Chapter 537 Self-improvement

In the pear orchard, the fallen snow covered the branches like pear blossoms.

In the cold weather, Jiang Caiping and Fan Nu were on the stage, wearing some thin opera robes, dancing with long sleeves, and singing a new song written by Li Longji.

An accident changed their lives, and living in seclusion in the palace, only folk music still comforted the loss in their hearts.

Li Longji holds a glass of warm wine in his hand, his eyes are lonely, but the sadness in his heart can only be expressed through poetry and opera. He has loved these all his life, and now is the peak of his creation.

He gradually realized that his previous poems were useless and mediocre works.

Gao Lishi was sitting beside him. When he saw Dou Wenyang coming this way, he got up and went over to ask a few questions. When he came back, his face was a little unhappy, and he said to Li Longji: "Your Majesty, the saint has come to pay his respects to you."

Li Longji didn't want to see Li Cong's ugly face, but he also hoped that Li Cong would pay him greetings frequently. Otherwise, the powerful people in the palace would think that the Emperor was not taken seriously and deduct his food and clothing expenses.

He also saw Gao Lishi's unhappiness. In Gao Lishi's city, no one could tell if he wanted to keep his face secret. At this time, he was obviously very dissatisfied with Dou Wenyang.

Both the master and the servant were not very happy, but they had no choice but to cheer up and deal with it.

When I met Li, the atmosphere was a bit awkward.

Since Li Cong issued an edict to change the year to the year and rename it as Zhengshuo, he has denied Li Longji's achievements and claimed that his achievements were even worse.

But in Li Longji's eyes, this son was just an incompetent waste who was held hostage by foreign ministers.

They looked at each other with disgust and were speechless.

In the end, it was Dou Wenyang who spoke first: "The Supreme Emperor, now that the left treasury is empty, we should let the states and counties pay tribute to the treasures for the palace expenses. It's just that the governors of each county do not obey the sage's decree, so they have to be ordered by the Supreme Emperor."

Li Longji waved his hand and said with waning interest: "Who else can I ask to move?"

This is a refusal. It has been less than two years since Li Cong took the throne. Li Longji must still have great influence on all counties and counties in the world.

Dou Wenyang said: "When the Supreme Emperor was in Shu County, he sent many princes and important ministers to various roads..."

"Are you a slave worthy of talking to the Supreme Emperor?!"

Gao Lishi suddenly shouted and scolded Dou Wenyang.

Dou Wenyang's face suddenly turned ugly, and the light in his eyes was uncertain, and he finally said: "This slave is consulting for the saint."

"A saint will speak up when he has something to ask. Between father and son, do we still need your eunuch's help?!"

Dou Wenyang was furious.

He is now the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Prison, and his actual power is much greater than that of Gao Lishi. How can he humiliate Gao Lishi like this?

"Hasn't Gao Weng ever sent a message to the Supreme Emperor? If so, who knows if Gao Weng speaks the next time he has the intention of the Supreme Emperor!"

Li Cong quickly smoothed things over, asking Dou Wenyang to shut up, and said to Gao Lishi: "You all go down, I will talk to my father."

In the past, when Gao Lishi was in power, he was called "Aweng", but now he is naturally no longer so commensurate and is just a slave.

After the two slaves retreated, Li Cong glanced at Li Longji, but still did not speak.

Li Longji just couldn't stand his incompetence, so he spoke first and said: "Recalling the past recently, I regret very much. I shouldn't have killed Li Ying in the first place."

Li Cong felt that these words were mocking him for being far inferior to Li Ying, and he felt unhappy.

Just listen to Li Longji continue: "Now that Li Ying has been rehabilitated, his spirit in heaven has finally forgiven me. He gave me a dream a few days ago, and he still has a trace of his grievance soul that has nowhere to go. He needs an heir to observe mourning in the mausoleum for three years and sincerely go to heaven."

prayer."

All of Li Ying's children were adopted by Li Cong, and the kindness of raising them cannot be cut off. Now only King Yong can keep his filial piety.

This was the purpose of Li Longji identifying Xue Bai as soon as he arrived in Chang'an and confirming the identity of the emperor's grandson. He had many ways to restrict Xue Bai.

Unfortunately, his eldest son was stupid and did not know how to give up power to him. He held the remaining power and handed it over to a eunuch.

It was not until this time that Li Cong asked for help that he was willing to reveal his method.

If he had said this before, Xue Bai would have used Shi Siming's rebellion as an excuse to refuse. Now that the rebellion has been put down and the world is at peace, this is an opportunity.

When Li Cong heard this, he first agreed that this was a good idea. His next thought was that Li Longji was still very capable, so he felt a sense of fear, but he didn't show it on his face, instead he said: "Father's clever plan."

Li Longji nodded matter-of-factly and said, "You can't leave that crotch in Fan Yang for a long time, or the tail won't fall off."

"How did the emperor know that he was in Fan Yang?"

"If not, could Dou Wenyang be so domineering?"

It was Dou Wenyang who said this, but he was mocking Li Cong for taking advantage of Xue Bai's absence to dare to correct Shuo, which was deeply contemptuous.

Li Cong also spoke directly, saying: "Since my father knows that I can control the government without him, how can I let him return to Beijing too early?"

"Humph, his foundation is shallow. Once the war is over, people's hearts will naturally be with you."

Li Cong couldn't listen to this and thought that Li Longji said all this because he was angry because Xue Bai had robbed Yang Yuhuan. However, the path Dou Wenyang pointed out to him was very correct. What he lacked now was money to win people's hearts.

He then asked Li Longji to issue an order to allow all counties and counties to resume paying tribute, recreating the grand occasion of "Sanlang got the treasure" back then.

In fact, Li Longji was very willing to do this. He asked him to instruct local officials so that he could participate in state affairs and regain some power. Just now, Gao Lishi deliberately scolded Dou Wenyang to prevent Li Cong from alerting him.

So, he reluctantly agreed and sighed helplessly.

Li Cong was overjoyed and hoped that everything would be fine once he had money to clear the way.

In the past, Li Longji's behavior of squandering money and rewarding officials had left a deep impression on him. Although he did not know it, he believed in his heart that this was the most powerful means of conspiracy.

~~

Dou Wenyang talked to Li Cong several times about buying people's hearts and taking money from internal funds. Later, he accepted bribes from officials and assigned them official positions, which made more and more incompetent officials in the court express their loyalty to the saint.

It can be said that it kills two birds with one stone, getting two cents of money for one thing.

He grew up poor and humble, and had a greedy desire for money. What impressed me most since he was a child was the scenes of powerful people competing with each other and fighting for wealth.

It was indeed a grand scene in Chang'an City during Tianbao's reign. Whenever Yang Yuyao saw someone's mansion more luxurious than hers, she would demolish her own house and rebuild it. But there were countless mansions in Chang'an, how could she win the first place? Nothing else.

It is said that Wang Zhi's Ziyu Pavilion is unique in its craftsmanship and high cost.

Dou Wenyang can now finally participate in such extravagant behavior.

Although he is not short of money, he will never be satisfied.

In addition, for many things in the world, money is not enough.

On this day, Dou Wenyang was angry with Gao Lishi in the palace. When he returned home, he saw his son Dou Yu squatting on the threshold of the lobby in grievance and crying, with a lot of snot and tears.

Of course, Dou Yu is not his biological son, but his nephew. He is only seven years old this year. He is white, fat, round, and very cute. Dou Wenyang has long been envious of his brother for having such a son, and he adopted him after he became powerful.

"What's wrong? Are you crying?"

"Grandpa!" Dou Yu cried: "My son was bullied in the Imperial College. They... they took advantage of my son's life."

Dou Wenyang watched as a snot bubble appeared under Dou Yu's nostril and then burst. When he heard what he said later, he was immediately shocked and angry.

"What? Even the puppies dare!"

Dou Wenyang cursed, hurriedly stepped forward, untied Dou Yu's belt, and saw that the little thing was still there.

Only then did he heave a sigh of relief. The lifeblood of continuing the family lineage was not lost.

But he was petty and angry, and he was still gnashing his teeth and cursing.

"Let's go! Go to the Imperial College and find out everyone who dares to bully you!"

Since Xue Bai, who was far away in Fan Yang, valued academic affairs, as his lifelong rival, Dou Wenyang was not to be outdone and decided to teach his disciples a lesson.

However, when he arrived at the Imperial Academy, he was blocked by Zheng Qian, Su Yuanming and others, and the eunuchs were not allowed to enter the gate of the Imperial Academy.

Dou Wenyang was now a third-grade eunuch. He believed in his high rank and looked down on these two minor officials. He stood on the steps and pointed at them and cursed them.

However, this was not Miyagi, and no one was pampering him. Instead, there were boos.

"Treacherous eunuch, you dare to break into the Imperial College even if you take a piss to look at yourself."

"Oh, he has to squat down to urinate."

Everyone laughed, Dou Wenyang stood there furious, wishing he could order the imperial guards to come and capture all these scholars, but among the imperial guards there were generals like Guo Qianli and Zhang Xiaojing who were close to Xue Bai, and they firmly controlled Chang'an.

defense force.

He could not be scolded and scolded, but could not be killed, so Dou Wenyang had no choice but to stomp his feet and return with anger.

Afterwards, he sent an edict from the saints to demote Zheng Qian and Su Yuanming, hoping to kill them on the way. However, when the edict reached Zhongshu's subordinates, Yan Zhenqing immediately rejected it, and in turn accused Dou Wenyang of being domineering.

"Am I domineering? I've been bullied to this point and am still domineering?!"

Dou Wenyang was finally so angry that Yan Zhenqing cried.

This incident was regarded as a head-on conflict between him and King Yong's forces. It was like kicking a stone. The other party did not move at all, but he was kicked hard.

But if he let it go, not only would he not be able to swallow this breath, but he would also not be able to afford to lose this person.

After all, there are many officials serving under him now. If he is bullied like this and cannot fight back, who will listen to him in the future?

After thinking about it all night, he couldn't sleep peacefully. At dawn the next day, Dou Wenyang suddenly had an idea and had another idea.

He summoned his servants, gave a few instructions in a low voice, and said: "Go and get it done quickly."

Later, when Dou Yu was about to go to the Imperial College, he waved others to come to him and said, "There is no need to go to study anymore."

"Really, Master? That's great!" Dou Yu was overjoyed.
To be continued...