Chapter 42: CH 41

Maiden Wang was taken by the Empress Dowager to somewhere unknown. Even after knowing of this, Han Ruzi did not immediately decide to take action. Instead, he became even more cautious, worried that his actions might cause harm to his mother’s life.

But the Grand Consort was right: time waits for no man, not even the Emperor. The events of the following two days finally caused Han Ruzi to put everything on the line.

The first was the little eunuch Liang An’s disappearance. At first, he was one of the many eunuchs surrounding the Emperor who followed him to the Soaring Clouds Pavilion every day. Ever since he was found together with Zuo Ji by the Emperor, he would adhere strictly to the rules and never leave his position. But on this morning, he was nowhere to be seen — not at his pre-assigned position nor anywhere within the entire entourage.

Ever since then, Liang An never appeared again and nobody mentioned his name.

That evening, when Han Ruzi returned to the Tai-an Palace to rest, he found out that his personal attendants Zhang Youcai and Dong Qing E werealso nowhere to be seen. They were replaced by two complete strangers.

He casually asked a few questions, but stopped asking after getting perfunctory replies. He had long learned one thing: showing concern without having a strong backing does more harm than good. He could hardly keep himself safe — his care and concern would only be a curse.

Hence, he realized that Zuo Ji had taken action.

Zuo Ji’s professed loyalty was not reliable at all. After being well-behaved for a few days, he found out that the Emperor did not appear to be as well-prepared as he had thought. Hence, he started to take action. First by eliminating evidence of his wrongdoing by getting rid of Liang An, and then by investigating who was the Emperor’s informant. For now, he did not suspect the Grand Consort, and instead had taken  the Emperor’s personal attendants away.

Zhang Youcai and Dong Qing E knew nothing about the Emperor’s affairs. Zuo Ji would take more drastic measures sooner or later.

After Han Ruzi made these deductions, he felt htat he could not wait any longer. He would rather replace known dangers with unknown risks.

The Grand Consort and Luo Huan-zhang are the unknown risks.

On the 20th of June of Year 1 of the Gongcheng era, which was the third day since Zhang Youcai and Dong Qing E were taken away, rain was streaming down from the skies. The Emperor had a day of rest, and in the afternoon, he was about to draft an imperial edict, with the Grand Consort reciting the words to be written.

The Grand Consort was the Empress Dowager’s younger sister. When she dismissed all the servants, she was not subject to any suspicion.

“We were but young when We inherited the glorious Empire of Our ancestors…” The Grand Consort slowly recited the words to be written in the edict. First, the Emperor would show humility and self-deprecation, then he would recall the glorious achievements of the Founding Emperor, the Fiery Emperor, and the Martial Emperor, and then he would thank the Graceful Emperor and the Thoughtful Emperor for entrusting him the throne. And then, with a sharp change of tone, he would point out that the Imperial Court of the Great Chu Empire was in dire straits, being controlled by treacherous people. The Emperor would hence rally the officials to his aid in the name of his ancestors, the Imperial Han clan.

The moment Han Ruzi listened to these words, he knew that it was written by Luo Huan-zhang. He felt like that it was tediously long, but nevertheless wrote those words down without error.

When he finally got to the operative part of the edict, the Grand Consort recited, “Shang-guan Xu, the Grand Marshal of the Southern Army, acts rebelliously and holds duplicity in his heart. He is unsuited to controlling the Imperial Army. Hence, he shall surrender his seal of office and be demoted to a commoner.” She paused and then pointed to the tip of the Emperor’s brush. “Your Majesty, leave a blank space here, and then write, ‘He is an upright and loyal official, trusted by the previous Emperor. We appoint him Grand Marshal of the Southern Army and entrust him with full discretion.’”

Han Ruzi put down the pen brush. He lifted his head and asked, “In other words, whomever holds this Imperial Edict will be able to appoint anyone to the position of Grand Marshal of the Southern Army?”

The Grand Consort nodded.

“Do I not need to know who is to be appointed?”

The Grand Consort sighed lightly. “Does Your Majesty understand the position you are in?”

“Of course. Once the Empress Dowager has a more suitable puppet, she would have me replaced, or even… killed.”

“But does Your Majesty know where the Empress Dowager currently stands?”

Han Ruzi shook his head. He knew what his end would be, but he did not know any specifics of the Empress Dowager’s plan.

“The Empress Dowager needs a younger puppet. If Your Majesty is able to sire an heir, that would be best. But if not, there is still Prince Donghai.”

“Prince Donghai?”

“Prince Donghai is also a son of the Graceful Emperor. His son would also have the right to inherit the throne.”

Han Ruzi had nothing to say to that. It turned out that even in the matter of being a puppet, he was not the only choice.

The Grand Consort continued. “ Does Your Majesty know of the Imperial Recorder?”

“Mm.” Han Ruzi knew that the Imperial Recorder was a eunuch who had come by to record that the Emperor had consummated his marriage and had left disappointed.

“If Your Majesty has a chance to see what he has written about your day-to-day life, you would see it filled with unbecoming conduct, any one of which would be sufficient to prove that Your Majesty is not worthy of being Emperor.”

Han Ruzi glared. “Poor conduct? I haven’t done anything…” He had indeed done some things not in keeping with orthodoxy, but to say that he had committed unbecoming conduct was libel.

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The Grand Consort smiled. “It is not important what Your Majesty does. The pen-brush is in the hands of the Imperial Recorder, and he answers to the Empress Dowager. Even though the Imperial Recorder’s words are usually kept secret, it would still be handed to the Imperial Historian regularly. When this part of the record is recorded in the national histories, future generations will only know that Your Majesty was an Emperor with poor conduct, whom the Empress Dowager had no choice but to depose.”

“Heh, I would be happy to be deposed.” If he could not be a true Emperor, Han Ruzi would rather return to his prior life.

The Grand Consort’s smile grew wider. “Being deposed is just a nice way of saying it. Never in the history of dynasties has a deposed Emperor lived for long.”

This again was precedent. Just like the edict that the Empress Dowager had drafted — merciful on the surface, cruel in execution. There would naturally be someone willing to commit regicide on behalf of the Empress Dowager.

“I understand all of this, but I still wish to know who are the officials who are supporting me.”

The smile was slowly wiped off the Grand Consort’s face. “Your Majesty is being backed into a cliff’s edge, and hence you have to act to save yourself. But the officials are risking their own lives on their own initiative. If the operation fails, their families will be implicated, so the risk that they bear is greater. They are willing to take risks for Your Majesty, but they do not wish to take unnecessary risks. Teacher Luo must do everything possible to protect them. So as to which officials are participants, he did not tell me.”

“In other words, success or defeat would entirely depend on Luo Huan-zhang alone, and I can only choose to trust him.”

“I trust Teacher Luo.” The Grand Consort took two steps back. “The pen is in Your Majesty’s hands. To write or not to write, or what to write, is up to Your Majesty. If Your Majesty distrusts everyone, then there would be no one to help you.”

Han Ruzi picked up the pen brush again. The Grand Consort was right. He did not have any other choice. But he still said, “I know that it was not Zhang Yanghao who passed me the note.”

The Grand Consort was briefly stunned. “Zhang Yanghao… He personally told Your Majesty that?”

Han Ruzi shook his head. “Some things do not need to be sad. Luo Huan-zhang would not rely on a person like Zhang Yanghao. That is all.”

“I go back to what I said. This is a serious matter with no guarantee of success. As Your Majesty is hidden behind the Imperial Palace, the less you know the better.”

Han Ruzi continued writing, but he was very irritated by the line “the less you know the better.” If they did not believe in the Emperor’s abilities, why take the risk to rescue the Emperor?

Removing Shang-guan Xu from his office and handing it to someone else took only a few lines of words. After that, the Grand Consort got the Emperor to write a chunk of grandiose moralizing. That way, the operative part of the edict was actually just a small part in the middle of the imperial edict.

“You wish to use this imperial edict to fool Jing Yao?” Han Ruzi understood the trick behind the edict.

The Grand Consort smiled. “Your Majesty is clever. It is impossible to steal the Imperial Seal from Jing Yao. But I often assist the Empress Dowager with matters of state at the Hall of Diligent Administration. I would hand the drafted imperial edicts to Jing Yao for him to seal them with the Imperial Seal. I hope to squeeze Your Majesty’s edict into the pile on a day where there are many edicts to be sealed.

“Won’t Jing Yao notice?” Han Ruzi was rather shocked. The Grand Consort’s idea was simple but risky.

“Jing Yao’s eyes are kept on the Imperial Seal itself. He never reads the contents of the imperial edicts. If he does, then I would be the first one to die for Your Majesty’s cause.”

Han Ruzi had nothing to say to that. He was taking a risk, but the Grand Consort was taking an even bigger risk.

Perhaps he was truly being overly suspicious. Maybe there are really those who would give their lives for a larger cause, without expectation of reward. Han Ruzi thought of Liu Jie who had protected the Imperial Seal, and felt more confident.

The same edict was written a second time. The Grand Consort explained, “Just in case. Shang-guan Xu is very alert. If the edict is discovered, this would be a spare.”

And then, the Grand Consort recited a third imperial edict. The beginning and end was nearly the same, but the crucial middle portion was about reliving Cui Hong of his position as general and arresting him. As for who would replace him — there was another blank.

Then a fourth edict. This time, it relieved the Captain of the Guards of his position. He commanded the guards within the Imperial Palace, so replacing him was a means of protecting the Emperor’s safety.

This was enough. There was also the Northern Army in the Capital, as well as the Capital Garrison. There was no need to take control of all of them. As for the civil officials in the Imperial Court, as long as the Emperor controlled the army, they would bend the knee.

With the edicts done, the Grand Consort carefully folded them and kept them away. As she left, she said, “Grand Tutor Cui Hong would return to the Capital soon. May Your Majesty wait for the good news.”

Han Ruzi sat by the bed as he listened to the sounds of the rain outside. He felt empty inside. He had really done it, and there was no going back. Whatever happened next was outside his control. If he succeeded, he would be a true Emperor and be able to get his mother back. If he failed, he would be recorded as an Emperor “deposed for unbecoming conduct” in the history books.

“Emperor…” Han Ruzi mumbled to himself. An image suddenly came to his mind: the gloomy hall, the tall red pillars that reached beyond what he could see. Even the sunlight that shone in appeared to lose their energy as they assumed a submissive posture, as though afraid of ruining the severe atmosphere of the place. The blurry image of the old Emperor sitting atop his throne. The old Emperor thought noone was around, as he spoke with a desolate tone, “We are alone.”

The Emperor is always alone, whether a puppet or a sage. Great as the Martial Emperor was, he could not escape the cage of being alone.

Han Ruzi could not know for sure whether this memory was accurate or an image of his imagination. As he sat there, his empty heart was slowly filled with something else. He thought that he could not just wait. The Empress Dowager was taking risks, the Grand Consort was taking risks, Luo Huan-zhang was taking risks, those nameless officials were also taking risks. As the Emperor, how could he just sit there and “wait for good news”?

The door to the room opened and it was the eunuch Zhang Youcai and the servant-girl Dong Qing E who entered. Their faces were filled with tears and injuries as they stood before the Emperor, trembling.

Zuo Ji had changed his mind again. Now, he was flexing his power to the Emperor.

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