Emperor Zheng Rong said: "I'm not busy, I still have something to discuss with you." Third brother, Mr. Zhongli, you all enter the palace with me. After that, he didn't wait for the three of them to agree, and as soon as he turned around, he walked to the "Shuli Palace" by himself.

The three named people glanced at each other and followed.

A charcoal basin was lit in the middle of the "Shuli Palace" to warm the small meeting room.

Emperor Zheng Rong sat on the dragon chair in the innermost part, stretched out his hand to pick up a tea bowl in front of him, frowned and then put it down, and shouted loudly: "Someone! Is there any panting? ”

A eunuch trembled and knelt down on the spot: "What does the emperor command?" ”

"The dog slave who has no eyesight, the tea is cold, and he doesn't know how to change the temperature! There are also these Aiqing, all of whom are given seats to watch tea. Zheng Rong taught, "Take a few more copies of the good palace and order them, and I will discuss them with a few Aiqing all night." ”

The eunuch agreed, and quickly retreated to prepare.

Zhong Li Kuang said: "Your Majesty, remember that you have been tired all day, and if you do things all night, you will not hurt the dragon body." Besides, the emperor is fierce and fierce, and the old minister's old bones may not be able to support it......"

But seeing Zheng Rong's cold and undisturbed expression, it seemed that he was melted by the warm air in the "Shuli Palace", and the corners of his tense mouth raised a stretched arc, revealing a long-lost smile: "Mr. Zhongli handles more than three times more official duties every day than me, if Mr. is really exhausted, I can send someone to send Mr. back." We are discussing all the major events in the world, but I am afraid that after the husband leaves, we will not be at ease! ”

These words had an obvious joking tone, but they blocked Zhong Li Kuang's mouth tightly.

While he was talking, he saw that the eunuch who had just gone out had already received seven or eight eunuchs, lifted tables, chairs, benches, tea, and snacks, crept into the house, arranged them at great speed, and then withdrew again.

Zheng Rong nodded with satisfaction, walked down from the dragon chair, and said to the three people standing with a smile: "Come, you are all my henchmen, today we are not formal, everyone talks at night with candles, and it can be regarded as a beautiful conversation that has been passed down through the ages." Come on, come on, everyone sit, everyone sit. ”

As he spoke, Zheng Rong first took out a chair at the table and sat down, and then picked up the snacks on the plate very casually, twisted them and distributed them to the three of them.

Seeing this, the three of them could only sit down, hold the snacks in their hands, and eat them carefully in their mouths.

Emperor Zheng Rong was in a good mood, picked a piece of dim sum for himself, chewed half of it and swallowed it with tea, and then said in a joyful voice: "Since the fight against Zheng Gui, I have been restless and have not eaten a safe meal. I had to be happy today, and I actually knew that the dim sum in this palace also had such a good taste. With that, he laughed out loud.

Zheng Hua, the king of Heluo, hurriedly said: "The lord is worried about the humiliation of the ministers, and the lord is humiliated by the death of the ministers." The emperor is worried about state affairs, but because the ministers do not fulfill their duties and do not cultivate morality, they also ask the saint to punish him. ”

Zheng Rong waved his hand: "It doesn't have to be like this, it doesn't have to be like this." I just said, I won't talk about any false etiquette today, let's just get together. ”

Zhong Li Kuang on the side said: "Your Majesty, although the king of Lingnan has been captured, the power of the Lingnan royal palace is still there, and the vast departments of Jiangnan, Yungui, Bashu, Lingnan, and Huguang are still in the hands of the enemy. ”

Zheng Rong knew that Zhongli Kuang had always been strict and cold, and he didn't feel disappointed when he heard what he said, so he nodded, turned his head and asked Qiu Yidao: "Yizhi, the one who is now in command of the Lingnan army is Zheng Gui's second son, Zheng Yu. I heard that you have fought with him several times, but I don't know what is true to him? ”

Qiu Yizhi hurriedly put down the refreshments in his hand, arched his hand and said: "Your Majesty, Zheng Yu This person is ambitious and talented, negative and small, compared with his father Lingnan Wangye, it is like sand and dust to the sun and the moon, which is not to be worried. Having said this, he felt that he was a little too full of words, so he turned the conversation and said, "However, the strength of the Lingnan Royal Mansion still exists, and the so-called mourning soldiers will win, the emperor must be careful that Zheng Yugou jumps off the wall in a hurry, but he is injured!" ”

Zheng Rong listened to Qiu Yizhi with a serious voice, and suddenly smiled "poof": "I didn't expect that I haven't seen you for two years, and Yizhi also knows the way of harmony when he speaks." Mr. Zhongli, you didn't expect that, did you? ”

Zhong Li Kuang replied: "Yizhi can hone his mind and wash away the problems of last year's young frivolity, which is excellent. But I am afraid that the edges and corners will be rubbed away due to the world, and the gains will outweigh the losses. He spoke with a blank face so that no one could guess what was in his mind.

Zheng Rong smiled again and said, "To be harmonious and accessible, but also to stand out, Mr. Zhongli wants to teach Yizhi into a generation of sages, right?" Yizhi, you can listen well, your master has such high requirements for you, you have to be careful step by step in the future, beware of him hitting your hand. ”

Qiu Yizhi also knew that Zheng Rong was joking with himself, but he couldn't laugh at all, so he had to take a moment in the audience and said, "The students are trying their best." I don't know what else to say.

Zheng Rong said again: "Yizhi doesn't need to be nervous, it's just my joke." As for this kid Zheng Yu, I definitely won't despise it. I am determined to drive the expedition in person, plough the court and sweep the holes, and completely remove the hidden danger of the Lingnan Royal Mansion for the imperial court! ”

As soon as Zheng Rong's words came out, the three people present were stunned.

Especially the prime minister Zhong Likuang, he discussed military affairs with the emperor every day, but he never heard the emperor say that he had the idea of driving the imperial expedition, and he couldn't help but be a little surprised: "Your Majesty, this matter of the imperial driving and personal expedition is very important, and you can't make hasty decisions, please think twice." ”

Qiu Yizhi also echoed: "Your Majesty, Zheng Yu has already fought with the trapped beast, and he can't withstand the thunderous blow of the saint. As long as the Holy Lord sends two to three generals, each with 100,000 heavenly soldiers, to the south from the three roads of Shanxi, Huguang, and Jiangnan, how can Zheng Yu resist it? ”

As for Zheng Hua, the king of Heluo who sat with him, because he didn't understand military affairs, he only felt that the emperor's posture of driving the expedition was too big, but he didn't know where to advise.

Zheng Rong couldn't help but be a little disappointed when he heard that the two right-hand men were opposed to his decision to drive the expedition in person, so he said: "Since I ascended to the great treasure, I have been stumped by cumbersome government affairs every day, and I haven't led an army into battle for a long time. Didn't I ask Yizhi? Knowing that this Zheng Yu was easy to deal with, he decided to personally lead the army south. I'm getting tighter and tighter lately, can't you let me evacuate too? ”

Zheng Rong's words were funny, which made several people present laugh.

But I heard Zheng Rong say again: "I have made up my mind about the pro-conquest. Anyway, I always have to send people south to quell the rebellion, and it is the same if I go there myself. As long as I keep everything simple and bring less ceremonial guards, I won't be able to consume much food, Mr. Zhongli, right? ”

At this point, Zhong Li Kuang saw that the emperor's determination to personally lead the army to the south was very firm, and he knew that it was impossible to advise, and thought that Zheng Rong himself was a great commander, and he personally led the army to crusade against the rebels, which might be able to play an unexpected role for others, and maybe he could compress the time for counterinsurgency to the shortest limit, and he would be able to give the whole country more time to recuperate......

So Zhong Li Kuang no longer advised, but followed Zheng Rong's meaning and said: "Since the emperor has decided to conquer in person, the minister can only try his best to escort him. It's just that the capital Luoyang has no emperor to guard it for a while, and many things still need to be discussed in the long run. For example: Which princes did the emperor take with him on this trip? Which princes are in charge of the country? What matters can be decided by the supervising state? What matters must be reported to the emperor? How many troops did the emperor personally lead? How many troops followed? ”

Zhong Likuang asked more than a dozen questions in a row, and Qiu Yizhi was dumbfounded when he heard it - it turned out that the simple sentence "Imperial Driving Expedition" actually had to make such preparations.

Zheng Rong smiled lightly and said, "I have already thought of these things. In this personal expedition, the third son of the emperor, Zheng Miao, the eldest son Zheng Xin, accompanied by the army, and the second son Zheng Sen served as the vanguard, only advanced all the way from the south of the Yangtze River, in order to break the Lingnan rebels with one blow. All matters in the world, except for the military affairs of the former army, which need to be decided by me personally, the rest of the government affairs can be handed over to the prison state. Including the supply of food and grass for the former army's logistics, it will also be handled by the prince of the prison country......"

Zheng Rongzheng said endlessly, but Qiu Yizhi was already imagining-

Let Zheng Miao sit in Luoyang to supervise the country, and order the two brothers Zheng Xin and Zheng Sen to act with the army, it is clear that Zheng Miao will take this opportunity to exercise his ability to lead the overall situation, so that he can be ready to succeed and ascend the throne in the future. And thousands of miles away, the eldest son Zheng Xin and the second son Zheng Sen, who were far away on the front line of Shanxi and Youyan to guard against the Turks, were recruited to his side, but he obviously couldn't trust these two, so in the name of using soldiers, he transferred them in front of his eyes to prevent them from having a sense of wrongdoing.

From this change, it is not difficult to see that Emperor Zheng Rong is already determined to pass the throne to Zheng Miao.

In fact, the emperor's three sons, Zheng Xin is also literary and martial, and they are not cowardly people everywhere; Zheng Sen is good at military strategy and neglects government affairs, but he is not a person who cannot be admonished; Zheng Miao is kind-hearted and has the appearance of a wise monarch - no matter who is the emperor, he will not be a mediocre lord.

Among them, Zheng Miao seems to be the best, and Qiu Yizhi has been in love with Zheng Miao since he was a child, so when he heard the emperor's arrangement, he was very happy in his public and private hearts, and couldn't help but look at Zhong Likuang beside him.

But seeing that Zhong Likuang's face seemed to be frozen, he couldn't detect the slightest psychological change, he just looked at the emperor seriously, and listened to him deploy the pro-conquest matters one by one, and when he encountered something that he didn't understand and was not clear, he didn't forget to interject and ask a few words.

Seeing this, Qiu Yizhi could only suppress his excitement and try to focus on the emperor, listening to him tirelessly summarize the matters of the personal expedition to the south one by one, one by one.

In this way, I don't know how long I listened to it, Emperor Zheng Rong finally breathed a sigh of relief, and said in conclusion: "This is probably the case for the major event of the pro-conquest. Although the Lingnan Army has gone to the general trend, it cannot be underestimated, and some of the details still need a few more counselors from Aiqing. ”

When Zheng Hua, Zhong Likuang and Qiu Yi heard this, they quickly got up and arched their hands, and said in unison: "The ministers are the order." ”

But I heard Zheng Hua, the king of Heluo, continue: "It's already dawn, and thanks to the imperial brother, who was also a general who led the army to fight back then, he has a good body. The younger brother is an idle man, although he is two years younger than the emperor, but now he can't hold it anymore. It's better for the emperor to give his ministers and brothers to go back to rest first, and the royal brother is also good at recuperating, I don't know how many big things are waiting for you to get an idea! ”

Qiu Yizhi listened, glanced at Zheng Hua, and couldn't help but admire it very much in his heart - he is worthy of being a scholar, and he is clearly advising the emperor to work hard, but he is also beating around the bush, and his ability to speak like this is far inferior to him.

Of course, Zheng Rong also heard the meaning of this younger brother's words, nodded with a smile, and said, "That's fine." But the virtuous brother has to take a good rest these days, and I am going to take the virtuous brother to Jiangnan together! ”