Through Xu Si's recollections, we know that the current emperor used to be just a seventh prince whose biological mother died early and had no power or power. He was not involved in the battle for the heir at first, but after the struggle became white-hot, seeing that the old emperor was becoming more and more crazy and the fire was about to burn on his head, he discussed with his father-in-law (the old marquis of the Xu family) to join the battle to compete for the crown prince.

Therefore, this emperor has not been a key training object (such as the crown prince) since he was a child, and has been immersed in the emperor's art education since he was a child; It is not because of the huge power of the mother's concubine family that she has long had the ambition to win the heir, and she has been preparing for the emperor since she was a child.

Therefore, although the emperor's imperial technique has the natural advantage of being born in the emperor's family, it lacks the proficiency of immersion since childhood. This can be seen from the balance of forces he deals with:

First of all, against the queen mother, who helped him to ascend to the throne, but was ambitious, his defense was quite comparable.

not only prevented the queen mother from sending her niece into his **, but also prevented the queen mother's eldest niece from marrying the queen's maiden family, the Xu family, even if she was married to the Tang family, she was not the eldest daughter-in-law of the long house, but only the third young master of the Tang family. There is also another niece of the Queen Mother's maiden family, who is married to the Liang family, and it is also a "coincidence" that the third young master. Basically, it completely blocked the way for the Yang family to expand its power through marriage.

Then there is the queen's maiden home, the Xu family. This was the greatest contribution to his succession, and he had to give enough power to help him secure his position in the early days.

As a result, there was a battle to conquer Miaojiang. I remember that Mrs. Luo had a conversation with her son about that battle, which basically represented the evaluation of Xu Si and the Xu family by outsiders, thinking that the Xu family relied on the support of the royal family to achieve military merits to decorate the lintel.

In the emperor's heart, the Xu family reached this level of what he hoped and needed - to have a certain amount of power and some military merits under his care. This is the right "degree" in the emperor's heart.

Therefore, when the war in the northwest first broke out, judging from the fact that the emperor did not send Xu Si to the expedition at all, he didn't want to add this amount to the Xu family's credit book.

But the world is unpredictable, and others really can't contain it, so they have to send Xu Si to fight. But I didn't expect it to be a big victory, or even a complete victory. This made the emperor both happy and worried.

Happily, there was no war in the northwest for at least ten years after that, and the tranquility of the border was too suitable for the emperor's reform plan.

The worry is that the Xu family's merits are so much more than the benchmark in the emperor's own heart, how to curb it.

At this time, it is very delicate, the emperor will reward it, I am afraid that the Xu family will be proud of its merits, and the power will not be controllable; If you don't reward it, you can't explain it to the world.

But the Xu family was interested and resigned from the knighthood. When I came here, everyone should be happy, but the funny thing is that the emperor felt that Xu Jiate was interested again, and his heart was still not steady. The situation is even more nuanced.

But not long after that, there was a matter of poisoning the five princes by the Ou family.

The emperor's biggest failure in balancing the tripartite forces was in his support for the Ou family. (This is also where I think he is not skilled enough in the art of kingship)

Emperor Xu regarded the Ou family as a force confronting the north and south of the Xu family, and it was not wrong to contain each other.

However, in just two years, the emperor's favor for the daughter of the Ou family from Jieyu to the imperial concubine, through the observation and analysis of Eleven, we know that this is mixed with the emperor's personal love for the imperial concubine Ou, who is "naturally beautiful and proficient in music and rhythm". This is the worst part.

The emperor can favor or dislike the ** woman because of the balance of power, but if it is mixed with personal favorites, it should be safer that there is no force behind it. And the emperor's great favor for the imperial concubine Ou clan, who has a powerful Ou family behind him, it is difficult to prevent the Ou family from being mistaken.

As a result, there was a move by the Ou family to further ascend to the throne and break the existing balance - poisoning the five princes. And the emperor also paid a lot of price - the tragic death of his fifth son.

The balance was broken, and it was not what the emperor wanted. However, in the current situation, to borrow Xu Si's words, "In recent years, there have been serious troubles in Fujian and Guangdong, whether it is for the sake of the society or the overall situation, it is impossible for the emperor to move the people of the district family." Therefore, the emperor's choice was to cover up the truth and compensate for the grief of a prince who died in vain.

However, since what the emperor wants is balance, then the factor of the Ou family that breaks the balance at any time and creates a greater imbalance must be eliminated by the emperor in the future, which is the biggest reliance of the Xu family on "revenge".

Therefore, it is not that the emperor does not want to take revenge, it is not that he does not want to move the district family, but he cannot move the district family for the sake of the overall situation. Then, the strategy of the Xu family is to create an opportunity for the emperor to "take revenge" under the premise of overall stability, which should also be what the emperor is happy to see.