At night, it was New Year's Eve, so the palace was naturally decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations.
After a period of excitement similar to previous years, everyone watched the invited opera troupe perform and waited for the arrival of midnight.
Everything is going well on the Yunzhou County side, but something is wrong on the Bianjing side.
Every year on New Year's Eve, the emperor would invite hundreds of officials and their families to a palace banquet in the palace. This was the most grand banquet in the Song Dynasty in a year. Even ministers who did not go to court in the past would be here today. Enter the palace and eat the New Year's Eve dinner with three or two family members.
Last year's New Year's Eve dinner was hosted by the prince, and the emperor secretly went to Yunzhou County. The ministers only found out later.
Although the emperor did not run away this year, the ministers who paid attention discovered that the prince was gone!
As the crown prince of a country, the prince was nowhere to be seen at the annual New Year's Eve banquet in the palace. The Holy Emperor didn't even ask. Everyone knew what this meant. It was clear that the Holy Emperor knew the whereabouts of the prince.
Since more than a month ago, the minister has not seen the prince. This familiar scene immediately made everyone understand. The prince may have escaped like his majesty last year, and where he went, there is no need to think too much. At least 80% of them probably went to Yunzhou County.
Otherwise, if you look for traces of Ye Wei, is he missing?
He must have gone to Yunzhou County, and this guy ran to see his daughter again.
If the ministers can see it, the two princes can naturally see it too.
Brother Zhao Ji and Zhao Sheng looked at each other and understood what the other meant. Even if their father knew about this rare opportunity, it would still be a good opportunity to ruin the prince's reputation among the officials.
Therefore, after three rounds of wine and five tastes of food, when tonight's New Year's Eve banquet seemed to be coming to an end, Zhao Ji was about to stand up, but Zhao Sheng hurriedly followed him when he saw this.
However, when Zhao Ji was halfway up, the fourth prince's concubine Meng Yuru suddenly stretched out her hand and pulled Zhao Ji back to his position.
So when everyone was sitting, the fifth prince suddenly stood up straight, standing out from the crowd and immediately attracted everyone's attention.
At this time, Zhao Sheng also realized that he was the only one standing up, and he suddenly cursed in his heart. But everyone's eyes had already gathered, so he could only bite the bullet and said:
"Father, on the occasion of the New Year, the prince is missing for some reason. Is it possible that the prince is unwell?"
At first, no one raised this matter, so let it go. Now that Zhao Sheng opened his mouth, the censors who had been holding back for a long time could no longer bear it. A censor with a gray beard and a staid face immediately stood up and said loudly. :
"Your Majesty, the plan for the year lies in spring. The New Year is the beginning of the year, and the New Year also entrusts everyone with their beautiful wishes for family reunion.
Even ordinary people know that during the Chinese New Year, they should return to their parents' side and express their filial piety with all their thoughts and feelings.
However, today the prince is absent for no reason. This is unfilial at best, but at worst, as the crown prince of the country, the prince should be an example for all the people in the world. Doesn't such behavior bring bad morals to the world?
If things continue like this and everyone in the world learns from them, the world will be in chaos!
The prince's behavior is not the way to be a prince! Not the way of the Son of Man! "
After the censor spoke, it was like a flood bursting the embankment, and other officials also agreed. Zhao Sheng secretly breathed a sigh of relief when he saw this scene.
Although he was tricked by his fourth brother, he finally achieved his goal.
Now that the prince is definitely no longer in the capital, he cannot refute this accusation. When word spreads to the people tomorrow, the reputation of the prince will definitely become extremely bad!
Zhao Duan, who originally had a smile on his face, turned dark the moment Zhao Sheng stood up, and the accusations from the censors made his expression even more ugly.
He didn't say anything, and drank quietly with a gloomy face, letting the imperial emissaries speak. After a quarter of an hour, all the imperial emissaries in the palace finished speaking, and then he slowly stood up and clapped his hands.
The moment many censors heard the clapping, their words stopped abruptly, as if they were being strangled by the neck. Everyone looked at Zhao Duan. Zhao Duan glanced around coldly and said slowly:
"Are you done?
If it’s all over, then let me…”
Before he finished speaking, an iron-headed censor stood up sincerely.
"Your Majesty, the old minister hasn't finished speaking yet, the prince's move..."
The corner of Zhao Duan's mouth twitched, and all the officials looked at him as if he were a fool. Zhao Duan waved his hands, and immediately two guards came into the hall, one on the left and the other on the right to hold the censor. As he walked towards Zai, the censor was still unconvinced and asked loudly: "Your Majesty! Your Majesty! When will you treat me like this when I have committed a crime? Your Majesty!..."
"As for the censor, when I opened my mouth, who allowed you to speak? I was polite to you, but did you take it seriously?"
All the ministers bowed their heads and remained silent.
Zhao Duan returned his attention and said, "Okay, since you want to know where the prince has gone, it's okay for me to tell you that the prince went to Yunzhou County.
As for why he was asked to go to Yunzhou County at this time, it was the first third generation of my royal family who went to visit me on my behalf.
Now that the heirs of the royal family are withering away, Prince Yun is the only heir, and I attach great importance to him. However, as a king and the father of the people of the world, my grandfather should put the world and the court first, and cannot come to Yunzhou County personally.
Therefore, I asked the prince to go and see my eldest grandson on my behalf, and by the way, send him the name I gave him.
After all, we can’t let the only heir of my royal family have a name, right?
All these are my decisions. Seeing that you are very opposed to this, what do you want to do? Let’s talk and listen. "
As soon as Zhao Jun finished speaking, no one dared to say anything. The meaning of his words was already obvious. After I finished speaking, who was in favor and who was against?
I will listen to those who object, but whether you want to do it or not depends on my mood, and this is what I ordered the prince to do. If you have any opinions, just come to me.
Now whoever has an opinion, please come forward!
After a long silence, Prime Minister Zhanghe stood up and said:
"Your Majesty's actions are all out of your love for the young as an elder. It is human nature. How can we not treat our children and grandchildren the same way?
How can we blame His Majesty for this?
It’s just that the prince is the crown prince, and it is related to the foundation of the country. We and other officials are just worried that the prince will be in danger when he goes out, which will easily shake the country. That’s why we are so excited. I hope your majesty can understand the ministers. I will definitely not let the prince. If you do this, even if you want to go to Yunzhou County, you should go there according to the formal regulations of the court, rather than smuggling. "
Zhang He stood up and cleverly transformed the accusations of the ministers against the prince into a grandfather's love for his eldest grandson through the emperor's words. He normalized the matter based on human relations and said that the officials were not forcing the prince to go to the palace, but were just worried about the prince. Something happened, that's why I was so excited.
It can be said that it gives both parties a step down.
Both parties also knew that there would be no resolution on this matter today, so they walked down the steps.
All the officials immediately said in unison: "Your Majesty, please put the safety of the country first and never allow the prince to leave the capital privately again!"
Zhao Duan also nodded his head and said, "I didn't think carefully this time. I will definitely not do this next time."
Both parties took a step back, and the dinner party immediately returned to its joyful scene.
But no one noticed that Zhao Duan looked at his fifth son with very dissatisfied eyes.
Underneath, the fourth child was still asking why his wife wanted to pull him back.
Meng Yuru asked him to look at the emperor's face. Zhao Ji looked up and suddenly realized. The eyes he looked at Lao Wu were full of gloating and a trace of sympathy!
...(End of chapter)
