Condescending and Condescending

Li Qingyu said: "Long live the report, I think that Xiao Dang's crimes are too numerous to be recorded and known all over the world, so there is no need to look for evidence."

"However, the disciples of Xiao Yangzhou are all over the world, so it's not easy to arrest them directly. It's better to start with his party members first. Under heavy punishment, there must be cowards. As long as one of them is willing to confess, we can justifiably take Xiao Yangzhou."

It’s just that people are directly arrested without evidence, and the evidence obtained under torture is even more difficult to convince the public. There are many party members in Zhang Yangzhou, and they will definitely charge Dialect Qin with a fictional charge in the unofficial history and frame the hat of a hero .

It is impossible to say that if there is a dynasty in power in the future, in order to prevent the emperor from "learning bad", the other party may directly reverse Xiao Shoufu's case.

So upon hearing this, Duke Zhen and the others immediately said: "Long live, I think this is inappropriate..."

Only Li Qingyu remained silent. After all, this incident damaged the emperor's reputation, not his.

Fang Yanqin also stopped tapping the armrest with his fingers, and then he smiled: "I think this plan is feasible, after all, if things drag on, I will have trouble sleeping and eating."

Seeing that the emperor had made up his mind, Lord Zhen Guo and others could only swallow the words in their mouths.

Then Fang Yanqin took a deep look at Li Qingyu: "Then leave this matter to Li Qing's family!"

"If this is accomplished, the Qing family will be the first to make a contribution, and I will reward you heavily at that time."

Li Qingyu immediately showed his eyes determined to win: "I will definitely live up to Long Live's expectations."

But before that, he had to convince Concubine Xiao Gui, lest she would do something stupid impulsively after knowing that he was going to help the emperor deal with Xiao Shoufu.

For example, exposing the relationship between the two of them...

So two days later, at a hot spring village in the suburbs of Beijing, Concubine Xiao and Li Qingyu hugged each other as soon as they entered.

After complaining about her lovesickness, the first thing Xiao Guifei said was to persuade him to join her father Xiao Shoufu.

Apparently, she also realized that the child in her womb had broken the balance between the imperial party and the first auxiliary party, and there was bound to be a life-and-death game between the imperial party and the first auxiliary party.

After all, she is from the Xiao family, so of course she hopes that Xiao Shoufu can win.

Li Qingyu even said all the excuses he had organized in advance.

It's nothing more than that Lord Zhen has now grasped all the crimes of Xiao Shoufu, and Xiao Shoufu is doomed.

Moreover, his soldiers and horses are far away in Shandong, and there is no time to transfer them back.

Although there are [-] soldiers in the Masi Yamen of the Five Cities, those officers were all picked up by Lord Zhen Guo. Although they are willing to obey him now, most of them just look at the face of Lord Zhen Guo. So in the future, once Lord Zhen Guo gives an order, they will definitely rebel immediately...

You must know that what Li Qingyu hated the most before was when others mocked him for eating soft food from the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion. For this reason, he often made fun of those people and made him lose his official position and lose his family.

But at this moment, he wished he could tell Concubine Xiao all the details of his soft meal.

Then Li Qingyu paused, and continued: "And you think, if your father wins, who will be the final beneficiary?"

Without waiting for Concubine Xiao to speak, he said directly: "It must be Xiao Jincheng."

"After all, he is your father's favorite son."

"In other words, we worked hard, and in the end it all came down to your stepmother and Xiao Jincheng."

……

Hearing this, Concubine Xiao Gui fell silent immediately, and even clenched the hand hanging by her side involuntarily.

So it took her a while to react: "But I am a daughter of the Xiao family. If my father loses, the emperor will definitely not tolerate me even more. My final fate will only be to lose my mother and keep my son."

And no matter what, Xiao Shoufu was also her biological father, so she couldn't let her watch Xiao Shoufu die with her own eyes.

When Li Qingyu saw this, he knew that Concubine Xiao Gui had been persuaded by him, so he said afterwards: "Don't worry, I have a way that can definitely save your life and the lives of the Xiao family..."

Then he told Concubine Xiao Gui about this method.

After listening, Concubine Xiao really showed joy, and moved into Li Qingyu's arms: "Li Lang, I don't even know how to thank you."

With the nephrite jade in his arms, Li Qingyu couldn't help being a little distracted, especially when he thought that this person was still the emperor's concubine, he couldn't help being even more excited.

But thinking that Concubine Xiao Gui was pregnant with a child, he forced himself to calm down again, and only said affectionately: "There is no need to say thank you between you and me."

Then he said proudly: "And do you know that Lord Zhen's health has been getting worse these days, and the emperor is taking pills every day, so I'm afraid he won't live long..."

"By then, the world will not belong to our family of three!"

Speaking of this, Li Qingyu's eyes shone brightly.

And hearing this, even the most dignified Concubine Xiao Gui couldn't help breathing short of breath.

So the next afternoon, after Xiao Jincheng, the son of Xiao Shoufu, was drunk, he appointed a group of officials who flattered him in the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, and said, "The Minister of the Ministry of Officials is my father's disciple. As long as I speak, the official How dare the minister not follow?And there are rumors that my favorite concubine's father and brothers are all officials under the operation of the Ministry of Officials.

Therefore, on the third day, the censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate jointly impeached the Minister of the Ministry of Officials for forming a party for personal gain, accepting bribes, and selling officials and nobles.

Afterwards, soldiers from the five cities and horses surrounded the Ministry of Officials, and all the more than [-] officials from the Ministry of Officials were put in prison and interrogated one by one.

At the same time, the emperor decreed that the capital was under martial law and no entry or exit was allowed.

Seeing this, Xiao Dang knew that something was wrong, and immediately mobilized the courtiers to strike down the court, and the censor died to remonstrate, trying to force the emperor to release the detained officials and severely punish Li Qingyu.

I never thought that the emperor not only did not submit, but instead arranged a team of officers and soldiers in front of Yutang Palace, and issued an imperial decree, whoever dared to die and remonstrate, would be punished with the same crime as the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and directly ransacked his home and exiled.

In this way, the stalemate continued for two days.

On the seventh day, the emperor made an announcement to the civil and military officials to hold a grand meeting tomorrow.

"It's over, it's over!"

Inside Xiao's mansion, the lights were dim, but Xiao Shoufu slumped on a chair.

Everyone knows what it means for the emperor who has not been in court for a long time to suddenly announce the convening of a grand court meeting.

This means that some of the officials who were locked up in the prison of Bingmasi in Wucheng finally couldn't handle the move, so now the emperor has their criminal evidence.

And tomorrow is the day when the emperor will completely liquidate them.

They never thought that the emperor's attack would be so decisive and vicious.

Moreover, because the emperor blocked the capital immediately, they couldn't even send out letters asking for help, so now they can only sit and wait.

"It's all because of those wimps in the bureaucracy, who can't even bear the punishment."

One of them slammed his fist on the table and said angrily.

But they all knew that the officials in the official department already had a lot of "backbone" if they could endure the torture for two days.

And what's the use of talking about it now.

So then someone murmured, "So what do we do now?"

Speaking of this, they couldn't help but think of what they had done these years.

Forming cliques for personal gain, accepting bribes, and selling officials and nobles are nothing.

In the tenth year of Cheng'an, there was a flood in Henan and 200 million taels of disaster relief money. They embezzled 180 million, causing 80 people in Henan to be displaced, and the dead were countless. Because of this, three outbreaks broke out in Henan that year. rebellion.

In 12 years, in order to monopolize the salt business in Lianghuai, they sent people to slaughter the salt transport envoys of the two Huaihe capitals and the prefect of Yangzhou.

Fifteen years later, they took advantage of their power to embezzle local taxes every year, and set up clever names to levy treasury money, gods and Buddha money, door opening money and other taxes to fill their own pockets.

……

Not to mention that after Xiao Shoufu came to power, he wantonly eliminated dissidents, launched a literary inquisition, and all the literati Qingliu who opposed him ransacked their families and exterminated their families on the grounds that they "privately collected contrary books" or their articles "contained a lot of anti-meaning".

Just these, they can't escape a word of death.

Thinking of this, their faces were ashen.

So for a while, there was a dead silence in the study, only the crackling of candles remained.

At this moment, the housekeeper of Xiao's mansion knocked on the door suddenly, he was out of breath: "Old Ge, someone sent a lot of things outside the gate and outside the gate, and there was a letter on it, saying it was those who Something could save your life."

"what?"

Xiao Shoufu was startled.

Others couldn't sit still: "Quick, take us to have a look?"

After reading the letter and looking at the pile of things, Xiao Shoufu laughed on the spot: "Okay, it seems that I am Henry Zhangzhou. With this thing, the emperor and the old man Zhen Guogong Even if the thing wants to kill us, it can't kill us."

Now that the matter has come to this point, he can no longer bother to find out who sent these things.

As the saying goes, if you keep the green hills, you will not be afraid of running out of firewood.

As long as he can save his family and life this time, why not turn around in the future.

So on the morning of the next day, Duke Zhenguo, who was still excited about finally being able to bring down Xiao Shoufu, found out that none of the members of the Shoufu Party had taken the initiative to participate in the court meeting. Realized that something was wrong.

What they didn't expect was that Xiao Shoufu would directly stand up without waiting for them to make trouble.

He glanced at the rows of armored guards around him, and said, "I know what Wansui wants to do next, but before that, I have something I want to offer to Wansui."

Duke Zhen said immediately: "Xiao Yangzhou, this is the end of the matter, what tricks do you want to play?"

Unexpectedly, Xiao Shoufu's expression remained unchanged: "Duke Zhen, this is the end of the matter, what other tricks can I play?"

"But all I know is that if Wanzai doesn't look at this thing, he will definitely regret it in the future."

This is what Xiao Shoufu said. If Fang Yanqin didn't read it, he would be sorry for the stage they worked so hard to set up.

So he just said, "Let's see then."

Then I saw Xiao Shoufu's people carrying up two bags of cement and a piece of cement wall.

Xiao Shoufu immediately introduced: "This is what I want to dedicate to Long Live. I named it cement. It can be used to build roads, houses, and even build city walls and flood control dams..."

While Xiao Shoufu was talking, the people he brought started experimenting beside him.

He directly swung a sledgehammer and slammed it on the cement wall, only to hear a loud bang, and there was no crack in the cement board except for some debris splashed.

Xiao Shoufu: "Using it to pave roads will not be damaged for at least a hundred years, and if using it to build city walls and flood control dams, at least [-]% of the construction cost can be reduced."

"what?"

Hearing this, Duke Zhen couldn't sit still.

Just talking about paving the roads, most of the roads in Dayang are now mud roads, and even the capital is mostly mud roads due to the lack of stone materials, so when it rains, it will be muddy, so labor is required every year to build roads, so I don’t know how much it costs. How much manpower and money was spent.

If the cement is really as cheap as Xiao Shoufu said, then will they be able to pave the whole country with cement roads, so close to communications, marching, grain roads, commerce... and so far away to strengthen control of the frontiers? There are too many aspects that this cement can benefit.

Thinking of this, Duke Zhen only felt his blood boil.

So Xiao Shoufu finally said: "It can be said that with this cement, there is no need to worry about the prosperity of the world."

Even Zhen Guogong could not refute this statement.

So he just fell silent.

As a result, for a moment, the entire court hall fell into a dead silence.

Fang Yanqin was silent for a while, and then asked, "What do you want?"

Xiao Shoufu smiled.

He knew that even an emperor would not be able to resist the temptation to create a prosperous world and pass on his fame through the ages.

He said: "As long as Long live gives Weichen and others a gold medal to avoid death, and Fangchen and others retire and return home, Weichen will present the formula of this cement."

Hearing this, Li Qingyu's heart dropped half instantly.

Xiao Shoufu was able to occupy the position of the first assistant, and he really lived up to his reputation.

He knew that the emperor had only one purpose, and that was to take back the power of the government.

And getting rid of Xiao Shoufu and his henchmen was actually just incidental.

So he only made one request, that is, to ask the emperor to spare their lives.

For the emperor, Xiao Shoufu's followers are all over the world, if he really wants to attack them, the situation in the court will be unstable.

Now that Xiao Shoufu voluntarily asks to retire from his old age and return to his hometown, the emperor can take back the power of the government in the most stable way. Not only has there been no loss for the emperor, but he has also earned a concrete prescription, right?

But did Xiao Shoufu really just make a request?

If the emperor agreed to his request, he would no longer be able to pursue his party members, and even help them cover up their crimes... Otherwise, how could the emperor successfully take back the power in their hands.

As the saying goes, retreat step by step, retreat step by step, nothing more!

And this is exactly what Li Qingyu wants to see.

Not only because after Xiao Shoufu lost his power, the emperor would naturally no longer be afraid of Concubine Xiao Gui in the palace, and even wanted to kill her.

It was even more because when Xiao Shoufu retreated, wouldn't he be able to take over the remaining forces of the Xiao Party with the help of saving his life?

That was a big piece of fat.

Otherwise, he would keep this cement recipe, just like the high-yielding fine seeds he hid in Shandong from overseas, and then take it out when he came to power, so as to benefit the people and write immortal achievements?

Why make it cheaper for Emperor Cheng'an.

So now, it depends on how the emperor chooses.

Thinking of this, Li Qingyu secretly raised his head and looked at the emperor above him.

The court hall fell into dead silence again, and everyone was waiting for the emperor's decision.

Fang Yanqin also smiled, and said, "That's as you wish."

Hearing this, Li Qingyu's breath became short, and the ecstasy in his eyes could hardly be concealed.

Become!

Xiao Shoufu and his henchmen also breathed a sigh of relief.

Only Zhen Guogong and others raised their fists angrily.

They never expected that Xiao Shoufu would escape in the end.

So Xiao Shoufu didn't dare to delay, as soon as the death-preventing gold medal was delivered, he directly handed over the cement formula.

At the end, he still did not forget to pay homage: "I am waiting to thank the Lord for your kindness!"

Fang Yanqin held the fluffy piece of paper and said with a smile: "This is indeed a good thing that benefits the country and the people, so you don't need to thank you, after all, you deserve it."

Then he changed his voice and said lightly: "Catch them all!"

After finishing speaking, only a sharp whirring sound was heard.

The armored guards at the side pulled out their swords together, and immediately surrounded Xiao Shoufu and the others.

It only took a few seconds from the occurrence to the end of the incident, so that Li Qingyu was directly shocked by this change.

The air was quiet for a moment.

Xiao Shoufu and others turned pale in shock: "Long live, what are you doing?"

"Long live, didn't you just give us a gold medal to save us from death, logically, you should save us from death."

"Yes."

Fang Yanqin actually nodded.

Then he spoke condescendingly, word by word, indifferently, but his voice resounded throughout the palace.

"But you deserve death!"