"This..." Yang Yuanzhi only wanted to restrain the foreign ministers from getting entangled in the royal disputes, and there was no time to do this in vain. She was suddenly speechless, sweat quietly oozed from her face, and she was speechless. Suddenly, With another stirring of spirit, his body softened and he bowed down, kowtowed and shouted, "I respectfully send you to Your Majesty!"
Everyone looked in the direction where Yang Yuanzhi was prostrating and saw that Emperor Zheng Yong, who was sitting on the dragon chair, had already stood up and left. Not everyone is a prince. Losing etiquette before was a serious crime for deceiving the emperor. He quickly bowed down one by one and saluted Zheng Yong's dangling figure.
The night banquet broke up unhappily, and the two princes turned around and walked in different directions, no one dared to stop them. Others did not have this privilege, and all of them were at a loss in the imperial garden with colorful flowers and neon lights. At this time, Zheng Rong stepped down from the Golden Majesty, whispered a few words to Yang Yuanzhi, the leader of the hundred officials, and announced in front of everyone: "The imperial banquet is over. Please line up in two rows and be escorted out of the palace by the inner court guards. !”
It's better to say it's escorting than monitoring. Zheng Rong had heard that the relationship between the princes was tense as early as when he was in Youyan. After arriving in Beijing, he felt that this tense atmosphere had already enveloped all parties in the government and the public. The confrontation between the princes at the night banquet was even more tense. Even the emperor I can't control myself; now thirty imperial ministers are sanctimonious in the open, but secretly have ulterior motives. Being placed in palace confinement late at night is really harmful rather than beneficial. After thinking about it in my mind, I finally decided to overstep my authority and command everyone to leave the palace together to avoid Extraneous branches.
The group of people walked through the majestic and dim palace complex, surrounded by tall and burly inner court guards. Not to mention whispering to each other, they didn't even dare to breathe. This made Zheng Rong, the leader, feel like he was leading his troops on a field trip to sneak attack on the enemy camp, and he laughed secretly in his heart. After walking zigzag for an unknown amount of time, the royal ministers who came in excitement finally walked through the entire palace city and walked out of the palace gate in disinterest.
The huge palace lantern hung at the entrance of the palace was as tall as a person, and an endless line of people lined up along the yellow tiles and red walls, emitting a weak dark yellow halo, attracting a few moths to be unnecessarily excited.
Under the cover of dim yellow lamps, Zheng Rong carefully approached Prime Minister Yang Yuanzhi and whispered: "People here are too talkative. I will go back for the time being and come back to disturb Mr. Yang Yuanzhi tomorrow." After saying that, he looked at Yang Yuanzhi and nodded slightly. He raised a smile, said goodbye to everyone, and walked out without looking back.
It turned out that when Zheng Rong first entered the palace, he only knew that he was summoned by the emperor. It didn't take long before he asked his entourage to wait outside the palace gate. Unexpectedly, after many twists and turns, he entered the palace at noon and did not come out until night. King Youyan was the commander-in-chief, and his words were military orders, so his followers always stayed where they were and did not dare to leave. When the Golden Crow landed, it was very convenient to have an entourage to pick him up. This made Zheng Rong feel very proud. He got on his horse and was about to greet the group back to his residence when he saw a thin head sticking out of the carriage on the side, so he dismounted again. Got into the car.
All the royal ministers who were attending the banquet were a little unhappy when they saw King Youyan's team slowly leaving without his own entourage to pick them up. Some of the royal relatives who couldn't hold their breath began to curse "little bastards" one by one. At the same time, they raised their hands to call the little eunuch who was standing guard at the gate of the palace. He took out a pile of silver and stuffed it into the little eunuch's hand, asking them to run to his house quickly. Go up and ask the servant to pick you up. The little eunuch got the benefit and disappeared into the dark street like flying. However, all the ministers were from a decent background in Kejia and knew how to be reserved. After bowing to each other and bidding farewell, they left this land of right and wrong either alone or in small groups.
The person who called Zheng Rong into the car was none other than the counselor Zhongli Kuang.
Zhongli Kuang moved his body, gave up his seat to Zheng Rong, and said to the coachman through the door curtain: "Let's go." The carriage started running unsteadily.
The wheels rolled slowly on the road paved with bluestones, making the axle groan. An oil lamp hanging in the carriage also swayed with the shaking of the carriage. The shadow on Zhongli Kuang's face flickered, appearing more and more gloomy: "The prince has been in the palace for a long time. I wonder if something happened?"
Zheng Rong sighed and said: "It turns out that the fighting between the princes has reached such an extent that even the emperor can hardly control it..." Then he told the opinions of the Minister of Rites Shi Liangzhi and the eunuch Wang Zhonghai, the emperor's conversation, and the two princes. The fight at the night banquet and the attitude of the emperor's relatives and ministers were explained to Zhongli Kuang in detail.
Zhongli Kuang sighed leisurely and was about to speak when he heard the carriage creak and rushed forward. The coachman reported: "Your Majesty, the mansion has arrived." After hearing this, Zhongli Kuang patiently said: "Your Majesty, please get out of the car and have a private conversation."
Zheng Rong's temporary residence in the capital was none other than his mansion in the capital ten years ago. It stands to reason that after the prince is transferred to the vassal, the original residence in the capital is usually allocated to a relative of the corresponding rank. Specifically, in this dynasty, it should be one of the two princes, Zheng Chang or Zheng Yao.
However, in order to show his kindness and longing for his younger brother, the emperor not only did not use it for other purposes, but also asked the palace to arrange some eunuchs to maintain the normal operation of the palace. However, without the supervision of the stewards, these eunuchs who were sent to the palace not only neglected daily tasks such as cleaning the halls and building flowers and trees, but even stole the rare treasures in the palace and sold them, destroying the palace. Depressed. A month ago, the emperor summoned King Youyan to the capital and sent people to take inventory of the palace. Only then did the illegal activities of the eunuchs come to light.
The emperor Zheng Yong, who had not been in charge of the government for a long time, finally got angry when he saw that the former palace had become like this. He personally executed several eunuchs who had committed evil deeds. He also severely reprimanded the chief eunuch Wang Zhonghai and asked him to return to the throne. Rectify. After Wang Zhonghai received the imperial edict, he went to the palace to take a look. He saw that after ten years of ruin, Zheng Rong's palace was almost an empty shell, no different from ruins. He went back to report to the emperor and proposed to let the wealthy households in the capital temporarily Suggestion to give up the mansion to entertain King Youyan. Unexpectedly, the emperor was determined to let King Youyan return to his former residence, scolded Wang Zhonghai, and finally said angrily, "If you can do it, do it. If you can't, I will replace him."
Only then did Wang Zhonghai panic, and even his cronies were worried. He personally directed the reconstruction of the palace and arranged a large number of manpower to clean up the palace buildings. He first took the lead in returning the treasures that the young eunuch had stolen from the palace to honor him; he asked the palace people to pay tribute to him. The royal family, senior officials, landowners, and wealthy businessmen in Beijing spread the word that the treasures from the original palace would be handed over, otherwise they would be punished; in order to rebuild the garden, exotic flowers and plants were specially transferred from the imperial garden nursery and planted in the back garden. . After all this hard work, the palace finally returned to its former glory.
Zheng Rong didn't know about the above twists and turns, he just took it as the emperor's trust in him, but he didn't know that for his stay for a few days, he had to sacrifice countless treasures and lives. However, this trouble made Zheng Rong feel a lot more relieved. Along the familiar path, looking at the familiar scenery, stepping on the familiar ground, he led Zhongli Kuang into the study hidden deep in the mansion with emotion in his heart.
The plaque hanging on the main entrance of the study is inscribed with the three characters "Lianggu Zhai" written by the late emperor himself. This not only hints at the allusion of "hanging beams and stabbing bones", but also contains the hope that Zheng Rong will become a pillar and a minister of the pillars. The study guards, waiters and other servants had already been replaced by Zheng Rong's own people. After they made tea, lit candles and burned agarwood, Zheng Rong said: "I'm fine here. You guys have worked hard along the way." , just go down and rest tonight.”
Three or two servants sang their promises and quietly exited the study. The last one to leave carefully closed the door tightly. The study became even quieter, leaving only the faint whispers of the burning incense from the wax torch.
The green smoke floated out from the incense burner and enveloped King Youyan. Although Zheng Rong was addicted to military and political customs in a bitter cold place and had not tasted incense for a long time, he was a member of the royal family after all. He knew it was the best when he smelled it, and the aftertaste was endless. As soon as he took a breath, his mood suddenly changed. He opened his mouth and said to Zhongli Kuang: "Sir, he just stopped talking. I wonder if you have any advice?"
Zhongli Kuang was not interested in tasting the incense. He just listened to the footsteps of several servants walking away. Then he stood up, faced the endless darkness outside the window, and said nonchalantly: "Han Sheng is a weak scholar. He has tried many times. However, he is useless, but he has a bad habit of pretending to be noble, and he originally planned to waste his life in this way. Fortunately, the prince hired him as a guest, entrusted him with great power and obeyed his instructions for several years, so that the students could use their dull talents. For this, the student is really grateful and doesn't ask for anything in return. I just hope that the prince can adopt one or two, and he will be satisfied." Zhongli Kuang said very sincerely, obviously moved, "But this time I am going to Beijing. The fate is uncertain, so the prince and his students have already agreed on a countermeasure when they were in Youyan. Why have they changed their original intention now? Above?"
Zheng Rong didn't take it seriously and said with a smile: "The order of elders and younger ones is a normal human relationship. As a close relative of the royal family, I should naturally uphold it. However, my views were only discussed with the Holy One. Master Shi and the princes agree. When I discuss the prince, I haven’t expressed my opinion, so I should be neutral, right?”
"Alas - Your Majesty has magical military skills and is well versed in the art of magic and justice. Why is he so loyal in court disputes?" Zhongli Kuang shook his head as he spoke, "After today, I'm afraid everyone in the world will think that King Youyan supports the eldest son of the emperor to become emperor." ”
"Why do you say that, sir?"
"Didn't the prince realize it yet? Although the prince's original intention was to talk to the emperor alone in the Shuli Palace, there were many people in the palace talking, and the eunuchs, maids, and guards were all the eyes and ears. Every word that the prince said to the emperor was immediately understood. It will be conveyed to the ears of the prince accurately. In addition, during the banquet, the prince only drank the wine offered by the eldest son of the emperor. Isn't this enough to show the prince's support for the eldest son of the emperor?" Zhongli Kuang explained.
"Hey, sir, there is no need to be alarmist. Today, I publicly reprimanded Mr. Shi Liangzhi for supporting the eldest son of the emperor. If the conversation between me and the emperor has spread throughout the palace, then this matter is probably already well-known in the capital, right?" Zheng Rong That makes sense.
Zhongli Kuang shook his head vigorously and said: "The prince has the heart of a gentleman, how can he understand the belly of a villain? Although the prince has taught Mr. Shi a lesson, it is already a good attitude to ignore the prince. What's more, the prince has taught Master Shi a lesson. , The prince’s words to teach Mr. Shi will sound completely different to those who are serious about it.”
Zheng Rong thought about it for a while and asked puzzledly: "How can I say this?"
Zhongli Kuang was silent for a while, organized his speech, and said: "In addition to the order of eldest and youngest in the previous dynasty, there were also distinctions between direct concubines and concubines. In my dynasty, Emperor Taizu Gao thought it was too complicated and often led to disputes, so he abolished it. The succession of the throne only depends on the order of eldest and youngest, and an oath was made to make the royal relatives and nobles become blood allies. Since the founding of the Han Dynasty, all the saints have passed down this as a basis. Now the second son of the emperor wants to abolish the eldest son and establish a younger one, but in vain. With the emperor's favor but no support from his relatives, the first priority for the second son of the emperor was to win the response of King Youyan, King Heluo, and King Lingnan. However, the prince made it clear that the eldest son of the emperor did not need to join forces with foreign vassals, which was not a hint that the princes of foreign vassals had not betrayed their oath. , still support the eldest son?”
"This..." Zheng Rong couldn't help but feel a little frightened after hearing this, "This is strong words. How could anyone think so?"
"Haha." Zhongli Kuang seemed a little proud and continued to ask, "Who is the second prince's biggest supporter now?"
"It's the emperor... um..." Zheng Rong thought for a moment and said, "And Wang Zhonghai."
"Yes, there are also princes and lords. Eunuchs are also called eunuchs. An eunuch is a useless person with no fame and future, no family and a wife. He regards other people's lives as nothing but grass and his own life as much as grass. Any chance of size , all of them sacrificed their lives. There are countless disasters caused by eunuchs throughout the ages. This is the reason why Wang Zhonghai is in his current position because of the emperor's favor. Seeing that the prince's favor is far above him, there is no reason not to be jealous and resentful. I'm afraid now. Already murderous."
Hearing this, Zheng Rong gained some confidence and said: "Although the guards I have brought this time are only about 500 people, they are all warriors who have narrowly escaped death in the same battlefield. I am afraid they will take away my king's bodyguards." Life is not that simple."
"The guards in the palace are flashy, and the soldiers in the capital are more than enough to bully the people but not enough to charge into battle. How can they be the match for the prince's soldiers in hundreds of battles? But as the saying goes, open guns are easy to hide, but hidden arrows are difficult to guard against. Wang Zhonghai has been operating in the capital for a long time. Prince Staying in a land of tigers and wolves for a long time is not a long-term solution. I would like to ask the prince to return as soon as possible. "
King Youyan nodded solemnly and said: "Sir, what you said is true, but I have just made an appointment with Prime Minister Yang and agreed to meet tomorrow morning. After I meet Prime Minister Yang tomorrow morning, there will be Youyan Shou The military flying pigeon reports that the Turks have suddenly concentrated their forces and are threatening to invade the south. I will immediately return to northern Xinjiang to command the battle. "What do you think?"
After hearing this, Zhongli Kuang nodded happily and said something irrelevant: "It's getting late. I'm leaving. Please take a rest early."
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PS. Modern people often think about being a prince in peace, having lots of money, enjoying endless blessings, and teasing women from good families. What's wrong with that? However, with the arbitrary power of the emperor and the majesty of thousands of people worshiping him, who wouldn't try his best as long as there is a chance? (To be continued)