After receiving the promise, the princes happily left the study and went to the banquet under the leadership of the servants of Prince Jin's palace. Only Prince Jin was still sitting in the study at this time, his eyes slightly dazed, not knowing what he was thinking.
Then I heard a "squeak" sound, and the study door was pushed open again.
King Jin came to his senses slightly, looked up, and saw Monk Daoyan, who was wearing black monk robes, slowly walking into the study.
Dao Yan looked at King Jin's expression at this time, raised his brows, smiled at the corner of his mouth, and said:
"Your Highness, the birthday banquet has already begun. As for the clan's civil and military affairs, as well as emotions and reasons, you always have to go out and show your face!"
Looking at Dao Yan walking into the study, King Jin's eyes suddenly became a little gloomy, and his tone was gloomy:
"Thank you so much for Master Daoyan's trouble. If it weren't for your reminder just now, I really wouldn't have been able to make this decision!"
When speaking, King Jin specially emphasized the word "worry".
Just now, when King Jin was hesitating, the slightly hoarse voice coming from outside the study room came from Dao Yan's mouth.
Dao Yan was able to appear in such a timely manner and speak words of advice outside the study. It was obvious that he had been arranging people to pay attention to the affairs of Prince Jin's palace. When he learned that the princes were coming, Dao Yan received the news
, immediately came to the study room unimpeded as the current guest staff of the Jin Palace.
When King Jin spoke like this at this time, he was vaguely expressing his dissatisfaction with Dao Yan's actions.
When Dao Yan heard the words, he pretended not to understand the deeper meaning. The smile on his face did not change, and he pretended to be confused:
"Since you have chosen to cooperate with His Highness, isn't it the right thing to take the trouble to give His Highness advice and advice?"
Hearing this, King Jin's face became even more gloomy. His sharp eyes looked directly at Dao Yan, and he shouted in a low voice:
"I am cooperating with your Yun State, not to become your Yun State's puppet! After today, we will remove all the people you have arranged in the mansion. Otherwise, if I let you discover your spies again, this cooperation will stop!
"
The King of Jin was responsible for the wealth and life of the royal family, and all the hopes of his retainers and confidants were on the road to fighting for the throne again. The purpose of cooperating with the Yun State was to use the power of the Yun State to fight for the position of the crown prince.
On the side of Daoyan of Yun State, it was natural that he would continue to stir up party strife in the Xia State's court and distract the energy involved in the Xia State by taking advantage of the internal affairs of the Xia State to seize the heir.
The two hit it off very well, each gets what they need, and they both have other choices. They don't have to be the other. Indeed, no one wants to pursue the other unilaterally.
Having said this, it is obvious that I can no longer pretend to be stupid.
Dao Yan narrowed his eyes, considered for a moment, and then said in a deep voice:
"In that case, let it be as Your Highness wishes!"
Upon hearing this, King Jin glanced at Dao Yan coldly and immediately stood up and headed to the banquet.
Dao Yan stood at the door of the study, watching King Jin leave. For some reason, his serious face suddenly showed a smile, and he said softly:
"His Royal Highness Prince Jin has spoken, so please evacuate everyone!"
Ju Meng, who was leaning at the door of the study, frowned when he heard this and said:
"Master, do you really want to evacuate?"
The personnel arranged in Prince Jin's Mansion must have clean and reliable identities, and must also avoid the surveillance of the Embroidered Clothes Envoy, but it is not easy!
Ju Meng spent a lot of effort on this matter. Now that he has to withdraw just because of a word from King Jin, he is really unwilling to do so.
When Dao Yan heard this, he narrowed his eyes slightly and said softly:
"It doesn't matter, now the confidants of King Jin, all the princes and princes are pointing at him to fight with King Qi. The embroidered clothes envoy also knows that the princes have come to congratulate him with great fanfare, so he has no way out.
Got it!"
They came here to provoke factional strife in the Xia Kingdom's court, and they didn't really want to help the King of Jin seize the throne. Now the King of Jin has no choice, and the people behind him will push him to fight, so don't worry about that.
Well?
When Ju Meng heard this, his frown slightly relaxed, he stood up straight, cupped his fists and saluted slightly, and said:
"Yes, let's make arrangements now!"——
Jinling City Imperial Palace, inside Jinshen Hall.
This was the palace where Emperor Xia handled government affairs and summoned courtiers on weekdays. However, these days, the palace doors were closed tightly. The embroidered robe envoys personally guarded the palace gates. Even if Emperor Xia did not summon him in person, anyone who came would be blocked.
If someone walks into Jinshen Hall at this time and listens carefully, they can still hear the sound of memorials being recited from the hall.
In the main hall, the old eunuch Sixi took a breath and swallowed with a dry mouth. Then he did not dare to stop. He picked up a memorial and continued:
"Zhongcheng Zhang Tao, the censor, impeached Li Qianfang, a court lieutenant, for using power for personal gain, causing him to appoint close associates to fill the court, collude with superiors and subordinates, and accept bribes from prisoners. He is suspected of corrupting the legal system and being involved in corruption."
At this time, Emperor Xia was lying flat on the bed, with his eyes closed and his breathing steady. This posture made people very suspicious. It was not known whether he was listening to the old eunuch reciting the memorial, or whether he had fallen asleep.
Emperor Xia, who was originally looking younger and more energetic due to the elixir, suffered a backlash due to the severe damage to the Xia Kingdom's national destiny. Now, it has developed to such a point that he can hardly manage politics.
His hair and beard are all white, his face is dark, and his eye sockets are slightly sunken. He is lying on the bed, and his whole body exudes an aura of decay and twilight.
Even a person who doesn't understand medical skills can tell at a glance that Emperor Xia is probably dying...
Obviously, the backlash of the national destiny to the Xia Emperor far exceeded Xiao Cheng and Liu Bowen's previous expectations.
In Jinshen Palace, the old eunuch finished reading a memorial. Seeing that Emperor Xia didn't respond, he continued to add:
"The embroidered clothes envoys did find out that Li Qianfang, the court captain, used whether he was a disciple of Legalism as a criterion when selecting and promoting officials. However, the embroidered clothes envoys did not find any corruption among the tingwei.
The thing... is that Zhang Tao, the imperial censor, is a disciple of Confucianism, and Li Qianfang, the court lieutenant, is from Legalism."
Confucianism and Legalism, because their ideas and propositions were beneficial to the stability of the country and the rule of the dynasty, were already the two most prosperous among the hundreds of schools of thought in the Xia Dynasty.
However, the two ideas are also quite contradictory, so they often attack each other, causing party disputes between North Korea and China.
Even though the situation in the southwest has collapsed and the military peaks of the Yun Kingdom are pointing directly at the hinterland of the Xia Kingdom, there are still many impeachments like this in the DPRK!
Then I heard Emperor Xia on the bed raise his eyes slightly, move his lips slightly, and say in a weak and low voice:
"Stay in the middle but don't send out..."
The voice was low, as if it was squeezed out from between the throats. That is to say, the old eunuch, as a master of the realm of land gods, has extraordinary hearing and eyesight, otherwise it is not certain whether he could hear clearly!
At this time, Emperor Xia obviously did not have the energy to deal with the matter of appeasing the party disputes in the court. He could only use the attitude of staying in the middle to prevent the government from losing control.
When the old eunuch heard Emperor Xia's response, he quickly responded, took out his ink pen, marked the memorial, and then went to take down a copy.
And at this moment, I heard Emperor Xia on the bed open his eyes, slightly turning his head to look at the old eunuch Si Xi, taking a breath, moving his lips slightly, and whispered:
"Take a break, take a break."
When the old eunuch heard this, he quickly put down the memorial in his hand, nervously stepped forward and said:
"What's wrong with your Majesty?"
After saying that, the old eunuch casually took the jade bottle lying aside and said:
"The palace has made a new batch of pills. Your Majesty, please take another pill!"
At this time, Emperor Xia was even reluctant to speak, and nodded slightly.
The old eunuch Si Xi quickly took out a round, dark elixir that exuded a strange fragrance, and carefully served Emperor Xia to swallow it.
The prescription presented by Li Weining is the hard work of Li Xing, the ancestor of the Li Dynasty, for hundreds of years. The genius and treasure required for refining are all available in the world, which can make a group of martial arts people break their heads to fight for them.
Precious medicine.
If you talk about the efficacy, if you take it, although it will not lead to immortality, it does have the effect of prolonging life, which is extremely miraculous.
Emperor Xia, whose breath was weak and surrounded by the dying aura of death, seemed to be about to die in the next second. After taking the pill for just a moment, his face visibly improved, his whole body became slightly more energetic, and he was even able to open his eyes.
Open your eyes.
Signing to the old eunuch to help him up and leaning on the bed, Emperor Xia breathed for a while and then said:
"I remember, today is the birthday of King Jin!"
When the old eunuch heard this, he hesitated for a while, and then said hesitantly:
"Yes... the news just came. Most of the people in the imperial court, Zhong Wenwu, went to congratulate them in person. The King of Chu, the King of Lu, the King of Xiang and other highnesses also went there. It was very lively..."
Hearing this, Emperor Xia nodded and said:
"It's not what I expected!"
Previously, when King Qi was at the height of his power, Emperor Xia suddenly issued an order for King Jin to leave the government and serve as director. Everyone in the court speculated on the deeper meaning of this, either because they felt that the battle for the throne had changed again, or because they felt that Emperor Xia was using
His political tactics helped to balance the growing power of King Qi.
In short, no matter what, with the support of Emperor Xia, the power of King Jin will become more and more powerful in the future.
The officials in the court do not want to offend, and the princes and princes want to rely on him to fight again. Today's birthday banquet will naturally be lively!
Having said this, Emperor Xia had a dark look on his face, sighed heavily, and said:
"I regret it! I don't have much time now. It seems that I have left a difficult problem for King Qi!"
How the emperor and the prince get along has been an eternal problem.
Emperor Xia was getting healthier and healthier, and judging from his posture, he could rule the world for at least another ten years.
Faced with the increasingly powerful King Qi who he had created with his own hands, out of the emperor's desire for power and various considerations of balancing the situation in the court, he released King Jin from the palace to assist in the affairs of the court, hoping to use this as a check and balance.
Beat King Qi.
Emperor Xia had no idea of changing his heir. The old confidants of King Jin were no longer in the court, and no matter how prosperous they were in the future, they would be nothing more than castles in the air. Apart from being a whetstone for King Qi, they would have no other use.
But who would have thought that with the fate of the country condensed, Yun Guo had no idea where he could get the means, even though he was far away in the south of the world, he could attack and kill Xia Guo's destiny dragon.
Emperor Xia's method of consolidating the national destiny followed the method of the Li Dynasty, which was quite different from the Yun Kingdom's method of consolidating the national destiny. One of them was that the bond between the king and the national destiny was tighter.
The fate of the country was damaged, and Emperor Xia was seriously injured, and he fell into this state of survival overnight. The previous balancing method became a disaster that could endanger the country!
At this time, Emperor Xia, besides being angry and jealous of Yun Guo, was also full of regret.
The old eunuch Si was delighted to hear the words and quickly comforted him:
"Why did your majesty say this? There is no shortage of elixirs in the palace now, and your majesty can take them at will to recuperate your body. Moreover, I have sent my loyal confidants to summon Taoist alchemy masters and medical experts to come to the capital to improve this life-extending elixir.
Fang, Your Majesty, don’t think too much!”
Having said this, the old eunuch suddenly paused, lowered his voice, and continued:
"Besides, doesn't your Majesty still have the secret method of the Li Dynasty in your hands? Li Xing of the Li Dynasty has been able to live for six hundred years with the fortune of the country, so naturally your Majesty can also use this method..."
"Li Weining offered this secret method so straightforwardly, which is not out of kindness!"
Before the old eunuch finished speaking, he was immediately interrupted by Emperor Xia.
Emperor Xia's face was heavy and he spoke in a difficult tone:
"The secret of the national destiny has not yet been fully figured out. What impact the loss of the national destiny will have on our Daxia community is still unknown. But looking at the fate of the Li Dynasty, we can also vaguely guess something."
"If the national destiny is prosperous, the country will be stable, the country and the people will be safe, and heaven and earth will help. If the national destiny is damaged, everything will go wrong, and the ancestral temple will be in turmoil, and it will be difficult to overthrow! The young emperor of Yun State is in full swing, and he is as good as his father.
He has the ambition to look down on the world and unify the country. Therefore, in this season, our national destiny of Great Xia must not be damaged!"
"The emperors of the past dynasties looked at me in the ancestral temple, the civil and military officials in the court, and the people in the country also looked at me. If I were to learn from Li Xing and use the ancestral temple to support one person, it would be better for me to die!"
When Emperor Xia said this, his eyes became extremely sharp and his expression was extremely firm.
Although he was on the hospital bed, with a trace of sickly rosiness on his face, as soon as he said these words, his whole body could not help but carry an aura of contempt for the world and a decisive aura of not fearing death.
When the old eunuch Sixi heard the words, his heart was suddenly agitated, and various emotions were surging. Looking at Emperor Xia lying on the bed, his eyes turned red and his vision began to become a little blurry.
In a daze, the old eunuch seemed to have returned to the time when he had just ascended the throne decades ago. At that time, Emperor Xia was like this, with sharp edges and amazing energy, and the ambition to look down on the world and swallow up mountains and rivers.
It's just that what the current Xia Emperor took over from the previous emperor was a court where civil and military ties between the DPRK and China were entangled, overt and covert fights were fought, party disputes intensified, and national power was wasted in vain.
After Emperor Xia ascended the throne, he encountered many obstacles and suffered many losses before he learned to use various means to balance the forces in the court and maintain the Xia Kingdom.
Over the years, the old eunuch's impression of the Emperor of Great Xia, who was sharp-edged and full of ambitions, had changed into the tolerant and restrained person he is today...
At this time, Emperor Xia was silent again for a long time, and then he spoke:
"I thought I had enough time, but now I'm afraid... Sixi, I want you to do something!"
When the old eunuch heard this, he immediately cheered up and said:
"Your Majesty, please show me that I will do my best!"
"I'm tired of the party struggle between the DPRK and China, and I don't want to leave this mess to Ling'er. I want to use all the people you have deployed before..."
Emperor Xia's voice became deeper and deeper as he spoke, and finally was almost inaudible.
The old eunuch listened silently to Emperor Xia's explanation. The pupils in his eyes shrank and his whole body trembled subconsciously. He looked at Emperor Xia in shock and said in a trembling voice:
"Your Majesty, this, this...why has it come to this?"
The old eunuch was not a surprised person, but what Emperor Xia just said frightened him a little.
"If the carrion is not removed, the Great Xia will not recover!" Xia Huangshen's eyes were sharp and ruthless, and the coldness in them made people shudder. In his words, there was a meaning that could not be refused.
When the old eunuch heard this, his expression changed uncertainly. He was silent for a long time, his eyes were hard, and he gritted his teeth and said:
"Slave, please obey!"——
Yunguo, in the Xuanzheng Palace.
The young official in green official uniform stood up proudly and said loudly to Xiao Cheng:
"Your Majesty, Yan Jie, a member of the Ministry of Rites, has objections! Among the newly revised laws, there are regulations that encourage parents, couples, brothers and children, tribesmen and villagers to report each other, and reward them. Although this regulation can help the law to ensure the Qingming Festival, the people
In order to seek rewards from the government, they report each other, and even make false accusations. If things go on like this, the society will be ruined and the country will be in turmoil!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he held the newly revised law in his hand, wanting to show the rectification of the law in front of Xiao Cheng, and immediately replied loudly:
"Previously, the law stipulated that the father should hide from his son, and the son should hide from his father, and relatives should hide from each other. Reporting crimes committed by relatives and relatives would even require judgment. In this way, the people were coerced by their clans and could not speak out. How can we talk about laws? How can we govern them?
place?"
Having said this, Fazheng turned to Xiao Cheng and said:
"Your Majesty, I feel that we should not only reward the people who report their relatives, but also banish those who use clan power to oppress ordinary people three thousand miles south! Only in this way can we control the local clan power to the greatest extent!"
Yan Jie, the official of the Ministry of Etiquette who made the rebuttal, also bowed to Xiao Cheng and said:
"Your Majesty, the laws are too strict, which is not good for the country and the people!"
When the argument reached this point, some of the courtiers in the palace immediately stood up and said:
"Your Majesty, during the Tianrui period of Emperor Mu Zong, there were local clans in Tengchong Prefecture that were extremely difficult to control. They even colluded with Shaomin tribes and raised troops to rebel. During the reigns of Emperor Liezong, Emperor Shizong, and even the late emperor, there were also local clans that committed serious crimes."
"Your Majesty, even though some local clans have committed treacherous acts and committed extremely evil acts, the new law is likely to tempt the people to make false accusations!"
"The strict laws will only make the people overwhelmed. The way of the country is to govern with leniency and benevolence!"
"A bunch of corrupt Confucians!"
"You Legalists..."
Xiao Cheng, who was wearing an imperial robe and a twelve-crown crown, frowned and said in a deep voice:
"This is a matter for the imperial court, not Jixia Academy!"
The voice could not tell the joy or anger in Xiao Cheng's heart at this moment, but the hidden meaning in his words made the officials who had just argued pause for a moment.
Xiao Cheng looked around at the officials and said again:
"The new law can be discussed later..."
"But the debates in Jixia Academy should not be brought into the court in the future! If you are not suitable for the court, you might as well go back to Jixia Academy and study with peace of mind!"
Learning from the past experience of the Xia Kingdom, Xiao Cheng could not bring the chaos of party strife into the Yun Kingdom's court despite hundreds of factions.
When all the officials heard this, they immediately hissed and bowed in response.
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
Additional updates (12000/20000)
In fact, I wrote a total of 10,000 words today. Because everyone has a lot of opinions, I want to finish the plot of Xia Guo in one go and let Yu Yingyao go offline.
But at the end of writing, I realized that the plot was too urgent.
Although I really wanted a monthly pass, it was too hasty and the rhythm couldn't match it. After thinking about it for a long time, I decided to follow my own pace and put that part of the story later.
There are only a few days left anyway, so just wait.