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Guo Bing still sat quietly in the boat hall, his eyes sweeping the familiar streets on both sides of the strait. I haven't been in Hangzhou for a few months, and everything here is so familiar. Compared with the capital he just left, the atmosphere here makes Guo Bing more comfortable. If you talk about the prosperity of the market, Bianliang is even more prosperous than Hangzhou. But in Bianliang, Liang Wang always feels that the market buildings are cold and aggressive, where is as kind and comfortable as Hangzhou.

However, this is Hangzhou, not Bianliang City after all.

From the beginning of November last year, when he went to the capital to celebrate the birthday of the Queen Mother, to today's return, he stayed in the capital for three months. This was the longest period of time he spent in the capital as an adult. More than 20 years ago, he made Hangzhou his home. Since the imperial brother ascended the throne, he deliberately avoided staying in the capital for too long, and every time he came and went in a hurry, he lived in the old house in the capital for no more than a month and then rushed back to Hangzhou. A long time ago, he thought that Bianliang City was very good, but for some reason he felt that Bianliang was not good. It's always a little uncomfortable to stay there.

And this time, he had to stay for more than three months, for the birthday of the Queen Mother. Last year's birthday of the Queen Mother was very successful, at least on the surface, there were no flaws. The atmosphere on that birthday was very good, and when the two treasures were displayed in public, the Queen Mother's happiness was obviously from the bottom of her heart, and she also saw the meaning of praise in the eyes of the imperial brother, which made Guo Bing breathe a sigh of relief in his heart.

Guo Bing was glad that this matter could finally be over, because only he knew how many weeks he had spent for these two birthday gifts, and there was even a little bit of a fork in the middle that was difficult to remedy. Fortunately, that Lin Jue helped himself at a critical time, or it was because of his own Hongfu Qitian that he completed an almost impossible task, which led to the flawless birthday ceremony, which made this trip to the capital have the best result. Otherwise, not only will the birthday be ruined, but the royal brother will also be angry, and using this incident as a guide may lead to many extremely bad consequences. Just thinking about it, Guo Bing shuddered.

After his birthday, because of the cold weather, Guo Bing had to stay in the capital until the canal thawed before returning to Hangzhou. Although this makes people very uncomfortable, Guo Bing can only endure these uncomfortable. However, the royal brother is also kind, and invited himself to eat together for the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, and there is also some brotherly friendship in his words, recalling the interesting stories of the two brothers when they were young. Guo Bing didn't say a word more, because he understood that it was before, and now it is now, the emperor's brother was not the emperor before, but his brother, and now it is the emperor who is sitting in front of him. He can mention those so-called brotherhood, but he can't mention a word about it. Even if it is just revealing an incident when the royal brother was a child, it may cause a senseless disaster.

No one knows his imperial brother better than him, a long time ago, this imperial brother was a benevolent and virtuous prince in the eyes of the world, and now he is a wise and martial emperor. Everyone in the Great Zhou world rejoiced in having this wise emperor, but King Liang, who had lived with the imperial brother and spent more than ten years of his youth, knew that the imperial brother was far from being as benevolent and charitable as the world thought. He knew a lot of the royal brother's secrets, but he never dared to confide in half a word.

During the days when he stayed in the capital, Guo Bing tried to be as careful as possible, tried to stay in the mansion in the capital and kept his door closed, neither participating in the banquet invited by anyone, nor inquiring about any news that he should not know. Because he understands that in fact, his every move is under the eyes and ears of the imperial brother. In fact, not only himself, but also everyone in the DPRK and China are also under their ears and eyes. Although it may not be that there is any attempt to be unfavorable to him, his identity is sensitive and his status is special, even if it is a small thing, it will cause strange speculation. So he had to guard against it.

But even though he kept a low profile, he still knew many, many things in the long three months. There were things he already knew, and some things he knew for the first time. There are a few things that he has to pay attention to, because they are a few major events related to the imperial court.

One is the rumor that the imperial brother wants to make a prince. The sources of information are scattered, but they are consistent together. That is, the imperial brother seems to have begun to decide to establish the position of prince. The royal brother is five years older than himself, he is forty-six this year, and the imperial brother is fifty-one years old this year, which is actually not too old. But if it is said that the crown prince is established, it is also time. The emperor's brother was the prince for twenty-eight years before he became the emperor, and the emperor was only forty-seven years old when he became the crown prince, so although he was only on the throne for three years at the moment, it was not surprising to make a prince.

The problem is that although it is normal to establish a prince, who is the right person is the key point. In terms of the rules of establishing the eldest first, it seems that Guo Mian, the king of Jin, is the best candidate. Because Guo Mian, the king of Jin, is not only the son of the queen, but also the oldest among all the princes. It seems that who to appoint as the crown prince is not a matter of worry.

But if only it were that simple. Although the king of Jin was not the eldest son, his reputation was average. Rumors about his bad conduct, greed for lust and good wine, and exaggerated joy have been circulating in secret. The king of Jin was especially fond of feasting and hunting, and gathered a large number of scribes and talents in the capital to gather and drink at every turn, and then write poems together. It is said that some people once showed the poems written by him and his talented people to the imperial brother, because those poems were full of resentment and rebellion. As a result, the king of Jin was severely reprimanded by the emperor, and several talented people were even sent to prison, and some are said to have died in prison.

Compared with King Jin, Concubine Mei's second son, Huai King Guo Xu, is not much better than Guo Mian in terms of reputation. Guo Xu can be called both civil and military, and he has a good name, and he is smart and polite, and he has led the army and fought on the border of the Great Zhou and Liao, and has won a good reputation for praise. The saint was also very fond of him, and often took him with him to accompany him and give him some personal teachings.

That's not all, the more critical point is that Concubine Mei is the daughter of the current prime minister Lu Zhongtian. Guo Xu, the king of Huai, is the grandson of Lu Zhongtian. That's the real problem.

Anyone with a little common sense will understand that the matter of establishing a prince is actually not simple. If this matter is not brought up, everyone can pretend that they don't know anything, and they don't have to worry about anything. But once the matter of establishing a prince is mentioned, it must not be a logical thing to decide who is the prince. As a matter of fact, many people have already begun to compete in secret, and have secretly begun to take sides, and in fact, there are very few people with ambiguous attitudes on this matter, because this is the focus of contention between the two factions of the DPRK and China. The neutral will be abandoned by both sides, and that will never come out, everyone knows that. So in this gamble, no one can stay out of it.

However, Guo Bing, the king of Liang, is an exception, because of his special status, it is not easy to express an opinion on the question of who will be the crown prince between the king of Jin and the king of Huai. And whoever becomes the crown prince actually has nothing to do with Guo Bing, because the throne is not obtained by himself after all. But Guo Bing couldn't help but pay attention to this matter, because this matter was not only a matter between the two princes, but also about the future of the Liang Palace. Or maybe it's because of one person, so that King Liang has to take a position in this matter. That person is Lu Zhongtian.

Lu Zhongtian, the elder of the two dynasties, was deeply rooted in the court, rising and falling three times without falling, and held the power of the political hall for a total of 27 years. Although it has gone through all kinds of winds and waves, it has not moved, and it is called 'tumbler'. In terms of means and the ability to govern, this person is not an ordinary person. In the past few decades, the prosperity and glory of the Great Zhou Dynasty have a contribution to Lu Zhongtian.

However, Guo Bing doesn't care about his governing talents and measures, even if you are a saint, once this saint slanders himself in the ears of the emperor all day long, then Guo Bing will regard him as an enemy.

It was this Lu Zhongtian who said in the ear of the imperial brother more than once, 'The vassal king is outside, and it is difficult to restrain him.' ', what' the lessons of the past dynasties are in our eyes, and we must guard against them. ''The land of the southeast is anointed, and you know the king but you don't know the saint' and so on. kept asking the imperial brother to recall himself from Hangzhou to live in the capital and restrain him under his nose.

Anyone with a bit of a brain understands how much of an impact these words can have on themselves. Lu Zhongtian's words, the saint heard them for a long time, and he didn't have any thoughts in his heart. Moreover, guarding Hangzhou by himself is a thing that is not in line with the ancestral system. At the beginning of the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, a rule was established that vassal kings were not allowed to go out of Beijing, and even if they had real positions, most of them were remote officials. In a word, prevention is better than prevention.

As the prime minister, Lu Zhongtian said that there was nothing wrong with saying these words, after all, he was loyal to the Holy Lord and sought government for the Great Zhou Dynasty. Any factor that violates the stability of the Great Zhou Dynasty, he has the right to say. But from Guo Bing's point of view, Lu Zhongtian's words were not out of public intentions, but a kind of despicable slander and revenge, and a private act of coercing the public newspaper. is because of the long-entangled personal grudge between the two.

Speaking of the grievances between the two people, in fact, it can be traced back to a long time, and the cause is actually not big, just a small entanglement at a banquet. That was almost thirty years ago. At that time, Lu Zhongtian had only just taken up the post of deputy minister of political affairs, and Guo Bing was only an eighteen-year-old young prince with strong blood. At a banquet in the palace of King Xin in the imperial history, Lu Zhongtian talked eloquently and arrogantly, as if he had become the core of everyone, talking loudly and foaming, almost stealing the limelight. It was also at that time that Guo Bing was young and vigorous, but as a noble prince, he was neglected by others, and was robbed of the limelight by this Lu Zhongtian, so he didn't like it in his heart.

So, the royal boy humiliated Lu Zhongtian in public with the strength of wine, he knew that Lu Zhongtian was not strong enough to drink, but he took a huge bowl full of wine to salute Lu Zhongtian. Of course, Lu Zhongtian refused to drink it, so Guo Bing poured a whole bowl of wine on Lu Zhongtian's head. Since then, Lu Zhongtian has had the first nickname in his life, 'Lu Luotang'. It is to describe the embarrassment of being drenched in wine that night.

Lu Zhongtian didn't dare to be rude to Guo Bing at that time, he behaved very calmly. Afterwards, when his father learned of this, he called Guo Bing and Lu Zhongtian to go to the palace, and scolded Guo Bing fiercely in front of Lu Zhongtian, asking Lu Zhongtian not to take it to heart. Lu Zhongtian said with a smile on his face that he was not angry at all, but Guo Bing could see from his cold eyes that Lu Zhongtian held a grudge.