After coming out of Prince Rui's palace, Liu Xia ordered the carriage to head towards Zhang Tianhu's residence.

The Zhang family is one of the top ten aristocratic families in Longdu, and has a very important position in the Tianji Dynasty.

As the representative of the Zhang family in Longdu, Zhang Tianhu accumulated enough merits after returning from the northwest and became one of the cabinet members.

The cabinet of the Skyrim Dynasty is usually taken over by representatives of the noble families.

It's just that in these years, the emperor promoted several cabinet members born in martial arts to balance the power of noble families and military officials in the cabinet.[

The cabinet is the heart of the court.

Being able to become a cabinet member is a truly high-ranking minister.

Because the Tianji Dynasty does not have a prime minister, the cabinet is the leader of the ministers and the decision-maker of major events.

The prince is the heir apparent, so there must be some gullibility from him in the cabinet.

Compared with Liu Xia and the prince, the gap now is just here.

After returning to Longdu, Liu Xia asked people to inquire about it.

Among the ministers who proposed the prince's marriage that day, three cabinet ministers jointly signed the proposal.

There are currently a total of twelve people in the cabinet, and there are three of them, which can illustrate the power of the prince.

However, neither the Zhang family nor the Song family expressed their stance, which shows that Liu Xia still has an opportunity.

Today's Liu Xia, although he has great power, has no background. After all, he is worse than the prince.

Therefore, we still need to use our brains from the cabinet.

The imperial court is not a river and lake. Some things can be solved by force.

Arriving outside Zhang Tianhu's house, Liu Xia entered Zhang Tianhu's study after a brief communication.

When Zhang Tianhu saw Liu Xia, he immediately exchanged greetings.

After the two people sat down, Liu Xia smiled and said: "Master Zhang, we worked together in the northwest. Today I will get straight to the point. I have something to ask of you. Please agree."

When Zhang Tianhu heard this, he immediately smiled and said: "My lord, please have tea. Since you are here, I know what you want to ask me for. However, I really can't handle this for you."

"Oh? Why?"

Liu Xia asked.

"My lord, you are extremely smart. There must be some things that you haven't seen clearly yet. Anyway, since you are here today, I might as well tell you about it. If I am not wrong, you want me to give you an idea of ​​the emperor's proposal for marriage.

What?"[

Zhang Tianhu smiled.

"good."

"To be honest, the prince is the heir apparent. Although our Zhang family is not a princeling party to the future emperor, there is really no need to go against the prince. If it is just a personal relationship, I, Zhang Tianhu, will take responsibility. However, I represent the Zhang family after all.

.If I negotiate a marriage for you, it means that the Zhang family is on your side. The key is that you have no ambition to become emperor. We, the Zhang family, support you, but in the end you offend the prince. This is really worse than a deal.

The risk is too great.”

Zhang Tianhu said softly.

When Liu Xia heard this, he suddenly realized.

Mr. Xue Ge was right. Everything in Longdu was related to the emperor. To be precise, it was related to the dragon chair.

If Liu Xia has the ambition to become emperor at this moment, and the Zhang family supports him, if Liu Xia becomes emperor in the future, he will naturally not forget the kindness of the Zhang family. This is political investment.

However, Liu Xia never had this idea, so the Zhang family could not support him.

"I understand. But, I don't want to be the emperor, I really don't. Is there no other way?"

Liu Xia asked.

"It's not impossible. In fact, the prince is just in this mountain. You are actually a force at the moment. You see, you have the support of the northwest family, and you have the Wuzhou army in your hands at the moment. If you want to win, you have to make it clear

Your own attitude. If you are not the emperor, then who do you support as the emperor? This is the key! In Longdu, if you just want to be an idle prince, you don’t have to have an attitude. But today, if you don’t have an attitude,

Others will not dare to help you."

Zhang Tianhu finished speaking in a low voice, then picked up the tea cup and took a sip.

Liu Xia fell into deep thought at this moment.

If he does not support the prince, he must support another prince, or he must express his position himself.

Only in this way can we really start to participate in the party struggle in Longdu.

However, Liu Xia did not want to support the prince at this moment. To be precise, Liu Xia did not want to kill the prince.

"Master Zhang, must this be the case?"

Liu Xia asked after being silent for a moment.

"My lord, let me tell you the truth. The affairs of the court are not about playing house. This is a game of life and death. Either you quit, or you must put your opponent to death. This fight between you and the prince is far from like you

It's so simple. Either the prince dies or you die."

After saying this, Zhang Tianhu sighed softly and said: "My lord, let me say something treasonous. If you are ambitious, I, the Zhang family, are willing to stand by your side. And I will go through fire and water for you, no matter what. Because, I think highly of you."

"

"Master Zhang, there's no need to say any more. I don't have this idea, and I don't want to be in that position. I'll just pretend I haven't seen you tonight. I'll take my leave."

Having said this, Liu Xia stood up and walked outside.[

Zhang Tianhu hurriedly saw off each other, looking at Liu Xia's carriage leaving, he sighed with regret.

If the emperor's sons really fought with Liu Xia, they would not be Liu Xia's opponents. Unfortunately, Liu Xia had no ambition, so this would be very difficult.

Liu Xia sat in the carriage and remained silent.

Zhang Tianhu is right. If he wants to survive in Longdu, he must have his own attitude.

That is, his position.

No matter which prince he supported, he could overthrow the prince, but Liu Xia always felt that that was not the emperor's original intention.

Thinking of this, Liu Xia understood one thing. If he, like the prince, formed a clique for personal gain, then the emperor would definitely be suspicious of him.

Therefore, he cannot follow the old path of a prince, because he really does not want to be the emperor, nor does he want to support anyone to become the emperor.

Since I have to make my position clear, Liu Xia's position is that I don't want to be emperor, so none of you should mess with me.

If you mess with me, I will let you die.

It seems that being a loyal minister is not enough, what he has to do is to be a powerful minister.

It seems that you still have to do it yourself when discussing marriage.

Thinking of this, Liu Xia breathed a sigh of relief.

Now an important issue before Liu Xia is to deal with the prince first.

If there is no help, then you have to rely on yourself.

After returning to the palace, Liu Xia summoned his confidants for a meeting in the meeting hall.

"Everyone, to be honest, after what happened today, the prince will definitely try his best to retaliate against us. And we cannot give the prince this opportunity. We must take action first. Yuan Binglong, you have been in Longdu for many years. Those masters in the prince's mansion

, do you know something?"

Liu Xia asked.

"Although I know a little bit, I don't know the details. But don't worry, Your Majesty, I will go and inquire about it right away."

"Well, very good, give me a list of the masters in the Prince's Mansion. Starting from tomorrow, we will deal with them one by one. I won't hide some things from you. This is a moment of life and death for us. Once the princelings succeed,

When the prince has the opportunity to ascend the throne, the first thing he will do is to kill me. Therefore, we cannot give him this opportunity. Either we don't do it, or we kill him if we do."

Liu Xia said softly.

Everyone present was frightened when they heard this.

After all, what Liu Xia was talking about was the prince.

"Your Majesty, do we have to be against the Crown Prince?"

Zhang Zong frowned and said.

"I didn't want to, but the emperor forced me to be on the opposite side of the prince. I thought this matter was too simple before. Everyone, to be honest, this is not a game, but a life-and-death fight. In our hands

Although there is evidence that the prince is accustomed to raising a private army

, but based on this alone, we can't move the prince. The best way is to shut him down and let him jump over the wall. I don't want to kill him, but at least let the emperor abolish his status as prince. In this way, we

Only then can we be safe. Do you all understand?"

Liu Xia said.

Everyone nodded when they heard this.

On the way back, Liu Xia gave up the advantage of forming a party. Although he seemed to be at a disadvantage, there was also an advantage.

That is, those who are barefoot are not afraid of wearing shoes. There are many princelings, and those are his minions.
To be continued...