Yuan Jiuding, who traveled thousands of miles to Donghai Kingdom to investigate the truth and escort the Wang family to Beijing, only received a hard work. Instead, Han Chou, who had been in the capital on the surface, successfully won the favor of the empress dowager and was even regarded as a family member, which really surprised the entire court.

He heard that the emperor was the one who was going to deal with. King Donghai and Jingyao were both surprised and relieved. At the same time, they responded to the order and looked at each other. The old and the young had no good impression of each other. They each turned around. Jingyao stood still and lowered his head to ponder. King Donghai took a slow step forward and thought about good strategies.

Donghai King stopped and spoke first: "Han Chou did many evil things in Luoyang, arrested a group of businessmen and tortured them severely. Someone would inevitably give him a letter. Follow the clues and he would naturally be able to take Han Chou down."

Han Ruzi shook her head, "First, Luoyang merchants just burned the IOU of refugees, and everyone in the city knows that the arrest at this time will confuse the world. Second, Han Chou has many tricks. If he notices something is wrong, he will definitely promote to the public that his income for many years has been given to me or to my uncle's family. Now that he has nothing, I want to kill the donkey."

"Looking at how fat he looks, I really can't tell that he is still an old fox!" King Donghai was inexplicably impressed by Han Chou.

He started to pace again, and then stopped again after a few steps, "It is indeed not easy for a high-ranking official like Han Chou to defeat him. As far as I know, he usually has to transfer him out of the capital first and then find a way to collect evidence."

"This is a solution, but Han Chou's foundation is in Luoyang. I have transferred him away. Moreover, he is Zong Zhengqing, so there is no official position outside the capital that can be worthy of his position."

King Donghai smiled and said, "It makes him suspicious if he is appointed again. Your Majesty only needs to ask him to be an imperial envoy and go out for a while, but there is a lack of a suitable excuse... There are more than a dozen vassal states in the world, so it would be great if anyone can cause trouble at this time."

Not long after the Qi rebellion was quelled, the King of Donghai said this. As soon as he said it, he reacted and shook his head and waved his hand, "Your Majesty, I don't mean that. The vassal states cannot, and should not, and dare not have major problems. What I mean is that if something happens to someone's family, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law are incompatible, the father and son are incompatible, brothers are fighting for power, and wives and concubines are jealous. These things are all under the jurisdiction of Zongzhengfu."

Han Ruzi smiled, "How could it be such a coincidence?"

King Donghai also smiled, and Jing Yao, who had not spoken, said at this time: "It's really possible that it's such a coincidence."

"Um?"

Jing Yao saluted the emperor first, "There are few records in history, so Your Majesty may not know much about it. The things that King Donghai just said often happened in the vassal states, so it is actually very easy to find one."

"There are few records in history books, so what about the memorials? I have never seen any related memorials. Could it be that if something happened to the princes' families, no one would report it to the court?"

King Donghai said first: "I know that as long as the family affairs of the princes are not too big, local officials usually do not report them to the court. If they report, they will be handed over to Zongzheng's Mansion first. Zongzheng's Mansion felt it was necessary to transfer them to the palace without passing through the Prime Minister's Mansion. This is a rule set by Emperor Wu. It is said that he was tired of the trivial matters in the family of the princes and did not want the family members to be exposed, so it is stipulated that it is not a big deal and does not need to hand them to the palace."

"Why is it a big deal?" Han Ruzi asked.

King Donghai said a long time, "Is it dead?"

Jing Yao added: "It is because the children in the royal family's genealogy were killed, or more than three people died, or the city was stormy in the local area, which is worth reporting."

Han Ruzi couldn't believe it, "Is this the rule set by Emperor Wu?"

King Donghai just heard that Jing Yao was an eyewitness and nodded, "There are too many similar things. If you check every one of them, all the princes will be destroyed..."

"Hey, it's not as serious as you said, and the princes are not all bad people." King Donghai corrected.

Jing Yao smiled and said, "I'm sorry, please forgive me, the King of Donghai, and the princes are the lords. Even if only one is dealt with, it will make a fuss all over the world. Emperor Wu is mainly unwilling to publicize family sluts."

Tokai Neptune turned her head and curled her lips.

The royal family was not only declining, but also corrupt. The descendants of the royal family who were supposed to be the foundation of the Great Chu became borers in the foundation. Even Emperor Wu took their methods and would rather ignore them.

Han Ruzi sighed lightly. Han Chou’s problem alone has not been solved yet. A few gossips lead to a bigger problem. "Han Chou is Zong Zhengqing. If there is any problem, the princes must report it through him. I guess he will not cause trouble for himself, unless the princes’ affairs happen to me..."

Han Ruzi looked at King Donghai, and there was indeed a prince in front of him.

King Donghai was surprised, "Your Majesty, don't joke. I am an honest and decent prince, and I don't mess with anything. There is only a good wife in the family, without concubines or children, and even fewer servants than other princes."

"Don't be afraid, I'm thinking about Han Chou."

King Donghai breathed a sigh of relief. In order to prevent the emperor from turning his thoughts to himself again, he suggested: "There will be a great sacrifice next spring. According to the rules, all the princes will come to Beijing to participate. Your Majesty can do anything to deal with him."

"It's not the princes, it's Han Chou." Han Ruzi didn't have the energy to purify the royal family. "And as soon as possible, Han Chou knew that he would anger me, but he still dared to do something wrong. He must have another trick. I will take the initiative this time."

Jing Yao said: "Han Chou first came to the capital, and his plan was difficult to cover everything. If the old slave is not talented, maybe there is a way to find out."

This is exactly what Han Ruzi intended to summon Jing Yao, "Don't disturb him."

"Yes, I understand."

Han Ruzi was still not very relieved about Jing Yao and asked, "What are you planning to investigate?"

Jing Yao hesitated for a moment, not because he wanted to keep it secret, but because some things were not suitable to tell the emperor, but now the emperor is not ordinary, he still replied: "Han Chou is lustful and may accidentally leak some words to the person next to him."

"Can Mr. Jing investigate Han Chou's pillow?" Han Ruzi was really a little surprised.

Jing Yao had no choice but to continue explaining: "Han Chou's pillow is actually just some servants, not even concubines. He was favored for a while, and was abandoned afterwards. Some were even given to others. He couldn't be free from resentment. He just needed to find the right person and persuade him a little, and he might find out some news."

Han Ruzi nodded and stopped asking questions.

King Donghai smiled and said, "Mr. Jing knows Han Chou very well. You knew you would be summoned by Your Majesty, so you did your homework in advance, right?"

Jing Yao said seriously: "How could I guess Your Majesty's thoughts in advance? I just stayed in the palace for a long time. After hearing something, Han Chou has always been in charge of Luoyang and is very famous. Of course, the old slave has heard more rumors."

"So that's it." Donghai said calmly.

Before they could figure out the plan to deal with Han Chou, the two of them had to fight openly and secretly.

After chatting for a while, Han Ruzi asked the two of them to retreat, thinking about countermeasures, and discussing them tomorrow.

The study room has been cleaned up, but Han Ruzi didn't want to sleep here tonight. He thought too much about it this day and needed a good rest, so he moved to the bedroom.

Tong Qing'e was the one who was serving the bed tonight. She was named a concubine by a palace maid because of her meritorious service. She was a few years older than the emperor, but she was not calmed down. Every time she saw the emperor, she was both nervous and shy, and a little scared.

Han Ruzi had nothing to say to her. She was still confused when she lay on the comfortable bed. It took her a while to fall asleep.

The next morning, the first snow of this winter came unexpectedly, not heavy, and a thin layer was laid on the ground. Anyone who could talk to the emperor congratulated him, thinking that auspicious snow indicates a good harvest, and those who could speak even thought of the Empress Dowager's visit to her relatives yesterday, claiming that this was a response from God.

Han Ruzi wanted to go to Qinzheng Hall and set out early and was in a daze. He preferred to ride a horse, but Cai Xinghai and others wanted the emperor to ride a sedan chair for safety reasons. Han Ruzi did not stick to his own opinion.

Han Ruzi just got into the sedan chair and sat down. Zhang Youcai came over and said, "The King of Donghai is guarding the door and wants to see Your Majesty."

Han Ruzi nodded, and Zhang Youcai went to call King Donghai.

King Donghai lifted the curtain with one hand, leaned in, and saluted the emperor, "I thought about it all night, and felt that His Majesty wanted to fight quickly, and I'm afraid there was only one way."

"explain."

King Donghai pondered for a moment, "Forget it, I thought it was good, but if you think about it carefully, it was not suitable. Please forgive me and let me think about it again."

"Don't talk nonsense. I will decide whether it is appropriate or not. Whatever you think of, just say it."

King Donghai smiled twice, then put away his smile, "I remembered it when I saw Jing Yao. Jing Gongjiu was in the palace and knew a lot about Han Chou. In fact, there was another person who not only knew Han Chou, but also very likely had direct contact with him. Maybe he had some handle. If His Majesty could..."

"Stop talking, your method is indeed inappropriate, think about it again."

"Yes, Your Majesty. It's so cold today, but this snow is so good, covered in silver, indicating the prosperity of the Great Chu." King Donghai smiled and put down the curtain.

Han Ruzi understood who Donghai was talking about.

Han She was an official in Luoyang and had to have a backer in the capital, but ministers like Shen Mingzhi just didn't say bad things about him, and it was impossible for him to really do their best to protect him.

Han Chou had a bigger backer. He was proficient in pleasing Empress Dowager Cining. It was obviously not the first time he did such a thing. It was very likely that he had pleased another empress dowager before.

Empress Dowager Shangguan had faded out of Han Ruzi's sight for a long time. Although according to the rules, he had to go to the palace at least once every five days to pay tribute to the two empress dowagers, the empress dowager in his eyes was only one mother, and the other one was no different from the statue.

King Donghai pulled the "statue" back to the emperor's eyes.

Her mother has always maintained a humble attitude towards Empress Dowager Shangguan, but Han Ruzi was unwilling to bow to her former enemies, and she did not want to ask her for help.

In the Qinzheng Hall, Shen Mingzhi and others first congratulated the grand event of the Empress Dowager's visit, and then praised Ruixue this morning. Han Ruzi cheered up and raised the issue of the appointment of the censor. He did not mention the candidates, but asked the prime minister to make a list. He knew that Feng Ju, the Minister of Personnel, must be among them.

Then he said that he was young and had not achieved his studies and still needed the teaching of a saint, so he had to find a qualified imperial teacher. Similarly, he did not propose a candidate, and with Qu Zixi's qualifications and status, he must also be on the list of candidates.

As Zhao Ruosu said, if the rules are followed, many things will be very simple, and the monarch and ministers will not argue with each other. The only disadvantage is that they are slow. It is obviously an inevitable matter, but the ministers of the government are unwilling to say it immediately. Instead, they have to discuss it many times, and it will take three or five days to draw up the list.

Han Ruzi was not in a hurry, but left earlier than usual. He wanted to go to Cui Mansion with the queen to visit the injured general Cui Hong.

Deputy Chief Wang He accompanied him and insisted on staying with the emperor. Although all the assassins were arrested, he still couldn't feel at ease and still cared about "people around the emperor". He did not believe that the previous prisoners were just bragging, and always felt that there were still remaining parties hiding.

(Today's update, I hope you know. It's rare to have a good weather, so go out for a walk.) (To be continued.)

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