Thief Emperor

Chapter 1001 Emperor’s Heart
Yao Zhong's words made Zhang Sui stand there in a daze, and he didn't speak for a long time.

When Li Yun was in Jinling and made promises to the people of Jinling, he was still working in the Zhongshu of Jinling. Plus, he was a native of Jinling, so of course he knew about this matter.

But ten years have passed, and not only him, but even the people of Jinling at that time, have probably forgotten the promise left by Emperor Li, and no longer take what the emperor said seriously.

After all, important people sometimes do not keep their words, and so much time has passed. Even if the emperor keeps his word, he may have forgotten it long ago.

But as Prime Minister Yao said, His Majesty the Emperor did not forget the promise he made to the people of Jinling. Nearly ten years later, he returned to Jinling Prefecture, and the first thing he did was to fulfill his original promise.

Zhang Sui stood there in a daze for a long time before he reacted. Then he straightened his face, bowed deeply to Yao Zhong, and said, "Thank you, Prime Minister Yao. I am grateful for your guidance."

Yao Zhong looked at him silently, then said, "Don't think too much, just do what you have to do. Your Majesty always has rules and regulations when doing things. If you think there is something wrong, you can report it in person."

Zhang Sui sighed, bowed his head again and said, "Prime Minister Yao, please go see His Majesty. I will go with Lord Yang to arrest the man for questioning."

At this point, he hesitated for a moment, then lowered his head and said, "No matter what, I still think that Jiusi..."

He did not continue talking here, and Yao Zhong did not respond either. He just looked at him silently, and then watched the Jinling Yin leave.

The two were not from the same lineage, and even though Zhang Sui had some master-disciple relationship with Yao Zhong when he was in the Secretariat, such a sensitive topic was certainly not something they could discuss.

After Zhang Sui left, Mr. Yao stood up from his chair and shook his head slightly.

"Jiu Si, Jiu Si..."

He said to himself: "Jiu Si is the emperor."

As the prime minister, Yao Zhong saw this very clearly.

From the beginning to the end, the Jiusi was not a government office in the imperial court, and it could not even be considered an institution, because it was not under the jurisdiction of the imperial court and was independent of the administrative system.

In a sense, the Nine Officials...are actually an extension of the emperor's authority, the embodiment of the emperor's independence outside the court.

To limit the power of the Nine Departments is to limit the power of the emperor.

No one in the entire Zhangwu Dynasty can do this, not now and not in the future.

As long as the emperor himself is strong enough, it is unlikely that anyone can restrain the Nine Officials, who are the embodiment of imperial power.

In this situation, the civil servants could not do anything. The only thing they could do was to wait.

The Li family has been emperors for generations, so it is impossible for them to always have a strong personality and be powerful emperors.

In the future, if there is an emperor who has accepted Confucian teachings and has a weak character, he can take the opportunity to lock up these tentacles of imperial power and put them in prison.

In this way, future emperors will never be able to expand their imperial power again.

Since ancient times, the power of the monarch and the power of the ministers have been constantly pushing and fighting each other in an endless cycle that cannot be stopped.

However, it was the early years of the founding of the country, and the emperor was an emperor on horseback, extremely powerful. Under such circumstances, a smart man like Yao Zhong certainly would not have any idea of ​​competing with Li Yun. He just sighed in his heart, then got up, tidied his clothes, left the Jinling government office, and came all the way to the Jinling Palace.

As the prime minister, it was easy for him to see the emperor. There was almost no obstacle. Yao Zhong came to the study and met His Majesty. After entering the study, Yao Zhong saw the thick documents piled on the emperor's desk. He was stunned for a moment, then lowered his head, bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I am Yao Zhong, and I pay my respects to you."

At this moment, the Emperor was reviewing some important documents sent by the Luoyang court, and at the same time reading some secret reports sent by Meng Hai from Luoyang. After hearing Yao Zhong's voice, he looked up at Yao Zhong with a smile on his face: "Mr. Yao, you are back at the right time. I have a lot of political affairs on hand. Let's deal with them together."

Yao Zhong responded and took the document from the Luoyang court from Li Yun, then said with emotion: "Your Majesty has been diligent in government affairs for ten years since he ascended the throne. He is truly a rare wise emperor throughout history."

There was no intention of flattery in what he said; he meant it sincerely.

Because being an emperor, especially a good emperor, is actually somewhat against human nature.

A normal person, let alone being an emperor, even if he is a yamen runner or a squad leader in the county government, when he meets ordinary people, he will still puff his beard and glare at them, and try to curry favor with them.

What about the emperor?

Take Li Yun now for example. With just one word from him, all the women in Jiangnan will line up to wait for his favor. If he is more violent, he can even kill several women a day for fun.

All the wealth in the world can be used to support oneself.

After all, no matter whether it is a yamen runner or an official at all levels, they all have a superior and are supervised by national laws, but the emperor has no superior, and there are no national laws that can restrain him.

What's worse is that there are countless people who want to take shortcuts and try to please the emperor in order to get promoted. Every day, even every moment, the emperor is faced with temptations. Although Li Yun can't be said to have worked hard in the past ten years, he has been conscientious.

After hearing Yao Zhong's praise for his life, the Emperor put down the red brush in his hand, looked at Yao Zhong, and said with a smile: "These ten years are the ten years of laying the foundation for the court. Of course, I have to work harder."

"Mr. Yao, you don't have to praise me. Maybe in a few years, I will become a hedonistic and tyrant ruler."

Yao Zhong bowed his head slightly and said, "Your Majesty has a strong character and never changes his mind about things. I firmly believe that Your Majesty can finish what he started."

Emperor Li waved his hand and said, "Now I am still sober, of course I can do what I want to do and what I should do. After another ten or twenty years, maybe I won't think like this anymore."

The profession of emperor tests human nature at every moment.

In addition to facing various temptations, you also have to face all kinds of treacherous thoughts.

What’s even more terrible is that under such supreme power, not only the close confidants around you, but sometimes even your closest family members, wife, sons, and daughters will become untrustworthy.

Especially as the emperor gets older and his energy becomes less and less, his ability to judge will become worse and worse, and his sense of insecurity will become stronger.

As a result, many emperors, when they reach old age, will transform from the vigorous and optimistic real dragons into twisted and brutal evil dragons.

Li Yun has a deep understanding of this after observing the history of both worlds and combining this with his personal experience. Even the current Emperor Li is already thinking about this issue: how can he truly break out of this vicious circle?

But after thinking about it, if I want to have a good beginning and a good ending, maybe I can only die early like Li Er, otherwise my human nature will be distorted.

Even Li Yun could not guarantee that he would be able to maintain his original aspirations as a youth in the future.

After the two chatted for a while, Li Yun began to discuss state affairs with Yao Zhong, especially the scandal of the imperial examination last year. After the Luoyang affairs were mostly dealt with, Li Yun looked at Yao Zhong and said with a smile: "Mr. Yao is now the prime minister, with a high position and power. He should be very impressive and glorious when he returns home. Why did you sneak back after so many days?"

"I originally estimated that Mr. Yao would not be able to return to Nanjing until at least the end of the year."

Yao Zhong shook his head slightly and smiled bitterly, "It is indeed lively back home. People I knew before, people I didn't know before, people with connections and people without connections, all crowded into my home. They were all there to do nothing but run around to get official business."

He sighed and said, "I know that Your Majesty does not like these things, and I do not have the ability to do those things for them, so I simply came to Jinling in advance, so that I can share some of the things for Your Majesty."

His Majesty the Emperor nodded and asked, "Sir, how do you feel about entering Nanjing this time compared to ten years ago?"

“It’s become much more prosperous.”

Yao Zhong replied: "But it is not as fast as Luoyang."

"It's just a secondary capital after all."

Emperor Li stood up, put his hands behind his back and said, "Back then, the people of Jinling helped us a lot. When we were recruiting soldiers, the young men of Jiangdong also joined the army after hearing the rumors."

Yao Zhong nodded, and then whispered: "In the future, the court should take better care of Jinling, and Jinling will be able to get back on its feet soon."

Li Yun looked at him and said with a smile, "I want to confer a title on one of my sons and have him come to Nanjing to be a vassal. What do you think, sir?"

Upon hearing this, Yao Zhong's expression immediately changed. He bowed to the emperor and said, "Your Majesty, this is absolutely not allowed!"

Li Yun looked at him and asked, "Why?"

"For the Tang Dynasty, Jinling is not only a secondary capital, but also the old capital. Moreover, Jinling is one of the richest places in the world. Once a prince comes here to be a vassal..."

"If we are not careful in the future, there may be trouble within the family!"

Emperor Li was silent for a while before he slowly said, "That makes sense."

He stood up, pulled Yao Zhong's sleeve, and said with a smile: "Forget it, let's not think about it. I heard that the Qinhuai River in Jinling is now in full bloom. I have nothing to do today. Sir, will you accompany me for a walk?"

Yao Zhong blinked when he heard this.

"His Majesty…"

The emperor smiled and said, "Just go and take a look."

"I am not a lustful person."

(End of this chapter)