At the latest meeting of the Imperial Cabinet, the news of the first participation of the four princes in politics quickly spread throughout Nanjing, and it was transmitted to the ears of more well-intentioned people through telegrams.

After Bi Yutong, who was already in his seventies, heard the news in Shaoxing, his heart that had already been extinguished couldn't help but become active, and he repaired several books overnight and sent them to Nanjing.

Bi Yutong is just a person who has withdrawn from the center of imperial power for more than ten years, and his concern will naturally not play a role, but the concern of those high-ranking military and political dignitaries in Nanjing is more important.

For example, Guo Longyun, the third prime minister of the empire, as the prime minister of the empire and the leader of the civil officials, Guo Longyun's opinion is naturally very important, but at this juncture, he can only close the door with a few henchmen and disciples, and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the prince in the dispute between the princes.

However, this is just a private discussion, but Guo Longyun will definitely not publicly express his good feelings for that prince.

As the prime minister, Guo Longyun, like Xue Huan back then, has a very simple and pure political position, that is, he resolutely stands on Lin Zhe's side, and whatever Lin Zhe supports is what he supports, and whatever Lin Zhe opposes is what he opposes.

Especially on the issue of the establishment of the reserve, although Guo Longyun is the prime minister and the first civil official, he is the person who does not dare to express his position publicly.

can only murmur to himself in the study in private, guessing that the prince can win the favor of His Majesty!

"The eldest prince is mature and steady, and his demeanor is quite benevolent!" Guo Longyun said to himself: "It's just that with Your Majesty's temperament, I'm afraid that this son will be difficult to please Your Majesty, otherwise, I'm afraid that he would have been made the crown prince a few years earlier!" ”

The eldest prince Lin Xuan, as the eldest son of the emperor, has received no less attention than the third prince Lin Ye, the concubine of Empress Chen, although the ministers of the outside world will not have much actual contact with these princes, but after observing in the past few years, those military and political dignitaries can more or less understand the temperament of these princes.

Compared with the eldest prince Lin Xuan, who was deeply influenced by Jiang Daoquan in his early years and has the potential of a benevolent and virtuous monarch, Guo Longyun is more optimistic about the third prince Lin Ye.

He is optimistic about Lin Ye not because he is from Empress Chen, but because he is the only prince of this empire.

It's because of Lin Ye's talent and character!

Almost everyone knows that when Lin Ye was only thirteen years old, a historical treatise on the fall of the Ming Dynasty caused the shock of almost the entire Pingrentang princes.

However, at that time, Lin Ye discussed in detail and completely some of the deep reasons for the fall of the Ming Dynasty, in addition to some ordinary natural and man-made disasters and the threat of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, he also discussed in detail the dangers of the literati and the integration of the officials and gentry in the late Ming Dynasty.

These arguments are actually not very new, two hundred years after the fall of the Ming Dynasty, there are not 10,000 but 8,000 people discussing this matter, but it is not easy for a thirteen-year-old boy to sprinkle 10,000 words and discuss in detail the deep causes of the fall of the Ming Dynasty.

Lin Ye, who is fifteen years old this year, is definitely much more talented in academics than his two elder brothers, not only in the orthodox subjects of strategy and history, but also in some cultural cultivation courses, his equestrian worries are placed in the young children of all the nobles of the entire empire, which is also ranked in the top three, and he was even selected for a polo team and served as the main force for a long time.

In terms of art, the first-hand Chinese painting is also appreciated by Pingrentang's Chinese painting teaching, saying that although he has only learned painting for six years, the bamboo drawings he is good at have the charm of Zheng Banqiao in the former Qing Dynasty.

In addition, the personality is also quite the style of Lin Zhe back then, although he is young, but his character is quite tenacious and decisive.

Last winter, when the royal family held an annual polo event, this Lin Ye led the horse team to participate in good deeds, and was slightly injured in the game, which made Queen Chen, who was watching the game at the time, heartbroken, but Lin Ye still insisted on continuing the game and finally won.

This incident left a deep impact on many nobles and military and political dignitaries who were fortunate enough to watch the game at that time, and Guo Longyun was one of them.

At that time, when he watched Lin Ye lead the polo team to compete, it was as if he saw the scene of Lin Zhe galloping on his horse and then personally leading the army to the west, they were all the same young, the same fearless, and the same tenacious and unyielding.

And there are probably not a few people who have the same feeling as Guo Longyun, most of the military and political dignitaries and nobles of the empire are people who followed Lin Zhe to fight the world in the early years.

Many people who are still immersed in following Lin Zhe to fight the world together see Lin Ye, almost seeing the shadow of Lin Zhe back then.

Therefore, although Lin Ye is young and only fifteen years old this year, his talent and personality are almost impossible for outsiders to find fault, so in the eyes of many people such as Guo Longyun, if His Majesty wants to establish a prince, then Lin Ye's chances may be as high as more than fifty percent.

If you consider that he is still His Majesty's only concubine, then this possibility will increase to six or seven percent!

As for the eldest prince Lin Xuan and the third prince Lin Ye, Guo Longyun didn't think the other four princes had any chances.

The second prince Lin Lu, this person is usually relatively low-key, and he is ordinary academically, not to mention being compared with the talented third prince, even if he is the eldest prince, he has to surpass him, and he has no special talent, and he is just an ordinary concubine, and he does not have the bonus effect of Lin Xuan's eldest son.

The fourth prince Lin Xuan, this person is still young, and he only began to observe cabinet meetings this year, of course, age is generally not a big problem, the main thing is character and talent, his character seems to be a little weak, and when he treats ministers, he is often restrained, maybe some people say that this is because he is young, but on the other hand, when the eldest prince Lin Xuan was fourteen years old, people were almost no different from adults, and they did everything in a good way, and they couldn't see that they were just a fourteen-year-old young man.

His talent is not very outstanding, at least the princes in Pingrentang do not have any obvious praise for him.

Therefore, in Guo Longyun's view, if the third prince Lin Ye has a sixty percent chance, and the eldest prince Lin Xuan has a thirty percent chance, then the remaining two princes and four princes, together they are just one level of chance, as for the fifth prince and the sixth prince, they are too young to be among the candidates for the prince for the time being.

Guo Longyun judged this based on his understanding of Lin Zhe.

After all, only Lin is the one who can decide who the prince is, and Lin Zhe is optimistic about who is the prince!

In this case, the maturity and stability of the eldest prince Lin Xuan, I am afraid that it is difficult to win the favor of Lin Zhe, the founder of the country, Guo Longyun has followed Lin Zhe for more than 20 years, and he boasts that he is one of the few people who know His Majesty's character the most.

But he thinks that His Majesty is not a benevolent monarch at all, benevolence, filial piety, virtue, honesty, etc. are all related to His Majesty, you say he is filial? Although outsiders don't know, Guo Longyun knows that since the Queen Mother intervened in the issue of the establishment of the reserve, and even instigated the director of the Secretariat and many ministers and relatives to set off a cabinet turmoil, targeting herself and Jiang Daoquan.

His Majesty did not have any mercy, and killed all the people who served the Queen Mother back then, and even a Queen Mother brought it from her mother's family in her early years and served for decades did not let go.

Then the Queen Mother moved into the Buddha Hall to eat fasting and chant Buddha, and never came out.

If it was an ordinary emperor or something, it is estimated that he would have taken the initiative to invite it out, but Lin Zhe did not!

It doesn't matter if you say that he is benevolent, that he is virtuous, and that he is incorruptible, others don't know, but how did Yu Shengjun start his business back then, Guo Longyun still doesn't know? Later, when marching into southern Jiangsu, although Yu Shengjun did not do such a thing as slaughtering the city, but he also did not do anything less to confiscate property in the whole city, at the beginning of the establishment of the empire, for a period of time, it implemented a very tough 'shaving order', and conquered a series of important cities such as Zhenjiang, Nanjing, Yangzhou, and Beiping, when the Chinese army played the policy of 'keeping hair without leaving head'.

At that time, whether it was the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom or the Manchu Qing Dynasty, there were many people who were unwilling to cut off their braids or tie their hair, and what happened to these later? Most of them died under the bayonets and bullets of the Chinese army, and the cruelty of the methods was no less than that of the Taiping army forcing the people to cut off their braids, and no less than shaving their hair and making it easy to wear when the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs.

It was not until 1860 that the shaving order gradually ceased to be enforced.

Later, the implementation of the stepped agricultural tax aroused a strong backlash from many landlords and gentry, and as many as hundreds of riots broke out as a result, and the Chinese army maintained combat readiness almost throughout the year, and suppressed more than 50 rebellions of more than 1,000 people.

In the process of suppressing the rebellion, the Chinese army was also a bloody river, because of Zeng Guofan's initiative to surrender in the unification war, and Hunan was not affected by the war, when the implementation of the ladder agricultural tax was also the province with the most fierce resistance, the local garrison killed at least more than 10,000 rebels, and more people were arrested, and then sent to various mining areas or to build railways.

In 1874, because of the prominent corruption problem in the empire, His Majesty personally supervised the Joint Investigation Bureau of the Patrol Police Department, as well as the Anti-Corruption Bureau, the Inspectorate, the Grand Court and other judicial institutions to crack down on corruption.

At that time, His Majesty's instructions were simple, just four simple words: speed, strictness!

In 1874, the Imperial investigated and punished more than 6,000 officials above the level of section members, of which more than 5,000 were executed, and the rest were basically sentenced to life imprisonment, and were sent to those coal mines, iron mines, etc. to spend the rest of their lives, and often did not live long.

For a time, many officials were scared to resign and leave!

Judging from these events, his majesty has never been a kind person, but a real ruthless person. (To be continued.) )