Although Zhou Tianyi has been back in Beijing for many days, the emperor has not arranged an envoy for this younger brother for the time being, except for the daily court, he is very idle in the Zhaowang Mansion.

On this day, Zhou Tianyi was lying on the couch in his study, boredly flipping through the news that Guanghan had probed and returned.

The girl whose surname was Qin Mingsong on the street that day was the daughter of the Qin family, one of the three wealthy families in the Quartet, and there were two older brothers, Qin Feng and Qin Wen.

"Qin Feng?" Zhou Tianyi's gaze stopped at this name, he had met an elegant rich businessman at the border, and Qin Feng was only one word away, calling him Qin Zifeng, looking at this Qin Feng's experience, it was somewhat similar to his friend.

The next few pages of "This ......" are all Qin Song's thrilling experiences in Beijing and Zhou in recent years

"Brilliant" deeds, monopoly suppression, exclusion of the whole thing, bribery of high-ranking officials but righteousness with others, honest management, and benevolence, coupled with the ability to check accounts, Zhou Tianyi closed the pamphlet and said to himself: "No wonder those shopkeepers are so convinced of her." ”

"Your Highness, the prince of the royal family is here." Steward Chen's voice came from outside the door.

"Bright? Let him come over directly. Zhou Tianyi quickly got up, threw the booklet related to Qin Song on the couch, straightened the folded placket, and greeted this old friend.

"I haven't seen you go out for a few days, and I'll take root and grow grass in your house." I didn't see anyone and heard it first, and immediately, the young man in white appeared at the door of the study.

Wang Huangzhi is the eldest son of the long-term Wang family of Weilong, a first-class family in the Quartet, and his father Wang Shu Kuangguan worships a good and right minister, and is deeply respected by the emperor.

Speaking of the history of the Weilong Wang family, it can be traced back to the time when the land of Zhuhua was still one, and the Wang family was called the other eleven families who were loyal to the Zhuhua royal family for generations at that time

"Zhuhua Twelve Families", famous. Therefore, although Wang Huangzhi does not have an official position, his status is not low.

"It's hard to be idle, so why should I go out and ask for trouble?" Zhou Tianyi asked with a smile, with a slight hint of self-deprecation in his words, and anyone with a discerning eye could see that the emperor was jealous of him and deliberately let him be an idle king who had nothing to do.

Even in the name of marshal, now that the war has stopped, there is not much that he needs to deal with personally.

I'm afraid that in the near future, the 800,000 troops in his hands will also be taken away by his imperial brother. Wang Huangzhi said nothing, he understood the current situation in the court and Zhou Tianyi's situation.

After the two sat down, Wang Huangzhi took out a stack of letters of different colors from his sleeve and handed them to his friend.

"What is this?" Zhou Tianyi subconsciously took it over and flipped through it at will, enjoying the flowers, going on an outing, and a poetry meeting...... These are invitations to the famous events of Beijing and Zhou.

"What are you doing with me, my palace never accepts these posts."

"It's because your palace doesn't accept these posts, that's why they asked me to pass them on to you!" Wang Huangzhi followed the words and continued, without betraying Zhou Tianyi's weakness at all, the jade fan shook lightly, and his face was full of spring breeze.

"Go back, go back, go back, I'm busy!" Zhou Tianyi stuffed all the invitations back into Wang Huangzhi's hands, thinking about how he had known this kind of bad friend back then.

"You just take it, go or not, it's up to you." The implication is that as long as Zhou Tianyi accepts these invitations, Wang Huangzhi's task will be completed.

When Zhou Tianyi heard this, he immediately called the housekeeper Chen Bo and asked him to take all the invitations away and deal with them, without giving any face to Wang Huangzhi, who sent these, and Wang Huangzhi didn't care, but didn't see it.

"I said Tianyi, do you really have no other thoughts about returning to Beijing this time?" After a while, Wang Huangzhi talked about the key point of this visit, King Zhao's outstanding military achievements in defending the country won the hearts of the people, and at this time he held a heavy army, and the current new emperor was not long on the throne, the foundation was unstable, if you want to do a higher plan, you can't lose the opportunity.

Zhou Tianyi raised his eyes and looked at Wang Huangzhi, for a long time, and smiled.

"Bright, I have lost my five elder brothers, and next, I only wish my mother, third brother, sixth brother and the brothers who were born and died with me well." Hearing this, Wang Huangzhi's heart slipped through a trace of disappointment, and he sighed softly,

"I'm afraid you'll be out of your mind." Zhou Tianyi has no desire to fight for power, but for the current emperor, his threat is too great.

After the Five Dragons fell into the sky two years ago, except for Emperor Zhou Tianlei, the three surviving princes were all born by Concubine Qi, Zhou Tianyi and Zhou Tianhe, King of Ping, and Zhou Tianmu, King of An, are brothers.

King Ping has been in the court for a long time, and he is powerful, King An travels among the people and has a good reputation, plus the Wang family has always been inclined to Zhou Tianyi, so you can imagine how deep the emperor's fear of Zhou Tianyi is.

Although Zhou Tianhe and Zhou Tianyi did not have a good relationship, in essence, they were also from the emperor's faction, and Zhou Tianlei had his help when he seized the throne, but who can say for sure that there is such a thing as blood kinship?

Zhou Tianyi smiled and replied: "The soldiers will block, and the water will cover the earth, don't be afraid." "The emperor's thoughts, he has long understood, he does not seek to be big, only to seek small, just protect the people around him, paused, Zhou Tianyi said his considerations,

"Brother Huang will attack the military power in my hands sooner or later, and I want to find an opportunity to take the initiative to go up." If Zhou Tianlei asks him for military power, he must be in a passive situation and let him make an offer, but if he takes the initiative to hand it over, he has the final say on how much to pay, and in a short period of time, the emperor can't let him hand over the military power again, which can be regarded as a delaying strategy.

"That's a good idea." After the pros and cons turned around in his mind, Wang Huangzhi hurriedly agreed,

"Judging from the current situation, if you want to protect yourself, the number of troops left in your hands cannot be less than 300,000." After weighing the current distribution of military power in the four directions, he made this answer for Zhou Tianyi's reference.

Zhou Tianyi rubbed the teacup in his hand and nodded in response.

"You have just come back, if you have no clue about the affairs of the DPRK and China, you can come to me at any time." Wang Huangzhi's words have already indicated the position of the Wang family in Beijing and Zhou, and Zhou Tianyi naturally understands it.

"That's right." Suddenly, as soon as the jade fan was collected, Wang Huangzhi seemed to have thought of something important, and said in a low voice: "Internal information, Your Majesty is going to hold a banquet in the Flowing Water Palace recently, I think it probably wants to marry you and Tianmu." ”

"Oh? Did Wang Guifei say it? Zhou Tianyi also lowered his voice, after the new emperor ascended the throne, the Wang family sent Wang Huangzhi's cousin Wang Ruoyao to the emperor, Zhou Tianlei, who had not yet sat on the throne, needed the support of the Wang family, and naturally would not treat the daughter of the Wang family badly, so he directly sealed the concubine.

Zhou Tianyi knew that the emperor wanted to hold a palace banquet to celebrate the victory of the Quartet, but he didn't expect him to use it directly

The regulation of the "Flowing Water Palace Banquet". so-called

"Flowing Water Palace Banquet", which was set up by Empress Yuan, the wife of the founding emperor of the Quartet. In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, there was a shortage of domestic materials, but the palace banquet was required by the etiquette and law, and there was no way to avoid it, so the queen of Yuan took the flowing water as a case, and put the dishes of the palace banquet on the tray and floated on the flowing water, and the guests took what they needed, so as to save ingredients and wine.

The flowing water palace banquet has become the highest regulation of the Sifang Heavenly Palace banquet, and the tradition of flowing water has been preserved, which has the meaning of various generations of emperors warning themselves and their subordinates not to forget the original and carry on the past and forge ahead into the future.

"Eight or nine is not far from ten."

"I remember that in addition to the princes and first-class families, there are only officials and family members above the third rank of the central government who can attend the banquet in the Flowing Water Palace, right?" Zhou Tianyi tried hard to recall the rules and regulations of the palace banquet that were forced into his head by his husband when he was a child to learn the palace rules, and touched his chin and made a small calculation in his heart.

"No, I heard Ruoyao say, in order for you and His Royal Highness King An to choose a satisfactory beloved, the threshold has been lowered this time, and officials and family members above the fourth rank of the court can attend. And His Majesty's accession to the throne in order to show his attention to the merchants, will also send invitations to the major wealthy families. ”

"Hao? The Qin family will also go? ”

"That's natural, the Qin family's contribution to the Quartet has always been the greatest among the wealthy families, but the girl Qin Song who has stayed in Jingzhou recently is the only one left, and it should be ...... Wait, why are you asking this all of a sudden? Wang Huangzhi didn't think too much about it and poured beans and said what he knew, Wang and Qin are familiar with each other, Qin Feng is his good brother, Qin Wen and his younger brother Wang Junwang are classmates, Qin Song and his sister Wang Junting are also best friends, of course he asked the right question about the Qin family, but this time it was Zhao Wang Zhou Tianyi who asked about the Qin family?

If he hadn't said that he didn't want to fight for power, Wang Huangzhi might still think that Zhou Tianyi had targeted the Qin family's strong financial resources, but now the facts are obviously not the case, seeing that Zhou Tianyi hadn't answered yet, he asked cautiously and incredibly: "Qin Song...... Is it? You ...... with her No, you ...... her" Zhou Tianyi turned his head and coughed lightly, then turned back and nodded, and said frankly: "I bumped into her on the street that day, and her posture is good." ”

"Qin Song, hey, Qin Song." Zhou Tianyi's generous admission made Wang Huangzhi not know what to say all of a sudden, Qin Huai, the head of the Qin family, and his wife Chu have been in love for decades and have never taken concubines, so the main line of the Qin family only has three children in the lineage, and Qin Huai's free-range has given the three children absolute space to grow up freely, and it has also produced some ...... Bad consequences,

"Qin Song is different from the ladies of those families."

"I know."

"Do you really know?" Wang Huangzhi felt that Zhou Tianyi must have misunderstood what he meant,

"Qin Song has followed Old Man Qin and Qin Feng to do business with Old Man Qin and Qin Feng since she can remember, she ...... She was exposed to the warmth and coldness of the merchant world too early. "If it is said that the competition for favor in the house behind the high gate is a small fight among peers, then Qin Song has already begun to play chess against greedy and experienced merchants at that age, speculating with each other and hiding each other and waiting for the opportunity to move.

Zhou Tianyi was not shocked by Wang Huangzhi's words, but listened to it with interest.

"Tianyi, even if an ordinary person holds ten percent of her sincerity in front of her, she may not believe it, not to mention, you are a high-powered King Zhao, and that one will definitely not marry you." The emperor is afraid of Zhou Tianyi, the three sons of Concubine Qi, and the Wang family, if these are all combined together, supplemented by the financial resources of the Qin family, then ...... No, there is no if, as long as Zhou Tianlei is in power for one day, this kind of thing will not be allowed to happen.

"Bright, I know you care about me, but I have my own measure in this matter." What Wang Huangzhi told him was more in-depth than Guanghan's investigation, and he was very satisfied.

He didn't want to ask the emperor to marry him at the palace banquet, as long as no one disturbed the situation, the palace banquet must be a good start.

However, before the palace banquet, he had another thing to order, Wang Huangzhi was an uninvited guest today, and the two generals Yue Hengyuan and Yue Yichang were the people he had made an appointment with.

"Your Highness, the two generals of the Yue family are already waiting in the side hall." Steward Chen's voice came from outside the door again.

After Zhou Tianyi gave Steward Chen a clear look, he said to Wang Huangzhi: "Let's go, since you are also here, I need your assistance in some matters." "The decision to return part of the military power needs to be communicated with the two generals Yue, and in the past few days in the court, although he has not expressed any opinions, he still feels a strong unkindness, and what is related to this unkindness is the wrong thing with the 30,000 elite soldiers he brought back to Beijing and Zhou, and what anyone wants to do to these 30,000 soldiers and horses.

Open guns are easy to dodge, hidden arrows are difficult to defend, and to some extent, the national capital is far more dangerous than the frontier battlefield. Now it seems that among the 30,000 elite soldiers stationed on the outskirts of the city, there must be a spies, and he must find a way to find out the spies as soon as possible.

The 30,000 soldiers and horses are his guarantee, and nothing can happen. From noon to sunset, the four of them sat in the side hall for an afternoon.