Great Han Empire

Chapter 785
The next day, Li Hong, the great general of Da Sima, went up to play the emperor, using the "ten-year agreement" he made with the court as an excuse, and considering that he could not normally exercise his powers due to his years of conquest, so he deliberately resigned from the military administration of the six prefectures and four counties. power.

Li Hong's memorial caused a shock in the court.No one expected that Li Hong would hand over the military and political power of the six prefectures and four counties so happily.Does he have another move?Lu Bu led the northern army on its way back to Jinyang. When the army arrived in Jinyang, would Li Hong launch a mutiny?The more the ministers thought about it, the more afraid they became, and their hearts became terrified.

Grand Tutor Cai Yong, Da Situ Cui Lie, Da Sikong Liu He immediately made an appointment with Li Hong.Last night at the reception banquet of the eldest princess, did the general ask the eldest princess for her opinion?What is the attitude of the eldest princess?
"The Eldest Princess is very determined to take back the power, and I have no choice." Li Hong said calmly: "My lords and I immediately signed a letter requesting Your Majesty to revise the official system and take back all the powers of prime ministers."

On the third day, four Shanggongs, nine Shangqings, three Zhuqings, and more than 30 court officials with a rank and salary of more than [-] shi, headed by Taifu Cai Yong, jointly signed a letter requesting the revision of the official system.

The new official system basically followed the Great Qin Dynasty and the early days of the current Dynasty, with the prime minister as the head of the Sangong Jiuqing system.

In the new official system, the prime minister "in charge of the emperor and assistant to Wanji" assisted the emperor in handling the national government affairs.The prime minister leads all the officials of the court, supports the great affairs of the court, convenes the court council, decides on the country's military and political affairs, seals and refutes imperial edicts, appoints, removes and selects officials, presides over the planning of counties and countries, impeaches all officials, admonishes the superiors and executes the subordinates Great powers such as punishment and punishment are omnipresent in every country's important affairs, and the status is respected and the power is extremely great.

Taiwei assists the emperor in handling the military affairs of the country, which is the highest honorary position of a general, mainly to restrict the power of the prime minister and prevent the prime minister from getting involved in military power.Once the Taiwei is added to the "Li Shang Shu Shi", he will participate in the handling of state affairs.

The doctor censor is equivalent to the deputy prime minister. He is in charge of the royal books, processing the memorials submitted to the emperor, and inheriting the imperial edicts of the emperor; Illegal cases involving high-level officials.The doctor of imperial history is in charge of Qinggui, and he is the post of "Fengxian" and feared (dan) respected by all officials.

Due to the existence of the prime minister and the Yushi doctor in the new official system, almost all the powers of Shangshutai and Yushitai in the Shaofu were transferred out.

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That afternoon, the eldest princess responded.Not only did she reject the proposals of the ministers, but she also issued an imperial edict to the ministers, suggesting that the Shangshutai be removed from the Shaofu to improve the status of the Shangshutai.

The Shaofu is the main institution for the emperor to handle government affairs.Shangshutai belongs to the Shaofu of Jiuqingzhong, and it is not an independent institution. The eldest princess asked it to be separated from the Shaofu and exist as an independent institution, obviously to strengthen the status and power of Chinese and Korean officials, so that she can be more unscrupulous to seize power.

The ministers also responded immediately. They rejected the princess's suggestion, strongly demanded to revise the official system, and jointly recommended the general Li Hong as the prime minister in the new official system.

No one can replace Li Hong's position in the current imperial court. The ministers pushed him to the opposite side of the eldest princess, in order to force the eldest princess to make concessions.

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That night, the eldest princess really gave in and agreed to revise the official system, but she insisted that Shangshutai should be separated from Shaofu and exist as an independent institution.

At the same time, she made a decision that stunned the ministers.

The eldest princess issued an edict to worship Li Hong as the Great General of Sima and lead the Shangshutai.

The ministers pushed Li Hong to the front to force the eldest princess to make concessions and hand over the prime minister.The eldest princess treats her body in her own way, and also pushes Li Hong to the front, refusing to hand over the power controlled by Shang Shutai.

In this way, even if the official system is revised, the powers of the prime minister and doctor Yushi in the new official system will still be greatly weakened.

The eldest princess took advantage of her imperial power to forcibly classify the Shangshutai as an independent institution, and handed over the greatly increased Shangshutai to Li Hong. The intention was obviously to push Li Hong to the opposite side of the ministers and split The alliance between Li Hong and the ministers allowed Li Hong to come forward and force the ministers to give up their delusion of repairing the official system and regaining the prime minister's power.Facing Li Hong's rapidly expanding power, the ministers could only choose to give up the idea of ​​revising the official system and maintain the status quo.

When Li Hong became prime minister, he was at most a powerful minister, and he was bound by the imperial power of the emperor and the eldest princess. A usurped situation has formed.Li Hong at this moment is like Wang Mang back then, as long as he is willing to usurp Han Zuo, he can do it at any time without any companions.

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Li Hong voluntarily handed over the military and political power of the six prefectures and four counties, but because of the struggle between the eldest princess and the court ministers for the power, it was a blessing in disguise, and inadvertently gained greater power.

The eldest princess did not want to see this kind of situation, and even more did the ministers in the court.

Now it seems that the eldest princess suffered the greatest loss. Although she regained the military and political power of the six prefectures and four counties, eliminated the hidden danger of Li Hong's separatist hegemony, and maintained the dignity of the imperial power, she lost control of the prime minister's power. It also lost part of the imperial power, that is, part of the decision-making power of state affairs.

The ministers of the DPRK and China benefited a lot from this struggle.If they can successfully prevent the eldest princess from making Shangshutai independent, then even if Li Hong supervises Shangshutai with the position of Great Sima General, they can get back more prime minister power, after all, the prime minister and doctor Yushi have too much power up.For the ministers at this moment, they would rather lose part of the decision-making power of the state affairs than lose most of the powers of the prime minister and doctor censor that they have already obtained.But the problem is that the price for the ministers to obtain this part of the power is too high. This is what the eldest princess sacrificed part of the imperial power in exchange for, and the harm to the country is unimaginable.

Li Hong benefited the most, but at the same time he also became the focus of contradictions, becoming the common opponent of the emperor, the eldest princess and the ministers of the court.

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The eldest princess gambled with Sheji again.

She sacrificed part of the imperial power in order to force the ministers to stand on her side again under the threat of Li Hong, thereby forcing the ministers to make concessions and allowing herself to regain control of power.

At this moment, the ministers had no choice but to succumb to the coercion of the eldest princess.

Tai Fu Cai Yong, Da Situ Cui Lie, Da Sikong Liu He, Tai Chang Xun You and other ministers went to the palace late at night to meet with the eldest princess and discuss ways to weaken and balance Li Hong.

The ministers hope that the eldest princess will not separate Shang Shutai, but even so, Li Hong still has great power.Although the eldest princess is still in power, Shangshutai is the main decision-making body of state affairs.Li Hong holds the military power in his hands, and now controls the decision-making organs of the court. His power is so great that the power in the court is gradually becoming unbalanced.

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"Li Hong is not Huo Guang, and this is not the peaceful and prosperous age after the death of Emperor Xiaowu. We can't blindly imitate the bureaucratic structure of the past at the risk of the country's overthrow."

Cui Lie said excitedly, "After the death of Emperor Xiaowu, Huo Guang and other ministers were ordered to assist the young emperor. Huo Guang is the younger brother of Huo Qubing, a general of hussars. He followed Emperor Xiaowu for more than 30 years. Emperor Xiaowu trusted him very much, but Xiaowu The reason why the emperor asked Huo Guang to supervise Shangshutai and control power as the Great General Sima was not for him to maintain the stability of the country, but for him to use the power of Shangshutai in China and North Korea to check and balance the clan power and power at that time. The gentry and bureaucratic forces in the outer courts prevented the country from being turbulent, and the country was destroyed in one fell swoop."

At that time, Liu Dan, the son of Emperor Xiaowu, the King of Yan, wanted to fight for the imperial line, and the prime minister Shangguan Jie, the imperial historian Sang Hongyang and others colluded with each other to fight against Huo Guang.Liu Dan and Shangguan Jie planned to launch a mutiny, but were suppressed by Emperor Xiaozhao and Huo Guang.After the death of Liu Dan, the King of Yan, and Shangguan Jie, the Prime Minister, the power in the court was checked and balanced. Huo Guang was in charge of the power for more than 20 years. Emperor Xiaowu's promise.

But today's big man is not the old man, and the two are not the same.

If His Highness intends to follow the example of Emperor Xiaowu's grand plan of Tuogu, and use Li Hong, the great general of Sima, as the head of the Shangshutai to control the power, so as to balance the power of the foreign dynasty and the imperial court, and check and balance the power of the emperor and the power of the prime minister, it must be a problem of breeding tigers.

Today's general is in charge of the military power, with two 10,000+ troops in his hands, and his strength is extremely powerful. If he is allowed to supervise the Lord of Shangshutai to take power, his power will be unprecedented.When the world is settled in the future, when the ruler is weak and the ministers are strong, with Li Hong's unrivaled feats, who in the world will know the emperor of Han?At that time Li Hong couldn't help himself, even if he didn't want to usurp the establishment, others would force him to usurp the establishment.

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"My lord, what do you think we should do?" the eldest princess asked calmly and leisurely.

Cui Lie looked at the glamorous face in front of him, and felt very angry.If you hadn't been eager to seize the military and political power in Li Hong's hands, and you hadn't targeted the rich and powerful, how could things have turned into what they are today?

"I managed to take back the military and political power in the hands of the general, and you will come to grab it immediately, as if I have swallowed it all by myself and won't give it to you. Well, now you are satisfied, and your wish has been fulfilled. The official system has also been revised, The prime minister has also done it for you, so you should be satisfied, right?" The eldest princess showed a look of contempt, "Are you still not satisfied? Do you want me to force the general to hand over his military power?"

"I just took back the military and political power of the general's six states and four counties. You will immediately oppose me and let him be the prime minister." The eldest princess curled her cherry red mouth and complained very dissatisfied, "Aren't you old? Confused? The general still has military power in his hands. If you let him be the prime minister, can I keep the power in my hand? The general is in charge of all the powers of the prime minister. Isn't he a great danger to the country? "

Cai Yong, Cui Lie, Liu He, and Xun You looked at each other with helplessness.The eldest princess blindly trusts the general because she loves the general.It is not the eldest princess's fault to love the general, but it is the eldest princess' fault to trust the general blindly.Li Hong handed over the military and political power in his hands with great joy. Is it because you love him and trust him, so he was immediately moved to repay you?

This is the court hall of the great man, not the courtyard of the family, and there is no love at all here.The general has already felt the threat, the threat of survival. The reason why he is willing to hand over the military and political power is because he still has the military power and the army in his hands. He still has the strength to crush the opponent who threatens his survival into powder at any time. .

The reason why the ministers of foreign courts unite to force the eldest princess to revise the official system and let the general be the prime minister is to minimize the threat of the general to the country, to make him and the eldest princess stand in opposition, to keep the prime minister and imperial power in opposition, and to The emperor and the eldest princess were rescued from the abyss of ruin.

But the eldest princess obviously did not understand the painstaking efforts of the foreign court ministers.

She believed that the general was almost blind, and she was unwilling to confront the general and break with him, so while satisfying the wishes of the foreign ministers, she pushed the general to a more prominent position.In the eyes of the princess, let the general supervise the Shangshutai. First, the general can control part of the power on her behalf, so that the ministers of foreign courts will not always target her. Second, the imperial power that she controls can be controlled by the general. With the strong support, it becomes more stable and more dignified.

The eldest princess imitated the official structure left by Emperor Xiaowu when he was in charge of Gu, and asked the general to use the power in his hands to protect and strengthen the imperial power, suppress and restrict the prime minister, and fight against all forces that provoke and threaten the imperial power.

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The eldest princess did not intend to change her mind at all.

Cai Yong, Cui Lie and other foreign ministers did not give up the intention of regaining the prime minister's power.

The two sides were at each other's lips, you ridiculed each other, each said their own reasons, and no one would budge.

Cai Yong, Cui Lie, and Liu He couldn't believe their eyes and ears now. The eldest princess opposite, who was beautiful, graceful, calm, well-organized, and leak-free, was the little girl who loved to cry?The eldest princess has really grown up, and she can't accept her old age.

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The ministers of the Outer Court took advantage of the opportunity of the revision of the official system, especially when Li Hong no longer served as the prime minister, and almost regained most of the prime minister's power except for some state decision-making power. Compared with the previous official system, the Outer Court The minister had won a complete victory, and the reason why he and the eldest princess were still arguing fiercely was mainly because he was worried that Li Hong would use his strength to hold the emperor and the eldest princess hostage, and then actually control the imperial power.

In fact, letting Li Hong serve as the prime minister and making the power of the prime minister and the imperial power confront each other is far more conducive to the check and balance of power and the stability of the court than the current practice of the eldest princess.

When Li Hong became prime minister, he was actually a powerful minister. As long as he overstepped a little, the imperial power would be in vain.The pattern of weak monarchs and strong ministers is very detrimental to reshaping a strong imperial power and stabilizing the country.

On the contrary, if Li Hong was the great general of Sima and led the Shangshutai, he actually only controlled military power and a part of the decision-making power of state affairs.Military power is necessary for the peace of the world and must be given to Li Hong.There is also a part of the decision-making power of state affairs that is not completely controlled by Li Hong. The eldest princess who is in charge of the imperial power and the prime minister who is in charge of most of the power have to share it.Decision-making in state affairs requires collegial discussions, and Li Hong cannot make decisions alone.

Now, Li Hong's power seems to have increased, but as long as Shangshutai does not go out independently, as long as the eldest princess firmly controls her imperial power, Li Hong's power has not actually expanded. Under the restraint of the emperor and princess, it is difficult to do whatever they want.

In this way, the prime ministers of the Outer Dynasty and the Outer Dynasty, the Shangshutai of the Chinese Dynasty and the Great General Sima who supervised the Central Dynasty, and the eldest princess of the Inner Dynasty and the Jinzhong formed a situation of mutual restraint and mutual restraint, especially in the Chinese and Korean dynasties. Shangshutai and the Great General Sima, who supervised the Central Dynasty, became the balance and buffer between the imperial power and the prime minister's power.

In order to weaken the power of the foreign court, the talented and powerful Emperor Xiaowu deliberately increased the power of the Chinese court. At the same time, he arranged for a wise and courageous foreign relative to serve as the Great Sima General to supervise the Chinese court and help him contain and balance the foreign court.This official system once played a role in stabilizing and revitalizing the country during his lifetime and after his death.Although Wang Mang's rebellion was created later, it had nothing to do with Emperor Xiaowu's wisdom, but because the imperial power was in the hands of the Queen Mother and was easily seized by an ambitious relative like Wang Mang.

Today, the emperor is still young, and the eldest princess is a weak girl. If Li Hong has ulterior motives, he can easily take advantage of the eldest princess' love and trust for him to gain imperial power.

How to restrict and weaken Li Hong's power, prevent Li Hong from taking away the imperial power, and minimize Li Hong's threat to the country?
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There is no way to restrict and weaken Li Hong's power.

"Since there is no way to restrict and weaken Li Hong's power, let's find a way to consolidate and strengthen the imperial power." Xun You said after thinking for a long time, "The reason for Wang Mang's disorderly government and foreign relatives' disasters for the country is all because of the power of the emperor's weak and weak harem master. Caused. Today’s situation is exactly the same as in the past, but fortunately, today’s harem lord is in charge of the eldest princess. We can take advantage of the opportunity of revising the official system to enhance the strength of the eldest princess, protect, consolidate and strengthen the imperial power.”

Cai Yong, Cui Lie, Liu He's thoughts had come to a dead end, and Xun You's words just reminded them, making their eyes suddenly brighten.

A smug smile suddenly appeared on the eldest princess's face, and there was a bit of cunning (xia) and disdain on the slightly raised corners of her mouth.

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"Your Highness, Li Hong's power will expand rapidly if Shang Shutai becomes independent, which may arouse his ambition. Once he intends to usurp the throne, with his strength, the foreign court and the ban will be powerless to stop him, so... Xun You cupped his hands and said, "His Royal Highness can take advantage of the opportunity of revising the official system to expand the power of the Shizhong Temple in the inner court."

Xun You suddenly thought of something, and immediately frowned.

Shizhong Temple, East Temple and West Temple belong to the inner dynasty and live in the forbidden.Shizhong Temple is composed of scholars and officials such as Shizhong and Huangmen Shilang. Together with the eunuchs of the East and West Temples, they are responsible for drafting, announcing government orders, and receiving memorials for the emperor. They are the emperor's close ministers.Due to the strict distinction between the Palace and the Forbidden City, Shizhong Temple was later moved out of the Forbidden City.When the Jinyang court was rebuilt, eunuchs were strictly prohibited from being involved in politics, so the Shizhong Temple was moved back to the Forbidden City.

If the power of Shizhong Temple is expanded, the power of Jinzhong will increase immediately, which may once again lead to eunuchs getting involved in politics and causing disasters to the country.

Xun You knew that his suggestion was wrong, so he immediately stopped talking.

"Lord Xun, the traitor has only been killed for a few days? Do you intend to let the big man..." The eldest princess looked at Xun You with a smile, but the meaning in the words made Xun You break out in a cold sweat.

"I made a slip of the tongue, a slip of the tongue..." Xun You repeatedly pleaded guilty.

The eldest princess laughed, "Lord Xun, you have a good idea. Since it is inconvenient to increase the power of the three temples banned in Zhongzhong, let's give Zhongshu more power. How about setting up Zhongshu Supervisor besides Shangshutai?"

Cai Yong and the others were stunned for a moment, and then felt a sense of being cheated.

No wonder the eldest princess readily asked the general to supervise the Shangshutai. It turned out that the eldest princess had a countermeasure. She wanted to replace Shangshutai with Zhongshujian and continue to control the power.It's just that she herself didn't want to offend the general, so she set up a trap, allowing the foreign ministers to take advantage of the opportunity to revise the official system and prepare for the establishment Zhongshujian, in order to increase the princess's control over the imperial power.

Now if the general wants to be angry, he should go to the ministers of foreign courts to trouble him.

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Although the official position of Zhongshu has a long history, it has long been abandoned. The reason why it was rebuilt this time is also to weaken the power of Shangshutai.

At the same time that Emperor Xiaowu used Shangshu and other Chinese court officials, he also appointed eunuchs as the order of the Chinese book caller, responsible for inheriting the edict and memorial.This is because Shangshu can only play in the palace and pavilion, and can only be called to play in the province under special circumstances.In the first year of Houyuan (88 BC), there was an incident in which a servant shot Ma Heluo and his younger brother Ma Tong into the palace for assassination.Therefore, Emperor Xiaowu, while inheriting his will through the Zhongshu Yezheling, also added a Zhongshu in the banned province, drafted an imperial edict for the emperor, and transferred part of the power of the Shangshu to the banned province.

Later, the Zhongshu took on the task of passing orders, and the Shangshu was transcribed and promulgated in the palace. In this way, in the original operating organization, a new transfer station was set up in the ban as a new imperial office.

In the reign of Emperor Xiaoxuan, in order to deprive Huo Guang of his power, Emperor Xiaoxuan ordered Zhongshuling to go directly to Simamen to get the memorial, bypassing Shangshutai to strengthen his own power.Therefore, Zhongshu became the "national cardinal" and "the foundation of politics".

At the beginning, Emperor Xiaowu reused the Shangshu, the original intention was to limit the power of the prime minister and improve work efficiency, but most of the people in charge of the Shangshu were relatives with too much power, so he weakened the Shangshu with the Zhongshu, in fact, it was to deprive the power of the ministers of the relatives. Therefore, this institution was later unanimously opposed by foreign officials.In the first four years of Emperor Xiaocheng's founding (29 BC), Wang Mang took the dictatorship, abolished the Zhongshu, and restored the dual-track system of power ministers leading the Shangshu and Sangong.

When the Jinyang court was rebuilt, because the ministers had lingering fears about treachery and eunuchs harming the country, officials of the inner court were strictly prohibited from intervening in politics.However, the eldest princess is in charge of the government, and she "does not accept public officials" in the situation. Although Shangshu is in charge of various government affairs, because of the difference between the palace and the ban, generally he rarely enters the ban.In order to facilitate the exercise of power by the eldest princess, and also to weaken and contain the power of Shangshutai, the post of Zhongshu was deliberately restored, and most of the officials were cronies of the original eldest princess's mansion.

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If the Zhongshu institution is changed to the Zhongshu supervisor institution, the number of officials will inevitably increase, and it is not appropriate to put them in the forbidden center, and they need to be moved to the palace.

The palace is originally owned by the Shangshutai, and the two institutions have similar powers, and they are both in the palace, which is obviously inappropriate.

The purpose of adding Zhongshujian was to weaken and restrict Li Hong's power, protect and consolidate imperial power, so Shangshutai had to be moved outside the palace.

The Shangshutai was originally a Chinese and Korean institution. After it was moved outside the palace, the emperor could not go to discuss matters outside the palace every day, so the Shangshutai immediately became an outer court institution.

This foreign court organization has great power and is supervised by the Great General Sima. It is obviously extremely inappropriate if Shangshutai should continue to belong to the Shaofu. An independent institution between Outer Korea and China.

Shangshutai became independent and its organization was huge, but its functions and powers overlapped with that of the Zhongshujian in China and North Korea.The purpose of adding Zhongshujian was originally to protect the imperial power. After Shangshutai moved out of the palace, of course, he could not compete with Zhongshujian for imperial power. Then, Shangshutai still had one power to fight for, and that was Xiangquan.

Shangshutai came to the outer court and competed with the outer court for the power. The two institutions fought each other, and the fisherman's winner was the eldest princess and the imperial power controlled by the eldest princess.

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At this point, the purpose of the eldest princess was finally revealed.

She first allowed the ministers of the foreign court to obtain the coveted power of prime minister, and then sacrificed part of the imperial power to let the general superintendent Shang Shutai master take power, and used this to threaten the ministers of the foreign court and force the ministers of the foreign court to take the initiative to demand protection of the imperial power.

The ministers of the outer court were unwilling to give up the power they had already obtained. In order to prevent the eunuchs from interfering with the government, they did not dare to increase the power of the inner court, so they had to move the Zhongshu composed of scholars and officials to the palace as the Zhongchao The power to protect the imperial power.As a result, Shangshutai had to move out of the palace and become an independent institution.

After the Shangshutai, supervised by the Great General Sima, came to the Wai Dynasty, it was on an equal footing with the Wai Dynasty. Because it controlled a part of the decision-making power of the state affairs, it had certain advantages over the Wai Dynasty, so the two would inevitably have power. contention.

The eldest princess took control of the Central and Inner Dynasties effortlessly, protected and consolidated the imperial power, and was involved in the battle for power between Shangshutai and the Outer Dynasties.

As long as the imperial power is stable, the mutual competition for power will not affect the fundamentals.The foreign dynasties did not carry out orders, and there was still a Shangshutai.Shangshutai is opposed to China and North Korea, as well as foreign courts.In this way, the three check and restrict each other. Although the court will not be peaceful, at least the power of the prime minister will no longer threaten the imperial power.

As for Grand Sima General Li Hong, who is at the center of the power vortex, even if he intends to seize the imperial power, it will be many years later.Now he must first unite with China and North Korea to settle the fetters of the foreign courts, otherwise he will never think about calming down the world smoothly.

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The four ministers, Cai Yong, Cui Lie, Liu He, and Xun You left expressionlessly, their frustration and anger reaching the extreme, but they had nowhere to vent.

Before Cai Yong left, he looked at the eldest princess who stood at the door respectfully and bid farewell to him, and then asked, "Are you really my disciple?"

The eldest princess smiled slightly, "The teacher's kindness will never be forgotten by the disciple."

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(End of this chapter)