Although Yan Fu followed Emperor Qianwen every day and knew his every move, he still couldn't fully grasp the matter when it came to ideals. Just like this matter now, Emperor Qianwen didn't mean to remind Marquis Zhongcheng. Did he forget it?
of course not.
On the contrary, Emperor Qianwen wanted to use this incident to deal with Marquis Zhongcheng.
Because of Aoxue, Marquis Zhongcheng was like a different kind of existence in the court, causing trouble everywhere without fear of being beheaded by Emperor Qianwen. It was precisely because of this support that in handling some matters, He could even make decisions without going through Emperor Qianwen, leaving the emperor sometimes passive.
Due to Aoxue, Emperor Qianwen could not take the initiative to punish Marquis Zhongcheng. But what if other people came to trouble him? The emperor can't be blamed for this.
And this is just one of the reasons. The most important thing is the second point, which involves Shen Ao.
The close relationship between Marquis Zhongcheng and Shen Ao sometimes makes his real father very jealous when he sees it. With Marquis Zhongcheng helping Shen Ao, his strength is also expanding step by step. Just like this time when he returned from victory, After sending so many war horses to the generals, isn't there any intention to win people's hearts?
With Emperor Qianwen's desire for power, he would never allow anyone else to appear to take away his power, even if that person was his own son.
Shen Ao's strength is getting stronger and stronger. If it is not controlled, sooner or later, it will threaten him as a father. Now there is an opportunity to cut off one of Shen Ao's arms, which is something Emperor Qianwen is happy to see. Things that have arrived.
In this way, Marquis Wuyong and Bailigui wanted to target Marquis Zhongcheng, and the result would be beneficial to Emperor Qianwen. Then why did he give a reminder? He wished that Marquis Zhongcheng would fall. In this way, Shen Ao could only rely on himself in the future. This will play a very positive role in better controlling the situation, won't it?
It's just these that we can only think about but not talk about. That's right, Emperor Qianwen seemed to have forgotten to remind Marquis Zhongcheng, without saying a word.
As the chief eunuch in the palace, Yan Fu must do everything based on the emperor's will. Even if Emperor Qianwen didn't mention this matter, of course he couldn't mention it. He could only suppress the doubts in his heart and honestly He just stood aside and acted like a wooden stake.
Of course, Zhongcheng Hou Shen Yunyi had no way of knowing what happened in the Yangxin Palace. He was still waiting for Wu Yonghou to jump out and see how the emperor would suppress him. But he didn't know that a big web of conspiracy was coming towards him. Comes enveloped.
...
Liaozhou.
Located in the north, it is often said to be a representative of the bitter cold land.
After seven days of traveling, Shen Ao and his party finally arrived at Ningcheng, the capital of Liaozhou.
The distance to Ningcheng is getting closer and closer, and the roads are getting easier to walk. Probably because the cement road has started from Ningcheng and stretches for nearly a hundred miles. Along the way, you can see more and more people waving their hands. Arms are building roads, a busy scene.
Shen Xing had already led a group of people to welcome Shen Ao, the most trusted butler of Duke Zhongguo. His complexion was much darker than before.
"Master, you've had a hard journey." After receiving Shen Ao outside the city, Shen Xing said with tears streaming down his face.
"Uncle Shen, thank you for your hard work." Shen Ao quickly stepped out of the carriage, came to Shen Xing, held his arms, and said excitedly.
It had been more than half a year since we last saw each other. This was the longest time Shen Ao had been away from Shen Xing's sight. The old and the young couldn't help but sigh.
Later, Shen Xing was pulled into the carriage by Shen Ao for a conversation. Firstly, it was to enhance the relationship between the two parties. Secondly, Shen Ao also wanted to learn more about King Zhong from Shen Xing.
Although it is said that it should be very safe to come to Liao this time. If nothing else, let’s just say that Prince Tang Yi is still serving as a hostage in Daliang City. Based on this, Prince Zhong will not do anything wrong. But things can happen. , you still have to prepare for the worst.
Shen Xing is a capable person. Otherwise, he would not have been running the Zhongguo Palace for these years. It seems that he is in charge of road construction, but in fact he has also secretly inquired about many things in Liaozhou. , now when the young master asks, he naturally tells everything he knows.
After a while, Shen Xing finally closed his mouth, and Shen Ao basically digested the remarks he just made, "Uncle Shen, so it means that Prince Zhong is a man with great ambitions?"
"Yes, this man has been training and recruiting soldiers for these years, and has never stopped for a moment. And in order to deceive others, many soldiers will be forced to leave the army and return to the people after a period of training. Just like our recruitment There are many such people among the road-building civilians. After getting familiar with them, according to what they said, once the loyal king gives orders, they will still return to the army."
"Oh?" Shen Ao was shocked after hearing this. Isn't this what later generations called reserve forces? From this point of view, it is true that King Zhong only has 50,000 troops, but they are just registered troops. In fact, The number of reserves has already exceeded this number, and if something is to be done or a war is launched, I believe that the loyal army will not only have 50,000 troops.
"Another ambitious vassal king." Shen Ao couldn't help but sigh after learning about the situation. As he learned more and more about Da Qian, he felt more and more that it was not easy to be Emperor Wen, under internal and external troubles. , it is probably not easy to maintain a basically peaceful environment.
Shen Ao also has a feeling that sooner or later the situation of feudal kingship will be broken. At that time, the world will be in chaos, war will be everywhere, and the people will be in dire straits. I just don’t know when that day will come, but I don’t know. Do you know if you can avoid it at that time?
Or will you become one of them and be forced to fight for self-protection?
After meeting with Shen Xing and having a preliminary understanding of Prince Zhong's situation, the group entered the city and headed towards Prince Zhong's Mansion. On this trip, in addition to being accompanied by Shen Xing, Xue Fei and others, student Ren An also accompanied them. Came over.
Since studying under Shen Ao, Ren An has been promoted from a sixth-rank gold minister to a full-fifth rank position. This time, he was vigorously promoted to be the manager of Dagan Bank in Liaozhou, and his official position was from the third rank.
Ren An was very grateful for the teacher's promotion. He had already decided to perform well and live up to his cultivation. At the same time, he regarded Shen Ao as his true master and was more determined to follow him. .
This was also a common practice at the time. The promotion of officials relied entirely on recommendations. Officials without backers were destined not to go very far. This gradually formed a rule that officials who were promoted would listen to whoever they promoted. Even many officials Sometimes the emperor's life is not useful.
Although Shen Ao has no intention of establishing his own power in the court, he still wants to help his students if he can.
Prince Zhong's Mansion.
Already knowing that after Duke Zhong entered the city, King Zhong brought his chief staff member Xiuzhe to wait here. For the ambitious King Zhong, he needed more talents. Since the young Duke was talented, no matter how much he paid attention to it, Not an exaggeration.
When Shen Ao and his party entered the palace of Prince Zhong under the guidance of the housekeeper, they saw Prince Zhong with a serious face and a calm expression from a distance.
The two people's eyes quickly intertwined at that moment. At this moment, Shen Ao seemed to see a fierce tiger charging towards him with its bloody mouth open. It seemed that the tiger was roaring and the dragon was roaring, giving him a feeling that his whole body was being seen through. a feeling of.
The situation of King Zhong was not much better. After looking at it, a sense of vicissitudes of life came back to his heart. It gave him the feeling that he was not facing a young man at this moment, but a man who had experienced the vicissitudes of life for a long time. He was like a little old man, but he couldn't see through the details.
This was the first time the two met. After a probing look, the two of them stopped looking down on each other, and a feeling of meeting their opponents emerged spontaneously.
"Well, are you Duke Zhongguo? Yes, you are indeed young and promising." Prince Zhong was surprised and returned to normal in less than half a breath. When he spoke, a loud voice came straight to him.
"My subordinate, Duke Zhongguo, has met Prince Zhong, but he is too promising to take on the role. It is true that he is young. If I do something wrong because of my youthful impulsiveness, please forgive me, Prince Zhong." Shen Ao said with a smile, and said A natural and mature look.
He had sent people to investigate King Zhong before and gained a certain understanding. He also met with Shen Xing and gained more knowledge. Shen Ao also had a rough impression of King Zhong and concluded that this person A very different conclusion from Emperor Qianwen.
Emperor Qianwen was a man who liked to laugh, curse and scold, and had an unstable temper. Sometimes he was very deep, and sometimes he was full of joy and anger, and he was very good at acting. It is really difficult for you to really understand such a person. In comparison Next, although King Zhong also has a palace, it is still relatively simple. This can be seen from the domineering display of the other party when the two met for the first time.
If it were Emperor Qian Wen, he would definitely be kind and cheerful, giving people a feeling of spring breeze. But often the more such a person is, the less you can see through his inner thoughts, which is the more you need to be wary of.
In addition, Shen Ao once helped Prince Zhong stand up, which can be regarded as a kindness to others, so he will not cause too much trouble for him. Of course, Shen Ao still made some preparations, such as being a junior In this way, even if he really did something wrong, King Zhong would not be able to blame him.
Prince Zhong obviously understood the meaning of Shen Ao's words, and there was a hint of smile on his serious face, "Gong Zhongguo and Yi'er hit it off as soon as they met, and called each other brothers. Even so, I will trust you, and we will continue to work together from now on." How about calling you Shen Ao?"
"It couldn't be better." Shen Ao smiled and accepted the proposal.
This was just the first meeting between the two parties, and no one had any intention of having a deeper conversation. Even Prince Zhong offered to stay with Shen Ao for dinner, but he refused on the grounds that he was tired from coming a long way and wanted to rest first.