Chapter 157: Three Ministers Admonish, Two Kings Enter Beijing
"It's Gao Tanglong, Yang Fu, and Wang Ji who are so stubborn again." Cao Rui looked helpless. In the past few months, just because he had built a few more palaces, these people had often given memorials to advise him. Own.
He took the several volumes of silk books from the desk, spread them out on the desk one by one, and looked up at them one by one.
The first thing Cao Rui read was the memorial written by Wang Ji, the assistant minister of Zhongshu:
"I heard that the ancients used water to describe the people, saying: 'Water carries the boat, but also capsizes the boat.' Therefore, those who are on top of the people must be cautious and fearful... Today, the bandits are not dead, and the fierce generals will support the troops, and they will be inspected." If there is no way to deal with the enemy, it will be difficult to leave a legacy in the long run. In the prosperous Ming Dynasty, if there is no need to eliminate troubles, if the descendants do not compete, the society will be worried. If Jia Yi is revived, it will be deeply felt in the past."
Speaking of Wang Ji, this man was a well-known talented and filial son among the late courtiers of this dynasty.
He is from Qucheng, Donglai County. His father Wang Bao died when he was young, so he was carefully raised by his uncle Wang Weng and grew up. When Wang Ji was seventeen years old, he began to serve as the governor of Donglai County. As an official, the position was not what he wanted, so he resigned directly and became idle. It was not until the early Huangchu period of Emperor Wen that Wang Ji was appointed as a doctor when various places recommended filial piety and integrity.
Wang Ling and Wang Yanyun, who was the governor of Qingzhou at the time, discovered Wang Ji's talent, so he specially recommended Wang Ji to be his deputy. Later, the imperial court heard about Wang Ji's talent and recruited Wang Ji to Beijing as his secretary, but Wang Ling He was reluctant to let Wang Ji, a great talent, leave Qingzhou, so he petitioned to recall him to Qingzhou again.
The Grand Situ Wang Lang strongly requested the imperial court to recruit Wang Ji to the capital, but Wang Ling was unwilling to let him go because he was covetous of Wang Ji's talents. He was even impeached by the Grand Situ Wang Lang because of this!
Later, the former general Sima Yi recruited Wang Ji to join the army. However, before Wang Ji could take office, he was immediately promoted by the court to the title of Vice Minister of Zhongshu. At this point, Wang Ji finally entered Luoyang and became a capital official.
Cao Rui looked at Wang Ji's memorial and couldn't help but smile. He thought to himself that Wang Boyu's writing style of writing memorials was becoming more and more concise and elegant.
He rested for a while and then opened Gao Tanglong's memorial:
"In the past, King Jing of the Zhou Dynasty did not follow the rules of punishment, and was very virtuous in martial arts. He ignored the sacred system of Gong Dan, and cast large coins and made big bells. Shan Mu Gong's advice failed to listen, and Lingzhou's doves refused to obey, so they were confused and refused to rebel. The virtues of Zhou Dynasty have declined, and good histories have been recorded to serve as lasting lessons. However, today's villains like to talk about the extravagance of Qin and Han to destabilize the sacred heart, to seek for the utensils that will destroy the country, to labor and waste, to damage the moral government, and not to promote etiquette. The harmony of happiness ensures the peace of mind."
"Gao Tangsheng is always like this, he loves to drop his book bag." He murmured.
After reading many memorials to advise, Cao Rui did not get angry. On the contrary, he was quite pleased with it and even encouraged him in his reply.
Although Cao Rui has become a bit extravagant in recent years, after all, he is not a fool, and he can still distinguish between good and bad.
It's just that people always have times when they indulge themselves. Cao Rui believes that he can control this himself.
After another two hours, Cao Rui finally finished reviewing the documents and memorials on his desk. He put down his jade pen and stretched out beautifully.
He is really tired.
Since the past two years, Cao Rui, who worked hard and worked hard, has found that his body is no longer as good as before. Since his Yin'er died unexpectedly, except for the Wang concubine who he secretly sent Xia Houxuan to escort out of the palace to help him in Rencheng Except for the birth of Fang'er in Wang Cao Kai's house, his harem never gave birth to another dragon son for him.
Come to think of it, his Fang'er has been growing up in the villa of Prince Rencheng's Mansion for three full years. His Fang'er is now three years old. Thinking of this, Cao Rui, who has lost his children in succession, felt a burst of joy in his heart.
Now in the blink of an eye, I have already passed my thirtieth year and am already over thirty years old, but I still don’t have a nominal heir under my knees. The civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty have already made many memorials for this matter, but the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty have already made many memorials for this matter. Surprisingly, the emperor was not very anxious about this matter. In recent years, the emperor rarely even visited his concubines.
But how would they know that their emperor had actually made all preparations long ago.
Thinking of his dead child, Cao Rui felt sad again, but fortunately he still had a daughter, Princess Qi, under his knees, so he was not so lonely. Princess Qi, Cao Heng, was secretly raising him outside the palace. Cao Fang's children may be an important reason why he has been able to endure loneliness all these years.
He couldn't help but think of a few years ago, when he was so confused that he asked the kings to send their respective sons to the capital because of the successive deaths of their princes.
Cao Rui felt that although he still had Fang'er now, the person who secretly hurt his heir was too terrifying. Now that he had no heir on the surface, he should have been very nervous and anxious. Earlier, In the 1980s, he could still have unrest on the border and disharmony in national affairs, so he had no intention of staying in the harem as an excuse. However, now that Zhuge Liang, the great enemy of Western Shu, has died, and Sun Quan is temporarily unable to invade Jiangnan. If he continues to be so tepid at this time, It is inevitable that the people behind the scenes will have doubts. If the people behind the scenes discover Fang'er's existence, wouldn't all the years of hard work and the Cao family's decades of success be destroyed in one fell swoop?
What's more, now that Fang'er has reached three years old, he is no longer a baby who can be easily harmed by others. If he doesn't take him into the palace to cultivate him, I'm afraid it will delay his growth. It seems that it is time to let Fang'er into the palace. coming.
Thinking of this, Cao Rui had to make some calculations in his mind.
If you want to pretend to carefully select and raise your heirs, then naturally it is best to hold a decent assessment, so that the civil and military ministers can think that you really want to cultivate an heir from the collateral lineage who is no different from your own son. Heir. This move can make the person behind the scenes who is bent on harming his own parents and children relax their vigilance.
In addition, the emperor was also confident that after three years of careful enlightenment and training by Xia Houxuan, a master with both civil and military skills, and Cao Kai, the son of Cao Zhang, the powerful king of Rencheng, who had a family background, his girl would stand out in the assessment and be the best. It's not a difficult thing.
After Cao Rui continued to think for a while, he decided to leave the matter to Xia Houxuan, who had previously escorted Wang Concubine and Fang'er.
Cao Rui understood that although Xia Houxuan had an aloof character and was not liked by him, his talent and character were indeed rare among the younger generations of in-laws. What's more, his cousin was just an idle feather at this time. He was just a forest supervisor. He secretly announced his entry into the palace on the pretext of discussing poetry and poetry, and then secretly appointed him, who was not considered important on the surface, to handle the matter. I believe no one would be suspicious.
The emperor's strategy was decided, so he immediately sent his servants to make arrangements.
——————
The former general, Wuyang Hou Sima Yi, had now been ordered by the emperor to hand over the military power of Yongliang Prefecture to Guo Huai. He himself accepted the noble and idle official post of Taiwei conferred by the emperor and returned to his residence in Luoyang.
At this moment, he was in the pavilion in the middle of the white camellia in the mansion, carefully reading a secret report secretly sent from the palace chamberlain Han Yong to Qingqing Garden, and then from Qingqing Garden to Wuyang Hou Mansion.
The secret report contained a dense list of ministers whom Emperor Cao Rui had met in recent days.
Seeing that there was nothing unusual in this month's secret list, Sima Yi casually threw the secret into the brazier beside him.
The secret document was instantly devoured by the fire in the basin and turned into ashes.
——————
Three days later, in the south of Luoyang City, in the guest house where the princes from various places lived, a satisfactory examination was held.
The examiner who presided over the examination was none other than the idle but talented Marquis Xia Houxuan of Changling.
It is said that this examination was an important examination specially ordered by Emperor Cao Rui in order to select the heir who would inherit the throne in the future. Therefore, the officials under Xia Houxuan who presided over the examination did not dare to neglect at all. Under the auspices, there were no accidents in this assessment, and it was held as scheduled and ended smoothly.
Since this assessment was mainly aimed at those suitable children of the royal family who were around seven or eight years old, those older ones did not participate in the examination.
As the youngest son of King Chen Cao Zhi, Cao Zhi is the same generation as His Majesty today, and his age has just passed the weak crown, so there is definitely no need to participate in the assessment.
At this time, he was asking the examiner who was presiding over this examination, an examiner under the chief examiner Xia Houxuan, to inquire about the situation of a candidate.
"Excuse me, sir, is there a suitable son of His Highness the King of Donghai named Cao Qi in the examination room?"
Cao Zhiyue has not forgotten that the little nephew he met for the first time on the banks of the Luoshui River four years ago. At that time, the little Cao Qi from the East China Sea took his wrinkled card and wrote a short poem. On the silk paper of the poem, I earnestly asked myself for advice. At that time, young Cao Qi very much hoped to be recognized by his father, Cao Lin, King of the East China Sea, who was thousands of miles away.
I wonder how that boy's poems are doing now. Cao Zhi couldn't help but think to himself.
The examiner recognized that the young master in front of him was Cao Zhi, the son of the late Chen Si King Cao Zhi, so he did not dare to neglect, and immediately carefully checked the list of candidates. After a while, the examiner shook his head and said:
"Cao Qi? I don't see this young master in this reference list?"
Cao Zhi felt surprised:
"What did you say……"
Seeing that Cao Zhi didn't believe it, the examiner continued to explain:
"Perhaps the young prince's memory is wrong. There is no suitable child for His Highness the King of Donghai in the examination room at this time."
After hearing this, Cao Zhi couldn't help but be shocked.
He did not know at this time that little Cao Qi, who was only over seven years old, had already suffered from severe cold. He was having a fever in Shiziguan Inn and was unable to get up. He had already missed the reference time.
August, Gengwu day.
After the assessment hosted by Xia Houxuan, Emperor Cao Rui finally selected the two heirs with the best grades, Cao Fang and Cao Xun, from among the many suitable sons, and issued an edict to appoint Prince Fang as King of Qi and Prince Xun as King of Qin.
On the day when the two children of Cao Fang and Cao Xun entered the palace, they saw endless joy in the tearful eyes of their father, Cao Kai, the king of Ren City. Reluctant to give up.
At this moment, Cao Fang, the only three-year-old King of Qi, looked at the magnificent Luoyang City in front of him. The vague sadness and timidity in his heart were gradually eliminated by the joy and excitement rising from the bottom of his heart.
.
——
Yanzhou, East China Sea Kingdom.
Not long ago, the sad news came from Luoyang, the capital, that the young prince Cao Qi failed to pass the exam.
The already bad-tempered King Cao Lin of the East China Sea was furious in the palace again, while all the servants in the palace were trembling in fear at the feet of the always moody prince. Everyone was just shivering at the moment, not even daring to express their anger.
"One day, I will get back everything I have lost!"
Cao Lin did not dare to say this sentence truly, because the supervisors sent by the emperor would now monitor his every word and deed as the King of East China Sea at all times, and report the truth to the emperor at any time.
At this moment, Cao Lin was holding back his anger, looking at the distant Luoyang City in the west, shouting in his heart the words he wanted to shout but couldn't.
