He couldn't imagine that he would have any jealousy of his younger brothers, but he also knew that no one could say anything about the future, and sometimes he was in some positions, and no one could help himself. But there was one thing he was sure of, and that was that no matter what, he would never hurt their lives.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said so, the minister believes. Although His Highness is resolute and strong, he is also lenient...... I don't think I would do that kind of thing. Li Hui stood up suddenly, and then bowed deeply to the prince, "If Your Highness inherits the inheritance of ****, I implore Your Highness to become a good emperor and not repeat the mistakes of your ministers." If that's the case, it's not only a blessing for ****, but also a blessing for my people in Goryeo, and I can't give it to them. ”

Both of them knew in their hearts that a good emperor was not just about being lenient.

The prince raised his head, looked at the water and the lake outside the window, and then turned his head to look at Li Hui again for a while.

"I don't know if you mean it or not, but I accept it, thank you. On the basis of your words, I have changed my opinion of you a little, and I will personally leave an edict that those people will never reduce your treatment. In the future, although you can't manage politics, you can also live for a long time. ”

"Minister, Your Highness Xie!" Li Hui bowed down again, looking familiar with this kind of Han-style etiquette.

"Okay, do you have anything else to say?" The prince asked again.

"No, I've been bothering His Highness for so long, where do you dare to bother Your Highness anymore." Li Hui shook his head.

"Okay, you can go back," the prince beckoned, motioning for the attendant next to him to help him go back, "What I said will be carried out as it is, don't worry." ”

"Retire!" Li Hui saluted again, and then slowly turned around with the help of him to leave.

"If only you had told me these things earlier." Just as he was about to walk out, the prince suddenly said.

"If the minister had said these words before, would His Royal Highness the Crown Prince change his mind?" Li Hui asked rhetorically.

The prince was silent for a moment, and finally shook his head, "Still not." But...... I'll probably be polite. ”

He now suddenly had some subtle sympathy for this lord, perhaps because of the similarity of everyone's positions before. However, this sympathy did not affect his calm practical judgment, so even if the two of them said such a thing before, the prince felt that he would still choose to do it.

Li Hui suddenly laughed, and he didn't know whether to laugh at his own downfall or the other party's honesty. "The minister was the last to find someone to talk to about these words...... The prince doesn't have to take it to heart. ”

Then, laughing, he was helped down the stairs and towards his original dormitory. In the future, he will continue to live there in seclusion, but he will no longer be able to deal with state affairs, and from now on, Goryeo will have a young heir and an emperor in Busan.

The prince sat by the window and watched Li Hui leave down the stone steps without saying a word, his back was so weak and weak, as if he was floating on water, maybe he would really become a ghost soon.

He raised his head again and continued to look at the palace around him, perhaps because of the psychological effect, he felt that it was much more bleak and silent today.

At this time, the civil and military officials of the Han Dynasty who had been avoiding had also returned to the room.

"Your Highness, how's it going?" Zhao Song, the leader, asked.

"It's nothing, it's just a little thing I told him." The prince shook his head, "He is very interesting, and he did not beg for mercy at all. ”

"Now, I can't let him beg for mercy." Zhao Song smiled slightly. "However, although he is so knowledgeable, but now Goryeo is still complicated, His Highness must take some time to deal with, but the minister has nothing to do now, and the minister has applied to leave Seoul on a later date and go to Busan to prepare for ......"

"No, in two days, we'll go together." The crown prince shook his head, "I don't need to stay here anymore, Ambassador Shi just stays and Jin Yizheng to deal with it, I don't practice government affairs, so why bother to make trouble for them." Deputy Envoy Zhang will go south to Busan with us, and when the time comes, he will be responsible for our communication with the Goryeo government at all levels. ”

"Your Highness...... Zhao Song was a little surprised.

He had just completed such a big thing and walked directly, and he found that he was becoming more and more confused about what His Highness was thinking.

"Since I have done such a big thing, I should leave early, lest someone say that I only want to be powerful, which can be regarded as avoiding suspicion...... Don't worry, there won't be any more chaos here. The prince slowly stood up from his chair, and then looked at Shi Gaoyi, "Ambassador Shi, this place will be handed over to you in the future, you don't want to act like in the past, you have to be a little more restrained." Also, you tell that Qingpingjun and Jin Xinguo that it is best for them not to disobey **** recently, and they will cooperate with whatever I want. Otherwise, if I can set up one, I will be able to set up another. ”

"I understand! The minister will definitely convey it! Shi Gaoyi was slightly stunned, and hurriedly bowed down to receive the order.

"Okay, it's almost noon, right?" The prince let out a sigh of relief, and then walked to the door, "Let's go down and eat, it's rare for people to be so together this time, and it can be regarded as a celebration banquet." ”

And just when the crown prince and these civil and military officials began to hold a banquet to celebrate their achievements, a special secret letter from Nagasaki also came to Seoul. The crown prince was a little surprised that Nagasaki had begun to present him with official documents so quickly, but he gladly accepted them.

And as soon as he opened the letter, his face became very strange.

"Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince, is something happening over there in Nagasaki?" Because the task was related, Zhao Song was also very concerned about the situation in Nagasaki, and when he saw that the prince's expression was wrong, he quickly stopped the chopsticks in his hand.

The prince woke up like a dream, then turned his head to look around, and then beckoned to Zhao Song.

"Lu Zheng, come and take a look."

Zhao Song hesitated for a moment, the prince's behavior was obviously to show that there must be very confidential things in this official letter, and it might not be appropriate for him to rush to His Royal Highness the prince to see it.

"Come here." The prince continued to urge. This time, Zhao Song didn't dare to hesitate any longer, and walked to the side of the prince's seat under the puzzled eyes of others in the entire hall, and took the official document in his hand.

"This ...... So fast? After reading the contents of the official document, he was also stunned.

"Ambassador Shi, Vice Envoy Zhang, the two of you come with me." The crown prince stopped eating, and then beckoned Zhao Song and the two Wenchen to go to the next room with him, "Others, continue to eat." ”

As soon as they entered the room, the prince also handed them the official document.

"Actually, the Japanese Imperial Court took the initiative to send someone to find our merchant house?" The two men were just as shocked as he was.

"It can be seen that the shogunate is unpopular." Zhao Song sneered, then looked at the crown prince, "Your Highness, this is great news for us!" Even if we didn't draw the Japanese court to our side, at least this incident itself proved that the other side was not evenly matched, and it was greatly beneficial to our next war! ”

"This is also to be expected, the shogunate has been usurping the authority of the imperial court for many years, and it is not surprising that they have no grievances. I just didn't expect it to come so quickly. The crown prince nodded, having regained his composure, "This matter is very important, and this official letter will be transferred to the capital soon." ”

"As it should be." Shi Gaoyi immediately agreed, "But...... Your Highness, the letter said that the messenger who carried a letter written by the Japanese Emperor wanted to go to the capital to pay homage to the Son of Heaven, what should I do? ”

"The letter of state must be sent over, and people have to think about whether they send it or not, after all, the holy will of the emperor to deal with the Japanese court is still unclear." The prince groaned slightly, and immediately made a decision, "Let him come here first, I can just ask him about the situation in Japan first, and wait until there is an echo in the capital, and then see if I can send him to the capital." ”

Then, he looked at Shi Gaoyi again, "Head Shi, you can write a reply to Nagasaki and tell him my decision, so that they can send this envoy to Busan as soon as possible." Also, add a few words of encouragement to them, and they do a great job. ”

"Yes!" Shi Gaoyi immediately bowed his head and responded.

……………………

Zhou Pu and Liu Jing, who were in Nagasaki at this time, of course, did not know that they had been commended by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, in fact, since they wrote a letter to report to His Royal Highness the Prince, they basically had to communicate with the envoy from Kyoto every day, and they were familiar with all kinds of situations related to the Japanese imperial court.

However, it was only limited to the situation in the imperial court, this envoy Hashimoto Minoru, who was born in the last clan of the Fujiwara clan, of course had no status in the already very embarrassed family of the ministers, and the Tokugawa family deliberately isolated the ministers from state affairs, so the scope of activities and communication was very narrow, and he could not provide much useful information to many other places in Japan except for some cases of the imperial court.

From this person, Zhou Pu almost saw some characteristics of those Kyoto ministers, and even the emperor himself, they all attached great importance to elegance, and there was a lot of red tape in their words and deeds, for fear of doing things that would damage their image. Moreover, because of the fact that they have been passed down from generation to generation, their cultural literacy is very high, and this Hashimoto Shimura can write Chinese characters and calligraphy, which makes Zhou Pu, who has studied in a private school for several years and tried the imperial examination, feel ashamed.

In addition, perhaps because they have been hollowed out for hundreds of years and have not been able to access actual government affairs, they are generally politically naïve. For example, this envoy, as well as the right minister Nijo Yasudo himself, who sent him, believed very firmly that the shogunate was in danger, and as long as he could invite **** to send troops, he could rely on the orders of the imperial court to point them as enemies, and then destroy the rule of the shogunate. Moreover, they did not think about the actual situation at all, and wishfully thought that if they could overthrow the shogunate with troops, they would be able to restore the rule of their ancestors over the country by those who had no practical experience.

Of course, in Zhou Pu's opinion, the more inexperienced and naïve they are, the better it is for their current self.

In the emperor's and cabinet's vision, and even in his own vision, the authority of the shogunate after the war would be greatly weakened, and the status of the Japanese court would be enhanced, but no matter how they were handled, they were not happy to see the Japanese court dominate after the war, and the more naïve the ministers, the more they could use it to weaken their future influence and create a rough balance for Japan.

Not long ago, Zhou Pu had already taken advantage of this envoy to send a letter to Nijo Yasudo in Kyoto, the words were very vague, and did not express any information that the Han was ready to send troops to Japan, but just wanted to establish a connection with Kyoto first, and believed that it would not be long before Kyoto would reply to him.

Now they are concerned about another thing, just now, Nagasaki Governor Shigeyoshi Takenaka wrote a letter to the Nagasaki Merchant House, saying that he had recently set up a banquet in the official residence and invited the special envoy of the Merchant House to the banquet.

When he first received this letter, Liu Jing immediately came to discuss with Zhou Pu. As the highest representative of the Han Dynasty in Nagasaki, Liu Jing has also been invited many times by this high-ranking shogunate official in the past few years. It's not enough, it's not the same now, you have to think about it.

It's not that he's worried that this is a Hongmen banquet, Nagasaki is now the territory of the shogunate, and if the shogunate has really seen what they're doing secretly, then there's no need to write politely and send troops to surround this place.

What he was really worried about was that his people might inadvertently reveal something that would make the shogunate suspicious, so he wanted to discuss it with Zhou Pu, and if it was true, he would prepare a statement in advance.

After discussing it for a long time, they felt that the most likely problem was the envoy from Kyoto. Although the shogunate did not monitor the Dahan Merchant House strictly, he was a person with little experience along the way, and he might leave some traces on the road.

"This person is very important to us, and we must try to keep it." After thinking about it for a long time, Zhou Pu said his conclusion, "In addition, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has also been informed, and it will not be long before Jingli will know, if they come to ask for someone at that time, but we can't send it out, then it will be troublesome......"

"That's what my lord said." Liu Jing immediately agreed with Zhou Pu's opinion. "Xia Guan thinks that since he didn't directly send someone to get people, it means that the shogunate can't grasp too much information, and if he asks, Xia Guan will come and ask one by one, and push the matter away."

"Yes, that's it." Zhou Pu nodded, "Besides, I don't think it's a good idea to keep him in the merchant hall all the time, let's put him somewhere else and hide it for a while for the time being." Are there any particularly reliable places available for adults? ”

"Yes." Liu Jing hurriedly replied, "Xia Guan has always been in charge of commerce and trade between the two countries, and he has also made a lot of friends among businessmen over the years, and there are a few particularly reliable candidates, you can ask them to put someone there and hide it first." ”

"Merchant...... Is it reliable? Zhou Pu hesitated.

"These people aren't just businessmen, either." Liu Jing suddenly became speechless, "In short, it's good that adults believe that they are absolutely reliable, and the lower officials will never joke with their own lives and futures......"

Zhou Pu looked at the other party's somewhat mysterious expression, and suddenly seemed to understand something. "Okay, since the adults said so, then I'm relieved."

Liu Jing was under the jurisdiction of both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce, and the Ministry of Commerce had one of the most powerful and powerful official offices in the Han Dynasty. As an official of the same dynasty, it is better not to ask about this kind of thing.

After the two of them discussed the next step again, Liu Jing took his entourage and followed the people sent by Nagasaki Governor Takenaka Shigeyoshi to the Nagasaki Governor's office.

The Nagasaki Castle Honhata Town was built to reflect the authority of the shogunate in the area, as Nagasaki is now the largest trading port in Japan, and trade is thriving. At the same time, due to Western and Chinese influences, the edges and corners of this building are different from those of ordinary Japanese architecture.

Because he had been here many times, the guards did not stop him and gave Liu Jing a direct pass, and Liu Jing, under the leadership of his entourage here, climbed alone to the small building where banquets were often held in the military station.

As soon as Liu Jing entered, he found that many people had already come here, in addition to many officials in Nagasaki Castle, and even many foreign merchants, such as the Portuguese and the Dutch. At this scale, it couldn't be as much as he feared, it must be a large banquet.

However, from his previous experience, whenever a large banquet was held in Nagasaki by the commissioner himself, he would usually give several days of notice in advance, firstly, in order to prepare the upper and lower levels, so as not to lose the face of the shogunate; The second is to prepare gifts in advance for businessmen like themselves.

Yes, Nagasaki, the highest official of the shogunate in Kyushu and the power of Japan's foreign trade, pursued Takenaka Shigeyoshi, an insatiable fellow, who used his power to repeatedly reap benefits from merchants from various countries in Nagasaki by virtue of his favor by the shogun, and was quite bad in their circles, and even Liu Jing, who had an official status, had to give him gifts several times in order to make things easier.

But today's situation is different, he was invited to the banquet on the same day, so when Liu Jing first received the invitation, he was very uneasy about this abnormal phenomenon. Now, he saw the same confusion on the faces of the other merchants, so it didn't look like it was aimed at himself.

With a sense of ease that arose spontaneously in the dark, Liu Jing walked briskly through the hall, greeting people he knew from time to time, and then came to the seat assigned to him and knelt down.

When he first came to Japan, he was not used to kneeling and sitting for as long as the Japanese, and every time he participated in the banquet, he would be sore for a long time, but now after several years of experience, he has become accustomed to it, but the uncomfortable expressions on the faces of those foreigners make him feel a little funny.