Chapter 781 Grandmaster
"Don't worry, don't worry..."
The head of Zhongjiandao looked relaxed, as if he knew that the old emperor was indeed a little anxious.
But in the end, there was no need for the second emperor to be so anxious, but his personality was like this, and it had always been like this. It was also one of the bad personality problems that Zhongjiandao considered choosing him as the emperor.
Fortunately, this problem was not very serious. Generally speaking, the old emperor was more suitable to be the emperor. Therefore, over the years, the Great Yan Dynasty was peaceful and prosperous, and nothing special happened.
The old emperor was a little helpless. The selection of the emperor in Zhongjiandao had always been like this, and it was difficult for him to get any useful information from it.
He even asked the other party what he thought of the eighth prince, but there was no good answer. However, the head of Zhongjiandao saw that he was so helpless, and the head smiled and said, "Actually, the eighth prince is very good."
"Oh? Are you serious?"
The old emperor's eyes lit up, and he was waiting for the other party to say this.
In fact, he did not have much confidence in the eighth prince Li Ting. Li Ting's foundation was too shallow and he had nothing. In terms of civil and military strategies, many princes were much better than him, but Li Ting was a low-key and tolerant prince, which made the old emperor like him more.
If the eldest prince had not had the advantage of succession, coupled with the various arguments of the queen and the queen dowager, and the continuous recommendation of a group of ministers, the old emperor would not have chosen the eldest prince as the crown prince.
In fact, he still liked the eighth prince in his heart, but the eighth prince had no foundation. His mother was just a concubine, and the status was somewhat different. Her mother's concubine was still appointed by the old emperor, and he offended the queen for this.
This is also a helpless thing. Although the old emperor is very powerful in ruling the world, in fact, the emperor has something to do. The queen is in charge of the harem and the mother of the world. This is not a joke, and the power is also extremely great.
As for the queen dowager, it is even more incredible. She is the mother of the current emperor. Who would not give her some face? Even the old emperor had to give his mother some face, and his mother was in good health. If this continued, the old emperor thought he would die before his mother.
Then the future of the Great Yan Dynasty would still be decided by his mother. If the eldest prince was in power, the empress dowager would not make any trouble. After all, he was her own grandson, so she must be very precious.
This old mother is like this. The eldest grandson is the eldest, and they have been in contact for many years. Even when the eldest prince was a child, he was brought up by the empress dowager. The relationship is not comparable to that of other princes and grandchildren.
In this way, the eldest prince's succession is a matter of course. If it weren't for Li Da's incident, almost no one could shake the eldest prince's position.
But now the head of Zhongjiandao actually said that the eighth prince is not bad. What does this mean?
The old emperor was about to continue asking questions, but the head of the Zhongjian Dao waved his hand and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, please don't embarrass me. This is just my personal opinion. It's not worth discussing. It's not worth mentioning."
"What do you mean by this?"
The old emperor was a little confused. The head of the Zhongjian Dao has always said that every word he said is worth a thousand gold. How can he just say it casually? Since he has said it, he must make it clear. Anyway, he doesn't intend to let the other party get away with it.
"It's nothing, just some of my personal opinions. Your Majesty, we have known each other for so many years. It's not too much for me to say a little personal opinion, right?"
The head of the Zhongjian Dao didn't seem to care much. Anyway, he was just talking casually, and the old emperor just listened casually. Why take it so seriously.
How can the selection of the crown prince be a joke? He didn't think the old emperor would be so reckless. Besides, the Zhongjian Dao's asking is the most critical. Once the sword of asking is out, the world is settled. There is nothing to discuss.
Therefore, it is redundant to talk about these things now. It is just that the old emperor is worried about his son. Now he is in a dilemma. If he had not decided on the crown prince at the beginning, there would be no trouble now.
But the crown prince has been decided, so he must be clear. The matter of the eldest prince has caused various disputes between the court and the country. This makes it impossible for the old emperor to lie with his eyes open. How can he keep the crown prince of the eldest prince?
Moreover, he originally did not like the eldest prince very much, especially the eldest prince actually enjoyed eating people, which made him even more disliked. This kind of thing will happen once and for all. If such a cruel and inhumane person becomes the emperor in the future, what will happen to the people of the world? Will the Great Yan Dynasty be defeated by such people?
Then will he be ashamed of his ancestors? Even if he dies, he will not have the face to see the previous emperors.
But at this time, the eunuch came.
"Your Majesty, the Queen Mother is here. Oh, and the Queen is here too."
The old eunuch looked a little anxious, as if he knew that the Emperor was discussing important matters with the head of the Zhongjian Dao, and outsiders were not allowed to disturb them. However, the Queen Mother had a special status, and ordinary people did not dare to stop them.
But why did the Queen Mother come here so anxiously? The matter of the martial arts champion selection actually seemed to be nothing big. Could it be that the Queen Mother had already heard about some other clues?
The old emperor was also a little surprised. He hadn't seen his mother for some time. After all, he was busy with affairs and couldn't fulfill his filial piety every day. As the saying goes, it's difficult to be both loyal and filial. He would try not to see her.
Unexpectedly, his mother came to the door and brought her eldest daughter-in-law with her. The emperor felt a little guilty. He really wanted to use the selection of martial arts champions to suppress the eldest prince and make him step down.
Anyway, it was difficult to come openly, so he naturally thought of some ways to make trouble, and Zhong Jiandao also came, which made it much easier.
However, the empress dowager still knew about it, and the old woman came to the door impatiently.
"Then go and welcome the empress dowager."
The old emperor had no choice but to get up and greet her.
Soon, the old emperor and the head of Zhongjiandao came to the door to welcome the empress dowager. The only thing that the emperor would lower his status when meeting his old mother was, of course, in the court, the emperor was still the supreme ruler, so even the old mother had to kneel down and kowtow to the emperor.
Because the emperor was the Son of Heaven, he was the one chosen by God, he was not a mortal, so the old mother had to abide by the etiquette, otherwise it would be disrespectful to the Son of Heaven, and it would also be a crime of deceiving the emperor.
But privately, the emperor was still the son of the empress dowager, so he had to honestly abide by the rules of humanity.
If you see the mighty harem team coming in front, the old woman is sitting in the sedan chair, and there is another sedan chair behind, the sedan chair should be the Queen, and the maids are guarding beside them, walking all the way, it seems that they are going to ask for punishment.
The old emperor was a little confused. The head of Zhongjiandao looked at him and smiled playfully, but he didn't say much. He felt that the old emperor was afraid of his mother and his wife.
He knew the old emperor's character at the beginning, but Zhongjiandao said that the world's affairs could not be changed. It was just that whether the royal family listened to them or not was the royal family's business. They were just doing their duty, which was no different from completing the task.
Otherwise, why would they come here to cause trouble instead of staying in Zhongjianshan? They were not just full and had nothing to do, but Zhongjiandao had such a tradition, and the royal family really had such an agreement with them.
So this matter was somewhat unavoidable.
Speaking of this agreement, the head of Zhongjiandao can think of some things in the past. When Zhongjiandao was first established, it had a close relationship with the late emperor. The late emperor personally led the army to conquer the vast mountains and rivers, and Zhongjiandao also made an indispensable contribution. It is said that the founder of the sect and the emperor had a life-long friendship.
In addition, there is another master beside the emperor. This person is said to be a marquis. Of course, this marquis was given to him by the emperor later. This person has great achievements and invincible martial arts. This person is also the master of the founder of Zhongjiandao, and the emperor was his student at the time.
Therefore, this marquis is actually the late emperor's tutor, but the emperor had not yet been established, and the emperor was just a local family. Therefore, he is not a tutor, but it is not an exaggeration to call him master.
It was such a master who handpicked this rule of asking questions, and let Zhongjiandao and the royal family follow it all the time. After so many generations of imperial power changes, almost no major events happened, and everyone tacitly accepted such a rule.
This is what the head of Zhongjiandao knows. When the founder went south to sweep the enemy, he was extremely powerful, but he had almost no resistance in front of the founding marquis. According to the memoirs of the founder, the master of the marquis was definitely a god, not a mortal.
But the master of the marquis did not pass down any secrets, and it seemed that he disappeared quickly in the long river of time and space, but there was a portrait of the master of the marquis hanging in Zhongjiandao, because the founder of Zhongjiandao was the disciple of the other party, so Zhongjiandao was not actually founded by the master of the marquis, but it also had a great relationship with the master of the marquis.
Therefore, all the disciples of Zhongjiandao respect this master as the Heavenly Master. Since he is the Heavenly Master, his status is naturally higher than that of the founder of the sect. Therefore, all the disciples of Zhongjiandao must worship and kowtow, especially if there are any disciples who want to become disciples of Zhongjiandao, they must kowtow and offer tea to the founder and the Heavenly Master.
This matter was passed down in this way, and then it was said that the Taoists of Zhongjiandao had close relations with the royal family, so there was the saying of the people who came down from the mountain.
In fact, the people who came down from the mountain were not only for the selection of the crown prince, but also had a deeper meaning, that is, asking for the truth, the so-called righteousness in the world is vicissitudes, which is absolutely true. If it is not righteous, it is evil, that is, the demons are dancing wildly, and Zhongjiandao will not sit idly by.
This is a bit like a regent. Therefore, Zhongjiandao ranks first in the holy land and is the undisputed number one sect in the world. However, Zhongjiandao has been extremely low-key since its founding, with few disciples. It does not seem to be very prominent, and few people in the folk know about Zhongjiandao.
Most ordinary people do not know much about Zhongjiandao. They only know that this sect has a very transcendent status, and the Taoist priests who come out of it have a very high status. Apart from this, they are not very clear about other things. Even when Li Da rebelled, Zhongjiandao also took action. Otherwise, with Li Da's martial arts, basically no one in the royal family could defeat him.
But the leader of Zhongjiandao attacked and directly repelled Li Da. This leader himself was a master-level expert, almost invincible in the world. With such an expert by the side of the old emperor, the country would naturally be extremely stable.
At this moment, the leader of Zhongjiandao thought of these things. Throughout the dynasties, there were not many such things. Only Zhongjiandao encountered such a thing of participating in such a major royal decision-making, and the old emperor was afraid of his wife and mother.
It was a bit difficult for him to be the leader. It was estimated that he would be ridiculed in a while. This was very likely, but he had a gentle personality and would not argue with women.
Sure enough, the empress dowager and her entourage came in a mighty manner, and the old emperor hurried to greet them.
"My son kowtows to the queen mother!"
The old emperor was already old, but he still had to bow his fist honestly.
Although he didn't have to kneel down, after all, he was the emperor. If he didn't want to be laughed at by the world, he could kneel down. If the old woman didn't want to shorten her life, she could let the emperor kowtow to her, otherwise she should forget it.
Sure enough, the old woman's voice came from the sedan chair: "Forget it."
The old emperor was slightly relieved. It seemed that the empress dowager didn't sound very angry. She should be able to sit down and talk calmly.
Then, the sedan chair stopped, the curtain of the sedan chair was pulled open, and an old woman slowly walked out of it.
The moment he saw the old woman, the head of the Zhongjiandao was slightly surprised, because he didn't expect that the old woman had become younger and younger after decades. She didn't look like the mother of the old emperor. She was even younger than the old emperor. She looked like she was in her early forties.
But the old woman was already in her sixties and seventies, and the old emperor was in his fifties. When the old woman gave birth to the emperor, she was indeed very young, about fifteen years old.
But the two are fifteen years apart, but the old woman looks younger than the old emperor, which makes the head of Zhongjiandao frown slightly, which looks a bit strange.
But the old emperor may have seen a lot, and he didn't think it was strange. He seemed to think that because the old mother took good care of herself and used some luxurious nourishing products every day, she was naturally healthy and her appearance had always maintained the appearance of the old mother he saw when she was about thirty years old.
In the following twenty years, there was almost no big change.
The sedan chair landed, the old woman came out, and the old emperor hurried up to support her.
"See the Queen Mother!"
The head of Zhongjiandao had to step forward to pay his respects, which was a courtesy.
"Well, you are here too?"
The old woman glanced at the head of Zhongjiandao indifferently, but there was nothing special about it. They were all old acquaintances. The reason why her son came to power was that this head had made a great contribution.