Thief Emperor

Chapter 1010 The trouble gets bigger and bigger
The fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the ninth year of Zhangwu.

His Majesty the Emperor held a banquet in the Imperial City of Nanjing, inviting some ministers and old acquaintances in Nanjing to have dinner.

After the banquet, only the Duke of England stayed behind. He was taken all the way to the emperor's study and saw the emperor writing. He went forward to take a look and saw four big characters "dragons flying and phoenixes dancing" written on a piece of white paper.

The world is at peace.

Duke Ying looked left and right, and couldn't help but exclaimed: "Second brother's handwriting is getting more and more beautiful. Not only is it beautiful, but it is also majestic."

"Unlike me, my handwriting is still ugly."

The emperor put the brush aside, looked at his calligraphy, then looked up at Liu Bo and said unhappily, "Since we started the rebellion, I have been writing every day, especially since I became emperor. In more than eight years, I have written thousands of words every day."

"If you can't practice it anymore, that would be too stupid."

As for handwriting, Li Yun's handwriting is indeed very good now, and he has already formed his own style.

After all, when he came to this world, he had some basic knowledge of calligraphy in his previous life. After arriving here, he quickly started his own business. Now, for nearly twenty years, he has been writing almost every day.

People like Liu Bo and Li Zheng couldn't even recognize all the characters at the beginning, let alone write them.

However, Liu Bo was also a little modest. He had taken over the Jiusi for more than ten years. Although he could not be said to be a master in calligraphy, his calligraphy was already quite good.

Liu Bo looked at the four characters "Your Majesty" and then looked at the dozen or so characters on the table. He smiled and asked, "I wanted to ask my second brother for a character, but now it seems that this character is for someone else."

Li Yun hummed, and said silently: "I will leave Jinling soon after the spring. After this separation, I don't know when I will come back next time."

"So, I wanted to leave something for Jinling. I plan to have these four words engraved on the main gate of Jinling Imperial City."

"That main gate will be renamed Jing'an Gate from now on."

Having said that, Li Yun turned his head to look at Liu Bo, and then continued: "It can be said that I left something for Jinling."

Liu Bo clapped his hands and laughed, "Second brother is really a nostalgic person. If he were an ordinary person, he would probably forget about Nanjing immediately after arriving in Luoyang."

The emperor shook his head and did not respond. Instead, he looked at Liu Bo and continued, "I called you here because I have something for you to do."

Liu Bo quickly lowered his head and said, "Second brother, you speak."

"You have a family in Hebei Province, so don't go to pick them up in person. Send a few people to take them to Luoyang."

"Then you will leave tomorrow and return to Luoyang."

Liu Bo seemed to be thinking about something, and asked, "What happened in Luoyang?"

"Nothing happened. It's just something that happened last year. I need to resolve it when I return."

"When you get to Luoyang, go find Meng Hai. Meng Hai will naturally explain it to you. This matter involves too many people. I'm afraid Meng Hai won't do a good job. When you go back, sort out the whole matter."

"List out who should be dealt with and who shouldn't be dealt with. When I return to Luoyang, I will deal with them myself."

At this point, the emperor warned: "Remember, no matter who it is, as long as they are involved, record them all. You don't have to worry about offending anyone. This is the last thing that offends people."

"I'll do it."

Although Meng Hai is the Chief of Jingzhao Division among the Nine Divisions, the rank of this position is not high. One must know that if there is no title of Duke of Yingguo, Liu Bo, the Chief of the Nine Divisions, is only the third rank in terms of rank.

Meng Hai is only at the fifth rank.

Therefore, this matter requires someone who can keep the situation under control and go back to sort things out. This way, when Emperor Li returns, he can cut the Gordian knot and calm things down as quickly as possible.

Then, he began to build a new court.

As brothers for many years, Liu Bo had understood the meaning of Emperor Li's words. He nodded slightly and said, "Okay, second brother, I will leave tomorrow and rush to Luoyang on horseback."

Then he looked at Li Yun and asked, "When will my second brother go back?"

"It will be at least February when spring comes. On my way back, I will also visit the areas in Henan Province that were hit by the disaster last year to see how the spring planting is going in the disaster areas last year."

"By the time I return to Luoyang, it will probably be March or April."

Emperor Li warned: "This matter is very important. It is related to the construction of the court in the next ten years or even longer. You need to pay more attention to it."

"it is good."

Liu Bo lowered his head slightly and said, "Don't worry, second brother, I will do my best to handle this matter."

"Ah."

His Majesty the Emperor patted him on the shoulder and said, "Thank you for your hard work."

"After these busy years, we brothers can all take a break."

Liu Bo smiled and said, "After these years of hard work, can you please remove me from the Nine Departments? There are too many things to do in the Nine Departments, and I really don't have any free time."

"I want to quit this job and be the Duke of Xiaoyao."

Emperor Li glanced at him and laughed: "Everyone is jealous of your job, and you still want to quit it?"

"If you really want to resign from the Nine Departments, I can only arrange for you to be assigned to the Privy Council."

Liu Bo said with a bitter face: "I don't want to be a servant anymore. Wouldn't it be better for me to just be the Duke of England?" The emperor kicked him and scolded him with a smile: "You are not even forty years old, and you still want to retire? Go away."

"Go do your business."

The Duke of England patted the footprints on his clothes nonchalantly, smiled at the emperor, and then retreated carelessly.

His Majesty the Emperor looked at his leaving back, was silent for a while, and then sighed.

"Why is it necessary to be so cautious?"

…………

After Liu Bo left the imperial city, he first returned to his own house. After assigning some tasks to the nine officials of Jinling, he asked his men to prepare horses.

The next morning, when it was just light, Liu Bo, accompanied by seven or eight followers, rode on fast horses and quietly left Jinling.

After leaving Jinling, they drove all night long and headed straight for Luoyang.

Jinling is a full 1,400 to 1,500 miles away from Luoyang, but they rode fast horses, and their speed was much faster than the emperor's ceremonial procession. In just six or seven days, Liu Bo had reached the city of Luoyang.

They came into Luoyang City in the afternoon. After entering Luoyang, Liu Bo did not even return to his Duke of Ying's Mansion. He just found an inn in Luoyang City, washed up simply, and washed off the dust on his body.

At night, when there was a curfew in Luoyang City, Liu Bo left the inn and headed for Yongxingfang.

He had the badge of the Nine Departments, so even if he met patrol officers from the Jingzhao Prefecture along the way, the officers did not dare to check him, let alone impose the curfew on him.

After reaching Yongxingfang, Liu Bo came to the door of the Meng family and knocked.

A moment later, he was invited into the Meng family. Meng Hai was not at home at this time. Meng Hai's father, the gray-haired Meng Chong, went all the way to the front yard to greet him. After seeing Liu Bo, Meng Chong bowed deeply and saluted: "Your subordinate, I pay my respects to the Duke of England."

Meng Chong has been in charge of the minting of coins for the imperial court for more than ten years. He is still in charge of the minting of coins for the imperial court. However, after such a long time, Meng Chong is no longer responsible for the specific work.

Only occasionally would I go back to the Mint to take a look.

Liu Bo quickly helped him up and said with a smile, "I haven't seen you for several years. Uncle Meng, are you still in good health?"

Meng Chong sighed and said, "It's not going to work anymore. I don't know how many more years I can serve Your Majesty."

He invited Liu Bo to sit in the main hall of his house and personally poured tea for Liu Bo. Liu Bo looked at Meng Chong, whose back was no longer straight, and felt a little emotional: "Uncle Meng has indeed aged a lot in the past few years."

"I'm over fifty, how can I not look old?"

Meng Chong smiled and said, "The fire in the Mint is very hot."

Liu Bo was startled. Just as he was about to speak, someone trotted into the main hall, breathing heavily, "Father, this is Si Zheng."

He bowed deeply.

It was Meng Hai, the Chief Justice of Jingzhao Division.

Seeing Meng Hai rushing back, Meng Chong stood up silently and sighed, "I am too old and can't hold on any longer. Sir, let my son accompany you. I will retire first."

Liu Bo stood up and saw him off, escorted him out of the main hall, and then sat back in his original seat.

Meng Hai stepped forward, picked up the teapot and poured tea for Liu Bo, and asked, "When did Si Zheng come back? Why didn't we have any news beforehand?"

Liu Bo did not answer this question, but looked at Meng Hai and asked, "How is the investigation of the corruption case in Zhangwu Seventh Year going now?"

Meng Hai poured himself a cup of tea, sat opposite Liu Bo, and smiled bitterly: "The more we investigate, the deeper we get into the matter, and the more people we arrest."

"After the New Year, even the Eastern Palace has been involved in this matter."

Liu Bo was stunned and frowned, "Someone from the Eastern Palace was also involved in the imperial examination fraud?"

"That's not true."

Meng Hai whispered, "The East Palace reported others."

"Many people were reported by the Eastern Palace and thus were involved in the case."

Liu Bo frowned and lowered his head to drink tea: "How did this matter become so complicated?"

"who knows?"

Meng Hai smiled bitterly: "Anyway, more and more people in Luoyang City are worried."

Liu Bo nodded silently.

"By order of the Emperor, this matter."

He lowered his head to drink tea: "You and I..."

"We have to sort it out bit by bit."

…………

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(End of this chapter)