The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 22 Li Yan's Glorious Image

Longkodo drunkenly shouted: "How dare you arrest me? Do you know who I am? I am the Imperial Envoy, the Tenth Prince's man. I am doing the Emperor's errand. You are blind."

"Lord Long, of course we know you. We are here to arrest you on the orders of the Tenth Prince. You'd better come with us obediently!" The officers also disliked this man who was cheating everywhere and ruining the reputation of the imperial envoy.

When Longkodo heard this, he sobered up instantly and said, "The Tenth Prince is back. Where is he? I want to see the Tenth Prince. I am wronged!"

"Don't call me Lord Long, we will take you to see the Tenth Prince right now!"

The crowd dragged Longkodo all the way through the city to the imperial envoy's residence, threw Longkodo into the lobby, and waited outside.

Longkodo knelt in the middle of the hall, trembling with fear. He knew that he had done a lot of immoral things during this period, but these were all ordered by the Tenth Master. Although he enjoyed it, he still followed orders. Could it be that the Tenth Master was angry with him?

Li Yan walked in leisurely, wearing a brand new purple robe of a prince. He touched the dragon pattern embroidered with gold thread on his chest, looked around, felt very elegant and proud.

Li Yan thought to himself, maybe he was born to be a government official, and he had talent in this area?

I have completely forgotten that I am where I am today because I was born into a good family.
"Master Shi, please spare my life."

"Xiao Duozi knows he is wrong, Master Shi, please save me!"

When Longkodo saw Li Yan come in, he knelt on the ground and moved forward, getting closer to Li Yan, begging with tears streaming down his face. His wailing voice was so sad and miserable!

Li Yan touched the golden dragon on his shoulder and said casually, "Xiao Duozi! Take a look at my prince's robe. How do you think it looks? Doesn't it make me look particularly majestic and make my status more noble?"

Longkodo forced a smile quickly: "Yes, when I wear this, the golden light is so dazzling that it almost blinds my eyes. No matter where I am, I am always the center of attention! As soon as I came out just now, Xiao Duozi felt a surge of domineering aura coming towards me, and I was instantly overwhelmed by it!"

"Um"

"You still have vision, but you are too flamboyant in doing things and don't know how to restrain yourself! Even I will follow you and eat the spoils."

Li Yan sat down in the armchair and said lightly.

Longkodo started to cry again, repeatedly confessing his guilt and begging for mercy, without mentioning Li Yan's order at all. Seeing this, Li Yan felt that Longkodo still knew the importance of the matter, but he just needed to be punished from time to time to prevent him from getting carried away.

"How did things go?"

Longkodo knew that if he mentioned that he was acting on orders, he would not only offend the officials and gentry of Yangzhou Prefecture, but also offend the Tenth Master. Even if the emperor knew about it in the future, he would not let him off easily. After all, he pushed the crime onto the prince and ruined the reputation of the royal family, so he never mentioned the Tenth Master and only begged for mercy.

I just hope that Master Shi will keep his word and be a decent person for the sake of my hard work!
When he heard Li Yan asking about this, he felt nervous. At present, he could only rely on this money to save his life, so he quickly said, "Master Shi, wait a moment. Xiao Duozi will be back soon."

Longkodo returned to his room with the chain around his neck. He originally wanted to keep some of the money secretly, but now he had to take it all out in one go, hoping that the Tenth Master would save his life because of his hard work.

Back in the hall, Longkodo placed a large pile of banknotes in front of Li Yan and said, "Master Shi, the total amount of money raised during this period is 865,230 taels of silver. It's all here. I dare not take a penny. Master Shi, please understand."

"You dare to take it privately? You are courting death!" Li Yan glared at him.

Longkodo trembled with fear and said tremblingly: "Master Shi, I am not that brave. You can investigate it in detail. If Xiao Duozi took even one ounce of silver, you can take my head off without hesitation."

Seeing Longkodo's confident look, Li Yan believed that at this juncture, Longkodo would not dare to play tricks. He did this just to dispel his selfishness. With so much silver, who wouldn't be tempted? After his scare, even if Longkodo withheld a part, it wouldn't be too much.

Li Yan sighed and defended his own image: "Xiao Duozi, do you think I will just embezzle this money?"

"you are wrong!"

Longkodo didn't say anything, but the expression on his face had already revealed his thoughts. "Master Shi, you made money on such a large scale and offended so many people, and you asked me to do it secretly without letting Tian Wenjing know. Don't tell me that you did it for those peasants, but for the sake of the disaster victims."

Isn't it to make money for yourself?

Seeing Longkodo's expression, Li Yan knew what he was thinking. He reached out and knocked Longkodo: "What are you thinking about? This money is for the emperor!"

"emperor!"

Longkodo widened his eyes in surprise. He had never expected this to be the answer and was unable to react for a moment.

Li Yan sighed, put on a heavy expression and said, "Some time ago, the news of the flood in Jiangnan reached the capital, and the emperor wanted to allocate funds for disaster relief. After checking, it turned out that the Ministry of Revenue had less than 500,000 taels of silver. Millions of disaster victims are crying out for food. If there is no money to buy food, once these people start a riot, it will be a disaster of great magnitude."

"The emperor was so worried that he couldn't eat or sleep. As a son, I saw it with my own eyes and felt pain in my heart, but I had no way to help him. Besides, I owed the national treasury two hundred thousand taels of silver! So I boldly accepted this mission and went to the south of the Yangtze River to provide disaster relief. On the one hand, I wanted to share the worries of the court, and on the other hand, I wanted to come to the rich land of the south to collect some silver to help the emperor solve his problems."

Having said this, Li Yan stood up!

After two steps, I arrived at the door!

I found a good position, stood sideways, threw my sleeves, put my hands behind my back, and held my chest and head high.
As if there were mountains of swords and seas of fire, or a bottomless abyss ahead, he said with a resolute expression and an impassioned tone: "For the sake of my father, even if I bear a huge infamy, be hated by all officials, and be spurned by thousands of people, I don't care!"

Longkodo looked in astonishment at the Tenth Master who had suddenly grown taller in front of him, wearing a brand new prince's robe. The sunlight outside the door just happened to shine on the golden dragon embroidered on the Tenth Master's chest, which was shining so brightly that he could hardly open his eyes!
Longkodo knelt down convinced, although he felt that the Tenth Master was different from the ones he had met in the past, as if something was wrong.

But Longkodo had already understood by now that the Tenth Master would be safe and sound when he returned to Beijing this time.

The Tenth Master did not avoid the verbal battles of the officials, nor was he afraid of the criticisms of the officials, just to fulfill his duty as a son and to show his filial piety to the emperor. Even if the Tenth Master secretly took some money and had affairs in Hangzhou, it would not matter. No matter how many faults he had, the emperor would protect him!
Longkodo found that the Tenth Prince had been refreshing his perception. The Tenth Prince had hired a lazy and idle person like him when he received the emperor's errand. At that time, he felt that the Tenth Prince's vision was not very good. He was young and inexperienced and must be easy to fool. But in order to avoid the debts in the capital, he still followed the Tenth Prince to the south. In fact, he might not really think highly of this young prince in his heart.

Later, I followed him south and passed through the disaster area. The Tenth Prince did not avoid hardships, slept in the open air, inspected the disaster area, and cared about the suffering of the victims. I changed my perception of him and felt that the Tenth Prince was really a person who could do great things. I secretly admired him in my heart.

Later, when he came to Yangzhou, the tenth prince openly exploited merchants and asked him to extort money from the gentry. When he went to Suzhou and Hangzhou, he blatantly indulged in wine and pleasure, and he must be a short-sighted person. I also secretly underestimated him in my heart.

Did the Tenth Prince think that no one would know what he did, or did he think that his status as a prince could protect him? The Emperor had more than twenty princes, and all of them were cautious and did not dare to step out of line. Who was as arrogant and unscrupulous as the Tenth Prince? He was simply lawless.

This majestic and domineering prince's uniform will probably not be worn for much longer. Based on what the Tenth Prince has done, when he returns to Beijing, his title of prince will be stripped away and he will be reduced to his original status.

At that time, I was thinking that the Tenth Prince might not be able to hold on for long. He would be finished after completing this mission, and I would have to find another backer. This trip to Jiangnan, even if I could make some money and pay off the debts to the national treasury, it would not be a wasted trip.

But after listening to the impassioned words of the Tenth Prince, Longkodo knew that he was wrong, very wrong. The Tenth Prince was no longer what he could have guessed. He didn't know anything else, but he could be sure that the Tenth Prince's robe was firmly on his body. As for how far he would go in the future, no one dared to predict.

Longkodo couldn't help but secretly feel fortunate that he had just paid out all the extorted money in a moment of thought. Otherwise, when it was finally investigated, the Tenth Prince would definitely be fine, but he would be doomed.

Got it!

I should just follow the Tenth Master and do my job, take my share quietly, and never think about it again. Anyway, according to my understanding, among all the princes in the capital, including the crown prince, there is no one more powerful than the Tenth Prince. I am lucky to be able to follow him at this time and see the Tenth Prince's wisdom as deep as the abyss. It is really my blessing!

Li Yan helped Longkodo up, reached out to take away the iron chain still around his neck, pressed Longkodo to sit on a chair, and sat down on the other side. He asked kindly: "Xiaoduo, how much silver do you still owe the treasury?"

Longkodo replied blankly: "Master Shi, I owe the state treasury a total of three thousand taels of silver."

Li Yan picked up the silver bills on the table and flipped through them. There were 865,230 taels of silver, eight dragon head bills of 100,000, six dragon head bills of 10,000, and some miscellaneous items left.

He took out a silver note worth five thousand two hundred and thirty taels and handed it to Longkodo.

(End of this chapter)