Chapter 145 The frail and sickly powerful minister

"Sir, what's wrong?"

Noticing the young man's stunned expression, the very discerning eunuch beside him asked in a low voice.

"Ah, nothing," Lin Xiaodong came back to his senses, looked at the sky and asked, "When will your majesty arrive?"

It was not the little eunuch who answered him, but Jing Ji's calm voice: "I have already come."

Jing Ji sat down opposite Lin Xiaodong, but did not look at him, just ordered, "Let's have dinner."

Since they parted ways that day, Jing Ji did not continue to avoid him as he did last time. Every morning or night, whenever he was free, he would dine with Lin Xiaodong.

There were not many dishes on the table, and they were basically home-cooked dishes that Lin Xiaodong liked. Jing Ji put a chopstick of sweet and sour pork ribs into his bowl with a blank expression: "Sir, eat more."

Lin Xiaodong looked at his deliberately serious look, and didn't break it. After saying "thank you", he took a chopstick and bean sprouts for him.

Jingji: "..."

He hates bean sprouts the most.

But seeing the indifferent expression on his face, Jing Ji couldn't help but suspect that he was thinking too much, so he wrinkled his face and silently cleaned the bean sprouts in the bowl.

... so unpalatable.

Seeing this child's tangled face, Lin Xiaodong laughed heartily.

Sure enough, it is necessary to establish a good image in peacetime.

The young man couldn't help coughing while laughing. Jing Ji couldn't help but frowned and asked, "The weather is getting warmer, why is your husband coughing again?" He turned his head and stared at the little eunuch next to him, "How do you take care of Mr. of?"

The little eunuch was so frightened that he immediately fell to his knees and kowtowed again and again, Lin Xiaodong put down his hand covering his lips, and Chong Jingji shook his head, signaling him not to be so nervous.

"I accidentally choked on it," he wrote lightly.

But You Shu, who was standing beside him, saw the bright red between Lin Xiaodong's fingers sharply, and he immediately took a breath, attracting the attention of everyone present.

'Shh. '

Lin Xiaodong turned sideways calmly, wiped the blood from his fingertips with his thumb, raised a finger and pressed it on his lips, showing a faint smile at You Shu.

'Keep me a secret. '

He mouthed.

Jing Ji's brows tightened even more, he raised his head and asked, "What's wrong?"

You Shu opened his mouth, he glanced at Lin Xiaodong quickly, and finally lowered his head deeply: "No, the servant just slipped his waist accidentally, and I hope Your Majesty will forgive me."

Jing Ji looked at him suspiciously. He was standing well, how could he suddenly lose his waist?

Against the icy gaze of the emperor, You Shu only felt a chill running down his back, his knees softened, and with a thud, he knelt on the ground like the little eunuch.

Yushu's forehead was pressed against the cold and hard stone brick floor, and his body was trembling with fear, but he still clenched his teeth and said nothing.

I don't know how long has passed, but in his consciousness it seemed as long as hundreds of years, and You Shu finally heard Jing Ji say indifferently, "Get up."

He then stood up tremblingly, his back already soaked in cold sweat.

After this little episode, Jing Ji had no appetite to continue eating, and out of the duty of a courtier, Lin Xiaodong also put down his chopsticks. Jing Ji waved his hand: "Sir, don't worry about me, eat more."

Lin Xiaodong shook his head: "My minister is full."

"......yes."

Just listening to their conversation, it was basically the same as before, Jing Ji's eyes drifted for a moment, and he didn't know whether he should smile bitterly or rejoice.

The husband already knew his intentions, but did not give any answer. Jing Ji knew that this was actually a disguised refusal.

If you do it all over again...

No, there is no repeat.

Jing Ji stood up: "Sir, rest, I'm going to critique the papers."

"Your Majesty, walk slowly."

So be it.

When he left the palace, Jing Ji thought, if he can maintain this state, maybe in the next three or five years, even if it is ten or twenty years, maybe the husband will slowly accept himself.

The young emperor raised his head, facing the bright noon sun, and looked at the bird cage hanging on the branch of the palace wall. Birds with bright feathers stayed quietly in their cages, not chirping, but just staring at their peers under the blue sky in the distance.

It traded the price of freedom for a life without food and clothing, but perhaps, from the beginning, it did not have the right to choose.

The eunuch beside him asked, "Your Majesty, do you want to see the bird? The servants can open the cage. The bird has been raised by the maids in the palace and won't run away."

Jing Ji was silent for a while, then suddenly laughed.

"No need." He looked back, feeling inexplicably better.

At least, Mr. will stay by his side all the time and can't go anywhere.

That's enough.

Life in the palace is monotonous and boring, and time is like the fine sand between your fingers, slipping away before you know it.

The war in the northern Xinjiang became more and more intense, and the battle reports sent to the capital also changed from one every three or four days to one every day.

More and more official documents were piled on Lin Xiaodong's desk, which was the result of Jing Ji helping him share. In the middle of the night every day, dim candles are lit in the hall. Recently, the young man, who seemed to be getting thinner and thinner, was sitting at the desk in his cape, holding a writing brush and frowning to write down the strategy that determined countless lives and deaths in the frontier.

Grain, firearms, reinforcement scheduling... Although General Zhao is experienced, the importance of logistics to a battle is self-evident.

In any case, Lin Xiaodong will never let the soldiers in front fight desperately, while a group of ministers at the back are dragging each other down, and the food and grass can't be sent to the front line.

He knew very well that the Minister of War of the Jing Dynasty was a useless man. He just wanted to beg His Majesty for the bones and returned to his hometown to support him in a few years. Therefore, he was very inconsiderate in doing things before and after. If it was normal, Lin Xiaodong would have endured it, but during the war, such sloppy officials hated him even more than those corrupt officials!

However, Lin Xiaodong is in charge of the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Industry, and he is not easy to intervene in the affairs of the Ministry of War. All provisions and weapons were sent to the front.

So far, he didn't bother to hide anything.

Therefore, at the court meeting a few days later, a booklet shocked the entire court.

"Your Majesty, Lin Dongqing hides evil intentions and secretly hoards firearms. His heart can be punished!"

Although Lin Dongqing covered the sky with one hand in Jing Chao, in order to climb to a position below this person and above ten thousand people, he made a lot of enemies in the process. They finally got hold of the other party. Of course, these people who have been secretly watching for a long time will not let it go. They unanimously demanded that Jing Ji put Lin Dongqing in the sky prison first, and listed a total of seventeen crimes, all of which can be tested with evidence. .

Jing Ji looked coldly at the document signed by the ministers, with a noncommittal attitude.

Upon seeing this, the ministers thought that there was a drama, and they came forward to speak generously. In a few words, Lin Dongqing was called a traitor and a shameless person. Standing in front of the stand-in who was caught on fire didn't dare to raise his head at all, he could only force a calm face on the floor to prevent himself from showing any strangeness, while Guo Xinwen, who was not far away from him, unexpectedly did not participate in this matter. He just let out an unintelligible smirk when he heard that they were participating in Lin Dongqing, closed his eyes with lack of interest, and went to the courtroom to make up for his sleep.

A bunch of gangsters, he thought coldly.

Isn't the reason why His Majesty treated Lin Dongqing like this because of the friendship between the two? Even if one dragon and one tiger really cannot coexist in this court, this is not the reason why outsiders can speak out against Lin Dongqing in front of His Majesty.

On the dragon chair, Jing Ji listened silently, the fingertips clutching Zhezi turned white due to excessive force, and the minister below was still unaware, and was still swearing incessantly:

"...When the late emperor was there, he was arrogant, and now he is even more serious. He is already two ministers, and he still wants to intervene in the military affairs. Your Majesty, I suspect that he is trying to steal military power and cooperate with General Zhao. , take care of yourself!"

"To shut up!"

Jing Ji directly smashed the fold in his hand into his face.

The minister's voice stopped abruptly, and he fell to his knees in fear, not knowing where he angered Jing Ji. But Jing Ji didn't even have the slightest patience, he stood up abruptly, Mian Hao on his head made a clattering sound because of anger.

This was the first time that Manchu civil and military officials saw His Majesty make such a big fire in the courtroom.

When Yu Shu told this, Lin Xiaodong raised his eyebrows and smiled: "Really? Then please tell Your Majesty for me, anger hurts the liver, there is no need to be angry with those people."

After he took the initiative to retreat a step, the contradiction between the monarch and his ministers was also resolved.

It can be said that Jing Ji is his biggest reliance now.

After You Shu responded, he did not leave immediately. He stood at the desk and watched Lin Xiaodong drank the soup and medicine brought by the palace maid without blinking. Soon, a faint blush appeared on the pale face of the young man.

But this bloody color gave off a sense of disobedience. It wasn't like the natural blush that would appear on a healthy person's face, but more like some kind of...a scary overdraft.

He hesitated for a while, but couldn't help but ask, "Lord Lin, what kind of medicine are you drinking every day?"

As a eunuch who grew up in the palace, although You Shu did not understand medical skills, he also knew some of the most basic medicinal materials and their pharmacology. Because the little eunuch was ill, he could either cook it by himself or save money to buy the cheapest medicinal materials. It was impossible to ask a doctor.

He asked for the recipe that Lin Xiaodong gave to the palace maid, and his first reaction was, "Is this thing really a medicine for curing diseases?"

It's not that these herbs are bad, but like Lin Xiaodong, who is so weak that he coughs up blood in the wind, taking this kind of powerful medicine is simply killing him in disguise!

Lin Xiaodong put down the medicine bowl and wiped away the medicine stains on the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand: "What's wrong with tonifying qi and activating blood?"

You Shu: "The slave just thought, do you want the imperial doctor in the palace to see it for you? Maybe it will have a different effect."

"Cough, no need." The blush on Lin Xiaodong's cheeks came and went quickly, but it was only during the conversation that he returned to his bloodless appearance, "You should step back first."

"......Yes."

You Shu didn't speak anymore, just lit the candles in the room for Lin Xiaodong, and then silently withdrew.

After half an hour, the door of the room was pushed open, and Jing Ji walked in with a tired look.

Lin Xiaodong quietly gave him a place.

The two discussed the map of Northern Xinjiang for a whole night. Jing Ji was fine. After all, he was young and strong. Even if he stayed up all night, it was no big deal, he was just a little sleepy. But he listened to Lin Xiaodong's eloquent voice, and when he looked sideways, he found that under the candlelight, the young man didn't look tired at all.

Although his cheeks have lost a lot of weight due to the bitter summer, his eyes staring at the map are focused as if they are glowing, and the dancing candles are beating in the depths of the pupils, like some kind of extreme that blooms after reaching the end of the road. light.

Jing Ji looked at him and suddenly became stunned.

... Mr. is very handsome.

"Your Majesty," Lin Xiaodong stopped talking, covered his lips and coughed twice, and asked with a sigh, "Did you hear what the minister said just now?"

Only then did Jing Ji react suddenly, averting his eyes instantly, a touch of pink on his earlobes.

"I, of course I heard clearly."

Lin Xiaodong looked at his guilty look, and couldn't help twitching the corners of his lips. Just as he was about to say something, a sudden gust of sweetness poured out from the depths of his throat, accompanied by bursts of pain in his chest, he subconsciously arched his body, tearing his heart. Coughing out.

"Cough cough! Cough cough cough..."

Jing Ji looked dumbfounded as he watched a drop of blood overflowing from between his fingers, and finally dripped onto the map of Northern Xinjiang, gradually smearing into a dazzling bright red.

- like some ominous sign and foreshadowing.