Is the prince abolished today?

Chapter 53 Punishment

In the afternoon, Wang Fulai led two servants to Chengqing Hall, and personally helped Wei Zhao up.

"Your Majesty is suffering. This is the plum soup prepared by His Majesty's Imperial Dining Room. It is the most refreshing and quenching thirst. Please drink it."

A little waiter immediately bowed forward holding a tray, but there was a golden bowl on the tray.

Wei Zhao frowned: "This is a tool that His Majesty is entitled to enjoy. How can this Marquis go beyond the rules?"

Wang Fulai said with a smile on his face: "This is exactly what Your Majesty meant. Your Majesty said that the Marquis of Dingbei is like my humerus. I feel very sorry for wronging the Marquis today, so I specially asked the old slave to prepare this one." Golden bowl, make amends to Lord Hou."

Wei Zhao quickly expressed panic, and after repeated persuasion by Wang Fulai, he picked up the golden bowl and drank it down.

"It's really sweet and delicious, and it's extremely refreshing."

After thanking the emperor routinely and praising the emperor's reward, Wei Zhao asked, "Where is Your Majesty now? This Marquis happens to have something important to report to His Majesty."

Wang Fulai said with concern: "I'm just discussing matters with some adults in the household department in the imperial study. Lord Hou has been kneeling for a long time, so don't you need to go back to the mansion to rest?"

Wei Zhao smiled: "This Marquis is a member of the army, so this little punishment is nothing."

Wang Fulai ordered his servant to take down the golden bowl, and led Wei Zhao to the imperial study.

As the summer was getting closer, the air became hotter and hotter, and the period from noon to midnight was the hottest time, and even the palace people walked in places with shade.

When Wei Zhao was about to arrive, he stopped suddenly.Because from a distance of several feet, he saw a snow-robed boy kneeling on the open space in front of the imperial study.

Different from the punishment kneeling in front of the Chengqing Hall, the young man's back was straight and his posture was very standard. He held a mahogany board tied with a bright yellow ribbon in both hands and raised it high above his head.Because the snow robe was light and soft, the young man's snow sleeves all slipped off, exposing his slender and clean arms.

Wei Zhao subconsciously glanced at the scorching sun in mid-air, then at the young man kneeling upright under the sun, and asked Wang Fulai, "What's going on here? Why did His Majesty punish His Highness to stay in the royal palace at noon?" Kneeling in front of the study?"

"This……"

Wang Fulai sighed: "Your Highness entered the palace today and smashed the imperial study room. Not a single piece of treasure and jade was left, and almost destroyed the jade seal. Your Majesty was very anxious, and thinking that His Highness was still ill, he was reluctant to give up. This is why His Highness is punished to kneel under His Highness with the family law of the ancestors in hand."

"Your Majesty said that His Majesty is going to kneel until tomorrow morning, and go directly to court after kneeling. He won't even give him a rest time. I'm afraid he's really angry."

Wei Zhao became more and more puzzled: "Why did Your Highness smash His Majesty's imperial study?"

Although the little prince is a bit willful in his daily life, he is not so careless.

Wang Fulai sighed again: "Speaking of which, this matter is still related to Lord Hou."

Wei Zhao was taken aback: "Is it related to the Marquis?"

"That's right, His Highness heard from somewhere that the First Prince wanted to worship Lord Hou as his teacher. Not only did he go to the First Prince's mansion to make a fuss, but he also went to the palace to make trouble with His Majesty, and said that His Majesty and those who beat around the bush would take advantage of Hou Ye. If you deal with him, it would be better to just abolish his position as the heir apparent, and it will be settled once and for all. Your Majesty will be angry when he hears this."

"But Lord Hou, don't worry, Your Highness has absolutely no malice towards Lord Hou. Just now His Majesty wanted to punish His Highness to kneel outside the hall, but Your Highness refused, so His Majesty insisted on agreeing to him. Never make things difficult for Lord Hou because of this matter, and never Let's mention the matter of asking the eldest prince to worship Lord Hou as his teacher. After His Majesty let go, His Highness will obediently come out and kneel."

Wei Zhao was in a slightly complicated mood.

Just now when Wang Fulai passed by, he wondered why Emperor Changping figured it out so quickly. It turned out that it was because the little prince entered the palace and made a fuss.

Wei Zhao suppressed his thoughts and strode over, only to see that under the scorching sun, the corners of the boy's mouth were tightly pursed, his long eyelashes were drooping, and he was kneeling motionless on the white marble floor. His face was as white as beautiful jade. , almost transparent white, and a dense layer of dry skin on both lips.What really surprised Wei Zhao was that the mahogany board was made of a whole piece of solid wood, it was not light, even a martial arts practitioner would struggle to hold it so high, but at this moment, the young man was able to hold it firmly Like a mountain, the arms do not tremble at all.

Such a tough and unyielding image is so different from the usual kid who likes to act coquettish and cry in front of him, pretending to be pitiful and weak, Wei Zhao couldn't help but feel a little dazed.

Sensing that someone was approaching, the young man frowned in disgust, as if he wanted to see who dared to seek death in front of him at this time. When he looked up and saw that it was Wei Zhao, his eyes widened in surprise.

The four eyes met for a moment, and Wei Zhao saw that the young man's eyes flickered slightly, and the angry little flames in his eyes were quickly replaced by a layer of sparkling water, looking at him eagerly, how pitiful he looked delicate and charming.Even the two arms holding the board changed from being motionless to trembling slightly, and then trembling violently, even in a precarious posture.

Wei Zhao: "..."

Sure enough, the little brat was still that annoying little brat, he hadn't changed at all.

The corner of Wei Zhao's mouth twitched, and he knelt down on one knee, looking at the boy at the same level: "I heard that His Highness begged for my minister's favor in front of His Majesty. I am very grateful, and I really don't know how to repay it."

"no need."

The young man took a deep breath, showing strength in his pitifulness: "Gu said that the person Gu most admires and admires most is Marquis Wei. For Marquis Wei, Gu is willing to do anything."

"I don't need Marquis Wei's repayment, otherwise, it would be too hypocritical."

"Of course, Gu can control his own mind, but he can't control Wei Hou's. If... If Wei Hou insists on repaying Gu, Gu is not such an unkind person."

"After all, Marquis Wei still owes Gu a story and a bowl of red bean smoothie."

If it were normal, Wei Zhao would definitely watch this kid perform with the mentality of watching a play, but today, facing such a "tough" kid, before he could react, Wei Zhao had already nodded: "Okay, I will remember."

……

"Ai Qing, you don't need to be too polite, get back on your feet quickly."

Because of the guilt of today's behavior, Emperor Changping was several times more enthusiastic when he saw his beloved courtier than before, for fear that his beloved courtier would have a rift with him because of his momentary muddleheaded behavior.

Emperor Changping patted his beloved courtier on the shoulder, and sighed: "Today is really too muddled and thoughtless. He only cares about his own wishes, but ignores Aiqing's feelings. Aiqing won't hate me, right?"

Wei Zhao hurriedly expressed his panic: "How dare I."

Emperor Changping solemnly promised: "Don't worry, Aiqing, the matter of apprenticeship will be canceled from now on, and I will never force Aiqing again. I just don't know where Aiqing's domineering disciple is now, is he also an official in the court? If he's not here, I can give him an official position and let him serve the country together with Aiqing. I believe that the apprentices taught by Aiqing will not be bad."

Wei Zhao said: "I would like to thank Your Majesty for his kindness."

"It's just that he may not be blessed to serve His Majesty, because that disciple of the minister left many years ago."

Emperor Changping was startled: "Leave?"

"Yes, he...is no longer in this world."

"That's why I can't bear to break the promise of the year."

Emperor Changping, who learned the truth, couldn't express the guilt and anxiety in his heart.

"I'm sorry, You'an, I didn't know, and there was this reason in it, why didn't you tell me earlier."

After so many years, Wei Zhao has become much calmer, and said with a light smile: "It's okay not to mention the sad matter, but I hope that your majesty will forgive me for deliberately concealing the crime. If your majesty really wants to give the evildoers a gift, I will give you a gift every year on the anniversary of my death. Burn some paper money for him in front of the hall."

"Autumn, Autumn Wind Hall?"

"Yes, it was the Jingsiyuan during Emperor Wu's reign. That's where I met my disciple."

After hearing Wei Zhao's brief account of the cause and effect, Emperor Changping asked with a strange look: "Aiqing, are you sure you are not mistaken? As far as I know, the Jingsiyuan is the most desolate and remote forbidden garden in the palace. The conditions in the garden are very poor." It's bad, there is no charcoal fire in winter, and the food is the worst. Only the courtiers who have committed serious crimes will be locked up to think about their mistakes. Even if the son of an ordinary foreign minister committed a mistake, he should not be locked up in such a place. "

Wei Zhao had never heard of this information.

He suddenly realized, no wonder, it was such a cold day, but in such a cold hall, there was only one old thick quilt, and the quilt was still torn in several places, which was obviously bitten by mice.When he was just injured, he woke up from time to time and was unconscious. In order to take care of him, the little boy finally gave him the thick quilt to cover him. In a daze, he bandaged and changed his dressing, and finally passed out directly on the ground.

He woke up at night and found that something was wrong, he wrapped the little guy in a quilt and held him in his arms to warm him up overnight...

Wei Zhao no longer dared to touch that memory lightly, because every time he touched it, he felt heart-piercing pain.Hearing what Emperor Changping said, he replied as calmly as possible: "I look at his clothes and appearance, and he does look like a man of a family. As for why he was locked there, I don't know very well."

The two monarchs and ministers quickly skipped this topic tacitly. Emperor Changping asked: "I heard that Aiqing has something important to report to me. I don't know what it is?"

"It's Chunyu's fault."

Wei Zhao also restrained his thoughts, and said: "During this time, I have sent three groups of secret agents to infiltrate into Shu in secret to search for Chunyu Puppet's whereabouts. The strange thing is that they almost dug the whole of Shu into three feet. However, according to the clues provided by Chunyu Yan, Chunyu Puppet has indeed stayed in Shu in the past few years. When Chunyu Puppet secretly contacted Wu Song, his junior brother in Zixia Temple, , and they also used carrier pigeons from Sichuan.”

Emperor Changping pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked: "Have you really searched every place?"

Wei Zhao said, "Except for one place."

"where?"

"Respect the palace."

For this answer, Emperor Changping did not show much surprise.To be precise, it was hard for him to be surprised by what King Jing had done in the past two years.

Wei Zhao continued: "As I reported to His Majesty before, King Jing's Mansion is heavily guarded, and its strength...is not inferior to Da Nei at all."

Emperor Changping instantly heard the implication: "Aiqing is referring to 'listen'?"

Wei Zhao nodded.

Although expected, actually hearing about the dire outcome is another matter.Emperor Changping's expression suddenly became serious, and he fell into deep worry.

He hated fratricide the most in his life, and sincerely wanted to treat this fellow brother kindly.However, what should come, still can't escape.

Wei Zhaodao: "I have an idea about this matter. The Dragon Boat Festival banquet will be held in a few days, and envoys will be sent from all over the country to congratulate. Your Majesty might as well call King Jing's son to Beijing in the name of rewarding festivals. If King Jing has no intention of treason , I will agree to allow the son to enter the capital, if so, it is another matter."

Emperor Changping stroked his beard and smiled: "This time Aiqing and I have thought of one place, and I will immediately order someone to draw up an order."

……

After coming out of the imperial study, Wei Zhao went directly to the cabinet to discuss several outstanding military and political issues with the people in the Ministry of War.

The crowd dispersed one after another, and a young military official saw that Wei Zhaoming had finished handling all the military affairs, but he was still sitting behind the case and flipping through the books, and had no intention of leaving. Do you want to go back to the mansion to rest? Later, the key to the palace gate will be released."

Wei Zhao looked at the sky, and when he accidentally caught a glimpse of a white jade staircase outside the cabinet, he suddenly lost his mind and said, "This Marquis will leave later, you go first."