"Vice Minister of Rites?!"
Though it was a private banquet, the first topic of conversation was official business.
The Crown Prince had evidently already received word that Xu Furen had visited Sun Shaozong's residence yesterday. The moment they sat down, he impatiently pressed for the details.
Though the need to produce an heir was equally urgent, it was not something that could be accomplished overnight. Xu Furen's fate after being implicated, on the other hand, was the foremost concern of the Crown Prince Party at present.
When he learned that Xu Furen had actually been sent to the Ministry of Rites as a mere third-rank Vice Minister, the Crown Prince was instantly horrified. He blurted out, "Father Emperor's wariness of me has reached such a point?!"
Then, as if possessed by some god of misfortune, all the color seemed to drain from his life.
It was not as though his spine had been broken. Why did he always look like he was about to collapse at any moment?
Sun Shaozong grumbled inwardly, but said gravely, "Your Highness need not worry. In this humble subject's view, this appointment as Vice Minister of Rites may not necessarily have been intended to target you."
He then briefly recounted how Xu Furen and he would soon be dispatched as envoys to Later Jin.
He concluded, "While the court has repeatedly deployed troops in the south, the Jurchens have allied with the Tatars in the west and threatened Joseon in the east. They have gradually become a grave threat to our dynasty."
"Now that they have overstepped their station and proclaimed themselves kings, and seek to imitate the centralization of our Central Plains, their momentum may be unparalleled for the moment, but their internal strife has also reached an unprecedented level."
"This time, the court