Chapter 681: The Princes Fight for the Succession!

Settling the foundation of the state.

And not merely any state's foundation, but that of the most powerful empire in the East today.

Yet it was not being settled in the Golden Hall.

Nor in the Imperial Study.

Nor even in the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

But here.

In a roast-duck restaurant.

Among a flock of ducks, they were choosing the best Ji.

This... was really a little too casual.

Seated in his chair, Marquis Zheng was already imagining how later histories might record this episode. The writers would probably expend oceans of ink on it. After all, plenty of people loved writing stories about struggles for succession, and even more loved reading them.

Yet the real thing... was unfolding in a place like this.

Marquis Zheng's gaze slowly swept across the four imperial princes kneeling on the floor.

Right now... he, Zheng Fan... was the one person on the second floor of this roast-duck restaurant with the least to worry about.

Fortunately, he had not stupidly gone over and knelt with them earlier. Even if he meant to rebel, there was no need to ram his head into the wall quite that directly.

Still... being the sole spectator felt pretty good.

First... the Crown Prince.

Zheng Fan remembered the first time he had met him. No, wait. Back then, he had not yet been Crown Prince.

At the gate of the prince's residence, Tian Wujing had brought Zheng Fan along to confront the man behind a scheme. Faced with Old Tian's murderous arrival, the prince had been badly frightened by his own maternal uncle.

Over these past few years, the Crown Prince had experienced much more.

Or perhaps suffered much more.

Either way, he had become steadier.

Even now... kneeling there... his expression remained calm.

But for a Crown Prince, the Emperor openly saying, at this very moment, that they were going to choose the foundation of the state was itself the greatest humiliation possible.

He was the Crown Prince.

Master of the Eastern Palace.

The very fact that he occupied that position meant he was supposed to be the choice of the people, the lawful heir of the Great Yan Empire, acknowledged by court and countryside alike and recognized by the ancestors.

When he entered the Eastern Palace, he had worshiped at the Imperial Ancestral Temple and formally reported the matter to generations of Ji ancestors.

And now... they were choosing again?

Then what did his status as Crown Prince even amount to?

If the heir was simply going to be chosen from this bunch of Ji pups anyway... what damned meaning had there been in making him Crown Prince?

Had he suffered all those suppressions and spent all these years walking on thin ice for nothing?

Could a man endure that?

In Marquis Zheng's view, of course he could not.

This was no longer a matter of a cooked duck flying out of your mouth.

This was someone waiting until you had already swallowed the duck leg, then prying your throat open and ordering you to cough the thing back up whole.

But the Crown Prince... endured.

And did so as though nothing unusual had happened.

That temperament was impressive.

After three days apart, one ought to look at a man with new eyes. And under the Emperor of Yan, growth as a son was bound to be even faster.

Unfortunately, there were no ranks of civil and military officials here, no Eastern Palace retainers, no one to stand beside him in the name of the sacred principle of succession.

Perhaps... that was also one reason the Emperor of Yan had chosen this place for the discussion.

He could disregard the hundred officials, but he could no longer purge them the way he had in the old days. The country still needed them to function, and Ji Runhao no longer had enough time left to rebuild the court from the ground up.

A little farther behind was old Third.

These past few years, he had really only done one thing: move from the chilly pavilion in the middle of the lake to an even colder pavilion of stone steles.

Then Zheng Fan looked at Old Sixth.

Ho.

This one was even steadier.

He had not even removed the protective sleeve-covers smeared with soot and grease.

A dignified imperial prince, the man who effectively controlled the Ministry of Revenue, leader of the Sixth Master's faction, was giving everyone a perfect demonstration of what it meant to be able to enter the great hall and descend into the kitchen.

A moment ago he had been roasting ducks in the back kitchen.

Now he was kneeling here with a chance to inherit the Dragon Throne.

And yet there was not the slightest hint of awkwardness on him.

When Zheng Fan first met him at Marquis Zhenbei Residence, this apparently idle and carefree prince had been seen through at a glance as a man of enormous ambition.

Now... he was actually a little harder to read.

Of course, he would fight.

He definitely wanted that position.

Otherwise, why had he struggled for so long?

He already had three children at home.

If there was no imperial treasury to subsidize them in the future and he had to survive purely on the stipend of an honored noble, how could that possibly be enough?

His imperial father had already been miserly toward the nobility. After ascending the throne, he had directly reduced those imperial uncles to Marquises.

And Ji Chengjue... after taking control of the Ministry of Revenue... had inherited his father's style without hesitation, slashing the grain, money, and privileges of imperial clansmen harder than anyone.

Zheng Fan remembered an elderly imperial-clan Count whose granddaughter was waiting to marry and whose household was depending on its official stipend. The old man had once pointed directly at Ji Chengjue's nose and cursed:

"Fine! I'd like to see, Sixth Master, if you fail to sit on that chair, whether you yourself can survive on the miserable allowances you've left this imperial clan!"

As for the Fourth Prince, Ji Chengfeng... his thoughts were actually simpler.

Back at the inn outside Yin City, old Third had been scheming against someone and Ji Chengfeng had schemed against him in turn.

In the end, old Third had suffered miserably.

The sight had frightened even Ji Chengfeng himself.

Then came the Eastern Expedition Army's first defeat.

The Deng Clan, his mother's family and his greatest source of support, had been savagely suppressed by Imperial Father because of the Left-Wing Army's disastrous loss. Their old influence in the military had nearly vanished.

After that... he watched the Crown Prince and Old Sixth fight each other.

And could only marvel at them as though they were immortals.

Now... he controlled a single Capital Camp.

Five thousand troops.

In the greater struggle, unless Imperial Father suddenly lost his mind and ordered those troops into the imperial palace itself, Ji Chengfeng had almost no cards that could influence the board.

Before the Fifth Prince left Yanjing, he had spoken with him.

Ji Chengfeng understood that Old Fifth had seen things clearly early on. He had freely requested assignment outside the capital to do actual work. Apparently he was doing quite well around Yingdu.

That meant he had stopped coveting the throne and had begun working toward becoming a virtuous prince in the future.

Ji Chengfeng's own ambition had faded long ago.

But what Imperial Father had just said... suddenly sent sparks through the ashes at the bottom of his heart.

A tiny flame began to burn again.

They were all Imperial Father's sons.

All surnamed Ji.

All imperial princes.

And all four were kneeling here.

Then... didn't he still have a chance?

Everyone harbored lucky fantasies.

Everyone dreamed impossible dreams.

And this was the Dragon Throne.

At this moment, it seemed so close he could almost reach out and touch it.

As for Little Seventh... he merely knelt with his head lowered.

No one could see his expression.

This imperial-family ethics drama was genuinely excellent.

Marquis Zheng felt fortunate to have such a close seat for the performance.

The Emperor of Yan had seven grown sons.

Remove old Third, and that left six.

In principle, all six actually possessed some possibility of inheriting the throne.

After all, the Emperor of Yan himself had not been born the eldest legitimate son.

Nor had the late Emperor, the current Emperor's father and grandfather of these Ji pups.

So... although the Second Prince was the eldest legitimate son... what could one say?

Their branch of the Ji family had a tradition, didn't it?

Of course, two of the six were not present today.

And those two had effectively already been removed from the succession.

One was the First Prince, Ji Wujiang.

One defeat by the Eastern Expedition Army was not some unforgivable crime, especially since he had later won merit in Silverwave Commandery.

The problem was that he had married a Barbarian Princess.

The people of Yan would never accept a future Son of Heaven who carried half Barbarian blood.

Old Fifth had voluntarily withdrawn from the succession struggle.

He was timid and liked comfort.

It was not that he possessed no ambition, only that he understood reality more clearly.

His boldest move had been nothing more than hinting to Marquis Pingxi that if things went bad at the critical moment, the Marquis should protect him.

He was still an imperial prince, after all.

There was some use in keeping him alive.

The Emperor of Yan had posed the question.

Now... everyone was waiting to see how the two Princes answered.

Five years ago, perhaps... the three of them had led several thousand iron cavalry to court and opened the prelude to trampling the great clans beneath cavalry hooves.

Today... it was still those same three men.

Sitting here.

Choosing the next successor of the empire.

Li Liangting's gaze moved in turn across the four kneeling princes.

Tian Wujing continued drinking tea.

He did not even glance their way.

Strictly speaking, the person present with the best innate position was still the Crown Prince.

His birth mother had been Empress.

True, neither his grandfather nor his father had been eldest legitimate sons when they ascended the throne.

But surely those men themselves understood what primogeniture meant for the smooth transfer of imperial power.

It reduced future internal bloodshed to the greatest possible degree.

As for choosing virtue over legitimacy... to put it bluntly, unless a younger son could display economic and administrative talent as overwhelming as Ji Chengjue's, enough that no one could pretend not to see it, every other so-called reputation for virtue would simply depend on which literati were willing to beat the drum for him.

Just look at those literary gentlemen of Qian.

For the Crown Prince... if everything in the world had followed the most favorable possible path... then the three men sitting at that table right now might have been, in order: his own father, his father-in-law, and his maternal uncle.

What should have been nailed down beyond doubt had somehow been torn into pieces.

Li Liangting smiled.

"Aiya. How are we supposed to choose?"

Marquis Zheng silently thought:

You're kicking the ball back?

"Wujing, what do you think?" Li Liangting asked, turning toward Tian Wujing.

Only then did Tian Wujing turn his head and sweep his gaze across them.

Because Zheng Fan was also seated at one of the lower tables, strictly speaking, that gaze swept over him too.

For an instant...

Marquis Zheng's heart leaped straight into his throat.

He was genuinely terrified Old Tian would suddenly say:

Let's hear what Marquis Pingxi thinks.

Or even more directly:

Marquis Pingxi's opinion is this Prince's opinion.

That would not merely put Zheng Fan over a fire to roast.

That would shove him directly into the furnace.

Fortunately...

Old Tian said no such thing.

He shook his head.

"Whatever."

The Emperor of Yan was choosing the national heir in a roast-duck restaurant.

The Prince of Jingnan answered with "whatever."

Today's sense of ceremony was really catastrophically lacking.

Li Liangting sighed.

But instead of kicking the decision back to His Majesty... he turned toward the imperial princes kneeling on the floor.

"How about this. Whoever wants to sit on the Dragon Throne can volunteer and say so. At a time like this, there's no point hiding it anymore."

The Emperor of Yan's gaze slowly landed on Li Liangting.

Tian Wujing smiled.

He personally lifted the teapot and poured himself another cup.

To outsiders...

Great Yan's one Emperor and two Princes appeared inseparable, one never far from the other.

But only people truly qualified to touch the center of power knew that the relationship among those three men was nowhere near as relaxed as it looked.

Take ten thousand steps back.

Three kindly old men sitting beneath a locust tree playing chess and drinking tea together was one thing.

Three kindly old men trying to steer all of Great Yan?

Impossible.

Li Liangting's suggestion made Marquis Zheng's heart tighten.

Having those three men choose one heir and making the imperial princes below choose for themselves were two completely different concepts.

If the three of them made the selection, whoever they chose would be the answer.

Everyone else would naturally lose any chance of overturning it.

At least, as long as those three remained alive, there would be no possibility whatsoever.

Then whether the chosen man was the Crown Prince, Old Sixth, or someone else, he could simply take the throne.

The brothers could continue acting out a little familial harmony.

At the very least, no one's face had been torn apart.

But if the princes themselves were made to recommend themselves... heh.

That was a poison pill wrapped in sugar.

Would you swallow it?

If you did not even possess the courage to take this pill, then naturally you had no qualification to be Emperor.

If you lacked even that much nerve, why sit on the damned Dragon Throne?

And as an imperial prince... who would willingly refuse to fight when the opportunity stood right in front of him?

But once you opened your mouth and said you wanted it... good.

Whoever among those present became Emperor afterward would remember today's scene.

He.

He.

And he.

Today... they actually dared fight me for the throne!

After a round of self-nominations, who ultimately won remained impossible to say.

But so long as a man opened his mouth to compete... what followed would be fratricide visible to the naked eye.

After ascending the throne, the Emperor of Yan had dealt viciously with those brothers of his who had been less than obedient.

But that did not mean he wanted his remaining sons to walk the same road.

He was an Emperor.

He could be ruthless.

But... he was not a pervert.

Zheng Fan believed that if even he could see the problem, the Emperor of Yan certainly could.

And although Prince Zhenbei had once roasted a lamb leg in the Imperial Garden, he was obviously no political novice.

At the very least, he was nothing like the rough and generous elder he seemed on the surface.

Not to mention...

Old Tian had smiled.

What did that mean?

Obviously:

Choosing one of Your Majesty's sons to inherit Great Yan and sit on that Dragon Throne?

Sure.

No problem.

As for the rest below... let them butcher each other and give us a little entertainment.

What loyal brothers.

The warmly decorated restaurant... the fragrant roast duck... still could not dispel the blood and gloom gathering around that table.

The Emperor of Yan smiled.

"Good."

Then... his gaze fell upon his four sons.

"If you want to sit on that chair, then show some courage. The opportunity will not wait."

That was the opening declaration.

Seated off to the side, Marquis Zheng suddenly felt that the quality of the show in front of him had jumped two full levels.

At the same time... his gaze deliberately shifted toward Old Sixth.

And at that exact moment, Ji Chengjue looked toward Zheng Fan.

Their gazes met.

Then both looked away.

"This son..."

The Crown Prince spoke first.

He was the Crown Prince.

He had no choice.

There were no ministers around.

None of the atmosphere of court.

He knew perfectly well that even if he chose to withdraw on his own, no one would beg him to stay.

The old routine of throwing down one's official hat would not work here.

At the very least, these three men would never play along.

And because he had once been Crown Prince... that status itself had become an original sin.

Across history, how many Crown Princes who failed to ascend the throne had ever met good ends?

"This son believes that Great Yan's future must focus primarily on restoring the livelihood of the people. Years of war have emptied the treasury and exhausted the population. The great achievements personally forged by Imperial Father, Uncle, and Maternal Uncle require someone to inherit and preserve them. This son is willing to spend his entire life extending Great Yan's vitality and accumulating strength for Great Yan. If opportunity arises, we can raise armies against Qian and Chu in the hope of unifying Great Xia. If no such opportunity arises, then we restore the livelihood of the people, fill the treasury, accumulate national strength, and lay a foundation for future generations. With Yan and Jin in our hands, after one generation, perhaps two, Great Yan will surely possess enough upright and overwhelming strength to unify all Xia!"

Because the Crown Prince was already governing as regent, there was no need for him to discuss individual policies.

What mattered now was political philosophy.

In truth, even the Crown Prince himself understood why he had been placed in the Eastern Palace.

This was the label Imperial Father had assigned him.

It was also the label the civil and military officials of the realm had assigned him.

People changed.

The Crown Prince was human.

An Emperor was human.

When a Crown Prince became Emperor, he could change.

When a young man became middle-aged, he could change.

But the Crown Prince could not discard the label attached to him.

He could not destroy his own political persona.

His declaration had been simple.

He was willing to become a conservative ruler.

A transitional Emperor.

He would sacrifice his own reputation in the history books to preserve Great Yan's gains and pass them forward into a stronger future.

The Crown Prince finished.

Then... silence.

That silence... tormented the Fourth Prince, Ji Chengfeng.

Because he knew, and everyone present knew, that Old Sixth would definitely fight for the position.

He had already done so much.

He had openly opposed the Crown Prince for so long.

There was no possibility that he would suddenly admit defeat and withdraw.

But...

Old Sixth remained silent.

What did that mean?

The Crown Prince was Second Brother.

And before Old Sixth... there was still Fourth Brother.

So Old Sixth was waiting.

Waiting for Ji Chengfeng to state his position.

Originally, Ji Chengfeng had thought he was merely here to make up the numbers.

True, the tiny flame inside his heart had begun burning again.

If he only had to stand behind the Crown Prince and Old Sixth and wave a small flag to indicate he wanted the throne too, he could perhaps force himself to do it.

But to walk forward himself... before Old Sixth...

Ji Chengfeng's eyes began reddening.

At this moment... fear took hold.

Like frost and snow, it instantly extinguished the little flame that had only just started burning.

Some things would never change.

Ji Chengfeng understood that as well.

The apparent "fairness" here had actually been surrounded by walls from the beginning.

He... was not qualified.

Thud.

Ji Chengfeng kowtowed.

"Chengfeng is ambitious but lacking in talent. I know my own limitations. I have never harbored thoughts toward that position. I only hope Great Yan will continue to flourish in the years ahead. As a son of the Ji family, whenever the ancestral lands require it, I will gladly spill my blood, offer my head, and die without regret!"

After finishing those fine words...

Ji Chengfeng lowered his head.

Did he hate himself?

Regret it?

Not really.

What remained... was relief.

Next...

Ji Chengjue spoke.

"Chengjue believes that in talent and ability, I surpass the Crown Prince by several measures. Great Yan would be more secure in Chengjue's hands. When it comes to restoring the people's livelihood, Chengjue understands the affairs of ordinary life better than the Crown Prince. When it comes to governing the court, Chengjue will yield to no one. If Chengjue is fortunate enough to succeed... then the first thing I will do... is clean up the mess Imperial Father, Uncle, and Maternal Uncle have left behind!"

The mess?

The instant those three words left his mouth... the expressions of all three men sitting at the main table shifted slightly.

Ji Chengjue continued:

"Imperial Father is a founder. But if Great Yan's foundations are to endure, we must strike while the iron is hot and establish a new system of laws and institutions. If the ancestral system no longer fits the age, it should change. Later descendants may be unable or unwilling to alter it. Chengjue is willing to take the first step and reform the state so the foundation can endure for a thousand generations. Second... the Zhenbei Army of Prince Zhenbei Residence, the Jingnan Army of Prince Jingnan Residence, the Eastern Jin Army of Marquis Pingxi Residence, and even... the forces in Nanwang City under Eldest Brother... must all be readjusted and redeployed. Great Yan's present situation appears powerful and majestic, but in truth it is as dangerous as a stack of eggs. It remains balanced only because Imperial Father is here, Uncle is here, and Maternal Uncle is here. But... what happens after all of you are gone? The Ministry of War must regain its authority. Central military power must be rebuilt. The deadly weapon of the state must be held by the court, held in the hands of the center!"

Li Liangting heard this... and laughed.

"Little Sixth, you're certainly good at slicing roast duck. But do you really think you can slice up the regional military powers just as neatly?"

Two Princes and one Marquis sat in this room.

Every last one of them was a regional military power!

Ji Chengjue smiled.

"Because the elders are still here, I can. Uncle, wasn't that exactly what you did before? Maternal Uncle, wasn't that exactly what you did before?"

Then...

Ji Chengjue turned toward Zheng Fan.

"Marquis Zheng has always been Chengjue's good brother. From the first moment we met, the two of us felt like old friends and treated each other as confidants. Compared with Marquis Zheng's talents on horseback and campaign, Chengjue believes that in the future, Marquis Zheng would be even better suited to serve as Chancellor of the realm!"

Marquis Zheng swallowed.

Was this supposed to be a roast-duck version of surrendering military power over cups of wine?

Chancellor?

Back then, Qian's Tattooed-Face Chancellor had been summoned to the capital to become Chancellor too.

Essentially, chief minister.

And then?

Still... one had to admit...

Old Sixth truly was Old Sixth.

His political eye was exceptionally sharp.

He had correctly judged that the men present might look like regional powers, but what they truly held inside their hearts was all of Great Yan.

The only man who might not fit that description was his good brother surnamed Zheng.

And right now... that man had neither a vote nor the right to speak.

So if they were gambling... then gamble for real!

A thousand generations?

Carrying forward the great cause?

To hell with pretending.

If I become Emperor, the first thing I'm doing is taking back military power!

No more disguising it.

No more acting.

I have already entered the role!

Marquis Zheng laughed "heh-heh" twice inside his heart.

He was not angry.

Instead... he looked at the Crown Prince.

Brothers were brothers.

Roast duck was roast duck.

But if he had a ballot in hand right now...

Marquis Zheng would definitely cast one vote for the Crown Prince!

Damn you.

Damn you!

If Old Sixth actually managed to get "appointed by acclamation" right here in this roast-duck restaurant... then Zheng Fan's own situation would become extremely troublesome.

The Emperor of Yan was still here.

Prince Zhenbei was still here.

Old Tian was still here.

If the three of them demanded that Zheng Fan surrender authority... then he would have no choice whatsoever.

I've spent a whole damned year farming this land.

I haven't even had the chance to enjoy raising the banner of rebellion... and you're already coming to harvest my fruit?

Love... really could disappear.

Not only had it disappeared after he became a Marquis... if the bastard across from him became Emperor... it would disappear there too.

The Emperor of Yan slowly closed his eyes.

Li Liangting smiled, picked up a tea snack, and stuffed the whole thing into his mouth. Apparently he still had not quite eaten enough.

Tian Wujing set down his teacup.

Marquis Zheng lowered his head and studied the grain of the table, as though he had suddenly discovered some profound mystery hidden within it.

At that moment... a slightly childish voice sounded.

It was the Seventh Prince.

Ji Chengsu.

He seemed extremely nervous.

Extremely afraid.

His voice trembled without stop.

But he still forced up his courage and spoke.

"I... I'm still young... I still... don't understand things... so... I'll just listen to Imperial Father, listen to Uncle, listen to Maternal Uncle... I'll listen to Crown Prince Brother... I'll listen to Sixth Brother... I'll listen to Brother Zheng... I'll just behave myself and listen to all of them."

[End of Chapter 681]