Just when Prince Hongyu and Zhang Qigong were discussing in the East Palace that "a thief suspected of being a green crow had sneaked into the palace last night", in the Daliang Mansion, Chu Shuli, the principal of the Daliang Mansion, was sitting in the waiting room of the official office, drinking tea slowly.
.
After about half an hour, an official from the palace came in, bowed his hands and said, "Sir, Minister Liu has official business to see you."
Chu Shuli held the tea cup for a moment, tilted his head slightly and thought for a long time, and then asked in confusion: "Which Minister Liu?"
When the official heard this, he replied: "It's Liu Shu, Liu Shilang, the left servant of the Ministry of Personnel."
Hearing this, Chu Shuli blinked his eyes and then said dryly: "Please."
"yes."
The official turned around and left, leaving Chu Shuli sitting alone in the class room, exhaling a long breath, and then shook his head slightly.
Chu Shuli also saw the changes in Daliang in the past year and was worried about it.
Mainly because this year - to be precise, since the second half of last year, the changes in imperial officials have been too frequent. Even the Minister of War, Xu Guan, the Minister of Household, Li Liang and other minister-level ministers have been criticized by the prince.
Needless to say, there is no need to say more about Hongyu's dismissal, and the other officials at the level of minister and minister.
Especially in the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Household Affairs, due to the successive promotion and dismissal of many officials, things have changed. Important officials in the court such as Xu Guan and Li Liang, who had a good personal relationship with Chu Shuli in the past, are now less and less in the court.
Instead, there were local officials who had hardly heard of fame in Daliang in the past, such as Yang Yi, the new Minister of Household Affairs, and Liu Shu, the new Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
The original promotion system of the imperial court has collapsed due to Prince Hongyu's arbitrary actions.
According to the original promotion system of the imperial court, the chief official was generally promoted by his deputy after he resigned. For example, if a minister resigned for some reason, the Emperor of Wei would usually select a successor from the left minister and right minister of the ministry.
The position of minister; and the vacant position of minister will also be selected from among the four ministers of the ministry, and they will go down one level like this.
Of course, sometimes local officials with outstanding political achievements are transferred to Daliang, but for this transfer, the position is generally capped at the position of Langguan. Unless they are particularly outstanding, they will be promoted to the rank of Minister of the Division.
However, the officials who have been promoted in the court in the past six months have been good. Almost 70% of them are local officials who were transferred to Daliang, and they suddenly took the position of minister or even minister. Although Chu Shuli can also understand that Prince Hongyu did this to capture.
The Yongwang Party, which should now be called the Donggong Party, allowed the aristocratic and aristocratic families to control the court. However, in doing so, the original promotion system of the court almost collapsed.
Of course, Chu Shuli only dared to complain about these things in his heart. After all, as the official of Daliang Mansion, he was just the county magistrate (prefect) who governed Daliang City. His position was not small, but it was not big.
At least I am not qualified to make irresponsible remarks on the decisions of the imperial court, especially the Chui Gong Palace.
After a while, thinking that it was almost time, Chu Shuli put down the teacup in his hand and walked out of the classroom.
Coincidentally, he saw the official from afar leading a middle-aged official with a mustache walking towards here. Behind him were two officials dressed as scribes.
This person was none other than Liu Shu, the left minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, who had been in office for three to four months.
Chu Shuli stepped out of the classroom, took two steps forward and said, "Shilang Liu."
"Lord Chu." Liu Shu, the left servant of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, walked up to Chu Shuli and returned the greeting with a smile.
After welcoming Liu Shu into the class room, Chu Shuli asked the former to sit down and ordered the servants to serve tea.
Unexpectedly, Liu Shu waved his hand and said with a chuckle: "Mr. Chu's kindness is appreciated by Mr. Liu... Mr. Liu still has some official business to deal with in this department, so he will not stay with Mr. Chu for a long time."
As he spoke, he waved to the two scribes who were accompanying him, and motioned them to place several volumes of essays in the book on the desks in the class room.
Seeing this, Chu Shuli asked curiously: "Master Liu, what is this?"
"This is the announcement that Chui Gong Palace ordered our officials to announce to the whole country. Please send people to post it everywhere in the city immediately."
Chu Shuli was no stranger to posting notices. After all, he had often received many types of notices in the past, such as the recruitment list issued by the Ministry of War, the wanted list from the Ministry of Punishments, the imperial examination results list from the Ministry of Rites, and the recruitment list from the Ministry of Household Affairs.
There were articles on the corvee list and so on, so it was not very surprising, so he asked curiously: "I wonder what it is about?"
Hearing this, Liu Shu smiled faintly. He did not answer Chu Shuli's question, but just bowed his hands and said goodbye: "Master Chu will know later when he sees it for himself. Liu has other affairs to attend to, so I will leave."
Seeing this, Chu Shuli couldn't ask any more questions, so he sent Liu Shu outside the classroom.
"Oh, by the way, Mr. Chu." Before leaving, Liu Shu seemed to have thought of something, and turned around and said deliberately: "These articles are the orders of His Highness Chui Gong. Please be sure to post them throughout the city immediately."
"Yes." Chu Shuli cupped his hands and watched Liu Shu leave.
After Liu Shu's figure disappeared from sight, Chu Shuli walked back to the classroom, picked up one of the rolls of papers on the desk, and slowly unfolded it.
Unexpectedly, after unfolding the list and just glancing at it, his eyes widened in shock, and a look of horror appeared on his face.
It was unimaginable that the official of the Daliang Mansion, who was over forty years old, would be so shocked and bewildered. He put the roll of papers in his hand aside and hurriedly opened another volume of papers.
After reading several volumes of papers in succession, he found that the words on the papers were all the same. Chu Shuli took a long breath and his face turned earth-colored.
It turns out that these articles are all about the same thing, that is, Qing Wang Zhao Hongxin refused to go to Daliang to participate in the enthronement ceremony, and supported his own troops with ulterior motives. He hereby informs the whole country.
This is obviously Chui Gongdian, no, it is Prince Hongyu who wants to brand King Qing Zhao Hongxin as a traitor.
"This, something big is going to happen!"
Chu Shuli took a deep breath and looked at the piles of papers on the desk with a gloomy expression.
After a long time, he sighed sadly.
He is just the official of Daliang Mansion. He has neither the qualifications nor the ability to dictate the decisions of Chui Gong Palace.
Shaking his head, Chu Shuli summoned several of his subordinate officials, pointed at the pile of announcements and ordered with an ugly expression: "Immediately send someone to post these announcements... all over the city."
"Yes, sir."
The civil servants did not doubt that he was there, so they each picked up a handful of inscriptions and turned around to retreat.
Seeing the leaving figures of these civil servants, Chu Shuli took a long breath, returned to his seat, and picked up the cup of tea with slightly trembling hands.
Because he knew very well what kind of uproar would be caused in the country after these papers were sent to the whole country by the Ministry of Personnel.
Just as Chu Shuli predicted, after these notices were posted in Daliang City, they immediately aroused private discussions among the nobles, noble families, and civilians in the city.
Ordinary people who don't know the truth will probably denounce Qing Wang Zhao Hongxin because of this list. After all, in their view, it is indeed a courtesy that Prince Hongyu's ascension to the throne is such a big event, but Qing Wang Zhao Hongxin still refuses to return to Daliang.
Deficit.
Some people even secretly speculated: Maybe Qing Wang Zhao Hongxin really supported his troops and had ulterior motives.
But anyone with a discerning eye can see at a glance that this is clearly Prince Hongyu taking the opportunity to trap Qing Wang Zhao Hongxin and preparing to take back the power in the latter's hands. At this critical moment, which prince would dare to return to Daliang easily?
Oh, there really is.
For example, Su Wang Zhao Hongrun returned to Daliang a few days ago.
"Does His Highness Prince Su support Prince Hongyu in taking back the rights from his brothers?"
Many people secretly guessed.
At the same time, in Prince Su's Mansion, Zong Wei, who had learned about the announcement from everyone in Qingya, hurriedly came to His Highness's study room and said breathlessly: "Your Highness, something bad has happened!"
In the study room, Zhao Hongrun was seen lying on a rocking chair made of bamboo, closing his eyes and relaxing.
Since early this morning, after listening to the oral description of the current situation in the palace by Ya Wu, the leader of the Qing Crows, Zhao Hongrun has been sitting in this rocking chair with a solemn expression as if he was thinking about a vital and important issue.
At this time, after hearing Zongwei Gao Kuo's screams, Zhao Hongrun slowly opened his eyes and asked, "What's all the fuss about?"
After hearing this, Gao Kuo stepped forward, took out a piece of paper from his arms, and handed it to Zhao Hongrun. Seeing the doubt on the latter's face, he explained: "An hour ago, Daliang Mansion sent someone to post a notice in the city.
...This is the content of the list copied by the Blue Crows."
Zhao Hongrun frowned, took the piece of paper and glanced at it twice, then his eyes flashed with horror, and he sat up in shock.
"Is this serious?!"
Zhao Hongrun was seen holding the piece of paper tightly with both hands, his face uncertain.
You must know that in the early morning, he was still thinking secretly, secretly wondering whether his brothers had great power and whether it really made Prince Hongyu restless. Unexpectedly, only two hours later, his suspicion was confirmed.
At this time, Wei Jiao, the chief of Zongwei, watched carefully and frowned when he saw this and said: "If King Qing sees this announcement, he will definitely raise his troops and come to Daliang!"
"..." Zhao Hongrun remained silent.
In fact, Wei Jiao is right. Don't think that Qing Wang Zhao Hongxin dare not raise troops. You must know that no matter how powerful the prince Hongyu is in Daliang, he is only the "Prince of the Supervisor" after all, and he is not a member of the Wei Kingdom.
The king, Qing Wang Zhao Hongxin, could have faked the imperial edict and raised troops - that is, under the guise of their father's name, falsely claiming to have obtained their father's secret edict, and in turn, framed Prince Hongyu for placing their father under house arrest.
Of course, compared to Prince Hongyu who is sitting in the Chui Gong Hall, the credibility of Qing Wang Zhao Hongxin's doing this is not very high, but having said that, as a name for raising troops, this is enough - as long as Qing Wang Zhao Hongxin's subordinates
It is enough for the generals and soldiers to believe this.
As for whether it is true or false, if Prince Hongyu is defeated in the future and King Qing Hongxin leads his army to attack Daliang and replaces Prince Hongyu in the name of "Qing Jun Side", who will care whether King Zhao Hongxin of Qing has that in his hands?
Where is the edict?
"Prince...this has forced Prince Qing into a desperate situation."
Passing the piece of paper in his hand to Zong Wei Chief Wei Jiao, Zhao Hongrun lay back on the rocking chair and pondered.
Just as Wei Jiao said, he also felt that after seeing this list, King Qing Zhao Hongxin would definitely send troops to attack Daliang.
Rather than plotting a rebellion, it is better to say that Qing Wang Hongxin wanted to seek a chance of survival - this time, Prince Hongyu really pushed too hard.
In Zhao Hongrun's view, if Prince Hongyu did not publish this list this time, he did not care whether the brothers returned to Daliang to witness the enthronement ceremony. Don't act too hastily and slowly take over the power from their father. In this case, in the end,
The bad situation is just that Qing Wang Zhao Hongxin is relying on his troops to separatize Song County. Does he really dare to lead troops to attack Daliang and prevent Prince Hongyu from ascending the throne?
If Qing Wang Zhao Hongxin really dared to do this, then Zhao Hongrun would lead the merchant navy to attack Qing Wang Zhao Hongxin without waiting for Prince Hongyu to ask for help.
But now, even if he clearly guessed that King Qing Zhao Hongxin was about to launch an army to attack Daliang, Zhao Hongrun had no intention of blocking this disaster for Prince Hongyu.
The reason is very simple. Prince Hongyu's behavior this time made him very dissatisfied.
At this time, Zongwei Zhongzhao and Mu Qingyi, who learned about this, came to the study together. After reading the list copied by the Green Crows, Mu Qingshai said with a smile: "Ha! This time King Qing
It's really bad luck. None of the six princes came to Daliang, but Prince Qing was the only one who was beaten by the prince for being rebellious..."
Indeed, in fact, those who have not come to Daliang for a long time include the eldest prince Zhao Hongli, King Huan Zhao Hongxuan, King Yan Zhao Hongjiang, King Qing Zhao Hongxin, King Yi Zhao Hongyin, as well as Zhao Hongrun who is still under house arrest in Prince Su's Mansion in Shangshui County.
There were six people in total, including Zhao Hongjing, the king of Xiang, but only Zhao Hongxin, the king of Qing, was named as a traitor by Prince Hongyu.
Leave aside the eldest prince Zhao Hongli, the eldest brother who has clearly withdrawn from the fight for the right to inherit the throne and left everything to King Huan Zhao Hongxuan, leave aside the brother of Yi Wang Zhao Hongyin who has no power and no rights, and leave out the brother of King Xiang Zhao Hongjing who has no power.
Prince Hongyu had already removed the title of king from his hometown of Yangzhai last year. The only people who pose a threat to Prince Hongyu's existence are Zhao Hongxuan, King Huan, Zhao Hongjiang, King Yan, Zhao Hongxin, King Qing, and Zhao Hongrun, King Su.
four people.
Among these four people, except Zhao Hongrun, who was already in Daliang, the other three turned a blind eye to Prince Hongyu’s invitation to come to Daliang to witness the enthronement ceremony. But why did Prince Hongyu only label Qing Wang Zhao Hongxin as a traitor?
It is said that Prince Hongyu did not think that King Huan Zhao Hongxuan and King Yan Zhao Hongjiang were threats? Or, for the sake of Zhao Hongrun, did he acquiesce to the behavior of those two people?
Of course not!
At least Zhao Hongrun doesn't think so. He thinks that this is just because Prince Hongyu wanted to "kill the chicken to scare the monkeys." He vigorously suppressed Qing Wang Zhao Hongxin and put pressure on Huan Wang Zhao Hongxuan and Yan Wang Zhao Hongjiang. Of course, among them, Prince Hongyu did not
I hope to face the relationship between three brothers who hold military power at the same time.
However, no matter what Prince Hongyu thought about, there was one thing he was afraid he had miscalculated, and that was Zhao Hongrun's younger brother, King Huan Zhao Hongxuan.
King Huan Zhao Hongxuan, with Luo Yao and Zhou Min as his assistants, how could he not see through Prince Hongyu's methods of "defeating them one by one" or "killing chickens to scare monkeys"? - The one who is suffering now is just Qing Qing.
King Zhao Hongxin, what’s next? Will Prince Hongyu turn his attention to King Huan Zhao Hongxuan and King Yan Zhao Hongjiang?
What's more, because of the relationship between the eldest prince Zhao Hongli, King Huan Zhao Hongxuan himself had a deep prejudice against the prince Hongyu. Therefore, Zhao Hongrun could conclude that if King Qing Hongxin contacted King Huan Zhao Hongxuan before launching an army, the latter would definitely become the leader of Qing Dynasty.
The king's allies jointly attacked Daliang and overthrew the prince Hongyu.
Maybe, King Huan Zhao Hongxuan will also drag King Yan Zhao Hongjiang into the "anti-prince" camp, and together they will attack Daliang.
In other words, no matter whether Prince Hongyu is willing or not, if he publishes this list today, he is destined to be attacked by Qing Wang Zhao Hongxin and Huan Wang Zhao Hongxuan at the same time, and there may even be more
Zhao Hongjiang, King of Yan.
And this means that the Wei State is about to face a civil war with an army of three to four hundred thousand.
When Zhao Hongrun told several clan guards about his guess, Wei Jiao and others all looked shocked and dignified.
Think about it, can the Wei State withstand such consumption in a civil war involving an army of three to four hundred thousand troops?
Maybe after a civil war, the Wei State will finally be able to secure its position as the "Hegemon of the Central Plains". Once we go back to seven years ago, Korea in the north and Chu State in the south may take advantage of the situation and invade.
The Wei State will face the danger of national subjugation again.
"That's ridiculous!"
Taking the copy of the transcript from Mu Qing's hand and looking at it again, Zhao Hongrun angrily balled it up and threw it to the ground.
It was rare for His Highness to be so angry. Wei Jiao, Mu Qing, Gao Kuo and Zhongzhao looked at each other in shock and did not dare to speak.
After a long while, Zhao Hongrun took a few deep breaths to calm down, then suddenly stood up and walked towards the door.
But when he reached the door of the study, he suddenly stopped and thought for a moment with a gloomy expression. Then he slowly walked back to his original position, lay down on the rocking chair again, closed his eyes and meditated.
It turned out that he had just planned to meet Prince Hongyu in person and order the latter to withdraw the list. But after thinking about it carefully, he suddenly thought, would Prince Hongyu follow his suggestion?
You must know that Prince Hongyu has not given Zhao Hongrun a clear explanation for the problems of the Smelting Bureau and the Weapon Casting Bureau until now.
Although he thought very well, it would be best if Prince Hongyu was willing to follow his advice. If not, it would be up to him to step in and stop this civil strife. How could Wei State, which had finally become stronger and stronger, withstand internal strife?
But the question is, what if Prince Hongyu refuses to listen to his advice and refuses to let him leave Daliang?
If so, wouldn't it be a warning if he went to meet Prince Hongyu in person?
Otherwise, leave Daliang secretly?
"..."
Lying on the rocking chair, Zhao Hongrun closed his eyes and meditated.
After a long time of burning incense, he opened his eyes and said in a deep voice: "Mu Qing, prepare the car, I want to meet the prince in person!"
Mu Qing nodded and was about to leave, but saw Gao Kuo grabbing Mu Qing's arm, and then lowered his voice and said to Zhao Hongrun: "Your Highness, I think the most urgent task is to find a way to leave the city... I can predict that, Your Highness
If you go this time, you will definitely not see the prince, but you will be alarmed. Why not take advantage of the moment, pack up your bags immediately, and break out..."
Obviously, Gao Kuo also thought very far.
Hearing this, Zhao Hongrun shook his head slightly and said solemnly: "If I leave privately now, I will be morally wrong; if he doesn't see me, then I have a clear conscience... No matter what decision I make in the future,
I don’t owe him anything!”
After hearing this, Gao Kuo shook his head helplessly and had no choice but to let go of Mu Qing.
After a while, after Mu Qing prepared the carriage, Zhao Hongrun took Wei Jiao and four other clan guards and rode the carriage directly to the palace.
Just like the previous time, this time Zhao Hongrun and others were still stopped outside the palace.
The person who stopped him happened to be Shi Zhao, the commander of the Imperial Guard that day - it could be seen that the latter also felt quite sorry for having stopped Zhao Hongrun in the palace again.
Ignoring the embarrassment on Shi Zhao's face, Zhao Hongrun got off the carriage in person this time and said to Shi Zhao solemnly: "Commander Shi, please send someone to report to Chui Gong Hall immediately, saying that the king has urgent matters.
, I need to discuss it with the prince!"
Seeing that Zhao Hongrun looked so serious, Shi Zhao did not dare to neglect and immediately sent someone to Chui Gong Hall.
A moment later, Prince Hongyu learned of the incident in Chui Gong Hall.
At this time, Lin Yuyang, Yu Ziqi, and Feng Yu were no longer in the Chui Gong Hall. Instead, they were Zhang Qigong, Chen Tang and other close aides of Zhao Hongyu.
After learning about this, Zhang Qigong stroked his beard and asserted: "Prince Su must have learned about the list published today, so he came to see His Highness the Crown Prince to withdraw the list..."
After hearing this, Prince Hongyu pondered for a long time, shook his head and said: "The arrow is on the string and it has to be fired..."
Having said that, it was inconvenient for him to ignore the matter.
Since Prince Hongyu did not make any response, Zhao Hongrun waited outside the palace.
From near noon until near dusk, Zhao Hongrun repeatedly asked Shi Zhao to send people to report to Chui Gong Hall, but he still did not receive a response from Prince Hongyu.
But for some reason, Zhao Hongrun was not angry. Perhaps this was because he was already a little disappointed with Prince Hongyu.
Looking up at the dusk sky, Zhao Hongrun, who had been waiting for several hours, finally got on the carriage he came from.
"Your Highness?" Gao Kuo and Zhong Zhao, who were driving the carriage, asked for instructions.
Zhao Hongrun glanced at the palace and said expressionlessly: "Let's go back to the palace."
Watching the carriage slowly leave, the guard commander Shi Zhao shook his head slightly and sent someone to report to Chui Gong Hall again.
"Your Highness, Prince Su has left."
After hearing the news, Prince Hongyu suddenly stopped while he was reviewing the memorial.
From the side, Zhang Qigong was also secretly sighing.
At this moment, even as the chief aide around Prince Hongyu, Zhang Qigong was secretly amazed at the character of King Su - he originally thought that King Su Zhao Hongrun would be angry after learning about the list.
Leave the city secretly.
For this reason, he had already prepared for it.
Unexpectedly, His Highness Prince Su would come to personally advise the Crown Prince Hongyu, even if they knew his thoughts about leaving. He was really aboveboard.
But praise was a compliment in his heart, and there were some words that he still had to say: "Prince Su is leaving. After returning to the palace, he will pack his bags and leave Daliang immediately. The prince will make a decision early in the morning."
Hearing this, a look of struggle flashed in Prince Hongyu's eyes. After a while, he gritted his teeth and said: "Zhou Yue, send the imperial guards... to surround Prince Su's Mansion. No one can enter or leave without my order!"
"Yes." Zong Wei Chief Zhou Yue sighed secretly, clasped his fists and left.
Looking at Zhou Yue's leaving figure, Prince Hongyu felt a trance in his heart.
He knew that after the imperial guards surrounded Prince Su's Mansion, there would be no room for maneuver between him and his eighth brother.
"but……"
Not knowing what he was thinking of, Prince Hongyu couldn't help but clenched his fists.