The Great Wei, descendant of the Ji family’s surname Zhao.

On September 19, 16th year of Hongde, in the Bianjing Palace of Daliang, Chendu, Emperor Zhao Yuanxi of the Great Wei Dynasty returned to Wende Hall for a temporary rest after the morning court.

The Emperor Zhao Yuanxi of the Great Wei Dynasty ascended the throne at the age of 26 and has been in power for 16 years. He encouraged people's livelihood internally, reduced taxes and levies, sent troops outside to destroy the Song Dynasty and opened up territory, and was considered a wise monarch with great power.

Zhao Yuanwei was not an ambitious emperor. He was already satisfied with his contributions to his ancestors and the country, and did not intend to annex the neighboring countries and unify the entire world.

Now he only wants to cultivate an outstanding heir and pass on the foundation left by his ancestors.

However, how to choose one of those princes to become the heir of the prince has become his most troublesome thing at present.

Since ancient times, it has been common for princes to fight for the throne to destroy each other and cause disasters to the palace. Although Zhao Yuanxi did not want his sons to turn against each other because of the throne and fight with each other, in fact, he also understood that even the emperor of the Wei Dynasty could not eliminate such a thing.

He wanted to delay for another two years, but more than ten years of hard work had made the hard-working emperor of the Great Wei Dynasty look gray at only 40 years old. His deteriorating physical condition reminded him from time to time that he must choose a royal heir who suits his wishes when his health is still healthy, and break the thoughts of the other sons, otherwise there will be trouble in the future.

But to be honest, even Zhao Yuanxi himself couldn't make a decision when he thought about which one to choose.

"Tong Xian." The emperor called out.

Tong Xian was a eunuch serving the emperor of the Great Wei Dynasty. When Zhao Yuanwei was just the crown prince of the Eastern Palace, Tong Xian was already serving him. Now Zhao Yuanwei has become the emperor of the Great Wei Dynasty. Tong Xian's status has also risen and he is firmly in the position of one of the two supervisors of the eunuch. It can be said that he is one of the two eunuchs with the highest rank and the greatest authority in the palace.

"I'm here." Tong Xian, who was already humble, bent down bent and replied in a low voice.

The Emperor of the Great Wei pondered for a moment and asked, "Which prince do you think I will be more secure in the future?"

Tong Xian couldn't help but tremble when he heard this. Although he was an old servant who had served Zhao Yuanwei for decades, and Zhao Yuanwei trusted him very much, it was related to the issue of the crown prince. Even Tong Xian did not dare to speak nonsense. He said embarrassedly with wrinkles on his face: "Your Majesty, the crown prince's matters is of great importance. Your Majesty can discuss with the queen or with the court officials... How can the old slaves and incompetent people talk about the affairs of the Heavenly Family?"

Zhao Yuanxi frowned when he heard this, glanced at Tong Xian and said impatiently: "I told you to say that you are innocent!"

Tong Xian couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. Although the Emperor of the Great Wei pardoned him and said he was innocent, it was still inconvenient for him to deal with this topic. After all, the matter of the crown prince was very involved, not only involved several princes, but also involved the empresses in the harem. If they accidentally say something wrong, they will inevitably offend certain forces.

After thinking about it, Tong Xian smiled awkwardly and said, "I think that since Your Majesty has helped the eldest son as the crown prince, he must be his favorite prince."

He said this very cleverly. He simply regarded the prince as a beacon and said a well-known fact that he would not offend anyone.

However, the Emperor of Wei was not satisfied.

However, he did not make things difficult for Tong Xian anymore. After all, he knew that the older Tong Xian was, the more he became secretive about the crown prince. After all, no matter where he was, talking about the candidate for the crown prince was a taboo.

"Tong Xian, I will pass on my oral order to summon all the emperors to Wende Hall tomorrow morning. I will personally test the knowledge of the emperors and see how they have achieved this time... Let the Grand Secretary who serves as lecturers in the palace accompany you."

"Affect your Majesty's oral order."

The next day, the sky was still dark, and the nine princes under Zhao Yuanwei were ordered to gather in Wende Hall. However, after careful counting, they found that there were only eight people present, and one less.

However, Zhao Yuanwei did not seem to have noticed it and was preparing to issue the exam questions.

Seeing this, Tong Xian hurriedly bowed to the emperor's ear and reminded: "Your Majesty, wait, there is another prince who has not attended yet."

Zhao Yuanxi was stunned when he heard this. He squinted his eyes and carefully counted the number of people in the hall. Sure enough, he found that only eight princes were present.

But he couldn't tell who was missing for a while, and only knew that the five princes who received his attention were all present. These five sons were the eldest son "Crown Prince" Hongli, the second son "King Yong" Hongyu, the third son "King Xiang" Hongjing, the fourth son "King Yan" Hongjiang, and the fifth son "King Qing" Hongxin.

The oldest of these five princes is twenty-five years old, and the youngest is twenty-one. In addition to the crown prince Hongli, they have all left the palace and honored the throne. They are the candidates for the crown prince who are more desirable in the minds of the Emperor of the Great Wei Dynasty.

The other sons are not yet married, and they are either Zhao Yuanwei reluctant to leave, such as the sixth son of the emperor, Hongzhao, who is good at poetry, songs, music, chess, calligraphy and painting, and is favored by Zhao Yuanwei; or they are not old enough to be married, and they are liked by Zhao Yuanwei, such as the seventh son of the emperor, Hongyin, the eighth son of the emperor, and Hongrun, the ninth son of the emperor.

It is precisely because the three youngest princes are still young that Zhao Yuanwei did not include them on the list of candidates for the crown prince, so he did not pay much attention to it.

"Which prince is it that has not attended?" Zhao Yuanxi asked with a frown.

"Na Huang's Eighth Son, Hongrun." Tong Xian, the eunuch who was in charge of the imperial examination, whispered: "The old slave has sent someone to urge him. I believe that the Eighth Highness will come soon."

Zhao Yuanxi frowned again.

The eighth son of the emperor, Zhao Hongrun, is his eighth son, and he is just 14 years old this year.

Earlier, Zhao Yuanwei heard that this boy was naughty, greedy for fun, and was not good at learning, which led to the Grand Secretary who taught in the Palace School and kept complaining privately.

But because this son was young and had no talent in the world, he was not on the list of crown princesses, Zhao Yuanwei didn't pay much attention to it before.

Unexpectedly, this person was even late for the imperial examination today, which made Zhao Yuanwei angry.

The Emperor of Wei sat back on the dragon throne silently, his face gloomy and unfair.

This made the Grand Secretary around him look at each other, and they didn't dare to say anything more.

The princes who had just joined the seat had a look of nothing to do with themselves, some were silent and some were ready to watch the fun, but the youngest ninth prince, Hirotsuki, looked worried.

Among the princes, Hongxuan and Hongrun had the closest relationship, because Hongxuan's biological mother, Concubine Shen Shu, was a good sister of Hongrun's surname during his lifetime, and was also Hongrun's adoptive mother.

Therefore, despite their half-brother, Hongrun and Hongxuan grew up drinking the milk of the same mother. Although they are getting older and have moved out of Shen Shufei's bedroom, their relationship is still close.

After about a stick of incense, a group of palace guards led a young prince into Wende Hall. They saw that this boy had a beautiful face and a handsome face. Although he was young, he was quite handsome. The only thing that was not good is that he didn't know if this boy had just woken up, his behavior was a bit lazy and sleepy, and his eyes were far less bright than the other princes.

Looking at the expression of the eighth son Zhao Hongrun, the Emperor of the Wei Dynasty immediately guessed that this son must have been dragged out of the quilt by the palace Langwei. However, with the grand sages in the hall present, he was embarrassed to expose the matter, so he had to glar at Zhao Hongrun fiercely and signal him to enter the table.

Seeing that the princes finally arrived, Zhao Yuanwei issued the test questions for this imperial examination.

There are two questions in total. The first question tests talent and knowledge. It requires nine princes to write a essay based on their personal aspirations. It also requires the poem to be written in reference to the Book of Songs. The second question tests the princes' learning of governing the country. It requires the princes to write an essay "The Wealth of the Country", which can analyze the national conditions of the Great Wei today, and comment on the pros and cons of the various policies implemented by the court, and appropriately add personal opinions. In short, as long as it can enhance the national strength of the Great Wei, it can be written.

After promulgating the exam questions, Zhao Yuanwei got up and went to the morning court, leaving the Grand Secretary in the palace to stare at his sons.

About an hour later, the morning court ended, Zhao Yuanwei took the eunuch Tong Xian back to Wende Hall, preparing to test the achievements of these emperors in this hour.

At this time, the nine princes had finished writing the article, stopped writing, and sat after the exam waiting for their father to review and accept it.

Zhao Yuanwei was very satisfied at first, but as his eyes swept across the hall, the smile on his face froze.

This is not right. Why is there one more missing from the nine princes?

With wide eyes and counting carefully, Zhao Yuanxi found that there were indeed only eight princes at the scene, and one of them didn't know where he went. After recalling it carefully, Zhao Yuanxi found that this son was Zhao Hongrun, the eighth prince who was late just now!

"Where is Hongrun?" Zhao Yuanxi asked.

As soon as he finished speaking, the emperor's second son, "King Yong", Hongyu, sat in the table and said with a smile: "Reply to the words of the father, Hongrun is back."

"Go back?"

"Yes... Hongrun said that he was forced to get up by the Langwei before he slept for a few hours, and had to rush to Wende Hall to participate in the imperial examination. Since he had finished writing, he would go back and continue to sleep."

"This rebellious son..." The Emperor of Wei muttered dissatisfiedly, and he couldn't have anger, and he held back his anger and said reluctantly: "Hmph! It seems that my eight princess is confident!...Who will write him Nian Nian?"

The scholars looked at each other, but none of them stood up to read the poems and articles written by the Eighth Prince Hongrun. I think these people knew the talent of the prince, so that no one took the initiative to read what he wrote, so as not to anger the emperor and implicate him here.

Seeing this, Zhao Yuanwei raised his hand and pointed at the ninth son of the emperor, Hongxuan: "Hongxuan, you can read it."

"Yes, Father."

Although raised by the same mother, the ninth prince Hongxuan, who was still one year younger, was more princely etiquette than his brother Hongrun. He slowly stood up, bowed to his father, walked to his brother Hongrun's examination case, picked up the paper on the case and took a closer look.

It doesn't matter when I see it, the young Hongxuan frowned immediately.

"Remember!" Zhao Yuanxi urged dissatisfiedly.

However, Hongxuan still hesitated and couldn't speak.

Seeing this, the eunuch Tong Xian immediately realized that it must be that the article written by the eighth son Hongrun of the emperor must be inappropriate, which made it difficult for the ninth son Hongxuan to consider his brotherly feelings.

Therefore, he whispered to Zhao Yuanwei: "Your Majesty, the wind is strong in recent days. Your Highness Ninth is still young. Maybe he has been infected with the cold and has a bad throat. Why not change to the inner supervisor behind the old slave to read it."

"Well." Zhao Yuanxi glanced at Zhao Hongxuan and noticed something was wrong with this matter.

Under the gesture of the eunuch Tong Xian, a small eunuch bowed his waist and walked quickly to Zhao Hongxuan, took the test paper from the ninth prince who smiled bitterly, and read it loudly: "The chicken in the morning has not cried yet. You summoned the children's palace to be civil and moral. One questioned about talent and two questions about court reviews. My brother reads thousands of books, and my brother has a magical pen. However, my minister's belly is hollow, and it is difficult to make a writing......"

Zhao Yuanxi was slightly happy when he heard it. He was good at the Book of Songs, of course he knew that the pattern of Zhao Hongrun's poem did not come from the Book of Songs, but he felt catchy when he recited it, especially the sentence "How come his heart is hollow, and his head is difficult to write", which vividly describes Zhao Hongrun's embarrassment just now sitting in the hall watching other brothers write quickly, but he was suffering from the embarrassment of being difficult to write.

"Although the poem is strange, it is considered to be well written. Why don't Hongxuan dare to read it?"

Zhao Yuanwei was puzzled.

At this time, the little eunuch was still chanting.

"... Everyone in the world says that the prince is good, but I don't know that it is difficult for the prince to be a prince. I have already gotten up before the concubine's son has gotten up, and I have not slept..."

『…』

Zhao Yuanwei couldn't help but feel moved. Although the strange poem by the eighth son Hongrun of the emperor used blunt words, it wrote the prince's embarrassment, especially the sentence "I have already gotten up before the concubine's son has gotten up, and I have not slept yet." Which princes born in the imperial family have received strict palace education since childhood and have no freedom at all?

Moreover, this sentence is quite suitable for Zhao Yuanwei, who is the emperor of the Great Wei Dynasty.

Zhao Yuanwei was reigned for sixteen years and was diligent in national affairs. On which day did he sleep later than the officials and get up earlier than the officials? How many of the common people can be like him?

Therefore, it is difficult to be a prince and an emperor, and it is even more difficult to be a wise king!

This sentence simply describes Zhao Yuanwei's thoughts.

At this moment, the little eunuch was thinking about the last sentence.

"So I will not be here...uh...so I will not be here...uh..."

"Read it!" Zhao Yuanwei urged with a puzzled look on his face, thinking that this is not well written, why don't you read it again?

Under the urging of the Emperor of the Great Wei Dynasty, the little eunuch was red in his face. Suddenly, he gritted his teeth and read the last sentence.

"...I'm not here, haha, let him go!"

As soon as these words came out, the whole palace was silent.

The Emperor Zhao Yuanwei of the Great Wei Dynasty was even more stunned.

"Ha...ha? Let him go? Let him... let him go?"

Suddenly he came to his senses, Zhao Yuanwei was so angry that his eyes widened. He finally understood why Hongxuan dared not recite this strange poem for a long time.
To be continued...