Zhao Hanzhang only learned of this from a letter from her Fifth Grand-Uncle. His meaning was that if Zhao Zhongyu truly fell gravely ill, the clan needed to send someone to the capital to discuss the matter of the next generation’s clan leader.

Fifth Grand-Uncle was quite reluctant to let Zhao Ji inherit the position of clan leader—he couldn’t think highly of him.

But the legitimate branch now had only two lineages remaining: Zhao Ji’s lineage and Zhao Hanzhang’s lineage. If not Zhao Ji, Zhao Erlang was also unsuitable, and Zhao Hanzhang was a woman. Even though Fifth Grand-Uncle momentarily considered letting Zhao Hanzhang take over, he quickly suppressed this wild thought. So after comprehensive consideration, his opinion was to skip over Zhao Ji and directly let Zhao Dalang become clan leader.

However, Zhao Hanzhang didn’t even think highly of Zhao Dalang. Unlike Fifth Grand-Uncle who was fixated on the legitimate branch inheriting the clan leader position, Zhao Hanzhang was much bolder—she felt that Zhao Ming was the most suitable candidate.

Nevertheless, she calculated in her mind that Zhao Zhongyu would be able to survive this illness, so she didn’t raise it.

Zhao Zhongyu was indeed seriously ill. The Emperor, while saying he trusted him greatly and trusted the Zhao clan, also began to suspect that the Zhao clan wanted to monopolize control of Yuzhou. People in court continuously attacked him.

Most of these were Prince Donghai’s people—he still bore a grudge about being defeated by the combined forces of Zhao Hanzhang and Gou Xi. The remainder were Zhao Zhongyu’s political rivals.

Zhao Zhongyu was now the Minister of the Secretariat. If he were dismissed, the vacant position would allow a whole string of people below to be promoted.

With Prince Donghai eyeing him like a tiger watching its prey on the side, there were several times when he suspected Prince Donghai wanted to execute him. Combined with worries about his clan and his own small family, this caused Zhao Zhongyu heavy concerns. He didn’t know when he was caught by a cold wind, and he directly fell ill.

His illness came on fiercely. Zhao Ji at one point thought he wouldn’t survive, so he had no choice but to write to Xiping to report.

If something happened to Zhao Zhongyu, the clan would need to quickly prepare for the next clan leader’s succession.

Zhao Ji had never considered the possibility that he might not be the next clan leader, but he was still uneasy. He could sense that Fifth Uncle didn’t like him very much. The clan elders all listened to Fifth Uncle, so when he became clan leader, he would probably find it very difficult to command them.

Therefore, he hoped Zhao Zhongyu could leave more instructions, preferably spoken in front of the clan members.

While he worried about this, Zhao Zhongyu stubbornly pulled through and began to recover.

And during his recovery process, various news from Yuzhou arrived.

The common people who had been trapped in Luoyang city finally could no longer endure the hunger. After the fifteenth day of the first month passed and the weather began to warm, they dragged their families out of Luoyang city step by step, heading toward Yuzhou.

Luoyang city wasn’t far from Yuzhou. They didn’t expect to reach Runan Jun—they only needed to enter Yuzhou’s borders, to reach places where Zhao Hanzhang’s policies were implemented.

They wanted to live!

The already desolate Luoyang city became even more deathly silent.

Although the Emperor didn’t leave the palace, he too sensed this deadly stillness. He was even less willing to remain in Luoyang and continuously made difficulties for Prince Donghai, wanting to relocate the capital and leave.

Zhao Zhongyu, who had just recovered somewhat, was again forced into their struggles, because this time the place the Emperor desperately wanted to relocate the capital to was precisely Cangyan City that Gou Xi had once proposed.

Cangyan City was near Chen County. Previously it was controlled by Magistrate He, and Gou Xi occasionally visited. Now, however, it was completely in Zhao Hanzhang’s hands.

It would be impossible for Gou Xi to visit there again.

If the Emperor truly relocated the capital to Cangyan City, the major aristocratic families of Yuzhou would have much to do.

The two greatest aristocratic families of Yuzhou were the Zhao clan and the Xun clan.

Zhao Zhongyu was forced into this and fell ill again.

Although he fell ill again, this time was much more bearable. He just leaned against his bed covered with a quilt to rest, taking medicine at the proper times, eating when hungry, drinking when thirsty.

Zhao Ji grew anxious for two days and had no choice but to actively ask, “Father, His Majesty has again sent an inner attendant to see you.”

Zhao Zhongyu was about to lie down and wait for the person to come in, but Zhao Ji quickly said, “I’ve already sent him away. But Father, we can’t keep avoiding this.”

He asked, “Since you said His Majesty is now different from before and might be able to gain the upper hand, why don’t you support His Majesty’s capital relocation?”

“If the capital moves to Cangyan, it won’t be very far from our Xiping. Yuzhou is now the Zhao clan’s territory, and we have military authority not much less than Prince Donghai.”

Zhao Zhongyu frowned deeply and said to him, “In the future, you should not participate in court politics.”

Zhao Ji was somewhat annoyed. “Father!”

Zhao Zhongyu said with displeasure, “Is it that simple? The Emperor now has twenty thousand troops, but before Prince Donghai, these people aren’t worth mentioning. Yuzhou has only just stabilized, and Hanzhang hasn’t yet had time to establish a firm foothold. Relocating the capital at this time would directly disrupt her plans. The Zhao clan is still just the Xiping Zhao clan, not the Yuzhou Zhao clan.”

He said, “Not to mention distant matters, just speaking of Prince Donghai and Gou Xi—if His Majesty relocates the capital to Cangyan, will those two bring troops to garrison Cangyan?”

“Cangyan is right beside Chen County. Hanzhang is, after all, a woman. She’s at a disadvantage in status and age, and then she’ll be constrained by the court ministers.” Zhao Zhongyu said, “There’s a great difference between having the court present and not having it present. Could she still fight and kill openly before His Majesty, Prince Donghai, and Gou Xi?”

“Since her status is limited, the clan can just find someone to replace her at the front, and she can retreat behind the scenes…”

Zhao Zhongyu stared at him until he could no longer speak.

He asked quietly, “Are you trying to force Sanniang into marriage?”

Zhao Ji said, “Father, when did I ever have such intention?”

Zhao Zhongyu said, “Given your relationship with her, would she not know your calculations? Not to mention whether she’ll listen, even if forced by circumstances to push someone to the front, there’s still Erlang and Fu Tinghan.”

He said, “She will eventually marry. Isn’t Fu Tinghan closer to her than you or I?”

Zhao Ji was somewhat angry. “What she relies on now is entirely our Zhao clan.”

Zhao Zhongyu felt rather disheartened upon hearing this. He actually wasn’t afraid of Zhao Ji being ruthless, but rather feared he would be ruthless yet foolish.

He couldn’t even control the clan now, knowing that the clan was now almost split in two, with the majority of clan members inclined toward Zhao Hanzhang.

And by what means had she gained this support?

Naturally because she had this capability.

The Zhao clan still had this many people, but before, no one held military authority. Were those military achievements also won for her by clan members?

Zhao Zhongyu thought of the letter Zhao Song had recently written to him.

He lifted his eyelids to glance at Zhao Ji. In the letter, Zhao Song had been quite impolite in rejecting Zhao Ji, believing he lacked both virtue and ability and that the clan could not be entrusted to him.

He would rather skip over him and give the clan to the still-underage Zhao Dalang than to Zhao Ji, who had already inherited the title.

Zhao Zhongyu’s heart suddenly filled with grief. He had a feeling of having no successor, and in this moment, he finally understood his elder brother’s helplessness and anxiety back then.

If Zhao Ji was like this, Zhao Dalang wasn’t much better, and apart from these two, the legitimate branch only had Zhao Erlang, who barely recognized a few characters.

Zhao Zhongyu couldn’t help but shed tears. All the brilliance of the legitimate branch had actually concentrated in Zhao Hanzhang alone. What a pity she was born female. If she were male, why would elder brother have worried so much, and why would he be in such difficulty today?

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