As soon as Li Huai left, the Empress Dowager's face fell, she rubbed the teacup and pondered for a while, and then sent someone to invite Jiang Chuanxiong, the first assistant of the cabinet, Guo Yifan, the secretary of the Criminal Department, Bu Gu and Tao Shisan, members of the strategist group, Sima Yu, Long Tengfei and Zuo Duan, the seven old ministers to come to the discussion. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

When the seven former important ministers and current ministers learned of the message, they immediately hurried to the Ciqing Palace.

The Queen Mother had changed her clothes and was sitting upright on the main seat waiting for their arrival. At this time, she was reserved and dignified, and she looked extremely noble and majestic.

After the seven ministers saluted, the empress dowager said softly: "The first emperor stipulated that each prince should not own more than ten cities during his lifetime, but after the evolution of the past twenty years, the number of princes has increased by one-third compared with when this rule was established. ”

The seven ministers exchanged glances.

The Queen Mother had always been far-sighted and resolute, but nothing she realized could be delayed.

At present, there are five princes in Zhaoguo, and they have been feuded.

The eldest prince has ten cities, the second prince has seven, and the third, fourth and fifth princes have six each.

The eldest prince and the second prince had made several great contributions back then, and the first emperor rewarded them with cities according to the size of their merits, so they received more cities than the other three princes.

There are currently forty-eight cities in the kingdom of Zhao, and there are still thirteen after excluding the thirty-five that were divided among the five princes.

That is to say, there are currently only thirteen castles under the direct jurisdiction of the present.

Obviously, the territory of the Great Prince's territory is already approaching the number of direct jurisdictions of the imperial court.

If the eldest prince has the intention of rebelling and pulls one or two princes to conspire, according to the current situation, the court may not be their opponent.

In order to prevent internal troubles, it is indeed time to deal with them.

In fact, many ministers in the court have long been aware of this matter, but because these princes are very powerful, and they are all extremely difficult to provoke, they dare not mention it openly.

At present, the Queen Mother took the initiative to mention this matter, which can be said to be in their hands, so they immediately praised the Queen Mother for her wisdom after passing each other's eyes.

They came up with ideas.

In the end, everyone thought that the best way to reduce the maximum number of cities set by the first emperor to seven was to take them back, but this meant recovering three cities from Li Ling, the great prince who had the most cities.

The great prince has made great achievements for the imperial court, and the few cities that have been rewarded are equivalent to their merits, if the imperial court wants to take it back, it is obvious that the great prince's heart will not be convinced.

For Li Ling, the great prince who has always regarded the ownership of the territory as more important than anything else, I am afraid that not only will he not accept it, but he may also start a war because of this.

If this matter is not handled carefully, it is obvious that there will be endless consequences.

Moreover, if the eldest prince's cities are taken back to three, then the number of cities he has will be the same as that of the second prince, which will also cause strong dissatisfaction and unwillingness of the eldest prince.

This was also the concern of the Queen Mother, so she invited them to discuss.

Seven ministers were also in trouble.

The Empress Dowager asked Jiang Chuanxiong for her opinion.

Jiang Chuanxiong was also thinking about it, and he replied respectfully: "There is no objection to lowering the standard of the maximum number of cities to seven, but King Ling (the eldest prince) has made great achievements in war after all, and he should be treated differently, so it is better to only recover his two." ”

In this way, the eldest prince can also own eight cities, and he is still the person who supports the most cities in Zhaoguo.

In this way, even if the eldest prince is unhappy, at least he still has face, and he will not be angry to the point of sending troops.

The Empress Dowager and the other six ministers nodded their heads again and again.

"Then, Lord Jiang, it's up to you to tell the Great Lord about this matter. The Queen Mother smiled.

Jiang Chuanxiong hurriedly said: "The minister obeys the order, but the minister has a request." ”

The Queen Mother said: "You say." ”

"The minister thinks that it is more appropriate to consult His Majesty for advice before going to the eldest prince. ”

After all, the current person in power is Li Pei today, and Jiang Chuanxiong doesn't want to bypass this to do this.

The Queen Mother smiled and nodded, "What's so difficult about this." "Immediately send someone to invite Li Pei to come.

Today, Li Pei knew that the Empress Dowager often convened the old ministers to discuss matters, and she also knew that she was doing this to help him, so she never objected.

Upon learning that she had been invited, he immediately put down his book and came forward.

After understanding the ins and outs of the matter, Li Pei said: "Just follow Jiang Aiqing's suggestion." ”

As a matter of fact, Li Pei had already realized the issue they were talking about not long after he ascended the throne, and was about to take advantage of the princes' presence in Beijing to talk about it in the past few days, and now that the empress dowager has taken the initiative to mention it, of course he agrees with it and strongly cooperates.

When the emperor was alive, he was more concerned about the brotherhood between him and the great prince, so he didn't mention the matter of recovering a few cities for a long time, but the relationship between the emperor and the great prince was much weaker, not to mention that the recovery of a few cities was also completely in line with the requirements of the situation, so it was imperative to win this matter.

Since the Empress Dowager and Jinshang have the same opinion, these old ministers have nothing to worry about, and they all said that they will work together tomorrow morning to advise.

So, Jiang Chuanxiong returned to the cabinet and waited for the sun to set.

At that time, the five princes should have returned from an outing, and that was the best time for him to go and talk to the great prince about the matter.

Jiang Chuanxiong had expected that the eldest prince would be dissatisfied or even angry at that time, so he had already thought of a way to deal with it while waiting.

As the sun was about to set, the five princes returned to the palace from the outskirts.

Li Lingcai, the king of Ling, sat down and was told by his subordinates that Jiang Chuanxiong, the first assistant of the cabinet, had come to visit.

The first assistant of the cabinet must have something important to come to him at this time, so Li Ling did not dare to slack off, and immediately changed his clothes.

After some etiquette, the two sat down in the living room, Jiang Chuanxiong looked at the painting hanging on the wall of the living room, and said: "This painting was made by the first emperor after learning of the victory of Kangshui in the First World War. ”

The eldest prince smiled and nodded.

Jiang Chuanxiong said again: "That battle was commanded by you, Lord Wang, and you seem to be only nineteen years old that year. ”

The eldest prince sighed: "Yes, twenty-three years have passed in the blink of an eye. I still remember that time. ”

"As a result of this battle, we were able to secure the six cities at the southern end, and the Emperor rewarded you with two of them in recognition of your merits. Jiang Chuanxiong looked at the eldest prince and said, with both remembrance and emotion in his tone.

Seeing Jiang Chuanxiong mention the topic of the city, the eldest prince immediately became alert and said with a smile: "That was a long time ago. ”

"Yes, but the Queen Mother and the old ministers have never forgotten. ”

"Thank you!"

"In two years, the Second Highness will also be sealed, and there are only thirteen cities left that have not yet been divided. Jiang Chuanxiong said as he looked at the eldest prince.

The eldest prince Li Ling pretended not to understand, and said with a smile: "The Empress Dowager and Your Majesty are both smart people, and with the help of a group of important ministers of you, there will be no way to deal with it." ”

Jiang Chuanxiong also smiled and said: "Of course there is no way, but this matter also leads to the problem that the city of Zhaoguo is about to be in short supply." That's a big problem. ”

The eldest prince hurriedly haha: "Won't there be a territory competition next year? At that time, as long as Lord Jiang works hard, won't there be more room to win the four cities and come back?"

Jiang Chuanxiong smiled faintly and said, "There will be wins and losses in every game, and we can't just expect to win." ”

The eldest prince took two sips of tea and said: "These ten cities of this king were all given by the emperor himself, and the reason is sufficient, which is why other princes never dare to oppose this king." ”

Jiang Chuanxiong laughed, and suddenly looked at the eldest prince and said in an accentuated tone: "Gao Shu is sad and windy, great prince, you now have ten cities, and the number is almost comparable to the number (thirteen) under the direct jurisdiction of the imperial court, if you are Your Majesty and the Queen Mother, what would you think?"

The eldest prince hurriedly said: "I have always been loyal to Your Majesty and the Queen Mother, and I have no objection. ”

Jiang Chuanxiong stretched out his hand and patted the back of the eldest prince's hand, and said: "When the situation is delicate, the word 'loyalty' is not convincing, the eldest prince, if I were you, I would take the initiative to hand over two or three cities to avoid suspicion." ”

The eldest prince's face changed instantly, and he said coldly: "Your Majesty and the Queen Mother asked you to talk about it?"

"No, it's because I saw the danger that the eldest prince was facing, and I couldn't bear to let the eldest prince's family have an accident, so I came to remind him. Lord Wang, there is a gift to get, you think about it. ”

The eldest prince had a calm face and didn't speak for a long time.

Jiang Chuanxiong got up and said, "Recently, many ministers have advised Your Majesty on this matter, and it is very likely that Your Majesty will tell you about this before you leave Beijing. You also know what your majesty's personality is, if you wait for him to talk to you in person, I'm afraid things won't be so simple. ”

After saying this, Jiang Chuanxiong smiled and patted him on the shoulder, and walked out with his head held high.

Ran to the wilderness and said

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