When Li Ze saw Zhang Zhongwu, he was neither in the prison of the Criminal Department nor in his own public hall, but chose the tea room. When Zhang Zhongwu, who had been changed into a regular suit, was brought to this place, he saw Li Ze, who was also in Tsing Yi civilian clothes on the opposite side, sitting cross-legged in front of him, boiling water to make tea with a calm demeanor, but he was stunned for a while.

He has always existed as Li Ze's opponent, and he is not proud to say that he also thinks that he has always been Li Ze's strongest opponent, and once made Li Ze face the dilemma of life and death.

originally thought that as the general of the defeated army, he would have a humiliation waiting for him today, and he was also prepared to face it calmly, after all, the winner has reason to be proud of the king. But I didn't expect it to be such a scene. This made his feelings for Li Ze rise several notches in an instant.

This person's popularity is stopped, not arrogant or boring, and sure enough, a person who always wins has his uniqueness. Changing places, Zhang Zhongwu didn't think he could do this. Having defeated the most formidable foe, he will surely be ecstatic.

"You may be seated!" Li Ze raised his head, his face was calm, and he pointed to a futon opposite.

Zhang Zhongwu glanced back at the guards who were escorting him, and the men gently closed the door and retreated. He raised his eyebrows, strode across from Li Ze, and sat down cross-legged.

"You're not afraid that I'll storm you?" In the same way, he asked Gongsun Changming, but today he asked Li Ze again.

Li Zeyi smiled and said, "I'm not a weak person like Gongsun. Since I was a child, I have been practicing martial arts diligently, and even if I can't compare to a hundred battles like you, it's still okay to parry a few times. ”

Speaking of this, he pointed to the screen behind him again, "There are still hundreds of enemies sitting behind you, where do you have a chance?" ”

Regarding Li Ze's calmness, Zhang Zhongwu laughed: "I can't imagine that Li Xiang, who is powerful all over the world, is also so afraid of death?" ”

"If you don't compete for the great cause, you naturally don't want to die. It is said that a gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall, and I deeply believe that. So be prepared for whatever, and you can't go wrong. Li Ze lifted the teapot, filled the six small cups in front of him one by one, and then pushed three to the other party's face.

Zhang Zhongwu picked up the teacup, poured it into his mouth, turned it in his mouth a few times, swallowed it with a grunt, smacked his mouth a few times, and picked up another one, but put it in his nose and sniffed deeply for a while, then drank it, put down the teacup, and sighed: "I heard that this method of brewing tea was also invented by you, compared to Lu Yu's set, I prefer this kind of tea that is bitter first and then sweet." You've also made an iron pot and a set of novel dishes, and I'm wondering, how can someone like you waste time on this? ”

Li Ze slowly tasted the tea and said with a smile: "Because I am a person, delicious and delicious, I never want to let myself suffer a little grievance." Let's just talk about drinking tea, how can there be so many talks and complicated rituals, my favorite is to take the boiling water and flush it, as for the tea book you said I wrote, it is just for some idlers to find something to do when they are idle, and it also makes some people think that they are more elegant and high-end than cow drinkers. There is a saying that life always has to have some sense of ritual. ”

Zhang Zhongwu laughed: "This is the same as my opinion, after your tea scriptures became popular in the world, whenever I saw those so-called literati and scholars messing around there, I wanted to laugh a little, and I didn't think it was more fragrant than the one I brewed indiscriminately." ”

"The important thing is the tea, it is the water quality." Li Zedao: "These techniques are just to make you look pleasing to the eye." ”

Zhang Zhongwu nodded, a simple conversation, but it gave him a new understanding of Li Ze.

"To say without humility that I should be your worst enemy, you must be very happy to defeat and capture me alive, right?" Zhang Zhongwu looked at the other party and asked.

Li Ze shook his head: "Happy is naturally happy, after all, the vast land of Liaodong has finally returned to the territory of the Tang Dynasty, which is a great thing, and it is much better to fall into my hands than in your hands." But to be honest, you're not my worst enemy. ”

Zhang Zhongwu snorted coldly: "I'm not, is it Xiang Xun from the south?" ”

"He's not as good as you!" Li Ze said with a smile: "If he falls into my hands, he will not be treated like you." I wouldn't have seen him at all, let alone let me make my own tea. ”

These words made Zhang Zhongwu's heart feel much more comfortable.

"So, I'm still a special one!" He stroked his beard and said proudly.

"You have this treatment because I want to reward you for fighting the Khitan on the border for more than ten years." Li Zedao: "Back then, the Tang Dynasty was in decline, but the Khitan had a great tendency to rise, if it weren't for your more than ten years of hard fighting on the border, interrupting the resurgence of the Khitan people, and completely killing the hope of the rise of this race, maybe what would the current Tang Dynasty become?" ”

Zhang Zhongwu was silent for a while: "After you establish the country, you will inevitably also revise history, and people like me will at least take up a little space, will you record these exploits of mine?"

"Of course, it should be yours, it is yours, whether it is merit or crime, it will be objectively recorded, right and wrong, and future generations will naturally have an evaluation." Li Zedao: "In fact, it's not just this, in the past six or seven years, your contribution to the development of Liaodong will not erase you." ”

"I went to Liaodong, you forced me to go!" Zhang Zhongwu sighed: "At that time, you fought to let me reclaim this barren land for you, right?" ”

"Naturally!" Li Zedao: "Liaodong is a vast territory, but there are many races, the head of the city changes the banner of the king, you sing and I appear, nominally it is the territory of the Tang Dynasty, but the Tang Dynasty has never really carried out actual and effective rule in this place, and in history, it has been occupied by people with ulterior motives many times, such as Goryeo." Six or seven years ago, you not only drove out the Koreans, but also implemented effective rule here, which will save us a lot of effort after we take over, and will allow us to truly integrate this region into the mainstream of the Tang Dynasty in a shorter period of time. ”

"Make a wedding garment for another!" Zhang Zhongwu looked up to the sky and sighed: "Gongsun Changming didn't say anything wrong about me. From the moment you drove me to Liaodong, you have already calculated to this day, haven't you? ”

"Not really!" Li Ze said calmly: "At that time, this was just a calculation, a plan, as for what the final outcome would be, in fact, there was no bottom in my heart. If you win the hearts of the people in Liaodong and do a prosperous business there, if you can make them bear the exploitation of Goryeo so that they will not completely fall to us but work with you with one heart and one mind, then it will take us more time and effort to defeat you. ”

"If that's the case, will you allow me to rip the ground and seal the territory?"

"Of course not!" Li Ze said with a smile: "If you can do that, I will only attack you after dominating the world, after Datang's strength can easily crush you." I will not allow such a gap to appear in the territory of Datang, no matter how much land there is in Datang, not an inch is superfluous, and any secession is not allowed. ”

Zhang Zhongwu nodded: "I think it should be like this." I'm curious, if I'm not your strongest opponent, and Xiang Xun isn't, then who is your strongest opponent? ”

Li Ze got up, took the rarely visible globe from the big case behind him, put it in front of Zhang Zhongwu, and with a slight turn, the globe spun in front of Zhang Zhongwu.

"Look, this is the world we're in." Li Zedao: "Is Datang big?" It's big, but it's small compared to the whole world. What you see is only the area of our Datang, but what I see is the whole world. In this world, there is never a shortage of amazing talents, and in these places where we have never set foot before, there are also overlords who dominate one side and have an extremely powerful empire. ”

Zhang Zhongwu's eyes widened, looking at this thing he had never seen before, he never thought that there was such a vast world next to the land where he was staying?

"That's too far away from us, isn't it?"

He is a smart man, just by looking at the territory of Datang, he can roughly estimate the distance between other places and Datang.

"Far away? Not far away! Li Ze shook his head and said: "It seems far away now, but the future is not likely." The world is big and big, and small is small. If you take a little more, others say that it is a little less, and others take more and take more, you will naturally have less. Therefore, we must fight and rob, not for myself, but for our entire Datang and all the Tang people. If we want to be better off than others, we have to make others worse. And to do that, we first have to be stronger than others. In this world, after all, it is still up to you to see whose fist is bigger, and only when the fist is bigger and more powerful than others, can you try to reason with others. ”

Zhang Zhongwu was silent.

He suddenly found that Li Ze's vision was not on the same line as him at all, and compared with Li Ze, he was like a frog making a loud noise at the bottom of the well, although he was screaming loudly, he could only see the sky at the mouth of the well.

I really didn't lose unjustly.

"Listening to Gongsun Changming, you want to build an empire that has been inherited through the ages, and for this reason, you do not hesitate to give up the power of the emperor, doing so will help you achieve such a goal, right?" Zhang Zhongwu asked.

"Compared with building a powerful and incomparable empire, it is much more difficult for us Tang people to have a sense of family and country, and let them be proud of their Tang identity wherever they go. And to do this, the first thing I want to do is to change this pattern of the world, Datang is not my Li Ze's Datang, it is the Datang of all Datang people. The rise and fall of the family and the country is the responsibility of the husband. Li Ze got up again, took two books, and put them in front of Zhang Zhongwu.

"Theory of the State" and "Theory of the Nation"

The two pamphlets written by Li Ze have been polished and supplemented by the pens in the Yixing Society organized by Cao Zhang, and now they have become two thick books.