CH 35.1

Meng Huan woke up at ten in the morning.

He sat under the quilt with his eyes half-closed, feeling drowsy. The bed felt cold beside him. He awoke once in the middle of the night, and Lin Bozhou was not there.

Meng Huan sighed and put on his clothes to eat. Someone saw him wake up and immediately took a carriage to the Forbidden City, passing the news to Lin Bozhou.

Lin Bozhou had a strong desire for control. He wanted to know Meng Huan’s every move. When he found out that Meng Huan was awake, he responded and was relieved, lowering his head to draft the proposal.

The Chief Minister of the Cabinet, Cui Renfang, who was already old and had gray hair, asked him with a smile between his official duties, “Your Highness, how did the opera troupe that Han-er brought yesterday sound?”

Lin Bozhou smiled. “Very good, but the princess did not have the heart to listen yesterday. When he listens to it another day, this prince will tell Cabinet Elder if he is happy.”

The Chief Minister of the Cabinet: “That’s good. Han-er is an ignorant and incompetent playboy and this official worries about his daily uselessness. However, if he could succeed by a lucky stroke and make the princess happy with the opera troupe he raised, it would be a blessing from this official’s ancestors.”

He flattered excessively, and the corners of Lin Bozhou’s lips were smiling, looking friendly.

However, most of the people in the court were respectful and distant, except for some calculating people that dared to say a few words to Lin Bozhou.

After all, in addition to the blind prince, Lin Bozhou also had the nickname “Hanyu Prince.” Hanyu was also known as the cold jade. The jade was cool, looking warm and clear, but it was cold and hard, never warming up.

In the court, Lin Bozhou appeared to be noble and benevolent, but he was secretly dirty and nasty, killing countless people and becoming a cloud looming over the heads of the ministers.

Unfortunately, they still couldn’t fight him.

They were very angry. After all, Lin Bozhou was not too old. Understanding Mingjing* at thirty and becoming Jinshi at fifty, many people took off in their official careers at midlife. Lin Bozhou, this twenty-year-old, was considered their nephew’s generation.

*Mingjing: A subject for the election of officials that appeared in the Han Dynasty.

*Jinshi: successful candidate in the highest imperial civil service exam.

But they just couldn’t fight him.

After simply exchanging a few words, each lowered their heads and continued drafting proposals.

Lin Bozhou and Cui Renfang were two people with demons in their hearts, puting on superficial acts that contradicted their inner thoughts. The smart people in the court should have guessed it long ago.

Cui Renfang was ambitious and wanted to be a powerful minister for a long time. When the new emperor took the throne, he made a great effort to transfer the 20-year-old Lin Bozhou from Kuzhou as a puppet regent to control the overpowering Eunuch Party beside the late emperor. Sure enough, Lin Bozhou beautifully achieved his first goal.

—Winning over the emperor.

The reason why the Eunuch Party, a group of slaves without a lifeblood, could make waves in history was that the eunuchs were the emperor’s closest subjects, controlling the emperor’s food, clothing, housing, and transportation. As the saying goes, the closer they were to the center of power, the better. As long as the eunuchs casually blew wind in the emperor’s ears, they could censor information and spread false rumors about the ministers. Moreover, the eunuchs didn’t have descendants. The only object of their loyalty was the emperor, who was also infinitely close to the eunuchs.

But as soon as the emperor realized this, even the most arrogant eunuchs would be taken down immediately because eunuchs were an extension of imperial power. If the emperor came to a realization, there would be nothing for eunuchs.

Back then, the puppet prince Lin Bozhou chosen by Cui Renfang was weak and young, with a father who was the abolished crown prince, and didn’t look like a threat. However, nobody expected that he would firmly seize the emperor’s trust after entering the emperor’s palace thrice.

The young emperor killed and exterminated the eunuchs for him, listened to him, obeyed him, and regarded the ministers as nothing from then on, with only an Imperial Brother in his eyes.

And Lin Bozhou, as expected, kicked away Cui Renfang, who tried to control him again after gaining the emperor’s trust. Subsequently, he rose to the top in one step, taking over the court, and was now fully arrogant.

“……”

Whenever Cui Renfang remembered the events six years ago, his old heart ached.

Lin Bozhou was also like this at that time, smiling gently while calling him “teacher.” Unexpectedly….. unexpectedly, he had brought in a potential source of trouble!

Cui Renfang was the first person to see Lin Bozhou’s evil bloodlust under his superficial honest persona and was also the first victim, but he had been in the career for decades, so what could he not endure? He judged the situation and handed over his power, bowing to Lin Bozhou, trying to find out his weaknesses and take advantage of the opportunity to pull him down again.

He thought he could fool Lin Bozhou in this way, but to his surprise, he was still not fooled.

Cui Renfang often sighed with regret. The young regent had experienced a great deal of dangerous solitude since he was young to be so guarded and precocious.

And compared to Lin Bozhou’s youthful aggressiveness, he himself was getting older and running out of chances.

Opening the official document, Lin Bozhou picked up a draft and said, “Elder Cui, who will manage the capital inspection at the beginning of next year? Do you have an idea in mind?”

Cui Renfang bowed and said, “This official thinks the Ministry of Appointments will manage it in conjunction with the Department of Supervision. Then, the Ministry of Rites officials will correct any error, that’s all.”

Lin Bozhou let out an “mm,” still looking at the draft. “Elder is the Shangshu* in the Ministry of Appointment. Then, everyone in the Ministry of Appointment is Elder’s people. Elder, please pay attention to the capital inspection.”

*Shangshu: the name of a high government official in feudal China. In the Qing dynasty, the chief officials of the six ministries and the council were called Shangshu.

Cui Renfang had a thin layer of sweat on his forehead and nodded. “Yes.”

Lin Bozhou then called out to the Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, Chen Que, who was organizing documents next to him. “Deputy Chen.”

Chen Que hurriedly said, “This official is here.”

“Most of the officials of the Ministry of Rites are selected and transferred from the Imperial Hanlin Academy. After passing the preliminary round, they are the disciples of the Ministry of Rites.”

Lin Bozhou lowered his eyes and said indifferently: “The current court atmosphere is fickle. The capital inspection needs to handle some practical matters. We must be careful not to be used by those aspiring people and become a tool of those partisans.”

The leader of the Zhuoliu Party, Cui Renfang, and the leader of the Qingliu Party, Chen Que, felt a chill at their backs and nodded in unison. “Yes.”