ps: I've been getting the wrong chapters mysteriously recently, which is strange. Yesterday's two chapters were originally intended to correct the wrong chapter numbers, but they turned out to be wrong. This chapter is supposed to rectify the chaos.
The following text
As Zhao Hongrun guessed, on that day, the team of worshipers returned to the palace, and several rumors spread in Daliang City.
These rumors are almost the same. They allude to the fact that Hongli, the crown prince of the East Palace, who assisted Emperor Wei in presiding over the heaven worship ceremony and recited the heaven sacrifice in public, was shallow in benevolence and was not favored by the Heavenly Father. Therefore, the Heavenly Father
He used "divine power" to cover up the words on the sacrificial inscription, so much so that Hongli, the crown prince of the East Palace, almost made a fool of himself in public.
Later, the voice of nearly 100,000 Liang people reciting sacrificial inscriptions heard under the Temple of Heaven did not come from the mouth of Prince Hongli of the East Palace, but from someone else.
It has to be said that the authenticity of this rumor is infinitely close to the truth. I believe anyone with some knowledge can guess who spread this rumor.
They are nothing more than the few princes and highnesses competing with the East Palace Prince Hongli for the throne.
In fact, even Hongli, the crown prince of the East Palace who had stabilized his mind, guessed a few things on the way back to the palace.
But even so, he did not have time to confront Yong Wang Hongyu, Xiang Wang Hongjing and several other brothers who were vying for the throne with him, because all the princes called Emperor Wei to the Chui Gong Hall after returning to the palace, and they were bearing the burden of Emperor Wei.
Outrageous rage.
"What a courage! What a courage!"
I remember that as soon as Emperor Wei arrived at the Chui Gong Hall, he started to go into a rage, angrily taking pictures of the dragon case and angrily scolding the group of sons in front of him.
"During the ceremony of worshiping the heaven, in such an important ceremony of worshiping the heaven, you actually gave me a fight with the same roommate... What kind of ceremony were you planning to worship the heaven? Haven't you ever thought that there were people under the altar of worshiping the heaven at that time?
Are the nearly 100,000 people of Wei Wei watching? The face of my family, Ji, and the face of the imperial court are almost lost because of one of you!"
"..."
Prince Hongli of the East Palace, Hongyu of Yong, Hongjing of Xiang, Hongxin of Qing, Zhao Hongrun of Su, as well as the seventh prince Hongyin and the ninth prince Hongxuan, all of these seven princes knelt in front of the dragon case with their heads lowered.
Say nothing.
None of my business? Depressing!
Zhao Hongrun, who was very innocent, muttered secretly in his heart, but at this moment, he couldn't act rashly. After all, his father had made it clear that he was very angry. If he jumped out and said a few words at this time, he might offend his father.
, he was simply sent to his door to be beaten by his father, and he was used as a chicken to scare the monkeys.
Just as he guessed, Emperor Wei's eyes glanced back and forth among the three princes: Yong Wang Hongyu, Xiang Wang Hongjing, and Qing Wang Hongxin, because it was obvious that these three were the ones who would frame the Prince of the East Palace for the fight for the throne.
"Who is it? Which one of you designed to frame the prince?!"
Emperor Wei once again patted the dragon case and said angrily.
As for his father's question, Zhao Hongrun simply sneered in his heart.
Father, are you too naive? You think someone will admit it after just asking a few questions like this? Hey!
Zhao Hongrun shook his head silently.
You must know that the war between princes fighting for the throne is different from ordinary political battles. Take what happened at today's ceremony for worshiping heaven as an example. Zhao Hongrun is 90% sure to be his second brother Yong Wang Hongyu, but so what?
Where is the evidence?
Not to mention that Zhao Hongrun would not betray and report this King Yong, even if he did, can we conclude that it was King Yong Hongyu who did it just based on the empty memorial document?
Don’t forget, this memorial document was handwritten by Prince Hongli’s staff, and was later managed by Prince Hongli’s Zongwei Feng Shu. No one from King Yong had ever handled it. What kind of evidence is this?
And this is why Zhao Hongrun secretly admires Yong Wang Hongyu's beautiful work.
The only flaw is probably that a certain official in the Ministry of Rites was bribed or recruited by Yong Wang Hongyu.
In Zhao Hongrun's opinion, the official most likely secretly slipped the special ink while others were not paying attention, so that Luo Yao immediately used the fading ink to write down today's ritual ceremony on the altar.
The sacrificial inscriptions to be recited almost caused the Prince of the East Palace, Hongli, to make a fool of himself.
But the problem is, for something like ink that we usually don’t pay much attention to, who would remember which official from the Ministry of Rites secretly changed the ink?
Furthermore, to say the least, even if the official of the Ministry of Rites was caught and testified against Yong Wang Hongyu, the latter could deny it.
A prince is a prince after all, and he has certain special treatment. The so-called prince is guilty of the same crime as the common people. To be honest, it is just to coax the scholars and the people, unless the prince committed treason, rebellion, etc., which cannot be pardoned.
of great sin.
To put it bluntly, even if the Emperor of Wei suspected that what happened today was the work of Yong Wang Hongyu, he would not be sent to the Ministry of Punishment to be tortured and interrogated. At most, he would only be threatened with a few words.
If the truth cannot be revealed through frightening, at best it will look like a severe punishment, but in reality it will be a mild punishment, such as cutting off the salary of Prince Yong for half a year or something like that.
The majestic Yong Wang Hongyu, a popular candidate for the throne, would care about a little money? For princes of his status, some high-ranking officials would take the initiative to send money to his door in order to cling to his high status.
Some people may ask, what if the truth is revealed through a scare?
Oh, if the truth comes out through fright, then we will deal with it according to the Ji family's ancestral rules.
In addition, a prince with such pitiful courage will definitely be eliminated from the list of candidates for the throne by Emperor Wei.
So, sometimes things in the world are actually very ironic.
However, Yongwang Hongyu and several other princes obviously knew this very well. Facing Emperor Wei's angry questioning, they lowered their heads and said nothing, allowing Emperor Wei to roar angrily.
"How unreasonable! How unreasonable!...Do you want the whole world to see my Ji family's joke?!...I know very well that all of you are eyeing the position of the prince, but...I never expected that you
How dare you be so bold and dare to play tricks on the Heaven Sacrifice Ceremony..."
From the side, Prince Hongli watched Emperor Wei angrily lecture his brothers, a happy expression appeared on his face. Not to mention, what happened today really scared him half to death.
Recalling that he was holding the empty memorial text in his hand, his face turned pale with fright. The more Prince Hongli thought about it, the more he hated it. He couldn't help but add insult to injury and said: "Father, the emperor thought that the second brother and others today
This behavior has exceeded the rules."
Stupid... You are still thinking of adding insult to injury at this time? You can't protect yourself, right?
Zhao Hongrun curled his lips secretly.
Sure enough, after hearing what Prince Hongli said, Emperor Wei immediately cast his angry gaze at the Prince of the East Palace and cursed angrily: "I haven't come to you yet! ... The person who wrote the memorial text is yours; the one who delivered the memorial text,
also you
person. But you asked some people to play tricks under your nose and produce an empty memorial document!... You, the majestic prince of the East Palace, can't even keep a memorial document, how can you protect my life?
Wei Ji’s Sheji?!”
It has to be said that Emperor Wei's tone was quite strong, and he almost pointed at the nose of the East Palace Prince Hongli and scolded him for being such a useless prince who can't even keep a memorial!
Let's see...
Zhao Hongrun shook his head wordlessly, and watched somewhat speechlessly as the Crown Prince of the East Palace, Hongli, turned pale with fright, kneeling on the ground and admitting his mistake repeatedly.
Emperor Wei cursed for a long time before the anger in his heart slowly subsided. He glanced coldly at Prince Hongli, Yong Wang Hongyu, Xiang Wang Hongjing and Qing Wang Hongxin, snorted and cursed again.
: "Hongli is incompetent, and you are so immoral, how could I give birth to a son like you!... Could it be that my position has made you get carried away?!"
"..."
"We are in the same room fighting each other, scheming against each other, and we don't know what we are doing all day long! With this energy, why not use it to make me, the Wei Dynasty, richer and stronger?!"
"Father, calm down..."
Prince Hongli, Yong Wang Hongyu and others gradually realized that their father's anger seemed to be unusually strong today, so they all lowered their heads and admitted their mistakes repeatedly.
After walking around in the hall for a while, Emperor Wei seemed to have made some decision and said coldly: "Okay! Aren't you all staring at my position? I will give you a chance today! ... Put aside your long-term relationship for the time being.
Young and orderly, what I want is a wise king who can make our Wei Dynasty more prosperous and powerful!" After saying that, Emperor Wei paused and said in a deep voice: "From today on, all princes who leave the cabinet will be chosen by me from among the six departments.
When the department is on duty, I will send a censor to supervise and evaluate the performance once a year. If someone among them has done an outstanding job, what's the harm in giving him this position?"
Hearing this, Prince Hongli was shocked.
What does Emperor Wei's words mean? It means that he will not be able to just sit back and reap the rewards, waiting for the throne to come to his door.
However, Yong Wang Hongyu, Xiang Wang Hongyu, and Qing Wang Hongjing all showed surprise and disbelief.
This... Emperor Wei is giving them a chance?
Even Yong Wang Hongyu, who was quite good at self-cultivation, had a hint of surprise on his face uncontrollably at this moment.
This was really intentional planting of flowers that failed to bloom, but unintentional planting of willows and willows to create shade. I'm afraid even Yong Wang Hongyu didn't expect that although the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven did not bring down the Prince of the East Palace, nor did he succeed in driving a wedge between Prince Hongli and his staff Luo Yao, it did gain
A bigger gain.
That is, compete fairly with Prince Hongli and the other brothers for the throne, and everything will be based on political performance.
The most surprised person was Zhao Hongrun. At this time, he seemed to be dumbfounded.
Any prince who leaves the cabinet...?
Carefully reciting what Emperor Wei had just said word for word in his heart, Zhao Hongrun slowly widened his eyes and felt a slight chill rising up his back, which made his hair stand on end.
His whole body was agitated, and he quickly asked tentatively: "Father, when you just said that all the princes who leave the cabinet do not include the emperor's son, right?...Father and the other royal brothers all know that the emperor's son has no interest in the throne...
…”
Emperor Wei suddenly turned his head, glared at Zhao Hongrun fiercely, and shouted angrily: "Are you leaving the cabinet?!"
"I……"
Zhao Hongrun opened his mouth, but was speechless.
Because just the day before yesterday, he got the promise from Emperor Wei that he would leave the cabinet...
Moreover, he also has his own Prince Su's Mansion...
What the hell!
Zhao Hongrun almost spat out a mouthful of blood in anger. (To be continued.)