I am a prince in Zhutian Films

Chapter 400 Zhao Wei's Ambition
Tonight's assassination has ended, but its impact has just begun.

Xiao Qinyan had just been appointed prime minister, but he was assassinated in the blink of an eye. Moreover, the assassination was so blatant in the inner city of Tokyo that it naturally caused an uproar in the court and the country.

So at the morning court the next day, Zhao Heng was furious because among the assassins identified, there was actually someone from the Palace Front Department.

The Palace Front Department was in bad luck. Starting from Commander-in-Chief Guo, Deputy Commander-in-Chief and Du Yuhou, all the people from top to bottom were strictly investigated. Among them, Du Yuhou and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Wan He were directly arrested on the spot and awaited trial. Although Commander Guo was not arrested, he was also reprimanded.

Because of this incident, the Dianqian Division suffered an unprecedented blow. After all, assassinating the prime minister of the dynasty, and doing it in the inner city of Tokyo, was a heinous crime.

However, those assassins from the Palace Front Division who tried to assassinate Xiao Qinyan were all ruthless characters. After the assassination failed, they simply gave up on survival and were either killed or committed suicide. No one survived.

Since all the assassins were dead, Wan He and the others naturally refused to admit it. Even when they were imprisoned in the Sky Prison, they still said nothing. So although the Palace Front Division suffered in the end, it was within controllable range.

Once the Palace Front Division fell into bad luck, the Imperial City Division naturally rose. Gu Qianfan was commended and promoted by Zhao Heng for saving Xiao Qinyan. With the joint recommendation of Xiao Qinyan and Zhao Wei, he was promoted from deputy envoy of the Imperial City Division to envoy of the Imperial City Division. Lei Jing was also promoted to a higher rank and no longer in charge of the Imperial City Division. He was transferred to the border army as a military supervisor.

In addition to these, Zhao Heng also ordered Zhao Wei to lead the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice to handle the case, and let the Imperial City Bureau be responsible for the investigation.

From then on, the morning court came to an end, but many people knew that the real storm had just begun.

Because everyone knows that the King of Han is a person who cannot tolerate any grain of sand in his eyes, and he is particularly good at taking advantage of any situation.

The Jiangnan Shipping Company case some time ago is a good example.

Using a minor case of corruption in the Shipping Bureau as an excuse, a major purge was carried out in Jiangnan, with nearly half of the officials being purged.

At present, the case has been handed over to King Han to lead the investigation. It is still unknown how many people will be implicated, so that some court officials are a little nervous.

Zhao Heng was probably worried that Zhao Wei would take advantage of the situation, so after the court was dismissed, he kept Zhao Wei alone.

Hall of Wende.

In the entire hall, there were only Zhao Heng and his son Zhao Wei.

Zhao Heng drank a sip of tea slowly before speaking, "Tell me, what do you think about the assassination of Xiao Qinyan?"

"The civil service group has too much power and needs to be restrained."

"So you went to find Xiao Qinyan and planned his assassination?"

Obviously, Zhao Heng thought that Xiao Qinyan's assassination was simply a drama directed and performed by Xiao Qinyan and Zhao Wei.

Zhao Wei naturally understood the hidden meaning in his words and said speechlessly, "The person who assassinated Xiao Qinyan is from the Palace Front Department. The Palace Front Department is directly under you, and I can't mobilize them. How can I use the people from the Palace Front Department to plan this case?!"

Zhao Heng snorted, "I can't guarantee that you haven't reached your hands into the Palace Front Department."

"Don't you know whether I have interfered with the Palace Front Department? If you really doubt me, then I will ask to be sent to the northwest border. Anyway, I am quite familiar with that place and can ensure the stability of the west."

"I was just joking. There's no need. If you go to the northwest, your mother will be annoyed to death." Zhao Heng smiled awkwardly, and then a hint of uncontrollable anger flashed in his eyes: "However, I didn't expect that the Palace Front Department was actually connected with Qingliu. Have you found out who is behind it?"

Hearing this, Zhao Wei knew that Zhao Heng had long suspected the Palace Guards and the Qingliu in the court, so he said, "Apart from some people from Taizu's lineage, for now we can only confirm that one of the masterminds is Qi Mu."

Zhao Heng was stunned: "From what you said, there are more than just Duke Anguo involved in the Hat Monster case."

"You don't think that just a Duke of Anguo can plot the Hat Monster case and dare to assassinate Xiao Qinyan, do you?"

Zhao Heng understood, his tone was neither happy nor angry, just a little sigh: "The people of Taizu's lineage are always restless, you make some arrangements, give Anguogong some respect, and teach them a lesson."

Zhao Wei nodded. He didn’t care about those people from Taizu’s lineage. He cared more about the clean officials in the court.

"What about the Qingliu faction?"

This time, Zhao Heng was silent for a long time before he spoke: "As you said, the civil service group has too much power. It's time to restrict it. Since you said Qi Mu, then Qi Mu, but you must control the scope and don't involve too many people."

"My son understands."

Zhao Wei saluted, then took out a list and handed it to Zhao Heng.

"what is this?"

"This is the list of officials I plan to take action against this time."

There were quite a lot of people, filling up an entire piece of paper, at least more than thirty people, including people from various factions, among which the Qingliu were the largest, followed by the Houdang.

After Zhao Heng carefully read it, he stared at Zhao Wei with a playful look on his face for a long time before saying, "There are quite a few so-called queen's party members among them. Aren't you afraid that your mother will make trouble with you?"

"No? You don't object to this?" Zhao Wei asked back with a rather strange look on his face.

Based on his understanding of Zhao Heng, he did not think that Zhao Heng would agree to deal with the court officials on the list. After all, the number of people was not small.

Therefore, Zhao Wei thought that if he could deal with half of it in the end, he would be successful. However, he didn't expect that Zhao Heng had no intention of objecting.

"I am not stupid. The people on your list are all officials who strongly advocate peace. Now the voices advocating peace in the court are getting louder and louder. Although I do not want to see the Song Dynasty start a war, I should indeed suppress it."

"Father is wise."

Hearing this, Zhao Heng was stunned. If he remembered correctly, this was the first time his son praised him for his wisdom.

"Okay, stop flattering me. Do what you want. I will support you. But I won't speak for you as far as your mother is concerned."

"Mother, the Queen, is as wise as Father, and will surely understand me."

"Not necessarily."

Zhao Heng shook his head and smiled, then waved his hand and said, "Okay, you can go down."

With the support of Zhao Heng, after leaving the palace, Zhao Wei took people directly to various government offices to arrest people, and most of them were the peace-loving faction among the Qingliu.

Seeing this situation, the group of upright people naturally thought that Zhao Wei and Xiao Qinyan had colluded with each other and joined forces to suppress them.

Qi Mu and other upright people were certainly unwilling to tie their own hands, so they started to fight back, and then brought the trouble to Zhao Heng.

But then, Wan He, who had been detained before, revealed the collusion between Qi Mu and the assassins from the Palace Front Department, and even the Imperial City Department found conclusive evidence.

Then, Zhao Heng once again showed his wrath. He arrested several officials who were jumping for joy on the spot, dismissed Qi Mu from his official position, and confiscated his property and exiled him on various charges.

Ministry of Justice, the main prison.

As more and more court officials were arrested, Qi Mu finally understood why Zhao Wei targeted him.

It was simply because of the dispute between those who advocated war and those who advocated peace. He even guessed that Zhao Heng had begun to change his attitude, slowly changing from being in favor of peace to being in favor of war.

However, he thought about it for three whole days and still couldn't figure out one question, which was why Gu Qianfan betrayed him.

Therefore, Qi Mu planned to meet Gu Qianfan. After all, he was once the Minister of Justice, a leader of the clean stream in the court, and he might have a chance to turn things around. The head of the prison in the Ministry of Justice was very tactful and helped him to convey a message.

Unfortunately, Gu Qianfan did not come, but Zhao Wei came to the Ministry of Justice prison.

"This old minister greets His Royal Highness the King of Han."

Zhao Wei shook his head and said with a smile: "Mr. Qi, you have been dismissed from office."

Qi Mu also knew what to do and changed his address: "I am Qi Mu, the humble servant, paying my respects to His Majesty the King of Han."

"I heard that you wanted to meet Gu Qianfan, but unfortunately he has no time to see you recently. The Liao people sent an envoy to Beijing, and Xiao Qinyan arranged a job for him as the deputy envoy for reception, and he is busy making preparations."

"I see, I see. I was wrong. He is indeed Xiao Qinyan's son." Qi Mu did not hide his hatred at all. He finally reminded him, "Your Highness, Xiao Qinyan is a treacherous and evil person. If you cooperate with him, you will be digging your own grave. Please be careful."

Zhao Wei had no intention of helping Gu Qianfan clarify the matter. He nodded solemnly at Qi Mu's eye drops, and then smiled and said, "Don't worry about my affairs, Qi Zhongcheng. The emperor's order has come down. Considering that you have worked hard over the years, even if you have no merits, the emperor has finally decided to give you a decent treatment by exiling you to Lingnan, demoting you to a commoner, and not allowing you to be an official for three generations. This is the imperial order, you can read it yourself."

"We, the common people, bow down and thank God for His grace."

Qi Mu took the imperial edict and seemed to have aged ten years in just a moment.

He originally thought that after Ke Zheng left Beijing, he would become the leader of the Qingliu faction, and then overthrow Xiao Qinyan and become the Prime Minister of the Song Dynasty.

However, he never expected that in just over a month, not only did he fail to overthrow Xiao Qinyan, but he himself ended up having his property confiscated and exiled. This was an extremely miserable punishment for a civil official of the Song Dynasty.

Looking at the crumbling Qi Mu, Zhao Wei didn't say much and took Shuangxi away directly. He still had to attend Xiao Qinyan's banquet.

Xiao Mansion.

"Hahaha……"

Xiao Qinyan laughed heartily and drank a glass with Zhao Wei.

"This is a great victory. Thanks to the help of His Highness, we were able to deal such a heavy blow to those Qingliu. It's really satisfying, so satisfying!"

Zhao Wei put down his wine glass and said calmly, "I just contributed a little. The current results are all due to Prime Minister Xiao. If Prime Minister Xiao had not used himself as bait, we would not have been able to catch the big fish Qi Mu."

"Your Highness is too modest. If it weren't for your planning, it wouldn't be that easy for me to deal with Qi Mu and his gang."

Xiao Qinyan meant to flatter Zhao Wei, but he was sincere in what he said. It was indeed Zhao Wei who took action this time that led to the current result.

Apart from anything else, the criminal evidence used to bring down Qi Mu and those clean officials was all done by Zhao Wei alone, and he did not receive any information beforehand.

Zhao Wei didn't even need his help to convict Qi Mu and a group of officials. It was obvious that Zhao Wei had started planning against Qi Mu and others very early on.

This made Xiao Qinyan happy about Qi Mu's downfall, but also made him more wary of Zhao Wei.

Now that the Qingliu lineage has lost Ke Zheng, Qi Mu and others one after another, its power has been greatly damaged and is no longer a concern. His next step is to consider how to unite with the ministers in the court to suppress His Royal Highness the King of Han in front of him.

After all, what Qi Mu could see clearly, he could naturally see clearly too. The Prince of Han in front of him was an unwavering advocate of war. If Zhao Wei came to power, it would not be a good thing for people like them.

Xiao Qinyan thought so in his heart, but said: "Your Highness, we are now in the same boat. I wish us more and more success in the future, please!"

Xiao Qinyan picked up the wine glass again and clinked it with Zhao Wei, with a very humble attitude.

Zhao Wei also drank a glass with him and said with a smile: "Then I would like to congratulate Prime Minister Xiao first. From now on, Prime Minister Xiao is the real chief minister of the court. No one in the court can hold you back anymore."

"Your Highness, you are joking. I have always served the court, the emperor, and the queen. It makes no difference to me whether I am the prime minister or not."

Xiao Qinyan smiled. Although what Zhao Wei said was the truth, some things should be understood in the heart and should not be spoken out. Finally, he said sincerely: "As long as I can do something for the people of the world, this old minister will be satisfied."

It was really ridiculous to hear these words coming from Xiao Qinyan.

If Ke Zheng said this, it would be at least 80% credible, but when Xiao Qinyan said this, Zhao Wei didn't believe it at all.

But Xiao Qinyan can act, and so can he.

"Prime Minister Xiao has lofty ambitions. Compared to Xiao, my ambitions are far inferior."

"Oh? I am very curious about your ambitions. Would you like to tell me?"

"Nothing is unspeakable." Zhao Wei smiled, then said solemnly: "My ambition is simple, but also difficult. Recovering the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun is my ambition. Of course, it would be even better if we could destroy the Liao people."

Xiao Qinyan took a breath of cold air, his eyes filled with shock.

Because Zhao Wei's ambition was so ambitious, the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun had been ceded for so many years, and the Song Dynasty had thought about taking them back, but after so many years and spending so much manpower and financial resources, it failed to gain any advantage over the Liao people.

Zhao Wei, on the other hand, actually wanted to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun and even destroy the Liao Kingdom. What a huge ambition!
However, Xiao Qinyan could also understand why Zhao Wei had such an ambition. After all, Zhao Wei was not an ordinary prince. He was a prince who had made great military achievements.

To some extent, his status as a military general even exceeds that of a prince.

Expanding territory and recovering lost territories are probably the ambitions of every military general, so it is understandable that Zhao Wei had this ambition.

However, Xiao Qinyan had served the imperial court for decades and was well aware of the importance of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, and he was even more aware of the attitude of the court towards the war.

The mainstream attitude in the court was undoubtedly to stop the war. At least nine out of ten court officials did not want to see the Song Dynasty go to war, let alone a major war involving the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun.

At present, it is simply impossible to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun.

"Your Highness is indeed worthy of being the young hero praised by everyone in the Song Dynasty. Your ambition and vision make this old minister feel ashamed."

Although he was not optimistic, it did not prevent Xiao Qinyan from admiring Zhao Wei's ambition. At least Zhao Wei dared to think, which was better than many people.

"To be honest, if there is a chance in the future, I really want to see this scene. If we can recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, it will surely be a great achievement that will go down in history."

Zhao Wei smiled and said, "If there is a chance in the future, please help me, Prime Minister Xiao."

"Of course. If the time is right, I will fully support Your Highness in the Northern Expedition to destroy Liao."

Zhao Wei didn't believe a word of Xiao Qinyan's verbal support.

He knew very well that due to the Song Dynasty's national policy of emphasizing civil officials over military officials, the civil service group had controlled the court's discourse power for many years, and it was impossible for them to allow military generals to emerge.

After all, the interests in the court are limited. Once the military generals gain power, they will inevitably take away the interests of the civil service group, causing the civil service group to gradually lose its dominant position.

This is absolutely something that no civil servant can accept.

Zhao Wei's words further strengthened Xiao Qinyan's determination to join forces with court officials to suppress Zhao Wei and support other princes.

However, neither of them showed anything, and the banquet was a great success for both the host and the guests.

(End of this chapter)