The Prosperous Era of Longwan

King Yu stood aside and began to reflect on his words and deeds during this period, while Wei Guangde stood quietly and observed.

So far, Wei Guangde feels that King Yu has a really good personality and is not difficult to get along with.

But King Yu was thinking about the time when he was still in the palace.

At that time, there were not only him and King Jing in the palace, but also the second brother above him, and the second brother was the destined prince.

Because his mother and concubine were not favored, King Yu noticed that the rewards he received were much worse than those of his brother King Jing, let alone the second brother of the prince.

At that time, almost everything in the palace revolved around the second brother, as if he was the only son of his father.

Perhaps it was at that time that King Yu developed a character of inferiority.

When he entered the study hall and became enlightened, perhaps it was really because he was relatively stupid. No matter what knowledge he learned, he was slower than his second brother and King Jing, and looked very dull.

But it didn't matter. At that time, King Yu already knew from his mother and concubine that he would be a feudal king in the future. Since he was to be a feudal king, there was no need to know too much.

At that time, King Yu only hoped that such a carefree life could continue. When he came of age, his father would choose a fiefdom, and he could go to the fiefdom and live freely.

However, all this changed that night. King Yu still remembered that the second brother who spent time with them every day did not appear in the study hall for several days in a row.

Because they had already known before that the second brother would be officially crowned the prince, and the prince would not be able to study in the library, but would have to go to the Wenhua Hall, which is the so-called "leaving the cabinet", so they didn't take it seriously at first.

However, when they woke up and found that the palace was covered with white curtains, they knew that their second brother was actually dead.

Although King Tianyu did not dare to say a word outside those days after being taught by his mother and concubine, his young mind already understood the fragility of life. Thinking about it, the lively and active second brother was gone in just a few days.

After the death of his second brother, Prince Yu, as the oldest among the princes, originally thought that he would be valued by his father and receive the same treatment as his second brother, but it turned out that he thought too much.

Even though the mother-in-law tried her best to fight for him at that time, she failed because she was not favored. At that time, the mother-in-law still pretended to be happy in front of him, but she often cried silently when she was carrying him.

King Yu saw all this and remembered it in his heart.

However, for him at that time, there was nothing he could do. It seemed that he was destined to miss that position.

The second brother died of an illness suddenly, and he didn't understand what the illness was, but since then he has developed a cautious and cautious character. With his low self-esteem, he seemed even more dull and slow in the palace.

After leaving the palace and moving into Prince Yu's palace, because his mother-in-law and himself were not favored, the belongings carried by Prince Yu were shabby compared to Prince Jing.

Later, after his mother-in-law died of illness, Prince Yu began to live a life of fear, not because he was afraid of someone trying to kill him, but because he was the eldest child of Emperor Jiajing.

At that time, although King Yu knew that he should inherit the great treasure according to the ancestral system, he lacked father's love since he was a child. The image of Emperor Jiajing in King Yu's mind was extremely vague, so he did not think much about it, perhaps because he was in the palace. At that time, he always thought that he would only become a vassal king in the future.

Moreover, Prince Yu was also extremely sensitive at that time. When rumors spread that Emperor Jiajing might intend to appoint Prince Jing as his heir, he felt heartache and deep fear for a moment.

He was worried that because his existence hindered King Jing's path to being crowned crown prince, he would be hated or even secretly murdered.

He didn't want to compete for that position. When his father arranged for Gao Gong to enter the palace as a lecturer and take charge of everything in the palace, King Yu chose to let go. He didn't want to take care of anything.

He left the matters in the inner courtyard of the palace to the trustworthy eunuch Li Fang to arrange, while all the matters in the outer courtyard of the palace were left to Gao Gong.

He wanted to express in this way that he had no intention of competing for the throne, so that he could live a good life.

However, he did not expect that both Li Fang and Gao Gong had arranged the affairs of the palace in an orderly manner, and were still working hard to expand his influence and power, and wanted to fully help him compete for the position of crown prince.

It's just that King Yu at that time had no intention of fighting. He just watched their efforts silently and completely delegated power to them.

At first, King Yu delegated power just to show his indifferent way of doing things, but he did not expect that such an approach would have such effect. After delegating power, the palace was well taken care of by Li Fang and Gao Gong, and there was no chaos at all.

Gao Gong's troubles outside seemed to have allowed Prince Yu's Mansion to regain its presence in the capital. At least many officials in the government had shown their closeness to Prince Yu's Mansion.

At this time, King Yu began to realize that it was necessary to find a capable and trustworthy minister. Their ability could do things well, better than him, without having to do everything personally.

Although Prince Yu's Mansion has also experienced many hardships, especially because of the Ministry of Household Affairs, the trouble in Prince Yu's Mansion was almost unsolvable. This not only made Prince Yu deeply understand the importance of money, but also the importance of rights.

Status, sometimes, is really not as beneficial as a little bit of real power.

However, it seems that just recently, after knowing that his father confirmed that his fourth brother, King Jing, will be the Duan De'an Mansion, he suddenly became swollen.

Even at the beginning, when the fight between Prince Yu's Palace and Prince Jing's Palace was the fiercest in the capital, Prince Yu actually didn't have many thoughts of competing for the throne in his heart, but he just let them fight, because deep in his heart , he didn’t feel Emperor Jiajing’s concern for him at all. Would such a father pass on the throne to him?

Yes, King Yu, who had no intention of fighting, was hit in the head by a pie for no apparent reason. As the only prince who was left in Beijing, he knew what his future was.

And just today, he felt fear again, something he hadn't experienced in many years.

At that time, because of his indifferent mentality, he could handle it calmly no matter what storm he faced, but what about now?

Just because of Emperor Jiajing's words, he began to worry about gains and losses, worried about losing what he was about to get.

King Yu looked at Wei Guangde at this time and said, "You are right, I have been a little obsessed during this time."

After saying this, King Yu was silent for a while, and then he continued: "To be honest with Guangde, I never thought that I could do it before."

King Yu's words made Wei Guangde feel a little desolate, but he still didn't understand. When he first contacted Prince Yu's Mansion, he didn't realize that King Yu had no intention of competing for the throne at that time. The entire Prince Yu's Mansion seemed to be a whole, trying its best to protect Yu. The king competes for the position of prince.

But the words King Yu just said did not seem to be fake compared to the emotions he showed.

At this moment, Li Fang was not around King Yu. When Wei Guangde came over, Li Fang had already walked to the carriage to talk to Chen Ju.

Although Chen Ju has been helping Prince Yu's palace with things, he is violating the rules. After all, this is near Xiyuan, so he still can't come directly to meet Prince Yu.

There were only two people standing here talking. Perhaps it was because Wei Guangde had not been in the palace for a long time and had not shown a strong attitude to protect King Yu from competing for the crown prince position, so King Yu could say these words in front of him.

Although there were some contradictions, Wei Guangde still understood that it seemed that Gao Gong and the others were carrying Prince Yu forward all the way to Prince Yu's Mansion.

The basic qualities that a monarch must possess, such as great talent and broad strategy, cannot be seen from King Yu. This may be a conservative monarch.

Reading "Zi Zhi Tong Jian", Wei Guangde knew that the three basic qualities a king should possess written in the book were the so-called "benevolence", "ming" and "martial arts".

Three basic qualities must be possessed, namely the so-called "benevolence", "ming" and "wu".

Since "benevolence" refers to the benevolence of an emperor, it does not mean being gentle and kind in daily life or talking about benevolence, justice and morality, but it means being virtuous and benevolent by heaven and earth, and "promoting education, cultivating politics, nourishing the people, and benefiting all things."

Does King Yu possess this quality?

King Yu is a kind person. As for whether he is benevolent and righteous, Wei Guangde thinks that as long as his own interests are not harmed, King Yu should be willing to accept it. At least when the damage to his interests is not great, King Yu should be willing to show his " Benevolence".

"Ming" does not mean knowing everything clearly, but means that the king can clearly see the state of the country, distinguish the abilities of his ministers, understand the way of governing the country, and have a clear position of his own.

In fact, the word "Ming" is a bit general, and Wei Guangde can't summarize it, but he knows the general meaning.

King Yu has lived outside the palace for many years. Although he has traveled a little among the people, he is still outside the palace and knows a lot. As for the ability to recognize people, at least the people King Yu has entrusted his rights to have not so far. Let him down.

As for the way to govern the country, Wei Guangde felt that King Yu did not think in that direction, or that he did not have a specific goal. The word "bright" seemed a little obscure when applied to King Yu.

As for the last "Martial Arts", it does not refer to martial arts. It does not mean that the king should be aggressive and murderous. It means that when encountering difficulties, he should take advantage of the situation, make accurate and firm decisions based on reason, and not be deceived by evil words. Influence.

Therefore, the word "wu" does not mean to be arbitrary in doing things, but to be decisive and responsible.

So is King Yu worthy of the word "武"?

Obviously, judging from the previous situation where King Yu was worrying about gains and losses, King Yu couldn't afford it.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde couldn't help but have the urge to put his hand on his forehead. King Yu was really not a qualified king.

But then, Wei Guangde thought that perhaps it was precisely because King Yu was such a person that a relatively weak king could give the talented ministers below room to use their methods.

Of course, King Yu could not be compared with Emperor Jiajing. Not long after Emperor Jiajing ascended the throne, he dared to fight Yang Tinghe and other ministers until he defeated them completely. Not only was he an emperor, but he also had a strong heart.

In fact, if Emperor Jiajing and King Yu neutralized each other, they would really be a perfect monarch in Sima Guang's eyes.

Emperor Jiajing had "Ming" and "Wu" in him, while King Yu had "Benevolence" combined together.

In fact, judging from the political situation in the early days of Jiajing, if Emperor Jiajing had not turned to Taoism, the Jiajing Dynasty might have ushered in a renaissance. However, because Emperor Jiajing practiced Taoism, it only created the "Jiajing New Deal" situation.

Of course, this situation was not created by Emperor Jiajing. It can only be said that it was caused by a group of ministers who chose to side with Emperor Jiajing because of the "Great Ceremony". Most of them were destined to be unable to hold high positions because of their low rankings in the imperial examination, so they chose to speculate on the emperor. However, precisely because they have been in the middle and lower levels of official circles for a long time, they have a clear understanding of various problems existing in the Ming Dynasty and can come up with practical solutions.

Although it seems that many New Deals are not perfect and have many flaws, resulting in many New Deals actually being in a trial state, mostly implemented in a certain province and not promoted throughout the Ming Dynasty, they still changed the political climate of the Ming Dynasty to a great extent.

Of course, the fact that Emperor Jiajing would adopt these suggestions was largely related to the fact that he ascended the throne as a vassal king and inherited the throne. He needed to make some achievements to stabilize his position.

"Your Highness, it's not easy for us to get to this point. Please never say what you just said again in the future."

Wei Guangde bowed at this time and said to King Yu.

King Yu nodded, smiled casually and said, "It's my fault that made Guangde laugh."

At this moment, Zhang Juzheng, dressed in a green robe, was seen walking slowly from a distance, with a relaxed look on his face, obviously he had done something well.

"We should be done here."

King Yu saw it and said to Wei Guangde.

"Yes, it's done. Your Highness should go back to the palace quickly, otherwise it won't be good if others see you."

Wei Guangde reminded in a low voice.

King Yu was worried about what happened before, so he came here in person, which Wei Guangde could understand.

Now they have done everything they can. It seems that only the Minister of Rites has failed to do a good job. However, based on Wei Guangde's judgment, it should be harmless, so he started to think about the finishing touches.

After listening to Wei Guangde's words, King Yu nodded and looked in the direction where Zhang Juzheng was walking.

Not long after, Zhang Juzheng had already walked over, and the eunuch beside him walked towards the carriage where Li Fang and Chen Ju were.

After Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng greeted each other, King Yu also handed Gao Gong's letter to Zhang Juzheng to read. Zhang Juzheng frowned slightly at first, then relaxed after a long time, and then said similar words to Wei Guangde to King Yu.

"Your Highness, there is no need to worry. Wu Shangshu only insists on the duties of the Ministry of Rites. If there are Qin Tianjian and those alchemists, your Majesty will not pay attention to what Wu Shangshu said."

Zhang Juzheng also understood that, as the Minister of Rites, he had the intention to report the rescue after the solar eclipse. As for Emperor Jiajing’s thoughts, he and Wei Guangde agreed. The people who knew the most about gods and ghosts all had the same opinion, which should dissuade Jiajing. The emperor's concerns are correct.

What's more, Wei Guangde's excuse is also impeccable, that is, the chaos in Fujian.

Previously, the court's handling seemed to be somewhat inappropriate, and Zhang Juzheng also believed that stronger means should be used to suppress it as soon as possible, otherwise Jiangnan might really cause major turmoil, which would be bad.