Weiyang Palace, East Warm Pavilion.

The emperor raised his head and glanced at Shen Leng: "I just asked you to go to the Shangbin Pavilion of the Ministry of Rites, you turned out such a big thing, and beat the envoys of the rest country, and this will say that my Daning does not understand hospitality, and that my Daning bullies the weak......"

Shen Lengxin said Your Majesty, you let me go, isn't this what I did?

Of course, he didn't dare to say it.

"How's the hand?"

The emperor glanced at Shen Leng's hand, Shen Leng was injured and bandaged with gauze, which looked quite thick, so there was some concern in the emperor's eyes, and it was fleeting.

"Fortunately, the minister bandaged it quickly."

Shen Leng untied the gauze wrapped in his hand: "If you rub the skin slowly, the places where you break the skin will be healed, so that those who rest in peace will see that it is not good to ask for money." ”

Emperor: "......"

He put down the red pen in his hand, looked at Shen Leng and asked seriously, "How much medical expenses do you want?" ”

Shen Leng replied: "I asked for three thousand taels." ”

Emperor: "Huh? ”

"Five Thousand ......"

The emperor snorted: "You can have as much as you want, will I still take all the money you want?" Who am I? ”

Shen Leng breathed a sigh of relief: "The minister thought it was ......"

Emperor: "You think it's right, I asked you to go to this matter, of course the money you got must also have me, I thought that you contributed to it, you keep two thousand taels, three thousand taels to return to me." ”

Shen Leng: "......"

The emperor got up, walked up to Shen Leng and stretched out his hand: "Did they give a silver ticket, or cash?" ”

Shen Leng took out a few gems from his arms: "There are abundant gems in the rest of the country, and I really can't take out so much silver, so I used these gems to offset it, and one gem is calculated according to five hundred taels of silver, a total of ten ......"

The emperor took six of them, held them up and looked at the light: "Sure enough, the quality is extraordinary, such a gem, each one is worth thousands of taels of silver, you can be regarded as earning." ”

He returned to the desk with the six gems, and put the remaining four gems back into his clothes with a cold smile, thinking that there were still four gems left behind, and it was okay to divide the account with the emperor.

As soon as the emperor turned around and saw Shen Leng smiling there, the emperor asked curiously: "I took most of it and left it for you a while, why don't you seem to feel distressed at all?" ”

Shen Leng hurriedly said: "The minister is not greedy, how much is much, Your Majesty left four for the minister, which is Your Majesty's reward, thank Your Majesty for your grace." ”

Emperor: "You got it yourself, not my reward." ”

"Count, count."

"It doesn't count."

"Really."

Shen Leng said seriously: "How can an embassy go out with so much cash, after all, the money they use is not circulated in our Daning, although the rest is rich in gems, but such a valuable thing is not something they can take out casually by an envoy themselves, the minister asked them for medical expenses, and they couldn't take it out, and they were afraid of continuing to be beaten, so they had to take out ten of the thirty gems that were ready to be dedicated to Your Majesty and pay them to the minister, didn't they have the opportunity to meet Your Majesty, so the minister estimated, When His Majesty summoned them, they could only say that they had brought twenty jewels to offer to His Majesty......"

Emperor: "Take out the gem for me." ”

Shen Leng: "You don't have any jokes, Your Majesty, Your Majesty said to leave four for your ministers." ”

The emperor glared at Shen Leng: "You are guilty of bullying the king." ”

Shen Leng pleaded with a face: "Your Majesty ......"

The emperor smiled: "Keep it, four gems, go back and find someone to make it to wear, one for you, one for tea, one for each of the two little guys, it is considered to be my reward for you." ”

Shen Leng hurriedly lowered his head: "The minister knows that His Majesty loves Renhong." ”

The emperor said: "If I am as shameless as you, you have to say that I am bullying you, although I think it hurts to lose four gems...... Let's talk about it, what are the intentions of the black warriors and the resting people, I don't believe you didn't care, but just went to fight. ”

Of course, Shen Leng knew that His Majesty asked him to go to the Shangbin Pavilion of the Ministry of Rites not only to suppress the arrogance of the rest and the black warriors, but also to see what the rest and the black warriors were hiding.

"Rest people, just to see the strength of Daning, Emperor Rest Galok is too greedy, warlike to the point of madness, he sent people to see if Daning is good to fight, can fight or not."

"And the black warriors are here to drag down Your Majesty, they have already guessed or have received the news that Your Majesty is going to drive the Northern Expedition in person, so they sent people to ask to see Your Majesty, trying to negotiate and even pay a certain price to delay Your Majesty's personal expedition, if you can leave Your Majesty in Chang'an and stay at the negotiation table, the Black Warriors will be considered successful."

The emperor nodded: "There is no other way for the Black Warriors...... It took me twenty years to reverse the relationship between Heiwu and Daning, how could I easily give up the Northern Expedition, before I ascended the throne, although Daning had not lost much, but it had been passive, twenty years later, Daning had taken the initiative everywhere, and after the Northern Expedition, I had to make Heiwu more passive. ”

He glanced at Lai Cheng next to him: "Didn't the black warriors want to talk?" If you arrange someone to talk to them, just say what I said, as long as Heiwu is willing to dedicate the territory of Star City to the south, including the entire Southern Courtyard, to Daning, then everything can be discussed. ”

Lai Cheng lowered his head: "The minister understands." ”

The emperor looked at Lai Chengdao: "You can also be tactful, don't be so cold when negotiating with the black warriors, and don't be so tough, let the black warriors feel that Daning can accept even if they take a step back, give them hope, let them feel that their negotiations have progressed, and don't directly cut off their thoughts." ”

Lai Chengdao: "But Your Majesty, you directly want more than half of the territory of Heiwu, which has already broken their minds, and they can't continue to talk." ”

"I'll teach you a way."

The emperor looked at Lai Cheng and said seriously: "I asked you to be the chief negotiator, and you personally negotiated with them as the first assistant scholar of the cabinet, so naturally you can be regarded as giving them enough face, right?" ”

Lai Chengdao: "It stands to reason that yes. ”

The emperor said: "So, you have to let them slap you, thinking that as long as they can buy you, this negotiation will make progress, you have been an official for so many years, do you still want to teach you how to collect money?" As long as the black warriors are willing to bribe you, you will help them speak as much as possible, help them do things as much as possible, I give you this power, and you don't have to worry about settling accounts after the fall. ”

Lai Cheng sighed: "The minister thinks that it is not a problem to collect their money, but the minister cannot keep it privately. ”

The emperor looked at Lai Cheng with admiration and felt that Lai Cheng was really the best way.

"You can't keep it privately, you can't be four or six, then three or seven."

The emperor said, "I want seven points, and you keep three points." ”

Lai Cheng: "......"

The emperor looked at Shen Leng: "They are also my courtiers, look at you, you look at Lai Cheng, how did you get separated from me?" It's actually four or six points, Lai Cheng said that you can't be four or six, did you hear it? ”

Shen Leng raised his hand to cover his chest, and his clothes looked resolute: "Minister, don't obey." ”

The emperor gave him a blank look: "Since I said that I will leave four for you, you will keep four, but you trespassed into the Shangbin Pavilion of the Ministry of Rites, and also beat the foreign envoys, which insulted the Daning national body and lost the demeanor of Daning, and this matter will be punished after all." ”

The emperor looked at Lai Cheng: "You still have the imperial history of the Imperial History Terrace, what do you think you should do?" ”

Lai Cheng immediately lowered his head and said: "After the minister goes back, he will ask people to write an eight-hundred-word recital to participate in General Shen, and affirm every word." ”

Emperor: "Eight hundred words? ”

Lai Cheng: "That's 3,000 words." ”

The emperor snorted and looked at Shen Leng, who sighed: "The minister knows that he has made a big mistake, and it is really insulting and degrading, so the minister asks His Majesty to punish the minister, and Nian Zaichen is also a first offense, so it is better to punish him?" ”

The emperor nodded: "Well, seeing that you admit your mistakes so sincerely, I will not pursue your felony for the time being, and the felony will be punished lightly." ”

Shen Leng sighed.

The emperor looked at him and asked, "What's next?" ”

Shen Leng: "Thank you, Your Majesty Longen." ”

The emperor was relieved and waved his hand: "Okay, you go back first, I and Lai Cheng still have some things to discuss, remember to tell Cha'er when you go back, the gem was given to her by me, not by you." ”

Shen Leng: "The minister obeys the order, and the minister will tell her truthfully when he goes back." ”

"Truthfully?"

The emperor squinted his eyes: "What do you mean by being truthful?" ”

Shen Leng bowed: "Thank you, Your Majesty, Longen, and the minister will retire first." ”

After saying that, he ran away.

The emperor shook his head with a smile, looked at Lai Cheng and said: "If the Heiwu people want to negotiate and delay time, then let them think that there is a chance, you just have to leak the news to them, saying that my determination to go on the Northern Expedition is not great, if you can get some benefits from Heiwu, and let Heiwu sign a treaty to promise not to invade Daning in the future, I can meet them in person, give them hope, and let them always feel that they can see me." ”

Lai Chengdao: "Your Majesty rest assured, the minister will take care of the scale." ”

The emperor nodded: "On the eighth day of March, I will lead the army north, and you will stay in the cabinet to assist the crown prince...... Although the prince has been studying in the cabinet for a long time, but after all, he is young and cannot be thoughtful in everything, if there is anything inappropriate, you as the head of the cabinet should advise more, the prince's decision, the cabinet must discuss and implement, if the cabinet feels that the prince is wrong, the cabinet has the right to reject the prince's order. ”

Lai Cheng was shocked, His Majesty has given the cabinet great power, even if it was at the peak of Mu Zhaotong, the cabinet would never have such authority to reject the order of the prince of the prison state? This is His Majesty's greatest trust in him and in the Cabinet.

And in this will, Lai Cheng also felt His Majesty's worries, and gave the cabinet this power, not only to tell the prince's cabinet that he had this power, but more importantly, to tell the prince not to behave indiscriminately, once the prince made any decisions that might endanger Daning, the cabinet would annul this decision.

His Majesty is still worried about the crown prince.

"I'm in the north and I don't want anything to happen at home."

The emperor glanced at Lai Cheng: "You are one of the people who know me best, so I don't need to say it too clearly, you just need to remember, Lai Cheng, I handed over the family to you." ”

Lai Cheng bowed down: "Minister, I will live up to Your Majesty's trust." ”

The emperor snorted: "I want to believe in you, I have always believed that people's abilities are different, the weight on your shoulders is different, people have the talent of a county, can govern a county, and the shoulders are the weight of the people of a county, people have a talent, but you can stabilize a peace, and you have a people's weight on your shoulders, and you are different, I know that you have the talent to govern the country, so the weight on your shoulders is heavier, I often think that I should treat you well...... However, the three-seven account that has just been negotiated cannot be changed. ”

Lai Cheng burst out laughing: "The minister remembers." ”