Chapter 186: King Han Returns
Chapter 186: King Han Returns
Prince of Han Yang Liang was punished to face the wall for a year. Now it was September, and there were still two months left before the end of the term, but the emperor lifted Prince of Han Yang Liang's house arrest because Prince of Han Yang Liang submitted a memorial to his father.
In the imperial study, Emperor Yang Jian placed the memorial on the table, tapped it with his index finger and asked, "Is the content inside true?"
Yang Liang bowed and said, "I am reporting to you, Father. Everything in this article is true. I am willing to guarantee it with my life!"
Yang Jian was silent for a moment and then said, "I asked you to face the wall and reflect on your mistakes, but you still won't behave yourself?"
Yang Liang said quickly, "I know I am wrong. I have no intention of doing such a despicable thing. I have not done anything rash. I am just collecting information to help you. If I don't tell you, you will never know. No one wants to be a bad person and offend the crown prince."
Yang Jian agreed with Yang Liang's explanation. It was indeed like that. Gao Jiong would not say such things, Yang Su would not say them, and neither would other ministers. No one wanted to offend the crown prince. Only his son dared to speak out.
"I understand. You did a good job on this matter. From now on, your house arrest is lifted and you can participate in the discussion of military affairs. But you must learn your lesson and not commit assassinations or frame-ups again. Otherwise, I will never forgive you."
Yang Liang was overjoyed, and immediately knelt down and kowtowed, choking with tears, saying: "I will definitely live up to your kindness and defend the Sui Dynasty with all my strength!"
Yang Liang slowly retreated, and Yang Jian's face became gloomy. The prince actually secretly recruited generals behind his back. It can be seen that he desperately encouraged him to hold the military examination out of his selfish motives. He wanted to take the opportunity to recruit generals privately, and definitely not to recruit talents for the Sui Dynasty.
What did he want to do? Did he want to recruit his own army, or did he want to replace all the generals of the imperial guards with his own men? Was he eager to take the throne? Did he want to launch a coup to overthrow himself?
Yang Jian's eyes flashed with murderous intent. After a while, he ordered, "Xuan Gaojiong, Yang Su, and Yang Xiong to come to see me immediately!"
The army has always been Yang Jian's weak spot, and he would not allow anyone to touch it. Although the prince has not yet taken action to remove the emperor's weak spot, his hand has begun to approach.
Soon, Gao Jiong, Yang Su, and Yang Xiong hurried over and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty!"
Yang Jian asked, "How is the preparation for the military examination going?"
Gao Jiong said quickly, "It's going very smoothly. Currently, more than 3,000 people have signed up. The Ministry of War has decided to officially hold the preliminary round of the military examination on October 2 at the East Camp. The examination will be completed within ten days, and then there will be the literary examination for the military scholars, which will need to be presided over by Your Majesty."
Yang Jian said calmly: "I am not feeling well, so I will let the King of Han take charge for me!"
Gao Jiong was startled. "According to convention, the Crown Prince should preside over the ceremony on behalf of His Majesty!"
Yang Jian said coldly: "If I am not in good health and cannot hold a grand court, do I also want the Crown Prince to sit on the dragon couch and preside over the grand court for me?"
Gao Jiong's face changed drastically, and he knelt down quickly, "Your Majesty, I have absolutely no such intention!"
"What do you mean? I asked the King of Han to preside over the meeting, but you insisted that the custom is for the Crown Prince to preside over the meeting. Well, I will follow the custom and let the King of Han be the Crown Prince. The problem will be solved. Is that okay?"
The three of them knelt down and kowtowed, "Your Majesty, calm down. Your Majesty, calm down. It's not a bad idea to let the King of Han preside over it!"
Yang Jian snorted, "Don't I know the convention? I asked the King of Han to preside over the military examination. Am I getting old and confused? The prince recruited private troops behind my back. Does he think I don't know? Do you know?"
The three of them looked at each other with shock in their eyes. Yang Su said quickly, "Your Majesty, we didn't know anything about this!"
"If you don't want others to know, then don't do it yourself!"
Yang Jian walked to the window with his hands behind his back and let out a long sigh. He now finally understood the troubles that Emperor Wu of Han had in his later years. Once the Wei family became powerful, the prince would become uneasy.
"Has Xiao Qilang's mission been completed now?" Yang Jian asked again.
Yang Xiong said quickly, "We just assigned him the third mission, to eliminate the forces of the National Protection Association in Chang'an, and he completed it in just two days, arresting all the more than 20 members of the National Protection Association in Chang'an. It can be said that he caught them all in one fell swoop. This humble minister went to the Dali Temple early this morning to learn about his process of solving the case. It can be said that it was a coincidence."
Yang Xiong briefly recounted the case of Gao Huan's jade seal, and Yang Jian nodded happily and said, "You think it was a coincidence, but I think it was God's will. You don't think that he can solve the case in two days, so you should continue to make it more difficult!"
Gao Jiong knew very well that the emperor had called the three of them here not for the Crown Prince's matter, but for Xiao Xia's entry into the Lingyan Pavilion. He quickly stated, "Your Majesty, the three of us unanimously agree that Xiao Xia has completed the third task and has passed the three task tests. We agree that he can enter the Lingyan Pavilion." Yang Jian nodded and asked, "Has Yang Yichen completed his task?"
"Reporting to His Majesty, he has also completed three tasks."
Yang Jian pondered for a moment and said, "Completing the three tasks shows that they are capable of doing things, but we still don't know how good their martial arts and talents are. I suggest that they participate in the martial arts examination."
After a pause, Yang Jian said to Yang Xiong, "Go and remind the King of Han that I asked him to preside over the military examination as a test for him. I hope he will treat everyone fairly regardless of their relationship with me."
"The minister obeys the order!"
Yang Jian said slowly, "If the prince wants to do something naughty, let him do it. Don't remind him. I want to see how far he will go."
At night, in the dragon couch and hibiscus tent, Emperor Yang Jian hugged Concubine Chen and sighed tiredly, "The Crown Prince has disappointed me so much."
Concubine Chen said softly, "I am also from a royal family, so I can understand your majesty's distress. There is only one throne, and there are too many people eyeing it. But my father did tell me how to solve this distress."
Yang Jian nodded, "My beloved concubine, tell me how to solve this problem?"
"Your Majesty, the reason why the Crown Prince covets the throne is because he has no competition, so he looks up. But once there is competition for his position as Crown Prince, he will not care about the throne anymore. How to keep the position of Crown Prince will be what he will think about with all his heart."
Yang Jian sighed, "I also thought so, so I allowed the King of Jin and the King of Han to return to balance the position of the Crown Prince."
"Your Majesty, your approach is good, but it's not strong enough. During the five years since the King of Jin was demoted, the Crown Prince has grown stronger. Your Majesty needs to balance the Crown Prince and give the King of Jin more power, such as letting him lead troops to war."
Yang Jian nodded thoughtfully, "My beloved concubine, what you said makes sense."
This is why the remnants of Qi State's Baoguo wanted to assassinate Chen Shubao, in order to put the blame on the prince. Once Concubine Chen determined that it was the prince who killed her brother, her pillow talk would be very scary.
The fact that the emperor let Prince of Han, Yang Liang, be in charge of the military examinations shocked the court and the public. Matters in officialdom are never one and two are two. We must see the essence through the phenomenon. The military examinations should be the responsibility of the Ministry of War. The emperor let Prince of Han be in charge of the military examinations not as an act of meddling in other people's business, but as a preparation for Prince of Han to take over the Ministry of War.
This was even more shocking to the court than letting the Prince of Jin take over the Ministry of Justice. One must know that the emperor never allowed his five sons to get involved in the Ministry of War. Now suddenly letting the Prince of Han take charge of the Ministry of War affairs had a very significant meaning.
Crown Prince Yang Yong was very hurt when the King of Han returned and took full charge of the military examination. Logically, it was he who proposed the military examination and his father had opposed it at first, but he insisted again and again and his father finally agreed to hold the military examination.
There was less than a month left before the military examination. At this critical juncture, his father suddenly asked the Prince of Han to take full charge of the examination without consulting him at all. Yang Yong felt as if he had been hit by a stick on the head. He could feel his father's dissatisfaction with him.
Yang Yong hurriedly found Zhang Yunqiu to discuss countermeasures, but Zhang Yunqiu couldn't figure out where the problem lay.
"Perhaps the emperor wanted the Prince of Han to return to power, and since there happened to be a military examination, he took this opportunity to let the Prince of Han host the examination, and then he could return to power smoothly, just like the emperor went to Jiangdu for an inspection and let the Prince of Jin return to power."
Yang Yong frowned and said, "I understand this, but why didn't the emperor discuss this with me? He knew that I was the one who planned the military exam, and I was actually in charge of it. He took it away from me without even discussing it with me. Don't you think there's something wrong with this, sir?"
Zhang Yunqiu nodded, "There is indeed a problem. Your Highness can ask Gao Jiong. He must know the answer!"
Yang Yong sighed and said, "Although Gao Jiong is also my father-in-law, I have never looked for him in these years. It would be sensitive for me to look for him at this time, and he wouldn't say anything to me!"
Zhang Yunqiu smiled slightly, "That's easy. Your Highness asked Prince Anping Yang Yi and Prince Xiangcheng Yang Ke to visit my grandfather. Gao Jiong will naturally know what's going on. He will definitely give Your Highness a hint."
(End of this chapter)