Standing in front of King Qi, Wen Xunpeng, who was reporting the matter, looked pale and his body was trembling slightly. He was obviously afraid that King Qi would be angry with him in this situation.
But what needs to be said still needs to be said.
"Your Highness, this matter is not simple now. The emperor is like this. I am afraid that he attaches great importance to Su Zi's status. He is the son of the prince himself, and now he wants to be admitted to the clan. He has great righteousness, and the emperor also chose a clan name for him. I’m afraid there will be many ministers in the court who will be biased towards him.”
How could the King of Qi not know what his staff said?
He said coldly: "Father, I'm afraid you are old and confused. You just demoted me and the King of Shu's people before, and now you immediately promoted Su Zi."
"If we continue to arrange it and give our ginseng to him, we will definitely not allow him to be naturalized safely. Even if it is disgusting, I will disgust him."
King Qi slapped him hard, and the staff on the side wanted to persuade him, but for a moment they did not dare to speak out when King Qi was furious.
In fact, according to their thinking, in this case, it was obvious that the emperor wanted to let Su Ziji enter the court to achieve a balance with the kings. This showed that the emperor had already established a relationship with the two most powerful sons-the King of Qi and the King of Shu. , only with vigilance can we have this countermeasure to check and balance.
The emperor was already on his guard, but he insisted on making trouble again at this time. Wouldn't this make the emperor more suspicious and unhappy?
But was the emperor vigilant? Secondly, they persuaded the prince when he was furious, fearing that he would be attacked on the spot.
Everyone looked at me and I looked at you. They all looked at their eyes, nose, mouth, and heart. No one said anything.
Prince Shu's Mansion
Like the Prince of Qi's Mansion, a meeting was also being held in the Prince of Shu's Mansion after receiving the news.
The staff of the King of Shu were sitting at the bottom. The young prince sitting above was unfolding a secret letter in his hand and asked people to pass it on to the staff below to read it one by one. When it was sent back, he put it on the candle and lit it. The burn disappeared little by little.
"I wonder how angry my brother will be when he learns this news?"
King Shu seemed very easy-going and relaxed. Thinking about what King Qi might look like at this time, he smiled dumbly.
The staff below looked at the King of Shu one by one, feeling strange. They didn't know why the King of Shu was not angry, but had a smile on his face.
Now in the court, although the Qi King's camp has indeed suffered repeated setbacks, it is not the Shu King's party that has benefited.
The dirty water that was poured on King Shu's body is still not washed away. Apart from anything else, Luo Pei is still in the prison and has not been rescued.
No matter how you look at it, they are all feared and suppressed by the emperor just like King Qi.
Su Zi was urgently recalled, and he was about to be officially naturalized. Once he was naturalized, he was definitely the son of the prince. So what if the prince was dead?
As the prince, the emperor's eldest son and the only grown-up son of the then crown prince, he was recognized and naturalized. Isn't the prince worried about the advantages of this status?
Raising tigers is prone to disasters, and allowing Su Ziji to develop like this will be even more harmful!
A staff member named Min Quyi had a sparse beard. Worried about this, he almost tore off the few remaining beards. At this time, he couldn't bear it anymore. He stood up and boldly saluted the King of Shu: "Your Highness, I wonder why you are so calm?”
"The last time the embankment broke, it was said that our people were responsible for it, which caused us a lot of trouble. Now the court is still investigating, and His Majesty has demoted the people involved. We have already lost several people. If the charges are proven, I'm afraid we will lose more than 100,000 people." There will be more people.”
"The naturalization of Su Zi has made our situation even worse."
This is true.
The atmosphere in the court has been tense recently. King Qi was alerted by the emperor, and King Shu was questioned by the emperor in front of all the ministers about the collapse of the Shun'an Mansion. Although he did not say anything excessive, dirty water was thrown at him. It's easy to get it on your body, but it's difficult to shake it off cleanly.
The incident of the embankment collapse has long been over. The person responsible at that time was indeed a member of the King of Shu. Tracing back to the source, no matter how you check, it is all related to the King of Shu. Even the people in the King of Shu's party know that they were not responsible for this matter. But Will people outside believe it? Will the man on the throne believe it?
Unbelief is a sin.
The most important thing is that maybe the emperor knows it well, but the public opinion in the officialdom is very unfavorable to the King of Shu. Now there is no conviction or reprimand, but it is still under investigation. Is the prince really not worried about this matter? Don't worry about Su Zi's naturalization. Is this the prelude for the emperor to take action against the kings?
"Hmph!" When his staff mentioned this matter, King Shu naturally showed a hint of coldness on his face.
How could he not know this?
And there is no need to think about who did it, there is a 80% chance that it was his good brother!
His older brother was very familiar with this kind of frame-up. When we were young, we all studied together in the palace. This good brother had a bad temper, but he was never soft-hearted in using such conspiracy methods, and his heart and hands were dark.
It's a pity that I have been vigilant for many years, but I still fell into the trap and was deceived again.
But there is also a trace of happiness. The person hiding around him has been mixed up to the level that he can trust him. If he hadn't exposed it when the embankment broke this time, and when the critical moment came, he would have stabbed him even more severely. That would have been a real trap. !
His eyes fell on Min Quyi who was asking questions below. The King of Shu shook his head: "What do you know? Even if this happens, is it possible that my father will demote me?"
The words of the King of Shu not only shocked Min Quyi, but also other staff fell into deep thought.
In fact, the King of Shu's eyebrows are very similar to those of the young emperor. He has two thick eyebrows and eyes that look like paint. He wears a piece of sky-blue Ning silk. He is young and handsome. His descendants with the surname Ji are often good-looking. Even the mediocre-looking clan members can usually have facial features. Upright or comely.
Although he looks elegant, his eyes seem to be stern and intimidating when he raises his eyes.
In fact, the King of Shu was not angry with the staff, but he held his breath and took advantage of this opportunity to say everything.
He sneered: "The reason why my father wants to enroll my little nephew in this clan is just to suppress me and King Qi, huh!"
"In this world, we are always father and son. Even if I kill someone, what will happen? Even if the embankment collapses, what will happen? I am always the prince. As long as I don't give the direct order, I have reasons to shirk and get rid of him. You want me to let King Qi become big alone?"
Just think about it and you'll know it's impossible.
Why did the emperor urgently summon Su Ziji to Beijing? Was it because he wanted to check and balance himself and the King of Qi?
Why should Su Ziji be used to check and balance him and King Qi? Of course, because the father is old, the old lion is worried about being ousted by the younger lion, so he wants the younger lion to fight among himself so that he can sit firmly on the Diaoyutai.
But even so, the princes and grandsons are still princes and grandsons. It is not like a batch of Jinshi can be produced every three years. He and the King of Qi, to put it bluntly, are wasting "scarce resources" where each one is missing. .
The emperor would not feel bad if he used officials as chess pieces and discarded a few, but there were only three adult princes. His younger brother, King Lu, was far inferior to himself and King Qi in terms of power, and the adult grandson was only Su Zi. Ji, if one person is missing, the situation will change, and if there is one more person, the situation will also change. He does not believe that his father will let him out for such a trivial matter.
When two tigers fight, one of them will be injured. The three-legged stance is the most reliable.
