The Child Emperor

The Princess Tan of the East China Sea was two years older than her husband, slightly taller, beautiful as a flower, and had a dignified and decent manner. After entering the house, she bowed to Marquis Juan, calling her "Chen and Concubine Tan", and treating Marquis Juan as a king.

The King of Donghai stood on the side with a red face, feeling that he and Han Ruzi were not familiar enough to show his wife, but he didn't dare to make a sound, and he felt even more ashamed when he thought that the shape of his beating had been seen through.

Han Ruzi was very curious about the daughter of the Tan family who was so fierce that he dared to fight the King of the East China Sea, but after seeing it, he felt a little embarrassed and didn't know what to say.

"The concubine heard the conversation between Marquis Juan and the King of the East Sea by chance, and was very encouraged. However, she was still unfinished, and took the liberty to ask for an opinion, so as to offer a shallow opinion. I hope Marquis Tien will forgive her sins and not be rude to the concubines."

"It's enough to have me here." Donghai Wang said bluntly, and immediately added: "If it has something to do with the Tan family, it's up to you."

Han Ruzi cupped his hands and said, "Please ask the princess to teach me."

The East Sea King looked around vigilantly, trying to capture the slightest change in expressions of the two.

Mrs Tan didn't care about her husband's supervision, and said, "Marquis Juan said that the officials of the ministries are the foundation of the imperial court, that's right, and the King of Donghai said that the officials were unfaithful, and that's right. From this, he came to the conclusion that criminal officials are not worth relying on. There was a little mistake."

"What's wrong?" Donghai King asked, cooperating just right.

Han Ruzi also nodded, expressing interest.

"Do the children of the clan want to be emperors?" Tan asked.

"There are not many." The King of the East Sea hurriedly replied, "Actually, the two brothers and the champion, the King of England are not counted. He is a child who was used by others."

"Are all the noble children coveting comfort and not wanting to make progress?"

"In Broken Iron City, many noble children and ordinary soldiers stood on the city wall and fought bravely. I saw it with my own eyes." Donghai King said.

Mrs Tan bowed slightly to Marquis Juan, believing that she had made it clear: Everyone has their own personalities and cannot be generalized.

Of course Han Ruzi understood, and asked, "Why can the Tan family win over the 'Guanghua Tigers'?"

The King of Donghai once said that the Tan family had a close relationship with the capital criminals, but this alone could not convince Han Ruzi.

"By personal friendship." Tan's answer was similar to that of King Donghai. After a pause, she gave a more detailed explanation, "Although Lian Danchen is a criminal officer, he is very clean and never accepts bribes from prisoners' relatives, so he offends him. Many people, only the Tan family respects him and has always excused him, helping Lian Danchen and his family for at least 20 years."

The East Sea King interjected: "It's a secret help. Lian Danchen only knew about it a few years ago, thank you Dade... You go on to say."

The King of the East China Sea called the Tan family "you", showing a trace of awe in the bluntness.

"Zhang Jing was born in a poor family. When he was thirteen, he wanted to be an apprentice, but he had nowhere to ask. It was the Tan family who supported him for seven years until he received a salary when he was twenty. The Tan family helped not only these two criminals," Seven of the Guanghua Tigers have been blessed by my family."

"I believe that these criminals have also repaid the Tan family, right?" Han Ruzi asked.

Mrs Tan smiled and said, "I have helped a little, but the Tan family does not ask for their previous favors. Every time they ask them for help, they will be rewarded. Even this time, the Tan family did not make any request. It was Lian Danchen and others. People took the initiative to come to the door, hoping to serve the Hou Juan."

"Me?" Han Ruzi felt unbelievable. Before that, he didn't know any torturer at all.

"The Queen Mother once praised Marquis Juan." Tan said.

"The queen mother praised him?" Donghai Wang felt even more incredible, "Why didn't I hear you mention it?"

Mrs Tan ignored her husband and continued: "That was last year, when Marquis Juan went to serve in the frontier with the army, and the Queen Mother once talked about the difficulty of ruling in Guanghua Pavilion, lamenting that the imperial family was declining and no one was available, but Marquis Juan was the only one rely on."

"The Empress Dowager...just say Hou Juan alone?" asked the King of the East Sea.

Tan sternly glanced at Donghai King, "Of course, how could the Queen's eyes like you?"

"Just ask." The East Sea King whispered, and asked again: "The Queen Mother values ​​Han Ruzi so much, why don't you let him continue to be the emperor?"

The Tan family looked at her husband more severely, and the East Sea King blushed, "The queen mother wants to stay in power, she wants a puppet, not a real emperor."

Mrs. Tan said to Marquis Juan: "'Guanghua Qunhu' is the Queen Mother's confidant and respects the Queen Mother very much. Although the Queen Mother only praised her, they have always kept it in their hearts. They won't make a difference, but when they have the opportunity, they think the Queen Mother's vision will not be wrong."

Han Ruzi was silent, and he was dubious about Tan's words. After a long time, he said, "Why is the Tan family involved? It is said that the Tan family does not want to be an official."

The King of the East Sea wanted to speak, but opened his mouth and closed it again, allowing his wife to answer.

"The Tan family was also forced to be helpless. No one in the Tan family was an official. The original intention was to stay away from the court, so as not to give people a pretext to form a gang, but the Tan family has helped too many people over the years, and some of them have become officials. Still a high-ranking official, the struggle between the courtiers will inevitably spread to the Tan family, especially in recent years, the court battle has become more and more serious, and some people have already spoken out that they should follow the precedent of Emperor Wu to eradicate the heroes and wipe out the Tan family."

"DPRK competition? Who is fighting with whom?" Han Ruzi thought that the ministers were all united.

"Don't you know Marquis Juan? There are several factions of ministers in the DPRK. The most important ones are two factions. One is the literati who is a scholar, headed by the prime minister Yin Wuxian, and the other is the descendants of an aristocratic family, headed by the great governor Han Xing. The two factions have been fighting for many years. There is no difference between the winner and the loser. Emperor Wu suppressed the family to support civil officials. Emperor Huan did the opposite, but he didn't have time to implement it. Since the Queen Mother took power, she treated the two factions equally on the surface, and promoted a large number of criminal officials who did not pay attention to the two factions. During the King Qi Rebellion, everyone realized that the Queen Mother was on the side of the civil servants, and most of the traitors arrested by the criminals were ministers from the family's faction."

The King of the East Sea added: "So on the list of ministers above the fifth rank that we got, more than half of the jinshi sect, and there are only more than 100 people from the clan and noble family."

Someone said to Han Ruzi long ago that the queen mother was trying to please the minister, but he was still confused, "Master Cui is also an honorable man, but many ministers support him."

"Of course, the so-called assignment is only a general statement. There are disputes between the civil servants and the civil servants, and there are conflicts between the noble families and the noble families. For example, the two imperial censors were born in the jinshi, but they did not like each other. Married with aristocratic family, but when Wenchen and noble family fought to the death, all three of them stood by Wenchen's side."

Han Ruzi was a little confused, "As you said, the criminals attacked the family and protected the interests of the civil servants, but now that the civil servants support the champion, why are the criminals afraid that the champion will become emperor?"

"Because most of the criminal officers did not have the title of jinshi, they were only the minions of the Queen Mother. Although the civil servants were protected, they also lost a lot of power. The 'Guanghua Qunhu' skipped the boss and submitted the memorial directly to the Queen Mother, which made the ministers very dissatisfied. And the champion marquis There is a gap with the queen mother, the first thing after becoming emperor is to get rid of these minions."

The King of Donghai smiled and said, "I knew that my mother had a reason for me to marry the Tan family. How do you know so much?"

Tan said coldly: "The Tan family doesn't want to fight for power, but in order to protect themselves, they have to participate in the court battle. Before making a move, you must first find out the opponent's situation."

The King of the East Sea laughed.

Han Ruzi did not laugh. The complexity of the court was far beyond his imagination. He understood a little why his father, Emperor Huan, complained about the unreliability of ministers, and why his grandfather, Emperor Wu, muttered to himself "I am a lonely man" on the throne.

"Is there a lot of property in the Tan family?" Han Ruzi asked.

Tan shi was stunned for a moment, "There are some, not too little."

"It's widely distributed, isn't it?"

"The Tan family's industry is mainly in the capital and northern Xinjiang, but they have connections with businessmen from all over the country. Does Hou Huan need money?"

The King of Donghai guessed Han Ruzi's purpose, and shouted to his wife: "Don't be fooled, he wants the Tan family to open a warehouse to put food and help the refugees!"

The Tan family was stunned again, "The Tan family has been cooking porridge. As long as Hou Juan speaks, even if the family goes bankrupt, I'm afraid that the Tan family's property is not so much, and they can't save all the refugees in the world."

Han Ruzi smiled and said, "Of course we can't let the Tan family bear the food and clothing of all the refugees. I just thought, if the government is willing to open the warehouse to put food, will the Tan family be willing to cooperate?"

"It is obligatory, and in the name of Marquis Tired..."

"No no, don't mention my name, and don't be in a hurry, you have to let the local officials open their warehouses and put food before it."

"Okay, I will discuss it with my father, let the Tan family settle accounts first, see how much food can be used in various places, and then just wait for a word from Hou Juan."

"Thank you very much." Han Ruzi saluted.

Tan Shi returned the ceremony, "The heart of the benevolent is the heart of the emperor, and Hou Tien has the heart of the world, and the throne of the emperor is none other than the king."

Han Ruzi was no longer polite, "Then proceed as originally planned. The Tan family will contact the criminal officer, and I will provide a group of dead men. As long as there is a change in the palace, act as soon as possible to arrest the hopeful and the champion."

The King of the East Sea found that he had been neglected, and hurriedly said: "The key is Shangguansheng, whoever has to stay in the Eighth Guard Battalion can control the capital."

Han Ruzi said goodbye, admiring Mrs Tan.

The King of the East Sea also admired his wife, but he was a little dissatisfied with her appearance today, "Have you said too much to Han Ruzi, is it necessary?" When there were only the couple left, the King of the East Sea asked.

"It is more important than anything else to gain the trust of Hou Juan." Tan said coldly.

"Is it true that the Queen Mother praised Han Ruzi?"

Mr. Tan nodded, and the expression of King Donghai suddenly turned gloomy, "Are we really going to help him to become emperor honestly?"

Mrs. Tan looked at her husband, looked at her for a moment, and said, "When Concubine Cui asked the Tan family for marriage, she promised me Empress Da Chu, not Princess Donghai. Now that I'm married to you, what have you to worry about?"

The King of the East Sea smiled.

It was very late when Han Ruzi returned to the mansion, so he ordered his servants to invite Yang Feng.

Yang Feng didn't sleep, and soon came to the study.

Han Ruzi recounted his experience in the Donghai Palace in detail, and finally asked, "Why have you never told me about these factions and struggles in the DPRK?"

Yang Feng listened quietly, "Don't remember Marquis Tien? I told you that too much news is worse than no news. Now that you know that there are open and secret fights between ministers, is it any good for you?"

Han Ruzi was speechless. Indeed, these information did not directly help him in his current struggle for the throne. At the same time, he also realized that the Tan family had said so many secret affairs of the court, but did not mention much about the Tan family.

"I thought of a way, maybe all the local governments can open their warehouses and put food." Han Ruzi changed the subject. He still gained something this day, and the gain was not small.