"So, it's better for me, the Wei Dynasty, not to interfere in the civil strife in Chu State?...Is this what you mean?"
After a long time, Zhao Hongrun frowned slightly and asked rather reluctantly.
After hearing this, Emperor Wei looked at his son in front of him with a smile, and asked with a half-smile: "Do you believe in the promise of the Qu family?"
"I don't believe it." Zhao Hongrun replied without hesitation.
When Emperor Wei heard this, the smile on his face grew wider, and he asked again: "Do you think the Qu family has a chance of winning?"
"I don't believe it." Zhao Hongrun replied again.
"In this case, it's just to prolong the civil strife in Chu and arouse the hatred of Chu. Why bother?" Emperor Wei spread his hands, then lowered his voice and said seriously: "Hongrun, Mr. Qu
I am a minister, the Xiong family belongs to the royal family... I, the Zhao family, also belong to the royal family. Don’t break the rules, do you understand?"
"..." Upon hearing this, Zhao Hongrun was shocked.
Only now did he realize that he had made a rather serious oversight: he was a member of the royal power of the Wei Kingdom and could not help the Qu family subvert the royal power of the Chu Kingdom. The royal power was supreme and other clans were not allowed to get involved.
Regardless of whether the Qu family is good or bad compared to the Xiong family, the Zhao family of the Wei Kingdom cannot truly support the Qu family. Otherwise, wouldn't it be weakening the status of their own royal family in disguise?
"Maintain orthodoxy..." Zhao Hongrun's face changed slightly as he read out some of the things he had learned in palace studies.
"As long as you remember." Emperor Wei nodded with satisfaction.
Zhao Hongrun guessed right. His father, Emperor Wei, really did not want to intervene in the royal power struggle between the Qu family and the Xiong family of Chu State, because it involved an issue of "the orthodoxy of royal power."
When the king of one country defeats the king of another country, it is just a merger between royal families and it is within the rules; but if his subordinates rebel and usurp the throne and steal the royal power of a certain country, this is something that no king can tolerate. - Because they
If you don't stop this kind of thing, your position will also be affected.
Therefore, not to mention that the Qu clan has almost no chance of victory, even if it is possible to replace the Xiong clan, Emperor Wei will not assist the former. Even if the Xiong clan is at a disadvantage, Emperor Wei may directly send troops to support them.
The Xiong clan upholds the orthodoxy of Chu State.
This is a tacit understanding between kings of various countries.
Seeing his son's demeanor change, Emperor Wei did not blame him. He knew that the son in front of him made such negligence just because he did not correct his mentality - face up to the fact that he is a member of the royal family.
.
While Emperor Wei was examining Zhao Hongrun, Zhao Hongrun quickly had a few thoughts in his mind, and then he said sadly: "It seems that we, the Great Wei, cannot intervene in this civil strife in Chu State...
…”
Seeing that his son had figured out the key, Emperor Wei smiled and said: "That's not entirely true... I just said that you can't help the Qu family shake the royal status of the Xiong family, but I didn't say that you can't
Disgusting, disgusting Xiong clan..."
"How do you say this?" Zhao Hongrun looked at his father in surprise.
Seeing this, Emperor Wei lowered his voice and reminded: "Don't you still have a few pieces of land to the east of Shangshui County that you took from the Chu State, but you didn't care about it?"
"..." Zhao Hongrun's head was spinning rapidly. After a while, a strange smile appeared on his face, and he looked at his father and said sincerely: "Father, you are indeed very scheming... quite insidious."
"Treason!" Emperor Wei slapped his son on the head angrily.
After a while, Emperor Wei returned to Chui Gong Palace, while Zhao Hongrun took Zong Wei Weijiao directly to Ningxiang Palace - they were all at the palace anyway, so they should accompany their mother, Concubine Shen Shu, by the way.
Compared with the hesitation he felt when he arrived, Zhao Hongrun now only feels that his future is bright.
Although he was still a little unwilling in his heart, he had to admit that his father was indeed a wise king who could be ranked alongside kings such as King Lu Xi of Qi and King Xiong Xu of Chu, both in terms of thoughtfulness and vision.
In the long run, everyone will be better than him.
After returning to the palace in the evening, Zhao Hongrun carefully considered the words and wrote a letter. Then he called Duan Pei, the leader of the Qingya Zong, and told him: "Send this letter to Shangshui and call it Yang Shi Tao."
Organize a team with Ying Kang and deliver it to the King of Chu without any mistakes."
"Understood!" Duan Pei nodded and was about to turn around and leave, but was stopped by Zhao Hongrun.
"Your Highness, do you have any other instructions?" Duan Pei asked in confusion.
"..." Zhao Hongrun opened his mouth, but after a few hesitations, he waved his hand and said, "It's okay, you can go down."
"Yes." Duan Pei left with a bit of confusion.
Looking at his leaving figure, Zhao Hongrun frowned slightly.
Just now, he wanted to remind Duan Pei to ask the Qingya people to stay calm in Daliang and not to come into contact with the influence of the inner chamber supervisor. After all, from the conversation between him and his father today, his father did not know why,
The supervision of internal affairs supervisors is being strengthened.
But after a second thought, Zhao Hongrun gave up again.
After all, his father already knew about the two hidden thieves under his command, the Shangshui Green Crow and the Yangxia Black Crow, and joked that "we won't raise an army just for a few little crows." Zhao Hongrun felt that his father had no reason to deceive him.
Therefore, deliberately reminding Duan Pei may actually arouse the Qingya people's mild hostility towards the inner chamberlain - I thought it was well hidden, but I didn't expect that it was all under their noses. Even if I think about it, the Qingya people would not be convinced.
Having said that...
"Why does my father want to strengthen the supervision of the internal chamberlain?...Who is he targeting?"
Zhao Hongrun stretched out his hand to scratch his face, frowned and asked: "Wei Jiao, did anything wrong happen to Daliang some time ago?"
Hearing this, Wei Jiao smiled bitterly: "Your Highness, you are asking the wrong person for your humble position..."
Isn't that right? Like Zhao Hongrun, he has only been back in Daliang for about a month. Who knows what happened in Daliang some time ago.
"Go back and ask Gao Kuo to find out." Zhao Hongrun nodded and said.
"clear."
The next day, Zhao Hongrun slowly woke up from his sleep, dressed and washed himself.
At this time, Zongwei Chief Wei Jiao said from the side: "Your Highness, Gao Kuo came here just now and said that he had obtained some information... I asked him to wait in the front hall."
"oh."
Zhao Hongrun responded, stepped to the front hall and took a look, and sure enough he saw Gao Kuo sitting in the seat carefree.
"Your Highness." Seeing His Highness coming out, Gao Kuo stood up immediately.
Zhao Hongrun waved his hand to signal Gao Kuo to waive the etiquette, and at the same time asked him: "Gao Kuo, what happened in Daliang some time ago?"
"Ah? Oh." Gao Kuo was stunned for a moment, then came back to his senses and explained: "I'm still investigating this matter..."
"Then what are you doing here?" Zhao Hongrun asked with a strange look on his face.
Hearing this, Gao Kuo smiled bitterly and said helplessly: "Your Highness, don't you want to humble yourself and find out among those new science students who are outstanding but haven't been chosen yet?"
"Oh." Zhao Hongrun suddenly understood and patted his head, which was still not very bright because he had just woken up.
Immediately, he asked: "Is there any candidate?"
"No." Gao Kuo answered simply, spreading his hands and saying: "All the outstanding students have been selected, and either became so-and-so's disciples, or they have been booked by certain government offices.
"
Although Zhao Hongrun had expected this situation, Gao Kuo's straightforward answer made him still a little depressed. He twitched the corner of his mouth and exhaled, and said angrily: "Then why are you coming back?... To tease me? I
It seems you want to go to the Yuma Army to collect horse manure, right?"
Hearing this, Gao Kuo felt sweat on his forehead and quickly explained with a flattering look on his face: "Your Highness, I am not the ungrateful guy like Mu Qing in this lowly position. How dare I play tricks on you, Your Highness?...Although there is no gain in this lowly position,
However, I did find out something quite interesting."
"Interesting thing?" Zhao Hongrun glanced at Gao Kuo doubtfully and said, "Tell me about it."
After hearing this, Gao Kuo felt relieved and said mysteriously: "Your Highness, in this year's examination, a... well, a very interesting student appeared. It is said that this person deliberately wanted to take revenge on the imperial court and deliberately cheated in the examination.
, but none of the officials in the Ministry of Etiquette saw through this boy’s cheating methods in the examination room.”
"That's it?"
Zhao Hongrun rolled his eyes, walked to the table, poured himself a cup of herbal tea, and said lightly: "What's so strange about this? Huh, if I go to the examination room, I can still cheat under the eyes of the examiner without knowing it.
.”
Hearing this, a strange smile appeared on Gao Kuo's face, and he said softly: "Then, Your Highness, can you help several candidates cheat under the eyes of the examiner of the Ministry of Etiquette, get a few idiots to rank first, and obtain the qualifications for the palace examination?
?”
"..."
Zhao Hongrun suddenly stopped raising the tea cup to his mouth, and looked at Gao Kuo in shock, with a look of disbelief on his face: "Help others cheat in the exam?"
Gao Kuo pretended to be incomprehensible and nodded.
"How many idiots?" The expression on Zhao Hongrun's face became even weirder.
"Even if they are not idiots, they are not qualified to be on the top list... Among the people who were helped, several pretended to be ill to avoid the palace examination. There was one who was not afraid of death and actually dared to take the palace examination. As a result, he was named by His Majesty in the palace examination.
He made Long Yan angry because he didn't know anything about it. Because of this, the Ministry of Rites was severely reprimanded by His Majesty." Gao Kuo laughed in a low voice.
"Is there such a thing?"
Zhao Hongrun showed some interest on his face, but at the same time, there was a sour feeling in his heart.
"If he doesn't care for himself or others, that person is simply a living Lei Feng... I was taking the college entrance examination at that time, so why didn't I meet such an awesome person?"
Zhao Hongrun smacked his lips rather depressed, and asked with interest: "What's that person's name?"
"Wen Qi!" Gao Kuo whispered.
"Onsaki?"
Hearing this name, Zhao Hongrun's expression changed slightly, because he felt that the name had some impression, as if he had seen it somewhere.
"Where have I seen it before..."
Zhao Hongrun walked a few steps in the hall, and gradually recalled a scene in his mind: a candidate in the examination room pointed at his mouth and shook his head, and then deliberately pointed at the candle on the examination table...
"Is it him?!"
A little surprise appeared on Zhao Hongrun's face.