I'm really not King Jing of Zhongshan

Chapter 224 Liu Sheng: How to say?Partner or not?
A celebration banquet that was supposed to be a feast for the guests of honor became inexplicably awkward because of Zhou Yafu's early departure.

——Celebration banquet The celebration banquet was originally to celebrate the meritorious service of the generals and officials led by Zhou Yafu and Dou Ying in the process of suppressing the rebellion;
As a result, Zhou Yafu walked away in such a swaggering way, and the celebration banquet obviously changed a bit.

After Zhou Yafu left, Tianzi Qi quickly recovered his calm, teasing his niece Gillian in his arms from time to time, or having a drink with the general who came forward to toast and thank him.

Although Empress Dowager Dou was also unhappy, she was also the 'host' of the celebration banquet, so she forced a stiff smile and sat until the banquet was over.

With Zhou Yafu making such a fuss, Liu Sheng has no need to 'make friends';

He walked to the east seat politely, had a drink with Li Ji, Luan Bu, Han Tuidang and other meritorious officials, as well as Cheng Bushi, Li Guang and other generals, and then sat back in his seat.

When it was completely dark, the banquet came to an abrupt end as Empress Dowager Dou withdrew due to her 'too much drink'.

When everyone left Changxin Hall, there was an inexplicable strangeness on their faces;
——Including Liu Sheng.

But what makes Liu Sheng feel at ease and happy is that when Liu Sheng and Liu Pengzu walked out of the Changxin Hall, Wei Qihou Dou Ying, who should have returned home long ago, was waiting for the two brothers with a smile... ··
·
"Speaking of which, this is the first time you've come back to your cousin's house?"

Unable to resist Dou Ying's kindness, they got into the same carriage with Dou Ying, and within a short while, the three uncles and nephews had arrived in Shangguanli.

Guided by Dou Ying himself, he walked into Dou Ying's Wei Qihou's mansion, and just sat down in the side hall, Liu Sheng said indifferently, which made Dou Ying smile wryly and shake his head.

"In the past, even if you wanted to come, the two of you couldn't easily get out of the palace?"

"Even if you can get out of the palace gate, with your brothers' ingenuity, you definitely won't do it..."

"Furthermore, I have just moved in to Wei Qihou's Mansion."

After saying these words with ease, Dou Ying lightly smiled and adjusted her sitting posture, looking at Liu Sheng with a half-smile.

Liu Sheng could also hear the deep meaning in his cousin's words, he and Dou Ying looked at each other for a while, and both uncle and nephew laughed together.

——Just like Liu Sheng, who has already sat firmly on the position of "quasi-Prince" today, Dou Ying in the past also sat firmly on the position of "Quasi-Prince Taifu" very early on.

In this year's Wu-Chu Rebellion, Dou Ying was able to establish martial arts, but it was only for the Empress Dowager Dou and Tianzi Qineng to change their names to be justified, and to appoint Dou Ying as the Prince and Taifu without any worries.

Even without this rebellion, adding the title of "Marquis of Wei" to Dou Ying, the prince and Taifu would have been in Dou Ying's pocket long ago.

And the "past" in Dou Ying's mouth naturally refers to the time period when all the princes were still in Chang'an, and they hadn't become kings yet.

At that time, Li Ji was in full swing, and whatever the princes did, they were worried that they would be hated by Li Ji for such weird reasons as 'stealing the emperor's eldest son's limelight'.

At that time, everyone believed that the crown prince must be Liu Rong, the eldest son of the emperor;

Dou Ying will definitely become Liu Rong's Prince Taifu.

Under such circumstances, brothers Liu Sheng and Liu Pengzu certainly did not dare to visit their cousin Dou Ying in private.

——As far as Li Ji's magical brain circuit is concerned, if the two brothers do this, there is a high probability that Li Ji will interpret it as: the two brothers are trying to snatch Liu Rong's prince and Taifu...
"Yes~"

"In the past, my two brothers would definitely not dare to accept my cousin's invitation to ride in the same car and come to the door with my cousin."

"Time changes, things change and people change..."

···
"I think back then, it was only three or two years ago;"

"——My two brothers wanted to meet my cousin, but they had to be matched by the teacher to meet in Gu'anhou's mansion;"

"Now, Uncle Biao has become the Prince and Taifu as he wished, and there are thousands of households in Wei Qihou's kingdom;"

"Brothers, you have already made kings and vassals, and have gone to Kanto;"

"Teacher, he has also passed away."

"On the contrary, we two brothers were left in Chang'an by the emperor..."

Feeling the major changes that he and the people close to him have encountered in the past few years, Liu Sheng couldn't help but sighed in the self-deprecating smile on his face.

On Liu Sheng's side and on the opposite side, cousin Dou Ying and elder brother Liu Pengzu also became inexplicably melancholy following Liu Sheng's emotions.

In the past few years, Chang'an has really undergone too many changes...
——Shen Tujia, the old prime minister, passed away;
Empress Bo, abolished her position and lived away;
Liu Rong, the eldest son of the emperor, was granted the title of king and vassal;

His mother, Li Ji, is recuperating her 'sick body' in the cold palace...

In addition to these misfortunes, there are also some luck, or changes that cannot tell whether they are lucky or not;

——The rebellion between Wu and Chu came to an end in March, and the problem of "clan princes and lords who can't lose their tail" that threatened Liu Han Sheji for decades was finally solved by the Chang'an Central Committee!

As long as the Chang'an court, relying on the power of the great victory, implements follow-up policies such as pushing favors and cutting feudal vassals step by step, the internal problems of the Han Dynasty will be completely resolved in the future visible to the naked eye.

As a foreign relative, Dou Ying was granted the title of Marquis of Wei by virtue of his solid martial arts achievements in the process of suppressing the rebellion, and he naturally fulfilled his wish to become the Prince and Taifu.

It's just that Dou Ying, the prince who needs to be educated by the "Prince and Taifu", has also changed from Liu Rong, the eldest son of the emperor, to Liu Sheng, the ninth son of the emperor...
"Ah~"

"In the past few years, especially in the past year, too many things have happened, and there have been too many unexpected changes."

"—At the beginning of this year, Liu Bi and Liu Wu rebelled. When I led the army to Xingyang, I was still thinking: Returning to Chang'an, maybe it will be a year or two later?"

"In the end, after only three months, the rebellion was basically quelled. I thought again: I have only left Chang'an for half a year, and there shouldn't be any major changes inside or outside the court?"

"Unexpectedly, in the past six months, a major change happened that made me feel unbelievable for the rest of my life..."

Shaking her head and sighing, Dou Ying finally raised her head with a forced smile, and asked Liu Sheng softly, "When I heard that the old prime minister passed away, the young master was there?"

Seeing Liu Sheng nodded his head slightly, there was also a trace of sadness on his face, and a forced smile trying to cover up this sadness.

"Yes."

"Before the teacher left, my brother and I were at the teacher's bedside."

"—Teacher, you walked very peacefully..."

"The subsequent funeral matters will also be handled by my two brothers and my eldest brother, helping Marquis An."

Hearing this, Dou Ying only nodded slightly.

The Gu'anhou in Liu Sheng's words naturally refers to the former Hou Shizi and the current Gu'anhou: Shentu Mie.

And Liu Sheng's eldest brother, he is also the crown prince who was once "sure" and now the king of Linjiang: the eldest son of the emperor, Liu Rong...

Recalling the past, when he advised Liu Rong, Li Ji's mother and son, felt distressed for Li Ji, and felt sympathy for Liu Rong, Dou Ying's eyebrows could not help but feel a little sentimental;

After a long time, he was a little tentative, but he raised his head in relief, sat up straight, and turned his face slightly serious.

"There is one thing that I have always been puzzled about. I searched and asked everywhere, but I still haven't solved the doubts in my heart."

"—I vaguely feel that the young master may be able to give me the answer."

"If possible, please answer this question for me in terms of the relationship between the two of us as a teacher and a student in the future."

When Dou Ying said these words, there was only a burst of relief in Liu Sheng's heart.

—— Dou Ying, finally said this matter.

Finally, Liu Sheng was given a chance to defend himself...
Unexplainably let out a wry smile, then shook his head to himself, Liu Shengcai took a deep breath, and imitated Dou Ying's appearance, putting on a posture of 'sit upright'.

"My nephew knows what my cousin wants to ask."

"But what exactly happened, I was not there at the time;"

"I can only try my best to tell my cousin what I know and what I can still remember."

The sincere words made Dou Ying nod slightly with a serious face.

Then, Liu Sheng described in detail what happened in Shanglin Garden a few months ago to his cousin Dou Ying from his own perspective.

——All the princes are about to be crowned king, and the emperor Qi summons the autumn hunt;

——Tianzi Qi fell off his horse by accident, the sons and concubines were placed under house arrest, and Liu Rong and Li Ji were summoned to the imperial court;

——In the evening of that day, the emperor Qi rode his horse back to Chang'an, and all the princes and concubines returned afterward;

During this period, Liu Rong and Li Ji never disappeared. The second son of the emperor, Liu De, and the third son of the emperor, Liu Yu, also "disappeared" on the way back to Chang'an.

The next day, Empress Dowager Dou sealed all the princes as kings at one go, leaving only Liu Pengzu and Liu Sheng to be named kings;
At the same time, Liu Rong, the eldest son of the emperor, Liu De, the second son of the emperor, and Liu Yu, the third son of the emperor, were ordered to set off immediately and go to the feudal state to become a vassal;
Li Ji, the biological mother of the three brothers, was imprisoned in Changle Palace, an unknown abandoned palace, due to "madness";

And Liu Sheng, before the emperor Qiming said, 'I want to make you a prince', he thought that it was his elder brother Liu Pengzu who was going to be the crown prince...

"Those two days probably happened like this."

"——No one knows what the elder brother and Li Ji did, or what they said to the father."

"After that, all the imperial guards around my father, except Zhonglang Zhidu, were all new faces; Zhidu was hastily promoted to lieutenant by my father."

"Except for the eunuch Ling Chuntuo, all the eunuchs beside the emperor disappeared, and were soon replaced by a new group of people."

"My nephew guesses: In the whole world, the only people who know what happened that day and are still alive today are Father, Eunuch Ling, Zhidu, Li Ji, and Big Brother."

"If Cousin really wants to know the truth, I'm afraid he can only find one of these five people who is willing to solve the mystery for himself..."

Putting everything he knew in front of Dou Ying without reservation, Liu Sheng finally took a long breath, and then looked calmly at his cousin Dou Ying who was seated opposite him.

And Dou Ying's next reaction finally made Liu Sheng get the reward he deserved for his sincerity and calmness.

"The son thinks, what is the reason for His Majesty..."

"—Or should I say, who is the reason why you decided not to have the eldest son of the emperor?"

"Below the eldest son of the emperor, the young master has seven older brothers;"

"Your Majesty, why did you choose the young master and decide that the young master will be the crown prince of my Han family?"

Also without any hypocrisy or politeness, Liu Sheng laughed and shook his head.

Looking at Dou Ying's eyes, there is also a little self-mockery.

"If I don't answer, cousin, will he be like Prime Minister Zhou and think that the position of eldest brother's crown prince was taken away by my deliberate deliberation?"

"—I will think that I am a scheming villain, and that my mother is a vicious woman;"

"Do you think that elder brother and Li Ji have fallen to where they are today because of my mother and me?"

With a bitter smile, and full of helplessness, Liu Sheng asked two questions, and Liu Sheng shook his head with a wry smile.

A moment later, before Dou Ying could respond, he seriously gave his own answer to Dou Ying's question.

"Father should be satisfied with eldest brother."

"—Although it is not proud or gratifying, but it is not because of the elder brother's own reasons that he is determined to abolish the elders and establish the younger ones."

"I also asked my father: Why me?"

"Even if the eldest brother can't be the prince, why did he choose me?"

"Father told me: The reason why the eldest brother can't be the prince is also the reason why the second and third brothers can't be the prince."

"—Li Ji Wude;"

"——There is no mother to honor the world..."

The rather blunt sentence "Li Ji has no virtue, she can't honor the world with her mother", but it also made Dou Ying instantly understand: her guess was correct.

Liu Rong was eventually killed by his stupid mother, Li Ji, and lost his position as the crown prince...
With Liu Sheng's words, Dou Ying can figure out the rest by herself.

The eldest, second and third children cannot be princes because their mothers are all surnamed 'Li';
The fourth, fifth, sixth, and eighth elders all have flaws that cannot be ignored, making them impossible to become princes.

Excluding the three from the Phoenix Hall and the four from the Xuanming Hall, there are only the seventh Liu Pengzu of the Guangming Hall, the youngest Liu Sheng, and the tenth son Liu Zhi of the Qilan Hall.

To choose one among these three, it is obviously a question for Tian Ziqi.

——First of all, Liu Zhi, who is still wearing crotch pants, is excluded, so as to avoid the situation in the future that the Han family will have "the suspicion of being the master of the country" and the power will fall to the side.

The remaining two, Liu Pengzu and Liu Sheng, were born of the same mother, each has their own strengths and weaknesses in temperament, and they are about the same age.

Dou Ying will not be surprised which one the emperor chooses.

Considering all these things, if you have to say that Dou Ying still has some doubts, that is, among the two brothers, why did Tian Ziqi choose the younger Liu Sheng instead of the older Liu Pengzu?
But after thinking about it for a while, Dou Ying no longer felt troubled by this problem.

——At the moment when the eldest son of the emperor, Liu Rong, was excluded from the candidate list of the "Prince Crown Prince" by Tian Ziqi, Tian Ziqi was destined to abolish the elders and establish the younger ones.

Now that the elders are going to be abolished and the younger ones established, what is the difference between choosing the seventh and ninth sons?

The first six sons have been ruled out, so between the seventh son and the ninth son, Tianzi Qi, why bother to pay attention to "establishing the head"?

In terms of age, the difference between the two brothers is more than two years old, and there is no difference when rounded;

In terms of mother, the two brothers were both born to Mrs. Jia, no matter who they choose, Mrs. Jia will be the queen and queen mother in the future.

The hard conditions are almost the same, and the personality is also "not very good, but they are still acceptable";
Considering that Liu Sheng has more advantages than Liu Pengzu in "befriending the Queen Mother of the East Palace", it is not surprising that Tianzi Qi made such a choice.

Wanting to understand these things, Dou Ying finally looked at Liu Sheng with sincere calmness.

After the last grievance in her heart was eliminated by Liu Sheng's magnanimity, there was nothing that could stop Dou Ying from accepting the reality.

——Liu Sheng, to be the prince;
And Dou Ying is already the prince and tutor.

This means that the future Dou Ying will become Liu Sheng's "Chao Cuo".

Like Chao Cuo, Dou Ying will first teach Liu Sheng how to be a prince, and then assist Liu Sheng to become a qualified prince and prince;

In the future, when the Son of Heaven will be crowned for a hundred years, Liu Sheng will inherit the throne as a matter of course. Dou Ying, like Chao Cuo, will also become Liu Sheng's most trustworthy and indeed most trusted minister, and assist Liu Sheng to grasp the wings of the court as soon as possible.

In short: the fate of Liu Sheng and Dou Ying, cousins ​​and nephews, has been completely tied together.

The two share weal and woe, and share weal and woe;
Even, life and death together...

"Prime Minister, what is your plan?"

After passing the hurdle in her heart, Dou Ying quickly adjusted her mentality and corrected her position.

Sensing the change in Dou Ying's temperament in the blink of an eye, Liu Sheng suddenly withdrew the smile on his face and lowered his face with a serious expression.

"Prime Minister, you have pushed me to a corner!"

"——If the prime minister is willing to give up and stop embarrassing me, then of course I don't want to fight against the prime minister."

"But if the prime minister insists on doing this and insists on preventing my father from canonizing me, then the prime minister and I can only fight to the end!"

The suddenly heavy tone of voice, as well as the dignified face that did not match her age, also caused Dou Ying to be a little dazed;

But he saw Liu Sheng turn his body slightly, and looked at his elder brother Liu Pengzu, who was beside him, and the two brothers nodded again;

When Liu Sheng turned around and looked at Dou Ying on the opposite side again, the seriousness on his face only became more serious.

"I know that I am still very weak and fragile now;"

"—But it is precisely because of this that I must fight to the death with the prime minister."

"Because I am now so weak that if the prime minister scolds me, my reputation will probably be ruined, and everyone will be punished!"

"The prime minister is so fragile that he refuses to use his seal on the imperial edict to enshrine the crown prince as long as he is stubborn;"

"—It doesn't need much, just once!"

"It only needs the prime minister to refuse to use the seal once, and I will never be able to become the crown prince!"

···
"I have no way out."

"Early before the prime minister, father, has already taken a step ahead of the prime minister and forced me to another dead end."

"——If you don't become a prince, you will die without a place to bury you, and you will even implicate your elder brother, mother, and fall into the abyss with me..."

After expressing all the true thoughts in his heart, Liu Sheng stared at Dou Ying with a gloomy face, waiting for Dou Ying's reply.

--How to say?
Help me deal with Zhou Yafu?

Or should we avoid me, the God of Plague, and contact us after I officially become the crown prince?

From Liu Sheng's still calm gaze, Dou Ying could see that no matter what she chose, Liu Sheng would not be concerned about it.

But the answer Dou Ying finally gave made Dou Ying himself a little surprised.

"I seem to know why Your Majesty chose the son."

"I also know how Linjiang Wang is worse than the young master..."

···
"The prime minister, you don't have to be too hasty, and you don't have to be so eager to tear yourself apart with the prime minister."

"My lord, let's concentrate on finishing the food business first."

"When the food matter is settled and the imperial edict to enshrine the crown prince is ready, it will be the time for the young master to board the gate of my Wei Qihou's mansion again and discuss countermeasures with me..."

···
"Maybe by then, Tiaohou Zhou Yafu will no longer be the prime minister?"

"Hey······"

"——This kind of thing~"

"Who is right?"

　Uh······
　　The second more...

　　The third change is now starting to code...
　　
　
(End of this chapter)