Zhong Yehan thought for a moment: "Well, I'll think about it before I decide whether to let the fourth son come to Beijing. How is your investigation of the prince's bribery case?"
Ximen Dehao raised his hand and said: "Your Majesty, His Highness the Crown Prince accepted a total of twenty-five thousand taels of silver in bribes this time. The people who sent the bribes were Li Sen, the prefect of Chenzhou, He Ya, the magistrate of Guangling, and the generals of several military camps. They all wanted to Move in their respective positions, all..."
Zhong Yehan frowned tightly: "This prince! What do you think the ministers will think if I depose him?"
Ximen Dehao bowed: "Your Majesty, this is your family matter, how can we outsiders interfere!" Ximen Dehao is indeed an old fox. He is a member of the old Sanling County Prince Zhong Langfu. In order to overthrow the prince, he is at the forefront. , in order to collect evidence of the prince's corruption, he can be said to have gone to great lengths. Now when the emperor asked him face to face, he still pretended to be a humble gentleman. However, this move was quite good, at least Zhong Yehan relaxed his vigilance towards him.
In fact, Ximen Dehao had already joined the ranks of the princes vying for the throne. He supported the prince at first, but later saw that the prince was too outrageous, so he hugged the third prince Zhong Langfu's thigh instead. This is actually normal. Who doesn’t want to plan for his own future? Seeing the emperor’s decline, who doesn’t want to find a strong backing for himself? However, this choice is full of dangers. If he makes a wrong move, not only he will die, but his family will also be affected. Therefore, he must be cautious. The emperor asked so straightforwardly, and he had to act fair and selfless so as not to let the emperor see any flaws. If the emperor knew that I was the son of the third prince Zhong Langfu, the consequences would be quite serious.
Zhong Yehan waved his hand: "The emperor has no selfish things, you can tell me, no matter whether it is right or wrong, I will not blame you!"
Ximen Dehao knew that the opportunity had come. He wanted to say, but he could not say it clearly: "Your Majesty, there are only two types of heirs in dynasties since ancient times. One is to establish a leader, and the other is to establish a virtuous person. The veteran feels that both have their own advantages and disadvantages. If you only establish a leader, It is easy to give the country to a foolish king, and sooner or later the country and the country will be destroyed by these dandies. If you establish a virtuous man, there is a problem, that is, the princes will fight to the death for the heirloom, and even kill each other. So. , It is entirely up to the emperor to establish a leader and establish a virtuous person. If the emperor is confident that he can discern the subtleties and distinguish between loyal and traitor, then he can definitely adopt the second option."
Simon Dehao said this very tactfully and sharply. He first pushed the decision-making power to the emperor to make himself invincible. And the meaning behind his words is that the emperor should establish virtuous people. Ximen Dehao was very good at figuring out the emperor's thoughts. Even the most mediocre emperor would think that he was a sage, let alone the enlightened and wise Zhong Yehan.
Zhong Yehan is so smart. He immediately understood what Ximen Dehao meant: "Okay! Please sort out the specific amount of bribes the prince has accepted and submit it directly. The officials who paid the bribes must also be written down."
"Old minister, I obey!" After Ximen Dehao said this, he saluted Zhong Yehan and then left.
Ximen Dehao had just left for a while when Prince Zhong Langyao opened the door and walked in: "My son, please see your father!"
Zhong Yehan waved his hand: "What's the matter with you?"
Zhong Langyao took out a memorial from his arms: "This is the list of promoted officials proposed by my son. Please take a look at it."
Zhong Yehan took it and opened it and saw that there were many names written densely on the memorial. Some of the names were quite dazzling, such as Li Sen, the prefect of Chenzhou, and He Ya, the magistrate of Guangling. Their names were clearly visible on the paper. Zhong Yehan put the memorial on the table: "The promotion of officials mainly depends on the political achievements of officials from various places. Are the officials you wrote above all officials with political achievements?"
Zhong Langyao nodded: "Yes! The sons and ministers acted according to the wishes of the father. Li Sen, the magistrate of Chenzhou, was praised as Li Qingtian by the local people for his integrity as an official. There was also He Ya, the magistrate of Guangling. He loved the people like a son and cultivated the spirit of cultivation during his tenure. The embankments and dams have been used to control floods for hundreds of years, and the general soldiers of the Jiangnan and North Camps... "
The more Zhong Yehan listened, the angrier he became. If Ximen Dehao hadn't told me in advance, I would have almost been deceived by him: "Okay, let's leave the memorial here for now. Do you have anything else to do?"