When he woke up, the sky was already bright, and Han Ruzi had long been accustomed to having no fixed place, but the moment he opened his eyes, he was still frightened, he couldn't figure out where he was, he sat up on the ground, and after a while, he was completely awake, and his heartbeat gradually returned to normal from the wild.

There is a neat set of new robes next to the bed, Han Ruzi put on and walked out of the room, he was sent here in the early hours of this morning, he didn't look closely, he went into the house and fell asleep, it was already afternoon, the sun shone on the white snow, it was extremely dazzling, Han Ruzi covered his eyes with his hands, and waited for a while to get used to it.

Five houses are scattered on the riverbank, horizontally and vertically, there is no plan to be seen, and there is no courtyard wall around, Han Ruzi and others crossed the river from a far downstream place last night, and detoured to here, Han Ruzi did not pay attention to the nearby frozen river at that time, and now he feels strange: After walking for so long, he still stopped by the river, isn't it easy for the soldiers of the Southern Army to find him?

The snow shoveled out a path that led straight to the river, and Han Ruzi walked and saw a strange old man fishing on the riverbed from a distance.

Han Ruzi walked over, the old man stared at the broken ice cave seriously, pointed to a long bamboo pole beside him, and said without looking back, "Help." ”

Han Ruzi picked up the bamboo pole and gently poked it on the oval ice cave a few times, breaking the ice floe, and then turned the bamboo pole and used the net at the other end to fish out the ice ballast.

There is a folding stool opposite the old man, Han Ruzi sat on it, watched the fishing for a while, looked up at the protagonist, the old man's hair was white, but the skin on his face was very smooth, so that people couldn't guess the age.

The old man suddenly raised the rod, grabbed the fishing line with the other hand, and hooked a big fish more than a foot long at the end, the body of the fish swayed, not very intense, in such a cold season, even death was frozen less terrible.

The old man threw the fish into the wooden barrel next to him and said with a smile: "You have brought good luck, there is fish to eat tonight, I hope you can hold on for a while." ”

Han Ruzi was indeed a little hungry, but he still smiled: "I can stand it." Dare to ask the old man's surname? ”

"I'm fishing, so let's call it a fisherman."

The other party was reluctant to reveal his real name and surname, and Han Ruzi did not force it, and arched his hand: "Thank you to the fisherman's predecessors for taking me in, what about my companions?" ”

"Some go, some stay." The fisherman's words seemed perfunctory and pointed, and after a pause, he changed the subject, "Have you ever fished in winter?" ”

"Nope." Han Ruzi has never fished.

The fisherman reloads the bait, "Ice fishing is very interesting, and I can learn some truth from it." ”

He didn't say what the reasoning was, Han Ruzi looked at it for a while, and couldn't help but say, "Wait patiently to get something?" ”

The old man smiled: "What you said is a truth, what I have realized is that you must wear more cotton clothes." ”

Han Ruzi also smiled, it was indeed very cold outside, fortunately the wind was not very strong, he could stand it, but he didn't like this kind of inexplicable conversation, waited for a while, and asked directly: "It is said that there are people from the rivers and lakes patrolling along the river, can't they find here?" ”

"Yes, I came here this morning." The fisherman put the rod on the shelf, looked up and said, "But they won't cross the river, it's a promise, and you're very safe now." ”

"Promise? What conventions? ”

The fisherman didn't answer, but asked rhetorically, "Don't you care about what happened in the capital?" ”

"Yes, but I don't know you."

"It's okay, I'll talk about it casually, and I'll judge whether it's accurate or not, and I can also inquire about it later."

Han Ruzi felt more and more weird, but Du Motianhe didn't want to send him here, obviously he trusted the fisherman very much, he didn't have to ask the bottom of it, so he said: "There is a fisherman." ”

"The champion Hou returned to Beijing at the earliest, and he has already won the support of many clan children and ministers of the DPRK and China, especially the prime minister Yin Wuwu. Yin is not harmless to be a very human minister, it stands to reason that he should have no desires and no desires, but he was a master for the former prince back then, and he was angry about the former prince being deposed, so he wanted to send the prince's orphan to the throne. ”

"yes, understood."

"Taifu Cui Hong is well-informed and reacts quickly, although he has not returned to Beijing, but he has been secretly arranging for a long time, and has won the support of many noble families, and can compete with the champion Hou and Yin harmless."

"Mrs. Cui is going to abandon the King of the East China Sea again?" Han Ruzi asked, Cui Hong has been planning for a long time, but the king of the East China Sea knows nothing, and he was forced to flee back to the capital because of an accident, and it doesn't seem like he is cooperating with his uncle at all.

"No one knows what Taifu Cui really thinks, in short, he has been keeping in touch with the champion Hou, but the king of the East China Sea returned from afar, and he was also very happy, and immediately sent troops to send his nephew into the capital, not only to protect safety, but also to show off his might, so that everyone understands that the battle for the throne is not over yet."

"What's going on in the palace?" Han Ruzi is most concerned about this matter.

The fisherman stared at the water for a while, and after making sure that no fish had been baited, he said, "The emperor is seriously ill, and he is dying, and he may die at any time." ”

"What disease?"

"Ten imperial doctors have eleven diagnoses, in short, it is a strange disease, the emperor is young, but he can't eat food, he will vomit at every meal, and now he is skinny, lying on the bed, and he hasn't gotten up for a long time."

The emperor in Han Ruzi's impression is still the chubby eight or nine-year-old child, "What about the Queen Mother?" ”

"The Queen Mother also contracted a disease, and her condition was better than that of the emperor, sometimes good and sometimes bad."

"The palace has refused to approve any recitals for two months, why?"

"The emperor has been cured for a long time, and the queen mother understands that the battle for the throne is about to start again, but this is not what it used to be, and Dachu has constant internal and external troubles, and she can no longer choose the younger one from the children of the clan to succeed to the throne. So, she came up with a solution. ”

The fisherman glanced at the water again.

Han Ruzi had a feeling that the fisherman was more familiar with the Queen Mother than the Champion Hou.

"The method that the Queen Mother came up with is for the sons to compete for the throne and the strong to ascend the throne in order to save the Great Chu River."

"Huh?" Han Ruzi was taken aback.

"Of course, you can't openly compete for the throne, in that case, it is too unseemly, and the queen mother has to formulate rules and supervise it herself, which is why she has been unwilling to approve the chapter, one is that the emperor is seriously ill, and she herself is not comfortable, and the other is to prevent being used, the chapter is a weapon of the minister, and if you are not careful, it may affect the court pattern, so that the princes are not fair enough to compete for the throne."

Han Ruzi couldn't completely hide the anger in his heart, "The imperial court has not made a will for a long time, and the frontier is almost lost because of this. ”

"But once the imperial court issues an edict, the tired marquis is likely to die and never come back."

Han Ruzi was slightly stunned, indeed, if the imperial court had reacted immediately to the arrival of the Huns, the appointed general would never be the general of Zhenbei, and he would not have had the opportunity to seize the seal, power, and troops if he had a holy purpose.

Of course, the Queen Mother doesn't want to keep anyone, she just doesn't want to be used. If the Xiongnu army really attacked the fortress, she could only issue a decree. ”

Han Ruzi shook his head gently, the palace didn't know the danger of the frontier, and he was so childish in the face of a strong enemy, and soon, he began to wonder: This is not like the queen mother's personality, she cares most about power, but during her listening to the government, she was quite praised by the ministers, not like a person who behaves nonsense.

refusing to make an approval and competing for the throne, this is not like the style of the queen mother, Han Ruzi stared at the fisherman, "Who is Your Excellency?" ”

"Angler."

"No, no, you have a name, and it's a name I've heard of, and you don't want to say it now, but I'll know sooner or later, so why hide it?"

The fisherman started the rod again, this time the fish were smaller, and he was still satisfied, so he put the harvest into the bucket with a smile, picked up the bamboo pole with a net, broke up the layer of ice floe on the ice hole, fished it out, and then put on the bait, and continued fishing.

"I've used so many names that sometimes I don't know which one to use."

Han Ruzi stood up suddenly, "Your Excellency is Chun Yuxiao?" ”

The fisherman nodded, "This is indeed the name I used, if you like it, I'll call it Chun Yuxiao." ”

Han Ruzi was surprised, and stared at the old man for a while, this is Chun Yuxiao, the leader of the Qi Seekers? Shouldn't he be caught or even beheaded immediately as soon as he shows up?

Han Ruzi sat down slowly, "You persuaded the Queen Mother?" ”

He finally understood who came up with those strange ideas, but he didn't understand how the Queen Mother could be persuaded by a hopeful.

"It's the Queen Mother herself who figured it out, she needs people like us."

It is said that Chun Yuxiao is already a eunuch, but the beard under his chin hangs down to his chest, and it is still very lush, it is said that Chun Yuxiao has a red mole in his left eyebrow, but Han Ruzi didn't see it, only the tall figure and white beard are completely consistent with the rumors, and his things are always true or false.

"The Qi Seeker has the ability to interfere with the succession to the throne, congratulations."

"Go with the flow, it's just going with the flow. Don't you care about the rules of the contest? If you come back a few days later, Tired Hou will lose this opportunity, so you are lucky, but compared to Champion Hou and King of the East China Sea, you really don't have an advantage now. ”

This is the reason why Mrs. Cui Xiaojun urged him to return to Beijing one after another, and she probably knew some inside the palace.

Han Ruzi has suffered a lot of humiliation since he was a child, and there has never been a time that has annoyed him like now, but he smiled, "I'm sorry, please continue Mr. Chunyu." ”

"It doesn't matter, as long as there are still fish willing to take the bait, it's not a waste of time." Chun Yuxiao set up the fishing rod on the shelf, "The rules are simple, first, no force is allowed in Gyeonggi. ”

"Didn't Taifu Cui send an army to send the King of the East China Sea into the capital?"

"It's just a small army, less than three hundred people, and as I said, it's a show of force, not a use of force."

"Well, I understand."

Chun Yuxiao smiled, "Second, and the most important rule, those who compete for the throne can use all means other than force to win the support of the ministers of the court, and in the end, whoever has the most supporters will be the next emperor, fair, right?" ”

Han Ruzi asked, "When does this 'final' refer to?" ”

"It's hard to say, you can't elect a new emperor when the saint is still alive, right?"

Han Ruzi suddenly didn't want to talk to Chun Yuxiao, he wasn't even sure if this person was the real Chun Yuxiao, but the ability of this famous person was obviously a lot higher than Lin Kunshan.

Han Ruzi got up again, didn't say goodbye, and strode towards the shore.

"Don't waste your luck!" Chun Yuxiao said loudly.

Han Ruzi still didn't answer, he wanted to find Meng E and leave here immediately, he didn't understand why Meng E also trusted the Qi Seeker and left him alone.

A horse drove in the distance, and Han Ruzi looked at it for a while, feeling a little relieved.

Yang Feng came as promised, just him, and soon after, he came to Han Ruzi, jumped off the horse, and brought a cold air, Han Ruzi shivered unconsciously.

"What's going on?" Han Ruzi asked, feeling that he didn't need to explain more, Yang Feng would be able to understand what he meant.

"The Queen Mother is crazy." Yang Feng said.

(End of volume) (To be continued.) )