Luodu East Palace, inside the Warm Pavilion.

Crown Prince Guo Zhan looked at the several officials sitting below with a solemn face, and the officials present included Zhou Wentai, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, Yan Lide, the waiter of the Ministry of Works, Li Siye, the head guard of the left prison gate, and Zhang Xun, the head guard of the right prison gate.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Rong Zheng's case has been decided after the trial of the three divisions, although there is a lonely mediation, but it is still not possible to protect Rong Zheng, Rong Zheng was sentenced to be executed, all the men of the Rong clan were reduced to slavery, all the women were punished into the Jiaofang Division, and all the family property was confiscated into the treasury;

And Lone just got the news that Lone's ninth brother, King Yongwang Guo Qi, exterminated a group of bandit mountain carvings some time ago and confiscated a large amount of money and grain; Some of them have been brought back to Luodu by the envoys of the Yellow Gate, and they have been given to their father as tribute. Guo Zhan said with a gloomy face.

"Your Royal Highness, the minister thinks that King Yong is not to worry, and King Yong's tribute is nothing more than to get His Majesty's favor." Zhou Wentai said: "Even the three-year-old naughty boy in this capital knows that King Yong is the most unloved prince of His Majesty, so the minister thinks that His Royal Highness does not need to keep an eye on King Yong." ”

"Lord Zhou's words are wrong, the minister thinks that His Royal Highness didn't pay attention to King Yong before, but from now on, His Royal Highness will pay attention to King Yong." Yan Lide said.

"What do you mean by this, Lord Yan?" Guo Zhan asked Yan Lide.

"Your Royal Highness, since the second prince was demoted to a commoner by His Majesty and imprisoned, His Royal Highness is the most powerful in the entire court, and only His Royal Highness the King of Wei, His Majesty's favorite, can compete with His Royal Highness slightly." Yan Lide said: "However, now the situation has changed, since King Yong became a vassal, he has made a big fuss in Jingzhao Mansion before he reached the fiefdom, His Majesty did not punish King Yong in any way, but instead beheaded Rong Zheng to show the public, this does not understand that he favored King Yong, and cut off His Royal Highness's arm?"

In addition, King Yongwang took in refugees to move west along the way, and built tuntian, training soldiers, and building ordnance in Yongzhou, all of which were very much in line with His Majesty's wishes; And it is said that King Yong also set up a title privately, and His Majesty also ignored it, so it can be seen that the current King Yong is no longer the Nine Emperor Princes who were not loved by His Majesty, on the contrary, King Yong has begun to get His Majesty's attention, otherwise His Majesty would not be so tolerant of King Yong;

Your Highness can imagine that once King Yongzhou becomes powerful, and His Royal Highness is restricted by King Wei in Beijing, once the two are combined and jointly target His Highness, what should His Highness do? ”

"Lord Yan means that Lone should get rid of King Yong first." A cold light flashed in Guo Zhan's eyes.

"Exactly, His Royal Highness should take advantage of King Yong's fledgling wings to get rid of him first." Yan Lide said: "First, to prevent King Yong, King Wei and others from uniting with His Royal Highness as enemies, and secondly, after a hundred years of Your Majesty, His Royal Highness will inherit the great unification, and it is bound to further reduce the domain, and if there is one less vassal king, the overall power of the vassal king will be weakened, which is conducive to His Highness to reduce the domain;

But His Royal Highness doesn't have to worry, it's actually easier to get rid of King Yong, Yongzhou and Xirong are neighbors, this year's heavy snowfall, Xirong will definitely suffer, Xirong is likely to attack my Daqi in the spring next year, and His Highness only needs to find a way to let the Western Army rescue a little later. ”

"Ha, ha, ha...... Lord Yan is reasonable, and every word is fine; It's really a lonely brainstorm! Guo Zhan said with great joy.

——————

Just when a group of people in the East Palace were conspiring, in the palace of King Wei, Guo Jia, the king of Wei, was also discussing with a group of cronies; Guo Jia, the king of Wei, was the emperor's fifth son and the emperor's favorite son, who was brilliant since he was a child; Her mother was the emperor's favorite concubine and was canonized as the imperial concubine.

Just from the title can be seen how much the emperor loves Guo Jia, Guo Jia's title is the King of Wei, its fief in the ancient Wei State used to be the capital of Bianliang, that is, now Bianzhou, here the river network is vertical and horizontal, the waterway extends in all directions, every day a large number of ships pass through Bianzhou, so that the business here is very developed, at the same time Bianzhou is fertile for thousands of miles, is the Central Plains of the grain production state, is one of the richest states in the Central Plains.

"Teacher, this time the Rong Zheng case was handled beautifully, and without Rong Zheng, it is equivalent to breaking the prince's arm." Guo Jia, King of Wei, said happily.

"Your Highness, although the crown prince is gone, the crown prince is still powerful." Liang Bowen, the secretary of the Criminal Department, who was sitting on the side, said: "Now that Rong Zheng has been removed, the position of Guanzhong Daotai is vacant, I wonder if His Highness has a suitable candidate?" ”

"I don't know what the teacher means?" Guo Jia, King of Wei, asked.

"The old minister thinks that His Royal Highness can recommend Yang Shousu, the imperial historian, to serve as the Guanzhong Daotai." Liang Bowen said: "Lord Yang was born in the Hongnong Yang family, the family is huge, most of the children of the Yang family are officials and hold important positions in the local government, if His Royal Highness can get the support of the Hongnong Yang family, it will be one step closer to the position of the crown prince; However, His Highness should have consulted with Lord Yang before this. ”

"Hmmm! The king knows. Guo Jia nodded.

"In addition, His Royal Highness should also contact His Royal Highness King Yong more." Liang Bowen continued: "When you enter the palace, go and see Concubine Hui. ”

"Teacher, you're right! Let this king and King Yong contact feelings. Guo Jia frowned and said.

Among the princes, Guo Jia is the most loved by the emperor, and at the same time the most conceited and proud, except for his opponent the crown prince, each of the other brothers is in his eyes, especially Guo Qi, the king of Yong; When Guo Qi was not yet a feudal domain, he did not attract Guo Jia's ridicule and white eyes.

"Your Highness, the reason why we were able to take out the Rong Zheng so smoothly this time is that King Yong played a very key role." Liang Bowen persuaded Guo Jia: "Your Highness don't look down on King Yong, His Royal Highness should have heard of what King Yong did in Yongzhou, but from these actions, it can be seen that his ambition is by no means limited to Yongzhou;

His Royal Highness should make good use of King Yong and make him His Royal Highness's right-hand man, just like the current King Zhao and His Majesty, if His Royal Highness can really bring King Yong under his command, then the position of the crown prince will not be far from His Royal Highness. ”

"The king knows." Guo Jia said impatiently; "Teachers don't have to worry about it."

Seeing Guo Jia so perfunctory, Liang Bowen sighed in his heart, in Liang Bowen's opinion, Guo Jia is good at everything, but he is a little too conceited, except for the prince, he does not regard anyone as an opponent; In this battle for the crown prince, as long as the emperor's son actually has a chance, but some people have more opportunities, and some people have fewer opportunities, while Guo Jia belongs to those with more opportunities, and Guo Qi belongs to those with fewer opportunities, even if there is only a trace of it, but it is not completely impossible.

After Liang Bowen left the Wei Palace, he said softly: "I'm afraid that this Great Qi is about to change the sky again." ”

Early the next morning, in the palace of diligent government.

After Haizhong read the gift list given by Guo Qi, the emperor sat on the dragon chair and looked down at the ministers below and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, you see that this is my son, Yongzhou is so poor, Qi'er still does not forget to honor me, this act of loyalty and filial piety is a model for all princes; Especially the crown prince and the king of Wei, they should learn from your ninth brother. ”

As soon as the emperor's words were finished, Guo Zhan and Guo Jia felt like they had been deleted by two big-eared scrapers, and they couldn't help but have a grudge against Guo Qi in their hearts.

"Proclaim the decree!"

Haizhong took out the holy decree and read it out: "His Majesty the Emperor of Great Qi Shengyu: King Yong Guo Qi broke the bandits and defended the frontier, which is indispensable; With the rank of general of Zhenxi, he was given a palace in the capital, and King Yong appointed and dismissed the officials of the palace by himself (Note 1), and the recovered places were all fiefdoms of King Yong. ”