Da Wei, after the surname Zhao of the Ji family.

On September 19, the 16th year of Hongde, in the Bianjing Palace of the Great Liang of Chen, the Great Wei Emperor Zhao Yuanxi returned to the Wende Hall for a temporary rest after the early dynasty.

The Great Wei Emperor Zhao Yuanxi, who ascended the throne at the age of 26 and has been in power for 16 years, encouraged the people's livelihood internally, lightly punished the meager endowment, and sent troops to destroy the Song Dynasty and open up the territory.

Zhao Yuanxi was not an ambitious reigning emperor, he was already very satisfied with his contribution to the ancestral society, and did not have any delusional thoughts of annexing the surrounding neighboring countries and dominating the whole world.

Now, he only wants to cultivate an excellent heir and pass on the legacy left by his ancestors.

However, how to choose one of those emperors to become the emperor's heir has become his biggest headache at present.

Although Zhao Yuanxi did not want his sons to turn against each other and fight in the same room because of the throne, but in fact he also understood that he could not put an end to this kind of thing even if he was the son of Great Wei.

He originally wanted to delay it for another two years, but more than ten years of diligent government career had made this hard-working Great Wei Tianzi gray in his temples at the age of forty, and his deteriorating physical condition reminded him from time to time that he must choose an imperial heir who meets his heart while his body is still in good health, and cut off the thoughts of the other sons, otherwise there will be trouble in the future.

But thinking about which one to choose, to be honest, even Zhao Yuanxi himself could not make a decision.

"Tong Xian." The Son of Heaven called.

Tong Xian is the eunuch who served on the side of the Emperor of Great Wei, when Zhao Yuansi was only the prince of the East Palace, Tong Xian was already serving beside him, and now Zhao Yuansi has become the Son of Heaven of Great Wei, Tong Xian's status is also rising, and he sits firmly in the position of one of the two eunuchs in the palace, which can be said to be one of the two great eunuchs with the highest rank and the greatest authority in the palace.

"The old slave is here." Tong Xian, who was already groveling beside him, bent down and replied in a low voice.

The Great Wei Heavenly Son pondered for a moment and asked, "Which prince do you think is more secure in the future?" ”

Tong Xian couldn't help but tremble when he heard this, although he was an old servant who had served Zhao Yuanxi for decades, and Zhao Yuanxi also trusted him very much, but it was a matter of the crown prince, even Tong Xian didn't dare to say anything, and said with wrinkles on his face: "Your Majesty, the matter of the crown prince is very important, Your Majesty can consult with the queen and the courtiers...... How can an old slave and a crippled person talk about the affairs of the heavenly family? ”

Zhao Yuanxi frowned when he heard this, looked at Tong Xian and said impatiently: "I told you to say that you are not guilty!" ”

Tong Xian couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed, although the emperor of Great Wei pardoned him and said that he was not guilty, but this kind of topic was still inconvenient for him to touch, after all, the matter of the crown prince was very involved, not only involving several princes, but also involving the ladies of the harem, once he accidentally said something wrong, he would inevitably offend some forces.

After thinking about it, Tong Xian said with a smile: "The old slave thinks that since His Majesty has raised the eldest son of the emperor as the crown prince, he must belong to His Royal Highness the crown prince." ”

He said this very wisely, purely treating the prince as a beacon, saying a well-known fact, and he would not offend anyone because of it.

However, the Great Wei Emperor was not satisfied.

However, he did not embarrass Tong Xian anymore, after all, he also knew that the more old people Tong Xian was around, the more secretive he became about the crown prince, after all, no matter where he was, it was taboo to talk about the crown prince.

"Tong Xian, pass on my message, summon all the emperors to the Wende Hall tomorrow morning, and I will personally test the knowledge of several emperors to see what their results are during this time. …… The bachelors who served as lecturers in the palace school were accompanied. ”

"Your Majesty."

The next day, the sky was still dark, and the nine princes under Zhao Yuanxi's knees were ordered to gather in the Wende Palace, but after careful counting, they could find that there were only eight people present, and one person less.

However, Zhao Yuanxi didn't seem to notice it, and was preparing to issue the exam questions.

Seeing this, Tong Xian hurriedly bowed down and reminded the Son of Heaven in his ear: "Your Majesty, wait, there is another Highness who has not yet attended." ”

Zhao Yuanxi was stunned when he heard this, squinted his eyes and carefully counted the number of people in the hall, and sure enough, he found that only eight princes were present.

But he couldn't say which prince was missing for a while, only that the five princes who were concerned by him were all present. These five sons are the emperor's eldest son "Prince" Hongli, the second son "Yongwang" Hongyu, the third son "Xiangwang" Hongjing, the fourth son "Yanwang" Hongjiang, and the fifth son of the emperor "Qingwang" Hongxin.

The eldest of the five princes was twenty-five years old, and the youngest was twenty-one years old. Except for the crown prince Hongli, they have all been out of the cabinet and honored the throne, and they are the more preferred candidates for the crown prince in the minds of the emperor of Great Wei.

And the rest of the sons have not yet left the palace. Either Zhao Yuanxi is reluctant, such as the sixth son of the emperor Hongzhao, this son is good at poetry and songs, piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and is favored by Zhao Yuanxi; Either they are not old enough to go out of the palace, such as the seventh son of the emperor Hongyin, the eighth son of the emperor Hongrun, and the ninth son of the emperor Hongxuan.

It is precisely because the youngest three princes are still young that Zhao Yuanxi did not include them in the list of candidates for the crown prince, so he didn't pay much attention to them.

"Which emperor didn't attend?" Zhao Yuanxi asked with a frown.

"It is the eighth son of the emperor, Hongrun." Tong Xian, the chief eunuch in charge of this imperial test, whispered: "The old slave has sent someone to urge, I believe that His Royal Highness will come soon." ”

Zhao Yuanxi frowned again.

The eighth son, Zhao Hongrun, is his eighth son, who is just 14 years old this year.

Earlier, Zhao Yuanxi heard that this son was stubborn, greedy for fun, and not good at learning, so that the bachelors who taught Gongxue had been complaining in private.

But because this son is young, and he has no talent in the world, he is not on the list of crown princes, so Zhao Yuanxi didn't pay much attention to it before.

Unexpectedly, this son was even late for the imperial test today, which made Zhao Yuanxi angry in his heart.

Da Wei Tianzi sat back on the dragon chair silently, his face gloomy and very unsightly.

This made all the scholars who were watching the examination look at each other, and they didn't dare to say anything.

The princes who had already entered the table had expressions of indifference, some were silent, some were ready to watch the excitement, but the youngest ninth prince, Hongxuan, had a worried look on his face.

Among the princes, he Hongxuan has the closest relationship with Hongrun, because Hongxuan's biological mother, Concubine Shen Shufei, is Hongrun's mother's good sister with a different surname before her death, and she is also Hongrun's adoptive mother.

Therefore, despite being half-siblings, Hongrun and Hongxuan grew up drinking the same mother's milk. Although the two of them are getting older now and have already moved out of Concubine Shen Shu's bedroom, their relationship is still close.

After about a stick of incense, Lang Wei of a dry palace led a young prince into the Wende Palace, only to see that this son was born with clear eyebrows and beautiful appearance, although he was young but quite handsome. The fly in the ointment is that I don't know if this son has just woken up, his demeanor is a little lazy and sleepy, and his eyes are far less bright than those of other princes.

Looking at the expression of Zhao Hongrun, the eighth son of the emperor, the emperor of Dawei immediately guessed that this son must have been dragged up from the bed by the palace guards, but with those scholars in the palace, he was embarrassed to expose this matter, so he had to glared at Zhao Hongrun fiercely and motioned for him to take the seat.

Seeing that all the princes had finally arrived, Zhao Yuanxi promulgated the examination questions for this imperial examination.

There are two questions in total, the first question tests talent and learning, requiring nine princes to write a pen with personal ambition, and write an essay with reference to the Book of Songs, and the poem is not limited; The second question is to test the princes' knowledge of governing the country, and ask the princes to write a "Wealth of Nations", which can analyze the national conditions of the Great Wei today, and can also comment on the pros and cons of various policies implemented by the imperial court, and appropriately add personal opinions.

After promulgating the exam questions, Zhao Yuanxi got up and went to the morning court, leaving the scholars in the palace to stare at his sons.

About an hour or so, after the end of the early dynasty, Zhao Yuanxi returned to Wende Hall with the great eunuch Tong Xian, preparing to test the achievements of these emperors in this hour.

At this time, the nine princes had finished writing their articles, stopped writing, and sat behind the examination and waited for their father to review and accept.

Zhao Yuanxi was very satisfied at first, but as his gaze swept over the entire hall, the smile on his face froze.

This is not right, obviously there are nine emperors, why is there one less?

Widening his eyes and counting carefully, Zhao Yuanxi found that there were really only eight princes at the scene, and one one did not know where he went, and after recalling it carefully, Zhao Yuanxi found that this son turned out to be the eighth prince Zhao Hongrun, who was late just now!

"Where's Hongrun?" Zhao Yuanxi asked.

As soon as the words fell, the second son of the emperor, "King Yong", Hongyu, sat in the banquet and said with a smile: "Back to my father's words, Hongrun he went back." ”

"Going back?"

"Yes. …… Hongrun said that he was forcibly pulled up by the Lang guards before he slept for a few hours, and had to rush to the Wende Hall to participate in the imperial exam. ”

"This rebel son ......" Dawei Tianzi muttered dissatisfiedly, and he was not easy to attack in the presence of all the scholars, so he reluctantly said with anger: "Hmph! It seems that my Eighth Emperor is a bamboo in his chest! …… Who will read what he wrote? ”

All the scholars looked at each other, but none of them stood up to read the poems and articles written by the Eighth Emperor Hongrun, thinking that these people all knew the talents of His Royal Highness the prince, so that no one took the initiative to read what he wrote, so as not to anger the Son of Heaven and implicate here.

Seeing this, Zhao Yuanxi raised his hand and pointed at Hongxuan, the ninth son of the emperor: "Hongxuan, you read." ”

"Yes, Father."

Although he was raised by the same mother, Hongxuan, the ninth son of the emperor who was still one year younger, had more royal etiquette than his brother Hongrun, I saw him slowly stand up, and after bowing to the imperial father, he walked to his brother Hongrun's examination case, picked up the paper on the case and took a closer look.

It doesn't matter if you look at this, the young Hongxuan suddenly frowned.

"Read!" Zhao Yuanxi urged dissatisfiedly.

However, Hongxuan still hesitated and couldn't open his mouth.

Seeing this, the great eunuch Tong Xian suddenly understood in his heart that it must have been the article written by the eighth son of the emperor, Hongrun, who was not properly written, which made it difficult for the ninth son of the emperor to express his brotherly feelings.

Therefore, he said softly to Zhao Yuanxi: "Your Majesty, the wind has been strong in recent days, and His Royal Highness the Ninth is still young, maybe he has been infected with the wind and cold, and his throat is sick, so it is better to change the inner prison behind the old slave to read." ”

"Hmm." Zhao Yuanxi glanced at Zhao Hongxuan and also noticed that there was something wrong with this matter.

Under the gaze of the great eunuch Tong Xian, a little eunuch bowed his waist and walked quickly to Zhao Hongxuan's side, took the exam paper from the hands of the Ninth Highness who smiled bitterly, and read it out loud: "The chicken of the morning has not yet crowed, and the king summons the sons of Wende." One asks about knowledge, and the other asks about the court. My brother reads 10,000 books, and my brother has a pen. However, Erchen's abdomen is hollow, and it is difficult to scratch his ears and cheeks. ……”

Zhao Yuanxi listened to it with a slight joy, of course, he knew that the pattern of Zhao Hongrun's poem was not from the Book of Poetry, but he didn't know how to read it but it felt catchy, especially the sentence "However, Erchen's chest is hollow, scratching his ears and scratching his cheeks is difficult to write", which vividly describes Zhao Hongrun's embarrassment of sitting in the hall just now and watching other brothers wave their pens and write, but he himself is suffering from the embarrassment of being difficult to write.

"Although the style of the poem is strange, it is also well written, why doesn't Hongxuan dare to read it?"

Zhao Yuanxi wondered in his heart.

At this time, the little eunuch was still reading.

“…… Everyone in the world says that the prince is good, but how do you know that the prince is also difficult. I have not gotten up before the concubine, and I have not slept before the concubine has slept. ……”

『……』

Zhao Yuanxi couldn't help but be a little moved. Although the strange poem of the eighth son of the emperor Hongrun is straightforward, it writes the embarrassment of the prince, especially the sentence "The concubine has not risen, and the concubine has slept and I have not slept", the princes born in the emperor's family, which one has not received a strict palace education since childhood, and there is no freedom at all?

And this sentence is also quite appropriate for Zhao Yuanxi, who is the son of Great Wei.

Zhao Yuanxi reigned for 16 years and was diligent in national affairs, which day didn't he sleep later than the hundred officials and get up earlier than the hundred officials? Even among the common people, how many can be like him?

Therefore, it is difficult to be a prince, it is even more difficult to be a son of heaven, and it is even more difficult to be a virtuous king!

This sentence simply writes Zhao Yuanxi's heart.

At this time, the little eunuch was reading the last sentence.

"I'm not here...... Belch...... I simply don't want to do this...... Uh......"

"Read!" Zhao Yuanxi urged with a puzzled face, and said in his heart Isn't this very well written, why don't you read it again?

Under the urging of the Great Wei Emperor, the little eunuch held back his ears and red ears, and suddenly, he gritted his teeth and read out the last sentence.

“…… I'm not here, haha, let him go! ”

As soon as these words came out, the hall was silent.

And Zhao Yuanxi, the son of the Great Wei Dynasty, was even more stunned.

"Hah...... Ha? Let him go, right? Let it ...... Go ahead? ”

Suddenly came back to his senses, Zhao Yuanxi's eyes widened with anger, and he finally understood why Hongxuan didn't dare to recite this strange poem for a long time.

"Presumptuous ——!!"

The Son of Heaven was furious, and everyone in the Wende Hall was so frightened that they bowed to the ground, panicking.

————— "Strange poems with Hongrun, a limerick poem wants to break the head"—————

The of the morning has not yet crowed,

The king summoned all the sons of the palace Wende.

One asks about knowledge, and the other asks about the court.

My brother reads 10,000 books, and my brother has a pen.

However, Erchen's abdomen is hollow, and it is difficult to scratch his ears and cheeks.

Everyone in the world says that the prince is good, but how do you know that the prince is also difficult.

I have not gotten up before the concubine, and I have not slept before the concubine has slept.

I simply don't want to be here,

Haha, let him go!

——Hongrun "Wende Hall Chaos Fu"