The fourth prince, Le'an Wang Gaoyue (pronounced the same as "Yue"), is the younger brother born to Jiang Shufei and the same mother of King Guangping, who is five years younger than King Guangping. Once upon a time, he was a lively and pleasant young man, who loved poetry, calligraphy and painting, and also liked to ride horses and hunt, and he had a steady and excellent brother above him, and he seemed to only need to play the role of a well-behaved brother. King Guangping was seriously injured and blind, and had to resign as the crown prince, and this King Le'an was really looked at by everyone in the court and the opposition. He had a very good relationship with his brother and was himself intelligent and talented, making him the most suitable successor to King Quang Binh and his supporters.

Since the resignation of King Guangping, the candidate for the new prince has not been decided, and the emperor summoned all the princes to live in the Qianqing Palace, and inspected the nearest place, wanting to choose a suitable person. In the past two years, there have been many big and small turmoil. Even Zhang and Zhao Wei, who are far away in Fengxian, can hear some rumors.

For example, the second prince, King Yanling, was praised by the emperor for something, and the emperor assigned important affairs, which was obviously very important. He was already the eldest of his brothers, his biological mother was a concubine, only slightly lower than Concubine Jiang Shu, and he was also from a family, so he seemed to be more qualified to ascend to the throne than King Guangping, and now he is also very promising. He was in high spirits, but less than a month later, he made a mistake in official affairs, and the officials he valued very much were accused of embezzlement of ink, and the witness also confessed that the second prince himself had benefited. The emperor was furious, scolded the second prince in court, and drove him out of the palace. Not to mention the crown prince, even the throne was barely kept, and he was fined for three years, which is tantamount to losing his candidacy in the eyes of the world.

For example, the fifth prince, King Jinyang, died early after being rejected by the emperor because of his biological mother. is young and young, and he is an inconspicuous person in the palace. When the emperor was comparing his son, he inadvertently made a mistake with his son. After the prince was disappointed, he found that this son was even better than he imagined, and he was happy and rewarded a lot of things. Seeing that he was of marriageable age, he had to choose a good princess for him himself. When he was picking people, he went directly to the ladies who were dignified and virtuous enough to be queens in the big families. It's a lot of imagination. Who knew that before the candidate was decided, the fifth prince was found drunk in the garden at a palace banquet, and there was a palace maid crying in disheveled clothes, saying that he was light. This matter was immediately spread to the front palace banquet. The courtiers all heard the rumors of the five princes defiling the harem. Naturally, the emperor was furious again. When the fifth prince woke up, he defended himself by saying that he had not done that kind of thing, and that he was drunk after only drinking a glass of wine, so there must be something wrong with the wine. But the emperor didn't believe that there was anyone in the palace who dared to do such a thing to his son, and the palace maid was a decent palace person around Zhu Lifei, so he wanted to give her to the fifth prince as a side concubine, but canceled the marriage originally arranged for him. The fifth prince sneered and took the palace maid back to his residence. hanged with his own hands and threw the body in front of the palace of Zhu Lifei. The emperor was furious. asked him to be grounded, and he returned to his original residence in the palace without saying a word, without leaving home, and withdrew from the battle for the storage position in disguise.

Another example is that the emperor favors the youngest six princes the most, but the six princes are young, and they are well-behaved and intelligent in front of the emperor and courtiers, but they are willful and reckless behind their backs, beating the palace people to death because of a trivial matter, and they were hit by the emperor and the ministers, and they were reprimanded, and the six princes still cried endlessly, making the emperor very embarrassed in front of the ministers. Afterwards, Zhu Lifei pleaded with the emperor, believing that her son had been framed, and cited all kinds of "evidence", suspecting that it was done by the fourth prince or the fifth prince. The emperor saw his youngest son beat the palace people to death, where would he believe these words? But she couldn't bear Zhu Lifei's every means, and finally let go of her youngest son gently, and only punished him for endorsement. However, there was a discussion among the courtiers, who felt that the temperament of the six princes was not suitable for being a king, and it seemed that he should also be kicked out of the candidate list, and he was the youngest, no matter which of his royal brothers ascended to the throne, he only needed to enjoy the wealth and honor of a lifetime. When the emperor heard about this, he did not object......

Such gossip spreads everywhere, originally this kind of dispute and conflict between the golden branches and jade leaves that happened in the palace, should not be transmitted to the people, but it is so strange, no matter which prince, as long as there is a small problem, it will definitely spread all over the capital, if the problem is a little bigger, then even outside the capital can know. Even if it is only a small mistake, it must be magnified to the height of character and morality, and it will be questioned whether it is suitable to sit in that honorable position. At first, only the eldest prince was discussed, but later even the youngest did not escape.

Compared with these princes who had accidents, King Le'an was really safe, he didn't look obvious on the surface, he only silently did what the emperor told him to do, the appearance was neither good nor bad, he couldn't see any particularly outstanding talents, and he had never been praised by the emperor, but he also didn't make a big mistake, only two innocuous small problems, one was carelessly remembering the name of an official, and the other was when the emperor summoned him because of the rain and the road slipped slowly, and he was late for a while, which has nothing to do with ability, It's not about character. When all the other princes were found out to have all kinds of faults, his appearance as stable as Mount Tai was immediately impressive. The emperor felt that with this son's ability, there was no problem in being a king, so he decided on a candidate for the throne.

Even if some ministers and nobles feel that King Le'an is still young and does not have outstanding ability, the emperor does not have to rush to decide to make him the crown prince, he can watch it for a few more years, and there are concubines in the harem who are pregnant, and maybe there will be a prince born? Moreover, the sixth prince is still young, and he will be more sensible when he grows up, and it will not be too late to watch it when the time comes.

The emperor did not agree, his health is getting worse and worse, God knows how many years it can last? Even if there is a prince born now, he can't wait for the other party to grow up to the age of sensibility, and the nine-year-old sixth prince is too young, let alone unborn? Although King Le'an is young, he has also been trained in the six parts in the past, and his ability is good, and it is nothing to be lively when he was a child, but now he is stable enough. Princess Le'an is the eldest daughter of Qushui Bofu, dignified and virtuous, the husband and wife are loving and harmonious, and already have two sons and one daughter. What is there to be picky about such an heir? The emperor asked the king of Quang Binh what he meant. The latter is also very much in favor. Therefore, he does not intend to adopt the opinions of those ministers and nobles.

The canonization ceremony of the new crown prince was held in the middle of last month. Although because of Zhu Lifei's illness. The emperor was worried about his concubine and had no intention of doing it in a big way, so the ceremony was a little simpler, but there should be no less procedures. Now King Le'an is already a sure prince.

The ancestors and grandchildren of the Zhang family were all supporters of the new prince because of King Guangping, and they were all relieved to hear that he had finally been officially canonized. With such a new prince. When he inherits the throne steadily in the future and ascends the throne as the emperor, the Zhao family's life will be more stable.

Zhang couldn't help but chant the Buddha. smiled: "Ming'er has to go to the temple to make a vow, I begged the Buddha for a few years, and finally my wish came true, it is really blessed by the Buddha." ”

Zhao Xiu said in his heart, this is obviously the new prince's own struggle. The people around him are also powerful. What does it have to do with the Buddha? It's just that she knew that her grandmother had become more and more convinced of Buddhism in recent years, and if she said this in front of her grandmother, she would definitely not be pleased, so she didn't say anything, but asked: "Although the canonization ceremony has passed, should we also send some congratulatory gifts?" Why don't you send someone to see His Royal Highness the King of Quang Binh? ”

Zhang was reminded by her: "You are right, there are people flattering there in the new prince, and we are far away in Fengxian." It is the same whether to give a congratulatory gift or not, but His Royal Highness the King of Quang Binh should visit him. Don't let him feel cold. ”

With the new crown prince, he, the old prince, has no hope of returning to the storage position. His original team will become the new prince's people, and the original flattery and affliction of him will also shift the target. When ordinary people encounter this kind of thing, they will inevitably feel lost in their hearts. I wonder what King Quang Binh will think?

Zhao Wei said: "I'll go back to the room and write a letter to the prince." It's just that we young people are corresponding, and I send a few of my new good books to the past, so that others will know about it and not suspect anything. It won't cause trouble to His Royal Highness King Quang Binh. ”

Zhang nodded lightly: "The good tea from our tea garden, pick the best and send four small pots over, please try it." ”

Zhao Wei responded, and smiled at Zhao Xiu: "Does my sister have something to say to the prince?" ”

Zhao Xiu was about to answer, but when he saw Zhang's brows furrowed, he swallowed the words that came to his lips again, and changed his words: "What can I say?" You just have to write what you want to say in the letter. That's the right thing to do. Let's just use my brother's name to greet King Guangping. Zhao Wei smiled and left.

Zhao Xiu watched his brother leave, looked back at his grandmother, and smiled shyly.

Zhang smiled and approving: "Your brother is confused again, you are a girl, what can you say to the son?" When I was a child, I just played around, but now that you are getting older year by year, there is a difference between men and women, so you should avoid suspicion. ”

She knew it! It must be this reason!

Zhao Xiu resisted the urge to sigh, and said with a sweet smile: "Brother just asked casually, in fact, I'm afraid the prince doesn't remember me, and I don't remember what he looks like, but I got along with him for a few days seven years ago, and I can barely say that I am a friend." ”

Zhang sighed: "If our family is still in Beijing, and the two families often come and go, it is not a big deal for you and Shizi to play together." But now our family is not as good as in the past, and the situation of Guangping Mansion is also a little embarrassing, more things are better than less, we just need to remember the kindness of His Highness in our hearts, don't talk casually outside. ”

Zhao Xiu hurriedly agreed: "Grandmother, don't worry, I never talk nonsense outside." ”

Zhang smiled slightly: "Grandmother knows that our sister Xiu is the most well-behaved. What are you doing in the house? Are you practicing calligraphy again? ”

Zhao Xiu hurriedly said: "No, I'm practicing needlework." I asked Bilian to teach me some new tricks. ”

Zhang was overjoyed when he heard this: "That's good, this is what a girl looks like." He added: "Tao County Ling took his daughter from his hometown a few days ago, he has always been very polite to our family, and we can't be rude." In a few days, the peaches in the peach orchard will be picked, you pick some good ones, and invite Miss Tao to be a guest in the next post, so that you can get to know it. Mrs. Tao mentioned to me before that she has only one daughter, who is a few months older than you, and is a docile and sensible character, and wants to get along with you. ”

Zhao Xiu's friends only have those nieces in the clan, not even a cousin of the same age, and when he heard that he had the opportunity to meet a good new friend, he was also very happy and immediately agreed.

When she returned to her room, she saw the unpretentious rosewood box on Duobaoge, and couldn't help but go over and take it down, put it on the bookcase, and open the lid, and inside was a heavy brocade bag.

This is the dagger given to Gao Zhen, the prince of Guangping, who Zhao Wei came back from Beijing that year, what did he say at the time? Let her carry this dagger and protect herself in case of danger?

Zhao Xiu laughed, opened the mouth of the brocade bag, and gently touched the smooth rosewood handle.

In fact, he is a very attentive and caring child. If it weren't for the fact that his father, King Guangping, had to resign from the throne, he would be the emperor's grandson, and he would have a great hope of sitting on that supreme seat in the future. Now that a qiē has come to naught, will he be sad? (To be continued......)