Do you know that my grandfather was entitled to be enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple?

Chapter 84

Chapter 84

Throughout history, there have been many emperors who, upon ascending to the throne, were filled with ambition and aspired to govern the country well and become capable and wise rulers.

But in the end, he found that he could not go against the tide, and disheartened, he chose to give up.

The most famous of these was Emperor Ling of Han.

At the beginning of his reign, Emperor Ling of Han established the Hongdu Gate Academy and rectified officialdom, hoping to reverse the decline of the court.

Ultimately, however, he failed to suppress the powerful clans and eventually became disheartened.

His favoritism towards eunuchs and his selling of official positions and titles can hardly be said to be anything other than revenge against powerful families.

It should be noted that he established the Hongdu School to recruit only children from commoners, in order to break the monopoly of aristocratic families on officialdom.

How could someone like that possibly sell official positions?

Of course, this does not mean that Emperor Ling of Han's later folly was due to forbearance.

It can only be said that he went a bit mad later on, selling official positions and titles just to disgust those powerful and aristocratic families.

There are actually many such examples in history.

Even for an emperor, changing anything is incredibly difficult, let alone for him.

The memories of his two lifetimes did give him a perspective far beyond that of this era, but they did not improve his own abilities much.

Wang You was not naive enough to think that he could outmaneuver those old foxes in the court and change the course of events.

However, with the emperor's support, it might not be impossible.

Although Zhao Sheng was somewhat naive, he was full of ambition.

With a little guidance, he might be able to resolve the accumulated problems once he ascends the throne.

"Ziqian, start eating," Zhao Sheng said with a smile.

Wang You picked up his chopsticks and smiled, saying, "Brother Zhao, please."

Since Zhao Sheng didn't intend to reveal his identity, Wang You didn't intend to expose him either.

Sometimes it's easier to say something when you don't know who the person is.

Although Princess Jiacheng was spoiled and arrogant, she was, after all, the legitimate daughter of a prince, and still had proper manners.

After Zhao Sheng and Wang You started eating, he picked up a bowl and ladled some golden soup for Mu Jie'er.

"Quickly try this golden soup and see how it is," said Princess Jiacheng with a smile.

The so-called "golden soup" is actually steamed egg, but it is not made with chicken eggs, but with swan eggs.

There's a saying, "How can a sparrow know the ambition of a swan?" Here, "swan" actually refers to wild geese and swans.

Hong is a wild goose, and Hu is a swan.

"Thank you, Sister Jiacheng."

Mu Jie thanked her very politely, then took the bowl, picked up the soup spoon, and began to eat.

"How is it?"

"It's delicious!"

Mu Jie'er is still very young, so we can only describe her as either delicious or not delicious.

"If you like it, eat more. We'll try other things later," Princess Jiacheng said with a smile.

"Mmm." Mu Jie'er nodded happily, then lowered her head and began to eat.

"Slower."

Princess Jiacheng saw that Mu Jie'er had accidentally gotten some on her face, so she took a handkerchief and wiped her mouth for her.

"I also said it was the first time I'd ever seen my sister take such good care of someone," Zhao Sheng whispered.

Wang You snapped out of his daze and smiled, "Your sister is kind-hearted; she's not as bad as you make her out to be."

He was somewhat surprised that anyone would tell the truth.

Princess Jiacheng had very few scenes in the original drama, but she left a deep impression because the Prince of Yong's mansion sent people to kidnap Rong Feiyan.

Although it wasn't specified whether it was Prince Yong or Princess Yong who did it, it certainly couldn't have been instigated by Princess Jiacheng.

In terms of time span, from the time Princess Jiacheng took a liking to Qi Heng to the time Rong Feiyan was abducted, there was roughly one or two years.

If the Princess of Jiacheng were truly audacious, she would have done it long ago; she wouldn't have waited until then.

It has to be said that Prince Yong was very stupid. Anyone with a brain would not have dared to touch the emperor's favorite concubine's sister at that time.

At that time, he had not yet been officially appointed. What if the emperor was angered and chose to make him a prince?

Although the emperor did not do this, Prince Yong's actions still drove the Rong family to the brink of ruin.

The Rong family supports Chong Wang; revenge is secondary, the most important thing is the future of the Rong family.

If the Prince of Yong treats the Rong family like this before he has even been officially appointed, will the Rong family still have a chance to survive after he ascends the throne?

In all calculations, Qi Heng could be considered a femme fatale.

If it weren't for him, the Prince of Yong's mansion wouldn't have done this.

Without the support of the Rong family, Prince Chong probably wouldn't even have the thought of rebelling.

Ultimately, Zhao Zongquan had no chance of ascending the throne.

This is also why Wang Yousheng's idea of ​​ascending the throne was not solely based on Zhao Zongquan.

In fact, luck played a large role in Zhao Zongquan's succession to the throne.

The ancients often said that it was the will of Heaven, and the process by which Zhao Zongquan obtained the throne really seemed like the will of Heaven.

It's one thing for Prince Yong to be foolish enough to target Rong Feiyan, but Prince Chong wasn't much better.

It's absurd that someone who controlled the palace could allow a palace maid to escape with a blood-stained edict.

The problem was that he also sent people to assassinate Zhao Zongquan, forcing Zhao Zongquan to go to the capital at Gu Tingye's urging.

However, with him in power now, if things change even slightly, it will be difficult for Zhao Zongquan to succeed to the throne.

On the contrary, Prince Yong has a great chance. As long as he does not touch Rong Feiyan, there is almost no chance that he will inherit the throne.

"Now that Ziqian has taken up his post at the Hanlin Academy, will he have to go to work there every day?" Zhao Sheng asked.

"I'm still young, and the scholar from Hai University told me to focus on my studies and not to go to class every day," Wang You said.

"That's great."

Zhao Sheng smiled and said, "I study at the Imperial Academy. If Ziqian comes to the Imperial Academy, we will be classmates."

"I'm afraid I'll disappoint Brother Zhao." Wang You shook his head and said, "My uncle-in-law has a private school at home, and I will study there."

"That's a pity," Zhao Sheng said with a regretful expression.

In the past, he might have suggested going to the Sheng family's school as well.

But things are different now.

After the young prince died, the imperial family members in Bianjing began to stir with ambition.

Now that the official is over forty, it is very difficult for him to have any more children.

In fact, a few years ago, court officials had submitted a memorial requesting that the emperor adopt a member of the imperial clan.

However, the emperor was still relatively young at the time, and the officials' attitudes were not very strong.

Now that the Emperor is over forty and his son has died young, adoption is inevitable.

If the government wants to adopt a child, there are only two possible outcomes.

One option was for the emperor to select sons from the imperial clan, adopt them as his heirs, and bring them into the palace for education.

Another method was for the Imperial Clan Court to select suitable members from the imperial clan and report them to the emperor for selection.

They may seem to be the same, but in reality, the differences are huge.

The former depends entirely on the emperor's opinion; whoever the emperor chooses is the one, and members of the imperial clan have no chance to show their abilities.

Before being selected, according to the system for members of the imperial clan, they could not participate in government affairs or hold any substantive positions.

In this situation, how should the royal family behave?

The latter is different; the Imperial Clan Court cannot choose only one person, otherwise it would not be the emperor making the selection.

Therefore, the Imperial Clan Court would select three to five candidates to provide to the Emperor.

The emperor would also consult the opinions of his ministers.

This gave the royal family an opportunity.

The Prince of Yong was the Emperor's nephew, and his bloodline was the closest to the Emperor's.

If it is the latter, the chances of Prince Yong being selected as a candidate are very high.

However, as a prince, the Prince of Yong did not dare to win over the support of his ministers at this time.

The only option left was for his son to demonstrate his abilities and campaign for the Prince of Yong.

Therefore, he could not study at a private school and could only stay at the Imperial Academy.

"However, the Imperial Academy is mostly filled with spoiled brats, so it's right that Ziqian didn't go there."