Jiuxi

Chapter 397 Chapter 395 [Heart of licking a calf]

Fengyuan Garden, the side hall of Yashe.

The banquet has been prepared, and there is a dazzling array of delicacies from all over the world.

Lu Chen even saw two famous dishes on the table that he had seen in Heluo City, namely Bo Xia Gong and Yellow Bird Bream. These are rarely seen in the Jiangnan area and are the special flavors of the north.

It can be seen that the eldest prince attaches great importance to today's banquet. Not only did he clear out Feng Yuan Garden just to entertain Lu Chen, he also put a lot of effort into the dishes. Considering that Lu Chen has been living in Jiangbei, he specially found an extra person from Jiangbei. celebrity chef.

With all the delicacies available, how can the banquet lack of good wine?
The wine is fragrant and soft, with a subtle sweetness in the mouth.

After drinking from the door cup, the eldest prince coughed slightly, and the maids responsible for serving wine and serving dishes bowed and left, leaving only him and Lu Chen sitting across from each other in the hall.

The eldest prince looked at Lu Chen and said with a smile: "I like to drink by myself. This way I feel more leisurely and at ease."

This explanation is a bit redundant. No matter how stupid he is, he knows that he is not interested in drinking today, so he naturally does not want anyone next to him to be an eyesore.

Lu Chen did not expose it and responded calmly: "This is His Highness's compassionate heart for his servants."

When having tea earlier, under the inquiry of the eldest prince, Lu Chen told some details about the border wars in the past two years. The eldest prince listened with great concentration, and he did not hesitate to praise Lu Chen and the border soldiers.

For a prince, what is duty?
The king of heaven and earth is the standard of this era. Li Duan is both a king and a father. Of course he has the right to decide the fate and even life and death of several princes. This has nothing to do with whether it is reasonable or correct, but a rule that everyone needs to abide by today. .

It is indeed the basic principle to establish the eldest son through the ages, but looking through Huanghuang's history books, there are not many examples of the eldest son successfully taking over the throne, at least the proportion of the total is not as high as imagined.

He raised his eyes to look at the eldest prince and said warmly: "Your Highness is talented and intelligent, why do you need to act like an idiot?"

Now, as if a thunder suddenly exploded, the emperor liked the second prince even more. How could he accept it calmly?
It would be difficult for anyone in the world to accept this huge gap.

With this in mind, he raised his glass and gestured to Lu Chen. After drinking it, he said: "With a kind heart... I am worried about the safety of the border and also troubled by the complicated situation in the DPRK. I only regret that I have no other talents and cannot help." My father solved problems and solved them, but he did not make any contribution to the country. In the final analysis, he can only gain a little fame."

During his twenty-four years as a prince, he never thought that one day he would be farther and farther away from that position. Even if his biological mother, Queen Xu, loved the third prince more, he would only regard it as a normal sign of favoring the younger son. As long as he does not do anything to cause public outrage and maintains his reputation of benevolence honestly, he will definitely become the crown prince in the future.

In fact, Lu Chen could understand his mood.

Not only has he been walking on thin ice for more than 20 years, he has at least been cautious, suppressing his desires, and trying his best to play the role of the kindhearted and kind eldest son of heaven.

The eldest prince put down his wine glass, with a forced smile on his face, and said slowly: "In the eyes of Marquis Shanyang, is the distinction between right and wrong important?"

Perhaps this was the reason why the emperor agreed to his visit to Feng Paradise after careful consideration.

In his opinion, no matter what Lu Chen's true feelings were, at least this was enough to express his attitude.

Especially the words "responsibility" and "duty" are undoubtedly euphemistic hints.

This was the first time Lu Chen had given a clear attitude since the two met today, but it didn't sound so good to the eldest prince.

Because of this, even though he knew that the second prince used his romantic and wanton reputation to win over literati, and that the third prince was domineering and domineering, he did not treat them harshly because of his status as an imperial brother, but only occasionally reminded them gently.

Putting aside the violent temper that the eldest prince occasionally showed in the palace, his appeal was reasonable and reasonable. After all, most people believed that he could become the crown prince of Da Qi, including himself.

Lu Chen tasted the sweetness of the Liuxiang wine and said unhurriedly: "People fulfill their responsibilities and things are put to their best use. This is the foundation for the smooth operation of the court. The ministers of the Manchu Dynasty all perform their duties, whether it is the six ministries, nine temples or the imperial court. Shitai, and even noble yamen such as the Hanlin Academy and the Imperial College, as long as everyone can do their job well, why worry about the Qi Dynasty not being strong? Take the minister as an example, he led the troops carefully when he was on the border and returned to the capital. Then I will do my best according to His Majesty’s request, and that will be enough.”

If he was not qualified to covet that position from the beginning, maybe he would not be so panicked, and he would not be like a drowning man finding a life-saving straw after Chang Sunjun said this method, hoping that the situation would change.

Lu Chen looked at the rich but untouched delicacies on the table. His eyes immediately stopped on the face of the eldest prince and asked: "Your Highness, what is right? What is wrong?"

The eldest prince drank the wine from the glass again, with a strange look in his eyes, and said decisively: "I only know that it is right to continue the northern expedition to regain my homeland, and it is wrong to enjoy the comfort in a corner." Lu Chen was slightly startled.

This answer was indeed beyond his expectation. He had expected that the other party would say that it was right to inherit from the direct eldest son, and that it was wrong to abolish the eldest son and establish the younger son.

The eldest prince continued: "My father's support for the border army is absolutely correct, and I absolutely agree with it. Lu Chen, although I am not like you who have witnessed the brutality of Jing's army in the frontier, but I know that Emperor Jing is very ambitious. , he will not be satisfied with the world being divided into two parts. Jing's army will inevitably move south again, and there will be a battle between Qi and Jing. It is an illusion to expect that the Hengjiang moat can block Jing's army forever. The only way is to rectify the armed forces, be determined to fight, and continue to increase the number of enemies. With the support of the border troops, Da Qi has a glimmer of hope."

When he said these words, a fierce and heroic look appeared on his face.

Lu Chen didn't know whether this was the eldest prince's own idea or the advice of the scribes maintained by the palace, but judging from his sincere expression at this moment, perhaps this was the reason why he felt he could win over Lu Chen.

Regarding the battle for the crown prince, both the emperor and the ministers in the court had their own opinions, and everyone viewed the matter from a different perspective.

The reason why the emperor likes the second prince is not because he is looking for trouble to make the situation more complicated, but after long-term teaching and observation, he recognizes the second prince's character more and thinks that he can take over his responsibilities so that Da Qi can Move forward smoothly.

Or from some perspective, the emperor believed that the second prince was more like him and could continue to implement the national policy of the Northern Expedition while maintaining stability in the court. However, the eldest prince and the third prince may not be able to calmly deal with their subordinates in the future due to flaws in their temperaments. of ministers.

However, from the perspective of the eldest prince, although Lu Chen is now the coach of the Beijing Army, his foundation is still in the border army. He will still lead troops in the border battles in the future. The emperor's promotion of him as the coach of the Beijing Army is just to increase his qualifications so that he can In the future, I can successfully take over the command of a border army.

The eldest prince thought that his clear statement should be able to impress Lu Chen.

It's just that he has never thought about how powerful this kind of prince's promise is?
Of course, this is not Lu Chen's first consideration.

Now that he was involved in this turmoil, he had to take into account the emperor's expectations and not become the focus of the conflict between the Tian family's father and son. Therefore, he said slowly: "Your Highness, the strength of the frontier army cannot be separated from the support of the rear. In particular, it needs a A stable and harmonious rear. In fact, during this period, His Majesty could have used more direct methods to clean up the atmosphere in the court, but His Majesty did not do that."

The eldest prince nodded slightly.

Lu Chen continued: "At the court meeting that day, fourteen officials jointly submitted their resignations. This was essentially a forced palace. Not only did His Majesty not treat them harshly, but after approving their resignations, he rewarded them all. Don't these officials who resigned have no problems themselves? Are each of them extremely honest officials? I don't believe it. I feel that as long as the Sutra Weaving Department investigates carefully, they will definitely discover the illegal things they have done and then punish them. , but His Majesty did not do so."

The eldest prince remained silent. He suddenly understood the profound meaning of Lu Chen's words.

Lu Chen observed the change in his expression and said in a slow tone: "At that time, those people joined forces to force the palace. Even the ministers were full of anger, let alone His Majesty, who was arbitrary? But after all, you cannot do whatever you want in the world. For the sake of overall stability, Your Majesty can only treat you preferentially. They. Another example is Hou Yu, who colluded with the courtiers to deceive the superiors and subordinates. His Highness must also hate this person deeply, so it would not be an exaggeration to execute him in Ling Chi, but in the end, His Majesty just seizes his title and exiles him. "

At this point, Lu Chen sighed softly and said with emotion: "Your Highness should understand that it is not that His Majesty dare not or cannot do that, but that he cares about the people and the world, so he will adopt more tactful methods."

The eldest prince knew in his heart that Lu Chen was talking about those past events on the surface, but in fact he was reminding him of the emperor's attitude towards the fight for the crown prince.

From a common sense point of view, the emperor did not have to agree to his request to entertain Lu Chen. He should even completely isolate him from the courtiers. There was no need to care about his thoughts. He just had to trap him in Prince Chen's palace, and then let some important officials add fuel to the fire in the court, and then Make the second prince the crown prince.

This is not a particularly difficult thing for today's emperor.

Does it matter what kind of resentment the eldest prince will have because of this?

He did not have the capital or ability to fight against the emperor, so he could only accept the result whether he wanted to or not.

Considering the eldest prince's character, the most likely outcome is that he becomes depressed and becomes ill. Of course, it is not ruled out that he will take an extreme path.

Throughout the ages, most of the tragedies between father and son in the Tian family have been due to the isolation between China and the outside world, and they speculated on each other's thoughts. In the end, the suspicion and resentment deepened day by day, leading to the end of turning into enemies.

But the emperor didn't do this. He knew very well the purpose of the eldest prince's banquet with Lu Chen, but he still agreed to let Lu Chen go.

Liuxiang wine was sweet and refreshing, but after drinking it, the eldest prince felt his mouth full of bitterness.

He slowly put down his wine glass, looked at Lu Chen with eyes full of complicated emotions, and finally asked an extremely straightforward question: "Lu Chen, if you were my king, would you be willing to do so?"

(End of this chapter)