Chapter 311 Candidate for the Crown Prince

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, as soon as night falls, colorful lanterns are hung in the streets and alleys of Beijing, making the capital colorfully decorated.

Emperor Ming of Qi held a banquet in Yanhe Palace with all the ministers, accompanied by the empress and Xiao Beiheng and his wife. The emperor decreed that tonight, everyone could speak freely, and the guests and hosts would have a great time, and everyone would be drunk.

Seeing that the emperor had an edict, all the courtiers took this opportunity to eat and drink. They exchanged cups and cups, and it was very lively.

After drinking more than a dozen glasses of royal wine, the Prime Minister, not knowing whether he was too drunk or too old to be confused, suggested to Emperor Qi Ming in front of all the civil and military officials that His Majesty should establish a crown prince.

Emperor Qi Ming played with the empty wine glass thoughtfully and did not respond to the prime minister. Instead, his eyes fell on the two empty seats.

Xiao Zhuo and Shen Yuexi were supposed to be there. But a rebellion broke out in Jingzhou, and Xiao Zhuo led his troops to suppress it. Princess An, Shen Yuexi, was pregnant and had severe vomiting, so she could not come.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is supposed to be a time for family reunions, but these accidents are also regrettable.

Song Zhen, who was sitting at the bottom, stood up and said to the Prime Minister: "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, I believe that Your Majesty has made his own decision in his heart on the matter of establishing a crown prince, and we, as ministers, should not rush him."

Emperor Ming of Qi ascended the throne, and his subordinates also prospered. He became the Minister of the Ministry of War, and his rival Lin Kui was the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. The two men had the same official positions, and they were both deputies to the Minister. But in real terms, Song Zhen's The real power is greater.

After hearing this, the prime minister blushed and said to Song Zhen: "Song Shilang, since ancient times, the most important thing is to abolish the crown prince. If there is any hesitation, there will be chaos. This is a way to bring disaster."

Song Zhen wanted to refute, and several ministers rose up to support the prime minister, including Lin Kui.

"The Prime Minister is right. Now the world is peaceful. Although there is a rebellion in Jingzhou, it is not a problem." After Lin Kui finished speaking to the Prime Minister, he turned to Emperor Qi Ming and saluted, "I bet you are brave, I hope your Majesty will consider establishing a heir as soon as possible."

Song Zhen looked around one by one and found that most of the people speaking were supporters of Xiao Beiheng.

He is a smart man, and he understood the reason after a little thought.

Xiao Beiheng took advantage of the absence of Xiao Zhuo and Shen Yuexi to ask the ministers to push Emperor Qi Ming to establish a heir apparent. In this atmosphere, even if he said it more directly, considering that everyone was drunk, the emperor had decrees to allow everyone to speak at will. Opinions, naturally I won’t blame everyone.

But the matter of establishing the crown prince is directly related to Xiao Beiheng, and it is inappropriate for him to still be here. He will definitely have to leave next.

As expected, as Song Zhen expected, Xiao Beiheng stood up and said to Emperor Qi Ming: "Father, I am too drunk to drink, please retire first."

Emperor Qi Ming agreed, and Xiao Beiheng took Su Mo and left the Yanhe Palace.

As soon as Xiao Beiheng left, the ministers became even more enthusiastic. Several military attachés headed by General Zhao Mu supported Song Zhen, saying that this matter should be decided by His Majesty. A group of civil servants headed by the Prime Minister denounced Zhao Mu and his gang. People are simple-minded warriors who don't understand how to govern the world.

The civil servants all had academic backgrounds. Not only were they sharp-tongued, they were also able to quote scriptures and give endless arguments. The generals who supported Song Zhen couldn't even speak, let alone refute. They were criticized from head to toe, and they were defeated thousands of miles away. .

Emperor Ming of Qi put his hand on his forehead and did not say a word, just listening to the debate among his ministers.

After everyone had become thirsty and calmed down a little, Emperor Qi Ming stood up and said: "My lords, I'm a little drunk. I'm going to rest first. You can continue to drink wine."

The ministers originally wanted to tell Emperor Qi Ming to listen. As soon as Emperor Qi Ming left, everyone suddenly lost interest in arguing and had to continue drinking.

After two more rounds of drinking, a eunuch came over and said to Song Zhen: "Servant Song, Your Majesty has summoned you in the imperial study."

Song Zhen did not dare to neglect. He stood up and said goodbye to all the officials. After leaving the Yanhe Palace, the eunuch led him all the way to the study room of the Yangxin Palace. The eunuch stopped at the door and said to Song Zhen: "Your Excellency, your Majesty only invites you in."

After the eunuch finished speaking, he opened the door for Song Zhen.

Song Zhen entered the imperial study, walked around the screen, and saw a bookshelf standing on one side of the wall. There was a square table in the center of the room. Emperor Qi Ming was drawing with an ink pen on the desk. The painting seemed to be a woman.

"Your Majesty, the humble minister Song Zhen has been summoned to come here." Song Zhen stood aside after saluting.

Emperor Qi Ming raised his head and glanced at Song Zhen, nodded, dipped his pen in some ink, continued painting, and said: "Today, all the ministers are urging me to establish a crown prince. What do you think, Ai Qing?"

Song Zhen said: "Your Majesty must have made a conclusion long ago. I don't dare to speculate on His Majesty's holy will."

Emperor Qi Ming smiled and shook his head and said: "My dear, I came to you just to listen to your opinion. No ambiguity is allowed."

Song Zhen's face turned red. It seemed that he couldn't push the matter out, so he had to bite the bullet and said:

"Your Majesty, I believe that what the Prime Minister said has his own truth. Your Majesty is in good health, but there are unforeseen circumstances. If there is an accident and the heir is not established, disaster will inevitably occur."

"So, you and the Prime Minister agree?" Emperor Qi Ming put the pen on the pen holder, picked up the painting and admired it against the light.

"Wei Chen just thinks that His Majesty has made his own decision in this matter, and we, as ministers..."

"Then who do you think I should appoint?" Emperor Qi Ming put down the painting, put his hand on the side of the case, and looked directly at Song Zhen.

Song Zhen didn't expect Emperor Qi Ming to ask such a question, so he was speechless and stammered: "Your Majesty, how dare a humble minister dare to talk nonsense about establishing a heir apparent."

How dare he answer this kind of thing casually? This is definitely not a joke. Only the emperor can decide whether a prince is to be established or not. As a minister, the best thing to do is to urge him. How can he tell the emperor who should be established and who should be deposed, unless he doesn't want his own head?

.

Emperor Qi Ming seemed to know that he did not dare to answer this question. He sighed, walked slowly for a few steps with his hands behind his back, and said:

"The palms and backs of my hands are full of flesh, and I'm in a very difficult position."

When Song Zhen saw that Emperor Qi Ming's tone had softened, he calmed down and followed Emperor Qi Ming's words: "Both Prince Ping and Prince An are unparalleled heroes in the world. We ministers have no objection to whoever your Majesty chooses to be the crown prince."

"I had made up my mind at first," Emperor Qi Ming seemed to be saying to himself or telling Song Zhen, "but when I went to Shengjing, Taifu Ji's granddaughter came to see me and told me something very important.

Important thing. I didn’t believe what she said at first, so I specially sent someone to find out..."

Song Zhen was stunned.

Ji Zhong's granddaughter once went to see Emperor Qi Ming, but he didn't know about it. It seemed to be a private meeting. Emperor Qi Ming was unclear about what he said, and he didn't know what Ji Zhong's granddaughter said specifically. But it should be directly related to Li Chu

, after all, the main content of the emperor's discussion with him now is the establishment of a crown prince.

"A few days ago, envoys from Beidi came to congratulate me on my enthronement. At the same time, they also sent me a personal letter from the Grand Marshal of Beidi, reminding me of a very important matter..." Emperor Qi Ming changed the topic and started talking about Beidi again.

.

Song Zhen became even more confused after hearing this.

He also knew that the Beidi envoy brought a personal letter from the Beidi Generalissimo, but Emperor Qi Ming did not reveal the specific content.

Unexpectedly, this is also related to Li Chu. Both Xiao Zhuo and Xiao Beiheng have dealt with Beidi. What important things could the Generalissimo of Beidi have to remind Emperor Qi Ming?

Emperor Qi Ming has already said two very important things. But Emperor Qi Ming did not go into detail about these two things. It felt less like he was telling him, and more like Emperor Qi Ming was talking to himself.

listen.

"With these two things, I don't know how to make a decision now," Emperor Qi Ming looked at Song Zhen, "You once served as a subordinate to King An, and later to Prince Ping. You are familiar with them both.

Your opinion is very important to me."

Song Zhen probably understood what Emperor Qi Ming meant.

Originally, Emperor Qi Ming had already decided on the candidate for the crown prince, but two things happened. One of these two things was related to Ji Zhong, and the other was related to Marshal Beidi. It was these two things that made Emperor Qi Ming hesitate.

Decided.

He thought over and over again and finally came up with a way to respond.

"Your Majesty, since ancient times, emperors have had rules to follow when establishing heirs. They should establish elders rather than younger ones, and establish heirs rather than concubines. Your Majesty can just act according to the ancient rules, and there is no need for ministers to make false claims."

In fact, he said a correct nonsense. It seemed that he said his own point of view, but in fact he did not say it.

Xiao Zhuo is considered the eldest son of Emperor Qi Ming, so he should make Xiao Zhuo the prince. However, Emperor Qi Ming and Pei Jingyun have no engagement, and they are not married by a matchmaker. In this way, Xiao Zhuo is not considered a legitimate son, but can only be regarded as a concubine. Xiao Beiheng should be made the prince.

That's right.

Emperor Qi Ming seemed to see through his trick and said with a smile:

"My dear, I won't embarrass you anymore. Pass on my oral instructions to all the ministers, and I will announce the candidate for the crown prince tomorrow morning."

Song Zhen opened his eyes wide in surprise, Emperor Qi Ming finally made a decision.
Chapter completed!