"No?" Li Shimin frowned and said, "I have said that you can embezzle the order, but that is what it means to be noble, not to make you greedy for the people's money. I think you are not a person who is greedy for money, why is that?"

"Your Majesty, I am considering you."

"For my consideration?" Li Shimin frowned even more and said, "Do you think I would be greedy for these 100,000 yuan? I am short of money, but I will not put my hands on the people!"

"Please listen to me."

Li Mu said seriously: "Your Majesty, when I talked about building roads with Your Majesty, I mentioned that building roads is not necessarily a noble family. One of the reasons is that the family has food and can only support labor. Therefore, I support the Shandong gentry to build roads."

"But their idea is to expand their influence. Your Majesty also said that the influence of the clans in the local area has always been a confidant of the court."

Li Shimin snorted: "Since you know, why do you have to make this happen? Shandong is not convinced by the constraints of the court. If the road is built, the court will be unable to manage it in the future."

"It is precisely to solve this matter that I have made it very hard." Li Mu said seriously: "Your Majesty just said that these 100,000 yuan will eventually be distributed to the people. But I think it is more than just a matter of it."

"What's the meaning?"

"Shandong has been disobeying the constraints of the court for a long time. Many local affairs have not been taken into account without the permission of the court. The road construction matter this time is very important. The Shandong gentry must have felt that this matter has touched the bottom line of Your Majesty, so they did not dare to disobey the emperor. But once the court agreed, they would not obey the court's orders in many details."

"I have tried Wei Zheng and asked him if the court agreed to Shandong to build roads, could he send a supervisor to the inspection department. Wei Zheng was vague and obviously could not make the decision. This confirmed my guess that not only will this 100,000 yuan be distributed to the people of Shandong. When the toll is collected in the future, they will definitely not follow the court's regulations."

"Your Majesty, when the road is not good, it is not a good idea to pass by. But if the road is repaired, it will cost money to walk, and the price is not expensive. If Your Majesty is a merchant, would he be dissatisfied with this?"

Li Shimin thought for a while and said, "When the road is not good, everyone's road is not good. Selling goods will make a lot of money. After the road is built, although the road is easy to walk, you have to pay a lot of money. Selling goods will have little money left. If I were a merchant, I would probably choose the former, after all, there is some surplus."

"That's it. Therefore, in the road construction charter, I specially noted the standard for charging tolls. I strictly ordered that I must be charged according to this standard, and for this, I even extended the time for the road to be collected to the court, with the purpose of not adding any burden to the people. The charging standards in the charter were calculated by me. It is probably less of the benefit affected by delaying time before the road was built. This way, even if I pay the money after the road was built, it would be cost-effective for them."

"And the Shandong gentry did not abide by the court's constitution. Taking this opportunity to make money, the people of Shandong will inevitably complain. And Your Majesty should not forget that Shandong does not implement new policies. People cannot obtain Zhenguan plows, so they can only be tenants of the aristocratic families. In this way, new policies are implemented in places other than Shandong, and the pressure of life is less. If Your Majesty is the people, what would Your Majesty do?"

"This..." Li Shimin thought for a while and said, "I probably think about leaving Shandong and pursuing a future--but it is not easy for the people to migrate, and I'm afraid it's not that easy."

"Your Majesty, the migration is second. Your Majesty has thought about who is the people's desire for this?"

Li Shimin was stunned, and then suddenly realized that he understood what Li Mu meant.

Li Mu continued: "In this world, the best thing to buy is the hearts of ordinary people. As long as they give them a little favor, they will be grateful. Take a step back and say that even if there is no favor and less tyranny, they will not say anything. Throughout history, if it weren't for the tyranny of the monarchs and the tyranny of the tyranny, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang would not have happened. Isn't it that he forced people to be impatient?"

"If the Shandong gentry took the opportunity to make money, it would be in line with the wishes of the ministers. The people of Shandong were suffering from their atrocities and tyranny, and they would definitely yearn for Your Majesty's new policy. In this way, the people's hearts will be changed."

Li Shimin frowned and said, "This is the truth, but doing this will make the people suffer."

"Your Majesty, I think that the people of Shandong and the gentry of Shandong are considered as a whole at present. Without the support and acquiescence of the people, the gentry of Shandong may not dare to be so arrogant. Your Majesty understands them, have they ever understood His Majesty? If you don't take this opportunity to differentiate them, you will probably be even more solid and have no way to do it after a long time."

Li Shimin nodded and said, "You are right, but this is just your guess. What if the direction they are doing is the opposite of what you think? If they really just want to build roads and do not commit tyranny, wouldn't it make the people more grateful and make the court's influence smaller?"

Li Mu smiled and said, "If this is true, it will be a blessing for the people. But I think that this possibility that Your Majesty thinks will not happen. There are two reasons: 100,000 guan is not a decimal, money is definitely not a single one, road construction is not a single one, and words are not a single one. Some people are willing to suffer losses, and there will be people who are unwilling to suffer losses. In this way, there will be differences. Those who are unwilling to suffer losses will definitely not compromise. Therefore, at least 100,000 guan will definitely find a way to take back the 100,000 guan."

"Besides, the temptation of tolls is too great. This is like a treasure pot containing countless money. As long as you are willing to bend down to get it, it will continue to be filled with people. After all, the righteous gentlemen who are transcendent to the secular world are a minority. Just by the virtues of the Shandong gentry, I think they do not have the concentration."

Li Shimin thought for a moment and nodded.

From the perspective of human nature, Li Shimin believes that Li Mu is right. But this is not enough to determine his thoughts. He can acquiesce because he has another plan in his mind.

Building a road is not something that can be completed in one year. Such a large project will take at least two or three years. After two or three years, it will be almost done to recuperate. We must first settle the country when fighting against foreign countries. At that time, if the Shandong gentry still did not obey the court's control, Li Shimin would have planned to turn against each other. Regarding the words, there were countless Shandong gentry, and their words and writing were the best. But if we really started, in Li Shimin's eyes, they would be just a group of native chickens and treacherous dogs.

Moreover, if the road is repaired, the speed of the march will inevitably accelerate. In the past, it took one month to dispatch troops, and after the road is repaired, it will take fifteen days. It won’t take long to pacify Shandong.

Li Shimin didn't say these things. For the emperor, some secrets were destined to be unshared. Especially when facing the person Li Mu, who was half-aged, he could come up with some tricks, but Li Shimin still couldn't trust him in military and national affairs.

After thinking about this, Li Shimin nodded and said, "Since you have already taken the money, you will follow your affairs. I remember to agree with you that we will be divided into 82% of the bribes you received. A total of 100,000 of them are recorded in the treasury account. Don't be clever, I will check the accounts."

Li Mu had to pinch his nose and admit it, and he did say so at that time.

Suddenly, Li Mu remembered something and said, "Your Majesty, there is one thing I think I should tell Your Majesty."

"explain."

"My money sent by Wei Zheng was half of gold and silver, and half of copper coins. Now the power of Shandong gentry in Chang'an City is approaching nothing, but they can still raise so much money in just a few days. I think I have to be careful. Also, there are many vessels in the gold and silver shipped. Some of the patterns and patterns have been flattened, but carefully identified it, it seems... from the palace, I dare not be very sure, but I just want to remind Your Majesty whether there have been any loss of gold and silver vessels in the palace recently. If so, I can check it out."

"The palace vessel?" Li Shimin said, as if he was distracted. He was stunned for a moment, then he returned to normal and said, "I know this. There is no need to investigate it. It is not something that was lost in the palace. You can just deal with it yourself."

"Oh." Although Li Mu was puzzled, he did not ask again, saying, "Then I will continue to order and melt it into gold bars and ingots."

Li Shimin nodded and said, "Okay, I'm tired after talking for so long. You go back, Ju Zhisheng has kept a close eye on me. Who does he contact with, and I'll tell you quickly. If he bribes you, it's still the same rule, let's share the accounts with 82."

"I'm leaving."

Li Mu stood up and bowed, and retreated. He met Eunuch Gao at the door, returned his "Sunflower Book" and chatted for a few more words before leaving the palace.

But Eunuch Gao said that after answering Li Mu correctly, he gently pushed open the hall door and quietly came to Li Shimin.

He has been with Li Shimin for nearly twenty years. By looking at his expression, he can roughly guess Li Shimin's mood.

"His Majesty……"

"High-ranking official, who is Changlemen, is there any news recently?"

Eunuch Gao suddenly felt a sudden heart and replied cautiously: "I didn't hear any news when I replied to Your Majesty."

Li Shimin stopped asking, paused for a moment, and asked again: "Where has Yuan Tiangang been?"

"Go back to Your Majesty, it's almost done tomorrow."

Li Shimin sighed and said, "Give me instructions to see me whenever Yuan Tiangang comes back. I have many things to tell him to do, which is a huge delay."

"promise."

Eunuch Gao responded.

Li Shimin was silent for a while and said, "Great Cast, go to Changlemen. Eat food, etc., pick up what is available in the palace, pick some of the best ones. Also, go to Li Mu's shop to buy a few sets of his luxurious gift bags and send them there. Then ask me if I still have anything missing. Remember it carefully and tell me when I come back."

"promise."
Chapter completed!