I am a prince in Zhutian Films

Chapter 345: King Han Protects His Shortcomings
Early in the morning on the day of the flower-viewing banquet, Zhao Wei was pulled out of bed by his wet nurse Xiuying.

Zhao Wei looked at the slightly bright sky, feeling a little helpless.

"Doesn't the banquet start at 9:00 p.m.? Why do I have to get up so early?"

Xiuying ignored his complaints and corrected him, "Your Highness, you should call yourself the King now."

"You don't have to do that in front of the nanny."

"You must have the dignity of a prince. From today on, you will participate in politics. You can't be careless."

"Okay, okay, I understand, Your Majesty."

Zhao Wei was too lazy to argue and just quietly acted as a clothes hanger, allowing the nanny to dress him up. After changing several sets of clothes, he finally chose one, along with a bunch of accessories.

The wet nurse looked at the tall and graceful Zhao Wei and nodded with satisfaction.

"Your Highness, if you wear this, you will surely charm the ladies at the banquet."

The wet nurse seemed to have seen the scene of Zhao Wei's marriage. She even imagined what the next generation would look like, with a smile on her face like an aunt.

I had a quick breakfast, but before I finished, someone came to report that Sanlang Yang had arrived.

Yang Wenguang, whose courtesy name was Zhongrong, was obviously a model for Yang Wenguang, one of the famous generals of the Northern Song Dynasty. In his early years, he was called into the palace by Zhao Wei as a companion to his studies, and could be said to be a true die-hard supporter of Zhao Wei.

When they met again after four years, Yang Wenguang complained before Zhao Wei could speak: "Your Highness, you are too unkind. You sneaked out of the capital and went to the border to beat the Dingnan Army without even calling me. Do you know how I have been spending the past four years?"

"If I call you, do you believe that your father and mother will come to the border and break your legs? I am doing this for your own good."

Yang Wenguang suddenly became a little sad: "Dad passed away last year."

Zhao Wei patted his shoulder to comfort him: "Speaking of which, aren't you in mourning now? How can you go to the flower viewing banquet?"

"My mother learned that the Queen was going to hold a flower viewing banquet, so she went to ask for grace."

"Then let's have a drink together tonight. I haven't been back to Beijing for four years, and I don't know what famous places there are in Tokyo. You choose the location, and I'll pay for it."

"Then thank you, Your Highness."

The two chatted as they hurried to the palace. As they approached the palace gate, more and more carriages arrived for the banquet. When they arrived in front of the guards guarding the imperial city, Liu Sheng waved the token in front of the guards, and the carriage went straight into the palace.

As everyone knows, people from outside the palace can only walk into the palace under normal circumstances. Except for high-ranking officials above the six ministries in the court, or high-ranking ladies with imperial titles, who can ride in the sedan chair granted by the emperor, other people can only walk. So after seeing this scene, many ladies, young masters and young ladies around began to whisper.

"Whose carriage is this? How can it enter the palace directly?"

"Didn't you see the mark on the car? It's His Royal Highness the King of Han. It's a privilege granted to the King of Han by the government."

"The emperor really favors His Royal Highness the King of Han."

"His Royal Highness the King of Han has already been allowed to participate in politics. This little privilege is nothing."

"..."

The ministers and dignitaries who attended the banquet separated from their families at the palace gate and went to the Wende Hall to discuss state affairs. Then they returned to their respective offices to do their work, and finally returned to their homes to find their mothers.

This is the procedure on the ministers' side, and the ladies would bring their unmarried children to Xuyun Hall to pay a visit to the empress and several high-ranking concubines. Afterwards, the ladies would stay in Xuyun Hall to chat with the empress and concubines and watch singing and dancing performances.

As for the unmarried children of each family, they will be arranged to go to the Imperial Garden. After the young people have finished enjoying the flowers, everyone will go to Shengping Tower for a meal, which will officially mark the end of the flower-viewing banquet.

There are many people coming to attend the flower-viewing banquet today. Almost all the famous ladies in Tokyo who are qualified to enter the palace have come.

After all, even a fool can see the current situation in the Song Dynasty court.

The emperor had only two sons, Zhao Wei, who was already eighteen years old, and Zhao Zhen, who was only six years old.

Although Zhao Zhen had just been crowned king and was quite favored by the emperor, Zhao Wei's favor... could only be said to be higher, not lower.

Moreover, Zhao Zhen was still young, and his mother's family was stronger than Zhao Wei who had no support. However, Zhao Wei had early worshipped Ke Zheng as his teacher and gained the support of many officials. Even if they were only local officials, he was a force that could not be ignored. Coupled with the support of the military officer group, the power behind him was so great that even the current emperor felt threatened, not to mention the insignificant Zhao Zhen.

There is no possibility of comparison between Zhao Wei and Zhao Zhen.

It can be said that, unless something unexpected happens, within two years, Zhao Wei will be promoted from a political prince to a crown prince, and then succeed to the throne.

If his daughter could be favored, she would definitely become the Crown Princess or even the Queen.

Even if we take a step back, she is still a prince's princess.

Zhao Wei and Yang Wenguang did not go to the flower-viewing banquet immediately, but went to Wende Hall to participate in politics first.

Although he said he was participating in politics, in fact he was just going through the motions. He merely made a few suggestions to test the waters, but was met with opposition from many people. Zhao Heng's face also looked a little ugly.

So, as soon as the hour of Si arrived, Zhao Wei was sent to a flower-viewing banquet.

When Zhao Wei brought Yang Wenguang to Xuyun Palace, all the ladies began to praise him, using words like "handsome", "dignified", "elegant", "graceful"... they lavished compliments on Zhao Wei without asking for anything in return.

In the end, it was Liu Wan who spoke up and stopped everyone's momentum.

"Well, if you keep praising them, the two children won't be able to walk.

"Xun'er, Zhongrong, please go to Qingzhu Garden first. The disciples of each family are waiting for you there."

"My son, please retire."

As the group arrived at the gate of Qingzhu Garden from Xuyun Palace, they saw a young eunuch trotting out in a hurry with an anxious look on his face.

He bumped into Zhao Wei head-on. Before the eunuchs could scold him, Zhao Wei asked, "Why are you so flustered?"

The young eunuch was startled and quickly knelt down.

"Your servant...your servant, I greet His Royal Highness the King of Han. I hope Your Highness will forgive me."

Zhao Wei waved his hand: "What happened in there?"

"There's a fight inside."

"Who dares to be so presumptuous in the palace?" Yang Wenguang asked curiously.

"There are... so many people here, and it's a mess inside. Your Highness, please go and take a look." The young eunuch was very anxious and wanted Zhao Wei to go in and take charge of the situation.

But Zhao Wei shook his head and said with a smile: "No hurry, let them fight inside for a while, there is no need to waste so much time, tell me what happened first?"

Zhao Wei was not in a hurry, and neither were the others. Yang Wenguang looked like he was ready to listen to the story.

Only the young eunuch was worried, but there was no point in being worried. As a small eunuch, he could not make decisions for his master. He could only briefly explain the cause and development of the incident.

About a quarter of an hour ago.

There was still peace in Qingzhu Garden. The young masters still remembered that this was the imperial palace and acted in a restrained manner. Even when they met their mortal enemies, they only mocked each other verbally and the insults were not serious.

After all, before entering the palace, their elders had repeatedly told them to be careful with their words and actions and to behave well.

There are many entertainment activities in Qingzhu Garden, such as chuiwan, touhu, archery, marbles, etc. Of course, there are also many activities such as playing the piano, chess, calligraphy and painting.

The divisions are clear: those who want to play can play, and those who want to perform can show their talents.

Play, you can play anytime.

But there are not many opportunities to show your talents, at least not many opportunities to show your talents in the palace.

More importantly, if their elders knew that they went to the palace just to play, they would inevitably be punished when they returned home.

With this idea in mind, many people turned to their talents, such as playing the piano, playing chess, reciting poems, writing calligraphy, painting and so on.

Anyway, there is always a project they have learned that can showcase their talents.

Of course there are some who are not good at all, otherwise where would there be so many playboys in Tokyo?

But they still had to pretend when it was time to do so, and naturally those uneducated and uncultured young men followed them, leaving the entire recreational area deserted, with not a single person in sight.

"It was fine, why did they start fighting later?"

Yang Wenguang always kept melon seeds in his purse, a skill he had learned from Zhao Wei since childhood. Now he had to use them, and he also gave some to the eunuchs and Liu Sheng who were accompanying him. They were eating melon seeds at the gate of Qingzhu Garden and listening to the little eunuch telling stories.

The young eunuch had a bitter face and had no hope left for Zhao Wei and Yang Wenguang.

"Later, Prince Anping became impatient and wanted to go archery, so he dragged a few like-minded friends to go archery together."

Like-minded?

To put it bluntly, he is just an unlearned person and can't survive in the talent area.

"And then?" Yang Wenguang urged him to continue and gave him some reward money very readily.

The young eunuch didn't know whether to laugh or cry. They thought he was a storyteller. He weighed the weight of his purse imperceptibly, and suddenly felt that being a storyteller was not a bad idea, and he was very happy.

He swept away his bitter expression, smiled happily, danced with hands and soul, and told them what had just happened with deep emotion.

After listening, Zhao Wei summarized.

In a word, it’s all because of your bad mouth.

The Prince of Anping and his companions had a great time playing in the amusement area. Perhaps they laughed too loudly, which attracted the attention of the son of Minister Wang of Rites, who was composing a poem. The son then included the Prince of Anping and his companions in his poem to mock them.

It was well-written and quite literary, and it quickly spread throughout the talent area, and then reached the ears of Prince Anping and his entourage.

The uneducated Prince Anping did not understand that this was a mockery of them, and spent a while in peace. But with so many people and so many mouths, it was only a matter of time before the truth was revealed.

So the two sides started fighting.

"Everything was fine and peaceful, but the kid from the Wang family chose to write a poem to mock the Prince of Anping. He is not looking for a fight, he is looking for death." Yang Wenguang gloated.

He has been unhappy with Wang Yuanjin of the Wang family for a long time, but the Wang family is the backbone of the civil service group, and Yang Wenguang's attitude towards him has always been to keep out of each other's way.

There was no way. The Yang family really had no way of getting the upper hand over the literati.

Besides, the Prince of Anping is a complete playboy and is not liked by others. Besides, he is a descendant of Taizu, so his status is naturally not high.

But no matter how low his status was, he was still a member of the royal family, so Yang Wenguang was looking for death.

Of course, Yang Wenguang was also very clear that with the power of the Wang family, it would not be so exaggerated as to die just by writing a poem to mock the Prince of Anping.

After all, there were many civil servants who criticized the emperor, so criticizing the Prince of Anping was nothing.

However, a beating is certain.

Wang Yuanjin, that weak scholar, could never be a match for the Prince of Anping.

"Let's go, it's time for us to go in." Zhao Wei stood up and prepared to go in to stop the fight.

In Qingzhu Garden, there was a circle of people gathered in the center. They were the gangs of Prince Anping and Wang Yuanjin. It was obvious that Wang Yuanjin's group could not beat Prince Anping and his gang. Even though they had more people, they were still passively taking the beating.

The people outside were shouting "Stop fighting, stop fighting", but their eyes were full of anticipation for a good show. They probably felt that they were not beating hard enough. After all, these people were children of the military officers' group, and they had been dissatisfied with the children of the civil officers' group for a long time.

One of Yang Wenguang's brothers was also in the crowd, commenting on the actions of the Prince of Anping with Cao Jialiulang.

"This punch isn't strong enough."

"Well, I should kick him now. Yes, kick him away... kick, punch..."

As the two were talking in a low voice, a loud voice sounded behind them.

"Stop it, you can't kill anyone like this."

These words spread throughout the venue, making everyone present quiet down, and the two gangs fighting in the middle of the field also stopped.

Prince Anping's face turned pale, he looked around and shouted angrily: "Who? Who said that? Stand up for me."

Yang Erlang and Cao Liulang looked at each other, both confused. Which warrior had spoken out their true feelings?

The two turned their heads and bowed, saying, "This humble general greets His Majesty the King of Han."

Hearing this, the others present also came to their senses: "I, your humble servant (student), greet His Royal Highness the King of Han."

Those who call themselves students are studying in the Imperial College, and those who call themselves humble officials have positions assigned to them by their families, just like Yang Erlang and Cao Liulang who called themselves humble generals.

At this time, Prince Anping was a little embarrassed.

He swore that he had just said the word "I" casually. If his parents and elder brother knew about this, he would be beaten three times.

However, after looking at the people at the scene, he felt desperate. He couldn't keep their mouths shut at all.

After everyone had saluted, they made way for him. Zhao Wei walked up to Prince Anping and asked with a smile, "Who were you talking to just now, cousin?"

Prince Anping pointed at Wang Yuanjin awkwardly and said, "I was just talking to this kid named Wang."

"Well, that was a misunderstanding on my part. I thought my cousin was talking to me."

"How could it be? It's impossible!"

Zhao Wei smiled, stepped forward and whispered in her ear: "Forget it this time, be more careful next time, and don't hang around in Tokyo City anymore, otherwise you know my temper."

The Prince of Anping knew this too well, especially his cousins ​​who were about the same age as Zhao Wei. It was no exaggeration to say that they were brought up by Zhao Wei.

Those methods...

Prince Anping took a deep breath and said, "Thank you, cousin. I swear, I have never bullied ordinary people."

"You're welcome. We're all family." Zhao Wei smiled and turned to look at Wang Yuanjin, who was beaten black and blue. "My cousin, you shouldn't hit someone in the face, why did you hit him in the face?"

Hearing this tone, Prince Anping not only knew that Zhao Wei had let him go, but also knew that Zhao Wei was also unhappy with the kid from the Wang family. Plus, he was already very angry, so naturally he had to complain quickly.

"Cousin, you don't know. Originally, this grandson and I had nothing to do with each other and played our own games. Who knew that this grandson would write a poem to mock me and others? I was so angry that I went to argue with him, but he dared to be stubborn. I got angry and... hit him twice."

Wang Yuanjin also knew that he was in the wrong in this matter, but after being beaten, he was very annoyed, especially now that his face was bruised and swollen, which was unsightly.

"Your Highness, I am in the wrong in this matter, but I have apologized to the Prince of Anping. As the saying goes, a gentleman speaks, not takes action. But the Prince of Anping did not listen at all and took action directly."

Zhao Wei nodded, indicating that he understood.

"Cousin, have you calmed down?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Wang Yuanjin felt something was wrong.

What does that mean? If Prince Anping is still angry, will he beat me again?
The people around looked at Wang Yuanjin with sympathy. He thought he had met someone who would protect his people.

But after all, he is a prince, and a prince who participates in politics.

It's useless to get beaten.

It seems that I have to be more careful in the future and never say such mean things.

When Prince Anping saw Wang Yuanjin with a bruised face and nose, his anger subsided a lot. He thought that at worst he would have another chance to put him in a sack after leaving the palace, so he should be more restrained in the palace.

So he nodded and said, "It's gone."

Zhao Wei didn't force it. He had given him the opportunity to beat him up openly. Since he chose not to do it, then forget it.

"In this case, Wang Yanei, you should give Prince Anping a solemn apology, and the matter will be settled."

Before Wang Yuanjin could say anything, a young man beside him said angrily, "Your Highness, it was the Prince of Anping who beat us."

"Hmm?" Zhao Wei turned his head and looked over: "Whose family are you from?"

"My name is Xiao Wei, and my father is the governor of Suzhou and the military governor of Pingjiang Army."

Zhao Wei turned around, Yang Wenguang understood and gave the answer immediately.

"It's Xiao Qinyan."

Zhao Wei suddenly realized: "Oh, so he is the son of Prime Minister Xiao's family, what do you want to do?"

Xiao Wei was stunned.

Because he didn't want to do anything, he just felt that they had to apologize after being beaten, which was really... too bullying!

Xiao Wei didn't say anything, but the other person who was beaten stood up and said with a wronged look on his face: "Your Highness, the Prince of Anping beat us like this, he must... pay compensation."

Noticing that there was something wrong with Zhao Wei's eyes, he quickly changed his words.

"How much do you want?"

"At least ten thousand taels."

"Well, ten thousand taels is not too much." Zhao Wei nodded seriously and looked at the leader Wang Yuanjin: "Master Wang, you heard it, ten thousand taels."

Wang Yuanjin was not stupid, so he naturally understood what Zhao Wei meant. He was also very dissatisfied in his heart, but the situation was stronger than him, so he could only accept the matter reluctantly.

"Yes, Your Highness. I will deliver it to Prince Anping within three days."

"Yes, I like to talk to smart people." Zhao Wei smiled and said, "It's getting late now, let's go to the Imperial Garden."

(End of this chapter)