On the twenty-third night of March in the sixth year of Xuanhe (1124 AD), Tong Guan Mansion in the east of the capital city, Tong Guan was sitting with three righteous sons, Tong Shi Yang, Tong Shi Kong, and Tong Shi Min. Among them, Tong Shi Min's father fought with Tong Guan against the Western Xia and was martyred in the battle, Tong Guan took in his son and raised him as an adult. The four of them all looked serious, and after a while, Tong Guan spoke first: Children, according to the secret report of the inner court, the emperor has recently paid special attention to and praised the prince, and often mentioned the current prince in front of the palace princesses, and in addition, the performance of Taishi Cai in the court has completely stood in line with the prince, especially in the performance of the Taiqing Lou on the grand view post, the support for the prince is very obvious and straightforward, to say that the prince's peach blossom poems in the Funing Hall impressed the emperor and the ministers of the court. And the performance of the prince in Taiqinglou is even more admired by the emperor and the ministers of the court, and now the more critical thing is that the emperor let the prince raise the imperial city division, which is a key position, this is the palace internal guard is also the most trusted person around the emperor, and there are still some performances of the third son Zhao Kaiming rose and descended secretly, sealed a Taibao, there is no hope for the crown prince at all, in view of the prince's recent outstanding performance is enough to surprise and puzzle me, I don't know what you think about this matter?

The three of them also looked at each other at the same time, their brains were spinning rapidly, and they had empathy in the face of Tong Guan's doubts and incomprehensions, although they also obviously felt the subtle changes that were taking place invisibly in the court situation, especially the obvious tendency of Cai Jing, a political speculator, made them feel deeply bad and puzzled, whether this was Cai Jing's personal consciousness or the emperor's guidance or hints behind it. And this decision is nothing more than a key turning point in their fate, once they stand on the wrong side, the consequences are not what they can bear, but also directly determine the political life of their family and the fate of the rise and fall of the entire family.

After being silent for a long time, it was Tong Shi Yang who first spoke: Father Weng (honorific title for father), the child thinks that the key to this matter is the emperor's attitude, since the emperor often mentions the prince in the harem, it is very positive for the prince's performance, not to mention that the prince has promoted the imperial city division, this is not a clear political signal to the court officials and subjects of the world, the emperor intends to let the prince familiarize himself with court affairs and intervene in government affairs in advance, so as to prepare for the prince's ascension to the throne in the future or let the prince take over early, In addition, the performance of Cai Jing, who is the emperor's favorite, at the moment is also thought-provoking, is this the emperor asking Taishi Cai to assist the prince, father, this has to make us pay attention to it.

After Tong Shi Yang said this, everyone present couldn't help but nod thoughtfully, Tong Guan suddenly said: There is another situation, according to the secret report of the inner chamberlain, the princess has been very active recently, especially recently with the queen and other concubines, often send gifts and specialties to them to do homework, as if to get a piece of praise and affirmation from the harem concubines, in addition, the current guards of the prince's east palace are obviously strengthening, especially the patrol around the mansion is increasing, which is also obviously different from before. This is also a puzzle for the father?

At this moment, Tong Shi Kong opened his mouth and said: Father, according to the ancestral etiquette and practice of the Great Song Dynasty, the current prince is the eldest son and the prince, and his position as the legal heir is unshakable, and the future head of the Great Song Empire is none other than the prince, and now the form is further clear, the emperor's praise for the prince, the attitude of the harem towards the crown princess, and the strengthening of the guard in the East Palace, the promotion of the imperial city division by the prince, and the change in Cai Jing's attitude towards the prince all prove one thing, that is, the prince will gradually enter the core decision-making circle of the imperial court, and the emperor is also gradually letting go of the intentional cultivation, let the crown prince exercise his court affairs ability.

Tong Shi Min blinked his eyes and continued: What the father and the two brothers said are reasonable, but I am a little puzzled by the brother, everyone knows the prince's previous performance, in addition to living in the prince's mansion to raise fish and enjoy flowers, it seems that he has no interest in culture and art, why is it so abnormal recently? Tong Guan looked affectionately at the three sons sitting in front of him and said: This problem has been deeply thought about by the father, there are no more than two reasons, one is that it is reasonable for the emperor to have the talent in this area in terms of the emperor's artistic and cultural cultivation, and the prince was deliberately low-key and temporarily avoided the edge, and was waiting for the opportunity, but now with the signs of favor of the third son of the emperor, coupled with the prime minister Wang Huang behind his back, the prince feels threatened to change his style of acting in the past. The second is that the emperor intends to let the prince familiarize himself with court affairs in advance, so that he can give up the throne to the prince at any time in the future, especially the historic completion of the great achievement of recovering Yanjing that the monarchs of all dynasties wanted to complete since the founding of the Great Song Dynasty more than 100 years ago, and in the process of recovering Yanjing, the incompetence of the fraternal Liao people, the greed of the Jin people, the repeated surrender of the general Zhang Jiao, and the low combat capability of our army made the emperor feel physically and mentally exhausted, which may lead to the emperor's retreat.

Listening to Tong Guan's explanation, Tong Shi Yang, Tong Shi Kong, and Tong Shi Min felt reasonable, and after carefully tasting it, they nodded in agreement. Tong Shi Yang asked weakly: Father, last time you visited the East Palace to meet the prince, I don't know how your father felt about the prince? Tong Guan retracted his gaze at the three of them after hearing this, and carefully recalled the scene at the time and said: For his father, he feels that the prince's city is very deep, which is the biggest difference from the emperor today, especially the sharp and divine eyes, and his father still feels a chill down his spine when he thinks about it, as if his eyes let him see through everything, and there is a kind of domineering spirit that is not angry and arrogant, which has not been encountered in his father's decades of military career.

The three people who heard this were all surprised, Tong Guan paused for a moment and then continued: That night, my father was like a transparent person in front of the prince, and the prince knew better than what his father had done for so many years than his father, and what was even more unbelievable was that he knew everything about the more than 10,000 guards in the most secret palace, not to mention the fact that every time we waited for the army to go on an expedition, I secretly withheld food and grass. But after that, the conversation changed, and at the same time affirmed his father's achievements in recovering Sizhou, attacking Western Xia, pacifying Fangla, and recovering Yanjing. What makes my father's back chill the most is that the prince pointed out the shortcomings of our country's army, from the beginning of Taizu's cup of wine to the present, the reason for the weakening of the forbidden army step by step, although I have a lot of generals in the court, but I can so systematically analyze the deep-seated reasons why the forbidden army of the imperial court cannot fight, even if the veterans such as the Northwest Seed Master Dao are not as good as it.

After Tong Guan finished speaking, he looked ahead with dull eyes, as if he was very frightened, and the other three people also opened their mouths in surprise at Tong Guan's words at the same time, they didn't expect that even the godfather, who had always been confident, was so afraid of the prince, and even a little afraid. Then he fell into a short silence, but Tong Shimin reacted more quickly, broke the silence and said first: Father, in my opinion, this is not a bad thing, we should become a good thing, and it may be the foundation of the Tong family's foothold in the future new dynasty. As soon as Tong Guan heard this, he felt that he saw a glimmer of light in the dark, and said urgently: What do you mean, let's listen to it in detail.

Tong Shi Min pondered for a while and said: Father, two brothers, please think about it, if the prince succeeds to the throne, what does he need most? It must be the support of the important ministers of the court and the support of the public opinion of the world, according to what the father just said, the prince is clear about all the words and deeds of the father, so why do you have to tell the father face to face and not directly report to the emperor to deal with it, this is the cleverness of the prince, I want to use the father, after all, the father has been in control of the forbidden army for so many years, and he has won the trust of the emperor, almost any military affairs in my dynasty are based on the father. The crown prince is also well aware of the combat effectiveness of the forbidden army of the current imperial court, and the people of the Jin Kingdom in the north are currently breathing, and they are also digesting the huge territory of the Liao State that they occupy. This is a kind of cultivation to break without saying that it is broken, and the cultural cultivation of the crown prince is to a large extent to use his father's achievements and prestige in military affairs to provide a solid foundation for his ascension to the throne. Since it has use value, then this is the opportunity of our Tong family, if we grasp it well, the Tong family will be favored by the emperor again in the new dynasty, this is the good thing I just said.

Hearing Tong Shi Min say this, the other three also felt very concerned, so everything can be explained, this is the prince's carrot and stick strategy, to beat Tong Guan. Then the next thing is the question of how to be exploited. Tong Guan's mood at this time also slowly calmed down, the previous haze was swept away, and the knot in his heart had gradually opened, so he said slowly: Although that being said, how to solve the matter of our private guards and greedy for ink and food? This matter can't be solved, I'm afraid that the prince will settle accounts in the future, and we will be very passive at that time. This is indeed a thorny problem, in the case of the complete disappearance of the military system of the Tang Dynasty, the Great Song Dynasty has always adopted the recruitment system, and the Tong Guan Mansion privately raised more than 10,000 guards, if this matter is poked out, it can be big or small, at the small to say that this matter is to look at the family and the hospital, to the big one is also the crime of rebellion, this is the crime of killing the head.

Tong Shi Kong explained: The father does not need to worry, since the prince has already picked out these things, it is nothing more than to dedicate the guards, coins, grain and grass to the prince, if the prince accepts, it also means that everything has been turned over, after all, once the son of heaven and a courtier, why not take this opportunity to express his surrender and full support to the prince, so as to gain the prince's initial trust and leave enough room for maneuver in the future?

Hearing this, Tong Guan suddenly understood and concluded: My father understood, and after the brainstorming of the children just now, my father decided to make a list of the housekeepers and guards of this mansion, the military salaries that were greedy for ink before, grain and grass and related real estate, and directly dedicated them to the prince, so as to ensure the safety of my Tong family, and secondly, let the prince rest assured that we will reuse our Tong family again. What do you think?

Shi Yang, Tong Shi Kong, and Tong Shi Min all said: Father's move is very appropriate. Seeing that the three righteous sons also agreed, at this time Tong Guan was in a good mood, glad that he was an internal servant, since the age of twenty into the palace to follow Li Xian in the army, step by step to the important ministers of the court, in charge of the forbidden army for many years for the court to make great achievements, now the righteous son, wife (nominal), family have benefited, and this year, consider more how to maintain the status quo, so that his children and grandchildren can also enjoy the glory and wealth, this is his greatest responsibility and obligation, at this moment bothering him for many days knot completely untied, it will be a lot easier, The next step is to discuss the details of specific matters with the three righteous sons......