At that time, the Turks took advantage of the internal strife in the Zhou Dynasty and the lack of national strength to lead a large army to invade the northwest. From Tannu Uriankhai to Uliastai, it can be said that no one can stop them. For a time, the northwest army was defeated. Morale was low, and there was an urgent need for a prince to lead the emperor to go to war. In order to boost the morale of the army and deter foreign enemies.
However, the court was in the midst of a fierce struggle for the throne. No one was willing to lead the army. The late emperor was so angry that he vomited blood. That night, the seventh prince, Zhong Zhiling, who was not even seventeen years old and had not yet entered the court to govern, entered the palace to meet the emperor. He volunteered.
The late emperor was very pleased and appointed Zhong Zhiling as the General of Zhenxi and immediately set off for the northwest. After Zhong Zhiling left, the late emperor's health deteriorated. Within three months, he was bedridden. Under the pressure of the Xu family and the frequent good news from the northwest, the late emperor finally appointed Zhong Zhiling's brother, Zhong Zhiheng, as the crown prince before his death.
In the third year of Zhong Zhiheng's accession to the throne, the war in the northwest finally ended. The 20-year-old Zhong Zhiling asked to stay in the northwest and guard the northwest border for the rest of his life for the Great Zhou Dynasty. Zhong Zhiheng agreed. He conferred the title of the first-rank Prince of Pingxi on Zhong Zhiling.
In a blink of an eye, the King of Pingxi has been stationed in the northwest for thirty years. The once young and vigorous Seventh Prince is now forty-eight years old.
"It has been 32 years since King Pingxi returned to Beijing," Dai Jingfeng said with emotion.
"Yes, a full thirty-two years." Zhong Zhiheng said slowly, stroking the tea bowl in his hand. He tilted his head to look at the portrait of the woman on the wall, then suddenly turned his head back and threw the teacup on the table.
Dai Jingfeng felt that Zhong Zhiheng was in a bad mood. In fact, whenever the King of Pingxi was mentioned, Zhong Zhiheng would not be in a good mood. Dai Jingfeng carefully observed Zhong Zhiheng's expression, did not dare to say a word, just lowered his head and drank tea.
"You also know about the affairs of the court, right?" Zhong Zhiheng spoke again after a long while, "Tell me about it."
"Your Majesty, you mean the voices for establishing a crown prince are getting louder and louder recently, right?" Dai Jingfeng was so busy that he put down the tea bowl in his hand and said to Zhong Zhiheng, "Your Majesty, I have noticed that the second prince has the highest voice, while not many people mention the third prince who has been so popular recently. I think there is something strange."
"What's so strange?" Zhong Zhiheng looked at Dai Jingfeng, took a sip of tea, and said slowly, "Cui Youan is now the Minister of Personnel, in charge of the promotion of all officials. Of course, someone would rush to touch the good of Concubine Shu and the Second Prince."
"Your Majesty's analysis is correct, but I think there is something else wrong. After all, Cui Youan's position as Minister of Personnel is not even warm yet, so how can the Ministry of Personnel be named Cui?" Dai Jingfeng said, "Right Prime Minister Zhao Changrong has been the Minister of Personnel for more than 20 years and has a firm control over the Ministry of Personnel. Although he is no longer in the Ministry of Personnel, his influence on the Ministry of Personnel is still far-reaching."
"You mean I chose a puppet as the Minister of Personnel?" Zhong Zhiheng asked with a smile.
"I dare not!" Dai Jingfeng said hurriedly, and added, "Your Majesty has his own reasons, and Cui Youan is also a powerful man."
"Yes, I do have arrangements," Zhong Zhiheng said slowly, tapping his fingertips lightly on the rosewood table, and said slowly, "The Ministry of Personnel cannot always be named Zhao, and naturally it should not be named Cui either."
With just one sentence, Dai Jingfeng understood everything. Zhong Zhiheng had always been dissatisfied with the influence of aristocratic families on the government, so the Xu family, which was the first to be affected, had gradually faded out of the court in the past few decades. However, Zhong Zhiheng was still worried because the Xu family now held military and political power. Naturally, Zhong Mingwei, who had Xu family blood in his veins, became a thorn in Zhong Zhiheng's eyes. Now that Zhong Mingwei had been deposed and became a commoner, the decline of the Xu family was imaginable and was no longer a threat. So now Zhong Zhiheng's target was the Zhao family, or the Cui family.
The Zhao family had been running the Ministry of Personnel for more than 20 years, and now the Cui family wanted to squeeze in to share a piece of the pie. How could the Zhao family tolerate this? Therefore, in the harem, Concubine Zhao and Concubine Shu fought to the death. In the previous dynasty, Zhao Changrong and Cui Youan were also not at peace.
"But I also heard that Minister of Rites An Zishang once discussed the issue of establishing a crown prince in private. Minister An said that according to the ancestral system, the legitimate son should be established as the crown prince. If there is no legitimate son, the eldest son should be established," Dai Jingfeng said with a smile, "Minister An is really generous. It would be fine if he did not do anything for his son-in-law, but he even paved the way for the second prince. It can be seen that he is a gentleman."
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