My older brother said I'm invincible.

Chapter 98 Sage Yang Guang
Li Mi secretly groaned in despair.

Yang Xuangan was very excited. He said, “Look, Li Yuan himself also hopes that the court can promote his son. If I can stand up for him, Li Yuan will be very grateful to us for his help. Didn’t you often tell me to contact truly capable people? Li Yuan is one of them!”

"Secondly, I recommended his son. In the eyes of the Emperor and the people of the world, Li Yuan's family are my people. He can't deny it even if he wants to."

"Duke!"

Li Mi seized the opportunity to interject, saying helplessly, "The Duke of Tang cannot be treated as an ordinary person."

"He was very indifferent to Zhao Yuanshu before, so why did he go to see Zhao Yuanshu immediately after the incident?"

“It’s very simple. In the past, Zhao Yuanshu did him no good, but now that he has made contributions, he needs Zhao Yuanshu to speak up for him.”

"The Duke of Tang has so many friends in the court, and he didn't get along well with Zhao Yuanshu before. There are many people he could turn to, so why did he choose Zhao Yuanshu? Zhao Yuanshu didn't say anything just now, but judging from his words, the Duke of Tang must have given him quite a lot of things."

Yang Xuangan frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Li Yuan has already discovered us?!"

"Not necessarily. However, it's likely that he's become suspicious of Zhao Yuanshu and is testing him. Our Lord Zhao," Li Mi didn't dare to directly say that he was incompetent, but still said, "His talent isn't that well-known."

"The Duke of Tang was probably unwilling to participate, or he wanted to protect himself by seeking an official position. Seeking merit for his son was clearly one of his strategies, which was to show loyalty to the emperor and indicate that he had no other intentions."

"His son is only ten years old. If you really want to show off your achievements by sending his youngest son to the capital, that wouldn't be doing a favor for the Duke of Tang; that would be truly offending him. Although we are not afraid of him, we can't create another enemy for no reason."

Hearing Li Mi say this, Yang Xuangan finally gave up the idea, but he still felt very regretful.

"Unfortunately, I was quite keen to win that kid over."

Li Mi quickly advised, "There will be an opportunity sooner or later. If he can achieve great things in the future, the Duke can formally recommend him. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

Yang Xuangan laughed, agreeing with Li Mi's statement.

Li Mi was already covered in sweat.

Fortunately, I managed to persuade him.

As his power increased, the Duke became increasingly arrogant, and sometimes he wouldn't listen to anyone's advice. Hopefully, he will come to his senses in the future, otherwise, something terrible will happen.

The next day, Zhao Yuanshu led everyone to Daxing City.

In fact, the sage did not like staying in Daxing City.

The sage spent a great deal of labor to build the eastern capital, Luoyang, and construct a new city.

Previously, a large number of laborers in Henan Prefecture fled because of the construction of the new city. The emperor built many palaces in Daxing and Luoyang. After the new city in Luoyang was completed, he preferred to stay in Luoyang and did not like to return to Daxing.

I only use Daxing as a temporary residence when I need to go to the Northwest occasionally.

After returning, Zhao Yuanshu first bathed and changed her clothes, making herself clean and tidy before preparing to pay her respects to the ruler of the Great Sui Empire, the supreme ruler of the world, the sage Yang Guang.

Soon, Zhao Yuanshu received an imperial edict granting her permission to have an audience with the emperor.

Zhao Yuanshu had thought everything through before entering the palace.

He was going to the Liangyi Hall. Normally, when he summoned his ministers and handled important matters, he would go to the Daxing Hall. Only when he was summoned privately would he go to the Liangyi Hall.

The guards along the way were quite strict. Qianniu Bei was staring fiercely at Zhao Yuanshu, who only took small steps forward and did not dare to look around.

The further you go in, the more luxurious the palace complex becomes. In the distance, new halls are under construction. The palace complex has been growing ever since the emperor ascended the throne. This was true in Daxing, and it was true in Luoyang as well.

Strangely, despite having built so many palaces and gardens, the emperor rarely visited them.

Zhao Yuanshu thus arrived at the Liangyi Hall.

As he loudly announced his name, a eunuch led him into the palace.

The hall was exceptionally bright.

At the very center of the table sat a refined-looking middle-aged man.

His clothes were not luxurious; he looked quite like a scholar, with a round face and gentle eyes. In front of him were indeed papers and ink, indicating that he had just been writing something.

At that moment, he raised his head, looked at Zhao Yuanshu who had returned from outside, and smiled slightly. "It's Minister Zhao who's back!" "Your Majesty!!"

The refined man before Zhao Yuanshu was none other than the ruler of the Sui Dynasty, the sage Yang Guang.

"Get up, get up quickly, come and see what I think of my new poem!"

Zhao Yuanshu hurriedly prostrated herself beside Yang Guang, knelt down, and looked at Yang Guang's poem. She read it carefully for a long time and couldn't help but cheer.

"What a fine poem! What a fine poem! Your Majesty's talent and learning are unmatched in the world. Even the likes of Cao Zhi, as described by the ancients, are far inferior to Your Majesty!"

Zhao Yuanshu didn't understand poetry very well, but he understood sages.

He didn't care what he was saying; he just kept praising her, using every word he could think of.

Yang Guang listened with a smile to Zhao Yuanshu's flattery. After a long while, he slowly interrupted her, "I showed you the poem because I felt it was flawed and wanted you to point out what was wrong. Just say so!"

Zhao Yuanshu was drenched in sweat.

How could I dare say it's bad?

Last year, the emperor ordered the construction of a large tent that could accommodate thousands of people to receive Qimin Khan of the Turks and his followers. The fierce general He Ruobi, along with Gao Jiong, Yuwen Bi, and others, privately discussed that the emperor was too extravagant. After ascending the throne, he had been subject to constant corvée labor, and now he was wasting the people's resources with these things, which was really not good.

Then, Yang Guang, on the pretext of slandering the government, had He Ruobi, Gao Jiong, Yuwen Bi, and others killed.

These people held significant positions and wielded considerable influence in the Sui Dynasty. Yet, they were killed simply for uttering a few words. This terrified Yang Xuangan, Li Yuan, and others, as did people like Zhao Yuanshu.

He dared not find fault with the emperor, and simply said, "Your Majesty's poems and prose, I truly cannot see the slightest flaw."

Yang Guang frowned, his previously gentle face suddenly turning fierce. "Do you think I can't listen to honest advice? What kind of person do you take me for?"

At that moment, Zhao Yuanshu was so frightened that she almost wet her pants.

He could only feign composure and loudly proclaim, "Your Majesty! I am not flattering you. Even if Your Majesty intends to punish me, I still hold the same view: Your Majesty's poems and prose are flawless, truly masterpieces! They are immaculate works. To deliberately slander you out of fear would be disloyal to Your Majesty!"

"Your Majesty is a born sage, readily accepting advice; who in the world does not know this?"

Yang Guang stared at Zhao Yuanshu for a moment, then burst into laughter.

He pointed at Zhao Yuanshu in front of him and said, "You good-for-nothing Zhao Qing!"

"Among all officials, only you can speak the truth."

Yang Guang was quite satisfied with Zhao Yuanshu's performance. He smiled and put away the poems in front of him, then took out a new memorial and began to speak quietly.

"I have read Li Yuan's memorial many times, and I still don't understand why Li Yuan didn't discover these problems with the Zheng family before Zhao Qing arrived, but as soon as you went, he immediately started arresting people."

Zhao Yuanshu swallowed hard and said with a smile, "Everyone says Li Yuan is brave and strong, but even he, as brave as he is, was quite frightened by His Majesty."

"Hahaha~~"

Yang Guang put away the memorial, in a very good mood.

"The memorial itself is nothing, but he sent a lot of money, a great deal of money. The Zheng family has even started minting their own coins. This is a capital offense, a capital offense."

"However, their family members are quite nice; it just depends on whether they know what's good for them."

Yang Guang said something, then looked at Zhao Yuanshu again.

What do you think?

Zhao Yuanshu said with a smile, "This is a great thing! His Majesty is short of money when he wants to fight the barbarian bandits. Li Yuan has provided a sum, and Zheng Shi has provided another. Wouldn't that provide the funds to fight the bandits? If you ask me, if Li Yuan could find more people like him, His Majesty wouldn't have to worry about the lack of money and food anymore. Why don't others follow his example?"

Yang Guang seemed to be deep in thought as he listened to Zhao Yuanshu's words.

He thought for a long time, then grinned again.

“What Zhao Qing said is absolutely right.”

(End of this chapter)