The emperor asked everyone to guess, but who would dare to guess! Because the topic is too sensitive.

Wang Yinglin peeked at the few people present, except for the honest Ni Liang, who was still thinking about how to answer His Majesty's question, Chen Shishi and Wang De were silent. He was familiar with the scriptures and history, and it naturally knew that the matter of establishing a prince was a difficult problem that plagued the emperors of all dynasties, and since the Qin and Han dynasties, although the royal families of all dynasties have followed the primogeniture inheritance system. But no matter what era it is, there are tragedies of princes vying for the throne.

Since King Yingzheng of Qin unified the six countries, it was a matter for the emperor to consider that the first emperor was the prince. And Qin Shi Huang hesitated to establish a prince, and before he died, he intended to help Su ascend the throne, but he failed to inform the world due to the urgency of time, so Zhao Gao, Li Si and other villains had an opportunity to tamper with the edict. As a result, the Qin Dynasty was destroyed in two lifetimes.

The lessons of the Qin Emperor and the Prince made the later dynasties have to try all kinds of ways to avoid the disaster of Xiao Wall, but none of them seem to be very effective. At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the establishment of the East Palace track system, which was intended to cultivate and support the crown prince, was erected to ensure the peaceful and orderly transition of the imperial throne as the ultimate purpose of a set of institutions and track system, and the East Palace was also referred to as the crown prince from the palace where the prince lived.

After the establishment of the East Palace rail system in the Han Dynasty, it has reached its peak in the early Tang Dynasty after the growth and perfection of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. The institutional setup is complete, and the responsibilities of Zhan Shifu, Zuo Chunfang, and Right Chunfang can correspond to Shangshu, Zhongshu, and Menxia Province, and can operate independently like a small imperial court, forming the second power center of the country. But at the same time, the growing power and the unitary system of absolute monarchy have contradicted and argued, which still cannot avoid political turmoil and cannibalism.

However, this situation had changed by the time of Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. From the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, the prince did not live in the East Palace, but only lived in the "Courtyard of the Fortunate", and his life was dim. When Tang Suzong Li Heng was in the East Palace, he was slandered by Li Linfu many times, and he suffered physical and mental trauma and great mental pressure. In the late Tang Dynasty, with the expansion of the eunuchs' power, the power to elect the emperor was in the hands of the eunuchs.

In the later period, the edict of the crown prince and the canonization of the crown prince were often combined with the emperor's accession to the throne, and the crown prince only had the value of existence when the emperor changed the throne. With the decline of the prince's power, the status of the East Palace officials was also reduced, and the East Palace showed a trend of decline. By the time of Tang Xianzong, the status of the Eastern Palace officials and ministers was "increasingly sparse", and Fucheng was regarded as the same as the Eastern Palace officials in the early Tang Dynasty.

From the Middle Tang Dynasty to the Five Dynasties, the East Palace officials were either in charge of other things, or were official officials, and there were very few officials who were really related to the East Palace ministry, and most of them were part-time. The official positions of the East Palace have been abolished, and the East Palace officials of a considerable department have become the status of officials with a light rank, or have become a place to place other idle officials, and even the East Palace officials have evolved into a new type of additional officials.

The weakening of the East Palace has led to new problems. Tang Xuanzong was praised by the historian as "the "little Taizong" who was "clear and decisive, selfless in usage, obedient to advice, cherishing official rewards, respectful and thrifty, and loving the people". On the issue of the appointment of the prince, because the prince is too entangled, so that the time has been delayed, the dying prince has not yet been officially determined.

Regardless of King Yun and King Kui, who is inferior and who is superior, what will happen if someone is established, but history has no ifs. It is precisely because the East Palace has not been established, and the non-people entrusted to him when he is dying, which caused the brothers to covet the throne, giving the eunuchs the opportunity to privately support the new monarch and regain power. In this way, the rule of "Xiaozhenguan" that Tang Xuanzong himself had built with great difficulty soon collapsed, and it was the biggest regret of his life that made the last moment of the Tang Dynasty really come soon.

Later historians commented on the consequences of Tang Xuanzong's entanglement, and said this: "With the great scripture of the prince, without first deciding, and after his death, he actually held power for the eunuch and regarded the artifact as a monopoly thing. …… I don't feel the world of the Tang Dynasty, and I live and die with the eunuchs. It was Tang Xuanzong's repeated entanglement and hesitation on the issue of establishing a prince that provided an opportunity for the eunuch to return to power, and also left countless hidden dangers and endless regrets behind him.

As Wang Yinglin knows, after learning the lessons of the previous generations and avoiding repeating the mistakes of the past, the royal family of the Song Dynasty followed the track system design of the Eastern Palace from the Middle and Tang Dynasty to the Eastern Palace, and elevated the Eastern Palace to achieve the purpose of not disrupting the political situation, and it was not a good thing to be the prince in the Great Song Dynasty.

First of all, as the entity on which the prince rests, the East Palace is set up very casually, generally when the original prince is canonized as the crown prince, his palace and even his original residence become the new East Palace. Even the idle palace was repaired into the East Palace, so as to save manpower and material resources, and the arbitrariness can be seen.

Secondly, in the position of the prince, his duty is to "greet the food". In other words, as the crown prince, in addition to studying with the teacher, your task is to come to me to say goodbye. Please be safe in the morning, press at noon, and please be safe at night, and you don't have to worry about other things.

The original Zhan Mansion, the left and right spring squares have long ceased to exist, or in essence have disappeared, leaving only formal reservations, just to make the prince's etiquette as comprehensive as possible, affected by this, the East Palace institutions have basically lost the ability to operate independently.

In addition, due to the restrictions of imperial power, the crown prince was not allowed to lead troops, so he lost the ownership of the army, and there was no army independent of the imperial power and only obeyed the orders of the East Palace, and he also lost the political power that could really form the prince's shield.

In addition, under the squeeze of the central political participation institutions and the proliferation and expansion of local power institutions, the prince's east palace has lost its own way to gain political influence, and naturally it is unable to return to politics strongly.

Wang Yinglin also understands that because of this, the status of the East Palace is also stable, and the succession of the throne is stable and orderly, because the prince with less power will not have the intention of competing for the throne, and the emperor will not be wary of the prince all day long. But what he couldn't figure out was that the little emperor wouldn't understand this, why he was still very repulsive to the prince, and couldn't tolerate a crown prince who existed like a mascot.

After thinking about it, Wang Yinglin was suddenly startled. He suddenly thought that after the southern crossing, the personnel changes of the Eastern Palace bureaucrats were not only influenced by the emperor, but also deeply influenced by the political situation, and there was a situation of 'different opinions stirring up'. Especially after Xiaozong, as the chief executive concurrently served as the official of the East Palace, it became a 'family law', which deepened the influence of the political situation on the East Palace, and this may also be the reason why the little emperor resisted the prince from the bottom of his heart.

You must know that the throne of the little emperor is not easy to come by, and there have been many 'abolished emperors' turmoil, and the most serious incidents have come from the courtiers, and this voice has appeared from time to time in the court and the opposition. In addition, because of the emperor's adjustment of policies, the interests of many people have been harmed, and if the emperor dies suddenly, it will be much easier to control a child who is still nursing to become the emperor.

Secondly, the little emperor carried out a strong suppression of the queen's family after the wedding, and now the queen gave birth to her eldest son and became the crown prince, and she will inevitably reward the Wu family according to the rules, which gives them the opportunity to make a comeback. With the strength of the Wu family, it will soon rise in the imperial court and rely on the crown prince to form a foreign relative force. Then it will make the little emperor's early efforts go to waste, and even threaten his status, which the little emperor does not want to see.

Moreover, as the little emperor worried, he is still in the age of a weak crown, and it is not good to say, even if he is a father, he is a big child, and his life is just starting, even if he can't live or live for another forty or fifty years without accidents. At this time, the crown prince was established, and he could only wait for his father to die for a long time, maybe he would not have a chance until the year of confusion, and he could not even wait for that day to come.

When a person finds himself only one step away from the throne after a long wait, but knows that there is a person in it, who knows if he will have other thoughts. And Wang Yinglin believes that there will be many people who choose to give it a try, even if the result is likely to be a catastrophe, because the temptation is too great, killing this person, even if he is his own father, he will have supreme power and wealth.

In addition, with Wang Yinglin's understanding of the little emperor, he knew that his ambition to dominate the world and forge ahead with the intention of creating a powerful new Song Dynasty was a blessing for the Great Song Dynasty. But all this is based on the fact that he must hold absolute power, so how can he take the initiative to hand over power to the crown prince?

Thinking of this, Wang Yinglin shuddered, and said that he spit out the truth after drinking, and the little emperor had already thought of this, so he must have refused to establish a prince, and the ending of those who were on the table may not be too good, and it is not impossible to trigger a purge.

Compared with the frightened Wang Yinglin, Chen Zhishi was also drenched in cold sweat and had no intention of drinking. He regretted that his cousin did not give birth to a dragon son before, but now he is only glad. Although the little emperor did not explicitly say that he was worried that the crown prince would kill his father and usurp the throne, the meaning of it had been revealed that he had no intention, so the fate of the eldest son of the emperor may not be good, and it would even implicate the queen.

Thinking that the queen's family has been suppressed and it is difficult to make a comeback, and the Chen family is currently in a state of power, his father and uncle control the most powerful household and military departments in the imperial court, and have the strength to influence the political situation. If my cousin really gave birth to a prince, I am afraid that she would have the intention of putting him on the throne of the crown prince, and if she was confused at this time, she would not ruin the entire family.

And Wang De was also nervous, reflecting on whether his performance just now was too positive. If the emperor doesn't like it, won't he be bumping into His Majesty's sore feet, it seems that you must be careful in the future, and you must not show too much enthusiasm for the queen, so as not to be suspicious of the emperor. Anyway, it will be twenty years later when the little prince grows up, and he may no longer be alive at that time, and whoever becomes the emperor has nothing to do with him.

The emperor now asked everyone to guess that it was probably to test their reaction, and when their minds were in a hurry, they suddenly found that the little emperor was drunk, and he had fallen asleep on the desk, and he was snoring.

"Help Your Majesty to rest!" Several people urged one after another, and their hearts were relieved, thinking that His Majesty had better forget about it......