Chapter 389 Phoenix Intelligence
Ningxin Garden.
Fenghuang waited anxiously for Li Nuo to come back, and asked impatiently, "What did father say?"
Li Nuo shrugged and said, "He said he knew."
Phoenix looked confused: "That's all?"
Li Nuo nodded: "That's all."
In his impression, there seemed to be nothing that could cause his father to have obvious emotional changes.
The fact that Fenghuang was a secret spy for the State of Qi did not sound like a small matter, and had a particularly great impact on the Li family. However, compared with the last time when King You of Han mobilized half of the court and most of the powerful circles to launch a vigorous campaign to "cleanse the court of officials", it was nothing.
That time, Li Nuo didn't see him panic at all.
A secret agent from Qi, no big deal...
No matter how chaotic the outside world is, he always remains reserved and silent, like a deep pool without any ripples.
Prince Chun is the complete opposite of his father. He is more like a cheerful stream, with a free and easy and lively personality, and always has endless things to say.
Li Nuo still can't figure out how these two people with completely opposite personalities became friends.
After hearing Li Nuo's sigh, Fenghuang smiled and said, "The Qingluan Society does have a record about Prince Chun and my father."
"oh?"
Li Nuo showed great interest in this.
The Qingluan Society has an extremely long history. It can be said that they have existed for almost as long as the founding of Daxia.
For hundreds of years, Qingluan Society has kept detailed records of all major and minor events that occurred in Daxia, especially in Chang'an.
When operating in Chang'an, the one they feared the most and were most cautious about was Mingjingsi, which was also a secret spy agency.
As the most powerful official in the court of Daxia and the head of the Mingjing Division, the Qingluan Society certainly has extremely detailed records of Dali Temple Minister Li Xuanjing. It is precisely because Fenghuang has read these that he can take targeted actions and guide public opinion in a targeted manner.
She recalled and said, "According to the records of Qingluan Society, in the 20th year of the Holy Emperor's reign, His Majesty summoned all the princes and some court officials to hold a spring hunt outside Chang'an. In this spring hunt, the other princes had a good harvest, but Prince Chun got nothing. So my father shared his prey with Prince Chun. After that spring hunt, Prince Chun often appeared in the Dali Temple..."
This time, it was Li Nuo's turn to say "that's it".
It doesn't seem reasonable that he was so good to the Li family just because his father gave some prey to Prince Chun.
Fenghuang shook her head and explained, "Many people think so, but Qingluan Society has conducted in-depth analysis on this. Prince Chun's mother was just an ordinary palace maid who died early due to illness. He grew up alone in the deep palace. His Majesty did not think much of him. People only knew about Prince Han and Prince You, and did not even know that Prince Chun existed..."
"People who have lacked emotions since childhood tend to cherish emotions more. At that time, my father was the top scholar in six subjects, had already established himself in the Dali Temple, and was highly valued by His Majesty. All the major forces in the court were vying to win him over. For him, it might just be to avoid embarrassing Prince Chun, but for a prince who had been neglected since childhood, it had a different meaning..."
"Their speculation is not without basis. According to investigations, among the palaces where the princes lived when they were young, only the maids and eunuchs around Prince Chun had the best life after leaving the palace. Prince Chun would give them a sum of money every year, and if they were bullied, Prince Chun's mansion would stand up for them..."
…
There is no doubt that Prince Chun values feelings.
The Qingluan Society is worthy of being the number one spy agency in the mainland, and Li Nuo has to praise its professionalism.
These people may not even be aware of the personalities they are analyzing in their research subjects.
Since Prince Chun was mentioned, Fenghuang also mentioned Prince Rui and Prince Gong.
Since the Rebellion of the Two Kings, it has been basically confirmed that the next emperor of Daxia will be chosen from these three princes.
When mentioning King Rui, Fenghuang showed some doubt on her face and said, "King Rui has been acting strange over the past year or so..."
Li Nuo asked: "What's strange?"
The Li family and Prince Rui still have old grudges to settle.
Gu Yanran was arranged to enter the Li Mansion by Prince Rui's men, and the assassination of Li Nuo in Chang'an was also caused by Prince Rui.
Fenghuang said, "In the past year or so, Prince Rui has rarely stepped out of the palace. This is very different from his previous behavior. He used to like to make friends and hold several banquets in the palace every month, but in the past year or so, he has not held a banquet. In addition to holding regular court meetings during the month of supervision, he does not often appear in public. It is said that he is now obsessed with reading and has even developed an eye disease because of it..."
"This behavior is very abnormal. Prince Rui is much younger than Prince Chun and Prince Gong, and his ability is not as good as Prince Han and Prince You. He was used by Prince Gong many times before and became a laughing stock in Chang'an. I don't know if he is pretending to do this. Maybe he wants to create a false impression of being studious and change the views of the court officials and His Majesty on him, but it seems that he has achieved the opposite effect. Many counselors in Prince Rui's mansion have left one after another in this year..."
Fenghuang paused and said, "As for Prince Gong, he is very cunning. Before the incidents between Prince Han and Prince You, he never fought for power. But after the rebellion of the two princes, he began to be active in the court and had close ties with the Zheng, Du, and Lu families among the six great families. After the fall of Prince Han, the Wang family also began to frequently contact Prince Gong. Among the three regent princes, Prince Gong has the most powerful power..."
The six great families have a profound influence on the court, and almost all the princes have connections with the six great families.
They will not fully support a particular prince. For example, the Cui family and the Pei family, although they are related to Prince Rui by marriage, it does not mean that they will stand firmly behind Prince Rui.
During this year, Prince Rui behaved abnormally, and the Cui and Pei families gradually deepened their ties with Prince Gong.
Fenghuang exhaled lightly and said, "Among the three princes, the weakest one is actually Prince Chun. Prince Chun is obsessed with cooking and has not shown any ability to govern the country. If it weren't for my father behind him, he couldn't be compared with Prince Rui and Prince Gong..."
Who will eventually take the throne of Daxia is a matter of great concern to Daxia and even to the countries on the mainland. However, even when faced with the forcing of abdication by great Confucian scholars, the current emperor has no intention of giving up the throne.
Fenghuang continued, "When will the Emperor of Daxia pass on the throne and to whom will he pass it? I'm afraid only he himself knows. However, according to the intelligence obtained by the Qingluan Society in other countries, Wei is likely to go to war with Daxia this year. If Liang had not defected, Daxia's current situation would be better. If Liang defected to Wei, Daxia would become extremely passive in this matter..."
She paused and said, "There is one very strange thing. After you and Yiren went to Zhao, envoys from Liang were assassinated one after another, which led to conflicts between Liang and Daxia. At that time, Daxia sent an envoy to Liang to appease it. According to the intelligence we got, Liang was very willing to reconcile with Daxia at that time. However, the attitude of the Daxia envoy towards Liang was extremely bad. They even insulted the emperor of Liang in public, which directly led to Liang and Daxia having no room for reconciliation..."
Li Nuo thought for a moment and asked, "Who sent the Daxia delegation?"
Fenghuang said: "He is an official from the Right Prime Minister's faction..."
…
The Secretariat.
The right prime minister looked at the intelligence from the border with a slightly dazed look in his eyes.
The war between Wei and Daxia was obviously unavoidable.
The separation between Liang and Daxia further accelerated this process.
In fact, his first plan was to target the State of Chu, but the assassination of the Chu envoy was sabotaged by Li Nuo.
The State of Wei had long intended to annex Daxia, but because there was the State of Liang between the two countries, the State of Wei did not dare to act rashly.
The second prince of Liang was assassinated, but the situation was resolved by Li Nuo. He could only send him to Zhao as an envoy to successfully achieve his goal of alienating Liang.
Over the years, he has attempted reform countless times.
When all his relatives and disciples died because of this, he realized that internal reforms would never succeed.
We must destroy all of this from the outside, and defeat the aristocratic families, before there is hope for change...
Whether this is right or wrong can only be left to future generations to judge.
By that time, Daxia might no longer exist, but having only one emperor and one royal family on the continent was better than having dozens of emperors and dozens of royal families...
As long as Confucianism survives, hope will always exist.
Prince Rui's Palace.
Several servants from the palace walked into a hall with thick books in their arms.
After entering the hall, they looked at the ground carefully.
There are many books scattered on the floor of the hall. If you are not careful, you will trip over them.
A figure sat cross-legged among a pile of books. He adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose, but his eyes did not leave the pages in his hands.
A servant stepped forward and said respectfully, "Your Highness, these ancient books were bought for you from the State of Qi."
King Rui nodded and said, "Leave it there."
Several servants carefully piled the books aside. From beginning to end, King Rui's eyes never left the books in his hands.
After an unknown amount of time, he finally closed the book in his hand and put it aside.
On the simple cover, there are large characters written: "Zhu Zi Ye Tan".
Prince Rui took off his glasses and rubbed his sore eyes. It was indeed a book called Wild Talk. The contents in the book were really wild.
A feminine man walked in and said softly, "Your Highness, Mr. Chen is gone too..."
Mr. Chen is a counselor of Prince Rui's Mansion. He has been with Prince Rui for a long time and has been giving him advice.
This year, Prince Rui was absorbed in studying and had no intention of competing in the court. He felt that his talents had no place to be put to good use. After a year of unsuccessful attempts to persuade Prince Rui, he finally proposed to resign today.
Upon hearing this, Prince Rui sighed and said, "Mr. Chen has been with me for a long time. Give him one thousand taels of silver from the account office so that we can part ways in peace..."
The feminine man said, "He knows a lot of our secrets. Should we get rid of him secretly?"
Prince Rui looked at him helplessly and said, "You, don't always think about fighting and killing. Calm down and read more books to cultivate your sentiments and calm your temperament..."
The feminine man looked at the books in the hall and couldn't help feeling a headache.
For him, killing is much more interesting than reading.
He was silent for a moment, then asked, "Your Highness, are you really not going to fight?"
Prince Rui put on his glasses, picked up an ancient book again, and said, "What is there to fight for? What can we get out of fighting? We can only ask for it if our father wants to give it to us. If our father doesn't want to give it to us, anyone who wants it will be courting death..."
Over the past year, he has been studying quietly, and in addition to seeing through the struggle for the throne, he has also gained many insights.
After he really fell in love with reading, he realized that the sea of books was vast and all-encompassing. There was still a lot of new knowledge and unexplored areas in this world. Compared with these, the throne of a country was really nothing...
Besides, even if he became emperor, what would that do?
With endless memorials to read and endless state affairs to deal with, how much time would he have to do what he really wanted to do?
Moreover, the emperor always had a short life span. Compared with the supreme power, he valued his life more...
He asked casually, "What interesting things have happened in Chang'an recently? Has the Dali Temple Minister made any moves?"
The feminine man shook his head and said, "Li Xuanjing didn't do much, but his son did a lot..."
Prince Rui immediately became interested and said, "Tell me about it."
The feminine man said, "Many people from the six great families have suffered from a strange disease, and the imperial doctors are helpless. Only Li Nuo can cure it. In order to ask Li Nuo to treat them, the six great families helped him catch many corrupt officials and unruly people, and even published Li Nuo's works to please him..."
King Rui said: "As expected of him as the son of the Dali Temple Minister, I have read the medical book he wrote. It is the most easy-to-understand one among all the medical books on the mainland, and many of its theories are groundbreaking and have never been mentioned in previous medical books..."
The feminine man continued, "After he returned to Chang'an, he seemed to be preparing to establish a new supervision system. In addition, the Ministry of Industry received an order from the Secretariat to build a new papermaking and printing agency, which is said to greatly reduce the cost of printing books. Our people in the Secretariat also said that he wanted to establish more academies in the local area, and it seems that he also wants to let children study for free..."
King Rui nodded in agreement and said, "Reading makes people wise. Reading is good. Reading more will give you a broader future..."
Not knowing what he was thinking of, his eyebrows suddenly raised.
King Rui closed the ancient book in his hand and said, "Give me Li Nuo's files for the past year."
Although Prince Rui did not participate in the court struggle this year, many institutions in Prince Rui's palace were still operating normally. For some important figures in the court, special files were established to record all their actions.
The feminine man quickly took out a thick file.
Li Nuo has done a lot in the past year, and his file is the thickest among all others.
Prince Rui took the file and read it carefully page by page. He read from day to night.
It was not until it was completely dark that Prince Rui slowly closed the file, pondering something in his mind.
In addition to helping him catch corrupt officials and unruly people and practice Legalism, the six major families also helped him publish his works.
Li Nuo was not a fame-seeking person, otherwise, he would not have sent so many poems to Miss Fenghuang of Yuyin Pavilion without revealing his signature.
He asked the Ministry of Industry to improve papermaking and printing techniques to reduce the cost of books.
He also wanted to establish more academies in the local area to teach children in Daxia to read and write for free.
After he left, several coincidental cases occurred in Bingzhou.
How could it be such a coincidence that people from the six great families were infected with the plague, and he was the only one who could cure it?
These pieces of information kept interweaving in his mind.
After an unknown amount of silence, Prince Rui suddenly raised his head and murmured, "Could it be that calligraphers really exist?"
The feminine man didn't hear what he said clearly, so he asked, "What did your highness say?"
King Rui lowered his head and said, "No, nothing..."
He picked up the book "Zhu Zi Ye Tan" again. This book recorded many unconventional abilities. For example, the gourmet could condense the sharpest weapon in the world, the thief could not only steal things but also steal hearts and lives, and the calligrapher could write the fate of others with just a pen and decide their life and death...
He deduced from all these incidents that Li Nuo was most likely practicing calligraphy.
Li Nuo's medical book was a best-seller in many countries, and his poetry collection was also in short supply, meeting the entry requirements for calligraphers.
However, he did not tell anyone about this, because he knew the horror of calligraphers, and he was worried that Li Nuo would know that he knew his secret and write him to death with one sentence...
Even if he wasn't written to die, and some weird stories were arranged for him, he was still very worried...
At the same time, late at night, at Prince Gong’s Mansion.
A small banquet is unfolding quietly.
Prince Gong sat on the main seat, with three low tables on each side of him.
Although the figures behind the low table are not important officials in the court, their identities should not be underestimated.
The six men came from the six great families of Daxia. Since the failure of King Han and King You, and King Rui staying in the palace, King Gong became the only choice for the six great families.
Prince Gong drank a glass of wine and breathed a sigh of relief.
He lay dormant for twenty years and finally waited until this day.
For some reason, Prince Rui, who he originally regarded as his biggest rival, gave up on his own accord. This was the best, as he could focus all his energy on Prince Chun.
Prince Chun seems to be in the limelight, but in fact, he only has Li Xuanjing by his side.
Without Li Xuanjing, he is nothing.
Even with Li Xuanjing, his glory is not just superficial.
The six great families of Da Xia all stand behind him. Even if it is his father, what can he do?
When the time comes, if the emperor is respectable, then give him respect.
If the emperor is not decent, we can help him be decent...
Prince Chun's Mansion.
It was late at night, but Prince Chun had not yet fallen asleep.
When the palace guards were on vacation, they hunted a deer in the mountains. Knowing that he liked to eat venison, they brought the deer back.
Deer meat is indeed delicious, but it has a peculiar fishy smell that requires careful processing to remove this smell. That is why he stayed up so late.
There are many delicacies in the world, and venison is not really one of the top delicacies.
But for him, venison has a special meaning.
During the spring hunt sixteen years ago, the prey Xuan Jing gave him was a deer.
He was the top scholar in six subjects, proficient in archery, and had caught the most prey, the most of anyone in the spring hunt. A mere deer might not have meant much to him, but to him at that time, it was everything.
That deer was the most delicious deer he had ever eaten.
Over the years, his cooking skills have improved a lot, and he has eaten countless deer, but in terms of taste, none of them can compare to the one Xuan Jing gave him that day...
He put a bucket of deer blood into the ice storage.
In the past few months, Xuan Jing has had some white hair on his temples. I will make him a deer blood soup tomorrow to nourish him...
(End of this chapter)
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