The north wind is tight, the snowflakes are flying, and it is another year of cold winter wax moon to the earth. Top X point 23 Xiao U said that the continuous wind and snow for several days dyed the entire Sijiu City white, and from a distance, it was like wearing layers of thick cotton jackets.

However, because it has not yet passed a month and a half, even if the city is full of New Year's flavor, the major yamen in the court are far from being able to relax, even the early dynasty did not stop because of the heavy snow, but only canceled the big court meeting on the Taihemen Square, and changed it to a small court meeting only held in the Taihe Palace.

Lu Jin, who had been back in Beijing for a while, finally rejoined the regular life of courtiers. Since the matter of opening the sea has been completely acknowledged and made known to the world, there have been many fewer remarks attacking him, of course, it is difficult to say whether everyone dared not provoke this hedgehog-like minister of heaven because they were worried that they would follow in the footsteps of Ding Zongshu.

At least later, when Lu Zhen re-entered the military department and took up his post as a squire, there was no opposition from the DPRK and China. Everything that was before seemed to have been completely blown away by the ensuing gusts of north wind, and it was a thing of the past.

Lu Zhen also quickly got used to the life of a courtier. Although he had to go to the palace to attend the court meeting in the dark early in the morning, on the whole, this military squire was much more comfortable than the governor of Shandong. Especially when there are no border troubles recently, there is no errand in the military department, so it is naturally more leisurely.

Today is the 10th day of the lunar month, and in a few days, the affairs of the DPRK and China will come to a halt, and the yamen will be in a state of semi-rest. Therefore, even if it was early in the court, the spirit of the ministers was not too full, and they only said some things that everyone knew, and in less than an hour, they dispersed.

Just as Lu Zhen was about to return to the yamen of the military department with the big slip, an attendant suddenly came over: "Lu Shilang, Your Majesty announced that you will go to the Warm Pavilion of the Palace of Worship to see you." ”

Hearing this, the courtiers around looked at him with envy or speculation, such an opportunity to play against the Son of Heaven in private, they always have to fight for it to get it, but this Lu Shilang can always get the favor of the Son of Heaven, which naturally attracts people's attention.

Lu Zhen was already accustomed to the strange gazes of these people, so he only smiled at them, and nodded to the waiter: "Then there is Gonggong Lao to lead the way." Although he has been a courtier for many years, he still does not know much about the layout of the palace and the location of the palaces, especially those warm pavilions.

The man hurriedly answered, led the way in front of the head, and led Lu Zhen back along the original road.

After the courtiers dispersed, the vast palace seemed more empty and quiet, and the whistling north wind blew, making the people in it feel even colder, and their steps unconsciously quickened. Lu Zhen was walking, and he was analyzing in his heart, guessing what the Son of Heaven suddenly called him to play alone.

Soon, Lu Zhen came to the palace not far from the Taihe Palace, where the emperor used to change his robes. The Central Plains Dynasty has always paid attention to etiquette, and what to wear is the most intuitive reflection of this. As the king of a country, the emperor had to wear the most formal court clothes when attending court meetings to show his imperial majesty.

However, this crown robe is too grand and troublesome, and daily activities are extremely inconvenient, so as long as the court is over, the emperor will go to the palace to change clothes and take a short rest. Today is no exception, after the next dynasty, Zhu Qiyu returned to the warm pavilion here, holding white fungus soup in the room with four smokeless charcoal stoves, which can be regarded as filling hunger and warming the body.

It wasn't until Lu Jin's voice sounded that he put the bowl on the table and said, "Lu Qing came in to speak." ”

Lu Zhen entered the door in an orderly manner, and entered the pavilion as warm as spring from the environment where the north wind was blowing and the snow was blowing outside, and he couldn't help but let out a long breath, and then he bowed solemnly.

When the emperor saw it, he just smiled: "Lu Qing, please get up and talk back." Come on, prepare a bowl of white fungus soup just delivered to Lu Qing to warm him up. ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Lu Jin hurriedly thanked him, and after taking the bowl of white fungus, he ate it honestly and unceremoniously. After a more than an hour of court meeting, he didn't eat much in the morning, and he was really hungry.

Seeing that he was eating sweetly, the emperor smiled again. He likes to talk to Lu Jin, which is also one of the reasons, compared to other courtiers, he is the most sincere and frank one to himself, and he never pretends to be.

It wasn't until Lu Zhen quickly drank a bowl of white fungus and even the soup that the emperor asked, "Is it enough, do you want to let them serve a bowl again?" ”

"Uh...... No need, the ministers are full. Lu Jinfu declined.

The emperor didn't insist anymore, but said: "It's been two or three months since Lu Qing returned to Beijing, but are you still used to it?" ”

"The minister originally went to Shandong from the capital, and there is nothing he is not used to. Moreover, there have not been many things in the DPRK and China recently, so naturally it is not a problem. ”

"That's good. Now that the matter of opening up the sea has made great progress, do you think it is time to open a few more ports in Fujian, or even Guangdong? ”

"This ...... In Chen's opinion, now is not the time. Now the top priority is to operate the existing ports in Shandong, Zhejiang and other places, and when that time comes, it will not be too late to open new ports. ”

"Well, that makes sense. In fact, the customs duties collected by those ports and the goods shipped overseas by the imperial court were more than enough to subsidize various expenses. The Emperor nodded in agreement.

The two of them just asked and answered and said something, seemingly discussing the affairs of the court, but Lu Zhen knew that this was just the emperor who had nothing to say, and did not tell the real purpose of summoning him. But the emperor didn't say it, and it was not good for him, as a courtier, to follow him without pretending not to know.

After going around for a long time, Zhu Qiyu said as if unintentionally: "I have been on the throne for almost six years, although I think I am still attentive, I am still a little nervous. After all, my heirs are difficult, and I have only one son to this day, and Daming will have to rely on them in the future. What is your opinion on this matter, Lu Qing? ”

Although he was vague, Lu Zhen immediately understood the subtext of his words. In the final analysis, it is still in the matter of the crown prince.

Speaking of which, this has become the biggest heart disease in Zhu Qiyu's heart. Although he replaced his brother as the emperor, the crown prince is still his nephew Zhu Jianshen, and his eldest son Zhu Jianji, the sky is pitiful, and he still only has the title of county king, looking at the position of the prince There are still 108,000 miles away.

People are selfish, especially when they are faced with the supreme throne of the emperor, they will naturally not give up. Even if he is already the emperor, Zhu Qiyu is still unable to be satisfied, and he still hopes that his son Zhu Jianji can replace Zhu Jianshen as the crown prince, so that even if he has something, there will be a successor.

In fact, Zhu Qiyu was not too anxious about this matter, after all, he was not yet thirty, and it was when he was in the prime of life, and he had time to slowly cultivate his son. However, the heavy government affairs have seriously damaged his body, and his body has become weaker and weaker recently, which makes him urgent about this matter, and he wants to implement the change of the prince as soon as possible.

However, as mentioned before, the abolition of the crown prince is not an easy thing to do at any time, even if he is the king of a country. In the past few years, he has tried his courtiers several times, either explicitly or covertly, but the reaction of those people is all opposition, or they pretend to be stupid and silent.

After touching this wall a lot, Zhu Qiyu really had no choice. But his body was weakening day by day, and he became more and more eager to achieve this goal. Now in the DPRK, the only person he knows who can support him to make this decision is Lu Jin.

So today, he called Lu Zhen alone to ask him what his opinion was. However, because of the sensitivity of the matter, I went around in such a big circle, and finally threw the problem out.

Lu Zhen had already stated his position a few years ago, and naturally there would be no change today, so he immediately said: "The minister thinks that this is a family matter for His Majesty, and it should be decided by His Majesty himself." The king (Zhu Jianji is now inheriting the throne of his father) If he has the talent of an emperor, it is okay to make him the crown prince. ”

"Hey...... If only the ministers could do what you think, that would be fine. The emperor sighed helplessly: "In the past few years, I have repeatedly knocked on them, but they have either spoken out against them, or they have taken care of him, and this matter is really difficult to handle." Seeing that Lu Zhen had already made his position clear, he stopped flashing his words and directly said the difficulties.

After a pause, he looked at Lu Zhen expectantly: "Lu Qing, you have always been resourceful, let's talk about it, what can be done to change the attitude of these people?" Even if you can't get them to accept this for a while, it will make them less opposed. ”

"This ......" Lu Zhen also frowned, and wanted to tell the Son of Heaven that he really couldn't do anything about it. A few years ago, he discussed this matter with Yu Qian, but even Yu Qian, who supported Zhu Qiyu to sit on the throne, did not advocate abolishing the throne in this matter.

This thing is difficult to do, and even if there are people who really want to meet the Son of Heaven, they dare not show it under the general trend of everyone's opposition. There is not even a way to find out what these people are thinking, let alone win them over for their own use.

Just when Lu Zhen was about to tell the truth, suddenly, a thought flashed in his heart: "Your Majesty, maybe there is a way to test one or two, at least to find out that there is someone in the court who is not averse to the establishment of another prince." ”

"But what's the way?" When the Son of Heaven, who was already a little desperate, heard him say this, his spirit was lifted, and he hurriedly asked.

"Today is the tenth day of the lunar month, and the twentieth day will be the New Year's Day. On this day, it is the time when His Majesty led his ministers to the Taimiao Temple to pay tribute to the ancestors of heaven and earth, why didn't His Majesty let it? What about the king taking the place of the crown prince in this great gift? Lu Zhen said a bold idea.