"Wang Fu? What does this matter have to do with Wang Fu?" Xu Churen became confused.
"Think about it carefully, with Li Bangyan's current strength, if he were to take this position, who would be the first person he would deal with?"
"That would naturally be Wang Fu, but what does that have to do with his ascent?" Xu Churen answered without thinking, as it wasn't difficult to guess.
Although Yu Shen's rise to power was somewhat coincidental, even to the point of being a prime minister who fell from the sky and landed on his head, he was, after all, the prime minister. With his example in front of them, anyone who later ascended to the position would naturally make guarding against Wang Fu their first priority.
"Don't you forget, before Wang Fu dealt with Bai Shizhong, he had already set up his adopted father!"
"You mean..."
"Our Chancellor Wang has learned his lesson. He is now drawing a line between himself and Liang Shicheng. Although the brand on him is too deep and it's difficult to completely remove it for a while, he has, after all, recognized this problem! If I'm not mistaken, soon our Chancellor Wang will once again declare his stance and completely break ties with the Crown Prince!"
"But what of it?"
"Haven't you figured it out yet? Our Emperor is thinking of the future while also being apprehensive, fearing wolves in front and tigers behind!" Han Mo said with a slight smile of disdain. The emperors of the Song Dynasty were all incredibly adept at playing the game of balance. Even this Emperor Huizong was the same. The problem, however, was that he wanted the Crown Prince and Prince Yun to fight each other to the death, yet he was afraid that if either of his sons gained too much power, it would threaten his own position. The previous emperors of the Song Dynasty never considered heirs until they were unable to govern. But Emperor Huizong was different; he was unlike any previous emperor. His mind was filled only with endless enjoyment, and he never intended to govern the country. As long as he had inexhaustible money and beautiful women to squander and enjoy, everything else was unimportant. Of course, all of this was on the condition that his position was not threatened. Therefore, while the entire court praised the Crown Prince for his honest and humble nature, befitting a wise ruler, he remained silent and pushed forward his third son. Just when everyone thought that Prince Yun would replace the Crown Prince, he was hesitant to make a decision and refused to utter a single word about deposing the Crown Prince. When Liang Shicheng sided with the Crown Prince, he quietly began to instigate the division within the Cai faction. To accelerate the division within the Cai faction and to make the already complacent Prince Yun aggressive again, he even disregarded established customs and pushed Prince Xin, Zhao Zhen, into the spotlight. Of course, from the very beginning, he never looked at Zhao Zhen properly, nor did he ever intend to pass the throne to Zhao Zhen. What he needed was simply a prince to occupy that position! All of this, all the ultimate goals, were centered around balance. However, many things in this world often do not transfer according to the emperor's will. For example, just when he thought everything was under his control, he suddenly discovered that Wang Fu and Liang Shicheng were in league with each other. This incident immediately sounded an alarm for him, and it was from that moment that Emperor Huizong began to scheme against his three sons...
"You mean, the key now is to wait for Wang Fu and the Crown Prince to fall out, and then send Li Bangyan to the prime ministership? Using two Vice Premiers to counter Li Bangyan, the Premier..." After taking a deep breath, Xu Churen felt a chill down his spine.
"That's right. If I'm not mistaken, this should be the Emperor's grand plan! As long as Wang Fu and the Crown Prince fall out, this position will definitely be Li Bangyan's! If it were the other way around, this position would likely go to Bai Shizhong!" After listening to Han Mo, Xu Churen fell silent again. The intricacy of the court made him shiver. At this point, he had to admit that many people in this world were truly born to be officials. Although Han Mo was just a young man, his ability to analyze the current Emperor and the current court so thoroughly made him feel ashamed.
"Leave the matters in Bianliang to you..." After a long while, Xu Churen said with a wry smile, handing the handling of court affairs to Han Mo, despite his superior position.
"My lord, rest assured, this matter should already be in motion! If I'm not mistaken, our Mr. Yuan should be going to have a good chat with Chancellor Wang soon!" Han Mo smiled, poured Xu Churen a cup of tea, and then said.
"Sometimes I really want to pry open your head and see what's inside. Is the bloodline of your Han family that good?" Xu Churen said with a smile as he took the teacup.
"These things can always be figured out with a little contemplation. It's just that you have too many things to do and can't quiet your mind!" Han Mo felt a little shy being praised like this.
"Alright, you handle the specific matters. The banquet should be ready, and we'll have a good drink today, no more talk of these things!" Regardless of anything else, having Han Mo by Prince Xin's side was indeed Prince Xin's fortune, and as his teacher, Xu Churen naturally had to try and win over Han Mo.
"Since that's the case, I won't be polite. I'll have to feast on you today! I haven't eaten anything since I left this morning!"
"Hahahaha, although I can't compare to those corrupt officials, I can still afford a meal like this!" Xu Churen also burst into laughter, took Han Mo's hand, and they walked out of the study together.
***
Wang Chao'an was depressed. Although Wang Fu had verbally promised to promote Wang Chao'an in the future, as he lost power in the court, he quickly forgot about it and completely disregarded it. His original duties had already been taken over by someone else, and there was still no news about a new position. This left him completely idle, so idle that he could only hide in a small tavern in the city and drown his sorrows.
"Brother Wang, why are you here?" As he was getting drunk, someone suddenly patted his shoulder from behind.
"Who... it's you!" Upon seeing the person's face, Wang Chao'an, who was already seven or eight parts drunk, trembled all over and almost jumped up.
"Brother Wang, how have you been!" Seeing that familiar face, Wang Chao'an inexplicably felt a chill at the back of his head again. He instinctively reached out and held his head...
"Be gentle, my wounds haven't healed yet..."