Chapter 191 What?! The Emperor is going to take a concubine! Yan Song: The bigger the storm, the more expensive the fish!
"Heh," Jiajing, who had just finished listening to Lv Fang's report in Yuxi Palace, suddenly snorted and laughed, "It seems that my grandson is very courageous. At such a young age, he dares to think about asking for a status."
Looking at the smile on his master's face, Lu Fang said to himself, "As expected."
Based on his understanding of his master, he is not a narrow-minded person. Especially when it comes to his children and grandchildren, he is more tolerant most of the time.
Besides, the master loved Prince Yu and Prince Jing very much before, so how could he blame Prince Yu's childish words? Besides, who doesn't like their own children and grandchildren to have a promising future?
Not to mention that Prince Yu said something that sounded very ambitious, saying that he wanted the master to call him the Crown Prince. Even if His Royal Highness Prince Yu said one day that he wanted to be the Crown Prince, the master would not care.
Because this is how the master has been training the two kings all along.
Therefore, upon hearing Prince Yu say this, the master would only feel happy and relieved!
Feng Bao, that fool, actually worried about being blamed by his master? Or he is too naive. He is still far from the highest realm of eunuchs!
The highest realm of being a eunuch is that even if you have no descendants, you must fully understand the love that parents have for their children and the long-term plans they make for them, hoping their sons will become successful and their daughters will become outstanding!
Well, to put it bluntly, even if you don’t have children or grandchildren, you should still act as if you have them. Young people still have a lot to learn.
"After my sons fight, my grandsons fight," Jiajing said, speaking earnestly, "This is interesting. How can we not fight for such a huge family business? If we don't fight, won't my kingdom be useless?"
Hearing his master say this, Lu Fang smiled.
Then, as if he suddenly thought of something, he hesitated for a moment before speaking slowly and tentatively: "Master, a few days ago, the Ministry of Rites and the Imperial Clan Court jointly submitted a memorial to the Emperor..."
(Note: Zongrenfu was established in the early Ming Dynasty.)
As he spoke, he saw his master looking at him, and after realizing that this was a signal for him to continue, Lu Fang continued:
"It's said in the memorial, it's said..." As he thought about the contents of the memorial, Lu Fang hesitated again, but continued: "The Ministry of Rites and the Imperial Clan Court hope that the master will take a concubine..."
"Although the matter of cultivating immortals has not yet been made public to all officials, it has already been a tacit agreement among everyone. As for the fight for the throne... it is too early..." When talking about the fight for the throne, Lu Fang lowered his voice very low and looked at Jiajing from time to time, for fear of breaking a taboo.
Fortunately, the master was not angry. Lu Fang breathed a sigh of relief and simply finished what he wanted to say at once.
"So, now all the officials in the court are eyeing the position of crown prince. Now the master is only accompanied by His Royal Highness Prince Yu and His Royal Highness Prince Jing."
"And now there are many complicated factions among the officials. The original Qingliu faction and His Royal Highness Prince Yu are also at odds with each other..."
"Is this what you mean? Do you think so too?" Before Lu Fang could finish his words, Jiajing's voice suddenly rang out.
Unable to hear the emotional fluctuations in the master's voice, Lu Fang's heart suddenly trembled, and then he fell to his knees with a thud.
"My Lord," Lu Fang said, his head on the ground. But he didn't lie. He told the truth about what his master asked and what he thought. "This is exactly what I think!"
Jiajing didn't say anything, just looked at him quietly.
"My Lord, for the immortal foundation of the Immortal Dynasty and for the smooth attack on the world of immortal cultivation in the future, such a large territory always needs to be guarded by our own people, right?"
"Just like how Taizu conferred titles on the nine princes, Taizu is a rare talent, and he can suppress the other princes."
"So in the early Ming Dynasty, during the Hongwu reign, the country was stable and peaceful, and no one dared to offend other generals!"
"Please allow me to say something disrespectful. My master has already embarked on the path to immortality. The Ming Dynasty has reached its peak of prosperity under your leadership. The next step is to become an immortal dynasty!"
"Master, your achievements have already surpassed those of Taizu, Chengzu, and all the ancestors of our Ming Dynasty!"
“So, the drawbacks that the kings had in the past, who controlled heavy armies and guarded their territories, don’t exist at all!
Because you, my master, can suppress everyone, and in the future, the vast territory that spans the world will need descendants to guard it, and besides..."
When Lu Fang said this, her tone paused slightly, and then continued: "In my opinion, some things must be determined before the start of the Immortal Dynasty to avoid any chaos in the future... For the stability of the court and the country, the Ming Dynasty needs a prince!"
"Moreover," when he said this, Lu Fang added with a serious expression, "The master told me that as the cultivator's cultivation level improves, the child will be born later, especially after the foundation is established, the essence of life has already transformed from that of a mortal and changed."
"While the master has not yet broken through to the Golden Core Stage, we should give birth to more offspring for Daming as soon as possible!"
"So!" Lu Fang took a deep breath and said, "For the stability of the Ming Dynasty and the peace of the world, I beg the master to take a concubine!"
"Are you done?" After listening to Lu Fang's words, Jiajing just asked calmly.
"I'm done." Lu Fang took a deep breath and said seriously.
"In that case, then you can do it..." In Jiajing's opinion, what Lu Fang said did make sense.
Without talking about what will happen in the long run after the Ming Dynasty enters the Immortal Dynasty, let’s just talk about the short term. When the Ming Dynasty conquers the entire earth and moves towards the entire universe, each star world will need reliable people to garrison there, and these people should all be his descendants.
Perhaps some nearby star worlds could be given to some trusted ministers as rewards.
But if it is some faraway places, they cannot be easily handed over to ministers. How many resources can a world have and how much power can it develop? Although it is said that any place conquered by the Ming Dynasty will become the territory of the Ming Dynasty.
But people's minds change, and Jiajing can't always keep an eye on them. Although there is a possibility that the princes will rebel, as long as he is alive, the Ming Dynasty will not be turned upside down by the princes.
Jiajing was not averse to women. It was just that before he became an immortal, he was obsessed with Taoism. Although he had no shortage of women, he did not care too much about them.
So for decades, apart from those children who died young, there were only two people: Prince Yu Zhu Zaigui and Prince Jing Zhu Zaizhen.
Now that the Immortal Dynasty is being developed and the Ming Dynasty is about to officially enter a new era, the issue of offspring should indeed be considered.
What?! Hearing that his master actually asked him to take care of the matter of taking a concubine, Lu Fang was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect that his master would agree so easily. He was even prepared to take the risk of being hated by his master and persuade him for a long time.
He had already thought it through. If his master did not agree, he would secretly instruct the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Clan Affairs, or even some censors from the previous dynasty, to risk their lives to make suggestions!
"Yes!" Since the master agreed, Lu Fang smiled happily and immediately stood up and said, "I will arrange it right away!"
"This old rascal!" Looking at Lu Fang's eyes which suddenly turned from gloomy to bright, Jiajing smiled and turned to enter the Lingtian courtyard.
In the afternoon, the setting sun is blood-red.
But the news that came out this afternoon was like a huge rock that caused a thousand waves, shocking everyone!
The Emperor is going to take a concubine!
Yanfu.
The study room that was newly erected next to the Lingtian courtyard! "Bang!" The door of the study room that was originally tightly closed was violently opened, and at the same time, the young cabinet elder Yan Shifan's urgent shout was heard, "Dad, something big has happened, and the world is going to change!"
"Yes, Shaoting's calligraphy has improved again," Yan Song was commenting on his grandson's calligraphy in the study. "Your brushstrokes are vigorous and powerful, and there is a sense of restrained edge. It seems that in addition to practicing, you have not fallen behind in calligraphy. Not bad, you are a patient person!"
"Thank you for the compliment, Grandpa." Yan Shaoting said with a smile.
However, neither of the two ancestors paid any attention to the door that was suddenly kicked open, and of course they paid no attention to Yan Shifan who was in a hurry.
"Oh my!" Yan Shifan stamped his feet in anxiety when he saw this scene. Without saying a word, he rushed forward and pushed Yan Shaoting away. "You still want to practice calligraphy here? Get out of here!"
Yan Shaoting was pushed back a few steps by his father Yan Shifan, and before he could put down the pen in his hand, ink splattered on his white gown. Seeing this, Yan Shaoting looked down and could only shake his head helplessly.
"Humph!" However, Yan Song, who saw this scene, snorted coldly, "My son is like me, and I am like a wild child!"
"... Dad, you!" Hearing his father's dissatisfaction with him, Yan Shifan choked and his face twitched, but after thinking about what he was going to say, he endured it and continued:
"Dad, the emperor is going to take a concubine!"
Yan Shifan almost growled this sentence.
Almost at the moment when Yan Shifan finished speaking, Yan Song paused and the ink fell directly onto the fine rice paper, forming a big black ink flower.
Upon hearing this, Yan Shaoting, who was standing nearby, subconsciously looked up at his father and blinked, as if to confirm the truth.
He has been with his grandfather all these years, and under his grandfather's deliberate cultivation, he has been influenced by him and naturally has an extraordinary keen sense of the situation in the court. The emperor taking a concubine can be regarded as a huge change!
No wonder my father was so excited!
Today, the cabinet is divided into three factions, namely the Yan family, the Qingliu, and the New Party.
But in reality, it is a joint effort of all four parties!
They are Prince Yu, Prince Jing, their Yan family and the Qingliu faction!
As for the court, it was originally divided among the cabinet, but in recent days, a man named Li Chengwu came out and started to recruit people everywhere, and among the officials, many senior officials began to take sides.
Especially after learning that Li Chengwu was backed by the commander-in-chief of the Five Armies, many people chose to support him.
Seeing that a giant comparable to the cabinet was about to appear in the court, at this time there was news that the emperor wanted to take a concubine. To be frank, this news was equivalent to a sudden change of the situation!
You know, the significance of the emperor taking a concubine has nothing to do with which women are in the harem, and it is not about having more power from external relatives. The significance of taking a concubine is to have offspring!
A prince means a candidate for crown prince.
Nowadays, everyone in the court knows that the emperor has not yet decided on a candidate for the crown prince. What's more, many rumors have been spread, saying that the emperor is dissatisfied with the two princes, so he has not decided on a crown prince.
Some people also said that the emperor was testing the two kings.
Some even said that the emperor actually placed his hopes on the selection of the crown prince.
As long as one of the two grandsons is appreciated and favored by the emperor, the crown prince will be decided accordingly.
In short, there were different opinions in the court.
Prince Yu and Prince Jing tried to win over the new nobles in the court, that is, the military ministers, but they only won over some of them, such as Wang Chonggu and Yu Dayou in the cabinet, and Qi Jiguang and Tang Shunzhi who were stationed in Yingzhou Prefecture.
In addition, some of the generals were originally subordinates of Tang Shunzhi and Wang Chonggu, but the Five Military Commandery was never moved.
In order to fight for power in the court and compete with the cabinet, the Five Military Commandery even put forward Li Chengwu, wanting to become the second Yan Song in the court, or the leader of the Qingliu.
According to normal understanding, even if the Five Military Commanderies Office wants to have a seat at the imperial court, it should choose one of the two princes, Prince Yu and Prince Jing, to support.
But they didn't do that!
The five military commanders are all the emperor's confidants and control the real military strength of the Ming Dynasty. Their lack of support for the two kings is also a disguised indication that the emperor does not think highly of either of the two kings.
Now that the Emperor is going to take a concubine, this is indirectly proving to the entire court that the Emperor does not favor either Prince Yu or Prince Jing.
This was tantamount to a heavy blow to Prince Yu and Prince Jing. Military ministers were already difficult to win over, and now the situation would be even worse for the two princes!
As the saying goes, a single move affects the entire body. In addition, there is the Qingliu faction and their Yan family. Both parties are already at odds with the Second King. At this time, everyone has even more reasons to leave.
After all, the window paper between the cabinet's clean stream, the strict party and the two kings was broken by Hai Rui when he first conferred an official title to the Xian Dynasty, and the relationship between the two sides had long been broken.
These thoughts flashed through Yan Shaoting's mind.
But he didn't say anything because it was not his turn to interrupt.
"It seems that things are going to change..." Yan Song said after a while, and suddenly snorted and laughed, saying, "Don't worry."
Not in a hurry? Hearing his father say this, Yan Shifan was stunned and said, "Dad, the emperor's marriage means that another prince will be born soon. You must know that any prince born will be the mortal enemy of the second prince, and the second prince will even unite when necessary."
"Have you ever thought about what the Second Prince will do next?" Yan Shifan said, taking a step forward and staring at his father Yan Song, saying, "If they are pushed into a corner, they will most likely force us to take sides!"
"For the position of crown prince, they have to do this. They even have to try their best to build their own power before the next prince is born, or even squeeze out the living space of all the princes!"
"If we don't, then we will be the enemy of the Second King. How can we not be anxious? Dad!" Yan Shifan said earnestly: "Hurry up and come up with a plan to deal with the coming storm!"
"Shifan, what you said is indeed very troublesome, but remember that my Yan family can do without anyone. As long as the emperor needs us, it is enough. Don't worry, just watch!"
"The ones we should really worry about are Xu Jie and the others," Yan Song said, looking at Yan Shifan.
"You must know that the bigger the storm, the more expensive the fish!"
"Dad, what do you mean?" Looking at his father, Yan Shifan was stunned. He felt that his father seemed to be about to take action again!
"..."
If I can’t make up for it, I’ll make it up tomorrow!
(End of this chapter)
