CHAPTER XLV

The arrival of the eighth prince, Zhao Hongrun, gave Luo Wenzhong, the chief examiner of the scientific examination, quite a headache.

How could he not see that this Eighth Highness must have come for him this time.

At first, he even had some doubts about the Son of Heaven's intention to promote him to be the chief invigilator of the scientific examination, after all, he had just become the main invigilator, and His Royal Highness, who had a grudge against him, was then appointed as the prince's companion, which was also too coincidental.

"Could it be that Your Majesty knows about me framing His Royal Highness?"

This assumption made Luo Wenzhong a little uneasy, after all, the reason why he had the courage to frame Zhao Hongrun was because as far as he knew, Zhao Hongrun, the eighth prince, was not concerned by the Son of Heaven, otherwise, how could he have the courage.

On the same day, Luo Wenzhong secretly summoned the house slaves and asked his family to dredge the eunuchs of the procurement prison, hoping that the eunuchs who could purchase the prison would learn some news.

Although it is said that the eunuch who procures the prison is a low-level little eunuch in the palace, and he has no chance to know any confidential things, but for Luo Wenzhong, this is already the only way for him to get news from the palace.

At dusk, Luo Wenzhong's family sent a message, and Luo Wenzhong suddenly realized: It turned out that the number of the prince's escorts was selected by drawing lots, which does not mean that the Son of Heaven intended to favor His Royal Highness Zhao Hongrun, after all, according to the little eunuch, the Son of Heaven also exposed the fraud tricks of the Eighth Prince twice in the process of drawing lots.

It was not the Son of Heaven's will, which made Luo Wenzhong breathe a sigh of relief, after all, how could he have the courage to fight with the Son of Heaven?

To put it bluntly, if the Son of Heaven wants to kill him, isn't it just a matter of one sentence?

"But these eight princes...... It's not going to be easy.'"

Although it cost a sum of money, Luo Wenzhong felt that it was not a loss to learn some fragmentary information from the eunuchs of the procurement supervision.

After all, the eunuch who purchased the prison clearly told his family that the eighth prince, Zhao Hongrun, was not as unvalued by the Son of Heaven as rumored, at least in the past month, the Son of Heaven's attitude towards him was incredibly tolerant, even if the stubborn prince cooked the golden scale tail with a bonfire with purple bamboo and tear bamboo in the imperial garden, the Son of Heaven still did not punish him.

This interesting story that everyone in the palace knows, Luo Wenzhong is like a bolt from the blue in his ears.

What does this mean? This means that the eighth prince, Zhao Hongrun, is not as unvalued by the Son of Heaven as rumored or as he imagined, on the contrary, this son is very favored by the Son of Heaven.

is also a prince, if he is not valued by the Son of Heaven, Luo Wenzhong does not care about offending him in order to protect his Luo family, the problem is that if the offended prince is actually particularly valued by the Son of Heaven, this is more troublesome.

What's worse is that the Eighth Prince is not only valued by the Son of Heaven, but also has a good mind and scheming, and in front of him Luo Wenzhong, he openly humiliated his Luo Wenzhong's son Luo Rong, and he can also make him speechless through a clever tongue, although his chest is full of anger, he has no chance to attack.

"What should I do?"

Luo Wenzhong sat in the room and sighed.

"Tuk-tuk-"

At this time, there was a knock on the door outside the house, which made Luo Wenzhong feel a little surprised.

Because he was only resting in the wing room of the Confucius Temple at this time, who would come?

With doubts, Luo Wenzhong got up and opened the door.

"Huh? Fan-sama? ”

Luo Wenzhong was a little surprised, it turned out that the person who came was the same examiner of this scientific examination, his colleague in the Ministry of Officials, Langzhong Fan Su.

Although they both belong to Langzhong, there are actually slight differences.

You must know that the official part is four divisions, which are literary selection, merit examination, seal inspection, and inspection, and each division has four Langzhong, with the same rank, but one of them is the first Langzhong, called "Shilang", that is, the head of the department.

And the Lord Fan Su Fan in front of him is the Silang of the Gong Division.

Luo Wenzhong is the Lang Zhong of the Wenxuan Division, and the other party is the Lang of the Examination Division, although they both belong to the same ministry, but to be honest, there is not much contact on weekdays.

"Is Master Fan here to rest too?"

Luo Wenzhong greeted politely, after all, although he is the chief invigilator of this examination, in terms of the rank of the official position, the other party is half a level higher than him, and it is always right to be polite.

"Huh." Fan Su closed the door with his hand, looked at Luo Wenzhong and said with a low smile: "I came here to find Lord Luo. ”

"Looking for me?" Luo Wenzhong was a little stunned.

Fan Su waved his hand and beckoned Luo Wenzhong to sit down on the chair in the room, and asked in a low voice, "Based on what I saw today, it seems that Lord Luo has a grudge with His Royal Highness the Eighth?" I don't know why? ”

"......" Luo Wenzhong was silent.

In fact, even if he didn't say it, the sixteen fellow examiners present at the time could also see it.

But even so, Luo Wenzhong didn't want to reveal it, after all, designing to frame the prince is not a trivial matter, and it will be quite tricky if someone knows that he is a handle.

Seeing that Luo Wenzhong was reluctant to speak, Fan Su didn't care, but just pretended to be worried and said: "That is His Royal Highness the prince after all, and if you offend him, I'm afraid Lord Luo will be in a lot of trouble." ”

Luo Wenzhong frowned when he heard this, looked up at Fan Su, and said in a deep voice: "I'm afraid Lord Fan is not here just to tease Luo, right?" …… I don't know what Master Fan has to say? ”

Fan Su smiled slightly, lowered his voice and said, "Fan just pointed out a clear path to Lord Luo." …… Lord Luo is a smart person, he should understand that relying on Lord Luo alone, I am afraid it will be difficult to parry the Eighth Highness, why not seek refuge? ”

"Seeking asylum?"

Luo Wenzhong's pupils shrank slightly when he heard this.

On the premise of knowing that he had offended the eighth prince Zhao Hongrun, this Fan Su still said this, which means that there is a certain prince who can protect him in Fan Su's mouth.

"This Fan Su...... Is there already a dispute involved?'

Luo Wenzhong let out a long breath and did not speak.

Since ancient times, all ministers involved in the struggle between the prince and the prince, unless they try to make the assistant prince successfully ascend the throne as the emperor and soar from then on, the end will be extremely miserable.

Therefore, before the situation between the DPRK and China is clear, smart people will not easily choose to take sides, because once they stand on the wrong team, it will be a danger of overthrowing the nest, and it will be difficult to have a good end.

It is better to miss the opportunity than to take risks easily, this is Luo Wenzhong's view of the prince's rivalry, and it is also the opinion of most of the courtiers in the court.

But it is undeniable that there are also some people who vainly try to cling to the new monarch and vainly try to become ministers of the dragon.

As if noticing the expression of rejection on Luo Wenzhong's face, Fan Su smiled and whispered, "What is Lord Luo worried about?" …… Is there anything more important than the urgency of the moment? ”

"The Urgent ...... of the Moment"

Fan Su's words poked Luo Wenzhong's weakness, indeed, at the moment, what is more important than dealing with the harshness from the eighth prince Zhao Hongrun?

Thinking of this, Luo Wenzhong gritted his teeth and asked in a tight voice, "I don't know which Highness it is?" ”

As far as he knows, in addition to the crown prince Hongli, there are also a lot of voices in the court, Yongwang Hongyu and Xiangwang Hongjing, in general, these three are currently the most likely to become the future new monarch, if Fan Su is loyal to one of these three highnesses, Luo Wenzhong feels that it is not much of a problem to gamble.

"East Palace!" Fan Su spit out a word that surprised Luo Wenzhong.

"Donggong? I didn't expect it to be His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of the East Palace!"

Luo Wenzhong's face suddenly showed a look of surprise, after all, Yongwang Hongyu and Xiangwang Hongjing are also good choices, but the clan is far worse than the prince Hongli of the East Palace, after all, he is the prince of the current prince, and his character and talent are all in the middle and upper echelons, if there is no accident, the possibility of the prince becoming the new monarch is the greatest.

"Please referral."

After paying attention, Luo Wenzhong respectfully saluted Fan Su.

Luo Wenzhong would not have thought that what Fan Su was referring to asking the prince to shelter him was just a pretext, because Fan Su was originally going to ask the prince Hongli to intervene, after all, the eighth prince Zhao Hongrun was already checking their accounts, which was not a very friendly signal.

As for Luo Wenzhong, it's just a piggybacking incident.

"If you can get Luo Wenzhong, I believe that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will be happy."

Fan Su left satisfied.

That night, Fan Su secretly passed on the news and sent it to the prince of the East Palace, Hongli, saying that the eighth prince Zhao Hongrun was rude and interfered in the internal affairs of their ministry, and even the matter of His Royal Highness humiliating Luo Rong, the son of the chief examiner Luo Wenzhong, was also mentioned.

It is undeniable that when he learned that Fan Su had wooed Luo Wenzhong for him, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was indeed quite happy.

There is no way, who told the Shangshu and squires of the six departments of Menxia Province to be extremely cautious old foxes, and they will never easily stand in line in the battle?

Therefore, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince can only try his best to start with the Lang officials in the department, after all, the Lang officials are not high or low in the six departments, although they are also in charge of hundreds of people, but after all, there are Shangshu and left and right attendants on their heads, if there are no special circumstances, if they want to climb up, they can only use the strange wind, do they have to wait for the Shangshu and the left and right attendants standing above their heads to die of old age?

In fact, having said that, as the crown prince of the East Palace, Hongli didn't need to win over some Lang officials at such a low price, but he couldn't help it, because the threat from Yongwang Hongyu and Xiangwang Hongjing is getting bigger and bigger, especially Yongwang Hongyu, who is the same year as him, according to the crown prince Hongli, he has already attracted many officials in the court, which can be said to be the biggest obstacle to his move towards the throne.

"Feng Shu."

The crown prince Hongli summoned his sect guard Feng Shu and instructed: "You go to the Confucius Temple to send a message to the old eight, telling him to abide by his duty and not to interfere in the affairs of the officials." By the way, I vaguely mentioned that Luo Wenzhong, and told Lao Bamo to do things absolutely without it, then Luo Wenzhong is my Great Wei courtier after all. ”

Zong Wei Feng Shuyan frowned when he heard this, and said hesitantly: "His Royal Highness the Prince, His Eighth Highness is not a good person, he even dares to contradict His Majesty...... As far as I know, His Majesty currently attaches great importance to His Royal Highness the Eighth, and I am afraid it is not worth it to be offended for such a trivial matter. ”

"Do you mean to ask me to give up the people who have been wooed by the officials with great difficulty?"

"No, the lowly position means that the internal governance of the officials is chaotic, and there are many people who corrupt and pervert the law, even if the Eighth Highness goes down to investigate, it may not be able to trace the head of His Royal Highness the Prince, but His Royal Highness wants to protect Na Luo Wenzhong...... Knowing that His Royal Highness the Eighth Highness wants to rectify this person, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince intervened, I'm afraid it's not worth it. ”

"You know what?" The prince Hongli said unhappily: "Then Luo Wenzhong is the Lang official of the Ministry of Literature and Selection, and Cai Lian, the division of the Ministry of Literature and Selection, has always been away from the prince, I suspect that this person has a reputation for the second child, if he can win over Luo Wenzhong this time, he can ask him to keep an eye on Cai Lian for me, if Cai Lian is really the second person, I can also find a way to kick it away, let Luo Wenzhong sit in the position of the boss, at that time, the Wenxuan Division and the Examination Division, the two most important divisions of the Ministry of Officials, can be firmly pinched in my hands." As long as these two divisions are firmly pinched, no matter how the second child tries to win over the rest of the officials in the ministry, this prince is not afraid, understand? ”

"But ......"

Feng Shu wanted to persuade him more, but was interrupted by Prince Hongli.

"I've made up my mind, you don't have to say it anymore, just pass my words on to the eighth child."

“…… Be. ”