Chapter 183 The King's Mansion

In Li Ming's heart, those conscientious and selfless officials are the most respectable. Just like Yang Lin in the past, although he stood opposite him, Li Ming still had deep respect for him. Although they have different positions, his kindness is worthy of respect.

Yang Lin is dead now, and Li Ming ordered it to be killed by himself. He didn't think anything was wrong at that time, but now he thought that it was really too reckless at that time, and invisibly, the people of the world lost another good official. Therefore, Li Ming was extremely respectful to the remaining old ministers who were like Yang Lin.

First, he walked to Chen Tong, the Minister of Revenue, and Li Ming raised his wine glass and bowed slightly, then said, "Mr. Shen, when the imperial city parted, half a year passed in a blink of an eye. Are you always good?"

Chen Tong hurriedly replied with a favor and replied respectfully: "Thank you for your kindness. The old minister can't afford it so much politeness, so that the prince knows that the old minister has been in very good health in recent days. I believe he can serve the emperor for a few more years."

Li Ming smiled and said, "Mr. Shen is so optimistic, I feel relieved. There are few old ministers like him. I hope you can pay more attention to your health and try your best to quell the rebels as soon as possible. Now I will announce a decision on the spot. You old ministers can enjoy the special medical treatment of the court in the future. In other words, you don't have to spend money on medical treatment in the future. If you have any questions, just contact the Imperial Medical Office. The Imperial Medical Office will be responsible for your medical expenses. This is also a special care for you old ministers."

After Li Ming finished speaking, he moved the old ministers to tears on the spot, hurriedly bowed to Li Ming, saying thanks in his mouth, as if Li Ming had given them so much grace.

Li Ming couldn't help feeling sad when he saw this. These people were all senior officials in the court, each with high power. It can be said that as long as they are willing, they can get a lot of money to their mansion with just a slight sign. But now, it is really touching that Li Ming is so grateful just because Li Ming gave them a free medical treatment.

After leaving these old ministers, Li Ming turned to the prime ministers who were in power. The original Secretariat had to replace him because of the overly obvious protection of Li Qing. At this time, Secretariat Sima Yu was one of Li Song's right-hand men. Therefore, he seemed particularly friendly and familiar with Li Ming's arrival. He kept talking and laughing in front of Li Ming, and raised his glasses frequently and met with Li Ming.

In comparison, Wang Lie, the Secretary of the Shangshu Province, seemed a little lukewarm. Li Ming didn't know if Wang Lie was also a newly appointed person, but judging from his attitude, he was definitely not from Li Song and his gang. According to Li Ming's current reputation and power, it would be easy to find an opportunity to get rid of him. He even said that he could find an excuse to kill him now. After all, Li Song's original strength and Li Ming's joining were enough to deal with Li Qing and Li Jiao. Moreover, with Li Ming to help the imperial city, it would definitely attract many swaying officials. Therefore, while eliminating some dissidents, the possibility of other officials rebelling was very small.

However, Li Ming did not want to do this. After all, he did not really work hard for Li Song, leaving him some opposition appropriately, so that he could realize the importance of his existence. If all his difficulties were solved, he would inevitably not do the things that would hide the birds. Now, Li Ming, except for his own people, would not easily believe anyone else.

So Li Ming seemed to be distracted by Wang Lie's coldness. He still toasted and greeted him with laughter, which made Wang Lie unable to put his face down to embarrass Li Ming. After all, Li Ming's very novel way of taking it from a Western cocktail party made him feel very friendly, so he could only speak a few perfunctorily and retreated to the corner of the lobby alone.

Soon, Li Ming established a kind and amiable image in the minds of civil and military officials in his special way, because in this dynasty, as a prince, he had never taken the initiative to walk in front of the officials one by one and toast so kindly, which made them feel that they still have a certain status in Li Ming's heart. Li Ming's method greatly satisfied their vanity, so inadvertently, Li Ming narrowed them a lot.

In this way, this lively banquet ended unconsciously under Li Ming's clever research. All the officials present felt an inexplicable and wonderful satisfaction. They were drunk and had no energy to investigate where this emotion came from. In short, they all had an inexplicable and strange favor for Li Ming.

Li Song did not drink at this banquet. On the one hand, his body was not allowed to drink, but on the other hand, there were too many conflicts in his heart. Seeing Li Ming dealing with all officials with ease, he could not hear his heartfelt laughter, which made him feel happy, but also a little jealous. Looking at the eyes of the officials looking at Li Ming, it could be described as admiration, which made Li Song feel uncomfortable.

Therefore, after the seminar ended, Li Song did not have a long talk with Li Ming as planned. He just took advantage of the physical discomfort and asked Li Ming to look back at his deputy for a while, and then the two of them would have a detailed discussion when they had time.

Li Ming, who had an amazing alcohol tolerance, did not show much intoxication. On the contrary, the moderate amount of alcohol stimulation made his thoughts very sensitive. A large part of his successful communication methods just now benefited from this. Therefore, Li Ming still sensitively noticed the little unhappiness on Li Song's face. Li Ming, who had studied psychology, could know what Li Song was thinking without guessing, but in this case, too much explanation would backfire. Therefore, Li Ming did not say anything. He just asked about Li Song's condition with concern and said goodbye to his house with Lin Long.

Li Qing's palace is still so tall and magnificent. The magnificent gate had long been replaced with a golden plaque, and the four big words "Zhongyong Palace" written by Li Song himself were inlaid, which looked agile. When he saw Li Ming returning to his house under the escort of the small yellow gate, the anxious guards who had been waiting hurriedly welcomed him into the gate.

The palace is still so quiet and elegant. It turns out that Li Qing’s bedroom has been redecorated, so he is ready to move in.

Li Ming had a strange feeling in his heart when he was a prince as a prince. When Li Song first appointed him as a prince, he just regarded this as a title and did not hang the same prince in his mind. But at this moment, looking at the carved beams, painted buildings, silk, satin, gold and silver utensils all over the room, and then at the maids and servants surrounded, and the rows of concubines who were specially prepared for him by Li Song, one by one, and one by one, which made him realize his identity for the first time.

Lin Long was obviously very disgusted with everything in front of her. Seeing the row of concubines staring at Li Ming with eyes that could make men ecstatic, it made her feel even more sour from the bottom of her heart. However, due to the special nature of Li Ming's current identity, this time she did not simply drive away those annoying people as usual, but slowly approached Li Ming, quietly pinched the skin on Li Ming's back with her fingernails, and at the same time, she angrily pointed at the row of concubines with the corner of her mouth.

Li Ming, who was immersed in an unprecedented feeling, was immediately awakened by the severe pain behind him. Looking at Lin Long's unpleasant face, and then looking at the row of beauties in front of him that made him dazzled, he immediately pulled him back to reality. At this time, he actually regretted bringing Lin Long by his side.

He didn't dare to have any expression on his face, but he reluctantly sent the concubines away. Lin Long asked about what he had just been in the palace as if nothing had happened.

"I'm really strange. You are a taciturn person. Although you are normal when talking about serious things, you have never seen you talk too much nonsense. Besides the people you are familiar with, you never take the initiative to date others. But what's going on today? It seems that you have completely changed. I have never seen someone as enthusiastic as you today. What happened to you? Why haven't I seen you date like this on the island?" This question has been in Lin Long's mind for several hours, but she has never had a chance, so she has been delaying it until now to ask Li Ming.

Taking advantage of the drunkenness, Li Ming laughed and said, "What's so strange about this? Although I haven't done much to win over people, I still know a lot of methods. Haha, who am I? What else can I not know about Li Ming, the smartest in the world?"

Lin Long chuckled and said angrily: "You'll be hungry when you say you're fat. Li Ming, the smartest in the world, is not ashamed. Okay, you've worked hard today, so I won't ask you. But I can warn you that those vixen don't allow you to have bad thoughts. You already have Sister Yao, and I have added Man'er recently, so you should be content, otherwise, I will never forgive you." Speaking of this, I seemed to feel that my tone was a little heavy, so I quickly changed the topic and asked Li Ming: "I have never guessed what you are going to do in the imperial city. You should tell me now."

Li Ming smiled mysteriously and said, "It's not the time yet, because I haven't decided yet. At present, I only have a general plan. Whether it can be implemented depends on whether external conditions allow it. You should know that I am not a separate force at present, and it is not appropriate to have a quarrel with Li Song now, so I want to control Li Song here and try to let him consume the strength of Li Qing and Li Jiao. Our own troops took advantage of this time to accumulate energy and replenish soldiers, and wait for the time to be ripe. Haha, I can't say too early at the moment, because I want to wait until Li Song is useless and find an opportunity to pick him up." Speaking of this, he gestured with his hand on his neck and looked at him.

Lin Long made a helpless gesture and continued, "Actually, this is nothing to do. If Li Song doesn't die, then I'll live in his shadow and never become an independent force openly. Do you understand this? This is a question about whether it is orthodox. Although we don't care, it is very important in the minds of the people of the world. Therefore, I cannot have conflicts with Li Song before I have to. Now you know? When I want to replace him, I will only let him die under the "assassination" of Li Qing or Li Jiao, so that I can obtain the qualification to be independent and get the excuse to avenge the emperor."

Lin Long couldn't help but gasp and looked at Li Ming in fear, unable to speak for a while. After all, she is a man in the world. Although there are intrigues in the world, there are absolutely no such sinister plans and intentions as Li Ming. Although he knew that Li Ming had no choice but to do this, he still felt a burst of discomfort in her heart after hearing Li Ming's words.

Seeing Lin Long's expression, Li Ming was also surprised. He only dared to think about these dirty thoughts in his heart. He never should have said them to anyone. Even when he was awake, he dared not think about such thoughts. Although he knew that it was natural to do so in order to achieve the world, this was in conflict with the education he had received for a long time and contrary to the moral norms in his concept. Therefore, only today, when he was stimulated by alcohol and seemed very excited, could he be able to speak for granted.

The two of them acted silently with complex moods and couldn't speak for a long time. Li Ming felt a little uneasy because his dirty thoughts were openly shown to Lin Long, and Lin Long was extremely shocked when he first heard Li Ming's voice. Therefore, for a moment, neither of them could find any topics to resolve the embarrassing situation in front of him.

Fortunately, at this time, Jia Yi's report came from outside the door, which made Li Ming temporarily turn his attention outside the door.

"Report to the lord, there is an old man outside the door asking for a meeting. We didn't dare to disturb the lord, but the man kept saying that the lord owed him a thousand silver vehicles and was here to escape debt today, and said that he must meet with the lord, and that man's martial arts seemed unfathomable."

Li Ming immediately understood who that person was. Apart from Lin Shuang, who else could come to the palace to ask for it for two thousand taels of silver?

They looked at each other and smiled at each other. The grudges in their hearts were temporarily put down. After ordering Jia Yi to welcome Lin Shuang, Li Ming and Lin Long came to the reception room to wait.

When Lin Shuang, who had run in for a long time, saw Lin Long present, he was like a wilted eggplant and could no longer become majestic. He had heard that Li Ming was back, so he wanted to take the opportunity to blackmail him. Lin Shuang had no other hobbies, but she was still very obsessed with the collection of money. Therefore, he was still very expecting to be able to blackmail Li Ming more money, but he didn't expect that Lin Long would come back with Li Ming.

Seeing Lin Shuang's rapidly changing expression, Li Ming was immediately laughing happily, and the knot in his heart just now seemed to have dissipated. After looking at Lin Long, Li Ming not only stood up with a smile on his lips, but also bowed deeply to Lin Shuang, saying, "Li Ming had just arrived at the imperial city and was busy paying homage to the emperor, so he could not pay his respects to Uncle Master in time, and asked Uncle Master to forgive his younger generation's rudeness."

Lin Shuang had already become depressed and wanted to leave Liaozhi like this, but after hearing Li Ming's words, she suddenly became arrogant. She waved her hand to Li Ming in a big way, pretending to be dissatisfied and said, "Hey, my nephew, don't be so polite. My old man came not to pay homage to you, but to the two thousand taels of silver you promised me half a year ago. As for you who failed to come to pay homage to me in time, I still don't care much about it. After all, you are right, paying homage to the emperor is the most important thing. Longer, I'm right."

Lin Long frowned and looked at Lin Shuang with displeasure, "Uncle, why are you still like this? It's worth it for two thousand taels of silver? Actually, this is a small matter. Come in and sit in, the money is easy to deal with. My brother is now the most powerful prince in the imperial city. It's no problem to have this mere 2 thousand taels of silver. But now, we have just arrived in the imperial city and don't understand many things. You just happened to tell us the situation so that we won't be caught off guard by that time."

Lin Shuang smiled proudly, walked into the room with a swagger, sat down directly on Li Ming's master, picked up the teacup that Li Ming had used and drank it. Then, regardless of Lin Long's slightly frowning expression, he looked at Li Ming and said, "Ask, although my old man is greedy for money, he still dares not slacken in the task of the imperial city. Apart from managing the business of Linjiazhuang, I have been searching for the rest of the time. Haha, in the past six months, I have visited all the streets, alleys, and large and small houses of the imperial city. With my skills, no one can find me in this imperial city. In fact, the biggest gain in the past six months is to get a clear understanding of the family of all the officials of the imperial city. Hehe, these corrupt officials, the concubines in the family are more beautiful and more charming, which really makes me happy."

"What are you saying? I'm not practicing! Hurry up and say serious things!" Before he could be intoxicated, Lin Long interrupted his words in time to prevent him from saying even more unpleasant words. Lin Long knew exactly what this uncle of the master was, so Lin Long was not surprised by the fact that he could say these words.

But Li Ming was different. When he first met Lin Shuang, he was so hypocritical. He would not believe that this old man with great martial arts skills would be a voyeur. I believe that with his skills, no house in the world could block him outside, and no guards could find him peeping. So, looking at the salivating look he said, I am afraid that the inner relatives of officials of all sizes would be under his surveillance all day long.

He couldn't bear to embarrass Lin Long anymore, so Li Ming took advantage of the opportunity that Lin Shuang was interrupted to ask him about serious matters.
Chapter completed!