The Child Emperor

On the third day of December in the first year of Gongcheng, the emperor read out the edict of abdication in the Tai'an Hall, and it was less than nine months before he ascended the throne on this day, and exactly five months before the earthquake in the capital.

The history books recorded a series of disasters in this year, such as the collapse of the emperor, military disasters, palace changes, earthquakes, epidemics, border raids... A letter of memorial was sent from all over the world, and at first it was only a hint that the disaster was related to the inner palace. After being acquiesced and encouraged, the memorial pointed directly at the emperor himself.

The emperor issued one or two edicts of guilt almost every month, taking the initiative to take responsibility, so that more and more officials smelled the fragrant smell of blood, and the content of the memorial became more and more straightforward. It became a criminal evidence, showing that he offended the heavens and caused all the disasters this year.

Therefore, the abdication on the third day of December came naturally.

Han Ruzi knew very little about these things. He was not the one who wrote the edict of guilt. Although there were many memorials, he had no chance to see them. He didn't even go to Qinzheng Hall very much. Reading, especially historical books, no one restricts him, he can read freely.

Mother Wang Meiren came every day to chat with her son for a while, never mentioning outside matters.

Others seldom came, Yang Feng never showed up, Meng E came once and brought him the last pill, and has never been seen since. One month before the abdication, both Zhang Youcai and Tong Qing'e were transferred away and disappeared. , The other "hard-fated people" have never been here. When Han Ruzi asked, Wang Meiren just said "there are other arrangements" and refused to disclose more details.

Gradually, Han Ruzi's worries also faded away. Since he will abdicate soon, there is really no need to care about other people's attitudes.

The king of the East China Sea has been here a few times, and he has always been sarcasm. He didn't know that he had a chance to become emperor, so he was in a low mood. After the ridicule, he always blamed his uncle Cui Hong. opportunity.

Han Ruzi never saw the queen again, and the custom of coming to the Qiuxin Palace every five days was also cancelled.

Occasionally, he could also hear some news: the eunuch Zuo Ji was not forgiven by the queen mother, and was cut in half in prison the day after the palace change failed; , the family members who stayed in Beijing were all imprisoned; Chunyu Xiao, the hopeful man, was the most mysterious. There were news of his arrest every few days, but none of them could be confirmed.

But these have nothing to do with Han Ruzi. Reading history books is purely a hobby, and he doesn't think he has a chance to become emperor again.

On the afternoon of the second day of December, the eunuch Jing Yao sent a draft edict of abdication. The edict was very long, and it included the calamities and tribulations of the year. It implies that you have an incurable disease.

Han Ruzi wrote everything correctly, only stopped writing once, and asked in amazement: "When did I change my name to Han Qiang? Is this word pronounced '有'?"

"Before the emperor ascends the throne, he usually changes his name so that people in the world can avoid taboos. His Majesty's name was changed in March, and there is a record in the Zongzheng Mansion's genus records. Acorn is a sacred tree, and it is said that those who eat its leaves will not be jealous." Jing Yao explained , facing the emperor who will abdicate the next day, he still maintains basic etiquette.

Han Ruzi continued to write the imperial edict, he didn't care whether it was "Han Song" or "Han Cheng", his real name was "Ruzi".

"Okay." Han Ruzi put down his pen and admired the imperial edict he wrote, "My handwriting is much more neat than before, will the ministers recognize it?"

Jing Yao looked a little embarrassed, "Yes, I must. Your Majesty, please rest."

Han Ruzi lay on the bed and practiced counterbreathing silently for a while, feeling that the sense of breath in his body was becoming clearer. Unfortunately, he could only practice so far. If Meng E didn't come, he didn't know other exercises.

That night, he slept soundly.

Compared with enthronement, the next day's abdication ceremony was extremely fast and simple. The ceremonial officer read out the imperial edict in public. Passed the seal that never belonged to him, and withdrew.

Then Prime Minister Yin Wuhai went up the steps, stretched out his hand, called "Your Highness", guided Han Ruzi out of Tai'an Hall, and handed him over to the two generals at the door.

Han Ruzi recognized one of them, and it was Liu Kunsheng, the palace gatekeeper. He made great contributions in defeating the palace coup, rose to the top, and was directly promoted to General Zhonglang, in charge of the palace guards.

When saluting to the deposed emperor, Liu Kunsheng bowed lower obviously, "Your Highness, please follow me out of the palace."

Han Ruzi boarded a carriage, and Zhonglang personally escorted Liu Kunsheng. When the vehicle drove to Nanbianmen, he met the first group of messengers. Keep the capital mansion.

King Dezhong is not a good title, Han Ruzi doesn't like it, and doesn't care.

The carriage continued to move forward and drove out of the palace. The road was deserted and there was no one in broad daylight.

On the way, the carriage stopped again, and the second group of envoys stopped the way and read out the Queen Mother's edict: After discussion among the ministers, the abolished emperor is not suitable to be called king, so he was renamed "Jianhou".

Han Ruzi asked Liu Kunsheng beside him, "How far is it? If this continues, I won't be deposed as a commoner?"

Liu Kunsheng looked embarrassed. He shouldn't have talked to the deposed emperor, but he turned his head slightly and whispered: "No, Your Majesty...no, Your Highness...no no, you are tired, you will not surrender again, you should not meeting."

Han Ruzi smiled, "Jianhou, is this the 'tired' of 'tired', or the 'tired' of 'juan'?"

Liu Kunsheng was right. Juanhou was Han Ruzi's identity. The carriage drove all the way into Beicheng and stopped in front of the gate of a house. New, apparently just hung it up not too long ago.

The third group of envoys waited at the door, and read out the Queen Mother's edict to Emperor Fei again. The words were stricter than the previous ones. Substantial content: Although the abolished emperor Han Qiang is a prince, he is more powerful than the princes and kings, so he can "enter the palace without worshiping".

It was only then that Han Ruzi remembered that he did not get out of the car and kneel to worship several times, which was not in compliance with the rules. From now on, he could not kneel in a clear and proper manner.

After reading Yi's decree, the envoys withdrew, and the palace guards escorting the deposed emperor also had to leave. At this moment, Liu Kunsheng knelt on the ground, kowtowed to the Marquis Juan, performed the courtier's salute, got into the chariot, and led his troops to leave.

This was a very risky move, and Han Ruzi had no time to stop it.

Eight guards stayed behind to guard the gate, and Han Ruzi turned and walked into another new home of his own.

There were more than 20 servants kneeling in the courtyard, all of whom were "hard-fated people" in the palace. Han Ruzi recognized Zhang Youcai at a glance, and couldn't help being overjoyed, "So you are all here!"

Everyone kowtowed, Zhang Youshang raised his head and cried "Your Majesty".

Han Ruzi shook his head, stepped forward to help everyone up, and said loudly: "From today onwards, I am Han Ruzi, Marquis of Juan, don't call me 'Your Majesty' anymore, thank you all...thank you..."

He didn't know what to say.

Everyone cried loudly, and the more mature eunuch persuaded everyone.

Han Ruzi didn't see Tong Qing'e and Cai Xinghai, so Zhang Youcai wiped away his tears and said, "Jing Sijian said that we had meritorious service in saving Jia, so we can choose to go out of the palace to follow... You, or you can stay in the palace, we people voluntarily left the palace, yesterday It was brought here at night, Sister Qing'e and the others stayed in the palace, saying it was..."

Zhang Youcai was quite dissatisfied, Han Ruzi smiled and said, "I understand."

"Brother Cai got a military post and went to fight in the frontier again. He didn't know if he was going. He asked me to tell His Majesty...to the master, 'It is the greatest honor in his life to be able to climb over the wall with the master. Don't forget.'"

Han Ruzi smiled and said, "Who would forget? I hope he can make great achievements this time without falsely claiming his first rank."

Zhang Youcai also laughed.

"Show me my new home, where we can be more casual."

The crowd surrounded Juanhou to look around.

The mansion is not too small, with five entrances at the front and back, many houses, and the courtyard is more spacious than the courtyard in the palace. There are more than 20 people who can’t even live in [-]% of the rooms. The backyard is a garden, which is untended and covered with thick snow. .

"It would be great if we were the only ones staying here." Zhang Youcai quickly became excited, and accompanied his master around, leaving everyone else behind. In a study, Zhang Youcai knelt down again , whispered: "Your Majesty..."

"Don't call me that again."

"Master, when shall we go back to the palace?"

Han Ruzi said in surprise, "Why do you say such things?"

"You are the Emperor of Great Chu, and you are the only one worthy of being an emperor. When you leave the palace, you will retreat, and you will go back sooner or later, right?"

"Does everyone think so?" Han Ruzi asked seriously.

Zhang Youcai hesitated for a moment, "I haven't asked, but I think... everyone should have the same idea as me."

Her mother, Wang Meiren, did say that she should wait patiently for the opportunity, but the opportunity was so far away that there was no sign of it, thinking of going back as soon as she left the gate of the palace would only cause big trouble.

"Tell everyone, don't mention the matter of 'returning to the palace' again, this is my home, and I will live in it forever."

Zhang Youcai stood up, with a tacit smile on his face, "Understood, I'll talk about it later."

"Forget it, there's no need to say anything." Han Ruzi found that there was no way to explain this kind of thing, and he only wanted to cover it up.

An eunuch ran in from outside and said in a panic, "Someone is coming outside, it looks very fierce."

Han Ruzi rushed out to greet him. When he arrived at the front yard, he saw more than a dozen men in well-dressed clothes closed the gate and were looking around. They all carried knives.

When Han Ruzi was surprised, an eunuch walked out of an inverted room, walked up to him in a few steps, and bowed to salute, "Jianhou still likes this place?"

"Yang Feng!" Han Ruzi was taken aback, "The queen mother asked you to come? What's the matter?"

"Come to be the chief manager of the Hou's mansion. If Juanhou doesn't want to use me, you can change someone else. In this mansion, you are the master."

Han Ruzi was overjoyed, "Yes, of course I would, but... no one told me that you would also leave the palace."

"There are always accidents before things happen, so let's talk about them after things happen."

"These people..." Han Ruzi pointed at those well-dressed men, thinking that they didn't look like eunuchs in the palace, and some of them had conspicuous beards.

"Some of my friends, please come and protect the tired Hou."

"Protect? Why protect?"

"Because someone might misunderstand the Queen Mother's intentions."

Han Ruzi was taken aback, "Haven't the imperial edict and the queen mother's edict already been made very clear?"

"No matter how clearly the Empress Dowager speaks, there will always be people who think too much and think they can take advantage of the opportunity to make meritorious deeds. The first few days of the abdicated emperor are the most dangerous, just get over it."

Only then did Han Ruzi realize that life after abdication was not as leisurely as he imagined.

(seeking collection and recommendation)