Jiuxi

Chapter 355 Chapter 353 [Network]

The next day.

As expected by the second prince, Lu Chen did not come to Moyuan again, because early in the morning, the palace eunuch went to the Shanyang Marquis Mansion and summoned Lu Chen to the palace to see him.

The place where the emperor met the emperor was not the Wende Hall where the emperor lived daily, but the Guanyuntai located in the southeast corner of the palace.

This platform is more than six feet high and is the tallest building in the palace. Standing on the top, you can see half of Yongjia city.

The great eunuch Lu Shizhou led Lu Chen to the steps, bowed slightly and said: "Marquis Lu, please."

Lu Chen raised his eyes and looked at the bright yellow figure above, and said warmly: "Thank you, young prisoner."

Lu Shizhou quickly lowered his head and said, "I don't dare."

Lu Chen walked up the stairs, came to the emperor's side, and saluted, "Your Majesty, Lu Chen, is here to see you."

Li Duan turned to look at the young minister, his expression was very gentle, but his words had the meaning of a sword: "The Prime Minister invited you to a banquet last night. I must have told you during the dinner that he intends to be the heir apparent and hopes to get your support."

Li Duan smiled, shook his head and said, "How could I place such an informant next to the prince?"

Seeming to see the doubts in Lu Chen's heart, Li Duan said calmly: "When King Chen learned that you accepted the invitation of the Prime Minister to attend the banquet, he didn't say anything, but he beat a servant in the mansion seriously with his own hands. The reason is that The servant was a little slow when serving tea. Of course, the long history of Prince Chen's Mansion is very skillful and he settled the matter last night. If I hadn't asked Qin Zheng to arrange several good people in Prince Chen's Mansion, I'm afraid I would have been kept in the dark. Drum."

Before returning to the capital this time, both Xiao Wangzhi and Lu Tong talked with him in private. There were two whirlpools in the capital that he had to try his best to avoid. One was the dispute between the center and the border troops, and the other was the dispute between the three adult princes. fight.

Li Duandao said: "As the emperor, of course I cannot punish without teaching. In fact, I have taught King Chen many times in the past few years. He is very humble in front of me, but when he returns to the palace, he often cannot control his temper."

"Then how could your Majesty know——"

Not to mention that Li Duan cannot be called a wise king at the moment. From the history that Lu Chen knew in his previous life, many of the emperors who left their names in history also had shortcomings and regrets in this regard.

Li Duan interrupted him, raised his hand and pressed the white jade railing, and said leisurely: "Because he is my son, of course I understand his thoughts."

Because Lu Chen accepted the second prince's invitation and not only attended the Moyuan Cultural Conference but also attended the banquet, the eldest prince felt very angry, so he acted to vent his anger on others.

From this perspective, the emperor must not be satisfied with the eldest prince's character, otherwise he would not forcefully drag the crown prince's position pending.

Lu Chen actually didn't know what the emperor was thinking. Since ancient times, the position of the crown prince should be determined early. This is the foundation of the country and cannot be ignored.

"How did you know that the Prime Minister would say those things to you?"

For example, Emperor Taizong Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty, known as Tian Khan, was the protagonist of the story Lu Chen told last night. None of his sons were worry-free. Both Li Chengqian and Li Tai eventually embarked on the path of father-son separation.

The former was easily targeted because of Lu Chen's identity, while the latter was a military general who was not suitable for intervening in the succession of imperial power.

Although Lu Chen has not yet married and has children, he can probably understand this kind of educational problem.

But Li Duan didn't lie - there was no need for him to frame his biological son with such lies. The eldest prince's temperament was obviously not as benevolent as he revealed to the outside world.

Lu Chen's heart trembled.

Lu Chen was even more puzzled.

Lu Chen didn't want to appear too thoughtful in front of the emperor, and he was indeed a little shocked after hearing these words, so he murmured: "Your Majesty, is the oiran named Xue Susu your spy?"

However, Li Duan has not clearly expressed his thoughts in this regard so far. Even if courtiers come forward to ask for a prince, he will ignore him every time.

"Oiran?"

King Chen is the eldest prince Li Zongchao, who has always been known as kind-hearted and tolerant in both the government and the public.

Countless histories can prove that the emperor and the father are two completely different identities.

Li Duan didn't know Lu Chen's thoughts were racing at this moment, so he continued: "Lao San Wang Jian... He relied on the Queen's love to act arbitrarily, and even wanted to send dead soldiers to attack you at yesterday's cultural conference, in order to frame one of his compatriots. 's brother."

Lu Chen frowned slightly and said, "Your Majesty, nothing happened at the cultural meeting yesterday."

"I know."

Li Duan raised his eyes and looked at the blue sky in the early summer morning, and said slowly: "Yesterday the queen detained the third child in the harem and did not let him out until the evening. I guess it was the queen who stopped the third child. After all, the people around him Most of the close relatives are relatives of the descendants."

The wrinkles at the corners of the emperor's eyes seemed to have increased a lot.

Lu Chen couldn't help but sigh.

Li Duan laughed at himself, and then said: "The ancients said that a son does not teach his father. Each of the three princes has his own problems. This is due to my failure to teach them well. It's just... I'm not complaining in front of you, I have been on the throne since I ascended the throne. I have been walking on thin ice since then, and most of the time I have been thinking about how to balance the court structure and how to win the support of more courtiers, so as to give more help to the frontier soldiers and enable them to fight the enemy bravely without any worries." Lu was silent for a moment, He said softly: "Your Majesty, the position of crown prince must eventually be determined, otherwise it will be harmful to the country."

"I originally wanted to hear your opinion, so I asked you to attend the Moyuan Art Conference to see the Prime Minister's background up close."

Lu Chen's heart moved slightly, the emperor's words had profound meaning.

Why should he be asked to see the second prince's background?

This can only mean that the emperor intends to make the second prince the crown prince. Perhaps after a long period of observation and comparison, the emperor really cannot accept the personality issues of the eldest prince and the third prince. The second prince is at least the same as what he looks like.

Without waiting for Lu Chen to respond, Li Duan said again: "But I thought about it for a long time last night. As a general of the border army, you are not very clear about the situation in Beijing, so you definitely don't want to get involved in this kind of turmoil. Furthermore, I I have high hopes for you, and I don’t want you to waste your energy on this kind of thing, and I don’t want you to feel resentful.”

To be fair, the emperor's words were truly sincere, and he already regarded Lu Chen as a loyal minister.

"Your Majesty has such great love, I am very grateful for it."

Lu Chen bowed and his tone was sincere.

Li Duan nodded slightly and said warmly: "As long as you can support my decision when I choose the prince in the future."

Lu Chen lowered his head and said, "I obey your order."

"And one more thing."

Li Duan pondered for a moment and said slowly: "The Weaving Department has found out the details of the down-and-out scholar named Lang Sanyuan. He has nothing to do with Beibian Xingzuo, nor was he directly ordered by someone. Qin Zheng personally interrogated him for half the night. We can only be certain that this person’s thoughts were subtly influenced by others. It’s ridiculous to say that Lang Sanyuan believed from the bottom of his heart that the strength of the border army would threaten the safety of the imperial court, and there might even be a second fake Yan.”

Lu Chen replied calmly: "Your Majesty, maybe you can ask Qin Tiju to ask him, how can the border army become the second fake Yan after killing so many Jing troops in the past two years?"

Li Duan nodded and said, "That's exactly the reason. In fact, don't worry about such rotten thoughts. I'm just curious about who is hiding behind the scenes, racking their brains to drive a wedge between the central government and the border troops."

Lu thought for a moment and replied: "Your Majesty, according to common sense, the craftsmen in the north are most likely to do this kind of thing. If they are not responsible for it, then the black hand hiding behind is most likely to come from a family in the south of the Yangtze River."

The monarch and his ministers looked at each other for a moment, and Li Duan asked, "Why?"

Lu Chen said slowly: "Lang Sanyuan is just an introduction. The mastermind behind the scenes wants to use this method to put pressure on His Majesty and the imperial court. In the end, he will have to stop the Northern Expedition. In my humble opinion, only those nobles from aristocratic families will do this." this way."

Li Duan said softly: "You mean... the left prime minister?"

Lu Chen shook his head and said: "I don't think it will be the left prime minister. Although the old prime minister is the leader of the Jiangnan family, his past deeds prove that he has the overall situation in mind and will not do such things that make relatives happy and enemies happy. If I guessed right, the mastermind behind the scenes has a certain influence among the Jiangnan family, but he cannot shake the authority of the old prime minister, so he can only use this shady method."

Several names came to Li Duan's mind, such as Ning Yuanfu, the Minister of Personnel, and Ding Hui, the Minister of War, as well as the privy envoy Guo Congyi and the general Wang Yan.

Looking at the emperor's solemn expression, Lu Chen couldn't help but feel something in his heart.

He knew that the emperor of the Jing Dynasty in the north was becoming more and more powerful, and that even men like Qing Yugong and other God of War figures looked up to him, which showed how arbitrary he was in the court of Jing Dynasty.

On the other hand, for the emperor next to him, the three princes were enough to make him upset. The court was even more mixed up, and all forces were intertwined.

In such a complicated situation, he relied on his strong patience to sort out the situation bit by bit, and tried his best to create a stable and solid rear for the frontier soldiers.

At this moment, Lu Chen couldn't help but think of the late emperor. If that confused emperor could be half as awake as Li Duan, even if he just didn't attack Yang Guangyuan, how could Daqi lose half of his country?

"This matter is not urgent. I think it can be suppressed for the time being. Since the other party has used Lang Sanyuan to throw stones to ask for directions, there will definitely be further actions. The more he does, the more information will be exposed. I will solve this problem at that time. "

Li Duan looked at Lu Chen and said earnestly: "I summoned you to the palace today. In addition to explaining to you in person the reason why the heir apparent is undecided, there is another more important thing."

Lu Chen said: "Your Majesty, please give me instructions."

Li Duan said slowly: "I asked Li Jingda to serve as the governor of Dingzhou and recalled you to the capital because I want to use your merit, fame and invincible spirit to help me solve a problem that has existed for many years."

Lu Chen remembered the conversation he had when he first entered the palace a few days ago. Facing the emperor's earnest gaze, Lu Chen felt a flash of enlightenment in his heart and asked tentatively: "Does the worry in your majesty's heart refer to the Beijing army?"

Li Duan nodded and said seriously: "Yes, it is the Beijing Army."

Lu Chen did not give an answer immediately.

Li Duan said solemnly: "I believe in your ability and loyalty, so I hope you can take up this heavy responsibility and hold at least half of the Beijing army for me!"

After he finished saying this, there was a long silence on the cloud viewing platform.

The summer wind blew slowly across Lu Chen's resolute face.

(End of this chapter)