Chapter 336 It’s settled!
early morning.
Li Nuo walked aimlessly on the street.
After visiting seven censors yesterday, they had confirmed the number of votes, reaching ten.
Li Nuo had finally obtained the three certificates from the Imperial Medical Bureau by promising huge profits.
The seven from the Censorate were because of the Sixth Princess’s own efforts.
Once the great spirit came out, those imperial censors became her family, without even a word of extra words being needed.
However, only ten tickets are far from enough.
But Li Nuo was an outsider after all. He had only been in Zhao for three months and did not know many officials, let alone have any friendship with them.
The only person with whom he had a good relationship was the Minister of Revenue.
But even though the two of them usually call each other brothers, on matters like this, even brothers may not have the same political views.
It is not uncommon for close relatives to become enemies because of who they voted for.
It is far better to promise benefits than to appeal to their emotions.
But how can we promise him benefits?
Others are not cultivators, nor do they practice martial arts or medicine. They can neither modify his techniques nor directly improve his cultivation. It is really difficult to ask for this.
Let's put this matter aside for the moment. When passing by a crowd on the street, Li Nuo would stop for a short while.
There are only three months left until the election.
People are talking about this on the streets.
Although the support of the people does not play a decisive role in the outcome of the general election, the combined public opinion can also influence some neutral officials.
It takes some time for public opinion to brew.
We need to find a way to make the people pay attention to the Sixth Princess. When public opinion reaches a certain scale, officials in the court will naturally notice it.
Up to now, apart from the Imperial Medical Bureau and the Censorate, no one knows that the Sixth Princess will participate in the fight for the throne.
In this way, most of the court officials would not think of voting for her.
If it were in Daxia, this matter would be much easier to handle.
He could use a lot of power to gradually guide public opinion, but this was the State of Zhao, he was alone, and there was very little he could do.
He went out today just to listen to public opinion.
In front of a breakfast stall somewhere, several customers who were having breakfast happened to be talking about the princes.
"Who do you think will win in the end, the princes?"
"I guess Prince An, His Majesty has praised Prince An's talents many times before."
"I guess Prince Shun. Prince Shun is the eldest prince. He has the most seniority among the princes and his abilities are not bad either."
"I guess it's the Fourth Prince. He has done so many things and established so many political achievements. Everyone can see it."
"What? What do those political achievements have to do with the Fourth Prince? They were all done by the people around the Sixth Princess. She just pushed all the credit to the Fourth Prince."
"The Fourth Prince really has a good sister, otherwise, how could he possibly defeat the other three princes?"
Li Nuo came to another morning tea stall, where the tea drinkers were still discussing state affairs.
"Although the Sixth Princess is a woman, she is no less capable than a man."
"Why can't the Sixth Princess participate in the fight for the throne? I think it would be best for the people if the Sixth Princess ascended the throne."
"But the Sixth Princess is a woman."
"What's wrong with being a woman? Can't a woman be an emperor? Have you forgotten that the Holy Emperor was also a woman?"
"I think the Sixth Princess has the potential to be like the Saint Emperor..."
…
Li Nuo stood on the street with a look of surprise on his face.
He originally thought that the topics discussed by the people would be limited to the four princes, but he did not expect that the one they talked about the most was actually the Sixth Princess.
The Sixth Princess has never publicly expressed her intention to compete for the throne. The three officials from the Imperial Medical Bureau have gone to study malaria and are not in the capital at all. It is even more impossible for those censors to expose this matter. How did this rumor come about?
After listening for a while, Li Nuo was quite sure that someone must be deliberately misleading public opinion behind this incident.
A moment later, inside the courtyard, Zhao Zhiyi looked at Li Nuo blankly and said, "I don't know. I didn't ask anyone to do it."
Li Nuo guessed that it wasn't her either.
First of all, she would not do these things without discussing it with her.
Secondly, she doesn't have the ability.
The person behind this incident must be a master at manipulating and guiding public opinion, and he cannot do it alone. There must be a huge and professional organization behind him.
Who could this person be?
Prince Sheng's Palace.
A figure was running hurriedly towards a palace, but was stopped halfway.
He stopped, looked at the figure, bowed slightly, and said, "Hello, Mr. Lin."
Although Mr. Lin has only been in the palace for a short time, he has already become the chief adviser and the most popular person in the eyes of King Sheng. The old people in the palace have to treat him with respect.
The elegant man looked at him and asked, "What's the matter? Why are you so flustered?"
The man said, "Mr. Lin, there have been some rumors in the past few days, saying that His Royal Highness Prince Sheng's political achievements are all due to the Sixth Princess, and that the Sixth Princess should replace Prince Sheng and compete for the throne with the other princes... These rumors are spreading like wildfire, and I was just about to report them to His Royal Highness Prince Sheng."
The elegant man frowned and scolded: "Stupid!"
The man trembled and murmured, "Mr. Lin, this..."
The elegant man said, "You can't see that this is such an obvious attempt to sow discord. This is clearly a conspiracy by the other three princes. They want to use this to sow discord between the Fourth Prince and the Sixth Princess. You are an old man in the Sheng Palace. Don't you know His Highness's character? Once you tell His Highness about this and cause His Highness to be suspicious of the Sixth Princess, wouldn't that be exactly what they want?"
After hearing this, the man thought about it carefully and broke out in a cold sweat.
Yes, with His Highness's suspicious character, once he learns of this, even if he doesn't completely believe it, he will definitely have some suspicions in his heart.
No matter who he was suspicious of, he must not be suspicious of the Sixth Princess.
He is an old man in the palace and knows very well that Prince Sheng’s current reputation and status are all due to the Sixth Princess.
The rift between the brother and sister was exactly what the other three princes wanted to see.
Thanks to Mr. Lin's reminder, he almost made a big mistake.
After wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, he immediately clasped his fists towards Mr. Lin and said, "Thank you for your reminder, sir!"
The elegant man waved his hand and said, "Go tell the others that no one is allowed to mention this matter to His Highness. If something goes wrong, I will hold you responsible!"
The man trembled and said respectfully: "Yes, sir..."
…
Princess Palace.
Li Nuo took a piece of letter handed to him by Zhao Zhiyi. This letter was sent by the Imperial Censor.
The letter said that he had contacted eleven officials with great righteousness and won another eleven votes for the Sixth Princess.
This is undoubtedly great news.
It was indeed a wise choice for them to go to the Censorate first.
The great spirit is the bond between all Confucian officials, allowing them to trust each other and advance and retreat together.
Getting the votes of the Censorate is equivalent to getting the votes of all Confucian officials.
It is a pity that there are not many Confucian officials in the court, or to be more precise, Confucian officials who have cultivated the great moral integrity.
In official circles, being upright and incorruptible is actually not a good thing.
This made it difficult for them to integrate into the group of officials, and their intolerant character also made court officials stay away from them.
This kind of official was usually assigned to noble government offices such as the Censorate, the Imperial College, and the Hongwen Academy, and did not take charge of important affairs in the court.
They are not tactful enough and are in key positions, which makes both their superiors and subordinates uncomfortable.
But as long as their rank is high enough, they also have the right to vote.
Including the eleven votes from these officials, she already had twenty-one votes. Although she was still not as many as those princes, she already had the foundation to compete for the throne.
…
Prince Sheng's Palace.
"Your Highness, according to our spies, the Imperial Censor has visited eleven officials in the past few days. These officials are all Confucian officials with noble character..."
After listening to his men's report, King Sheng could hardly suppress the smile on his face.
Once again, he was glad that he did not stick to his own opinion and chose to listen to Mr. Lin.
It turned out to be right to be careless and kill one's relatives.
If I had chosen to protect them at the beginning, I would definitely lose the support of the Censorate.
Taking down the Censorate is equivalent to taking down the Confucian officials in the court.
I lost three tickets and gained eighteen tickets, which is a profit no matter how you look at it.
Mr. Lin's status was once again elevated in his heart.
This is a true strategist!
He counted on his fingers and found that with these eighteen votes, he had obviously surpassed his three royal brothers. If he could win over some neutral officials, he could celebrate in advance.
He raised his head, his eyes filled with unconcealable joy.
It’s settled!
(End of this chapter)
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