Chapter 714
"Good! Good Li Linfei, the uncle of the state who defended Xianyang! What a Li Linfei who redefines manhood! Bravo! Bravo!"
To everyone's surprise, not only was Qin Shi Huang not half angry, but he laughed out loud.
"Selfishness? Who in this world does not have selfishness? Who dares to say that there is not even one thing that he or she does that is absolutely selfish or beneficial to him or her? But who dares to stand in front of me with a clear conscience and say it openly and honestly? Only Li Yun and Li Linfei, my uncle of state, are open and honest, truly a great man!
At these words, Qin Shi Huang stood up directly and came around from behind the table to stand in front of Li Lin Fei!
"Uncle, I have heard that when the Hall of Sages was first opened, in order to avenge the death of Zhao Gao, Uncle went out of his way to anger his master Xiang Liang and scolded his brother Yi Xiaochuan, saying that a man should do something and not do anything, and finally your master Xiang Liang asked him what a man should be.
When he heard Qin Shi Huang suddenly mention this matter, Zhao Gao's cold sweat instantly ran down his face, and he was just about to kneel down to explain, when he saw Qin Shi Huang waving his hand at him, indicating that he should not speak.
Then he turned his head and continued to speak to Li Linfei, "When the State Uncle personally led his troops to arrest the vast majority of the members of the Hall of Raising Virtues before, it was also because of this incident, as well as some other amazing remarks, that old Mr. Xiang Liang led the people of the Hall of Raising Virtues without any half-hearted resistance and followed the State Uncle to the Great Prison."
"And the State Uncle also named his arrest, but he was respectfully escorted all the way... State Uncle, I wonder if these things are possible?"
Without hesitation, Li Linfei nodded, "Yes! Every one of these things is true!"
There was no denial, not to mention a half-hearted explanation, but rather a very dry and complete admission!
"Good, decisive, frank, open and honest, without any conscience, good Li Yun Li Lin Fei! Then I ask you, what is a loyal minister and what is a traitor?"
Li Si and other officials were already afraid to leave the air, today's Qin Shi Huang and Li Lin Fei did not know what kind of medicine they had taken or what kind of madness they had, but they were both so unconventional at the same time, every word and every reaction was the opposite of normal people, making people simply unable to understand!
"In my opinion, loyalty to the king and serving the country and doing one's duty are the most basic criteria for loyal subjects! To protect the family and serve His Majesty, to rule the land and protect the people, to be worthy of His Majesty, to be worthy of his duties, to be worthy of the people and to be worthy of the soldiers under his command, is to be a qualified loyal subject."
"Such a loyal minister, even if he has some selfish desires, or even greed for money and other corrupt acts, as long as he does not go too far and does not violate the above principles, he can still be considered a loyal minister, not a traitorous minister.
"But if, under the guise of loyalty and righteousness or the state, one advises and criticises for the sake of one's own faction, doctrine, popularity, reputation or so-called fame, regardless of right or wrong, regardless of whether it is appropriate or not, even if one is not corrupt and lives with clean sleeves, one is not considered a loyal minister."
"Because their loyalty is not to their family and country, but to their own interests, or to things outside their bodies, or to the name behind them."
"And such courtiers are generally not half as useful to the country or the people, except for a most that only picks on the internal and compares the duties of the next!"
"In my opinion, such clean ministers are no different from those who are so corrupt that they have already neglected their duties and destroyed the bottom line of their principles, just that the things they are corrupting are different, but they are all not beneficial to the country, but rather are greatly detrimental!"
Li Linfei's words were as subversive as ever, and even Qin Shi Huang, who had been prepared for this question before asking it, could not accept it for a while.
However, Qin Shi Huang had another question for Li Lin Fei: "Then, do you consider yourself a traitor or a loyal subject?"
A loyal subject, without a doubt a loyal subject, that was the answer that had already appeared in everyone's mind!
"I am not a loyal subject, nor do I dare to be a traitorous subject, if I were to have a position, I think that a capable subject or a sycophant would be more suitable for me!"
"Sycophant?" Qin Shi Huang froze, and so did everyone else except Zhao Gao, including Meng Tian who was being carried to the door, ready to fish out Yi Xiaochuan with the matter of the Rong Di invasion.
There were many terms and things and people that did not appear in this era, including sycophants, or rather, in this year there were only two concepts of loyal subjects and traitorous subjects, either loyal or traitorous or loyal, and other concepts of subjects had not yet appeared at all.
"Yes, sycophants! I do not dare to be a traitorous subject, but I do not want to be a so-called loyal subject either, I would like to be a capable subject or even a sycophant!"
Qin Shi Huang's brow furrowed, "What is a sycophant?"
"The so-called sycophants are not the so-called loyal ministers who are honest, arrogant and upright, who talk about the country and His Majesty, but in fact rarely really care about the needs of the country and His Majesty, and only care about what kind of popularity, fame and even what the history books will say about them after they die."
"But they are definitely not those treacherous courtiers who turn their backs on His Majesty, collude with foreign enemies and betray their country!"
"The so-called sycophants are courtiers who are outwardly treacherous, corrupt, tyrannical and so on that many people would consider treacherous, but in reality have their own bottom line and still serve their country and their king and do their duty. On the one hand, such courtiers can die without regret for their country and for His Majesty, and bow and scrape for the soldiers and the people under their rule."
"But on the other hand, they have their own selfishness, and they do not hide it. They will scavenge the people's wealth, they will bend the law, they will play favorites, they will suppress their enemies, they will flatter His Majesty, but they all have their own principles and boundaries, they know when to stop, and they will never harm the majesty and fundamental interests of the country and His Majesty!
Qin Shi Huang's face became more and more odd: "This sycophant is quite interesting, as you said, it is really not a loyal subject, and definitely not a treacherous subject ...... Well, listening to your words just now, it seems that there are many kinds of subjects, not only limited to loyal subjects and treacherous subjects, and everyone wants to be, or at least wants to be in front of really in front of say they are a loyal subject, why do you prefer to disdain the name loyal subject?"
Saying this without waiting for Li Linfei to answer, Qin Shi Huang suddenly turned his head to look at Zhao Gao: "Zhao Gao, I know that you and the State Uncle are close, I wonder if you are also a sycophant as the State Uncle said?"
"Your Majesty, I know that there is absolutely no way that anyone would think that I am a loyal subject, but as the State Uncle said, I would never dare to be a treacherous subject, so ...... I am a sycophant! And willing to be a sycophant!" Zhao Gao said.
Chapter 715
Qin Shi Huang was stunned, as were Li Si and Meng Tian, who had just asked someone else to find out what was going on.
What's going on today, how come one, two, and now a third have taken the wrong medicine?
People were always saying that they were good, right and correct, that they were loyal subjects, that they had only the country in their hearts, and that they had no selfishness at all.
How come today these two guys all turned the other way, and what was even more unacceptable to them was that not only was Qin Shi Huang not at all angry about this, but he was very interested and even liked this kind of answer?
"Oh? Then can you tell me why you want to be a sycophant? How do you understand sycophants?"
Zhao Gao kowtowed to Qin Shi Huang, "Your Majesty, a sycophant has only himself in his heart and does not care about the country or Your Majesty, and I would rather die than do that! And the loyal courtiers, not to mention whether those so-called loyal courtiers accept me as a eunuch, just how many of the loyal courtiers spoken of today are true and how many are false?"
"And of those true loyal subjects, how many of them just pay lip service to the country and to His Majesty, and may be right, but in reality they don't care whether they are useful or not, whether they are really beneficial to the country and to His Majesty!"
"As the State Uncle said, they care more about what others think of them, such loyal ministers, Your Majesty, although I am a de-privileged eunuch, I do not care for them either!"
"Therefore, I and my uncle are willing to be what others see as a treacherous villain, willing to be a sycophant who has selfish desires, but who definitely puts Your Majesty and the country first! For the root of a treacherous minister's foundation is his own interests, which are harmful to the country."
"A loyal minister's foundation is to leave a name in history and the admiration of the people, for which they can throw away anything, whereas I and my uncle are sycophants, and everything for a sycophant is His Majesty, and only after that is the country!"
"In the eyes of loyal subjects, the country is above everything, and that includes His Majesty, but they don't care at all that the country is His Majesty's country, and they often like to morally kidnap."
"In the eyes of sycophants, on the other hand, His Majesty is above everything, we can be corrupt, we can show favouritism and even break the law, but we will never infringe on His Majesty's interests by half, because in our eyes, including ourselves, but also the whole country, is His Majesty's, and naturally, His Majesty is the root of everything."
"Just like a horse, usually we want to eat some good grass, or even if we have a special horse boy to serve us, another egg every day would be perfect, but when the master has a need, under the whip, even if there are thousands of horses on the other side, there is absolutely no hesitation to rush in and fight with the master in the midst of ten thousand armies!"
Zhao Gao's words were so disgraceful that most of the people, especially the so-called loyalists, such as Meng Tian, could not even accept or agree with them.
But Qin Shi Huang laughed loudly and patted Li Lin Fei's shoulder, then gently kicked Zhao Gao over, "You're a good talker, you lackey! Get up and give me a pounding on my shoulders!"
Zhao Gao smiled and answered, then got up from the ground and waited on Qin Shi Huang as he sat back on the imperial seat and gave him a pounding on his shoulders.
"State Uncle, tell us what you think of your subjects!"
Li Linfei nodded and said, "Yes, Your Majesty!"
"In my humble opinion, there are by no means only two kinds of courtiers, treacherous and loyal; there is absolutely no one, nothing or anything under the universal sky that is absolutely pure and single, and neither are courtiers!"
"Ministers, should not be simply divided by loyal and traitorous ministers, but should be composed of good, capable, competent, virtuous, traitorous, loyal, sycophantic, foolish, straight and honest ministers, etc."
"And each kind of minister is not absolute, are only the most dominant identity position, does not mean that it is only this kind, there will be other more or less, good or bad several nature in the body, also known as no one is perfect, this heaven and earth."
"A nation and a king do not need, nor can they have, only one kind of subject! As the saying goes, there is a shortcoming in a ruler, but there is a strength in an inch! Complementarity and synergy are the only way to be all-powerful."
"And those who are ministers, except for the kind of traitorous ministers who scourge the country and the people and collude with foreign enemies, the rest, no matter what kind of ministers they are, should be mainly in the capacity of ministers, not in those names!"
"So no matter what kind of subject you are, you must first be a subject of His Majesty before you can talk about anything else, and some people have gotten this primary and secondary relationship backwards! Forgetting that there is a king before there is a minister of the king! A minister is the assistant of the king! Not the auxiliary of mountains, rocks and rivers!"
Qin Shi Huang frowned and closed his eyes for half a day: "Good, good, this is a shocking statement, but it is true and true! Someone, pass on my order that the three of us will be recorded in the history books, and that they will be spread to the world, so that everyone will know about them."
Only then did Qin Shi Huang turn his attention to Meng Tian: "Ai Qing, you have come just in time. I have decided that the uncle will lead an expedition against the Rong Di, and in addition to his 13,000 elite men and the 7,000 men imprisoned in various prisons, you will also need to take 30,000, no, 50,000 men out of your Meng family army.
Meng Tian was stunned, he didn't expect that he just wanted to take this opportunity to fish out Yi Xiaochuan, but Li Linfei had fished out the entire Xian Lifting Hall!
But why did he do this? But why did he do this? If he really had the Hall of the Raising of the Magi in mind, why did he personally lead his men to besiege the Hall of the Raising of the Magi and take all of them away?
"I have no objection, but I just want to ask the uncle 70,000 soldiers and horses from three different places, are they not afraid of chaos? In addition, I do not know what kind of soldiers and horses you want for the 50,000 soldiers and horses, and the number of each?"
There were many different kinds of soldiers and horses: cavalry, chariots, foot soldiers, archers, and within the foot soldiers, there were also several kinds of weapons: swords, long weapons and shields, and by armour, cloth, leather and iron armour, which is why Meng Tian asked Li Linfei what kind of soldiers and horses he wanted.
After all, Li Linfei only needed 30,000 men, but the Qin Emperor had increased the number to 50,000, but it was not the entire Meng army, so he naturally had to ask for a clear explanation so that he could make arrangements.
"All the 50,000 soldiers will be long-armed soldiers!"
The matter was settled, and Li Linfei took a decree from Qin Shi Huang and sent his men to the various prisons to bring the scattered members of the Hall of the Raising of the Magi to Xianyang on their way to the Rong Di to wait for the rendezvous.
He himself went to the largest prison in Xianyang with Zhao Gao, who had nothing important to do after the end of the court, to greet the released Xiang Liang and other core members of the Hall of the Raising of the Magi.
Chapter 716
Zhao Gao and Li Linfei arrived at the cell where Xiang Liang's uncle and nephew were being held, which was clean and tidy, and had all the tables, benches and beds.
There was nothing wrong with it except that it was dark, and it was never locked, or rather, none of the cells in the prison were locked.
They were all relatively clean, and they were free to come and go as long as they did not leave the prison.
As for those who leave the prison, they are breaking the agreement with Li Linfei and violating the rules of the game, so don't blame him for being unforgiving.
By then the two thousand crossbowmen stationed just outside the prison, and the three thousand ordinary archers, would be more than happy to teach them how to behave in their next life!
"Master, Brother Yu!" Xiang Liang smiled as he put down the volume of books in his hands and walked over.
"Lin Fei, come to see my master again?"
Li Linfei shook his head then knelt down to Xiang Liang: "Master, my disciple is unfilial, I only found the opportunity to pick you and Brother Yu up today! By the way, where is Brother Yu?"
Xiang Liang was stunned, "What do you mean by that?"
Li Linfei looked at Xiang Liang: "It means literally, I am here to welcome Master and Brother Yu out of here today!"
Zhao Gao, who was helping Li Linfei with a piece of clothing in both hands at the side, smiled, "Old Mr. Xiang, Linfei and I have indeed come to pick you up and leave today."
"Look, what the two of us are holding is precisely the new clothes tailored and hand-sewn by his wife, Lu Pheasant, and my sister, Xiao Yue, for your uncle and nephew, just waiting for you two to return home!"
Xiang Liang looked up and down at Li Linfei: "Yu'er and I can leave now, but what about Xiao Chuan? And the other brothers from the Hall of Lifting Virtues?"
"Old Mr. Xiang, you don't know that Lin Fei risked his head in the imperial study room today at the risk of being killed at the expense of fixing His Majesty's make-up, before taking the opportunity to take the initiative to ask for orders to conquer the offending Rong Di, saving you and the whole of the Hall of Lifting Virtues!"
Xiang Liang was stunned, then nodded with great satisfaction and smiled with great relief, "Good! Bravo! Lin Fei, you really did not disappoint my master, you really did what you said at the beginning!"
As he said that, he helped Li Linfei up from the ground, reached out and took the piece of clothing that Li Linfei was holding in his hands and shook it open to look at it: "Well! You've done a good job! Is it my teacher's?"
Li Linfei nodded: "That's right, after you were wronged and came here that day, I went back and asked Pheasant to sew this dress for you."
"Good, good, come, help me put it on for Master! Then we'll go and find Xiao Chuan, just in time, Yu'er went to see him for a drink and should be at his place now."
Then, under Xiang Liang's leadership, Li Lin Fei opened the cell doors one by one and released all those core members of the Hall of Raising Virtues, and bowed to make amends one cell after another. The group returned to the Hall of Raising Virtues, which had not opened its doors for a long time, and the group drank and celebrated.
The next morning, Xiang Liang led the men outside Xianyang to join Li Linfei's 13,000 elite soldiers, and they were sworn in by the Qin Emperor himself.
After marching all the way and meeting halfway with the old troops of the Hall of Lifting Sages who were imprisoned in other prisons, as well as the 50,000 long-armed soldiers of the Meng Family Army led by Vice General Pang, who subsequently transferred their military authority to Yi Xiaochuan, Li Linfei led the 70,000-strong army to the border gate which was infested by the Rong Di.
"What we need now is to think of a way to gather these guys who are scattered everywhere and run faster than rabbits into one place, and then gather and destroy them."
Nowadays, the Rong Di, the Xiongnu, and later the Xianbei, Turk and Khitan nomads are the most troublesome.
What was most troublesome about them was not how strong they were, but their disorganized and undisciplined looseness and mobility, which made it impossible to chase them, or to fight them, which meant that they could not fight thousands or tens of thousands of soldiers against three or five hundred people.
Therefore, after Xiang Liang had taken care of the overall military affairs and Zhao Gao was watching the rear, all he needed to do was to find a way to get the Rong Di, who were running as fast as rabbits and loose as a swarm, to come together.
He didn't believe that these rabbits could run faster than his car, or the machine gun bullets and grenades he had redeemed from the system.
Even without all these cheats, if he and Xiang Yu were to lead the charge, he didn't believe that anyone in this era would be able to stop them!
So conquering the Rong Di was difficult to say the least, but simple to say the least. For Li Lin Fei, he only needed to solve three problems, not to mention defeating the Rong Di, or even wiping out the entire Rong Di without any difficulty.
One is how to gather them together, two is how to cut off their retreat in advance, and three is how to get the head of the Rong Di leader.
It was a pity that the few people who were qualified to take part in this small meeting could not come up with a solution, let alone an effective one, even after half a day's discussion.
After all, all of them were classified as military generals, and the classification of strategists did not exist.
"What are you looking at me for? If you want to talk about having a bad stomach, all these people combined are not as good as you!"
Yi Xiaochuan was a bit furred by Li Linfei's look, why was he staring at himself instead of other people?
"Can't you look handsome?" Li Linfei was so angry with him that he rolled his eyes, but Yi Xiaochuan's words were not without merit. In this regard, it was obvious that Guo Dong was more professional than him, the Virgin Bitch, and the solutions he came up with were much more ruthless and decisive.
"Lin Fei, according to what you said before, what you want is not only to get them together, but also preferably to a place you have chosen in advance, which is not easy."
"Unless there is a great benefit or a great hatred, it is simply impossible to make them give up everything else and concentrate on coming here!"
Xiang Liang is still more sophisticated and calculating.
"Benefits ...... this is more difficult to do, but hatred, this is something that can be done!"
Xiang Liang's words caused a flash of light in Li Linfei's head, he seemed a bit silly! Who said that you have to destroy the soldiers and horses and capture the city before you can take out the emperor with your troops before you can be considered to have destroyed a country?
Who said it was necessary to prevent them from running away first, then defeat all the opponent's soldiers and horses, then attack and kill them step by step before finally getting the head of Rong Di's leader, Paga Gao?