Abundance Paradise, Grace House.

The banquet is ready, and the delicacies of the mountains and seas from all over the world can be described as dazzling.

Lu Shen even saw two famous dishes that he had seen in Heluocheng on the table, namely Paxia and Yellow Birdtail, which are rarely seen in the Jiangnan area, and are the characteristic flavors of the north.

It can be seen that the eldest prince attaches great importance to today's banquet, not only clearing Fengyuan just to entertain Lu Shen, but also putting a lot of effort into the dishes, considering that Lu Shen has been living in Jiangbei, he specially found an extra celebrity chef from Jiangbei.

If there is a delicacies, how can there be no wine in the banquet?

The wine is famous, the wine is soft, and there is a faint sense of sweetness in the mouth.

After drinking the door cup, the eldest prince coughed lightly, and the maids in charge of pouring wine and cloth dishes saluted and retired, leaving only him and Lu Shen sitting opposite each other in the hall.

The eldest prince looked at Lu Shen and smiled: "This king likes to pour himself drinks, so it is more leisurely." ”

This explanation is a little redundant, no matter how stupid people are, they know that he is not drunk today, so he naturally doesn't want anyone next to him to be an eyesore.

Lu Shen didn't break it, and responded indifferently: "This is His Highness's benevolent heart of compassion for his subordinates." ”

When I had tea before, under the inquiry of the eldest prince, Lu Shen talked about some details of the frontier war in the first two years, and the eldest prince listened very attentively, and praised Lu Shen and the border army officers and soldiers.

In his opinion, no matter what Lu Shen's true perception is, at least this is enough to show his attitude.

As soon as he thought of this, he picked up the wine glass and signaled to Lu Shen, and after drinking it, he said, "Kind heart...... The king was worried about the safety of the frontier and the complicated situation in the court. I only hate that I have nothing else to do, I can't help my father solve problems, and I haven't made an inch of contribution to the country, and in the end, I can only get a few little names. ”

Lu Shen tasted the sweetness of the fragrant wine, and said unhurriedly: "People do their duty and make the best use of things, this is the foundation for the smooth operation of the imperial court." The ministers of the Manchu Dynasty performed their duties, whether it was the Six Ministries and Nine Temples or the Imperial History Tower, or even the noble yamen such as the Hanlin Academy and the Guozijian, as long as everyone could do their part, why worry that Daqi was not strong? As far as Nachen is concerned, it is enough to lead the troops carefully when he is on the frontier, and to do his best according to His Majesty's requirements after returning to Beijing. ”

He raised his eyes to look at the eldest prince and said gently: "Your Highness is talented and intelligent, why should you be an idiot?" ”

This is the first time that Lu Shen has given a clear attitude since the two met today, but it is not so pleasant to the ears of the eldest prince.

In particular, the words duty and duty are undoubtedly a euphemistic allusion.

For a prince, what is duty?

The prince of heaven and earth is the benchmark of this era, Li Duan is both a king and a father, of course he has the right to decide the fate of several princes and even life and death, which has nothing to do with whether it is reasonable and correct, but a rule that everyone needs to abide by today.

It is indeed the basic criterion of the past and present, but when you open the history books of Huanghuang, there are not many examples of the eldest son being able to successfully take over the throne, at least the proportion of the total is not as high as imagined.

The eldest prince put down his wine glass, a reluctant smile floated on his face, and said slowly: "In the eyes of Shanyang Hou, does the distinction between right and wrong matter?" ”

In fact, Lu Shen could understand his feelings.

Perhaps this is the reason why the Son of Heaven agreed to let him come to Fengyuan after deliberation.

Putting aside the occasional violent temperament of the eldest prince in the palace, his appeal is reasonable, after all, most people think that he can become the crown prince of Great Qi, including himself.

In his twenty-four years as a prince, he never thought that one day he would get farther and farther away from that position, even if his biological mother, Empress Xu, loved the third prince even more, he only regarded this as a normal manifestation of his preference for the youngest son. As long as he doesn't do anything that causes public outrage on the surface, and honestly maintains the name of benevolence, he will definitely be able to become a prince in the future.

Because of this, even if he knew that the second prince was using his amorous and unbridled name to attract literati, and knew that the third prince was arrogant and domineering, he did not treat them harshly as the imperial brother, but only occasionally reminded them gently.

Not to mention walking on thin ice for more than 20 years, he is at least cautious, suppressing the desires in his heart, and trying to play the role of a gentle and generous heavenly son.

Now that it was like a sudden explosion of thunder, the Son of Heaven liked the second prince even more, how could he accept it calmly?

For anyone in the world, I am afraid it is difficult to accept this huge gap.

If he was not qualified to covet that position from the beginning, maybe he would not have been so flustered in his heart, and he would not have found a life-saving straw like a man in the water after Changsun Jun said this method, hoping that the situation could change.

Lu Shen looked at the table full of sumptuous but untouched delicacies, and then his gaze stayed on the face of the eldest prince and asked, "Your Highness, what's right?" What's wrong? ”

The eldest prince drank the wine in the cup again, his eyes flashed with a strange look, and he said decisively: "This king only knows that it is right to continue the Northern Expedition to recover his homeland, and it is wrong to enjoy comfort in a peaceful corner. ”

Lu Shen was slightly stunned.

This answer was indeed beyond his expectations, he thought that the other party would say that the inheritance of the elder was right, and the abolition of the elder and the young was wrong.

The eldest prince continued: "My father's support for the border army is absolutely correct, and this king absolutely agrees with this. Lu Shen, although this king has not seen the ferocity of the Jing army with your own eyes in the frontier, but this king knows that the emperor of Jing Guo is ambitious, he will not be satisfied with the division of the world, the Jing army will inevitably go south again, and there will be a battle between Qi and Jing. It is a fantasy to expect the Hengjiang Trench to be able to block the Jing Army forever, and only by reorganizing the armament and strengthening the heart of resistance, and continuing to increase the support for the border army, the Great Qi side has a glimmer of life. ”

When he said this, a fiery and heroic look appeared on his face.

Lu Shen didn't know if this was the eldest prince's own thoughts, or the advice of those scribes raised by the palace, but judging from his sincere expression at the moment, maybe this was the reason why he felt that he could win over Lu Shen.

Regarding the dispute between the princes, both the emperor and the ministers have their own opinions, and everyone looks at this matter from a different perspective.

The reason why the Son of Heaven likes the second prince is not that he has nothing to do to make the situation more complicated, but that after a long period of teaching and observation, he recognizes the temperament of the second prince more, thinking that he can take over his burden and let Daqi move forward smoothly.

Or from some point of view, the Son of Heaven thinks that the second prince is more like him, and can continue to implement the national policy of the Northern Expedition on the premise of maintaining the stability of the court, while the eldest prince and the third prince may not be able to calm down and deal with the courtiers below in the future because of the defects in their temperament.

However, in the eyes of the eldest prince, although Lu Shen is now the commander of the Beijing army, his foundation is still in the border army, and he will still lead the troops to fight in the border in the future.

The eldest prince thought that his clear statement should be able to impress Lu Shen.

It's just that he didn't think about how much power this kind of princely promise has?

Of course, this is not Lu Shen's primary consideration.

Now that he is involved in this turmoil, he must not only take into account the expectations of the Son of Heaven, but also cannot become the focus of the conflict between the father and son of the Heavenly Family, so he said slowly: "Your Highness, the strength of the border army is inseparable from the support of the rear, especially the need for a stable and harmonious rear. In fact, His Majesty has used more direct means to rectify the atmosphere in the court during this time, but His Majesty has not done so. ”

The eldest prince bowed slightly.

Lu Shen continued: "At the court meeting that day, fourteen officials jointly signed a resignation, which was essentially a forced palace, and His Majesty not only did not treat them harshly, but after approving their resignation, he rewarded everyone. Isn't there a problem with the resignation of the officials themselves? Could it be that each of them is an incomparably incorruptible official? The minister did not believe it, and the minister thought that as long as the warp weaving department investigated carefully, he would definitely find out what they had done, and then punish them, but His Majesty did not do so. ”

The eldest prince was silent, and he suddenly understood the deep meaning of Lu Shen's words.

Lu Shen observed the change in his expression, and said in a slow tone: "At that time, those people joined forces to force the palace, and even the ministers were full of anger, let alone the arbitrary Your Majesty? But after all, things in the world can't be done as they want, and His Majesty can only treat them favorably for the sake of the stability of the overall situation. Another example is Hou Yu, who colluded with the courtiers to deceive his superiors and subordinates, presumably His Royal Highness also hated this person, and it was not an exaggeration to put him to death, but His Majesty only took him into exile in the end. ”

Speaking of this, Lu Shen sighed softly and said with emotion: "Your Highness should understand that Your Majesty does not dare or cannot do that, but he has the common people and the world in his heart, so he will take some more tactful measures." ”

The eldest prince knew in his heart that Lu Shen was talking about those past events on the surface, but in fact, he was reminding him of the attitude of the Son of Heaven towards the dispute between the princes.

From the perspective of common sense, the Son of Heaven did not have to agree to his request to entertain Lu Shen, and even completely cut off his contact with the courtiers, and did not need to care about his thoughts, as long as he was trapped in the palace of King Chen, and then let some important ministers contribute to the troubles in the court, and then set up the second prince as the crown prince.

This is not a particularly difficult thing for the Son of Heaven today.

As for what kind of resentment the eldest prince will have because of this, is it important?

He doesn't have the capital and ability to confront the Son of Heaven, so he can only accept this result whether he wants to or not.

Considering the character of the eldest prince, his most likely outcome is to become depressed and ill, and of course it is not ruled out that he will take an extreme path.

Throughout the ages, most of the tragedies between the father and son of the Heavenly Family are due to the isolation between China and the rest of the world, speculating on each other's thoughts, and finally deepening suspicion and resentment day by day, leading to the end of turning against each other.

But the Son of Heaven did not do this, he knew very well the purpose of the eldest prince's banquet for Lu Shen, but he still agreed to Lu Shen to go.

The fragrant wine was sweet and clear, but the eldest prince only felt bitter after drinking it.

He slowly put down his wine glass, looked at Lu Shen's eyes full of complicated emotions, and finally asked an extremely straightforward question: "Lu Shen, if you are this king, will you be willing?" ”

(End of chapter)