The struggle of the reborn prince

In the east side hall of Ruisi Hall in Bianjing, the chief ministers headed by Li Gang, Xu Jingheng, Zhao Ren, and Zhao Yong are waiting for the emperor to summon them.It is common for the emperor to discuss matters with them here, and everyone would talk about interesting things they had heard and talk about the next government when they were waiting for work, but the atmosphere today was very solemn, and even Xu Jingheng, who had always been calm, showed anxiety. Li Gang couldn't help sighing, but Zhao Yong was even more fidgety, picking up and putting down the teacup in his hand, all scattered on the skirt of his clothes without knowing it.Zhao Ren looked towards the door from time to time, as if waiting for something,

There were also quite a few people gathered in the west side hall, including the Supreme Emperor and his wife, former Emperor Zhao Huan, Empress Zhu Shuzhen and several imperial concubines, Dazong Zhengsu King Zhao Shu, King Jing Zhao Qi, and the brothers of Wang Jue and other two lineages headed by them. Wang, what is strange is that Zhao Gou, who was deposed from his rank today, also appeared in the hall.Their moods didn't seem to be calm. The expression on Zhao Ji's face changed several times. He couldn't tell if it was anger or helplessness. He wanted to leave his seat several times to go to the apse, but was blocked by the queen mother Zheng Hongmei.

Zhao Huan wanted to start a conversation with Zhao Shu many times, but he stopped talking. Obviously, he had many questions in his mind and wanted to ask them, but he felt unable to talk about them.The deposed Zhao Gou was summoned into the palace in a hurry, and he didn't know what happened until now, his eyes were full of confusion, he couldn't figure out why the emperor summoned all the clans, he stared at the two warriors standing at the door in a daze.On the contrary, the few Zongwangs in the collateral line looked calm, sitting on one side, watching their noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, noses, and minds, resting there. This is also their standard posture when they go to court and stand on duty.The Hall of Ruisi is the Neishu Pavilion, which is also the imperial study of the emperor. It is the place where government affairs are handled daily, and it is served by several small yellow gates on weekdays.But today, only the Ministry of Internal Affairs knows that Xi is in the hall, and is far away from the emperor's desk, with a sad face. In fact, there are so many people in the hall. It is the beginning of the end of an era!

In Jianxi's eyes.What the emperor did this year seems to be what he should do, but it seems that the emperor is more like arranging his own affairs.He personally selected husbands and sons-in-law for his two daughters, and made a marriage agreement for his eldest son who had reached the age of marriage.The number of times I went to Longde Palace was much higher than in previous years.Pan Heng's time was also longer, and he could even drink a little wine and chat with the Supreme Emperor for a whole day.And what he said was often what he used to think of as 'nonsense'.

Sitting on the dragon chair, Zhao Tong wrote the edict of succession with his own hands. He did it seriously and calmly. In fact, the matter of choosing the crown prince had been euphemistically proposed by the courtiers, but he did not get a response.And this year Zhao Tun decided to recruit Jurchen himself, even though he knew that he was the lord of the world and would not have the chance to appear on the battlefield, he would still receive the most thorough protection and care.But things are one in a thousand after all, and a knife and a gun have no eyes.And there are no fewer emperors in the world who died during the journey, so he had to guard against them.Zhao Tun now has three sons. The eldest son, Zhao Qian, is the son of Empress Zhu. The second son, Zhao Zhen, was born to the concubine Xiao. Constantly, endlessly arguing, but he laughed it off, never made any hints, and treated the children equally.This aggravated the doubts of the outside world, and even suspected that Zhao Tuo's failure to establish a crown prince was because he was greedy for the throne.As for who the crown prince should choose, the government and the opposition also held their own opinions.But not always.

At the beginning, some people thought that Zhao Qian, the eldest son of the emperor, was the heir apparent, and as long as there were no major faults, he would definitely inherit the throne.However, some people also raised objections, because the emperor was not born as the eldest son, so some people have always questioned it, and according to the emperor's temperament, he will definitely choose a successor from other princes to show that "the throne is for the sages" and for himself 'Rectification of name'.

And with the end of the 'abdication storm', the queen was forced to claim illness.The descendants were expelled from Beijing, and people began to sing bad news about the eldest son of the emperor.It is believed that all this was done by the emperor to remove obstacles for the other two princes.At this time, the most popular candidate for the crown prince became Zhao Yi, who was selected by the concubine De.Because with the renewal of officials in the DPRK and China, the ministers who had hidden their residences in those years came to power one after another.Although everyone didn't say it, everyone knew that Concubine De had the deepest relationship with the emperor.And because he was also born in the hidden mansion, he has a very good relationship with the military and inner court chiefs, his son's succession to the throne will be generally supported by the courtiers, and he can succeed to the throne smoothly.

But after the emperor's northern tour and the Khitan nobles sacrificed to Montenegro, people's views changed again.They think that the internal affairs of the Great Song Dynasty are now stable and the people are happy, and the turmoil will only come from those foreign tribes who belonged to them, and the emperor may pass the throne to his third son Zhao Zheng in order to appease the Khitan.Although Concubine De was also a Khitan nobleman, her status was obviously not as high as that of Royal Concubine Yu Liyan, Princess of Shu.

No matter how the outside world guesses, in fact, Zhao Tun already has a conclusion in his heart, whether it is due to tradition or blood, if there is no accident, the throne will eventually belong to the eldest son of the emperor, Zhao Qian.And he has been reluctant to establish a reserve for a long time. On the one hand, he does not want to cause the courtiers to gang up and conspire against others; on the other hand, Zhao Tuo also needs to consider whether the eldest son can take on the big responsibility, whether he has the moral character to become the king of a country, and whether he can pass his own. study.

And Zhao Tun is also working hard to train Zhao Qian, but the way is not acceptable.He did not hire a famous teacher in the palace to teach him, but sent him to Zongxue to complete his basic education and eliminate his privileged thoughts. Later, he made him enter the martial arts lecture hall anonymously to learn military affairs, so that he could be familiar with military affairs and receive training at the same time. , so as not to be a coward who would be frightened and overwhelmed when he heard a gunshot.

After Zhao Qian completed his studies, Zhao Tuan sent him to Mobei to receive the baptism of Frost Knife and Snow Arrow in the Borderlands. After serving in the army for two years, he has now been transferred to the Zhenzhou Manufacturing Department to serve as a member of the army, and at the same time he has been taught by Chen Dong , while learning how to govern the country, he also acquired some of Chen Dong's upright spirit.Zhao Qian's performance currently satisfies Zhao Tong, so he decided to make him the crown prince before his personal conquest...

"Jianxi, come here!" After Zhao Tun finished writing the two edicts, he used the seal with his own hands, rolled up the two edicts and put them into two exquisite gold boxes on the table, and then called Jianxi to come.

"Your Majesty, it's ready, should we seal it up now!" Jian Xi hurriedly came up and said.

"No, announce everyone to enter the palace!" Zhao Tang shook his head and said.

Jianxi immediately greeted the little yellow gatemen who were waiting outside the hall to pass on their orders. After a short time, everyone entered the hall one by one, while the female relatives hid behind the curtain. After the ceremony, the emperor bestowed a seat. Everyone looked at the emperor and waited for the next sentence.

"Jurchen is disturbing the land, offending my Longwei, I want to conquer the Kingdom of Jin myself!" Zhao Tuo said in a deep voice, glancing at the crowd.

"Your Majesty..." Although everyone expected it, they still wanted to persuade them, but they were stopped by the emperor as soon as they spoke.

"I have made up my mind. You don't need to persuade me any more. This time the expedition is high and the road is long, and it will take a long time, and the sword and gun will inevitably make mistakes. Therefore, I have decided to set up a reserve first, just in case of accidents!" Zhao Tian said loudly, Immediately there were boos from below, the emperor's decision was too sudden.

"I have selected the crown prince. To prevent disputes, I decided to follow the example of the Empress Dowager Zhaoxian's appointment of the 'Golden Chamber Alliance'. I hid the succession edict in the gold box and divided it between the camp and the queen mother. If I go west, I will go to the camp. Send envoys back to the court, and the Queen Mother will open the golden box and take out the imperial edict in front of all the courtiers in the court, and support the crown prince to take the throne." Zhao Tuo did not wait for everyone to think about it, and asked Jian Xi to hold two boxes and invite him to the throne. Everyone has a look, of course the imperial edict cannot be read, just let them see that the box is not empty.

"Today I invite the Taihuang, the Taihuang, the brothers in the clan, and all the ministers to come here to be a witness, and seal it up in person with Jianxi!" Zhao Tuo didn't wait for everyone to speak, let them look at it, and ordered Jianxi to hand over the two gold boxes closed.

Seeing that Xi Xi had taken the order, he locked the gold box in front of everyone, sealed it with wax oil, then added wax paint, pasted the seal and sealed it with the imperial seal, and then handed one of the gold boxes to the Empress Dowager Zheng Hongmei behind the curtain. collect.At this time, everyone's eyes did not leave the two golden boxes, and they witnessed the process of Li Chu together, but what made everyone depressed was that they didn't know the contents of the edict in the box, let alone who the Chu Jun was.

"Congratulations, Your Majesty, the state-owned crown prince!" After the ceremony, although everyone was kept in the dark by the emperor, they still had to say polite words. Unfortunately, they couldn't congratulate the crown prince...