"Gladiatorial arena, father-in-law, do you think the emperor is going to provoke me to go to war with the Murong family?"

"Maybe not before, but today, the old man openly forced His Majesty to swallow the anger in his heart for you, and His Majesty has already figured out the old man's attitude towards your son-in-law. ”

Shaking his head with a smile, Wang Boren muttered while pacing: "The old man has eighty-one government soldiers in his hands, and more than half of the mansion masters in the entire empire are the old man's protégés. Half of the power of the court is also in charge of the old man. In fact, a long time ago, His Majesty had the intention of provoking the old man to bite the Murong family, but the old man was not fooled. This time, the old man will do his best to protect you, and Your Majesty will know that everything about the old man is everything to you. If he can't command the old man, he will think of getting you involved in this mess. ”

Nodding his head, Yang Feng followed in front of Wang Boren and chuckled: "Then my father-in-law thinks that how can the emperor let me fall into this mess?"

"Your Majesty has a lot of thoughts, and there are many bad ideas. He has thousands of ways to make you and the Murong family fall into trouble, but you must not be fooled. ”

Smiling slightly, Wang Boren said proudly: "The old man has been a prime minister for decades, and he is still standing today, relying on judging the situation and maintaining a balanced limit. The emperor raised you as a hound, and he asked you to hunt. But you have to remember that the cunning rabbit dies, and the lackey cooks the truth. ”

"The hound is not capable of hunting, the emperor will not hesitate to abandon the dog, the hound is capable of hunting, if it is too strong, and the prey is bitten to death, then he is useless, the emperor will cook the hound, and if the hound is weaker and is bitten to death by the prey, the emperor will just change the hound." The reason why the old man has survived until now is because the old man only calls to the prey, but does not really bite it. The prey also knows that the old man will not really bite, and he will not really fight with the old man to the death. ”

Speaking of this, Wang Boren couldn't help laughing, and laughed helplessly: "After all, the old man is just a dog by the emperor's side, but the old man is a smart dog." The old man has been confronting the prey, but it has no result, and the emperor has nothing to do with me. If he wants to slaughter me, the prey will pounce on him and bite him to death. But if you don't kill me, or if you want to change the dog, my old dog and the prey will not agree, maybe they will join forces to kill him, so we have become the current situation of loving and killing each other, and we have always been balanced. ”

"But ......"

Saying that, Wang Boren's face slowly became solemn: "Now that the situation is becoming more and more critical, this balance will not last long." As more and more jackals, tigers and leopards come to the hunters, my old dog can't maintain him for long. Perhaps, at a critical time, in order to protect himself, I, the hound, had to return to nature and besiege and kill the emperor with those jackals, tigers and leopards. At that time, it will be the time when the wind and thunder will collapse and the heroes will compete for the deer. ”

Nodding lightly, Yang Feng smiled approvingly: "The general trend of the world, if you join for a long time, you will be divided, and if you divide for a long time, this is the law, it's not a big deal." Besides, heroes emerge in troubled times, and maybe the wind and thunder collapse, not necessarily a disaster. The empire is too rotten for the old to be reinvented. ”

"Shout, you're very optimistic, you seem to be looking forward to the chaos in the world, it seems that you are ready to compete with each other. ”

Raising his eyebrows, Wang Boren looked at him evilly, and said with a smile: "Say, what do you want to do with so much grain?"

"You got it?"

"Nonsense, the old man, as the prime minister, is in charge of national affairs. Your Yang family consortium took advantage of the floods in the south of the Yangtze River to store grain at a high price in the entire empire, if this old man doesn't know, the old man will not do it, hum. ”

With a sneer, Wang Boren's eyes flashed with glitter, and he guessed: "Do you want to take advantage of the food disaster to rebel?"

Shaking his head, Yang Feng smiled mysteriously: "If I take advantage of the food disaster to rebel, then Murong and those warlords in the east will justifiably crusade against me on the charge of rebellious ministers and thieves." At that time, the wind and thunder collapsed, and several of them benefited, and I became a great demon king, and I was spurned by others. I won't do this kind of stupid thing of making wedding dresses for others. ”

"Well, if you know that, then what are you...... Raise the price of grain, wait to sell high-priced grain, and make a lot of money?"

"No, no, no, I don't lack money, and I don't need to do this kind of thing that damages yin virtue and earns money. ”

"Then you are ......"

Wang Boren was a little confused.

The corners of Yang Feng's mouth twitched, and he said with a smile: "Father-in-law, the Murong family has been fighting hard for so many years, but they have not done it, why? And the reason why the emperor is the emperor, and what is the most important thing? Just because the emperor has this thing, the Murong family has not dared to do it, and only when the emperor loses this thing, the time will come, do you understand?"

"You mean...... Fame?"

Nodding his head, Wang Boren suddenly understood everything.

The emperor did not personally take charge of the army, nor did he personally participate in the government affairs of national construction, but no one dared to oppose him, just because he had something that no one else had, that is, fame, which can also be said to be the legitimacy of the rule.

This fame can come from the military exploits of the first emperor, just like the first emperor fought the world, or it can come from the inheritance of the ancestors, such as the succession of the crown prince.

These two ways of achieving fame are the most recognized by the people.

In other words, the legitimate ruler recognized by everyone is the emperor, not that you set yourself up as the emperor and really become the emperor.

In view of this, the emperor became famous one day, and those generals who held military power did not dare to rebel. Otherwise, they are traitors and thieves, and the whole world will chase them away.

In the end, no matter who belongs to the world, it has nothing to do with this person who takes the lead in rebellion, and this rebellion is equivalent to making a wedding dress for others.

Therefore, the Murong family has long been rebellious, but they have never dared to do it, because they are afraid that as soon as they slaughter the emperor at that time, the three families of Dongfang, Nangong and Dugu will join forces to destroy the Murong family in a righteous and awe-inspiring manner, and finally divide the world by themselves.

And it is precisely because of this fame that the emperor can maintain his throne by balancing forces.

However, once the emperor loses his reputation, then everyone is justified in rebellion, and there is no scruple on the moral level.

For example, the emperor is unscrupulous, indiscriminately kills innocents, poisons the world, and the people are not able to make a living, they will become a faint monarch or tyrant, lose their fame, and attract the heroes to rise together.

Like King Shang, Emperor Yang of Sui, etc., they were all lost like this.

Of course, in the prosperous times, it doesn't matter if you are a little mediocre, but in the troubled times, the emperor's behavior is slightly wrong, which will attract criticism from others and become a reason for others to crusade.

Therefore, over the years, the Wind Thunder Emperor has been cautious and does not dare to step on the Thunder Pool, just to keep his reputation.

Unfortunately, as empires decayed, the loss of prestige was no longer a matter of personal integrity, but of the general trend.

The moment that the Murong family and others were waiting for had finally arrived.

"Report!"

Half a month later, in the imperial study, a page of urgent military information was sent to the emperor's desk: "The floods in the south of the Yangtze River have spread, and more than one million people have been affected. The anti-thieves have risen up and have already captured more than 20 mansions!"