The ministers begged me to ascend the throne

A few days before the Chinese New Year, there was a heavy snowfall in the capital city. The entire city was shrouded in white, making the originally prosperous and bustling city quiet.

Fortunately, the imperial court had stopped writing some time ago, otherwise people would have frozen to death if they had to go to court in the heavy snow every day.

At this time, Zhao Yao was sitting on the kang he had made when he was a child with his hair disheveled, eating dumplings that the King of Chu had sent to him early in the morning. The dumplings were made by the Queen of Chu herself, and were filled with Zhao Yao's favorite pork and sauerkraut filling.

After Zhao Yao finished eating the dumplings, Tongxi hurriedly brought him a cup of tea and asked him to rinse his mouth.

After rinsing his mouth, Zhao Yao fell back and lay on the kang with his arms and legs spread out.

Tongxi brought some more fruits, which were brought from Lingnan.

"Your Highness, why aren't you going out today?" Ever since the snow began, His Highness has been staying in the Prince of Han's Palace every day, not going anywhere, not even to the Prince of Chu's Palace and the Prince of Wei's Palace next door.

"It's cold outside and I don't want to go out." Zhao Yao leaned on the pillow, crossed his legs, looking lazy.

"Your Highness, didn't you promise the prince to build a snowman?"

"It's snowing so hard and it's so cold. If I take him to build a snowman, he'll catch a cold." Zhao Yao said, "The New Year is coming soon. We can't let him catch a cold and get sick at this time."

"Your Highness, didn't you love snowy days the most in the past? Building snowmen, having snowball fights, etc.? Why are you not interested this year?"

"It's cold. Why do I feel that the snow in the capital this year is freezing cold?" Zhao Yao didn't want to stay in the capital anymore. "I want to go back to the Swamp House. It's warmer there."

"Your Highness, you have been staying in the Swamp House for more than a year, and it doesn't snow in the Swamp House, so you feel that the snow in the capital is particularly cold this year." Not to mention Your Highness, even he felt that the capital was too cold. "I want to go back too, Your Highness, when can we go back?"

"I can't go back for a while." He originally thought that he could go back after getting married, but now that King Han is planning to rebel, the day he returns to Swamp Palace will definitely be postponed.

"Your Highness, we won't be unable to return, will we?" Just after saying this, Tongxi felt that what he said was too unlucky, and quickly raised his hand to slap himself twice, "Pah, pah, pah, your servant has a foul mouth."

"Of course I can go back, but I have to wait until the King of Han's rebellion is settled." Zhao Yao showed a disgusted expression on his face when he thought about the King of Han's cavalry rebelling during the Chinese New Year. "It's so annoying. Why did they choose to rebel during the Chinese New Year? Can't they just let people have a good New Year?"

"That's right, Your Highness, it's rare for you to return to the capital to celebrate the New Year with the Queen and the Emperor, but the King of Han wants to rebel." Tongxi said angrily, "He rebelled on such an important day as the New Year. The King of Han will not have a good death."

Zhao Yao looked out the window, frowned slightly and said, "It's really the calm before the storm." The capital city has been particularly quiet these days.

"Your Highness, are you sure everything is alright?" Tongxi couldn't help but ask worriedly, "Is it really foolproof?"

"I'm not a god, so I can't guarantee that everything will be fine, but it will definitely be fine." Zhao Yao picked up an orange and threw it to Tong Xi, "With me here, what are you afraid of?"

Tongxi took the orange and said with a smile: "With Your Highness here, I am not afraid of anything."

"Lu Guang hasn't come back yet?" After eating, lying on the warm kang, Zhao Yao felt a little sleepy again.

"Not yet." Tongxi glanced at the heavy snow outside the window, with a worried look on his face, "Your Highness, it's snowing so heavily and so cold, will Lu Guang and the others be frozen? After all, they have been staying in the Swamp House and have never experienced a cold winter and heavy snow."

"It was definitely uncomfortable at first, but I should be used to it now."

Not long after arriving in the capital, Lu Guang was borrowed by the emperor to train the Dragon Guard.

Lu Guang is a sharpshooter and a soldier of the Shenji Battalion. He is most suitable for training the Dragon Guards.

The fire guns could not be exposed for the time being, so the emperor first let the dragon guards receive training to learn how to use the fire guns. After the dragon guards learned how to use them, they would then train the imperial guards.

"Your Highness, aren't you afraid that the emperor will not return Lu Guang to you?" Lu Guang is a sharpshooter and has never missed a target. After seeing his skills, the emperor must like him and will not be willing to let him go.

"If father really wants Lu Guang, then I will give him." Zhao Yao said with a smile, "I brought Lu Guang to the capital not really to protect me, but to protect father." His marksmanship is better than Lu Guang's. He can protect himself and does not need Lu Guang's protection.

"Ah, you are doing this for the emperor?" Tongxi was surprised, "I thought you couldn't bear to part with Lu Guang."

"I am a little reluctant to let him go. After all, Lu Guang was carefully trained by me."

"Then you will return it to the Emperor?"

"Father's safety is more important."

Tongxi was very surprised to hear Zhao Yao say this, "Your Highness, I thought you didn't care about the emperor, but I didn't expect you care about the emperor."

Zhao Yao glanced at Tong Xi and said, "Who do you think your Highness is? Even though I hate that my father chose me on his own initiative, I will not ignore his safety."

"I said the wrong thing." Tongxi didn't think that Zhao Yao was an unfilial son who didn't care about the emperor's life or death, but was surprised that he would say such a blunt thing. After all, Zhao Yao often scolded and complained about the emperor in front of him and never said a good word about the emperor.

Zhao Yao knew what Tongxi was wondering about, and snorted at him, "If anything happens to our stinky father, our mother will be sad."

Tong Xi laughed and said, "Your Highness, you are being arrogant again."

Zhao Yao grabbed an orange and threw it at Tong Xi, "What a tsundere."

Tongxi reached out to catch the orange, peeled it and handed it to Zhao Yao.

"Your Highness, it will be noon soon. Aren't you going to the Prince of Chu's or Prince of Wei's mansion for dinner?" "No, I don't want to go out." It was so cold, he just wanted to stay at home.

"Your Highness, you are not hiding from His Highness the Prince of Chu and His Highness the Prince of Wei, are you?" Since His Highness came back from the Prince of Wei's Palace that day, it seems that His Highness has never been to the Prince of Wei's Palace and the Prince of Chu's Palace again. "Did His Highness the Prince of Wei say anything to you that day?"

Thinking of what he had honestly revealed to Myna that day, Zhao Yao sighed slightly in his heart.

"Alas, I now deeply regret returning to the capital."

"Your Highness, are you having a falling out with His Royal Highness the Prince of Wei?"

"That's not the case." Zhao Yao sat up and said with a complicated expression, "That day, Big Brother made everything clear."

"Everything has been made clear?" Tongxi was puzzled. "What did His Royal Highness the Prince of Wei make clear to you?"

"Everything." Zhao Yao scratched his head and said, "Myna knows everything I have done."

"Ah? Is this true?" Tongxi looked shocked.

"Really." Zhao Yao sighed, "You really can't underestimate the starling."

"Then..." Tongxi panicked, "Your Highness, what are you going to do next?"

"Eighth Brother made everything clear to me so that I would not interfere in the fight for the throne, let alone the fight between him and Fourth Brother."

"Your Highness, you were not involved in the first place."

"Myna knows that it was my doing in the matter of King Han, and he thinks it's too dangerous for me to do this."

"Your Highness the Prince of Wei even knows about the King of Han's affairs?!" Tongxi gasped in shock. Only His Highness and the Emperor knew about this, not even the King of Chu. How did His Highness the Prince of Wei know about it?

"Myna knows everything, but he pretends to be ignorant." Apart from anything else, just based on this point alone, the fourth brother is no match for the myna.

Tongxi was horrified, "Your Highness the Prince of Wei is too scary."

"I can't tell Fourth Brother yet." Eighth Brother chose to tell him everything at this time, which meant that Eighth Brother would make a big move. Would Eighth Brother use the King of Han's rebellion to capture King Dai, King Jing, Fourth Brother, and King Han in one fell swoop?

"Your Highness, if you tell the King of Chu, not only will you interfere in their affairs, but you will also be biased towards the King of Chu, which will hurt the King of Wei's heart." Tongxi advised, "You'd better pretend that you know nothing."

"I know, so I haven't gone to see Fourth Brother or Eighth Brother these days." Zhao Yao fell back on the kang, looking hopeless and said, "I'm not very good at acting, I'm afraid that if I don't act well, Fourth Brother or Eighth Brother will notice."

"I will just say that you are hiding from His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu and His Royal Highness the Prince of Wei."

"Myna Bird's scheming and methods... Fourth brother can't compare to them." To be honest, he was a little afraid of Myna Bird.

"Do you think His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu will lose to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wei?"

"Ah."

After making everything clear that day, Zhao Yao said to the King of Wei: "Eighth brother, whether it is the fourth brother or the second brother, they are no match for you. You will be the final winner."

When the King of Wei heard this, he laughed and said, "You think the fourth one can't beat me?"

"Fourth Brother is no match for you." Zhao Yao hesitated for a moment and said, "Eighth Brother, in the end it will be Fourth Brother who will fight you, and you will definitely win Fourth Brother. I want to ask you to spare Fourth Brother's life in the end."

The King of Wei was not surprised at all to hear Zhao Yao's request. He looked at Zhao Yao deeply and said in a gentle tone: "For your sake, I will not take his life."

"Thank you, myna." Just having this sentence from myna is enough.

"Your Highness, His Royal Highness the King of Wei promised you that he would spare His Royal Highness the King of Chu's life. What are you still worried about?"

"I have a bad feeling in my heart. I always feel that Starling is going to cause trouble, and it will be a very big thing." After explaining this to Starling that day, he felt that there was madness hidden under Starling's calm face.

"What could His Royal Highness the Prince of Wei do..." Tongxi's expression suddenly became extremely frightened, and he hurriedly lowered his voice and said, "Your Highness, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wei is not planning a rebellion, is he?"

"No, Starling wouldn't be that stupid."

"Then what else can His Royal Highness the Prince of Wei do?" In Tongxi's opinion, except for treason, everything else is trivial.

"I just don't know." In the past two days, he had a hunch that the King of Han's rebellion might be beyond their control. The reason why it was beyond their control was because of Bage. "I always feel that the King of Han's rebellion was not only fueled by me, but also by Bage."

"Your Highness, have you forgotten that there are Southern Wei people on the Xiongnu side? Isn't it normal for His Highness the King of Wei to have his handiwork?"

"It's not that simple." He felt that the starling was manipulating everything behind the scenes.

As he was talking, the steward of the Han Palace hurried in. He saluted Zhao Yao first, then reported: "Your Highness, it's bad, the emperor is ill." (End of this chapter)