stonecrandall Chapter 109 Each with their own ulterior motives
Chapter 109 Each with their own ulterior motives
Chapter 109 Each with their own ulterior motives
Zhao Lin's appearance made Wang You put aside his hesitation.
Although Zhao Lin wasn't targeting him, Wang You sensed that Zhao Lin wouldn't let him off easily.
Of course, if the situation were allowed to continue, the Wang family would leave the capital early, and by the time Zhao Zongquan quelled the rebellion, both the Prince Chong and his son would be dead, leaving them with no power to retaliate against the Wang family.
But this is only the most ideal situation. Not to mention that he himself has an official position, even if his elder brother does not enter officialdom through the imperial examination, he will still be granted an official position through hereditary privilege.
With three officials in one family, you can't just go wherever you want.
If someone were to remain in Bianjing, they might be dealt with conveniently if the Prince of Chong were to rebel.
Only by eliminating any opportunity for Prince Chong to rebel can the authorities refrain from targeting the Wang family.
Wang You doesn't like gambling; he prefers to be in control.
Although Prince Yong's behavior may seem foolish, apart from his love for his daughter, he has not done anything else foolish.
As for the claims that Prince Yong was mediocre and that he was incompetent while Prince Chong was capable, just listen to those kinds of statements.
The ancients weren't stupid; they knew how to use public opinion.
The most common example is when feudal lords were vying for supremacy, spreading all sorts of rumors to smear their opponents and placing themselves on the moral high ground.
This tactic of elevating oneself while belittling one's opponent is all too common.
Although the emperor allowed the two to participate in court affairs, he could not give them real power.
After all, the emperor's actions were intended to delay establishing an heir, so naturally, he needed to consider the problem of the heir becoming too powerful to control.
Even if the emperor doesn't consider the threat posed by the Prince of Yong and the Prince of Yan if he were to have a son, he still has to consider choosing one and the threat posed by the other, right?
Therefore, the emperor would not grant the two men real power until a decision was made.
This can be seen from the fact that the Prince of Yong first sent people to kidnap Rong Feiyan, and only later invited the Duke of Qi to the Prince's Palace to be placed under house arrest.
If the Prince of Yong had the ability to imprison the Duke of Qi and force the Qi family to agree from the beginning, why would he have done such a foolish thing?
When he placed the Duke of Qi under house arrest, it was clear that the emperor had already made a decision, which gave him the confidence to do so.
How can two princes who have no real power demonstrate mediocrity and competence?
Prince Yong was not stupid. He knew that Prince Chong had seized the initiative in public opinion, and that if he continued to promote his own capable leadership, it would be difficult to achieve any effect given the preconceived notions.
So he began to promote himself as being old and having many children.
The latter method is acceptable, but the former is actually nonsense.
The distinction between seniority applies only when both individuals are either the biological children of officials or adopted by officials.
However, the two were merely nephews of officials, and there was no rule in etiquette that adoption had to be based on seniority.
It is true that Prince Yong is older, but that is not the basis for choosing him as the crown prince.
This shows that Prince Yong was not entirely without merit, but he was just a little too fond of Princess Jiacheng.
Such things are not uncommon in history. Didn't those great emperors of all time also show some favoritism towards their children?
To take a recent example, Li Shimin's favoritism towards Li Tai made Li Chengqian feel threatened, ultimately leading him to choose rebellion.
Li Shimin did not kill Li Chengqian, but instead placed him under house arrest.
Even a great emperor like Li Shimin showed favoritism towards his children, let alone others.
Apart from this point, Wang You didn't see any other indication that Prince Yong was mediocre in the original drama.
The king's competence was only demonstrated in his courage to rebel; it was not reflected in other aspects.
On the contrary, some of the things that Prince Chong did made him seem even more foolish than Prince Yong.
It's outrageous that they didn't put the emperor under house arrest when they rebelled, and even allowed someone to escape from the place where the emperor was imprisoned with a blood-written edict.
Moreover, he was single-mindedly focused on forcing the emperor to write an edict of abdication.
The palace is under their control, so they must have the imperial seal. Is it that hard to write one themselves?
Don't say that it can't be taken seriously; in most cases, imperial edicts weren't even written by the emperor himself.
Secondly, even if the emperor wrote it in his own hand, he had to summon his ministers to witness it, rather than having it written and then brought out when he died.
The court officials must have known that the Prince of Yan was plotting a rebellion. Could the emperor's own handwritten edict of succession really convince them of the legitimacy of his throne?
Even if the Prince Chong didn't want to bear the infamy and wanted his ascension to the throne to appear more respectable, surely it wouldn't be a problem to issue an imperial edict to take control of the troops in the western suburbs camp?
According to the system, mobilizing troops in the western suburban camp required a military tally and an imperial edict, which were not difficult for the Prince of Yan.
But Prince Chong acted as if he were playing house, stubbornly guarding the palace and waiting for the emperor to write the abdication edict.
He launched the palace coup at night, and Zhao Zongquan's troops would have entered the city no earlier than the next night.
In other words, he controlled the palace for at least a day and a night, but he never thought of using other means. Isn't that outrageous?
In comparison, Prince Yong seems much smarter than Prince Chong.
As for Zhao Zongquan, it was all luck; if he had been even slightly less lucky, he would have had a very difficult time succeeding.
Since Zhao Zongquan was timid and his first reaction upon seeing the blood edict was to return to Yuzhou, Wang You felt it was best not to make things difficult for him.
Zhao Sheng didn't know why Wang You had suddenly changed his mind, but he still happily said, "Ziqian, over here."
"Brother Zhao, please wait a moment!"
As Wang You entered the tent, he cupped his hands and said, "Mother, I'm going to play with my friends for a while."
"Go ahead, but remember not to play for too long," Madam Feng instructed.
Wang You is still young and not old enough to be engaged.
She planned to take Wang Zhuo out for a walk, so that Wang You could have some fun and avoid making Wang Zhuo feel embarrassed later.
"yes!"
Wang You responded, left the tent, and joined Zhao Sheng and his sister.
"Does Ziqian know how to play pitch-pot? Shall we play it later?" Zhao Sheng asked with a smile.
"I know a little." Wang You nodded.
In ancient times, there weren't many forms of entertainment, but pitch-pot wasn't picky about the location; it could be played indoors.
When he's bored, Wang You sometimes plays betting games.
However, his skills are only average; he can only make about four or five out of ten shots.
"What's so fun about pitch-pot? I'd rather play ball," said Princess Jiacheng.
Chuiwan is somewhat like a combination of golf and billiards in later times.
Like golf, it's a game where you hit a ball into a hole.
It's described as a combination of billiards and table tennis because the playing area isn't very large.
Even so, it still requires a certain venue, so it's not something that ordinary people can play at home.
Wang You had seen others play it, but he had never played it himself.
"Then go ahead, but don't get into any conflicts," Zhao Sheng instructed.
"understood."
Princess Jiacheng replied somewhat impatiently, then left with her maid.
"My younger sister is a bit spoiled, I'm sorry Ziqian had to laugh at her," Zhao Sheng said somewhat embarrassedly.
"Although the county princess is somewhat arrogant, she is not inherently wicked," Wang You said with a slight smile.
Princess Jiacheng was indeed somewhat arrogant, but she did not give a bad impression.
As for why he later became so attached to Qi Heng, one can only say that people tend to lose their senses when it comes to love.
Qi Heng is indeed very good in all aspects, and he has the feeling of being a gentleman like jade, unparalleled in the world.
It still has a great appeal to these young girls.
Wasn't the wise old lady like this before she got married?
Sheng's father was a third-ranked scholar in the imperial examination, but that doesn't mean he was among the top three in terms of scholarship.
The third-place winner is judged not only by their ranking but also by their appearance.
In modern terms, she was the most attractive person in that imperial examination.
Don't assume that people in ancient times didn't care about appearances; in fact, they cared about appearances even more than people in later generations.
During the Three Kingdoms period, Zhang Song initially wanted to target Cao Cao.
However, Cao Cao underestimated Zhang Song because of his short stature.
Don't misunderstand, "short" doesn't mean that; it means short and unattractive.
Although it's unclear why Cao Cao, himself a short man, would look down on another short man, it was precisely because of this disdain that Zhang Song switched allegiance to Liu Bei.
Pang Tong was similar; he was disliked simply because he was ugly.
Huang Chao was eliminated from the military examination during the Tang Dynasty because of his appearance.
There were countless examples of this in ancient times.
As for why Old Master Sheng was able to achieve the third-highest rank in the imperial examination, it was naturally because he had no son.
Grandma Sheng was completely captivated by him and, disregarding her parents' objections, was determined to marry Grandpa Sheng.
Even someone as wise as Old Madam Sheng thinks this way, so it's perfectly normal for Princess Jiacheng to be attracted to Qi Heng and want to marry him when she first fell in love.
Therefore, Wang You did not have any ill feelings towards her. After several interactions, Princess Jiacheng gave people the feeling that she was somewhat similar to Rulan.
Although spoiled by their parents, they are not inherently bad.
Zhao Sheng shook his head and said, "You'll find out later."
Zhao Lin sat inside the tent, watching the match taking place on the polo field. He picked up a piece of pastry, took a bite, and then put it down.
The maidservant beside him quickly brought a teacup to him.
Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.
Zhao Lin took the tea, rinsed his mouth, and said with a look of disgust, "What kind of junk is this?"
"Your Highness, these snacks from outside can't compare to those from the Prince's residence," a maidservant said with a smile.
"I heard that the Yongchang Earl's Mansion is very wealthy, yet they are so stingy."
Zhao Lin clapped his hands and said, "Go tell Liang Liulang to play a game of polo with me later."
"Yes," the maid replied and withdrew.
Not long after the maid left, Zhao Lin's entourage entered the tent.
"Your Highness, we've found out everything."
The attendant bowed and said, "That man is the second grandson of Grand Tutor Wang. He participated in the prodigy examination last year and was appointed as a compiler in the Hanlin Academy."
"Grand Tutor Wang?"
Zhao Lin frowned and said, "None of the high-ranking officials in the court have a surname of Wang, have they?"
The title of Grand Tutor is merely a nominal one; it is not only bestowed upon someone after their death. Generally, a prime minister who has served for a long time will also be granted a title.
However, in terms of rank, Grand Tutor is higher than Prime Minister, so when addressing someone, one would address them as Grand Tutor So-and-so, rather than Prime Minister So-and-so.
But there are only a few prime ministers, and there are no people with the surname Wang in the court now, nor are there any who retired in recent years.
"It is the late Grand Tutor Wang, who passed away about twenty years ago. At that time, the Emperor posthumously conferred upon him the title of Grand Tutor and granted him the honor of being enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple," the attendant said.
Zhao Lin wasn't even born then, and so much time has passed, so naturally he has no recollection of it.
"Tell me about the Wang family," Zhao Lin said.
The attendant immediately explained the current situation of the Wang family.
When Zhao Lin heard that only Wang You's father was a fifth-rank official in the Ministry of Justice, he was very disdainful.
However, when he heard that Wang You had become Hai Wenqing's disciple, his expression became much more serious.
"It seems he's aiming for the position of Scholar Hai."
He originally wanted to mock Zhao Sheng for not knowing how to choose better people when trying to win them over.
Grand Tutor Wang died of illness after only a few years in office, and he has been dead for twenty years. How much value does the Wang family have?
But when he heard that Wang You had become Hai Wenqing's apprentice, he suddenly realized that Zhao Sheng's target was actually Hai Wenqing.
"Oh--"
Zhao Lin sneered, "You've got some nerve, aren't you afraid of stuffing yourself to death?"
Hanlin scholars were the emperor's advisors; while they might not be able to sway the emperor's decisions, they could certainly influence them.
Don't they want to win them over?
They even tried to win over those few men.
However, the emperor is clearly using this method to stall for time and does not want to establish an heir apparent.
Winning over some low-ranking officials, or even earls, is not a big deal.
If we try to win over the Hanlin scholars and high-ranking officials, we might offend the emperor's sensitive nerves.
Not only did they know, but the officials and scholars of the Hanlin Academy also knew.
Moreover, given their status, even if a new emperor ascends the throne, it will not have a significant impact on them, and there is no need for them to take any risks.
Therefore, Prince Chong did not even consider this idea.
His purpose in attending the polo match was actually to win over the Yongchang Earl's Mansion.
Although the Yongchang Earl's Mansion is only an earldom, it is extremely wealthy.
Winning over court officials also requires financial support.
Moreover, there is an invisible benefit to winning over the Liang family: Madam Wu and the Duchess of England have a very good relationship.
In the future, it is not impossible to contact the Duke of England's mansion through Madam Wu.
If we could win over this top military figure, it would be of great benefit in the struggle for the throne.
"According to my small investigation, the Crown Prince of Yong and the second son of the Wang family met during the prodigy examination last year."
"At that time, the Crown Prince of Yong used a false identity to participate in the prodigy examination," the attendant said.
"Was it just an accident?"
It's not a big deal that Zhao Sheng went to participate in the prodigy exam; even if we make a fuss about it, it won't have much effect.
Therefore, Zhao Lin didn't pay attention to that, but was thinking about how Zhao Sheng and Wang You got to know each other.
At that time, the young prince had not yet died, so it was impossible for Zhao Sheng to have known beforehand.
"Even if there was no purpose at the time, there is definitely a purpose now."
Zhao Lin sneered, "That's fine too. Let Uncle Yong test the Emperor's reaction."
If the Emperor is furious that the Prince of Yong's side wants to win over Hai Wenqing, it will be a good thing for the Chongwang Prefecture.
If the Emperor doesn't care, then Prince Chong's side can be won over.
"Step down."
Zhao Lin waved his hand, dismissing his attendant.
I started thinking about how to make a fuss about this.
"Your Highness!"
He didn't know how much time had passed when the maid's voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Madam Wu said that Young Master Liang injured his foot playing polo a few days ago and cannot play polo with the young master. He will come back later to apologize to the young master," the maid said.
Zhao Lin's face darkened. What about the injured foot? That was just a lie to fool him.
Liang Han was by Madam Wu's side, so he didn't look injured at all.
If it were any other reason, the injury might be minor and not noticeable, but a polo injury is unlikely to be so minor.
"Step down!" Zhao Lin waved his hand and said.
He wanted to win over the Liang family by contacting Liang Han, but that wasn't the only way.
"Starting today, no one is allowed to leave the house without my permission."
Inside the Liang family's tent, Madam Wu dismissed the maid Zhao Lin had sent and then solemnly gave Liang Han some instructions.
"Wouldn't I be bored to death?"
Liang Han said reluctantly, "Mother, don't worry, I'll hide and pretend to be the prince."
"Hiding?"
Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.
Madam Wu said coldly, "What if we can't avoid it?"