Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 79 Cricket Fight
The matter of receiving the emperor came to an end for the time being. No one would have thought that Xia Lin, this little bastard, had even prepared the palace and the boat. This made Lao Guo feel more confident when he went to the court in a few days. Now Lao Guo's arrogance was really unimaginable. If Gao Shilian dared to talk to him again, he would lift up his robe and say, "Gao Shilian, fuck your mother."

Lao Guo didn't get to wait for the fireworks display because he received an order to go on a southern tour and he had to go to Beijing to discuss the arrangements. But unlike his previous anxiety, Lao Guo was in high spirits this time.

"I wish Mr. Guo will return to Nanjing in one day." Xia Lin bowed and said goodbye when seeing Old Guo off to the ship: "Please be careful on the road."

“Hahahaha.” Old Guo was delighted and couldn’t help but waved at Xia Lin: “Go back and appease your father-in-law.”

The ship weighed anchor, and Lao Guo stood at the bow and watched the rolling river water flowing downstream. He felt extremely happy in his heart. It took about three days to reach Jinling along the Yangtze River.

This time, Lao Guo was confident. He first went to the Ministry of Rites to report, and then rested for a day. On the fourth day, he went to court. Lao Guo was never timid. His Guo family was from an ancient aristocratic family, and he was also one of the representatives of the military. Gao Shilian? Who was he? He was from a merchant family, and a new noble family. If the literati group was not too troublesome, Lao Guo would dare to beat Gao Shilian to the ground in the Golden Palace.

But it was just a beating, and then he was demoted to guard the border thousands of miles away. Besides, he was almost sixty years old, and it would be inappropriate to engage in some emotional dispute. It would be better to wait until Xia Lin grew up and let that kid beat Gao Shilian.

Just before the court session, a young man arrived at Gao Shilian's mansion. He was the youngest sixth-rank county magistrate in the entire Wei Dynasty and also the new top scholar - Ye Liangchen.

He came here to present treasures to Prime Minister Gao, because with Prime Minister Gao's support these days, he had confiscated several wealthy and powerful people in his county who were unkind, rectified the gentry and clan leaders, and reclaimed a large area of ​​land. The silver and money he obtained from the confiscations alone exceeded one million taels, and the taxes he paid amounted to as much as 350,000 taels.

This wealthy place in the capital is indeed extraordinary. Just a few merchants can make a fortune. However, Ye Liangchen is also ambitious. He remembers who is his backer, so in recent days, the Gao family has replaced the original merchant family and become the main operator of various businesses in his side.

Today he came in person to look for Prime Minister Gao, one reason being to get to know him, the other being to bring some goodies to Prime Minister Gao.

"Mr. Prime Minister, this night-shining pearl and cat's eye stone are said to have drifted from Persia, and are quite precious." Ye Liangchen stood beside Prime Minister Gao, smiling, "Also, I have hired some porcelain craftsmen to make a batch of porcelain, and I would like to ask Mr. Prime Minister to take a look."

Ye Liangchen handed the thing over. Your porcelain is indeed exquisite. After looking at it for a while, Gao Xiang felt that it was slightly different from the Xinping porcelain. He stood up, took the Xinping tea can from the shelf next to him, held it in his hands and played with it carefully, even closing his eyes to feel it carefully.

I just feel that the two jars look almost the same in color, but they are very different in gloss, feel and fineness of the picture. The Xinping porcelain is thin, bright and transparent, with crisp lines and clear pictures, but the porcelain presented here feels heavy, the glaze is dull, and there is even some graininess on the surface. The color is indeed okay, but the painting is rough and the lines are disordered.

It's okay if you hold it alone, but the difference is obvious when you compare the two.

Gao Xiang's brows gradually furrowed. He placed two tea cans on the table and said, "This is not good. There is a huge difference."

"Mr. Prime Minister, this Xinping porcelain is very strange. We have tried hundreds of formulas for the glaze alone but still cannot reach its level. The clay is also very different, which is not the fault of the craftsmen. But if this thing is produced, we only need to lower the price a little, and naturally it will make a lot of money."

"Then let's do as you wish." Gao Xiang sighed lightly, "Guo Minghuai will be here today. That old man is very annoying. During the court meeting, he relied on the extremely high taxes under his rule this year and looked down on everyone. I, the old man, am not willing to accept this."

"Don't worry, sir. I am here now."

Ye Liangchen took out an account book from his bosom and said, "Mr. Prime Minister, there are two account books here. One is the account book that was confiscated in the past few months, and the other is the balance book. This balance book is the account book after the confiscated accounts were distributed to various businesses in the county."

After he finished speaking, he stood up straight and said in a loud voice: "In the past three months, the taxes collected by our county have reached 300,000 taels, which can relieve your majesty's worries during your southern tour. It is the lifelong wish of a minister to help you solve your worries and difficulties."

Gao Xiang flipped through the account book and took a look. His expression suddenly relaxed. "Okay, okay. But... what you said is not right. Let me teach you how to say it."

When Ye Liangchen heard this, his eyes suddenly lit up: "Thank you for your guidance, Master."

Prime Minister Gao glanced at the young man who was climbing up the ladder and chuckled, saying, "Raising taxes to help the emperor relieve his worries is the wish of the world. The people are grateful to the emperor and are generous as they wish. It is not the officials who urge us, but the people's own will."

Ye Liangchen was stunned for a moment: "If you say so... then the people below must..." "What do you think?" Gao Xiang smiled: "But what does it have to do with you? Throughout history, how many people have criticized the people who do things."

Ye Liangchen lowered his eyelids and said yes, but he sneered in his heart: "This old man is really a damned thing. The criticism is indeed not directed at the people who do the work, but if the officials force the people to rebel, then the shining steel knife is directed at me."

But he didn't say it, just pretending to be stupid and laughing. After eating something, Gao Xiang stood up, took the account book and said, "You have come from afar, so you can have fun in the city for a few days. When you are free, I will have someone organize a literary gathering for you, the new champion, to show off."

"Thank you for your advice, Master."

"Ah."

Prime Minister Gao walked away leisurely. Ye Liangchen followed behind him, looking at his back, his eyelids slowly drooping to the ground. With his intelligence, he knew that this old dog Gao just wanted to use his identity to provoke the young prince and said to him, "Your Qingmiao Reform is nothing but a child's play. Look at the people you promoted with your own hands, and in the end they are nothing but my dogs."

This matter was extremely disgusting, but Ye Liangchen could only accept it with a pinch of his nose, because the place where he was destined to make him be controlled by Prime Minister Gao, otherwise, let alone promotion, he might even lose his life.

At this moment, Prime Minister Gao had already entered the palace and arrived at the court. As soon as he entered, he saw Guo Minghuai sitting in the hall, motionless.

This is Lao Guo’s privilege. Because he injured his leg in battle in his early years, the late emperor granted Lao Guo, who was then Zhong Guo, the privilege of being given a seat in the palace and not having to kneel when meeting the emperor.

Now the old man's leg has healed, and it doesn't hurt much except when it's cloudy and rainy, but he still keeps the habit of sitting there when he goes to the palace. The emperor is used to it, too. They grew up together, and Lao Guo and his friends called the King of Qin "Big Brother" and the emperor "Fourth Brother". How could the fourth brother not know what kind of person this guy is?

But there was not a single minister in the court who did not dislike Lao Guo. The way this old man sat in a group of people every time he went to the palace was really annoying. Moreover, among all the civil and military officials in the world, he was the only one who had received special permission from the late emperor. This privilege was very eye-catching.

"His Majesty is here!"

At the eunuch's shout, all the ministers bowed and shouted "Long live the emperor" to welcome his majesty. Then the emperor walked out from behind the curtains and sat on the dragon throne. Then the eunuchs shouted a circle of slogans as if it was a routine.

At this moment, Gao Xiang was naturally the first to come out. He was a third-rank civil official, and he was the first to stand up. "Your Majesty, Dantu County heard that Your Majesty was going to tour the south, so we increased taxes by 300,000 taels to help Your Majesty with his urgent needs. This tax increase is the wish of the world to help you relieve your worries. The people are grateful to the emperor, and they are generous as they wish. It was not urged by me, but by the people. I dare to ask Your Majesty to congratulate Dantu County."

From the emperor to the ministers, everyone's eyes were focused on Gao Shilian. The emperor took a deep breath. If it was a tyrant, he might be ecstatic, but this emperor was just mediocre but not tyrant. He knew clearly that this was Gao Shilian's conspiracy. If the emperor didn't accept it, he would be ignoring the will of the people, and he would not be a good emperor. But if he accepted it, he would be plundering the people's wealth, and he would not be a good emperor either.

Gao Shilian deserves to die! He keeps saying that he is doing this for His Majesty, but his every word and action is to kill the Emperor!
His Majesty's face was livid at the moment, but his eyes happened to glance at Lao Guo, who was sitting there with a leisurely expression, even crossing his legs without any manners.

At this moment, the emperor couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Seeing the look of that bastard Lao Guo, the pressure in his heart was immediately reduced by 80%.

"Tian En, come here." The emperor called to the old eunuch beside him in a low voice.

"Your Majesty." The eunuch came closer.

The emperor whispered, "Go tell that fellow Guo Minghuai how long you, little bastard, will wait before you are willing to rescue your fourth brother. Go now."

The old eunuch nodded hurriedly, and came to Lao Guo and whispered: "His Majesty asked me to tell you a message, 'When will you, little bastard, be willing to help your fourth brother?'"

Lao Guo's face turned pale, he brushed off his body and lifted his robe: "Gao Shilian, I'll fuck your mother!"

The shout stunned His Majesty and all the civil and military officials in the court... What is this? Huh? What kind of new game is this?
(End of this chapter)