Chapter 303
The previously gloomy look on the emperor’s face was immediately swept away as he looked at Gu Zhen lovingly, and asked patiently, “Zhen’er, what do you understand?”
Gu Zhen jumped down from the chair, bowed to the emperor, and solemnly said, “Answering to Imperial Father, do not just look at the immediate success and failures in front when doing things.”
The emperor smiled encouragingly and asked again, “What else?”
Gu Zhen who just turned six years old still talks with his soft and milky voice, but his thoughts and way of speaking were already organized and said again. “When Northern Yan has offered to give Turkic horses to us before, we should not only see how good Turkic horses are but also think deeply about their intention on why they give them to us.”
The emperor listened with a smile as his eyes also flicked slightly.
Initially, when he heard that North Yan was willing to give 500 Turkic horses, the emperor actually could not stop his excitement.
These Turkic horses were really too important for Daqi since these could help improve Daqi’s cavalry horses, but Gu Zezhi poured cold water on him, saying. “Turkic horses are very important to Northern Yan. Dayan and Daqi are in a feud, but Yelu Luan promised five hundred Turkic horses so easily, there must something wrong with it.”
The emperor felt that what Gu Zezhi said was reasonable, and so he also keeps this in mind.
He originally thought that Northern Yan would give Daqi some inferior horses at most, and never expected that Yelu Luan would actually use such vicious tricks as giving Daqi plague horses.
After all, the temptation of Turkic horses was just too great, if it wasn’t for Gu Zezhi’s warning they might have really caught into Northern Yan’s schemes.
If not because of that warning, war horses in northern Xinjian would be in danger!
Just thinking about this sent a chill to the emperor for a while, after drinking two sips of his tea only then did his mood stabilizes.
After putting down the teacup, the emperor looked at Gu Zezhi again and asked curiously, “Zezhi, did you really know it was horse plague?”
Gu Zezhi shook his head and replied truthfully, “I don’t know, I don’t have the ability to predict.”
Saying this, he had this smile on his face, like a breeze blowing through willow branches with a light breeze and thin clouds.
The emperor looked at him and could not guess whether his words were true or not.
Gu Zezhi was clearly only a young man but his resourcefulness and wit were far superior to that of ordinary people. He takes one step while thinking about his next ten steps which simply gives him the idea of how to predict his opponent’s next move making him incredible.
“I know, I know!” Gu Zhen excitedly raised his hand and his eyes were sparkling. “It’s before it rains, bind around with silk*.”
(*taking precautions.)
“That’s why General Yu went to northern Xinjiang, right!”
Gu Zhen looked at the emperor with a burning gaze and his small face glowed as if the word “come and praise me” were written all over his face.
He figured it out on his own!
The emperor laughed again and praised his son as he wished, “Zhen’er is so smart.”
Gu Zhen smiled and a pair of shallow dimples appeared on his round little face with a touch of embarrassment and shyness.
Seeing this, the emperor beckoned Gu Zhen to come closer and rubbed the top of his soft hair before sending him first to the inner room to read.
Gu Zhen obediently left with the eunuch.
The emperor looked at the receding back of Gu Zhen leaving when he suddenly asked Gu Zezhi in a low voice: “Zezhi, what do you think of the Zhen’er?”
The curtain was raised and then lowered again, and Gu Zhen was already out of sight.
Gu Zezhi: “A benevolent and skillful execution, good at thinking and understanding everything right off.”
This was a compliment but the emperor’s expression became more serious.
In the imperial study, there was a moment of silence until the door curtain that was swaying stopped, did the emperor asked again, “Is he suitable to be the crown prince?”
Gu Zezhi looked at the emperor calmly, and they communicated with each other’s eyes, before he said.
“The second prince is ambitious but short-sighted; the third prince is gentle and lacks assertiveness; the fourth prince is young and weak, and is raised by a woman…”
The emperor’s descendants were weak, and the fifth prince died early at the age of five, followed by the youngest sixth prince, Gu Zhen.
“Although the sixth prince is small, there are advantages to being small…”
Gu Zezhi stopped at that point and did not continue.
In fact, the person who knows best about the strengths and weaknesses of several imperial princes was the emperor himself.
The country does not have a crown prince. Gu Zhen was young which was a disadvantage and an advantage at the same time. He was a blank slate because he was young and was easier to teach.
Moreover, Gu Zhen was intelligent, deduce many things from one case, and was clear-minded, although he doesn’t have the resoluteness and decisiveness that a king should have, he could make good decisions in dealing with things but he was also not the kind of ruler who wants to conquer other lands, instead he had a benevolent heart and judge a person with his own eyes and open-minded, he was also eager to learn. He ought and possibly preserve the accomplishments of previous generations.
And now Daqi also needs a centralized leader as they recuperate!
Casting his eyes down, the emperor was lost in his thoughts in silence.
The courtiers have quarreled many times over the issue of “establishing a legitimate heir” and “establishing the elders but not the young”. Basically, they are talking about “the legitimate son and the concubine-son”, but Gu Zezhi was different, he analyzes the princes’ individual characters and abilities before giving his judgment.
After thinking about it for a long time, the emperor chooses not to say anything in the end and just lets Gu Zezhi rest.
In the imperial study, only Zhou Xin stayed to serve tea to the emperor.
Outside the window, the spring breeze gently swayed the leaves, and the subtle rustling sound made the room extremely quiet, dappled with mixed light and shadow cast on the emperor’s face making his complexion profound and complicated.
Silence enveloped the inside and outside of the imperial study room.
***
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