Chapter 202 Fisherman
When he woke up, the sky was already bright, and Han Ruzi had long been used to living in no fixed place, but the moment he opened his eyes, he was still frightened. He couldn't figure out where he was. Gradually returned to normal from the frenzy.
There was a neat new robe beside the bed. Han Ruzi put it on and walked out of the room. He was sent here early this morning. He didn't pay much attention to it. , It was extremely dazzling, Han Ruzi covered his eyes with his hands and waited for a while to get used to it.
Five houses were scattered on the river bank, and there were no plans. There were no courtyard walls around. Han Ruzi and others crossed the river from far downstream last night and detoured here. Han Ruzi did not pay attention to the nearby freezing The river, I feel strange now: After walking for so long, he still stopped by the river. Isn't it easy for the soldiers of the Confederate Army to find him?
A path was shoveled out of the snow, leading directly to the river. Han Ruzi walked on foot, and saw a strange old man fishing on the riverbed from a distance.
Han Ruzi walked over, the old man stared earnestly at the broken ice hole, pointed to a long bamboo pole beside him, and said without looking back, "Help me."
Han Ruzi picked up the bamboo pole and stabbed the oval ice hole a few times until the ice floes were all broken.
There was a folding stool opposite the old man. Han Ruzi sat on it, watched the fishing for a while, and looked up at the master. The old man's beard and hair were all white, but the skin on his face was so smooth that no one could guess his 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 fish swayed, not very violent. In such a cold season, even death was not so terrible.
The old man threw the fish into the wooden barrel next to him and said with a smile, "You brought good luck, there is a fish to eat tonight, I hope you can hold on for a while."
Han Ruzi was indeed a little hungry, but he still smiled and said, "I can bear it. Dare to ask the old man's name?"
"I'm fishing, so let's call you a fisherman."
The other party didn't want to reveal his real name, and Han Ruzi didn't force it. He cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, Senior Fisherman, for taking me in. Where are my companions?"
"Some go, some stay." The fisherman's words seemed perfunctory, but also pointed. After a moment's pause, he changed the subject, "Have you ever fished in winter?"
"No." Han Ruzi had never fished before.
The fisherman re-applied the bait, "Ice fishing is very interesting, and I can understand some truths from it."
He didn't say what the reason was. Han Ruzi looked at it for a while and couldn't help but said, "Waiting patiently will pay off?"
The old man smiled and said: "What you said is a truth, what I realized is that you must wear more cotton-padded clothes."
Han Ruzi also laughed, it was really cold outside, but luckily the wind wasn't very strong, so he could bear it, but he didn't like this kind of inexplicable conversation, he waited for a while, and asked directly, "It is said that there are people from Jianghu who patrol the river. , can't they find it here?"
"Yes, a group came this morning." The fisherman put the fishing rod on the shelf and raised his head: "But they will not cross the river. This is an agreement. You are very safe now."
"Agreement? What agreement?"
The fisherman didn't answer, but instead asked, "Does Marquis Tien don't care what happened in the capital?"
"I'm concerned, but I don't know you."
"It's okay, I'll just say it casually, and Hou Juan can make inquiries in the future if his judgment is accurate or not."
Han Ruzi felt more and more strange, but Du Motian and desperation to send him here, obviously trusted the fisherman very much, he didn't have to get to the bottom of it, so he said: "There is a fisherman who works hard."
"Champion Hou was the first to return to Beijing, and he has won the support of many clan children and ministers in the court, especially the prime minister Yin Wuxian. Yin Wuxian is an extremely noble minister. It is reasonable to say that he should have no desires or desires, but he gave the former crown prince back then. Once a master, he was very worried about the former prince being deposed, so he wanted to put the prince's orphan on the throne. Can you understand his feelings, Hou Juan?"
"Well, understand."
"Master Cui Hong is well-informed and responds very quickly. Although he has not returned to Beijing, he has been secretly planning for a long time. He has won the support of many noble families, and can compete with champion Hou and Yin Wuxian."
"Master Cui is going to abandon King Donghai again?" Han Ruzi asked. Cui Hong had been planning for a long time, but King Donghai knew nothing about it. He was forced to flee back to the capital because of an accident. It didn't seem like he was cooperating with his uncle at all.
"No one knows Taifu Cui's true thoughts. In short, he has always kept in touch with the champion, but the King of the East Sea has returned from a long way, and he is also very happy. He immediately sent troops to send his nephew to the capital. It is not only to protect safety, but also to show off his power and let everyone understand that the throne The battle isn't over yet."
"What happened in the palace?" Han Ruzi was most concerned about this matter.
The fisherman stared at the water for a while, and after confirming that no fish were hooked, he said, "The emperor is seriously ill, he is dying, and he may die at any time."
"What disease?"
"Ten imperial doctors have eleven kinds of diagnoses. In short, it is a strange disease. The emperor is young, but he can't eat food, and he will vomit every meal.
The emperor in Han Ruzi's impression was still the chubby eight or nine-year-old child, "Where's the queen mother?"
"The queen mother also contracted the disease, and her condition is better than that of the emperor. It's good and bad."
"The palace has refused to approve any memorials for two months, why?"
"The emperor has not been cured for a long time, and the queen mother understands that the struggle for the throne is about to start again, but it is not what it used to be, and the great Chu has constant internal and external troubles, and she can no longer choose the younger one from the clan's children at will. So, she came up with a way. "
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 way that the queen mother came up is that the princes compete for the throne, and the strong ascend the throne, in order to save the great Chu Jiangshan."
"Huh?" Han Ruzi was taken aback.
"Of course you can't openly compete for the throne. That would be too rude, and the queen mother would have to make rules and supervise herself. That's why she has been reluctant to approve the memorial. First, the emperor is seriously ill, and she is not feeling well. Second, it is to prevent the If people use it, the memorial is the weapon of the minister, if you are not careful, it may affect the pattern of the court, so that it is not fair for the princes to compete for the throne."
Han Ruzi couldn't completely hide the anger in his heart, "The imperial court has not had any will for a long time, and the frontier almost fell because of this."
"But once the imperial court issues a decree, Marquis Juan is likely to die outside the Great Wall and never come back."
Han Ruzi was stunned for a moment. Indeed, if the imperial court had responded immediately to the arrival of the Huns, the appointed general would never have been the general of Zhenbei. With a holy purpose, he would not have had the chance to seize the seal, power, or troops.
"Of course, the queen mother didn't want to keep anyone, she just didn't want to be used by others. If the Huns really attacked the fortress, she could only issue a decree."
Han Ruzi shook his head gently, the palace did not know the dangers of the frontier, and facing a powerful enemy was such a joke, soon, he began to wonder: this is not like the Queen Mother, she cares about power the most, but during her reign, she was very popular with ministers Praise, not like someone who does something wrong.
Refusing to make a reply 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. You don't want to say it now, but I'll know sooner or later, so why hide it now?"
The fisherman raised his rod again. This time the fish was smaller. He was still satisfied. He smiled and put the harvest into the bucket. He picked up the bamboo rod with the net, and smashed the layer of floating ice on the ice hole and fished it. Come out, put on the bait, and keep fishing.
"I've used so many names that sometimes I don't know which one to use."
Han Ruzi hurriedly stood up, "Is your Excellency Chunyu Xiao?"
The fisherman nodded, "This is indeed the name I've used. Hou Juan likes it, so I'll be Chunyu Xiao."
Han Ruzi was extremely surprised and stared at the old man for a while. This is Chunyu Xiao, the leader of those who look for air? Shouldn't he be arrested and even beheaded immediately after showing up?
Han Ruzi sat down slowly, "Did you persuade the queen mother?"
He finally understood who came up with those bizarre ideas, but he still didn't understand how the Queen Mother could be persuaded by a famous person.
"It's the queen mother who figured it out herself, she needs people like us."
It is said that Chunyu Xiao is already a eunuch, but his beard hangs down to his chest and is still very lush. The rumors fit perfectly, and things about him are always true and false.
"The hopeful person has the ability to interfere with the succession of the emperor, congratulations."
"Follow the trend, this is just following the trend. Don't Juan Hou care about the rules of the race? Come back a few days later, and Juan Hou will lose this opportunity, so you are very lucky, but compared with the champion Hou and Donghai Wang , 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. She probably learned some inside information in the palace.
Han Ruzi has suffered a lot of humiliation since he was a child, and he has never been annoyed like this, but he smiled, "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." Chunyu Xiao put the fishing rod on the shelf, "The rules are simple. First, no force is allowed in Gyeonggi."
"Didn't Master Cui send the army to send the King of the East Sea into the capital?"
"It's just a small army, less than 300 people, and as I said, it's showing off its power, not using force."
"Yes, I know."
Chunyu Xiao smiled, "The second and most important rule is that the contender can use all means other than force to win the support of the ministers in the court. In the end, whoever has the most supporters will be the next emperor. Is it fair?"
Han Ruzi asked, "When does this 'last' refer to?"
"It's hard to say, you can't just elect a new emperor when the saint is still alive today, right?"
Han Ruzi suddenly didn't want to talk to Chunyu Xiao. He wasn't even sure whether this person was the real Chunyu Xiao, but the ability of this famous person was obviously much higher than that of Lin Kunshan.
Han Ruzi got up again, without saying goodbye, and strode towards the shore.
"Wanhou, don't waste your luck!" Chunyu Xiao 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 Wang Qi and left him alone.
A horse came in the distance, Han Ruzi looked at it for a while, and felt a little at ease.
Yang Feng arrived as scheduled, and he was alone. Soon after, he came to Han Ruzi, jumped off the horse, and brought a chill, Han Ruzi shivered unconsciously.
"What's going on?" Han Ruzi asked, feeling that Yang Feng could understand what he meant without any further explanation.
"The queen mother is crazy." Yang Feng said.
(End of this volume)