Knowing that Meng Changce was coming to the capital to give lectures, the emperor handed over the matter of entertaining Mr. Meng to Li Pushe and asked him to invite Mr. Meng to give lectures at Taixue.
Li Pushe naturally wished for it, and promised the emperor that he would entertain Mr. Meng well and make Mr. Meng's lectures go smoothly.
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and His Highness the King of Dai naturally volunteered themselves to entertain Mr. Meng. The ministers who supported them also supported them. However, the emperor refused.
The emperor gave the prince and the king some face and did not blame them in the morning meeting. After all, part of the reason why Mr. Meng came out to give lectures was because they were annoying them. However, it was also because they always disturbed Mr. Meng that he came out to give lectures. They did a good thing by accident.
Mr. Meng rarely comes out of the mountains to give lectures in the capital. Maybe this lecture will be the last and only lecture in his life. The emperor did not want to make Mr. Meng dissatisfied because of the prince and the king.
The prince felt that the emperor was right not to let the acting king entertain Mr. Meng, but it was wrong not to let him entertain Mr. Meng. After all, he was the prince. Only by entertaining Mr. Meng himself could the court show its respect for Mr. Meng. Respect. Unfortunately, the emperor did not allow him to entertain Mr. Meng.
Because of this incident, the prince was still very angry in the East Palace.
Duke Zhenguo and the eighth prince understood the emperor's purpose of such arrangement. Mr. Meng hates worldly things, and even more hates the struggle for power and gain. The old man came out this time because he wanted to give lectures to the people of the world. He did not want to get involved in any intrigues, let alone the fight between the prince and the king.
Mr. Meng's lecture was a major event that benefited the country and the people, and was also a major event for the Zhou court. A contemporary great scholar like Mr. Meng wants to leave his name in history by giving lectures, which also has a good reputation for his court.
Although the emperor didn't care about his reputation, Mr. Meng was coming to the capital to give lectures. As an emperor, he couldn't just show nothing. If nothing else, at least do something to take this lecture seriously. Besides, Mr. Meng is a genuine scholar. Although scholars all over the world respectfully called him "sage", he refused.
Li Pushe went into the palace and asked the emperor if he would arrange for Mr. Meng to enter the palace to meet the emperor. The emperor thought for a while and said, don't force Mr. Meng. If Mr. Meng is willing to let him visit his old man, he will visit him personally. If his old man doesn't want to see him, then he won't disturb his old man.
Hearing what the emperor said, Li Pushe was very surprised.
"Your Majesty, you..." In Li Pushe's opinion, a great scholar like Mr. Meng must be allowed to face him, and it is best to let him praise the emperor a few words. In this way, the emperor's reputation will become very good. , will also make literati and scholars all over the world respect the imperial court even more.
The emperor understood what Li Pushe meant and raised a faint smile: "Don't disturb Mr. Meng casually. When you entertain him, everything will be based on his wishes."
Li Pushe was shocked, and immediately said with admiration: "The emperor is righteous."
He added: "Your Majesty, don't worry, I will definitely entertain Mr. Meng well."
"Mr. Meng should like to be quiet and don't like to be disturbed." The emperor ordered, "No matter who it is, no one is allowed to visit Mr. Meng without his consent. Do you understand?"
When Li Pushe heard this order, there was a trace of hesitation on his face. He hesitated for a moment and then asked: "Your Majesty, what if it's His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, or His Highness the King of Dai, or other His Royal Highnesses and adults?"
The emperor looked sharply and said, "Anyone, do you understand?"
After hearing this, Li Pushe finally understood what the emperor meant, and immediately responded respectfully: "Yes, Your Majesty."
"If a scholar wants to discuss knowledge with Mr. Meng, and Mr. Meng agrees, then don't interfere."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The emperor gave some more instructions, and then ordered Li Pushe to retreat.
Seeing that the emperor had finished speaking, Sun Kui hurriedly brought a cup of hot tea: "Your Majesty, please take a sip of tea."
The emperor picked up the tea cup and drank it in a very imageless gulp, without any grace at all.
"Your Majesty, Mr. Meng is giving a lecture. Are you going to listen?"
"Of course I want to listen. I have never heard a great Confucian lecture before." The emperor smiled, "Besides, it would be unreasonable for me, the emperor, not to listen."
Sun Kui asked again: "Then, Your Majesty, do you want to go and learn?"
"Tell the truth?"
Sun Kui nodded.
The emperor did not rush to answer Sun Kui's question. Instead, he put his feet up on the royal table, folded his hands behind his head, and said in a nonchalant tone: "To be honest, I don't want to go. I'm not a scholar. What he said Those things are of no use to me." The emperor could probably guess what Meng Changce was going to say in his lecture. It was nothing more than Confucianism. He was tired of hearing it. No matter what Mr. Meng said, it was just changing the soup without changing the medicine. . What he wants is practical strategies for governing the country, not the great principles in books.
"However, as an emperor, I have to go and listen to you, otherwise those scholars will say that I don't respect Mr. Meng." The emperor said, with a self-deprecating laugh. "As an emperor, It’s really hypocritical to do something to save face.”
"Your Majesty, you are not hypocritical, you are showing respect for Mr. Meng." Sun Kui explained to the emperor.
He asked curiously: "Your Majesty, why do you want them to go?"
"They must go. If they don't go, they will not respect Mr. Meng." The emperor didn't know what he thought of, with a sarcastic smile on his face. "All the ministers will go, and no one dares not to go."
Sun Kui thought to himself that this was really the case.
The emperor sighed: "What a reputation..." After saying that, he sat up straight and continued to review his memorial.
Sun Kui glanced at the sky outside the window and reminded the emperor: "Your Majesty, it's almost noon. Are you going to Kunde Hall for lunch later?" Today is the day when the Emperor is going to Kunde Hall.
"Of course I want to go, I'll go in a while."
"I'll remind you later, slave."
After school was over at noon, Zhao Yao went to Kunde Hall to have lunch.
Seeing that Zhao Yao still looked unhappy, Tongxi hurriedly comforted him and said: "Your Highness, you can't go to His Highness the King of Chu this year. You will go next year. Next year you will be twelve years old and half an adult. By then, His Royal Highness the King of Chu will definitely agree."
Previously, Zhao Yao wrote a letter to the King of Chu, saying that he did not think about the food and tea that the King of Chu wanted. He cried and complained how much he missed his fourth brother, and then wanted to go to Liangzhou to visit the fourth brother he missed the most.
He asked the King of Chu to write a letter to the emperor and asked the emperor to agree to him going to Liangzhou to visit the King of Chu. He originally thought that King Chu would agree, after all, he wrote "I miss you to death, Fourth Brother" many times in the letter. Furthermore, he also felt that the King of Chu missed him, but he did not expect that the King of Chu would not allow him to go to Liangzhou.
"I'm eleven years old. I'm already half an adult. I'm not young anymore." The more Zhao Yao thought about it, the angrier he became. His face turned into a pufferfish with anger. "Fourth brother just didn't want me to go, so he deliberately called me young."
"Your Highness, how could it be possible that His Highness the King of Chu doesn't want you to go?"
"He just doesn't want me to go. We've only been separated for a few years, and the fourth brother doesn't love me anymore..." The more Zhao Yao thought about it, the more aggrieved he became, "The fourth brother just doesn't want me to go!"
Seeing Zhao Yao's aggrieved expression about to cry, Tong Xi comforted him somewhat helplessly: "Your Highness, you are His Royal Highness the King of Chu's favorite brother. How could His Highness the King of Chu not let you go..."
"Stop talking, fourth brother just doesn't want me to go." Zhao Yao said aggrievedly, "Fourth brother has a son, so he doesn't care about my younger brother anymore."
When Tongxi heard this, a look of helplessness appeared on his face.
"Your Highness, are you jealous of your nephew?"
"I'm not jealous, I'm telling the truth." Zhao Yao said, his expression became resentful, and his tone was full of sorrow, "Fourth brother hasn't seen me for several years, so his feelings for me must have faded. Alas, As expected, time can erase all feelings.”
Tong Xi felt that what Zhao Yao said was right, but a little strange.
"Your Highness, I feel that Your Highness the King of Chu is worried about your safety and health, so I don't agree with you going to Liangzhou."
"No, fourth brother just doesn't love me anymore." Zhao Yao sighed with a bitter face, "I am no longer the little treasure in fourth brother's heart."
"Your Highness, please stop writing to His Highness the King of Chu and beg His Highness the King of Chu. His Highness the King of Chu has always been soft-hearted towards you. If you ask a few more times, His Highness the King of Chu will definitely agree."
"I'm not asking!" Zhao Yao snorted arrogantly, "I'm not going. Since Fourth Brother doesn't want me to go, why should I go eagerly!"
"Ah? Why don't you go?" Tongxi said that Zhao Yao was confused, "Weren't you still blaming His Highness the King of Chu just now? Why don't you go again?"
"I'm angry." Zhao Yao put his hands on his hips and said angrily, "Unless fourth brother begs me."
After hearing this, Tong Xi understood Zhao Yao's thoughts and almost laughed out loud.
"Your Highness, are you being arrogant?" Of course I learned the word arrogant from Zhao Yao.
"No, I'm angry." Zhao Yao put on an "I'm very angry" look, "I'm angry with Fourth Brother!"
"Yes, it's His Highness the King of Chu who is wrong. How could His Highness the King of Chu do this?" Tong Xi suppressed a smile and echoed Zhao Yao's words, "You said in your letter that you missed His Highness the King of Chu. How could His Highness the King of Chu refuse you?"
"That's right, Fourth Brother really hurts my heart."
On the way back to Kunde Hall, Zhao Yao kept complaining about King Chu. I share my joy and hatred with him.
When he arrived at the Kunde Hall and saw the emperor, Zhao Yao had a surprised expression on his face and blurted out, "Father, why are you here?"
When the emperor saw his younger son's expression as if he had seen a ghost, he angrily pulled him into his arms, reached out and rubbed his little son's face vigorously.
"What, I can't come?"
Only then did Zhao Yao remember that today was the day when the emperor came to the Kunde Hall. "You are busy with everything, so you suddenly came to the Kunde Hall. Of course I was surprised."
The emperor felt that his younger son was mocking him. He tugged at Zhao Yao's small mouth: "From your tone, I'm not welcome to come."
"How dare I." Zhao Yao twisted his body hard and saved his little face from the emperor's hands.
The emperor said angrily: "What are you afraid of?"
Zhao Yao didn't want to pay attention to the emperor, and shouted to Guixing that he wanted to eat snow pears stewed with rock sugar.
The emperor keenly noticed that his youngest son was a little unhappy, and asked with concern: "What's wrong? Did you get scolded by your husband, or slapped on your palm?"
"I didn't. How could you, sir, scold me and hit me?"
"Then why do you look so angry?" the emperor asked, "Who made our Tenth Highness angry?"
"Fourth brother!"
"Fourth child?" The emperor was a little surprised. "Why did Fourth child make you angry?"
"Fourth brother doesn't like my younger brother anymore."
"Fourth doesn't like you anymore?" This was the most impossible thing the emperor heard. The fourth made Xiao Shi hurt as much as his eyeballs. How could he not like Xiao Shi? "What did the fourth child do to make you feel this way?"
"Fourth brother won't let me go to Liangzhou to see him..." Zhao Yao couldn't hold back and complained to the emperor about His Royal Highness the King of Chu's "evil deeds."
After hearing this, the emperor was dumbfounded. He thought that Lao Si had done something to make Xiao Shi, the little ancestor, unhappy, but it turned out to be because of this.
"Lao Si didn't tell me about this. If he told me, I wouldn't agree to you going to Liangzhou Lao Si."
"Why?" Zhao Yao glared at the emperor, "Why don't you agree with me to visit Fourth Brother? Liangzhou is not far from the capital?"
"How old are you?"
"I'm eleven, not too young." Zhao Yao said fiercely, "Father, you went to the battlefield to kill the enemy when you were eleven. Why can't I go to Liangzhou to find my fourth brother when I am eleven?"
"Can you compare with me?" The emperor raised his hand and knocked Zhao Yao on the head, "Don't think that I don't know that you went to Liangzhou to avoid studying."
"No, don't accuse me unjustly." Zhao Yao glared at the emperor, "I just miss the fourth brother. I want to see the fourth brother, and I also want to see my little nephew."
"You just want to go out and play." The emperor reached out and poked Zhao Yao's forehead, "Don't think I can't tell."
"I'm going!"
"Don't go!"
"I'm going! I'm going! I'm going..."
The emperor thought Zhao Yao was making a lot of noise, so he reached out and closed his small mouth.
"Screw you, if you dare to go to Liangzhou to find your fourth brother, I will break your legs."
Zhao Yao was instantly frightened.
You can't blame him for being so cowardly, but the emperor said that if he broke his legs, he would really break his legs. Even if you don't break his legs, you will smash his butt.
Seeing that Zhao Yao was afraid, the emperor let go of his mouth, but did not let go of his face.
"You give me a break from going to Liangzhou."
Zhao Yao forcefully knocked away the emperor's hand that was squeezing his face, and said angrily: "If you don't want to go, don't go. What's the big deal." The more he was not allowed to go, the more he went. If he couldn't go openly, he would go secretly. When he was waiting to take a bath, he sneaked away.
Wait, it seems impossible to sneak away. The stinky father arranged for the secret guards to follow him. If he sneaked out of the capital, the secret guards would definitely tell the stinky father.
If he wanted to sneak out of the capital, he had to get rid of the secret guards first. He couldn't do it on his own, he had to ask his second uncle to help him. The second uncle must have a way to help him get rid of the secret guard.
It was decided that he would sneak out of the capital after a while.
When the emperor saw his youngest son's eyes darting around, he knew that Zhao Yao had something up his sleeve. He reached out and grabbed his youngest son's ears and asked, "You brat, what are you thinking about?"
"I didn't think about anything." Zhao Yao was very painful when his ears were pulled by the emperor. He stood on tiptoes and shouted at the top of his voice, "Mother, help me, father is bullying me."
The emperor heard him shouting and quickly released his ears.
"How dare you complain." As he said that, he raised his foot and gently kicked Zhao Yao's butt.
At this time, Liang Zhaoyi walked in with the dishes and glared at the emperor gently.
"Don't always bully Yaoyao."
Zhao Yao took the opportunity to complain: "Mother, my father just twisted my ears, kicked my butt, and said he would break my legs."
"This brat wants to go to Liangzhou to find the fourth child. Do you think I should break his legs?"
"Do you want to go to Liangzhou?"
"Concubine, I miss my fourth brother." Zhao Yao smiled hurriedly at Liang Bin, "Liangzhou is not far from the capital. Concubine, please allow me to go find my fourth brother."
"No, you are too young to go."
The emperor smiled on the side and said: "You brat, you see, your mother and concubine don't agree with you going to Liangzhou either."
Liang Bin warned Zhao Yao: "Don't even think about it."
Zhao Yao: "..." Humph, I just thought. I not only think, but also take action. Just wait, I'll sneak to Liangzhou right away.
Liang Bin saw Zhao Yao pouting his little mouth, with an expression that said "I'm not happy" all over his face.
"Concubine, I made your favorite dish, don't be upset."
Zhao Yao groaned in his heart: Can I buy it with vegetables? Let me tell you, I am very angry now. One dish cannot buy me, at least two dishes are required.
During the meal, the emperor deliberately made Zhao Yao angry and snatched his favorite dishes. Zhao Yao was so angry that he wanted to bite him to death.
The emperor also deliberately fed Zhao Yao vegetarian dishes. He took the food and fed it directly into Zhao Yao's mouth, but Zhao Yao was not allowed to spit it out.
After Zhao Yao finished the food in his mouth, he angrily grabbed the emperor's hand and took a few bites.
The whole lunch was consumed by the father and son, fighting and cursing.
"You brat, when Mr. Meng comes to the capital, go and listen carefully."
When Zhao Yao heard this, his little face wrinkled up and he said reluctantly: "Can I not go?"
"No, you have to go and listen to me."
Zhao Yao guessed that he must go to listen to the lesson, but now that he heard the emperor say this, he looked hopeless.
Five days later, Meng Changce arrived in the capital smoothly.
Zhao Yao: Fourth brother doesn’t love me anymore, I am no longer his precious little brother┭┮﹏┭┮
King Chu: When did I say that?
It's the last two or three days of the month, old friends, please be merciful and reward me with a monthly pass.
(End of chapter)
