Taiping Inn

The figures of the three princes disappeared outside the main hall door. Xie Zhi stood up and pushed open a window, looking at the rain outside. The sky and the earth outside were already gray and white, the dark sky and the white rain, the entire imperial capital was shrouded in In this bleak autumn rain.

Xie Zhi said softly, "Emperor."

Emperor Tianbao immediately said, "My son is here."

The emperor calls himself me in daily life, and sometimes he also calls himself me in a literary way. He only calls himself "I" in formal occasions. When the targets are the gods of heaven and earth and the previous emperor, they claim to be ministers.

The Empress Dowager was the late emperor and the Empress Dowager was just the honorable title for her to live. When she was buried in the sky, she should also be honored as the Empress of the Great Walk and enjoy a successive position.

In the past, Xie Zhi was the queen, Emperor Tianbao was the crown prince, and Emperor Tianbao was the minister; in the future, Xie Zhi was the first, Emperor Tianbao was the emperor, and Emperor Tianbao was still the minister. Therefore, when Emperor Tianbao faced the Empress Dowager Xie Zhi, he had to call himself a "member".

What's more, when Emperor Daxing did not choose an heir or performed "normal" decree, it was mostly in the name of the Queen Mother's imperial edict. This shows that the Empress Dowager existed as the spokesperson for the late emperor to remain in the world, so there is nothing wrong with the Empress Dowager opposite the Emperor. But because he is an emperor after all, he is officially called "Child Emperor's Minister", and the abbreviation is "Child Minister".

Correspondingly, the emperor is still supreme, so the empress dowager cannot call the emperor directly, but should call him "Emperor", but there is no need to use respectful titles such as "Sage" and "Saint".

Xie Zhi looked at the rain curtain and asked, "What do you think?"

Emperor Tianbao hesitated for a moment and replied, "My son is obeying the will of his mother."

Xie Zhi was a little dissatisfied and said, "I'm not asking the emperor how to do it, I'm asking what the emperor thinks."

Emperor Tianbao had no choice but to say, "The King of Tang is too radical, the King of Yan is too conservative, as for the King of Jin..."

Xie Zhi sighed lightly, "Emperor, you, my mother and son are one, one prosper and one loses, and one loses one loses. If it is a peaceful and prosperous era, if you want to rule, how could I stop it at all!"

Emperor Tianbao never expected that Xie Zhi would suddenly find out the matter that King Yan didn't dare to find out. He was shocked and knelt on the ground, "I don't have such thoughts."

Xie Zhi slowly turned around, his tone softened a little, "But when is it now? There are strong enemies outside and internal troubles inside. You also heard it just now, Liaodong and Li Xuandu, one is outside the pass. To prepare troops, one should install spies in the pass to contact traditional tyrants. Just wait for the time to come, you should cooperate with the inside and outside. The army heads south. How do you deal with it?”

"This...this..." Emperor Tianbao didn't know how to answer for a moment.

Xie Zhi's tone became softer and said, "This is an external worry, and there are internal troubles. The three royal princes each have their own thoughts and forces. If they like your position, how should you be prepared?"

Emperor Tianbao hesitated and said, "Kill?"

Xie Zhi smiled, "If you kill the three kings, no one in the royal family can be used. Who will help you stabilize the court? Just rely on those civil officials? Why did Emperor Taizu enfeoffed the vassal kings to guard all over the country? Have you ever thought about it? ? ”

Cold sweat ejaculated from Emperor Tianbao's forehead.

Xie Zhi strengthened his tone, "What do you think those civil servants have done to let you take power? Now they will help you, and they will collect debts from you in the future. They want you to rely on them, so they can put aside their weaknesses. You, let you be a puppet, what kind of holy emperor rule? To put it bluntly, the emperor doesn’t care about anything and leaves everything to them. In this way, who is the emperor?”

Emperor Tianbao's face was pale and speechless.

Xie Zhi said: "The key to the emperor's mind is balance. The emperor is out of the matter and lets the people below restrict each other. In this way, if the people below want to defeat the opponent, they will demand the emperor, and everyone will demand the emperor. Then the emperor's words work and can he master the court. But if there is only one group of people below you and there is no restraint, then the emperor will have no effect. Do you understand this truth? "

Emperor Tianbao lowered his head and did not dare to look directly at Xie Zhi.

Xie Zhi suddenly showed a sad expression, "I didn't want to say some words at first, but now I have to say them. Have you ever thought about it? If it really comes to the day when the general situation is unsuccessful, I will stand in front of you, at least It's a cover. People all say that state affairs are like this, and the government is so corrupt, it's all the fault of the empress dowager, but the emperor is still good. As long as the emperor takes power and makes trouble, everything will be fine, then you still have a way out... ”

Before Xie Zhi could finish his words, Emperor Tianbao was already crying.

He hugged one of Xie Zhi's legs and choked and said, "It's my son who was wrong. My son who was fooled by those civil servants..."

Xie Zhi leaned over and gently stroked Emperor Tianbao's hair with his hands, but his eyes were looking at the rain outside the window. The moisture and cold air penetrated into the hall. Xie Zhi was in a very bad mood, just like this weather.

Since the founding of the Great Wei Kingdom, how many wind, frost, snow and rain have been gone, but can the Great Wei still hold on to the cold rain today?

Nympho

The name of the Tang King is Xu Zaixu, who is 32 years old this year. He is the youngest among the three real-power princes. During the second year of Tianbao, he was not in the imperial capital. However, after the imperial capital, he personally went to the northwest with the imperial decree and seized Qin Xiang's military power. As a result, he was valued by the Empress Dowager and King Jin, and was appointed as the Prince of Jin. Prince, however, his title has not been changed and he has not taken the title of a state as the king.

After leaving the palace, Xu Zaixu took a carriage back to his own palace. Strictly speaking, the palaces of the kings in the imperial capital can only be regarded as temporary residences, and the palaces in their respective fiefdoms are the real palaces. The palace of the King of Qi is in Qizhou, the palace of the King of Jin is in Jinzhou, and the palace of the King of Yan is in Yanzhou. However, there is no Tangzhou in Wei, so the palace of the King of Tang is the palace in the imperial capital.

After returning to the palace, Xu Zaixu dismissed the attendants and only left a woman to help him change his clothes, changing out of the wet prince's clothes and putting on casual clothes. Then he took the woman in his arms and buried his face in the woman's black hair.

The woman giggled, "Your Highness, you don't seem to be in a good mood?"

Xu Zaixu said "hmm" solemnly, raised his head, and said: "It's called a meeting, but it's not a combination of soft and hard tactics, let us follow her orders, but there's nothing we can do, who makes her the queen mother?"

The woman's skin is whiter than snow, her face is rosy, and her eyes are full of spring waves. She is actually a stunning beauty.

After hearing what Xu Zaixu said, she said: "What about the other two princes?"

Xu Zaixu pondered for a moment and said: "It's needless to say that the Prince of Jin has always been of the same mind as the queen mother. Even if there have been slight disagreements in recent years, when it comes to critical moments, the Prince of Jin still stands on the side of the queen mother. The relationship between the two is really close, otherwise there would not have been rumors of "the black-hearted prince sleeping on the dragon bed" back then. As for the Prince of Yan..."

Speaking of this, Xu Zaixu pondered for a moment and just sighed.

The woman snorted and said unwillingly, "Your Majesty, are you still hiding things from me?"

"Of course there is nothing to hide between you and me, but I haven't figured out how to say it yet, and there are some things I haven't figured out." Xu Zaixu smiled and said, "It's just right that I'm telling you, and you can help me with some advice."

The woman leaned on Xu Zaixu's chest and drew a circle with her fingers.

Xu Zaixu considered his words and said, "The Queen Mother was able to enter the palace because of the King of Yan's contribution. Logically, the King of Yan should stand on the Queen Mother's side, but when discussing matters today, the King of Yan repeatedly mentioned Confucianism."

The woman was surprised and said, "Confucianism? The Confucianism is behind the civil officials. Now Confucianism and Taoism are fighting, and Confucianism has been defeated again and again. Now Taoism is eyeing the court. Confucianism has to step down personally and clamor for the current emperor to take power so that they can completely control the court. If you want the emperor to come up, you have to let the Queen Mother go down first. The Queen Mother will not be happy if the King of Yan mentions Confucianism at this time, and she will not let it go."

Xu Zaixu nodded and said, "Who No, it seems that the old fox Prince Yan has placed his bet on the Confucian school. To be honest, the Confucian school is more hateful than the Taoist school. They have repeatedly manipulated the succession to the throne. As long as they are not in line with their wishes, they will find ways to get rid of them. The reason why the Prince of Yan joined forces with the Confucian school may be that the Confucian school has promised him that his descendants will be placed on that position. "

The woman said thoughtfully: "The prince's speculation is reasonable, but there is a variable."

Xu Zaixu became interested and said: "I would like to ask you."

The woman gently broke free from Xu Zaixu's arms, paced back and forth with her hands behind her back, and said: "Let me ask you, why don't the Confucian school dare to touch the Queen Mother directly? "

Xu Zai Xu thought for a moment and said, "It's the Great Sword Immortal of the East Sea."

The woman nodded and said, "The Great Sword Immortal is from the Taoist sect and supports the Queen Mother, which makes the current situation very interesting. The Confucian sect is determined to help His Majesty ascend to the throne. On this point, the Confucian sect and the Great Sword Immortal disagree. But there came a man named Qingping Li Xuandu who wanted to drive away the Queen Mother and the current His Majesty and replace them with a family to rule the world. On this point, the Confucian sect and the Great Sword Immortal agree. If the prince is the Great Sword Immortal, what will the prince choose? Will he help his disciples and start all over again? Or will he put aside his prejudices and unite against the outside world?"

Xu Zai Xu felt suddenly enlightened and said, "Your Does that mean that how the situation develops depends on the Great Sword Immortal's thoughts? "

The woman nodded gently, "That's right. Although the Great Sword Immortal is deeply involved with the Queen Mother, the Qin family in Liaodong is also his in-laws."

Xu Zaixu laughed, "The Great Sword Immortal will definitely not support the Qin family."

The woman asked in confusion, "Why did your Highness say that?"

Xu Zaixu said, "The Queen Mother's words today have awakened me. The Great Sword Immortal can secretly control a pair of orphans and widows who have no one to rely on. Can the Great Sword Immortal control Qin Qing and Li Xuandu? These two father-in-law and son-in-law are not ordinary people."

The woman nodded and said, "Your Highness is right."

Xu Zaixu laughed and suddenly picked up the woman horizontally.

The woman first exclaimed, then wrapped her arms around Xu Zaixu's neck and laughed.