Early the next morning, Meng E returned home alone, bringing the exact news that Mrs. Tihou had indeed been left in the palace, along with Concubine Cui, the mother of the King of the East China Sea, and the son of the champion Hou, a child of two or three years old.

Unexpectedly, Han Ruzi's mother, Wang Meiren, was not taken as a "hostage", but stayed with the Queen Mother.

The angler he had met by the river personally came forward and assured the three parties that their relatives would be free to leave the palace regardless of the outcome of the battle, and he tried to avoid the words seizure, hostage, and release, but the meaning was clear: in order to practice an unprecedented, emperor-electing method, it was necessary to ensure that each party could abide by the rules.

The Qi Seeker obviously knew Meng E's true identity and watched her very strictly, and throughout the night, she did not have a chance to leave the emperor to meet anyone.

Feeling angry and remorseful, Han Ruzi sent Meng E away, leaving only him and Yang Feng, he said: "Do the Qi Seekers really think that this will make everyone abide by the so-called rules? If the loser really wants to resist, how many hostages will he care about in the palace? ”

"The intentions of the Qi Seeker have not been fully exposed, and there are definitely more tricks than these, guessing is useless, let's think about how to play this game first."

"It's a game." Han Ruzi looked at the stacked books on the desk, "Has this kind of thing been recorded in the history books?" ”

"There is no public record, and the Chu Dynasty certainly did not." Yang Feng got up, quickly took out a book from the bookshelf, and sent it to Han Ruzi, "If you go back a long time, you can still see some clues, in ancient times, the imperial inheritance was changed from Zen to hereditary, but the support of the minister is very important, and there have been a lot of things to drive away the old and welcome the new, especially those Ming Jun, who always have to get the support of the minister before they can show their strength." ”

Han Ruzi picked up the book, turned two pages, and didn't read it immediately, "Isn't the Qi Seeker really going retro?" ”

"Don't care what the real purpose of the Qi Seeker is, it is necessary to encircle the ministers in any dynasty, and the tired marquis must have a plan in his heart when he returns to Beijing from Shenxiong Pass."

"When Zuocha Yushi Xiao Sheng went to Shenxiong Pass, I guessed that Champion Hou and Cui Taifu were likely to join forces again, so I arranged for some people to encourage the Northern Army to return to Beijing in the name of Champion Hou. The northern and southern armies are deadlocked outside, and the capital is empty, I originally thought...... Organize a force, rush into the palace, seize the treasure seal, and force the queen mother to make me emperor. If Champion Hou and the Northern Army are in a falling out, I hope that the Northern Army will support me more firmly as a foreign aid. And Madame, she sent me two messages to return to Beijing, I think she always has some preparations, but I don't know what it is yet. ”

"I asked Madame to deliver a message to the Tired Marquis, and her plan is my plan."

"You?" Han Ruzi was very surprised, when he was in the frontier, Yang Feng should be "loyal" to assist the champion Hou.

"As I said, I would assist the most likely person to become emperor."

"Well, I remember."

"Please allow me to tell the truth, even now, even if the northern army returns to Beijing to confront the southern army, there is not much chance for the tired marquis to be the emperor again, but I want to revise what I said before, the person I assist must not only become the emperor, but also be able to listen to my words and accept my advice."

Yang Feng's words were never very pleasant, but they were very true, Han Ruzi dispelled the last doubt in his heart, and said with a smile: "What is Yang Gong's suggestion?" ”

"It is always useful to act according to the arrangement of the hopefuls first, and to enlist the support of the minister."

"What should I do? When I abdicated...... Not a single minister stood up for me. ”

"When the Marquis was in power, did anyone ever stand up against you?"

"Hmm...... No, the rebellious King of Qi is one, but he is mainly against the Queen Mother. ”

"Therefore, it is easy not to classify ministers by insistence and opposition, but rather to regard ministers as irrelevant people, and only make judgments on everyone after real contact. Being preconceived is not good for the Tired Hou, but it will make the Tired Hou lose some potential supporters. ”

Han Ruzi smiled: "I have no preconceived notions, and I am willing to enlist the support of any minister." He thought for a while, and then said: "Yang Gong won the support of Prime Minister Yin for the champion Hou, just to strengthen his 'preconceptions', right?" ”

Yang Feng tilted his head slightly, "I have made other suggestions, but Champion Hou is unwilling to accept them. Prime Minister Yin Wuwu used to be the master of Prince Ju, when Prince Ju was killed, he shouted injustice in front of Emperor Wu, and his support for Prince Ju's orphans should be taken for granted by outsiders, but there are two problems in this, I reminded the champion Hou, he didn't care. ”

"What's the problem?" Han Ruzi suddenly got a little distracted, and the bookmark left by his wife Cui Xiaojun revealed a small section, which touched his mind, and he hurriedly looked away and listened carefully to what Yang Feng said.

"First, Yin Wuwu is a very popular minister, he is old, there is no room for improvement, no matter how much credit he makes, he can only leave it to his children and grandchildren, he openly supports the champion Hou, more out of favor."

"That's a real problem." After reading so much national history, Han Ruzi understands a truth: human favor is very useful, but at the critical moment of competing interests, human favor is also the most vulnerable.

"Second, the ministers who convicted the two princes are still there, and the current saint has no real power, and has not taken any means of retaliation, the champion Hou is different, after he ascends the throne, he will inevitably have great power, and if he does not reconcile with his former enemies first, it will make these ministers panic all day."

Han Ruzi's eyes lit up, "Are these ministers the ones I want to fight for?" ”

Yang Feng shook his head, "Not for the time being, they are too scared to support you, and they may even run to report to the champion Hou to keep you safe, only when you establish your power and can fight against the champion Hou and the king of the East China Sea, they may be on your side." ”

"The hardest part is to get started."

"That's right, but I have an arrangement, but I need to do it myself."

"I've rested enough." Of course, Han Ruzi would not sit in the Hou Mansion and wait.

"Tired Hou still remembers that he studied in Guozijian, right?"

"Remember, Yang Gong wanted me to go to Taixue, but Zongzheng Mansion only agreed to let me go to Guozijian, where I only ordered Mao and didn't really study."

"It doesn't matter, after all, the name of the tired hou is listed among them, and there are many classmates, and they are the first group of people to fight for the tired marquis."

"They're all students, and they don't even have official positions, right?"

"If the students of Guozijian want to become officials, they have to stay up for many years."

"How can they help me now?" Han Ruzi didn't quite understand the intention of Yang Feng's move.

"It's more complicated to explain, I'll go to visit my classmates with Tihou in two days, and I'll talk about it slowly when the time comes."

Han Ruzi nodded, there was a difficulty in front of him, and he was really not in a hurry to think about things too far, "The Qi Seeker has formulated a new rule, requiring that those who compete for the throne must be promoted by the Minister of Youpin, it seems that it is specifically aimed at me: the champion Hou has Prime Minister Yin, the King of the East China Sea has Cui Taifu, and I don't even have the support of ordinary ministers." ”

"Well, there are only a dozen first-grade ministers in the court, and if you want to make the hopeful people unable to find fault, you can only find the first-grade ministers, the number is even smaller, only five, the prime minister, the metropolitan governor, the Taifu, the Taishi, the Taibao, the Prime Minister Yin and the Cui Taifu are each their masters, and there are still three ...... left."

"Will Mrs. Cui support the King of the East China Sea?" Han Ruzi asked. If you want to talk about human affection, Mrs. Cui is proof that he is the uncle of the King of the East China Sea, but once he finds a more valuable target, he immediately abandons his nephew.

"Yes, even if he hesitates now, when he knows the news of the Northern Army's return to Beijing, he will support the King of the East China Sea."

Han Ruzi inadvertently did the King of the East China Sea a great favor.

"Then there are only three first-class ministers left, who are the Taishi and Taibao? I don't think I've seen it. ”

"Taishi Wang Ji and Taibao Deng Zhu are all old ministers of Emperor Wu, Zhishi for many years, one is in Jiangnan, the other is in Yandi, far away, and has not participated in court politics for a long time."

"Then only the Governor of the Soldiers and Horses will be left, Han Xing."

Yang Feng nodded, "Han Xing is leading the troops outside, and he is not allowed to return to Beijing without a holy decree, he is currently stationed in Hangu Pass, commanding the Chu army to quell the riots in various counties and counties, and he seems to appreciate the tired marquis." ”

Han Ruzi thought back for a moment, "At least he didn't feel sorry for me, and he accepted my request, it was because of his appointment that I was able to defend Shenxiong Pass and Broken Iron City." ”

"Tomorrow we will leave for Hangu Pass."

Although he has not yet won the support of any ministers, Han Ruzi is a lot more relieved, "After all, the fight for the throne is rare, and it is difficult to say whether we can stick to it, we still need other plans, right?" I believe that the champion Hou and the East Sea King have both. ”

"Of course, the king of the East China Sea may reconcile with Cui Taifu and rely on the southern army to protect himself, and if the champion Hou is smart enough, he will also reconcile with the northern army, or win over the Su Wei army, and now the eight battalions of the Su Guard have been greatly increased, and Zhonglang General Shangguan Sheng is the nephew of the Queen Mother, and he is very worried about the future fate of the Shangguan family. I have contacted him on behalf of Champion Hou, and Shangguan Sheng is willing to support Champion Hou, but he cannot be fully trusted. ”

"In this way, the foundation of the East Sea King is the most stable? I talked to him, and he will definitely reconcile with Mrs. Cui. ”

"So the last opponent of the tired Hou must be the king of the East China Sea, and the current opponent is the champion Hou, I was very worried about the northern army, so when the champion Hou urged the northern army to attack the Huns in order to vent his personal anger, I did not particularly object. But the tired Hou did better, if the tired Hou can really bring the northern army over, then there is no need to worry about the big thing, at least let the northern army split, and can't concentrate on supporting the champion Hou. As for the Eighth Camp of the Su Guards and Shangguan Sheng, leave it to me, I don't dare to guarantee that they will support the Tired Hou, at least keep them out of the matter. ”

"King of the East Sea...... The king of the East China Sea ...... "Han Ruzi remembered that he actually had a chance to kill this opponent, and then he smiled and shook his head, outside the plug is a place where he can win people's hearts, he can't kill people easily, especially his younger brother, he has nothing to regret.

While analyzing the general situation and making plans, the two became more and more aware of the situation, and they didn't even eat at noon, and soon in the afternoon, a guest interrupted the conversation between the two.

Cui Teng, the second son of the Cui family, came, he was ordered to ask his father for an appointment, but he never returned to Shenxiong Pass, it turned out that he followed his father back to Beijing.

As soon as he entered the house, he shouted: "Brother-in-law, you are so powerful, you actually got the Northern Army back, run away with me, someone will come to arrest you later!" (To be continued.) )