Chapter 782: Asking for the Way and Drawing the Sword to Decide the Fate

The Empress Dowager got off the sedan chair, followed by the Empress, and a group of servants followed, and everyone paid their respects to the Emperor.

This cumbersome etiquette was inevitable. The group paid their respects to the Emperor, and the head of Zhongjiandao paid their respects to the Empress Dowager and the Empress. The Empress asked such a question, and the head of Zhongjiandao just bowed slightly, laughed and walked away.

The Empress Dowager didn't say much to him. Anyway, she couldn't talk outside the hall. If there was anything, she should go inside and talk.

In this way, the group entered the hall. The palace maids and eunuchs stayed outside to wait, waiting to order the master at any time. The Empress supported the Empress Dowager into the hall. The Emperor walked in front, and the head of Zhongjiandao followed the Emperor.

He stole a glance at the emperor, who looked calm and composed, as if he had known that the empress dowager would definitely come. If that was the case, there would be no problem. He was worried that the emperor would panic and force the empress dowager and the queen to compromise.

It seemed that this would not happen, and the head of Zhongjiandao was relieved. He had been friends with the emperor for decades and had also dealt with the empress dowager for decades, but the empress dowager now seemed to have regained her youth, so he would still subconsciously take a few glances at her.

However, the empress dowager did not notice these. She still looked energetic. Even the queen did not look so young, but the empress dowager seemed to be able to give birth to children. Seeing this scene, the head of Zhongjiandao was slightly touched.

If the empress dowager could still give birth to children, wouldn’t that be an incredible thing? The previous emperor had already passed away, so who would the empress dowager give birth to children with? But the Empress Dowager looked like she could definitely give birth to another child. Of course, this was a thought that suddenly popped up in the head of the Zhongjiandao Sect. It was just a flash of thought, and he didn't think too much about it.

As for whether the Empress Dowager was lonely in the deep palace, she was probably very lonely. The previous emperor left early, leaving her alone to guard the harem with resentment. She looked very young, so how could this woman not be lonely?

The head of the Zhongjiandao Sect did not know everything. He had studied a lot of things. The ancestor of the Marquis also left instructions in this regard, telling the disciples of the Zhongjiandao Sect to go to the people for training, and all kinds of messy things in the people were common. The thoughts of a woman like the Empress Dowager were actually not much different from those of other women. After all, they were still human beings.

In this way, the leader of Zhongjiandao followed the emperor back, and the empress dowager and the queen did not say anything. Everyone came to the front of the hall and sat down one by one. The eunuchs and palace maids served them. This is the style of the royal family.

The leader of Zhongjiandao stood beside the emperor, but he did not sit down. The whole family was sitting there, and he did not join in the fun. If the emperor had not asked him to stay, he would have planned to leave. Anyway, the final choice of the royal family was the business of the royal family, and he had no control over it. He just had to fulfill his responsibilities. His responsibility was to follow the rules of Zhongjiandao and give the royal family the opportunity to choose the prince.

"I have been a little depressed these days. Today, seeing that the weather is good, I want to go out for a walk. As I walked, I felt a little sad."

The empress dowager is indeed an old woman who has experienced the struggles in the harem of the previous dynasty. When she said something, she first acted pitiful, which made the emperor have to come out to comfort her.

"Mother, what's wrong with you? Did someone make you angry?"

The emperor still followed the script and showed concern. Anyway, things in the palace are like this. Everyone knows what the other person is thinking, but they just don't say it. Whoever speaks first will be at a disadvantage.

The emperor and the queen mother are mother and son, but even if they are mother and son, they are all deceitful. The head of Zhongjiandao really doesn't like this about the royal family, but he didn't say anything. He just stood by and watched and listened.

Anyway, these are their Li family's family affairs, and he was too lazy to ask more questions.

"That's not the case. The Great Yan Dynasty is now peaceful. The emperor is busy and conscientious. The people are peaceful and the government is prosperous. How could anyone be so blind as to make me angry?"

The queen mother said this again, and this was meaningful. That is to say, the world is very peaceful under your emperor's governance. I have no reason to be unhappy. If that's the case, then naturally no one will provoke me.

But this was said after Li Da got into trouble. Li Da caused trouble. Is the world really peaceful? It is rumored that Li Da has many private armies outside, burning, killing and looting everywhere. The people are very panicked. The emperor cannot be unaware of this.

The head of the swordsmanship also knew about this matter, but it was not a big deal, but it was not a big deal for the court. After all, it was their own prince who became a bandit and troubled the people everywhere, even eating people for fun. Where is the mighty imperial power?

This is why the queen dowager mocked the emperor, saying that he did not catch Li Da and let Li Da stir up trouble outside. In addition, because of this matter, the eldest prince was implicated, causing turmoil and disputes in the court and the country.

Don't underestimate the matter of the crown prince. This is the foundation of the country. Once the crown prince has a problem, it means that the prince is not motivated, but it means that the emperor is incompetent. Since the emperor is incompetent, is it necessary to involve the matter of deposing the emperor?

So it seems that nothing was said in these words, but the emperor must be careful to deal with them. If he is not careful, a lot of trouble will come out one after another, which will be enough for him to drink a pot.

This is the royal family. Intrigues, deceptions, and back and forth are exhausting, but the emperor has been through so many years of fighting and is already very familiar with it. He immediately said: "Why does the queen mother feel sad? That's really my fault. I have not cared less about the queen mother in recent days. I will definitely change in the future."

See, this emperor is also very good at speaking. He pretended not to know and admitted his mistakes directly. Once he admitted his mistakes, what can the queen dowager do?

Not only that, the emperor continued to say: "By the way, the court affairs are a bit busy. Sometimes I really can't get away, but the queen mother can rest assured that no matter how busy I am, I must respect you."

This old emperor is not an easy person to deal with. Doesn't his mother want to talk about filial piety? Then he would bring up the country and the state, and see which one is more important.

If the empress dowager felt that the emperor did not care about her, or even that the emperor did not do a good job in dealing with Li Da, which made her unhappy, then the empress dowager interfered in state affairs, which was terrible.

However, the empress dowager was not surprised by this, and she was not an easy person to deal with. She smiled and said, "The emperor still puts the country first, and this matter of mine is nothing. By the way, your majesty, I heard that you are going to hold a martial arts champion selection, is this true?"

Seeing that the emperor responded smoothly and avoided continuing to pester her about Li Da, the empress dowager changed her angle to talk to the emperor.

This time, the emperor did not shy away from the topic. He said, "Yes, this is something that the court and the public are looking forward to. Our Great Yan Dynasty has not held such an event for many years. The martial arts examination is also necessary. I plan to restore the martial arts examination. What do you think, mother?"

"I think this is inappropriate."

The queen mother finally found an opportunity. She had to pull out some things about the eldest prince, and then she could bargain with the emperor step by step. The emperor knew she would do this, but the emperor still insisted on the martial arts examination.

The two sides were actually somewhat tit-for-tat. In the final analysis, the queen mother wanted to keep the eldest prince's position as the crown prince, so there was no need for any martial arts examination to test the abilities of each prince. What else was there to test? The eldest prince was already the crown prince, so there was no need to do anything unnecessary.

But the emperor intends to take this opportunity to depose the eldest prince from the position of the crown prince, so he can't depose the eldest prince without any excuse. As a candidate for the crown prince, the prince must participate in the imperial examination. Since the imperial examination is not yet time, it is natural to make a martial arts examination.

As for why the martial arts examination is used to test the princes instead of other things, there are some explanations.

No matter what the princes are good at, or what the forces behind them are, they all have their own strengths and weaknesses. No matter how the emperor tests them, people will be dissatisfied or have some excuses.

For example, if the princes go hunting, it will test their martial arts and strategies. But if the princes' martial arts and strategies are the best, what does it matter? Does it mean that he can be the emperor? That is definitely not possible.

Another example is marching and fighting. If the princes are good at marching and fighting, does it mean that the princes have the ability to govern the world?

Therefore, to test whether the princes are qualified to be emperors, it is still a comprehensive consideration, not a unilateral test of one thing.

This is a very important point. Therefore, the old emperor naturally has to find a suitable thing to test the princes. The imperial examination is very suitable. The imperial examination selects talents, which involves many things, such as military affairs, official arrangements, and governance of the country.

If the crown prince finds the most suitable talent during the palace examination, it also means that the crown prince has the ability to govern the world. Therefore, don’t think that the palace examination is a test for the top scholar of the Jinke. In fact, it is also a test for ministers and the emperor.

This is an extremely comprehensive test.

And the time for the imperial examination has not come yet, so you can’t do it blindly, so let’s do a martial arts examination. In fact, the martial arts examination is the same, and it also involves assessments in various aspects. It is not enough for a person to have unparalleled martial arts. That is not enough. It also involves character, such as whether this person is filial and loyal. Otherwise, how can he be loyal to the court and the emperor?

Then this matter is the biggest test for the crown prince.

This is one.

Secondly, taking this opportunity, Zhong Jiandao will come down the mountain to ask about the sword and decide the candidate for the crown prince. Logically, the eldest prince was originally the crown prince, but when the eldest prince was the crown prince, Zhong Jiandao did not come down the mountain to ask about the selection.

Because Zhong Jiandao said at the beginning that the timing was not right, and when the timing was right, he would naturally come to the eldest prince to ask about the sword, and now, Zhong Jiandao happened to be at the right time, that is to say, Zhong Jiandao actually thinks that now is the right time to select the crown prince.

Then the matter of the martial arts examination is extremely important. On the one hand, it is the old emperor's own test of each prince, and on the other hand, Zhong Jiandao takes this opportunity to ask about the sword and decide the outcome.

Then when the empress dowager knew about this, she was naturally anxious, because she felt that the second prince had a great chance of winning the selection opportunity for this martial arts examination, because the second prince had been serving in the army for a long time, which was his strength.

But in fact, the old emperor does not think so. The generals may not be suitable for selecting talents with outstanding talents in all aspects. The eldest prince may not have no chance. It's just that the eldest prince is involved in Li Da's affairs, and now I'm afraid no one dares to join him.

So, this matter is not as simple as imagined. The birth of a martial arts champion actually involves many aspects. It is the same as the gold champion. Only those who win the hearts of the people have the opportunity to get a natural talent.

This is true for talents and the country. Therefore, the old emperor is also a smart man. He can take this opportunity to fully see the background and strength of each prince, which is of great reference significance for him to choose the prince. Similarly, the sword way is also the same. Take this opportunity to ask about the sword. The sword way is the sword way to win the country.

As long as you meet and fight with a descendant of Zhongjiandao, you can clearly know what kind of person he is, what kind of skills he has, and whether he is suitable for ruling the world and sitting on the throne. This is the strength of Zhongjiandao, it has this kind of inheritance.

And this inheritance comes from the inheritance of the ancestor of Houye. At the beginning, the ancestor of Houye left such a set of swordsmanship, which was aimed at the swordsmanship rules used by the future generations of the Great Yan Dynasty to select the crown prince.

The old emperor knew about this, the empress dowager also knew it, and almost everyone in the royal family knew it, but they were the royal family after all. After so many years of the iteration of the country, they vaguely felt that some of these things in Zhongjiandao might not be credible.

People's hearts are like this. The royal family will gradually rebound, and even completely abandon the sword-drawing etiquette of Zhongjiandao in the end, and directly regard the selection of the crown prince as their own business.

Of course, it seems that it hasn't happened yet, otherwise the empress dowager would have directly eliminated the head of Zhongjiandao instead of letting him stay here to listen to their family affairs.

When the Empress Dowager heard what the old emperor said, she smiled and said, "Your Majesty has thought it through. This is naturally a good thing, but I am quite confused about one thing."

"Oh, what are you confused about?"

The old emperor did not expect that the Empress Dowager actually agreed to the martial arts examination, but the Empress Dowager seemed to have some tricks, which surprised the old emperor. What is there to be confused about? Isn't it just the election of the martial arts champion?

"I think that if each prince is carefully prepared, it is inevitable that it will be unfair. After all, some people have known some powerful warriors for a long time, and some do not. Your Majesty, I think it is better to have a blind election!"

The meaning of the Empress Dowager's words was clear, that is, the eldest prince has no one to rely on now, that won't work, then everyone must be fair, then it's a blind election, no one can prepare in advance!