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

Chapter 573

Just after dark, the luxurious mansion was already brightly lit.

More than a dozen young women were slender, wearing white gauze clothes, twisting their graceful dance moves, releasing the charm of youth.

Fine wine and delicious food were placed on the coffee table, and many old men sat around, drinking and enjoying the dance.

Guan Lindu chuckled and said, "This dance troupe was trained by me personally. At that time, they were only eleven or twelve years old. They learned for six or seven years to reach this level."

Here, he paused slightly, then narrowed his eyes and said, "They are all clean-born, all virgins, proficient in all eighteen skills, and born to serve people."

"If you like anyone, take them away later."

As soon as these words came out, everyone present couldn't help laughing, their eyes shining, and they were a little impatient.

An old man said: "Master Guan is so generous, it seems that the matter in Yangzhou is going smoothly, and Duke Weiguo finally gave in?"

Another person said: "With Master Guan's intervention, what else can Duke Weiguo say? To put it nicely, he is a powerful minister's favorite, but to put it bluntly, he is just a running dog. Can a dog bite its master?"

Guan Lindu suddenly said: "I give the girl to you because I am no longer in the mood to take care of her. Our good days are coming to an end."

The atmosphere suddenly became solemn, and the smiles of the people present gradually subsided.

Guan Lindu said coldly: "You hold power, have wealth, are in high positions, and are respected and feared... You want whatever you want in this world. Even these young women are eager to get your favor to get money and status..."

"You enjoy the beauty of this world almost every day..."

His voice became colder and his face was gloomy: "You live so well, of course some people are unbalanced and want to destroy it all, or even want to drown you all in the cesspool, so that you will have no descendants, your decades of business will be ruined, and you will be cursed for thousands of generations."

"Sometimes, living well becomes a sin. This is the crime of possessing a treasure."

He stopped talking. He knew enough.

Sure enough, an old man stood up and said loudly: "Master Guan, we are living well, but all this is not washed away by the flood. It is the result of the efforts of several generations, the accumulation of decades and hundreds of years. How much effort has been put in? How much sweat has been put in? How much grievance has been endured?"

"Whoever wants to take all this away, we will fight him to the death, no matter what kind of duke he is!"

Everyone present was noisy, and the anger in their hearts could no longer be suppressed. They didn't expect that Master Guan could not persuade Zhou Yuan to leave.

What exactly is he going to do!

Does he really think of himself as a savior?

But this world is the world of aristocrats, the world of aristocratic families and gentry!

Who is the rebel? Who is the dirt?

Guan Lindu waved his hand and asked all the dancers to go down.

Then he said calmly: "We are all wrong. Zhou Yuan's appetite has never been the Bai family and the Song family. He has already made plans from the very beginning to eat up all of Jiangnan and kill us all."

"The person in the court is right. Zhou Yuan regards the world as an interest, so he must eliminate the salt business. This is a dispute of position and a dispute of the great way. There is no room for mediation."

"It's a pity that we didn't listen to his advice and still wanted to persuade Zhou Yuan to retreat. It's ridiculous!"

Everyone was silent.

The person in the court did say that there could be no reconciliation with Zhou Yuan, and he should be strangled with the most severe means from the very beginning.

For this reason, the adult used many connections to kill Zhou Yuan, but all ended in failure.

An old man gritted his teeth and said, "What a pity. If we had been determined to kill Zhou Yuan from the beginning, Zhou Yuan might have died, and there would be no need to go through so much trouble now."

Guan Lindu said, "The main reason is that this little beast is too scheming. He said he wanted to swallow up the Bai and Song families. This is a great thing for us. After all, the market of the Bai and Song families is not small. We were tempted and finally suffered from his tricks."

"Now he is gradually obtaining evidence. We are becoming more and more passive. We can't wait any longer."

The old man said loudly, "Master Guan, please give the order. We are all grasshoppers on the same rope. If something goes wrong, we will all die."

"Now is the time to fight desperately. As long as Zhou Yuan dares to take action against the thirteen salt mines, we will eat him alive."

Guan Lindu said lightly, "I have written a letter to the person in the court, and I have also started to lay out the plan. You now need to... cooperate with me!"

...

The temperature of the tea is just right. It is Longjing tea sent from Lin'an Prefecture. Yue Lingkang specially brought a few kilograms.It tastes pretty good.

Zhou Yuan took a sip, took a long breath, and then slowly said: "The time is almost ripe, and our preparations are in place. I'm afraid the next moment will be the decisive battle."

Li Yu'an skillfully fiddled with the tea set, and then filled Zhou Yuan's cup, and then whispered: "Is there any danger?"

Zhou Yuan said: "Even rabbits bite when they are anxious, let alone this group of people who cover the sky with one hand. I am afraid that they will not take action. After all, the evidence I have now is not enough to dig them out completely."

"But as long as they go all out, no one can stay out of it, and all will be exposed."

Li Yu'an tilted his head and looked at Zhou Yuan, saying: "The official family is also involved. Your queen, is she really willing to kill her own family members?"

Zhou Yuan Nodding, he said, "No one is more determined than her on the road to reviving the Great Jin."

Li Yu'an sighed and said, "She is really made to be an emperor. If it were me, I would definitely not have the heart to kill my family. I am not as good as her."

Zhou Yuan thought for a while before saying, "What is an emperor? A combination of man and tool."

"If there is only humanity, then it must be a tyrant, because human nature cannot handle complex contradictions."

"If there is no humanity at all, then it is the human form of the Great Jin Law, which is a terrible thing and will not last long, because politics without humanity will not work."

Li Yu'an asked curiously, "Then is your queen three parts humanity and seven parts tool?"

Zhou Yuan frowned, but shook his head.

He said in a deep voice: "At present, your majesty is full of humanity and instrumentality. She seems to have 70% humanity and 70% instrumentality, both sides are full."

"But it is undeniable that when her imperial power is impacted, she will definitely choose to abandon her feelings and defend her imperial power."

"Of course, this is what an emperor should do."

Li Yu'an said: "Are you praising her? If I heard it correctly, your words seem to be a compliment to her."

Zhou Yuan smiled and said: "That's right, she has always been impeccable in being an emperor. She is not only an excellent emperor, but also a wise emperor."

"It's just that this is a compliment to the emperor, and it doesn't apply to anyone else."

Li Yu'an seemed to understand, but finally nodded and said: "I understand what you mean. The emperor does not need to be liked by people, he just needs to do what the emperor should do. Satisfying the latter is a good thing. "

Zhou Yuan said: "But the emperor who satisfies the latter is often unable to satisfy the former, after all, this is a conflict."

Li Yu'an became interested again: "Which type do you want her to be? I mean, do you want her to please you, or do you want her to be a good emperor?"

Zhou Yuan touched his nose and smiled bitterly: "What does this have to do with me?"

Li Yu'an said: "If she has always trusted you, never betrayed you, and never had any suspicion of you... like before the Tianjin Peace Talks... would she please you?"

Zhou Yuan nodded and said: "Of course I like her."

Li Yu'an continued: "But what about her now? On the one hand, she trusts you and relies on you, and at the same time she firmly defends her imperial power and sacrifices you for the imperial power when necessary. Do you no longer like her like this?"

This question confused Zhou Yuan.

After all, this is a complicated question.

He thought for a long time before saying, "If I were a bystander, I would say that Empress Zhaojing did a great job! She took everything into account with various chain strategies, and finally firmly grasped all the resources in her hands, and completely secured the throne."

"And she achieved extraordinary achievements within two years, pacifying the two Jiangs, recovering the Central Plains, and repelling the Eastern Tartars."

Li Yu'an sneered, "Don't make a fuss, you did all these things."

Zhou Yuan smiled and said, "Do you want the emperor to lead the troops to fight in person? The emperor's responsibility is to employ people! All the achievements under the sky are her achievements, there is nothing wrong with that."

"Okay! I admit it!"

Li Yu'an gritted his teeth and continued: "Just now it was the view of an outsider, but you are an insider."

Zhou Yuan nodded and said, "It is precisely because I am an insider that I am different from an outsider. No matter how many reasons she has and how correct her ideas are, after all... I have suffered a great loss."

"So from my perspective, on the one hand, I admire her imperial power, and on the other hand, I have to guard against her imperial power. I hope she is more wise, but I will never let her be wise to me again."

Li Yu'an said, "It's really complicated, but I seem to understand it."

Zhou Yuan said, "Humans are complicated. I am complicated, and she is also complicated. She is much more complicated than me."

Li Yu'an thought for a while, and then said, "I am simpler, soI hate her. ”

Zhou Yuan pinched her face and said with a smile: “I like your simplicity, so I support you in hating her.”