——Time back to the fourth day of the second month, Jijing Palace, outside the Taihe Palace——

On the fourth day of the second lunar month, it should be the day when Xie An married Liang Qiuwu, the daughter of the Liang Qiu family in the Donggong Mansion, and the second daughter of the eldest grandson Xiangyu, the granddaughter of the current Prime Minister Yingong.

Although it is a bit inappropriate to say this, Xie An still complained a little in his heart, and secretly discussed that it was not the right time for Li Ji, the son of heaven, to die, after all, in the Great Zhou, when the marriage was mistaken and auspicious, it was not very unlucky.

The old people in Jijing all said that when the marriage is mistaken and the auspicious day is auspicious, it will bring bad luck, which will make the family turbulent in the future, and it is rare to live in peace, of course, Xie An has the courage to marry Liang Qiuwu and the eldest grandson Xiangyu, the two daughters-in-law who are also staring at the position of his Xie family's wife, and he is also mentally prepared for the future family chickens and dogs.

However, complaining is complaining, for the death of Li Ji, the son of the day before yesterday, Xie Anxin felt regret and regret, although the Jiangnan people represented by Jin Linger still call Li Ji a tyrant, but in Xie An's view, the first emperor Li Ji is really a rare Ming monarch.

I remember that during the test in the Baohe Palace, Xie An once asked Li Ji speechlessly, and Long Yan was in mourning, but Li Ji was not angry or annoyed, but with his rich life experience, he turned against Xie An's army, which can be described as a large emperor.

I remember that at that time, Li Ji was like an old generation disciplining his young sons and nephews, and Xie An suffered a setback, but after that, he also tried his best to override public opinion and canonize Xie An as the Shaoqing of the Great Prison Temple, which made the prince Li Wei, who was still alive at the time, grit his teeth and secretly hated it.

Looking at the hazy outline of the Baohe Hall in the distance, Xie An sighed slightly, and couldn't help but feel some emotion in his heart.

As the saying goes, time has passed, things are like people, and the palace is still the palace in Xie An's memory last year. However, the former Great Zhou Emperor Li Ji, who took care of and supported him, has died, and the crown prince Li Wei, who fought with Xie Anming and gritted his teeth at each other, is now no longer alive.

Standing outside the hall of the Taihe Palace, the long breath took a long breath, and Xie An straightened his clothes and stepped into the hall.

As he learned earlier, there were many court veterans standing in the palace, among which the most noble and familiar ones were undoubtedly Duke Liangqiu and Duke Yin.

You can see it. The death of Li Ji, the son of the day before yesterday, hit the two elders quite hard, taking Liang Qiugong, who Xie An can see every day, for example, this old man has obviously drunk a lot more in the past few days than before, which makes Liang Qiu Dance quite worried.

As for Yin Gong. Although Xie An didn't know much, it was not difficult to guess the sadness in the old man's heart when he saw that Yin Gong, who was quite energetic in the past, now showed an old look.

In short, Duke Yin and Li Ji, the former son of heaven, have had a relationship of monarchy and ministers for more than 30 years.

Perhaps noticing Xie An's arrival, Xie An's cheap teacher, Ruan Shaozhou, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, beckoned to Xie An, and when Xie An walked to his side, he whispered. "Why did you come at this time? - Didn't I inform you that you would come to the morning court yesterday? ”

Xie An smiled and raised his hand to scratch his head.

In fact, as early as the second afternoon of the second month of February, Xie An had already learned about this from Liangqiu Wukou, who went to the early dynasty that day.

Come to think of it. Aside from Xie An being one of the heroes of this time, just because Li Shou ascended the throne as the emperor in the future, Xie An didn't have to think about it to know that he was a first-class important minister in the court, therefore. It seems that the old people of Liang Qiu Gong and Yin Gong also hope that Xie An can experience several more formal early dynasties as the acting secretary of the Criminal Department. lest he make a fool of himself in the future because of his lack of experience, after all, Xie An is the grandson-in-law of their second elder, if Xie An makes a joke, the faces of the two old men will obviously be dull.

It's a pity that Xie An is still very slippery in this regard, he knows very well that although Li Shou is sitting on the dragon court at the moment, he has not officially ascended the throne after all, which is equivalent to being a spectator, the intention of Liang Qiu Gong and Yin Gong is to make the future Great Zhou Emperor His Majesty familiar with the model of the early dynasty, the purpose is the same as treating Xie An, so as not to make jokes because the future Great Zhou Emperor His Majesty is not familiar with the order of the early dynasty.

But in Xie An's opinion, even Li Shou, who is the next emperor, is just a spectator, why should he get up early every day to participate in the early dynasty that is not worthy of his name, anyway, wouldn't it be more interesting to see the cute appearance of his four wives when they are sleeping on the couch in his own house?

At this time, the early dynasty had ended for a long time, but it seemed that the important ministers of the court, such as the Duke of Liangqiu, the Duke of Yin, and the Imperial Historian Meng Rang, had not yet left, and these important ministers of the court were surrounding Li Shou and said something to him carefully.

Out of curiosity, Xie An made a color to his teacher Ruan Shaozhou, and while the latter shook his head and smiled bitterly, he quietly walked to Li Shou, who was standing with Liang Qiugong and Yingong, and wanted to eavesdrop on what they were discussing, but the first sentence of eavesdropping made Xie Anxin stunned.

"Canonize the fourth brother as the king of Yan?" It seemed that he hadn't noticed Xie An's arrival, and Li Shou looked at Liang Qiu Gong and Yin Gong in surprise.

As if he had guessed what Li Shou was thinking, Duke Yin smiled slightly, and said calmly, "Yes, canonize the fourth prince as the king of Yan, and give Yuyang as his fiefdom, this is the meaning of the old minister......" Speaking of this, he turned his head to look at Liang Qiugong, who was silent, and added, "It is inconvenient for Bo Xuan to talk about this matter, but Bo Xuan also means this......

Li Shou glanced at Liang Qiugong when he heard this, and when he saw Liang Qiugong's embarrassed face, his heart suddenly changed.

You must know that Li Mao, the former fourth prince and the current Xiang Wang, who is in charge of northern Xinjiang and makes the grasslands frightened, is a student who worshiped Liang Qiu's family, and worked with Liang Qiuwu, the general of the Eastern Army and Xie An's wife, to exercise martial arts and learn the art of war.

"What does the Prime Minister mean, is it to ask His Royal Highness Shou to take the initiative to show weakness?" Li Shou's trusted staff Wang Dan interjected on the side.

Thinking about it, no one in the Taihe Hall is stupid at the moment, how could he not understand the deep meaning of Wang Dan's words, and then, he also understood the intention of Duke Yin's move.

You must know that Li Shou was able to get the throne this time, which can be said to be quite lucky, if it weren't for the fifth prince Li Cheng who destroyed the Great Wall and had a conflict with his brother Li Wei, the crown prince, Li Shou would not have been able to take the throne.

And afterwards, although the former son of heaven Li Ji personally passed down the edict and passed the throne to his youngest son Li Shou. This seems to be no problem, but in fact, there is a big loophole, that is, as one of the competent candidates for the crown prince, the fourth prince Li Mao is not in Jijing.

This can't help but make people think a little, if the fourth prince Li Mao was in Jijing at that time, would Li Ji, the son of the previous heaven, pass on the throne to his youngest son Li Shou?

It doesn't matter if others think so, but if Li Mao, as one of the parties involved, has such an idea. That's not good, because Li Mao will feel that Li Shou's throne was snatched from him.

You must know that the fourth prince Li Mao has been domineering and flamboyant since he was a child, especially after he entered the Liangqiu family and learned martial arts. It highlights his character, and even his second brother Li Wei dared to beat him when he was young, not to mention others?

If Li Mao, the fourth prince who is now known as the first warrior of the Great Zhou, learned of this, he led a large army to counterattack Jijing in a fit of anger and compete with Li Shou for the throne, with Li Shou's current strength, he would obviously be unable to resist.

Some people may think. Li Shou has Xie An's help, which means that he has Liang Qiuwu, an invincible general, who has the eldest grandson Xiangyu, a divine military division who has no last resort, and Jin Ling'er, an elusive assassin. But the problem is that Li Mao has more than 100,000 male soldiers in northern Xinjiang, and these more than 100,000 male soldiers have fled in recent years under the pretext of the tribes on the grassland. And what about Li Shou's side? There are a lot of art of war, just with Xie An's fame. can recruit more than 200,000 original rebels who are now stationed in Daliang, but the problem is that the elite army is too small, and the elite division that can be dispatched is only 20,000 in the Eastern Army and 8,000 in the South, and even the Jizhou soldiers of the Gyeonggi Central Army are not qualified.

Of course, in fact, there are also the Northern Army and the Western Army, after the fall of the crown prince Li Wei and the five princes, the four towns successively expressed their surrender to Li Shou, including Qin, who previously helped the prince Li Wei to force the palace to usurp the throne, and Xixiang Hou Han Yi, who did not plan to really fight with the Eastern Army in that turmoil, and even, this guy did not show up that night, until Xie An helped Li Shou stabilize the situation, Xixiang Hou Han Yi was late, and he used various excuses such as Li Shou to confess his guilt with various excuses such as [mistakenly thinking that there had been an accident in the capital division and hurriedly came to escort him].

At that time, Xie An understood what was wrong with Liangqiu Dance that night, it turned out that Xixiang Hou Han Yigen did not intend to sincerely help the fifth prince Li Cheng, thinking about it, this guy just tried to wade back into the troubled waters, and asked the Western Army under his hand to help the fifth prince Li Cheng, but he did not come forward, if the fifth prince Li Cheng gained power afterwards, he could naturally claim to be a hero from the dragon, on the contrary, if Li Cheng was defeated and retreated, he would be able to push and shove off with various excuses.

No, for the cunning tricks of Xixiang Hou Han Yi, although Li Shou and Xie An hated itchy, they couldn't do anything, after all, Han Yi was also one of the four towns, and his status was similar to that of Liang Qiuwu, Qin and the late Lu Fan.

You must know that although Li Shou and Xie An won a big victory in the battle for the crown prince, what was presented to them was still an embarrassing situation of internal and external troubles. There are Han Hong, the Duke of Xiguo, and Han Yi, the Marquis of Xixiang, who have not yet truly discovered their allegiance, plus the Taiping Army who have been waiting for an opportunity to rebel in the dark, I have to say that if it really evolves into a confrontation between Li Mao and Li Shou on the battlefield, the world will be in chaos.

This is because of these scruples, Yin Gong suggested to Li Shou that Li Mao be canonized as the King of Yan and Yuyang as his fiefdom, some people may think that Yin Gong's move did not contribute to Li Mao's prestige?

But in fact, the imperial court just gave Li Mao a false name of King Yan, after all, even if he didn't have this title, Li Mao was the lord of the northern frontier.

Moreover, Li Shou canonized his fourth brother Li Mao as the king of Yan, in addition to taking the initiative to show weakness and deliberately wooing, there is a more important purpose, which is to hint to the world that after Li Shou ascended the throne, he did not forget his former siblings and rewarded him greatly, instead of being afraid that Li Mao would learn about this and suppress the news of the death of Li Ji, the son of the previous day.

In this way, if Li Mao finally rebelled, he would not be able to stand in righteousness, and the world would think that the new Great Zhou Emperor Li Shou had sealed Li Mao in every possible way, but Li Mao was not satisfied, supported the army and self-respect, tried in vain to ban the new emperor, and tried to rebel.

Just a false name of King Yan can make Li Shou gain a firm foothold in righteousness, weaken Li Mao from the attitude of the world, and make it difficult for Li Mao to have any good excuse to raise troops, I have to say. Yin Gong is worthy of being an old man who has been a prime minister for more than 30 years, and in terms of strategy, he does not have to be inferior to his granddaughter, the eldest grandson Xiangyu.

At this moment, those who are in the Taihe Hall are not stupid people, and after a little bit of Yin Gong, they have understood the intention of this old man, and they can't help but respect and admire this old minister who has been in the position of prime minister for more than 30 years.

"The meaning of the Prime Minister is understood, and he is very clever. But ......" Speaking of this, Wang Dan turned his head and glanced at Li Shou, and said hesitantly, "It is a wise strategy to canonize the four princes as the king of Yan, and the three princes such as Li Shen, the third son of the emperor, can be crowned kings." And reward the fiefdom, this is a little inappropriate......"

When the words fell, no one in the hall spoke, even Duke Yin stroked his white beard and looked at Li Shou indifferently. It's just that Li Shou had agreed to this matter before, so Duke Yin wanted to save some face for His Majesty the future emperor.

"If it were His Royal Highness, he would never let the tiger return to the mountain. After the day of calamity! Imperial Historian Meng Rang shook his head, his words made Li Shou's face a little unpleasant, although Li Shou had also realized it. He was calculated by the third son of the emperor Li Shen that day, but the problem is. Words spoken are like water spilled, how can they be easily taken back?

In the final analysis, Li Shou is not as ruthless as the crown prince Li Wei and the fifth prince Li Cheng brothers, if those two are powerful, how can the third son Li Shen still have the life to live until now?

Of course, it is precisely because he knows this matter that Li Shen, the third son of the emperor, will secretly help Li Shou, in short, the stakes in it are not something that can be clearly explained in a word.

Just when Li Shou looked embarrassed under Meng Rang's sarcastic words, a chuckle sounded in the hall.

"You can't say that," under the surprised and surprised gazes of everyone in the hall, Xie An walked to Li Shou's side, arched his hand towards Liangqiu Gong, Yin Gong and other ministers of the court, and then said with a smile, "Although it is indeed a bit inappropriate to be crowned king, but in the final analysis, His Royal Highness Li Shen is also one of the heroes of the rebellion that forced the palace, how can he be easily accepted, imprisoned, and killed?" - Fang Cai Yingong also said, most of the people in the northern Xinjiang are struggling to find an excuse, if we kill Li Shen here, according to Dr. Meng, how will the situation develop? ”

Meng Rang frowned slightly when he heard this, and then nodded, after all, Xie An was right, if Li Shou's side killed Li Shen, the hero of the palace rebellion that day, in advance because he was afraid of raising tigers in the future, it would undoubtedly give Li Mao the best excuse to raise troops.

"Why are you here?" Li Shou looked at his good brother Xie An who had rescued him with some surprise.

What is righteous anger does not only refer to persuading you when you do something wrong, but when you do something wrong, he will also help you out of the siege and help you with perseverance, just like the crown prince Li Wei and the fifth prince Li Cheng brothers.

Such good brothers and good friends, they may not be able to lead you back to the right path when you go astray, but they will pull you by when you are in danger, or they will grope your way forward with you on the wrong path, trying to find a way out.

If you make such a friend, you may encounter many troubles and headaches, but you will never feel lonely, no matter when and where.

And now Li Shou is deeply touched, after all, because of the matter of making Li Shenwai king, the eldest grandson Xiangyu had accused him before, and now, all the ministers in the palace also reported with an attitude of dissupport, but Xie An's words made Li Shou feel warm.

Of course, this does not mean that there is no loophole in Xie An's words, in fact, the consequences of this loophole are extremely serious.

"Little slippery head ......" Yin Gong smiled slightly, shook his head and said nothing.

Behind Duke Yin, Ruan Shaozhou, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, chuckled lightly when he saw this, clapped his hands to relieve Xie An and Li Shou, and said, "What Lord Xie said is extremely true, although His Royal Highness Shou's move is a little inappropriate, it is also a solution...... It seems that in such a situation at the moment, it is indeed difficult to embarrass His Royal Highness Li Shen......"

Hearing Ruan Shaozhou's words, all the ministers in the palace nodded in agreement, and even Meng Rang, the imperial historian of the Imperial History Terrace, couldn't say anything more, but the two old ministers, Duke Yin and Duke Liangqiu, looked at Xie An and Li Shou, who were frowning, and smiled quite tacitly, but when they thought of the deceased Emperor Li Ji, they sighed again.

Perhaps noticing the sadness in the eyes of his father Yin Gong, Sun Jing, the head of the military department, coughed, looked at Xie An to change the topic, and said reprimandingly, "Lord Xie, Your Highness was ...... yesterday No, yesterday His Majesty recruited you to the early court, why didn't you come? ”

Although everyone in the hall understood Changsun Jing's intentions, but seeing him call his future uncle Xie An Lord Xie, everyone present couldn't help but want to laugh and see how Xie An responded.

As a result, they saw that Xie An, the future secretary of the Criminal Department, bowed to Sun Jing, the future head of his colleagues of the same product, and said respectfully, "Returning to Lord Changsun, I overslept yesterday......

Hearing this, the eldest grandson Jing frowned, and said unhappily, "Men should focus on their careers and serve the country as their own responsibility...... Thinking about it, most of Xie An's future father-in-law also knows the son-in-law's happy life these days.

"Yes, yes," Xie An arched his hand and said solemnly, "After the official returns home, he will definitely convey the good words of the eldest grandson to the inner ......."

Looking at the speechless expression of the eldest grandson, everyone in the hall laughed good-naturedly, secretly admiring Xie An's hard work.

"Okay, okay," seeing that his grandson-in-law Xie An actually made a joke about his father-in-law, although Yin Gong couldn't help laughing, he still felt that this matter was not suitable for help, and waved his hand and said, "Xiao An, you come today, there must be something, right?" ”

After this reminder from Duke Yin, Xie An remembered the purpose of this visit, and arched his hand and said, "That's the case, Li Cheng, the son of the imperial house, learned that the first emperor died two days ago, and his mother Chen Guifei also died, grief and grief, and asked the boy to play on his behalf, and wanted to see his mother Chen Guifei and his brother Prince Li Wei for the last time before going to the imperial tomb to guard ......the tomb."

When everyone in the hall heard this, they suddenly realized.

"I see...... glanced at Li Shou, and seeing that he had no intention of stopping him, Yin Gong nodded and said, "You can do this cheaply!" - Be careful, though, for now, we can't tolerate the slightest negligence......"

"Yes!" Xie An bowed.

……

……

Recalling what he had seen and heard in the Taihe Hall a few days ago, Xie An quietly looked at the furnishings in the upper hall of Li Shen's mansion, some worthless utensils.

His Royal Highness, the dignified Third Prince, obviously it is impossible to have only such a little belongings, and the only explanation is......

Most of this guy already knew that the fourth prince Li Mao was about to return to Beijing, so he secretly sold his belongings and exchanged them for gold and silver, ready to run away at any time.

I see......

Glancing at the third prince Li Shen who was sitting on the throne with a smile on his face, Xie An vaguely guessed the purpose of Li Shen's invitation to the banquet today.