Chapter 290 Gao Wuguan, the cabinet minister behind Prince Ning, this world belongs to the Zhu Immortal Clan!
In the hall of Prince Gong’s Mansion in the capital city.
"Mingyuan, the Sixth Prince and the others are holding a secret meeting. What do you think about this?" The Fifth Prince, Prince Gong Zhu Zaichun, peeled a grape, put it into his mouth, raised his hand to signal the maid to give it to the guest.
Sitting on the chair in the first row on the left was a slightly plump man with thick eyebrows and big eyes, who looked about 60% similar to Gao Gong.
Gao Wuguan, courtesy name Mingyuan, was a cabinet minister and the son of Gao Gong.
Unlike Xu Jie's son, who specialized in immortal arts and was stubborn, pedantic and inflexible, he was also different from Zhang Juzheng's son Zhang Jingxiu, who was calm and wise, and had a convincing elegant temperament.
Gao Wuguan is a member of the second generation of the cabinet and is known for his tactfulness. Yes, he is tactful!
In fact, no one expected that Gao Gong, the son of Gao Suqing, who was upright and had a hot temper, would be such a smooth and mercenary person.
"Thank you, Your Highness." Gao Wuguan smiled and bowed slightly to take the grapes from the maid. At the same time, he patted the maid's hand gently, then carefully placed the grapes on the table before sitting down.
Prince Gong looked at Gao Wuguan's set and a smile of interest appeared on the corner of his mouth.
His master now is Gao Gong. Since Gao Gong was able to keep his son, who had a bad reputation in the outside world, by his side before he went into seclusion, it shows that this man has his own strengths.
After these days of contact, he also has a new understanding of Gaowuguan.
If we have to give him an evaluation, it would be a smiling tiger.
Being smooth and mercenary in everything, yet not hiding one's shortcomings, this kind of person, if not a simple villain, must be a talented person.
The Gao family is already tied to Prince Gong's Mansion.
Gao Gong would never make a mistake in such a matter.
What's more, other people couldn't see the scene of the nine dragons fighting for the throne before. How could old guys like Gao Gong not see it before they went into seclusion?
Therefore, Prince Gong Zhu Zaichun also relied heavily on Gao Wuguan.
"Your Highness, I think your chance has come." Gao Wuguan first calmly spit the grape skin in his mouth into the palm of his hand, then raised his head and said with a smile, which surprised Zhu Zaichun.
However, Prince Gong did not rush to ask, but waited quietly for Gao Wuguan to speak.
"May I ask Your Majesty, apart from Prince An, what do you think of the other seven princes?" Gao Wuguan asked confidently.
Of course, he didn't forget to eat another grape while talking.
Hearing Gao Wuguan's words, Zhu Zaichun paused, thought about his brothers, and then said: "Sixth Brother, he doesn't have much background and strength. Although his mother's family is from a scholarly family in Jiangnan, they claim to be noble."
"His mother clan can be said to be a clear stream among the clear streams."
"Therefore, apart from a few people from the Imperial Academy and an uncle from the Inspectorate, there is no supporter behind Lao Liu at all."
"But Lao Liu takes his responsibility as an elder brother very seriously," Zhu Zaichun couldn't help but chuckle, saying, "The saying 'brothers should be respectful to their younger brothers' is very appropriate for him."
"However, he also has some ambitions in his heart, but he is also very concerned about his reputation and is afraid that people will say that he is a quarrel between brothers."
"That's why we are so constrained in doing things," Zhu Zaichun shook his head and commented, "It's hard to achieve success."
"Haha, Your Highness Prince Ding is indeed a friendly person." Gao Wuguan agreed with a smile, but did not continue with the rest of the sentence.
No matter what, Prince Ding Zhu Zai Ze is a prince. The fifth prince Gong, as the eldest of the nine princes, can say that, but as a subject, it would be inappropriate for him to make fun of the royal family in front of them.
"Old Eight has a hot temper and is a reckless man. He also does things in an extreme way. In addition, his mother is from a deputy thousand-household family of the Jinyiwei. Therefore, he has some supporters in the Xianwuwei and Jinyiwei."
"However, the Immortal Guard and the Imperial Guard are directly under the command of our father, and Lu Bing will not allow his subordinates to participate in the royal family affairs."
"Therefore, the Eighth Prince is also destined to be a nobody," Zhu Zaize said after a moment's hesitation. He actually skipped over the Ninth Prince, Prince Ning Zhu Zaihong, and said, "The Tenth Prince's mother is from a merchant family. His family business is spread all over the world, and their main power is in the world of immortal cultivation."
"The power in the court is pitifully small, but we can't tell what he is hiding behind him. He is a man of great potential."
"Then there is the eleventh son Zhu Zaiyu and the twelfth son Zhu Zaizhao. Their mothers are from ordinary families and have limited supporters in the court, so they have no ambition to dominate."
"So, these two people have joined the Thirteenth Prince, Zhu Zaixi." When talking about the Thirteenth Prince Zhu Zaixi, Prince Gong's tone became serious and he said, "The Thirteenth Prince's mother is Concubine Wen."
"His mother's family is the chieftain family of Dongchuan, Sichuan."
"Not only that, since Concubine Wen gave birth to the prince, many large chieftain families in the Ming Dynasty have had close contacts with the Dongchuan family."
"Although the Tusi families today are no longer as powerful as they were in the past, after decades of operation, they still have influence in the guards under the command of the Military Commander-in-Chief, and even in the Five Military Commanders' Offices."
"It seems that these chieftain families are determined to support Old Thirteen. They cannot be ignored!"
"But the only thing that Old Thirteen lacks is that he is too young. But in the current Ming Dynasty, the succession of imperial power can no longer be measured by the old method of appointing the eldest son instead of the most capable one."
"As long as one is capable enough, anyone can become the crown prince!"
Gao Wuguan nodded in satisfaction when he saw that Prince Gong had made a thorough analysis of the other six princes except Prince An and Prince Ning.
"Your Highness, it seems that you have missed one person." Gao Wuguan spoke again.
"You are talking about the ninth prince. I know that." When Ning Wang Zhu Zaihong was mentioned, a solemn look appeared between Gong Wang's brows for the first time.
"Old Nine, apart from his poor background, everything else, whether it's his fate or the approval of his father, is extraordinary."
"He seems to have let it go a long time ago and remains neutral. However, I always feel that he is not as simple as he seems."
"Prince Ning's destiny," Gao Wuguan also took a deep breath and said with emotion, "Yi Mu Jiaolong, as long as he can capture a real dragon as his destiny, then his destiny will sooner or later turn from a Jiao into a dragon."
"In today's Ming Dynasty, there are thousands of natal stars, but the only one who can truly reach the level of myth and legend is Prince Ning."
"But Your Highness," Gao Wuguan said in a serious tone, "I can now clearly tell Your Highness that apart from Prince An, your real opponent is Prince Ning!"
"What do you mean?" Hearing Gao Wuguan's serious tone, Zhu Zaichun's eyes fixed and he asked in a deep voice.
"It is basically certain that there may be a cabinet minister supporting him, but it is not certain who it is." Gao Wuguan waved his hand and a file flew out of the storage bag and flew towards Zhu Zaichun.
"It records my father's research on the kings and the forces behind them. Except for King An's power, which is well known to everyone and does not need to be considered, the power of the other six kings is not much different from what Your Highness knows."
"Except Prince Ning, father has observed for a long time. Such a person, born in the royal family, will definitely not be willing to be ordinary."
"Finally, my father did find some clues. Prince Ning announced to the public that he was willing to be an idle prince, so he loved to travel around the world with luxury shuttles. He has come into contact with many people over the years."
"He even established a number of exploration companies in various overseas provincial governments and recruited many independent cultivators to explore this world."
"In recent days, I have developed a strong interest in foreign civilizations."
"Of course, these are just on the surface, but the truth is that the more we dig behind the scenes, the more we find that many of the overseas cultivators he befriended all have extraordinary backgrounds."
“Although the people he made friends with were all Spirit Stone practitioners, they were all direct descendants of small families.”
"Perhaps in our eyes, these people are useless. After all, the power of many overseas provincial governments has always been in the hands of those top families." Gao Wuguan took a deep breath, "If someone incites these small families to riot one day..."
"By then, many overseas provincial governments will be in chaos!"
"Everyone knows the situation of each overseas family. Take the British Governor's Office for example. The current governor is Richard Sutherland of the Sutherland family."
"In addition, there are several major families in the British House of Representatives."
"According to the one dynasty, two systems rule, only these families can use normal spiritual resources for cultivation, and everyone else can only use spiritual stones."
“But there are many fools, but there are always sober ones.”
"These small families must be unwilling in their hearts. The reason they did not resist is simply because they lacked an opportunity. In addition, of course, they dare not violate the laws of the court."
"If someone gives them a chance at this time, will they overthrow the old family and fight for their own interests? Especially when this person is a prince of the dynasty!"
"But the people that His Royal Highness Prince Ning makes friends with are all from many overseas provincial governments, and they are small families with considerable influence in certain places. With such a large number of forces connected together, it can be seen how huge the power behind him is!"
"Hiss!" Upon hearing this, Prince Gong Zhu Zaichun couldn't help but take a deep breath and said, "You mean, Lao Jiu wants to plot against the Overseas Provincial Administration? To take overseas into his pocket?"
"From the results, it will be like this, but the process may not be like this," Gao Wuguan said, sighing:
"Outsiders say it's a fight between nine dragons, but we all know in our hearts that's not the case at all. In fact, what the nine dragons are fighting for is just an opportunity for a potential dragon to soar."
"In fact, the fight for the crown prince position is far from now," Gao Wuguan paused and said, "I am saying something taboo, please don't blame me, Your Highness. It is still unknown whether the crown prince position will fall to the kings in the future."
"So, what everyone is fighting for is the capital to enter the field in the future." "But now, when the power of the kings is compared, King An is undoubtedly the winner."
"Your Highness has the support of my Gao family, as well as one-third of Nanjing's officialdom, businessmen, the immortal cultivation world, major overseas provincial governments, and some families that control one side."
"Therefore, you are a potential dragon in your own right. There is absolutely no need to compete with others. The same goes for Prince An."
"That's why they dragged in the Yan Party, the Xu family, and many other families to delay time."
"Because His Royal Highness Prince An is a latent dragon himself, he can enter the battlefield outside the domain at any time."
"In this way, the two forces in the battle for the throne among the Nine Dragons, or more precisely, the battle among the Hidden Dragons, have been clearly defined, and only the third party remains."
"Who is the third-party force?" As he spoke, the smooth and mercenary look on Gao Wuguan's face disappeared, replaced by the confidence that one could make plans while sitting thousands of miles away.
"The third party force is the seven kings other than you and Prince An. The seven kings now seem to be united, but in fact they are a pile of scattered sand. His Royal Highness Prince Ning must have seen this!"
"Therefore, His Royal Highness Prince Ning's purpose is very likely to use this so-called Nine Dragons' Succession Campaign to eliminate the Seven Princes!"
"After that, he will become a third force besides you and Prince An."
After listening to Gao Wuguan's words, Prince Gong Zhu Zaichun pondered for a long time and said, "Then what do you think he will do?"
"In the territory of the Ming Dynasty, Prince An has united with many neutral forces to seek warmth together, and you are also watching covetously," Gao Wuguan said, his eyes flickering, and said, "He will make others give up their territories in the Ming Dynasty and bring the kings overseas."
"He used those small families that he contacted secretly to pretend to cooperate with the kings and make them fight each other overseas."
"When the kings have turned the overseas provincial governments upside down and it is out of control, he will clean up the mess. I think this is the real direction of the next ten years."
After that, Gao Wuguan didn't waste any words and continued, "Your Highness, perhaps we can cooperate with King Ning."
"Cooperation?" Upon hearing this, Prince Gong Zhu Zaichun was startled, and said thoughtfully, "You mean to cooperate with Prince Ning from inside and outside, and we can get the remaining power of the princes in the Ming Dynasty."
"Prince Ning led the other princes overseas and let them cause chaos for ten years. When the emperor comes out, he will definitely hold them accountable."
"In this way, the kings will have no way to retreat..." Since Prince Gong was favored by Gao Gong, he was certainly not a stupid person. He immediately understood Gao Wuguan's idea.
"But, Ninth Brother will cooperate with us..." As soon as he finished speaking, Prince Gong raised a smile at the corner of his mouth, looked at Gao Wuguan who was also smiling, and said, "He has no choice but to cooperate."
"Your Highness is wise!" Gao Wuguan once again regained his greasy and smooth appearance and flattered him with a smile.
Seeing him like this, Prince Gong was speechless.
He really couldn't imagine that Gao Gong, such a straightforward and hot-tempered man, could be so flattering to his most favored eldest son.
"Oh, right," Prince Gong suddenly said as if he suddenly remembered something, "You just said that there is a cabinet minister behind my ninth brother. Now it seems that since he can have such a plan and power overseas, there is no doubt that there is a cabinet minister behind him."
"Do you know who is behind my ninth brother?"
"The only thing that is certain is that there is someone behind him, either Xu Jie, the Xu Ge Lao, or Zhao Zhenji, the Zhao Ge Lao," Gao Wuguan said, shaking his head, "But we will know after the overseas kings' war begins."
"Because among the many factions in the cabinet, almost all of them have families that support them in the overseas provincial governments."
"Once His Royal Highness Prince Ning starts the war among the kings, it will be impossible to hide it."
"Only if the big families supported by these elders do not intervene, can Prince Ning secretly make friends with so many small families, haha," Gao Wuguan suddenly laughed and said:
"This is the benefit of having the support of the cabinet ministers. If there are any of the cabinet elders who support any of the princes, they will definitely be able to find Prince Ning from these clues."
"So, my seventh brother also knows that my ninth brother has a cabinet minister behind him?" Although Prince Gong Zhu Zaichun was asking, his tone was firm, and he chuckled as he said, "This seventh brother is too stable!"
"It is indeed very stable. Your Highness Prince An only needs to gather together neutral forces and delay time. You don't need to worry about anything else."
"Because he knows that the union of the seven kings is a waste of time, and the other six kings are destined to give way to the latent dragon, King Ning." Gao Wuguan said with emotion:
"After all, Zhang Jingxiu is by his side."
Hearing this, Prince Gong Zhu Zaichun naturally knew why Gao Wuguan suddenly felt so emotional.
There is also some secret competition among the second generation of the cabinet.
After all, the immortal cultivation family must pass on its legacy.
The elders in the cabinet are of tiger and wolves, and their successors are naturally of tiger and wolves as well. Tigers and wolves are destined to be born from dragons.
Now, the fight between the nine dragons for the throne and the struggle between the latent dragons, isn’t it also a fight between these tigers and wolves who were born from dragons?
Nodding, Prince Gong said, "My ninth brother wants to annex the power of the overseas provincial governments. Will he be able to hide us..."
"Don't worry. Although Prince Ning has a big appetite, he can't eat so much."
“He also knows what to do and what not to do.”
"We, as well as the Prince An's Mansion and other neutral forces such as the Yan Party, are willing to give up some of our overseas territory, which is already a great honor for him. If he wants to take it all, it's unrealistic."
"I think the cabinet minister behind him has also reminded him of this."
"But just in case, we can inform Prince An's Mansion and give some advice when we cooperate with Prince Ning later."
"He wants to be the hidden dragon of Tengyuan. We are willing to give way to him because he is indeed qualified."
"But if you want to eat the meat that doesn't belong to him, the consequence might be that you'll die of overeating!"
……
The essence of the Nine Dragons' fight for the throne is a struggle among hidden dragons.
Now, of the nine dragons that were born, two of them now stand high above and overlook everything. Another dragon is about to complete its transformation and become the third dragon of the Great Ming Dynasty.
However, these three latent dragons all knew in their hearts that there were two real big dragons looming above their heads.
One is the Prince Jing's Mansion, which seems weak and not as powerful as the Prince Yu's Mansion. The other one is naturally the Prince Yu's Mansion.
As early as when the Daming Immortal Palace was established, His Royal Highness Zhu Yijin, the Crown Prince of Jingwang Mansion, had already laid out his plans for the world.
Those officials, children of poor families, the theories of various schools of thought, the five elements and eight crafts, and the world of immortal cultivation have penetrated deep into many forces of the Ming Dynasty.
Not only that, Prince Jing’s Mansion also has military influence!
The blood ties, conflicts of interest, and personal relationships between military offices and private soldiers in various places, as well as the immortal families, are extremely complicated.
Once Prince Jing's Mansion gets serious about it, even the Yan Party will suffer heavy losses, and Yan Shaoting may not be able to stop it.
Then there is Prince Yu's Mansion. Everyone knows that Prince Yu's Mansion not only relies on the direct grassroots officials cultivated by the Donglin scholars, as well as the power of the military, but also the military offices in various places and private soldiers in secret.
However, many people will subconsciously overlook that when the Immortal Palace was opened, the Prince of Jing and the Prince of Yu respectively chose different camps as their team.
King Jing chose the poor people, the disciples of the Hundred Schools of Thought, the Five Elements and Eight Works, and other schools, and took the common people's route.
The Prince of Yu, Zhu Yijun, chose the Ming royal family, which was increasingly declining and was influenced by the national policy of "concentrating land and reducing clans" proposed by Zhao Zhenji at the time. This force was even more powerful.
It can be said that they are the Zhu family as a cultivation family besides the royal family. The influence of the word royal family alone is enough to make anyone afraid.
Although Zhao Zhenji's "concentrating land and reducing clans" cut off the trouble of the royal family, after the Ming Dynasty entered the Immortal Dynasty and became more and more prosperous, the royal family once again restored its former prosperity.
In other words, the royal family was supported again.
However, it is no longer a clear ancestral law, which can be abolished at any time, and it is Prince Yu's Mansion that supports them.
But anyone with a discerning eye knows that the emperor did not interfere, or to be more precise, the emperor had no intention of interfering.
The Prince Yu’s Mansion is fully aware of the emperor’s intention in this move!
This is very telling. The royal family's surname is Zhu. No matter how the Ming Dynasty "initiates thinking and innovation" to liberate people's minds, it will ultimately be the Zhu family's world. The Zhu family must be immortal forever!
Even if one day, the Zhu family's meat rots, well, although it is impossible, the meaning is the same, then this pot of meat must be put into one's own pot.
It’s just that these truths cannot be expressed in words.
"..."
(End of this chapter)
