King Zhao closed his eyes, clenched his hands hidden in his wide sleeves into fists, then slowly opened his eyes, then put on a friendly expression and asked with a smile: "What do you think, old prime minister?" This old voice said The prime minister called him Lin Xiangru. After all, he was one of the most senior elders in the court, so King Zhao naturally had to pretend.
"That day, the king went to Youshi to draft a document in private." Guo Kai was very surprised at that time: "How do you know?" Unexpectedly, the young man smiled helplessly: "I accidentally saw it in Taishi Mansion." Zuo Shi has always been the same. Lian and Lin made good friends, and most of the people under You Shi were biased towards the king. They consulted with You Shi privately to draft an edict, and the young man's intention became clear. The king wanted to make a big move, and it must involve Lian and Lin. What we saw today was indeed true. …
After being called upon by the king, Lin Xiangru spent a lot of effort to calm down. Now that his body no longer allowed it, even though he knew that something big was going on today, he had fallen asleep at that time and was dizzy and unable to concentrate his thoughts. Therefore, he had only a vague idea of what was going on. So he nodded slightly and said calmly: "Old minister, I am ashamed. Now that I am old and frail, I cannot concentrate. The truth about the court is..."
How could King Zhao not understand how Lin Xiangru was doing, and why he deliberately called out his name? Others might not be able to see the intention, but how could he, Lin Xiangru, who had been in the temple for decades, not see it? But now that he is too old, what if King Zhao really wants to drive him away?
In the State of Zhao, there are only two clear currents in the court: one is the prince, but he is young and fledgling after all; the other is Lian Po. Although he is rough and fine, and he is quite prestigious in the court, he is good at fighting and using soldiers. Some things in the court would inevitably go wrong without Lin Xiangru's help and advice. Therefore, despite the illness, he still insists on attending the court meeting until now, but today...
"This ceremony shows that the old prime minister is deeply attached to the temple. Zhao Yan is grateful in his heart. On this behalf of the State of Zhao, I would like to express my gratitude to the old prime minister." After saying this, he straightened his clothes and stood up, bowing respectfully in the direction of Lin Xiangru. Lin Xiangru felt disappointed, but he could only bow his head helplessly in return. Lian Po on the side looked at his face and felt something was wrong.
Sure enough, King Zhao's next words of worship made many people feel embarrassed: "Zhao Yan left this gift to the young talents who emerged in large numbers in the court. He did not realize the difficulties of the old prime minister, and he was burdened with state affairs all day long. He felt really guilty." , From today on, I am willing to let the old prime minister go home to recuperate, and then worship and make amends."
King Zhao performed this ceremony more and more correctly every time. When he raised his sleeves, the pictures of the sun and moon embroidered with gold and silver thread on the left and right sleeves were extremely dazzling. Many people were not only dizzy after seeing it, but also felt in their hearts. Nuo Nuo didn't dare to raise his head again as he felt miserable. On the contrary, Guo was extremely happy in his heart. Lian and Lin had always looked down on him, and had given him a lot of shame. They had humiliated him in the court several times. How could he not feel refreshed now that he had ended up like this?
The implication of King Zhao's words is: the old prime minister does not need to come to court meetings in the future. Lin Xiangru opened his mouth, but King Zhao seemed not to see it. He couldn't help but ordered the eunuch who was standing beside him to read out the edict he had prepared all morning. The generous rewards in it made many people stunned. In the past, few would have been very envious. , but today, it seems that the honor has been given, but in fact everyone knows the profound meaning of it...
A strong chill surged up from the spine of his back, and the wise minister turned pale, his words stuck in his throat and he could not utter a single word. Lian Po was already furious and wanted to stand up, but his wrist was tightly held by Lin Xiangru. He was afraid that he would not seriously hurt his old and frail friend, so he had to give up angrily.
When King Zhao saw this, he "kindly" asked someone to help the old prime minister go down to rest. Lian Po was so tempered that he didn't bother to pay attention to these things anymore. He bowed to King Zhao hastily and helped the old prime minister out personally. Guo Kai looked at the trembling backs of the two of them, and now he wished he could go back and pull his little brother to play the crown to celebrate... Ah, the king's tutor seemed to say... to celebrate with foreheads and hands, yes, go back and celebrate with foreheads and hands.
When Lian and Lin went out, there was silence in the entire palace, but the cold wind was blowing outside and the thunder was rumbling, with no intention of stopping. King Zhao was in a good mood at this time. He sat back on the throne leisurely and turned his attention to Zhao Zheng, mother and son. Their embarrassed and weak bodies were being held down without mercy, making them look humble and small.
At that moment, he actually had the illusion that Qin Wangji was crawling at his feet. All the anger he had suffered from Qin was gone, and his chest was full of pride. King Zhao raised his hand proudly, and the eyes of the ministers immediately fell on them.
The doll was being restrained by someone at this moment, and there was a sharp pain in his shoulder. In order to prevent others from taking it lightly, he gritted his teeth and remained silent. In comparison, Zhao Ji on the side couldn't help but groan. The baby was worried about his mother, and then showed a fragile expression consistent with the age of a child. He wanted to call "Amu" but because of his hoarse voice, half of the I couldn't shout out any words, I just made a squeaking sound.
King Zhao turned a blind eye to this: "Then let's continue what I just discussed, how should we deal with the evildoers of Qin?" He had made plans for this move early on. This time he did not directly argue with Li Mu and others, but first took a roundabout way to get rid of Lin Xiangru. After serving as a deterrent in the court, he came back to "discuss" with the ministers. The confidence in the discussion was completely different from before. At the cusp of the storm, who would still want to talk to him, but It’s time to weigh the consequences of speaking out.
This time King Zhao was targeting none other than Li Mu. Unfortunately, Li Mu was born into a family of generals and was an upright man. Seeing King Zhao being so reckless, he blocked the fate of the Kingdom of Zhao just to cut off dissidents. And seeing a pair of weak mother and son facing each other... Therefore, he suffered and struggled, and could not remain silent. He immediately stood up and remonstrated bluntly: "My minister Li Mu believes that young children and weak mothers should be pardoned to show the great strength of our Zhao country."
When King Zhao heard this, the anger in his chest suddenly burst out, and he turned into strength and immediately slapped his palm on the big black case in front of him. Along with the thunder that happened to be approved, it resounded through the hall. Many people's hearts also trembled, and the atmosphere in the hall was extremely depressing for a while.
Strangely enough, as the thunder stopped, the boy's words rang in Guo Kai's ears one after another, without giving him a chance to breathe:
You agreed to kill the proton. After Fengping, you were just a favorite of the king. He promoted you to this day, and it was natural for you to do everything for him. Even if you gained more trust because of it, you were only a useful person around him at best.
But don’t forget, the fact that the King has not discussed with you what he wants to do tomorrow is enough to show that in his heart, no one can be completely trustworthy. In the final analysis, you are just a companion who played with him in the past. You will not be able to act in the future. If it's wrong, can it still ensure that he cares about his old relationship?
Taking a step back, your lord and your king will complement each other from now on. Don’t forget the current situation of Zhao State. Zhao Gao dares to assert that in less than thirty years, all the people in the world will return to Qin. Will your lord, who is the king of Zhao, be willing to do so? Follow the king to death?
I heard that Lu Buwei had helped a foreigner to get married to Mrs. Huayang a few days ago. Now Huayang is deeply favored by the prince of Qin and has no heirs. He needs to support the foreigner to stabilize his position. Zhao Zheng's child is also his father's hostage. After many years in the Qin Dynasty, once he returns to the Qin Dynasty, what kind of identity will Lu Buwei have with Zhao Ji and Yiren?
If my lord does your best to get the proton out of the siege, you will be his benefactor from now on. It was clear to me that the hostage was Zhao Gao after spending several months together. When I return to Qin in the future, I will definitely be grateful for your life and care. By then, if you want to occupy a place in the Qin State, you can even be a minister and become the Prime Minister. Why bother with the declining Zhao State?
Guo Kairen looks unreliable, but in fact he is not stupid, and many things can be clearly understood with just a little exposure. Strangely enough, now that I think about the young man's words again, my mind is more than twice as clear as before.
In a daze, he seemed to hear the young man asking: Sir, if we don't decide now, when will we wait? Yes, where has the courage to gamble in the Yiguan gone! What's more, this is a game that is sure to make money without losing money. The little brother who gambles at chess has never let himself lose, but when has he cowered like a girl?
How to choose between the "life-saving grace" for the future prince of Qin and the "love of companionship" with King Zhao? It is true that the former is still out of reach and the latter is easily available, but after all, the former is too tempting and once obtained, it is the most stable relationship. Although the latter is easily available, it is easy to be thrown away at will. Moreover, Qin and Zhao are now the national powers. There is a huge disparity. Even if the relationship between the latter and the latter is stable, it is still difficult to benefit from it in the long term...
Moreover, if he dared to remonstrate even though the king was so angry, he would still have a tangible benefit that he could get right away. That is to wait until the king's anger has subsided and he figured it out, recalling that his willingness to die to persuade him was a sign of loyalty, and the relationship with him might not be able to go further.
This is indeed a win-win bet. It can not only win the trust of the king, but also please the future prince of Qin. You can get both, so why not give it a try?
Just trust my little brother once!
Guo Kai didn't realize that Zhao Gao had been called "little brother" in his heart again. He just made a decision and waited for King Zhao to finish losing his temper before finding an opportunity to stand up.
"This is a strong remonstrance from the second master [1]!" King Zhao was furious, pointed at Li Mu and shouted loudly. Seeing that he was furious, all the ministers lowered their heads in a respectful gesture and said, "Your Majesty, please calm down." Although Li Mu knelt down and lay motionless on the ground in accordance with the etiquette, he did not change his words, nor did he change his expression at all.
King Zhao suddenly brushed away the pen in front of him, and while raising the white jade pen pillow underneath, he was about to throw it down the steps. He said, "Come here, take this rebellious person..." Guo Kai pointed in an unobservable direction. Nodding, someone over there understood and calmly retreated from the side door. Guo Kai himself found the opportunity to stand up quickly. His legs and feet were inconvenient after kneeling for a long time and his steps were a little staggering. However, the trick was enough. Then he was heard shouting in "embarrassment": "Please think again, your Majesty."
Uncharacteristically, he succeeded in attracting King Zhao's attention and stopped the white jade pen pillow from hitting Li Mu. King Zhao asked impatiently: "What do you want to report?" Guo Kai withstood the pressure exerted by the king, adjusted his expression, controlled his tone, and then said sincerely: "My minister Guo Kai also thinks that it is inappropriate to kill the proton."
At this time, the sky outside the palace was filled with thick clouds and the wind howled...
