When everyone in the room heard this, they were all stunned.

Hai Jiao hurriedly asked, "Grandpa Cao, what do you mean by this?" Didn't Tu Tongzhi send someone to send the secret back to Beijing? So why did my aunt and grandfather say that? ”

Cao Gengyun stretched out his index finger and shook it: "He sent his own soldiers to ride fast horses out of the city, and in broad daylight, everyone watched." But what most people don't know is that shortly after crossing the bridge, the soldier came back around, changed into clothes, dressed as a commoner, and led his horse back to the city—less than an hour apart. ”

Everyone was stunned when they heard this. What kind of drama is Tu Rong singing when he makes such a play? !

Haitang asked in a low voice: "Did he deliberately pretend to send out a secret fold to scare the Zhou family's third room?" ”

"It's not just the Zhou family's three rooms." Cao Gengyun pouted, "On that day, Tu Rong himself personally went to the town in front of the Duke of Guo and told the Grandpa that he sent someone to send the secret fold into Beijing or something...... But not to mention what was written in the excerpt, he insinuated that the grandfather of the country should take care of his people, and said that the Zhou family is the emperor's closest relative, and if he encounters any difficulties, the emperor will never stand idly by...... Yin and Yang said a lot of weird things and ran away, sounding like they had bad intentions! ”

Cao Gengyun has always hated this kind of behavior the most, and he only thinks that Tu Rong himself is a little hateful.

Lu Bainian sighed when he heard it: "It seems that ...... The emperor really doesn't plan to reconcile with the Zhou family. In the past, it was just to insert people into the northwest border army and divide the military power of the Zhou family, so he deliberately showed goodwill. Now once he grasps the handle of the Zhou family, he will try to show his strength. Actually, why bother? How could the Zhou family have ever reversed? It's just that he helped him ascend to the throne, but he refused to help him change the law. But the Zhou family has guarded the frontier for generations, and they don't plan to get involved in the government, but they are also guarding the duty of the border general. This was the loyalty of the Zhou family, and the royal family never complained, but wished that the Zhou family would not enter Beijing. ”

Hai Jiao pursed his lips: "Maybe it's because the emperor knows that he can't last a few years, so he wants to do what he hasn't been able to do for decades, so as to fulfill his long-cherished wish, right?!" ”

When Lu Bainian heard this, he couldn't help but want to play his head again: "Shut up!" ”

Begonia hesitated and put forward a different opinion: "I think ...... The emperor doesn't have to mean that......"

If the emperor wants to take advantage of the Zhou family's three-room collaboration with the enemy, bring down the entire Zhou family, or completely take back the Zhou family's military power, then he should use public opinion to spread the whole matter to the public, ruin the century-old prestige of the Zhou family as much as possible, and destroy the foundation of the Zhou family among the people, so as to be serious about his family. But Tu Rong, a henchman he sent, blocked the news, and deliberately pretended to send someone to Beijing to deliver the letter, but in fact it was just a scene, and then ran to Zhen Guogong to hint for a long time, more like he was luring Zhen Guogong and took the initiative to negotiate with him.

What does the emperor and Tu Rong want to negotiate with Zhenguo Gong?

Zhenguo Gong is accustomed to thinking that they have bad intentions, but is it really necessary for the emperor and Tu Rong to turn their faces against the Zhou family?

What is the current situation of the emperor?

He himself has been ill for many years, and his control over the imperial court is not as good as before, and there is no way to make the officials of the old faction of Sun Ge obey his orders and obey his own arrangements in the choice of the prince.

The Qingliu faction of the former life of the Wu Sect, which he has only re-supported in recent years, is still in a weak position, and has been repeatedly suppressed by the Sun faction and failed to obtain real power in the cabinet; And Tao Yue, a confidant cousin who had just been promoted, had only been in power for less than a year, and he was just a household servant, and he had not even reached the cabinet seat, so he was far from being able to compete with Sun Gelao.

The good news is that the Marquis of Yingchuan, who is in charge of the forbidden army, has already had a rift with Sun Ge Lao.

The bad news was that even with the support of the forbidden army, the emperor still couldn't get the cabinet to nod and agree to him appoint the eighth prince as the prince.

In such a situation, what does the emperor want to accomplish most? Of course, it will not be to bring down the Zhou family, which has always been unpleasant but has never rebelled, but to give priority to ensuring that the candidate for the prince he is optimistic about can smoothly ascend to the throne and inherit the throne smoothly.

In the last life experienced by his elder brother Haijiao, the emperor did not exterminate the Zhou family, but on the issue of heirs, he fought openly and secretly with the Sun family for many years, and only then did he rush to the last moment of his life, and he forced Sun Ge Lao out of the cabinet to ensure that the eighth prince succeeded to the throne.

Although in the previous life, the Zhou family had lost power before the emperor's death, but the children of the clansmen outside the Zhou family's house still served in the Northwest Frontier Army. And the Sun family's calculation of the storage position made the emperor troubled until death. Even if the eighth prince succeeded to the throne, the throne was still not very stable, and it took Tao Yue, the new pavilion elder, to work hard for more than ten years before the new monarch took office.

In Haitang's view, in the emperor's mind, it should be the priority of "curbing the Sun family and ensuring the succession of the eighth prince", more than "bringing down the Zhou family".

She couldn't say this in front of the two elders Cao and Lu, so she could only go back and talk to her brother again, and now she could only come up with another inference: "If the emperor really wants to be unfavorable to the Zhou family, he doesn't have to wait for Zhenguo to publicly back down, and now Tu Tongzhi is more like waiting for Zhenguo Gong to bow his head first, and then agree to the conditions proposed by the emperor...... For example, the eighth prince of Bao is the heir to the throne or something. What the Zhou family did to the emperor back then, the emperor now wants them to do it again. If the emperor complained that the Zhou family helped him ascend the throne in the past, he would no longer help, and now he may wish that the Zhou family could continue to adhere to his principles, and after trying to ensure that the eighth prince sits on the throne, he will retreat to the frontier and not interfere in the government, right? ”

The two elders Cao and Lu looked at Haitang in surprise, they didn't expect her to put forward such a point.

Haijiao was used to discussing business with his sister, so he asked, "Why does my little sister have such an idea?" Is it because the emperor has not been able to appoint the eighth prince as the prince for a long time, thinking that the biological mother of the eighth prince, Concubine Xu Xian, has a relationship with the Empress Dowager Zhou, and may be able to get the help of the Zhou family? But this kind of thing, even if he doesn't speak, the Zhou family will help, right? Why send Tu Tongzhi to check the third room, put a crime of collaborating with the Zhou family, and hint that Zhenguo openly begged for mercy? ”

Haitang thought for a while: "The Zhou family may not be willing to help...... After all, the Zhou family has already suffered a loss. ”

The Zhou family has always adhered to the principle of not interfering in the affairs of the court, but because of a moment of soft-heartedness, they helped the Empress Dowager Zhou and supported the succession of Emperor Deguang, who was not related by blood. Now the eighth prince born to Concubine Xu Xian also has no blood relationship with the Zhou family, even if the Zhenguo Mansion looks at the face of the Empress Dowager Zhou and takes more care of Concubine Xu Xian's "nephew", it is more to block the political enemy Sun family, rather than really supporting the succession of the eighth prince. The Zhou family didn't want to suffer another loss, and would rather stay away. And without the support of the Zhou family, what help can the young Eighth Prince have behind him?

In addition to the emperor, Concubine Xu Xian and the Empress Dowager Zhou, I am afraid that there is no one in the court who really wholeheartedly supports the Eight Princes. Those courtiers who did not go along with the Sun family might have acted in accordance with the holy decree, but if the Eighth Prince had not officially established a prince, there would be no legitimacy at all, and the courtiers had no reason to support a child and abandon the adult candidates for the throne. After all, the country depends on the monarch. King Ji is also the blood of the emperor. As long as the ceremony of returning the sect is completed, the courtiers will definitely give priority to supporting him.

If the emperor doesn't want the prince of Ji to ascend to the throne, then he has to find reliable help for the eighth prince. After going around for more than 30 years, in the end, the most reliable help he could find was still the Zhou family.

It's just that he has been suspicious of the Zhou family for many years, and he doesn't believe that the Zhou family will sincerely act in accordance with the holy decree. In order to make the Zhou family obedient, would it be more certain to grasp the Zhou family's fatal handle first?

(End of chapter)