I am a prince in Zhutian Films

Chapter 7: Transaction with Emperor Qing

"Your Highness, Second Brother, do you think the old man is ill? I said I didn't want to go to court, but you insisted on making me go."

On the way back, Li Chengzong and his two brothers complained.

Without waiting for the two to speak, he continued, "No, I have to go back and talk to the old man. Whoever falls in love can do it. I won't do it anyway."

"Don't……"

Li Chengqian had just finished speaking when Eunuch Hou came hurriedly.

"Third Prince, His Majesty summons you to an audience."

"That's great. I also want to have a good chat with the old man. Eunuch Hou, please lead the way."

Looking at the departing backs of Li Chengzong and Eunuch Hou, a trace of anger flashed in Li Chengqian's eyes.

Having Li Chengze was already a burden for him, and now here comes Li Chengzong, whose power behind him is even stronger than Li Chengze. What does his father think of him? He is the crown prince.

Li Chengze noticed the flash of anger in the prince's eyes and said happily: "Don't worry, Prince, my third brother has no intention of taking the throne."

"Second brother, don't pretend to be carefree. I don't believe you are not worried at all. Third brother may not be interested in the throne now, but what about the future?"

Li Chengqian said with a fake smile: "Besides, if the emperor is interested, does my third brother's attitude matter?"

"I believe that my third brother can convince the emperor. Even if the emperor intends to support my third brother, I, as the elder brother, can just give in. Anyway, I am not the crown prince now."

Li Chengze said this, but what he actually thought in his heart, probably only he himself knew.

Li Chengzong and Eunuch Hou had just returned to the palace, but before they entered the door, a figure suddenly jumped out and rushed towards them with a fist full of powerful energy.

Li Chengzong threw a punch subconsciously, and then he noticed that the person attacking him was Gong Dian, the deputy commander of the imperial guards.

After the fists exchanged, Li Chengzong took a half step back, but Gong Dian retreated six or seven steps in a row. Then he clasped his fists towards Li Chengzong and bowed, then left without saying a word.

Li Chengzong turned to look at Eunuch Hou and found that he looked frightened. He was a little surprised: "You don't know about this?"

Before Eunuch Hou could answer, Emperor Qing's voice came from inside.

"come in."

Emperor Qing, who was sharpening arrows, stopped what he was doing when he saw Li Chengzong coming in. He looked Li Chengzong up and down, "I heard that you were practicing martial arts, but I didn't expect that you are already an eighth-rank master at such a young age. Even Gong Dian is no match for you."

"I'm only an eighth-grade master. Unless I become a grandmaster, I'll just be an ant." Li Chengzong never thought of hiding his skills from Emperor Qing, and he couldn't hide it. After all, Emperor Qing was a grandmaster, and he could guess a person's general ability by looking at his footsteps and breathing.

"You have great ambitions, but it's not easy to become a grandmaster."

"I know, so please don't let me go to court. I don't even have time to practice martial arts, so how can I be your whetstone?"

"Why do you have to think of yourself as a whetstone instead of a knife?"

Emperor Qing is very ambitious and has a strong desire for power, but he also knows that the throne will be passed on to the next generation sooner or later.

As Li Chengzong grew up, he looked more and more like him when he was young, and he was more inclined to Li Chengzong.

Li Chengzong shook his head: "I aspire to become the most powerful master, and I have no interest in the throne, so Dad, please fight with me in the future."

"Ok?"

Emperor Qing is indeed a veteran actor. With that puzzled look, if Li Chengzong didn’t know his background, he would have been fooled.

"Don't pretend. Among the four great masters in the world, everyone thinks that Eunuch Hong is the fourth grandmaster hidden in the palace. But what is the relationship between Old Hong and me? To be frank, he and I are more like father and son than you and I are. How could I not know that he is at the peak of the ninth rank? And Old Hong once inadvertently said that you had instructed him, so the grandmaster hidden in the palace can't be anyone else except you."

"I forgot that you and Hong Sixiang are as close as father and son." Emperor Qing said sourly, and suddenly his eyes focused, and a powerful aura suddenly pressed towards Li Chengzong.

He definitely cannot win the fight now, but he can resist the aura of Emperor Qing. Li Chengzong remained unmoved and said with a smile, "Don't scare me. I am timid and cannot stand being scared. If I scare you to death, Qing Kingdom will lose a great master in the future."

"Are you so confident?"

"Why am I so confident? You know, you are much more important to Lao Hong than I am to me. I think he has already told you about me."

"Well, you have created the ninth-grade peak martial arts at such a young age. You are indeed a martial arts genius. However, if you want to compete with me, you are still far away."

"I know I won't challenge you until I'm sure."

After all these years of getting along, Li Chengzong has roughly determined that this world originated from a TV series, and the Emperor Qing in the TV series still has a bit of warmth, which can be seen from the fact that he is ready to treat Fan Xian when he is injured, otherwise he would not dare to confront Emperor Qing. Of course, the biggest confidence is the plot conversion card rewarded by the system. Even if he guessed wrong and Emperor Qing killed him now, there is still a chance to start over. Emperor Qing restrained his momentum, changed the subject, pointed to the memorial on the table and said: "A great victory at the border, your followers have made new contributions, your eldest brother has submitted a memorial to request a reward, what do you think the reward should be?"

"Are you asking this as the Emperor of Qing or as my father?"

The so-called retainers are naturally the five hundred guards given by the system.

When Li Chengru went to war, Li Chengzong left behind a hundred people to start businesses, and sent the rest to the border for training.

Over the years, the guards sent to the border have made a great reputation, and the Blood-Cloaked Guards are as famous as the Black Cavalry and the Red-Armored Cavalry.

Emperor Qing was stunned: "What's the difference?"

"As the Emperor of Daqing, you are just kidding me if you ask me this. They are your subjects. You can reward them whatever you want."

Emperor Qing nodded and asked curiously, "What if your father asked that?"

"If it were my father, I would only say, don't give them any rewards. Anyway, when I leave the palace and set up my own residence, they will come back to serve as my guards. You should leave your military honors and rewards to others."

"Are you so confident that they can withstand the test of high office and high salary?"

What I mean is that these are guards given by the system, and their loyalty is 100%.

Li Chengzong laughed and said, "How about you give it a try?"

He had naturally tried before, but unfortunately, he had failed every time.

Li Chengzong knew about this, and he also knew that Emperor Qing had secretly investigated his guards.

However, the identities of the guards assigned by the system have always been fabricated, and no problems can be found. Moreover, even why those people would join him and how they came to join him have been arranged properly.

Emperor Qing snorted lightly, and without responding to Li Chengzong's words, he said calmly: "Do you know that there have been floods in the south recently?"

"do not know."

He practiced martial arts all day long, and only listened to his mother talking about the internal fight between Li Chengqian and Li Chengze during dinner. He had no idea that there was a flood in the south.

However, Li Chengzong quickly understood what Emperor Qing meant.

"You want me to donate money for disaster relief, right? Just say it directly. Not only am I willing to donate money for disaster relief, but I can also give you all my properties except Kyoto."

Li Chengzong chuckled, "However, my son has conditions."

"I'm not negotiating a deal with you."

"Just listen first. It's just a few words. It won't waste your time."

Emperor Qing was still very tempted by the industry founded by Li Chengzong. After all, it was an industry equivalent to half of the income of the inner treasury during Ye Qingmei's period.

After hearing what Li Chengzong said, Emperor Qing just went along with it.

"You tell me first."

"First of all, you cannot merge the property that your son gave you into the inner treasury. To be more precise, you cannot let your aunt manage it."

"Okay, but I remember that you and Li Yunrui don't seem to have any grudges against each other?" In fact, Li Chengzong didn't need to say it, Emperor Qing didn't plan to hand it over to the eldest princess Li Yunrui. Li Yunrui's growing ambition made him more and more dissatisfied.

"My mother doesn't like her."

Li Chengzong explained, and then said: "Secondly, after I leave the palace and set up my own residence, my mother will be the only one left in the harem, so I would like to ask the emperor to give me a token to allow my mother to live in my residence permanently."

"You are very filial to your mother." Emperor Qing was jealous again and shook his head and said, "I can't live here permanently. I can only stay there occasionally."

"Okay, one last condition. I will not trade my marriage. I will make the decision myself."

Emperor Qing looked at Li Chengzong with a strange expression, and finally couldn't help but said happily: "Your reputation is now so bad that it has become a bad reputation in Jingdou. Everyone knows that the Third Prince of Qing is an unlearned and useless person. Even if I want to use your marriage as an opportunity, someone must be willing to do it."

"Father, did you agree?"

"I agree. Let's go down."

(End of this chapter)