Chapter 199 Fable: The Sheep and the Sheepdog
Chapter 199 Fable: The Sheep and the Sheepdog
"Gulu gulu..."
In the wine jug on the table, green plums were floating up and down in the turbid wine.
At the table, Zhao Duan just smiled:
"Prime Minister Li, you are joking. My Zhao family is a small family. We are willing to serve Your Majesty like dogs and horses, but we have no intention of becoming a noble family."
Well, he only wants to be a royal family...
Li Yanfu didn't know what he was thinking, and even if he did, he wouldn't care. He leaned back in his chair, looking very casual, and sighed:
“Sometimes, when you reach a certain position, many things cannot be decided by you whether you want to or not.
For example, in this family, it is not necessarily that you want to expand. If you don’t want to, can you guarantee that your family members don’t want to? Do your relatives don’t want to? It’s easy to control yourself, but it’s hard to control the people around you.”
Zhao Duan agreed deeply, pretending not to hear the metaphor in the other party's words, and said:
"It's good that Prime Minister Li understands. Just like this time, Prime Minister Li can control himself, but he can't control your son."
This is getting to the point.
Li Yanfu remained calm and said "Oh" in a questioning tone:
"Is Yinglong looking for trouble with you again?"
Zhao Duan sighed and smiled bitterly:
"Prime Minister Li has wrongly accused me. I am not here to call you to task. Although there is some grudge between you and me, it is all in the past. I am not a petty person who will take revenge for any slight..."
Hearing the latter part of the sentence, Li Yanfu's mouth twitched, thinking that young people nowadays are indeed much more shameless:
"Then why did Mr. Zhao Ji come to visit?"
Zhao Duan pretended to be surprised: "Prime Minister Li doesn't know?"
Li Yanfu remained calm, as if he really knew nothing:
"What should Ben know?"
"Alas," Zhao Duan said with great regret:
"Alright, I came just in time. Actually, today was a coincidence... I, Lihuatang, was ambushing and tracking down a rebel, but I didn't expect that instead of finding the rebel, I accidentally ran into your master meeting a woman. It was really..."
Li Yanfu frowned and interrupted, not wanting to listen to his nonsense:
"The imperial court is now so idle that it has to take care of the affairs of men and women?"
Zhao Duan's tone was sincere, but his sitting posture became more casual:
"If it was just an ordinary woman, I wouldn't be surprised. After all, your master likes to take concubines and is a playboy... I have heard about this before. However, the identity of this woman is a bit tricky... She is that..."
As he spoke, he raised a finger in a mysterious manner and pointed at the top of his head. The name that came out of his mouth made Li Yanfu, who was pretending to be calm, suddenly change color.
"The late emperor's widow, Yuan Ru, Imperial Concubine Yuan!"
Woohoo!
A stream of white gas spurted out of the wine jug at the right moment, pushing open the lid and making a low whistle.
The important minister of the country, who was wearing a scarlet official robe and had thick hair, had excellent Qi-cultivation skills. At this moment, his pupils suddenly narrowed and his heart skipped a beat!
Princess Yuan!
Yinglong, having a secret meeting with Princess Yuan?
Li Yanfu's first thought was that it was impossible, but in a flash, he vaguely remembered that he seemed to have heard that Princess Yuan returned home to visit her parents a few days ago.
As for the old love between Li Yinglong and Yuan Ru that was severed and hidden, outsiders did not know about it, but Li Yanfu knew it.
Because that year, when Li Yinglong learned that Yuan Ru was going to enter the palace, he went to his father to plead for mercy, but it was Li Yanfu who suppressed the matter.
Then think of the Lihua Hall's accidental "explosion" and Xu Hanlin's betrayal...
In a flash, the old man who had dominated the court of Dayu for twenty years looked at Zhao Duan with a gaze as cold as a knife.
At this moment, the slight admiration he had for the young man in front of him had disappeared, turning into anger and... disbelief.
"Haha, why does Prime Minister Li look at me like this? I didn't believe it at first. After all, Concubine Yuan should be at home visiting her parents. Why would she dress up as a man and meet Master Ling in the inn?
The people below even vaguely heard the name "Li Lang"... Oh, I probably heard it wrong...
It's also my fault for not controlling my subordinates well enough. They didn't take things lightly and rushed in directly, causing your son to jump out of the window and escape.
In this case, I want to control the situation, but it is impossible, so I have no choice but to ask your son to return to the imperial court first..."
Zhao Duan always had a smile on his face when he spoke.
It was as if he was not the mastermind behind the incident at all, but an innocent passerby:
"Of course, I definitely believe that your son is innocent. Although the late emperor has passed away, no matter how much Minister Li lusts for beauty, he would not have committed adultery with Concubine Yuan...
Oh, there must be a misunderstanding, so I hurried over to ask, I think Prime Minister Li should know why. "
At this time, the sun had already set, and the golden light was reflected on the lake outside the building.
Li Yanfu stared at him with no expression, showing no joy or anger.
This look... reminded Zhao Duan of the day when he was at the Meridian Gate and made Pei Kaizhi so angry that he vomited blood, and the old prime minister looked back at him.
a long time.
Li Yanfu slowly loosened his hands that were tightly clenched on the armrests of the chair and said calmly:
"I don't know anything about this. You might be asking the wrong person."
This means:
Don’t try to set a trap for me. I just don’t know the answer if you ask me. I will cut ties with Li Yinglong decisively to avoid getting into trouble, as both father and son will be implicated.
So cold-blooded... so cunning... Zhao Duan was disappointed when he saw his attitude, but he still said:
"As the saying goes, no one knows a son better than his father. Prime Minister Li should know that your son recently took in a new concubine. It is said that her features are quite similar to those of Concubine Yuan."
Li Yanfu closed his eyes, as if he was old and sleepy, and sighed:
"As the saying goes, a child should not be kept when he grows up. The true situation of Yinglong's family is unknown."
Don't scare me, isn't it true that girls can't be kept when they grow up?
...He was really quick to pass on the blame, like an old loach, slippery and unrelenting... Zhao Duan also sighed, straightened his robe, stood up and said:
"Since the Prime Minister knows nothing about anything, I have no choice but to report this matter. After all, the matter is of great importance. I am a small official of the Lihua Hall and a mere sixth-rank official. I dare not make a rash decision."
As he said this, he walked away, counting one, two, three in his mind...
Li Yanfu had no expression on his face, and he did not get up to chase after him. He just watched Zhao Duan walk to the stairs, and then he said calmly: "Save this little trick. If you really want to stab him, why bother to find out his true identity?"
Zhao Duan paused, turned around, and was smiling.
He returned to his seat with smooth movements and glanced at the boiling wine jug:
"Prime Minister Li is entertaining guests, but he doesn't want to invite them to drink?"
Li Yanfu said: "If you want to eat, take it yourself."
Zhao Duan also smiled and shook his head: "Don't dare to drink the Prime Minister's wine carelessly."
A sneer appeared on Li Yanfu's lips: "Are you afraid that I will poison you?"
Zhao Duan sighed:
"I am of humble origin, far less well-off than Prime Minister Li's family, but when my father was young, he taught me some simple truths, such as being grateful for what you have received and being soft-hearted."
This is a clear statement.
If you want him to be "short-tongued" and "soft-handed", to pick up this matter high and put it down lightly, you will feed his mouth and fill his hands.
Li Yanfu understood.
In other words, when Zhao Duan carefully planned and successfully lured Li Yinglong into the plan, he did not report it immediately, but ran to him and kept saying "there must be a misunderstanding".
He understood that this cunning little fox came to discuss business with him.
Politics is the art of compromise.
Talk, we can talk about anything.
From Zhao Duan's perspective, does he want to get rid of Li Yinglong? To bring him down in one fell swoop?
miss you.
But can't.
Just as the old supervisor Sun Lianying said, it depends on the current situation.
Given the current political situation, it is not suitable to take action against the Li father and son. Once we do, we will most likely lose everything.
Even if Zhao Duan really handed over this evidence, the empress would suppress it, because at least at this critical juncture, Li Yinglong could not be deposed.
That would only arouse the hatred of the nobles.
Therefore, from beginning to end, Zhao Duan never thought of deposing the young cabinet minister just by relying on this small plan.
His target has always been Li Yanfu.
It’s Li’s party.
It’s a new policy.
This is the political storm that has swept the entire Dayu court, has lasted for some time, and has attracted the attention of countless people.
As a small chess player standing at the edge of the storm and in the leeward port, he wanted to exert a little effort at some point and do something big.
Therefore, this meeting was actually a negotiation between two people alone.
But at this moment, Li Yanfu, who was sitting at the other end of the negotiating table, still didn't know what Zhao Duan really wanted.
But even so, this former cabinet minister who had suppressed the court for twenty years still read a key message from Zhao Duan's flashing eyes:
This little wolf has a big appetite!
I'm afraid it can't be dismissed with just a pot of wine.
Thinking of this, Li Yanfu suddenly changed the subject.
He did not ask what Zhao Duan wanted, but shook his head and said, taking advantage of the previous topic:
"Although I was born in the Huaishui Li family, I have come this far because what I have learned and used are the same as yours, which are all the simplest principles from the farmland."
Change the subject? What is this old fox up to?
Tsk, are you trying to lower the price... Zhao Duan showed a curious look:
"Oh? For example?"
It was as if he was a young man who was sincerely asking the Prime Minister for advice on how to be an official.
Li Yanfu leaned back in his armchair, his red official robes seeming to engulf him. The old man with white hair said:
"Have you ever herded sheep?"
Zhao Duan shook his head.
Li Yanfu said:
"When I was young, I followed my elders to the farm of a farmer and saw a shepherd boy herding sheep.
It's quite interesting. There are dozens of sheep in the flock, but a small shepherd boy can let them run wild.
I was confused and asked an elder for advice. The elder pointed to an old ram in the flock, and then pointed to a strange-looking creature in the grass, which looked like a local dog from the Western Regions.
He told me that a farmer's sheep farming depends entirely on this sheep and this dog. "
"He said that sheep are very stupid animals. They have short-sightedness, stupidity and no independent minds. So how do they survive? It's simple: just follow the 'leader'.
Every flock of sheep has a leader sheep, and the flock will follow whatever the leader sheep does.
Even if the lead sheep jumps off the cliff, the rest of the sheep will follow suit without thinking. Isn't that weird?"
“So, the shepherd does not need to drive so many sheep. He only needs to drive the lead sheep, and the whole flock will follow.
The elder told me that the sheep raised by farmers have to be sold and slaughtered after they become fat, so except for the ewes, the rams will not live too long...
The head sheep is an exception, because the head sheep can help look after the flock, so they will be slaughtered later. "
……
Update first, then typesetting
(End of this chapter)