When Sima Daozi walked into the emperor's bedroom, he saw such a picture, and he couldn't help but be very envious. Yes, an emperor is an emperor, no matter how powerless he is, no matter how disrespected, no matter how much pressure he bears to balance and survive among various forces. The emperor's posture and enjoyment are really still very domineering.

The sound of his footsteps was soft, but it still woke up the emperor, who had been wandering and experiencing ups and downs in his early years, was very vigilant, even in the middle of the night, the slightest wind and grass could wake him up immediately.

This is the survival instinct of the beast, in the turbulent situation, the little beasts that cannot react immediately are eaten by the fierce beasts, his father, his uncle, his ancestors who are not far away, have all died so suddenly.

Emperor Sima Yao opened his eyes and looked at his younger brother with a smile. But he doesn't have much warmth in his heart, as an emperor, he is actually very tired.

All this is for the glory of the family, for the sake of temporary peace and peace, he must constantly balance, to fight the strong, to help the weak. This is the heart of an emperor, he has no family affection in his heart, let alone love, even if it is his own son, as long as it hinders the future of the family, he can also get rid of it.

Sima Daozi hurriedly knelt down and saluted, his movements were very calm, no matter what he actually thought in his heart, on the surface he respected his emperor brother very much. The emperor was also kind and did not stop him from saluting, and then invited him to take a seat.

Although the emperor also went to the court, what the court said was not about trivial matters such as people's livelihood and people's livelihood, or about speculation, analysis and discussion of the military operations and situation of the Northern Dynasties, and there was very little real substance. In fact, it's similar to our modern departmental meetings, the main thing is that everyone goes to meet the emperor and get acquainted, and the real content is very boring.

The meeting between the emperor and his favored ministers is the focus of the day.

Once the emperor's favorite was Xie An, and when Xie An was too powerful and the emperor could not negotiate with him as he wanted, Sima Yao's eyes and ears were replaced by Sima Daozi.

Sima Daozi was the first to speak: "Brother Huang, brother-in-law Wang Guobao came to visit Princess Langya in my house yesterday, and when he talked about some of the past, the minister was quite touched when he heard it, and he wanted to tell His Majesty but was a little hesitant. ”

This is said very tactfully, the so-called Princess Langya is the wife of Sima Daozi, the king of Langya, and his brother-in-law Wang Guobao is also the elder brother of the Wang family. Sima Yao and Sima Daozi, the two royal families, married the two daughters of the Taiyuan Wang family as their wives, which can be described as close to each other, so they are also very familiar with this relationship.

If this sentence is put in modern language, it is actually "Yesterday my wife's brother came to me and said some gossip, I think it's funny, do you want to hear it, emperor?" ”

Everyone loves to listen to gossip, and the emperor must want to hear it, but the emperor is the emperor after all, how can he disregard the dignity of the grass-headed commoners.

Therefore, Sima Yao's expression remained unchanged, and he didn't look interested at all, and only said lightly: "But it's okay to say it." ”

Sima Daozi can be said to know his brother very well, and he will not be confused by his calm appearance, he said mysteriously: "It's just a little thing that Xie An was under Huan Wen's tent back then, since the imperial brother wants to hear it, I'll talk about it, I also listened to what Neizi said." ”

Speaking of the entanglement between Xie An and Huan Wen back then, it can be described as a decade of love and hatred.

At that time, Xie Wan, the head of the Xie family, was Xie An's younger brother, and he was convicted of not fighting, and was demoted to a concubine by Huan Wen, who was in power and wanted to fight the Xie family. For a while, the Xie family did not have any other prestige enough to support the Xie family, so in such a sluggish situation of the Xie family, Xie An had to pick up the burden of the family and went to Dadu Governor Huan Wen to be a small Sima.

That Huan Wen is Huan Xuan's father, he controlled almost all the military and political power in the Eastern Jin Dynasty at that time, and the comparison with Xie An's strength can be said to be no suspense. It's just that the imperial court at that time was in the hands of Wang Tanzhi, the head of the Langya Wang family, and Huan Wen had real power but no prestige and no right to speak, so what he wanted to do most was to seek the favor of the two Wang Xie families, the pillars of the imperial court at that time, so as to pave the way for his usurpation.

Therefore, on the one hand, he threw the powerful Yuzhou assassin Shi Xie Wan into the quagmire and seized his military power and fiefdom, but on the other hand, he supported Xie An, who had no foundation, and became a petty official under his own account.

What Sima Daozi wants to talk about is what happened when Xie An was on an errand under Huan Wen.

"I heard that when Xie An was a Sima under Huan Wen's account, although he was only a petty official, he had a high reputation. Someone couldn't get used to Xie An because of this, so they sent Huan Wen a kind of herb called 'Yuanzhi'. This is a very common Chinese herbal medicine, but this 'Yuanzhi' also has a name called 'Xiaocao'. Huan Wen didn't understand his intentions at the time, so he asked, 'How can this herb have two names?' Hao Long, who was standing on the side, replied proudly: "There is a reason for this, the part of this herb hidden in the mountain rock is called 'Yuanzhi', and the part that grows outside the mountain rock is called 'Xiaocao'." After speaking, he glanced at Xie An. ”

When Sima Daozi said this, he paused for a moment, and saw that the emperor didn't react, and couldn't help but feel very lost, like a person who said cross talk, after saying a clever joke, but the audience didn't understand and didn't laugh.

He could only explain: "This is actually a satire of Xie An's fame all over the world when he was in seclusion, like 'Yuanzhi', but after coming out of the mountain, he was just a small Sima, and he was just a 'little grass'." This metaphor is very ingenious, so at that time, Huan Wen didn't care about Xie An's face, and couldn't help laughing, praising that he was brilliant in joining the army, and for a long time after that, some people used this paragraph to sneer at Xie An, but Xie An treated it indifferently, without justifying or resenting. ”

When the emperor heard this, he couldn't help but yearn for it: "Back then, Huan Wen was powerful and very fierce, even my father was just trembling, and he didn't dare to slack off. Xie Xiangyuan is a carefree person, and like my father, he was forced to come out to take on a big responsibility, and his demeanor and bearing under pressure really can't even be compared with my father. ”

This is indeed true, Sima Yao's father Sima Yu, who was originally a prime minister, was valued by Huan Wen because of his illness and became the emperor, and sure enough, he did not live up to Huan Wen's expectations, and soon returned to the west, leaving his ten-year-old son Sima Yao.

The young Sima Yao was able to sit firmly as emperor with the full support of the Wang Xie family, so he has always been grateful. It's just that time has passed, and the political situation today is completely different from what it was back then.