Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 57 Father's Bad Taste
"Your Highness, I pay my respects to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

Zhao Xing looked at his future father-in-law, smiled and said, "No need to be polite, Duke Ying. Please take a seat."

"Thank you, Your Highness." After thanking him, the Duke of England sat down.

"I asked Duke Ying to come here because I want to ask him to come to the East Palace to teach me military tactics on my day off." Zhao Xing said.

Although the Duke of Ying was the Prince's Guardian and an envoy of the Eastern Palace, he was not required to work in the Eastern Palace.

Not only the Duke of England, but all the other officials of the Eastern Palace were only in name only and did not need to work in the Eastern Palace.

Only those who taught Zhao Xing would come to the Eastern Palace to teach Zhao Xing.

"Your Highness, you want to learn military tactics?" The Duke of England asked in surprise.

"Yes." Zhao Xing nodded and said, "The Song Dynasty is surrounded by powerful enemies. As the crown prince, how can I not be familiar with military affairs?"

The Duke of England hesitated for a moment and said, "Your Highness, this still requires the emperor's consent."

He did not ask whether the government agreed, but said that it required the government's approval.

If the emperor agreed to this matter, Zhao Xing would not have talked to him about it.

"I learn the art of war only to understand military affairs, and I will learn it during my rest time. If the Duke of England is willing to teach, I will naturally tell my father." Zhao Xing said.

"As long as the emperor agrees, I will teach you everything I know." said the Duke of England.

"Yes." Zhao Xing nodded and said, "Duke Yingguo should go back first."

"I'm leaving!" The Duke of England stood up, bowed, and left.

"He is quite cautious." Zhao Xing murmured as he looked at the Duke of Yingguo's back.

His desire to learn military tactics was just an excuse; he just wanted to understand the military affairs of the Song Dynasty.

The Duke of England has the highest prestige in the army, and no one in the court knows more about all matters in the army than he does.

But he didn't expect the Duke of England to be so cautious.

Zhao Xing also knew what the Duke of England was worried about. The Duke of England's daughter was the future Crown Princess, and he himself had a very high prestige in the army. If he had too close contacts with the crown prince, who knew if it would arouse suspicion from the government.

Even though the emperor had only one son, Zhao Xing, and Zhao Xing's position was as stable as Mount Tai, he still did not dare to agree.

"I've been used to having everything go my way these years, and I've become a little cocky." Zhao Xing laughed at himself.

In fact, since ancient times, the position of crown prince is the most difficult one. If one performs too well, it may arouse the emperor's suspicion.

If his performance was mediocre, he was afraid that the emperor would be unhappy.

And there are many brothers eyeing this position.

Generally speaking, once you become a crown prince, you have to be more cautious.

Because Zhao Xing had no competitors, he subconsciously ignored this point.

Shaking his head, Zhao Xing asked Sanshui to give orders, and he needed to go to the palace.

……

"Your son greets you, father." Zhao Xing bowed.

"Haha, I heard that Fu'er was having a great time after leaving the palace, and went to the night market in disguise every evening. How come you have time to come to the palace today?" The emperor waved his hand and smiled.

Zhao Xing knew that his father was trying to get at him, so he came behind his father, pinched his shoulders flatteringly, and said, "Father, I am just trying to understand the people's feelings."

"You are just playing around, what's the point of understanding the people's sentiments? Then tell me, how are the people in Bianjing living?" The official scolded with a smile.

"Bianjing is the capital of the emperor, the most prosperous place in the world, so the people are naturally living well, but..."

"Just what?"

"But from what I heard from the merchants who came to Bianjing from other places, the people in other places live much worse than the people in Bianjing. Moreover, extravagance is prevalent among the nobles and officials in Bianjing. To be disrespectful, your father may live a worse life than those officials," said Zhao Xing.

"Some brothers of the same clan had good and some had bad experiences after they split up. The world is so big that we can't generalize." The official shook his head.

"I understand what your Majesty said, but from reading history books, I understand one thing: the people don't ask for much. They just want to live and work in peace and have enough food to eat. Last year, tens of thousands of people in Shu were misled and launched a rebellion. The fundamental reason was that the government failed to resettle the people in time, which led to the rebellion. Those officials took the high salaries given by the court and lived an extravagant life, but did not think about serving the country. Your Majesty is an official of the Song Dynasty, but he lives such a frugal life every day in order to set an example for the people of the world." Zhao Xing said anxiously.

"This world belongs to my Zhao family. I should set an example. Okay, let's not talk about this. Tell me, what do you want to see me about?" the emperor asked. "I want to take a rest and learn about military affairs from Yingguo Public School." Zhao Xing said.

The emperor frowned upon hearing this and said, "Nonsense! As the crown prince, you will inherit the throne in the future. You only need to learn how to govern the country. What's the point of learning military tactics? Do you want to fight in the battlefield yourself?"

"Father, my main goal is to understand military affairs. I think a good emperor may not understand military tactics, but he must understand military affairs," said Zhao Xing.

The emperor pondered and said, "Hasn't the Ningyuan Marquis been teaching you martial arts? You can just learn from him. If you let the Yingguo Duke teach you, the ministers in the court will know about it and will bother me again."

"It was I who was not thoughtful enough. I only thought that the Duke of England was more powerful." Zhao Xing said.

He ignored the reactions of the civil officials when they learned that he was studying military tactics.

Judging from the nature of those civil officials, they definitely hope that the future emperor will be a sage monarch as defined by Confucianism.

"It's good to know. When doing anything, all aspects must be taken into consideration." The official reminded.

"Your son will always remember your father's teachings." Zhao Xing said.

The official nodded with satisfaction. Although his son was smart, some of his ideas were a bit unconventional and he ignored some basic issues.

However, Zhao Xing also has an advantage. With a little guidance, he can realize his own problems.

"How do you think of the sent documents?" asked the official.

"Father, please don't mention it. It's something that can be explained clearly in a few words, but those ministers had to talk a lot of nonsense when writing their essays, as if they couldn't show their literary talent otherwise. It made my son's head as big as an ox. Later, my son learned to be smart and only read the last paragraph. I really don't know how your Majesty can read so many essays every day." Zhao Xing complained.

Those ministers wrote a note that had at least several thousand words and at most tens of thousands of words.

Writing fluently is just like writing an essay.

At first, Zhao Xing thought that they just talked too much nonsense, so he read it word by word, fearing that they had missed out on what they wanted to state.

After reading a few of them, I found that the entire first few hundred words were nonsense, and the real point was only in the last few hundred words.

He simply read only the contents at the end, the comments of the Secretariat after reviewing it, and the reply from his father.

"Haha." The emperor laughed loudly upon hearing this and said, "It took me a long time to figure out this method. You are really smart. You came up with it so quickly."

"Father, since you know this, why don't you reprimand them and order them to correct it? This will not only waste words and ink, but also time." Zhao Xing asked curiously.

"Why should we ask them to revise it?" The emperor said with a smile, "Since they like to write, let them write it. Isn't it good to let them spend more time and effort? I won't read it either. Sometimes when I feel irritable, I can read it again to relieve my boredom."

Zhao Xing: "..."

This sounds like the unscrupulous leaders of later generations who force their subordinates to write copy.

……

Yangzhou
After the Lantern Festival, the new Tongpan of Yangzhou took office, and Sheng Hong spent half a month to complete the handover with him.

Sheng Hong was a good person and during his tenure in Yangzhou, he got along very well with the officials of Yangzhou.

Ever since the promotion documents were sent to Yangzhou a year ago, banquets have been held every day.

Now that the handover is over, I will leave Yangzhou in two days and I have a rare moment of free time.

After returning home, Sheng Hong came to Shou'an Hall.

"Father." Hualan and Rulan, who were talking to Old Madam Sheng, stood up and saluted when they saw Sheng Hong come in.

Sheng Hong nodded slightly, then bowed to Old Madam Sheng.

"Please sit down." Old Madam Sheng nodded.

After Sheng Hong sat down, he said to his two daughters, "You go down first. I want to talk to mother."

"Yes." The two bowed and walked out.

"Mother, I see that Rulan has improved a lot compared to before. Thank you for your hard work," said Sheng Hong.

Thanks to book friends 2302…2264 for their monthly ticket support.

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(End of this chapter)