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After muttering a few words, Zhou Shangjing fell silent again, his eyes slightly closed, as if he was gradually falling asleep, as if he was waiting for something.

About a quarter of an hour later, Zhou Quan, the steward of the Zhou Mansion, appeared outside the door of the study and reported through the door: "Master, Lord Song Qiwen Song is the secretary of the Ministry of Officials, and Lord Song asks to see him." ”

Zhou Shangjing slowly opened his eyes and sighed: "Take him to the study to see me." ”

Zhou Shangjing obviously expected Song Qiwen's request to see him for a long time, and he had been waiting for him.

After all, Zhou Shangjing's various statements on the court this morning can be said to have been without warning, and he did not discuss with the core figures of the "Zhou Party" in advance, and the "Zhou Party" people chose to support Zhou Shangjing out of their trust at that time, but the "Zhou Party" is an extremely large interest group, and Zhou Shangjing, as the leader of the "Zhou Party," is only the spokesman for the interests of the "Zhou Party" in the final analysis.

Especially the situation at today's court meeting is extremely special, Zhou Shangjing and Emperor Deqing at the same time, quasi-prince Zhu Hejian, such a consequence even if it is as powerful as the "Zhou Party" can not be ignored, we must understand the reason why Zhou Shangjing did this.

Therefore, not long after Song Qiwen left the early dynasty, he rushed to the Zhou Mansion to ask to see Zhou Shangjing, precisely to inquire about Zhou Shangjing's true intentions on behalf of the "Zhou Party".

After a while, Song Qiwen had already come to the study of the Zhou Mansion and saluted: "Disciple Qiwen, I have seen the teacher." ”

Hearing Song Qiwen's words, Zhou Shangjing couldn't help but smile.

When Song Qiwen participated in the imperial examination, Zhou Shangjing was the examiner, so he can indeed be regarded as Zhou Shangjing's student, but since Song Qiwen served as the secretary of the ministry, Zhou Shangjing wanted him to be alone, so he no longer let him call himself by the word "teacher", so Song Qiwen has always called Zhou Shangjing "Lord Shoufu".

Now Song Qiwen calls Zhou Shangjing "teacher" again, which has about two meanings, one is that he is now meeting Zhou Shangjing in a private capacity, and there is no intention of questioning; The second is that no matter what Zhou Shangjing's true thoughts are, he will stand on Zhou Shangjing's side.

After thinking about this, Zhou Shangjing's mood was both relieved and helpless.

Song Qiwen's loyalty is a good thing, so Zhou Shangjing will rest assured that he will hand over the officials to him, but Song Qiwen is too obsessed with Zhou Shangjing's kindness and prestige, and inevitably lacks some personal insights and courage, which makes Zhou Shangjing unable to entrust the "Zhou Party" to him with peace of mind.

In fact, if Song Qiwen could directly raise questions at this time, or even question Zhou Shangjing's actions in the court this morning to damage the overall interests of the "Zhou Party," Zhou Shangjing would be even happier.

Zhou Shangjing is already very old, and he must consider the matter of the successor, if the two brothers Zhou Suhai and Zhou Suwen are the successors of the family he selected, then Song Qiwen is the first in line to inherit his political legacy, whether it is age, seniority, prestige, ability, Song Qiwen is the leader of the next generation of the "Zhou Party" - in a way, in the eyes of Zhou Shangjing, Song Qiwen's importance is even higher than that of Zhou Suhai and Zhou Suwen.

It's a pity that perhaps Zhou Shangjing's personal aura over the years has been too strong, which has greatly affected Song Qiwen's growth, so that Song Qiwen has always lacked the consciousness of being independent.

Zhou Shangjing has been letting Song Qiwen stay in the position of the secretary of the ministry for many years, just to let Song Qiwen cultivate his prestige and connections, and after he tells the old man, he can successfully complete the transfer of power, but Song Qiwen always can't get rid of his dependence on Zhou Shangjing, it can be said that he can follow the same trend, he can perfectly implement Zhou Shangjing's ideas, but he rarely has his own ideas.

Thinking of this, Zhou Shangjing sighed secretly in his heart, and Zhao Junchen's appearance flashed in his heart unexpectedly.

Compared with Song Qiwen, Zhao Junchen is diametrically opposed, he has too many ideas and too strong courage, and it is easy to get out of control - in Zhou Shangjing's view, with Zhao Junchen's temperament, he will inevitably leave a name in history in the future, but it may not be "eternal", or it may be "stinking for thousands of years"

Soon, Zhou Shangjing didn't think much about it anymore, and he didn't show any abnormal emotions on the surface, but just asked, "Is it Li He, Zhang Bochong, and Du Bai who asked you to come to see me?" For the sake of something up this morning? ”

Song Qiwen hurriedly replied: "I still hope that the teacher Mingjian, the disciples and others do not have any intention of questioning and questioning, but we really can't understand the deep meaning of what you did this morning, and we are worried that we will misjudge the teacher's intentions and help you, so I want to ask the teacher, and we can cooperate with the teacher in the future." ”

After a pause, Song Qiwen couldn't bear it after all, and said: "Now everyone knows that the Seventh Prince Zhu Hejian is about to become the new prince, and you deliberately suppress him, not only offending Your Majesty today, but also extremely disadvantageous in the long run...... Therefore, the disciples and others really can't understand your intentions.

The disciple thinks that at the beginning, the crown prince Zhu and Yu repeatedly opposed us, and the teacher, you at most secretly punished one or two, but never directly opposed him, and now the attitude of the seventh prince is much gentler than the prince, and we really don't need to be enemies with him......

Especially Your Majesty, he took the opportunity to punish Du Bai this morning, so that Du Bai changed from the left capital to the right capital of the imperial history, although the official rank has not changed, but on the surface, Wang Youlun is still half a head lower, so that his control over the Metropolitan Procuratorate has been greatly affected, and His Majesty's approach is obviously a warning...... Therefore, all my colleagues are a little worried, if we still have to be enemies of the Seventh Prince in the future, I am afraid that we will suffer heavier losses. ”

Seeing that Song Qiwen finally couldn't help but question, Zhou Shangjing was a little happy.

Then, Zhou Shangjing said slowly: "Actually, the old man's embarrassment with the Seventh Prince today is not a temporary idea, it has been prepared in advance for half a year!" ”

Song Qiwen couldn't help but be shocked when he heard this.

Half a year ago, Emperor Deqing had just had the idea of abolishing the prince, and the seventh prince Zhu Hejian had just been taken seriously, and Zhou Shangjing had already wanted to deal with Zhu Hejian from that time?

There are some things that Zhou Shangjing will not tell Zhou Suhai, but Song Qiwen is the heir to his political legacy, but he must know the truth.

Therefore, after Zhou Shangjing saw Song Qiwen's doubts, he patiently replied: "As early as a few years ago, the old man vaguely felt that in addition to the few factions on the surface, there was also another force in the temple that wanted to influence the situation in the court. ”

Then, Zhou Shangjing's expression became more and more meaningful, and he said: "Then, the old man observed carefully, but also found some rules, this secret force has some inner court background, and its goal is obvious, that is, the prince Zhu and Yu have been secretly stumbling on him, the prince has always achieved nothing in recent years, and has done more wrong, in addition to his own flaws in vision and ability, it is also largely related to the secret work of this force." ”

"Is there such a thing?" Song Qiwen couldn't help but be dumbfounded.

Zhou Shangjing nodded, and said: "Originally, the old man thought that all this was just his suspicious delusion, but after the former prince and prince He Ming was tragically destroyed by the so-called bandits on the way to the post, and his proud disciple Zhao Shan defected to the prince and died unexplained, the old man finally confirmed that this force does exist!"

Hey! He Ming's means and wisdom are on par with the old man, if the prince gets his assistance, he must be as stable as Mount Tai! That Zhao Shancai also got the true inheritance of He Ming, and it only took a few months to assist the prince, and he significantly reversed the prince's bad situation, but they died suddenly like this, is it a coincidence? …… Therefore, the goal of this force is obvious, that is, for the position of the prince!

You just said that the crown prince Zhu and Yu were quite hostile to the old man at the beginning, but the old man never took action against him, not only because the old man was confident that he would be easy to control after he ascended the throne, but also because he wanted to find out the roots of this force from Zhu Heyu's body. ”

Song Qiwen was taken aback again, and hurriedly asked, "Teacher, are you saying that this force has something to do with the Seventh Prince?" ”

Zhou Shangjing said leisurely: "The old man didn't suspect him originally, he was too clean at the beginning, but half a year ago, the old man was reminded by Zhao Junchen, saying that the deaths of He Ming and Zhao Shancai's master and apprentice were related to the seventh prince Zhu Hejian, and then the old man found the exact goal...... If you think about it, the Seventh Prince and the Crown Prince have always been close on the surface, and the Crown Prince also trusts him, and has adopted many of his suggestions, which seem to be very good, but the final result is counterproductive! ”

Song Qiwen frowned and said, "Could it be that Zhao Junchen is sowing discord?" This man has always been a habitual of conspiracy. ”

Of course, Zhao Junchen has the intention of sowing discord, but what he said may not be false! The old man will also investigate it himself! Speaking of this, Zhou Shangjing's expression gradually became solemn: "After having a clear goal, the old man's investigation progressed much faster, but the more he investigated, the more ......frightened he became."

After speaking, Zhou Shangjing took out a booklet from the bookcase and handed it to Song Qiwen.

Song Qiwen took the booklet and looked at it, but saw that there were many names densely written on the booklet, and their origins were marked behind the names.

These people have different origins, some are court officials, some are private merchants, some are the sons of nobles, and some are eunuchs in the inner court, but without exception, each name has a cross drawn on it.

Song Qiwen was undoubtedly a smart person, and immediately raised his head and asked, "...... them All dead? ”

Zhou Shangjing nodded and said: "These people are all suspected by the old man of having something to do with that force, because they are more or less involved in the things that stumbled the crown prince Zhu and Yu in the first place, but since the signs of the Seven Princes' ascension to the throne gradually became obvious, the old man was planning to investigate them further, and they died one after another, some died of sudden illness, and some died of accidents...... Among them, the most important person is a rich merchant named Bi Gan in the capital, he has some relationship with Chen You, the Duke of Jingguo, and many people who have a relationship with that force will take silver from him, and the old man saw that the people related to this force died one after another, in order to protect him, he deliberately let Shuntianfu find a reason to arrest him in prison, but he died of hanging himself that night! ”

Song Qiwen also had a solemn expression, squinted his eyes slightly, and said: "The gradual ascension of the Seven Princes occurred at the same time as the successive deaths of these people, which is too coincidental...... Could it be that the Seventh Prince saw that the general trend had been achieved, so he was killing people and killing people, wanting to wash his foundation and eliminate his flaws? ”

Zhou Shangjing shook his head and said, "Maybe it is, maybe not, the old man still can't find evidence, but if that's the case, the Seven Princes' minds are meticulous, ruthless, and heartless, which is really shocking!" ”

After a pause, Zhou Shangjing said again: "Although the old man can't find evidence, he has been secretly testing him for the past six months!"

When the prince formed an alliance with Zhao Junchen, the old man secretly created a momentum, instigating those Qingliu to betray the prince and turn to him, wanting to test his true attitude towards the prince, and finally he soon half-pushed and half-pushed all the Qingliu who took refuge in him into the door, and since then, the Qingliu not only never advocated the prince again, but began to have a tendency to slander, which may not be what he meant;

After he formed an alliance with Shen Changmao, the old man overthrew Shen Changmao, wanting to see his attitude towards his allies, but as a result, he not only abandoned Shen Changmao immediately, but also swallowed up the 'Shen Party' forces in one fell swoop;

Today, I deliberately dealt with him, also to test his responsibility, whether he was really as flawless and selfless as rumored, and the result was obvious, and it can be seen that he obviously wanted his friends to take the blame for himself......"

Song Qiwen muttered: "Ruthless and unrighteous, deep in the city, addicted to power tricks, seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages, greedy for fame, if it is just like this, it only means that the Seven Princes are not as noble as the rumors in the world, but since ancient times, the vast majority of emperors have been like this, at most they are just another current majesty...... However, if he is really related to that secret force, it means that he is still a vicious, ruthless, and ruthless person, if so......"

Zhou Shangjing nodded and said, "In that case, after he inherits the unification, we courtiers will have to relive the scene of Taizu's past...... Hehe, after Taizu established the country, how many ministers had to prepare coffins for themselves in advance before going to the early dynasty? How many people died in an unknown way and implicated the Nine Clans? Today's His Majesty certainly has all kinds of shortcomings, but he at least understands the overall situation, and also attaches importance to the reputation of history books, and will never use drastic means unless it is absolutely necessary, but if the old man's inference is true, the more forbearance His Royal Highness the Seventh Prince shows now, the more unscrupulous he will be after inheriting the unification, and at that time, not to mention that the Zhou Party cannot be preserved, I am afraid that the family inheritance of you and me will be in danger! ”

Song Qiwen finally understood Zhou Shangjing's true thoughts, and asked, "Do you want me to tell Li Ge Lao them about this news?" ”

"I don't need too many people to know about it yet, you just need to help me appease them." Zhou Shangjing shook his head and said, "But the old man has the next plan here, and I need your cooperation!" ”

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