After the deliberations of the three elders, it was decided that Chen Yue, the Duke of Qi, should continue to command the thieves on the front line and wait for an opportunity to recover all the territories occupied by the Western thieves, such as Bashu.

As a result, Shi Kefa, the first assistant, personally wrote down the holy decree to Chen Yue, the Duke of Qi. The holy decree contains three points, one is to order the five provinces to sort out the details of the war as soon as possible, and report the list of meritorious personnel to the imperial court for reward, and the second is to give the reward for this great victory, and the imperial court urgently transferred 500,000 taels of silver from the treasury to use the reward for this war, and this batch of silver will arrive in Jiujiang together with the latest batch of grain and grass. Third, and most importantly, since the main force of the thief army in Jiangxi had been defeated, the imperial court ordered Chen Yue to move the five provinces forward through the Liufu, from Jiujiang to Wuchang, and began to recover Huguang and Sichuan.

As the first assistant of the cabinet, Shi Kefa's writing is naturally excellent, and after the writing, it was polished by Qian Qianyi and Wang Duo, and after the three of them signed it one after another, they sent someone to send it to the celebrant to seal it. Although Chongzhen is unconscious, as long as the cabinet drafts the decree and the jade seal is stamped by the celebrant and the celebrant seal, this is a completely legal decree, and it doesn't matter whether the emperor has read it or not.

Regarding this holy decree of the cabinet, Han Zanzhou, who was in charge of the celebrant supervisor, naturally raised his hands in agreement, and as soon as the decree arrived, the celebrant covered it with a jade seal.

Chen Yue's matter is solved, and the next thing is the most important matter of the prince, the country cannot be without a king for a day, once Chongzhen dies, a new monarch must ascend the throne. With Chongzhen's current condition, the candidate for the prince must be determined as soon as possible. And Chongzhen has no children, which vassal king to appoint as the prince must be discussed, and this power is naturally in the hands of the cabinet or the imperial court. Several cabinet elders did everything possible to drive Chen Yue from Jiujiang to Wuchang, which was farther away, but they also did not want Lichu to be interfered by the generals.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Your Majesty is seriously ill and may not be able to wake up, and when he is sober, he did not leave a decree to appoint a vassal king as the crown prince, and I can only decide for Your Majesty. You can speak your mind and see which vassal king is suitable. ”

Such a major event naturally had to be presided over by Shi Kefa, the first official of the cabinet, so Shi Kefa took the lead in speaking, hoping that a resolution could be formed in the cabinet now, and the opinions of the three would be unified first, and then the officials of the imperial court would be notified.

Qian Qianyi and Wang Duo glanced at each other, but did not speak. Shi Kefa, the first assistant, did not express his opinion on such a major matter, so it was naturally inappropriate for the two of them to say it early.

"Since ancient times, there has been a saying that the prince is a pro-virtuous. However, after all, virtuous is the opinion of everyone, and it is difficult to distinguish between opinions. Therefore, for the sake of social stability, all dynasties and generations are based on relatives when establishing princes, and my Ming Dynasty has the practice of inheriting the unification of the eldest son.

Now His Majesty has no children and no brothers, so he can only choose a candidate to inherit the throne from among the descendants of the Divine Sect. Among the existing descendants of Shenzong, there are only two feudal domains, King Hui and King Gui, and in the meaning of this pavilion, the prince should be produced from the two feudal domains of Hui and Gui. ”

As a member of the first assistant and Qingliu, Shi Kefa has always supported the selection of the crown prince in accordance with the order of bloodline, such as when King Fu, although Qian Qianyi jumped up and down at that time to hook up many Donglin Party ministers, trying to support King Lu in the name of Lixian, King Lu is a brother of Shenzong, and he has to go further in bloodline. After careful consideration, Shi Kefa thought that the emperor should still be selected from the descendants of Shenzong, and after a secret discussion with Ma Shiying, the governor of Fengyang at that time, he decided to establish Shenzong's son King Gui as the emperor, but later Gao Jie, Liu Liangzuo, Liu Zeqing and other warlords forcibly supported King Fu, Ma Shiying also defected, and the proposal of King Gui was abandoned.

"That means to Yuanfu is to establish King Hui, King Hui only knows how to participate in Zen and believe in Buddhism all day long, ignoring everything, and does not know anything about the world at all, how can he inherit the unification?" Wang Duo sneered.

Just last winter, Guiwang Zhu Changying died, and among the sons of Shenzong, only Zhu Changrun, the king of Hui, was left, so Wang Duo asked. And Zhu Changrun, the king of Hui, is a waste who does not understand the world at all, and no one considers him to be the emperor at any time.

"King Hui is naturally not suitable to be the emperor, but don't forget, although the old King Gui has passed away, his son is still there, and Zhu Youying, the king of Anren, is of the same age as His Majesty today, and he can be invoked by the "brother to the brother", and it is most suitable for King Anren to succeed him. "Scofer said.

The old Guiwang Zhu Changying died, but he still had two sons alive, namely the third son Anren Wang Zhu Youlang and the fourth son Yongming Wang Zhu Youlang, in Shi Kefa's opinion, Zhu Youlang is the most appropriate.

Shi Kefa's words occupy the righteousness, in line with the concept of the feudal king's inheritance, Qian Qianyi and Wang Duo glanced at each other, and both knew that it was not easy to refute.

However, when it comes to the dispute between the princes, the interests involved are too great, and there is no way to make concessions at this time. Qian Qianyi pondered for a while, and finally spoke.

"What Motosuke said is not unreasonable, but there is a problem that we must be clear. It is rumored that King An Ren is weak and sickly, and Wuzhou, Guangxi, where he is located, is far away from Nanjing, and now the Ming Dynasty is in turmoil, and His Majesty's illness is so heavy. The old man thought that there was no need to be a brother and be so rigid, but should take into account the current situation of the Ming Dynasty. ”

"Yes, Yuanfu," Qian Qianyi's voice just fell, Wang Duo immediately followed, "If it is a normal year, of course, the Ligui clan is the most suitable, but Yuanfu, you also have to see what the situation is now, the western thieves in Huguang and Jiangxi have not yet been cleared, Sichuan Province has completely fallen into the hands of thieves, most of the territory in the north has been lost, and the Manchurian Tartars have attacked Dengzhou in Shandong for nearly half a year, but the imperial court has not sent reinforcements at all, once Dengzhou falls and the Manchurians take the opportunity to invade the south, the situation will be even more precarious."

I think it was because you were willing to seek the near and far from the king of Gui that there was the rebellion of King Fu, and the lessons of the past are still there, can you make the same mistake again? ”

"Nonsense, is the rebellion of King Fu caused by this pavilion? If King Gui had been established according to the meaning of this pavilion, it would have taken half a year for King Gui to wait in Nanjing in Guangxi, and His Majesty would have arrived in Nanjing by then, where would there be chaos? Shi Kefa said angrily.

"That's what I mean, thousands of miles from Guangxi to Nanjing, walking for at least half a year, we can't afford to delay for so long!" Wang Duo knew that he was speechless, and hurriedly remedied.

"What do you mean?" Shi Kefa looked at Wang Duo coldly and asked.

"Yuanfu, you also said, since the Gui domain is too far away, but King Lu is in Hangzhou, only a few hundred miles away from Nanjing, and it can be reached in ten days! Although the bloodline of King Lu is one layer farther than that of the Gui Domain, its wisdom is well known, and its distance from Nanjing is close, so it is most suitable for King Lu to succeed him! Wang Duo said with a smile.

King Lu! When the news of the fall of Beijing reached the south, Qian Qianyi encouraged the ministers in Nanjing at that time to propose the establishment of King Lu to succeed him, and now Wang Duo proposed to establish King Lu, Shi Kefa suspected that Wang Duo and Qian Qianyi had colluded.

If King Lu really succeeds to the throne, with today's argument for reason, this Wang Duo will be able to squeeze out Shi Kefa's position in the cabinet and move forward. Shi Kefa naturally knows this.

"Mu Zhaigong, what do you think about this matter?" Shi Kefa asked Qian Qianyi, who had been silent. If Qian Qianyi also supports King Lu's succession, in the case of two to one, Shi Kefa knows that he will definitely be unable to support it alone. And it is obvious that Qian Qianyi will definitely support King Lu, and Wang Duo is just his pawn.

However, Qian Qianyi's words surprised Shi Kefa, it turned out that Qian Qianyi and Wang Duo were not together.

"Yuanfu, since Brother Jue said that he could be virtuous, the old man has other ideas. Since it is possible to establish the king of Lu in the name of Lixian, can it be possible to set up other vassal kings in the same name, even if it is the king of Yuanzhi domain? Qian Qianyi said with a smile.

"Qian Muzhai, what do you mean?" Before Shi Kefa could speak, Wang Duo asked coldly.

"According to Brother Jue, King Lu is Xianming, and he is close to Nanjing, so he can be established as the prince. Now there is a vassal king, who is ten times more virtuous than King Lu, and is also very close to Nanjing, can he also be appointed as a prince? Qian Qianyi asked with a smile.

"Virtuous is ten times better than King Lu, which one does the old man want to hear from you?" Wang Duo sneered.

Qian Qianyi suddenly spoke, obviously aimed at Wang Duo, Shi Kefa's heart suddenly relaxed, and he sat on the chair and drank tea, laughing at the two of them. As long as these two people disagree, everything is in his hands.

"Tang King Zhu Yujian!" Qian Qianyi held back a smile and five words popped out of his mouth.

Wang Duo was stunned for a moment, and suddenly laughed.

"King Tang, Qian Muzhai, are you here to be funny? The Tang Dynasty is the descendant of the Taizu, not the descendants of the ancestors, and the Tang King's generation is two generations higher than His Majesty, and whoever is the emperor will not be able to take his turn! ”

"Brother Jue, you just said that you want to be virtuous, the Tang King is very frugal, generous and frugal, does not drink, is a fine official, has a deep understanding of the past and the present, has the courage to do things, follows the good and loves the people, and has a general strategy of Fusui. At the beginning, the Qing soldiers broke through the customs and looted, and the Tang King had just succeeded the domain, so he resolutely recruited troops to go north to the king of Qin to resist the Qing, and caused a prison sentence for this.

At present, the Ming Dynasty is in turmoil, and a heroic and daring monarch is needed to lead the Ming Dynasty to clarify Yuyu and recover the rivers and mountains. And although the Tang Dynasty is estranged, he is also a descendant of the royal bloodline Taizu. Thinking about the former Song Dynasty, the Southern Song Dynasty ministers were able to eliminate objections and establish Song Xiaozong of the Song Taizu line as the crown prince, how could we not abandon the inherent tradition and establish the successor of the Tang Dynasty, who was also alienated from the clan? And how similar is today's Ming Dynasty to the Southern Song Dynasty? ”

Qian Qianyi's words were reasonable, leaving Wang Duo speechless. Shi Kefa's face also became serious.

Shi Kefa originally thought that Qian Qianyi opposed Wang Duo and Lilu Wang, so he launched Tang Wang to stir up the situation, but now it seems that Qian Qianyi has been prepared for a long time, and it is no accident that he pushed Tang Wang out!

Shi Kefa also knew something about the Tang king, after all, there were not many vassal kings who fled to the south. The situation of the Tang King is similar to what Qian Qianyi said, if you talk about personal ability, it is far more suitable for the Son of Heaven than other vassal kings, after all, there are few people who dare to recruit troops and personally lead the soldiers to fight against the Qing Dynasty, and the Tang King not only did it, but also fought several times with the thieves along the way when he led the troops north, and even achieved some victories.

Therefore, in terms of ability and daring to do things, King Tang is far above other vassal kings. However, the prince can not only look at the ability, but also the distance of the bloodline. The so-called Ming Zheng can be said to be smooth, the blood of the Tang King is too estranged, if he is established, it will inevitably attract the people of the world to discuss, and even cause turmoil in the Ming Dynasty.

And Ligui Domain, even King Lu, is far more suitable than King Tang, after all, the idea of bloodline is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people in the Ming Dynasty.

"King Tang, the bloodline is too distant after all, and it is not suitable!" After pondering for a while, Shi Kefa spoke.

"Why is it not appropriate? Isn't King Tang a descendant of Taizu, a descendant of the Zhu family? Qian Qianyi asked rhetorically, "At this time, Yuanfu, you can't talk about things with blood, we, as Zaifu, have the responsibility to choose a suitable king for the Ming Dynasty, a king who has the ability to lead the Ming Dynasty." Compared with the Jiangshan Sheji of the Ming Dynasty, the bloodline order is nothing! ”

Qian Qianyi had been silent just now, but who knew that now he insisted on his opinion, Shi Kefa suddenly felt very tricky. Qian Qianyi is the leader of the Donglin Party, and he has a great influence in Shilin, although his prestige has been damaged after the Fuwang Rebellion, he still has many supporters in the court. If Qian Qianyi disagrees with himself, it will inevitably make waves in the matter of succession, and if the time is delayed for a long time and is used by people with intentions, maybe the disaster of King Fu will be repeated!

In the cabinet, the three bigwigs were arguing endlessly, and each of them was red-faced, and it was difficult to reach a unified opinion. The three elders each elected the vassal king they supported, and each insisted on his own words, and no one would give up. And if even the cabinet can't be unified, it will be even more ununified in the court. Shi Kefa had a headache and found that this matter was really tricky and difficult! Although he had the highest power as the first assistant, he could not force the decision on this matter, because if too many ministers of the court opposed it, it would inevitably cause a split. And the current Ming Dynasty can't withstand the shock at all.

Several cabinet elders in the class room were arguing, and the scholars in the cabinet were driven away from afar, listening to the faint sound of disputes, these subordinate officials looked at each other one by one.

I don't know how long it took, the dispute gradually became quieter, and then I saw the second assistant Qian Qianyi and the elder Wang Duo walking out of the first assistant Shi Kefa's class room, and each went back to his own class.

As a result, the subordinate officials knew that the dispute was over, and they each walked to their own work room to serve their respective Shangguan bosses.

The result of the dispute came out, and the three of them did not reach a consensus after arguing for a long time, and finally had to compromise with each other, agreeing to hold a court ceremony three days later, and the bosses of the six ministries and nine secretaries would decide the candidate for the prince.

In this way, no matter which vassal king has the support of the majority, the others will have no opinion, and this is the best way to resolve the dispute. And the candidates for the prince are from the three people who support the Gui Domain, King Lu, and King Tang!

PS: Four thousand words, two chapters in one.