Plan to cut off the nine states

Lou Ying and Huangfu Jie joked with each other, and the words became more and more obscene. Huangfu Jie's servants occasionally interrupted, not necessarily helping their master, but always making both masters laugh at the same time.

Lou Chu blushed as he listened to this, but fortunately it was dark and no one could see.

A whistle came from a distance, and the two people who had just been mocking each other immediately shut up and galloped on their horses in the faint moonlight, accurately recognizing every turn and ups and downs.

Lou Chu followed behind. He was not very good at riding a horse, so he followed nervously. He was afraid of bumping if he was too close, and afraid of being thrown off if he was too far.

The road was not long, and they stopped quickly.

There was a closed gate in front, and dozens of knights lined up on both sides of the road. The master was in front, the servants were behind, and Lou Chu stayed behind obediently.

Lou Ying and Huangfu Jie were close to each other, located in the middle, with neither high nor low status.

No one talked nonsense, only the mounts occasionally neighed.

After waiting for half an hour, the gate creaked and opened halfway. Several knights flashed out from inside, riding non-stop and leaving.

The knights waiting on both sides of the road followed in order, with the master in the middle and the servants guarding both sides.

Lou Chu had no time to look around, and he controlled his horse to follow his third brother Lou Ying closely. He couldn't help but feel a little excited when he thought that the emperor was leading the team in front.

But he soon realized that he was wrong. There was no emperor among the people who came out of the gate.

The team stopped in an alley, and soon several knights came from the avenue. All the knights dismounted and knelt. Lou Chu realized that the emperor came out from another gate.

Several people were talking at the street corner. After a while, someone shouted: "Is Fatty Ying here? Come forward!"

"Yes!" Lou Ying responded hurriedly and climbed up clumsily. Lou Chu wanted to get up to help, but was stopped by Lou Ying with a gesture. Only he could come forward, so Lou Chu had to kneel on the ground and wait like everyone else.

Lou Ying ran to the street corner panting, saying something unknown. The people behind him only heard him laugh a few times and sigh twice.

Someone shouted, "Get on the horse!"

The kneeling person immediately got up and got on the horse. Lou Chu watched over the two horses and waited for the third brother to run back and return the reins.

Lou Ying muttered as he got on the horse, "Okay, I found the unlucky guy tonight."

"Who?" Huangfu Jie, who had already got on the horse, asked in a low voice.

"The stubborn and ungrateful Censor Luo, he might be..." As the team moved forward, Lou Ying's words were drowned out by the sound of horse hooves.

The team moved fast and slow. During a short stop, Lou Chu whispered, "Is it the Censor Luo Zhengluo?"

Lou Ying nodded, then whispered, "Shut up."

In this team, Lou Chu's status was that of a servant, and he was not qualified to speak at will.

When the team arrived at the destination, someone shouted, everyone got off the horse, the servants stayed to guard the horses, and the master ran to the front to wait for orders.

From beginning to end, Lou Chu did not recognize the road clearly, nor did he see the emperor. He could only hear shouts from the front.

"Lord Luo, open the door! The Imperial Envoy wants you to go back to be an official."

The Imperial Envoy was not a high-ranking official, but Luo Zheng was very famous. He liked to find fault with the emperor the most, and he wrote petitions every other day. Finally, he was demoted to a commoner last year.

After such a long time, it was rare for the emperor to come to the minister's house to ask questions in person. It was even more incredible that he had to use tricks to trick the other party to open the door.

Lou Chu could not hear the reply from the house, but it was obvious that he was unwilling to open the door, which caused the outside to knock hard.

"Left team, follow up!" Someone ordered.

The servants were divided into two teams. Lou Chu happened to belong to the left team, so he handed over the reins and ran to the door of Luo's house with everyone.

The emperor was probably well prepared. The team actually brought a wooden stick as thick as a bowl. More than a dozen servants lifted the stick and knocked against the door together, and the master shouted and cheered on both sides.

One, two... Luo's house was not a big house, and the gate could not withstand the impact. It finally opened, and someone inside screamed and someone ran.

The servants who knocked on the door made way, and several people rushed in first, shouting and scolding, and then several more people went in. The first one had an extraordinary demeanor, and it was the emperor of the day.

It was too dark, and everyone was dressed similarly. Lou Chu could not tell what the emperor looked like, but only this person walked in with his head held high, so he must be the emperor.

A guard assigned servants, some to guard the back door, some to patrol everywhere, and Lou Chu and a few others guarded the front door, just in time to see the scene in the front yard.

Someone lit a lantern and found a chair to put in the corridor. Lou Ying and others guarded the emperor on both sides. The emperor's position was just in the shadow, and Lou Chu could only see a vague image.

"I am an official appointed by the court. Which government office are you from? Why are you breaking in at night..." an old man shouted, and shook off the person who grabbed his arm.

Huangfu Jie took two steps forward and said with a smile: "Old Luo, open your dog eyes and see who this is?"

"I don't recognize you! I am an official of the Imperial Censorate, except..." Luo Zheng suddenly shut up. He stood closer and recognized the person in the shadow, and knelt down hurriedly, "I am so terrified. I don't know your Majesty... Your Majesty is here..."

Huangfu Jie sneered, "Old Luo, you have been dismissed, and you still call me 'I am'?"

"Your Majesty, I am here to see you." Luo Zheng kowtowed respectfully.

Huangfu Jie was about to speak when he was pushed away. The emperor came out in person and threw a pile of papers on the ground, "Did you write this?"

Lou Chu finally saw the emperor's general appearance, but could only take a quick glance.

The emperor was in his thirties, of medium build, with nothing special about his appearance. He looked serious and wore a casual dress with narrow sleeves. He had a knife hanging from his waist, which was probably a real knife.

Luo Zheng, who was kneeling on the ground with trembling hands, picked up the paper, looked at it for a while by the light, raised his head and said in confusion: "It is indeed the handwriting of Wei Chen... Cao Min, this is... this is the memorial written by Cao Min last year, so Convicted, idle at home..."

"You said that I don't care about the people. I want to make it clear to you tonight." Although the emperor's tone was calm, he did not call himself "I", and he was obviously very angry.

"Ah?" Luo Zheng was confused, and everyone around him was also confused, but no one dared to ask.

"Let me ask you, what is the household registration of this dynasty? How much money and food are collected every year? How many of them are in the army? How many are serving? How much money and food are consumed?"

"The common people don't know. You should ask the Ministry of Household Affairs about this kind of thing..."

"Bah, since you don't know, why do you dare to say that I built palaces and gardens indiscriminately and conquered excessively?"

"Ordinary people believe that... generally speaking... ancient history has taught us that things like building palaces and gardens, deploying troops and recruiting troops will always occupy a lot of people's power. People's power is limited, and since it is used for official business, they naturally have no time to farm land and raise silkworms..."

"It's a cliché, when you can read ancient books, why don't you go to the private sector to investigate?"

"The grass people are old, the grass people..."

"If you are old but not dead, you just refuse to open your eyes and look. Our Tiancheng Dynasty has abundant resources for the people. There are tens of millions of households and more than four times the population. Farming and raising silkworms do not require so much people's power. What do the remaining people do? Are you idle? The reason why there is chaos in Qinzhou is not because there are too many idle people. Whenever there is a demon who provokes them, they will raise the flag to rebel. Why is Luoyang peaceful and quiet? …”

The emperor was talking incessantly, and it actually sounded quite reasonable. Standing on the floor at the entrance of the courtyard, he could not immediately think of a rebuttal. Luo Zheng, who had been frightened out of his wits, could only kowtow and call him "a common man". Ignorant", "Your Majesty, forgive me".

The emperor spoke for half an hour before his tone finally softened, "Luo Zheng, as a Taiwan official, you can find fault with me, but you can't fault me ​​randomly. Ancient history has lessons - there are many things recorded in ancient history, one by one. Can it be used in the Tiancheng Dynasty? You don’t even know the number of households in the world, how many people work in agriculture, and how many people serve in the army, so you dare to say that I don’t care about the people?”

Luo Zheng's forehead was bleeding, "The ordinary people were confused for a moment and violated the power of heaven. They committed a heinous crime. Death is not enough to atone for it. I beg your Majesty to forgive me."

"Well, it's good if you can admit your mistake. What will you say when you talk to others in the future?"

Although Luo Zheng was old, he was not really confused. He immediately said: "Since he was dismissed from office last year, ordinary people have closed their doors to think about their mistakes and stopped all contact. Today, thanks to His Majesty's personal explanation, my heart suddenly became enlightened. From now on, I can only continue to think about my mistakes and speak out everything I know. If it is If you don’t know, you should read more, listen more, and learn more, and don’t dare to make random comments.”

"This is ridiculous. When I dreamed of you yesterday, you were not like this. You insisted on arguing with me."

Everyone suddenly realized that it turned out that the emperor came to Luo's house to ask questions just because he had a bad dream yesterday.

Luo Zheng breathed a sigh of relief, but still didn't dare to get up, "Yesterday, a servant at home accidentally broke an ancient vase. The common people were angry for a moment, thinking that they entered the palace unintentionally and disturbed His Majesty's peaceful dream."

"Hey, would I believe such nonsense? But if you admit your mistake, I can't hold you tight, so I'll spare you for now." The emperor strode out and stopped just in front of the foundation of the building. He added without looking back: "Save him from death and give him twenty heavy beatings."

The guards were well prepared and came forward with sticks to torture. Luo Zheng screamed and shouted "Long live".

The emperor stood at the gate of the courtyard, looked up at the sky, and suddenly sighed, "I know the people of the world, but the people of the world don't know me. The mountains and rivers are picturesque, and they should be painted with great care. What's more, years of war have already left the world in ruins. Without me, we can rebuild the world." Clean it up, how long will the world continue to decline and wither?”

The emperor looked sternly at the few servants at the door. He just looked at them, not wanting to get an answer from them. He raised his head again, this time silent, his expression even more resolute and unyielding.

The foundation of the building was only three to five steps away from the emperor. Although the night was dark, he could still see clearly.

It seemed easy to stab him, and he almost had to touch the knife.

But he is not a swordsman, so he immediately dismissed this ridiculous nod. Not to mention that the sword is a wooden sword. Even if it is a real sword, he may not be able to kill with one hit based on his ability. Moreover, his purpose is never just to stab the driver, not even just to kill. Get rid of the imprisoned body...

The sound of beatings with sticks stopped and the screams gradually subsided. No one in the Luo family dared to come out to plead for mercy. They all hid in the house for fear of getting into trouble.

Huangfu Jie came out and wiped the sweat from his face, "Beat him half to death. The old man's bones are tough, but he has a good attitude and is willing to admit his mistakes."

"Did I make a mistake in building Luoyang?"

Huangfu Jie said with a smile: "This is not called construction, it is called restoration. Luoyang was the imperial capital of several dynasties. How prosperous it was in the past? The Tiancheng Dynasty ruled the world. Of course, it must restore its old glory. It can't be worse than the small country of the previous dynasty, right? What's more, Luoyang Sooner or later, someone will repair it, and repairing it today will save you money tomorrow.”

The emperor's tone softened again, "To put it nicely, you can only be a sycophant."

"It doesn't matter who you are, as long as your Majesty is happy, I will be happy."

The emperor snorted disdainfully, "There are tens of millions of people in the world, but I only use two to three million. Half of them are used to guard the borders, and the other half are used to control rivers and build roads. Which of them is not for the sake of more people? I just leave a few people to build them. Palace, they are not happy."

"The people are happy, but it's just a few old fools who cling to the classics and don't understand your majesty's painstaking efforts." Huangfu Jie tried his best to calm down the emperor's anger.

This time he failed.

The emperor drew his sword from its sheath—it was a real sword—and turned to walk into the courtyard, his teeth clattering. “He doesn’t understand my painstaking efforts. I want to see if his heart is bitter or salty.”