According to the regulations of the Great Wei ancestral system, the crown prince is the prince, and his status is higher than that of the rest of the princes, not to mention that the prince Hongli is still the eldest prince, so when he meets in the corridor of the palace at this time, whether it is Yongwang Hongyu or Zhao Hongrun, he must take the initiative to come forward to salute, otherwise it is a mistake to lose his manners.

Don't think that the negligence is insignificant, in fact, this matter can be big or small, if Zhao Hongrun commits this mistake, and the prince Hongli also sees that he is unhappy, the latter can directly play the Son of Heaven and ask Zhao Hongrun to return to the palace etiquette to learn the court etiquette.

This is the trapping within the rules, commonly known as wearing small shoes.

"Imperial Brother Hongyu (Hongrun), meet His Royal Highness the Prince!"

Zhao Hongrun and Yongwang Hongyu stepped forward to bow to the prince and bowed.

It can be seen that as a competitor in the emperor's competition, the relationship between Hongli, the prince of the East Palace, and Hongyu, the king of Yong, seems to have been frozen to the limit. Although he couldn't see anything from King Yong's side, the prince's eyes on King Yong's eyes were obviously a little cold.

"Second brother, it's been more than two months since my father summoned me and other brothers in the Wende Hall last time, right? …… What is the second brother doing in the house? ”

"It's nothing." Yongwang Hongyu replied with a smile: "On weekdays, the emperor's younger brother reads the scriptures and practices the bow and arrow...... The royal brother is thinking about showing his skills in this year's autumn hunt. ”

"Oh?" Prince Hongli showed a somewhat strange smile on his face, and said lightly: "But how did I hear that you have been running very hard in the household department recently." ”

As soon as these words came out, the atmosphere suddenly became stiff, and even Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but glance at Yongwang Hongyu.

"The goal of the Second Emperor Brother...... Is it Tobe?'

Zhao Hongrun was not surprised by this.

After all, among the six official offices of Shangshu Province, the official department used to have the most transcendent status, holding the power of recommending, appointing, promoting, and degrading officials of the Great Wei Dynasty, as if it was the head of the six departments.

After all, the Ministry of Household is in charge of the income and expenditure of the entire Great Wei, and sometimes many government offices have to look at the faces of the officials of the Ministry of Households.

Therefore, it is not surprising that Yongwang Hongyu, who has the heart to win the Ninth Five-Year Plan, will try his best to use his brains in the household.

"Hehehe."

After a short period of cold silence, King Yong's chuckle broke the deadlock: "The prince misunderstood...... Isn't that last year, the local taxes have been submitted to the household department, and the royal brother also heard that the adults in the household department are very busy these days, and he wondered if the imperial brother could help something, so he went over to take a look...... After all, Dawei is the ancestral foundation of my Ji family surnamed Zhao, and Hongyu, as a prince, should contribute a modest effort. ”

It is obviously a set of high-sounding exculpations, but strangely it comes out of the mouth of King Yongyu, but there is no lack of credibility.

At least the prince Hongli couldn't catch any tricks, so he had to say sheepishly: "Even so, your name in and out of the house is not right...... In the future, don't go to the household department, lest the adults of the DPRK and China participate in your trespassing. ”

Yongwang Hongyu said with a smile when he heard this: "Yes." …… The prince's teachings were taken to heart by the royal brother. ”

At this time, Prince Hongli set his eyes on Zhao Hongrun.

It can be seen that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has a little resentment towards Zhao Hongrun, after all, half a month ago, in the scientific examination that was still presided over by the Ministry of Officials, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had obviously sent Zongwei to signal his eighth brother, telling him not to interfere in the internal affairs of the Ministry of Officials, but he didn't expect Zhao Hongrun to take his words to heart at all, and he checked them correctly.

Well, there were more than 100 major fraud cases in the same paper in the third day of the Confucius Temple's examination, and all 17 examiners, including the chief examiner Luo Wenzhong, were imprisoned.

Luo Wenzhong, the newly elected official of the Ministry of Officials, could not escape the crime of dereliction of duty, because he was the chief examiner, and there was such a horrific fraud case in the department, even if Zhao Hongrun was no longer in the ground, Luo Wenzhong could not escape the fate of being cut down.

No, the punishment of the chief examiner Luo Wenzhong has already been issued by the Imperial History Supervisor, and the officials are cut and demoted, and they are directly demoted to the rank of unpopular officials, which is not much different from what Zhao Hongrun estimated before.

His son Luo Rong was also removed by the Ministry of Rites, which was responsible for re-examining the scientific examination, because his father committed the crime of dereliction of duty, and he was even exempted from the re-examination, and three years of time were wasted.

Of course, this is not the most critical, the key thing is that Fan Su, the official of the Ministry of Officials, who is dedicated to his prince, the prince can't keep him.

Under the strict investigation of the Imperial History Supervisor, Fan Su was accused of several felonies such as accepting bribes, cheating in the examination room, and bending the law in knowing the law.

And lost Fan Su, who acted as a broker to win over the officials of the four divisions of the Ministry for His Royal Highness the Prince? Could it be that his prince Hongli personally went out?

As soon as he thought of this, Prince Hongli was on fire.

By now, the crown prince Hongli has regretted it a little, and if he knew this, it would be better to listen to the advice of Zongwei Feng Shu and abandon Luo Wenzhong.

I believe that if he was willing to give up Luo Wenzhong at that time, and signaled Fan Su to cooperate with Lao Ba's thorough investigation, Lao Ba would not have smashed the entire scientific examination.

can regret and regret, but the crown prince Hongli's resentment against his eighth emperor brother has not diminished at all, after all, the latter is the one who still turned over the fraud case after he clearly stated his attitude.

Prince Hongli even suspected that the more than 100 similar articles in the field were made by his young Eighth Emperor Brother, after all, Fan Su and the others would never be stupid enough to do such a thing.

"Hongrun, as far as this palace knows, you were punished by the Zongfu last month for something...... What did you do wrong then? ”

The prince asked lightly.

In fact, because the Zongfu was protecting the prince's secrets, and the Son of Heaven also deliberately suppressed this matter, the palace only knew that Zhao Hongrun had committed a crime and was arrested and locked up in the Zongfu for seven days, but he didn't know what the reason was.

Although Zhao Hongrun was only framed at that time, but now that the prince Hongli unveiled the scars in front of him, Zhao Hongrun was inevitably a little unhappy in his heart.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is asking what this is for?"

The expression on the face of the crown prince Hongli was cold, and he said in a deep voice: "This palace is just wondering, you were punished by the sect last month for something, but you still don't want to repent, you are tired of learning and fun, and you don't learn and have no skills...... As a descendant of the Ji Zhao clan, aren't you ashamed? ”

"Made, you're too lenient, aren't you?"

Zhao Hongrun's face was a little ugly.

After all, there are not only the three brothers and their henchmen here, but you must know that the crown prince Hongli is followed by a group of young masters, lecturers, and ministers from the East Palace, in addition to some accompanying little eunuchs.

Although the eldest brother does have the duty and obligation to discipline the younger brother, but that is in private, and now the prince Hongli is counting Zhao Hongrun in front of these people, which means obviously.

It was purely to see Zhao Hongrun and Yongwang Hongyu walking together, and he was indignant in his heart, and the new hatred and old hatred were piled together, and he didn't vomit or be unhappy.

Zhao Hongrun's complexion immediately fell, but at this moment, Yongwang Hongyu secretly pulled him, and immediately said to the prince Hongli with a smile: "What the prince said is true, but the imperial brother believes that Hongrun will change." Right, Hongrun? ”

『……』

Zhao Hongrun frowned and glanced at Yongwang Hongyu, with a cold face, noncommittal or not.

"Humph!" Seeing this, the prince Hongli was even more displeased in his heart, snorted coldly, and took a large number of people straight to the Vertical Arch Palace.

Looking at the backs of these people when they left expressionlessly, Zhao Hongrun waved his hand to break free of the hand that King Yongwang Hongyu was secretly pulling his sleeve, and said unhappily: "His Royal Highness King Yong's move is not very kind!" ”

"Huh? Isn't it the second emperor brother? King Yong replied with a smile.

Hearing this joke, Zhao Hongrun's face became more and more ugly, and he was about to have a seizure, but he saw that Yongwang Hongyu actually bowed to him and apologized: "Okay, it's for my brother, and I'm going to accompany you for my brother." ”

Seeing that the second emperor brother actually apologized to himself, Zhao Hongrun's face looked a little better in surprise: "His Royal Highness King Yong said that he was waiting for me, could it be for the sake of Fang Cai?" ”

"Hehehe." King Yong smiled, looked back at Zhao Hongrun and said, "If Brother Wei said that this matter is just a coincidence, Hongrun, do you believe it or not?" ”

"Coincidence? This Nima is too coincidental, right? But ......

Zhao Hongrun analyzed it in his heart, and reason told him that it was impossible for King Yong to count his appearance as such a coincidence with the appearance of Hongli, the prince of the East Palace, after all, he had never planned to come to the Vertical Arch Hall to greet his father. Taking a step back, even if King Yong guessed when he would appear, could he still guess when the prince of the East Palace would appear? The odds are too small!

But if it is a pure coincidence, this is indeed too coincidental, so clever that knowing that it is impossible will still make people suspect that it was deliberately arranged by King Yong.

"Brother Wei's luck has always been good, sometimes Brother Wei even feels surprised, as if this God is on Brother Wei's side." Yongwang Hongyu glanced at Zhao Hongrun, smiled and said, "To be honest, Hongrun, Brother Wei is not waiting for you. At that time, my brother just had a whim, wondering if he would meet you here, and he did...... After meeting you, I was thinking that if the prince of the East Palace met you and me at this time, the scene might be beneficial to my brother, and as a result, the prince of the East Palace also appeared. …… That's it. ”

Listening to King Yong's bland words, Zhao Hongrun faintly felt that his scalp was a little numb, and he said that this luck was too mysterious.

At this time, Yongwang Hongyu's self-deprecating emotion made him stunned when he heard it.

"My brother's luck has always been wonderful, but there is only one thing...... That is, he was born a moment before me, and he naturally became the crown prince. ”

Standing in the corridor with his hands behind his back, King Yong Hongyu sighed faintly.

『……』

Zhao Hongrun glanced up at the second emperor brother.

He'd heard about it.

According to rumors in the palace, the crown prince Hongli and the second prince Yongwang Hongyu, although their biological mothers were Queen Wang and Shi Guifei respectively, they were brothers born at different times in the same year, month, and day.

Hongli became the prince of the crown prince a moment early, and Hongyu became an ordinary prince a moment later.

Their bad relationship has been entangled since the day they were born.