From a son-in-law to a favorite of the empress

Chapter 614

This time, the eldest sister did not call Zhou Yuan to Ziwei Palace for dinner, but went to the Imperial Study with a group of cabinet ministers to continue discussing the situation in the northwest.

Zhou Yuan left the palace freely by himself. He felt happy after scolding, but he could not say what he felt happy about.

The emotions were vented, and the only thing left was emptiness.

The midday sun was warm, adding a bit of vitality to the bleak autumn.

The old man behind him hurried over, and before he got close, he shouted: "Duke Weiguo, Duke Weiguo, wait for me."

Liu Jing panted and said: "Let's go, let's have a meal at Tianxiang Tower, I'll treat you."

Zhou Yuan asked in confusion: "Does Lord Liu have something to say?"

Liu Jing couldn't help laughing and said: "Of course I have something to say. I have encountered a lot of troubles in the past three months. I can't help but tell you about it."

Zhou Yuan didn't want to refuse, so he had to go together.

It was still the same old seat. The box was not spacious, but it was very elegant.

The last time I came here, we discussed how to divide the money from the cleansing of the nine gangs. Xiaoying accompanied us and ate a table full of dishes.

This time, Zhou Yuan didn't know what to say. Liu Jing was the one who talked the whole time.

"Those stubborn people are really hard to deal with!"

While drinking, he gritted his teeth and said, "Do you know how anxious I was at that time? I had asked the guards to pull out their knives, but these stubborn people still refused to listen and insisted that I would kill them."

"My God, which second-rank official runs to the fields every day? Isn't it just for them to have something to eat? They don't understand, just like I didn't understand you at the beginning."

"Jizhou has been planting wheat since ancient times. It's no exaggeration to say that this thing has fed people for thousands of years. Of course, they are unwilling to give it up, and they dare not give it up."

"At the beginning of the year, they didn't want to plant, and they almost tortured me to death."

"This time, the sweet potato harvest was great, and everyone remembered my kindness."

This is actually a very magnificent thing, Zhou Yuan admires it very much.

He couldn't help but ask, "How did they finally agree to plant it?"

Liu Jing smiled and said, "There was no other way. I knelt down to them, cut off my hair, and swore to them that I would definitely get a high yield."

"The clan leader saw that I was really sincere, and finally gave in and agreed to use half of the land to plant sweet potatoes."

"Damn, it's really tiring to do errands for the people in other provinces. I lost more than ten pounds this year."

Zhou Yuan looked up at Liu Jing, and a huge wave of emotions surged in his heart.

"You...kneeled?"

He almost couldn't believe it. A second-rank official, a minister, a true pillar of the country, and the confidant of His Majesty, knelt down to the common people in the countryside?

It's not that Zhou Yuan looked down on the common people, but for this era, this was too incredible.

Liu Jing said, "What's the big deal! Now they are kneeling to me! They are also erecting a monument for me! Everything is worth it."

He drank another glass of wine and slowly became a little drunk.

Then he looked at Zhou Yuan and said solemnly: "Duke Weiguo, are you really not going to the northwest? Except for you, no one else has the ability to resist Mongolia."

Zhou Yuan waved his hand and said: "Lord Liu, I am not a god, and I may not be able to stop Mongolia even if I go."

"After all this time, you are here to lobby for His Majesty?"

Liu Jing shook his head and said: "How can I have time to see His Majesty? I came to you directly after the court was dismissed. I am not here to lobby, but I want to hear your opinion."

Zhou Yuan said: "My opinion is that I am tired, really tired."

"Lord Liu, Zhou Yuan admires you, so I'm speaking to you frankly."

"I don't want to go to war, just because I'm angry. The Great Jin Dynasty is so precarious, and it seems that it will not be able to hold on, so I try my best to repair it, and I try my best every time, and I'm in a desperate situation several times."

"But what did I get in return? In return, I got the jealousy and backstab of my colleagues in the court, and they kept digging holes for me and asked me to fill them."

"Do you think I'm worth going to the northwest to fill them?"

Liu Jing didn't say anything, just picked up the wine and drank a glass.

Then he looked at Zhou Yuan with his eyes half drunk, and whispered: "If you're angry, you won't go?"

Zhou Yuan was silent.

Liu Jing continued: "If your colleagues are jealous and the court backstabs you, you won't go?"

Zhou Yuan didn't answer, just drank.

Liu Jing said: "Why does the Duke of Wei want to be an official? The officialdom has been like this since ancient times. You have to face endless criticism and frame-ups as an official. You know that, so why do you want to be an official?"

"Because you have ambitions in your heart and you want to do something."

"From that moment on, haven't you decided? You have decided that no matter what difficulties and hardships you face, you must realize your ideals and accomplish those things."

"Why has it changed now?"

"Ah, I know what you mean. You allow yourself to encounter objective difficulties, but you cannot tolerate yourself being stabbed in the back by your colleagues and framed by court officials?"

"You can endure the suffering of reality, but not the suffering of spirit?"

"But... the difficulties encountered by everything in this world often do not come from objective factors, but from the human heart!"

He took off his hat, revealing his broken hair.

He shouted: "Is it difficult to grow sweet potatoes? It's not difficult! It's the human heart that is difficult!"

"Officials don't trust me, and the people don't trust me. I can use power to command the former, but what about the latter? Can I kill them with weapons? Even if I kill them, they can't compromise on food!"

"What should I do? I'm obviously doing it for their own good, but they treat me as an evil ghost and insult me ​​in every way..."

"So, should I give up?"

"Sir Zhou, we will do what we have decided, and we don't care about fairness or respect! "

"Otherwise, why would I cut off my hair!"

Zhou Yuan sighed and lowered his head.

Liu Jing also sighed, put on his hat, and said: "The world is like this. If we want to change and do things, we must bear these things."

"My reputation in the court is no less than yours, the Duke of Wei. How many years have you been scolded? I have been scolded for forty years!"

"Do I not care at all? I care too, but... I also want to do things. I want to be loyal to the country and share the worries of the king!"

"The strong ambition is like a raging wave, like a raging fire. How can it be quelled by those rumors? How can it be destroyed by those attacks and insults?"

"Once you have determined something, you must do it! Since ancient times, those who have accomplished things have been like this!"

"Knife mountains, seas of fire, the netherworld hell, where my ambition is, I will go even if there are thousands of people! "

He stared at Zhou Yuan's eyes and choked up, "Can my ambition as an old man be more determined than that of the Duke of Wei?"

"You were made a duke at a young age, and it is the age to change the world. Could it be that... after being immersed in this officialdom, your ambition is not as firm as it was back then?"

"Can the injustice of the world really bother your determination?"

Zhou Yuan raised the wine glass, clinked it with Liu Jing, and then drank it all.

He said slowly: "I learnt from your teaching. "