"PS: It is still the second most popular monthly ticket in the history category. It seems that there will be an extra update next month...well, I underestimated you book friends."

————The following text————

"whee--"

With a burst of laughter like silver bells, two rather young palace maids came out, jostling each other and playing.

Suddenly, one of the palace maids grabbed the female companion's hand and lowered her voice and said, "Stop making trouble, there is someone here."

"Is there anyone?"

Another palace maid immediately stopped playing and playing, and looked around uneasily. Sure enough, she saw a nobleman who was several years older than them by the pool in the distance, lying on the edge of the pool with his hands as a pillow.

On a boulder.

It is vaguely visible that this noble man is wearing a dark jade crown and a dark costume with a python dragon embroidered with gold thread. Although he has never seen his appearance, he knows that this noble man is extremely valuable.

"...It's the prince."

"...It's His Royal Highness Prince Su."

The two palace maids immediately became well-behaved and looked at the Crown Prince secretly, with a look of spring on their faces and a slight glimmer in their eyes.

Unfortunately, His Royal Highness, who was lying on the boulder in an inelegant posture, seemed not to know that they were passing by and did not even look at them, which made them very disappointed.

With the small thought of "maybe they might be attracted by His Highness the Crown Prince", the two women wanted to muster up the courage to go forward and talk to His Highness the Crown Prince. Unfortunately, beside the huge stone, two watchers

The eunuch, who was dressed like a chambermaid, glared at them fiercely.

In the end, they were scared away.

"It's so unruly!"

Watching the two little palace maids leave, eunuch Gao Li relaxed his tense face and muttered softly.

Although he is not too old, and is even one or two years younger than Zhao Hongrun, he has followed the eunuch Tong Xian since he was a child, so he is also very aware of certain things in the palace.

At least, he could clearly guess the thoughts of the two little palace maids just now - how many of the palace maids who were sent into the palace did not have the intention of climbing up the dragon and clinging to the phoenix?

After secretly cursing a few words at the two little palace ladies who didn't understand the rules, Gao Li turned around and glanced at His Royal Highness, who was still lying on the boulder with his hands on his pillow, and hesitated several times.

Because now, it is only the early spring near the end of February, and although the weather has gradually turned warmer, it is easy for the prince to lie on a cold boulder like this.

But recalling the previous instruction from His Highness the Crown Prince, "I'll stay here for a while, don't disturb me." Gao Li didn't dare to speak at this moment.

After all, Gao Li has come to understand that although His Highness the Crown Prince seems to be quite easy to talk to at first glance, in fact, His Highness the Crown Prince is actually a person who has his own way of doing things.

But having said that, since His Highness the Crown Prince had been lying on the boulder and looking at the sky for a while, Gao Li also felt a little surprised, because he vaguely guessed that His Highness the Crown Prince, who was sullen and silent at this moment,

, seems to be thinking about some major issue.

Gao Li really guessed right. At this moment, Zhao Hongrun was indeed thinking about a very important matter, that is, how to deal with the 'rebellious ministers' headed by Qing Wang Zhao Xin - now that he, the new prince, has taken the throne, then

, this matter cannot be delayed any longer.

In the Wei State, the court's laws could not punish the children of the Ji and Zhao family, but the clan's patriarchal laws could.

The ancestral law clearly stipulates that any descendant of Ji Zhao's family who is involved in rebellion will not be pardoned.

As the saying goes, if King Zhao Hongxin of Qing succeeds in seizing power like his father Zhao Yuansi, the emperor of Wei, did in those days, it will be nothing. But it is a pity that King Zhao Hongxin of Qing failed. Since he failed, he will be punished.

Severe punishment.

According to the ancestral law, King Qing Zhao Hongxin will be executed this time. At the least, it will be the fate of "reduction of rank" and "imprisonment".

"Reduction of title", as the name suggests, is to deprive "Prince Qing" of his throne and turn him from a royal family to a commoner. This punishment also includes "deprivation of the prince's status", "erasure of the name in the genealogy", "confiscation of the fief, the emperor"

A series of punishments such as "salary" and even the most severe one, even the surname "Jizhao" will be deprived - from now on, Zhao Hongxin's branch will no longer be able to call himself a descendant of the Ji Zhao family.

From a certain perspective, this is more harsh than execution.

Confinement is another criminal law that is even more cruel than execution. In layman's terms, it requires prisoners to live in a designated small area. This small area is as wide as a mansion, but if it is strict, it may only have one room.

House - a person is allowed to stay in a house for the rest of his life and is not allowed to go out. He is monitored by the guards twelve hours a day and lives under the eyes of the supervisors all the time. What a cruel criminal law this is!

Perhaps Qing Wang Hongxin would think: Rather than doing this, it would be better to die happily.

"...Anyway, there is only one way for Zhao Wu to die."

Lying on the boulder, Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but frown.

Even though he had a bad relationship with Zhao Hongxin at the beginning, they were brothers after all. If possible, Zhao Hongrun wanted to spare his life instead of executing Zhao Hongxin on the charge of "rebellion and treason."

The more critical point is that if the "principal criminal" Qing Wang Hongxin is executed, it is like setting standards for handling this matter, and the remaining accomplices will have to be pushed down from the "execution" punishment.

The problem is that Zhao Hongrun's fourth brother Zhao Hongjiang, King of Yan, and his closest brother Zhao Hongxuan, King of Huan, were involved in this rebellion - no matter what the purpose of these two brothers assisted Qing Wang Hongxin in attacking Daliang,

In essence, the two of them participated in the rebellion.

If Qing Wang Hongxin was executed, then Yan Wang Hongjiang and Huan Wang Hongxuan would have to suffer the next-level punishment, that is, imprisonment, and so on.

Thinking that the poor guy Qing Wang Hongxin was also being taken advantage of this time, Zhao Hongrun actually thought about raising the board high, dropping it gently, and giving him a punishment of "imprisonment for several years."

In fact, the key lies in how to define this rebellion - if the behavior of King Qing Hongxin is defined as rebellion, then Zhao Wu will undoubtedly die; but if Zhao Hongrun, as the prince, defines the behavior of King Qing Hongxin as "being instigated by others"

”, and “private grudge with the old prince Hongyu”, then Prince Qing Hongxin would be able to escape, and at most he would be imprisoned for ten or twenty years or something.

No matter how hard it is to be imprisoned for life, as long as the person is still alive, there is a chance to reduce the time limit.

For example, if Zhao Hongrun ascends the throne as the crown prince and becomes king in the future, then Zhao Hongxin can be exempted from the amnesty for a certain number of years; for another example, if the emperor's grandson Zhao Wei is appointed as the crown prince or even succeeds to the throne, Zhao Hongxin will still have the opportunity to get

Commutation of sentence.

After all, the essence of the clan system is not to force the descendants of the Ji Zhao family to death, but to restrain the clan children and maintain the royal rule. To put it bluntly, it is just killing the chicken to scare the monkeys. As long as Zhao Hongxin sincerely admits his mistake, more than ten years later, the clan will still be the same.

I will be open-minded.

But in this way, no one will take the blame for the death of the old prince Zhao Yu.

"call……"

After taking a long breath, Zhao Hongrun felt a headache.

He felt as if he had entered a vicious circle: because the old prince Zhao Yu died in this civil strife, Qing Wang Hongxin had to be executed for rebellion, but by executing the latter, Yan Wang Zhao Jiang and Huan Wang Zhao Xuan were also accomplices.

On the other hand, if Zhao Hongrun wanted to keep King Zhao Jiang of Yan and King Huan Zhao Xuan, then the behavior of Qing King Hongxin must not be defined as "rebellion", so he could only sacrifice the old prince Zhao

He gave the latter the reputation of "forcing him to rebel against his brothers".

But the prince Zhao Yu is already dead, so Zhao Hongrun cannot do this even if it is not from the perspective of "the dead are the most important" to add another stigma to him.

Otherwise, Queen Wang will be seriously offended - even though the old prince Zhao Yu refused to recognize her as his mother before his death, they are both biological mother and son. Would Queen Wang allow Zhao Hongrun to 'slander' her dead son?

After thinking for a full hour, Zhao Hongrun jumped off the boulder and headed straight to the Manna Hall.

After about a stick of incense, Emperor Wei heard about the "Prince's request for an audience" from the mouth of Yan Shun, the commander of the Zuo of the Gongwei Division.

"That bad boy came to see me now, which is quite new..."

After joking with the eunuch Tong Xian, Emperor Wei signaled Yan Shun to invite Zhao Hongrun into the palace.

When he saw Zhao Hongrun, Emperor Wei wanted to joke with his son at first, but when he saw that the latter's face was as dark as water, as if he had something on his mind, he frowned and stopped joking.

"Father, please order the left and right to retreat." Zhao Hongrun said straight to the point without being polite to Emperor Wei.

After hearing this, the great eunuch Tong Xian knew that the crown prince's visit was probably due to some important matter. Without any signal from Emperor Wei, he ordered Yan Shun, Tong Xin and the two young eunuchs behind him to retreat.

.

At this time, Zhao Hongrun revealed what was on his mind: "I am here because of Zhao Wu's rebellion..."

"Oh." Emperor Wei nodded clearly. Of course he also wanted to know the stakes of this matter.

In any case, between the old prince Hongyu and Qing Wang Zhao Hongxin, one must be sacrificed to take responsibility for this matter, but no matter which side is sacrificed, the trouble is not small.

However, Emperor Wei noticed Zhao Hongrun's gaze and saw that the latter's eyes were not confused, so he said with great interest: "It seems that you are not here to ask me for advice, but you have already made an idea... Come and listen.

"

After hearing this, Zhao Hongrun cupped his hands and said: "I believe that the fault of this civil strife is not the late King Yong, nor Zhao Wu, but the remnants of the Xiao family who instigated it..."

Emperor Wei's eyes lit up slightly when he heard this: It would be a good idea to put all the blame on the remnants of the Xiao family.

"only……"

After looking at Zhao Hongrun for a few times, Emperor Wei's eyes flashed with concern.

The reason is very simple. If the remnant of the Xiao family is to be held responsible for the civil strife in Wei, then the court must explain why this "remnant of the Xiao family" has such a powerful ability to instigate the old prince Zhao Yu and the King of Qing Zhao Xin.

Civil strife - could it be that just a cat or a dog can cause a civil war between two princes? This is not enough to win the trust of the people in the world.

While explaining "the remnants of the Xiao family", the court would inevitably mention "Xiao Luan", the leader of the remnants of the Xiao family - can a single name explain why the remnants of the Xiao family have such great energy?

It was far from enough, so the court also had to explain the origin of "Xiao Luan", that is, "the son of Xiao Boyuan, Marquis of Nanyan".

"Nan Yan" is a term that can easily remind Wei people of certain things. For example, in the second year of Hongde, Xiao Boyuan, the Marquis of Nan Yan, "inexplicably" rebelled, and then Wei general Sima An led his army to massacre the Nan Yan army.

That accident.

This was a taboo that Emperor Wei had suppressed with great difficulty over the years and was unwilling to be mentioned again.

After thinking for a long time, Emperor Wei took a long breath and said slowly: "Hongrun, you are already the prince of the country, you don't have to discuss everything with me...just do it according to your ideas.

"
To be continued...