The Child Emperor

The debate outside was still ongoing. Grand Tutor Cui Hong had a hundred reasons for refusing the heavy responsibility being foisted on him. On the other hand, the other senior officials fully endorsed sending Cui Hong, as though there was no other man more capable than him.

Prince Donghai pressed his side tightly against the door. After listening for a while, he stepped back a few steps and rubbed his chin, thinking deeply with creased eyebrows. “The Empress Dowager’s move is truly insidious. On the surface, it looks like she is tackling Prince Qi, but she is actually using the opportunity to send my uncle out of the Capital, leaving the entire Cui clan behind as hostages. Indeed, this kills two birds with one stone…”

Han Ruzi shook his head. “This is not killing two birds with one stone. My guess is that the Empress Dowager is making overtures of goodwill to Grand Tutor Cui, hoping to resolve matters with him.”

“Mm?” Prince Donghai unhappily gave Han Ruzi a side-glare. “What do you know. Political conflicts are more intense than fights on the battlefield. The Cui clan and the Shang-guan clan… Forget it, you’re unable to understand. You don’t even know what the Empress Dowager looks like, yet here you are trying to guess her intentions. What a joke.”

Being separated by only a door, Han Ruzi truly did want to take a look at what the Empress Dowager who held his life in her hands looked like. But he remained where he was, following Yang Feng’s instruction to listen more and speak less. Even after bearing the brunt of Prince Donghai’s sneers, he said nothing in reply.

The debate outside continued to go on. The Empress Dowager gave many favorable concessions to Cui Hong — more soldiers, more authority, even giving Cui Hong full discretion to act in the Princedom of Qi. Cui Hong was finally unable to continue declining the appointment, but one could tell that he was very reluctant, with many suspicions in his heart.

“How can Uncle agree to this?” Prince Donghai was anxious in the side-room and paced around. “Once he is gone, the Empress Dowager will act against the Cui clan. It would not matter how many soldiers he has outside the Capital. No way, I have to go warn him.”

Prince Donghai opened the door and left, closing the door behind him. Han Ruzi could only see a mass of heads and could not see the Empress Dowager.

Suppressing the Princedom of Qi was not simply a matter of naming a commanding general. Should diplomacy be attempted before force? Should the army make a beeline to the palace of Prince Qi? The senior officials were not in agreement, and there were many other details to discuss. From whence should the expeditionary army be mustered, which minor lords should be won over, which should be guarded against etc.

Unfamiliar names of places, officials and other people, as well as many events of the past, were mentioned. Han Ruzi could not remember everything. Only after listening for a while, did he put the pieces of the puzzle together, gaining some superficial understanding of the state of the Chu Empire.

From the look of things, the cause of disaster was fermented by the Martial Emperor. In his later years, he was highly paranoid. He refused to appointed a Crown Prince, and at the same time, gave every son a little bit of hope. After the Graceful Emperor succeeded to the throne, these seeds of hope became seeds of rebellion. The Graceful Emperor wanted to handle these threats, but unfortunately he was unable to do so within the three years he reigned, having many other matters to address.

The matters the senior officials were discussing became more and more mundane. Han Ruzi found a chair to sit. After thinking for a while, he still believed that the Empress Dowager was signaling goodwill and not planning to harm the Cui clan.

He felt a little dizzy. Yang Feng’s task for him was too difficult, much too difficult for a thirteen year old youth. Han Ruzi rested with his eyes closed for a while, before looking at Meng E standing by the window. He smiled and said, “How are your injuries?”

Perhaps it was because there were others in the room, hence Meng E seemed colder than usual. After a while, she said curtly, “Fine.”

Han Ruzi took out a paper bag from his inner chest pocket. He placed it on the table and opened it. Inside were the osmanthus cakes he had kept from dinner. He took a piece and said to Meng E and the other servant-girl. “You two must be hungry as well.”

Meng E looked away.

“You should at least fill your stomachs. The people outside are very busy, and will not think about us for a while.” Han Ruzi smiled at the servant-girl by the corner.

Meng E was about to speak, but the other servant-girl spoke first with a rough voice. She was indeed actually a man — very possibly an uncastrated man. “Little sister, don’t listen to him. We’re not from the palace, so we don’t need to curry favor with the Emperor.”

“So you are brothers and sisters. What’s your name?” Han Ruzi was determined to carry on the conversation. He had things to ask.

The man made a half-step forward, his gaze icy cold. “Save your tricks for someone else. We do not get involved in palace politics.”

“Are you not protecting me?”

“We are just doing as ordered.”

“Whose orders?”

The man took another half-step forward. Meng E by the window interjected, “He’s just a kid.”

The man did not think so. “What have you been hearing from Yang Feng? This ambitious child is a young wolf, no different from any other person in the palace. If he were to hold power, he would just be yet another imbecile on the throne.”

Meng E did not speak anymore. Han Ruzi was shocked. If the Meng siblings hated the Imperial Palace so much, why did they become palace guards?

“I am just an imbecile who wishes to survive.” Han Ruzi was not angered, but instead welcomed Brother Meng’s forthrightness. “Just like you, I do not like the Imperial Palace. I would rather live my life with Mother in some backwater street. If I had a choice, I would not hesitate in rejecting being Emperor.”

Han Ruzi’s words were not entirely sincere. He did like being Emperor a little. But a true Emperor. Compared to being an Emperor in name only, having to face constant life threatening dangers, he would indeed rather be a simple commoner.

“Learning the art of rulership just a moment ago, and now you don’t want to be Emperor?” Brother Meng looked at his sister. “The people in the palace are all crafty. You must always be careful, and never…”

Someone opened the door and Brother Meng retreated to the wall, resuming his statue-like status.

Prince Donghai saw the osmanthus cakes on the table and strode towards it, grabbing and handful and stuffing them in his mouth. “I’m starving! Everyone is discussing Prince Qi, while forgetting a proper prince like me.”

“Did you speak to Grand Tutor Cui?” Han Ruzi asked.

Prince Donghai shook his head and swallowed the food in his mouth. “I did not need to. My uncle and I know each other well. Just one glance and he understood what I had to say. He is negotiating with the Empress Dowager now. If she wants my uncle to risk his life going out to the field, she better not be planning the ploy of ‘diverting the tiger away from his mountain’. Even if the tiger leaves the mountain, the mountain remains the territory of the tiger.”

The voices outside were quieter than before and could not be heard clearly. Han Ruzi thought about what was happening outside, and said to Prince Donghai, “You should get your uncle to take Liu Jie with him.”

“Liu Jie? He’s a dead man — what’s the point of taking him? You don’t understand such matters, don’t speak nonsense.” Prince Donghai shook the teapot on the table and found that it was empty. He spoke to the two silent servant-girls. “It seems like it would be impossible to get you two to do some work. Tsk, where did the Empress Dowager find such servants? How… self-indulgent.”

Han Ruzi leaned closer to Prince Donghai. “Go outside and ask for more tea, just say that it is for me. Then use your eyes to communicate with your uncle — get him to ask the Empress Dowager for custody over Liu Jie and the other accomplices of the assassin, so that he may take them with him to Qi to confront Prince Qi with these witnesses.”

Prince Donghai took his measure of the Emperor. “Have you gone mad? You really think I’m some attendant? Getting me to do such things? The Cui clan will not lose power. The final victory will surely be ours.”

“The Empress Dowager and Grand Tutor Cui are both suspicious of each other. The longer this drags on, the worse it is for both sides…”

“It is the Empress Dowager who should compromise!” Prince Donghai was enraged, and no longer bothered about the presence of the two servant-girls. “She is holding the entire empire hostage! Back then, if Uncle had not compromised, the Empress Dowager would have killed the both of us, giving Prince Qi the perfect reason for rising in rebellion. She already got her way once, and now she is trying to get her way again? No way, absolutely not this time.”

“The Empress Dowager will compromise. Back then, the Empress Dowager had no cards in her hands, and hence she had to gamble with the fate of the entire empire. But now, she holds the empire in her hands, so she will not take risks. As long as she agrees to hand over Liu Jie and the other accomplices to Grand Tutor Cui, that would mean that she is compromising.”

Prince Donghai furrowed his eyebrows and took his measure of the Emperor again. “Did someone say something to you?”

“No.” Even though he said that, Han Ruzi stole a glance at Brother Meng in the corner. “The assassination plot left many questions unanswered. Now that the assassin has committed suicide, we are left with his accomplices and Sealbearer Liu. Whoever controls them…”

“Will be able to spin the assassination story.” Prince Donghai finally understood. “If the Empress Dowager is unwilling to handover the accomplices, that would mean that she truly wishes to destroy both my uncle and Prince Qi. If that’s the case then we would fight her to the death. But if she hands them over, it would be like handing my uncle a deadly knife. Mm…”

Prince Donghai stared at the Emperor, as though he wanted to see through the Emperor’s heart. He suddenly turned around and left through the door. A eunuch glanced at the inside of the room before closing the door shut again.

Grand Tutor Cui’s voice happened to sound from the outside. “The Princedom of Qi is large with many soldiers. If we send only the garrison of the Guan-dong region[1], it would be difficult to achieve victory, and would only serve to humiliate the Imperial Court…”

Cui Hong was still unwilling to assume his appointment immediately and was seeking various reasons to delay matters. As the two most powerful Imperial In-law clans, the Cui clan and the Shang-guan clan were too weary of each other and did not trust each other. On the contrary, it was Han Ruzi listening in from the side-room who grasped matters more clearly: at least the Shang-guan clan and Cui clan were maintaining a balance. Even though the balance was delicate, it would not be broken for the time being. It was the Princedom of Qi, far away and uncontrollable, that was the greatest threat to both sides.

After all that was said and done, Han Ruzi did not know the Empress Dowager’s personality. For all he knew, she did intend to get rid of both her internal enemy, the Cui clan, and her external enemy, Prince Qi, at the same time. But Han Ruzi had no choice but to make the assumptions he made because he still wanted to save Sealbearer Liu Jie’s life.

“Sometimes, one has to be a little crafty to save someone.” Han Ruzi said to Brother Meng.

If Liu Jie was imprisoned through the usual procedures, he would surely die. But if he was held by Cui Hong as potential blackmail material, he might be able to live longer. Han Ruzi could only do so much. Yang Feng had warned him not to interfere. But he felt that if he did not do something for Liu Jie, he would be deeply uneasy, and would be even more trapped within ten steps.

Brother Meng shook his head. “I’ve seen many ways of winning people over. You are still too immature. Even if Liu Jie survives, the person he thanks will not be you.”

“I do not want his thanks. Only… Mother once said to me, ‘Life is not perfect, but if you submit to circumstances, it would be even worse’. Even when we lived in a small house, Mother would not let me be idle. I think it has become a habit: regardless of the situation, I always want to do something.”

Brother Meng looked to his sister and warned, “Be careful. The person the Emperor is trying to win over is not Liu Jie, but you and me.”

Han Ruzi laughed. The frankness here and the suspicious probing outside stood in stark contrast.

Prince Donghai returned, his expression deep like still water. Han Ruzi felt worried. “You were unable to speak to Grand Tutor Cui? Or did the Empress Dowager not agree?”

“Uncle could read my lips and knew what I was trying to say. The Empress Dowager agreed as well.” Prince Donghai’s expression grew darker and darker.

Prince Donghai had his mood swings, hence Han Ruzi was not bothered. But this time seemed to be different. Prince Donghai came closer and whispered, “You are to have an Empress.”

“What?” Han Ruzi was truly shocked.

“My uncle’s daughter — she shall be entering the palace to become Empress.” Prince Donghai’s face grew redder by the second. “She was supposed to marry me, you bastard!”

[1] The Guan-dong area is not an administrative zone with fixed borders, but refers to the general area east of the Hangu Gate. The Hangu Gate sits between the Capital, Chang-an (modern day Xi-an), and the central plains of China. I’ve modified a Warring States era map that shows roughly the Guan-dong area as well as the Princedom of Qi (similar borders to the State of Qi during the Warring States era). Feel free to ask me questions if you have any.