39. Second prince's plan

 It was night.In the posthouse dozens of miles away from the capital, the King of Dai took the letter he had just read and burned it over the candlelight.

The warm candlelight did not drive away the chill on the King of Dai's face. Fu Zhong spoke cautiously: "Your Highness, what happened in the capital?"

The King of Dai had a cold face and said in a grim tone: "There has been a change in my additional beads." He will arrive in the capital tomorrow, but the additional beads for him have not been finalized. He originally thought that he could add beads before he returned to the capital.

"Does the emperor disagree?" During this period of time, there has been no imperial edict from the emperor to add beads to His Highness. Fu Zhong knew in his heart that this matter might be in vain, so he did not dare to mention it these days, for fear of angering His Highness.

The King of Dai had gloomy eyes and a very ugly expression: "Except for the people of the Crown Prince's party, all the ministers in the court support me to add the pearl. During this period of time, my uncle and others have been putting pressure on the emperor, but the emperor just didn't agree. What is the emperor thinking?"

  Fu Zhong saw that the King of Dai was furious and shrank his neck in fear. He gritted his teeth and comforted him: "Your Highness, maybe the emperor wants to give you a surprise. When you go to the palace to report tomorrow, the emperor will give you a pearl."

  When the King of Dai heard Fu Zhong's words, his ugly expression eased a little.

  "The emperor wants to give me a surprise?"

  "Your Highness, this kind of thing has happened before. Have you forgotten that three years ago, when you came back from Qingzhou to suppress the rebellion, the emperor gave you a big surprise and rewarded you with the sword he wore when he was young. Didn't you always carry it with you?"

  Hearing this, the King of Dai turned his eyes to the sword on the shelf beside him, and his expression instantly became much better.

  "You are right, the emperor likes to give me surprises."

  Seeing that the King of Dai's face returned to normal, Fu Zhong breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. He went on to say, "Your Highness, you have made such a great contribution this time, the Emperor cannot fail to reward you generously. The Emperor has not agreed to give you one more pearl so far, he must want to surprise you."

  The King of Dai felt that Fu Zhong was right. He showed an expectant smile on his face: "It must be so." In fact, the King of Dai hoped that it was really as Fu Zhong said.

  "The Emperor likes to play tricks on you the most, and this time is definitely the case." The more Fu Zhong spoke, the more he felt that he was right. "The Emperor will pretend not to agree to give you one more pearl, so that you will be disappointed and sad. When you enter the palace, the Emperor will suddenly give you one more pearl, and you will definitely be very surprised."

  "Father can really do such a thing." His father likes to joke the most, and he has been fooled by his father more than once.

  "Your Highness, you should pretend that you know nothing. When you enter the palace tomorrow and the Emperor gives you one more pearl, you must act like a real person."

  "Of course." The bad mood of the King of Dai in the past few days was swept away by Fu Zhong's words.

  "Your Highness, after you return to Beijing after your victory this time, the Emperor will not send you to other places to quell the rebellion for the time being. You should take this opportunity to have a good rest." Fu Zhong said, "You have not had a good rest in the past few months to quell the rebellion in Liangzhou. You have lost two circles of weight. When you return to Beijing, the Imperial Concubine will be very distressed to see you."

  "I plan to go to Yangzhou."

  "Go to Yangzhou?" Fu Zhong was shocked and said, "What are you going to Yangzhou for?"

  "Quarantine the rebellion."

  Fu Zhong then remembered that the rebellion in Yangzhou had not been quelled yet. He also remembered that the person who went to Yangzhou to quell the rebellion this time was the prince's uncle. He instantly understood the intention of the King of Dai.

  "Your Highness, you want to..."

  "This is a great opportunity to humiliate the Xie family and embarrass the prince. How can I miss it?" King Dai smiled maliciously. "Xie Shi went to quell the rebellion in Yangzhou, but failed after several months. My father is already very dissatisfied. When I return to Beijing, I will volunteer to go to quell the rebellion in Yangzhou. With my ability, I will be able to quell the rebellion in Yangzhou in less than a month. By then, I will be able to severely slap the prince and the Xie family in the face, and make me famous again."

  "Kill two birds with one stone!" Fu Zhong said with admiration, "Your Highness is wise!"

  King Dai smiled and said, "This is an opportunity given to me by the Xie family and the prince to humiliate them. If I miss it, even God will not be able to bear it."   

  "You have won a great victory this time, and the ministers and the people have seen your ability. If you can quell the rebellion in Yangzhou that the Xie family has been unable to quell, the ministers and the people will think you are more powerful, will support you more, and will think that the prince is not as good as you."

  "This is the effect that the king wants."

  "Then you are too hard-working." Fu Zhong said with a distressed look in his eyes, "You just came back from Liangzhou, and you haven't had a good rest, and you are going to Yangzhou to quell the rebellion without stopping."

  "What's this hard work?" The King of Dai said, with a meaningful smile on his face, "The ministers and the people will see how hard the king works."

  "Your Highness is still wise."

  "The king wants to go to Yangzhou to quell the rebellion for another purpose."

  "What purpose?"

  "Yangzhou has been a prosperous place since ancient times. Even though it has experienced many wars, it is still the richest place in Kyushu." In fact, compared to Liangzhou, the King of Dai wanted to go to Yangzhou to quell the rebellion more. "The most important thing is that there are many famous literati in Yangzhou."

  The King of Dai thought that he was not worse than the prince, and even better than the prince. In recent years, he has gained the support of most military generals by his meritorious service, but there are few scholars.

  These scholars pay attention to the establishment of the eldest son. Because Zhao Xuan is the eldest son, he has been canonized as the crown prince since he was a child. And because he is a concubine's son, the second son, even if he has made great military achievements for the Zhou Dynasty, the scholars are unwilling to support him to become the crown prince.

  In the past, he never took these scholars seriously, thinking that they were just a group of villains who were powerless and could only talk about big principles. However, in the past two years, the emperor has increasingly used these scholars, making him understand that if he wants to replace the prince, he must get the support of these scholars.

  It is said that there are many great Confucian scholars who live in seclusion in Yangzhou. These great Confucian scholars are highly respected by literati and scholars, and are also respected by famous families. Even the emperor respects them very much. The emperor once told him that the world-famous Confucian scholars have higher status and influence than the emperor.

  If he could gain the support of scholars and students in Yangzhou, or the support of a great scholar, he would be able to legitimately replace Zhao Xuan and become the crown prince in the future.

  "Your Highness, don't you look down on those scholars the most?"

  "This king does look down on them, but if this king wants to legitimately become the crown prince, he needs their support." The King of Dai saw it very clearly, "This king also needs a good reputation, and these scholars and students are best at building a reputation. Besides, Zhao Xuan was able to become the crown prince and has not been deposed, isn't it because of these scholars and students?"

  "Your Highness is right." Fu Zhong said, "Your Highness, did you go to Yangzhou to win over these scholars and students?"

  "When it's time to win them over, we still have to win them over." The King of Dai smiled meaningfully, "This king wants to be a person who respects the wise and humbles himself, so that the scholars and students in Yangzhou will come to me and help me with strategies."

  "Your Highness, your trick is really great, I admire you."

  "Zhao Xuan can respect the wise and humble himself, so naturally I can too."

  "Your Highness, you have always been better than the Crown Prince." Fu Zhong has always felt aggrieved for the King of Dai, "If the Emperor had not married into the Xie family, the Imperial Concubine would be the Empress, and you would be the Crown Prince."

  This matter has always been a thorn in the hearts of Imperial Concubine Rong and the King of Dai. Whenever they think of it, they are filled with deep resentment.

  "Soon, I will put everything back in place." The mother took back the position of Empress that originally belonged to her, and he also took back the position of Crown Prince that originally belonged to him.

  At this time, the Crown Prince in the East Palace was acting abnormally, looking forward to the return of the King of Dai to the capital tomorrow.

  Before, the words of the Duke of Zhenguo made the Crown Prince completely relieved. He no longer worried that the King of Dai would be given a bead when he returned to the capital. He hoped that the King of Dai would return with greater momentum this time, and it would be best if he, the Crown Prince, could be trampled hard under his feet. At

  the morning court tomorrow, he would ask his father to personally go out of the city to welcome the King of Dai back in triumph.

  (End of this chapter)