In the Wanshou Palace, there were only two people, the emperor and his ministers, one kneeling and the other standing.

Xu Jie bowed his head and confessed, and asked for pardon bluntly.

Zhu Yijun was noncommittal.

He asked something else for no reason: "Is Xu Qing born in September of the 16th year of Hongzhi?"

Xu Jie was startled, not knowing why, and nodded hesitantly.

Zhu Yijun looked confused and said, "Then this year will be exactly seventy."

Xu Jie added: "I have reached the age of Xu, but my life is only on the 20th of September."

Zhu Yijun sighed and said with emotion: "It's rare for people to live seventy years, so get up."

Xu Jie stood up in confusion, not understanding what the emperor's question meant.

Zhu Yijun ignored him and knocked on the imperial case hard.

Li Jin was waiting at the entrance of the palace. Hearing the noise, he quickly ran into the palace.

At the emperor's signal, he took out a congratulatory form from his sleeve titled "Preface to the 70th Birthday of Mr. Xu Xianggong in Cunzhai, a Young Master" and handed it to Xu Jie.

Xu Jie looked at the signature in astonishment. His disciple stood at attention and was at a loss.

Zhu Yijun shook his head: "Xu Qing, Yuan Fu entrusted me with the congratulatory form a few months ago."

"He said that if he wants to rectify your death in Songjiang Mansion, he will have the Jin Yi guards burn him in front of your body."

"If I am merciful and spare your life, I will hand over the congratulatory form to you for him."

"Yuan Fu said that he was ashamed to meet his mentor."

"Xu Qing, if it hadn't been for Yuan Fu's intercession, I wouldn't have been able to enter the capital. I didn't expect that you ignored his difficulties yesterday and came to embarrass him."

"well……"

Zhu Yijun sighed and stood up to leave.

It was a rare occasion for him to act selfishly out of love, and even the emperor was not immune to favors.

Although Zhang Juzheng seemed to have distanced himself from the relationship, in fact, he had expressed his attitude to him a few months ago - Zhang Juzheng supported the emperor's decision, but he himself still hoped that Xu Jie could live a stable life.

After his husband spoke, Zhu Yijun had no choice but to follow the trend.

Of course, his thoughts changed after meeting Xu Jie.

With Xu Jie's talent and his unconvinced appearance, Zhu Yijun really wanted to convince him.

He looked back at Xu Jie who was in a daze, turned around and left.

Xu Jie held a congratulatory form in his hand with a complicated expression.

Yesterday, he only thought that his disciple had lost all his feelings and nature, but unexpectedly, he had already begged for him.

On the other hand, he didn't care at all about this disciple's difficulties and came to embarrass him.

Now that the emperor is showing his noble hand, he has mixed emotions.

Xu Jie's heart was filled with emotions. He slowly opened the table of music, lowered his head and started reading - "If you read the rest of the secretary, you will be my teacher..."

What follows is a reminiscence of the teachings and learning from teachers and students, as well as birthday congratulations.

Although it is a common content to celebrate birthdays, it is a personal letter from the first minister of the dynasty after all. It is sincere and full of admiration, which is unavoidable and touching.

Especially thinking of the disciple who showed no mercy to him yesterday, Xu Jie felt in a dilemma in the words.

He is really a good disciple.

Xu Jie sighed silently and turned to the next page.

"Ju Zhengchang said: What scholars and gentlemen do is to respect the Lord and protect the people, establish laws and regulations, and stabilize the country. Some of them are done by themselves, and some do not need to be done personally. However, their ways will follow the world on their own, and their benefits will be taken care of by themselves.

For ordinary people, I secretly believe that I am the only one who can master both of these things..."

Xu Jie saw the end and gently closed the congratulatory watch.

No wonder he asked the emperor to hand it over. It turned out that he was here to act as a lobbyist - to persuade him to "respect the Lord and protect the people".

Xu Jie sighed.

Naturally, he had no reason to blame Zhang Juzheng. Although he looked down upon Xu Jie, he had to accept his intention.

However, Zhang Juzheng was begging for mercy and acting as a lobbyist. If Xu Jie offended the emperor again in the future, he might also be affected and affect the holy family.

I'm afraid I owe a lot of this favor.

At this time, Xu Jie looked up after reading the congratulatory form and saw that the emperor was no longer in the palace.

He looked at Li Jin aside with a questioning look.

Li Jin signaled Xu Jie to stand up and said softly: "Master Xu, Your Majesty is going to the Wenhua Palace. Please accompany him there."

Xu Jie was startled, and then he was helped by Li Jin thoughtfully to wait outside the hall.

Not long after, Zhu Yijun led Zhang Hong out of the Longevity Palace.

He glanced at Xu Jie: "Let's go, they said on the way that I have to go to the court today for a meeting."

There are many things to be discussed at the court today, and Zhu Yijun has to go there in person.

Especially the exchange of prisoners and the barbarian Khan's request for rewards involved large-scale military affairs, and he had to express his position.

Also, half of the silver coins Hai Rui brought back from this trip were secretly shared between him and Zhang Juzheng, so they had to go and support the cabinet.

In addition, there are some rewards for Hai Rui and others' handling of the case, and the controversy over yesterday's sacrifice to Qian Yuan also has to come up.

Busy.

Zhu Yijun sighed with emotion from the front, and Xu Jie followed silently.

After walking out for a while, the former handed back the latter's "Five Major Disadvantages in the World", and an inaudible voice said: "Xu Qing has reported the five major disadvantages, can he have any good strategies?"

The five disadvantages Xu Jie mentioned are official administration, annexation, taxation, Japanese pirates, and Tatars. He hit the target of the current disadvantages everywhere, and he is truly worthy of the talent of the first assistant.

Although he was wagging his tail deliberately in order to survive, it did not prevent Zhu Yijun from wanting to hear Xu Jie's good advice.

Xu Jie opened his mouth slightly and was about to tell the good plan he had prepared, but suddenly stopped again.

Naturally, there are good strategies, and more than one has been prepared, just like the top, middle, and bottom strategies of counselors in ancient times. They are all good strategies.

However, some good strategies are for doing things, and some good strategies are just for people to listen to.

In order to survive, Xu Jie naturally prepared for the latter.

But now...

He raised his head and glanced at the emperor's back, then remembered the conversation in the palace and the words of comfort from his disciples.

The little emperor acted with dignity, and there was no reason for him to be compared.

Furthermore, if the emperor believed in the good advice of castles in the air, even if Xu Jie tried to please him, his disciple who really wanted to do something would be in trouble.

I went over and over in my mind, thought about it, and finally decided to give a good and honest way to do things.

Xu Jie tried to slow down his tone and said, "I dare not hide it from Your Majesty. I believe that these five disadvantages need to be solved in order, but they all have prerequisites."

"If you want to stabilize the northern Tatars, I have a way to do it. Whether it's paying tribute or moving the gentry to the border, there are always countermeasures, but... the premise is to really destroy all the warlike Tatars.

Only tribes can do something, otherwise it will be a castle in the air."

"As for the Japanese pirates, I'd like to put it bluntly. Even if everyone knows that the key to this matter lies in the Japanese pirates in the country, we still need to annihilate the Japanese pirates overseas first before we can go back and deal with it slowly. Otherwise, we will be dragged to death."

"Both of them are going to have a big war, and they have to wait until they have enough money to decide the winner."

"Insufficient financial resources are limited by land acres and taxes."

"And if Your Majesty really wants to take action on the land and taxes, he must at least rectify the administration of officials first."

If the emperor simply cleans up the salt administration, tea classes, horse market, etc., it will only treat the symptoms but not the root cause.

Even if a large amount of money comes into the account every time, it is just to put out the fire.

Only by reforming the tax code and clearing land ownership can the financial problem be temporarily solved.

Then rely on this window period to save the national treasury until it is enough to fight several wars, and then we can hope to eliminate the border troubles between the north and the south.

However, reforming tax laws and clearing land ownership will inevitably require officials who can give orders like an arm.

The truth is of course this, but the difficulties and obstacles involved are naturally self-evident.

Moreover, even if this step is achieved, it is still a temporary solution.

Xu Jie glanced at the emperor's back, thinking a lot.

This step is still a thousand miles away from what the emperor said about suppressing mergers and resisting the rotation of the seasons.

I just don’t know if I can wait until that time.

After hearing Xu Jie's words, Zhu Yijun's smile flashed across his face. These numbers coincided with each other.

He turned his head and glanced at Xu Jie: "So Xu Qing thinks that passing the law test is not enough?"

Since it comes to the administration of officials, you can't fool him with what you already have. You have to have some opinions of your own.
To be continued...