Tanghua old story

"My lord, Mr. Changshan from Dali Temple is asking to see you."

"Bring him in." Wei Weichen said.

Chang Shan is one of the officials that Wei Weichen single-handedly promoted him. Apart from his loyalty to Da Qi, he was promoted because he had the means to torture and extract a confession. Confidentially.

"Master Wei." Chang Shan bowed.

"What's the matter?"

"Master Wei, do you still remember Zhao Shi, an official who embezzled food and grass that was closely monitored?"

"Ah."

"Master Wei's thinking is correct. There is indeed something strange in it. After Zhao Shi and others returned to their hometown, they added a huge amount of family property for no reason. I conducted an investigation and interrogation with my subordinates, and found out that what Zhao Shi and others did was indeed ordered by others."

"Who instigated it?"

Chang Shan said solemnly: "People from Changyue Prince's Mansion in the Southwest used huge sums of money to lure him to tamper with food and grass."

"I see." Wei Weichen said without any change.

After sending Chang Shan away, Wei Weichen frowned, Changyue Wang Qirong was really a headache.When Wei Weichen first became prime minister, he had clearly pointed out Qi Rong's threat, and after several years of being an official, he was even more aware of Qi Rong's intentions.

Wei Weichen reminded Qi Tang many times that Southwest Changyue Wang Qi Rong had the heart of disobedience, Qi Tang always smiled and said that he thought too much, Qi Rong is his younger brother, he grew up together, how could he rebel, every time Speaking of Qi Rong, Qi Tang revealed full of memories of his childhood, smiling and telling the story of his younger brother to Wei Weichen, full of love and joy.

Qi Tang's smiling eyes were clear and innocent, full of the beautiful dreams of brother and brother Gong that Wei Xichen couldn't bear to smash.

In the fourth year of Xuanyuan, the group of officials that Wei Weichen secretly purged were basically ministers who were bought by Changyue Wang Qirong or wanted to welcome Qirong as king.As for why Wei Weichen did not charge them with disloyalty or treason, the reason is very simple. On the one hand, it is to secretly eliminate the influence of Changyue King Qi Rong, and on the other hand, it is because of Qi Tang. Wei Weichen hopes to give Qi Rong a vigilance through this method. Make it stop the loss in time, and the prodigal son will turn around and play the role of his younger brother.

Wei Weichen originally thought that Qi Rong would restrain himself after he eliminated the influence of Changyue King Qi Rong, but he didn't expect that after two years, he would make a comeback.

From the assassination of the southwestern swordsman on the way to conquer Yan, Wei Weichen realized that things might not be easy. Today, Chang Shan confirmed that the army’s shortage of food and grass was secretly instigated by people from the Southwest Changyue Palace, and Wei Weichen even confirmed Changyue Wang Qirong’s ambition.

The assassination was to take Qi Tang's life. Qi Tang had no children, and the throne could only be passed on to Qi Rong after death.

At this moment, Qi Tang is fighting a large number of memorials in the palace. He never thought that his good brother Qi Rong would want to rebel against him, let alone that Qi Rong would want to kill him.

"Your Majesty," Wei Yuchen hurried to Qitang Palace, "how is the war in the north?"

"The situation is very good. General Lu has sent another good news. The King of Yan State has just died, and the royal family is torn apart. It seems that within a year, Yan State will be conquered in one fell swoop." Qi Tang said with satisfaction.

"Your Majesty, I would like to ask Your Majesty to temporarily call General Ling Ce back to the palace."

"Why?" Qi Tang was puzzled, "General Ling has repeatedly made military exploits on the battlefield of conquering Yan."

"General Ling Ce is familiar with the situation of the Southwest Army."

"Wei Qing, what does this mean?"

Wei Weichen hesitated a few times before telling Changyue Wang Qirong's ambition.

Qi Tang still wrote lightly: "Wei Qing, how is it possible what you said? How could Brother Rong want to harm me?"

Wei Weichen looked at Qi Tang's innocent face with a slight smile, and said wearily: "Your Majesty, just listen to what I have to say."

Coughing uncontrollably, Qi Tang patted Wei Weichen's back worriedly, and said, "It's like this every year. As soon as the weather turns cold, Wei Qing coughs non-stop. What should I do?"

"It's okay," Wei Yuchen struggled, "Your Majesty, it's better to recall General Ling Ce."

"Okay, I'll follow your orders," Qi Tang handed Wei Weichen a cup of tea, and said sadly, "Wei Qing, you have to take good care of your body..."

Only three days after Ling Ce was recalled to the capital, the Southwest War broke out again.

"Didn't the Southwest Yi people say they were willing to submit to Daqi?" Qi Tang got up and said in shock when he heard that there was another war in the Southwest.

"Return to Your Majesty," the messenger who came to report tremblingly said, "It was His Highness King Changyue who instigated the Southwestern Yi people..."

"What did you say?" Qi Tang was shocked.

"His Royal Highness King Changyue rebelled, and promised that if the Southwest Yi people can help him, after that, Da Qi will be granted the title of Southwest Yi King."

Hearing this, Qi Tang slumped down on the dragon chair.

The white-haired old master Fu took the lead in playing: "Now King Changyue is putting the cart before the horse, helping the Southwest Yi to attack Qi, and not submitting to the emperor. Your Majesty should attack him."

All the ministers agreed one after another, and finally decided that Ling Ce, who had just been recalled to the capital, would lead his troops to pacify the southwest.

Before Ling Ce set out for the expedition, Qi Tang found him in private, and tactfully expressed that he hoped that the life of Changyue Wang Qirong would not be hurt. Ling Ce, as always, smiled indifferently and tactfully expressed the meaning that swords have no eyes on the battlefield.

In the following three months, Ling Ce made great achievements in battle. Not only did he quell the rebellion between Changyue King Qi Rong and the Southwestern Yi people, but he also expanded the territory to the southwest by the way, adding another county to Daqi.

Even though Ling Ce didn't promise not to hurt Qi Rong's life, Ling Ce still escorted the living Changyue King Qi Rong back to Beijing triumphantly.

"Rong'er?" Qi Tang looked at the hunched, disheveled man in the prison in disbelief, and couldn't believe that it was his suave third brother Qi Rong.

"Your Majesty." Qi Rong called out sarcastically.

"Rong'er!" Qi Tang recognized the voice of his third brother Qi Rong, and rushed into the prison recklessly. When he got close to Qi Rong, he stopped and said timidly, "Rong'er..."

"Renjin, go find a comb." Qi Tang said suddenly, and after a while, Eunuch Renjin offered an ivory white jade comb.

Qi Tang took the comb, walked towards Qi Rong, and gently combed his messy hair.

Qi Rong froze.

"Rong'er." Qi Tang gently straightened Qi Rong's tangled hair.

Qi Rong remained silent.

Qi Tang combed a tangled hair ball with a little force, and sighed: "Since we grew up, how long has it been since we have been so close?"

Qi Rong still didn't speak, Qi Tang said to himself: "I remember you loved to take care of your beautiful hair when you were young, because this was taught by the old lady Fu countless times."

"But it's true, among so many brothers, only you and eldest brother have beautiful hair, just like Concubine Ru, like silk and satin, black and bright, you don't know, Guier and I were envious at that time."

Qi Tang combed Qi Rong's hair carefully, and simply tied it up.

"It looks much better this way, Rong'er."

Qi Rong still didn't speak.

After a long time, Qi Rong heard Qi Tang gently ask: "Rong'er, why is this? Why is Rong'er planning to rebel?"

"Before father passed away, he told me to take good care of you and other brothers and sisters, but now I am sorry for his entrustment."

"Rong'er, it's the second brother who treats you badly?"

Qi Rong was ranked third among the princes. He had two elder brothers, one was the eldest brother Qi Tong, both of whom were the children of Concubine Ru, and the other was the second elder brother Qi Tang.Because the four princes Qi Tong, Qi Tang, Qi Rong and Qi Gui are not much different in age, the four of them played together since they were young.

During the Zhaoqi period, the discussion about who would get the crown prince never stopped, but the core of the debate was Qi Tong and Qi Tang, which had nothing to do with the third prince Qi Rong.

Emperor Zhaoqi's favorite son was Qi Tang, but just when almost everyone thought that Qi Tang would be crowned prince, Emperor Zhaoqi announced that Qi Tong would be crowned crown prince, which was a move that was beyond everyone's expectations.

Although the eldest prince Qi Tong was established as the crown prince, disputes over the position of crown prince still continued inside and outside the court, and there were still many people who supported Qi Tang, claiming that the crown prince would change sooner or later.

Emperor Zhaoqi went to great lengths to stabilize Qi Tong's power. In addition to choosing the powerful Lu family as Qi Tong's relatives, he also promoted Qi Tong's biological mother, Concubine Ru, to the imperial concubine. The noble concubine was the most honorable status in the harem at that time.

The first prince, Qi Tong, was established as the crown prince as it should be. Although the second prince, Qi Tang, is the most liked by Emperor Zhaoqi, he is not interested in the throne at all. eager.But the eldest brother of the crown prince is a brother born to his own mother, so Qi Rong buried his desire for the throne in his heart.

In the 22nd year of Zhaoqi, the crown prince Qi Tong was assassinated and died. Besides being sad, Qi Rong also felt a little guilty. The most noble among the princes, the crown prince, logically it was his turn.

However, Emperor Zhaoqi did not make Qi Rong the crown prince. Two months after Qi Tong's death, Qi Tang was made the crown prince. What Qi Rong got was only an expansion of the fiefdom.

Qi Rong knew that his father favored his second brother Qitang, but he couldn't figure out how partial his father was to hand over the throne and Daqi to the kind and weak second brother Qitang.

Qi Rong was not reconciled, not reconciled to missing the throne because of his father's partiality.So he began to win people's hearts, using the remaining power of his eldest brother Qi Tong to secretly buy court officials, but all this was destroyed by a prime minister named Wei Weichen in the third year of Xuanyuan.

Qi Rong was still not reconciled, and looked for opportunities to strike everywhere. In the fifth year of Xuanyuan, he sent assassins to assassinate Qi Tang. After he failed, he sent people to make trouble secretly, hoping to damage Qi Tang's prestige, but he did not expect the political situation of Yan State Earth-shaking changes have taken place, and it is simply a piece of cake for the Qi army to conquer the scattered state of Yan.

The repeated failures made Qi Rong unbearable, and thought that he had reached such a point, how could the emperor Qi Tang not know his ambition, and simply earn a living, so he joined forces with the Southwestern Yi people to rebel, but Qi Rong did not expect It was a young general like Ling Ce who repeatedly made surprise attacks. His army was defeated and captured, and he was escorted to the capital to meet Qi Tang.

"I just don't understand why Father wants to pass the throne to you instead of me!" Qi Rong gritted his teeth, "Why is Father so partial?"

Qi Rong saw the astonishment on Qi Tang's face.

"Rong'er, the royal father gave me the throne not because he favored me, but because he was ashamed of you and elder brother." Qi Tang sighed softly.