Xichao took the veil and wiped his hands, and worked hard towards the letter. Nuzui said to Xia He: "Take it to your mother, ask her, if you want to go, I will go with her."

"Yes."

Li Yuechan came in person with the letter, and He Xichao knew what she meant when he saw her appearance.

"Prepare some gifts and come to the door tomorrow."